The stench of death lingered in the air much like an unwanted house guest. It was a situation that continued no matter how much one might wish it would end, and feelings would be hurt if anyone mentioned the facts of the situation. If one actually cared about the feelings of their guest, it would be a serious concern. Thankfully for Princess Vita she did not care much for the red robed creature who stood before her.

"I thought some foul scent lingered in the air. Now I know it was not the zombies," said Vita with great composure.

"You have quite the mouth on you, little princess," said the robed man. "A lesser man would put it to better use."

She offered him a look of absolute disgust, "Who taught you to speak in such a manner to a lady?"

He laughed then shook his head, "Who cares if you're a lady, or if you're a whore? Either way, you're just raw materials in the end."

"Ah, yes. Your grand plan to what... Bore me to death in this glass cage?" she asked him derisively.

"It's only a matter of time until I unlock the proper frequency for your power signature," he said before offering a manic smile. "Let's see how that haughty derision in your voice changes when you're on the floor gasping while your life drains away to fuel my empire."

"As if you have that long to live, villain," replied the princess without a hint of concern in her voice.

"Oh? Is my life in danger?" he asked her with a condescending smirk on his lips. "Shall I allow my knees to knock together with fear?"

"You might as well accept your fate," said Vita. She tossed her hair over one shoulder with a flick of her wrist then crossed her arms and snorted. An amused smile appeared on her lips a moment later. "When Sir Chaine arrives, your life will end."

His laughter erupted outward from his lips with great jubilation. He was about to speak when a hideous wail echoed through the room. Immediately his eyes snapped over to a monitor on the far side of the room. "On-screen!"

An aerial view of the surrounding area appeared on the television screen. A large red rectangle appeared near a cluster of buildings on the outer fringes of his area of influence. "Show me," he said.

The screen followed his commands by rapidly zooming in toward a specific point at the center of the rectangle. Several people fighting off a small horde of zombies appeared.

Princess Vita's eyes lit-up. "Sir Chaine!" she cried happily.

The robed man stared at the screen for a moment, his expression blank. He'd expected interference, but this was ridiculous.

"You seem to have grown quiet," said Vita. She grinned mischievously at him and said, "Why are you not laughing?"

He remained quiet while gazing at the monitor. The situation had changed considerably with the intervention of not only the foolish champion, but that damnable she-beast.

Red Robe watched as Kitty flipped over a rushing berserker zombie and planted a perfect double-kick to its back the sent it flying off of the roof of the building she stood on. Several other zombies approached her, but various minor mishaps caused them to fall over. In one instance a berserker even accidentally killed himself by missing his target during a jump and impaling itself on a metal spike that slid perfectly into its eye socket.

He growled low under his breath and muttered, "Damned Sith..."

"You're still not laughing! Are you that afraid of your fate?" she asked him with a laugh.

"I could not care any less about your dress wearing boyfriend," he said before dismissing the screen. He gripped his nose between his thumb and forefinger them pulled downward a little before flexing his nostrils.

"It's not a dress! It's a tunic!" she cried.

Red Robe remained unconcerned about the lifestyle and fashion choices of her royal boy toy. No. What concerned him was the fact that he had not only had that champion and the Cait Sith bitch to deal with, but two other new factors as well.

He eyed the individual in the strange armored suit briefly and noted that they possessed great damage potential with their weapons. The other new component, an elf dressed like a sorceress, was a complete unknown. She mostly floated around nearby and pointed out concentrations of undead. What powers, if any, did this new threat possess?

A loud *Tch!* sound confirmed his frustration at this setback. The last thing he needed was another major battle with such a resourceful champion. Clearly the man had not been idle during recent days, and if Red Robe were to be honest he'd only just recovered from his losses.

"No. Head-to-head as things stand would be foolish," he said after a moment. "Need to know more..."

"What are you babbling about you villain?" asked Vita loudly. How dare he ignore her!

He continued to ignore her. So far the information that he'd acquired proved accurate. Away from her precious Ha' Ruul, her powers were limited to a degree that he could handle. Even the strange artifact she bore within her hand did not act with as much force due to being away from the source of its existence.

Red Robe considered the situation for a moment then nodded his head. He walked over to a pile of random items he'd placed in the corner earlier and began to sift through them. He snatched up a piece of chalk and a cell phone.

The man placed the phone on a clean section of floor then drew a pair of concentric circles around it. Within those circles he wrote out whirling symbols similar in design to an ampersand. Following that, he chanted in a soft tone and waved his hand over the top of the ritual area. "Oh Lord Keh Nekt, great spirit of communication who constantly watches us all regardless of our petty privacy concerns, here me! Grant me the power to spy closely upon my enemies, and speak my will across the land..."

The formerly dead cellphone awoke with a cheerful noise as it powered on of its own accord. Red Robe retrieved the temporarily active device then clicked a few things. He muttered something about not wanting to download new software, and disinterest in activating currently installed apps. "Seriously? This is why I prefer older phones. At least those let me do what I need without all this supposedly helpful bullshit..."

"No. I most certainly do not want to sync my social media accounts," groused the man while going through the set-up for the phone's usage.

"Yeah, I'm not calling the company to activate service either," he mumbled. "Probably get some guy with a weird accent who swears his name is 'Ted From Customer Service,' or something."

He thought better of it for a moment then grunted, "Doesn't matter how many times I try it, that's always the case. Better not risk running out of time while dealing with that fool."

His snort returned once more, "What kind of name is Ted, anyway?"

Energy similar in appearance to an electrical current arced from his finger tip into the phone. "Ah, there we go. No more stupid app bullshit."

He snorted loudly then shook his head. "I swear it's worse than updating the operating system on my zombie war-mech."

"What are you doing?" asked Princess Vita curiously. Most of what the man had said so far was a mystery to her. The device appeared to be some sort of technology, a cell phone if she guess properly. They were becoming popular in the main hub area that the alliance utilized.

A cruel smile spread across his lips. "I'm going to make a phone call, of course...." he said, just before he unleashed a dark chuckle. The chuckle became a sinister laugh and soon it evolved into a full-on manic cackle of feral glee.

"I was simply asking a question," she said, taken aback. The princess leaned away from the cackling madman and tilted her head to the side. "There is really no need for all of that, is there?"