Hey guys! Sorry I haven't really been updating on a frequent basis, but I'm tired of making excuses. I'm not gonna keep saying that I'm gonna start updating regularly because I'm not. I'll still keep updating my stories but don't expect them to be frequent.

Anyways, since he did this for me, I'm most definitely going to return the favor! Admiral Bobbery, if ya don't already know him, is a great author and one of my personal favorites here on the site! I'd highly recommend checking out his new fic, 'Future Diary', which is based off of a show called Mirai Nikki, which this story was also heavily based on! So if you like this fic, I'm sure you'll like his too, and maybe even some of his other great works!

Now, without further ado, here's the next chapter!

Koops lifted his head just as the gun fired another round past his head. He barely flinched as the spatter of blood on cold stone told him that the person beside him had not been as fortunate as he.

Or, perhaps it was the other way around? After everything he'd been through, the idea of finally dying was starting to grow on Koops.

The shotgun continued moving down the horizontal rail in front of him as the two other surviving captives on either side of him wailed in fear. The music box reset itself, rigging itself once again to fire as soon as the music stopped. The gun passed in front of Koops' face once more, but he didn't even try to struggle as the other two did. The music was halfway through as the gun reached the end of the rail and reversed, taking its time as it traveled back towards Koops.

Another shot. More screams, but not from his right side anymore. Koops dropped his head, defeated.

Lifting his head again, he saw the shotgun traveling back towards him. He suddenly froze. The music was reaching its crescendo. It was inches away from him...

Click.

The gun paused on the rails just as it reached Koops' face. The Koopa sighed in relief, or perhaps out of disappointment. It was out of ammo.

Moments later, hands tore the straps holding him in place away as he was dragged back to his cell. The other captive was taken away, screaming, to a different cell.

Koops was dragged past many other rooms where he caught glimpses of the awful things that the twins' other enemies were put through. A man stretched horizontally over a large spike, his arms quivering as he struggled to hold himself back from falling face first on the sharp object. A woman on an elevated treadmill, forced to run infinitely lest she stop and fall off, with only the noose around her neck to catch her.

A minute later he felt himself cast onto the floor, and this time he remembered to twist to the side as he fell so he wouldn't slam his chin against the floor like the first few times.

He lay where they tossed him, not even bothering to shift into a more comfortable position. To him, any position outside of the torture sessions was acceptably comfortable.

Silently, Koops wondered how long he had been here. Days? Weeks? Months? He tried to keep track at first, but since he hadn't seen a single window in this dungeon since he arrived, it was impossible to tell when day turned to night.

He had tried to escape. He really did try. Multiple times, in fact. However, the Levantu sisters proved too crafty for him. He couldn't teleport through locked doors. He couldn't teleport when they put a blindfold on him. His wrists were constantly cuffed together and his hands were locked in two strange, spherical metal balls, preventing him from even being able to use his fingers. His meager meals were always eaten off the floor like an animal.

He had given up. And the worst part was he couldn't even find a way to kill himself. His cell was smooth and clear of any sharp debris, and they kept him just weak enough that he wouldn't even have enough strength to bash his head against the wall.

Koops let out a raspy breath that could possibly have been taken for a sigh.

It was over. All he could do is wait for the twins to grow bored of him and finally end this game.

7Z7Z7Z7

"My Lady, I'm not sure...I mean...are you absolutely certain you wish to go through with this...?"

Cheryl glanced at Elise, her eyes narrowed. "Are you doubting me?"

Immediately Elise raised her hands defensively and made several bows. "N-no! Absolutely not! It's just...is he really worth it...? Many could die in this raid, and..."

Cheryl turned her attention back to the manor. A white van was parked just outside the gilded gates, and two guards moved towards it, automatic guns strapped across their chests.

"You already know better than anyone else, Elise." Cheryl said. "Your lives mean nothing to me. I need him. He is worth all of your lives and more."

Elise nodded solemnly. "I understand that, My Lady. But...if I may ask...why? What is so special about this Koopa?"

Cheryl just stared ahead, pointing towards the gates. A smile split across her face. The guards lay dead as two members of the Exiled moved to unlock the gates. Almost immediately an alarm sounded from somewhere within the manor. The two cultists barely had enough time to make a sign of reverence towards Cheryl's position before bullets that they had been expecting riddled their backs. Forces charged out from both sides, and the sounds of battle rang out.

"'The Gates will be opened, and the Soldiers of Blood and Gold will quake beneath the onslaught of the Faithful.'" Cheryl turned back to we companion. "Did I not predict that this exact thing would happen? Heh. And yet you doubt me..."

Elise dropped to the ground and prostrated before the Boo. "My Lady, I hold the upmost reverence and faith in you. Your Word is Law and your Purpose divine. I Trust only in you."

The words flowed freely and mechanically from Elises' lips, but her heart beat a different tune...

"As you should." Cheryl smirked. "For now at least. It's not hard to see that treachery lives close to me."

Elises' heart skipped a beat. How...?

"But no matter." Opening the case beneath her arm, Cheryl removed a long metal object. "That will come later. For now, there will be blood."

7Z7Z7Z7

Wincing in pain, Koops fell to the floor with a thud.

Well, it was worth a shot, but his power wouldn't work when he's this weak. Silence once again settled upon his cell.

Except...what was that?

Koops strained to listen. He could hear the faint sound of...gunfire?

"Do...you hear that?" he heard a woman from an adjacent cell ask. "What's going...on...?"

"Dunno..." a man further down answered. "But hopefully it comes down here and kills me..."

"Hey!" a younger voice screamed as loud as his weak voice could manage. "We're down here!"

"Shut up!"

"You guys, it could be the police, o-or-"

"I said shut up! Nobody's gonna help us!"

"You don't know that!"

Koops sighed, more fed up with his fellow inmates' arguing then anything. All he wanted was to close his eyes...and...

7Z7Z7Z7

"Flank those doors! Kill anyone who comes through!" Erika shouted to her mercenaries. "You, you, and you, take positions on the second floor and fire down on them as they enter!"

Jamming a new magazine into her rifle, she suddenly felt a hand grasp her arm.

She turned to see her sister trying to yank her away, her eyes pleading for her to escape with her.

Erika smiled and gingerly touched her mirror image. "No. We can fight them. There's no way I'm letting them take that bastard from us before we can kill him."

Alice seemed to puzzle over the situation before nodding to her sister, placing her trust in her twins' decision.

Erika pulled her sister in for a quick kiss before pushing her back. "Now, go. Stay somewhere safe."

Alice responded by grabbing an assault rifle and a belt of grenades, shooting a steely look towards her sister.

Erika grinned. "I didn't think you'd listen."

"The courtyard's fucked!" a mercenary called out, running into the main foyer. "They got freakin' suicide bombers, man! No way I'm takin' them on!"

"You do as you were paid to do!" Erika responded.

"I ain't dyin' for you snobs!" the Hammer Bro. yelled back. A few other mercenaries nodded and grunted their agreement. Erika gritted her teeth. She was losing them.

Tossing sacks of coins down, she fished for one last attempt of loyalty. "Stay and fight, and all of that and more is yours."

The hired guns shifted uncomfortably, obviously considering this offer very seriously: money or death. Which did they care more about?

Suddenly, a robed figure dashed into the room, throwing the mercenaries off guard. Stopping in the midst of the the Hammer Bro. and a group of other soldiers, he raised his fist, a button held firmly in his grasp with a cord attached to it that slithered into his cloak.

Before anyone else could do anything, he cried out in a passionate voice.

"May the Exiled return to the Light!"

At once an explosion rocked the room, and Erika fell back as a warm spray spattered across her. Looking back at the spot, the five people who had been standing there no longer existed. All that remained was a small crater and a mess of twisted limbs.

"Oh, shit!" a terrified soldier yelped, running out of the building as fast as he could. The other mercenaries weren't far behind him, and soon the sisters found themselves alone in the grand foyer.

Erika growled. "This is what I get for buying loyalty with gold..."

Suddenly a shot rang out, and searing pain forced Erika to the ground. Crying out, she clutched at her leg.

Or the stump that was left of it.

Horrified, she stared in shock at what remained of her limb as her sister rushed to her side.

"Oh, so sorry 'bout that!" a voice dripping with sarcasm filled the foyer. "I was aiming for that dirty, incest riddled crotch of yours, but I seemed to have missed!"

Gritting her teeth, Erika turned towards the voice. Floating into the room, a sleek sniper rifle held casually on her shoulder, was a very smug looking Boo, flanked by at least a dozen Exiled, all heavily armed.

"I always was a poor shot." she smirked.

"You...!" the girl was filled with pure hate. "I remember you."

"Oh, yeah, you two were at Peachy's party, right? Good times, good times! Unfortunate that we can't be meeting under such circumstances, yeah?"

The Boo took her time making her way up the stairwell towards the sisters.

Alice stood in front of Erika and raised her rifle, but a simple nod from Cheryl directed her cultists into disarming her and knocking her several feet back.

Cheryl picked up the girl's gun, inspecting it thoughtfully.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad." she said. "But I think my toy is cooler, yeah?"

Pointing her rifle at Erika's head, she pretended to fire off a round and pantomimed the girl's brains splattering against the floor.

"Know what ya get when ya mix high caliber rounds, deadly precision, and a speed that's nearly on par with sound itself? Free leg amputations!"

Cheryl cackled to herself as Erika stared at her with loathing.

Cheryl noticed this and stopped, putting her hand on her hips. "You're not laughing. Oh, c'mon, I already apologized, didn't I?"

Floating to where the girl's leg lay, she picked it up by the foot and cradled it in her arms like a bat. "So, I'm sure you both know why I'm here. From here on out, we can do things the tortuous way, or the excruciating way!"

Alice rushed in again and took a swing at Cheryl, but the Boo ducked under her blow and swung the leg at her face, hitting her in the jaw with the bloody thigh.

"Okay, excruciating it is!"

"Alice, don't!" Erika crawled towards her sister who was trying to pick herself up off the ground. "You have to run!"

Alice shook her head and glared at their enemy.

Cheryl laughed. "Oh, how adorable! True love! Except usually you don't see it between two murderous clones."

"You know nothing of us!" Erika growled.

"Au contraire, my dear little psychopath! I know all about the two poor little Levantu twins. About their family's dwindling income. About their issues with dear old Daddy. About their...special relationship..." Cheryl's grin became more and more wolffish with each word. "Not to mention that torture chamber you guys have got in the basement. You two have some crazy fetishes, ya know that?"

"I'll kill you...I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Not without yer arms ya won't!"

Erika screamed again as her right arm was torn from her body. Collapsing to her side, she felt her sister clutch her body in her arms, still unable to even utter a single word.

Cheryl sighed, placing one hand on her hip and picking between her teeth with the other, feigning incredible boredom. "So, uh, we done talking here or something? 'Cuz I kinda got a schedule to follow, and I'm already runnin' a little late as it is, what with takin' the time to blow your damn limbs off and such."

Wincing through the pain, Erika managed to turn to her sister.

"Just...run...you have to..."

Another bang. But this time, Erika did not feel the sting of the bullet.

Time seemed to pass slowly as the bullet traveled through Alice's neck, slowly severing her head from her body in a morbid display, her lifeless eyes still locked on her sister.

Then it was as if time returned to normal, and Alice's body fell limp to the side, her head thudding to the ground a few feet away and rolling gently into the wall.

"WHOA!" Cheryl cried out after a moment of silence. "Did...did you freakin' SEE THAT!? I mean, DAMN! Was that was cool or what?! I didn't know this gun could do that! The gift that keeps on giving! Oh, Ms. Sniper Rifle, what CAN'T you do?"

Erika's outstretched arm was frozen in place, reaching towards the headless body that only a few seconds ago was the only person she ever cared about. Her arm dropped, lying atop the lifeless arm across from her.

"Ah, dammit. In hindsight, I probably should've kept her alive for a while longer. She was such a pretty little thing..." Picking up Alice's head, she turned it towards Erika, grinning impishly. "Oh, I know quite a few sick fucks who would've paid an arm and a leg for this one here! Oh, er...no pun intended, heh..."

Tossing the head away, she bent down and tilted Erika's head towards her, still grinning and her eyes narrowed to slits. "But, alive, dead, what's it matter, right? Some people actually like 'em better when they're cold!" Cackling, she dropped Erika's face, stood up, and pressed the end of her gun towards her temple.

"I know it's a bit cliché, but I just gotta ask: any last words?"

Sliding her remaining hand down the arm of the corpse next to her, Erika firmly closed her hand around her sister's.

"Nothing, huh? Figured as much. It always goes down this way. You guys are no fun..."

Cheryl's eyes widened in anticipation as adrenaline coursed through her. Her face was threatening to split in half due to her uncontrollable smile.

"'And the Mirrored Demons shall fall, torn apart by the Holy Metal. Death finds them as Life delivered them: alone.'..."

7Z7Z7Z7

Clanking metal. Screams. Were they of terror or joy? Koops couldn't tell. He was still half sure he was just dreaming. The world faded in and out, and the room felt unnaturally cold. His heart was thumping slowly and off beat, and his thoughts were clouded. Time seemed to skip over itself, and Koops couldn't tell how much time passed before he finally noticed that the door to his cell had been broken down.

Using all the strength he could muster, he raised his head half an inch off the ground.

And wished he hadn't.

Before him stood a blood soaked Boo, a rifle strapped to her back, floating above the aftermath of a small explosion. She smiled down at the carnage around her.

"Thanks, buddy! Guess that door just took a little elbow grease to open up, eh? And some high grade explosives, but let's not talk semantics, yeah?"

Koops felt some sort of primal scream erupt from his throat, and he scrabbled away from the woman, pressing himself hard against the wall behind him.

"Surprise!" Cheryl cheered, waving jazz hands towards him. "Weren't expecting this, huh?"

'No...' Koops thought. 'No, no, this can't be...'

Cheryl sighed as she walked towards him. "Man, things have been REAL tough for me lately. Ever since you decided to, er, 'seek new opportunities' with your 'cool new friends', I've been up to my ears in work! Do you know how hard it is to be the tactical leader of an underground cult while also being the leader of plenty of long and dangerous missions? It's like sending your king out to battle in a game of chess! Needless to say, NOT PLEASANT!"

Screaming these last words, she grabbed Koops by the throat. She began to strangle him, but before Koops could feel his trachea break from her force, she stopped.

Dropping him to the ground, she took a few deep breaths before continuing. "Sorry about that. My blood pressure's just been really high lately. A lotta stress when you're doing things all on your own. You know, 'cuz Luigi ain't around anymore either. Little bastard packed up and left without a word. Pretty sure it had something to do with the murder of his girlfriend. Oh, hey, wasn't that YOUR doing? Man, you really screwed the pooch on that one, pal! I don't think I need to tell you this, but he is NOT happy about that!"

Koops perked up at these words. Luigi left Cheryl's alliance? Then he must still be alive out there.

This only added to Koops' list of threats. Perhaps if things had been different, perhaps if he hadn't murdered Daisy...

But, no. He did. And now Luigi was out there somewhere, most likely plotting on killing Koops for what he had done.

That is, if Cheryl didn't kill him first for his betrayal.

Cheryl bent down and forced Koops to look up at her. She stared at him through narrowed eyes and spoke in a low voice.

"Oh, don't worry Koops. I'm not gonna kill you. Because if I do, then I don't get what I want, you see? You don't need to know all the details, but there's something I need you for. And if you're dead, then it won't work out for me." She smiled evilly. "But, that doesn't mean I need you completely in one piece. Understand?"

Koops growled. Who was she to tell him what to do? Koops was through with being pushed around, being someone else's dog, being told what to do and when to do it! He spit in her face, conveying his message rather clearly.

Sighing, Cheryl wiped his saliva off before slamming his head to the ground. Aiming her rifle at him she said, "Unless you want me to open up a few new holes in your body, I suggest you don't do that again. You see, I gave you a choice last time, Koops. But now, you don't GET a choice. You do what I say, when I say. Or, perhaps you don't care about that girlfriend of yours after all? What was her name? Snoopie Poo? Doopie Stoo?"

Koops felt his already weak heart pause for a beat. "Koopie...!"

Cheryl smacked her forehead. "Ah, that's it! Koopie! Yeah, I seemed to have forgotten that! But I know plenty of other stuff about her. Like how she lives at 143 Morel Lane. She works at the Goom&Para insurance firm on weekdays, and a few overtime hours on Saturday to make some extra money for her dear, precious boyfriend. Everyday, on her way to work, she orders an egg and cheese sandwich on a gluten free bagel from the 'Eggs and Bakey' food truck just five blocks from her apartment. She showers at exactly 8:36 PM each night, except on Saturdays where she waits until 9:00 PM. She rolls over approximately thirteen times when she's sleeping each night. Get the picture Koops? I can and WILL kill her at any place and any time I want...provided, of course, that you don't disobey me. If you just do whatever I want, she'll be safe and relatively happy!"

Koops felt like screaming, like running, like killing this witch before him. But he was physically spent. There was nothing he could do but lie there as she exploited his every weakness and outlined every term of his new future of slavery.

"And, I know what you're thinking. 'LOL, Cheryl, how are you gonna keep me locked up and make me do all that? I can just run away or kill you!' Well, I'm glad you asked! Luckily, I'm smarter than the average Boo, so this is what we're gonna do to remedy that little situation, 'k? Step One: Fit you with a collar like the good little dog you are, one that will make quite the blast if you try to escape your owner! Step Two: Instruct all of the Exiled to kill you AND your girlie friend if you so much as sneeze in my direction! Sound like a plan? Okay, champ! Now, let's get ya up and at 'em!"

Koops felt two pairs of hands yank him up as two Exiled held him between them. He hung limp, forced to look at a sneering Cheryl, eyeing him as if he was a treat she was about to devour.

"Oh, Koops," she giggled. "It's great to have you back! What fun we'll have, don't you think? It'll be just like old times!"

Turning back towards the cell entrance, she floated out and snapped her fingers.

"Now, let's get to work, shall we?"