Diego sighed in relief as ISIS responded in the affirmative to his request. Unlike the others he actually trusted the AI, he just felt that if that machine, no, ISIS, wanted to cause them harm, she would not be giving them the opportunity to grow stronger and she wouldn't tell them of her weapons. Perhaps it was the feminine voice tinged with a sort of mechanical hollowness, but Diego saw no threat in ISIS. She was there to protect them, to teach and instruct them. Not only that, she was there to accommodate them as evidenced by the promptness with which she was completing the changes to Diego's room. On top of that, she wasn't prodding him and asking him questions. The same questions over and over. What do you remember? How are you feeling? How is he feeling? Can you ask him to talk with us? And why not? Just ask him! Who is he?! Diego hated the questions and his companion hated them even more, and the questioners and everything else.<br/><br/>It was when the pretty one, Jennifer, spoke to him that his remembrance of countless interviews ceased. He turned his head and sputtered as she did. Him stumbling his own thoughts as she stumbled over her own question. Diego blushed as he gaped and tried to speak but suddenly found his mouth dry. His eyes widened as he looked to the table and back at her, feverishly trying to at least get a word out. His heart started to race and worry could be seen in his eyes. He was stunned simply by a question, embarrassingly so. He licked his lips nervously as he waved sheepishly.<br/><br/><b><span style="color: SlateGray">"Oh, ehm...oh dear. Uhhh. I...uh, b-believe that it is what you might call protection. I just...erm, I just don't want to break anything during the n-night."</span></b><br/><br/>He shook a little as<i>he</i>got angry. Diego shouldn't have mentioned the nighttime. Diego sputtered once more, as if he was afraid of speaking any further.<br/><br/><b><span style="color: SlateGray">"Uhhh, I'll see you later. I n-need to go."</span></b>, Diego said shakily as he walked past Jennifer toward the common room.<br/><br/>It was a fleeting moment during his passage that suddenly Jennifer could see something the others couldn't. As Diego passed by, he had forgotten to be careful in his rush. For the briefest moment, the back of his palm made contact with Jennifer's hand and during that half second, Jennifer didn't see just Diego, she saw<i>him</i>as well.<br/><br/>Floating by Diego, towering above both he and Jennifer, was a monstrous, shadow-like entity. Its lower half appeared as a trail of inky smoke, curving down and attaching into Diego's back. It was pitch black, as if it was made of ink. It's skin seemed to steam with a black miasma while what appeared to be muscles rippled powerfully under its black exterior. In its abdomen was a hole, open from the back and the front, that appeared to have been carved through as if by a sculptor. It was perfectly round, it's edges unfrayed and the inside of the shadow appearing completely smooth. Two powerful arms extended out of its center, muscled from shoulder to wrist. It's hands were large, easily able to envelop a person's face with a single palm, and its fingers were tipped with gruesome claws, pitch black and obviously able to lacerate and impale with wicked efficiency. Across its strong chest, chains seemed to erupt from its skin, hanging down at various lengths and chime with a chillingly serene sound as they swung and hit each other. It's neck was thick, as muscled as the rest of it body, with two last chains jutting out of the flesh and going up, crossing over its mouth before sinking into the flesh below its temples. Its forehead was adorned with a pair of large horns, bursting from the flesh and curving up into a pair of sharp points. The most terrifying aspect of this...<i>thing</i>though,  was its eyes. Like a pair of burning furnaces, it's eyes were a pair of flickering orbs that burned a bright yellow with sparks of orange and red. They smoldered with a fury that could melt brick and they were pointed directly at Jennifer, smothering her with their overwhelming anger, with a hate deeper than one could ever imagine.<br/><br/>Then it was gone, with Diego's hand swinging forward as he hurried off to his room.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>