((Collab Post between Letter Bee and Lord Santa))

[b][i]The Return of Constantine Ramiel King![/i][/b]

Two years of faking death, two years of having bet all; relationships, worldly possessions, and his authority over the Reformists on this gamble, and Constantine Ramiel King's body was now being exhumed, exhumed from a coffin where it lay in state, seemingly perfectly enbalmed. The truth was, Constantine had never truly inhabited the coffin after his funeral, and had been smuggling himself in and out for his time 'dead'.

Now, at last, the operation that had torn him away from his family was paying off, and Constantine was about to be transported to the Underground Movement's base...

Soon, a blue portal appeared out of space and a masked man beast emerged, loping out from who-knew-where. He trudged through the dingy cemetery with a sense of purpose, as if it was looking for something. He stopped at a particular grave and bent down to begin digging. The isolated cemetery was thankfully devoid of witnesses and the beast continued, undeterred. Some 6 foot underground, it found what it'd apparently been looking for. Its monstrous claws unearthed a black coffin, the coffin of the allegedly dead Constantine King. The man beast took one side and hefted the coffin with unearthly strength, taking it out of the grave and carefully placing it aboveground. It climbed out and quickly re-filled the now empty grave. Once that task was done, it grabbed the coffin and made its way back to the still open portal.

It and the coffin emerged in one of the abandoned sewer's many empty chambers, repurposed as a dissection lab for Isaac's use. A walkway was suspended above the room, with stairs leading down into the interior. The walls were lined with benches on which were placed surgical and containment tools. A surgical bed lay in the center of the room, and to its left was a trolley with several trays, the uppermost having an array of dissection tools. A few lights adorned the room, illuminating its interior. The man-beast dragged the coffin through the portal next to the bed, on the right. He left it there, moved to an empty corner of the room and waited.

Isaac emerged from a door onto the walkway and proceded to walk down to his laboratory. It appeared that his dragons were having the intended effect and pushing the reformists back. Though if heroes like the cartoonish Light showed up, he could be in a spot of trouble. That said, he had confidence in his creatures, and should his dragons fail, he had something else up his sleeve. Hence, Isaac was focused on the task in front of him.

As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he took some gloves from the bench near the foot of the staircase and put them on. Hygiene first, as always. He proceded to walk towards the surgical bed, withdrawing his scalpels to check their condition. He was satisfied with their sharpness, he put them down onto the surgical tray. He was ready to begin. 

First, he paced around to the coffin and removed his glasses, putting them in his pocket. As usual, the glowing points swam into view. He touched one on the coffin and noted down its characteristics. He waved to the man-beast who shuffled over. Isaac moved aside and the man-beast took the coffin lid and lifted it easily, revealing Constantine's body.

To all eyes, Constantine's body would look cold and dead, with years in the earth having given it a pallor. But manipulating eyes and brains were Constantine's specialty, meaning that Issac and the beastman were already under an illusion, an illusion that allowed Constantine to open his eyes without anyone noticing, and taking in his first sight of the Underground Movement's headquarters. 

A second later, a glowing spear was thrust into the man-beast's chest, a spear that was extended from a cylinder that the 'corpse' had been holding.Issac might be puzzled, until the illusion faded, showing Constantine in a fighting stance, in front of them, and angry.

"A dissection bed, really, [I]Issac[/i]? Oh, and how does it feel to be subjected to your own trick, basically someone faking their death?" Constantine said, his tone almost laughing in its mockery, as he used another illusion to hide any visual indication of his vital points. "I knew Isabella was a threat, I knew that she was out there somewhere. And you, you will give me all information you know about her," he said as he pulled out the spear from the man-beast.

"Otherwise...I will make sure that your sordid career is ended prematurely."

Isaac bent down to check his man-beast. It was still breathing a little, but its lungs were punctured. Its heart was fine, as he'd relocated it, but the lungs were quite the problem. They were a problem he could fix later, but still bothersome. He wasn't sure if he could keep it alive long enough to finish the bothersome confrontation and force Constantine to leave. He pinched a few vital points to stop the bleeding and left the man-beast on the floor for now. Its regeneration would keep it alive for now.

[b]"You can't expect a liar to tell the truth, I suppose."[/b] Isaac sighed, dusting himself off.
Constantine had hid his vital points, but that didn't really pose any issue. There were vital points common to humans and if he wanted to use them, then he could. That said, he was unarmed. It would be quite another task to fight him without a sharp object, but it wasn't exactly impossible. He would have to sacrifice a few limbs for that, however, and he didn't have the time.

[b]"Constantine, you spend 2 years faking your death to find Isabella. I find that extremely inefficient."[/b] Isaac remarked. [b]"I know many things about Isabella, things I only took half a year to collect thorugh observation alone. It would've been much more expedient to find her whereabouts in that time with your allies and observing her. And yet here you are."[/b]

"Point taken, Issac," said the man, who appeared to be standing there, but was in truth sitting on one of the dissection beds, glowing spear still in hand, "but finding Isabella was not my only goal, it was also preparing defenses against the [I]Third Party[/i], the source of the phenomenon known today as Metahumanity. The time I spent out of my coffin has been spent preparing new weapons, new technologies, ones that will save all sapient life on this planet from [i]the harvest[/i]. And, well, Issac, I won't make any claims to know you, but you're not as adverse to Non-Metahuman company as other members of the Undergrounds; why don't you join our project; even with my old faction 'observing' the Government, we're still able to get our hands dirty."

[b]"Constantine, if you knew that I faked my own death, you should know why I cannot join you."[/b] Isaac sighed, as he took an office chair from a nearby bench and sat down. [b]"It is not my hobby that puts me at odds with others, it is my nature. Specifically, my absolute apathy for humanity."[/b]

Isaac spun idly on his chair, as if bored.
[b]"All I wish to do is to learn. To know. To study."[/b] He said. [b]"If I can learn no more from observing the subject, I will kill them and study them. I have absolutely no loyalty to anything other than my will to know. This is what puts me at odds with your kind of people."[/b]

"I had to try," said Constantine before the sound of a door opening and closing can be heard; he had escaped.

Isaac sighed, picked walked over to the tray and picked up his tools. He walked over to his man-beast and began sewing the wound closed. That done, he left the man-beast to regenerate by itself and walked out of his lab.

As he exited, he commanded another beast to teleport him to his announcment room. It was a localised public announcment system likely installed by the builders of the sewer he inhabitated. It hadn't served him that well, but he wanted it now. He sent off the man beast to drop a package in front of the elevator leading to the surface (and the actual underground movement base) and turned on the PA system.
[b]"Constantine. A package has been dropped in front of an elevator leading to the real underground movement base. Consider it a peace offering to prevent the wilful destruction of my test subjects. It contains a hard disk which has all of the information I know about the underground movement."[/b] Isaac said. [b]"It's likely one of your colleagues has access to most of said files. Some of the files he or she has likely given to the reformists are encrypted, I have not taken the liberty to include them in your package."[/b]
The man-beast returned, signifying its success.
[b]"As for the matter of the [i]third party[/i]... I have something in place for that."[/b] Isaac said cryptically. [b]"That is all."[/b]

Isaac left the public announcment room and walked into the nearby camera room. He had secret cameras surveying the above ground battles, and he was confident that Constantine was done with him. What he wanted now was to observe the battle.

Constantine found the package in its intended location, and, taking the hard disk and putting it in his pocket, began to head up, up to the actual Underground Movement base. It was time to do what he needed to do to help; while his heart had been hardened by Elena's incapacity, he was not leaving his once-comrades out in the lurch, not when he was in a position to help them. 

Soft and hard; there was a balance. Cedric had forgotten said balance, and thus would have to be lectured, even though this would open him, Constantine, to be lectured in turn. Why? Because he had crossed his personal Moral Event Horizon, with what he did to his adoptive brother, Gary Stuart...