The Inquisition Plot: INQUISITOR Thread
"I'm getting movement... Looks like a real Frankenstein's labyrinth, down there. Maybe our informant was as truthful as we hoped."

"Purging has a... Guilting effect on one's soul," came the radioed reply. "It wouldn't surprise me."

The original figure kept a steady watch on the proceedings. Technology had come a long way since the Inquisition's first forays into supernatural discovery and combat. A headset-like contraption was used to view through optics, internally translating the images into a hybrid cross between X-ray vision and thermal imaging. It allowed the user a complete overview of not only what was going on inside the structure, but an instant appraisal of creatures generating far less body heat than their human guise might lead one to believe.

Heretics... If ever there was visual proof of their infecting communities, this would be it. If any were purely human, then they were no less in need of cleansing of their sins. Fifth columnists were a dangerous breed. The entire Empire could collapse, if they were not dealt with.

"We need a decision. You know what was described... If accurate, you know what that'll allow them. There's no telling how many other worlds they'll contaminate. It's only good fortune we put a stop to the last one."

"Agreed."

"Don't wait."

"It's not up to us."

"Then it should be..."

"Let us not squabble. We have too many-"

A burst of static filled the air between the collective voices. Superiors had made their decision and none had reason to countermand it. Now everything descended into silence. Bullets, incendiaries, harpoons, tranquiliser darts... A veritable potpouri of supernatural bounty-hunting devices. Muscles tensed, shadowy figures descended and moved in. The first they encountered were almost always given the option to surrender willingly to purging. A flaw, perhaps, but an honourable one.

And they almost always refused.

That some Inquisitors would be lost in this confrontation was expected, but the enemy would lose far more. From one level to another they swept, neutralising threats and prosecuting their mission with the utmost of efficiency. Only when making their way to the lowest level did things become hectic. The machine was cycling up, was operational. A small group of fugitives were clearly within it, as the device blinked them from one dimensional to the next. The process was so energy-consuming and crudely replicated that the individual components began to spark, malfunction and burn themselves out. Not an intentional method of self-destruction, but an unavoidable one.

The fugitive slumped at the console was dead, a casualty of the crossfire. Looks of disgust were made at the inclusion of skeletal remains in the machinery; surely, the Inquisitors reasoned, the product of diabolical inspiration? They had no comprehension of the true reasoning behind it, but it added to their sense of vindication.

There were only moments to spare: The energy signature was fading fast. If they were to follow, then it needed to be done now. The creatures had built a huge contraption in an attempt to recreate a portal generator, which the Inquisitors wore upon their wrists. The decision was made to retrieve the fugitives for either purging or destruction. To allow their demonic taint to infect another world could not be tolerated. If they succeeded, who knew how many billions would die or if they would return to this world, flush with resources, at the head of some invading army?

And so, riding on the interdimensional crest of their quarry's escape, representatives from a sprawling British Empire landed in a very different reality. One with no Inquisition. Instead, the otherworldly was not only openly existing, but largely allowed to.

Paradise, as Milton would say, had been lost.

[Inquisitor Thread: Open to Hayden, Kathleen, Connor, Rhiannon, Victoria, Bethany, Logan, Cian, Tseng, Toby, Warner, Pat (all human)]

(Submitted by E)