The Grandos Paradox

As other strangers joined up with the group at the terminal, Tatsuo couldn't help to notice how different a few of them were. It was clear to the group that the man who came after him is from the military. Maybe the man is from Canak? He knew he shouldn't jump into conclusions like that, assuming that not everyone here is from the continent he was raised in. It was an interesting thought, knowing that this group will be filled with a bunch of people who came from the other continents, each holding their own different perspective of this world they currently inhabit. Tatsuo wondered how this will all turn out.


But after the military man came in, two others who were rather "quiet" approached the escort soldier. And as they did so, they then gave the large man their names. The only one who didn't really show the escort his envelope was the man named Darian, but Tatsuo didn't think that that would be a big problem, anyways. The group not only had these three newcomers, but they also had an entire family with them as well. About four of them, to be exact. One was even blind, which had surprised him. Besides having to be highly dependent on his family, the man must also have some amazing sword skills up his sleeves, seeing that he also has two swords. He then stared back over to the people exiting the airships, wondering how skilled with the way of the sword this blind man really is. A blind swordsman, if skilled enough, would be a force to be reckoned with. It would be interesting to see the man in battle one of these days. He just kept staring at the airships as he let himself get lost within his own thoughts for a moment.


After a while, the escort soldier had happily placed the sign he was holding onto inside his jacket, after he had told them all that it is finally time to move out. Such a strong, yet friendly voice the man had, which was a bit surprising due to the fact that this man was large in size. But nevertheless, Tatsuo had just simply shook his head after the escort soldier asked if anyone needed help with their luggage. Even the blind man had asked for his own luggage back, which was picked up by the large man. He probably felt bad for him since he couldn't really see. And along with that, the first person who was here before all of them reached this island was acting childish around the large man. Is that woman new to this island like how Tatsuo is? Or is she just having fun admiring the soldier's large stature? He shrugged it off, though. Seeing that isn't really important right now.


And soon enough, Tatsuo just stared down over to his suit case and bent over to pick it up. Once he had a hold onto the handle of his luggage, he stood back up and stared at the soldier. "I'm all right with carrying it on my own, but thank you for the offer." He thanked the large man as he bowed his head towards him. Tatsuo then looked around the area, enjoying once again the fact that he had never been here before in his entire life. Soon enough, though, he began to wonder about this meeting after he had taken in the view of the terminal before he followed the others. Who is it that ordered this soldier to escort them? Of course, an almost similar version of this question had already been asked by one of the women in the group. Whoever it was that sent them these letters obviously must have something important to tell them all.


It is of great political significance, after all..


I bet that this escort of ours must know something about this meeting we're about to attend.. Tatsuo thought to himself as he followed the others. He then figured that he shouldn't ask, instead he should just be patient for the time being. Either way, they were all going to figure out soon enough.
 
Koboi considered Estus' point,and said, "You're probably right." He made a turn into a byway,and began to chant in the language of magic. At the same time,he done an intricate dance and moved his fingers in an equally intricate way. He pointed his axe at his peer,and let the spell fly. To their perceptions,they became translucent. A nearby homeless man suddenly started and shouted, "Where did they go!?" Koboi motioned for Estus to follow him,still muttering in the magickal language. He didn't bother explaining,as it would require interrupting the chant. They resumed their pursuit of the woman in the uniform,quickly catching up to her. She taken a few unexpected turns,but a few minutes later,she came out of an alleyway near the express elevator to the second deck. Koboi stopped and held his arm out to stop Estus as their mark boarded the elevator. After it went down,he called up the next elevator,and boarded it himself,expecting Estus to follow. When it opened,their mark was visible in the distance. Following her,still muttering his spell,Koboi witnessed her enter a building made of black and white rock with magnificent windows. Koboi motioned to a nearby alleyway and ducked into it,and stopped chanting.


~~~


The giant of a man released the blind man's luggage at his request,and quickly apologized, "I am deeply sorry,sir. I meant no offense." He turned to leave the skydock,and called behind him, "Keep close! It's easy to be lost in the throngs at Fisherman's Horizon." The crowd seemingly parted at his approach,as if he projected an invisible wedge before him. The crowd moved to the elevator to the fifth deck proper,and then began to lead his charges through the densely build and tightly packed megopolis. They taken a dizzying number of turns,and eventually found themselves at the express elevator to the second deck. "Come along,now! We're nearly there!" When the elevator opened up to the second deck,the occupants were greeded by a sight of uncountable government and corporate buildings,while the fifth deck was nearly nothing but hotels, restaurants and warehouses. The giant led the charges to a magnificent building,made of marble and basalt bricks,with window panes seemingly made of crystal. The door was flanked by two people in identical uniforms to his,one man and one woman. The man was tiny,and would easily pass as an adolescent,but his stature and visage betrayed his age. He also wore gloves that went under his sleeves. The woman wore her blonde hair in a braided ponytail that reached her tailbone. "Welcome. The other guests will arrive shortly." The large man nodded,and led the charges inside. The first room was perfectly round,with benches and planters arranged throughout the room. "Please,take a seat. We will fetch you when it's time to begin. There is food and drink on the table in the middle of the room." With that,he left the guests to their own devices.


~~~


The man put his wallet away reluctantly. He replied to his charge, "I'm Major Ferdinand. I was briefed before I left." His tone and body language was casual,as if he were talking to an old and trusted friend. "Our organization is being used as arbiters for talks between the Bockrath and Almaz governments. Apparently,people are finally trying to end the hatred between Mundanes and Mages." He shrugged,and said, "It'll take more than talks and laws,but it's a start,at least. It means we won't get caught in the middle of a war." They reached the express elevator to the second deck. Once Lazar boarded with him,he confided, "I heard that flash down south was actually some Almaz spooks testing some sort of new spell. Makes me wonder." When the doors opened,he led Lazar out of the elevator and to a building made of marble and basalt. "Here's our stop." He waved to the guards,the short man looked particularly sour to see him,while the woman waved with a bright smile. "It great to see you,Ferdinand!" The major chuckled,and replied, "You know I'm taken,Baynam." The woman chuckled,and replied as they entered, "You can share,right?" Ferdinand waved her off as a response. During this exchange,the short man looked like he was trying his best to ignore the whole thing,but his sliding jaw and the sound of grinding enamel betrayed his annoyance. When they entered,he saw the other guests gathered in the waiting room,and said, "Looks like we're late...Alright,make yourself comfortable. We'll send someone to get all of you when we have everything set up." ​With that,he left the room.
 
The disheveled young thief’s mood sunk into a sort of crestfallen slump as she fell into step behind their giant-blooded guide. Every hint of playfulness seemed to extract itself rapidly from her persona as she realized that the others seemed to be actively ignoring her. Even their guide whom had seemed so good natured and humorous didn’t so much as make note of her teases and inquiries. Perhaps she was being shunned for being of a lower social class. She had drawn the conclusion earlier that her fellow letter bearers seemed to be of a rather proper disposition, and so it would stand to reason that they would find her rather distasteful.


She barely seemed to notice the elevator ride as her eyes flitted self-consciously over the gathered group again and again as she watched them. Not even the sight of the impressive cluster of government and high end buildings improved her mood despite the newness of it all. The girl just kept her eyes lowered as she hugged her bag tightly against her chest. If she were so unwelcome then she would stay out of their way and merely play the part of the observer . . .


Their guide led them to a massive marble and brick structure. It was breathtaking by its sheer magnitude. Once inside of the doors to this grand architectural masterpiece, they received a rather welcoming greeting from the two people posted by the door. Alexis noted with no small amount of spite that the greeting blanketed them all. As such it did nothing to ease her feeling of excommunication from the others that had been gathered. It simply meant that they were not ready to discard of her yet.


The promise of food, after all else had failed to revive her spirits, seemed to lessen her depression to some small degree. At its mention she quickly broke off from the rest of the group, still hugging her bag closely as she walked to the table. Once there she carefully set her treasured bag at her feet before picking up a small bun. Seemingly engrossed in the process of eating this simple piece of bread she broke off a minuscule piece of it. That tiny morsel was enough, however, as the woman seemed to melt at the taste.


Her skeletal fingers worked deftly at the small pastry, tearing very small chunks free so that she could savor it to its fullest. Once she was about a quarter of the way finished with the bun, she picked up another and rather clumsily hid it in the pocket of her pants. Several more soon followed suit as they disappeared into the inner pockets of her tan cloak. Then, having collected about a day and a half’s worth of bread, she finally continued on the original piece that she had picked up.


Almost as if it were an afterthought, the girl glanced casually around the room to check who may have noticed. Her cheeks glowed with a faint blush as she continued to portion her food out for herself. People like her didn’t belong in this world. By now the others should have noticed the same thing about her . . . by now they were probably already counting her out of whatever event they had been invited to. She didn’t really care all that much, but it was enough to peak her curiosity. Why HAD someone like her been invited? Usually political folks avoided her sort of people.
 
Fay patiently walked after the two little delinquents. Ok, they may not be little or delinquents but Bandage man was giving her the creeps. She knew something was up the second she heard of him and then he took out that little stash of weapons which confirmed her thoughts even more. And that was just the start because Fay has noticed something rather interesting in her stalking moments of the day. While Fay stalked Ally and Bandage, Bandage and Ally stalked Uniform. And in return Fay stalked Uniform which was currently being stalked by Fay´s targets; Ally and Bandage. Fay stopped a second; slightly baffled by her train of thoughts. She had never..She had never thought such a complicated but rather swift thing before. But her wondering went to the drain the second Bandage made a sharp turn into a byway. Soon enough Fay started to jog to catch up with the two.


Entering the rather narrow byway she saw a homeless man which was staring of after Uniform with a frown and she also noticed the absence of miss and mister troublesome. With a sigh she walked against the man with a small soft smile imprinted in her face. A few years ago she was just like him. On the verge of death while starving. "Excuse me." Fay blindly said loudly before remembering Uniform and quickly glanced her way.


"What do you want! I have no money!" He said rather afraid while staring at Fay. Panicked she walked over faster. "Shush! Don´t talk so loud.." She quickly whispered while glancing again at Uniform seeing she had not caught her attention she turned back to the man. "I just want to know if there were two people. A woman with chestnut coloured hair with a single white streak and a man. The man has bandage all over his body and I believe it would be rather hard to forget him." The homeless man slowly stared at her while thinking. A smug smirk graced his tattered lips while he stared at Fay. "What do I get in this..let´s say..deal? Deal.." He tasted the word with a content smile on his face. "What do I get out of this deal?" Fay couldn´t help but slightly grin herself. "I promise 200 silver coins?" The man nodded as fast as he could while staring at Fay with a soft smile. "Thank you, I guess. And before I say anything...this may sound crazy..But the bandage man did some kind of ritual dance before using a axe to point against chestnut lady and they disappeared. In thin air..." Fay eyes widen. They were mages. OF COURSE! Of course she felt weird the moment she heard of Bandage and seeing Ally made her nervous. Those little pricks were mages, those little bastards. They came into the wrong town and are messing with the wrong girl.


"Eh..My coins?..." The raspy voice of the homeless man woke Fay from her daze while she stared at Uniform without thinking she walked against her. Following her. The homeless man stood there; staring at her back. "Seek Finn, you´ll find him at Le´Doris café. Tell him Blue Dragon owes you 200 silver coins. You´ll get your money there, Sir." She said rushed while starting to jog after Uniform.


After her damned to hell target took a few millions -well at least it felt like that - turns and crocks, Uniform came out of an alleyway which lead to the express elevator to the second floor. Fay slowed down a bit letting Uniform enter before her. When Uniforms elevator went down, Fay saw the next elevator come up. She stared at the button which was pressed when the elevator was needed and frowned. What just happened? Fay let it go and took the next elevator; slightly afraid from the mysterious one.


Upon arriving at the second deck; Fay barely missed Uniform enter a building made out of white and black rocks with one of the most amazing windows Fay had ever seen. She had been to the second deck many times but never had she seen this building. How could she have missed it? She sighed before entering a nearby alleyway , waiting for either Uniform or Bandage and Ally to be seen. She had been gazing at the building but turned around when she felt some kind of energy change. And guess what? Mister Bandage and Lady Ally stood there in the alleyway. Awkwardly Fay made a crocked smile. "Um..Hello?" She said as if this was a mere accident meeting. But what she hoped Bandage and Ally didn´t notice her discreetly trying to take out her handguns.
 
As Major Ferdinand kept talking, the more at odds Nikon became with the situation; where exactly was this man taking him? The letter hadn’t said much, but the way the man was talking it seemed like he’d be involved in peace treaty talks. The Mages… as if they were willing to take a step in any direction…they gave a new definition to the word anal.


Although Nikon had grown up in Fisherman’s horizon, next to both mage and mundane, there was a clear difference. Those gifted were usually haughty, and he was tired of the whole ‘holier than thou’ attitude… it was either that or they had a giant stick up their ass. When he was younger he was under the impression that they were a different species and that was still a reserve he held. They acted much too different, and even now the thought of trying to talk with them put him on edge.


They had to know who they we’re inviting here though… Nikon was not about to talk diplomacy with mage or mundane. All the man knew was fishing and the sea and if they needed someone for either of the two (which he doubted) then he was their guy.


As the two made it to the elevator, Nikon paused for a moment before stepping on; the major still held his interest with how easily he talked, and the letter that remained in his pocket still bothered him. The step on was worth it when Ferdinand mentioned the flash across the ocean. So the rumor was it had to do with mages….he could believe that.


The door slides open and Nikon’s hand tightens around his harpoon reflexively, taking a step out in his rubbers. His escort seemed to be particularly friendly with the people on the way to the building on this level, well at least one of them. It seemed his destination was inside the building though, as the major led him in. There were plenty of people there already, and Nikon pulled off his sunglasses to do another scan on the crowd. Slipping one of the glasses’ legs into his shirt’s collar, he moves carefully towards the table with food.


There’s a girl there already and he throws her a quick glance before pausing momentarily to look back at her again. Bemused at the woman he shakes his head with a wide smile before grabbing a roll of his own and eating it.
 
Lexi looked at the man who shook his head at her, letting her brow furrow in a somewhat irritated yet oddly intrigued manner. Then she rather quickly glanced down at the bun she had been systematically shredding for the purpose of consumption before chancing another quick glance at him. He had a roll also now. With a rather inaudible but awkward squeak she noted he was still looking at her. With that, she spun on her heel and took a rather large bite of her bun which only resulted in her sputtering in surprise as it was more than she was used to eating.


Glancing back over her shoulder with a curious yet self-conscious expression, she noted that he was positively beaming at her now. Lexi sighed before stuffing the half eaten bun in a pocket. Then she abruptly picked up a fresh one and resumed her odd style of eating whereby she broke off little crumbs to consume. “Did you need something?” she mumbled awkwardly, a shy grin passing over her rather gaunt face.


Bouncing forward suddenly as she stuck the new bun in her pocket as well, she grabbed the hand in which he had his bun with both of hers so as to shake it firmly. “I’m Lexi, by the way,” she bubbled out rapidly, her glum mood seemingly forgotten. “It’s a pleasure to meet you! Where from might you be, my rather rubber clad man? And with a harpoon no less!” She glanced down over her sandy outfit with a half smirk. “You’d never guess that I’ve never had much use for such a trinket, huh?”


Looking down, she noticed that she had quite thoroughly crushed the delicate little bun the man had been eating. Paling a bit at her own stupidity, she quickly snatched it before shoving the newer of her two nibbled on buns into his hands in its place. After a brief second, she reached out and brushed a bit of lint and a few grains of sand from it. Giving him a positively glowing smile as though this fixed everything, she waited and hoped that this introduction went better than her first several attempts had.
 
“You’re probably right.” Koboi announced before making a sharp turn into another byway.


Estus watched as Koboi started his chant, taking only casual notice to the homeless man.


“Magic…” She thought, feeling a deep sinking in her chest akin to that of falling. “How many of my missions would have been so easily repaired by the use of a spell at the right moment. Here it rendered the fact she may have noticed him completely irrelevant. It’s almost as if we’re in two entirely different worlds, despite us both sharing the same title.”


Stifling her urge to sigh in favor of her more intense appearance, Estus turned her attention back towards the homeless man. He looked back at the two of them with an odd curious glance, though he attempted to mask it by continuing on with his own business. “He didn’t even attempt to rid himself of a witness before hand… If only…”








“Where did they go!?” shouted the homeless man in surprise.


Koboi quickly finished his spell and pointed included her in it’s coverage. She knew all the formula’s, the language, the rituals… and yet it was all untouchable to her, despite her spark. It did not take the two long to turn back to their task of tracking their mark. While she knew it would have probably been seen as just some oddity and easily forgotten, Estus couldn’t help but attempt to dodge the passerby long the streets, not wanting to compromise their supreme level of inconspicuousness by something so small.


Regardless of how much an advantage Koboi’s magic seemed to give them, she just couldn’t shake the feeling in her gut that this was all wrong. “A witness to an operation, if left uncontrolled could easily derail even the best laid of plans…” she thought as she glanced back at him, seeing him talking with a rather young looking female who kept glancing over her shoulders. “…but then again, he IS one of the best…”.


Their mark had emerged from one of many alleyway’s and boarded an express elevator, prompting Koboi to single their stop.


“She certainly took a round about way getting here…” Estus thought as she watched the doors close with a mildly calculating gaze. “Either she knew she was followed after all, and was making sure she lost us. Or she’s being excessively cautious. Either way, she doesn’t want whatever his business is known… That, this letter, and Koboi’s interest means that her business IS our business.”


Estus turned to look behind her, her eye’s sharpening as she noticed the girl from the earlier byway; the one who was speaking with the homeless man. Her gaze intently upon their mark… Estus tapped at Koboi’s shoulder for fear of interrupting his ritual with an overly aggressive movement, nodding her way at the girl as he called for the elevator.





She stared in confusion as the button indented, standing outside it’s opening while Estus stared back at her. Her bluish black hair fell down and around her shoulders in thick messy clumps. Eyes the color of the seas darted to and fro as the doors to the elevator sealed.


“She looks uneasy, and she was in the alleyway. Looks like you were noticed after all, and myself by association.” Estus said as she leaned back against the wall of the elevator, though she knew he could not speak just yet as he would lose the spell. “Is she following us though? Or is she a spotter for the women?” She finished, carefully observing the elevator to make absolutely certain there was nothing out of place; nothing that could possibly be meant for scryer’s.


~~~


The second deck was as busy as the rest of Fisherman’s Horizon, though it seemed to cater to mostly to consumers. Everywhere she looked were places of leisure; the kind of places that she rarely found time to visit outside of searching them for targets that might have gone into hiding during missions.





The large stone hotel was more impressive than most structures she came across. Its doors were appeared guarded by two other’s in uniforms identical to hers, prompting Estus to attempt to commit it’s features to memory for future endeavors. As the two made their way into an alley across from the large marble and basalt building, she kneeled. Pulling free the two daggers inside her boot holster’s, she quickly made her way up and down the alley, hiding her daggers securely so that she might retrieve them in case of an emergency while still appearing to be weaponless; inwardly cursing her need for such tactics in the first place, but any edge was an edge she couldn’t afford to give up.


Sure enough, as if on que, the blue haired girl appeared in the alley. Her gaze turned quickly on the hotel as she watched from the shadows, not realizing she herself was being watched in the process. Drawing slowly, Estus pulled free her black shark skin gloves and placed them on.


The hairs seemed to stand at the back of her neck as Koboi stopped his muted chanting, purging them of their invisibility glamour. She turned rather quickly, giving a somewhat awkward smile as she stammered out


“Um… Hello?”


“Trying to pass it off an mere circumstance? Is this a test of our intelligence? No, by now she definitely knows we’re mages, or rather Inquisitor Koboi is a mage; though she would assume us both. Then why bother with this charade?” Estus thought to herself as she watched her with those ever piercing violet eyes of hers. Her motions were somehow odd; not befitting the image of surprise she was trying to put on…


“Stand perfectly still” Estus demanded firmly. “You already know what we are. Move an inch and my colleague will cease his ritual preventing the explosive spells we cast upon the area from going off. It’s as simple as him raising his left foot.”


Estus gave a somewhat dark smile, something she had cause to do several times in her past. “She would put two and two together…” Estus thought to herself as she made her way forward to search her. “She’ll assume the obvious, that his burns were causes by his experimentation with such spells…at least if she was half as smart as she was giving her credit to be.”


Her eyes stayed upon her sharply, searching for even the slightest signs of disobedience as she advanced, staying wide of attack range to approach from behind.


“And in the case that your wondering, it will go off if he dies as well. After all, he cannot keep his foot down if he does.”
 
Laughter, or close to it; the girl next to Nikon was amusing to say the least, noticing him staring only to take a large bite of her bun. Only to almost choke on it… it seemed her shredding the buns actually had some kind of purpose. Nikon could only chuckle, curiously watching her stuff the half-eaten bun to where he saw her put the rest of them. Then she grabbed a new one, resuming her odd style of eating before she finally speaks to him.


The fisherman turns back from the smaller girl, as if he hadn’t been watching her and just shrugs, eying his bun. “Not really…” he notes, he was only looking at her for amusement but he couldn’t rea- Nikon’s thoughts were caught short when his bun-holding hand was pulled away by both of the bouncing girl’s hands. His eyebrow quirked, noticing his bun smashed in her fingers, and gave the girl a rather placid look, waiting for the inevitable.


Instead, she is focused on formalities and introduces herself as Lexi “Nikon” he supplies back, only for it to almost be swallowed up by her next parade of words. Almost. This time he waited for her to finish, asking about where he came from with his harpoon and boots and making a joke about her own outfit. Nikon spares the moment to actually check her out; a little too cute for his taste with big brown eyes and a pip-squeak height.


The brown-haired girl then takes the moment to notice their clasped hands and the ruined bun before releasing him. To his surprise she takes it from his hand a replaces it with the bun she had recently been tearing apart. Her hand is quick to dust over it before he takes it back, cleaning lint and sand from it and smiling as if she fixed it. A moment for a reproachful look before he pats her head, tearing off a piece of the bread and copying her eating style.


“I live on the Sea” he starts, “Not as crazy as it sounds, just off the shore of Bockrath…” he explains “Which I’m guessing you’re from?” he asks her, already knowing the answer. He tears off another piece of his bun and eats it, leaning against the table idly.
 
Lexi nodded vehemently before picking at the bun which she had sorely mistreated in her introduction. It may no longer be pretty, but it was food. She was not about to let so precious of a commodity go to waste! “Well . . . kind of . . . it’s where the people who took me in were from,” she shrugged disinterestedly as she nibbled at the bun slowly and watched the man. From his reaction she couldn’t actually tell what his take on her was. It seemed as though he found her annoying, amusing, and childish all at once.


“Don’t s’pose you have any idea what we’re here for?” she asked cautiously after a bit, her tone still bubbly but now also inquisitive and a bit worried. “I mean . . . I don’t know about you, but I don’t really seem to fit with all these proper or political types . . .” As she spoke, she glanced over the table which only seemed to prove her point. Some of the nicer dishes they had set out didn’t even register to her as foods that she might have heard of. At least the buns were familiar and thus safe, she had figured.


“Living on the sea it doesn’t much seem like you would have political ties either . . .?” she sighed confusedly and rolled her eyes at her own stupidity for trying to talk with the person on a subject she wasn’t well versed in. “But tell me about life on the sea . . . It has to top a life of choking on sand day in and day out, huh?” she nudged him with a good natured grin as she spoke, some of the shyness from having crushed his bun dissipating. At least this one wasn’t ignoring her, she thought contentedly.
 
"I may know nothing about magic..but I do know my place and personally I feel threatened..You don´t mind this right?" Fay said with a calm firm tone thought her mind was exploding with questions while she swiftly took out her treasured hand guns; Bloody Rose and aimed one against Ally and one was aimed against Bandage. Deciding that this was a risky point she sighed almost as if this was everyday work. The one thing she learned from Finn was to never show weakness. Never let them think they make you stumble in fear. Staring at Bandage she chuckled. The burn marks were there and apparently he have been here for more then two days. Enough for his little bomb set-up.


"I think we can make a deal..I won´t do my best to make him-" Fay nodded slightly to Bandage. "Dead which would; as you said blow us all up. Now please do tell me what is going on and why you are following the government lady so I can lock your pretty little ass up." Cockiness radiate off Fay as she stared at Ally, she took a few steps back; close to getting out of the alleyway. Closer to alerting the guards at the doors of the black and white building.
 
Koboi could only snort at the mundane woman's cockiness. "My suspicions were correct." Koboi widened his stance,making sure to keep his left foot anchored,careful to maintain the illusion of impending doom. In less time than it took to blink,Koboi whipped his axe free of it's pouch at his shoulder blade and shrugged the chain coiled around his shoulder down his arm and into his hand. He began to spin the axe on it's chain,glaring at the woman before him. "One more step and I kill you before you kill us all. Those people aren't soldiers. They're terrorists. And you are a grossly misinformed or uninformed deep cover agent for the Bockrath Hegemony." He paused for a moment,allowing his ultimatum and revelations to sink in. After a moment,he smirked under his bandages,taking some small satisfaction that he was still in control. Difficult when black ops troopers and Inquisitors are involved. "Those people are part of a cell known as The Unity Front. Their aim is to topple then merge the Almaz Collective and the Bockrath Hegemony by waging a shadow war on their respective economies,infrastructure,and militaries. They often strike at areas with major civilian populations,though for what reasons I'm unsure." The axe was a barely perceptible blur now,and his charcoal fingertips were tricking a clear liquid. "Put two and two together,girl. You're in over your head. Help us,or die."


~~~


On the third floor of the basalt and marble building,there was a meeting in an office. Assembled were the escorts,plus a man who wore a black bodysuit resembling the human muscle structure with red highlights,and an opaque glass domed helmet with a steel collar and backing. Over the suit he wore what appeared to be a tattered black overcoat,complete with equally ragged coattails. He paced in front of the assembled agents,and asked in a youthful,yet authoritative tone, "Do we have our audience?" The woman that our band of elite operatives was tailing nodded,and replied, "I led them here as ordered without drawing suspicion. They believe they have remained unfounded. Bayman reported that she saw the Mundane woman enter a nearby alleyway. We have reason to believe that the Inquisitors are there as well." The young man in the helmet nodded,and said, "Good. Ferdinand,what's the gestation status?" The man that escorted Nikon Lazar replied in clipped tones, ​"It was distributed to fragrance shops all over Fisherman's Horizon three months ago last week. First results should be manifesting shortly." The young man in the macabre bodysuit nodded once again,satisfied. "Good. We're ready to move forward,then. Armstrong,issue the leveling order. Masterson,spring it." Everyone present nodded,saluted,then left the spartan office to perform their appointed tasks,and the man in the mask simply hopped up to sit on top of the desk. "Soon..."


~~~


On the floor above the round room where the "guests" were gathered,as well as in the basement,seven individuals in the blue and gray uniforms filed in. They each drew forth several silvery-white ingots,and set them in between them,and began to chant in low tones,and dance a magic dance. Above and below the round room,magic welled forth,being gathered and focused for a mighty spell. The target room was a magic circle,as the benches,tables and planters made a perfect septagram,a decor choice only noticeable to those looking for it. After nearly two minutes of this,the ritual ended. Both groups of mages ceased their chant and dance,and pointed knives to the room they were aiming to bewitch.


The room below was suddenly engulfed in an amber explosion of magic. Strangely,nothing was thrown. Nothing was even damaged. The amber light instantly touched all points of the room with a mighty crack,then vanished,leaving the room unchanged,except for now the occupants were on the floor,rendered catatonic by the spell. As the spell concluded,at least a dozen uniformed individuals flooded into the room. Taking no chances,they strip-searched and cavity searched their new prisoners,redressed them,then bound them all to a column in the room. The bindings left their arms straight above their heads,hands open. No movement was allowed,aside from breathing and swiveling eyes. During the search,the victims were removed of all jewels and precious metals,as well as anything that could even remotely be used as a weapon. When it was all said and done,the terrorists left the room,leaving only three of their number behind to keep their prisoners secure.


~~~


As the sound of the crack from inside the building,Koboi chuckled a dark chuckle,and said, "And so it begins."​
 
With her over-zealous nod, Nikon himself nods, stopping when she mentions that she had been taken in. He wondered what happened to her parents, but didn’t ask her, as they had only started talking after all. It didn’t seem to matter if he asked or not, as Lexi seemed to be full of her own questions about their situation. He finished off the rest of his bun as she finished her questions “Not really sure why I’m here either… not really versed in politics” he notes, shrugging.


When she asks about the sea, his eyes seem to glint in the thrill of his life out on it. He smiles at her, “Its’ beautiful…” he confirms, “Every day’s a new challenge against mother nature… and I’m not sure what you’ve heard of the waters, but they are as dangerous as they sound.” He continues “Even for me, who lives only a stone’s throw away from the shore: has to avoid brine geysers that can cut a tanker in half!” A fondness seems to be emanating from him “and the fish… I’ve seen too many of them to even begin to explain them. The thrill of a catch is like nothing you’ve ever felt before though…believe me” he finishes, satisfied.


“Enough about me, though…what do you do?” he asks, looking at her with inquisitive eyes. He notices now that she only seems to be eating the buns, and he looks down the rest of the table, seeing some shellfish he recognizes. “Those green ones should be safe” Nikon notes, pointing at the strange fish product down the table. He was glad he at least managed to find someone to talk to here.


What happened next was hard to explain, even for him, who had just been in the room when it happened. All he knew was that one moment he was standing, leaning against the table next to Lexi and after a bright flash of amber, everything changed. Now he could barely keep his eyes open, he couldn’t even feel his body, but he knew he was lying on the floor. Within a moment, others entered the room, and his prone body was stripped down, prodded, redressed and bound to a column.


His eyes seemed to swivel around then, noticing the other occupants of the room, Nikon tried to talk but failed miserably.
 
“Put two and two together girl. You’re in over your head. Help us, or die.” Koboi demanded as he continued to spin his axe faster and faster, prompting a thin smile from Estus. “So this is our ‘equivalent’ from Bockrath” she thought, using the term equivalent loosely.


She had always thought that the infamous ‘spooks’ of the Bockrath Hegemony would be a bit more subtle, more prepared…just…more. At the moment she could only look on in a somewhat deflated befuddlement at the back of her head, like a child who had just learned there was no Santa. She had always thought her first encounter with one would tax her of every iota of skill and wit should could muster. Instead, she had just come stumbling into her trap with that idiotic look on her face…


Sighing a bit under her breath, Estus picked up the dagger hidden on this end of the alleyway and replaced it into it’s scabbard, completely lacking her typical professional enthusiasm. “How had Bockrath’s military acquired such a reputation if ‘this’ was the best they could muster as a deep cover agent. Perhaps this is itself a trap? Perhaps she is trying to make us believe she is less than what she truly is so that she may acquire some as of yet unseen advantage. Maybe this is just a reverse interrogation, using herself as bait to fish information free of us? Or perhaps—”


A loud crack ringing through the air cut short her thoughts and sent her reflexively turning towards it’s source. There was a brilliant orange glow emitting from the crystalline windows of the fifth floor. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it faded, once again plunging that floor into darkness.


“Magic…?” Estus thought to herself as she quickly turned back towards Inquisitor Koboi and their current captor.


“And so it begins” Koboi announced with a dark chuckle.





“The Unity Front is behind all this? And they’re moving already? Just a few minutes ago I had no idea they were even involved.” Estus thought to herself at her smile widened somewhat. “The events of two years ago…This must be why Koboi called for me on this mission”




~~~


At the time, Estus had been little more than simple infantry away on leave. Night had fallen quickly across the city and so Estus, having no other place to go, had returned ‘home’. The large stone mansion of the Mirose Estate loomed well above the multitude of other homes that surrounded it. Looking much like a cathedral, the building possessed three large towers that shot up into the heavens, each with their inward face made entirely of a red stained glass. Most impressive was the complicated illusions that had been set upon them to produce the image of a vibrant rose that constantly shed petals while a snake slithered through the sky around it. The majority of people thought it was an awe inspiring sight. To Estus however, rather than being the beautiful and intimidating piece of architecture it was meant to be, it was just another marker of her family’s unbounded haughtiness.





She tucked her standard issue magic rifle into her side and started to advance up the stairs with the rigidity drilled into her by the military, dreading every moment of it all. It was then that she had heard the explosion, and the screams of the citizenry.


Without a single thought she jumped the distance of the stairs back onto the streets and took off in the direction of the flames. Running against the crowd had been slow going, and she had finally gained a few moments to consider her actions. She had no idea what she was doing or what she was about to see. All she knew was that her feet continued to draw her inexorably forward; All she knew was that her gut insisted that she, a lowly infantrymen, was needed.





The blast site was a small pharmaceuticals business was the simple way of putting it. The building had been stabbed through by what looked to be a large crude ice spear. Mixed amongst the embers and burned sheets of parchment that still rained slowly down was a thin fall of snow as the winds and heat ate away at the spear quickly.


“Just what is this…” Estus thought so herself before a single rifle round glanced against her shoulder with a single staccato clap. Acting on nothing but a combination of instinct and military training, Estus freed her rifle and returned fire, running towards it’s source with a smooth gait. The chest the man who had fired upon her exploded in a small red haze as the magic of her rifle hit, sending him falling over a large drum he had been using for cover.


Moving swiftly, Estus slowly opened the side door he had been guarding. Beneath the walkway it had opened onto, she could hear at least ten others talking in hushed tones amongst themselves. Again without thought, she made her way to the railing of the walkway to draw a bead on them, shouting at the top of her lungs “Halt! Almaz Armed Forces”.


She knew immediately afterwards that hadn’t been the brightest of plans. It took only a moment for a man clad in a thick black trench coat to point a black and gold dagger in her direction. As he did a tear shaped Amethyst gem he wore around his neck glistened and a thick pillar of ice stabbed hard into the walkway’s support bar.





The walkway started to collapse in a loud metallic groan, sending Estus sliding down it’s now heavily sloped surface toward a particularly jagged portion of the giant iceberg protruding through the building. Gripping tightly at the rifle, Estus kicked off the edge of the walkway, sailing past the spire and landing hard on her back in a mound of boxes. She rolled quickly to her side as further spears of ice seemed to coalesce from thin air to rain down in a beautiful but deadly display.


Estus lunged forward into a roll, feeling a large flair of pain erupt in her leg as yet more ice cut into it wickedly. By now the others had already moved to flank forcing her to press herself against the giant ice spire in the center of the facility for cover.





Somewhere between the fear of her own imminent death as she realized she had been pinned, and her will to absolutely stop these people, a moment of clarity seemed to come to her. Quickly rushing forward from her spot, she pulled the rifle and took a couple of shots, dropping yet another of the band of terrorists. She charged towards his location, dropping into a slide under another bolt of ice before spinning back up to her feet and shooting backwards, dropping another but depleting the rifle.


Several shots screamed past her, one of them crashing into the handle of her rifle as she attempted to discard it, narrowly saving her from what would have been a shot through the heart. She quickly rolled over the small barricade of boxes that had originally acted as the terrorists cover and wrested the pistol free of his hands. The others would be on top of her soon she knew, as soon as they managed to clear the giant ice spear they would have her unless she could take them out first.


Several streams of ice suddenly lurched forward from the central spear, stabbing through the barricade and stopping a hairs breath a way from he face. Despite the danger, Estus couldn’t help but smile as the answer came to her. In a mad dash, she jumped over the barricade towards the center of the room. She barely dodged the myriad of ice streams rushing out to meet her from their mage whose face contorted in rage and frustration as he chanted. Suddenly in position, Estus stopped to line up her shot with the pistol, waiting for what seemed like an eternity.


The mage jammed his dagger outward in her direction, sending a particularly large spear rushing out to meet her. In middle of its trip she took the shot, opening a hideous third eye into his forehead as she felt the spear crash into her chest. The force of the shot easily knocked her from her feet, dragging her through the air into the massive spire of ice and sending cracks running through it’s compromised structure.


With a loud crackling sound, the spear shattered, sending massive hunks of ice crashing down throughout the facility. None of this mattered to Estus at the time, all that was real was the thick stream of red leaking out onto the ice from her chest; all that mattered was that the world was darkening quickly.





~~~


She hadn’t known then, but that was her very first encounter with The Unity Front; the very reason Almaz had noticed her in the first place, making his an Inquisitor shortly after. She fingered lightly at her Amethyst gem along her collar before looking up firmly.


“I’ll take the guards.” Estus stated stated adamantly before running quickly past Koboi and the Bockrath agent. “Cover me when I get there?”


Leaving no time to debate, Estus shed herself of her signature black trench coat and bent low in her run, grabbing the second hidden dagger and clutching tightly at her pocket watch. It was mere moments later that she disappeared around the rear corner of the alley.





Estus ignored the odd looks many of the civilians sent her way as she quickly waded through them, looking for anything she might be able to use to get in close without too much suspicion. “Take a play from Koboi's handbook, it’s irrelevant if these people notice you…the objective is all that matters.” She thought to herself as she rounded the corner at the end of this block.


Reaching out suddenly, Estus grabbed free a rather gaudy looking, sun hat from an old woman and placed it firmly on her head. The woman’s protests quickly halted as Estus flashed her pocket watch, all without pausing for a beat. From another woman, she ripped off a large black and red shawl and threw it quickly over her shoulders, hiding the exposed scabbards along her back.





Quickly rounding the second corner, she took off in a flat sprint, bowling over a couple of civilians in the process before making it to the final corner and slowing into a walk as she tried to blend in with the crowd. Pulling her newly acquired hat low across her face and shoving her pocket watch into one of the pouches along her leg, Estus made her way casually up the street and towards the guards.


“Excuse me…” she began politely towards one, trying to garner his attention for a single critical moment. Instead she finds them both turn towards her with somewhat skeptical looks upon their face. “How exactly do I—” she thought to herself for just a moment before the brilliant glint of a large metal object rushes into her peripheral. It wasn't exactly cover, but it would do.


It took only a moment for the first guard to notice what had happened, a large axe had crashed into his partner’s back with enough force that it left her in a mangled pile along the floor. Ignoring the ‘irrelevant’ Estus entirely, he turned back upon the alleyway into which the axe was sailing back towards. He had barely the time to take two steps forward before the world was quickly replaced by the black of Estus’ boot, sending him crashing back and into the gate.


Taking the sudden attack in stride, he lunged back forward, drawing a sword and swinging in a trained arc in the process. Estus lunged into the swing, sending up a strong middle block at the wrist and kneeing up into his gut with all her forward momentum. As he again staggered backwards, she grabbed at the blocked arm and spun in to land an elbow into his face, stunning him enough to disarm, spin out, and lop off his head with his own blade.
 
Everything,everything's wrong!Flashed through the mind of Tiera, as the world around her swiveled, turned, and downright went wrong. She'd felt this once before, when she'd went on exile, running away when James was blinded. Now she felt it again, and she was laying limp, as these people came in, and searched them of anything usable against them, basically her staff, James' swords, Naomi's kamas, and Jack's knives. Why go after James! She wanted to scream, he's blind dammit! But she couldn't, she couldn't do anything as she laid there. She hated it. None of the rest of the Monroe's where able to do anything, either. James, sure, he's a mage, but he focuses with electrical things, not this. All of this family was now powerless, limp, and able to be hurt easily. Everyone else in the room who'd been hit by the spell, as well.
 
Fay stared at the two waiting for an reaction before Bandage man spoke up."My suspicions were correct." Taking in his words Fay wondered if he had caught on to her act and the very next moment she saw a blur-like motion before mister Bandage was spinning the damned axe on it´s chain. Taking a step forward this time with her weapons both aimed at him she sneered. "Wha-" But then again being interrupted by his hoarse voice. "One more step and I kill you before you kill us all. Those people aren't soldiers. They're terrorists. And you are a grossly misinformed or uninformed deep cover agent for the Bockrath Hegemony." Fay eyes widen intensely while she stared at the man. What the heck was he talking about? Fay was having a serious doubt about Bandage. Terrorists? Is that what they had come up with? Dismissing the statement about her being a Bockrath agent: she was about to give the man a piece of her mind. That was until his next statement shocked her. "Those people are part of a cell known as The Unity Front. Their aim is to topple then merge the Almaz Collective and the Bockrath Hegemony by waging a shadow war on their respective economies,infrastructure,and militaries. They often strike at areas with major civilian populations,though for what reasons I'm unsure." Taking in his words Fay stood still for a second or two before it really sank in. Before she reacted. "Then why haven´t you informed.." Sighing she drew her fingers through her dark locks before tucking her guns in her jeans. Taking a deep breath she waited for Bandage to finish. "Put two and two together,girl. You're in over your head. Help us,or die." Damned be Finn, Fay thought absent-minded; letting Ally get past her. “I’ll take the guards. Cover me when I get there?” Fay smirked slightly before turning around swiftly. "Guess I´m your new accomplice, Death doesn´t suit me with these jeans." Putting her hair in a pony-tail Fay advanced against the building behind Ally whom snatched random items from people along the way; creating a disguise. Going up to a guard she asked for his attention; gaining both of theirs. Bandage acted quick; striking one out while she took care of the other. Fay chuckled almost soundlessly before gaining a new aura; a dark twisted one, thirsting for blood. Taking out her handguns she almost glowed of malice. "Let´s get this over with.."
 
There was an odd sort of dizziness to the world and her body felt uncharacteristically heavy. Still in the odd twilight of freshly awakening, the girl started to stretch before the reality of the situation finally settled in. She reflexively twitched to try to look around the room, but the action was met with a bit of pain as her binds held her fast. Killing her instinctual urge to panic as though the emotion had never started to rise, she forced herself to breath and monitor her line of sight.


Alright, the first order of business was to figure out why this was happening. Her view of the corner offered very little assistance in this matter with the exception of the individual in a familiar blue uniform with grey trim that eventually flitted past her peripheral vision. Forcing her still fogy mind to work, she recalled her guide wearing much the same uniform and felt bile rise in her throat as the realization hit her. She had been right about this all along. The great political event that they had been summoned to wasn’t for her . . . Perhaps she was required to be a statement of the event, a casualty or some such nonsense, but she was not otherwise needed.


The crippling despair at this acknowledgement of her unimportance made it difficult for her to stay calm enough to breathe while bound so tightly. Having grown used to such despondence after her father’s death, however, she forced even this aside as she fought to remain objective. So what if this didn’t turn out to be some great new direction for her aimless life? Since when had she needed such things as purpose in the past? True, her captors probably had fairly untoward plans for her after having taken things this far . . .


But about that . . . she thought with what would have been a smirk were it not for the incredibly tight ropes which were binding her. Being captured, bound, beaten, and abused were all hazards of the trade when you were a thief. Something like this wasn’t going to make her abandon all hope and wallow in her helplessness. Starting with a systematic slowness, she twisted and adjusted her wrists in the most minuscule way possible as she began to deal with the knots. There was a rather uncomfortable sensation of rubbing from the ropes and she noted with annoyance that this would probably take quite some time, but even this escape wasn’t beyond the scope of realistic possibility.


And then what? she thought half-heartedly. What will you do once you’re free? Go back to the place where you broke your own rules? You’re surviving this in hopes of being a petty thief for the rest of your life? How quaint . . .
 
Koboi watched Estus go out the back of the alley,and nodded in understanding. She's going to go around the block and grab a disguise,I'd wager. Then she's going to either distract or take the guards. As it turned out,he was right on the money. Koboi was leaning on the wall at the mouth of the alleyway,still spinning his axe. However,it was out of the view of the guards. The moment he saw the two of them,he knew the woman had a sawed down carbine hidden in her jacket. It was nearly impossible to see,but one doesn't become the best Inquisitor in the business by being blind and deaf,but he saw the barely perceptible bump under her left armpit,and a slight rigidness to the left side of the garment. When Estus approached the guards,she had her head and daggers concealed. He saw her involuntarily clench her muscles when both guards turned to face her. She obviously only wanted one's attention. Acting quickly,he hurled his axe at the biggest threat,the woman with the carbine,who was also further away from Estus. The axe buried itself square between the woman's shoulder blades with a loud and sickening crunch;it obviously cleaved through her spine. He wrapped the chain once around his hand,and Koboi heaved on the chain,hauling the weapon free of the woman's corpse,but not before flinging her several feet towards the alleyway.


The man with the impact sword turned to face the alleyway,but only for a moment. In his moment of hesitation,he was struck in the side by Estus,slamming him against the wall. He drew his sword,but that's about as far as it went,as Estus quickly intercepted his swing and disarmed him,following through with the motion to sever his head from his shoulders. All without using the trigger. Impressive. She's stronger than she looks. Maybe that's her Spark at work... Koboi approached,sheathing his axe,and drawing his rapier from his right hip. The hilt and handguard were gold,with the hilt wrapped in sharkskin. The pommel was a simply ring,but the long,slender blade was silvery-white;platinum. There were golden runes running up the blade,as well. Upon closer inspection,the edges and point of the blade were steel. It was obvious that this sword was the work of a master. "Good work,Estus." Koboi nodded to the gate,and door. "Shall we,ladies? We have terrorists to kill."


~~~


The commotion outside didn't go unnoticed. A particularly alert window sentry on the third floor saw the axe careen out the alleyway,and Bayman's corpse slam to the ground in the middle of the street. He bellowed out at the top of his lungs a single word. "ALARM!"Everyone knew what was wrong. They were discovered. That was the only reason why an alarm would be raised.


~~~


The call of alarm carried throughout the building. The guards all drew their weapons,most being short blades,axes and maces,with some handguns and carbines as well. In the hostage room,one guard drew a carbine with a laser sight and a particularly nasty bayonet,and said, "What do we do with the examples? They're gonna fry anyways when we blow the joint."It was obvious that he wasn't the brains of the bunch. However,a man with a pair of katars replied, "Kill one. At least that way we have made an example of someone,should the intruders succeed." The room's third Unity Front occupant,a woman with a dagger and rapier,nodded silently. She strolled past the bound prisoners,all unable to move even their fingers,and noticed the tiny mouse of a girl wriggling. "Stop that,you dirty tramp." With a casual swipe of her sword,she cut a shallow wound in Alexis' cheek,and continued to circle the pillar. Eventually,she stopped in front of Grimm,who was mostly silent during the whole affair. "No one will miss you..." With that,she reeled up her left arm,twirling her dagger into a reverse grip,and drove the foot long blade into the crown of Grimm's skull. Death came instantly,and with a sickening thud. Instead of removing the weapon,she simply drew a new dagger from within her coat. "You,"She addressed the simpleton with the carbine. "Hang back. You,"She addressed the man with the katars. "Shall we get the door?"The man with the katars nodded,and followed the woman to the doors.


~~~


Koboi had spent the last few seconds chanting a spell,pointing his rapier at the locked gate. He heard the call of alarm ring through the building,and was waiting for the response team. When two uniformed agents came out the door,Koboi finished the incantation. A fist of fire erupted from his sword with a Hellish roar,and knocked the gates into the yard. They plowed through the man and woman,leaving behind nothing but mangled bodies and weapons,and embedding the mangled iron fixtures to the walls flanking the door inside,glowing with the head of the blast. "Come on!" Koboi taken the lead,and entered the building. The hall was a spectacle,with marble flooring and basalt walls,and two doorways. One on either side. At the end of the hall was a flight of marble stairs,bearing an azure carpet. He heard footsteps thunder from above and below,and he dove into the door to the left. Inside was a small,empty room with a pile of jewelry and weapons in a corner,as well as what appeared to be a portable harpoon cannon. Koboi opened the next door only to get a spike of steel to pierce his left ear lobe,so he taken cover in the doorframe. The glimpse he got of the room beyond revealed a large man with a carbine and a collection of people clustered around a support column. The room was large and round,with a great deal of decoration throughout,making a great deal of low cover.


(Doctor Who? dropped the RP due to RP overload.)
 
So she would admit to having grown a bit careless in her attempt to escape her constraints. Alexis knew that if the damned alarm hadn’t been sounded, however, she would have been safe in her struggle. Until that had happened, their guards had been confident in their utter control of the room and their immobilized captives. The inopportunely timed call to paranoia had drawn their attention in her direction as it necessitated a need for a course of action with regards to the prisoners. This closer level of scrutiny had enabled the female guard to notice her attempts and punish her accordingly.


In Lexi’s eyes, there was a unique sort of flaw to the logic presented by the woman who had enacted her punishment. Their previously held conversation had made it obvious that the captives were scheduled for execution. The subsequent actions of the armed guards drove this point home as one of the bound people was brutally slaughtered. Her punishment seemed to have been done in an effort to still her actions by instilling in her a certain fear for her own life. Having learned from their conversations that she was dead either now or later made this an entirely ineffective threat.


Originally there had been at least three guards, she knew this from the voices which spoke and responded outside of her line of sight. After the murder, the woman and one other man seemed to leave. Shortly after, a loud crash from somewhere outside of the building sounded ominously. Certainly, for a moment cold fear had effectively stayed her actions. Now, however, having quickly thought through her situation, she struggled still more fervently against her restraints. Even with this fervid effort, she remained as quiet as she could so as to not draw more scrutiny from the rather slow sounding guard that she knew remained. After a bit more work, she had managed to free one of her wrists. This did relatively little to assist her in that the rest of her arms were still bound rather securely. It was a start however.


A few moments later, she heard the door to the room open before the sound of gunfire permeated the otherwise quiet room. Perhaps a small and futile scuffle had taken place? She didn’t really know what was going on as she was facing the far side of the room and didn’t have any way of viewing the door. This slight confrontation pushed her to work harder. Struggling with the small amount of movement space that she had managed to buy herself thus far, she used the binds around her wrists to hoist herself upwards. It was a stretch and hurt like hell to maintain, but she managed a position in which she was somewhat able to fiddle with the gag over her mouth.


No matter what happened, she was not letting herself be killed without some sort of resistance. In the entirety of her so far pointless existence she had shown one talent: she survived. This situation was going to be no different; she tried to assure herself of this as she began the tenuous task of removing the apparatus from her head. She was going to survive this . . . end of story . . .
 
The thin trail of blood that streamed from koboi’s ear immediately following a metallic ping and spark at the wall had instantly sent Estus into the focused state she had come to trust so much. The world seemed to all but slow to a crawl, growing more clear and vibrant. She backed up a few steps into the hall as the sounds of heavy foot falls thundered around her. Breathing out heavily, she removed both hairpins and sent her long chestnut hair cascading down her back.


Suddenly, she darted forward with great speed, tossing the first of the hairpins ahead of her in the process. Its vibrant red banner streamed behind it as it soared into the room. Mere moments later, Estus exploded in after it. In an instant she identified the only threat of the room who had taken the bait and was desperately trying to bring his rifle back in for a shot.


Estus easily cleared the distance to the column which produced a dull thud as a metal spike crashed into it. Bursting out the other side without even the slightest of pauses, Estus hurled the other hairpin in his direction and jumped into the wall.


It took the Unity Front soldier only a split panicked second to turn a bead onto Estus as she sailed quickly through the air and…nothing. The pin lodged itself in the trigger mechanism, preventing it’s depression. As he grabbed at it to pull it free, Estus kicked off the wall and used every bit of her gathered momentum to kicked out and into his face.


Landing deftly and pivoting, she quickly brought to bear her stolen impact sword and threw all of her body into the blow. Hitting firmly at the trigger, the sword cleaved clean through the waist and dug itself firmly into the wood of the wall.


It was at that point that the world seemed to rush back to its normal pace; as the vibrant colors seemed to wash away, and the sounds seemed to play through cotton. During those few focused moments was when Estus felt the most alive; it was during those moments when she didn’t quite mind her lack of magic, or the disappointment she felt she presented to her family name. During those moments, all that mattered was her and her objective…and she reveled in them.


She yanked at the impact sword for a few long moments before it became apparent it would not dislodge itself. She grimaced at its loss, making a mental note to procure a new one if given the opportunity as she pulled free one of her boot daggers and regarded the captives along the support structure.


((Sorry, post was a bit rushed as it had gotten pretty late when I started))
 
Slightly muttering under her breath when Bandage took out the two guards rushing their way, Fay gripped Bloody Rose and followed slowly after the two. Her eyes darting everywhere as they turned left to enter a room. The room was small and empty; only containing nothing but a pile of jewelry, weapons and what she believed to be a harpoon canon. She cocked a eyebrow and was about to ask what the heck they were supposed to do when Bandage had opened another door, earning a bleeding ear. Taking slight cover Fay witnessed Estus taking action and with a smirk she walked inside the room, taking cover a few times before sneaking up behind the captives. "I´d advice you to stay still, one shot equals explosion.." She whispered to the man furthest out of the supports structure, holding one of her guns to his throat. The other aiming for his friends. She smirked slightly feeling a sweet adrenaline kick; wanting to see a stain of blood on the floor; unable to be cleaned. A mark that she was here but she contained herself before staring at Estus and Bandage.


"I´m supposedly involved in this and thus I deserve an explanation to what these fools have here. Explosives? Or just a leader meeting?" Feeling a bit weirded out she looked around. Theses captives seemed more obedient then she thought. "OR..Is it some stupid mage trying to burn down the city...Again?.." Smirking slightly at the memory of that sweet kill. She knew she was fishing in dark waters but she didn´t care. Mages could go kill themselfs for all she cared. "What should I do with..THESE..." Fay nodded against the man infront of her before waiting patiently for Estus or Bandage to answer her questions.
 
Koboi entered the room,busy wrapping a new bandage around his head to cover the place where his left ear used to be. The round from the carbine took it clean off. When he finished the wrapping,he applies a steel clip to the end of the bandage to anchor it in place under his right ear. He examined the prisoners,and said, "They were going to use the prisoners as examples,is my guess." He pointed at the corpse with the dagger through his head. "They already killed one. Just in case we derail their plans." Then he saw the Mundane brandishing her weapon at a prisoner. "Stop that,Mundane! Many of them were armed. They can help us if they wish." Koboi sheathed his rapier,and drew his axe and dueling knife. The knife was as magnificent as his rapier,made of the same materials. It was obvious that they were part of a set. "Free them. I'll cover the door." Koboi moved to the door,ignoring the pain in the side of his head. When he reached the door,a Unity Front agent dashed in,alone. He was armed with a cruel looking impact sword,one which curved forward. Koboi quickly dispatched him by using his axe to swat his foe's weapon wide,and buried the dueling knife to the hilt in the side of the terrorist's neck. Instead of pulling the knife out the way it went in,he simply planted his foot on the dying man's abdomen,and heaved,pulling it out the front,severing the arteries,windpipe,and esophagus. Koboi left the body where it fell,and piled by the door,awaiting the next one while his partners worked.
 
“Free them. I’ll cover the door.” Koboi announced on route to the doorway and viciously dispatching another Unity Front operative.





Estus, without wasting a moment, began to cut away at the thick ropes binding the captives. She all but suppressed the slight amusement she felt over the awkward position one of them had managed to get themselves into, mildly impressed that she was capable of moving at all in this rope-work. One by one the ropes fell away to the ground, until all along the post were free.


“Finished here” Estus called out to Koboi’s back and she rushed to retrieve the two hair pins and shove them into her left leg pouch.


“If you want to get out of here alive…Arm up and keep up” Estus demanded as she rounded the post again, picking up the falcata that had fallen away to the ground and readied for further combat. She breathed out slowly, calmly…trying to lull herself back into her more focused state again to no avail. She’ll make due, she always did…but she did still feel a sort of emptiness at the loss.


“Ready” She said calmly, spinning the falcata over her hand once to check its balance.


“Ready” She repeated to herself mentally before setting her gaze forward upon her goal. “Earn the name Estus!”
 
Alexis groaned as she was cut free of the bindings and dropped rather unceremoniously to the floor by one of the people who had initiated this scuffle that seemed to be taking place. She wasn't quite certain how she felt about this lot . . . one of theirs had even directly threatened the helpless captives in the room. How the hell were they to be expected to trust their saviors after a stunt like that? The woman which had freed her spoke of arming up and following them to safety, however, and she reasoned that for now she should at least pretend to play friendly.


"They have the building set to blow . . . Or were getting ready to cast some mumbojumbo to cause it to blow," she offered as she walked over to the woman, her eyes searching for Nikon amongst the survivors of the group. "This may encourage them to act faster so as to invite their esteemed new guests to the fireworks show . . . Also, the man they killed supposedly makes a halfway acceptable statement from their viewpoint. . . Any chance such . . . mighty individuals as you mages might take that little pleasure from them? It'd be a nice spit in the face for their current goal, me thinks . . ."


Her attitude still mirrored the same lighthearted ignorance that she had been portraying since she had arrived here, but she adjusted it to a slightly darker tune as the situation demanded. After all, even the best natured individual wouldn't remain bubbly and joking in such a situation as they were currently in. Offering Nikon a small, relieved smile as she noted him to be among the living, the girl looked back to her rescuers so as to wait for new orders or intel. . . Of the remaining captives, she looked the worst off; her efforts having bought her heavy rope burns and bruises along her wrists and a gash along her cheek. It pissed her off that the efforts had proved unneeded, but she had never been good at trusting others to save her . . .
 
Rolling her eyes at the word Mundane, Fay put her guns in her jeans swiftly before staring at Bandage. "Yes Mage, I understand." Snorting she stared as the girl got up from her awkward position. Her eyes were darting to the now released man in front of her with a crocked smile. "Eeeh..Sorry about that. Wasn´t really my intention.." She really did feel guilty about it; that side took over again. That side seemed to want to get out and blood-red stains were her favourite activity. Sighing she stared at Estus. "And when we DO get out, are we free to go?" She was frowning slightly. They probably say no now that she knows about this terrorist bullshit they were spitting at her. She felt an immense doubt and couldn´t help the v between her eyebrows.


Hearing awkward-position speak she smiled slightly. "Mighty indeed." She muttered while rolling her eyes. Fay was feeling rather smug staring at Estus and Bandage. They seemed so professional but couldn´t keep a single stalker away. They even let the homeless man live after witnessing them disappear. Bad move coming from the oh-so-mighty mages were a sweet pleasure for a memory. Chuckling to herself she repeated her previous words. "Mighty indeed."





Following Bandage out of the room to see a dead body under him she rolled her eyes. "Next one is mine.." Taking out Bloody Rose she stared ahead, waiting for another sweet target. A soldier sprinted down to see the dead body before staring up. With a smirk she took her gun and shot a bullet. It pierced his eye, before a slight light was seen. His now lifeless body fell to the ground and with a soft smile Fay stared at the blood dripping from his eye. It was utterly beautiful.
 
Binds held Nikon in place quite firmly and resistance only rewarded him with a nice rope burn, but a few scars to him didn’t mean much. As a call of alarm went through the building, he could only hope their captors were less weary of the prisoners they have taken. Instead, it seemed to form a resolve with the group, as it was decided one of the ‘examples’ would be killed out of turn.


To think he got a fancy letter for a death sentence…


One of the girl’s was on the move then, a dagger and rapier in hand; Nikon worried about Lexi, but he couldn’t see her from where he was posted. Their meeting was short lived, but the impression she left was someone he’d get along with quite easily. So when the woman calls out again, this time telling a woman to stop that, he hopes Lexi hadn’t gotten herself killed. The woman was walking again though, and even his sigh of relief was even muffled by his gag. The person they chose to kill was a man with blue hair, and Nikon could see him from the corner of his vision, and therefore could see him die.


Orders were thrown around to deal with the new threat, and they were soon left with the man with a carbine. This was probably the best chance he would get, struggling against the binds and almost missing a head pop into the room. A bang sounded the guard a quick shot and managing to hit the bandage man’s ear before he ducked back out. Saviours?


A girl ran in next, right after her flying weaponry and just as quickly ducked behind a column as the guard fired again. After a scuffle between this woman and the guard, she had won out, and it seemed the room was in the clear. That was what Nikon thought, until the cold barrel of a gun was pushed against his throat. Another woman, who must’ve snuck up when he was busy, watching her maybe-companion was now threatening him?


Not Saviours?


It didn’t seem she was that involved in her team, though, demanding an explanation as to what she was involved in. If not for the gag in his mouth, Nikon would have scoffed, surprised to hear her throw ‘mages’ under fire. His best guess was that she was one of them, with her demanding and uncaring attitude; she even referred to the captives as if they weren’t people. The man with the bandages was the first to answer, applying a new bandage to cover the wound he got from the carbine round. After him explaining that they were simply prisoners he also ordered her to stop, referring to her as Mundane and confirming his earlier thought.


They were to be let down.


The woman that had originally disposed of the guard started cutting each of them down, but Nikon didn’t miss the girl’s response. Mage. The gun was removed from under his chin, and shortly thereafter he was freed from his binds, rubbing his damaged skin wearily. The one who had so easily pointed the gun at him apologized but Nikon simply shook his head in response. He heard the other speak about arming up to get out, and when Lexi responded he couldn’t help the smile on his face.


Looking back and unable to find the small girl in the crowd, he took a step in the voice’s direction as it walked towards the woman. Her voice was still playful, but the darker tone it took made him slightly amused, finally finding her at the same moment she seemed to find him. Nikon smiled back at her, but couldn’t help noticing the cut on her cheek…must’ve been the guard.


The mundane girl that was slowly starting to grow on his nerves, what with the gun and the complaining, made a simple, repeated, comment. Then she seemed to run off, annoyed that the man holding the doorway got a kill over her. Nikon shakes his head again sighing as he gives the two left a critical look.


“You said arm ourselves…so where are our weapons?” he questions, unbuttoning the shirt that they had buttoned up upon putting back on his clothes. His money was gone from his front pocket and he cursed, they just had to make this personal…goddamn Major Ferdinand.
 
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