WW Resistance (1v1v1)

[Esme]

As they entered the chamber, Meido was brimming with more furious energy than it had before, leaving Cal feeling almost sick. Glancing at the white suited man, she looked back at the altar, almost confused that he had called this thing a demon. But then, there were many kinds of demons in the world, weren't there?


As Tybalt pointed at her, Cal narrowed her eyes. She didn't move from near Hope's side, almost afraid that if she did, Axel would pay for it.

 

[Coro]

Hope's sword disappeared, and with a snap of his fingers, the bubble set Axel down and popped, releasing him from his prison. Taking a deep breath, he began to shine, building magical power.


".... Miss Porter. I'm going to say this once. The man before us is powerful. I recognize him as Tybalt Hale of the Resistance, formerly of your ranks. Apparently, based on the current situation and the corruption raging through him, I can't blame Sanctuary for this act of magical terrorism, but rest assured, you mages will be brought to justice. This goes beyond Nightrise and Sanctuary however. This is a demon. This single demon could probably destroy the world, and I don't jest. If there was a seal of this magnitude on it's corpse, it must be disgustingly powerful. I need you and Mister Forghen here to cooperate with me right now, or things will get very, very ugly, very quickly." He explained, beginning to stride forward, glancing back at Cal.


"Take care of the altar and the scroll." He ordered, before disappearing from sight, as did Tybalt. Echoes of clashes around the massive chamber could be heard, small explosions and the spells of the two heavy-weight contenders causing the room to shake violently as platinum reverberated around summoned snakes and flashes of light collides with dark orbs.


Getting up to his feet, and feeling Cal's presence, Axel stepped towards her, taking her arm and gently slinging it over his shoulder.


"You be the eyes, I'll be the legs... C'mon, if I'm right, Meido will know how to do this... But it may not want to help us." Axel theorized, based on what he knew of Meido's legend and what the scroll kept saying.


~~~


Before them, the scroll floated in the air before the shield, it's dark glow weakening the shield constantly. Even without it's strongest servant, while it was right in front of the prize, it would stride ever forward.

 

[Esme]

Cal blinked, before looking at Axel as he was suddenly next to her. Meido was stirring up a storm, and between the buzzing noises it made in her skull, and the world around her, she had no idea what anyone expected her to do. Nodding once though, she knew one thing was certain. She needed to get her hands on that scroll.


"We have to go forward, there's nothing in the way yet, but I don't know how long that will last."

 

[Coro]

Axel swallowed, and nodded, stepping forward. As he walked, snakes and darkness rained upon and around them, but platinum weapons and blasts of light blocked them from the attacks.


"KEEP MOVING FORWARD!" Hope yelled from his combat with Tybalt, simultaneously defending the two Resistance members from the barrage of attacks.


Axel pressed on, a little slow in his movements, feeling Cal's pain and her gasps for air. Yep, that's definitely a broken rib. He thought, trying to hold her gingerly as the dark world he was in shook violently. He tried to trust in that Hope douche, knowing he was strong, but the rumbling of magical violence all around him was overbearing.


Standing before the scroll, the two stopped. Axel halted before the evil presence.


"Cal, this thing and Meido are related somehow.... I heard Tybalt speak to the scroll as he came down here earlier, something about Yumi and your bloodline. The thing in the scroll also called you the love of it's life, it must be talking about Meido.... If there's anyone who could stop this, I'm really hoping it's you!" He explained, almost glad his blind eyes couldn't see the scenes around him. However, not knowing only increased his horror as his imagination took hold.

 

[Esme]

"I don't....." Cal looked at Axel. She had confusion in just about every part of her. As voices sounded, and the world exploded around them, the thing that came for front was what Meido wanted. Gripping onto Axel tighter, she did something stupid, and dumb and horrible. She grabbed hold of the scroll, feeling it's burn run up her arm but it didn't settle in, not quite. Switching to hold it in her mouth, she slammed her hand through the shield, purple smoke tearing off of it as it burned. Gripping the body of the demon, all three of them disappeared.

 

[Coro]

Sitting in the hospital bed, glancing to his side, Axel sighed. He ran a finger over his face, blinking. His eyes were healed. Or, to use a better word, replaced. The pupils flashed a bright yellow for moment, different from their usual deep blue. Swallowing, Axel knew things had really gone south on that mission. He was just glad he and Cal had managed to make it back.


"What in the blazes of Hell happened on that damn island? It was just supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission!" Corono suddenly asked, the elderly man standing in the doorway of the duo's hospital room, Yumi and a few other Sanctuary officials standing behind him.


Axel swallowed a lump in his throat. The events of three days ago had been quite troublesome, and he really didn't want to explain to Yumi and Corono.

 

[Esme]

"You should ask your wife. " Cal said almost quietly. She had been resting in a leaned position, arms folded across her lap and back pushed up by a pillow. Breathing still hurt, and the nurse who had been attending them had refused to let her take the head wrap off yet. "She knew exactly what was there, did you, Ma'am?"


Yumi's old eyes narrowed in on her granddaughter, "Mind your tongue."


"Mom told you." Cal said simply, leaving it at that.

 

[Coro]

Axel glanced back and forth between Yumi and Cal, and took a deep breath.


".... You knew, Granny? We almost died... We almost FUCKING DIED! I've got... Something wrong with me now, and we had to fight... Lizzie and David and Mr. Hale..." He started, his fists clenching so tightly blood ran from his palms.


Corono blinked, glancing towards Yumi. He'd already been briefed on the circumstances surrounding the mission, and exactly what those two would be going into, but what had really occurred there? What was wrong with Axel?

 

[Esme]

Yumi made a noise of frustration, before turning towards the other two that were behind them. "Back to your posts." Shutting the door tight behind them, she flipped the lock. Turning back to the three in the room, she stared down Axel, " I knew they had been messing around in there, I didn't know the details of it. I didn't know it could..." She swallowed, both literally and of her pride.


"Didn't know what could do what?" A voice said coldly. From behind the two leaders, the last of the three albinos stepped, her eyes set firmly on her mother, who seemed almost startled. SHe then drifted her attention towards her daughter, " And what pray tell did you do in there to send everything into a damn tizzy."


It was then that Alec had actually payed attention to the room as a sense dawned on her.


"Why is it here." She bit out sharply, all of her attention on Axel. "Who let that fucking thing in here."

 

[Coro]

Axel swallowed.


"Part of Despair went inside of me, a small portion, and then Meido forced Cal to put Despair's eyes into me, and cut up the body. The body is spread all over the Blind now... And the scroll disappeared." He explained, trying to avoid Alec's gaze. As another Meido user, she must be reacting to his now Umbralus tainted body.


Corono's jaw hung open slightly. This was quite the development.... It was true that Umbralus had been Yumi's goal, a power they could use against Nightrise, but she hadn't anticipated several of their members being possessed by the demonic force of Despair. Closing his mouth, he looked to his daughter, Alec.


"Alec... Don't jump down his throat just yet. He came back like this, and brought Cal back safe after the mission...." Corono started, his grip on his katana's sheath getting a little tighter.

 

[Esme]

Alec narrowed her eyes. This was wrong on so many levels. He was dangerous, as far as she was concerned, and someone was the reason why. Looking at Yumi, she folded her arms. "Do you not listen when I speak? You sent them to go get the very thing I told you not to fucking touch? Dad, jesus, you didn't try to talk some sense into her?"

 

[Coro]

Corono and Axel both bore the same sheepish look on their faces in that moment, as Axel turned his attention to Cal and Corono to Alec.


".... Do you want to tell them about what you told me? About how the two are really related? Riri thinks it's a good idea." Axel whispered to Cal beside him, referencing the portion of Despair that entered him by the name it told him to call it, Riri, short for Ririna Quadhaild. Apparently some kind of ancient demon name. Axel sighed. For an evil demon that fed off despair, this thing was awfully peppy and talkative.


Corono stepped towards his daughter, slightly afraid she might lash out at him. He sure wasn't getting any younger.


"Dear... The most sensible thing to do was this. The scroll would have found it's way to the body somehow, and now with a little help from that Hope kid you've run into before, we even managed to prevent a demonic uprising. The only downside is that Nightrise now knows about the existence of the two demons... And that we have them... Sort of." He explained, trying to defend his wife from his daughter at the moment. At the end of the day, Sanctuary hadn't done too badly...

 

[Esme]

Cal shook her head, "No, Mom can probably fathom a guess though. She's been tracking down and translating things like that scroll and the temple walls for years. Yumi, on the other hand, I don't want to know what she'd pull if she found that one out. "


Alec rolled her eyes, "It wouldn't have found it's way to the body for centuries if we hadn't tampered with it." Setting a hand on her hip, it was almost clear that the snark Cal had in her came from this side of her blood. "And what was he even doing there? Wait.....how the hell did they help him and not die? Jesus, " Taking a breath, she shook her head. "So, I guess that means I have a portal to erase, doesn't it?"

 

[Coro]

Nodding to Cal, Axel blinked a few times, and coughed, interrupting the conversation the leadership of Sanctuary was having.


"So.... what now? We've lost 3 strong mages, and the scroll escaped. That douchey Hope guy will totally be out for blood. And now I'm... Yeah. Where will go from here, Granny?" Axel asked, the room falling silent while all eyes became trained on Granny Yumi.

 

[Esme]

Yumi folded her arms, thinking to herself for a moment. As she opened her mouth, however, Cal cut her off.


"We do what mages do best, we survive."

 

[Coro]

"On that topic... Axel, Cal. The two of you will have a new duty here at Sanctuary, starting the day after tomorrow. You two, as senior field ops, will begin to teach magical combat to the trainees." Corono piped up, hoping Alec wouldn't be glaring at him for this decision. It had been decided upon a while ago, but not yet put into action. With the recent events and a loss of much of their offensive strength, Corono wanted these two specifically on the job, training the next generation. He'd cleared it past Yumi, who had been a little apprehensive about Cal teaching, but had seconded Axel for the position immediately. Corono figured with Axel there, Cal might get a little more into it than Yumi expected. After these events, there would be no shaking the bond those two shared.... The dark fate that bound them.


Axel's eyes widened.


".... Seriously? The youngest trainees are 13, and the oldest are 18. We're only 22, 23 ourselves! Cal and I were taught by Tybalt, Conner, and Zachariah, they were all so much older than us...." He more thought out loud, than brought up.


"Are you disobeying a direct command?" Corono asked Axel, his face nothing but seriousness. Axel swallowed, making a zipping motion across his lips, placing his hands in his lap awkwardly.

 

[Esme]

"Are we still going to go out into the field?" Cal asked. She wasn't opposed to the idea, though she had no idea why they saw her fit to do it. Silas would still need, or want, she wasn't really sure half the time, their back up on some missions, and they had loose ends all over the place. And hell, she knew for a fact one of the younger groups of trainees were downright terrified of her after she did an introduction spar with Lizzie one day. She swallowed hard, she couldn't remember if they'd gotten their bodies or not. But given the lack of other bodies in beds, and what ran through them, she doubted it greatly.

 

[Coro]

Corono nodded in response to Cal's question. "Can't be keeping the star players on the bench all the time, can we?" He questioned her back, a small smile crossing his face. It left however, when he turned back to Alec.


"Also.... I want you here for the time being, Alec. We have matters to discuss. Anything to add dear, or can we all leave these two tired warriors of ours alone for now?" Corono asked of Yumi while not breaking eye-contact with Alec. His daughter was strong-willed, and she most likely wouldn't want to stay in Sanctuary for too long, but Corono needed her here for the time being.

 

[Esme]

"After I take care of the breach in security, be two hours at most." Alec said coolly, brushing past her parents and disappearing out the door. Yumi shook her head, before looking at the two. With her hands folded in front of her, she offered a very rare smile.


"Thank you, for bringing each other back alive."

 

[Riddle78]

"Well,I guess I should start with the sitrep." Silas leaned on a counter,and put crossed his arms while stroking his chin. "We arrived to find the entire facility in high alert. It was a cluster of nine buildings. Three rows of three. Servers were in the central building. The surrounding buildings were filled to bursting with snipers and machine gun nests. They were expecting us. They had detectors on site. There were mines on the ground. Our only hope for entry was blitzkrieg. Axel read my mind and blew out the outer wall on the same floor as our target."





Silas stopped stroking his chin,and raised the hand,starting to count off points. "The server room was secured with a reinforced wall,and two heavily reinforced,and locked,doors. Our most expedient course of entry was putting a hole in the wall,opposite the hole Axel made. The second Axel blasted the outer wall,we were on a clock. Nightrise would try deleting the data as soon as they confirmed our presence. So,Cal opened a hole to the Blind,and used something from there putting a hole in the wall. We gained entry,and I plugged in the drives. From there,we needed to both thin the enemy ranks,and cause enough chaos to keep Nightrise from deploying an organized response."





Looking at Yumi,Silas continued. "I took to bombarding the surrounding buildings,forcing an evacuation,and I proceeded to kill all Nightrise agents before they could regroup. I should note,that I did everything I could to keep from harming civilians. Axel and Cal secured the entrances against attack. That is when the Platinum Angels showed up. Since we were separated,they,quite rightly,assumed we were easy pickings. One went to engage Axel and Cal. Two stayed to deal with me. One of them,I'm assuming,was their leader." Silas gestured to the armoured plates on the counter in front of Jeanne.


"Those were the armour on his arm,which I cut off. I brought it back for analysis. Anyways. After a protracted engagement,I cut off the leader's arm,who called a retreat. I retrieved the data,the arm,and made a statement over the PA. I told everyone to back away from the building,set the timer on the Blind Bomb,and evacuated through the Blind with Cal,just as the media showed up." Silas gestured to the Tim Horton's coffee on the counter,and said, "Popped out by a Tim's,so I grabbed coffee,and we met our evacuator. That's about it."





Pushing himself off the counter,Silas concluded, "And that's it. Also,how'd the bomb work out? We didn't get to see the result."

 

[Esme]

Yumi nodded, folding her arms. "I see...."


Calculating the odds and turn about, she tossed numbers in her head. Three angels, three agents, interesting turn of events. Normally, if they thought they had an actual chance, they sent in one for a team of eight mages. Either they were getting weaker, or they were less foolish. Or..... that was something she'd need to check into, no doubt.


"Ah, yes....there is now a section of prime location that has suddenly come up to market in the city, perfectly flat land, no need of bulldozing, and due to unfortunate events and passing that has occurred there, it's fairly cheap." With a swirl of her hand in the air, a smoky screen appeared, the remnants of the land displayed.


"So, while this is all nice and dandy...My darling little loves, I believe I have apple scones in the fridge for that lovely coffee." Jeanne beamed.

 

[Coro]

TWO WEEKS LATER





"And, that's the basic concept of elementalism. Anyone have any questions?" Axel asked of the gathered trainees. It had been a week into their classes and training, and the ones who needed remedial schooling had been eliminated, Cal had seen to that. Only the truly smart, or naturally talented remained.


Axel sighed as he saw one hand shoot up. Maaaaaybe there was one left that didn't fit either of those categories. But damn if he didn't try hard.


"Yeah, Mr. Forghen.... I don't understand how channeling the energy works.... Or how affinities towards elements work." Bolt asked of the teacher-figure, scratching his head, his short brown hair framing his confused face. The hazelnut eyes looked into Axel's own, to which Axel blinked and shook his head.


"See me after class, Bolt. Everyone else, your last period today is with Cal, outside for sparring. For work tonight, I want each of you to try and figure out your affinities. Everyone has at least one, even mages who use elemental-less magic like Silas Merlot have elemental affinities." Axel explained, grinning as his class groaned. A period of training with Cal, AND homework? Damn.... This was gonna be a shitty night.


Bolt came up to Axel's desk as the rest of the class left, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.


".... What am I gonna do with you?" Axel asked, grinning, pulling out the lesson plan to over with his 'star pupil'.


~~~


Hope sat across from Jean Baptiste Cutting, the field commander of the Platinum Angels, some of Hope's best subordinates. The lovely coffee shop they sat in was completely empty apart from the two of them, Hope having booked the whole place for the meeting.


Sipping on his coffee, Hope smiled to his direct subordinate.


"Good to hear training is going well, Jean. On the other hand, excuse my terrible pun, how's the arm holding up? The circuitry is run with pure magic, and the conduits will fuel themselves on your natural bodily systems the same way the original would have. But this one might be a little more durable." He explained, glancing down at Jean's new arm, and then at his own, and the golden wristwatch that rest upon it.


Hmmm.... Hope thought. Leslie's trainer and Steven's dispatcher should be here soon with them. I need them here before we can start the meeting.

 

[Riddle78]

Silas was practically buried in books,both old and new. Before him was pencils,erasers,a sharpener,a sheaf of grid paper,and a particularly old tome,bound in inch-thick iron and hinges. It's always like this. Whenever he wants to make an artifact,he needs to bust out dozens of different books,just to piece together what he needs to make what he wants. He has notes,that much is true,but they're hardly complete. Iron,for example,can lend so many different properties to something. His Bottomless Box had iron hinges,for example,which contained the storage space to within the box,while the iron haft of his staff kept the magic from surging back into his arm.


To say nothing of more precious things,like platinum,gold,or velvet.


The array of effects,applications,and properties would cause near any mortal mind to unravel under the pure stress of handling it all. Rubbing his eyes,Silas eyed the diagram he had drawn up. He had the shape. He had the arcane symbols. But he was missing the materials. This artifact was complicated,even more complicated than a glorified closet. On the surface,it was a simple monocle. In reality,it was supposed to collect magical energies,copy them numerous times,intensify them,and launch them,all in the time it took to cast a spell normally. An amplification lens. Flipping the final page of the tome,Silas closed it,after finding nothing useful. After a moment,he growled in a savage fury,and hurled the heavy ironclad book across the room into the wall opposite. The tome left a dent.


However,the force of the impact disturbed his towers of books,causing them to collapse onto Silas,now literally burying him in books. Silas crawled his way out of the pile of "knowledge",and sighed in frustration. He's been at this for days. Days of nonstop research,not stopping to eat,drink,sleep,or use the washroom. Magic provided a bandaid solution to all four,anyways. Rubbing his eyes,Silas tried to think. He looked down at the books piled around his chest,and his eyes fell on an open volume. The page displayed a gemstone,covered in a kaleidoscope of colour. "An opal?" Silas picked up the book,and read. Gemstones were often used in artifacts. They had great potential. Diamonds,however,seemed to be the favourite for artificers of the past. So,this page on opals piqued his interest.


"The opal is of particular interest to magi. Opals come in numerous varieties,most useless to artificers. However,the black and precious opals are quite the opposite in that they provide immeasurable,yet eclectic benefits to artifice. The black opal possesses the ability to bend magic after it's been unleashed,making it useful for defense,obviously,or to use as a means to deliver magic in an unorthodox manner. Precious opals can only be described as a magickal prism,though the effect is chaotic,and has been found impossible to harness properly."





A prisim. This is EXACTLY what he needed! Silas read the paragraph once more,to make sure he read it properly. After a moment,he knew what he needed. Black and precious opal. Diamond. Brass. Writing these notes on the schematic,Silas exhumed himself from his little tomb of books,and ran to Jeanne's lab with his schematic. It was a short run,which Silas was thankful for. Barging in,Silas waved his schematic around,and barked, "Jeanne! I need your mass fab! Immediately!" Silas was a wreck,as was expected from someone who was awake and doing nothing but research for the past three days.


~~~


Jean flexed the arm experimentally. It felt heavier on his shoulder. He requested his skeleton to be reinforced to compensate,but the surgeons were still reviewing the case. He sipped at his mug of coffee,black with a spoon of sugar,and exhaled as he set the mug down. "It's heavy. Sometimes,I fear it might tear itself from the socket. I've requested the surgeons reinforce my skeleton to compensate,but they're being obtuse about it." He shook his head. "Aside from that,Hope,it works wonderfully. Thank you." He slid a plate of... Something to his host. In all honesty,Jean was a simple man. Tim Horton's or Dunkin' Donuts was where he got his cup of joe.


Still,he recognized the gesture. And it was nice. The contrast reminded him of why he fought. Those psychos from New York would raze everything,if they ran rampant. "Gloria makes sure we only get the best. Those that wash out..." He shrugged. "We point them at JTF-2 or something." He looked out the window to the street. This small village,just outside of Geneva was quiet and quaint. It had a nice,old world feel. It even had cobblestone roads. Whenever he came here,always at Hope's request,he felt... Relaxed. Away from it all. Almost as if the twists from the Deathlinds didn't exist.


Almost.


Shaking the dark thoughts from his mind,Jean asked, "So,how're things on your end?" At that moment,a woman in a Nightrise officer's uniform entered the building. She approached the table,and saluted the two. Jean instinctively stood and returned the salute. "Colonel Cutting. Sir Astrumregis."

 

[Esme]

As her newlings poured out to her slowly from the only door she had open in the arena, she scanned over their precious, sun loving faces. Granted, most of them hadn't seen a proper sun in a while, but the light they had boiling above them, referred to fondly by Yumi as Artemis's Sun, kept them tanned as if they hadn't missed a beat. Not a single one of them looked pleased to be here.


To their credit, they had no reason to be happy to be out on her playing field. After last class, most of them left there sporting some nasty bruises, a few cuts, and one hell of a bruised ego. And to think, that had been a child's run.


Setting her hands in her lap, she kicked her left foot against the base of the pillar she was sitting on. It was decently tall, about twenty feet or so in height, and solid marble. Even she wasn't quite sure where the blind realm had picked it up from, but it'd make a good start. She blamed it on Axel, for making her watch Mulan. Again.


Wait a second....one was missing. She recounted, came up short again. Okay, so there was Roy, Terhi, Mick, Saph, Elaine, Lance, Noel........Bolt was missing. Of course he was. He could make it up later, she really didn't care. If anything, it'd be easier for him.


"Grab a set of gloves, a wrap, and figure out what order you all want to go in. We're doing a time challenge as a warm up, fastest time up the pole to retrieve their ID card and you get a headstart on the next task."


She watched them exchange looks, and up stepped Saph. Good girl, Cal mused to herself, she had surprsingly high hopes for the youngest of the trainees. She wasn't the best at sparring by far, but she wasn't bad, and she was improving and never hesitated to step into the fray.


Propping her head on her hand, she smirked.


--------------------------


Jeanne's head snapped up in a startled jump. Papers and pens went flying and to his chest a strange looking device was clung. "God, Babe, you can't do that to me...." With shaky hands, he slowly set his project down before spinning his chair forward to look at Silas.


"And why, exactly do you need my Mass Fab? I mean, I appreaciate you thinking my fabulous self is massive, but you know the rules."


--------------------------


With gentle care, Mordicy opened the car door, offered a bandaged hand inside. A small, gloved hand took it. Helping his charge out of the back of the black ferari, a small, childlike figure stepped out. A long, blue coat, hood pulled up, scarf around neck, a pale blue hospital mask, everything that needed to be covered, was. All except the eyes, really, but he doubted she could actually kill something with them.


Of course, she was just a for show thing. He knew full well she didn't want to be here, so of course she'd actually take care. The more she did during this meeting, the faster it was over with and the sooner she could go back to whatever it was she did in that sealed room.


Escorting her into the coffee shop, he found they were the last to arrive. With a gentle nod to his collegue and two superiors, he greeted them politely.


"Good afternoon, gentlemen, my lady."

 

[Coro]

Sitting in the classroom, going over the lesson plan with Bolt once more while the child ooohed and aaahed as he finally began catching onto the concepts of Elemental-based magic, Axel spied Cal sporting a grin as the smallest child stepped up. Saph, it was. Axel rolled his eyes. She certainly was daring for a youngling, he had to give her that. She was one of those 'naturally talented' ones, good genes from the Sanctuary. Her father had been a senior field op, but now worked in mission control with Corono. Bolt on the other hand, Axel reminisced as he turned his attention back to the now less-strugling pupil, had been a recruit from the outside world at a young age. Born with the spark to non-magical parents.


"Alright, I figured it out, you ARE the channel for an elemental-based spell, and thus affinities come from which elements you channel and command more easily!" The fifteen year old boy exclaimed after about ten minutes of reviewing the concepts and pondering. Axel nodded, trying to stifle a chuckle. Bolt really, really wasn't very bright. Bolt's eyes widened. "I must have an affinity to lightning! My name is Bolt!" The boy suddenly exclaimed, apparently impressed with his conclusion. Axel shook his head.


"Doesn't work that way. If you get the concepts, get out there, and see Cal for the last period already." Axel instructed, beginning to pack away the lesson plans that Silas and Jeanne had helped him write. Bolt nodded, making a few sounds effects, which Axel theorized to be thunder and lightning, as he bolted out the door, a massive grin on his face.


~~~


"Well, after our last excursion to that volcanic island, from which we came away empty handed except for a potential new enemy faction, things could be better. Which is why we're gathering here today." Hope explained to Jean as someone opened the door and addressed him by his formal title. A knighted member of the Astrumregis family and the highest ranking magical member of Nightrise, Hope was often used to being saluted and recognized wherever he went. Usually one for pomp and circumstance, this was an exception, one which Hope found more annoying than anything.


Hope waved down the salute. "Relax, Belinda, this is no formal setting." He explained with a smile, gesturing to the pot of coffee and the plate of refreshments on the table. "Make yourself comfortable. How's Steven doing, is he in the immediate area?" He asked further, right as Leslie and her handler Mordicy came in.


"Excellent, now that all the key players have arrived in some form or another, we can begin with this strategy meeting. As you would have all heard by now, the mission to find Sanctuary, the Resistance's headquarters, has now fallen to me. As my direct subordinates, and the strongest forces I can currently muster, you will all have very important jobs to perform in the coming battle. Is everyone ready to begin?" Hope asked, snapping his fingers. As he did, a whiteboard with a few large maps appeared behind him. A stick of platinum shot out of his sleeve, with which he tapped the board, ready to begin issuing orders.


~~~


Elaine glanced towards Mick as Saph stepped up to the plate.


"Geez, why's your girlfriend gotta be the first one every time? Maybe someone else wants to give it a shot." She whispered to Mick, being right beside each other as Saph made her attempt. Elaine of course was just teasing Mick. Getting a reaction out of him was too easy, she thought with a mischievous little grin.