Genesis Crisis: Resurgence IC

Aegis

The world went upside and spinning before Rise hit the ground. The blow was softer than expected, but she still felt rattled as she tried to orient herself.

The big man stopped his assault, likely due to the spell she heard Luke cast. They had a moment to scramble to their feet unsteadily.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Rise said, stopping herself from nodding. She didn't need to give her head any more shaking than it had received.

The spell shield dropped, and the large man lunged forward once more, swinging toward them. Rise stepped and raised her fans.

"Maragion!"

A wave of fire surged around her and Luke, pushing their attacker back. He growled and made a hasty retreat, just as two stunners flew down at him from above. He had impressive reflexes and deflected both aside with his baton.

"James," Rise murmured, relieved to see that he was okay. She'd lost track of him down here, but seeing him sent a new wave of strength through her.

"You want a piece of me!" she yelled. "Agidyne!"

She slashed her fan at the magic circle before her. A flaming meteor erupted from nowhere, hurtling down on the man.

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Arusians

Alexei's vision was suddenly filled with fire. A huge fireball was dropping toward him, and he did the only thing he could.

He ran toward it.

The heat scorched at him, but he ignored it and poured all his strength into his legs. At the last moment, he dived and tumbled across the ground as it surged past and crashed in a blaze behind him.

Alexei didn't waste a moment. As he pulled out of his dive, the baton was already in hand and thrust toward the girl. It caught her in the stomach, delivering a shock and knocking her to the ground with a cry.

"Ehlana, Belo, report, damn it," he growled. He was blind down here, but he didn't have to see to know things were taking too long.

Arusian Agents
Belobog Volkov, "Belo"

Belobog was caught in surprise due to the sudden appearance of metallic balls, and before he could chase his target, the balls were moving its own and started to attack him. Belobog clicked his tongue, irritated. Instead of trying to resist its attack or trying to predict where its coming from, he reacted with the flow of its attack. Soon the attacker's attack had directed him to the floor, giving him the chance to take out his melee weapon.

He had to go through a lot of pain to reach it to the ground, but it was worth it; the melee weapon in his hand had started to react to the round shape weapon whenever it met and disrupted the control of its user. Belobog was regretting that he did not finish the job, then again he had not time for the dying pray.

Each contact with his knife, it would have made the control over the ball harder and it would responded to user even slower. This would have made it easy for Belobog to dismiss the ball, and quickly went out for the targets that needed handling.

But, as he got away from that situation, he found himself in amusing situation. The Redcape was attacking the new group, and knowing that redcape would attack whatever it looked hostile, he hesitated to move in.

There was a call from Alexei, "The Redcape engaged with the new targets, how's your side?" Belobog asked for reply for Ehlana and Alexei.

______________________________--

Aegis
Luke Jaron

Before Luke could intercept the man together, Rise went ahead and carried out her attack. Her attack was huge blow and yet the man managed to dodge and even send the counter to it.

"Rise!" Said Luke, in the hope that Rise would realize and avoid the man's counter, but it was too late. Luke's tightened his jaws, rage was built upon him. His golden eyes started to shine even brighter and did no longer hide his murderous intent. However, that murderous intent soon became cold and silent.

The young man burst of the sudden speed, whispering his spells "Sukukaja, Tarukaja", energized with enormous flow of his strain, he came to the man and send out his punch with stunner activated to the bear man's gut, soon following with the kick on the man's face.

Due to Luke's overlimit, The Bear-man would probably taken a back as Luke's spells were all doubled the power of what he had been displaying it before.

Aegis

"I'll be fine." Marcus ground out as Lenka touched his shoulder, causing it to throb from the contact. "It didn't penetrate the barrier."

A feral shriek suddenly rent the air, pulling Marcus' attention in the other direction. "We'll talk later though. Right now, we need to get out of here."

Only it was too late. Even as Marcus pushed Lenka back into the cover of the boulders, he realized that they were surrounded. The only way out was either through the Redcape or through a hail of bullets. As another shriek rang out, boulders began to shift and roll in their direction, pushed aside by the Redcape in its fury.

Marcus glanced over his shoulder at the beast before giving Lenka a smile that was weak at best. "Change of plans. You stay here, and try your absolute best to not be noticed."

A small boulder hit him in the back, and Marcus groaned as he turned to the monster closing in on them from behind. Stronger. He needed to be so much stronger. And tougher. Faster even. To overcome the Redcape, he would need so much more power than his spells provided, and yet they were all he had to work with.

A tendril wrapped around his waist, pulling Marcus towards the beast, and he leaned into it, using the monster's on force against it as he rammed into its torso.

Nothing. It didn't even flinch from the force. Instead, another tendril swept Marcus aside and into the wall of the gorge with a jarring crash. His vision swam as it moved closer, lashing out at him with one tendril and then the next. He couldn't focus on anything. The world was spinning, and there was definitely blood in his mouth, although Marcus wasn't sure where it came from.

Another tendril smashed him across the face, driving him to his knees. Stronger...

The next took him from below, throwin him back into the wall of the gorge again. Tougher...

His hand reached out, as if it had a mind of its own, catching the next strike before it could hit. Faster...

A red circle spead along the ground beneath his feet, and it felt like his body caught on fire. Every nerve ending ached, his muscles tensed, and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. It was so loud that he didn't even recognize his own voice when he spoke.


"Rattle my cage..."

With a deft motion, he flipped his arm back, reeling the Redcape in. The creature let out a shriek of defiance, but when he caught the tendril behind his elbow and pulled, it moved towards him, unable to pull away. It lashed out at him, but if Marcus felt the blow to his torso, it didn't show. With a final tug, Marcus brought the Redcape close enough to reach out and grab it with his other hand.

All at once, the creature left the ground as it was thrown over Marcus' shoulder, smashing into the rock wall several meters off the ground. As gravity took over, it fell right into a kick that sent it flying, but Marcus kept his grip on the tendril in his hand. When it reached the end of that, it let out a different shriek from all the ones before. This one was definitely pain.

He jerked it back towards him, driving his knee into its torso, which sent it skyward. Releasing his grip on it this time, Marcus leapt after it, sailing over the boulders where Lenka was concealed and driving into the Redcape in midair.

As the two of them drove back into the open ground, dirt and debris flew out in a cloud, the force of their impact ripping a crater in the ground as they rolled one over the other, each trying to rip their opponent limb from limb.

Arusians
- Ehlana -

Ehlana waited intently for a chance to take the shot, but neither the girl nor the other guy showed up in her scope. However, she stayed patient and kept her eyes trained on the entrance of the gorge. Aegis seemed to have rallied from the initial surprise and both Belo and Alexei were under attack.

Suddenly her eyes widened when the Redcape appeared, raging around in a destructive fit.

She could hear Alexei’s voice, asking for a report. “I still don’t have a shot on the girl or the guy,” she reported. “The Redcape is rampaging around and…” She trailed off when she saw just happened.

No human being should possess strength like that.

“Bad news. One of the magic uses activated some sort of overlimit that allows him to utitlize a super strength“ she said firmly into the com. “For now he is busy with the Redcape, but I don’t think we’ll be able to bring him down if it doesn’t wear off. Approach with caution."


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

Aegis
- James -

James gritted his teeth when his stunners showed no effect and were simply batted aside. He could only be patient and wait for another opportunity.

Before he had a chance to unleash more stunners, he heard the Redcape shriek with fury. Turning around, he could hardly believe his eyes. He’d known Marcus was a magic user, but he didn’t know if that kind of Overlimit should impress or shock him.

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

Gorge
- Lenka -

“Look at you playing the tough guy,” she said with a light chuckle when it was clear that he was unharmed.

She was about to protest, that she wanted to stay and watch, when she heard the Redcape. Seeing the infuriated beast approach them, caused her to pale. When she recovered from her initial shock, Marcus had already left, gone off to fight the Redcape by himself.

What an idiot. Did he really think he would stand a chance?

Of course he didn’t. He was being thrown around like a rag doll by the raging Redcape. Suddenly something changed.

“How is this possible…,” she murmured and watched as they began to fight on almost equal footing.

Arusians

This situation was going from bad to worse. The nanobug injection didn't work, more of this kids were showing up, and now one of them was going berserk.

And now the punk in front of Alexei had jumped amped up his abilities. Alexei swung to block the kid's punch, but it slipped beneath his baton and struck him in the stomach. He staggered back, just barely bringing up his arm to block the kick. Pain shot down his arm, and he fell back against the rocks.

They were losing. Their first mission in the overworld, their mission on which all of Arusia was dependent - and they were losing it.

The kid rushed in for another attack, and something snapped. Alexei pivoted sideways and rammed his shoulder into the kid's solar plexus. The kid staggered back, lost for breath, and Alexei swung his fist around and punched the kid to the ground.

He had an open now. Alexei scrambled up the rocks and surveyed the scene. It was hard to believe, but one of them was actually wrestling with the Redcape, and he might actually win.

"We've got to get that one away from the Redcape. As long as it gets away, we've succeeded," he told Ehlana and Belo in the com.

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Aegis

Rise got to her feet as the big man escaped up the slope. Rise hurried over to Luke and knelt beside him.

"Diarama!" she called, folding her hands together and casting the healing spell over him. Rise helped him to his feet and searched around.

"Come on, we have to regroup with the others," she said, leading the way up.

Aegis
Luke Jaron

Looks could be very deceiving, but Luke was not trained softly. He had taken lots of beating and much hardships that one had to go through in order to survive. No, not just to survive, but to become the true successor of his family dojo. As he went for another attack though, something screamed in his head. 'Stop!' He couldn't if it was his softness he had developed over the years or if something actually called him.

But that moment gave perfect opportunity for the bear-man to strike him down. He quickly gasp for air, ready to strike the bear-man ever more, but a heavy punch came down to him. Luke tried to get himself back up, but he was not able to until Rise's spell quickly patched him.

The Bear-man was no more, it seemed he retreated, Luke, still having his energy surging through him tightened his jaw. However, he agreed with Rise, they had to see others. "Let's go!"

_____________________________________________


Arusian
Belobog Volkov, "Belo"

Belobog eyes were watching  the fight between two monsters carefully, He was amazed how this 'strain' was used in such manner.

What if Arusia could exploit such power? He thought, even though he never liked the idea  of mutation.

However, just spectating the fight had to stop, the redcape did not enter the fight with its perfect condition and it was clear it was losing. He had to distract the another monster, changing its interest from Redcape to him.

"It's a good day to die." Said Belobog as he was not so sure if he would survive the fight with such monstrosity.  "Engaging the targets."

As the two monstrosity kept on fighting, Belobog approached two targets who looked stunned by the sight of what's happening in front of them. Belobog fired his pistols at the two blond individuals.

He was sure this would get the attention of overlimit driven monstrosity, and it would give the Redcape the chance to flee; the animal instinct should allow it to run.

Aegis

As Belo raised his pistols once more, the silver balls he'd assumed to be 'dealt with' shot from the ground once more, slamming into his wrists and driving the shots way off their intended trajectory. One of them turned and slammed into his gut, forcing him to take a step back and deal with it. The other zipped through the air and came to a stop in front of Lenka, hovering as a silent defender.

From her hidden location, Lisa drew a sharp breath through clenched teeth. The balls felt more like cinder blocks now. Something about that knife had tampered with her magic. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to focus on them and the circle keeping her from losing any more blood for much longer. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to choose though. Marcus seemed more capable than she'd realized of handling the situation. He just couldn't be everywhere at once.

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

At the sound of more gunshots, Marcus rolled to pin the Redcape, looking over its struggling form at the source of the harsh noise. The fact that the guns weren't pointed at him surprised him for some reason, but when he saw who they had been pointed at, his fingers fisted, digging into the Redcape in the process. It screeched in pain, lashing him across the face with a tendril, and his head was briefly whipped sideways before he righted it and slammed his forehead down into the beast, causing it to scream again.

He didn't have time for this. Heaving backwards, he rolled the thing over him, and for a moment, it seemed to think it had gotten the upper hand somehow. That lasted until both of his feet dug into the creature, launching it towards the armed man as a flailing projectile. Not to be left out of the party himself, Marcus rolled to his feet and sprinted after the now-falling Redcape. Along the way, he scooped up a small boulder and hurled that at Belo's feet, putting enough force behind it to break the man's ankles.

Arusians
- Ehlana -

“Copy that,” she said. ”I’ll get into a better position.”

Following her words, she got up quickly and moved from her boulder to one that was farther off to the side. It didn’t provide her with a good view into the gorge, but now she was able to view everything that happened at the entrance.

Next, she switched out the nano bug injections. They were too unreliable for now and they didn’t want to double the chances for the capture of a Redcape by having two of them run around. Instead, she loaded shockers, that would send a painful shock of electricity through the Redcapes body and hopefully cause it to flee.

“I’ve loaded some shockers for the Redcape,” she reported.

“What is he doing? Alexei, I can’t see Belo anywhere,” she added after Marcus had hurled the Redcape at him. “What happened? Do you have eyes on him?”


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

Aegis
- James -

James was snapped out of his surprise when someone approached from behind, drawing his attention away from the fight between Marcus and the Redcape. He turned around quickly, only to see the bear-like man climb over the edge of the gorge to survey the scene.

Hesitating only one second, he loaded the stun gun up again and fired two stunners at Alexei’s legs. Then he took a few steps back.

“Who are you?” he asked. “Why are you interfering?”

Further down, he could see Rise and Luke also making their way up the gorge.

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

- Lenka -

More gunshot sounded and Lenka looked up only to see the gun pointed at her. Again. Fear ran through her, but no bullets hit her, instead a silvery ball hovered in front of her after deflecting the bullets.

She looked around to find whose doing this was, but couldn’t see anybody nearby. Not wanting to take anymore chances at being the target, she moved from her position farther away from the entrance of the gorge.

Her hands covered her mouth in surprise when she saw how Marcus threw the Redcape at the gunman and they both disappeared from her sight.

For a moment she felt like a coward. What was she even doing here? Unarmed and unprepared, hiding behind everything she could find? No, she wasn't a coward. She wanted to know what was going on. Without a conscious command, she stood up and moved forward.

Arusians

Alexei did have eyes on Belo, and what he saw looked bleak.

"He's being attacked by two of Aegis and the Redcape," he reported. He made to a move toward Belo, but was forced to stop as two stunners were thrown his way. He pivoted to the side to dodge one and swung his baton to strike the other aside.

It was James, the one who had failed to transform. Alexei narrowed his eyes.

"Alexei," he said. "From where I'm standing, it's you who's interfering, James."

Alexei brought the tips of the two batons together and twisted, forming them into a staff. He swung it backward, deflecting the fan thrown at him from behind, then leaped toward James with a wide swing. He didn't need to take James down, just get past him before it was too late for Belo.

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Aegis

Rise raced up the slope with Luke in tail till they reached their attacker and James. Somehow, the big man knew James' name. Who were they?

The man changed his weapon, and Rise knew he was preparing to attack. She quickly hurled her fan at the man's back, but he deflected it and charged for James anyway.

"James!" she called out, rushing toward him. She couldn't risk a spell and hit James from this distance, but she wouldn't stand around and do nothing.

Aegis
- James -

His voice had a very odd accent. There was an edge to way he spoke. It wasn’t something he had ever heard before.

“You attacked us, remember?” he replied.

It surprised him when the man knew his name and he stood there for a second. Luckily, Rise’s fan bought him a few extra seconds to react.

Quickly he drew his sword and blocked the blow directed towards him. There was no way he would match Alexei in strength. Instead, he twisted away and re-directed the blow towards the ground. His sword pinned the staff in place just long enough for James to grab a stunner from his pocket and jam it into Alexei’s arm.

Then he jumped back and nodded towards Rise. Her attacks would be much more effective and he had better get away from the line of fire.

Arusian
Belobog Volkov, "Belo"

'That bit-' Belo regretted of not finishing that girl who had been giving him hard time with this play thing. However, unlike some lackeys, this Aegis group was facing elite soldiers of Arusian.

The moment that thing he had thought taken care of interrupt his aim of shooting the girl down, Belobog quickly changed his gear to his knife that started to deteriorate the control of flying metallic balls.

But, that distracted him too much that it was too late for him to get away from the tossed redcape. Fully get away from the tossed redcape was impossible, but to make sure he did not want to be in the situation of being flattened by the redcape, he took the risk of jumping in the mid air to meet the massive body mass.

The force of tossed out Redcape was unexpectedly higher than he thought, Belobog was bounced off from the Redcape was sent further away from the scene, when he was back on his feet, he was with the redcape.

Belobog could feel that the impact from the flying redcape and the fall to the ground had one of his arm dislocated or worse, broken. Belobog sighed, but grinned. "How ironic. I transformed you and you are the one whose going to finish me." Said Belobog, the Redcape screeched and sent out black tendrils at Belobog and tossed him out of the its sight.

'Is this the end?' Thought Belobog and something hit his head hard and he was blacked out.

______________________

Aegis
Luke Jaron

Luke quickly joined James and Rise to fight the bear-man. "Makakaja, Sukukaja, Tarukaja!" said Luke quickly targeting his spell to two individuals, the spells were cast as he was in his overlimit, so this would have strengthened Rise and James even stronger, feeling much more energy to fight the bear man. Luke staring at the man coldly, he took his stance, and with firm voice he was about to say "Give up", but he could not say it.

Before he could say anymore, his eyes caught of what it looked like redcape being tossed to sudden direction. "MARK!?" Luke shouted in surprise, Luke quickly started to run towards where Redcape was flying off to, and he quickly charged himself with his strain and doubled it, "Sukukaja, Sukukaja!" which would even shorten his overlimit's duration. But he had no time to think about consequences. He was not letting go his friend that easily.

Luke was away from the scene, leaving Rise and James to fend for themselves against the bear-man. But knowing they had fought powerful opponent before, Luke hoped his supportive spells be helpful enough and he hoped they understand enough for his action.

When Luke finally reached the destination that looked like where Redcape, Mark, landed. Luke was breathing fast, Luke eyes were widened as he saw the Redcape.

The Redcape had some inhumane beating. The monster, no, his friend was bleeding. Luke tightened his fists. "I am so sorry, you have to go through this..." Said Luke, "But, this is to get you back.. Scold me when you come back, alright?..." Said Luke, "Sukukaja," shouted Luke, quickly avoiding the tendrils that tried to catch him, Luke quickly closed the gap, "Tarukaja, Tarukaja!" Stacking his muscle power into both of his fists and legs; Luke's quick fist landed on its face, getting it off the balance. Luke did not miss the chance and quickly released the stunner from his gauntlets, and used the stunner on its arms, then to its legs, its sides and then to its back.

The Redcape gave out another painful screech before its fall; however, it was still breathing... But definitely it was not in the state to move any further.

"I am so sorry... So sorry, Mark...." It would have been better if it was Luke himself who had turned into this monster... Thought Luke... The friend of his looked very weak now, and it started to scare Luke for he started to think that he was going to lose Mark before Mark could turned back to human.

"I will get the bottom of this." Said Luke, clenching his fist, looking at the friend who breathed in and out heavily.

Aegis

Marcus crashed through the underbrush between the Redcape and himself, coming to a skidding halt at the sight of Luke standing over his fallen foe. Growling low in his throat, Marcus crept forward, glaring down at the fallen Redcape. He brushed past Luke, possibly knocking the man to the ground, although it wasn't intentional.

Extending one leg, Marcus kicked the Redcape's torso. When it didn't respond, he stepped over it, looking for the man with guns instead. All threats must be eliminated...

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From her vantage point, Lisa watched the Redcape go down, but she didn't move from cover yet. There had been at least one more armed combatant in the fray, and until he was accounted for, she was most useful in the shadows, even if her reserves were running low and her leg was throbbing. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she leaned back against a tree to brace herself. This was so not what she'd had in mind when they'd made the plan to capture the Redcape.

Arusians
- Ehlana -

“Belo?” she said in her com. “Belo, if you can hear me, check in.”

Again there was no response. Ehlana still sounded calm and didn’t allow the recent developments to disrupt her focus. Once again she looked through the scope of the rife to see if she could find Belo.

Nothing.

To make the situation worse, Alexei was now the lone focus of their attacks and even the Redcape couldn’t serve as a distraction.

“Alexei, see if you can find Belo and get him out,” she said determined. “I’ll watch your six,” she added and took aim.

--------------------------------
Aegis
- Lenka -

Something wasn’t quite right. She could almost feel it. If Marcus had been fighting the Redcape with the intention of protecting them, now it was different. There was an almost angry tension in the air and she watched as Marcus buried the attacker under the Redcape and then shoved Luke out of the way in his search for another traget.

Lenka moved swiftly across and headed towards Marcus, Luke and the Redcape.

“Are you alright, Luke,” she asked when she reached him and helped him up. She didn't think about what a surprise it must be for him when she suddenly appeared, but it didn't matter now. He didn’t really look hurt and her attention turned back towards Marcus. What was he doing?

Aegis

Rise's heart shot up into her throat when she was the big man - Alexei, had he said his name was? - charged at James. But James was faster than either of them gave him credit for, and Alexei got a stunner in the arm for it.

Alexei cursed and stepped away, teeth bared. His one arm was now hanging uselessly, and James nodded to her to press the advantage.

Rise raised her fans and narrowed her eyes.

"Maragi!" she called, casting a spread of fireballs at Alexei. To his credit, even with only one useful arm, he managed to backpedal and bat aside most of the fireballs. One hit in the other shoulder, however, and knocked him off balance. Rise pressed her advantage, casting more Agi spells at the man. With his increasingly sluggish attempts to block, however, Rise found herself slowing down as well - not out of exhaustion, but pity and something like self-loathing.

She hadn't wanted this. She hadn't wanted to keep fighting. It wasn't that she was afraid of what might happen to her, but what she might do to others and what that would end up making her.

She'd seen what happened when the Grand Army did whatever it took for the greater good.

Rise faltered for a moment, the magic circle before he vanishing as she lost the conjuring. Alexei took that moment to escape.

Stupid! Rise swore under her breath and made to run after him. But then, something appeared on the ground before her. It was a magic circle, a familiar one. And from it manifested a figure both angelic and artificial in equal measures.

"Lambda!"

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Arusians

That girl was tougher than Alexei had counted on. They all were, really. That was why it was a surprise when, for one moment, she didn't press her advantage.

He took that moment and ran.

"Ehlana, pull out," he ordered. "I'll find Belo. Just go."

Alexei raced to where he'd last seen Belo, but stopped short.

There had been a landslide, it seemed, where Belo had been thrown. Between there and where he stood were a man who'd gone berserk and the Redcape. He wanted to help Belo, but the mission was above all of them. They'd agreed to that. And trying to get Belo out, if he was even alive, was giving up his life and the mission.

"Damn it, Belo, answer."

Nothing. Only silence.

Guilt and crushing failure swept over him, but he couldn't deal with that now. He was still in a warzone.

And into it appeared a splendid creature of shining beauty, cold and perfect. Alexei had seen the mobile dolls in their data, and he knew what they could do.

He also knew all he could do. Retreat.

He took off, dashing behind cover and heading up the slope toward where they'd stashed their vehicle. If the mobile doll pursued them, they were as good as dead, but there was a chance they'd prioritize the Redcape. That was a failure for them, but if they were alive, they might get another chance to take it back.

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

Aegis

Lambda approached Rise and James and inclined her head toward them.

"Greetings," she said gently. "Kokonoe has sent me to retrieve you all and the Redcape to take back to her lab."

"Are we glad to see you," Rise said, smiling as the tension drained from her body. With Lambda here, those guys didn't stand a chance.

Lambda nodded and turned to survey the battlefield, her ruby red sensor scanning. James and Rise she knew, and Lenka and Luke had been added to her database. There was one, however, near the Redcape that she did not recognize. This must be one of the enemy. She would need to take him out to retrieve it.

"Target identified. Initiating battle mode," she said, focusing her gaze on Marcus.

Aegis
- James -

A huge wave of relief washed over James when Lambda appeared and Alexei took off.

He exhaled slowly. "Perfect moment, Lambda," he said.

James walked up to Rise while Lambda scanned the area. He pulled her into a tight hug, holding her for a few seconds. "Thank you."

Eventually he released her. "We need to find Lisa," he said. "I haven't seen her since that hail of bullets reigned down on her and I'm afraid she could be hurt."

He paused and shook his head. "And Lenka and Marcus showed up out of nowhere..." He looked in their direction where the fallen Redcape was. "And...," before he could continue, he realized what Lambda was doing. She still thought there was a threat, but that only left Lenka or Marcus.

"Lambda, wait!" he called over. "It's fine, they are with us!"
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Arusians
- Ehlana -


"****," Ehlana watched as Lambda appeared and for the first time there was an edge in her voice.

The situation had gone from bad to worse. They didn't really have any other choice but to abandon the mission. What had happened to Belo? Whatever Alexei had seen caused him to abandon the search. Ehlana trusted him. If there was a viable way, they would've tried to save him. Apparently there wasn't or he was already dead.

"Copy that," she replied through the com. "I'll meet you at the car."

Immediately after speaking words, she grabbed the rifle and her gear and quickly climbed down the boulder.

She got to the car just seconds after Alexei. She knew he was hurt and probably more exhausted than she was. "Get in, I'm driving," she said and jumped in the driver's seat.

Tires screeched on gravel as she accelerated quickly and sped away from the gorge.

Aegis
Luke Jaron

Luke senses were still sharp, he was aware that others were coming; however, Marcus' appearance surprised him. "Marcus?" said Luke in surprise, but the man who looked somewhat different from the school just shoved him off.

The training that Luke had for 21 years help him withstand sudden push from Marcus, which could make any ordinary person to fly off, and thanks to his own amplified strength, he managed to just slide to the side, enough to see what's Marcus up to and still see the Redcape, that once was his friend.

It was clear that the guy had inhuman strength, strength that far outmatched the Redcape; Luke would probably have flied few meters, if he did not have his strain stacked to out-perform the Redcape too.

Pushing suddenly, that he could take it, but what made him mad was how Marcus kicked fainted Redcape. Moreover, the moment, he stepped over it, it enraged him."What are you doing!?" Luke quickly took the stance to fight, but he could feel in his vein, it was at his limit now.

"ugh..." Luke had his one knee down due to sudden exhaustion he felt in his veins, but he had his eyes locked at Marcus, coldly; however, that faded when Lenka appeared as well. Thanks to Lenka, Luke was able to stepped it up. His eyes quickly became soft... unwillingly... "Are you alright, Luke." she said, Luke still surprised by her appearance, he opened his mouth to say something. However, he realized that her attention was quickly shifted to Marcus. Luke closed his lips, and rearranged what he wanted to say, "Did he went into berserk mode? Maybe someone should calm him down." Said Luke, then he put his hand on Lenka's shoulder.

It was only a guess work, but if the two came here together and Marcus went berserk because of trying to protect someone... It would probably right to say he wanted to protect the member he came along.

Luke knew that feeling, that anger and that desperation... That wishful thinking. He had all these feeling mixed up in his heart when he had awaken his strain. Marcus must be going through that too.

And to only calm down that, just like Luke's past, Marcus needed to know Lenka, who he wanted to protect, is safe and well.

"You need to tell him, you are safe, Lenka. You are the only one who could do this. He is probably thinking he still needs to fight."

And then some other thing appeared, but Luke's vision was becoming blurry. He could barely concentrate on what was happening between Marcus and Lenka... the outside were becoming blurry by each second and he had to make it count before he could make his fall.

Aegis

Marcus turned to glare at Luke, fingers flexing in the empty air. When the man dropped to one knee, he was written off as a non-threat though. Besides, Lenka seemed comfortable with his presence.

Turning back in the direction he'd been looking before, Marcus scanned the ground once more, looking for signs of the armed man. His location wasn't evident, but leaving Lenka behind to search for him wasn't an option. Still on high alert, his head swiveled back and forth, constantly searching for potential threats.

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

Lisa groaned as she finally pushed herself free of the underbrush where she'd been hiding. If she'd still had the reserves, she would have hovered to avoid the stabbing pain with every step, but the last bout with the armed man had depleted her magic. Even now, the seal around her wound was weakening, and blood was beginning to trickle out once more, leaving a warm trail down her leg.

"Rise!" She called out across the clearing, but had to stop and grind her teeth together immediately after to keep from screaming. Taking another shaky step, she motioned for her friend to join her.

Aegis

Rise was taken by surprise when James abruptly pulled her into a hug, but she melted into his touch with a sigh.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she murmured, clasping tightly to his shirt.

When they pulled apart, James pointed out that Lisa was still missing. Rise hurried off in the direction she was last seen, hoping to catch some glimpse of her.

"Rise!"

Rise stopped short and caught sight of Lisa. She gasped at the sight of blood running down Lisa's leg and hurried over to her. She wasn't sure how extensive the wound was, but there was no need to reserve her magic. Lambda would get them to safety now.

"Diarahan," she whispered, bathing Lisa in powerful healing light. The bleeding stopped, and the pain should have all vanished.

"You okay now?" Rise asked, steadying Lisa.

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

Lambda lowered her guard as James moved in front of her, trying to stop her. It seemed that the one she took for an enemy was there friend, but this puzzled Lambda

"His bearing is aggressive, and his behavior erratic," she reported, frowning. She turned her attention to the Redcape. It was not responding, though its vitals appeared to be noncritical.

"We must return to the Ergo Research Facility before the Redcape awakens," she told James. "Kokonoe has constructed a containment field for it. Gather everyone, and I will transport us there."

---------------------------------------
Arusians

Alexei clambered into the passenger's seat of the vehicle and reclined, wincing as his back touched the seat.

"Get us away from here," he murmured. Ehlana took off, and Alexei was content to sit in silence, his breathing labored.

He surveyed his condition. The mobility in his arm hadn't returned, but that should be temporary. He had several bruises and burns that would have to be tended to. The cut on his back was probably the most pressing issue.

No, the most pressing concern was the Redcape. They'd utterly failed their mission. And if Kokonoe Velda was as brilliant as their information indicated, she'd crack the secret behind the Redcapes. That could ruin all of Arusia's plans.

"Dammit," he swore under his breath. "We're... going to have to report this to Maxim."

He glanced at the now empty backseat and swallowed.

Aegis
- Lenka -

Lenka bit her lip and shrugged. She didn't really know why Marcus was still acting so tense.

Suddenly she saw the mobile doll approach, knowing that it was Lambda from James' stories.

Quickly and encouraged by Luke's words she jumped up and stepped in between Marcus and Lambda.

"Marcus?" she asked. "What are you doing? The fight is over."

"You're okay, right? I'm safe and so is everyone else."

"Please stop," her voice had a pleading to tone and her bright blue eyes looked fearlessly at Marcus.

Suddenly she felt lightheaded. She stretched one hand out towards the rocks to keep her balance.

"Please, not now," she whispererd, knowing she was probably going to faint in a few seconds. "Not now."

The feeling of dizzyness grew stronger and she was now blinking frequently to keep the black spots in her eyes away.
---------------------------------------
Aegis
- James -

James sighed. "I know," he replied, the memory of Marcus tossing the Redcape around still freshly in his mind.

"Still, he helped us with the Redcape and we can't leave him here," he said. "We'll have to calm him down before we leave."

"We'll gather where the Redcape is. Luke, Lenka and Marcus are already close. I will go and get Rise and Lisa."

James turned around to see Lisa and Rise approaching. He put a hand on Lisa's shoulder when they arrived. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I lost sight of you and that we couldn't help you."

"We need to gather so Lambda can transport us back," he said and nodded over to the Redcape.

---------------------------------------
Arusians
- Ehlana -

Ehlana threw a look at Alexei. Even though he put up a brave front, she knew he was hurt.

"I know," she said," and gritted her teeth. Maxim wouldn't be happy with this and neither would the Old Guard. This misson had gone more than wrong and now Belo was missing and most likely dead.

They drove until Ehlana was sure that they were not being followed. Only then did she pull over into an alleyway in a small town.

"Let me see your wounds. I will tend to them," she said, her grey eyes still calm and determined. "It's enough one of us is missing and most likely dead." She pressed her lips together. Saying it somehow made it more real.

Aegis
Luke Jaron

Luke could see everything was becoming blurry, but his eyes for some reason could not stay away from Lenka.

As Lenka finally gathered her courage to step in front of raging Marcus to tell him that she's being safe, and fight was over, Luke wanted to give up and fall to the ground let his body rest.

However, the moment he saw Lenka trying to support herself to stand straight in front of Marcus, Luke could not just let his body fall. No, he was not going to let Lenka fall before she sees her work come into fruition. He felt every step heavy, but with his iron will, he managed to bring himself walk to the side of Lenka, allowing him to be used as another support for Lenka to balance herself to stand.

"You can do this, Lenka. Hold on, he heard you." Said Luke, he was ready to catch Lenka if she faints as he was now close to her, but he had faith in Lenka that she will see through Marcus calming down and come along to the whatever place they had to go next.

Aegis


"Oh, that feels good..." Lisa groaned, finally able to put pressure on her leg without having to grind her teeth together.

She waved her hand slowly, and the metal balls she'd sent after Belo began rolling across the ground towards her. Funny, she didn't even have the magical reserves left to lift them anymore.

"Yeah, I think I'll make it." She responded, giving Rise a wry smile. "Any idea what exactly just happened?"


"No one said anything about people with guns before we started."

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

Marcus' head swiveled from Lenka to Luke and back again. The former was listing to one side, her face starting to pale, and the other had already been on his knees a moment before. He was probably only standing now by force of will.

A deep chuckle cut though the air, and it took Marcus a moment to realize it was his own. When he did, it only grew louder.


"Look at the two of you." He grumbled, reaching out to wrap an arm around each of their waists and stabilize them. "Neither one fit to stand and both trying to keep the other from falling over first."

Beneath his feet, the magic circle faded, and although he sagged under the weight of two extra bodies, Marcus didn't go down. He couldn't exactly move forward though. So, he was stuck standing there, holding two barely conscious people. Awkward...

Arusians

Alexei appreciated Ehlana's concern, but he shook his head.

"Not yet," he said through clenched teeth. "We have to contact Maxim first."

With their vehicle safely stowed, Alexei walked - limped, more like - into the low-rent motel next to them. The man at the desk gave them a room without asking questions, and they trudged up the stairs to a room in the corner.

Alexei made it over to the bed and sat down with a groan. He tried to search for his communicator, but his movements were sluggish and his mind hazy.

"Dammit," he muttered, cradling his head in his hands. It was no use. As much as he hated it, he couldn't face Maxim like this.

He reached for his shirt and pulled it off, biting down to stifle a yell of pain, before tossing it aside.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," he sighed. "If it's still on the table."

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

Aegis

Rise was glad to see that Lisa was looking better already. Her question was troubling though, and Rise could only shake her head.

"I have no idea who those guys were, but it's obvious they wanted to stop us from getting the Redcape."

James approached them and filled them in on the plan. Rise followed after him with Lisa at her side. They joined Lambda and approached where the others stood by the Redcape. Marcus seemed to be holding onto Lenka and Luke, looking the worse for wear.

"Mediarahan!" Rise cast, sending a wave of healing magic over the three of them. After a sweep of her eyes told her Luke and Lenka were okay, she fixed a steely glare at Marcus. The intervention may have been helpful, but she wasn't going to justify his blatant disregard for what they'd told him.

"What are you two doing here?" she demanded, though her anger seemed directed mostly at Marcus.

"I believe the questions can wait," Lambda interceded. "Transporting the Redcape before it regains consciousness is of the utmost importance."

Rise frowned, but didn't object. Lambda approached the Redcape and lifted it effortlessly before returning to the middle of the others.

"Prepare yourselves," Lambda said. "Traesto."

A magic circle appeared around their feet, and the world around them seemed to dissolve in a disorienting blur of color before coming into focus once more. Rise clutched her head dizzily, trying to orient herself. After a moment, she saw that they were standing in the middle of a lab.

"Well, well," said Kokonoe, folding her arms. "Look what the cat dragged in."

Aegis
- Lenka -

"It's not my fault," Lenka murmured and tried to find her footing. She took a couple deep breaths and managed to keep the blackness at bay.

Suddenly a wave of energy washed over her and she felt renewed strength. Gratefully she looked over to Rise.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to give her voice a firm tone. She pushed their support aside and took a step forward.

She could see that the others had arrived and she could also see the now disapproving expression on Rise. Even though she expected that, it still hurt more than she thought it would.

Suddenly there was a light flash and they found themselves in Kokonoe's lab. Lenka stumbled a few steps forward. This line of travel after almost fainting was less than good for her balance and she felt dizzy.
---------------------------------------
Aegis
- James -

James mentally prepared himself for the disorienting blur and managed to keep a steady footing after the lab appeared around them.

"Always good to see you to, Kokonoe," he greeted her.

He could see Lenka was rather unsteady on her feet, so he steadied her lightly. "Here, eat this and sit down somewhere until you feel better," he said and handed her an energy bar. "We'll talk about what you guys did later."

Lenka nodded and for once didn't object.

James turned around and walked over to Luke who had also seemed a little unsteady. "Luke, are you okay? Do you have any injuries that we can take care of?"

---------------------------------------
Arusians
- Ehlana -

Ehlana watched silently as Alexei tried to keep it together and evetually gave in.

"Of course," she said and grabbed their first aid kit. "Lay down on your stomach," she ordered when he had taken his shirt off.

Not exactly gently, her fingers ran along his back trying to see if aside from the cut there were any internal injuries where bruises began to form. When she couldn't  find any, she pulled out various items to treat the large slash on his back.

"This is going to sting," she said and poured a special healing mixture made from herbs and minerals over the open cut. "Damn kids," she muttered through her teeth.

"I'll have to stich it up," she said. "Try not to move." She placed on knee on his shoulder and leaned over the cut, applying clean stiches with practiced movements. Then she placed some ointment on his various scrapes and bruises, none of which were life threatening.

After she finished, she allowed Alexei to get up and began to bandage the cut. This time she was more gentle in her movements.

He still looked worse for the wear and she brought him a glass of water and dropped two pills in the palm of his hand. "Some energy to clear your head," she said.

Afterwards, she brought over the communicator and placed it in front of Alexei. "Ready?"

Aegis
Luke Jaron

"Hey!" Luke sounded his protest as the Marcus tried to carry him along with Lenka; as soon as Lenka found her footing, Luke barely held his own footing too.

The wave healing spell from Rise helped him to focus for little longer, and given him strength to see and hear the conversation between all others. But that was the limit, he was not in any state of voicing out at all.

The humanoid, Lambda, used some kind of strain he never heard before and then they were somewhere else.

The new person metaphorically described as cat has dragged something in, but it was clear to Luke, his body's exhaustion was coming to him heavily.

Short pleasantries was there between James and the new person, and then James turned to Luke. Asking if Luke is okay, Luke tried to open his mouth to say something.

But instead of answering the question, Luke vision became dark, and as soon as he could not see anything, his body felt heavy. Luke quickly fall to the cold floor and started to sleep, silently.


_____________________________________________________________

The Place Where Once Her Lover Was...
Nadenka Orlov

'Please, don't go. I have bad feeling about this.' Said the green haired doctor, the man who had proposed to the doctor just few days ago, smiled. 'Don't worry, love, I will come back.'

"But, you didn't..." Said Nadenka, her eyes started to become teary. The place was once a Legion's base, but was bombarded heavily and now it was beyond recognition. It was simple plan really, the inner man had to report where the base was and the old government had to just bomb the place. The plan's aim was to have no casualties of allies side, yet annihilating the enemies' base for good. However, the old government did not consider their inner men well enough and due to their mistake, her lover had to pay for it.

She could not stop the tears from flowing out of her eyes as she dropped the bouquet of white flowers where she usually drops.

If that old government given the order to pull out before they bombarded the place, he could have survived...

But, they did not. They let him die.

"The country you fought for is no more... Can you hear me?...The country you have sacrificed your life for is no more...." Nadenka fall to her knees and cry behind the bouquet of white flowers.

"You fought for absolutely nothing, you idiot!" She continued to cry...

__________________________________________________________

Belobog Volkov, "Belo"

"You fought for absolutely nothing, you idiot!"

Sudden voice of woman woke Belobog, he opened his eyes, he could feel his body is aching all over the place.

"Am I dead?" Said Belobog, however, instead of direct answer of yes or no, he could hear the cry of a female.

"I must have fallen to hell or something..." Belobog commented as he tried to stand, but that actually helped him to realize he was not dead. Belobog tightened his jaws, the pain that he was feeling was unbearable, but knowing somebody else was here, he could not let it out. "Or maybe not." He commented as the pain became lesser.

He tried to move his one hand, then two hands and arms. The ache was there, but it was not painful as his legs were going through. Belobog tried tap his radio, but it looked like it was broken or so. "Sh*t" Said Belobog. Then something moved, not far from where he was.

Surprised by the sudden movement, Belobog raised his pistols, barely holding them. "Wait" Said the female voice. "I just heard someone's cursing." The female slowly revealed herself to Belobog; she had her hands in mid-air to show that she was carrying no weapon.

And sadly for Belobog, before he could do or say anything he lost his consciousness once again.

Aegis

Marcus shot Rise a dark look in response to her question, but he was thankful that her healing had allowed him to let Lenka and Luke stand on their own two feet again. Well, mostly anyway. For some reason, Lenka practically jerking herself from his grip bothered him. Sure, she was impulsive, but he'd hoped by now that she would have at least trusted him to let her stand on her own when he was sure she could. That would be something for another time though.

As reality warped around her in an all too familiar sensation, Lisa hunched forward, looking slightly green. "Oh geez." She moaned, grabbing hold of James, who was the closest person to her, for support. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that method of travel."

Marcus shook his head, his ears popping a few times in the process. Teleportation? Now that was a cool magic strain. He paused for a moment, thinking back. How had he gotten to holding onto Lenka and Luke anyway? Last he remembered, his head had been bashed into the cliff by the Redcape. He slowly reached for the back of his head, and it didn't surprise him when his fingers came away covered in drying blood. The wound itself appeared to have already healed though. Maybe he should be a little more thankful for Rise's presence, even if she didn't seem pleased with his arrival.

An image flashed through his mind of him soaring through the air, the Redcape grasped in his outstretched hands. Marcus shook his head again, trying to clear it. Surely, that couldn't have happened. Right? More images swam in and out of his vision, and Marcus blinked a few times before lowering himself to the ground with a groan. "I don't suppose your magic does much for concussions, does it?" He directed the question in Rise's direction, but he didn't look up. There were too many images imprinted onto his mind right now for him to have seen her anyway.