Genesis Crisis IC

GENESIS CRISIS

The bunker was rocked with the sounds of distant, muffled explosions. By now, the crew within took no more notice of it than the sound of traffic in a time passed, when people were not afraid to venture outdoors. Yes, the bombings had been going on for longer than anyone cared to remember. As surely as the sun rose, some new enemy launched an attack on their country. It was fortunate, in some ways, that everyone had agreed to cease fire with nuclear arms, or else they might not have a planet left to reign victoriously over. Still, at the rate this was going, that might be the case anyway. Plant and wild life couldn't sustain itself in an inhospitable climate like this. But with no end in sight, all they could do was pass each day by and hope to see the next. Yes, no end in-

"Sir, we're picking up a feed!" a communcations officer suddenly announced. The mood in the bunker changed instantly as everyone snapped to attention.

"What is it?" the general demanded, getting to his feet. The woman quickly pounded keys on the computer as she tried to find more data feed.

"They're.. they're surrendering!" the woman said, covering her mouth. Yes, one of the superpowers in this war, despite its military power, had succumbed to lack of resources at long last.

"That whole alliance will crumble then," the general said, beginning to feel a spark of hope. "We might stand a chance!"

There was a tumultuous cheer as the soldiers all stood up, some embracing each other. At long last, it seemed as though there might be-

A wailing noise suddenly drowned out their celebration as red lights filled the bunker.

"You, what's happening there!" the general snapped, causing one of the analysts to clamber over to his seat and quickly type in keys. An image of a massive satellite cannon appeared on the monitors, the large cannon glowing with energy as it powered up.

"That's impossible! How did they get it back online!" the general bellowed, slamming his panel as they watched the cannon rotating around in space, aiming down at the earth. Everyone seemed stricken with shock and fear, motionless and mute. A brilliant beam of light errupted out of the cannon, blasting its way toward the middle of the Pacific Ocean. As it slammed into the waves, the shockwave shorted out whatever feed they had been received, leaving them all with only the ominous sound of static. The general collapsed into his seat, burying his face in his hands. No one seemed to know what to do, especially seeing their leader lose all sense of protocol. Moments ticked by, and they could dimly hear the sound of the ocean looming above, like the roar of some great beast, as it crashed into the earth, obliterating everything in its wake. Wherever the bunker's power source was located, it was not safe from the attack. In a moment, they were plunged into darkness. In the utter stillness, they could hear the general whisper one last sentence.

"My god. They've doomed us all."

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Nearly a century later..

Spoiler:

"Now then-"

A man spoke. He was wearing a strange mask, like a clown or some bizarre stage performer. He never spoke his own name, though people called him Pierrot. Of course, there are not many who say his name to begin with. He is the leader of a secret coalition, one that writhes in the darkest corners of Kaddath. That name must not be spoken carelessly if one values their life. One must never imagine what face lies beneath that mask if one values their life.

That man now began to speak to the one before him in this secret room of darkness, or could it be called an altar?

"Now then. Why don't I make an announcement? Of the beginning of a grand experiment, of the beginning of profound cognisance, and the start of a new era. One and only one reigns supreme in this world. However, something that surpasses even his formidable power is going to descend upon the capital, upon the city protected by the High General's impossible reign. For we are Legion, and we are many."

There was laughter in the man's voice. The one he spoke to was silent.

"The end of summer is upon us, and the first of our harbingers riders forth. 'I looked, and before me was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.'"

The man stood from the sofa, arms extended wide to an unseen crowd.

"Everything is about to begin."

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Chapter 1 - Harbingers

Spoiler:

Current Arc: Chapter 2 - Tribulations

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Story Log

Spoiler:

Prisma

Quote :

Day IX

Bunker

The facility was peaceful and quiet as everyone slept off the previous day's activity with some well-earned rest. Rise sighed and snuggled happily into the clean sheets of her bed, relieved for the momentary reprieve from all this mess between the Army and Legion. Suddenly, however, a hammering at her door caused her to bolt upright in her bed. She could hear the hammering echo down the hallway as someone continued to bang on nearly every door.

"Wake up! We have training to do!" she heard Jax announce loudly, sounding energetic and determined. With a groan, Rise flopped back onto the bed, burying her face beneath her pillow to block out the sound of Jax's determined bangings to rouse the young members of Aegis.

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Army airship

Lancar blinked and looked around the Army airship, recalling how the previous night he'd had to rouse his squad to quickly suit up and meet at the hangar for a flight down to Peterny. From the landscape, he could tell that Peterny was just coming up.

"Look alive, Squad 34," the lieutenant said, clearing his throat and adjusting his uniform. Apparently, they'd be meeting with the chief of the secret police for this mission, looking to recover that same scientist they had nearly lost three members to protect. And from what he knew of the chief's reputation, he was not looking forward to this introduction.

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Noin

Quote :

Bunker

Jax's voice sounded loudly through the bunker and a few seconds later he banged loudly on James' door. Waking up with a start, James rubbed his eyes and sat up in the bed. He ruffled his blonde hair and swung his legs over the edge. I should've slept more, he thought. Taking a few deep breaths he began to stretch to get the stiffness out of his muscles.

Finally he got up, still barefoot and without a shirt and headed to the door. "Why do I feel like I'm back in army training school?" he murmured to himself when opening the door.

"Good morning to you too," he said to Jax, sounding rather tired and stifling a yawn. James walked past Jax and into the bathroom. Splashing cold water in his face had the intended effect and he felt more awake.

He exited the bathroom again after a few minutes and walked back to his room. "I admire your enthusiasm. Do we at least get breakfast?" he asked when he passed Jax again and then disappeared for a few seconds in his room to get a shirt and some shoes.

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Nexius

Quote :

Alexander Dranos' Dream
[a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGxbB8OoqJ8&list=PL1F2424AF6CEC1728"]Emotional Ost of the Day(Day 87): Shakugan no Shana - ''Reveil'' - YouTube[/a]
'Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you my dear son, Alex~ Happy birthday to you!'

Alex smiled, in a small room there he was with his parents. A cake that was baked by his mother and the present that was wrapped by his father. Just like his 14th birthday, it was going to be another quiet birthday party with his parents....

Then there was a sound of someone breaking in, Alex father rose up quickly. "Who's there?" Alex father shouted and signaled his mother to get away. Then his mother grabbed Alex without hesitation, Alex resisted violently. "Mom! I can fight!" said Alex, but his mother pulled him to his room.

Alex and his mother stayed in corner, and they could hear the noise from the outside. Alex's mother looked at him, who was cowering in fear, she gave him a gentle smile, "Don't worry, Son. Your dad will take care of it." But then there was a familiar voice screamed in pain, Alex mother's face became pale. "You wait here." Alex grabbed her hand, "No, mom! Don't go!" said Alex in screaming manner, but the young Alex hands were not strong enough. She freed herself from his grip and rushed where she had heard the scream with the wooden stick that was lying in his room.

Then a strange voice shouted, "You---!" then there was a scream of his mother. Blinded by fear of losing both of his parents, he quickly made it out from his room to where he saw his parents lying cold. The stranger was taking off their wedding rings and things that were belong to his parents and him. "You-you murderer!" shouted young Alex, and picked up a stick that his mother took it from his room. The stranger smirked, "My, my, just like his parents.... You are one stupid kid, you know that?" Alex shouted, "Shut up! I will kill you!" screamed Alex, then the stranger stopped its smirking, he frowned at Alex. "You got guts kid, but that's not going to let you live long." Then the man smirked again, "Oh well I think I will let you live, kid since its your birthday." Then the man left, leaving Alex with corpse of his parents.

Bunker

Loud banging noise woke up Alex; Alex sighed and stood up. Then he stared at his hands for a moment, he frowned and muttered. "I have to become strong....I must..." He picked up his katana, then straightened his shirt and walked outside. He saw Jax and James; Alex breathed out short, "Alright, so when do we start?" with determination, Alex asked Jax as if he was ready to start the training in any moment.

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

Thwip.... Bang.

The sounds were almost inaudible amidst the voices coming down the hall. Lisa exhaled the remainder of her breath and turned to see Alex, James, and Jax entering the room. So much for her quiet morning practice...

"Morning boys." She said off-handedly before drawing back another arrow. Her morning archery sessions had been neglected for too long with them being on the run, and she needed this, more for therapy than anything else.

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Why do you have to be so loud?" Will grumbled as he slowly made his way out of his room, blinking away the sleep in his eyes. With a yawn, he looked after the others, who were already entering the training room, and then he turned to go back inside his own room and sleep some more.

Before he could close the door, a firm grip rested on his shoulder though. "You too..."

Will didn't know whether to laugh or curse, so he did neither. "I'm just gonna wash my face..." He said in defense, and Will shrugged out from under the hand, closing the door behind him. This was going to be a long day...

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"So, what kind of drills are you lot gonna do this morning then?" Keynes asked, following them into the training room. Despite them being inside a closed facility, he still had all of his gear strapped to his frame, as if he might need it at any given moment.

"Endurance running? Target practice? Maybe a little close-quarter wrestling?"

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Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Jax stood waiting as the others filed at varied times and with varied responses. It didn't seem to bother Jax, however, who gave them all a sharp look.

"No breakfast yet," he said to James. "I don't want you starting off sluggish and full. You need to be on your toes. We'll have a breakfast break later."

Jane, who had walked up and stood watching in the doorway, gave an amused smile.

"Well, I'd better start then so it's ready for you all," she said, winking before turning and heading toward the kitchen. Jax seemed surprised by this, but quickly recovered at the sound of Keynes' question.

"All of the above," Jax replied with a somewhat manic expression. "And more."

"Oh god, he's going to kill us," Rise sighed, her shoulders drooping in response. Fortunately, Jax didn't hear this, as Alex had just spoken.

"I like your attitude," Jax said, thumping Alex on the shoulder. "We start right now with a few laps around the training room to get the blood pumping. Come on, Lisa, we'll do weapon-specific exercises later."

Groaning, Rise began a half-hearted jog around the perimeter of the training room. Why did Jax have to be such a workout enthusiast? Rise watched him easily take the lead in the jog. He'd discarded his usual red cape, so she could see his impressive back muscles rippling as he ran.

Okay, so maybe this wasn't so bad..

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Noin

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Bunker

James threw Jane a grateful glance when she offered to make them breakfast. he wasn't hungry just yet, but the last time he ate something was quite a while ago.

He blanched a little when Jax and Keynes talked about what they would do today. This was going to be along day. Don't be such a wuss , he thought, I'm sure you've been through worse. Plus it'll make you stronger. Of course he realized that if they wanted to keep this up, they needed to become stronger. Just taking on Jax or the Black Rider, even when they fought the White Rider, only proved how mch they had to rely on luck and not on their skill. "Let's work on that then," he murmured to himself.

So, without much more protest, he fell into a light jog behind Jax. Even though he wasn't build nearly a strong as all the other guys, he was still in good shape, a side effect from working with the army.

Danny

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Airship (Aera)

Aera's head shifted slightly the the left, as she seemed to be barely keeping herself awake even after they got sent onto the army plane for another mission. Aera tried to hold her head up, but everything just felt so tiresome at the moment.

That was until Lancar's loud voice telling the squad to do exactly what Aera wasn't doing right now resonated through her ears, which quickly jogged her thoughts back into her head to be at attention.

"Yes sir." Aera stated with a nod and salute, as she changed her posture to a more straight up stance to show her focus on the situation with Aera curious what this new army city looked like since she hadn't been to many new towns.

Though, the gnawing tension still loomed in Aera about the mission they would have to go through yet again, so she made sure she remained focused and her hearing was alert to whatever would come her way.

Airship (Daemond)

Daemond was actually reading a book on the airship for once, as he borrowed it from Aera to study the Dia strain that he recently discovered he had.

Unfortunately, this whole studying thing sounded a lot easier when it thought about it with Sasha at the fair since he was all pumped up then, and now it was just... exhausting work.

When Lancar told to squad to be alive, Daemond immediately closed the book using it as an excuse to stop studying for a bit with a salute similar to Aera's but a little less stiff and forced by his point of view.

As much as he wanted to talk to Aera about the Dia strain, she didn't look in tip top shape, so he settled for talking with the new squad mate instead since it seemed like the closer they were the less chance someone would die.

"Hey Xennox, you ready for the first mission with our crazy squad?" Daemond said with a slight laugh though he still seemed to be serious due to the tension of the situation, as he looked at the emotionless recruit that didn't phase him at all due to certain experiences with 'other' ensigns.

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Nexius

Quote :

Bunker - Alexander Dranos with other Aegis members

Alex gave a firm nod, "Alright then." and without complaining Alex started jogging after Jax and James. As he always jog around school ground for the constant warm up before his practice with swords, jogging was pretty easy for him. Alex didn't care about how wide or narrow was the bunker's training room, but Alex was going to see it through the end of how many laps Jax was going to do.

Alex was determined to get stronger and if Jax training was going to help him, he was not going to slack off. Alex decided yesterday night and this morning, 'I am not going to just a voice. I am not going to just shake the leaves of the giant tree. I am going to be the power of the people, and I am not going leave that giant tree standing, I will make sure it falls and give a life to new tree.' To make any of what he thought possible, it was true that he needed powerful allies. However, Alex knew well, to have a powerful ally, he himself must become way stronger than he was now.

Suddenly, Raidon's face appeared in his head. Alex tightened his jaws, 'Yes, I have to become stronger. I have to become stronger than Raidon...' It was going to be a long road to be strong as Raidon, and Alex knew that. However, he was not going to give up. He had to have an aim, and Alex aim was to become strong as Raidon to protect his group of friends, and the people of kaddath.

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Xennox Xylon
-Airship

Xennox stood up straight away, and gave respectful salute to Lancar as he addressed the group, "Sir, yes, sir" then he sat down again, then he turned his face to stare at the small window that airship provided. Xennox was actually confused with the order he just received, 'Look alive? What kind of order is that?' then Daemond came to him and asked him about what Xennox was feeling.

Xennox turned his head and stared into Daemond's eyes. "Ensign Daemond, I do not know Squad 34 enough," Just then, as if he remembered something, Xennox eyes started to search for something or someone, "but, I must admit I was being a jerk." Then Xennox eyes locked on where the twins were. "Since I have a feeling this is the only time I have, please, excuse me Ensign Daemond." Xennox stood up and walked to the twins' seat. Then he gave them a short bow, then face them once again. "I apologize for what I had said yesterday, Ensign Cash and Ensign Carrie. Wish you all the best." Xennox's face had no sign of emotion, but it was clear that he meant what he meant; he just wanted to say sorry. Then he carefully started to walk back to his seat. However, before he sat on his own seat, he came to Daemond, to make sure there was no loose end. "Ensign Daemond, to your question. I have no answer, but in crazy world I think everything is normal."

Xennox sat down and stared at the small window once again.

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Payne

Quote :

Bunker

Thwip.... Bang.

Lisa looked over her shoulder to where Jax was beginning to lead the others around the room at a steady pace. Yup, her morning practice was definitely shot. She wouldn't be able to fire at the target with them running in front of it every few seconds. It wasn't worth the concentration. Muttering something about how all men should just kill over, she put her bow down and fell in behind the others.

Her pace was steady, but not rushed. She was used to endurance running, not sprinting. So, giving her all at the beginning of the exercise was against her previous training.

Keynes gave the group a small smile before slipping out of the room to follow Jane. He still hadn't quite decided if he trusted her yet or not. So, letting her make them breakfast without him overseeing it was a bit of a stretch.

In the galley, he found her washing her hands in the sink before beginning preparations, and Keynes leaned against the door frame with a wry smile. "Want some help? I have worked in food service for a few years now..." He offered off-handedly.

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As the group completed their first lap, Will stepped into the room, right in front of Rise. His eyes were closed, and he was holding his hand up to his mouth to cover a yawn, completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to be trampled.

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Jane had been rinsing her hands to begin preparations for breakfast, an apron already secured around her waist, when she heard a gruff voice from the doorway. She had been expecting him to follow her, rather than joining in on the training, and he hadn't disappointed her.

"I don't really need it," she replied, giving him a smile. "But I make a habit of not turning down free help."

She grabbed a rag and tossed it to him before turning to the refrigerator.

"Do you think you can wipe down and set the table?" she said, pointing offhandedly to some cabinets in the corner. "The dishes are in there. Then you can keep an eye on the eggs while I start the bacon."

The high agent retrieved some eggs from the refrigerator and moved gracefully to the stove to crack them over the pan. She began to hum cheerily to herself as the eggs sizzled and reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face before turning to look for helper.

"Do you miss it?" Jane asked offhandedly. They were both well aware of what she was referring to, given his past.

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It hadn't been too long since they had started running, and Rise was already panting. Apparently aerobic exercise wasn't her cup of tea. Had it really only been a lap?

Suddenly, Will strolled right into oncoming runners. Jax, ever-swift on his feet, pivoted expertly on his left foot to swivel around the obstruction and keep running as though nothing had happened. Rise, however, was not so fortunate. In the next moment, she had crashed into Will and sent the two flying into a heap on the ground. Rise groaned, moving her hair out of her eyes as she glared down at Will.

"You-" she growled, punching him in the chest "-stupid-" another punch "-idiot!"

With a final punch, she clumsily stood up and gave him an extra kick for good measure before breaking out into a very pitiful jog. God, this was going to be a long day..

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After laps, Jax had them do "a few jumping jacks" to get them nice and stretched. After about twenty, Rise was beginning to think Jax's interpretation of "a few" was far different from her own.

"Jax.." she panted, "how many.. are we.. supposed to.. do?"

Jax turned to look at her, his breathing not the slightest bit labored from their activity.

"I was thinking fifty to start with," he replied, not breathing stride. "We'll see how you guys are doing from there."

Rise groaned, feeling her arms flap about like wet noodles.

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Airship

Cash and Carrie had been preoccupied with an unnecessarily competitive game of tic tac toe when Xennox had suddenly approached them, giving a rather abrupt apology. The twins looked at each other, raising an eyebrow simultaneously.

"Why are you apologizing?" Carrie wondered, sounding genuinely confused. In her world, apologizing for speaking rudely to others was apparently unheard of. Cash, however, snorted and picked up one of his knives.

"I'd apologize too if I made such a lame attempt at intimidation," he replied, picking a bit of dirt out from underneath his nail with the knife. "And dude, stop addressing everyone by their titles. It's just weird."

Lancar, who had been watching the exchange, sighed and shook his head. It was too much to hope for that this squad would ever function normally. As he turned his gaze out the window, he could see that the airship was finally descending. After a few minutes, they had landed in Peterny, where a lone figure in black was waiting for them.

"Squad 34, I presume," the man said in a cold, deep voice. "Who is the leader of this squad?"

Lancar gave a salute to Chief Raidon, whose status was equivalent to that of Captain Colt.

"I am, sir. Lieutenant Lancar Holmes," he answered. "I understand from Captain Colt's mission briefing that you are leading this mission."

"That's right," Raidon said with a sharp nod, apparently forgoing any further introductions. "I believe you're aware of the situation then, so we won't waste time discussing that. We've determined that Kokonoe Velda has been taken north along the coast to their nearest hideout. We'll start our search from her last known location."

With that, he turned and marched away, his black cape fluttering behind him. Lancar frowned, feeling distinctly uneasy in the presence of this police chief. Dangerous didn't even begin to describe him.

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Noin

Quote :

Bunker

James followed quietly, running a steady pace. He looked back when he heard Rise stumble and saw her and Will on the ground. With a light smile on his lips he turned back and focused on his breathing again. It was Will's own fault for not looking when he came into the room

Finally they stopped and started doing jumping jacks. It wasn't exactly difficult, nor taking a huge toll on his strength, but shortly after Rise complained he was becoming a little bored. Circle training wasn't among his favorite things. Alltogether he didn't mind a little training, no, he even enjoyed it since it kept him healthy and his mind sharp.

"So what's next?" he asked when they were done with the jumping jacks. His breathing was a little faster than normal and his cheeks flushed in a healthy red from the exercise.

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Danny

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Airship (Aera)

Aera heard Xennox walk off to apologize to Cash and Carrie, but she didn't pay too much mind to it, because they were just about to land and meet Raidon. With someone that has high status like him, Aera didn't want to make a horrible first impression, so she just stayed at attention.

A few minutes later, a man talked in a voice that Aera recognized similar to her own that only made her stand at more attentive posture, if that was even possible, letting the conversation between the higher superiors unfold without interruption from Aera.

Apparently, Kokonoe was north of here, and Aera already knew their mission was to rescue her. Though, the lieutenant wasn't saying anything about the current situation to motivate the squad for some reason, so Aera took a step in.

"Shall we begin the search, lieutenant?" Aera said just in the squad's hearing range with a sweet but light smile that was quickly overshadowed with a more serious and focused expression.

Airship (Daemond)

"Well, we should change that." Daemond said strongly to Xennox hoping that he would be able to make him feel more at home with this squad. Maybe like his last one? Daemond wasn't too sure how that turned out though, especially looking at his cold attitude.

And it the situation already seemed to be going towards the better, as his conversation with Cash and Carrie seemed to turn out a lot better then he had expected. Sure, Cash was harsh, but that was a step up from what they normally acted like.

Before Daemond knew it, they were on the ground and Daemond noticed a black haired and very cold man in front of him. His pure presence seemed to suffocate Daemond forcing him to grimace slightly out of the man's sight.

The conversation was just as stiff since it seemed like Lancar was feeling the tensity of the situation too, so at least Daemond knew he wasn't crazy.

Once, the conversation was finished Aera spoke up and asked if they should begin the search, as Daemond began to instantly loosen his muscles and try to shake off the stiffness from that man, even if the shaking only ended up being moderately successful.

Though, he still didn't have the strength to reply to Aera at the moment. So, he just waited for Lancar to reply to Aera and then he would move forward with the miss on.

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

"Sure." Keynes' response was quick and unemotional, as if cleaning off the table were a task he'd been assigned by a ranking officer. It was actually just a form of self-defense though. If he'd let even a hint of emotion slip into his voice, she'd have known what was on his mind, but damn the woman looked good in an apron. For a moment, he actually hadn't noticed that she was wearing anything else under it.

He'd quickly wiped down the table, and was reaching for a stack of plates when Jane dropped her second question. His body seemed to tense up for a moment, but it was gone just as quickly, and he continued setting the table. "There are a lot of things I miss..." He said wistfully. "Having men under my command isn't one of them, especially now that I know how many of them I sent out to die."

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Will laid on the ground, completely dumbfounded, for several minutes before he slowly sat up, massaging his side. The punches hadn't hurt that much, but if he didn't know better, Will would have sworn that kick had cracked a few ribs. Muttering something about women being a violent species, he pushed himself to his feet and tried his best to follow the rest of the group for the last lap.

When they began the jumping jacks, Lisa stepped aside, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "Hell no... Those things were invented so men could get a better idea of your cup size, and besides, shaking your arms around like that messes up your archery stance. I'll pass."

Will almost agreed with her, but he was too busy trying to ignore the needles that ran up his side every time he came back down from a jump. Rise would pay for this...

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Lab

One of the many researchers sitting at the long table in the mess hall suddenly squeaked and leapt up from her seat. She scowled at the man who was sitting across from her and then threw her glass of orange juice in his face. The man simply looked at her, wide-eyed and completely confused. "The heck was that for?"

"You touched me!" She yelled before turning on her heel and stalking out of the room.

A little further down the table, a man's teeth clicked in annoyance, and he glared at the other researchers around him. "Who stepped on my foot?" They all looked at him, shaking their heads to say it hadn't been them.

Millie's head suddenly appeared between Arya's legs, still halfway under the table. "Found you!" The little girl said with a smile before ducking back under the table and then squirming up into the seat directly to Arya's left. "Millie and Beethoven finished breakfast already, so we came to find you." She stated matter-of-factly.

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Noin

Quote :

Ergo Research Facility

Arya was in the mess hall, eating her breakfast together with her colleagues. Since she couldn't' go to work normally today, she used this chance to get a more detailed report than last night and answer some questions.

"No, I agree, you should definitely try to use the other filter. It will give you an output increase by at least 30 percent, see here…."she fished a pencil from her pocket and began to draw on the napkin next to her. When she was finished, she pushed it over to Jones.

"And if you…," she broke off when suddenly there was a commotion further down the table and she looked up. Suddenly she felt something on her foot and turned her knees to the side to look under the table. Just in that moment, Millie's head showed up next to her knees and she climbed up to sit next to her.

"Good morning Millie, and Beethoven of course," Arya recovered quickly and put a warm smile on her lips. "Just one more minute and then we can go, okay?"

Arya turned back to the man she was previously talking to. "Try it out and let me know how it goes. If there are serious problems, come find me and I will take it a look at it, Sergeant," she instructed him and he nodded, taking the napkin. Arya stood up and moved to pick Millie up. "Oh and keep working on the speed booster. Just because you have a new project now, does not mean we can afford to work less on the other projects, Jones," she gave him another stern look and nodded when he saluted.

She picked up Millie and left the mess hall with her. "Did you sleep well, darling?" she asked as she walked back to Millie's room.

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Nexius

Quote :

Bunker

Jogging was easy for Alex as he always had to run a long distance and jumping jacks was something he was very use to as well. It reminded Alex of his training with his kendo master who had changed him. That teacher asked Alex to do jumping jacks quite often, so he was managing easily with the training that Jax wished him to do. However, unlike Jax who had steady breath even with 50 jumping jacks, Alex could feel that he was breathing little faster than before. That reminded Alex that he had not been doing the warm up exercise after he started running from the army.

After the jumping jacks, Alex did not say anything but waited for further exercise to train himself. 'I have to become strong, I have to. I cannot be a burden and it's not enough to just be helpful but strong enough to protect my friends and people of Kaddath.' thought Alex, reminding himself why he wanted to be strong.
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Landed Airship

Xennox sighed at the comments that twins made, but he did not say anything for he did not want to say sorry to them again. But they had a good point, he was being way too formal unlike other Ensigns in the squad. Then again, Xennox took about thirty days to say sorry to someone in his old squad so it was an improvement he made during these years. Daemond said something interesting though, 'change' thought Xennox, as it was the word that he was so used to it, yet he feared it. Xennox read a book how old memory could 'change' the person and that made him worried little with a question of 'what if I change completely from who I am today when my memory comes back?' It was then a man with cold glare with black hair entered the scene. Just like Daemond and Aera he did his best not to interrupt.

Aera suggested to start the search, but Xennox, clearly knowing who was in actual charge he wanted to ask. Xennox opened his lips to say something but he closed it as he remembered the last night conversation. Something made him uncomfortable around Ensign Aera and that prevented him to talk to her.

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Rise, who hadn't at all been thinking of what Lisa had, suddenly stopped at the other girl's words, a red flush creeping up her cheeks. She turned to James, who was closest, and glowered at him.

"Pervert!" she yelled, slapping him across the face. The poor young man hadn't been epecting it and fell to the ground on his butt, rubbing his face. Jax sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before reaching down and offering James a hand up.

"Maybe we'll break for a quick breakfast then.." he decided, leading the way out of the training room toward the kitchen.

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

Jane watched Keynes go to work from the corner of her eye, even as she continued to prepare the breakfast. He was quick, methodical, and precise, like a well-honed machine. His time out of the military had obviously done nothing to alter the military rigors that he had endured.

Apparently, it hadn't done anything to ease the memories from that time either. She could see that right away from his response to her question. Sighing, she set the pan down with the sizzling bacon and moved slowly toward him.

"You're a much more caring soul than you let on, aren't you?" Jane said softly, bringing a hand to his face, her eyes searching into his own with gentle understanding. After a moment, however, they heard footsteps out in the hallway, and Jane broke away.

"Breakfast is ready," she said cheerfully, removing the pans from the stove and setting the eggs and bacon down beside plates of toast, jelly, and butter.

"Wow, Jane, I can't believe it.." Rise said with reverence in her voice as she sat at the table. "You're so empowered and important, but.. you have these kind of old-fashioned skills too."

Jane gave a silky laugh as she passed Rise the plate of toast.

"No matter how empowered women may be, it's always good to know domestic skills. Besides, men love a woman who knows her way around a kitchen," she said, winking at the younger girl. Rise blinked in surprise, then gave a not-so-covert glance at Jax, who seemed far more interested in his plate than the conversation.

"Can you.. teach me?" she asked enthusiastically. Jane looked surprised by the request, but pleased.

"Of course. I'll make a fine domestic lady out of you in no time," the high agent said with a kindly smile.

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

Peterny

Lancar had been so focused on his thoughts of their mission leader that when Aera spoke and gave him a brief, sweet smile, he found himself blinking in surprise.

"Oh.. uh, yes," he answered, shaking his head. He looked over to where Raidon had reached one of his police cars, sleek black vehicles, and stopped to wait for them.

"Chief Raidon, how-" the lieutenant began when Raidon interrupted him.

"We'll take one of my cars, as it's less likely to be noticed over an airship. We'll head north to the last location and proceed on foot. Now get in."

Lancar grimaced at being addressed so brusquely, but took it in stride. He'd known going in that the police chief was an unpleasant man.

As they climbed into the car, Lancar could see that it was rather spacious, like a slight more compact limousine. The driver was separated from them by a black window pane, and Raidon seated himself in the corner facing toward the front. Lancar slid in across from Raidon, and to his surprise Cash and Carrie quietly took their seats in the opposite corner from the police chief.

"About this Legion commander who took the researcher-" Lancar began.

"The Black Rider," Raidon said, his eyes flashing with contempt. "Yes, from what I saw of him on the facility's security feed, he seems to have decent fighting prowess. I doubt he'll give us much trouble, however. The real concern is Kokonoe remaining unscathed long enough for us to recover her."

Yes, Kokonoe's safety was the greatest concern. However, it seemed that Legion was determined to use her for some purpose. At least until that was fulfillfed, it didn't seem likely that she would be harmed.

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

Noin

Quote :

Bunker

"What the --," James started to say, but it was too late. Rise's hand collided with his face and in the next moment he found himself sitting on the floor with his cheek burning.

He moved his hand to slowly rub the sting out of his cheek. He opened his mouth for a reply and then closed it again, because he couldn't find the right words. He wanted to protest, but anything he said would probably make the situation even worse. No way he'd think of the girls like that.

Without another word, he grabbed the offered hand from Jax and stood up.

"Good idea. An full stomach might appease some of us," he glanced indicative at Rise, who was already in the kitchen.

When he saw what Jane had prepared, he could feel his stomach growl and sat down. He wasn't quite as amazed as Rise, but he had to admit that everything smelled incredibly nice.

"Thanks Jane," he said before grabbing a plate, toast, eggs and bacon. He started to eat while listening to the conversation.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

Keynes looked up at Jane when she reached out to him. He didn't flinch, but he did kill all of the emotion in his eyes, leaving behind only a cold steel of resignation, something he'd grown far too accustomed to while serving with the army. It wouldn't help anyone to let the woman see his emotions though, and he didn't want to give her any leverage with which to manipulate him. So far, she seemed harmless, but he'd worked with enough agents in his day to know you could never be sure.

He didn't get to respond to her question because the others joined them only seconds after, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing.

The mood amongst the group seemed a little strained at best as they all crowded into the dining hall. Will and James both kept throwing glances at Rise, and Will muttered something about 'violent species' before digging into his eggs.

Lisa seemed to be caught somewhere between amusement and regret, judging from the look in her eyes, and she kept glancing at James over the rim of her orange juice.

Keynes frowned, wondering what kind of joke the girls had apparently played at his expense. "So, how's the training regiment going?" He asked Jax as he pulled out a bottle of something much stronger than orange juice and poured himself a glass. Nothing quite like a glass of whiskey with breakfast...

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

Lab

"M'kay. Millie can wait." The girl responded when Arya asked for another minute or two. She leaned against the woman and looked at the man sitting across the table, who was focusing on his oatmeal like it was some kind of experiment. It occurred to her that he might actually see it that way. Some of the scientists in the lab had been there so long that they couldn't see any normal object as what it had once been anymore.

Before she had too much time to think on it, Arya wrapped an arm around her and picked Millie up. With a warm smile, she snuggled into the woman's embrace, enjoying the warmth of someone else in close proximity. "Millie slept very well." She responded. "She dreamed of swimming in hot chocolate, with a marshmallow floatie. What did Arya dream about?" Millie asked, looking up at Arya with questioning eyes.

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

Abandoned Prison

"What's with that look?" Jonah frowned at Kokonoe, whom he'd just spent the better part of the night in the same car with. "It's like you're telling me to shut up with your eyes..."

He took a step toward her, catching her chin with his hand so he could get a better look at her face. "Amazing really, if I didn't know better, I'd think you had some kind of magic, but it's just your presence. Maybe things really do come full circle..." His eyes lit up for a moment, like he was amused by something, but just as quickly as it had appeared, the amusement was gone.

Clicking his teeth, Jonah twisted her face away from him so he wouldn't have to look at her eyes anymore. That glare was beginning to piss him off. "You know, you shouldn't look down on me so much. My existence as the Black Rider wouldn't have even been possible if it wasn't for you."

Nexius

Quote :

Bunker

Alex was surprised as Rise shouted 'Pervert', even though, Alex, he himself was sure that he was doing nothing perverted it made Alex to be little jumpy then usual. Fortunately, it was James. And thanks to that incident, the training was put on hold. However, Alex was not satisfied with what he was doing, nor he was actually feeling any warmed up for bigger training that Jax might have planned for them. So Alex stayed back as others started to leave for the breakfast. "I will catch up with you all later..." said Alex.

Alex picked up his katana that he had left it out at the corner due to warming up exercise. Alex unsheathed his katana and slowly and carefully started to let his sword perform several moves that he learnt through out his kendo training. Alex's katana danced sharply and quickly; slashing the empty air quicker and even quicker as he practiced. "This is not enough...." muttered Alex, "I have to be stronger than this..." with that he tightened his jaws, letting his katana dance again. Each movement started to look for accuracy of where it should slash or cut his imaginary opponent and how it should block incoming attack.

It was then Alex visualize Raidon and it didn't took long for imaginary Raidon to attack him. In response Alex quickly tried to block incoming attack, however, he was too slow. Imagery Raidon's katana slashed his chest. As it was an imagery fight, Alex was not wounded, but Alex grabbed his chest. The frustration that he couldn't block it and the anger towards his own weakness made Alex heartache. Alex's katana was dropped to the floor, and he dropped to his knees slamming both of his palms on the ground. "Dammit! Why am I so weak?"
Alex cursed himself, then tightened his jaws. "I have no time for self-pity..." Alex picked up his katana once more and again let his katana performed several moves and he fought with his imaginary opponents.
Soon he was out of his breath as he was performing with his anger and frustration. "Darn it...." muttered Alex, as he sat on the corner of the training hall to recover his stamina; ready himself for next training Jax had in mind.

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

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Rise shot Keynes a very dirty look at the sight of the whiskey bottle he pulled out. Imagine drinking alcohol this early in the morning..

"Well, it could have been better.." Jax said sheepishly, scratching his head. "But we were just warming up. I'm sure things will improve once we get to the individual weapons training. By the way, the food is great.. Jane."

The high agent smiled and nodded before daintily taking another bite of her food. Meanwhile, Rise bit her lip at the sound of the weapons training. She was sure that would entail her having to fight someone, and she didn't much like that idea. Various scenarios flitted through Rise's mind before she realized she'd been staring at a bit of egg hanging from her fork and hastily stuffed it into her mouth.

"Are you going to join us at all, Keynes, or are you just going to skulk about?" Rise asked, poking the older man in the side with the handle of her fork.

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

Abandoned Prison

Despite the Black Rider's attempts to draw her into a conversation, Kokonoe continued to stare stoically at him, arms folded tightly across her chest.

"God, he's like the thing that won't shut up," she thought irritably, frowning as he continued to babble on. Suddenly, however, he made a statement that was quite surprising to her. The researcher was reluctant to respond on principle, but she rolled her eyes and figured she might as well.

"I suppose you're going to explain what that's supposed to mean," Kokonoe said in a very bored tone, continuing to glare condescendingly at her captor, as though her were nothing more than something slimy on the sole of her shoe.

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

Danny

Quote :

Peterny (Aera)

Again Lancar replied with a strange response that wasn't normally like him that made Aera almost frown in confusion. Usually, he would be stronger and say something like 'right, let's move out squad 7.' or try to calm down the group, but this time he was being strange.

Either way, Aera entered the car that Raidon had prepared, while heading in last so she could hear the others enter first so she would be able to hear how they got into the car instead of Aera making a step in the dark.

Once they entered the car, Aera finally heard and began to understand why they lieutenant might be so tense now. They were going to encounter a commander of the legion forces...

At that moment, Aera sealed off her emotions yet again. She must of being acting out of line at that moment, and embarrassed the lieutenant in front of a respectable superior with her unimpressive state. So, Aera planned to just keep quiet for the entire ride to not make more of a fool out of herself.

For now, she would need to focus on the mission. They rescued Kokonoe once, and this time they wouldn't be taking any causalities and with Raidon on their side... they may just be in luck.

Peterny (Daemond)

Daemond didn't like the idea of going on this mission at all. This man... Raidon seemed to hurt the squad more then help, as everyone seemed to be on more edge then usual.. or maybe it was just him.

Either way, Daemond shrugged of the brutal posture of the dark man in front of him and instead became uneasy from the equally as threatening car that was in front of them to take them away.

Daemond was one of the first to awkwardly walk over to the car and climb into it right after Lancar, as he sat down next to Lancar, as he naturally avoided eye contact with the dark man that was sitting across from him.

Well, according to the conversation between Lancar's superior's they at least had their priorities straight, but the thought of going against a legion commander made Daemond fear for his life a bit.

Normally he would be busy filling his heads with thoughts if he could protect his group, but Daemond simply kept telling himself that he had the Dia strain now and would be able to save anyone who got hurt... hopefully

Noin

Quote :

Bunker

James decided to focus on his breakfast and ignored the glance from Keynes, keeping his eyes on his plate. The red from his cheeks began to slowly fade away, leaving only a faint red outline of what could roughly be a hand.

When he reached for the milk, he saw from the corner of his eye that Lisa kept glancing at him. He looked at her questioningly. There was something in her eyes and expression, but he had no idea what it was.
"Anything you want to comment on?" he asked her, fixing her gaze for a second before focusing back on his breakfast.

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

Ergo Research Facility

"That is a very nice dream. It sounds like you had a lot of fun," Arya smiled and kept walking. Finally they entered Millie's room.

"Well…I think I did not dream at all last night," Arya finally said. "And if I did, then I cannot remember what it was." She looked slightly away when she admitted that and then put Millie down. As far as she could remember, dreams never stayed in her mind.

"Since the weather is so nice, would you like to go outside today?" she asked the girl and sat down on the couch.

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Snow's Garage

"Snow! Are you here?" a female voice sounded through his garage. "SNOW!?" Heels clicked on the concrete floor, together with a second pair of shoes, when Tony and Lyra entered the garage together. Lyra looked around in the dimly lit garage and spotted Snow's motorcycle.

"I swear, if he went gambling again, I will skin him alive," she grumbled upset, then her eyes came to rest at the couch and she saw him sleeping on it. "Slacker," she murmured.

"Relax, my dear. I'm sure he learned his lesson from last time," Tony replied calmly and headed further inside. "You have the envelope?"

Lyra opened her purse and handed him an envelope. "Are you sure about this?" she asked carefully, but when Tony threw her a stern look after taking the envelope, she quickly pulled her hand back and took a step back. "Sorry, Sir," she said, her voice full of attention.

With a nod, Tony turned back to the couch. "Get up. I have another job for you," he stated, his voice commanding.

When he heard Tony's voice, Snow sat up and ruffled his hair, stifling a yawn. He'd just been cat-napping for the past half hour and was clearly unhappy about being disturbed. However when he realized how his visitor were, he tried appear a little more coherent. Sleeping badly was part of normal routine, so he took every chance he got at a little bit of sleep.

"What is it?" he asked, his voice sounding huskier than usual. His hand searched around for the pack of cigarettes. His hand shook a little when he lit one of them. Snow stood up and pulled his hair back.

"This envelope contains privileged information. The recipient would very much appreciate a personal delivery. Lyra will give you all the details you need to know," Tony stated and handed Snow the envelope. "However, let me warn you. The margin for error is very slim." And with that he turned around and left.

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

Nexius

Quote :

Peterny - Xennox Xylon

Xennox found himself sitting beside the police chief Raidon; it was not his intention to sit beside Raidon, but somehow the situation led Xennox sat beside him. Xennox could feel his heart pumping faster than normal, as the character 'Xennox' was fabricated character based on little information of actual Xennox Xylon, Xennox was afraid that he might be their next target to investigate. Then again, the fact that Raidon was cold and straight person made Xennox relax little as such person wouldn't waste his time on mere ensign as him.

Then Aera got into the vehicle as a last person. Xennox grayish blue eyes shifted to glance at Aera, then again stared at the empty air. The intensity of situation suddenly increased as the fact that they were going to face one of the Legion's commander. However, Xennox showed no tension nor any kind of emotion that hinted fear. For some reason, Xennox felt good that he was going to face commander of their opposition. 'At least its not a small fry....'

==============================================================

Bunker -Alexander Dranos

Alex stood up from the corner he had been waiting for his friends, but he did not stood up to walk over to the kitchen to eat. Instead, he started to practice his basic kendo movements. Each basic movement made Alex realized that he was way out of his practice. "....Stupid me..." muttered Alex as he kept on practicing his basic foot work and movements.

Quickly his basic foot work and movements started to find its best way of how it should be done. However, that improvement did not stop Alex. It actually made Alex to do it more. Slowly Alex shirt was getting wet by his sweat.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

Lisa swallowed when James asked her if she wanted to comment on anything and quickly diverted her attention elsewhere. He didn't really want her to say what was on her mind here, not in front of Rise, and even though he'd put her on the spot like that, she wouldn't reveal more than she needed to. It just felt bad to have been the spark that resulted in him getting slapped to the ground.

Will eyed the bottle next to Keynes like he was considering asking for a glass, but he resisted the urge. Rise was already mad at him, and the last thing he needed was another injury to deal with during their training. The alcohol in his system might have improved the pain a little though... Probably not worth the tradeoff...

Keynes tipped back his glass, emptying it in one go, and then he poured himself another before stashing the bottle in the cabinet. "As a matter of fact, I'll be directing the next portion of your little training camp, assuming Jax has no issue with that." He didn't make it sound like it was a question, but Keynes did at least look at the man before just belting out orders.

"Basic exercises are good, but I think what the lot of you lack more than anything is real combat experience. The only way to get that is to get into a fight." He stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth and then washed it down with the second glass of whiskey. "So, after you're all done eating, we'll pair up and spar a little."

His eyes drifted across all the people sitting at the table, as if he were contemplating something. "Will, you'll pair up with James. From what I've seen, the both of you need to learn how to defend yourselves better instead of just rushing in headfirst. Maybe having to deal with each other will teach you something. Lisa, you and Alex will pair up against Jax. It will take both of you to keep up with his movements, and it will be a good exercise in maintaining the right kind of formation in a fight, something that can mean life or death for a ranged fighter."

Lisa grimaced at the thought of having to work with Alex, but she knew he was right about her needing to learn about distances. Being up close was a problem for her if she needed to fire an arrow.

Will simply looked over at James with a smile that said 'come at me if you dare'.

"Rise, you need to work on dealing with heavier opponents. I saw you almost get overwhelmed earlier because you tried to take things head-on instead of trying to divert them. You'll be with me."

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

Lab

"Arya doesn't dream?" Millie looked up at the woman in fascination. "Millie has never heard of someone that didn't dream... Although Cocoa told Millie not to pay much attention to the dreams the slackers talk about over lunch. She said they would pervert Millie's mind."

Her expression immediately changed when Arya mentioned going outside though. Millie's eyes seemed to light up like stars, and her face practically glowed with excitement. "Yes, Millie would like to go outside." She said quickly. "She hasn't been outside in a while, and it's a beautiful day for climbing trees and chasing bugs." Millie paused for a second, hugging her rabbit to her chest. "Can Beethoven come too?" She asked sheepishly, almost as if she expected Arya to say no.

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

Abandoned Prison

At Kokonoe's response, Jonah put a hand over his mouth in mock horror. "She speaks! I swear, the sky is gonna fall any second now."

He let the comment hang in the air for almost a full minute as he led her inside the dark structure that would be her prison for the remainder of the day. Jonah wanted her to sweat a little, think about what he might say before he told her, and he would tell her. She needed to know, needed to feel the despair of being at the source of all of this.

At the end of the long hallway, he slid open one of the cells and motioned for her to enter. They both knew she had no choice but to comply.

"I wasn't born with magic." Jonah said as he slammed the door shut behind her. His wicked grin hovered in front of the bars separating them now. "It was implanted into me artificially, and the thing that gives me my magic, the thing that gives all of Legion's Riders their magic, was a direct result of your first military funded research project."

His eyes seemed to laugh at her as Jonah turned on his heel and strode back down the hall, leaving her in the darkness of the cell he'd locked her in. Even now, only a small amount of light managed to creep into it through the small window at the very top of the wall, and she would find that little comfort, considering all the furniture here was made of stone.

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Jax frowned slightly when Keynes declared he would be assuming of the training in the next portion, but gave a nod of consent anyway. Keynes obviously had the most combat experience of the whole team, so doubtless they would all benefit from his presence.

"What?!" Rise exclaimed, looking dismayed. "They all get to fight people of their own skill level and I have to fight you! That's not fair."

It seemed that no matter how much she disliked it, however, that Keynes wasn't going to budge.

"You all go on then," Jane said, standing up and collecting the plates. "I'll clean up and then get started on lunch."

Rise gave her a helpless, pleading look as she was shuttled out of the room, but Jane only gave her a helpless smile and waved as they disappeared down the hallway.

When they had returned to the training area, everyone split into the groups Keynes had decided. Jax moved with Alex and Lisa to the center while James and Will took the left and Rise and Keynes the right.

"You'd better go easy on me," Rise said nervously as she stood several paces away from Keynes, her fans opened in both hands. She knew he would never intentionally hurt her, but he wasn't exactly the most gentle person.

Meanwhile, Jax squared off against Alex and Lisa, fists raised. He seemed to bounce slightly on his feet, like a boxer ready for the bell to sound.

"All right, you two. Don't hold back," he said, smirking.

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

Caltha, Imperial Palace

Eriol Lecarde stood on a balcony of the Imperial Palace, his eyes roving over the expanse of the capital city. Here, at the heart of Kaddath, his forces of Ignis Imperius maintained perfect order. Out there, it was not so.

Yes, out there was chaos. Insurgents. Thiefs. Murderers.

"It's tragic, isn't it?" came a voice from behind him. The young commander turned to see the High General himself, a weary smile upon his handsome, regal face. Lecarde gave a bow as his superior walked up to the balcony beside him and gazed over the city, much as Lecarde himself had been doing.

"They want freedom, but they fail to understand the cost at which they struggle for their self-proclaimed right," Adalia said quietly, his voice full of conviction. "What we do we do for their own good, yet still they reject us. I know that you understand, Lecarde. You've always had such a brilliant mind."

Lecarde's cheeks seemed to flush as he gazed up at the High General with something akin to adoration.

"I fear things have gone beyond the stage where we can talk and reason with the people. Perhaps all we can do now is use a show of force."

Lecarde's eyes followed the movement of people below. Indeed, their cooperation was maintained by the show of the forced in the city. But that wouldn't be enough to curb the growing anti-Army sentiment rising up in people, like those who would murder an innocent man and woman, leaving their child alone in the world.

"I look to you, Eriol, to help lead us in these dark times," Adalia said, placing a hand on Lecarde's shoulder in a fatherly, assuring gesture before turning and walking back into the palace.

Yes, the time had long since passed for restraint and mercy. The firm hand of justice was needed now to restore order.

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

Abandoned Prison

If possible, Kokonoe's glare became even darker as she stared frostily at her captor. Despite her absolute loathing of the Black Rider, a part of her couldn't help but feel some curiosity at his words. Surely, it was just some far-fetched tale he would use to attempt to distract her.

Predictably, he held out on his revelation for as long as possible to keep her guessing. Kokonoe wasn't sure if she should be grateful that he finally shut up or irked that he was actually making her curious.

Finally, however, he decided to speak as he shut her up in a cell. His revelation that his magic was not something awakened by implanted artificially took her quite by surprise, to the point that she didn't even realize he had left until she took in the absolute silence of her surroundings. Sighing, the researcher took a seat in the path of the weak ray of light entering the cell and silently contemplated this revelation.

"Well, this certainly makes things more complicated," she muttered.

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

Peterny outskirts

The squad stayed in relative silence throughout the ride, as Raidon was neither one for conversation nor one to tolerate idle chatter in his presence. Perhaps for this reason the ride seemed to take longer than it did. The squad finally arrived several miles outside the bounds of Peterny.

"The signal gave out around here," Raidon said as they exited the vehicle. "They can't have gone too far yet."

He pulled out a small silver device and pressed a button, causing a map of the region to project around them. Lancar's eyes roved over the landscape until they rested on the outline of an old prison facility.

"Do you think-?" Lancar said, eyes turning to Raidon.

"Yes, that's my belief as well," the police chief said, nodding. "Let's get moving then."

Not wanting to alert Legion to their arrival, the squad continued on foot toward the facility in relative silence.

"Why are you two acting so behaved?" Lancar asked, looking over at Cash and Carrie. "Usually I can't get the two of you to stop bickering."

Carrie raised an eyebrow before jerking her head in Raidon's direction.

"Have you see this guy? Even we know when to not push our luck," she muttered.

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

Noin

Quote :

Bunker

James looked up when Keynes spoke. He nodded in agreement and swallowed his last bite. Then he took his empty plate and brought it over to the sink. Even though he was a geek and company owner, his parents had raised him well and he didn't intend on forgetting his basic manners.

"Thanks again for breakfast, Jane," he said before turning to Will, who was already eyeing him with the word challenge written all over his face.

"Let's go then, before you burst with excitement," he stated, a light smile playing around his lips. He grabbed his weapons and headed for the training room.

Once inside, he took a stance, both his weapons on alert. His ice blue eyes were fixed on Will. Just because he handles a keyboard better than his weapons, didn't mean he was completely clueless.

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Ergo Research Facility

Arya thought about it for a second and then nodded. "I think Kokonoe is probably right," she said and figured what the researchers talked about here was similar to what her male colleagues talked about in their breaks. Men, really, she thought.

"Of course Beethoven can come. I would be very happy if he came along too," Arya said. "However, before we go…" she stood up and opened the bag she was carrying. "We need to take a few things with us."

"I already have a blanket and before we go outside we will stop by the kitchen to get a little snack. Now, do you want to bring some of the cookies we made yesterday? Or anything else like your drawing book or a story book?" Her hand gestured at the cookie jar that was still on the table and then around the room.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

"No complaints missy." Keynes snapped back at Rise, letting a little of his former self be heard in his commanding tone. Truthfully, he knew she wasn't a match for him, but this exercise wasn't about winning or losing. It was about each of them getting the best they could out of the training.

Will slipped away from the table just as quickly as James had and collected his blades from his room. Lisa didn't seem quite as eager to get started, but she slipped into the training room and picked up her bow, informing Alex that they would be fighting Jax for the rest of the morning.

Just as Will began spinning one of his blades to go on the offensive, Keynes let out a shrill whistle that caused everyone to stop and look at him. "Impatient punks..." He growled as he made his way across the room to a sort of locker on the wall. From inside, he took out several wrist bands and began tossing them to those nearest him. "These are repulser bands. They'll keep you from actually getting cut or stabbed, but you'll probably have bruises wherever the repulse occurs. It's a little incentive to not get hit. Just strap them on your wrists and press the blue button to turn them on."

Satisfied that they were all protected now, Keynes reached back into the locker and brought out a very large piece of metal. It looked almost like a shield from the size of it, but it was clearly bladed all the way around. With a soft smile, almost like he was seeing an old friend, Keynes took the spear out of its case at his waist and extended it. Then, he shoved its full length inside the object. There was a soft click, and he flipped his hand over before raising it into the air, making it obvious what it was, the biggest sword any of them had ever seen in their lives.

"Let's get started then..." He said to Rise as he gave the sword an experimental swing. The corded muscle of his right arm rippled with the effort of not letting it go at the end of the swing, but the look on his face said that Keynes had done this many times before. For a second, the blade seemed to dip down, and then Keynes shot forward, far quicker than any of them would have expected from the man, swinging the sword horizontally at Rise's shoulder level.

After snapping on the wrist band and activating it, Will began spinning his blades again. The soft hum of them echoed in the training room, and he let the sound fill his ears, enjoying the calm it brought him. "Come at me then nerd." He said teasingly.

Lisa wasn't as quick to move. She stood on the far side of Alex, watching Jax bounce on his toes. Remembering what the man was capable of scared her a little. It would be up to her to make sure Alex was covered, but at the same time, he would have to take the brunt of the attacks because she couldn't.

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

Lab

"Yes, Millie usually listens to what Cocoa says." The girl said shyly. Truthfully, she almost always listened to what Kokonoe said, but there had been a few times when Millie had disregarded the woman's orders, and at those times, Millie had been scolded heavily. It wasn't something she wanted Arya to do.

Millie squeezed Beethoven closer to her when Arya said that he could come, and she smiled at the mentioning of taking things with them. "Millie packed her backpack this morning before breakfast." She said as she pulled the bag from under her bed and put the cookie jar inside of it, showing great reverence for the gift. "So, she already has everything she needs."

Millie also stuffed Beethoven into the backpack, leaving only his head sticking out of the biggest pocket, and then she pulled the straps over her shoulders.

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Military Compound

"Have you started smoking?"

Elizabeth froze up all of a sudden, and then turned her harsh gaze on the boy who'd just asked her the question. "Smoking is bad for the lungs, and therefore, a terrible habit for anyone who studies physical combat professionally."

He grimaced, but he didn't argue.

"Why do you ask though?" She already knew what he was going to say, but she had to ask...

"You smell like cigarettes." He replied sheepishly.

"Yeah, I've been partnered with a heavy smoker for an op these last few days. Don't worry about it too much. Instead, you should be working on your judo more. You still can't throw your opponent properly."

He grimaced again, and the two other students in the room laughed, drawing her attention.

"Oh, the two of you could use some more work too."

The laugher quickly ceased, and the two of them went back to working on their forms.

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

Outside Peterny

"Report." Alina growled into the com.

There was a brief silence before the four teams she had searching the area all reported back negative for any signs of the group.

Alina took a deep breath, letting her eyes wander over the landscape. Where were they? Without transport, they couldn't get far, but that meant they had to be hiding somewhere nearby the city, laying low until the heat was off.

"Keep looking." She growled again before cutting the link and stuffing the com into her pocket.

"Red..." She whispered, once again thinking of how she'd greeted the man almost a week ago. The irony wasn't lost on her now, but that didn't prevent her from wanting to find him. He'd saved her life... Saved the life of a woman who would now have to track him down and drag him before the courts, or if he was lucky, she would execute him without letting the judges break him. But dammit, if it didn't piss her off that he'd saved her life...

Noin

Quote :

Bunker

James caught the wrist band and clicked it in place, making sure the blue light was on. Once Will started spinning his blades, he began to ignore everyone else in the room. Instead of looking at his blades, he looked at his opponent's eyes.

"Afraid to get your hands dirty first?" he asked back, clearly a mocking tone in his voice.

He began to circle Will slowly, never taking his eyes off him. Suddenly he stepped closer and in range, keeping his right katana in front of his body in a defensive position. With the left blade, he started a downward slash aiming to land at Will's left shoulder, but in the last moment pulled the blade around above and went for Will's right side.

His moves were quick, calculated and he never drew his eyes away from Will's face.

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

Snow sighed as he took the envelope and placed it in the inside pocket of his jacket. He took a deep pull on his cigarette, inhaling the smoke deeply and turned to Lyra. "I bet you were just waiting eagerly to be alone with me, weren't you?" he mocked. He liked Lyra, in a friendly kind of way, but he just couldn't stop himself from teasing her. After all, she had a really hot body.

"Shut up, Snow," Lyra replied, her voice much cooler and harder than before when she was talking to Tony. "I'm not here for you. I'm here to give you the info you need. Nothing more, nothing less."

''Yeah yeah, whatever, Lyra. My offer still stands," he replied in a light voice and waved it off. He exhaled the smoke slowly, clouding everything in a grayish smoke screen. "So what is it that I need to know?"

"Not much. Here's the address, the time and the name of the recipient," she explained and handed him a piece of paper. "Don't be late and don't screw up. The rest is just business as usual. Get in, get the job done and get out. No names. And don't talk to anyone." Her voice didn't show any concern and she slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder as she was getting ready to leave.

"That's it?" Snow asked. He had honestly expected a little bit more. After all it was rare that they both came to visit him at the same time. "I knew you were only pretending to be here on business. Maybe you want to have a little fun too?" he asked, his voice taking a husky, sultry tone, clearly with the point to mock her.

Lyra made a quiet gagging sound. "Yeah, if you were my dog. But first I'd have to train you apparently," Lyra said as she turned around to leave. Snow's rough laughter followed her out of the garage.

Finally he sat down again and while lighting a new cigarette, he studied the piece of paper, Lyra had given him. "Well, this is definitely going to be fun. He couldn't have picked a worse location."

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

Nexius

Quote :

Bunker

"Alright then, let's do this." Said Alex as he positioned himself to fight Jax, and as he had practiced his basic movements and all, his body felt way lighter than before. However, Alex knew feelings won't help in combat; it only distracts one from what is real and unreal. Fighting Jax was hard enough, but to make sure Lisa was safe against melee fighter such as Jax was one of the hardest thing to do.

Alex glanced at the wrist band that was activated to prevent themselves from getting hurt or cut, then he faced his opponent Jax. "You ready?" said Alex, giving short glance to Lisa.

As he had to defend Lisa, Alex did not rush to fight, but he was ready in position where he could buy Lisa sometime to aim and shoot at her opponent.

==============================================

Xennox Xylon

Xennox's blue grayish eyes scouted the area carefully, trying to look for any minor details that could help them where the enemy took the hostage. What Xennox could learn from the area was only one thing, the opponent knew where he was going. Soon the trail led them to old prison facility, and he silently he followed the others.

Xennox then glanced back to see if Aera was following them without a problem. For some reason, something made him worried about her. Then Xennox shook his head, 'This is no time to worry about others.' Then as he felt strange about the place, he muttered.

"Overlimit, Tracker of Shadows" Then darkness started to alert him of where his enemies were and where they were hiding. Xennox would be able to warn his team when their enemies decided to strike them.

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Danny

Quote :

Peterny Outskirts (Aera)

The drive in this car was tense from them having to start their mission soon, but it was strange all the same. Usually the group had a cherry vibe about it, but now it seemed rather solemn and subdued like some threatening force was watching the squad from above.

Despite these thoughts, Aera remained unflinching and emotionless in her seat, as she took a deep breath when the car doors opened and they walked out into the supposed sunlight that she couldn't see... but it was still nice to feel to warmth instead of the air conditioned car that seemed too stale.

The group walked forward for some distance, as Aera used her hearing to make sure there weren't any enemies lurking in the distance, but all she could hear was some brief chattering between Lancar and Raidon... followed by a strange conversation between the delinquent duo and Lancar.

"I don't know what you're talking about... what's wrong with this guy?" Aera intervened with a mumble and a confused tone. There was nothing wrong with this man as far as Aera could tell, he was just rather dedicated to his work... which was respectable if anything not scary.

Either way, they had a mission that needed to be done, so Aera pushed away from the conversation with her mind and began scanning the surroundings with her hearing.

Peterny Outskirts (Daemond)

The rest of the car ride was really stressful, constantly Demond wanted to discuss strategies or do something that could raise morale. Heck, even Cash and Carrie's comments sounded good at this moment, but Raidon's serious stare seemed to silence any phrase before it could even leave Daemond's mouth.

When they finally reached their destination, Daemond made sure he was one of the first to get out of the car, as he quickly slipped through the door before anyone else had much of a chance to get away from this annoying situation.

Though, the gravity of Raidon's intensity seemed to extend outside, as pretty much every animal, drop, or something that would make a noise all seemed to be silent as well, making Daemond all the more irritated.

Daemond simply slipped into the middle of the group after that, so he would be able to protect anyone who was attacked by any angel with himself in the center, making it difficult to attack him.

There were a few conversations that gave Daemond hope that they would break the ice, but all of them fell flat after a few exchanges of words until the conversation about Cash and Carrie happened.

"Either way we should talk a little bit about strategy, I think the silence is going to kill us before our enemies." Daemond whispered that would be barely be audible to anyone around him.

Which what he said was true, this group thrives off conversation and activity. Such a serious vibe.... It just doesn't fit them at all. Mainly because, the last time they were serious because of something like their first mission, the squad had so many injuries and causalities.

And with that said, this mission wasn't going to turn out well if this keeps up, even if they have a legendary solider called Raidon backing them up...

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Rise hesitantly took the repulsor and strapped it on, not liking the sound of still getting a bruise. From the looks of the sword that Keynes pulled out, it was likely to be a very ugly one at that.

"You're swinging THAT at me?" she practically screeched, eyeing the huge sword. Her previous assurance that Keynes would never hurt her was beginning to look questionable. Rise's eyes traveled over to where Jax was strapping on his repulsor, and she sighed.

"I need to be more confident," she decided. "Jax is never afraid or hesitant when there's a battle. So if I can just be as strong as him.."

Rise's eyes narrowed as she slowly let out her breath. At that moment, Keynes suddenly sprang forward, swinging his blade at her shoulder. Before she had quite realized it, she had jumped back, swinging her fan at the sword. The movement batted the sword downward so that it carved into the training room floor.

"Take this!" Rise yelled, tossing one of her fans at the wrist of Keynes' sword arm, now vulnerable. If she could bruise that, it would make any successive attacks more difficult for him.

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

Jax continued to bounce around on his feet, eyes darting back and forth between Alex and Lisa.

"Going to make me take the first move, huh?" he said, bringing up his right fist to conjure. "Bad idea."

He punched forward at the magic circle that appeared before him, enveloping his body momentarily in the green light of the Sukukaja spell.

"All right then!" the former Red Rider shouted, dashing toward Alex. If he could keep the swordsman between himself and Lisa, she wouldn't be able to safely fire at him. With this in mind, he swung his left foot around, attempting to knock Alex's feet from under him. Anticipating that Alex would likely move to counter this, he quickly followed up with a jab at his opponent's solar plexus with his right fist.

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

Carrie raised an eyebrow at Aera before glancing at her brother, who snorted derisively.

"Of course you would think that, wouldn't you, Bat?" Cash snarked, causing his twin to chortle. For a moment, Lancar felt as though everything was back to normal. This died as suddenly as it came when Raidon stopped and turned toward them.

"If you're quite through," the police chief said quietly, his cold grey gaze boring into them, "Your ensign is quite right. We need to discuss strategy."

He indicated something behind him, and as Lancar approached he could see what appeared to be an Army prison facility, though it had obviously fallen out of use some time ago.

"Once we make our way down, we'll need to split up. The facility is large, and we have to move quickly. I'll let you decide, Lieutenant."

With that, he quickly and speedily made his way down the slope like a shadow, the black cape snapping in the wind.

"All right," Lancar said, turning to his squad. "Aera and Xennox will go with Chief Raidon. Daemond, Cash, Carrie, and I will form the other group."

Figuring that Aera and Xennox would be least bothered by Raidon's frosty aura, Lancar felt the decision was obvious. Leading the way, the lieutenant began to scale down the cliff. When he reached the bottom, Raidon was already there waiting.

"Take your squad through the front, Lieutenant. I'll move around the side while they're focused on you. Let's move then," Raidon said, quickly heading around the side. Lancar sighed, then motioned to his group.

"All right, squad, let's make some noise," the lieutenant said, heading toward the front.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

"What would you know about getting your hands dirty nerd?" Will taunted back, keeping his eyes on James as he circled.

The second James stepped too close, Will swiped the blade in his right arm down onto James' defensive katana, slamming it downward. The spike on the end of the blade dug into the ground, pinning the katana at an angle. So, James would only be able to back up by letting it go of it or sliding to his right.

Without hesitating, Will let go of the blade and threw a jab at James' chest. It collided at the exact same time James' sword caught Will in the ribs, and a jolt from the repulser bands shot through both of their systems.

Will breathed a curse as he took a step back, massaging his ribcage for the second time today. Damn Rise and that kick...

"Not bad for a nerd..."

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

Noin

Quote :

Bunker

James moved his defensive katana to the right, away from Will's blade that pinned it to the ground. He moved it just far enough, so that he could get some speed for a downward slash at Will's thigh in response.

"More than you think. But not everyone can have your street experience."

Any other words were cut off when Will caught him in the chest and he felt a shot jolt through his body. Exhaling sharply, he took a step back and adjusted his katanas, keeping the left one in attack position again.

"I actually expected more from you, mutt," he grinned at Will and began to step around him in a half circle. He was still wary of those spinning blades. "Your turn," he muttered and waved Will tauntingly towards him.

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

Ergo Research Facility

"How early did you get up?" she asked when Millie pulled out her backpack. Arya watched Millie's enthusiasm with a smile and waited for her to be done. Then she took her bag and offered Millie her hand before heading for the door.

Together they walked down the hallway and after a few turns they were back in the kitchen. Once inside, Arya walked straight to the fridge and took out two lunch boxes and some water and juice. She threw the cook a grateful glance and mouthed a 'thank you' in his direction.

She took Millie's hand again and lead the girl through the twisted corridors down a few flights of stairs and then finally outside. The weather was nice, blue skies and a warm fall day. The breeze brought a little chill as it swept over the grass and up, caressing their faces.

"I believe, going left will lead us towards the forest," Arya said and pointed at the left path. They started to walk around the facility and soon they could see the same trees Millie could look at from her window.

"See, there it is."

Danny

Quote :

(Aera)

Aera found herself only left with more questions when Cash and Carrie replied to her, but she didn't let it get to her. Those two were jokers anyways, so it wasn't anything new.

Though, when Lancar mentioned Aera going with the chief, she gave a confused expression for a brief moment for an unknown reason that was eating away at her. Though, after a few seconds of confusion, Aera returned Lancar's comment with a nod, as she used her hearing to follow the footsteps of Lancar down the slop.

Then the plan began to make sense, Raidon was going to be sneaky around while the others made a distraction. So, Aera could use her hearing to make their plan more effective.

Aera took one last glance towards her squad that she would be leaving for sometime, as she followed Raidon to sneak around the group with an empty feeling starting to feel her stomach with her face mimicking the pain.

However, Aera didn't want to be a burden to the rest, so she simply turned her face away from Raidon and Xennox since she didn't need to see what was in front of her...

"Ah right, Xennox is still here." Aera thought to herself to pick herself up a bit, as she continued to follow her task at hand.

(Daemond)

Daemond couldn't help but almost chuckle when the comment between the duo and Aera began to unfold with him beginning to light up a bit. Now, this is what he was talking about!

Then bam, the eerie voice of Raidon began to sound in the distance, making the entire squad take one step forward and two steps back. But, surprisingly this eerie voice agreed with Daemond, which was one good thing, right?

"Alright, sounds good." Daemond replied, as he had a bit of concern for Aera and Xennox. Mainly Xennox, since Aera seems oblivious to the whole nasty aura that surrounded the chief.

Daemond just quickly shrugged off these thoughts, as he began to walk down the slop with the rest of the group with him listening to the rest of the distraction plan once he got down there that was bittersweet.

"Yes sir!" Daemond replied in a quiet tone to Lancar, as he began to perform a casting stance, as he put his left hand on his chest until a magical circle appeared in the air, as Daemond quickly punched it.

"Marakukuja." Daemond whispered, as a shield began to form around the entire group, which would protect them from the upcoming distraction. Daemond clutched his broad sword in both his tense hands to prepare for any surprises, but he remained in the middle of the group to supply support when needed.

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

Nexius

Quote :

Bunker

Through out the battles so far what Alex learnt was that teamwork is the most important factor in the battle against someone strong as Jax. The numbers was useless when one cannot utilize the best out of it and Alex knew the disadvantage of having one range fighter and a melee fighter. Without any cooperation from both sides, both of them was going to be useless against speedy fighter like Jax. Not only that, the fact that Jax was a fight with amazing skills and strength made Alex took the defensive approach. True, like what Jax said it was a bad idea, but Alex was not trying to be defensive without a plan.

The moment Jax rushed for attack, Alex stretched his arm that held his katana, making a straight line, it's tip pointing towards incoming Jax. If Jax rushed too quick to kick him or punch him, unless Jax could stretch his arms and legs longer than the length of his katana and arm, Jax would clearly see that he would bump into the tip of the sword and with Jax speed that was powered with his spell, the bump was not going to be a beautiful sight.

However, Alex also knew that won't be enough to stop Jax attack; what Alex had to use was what Jax doesn't know about Alex. And that was, Alex did his kendo, but before that he was a street kid who fought other kids with his fists and kicks. The other thing was, he was not going to block any incoming attack from Jax but going to use that attack to hold Jax in one place so that Lisa can attack as well.

===========================================================

Xennox Xylon

"Sir, yes, sir." Said Xennox firmly, yet silently. Then he added, "Be safe and good hunting, Sir" As he was not near the facility, Xennox couldn't tell how many enemies were waiting for them. However, as he got closer to the facility, Xennox's activated overlimit will tell him how many foes they are going to face.

Then he glanced at Aera, "Ensign Aera, you should go first. I will follow behind to make sure your back is covered and your sensitive hearing will provide better support than I can do right now." Said Xennox, led her walk right behind Raidon.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

As his sword bit into the ground, Keynes brushed his fingers over the side of it, and it clicked again, releasing the spear from inside. With a deft motion, he retracted it and spun it over the back of his hand, swatting aside the fan that had been aimed at his wrist.

"Disabling an opponent... Not a bad way of going about it missy. I never took you as the type to fight a battle of attrition though."

Keeping his eyes on her, Keynes slid the spear back into the blade and once more, lifted it into the air. This time, he didn't make a swing at her, but instead he thrust it straight forward as he took a step towards her. She only had one fan left to parry with now. He'd have to talk to her about losing weapons in a fight later, but first, he wanted to see if she could prevent the blade from slamming into her chest.

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

"Mutt?" Will cocked an eyebrow at James' retort. "You make it sound like I'm an unwanted pet or something." He growled as he pulled his blade from the ground, gripping it by the hilt instead of the cross guard this time.

The blade in his left hand continued spinning, and Will suddenly bolted towards James. Just as he came within range of counter attack, Will raised the spinning blade, using it as a makeshift shield, and he slid his right foot back, pivoting on the left. The spinning blade tilted upwards slightly, covering any attacks from above as Will swept the blade in his right hand towards James' knees.

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

Lisa's eyes tracked Jax as he moved in on Alex, but she didn't draw back an arrow. There wasn't a clear shot from here, and she couldn't afford to move. Otherwise, she would give Jax an angle on herself. What she needed to do right now was watch, watch and memorize, see every movement that Jax was making while Alex kept him distracted. Then, when she knew she could hit her target, Lisa would fire, but not before then.

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

Lab

"Millie got up when the sun did." The little girl responded, waving a hand towards her window. "She can't sleep with all that light in her eyes."

Having finished getting ready to go, Millie took Arya's hand, holding onto it joyfully as they made their way to the kitchen. It was better than being carried, she decided, and it was also better than walking alone. Was this how sisters were?

After collecting lunch, they made their way outside and towards the space Millie could see out of her window. Her face lit up when they arrived, and Millie dropped her backpack by the nearest tree before beginning to climb it.

"Millie wants to see her window." She explained as she pulled herself over the first low-hanging branch. "So she can see what the trees see when they look at her."

Noin

Quote :

Research Facility - Outside

"I see. I am sorry, if I forgot to close the curtains though," Arya said and set her bag down as well.

When Millie started to climb the tree, Arya watched at first, but when she climbed higher and higher, she decided it would be better to keep a closer eye on her.

Slowly and gracefully, she pulled herself up the tree and climbed up behind Millie, making sure to stay somewhere under the girl.

Once the girl stopped climbing, Arya settled down on a branch under and stood up, so she was close to eye level with her. Arya stood calmly on the branch. Balance had never been something she had a problem with.

"And can you see it?" she asked in her melodic voice and pulled a strand of hair back, that had gotten loose when she climbed up the tree.

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

Bunker

James gave a light chuckle at Will's response. "Well clearly you're not the top dog around, are you?"
He didn't allow himself to glance over to Jax and the others, instead keeping his eyes on Will.

When Will moved towards him, James quickly tilted his left blade downwards, being able to just intercept the blade that was headed for his knee. However, the angle was awkward and he could feel his wrist straining at the unusual twist.

To get out of that position quickly, he raised his right katana and intercepted Will's spinning blade while he took a few steps forward, getting close to Will.

Without warning he let go of his left katana, even at the risk of Will completing the attack on his knee, and quickly moved his fist to land in Will's stomach.

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

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

"Damn it!" Rise muttered, frustrated at Keynes' surprise move. She was so sure that would have worked too.

"Maybe there's a lot of things you don't know about me!" she threw back, bring her solitary fan up to fan herself mockingly. As she did, her eyes located the place where her other fan had landed. Now how to reach it..

This time, Keynes went for a stab, thrusting the blade straight at her torso. Rise quickly brought her fan up, using both hands for extra force as she caught the blade on the side, redirecting it past her as she jumped nimbly aside. Quickly, she transferred the blade to her left hand, slashing at Keynes chest as she passed by. With her right hand, she supported her body as she pulled into a dive past Keynes and snatched up her other fan.

"How about that?" she said, slightly breathless as she brought both weapons up once more.

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

Jax gave a grunt of approval as Alex stepped back away from his attack, holding the katana up to keep the former Red Rider from rushing in.

"The only problem with that," Jax said, narrowing his eyes. "Is that you're only blocking off a single point in front of you."

Moving with superb speed, Jax suddenly sidestepped to Alex's left, bringing his left fist up to bat the sword aside. With his right, he swung his fist around in a right hook to Alex's face, intending to knock him out in one go.

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

Abandoned Prison

Lancar, Cash, Carrie, and Daemond approached the main entrance to the facility. The doors were tightly shut, but the lieutenant could see a broken window some distance above it.

"Cash, you think you can make it through that window and unlock the doors from the inside?" Lancar asked, turning to the agile twin.

"Sure thing," Cash said, shrugging. "Sis, can I get a boost?"

Carrie tossed her hair back with a sigh before holding her right arm out, pointing one of her axes toward the magic circle that she conjured. With a slash of her axe toward the circle, Cash was bathed momentarily in a green aura.

"Up you go," she said, holding her hands up to boost him. Cash placed a foot in her hands, then catapulted himself up to the ledge. With acrobatic grace, he swung his body up and through the window, disappearing from sight.

"Let's hope he'll be all right," Lancar said quietly, eyes fixed on the window. Carrie, however, didn't seem too concerned, but simply swung an axe about lazily.

"He'll be fine. Cue gate in five, four, three, two-"

There was a mechanical grinding sound as the blast doors open, and there stood Cash with several guards face-down in the ground, knives planted in their necks, backs, or heads.

"You coming or what?" he said, motioning them forward. Lancar gave a nod to the others before following after Cash into the facility. It wasn't long after they'd started down the corridor when the sound of footsteps approached.

"Guards. Get ready," Lancar said, pulling out his sword and thumbing the switch, breaking the blade up into the fragments for his whip.

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

Although Raidon had suggested splitting up, he didn't seem entirely concerned with working with anyone else. As soon as he'd rounded the corner, the police chief had spied an old ventilation shaft some ways up the side of the building. Without a backward glance at the other two, he'd quickly begun scaling the side of the building, using cracks and breaks in the structure as footholds and his katana where none existed. Although the activity was undoubtedly strenuous, Raidon felt none of it. He could only think of how frustratingly distracting this development was.

As quietly as possible, Raidon wrenched aside the grate and he slid into the vent, moving down its length with as much speed as he could manage, all the while listening carefully to the sounds of activity down below.

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

Danny

Quote :

Raidon's Group (Aera)

It wasn't long after the split from her squad that Aera found herself in a troublesome situation. She would have to climb up a wall that she didn't even know the cracks too, which was troublesome.

Aera quickly walked to the wall Raidon was climbing in an attempt to keep up, but it was obvious she was lagging behind since he had already climbed into what seemed to be a metallic tunnel, as the sound of Raidon's hands latching onto degraded metal above Aera.

"That doesn't sound very... stable.." Aera worriedly thought to herself, but Raidon was her superior and Aera was just an ensign. She had to trust his judgement, so she just shrugged it off and began to feel for the cracks in the wall that seemed to be taking her long enough.

"Seems like I'll have to use my over-limit for a second." Aera painfully mumbled under her breath, as she held her shield out in front of her face for a couple seconds and swung her sword slightly forward so it would miss the wall.

"Angel eyes." Aera stated with determination, as she noted the cracks above her and began her climb up the wall with greater success, as she mimicked Raidon's strategy just more clumsy, which was to be expected.

Grapple after strenuous grapple on the wall, and more then Aera's arms began to hurt from the overuse of her eyes, as she disabled her ability hoping she's gone far enough to memorize the last few movements.

"Left and diagonal... 45 degrees to the left." Aera stated to herself, as she successful grabbed onto the next crack letting no sense of success even try to sink in since she should be faster.

"Bare wall, stab sword 68 degrees to the right for most stable holding." Aera continued to mumble, as her sword lodged into the wall with continued success, as only portion remained the steel on the vent that should be right above her.

This whole situation... it was kind of funny since it reminded Aera of the training course she took back at the beginning of the squad. Though, she hadn't really improved much since then, it's a pleasant memory none the less.

"Finally, the shaft." Aera stated with a half smirk, as she grabbed onto the central bottom portion of the shaft she couldn't see. But, at that moment a crack was heard in the metal, and Aera had realized she had made a stupid mistake.

Before she could even think, the metal gave out under her weight, as Aera began to fall backward towards the ground below her... where she belonged.

Lancar's group (Daemond)

Daemond found himself walking towards the front of the group, as a giant uninviting door stood in their path with Daemond giving a slight grunt in annoyance even if it was to be expected.

Cash and Carrie had the door covered though, as the duo performed a feat of acrobatics throwing Cash up towards a window with Daemond stuck their rather awed at their performance that he couldn't hope to do in a million years.

After that, Daemond expected a long wait, because of what Lancar said and how much sneaking around Cash would probably have to do. Until Cash knocked open the door and told them to come in, which in turn alerted some guards to their presence.

"I'm ready." Daemond said to motivate himself, as his arms further tensed on his broadsword that he hadn't put away all this time moving further towards the front to put his abilities to some use, but he kept himself hidden around the corner so he wouldn't be attacked before he could get in range.

Nexius

Quote :

Xennox Xylon

Xennox was surprised how Aera able to do what Raidon had performed with her condition. However, something was awkward and because of that Xennox decided to climb after her. 'But what is this feeling?' thought Xennox, then he realized Aera was climbing the wall clumsy than Raidon did. Soon Aera started to dropping down to the ground. True, Xennox was cold, but he knew what was like to lose a comrade. Sure he wouldn't feel anything if he didn't do anything to help her, but others from her squad, would blame him for her injuries or death. As Xennox saw Aera dropping, he let go of his grip from the wall, landed to the ground quicker then Aera did as he was not so far from the ground. When Aera was just a meter away from the ground, Xennox quickly give a light kick to the wall, which did not make any sound that would alert their foes, and it helped him reach dropping Aera just in time to snatch her from the fall. Aera was in his arms, Xennox made it sure that her head to lean on his chest so that impact of landing won't do anything to her. The landing gave Xennox little discomfort, but his stiff face didn't show any sign of pain or discomfort. Xennox put Aera down to the ground gently, "Ensign Aera, we cannot make Officer Raidon wait for us. I had experience of climbing such wall with a person on my back. I know you can do this but we cannot waste anymore time. Do you understand?" Said Xennox carefully then he looked at the wall he had to climb, the shaft was broken, but it was usable. He just had to make Aera go inside the vent first.

Then Xennox showed his back to Aera, "Hop on, Ensign Aera. Do not give me 'I can do this alone' crap, we have higher ranking officer waiting for us and I am not going to waste his time because one of us just had a bad luck." If Aera took his offer and hopped on, "Hold on to my shoulder, you will choke me if you hold on to my neck. And use your legs to hold my torso, as I need to use all of my limbs to climb. Do not expect comfortable ride Ensign Aera." Then he would start climbing; it was harder to climb with a person in his back; he showed a smile that quickly disappeared from his face, Xennox remembered one time he had to perform such feat in his training, and Aera was lighter than the man he had to carry before.

As he had reached where they just have to get in there, Xennox told her, "You have to make it into the vent, Ensign Aera. The shaft is broken, but not entirely out from the wall. Enough for you to grip by your one hand. Make it in there and I will be right behind you." said Xennox somewhat trying to assure her that she was not alone in this.

=====================================================

Bunker

Alex knew by putting up his hands and his katana like that would give Jax opportunity strike his side, but even he knew that, Alex knew that he wouldn't be able to catch up to Jax speed. However, as Jax tried to set his katana aside, Alex, instead of staying firm. Alex let himself spin, moving further from Jax and because of the metallic chain that was connected with its sheath, the momentum was easily gained. And it was to prevent himself getting hit by the next attack that Jax would try to land on him. At the moment, Alex was trying to make sure he would get attacked by Jax only once; he was putting his effort to make sure Jax won't land his second attack.

Alex knew that he had to attack Jax as well as he knew well that if this was real battle, defending won't be enough to protect his friend. Alex eyes stared at Jax. Once again, he let his arm stretched with his katana. This time Alex took out his sheath as well, and he let the hand that carrying the sheath cover with metallic chain that connected his katana and his sheath.

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Payne

Quote :

Lab

"Millie never closes the curtains." She responded sweetly, although there was a hint of fear in her voice. "It reminds her of the lab before Cocoa came."

As if trying to put the memory behind her, Millie climbed faster, determined to reach a good vantage point. Her efforts were in vain though. As she looked up at where her window should have been, Millie frowned.

"There's no window..." She glared at the wall that rose from the ground in front of them. It was dotted with the reflective surfaces of two-way mirrors, hiding from view anything that might be within. "That means the trees can't even see Millie." Her voice sounded almost broken, even though there was a smile on her face.

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Bunker

Will's lips curved up at James' retort, and there was an almost animalistic tone in his voice when he responded. "I'm far more feral than something you can keep on a leash." As if to prove his point, Will twisted the blade in his right hand, freeing James' awkwardly placed block as he drove the hilt of the blade into the side of James' knee.

Above him, his other blade was brought to a sudden halt as it collided with James' katana. He expected the resistance to remain, but the katana was suddenly released, sending it flying off to the side and throwing Will off balance. It was an awkward position that he suddenly found his body in as the momentum of his strike carried him to the right, but the loss of conflicting forces threw his left arm out away from his body. Instinctively, Will tried to right his balance, moving his shoulder in front of James' punch in the process.

He grimaced as the repulser shot a recoil into the muscle between his shoulder and his neck.

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

As the blade was pushed aside, Keynes caught the back side of it with his palm, deflecting her swipe at his chest with the half-moon blade on the bottom of the hilt, and also using the force of her strike as a counter-balance to sweep the blade back around after her as she passed. The swing was too high though, and as she rolled to grab her other fan, it passed over her head with a whistling sound.

"Not bad missy."

Keynes hefted the blade again, but this time, his arm moved faster as he gave it another experimental swing.

"Now that we're done with the warm-up, let's get to the fun part though."

The blade spun once as he rolled it over the back of his hand, coming full circle in a manner that made it look far lighter than it actually was. A predatory grin had begun to spread across his face as Keynes twisted the blade a second time, but somehow managed to shift it to his other hand in the same fluid motion. It almost seemed like the blade weighed nothing to him.

Without warning, he swung it forward and swiped his hand along the side of the blade, releasing the mechanism that held it onto the spear, and as a result, sending the blade flying at Rise's chest. The spear, which remained in his hands spun readily in anticipation of her move. Should she dodge to either side, he would swing it to intercept her escape and give her a nice little whack.

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Lisa's eyes still followed as Jax moved to the side, and she almost went for an arrow. It was too soon though. His attention wasn't fully on Alex yet. Maybe it didn't have to be though...

Swallowing back the fear of firing and arrow at one of their own, Lisa pulled one back as the familiar glimmer of light surrounded it. In her mind, she imagined the course it would need to travel, and exhaling, she let the arrow fly.

Its initial trajectory would put it only a few inches in front of Jax's face. So, if the man stepped forward to attack Alex, it would take him in the side of the head, but she didn't anticipate that result.

Instead, she willed the air around the arrow to twist as it shot past Jax. His attention would come to her. That would be the natural reaction, and in that moment, the arrow would loop back on its course and hit him in the back, probably somewhere around the shoulder blades.

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Noin

Quote :

Research Facility - Outside

Arya stayed quiet at this revelation, picking up on how Millie's voice changed to a higher pitch.

When Millie realized that she couldn't see the building, she became quite disappointed. "Don't worry, I have an idea," she said and moved a little down. "Stay here, okay? I'll be right back," she advised her and her voice had a serious tone with a hint of concern in it. "Please don't fall down."

Arya quickly climbed down, moving along the branches just as graceful as before. Once on the ground, she took something from her bag and climbed back up the tree. She handed Millie a pair of red tinted glasses.

"Put these on. Then you should be able to see it," she hesitated for a second. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone. I'm not really allowed to take this outside of the building as long as they're still a prototype."

Arya bit her lip when she thought of the consequences if someone happened to see them.

"Can you see it now?"

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Bunker

James couldn't help but give a quiet pained scream when Will's blade dove in his knee. The repulsor shock ran through his body. He clenched his teeth and limped a step back. As much as he wanted to be tough, there was no way he could stand up to this brute force and he felt his knee giving away when he put too much weight on it.

However it seemed for the moment, Will was off balance too. James eyes his second katana, but it was too far away for him to get it quickly enough.

"You think I want to put a leash on you?" he laughed. "No way. I'm not stupid, I'm just trying to hold my own."

He took a few steps towards the katana on the ground, wanting to pick it up. He could feeling the pain fade from his knee. From the way that felt, there would be some bruising tomorrow.

Prisma

Quote :

Abandoned Prison, Lancar's Group

At the sound of the approaching footsteps, the squad quickly hid as the Legion forces hurried toward them. As the the first passed by, Lancar struck out with his blade-whip, catching the man around the leg and pulling him to the ground, where Carrie quickly planted her axe in his back. The next man whirled about, but a moment later several knives had buried in his chest, courtesy of Cash.

"There they are!" Lancar heard someone yell from up the hallway. The lieutenant quickly moved into the open, bringing his right hand up in front of his face to conjure.

"Mabufula!" he called aftera few seconds, sending ice crystals errupting out of the ground in front of the approaching men. The ice crystals slammed into the Legion troops, shattering on impact to plant ice shrapnel in their torsos before hurling them back against the opposing wall.

"Let's move!" Lancar yelled, taking the lead as the squad headed down the tunnel.

[OOC: Danny, go ahead and lead us onward, getting us into another encounter if you like.]

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Abandoned Prison, Raidon's Group

Raidon had been laying quietly in the vent, ear pressed against the metal as he listened for sounds. Presently, he began to hear sounds traveling up from somewhere below in the prison.

"Perfect," he murmured, raising himself to his knees and making his way down the small passageway as quickly as possible. For a moment, he paused to look back for where the rest of his "team" was, but found them nowhere in site.

"Tch, amateurs.." the police chief muttered, turning back and continuing on.

[OOC: Danny, Nex, I trust you'll get Aera and Xennox back and on Raidon's trail. Payne, you want to get Jonah's alert up then?]

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Bunker

Rise could feel her momentary elation at having pulled off a fairly spectacular move quickly stifled as Keynes prepared to ramp things up.

"He's enjoying fighting a small, fragile girl way too much," she thought, bracing herself for the next attack. It seemed for a moment that Keynes would take another swipe at her, but in the next instant the blade had come flying through the air at her.

"Shoot!" Rise thought, momentarily frozen. The next moment, however, instinct had kicked in. Thanking her lucky stars for having practiced yoga, the brunette dropped into a split, bringing her fans up above her head as the blade passed by. With some force, she was able to direct the blade past her head to fly into the wall several feet behind her.

"Not bad. Okay, move!" she coached herself, trying to pull into a backward role in anticipation of a follow-up move.

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

Jax gave an approving smile as Alex used the momentum of the former Red Rider's attack to pivot his body out of reach. At least for the moment.

Jax took a step forward to follow up on his attack when an arrow whizzed by, narrowly missing his face. The boxer pulled up, turning his gaze toward Lisa for a moment as he realized that he'd been maneuvered so that Lisa was no longer behind Alex but to Jax's left.

Well, that wasn't good if he wanted to keep trying to take down Alex. But he could remedy that quickly enough.

Jax quickly took off to the side, heading toward Lisa. There would be no way Alex could reach him in time. And with a well-aimed punch, he should be able to shut down Alex's ranged support.

"The hell?" Jax suddenly gasped as he felt something hit him in the right shoulder blade. He staggered past Lisa, whirling about as he fixed his eyes on the arrow lying a little ways in front of her.

"Where'd you learn that trick?" he said, rubbing the sore shoulder bone.

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Nexius

Quote :

Bunker

Alex realized his mistake as Jax rushed towards Lisa, 'Darn it!' Alex cursed his carelessness. As Jax was moving faster than Alex, he knew it was futile for him to go after Jax. However, he decided to give it a try. Miraculously, an arrow hit Jax's shoulder blade just in time, and that bought Alex a precious moment. Even though, he knew perfectly well that it was rude to interfere a conversation, the distracted opponent was what Alex needed.

Alex quickly rushed towards Jax and let the chain loosen a bit as he ran, then he tossed his sheath at Jax, bringing Jax attention back to him. Jax could deflected it if he saw it coming, or do something about it as Jax saw incoming attack. But whatever Jax was going to do with the incoming sheath, Alex made it sure that it won't hurt Lisa by accident or used by Jax to hit Lisa as Alex did not released his full length of his chain; the moment Jax dealt incoming tossed sheath, Alex quickly jumped in between Jax and Lisa, and slashed his katana diagonal at Jax.

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Payne

Quote :

Abandoned Prison

Jonah grimaced as he glanced at the security monitor again. How had they found him so quickly? It wasn't as if he'd advertised his presence here... Well, maybe he did. Attention seemed to follow him wherever he went, not that he was usually complaining. But this time, they'd interrupted his beauty sleep, and you just didn't do that...

Only the soft squelch of mud falling to the floor signaled the arrival of Majin in the room, and Jonah turned to frown at them. "You've not been doing your jobs." He pointed at the monitor, where Lancar's group was moving into the prison. "Why don't you go have a snack?" His eyes rested on the others, who had been following Raidon until he disappeared. "I'll go play with these..."

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Bunker

"And for a nerd, you're doing a pretty good job." Will responded grudgingly.

He started to spin the blade in his left hand once more, but it was obvious from the look on his face that the muscle James had punched was causing him pain on the upswing of each rotation. The advantage was in his favor though. All he had to do was keep James from getting to his weapon.

Will's eyes darted to the katana, and then back to James, watching for any sign of him making a move for it. It would be at that moment that Will would throw the spinning blade in James' path and follow up with a slash from the opposite side.

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As Rise dropped into a split, Keynes couldn't help but smile. She definitely had a lot more fight in her than she let on. That was good. She would need it before all was said and done. Having fight in her wouldn't be enough though. She would also need a more fluid range of movement. For someone who hadn't gone through the right training, she had a good sense of how to use the weapons he'd chosen for her, but to truly master them, she had to be always thinking ahead, preparing to move before it was necessary, and her form had too many openings for that.

While she had her fans raised to redirect the blade, Keynes launched forward, aiming the spear at her stomach, or at least that's how it seemed until it suddenly dipped into the ground and he vaulted over her. If he guessed right, she would move the fans to block the spear. Rolling to the side was difficult from the position she had landed in. That meant to avoid the block, he would simply have to attack from behind, which would be accomplished by the heel of his boot catching her between the shoulder blades as he came down on the other side of her.

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Lisa felt her heartbeat escalate as Jax turned and headed in her direction. The arrow had to catch up. If it didn't, she somehow knew that this was going to leave a bruise. To her relief, the arrow took him in the shoulder a second before he got to her, distracting him momentarily.

He actually turned his head away from her... Big mistake!

Behind her back, Lisa held her other arrow, letting the magic circle surround it. "Same place I learned this one." She quipped as she twisted to the side, letting Alex step in between them, but not before she threw the arrow towards Jax's feet. Maybe he wouldn't notice it, since Alex was there so suddenly. Oh boy, wouldn't that be funny, since the arrow would curve up right before it hit the floor and shoot towards his ass.

Danny

Quote :

Raidon's group (Aera)

Aera closed her eyes, expected a shock of pain to strike her in the back or get knocked up and wake up next to a bunch of guards... but instead her fall was broken by a familiar feeling that she had felt before.

"Sorry Xennox, ya that's fine." Aera stated in a brief and quick manner, as she brushed of the pretend dust that wasn't even there with her climbing onto his back without a second thought.

Aera made sure she followed Xennox word from word, as she followed his instructions without the slightest bit of error. She already felt like she knew this person from their squad, as a close friend?

But anyways, it was embarrassing after a while, but she had more important events to worry about like Raidon waiting for them. So, she didn't have much time, but in about half the time it took her Aera found herself already next to the vent with her being rather surprised it took Xennox that short of a time with her on his back.

"I just lost my focus for a second, I know how to climb a vent." Aera stated in a brief and emotionless manner, as she crawled into the vent with ease and made quick pace down the shaft. Catching up the Raidon, who muffled something about amateurs in the distance....

"It's nothing." Aera assured herself with a whisper, as she made her way to follow him quickly, but this time she made sure Xennox was right behind her for some odd reason.

Lancar's group (Daemond)

the seemingly pathetic enemies were swiftly dealt with in refined manner that didn't even give Daemond time to react in the slighest. He was left speechless by the spectacle of ice and combat that happened before him, making him forget that he was ever worried about the squad in the first place.

Daemond proceeded to run down the tunnel, watching the black and ominous walls form around him in a threatening and binding manner. But, they had to make a distraction so he wouldn't stop there.

His mind was focused on protecting his allies at this point, and there wasn't any sort of weak emotion like fear that would stop him. At that moment, a gate appeared in front of the tunnel like a way out of the darkness and Daemond took the chance to take the lead next to Lancar who was in front.

"Looks like an exit into an open room." Daemond thought to himself, as he couldn't see the outside of the room due to the encroaching darkness, but he pressed onward with the rest of the squad, his eyes focused forward and ready for the enemies.

Daemond was the first to pass through the gate, but the moment they passed through it the gate closed behind them in an abrupt manner and solider began to reveal themselves from the left, right, and left sides poised with what appeared to be numerous bows unleashing the arrows at the group leaving them no where to back off or dodge with the gate that had just bound them in the room.

"No!" Daemond shouted to himself since he didn't have enough time to cast, but the arrows bounced away in response to his voice. Daemond had forgotten that he had casted the shield spell earlier, protecting the group from what would of been a narrow escape or worse.

At this point, the solders pulled out numerous knives that complimented the darkness of the rather large room around them, as they began to fade into the darkness.

Though, out of the blue Daemond found himself powerfully throwing the broadsword with a grunt before chucking it point first at the cloest hostile to his right side that caught the man completely off guard. The enemy hopelessly tried to block the attack, but it was like a normal man trying to stop the power of a charging bull, as the broadsword smacked the knife out of the enemies hand and stabbed into his chest.

The rest of the adversaries seemed shocked for a brief moment at this change of events, as they faded back into the reality that everyone could see for a few seconds before regaining their composure and trying to fade back into the darkness, but at this point Daemond's pupils had already adjusted ending their momentum, as Daemond ran for his sword with the chance he had to continue his assault.

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Noin

Quote :

Bunker

James cracked a smile at Will's reply. "Yeah, well I never wanted to learn how to fight. I wanted to employ my skills in other fields. I guess we can't always get what we want."

When he made his move to grab his second katana he allowed himself to be distracted for a second and was surprised to by Will's blade. Backing off again quickly he was a little too slow to avoid te follow up attack because he twisted on his bad knee.

James grimaced in pain when blade hit his side and the repulosor band sent pain through his body. This was ridiculous, he couldn't believe people actually did this for fun.

To salvage the situation he pushed Will back to get distance between him and the blades.

"Smart, except now you only have one weapon left too," he said.

Taking a stance, he attacked with a simple cross slash and then, in the last second switched the katana from his left to his right hand for a faint attack at Will's left side.

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Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Rise felt proud of herself for her quick thinking and timing to pull off her deflection of the blade. However, the follow-up attack was going to be much harder to deal with. She tried to pull her legs together and swipe her fans to the side to direct the spear past her side, but it made an unexpected dip to the ground to catapult Keynes over and behind her. Realizing a second too late, Rise attempted to roll to the side. By the time she had begun to move, however, she felt a hard blow to her back and fell forward to the ground with a cry.

"Oww..." she moaned, lying face-down on the ground. "Keynes, you bastard, that really hurt!"

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

Jax could see the incoming sheath and brought his arm up to deflect it back toward Alex. But the aggressive young man had already leaped between him and Lisa, slashing his katana diagonally at Jax. At the same time, Lisa threw an arrow toward Jax's feet, which no doubt would have the same effect as the previous arrow.

"You guys did awesome," Jax said, smiling. "But-"

He brought his foot down hard, trapping it beneath his boot as he lunged in, smacking his fist against the inside of Alex's wrist to knock his blade aside. In that moment, he brought his foot up and planted in Alex's chest, knocking him back into Lisa and sending them both to the floor.

"I do have a reputation to maintain," he finished, smirking as he offered them a hand up. "So that's game."

Jax turned to see Rise on the ground and frowned anxiously. Pairing Rise with Keynes hadn't seemed very fair, and he was worried Keynes may have gone a bit too far.

"What do you think, Keynes?" Jax asked, "Are we done for now?"

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

Abandoned Prison

Following after Daemond, the group arrived in a large open room, which was obviously the center of the prison from which the various cell blocks were attached. The room was currently not empty, but filled with Legion fighters.

"Snow White!" Lancar called, casting a powerful gust of snow that blinded the soldiers, while in the wind was carried razor-sharp icicles that sliced at them.

"Cash! Carrie!" the lieutenant yelled, causing the twins to spring into action. While the Legion forces were disoriented, the siblings let knives and axes fly, mowing down the opposing force like a sword through tissue paper. Their killing ability was intimidating to say the least.

"I hope the others are having more luck," Lancar though, stabbing a Legion soldier in the chest before swinging the whip back and catching another across the throat. Taking a deep sigh, he looked around the room to discover that the Legion forces had been largely dealt with, while the remaining fighters were fleeing the room.

"All right, Squad, let's-" the lieutenant began, when suddenly the doors suddenly shut, barring them inside. As they did, black ooze began to form on the walls, on the ceiling, and on the floor.

"Majin!" Lancar yelled in warning, causing the squad members to snap to attention. Dealing with Legion forces were difficult enough, but Majin were another thing. They'd need to be careful.

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

Raidon cast a glance back to see that the others were catching up, but he had no intention of waiting for them. With the sound of the fighting going on, he knew that this was their perfect window of opportunity to move.

Dropping swiftly from the vent, the police chief carefully hid against the wall as the sound of rushing feet passed by the adjacent hallway. Eyes scanning the area, he quickly sprinted for the maximum security block. With any luck, he'd have Kokonoe in a matter of minutes.

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

The smile on Lisa's face was suddenly replaced by a look of absolute horror as Alex was pushed into her. It was one thing to be knocked on your ass... And it was something entirely different to be knocked on your ass with a boy on top of you...

The way the two of them had fallen put Lisa on the ground with Alex practically laying in her lap.

"Get off." She growled, trying to fight back the flush that was creeping up her cheeks as a result of the all too male body pressed on top of her.

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"Oh, c'mon now missy. I pulled the force out of it when I knew it was going to hit." Keynes grumbled back at her as he pulled the blade he'd thrown earlier from the wall, leaving behind a rather large crack in the surface.

Without asking if she wanted help, he leaned over and put his arm under her stomach, lifting her as if she weighed nothing.

"Yeah, I think we're done for now." He responded to Jax as he sat her back on her feet. "God have mercy on whoever tries to tell those two that though." He nodded towards James and Will, who were still completely focused on their own battle.

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"The end justifies the means." Will responded to James' comment about each only having one weapon now. He tried to shrug, but it didn't turn out as well as he'd expected because of the pain that shot through his shoulder again.

As James slashed forward, Will brought his blade up to block, realizing a second too late that James didn't intend to follow through with the attack. Annoyed at being caught off-guard, Will turned his blade so that the blunt end of it above the blade would collide with James' chest and thrust his right arm forward as he brought his left elbow down in an attempt to parry James' feint before it could reach his already tender ribs.

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Lab

"Millie wouldn't fall." She replied cheerfully. "She climbs trees whenever she's allowed outside."

Millie waited where she stood on the branch for Arya to climb down and then back up. When the glasses were offered to her, Millie took them, looking curious. "They're a prototype?" She asked as her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Cocoa hasn't let Millie touch any of her prototypes since Millie accidentally disappeared the detonation chamber in the chem lab. Millie promises that she won't tell anyone though. She can keep a secret."

The girl quickly donned the glasses and turned her attention back to the building, where she could now see through the two-way mirrors that served as windows to the outside. "Millie can see her room now!" She said, astonished by the fact that the glasses could really do that.

"It's so amazing Arya!" She turned to look at the woman, but the glasses apparently had the adverse side effect of taking away depth perception, because when Millie reached for the branch she'd been holding her balance with a second before, her hand seemed to pass right through it, and then, she toppled forward...

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Snow's Garage

"Snow?"

Elizabeth stepped into the garage, noticing immediately that the lights were off. His bike also seemed to be missing from the rack, and she frowned. Great... This was just great. She'd clearly told him that she would be here right before lunch, and he was nowhere to be found.

"Dammit... He's such a... man..." She growled, unable to think of anything worse to insult him with.

Maybe if she was lucky, he'd show up soon. She really needed to get another report to Raidon, and there was no way she'd let any man, especially this one, keep her from doing her work.

With an annoyed sigh, she flopped down on the couch and propped her feet up on his coffee table.

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Noin

Quote :

Research Facility - Outside

Arya smiled at Millie's delight, her face lighting up in a warm and caring expression.

"Yes, it's a working progress to add even more functions to them," she replied carefully and raised and eyebrow when Millie explained why she was not allowed near any other prototypes anymore. I can understand that. Smart woman, Kokonoe, she thought and watched Millie carefully.

Suddenly, Millie reached for a branch, but missed it entirely and began to lose her balance. Arya acted quickly and caught Millie in her arms. "Careful, hun. Are you alright?" To keep her own balance, she leaned back against the main tree trunk.

"I think that is enough for now," she said, keeping her voice light, not to show any worry. In reality her heart had just doubled its pace. Slowly she took the glasses off Millie and placed them in her pocket. "Otherwise we both might end up in deep trouble."

Gently she placed Millie back on the branch, but held her hand, just to be sure. "Are you ready to go down again?" she asked the girl.

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Bunker

A small victory smile was about to appear on James' face when he realized that Will had been too slow. That changed quickly when Will's blade collided with his chest. Because he was still in a forward motion, he had no way to avoid it and even though his own blade still came down on Will's arm that he used to block, there wasn't as much force behind it.

It was a rather unsightly finish when James ended up dropping his second blade. He took a step back and rubbed his chest. It still hurt from the repulser shock.

"I think that means you won. Let's stop, okay?" he asked calmly, still rubbing his chest. That last encounter really hurt. For the first time since they started, James looked around the room and realized the others had stopped their training as well.

He turned around to pick up both his katanas and sheathed them. Clearly, he didn't feel like training anymore, even though he could still feel his heart racing and the adrenaline in his system.

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Nexius

Quote :

Bunker

"Sorry, Lisa." said Alex as he stood up. "My mistake." he added. With the help from Jax, he was quickly on his feet. "Man..I still have long way to be any good..." he muttered to himself. He put his weapon where it belonged, then looked at where James and Will were fighting which looked like it was going to be over soon.

Then Alex stared at his weapon for second, then to the empty air. 'While we are training, how many people would be suffering? I wonder if I am doing the right thing by training here....'

Danny

Quote :

Raidon's Group (Aera)

The claustrophobic and squeaking vents were all around Aera, as her hand would occasionally smack against the wall of one of the vents when the corner of the shaft shifted making her remember how tight and restrictive this sneaking situation was.

Aera would of start to grown rather annoyed by this situation, but a moment later her ears picked up on the sound of a metallic grating being moved and placed inside the vent, as the sound of metals being lightly set upon each other resonated through Aera's ears.

"We need to get moving." Aera whispered in a impatient voice to Xennox, as she being pulling herself through the vents at an even faster speed.

The dreaded thought of Raidon fighting enemies without his team's help made Aera nervous, but thankfully her hearing allowed her to hear a good bit with Aera closing her eyes making sure she would come down at the right moment.

There was no way to tell if there were any enemies in the distance, as the sound of someone running overshadowed the rest of the noise or at least Aera figured it did. However, the way this running was done... so skillfully... it couldn't be anyone besides Raidon.

"Alright" Aera thought to herself hastily, as just fell out the vent, as she landed in a roll to keep her momentum up. The moment the roll left her right side up planted her dominant right hand on ground to hasten the process of Aera standing straight up, and quickly sprinting towards Raidon's footsteps.

Lancar's group (Daemond)

The rest of the group dealt with the legion successfully, but for some reason the remaining legion rangers were running for some odd reason. Were they that scared of the group, or could it be?

"Majin..." Daemond mumbled in unison with Lancar, as hatred began to surface inside of Daemond's mind. There was nothing else to do Daemond only drew his sword from the corpse of leigion member in a quick manner, as he quickly back stepped away from the wall landing next to the rest of the group with his 2-handed broad sword held in both his hands.

None of their masks were revealed yet, so Daemond couldn't make a move for the time being but what he could do was create another shield for the entire group, as he began to cast another shield spell.

Quickly taking a look up at the ceiling to make sure no majins were current falling towards him, Daemond held his sword in one hand, as a magical circle began to form in front of him, as he went to punch it.

"Marakukaja." Daemond stated, as he felt a little faint when he used it because of how much magic he had used in a short interval. But, he was fine enough to fight Majin for the time being.

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Nexius

Quote :

Xennox Xylon - Raidon's Group

It made Xennox worried as Aera led the way, but she surprised him by leading them to Raidon without difficulties, 'Not bad....' thought Xennox, even though his face didn't show any sign of surprise.

As for Xennox, without difficulties he made it down from the vent and followed Aera silently. For some reason, it seemed to him that his eyes were able to see in the dark quite well, and Xennox own theory for being able to do that, his old profession must have something to do with it. Which, of course, he didn't remember what it was. 'Whatever, concentrate Xennox.' Xennox shook his head, and with haste he joined Aera, who was not so far from Raidon.

As Aera and Xennox made it near to the high ranking officer Raidon who was heading straight to the heavily secured prison, Xennox muttered, "Majins" as he felt weird sensation from his overlimit then Xennox face turned towards where others might be; within seconds, he looked ahead. "We should be careful, Ensign Aera... Enemy is getting closer." Then his overlimit slowly deactivated, but it continuously warned Xennox before its deactivation that something or someone is getting closer and closer. Xennox moved with his weapon ready, closely moving towards where Raidon was heading with haste.

The lifeless blue-grayish eyes looked around his surroundings, making sure that the emery won't catch them by surprise. If anything suspicious movement spotted by him, he will alert Raidon and Aera.

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Payne

Quote :

Raidon's Group

A sudden creaking sound rushed through the hall where Xennox, Aera, and Raidon were. From the ceiling, barred doors fell, cutting them off from each other as the section of the prison they were in went into what had once been called lockdown mode.

At the far end of the hall, nearest Xennox, one of the doors slid back up, and Jonah came into view. He twirled his pole lazily, humming a tune as the next door opened for him.

"Three blind mice..." He mumbled as a wicked grin spread across his face.

The last door between Jonah and Xennox slid up, but the one between Xennox and Aera remained stationary.

"I think one at a time will be best. No need to be hasty."

Jonah smiled again, and the pole came to rest on his shoulder.

"In fact, I'll even let you have the benfit of attacking me."

The man looked at the nails on his free hand, inspecting them for dirt. Clearly, he didn't feel threatened by the other man in the confined space.

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

Lab

"Millie thinks they should have a 'see normally' function." The girl suggested as Arya put her back onto the limb and took the glasses away. "The way they are now gives Millie a headache." She gave Arya a sheepish grin, obviously unfazed by nearly doing a header out of the tree.

When leaving the tree was suggested, Millie frowned, but she could tell Arya was ready to go, and she didn't want to make the woman uncomfortable. So, she began to climb down. "Okay, we can go catch bugs and color them. Cocoa calls it biological research, but I think that's just her way of having fun."

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker

Jax gave a nervous chuckle at the sight of Lisa and Alex flailing together on the ground. He could sympathize with Lisa's reaction of having someone of the opposite sex on top of you, but it was still somewhat of an overreaction.

Once they'd untangled themselves, however, Jax frowned as he saw the look that came over Alex's face. He didn't know exactly what Alex was thinking, but he had a pretty good hunch.

"You can't think like that," the former Red Rider said consolingly, giving the other young man a consoling thump on the shoulder. "You aren't any use to anyone if you can't fight. This training is the most important thing for you right now."

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

Rise glowered at Keynes, even as he lifted her off the ground like a small child.

"You savage brute," she growled, punching him in the shoulder before stalking out of the room toward the kitchen. As far as she was concerned, it was time for lunch.

"I think it's as good a time as any for lunch then," Jax said, following after her.

Lunch was soup, salad, and pasta with a creamy sauce. As usual, Jane had prepared an excellent meal. Once they'd finished up, the group filed back toward the training arena.

"You coming, Rise?" Jax called as he passed out of the doorway.

"Yeah, be right there.." Rise said, waving as she watched them all leave. Breathing a sigh of relief, she then turned to Jane.

"Do you think I could help with dinner?" she asked, looking pleadingly at the high agent. Jane smiled and tossed her an apron, signaling to tie her hair up as well.

"Certainly. Was it the part about the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach that did it for you?" she asked, winking. Rise's blush spoke for itself, and based on the not-so-covert looks she'd been giving Jax, Jane had a pretty good idea of who that was.

"Don't worry, Rise," Jane said encouragingly, watching as the younger girl finished tieing her hair up and securing her apron. "You'll have him wrapped around your finger in no time."

Rise looked embarrassed but pleased as she took her place next to Jane at the stove.

"Okay," she said, rolling her sleeves up. "Let's get to work."

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

Once the others had arrived back at the training area, Jax stopped and turned to Keynes.

"I was thinking about going for some endurance training now," he asked the ex-soldier. "What do you think?"

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

Abandoned Prison

The Majin around the room began to rear their masked heads, letting out gurgling screeches.

"Kiiiiiill!" they echoed, finally leaping into action. Lancar clenched his teeth, knowing they were in for a grueling fight.

"These mud bastards are really annoying," Cash growled, tossing a handful of knives at one, only to have the blades sink uselessly into the tar-like surface. It slashed a claw-like hand at him, but it only bounced harmlessly off the surface of the shield spell. The force, however, was enough to knock Cash onto his back.

"All right then. Suck on this," the male twin said, launching a single knife into the Majin's masked face. It imbedded in the center, and a moment later exploded, sending a shower of mud in all directions that evaporated a few moments later.

Carrie had been having a bit more success, though she was beginning to tire out much faster than usual with the amount of force required to hack these "mud bastards" apart, even with the Tarukaja spell boosting her strength.

"There's so many of them," Lancar panted, sending ice crystals flying into a Majin before following up with a slash of his whip, severing the masked face in half.

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

Raidon stopped short as a blast door suddenly fell down in the hallway, cutting off his path.

"Lockdown," the police chief muttered, eyes narrowing as he inspected the door. His mind worked quickly, attempting to recall any specifications on the type of blast doors used in the prisons, particularly the thickness. If his estimation was off..

"Trafuri," he whispered, casting nearly instantaneously with a wave of his hand. For a split second, he disappeared from this plane entirely, momentarily appearing on the astral plane where the barrier presented by the door did not exist. In the one second he had, he leaped forward, suddenly appearing back on the terrestrial plane on the other side of the door.

"Perfect," Raidon whispered, dusting his cape a moment before hurrying on to Kokonoe's cell.

"Looks like the cavalry's arrived," the researcher murmured, glaring at her rescuer. "The hell took you so long?"

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

Danny

Quote :

Raidon's group (Aera)

Suddenly Aera heard something strange around her; it sounded like something above them was coming down in their direction, as she quickly turned around in the direction she heard Xennox's footsteps with a fearful expression.

"Quickly, something is about to attack!" Aera said in fear, as she reached out her hand towards his direction, but before Xennox could react a giant metallic sounded quickly was heard all around her, as Aera's face could only contain shock and fear.

It only got worse, as her hearing picked up some foreign voice talking about giving supposedly Xennox a chance to attack with Aera's face filling with rage at that moment.

"Lower this you coward! I'll kill you!" Aera yelled in a anger, as she banged on the wall with all her might until her hands began badly ache with more and more anger filling her eyes in response to the pain. She didn't even care about Raidon at this point, Xennox was in trouble and she wouldn't let someone with his potential die.

"Xennox, what's going on? Tell me now!" Aera yelled at the point of hysteria through the transmitter, as she waited for his response before she would make any sort of rash action that could hurt Xennox more then help him.

Lancar's Group (Daemond)

"Here they come!" Daemond stated in an anxious tone, as swung his 2 handed broadsword at the first majin that got into his range quickly cutting the mask in half with the 2 handed weapons might, as his weapon swung to right with Daemond recovering from the recoil.

The demonic majin took advantage of this, as the sound of their screams penetrated Daemond's ears when one of the creature's smacked against the Kaja spell Daemond set up earlier with Daemond and the creature stumbling back from the impact.

"Is everyone alright?" Daemond thought to himself, as he scanned the group to only see Cash knocked on his back throwing knives at one of the majin and killing him the problem was that he was an open target like that.

"Cash, watch out!" Daemond shouted, as he quickly dashed towards Cash and skid to a halt behind him with Daemond blocking the disgusting claw that was aimed at Cash. However, the creature's strength was stronger then Daemond's despite their ridiculous speed that began to push him back towards Cash.

"You little..." Daemond mumbled in anger, as he was deadlocked with the creature. Agreeing with Lancar's comment in his head, as he repelled the majin away from him with all his strength throwing the creature towards Daemond's right side away from the group.

Though, the repel maneuver left Daemond open again, as with the scream of the majin that he repelled moved his claw to take a slice at Daemond's closer solider before it was thrown away.

"What are we going to do? I don't suppose anyone has an idea." Daemond stated in pain, as he refrained from clutching his shoulder, as it might leave him open.

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

Noin

Quote :

Research Facility - Outside

"They are working on it. There are still being more functions added, so in the end you should be able switch around between all of them and turn it off as well," Arya replied with a smile and climbed down the tree below Millie to make sure she could catch her if needed.

Once they were on the grass again, Arya sat down and leaned against he tree trunk. It was actually nice to be outside again, since it had been a while. The last couple days she was entirely stuck inside with her work.

"Do you like drawing bugs?" she asked the girl, "Would you not rather draw something more colorful, like birds or flowers?"

In all honesty, Arya was not really a fan of insects. She had lost her fear after joining the army, however it still wasn't her favorite things to handle.

Nexius

Quote :

Xennox Xylon - Raidon's Group

"Watch out!" said Xennox as he heard the sound of metal door rushing down to divide the group; Raidon, Aera and he was separated within seconds, then the voice of stranger greeted Xennox. Xennox turned around, his lifeless blue-grayish eyes stared at the human figure. Fortunately, the man believed Xennox was blind in darkness and he was going to give Xennox to attack him first, which gave Xennox an idea. As Xennox great sword caught by hand, Xennox muttered quietly, yet quickly. "Initiating Range Mode." The sword suddenly covered itself with dark energy which was invisible due to dark environment, transforming itself as a bow. Then without any hesitation, Xennox fired his dark energy arrow created by borrowing his strain power. The arrow straight away headed for his opponents head.

Aera was being very noisy, so in order to calm her down a bit. He quickly said to her, "Ensign Aera, weird enemy has appeared. I believe he is in charge, Black Rider." Only few crazy Legion's member would attack the soldiers of Kaddath alone; the cocky one and the one you should really watch out for. Since Raidon mentioned about Black Rider's existence, Xennox could make easy connection.

It was then Xennox let another of his arrow fly from his bow, aiming for its heart. However, it was not a single shot. Another arrow straight away followed the arrow that was fired before. As the arrows were made from pure energy, the arrows didn't make much sound as they fly towards their target.

==============================================

Bunker
-Alexander Dranos

Alex gave a firm nod at Jax, "You are right. To help people, this training is really important. Sorry about that.." then there was a sound of his stomach. Alex scratched his hair with little embarrassment. "Guess I am really ready to eat something now."

Alex finished his meal as soon as possible and said his thanks to Jane. "Thank you, Jane" and with that he rush to training hall to practice his basics once again. Jax and Keynes soon talked about the next training, however, as they did not say anything concrete yet, Alex kept on working on his basics.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

Will's teeth clinched as the repulser shot a shock up his elbow and into the already sore shoulder. It was all he could do to not reach over and try to massage the pain away.

"No, that was the blunt end. So, it was hardly a killing strike." Will replied with a frown. He'd actually wanted to finish, but considering the others seemed to be waiting for them, he opted to agree with James' idea of a temporary reprieve.

"We'll have to finish this another day though." He said with a teasing smile.

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

"It's fine..." Lisa replied, turning her head to hide her embarrassment. It wasn't his fault that she'd been behind him, Lisa kept telling herself, but it didn't make the situation any better in her mind. At least someone had the decency to offer lunch as an alternative to the awkward tension in the training room.

Without waiting for a second invitation, she practically fled the room, opting for a seat on the far side of the kitchen, as far away from the action as possible.

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

While the rest sat down to eat, Keynes sampled each of the dishes, giving a slight nod of approval at each. Jane had taken the seat beside him, and he turned her with a look on his face that promised ill intent. "You know, if you ever decide to get out of the information business, I think I might offer you a job. How do you feel about bar food?" He asked roguishly.

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

Back in the training room, Keynes nodded at Jax's suggestion. "Endurance training sounds like a good idea. You go ahead and take point. I could use a little more stamina myself. Seems like old age is catching up to me more than I thought."

A small smile pulled at the corners of Will's mouth at that statement, but he let it slip away when Keynes gave him a withering look.

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

Lab

Millie nodded in approval of the idea to give the glasses more settings, but she didn't comment further.

As she got back to the ground, the girl moved to her backpack and pulled out a sketchbook and a box of colored pencils. "Millie likes drawing lots of things." She responded cheerfully. "But Millie can't see birds up close, and she's already drawn all of the flowers that grow in this forest. So, she's been drawing the bugs." Her logic was simple, but sound.

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

Snow's Garage

Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, wondering how long she'd been sitting there. At some point, she must have dozed off, but she couldn't remember exactly when. Muttering something under her breath about defenseless bimbos, she pushed herself from the couch and made her way upstairs, taking note of the fact that Snow's bike was still missing as she passed the rack.

Since she'd already been here several times, she had no trouble finding the bathroom, and after taking care of her business, Elizabeth's eyes drifted across the mess that Snow lived in. The smell of cigarette smoke wasn't as strong here, but there were plenty of other signs of his presence. Her fingers drifted across things laying on the counter until they came to rest on the bottle she'd seen him take pills out of a few nights before.

She shouldn't pry, but curiosity got the better of her, and Elizabeth picked them up to read the label. Medication was familiar to her, since she was a medic, and since she was also interested in maintaining her own health, she had knowledge of performance enhancers. That's exactly what these were. Maybe she should have expected it, but she couldn't help but voice her disapproval aloud, even though there was no one around to hear it but herself. These pills were dangerous if mixed with nicotine...

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

Abandoned Prison

The faint crackle of energy was all Jonah had to warn him of what was coming, but it was enough. Sliding his left foot to the side, he braced himself from falling with the pole as the first arrow flew over his head. To avoid the second, he rolled forward, pressing himself flat against the ground, and was surprised to hear not one, but two arrows fly over him.

Maybe this boy would be more of a challenge than he'd originally expected...

"Enervate."

A pulse of energy shot out from Jonah's hand, aimed at the man's chest, even as Jonah himself rolled back to his feet and launched himself at the man. Above his head, he spun his pole rapidly, and as he closed the gap, Jonah swung it at the man's neck, going straight for the killing blow.

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

Noin

Quote :

Research Facility - Outside

"I suppose that makes sense," Arya said and watched Millie take out her sketch book.

She leaned back against the tree and looked up into the branches. "You will let me know when you get hungry, okay?" Arya said and crossed her arms behind her head, enjoying the warm fall air.

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

Bunker

"Maybe one day we will..," he trailed off and turned around to follow the others back into the kitchen.

Without another word, he sat down and started to eat. However he stopped pretty soon again, since right after exercising he wasn never really hungry.

"Jane, have you heard anything by chance about the consequences from what happenend yesterday," he asked and leaned back, taking another drink of water.

He waited for her answer before he stood up to join the others again in the trainings room.

Prisma

Quote :

Bunker, Kitchen

Jane was quiet as she went about chopping vegetables for the dinner as Rise watched intently and attempted to mimic her precise moments. James' question had been a good one indeed, one she'd expected earlier from them.

"The Army's been keeping very quiet about it," she'd told everyone. "Though Legion is doing its best to spread word about a contamination in the water supply that nearly resulted in a widespread poisoning of Kaddath due to the Army's incompetence."

Jane knew well from her time in the Army that Legion was pushing things too far. The Army was going to have no choice but to respond, and it wouldn't be pretty.

"What's wrong?" Rise asked, looking up with concern. Jane blinked, realizing that she'd paused in her preparations, before smoothing away the look of cold concentration on her face with a smile.

"Nothing. Just thinking," she replied, brushing back a strand of auburn hair. Rise watched her for a moment before she went back to work.

"So, what do you think of Keynes' proposal?" the younger girl asked, smirking. "I'm sure he'd love to have you come back to work at his place."

Jane laughed and tossed the vegetables into a pan, which began to sizzle.

"Yes, I'm sure he would. But as he well knows, you don't just leave the Army that easily," she replied.

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

Bunker, Training Room

Jax smirked at the sound of once more getting control of the training regimen. Turning, he strolled over to a control pannel against the wall and punched a button. From the room fell several ropes, to which Jax gestured.

"All right, Aegis. Get climbing!" he said, leaping at the nearest rope and hauling himself up with only his arms.

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

Abandoned Prison

With Cash already at Daemond's back, Lancar and Carrie retreated back to them so that they all faced outward from each other.

"We can't take out this many," Carrie said, biting her lip so hard from frustration that she drew blood. Lancar could feel his heart hammering in his chest as his mind rapidly searched for a solution.

"Carrie, Daemond," he said suddenly. "I want you to carve a path through to one of the doors. Cash, see if you can't blow it open with some of your exploding knives."

There was a pause before Cash cast a glance back at the lieutenant.

"And you, Specs?" he asked, looking less concerned than curious.

"I'll hold them back," Lancar replied, bringing up his arm to conjure. "Ice Amp!"

The air seemed to grow frigid around him as his body was enveloped by a pale blue-white aura.

"Go!" he ordered before directing his hand out toward the Majin that had surrounded them. "Mabufula!"

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

Nexius

Quote :

Bunker, Training Hall

Alex breathed in and out before he start his training with his endurance training. But then, knowing that in real life he won't have a time to relax his muscles, he started to climb up like he was asked to. Carefully, and with his own pace, Alex started to climb up. The training with his swords gave him an advantage in his hand grip and strength of his legs. It was not so hard for Alex to climb the ropes, it was the question of how long was the rope. However, due to his lack of practice for few days, Alex could feel that his body was little stiff than it use to be.

Alex tightened his jaws, strengthening his determination. 'That won't stop me from climbing up the rope... This won't stop me from becoming stronger!' thought Alex as he started to climb up the wall.

===============================================

Xennox Xylon - Raidon's group

Xennox moved away from his original position as he saw the human figure being able to move and he heard something from the man, Xennox quickly ducked and rolled out from his original position. Barely making away from the spell that aimed for his chest. However, his enemy was not done yet, Xennox saw human figure launching himself to Xennox, which Xennox quickly responded with, "Initiating Melee mode!" The weapon Xennox held covered itself again with strange dark energy, however, the opponent rushed to him faster than he thought and as he had to respond for his defense, he decided to use his transforming weapon. Luckily, just in time, the weapon took the shape of two handed sword, clashing to the pole that was swung for his neck. As the pole's momentum and the force of his opponent clashed to his sword, it knocked off Xennox's balance, which Xennox respond to it by quickly spinning himself away from his enemy. Then as soon as he got his balance back, he launched himself at the black rider with a high jump, his two handed sword was swung with an intention of splitting his opponent into two.

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

James

Quote :

Bunker

Deep in thought James stood in front of the rope while Jax was talking. However, he wasn't really listening. We managed to save people, but I bet some still had to suffer from the effects of the Legion's actions. If only we had been a little faster, and so his thoughts went on until Alex and Jax started to climb up the ropes.

He snapped himself back to reality and grabbed onto the rope. We just have to try harder next time, he nodded determined and began to climb up. The hard rope ran through his rather soft hands and soon he had to use his feet to keep climbing up.

Once he was at the top, he interlocked his feet and knees and let go of the rope with his hands for a second, rubbing them together. He really wasn't used to doing much hard work with them.

"I bet this was just the start," he sighed and looked towards Jax. "What's next, chief?" he asked in an slightly amused tone.

Danny

Quote :

Raidon's group (Aera)

Aera quickly scoffed in annoyance and a hint of fear the moment she heard from Xennox the dreaded black rider was fighting Xennox one on one.

"Don't you dare die on me!" Aera stated passionately as a last remark before the battle started, as she began to plan what measly action she could do to help... even if it was a little bit it was better then nothing.

"Hopefully Raidon gets here soon then; he's the one who said he could handle this guy." Aera said in her panicked mind, as she carefully listened to the various hastened footsteps and actions behind the lockdown wall in front of her.

Xennox was being rushed down by the enemy it seemed, as she heard the various quick rolls and one-sided clashes that seemed to be in this black riders favor. that's when she heard the sound of Xennox's feet smacking into the ground a fair distance away from the black rider, and she used this brief pause quickly.

"Raidon, the black rider is fighting Xennox right now, but the walls from the lock down are in the way so I can't help." Aera exclaimed through the communicators and through the walls to warn him, hoping that he would have some kind of plan since he somehow made it to through a lock down wall that Aera could hear earlier.

Now that Raidon was informed it was only a matter of time until he would come to help Xennox with the fight. So, Aera quickly changed her focus back to the battle, as she heard the sound of Xennox jumping off the poor rubble of this abandoned prison.

"Just hold on Xennox..." Aera mumbled to herself, as she bit her lip hoping she wouldn't want to hear the sound of Xennox getting murdered here.

She was tempted to warn him Raidon could be coming soon, but the distraction from the battle could be fatal so she just trusted Xennox's instincts for now since he was in another squad before this.

Lancar's Group (Daemond)

Suddenly the air grew cold in response to the chills that just went down Daemond's body at the same moment from the pain of the sacrificial order Lancar just gave.

"Are you..." Daemond stated in a grim manner the moment he realized Lancar was going to play the hero, as he was prepared to fight tooth and nail next to Lancar so that they could all get out of this alive...

But, the majin were closing in quickly, and something in Daemond's gut continued to hurt to remind him about the dreaded first mission and how he didn't stop him.

"Fine, I'll follow your orders, but you better not die." Daemond shouted almost like a threat at Lancar over the screams of the majin that began to resonate in the room, as Daemond scanned the room for the nearest door and carved through the first mask of the majin in the way quickly killing the vile fiend.

"I may not be able to save everyone here, but I'll kill as many of these majins to increase the chances I will!" Daemond shouted in his mind, as he continued to carve his way through majin after majin in his way ignoring the pain that consistently bothered his blood tainted shoulder from the earlier attack. Adrenaline quickly filling his veins, as the same majin went after him from before... his claw still soaked in Daemond's blood.

"Not this time!" Daemond mumbled in rage, as he swung his two handed sword toward the majins mask, as the creature's claw swung forward in response to clash. However, the adreleine that filled Daemond's veins allowed him to slam through the claw, knocking it to the side and killing the majin.

"Let's go!" Daemond shouted at the twins to back him up for the time being.

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

Payne

Quote :

Bunker

Will launched himself at the ropes at the same time Keynes did, and the two of them shared a sort of challenging look before they both booked it towards the ceiling as fast as possible. Neither of them made use of their legs at all, using only their upper body strength to pull themselves up, and it was Keynes that got there half a second ahead of Will, although he looked slightly more winded than Will did.

"Not bad for a man who's already been drinking today." Will muttered, and Keynes gave him a teasing smile.

"Want to go again?"

"Don't bite off more than you can chew."

Below them, Lisa frowned at the rope. She knew she didn't have the upper body strength to make it to the ceiling, but it would be a waste to not climb like the rest of them. With a look of determination, she leapt at the rope, grabbing it as high off the ground as she could, and she let her momentum swing her upward.

Bracing her arms, she twisted, wrapping the rope around her waist once. Then, she twisted it so she flipped backwards, effectively creating a knot. Still gripping the rope where it crossed over, she whipped her legs to one side, drawing herself up the rope one full rotation in a yo-yo like motion. Her fingers gripped the rope before she could spin back down, and after a second, she repeated the motion, steadily climbing higher into the air. Okay, maybe she could do this...

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

Lab

Millie busied herself with collecting bugs for the next little while. Judging from the look on Arya's face, the woman was napping, and Millie wasn't inclined to disturb her, well she wasn't until her stomach rumbled.

Stuffing her colored pencils back into her backpack, Millie made her way over to Arya and gripped the woman's elbow, giving it a light shake. "Arya is going to sleep through lunch. If she doesn't get up soon, Millie will eat without her."

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Abandoned Prison

A smile crossed Jonah's lips in the darkness. His opponent was strong, but he was also headstrong. That could be quite deadly.

"Bufula."

It was the same trick he'd used against Red only the day before. Too bad it was a damn good trick.

A wall of ice erupted from the ground in front of the leaping man to defend Jonah from his assault, and unless he had a way of changing direction in midair, it was going to hurt.

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Noin

Quote :

Research Facility - Outside

"I am awake," Arya said as soon as Millie touched her arm and smiled at her. "Let me prepare lunch, it should be ready soon."

Arya got up and grabbed her bag. From it she produced a blanket and placed the two lunch boxes on it, as well as two cups and a bottle with orange juice. She opened the lunch boxes and pushed one towards Millie.

"Here you go. It looks like we have chicken avocado sandwiches, a bowl of fruit salad and maybe if you are still hungry afterwards, we can eat one of the cookies you brought," she said. "Is there anything you don't like?" she added, a hint of worry in her voice, remembering that she hadn't ask if there was anything Millie didn't like beforehand.

Pulling the other box towards her, she put the sandwich on a small plate and opened the bottle of orange juice to fill both of the cups.

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Dark Alleyway

Snow held out the hand with the envelope, about to give it to the man, when the person across from him glanced up. On instinct Snow retracted his hand and put the envelope back in his inside pocket.

Suddenly he felt someone next to him and then something blunt struck him on the temple. It didn't knock him out, but he went to his knees, feeling dazed. Quickly he rolled to the side, just in time. Looking up, he saw a sharp blade buried in the ground next to him.

Without thinking twice, he jumped to his feet and pulled out his double-hander and impaled the man attacking him. However he wasn't alone and as soon as his dying screams rang through the alley, a handful of other men appeared, each one looking more devious than the next.

Snow quickly snapped his fingers and yelled "Mabufu" and five icicles shot forward, burying themselves in the chests of the attacking men.

Taking a deep breath, Snow decided to leave when a sudden pain in his leg made hin look down. An throwing knife was stuck there. Gritting his teeth, he pulled it out and looked around, trying to find the son of a b!tch who dared to wound him. He could feel anger boil in his blood, but unlike for most people, it allowed him to think even more clearly.

Three more guys came around the corner, too close for him to fight with his sword in this narrow alley, so he took a quick step and punched one of them in the face. It was very satisfying to feel the nose break under his fingers and when the man doubled over, screaming, he hit him with the edge of his hand in the neck, shutting him up for good.
Meanwhile, the second man pulled out a short knife. Snow re-directed his slashes away from himself but couldn't avoid a few cuts on his arms. Finally grabbed his hand and twisted it around until the knife stabbed through the other mans throat. With a gurgling sound he sank to the ground.

Even though this had only taken a few seconds, it was enough time for the other man to pull out a blade. Snow saw it from the corner of his eye and tried to turn, but he was too slow and he could feel the cold steel pierced his side, a burning sensation and pain spreading through his body. Gasping in pain, he tried to hold himself upright. Snow snapped his fingers and put his hand over the mans face and his victory grin. "Bufu" he said in a cold voice and an icicle went right through the mans face.

Once the man had fallen to the ground, a dead quiet sank around the alley.

Prisma wrote:

Bunker

Jax had already reached the top and dropped back to the bottom long before the others had finished. When everyone had finally finished, the former Red Rider nodded in a satisfied way.

"Not bad. You guys are in better shape than I thought," he said, scratching the scruff on his chin. He turned and walked over to a storage locker, rummaging through it for something. Giving a noise of relief, he turned around with heavy weights, which he dropped to the ground with an ominous clunk.

"Let's see you guys do some sprints with these," Jax said with a grin.

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

Abandoned Prison

Cash followed in the wake of Daemond and Carrie's carnage as the hacked away the Majin in their path. The twins never cast a glance back, completely focused on the goal. However, they could still hear Lancar attempting to hold off the hoard.

"Mabufula!" he called again and again, sending waves of ice walls to kill the Majin or knock them back. In the meantime, he slashed away at any that got too close with his whip to give himself time to conjure.

It didn't take long for the trio to reach the doorway. Cash shoved past Daemond and Carrie to reach the door, where he fished around for some explosive knives and began to fit them into joints of the door.

"Hold them back while I get this set up. Then be prepared to get the hell out of the way," he told them as he set to work.