[System]
Theodore 'Theo' Aldrich
Zeus

(All cybernetic upgrades look alike the picture under the Role section.)
{"Shocking? Isn't it?"} - Theo Aldrich

The Basics
Nicknames
Cyborg - Obvious reasons (Higher percentage of body is machine, rather than human.)
Sparky - A 'taunting' nickname from peers concerning his abilities/use of electricity
Theo - Shortened version of first-name, (only used by those who in face know his name.)

Code Name
Zeus - Due to the nature of his abilities (electricity)

Age
36

Birthdate
October 17 2003 (Please correct me if i'm wrong.)

Gender
Male

Sexuality
Heterosexual

Role
Support

{"Did i interrupt?"}

Digging Deep
In-Depth Appearance
A Majority of Theo's body is cybernetic or "borg" as he calls it. Hair color is light brown and eyes are bright-blue in color. Known throughout his career to possess long or short hair, greatly depending on mood. Typically the man has short or very long hair, this is due to the natural curls he possesses and gravely dislikes. Despite being a cyborg or constantly upgrading himself with cybernetics, Theo doesn't slack on "Keeping the organic flesh in check".

One wouldn't call Theo 'bulky' or a 'body builder', yet he's not slender or 'lanky by far. Standing 5'10", due to his cybernetic limbs and whatnot, body-weight is quiet a bit higher than average men of his stature. Even considering the 'lightweight' material he uses. (Yet he fails to sacrifice armor/protection for weight/comfort.) Also Theo lost an eye (Left) causing a replacement to be as he states "upgraded into himself". (It's not obvious/the fake eye looks real, only those apart of the accident know.)

Rarely will one ever spot Zeus without wearing his 'suit'. (Image located at Role section) the color of the armor and cybernetic pieces are a dull grey for now. Typically members who have worked with Zues only know his voice through a mic (Which possesses a voice-changer. Making his voice sound rather monotonous) due to Theo never removing his helmet or 'visor'. Thus many don't know what he really looks like.
Habits and Quirks
* Very monotonous (Even considering his 'voice-changer')
* Can be impatient/Eager to tap fingers due to impatience
* Mellow, yet passionate. Very protective over friends, especially during missions.
* Only drinks out of non-glass cups. (Dislikes sound of metal cybernetic fingertips against glass.)
* Finds the ticking of clocks hypnotic/sleep inducing...

Likes
* Undying love for technology (Especially robots/cybernetics, yet hides it VERY well)
* Electricity (hence his weapons/source of defense)
* UFC or things of that nature (Underground robot/cyborg/human fight-clubs are something he's enjoyed in the past as well.)
* Nightlife or the sight of cities at night.
* Obsessed with Mocha-milkshakes or most coffee combined with ice-cream/frosted beverages.

Dislikes
* Hot-Coffee's
* Unneeded rude behavior or 'salty attitude' as he calls it.
* Not a very big fan of pets. (Animals tend to not like his metal 'upgrades')
* Cold/Rainy weather (Cold/wet and metal = sad day)
* Guns

Fears
* Mortality: Revolving around old age
* Completely losing humanity to robotics/cybernetics (No longer being 'himself' and being a 'full fledged-robot')
* Virus or being hacked: Body and cybernetic upgrades being used against himself.

Personality
Those who do not know Theo well, easily perceive him as a monotonous 'serious sam'. Or a man of little words. Individuals who get to understand Theo, realize he's more along the nature of shy and introverted. Albeit Theo still possesses his moments of 'social excitement' where his more cocky or stubborn attitude shows itself. Or the even more rare times of him becoming excited or intrigued. (Most commonly occurs when learning about or studying/seeing new technology.)

Despite the stubborn/cocky mellowness. Others even come to the conclusion Theo is a 'lonely guardian'. Simply stemming from his susceptibility to becoming a defender or protector of others, inside and out of the battlefield. Finally one should delve into Theo's less enjoyable side of his persona. Known to enjoy combat, once charged (Caught) criminally with being involved in string of 'Cyborg/Robot fight-clubs/rings as a combatant' closer to his 'youthful years'. Avid smoker and alike his enjoyment of nightlife, he knows his ways around cities and 'dark streets' as well. Since during his "fight-club" days, Theo was a bit more of what one could call a 'thug'. (More like an anti-hero if you ask him personally, if he'd ever talk about the subject.) So all in all, has a dark-side which he neglects/ignores due to 'moving past'.

{"What is humanity? What is the purpose?"}

Origins
Background
Theo was recruited by Sentinel during his days of 'youth', age 21. Technically a 'veteran' among the ranks, since he served in the war. Unlike nowadays, Theo was very hot-headed and needless to say a lot less mellow when joining or being 'forcefully recruited'. Theo, at the age of 17-20 avidly sported in underground fight-clubs which hosted anything human, to robot. Thus cyborgs were a 'hot commodity'. Knowledge of robotics came from his older brother, who performed everything on Theo to start, later on Theo taking over. (Theo also lost his brother during the war.)

Some say the war and the losses which came with it, were the events which caused Theo to 'mellow out' or become more solitary and serious. After the Sentinels disbanded, Theo traveled to the 'technological titans' of the world as he calls it. Anywhere with high-level or great advances in technology, one would've found Theo lurking about. Throughout these travels, Theo created/bought his outfit/suit and upgraded his cybernetics to perform the skills he now has. (Thus his 'kit'/ability set was different during the war, compared to nowadays. He was purely offensive damage during the war.)

Place of Origin
'Emerald city' Seattle - Washington - USA

Family
Parents/Grandparents - Unknown
Brother - Deceased, died during the war.
Uncle - Information to be revealed at a later time

Abilities
Passive: Thunderbolt Knuckles: Each hit/punch applies electric shock, enough strikes can stun foes. (After X amount of hits upon a single-target, said target is stunned for X amount of seconds. Cannot effect same target again, until X amount of time passes.)

Lightning-Bolt(s): Zues can fire small bolts of electricity at enemies, they do not add stacks for his 'Thunderbolt Knuckles, passive stun'. Yet if enough hit an enemy, has a chance to slow them. (Deals little damage)

Bound of Hermes: (Only available while 'Call of Zues' is active? OR could be a passive?) Theo can leap much further than foosteps could carry him, while empowering an ally.

Call of Zues: Focusing onto an ally, Theo empowers them. Theo's loses use of both hands, thus cannot attack while performing this move. (Unit gets a boost of attack and movement speed, Theo cannot use hands as they are supplying the 'charge/beam' to the empowered unit)

Ultimate: Wrath of Zues: Emitting several waves of electric shock from his body, (4-waves) Zues creates an AOE attack that (Very weakly) damages foes and slows them. The higher amount of electro-waves hit an enemey, the more they are slowed, even risking becoming stunned for X amount of time. (This ability has a range of X and can only effect X amount of enemies at once.)

Weapons
Cybernetic fists/limbs or as he states...
 "My body is the tool of my destruction"

Extra
Water and Theo's abilities = VERY BAD TIME!!!! (Electricity + Water = REST IN PEACE)
Extreme cold/hot temperatures can gravely effect Theo's cybernetic upgrades!!
Ultimate: Could be blocked due to nature of the attack.
Zues is always accompanied by a teammate of higher offensive capabilities. (Or healing since he provides none) This is due to Theo not possessing offense except his CQC or the little damage his 'kit'/abilities provide....

[User]
Location: Inside Sentinel HQ
Interacting With:@smarty0114 Archangel

Just when the conversation was beginning to get interesting, the big head came in to deliver the rules."Duty calls. Guess we'll have to share stories later," Scorn sighed getting herself in position with the table as the very so cheerful Hollie had begun passing out the files on their targets. She couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Sure here gang had gotten some notoriety for certain jobs and being a nation wide but a terrorist? If she was still in the game of gang wars and criminal activity it would of been a dream come true. She had to remind herself though that she was batting for the other side now, no matter how loose her head was screwed on. Still one could reminisce.

Before she could state her question someone else beat her to the punch. Why exactly would all three groups suddenly be together? It sounded somewhat to good to be true. Being able to take out three targets in one go seemed like this would be like hitting the jackpot or something on this side of the board. Being sent in all at the same time seemed odd but also chaotic and she did enjoy chaos and mayhem so she couldn't complain on the idea. One of the robots suggested the idea of teams which brought her excitement down a bit, where was the fun of that?

---

---

Location: Outside Sentinel HQ In Paris -> Inside Sentinel HQ
Interacting With: @smarty0114 Archangel

Gudlaug remained silent through the meeting. He was no brains or tactical guy, hell to him burning the building to the ground with the lot inside sounded like a good plan though he knew it would foolish and probably would never work. He simply wanted to know where they would want him to point the end of his barrel and send the enemy screaming. He gave the file only the briefest of look through before tossing it on the table and continued to listen.

Questions were tossed around, most logical questions that probably if he was younger he would of asked, though with maybe a bit more colorful language thrown in. It nearly sounded like the old days though old Archangel wasn't tagging in. Gudlaug didn't understand why but who was he to question him now that he was the head of this rearrangement of the program.

[Assistant]
Honoka Futaba
"Karasu"

Location: Sentinel HQ Meeting Room
Interacting With: @smarty0114 Archangel @Lmpkio Creatrix

"What are the teams for this mission than Sir? Also if I may say so Creatix does have a logical answer to a problem with previous members leading the teams are a ideal choice." Honoka stated her opinion there was also a lot of things she was unsure on her life was mainly artificial learning while preserving her previous memories. This made things somewhat hard to grasp fully on some parts. "Also I am unsure on some of the information while the source seems credible it just seems to easy and straight forward but I well bow to your judgment sir." She added the information sounded fishy but he also seemed sure on how credible the source was so she would bow to his judgment on this since after all he was a senior member and as such probably knew more than her very limited experience she had gained so far.

[User]
Theodore Aldrich
Zeus

Location: Inside Paris HQ - Meeting room
Interacting With: Anyone who responds

Listening to all words exchanged and spoken, Theo waits for a time to speak. While taking in the files information and listening to the others, Theo decids something. Theo will not waltz off and allow these sentinels go without him. Thankfully Archer 'trusted' the mole. Yet, examining several of the new recruits, Theo would conclude they are about the same age as Theo was joining the Sentinels before the war. Many others rejoined, why would he stop himself from doing so too?

"I strongly suggest Archangel, the one who probably knows most about our profiles, divvy up our forces if we choose to. That will give us the chance to learn each others skills, without overly risking ourselves due to lack of knowledge. Archangel may not be accompanying the mission, but he could give us one last bit of help before we go. Also If you truly wish me to lead a smaller unit, I will not fail you all."

Theo never assumed leadership before, maybe because his brother was always there for him to do so. Or someone 'more qualified' would always step in. Yet if push came to shove, Theo wasn't going to get knocked down or flee. He would fight back.

"Another thing, what's the likelihood of seeing 'old comrades' on their side of the fence? I know several shady individuals tempted me with mercenary jobs after I left the war...."

Several past 'employers' of Theo during his 'fighting career' seeked out Theo after the war. Countless failed due to his constant traveling. Yet some reached him, offering riches or other things for jobs involving violence or simply being a bodyguard. All roads Theo long left, never wishing to walk again. Also adding more reason behind rejoining of the sentinels.

"Besides that, I think we should get this show on the road, for time is not on our side."


[System]
Sometimes it's hard to just keep going
But faith is moving without knowing

Amara 'Mara' Nguyen
Can I trust what I can't see?

To reach my destiny
I want to take control but I know better
Age
Eighteen

Birthday
January 1

Gender
Female

Sexuality
Bi-sexual

Room number
Six

Coach
Felix Larsen

Appearance
Amara stands at a mere five foot two, her body slim and willowy. While her heritage is mixed she tends to favor her father who hails from South Korea. Her features are soft and delicate like that of a birds; in fact the only thing that truly stands out on the young lady was the shocking white of her locks. A rare recessive gene that passed from her mother's side. Her flesh is almost as pallid as her hair but that was more of a personal choice. She didn't care for the contrast between her lighter tresses and dark skin. Amara's style was simple; a wash of monochrome dresses and general light fabrics. The only featuring colors was the soft pink of her lips and the dark blue of her eyes. Despite her rather reclusive nature Amara tended to draw attention and over time had developed an easy-going demeanor around strangers.

History
Her life was simple, really. She got up for school every morning around five am and would relax listening to music until the rest of the house would stir awake. She was always an early riser which tended to be helpful when you're the oldest out of four. She'd rouse her younger siblings; helping them dust off the remaining traces of sleep and begin her day. Her mother, Korabell, was a neurosurgeon and often out and working late while her father had actually passed several years back in a fatal car accident. Before then he was a librarian. The stark difference between her parents was probably why they got along so well. Her mother was high stress and always on the go while her father was soft, calm and took his time. They balanced each other out. Amara always admired their dedication to one other and secretly hoped to find someone who'd compliment her nature like they had.
She generally took after her father in more than just looks. She was soft spoken and quiet where her younger siblings tended to be rowdy and rough. In fact her nonchalant attitude had earned her a reputation in high school. Somehow bringing her to cool status within a mere week of transferring there. She didn't completely mind though. In fact it was how she had made her best friend; Nova. Nova was Amara's closet companion. She was loud and outgoing- a little brash at times but that's what she loved about her the most. The girl was never afraid to say exactly what she thought. The two were practically inseparable. In fact she was the only one who had known about Amara's odd quirks.
Her kidnapping was, well it was a kidnapping! Greedy hands that grabbed and pulled and bound her. Shoving her head in a black bag as she was roughly shoved to the floor. She'll never forget that moment. As her heart lodged firmly in her throat.

Power
Time disruption:
It started out with small gaps; she'd lose her footing and it was as if everything slowed for a tiny second. Just enough time for her to recognize that she was falling but never enough for her to correct herself. The longest time was during her father's accident. She had actually been in the passenger side when an oncoming car suddenly lurched into their lane. Everything felt frozen as she watched horrified as her father slowly braced for impact. Out of instinct she had curled herself up and in result managed to avoid the dashboard crushing both her legs. Her father; wasn't so lucky. Amara had never had it last as long since. In fact usually by time she realized it was happening it was already over.

[User]
Irina Ivanov
Auditorium: @Lillium@SheriffLlama@Thundercrash

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If it were possible to be able to hear her mental shouts echo, that would probably be the case for Irina. From her peripheral vision she couldn't see any changes on the faces of the teenagers around her which filled the young woman with disillusionment.

Hope was nearly lost until confusion briefly flashed through Irina's mind. It wasn't her confusion though; it was Stasya? It worked with her?

Irina turned slightly to look over at her with wide eyes.

'It worked! It actually worked!' She had completely lost her concentration and merely thought to herself, so she merely have Stasya a small nod before turning slightly at the sound of someone's voice in her ear. It was Abel and he heard as well. 'He heard too?!'

Irina couldn't believe that she had actually succeeded at something by herself. On the outside she had kept herself rather collected with the occasional stare when she would blank out or concentrate. She wanted to respond either mentally or vocally to Abel but the woman in front of the group spoke, Irina froze.

'Discovered something interesting, Miss Ivanov?'

Irina simply stared at Nilin with wide eyes as she was taken by surprise for being called out. Her first words were a couple of uh' sand um's. How was she going to explain what she had just discovered? Actually, why would she explain it? No, she wouldn't. Irina cleared her throat and slightly shook her head, "Nothing interesting, just annoying. You made a big confusion and everyone has many questions. It is getting kind of distracting."
Flawless. For the first time in her life she felt as if she had said a lie as effortlessly that even she would have believed it. She wasn't exactly lying but she wasn't telling the truth for sure. Everyone around was confused but that wasn't what she was focused on.

Her eyes didn't last too long in making eye contact with Nilin though as she began to create something amazing in her hands. Without even trying, Irina's mind completely blanked out as she witnessed the illusion that unfolded in front of her. 'Is this what she does? This is why I can't get inside her head...' It left the young woman completely astounded. Her green eyes looked on with great interest once the snowflakes dispersed. She thought of all the many possibilities of how it was possible for Nilin to have done what she did. It was difficult for Irina to rule out the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Nilin could do the same thing that she could do and was causing everyone to think that they were seeing the bird that had slowly changed into snow flakes.

[Assistant]
Arthur Ragnarson

Auditorium

Their new instructor, Nilin, worried Arthur. She was constantly on guard and, at least as far as he could tell, was committed to whatever programme they were involved in despite having been through it herself. He liked to think himself a good judge of character; a perceptive observe of human nature and emotion due in part to the lack of it in himself. However, this Nilin was unreadable. Even with the other scientists Arthur could sense something under their polished behaviour and upbeat-but-still-serious demeanour, something that did not mesh with their state aims. It wasn't quite animosity, it wasn't so direct and almost moderately disinterested disdain.

Arthur was one who liked to arm himself with knowledge. Whether that be researching extra material before an academic test, watching videos of various formations and tactics used in team sports or even just observing emotional reactions of others before he invested in any meaningful relationship with them; Arthur felt that holding information gave him an advantage and made him feel safe, in control. Now he was wary, unsure of how to proceed. Nilin shrugged off his question with a perfectly adequate response but that was all. There was nothing extra, no little verbal slip that he had been hoping for.

"Thank you, that clears it up a little for me." Arthur replied, smiling as if he were satisfied while his inner self struggled to retain its strict discipline. Their new instructor carried on responding to questions in turn before speaking directly to Irina. From the stunned look on her face, Arthur suspected that she had been trying something out with her power. Maybe trying to read Nilin's mind? It was a good plan but for whatever reason, Arthur found it easy to believe that Irina would be unsuccessful despite accidentally reading everyone else's thoughts at most times.

Careful, Irina. She seems sharper than the others.

Arthur was half talking to himself, half communicating with the telepath before he clamped down on his thoughts and smoothed out his shaken mind. He ceased listening to Nilin and her interactions with the group as he tuned out any influences upon his mental state and returned to his emotional base line. The young lad managed this just in time to watch Nilin's display.

At first he thought that she had some kind of pyrokinetic power but the nature quickly changed. Arthur found himself leaning forwards, like most in the room, watching in fascination at the display of a power than could only be described as near-magical.

So, an illusion? But is it merely optical or has she planted it in our minds? Assuming that it is, in fact, an illusion. He briefly glanced over at Irina. If it's the latter then we might have a problem. If we were wanting to leave, that is.

[User]
Stasya Volkov

Auditorium: @wolverbells@Lillium

---

---

When she saw Irina ever so slightly nod her head, Stasya's mind began buzzing frantically. She could read her thoughts. More importantly, she could speak with her thoughts. Which meant that they could speak together without them knowing what was being said.

On the outside, Stasya kept her face as close to neutral as she could. Inside, the possibilities made her want to scream with joy. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of someone else being inside her head (in fact, depending on how exactly her power worked, it would explain a lot of the looks she gave her), but if it meant that she could communicate with freedom, then it was a price Stasya would gladly pay in this case.

Oh, thank you! Please, I need your help, I'm begging you! I can't stay in this place, something, she hesitated, the image of her sister and father, accompanied by feelings of fear and despair flashed through her mind. Something terrible will happen if I don't leave.

The light show in Nilin's hands distracted her, scattering her concentration. It was a helpful reminder, though, that she was being watched. Deciding that it was time to take a more active role, she shifted forward in her seat and spoke clearly. "Что вы имеете в виду под "групповые упражнения"? Если наши силы все разные, как мы можем помочь друг другу? (What do you mean by "group exercises"? If our powers are all different, how can we help each other?)"

I know that I can't get out of here without help. You can talk to the others, without them noticing. A sizable amount of venom accompanied the word, leaving no mistake what Stasya thought of their so-called benefactors. Please, I will do anything ask, anything. Just help me escape this place!

[Assistant]
Amara Mara Nguyen
Location: Auditorium

Nilin answered each question in turn with a fluid grace of detachment. Mara studied her face closely but every part of her seemed guarded that was until there was a flicker of emotion that danced across her face. Her eyes directed towards the seat next to her where Irina sat.

 "Discovered something interesting, Miss Ivanov? Perhaps I might be able to provide assistance, seeing as how that is what I'm here for."

Mara turned her gaze towards the young telepath. She couldn't see what Nilian had picked up on. Irina just looked tired and possibly just a tad bit frazzled at the question.

"Nothing interesting, just annoying. You made a big confusion and everyone has many questions. It is getting kind of distracting."

Her answer seemed genuine enough. With all that she's been through lately Mara didn't doubt the sincerity in her retort. Not that she was given much of a chance to ponder on it before Nilian had moved on to the next question.

Despite herself she found her body leaning forward in excitement and anxiety as she watched the woman cup her hands together. Light began to pour from her as a flame kindled into life. Mara could hear her breathing hitch in sheer shock as she watched the little flame dance in her palms. For a moment it felt like all her anxiety melted away. The warmth from the glow was entrancing as it slowly melded from the passionate red to an icy blue not unlike Nilian's own piercing eyes.

Before she could think twice Mara watched with a child like fixation as Nilian gently sent the snowflake dancing into the air before them. It took everything in Mara to keep her jaw firmly shut as she watched the once flame float above them as if pulled on the strings of an invisible wind.

Mara leaned back after the display. Blinking widely as her brain tried to work around exactly how that had just happened. Sure, she had already begrudgenly accepted the reality of powers but what Nilian just did; it had left her bewildered.

"But what can I do?"

Her thoughts turned back in on herself. Her power seemed small, chaotic in its nature and always beyond her reach despite how much she tried to call it forth. Most of the time she had just dismissed her memories of the crash as a surge of adrenaline that had saved her life but Felix had assured her over and over that was not the case. Though Mara doubted she'd ever reach a place of power that exuded such grace like Nilian had just demonstrated.


[System]
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Weapon: Ebon uses what looks like a huge tower shield known as "The Kingdom". A very heavy shield that Ebon can swing and bash his foes with, but there's a secret to it that is it's true power. The Kingdom stores about a hundred "R-Types", drone ships about the size of a handgun within. Each of these R-Types can be used for different purposes with different equipment, from simply being fast moving shooting drones, to melee-oriented drones that grapple and swarm his enemies, to recon that allows him to have a knowledge of the battlefield. Some drones can take more damage than others, and if they can return to The Kingdom they can get repaired within the next few minutes. The R-Types are build around a unique beacon that allows Ebon to control them with his semblance more easily. As long as they are near by he doesn't need to look at them to control one of his R-Types. While mechanical in nature, rely entirely on Ebon's semblance to operate; if anything else tries to all they'll get is a useless model ship.

Specialty: Ebon prefers to use his R-Types to fight for him, controlling them from a safe distance to break down his opponents. Not that he can't handle himself in a fight, but this is just how he works best. Like a sniper, it's best if the enemy isn't in his face.

Semblance: Ebon's Semblance is basically Telepathy and Telekinesis which he calls "Mind of Matter", but it works on just about everything, even inanimate objects. Specifically what it's like is as though he was right where the person or object is, and he can see what they see, hear what they hear, and feel what they feel like he was there himself. He can also use this power to communicate with others or read their surface thoughts. With long focus and concentration he could even dig through their memories for basic information, like their names or things they're very familiar with. He can telepathically "Listen" to someone as fast as it take to listen normally, though he needs some time if he wants to decipher more jumbled messages that come from trying to read someone's thoughts.

He can telekentically control inanimate objects or unconscious creatures. He has to see what he wants to telekentically control unless it's one of his R-Types, in which he can control without looking as long as they're close to him. Ebon can use his telekinesis to augment his strength as he usually uses it to throw very heavy objects around, occasionally even his foes if they make an opening.

Ebon has an effective range of about 50ft away from him that he can easily control or use his telepathy without losing concentration due to the heat of battle. Beyond that Ebon would need to divide his attention on things further away less he lose control over them. If he doesn't need to worry about something disturbing him, Ebon could keep his focus on objects well outside his 50ft range, though any distraction will break his focus and force him to start over.

Personality: Ebon can be a rough guy to be around. He always seems to be on edge, like he expects you to fight him. He can't help it as he grew up with a fairly violent history; you don't make threats you don't intend to carry out, and Ebon is more likely to act on those threats than other people are. He can also be very superficial; he'll judge you for whatever reason, be it your gender, your race, your weapon, your appearance, or even just your name. He can be a hard guy to get close to and he typically does that on purpose as he doesn't want to make emotional connections. If you can tolerate him being an asshole to you, he'll slowly begin to warm up to you, but only if you can prove that you're not about to die any time soon. He hates the idea of losing his friends and will go out of his way to save them, even if he has to kill hundreds of others to do that.

Color: Ebony

Emblem: A castle tower (Kind of like a rook from chess) with three arrows coming from the top. This is suppose to be The Kingdom, and the arrows represent his R-Types.

Appearance: Ebon is a tall, black skinned young man. He has a rather full beard for a 19 year old which he keeps braided. Despite his dark attitude he wears colorful clothing, prefers warm colors like red and yellow, though he doesn't mind wearing light blue and green as well. He also doesn't like shoes and often goes barefoot, though he'll settling for sandals if he has to. Regardless of what his outfit is he always wares a black duster with it's sleeves torn off, and on the back is his emblem in white. He has burn scars covering most of his body, and practically all of his face except around his mouth where his beard grows out.

[User]
Kuhaku Shiro - Practice Class Area

A swing of his sword, the whooshing sound of the blade cleaving the air followed by a solid thwack. A momentary pause, to catch his breath. His lungs burning as his chest heaved visibly. Another whoosh chased by another wood-splintering thwack as Kladenets' blade buried itself into the unmoving body of a wooden practice dummy. Sweat dripped and poured from Shiro's body as he went through his patented 'combat familiarity' training regimen. One hundred left to right horizontal slashes. One hundred right to left horizontal slashes. Whoosh-thwack. One hundred downward vertical slashes. One hundred upward vertical slashes. Whoosh-thwack. One hundred left to right downward diagonal slashes. One hundred right to left upward diagonal slashes. Whoosh-thwack. One hundred right to left downward diagonal slashes. One hundred left to right upward diagonal slashes. Whoosh-thwack. One hundred straight sword thrusts. Switch hands. Repeat. Every now and then a stray splinter of wood would break off and act as shrapnel. Bouncing off of Shiro's drenched body only harmlessly scratching his protective Aura. Once done with his sword swings he would go on to practice with Perun, his shield. The only difference being adding in one hundred bashes with the face of his shield. When complete with that, he combined his two weapons and formed them into their Great Axe mode to repeat his actions twice more.

Shiro started this training regimen at least once every few days before the sun would rise, taking hours to complete. It was nothing special, to be sure. But the beauty that lay in his little self-made program was in its simplicity. No matter what situation would arise, he would always be able to attack with either hand with any of his three weapons. The burning muscles of his body committing his motions deep into memory. He had done this training program of his a few times already since starting at Beacon. Though he wasn't sure if any of the Practice teachers mentioned anything about permitting students into the area after hours on the weekend, no one had ever said a thing to him. He always tried to clean up after himself, but he never knew what to do with the growing pile of wrecked wooden dummy targets or where to take them. Instead, every time he returned to the Practice area by himself, he found someone had already replaced the sad things with newer fresh targets for the slaying.

Though they were constructed of solid wood, they surely didn't compare to the hardness of a Grimm's hide and armor. Far from the realistic feel of cutting through a Grimm's body, but even still. With a cry, Shiro brought the head of his Great Axe straight down and cleaved straight through the final wooden kill of the morning. Its body shattering and splintering dramatically as Shiro did so. His body ached and was immensely sore, but as he ended his morning routine Shiro fell backwards in the grass with a thud. Laying sprawled out for a moment to let his body recuperate as his lungs struggled and strained to catch after his breath. A safe distance away, Scoot lay asleep in a neat pile of Shiro's clothing and a few toiletries. For a long morning practice like his, Shiro preferred to wear his dirty workout clothes with no food in his belly to make sure he had little energy to start with. After done, he always liked to shower and get a big breakfast before continuing on with the rest of his day/weekend. His breath sufficiently restored, Shiro clambered to his feet and shifted his weapons back into their more portable SnS [Sword & Shield] mode and slung them onto his back. As he padded through the grass towards his clothes and Scoot, he picked up his things and got ready to leave. The ferret rousing from his slumber with a quiet yawn.

Ever since returning from his mission days prior, Shiro had remained distant from his other teammates. Occasionally, he would poke his head into the infirmary to check on his leader. But, he always made sure to never let her notice and never stayed curious for long. His original intentions to recover his leader's daggers never came to fruition. Instead, he made sure to seal away the plan for a later date and time. The only time he was ever in his team's dormitory was for sleeping late at night. Funny enough, though the tiger-boy enjoyed the company of others and thriving off of other people's energy in social interactions, he also enjoyed some time alone to himself. His weekend plans were always dull whenever he was alone, however. Not much doing except training, working out, eating, sleeping, and maintaining his weapons.

"I need a hobby."
Maybe he would look into getting a replacement Scroll and get some music onto it.
Or something to play video games on.
"Should probably ask Gren about that. He should have some ideas."
Shiro laughed as he made his way back to Beacon proper, namely the shower facilities.
"Aw, the lug would probably even make me something to play video games on, knowing him."

In nothing but comfortable shorts, worn sneakers, and a long sleeved top that covered his arms Shiro cherished the idea of a nice, warm shower to wash off all the dirt and gallons of sweat he excreted. A slight smile on his face. Scoot crawled onto the sweaty boy's shoulders and curled back up into a ball as he rode shotgun. "Oh, right. Gotta remember to fix up my gear, too." He had forgotten last time, receiving splinters in his hand for his troubles.

[Assistant]
Gren Orchid

Gren both both hands into his slash, hoping to bash against Ebon's shield until he fell onto his knees. But the human parried the blow off to the side and left Gren in a precarious position. And because of it, he ate the corner of Ebon's shield. Almost literally at that, as the corner of the shield rammed into Gren's face plate. "Ha! You activated my trap card!"

Knowing there were R-Types coming in to perforate him however, Gren needed to do something fast. Releasing one hand from The God eater Gren grabbed onto Ebon's shield and pressed it against Gren's own body. He then used his semblance to increase the friction he was putting onto the shield, and how much it was being put onto him, to effectively get the shield stuck onto Gren's body. Seeing some of the R-Types about to do a fly-by Gren used his strength to pull Ebon in the path of his own attack.

[User] Krysthane shrugged thoughtfully, "I don't see why not, my money's on Ebon, though perhaps I have a bit of favoritism here. If I win you give me that bag of chips." She said gesturing at it as she watched the fight. It seemed thing were just getting interesting, it should be fun to see the end result.

[Assistant]
"Was planning to eat that while we watch. Tell you what, you win I pay up another one, you lose you pay up this one." Diamond shrugged, jsut as the guy she was betting on said a horrible one liner. "Come on! Trap card? Who plays that crap!" She complaiend out loud as she summoned a shadow knife and sliced the bag of chips open, offering some to the company.

A second later Diamond gave up on trying to ignore her kitten issue. The gods just wouldn't let it rest. Oh well, might as well do some more recon. "'Morning!" the thug waved at her teammate before she noticed the kitten didn't quite bother changing out of her pajamas, "Or... not quite, I see. How's the head?" she chuckled.

[User]
"Tough bastard..." Ebon thought when Gren seemed largely unphased about getting rammed in the face. He didn't even seem dazed as he was still lucid enough to start pulling Ebon around by his shield. He fought against him at first knowing that Gren intended to throw Ebon into his R-Types or just use him as a shield. It wouldn't work as Ebon would just make the R-Types hold their fire. But thinking on his feet Ebon decided to let Gren pull him to the side. He only did this after putting up a bit of a fight so Ebon would have the momentum to counter Gren.

When Gren pulled Ebon in the path of his R-Types Ebon landed with both his feet braced onto the floor, and than he put both his hands onto the handles of The Kingdom, and pressed his shoulder for extra leverage. Before the R-types flew by Ebon used a combination of his raw strength and his semblance, Mind of Matter, to lift his shield into the air above him along with Gren. Ebon might not be as strong as Gren when it comes to raw strength, but he was strong enough to lift him into the air if he's using his telekinesis to ease the burden.

"Eat this!" As Ebon held Gren above his head, Squad 1 and 2 converged to attack Gren while he was still stick to The Kingdom. Squad 1 unleashed a rain of laser bullets against Gren, splitting off before they crashed into him. And at this point Squad 2 was starting to dive down at Gren and unleashed their fully charged Wave Cannon. It was a solid beam of energy went strait towards Gren, with enough force and power to cause an explosion. Three of them, one from each of Squad 2 R-Type firing their Wave Cannon. Good thing Ebon was underneath his shield, because this is going to hurt.


[System]
Race: Human
Age: 31
Appearance: 1,73 centimeters tall, with straight black hair reaching just above the shoulder. She has dark brown, nearly back eyes. She has soft and nimble hands with which she carries out her work as surgeon. She has a black tattoo in the form of a broken chain across her lower back, one on her left shoulder in the form of stylized angel wing and another one on her right in the form of stylized demon wing.
Title: Doctor /Military rank: Lt. Colonel
Nationality: Japanese
Organization: Homeworld Command
Skills:
 Medical degree
 post-doctoral training in surgery
 Military training (specialized in sharpshooting)
 Eight dan in Kendo.

History: Miyako was born in a military family. As such from an young age, she knew she will end up in the family business so to say. Still combat wasn't a thing she was attracted to as much as medicine. So as compromise, she first finished her medical degree then signed in the military, where she got her post-doctoral training.

 In kind of a rebellious phase, a few years after joining the military, she went ahead and got herself those tattoos after a huge falling out between her and her parents. Things escalated to the point where she was disowned, but she paid that no mind. Instead of getting hang over that incident, she concentrated on her career.

 Slowly, but steadily she escalated through the ranks until she reached the rank of lt. colonel, which she took as great honor for herself. One day she was approached by some higher ups with a proposition.'Was she willing to join a some kind of project.' According to them this was going to be a one time proposition, if she was to refuse it now, she will never be approached or see the two of them again. Seeing how she already broke ties with her relatives a few years ago and the fact herself had no family, Miyako decided this was only the natural progress forward so she readily said yes. That was how she joined the SGC.

 Within SGC, Miyako proved herself on a number of different off world missions. Most of which included skirmishes with the Lucian Allience or providing relieve to worlds that were met with disasters. In one of those missions she was forced to take command after their leader was gravely injured. Due the reasons they were hit without warning on a planet that wasn't supposed to have any hostile targets, Miyako and the rest of her squad were forced to retreat towards the gate and try to evacuate from the planet. It took time and a lot of bullets before they were able to secure the gate for long enough to open a wormhole and leave the planet. Miyako herself took a shot to the left leg right before they stepped through the gate. Now she has a very vague scar on that place, but she always looks at it proudly as it reminds her of leading the rest of her squad off that planet despite the insane odds against them.

Personality:  Miyako is in general very calm and collected person. She is very hard to get agitated or angry, but once that fuse has been lit, explosion is bound to happen. She likes to spend time among people and have nice chats with them. Another thing she likes to do is spar whenever it's possible. Be it with weapons or just hand to hand, she enjoys every kind of fight as it proves excellent way to relieve stress. As practitioner of Kendo, her main strength is sword fighting, though the experience and knowledge she acquired with the sword proves useful in hand to hand combat too as her reflexes are fast and her vision sharp. Another weakness Miyako has is towards alcohol. She likes to drink sake, though the military regulations make it difficult to drink freely, so that's mostly reserved for when she is off duty.

[User]
Since the announcement of the mission and their destination, in the sickbay there was hell of a lot of commotion. Miyako had them run constant drills and perform additional checks of the inventory just in case. Considering the high possibility of the Alliance having a hand in whatever was going down on that planet, they should have been prepared for the worst. Those guys didn't exactly care for being humane or considerate…

 "Ahh 2nd lieutenant Tanaka, didn't think I would have seen you that soon." Miyako said as she walked towards the soldier who just entered." I suppose you are here to inquire about a medic for the mission?" The Japanese woman said with a smile as she proceeded to take her white mantle off. It was the only reason to have the soldier in full gear come to the sickbay wihtout nay visible injuries." A lot of my people here are civilians so I can't exactly send them down with you. I will be the one who will be accompanying you~" She said with a friendly voice and reached towards what would appeared to be her medical bag, not much use of a medic without one of those." Alright, 2nd lieutenant, lead the way to the armory…"
 "Unless you walked all the way to the sickbay just to see me… in which case I just made a fool out of myself…" Miyako said at the end as a joke.

[Assistant] "Sorry I'm sadly here for business." Said Tanaka as he led the path towards the armory as his equipment clicked as he walked. "My team Neilson and Martinez will protect you to are best extent we can out there, Nielson is trained in first responder as I am myself in case we come to a mass casualties situation." He said as he came to the lift and led them into the lift. "If you have and questions please feel free to ask. "He stated as he activated the lift. Lift doors hissed open and Tanaka continued his pace as he came to the armory. "In side you can gear up. "He said as opened the armories door

[User]
Elena turned around when she heard the door to the hangar open watching Dr. Lawson making his way towards her, or rather towards the R-547 and completely ignoring her. "Well nice to meet you as well Doc." Elena said sarcastically and followed behind him hearing him turning on switches and other buttons. Then she quickly caught the flight jacket he had tossed her, like anything from the military clothing weren't all that fashionable. Elena sighed and started to put the flight jacket on and adjusted it slightly before climbing up the ladder when Lawson motioned her up.

The cockpit reminded her of an F-302 just with a few extra buttons and switches, she read some of the specs of the R-547 before the mission and knew the basic systems but decided to let the doctor explain anyway. When he was done Elena quickly pulled herself into the cockpit and closed the canopy, since the systems were already powered up she watched Dr. Lawson leaving the hangar and waved goodbye hearing General Black's voice again and replied. "Got it General ready to leave, and make sure you tell Doc Lawson that i'll bring his daughter back before midnight without a scratch." Elena reached for the helmet and quickly sets it over her head. "Recon 1 leaving the hangar now." She said as she used the controls and quickly pulled out of the hangar pressing the emissions button and the cloak as well. "Cloak and emissions are good, and ready to receive coordinates."

[Assistant]
Toying with the thought of telling Phil that Elena wants to take Ruth out when they return form the mission, Black snuffed a snicker and returned to business mood. Looking over the sensors, the plane was indeed gone were it not for the occasional transmission through subspace notifying the Nyx of its presence. "Copy that recon 1, uploading coordinates. Stay safe." the general notified and nodded to the navigation officer to do so.

The space around the Pack's planet was a graveyard. A ring of Goa'Uld debris was forming around the planet, and a derelict Ha'Tak sat in geostationary orbit like a dead moon. The place was devoid of any electronic signals, whatever communications grid there was on the planet was gone, crushed like it's defenders. But the planet was full of energy signatures, condensed around the burning settlements.

[User]
"Good to know. From what I heard about the situation, chances are good there are a lot of casualties… if we find anyone alive at all." Miyako said with dark voice. It wasn't going to be a first time for her to encounter such situation." Hopefully it's something that just destroyed communications, but chances for that are regrettably low…"

 "Yes, I have a question, tell me about the men in your squad." The doctor asked genuinely interested. It was a think she had to know. She was going to meet those men soon so she at least wanted some bits of info about them." Nothing in too much detail, just the cliff notes."

 "Going to be ready soon…" She said as she entered the armory and went to change uniforms from the standard uniform all of them wore on the ship, to the soldier combat garbs. Quickly changing into the green clothes the soldiers and SG teams wore, she proceeded with putting on the armored vest and then take the standard set of weapons. Last she attached her medical bag onto the military backpack and threw it on her back." I'm ready."

[Assistant]
"Coordinates received General, i'll let you know what I see." Elena said as she activated the hyperspace drive, and quickly typed in the coordinates before making the quick jump over the Pack's planet. Seeing all of the space debris Elena quickly scanned the graveyard, and flew the plane further in system Elena then opened a subspace channel again to the Nyx. "Just got into the system General Black, I can say that there is a graveyard here."

Elena flew past a half of what looked like an Al'kesh. "Though there is a Ha'Tak that looks mostly intact and getting some energy signatures coming from the surface. Do you want me to return back to the Nyx, or investigate some more?"

[User] "I have not worked with them before they were the best choices from review of their dossiers, which I reviewed before coming aboard ship and had spoken to them a couple of times when selecting my team aboard ship." announced Tanaka as he stood by the armory door looking to the hall. "Martinez is a good guy from Los Angeles he stands about five nine he has experience in marine force recon and word from his CO is that he was an excellent marine but had a slight attitude problem." He said well he was remembering back to the two marine's files. "Nielson is a former member of the air force security force a tall guy , with a thick Texan drawl and he is calm but his files said that he was very laid back but quite dependable. " Ah well now you look ready to operate in the field. "Replied Tanaka as he activated his headset as they walked towards the standby room where both teams were waiting patiently. "General both teams are ready and standing bye, mam." He said into his radio and he slid onto a bench ready to depart.

[Assistant]
"Negative. We need to identify who did it. See if you can get a closer look at the signatures on the surface. Remember you're not in a 302, this thing won't fly in atmo, so low orbit scan only. If you can, get a detailed scan of the area around the stargate. Be careful, whoever did that might still be there." Catherine ordered. By no means was the Pack a big military threat, but something was off. The Lucian Alliance would stay to claim the spoils, that was if they risked violating the protected planets treaty in the first place. It wasn't their MO, but on the other hand, there weren't that many threats left in Milky way that could do this.

"Take us in, quietly." Black ordered the helm and got back to Fowler: "We'll be arriving momentarily. Stand by." She ordered the ground teams to be on standby until they knew more.

As the Nyx dropped out of hyperspace again, the cloak immediately activated as they cruised away from the exit point. "At what efficiency can we operate the sensors and not be detected?" she asked the collective, intending to look for any enemy stragglers.

[User] Elena nodded as she moved the R-547 through the debris field until she was a clearing over where the settlement was and got into a very low orbit over the area. "Starting the scans now General Black." She said looking down towards the sensor and quickly picked up the Nyx before watching it disappear once more. She could still see the energy signatures coming from the surface around the settlement and where the gate was, Elena then decided to start scanning around the immediate area for any other anomalies. "I'm still getting the energy signatures around the area of the gate, I think it might be safe to beam down the other teams."

[Assistant]
Lawson

Lawson watched as the ship was brought into orbit of the ship, the ship had been tested sure but that was the shakedown cruise. He was watching everything work trying to make sure those handling the ship were doing it properly and that the ship was working properly. On the bright side the R-547 worked fined. He watched as the recon craft and her pilot returned too the bay, at the same time the ground team was beamed down to the area around the stargate, which according to the sensors deactivated at the same time. Lawson looked back at the General, and though she, as usual, look hardened he knew this was the time she hated most. The ground team was away, and they were doing their own thing.

That was that, they would just have to trust that they knew what they were doing. However looking at the sensor data he had another idea. One he felt the General would like, and would give himself and some other people something to do during the wait as well. "General, there's a Ha'tak out there possibly salvageable. It has atmosphere in most sections, permission to join an away party to go across to the other ship? I am sure that the pack members still alive on the planet would like to get their ship back in working order."

There'll be no current sound of weapons fire, a lot of the ground when you near the settlement will be dug up and messed up with some signs of tracks (As in like tank treads) there'll be some screaming, and shouting of people in pain. Fires etc.

[User]
The moment they were beamed to the surface, Miyako, pulled her rifle right away and fell on a knee to prepare for possible fight just in case. She knew sometimes the scans of the surface were not always completely accurate. This time it seemed that was not the case as there were no incoming fire the moment they appeared. Lowering her rifle as she stood up, she looked around once again.

 "I hear no weapons fire of any kind…" The medic stated and looked at the other soldiers. Both of the squads had their orders and they needed to stick to them for the moment. She turned in the direction of the settlement and after waiting for a few moments for the rest of her squad to prepare and eventually head to the settlement.

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

 Miyako immediately halted any movement the moment she noticed the pattern in the ground when they neared the settlement. Those looked very similar to tank tracks. Something definitely went down here. There were also fires burning that could be heard and seen. The most important thing she heard though were screams of pain. Someone was wounded and was alive. Making sure her weapon was ready, Miyako began walking forwards in the closest direction of the screams. If they needed answers well a survivor of whatever went down was going to be the best source." Is the situation at the gate clear? There are marks of heavy war machinery here and traces of battle at the settlement." She reported over the radio. Now her first and most important priority was to find survivors and keep them alive.


[System]
Male
Age 31
Appearance
6'2"
Blue eyes
Long neat blonde hair that reaches down to the shoulders.
Bangs can easily cover his face if Felix doesn't keep them pinned to the side.
Felix has a rugged face with scruffy patchy facial hair (constant five o' clock shadow)
Felix wears glasses only for reading, and heavy arch-mage robes.

This is what Felix basically looks like.
I'm
Magician Savant: Felix is well versed in virtually every magic style the Catholic church is aware of. He is a master of both combat and defensive magic, as well has healing magic. Felix has always been exceptional at magic, to the point of even creating his own spell and combat style.
Manaegis: At the age of twenty he created Manaegis, his flagship ability. Manaegis forces latent mana within the user out into a physical manifestation of a bright blue full suit of armor and a weapon. Both the armor and weapon are essentially weightless, but are slightly stronger than steel.
Manalysis: Due to Felix's mastery and large mana reservoir, he has an ability known as manalysis. Manalysis allows Felix to comprehend mana in a way most people cannot. First off, Felix can physically see the auras of other Talents. These auras each have colors unique to the individual's aura. This color has to do with the type of magic the Talent has a mastery in, as well as their personal morality alignment. The size of the aura is directly correspondent to the size of the Talent's mana well. Manalysis also allows him to feel small shifts within mana waves in the air. Nature exudes its own mana waves, which are disrupted by other mana users who have their own magic wave radiation. Felix is able to feel this discrepancy and interpret use it to sense others. He can use this in combat to predict his enemies moves, as well as out of combat to detect mana users. Manalysis while not rare, is very difficult to master to the degree that Felix has.

Felix also has a mastery of spacial magic allowing him to levitate and teleport on a whim.

Felix was born in New York City, New York. When Felix was an infant, the Catholic magi scouts detected a large amount of mana residing within the Felix's household. Knowing about the newborn and the massive reserves of mana held within him, the scouts approached Felix's parents telling them of the situation. Felix's parents, having seen small displays of magic from Felix decided they were not equipped to raise the child and relinquished the custodial rights to the Catholic Church. Throughout his childhood, he studied and lived at the NYC Catholic cathedral. At around the age of sixteen, he showed such prowess and proficiency with magic, that the NYC cathedral had nothing left to teach him, so he was sent off to the Vatican to learn from the best of the best. After studying at the Vatican, it wasn't long before Felix achieved the status of Arch-mage and earned a seat in the inner council. At the age of twenty Felix developed his own magic style, manaegis. After developing this magic style, he was asked to become an instructor at the Vatican and teach others to master the magic style. This is where he resides to this day.

Armor looks essentially like this
But is completely smooth without bolt marks and bumps, and is also a bit transparent as well with a blue ethereal glow.
The weapon looks like this
but completely blue with the same transparency and ethereal glow as the armor

Felix is headstrong, intelligent, and very wise (although only 31 years old). Felix does his best to be passive, but has no problem fighting if he deems it necessary. Felix hardly ever gets angry, and when he does it is always justified. Stuck in his ways, he can be a little too headstrong. This resulted in him not leaving the Catholic church until recently, even though he knew some of the problems the organization had. Felix loves music, and is very musical himself. He carries with him at all times a Hoener Marineband Special 20 B♭ harmonica. He knows how to play the harmonica, piano, and guitar. As a professor, he is very instructive, and is a great mentor. Felix is very friendly and tends to think of everyone he meets as a friend. Even when Felix has a problem with someone, he will not hold any ill-will toward them.

[User]
"You look lovely my dear, t-shirts are in this decade. Casual minimalist fashion is very a la mode... You'll need some footwear once we leave, sneakers or 'flip flops' come to mind to match your current ensemble. But it's your call, chief." Nemo explained to Zuri.

Nemo let out a small chuckle. "Isn't putting on the clothes half the fun though?" He asked. "Not going to make it easy for me, huh? Some people would kill to have my creative talents so freely at their disposal. Well, if you end up ill prepared for a sleepover it wont be on me. It's called a 'pajama party' for a reason." Nemo finished, looking over to Felix and the newcomer afterwards.

[Assistant] Zuri smiled when Nemo said she looked lovely. "T-Thanks.." She says as she ran her left hand through her hair and circles around to the back of her ear, blushing just a little bit. "Hey Nemo, I feel a bit empty inside.. I'm not sure what I should do." Zuri says as she has her right hand on her chest. She was referring to her mana reserves stored within her, but she couldn't find the right words as she doesn't remember a lot of things. However, there's a chance that what she said could be misunderstood.

[User] "On a list of things I'd likely take part in, a, 'pajama party' sounds like the least likely thing I would ever participate in." Raiya scoffed, "I don't do pajamas, and I definitely don't do parties without alcohol or other illicit substances involved."  Raiya explained, as she folded her arms in discontentment, waiting for the conversation between Felix and the new brown haired bird girl to end.

[Assistant]
Ava stepped through the portal revealing her surroundings to be a somewhat cozy cabin. Before her was an... odd collection of individuals. Oh, who was she kidding, she was the one with freakin wings sprouting out of her back. However, that did not stop Ava feeling like a fish out of water among all these magic users. Having only rudimentary, self taught abilities, Ava has yet to tap into her immense power to any significant degree.

As she continued to look around, she realized she had no idea whether she was still in the Alps or in a whole other country. Regardless, she listened to Felix explain how he came to find her and why he needed her. "Yeah, I just assumed you knew me through some archives or something back at the church. Figured you were after the same thing as they were, but this.... wow.... this is really, really serious... huh...."

The gravity of the situation began to hit her. Leaving home, saving the world, all of this was starting to really sink in. Ava felt a shiver run down her spine, but refused to show any sign of nervousness. In fact, despite the seriousness of the situation, she still felt incredibly excited about finally getting out of that suffocating village.

Ava turned to the small group and smiled somewhat awkwardly. She figured that she'd at least introduce herself. "Umm.... Hello. I'm Ava Kurier. Nice to meet all of you." she said, a thick Austrian accent hanging off of each word.

[User]
"Might be at the bottom of the list, but... it's still on the list." Nemo commented as he faced Zuri.

"Hmmm, what an interesting statement." He spoke as he rolled his fingers on the side of his head as the thought. "If I didn't know better I'd say you're hungry. But I suspect it's more likely you're low on mana. I might be a mana aficionado, but what works for me in these situations probably will not work for you. My methods are a tad bit unorthodox... But luckily we do have a medical type magi in our little party now." Nemo explained as he looked to Alya. "I'm sure dear Alya has a mana-transfusion spell up her sleeve, hmm?"

Nemo turned to Ava when her introduction was done. "Guten Morgen, Frau Kurier. Ich heisse Nemo Smiley." Nemo spoke in German as he introduced himself after picking up on her accent. Nemo's German sounded even more natural than his Japanese.

[Assistant]
Felix smiled as Ava and he came to an understanding.

"With that out of the way, I'll leave her to you guys. I have to make a trip to Montana." Felix explained.

And with a quick salute with his index and fore finger to his forehead, he opened another portal and disappeared.

---

Felix appeared on a hiking trail at the base of the rocky mountains.

Deciding to give manalysis a shot, he felt a presence a bit higher up on the mountains. Using the mana steps he used to find Ava, he walked upwards increasing his elevation until he was at the same elevation the presence he felt was. Then he walked towards the presence, finding himself at an opening of a cave. Standing in the opening of the cave, was a wolf-like woman with purple skin and green hair, a mask on her forehead. The morning sun had not quite yet peaked up over the mountain range.

Felix used his mana steps to walk up to the new person. This was definitely the Zoey Ash he saw in his dream.

"Beautiful morning we are having, today." Felix approached the new potential member. "You're Zoey Ash, right? I'm Felix Glasius." Felix introduced himself.

Felix was still wearing the white t-shirt and levi jeans that he was wearing when he approached Ava's town.

[User]
She stays silent for a while, watching the sun rise and the shadows in the mountain grow. "A man from the church, who knows my name. I don't know if I should be flattered, or running." She turns towards him, making no effort to hide herself, her weapons, or her faith. "Despite my instincts telling me to knock you out and run, I get the feeling this has little to do with the Church. That smell on you is weak." She stares him up and down. "What can I do for you, Felix Glasius?"

She then put on her pendant and imbued it with magic, transforming into a human guise. This form had brown hair in a braid down her back, green eyes, and tanned skin casual clothes, making the pendant feel a little out of place. To Felix, it would be clear that this was just a comforting illusion, but also a well-crafted one. She looked tiredly over herself and nodded; a human look, for human business.

[Assistant]
Felix scratched his head for a moment at the, "smell on you is weak," bit.

"I'm not quite sure if you meant I smell weak, or the smell of the church is weak on me. Hopefully it's the latter and not the former, because with the former I'd tell you that your senses are off. Though, the latter would certainly mean you have a keen olfactory system. I am no longer with any church, and in fact, my goals run contrary to the Arcanocracy at the moment. This places me in the predicament of dealing with them as adversaries for the first time." Felix began to explain, "I can't begin to tell you why, or how. But a few weeks ago I had a dream. In this dream I was told to collect the ancient artifacts known as the Paragons, and that the consequences would be dire should I choose to refuse this request. Dire as in, world ending apocalypse dire. I was also told to gather specific people, and form an alliance with them. This was a peculiar request and placed me in a precarious situation. The day before my dream the arcanocracy had just voted to ascertain the paragons for the betterment of the Catholic order. You could see why that might be contrary to the status quo as it were. When I awoke from that dream I found myself sitting at my desk instead of in my bed, in front of me was a list of names and locations written in my hand writing." Felix continued, "So, I set out to find these names, and find them I did. I brought them back to my headquarters, and they quickly set out to find the first paragon which was close by. They found the paragon, but encountered the catholic arcanocracy along the way. An old colleague of mine, Arch-Magi Thadeus. I stepped in before he could harm any of the team, and he quickly retreated at my appearance. This all happened yesterday. After I got the group back to the headquarters, I ended up having a second dream, with more names on a new list in front of me when I awoke."

Felix flicked his wrist, a blue flurry of flames consuming has hand briefly, then quickly subsided, leaving a thick piece of parchment in Felix's once empty hand.

"Your name is the last name on this list. The others I have visited have agreed to join Paragon's End, the alliance to collect and seal the paragons. The road ahead of us is fraught with perils, enemies who were once my friends seek our blood. We have already lost two of the names from the first list, one dead by Thadeus and his gang before he could even answer the request to join the alliance, the other dead by a trap in the catacombs where the first paragon lay. With all of this said, will you consider joining our team?" Felix requested.


[System]
Age (Prior): 18
Appearance (Former): Don't let the pleasant look fool you. She stands at 5'3.
Appearance (Current): Hey, not much has changed! Her hair's a bit lighter, she has pointed ears... oh, wait, she's also a giant snake from her thighs down. About 5'0 at rest. The tail portion of her body is around eight feet long and causes her height to vary depending on how coiled it is or how upbright she is making her position.
Race: Naga
Personality: Rika looks like a pleasant and friendly girl. To be fair to her, this isn't really what anyone would call totally inaccurate, as she can be quite nice and friendly to people she likes. But that's people she likes. If you don't give her an excuse to be nice, she's a surly, argumentative, and sarcastic girl who tends to insult others for what she perceives as stupidity and complain rather openly. She's prone to teasing somewhat, as well, but any counter-teasing easily flusters her. Rika is easy to embarrass and tends to become something of a stuttering mess when she is, trying to find the quickest and most direct path out of an embarrassing situation and take it. That being send, deep down, part of her motivation for the insults and complaints is driven by a desire not to see people do something stupid and get themselves hurt... though a lot of it is low tolerance for what she sees as stupidity too. Putting it simply, Rika can be quite irritable.
Skills: Prior to suddenly taking a trip to "I'm a naga now" fantasyland, Rika had very few skills based on strength. She wasn't that athletic, but she did know how to start a fire, learned from her father who was an avid camper. She is also a decent cook and can identify some forms of edible plants and fungi due to her father's nature lessons. Currently she retains this skill, as well as a new one. While the humanlike portion of her body is not too different in strength from her human self, everything from her thighs down is a massive snake tail. And a snake tail is, essentially, a giant tube of muscle. Incredibly heavy and extremely strong, it can be used as a remarkably potent offensive or defensive weapon. Her back teeth are like they are in a human, regular molars, but her front teeth are sharp and can, however awkwardly and likely as a last-ditch defensive measure, be used to deliver a painful bite. To her disappointment she lacks any kind of venom.
History: Born in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, Rika has lived a fairly normal life. Her father was an avid nature fan and her mother was a more down-to-earth individual. This resulted in something of a dual upbringing, where her father brought her on camping trips and taught her about nature, and her mother taught her about practical things she'd need to know in life. While she did not at all dislike her father or their camping trips, in the end Rika ended up as rather critical of anyone doing anything silly, like her mother. This was likely because, in spite of all his knowledge, her father was something of a clutz who constantly got himself banged up, bruises and scraps all over from his hiking and camping trips. It was, to put it simply, a good thing he knows basic first aid.
Rika went through school excelling in all her classes and scoring very highly in every class, proving herself to be quite an intelligent girl throughout her life. However, in middle school, one of her friends was injured in an accident caused by fooling around. This made Rika, already a girl who didn't suffer fools, even more vehemently outspoken against what she felt was stupidity. And now, on the day after her high school graduation, well...
She's going to awaken to a bit of a shock.
Other: As a naga, Rika can only eat meat.

[User]
Marcus rolled his fingers over his leg as he stared at the line, the others giving their input as they saw fit. To be completely honest, in their current state, avoiding combat and setting up a base of operations was probably the highest priority of all, and diving smack dab into the middle of an unknown forest like Nova had suggested they do (even AFTER Rae's prior warnings about some sort of whisperings) made the least sense of everything. Wasn't the safest and most logical thing to do be sticking to the outskirts of the forest before anything else? Everyone else seemed to think as much, so...

"I say we avoid heading in for now. Place sounds REALLY ominous, and without any means of self-defense we're basically sitting ducks if we go in now." he sighed, standing up from his previous position and looking to the sides. "I'll head right and circle around the forest; Adam can probably take the left if we're splitting to cover more ground, or we can all just go as a group. In the case of a former, if we hit a dead end, meet right back here, alright?"

With that, Marcus glanced around and took a fallen branch off the ground before stepping behind the red line and drawing a giant 'X' in the dirt; right after that, he planted the branch firmly in the ground. Luckily, due to the lack of brush, the branch stood out quite well among the low-lying grasses, making it easy to spot if they decided to return here. With that, Marcus walked off to the right, hoping to find something of interest... Hopefully one that wouldn't try to kill him.

It didn't take long, though, for him to come across one of the reasons for their earlier discomfort, though; an entire section of the forest, completely razed to the ground. What made it worse, though, were the obviously burnt corpses of what Marcus assumed to be people. The heat still emanating from the area only served to further his discomfort, and though he was nowhere near sick, the sight of it all was quite... Disturbing.

"...The hell happened here...?" he asked himself before cautiously looking around the charred remains of trees and underbrush. The region seemed to be a former campsite, given how the bodies were near a circle of stones clearly made to contain a fire, but... That campfire didn't seem to be the cause of the mess... No, given how the bodies seemed to be sprawled out nearby, it was quite likely that these people were killed, and the fire used to try and erase the evidence. The ability to handle dead bodies wasn't really somewhere he wanted to tread (no, in fact, he'd much rather be off looking for artifacts if that was to be his job), but given the situation information was key. Cautiously moving around the first corpse (of what he counted to be five people), he found something that he considered himself lucky to find- a small dagger, one sheathed away and that had barely escaped the worst of the damage from the fire by having itself buried in the dirt, presumably after it's previous owner fell. Though his moral compass was obviously freaking the heck out because he was essentially a grave robber by doing this, Marcus took the dagger, sheath and all, and slid it onto his belt before continuing to look over the site. Hopefully, the people behind him (if any) would be able to find some more clues as to what the hell went down here.

"...Well, whatever the hell caused this, it might come for us next..."

@VitaVitaAR@WeepingLiberty@Zombehs

[Assistant] Luke stood as manly as he could. With his chest up and his head held high he strutted his stuff and marched through those doors. As he walked he could feel eyes on him but he shook that off, he just had to make sure he didn't get killed. Or he didn't throw up. Whatever no he was fine. Luke entered the room and stared at the foreman, eye to eye, mustache to beard. For a guy that small he looked pretty tough. "So you must be the overseer of this.....fine establishment. How are you?" Luke smiled in a sort of welcoming but still dead serious manner. He wanted to show this man he too was tough. Luke wasn't here to cause trouble far from it.

[User]
Frankly Nova's idea was far from desirable for a number of reasons, but Adam didn't bother to voice his thoughts. The girl was already pretty confrontational with Rika who had responded to her suggestion, and adding in his thoughts might just very well set her off on her own path. Which would be fine with him really, if it weren't for the fact that they were apparently no longer alone. There might have been whispers intermixed with the gentle breeze that rolled from the vast plains at their backs, but hell if Adam was certain. Still, there wasn't any real reason for Rae to lie and her ears twitched occasionally as if to better pick up the sounds. If Nova pissed off whatever resided in the forest he wasn't all too optimistic that he and the others wouldn't naturally follow as further targets.

Hopefully the two girls wouldn't stay too confrontational, but then again it was a rather stressful situation; people were bound to butt heads, hell it'd already happened. "Sure." He watched as Marcus marked their position with a planted branch just shy of the red line with a nod before he bent down and picked up his own decently sized branch. It was a bit more curved than he would have liked, but better than his fists and it would work decently as a walking stick. The dry bark crumpled around his grip to reveal solid wood beneath and he took a few experimental steps to get a feel for walking with it. It felt pretty smooth though, so without further ado he set off at a brisk pace compared to before, opposite of Marcus.

The treeline continued on relatively straight for quite some time, before it suddenly bulged out into the grassy plain. A glance behind him showed that the others were still in sight, if just barely, and he scanned the forest for a moment before he pressed onward. Not too surprisingly the moment he was around that portion of the forest and unable to see the others, Adam felt the air weigh down on him. Was he nervous? Oh yeah and the goosebumps that formed all over his body were a dead giveaway. Nonetheless he propped the branch up on a shoulder and began to retrace his path, eyes scanning his surroundings at the same time.
@WeepingLiberty@Tokki

[Assistant]
The tips of Nova's elongated ears twitched slightly in her irritation, the elf folding her arms tightly to keep from snapping at Rika. "Ha, as if anyone would want to sneak up on you. First glance at your tail and they'd probably run the other way crying," Nova sighed internally, she had snapped at the girl anyway. At this rate she was going to end up like the mustache guy, wandering alone because of some thick headed pride. Taking a slow deep breath through her nose, Nova tried to convey her thoughts in a more calm manner. "We're going about this as if we were still humans. Maybe going around the forest would make more sense back home, but that doesn't mean it'll work out here. Rae needs to get something to eat or that glowing will be giving us away by sundown." She turned her gaze back to the forest, not quite understanding what it was about it that was frightening everyone so much. Where was their sense of adventure? All her life she had been wishing for something like this to happen to her, and now here she was... Two steps away from setting out on a journey that could be the most epic thing of all time, and she was being held back by a bunch of whispers and an unnatural red line. This blows. Nova thought to herself before continuing her rant.

"If you don't want to go into the forest that's fine, in joining this little group I decided to follow the group vote... That being said, you can't possibly think that someone could sneak up on us in a forest without one of us catching on. Rae and I have enhanced hearing, you and Rae the better smell... Not to mention you're part SNAKE! That means you can feel the vibrations of any sort of footsteps through the ground long before they reach us." She stomped her foot on the ground a few times for emphasis before turning her nose to the air. The smoky scent seemed to be coming from the same direction that Marcus had walked off in, Nova's heart skipping a few beats out of excitement. "I'm going to go this way with Marcus... Or do you think that's a terrible idea too?" Nova raised an eyebrow at Rika before laughing and turning away, setting off after the man at a brisk jog.

She slowed her jog as she entered the burned area, eyes wide open in awe of the destruction. "This is incredible." She breathed, eyes beginning to scan the ground in order to avoid stepping on the burnt corpses. Nova felt a pang of sadness as she stepped over the remains of a few smaller bodies, most likely belonging to children of the group camping out in the forest. The farther she walked into the destroyed portion, the worse the smell seemed to get forcing Nova to cover her mouth and nose with her arm. "Careful now, don't go giving whatever it is any ideas. It might still be close enough to hear you; judging by this heat anyway." It might have just been wishful thinking on her part, but beast after fire breathing beast ran through her mind as she looked around for any evidence to support her suspicions (or hope rather). There were many different kinds, some she would rather witness than others, but all equally as dangerous as the last. Still, it was always possible that such destruction could be accomplished by people, people capable of doing such a horrible thing.

@PKMNB0Y@VitaVitaAR@Tokki

[User]
Rika raised an eyebrow and sighed. Jeez, what was the elf girl thinking? Sure they had better senses... and she was definitely half snake. It was hard to ignore her body from the thighs down after all. But who even knew what could be in this weird place? What if there was something freaky in the forest that none of them could even try and deal with? "I'm not being contrary just for the sake of it. Going to Marcus-san makes sense, alright? Don't be a total moron."

With that, the purple-haired naga slithered along after the man, heading around the forest and giving the red line a wide breadth. When she started smelling it, that terrible scent of burning flesh... and then they came upon it. While she had, with her father, cleaned fish before and various other things of that nature, there was nothing that could have prepared her for the terrible slight. She clapped one hand over her mouth, feeling ill as she swayed on her tail. Those... those were people, the charred, burnt corpses were people...

Who could have done this? Something so... horrible. Why?


[System]
Age: 20
Position: She Who Makes Things Go Boom (weapons expert)

{credit to pheberoni on deviantart}
Hannah also has a set of birds tattooed on her hips:

Skills: Combat Engineering (Fortifications, Mines, Sensor Surv, Camo), Animals (Riding, Vet), Athletics (circus skills), Carouse, Deception, Drive (2 and 4 wheel, hover), Explosives (she likey), Forgery, Gambler, Liaison, Remote Operations, Trade (Local), Weapon Engineering (Melee, Energy, Ballistic, Heavy, Drones)
Crimes Against The Alliance: Smuggling, Property Destruction, Contempt of Court, Vandalism, plus the ones she won't talk about, Manslaughter, First Degree Murder, Second Degree Murder, and Grand Larceny; she's only been convicted for some of these crimes
Additional Information: Heavy South Carolina Southern accent. Loves small animals and will protect them with her life. Cries at sad and/or animated movies. Has named every single one of her weapons. Ask her about the homicide charges and she won't say a word.
Weapons: Many. Ranges from ballistic knives, to rocket launchers, to bioweapons banned on most planets. Her favorite is a seemingly endless box of tiny, pill-sized grenades that she refers to as her 'fairy dust.'
Possessions: Hannah keeps her weapons in an enormous cube locker with a 10-digit pass, a biometric and retinal scanner, and requires a specific song as a password. She also has the general odds and edds, clothes,
Personality: Hannah might just be the nicest person you'll ever meet. She stands at about five feet tall, she's cute, she has a charming southern drawl, and she's just so damn cheerful all the time it's hard not to like her, because she certainly likes you. That being said, she also regularly blows craters in small towns and cackles while she does it, so either that's all just an act or there's something scary lurking under all those smiles.
History: Hannah was part of a large family on a backwater planet near the edge of the alliance; between the two tracts of land the different branches of the family owned, she got to experience both horse and cattle farming. Unfortunately, when the revolution rolled around, those two branches split right down the middle between the browncoats and the loyalists. It was a long, bloody feud that ended in the death of most of Hannah's immediate family—those records, at least, are public knowledge, but what happened to those that survived is her secret. It ended with a bang, about two weeks before the end of the Unification War and the arrival of Alliance soldiers, when half of the town was razed in a massive explosion. A week later, Hannah was discovered missing at age 10, and she's been with the Heart of Gold since she was 16. (Details will be revealed via IC.)

[User]
April scrambled out of the way of the (somewhat anticipated) wrench. "Hey, woah, grease monkey! Look, I know yall does dirty things to these engines when nobody's looking, but it don't mean nobody else can take a look at them. Maybe we'd actually get somewhere if you wasn't this ship's crazy, jealous ladyfriend!"

April put her hands to her hips, fully prepared to have another spat with the engineer, when the com box beside her crackled. "April, get your narrow behind out of there before Cyrek throws a wrench at you! Well, before he throws another one!" April rolled her eyes and spoke back to the box. "May be narrow, cap'n, but I can do great things with it." She turned and left the sputtering engine room and its fuming guardian.

Moving back to the cockpit, her eyes half dulled with boredom, she happened across the captain talking to a stranger. From the gist of it, it seemed like the man was asking for transport on the ship, and was prepared to pay for it with ordinance. Approaching as the man sealed the deal with the captain, April extended a hand, offering a confident smile. "You flying with us? My name's April Cooper, I'm the pilot. You're more'n welcome aboard as far as I'm concerned, but, uh..." She leaned in slightly and offered a mischievous grin, tapping him on the chest with two fingers. "When I say hold onto something? Hold onto something."

She turned and saw Chang'e, the companion, also speaking to the captain. "Oh, hey Dajie. You got another date? Want me to drive?"

[Assistant]
Hannah had been returning to the cargo hold when she heard her name in the buzz of conversation—she paused at the doors to the catwalk that led down into the hold, head cocked to one side as she listened further. A new passenger? She brightened, careening down the ramp past the Captain and finally skidding to a stop with her hands clasped behind her back. April had emerged from the bowels of the engines, apparently, and was talking with the Companion who had been onboard for a while now. Hannah always felt like a bumbling elephant around the elegant woman—she wished she had that kind of grace and charm. She gave a little wave to Preacher, too; she wasn't devout by any means, but she'd been raised on Christ and bourbon and she kept up both traditions.

"Hi!" she said brightly, holding out a hand to shake to the newcomer. "Hannah, that's me. I can show you your bunk and the mess and all that. You said you had ammo? What kinds? I'm always looking for more. Got any large calibers?"

[User]
The captain shouted back to her crew once again before accepting Silas as a passenger, explaining where he'd be staying, and dismissing him in the same breath, before returning to the ship to avoid the in coming preacher.

"Wènhòu," called the Shepard, bowing as he spoke.

"Hello," Silas answered, nodding in a return.

"My name is Iean, I look after this flock. If there is any type of spiritual needs that have gone unattended then please allow me the honor to guide you to the enlightenment of your choosing," Iean said kindly.

"I think my spiritual needs are all seen to. Thanks though," the gunsmith replied, clapping the other man on the shoulder for a moment. Like most folk from Dyton, Silas was technically Roman Catholic. The brunette usually didn't make it to Mass unless it was a holy obligation day and he confessed even less than that. "I'm Si--"

"You flying with us?" Called a small red haired girl as she trotted down the main ramp. When she got to the bottom she reached out and shook Silas's hand. "My name's April Cooper, I'm the pilot. You're more'n welcome aboard as far as I'm concerned, but, uh..." the pilot paused her a leaned in closer, dropping his hand to prod at his chest with a tiny finger while grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "When I say hold onto something? Hold onto something."

"...Right," Silas said, pulling his hand back from the red head. 'Well, that was ominous,' he thought as he watched the pilot prance off before he had a chance to tell her his name. 'She's the pilot? She doesn't look like she's even old enough to have her license.'

"Sorry father. Like I was saying earlier, I'm Silas," the gunsmith continued, glancing back over to where Iean was standing, before catching sight of another person barreling down the ramp. Silas was sure he was going to have to catch her to stop the newcomer from face planting, but she stopped short, holding her hands behind her back.

"Hannah, that's me. I can show you your bunk and the mess and all that. You said you had ammo? What kinds? I'm always looking for more. Got any large calibers?" She asked excitedly, extending a tan hand in offer of a handshake.

"Silas," he told her, gripping her hand in his own and chuckling at how excited she got about the prospect of new ammo. He instantly liked her. "I've got almost anything you could need for a traditional gun and the biggest thing I have are my 50 caliber sniper rifle slugs. I don't have anything for laser guns or rocket launchers," Silas said the last bit with a grimace, forcing himself not to glance in the direction of the goat farmer. "I'd appreciate you showing me what's what, but can you tell me where to stow my merch first? It'd make me a might jumpy to leave them outside."

[Assistant]
Captain stopped in her tracks, the cigarette nearly done she held tightly between her lips as Chang'e caught her attention. She inquired to when they were departing and Captain shrugged before she set the box down she had picked up to move into the cargo bay. "I have no gorram clue. I am waiting on Cryek to get this boat in the air. What? Some man on this dustball want some fun time with you?" she asked; taking the last pull from the smoke and tossing it to the ground and stomping it out with her boot before turning her head to the side and blowing the smoke away from her through clenched teeth. Seeing April come over she groaned slightly. "Yeah, you take her and keep the com open, if we get ready to leave high tail both your narrow behinds back here post haste. And bring me back something to eat," Captain said quickly before hefting the crate back up and tucking it under one arm and turning to walk off.

 "Hannah, get the boy settled in and stow the explosives. I don't want another whoops boom in the cargo bay!" she shouted as she walked off towards the cargo bay to stow the crate of food rations she had acquired earlier in the day. Once that was done she moved quickly through the ship to the engine room and stopped at the door, leaning against the frame as she crossed her arms over her chest.

 "When the hell you gonna have my ship ready Cyrek?" she asked as she took another cigarette out and lit it. "I want to break atmo by dusk. Oh and we have a new passenger, do don't throw any wrenches until we are in outer amto okay? Don't want the little bloke running before I get some type of payment," she said taking a pull from the cigarette and smirking, holding it out to him.

[User]
Benson sat outside on the ramp, ignoring pretty much everyone, while 'petting' Garry. He ignored everyone, ignored everything, ignored the stares of the goat farmer, ignored his goat which was also staring at him, and most importantly, ignored the urge to go introduce himself to the new person. It wouldn't be proper, after all- someone had to be different. The rest were all jumping over themselves to meet the new face- except the Grump, who was probably beating his head against the engine right now.

So eventually he finished rewriting part of the Heart of Gold's processing unit so that he could have a backdoor and exclusive access at the input of a password, and shut off the admin desk. Pocketing it, he took Garry up in one of his hands and then rubbed his thumb from his other hand across the shiny domed plate that made up the top of the small machine's central processing center. He wiped off the rubber-coated feet of the spider-like device, and then held it up in front of him, staring right into the bot's "eyes." Small plates attached to the front of Garry shifted and moved, some moving closer to each other, some farther. Garry had been programmed with a rudimentary artificial intelligence- one that manipulated the plates in accordance to pre-programmed 'emotions.' When they were tight against each other, it was because the situation was dire, he was running out of battery, or all odds suggested that he would fail. When spread as far apart as possible, he was relatively 'happy'- and the other emotions ranged between that. Right now, the plates were all stretched out from each other, expressing relative enjoyment and happiness.

Then he whistled, and Garry jumped off his shoulder and scurried off. Heaving a heavy sigh, he rolled himself to his feet, and walked back into the suffocating interior.

He passed people with only the simplest of his courtesy- to the 'Shepherd,' or whatever he called himself, he just said his usual, repeated many-a-times response to his attire, "Your clothing is ridiculous and outdated." To the Companion, he only said, "Garry likes your rabbit." To the captain, he reported, "Ship up to date and electronically sound." To the gunsmith, he said, "Welcome aboard. Don't go in my room." To the gunner, his face temporarily brightened- slightly- and said, "I bet I could break your safe."

Then he was walking past them all and was in his room, nice and quiet.

He dropped himself onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling more apathetic than ever. Then he mentally waved it away, apathetic about his apathy, and started fiddling with the electronics in Garry's advanced little body.

[Assistant]
"Fifty cal," Hannah said dreamily. Lord above, she loved fifty calibers. Not only did they mean big guns, and big guns were her one true love, but they also made excellent hand-to-hand weapons in the right situation. She herself was too small to do much damage with a punch, but get any kind of force behind a .50 Browning bullet and it was gonna go through flesh.

She shook herself, tossing sandy hair out of her eyes as she smiled at the new passenger and pumped his hand enthusiastically. "Silas! I'll remember that. And I can take care of the rocket launchers and the lasers, don't you worry about that. Y'know, the other day I managed to get my hands on—"

"Hannah, get the boy settled in and stow the explosives. I don't want another 'whoops boom' in the cargo bay!"

Hannah cut herself off, flushing red and wincing as she dropped his hand. "That only happened once," she mumbled, scuffing her toe on the floor. "...maybe twice," she amended, then shook her head again, calling over her shoulder, "Aye-aye, Cap'n!" She turned, beckoning Silas forward as she headed towards the grav lockers—specifically installed to keep ordinance safe during flight.

"You can put your gear in here," she said, inputting the passcode on one of the lockers and swinging the door open. It was the emptiest one they had, and even then, there were a few suspicious-looking boxes with 'Keep Out Please :)' written in Hannah's handwriting. She looked back to Silas, smiling at him. "Here, I'll help you with some of the boxes before we start the grand tour."

Benny waltzed by, saying something about her safe, and as usual, Hannah gave him her usual bright smile and wave. He never reciprocated, as far as she could tell, but she'd like to think it made him a little happier on the inside. Deep, deep inside.