[System]
Age: (25/27)

Species: Mage

Appearance: Priscilla is a brown-skinned woman of average height who prefers to wear a white shirt covered with a Navajo jacket, as well as tough denim trousers and tall leather boots. Smooth-skinned and smooth-faced, there is an intensity to her hazel eyes that is accentuated by her long brown hair, which is bunched up underneath a cowboy hat most of the time. Around her neck is a crucifix, something that is kept close to her heart underneath the shirt. In the more upper-class parts of the city, she prefers to wear the surplice of a female Episcopalian priest.

Personality: Priscilla is someone who, despite her allegiance to the Traditions, has made a concious decision to abandon the fight against the Technocracy and instead focus on the Nephandi; this is reflective of a burgeoning disillusion with Mage Society and the Ascension War as a whole. Where once she had fought to create a reality where her beliefs were right, now she is tired and suspicious, yet at the same time, dedicated to the much-neglected Sleepers of the world. As a pastor of The One and a Mage, she sees her duties to 'her flock' as paramount now, and her remaining ties to the Chorus are only because they still provide much needed aid. So, basically, a disillusioned veteran of the Ascension War who just wants to focus on the real threat.

Biography: Priscilla was born in San Francisco, to a family of Native Americans who had embraced the 'mainstream' culture, and, thanks to a successful law firm, had become rich. They had also converted to the Episcopalian Church at that time. A scholarly young woman, Priscilla differed from her also-learned peers by deciding to take advantage of the new opportunities offered for women's ordination to study theology and divinity. When asked why by her friends, Priscilla's response was that "the doors of change need to be entered as well as opened."

It was when officiating her first church service that she Awoke, and became a Mage. The Celestial Chorus found her, and she was inducted into their ranks, and was taught that all Gods were actually emanations of The One. Strengthened by this belief, Priscilla took to heart their teachings and the rest of the Traditions', and genuinely believed that their opponents, the Technocracy, were the villains in this 'saga'. She fought long, and hard, and well, learning the Spheres of Prime, Correspondence, and Forces, and doing all she can to help the Traditions' cause.

Then, she had her first encounter with the Nephandi, an encounter that she didn't want to talk about, but was something she had clearly won. Nevertheless, after that, she began questioning the basis of the Ascension War, seeing past the divide between Traditions and Technocracy to see…that both sides were deeply flawed. The Traditions had done some soul-searching and tried to change, but the Technocracy was still an organization that had come from origins that were good in the beginning, and still did much good.

So, what was there to be believed in? The answer was: Protecting the Sleepers without smothering them; nurturing their potential without believing that Mages knew better just because they had the stronger wills.

Supporting Characters:

Lucas Lee – Technically Priscilla's superior in the Celestial Chorus, Lucas takes a hands-off approach to his pupil, providing her with monetary and moral support and information, mostly about Nephandi and Vampire sightings. A tall old man with a senior rank in the Episcopalian Church, Lucas harbors some of the same doubts as Priscilla, but unlike her, still pursues the war against the Technocrats.

[User]
Clarence Darby's lair was a true study in contrasts; The carpet and much of the furniture in the small, semi-abandoned ghetto apartment were spotted with oil and grease, the imprints of various mechanical parts still visible in the black smudges. Empty beer bottles, all left by Cheyenne of course, were scattered around the kitchen and living room, and the ashtray on their coffee table was overflowing with cigarette butts. Few would assume it to be more than the home of some White trash squatter...at least until they entered the bedroom.

The apartment's sole bookshelf was stocked with occult texts, both of mundane and of real substance, and the various little ritual components were aligned with surprising neatness compared to the rest of the vampire' home. The long work table was similarly topped with ghoulish tools, and the bloodstains spotting it's worn wood spoke to it's regular use. Practice made perfect, after all, and necromancy required a lot of practice.

At the moment the Brujah was hunch over one of the older texts, the scent of grave dirt and old bones thick on the tome, his gloved hands working over the pages with tender care. He'd gotten used to those sorts of smells over the last five months, working under the Samedi's tutelage, and it was hardly the strangest of things he'd adjusted to. After all, he drank blood like he had booze not too long ago, and he could break anyone in his old MC in half with his pinkie. He'd taken to it all well as a predator.

Of course, there was the Camarilla, though, and they were always a pain in the ass to deal with, and now he'd heard some stirrings that someone had made a big find in the city. He just knew that Lacroix would be siccing him on that. He shook his head and went back to his study. The sheriff would probably be paying him a visit sooner or later with a new errand from Lacroix, so he had to soak up as much as he could before he'd be dragged off to deal with whatever bullshit the prince had going.

Well, every great power came with a price, after all.

[Assistant]
"I've e-mailed you the paperwork. Just print it and fill it out; we'll pick it up when we get there."

"What is this? Some kind of waver?"

"Yes. In the event of injury or loss of life, it states that you agree to take the risks upon yourself and your family member and therefore can not take legal action against us."

"Loss of life?!"

"In which case you will receive a full refund and our deepest apologies."

There was a long pause on the other side of the phone. Then, "It says here that no cameras or filming will be allowed."

"Yes. It makes my partner uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable? You're saying that he can kill my daughter and I can't sue, but he can't be made uncomfortable?!"

"That is what the paperwork states, ma'am. And I can guarantee you that my partner is no killer, however if your daughter is possessed by something powerful enough, it may be able to end her life if it so pleases."

Another pregnant pause. "What time will you be here?"

"In about two hours."

___

The tension inside the home was palpable as the priest and his partner arrived. The family was gathered in the living room, their expressions tired and pale. Exhausted eyes looked up at them as the two entered. Father Walter was dressed for the occasion in his traditional robe and collar. Lucas wore all dark colors: dress pants, a black turtleneck, and a scarf that his face was tucked into. He stayed close to his companion as the Father greeted the family.

They were quickly shown back to the bedroom where the victim was being contained. The family just wanted to get this done with so they could finally begin to pick up the pieces. From what Father Walter had heard, they had tried several other methods: doctors, priests, sage cleanses. Nothing worked.

The young woman was covered in self inflicted scratched and small wounds. She wore a now ratty pajama set with what looked like vomit down the front. Her eyes were cold and inhuman as they watched the priest and scarfed man enter. The look of contempt was not hard to miss. The girl was tied to the bed by her wrists and ankles to keep her from hurting herself any further. Her mother trailed closely behind the two, but Father Walter turned to smile kindly at her, and ask that she remain outside the room.

"It may be a bit hard to watch," He said as gently as he could. The mother was stubborn.

"I want the door open. I want to be here." She settled to remain in the hallway. That would have to do. Lucas was eyeing the young woman uneasily. Whatever had taken her body was powerful enough to defeat anyone else who had tried to exorcise it. It had driven the young woman to give one priest a very nasty bite. Father Walter turned to the girl, who had remained silent as she mean mugged the two of them. He drew a small Bible from his pocket and began to speak a prayer for the girl.

An inhuman snarl left the girl's throat. She drooled down her cheek as she curled her lips back over her teeth. Father Walter remained unphased. When he was done, Lucas slowly approached the girl. Her head whipped around to watch him. She snarled words at him in a different tongue; it didn't sound too friendly. Lucas reached out to touch her cheek, and then the girl began to trash wildly.

The monster inside of her roared, causing the mother in the hallway to gasp and take a step back. The hellish cry carried all the way downstairs. The demon in the girl pulled at the restraints, trying with all its might to survive. Father Walter moved in to grab the girl's shoulders and push her back down. She hissed and lunged at the man, trying to take a chunk of flesh out of him. Lucas moved fast this time, cupping his hands on either side of the girl's face and turning her head back towards him.

The girl's eyes met his, and suddenly she stopped moving. His dark eyes fixated on her's as he loomed over her. The room was silent. The air was tense. Then, the girl went limp.

Lucas fell back away from her, his back hitting against the wall behind him. His breath turned ragged as he clenched his hands to his own head and doubled over. He would jerk every now and then, seeming to battle a silent force for a good five minutes before he, too, went still. Finally, he braced against the wall and slid to the floor, his head drooped.

Father Walter watched the entire thing closely. He waited a moment. "Lucas?"

The dark eyed man looked up at him slowly. The same familiar, black eyes met his. The beast was gone. The priest walked over to the man to help him back to his feet. The mother ran into the room to her daughter and clasped her hands on either side of the girl's face.

"Tracy?" She asked, pleadingly. The girl gave a soft moan.

"Mom?" Her voice was soft and weak, tired from days of battling the demon who had made her body its home. The older woman broke into tears and embraced her daughter, then quickly began undoing the restraints. The rest of the family came up, having heard the commotion die down. There was an air of relief among them. The two exorcists decided that this was their cue to leave. They didn't wait to receive their gratitude.

Father Walter helped Lucas out to the car and into the passenger seat. The skinny young man promptly fell asleep against the door as they began to fight LA traffic back to their home.

[User]
Nephandi. Dark Mages who want to destroy everything that exists for a variety of reasons, the most charitable being that they believe it beyond redemption and must be destroyed. This cause would be understandable, if not for the fact that only a few believe in it. With the power of Anti-Spheres, aka magic that can only destroy, the Nephandi were a meneace, one made more difficult to deal with by the fact that if they are killed, they would only reincarnate, meaning that they had to be captured and had to have their Avatars - the part of the soul that allows one to use Magic - severed via the rite of gilgul.

Priscilla didn't have the facilities or even Spheres needed for that. And so, clad in her 'explorer's outfit', the young-looking woman paced the floor of her parish, wringing her hands as she agonized over a decision.

She cannot tackle the Nephandi threat alone; she needed help. And so, with reluctance, she called her superior in the Chorus, one Lucas Lee.

"Hello, Bishop?" she asked, "You were right; Nephandi have been sighted here in larger than normal numbers. Same for Vampires - a few limit themselves to willingly given human blood, but others are just bad people - Werewolves, and even Demons. My city seems to be turning into a powder keg; I'm sorry to say this, but doesn't the presence of Nephandi justify a truce between us and the Technos? It's happened before." Priscilla tensed at that; although Lucas held the same doubts as her, he was still a man who pursued the Ascension War with some conviction.

So it was a relief when the answer from the Bishop was: "Nephandi justify it, yes. Same for an increase in Vampires. You might also want to monitor that company called Pentex; they accept everyone, including Nephandi. Help will be coming, so just hold on."

Just hold on. Prisicilla didn't know if she should find hope in that, or suspect that her superiors were abandoning her...


[System]
James " Collider" Gilford
Age: 15

Powers: Regokenisis (Vector manipulation)

The ability is called Movement manipulation, and is the ability to manipulate any moving vector. Since everything is always moving through space, this means everything has a vector that can be manipulated. Whether it be the gravity being exerted on him, the speed of the wind, the direction of blood flows or the general movement of everything around him, he can control and manipulate it at will. He can stop bullets, redirect blood flows, diffuse electricity, create earthquakes and more.

Weapons: A kitchen knife, an airsoft gun

Bio: James was a fairly ordinary child. He went to school like normal, and lived a normal life. He was bullied like most children are, but there was one, huge fundamental difference between him and others. His ability. Ever since he was born, he looked different. His hair was stark white and his eyes blood red. He was picked on, and discriminated against because he was different by others in his school, he teachers and other adults. Everyday he would come home with new scratches and bruises and he began to show signs of mental trauma, specifically those associated with Psychopaths and Sociopaths. One day, he was picked on during one of his bad days. He had been taking medication for a serious injury he suffered, and he was ill from something that rendered him useless for days. The boys from his school, 4 to be precise, found him walking to school and went to beat him down. When they did, however, they were repelled and thrown against the grown by an invisible force. James walked up to them, calmly and said "This is my new power... Do you like it? It will help me stop people like you..." and a wide smile grew across his face. As he stepped closer, he kicked one in the stomach, and he flew across the road, and hit another building. The second was picked up, and tossed aside. The third, flung into the air and then landed in the road. The fourth however, didn't give up without a fight. He pulled a small calibre hand gun that he stole from his parents. He shot, and the bullets bounced back, hitting the boy in the chest. James walked up once more, and stuck his finger into the boys wounds. "This is something I learned a while ago. Here, try it!" as the exploded, his blood being reversed around his body at great speeds.
Whilst on the run from the SPD (Special Powers Division) he was caught by a man named Fahrenheit, who was a powerful pyrokenetisist that worked as a military dog, a prisoner of Miss. Dawson's that freed in order to capture others. A battle commenced, and James almost came out on top. The power of heat is easy to control, you just have to redirect the way the heat is moving and the flame goes out. The only problem was Fahrenheit was a trained military officer, who could easily overpower a boy of his age. The barrier that protected James was negated due to its fault; it can only redirect vectors coming towards it, so if the force stops just as it hits the shield it will be pulled towards the person. He was caught, charged with 1st degree murder, and sent to Miss. Dawson's home for punishment. This is wear he now resides... The freshest meat.

Dreams/Wishes: To escape the fickle chains that bind him to the cursed him he now resides. He also wants to become more powerful so no one has be be hurt.

Evil, Good, Walking the Line: Lawful Evil. He is unlikely to kill any of the others that reside in the prison with him unless they provoke him with attacks. His primary objective is to kill Miss. Dawson, because it is likely, out of all the people in the prison, that he is the only one that can.

Siblings (If Any): He had a sister, but she disappeared along with 18 other girls that went to her school in a large kidnapping. She also had powers, no one knows them (I might make a second character for her later)

Pets (If Any): He had a cat named George, but he was put down due to illness

James's abilities are vast due to his power, vector manipulation. Most of the abilities are only close range, but some are long ranged, giving a diverse method of attack and defence. Here they are:

A constant redirection field that acts as a filter system, redirecting any vector James doesn't want (though it does have a weakness - read bio)
Wind manipulation (including flight)
Gravity manipulation
Light manipulation (invisibility)
Time lock within field
Power over all vectors. As everything has a vector (since it's moving through space) everything can be controlled.
Can redirect Heat, electricity, moving objects
Can create earthquakes using kinetic energy
An equivalent of superhuman strength, or telekinesis.
Sound manipulation/redirection
Regeneration by manipulating blood to close wounds.
Redirecting blood flows to create gruesome effects.
Basic mind control through controlling bio-electric signals

Downside: His power is heavily dependent on calculations using at least 30 million character each. Since his brain capacity is that of a 15 year old boy, his mind can only take so much strain. After a while, he enters a computer like state where is power leaks massively and causes destruction to everything around him. It is unpredictable when this may happen, but it is always accompanied by a headache and followed by unconsciousness.

---

[User]
"Yo, Scribble Girl."

Roberta is about as blunt as possible as she hangs from the upper level of the mall, legs wrapped around the handrail, torso stretched to cover the distance and head level with Robyn's, though upside-down, hair and jacket hanging. She's got a plate of syrup-drenched pancakes in one hand, and a whole pitcher of juice in the other.

Ignorant of how this moisture might make Robyn uncomfortable, Roberta continues "New here? You should get the good stuff first. There's always spare cereal and toast, but the pancakes and bacon get eaten up fast. You picked a good corner though - easy to spot people before they spot you. Hey, if anyone asks if you've seen me, maybe talking about getting me to do a job, do me a solid and tell them I'm hanging out in the arcade. I'll owe you one?"

She has no intention of going to the arcade, of course. As she waits for a reply, Roberta sticks out her tongue, rolling it into a tube and doing a few loops as she dips it into her juice, and drinking through this unusual straw.

[Assistant]
Zinnia awoke to the trumpets blaring and groaned from under the covers of her bed. This was a long fall from the life she had recently lived, from a position that had once held significant meaning. Sure, that meaning was lost many years ago when the Ottoman Empire fell, but now it was if she had never existed, on paper at least.
 She got up and shivered a bit, used to the hot climate of where she originated, and made her way to the shower, ditching her pajamas on the way there, and took a fairly quick rinse in the water. She looked in the large mirror on her way out, and spoke with a light accent to herself. "Well Zinnia, you can't do much about it now. Let's just hope no one finds out where you came from..." She dried off and got dressed in a maroon tank-top, a brown and maroon hoodie, some skinny jeans, and a pair of sleek, black, knee-high boots, and made her way out after feeding Teif, the large lizard that lazed about most of the day. "Be good, I don't want any stains on the rug when I get back."
 Upon her arrival to the cafeteria, she noticed just about everything at once. A girl hanging from the top floor talking to another woman who appeared to be a drawing come to life, a morbid-looking man sitting alone and scarfing down a plate of eggs, bacon, and fruit, a fiery red-head that looked like he was expecting someone with a parrot taking the occasional piece of fruit from him, and a black-haired boy that was twirling a fork between his fingers, leaning back in his chair and eyeing a nearby electrical socket. She went up and looked over the options for food. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast... nothing she was used to eating, nothing nearly spicy enough to satisfy her cravings for the culinary delights of home. She settled on a dry piece of toast and a glass of orange juice after a fierce internal debate, and headed over to the table with the morbid-looking fellow. "Is it alright if I sit here, Mister..?" She began, wondering what the man's name was and why he was here.

---

 Jace pushed open the door to the mall, dreading the day already. The end of it, specifically, with the aforementioned shift at the bar looming over him. He gradually made his way to the cafeteria and laid claim to the table Artemis usually sat at, munching on some pancakes and a bowl of fruit he had commandeered from the buffet. "Go ahead n' grab whatever you want, Gallus."
 The parrot tweeted happily and dug through the bowl, looking for his favorite snack; blueberries. Upon finding one at the bottom of the bowl, he pulled his head out and ate it slowly, savoring the taste.
 The Irishman shook his head and smirked a bit. That bird's really something, he thought, and started to look around for Artemis. She'd be here soon, he knew she usually showed up to eat. He noticed Zinnia come in and stop in the doorway, a strange girl. I'll probably have to give her a physical sometime soon, just like all the others. He sighed. A day in his life at it's finest, really.

---

 Aaron walked into the cafeteria with a certain swagger that screamed, 'I own this place,' and grabbed a plate, piling it high with sausages, then sat a table away from Jace. Now to wait for that animal lover to show up, just so I can spite her, he thought, not even having a fondness for sausage. Quite frankly, he hated the things, he just wanted to see how much he could piss the girl off for the hell of it.

[User]
2 days it had been. Two sodding days since he was transferred to this godforsaken prison. They made it out to be a nice place (and it did have some very comfy rooms) but a prison is all it is. A maximum security prison to keep dangerous people confined from the outside world. That didn't matter, because as the trumpets blared James just didn't wake up. It was simple enough to block out sound waves, since they all have vectors. So as the siren blared its annoying ramblings, James slowly began to stir. This was the normal time he would arise from bed, only so he could get to school the earliest and have time to get the freshest bacon the school could offer. He awoke, switched of his sound reflection, and then listened to the last part Miss. Dawson's awakening message. That woman must be on some serious meds, he thought, Normal people aren't up this early...

James dressed, did some target practice, grabbed his knife and headed out the apartment complex. It was a big place, with some luxurious living quarters. That was probably the only good thing he got for coming here. He tried to steer clear of some of the others that were heading to the mall, and eventually made his way there. The very first thing he noticed was the quintessence of a spider hanging of the balcony of an upper floor of the mall, talking to a girl made of what looked to be the remnants of a 7 year olds temper tantrum and some pencils. Then there was some over-excited nutcase who filled his plate with sausages equal to how many times a vegetarian will punch him, at least, if there IS a vegetarian. So James walked to the queue, grabbed some toast, some bacon, a pancake and a glass of milk and went to sit by the table as far away from everyone as possible. He then switched on his sound Redirection field, an extension of his vector redirection field. Then he began to eat in silence, and thought about what a shit day it would be; he hadn't even been assigned a job... Tch... Just my luck he thought.

Maybe I can sue them..., he thought, I mean, they did mislabel the place. They should really have called it 'Miss. Dawson's Prison for Freaks of Nature'. He ate in silence, and watched as more people filed into the mall. The silence. For some it is deafening, but for some it is home, and home it is for James. Everything happening around you in complete silence so that one can observe without interference. Plus it gave him time to examine and evaluate the bacon without interruption. He was surprised no one had stared at him; he had stark white hair and blood red eyes. Apparently that wasn't very strange to people.

Being new to the cage of freaked, he didn't really know who anyone was. The only thing he did know, however, was the names of a couple people he heard. Those were: Lyra, Jace and Artemis. Day one James didn't go to the mall, instead he went to the Bowling alley to look around, using his reflection to turn invisible. He wondered what job he would get, if he ever got one. He doubted it would be anything to do with helping people, given his history, nor did he believe it would be anything too complex, given his age. The on,y thing he could think of would be possibly teaching assistant. An ability like vector manipulation isnt an ability one can just use; it takes huge amounts of calculations by the user to control, and even more to maintain. Because of this, despite his young age, a teaching assistant sounded the most fun, easy and well suited to his... Abilities.


[System]
Theme:
Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy

Gender:
Female

Species:
Lessereurm

Appearance:
Green with blue mixed in.
She looked like a fantasy version of a skink lizard, her head being more bony with scaly outcrops along her snout and over the ridges on her eyes. Though she had no back legs, her front limbs had become somewhat longer and stronger. While she didn't have true thumbs, her claws had been reduced to three digits, two of which were longer and the third of which was shorter, thicker, and set at an angle to the others. It was a bit like a human's hand making a constant "Spock-hand" by holding the index-middle and pinky-ring fingers in pairs and curling the thumb. The joints of these "fingers" and the natural curl of her claws gave her a stronger grip that she could feel even as she began to pull herself along the ground--she would be able to pull, or to scoop and dig, quite fast if she felt so inclined. She was roughly twice as long as her previous form, though not so heavy-set throughout her body. As her tail instinctively lashed behind her, she would likely feel confident that she could easily contort herself in a variety of shapes.

Goals:
Rain has only a few major goals:
-Follow any instructions from the mysterious Demon King
-Make the most of this second chance, no matter the cost
-Become the King's favorite, at any cost (selfish reasons, really)

Past Life:
There were few things more important to Rain in her short life than secrecy, alertness, and speed. She was not stronger than most, she was not at healthy as most, but with those three key factors helped to keep her alive and ahead in the dirty streets of an unnamed slum deep in the heart of Detroit.

Born to teen parents who didn't want her, it was a life of hardship from the start. She looked to her parents and was left wanting, before being abandoned at the age of six. She was a street urchin with a lack of trust and a thirst for better.

She scraped by, year after year, by honing these skills and not being afraid to be ruthless with the other filth left in the gutter, the gangs and the deranged.

Her life, however, was cut short by someone just a bit smarter and faster than she was, who happened to slip a knife between her ribs at the age of 16.

Given a second chance, she's going to do it right this time.

Transformations:
Fanged Lizard -- Lesserwurm

Inventory:

[User]
Together with the others Oberon helped move the supplies Ash and Torrent had gathered back to their hideout, the points he had put into Lesser Flight and Faster helping to speed things along somewhat. Even so, the multiple trips back and forth wore him out and by the time they were done the Sprite was beginning to regret his choice of starting creature; what he gained in magical ability came at the cost of having a body that was small and physically frail. In the future he may need to look into ways to increase his size or strength, or maybe he should take the time to finally learn the telekinesis ability the Wisp had shown him back in the cave.

Once they were settled in again Ash left almost immediately, asking them not to bother her unless it was important. Oberon was curious what the standoffish Pygmy Drake was working on, but asking her didn't seem like a wise idea at the moment; he'd ask her later, if he got the chance.

Instead he turned towards the others, Digbie and Torrent, eager to share with them the discoveries he had made while he had been alone in the camp. "While you were gone I think I found a way to make spells of each element in a fast and simple way. It looks like plain Mana has an easy time absorbing the qualities of whatever's around it, so if you hold a Mana Orb near to something like the stream and try to draw it into the Mana Orb, it'll change the Orb to that element. I've started work on spells for water and air and I've already made a spell out of light." He had no idea if this was something that the other two would be interested in, especially Torrent, but he was excited to have made a breakthrough that helped clarify his understanding of magic in this world and if it helped them to understand it as well then they should know.

It occurred to him that he didn't know much about the people he was currently with or what their lives were like before this world; he was fairly sure Digbie was younger than him, by a lot actually, but nothing more than that. Ash on the other hand felt a lot older and Torrent… well, it would take a while to unpack the implications of what she had said about not knowing how old she was, or how throwing herself at threats was all she knew how to do.

"I'm going to go back to what I was doing before; the more elements we can use the easier time we'll have during fights in the future. You're both welcome to join me." With that Oberon broke away from the pair, heading back towards the stream and kneeling down at its bank. Water had been easier to work with than air had been, so he would focus his efforts here first.

He created a Mana Orb in his hand and quickly submerged it in the flowing waters, closing his eyes and trying to feel rather than see what was happening. Repeating what he had done earlier he tried to draw the water into the Mana Orb, absorbing the element into the unaligned Mana and changing its elemental nature in the process.

Shared discovery of plain Mana absorbing elemental natures with Digbie and Torrent
Attempting to create "Aqua Sphere" by submerging "Mana Orb" in the stream

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran

[Assistant] Accident

[User]
A restful sleep. How long has it been since Orchid had one of these? She doesn't even remember how long she's been in this new world. Two weeks at least? Three maybe? So much has happened recently she couldn't even remember must of what happened yesterday. Just a few days ago she was struggling to find clothing for herself. Now she was the goblin chief, armed with a spiky club, dressed in hellcat furs. She wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing. But she knew she couldn't rest, couldn't let her guard down. Her life got screwed over because she decided to be passive and just let people do whatever they wanted with her. Now she was going to be the one giving orders, rather than taking it.

As she rested Orchid felt like she was floating through empty space. She wasn't sure if this was a dream or not. Surely, it had to be something magical since she was oddly lucid about it. Usually her dreams were just weird, uncontrollable and she'd have no way to influence it. But she was able to walk around this empty space like it was her own two feet. As she walked she saw what looked like a video game menu, a more visual version of what she usually gets. This was still so trippy for her; she recognized it as being a video game, yet at the same time this was her real life. She felt pain and hunger. She could see these stats. It was both bizarre but also just a part of her reality now. She'll just have to roll with it.

It was that class thing she ignored the first time it came up. At the time, she was just fresh off becoming the chieftain and needed to know what she'll want next before she made a decision. But now that she's been the chief and had more time to think about it, she knew what she wanted to do. Of the classes, she choose Voodooist. While being a better Crafter was tempting, Orchid knew she was hitting a ceiling when her Crafting became level 5. Sure, she could likely make some awesome stuff now, but she wasn't a scientist. She couldn't make an engine or even figure out the chemical compounds for guns, at least not a way to extract it from nature. She knew she needed sulfur, charcoal, and nitrate, but where was she supposed to get that? Even charcoal took a day or so to make, and that's if you have all the proper equipment.

No, Orchid needed to remember two things: first was that before she was a goblin she was just a young girl. She really didn't know much about the world and compared to others, she lacks experience. And second, this world has magic. Sure she didn't know anything about it, but remembering those Hex Cats, Crispy, and the others from the cave, Orchid knew raw strength alone wasn't going to be enough to win anymore. Those other goblins were stronger and more experienced and they still died. And it's not like the other monsters had guns or anything either; they likely used magic to take them down. And if Orchid wanted to survive she'll need magic.

After selecting the option she could feel the world shake despite floating. There was screaming too and Orchid groaned. "Those damn goblins." Rising into the air, the chief woke up. First thing she did was grab her spiked club, which she kept on hand, and readied for a fight. But then she just saw it was just Wej who was very much alive and pointing towards another goblin. A pudgy red skinned goblin with a stone sword. "...Clod?"

More of the goblins woke up, and it seemed two more had also evolved. They seemed bigger, if still goblinoid, and vaguely familiar. Orchid then realized it was Tiddies and Yoona, though she wasn't sure which was which now that they evolved. There was general confusion around the camp, but all Orchid did was head over to that bush that they used as a campfire. There was still some warm embers but the flame was definitely dead. Grabbing an armful of sticks and summoning a fire to her hand, she started another campfire.

"So, Yoona, Tiddies, and Clod grew up. Great." Orchid proceeded to use the rest of the badger meat they had for breakfast. First she'd grill the heavier chunks, saving the offal for when they had some more food to spice it up. "Wej, don't act so surprised. I evolved too, remember? That's what happens when you get stronger." Orchid turned to the others and cracked her neck. First things first, she needed to make sure that these three didn't get any smart ideas that just because they evolved, anything had changed in the chain of command. So she shot them a solid glare. "Good job. Keep working, eating, and training, and you'll get bigger and stronger. I'll make sure of that." Orchid wanted to put that new charisma to good use and try and get these guys on her side again.

"When I was still with Rattleskull, all I got was scraps. Barely got anything good but sticks and stones. But since I'm the boss now, I'm not going to be like that. Gunna make sure we all get good food and good stuff." Orchid took some of the bigger, fatter cuts of the badger kebabs and handed them to Yoona, Tiddies, and Clod. If she remembered correctly back in her human days, a good leader rewards good followers. And while she could say that to Clod, she didn't know what to think of Yoona and Tiddies. Not bad but… She didn't trust them. But if she could get them to trust her, then all the better. "Fact is, us goblins ain't that strong. Rattleskull should've remembered that. He was too used to being the biggest goblin and got killed cuz of it. So we gotta stick together. Work together. Fight, eat, and grow together. And we'll get stronger cuz of it."

Looking down at the collection of badger remains, Orchid had some good ideas. She definitely had enough materials to make a new bone sword, and enough hide to make decent shield covers. She wanted to make actual armor, but she'll need more hide to do that. Before she got to work she went to look at the others waking up as well. "Thanks to Wej we're all awake. Whatever. Just means that I'm gunna be busy, and so will the rest of you. Wake everyone up! Hunter's gunna go hunt, and Gatherers need to go gather more stuff for us. Tonight we're going to go steal stuff from that farm and then see about finding a new home for ourselves."

Health: Full
Stamina: Full
Magicka: Full

Inventory -
Hex Fur Shirt (Good) (Equipped)
Raw Dire Rat Hide (Equipped)
Loincloth (Equipped)
Sharp Stone Club (Well-Made) (Equipped)
Vine Bracer (Above Average) (Equipped)
Torch (Good) (Stored)
Rawhide Bag (1/12) (Equipped)
* Antidote Fern
* Bloody Garrote

Current Skills:

Demon Affinity (0.666)
Use Light Equipment (--)
Pacify Animal I (1.3)
Stronger II (2.025)
Crafting V (MAX)
Material Analysis II (2.1)
Monster Analysis I (1.3)
Smash I (1.6)
Charisma II (2.0)
Taboo (0.3) <REQUIRES RESTORATION>
Faster I (1.0)
Fireball I (1.3)
Hellish Fiend's Protection (Petty)
Warcry I (1.0)
Fire Resistance I (1.0)
Defender I (1.0)

<UNUSABLE>

Muffle (0.9)
Deception (0.7)
Charm (0.3)
Alert (0.6)
Stone Shot (0.4)
Throw Item (0.4)
Slash (0.8)
Pierce Resistance (0.7)
Blunt Resistance (0.3)
Slash Resistance (0.1)
Blood Drain (0.4)
Skewer (0.4)
Mental Resistance (0.4)
Mana Orb (0.2)
Focus (0.2)
Magic Analysis (0.2)
Overwork (0.4)
Intercept (0.3)
Rabid Fit (0.5)
First Aid (0.3)
Intimidate (0.7)
Counter (0.5)
Shield Slam (0.6)
Poison Resistance (0.1)
Dust Blow (0.1)
Magic Resistance (0.3)
Spell Chant (0.3)
Fire Fist (0.3)

[Assistant]
Torrent watched Ash walk off as she ate at on of the cooked parts of the blood plant, carefully watching the others while she thought back to what Ash had said. She had wanted to practice her exploding spell in the safe house if possible, but she knew it would disturb Ash.

When Oberon spoke, however, she tilted her head slightly at him while she listened. She didn't really understand what he was saying, exactly, but it definitely seemed interesting. When they moved to the stream she followed him, watching curiously before a thought struck her.

"That's like what I do when I explode. But it's this fire in me. And I guess it's kinda like fireball, too, like that. Is that what you're doing, but taking the feelings from the world around us?" she asked as she made some distance between them to practice her own skills. She couldn't explode here without maybe setting something on fire, but she could practice this odd combination breath. She made sure to be downstream from Oberon just to be safe.

The first thing she wanted to do was see how long she could hold it for, aiming at the water as she used Poison Breath and Fire Breath together yet again, and if she could create a stronger torrent by putting some force behind it.


[System]
Age: 30

Gender: Female

Background: Helena's parents were Confederacy of Babel supporters. Not only that, they even were quite high in the CB hierarchy. Their position of power came into jeopardy once their only daughter Helena was born. She was what they considered to be extremely rebellious as she constantly questioned the actions of the CB, not hesitating to do so even in public.

Not willing to let their daughter put an end to their careers, they had her kidnapped and moved to the space station belonging to the Babel United Forces at the age of 6.

Since she had to live most of her childhood in the slums of the station, it took wits and smarts to survive. And the ordeal allowed her to discover an inherent understanding of technology related subjects. Out of mere junk she managed to build herself a makeshift weapon for her own protection, which was essentially an electromagnetic crossbow. Her other issue was currency. She usually managed to hack into various accounts and secure enough money to barely survive. This was however always a risky proposition and indeed she was eventually caught. Fortunately the account she was hacking at the time belonged to an employee of a weapons development company. They recognized her talents and subsequently made her authority problems "go away", then hired her.

After the defeat of the CB and launch of the Apollo project, a lot of the scientists were assigned to the frigates of the project. Materials available on the space station imposed limitations on what could be made. The prospect of discovering new ones while in deep space was enticing. The Apollo project needed scientists and corporations like the one Helena was working for were happy to provide them.

Personality: Helena never tries to hide her feelings and opinions, always open about what's on her mind. To others she often seems blunt, maybe too much for her own good. The constant conflict she had with her parents left her with a rebellious and stubborn attitude. Due to spending most time on the streets only relying on her improvised tools rather than other people, it was natural she developed a fondness for all things technology related. So much that if faced with the chance of saving a piece of technology opposed to say a fellow crewmember from the clutches of oblivion, needless to say the correct choice wouldn't be an obvious one to her.

Equipment: Her day to day outfit serves as combat equipment, as her entire outfit is an intricate shield generator. The shield has a very poor recharge rate, however it will last a considerable period of time under fire.

Custom Built Hand Cannon: Her only weapon is the self-made gauss pistol. Using all her knowledge she perfected the design over the years to the point where it fires slugs at speeds similar to a high-powered anti-materiel rifle. The insane fire power comes at a cost however. Firing rounds at those extreme velocities puts extreme stress on the weapon, as it has to absorb the recoil without passing it on to the user. After 4-6 shots fired it requires considerable maintenance and repairs. More than 6 shots and the gun might rip itself apart, likely causing injury to the user as well.

Strengths:
Calm and collected under stressful situations – No matter the situation one will have a hard time catching Helena even flinching.

Manipulative – Sometimes, to survive, you need to use the people around you.

Resourceful – Could probably pass as MacGyvers younger sister.

Weaknesses:
Antisocial – Helena prefers keeping to her pet projects rather than interacting with the people around her.

Distrusting – If she couldn't even trust her own parents after what they had done, who could she trust?

Disregard for human life – Her personal hand cannon is a perfect example.

Speech Color: "My voice lights up the room in a bright, blinding green."

Other: She happens to have what could only be described as an addiction to pancakes.

[User]
Jack kept working through the turmoil and quakes of the ship. The left thruster was almost working again. Although working would be a loose term for the status of the thruster. The crew was working hard and doing well to keep things barely functional, but the impacts and resulting explosions were not helpful at all. Then he heard a confusing message from the captain.

"Everyone launch escape pods! I repeat! Board launch pods!" "All crew! Stay aboard. We're kicking them out."

Jack wasn't sure what was going on, but after pausing for a moment he realized what the captain might be trying to do. He noticed the rest of the crew was a little confused, so he fixed that real quick. "What are you all standing around for!? You heard him, get back to work. If this ship doesn't look brand new before the meat heads eject all of the escape pods we'll eject you as a diversion." Everyone began to scurry and work harder than ever before he could even finish his statement. They all knew he was to gentle to do anything near that nature, but his words expressed the direness of the situation.

A minute later the left thruster was back online. Propulsion was still at only about 1/3 of full capability, but Sera should still be able to outmaneuver them, she was a pretty great pilo... Jack had gone to a terminal to restore power to the thruster, where he also noticed a new problem. "HAAJAABRAGABRAG. SERA YOU BURNT OUT HALF THE RETRO THRUSTERS, AGAIN!!" Jack restored the thruster power and split up his crew, before running down the ship to the retro thrusters. This should be an easier fix, but hopefully none of them ran into the Espers.

[Assistant]
He is going to kill me. No doubt about it. I'm dead. Sera thought to herself as several new error messages popped up on her damage assessment terminal. All to do with retro-thrusters. Now she thought about it, maybe Reagen had told her to hold off on using them like that last time she tried it. But there was one bright side to this, she now had a thruster online. It wasn't a lot, and the RCS thrusters would probably be working overtime to fight the torque but, again it would do.

A blip sounded on the Radar, incoming vessels. Sera hovered over the acceleration for a moment, almost hesitant before going full thrust. She should be able to prevent any more boarding parties from sticking themselves to the ship while the thruster remained online.

Now she could only hope that Sukaina and her unit could keep the boarders at bay - especially with the captains strategy. If there were any disasters on the ship no one would be able to eject. Just trust them. Keep flying and do what you do best. They'll give the men hell, you give their ship hell.

[User]
Sukaina watched as her commander suited up for battle. "Espers? Why them? Do they represent their government or are they a separate faction?" She asked before hearing his orders to stay behind and defend the armory. "Aye aye!" She nodded, stacking up at a door and allowing him through. Once he got outside, she looked around, seeing an injured crew member. She ran outside, and dragged him inside. "C'mon buddy, I gotcha!" She said, dragging him with her left arm and covering him with her handgun. She fired off a few shots of suppressive fire, dragging him inside the armory, locking it down after he was safely inside.

"There's a first aid kit over there." She said, pointing to the first aid kit on the wall. Once she heard the orders to jettison the escape pods, she gulped. "Well shit... that assface better hope they don't take over the ship..." Sukaina sighed to herself, making sure that the crew member's alright.

[Assistant] Nathan fought with his crew, obviously dominating the foreigners. He pushed the last few to the hole in the ship, managing to get some to jump out and others to die by his hands. After their victory, they still had the enemy ship to deal with. He jogged to Sera and unlocked the door to get in. "Can you shake them? Weapons might be down!" Nathan stated with an urge to hurry in his voice. He didn't want to lose the ship and he definitely didn't want to die with it. The last of the pods were launched and the Esper ship couldn't decide what to chase. The Espers slowly drifted more towards following the pods, Nathan watching as their ship turned.

[User]
Jack reached one of retro-thrusters unscathed. It seemed the security team had done a good job pushing them back or down. Fortunately overheated retro-thrusters were a pretty easy fix. A quick release of a safety valve, should open them back up to the void and cool them. With the valve reset they should be working again. They would definitely need new primary coolers and some of the rings would be partially melted, but nothing that prevents them from creating superheated propulsion. Sera's maneuverability should be increasing as his team restarted the thrusters.

Another problem that existed was the lack of guns. It seemed most of the primary weapon systems were down. There were two anti-missle gatling guns still oprational, but they would need to be re-programmed if they were to be used as weapons. They might not be that effective as weapons either. The lack of thrusters was a serious enough problem as well. Fixing the next two was going to be a serious problem, but that was probably next in priority. He sent a few men to work of the primary weapon system while he returned to begin work on the primary thrusters.

[Assistant]
"Shake them? Maybe, with what I've got now, definitely if engineering gets me another thruster running,"  Sera said poking around on a console. Hoping for an Asteroid field, no dice. At least none close enough for her current predicament. She looked over the systems analysis again, Retro's were completely out - manual cooling by opening them to the void? Just another bit of genius from Reagen. Ah, maybe they taught him all that in Engineer School, but it was genius to a pilot like her. She knew how to use the systems in the optimal ways, he kept the machine purring at her finger tips.

The enemy ship was definitely going for the pods from what she could see, if there was a time to act now was it. "Ok, I'm going for it Cap," she said as she fed the boat thrust - away from the enemy ship. So long as the stayed away they'd be fine even with only one thruster.

[User] After the boarders were killed or fended off, Sukaina locked up the armory and went out to go help the wounded, bringing them to the infirmary and making sure that most of the crew was alright.

[Assistant] The crew cheered as the Espers disappeared from view, their ship tricked into chasing the escape pods. Nathan took a look at the damaged ship. Taking a deep breath, he sat next to Sera. "Sera, fly to the nearest safe planet. We need repairs." Nathan ordered, taking his rifle and setting it down.

[User]
Sera didn't acknowledge the captain's orders. She was well and truly done. She knocked in some coordinates, pointed them in the right direction and made use of the steering to point them in the right direction. "Done, we'll be there in two hours, I'll be back in one and a half. I need a god damn walk," she said swinging her chair to leave the cockpit, LADAR was working still and she was shooting it in front of them so that even if there was any asteroids there would be some form of warning. Knowing this ship it'd be an automated message calling her back to the bridge.

Sera didn't have a particular destination in mind, but she was happy enough to stretch her legs.

[Assistant]
As the fighting had obviously slowed and the crew began to cheer with the disappearance of the Espers, Jack figured now would be a good time to take a break. He was supposed to be off anyways, but then this happened. He dismissed the team of engineers that were supposed to be off at the time and left the others to continue slowly working on what could be done to keep the ship working as best it would.

It had been several hours since he ate, so the cafeteria was definitely his next stop. The cooks rolled their eyes as he entered the cafeteria. They all knew his ability to clear the line and today he was looking to build up a very nice food coma. He was looking forward to getting a few hours of sleep after eating.

[User]
"This is ridiculous." A muffled voice said. Then more banging resonated through the hallways of the ship. "Anyone?!" Helena yelled hoping anyone would hear her. She figured by now that the ship was attacked. Everything had been silent for a while now, which meant either that the crew fought the invaders off, or they had taken over the ship. Her lab was in a rather secluded area of the ship, for the most part due the experiments that might be performed in there. A source of high-energy radiation or magnetic field generators were not something one would want near the crew quarters. For Helena, the thought of getting irradiated or having her Personal Data-pad rendered useless were equally terrifying. 'Always keep personal belongings away from your experiments' was Helena's most important rule of thumb.

She smacked the bottom of her gun a few more times on the door and then pointed at it. Trying to multitask the best she could, she reached her hand into the open door console. "There has to be at least one damn circuit that isn't fired." She told herself with a sigh.

Two more bangs against the door. By this point she was considering just shooting the door open.

[Assistant] Some crew members ran to the door, struggling to open it. The door's release system was fried and it was near impossible to open manually. Nathan was alerted of this and ran to the door. He quickly typed password after password into the system's computer, unable to get through. "Damn it!" Nathan yelled, eventually shooting the door until it swung open. The ship was in bad shape now. Nathan looked at Helena, smirking a bit. "You missed the party."

[User]
Helena's hand was buried elbow-deep into the wall panel, still trying to open the door. Crew members finally heard the ruckus she was causing and rushed to open the door. It started creaking which snapped Helena out of her concentrated work on the door panel. She aimed her gun at the door expecting enemies to rush in at any moment. As more of the crew members joined in the effort to open the door Helena began making out some of the voices behind the door. Enough to realize it was her side that won the scuffle beforehand.

The creaking suddenly stopped and Helena heard gunfire. After a few shots the door slid open and the commander stood before her. The research lab was barely lit. Only the emergency lights and the hallway lights illuminated it.

"Figured as much. Glad we won." She replied to the commander. "It seems we had the same idea about opening the door." She glanced at the now hole-riddled door and joked, while still keeping a straight face.

"I was in the middle of testing a new railgun upgrade, which we could apply to our ship, when got fired upon. Drawing such ridiculous amounts of power from the reactor while under fire isn't such great idea. The power fluctuations overloaded my prototype. Essentially fried my entire lab. Wish I had some forewarning of the impending attack." She explained rather annoyed that all of this could have been avoided, all the while she began walking next Nathan going wherever he was going.

"Any idea where Jack might be? I need new wiring for the lab and hopefully he'll let me borrow a few engineers too. By the way, what the hell attacked us?"


[System]
Age:

22

Appearance:

 Subject stands 160 cm (5'2") in height. Subject also has light hazel eyes with short hair to match.

Abilities:

 Subject possesses an unobserved form of  Affinity with Pain*  (*Suffering?): Record has the Subject breaking a door off its hinges when it was accidentally closed on and injured her fingers. While it was evident there was damage – multiple broken phalanxes and torn skin – the injury seemed to have never happened, suggesting a Regenerative Healing Factor. The strength which she gained to break the door was hypothesized to come from her injury.

 The extent to which the two abilities are able to reach is unknown. Further insight is needed.

History:

 Subject is of Gaelic origin, raised in The United Kingdom. Parents show no obvious signs of empowerment, and have therefore the hypothesis that the Subject's abilities are of a spontaneous mutation is further supported. Parents are a non-factor.

 Subject is a student of Department of Law in the  London School of Economics and Political Science  – top of her class, with multiple intern experiences with many important figures. Many people know her.

 Her current residence is in the central London area, alone, supported with her position of Paralegal in Yip Tse & Chiang, a Chinese-based law firm.

[User]
Date and Time: 11/03/2016 – 6:00 p.m.

Dr Jiang-Ping left the warehouse, nodding in affirmation to the assembled team outside. She rubbed on her aching shoulder that dislodged when she collapsed to the ground earlier. She'd feared that some of her nerves were trapped when they lodged the joint back in, which is why the recovery would be slow.

She made her way to see Big Boss to see what she should do. For all intents and purposes, research should and ought to continue but with so many resources dedicated to securing the two Subjects and finding Agent Caits, everything just became very clumsy and difficult.

Right at the strike of six, all exits would be sealed completely by steel gates, essentially making the UNARM facility impregnable and inescapable. Any attempt to scale the giant crater wall to the outside would be spotted and thwarted simply by the sheer size of the obstacle the Agent would have to overcome.

When the doctor finally got to talk to Big Boss after a seemingly endless crowd being assigned their duties, he commanded Dr Jiang-Ping:

'Keep an eye on both our Subjects. Maintain regular contact with the team monitoring 30….

and monitor the anaesthetic levels for 29.'

'Sir, the paralytic liquid is designed to subdue even the strongest-willed. The amount we're using could subdue two raging rhinoceros. Plus, the liquid is non-harmful, there is no way she could get hurt.'

'How well do we really understand her abilities? Her written suggested that she has a weak will. She would not be able to handle the pressure and stress of being a lawyer of a prestigious law firm.

No. I believe her abilities extend far from just pain empowerment. I believe there is something more.'

Shaking her head in disapproval, and preparing to submit her rebuttal, she was interrupted with a message from her tablet:

'Doctor. We need you quick. Subject 29 just moved.'

---

In her deep sleep, she could still dream. She could not move nor breathe, but she retained a slight consciousness that forbade her from thinking or being recognizant but she could dream.

Her dreams were of the same creature – no, were of her true, inner, evil self.

Just with that, as she panicked and suffered, she could feel herself move just the slightest. The briefest moments of consciousness made her realize she was submerged in a tank of liquid being watched, but she would then go back to her slumber.

More complications like this were to come the longer she stayed in this state.

---

A small unit of eight soldiers, the tallest and oldest their squad leader, jogged their way to the middle of the big lane that covered multiple tunnels. Off to his peripheral vision, the leader spotted a soldier walking towards them. The leader approached him and barked orders:

'Hey, son! Where's your assignment?'

[Assistant]
time: 1815

Caits looked up as someone called out to her, shifting her load, she gave a slight nod to the solider, this would be her first test. If her disguise didn't pass...well, one way or another she was getting free.

"I don't really have an assigned post, sir! The boss sent me to collect some weapons, and distribute the to the teams on the exits!!"

She was more the aware of the lockdown in place, of the heightened awareness of the guards.

"If you do not mind, sir, I'm meant to check in with the exit teams, and make sure everything is secur."

It took a little effort to cha ge ner voice slightly, making it a little deaper, and Caits maintained respectful eye contact, and tried to portray that she was alert. She gave a smile, and waited to see what would happen.

---

Cody laid back once more, closing his eyes again. His colour was still almost transparent, qnd his pulse still seemed faint and slow. His ears rang a bit, but already his nearing was returning to normal. Welll, normal for him. The song came unbidden, thr words forming without conscious thought. It was rough, and created on the spot, but once more it was hauntingly beautiful, a song of grieving, a song of hope.

Each note seemed stronger then tne last, and with each sentence, the lights around began to flicker in response, as Cody raised his hands, small beads of lights dancing over his fingers, before rising and swirling, twisting, almost making shapes, figures that seemed to be dancing out a play.

As the otes faded, codys colour seemed to return, his pulse beat a little faster, and he sat up, stronger already. Rising, he began to explore the room, truly blind, he used his hands, used the feel or the wind around him as he moved, pressing his hands against the walls. Where did they have Gerswhin? Where was agent Caits? Her footsteps nad long since faded, but Cody was sure the rogue agent was still free.

He knew he would have to plan carefully, and for now ne wasn't in any state to do anything. Without sunlight, or even man made light, Cody's recovery would take longer, but it would still be swift. Returning to what passed for a bed, ne sat down once more.

[User]
'You don't "really" have an assigned post? Son, I thought we beat that liveliness out of newbies like you on Day One,' the captain barked.

One of the soldiers jeered at disguised-Agent Caits and teased at her: 'Wipe that faggot smile of your face, man. Shit's embarrassing.'

The other soldiers laughed with him when the captain cried: 'Shut up!'

'You,' he pointed at disguised-Agent Caits, 'Look, we don't have time for this. We're headed to the exit teams as well. Communication's all gone to hell and back, but we're doing the same thing. Come with us.'

The soldier that jeered earlier, though ready to set off to their destination, gestured a curious look at disguised-Agent Caits, and asked:

'Say, cap – why don't you ask him who's his captain?'

The captain turned and looked at the soldier, then to Caits: 'Well, who is it?'

[Assistant]
For the briefest of seconds, Caits thought she might just get out of there without a fuss. Even if she had to go with them, she was sure she'd be able to slip away. And then they asked about her captain. She shifted slightly, shifting a gun just so, and looked over them.

"I'm not a newbie. I've probably been around a lot longer then you boys. My captain? I don't have one, unless you count the boss himself. I'm an agent, not some pansy solider. I'm training to capture. I sure as hell have a Better chance at catching the rogue agent then you lot of sorry excuses for soldiers. You may know how to use a weapon, but that does not mean you have the right to be disrespecting, to someone just doing their job. You have a problem with me, you can take it up with the boss. Now I have a job to do, and I've wasted enough time"

She didn't give them time to speak, but rather she turned slightly, her training, which she should thank the boss for, had her ready for the unexpected. She doubted the soldiers were prepared for anything and everything.

"Unless you'd care to tell the boss why I can't do my job?" She looked back, and raised and eyebrow. It was easy to project confidence, authority and just plain annoyance. A careful balance, that would hopefully deter them from asking anymore questions or from looking too closely. If they did...well she wasn't afraid to put them out of the way.

[User]
Inside a large office whose walls held large monitors with different feeds of camera footage all over the UNARM facility, men and women worked relentless, eyeing different areas of interest, altercations, changes to environment, and attitude-shifts within their personnel. It seemed that no matter how hard they worked, under pay-check or under fear from Big Boss, it would prove impossible to a highly-skilled Agent.

The office had two floors, the upper deck sloped slightly that gave the room the look of an arena that angled towards the oval centre, and the massive, main viewing screen. Orders, confirmations, and reconfirmations, along with the cacophonous sounds of keyboard-clicking, coffee-slurping, grunts, and even snoring from the one trying to sneak a few minutes' sleep, sounded throughout the busy place.

One man who looked in his late 60's but was in his early 30's slaved away looking at camera footage of areas he didn't even know existed, relying solely on a reference guide next to him, referring to obscure sector, area, tunnel, and door codes. This surveillance office was by far the most populated, but it still took a stressful toll on the people in it.

'I think I got something!' the man reported to the large assembly, almost wheezing in joyful relief. 'Uploading footage to the main screen.'

The main screen showed a group of soldiers confronting a lone soldier. The lone soldier walked away before the group could reply and went on their way.

The person in charge of the surveillance office barked orders: 'Contact Captain Shwartz, ask if he recognizes that man. Everyone else, start looking at footage in a 5-block circumference from this point of origin. This could be our target.'

'Captain Shwartz says he has never seen that man, though he's not sure with the new recruits – he said the man claimed to be an Agent.'

Another woman cried out: 'Ran facial recognition with our personnel database – this person does not exist.'

The PIC barked: 'That's our rogue agent!'

The room immediately went into a frenzy, delivering orders to nearby dispatched units near the area. The noise was unbearable but one sentence stood out:

'…. shoot on sight. I repeat: shoot on sight.'

[Assistant]
What could Caits say? She hadn't expected her disguise to last this long, and was surprised it had, but it seemed to have come apart at last as she heard the captain say he had never seen her before. She didn't wait for the shooting to start, instead she turned back, gun already in hand.

She didn't hesitate.

She didn't think.

It was her or them.

And she couldn't do anything dead

She just pulled the trigger.

The splay of its fire was all she could hear, as she chose her targets carefully, not seeking to kill but rather injure so they couldn't do anything, and give her some time to get away.

'I'm sorry. Please forgive me'

When it was done, she would gather the weapons, and wouldn't look back. She RA across the grounds, unaware that tears trailed down her cheeks, leaving a clean trail through the dirt on her face.

The light grenade was in her hand, and she threw it, hoping to give herself more time to escape, and blind the cameras for a moment. She found her tunnel once more, and knowing it was compromised she wouldn't linger long.

She rubbed at her eyes furiously as her vision blurred with tears, wiping as much dirt as she could off her face, she knew she would have to be even more careful now. Checking what weapons she had, she took three guns, slinging one over each shoulder, and holding the third, she shoved the little light grenades in her pockets, the knife, took a precious moment to let out a few slow breaths, before climbing out. She would need to find a hiding place, but where?

She didn't know.

[User]
Ground troops moved towards the general location of sounded gunfire. Some howled and screamed as they accumulated to the last known area the rogue Agent was.

However, not everyone could be afforded to be sent out to chase her. Personnel are still stationed in high-priority and secret areas, especially those near current points-of-interest. Though some are itching to fight, agitated by orders, they are still vigilant.

These particular areas are under the watchful eye of security cameras, albeit in awkward angles, and are not as plentiful. As such, camera drones hover high in the air monitoring blind spots. Though labelled as 'stealth drones for ultimate silent infiltration and reconnaissance, you can still hear the faint whir of their spinning blades.


[System]
Identification/Serial Number: ET-4920
Rank: Corporal
Role: Marksman, also the veteran presence amongst the squad.
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Nickname: Smiles

Psychological Analysis: Jaya is distant in her demeanor, she is normally very quiet, though won't hesitate to lash out at someone if they are doing something wrong, especially the new recruits. Years of war have affected her emotionally and mentally, she tends not to create any connections with those that are in her squad as they more often than not end up dead, especially the new ones. Her demeanor towards them is already pessimistic, they'll more than likely end up in body bags, no reason to create more grief for herself.

She is what the Empire looks for in their soldiers, loyal to the cause and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. When in mission she puts it above everything else and lets nothing stand in the way from accomplishing a task. Jaya also has a high regard for the chain of command, she'll listen tirelessly to those that rank above her and will follow their orders to a precise point. Respect however, is something else for her, she values courage, but not to a suicidal degree. Intelligence is what she respects the most, a smart soldier is worth one hundred stupid ones.

Military Record:
Jaya was born on the core world of Corulag to two wealthy parents. Her childhood was nothing out of the ordinary, schooling, classes, the best that her family could afford for her. She never was that interested in academics, but her father was a wealthy banker and he pushed for her to be more of the same, or even a politician. She was always a feisty girl, one that never took nonsense from anyone else. It was a foregone conclusion that she would end up in combat somewhere, it just happened to be the Empire when they rose.

Her planet was fiercely loyal to the Emperor, and as such she was the same. She had heard amazing tales of Imperial Soldiers, how they fought fearlessly for justice throughout the galaxy. When the Empire began to openly accept enlisted soldiers she joined up right away. Neither of her parents exactly wanted her to end up as a soldier, but she was of age and they were happy she decided to fight for the Empire.

One of the few woman in her recruitment class, in part due to the entry required training the same as the male's. She still managed to power through enough to be accepted for training as an eventual Stormtrooper. From the moment she was handed a rifle she showed skill with it. She also exhibited talents outside of combat, a knack for survival and stealth. Once she was able to she began down the path to become a Scout trooper.

She saw combat right out of training, she also avoided death at the hands of a thermal detonator which she noticed a few moments before it went off, killing some of her fellow soldiers. After a couple of battles she was reassigned to the 121st right after enlisted stormtroopers were allowed into it. She's been with it ever since then, and has seen a high amount of combat. Deaths of her fellow soldiers and the brutalities of war have hit her hard, but she continues to fight.

Equipment:
Stormtrooper Armor (Of the scout trooper variety)
E-11s Sniper Rifle
SE-14r Sidearm
Thermal Detonators
R-4 Recon droid (Essential for scouting)

[User]
Jaya was one of the last of her squad off the shuttle, her sniper was on her back, though with one quick move of her hand she could have had it unholstered in a moment's notice. That wouldn't be her first choice in an ambush in close quarters though, she was a sure shot with her sidearm and it was much less awkward to use at a short distance than her long rifle. Her paranoia over an ambush increased as she took in the sight of the planet they had set foot upon. As she walked she spoke into her communication's device, slowly so that the others in her squad could understand each word.

"The hidey holes won't be what do us in if we're stupid. Improvised explosives are always a possibility in these places. It doesn't take a ton of finesse or credits to create a homemade bomb. Desperate people don't give a damn about hurting innocents if it means their enemies get hurt the worst." She said as her eyes scanned the civilians around them. Even children could be used in hand with crudely made explosives, one just would need to get a foolish Stormtrooper's attention, get them in one direction then the bomb would go off.

The female Stormtrooper took a step away from the others as she moved up a set of stairs and followed the group as she walked across the rooftops. She needed a vantage point, somewhere up high that gave her the perfect view of their surroundings. A rifle up high was worth ten grunts down low as long as the rifle was certain with their aim, which she most definitely was. She kept moving slowly, a duo of Twi'Lek's on a roof she stepped onto, at the turn of her head towards them they muttered something in their alien language and disappeared down a staircase, more annoyed than nervous at a big bad Stormie walking near them.

[Assistant]
Myrinda stepped along in the center of the rough echelon. She didn't like urban environments, most troopers didn't, invariably armies worked best where there were open fields of fire. In a dense environment like this, sight lines were non existent and some crazy local with a crappy carbine could blow away a whole squad of storm troopers with a lucky burst.

Comm signals spilled across her optics, intensity and origin. In theory it would let her pick up a sudden uptake in comm traffic that might precede an ambush or a rapid response. In practice, it was unlikely that the locals would be that sophisticated. To her surprise there was a spike. She played back the burst, making sure it wasn't an Imperial signal.

"Command," she spoke into her comm, queuing a private channel between her, Blues and Nines.

"Some nonstandard comm chatter Sarge," she reported neutrally. It didn't necessarily mean something. Maybe a bunch of people had just heard about a speeder crash or something, but that determination was above her pay grade. She drew her attention away from the data and paid full attention to her surroundings, just in case it was about to drop in the pot.

[User]
"Just keep your eyes peeled, head on a swivel." Blues said, cutting through the chatter. The squad walked slowly down the street, half on one side of the street, the other half on the opposite side. Walking down the center of the street was a good way of painting a target on your back. Blues led the column on the right side of the street, while Triple Nines led the column on the left side. Urban environments were arguably the most dangerous- requiring twitch reflexes and good close quarters skills to survive. At the same time, the twitch reflexes were a double edged sword, as accidentally shooting a native was a good way to turn the entire town on you.

Pips' voice crackled across the comm. "Some nonstandard comm chatter Sarge," she reported. Blues took a look at his map and shrugged.

"No helping that, we're crossing into a bazaar now." Blues replied, "Keep an eye on it regardless."

The squad paused momentarily outside the bazaar, the noise from the busy hub washing over their speakers. They'd have to stick to comm communication while they were in there. They wouldn't be able to hear each other using external speakers. This particular bazaar was a dangerous place, a well known black market hub, it was doubtful they'd take kindly to a squad of troopers marching through, but at the same time, there was nothing too suspicious about a group of imperial soldiers walking through the slums.

"Smiles," Blues called through the comms. "We're about to enter a potential wasps nest, relocate and set up as needed. Maintain contact at all times. Sending Kent to you to provide security." Blues nodded to a trooper. Kent shouldered his T-21 repeating blaster and quickly hoofed it towards Smiles. His repeating blaster would provide excellent security for Smiles, as well as allow Smiles to direct suppressing fire to support the squad's actions.

The squad stepped into the bazaar, and was immediately greeted by the cacophonous noise of dozens of twi'lek vendors yelling and harking their wares at one another. Though as they passed by, vendors and customers would fall silent and stare them down. Blues kept a tight grip on his blaster, thumbing the safety off. "Keep your eyes open men, we have to cut through the bazaar before we get to Sarr'Khan's hideout."

There was a rustle to the side of them, Winoda could see a figure dipping into the shadow of nearby tent, its arms reaching into cloak. Pips could notice a sudden hush in comm traffic, suddenly subdued and quiet. Smiles noticed a pair of figures following the squad at a considerable distance, cloaked, but with no weapons visible.

[Assistant]
Triple Nine entered the market, his helmet automatically cutting out all the unnecessary chatter. His right hands glove creaked as he tightened his grip around his rifle, flexing slightly. Ensuring that in the moment that something happened he'd be ready. As per procedure as Blue took his fire team up one alley he used his left robotic hand to signal to the left, taking Farm Boy, Norman and Campo with him down the other line of stalls. They were behind the stalls and he was mentally taking an inventory of every piece of illegal spice that was being hastily covered up. The Imperial Troopers would have a field day clearing this place out, the officers would practically salivate over having something to do and all the forms to fill out! Oh they'd have fun.

Then everything went, metaphorically quiet. Most people in the bazaar had went quiet and watched them as they passed however now it went deathly silent. Comms dropping off and more and more people looking at them.How nice. He keyed the comms to his fireteam. "Norman, take the rear. These tailheads are getting antsy. Campo and Farms you two take centre formation. Hold your fire until the first shot is fired. Safeties off gentlemen. This could get rough." He then flicked his helmet over to the command channel.

"I'm switching up the formation a bit Blues, putting the Rookies in the centre. Things are getting tense, hud indicates a large open roofed area ahead where multiple floors get a look down on a central plaza. If there going to hit us that will be there, recommend one of our teams goes up the stairwell five metres from our current position to flank any ambushers. Pips can cover our six from any re-enforcements."

[User]
Hmm, still not as bad as Felucia. What were they even protecting at this point. These people were getting rather frisky with them and as far as he could tell that was what they usually did. This place was nothing more than hot dirt and slightly taller mounds of hot dirt. These people hated them and he didn't like them much either. He began to wonder how many credits worth of contraband they would pick up if they sent a proper raid through this bazaar. He smiled at the idea of a full platoon marching through the streets and picking up all the weapons left over from the clone wars and seeing how much of a fight they would be able to put up after that.

All of the tail-heads moving indoors and giving them fearful or even hateful looks was not doing to much to sate his want to wholesale slaughter these pitiful animals. One young twi'lek girl began obviously stowing something behind a counter and rummaging around looking for something. Even the kids were willing to break themselves on the might of the empire, funny. When the clone informed them of a "tail" on them Norman burst out laughing. Apon sarge ordering him to take the rear Stormin turned on his heels and looked straight back at the two cloaked figures and walking backwards at a slightly slower pace so as to eventually end up at the back of the group. He gripped his weapon tighter and put the weapon sideways against his shoulder with his free hand holding the base of the barrel loosely. As he slowly made his way to the back he made sure that the two figures knew he was watching them. "Not even gonna a give me a rookie meat shield ey sarge?" Norman followed up an off comm snicker.

Now at the back of the group he quickened his backward pace to match the group. He then without stopping turned back on his heels forwards and moved towards the left edge of the group so just incase they started taking fire from the rear he could jump into the cover of a stall. That was assuming they missed their opening rounds anyways. "You wouldn't let me get shot now would you Smiles? That would put a real damper on our relationship I think."

[Assistant]
Smiles had drawn her sniper rifle as she moved into the perfect spot where she had an overlook of the bazaar. Smiles, she didn't really care for the nickname, not in a negative manner, but it didn't matter to her what they called her. As long as they respected her, especially the ones ranked below her. She ran a gloved hand along her rifle as Kent met her up on the roof and tucked in behind her, his weapon out. She didn't say a word to the man, all he needed to do was to prevent her from getting shot up or surprised by the enemy from behind. Even the greenest solder could do that.

"I have eyes all over, scope is on the two cloaked strangers, they could just be scouting our squad for another ambush group, but I have eyes on them." Smiles replied, she had a bad feeling about it, but the last thing she needed was to get trigger happy and gun down a suspicious civilian who turns out just to be a civilian. She didn't like taking innocent lives unless the mission called for it. The sniper had gone into a prone position, eyes in the scope of her rifle, finger near the trigger, safety off.

"That'd let us know they're trying to kill us, wouldn't it? Your armor should protect you." Jaya asked, a smile almost creeping onto her face as she made the comment to Normin. One perk being up in her position was that she was out of the way if hell broke loose and the bazaar turned into a battlefield. In that situation she'd be able to wreak havoc from above, which was right where she enjoyed to wreak havoc.


[System]
"I'm no agent of justice, but I don't want this chaos to continue any longer. If I can see people smile at the end of it, then that settles for it."
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Class: Magigunner
Magic Type: High
Element: Light
Personality: Noel is a calm individual with a positive attitude. He's not a desperate individual and is smiling most of the times. Even in dire situations, he tends to look at all sorts of routes to resolve the problem, whether those routes are possible or impossible. Noel is also very caring about others, as he likes to seek resolutions to others' dillemas as well.

Although being a noble, Noel is far from being condescending. Differently from his family, he doesn't deposit beliefs in the name he holds neither chooses based on the consequences to the Fragarach, but only upon his own existence. This part of his personality made Noel grow somewhat distant to his family, especially his father, who grows around the family name and cares more for it than rather caring for the other things he has around him.

Because of how Noel is a rather important person, he's often treated with a certain difference, as possessing certain privileges over the rest. However, he hates to be treated differently and refuses such advantages in order to preserve equality between him and the others.

But that doesn't work to his favor most of his times, leading to a rather prejudicial fame for Noel, especially around the most poor, who thinks he's being a "show-off" by being kind. As such, under his calm demeanor, he hides a sort of distrust in people, considering them to be two-faced.
Important items:
* Platinum Pendant: a star-shaped pendant Noel uses every time. Inside, there lies a small photo of him, his mother Carmilla and his eldest brother Libero.
* Noel's Diary: a diary/journal Noel keeps with him. He writes about his day before sleeping.
* Winged Hairband: a hairband made of silver that has wings on each side. Noel uses it whenever he's going out.
* Nina: a small bird that follows Noel everywhere he goes. The two are really close and he's fond of the small bird.

Short Bio: The Fragarach is a family of mages known to be nobles relatively close to the Emperor Karl Maximillian himself, winning many benefits over many other families at the price of aiding the Emperor directly with the ensurement that the Iron Decree is fully executed and not disobeyed. Led by Grandalt Fragarach, the family is known to be rather hated by the population, due to their direct connection and alliance to the Reich.

However, for every rotten tree, there is a blooming flower to enchant it. That ended up being the case with Noel Fragarach, the youngest of the family's three sons. Different from the rest of his family, Noel abhors slavery and tends to be really helpful with the most poor, which in a sense goes against the upheld morals of the Fragarach family.

Hatred is mostly concentrated towards Grandalt and the middle son, William. Even so, Noel can't escape the reputation his family has been upholding and felt the treatment they feel and ignore. However, he's unable to ignore that. He also experienced people using his kindness as a way of getting free of the Iron Decree. Being treated as an item is the worst for Noel.

And that's exactly what his father plans to do.

One day, Grandalt receives a letter from the Reich himself. The task imposed to him is for him to send one of his sons to the Emperor, as he chose some families to undergo training and become new members of the Empire's new Iron Decree Expansion Force, which will function as a way to make sure the rule is followed by all of the remaining countries that refuse to adopt slavery as an economical method. His plan is to send Noel in order to make the boy get used to the system like William.

"Noel… I can't let this happen to you." And so thought Libero, the eldest son. He and Carmilla, mother of the sons, wouldn't let Noel's pure heart be corrupted...

Starting Faction: None

Weapons:

Name: Divine Feather
Type: Grimoire
Description: Noel's exclusive weapon. Catalyst of Noel's light magic usage, this grimoire shines with a radiance unblockable by any shadow.

Name: Blessed Blade
Type: Sword
Description: A weapon that once belonged to Carmilla Fragarach and inherited by Noel at her decision. A rapier infused with High magic, able to function as a staff/wand to execute spells.

Spell List:
* Morning Glimmer: shoots tracking light orbs from his sword. Can shoot up to five orbs.
* Bright Bolt: shoots a powerful thunderbolt from his sword. Can shoot only one.
* Tracker Shard: places crystal shards in mid-air with his sword. After a turn passes, the crystals will attack one enemy. Can place up to five crystals.
* Holy Spiral: envelops self in light magic and attacks the enemy with a spiral slash forward.
* Angelic Riposte: creates a shield in front of himself. Once attacked, counters with quick shooting and a charged magic slash.
* Light Crest: creates a magic device that shoots five small light beams at an enemy. The device can be destroyed by magic.

Music Themes:
Main Theme: Conquest (Ablaze) -Arrange-
Battle Theme: Savior of Souls

[User]
Jehenne Alcroft

---

Jehenne flinched as the young woman Louise was onto her back by a wicked punch. After a moment the Hammerwhirls' eyes fluttered shut and she went limp, mumbling something about her father. She would be out for a while. For a moment, Jehenne's face was flat as she considered her next words carefully. The Church of Existence. Well, this certainly made things more complicated. Worst case scenario, she would be recaptured and would simply start at ground zero once more. Claiming she was kidnapped by the slave-freeing lunatics would be an easy to make claim. So, Jehenne put on a relieved smile as she palmed her sealing stone in her hands.

"My, my. The Church of Existence. You people really are mad, you know that?" She said, cocking her head to the side and smiling. The smile died on her lips when she saw Tam. It had certainly been a while. It was inappropriate for him of all people to see her like this. Speaking solemnly she quickly put on some robes.

"No, you won't be seeing him again. Rodrick is dead, Tamlorn Winter-Rose." There was an unusual coldness in her voice that Tamlorn wouldn't recognize as normal Jehenne felt gratitude, relief, embarassment, and perhaps even resentment. Many feelings to strangle out of her heart.

"We have to get moving, don't we?" Jehenne followed the idealogues down their winding dark alley ways and eventually came to a gondola, and a man named Inquisitor Malamocco. Jehenne placed one hand over her waist and raised her other hand just over her shoulder, and bowed, as was the customary show of respect of her people.

"And greetings to you, Inquisitor. I thank you for the speedy rescue." She'd ask what he had in mind for her and the boy- or young man, rather- Rote. Probably something. She doubted they tried to rescue every miserable captive that was brought through that market. She carefully stepped into the gondola, adjusting her robe to make sure nothing unsightly was revealed, and crossed one leg over the other. It was a refined an elegant pose for the poor circumstances. As the Black Cathedral came into view, the last Alcroft raised an eyebrow. It certainly didn't look like a place of sanctuary...but it would have to do. Anything was better than with that rambling pyromancer, or where she intended to take her.

"It seems we've stumbled into something quite extraordinary." She said, looking over at Rote. They had shared a common experience. He was the person she knew best other than, well, Tamlorn. But she wasn't sure she wanted to talk to him right now. Jehenne had vowed to forget the past and focus on the future, and here was this walking reminder of a time that was lost to her. So instead she focused on Rote.

[Assistant]
Mergoux glared down at the girl, then turned on the Mercs. "Leave her be." she said.

And with that, the Warrior walked away, vanishing into the crowds, ne'er to be seen again.

[User]
Tamlorn Winter-Rose

---

Jehenne's eyes caught Tam, like a memory. Up close, it seemed she hadn't changed. Her hair, those eyes, the sculpt of her shoulder...

Then she spoke, and ice had touched inside his chest. The spell broke. The breath he had not realised he'd been holding escaped. He blinked. Then his eyes flitted away, to the floating staff, the ground, his feet, anything else. Remorse stabbed its thin fingers into his heart and began tugging it downwards. Reluctantly, his face rose again to meet hers. There she stood swaddled in a motley of emotions and simple clothes, all beneath the dread-coloured patina that was fear.

He dredged words from murk of his mind, "I'm sorry," he spoke lamely, his words clipped, his mouth twitched. He kept watching her, "For everything."

Blessedly, Rote caught his attention. The man was a mystery, appearing at once mad yet also in possession of all his faculties. It was not clear whether his mannerisms were born of delusion or his noble upbringing. Perhaps both.

He followed them to the canal. He knew not what else he could do, seemingly trapped within the thoughts of his own mind, memories, words forming and reforming in a hundred iterations of a sentence and coming no closer to what he wanted to say.

The damp smells of flotsam and refuse clung inside his nose.

Danger sharpened his mind like a stone knapping flint. A wandering mind was a dangerous thing; now he stared down a dozen barrels of a dozen men. He recognised some of the faces, once fellow knights. Victory was a slim possibility, yet Tamlorn gripped his weapon, ready.

But, conflict was avoided. He bobbed his head at the Inquisitor, a small smile playing across his lips, "And house Winter-Rose will not forget." He stepped onto the boat, equal parts curious and concerned of Jehenne's fate. He was not sure he could leave even if he wanted to.

It was not until the black scar upon the cityscape, the Cathedral, reached up before them as if defying the heavens, that Tam spoke once more. Jehenne had pointendly ignored him the entire journey, so Tam had stewed in his own thoughts.

"Does the Church want anything with them?" Tam asked the Inquisitor, "Beyond their freedom?"

[Assistant]
City: ???
Location: Black Cathedral - Entrance

BGM: Melody of Water

The carriage soon reached the outskirts of the Black Cathedral, an edifice one could call the Church of Inquisition's "base of operations". Ominous as it was, this was the goal behind Libero and Carmilla's plan. Away from Venedig's corrupt ideals, they would hide Noel from the corruption of the slave market and trade. "We're arriving at the destination." The butler spoke from the outside. Noel opened the curtains, curious as how they had arrived at somewhere supposedly five days away from Venedig in such a short time like three and a half hours of travel. When he opened it, he saw the cathedral and was immediately brought in shock. "T-That's... the Black Cathedral. Big brother, weren't we supposed to be going to the Reich's capital as Father ordered?" He asked. "There is no way I would hand you over to the emperor. This isn't what either me or Mom would want for you, Noel. We don't need another slave trader in our home." Libero explained. "Then... your plan was for you to take me here to the Cathedral? To the enemies of Venedig and the whole Iron Decree?" Noel asked. "Yes. From here, you'll be able to learn the opposite of what Dad has been wishing. You'll be able to pursue the dream you always wanted, Noel. The dream of making an institute for magic research, learning and control for all people." Libero spoke, happy.

It's true... Noel's wish was to create an institute academy where people could research, learn and control magic. An organization not solely for the nobles of the Reich, but for all who wished to learn it. It may be an utopic dream, but it was Noel's dream. "Libero, I... I don't know what to say... but if Father finds out, then you'll be-" Noel spoke, speechless and worried about Libero. "Don't worry about me. I did this knowing of all risks. I'd rather be dead but with a clean conscience that you are safe than alive regretting that you became another of us." Libero said. Still, this worried Noel. However, he had no arguments to tackle his brother back. Soon, the carriage stopped. "My lords, we have arrived at the Black Cathedral!" The butler spoke.

Noel and Libero left the carriage inside and were now at the entrance. The river seemed to flow underneath it, as if it was a secret entrance. In the distance, Noel saw a bot coming their way. "Look, there's a boat with people coming our way!" He pointed it out. "My contact has arrived. Let's wait a little bit before getting inside." Libero spoke.