<div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Junk/0ac7e94b-0084-43b2-adf0-55ceb694f1c7_zpsthxbhg5s.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #FFBF00">Kareem</span></div></span><br/><br/>Kareem's gaze slithered between the two, staying on Paislee more than Athan as her actions were becoming a bit alarming. If there was one thing Kareem had learned from his short time working with the pair, was that Paislee had a sharp intuition and not paying it any heed could end up disastrous. Kareem finally looked back over to Athan and gave a light nod, "I'm glad you think that. So when shall we b-" The young man was cut off, " Do you hear that?" Paislee suddenly asked, stepping closer to the window. "It sounds like screams..." she said. Athan tried to focus, though he could not hear anything. He looked to Ellie and Kareem questioningly--Ellie shook her head in the negative. Kareem did the same, but stood up and stepped between the windows and Ellie a smile on his face as he forced a small knife into her hands. "Stick them with the pointy end El." Kareem said with a smile before turning towards Paislee. Athan stood, joining Paislee at the window. "What are you talking about?" he asked, his eyes filling with concern. The dark haired woman looked up to him, "I hear screaming outside. In the distance--do you not---" Paislee didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as a deep rumbling shook the floor beneath them. A loud explosion sounded not far down the street and new screams could be heard nearby. Smoke and dust filled the air outside while Paislee and Athan watched in horror as a building crumbled only a couple of hundred feet away.<br/><br/>"It has to be Marqu!" Paislee said, quickly turning around and pushing Athan away from the window. "Stay away from the windows and doors. We need to leave before he gets here..." she said as she moved the green chair. She seemed to be searching for something on the floor, but nothing looked out of place. That was until Paislee reached down and removed a loose piece of wood, which revealed a handle. She grabbed it, yanking the door up, "Ellie, you go first. We'll follow, alright?" Ellie didn't seem as if she would move at first, but an explosion echoed through the street, this time closer. It seemed to be all the motivation she needed and she climbed down the ladder.<br/><br/>"Paislee, I can see him!" Athan shouted over the loud screams and booms that resounded outside. "I said stay away from the windows!" Paislee shouted back, standing quickly and letting the hidden door slam shut. While Paislee went to Athan, Kareem covered the hidden door then moved to a more defensible position. Just as the couple came into contact, the wall was hit with a large explosive from the outside. It was a miracle that the building was still standing, though it didn't seem like it would be able to withstand another hit like that.<br/><br/>"A-athan?" Paislee's voice called out in the dust and debris, coughing slightly. No one answered right away, so she called out once again to Kareem this time. The young man groaned, "Alive... If only barely." Paislee didn't seem to notice his reply though, nor could she likely see him through the clouds of dust. She stood, stumbling towards the trap door and Kareem, only to find it blocked with a giant piece of the wall. "No!" she cried out, trying to push the large debris off their only chance of escape.<br/><br/>When she realized there was no hope of moving the piece, she whirled around in search of Athan and Kareem. She found Athan easily enough as he was standing against the wall, trying to balance himself. Blood seemed to seep from him from a variety of cuts and gashes, but he was alive. Paislee pushed her way through furniture, glass, and brick to get to him. "The door is blocked, we'll have to go through---" once again, Paislee was interrupted, but this time by a hand grabbing her by her hair. She reached back instinctively to grasp the hand, but her clawing did nothing to grant her release. "Here are our little outlaws!" a mocking voice stated with a deep laugh.<br/><br/>Kareem narrowed his eyes, tucking a hand into the chest of his suite jacket. "Let her go, Marqu," Athan demanded as he pushed himself from the wall, wobbling some. The young man watched as Athan approached, waiting for the moment when he could make a move, whatever that may be. "Oh, I think not, Mr. Namikal. See, you and your little friends have taken what's mine--and if I don't get her back, then I'm going to take this one with me as a replacement," Marqu replied in a dark voice, bringing Paislee close to him and wrapping his free hand around her waist. Paislee shut her eyes as she tried to suppress the urge to vomit. "People aren't toys to be traded, you fuck!" she spat out, dropping her arms and snapping her elbow back. It landed squarely on Marqu's face and he gave a yelp, dropping the feisty woman. She landed on her knees and hands, but did not have the time to move as he gave a hard, booted kick to her side. An audible crack filled the air, along with a pained cry from Paislee. Kareem winced, his grip tightening on whatever was hidden inside the lining on his jacket as he suppressed the urge to attack the man.<br/><br/>Athan, however, rushed forward without thought to help Paislee, only to be smacked away. He stumbled and tripped backwards on a piece of rubble, landing on a shard of thick glass from the window. It ripped through his side, impaling him through, though he still muffled his pained yelp. Kareem had to do a double take, wondering if the poor visibility was playing tricks on him. The fool! Had he just waited a little longer, that might not had to have happened. Kareem ducked down low durring the commotion, retreating further into the building, pulling out a flare gun and stick his arm out a small window and firing the flare into the air. With that done, the rest was in Atlas's hands now.<br/><br/>As Kareem snuck back towards the room, he peeked around a corner to wait for a moment to strike, if possible. Paislee was curled in a ball on the ground, her own arms clutched around her middle, a rib poking through her torn shirt as blood oozed out of the wound. "Where is she?" Marqu asked as he crouched down next to Athan, lifting him by the collar of his shirt. Athan gave a bitter smile, "Who are we talking about again?" Marqu gave a growl, his free hand reaching down to grab the glass sticking out of Athan's side. Athan gave a pained grunt as Marqu wiggled the glass some, gritting his teeth.<br/><br/>"Leave him alone, you shit for brains!" came Paislee's voice from behind. Marqu didn't have a chance to react as he was hit across the head with a brick, but it didn't seem to phase the cruel man. Instead he ripped the glass out of Athan's side, turning quickly around and slashing at Paislee with it. He managed to get her neck, but she had move back quickly enough where it wouldn't kill her. Athan, on the other hand, was closer to death than he already had been. "You little bitch. I've had enough of you," Marqu growled out, managing to grab Paislee by her arm. He threw her to the ground, never letting her arm go in the process. She landed on her stomach, her breath leaving her in a whoosh. Soon Marqu's foot was on her back as she struggled to get up once more. He was too strong for her.<br/><br/>Kareem couldn't take anymore, lunging from the cover of the dust with a bat. It was no good though, there was a man waiting for him and he got the young man right in the stomach with a strong knee, bringing him down instantly. Kareem coughed and gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs. "You know, maybe you just need to be put back in your place. Maybe you need to be reminded who has the power here," he stated as he began to pull backwards on Paislee's arm. Paislee clenched her eyes shut as a burning pain began to spread through her shoulder, but she could not stop the screams that erupted from her throat when she began to feel the muscles and ligaments tear away from one another. The sound was horrible, it made Kareem's skin crawl, begging him to try harder to regain his cool. It was no use though, he just couldn't recover that quickly from that hard of a hit. "Pa-Paislee!" Athan called out as he tried to crawl towards the two of them, a trail of blood following him.<br/><br/>It was too late, though, and soon Paislee's screams became a single, long wail of pain as the sound of tearing flesh filled the room. Marqu stood as he dropped the arm he held and it landed with a sickening plop next to the woman, her eyes glassy and unfocused. Marqu gave a disgusted look at Athan as the man tried to reach for him. "Pathetic..." Marqu stated, kicking Athan in the face. He then stepped over Paislee, whose breathing seemed to be a struggle. "We can't find her, sir..." said the man near Kareem. Marqu waved his hand, "No matter. I think I'm done here..."<br/><br/>=================<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Junk/Levi.full.1915169vbnvbn_zpsxhpmmyqb.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #804000">ATLAS</span></div></span><br/><br/>Dark eye gazed into the sky, a bright cherry flare burning for all to see. The figure brought two fingers to the back of his ear, clicking a small switch that acted as a relay back to HQ. "This is field sentry, designation Atlas. I've spotted a emergency support request flare, it seems to be coming from outside the circle." Dark eye's flickered back and forth as if scanning data on an invisible screen. "Sir, if memory serves, Kareem is our only affiliate outside of the inner city. He's the supplier and only known grower of that plant you and many other are so fond of... Yes, that is the one. I'll head over and inform him that additional support is on the way. Should I aid him if I'm able?"<br/><br/>"Yes. Eliminate anyone who appears hostile with extreme prejudiced. Witnesses aren't a problem, no one cares what happens to those creatures of the outer city anyways."<br/><br/>Atlas clicked the relay off, then adjusted his tie before turning down an alley and vanishing into the inner city parks. Navigating the Inner city parks was like a maze with all the blinding lights and loud sounds. Atlas, while not being a fan of flashy or outrageously overkill things, did enjoy spending time in the parks of the inner city. Because of this, he knew the quickest way around the maze of a park and quickly found the exit, darting towards the edge of the inner city. He was quick, maybe even unnaturally so as he scaled walls with ease while just completely leaping over some smaller fences. As he scaled the final wall between himself and the edge of the inner city, the radio behind his ear sounded off. There was a long static filled silence before a cold voice spoke over the radio. "Atlas. I've received word that the one who attacked that man was Marqu. This puts me in a difficult position Atlas, you know that... If I attack Marqu now, our alliance with the outer cities leading faction will end and we will be at war..." Another long silence came from the com as Atlas came to a slow walk, a large Verti-bird flying low towards the outer city market district. Attached to the bottom of the Verti-bird was an military class Auto-Titan. The sight was enough to bring even Atlas to a complete halt.<br/><br/>"Sir. An Auto-Titan?"<br/>"... It's Marqu Atlas. What am I to do?"<br/>"But Auto-Titans are only used in extermination cases. They kill everything indiscriminately."<br/>"You have thirty minuets to evacuate the area. Good luck Atlas."<br/><br/>Atlas remained silent for several seconds before speaking once again, "Permission to disregard repair costs while on this mission sir." Atlas didn't wait for an answer though, his form breaking into a sprint before leaping onto the massive wall that separated the two cities. "Granted. HQ out." The voice went silent as the com clicked off, Atlas stopping mid climb to remove the com from behind his ear, placing it in a pocket before rapidly propelling himself up the massive wall. As he approached the top of the wall, the young man jumped with all his might, launching his body out over the outer city just as the verti-bird passed over him. Atlas wasn't in the air long, his body quickly falling to the ground before crashing through the roof of a shack. He hit the ground with a thud, though landed on his back. The sound of grinding gears and electrical shorts sounded out as his body struggled to deal with the sudden shock. It took about thirty seconds before all his appendages were sorted out and operational once again. As the man stood up, his vision started to distort heavily, but a good whack fixed that right up. The young man opened the door to the nearly demolished shack, closing it behind him as the rest of the shack fell to the ground. "Collateral damage.... Acceptable." With his assessment done, he broke out into a sprint once more.<br/><br/>People began to blur by as Atlas sprinted past them, even knocking people out of his way if they didn't move in time. This happened pretty frequently as the Large Verti-bird neared it's target with the large Auto-Titan. As the unmarked Verti-bird hovered in place, it released several hundred air-locks at once as the massive Auto-Titan dropped to the ground. As the large metal feet connected with the ground and buildings under it, debris and dust shot into the air all over the surrounding district.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;">"AUTO-TITAN EXTERMINATION SUBROUTINES BOOT-UP INITIATED. FULL SEQUENCE PROCESS FINISHED IN T-MINUS.... 90 SECONDS."</span><br/><br/>-----------------<br/><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Junk/Levi.full.small_zps6tbiikvb.jpg">[ img ]</a><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Junk/Kareem%20small_zps5jm5fpwk.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #FFBF00">Kareem</span></div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="font-weight: bold">&amp;</span></span></div><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #804000"><span style="font-weight: bold">ATLAS</span></span></div></span><br/><br/><br/>Marqu wasn't gone for long when the commotion started. People were becoming increasingly frantic outside the now dilapidated building. Kareem did his best to ignore that while attending to everything that had just happened. The young man quickly ran over to the trap door and pried it open after a bit of rubble clearing. Once Ellie was out, he went over to Atan and Paislee in a hurry. "Oh fuck! Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuuuuuuck! Athan! Paislee! I...I..." Kareem wracked his brain trying to come up with a solution, biting his lip and even drawing some blood in his panic. His eyes snapped to Athan with a frown, "Sorry buddy. This is gonna hurt like hell, but It's to save your main squeeze here." He said, lifting the badly wounded man and tearing his shirt slightly. "El! Do whatever he asks, and so help me god... Don't let him die!" Kareem was almost screaming now, his hands shaking as he tied the ripped cloth around Paislee's stump as tight as his could. It probably hurt like a bitch, and Kareem let Paislee do whatever she needed to cope with the pain.<br/><br/>It wasn't long after tending to Paislee that the sound of many releasing airlocks filled the air with their sounds. What followed after could only be described as a loud crash and miniature quake. The tremor shook the dilapidated house violently, causing Kareem to curse under his breath and rush to the door. "This better be our back u-" As the door flew open, Kareem went silent. His skin turned as pale as it had ever been, and then he slammed the door shut and leaned his back against it. He looked Ellie right in the eyes and smiled weakly. He had no words that would comfort what she would hear next.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;">"AUTO-TITAN EXTERMINATION SUBROUTINES BOOT-UP INITIATED. FULL SEQUENCE PROCESS FINISHED IN T-MINUS.... 90 SECONDS."</span><br/><br/>As the Auto-Titan slowly roared to life, every siren in both the inner and outer city began to blow. With the sirens came smaller Verti-birds carrying inner city soldiers and other combatants. Marqu's men hadn't waited for the cavalry though, already opening fire on the mechanized monstrosity with shock-rockets. It was little use though, nothing except inner city tech and weapons could take down an Auto-Titan, let alone hurt it. As the countdown reached the final number, the Auto-Titan let out a loud sound like mass amounts of steam pressure being released... And then it open fired on Marqu's men. Bodies exploded as the high energy bolts collided with flesh, sending bits of meat in every direction as the large foot of the Auto-Titan came down and crushed several bystanders and a broken cart.<br/><br/>The whole town went into a panic as the Auto-Titan went on a rampage just outside the small building the group was in. There were no more explosions now, but anyone could still hear the Auto-Titan outside. Kareem looked to Ellie and the group, then peeked outside the door. The Inner city verti-birds were hailing energy shells down on the thing, but it just wasn't going down. The Auto-Titan wasn't attacking them though, which was strange unless... Kareem opened the door just a bit more so he could see what the Auto-Titan was fighting. Sure enough, there were three Synths fighting the behemoth with shock knuckles and other energy-burst weapons. The Synth seeming to lead the attack was none other than Atlas, A synth Kareem knew very well.<br/><br/>Atlas and the two other female synths dodged, tucked, rolled and danced all around the Titan. They would take pot shots at it's legs and face with their special shock weapons, being extra careful to stay away from it's large energy canon. As Atlas vaulted up the back of the Titan, he called out orders to the other Synths. "Aim for the face. If we hit with a collected assault, we may be able to damage it's visual sensors." The two female Synths both nodded, leaping up the Titan's legs with far greater agility than what Atlas could muster at the moment. To distract the Titan from the other Synths, Atlas began to pound at the back of the Titan's head. Red sparks exploded into the air with each hit, sending the Titan into a rage. It flailed it's arms and twisted wildly trying to fling the Synth's from it's body, succeeding with one of the female synths before crushing the poor girl under foot.<a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Grounds/Inspiration/So-binfull1628929_zpsb755bcdf.jpg">The other female Synth</a>screamed out in rage at the sight of her friends death, leaping up to the head to deliver a resounding whack to the head of the Titan with her large canon. As she readied for another swing, the Titan began to flail again, forcing her to put all her strength just into holding on.<br/><br/>As the Verti-Birds clustered together for a combined assault, the Titan suddenly jumped back with the two Synth's still on it. It landed on some building, instantly dropping to all fours as it's head and chest opened up and formed into a massive barrel, pointed right at the clustered Verti-birds in the air. The two Synths jumped off the Titan, running for cover behind a few sturdy walls several hundred feet behind the Titan. Kareem had slammed the door shut by that point, quickly moving to the girls and Athan's motionless body. He stared at the body for a couple seconds, cursing under his breath before looking to Paislee. She wouldn't last much longer if she didn't get immediate medical help. The young man wracked his brain thinking of a solution to their problem, when it suddenly hit him. The two Synths and the Verti-birds belonged to the inner city. They'ed likely have brought a mobile hospital for the soldiers as well. Kareem bit his lip as he examined the two women, knowing they likely wouldn't enjoy what he was about to say.<br/><br/>Kareem walked back to the door without a word, opening it all the way before turning back to face the two women. "We're going to make a break for it. El, you help Paislee. I'll take care of any men Marqu might have left for us that weren't crushed or otherwise....Well, blown into bits of meat." With that, he grabbed a large piece of rock that fell from the wall and then stepped outside. A few moments later, and after one bloodied scream, Kareem came back in covered in some blood and holding a small pistol. "Ok, let's go."  And with that, they wen't outside and into the battle.<br/><br/>As the group ran around the side of the Auto-Titan, a new Synth appeared from around the corner. It was another female Synth, but she was very different looking from what Kareem was used to seeing. While Atlas and and most others looked like a normal human,<a class="postlink" href="http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/steusloffa/Grounds/Inspiration/So-binfull1628943_zpsa835fabd.jpg">this Synth was obviously part machine</a>. It took a few seconds, but then the memory came rushing back to Kareem of who this girl was. The Synth examined the group quickly, her gaze landing on Paislee's wound. "This girl is in need of medical attention right now! Did the inner city bring a mobile medical unit with them?!" Kareem asked in a rush, but the Synth didn't answer. Instead, she stepped out of the way and pointed down the alley she had come down. Kareem nodded, leading the group down the alley and eventually to the mobile medical unit. Once the group was out of sight, the newest synth joined the fight against the Auto Titan.