UNKD BORACAY (CVU Location)

@kaija:

"Sorry for any confusion Miss. Kaija isn't available at the moment. If you would leave your name, present your ID, and leave a message, we'll get the message to her as promptly as we can. Just come up to the booth and I can help you out with that." The front guard explained to Lucy, opening a small sliding panel in his booth to allow the young woman to pass along her ID as well as any other materials that she wished to send to "the Giantess".

Lucy grumbled. She flew all the way across the world for nothing, and Kaija was not even there! "хорошо - translation: Fine" She said, sliding closer to the security booth, and showed them her ID. Lucy sighed, deciding to use her heavy Russian accent as she spoke in English, "Please tell miss Kaija that Luciana was here, and she wants to join UNKD. Tell her I will be staying in town until she comes back, and tell her to come meet me when she gets the chance,"

After leaving the message, Lucy grabbed her suitcase, and started walking. The town was like 5 kilometers from the base. This trip was not all waste. Lucy couldn't wait to get to a hotel, then run down to the beach in her bikini and enjoy the beach, perhaps a Sun tan. Water wasn't exactly a friend of hers these days, but if she super-heated her body to boiling temperatures, she could bear to take a shower at least.

@lowlaville:

“Seek the Outsider boy.” As commandments went, it felt insufficient. Nonetheless, it was all she had to work with. The portal swirled as she stepped through, massive energies twisting through her core. It was rumored that things were strange in the outer world, though how strange, she did not know.

The portal deposited her with a whisper and her half-begotten commandment, and the girl tried to make sense of it all.

It was not so inadequate as all that - true that she had little words to live by, but like all those who favored the shadows, she had clung to them before and listened where she was not heard. There had been conversations about her, whispers in the dark. She wondered about the words that had been spoken. “She is the only one.” She had learned, then, of others that had passed before her, struck down on the path of the striker.

Perhaps, in the mind of Raikia Nightcrawler, there was only one path that was considered living. It was an uneasy though about a path that was no less easy. Her children, to the last, had followed in her footsteps, and died in them. Grandchildren, too, until now only one remained.

Anakia Nightcrawler, only-born of Raikia’s last child. Her mother had been the favorite once, Raikia’s hope and pride. Whispers in the dark suggested that she had been sired by the Nightcrawler’s own lord, tempted in to an affair that begot a child by a prodigy. As far as Anakia knew, it had never been confirmed or denied. The Lord had his own true-born heirs, and if he didn’t acknowledge a bastard progeny, there was no word of denial, either. Whoever it had been, it was known that Raikia had favored the girl for most of her life.

And then sixteen years ago, Elia Nightcrawler had escaped to the cold place when a contract had gone wrong, broken and bleeding, and there in the dark hallways Raikia had met her, watched her deliver the infant Anakia, and plunged a dagger into her breast while the baby’s first cries had echoed in the chill darkness.

Like all stories, there was more to it than that.

Anakia knew parts of it, how her mother had taken a contract and drawn her adversary close - closer even than Raikia drew Micah Outsider. She had forsaken the embrace of darkness for a time to lie in his arms instead, always near beside him. She’d gotten with his child, and told him so, and continued to wait beside him until the labor pangs began. Only then did she strike against him. It was enough… and not. She had completed the contract, but it would be her last.

Anakia wondered if she would have the strength to overcome such a story.

“Seek the Outsider boy.” Well and good. It was known that there were contracts on that one as well, Ali Outsider, lightning-beloved. In the Outer World, he had been unreachable, the contract unfulfilled.

So it was. Anakia searched. A flicker here, a flicker there. Time flowed differently in the cold place, and she could cross its spanse searching while little happened in the outer world around her. It was well and good that she could still reach for it here and travel through it, though something about it felt different than at home - she could not place it, but it marked her. It was not difficult to find rumors of Ali, nor difficult to trace them. They led to an island, water and warmth, nothing like the cold hallways. Once there, it was less trouble to find the boy himself. After all, he blazed like a star.

She scouted in silence, a flicker here and there, and when she stepped through into the room behind him, it was with a knowledge of her surroundings and a knife in her hand, striking towards the heart.

@interstitial:

After morning shift was over and done with, Ali had passed over duty to the next shift, and called it a day off. Kaija had gone to Portland on some business trip of one or the other kind, and she wasn't really available. Ali had gone to the the Cafeteria to get his lunch.

"Hey, Ali, wanna go play some basketball after this?" One of Ali's shift duty guard buddies came with a tray full of food and sat down in front of Ali.

"Oh hi James," Ali glanced up from his food plate. "Sorry, but I uhh... I think I'd like to go get some rest, if you understand?" Ali explained. "How about we do something later, like tonight?" He proposed. Lately, Ali had been doing a lot of turning people down. He had almost locked himself up away from the world. Sometimes Ali wondered if it was healthy, if at all to be living life like that.

"It's fine," James nodded, smiling. Ever since becoming friends with Ali, he had come to notice how distant and lonely the fellow mostly looked. For all the power he possessed, he really was a pitiable guy. I mean, sure he had a girlfriend, but outside of that, its like he did not exist. "I know, we can play some video games tonight!" James suggested.

"Of course, sounds great!" Ali nodded. James and Ali usually got together at night to play video games, unless Kaija had a say about it. They were around the same age, and competitive as hell.

After lunch, Ali headed to his own room, and took a shower there, changing into casual clothes before sneaking into Kaija's room. He'd just sat at the edge of her bed, and turned on the television. It wasn't that he did not have one in his own room, but Kaija's room had her lingering scent, which somehow calmed his nerves. He'd turned the T.V on, switching to a channel about Wildlife.

And then, Ali felt the tip of something sharp and cold touching his back. At that very moment, he had gotten up and out of the way, Where the dagger would've gone straight through his heart, it had now only gone through the air. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have been able to move, but Ali was not normal. He could in fact move many times faster than the speed of light.

Ali turned around and faced his attacker. It was a face shrouded in a hood, but he could easily spot a pair of merciless eyes and red locks of hair. An Assassin! Ali was shocked. Why would any Assassin want to kill him? He had not offended anyone as far as he knew. "Who are you?" Ali asked.

@lowlaville:

"Who are you?"

It was a good question, to which he deserved an answer, but he did not get one. He'd had an instant to get a look at her on account of his speed, and from the slight widening of her eyes for half a moment, it had surprised her. But after that moment, she was gone, flickered out of existence as quickly as she had come.

Of course, it was true that that was an answer, of sorts. Maybe not the one he had hoped for, and likely not in the way he had hoped for, but Ali would have had to be a complete idiot not to recognize that particular ability when presented with it. And whatever else Ali might have been, he was not a complete idiot... except maybe where Kaija was concerned, but that was a different story, and not one he really had time to think about right now.

For her part, Anakia retreated to the cold place. It was one of the first things she had learned - there was always a desire to stay, to see that the blade found its mark. "Come back if you must, but never, ever stay. The pathways are your bastion. If you're not fighting another Nightcrawler, leave them only briefly, and return immediately." Anakia remembered the words, it had been one of the early excursions her grandmother had taken her on. She had been four, and it had been the first time she had left the cold place.

This time, though, she didn't need to check, because she already knew the blade hadn't struck home. I didn't know he would be that fast. That meant she had to think a little.

Time flowed differently in the dark halls. It was what gave her clan the illusion of teleportation - stepping in to the pathways, crossing the distances, and out to another place before a heartbeat had past. Even then, in those halls, some were faster than others. Her grandmother would have had no trouble with Ali's speed, but she was not here. Anakia had seen her manage four points of attack in an instant, once. She did not think she could echo that maneuver. But I can do two.

She stepped out again, across the room this time, and without waiting threw a knife, again at his back, flickering out as soon as it was cast and crossing the room, counting the ticks of un-time and flickering out again in front of him, close this time, striking the first knife up towards his throat.

@interstitial:

Whoever the girl was, she chose to ignore Ali's question. But what she did next confirmed her identity anyway. Back in the realm, back when he had no powers, and even after he realized his powers, Ali used to have a friend and escort by him at all times. A nightcrawler. Ali had been lead multiple times threw the Nightcrawler dimension, he had experienced the freezing effect multitudes of times. Characteristically, he was so familiar with Nightcrawlers, he could identify one when he saw them use their powers. They were Assassins and Escorts, Bodyguards or Messengers. They could go to places within instants.

Nightcrawlers were in fact one of the strongest clans in Shea 2000 years ago, back when Ali and his brothers first stepped into the realm. Back then, they had been in close Alliance with the Ironhides. However that disastrous civil war saw 2 major clans of Shea rapidly decline, in its place rising the clan that would come to rule Shea for the following 2000 years, the Outsiders. According to tales, it was the Lightning God himself that slew everyone of those Nightcrawlers which lead to the clan's decline. Afterwards, they had no choice but to bow their heads to the Outsiders if they wanted to prevent from being annihilated, and although still remaining as one of the most fearsome clans, it was nowhere near enough to actually contend with the other big clans. Their territories had also been drastically cut, allowing them only a small portion of estate just west of the Outsider clan territory.

Bitterness had long ago swept into the minds of the Nightcrawler descendants, however its current Lord and Ali's father were childhood friends, having participated in a Realm War and 2 other country wars defending Shea. This had lead to the Nightcrawler Lord actually trying to build stable relationship with the Outsider clan. Part of this initiative was leasing his son as a guard to Ali. Up until the age of 16, Ali had been under constant protection by the Nightcrawler Lord himself.

Of course, after he retrieved Lightning Cutter and his memories, Ali would leave the realm shortly afterwards. He'd only spent around 6 months of Earth, but he hadn't forgotten his past memories of Nightcrawlers. Having personally dealt with them 2000 years ago, Ali knew full well what any of them was capable of. He instantly started his lightning power core, opening his ears to any bio-electric signal coming from the assailant. He had sharpened his senses to the point, the world around Ali froze to a standstill.

Nightcrawlers used a timeless dimension to cross space instantly, but they weren't capable of manipulating space or time itself. When the girl materialized in the room and threw the knife at him, Ali would be able to sense her via the electric signals she had whizzing through her brain. As for the knife. It would be months from Ali's perspective before the knife even reached anywhere near his body. The Assassin disappeared again. This time, she appeared right in front of him, and she slashed the knife in hand towards his throat.

Ali smiled, as he moved away from the dagger, and simply walked around behind her, and sought to just shove her into the way of the knife she had thrown earlier. The girl might be faster in her own dimension, but she was clearly outmatched in that regard when it came to anywhere else. Ali would simultaneously deliver a dose of electricity into her systems, attempting to stun the girl without actually killing her. He had a lot of questions for the girl. The most important was, how did she even come to the Outer World?

@lowlaville:

Her target disappeared.

No.

Didn't disappear, just... moved. How is he that fast? Her assassin's training urged her to flicker out the instant he'd not-disappeared, and so it was that she only caught about half of the shock he'd attempted to hit her with. Lightning dissipated through the cold halls, and she stumbled a half step.

She stepped aside, out of the position she'd been in, and paused to think. Now what? I can't... he's too fast. I can't kill him. Training was also about acknowledging when you were overmatched. The proper procedure was to retreat, break off, and leave it there. Take the contracts you could survive.

By all respects, she should leave him be and go do something else.

The problem, of course, was that she was in the Outer World. There was nothing else. There was no one else. There was only Ali Outsider, and she couldn't kill him. "Find the Outsider boy." Well, she had done that, and she'd tried for the contract, and now... now she didn't know. Anakia felt like her grandmother would have known what to do.

She glanced ahead, through the cold hallways. She would have walked through the cold hallways until she found a way back to the real world that no one had ever known about, and tell no one of its existence, and assassinate Micah Outsider who was busy thinking she was in the Outer World.

That was an excellent plan.

Except for the part where Anakia wasn't her grandmother. She could use the hallways, certainly, but she wasn't yet so tied to them that they were more of who she was than anything else. Anakia sighed. "Find the Outsider boy," indeed.

She glanced to the knife in her hand, then sheathed it and stepped back out into the Outer World. Her hand stayed on the hilt of the blade, but she didn't move to draw it. She gave the Outsider a little nod, not entirely sure what he'd make of that. After all, failing a contract and then stepping back in the room with the person you'd just tried to kill was... not exactly standard practice, to say the least.

@interstitial:

Ali had to hand it to his attacker, she was quite fast. The second his hands had touched her back, she flickered out of existence. That left only a knife that sailed through the air in his general direction. Ali took a few steps before catching the knife. He looked at the blade and hilt thoroughly, the craftsmanship was certainly one he'd seen before. Sure enough, this confirmed the girl was indeed from Shea.

Even though she disappeared, and even if Ali could no longer sense the girl's pulsating bio-electric signals, or the load he had unleashed into her body, he knew one thing, the girl was still inside the room, still around him, hidden from view, hidden from anyone's capability to even detect her. This was why Nightcrawler's were formidable opponents.

They had access to a timeless dimension that overlapped reality, from which they could enter and exit at will, and a dimension they could stay in for as long as they wanted to, but when they came out, not a second would have passed, that is to say if the Nightcrawler actually desired to act in an untimely manner.

And then, suddenly, the girl appeared within the room again. She nodded towards him. Ali only nodded as he smiled. "I will ask again: Who ARE you?" Ali repeated his question.

@lowlaville:

He'd stayed his hand. Anakia hadn't been sure he would. Even though when she'd flickered in, it had been evident she was no longer pressing the attack, she hadn't been sure he wouldn't kill her anyway. Probably, it would have been wise to do so.

Ali Outsider did not seem like he cared overmuch for conventional wisdom. She met his eyes, undaunted anyway, debating how to answer a very simple question. She could have refused entirely. She could have lied - in the Outer World, he'd have no way to confirm anything anyway.

Then again, in the Outer World, it wasn't like it mattered, so when she finalized an answer, she went with the simplest truth. "Anakia."

True it may have been, but as far as informative, it left a lot to be desired. He already knew a few things about her, though. Her clan was evident, as was where she'd come from. She was quite young, younger than he was, but Nightcrawler lifespans were often... greatly foreshortened. They had the potential to live as long as anyone, of course, it was just that most of them died early. Many of them started on their paths very early indeed... which, of course, made them all the more likely to die very young.

Her gray-eyed gaze drifted down, to the knife he held in his hands. "May I have it back?"

@interstitial: Ali's eyes followed hers as it landed on the knife in his hand.

"May I have it back?"

Ali nodded, and tossed the dagger back into the hands of its owner. Here he was, co-operating with someone that just tried to kill him. Was it stupidity or Ali's inability to care about it? Even he sometimes could not figure it out. "How did you get here, Anakia Nightcrawler?" Ali asked, deliberately adding in that last name, making it known that he was already aware of who she was. Even as he asked, Ali knew full well that Anakia could not have come to the Outer World on her own. Even Nightcrawlers cannot realistically teleport through the reality membranes set up by Seamstress on their own. "I guess the better question is, Why are you here?"

@lowlaville:

"I came through the portal," she answered with the obvious. She fingered the knife, then tucked it away out of sight. She could have told him nothing. Her grandmother was famous for being sparing with words. Of course, it occurred to her that he was probably the only person in the Outer World who would actually understand.

And he'd given her knife back. He hadn't had to do that. "There's a contract out for Micah Outsider. My grandmother doesn't want me to take it so she convinced him to send me to the Outer World to keep me out of trouble because she doesn't think I can handle him. I thought you'd be good practice."

@interstitial:

And he'd given her knife back. He hadn't had to do that. "There's a contract out for Micah Outsider. My grandmother doesn't want me to take it so she convinced him to send me to the Outer World to keep me out of trouble because she doesn't think I can handle him. I thought you'd be good practice."

Ali laughed, when the girl started speaking about his grandfather. "Your grandmother did you a favor by sending you here. My grandfather is someone you can never take on." Anakia couldn't even kill Ali. How was she supposed to take one of the mightiest figures in the entire realm? The very thought of it was ridiculous in Ali's mind. "So Anakia, now that you are here, and you have tried to kill me, what's next?"

@lowlaville:

Now that was an extremely good question. "I don't know," she admitted. "You're not what I expected." True, she could still feel the kiss of the lightning on her back where he'd struck her. Painful, but she didn't let that show. "I suppose I could go back to the hallways and think about it a while." She'd have plenty of time to think, where time did not flow. She flickered, experimentally, and spent a few minutes doing so, but the cold hallways offered no solutions, and she was back in the same place with only a waver of displacement to show she'd been gone at all. Whatever her answers were, they weren't in the dark. "I'm going to learn how you did that, so next time I won't be underprepared," she decided. "I won't try to kill you again here. That would be pointless."

Of course, that would make her an assassin without a contract, in a world where there were none. A pointless existence. She flickered again, more thoughtfully productive this time. He's all that there is, here.

"Find the Outsider boy."

It occurred, somewhat belatedly, that no one had ever told her what to do with the Outsider boy. I need a purpose. And if I cannot be an assassin, I can still uphold the tenets of my clan.

She flickered back in, closer this time, only a few steps away, and threw the knife at him again.

Hilt-first.

"Ali Outsider. I serve and protect."

@interstitial:

The meaning behind giving her weapon to him, Ali understood what she implied, not necessarily trust her, but at the very least, he knew what had just happened. She gave him her sword. It was his to use from this point on. Her blades would be pointed wherever he pointed them at.

Ali found it funny. At first, she tried to kill him, then it turns out she had no purpose of being to start with. The precision and finesse of an Assassin, and the mindset of a naive kid, that's what she was in his opinion. "I accept your offer. But still, I can't let you live in the 'Hallways'. But until I can actually arrange something for you. You're going to have to stay there." Ali knew what it means. With the Hallways as her home, she'd practically be awake 24/7 to others, while in reality, she would have spent thousands of hours more in that other dimension of hers.

Nightcrawlers that spent too much time in the loneliness of their dimension were often not 100% sane of mind, due to the same reason, but it was also true the more Nightcrawlers used and were familiar with the extra dimension, the deadlier they became. This was primarily due to the extra hours of frozen time that Nightcrawlers could enjoy perfecting their art.

@lowlaville:

"The cold place is my home. I won't mind living there." She shrugged unconcern, although admittedly she was faking it, at least in part. She knew the dangers, the stories of those who spent too much time there and lost their minds. Those that went too far were quietly... removed. But here in the Outer World, there would be no one to remove Anakia, if she lost her way back to herself.

Still, it didn't bear dwelling on. "Where do you live? You're not comfortable enough in this room for it to be yours." Also, she didn't think it suited him, but she acknowledged that she didn't actually know all that much about him.

@interstitial:

"I know you won't, but I'm insisting you don't," Ali shook his head, sighing.

"Where do you live? You're not comfortable enough in this room for it to be yours."

Ali looked around at the mention of the room. He was just glad nothing in the room had been disturbed. It was in pristine condition. "Yeah, this is not my room. Belongs to my girlfriend. I live in this base, Just not in this room," Ali answered.

@lowlaville:

She considered this information. "Your... what?" It was not that Anakia did not know the meaning of the word, merely that she hadn't anticipated its application. "Please tell me you aren't actually..." she trailed off, leaving him to supply his own euphemism. "With an Outer Worlder?"

Why would anyone do that? The idea of it was somewhat abhorrent. Well. She'd already sworn herself to his service, and she would not be forsworn, but that didn't mean she had to approve of everything he did. And maybe she could see about potentially urging him back home sometime to find a normal woman, if he needed one.

@interstitial:

She considered this information. "Your... what?" It was not that Anakia did not know the meaning of the word, merely that she hadn't anticipated its application. "Please tell me you aren't actually..." she trailed off, leaving him to supply his own euphemism. "With an Outer Worlder?"

Anakia's question made Ali raise an eyebrow, "My....yeah...with an Outer Worlder, but wait till you meet her, she's not very different from any of us from the realm," Ali said, defending Kaija. He was well aware of the general mindset. Especially being born to one of the elite clans of Shea, he was normally expected to marry into a woman from one of the other big clans. Going against this was considered to be almost a taboo. Even more so, Ali was from the ruling clan, and had already been declared to be the next Lord of Shea after his Grandfather. In such a scenario, if Ali did not marry someone from say Mankhan clan, then it would be regarded as a pretty big problem. Ali knew this well, but he avoided jumping into the topic anyway.

@lowlaville:

"Ali Outsider, I have sworn to defend your life, but do not ask me to countenance your debaucheries!" She wasn't particularly interested in ridiculous arguments like "wait till you meet her." Anakia had a feeling that doing so would not help matters in any way.

That aside, there were bigger issues - much bigger issues. "No wonder there's a contract on Micah Outsider. If someone takes him out of the equation, your proclivities will destabilize the entire realm. Have you no sense of duty to your clan?" She wondered, privately, if he'd been this immature before he'd been sent away. He needed a healthy dose of perspective, and perhaps someone to remind him where his duties lay, not to be left to run rampant in the outer world with no one to keep him from destroying the safety of the realm on a misbegotten impulse.

Ali could only sigh. He really wanted to tell Anakia about Kaija's powers, how they were really similar to the Outsider Clan's Giant Faction's ability. But alas, growing out of one of the elite clans of Shea, Anakia undoubtedly shared the general worldview and seemed to regard the stability and integrity of Shea as a whole on a high note. "I'm not asking you to be part of anything. Calm down!"

"No wonder there's a contract on Micah Outsider. If someone takes him out of the equation, your proclivities will destabilize the entire realm. Have you no sense of duty to your clan?"

"A contract you were planning to fulfill, if you really cared about the stability of the realm, you wouldn't be trying to do that," Ali raised a finger to her face, letting her know her claims were fallacious in nature. "I don't even want to be the Lord of Shea!" Part of why Ali was in the Outer World was to escape the throne which had somehow been given to him without him even wanting to be the Shean Lord. Let the clan elect someone else to lead Shea.

@lowlaville:

"A contract you were planning to fulfill, if you really cared about the stability of the realm, you wouldn't be trying to do that,"

"That's not... you can't..." Assassins existed to carry out contracts. The repercussions of them were not their providence. One couldn't blame a knife for the fall of a government: assassins were the blades of others. Except he had a point, that if she were really so uninvested in politics as all that, it wasn't precisely fair of her to throw the outcome back at him as a threat. She sighed, softly. "All right. I suppose I'll have to learn politics, as well."

I wonder if my grandmother had all that figured out. Maybe that's why she hasn't killed Micah Outsider. Assassins aren't supposed to play politics, but she's made enough contracts that she can do what she wants at this point. If she had seen what would have happened, maybe she would have chosen not to act because of it. Although, she can't possibly have known that Ali was...

...an idiot?

No, that wasn't very nice. He wasn't stupid. He was quite intelligent. He was just severely lacking in discipline.

All right. So. I will have to be disciplined enough for both of us. "For what it's worth, I do not think your grandfather is particularly interested in relinquishing the throne any time soon. You will have some time to adapt to the idea."

@interstitial:

Ali shook his head, laughing, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. The only reason I know most of what I know is because my father is the Clan Leader of the Outsider Clan, where my Grandfather is the Lord of Shea. And I think Dad is a much better candidate to succeed Grandfather, so why should I even consider the posit?"ion Now that Anakia had sworn to protect serve him, Ali really didn't hesitate talking about his things with the girl.

"For what it's worth, I do not think your grandfather is particularly interested in relinquishing the throne any time soon. You will have some time to adapt to the idea."

Ali nodded, "Plenty of time to adapt," Although, he didn't really want to 'adapt' to anything. Ali loved where he was now at. At least here, he felt like he had some sort of worth to actually existing, and not have everything handed to him.

@lowlaville:

Anakia sighed. "You are going to be the death of me, Ali Outsider." Her tone was vague enough that it was impossible to tell if she meant metaphorically or literally. It was entirely possible that she meant both. She thought about that for a moment, then shrugged, eloquently. "So be it." Everyone died some time. If she died defending the succession of the realm, no one could deny that it was an honorable way to die.

"Until that happens, I should very much like if you taught me how you move that quickly." He'd surprised her with that once, she didn't intend to let there be a second time. She needed to know his capabilities - the first step in defending someone was to know what they could reasonably be expected to do themselves, and what areas they would need a more diligent guardian.

@interstitial:

"Until that happens, I should very much like if you taught me how you move that quickly."

Ali demonstrated his ability to 'move' as she put it, by simply walking to the corner of the room, in hyper time while the world itself seemed frozen around him. Once he arrived at the desired spot, Ali intentionally lowered his senses, more or less matching the tempo which existed in the world around him. To anyone that was an observer, it would appear as if Ali had simply teleported. "Well I'm afraid I can't teach you how to move as fast as I do. I was born with this capability." Ali laughed, before appearing in front of Anakia again. "Your clan's ability uses an extra dimension to move around space with no time lag. My ability on the other hand simply allows me to move and observe the world around me at incredible speeds."

@lowlaville:

"If you can't teach me how to move as fast as you do, then I will have to teach myself to do it anyway," Anakia stated. "One way or another. I have to be able to keep up with you if I'm going to protect you, anyway." She watched him move, intrigued. "Will you do it again?"

This time, though, when he started, she flickered out, into the cold hallways, taking strength in their solitude, and fixing her eyes on where he'd been before flickering back in.

He had moved, just a bit, in the non-time... but he had not yet completed the move. "Oh..." she murmured to herself, delighted. "Yes... like that." She'd stepped into time and stayed there, so he had "teleported" away again, but there had been a moment when she'd seen him between the two places. If I moved in and out fast enough, I think I could track him, at least. That wasn't saying anything about being able to do anything about it... but perhaps it was a start. It was something to work with.

@interstitial:

"If you can't teach me how to move as fast as you do, then I will have to teach myself to do it anyway," Anakia stated. "One way or another. I have to be able to keep up with you if I'm going to protect you, anyway." She watched him move, intrigued. "Will you do it again?"

Ali shrugged, then simply moved again, disappearing from his previous spot and appearing back in the corner. Anakia seemed to flicker, stopping just a bit further on the path that Ali had taken. This did not come as much of a surprise. Back in that old war in his previous life, Ali had fought many strong Nightcrawlers who were able to seemingly follow his movements, but none of them were able to react to his speed anyway. What surprised Ali was, the young girl had grasped this concept from seeing him move just once. She might not be as dumb as he thought she was after all.

A smile spread across his face, "Pretty good, you seem to have gotten this gist of how it's done," Ali nodded.

@lowlaville:

"It's... challenging," she admitted. "I'll have to practice. And I'm not yet sure how to do anything other than follow along with you - if I try to move in this world, I'll lose the thread. But it's a start, at least. Enough that I should be able to follow you." And since that was what she had sworn to do, it was good that she had figured out a way to do so. "Very well. What other surprises do I need to know about?"

@interstitial:

"It's... challenging," she admitted. "I'll have to practice. And I'm not yet sure how to do anything other than follow along with you - if I try to move in this world, I'll lose the thread. But it's a start, at least. Enough that I should be able to follow you." And since that was what she had sworn to do, it was good that she had figured out a way to do so. "Very well. What other surprises do I need to know about?"

Ali nodded, "Well, this is not a good place for demonstrations. I'll meet you on the hill outside the town," By town, he referred to the town of Boracay, located on the other side of town. He trusted Anakia to be able to find it, it was a small island anyway.

Soon after talking, Ali would run off to the destination, atop a green hill, slightly warm. It wasn't an overly hot day outside, but the ocean was bright blue and sparkling.

@lowlaville:

Anakia had explored the island a little bit before she had gone to him, so she knew which hill he was talking about. It would have been simple to step in to the cold place, walk there, and step out on the hill in an instant.

But she was not trying to get to the hill. She was trying to stay with Ali. So, when he went the very slow way through the real world, she went with him, a bit to his right and a pace behind, enough that she had clear space to throw a knife if anyone attacked him.

Truthfully, she had no training as a bodyguard, but she didn't think it could be that difficult. It was just like assassination, except that the point was to stick the knife in the other guy.

@interstitial:

Ali hadn't expected the girl to just follow him when he'd specifically asked her to meet him outside. This was of course met by somewhat curious and naturally alarmed gazes of the soldiers and guards, and when he'd stopped by the outpost, they asked Ali who she was, and how she got in. He explained that she was someone with abilities, someone who could teleport in and out of places, and naturally that it was her first time in the base, and she simply did not know how the procedure worked.

After questioning and being warned by the higher ups in UNKD, Ali and Anakia were finally allowed to leave. "Listen girl, when I tell you to do something, you don't need to understand why you are being told to do it, you just do it, okay?" Ali yelled, visibly annoyed by the ordeal he had had to suffer due to the girl. They had reached their destination, a hill that overlooked the town below. "I told you specifically to meet me outside, not follow me!"

Well, to be fair, even Ali realized it wasn't exactly Anakia's fault they were stopped. He should've told her in detail before they left Kaija's room. He just didn't think Anakia would choose to do what she thought was the right thing to do. To start with, Ali shouldn't have expected the girl to show maturity in this kind of a situation. Just a few minutes prior, she had gone from trying to kill him, to protecting and serving him, within the span of a heartbeat. Ali didn't really understand nor wanted to understand what went through Anakia's mind, but what mattered was that she lacked foresight in his opinion. He had A LOT to teach this girl, if she was going to stay in the Outer World. "Well, are you ready for demonstrations?"

@lowlaville:

Following him led to an interesting amount of time spent listening to other people make comments on what they thought about Ali. Anakia listened patiently, and said nothing. She was, though, surprised how much the Outsider deferred to the random Outer Worlders. She had been under the assumption that since he was here, it was his island. He certainly hadn't told her otherwise, and she didn't see any reason why it oughtn't be, especially since the Outerworlders he was discussing the entire matter with didn't seem to show much in the way of ability. Perhaps everyone was just being polite, but the way Ali talked to them, she didn't think so.

Especially since he'd called her a teleporter, which was both inaccurate and implied that these people thought such a thing wasn't completely normal. What, they haven't got anything like the Nightcrawler clan here? Maybe that explained why the cold hallways were so quiet, and why she'd been the only one who she had seen access them since their arrival.

However it was, with a lot of words and excuses, Ali made it work. No one particularly threatened him in any way that she thought his life was in danger, so she waited it out and let him handle his own problems. After much more time than she thought was strictly necessary, he managed to resolve the situation and finally made it outside, at which point he promptly began yelling at her.

Anakia let him have his diatribe, unconcerned. In her opinion, he lacked foresight. She had a lot to teach this boy, if he was going to return to the Realm. "I was ready some time ago," she answered calmly, "You were busy."

@interstitial:

Anakia let him have his diatribe, unconcerned. In her opinion, he lacked foresight. She had a lot to teach this boy, if he was going to return to the Realm. "I was ready some time ago," she answered calmly, "You were busy."

Ali grew even more annoyed by her reaction. She really thought all this was just a joke. An urge to just punch her formed in the back of his mind. Calm down Ali, she's merely a girl, no need to be concerned with her attitude! Ali told himself, letting out deep breaths, calming down. He backed away until there was a few meters between the 2 of them. "I'm sure you must have heard of me in Shea, the only descendant of the Lightning God faction and inheritor of his powers," Ali said, activating his power core. "I am able to generate lightning from any point along my body, and project it outwards," Ali simply pointed a finger upwards, a blinding flash of lightning would emerge from the tip of his finger, charging up towards the sky, which was then promptly followed by the loud crack of thundering noise.

@lowlaville:

"I'd noticed that somewhat." Was that the vaguest hint of a sense of humor? After all, he'd hit her with his lightning in Kaija's room earlier in the day, when she'd attacked him three weeks ago. She'd had to spend a lot of time thinking, before she'd committed herself to his service. Fortunately, she had all the time she wanted. Sometimes, Nightcrawlers could gain a reputation for being impulsive to those who didn't understand them well, but their command of their own still dimension gave them a lot more time to think over important things than others realized. She hadn't committed to Ali on as much of a whim as it had seemed... although she didn't know if he realized that or not. If not, it implied that he definitely had been spending too much time among Outer Worlders, to forget even for a moment something about his home.

She didn't mention it. Let him think what he would of her. Right now, he was angry, though she wasn't sure why. He suppressed the anger, though, focusing on his abilities, and she did the same. "You modulate it. You weren't trying to kill me, then." She turned to him. "I still think that was a mistake." Not that she was unhappy about it, but the strongest defense needed to include a willingness to kill. "I suppose there would be applications of using less power. Is it more difficult to use more lightning? Or less?"

@interstitial:

Ali shook his head, "I wasn't trying to, whether or not that was a mistake has yet to be seen," He smiled, "And as for the amount I am able to control, practically, given enough time, I can easily control lightning filling the entire Outerworld without difficulty. As for how little? I can control the electric signals running through your brain, effectively controlling your actions in the process." Ali found it useless to hide his ability from the girl. Let her know, what kind of a walking disaster he truly was, if he decided to become a menace. Ali shifted his glasses a bit, adjusting them, before spreading his arms sideways.

Slowly, Ali started levitating, and feet by feet, he rose into the air. "I can fly," If Ali could go 7 times the speed of light on ground, he could do 14 times that when flying. The sky started darkening, and lightning started crackling from the clouds. Winds started howling, although, for the moment at least, there was no rain, "I can also control weather," He looked down at Anakia. "Impressed yet, little girl?"

@lowlaville:

"I'm impressed that you don't return to the ground beneath the weight of your own ego," she answered. "Little girl," indeed.

She looked up at him, though. Now, how am I going to protect him when he's up there? She retreated to the dark halls. It'd be nice if there were some stairs here. Oh, good. There are. She went up, then switched back in to the real world at his height. Of course, gravity caught her as soon as she returned to the real world, but she retreated before it could be more than a tug and reappeared, arms folded, catching herself in and out of time, moment after moment, "standing" beside him long enough to make a point, and then returning to ground level in the cold expanse.

"If they're so easily impressed here in the Outer World, no wonder you're being stubborn about returning to the Realm. Come back down here and stop being difficult."

@interstitial:

"You're the one who wanted me to show you what I can do little girl," Ali said, coming down and landing on the ground. The sky above them gradually returned back to being normal. He laughed, debating in his head whether or not he should show the girl the application of Force powers he had learned from @icefire_outlawmonths ago. But, he decided it was irrelevant.

@lowlaville:

"Why is it you keep calling me that?" Anakia inquired, without rancor, "Do you feel you need to prove me somehow inadequate in order to make more of yourself? You have strength and intelligence, Ali Outsider. But you lack discipline and wisdom." She smiled, sweetly, "The wise man seeks to build up those around him, so that they can serve him with all their strength. He who tears down his own bastions will find himself ruler of a ruined castle."

"Do I have to have a reason?" Ali asked, sounding rather casual. "Don't care who of us is more capable either. As for becoming stronger, I can only guide you, it depends on you whether you or not you can grow up, I'll be right back," Ali said, before using a great amount of speed to run off into the base, to his room and retrieving the Lightning Cutter before going back up to Anakia, "Do you know what this is?" He asked, showing it to Anakia. "It's called Lightning Cutter. 2000 years ago, during that civil war, do you really need me to tell you what it did to your ancestors?"

Ali wasn't joking this time, "Now, I haven't told anyone in the realm about this, but I am the very same person that killed most of your clan members in the civil war, and I can definitely teach you some of the techniques they employed, and teach you somethings about your clan that may have been lost and forgotten since those days. Think whatever you want of me, but if you want to protect me, then the way you are, you are no better than that other guy who failed to protect me every single time back in the realm,"

@lowlaville:

This time, she patiently waited for his return rather than following him. She might not have liked it, but she had learned that much, at least. And it didn't take him long to return, with a sheathed blade in his hand. She reached out a hand slightly towards it - she preferred knives, but all blades interested her. And then he named it.

Anakia drew her hand back, settled it quietly at her side. Oh, yes. She knew what it was. The sword that had destroyed her clan, and he claimed to be the wielder that had borne it. She knew the history. Every child was taught. She knew both sides, that it had been her clan who had warred against him, that he had put a stop to it with their deaths. That was one side of the story.

But the other was the second story, of how those actions had echoed forth through time. Even today, the Nightcrawler clan was bearing the brunt of that attack. They'd been brought down to few in number, a tiny population that struggled constantly just to replenish itself. It was the reason why her grandmother had borne seven children, and why she had borne them all in the cold place, even though three of them had died, unable to survive there - because she wouldn't bear a child who wasn't a Nightcrawler. Because loyalty to the clan came first - it was too small to survive otherwise.

And Anakia knew that some day she would be expected to do the same. And that for all that Ali named her a "little girl," she was old enough to begin. Her grandmother had been about her age when she bore her first baby. Her mother only a little older. Many women chose another Nightcrawler to sire their first. It was easier that way - it was too crushing, sometimes, for the firstborn to die.

But Anakia was alone here. And the only other person from the Realm was Ali Outsider. She wondered what he would think of all the still born infants. She wondered if he had ever sired one.

"I know the blade," she said, quietly, "And I know of you." Her eyes sought his, found their target. "Even you don't have the power to bring back the dead, Ali Outsider. So, I will learn from you what you have to teach me. Maybe it will be enough that some day, there will be enough descendants to inherit the knowledge and be able to choose not to make the same mistakes as my ancestors."

@interstitial:

"I know the blade," she said, quietly, "And I know of you." Her eyes sought his, found their target. "Even you don't have the power to bring back the dead, Ali Outsider. So, I will learn from you what you have to teach me. Maybe it will be enough that some day, there will be enough descendants to inherit the knowledge and be able to choose not to make the same mistakes as my ancestors."

The little girl's resolve impressed Ali. He really did not expect Anakia to take it so easily. "Your clan has started prospering and growing strong under the Blind Assassin anyway," This was true. Ever since he succeeded the previous clan leader, he had done so much good to help the clan prosper. One of the things he did was create the Shadow Corps, which has since then being accepted as Shea's primary defense force, with its highest ranking member being Blind Assassin himself. It managed all border security as well as internal security for Shea.

It may be that Micah was looking out for the clan after all. He saw the potential in the kid who when he was young, managed to stay alive when faced with Savage Dragon of the Heavenly Kings. His application of the cold halls had been unparrelaled in the known history of the Nightcrawler clan. "I'm glad you feel that way Anakia. I'll have a lot of time on my hands till Kaija is back from Portland. So maybe we can start tomorrow,"

@lowlaville:

Anakia very much doubted Ali had anything even resembling "a lot of time on his hands," from her perspective, but she knew enough not to comment on how others saw things. "Very well, then," was all she said, "We will start tomorrow. And what do you propose to do until then?" Other clans, she knew, tended to have very little in the way of patience. Always in motion, they were, moving constantly through a time they couldn't stop. She wondered if Ali had learned otherwise, in another lifetime. She didn't ask him, though. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know any more about that lifetime, and the things he had done to her ancestors back then. Outwardly, though, she remained calm. It was not so difficult a trick to master, when one knew that the cold hallways were always waiting for you, when you needed their embrace. She could hold, for as long as was needed.

@interstitial:

Ali shrugged, "Well, you have your cold halls to sleep in. You can take a tour around the town if you like," Ali produced some cash from his pocket."Take this, and don't cause trouble. Come find me if you need my help with something though," Ali then smiled, and left towards the base. It really had been an eventful day. Someone from the realm, someone he could talk to, had just come! Inwardly, Ali was a little excited, even if the girl had shown him some attitude.

For now though, it was time to sleep.

@lowlaville:

Anakia took the papers from him, not quite sure what they were, but she put them in a pocket anyway. She found where Ali was going, a different room this time, and flickered in just long enough to make sure she had a handle on where he was going to be, and then went out exploring. Ali's island - which apparently wasn't actually Ali's island - was small, and didn't take her too much time to look through. Apparently the papers were money, though, traded for items. That was good to know. Strange looking money, but at least she knew what it was. She listened in to a few conversations until she got an idea of value, and then went into an Archive building. It was technically closed at night, but that just meant there weren't any people in there. She looked through some of the books, many of which were very strange, but eventually found what she was looking for - a section on maps and geography of the Outer World.

It wasn't as big as she thought it was, at least not this part of it. Boracay. That was the name for Ali's island, she learned. Part of a bigger but still small region called The Philippines. Anakia wondered what a "Philippine" was, but results were inconclusive. She looked through the maps a little more until she'd wrapped her head around this part of the Outer World.

She still had a bit of time. On a whim, she looked up where Portland was.

Apparently there were quite a few places called Portland. That was ridiculous and unhelpful. Well. Maybe she could ask Ali for definition later. Or maybe not. He probably wouldn't want to know she'd been looking. And she wasn't sure she wanted him to know she'd been looking. She put things away where they had been, making sure everything seemed undisturbed, and left the Archives. She had a little time in the Outer World before she was supposed to meet Ali. She flickered in to his room, like she had been every few hours, just checking that he remained alive and unthreatened, but that curiosity quickly satisfied and his being asleep, she went back to the water and watched the people come out as the sun came up. She didn't really need to watch the sun, it was much like any other. But the people were different. Anakia watched them for a while. Eventually, it was time to meet Ali again.

@interstitial:

The Following Morning....

This was primarily an off-day for Ali. He had gone to meet Anakia on the same spot they had met yesterday. Since he had promised to help her out, Ali had been thinking overnight, recollecting what he has experienced in the past. One technique that the Nightcrawler Ancestor had used ages ago had really intrigued him.

Ali found Anakia waiting for him at the spot, "Good Morning Anakia, I have a technique, which you might or might not have heard of, which I'm not even sure if a regular Nightcrawler could even use. Do you wanna hear?" At this point, of course, he was merely teasing her.

@lowlaville:

She had a distinct feeling that he was baiting her somehow. She wasn't sure what sort of answer he was looking for - whether he wanted her to beg (she wasn't going to) or whether he was trying to provoke her into saying something rash. Instead, she just gave him a slight inclination of her head. "I protect and serve," she stated. Let him make of that what he would.

@interstitial:

Ali was impressed by the show of both Anakia's unwavering resolve and her loyalty. Under normal circumstances, the recipient of this question would be expected to display a host of emotions ranging from excitement, annoyance or even hatred. Anakia on the other hand proved that whatever Ali had, did not matter in the face of her one true objective. The fact that she was willing to protect and serve, even without aid from Ali as her retainer meant that nothing Ali said or did would waver her in the slightest.

More than that, Ali began to seriously wonder of the character that had stood behind her, that had raised her to the young woman who stood before him today. His respect for whoever that was had grown exponentially within this brief interaction. "Good," Ali nodded. "When I first fought that Ancestor of yours, he used a throwing technique which was absolutely horrifying. The knife itself was capable of jumping across your cold halls. Normally, only people and people carrying objects go back and forth your dimension, however back then, your ancestor was clearly able to use remote openings in and out of the dimension to strike at opponents without them being able to defend at all! He could materialize his knives right into a targets heart, and leave no trace of an external wound on the corpse. Did your existing clan archives have any mention of such a technique?" Ali inquired.

Even if it did, it was being regarded as a complete secret. Not even Blind Assassin has any record of practicing such a clean and deadly Assassin technique, and he had learned virtually all of the clan's sacred techniques. Ali's hypothesis: after the Ancestral killings in the Nightcrawler clan, the Alliance had went a step further and burnt down the clans archives so that future generations had no hope of cultivating profound techniques the clan had back then. Either way, it was entirely possible that the clan had set up backup repositories in their cold halls as a Contingency plan, where no one else could hope to touch them, and were simply guarding this secret until a future date, in order to rebuild the clans might. Anything was possible. Ali counted nothing out.

"I can only speak of the techniques. You are a genius, go figure this out on your own," Ali ended with a sarcastic note, bursting out in laughter. He didn't really fancy showing his knowledge or the fact that he viewed the world at large differently than most others did. Ali loved a carefree life. The job as a simple guard did it for him. He had a girlfriend, and a good one at that. He had people who he could call friends, even if that someone was @gargamight. And honestly, in Ali's mind, Anakia also had the potential to be one. It just remained to be seen whether or not they could get along after all. Relationships could never be forced, whether it was with a master and his servant, or the hero and his vassal, everything required time and pace to develop, and Ali was willing to give this much consideration for Anakia.

@lowlaville:

Anakia... wavered. Without Ali's speed sense, he probably would not have even noticed she had done anything at all, but she'd very quickly pulled herself into the cold realm and back out, in the same position. He would learn that she did that when she wanted time to think. As long as she didn't step out again, she had all the time she wanted to consider things, and it seemed that not a second had passed when she replied. "It's not possible, the way you think it is," she stated. "It's a violation of the Law of Shift Displacement." The way she said it implied a certain emphasis, like "Law of Thermodynamics." Anakia didn't know how much Ali knew about the scientific analyses of Nightcrawler abilities, as they weren't really something that was talked about outside of the Clan.

"Nothing can leave the dark realm at a point that intersects a solid," she supplied a definition. "You can't shift yourself into a wall, you can't shift your knife into a target, even if you're holding it. Otherwise, earlier, why wouldn't I have just come into the room with my hand on the knife and the knife already where your heart was? Atmosphere is easy to shift into. Water is... possible." She did not say it was easy. "If you're really good and a little bit crazy." She shuddered slightly. "I hate it."

Which was an admission that she knew the technique, if he read between the lines. It could also be taken as an admission that she was "really good and a little bit crazy," but Ali had a feeling she hadn't intended that. Accurate as it may have been. She was obviously thinking hard about what he'd said, though. "But on the other hand, if you could get the blade moving fast enough, there would be very little difference from a target's perspective... except that you would leave a wound." She drew a knife, moving it through her fingers. Not a threat, apparently just some sort of half-conscious habit while she thought. "I don't know."

She dismissed that line of thought, it wasn't going anywhere, and chose to focus on the other part of the idea, before she'd gotten distracted by trans-dimensional physics. "Moving a blade through the dimensions alone, though... I don't know how to move something that I'm not touching. But I can... see how it might be possible. It's like... like a sheathed knife. I'm not actually touching the knives in the sheaths, but they move with me anyway, because they're a part of how I define myself. And I can move myself into a different position, when I step through, including the sheathed knife. So, I would say it would be possible to move the knife alone... if I somehow figured out how to define the area through which it moves as part of myself."

Anakia blinked, seeming to focus back in on him and out of her own thoughts, then she shook her head at Ali. "That sounds like it requires either much more control or much less sanity. Probably both."

Doesn't take much to set it up after you've been doing it for a while. Heft around a couple slabs of armor he kept in the back of his pickup a truck. A ballistic ball launcher. Ammo. At his side was a carbine variation of the venerable M16, an M4A1, a combat knife and an M1911.

His muscles were beat thoroughly from the previous day's heavy gear hike. He can go further. He hammered and forged his body to be able to go further when it mattered, when push came to shove and there was a job that needed to get done. But job right now was to rest, recover and maintain what he already had in body and mind. No ultimate goal in mind for once.

It scared him. He could hardly bare to deviate from routine. That complacency would cost him his Profiency, that comfort would compromise the true thing that'd kept him alive through every form of war he'd been through. Tech? Pft. Tech. It only carries you so far against a race of aliens who cross lightyears in days and have ships that pop planets like grapes. Against superhumans who could pluck a merchant vessel out of the water and smack buildings with it like a baseball bat. There were people in the corporations with identical loadoats lying in the dirt right now.

Resources? Demon armies don't usually give two ****s about logistics. They don't weigh the cost of spreading magic plagues and throwing country's worth of creatures at set of small islands with nothing more than utter malevolence in mind. Neither did post scarcity societies who decided to build themselves into space. In reality, all of those mattered immensely. But everyone in their mother was an inventor-yet-idiot.

Tech and resources seemed almost commodities.

But you ask him what puts him and Maverick ahead? Skill. Tactics. Decision making. Experience. An AI and seemingly every superhuman thinks faster but that doesn't have the right mindset, making strategic blunders at mindboggling speeds! Can make a doomsday weapon to stir up fear, only for that fear to bring in revenue for him and his squad of reapers to blitz their ass and any kinda wannabe empire that came to follow. Seemed powers didn't make the man. Experienced showed him seemingly everything this world had to offer. And then the world after that. And the world after that. He could read and map not just metahumans. Not just the next punch. He could see the entire fight, the whole war, start to finish as more information came. As it all unfolded. There was little in the realm of spectacle and scale that surprised him, knowing full well that there existed beings who could bust the planet and a whole lotta shit after that into oblivion.

What surprised him was the living proof that would go against what he had seen of metahumanity. It started in STRIKE and now it showed up here. He can't really think of a time that he'd ever seen a meta so human. Hell. He hasn't interfaced with anyone in his life who'd been so human. And yet, she still was one of the most physically powerful people he'd known. It always knew, but it belayed his mind to see them as the same thing.

Now was nothing left, since he lead the STRIKE team, because the only thing he could really and truly do is chalk up the deaths of his wife n' kid to well, humanity as a whole. He'd long made resolution with the one responsible, so that wasn't a thing. There was no fire, because there was no more hate to fuel his, with all that he'd seen really. No more of what compelled him to sift through every footage of extranormal combat he had access to in the first place. No more hate, he thought. No more of a point to further prove.

Only habit, really. Programming. He was growing old, his brain subtly becoming less flexible. His skill embing itself into every neuron, combat edging itself into the fiber of his being. But why fight it? There's more than enough conflict in the world to go around. May as well die the way you live.

*CLK CLK*

The rounds span out one after another. Fifteen impacts slamming into the armor in a single second. From some yards away, the round slamming into the same exact spot on the "bulletproof" nanoforged steel again. And again. And again and again and again and again until within two seconds the armor failed, a steaming hole punched through the ballistic dummy where a man's heart would be. Sciency type might estimate that at that range, he hit with around 19,500 joules of energy total. Enough to get into an APC.

*CHK*

*CLK CLK*

The next clip was in, bolt cocked and round chambered before the next had oppertunity to hit the sand.

*RATATATATATA*

Another two seconds and the poor sod's head falls off, a lead laser moving along his neck until it'd hung one from a single strand that snapped in a moment to complete the decapitation. Messier cut, more like a hot buzzsaw than a cool katana. It however did it's job well enough. Some enemies ate headshot for breakfast honestly. He'd be damned before he let someone tell him he needed a sword to take off heads and limbs.

*CHK*

*CLK CLK*

The next target was an armored plate. Same thing but on the move. Rounds spun out at inconsistent speeds, the semi-auto setting with Brad's fingers sounding like a malfunctioning machine gun. He strafed the target getting closer as he ran to the side rolling behind cover. He looked up, another steaming hole in two inch thick steel. Bulletproof glass wouldn't hold up well as it did.

Next.

He walked up to the machine, setting it to shoot out tennis balls at some 500 MPH, and clicked the button, it giving him a couple seconds to get ready. He stepped off to the side. Aiming along the path of the launcher already. His breath steady and continuous.A thupe a

came with the launch of each of ball. *Thupe-Bang* The ball careened off a little, it's momentum deflected when the rounds punched through. *Thupe-Bang* *Thupe-Bang* *Thupe-Bang* *Thupe-Bang* He'd fallen into a bit of rhythm. The launcher set to shot out at random intervals, he still read it like he read people. A subtle movement for not even maybe a tenth of a second accompanied it's fire. Each shot taken upon his natural pause. 30 balls, fired, 30 shots. 29 of the balls had holes in them.

He loaded the machine up with more balls and walked in front of the launcher this time, his gun lowered. He sifted through the settings, his face straight and his mind amused as he set the ball launcher to lock onto him, like a turret, Maverick technology allowing engineers to do some questionable things. It's set where one hit and it turns off to prevent bone breaking.There are some recreational applications to it, and it was considered to be sold to the public among some rich and elite. Maybe some olympic athletes. Still a few hazards with it being wireless or voice actuated, with all the hackers nowadays.. Here it found application at least in training. He moved in front it, the barrel following him as he stared it down. In the swift and simultanious rotation of his heads and hip, he became a blur. *Thupe* The ball sped by at five hundred miles per hour, a subsonic speedsters fist in the Maverick Mutant Hunter's mind. *THUPETHUPETHUPE BANGBANGBANG* The balls fell to the ground and swerved off to the side filled with familiar hot holes. The launcher released more in an almost malevolent onslaught of 45 balls every half second. He dropped his M4 and fired off his handgun in it's place amidsts the barrage of killer tennis balls. Two shots missed and the last two balls were coming. Ask and onlooker? Few might have thought he teleported his knife into his hand, the balls flying by him in in neatly little pairs of fur.

His breathing remained controlled, his stamina and so far endurance untested. His chest expanded visibly, his breaths deep. Eyes wander idly along the firing range, Eric wearing the same stoic, steely expression he always wore. His eyes however went blank, his eyes staring. He can imagine the onlookers. Imagine what they would say. Some things stuck more than others.

"Hot damn man! You ain't human!"

Enlisted at 18. Never bothered with school. Went Spec War after 4 years for a good while. Jumped on the Cape-Killer train with the government not too soom after as the demand for men to go up against gods rose. The...incident. He met Maverick. Now he's here. He wants to tell himself that nearly three decades of being on-off in the shit and tens of thousands of hours expending enough ammo to kill a small country was what made him this way. But there was no way to tell at this point. He wasn't the only man with a grudge. Why was he special? How did he get thos far, to be able to do this? Where is the line? Where is the god damn line between him and them? To be honest, does it really even matter?

The phillipine sun beats down mercilessly, and he snaps out of it, breaking a sweat simply by standing there. Really, he didn't really know how long he was just standing there, knife and pistol in hand, the M4 hanging off his neck and shoulders in front of him, and mess of shiny shells at his feet, tennis balls strewn out everywhere.

The guns get set down in the truck. The larger stuff like the armor was the best to go into the truck first, him seeing it as better to get the heavy lifting done first and walks along the range, the brass off the freshly spent shells still hot on his fingers as he'd begun to pick up after himself. Didn't mind it too much though. He found that he'd left the severed dummy head, walking over to pick it up. The Grenadier Gunslinger held the thing up to his chest, looking it over and inspecting it before he chucked it without warning some distance through the air, it landing squarely in the back of the truck with everything else.

What a ****ing mess.