David stared in horror and amazement and awe at the man. Horror, because what he was witnessing was some freaky shit. This man - no, this [i]thing[/i] - was herding them together with shadows that threatened to swallow them up. David stared, and saw two black orbs taking them all in, looking for all purposes like a cat with a mouse in its claws. There was a predatory, malicious satisfaction in its gaze. 

And there was the awe. David had always thought humanity was supreme, but this thing clearly thought itself superior in every way. He could read it in its body language. When it spoke, it spoke as if to an inferior. It had nothing to fear from them, it thought. It had no reason to respect them, it thought. It had no reason to care about them, it thought. And so it gave them a cage of shadows, like the beasts they were.

And it tried to drown them.

David felt the crashing waves do what crashing waves do. Crash. Directly into him. He was carried with the torrent, turned head over heels in the water. He barely managed to prevent himself from gasping for breath, an action that would no doubt have spelled his death. He pinched his nose to keep it shut as he rode out the wave, eventually being tossed on the ground. He landed hard on his right arm, and slid. He came to a stop, and took note of his situation.

He was alive. That was the first thing he had to assume. It wasn't even worth it to check that. It would only be wasted milliseconds, milliseconds that could spell the death of him or Mal or Elli or [i]everyone[/i]. Milliseconds that were more precious than gold.

His right arm hurt from him more or less landing on it, but he hadn't had much downward momentum anyways. He'd hurt it pretty good, but it was simply something he had to suffer through. However, he was no soldier, and so pain could disable him just as easily as an actual injury. Thus a precious second was wasted on suffering.

His left arm held his pistol in a death grip. His knuckles were white and pale as death himself, and more than ready to bring it.

David was a peaceful man(more of a boy, really). When he found a spider in his home, he just made sure its web wasn't in the way, and if it was a large or poisonous one he found a way to put it safely outside. At one point he'd had a burglar while he was still at home, and he'd convinced the man through simple words to just go away, with no threats of police or violence or anything. David was no warmonger. David was no soldier, warrior or killer.

But even David had his passions. And though murder was a black deed indeed, there was nothing darker and more vile than slavery. David didn't want to commit a murder, but god dammit that [i]thing[/i] had enslaved a [i]species[/i]. It thought it was doing the right thing, it thought there was no other way. It thought that this was the only thing it could do to make the world a better place.

David recognized that. He also recognized that he thought the same of his actions. Neither would back down, both were firm in their beliefs and David knew that and his soul cried out for it.

But in the end, he did not run. He did not parley. What he did was get up, raise his arms and wave them. He wanted to distract the Guardian from his frie-...from his allies, and keep that attention on himself. He was young and spry, and likely the quickest one of the group. He had serious doubts about his ability to avoid what it threw at him, but there was one simple thing that kept David confident in his plan's success.

He already knew it could bleed.

"Kalumnia nulla magis!" David cried as he aimed his pistol and fired. He was no world class marksman, and he had no doubt that despite the fact that it was not too far a distance that he had missed. Despite that, though, he had hopefully established himself as the threat to attack, and so he finished his warcry, "Volumus veritas!"