[u][b]Four hours before the arrival of Velocity
Salt Lake City, Utah[/b][/u]
[hr]
Silence dominated the observation deck, the eighteen men and women collected there watching as one more stood before them facing out towards the city. Fires had engulfed it across the horizon, buildings exploding from the ongoing battle raging in the region. The man who stood just inches from the glass wore an indifferent expression, merely observing. To those who waited on his every reaction, this was a disaster that was only barely being kept from becoming a tragedy by the heroism of black-clad soldiers fighting block to block to retake the city. For him, it was merely another city. His eyes had taken in the burning of hundreds just like it, the only difference was that this one was [b]his[/b].

[color=0054a6]"It is said, that Nero played a violin as Rome burned."[/color] The sudden breaking of the silence by his calm tones shook a few around the room, concerned glances shared between them. Raymond von Lüneburg turned, putting his back to the fires of Salt Lake City, and the ongoing struggle of his armies. [color=0054a6]"Popular fiction, a lie that gained prominence due to his status as a rather tyrannical Emperor. I was there with him, when Rome burned. It was his home, and where he had lived for much of his life. Nero wept upon the balcony of his palace, watching everything that he had controlled turn to ash in his hands."[/color]

A soft chuckle passed, but he was not truly amused by anything that had transpired now or then. [color=0054a6]"By that time, my own home had already been forgotten. Taken over by insidious forces like the ones besieging humanity now, and destroyed by rival powers when we were still recovering from rebellion. How many of you have watched your homeland burned to the ground before your eyes? Your country erased from the history books and changed in the name of progress? Has a single one of you even lost a city to natural disaster?"[/color]

The tension in the room was palpable as his mood soured and turned on the collective leadership of his company and the various shells that contributed. It was a modern world, and the days of the great wars were long past. Most of the people around him were in their forties, a few in their fifties and the oldest one other than him could actually claim to have lost close to as much. Reverie stood in the corner with a bemused smirk, a lit cigar held between her lips as she understood more than any of them what was at stake.

[color=0054a6]"We are besieged by forces that seek to subjugate and destroy humanity. Creatures thought to be myth have descended from the skies and erupted from the earth to attack our cities and destroy centers of power. All across the world are reports of not just the foot-soldiers, but vast beings of power thought long gone."[/color] He knew them of course, he had once tried to make a deal with one millennia ago. [color=0054a6]"Titans. They have come back to have their vengeance."[/color]

"What are we supposed to do? You've already ordered most of the garrison to the city, and unlike some areas, we've got a majority of citizens safely evacuated. We've done the best we can, considering the circumstances."

Raymond took note of the one who spoke, a man who headed up foreign operational intelligence. He was both right and wrong, all things considered. At the first sign of attack, LIS had rolled into the city in force, deploying everything they had to secure the city and protect the evacuation convoys. Some other cities across the world were lucky to have gotten mobilized in time, and a few burned before the people knew they were under attack. Yet something bothered the former priest turned warrior, and it was not just the presence of a titan nearby. He had worked for millennia in order to prepare mankind, secretly fostering conflict in order to advance weapons technology and keep the armies of the world on the bleeding edge of preparedness. Then they were attacked and it was largely down to the resistance of the powered people to defend mankind.

He turned back to the city in the distance, seeing not the valiant defense that his soldiers were making in every street, but the failure to do enough. For all of his efforts in secret, gently pushing nations to war and orchestrating events across the globe to get to this point, one singular outside force was pushing them back on their boots. It wasn't enough. None of it was. A thought had come to him that maybe it never would be enough, that they were doing the best they could. Perhaps a little more trust in Lady Arcana and her band of heroes would be what was necessary in order to prevail. No… His hands clenched into fists, a slow simmering anger rising within at the thought of simply leaving the fate of the Earth and all mankind in the hands of a girl who was barely of age and still learning to control her powers.

There needed to be more done, and it was time to stop the act. [color=0054a6]"Reverie, gather the council."[/color] His words snapped out with authority, his daughter leaving at once with a crisp salute. Control needed to be re-established, and these games needed to end. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the heads of his company, most of them all too eager to leave in the wake of his building rage. Just in time as well, for the moment the room was empty that lingering presence manifested itself.

"Ramman of Akkad." Melodic just as he remembered, with the tones that would have swayed lesser men to her will and broken them with her magics. Her face twisted and distorted into dozens that he had seen across a lifetime, body contorting to try and match even as her form sought out the one that would disorient the most.

[color=0054a6]"Theia."[/color] She was the one who had very nearly been the end of him twice before, enticing with offers that had been hard to turn down then, and he knew would be irresistible now. This time though, he knew her clearly as an enemy. That thought focused him and blocked out her attempts to sway him before she even started. A curious expression solidified on the misty features of her face, something that approached sadness and mischief at the same time.

"You're blocking me out of your thoughts… Such a shame, I had argued with the others that you could persuaded to join us, but your obsession with these lesser mortals has always clouded your judgement."

No more words needed to be said. They were enemies now, and with an explosion of raw arcane energies he lept towards her with a true word on his lips. He could not afford caution at this time, not with [i]her[/i].