[h2]C H A P T E R [s]1[/s][/h2] [b]N o t A S i n g l e S t a r[/b] _________________________________ [h3]Fort Hood, Texas —- // JANUARY 23[/h3][@Zoey White] "[i][color=black]Copy[/color][/i]" Antoine quietly muttered as he quietly crept out from the tub and slid the tacky shower curtains out of his way. The master bedroom had obviously been occupied by the person of interest that had been targeted, though even if Antoine could quietly silence the man- the whole point was to deploy the device in Akasha's possession. "[i][color=salmon]Easy in, easy out it seems. This sucks, I always get the boring missions. Thank you for the assistance Poison Ivy, I'll take it from here.[/color][/i]" Akasha hissed out in anger, quietly she opened the door of the laundry room entering the kitchen. She would then quietly kneel down unto the hardwood floor and unslung the pack from her back setting it down and unzipping it. The moment of truth, what exactly was the point of this whole mission? Akasha unveiled a metal device littered with wires, small flashing lights, and three glass phials of thick viscous red fluid. The device hummed to life and begun to spin and whir as Akasha completely activated it. The fluid would begin to distribute trace amounts of red vapor into the air. Akasha held her breath as the substance began to slowly fill the room, her hand would flatten and beckon 2 to come closer, perhaps asking for assistance? "[i][color=salmon]Push the red button once the room fills up.[/color][/i]" She quickly spat out, raising back to her feet and crawling back out of the window falling into the thorny bush thoughtlessly before beginning to cough hoarsely. She pulled the mask above her mouth and breathed in the fresh air as the smoky-unnatural flavors would be purified with that earthy Texas air. Meanwhile, 2 would not be effected by the substance. Actually, the strong smell would be alluring to her- leaving a strange sensation throughout her entire body. Antoine would stand quietly and wait for the red vapor to make it's way through the house and finally into that bedroom in particular. "[i][color=black]And that's my queue. Sweet dreams, princess.[/color][/i]" The tan gentleman spoke quietly to himself, these poor folks, just what exactly did they do to the church to deserve this? "[i][color=black]Hit the button thirty seconds.[/color][/i]" He spoke into his communicator and quietly stepped back towards the bathroom, creeping behind the curtains and making his way to the window he entered from. [hr][h3]???, Romania Midnight// JANUARY 24[/h3][@OwO] "[i][color=black]Oh my sweet 6. Everything is fine, completely and utterly fine. I called for that train after-all remember?[/color][/i]" The chubby little blonde spectacled man spoke, the expression of nonchalance plastered up his face. Within a few moments more reinforcements would begin to pull in from the south, likely having followed the car on it's way to the border. About fifty or so armed men unpacked themselves from the five utility vehicles that dregged through the snow, it was enough to even out the forces sent by whoever this attacking agency was. They coagulated themselves into formations and forced themselves forward pressing the majority of the enemy forces behind the snow train. That damn thing was a tank, refusing to even take a dent from the barrage of bullets that poured down onto it's left-facing side. The fat bastard gave 6 a quaint pat on the head, running his fingers through her hair for a few moments before returning it to his side and beginning to walk towards the large vehicular shield. Bullets would take aim at our fat bastard a few times, though he would gracefully manage to avoid them each time. Eventually he would reach the side opposing the mass of enemy soldiers at this snow-tank, the chubby little man would place his black boot square onto the long square step that ran along this side. And then, he would pull at the large metallic door opening the- And then, something in the handler's mind told him to slam that door shut. He quickly jumped down before remembering what 6 said about the assailaint she had faced. "[i][color=black]It couldn't be.[/color][/i]" He snarled, flashing his teeth, the look of unyielding anger and a psyche struggling to maintain it's composure would be plainly visible for all to see. But then, just as quickly as that look appeared- he wiped some drips of drool from his lower lip and flattened his back to the door before screaming out to the promised child. "[i][color=black]Inside the train![/color][/i]" Hearing the man scream, the psychic boy glared down in anger- another opportunity had now passed and he would need to think quickly or this opportunity would pass once again. He stared down, and struggled to speak- as he so rarely could. "[color=blue]S[/color][color=aqua]ist[/color]er." [hr][h3]Several Miles from Varkhaus, Finland [Wilderness] Midnight // JANUARY 24[/h3][@ERode] The pilot gasped as this whole interaction between himself, the child, and the gunsteel amalgamation went down. But still, even the PTSD would have to wait as the radio began to speak in German, though he was not fluent in such a language. "[color=forestgreen]Fuck it, let's head towards that gunshot.[/color]" He pointed, a look of stress upon his face. These guys weren't anything that the Saint couldn't handle but, the fact that they had gotten the intel to attack her of all people was unnerving to the man. On her front, the Saint had been making a slow predatory advance towards the sniper. He was camouflaged beneath a white ghillie suit and a blanket of snow, but this woman wasn't your run-of-the-mill mercenary. To be endowed with the title of "Saint" you must first die, this is symbolized by the church erasing all prior history of the person- sometimes they would even kill all members of their family even bleeding into the extended. Then the person must become a servant of god, simply working for the church doesn't really classify for this, you need to assist the church greatly to be considered such a thing and as such it takes a few years of hard service to accomplish. The third step is to perform a miracle, while there are thousands of rumors about this- nobody really knows what this entails but there are only a handful of saints so something near impossible being enacted would make sense. And then canonisation, which results in the being renamed to that of Saint ______. Saints are the closest thing people could relate to a promised child, they have been witnessed taking on entire battalions of people on their own. And our lovely Saint Augustine was enacting this right now, though she was definitely not suited for long range. She quickly darted behind tree after tree to avoid the sniper rounds, the cold was painful, but the adrenaline throughout her body pushed her forward for survival. Eventually she would catch a glimpse of the flash of gunfire and the woman's feet would dig deep into the ground and her eyes would momentarily glow golden. As she kicked the earth out from beneath her feet the earth would lightly for a moment, snow, roots, and rubble all flying away in her accelerated movement. To any who would see, it would seem as though she was flying- cuts forming along her face and shoulders as she swept through branches and shrubbery until eventually reaching the estimated location of the sniper. This person quickly rose to their feet, but it was too late as the Saint came down with a clenched fist to the earth below. [b]B o o m![/b] [hr][h3]St. Peterburgh, Russia Midnight // JANUARY, 23[/h3][@Rune_Alchemist][@Kazemitsu] 3's stronger explosion would actually result in greater damage than the spectator would expect, the warping the frame of the Gardna and knocking the magnetized plating clean off. However, their one-on-one strength was quite definitely not their purpose. They were a formated based attack unit, and upon seeing one of their fellow men be wounded so greatly, four of the Gardna engaged upon the shadow-wielding assassin ferociously. Their weapons were less uniform, did these machines actually have some form of sentience? Nonetheless, they slashed out with their spears in different intervals. The frontmost would follow 3's movements even noticing his use of shadows and began to reactively stab and lunge into the patches of darkness preemptively. The second would be in constant movement, patrolling the location faster than all of the other guards in exchange for the lack of any form of guard. The third held broke his spear in hald, using one half of the weapon's pole to jab into itself prying open it's core to give the light within it's body more exposure creating a sort of "body flashlight" following the first's attacking Gardna and seemingly attempting to extinguish the shadows that he attacked upon. The last one moved up to defend the wounded Gardna, was the only of the ones with personality to maintain some defensive stance and stood resillient in an attempt to stave off any incoming attacks. Meanwhile, our acid-spewing child up top would be successful in causing her opponents to fall down a level and disintegrating many of the wiring that ran through that level of ceiling which resulting in the lights on the second-floor to completely go out. What an opportune accident! This second group of Gardna would regroup as they made contact with ground once again, they formed a circle with their spears extended out defensively. [b]BEEEEEEEEEEP![/b] An ear piercing screech would be emitted at every corner of the building's speaker system, it would disorient the promised children and likely cause them a noticeable amount of pain. And then smoke, thick black clouds would roll out from every vent overpowering the poisonous vapor that flowed before. It was difficult to breath in even for these promised children, humans would likely die of asphyxiation quite quickly- how would they handle it? Probably better than your average human but it would still be rough to inhale. [hr][h3]Tokyo, Japan Evening// JANUARY 24[/h3][@Melkor] 5's keeper reached through the crowd and outstretched a hand to grasp his masquerade that was created by the wrist. She tugged at it and with her shredded lady strength would be most likely be able to lift the figure up and would begin to pull her out from the crowd. People within the crowd looked at Henrietta strangely as 5's manifestation would begin to be dragged upon the concrete away from the situation. But this whole endeavor would be cut short as the police and military began to arrive. There wasn't a lot, two HUMV's holding six agents within each. They streamed out and quickly forced their way through the crowd of now confused people. "[i]Where is this monster?[/i]" Asked one green-capped man in Japanese fatigues. "[i]IT JUST RANDOMLY DISAPPEARED! IT KILLED A BUNCH OF PEOPLE![/i]" Screamed a distressed citizen, tears wellen in their red eyes. There was indeed an entire scene of visceral, horrible, carnage stretched across the area. The soldiers grimaced and one of them with a black medical mask began to take samples of the gore placing them into small clear vials. Were they actually trying to protect the citizens or were they just conducting research? Henrietta took a few deep breaths before kneeling down and helping 5 up. She made eye contact with the disguised figure and looked at him with a stern, serious expression. "[i][color=black]You've devoured more than most of your brothers and sisters. If you don't stop, I'm going to have to end the mission and send you back to get repurposed. You probably don't remember what that means, but, I can assure you that you won't like it. So calm your god damned appetite, you fucking demon.[/color][/i]" [hr][h3]Geneva, Switzerland Midnight// JANUARY 24[/h3][@Eleven] "[i][color=black]Nope. We would've if your brother's Keeper didn't make a whole stink out of things. But now we're actually going to be heading to the battlefield, not like you care, but I actually enjoyed the laidback job we had here. We're heading north to join the effort against Russia. Gabriel said that your voracity is better suited killing heretics, so that's where we will be heading. For now, we wait for our ride- they'll take us to whatever transportation they wanna offer us.[/color][/i]" Emm was clearly angered by this whole interaction, though it was obvious that anger was not entirely aimed at the promised child but instead at the scenario. Though his indifference towards her did always seem to anger her, though, he wholeheartedly did not care about how she reacted to his personality as it was his job to watch her and maintain her safety, not make sure she's a happy camper. He mindlessly watched the massacre of the people who wandered out of the ballroom, plucking a cigarette from out of his pocket and plopping the thing in his mouth before taking a long drag of that wispy grey smoke. His eyes rolled, and then fixated on the parking lot as a smaller black car made it's way by and stopped directly before him. The man in the passenger seat quickly got out and opened the rear door facing Emmanuel and bowing to him, and then Emm quietly got into the back seat and called out. "[i][color=black]Let's go. You may actually be able to speak to one of your brothers or sisters on this mission. We'll see how my mood is.[/color][/i]" [hr][h3]Liverpool, England 01:00// JANUARY 24[/h3][@Vocab] "[i][color=gray]Because god wills it, sweet child. And as the hands of our beloved father of all, we must perform these actions without needless though. Smite down those who oppose us, burn their corpses, eat their ashes, and move on to the next. [/color][/i]" He then calmly took the fourteen's order, taking point, and he was very extra about it. He seemed to slip out of a psychological presence in reality, turning this into some sort of video games as he formed his hands into a finger gun and quietly crept towards the entrance of the docks. His stomach rumbled, he was hungry, would that be heard by these patrolling enemies? Nope definitely not, many of them were off their guard- talking amongst eachother, smoking joints, drinking. Most of the cover on their way to this location was in the form of towering stacks of aluminum and wooden crated. They worked nicely as the priest went James Bond popping behind each of the towers for cover, he would wave his hands out towards fourteen to come match his movements as he lead the charge. He would then look at her, and silently count with his lips 1.. 2.. 3... "[color=gray][i]Hello! Heathens of this dying country, God has come to save your sorry souls and take you to the golden gates of heaven. Now, join me in this accelerated salvation![/i][/color]" He flashed his teeth, shut his eyes and then aimed his finger gun at two of the mercenaries. Strangely, the people he aimed at just fell over unconscious, or perhaps they actually died? This priest was such an enigma. Upon his little act, several groups of these armed individuals began to fire towards him as he ducked back behind the nearest tower of shipping crates. Ten or so others ran towards the eastern building which had already been pretty tightly guarded, the detail had roughly doubled in size. And now it was up to fourteen to take care of the rest, his old tricks would only work the first time with this many people. [hr][h3]Berlin, Germany 01:15// JANUARY 24[/h3][@Savo] "[i][color=black]Takeout is fine, just make sure she doesn't leave the location. She'll have eyes on her for the next couple months, this is our only chance. So don't fuck this up. Drag it out if you need to.[/color][/i]" The ginger-haired handler's voice was a start contrast from 9's. Meanwhile, the grand and powerful Ms. Ridenour had just been leaving the embassy with several security details in tow. Waiting outside for them all was the French Ambassador, two other cronies, and a female mercenary hired for the ambassador's own security- poor woman. As the large group of government officials moved to their bulletproof vans, cars, truck, it was actually a pretty diverse convoy of vehicles- the chancellor would look back to an older bald man at her left before entering the large silver van that was her ride. "[i]Make sure that the shipment paperwork gets done by the end of the month. Less than a week Theodore, that's all you have, and if you don't get it done- your weapons will be dispersed among the people of Germany and that is all.[/i]" She spat angrily, her eyebrows crossing as she domineered in height over the man. "[i]Y-yes ma'am. Though, I am confused why the Americans wish for this technology anyways- I understand they plan to begin assisting the Russians soon, but don't they have their own weapons they are hoarding for themselves?[/i]" He was shrewd, or just outright terrified of the six-foot something raven-haired woman. She was quite imposing. "[i]You know how Americans are. They'll steal ideas from whoever they can.[/i]" She snickered briefly before entering her vehicle and shutting the door. And upon this notion, the convoy was off, and the chancellors vehicle held three other people. The French Ambassador whom was believed to be an informant for them, leaking intel on the church to them- which he actually was, killing two birds with one stone here. Her driver was a trusted hitman and long-time friend of the chancellor a Polish man who simply went by 'Glove', and in the passenger seat next to glove was his apprentice in the making, a young girl with a shaved head- couldn't have even been in her twenties. "[i][color=black]Fifteen more minutes, 9, do your thing..[/color][/i]" [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/5c/3b/9d5c3bfee0b95e5be7a9156f85a45a1e.gif]9's handler tapped his watch[/url].