Savato

Sanctuary

Hey there, sorry if my last posts looks quick and lacking in character, it's hard to get things to work right here in China (I'm having my vacation there aha). Internet is slow and it's a pain to get many sites to work. Anyhoo, I've tried to make many openings for people to react and blow more stuff up if that pleases anyone. c:

Sanctuary

Nice and easy now.

The massive Albatross ship created a shadow in the already dark skies over Kell. The many computers in the main control room were acting irregular ways, capturing readings of powerful energy spikes never recorded recent history. Nearing the concerned area, many targeting systems locked themselves on the flashing battlefield engaging two different hosts apparently fighting each other. The large amount of movement and distance made it too hard for the crew to have an adequate look over the situation.

The Major, sitting with one leg astraddle over the other, supervised the entirety of the operation in the very same control room. She had, more or less, shut out her Kage so she could focus on her own as to what move she would do next. She could go in herself with the entire ship as backup or send the new toy she had acquired to do everything for her. There was also the mysterious shuttle signal they had picked up which needed some investigation as well. Sitting herself straight, she finally addressed her crew.

"Cover the targets' skies and send our experiment to retrieve them. RETRIEVE. Got it? Then I want two teams on the nearby signal. I don't want to waste a host on potential bullshit. Got it?"

She asked with the usually cold voice combined with an unfitting smile and a passive stare toward her main operator. The man felt slightly uneasy, unnerved by the idea that he couldn't tell if she was calm, happy, angered, bored or even depressed. Her reputation didn't help the man's stress, but he executed the orders perfectly.

The giant of metal floated over the two fighters as one was nearing the destruction of the other as the female host's defenses seemed to reach their limits. The dwarfing shadow covering the whole field around the two would be enough to spike anyone's attention, the deafening screeches of the engines only added to the imposing presence. Just as the Albatross had stopped, a black pod was immediately dropped from it and crashed about two hundred meters from Blake's last location. The impact itself made the earth shake just a bit, but the manipulated host inside was intact. The pod's cover burst to leave the monster an entrance to the scene and exact the orders it would be given.

Meanwhile, two teams of five well trained and heavily armed soldiers entered a single transport shuttle attached to the mother ship. It was directly heading for the illegal shuttle used by the Golden Mercs. to escape Sovereign. Their orders were to apprehend hosts, but lethal force was more than authorized in many cases.

Carol-Ann spectated, feeling like she was invincible in the sky, waiting for an opportunity to strike as well and take what she could. But before she could rejoice from the pleasure of watching hosts fight for their lives, a report came in on her holopad. As she opened it, she could notice a very recent police report. Fugitives resisting arrest in a local club. At first, she didn't notice anything interesting, however the details on their sudden escape peaked her interest. Perhaps she had struck a gold mine, however she already has a handful in the current situation. But secretly she craved an extra challenge for extra reward, as would any greedy sociopath.

Sanctuary

Merry Christmas from France everyone! I assure you we're handling the lack of shelter many snails are forced to live in this cold period of the year, giving them a WARM and COZY place to stay! That and baguettes.

Any Koreans to protect poor puppies left astray in the cold streets of Seoul?

I'm disgusting, I know. Hope you all have a great time with your close ones!

Sanctuary

Wh... What.. ?!

Fifteen minutes after falling into a random snooze, the caffeine from the coffee stimulated her being. She brutally woke up upon feeling her abdomen being stabbed as if she was greeted by the sensation the instant she started sleeping. The shock caused her to jump in fright and her hat to fall off her head. Her neck had gotten sore from the sudden movement and her head ached for a minute or two.

"Ugh... Not this again." She rubbed her eyes with her gloved hand, combining this action with a short and weak yawn.

'Did you fall again? Or did something kill you?' asked the Kage now manifested on the desk before her.

"I thought you could read my mind and thus look into my dreams."

'I can, only if you let me. I can either talk to you and you'll hear me or you can choose to share your thoughts with me.' he explained, though he could recall explaining this before, or maybe the idea seemed a bit too obvious for him to bother to explain earlier.

"Uh-huh."

She got up from her seat, dropping her white coat in that same action so it could lay neatly on the leather chair. She didn't want to wear it anymore as it was covered in her blood, especially on her right sleeve. Her shirt was relatively clean and only had a lone stain around the bullet hole. She'd be able to conceal it with a new coat she'd righteously search for in the large locker next to the couch. This time, she took a black coat, giving less contrast with the black tie she was wearing but it gave her a rather grim appearance. The only once of white remaining on her body would be her gloves and the shirt behind her coat. Once dressed, her office's door was abruptly opened without a single knock by a subordinate officer, apparently with urgent news.

"Major Keifers ma'am. Apologies for barging in but you were not answering your paging on your computer."

Carol-Ann wasn't immediately sure how to process was going on. She felt like it would be appropriate to lash out on the man, but on the other hand she didn't check her messages because of her on-duty nap. She didn't want the man to question her reasons for not replying, so she simply acted as anyone else would.

"Alright. What's the matter?"

"A drone under the Kell Police Department reported a high level of suspicious activity and a mass of spiritual energy being manifested in the area. Host presence is almost guaranteed." Reported the stout officer, standing stiff and stoic at the office's entrance while informing the major.

"Oh?" Carol-Ann's expression reverted to the typically calm woman with an ambiguous curiosity. She walked slowly toward the officer, ruffling her somewhat messy hair to set it straight again.

"Indeed. We've also managed to scan the area and we've noticed a signal similar to the one emitted by the Golden Mercenaries' crafts. Usually we couldn't be able to detect one of these without pinpoint tracking, however the current activity there made the search much easier."

The deranged woman chuckled in happiness toward the piece of intel she was being shared. Without even stopping her regular gait, she passed the officer and stepped out of her office. The man was a bit puzzled with what she had just done, unsure if he was dismissed or if he was going to be asked something. Like many officers, he knew what were the hunters, and he knew who Major Keifers was. Thus he didn't move an inch. She simply left him, without saying a single word, and marched toward the hangar.

"George, get my guys in the Albatross in one minute... And also, I think it's about time we get some field testing going. Bring tentacle boy." She ordered via her holopad watch to an old, fat man set in the main control room of the base.

"Hyehye, alright m'lady, eight cats and a rabid comin' right up!"

Her solemn posture had not changed during her quick stroll through the enlightened corridor leading to the hangars. Once in the large space filled with many vehicle parts and parked shuttles, she'd immediately notice the gargantuan white ship parked in the center of the building. It was the Albatross, a transport-type shuttle used to carry a large number of soldiers and occasionally used as reinforced security for top priority packages. In this case, she was bringing her squad of eight along with a crew of twenty basic soldiers whom the presence was currently mandatory during Host field testing.

She entered the large ship and took her spot in the control room, supervising the two pilots of the huge piece of metal. The former Roy and now slave of the M.A.T was loaded in while kept in a titanium pod for security reasons, accompanied by the escorting soldiers. Everyone was in the cargo ship, ready to take action. Carol-Ann now only needed to confirm the need for intervention. There wasn't a doubt, such readings and supernatural events combined with the previous stolen ship landing near that same area would easily justify the current means. As she inserted a specific code on the hologram formed before her, the two pilots had the authorization to take off.

The flying Goliath took off without a second to lose, propelling itself at great speeds toward Kell. This shuttle was the smallest class of heavy transport ships, effectively making it the fastest way to bring along multiple squads for interventions. It wasn't going to be too long before it would near the skies of Kell's territory, and anyone who wasn't deaf could hear the dwarfing ship nearing the space above them. Meanwhile, Keifers had ordered the nearby ground troops of Kell and the local police to stand down and wait for her next orders. The Albatross was going to impose fear to the hosts who knew what the military would do to them, and the more easily intimidated of the bunch would inevitably make a glaring mistake.

Sanctuary

God damn it!

The mad major kept rewinding the events in her mind, the instant she almost lost to a common man with a little more power than he should have had. The wound on her arm stayed as a crude reminder of her pointless arrogance and recklessness. She wasn't angry out of fear of barely escaping death, actually the concept of death had lost any form of intimidating impact on her psyche the instant she discovered the origin of Kages, but at the idea that she was actually vulnerable for an extended period. Taking damage was one thing, but being shot from behind was pure shame to the egocentric woman.

Carol-Ann bit the tip of her white glove, a reflex of a nail biter undergoing a certain amount of stress, as she supervised the prisoner she was dragging back to the Baron base so the scientists there could play doctor on the wounded host. She glared at the unconscious man's body, the burning desire to continuously make his body explode after fighting him once more pushed her near the limits of her self-control. Luckily, the transport shuttle had landed at the base at time to distract the leading woman. Soldiers evacuated the test subject from the transport vehicle while Carol-Ann headed immediately to her designated office in the area.

With her eight man squad dismissed, she remained in her office, lying on the recently bought leather couch set against the upper right hand corner of the room. The coffee machine on the adjacent table was running as she ran her hands on the seemingly disinterested face.

'Why are you so fixated on the outcome of the fight? It isn't like I was going to let you die there anyway...'said Morel, finally manifesting himself completely in her mind, taking the form of a small blue jay on the girl's military cap. It took her a few seconds to reply to the Kage.

"I hate losing. I love winning. But I loath the idea that such an inferior piece of shit has the freedom to go down whenever he wants. If I could I would..." She'd clench her fists before pounding her gunshot wound rather violently with the balled fist. A little squeak could be heard coming out of her mouth in response to the pain. She didn't like pain, but it was an effective way to cool down when she knew perfectly that a fit of rage would cause her trouble.

After a few minutes, she looked at the clock placed on her work desk, only to realize the day had past already and it would likely be getting dark out soon enough. She grabbed the mug she had prepped earlier for coffee and sipped from it. She didn't like coffee too much, and she tended to avoid drinking it, but she couldn't deny the boost it could give to her. Along with her drink she turned on the computer integrated in the desk, employing the surveillance service she had access to in order to witness her latest victim's torment and reduction to animal levels. She could only smirk at the sordid fate the gangster would meet, but such sadism wasn't fun unless she was the dominating antagonist in the story.

A flashing, green light captivated her attention on the edge of the screen, prompting her to click it via the touch screen. The window that opened was a report concerning the shuttle she had ordered to tail via GPS location. Apparently the last known trace it left was that it landed thirty minutes away from Sovereign and that it was in Kell's territory, though it would be impossible to locate anyone in the surrounding areas filled with flora and virgin grounds no one would bother to search in in great detail. Carol-Ann sighed, out of annoyance but of relief as well.

'Your mood changed quickly. You're much prettier when you're not angry, Carol-Ann...' complimented the spiritual creature, still standing on the woman's cap.

"These assholes I have to chase, they'll probably stop somewhere not too far. Problem is, it's a big world out there. I really can't bother to lose my shit over pointless duck hunting." She yawned and took a long sip on her still hot coffee.

'... Do you think our main target is permanently dead, Carol-Ann?'

"Dead or not, it's our job to stick a bullet between his eyes to confirm." she responded with an adamant and monotone voice, almost as if the main objective wasn't what was preoccupying her the most.

'Hmmm. Something's troubling you. And you're never worried about work.' stated Morel, his bird head couldn't really express emotions but his voice held enough to express genuine concern for his host.

"Concentrate on regaining your spirit energy. That's all you're good for right now." she coldly ordered her Kage, lowering her cap just so she could cover her eyes before resting her back against her leather seat so she could get the most comfortable position possible. She quickly drifted to sleep, taking one of those power naps she seemed to enjoy after training or after work before all of this began.

Sanctuary

Collab between Sage and Savato - Pride and Wrath

---

Someone's in a hurry...

Keifers' slow movements had likely spared her a lot of problems as the target host had arrogantly launched an attack directly at the queen piece of the squad, and considering the speed of the assault one could easily assume the morbid intentions of the fugitive host. She had only started to take out her foot as the reinforced door had been pierced clean by the raging appendage, slipping right under the girl's shoe. Though, it wasn't like it was 'close' in any way, she had a large, tinted window right before her which allowed a clear vision of the man's movements. She had anticipated the offensive approach with his sudden movements, and could calculate with relative ease that the tentacle was aiming low enough on the door to proceed in stepping in anyway. The vile woman chuckled, slightly surprised as to how violent that man was, that same man who showed pity to a worthless sodier, everything got so very interesting.

One of the accompanying elite soldiers had the reflex to deliver a wave of three shotgun shots on the now stiff tentacle used to pierce the door, in hopes of severing it in half.

The shotgun shots blasted the tentacle a short distance away, ripping off small chunks of flesh as it did so. A faint screech could be heard as the tentacles were hit, as if the appendages were alive. Damian quickly withdrew the tentacle, and spun, slashing at the line of soldiers with a sweep of a newly emerging tentacle. The force of the attack was enough to take down a tree, and while it did threaten to crush the soldiers, it also left Damian locked in his spinning momentum.

"Sergeant, please do with the other two~ Now."

Keifers was now slightly reluctant with the idea of stepping out so early in the game, after all the squad appeared to do just fine without her anyway. As for the soldiers in question, well the guy who previously shot down the first tentacle was also the first one to get sweeped by the tentacle's attack, followed by the closest one after him. The rest had just enough time to drop down with their weapons still pointed at the man, the other two, thanks to their armor, took little damage but were thrown rather far away nonetheless.

The diving sergeant had pointed the transport tank's main canon toward the mass of logs used to hide Damian's buddies, threatening to blast them away with a single explosive shot. The simple movement of the canon and the screeching noise that followed made the intent rather obvious to the opposing host.

"Oh wait! Don't shoot just yet!"

Ordered the sadistic major, fully seated on the passenger's seat as she spectated the soon to be bloodbath she'd orchestrate no matter the outcome.

Damian, having completed his spin, panted as he looked on in a steadily rising rage. He noticed the M.A.T point its cannon towards where his two men were hiding. His expression quickly reduced to a more sober, unagitated one as he realized just what was happening. 'All of that for nothing. Great,' he thought. 'Hope my poker face hasn't gotten any worse.'

"HA! Is that it?!" he spat at the squad. "AY FRECKS AND TIZZ, YOU BETTAH RUUN!" he cried in a bout of near-maniacal laughter as he shook his hands to relax his muscles. While he continued to stare down at the metal hulk before him, two tentacles slowly slithered out of his forearms, ready for whatever move the squad made.

"And we got him~ Good job Sergeant. Now keep quiet."

She hopped out of the vehicle in an agitated manner in contrast to her previously slow movements. She was a little moe motivated now that she had a dominant position in this very situation. The opposing man could easily notice the only female individual of the M.A.T without a form of body armor walking in the open and straight toward him. Hands behind her back, she attempted to look as solemn as possible, knowing that the man before her was no pushover.

"Hello. I'm Major Keifers. I sure hope this laugh of yours is proof of your surrender. Well, quite honestly, I'm just waiting for an excuse to send your friends back to Kingdom come and beat the hell out of you in the process."

Her arrogant stature and wording didn't make her sudden speech any more enjoyable combined with evil threats. She wanted him to burst, to justifiy her every inhumane act to the higher ups in the army. And most of all, she wanted to crush him. Step by step, the gap between the two individuals closed, leaving little amount of time for Damian to make up his mind.

"Surrender isn't in the Roy vocabulary," Damian said with a sly smile. He didn't feel fear, but he knew in the back of his mind that every second he spent letting his pride fuel his actions was a second closer to his possible demise. He wasn't thinking strategically; this wasn't the ideal route he had planned for he and his men. But that didn't matter anymore. "And what's stoppin yah? An eye for an eye, right? Might as well take those two chumps; you and your whole squad seems like a fair trade!"



He then jabbed his left hand forward, shooting a tendril straight towards the woman's torso, aiming to pierce through her. The attack was quick and straight on, with enough force to render any attempt of blocking it useless.

The men behind her were still ready to react when needed, and these were one of those situations. Keifers wasn't too worried even if they were not to react accordingly, but the title 'elite' wasn't just decoration. They were on the ground, weapons aimed at the man, so of course as he aimed his arm toward their superior, Damian's arm would be greeted with three high caliber shots, one missing and the others tageting directly the elbow and forearm. Another one aimed for his knee, which was a rather easy target considering the man's lack of movements.

Nonetheless, Keifers swiftly drew out her Kinetic infused knife from behind her back and with that same movement would be used to block the tentacle. Because of the Kinetic core's attributes, once the tentacle would have contact with the blade if the shots wouldn't be enough to derive the trajectory of the attack, allowed her to deflect such a strong strike without too much problem.

"That sounds like a shitty deal, even for a gangster. Last chance before your buddies become collatoral damage~"

"FUCK!" As Damian's tendril was swatted away by the shots and kinetic field, he followed the force of the impact and spun once again while his tendril shot back into his arm. He felt a bullet graze his leg, and it was enough to cause his knee to buckle. However, he fluidly fell to the knee that was nearly hit by the shot and fired off his second tendril, aiming past the woman. The tendril flew past the unarmed lady walking towards him and split into its three constituent fibers which aimed for three diferent soldiers.

'I suppose he's telling me to go screw myself.'

She thought to herself as he spun around like an enraged monkey. Morel was silent, not even uttering a single gasp in the woman's mind. He was in reality petrified with fear that his beloved host would die by the hands of the abomination she was facing. Once Damian landed, the Major had her knife ready in her right hand so she could counter the same type of approach. However his targeting was suspicious, he wasn't aiming toward her, the angle was way too off considering how close they were she could deduce that rather easily.

As she let the tendril go pass her, still ready to block it sideways if he were to go creative, Keifers could only guess he was aiming for the weaklings behind her. The sporadic shots in reaction to the tentacles charging at them were proof of that, however they were caught by surprise and couldn't even land a single shot right with stupor keeping them disoriented and the fact that they had to be careful to not shoot their boss. Keifers giggled, apparently satisfied that he gave her such a wonderful opportunity. Before the tendrils had reached the men, her free hand flattened, only to hurl a second later a speedy orb toward the divided mass next to her. By that time the soldiers were screwed, but the speedy orb shot at near point blank range had hit two of the tentacles simultaneously. The effects were absent, and to anyone who didn't know Carol-Ann's abilities this seemed strange. The tentacles had become bombs, bombs that would detonate in a cloud of blood and flesh in about five seconds.

Damian could feel a disturbance in his spirit as his tentacles were invaded by some sort of outer force. However, it wasn't before each tendril had latched onto three separate soldiers. It took no longer than the five seconds for him to have gained control of two soldiers behind the woman, shooting a barrage of rounds from their firearms at the unsuspecting enemy's back. In a mixture of explosion and gunfire, Damian screamed as his tendrils were reduced to disintegrating masses of flesh, while the storm of bullets still flew towards the rear of the woman without armor.

Many of the shootings had stopped, which was what she expected from the man's assault. People acting strange after coming into contact with him, it wasn't too difficult for the field tactician to notice what was Damian's intention here. As the men turned their guns toward their boss, ready to fire down at her, a blue wing had taken shape on her back, almost as if it was always there but only revealed itself now. The swarm of bullets would consequently touch the wing as it responded with a weak, forward jerk. The air pushed by that miniscule movement had turned into explosives, creating a bizarre and one directional explosion at the direction of the rest of the swarm of bullets.

The release of pressure was strong enough to stop the remaining bullets on their tracks while the first wave left a few holes on the wing used in this scenario. Morel's spirit energy was used to slowly fill up these holes. Following this, the tentacles had exploded as planned.

'Jeez this guy's not letting go. Glory to the pirated personal cams, don't you agree Morel?'

The creature in her was just as terrified as before, since it risked both their lives once more. The fearless yet reckless major had been spared the burden of a gunshot wound by the data she gathered earlier throught the dead soldiers' cameras, but this was also the reason why she was so reckless. She had enough intel on his abilities to figure out, more or less, what certain feints would lead to. Hidden behind the cloud of blood from the tentacles' self-destruction, she launched her being toward the agonizing man, knife in hand and attempting to sever his unscathed arm with one clean vertical slice.

While Damian had been clutching his arm in pain, he noticed the woman's dash and prepared for the worst. He instinctually shot his free arm up, shooting a tendril in her general direction while he attempted to turn away from her.

"Gotcha now."

His reaction was the reason she had her blade up, but as it came to contact range, she did not hit it with the blade. Her timing was off, oddly enough, causing her knuckles to hit the tentacle instead. Her arm had appeared to be shot from the assault he had previously performed. She didn't feel the wound from the gunshot until she employed her arm so swiftly, likely due to adrenaline. But it didn't make much of a difference in the end. As her weak fist hit the tentacle, the air between her flesh and the apendage had turned explosive with the motion she had just performed. A force strong enough to stop bullets and push away heavy men had befallen the sporadic tentacle, ending it upwards as it followed the movement's direction.

The threat was now handled and an opening was made. With her next step, she'd created an explosion from her feet, projecting her body in a much faster speed than anyone would expect from her. Her end goal was to sever the arm he had just used to counter her, with her knife.

Damian's right arm was blown back, and his left arm lay limp on the other side, exposing his entire front to the oncoming attacker. Time seemed to slow for him as he felt himself nearing failure with every passing second. 'Let me have it, Damian, came the chilling voice of Triliq. Damian's eyes widened and he felt a lump forming in his throat. He didn't want to, but he felt he didn't have a choice anymore. 'GIVE ME CONTROL DAMIAN!' In a final moment of acceptance, Damian closed his eyes.

As his arms were flung back, his entire body trembled and jerked in a flash in which hundreds of tendrils exploded out of him, seeming to come from unseen pores spread across his body. He became the central point of a large, piercing web that shot a tendril in each and every direction, cutting through anything that stood in each tendril's way. The tendrils stretched far until they latched onto the surface of a tree, and what remained was Damian's aching body, suspended in air, void from the damage.

The strike from the Kinetic knife had done no damage to the opponent, but at least it insured no damage from the abomination's body. The forward projection she had performed on herself allowed her to control her landing a few feet behind the man's previous position as she turned around to face Damian's new aesthetic.

"Hah. Aren't you an ugly freak. I guess it fits parasites like you. Morel, give me both wings in case I'd need them."

The creature's silence was proof of consent. But she did not use both wings, actually they were both absent at the current time. Keifers wasn't too sure as to what she would have to do here, it was quite obvious he was revealing something new to her as she previously thought he was limited to his arms. Taking a bullet wouldn't be an option this time, she had to be clean about her method. Patiently, she waited for him to show something she could exploit, otherwise she could simply solicit the tank and shoot the suspended man down.

Damian groaned in pain as he felt his spirit drain rapidly. 'You won't have long to escape. Use the farthest tendrils behind you to slingshot yourself away, then yo-'

"NO!" he cried out to his kage, though his voice could be heard clearly around him. "I'm tired of running...."

The tendrils slowly began to retract back into his body, and he fell down, onto his knees. "Ego cecidi..." he said softly.

She couldn't believe it, was he serious? She clenched the wound on her armed arm rather tightly with her free hand so she could confirm this was true and she wasn't completely doused by insanity at this point.

"Are you serious? A gangster pansy talking like he's some kind of wounded warrior."

She didn't seem as playful or happy as she was when this all started. She was ecstatic when she could finally brawl again and bring about destruction in order to prove her dominance. But he kindly submitted when things were getting deadly, he had enough while she wanted more. She grazed her teeth against each other, barely swallowing her anger.

"Fine then."

As she stored away her knife, she picked up the pistol on the same belt befoe pointing it at the man.

"I'd kill you if this was Sovereign a year back..."

She had wasted no time, as she uttered the first half of her sentence, she had shot twice at the man's knees, aiming both bullets perfectly on their designated targets. The lightning infused land bullets were the most damaging of bullets, working as fragmented pieces of metal once they hit something. Damian cried out as he felt the bullets ravage his kneecaps and muscles. "FUUUUUCK! AGH! MY FUCKING...UGHHHHH!" He clenched his teeth at the pain keeled over, quickly losing feeling in his lower legs.

"... But I gotta assume my responsibilities, ya' know? You must be familiar with that."

She claimed, finishing the job by giving the exact same treatment to his elbows, or at least she did her best to pop them as they were evidently smaller targets. Her words were in synch with the man's cries of pain, as if she were completely immune to any form of empathy one could feel in such a predicament. The man could see the lack of care in her eyes, she only focused on the message she was passing on to him.

"So. Eye for eye, huh? That's how you work? That's the kind a thing only a victor gets to say, my friend."

She stored away her gun, there wasn't anymore use for it unless she were to burst in a fit of rage and execute him almost randomly. The soldiers swiftly caught up to the two fighters, weapons all pointed at the menace who appeared to be down for good. One slowly approached in an attempt to taze the agonizing man behind the neck, hopefully knocking him out cold.

'I hate you, Damian,' came the angry voice of Triliq who began to sift through Damian's mind. Damian didn't say any more. As his vision slowly began to fade and he fell forward, he looked to the side to see his men having run off safely. Despite the pain, he managed to crack a weak smile before passing out and hitting the ground with a thud.

Indeed everyone was more focused on Damian and forgot about the two weaker targets, even the driver sergeant was more preoccupied by the situation at hand. It wasn't like they were lost, if they wanted to they could locate the rare few living creatures with humanoid traits running about in this forest, but they had more important matters to attend to. Notably, the medic oriented soldier, one of the few that didn't get any damage, had quickly joined the major's side to patch up her arm fast enough. Keifers was infuritated, her teeth clenched and her cheeks red. Things didn't go as she wanted.

Once the path finished, she waved her soldiers to escort the prisoner back to the tank. She took her own good time to sit herself back in the driver's seat in the tank. Despite having a hole on the door, she was too caught up by wrath to even care. The orders were to return any captured host, and so she would do just that. A few minutes later, they would arrive back at the improvised military camp. The military personel would handle the rest from there.



Damian was half awake when he felt himself chained up, the sound of metal doors slamming shut nearly waking him entirely. He could barely make out the voices he heard as the whirring of some sort of machine began echoing in the metallic room.

"The new shipments arrived. Prototypes for the new collars, wanna bring them in?"

"Yeah, let's try that. He's already weakened."

"Alright, we have to save one for Cronus though."

"We'll just give the collar a single attempt. If he doesn't budge, then we'll have to resort to much harsher measures."

Sanctuary

Welcome to the Sanctuary Club, Rockface! :D

Hello Sage o;

Hello Skai C:

Sanctuary

Everything feels so perfect...



What marched out of the armored machinery was none other than a squad of eight fully armored, armed to the teeth, masked soldiers serving as a form of "sub-hunter Vanguards" all with different sizes and different types of weapons. Their goal was simple, to assist a commanding hunter during such critical and messy times. The entirety of the cast had white armor, similar to the Major's outfit although with the extra steel enhancements. Keifers had this small, innocent grin as she felt everything was under control, she could feel the lives of these men dancing on the palm of her hand. She felt powerful as they all aligned themselves before the young commander, body straight and in a salute, not even the cold wind left by Mathias Winters could make them budge. Luckily for them, the recent calamities had reduced the cold wind's influence, and thus no snow was to be found along with that frigid breeze. She saluted in return, signaling that they could rid themselves of their current posture and follow her next orders.

"Jay division, I do not think I have to remind you all our objectives. Out of the multiple leads we have gathered, our first target wi-..."

All of a sudden Keifers' holopad stated to vibrate again before automatically broadcasting the nearby military relays. Not too far from the clinic's location just out of the city near the remains of the wall were fugitives being pursued by regular soldiers. Keifers' couldn't help but be intrigued by this event, so intrigued that she considered postponing the tailing of the stolen shuttle and instead handle what was nearby to start off. There wasn't any big rush until the shuttle actually landed, which wasn't the case for now. Happy, she clicked a button on the little piece of metal on her wrist so she could mute the watch and focus on what she had decided. She looked back at the still immobilized infantry who were awaiting their orders.

"As I was saying, our first target shall be those nearby fugitives. Any objections? Good."

She only expected complete cooperation from them, any failure of any sort wan't the kind of thing they would want to do in her command, especially when they knew how notoriously merciless she could get if anyone would dare to contradict her. They all jogged back in the transport tank while the young leader walked up to the front and took the shotgun seat next to the driver, she wasn't going to sit around all encumbered by lower ranks again. She gestured the driver to start the vehicle and follow the destroyed the road leading to the exist of the city, toward he forest. As the tank started, a new report came in indicating they had trapped their targets but one of their soldiers turned against them, forcing the backup squad to finish off those in front of them. Using special access with her Major's rank, she used the integrated cameras in the patrol units' bodies to have a clear view of the scene. She was amazed by the view of the man simply slaughtering the remaining few soldiers, especially when their confirmed his status as a host.

"My my, we're definitely not wasting our time now, right sergeant?~ Get there on the double."

She coldly ordered the driver after soliciting him in a rather warm and playful way, as if she purposely shifted moods just to unnerve the man and give him a false sense of security around her before she showed her teeth. The tank easily went through the massive debris all over the area and crossed the ruins of the wall in less than a minute, by then Keifers could witness the host dangle the remaining soldier as if he were bullied by a tall highschool kid. This was all too hilarious for her, and just made her even more excited. Her expression would shift into a frown, however, as the last one was spared out of the blue. It disappointed her, like an unfinished job that just appeared as a stain to the work that was done. The tanks speed was effective enough to swiftly arrive at the are about twenty seconds after the releasing of the soldier, whom stumbled down after crossing paths with the massive tank. The host could hear the massive metal monstrosity approach as it consumed the trees in its way with absolutely no effort with the use of a wind core set at the front of the vehicle. Anything touching the vehicle's front and sides while it was in motion was cut about 2cm in.

Arriving at the scene, the tank stopped where all the bodies were laid waste. It just stayed there, without anyone coming out of it. For those that would be scouting it outside, they would find it odd that nothing would happen, but in reality they were scanning the area with thermal and x-ray radars. Keifers wasn't going to give her green light just yet, she wanted to confirm how many fodder were there and just how dangerous could this host actually be. She signed as she pressed the orange key adjacent to her seat, causing the tank's trunk to open and release the elite soldiers into the field. All of them armed and pointing their guns at the direction of the scans' results. The Major slowly reached out to her corresponding door's handle and gently opened it for the upcoming conflict would be a difficult one if she didn't handle it carefully and without her direct intervention.

Sanctuary

Skai said
Great post, Savato!

Thanks! :D I hope the background music was fitting enough.

Oh, yeah some characters will definitely need safety. Wouldn't want happy users to lose their precious chars now. No safe card for me considering the antagonist position, then. o;

Sanctuary

Released, finally.

It took multiple months for Carol-Ann Keifers to finally obtain the white card for pretty much any activity regarding military activities. Until the end of the recent battle in Sovereign, she was kept secluded in a nearby underground base for initiation and examination, after all the division she was going to integrate and in which she'd lead a flock of highly trained individuals wasn't in any way a pushover. So the army had to be absolutely certain of her capabilities both in physical capacity and psychological prowess. She was undoubtedly effective in combat and her body was in peak condition, as we would expect from such rigorous training. As for her mind, she was determined to be the perfect candidate to carry out the most perilous of missions in the name of the military force. A person without the ability to feel remorse, that wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on anything without a single objection. It was finally time for the high officials to test out their new tool by launching a new Hunters program to replace the losses recently accumulated through the inevitable tragedies that occurred.

Major Keifers was travelling to what was left of Sovereign's desolate field using the typical military shuttle. Normally a higher ranked officer such as herself would have a slightly different type of means of transport with a cabin reserved for the highest ranking, however given the many losses and the need to keep certain activities incognito, the Major had to do with sitting between two fully equipped cleanup soldiers. Most were armed with electrical devices, likely used to subdue the majority of prisoners captured during the great battle. In contrast, Carol-Ann wore a simple white attire that looked like any other higher ranking officer's, a black tie, golden buttons on the vest, a cross on her belt's golden broach, a perfectly matching white skirt, black stockings and finally fancy white boots going up to half of her lower leg. She wore white gloves and a black military cap showing Gaia's military emblem. She waited patiently, her leg astraddle on her opposing one, never addressing a single soldier until they had arrived.



Once landed, she was the first one whom the silhouette would appear as the shuttle's door slowly opened itself. Outside she was greeted by a group of soldiers saluting her accordingly as she stepped down and followed the commanding officer of the welcoming squad. Her blue eyes scrutinized the surroundings, and she couldn't help but giggle at the sight of all the destruction that had happened. She could only imagine the wonderful carnage that she had missed, the endless destruction she could have brought if the military wasn't so stubborn on their choices. It appears that the shuttle had landed in the North-East part of the gargantuan city, next to other parked means of locomotion. Not too far away were multiple unconscious individuals attached and supervised as if they were being prepared for something. One by one, Carol-Ann could see two or three soldiers carry one of these prisoners to shuttles. It smelled like war, like a year back where she felt more alive than ever. She felt bad for missing out on this, but she knew there would be more, it was inevitable, the rules of the game of life had changed drastically.

After about five minutes of walk through many alleyways cleared and guarded by soldiers due to the streets being in complete and utter ruin, the Major and her escorting soldiers were a few steps away from the tactical camp set by the army. There Keifers was to get briefed on the situation at hand, receive definite orders and given the necessary tools to complete the objectives. There were about two hundred military members in the makeshift base/clinic they mad out of the damaged local clinic , surrounding it only with tents and checkpoint gates. Carol-Ann appeared very patient, or was it that she simply was grasping the air of destruction in the atmosphere of Sovereign, she could smell the blood in the air as if there was a haze of red similar to the way she'd turn flesh into an explosive material. It was soothing but dangerous aggravating at the same time. Before walking into the tents, she noticed her holopad watch vibrating ever so lightly. As she clicked unlock switch on the item, a small hologram formed to indicate the anomaly detected. It appeared that the shuttle she was associated to had left without her being on it nor her pilot actually notifying her. She was aware, however, that he'd be at the disposition of the other officers in need, but she remained the superior and she had to be notified of everything. Obviously something wasn't right.

She grinned, completely halted in front of a tent. It wasn't uncommon for soldiers to have integrated cameras as would most peace keepers in cities in order to justify acts of violence toward civilians. In the case of soldiers, it was used not only for that but to also monitor their actions, that way there were little risks of betrayal within the lower ranks. By looking through the camera's lens via wireless connection, she could see that the corresponding pilot was downed along with the other solider present. To take down two trained soldiers, the individual piloting the shuttle was probably far from being some random amateur. Was he part of the group of fugitives? Or was he alone? Either way, chances were that it'd be useful to follow him and possibly obtain something. The silent Carol-Ann closed her eyes for a lapse of three seconds, enough time to release a weak chuckle of mockery, upon realizing how easy her job was getting with the targets doing such impulsive acts.

"Looks like someone is just begging for trouble. Will you show them your graceful dance, Carol-Ann?" Asked the creature bound to the major's being, taking the form of a Blue Jay but only manifesting in her mind.

"Not yet, Morel. Why catch a single leprechaun for minimal results when it can just lead you to its stash? The soldiers are probably aware of the theft anyway." She responded openly as she started walking again, entering the tent and subsequently proceeded to discover the filthy leftovers of what was once a local clinic.

"Pardon me, Major? Did you say something?" asked the officer who escorted the young woman down to this messy territory, not that it was any more orderly outside.

"I did not address you, Captain, consequently what I say is void to you." She said oh so blandly, but her tone was barely hostile, almost seductive with stretched out words ike 'Captain' and 'You'. She had the talent to tic people off balance, especially when they knew what she could really do without a mere bat of an eye. Four soldiers stormed out of the building, running past the major, as they received a message of a stolen shuttle nearby. It was quite humorous, watching men bound to earth running to a remote distance in order to catch a flying foe. Carol-Ann's superiority complex stood stout.

As she walked through a corridor in order to meet up with the conference room prepared for a special briefing, a doctor accompanied by two heavily armed men, and by heavily this wasn't an exaggeration. The doctor was pushing a hospital bed holding an apparently dead patient. It seemed like they had made multiple attempts to revive him as he didn't seem gravely wounded like the rest of the casualties found in this city. With a single peek at the man's face, the woman recognized that face. He was in the earliest footage captured by multiple functioning cameras but also by the various integrated cameras in nearby shuttles and soldier corpses.

'Hector Esteves, brother of Victor Esteves. Both crucial organs of the Golden Mercenaries and they're the one's that screwed over Nekros. Heh, what a waste.' She thought to herself, Morel was more than likely thinking something similar as well concerning the body they had just crossed.

As she entered the improvised conference room, her mind brought back from her thoughts. She set on a chair and rested her arms on the wooden table before her. In the room, there were about thirty standing soldiers and ten officials siting around the set of tables. A hologram suddenly emerged from the middle of the amassed tables, forming what appeared to be a well dressed woman. She was one of the many secretaries transmitting information from the higher ups while they were occupied handling the current crisis. She started by exposing the recent events that happened in Sovereign with a multitude of images taken from the events as illustration. As she neared the end of the synthesized meeting of about ten minutes, she addressed the Major directly.

"Major Keifers. The Hunter Program has been launched since your arrival. Your objectives remain the same: Locate the fugitive hosts, capture them with any means necessary, lethal force is authorized, and the top priority stays at the confirmation of Victor Esteves' death."

"Understood, investigation in sync with mass genocide does seem like the Sovereign way of doing things after all." Replied Carol-Ann, her tone still as carefree as it was back then. She didn't consider the secretary of any importance to her, only the orders. She was purposely provocative too, as she was the highest ranked member in the room, making her word a lot more valuable than what the formalities could say in a situation like this.

She stood up before the meeting as officially over, obviously she had grown in arrogance since the events of the Void Unleashed a year ago. Her confidence in her power was flabbergasting, almost intimidating. One could immediately notice her fearlessness in her eyes when she exposes her God complex either verbally or non-verbally. She walked out, on her own this time, exiting the building only to encounter an infantry transporter parked at the front of the clinic's gate. The symbol on the truck wasn't the same as the army's, it was something no one other than Carol-Ann would normally recognize. It was the Hunters' emblem, and as the machinery's trunk slowly opened, the major set her hands behind her back and tried her best to hide her smile. She was happy, happy to be able to lead individuals who would follow her orders not matter the situation. She was finally going to experience true leadership, the kind of thing she always visualized as playing God. She would decide who would shoot, who would kill, who would live, and who would die. Of course, most of these orders would be indirect, but depending on the tactic, she can easily decide who would be fodder and who would have the glory. All she could feel were the butterflies in her stomach, it was such a nice feeling...