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Chapter I - Echoes of the past


Night came as it did every time, silently, slowly, wrapping around the lands as if it was a dark, silk veil covering a widow's face. One by one, like small fire-flies, the graceful stars started to make their presence felt, igniting the celestial sphere with the power of a thousand suns, their beams of light pouring upon mother earth, leaving her to bathe in their glory.
Silence fell down on the entire World, from the dense forests, to the largest cities, as one by one, they fell prey to the Sandman's charms. Only in the window of a towering building did a light continue to shine with firmness, as if it was to stubborn to give in to the night's reign over the World. If one would gaze inside, he would be able to notice the smoke trails of several cigarettes making their way to the room's ceiling, as if racing to see which one of them would be the first to reach it. The shadows of four men and two women, one of them particularly large could be clearly discerned, the light being unable to fully unravel their bodies, just as if they had specifically placed themselves in that corner of the room.

"Margarete, what do you suggest ?" asked one of the four men, adjusting his voice while the words departed from his whithered lips.

"Well, Sir, i frankly have no idea. It is becoming visibly more harder to control them, to confine them without alerting the population. Four days ago, in Amsterdam, a child was possessed by one of these beings and had to be.. sacrificed in order for the entity to be killed. We are doing our best to keep these incidents isolated and away from the population's eyes, but there is not much we can do when we are forced to terminate these kind of beasts in the middle of the day." answered the larger woman.

"John, what about you ? Do you have any good news for us ?" asked the man while turning his head around, now eying one of the other three men inside the room.

"Just as Margarete, Sir, I'm afraid things are becoming grimmer by the day. Soon we will be forced to inform the population. Also, it seems that The Seers are managing to attract more and more acolytes to their ranks, under the promises of eternal life after death. We can barely deal with these hellish creatures, we have no need for other humans to interfere." replied the man, visibly worried as he gave away the news.

"Sir." interfered the second woman, a thin brunette with round glasses.

"Yes ? What is it Alice ?"

"Unfortunately i also have to inform you that the number of attacks reported per month has rised with 28% in the last two months, and it is seemingly continuing to rise. We cannot foresee the new number of attacks we will have in a couple of months from now, it might be double than what we have today. We only have.. one solution left." said the woman, the tone of her voice deeming down, almost becoming unhearable.

"Yes.. yes. You are right, yes, yes you are. Call him in."

*A couple of minutes after*

A tall, apparently young man, with black hair and crystal green eyes walks inside the room, radiating confidence and arrogance. His eyes dart from person to person, seeming to pierce through their souls as he stops every time to meet their look, grinning, his body seeming to be a perfectly tuned machine, every muscle moving in perfect synchronization with the others.

"Phoenix, i am sure you know everybody, thus no introductions are necessary."

"What do you want, Robert ?" asked the man directly, his hands concealed in a cloak that engulfed his body from his neck down.

"We have decided that, it is time we send Silence to the field. We can no longer handle this situation on our own. Is your team prepared ?"

A faint laughter could be heared, a sparkle appearing in Phoenix's eyes, just like a flame would suddenly light in a fire place, litting up the entire room. "We are always prepared."

"Very well then, i want you to meet with your team in the facility's lockers. Pack your bags, say your prayers, as you will be leaving in a couple of hours. Your first stop s Boston. From what intelligence tells us there have been several breaches in to our World in the past couple of days coming from the west side of the Town. We were unable to localize the precise spots where the gates appeared due to their energy jamming our scanning satellites. Your job is to search and destroy. Anything that escaped through those doors will not escape Boston. After you are done, i want you to seal the gates and make sure nobody will be able to get to their points again. Are we clear ?"

"Yes Sir."

With a quick nod, the man exited the room, adrenaline starting to pump through his veins, as thoughts whirled inside his mind like a cyclone, making him unable to focus on his current assignment.

It had all begun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOC: You are free to start with your characters where ever you wish, home, in town, at dinner, inside the corporation's building - the one which formed Silence -. If you are not inside the building, you will receive a phone call telling you to depart from what ever you are doing and come to the facility immediately. You will make your way to the lockers and from there we will start together.

If you are going to get a call, it will be from "The Company", not from somebody in Silence itself.

Tessandra got out of the shower, wiped the fog off the mirror and vigourously towel-dried her hair, fluffing it into spikes with her fingers. The phone was ringing. She tucked the towel around her and went out into the hall, pulling faces as the cold laminate floor stuck to her feet.

"Hello, Tessandra Fey", she said, wandering down the hallway into the bedroom of her flat, pulling down the blind and sitting on the bed.

"I'm from The Company. You're needed here as soon as possible. You have a mission."
"Uh huh, I can be there in half an hour"
"Goodbye"

The line cut off abruptly. Tessandra shrugged, ended the call on her end and tossed the phone onto the bed, pulling some functional clothes out of the wardrobe and throwing them on. She grabbed her rucksack, threw her essentials in and put her shoes on, turning off the lights as she went through to each room.

Down in the cluttered passageway of her flatblock, she dragged her bike out from under a load of wet coats and drying umbrellas, stuffing the bikelock in her rucksack. She pushed open the big double doors and pushed out into the rain, groaning at the onslaught.

Several minutes and two near traffic accidents later Tessandra was walking through the conservative doors of Silence's HQ, her bike in the bikesheds, running a gloved hand through her slick, wet hair. She smiled at the receptionist, who took one look at the soaked cyclist and returned to whatever it was she was doing.

Through a side door, down a flight of stairs. Along the passage. Through another door, down more stairs, and through a third door. Into the locker room.

She threw the rucksack down and paused, slowly becoming quite still. Then she smiled, sitting down and untying her shoes. "I know you're here," she said, not looking up.

Henry flipped his bowl haircut, brushed off his nametag, and spun a pair of drumsticks he saved. He recalled one of the 21st century's early montras, "Boom, headshot!" That was his policy ever since he went merc. The brain is the control center, the nucleus of the cell that is the human body. He learned a lot from high school, before he entered the war. Cells, geometry, the works. It's a shame he dropped out the day he turned 16. Henry got his license to drive, and after Marine boot camp, he got his license to kill. After a tour of duty in Europe, he had seen it all. Twisted torture, like replacing bones with springs so their arms/legs compress whenever pressure is put on it. He was lucky to get out with his life, albeit with only 85% of his body. He was deep in thought, but he stopped when he heard a bang on the wall of the school he was leaning on.

He stopped, and looked around. His drum sticks never hit the wall, nor did any of the surrounding trees. He knew what that meant. He put his drumsticks in a playing position and approached a metal trash can. He began his cadence. A drum roll. Some paradiddles. Triplets. He drummed the top, the sides, and the swinging door. As he drummed, he heard thrashing in the trees, more bangs on the wall. At the last note, he raised his left stick straight up, slammed the right stick on his chest, and shouted, "Huh!" The spirit he had expected to be here was going insane. He put his drumsticks on the ground, and grabbed a cross from the lower-right pocket on his uniform. He waved it around to whereever he thought the apparition might be. He formed a cross using his fingers and body and put the cross back. After standing around to see any more disturbances, his phone raved Super Mario Bros. 2, or Doki Doki Panic for the people who never played "The Lost Levels." He pulled it out of his upper-right pocket. The caller ID read "The Company." He pressed Talk and held the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Henry DiMarco." Henry stopped the voice.
"My last name is, like, Jones, and stuff. Remember that."
"Yes sir, Mr. Jones. I'm from the Company. We have an urgent mission for you. Please come to HQ ASAP."
"Yes, ma'am. I estimate 45 minutes. I hope to see you there. Bye." He clicked End. He fixed his glasses again, shook his head to move around his hair, and took off running toward Silence.

It wasn't long until he was greeted by the receptionist. She looked up and looked down. He totally knew that she called him. As he walked toward a staircase, he whispered, "Nice to speak with you again, ma'am." He went through a side door, down a flight of stairs, along the passage, through another door, down more stairs, and through a third door. Into the locker room.

"I know you're here." said Tessandra.
"Aww, you caught me. Hey, what's up with the unisex locker rooms, huh? It's, like, a giant excuse to look at your co-workers'... stuff, and stuff."

It was... cold. November blinked and ran her fingers over the goosebumps that were raising on her arms. The puckered flesh reminded her of the pictures of the old kind of golf balls she had seen recently. Only, maybe, in reverse. And perhaps a bit smaller.

She quickly abandoned that train of thought, knowing what could happen if she thought about something for too long. Her mind was bound to get wrapped so completely around a subject that it would be hard to focus when she needed to. And she would definently need her focus on the mission. With a small nod, she turned back to her locker. The combination was four, thirty-seven, thirty, but she set a few wrong sequences before that one. Brush in hand, she plunked down on the bench and began detangling her damp locks with a brush she had found, content for the moment to think about . There was a small sound at the head of the room. She paused. Rarely was there ever danger here, but often was there something of interest.

Humming a song she didn't recognize, Nova rose from her seat and approached the doorway silently. Tessandra was leaning over her sneakers, untying them. Nova smiled.

"I know you're here."

Henry emerged from the hall. "Aww, you caught me. Hey, what's up with the unisex locker rooms, huh? It's, like, a giant excuse to look at your co-workers'... stuff, and stuff."

Nova smiled again and moved to sit by Tessandra. "Are you afraid that we will see your..." her head tilted slightly as she thought of the word Henry had used. "Stuff, and stuff," she said, pronouncing the word presicely. "Hello, Tessandra. Is everyone coming?"

Adrian sat in a comfortable luxury condo with fully stocked fridge, flat screen TV and a beautiful view. He sat down on the couch and felt it's beautiful soft leather, but it was only two minutes until he woke up next a large man that was seated next to him, drooling on him, and heard the cries of a baby. He realized he was on a plane to his very rare vacation and he did not have a comfortable condo back home, but rather a run down cruddy apartment. The fact that he didn't own a comfortable luxury condo didn't really bother him, but he did really hate the fact that the airlines messed up his tickets so he didn't get his very expensive first class plane trip. Instead he got seated in front of that kid who always kicks your seat, next to that guy who always drools on you and the one position on the plane where you can't see the movie. Adrian sighed, fell back asleep disappointed and hoped that his condo would come back.

Finally when the plane did land, Adrian got up and stretched his arms, still sore from the plane ride over here, and reached above him and grabbed his bag. He got off and went into the airport, looking for a sign that said, "Callisto." Looking near the entrance he found his driver, Adrian walked up to him and greeted him.

"Welcome Sir", he said with a cheery smile while shaking his hand, "I will be your driver today, where would like to go to?"

"Hmm, I dunno, could we just drive around for a bit? I wanna look at the sights", said Adrian. He stepped into the limo and the driver started the limo. Driving around for a bit, Adrian heard his cell phone ring and he looked at the caller ID. On it said "The Company. "Oh, just bloody dandy, always on my vacation," he said out loud. The driver looked back at him and asked,"Something wrong sir?"

"What? ah no, it's nothing... actually, just let me out here."

"Are you sure, sir?" The driver asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," Adrian said, he took out his wallet and tipped the man. He got out of the limo and onto the sidewalk with his belongings, he answered his phone knowing they wouldn't stop calling.

"Hey, did you know you have really bad timing?" He answered
"Sorry, sir but you are need at HQ, please come ASAP," replied the voice.
"Alright then, on my way," he sighed.

Walking in to the headquarters he met the receptionist who had unintentionally interrupted his vacation. Adrian wasn't mad at all, it was just her job. He walked up to her and quickly and apologized for his rude behavior before she could even say a word. She just smiled and Adrian went on his way through a side door, down a flight of stairs, along the passage, through another door, down more stairs, and through a third door and into the locker room. He could hear other members of team talk about "Stuff and Stuff." With that he walked in and said, "Hey, how's everyone and their "stuff and stuff", repeating what he just heard.

Minutes passed away quickly, running by him like athletes on a track, disappearing like shadows which felt the pure rays of daylight on their skin. Step by step, he walked through the empty corridors of the building, his look locked in front, his right hand gently grasping a silver coin in his pocket which kept jumping up and down like a young euphoric child.

"Thus, it has finally begun. Pf, who would have ever thought that it would take them this long to send us back on the field." Said the man to himself, several memories starting to spring in to his thoughts, taking over his mind, making him loose concentration on the more important subject at hand.

"Ah how i hate this wretched building, why couldn't' they make those damned lockers closer to the last floor ?" mumbled the man, trying to stop himself from cursing, as in his eyes, discipline was the greatest feat a soldier and a warrior could achieve. As he walked down the hall-way, he suddenly pulled out the coin from his right pocket, his eyes locked on it, carefully studying the small engravings on both it's sides, leaving his fingers to gently run across their cold surface, feeling it's perfect shape, it's flawless design, an exquisite product, just like he was.

"Luck comes to the man who has no need for it, and who never includes it in his plans." said Phoenix out-loud, remembering a saying one of his old friends had.

Sighing silently, he continued to walk, going through a side door, down a flight of stairs, along the passage, through another door, down more stairs, and through a third door. Into the locker room.
Opening the door widely, his crystal eyes examined each and every person in the locker-room with haste, trying to assess their feelings about the new task at hand without asking about it. It was clear some of them were not that, satisfied to say so.

Stepping inside the chamber, he passed by each of persons inside, nodding in a greeting to them all. As he passed by November, he winked in such a way that only she would see him. For some strange reason, he always liked that young half-insane girl. Maybe it was because she reminded him of his younger sister, or maybe it was because she just looked like a small helpless child which needed protection. He never knew what it was, and never bothered to find out frankly.

Stopping in front of his own locker, he carefully placed the combination, cracking the door open just enough to pull out a couple of things he needed. Turning around towards the others, he asked with his usual, cold, detached tone:

"Why aren't we all here ? *sighs* This will be a task like no other, and i want each and everyone of you to remember that. In the upcoming days, we will not be closing one door, we will be closing a thousand. We will not fight one or two ghouls, we will be fighting hundreds. Mistakes will come at the cost of your life. As I'm sure all of you already know, if you are not agile enough to stay with the pack, your continued existence will be under a question mark. There is no room for errors in this mission. None.

We will be departing in a couple of hours. Our first stop will be Boston. Make sure to pack all your equipment, we will be receiving our suits in around a hour from now."

Vrrrr, vrrrr, vrrr, the phone rings, waking Sydney up. She doesn't open her eyes as she answers it with a sleepy. "Hello?"
"Ms. Thorne, we believe you are ready to join the team," a voice said in her ear.
Sydney sits up quickly and blinks herself awake. "The Company?" she asks softly as she jumps to her feet and moves around the small room she was given.
"Yes, the team awaits you in the lockers," the voice said and then clicked off. She pulls the phone away from her ear and stares at it blankly. Her mind a mess with thoughts of excitement. She takes a deep breath and calms herself easily.
Dressing quickly, Sydney regains her composure and moves out into the deserted hallway. Her tri-blue eyes darting back and forth as she carries a small brown leather bag and moves down the hallway. The soft swishing of her white dress and the small clicking of her black boots are the only things she hears as she moves.
The locker room was two doors down from where she now stands. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Her nerves were messing with her and she needed to regain the control of her nerves before she entered a room full of strangers. Sydney closes her eyes, leans against the wall, and focuses on the darkness that she sees behind closed eyelids.
Her nerves settle down and she regains control of everything. Upon opening her eyes, she pushes herself away from the wall and runs a hand through her long blonde hair before opening the door to the locker. A small nervous smile plays along her thin lips as she slips in, hoping not to be noticed.

Zack sat in the spacious and well fitted garage at SHQ. He flicked his arc light spanner over the exhaust system and began the messy process of clearing the fuselage. Assholes at the Corp. hadn't even bothered to fix anything from the last mission. Zack shifted his headphones and got to work.

A few minutes later a voice cut through his music. "Felloy.... Felloy, I know you can hear me."

"What?" Zack asked continuing to empty the fuselage into one of the Corp. waste management pipes.

"I called you half an hour ago and told you to meet your comrades in the locker room. I don't see you there on the camera."

"That's probably because I'm not there. I have work to do and they have to come down here eventually. Phoenix will let me know if it's that big of a deal,; I'm sure he cares more that our equipment is up to snuff, than he cares that I missed a reunion." Zack moved to the inside of the vehicle. "Who installed this EMP shit?"

"They were installed by certified Company engineers!"

"Really? They do realize that people have to sit in here, right?" Zack moved the EMP out and began to reassemble it so it would fit better. He checked the standard issue goggles before throwing them out.

"What are you doing?"

"My peeps like their own- better- equipment than this assembly line crap. We're not going to need some of those extra features anyway, we're going for subtlety."

"Is that why your driving a tank into downtown Boston?"

"When I'm finished it'll look like a cross between an SUV and... something else. Only a few of us are taking this monstrosity- all of us have our own way of doing things. Meaning; someone will probably want to take a personal vehicle." Zack turned off the headphones.

'Boston? We have never gone to Boston before. Which is to say, I have never gone to Boston...' November mused, but she kept silent. Pheonix was giving a speech and she had learned by watching the others that it was good to look very solemn and breathe quietly when Pheonix was speaking in such a way. She wondered sometimes what would happen if something very loud happened during one of Pheonix's speeches, like one of the crashing lights that the children enjoyed. Or if someone lost balance and toppled over. Pheonix would either be very angry or he maybe would pretend not to notice. Maybe he would begin a new speech about the importance of equilibrium.

There was a little sound as the door to the locker rooms opened and a woman Nova had never known slipped in, her gaze glued to the ground. She must have had very bad balance to have to watch her feet in such a way. If she would just make a loud shriek as she fell, November would consider herself quite informed. She watched the new woman enthusiastically from the corner of her eye, though sure to be solemn about it.

Placing his left hand in his overcoat, he pulled out a small silver watch, encrusted with strange symbols around it's dial, his eyes carefully studying it.

"Where is that damn woman ?" spoke the man, visibly annoyed by Alex's delay.

"Mh, if she is not here with us, it means something must be keeping her occupied. Hopefully, something important. I will announce the Company that we will be taking our leave without her, we have wasted enough time as it is."

Finishing the sentence with a clearly more annoyed tone, Phoenix placed the silver watch in his pocket while taking a few steps back to his locker. Allowing his gaze to shift inside, his eyes started scouring it's contents, seemingly searching for something of importance to the man.

After a couple of moments, his hands pulled out a silver cross, clinched around a long silver chain, and what appeared to be a dusty old book, carefully wrapped around in several pieces of light brown leather. Placing the cross around his neck, and the old book at his waist, he turned around towards the men and women gathered in the locker-room.

With a quick gesture, the man pulls out a comm. device from a pocket hidden in his overcoat. Activating, he places it close to his lips:

"Zack, we will not be taking the *conventional* transportation methods. We will be taking a chopper. I want you to be ready to suit up in 40 minutes, and be on the roof in exa-."
Suddenly stoping, the man's eyes jumpedin front, locked on the woman with long blond hair which just emerged from behind the chamber's door

"In exactly one hour and a half." closing the comm. device, the man fully turns towards the blond, studying her intensely.

"I was told i should expect a new addition to my pack. I am guessing that would be you." said the man, giving the woman a chilling look.

"I did not have enough time to be fully briefed on you, neither to read your file. The time left until we depart shall suffice for you to inform me about your specialization."
Shifting his look once more to his team, he spoke: "I want to see you all in 40 minutes in the equipment room. Our suits will arrive by then. We are traveling light, thus no unnecessary equipment. Do not waste time, as every minute is precious."

Finishing the sentence, Phoenix started moving towards the door, motioning the "new blood" to follow him as he walked passed her.

*Time skip to the chopper leaving with the team on-board*

Placing his headset on, he turned his head towards brown-haired woman, saying: "Tessandra, in order to succeed in this task, i will need you to push your limits. The number of apparitions that are unseen to the eye has increased drastically since we last visited the field according to recent reports. If you commit an error, we will all pay. Mistakes are not an option. Are we clear ?"

Tessandra was adjusting some of the straps on her jumpsuit, but made eye contact when he talked to her, pushing the earpieces closer to her head and nodding, "Yes sir, absolutely.". She was playing with a plain black blindfold such as people wear to sleep on planes.

She was sat next to Nova, who was looking out of the window. Tessandra smiled to herself. No doubt November was on one of those endless tangents of thought that divided and divided until the origin of the train of thought was a distant memory.

Tess took her goggles off, slipping the blindfold into the eyepieces, securing it. When her eyes were in utter darkness it helped her to see better with her Weave eye. Although the weave, with it's glimmering golden threads, was visible to her whenever she closed her eyes, and each blink was a faint shimmer of energy, a strange grid that draped over her senses.

She looked around the helicopter at the others. Phoenix, sat across from her, grim and focused. Henry, idly tapping a rhythm onto his thighs. November, her eyes glazed and ponderous. Adrian looked like he'd rather be somewhere else. Zack was frowning, probably unsatisfied with the state of the equipment they had, which, even though it far surpassed the military, came nowhere close to his high standards. She gave a huff of mirth, then noticed Sydney. Tess didn't need to close her eyes to feel the waves of nervous excitement emanating from the new recruit. She smiled, "Hey, Sydney is it? What's your specialisation?".

Tessandra's hands still held the goggles, and the blindfold, fidgeting with it absent mindedly. Gold, fizzing, sparkling, pulsing gold. Always showed up best against the blackness...

Nova sighed suddenly and pushed a button on the arm of her chair that brought up a holo-screen. She rarely had any sort of responsibilities during transportation. Her abilities lay in detection and in fighting. She didn't know how to drive a car and barely knew how to ride a bicycle. A helicopter was definitely outside of her range. With a few taps of her fingers and a mumbled word or two the had opened a chess program. The game was her new phase, mostly because she was good at the game and she enjoyed being good at things.

Beside her, Tessandra was moving deliberately, preparing for the mission. Nova liked being around her. Tessandra was someone who was abnormal in the way she was, though she could only see what Nova could only hear. Nova found it reassuring that Tessandra was normal. And she liked the validation that came with someone who could see something Nova had heard her entire life. It meant she wasn't quite the "raving lunatic" she had once been told that she was.

Truly, Nova was comfortble around all of the team. It was because of them, the fact that they wanted her, that she had a room with colored walls, not the pasty white things that made your stomach feel too heavy. Her teammates didn't speak to her cruelly or pretend to hit her and laugh when she flinched. Instead, they taught her things, like how to fight and how to keep someone from hitting her and how to play chess.

She only half listened to Tessandra question the new one, Sydney. She was a variable in this equation. Nova was wary until she knew what kind of person Sydney was.

((OOC: NO LONGER MEMBER OF RP))

Henry gathered his stuff, including his Marines gear that he had to take off so he could wear his new Silence suit. He didn't have a case for his sniper rifle; instead, he just strung it over his shoulder with a strap. His Desert Eagle was on a holster on said strap, but on his chest. His combat knife is on a holster on his belt; some people found it unorthodox, but Herny has his hands to his sides whenever he's not shooting. Henry boarded the helicoptor, undid the strap, sat down, attached all of the neccesary safety belts, laid the duffle bag with his gear at his feet, and set the rifle on his lap. He noticed the pilot's program. If anything, Henry was a nerd. Move the rook to H5. No, not H4, the queen is-geez, the AI didn't even notice that. What is it, Chess '95? That was obvious. He groaned out loud, but no one semed to notice.

Sydney lifted her eyes when Phoenix addressed her. A soft gulp escaped her at the look in his eyes and she shook the feeling of dread from her mind. Letting her eyes lower once more to the floor, she fussed with the pentagram ring on her left hand. She listened to what was being said and followed Phoenix when he motioned for her.

Digging in the leather bag at her side, she pulled out her file and handed it over to him. "I figured you wouldn't have the time beforehand so I brought it with me," she said, her voice touched by a soft Southern accent. "The Company wanted a blood ritualist and they found me. I can summon the spirits as well. I'm working on the right combination to get the spirits solid without a host." She ran her hand through her hair and studied him softly before she left him with the file.

Stepping out of her street clothes and into the suit, Sydney pulled her hair back into a tight bun, revealing the small tattoos on the back of her neck: a red triangle, a yellow circle, a blue half moon, and a green square. The suit fit her like a glove, tight for maneuverability and along her arms are slits for her need to access blood easily. She finished zipping up the suit and made her way to the chopper.

Her mind was occupied by a ritual she was tweaking earlier. Coming up with different wordings for each line of the spoken word, the way she used the tools, and how she would set them up. A slight jump and a "Pardon?" escaped her as she was spoken to. "Oh, yes. I'm Sydney. My specialty is summoning and blood rituals." Her tri-blue eyes scanned each member of the team, taking in the detailed auras surrounding each person.

Adrian sat in the seat of the helicopter that was taking them to Boston, he wished he was somewhere else and that they didn't interrupt his expensively paid vacation but i guess it was okay. "Eh, beats sitting next to the kid that won't stop crying and kicking your seat, or that guy that sit next to you and falls asleep while drooling on you," he thought. He looked at the new girl, "What was her name again? Oh yeah, it was Sydney...i think, he wondered. He checked on his suit and saw that it was still in its old yet study beaten shape, though he liked it that way, it reminded him of the great people he were working with and how hard they worked. Looking around some more he saw that a couple of people had were playing with their chairs which came with a video game of some sort. Adrian opened up his holo-screen to see if he had one, and found that it was chess. He wasn't a big fan of chess but it was always something to do, looking over he saw that Henry was easily dominating the AI. Adrian started his own game and started off rather well but it had been so long since he played that he forgot some really good plans to finish off the enemy within minutes. Finally he just grew tired of playing chess all together and turned to watch whatever would be outside the window still somewhat drowsy like always.

YOU WIN! the screen declared in what seemed a happy manner. How strange that the program was so excited that she won... it must have let her win. With a slight frown, Nova started tapping at the program files, tweaking it here and there until she felt satisfied that the game would at least feel a little bit bad if she were to beat it.

She picked idly at the sleeve of her suit. "Restart," she mumbled. She had to readjust herself to the closeness of her uniform. The deep black of the suit made her feel like a shadow. She'd swept her hair back into a ponytail that hung at the base of her neck. "What is a blood ritual?" she asked Sydney, though her eyes remained glued to the holo-screen.

Zack grunted at his Silence suit. The thing was not only too tight, but it made him look like one of those blokes from that new boy band that was all the craze. All the straps and buckles on a tight suit like this. Not to mention that they'd replaced his good ole shotgun with a silenced 9mm. It was the man in office' way of telling him to be subtle. Spend three years in a Special Forces Unit and people think he doesn't know subtlety. "Bloody piece of trash..."

Two hours had passed since take off. Phoenix sat in a corner, quietly contemplating the secrets of the universe, heck; with Phoenix, he could be trying to figure out how to make a toy truck work and he'd still have that look on his face. Adrian seemed bored, fooling around on a Virtual Game. Nova was behaving normally, or normally for her. Tess, friendly as ever, God bless her, was talking to the newbie. Zack tapped Henry on the leg. When Henry looked up Zack pointed at Sydney and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "What do you make of that?"

Henry whistled through his teeth. "L-looks like a summoner. She's got, like, the ring, the symbols, the slits, and stuff. I read it in a Social Studies book a few years back. She's not exactly top of her class, but she can summon spirits, or so I've heard. That ought to help, considering what we're up against. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to think of some banter for the situation that a bunch of spirits form into a blobby giant and I need to shoot a special bullet into their collective heart. If I don't do my banter, I'll have no entertainment during any of the mission. My phone only has Tetris, and that only goes so far." Henry pulled out his phone and began using his QWERTY keyboard to type in the notepad. He was frantically typing, then pressing delete just as fast. He growled every time he did the latter.

Time passed away in silence, causing him to stare outside the window, seemingly lost in what was nothing less than a magnificent view. The sun's razes embraced the pure white clouds, causing them to shine just as if they were laced with gold. He sighed inwardly, his view locked upon a mighty eagle which soared above a tall forest, possibly searching for prey. With a perfect gesture, he opened up a holo-screen, the computer announcing the distance left until their destination:

"We are now 2,786 miles away from Boston, Massachusetts, scheduled to land in 3 hours and 46 minutes. Is there anything else i can assist you with ?"

Phoenix did not reply, just merely closed the screen with another hand movement, turning his head around in order to see what his comrades were doing. Nova, along with Adrian and Henry were doing their best to Master the Computer at a game of chess which was last updated somewhere probably before his birth, while Zach was, as always, unsatisfied with the equipment given for the task at hand. A couple of the other team members were questioning the new blood, Sydney, a young blond woman, about her talents and specialization.

Shifting his head towards the window once more, he glared over the horizon, scouting the heavens for any sign of movement. Nothing. And so it was like this that time flew away, unnoticed, second after second, minute after minute, causing the man to start toying with a couple of thoughts in his mind as he watched the new recruit with the corner of his eyes.

"I wonder to what extent her powers grow, and why did the Company decide in the last moment that I, we better yet, needed help. Are they hiding something from me ? Was i not fully briefed ?", finishing his sentence, the man sighed inwardly, as suddenly a strange object covered the sun's light, causing a black shadow to envelop the chopper. Quickly scouring the skies, he found nothing, no explanation for what could have caused the sudden absence of light. "Maybe it was nothing more than a cloud." he thought to himself.

But he would soon realize he was wrong, as in a couple of seconds, the helicopter trembled, appearing to loose height, it's metal pieces clinching and twisting just as if they were about to break, while a loud, terrifying shriek was released through-out the surroundings. Lifting from his chair quickly, he turned towards his team and yelled:

"Gargoyles ! Everybody, brace yourselves ! Zack, Henry, with me ! Nova, I want you to take care of the new blood, make sure no harm comes to her ! Adrian, Tessandra, pack our bags, make sure all our weaponry and items are secured in case we need to abandon the chopper."

He was yelling, a thing which he did not like to do, but unfortunately, had to in order to make himself heared above all the noise that surrounded the helicopter. Leaving his pulse rifle, he quickly parted from his seat, taking a few steps to the machine's main door. Using both of his hands, he cracked them open, grabbing a firm hold of it's right handle with his bionical arm, aiming the small wrist cannon placed on his right hand at the creatures. After a few seconds, he began firing with rage, blast after blast at the horrific beasts.

A energized bullet pierced through the air with blazing speed, intercepting one of the fiends which was headed towards the chopper's back propeller, penetrating his neck, making the animal release another incredible screech as it feel through the heavens, creating a small crater at the end of the forest they had just passed. Turning his head around, he noticed Both Zack and Henry taking aim along his side and firing at apparitions, taking a couple down as well. He continued to shoot, but he soon understood it was all in vain.

For every winged-critter that they would obliterate, two others would take it's place, fighting with bestial strength against the chopper and the small squadron of men and women inside of it. Quickly realizing they were engaging in a loosing battle, he decided it was time to use his abilities, a feat which he rarely did, due to the fact that it drained a high amount of energy out of his body.

Aiming at one of the monstrosities, he rised his right arm, pushing it forward, just as if he was pushing somebody away from him, causing it to suddenly stop in mid-flight. Twisting his fingers, he brought them together in a fist, as the gargoyle's wings wrapped around him, his legs tightly fixed against his chest, just as if a great being was squeezing the beast in his hand, while Phoenix continued to clench his fist with power. Allowing his hand to relax after a couple of moments, the gargoyle's wings unfolded, his inert body piercing through the air, landing on the cold ground beneath them.

He was a psychic, having the ability to manipulate objects with the force of his own mind.

Taking aim at another creature, he united two of his fingers, moving them in a rapid gesture as the beast's wings were suddenly cut off, causing it to rapidly loose altitude and eventually shatter against the ground like the one before him.

Feeling his body becoming weaker, he paused for a couple of moments, allowing his partners to continue the fight, unaware that, above them, one of the apparitions was plunging upon the helicopter, his sharp claws targeting it's main propeller. In just a few seconds, the chopper shook uncontrollably, while the gargoyle continued to sink it's claws in to the fuselage. Inch by inch, feet by feet, they started loosing height, heading with speed towards the lands beneath them, while more and more fiends attached themselves to the flying machine, plunging down with it, just as if boosting it's speed to increase the damage from the crash.

"ZACK, HENRY, HELP ME CLOSE THE DOOR." yelled Phoenix, as he used both hands and pulled with his entire strength, along with the two other man in order to seal the door shut. Quickly running back to his chair, he strapped himself in, ordering his entire team to do the same.

"Warning, warning, 27 seconds until crash land. Warning, warning, 26 seconds until crash land. Make sure your seat-belts are placed appropriately." echoed the computer throughout the chopper.

"Everybody, the AI will announce us when we have less than a couple of seconds left until we will crash. The helicopter's heavy armor should protect us from any deadly damage, so just brace yourselves."

And with that, he just waited, grinding his teeth, adrenaline rushing through his veins with fury, causing him to feel a mixture of anger and courage. And in the blink of an eye, it all became quiet, the gargoyle's parting from the Chopper, the AI shutting down, silence falling down upon everything for just one, blessed second.

*Time skip until after the chopper crash*

The only way he could describe it was: Horrible. The chopper united with ground, it's fuselage contorting, propeller breaking apart, window's shattering in to tens of small, glimmering shards, while the massive metal body kept on moving, stopping a good couple of feet away from it's original crash site.

He unstrapped himself, lifting from his chair in order to see if everybody was doing all-right. He noticed a couple had what seemed to be just a few light injuries, and they were all more shaken than damaged. Turning towards Nova and Sydney, he said: "Both of you, check on the Cargo. Henry, Adrian, i want you to both go with them and unload all the weaponry outside. Zack, check on the pilots, see if they managed to escape the crash, though i highly doubt it. Tessandra, outside with me."

Issuing the orders, he stepped across the debris inside the helicopter, exiting the shattered machine. He glared around, trying to use his GPS system to localize their position. Nothing. Not even his comm system worked, he imagined the same would be for the others and thus did not bother to turn around and ask Tessandra or any of his comrades. He continued to look around, studying what seemed to be an abandoned small city, probably a victim of one of the World Wars.

Shifting his view towards Tessandra, he quickly said: "It seems that we are safe. Do you feel anything ? Any energy signal coming form our surroundings ?"