Sanctum City

As Zane left his own home, and brought out his Magi-Skates. As he was zooming along, he considered a few things. Some of them included the upcoming battle. Rose was going to come for him, he knew that much. Her reactions confirmed it. Which meant he would need to be ready. So the first thing he did was go to Alleytown, passing through various streets, people shouting about...hold on, Abe Lincoln and T-Rexes?

He walked into a theater just to confirm, and saw Minori, Cedric, and what appeared to be an Abe Lincoln Golem being shattered. He just sort of stared for a moment, blinking, before shrugging. "You know what? Just no! Just no! It is too early in the morning to deal with this! I am going off to Alleytown to do my own thing!"

As he walked off, he took a back alley, and after turning, came face to face with the T-Rex. The mana the thing had was enourmous. And it seemed to be....synchronizing with this world. Not only was it not from a Gateway, it was adjusting to their world biologically. That, or he just imagined T-Rexes were bigger. Even if he was synchronizing, this was probably the case, since this was the first T-Rex Zane ever found. Still...he wasn't sure what to do about this.

"Now listen, Mr. T-Rex, we don't have to fight, okay?"

The T-Rex just yawned, and walked off. Zane blinked. "Maybe it was so tired it didn't think I was real? That, or maybe its just been seeing a lot of strange stuff today. I feel like I should report this in...but, I think all my gear doesn't have GPS for a reason...and..." He looked around, and it was like it turned invisible. "...yeah, that's going to make it tough to track down..."

Zane had learned everything the man gave him had its locators, both magical and technical, disabled. Which he approved of. Still, as he continued walking, he noticed several well disguised Gatewatcher Vehicles going into the building that Cedric and Minori was in. As he entered Alleytown, news was already bustling.

"Extra Extra Read all about it! Playboy and Researcher Gatewatchers go up against Abe Lincoln riding a T-Rex! Some reports indicate Abe Lincoln was wielding a chainsaw and an automated mana infused weapon! Rumor has it the playboy likes to play dressup as Batman as well!" a newsboy shouted as Newspapers flew into the hands of anyone who reached out to get one. He had to focus on what was important though, getting items ready for battle. The first thing he needed was some Mana-Infused Shielding Mechanisms. Once he got those, he picked up some Boosters, items that are used to enhance one's mana supply in battle.

"I cant count on everyone being there this time. It is do or die. At least I know her secret now" Zane said with a smile. Yes, her secret of how she totally outmatched them all. She was far too cunning for his liking though. She might have more tricks up her sleeves. To think though, every action she made was so they would all play into her hands.

After he was done getting everything he would need to tip the scales in his favor, now he needed a place to battle her in. Someplace where she couldn't sense the mana everywhere. Somewhere like....that's it!

About two years ago, a freak event happened at Orion Station. Three Gateways opened there at the same time, and caused a bunch of panic. Three subway cars were sucked into a Gateway and never seen again. The Subway was still abandoned since then, believed to be haunted, and coated with enough mana to make everyones mana senses skewed. It was the perfect place to set traps for her.

He only had a few hours left, so he decided to get all of his business in order, including to contact a certain someone about his plan.

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The medical teams treated Cedric and Minori. A few people, who waited for them to become conscious, approached them. As the group of Gatewatchers approached Cedric and Minori, one of them was the Director of Science and Research Division, Bolan Vale, and the Director of Resources Management, Billy Gonzalez. Why one of them was here was strange, but them both being here?

Bolan Vale walked up to Minori. "Sorry if my arrival is a surprise, our surveillance system reported you and Cedric were fighting some sort of strange and unique golem capable of independent thought, and I just had to rush down here to see for myself".

"Fat chance, you just wanted it for yourself" Gonzalez told him. Well, I think resource management should get him. Imagine what we could do if we adapted the design of this golem into our own security forces! As I am sure Cedric can appreciate, we need better security, as made clear by the latest incident, and I cant wait for Research to run its five million tests it will want to do before we get a crack at it!"

"Its going to science!"

"Resource Management!"

This did not look like it would go well. But it was strange both sides would fight for something like this with such strength, especially resource management.

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Maric watched the red haired boy leave. And it unnerved him, what he felt inside the boy. A different mana signature. But what made it extra strange....is that he also had several objects, such as his glasses, with a completely different mana signature as well.

"Just....who is this kid?"

Maric was not one hundred percent certain, but he was fairly certain....that Zane was not human.

*Pop*

Nothing but an empty building.

*pop*

Another empty building, although this one was filled with more boxes than the last.

*pop*

"COO!"

"Aaah!" Nathan flinched with a yelp of surprise as a flock of startled pigeons flew towards his face. Flailing a bit, Nathan hurriedly brought up an arm to cover his head as the pigeons flew past his face with a lot of cooing, disturbed from their resting place by a boy who had suddenly appeared right in the middle of them. Cringing, Nathan turned around to face the rapidly receding flock, giving a wave to them sheepishly. "Sorry..!"

Heart settling from the shock, Nathan turned to look through the window to see if the person who'd sent the distress call was there. He'd been teleporting from place to place ever since he'd heard the roar, curious to find out what it was. It hadn't occurred to him that it could have been dangerous and way out of his league to handle - Nathan was too busy trying to find out what had made such a noise in the first place. Having created a map of the area inside his mind, Nathan had quickly made segments of each area and teleported to them to search, going through sector by sector methodically until he reached the one that contained whatever made the roar, ugency enhanced by the call someone had placed through the coms. It was something he'd never heard before - it was too primal to be a gorilla, too low and deep to be a bird. What was it?! Maybe he could find out now? Nathan looked through the window, hope rising inside his chest as he did so.

Nothing but boxes to be seen.

Nathan's heart dropped. ... ok, not here. But maybe the next one! Rallying himself together, Nathan teleported to the next place with another *pop*.

Moments later, a pigeon flying in midair disappeared with a sqwuak and a fluff of feathers as something invisible chomped on it.

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Another building, a theatre this time. Glad that there were no pigeons this time, Nathan peered through the window... only to see people inside. Squinting, he looked down to see two people who... well, Nathan wasn't really sure since he couldn't see them properly, but they seemed like the people he had met yesterday? They were beside a shattered golem. Looking down to the ground, Nathan blinked in surprise as he noticed a kid with red hair look inside... and shrug to himself and leave.

What?! Nathan blinked and rubbed at his eyes, just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things wrong. No, the kid was definitely leaving instead of helping the people inside. His jaw dropped a little as a mixture of emotions ran through him, shock being the most prevalent. Why?! Why's he doing something like that? Doesn't he care that people might be injured?! Or is he someone behind the attack - wow, if he is that's actually pretty impressive because he's like my age and they're like adults - wait, nows not the time for this! Wh-What if they're dead or something?! Or just badly injured? I've gotta go down and help them!

Nathan made to teleport down to the ground, only to stop himself at the last second. If the redhead was the one who'd attacked the two unconscious people, then wouldn't it be better to wait until he left? If he could take down two Gatewatchers than he'd probably be able to take Nathan out without much trouble too! Looking around from his perch on top of the warehouse, Nathan looked around, hoping against hope that he'd find assistance.

Much to his surprise, he found some.

There were some people approaching the place he was on, although they were a few buildings away. Another group from the opposite direction, too! They must have gotten the message on the coms! Thinking quickly, Nathan glanced back to the ground - the boy was gone! Where'd he go? - and came to a decision.

He teleported to the group on the right first. They were the ones closest to the theatre, and could provide professional help faster than he could. Upon closer look Nathan noticed that they were medical squad, accompanied by someone who was probably their leader. Appearing a few meters in front of them, Nathan ignored the shocked looks on their faces and squeezed out, almost too fast to make out "The theatre, two people injured and unconscious - one man with his leg shattered and another lady unconscious and someone that looks like Abraham Lincoln shattered -"

"Wait, slow down! One man and one lady unconscious and injured in the theatre?" The person who seemed to be leader of the medical squad asked, as if trying to make sense of what Nathan was saying. "And a shattered Abraham Lincoln?" She raised an eyebrow at Nathan, who nodded frantically. "You were there at the scene? Is anyone still there? Did you see anybody?"

"N-No, nobody was there - just the two. Minori and a man." Nathan didn't think of telling them about the redheaded boy, that could wait until later. He'd left the scene too, so it wasn't really important right? "They're in a bad way! But there's another group heading your way, they looked like medical personnel too. Should I inform them about this too?"

"Hmm. Sir?" The leader looked at the person on the right, A man of science. Belatedly, Nathan realised that it was Bolin Vale, head of the science division. What was he doing here?

"... We should go on first. Now that we know there are no hostiles, we can move without hesitation of being attacked. We're likely to reach there by the time the others get there, anyway, and they're of no help to us dead. You, boy." Nathan yelped as Director Vale turned to face him, spine going straight as an arrow. Ignoring the jitters Nathan showed, Vale asked, "You go and inform the others while we head there. Understood?"

"Y-Yes!" Nathan nodded. Wheeling around, he took a couple of steps as if to run before disappearing from sight with a pop.

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The other side was manned by Billy Gonzalez, as it turned out. Things turned out much the same - ask what's going on, find out that there was a director in charge, head to the theatre without further ado. The only thing changed was that Director Gonzalez muttered a few somethings under his breath that Nathan couldn't quite make out (and wasn't sure he wanted to make out, judging the irritated expression on his face) and ordered his team to move faster. Then he asked if Nathan could teleport them to the site, seeing as he knew where it was and had proven his ability to teleport.

Nathan nodded, feeling embarrassed that he hadn't thought of doing so before. Ugh, he was such an idiot! Within seconds everyone in Director Gonzalez's squad had teleported to the theatre, reaching it at about the same time as Director Vale's squad.

As the two squads checked up on Minori and Cedric, Nathan wobbled back and took a seat away from all the hubbub, leaning against the wall. What with the last teleport involving multiple people and the single yet multiple teleports before, Nathan was starting to feel the effects of using magic continuously. Exhausted, Nathan took the moment to close his eyes and rest, although he kept a listening ear out, still curious as to what was going on.

He'd completely forgotten about meeting his brother for lunch.

Pain was not something that was foreign to Minori. She felt it, and more often than not she caused it, but today it seemed like pain was the first thing her consciousness could hold onto as the neurons in her brain began firing again. Her body ached and she felt exhausted, but it seemed like as soon as her brain could process the fatigue, it was ebbing away. She instinctively waved her hand, dismissing the healers looming over her without so much as opening her eyes before bringing her hand up to cradle her pounding head. She used too much mana with her body being exhausted, but she wanted to keep the pain. Something for her mind to latch onto and a punishment for being so reckless. She could only guess how Cedric was-

"Cedric!" Minori shouted as she shot up, head darting around as she tried to get her surroundings. She was on the stage now, men and women from the medical teams trying to work on her as well as crowding around a gurney to her left. She didn't need her mana sense to tell who was on it.

"Cedric!" she called again as a healer tried to gently push on Minori's shoulders to urge her to lie back down. The suggestion was rebuked with a glare, Minori churning the mana in her body while daring any of the healers to touch her as she put her feet to the floor and stood. Her sense of balance hadn't come back completely yet, gripping the side of her gurney tightly as she willed herself to stay standing.

"If you're trying to heal anything besides physical injuries you're wasting your time. Cedric is... allergic, for lack of a better term, to his own mana and overuse causes an intense reaction. Can't be healed, just endured. Let the poor bastard breathe!" Minori said, legs still shaking beneath her as she watched the medical team surrounding Cedric thin just enough for her to see him. She focused briefly on his chest and held her own breath until she saw his chest rise and fall, albeit weakly, but he was still alive. Her view was quickly blocked again, her glare now fixed on the two figures as they began to speak.

"Sorry if my arrival is a surprise, our surveillance system reported you and Cedric were fighting some sort of strange and unique golem capable of independent thought, and I just had to rush down here to see for myself".

The first man was Bolan Vale, head of the Science Division and Minori's boss, though the term was used loosely. He paid her, and she sent him reports. So long as she got results, which she did, Bolan was content not to enforce much oversight, though she knew some of her peers reported more than their findings to him. She was neutral about him as a person, but she was content with his division management, she supposed.

"Fat chance, you just wanted it for yourself" Gonzalez told him. Well, I think resource management should get him. Imagine what we could do if we adapted the design of this golem into our own security forces! As I am sure Cedric can appreciate, we need better security, as made clear by the latest incident, and I cant wait for Research to run its five million tests it will want to do before we get a crack at it!"

The second was Billy Gonzalez, ever the pragmatist and opportunist, though Minori could appreciate his work. He was a problem solver, and having to apply practical applications to such a dynamic thing as magic was nothing but problems. It was his job to make sure Gatewatchers stayed one step ahead of people like Alastair, which Alleytown certainly did not help. It held many wonders and miracles, a bastion of magical freedom, but what better place for those that wanted to use magic for malicious ends to conspire? To learn? To trade? She did not envy the man's job by any mean.

"Its going to science!"

"Resource Management!"

Minori snapped her fingers a few times to get the men's attention, knowing they could bicker endlessly if they were left unchecked.

"I can understand the excitement of this prize that has fallen into your laps, but you're bickering like children" Minori started, cradling her head again as the thumping just below her temples picked up its tempo. A concerned young girl attempted to help with a healing spell but Minori dismissed her with a wave of her hand. She was just tired and needed sleep. She didn't like healing magic, especially when it wasn't for emergencies.

"That golem was the product of highly illegal modification including virtual intelligence bordering on artificial intelligence. Now Billy, do you really want drones smart enough to start asking why they are dying in place of something else? Because that golem was responding to verbiage with contextual accuracy and adapting to situations in real time. That was after the host it was linked to and was giving it direction, died. You are an intelligent man, Billy, and I'm sure you know how dangerous putting that sort of thing on an assembly line could be before we understand it, if it gets there at all," Minori said, the strength in her legs returning as she let go of her gurney and stood on her own power.

"Science should get the golem. Downtown couldn't handle one of those things going rogue, and it would be madness to try rushing it to the frontlines," she added, and then shot a glare at Billy, "and don't put words in Cedric's mouth about that thing when he still hasn't woken up from putting it down," she spat, turning towards stage left and began to storm off, hesitating only long enough to register the fact that there was a child sitting by his lonesome off to the side. She leaned against the wall beside of him and slid down, sitting down and leaning her head back against the wall to try and relax her neck.

"You were at headquarters, if I recall. You seem less enthused now, comparatively," Minori said plainly, fatigue still heavy in her voice as her eyes drifted towards Cedric, then to Vale and Gonzalez, eyes narrowing in annoyance. They probably didn't walk up to her for the purpose of her ending their argument, but she'd barely gotten away from the medics before they ambushed her. They could piss off for the moment while she waited to see if her friend was okay.

"Don't tell me you had to fight Alexander Hamilton in a Gundam," she joked, though one could barely tell. Her voice didn't have the strength to coney much emotion at the moment. Looking back towards Nathan, she studied him briefly, scanning his aura and his face. He should be in grade school, worrying about cooties or who to ask to the next dance, not sitting here watching a man get put back together again.

"How long you been a Gatewatcher, kid?"

"Huh? Oh! U-Um, no, I've never had to fight a founding father in a Gundam," Nathan opened his eyes and craned his head to the side, shooting a brief look at the woman from earlier. It seemed as if she'd woken up, cool. She looks tired... Smiling at her, Nathan injected a little more cheer into it, grinning a bit broader. It seemed that they were both tired, but she seemed more exhausted than he was, probably from the fight with the Golem. Worried about her friend too, what happened to him? Nathan could see the medics standing back out of the corner of his eye, giving the unconscious man space.

Well, even if he didn't really feel that cheerful right now, that didn't matter. Smiling tend to help make people feel better, so Nathan could smile for the both of them then! And talking would help distract her too, and everyone kept telling him he talked a lot! He could do that!

"I've only been a Gatewatcher for a few days," He said lightly, if a bit sheepishly. He raised a hand to the back of his neck in a sheepish gesture as he continued to speak, a bit of his normal cheer coming back to his tone. "My whole family is one! I'm so glad I joined - now I can see what its like and join them and know what they're talking about! And I can use my magic for once!" He smiled excitedly at her like a puppy who had just discovered a companion to play with. "A lot of the stuff they said went over my head and I'm not sure where I'm suppose to belong to - I think intelligence maybe? - But I'm suppose to remember where everything is and where everything goes and stuff! Like a curator I guess? Um..." he trailed off, looking up at the ceiling for inspiration.

Nah, Curator meant keeper of a museum or other collection of items, and his job was different from that. Furrowing his brows in thought, Nathan casted his mind around for another word. Caretaker, Guardian, nope that's too actiony and old time - aha! Nathan brightened up as he came upon the word.

"Historian!" Swinging around to face her side, Nathan shot a wide grin at Minori and looking exactly like a kid who was really pleased with himself. "Like a Historian! Although I don't have a beard or anything. People say that I'll be ok since my UA (unique ability) is really helpful with that but everytime I ask them what else I can do they just smile and pat my head and tell me not to worry!" He pouted at Minori, puffing out his cheeks in indignation and crossing his arms. He looked a little like a chipmunk. "That makes no sense! I want to help. And what if I get something wrong? What if I have to fight something too powerful and fail? Although Rowan tells me to deal with that when it comes - but what if?" Tirade done, Nathan leant back against the wall with a huff, partially failing to remember that the conversation was suppose to cheer her up, not talk about himself. "So of course I'll worry!"

Leaning back against the wall, arms crossed and legs sprawled loosely in front of him, Nathan looked his age - a kid, not a new agent in the ranks. He also looked a bit cross, but there was worry in the furrow of his brows and curiosity in his eyes, glancing at Cedric and the rest of the directors as if he wanted to know what was going on.

(Iv been having some RL difficulties recently, such as the fact my dog iv had since I was five/six is no longer with me anymore due to old age, so please keep posting till I can get mine up)

(Cough cough. Anyone here? Why did everyone stop? I said I wouldn't be able to post for a bit due to personal stuff, but no one even tried it seems @.@)