3:10, Outer streets of Sanctum Prime:

Skyright pressed his hands against the child's arm. His eyes closed in concentration. Slowly, the knife wound began to close. The girl shuddered slightly as the pain left her, and soon, she was no longer in danger of even bleeding to death. Within minutes, all that remained of the wound was a red stain on her shirt.
She looked up at Skyright, a little scared, but at the same time, grateful. Most human had at least heard of the Gifted, but few had ever actually seen one use their powers.
"Feel better?" Skyright helped her up, smiling slightly.
The girl nodded, "Thank you...."
Skyright pointed in the distance at a small, abandoned looking building.
"There's a shelter there that will take care of you." He said, "Please be careful."
She nodded, and quickly ran off.
Skyright sighed, "Good luck.....
Turning towards the inner sections of Sanctum Prime, he began walking, humming a slight tune as he went. It had been a while since he had last been to the inner parts of Sanctum Prime. Silently, he hoped he would be able to do some good like before.
There was still some way he could help, wasn't there?

Xel wondered around trying to find a certain warehouse, "Excuse me ma'am, could you point me to the direction of the Raven band warehouse?" I said to a lady, "What why would anyone try to go there, those Ravens are blood thirsty hunters." she replied, "I am going to exterminate them." Xel replied with a smile, "Uhm, their warehouse is in the inner sections of Sanctum Prime. Please don't go there." She said and took her leave. "Thanks ma'am I'll be sure not to go there." Xel said and started to walk to the inner sections of Sanctum Prime, "Heh, I hope it'll be worse the trouble." Xel said and took out a piece of paper, "Hmm, 'defeat the Raven band and report to the dancing bar, 3 kilometers east from there'. easy enough." Xel mumbles, and heads off with a skip and saying "lalalalala~" with a childish smile....

Relissa stalked through the darkness of the streets, consealed in the shadows, but ever watching. She had watched everything, everyone and memorized it all. None of it was useful. Relissa had been given her quest simple and straightforward. Its punishments for failing just as clear. Save the Gifted, or else.... Relissa knew what the "or else" meant. She couldn't fail. Yet, she didn't know where the Warehouse was. Suddenly, a few more walked near her alley. Raven Band. She knew this boy would be of assistance to her. She silently followed him.

Shijima yawned, sitting on the top of a building with her legs over the edge. She watched the world go by below her with eyes empty of emotion. She sighed and pulled herself up. She turned and walked to the opposite side of the building, looking below at a warehouse. It was the base of operations for the Raven band, a menace to society. But money was money, so she had agreed to a deal. Protect the place the best she could and the guy had told her she would be awarded handsomely. She stretched and jumped down, using a bit of rough ice on the walls to slow herself down. She walked to the entrance and stood at it's side, watching out for any strange characters. She then sat down against the wall and sighed, slowly drifting to sleep but staying alert.

Relissa had figured out where the guy was going, and swiftly climbed to the rooftops. She leapt over the building careful not to fall. Relissa felt her eye beginning to glow. To stop it giving her away, she hastily wrapped a bandage right around her eye and head, looking like she was injured. She sped up and eventually caught sight of Raven Band. She stopped on that rooftop and sat, scanning the area and making a plan, quickly.

E had completed one of her latest artworks. Being of a rather unimaginative bent, she hadn't initially considered it, but there was very little to do when lacking in any gang affiliation, and with no society as such as a form of guidance. It was anomie and she had to do something to pass the time while she was in control.

The artworks itself had begun to crop up around the place, all her handiwork, as a means of both keeping herself amused, and spreading a decent climate of fear around. There was next to no culture left anyway, and the soldier couldn't help put feel that they were very much works that represented the time rather well.

She sat on the exposed support beam of a low roof, her legs, wrapped in dirty, old looking bandages, hanging over the edge. They hung down from the bottom of her skirt, the wrappings reaching down to her feet. She didn't wear shoes, instead relying on the bandages to provide protection, something they seemed to be at least partially failing, as the soles were stained a dark red.

Displaying her characteristic jackal grin, she leaned forwards, surveying the bizarre work spread out beneath.

What it did have was a multitude of dead birds spread across the floor, wings spread out around them. Mixed in were a few rats, strays dogs and even a couple of foxes, arranged into concentric circles to create a grisly tableau.

At the centre was what was left of a man, a gang member by the colours, with a rusted water pipe stuffed through his mouth and down through the back of his neck.

E had yet to be asked why she had done it...not that she really felt the question required an answer. E was an entity that seemed to do as she wanted, even if it defied taste, logic or decency.

While in many ways she enjoyed the relative freedom this chaos allowed her...but at the same time, the very fact that she was allowed free reign implied that the gentler aspect of her personality wasn't happy...and unfortunately for her, E felt something of a responsibility to do something about that.


She paused, hearing footsteps. Someone wasn't too far off. E leapt from her perch and across to an overhang shadowing the next street. It sounded like someone was humming. It was not long until she homed in on the source of the noise, the form of Skyright.


E swung her legs over the parapet and sprang down to the ground, casting the bloodied pigeon feathers from her sleeves.

"I know that tune." she remarked.
"Or my other half knows it. Either. Or you can't hold notes at all."

Xel got to the warehouse seeing two guards outside, Xel walked to them and said "Good day sir, I am here to meet you leader." with a smile, "Eh? No way runt get out of here!" one of the guards said, then Xel punched him in the gut he fell unconscious, the other one then tried to hit Xel with a pole staff, Xel block by grabbing it and jumped while throwing a kick to his face, he also fell unconscious, "It wasn't a question, It was an order." Xel said and opened the doors. Xel then saw there where about 15 members inside, "Oh? So many! But I don't see John the Tyrant here. Where is he?" Xel said to the other people inside, "Hes not here hes fighting with an enemy gang." one replied, "Oh man, and I though could collect the bounty on his head with ease but know I have to wait." Xel replied, "What?! You another bounty hunter! Then your not leaving here alive!" they said and readied for battle, one on the upper level point Xel with a sniper riffle and said "Don't move or you dead.". Xel slightly lifted his hand and flicked his wrists, a few seconds after that he then got hit in the back by the ricochet of a super ball going at speeds that the human cannot see, he fell on the floor of the first level, "You guy's can hope to defeat me so don't try." Xel said with a smile.

Shijima stood from the shadows as someone entered the warehouse after knocking the two guards unconscious. She slowly walked to the entrance and stood outside of it. She then walked in, her blue hood covering her face as two blue and white guns fell from her sleeves and she grabbed hold of them as they fell. She simply pointed one at the guy who had killed the sniper. She spoke sharply and bluntly, aiming her gun straight at his head. "Who're you? If you don't answer within the minute I'll shoot you down anyway." Her hood slightly lifted as she spoke, revealing one ice blue eye. The air around her grew cold and several of the members backed up from her to get away from her icy aura. She cocked the gun before speaking again. "The guys around here are useless, aren't they? So why mess with the Raven band?"

Xel turned to see a woman pointed at his head ,"Oh? Well what do you know the feared Ice Queen right before me. The leader of the Raven band has a bounty on his head I was asked to take him out, its just work." Xel said, soon after something s very mall hits the hand that his holding the gun in the back of her palm with incredible strength forcing the hand to the side(or letting it go), "Don't get in my way please, I wouldn't like to hurt a cute girl such as yourself." Xel said with a smile.

Shijima took a sharp breath as something hit the back of her hand, letting the gun go. She narrowed her eyes and stared at him while picking the gun back up and putting it back into her sleeve. She knew that many of the members were looking at her, surprised at the comment of her being the Ice Queen. She saw one backing up from the corner of her eye. She then stared at him calmly, although she was seething with anger inside. "I dropped that name long ago, you imbecile. You may be killing him because of the bounty, but I'm protecting him for the sake of money." She sheathed the other gun while the icy air spread, eventually covering the whole warehouse. It was how she let out her anger, and it was a good defense. She then pulled her hood lower over her face as a light fog started on the ground due to the cold. "And don't you dare call me cute." She then put her hands at her sides and a spear of ice started forming in her left hand. "Now, how much is the bounty?"

"Well sorry about calling you that, and why cant I call you cute you certainly are." Xel replied with a childish tone, and moved his hand as if he swapping a fly, and grabbed something; "I don't know how much is the bounty and that guy is not dead, I don't kill people who are not worth it and they are certainly not worth it; and by the way if you thinking of attacking me don't even try." Xel replied and took a step towards her, "But if your protecting that Tyrant and his lackey's would cause a problem between us, and I certainly wouldn't like to fight a cute girl." Xel said.

Shijima spun the now complete spear in her hands. "I'm getting paid for protecting this guy, and I can use whatever money I can get my hands on." She then suddenly stopped spinning the staff and hit it on the ground to make sure it was battle ready. She then took a step back as he stepped towards her, hating close distances. She then dropped the spear and made it crack into several small pieces. The guns dropped out of her sleeves and she quickly caught them and aimed them both at his head. "Now, since you're still wanting to kill my employer, I'll have to kill you." She then began shooting rapidly at him, the ice floating up quickly and serving at the bullets for the guns.

Alice's legs and back ached. She had been walking for 3 days trying to find this city.  The broken sign reading Sanctum prime stood graffitied and abused. Alice quicken her pace, the sign have her hope. She prayed that she would not have another long walk into the city. She shifted the weight of her sachet from one shoulder to the other, her bones cracked in relief.  She stretched out her small stride making it longer as to cover more ground. Alice saw signs of life and a smile came to her lips. This is what she needed people. She started running faster although she was weak from exhaustion, she saw a man usher a small girl into a nearby building. She skidded to a stop, he could be dangerous or worse gifted. 

Alice didn't care, she hadn't seen a real person in forever. She ran up to him tempted to hug him.  She stuck her tiny hand out instead.

"I'm Alice." her bell like voice rung high. 

Xel dodge the bullets with ease by moving to his right and flicked the middle finger of his right hand towards the ground throwing a super balls as soon as they touched the ground they started to ricochet on every surface of the building in a speed faster than a bullet. Xel smiled "Well I did not want to but you leave me no choice." he said with a sigh, then the marble sized super ball hits her on the stomach...

Shijima went wide eyed as the ball hit her stomach, giving a cough before dropping to one knee. She let out another cough and lifted her arms slightly, just enough to let the guns slip down into their holders. She stood slowly and wobbly, a frown on her face now. She gritted her teeth before charging, dodging the balls by using the cold air around her as a tracking system. She reached him and swung her arm, hitting him in the gut with a fist that was suddenly covered in ice. She then quickly jumped back, both her her fists covered in her strongest ice. She looked straight at him, a snowflake design in her eyes that had tears at the corners. "Fine then. You wanna be serious, let's get serious." She knew the punch wouldn't do much because of her small amount of strength, but if she could get close again she could use pressure points to paralyze him.

Xel did not flinch when getting hit "Serious? I'm not serious, miss ." Xel said then another person got hit by the super ball and fell to the floor. "You control Ice, I see just like your former tittle implied." Xel said, and then three Smart Bomb Cinderella fell from his sleeves and rolled on the floor, "So I'll play with you until your 'employer' comes here." Xel say's the takes three step back and sat on a chair and waved his hand telling her to 'Bring it on.'...

Shijima's eyes narrowed as he sat down. "You? Play with me? Ha. As if." Her eyes darted to the three objects that had landed on the floor. No doubt not trustworthy or normal in the least. She started looking around, memorizing the area before jumping and creating a pillar of ice below her that rose five feet. She then jumped, gliding on a slide of ice that built itself in front of her. Several other pillars rose, creating a small circle around Xel. She smirked as she landed on the pillar right in front of him and the slide cracked and shimmered away. She gave a low chuckle before casting off her cloak, pulling out the guns and letting it float to the floor. She attached them to the back of her simple black dress and sat on the pillar, taking off her boots. "Better lighten the load." She looked to her cloak, giving a silent prayer that it would stay safe, along with the precious object inside of it. She then stood and jumped right over him to the opposite pillar, shooting bullets as she did.

"Woow!" Xel said at the pillar that raised around him, then dodged the bullets by standing up and taking a step to the side moving the chair along, the super ball then grazes Shijima's left cheek. "But what is a cute woman like you working for a Tyrant?" Xel said, and threw another super ball by flicking his finger towards the pillar of ice and started to ricochet, the Xel grabbed the chair and threw it to her with great strength towards her face.

Shijima turned her head as the ball grazed her cheek, feeling it and finding a small cut. She quickly put a thin layer of ice over the cut so that it numbed and wouldn't bleed. She looked back down at him to find he had flung a chair at her after asking his question. She quickly jumped to the next pillar, landing in a crouch. "I'm a traveler. As I said before, I take whatever money I can get. He found me killing a guy, offered me a paycheck with quite a few zeroes if I guarded his place for a bit." She then jumped to the next pillar, ducking and dodging one of the balls. "Money is money, so I accepted the offer." She looked to the door, a plan clicking into her head. She jumped to the next pillar and a sheet of ice covered the warehouse door, preventing anyone from going in. Or out. She then looked back down at him and sat in a crouch, staring down at him with glowing blue eyes. She aimed her gun at him and shot a few times, just hoping to buy a bit more time. "What about you? I know he has a reward on his head, but I'm sure others have even bigger awards. Like the Ice Queen, for instance. She's been gone a while, but I'm sure there's a hidden price on her head." She felt normal while talking about her old self, glad that side of her didn't exist anymore.

"Well yea there a bounty in your head I've seen it before, but you don't hurt innocent people anymore, you vanished without a trace, but unlike you your 'employer' is a devil hes killed men, women and children for the sake of power, money and pleasure, men like that don't deserve to walk in this world." Xel said and a brief intent to kill poured out from him to the extent of making the others pass out, "Opps sorry, ehehe I lost control for a moment there." Xel said then a pillar of Ice breaks due to a super ball hitting in in the center, then Xel looks at Shijima and points at her, then a what seems to be a Super ball going straight at the center of her back is going to hit her...

Shijima's senses flashed and she quickly jumped, falling and landing in a crouch where the pillar had broken. She reached down and picked up a piece, kissing it lightly as the ice then shattered away to sparkles in the air. She gave a quick jump and landed on a pillar. She looked down to Xel with a small smirk. "Ever heard of the Cantarella? It's quite a beautiful song. Of course, that has nothing to do with this matter." She sat on the pillar as all of the pillars shattered to sparkles, leaving only the one she was sitting on. "Of course, it's how I always killed my targets. Enchant them with a little singing and dancing and they don't expect you to suddenly turn on them and freeze them before shattering the ice and leaving no hint that you were there." She gave a soft sigh and slipped off of the pillar, landing in front of it as it also shattered. "But you wouldn't know anything about killing an enemy with grace. You're the type to just get it over with." She then put on a smirk as ice started forming on her body, creating an armor that was more durable than metal. She laughed before pointing at him, sending sharp shards of ice straight at him. "And just so you know, I never disappeared. The Ice Queen did."

Xel did not dodge the Ice shards and hit him on the thorax shattering on impact, "You don't get do you?" Xel said and placed on light grey gloves, he then walked over to her, while he is walking the super balls then give three hits into the armor in assorted areas withing her body. Xel then dashed towards her, when getting close he disappears due to a very simple yet effective movement and detonates two Cinderella bombs on her ribs by pressing them up with his hand sending her flying 2 or 3 feet, "That armor is still Ice, which means a strong impact and heat will break though it eventually." Xel said placing his smoking arm down.

Shijima gave a shriek as she was blown backwards, hitting the wall with a grunt. Her right eye twitched from her anger as some of the armor cracked. She quickly fixed the pieces with a smirk. "No. You don't get it. No matter what you do to it, I can still repair this armor. Sure, heat and pressure with crack and break it, but I'll always have ice up my sleeve to spare." She then jumped forward, flipping through the air and landing directly behind him. "I will not be beaten by the likes of you, or so help me I'll go back to being the Ice Queen." She then delivered a quick and light hit to a point on his back before jumping again and gaining some distance. "One." She then paralleled her hands, several shards of ice forming between them. She then pulled her hands away from each other, splitting the shards into two groups. With and smirk she snapped her fingers and they began spinning rapidly in a circle around her. Her eyesight was getting a bit blurry, but she ignored it for the moment.

The young woman winced in pain as Armenius took her wounded hand in his. She wasn't hurt all that bad, yet it obviously hurt a lot, she had a shallow gash that stretched from the center of her palm up the center line of her calloused index finger and terminated at the finger tip. When she came into the clinic and Armenius first noticed her, her hand was wrapped in dirty, tattered cloth stained with blood.

"So how did you get this?" asked Armenius softly as he retrieved his cleaning kit of sanitized bandages from his sling bag.

"I-well...it's not that interesting, really." the young woman said and she inhaled sharply and tensed a little as Armenius began cleaning the wound.

"Oh? Come on don't be like that. Everybody has a story to tell." replied Armenius as he glanced up to look in the young woman's blue eyes and put on a warm, comforting smile. They held eye contact for a moment before the lady shyly smiled and looked away. Armenius finished cleaning the wound and put the cloth into his biohazard bag.

"Well, I'm a scrap salvager you see, so I'm around sharp metal, glass and what have you all day. I was climinb up a car stack when I slipped but I caught myself on a smashed car window and the broken glass cut me." she said as Armenius put away the cleaning kit and took a second to look around him.

The clinic was small, cramped and understaffed, every day Armenius saw Mother Helena--the matron of the clinic--she had dark bags under her green eyes from lack of sleep and stress. Jackson, another helping hand, rolled by pushing a shopping cart full of assorted boxes, cloths and bottles. His shoulders were slouched with fatigue and his back always ached from heavy lifting and hard work. Luckily for him, Mother Helena had been following in the footsteps of a masseuse before the Collapse and helped Jackson get the worst of the knots out.

The clinic itself was set up in the lobby of an office building. The stairwells had long since collapsed and with no power to the elevators, there was no real access to the upper floors. Mother Helena made due with the lobby, a few ground level rooms and one bathroom with no running water. And the patients, so many patients, every day. In Sanctum Prime this was one of the few true sanctuaries of humanity and peopled flocked to it. From what Armenius was told they saw everything here from rashes to radiation poisoning, scratches to knife slashes and more. Most of the people who were badly hurt didn't make it, but Mother Helena made sure they died comfortably an in the company of others. No one should ever die alone.

Returning to the young lady's hand, Armenius did a closer inspection. Her finger just needed bandaging, but her palm would need some sutures. Armenius gave a sigh; he had long since run out of tissue adhesive and had yet to find any more. Armenius reached for his suture kit and then balanced it on his right knee.

"Yeah, you gotta be careful around that stuff, can give you tetanus. Try to get yourself a pair of sturdy gloves." Armenius lectured as he opened the suture kit and gingerly picked out a crescent, aluminum traumatic needle and biovek suture. Then he looked into the lady's eyes again and with a sympathetic voice said, "So I have a confession to make. I'm out of painkiller. Now, your hand needs some stitches and I'm sorry to say that this is going to hurt a bit. So here, grab my thigh with your good and and bite down on this." he said as he produced a long, skinny object. It was a pencil sheathed in latex tubing that was chipped and torn in some places from where other patients had used it. Despite the grim implications, Armenius considered the tooth mark riddled thing like a service record. It reminded him of just how many people he had helped in his travels.

"Get a firm grip now. That's good. Now try to relax. If you tense up and jerk that hand away while I'm working on it, the sutures will rip your palm open. If it hurts so much that you feel like you're going to snatch away that hand, just bit down hard on that thing," Armenius instructed while gesturing at the pencil, "and clench my leg. Don't worry about hurting me, I'll be okay. Do you understand?"

The lady nodded in affirmation though Armenius could tell there was anxiety in her eyes.

"Good. This will be over quickly I promise." Armenius said as he cracked his knuckles and prepared his equipment.

"Ready?"
Again, a nod of affirmation.
"Okay then, look away or close your eyes."

the needle dug into the base of the lady's palm and Armenius felt her arm flex a little, felt the grip of her opposite hand tighten, but she held firm. The needle penetrated the other side of the open wound and Armenius closed it then tied tied off the suture. He moved on to the next one and again the woman clenched harder. She was strong, a scrap worker indeed. By the time Armenius finished the third suture the woman was visibly shaking.

"Almost there now, just two more to go." Armenius said as he began on the fourth suture. The woman whimpered a bit under her frantic breath and clenched ever harder, her face contorted in a mask of pain.

"There, all done. You are very strong." Armenius said as he tied off the fifth and final suture then released the woman's hand. Surprisingly she did not recoil her hand close to her body as the wounded are of want to do. Armenius put the suture kit away then tore open an alcohol swab and sanitized the wound. He then took a good strip of what he dubbed Hippo Wraps--in reference to the Hippocratic Oath. These bandages had been soaked in an iodine solution, left to dry, then coated in a mixture of chalk and capsaicin powder. The Hippo Wraps served to cover the wound, ward off infection and prevent itching and inflammation. In addition the capsaicin was analgesic, spreading a gentle warmth over the affected areas for a couple of hours. Armenius gently wrapped the woman's hand and index finger. Her breathing returned to normal and she stopped shaking. Once he was done and packed away his supplies he helped the woman to her feet and said, "Now, check this every couple of days, if it starts to turn black come on back and the clinic will he-"

Armenius was cut off mid-sentence as the woman lunged into him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her right cheek into his chest. "Thank you." she mumbled. This had happened to Armenius before with soldiers and civilians alike. There just seemed to be a visceral, natural inclination to want to physically cling to the one that was perceived as a rescuer. Sometimes it was completely expected. Other times it was a little abrupt and awkward, like this time. Still, Armenius thought as he patted the woman on the back while he stared at the crown of her dusty, ragged black hair, this is so much better than the times when they cry for their mothers while they bleed to death in your arms.

The woman finally relinquished her grip and thanked Armenius again. "You're welcome," he replied, "Now, go see Mother Helena at the table over there for something to eat and drink and remember, if that cut turn's black, you come right back here."

With that the woman was off to see Mother Helena and Armenius watched her for a second before collecting his thoughts and gear. He was going to be sad leaving this place, these people, maybe he could have made this his home. But duty calls and there were others out there who were worse off that needed his help. Tomorrow he would say his goodbyes and be gone, but until then Armenius was determined ot help as many more people as possible. He was about to move on to attend to the sick ward when a teenage boy barged through the main door, gasping for breath, his brow soaked with sweat.

"Ravens are coming!" the boy yelled in panic.

Armenius tensed at the thought. The Raven gang had always been a problem around here and it was only a matter of time before they came to extort the clinic for it's food and supplies...and perhaps even more. Armenius slung his rifle before him and switched the safety off his weapons. The Ravens had made a grave mistake this day. Had they just waited maybe a day they may have had their way, but that was not the case. While Armenius was here, the clinic was under his protection. This was his home, and no one else would take it from him.

Xel sighed and spun and looked towards her and lifted his hands "Infinitum Crush!" Xel said and forcefully pushed his hands downwards releasing 20 more super balls; the shards spinning around her started to shatter at a increasingly fast pace, Xel dashed towards her and grabbed her by the fabric of her dress and gave her a spin and lightly smashed her on the floor, "You, shouldn't rely so much on you ability it makes you weak; I've already calculated you Ice ability's and have everything ready to counter attack." Xel said and stepped back and swiped both his hands grabbing the 20 super balls he had released and placed them back inside his sleeves. "You know, if you let me take out you employer, I could give you the bounty on his head, I don't really need it, so what do you say?" Xel said with a small smile.