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An audience of animals had gathered around the small clearing beside the commotion its awakening had caused, and the sound of heavy breathing finally echoed into the stillness. With chest heaving slightly and wild eyes, the man that had risen from the earth stood tall and evaluated his surroundings. Clad in what appeared to be old fashioned black dress trousers over dull black combat boots, a thick leather belt that had its color dulled to a gray and a stained white shirt tucked in to his waistband. Gripped in his other hand was a dark purple clothe wrapped loosely around a long item, a silver chain wrapped around one end of the item with the chain wrapped around his wrist as well. The manâs free hand reached up and brushed the extremely long and tangled black hair away from his face, allowing him to finally get a look at his surroundings.
ââĻâ silence came out of the manâs mouth as it opened and his shoulders slumped at this before straightening back up.
Assured strides carried the man from his once resting place and around the large behemoth of a tree, his body slowly becoming illuminated by a blue glow. Stopping as he reached the other side of the tree, his steps falling just shy of taking him into a blue glowing pool of mana. A grin creased the manâs right cheek and his upper body shifted forward before he plummeted into the pool of pure mana in an almost belly flop manner. The splash echoed around the pool as he began to instantly sink into the liquid and it just as quickly sealing the spot heâd sunk into it.
Muscles flared and fatigue driven out, before he rose suddenly back to a standing position in a matter of only seconds after vanishing from the surface. A flare of power came from his eyes and with a flexing of his leg muscles, the man came up out of the pool and landed with ease onto the side of the pool where he dropped to one knee.
âAh that is much better,â a deep, solid voice came from the manâs mouth.
Photu watched from beside a tree, leather hat pointed down, as the woman regarded the fountain of blue discharging from the roots. Plants dug deep into the well supplying this area to fount energy welling up everywhere writing over everything. The woman swung her head back and forth but couldn't track the sheer quantity of etheric machines at work. It was very beautiful.
She heard grinding noises in the back of her head looking at the chiseled human man that emerged. Why would have to come later but now she merely observed. The woman's thousand yard stare eyed the man's feet.
When his head finally stopped spinning, N'dal grimaced and got to his feet, his hand clutching the case he had very nearly spent his life to acquire, and glared with feline eyes at the woman who had followed him. "Nice try, Aguilla, But you still couldn't stop me getting away." He said with a smirk and a mocking tone.
Even as he spoke though, his hands hovered just over his hip, readying to fight her if he had to.
She sent another series of mental commands, tactical systems highlighting possible approaches to her target, by the time N'dal had climbed to his feet, Callandra had swiftly moved to hers, crouching low, the suit's thermoptical camouflage engaged, concealing her further in the darkness.
A split second later, she was broadcasting her location back to Tech Con, and while it would take a few minutes to mobilize and respond, she only had to keep this thief in her sights.
Two more flashes of light swiftly followed, one to N'dal's left, and a second immediately behind him, followed by a swift surge of air, and an audible pop, Callandra blinked behind him and attempted to move in close, lunging to bring them both to the ground once more.
"You haven't gotten away yet!" She grunted, amid the scuffle.
N'dal would likely find this figure surprisingly strong for a normal human, the suit was designed to drastically enhance strength, speed, and perception, while wearing the combat skin, Callandra had the strength of a hundred men, able to put a fist through concrete and crush steel. The suit's armor was designed to withstand almost all small arms, with the assistance of it's integrated shield system.
Amid the scuffle, she would also attempt to reach for the case.
Fast she may have been, but N'dal was just as fast, leaping and flipping up to press a hand into her back, and then shoving himself away from her. "But I have haven't I? I've gotten away from the city and your soldiers and that nasty fortress with all it's nasty, dead steel and cold iron. Here I am better, here I am greater. So come Aguilla, come and fight and chase me. And Make sure to call all your friends. I will want them all coming after me to be sure."
And with that, N'dal grabbed the handle of the case in his teeth, dropped to all fours, and loped away faster than any creature of natural flesh and blood should be able. His muscles coiled and bunched, shortening his form to a mere two meters, before pushing off with all that elastic power to throw himself at a blistering speed along the ground, where his clawed hands would grab, pull, and brace for another long and low leap.
As he ran he weaved in and out among trees and branches, and Callandra's fancy headgear, sighting him as it was, would show a slight blurring of his form as he ran, as though he was shedding ghosts of heat.
She whipped around with speed, and grace as he launched himself off of her, this alien was arrogant, and that made the Tech Con security chief grit her teeth in frustration; but for all the mystery of his species, his gifts, and his tune with nature, Callandra had something that N'dal did not, she had money, she had subordinates, she had the might of Tech Con at her disposal.
She gave chase, the sting of the suit's systems interfacing more, and more with her nerves could be felt, human muscles were synchronized with the synthetic nano-musculature, and gel-cell circuitry of the combat skin with minimal latency.
She lunged after him, keeping pace and using everything that her suit could bestow upon her. Her long strides, and brute strength afforded her movement through the forest with relative ease; and even at a dead run after him, inertial dampeners kept her movements in tune with his, for every zig, she zagged, almost effortlessly as if gravity, and inertia had no effect on her.
"I'm authorizing the Bishop's deployment, get him to my location now!"
Despite the dead run she was in to keep up after him, the suit's systems kept her body in prime condition, oxygen was delivered via micro-hypodermics directly into the tissues, preventing the formation of lactic acid by anaerobic cellular metabolism, this kept the muscles from fatiguing, and kept her senses in tune.
The suit's body-glove compressed rhythmically with her movements, supporting bone, and joint structures through the shock, and momentum of her movements. She just had to not lose sight of this creature, the Bishop would surely be able to handle him.
When the dagger hit the earth, there was a slight delay, and at the impact an intricate circle of light flashed, before a whirlwind kicked up dust, leaves, and all sorts of debris. It is into this smoke screen that N'dal landed.
He hadn't been lax in his thinking either. The fact that the woman was following him so closely and easily probably meant she had something to help her see in the dark, and maybe even something to trace him with. He had met humans before and he knew that they didn't have natural night vision. the dust and leaves that the storm threw up thus had been imbued with magic as they cast about this way and that. Each individual leaf, each speck of dirt, radiated it's own heat signature and light, turning the whole thing into a dazzling display of lights and warmth.
"Even your fancy gadgets have their limits, Aguilla. Eventually your going to have to admit defeat on this one! Don't worry, Nobody will know you got bested by me. Hell, most people refuse to believe I exist, not that I'm complaining." He said, his voice muffled by the storm he had kicked up to hide from her.
The winds began to form into seperate cyclones, each flying in their own direction, one with him inside.
The instant the light of the magical signature registered on her visor, her hand moved to her belt and detached an anti-mana grenade, one of six she had secured to her belt.
She hurled it towards the cyclone, and the grenade detonated in a powerful pulse that spread outwards in all directions, aiming to dissipate whatever magic was influencing the cyclone.
Her HUD quickly switched to wide-spectrum, with an AI Suite filtering the magical chaff in real time, the cyclone with him in it was highlighted, should it somehow not be dissipated by the anti-magic grenade. She continued in the direction he had run, using a novel method of tracing him despite the magical maelstrom.
All aschen technology was powered by fusion cells, which contained easily traceable isotopes if you knew what to look for, and by switching the gain to the power signatures emanated specifically by Aschen technologies, she continued to track him.
"Bishop here, I'm on station." The gruff voice played over the radio.
The Bishop seemed to emerge from his own portal, letting his senses hone outwards in all direction. He didn't maintain the hurried pace that Security Chief Henderson seemed to maintain, rather he opted to bend reality itself to his whims.
Time itself slowed down for the Bishop, from the fluttering cyclones, which moved, in his perception extremely slow. Even Callandra seemed frozen in time to the man, despite moving quickly herself.
His eyes moved swiftly to the ground in front of N'dal, shimmering just slightly as his mind exerted it's will, dirt would have the constitution of water, and the air suddenly became thick, like a howling gale that was blowing in the opposite direction.
The case would also suddenly weigh a ton, as the properties of the metal were altered to become extremely dense, all of these factors would hope to serve to bring N'dal hurling forward.
The Bishop himself seemed to move imperceptibly fast, being perceptible only as time synchronized, and his mind released it's hold.
"You have something of ours, surrender it, and your life may be spared." His voice projected.
Magic would lose coherency all around him, as his mind exerted some kind of anti-magic field, a barrier surrounded all three of them.
The Bishop snapped his fingers, clearing all the foliage around them, leaving nothing but barren earth all around them, within the forcefield.
The anti magic grenades could shut down magic, but they weren't going to stop the forces of nature itself. The cyclones whirled on in spite of the grenades firing.
However the moment Callandra began tracking the isotopes of the case, she would notice something immediatly wrong. That in, there were none.
N'dal slammed forward into the ground, shocked and surprised as he did so, and not quite comprehending that it was Bishop that had done this to him. When the man obliterated the surrounding forest, N'dal's face took on a very deep look of shock. "Wow... that was the single most arrogant thing I've seen one of your kind do in a long while.... But honestly, it does not surprise me." He said, his face quickly turning to a grin at them.
"What place does a common thief have to claim the arrogance of what I do?" The figure asked once more, taking a step forward.
Cally finally caught up to them, slowly jogging to a stop, the pursuit of this thing had taken a toll on her body, and while the suit saturated her system with oxygen, and nutrients so she wasn't physically fatigued, there was something that took it's toll on her.
If he managed to get control of the case, Bishop would draw the case up, forcing it open to ensure the contents were still there. "Foolish, you do not know what it is you do." He said, coolly.
"Kill him!" Cally barked. "I order you to kill him!"
"These people would hunt you to the ends of this galaxy, like the animal that you are." Bishop added, letting his mind probe the possibilities, his precognition carefully anticipating N'dal's next move.
Even as he... It, spoke, It's body shifted, breaking apart into the base elements it was made of, namely that of dust and stones and dirt, and bits of branch and root. It's true form revealed, that of an elemental spirit, the creature chuckled, a reedy, windy sound that was both musical and haunting. "And the one you so arrogantly chased was no mere thief.. He is the last of an ancient species that has not existed for millions of years, one of the first living things to grace the cosmos. Far more valuable than the trinkets he stole from you." It spoke, mocking them. "But I would not expect you creatures, so enamored with metal and machines, to understand the true strength of one of life's greatest creations"
The spirit stood then, and as it did it's body began to break down and fall apart, as it returned to whence it came. "You are right on one thing though... He does not know what he does.. He is a mere child, forced into a future that does not want him, among worlds that hate him. He understands nothing of this place, and seeks the only thing a child can in such circumstances. He seeks to go home."
"His plight moved us, and we agreed to help him in whatever way he asks. He asked us to distract you, and we have. Even with all your technology, You will not find him now. Though others certainly might, and when they do, they shall have the key to powers even you could not hope to best." The spirit finally fell completely away, and it's last words were whispered on wind that whirled around them.
It's words were truth, As N'dal had slipped away during the start of the chase, using his magicks to cloak himself much as he had at the start of his incursion into the headquarters, slipping away while Callandra chased the spirit that took his place. A ghost of heat, indeed. while she was led away, N'dal had opened another world gate, passing through and closing it behind him. He was long gone by now, to places unknown to the "Aguilla" as he had called Callandra.
"Fret not, Henderson." Bishop said, patting her on the back "For all his effort, a few fusion cells missing are going to be peanuts compared to the bill I'm going to send your superiors; perhaps it would have been prudent to let the creature escape."
Slowly he walked up to her, and frowned. "But we have a fugitive who was willing to infiltrate your facilities, surely that is not something your government will take lightly... I hate to see your report to Mr. Hagan."
In a brief gust of wind, the Alteran mercenary disappeared, the brilliant light of a Tech Con Condor VTOL Illuminating the area around them.
The visor snapped back, retracting into the helmet. "Gods damnit, there goes my job..." Callandra muttered.
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coming from somewhere deep within the Collenham Mountains, elsewhere on Aslund.
Sol and Terra seemed tethered together by a thin, bright, green string.
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