Wing City Business District

Ovus' armor absorbed most of the damage from the bullets, though the unexpected force seemed enough to cause her to stumble. "No." She said, looking in Sonya's direction. Ovus wasn't a fan of people who attacked her, especially cops.

The woman raised her spear, ready to attack until the assault on her mind took place. Ovus was resisting as best she could, eyes searching the area frantically. Possibly for the sources of her mental dilemma.

Suddenly her mouth opened, the blood of the dead and injured being forced from their open wounds. The blood soared through the air towards Ovus, find it's way into his mouth and up through her nostrils.

The woman empowered, her resistance to the mental attack becoming easier as the blood flowed towards her.

The woman spun her spear in a full circle quickly, energy shooting out from it. The energy was not force, but it was sharp. Those caught in the path cut in half. Vehicles, buildings, all of them suffering cuts as if struck cleanly by a Titan's blade.

"Get down!" Sonya barked loudly, the sisters issuing the same warning via telepathy. A majority of the officers' trained reflexes saved them as they dropped to the ground, the energy passing over their heads, but a number weren't so lucky.

Sonya didn't wait for the aftermath to clear. She was already in motion, inhuman speed carrying her forwards in a blur to shoot past any remaining cultists and deliver a furious flurry of electrically charged punches at Ovus' face only to zip out of range of her weapon just as quickly.

The sisters changed their tactic, aiming to wrench Ovus' weapon out of her grip to disarm her and prevent any more of the devastating discharges from it. They'd taken more casualties in that sweep than in the rest of the fight, and even though there were healers amongst them, there wasn't much you could do for someone sheared in half.

Sister Ovus was knocked back by Sonya's punches, the strikes sending her stumbling dangerously. The woman slammed her spear down into the ground to stablize herself and keep to her feet.

"Impressive. I am underestimating the Wing City police." Ovus said, taking a step forward. As she did her weapon was pulled from her hand. She watched as the weapon flew away, her first thought to run for it.

Instead Ovus charged the psionic sisters, raising both arms to show her forearms. A large number of small sharp disks shot out from the woman's bracers at the sisters at Ovus charged.

The weapon was dropped, sent spiralling away under its own momentum as the sisters rushed to shield themselves, catching the spinning disks as they neared, though there was a hiss of pain as one slipped through before the barrier was erected, embedding itself in Talia's arm.

Before her half of the barrier could waver, however, the solid form of the titanium woman strode into the way, deflecting the disks with her body.

"Good work, Danielle," Sonya murmured, recognising the woman from her previous SOD unit with a smile. Front-line response was far more Kalter's speciality than special ops, anyway.

Then she was darting forwards after Ovus, coming at her from behind to try and place her palm on the back of the woman's head and shock her into submission, even as Danielle placed herself in the Sister's path to block her charge, spreading her titanium arms as if to say "come at me".

The elite cultist was ready to throw a punch at Danielle, the blood from earlier empowering her. She was no Umwa, but the blood enchanced her strength quite a bit.

Before Ovus could close enough for the strike Sonya was already on her, palm to the back of Ovus' head. The shock stopped Ovus in her place, the woman reaching back quickly to grab Sonya's hand to attempt to pry it away.

Even as she resisted the shock and attempted to remove the hand she dropped to a knee. The cultist fought with all of her might to try getting back to her feet, but seemed to prove futile.

That was until she focused on Talia, the blood from the woman's open wound was an insurance policy for Ovus.

As she had done with the others around her, Ovus attempted to suck the blood directly from Talia's wound through the air and to the cultist for use in empowering herself.

Sister Ovus knew she didn't have long. She was starting to succumb to Sonya's sneak attack.

Talia shrieked as her blood started to flow from the wound, desperately clasping a hand over it in an attempt to stop it. Her sister, more conscious of the power that the blood would grant Ovus, attempted to pull it back away from her with her own psionic powers. At that moment, the pyromancer finally caught up with the fight, having put out the fires. Taking stock of the situation he calmly approached Talia from the side and, moving her hand aside, placed his own over the gash. With a burst of heat and fire that elicited another scream of pain from the psionic, the wound was cauterised.

"Sorry." he said, "Better than dying from blood loss though."

In the meantime, Sonya lifted her free hand in a fist, bringing it down at the back of Ovus head in an attempt to knock her clean out cold before she could empower herself. The other officers were mopping up the remaining cultists and tending to their wounded. There weren't a great number of dead, mostly those slashed in two by Ovus' weapon, but the injured were a lot more numerous.

The punch to the head connected easily, Ovus wasn't allowed the woman's blood. She was sure it would have been more than enough to make her escape.

Unfortunately for Ovus she was knocked out cold, face slamming against the cold ground.

Cultists scattered when the woman fell, the fight was lost. The dumber of the group charged back into the back, grabbing as many bags of money as possible for attempting to to escape again.

Why leave empty handed?

Cuffs fitted with magical dampers and controllable electrical pulses were slapped onto Ovus' unconscious form, and she was hefted to a waiting transit vehicle which would be escorted to the police station for the woman to be questioned. As the scene came under control, Sonya patted Gillford on the arm. "Nice work, Andrew." she said with a smile.

The Captain grimaced, "Too many losses today, Agent. We weren't prepared enough, we didn't get the anti-magic devices deployed in time."

"We'd have dead either way," Sonya said, her expression darkening, "These fanatics were practically throwing themselves on the sword just to leave a dent in us. Everyone here did as well as could be expected of them, as far as I'm concerned."

Gillford nodded, "You should get going so you're there to question their leader as soon as she's awake." he said, "I can take things from here."

"My thoughts exactly. I leave everything in your capable hands, and you can be sure that I'll tell the Commander and the Chief how well you did today." Sonya grasped Gillford's hand and shook it, before turning and making her way to her car to set off after the transit vehicle. Sister Ovus had some talking to do.

So, that was how it was going to be, was it? She’d just be written off… dismissed… As if she’d never mattered. Elise ran through the dark streets, pushing past the pain in her side, in her calves. She ran, trying to ignore the prickling of tears that threatened to fall… the few that squeezed free, telling herself it was the wind in her face that irritated them. She wasn’t crying… She wasn’t. Elise didn’t cry. Elise had taught herself not to cry. She ran, trying to outrun the emptiness in her stomach… the pain in her heart… She ran, trying to catch up with the hope that she’d lost…

Before Mollem had tricked her off to bootcamp, Elise had enjoyed the occasional run… but always on a treadmill and always stopping before she began sweating too badly. Now, Elise had more stamina and endurance than she’d ever thought possible. Who knew how long she’d been running? How long ago had she left The Palace? Where was she even going?

Elise didn’t know. She just ran. But pretty soon, she would have to stop. She needed a drink. Desperately. Not simply because she was thirsty… No. Elise was fighting heartbreak. She was fighting anger. She was fighting hopelessness.

Turning down another street, Elise stopped suddenly. The neon sign caught her eye. Beer. With a wince and a hand clutched over a stitch in her side, a sweaty Elise Bradshaw made her way into the dive bar she’d just located. Ignoring everyone around herself, she moved up to the counter, mindless of her filthy clothes covered in whatever she’d picked up in the sewers, mindless of her disheveled hair, mindless of her sweaty red face. “Whiskey,” she called. “Double. Tall.”

A run down bar on Terra, reeking of sweat, smoke and beer. It wasn't the place one might expect to find The Black Hand, but there she sat with her feet propped up on the table in front of her. There was a time not too long ago that this would have been more her scene, that she would have been spending, three, four, maybe even five or more nights out of the week here. If she wasn't drinking herself into a stupor she was pursuing a quick lay, sometimes both. She had come a long ways these past few months, but after her recent altercation with Elise, and subsequently Iblis, she found herself back here, if only to reminisce over just how she had come to be where she is. She had accomplished a great deal in such a short time, but the world doesn't hand you diamonds without the other shoe dropping. She frowned at that. This is why she didn’t dwell on the past, or the future. She lived her life in the present, so that she didn’t have to think on such things.

Her moment of introspective reminiscing ended though with the arrival of a very unexpected individual. As Elise seated herself at the bar, ordering up a whiskey, Kianna raised a brow at the girls state. Swinging her feet down off her table, the cowled woman rose and retrieved her glass of scotch before making her way to the bar to seat herself at Elise's side. She signaled the bartender to refill her glass before glancing sidelong towards Elise.

"You could have saved yourself all of this," Kianna remarked. "I warned you there was nothing left for you here.”

Elise wrapped her fingers around the glass, aware of the woman’s presence beside herself. Of course it had come to this. What other possible outcome could there be? One might argue that it was fate that led her to this particular bar in which this particular woman waited. One might argue that it was mere coincidence. One, with a more suspicious mind, might argue that it was inevitable. Besides, Elise still wore the bracelet... and she didn’t doubt that there was some way of tracking her. But after tonight, after the way her entire world had simply collapsed, it would figure that inevitably, this was how everything would have turned out.

Lifting the whiskey to her lips, Elise took a long drink of the burning liquid. Her first instinct would have been to fight. Immediately. No questions asked. But after Kroger had dismissed her so easily... What was the point?

“I would have argued with you,” she said quietly, not looking to the woman. Her voice was low, defeated. “I would have argued with you and said that at least here I had my freedom.”

She lifted the glass to her lips once more, taking another long drink, wincing as the liquid burned down her throat. Finally, she turned her eyes to Kianna. “But what good is freedom without hope?”

"Indeed," Kianna replied. She raised her own drink to her lips at that. "What will you do now?" she asked.

Staring into the liquid within the glass, Elise pondered this question. She was silent for a long moment before finally lifting the glass to her lips and taking another swallow. “Drink,” she finally answered. “Right now, I am going to drink and mourn the girl who once was... and the girl who never was... and the girl who will never be. I hadn’t thought any further than that.” She traced one finger around the rim of her glass contemplatively. “Considering you’re sitting beside me right now... that changes any future plans I had even remotely considered. Perhaps I’ll buy you a drink as a sign of appreciation for your actions the other day. After that?” Elise shook her head. “I’m not sure I’ve got that figured out yet.”
"I didn't do it for you," Kianna replied. Another sip. "Tell me about this girl."

Elise snorted slightly. “I didn’t say you did it for me. It happened. Isn’t that worth a drink?” So saying, she lifted the glass to her lips again and took another sip, listening to the ice clink against the side of the glass. “Which girl? There are three that I’m mourning right now.”
“Any of them?” Kianna asked. “All of them? I have all night,” she noted indifferently. She wasn’t in any hurry to go anywhere.
For a long moment, Elise was silent, sipping her drink contemplatively. What was the point? What was the point in any of this? She had half a mind to keep her stories to herself. But at the same time, this could be the only time she would ever be given the opportunity to speak like this. This could be her final confession. The Black Hand, while most likely her executioner, might also be her metaphorical priest. If she was truly facing death... having a drink with death... this may be the final opportunity for someone to hear her story... Perhaps it might do her good to get it out there... to unburden herself... to tell the story to someone so that even after she was long gone, it migt live on, even if only in the mind of one other person.

Besides, the Black Hand was right. They had all night.

Sighing heavily, Elise tried to figure out where to start. “The girl who once was... Her name was Mary and she loved to dance and paint. She had a childlike wonder about the world. Growing up in the mountains, she was surrounded by beauty every day, beauty that many people, consumed with the stresses and worries of daily life, didn’t take the time to notice. She loved horses. She loved going down to the pond near her home and watching the minnows in the shallows. She loved listening to the frogs croak and the birds sing. She loved the way the wind would rustle the golden aspen leaves... the sound they would make, the way they seemed to shimmer... Mary was... she was untouched by evil, for the most part. She knew peace. She could find it. She had a home... a place where she felt safe. She is the girl that once was.”

Finishing her drink, Elise signalled to the bartender to bring her another, and also ordered a glass of water.

“The girl who never was... would have been beautiful and funny, popular in school. She would have loved easily and she would have been easy to love. She wouldn’t have a care in the world. She would have been normal... She wouldn’t have bounced from foster home to foster home... she wouldn’t have spent an ungodly amount of time in the hospital. She wouldn’t have had to go through surgery after surgery to attempt to fix what never should have happened. She would have used her talent with paint to do more than hide herself from the world. She wouldn’t have developed the daddy issues that she did because she would have valued herself... she would have known that she was an amazing person and she never would have doubted it for one second because nothing would have happened to make her believe otherwise. The girl who never was would have been happy. She would have never compromised herself.

“The girl who will never be...” Elise hesitated, closing her eyes, allowing memories to wash over her. “Well... There might be hope for some people... and hope might get people by... but when hope is gone...” Elise trailed off, opening her eyes and frowning. “I loved him, you know? I really did.”

The Black Hand snorted into her glass of scotch. "Love is a farce. That's not how the world works. People use people, and it's as simple as that. You're either using, or being used.”

Her brows grew heavy as she narrowed her eyes, staring into her glass. "There is more truth to that statement than you can even imagine." Elise fell silent for a few moments before turning to look at her companion. "Do you think..." A small hesitation, during which Elise's fingers twisted bits of a cocktail napkin into tiny pieces. "Do you think a person can break their cycle? That users can ever stop using? Or the used could ever... You know... Get away from that pattern?"

The Black Hand shrugged. "The cynic in me says that people don't change," she replied before signalling the bartender to refill Elise's glass. She turned around on her stool and leaned her back against the counter with her arms resting languidly atop the wood surface. "I have been known to be mistaken though," she added after a moment of deliberation as she cast Elise a curious sidelong glance. "How is it you got past the CPF anyways?"

She noted the refill of her glass and acknowledged it with a nod. Wrapping her hand around the glass, she sat in contemplative silence for a moment, not bothering to lift the drink to her lips. Instead, her thumb smoothed over the edge of the glass. After a while, she turned to look at Kianna. “I hated Mollem for forcing me into the military.” She grinned. “However, I guess a girl can learn a thing or two, even if it is against her will.” She waved a hand dismissively. “The CPF? They didn’t stand a chance.”

The Black Hand arched a brow at that. "And you're going to tell me that vanishing act of yours was just military training," she remarked with a clear hint of amusement. "I might need a few more drinks in me before I'll swallow that one." She waved a dismissive hand. "No matter, I'm simply indulging a curiosity of mine. You intrigue me, as do your actions. A woman without hope who fights with all the ferocity of a cornered animal?" A faint smile played at the corner of her lips.

“Until you’ve been there... until you’ve been where I’ve been and seen what I’ve seen...” Elise shook her head, her thumb continuing to move against the edge of the glass. Since the bartender had refilled it, she hadn’t lifted it to her lips at all. She just sat with her hand around it like a talisman. “I may not have hope, but going back there...” Elise closed her eyes, lifting her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. “There are certain things that just cannot... must not... happen. He took everything from me. Almost. Everything that I had left over after everyone else had gotten done taking their pieces. In the past, it happened slowly. You don’t notice it as much. One person takes a piece here and a piece there... another takes their pieces... And by the time you look up and realize that you’re incomplete, it’s too late.”

Reaching her free hand to the ice water, Elise took a sip. “He destroyed what was left... as if I was a game... a toy... Like a petulant child that didn’t want to share his toys so he simply destroys them so nobody else can play with them either. I’m already destroyed... yet he continues...” Elise turned to look at the Black Hand, ignoring completely the remark about her vanishing act. Inwardly, she was chastising herself. She shouldn’t have used it. It was her only method of escape and if anyone had seen... No. Elise couldn’t consider that. “Beat an animal enough, it will run away. It might not have hope, but it knows the concept of freedom... of fear. Corner that animal and it will get ferocious. It will fight like hell not just to maintain its freedom but to avoid ever returning to the life it once knew.”

"You underestimate where I've been, and what I've seen," Kianna replied with wry amusement. "Once upon a time we weren't so different you and I. The difference lies in the fact that you're a victim, and I'm not. I made that choice for myself a long time ago." She downed her glass of scotch and rose from her stool. "You think you know freedom, but you don't. This isn't freedom, she said with a wave of her hand to the dingy bar and the empty glasses of alcohol." A light smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I should know." She tossed some cubits down upon the counter, enough to cover both their drinks. “I’ll be around,” she remarked before she turned to depart.

test

The first van crashed into the front of the office building, tearing through the lobby until it flipped over a piece of debris and went crashing into a pair of elevators.

Moments later five more vans found their way into the lobby, heavily armed and heavily armored men exiting the vehicles. They opened fired on any and everyone they could find. Everyone was a target.

Another fleet of vans approached the building, parking along the street before it's heavily armed occupants made their way out. The small army headed into the skyscraper, joining their allies.

"Sweep every floor, take everyone to the highest floor that you can. Wire them and the floor right below you with explosives." The man calling the shots shouted, "Now!"

Those words sent the mass murdering marauders scrambling for working elevators and staircases. The game had begun.

The three Invictus van rolled up to the scene, police barricades set up. Curious men and women being kept at bay by a heavy police presence.

"What's the situation?" Preston asked loudly as he climbed out of his van, "Unknown number of gunmen. They've taken hostages, our bomb sniffers got a lock on a large amount of explosives. These guys are planning to make sure there isn't anything to be found when this is all over." The lead officer told Preston.

"SWAT's on the way, you can go in with them. Where's Superwoman?" The cop asked, "On her way." Nina said as she and the other soldiers headed towards the destroyed entrance to the skyscraper.

"Anodyne, see if you can find a way in from the roof when you arrive." Preston ordered, "We'll be moving in with SWAT from the ground."

Anodyne was enjoying her new ability. Flight. It was new, it was fun, it was, at times, painful and dirty. Luckily, Sonia gave her new shield technology, no bugs and no debris would be getting through to Anodyne's face and skin.

She could hear Preston's order, making sure her trajectory was angled towards the roof of the skyscraper.

There had to be a door to the roof, some way she could get in without alerting every crazed gunmen inside.

Maria too climbed out of the arriving vans, taking a moment to observe the situation and absorb everything she could. She was out of her element here and words were firing off that made no sense her. SWAT, bombs, these were foreign concepts to her.

She lingered among the Invictus, taking in everything she could. She wore no protective gear, nor carried any weapons upon her, but she seemed unconcerned by this. When the time came, she was capable enough, and did she fear men and their guns.

"What is my purpose?" she asked Preston.

She was no stranger to combat, but hostage situations was something she had never encountered before. Despite her inexperience at the situation, she was confidently forward with her inquiry and waited for direction on how her talents might be best directed.

What she lacked in experience with this sort of situation she seemed to make up for with an awareness of her inexperience and a willingness to follow the more experienced Invictus' lead on the matter. She was here to relearn to walk among the human world once more, and for that she needed to trust these men to direct her in situations that were still foreign to her.

"What can you do?" Preston asked Maria, "We need to take out the enemy combatants without harming the civilians or causing the bombs to go off." The Canadian soldier told Maria, "It's going to be tricky."

"Very." Chemo said, "We have an EMP on the way, we'll probably give it to Anodyne, let her take these guys out with it since she's the closest." Nina added.

Maria reached out and wrapped her fingers around the pole of a street lamp. The muscles strained in her arm as her grey eyes took on a swirl of amber. With the creek of metal, her fingers began to dig into the steel pole.

"The wolf-mind is strong," Maria replied. With the wolfish gleam of her eyes, her voice had deepened to a low growl. "Unafraid."

Preston opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of shots being fired from the building cut him off. A bullet slammed into a police car, destroying some of the lights on top of it.

"Not sniper. Someone would have died." Sandman said, "We're being taunted. I say we go in." Sandman told Preston, "We can take Maria with us, she's a bruiser or somethin' right?"

"Two people who can beat folks into submission is better for this team than one." Taco said, "Think you're ready?" Preston asked Maria.

A woman was quick-stepping across the street, confused by the sight of flashing lights and the sound of sirens and gunfire off in the distance. Feeling a sort of bravado steel over her, she sneaked closer, her white hair in a disarray around her ears as she jogged into the thick of things, looking to Preston and the others before fixing her eyes on the building ahead.

Not realizing that the others may not recognize her for who she was, the woman asked, "What's going on?"

She certainly would have heard about it if she had her phone, or a pager.

Maria grabbed an assault rifle from the van, checking that it was loaded before nodding to Preston. A few weeks with the Invictus didn't make an expert marksman of the woman, but she was a quick learner and knew her way around the weapon well enough to not leave the others worrying who she might shoot. It lacked the primal nature of melee combat, but she couldn't deny the sheer destructive capability and efficiency of these modern weapons.

"A hostage situation." Preston told the woman who approached, "You need to get behind the barricades." Preston said, "Speaking of, these should be moved back a bit more. If they have explosives debriss will come down on the street." Preston said to the lead officer on the scene.

"Maria, Vidal, Taco, we're going in." Chemo said, "We'll take the elevators up a few floors, then it's to the stairs."