Wing City Hospital

Outside the elevator shaft before princess hospital steel framework can be heard to creak and groan as a wall straightened and pulled inward. The bent superstructure straightened by a dense cloud occupying the darkened interior. Buttons outside the elevator sprung to life as something reconnected collapsed wire conduits. With a hum of life the floor indicator chimed but displayed nothing. After a few B4 appeared then advanced quickly to ground. It chimed once more and the door opened.

Shiny metal doors open to four humanoid men standing in the dark. Lights blink on from above as what sounded like rain issues from all sides. Blackness drains from the lights into the elevator shaft and the car grows brighter still. Seen more clearly their garb something between a white doctor's coat and an overcoat. Above it heads in coarse gauze to make bare hints at indistinct features. Jinhai made a pale imitation of the doctors they saw as to not disturb the patients. Mostly they were seen at night while patients slept. Other Jinhai in slightly different garb, frequently seen in the city if out of the way, walk in at all hours to drop patients off without so much as a word.

Stone plates with pillars at each corner held between them each occupant quite still. A soldier of some distinction from accident during city repairs laid still as the mortuary slab he'd once been upon. They'd recreated the clothing and the armor but none of the markings. Appearing do until a chest rose making breath more apparent. The man's eyes open, alarmed. Both him and idle compatriot quite alive.

One looked straight to Priestess its flat voice noting, "It is done, humankind."

~~~

"Where are you taking me? Why can I feel my legs?", asked the man reaching for legs quite well smashed by debris to his recollection.

"You are rekindled, humankind," came the emotionless reply, "You must return to the care of other humankind."

"What? Who?", came the soldier's voice as they entered the hallway to set the white stone plates on a gurney.

The four turned toward the basement stairs down the hallway without further word to the alarmed man trying to get up. The soldier just stared with hands propping up his torso. Moving bare toes dumbstruck and quite in shock. Nothing but bare skin below the thigh his clean pants ended abruptly.

"But... where are my shoes? Is that a tattoo? Whose legs are these?!", was all the man could muster.

/ic Jackson Helix Northern Main Street

The members of the TLA seemed to stop what they where doing as the TVs showed the Emperess Electra revealing the true nature of herself and the TLA.

"Well about damn time!" Priestess said before looking up at the sounds and people around her "What the hell is this? And who the hell are you? Troopers!"
A squad of TLA troopers burst in aiming thier guns at the Jinhai and the crazed man.
Priestess raised her own gun and spoke "Now by order of the Terra Nova Empire tell me your business here and how you got in."


Down in the Lobby Mysti looked a way from the news to see the ones she had been talking to had left. She sighed and was about to go back to work when she saw another woman waiting in the lobby. She walked up to her and asked, "How can the Terran Lib...er... How can the Terra Nova help you today?"

All Jinhai stopped in their tracks overcoats billowing in some unseen wind. The three pivot turn in unison to address the question put to them unmoved by the threat to their person. Each gloved hand held at their side, listless. Mouths seen under bandages did move when they spoke but with a bare imitation of a 'face' hidden underneath. Firstly a momentary discussion ensued among them to evaluate the request.

"The Almanac indicates such a group is not under the purview of the Living Emperor."
"Irrelevant. All humankind is within the perview the Living Emperor."
"Stated group is inconsistent with a threat to humankind. No related affiliation dicta exist."
"Agreed. The request is permissible by humankind; group affiliation is of no concern."

Each used the same voice as the closest answered literally, "We have finished rekindling the humankind. We took your elevator from below."

Another pointed at the man's head describing purpose, "After rebuilding a body for viable thrones of mankind we must return completed humankind to your care."

Another raised the flat of hand as black dust leaked to shape a shadow dragon of black smoke to inform constraints, "Recent events tainted unused replacements. Our duties require destruction of fallen tainted humankind."

One then pointed to the elevator to specify their origin, "A stasis facility was constructed underneath this human construction to hold damaged thrones of humankind until they have completed rekindling."

Two behind the one that spoke gestured to the woman and the confused man, "They have been rekindled. The life of humankind now resumes. We have no further interest."

The closest cocked its bandaged head volunteering status updates from below, "Upgrades are in progress to permit more live but incomplete humankind to remain in aetheric projection until parts are available. 14 projection upgrades have been completed."

~~~

The man's terrified face darted to soldiers aiming weapons at him breaking his focus on the new tattooed legs. His eyes raced for an explanation and stammered, "I... was dead? Wait, wait, guys, I'm not a soldier! The prison tattoos aren't mine! I am... was... uh I am just a EMT! Please don't shoot me! I don't want to die again!"

A small child's voice peeped from a vent on the ceiling down the hall as Eileen stuck her white translucent head stuck through the grating, "Don't shoot the dark men!"

The fresh aired morning was usually one you roll out of bed, stand up to stretch, then go get a bagel from the hospital cafeteria. Since you can't leave the hospital because of a double shift. What you don't expect is opening your eyes to paperwork, at your desk, with your hand filling forms out. The doctor's hand moved in a glove that looked like heavy wool. On its own though rather comfortable. As the cobwebs cleared he tried moving his arms and head then saw his actual coat across the other patient bed where he'd left it. A walking bed it may be, comfortable, warm, snug, relaxing... Wait, no! He had to do at least some sort of paperwork this week.

What new craziness has got him in this damn city now? As he tried to move his arm the moving pen stopped and the taps on the datapad stopped.

A cowl tightened around his head to speak a voice as flat as day old soda, "The paperwork isn't complete and there is more paperwork to complete."

Getting slightly worried that one of those creeps from the basement was wearing him he used his 'doctor's voice, "Who are you anyway? I have to start my rounds in less than 10 minutes, if you can't do that too then let me go."

He had a pang of regret as the really comfortable bed backed off of him and the loose empty robe replied, "I am Administratum. I rectify missing administrative functions not human repairs. I will return when paperwork is failing to complete."

A medical degree definitely didn't put him in the stupid end of the gene pool, "Oh no you're not, come on. There's a lot more paperwork to do. How many more are there of you?"

The voice while more personable than the creeps didn't seem to have the bedside manner down, "Of course. Administratum in the stasis array are currently capable of maintaining hospital regulation. Even in the event of catastrophic failure of all administrative personnel. While they still function we may not replace them."

Bosses couldn't steal them so this called for coffee, "You don't have to replace them just stick with me and keep track of my paperwork. Let's go get coffee."

The robe flutters and takes off into the air, drifting closer, "That is not against dicta. I will not need a coffee."

Jazzei felt herself being helped into a seat. “Where am I?” she thought. “Where's the Bar gone?”
But that mattered little right now. Her wrist was throbbing more than ever and had started to swell up. Her head throbbed even more!
She blinked, rubbing her eyes (one of which was puffy and bruised) with her fingertips. How blinding the lights were! But at least there were no shadows? No. No shadows! Phew! Thank God for that!
Through her fogged vision she could just make out the sterile room, with patients of all kinds sitting, waiting to be called, some reading magazines, others reading books or staring into space. Nurses and doctors were also present, hurrying to and fro… they always seemed to be in a hurry!
And, indeed, Jazzie remembered that she herself had certainly been kept busy whilst working at The Saint Louis Hospital in Paris. The hospital that had been deliberately burnt to the ground, claiming so many lives, including that of her sister...! She could still see the flames…! Could even feel the searing heat on her skin, as her lungs became choked with thick, black smoke! Spreading with terrifying speed, it hadn't taken long for the inferno to devour the entire building and all of those inside, turning it from a place of safety, into a deadly oven! She could hear the patients’ screams as she tried to get to them, their desperate cries for help…! The children! Bast! The children…!
Her breathing became rapid…! She started to shake violently…! “Oh my GOD!!!” she freaked…!

A TLA dropship landed outside the Hospital. Out of it stepped two women one was wearing white armor with a red cross the other an armor covered in tech and a large rifle strapped on her back.

"The Emperess really called you back from Ridgecrest to run a check on a hospital?" Asked the cleric

The Ghost Sara nodded. "After Priestess' reports of those strange creatures in the basement the Emperess pulled me... I figure she hopes with my psionic powers i can connect with them better then Priestess did..."


Inside the hospital Priestess herself had just entered the lobby when a group of people teleported in. "Looks like one of them is hurt... oh and remind me to request some more mages to cast a spell to prevent people from just teleporting into my hospital..."

As the Nurses rushed over to check on the newcomers asking them a million questions about who they where and what happened Priestess noticed Sara a cleric and two Terra Nova marines walk in. "Commander Drake" Priestess said with a salute. "Forgive the chaos. We just had a few wounded drop in here."

Sara returned the salute. "At ease no need to worry I figured such a place would be a headache. I'm sure you know why I am here."

"Yes please i will show you to my office."

Meanwhile, someone was holding a wad of gauze to the wound on the side of Jazzei's head (which was leaking blood all down the side of her face and into the neck of her blouse.) At the same time, a nurse in a light blue pinafore kindly handed her a paper bag and instructed her to breathe into it, taking long, deep, breaths. Which she did: Breathing in. Breathing out... and so on. Until, eventually, her heart rate began to slow and she was able to think rationally again, “I'm safe...! All fine...! Must… stay... calm!”
True, the hospital was the LAST place on Terra she wanted to be right now, but at least it was not ablaze! No. She was not burning inside a hospital building! The heat that she could feel was, in actual fact, the hospital’s state of the art central heating system. And those were not patients’ screams, but people simply talking!

Suddenly, a throng of people marched in through the automatic doors, and all at once the lobby was a hive of chaos! Through it all, Jazzie pricked up her ears and tried to make some sense of it.
One of the people seemed a bit narky about the fact that they’d had the audacity to teleport in (apparently that was against hospital safety policy!) And Kurt was bluntly explaining to her that they wouldn't normally have done such a thing, and that they would have arrived at the hospital in the traditional fashion, had they NOT been trying to escape from a bunch of crazed lunatics who had been trying to MURDER them at the time! (And who were, more than likely, STILL after them!)
“What happened?” Asked one of the nurses.
Kurt then explained that his charge had been involved in a car accident, and was suffering what he suspected to be concussion, and quite possibly, a broken wrist. She was also showing signs of acute psychological trauma, but had no idea of how to calm her down, because he was no good at these sorts of things; plus he'd only just met her!
“Well then,” said the nurse. “We'd better get that head injury checked out first, seeing as its bleeding quite badly. And then we'll see about your arm. In the meantime, we can give you something for the pain.”
“I'm a heroin addict,” Jazzei quietly told her, still having trouble speaking due to an incessant bout of trembling (And was therefore grateful for Kurt's input!) “Currently tapering off... I'm on 100mg of methadone per day, and I drop that by 10mg on a week by week basis. I'm injecting... my body cannot tolerate the sugars in the liquid form.” She needed to be honest about it. After all, it wasn't her fault!
“Then we'll see about getting you some help with that,” said the nurse, kindly. “If you'd like to follow me…?”

He happened to be the closest to the hospital, and EVE just wouldn't shut up about imploring him to investigate two potential targets of interest to the Confessor Cabal.

He effortlessly managed to conceal himself among a crowd of people coming, and going to the hospital. A simple dark purple suit, with the iris like emblem of the Confessors pinned to his lapel, the same suit he was wearing to Elijah's trial, which had been going on for some time now.

Reaching out, he stepped forward and pushed the front doors to the hospital open, already formulating his plan through real time updates from EVE. He checked his watch, Ayla would be Bifrosting in any moment unless Marlene managed to convince her to take an alternate course of action.

Kesslee kept his mind vigilant, and on guard, the Psionic inhibitor he wore active, and preventing intrusions into his mind, this was disguised as a cell phone's bluetooth earpiece, which also allowed EVE to communicate with him.

"Present, target one is in Triage, target two is accompanying. Assemble a Tac team, quietly, I'd like to avoid a firefight." Kesslee said into his comms, which were triple-encrypted on a high level Aschen military frequency.

A few hours later, Jazzei sat inside the Pharmacy waiting area, waiting to collect her meditation (which would include: a weeks supply of methadone, sterile needles, some paracetamol and a supply of dressings for her head and elbows) with her arm (having been x-rayed and formally diagnosed as a transverse fracture) now set, and safely secured in a plaster cast. Luckily, a severe head injury had been quickly ruled out, but the gash had required a few stitches, along with a small dressing. ::Most fetching!:: she thought, dryly.
The nurse, Julie, had then told her that the plaster needed to stay on for at least six weeks, and after that she would require a course of physio. However, the concussion would possibly take a while to recover from, and advised her that her best option would be to go home and rest. “I don't have a home,” Jazzei quietly replied.
“Is there no one you can stay with?” asked the nurse.
Jazzei looked at Kurt. “I have friends,” she said.
“Good. Well, if you'd like to make an appointment for a psychiatric assessment, then we can see about getting you some support for your addiction. Here, at the hospital, we have a dedicated drug support team who would be more than happy to help you through it. Otherwise, you are free to go.”
“Thank you,” said Jazzei, smiling. “I will do that!”
Presently, the Pharmacist came out and called her name, “Arsinoe LeMusa?”
Jazzei stood up. “Yes,” she said.
Smiling the Pharmacist handed her a package and said, “Take the Methadone as you have been. The paracetamol as and when you need it, but do not exceed the stated dose. Ok?”
“Thank you,” said Jazzei, taking the package and stuffing it into her handbag... then she frowned. Something wasn't right! She could feel it in her bones!
Whilst inside Gambit’s Bar, she had sensed malicious eyes on her, tracking her every move…! But had not been able to shake off that feeling upon arrival at the hospital...! Something had followed them there! And not only that, but the object that she kept concealed next to her heart suddenly began to feel hot to the touch- a sure sign that something sinister was afoot!
She quietly dipped her uninjured hand into the bag, grasping the pistol and fiddling with the safety catch, but didn't pull it out.
Next, keeping her demeanour calm, she went to join Kurt, who was waiting for her outside the booth… and that was when the feeling grew stronger! A feeling akin to her having just swallowed a load of marbles- while the artefact was practically burning a hole in her breast! “Kurt!” she whispered, looking the weathered gentleman (who she now saw as a friend) in the eye, whilst at the same time, scanning the crowd with her peripheral, “Someone's following us!!!”

In the hours that lapsed, Kesslee managed to get everything in place. The entire hospital was surrounded by the forces of the Aschen Empire. But the casual observer wouldn't notice such a thing. People were walking their dog, moving about the grounds of the hospital as if they were dealing with their own business in the hospital.

A group of EMTs were loitering outside of the Pharmacy, but they were really agents of the Aschen Empire's Imperial Intelligence Agency, the duffel bags, and rolled bedding concealed the weapons they brought, and their EMT uniforms meant that no one would so much as give them a second glance.

Kesslee followed Kurt and Jazzei into the pharmacy, but he ditched the confessor suit for a pair of scrubs, allowing him to blend in with the hospital staff, and move more freely among it's halls.

It was time for him to pounce.

He lit a cigar, and moved right next to Jazzei, and Kurt, while clearing his throat.

"It's best if you two don't make a scene; I have this entire hospital surrounded. Come with me, and no one gets hurt." The Confessor said quietly.

EVE was monitoring everything continuously.

The EMTs outside slowly began to reach into their duffel bags, one of them placing his hands on a Type 03 Disruptor PDW, a fast-firing compact, high powered energy weapon typically fielded by agents of the Aschen Empire.

At the sound of the voice behind her, Jazzei’s ears folded flat and she spun round, coming face to face with the man she had initially assumed to be just another member of staff! Now she realised her mistake! Eyes like shards of ice bore into hers, chilling her to the bone! His face, cruel and pinched, showed his intentions would be systematic and brutal! ::Talk about out of the frying pan, into the fire!:: she thought wearily.
But she was confused! She had done NOTHING to this individual! NOTHING! So what the Hell did he want with her!? More to the point, what did he want with Kurt?!
With her grip tightened on her weapon, she stood protectively in front of her friend and lifted her chin. “Go where!?” she said, "My friend and I have committed no crime!!!" ::At least, not today!:: (Ok. So she had killed two men! In self defence!)
But while she spoke, she released her grip for the moment, feeling for her phone and pushing the speed dial button, before returning her hand to the pistol.
“And what awaits me when I get there?” she asked. “Surely I deserve to know that!” (She guessed it wouldn't be food, bath and a bed, which was pretty much all she wanted right now!)

"Drawing your weapon upon a Confessor of the Empire would merit little more than your death, and the death of your friend." Kesslee said, noting the hand in the purse. "There are a dozen heavily armed men inside this room, and outside it. You would do well to heed my commands." He added quietly.

"If you two defy me, and attempt to escape; you will be hunted down." Kesslee added.

"I will not ask again, come quietly."

Jazzei bared her teeth. "You can follow me to Hell!" She hissed, and whipped out the gun. But rather than point it at him, she aimed it at the smoke detector above her head... and fired! Almost immediately, the alarm went off! Followed by the sprinkler system!

Kesslee grit his teeth the moment Jazzei defied him, and called out that he could follow her to hell. Of course that was exactly what he intended to do.

The moment her pistol cleared the handbag, the IIA Agents outside drew their own weapons from the duffel bag, unlike the metallic Desert Eagle Jazzei carried, their Type 03 Disruptor PDWs were sleek, and stood out, instantly recognizable to anyone with history with the Aschen.

Kesslee reached up with inhuman speed, and strength. Though the gun had gone off, no sooner would Jazzei find Kesslee reaching for the weapon with blinding speed. His aim was to snatch the gun from her grasp, while the Aschen IIA Agents dressed as EMT's opened fire inside the pharmacy.

Brilliant streaks of green light burst forth from their weapons, impacting flesh, and concrete alike. With each discharge, there was a blinding green flash, and with each impact a plume of steam, and smoke which bore the acrid smell of charred flesh.

Kesslee aimed to keep his hands on Jazzei if he managed to grab her, his teeth grit in anger as the sounds of thunder began to echo out and around the Hospital. His grip was like death, with strength far beyond his human appearance. Perhaps it was the combat skin he wore, or perhaps it was his augmentations. Either way, events had now been set into motion.

"Eve, initiate extraction, inform the IIA that I am returning to Langara with a prisoner." Kesslee hissed.

The IIA team moved into the pharmacy while covering the doors, their weapons readied as they prepared for a firefight with the locals. Afterall, the Aschen just slaughtered everyone in the immediate area save for Jazzei, and Kurt.

"Kesslee! We'll hold the area until you can Bifrost out!" One of the agents called out, taking up position near one of the doors.

Kesslee stared at Jazzei, while attempting to restrain her. "You dare challenge me!" Kesslee called out. "Your life is forfeit!"

"Now hold the FUCK up!" Kurt finally spoke up. "This is a hospital! I took her here because she was in a car accident and stumbled into Gambit's, and it's clear that she's taken a sharp blow to the head and isn't thinking clearly! Do you really think it's worth shooting up a house of healing because someone is confused and scared? You're more likely to kill someone with a stray shot! Let's at least get her patched up. That'll give everyone time to cool their heads. Please. Let's let the professionals here do their jobs."

But as quick as Jazzei was, Kesslee was quicker, and she had barely fired off her weapon, when all Hell certainly did break loose! ::Oh Heck! I've done it now!” she thought.
Kurt desperately tried to reason with Kesslee and calm things down, but it did little to help. All at once, hospital staff were revealing themselves to be Aschen fighters and were opening fire on everyone and everything, including patients and actual staff who were trying to evacuate, until the corridors ran red with rivers of blood!
With a snarl, Kesslee grabbed Jazzei's good arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her to drop the gun and lifting her off her feet! He then clamped a gloved hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming (but not before she'd had the chance to yell, “I know my rights! What you are doing is a crime against the people of Terra!!!”)
However, it wasn't actually her he was holding… but a pile of filthy, tattered clothes! For she had wiggled out of his grasp like a slippery eel, and was now streaking through the wet corridor, now a creature of no more than forty six centimetres in length, and surprisingly nimble, despite only having three legs to work with! A curious sight: a lame snowshoe cat, wearing a strange jewel around its neck, diving between people's legs in a bid to get away! ::Where's the nearest exit?:: she thought. ::Holy shit! I wish I'd stayed with my murderous husband!::
The lifts were out of action! But someone opened a door next to them, and she rushed on through, finding herself in the stairwell, with the alarm still blearing and only one way to go! And that was UP!

"Hey, what the fuck? Everyone's dead...we're all gonna die...I'm gonna die!"

In the midst of his existential crisis, Kurt could barely concentrate through the gunshots to cast his second and final teleportation spell of the day to return back to his home base. All he wanted to do was get a girl the help she needed after getting hurt, and now war was being precipitated?? This was way too much for him to handle!

He could only pray that he wasn't worth chasing down as his form shimmered and disappeared once more. Jazz was on her own.

A shot followed by an alarm. More shots. "Shit!" muttered Sara "lockdown the hospital I'll check it out."

The hospital intercom sounded "LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED!"

In the room the Aschen agents and their targets would find shutters closing on all the exits save one that lead to rest of the hospital "Ghost override activated."

Though the doors came two Terra Nova marines followed by a half dozen TLA troopers behind them was Sara "By order of the Terra Nova Empire Weapons on the ground!" she demanded. As her men took aim.


Meanwhile in the control room Priestess called for backup.

The triggered alarm had also summoned fire and police from the city as well as alerting TLA forces outside that moved to secure the area.

Jazzei didn't stop running! Her breath came in ragged gasps and her foreleg burned from the added pressure that it wasn't accustomed to. But she dared not stop! Because she could hear a pursuer coming up behind her, terrifyingly fast for a human! In fact, he was almost on her tail!
Higher and higher she climbed, how many floors she passed she didn't know (she lost count at nine!) But when she passed a sign reading: level 32, she knew she was almost at the top, suddenly reaching a dead end! A fire door! And she was a cat! It was time to morph back! Which she did, in the blink of an eye, threw open the door and charged through it! But where to go next!?
Heart pounding, she ran along the corridor, trying doors left and right…! All locked! But then she rounded a corner and had a desperate idea! In front of her was an abandoned laundry trolley, full of clean sheets and, best of all, uniforms!
So when the man sped around the corner, expecting to find a cat, all he found was a young nurse with long, brown, wavy hair, sky blue eyes and milk white skin, pushing the laundry trolley along towards one of the wards... However, there was a problem!
The shoes she was wearing were far too big, and she had no socks on! Added to that, she clearly had no bra on underneath that pinafore! But, before he could apprehend her, she had swiped her card key into the slot and slipped through the door, slamming it shut in his face!
She knew it wouldn't take him long to get through! And alas! Seconds later, the door clicked, opening with a bone chilling creak...!
Shit! She was at another dead end! She was trapped!!!
But wait! What was that? A hole in the ceiling? It was her only chance! And she only had one shot!
Changing from a human, back into a cat, she leapt onto a table, looked up... and jumped! She would easily have made it… if one of her arms had not been broken! And for a nerve freezing moment she was left dangling from the plasterboard by a single clawed paw, trying to use her opposite elbow to haul herself through the gap!
She could hear him getting closer! Heard the antagonistic laugh at her efforts, as the guy cocked his weapon…! But at last she managed to scramble into (what she realised) was the air vent and hurried through, barely avoiding the bullets that came hissing through the metal just millimetres from her tail!
Finally, she came to a an iron grate and pushed it aside, dragging herself through the gap, and falling ungracefully out of the ventilation pipe, onto the concrete, panting and exhausted!
But there was no time to rest! For there was the Devil incarnate himself! He'd found another way! And it wasn't who she had initially thought it was either! (But someone almost as bad!) “Lawrence!” she hissed. Flanked by four heavily armed Rats!
He grimaced, showing all of his metal teeth, as he pointed his semi auto at her chest. “Did you miss me?” he asked, his voice like a snowman with laryngitis.
Morphing back into her Jellicle form (completely without attire, save for the gold locket around her neck) Jazzei turned and ran! Bullets pinged at her heels, but she didn't get far! There was nowhere else to go, because she was on a roof! And was now looking down at the ground, just under four hundred feet below (or so she reckoned!) There was nothing for it! All was lost! Shaking from a combination of anger, weariness and lack of food, she turned to face Tesslar's Evil Servant. “Ok. I give up. You win!” she said. “You want to kill me so damn badly? Go ahead!”
With tears falling from hers eyes, she spread her arms out. “Well, go on then! Do it! And make it quick! There's someone I wish to join!”

Upon the rooftop a single creature stood at the edge. A golden globe of some form in his black and silver hand. "Oh I wouldnt go that far. Your husband wouldnt want his death to be in vain after all" Came the calm cultred voice of Munkustrap. He turned around and held up the Apple, golden light danced around him and Jazzei, the two soldiers that had chased her fell to the ground simply knocked out by all their own senses going haywire.

Munkus then removed his dark cloak and wrapped it around Jazzei's shoulders. "Come, I have a place where I can help you properly and we can figure this mess out." He told her simply. It was true, he did have a place, a safe place, a place none really knew about safe for a select few, and those few that knew of it so far, was simply only him.

Well, him and Jazzei.

A silver and black patterned formed on the rooftop they stood upon. When it was done formingit was made clear of what it was.

A Transportation Array.

Munkus was getting Jazzei out of there to better safety

Jazzei looked to her left towards the unexpected voice and did a double take...! ::What the-?! WHAT-?!!!! Silver Guy-!? Here…? On the roof like he'd just dropped in to say hi!?::
But before she could ask what the Hell he was doing there, the orb like object that he was holding burst into life, forming a kind of energy shield around them, and knocking Lawrence and his men right out! ::This day just gets weirder and weirder!:: she thought, but felt jubilant for some reason! In fact she had never felt more happy to see someone!
“Well I didn't much fancy jumping off there anyway!” she laughed jokingly, as (with good grace, she thought!) he placed a cloak around her bare shoulders (which were only covered by her fur, along with the rest of her!) and realised she still didn't know his name! Well, there would be time enough for that (and all the other million and a half questions she had!) when they got to wherever they were going. She hoped it had a bed. And food! And a bath!

Kesslee didn't give chase when the woman seemed to turn into a cat, and scamper off. He simply stood there with a twisted expression on his face. The IIA Agents stayed put as well, if Kesslee didn't give chase, than neither would they.

His eyes moved to the ceiling, as shutters snapped shut all around them. The swirling vortex of clouds, and rainbow light continued to gather around the top of the hospital, followed immediately by a column of rainbow light, which shot into the hospital. Kesslee disappeared in a flash of multicolored light.

The remaining IIA agents considered their options. The ones who revealed themselves and opened fire, that is.

They put down their weapons, and surrendered to the Terra Nova, kicking their Disruptor PDWs away from them, and putting their hands up.

Then they collapsed, every one of them trapped in the room collapsed dead in an instant, each of them taking a fast acting poison, and collapsing in the hospital room.

---

On an adjacent rooftop, a pair of Operatives watched the exchange in near silence, EVE Advised that they disengage, so they elected to watch through their scopes.

Slowly, Lawrence began to come round. And so did his four men. “Drat!” he snarled, getting up and dusting off his trench coat. Then he spoke into his wrist phone. “Bitch got any Boss!” He said.
“Then stop standing around like a blinking lemon and get back before the Aschen see you, you idiot!” came the reply.
“Yes Boss,” said Larry, showing his teeth.
“Come on,” he said to his men, and they all dived through a portal that had opened up beside them. As soon as the last man was through, it closed up and disappeared.

A brilliant, rainbow coloured sparkling light erupted barely a foot behind Jazzimore as the Aschen finally commenced their full assault. To those privy, or previously witness, to the secretive, and rather new piece of technology the Empire had developed there would be no mistaking it: The Bïfrost system. Within another couple of seconds however the dazzling display was cut short, utterly obliterated by the intense, white flash, and gut-wrenching sound of two Anti-Magic grenades detonating in sync. The light enveloped the room for a moment before dissipating, locking the area down for any, and all mages caught unaware by the sudden ambush. Those without arcane capabilities, equipment, or connections would be left completely unharmed, along with most mundane infrastructure, but to a magic-user the pain was said to be excruciating. Debilitating even, to journeymen, or lower.

Much more concerning however was what had brought them to the hospital. At the epicentre of the "explosion" stood Ayla, although she barely resembled the proper Confessor that had skulked through Gambit's anymore.

The detonations had shredded her beautiful velour robes, and unlike most every member of the Cabal she didn't sport their exosuit underneath. Instead she wore the Kinetic Absorption Skin that the Adepts kept under their massive suits of armour, "the Glove" as they informally called it thanks to its extremely skin-tight nature. Ayla's was a custom job though, reinforced to withstand extra kinetic force, and dyed a more fitting black with an energy weapon resistant micropolymer. The insignia of the Cabal, a circular series of interlocking talons in the shape of an aperture, was emblazed its throat in a deep, rust red, but none of that was quite as attention grabbing as her posture. She was crouched on all fours like a wild predator, her overdriven muscles clearly bulging, and rippling beneath the suit, the woman more closely resembled a steel tension wire about to snap than a human. And for good reason.

The suite of combat enhancing narcotics had already taken full effect, the dose her injector was administering directly to her nervous system blurred the line between merely insane, and fatal with each second. Even her carbonfiber musculature was strained under her current strength, sinew mere micrograms of stimulants away from tearing. All chains had been removed from one of the Empire's most unstable monsters.

Her swivled, a movement so fast it blurred to the naked eye, towards Jazzimore, and a barbaric growl rumbled from the Aschen's chest. "Where in Hades are you running, little pussy?" Snarled Ayla, her voice much lower, and hoarse. If she had the facilities she might have noticed just how much she sounded like Tim again. Or worse yet, how much she felt like him. "Your shit ends here."