The World Asunder

[GigaRidley]

"Good question."
Ansa's breath came in deep gasps as she continued to move at high speed down the empty streets.
"The Masked Knight is a vigilante operating independently of both the Kingdom Guard and the APF, and he's been enormously successful, both at helping out the people of Lower Avalon and raising their morale. He's said to be super-humanly strong, which as I've seen, is true, and while I hadn't met him until last evening, my old superior Vander Ross apparently knew him rather well."

 

[Pichu2k7]

"I'll just assume he's a nice guy of sorts then." Karigen thought out loud. He'd need to ask less trivial questions and more meaningful ones.

"Also, what the hell is going on? Giant splinters, rebellions, mind control. It's creeping me out." He asked as they approached a metallic building that looked in better shape than any of the other buildings in the area. He checked his phone, 10:51 and no signal. He questioned why he had no signal as he put his phone back into his pocket.

"What's the deal with Kai and that mask of his anyway?" He added as they slowly continued to run in the direction of the metallic building.

 

[Hoboturtle]

"I have a bit more to worry about then one little girl", the girl wasn't so young if she was in the guard, what was with her? She probably was a bit tougher than she looked, but he didn't have time to play around. There was too much at stake. The clock was ticking.


Lambert pulled Zayn around, swinging her around in front of him as he turned to look at the young guard. He had his arm around her neck, "And you have a bit more to worry about then me. Your captain isn't in the best position. So please step back."

He squeezed a bit around the fire maiden's throat, hoping to prove the seriousness of his threat. He ignored the pounding that suddenly manifested in the back of his head.

 

[Neosquid]

Citri hissed. "Ugh...! Whatever. Guess I have no choice other than to back off for no--" Citri paused. She opened her mouth and simply stared at the ground for a few seconds. "Hehe...on second thought...let's see you try. Kingdom Guard or not, the girl you're looking at isn't the one to let her prey run away so easily." She said, once again grinning. She licked her lips yet again.

A confused Zayn suddenly became even more terrified.

OOC: I swear that I actually have reasons for these sudden "mood swings". ^^;

 

[GigaRidley]

Ansa shrugged.
"Good question. I honestly don't know anything about these 'unrisen' people that were said to have made the mask, although I think my father did. But clearly it's a powerful enough weapon that it's made the Kingdom Guard amass like this."
They had reached the large metallic building, which had been reinforced with several seithr-wrought plates on the walls. Ansa banged on the large metal door and it swung open, revealing a short, round dwarven woman who peered up at them through fogged spectacles.
"Ansa, where on Aravad have you been? The Derren's Alley patrols still have their hands full with the remaining splinter bands and nobody knew where you were! As captain, you have to--"
"Nice to see you too, Dergada," Ansa said hurriedly, moving past the woman and stepping into a modestly-sized, circular room. Normally rather cramped, only a few APF members were currently there, tending to injured members and civilians. The rest were likely still out on patrol. The room would have had a rather warm and comforting feeling, with soft chairs and a roaring fire, if not for several tables with bloody cloth and first aid kits, seithr-coated weaponry, and a jar of what looked like a purplish-black goo that pulsed ominously.
"Has anyone come in in the last few minutes carrying a man called Kai Fishwash?"
The few APF members around shook their heads, confused.

 

[Pichu2k7]

Woah... Was all Karigen could let out as he followed the Fae into the APF HQ, seeing the sight of so many wounded and so much blood lying around the floor that wasn't his was making him feel nauseated and to make things worse his own injuries were started to pound. All of a sudden the room was on high alert to his presence when he was noticed. He limped over to an unoccupied seat separate from the rest of the rooms occupants.

"So what now?" He simply asked as most of the APF members that weren't occupied laid eyes on him. He ended up uncomfortably sitting there knowing that a good few people in the room were looking in his direction silently hoping at least one person in the room would know what to do and draw all the attention away from him and towards themselves. The staring was making him nervous.

 

[GigaRidley]

"We wait. The Masked Knight said he'd meet us back here. Then I'll go looking for Kai, and do some investigating. There's way more to this than meets the eye, I'm sure of it."
Ansa unsheathed Zeal and Apathy and noticed that Karien was holding Zayn's lance.
"You took her lance? Not bad, kid. Dirge is probably the most powerful fire-based Familiar I've ever seen. She won't be happy it's gone."

 

[Pichu2k7]

"Yeah I took her lance, sucks to be her. I only wanted my familiar back..." He said as he slowly trailed off realizing that he'd stolen something...again. He let out a sigh, he didn't even know how the damned thing worked. All he knew was that he'd somehow caused it to sheath or something? He didn't really know. He'd never seen a lance in action before until today, pretty sure they didn't sheath but whatever. He began to investigate it thoroughly but couldn't really find anything on how to work it.

"You any good at figuring this stuff out?" He asked completely confused by Drige. "Oh also that sounds like a great plan. It means I get to meet a hero and not be on the receiving end of a beating for a change so I won't complain." He said as he leaned the lance against the wall he was sitting by, knives weren't complicated at all and were only lethal if the user aimed for vital organs...most of the time anyway. He probably wouldn't use Dirge, too large and clunky for his weak physical structure.

"Oh I heard your name was Ansa right? I'm uhh...Karigen Granger." He was nervous about introducing himself, he didn't do it that often either because they didn't like him on sight due to his race and because he'd rather not introduce himself to a possible victim in the future so he kept his name low profile for the most part. The only people that really knew him was the Lokasen guards, his friends and those obnoxious nuisances he lived next to that he called "Neighbors" and they really didn't get along too well.

"I mean, we'll be working together for a little while until I either get a job and a place to stay or I get a lift back home to Lokasen somehow so I might as well introduce myself I guess." He said scratching the back of his head. He didn't really want to wait around but there wasn't much else he really could do.

 

[GigaRidley]

"Nice to meet you, Karigen."
Ansa extended a hand to shake, but noticed Karigen looked rather nervous.
"You don't have to worry. I've met some good Kapshen before, and you helped fight and protect civilians."
Ansa twirled Zeal around and rested it gently on her shoulder.
"I have to recharge my Familiars. Do you have anything that needs a seithr refill?"

 

[Pichu2k7]

"Yeah sure, why not." He said as he took the knife out of it's sheath and examined it, he'd owned it for just over three years and he had hardly used it and despite the blood on it from his scrap with Zayn earlier it still looked like it had just came straight out of the factory. The small green veins that ran through the weapon were still a vibrant green colour when it pulsed. He sheathed it again and collected Dirge as he left his seat. He just assumed it would need to be refilled too.

"I wouldn't really classify myself as a "good Kapshen". I'm just trying to get on by I suppose." He said as he approached her again, ready to get this stuff refueled.

I also have a bad habit of sticking my claws in peoples pockets...

 

[Hoboturtle]

You know, he didn't really think that the past couple of days was going to go like this, but as it was he was about to fight one guard to kidnap another. Lambert began to back up. Kai, he didn't know what was going on with Kai, but as far as he could tell the rebellion was over. The resistant that he got together was falling apart like fragile disc right as you smash them with a sledgehammer. He wasn't getting any help here. He was attempted to guide her to where ever Fishwash was, let her grab the damn mask, but that currently wasn't an option. He would have to get the mask before Avalon did.

He whispered into Zayn's ear "Call her off, you're higher ranked right? No one has to get hurt here."

Zayn hissed before letting out a mocking laugh. Maybe the girl had a better idea, maybe there was no threat here at all "Aren't you hero types have a code against killing. You don't think-"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by a sudden force on the verge of caving in her throat. "What I think doesn't matter! It's what I do. I will crush your neck if you don't give her orders now."

"Retreat-" the fire maiden gasped, trying to catch breathes between fits.

 

[Neosquid]

Citri was unfazed. "Sorry, ain't really in the mood to mindlessly take orders right now. Got bloodlust on my mind." she snapped.

"What? But..." Zayn paused, catching her breath again. "You're...supposed....to obey."

"Wuzzat? Supposed to obey, you said? Eeeeh...maybe. I dunno. I'll obey later, if you buy me an ice cream." said Citri

"You little--!" snapped Zayn

"Shut it. Don't embarrass yourself in front of this admittedly rather sexy company." Citri looked into the Masked Knight's eyes. "Listen hon, how 'bout you put her down and we can rough it up a little? I can tell you're bein' serious, so I'll show you a toy we can use!" Citri grabbed the steel rod from her jacket, and materialized her red seithr axe once again. She released the energy she had charged in her hand into the axe, which caused the blade to ignite with seithr flares.

"We'll have so much fun together, Mr. Knight! Don't you wanna have fun?" She maintained her creepy smile from earlier. "Let's stain this park the same color as my toy."

 

[Hoboturtle]

What was up here. The girl seem to have done a 360. Maybe before was just an act, wouldn't surprise him if it was, "Sorry, but I think I'm just old enough to be your father; Not interested."

Damn, how much longer did he have before lives for extinguished? Maybe it was a bluff? He could still use Zayn, but he couldn't risk putting her in harm, he still needed her to call off the guard. Maybe he could let her go and take the mask instead.

Nah, he couldn't let anyone get their hands on it. Preventing the mask from being stolen would be the next step after freeing the hostages.

"I could use your help here" he whispered into Zayn's ear, "I could use your help in taking down your subordinate here"

Zayn glared at the man with a mixture of contempt and surprise, "And why should I not just run as soon as you let me go?"

"You'll gain a reputation, if people see you stop some random execution. They'll see you in a better light, more then i can say for the rest of the guard."

"And what do I care about about the praise of the common folk" there was a hint of mockery in her words.

"Words spreads"

"Maybe, but I'm in no condition to fight, even if my lance wasn't stolen."

Lambert silently cursed, he hadn't notice, but there had to be a reason why the fire maiden hadn't put up much of a struggle against him if her familiar was gone, "Just-" he had trouble finding words as his opponent pulled out her ax.

"Just- try to get to Lower Avalon, there aren't any splinters."

These were his last words before he pushed her away, standing ground against the seemingly murderous girl in front of him.

He didn't know if he could trust Zayn to stop the order before. Actually, that was a lie, he didn't have a doubt in mind that she would run back to her superiors instead of helping Lower Avalon. If anything Lambert would have to see if he could capture the other girl instead.

"Come on" he muttered loud enough for Citri to hear.

 

[Neosquid]

Citri glanced at Zayn as she ran away from the scene. "Hah, are you actually dumb enough to trust her?" she laughed. "Whatever. Let's do this, hot shot."

Citri flipped her hair with her free hand, taking her eyes off the Masked Knight. She looked at the ground, momentarily losing her crazed expression.

"What is going on with me...?" she muttered to herself, taking a deep breath. The slasher smile snapped back onto her face, and without looking up, she lunged towards the Masked Knight with her familiar.

 

[Hoboturtle]

He didn't trust her as far as he could throw her, but he couldn't fight with a hostage in one arm. An eyebrow went up as guard for a second lost herself in a daze, but he reaffirmed his stance once it looked like that should would go through with her threat. He didn't understand if she was crazy, or if this was some kind of scare tactic. It didn't matter to him at the moment.

As she charged towards him, the Masked Knight dug his hands into a ground and with only a moment of strain brought up a clunk of mass made up of a combination of metal, dirt and metal. He spun back from the hole he made before tossing the clump to the side of the girl in front of him.

She didn't look intimidating, as he was many sizes bigger then she was. He hoped that the display of strength would scare her off. He had aimed for it to miss her by inches.