RPG Witch Hunter: Awakening

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[font="Garamond"][i]"Ahhhhhh."[/i] First of the team to arrive, Elena Ward stretched her arms up above her head and cracked her knuckles, enjoying the tug of her muscles as she sat in her computer chair. [b]"Good morning, Haruto!"[/b] She called to her boss as he walked out of the glass elevator and into the office. Haruto Sakaki was 32 and had been part of the original STNJ along with Robin and Amon before the Factory fiasco. He stayed on as a hunter during the restructuring and reformation of New STNJ and had eventually been promoted from field agent to director of the New chapter after Amon had disappeared and things had settled down. He still looked mid-to-late twenties with his young, almost baby-ish face, hardly older than Elena herself. She knew that she should call him Mr. Sakaki but he didn't mind and it lent the office a feeling of kinship and comraderie. The two got along well, almost like siblings at times.

[b]"Good morning Elena, you're here early."[/b] he called back, grinning. Elena smiled back.

[b]"I brought the gremlin some breakfast."[/b] She replied, jabbing her thumb in the direction of a brown paper bag on the desk beside her, the gremlin, of course, being Sandy Matthews, the thirteen year old craft user who had been staying at the office on the couch since they recruited him a few weeks ago. They were still trying to figure out a living situation so until they did, the office was the safest place for him. He really hated that nickname, making a face whenever he heard it, which always made Elena laugh.

[b]"Hmm, is that a biological clock I hear ticking?"[/b] Haruto smirked at her.

[b]"Oh shut it, old man."[/b] she hucked a pen at him from her seat and missed him by a mile. She did however, quite effectively hit Michael Lee who was just coming in the door way. Michael Lee had also been involved in the original STNJ as a brilliant hacker and tech support for the team. He left for a time after the fall of the Factory but came back of his own free will a few years later. He served as Haruto's right hand man and stopped his own habit of sleeping over in the office, though he always stayed late when they needed him.

[b]"Ouch. Elena, watch where you're throwing stuff! No wonder you can't aim your powers, jeez." [/b]Elena pushed her glasses up her nose indignantly and turned back to face her computer.

[b]"Whatever... Remind me to stop making you two coffee when I get here in the morning."[/b] Haruto smiled as he inhaled the scent of freshly brewed coffee and ruffled Elena's hair as he strode past.

[b]"Ahh, sweet angel of coffee." [/b]She batted his hand away with her own and smoothed her hair back down.

[b]"So what is on the agenda today, good sir?"[/b] Elena swiveled in her chair and turned to face him as he stood in the doorway of his office. Michael walked up to Elena and dropped a manila folder onto her lap. [b]"We'll head to the briefing room once everyone arrives. But trust me, it looks like it'll be a fun one."[/b]

Elena groaned when she heard this. When he said that, they were never the fun ones. She flipped through the folder, skim reading the information Michael had dug up.

[b]"Sounds like pretty standard stuff, Michael."[/b] She took a sip from her coffee cup as he spoke.

[b]"I thought so too, until we uncovered rumours that he may be working with Zaizen."[/b] Takuma Zaizen, the administrator of the first STNJ and the Factory, and the mastermind who had orchestrated the whole thing. Since the destruction of The Factory, there had been numerous attacks on witches and it seemed as though Zaizen had decided that he would try to eradicate them all.

[b]"A witch working with Zaizen..."[/b] Elena breathed, flipping through the file again. [b]"This just got a little bit more interesting."[/b]

***************************

Hello everyone! Welcome to Witch Hunter: Awakening! Please just do a little blurb of you heading to/arriving at the office. It can be short or sweet, but lets see how you characterize yourselves so I don't step on any toes. Then we'll set up the first hunt! Go go go~[/font]

[CaNz]

[font="Palatino Linotype"][font="Tahoma"]Felix opened the door to the main hall.

[b]â??Did youâ?¦ sleep here tonight Felix?â?[/b] Michael asked.

[b]â??Donâ??t worry, I wont make a habit of it.â?[/b] he replied in a low sleepy voice.

[b]â??I donâ??t mindâ?¦ I did it all the time before I was let out.â?[/b] he said while moving his head,[b] "I was actually just wondering why you would when you have such a nice apartment.â?

â??I needed to make some modifications to the office, but nothing too intrusive.â?

â??Yeah, according to whose standards? You could have informed me you know.â? [/b]Haruto beamed. [b]â?? I am sure its fine, but give me a heads up next time or I will make you take it down , then order you to put it up again.â?[/b]
[b]
â??Yes Chief,â? [/b]Felix said, as he sat down in one of the chairs in the corner.

â??[b]That sounds a bit harsh,â? [/b]interjected Elena, [b]â??you know he always fixes stuff up around here for usâ?[/b]

[b]â??You're right.â?[/b] Haruto gave a smirk, [b]â??You can help him out next time.â?
[/b][b]
â??Err, I donâ??t really want to get involved any more, Felix, sorry but you're on your own..â?[/b] Elena shrugged her shoulders as if to say â??I triedâ??[/font]
[/font] Edited February 5, 2011 by CaNz

[Akieen Cloud]

[color="#000080"][font="Comic Sans MS"]Sekeiri yawned as she entered the office, heading straight to the coffee pot and pouring a large mug of it and taking a large gulp of it black. She walked back across the room and leaned on her desk setting the mug down ontop of the dark surface and pulling her cigarettes from her back pocket and taking one out. Placing it between her lips she lit it, took a deep drag off it of it and let it out with a content sigh. Picking up her mug she took about drink and finally sat down fully on the top of her desk looking at everyone in turn and waving to them.
"Morning everyone. Anything new?"
Michael tossed a copy of the files to her, holding the smoldering stick in her mouth she caught them deftly and began to look through them. She narrowed her eyes and spoke around the cigarette.
"Interesting enough."
Taking a look around the office she spotted the bundle of blankets on the office couch and sighed pinching the bridge if her nose.
"The munchkin still crashing here?"
Elena nodded and sipped her coffee from behind her desk, Sekeiri shook her head and walked over brushing the teens hair from his eyes, the boy didn't even stir from his sleep. Sekeiri smiled gently and pulled the blanket higher on him and left him in peace. Looking over at Felix she gave him a warm smile and tapped her mug with her finger.
"It's still hot ya know. You should get a cup before Locke gets here."
Elena looked over at her taking a sip from her own mug nodding. Sekeiri sat down heavily into her chair behind her desk and began to look through the files in her hand, every now and than exhaling smoke from her cigarette, she looked up at Haruto and pointed down at the papers.
"I'm going as well? I'm not a user though."
"Your still useful, do you not agree?"
"Oh, no. I agree. Just shocked to see I'm actually getting out of here."
She inhaled from her cigarette and than crushed the end of it into her ash tray on her desk, the black marble highlighting the pure white wolf in the middle now tarnished and blacked from her burnt and crushed out cigarettes. Leaning back in her chair she propped her feet up on the desk infront of her and began to tap her boots together.
"Sanderson, if you do not want to file paperwork for the next 24 hours, I suggest you stop that noise now."
Chuckling Sekeiri lit another cigarette and looked up at the ceiling waiting for Locke to show up and the young man snoring lightly on the couch to wake up. [/font][/color]

[Ellerby]

[color="#696969"][font="Tahoma"]"Why didn't anybody wake me?!" Sandy yelped, glancing at the time on his new cell phone New STNJ had given him. He leaped out from the pile of blankets and rushed out of the office in his pajamas towards the bathroom to change. He heard some murmered laughter as he was leaving the room and stopped dead in his tracks. His complexion paled as he knew what had happened.

When he had tossed the blankets aside, Sandy revealed that the couch was actually soaking wet... and it looked [i]bad[/i]. He turned to face the adults, who were nearly in stitches trying to hold in their laughter.

"That's not what it looks like!" he yelled. "I can't control the water while I sleep!"

"Don't need to tell [i]us[/i] that, Mr. Pees his Pants." Felix joked. Sandy's face turned red, half with embarrassment and half with sheer anger.

"You know..." Sandy started. "For someone who's hat is twice as big as their head you're awfully judgemental!" this clearly angered Felix immediately but the man kept his cool if only because Sandy was just a boy. "And if that were pee I'm pretty sure you would all smell it!" and with that, Sandy stormed out of the office slamming the door behind him. As he walked towards the bathroom to change into a [i]drier[/i] pair of clothes, he heard the team laughing as he stomped down the hall, but just didn't care. [i]Maybe one day I WILL pee on the couch. Then we'll see if they're still laughing...[/i]

"You shouldn't anger the boy, Felix." Felix rolled his eyes ever so slightly. "He doesn't have control over his emotions yet... and by extension, his powers." Elena informed him. As a fellow craft-user, Elena was usually the first person to defend Sandy and as much as she hated to admit it, she saw a lot of herself in him. Sandy walked back into the office wearing his regular cargo shorts and bright orange t-shirt. His water jug was already strapped to his back, ready for action.

"You know, you don't need to carry that thing everywhere." said Sekeiri, poking the jug.

"Thanks, Sherlock." Sandy nearly spat. He was never usually this rude towards his mentors, but he'd woken up on the wrong side of the... wet... bed. "I'm just cleaning up my mess." he explained as he placed the jug in front him, unscrewing the cap. He concentrated hard and slowly manipulated the water that had soaked itself into the couch back into his jug.

"Well, if you didn't sleep with the jug, you wouldn't need to clean up any mess now would you?" Felix said. Sandy placed the last of the water back into the jug and twisted the cap back on. For a moment, he stared lovingly at the jug of water.

"But... I feel empty without it." the innocent tone of his voice and the puppy dog eyes on his face only made Felix sigh, but the girls fell for it.

"Well," Elena said. "One more night... but you've[i] got [/i]to learn to sleep without it! You won't always have your own special water readily available and if you can't learn to manipulate regular water in the environment around you, you'll never get better." Sandy nodded, he knew she was right, but he'd used this exact water for so long it had become fairly easy for him to manipulate it than some [i]other[/i] water. He merely sighed and strapped the jug onto his back.

"So, what now?" he asked.[/font][/color] Edited December 19, 2010 by White

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[font="Garamond"]"Quick briefing and we'll send you on your way." Haruto said and then turned and walked into the briefing room at the back of the office, Michael following suit. Once they were arranged around the oval table with flat touch screen computers embedded in the surface, Haruto began.

"His name is Darius Jakobssen, defector from Sweden and craft user. We were first made aware of him about 6 years ago when he was questioned in connection with the homicide of a seed. Nothing could ever formally tie him to the victim other than mutual acquaintances, but nonetheless he stuck out to the police and in turn they contacted us to keep our eyes on him. Nothing further came of the case and a few months later he dropped off the radar. Until now." the screens around the table flickered to life and the picture of a gaunt caucasian man with cold blue eyes appeared in front of each of them. Elena touched the screen and swished her fingers to the left, flipping from the photo to his information. The others remained motionless, waiting for Haruto to continue. Michael spoke up instead.

"As you know there's been a rash of seeds winding up dead, and more often than not it is in a bizarre and most certainly unnatural way." the screens changed from a photo of Jakobssen to a series of crime scene photos of the known victims flashing in front of them. We've found evidence of Jakobssen's craft around a few of the victims now."

"What are his abilities?" Elena prodded.

"Illusory stuff. He is excellent at working with salt runes to create the impression of something that isn't really there. Extremely well trained. We think that's why he went into hiding. Someone has been teaching him."

"Zaizen..." Elena breathed. The rest of the room looked uncomfortable. Haruto nodded.

"Zaizen." he repeated back. "And not just him, alone. If it is in fact Zaizen, he has other craft users working with him, training and manipulating a new generation of self-hating users. Destructive and desensitized and feeling as though descendants are inhuman, not worth life."

"He is very powerful. I know that you outnumber him but do not underestimate this Jakobssen fellow. We are not sure the extent of his powers or his training. It's why we need to capture him. You can't let him escape, we need to be able to question him. See if he is salvagable. See what we're dealing with." The group nodded.

"He was last seen here." the screens flashed again, a map of Tokyo opening up in front of them to replace to crime scene photographs, a red dot on Chiyoda ward. "This is very close to the last crime scene. We have reason to believe he is still here, and that he has been assigned another target. We need to get there first. So lets get going. Any questions?"

Sekeiri's hand rose up lazily.

"Yes, Sanderson?"

"Um, where's Locke?"

"Mr. Vallence is working with specific transport-based training today. Working on having him be our go-to for escape teleportation. So you'll have to make due without him, today."

"Guess we better hope we don't need any escape teleportation today, then." Felix commented.

"Yes that would certainly be ideal. We're counting on you." Haruto nodded, and so the brief was adjourned.

Simultaneously they each stood up and headed out back into the main office to grab what they needed before they headed out.

Elena smiled at Sandy and laid the file on her desk. "Field trip!" she laughed, trying to lighten to mood as she whisked her coat off the back of her chair, putting it on. "Keys, please." She nodded at Haruto, who responded by deftly tossing the keys to his subordinate. "Oh Elena, please for the love of God, be safe..." she only grinned at him in response as she tucked them into her pocket. Michael disappeared for a moment as the rest of the team geared up, as it were. He re-appeared moments later. He offered a necklace in the shape of a cross to Elena, the base of which was actually a glass tube containing a blue-green glowing liquid.

"Oh, Michael! You shouldn't have!" Elena clutched her chest in feigned surprise. He only rolled his eyes in response.

"Just put it on, please."

"Yes my liege." she made a mock-bow in his direction as he moved on, passing one to Sandy, then Felix, then Sekeiri.

"What is this stuff, exactly?" Sandy wondered aloud as he turned the cross over in his fingers.

"Synthetic Orbo. Before the last vials were destroyed, a few scientists, now in Hope, broke down the compound and figured out how to recreate it by examining the pieces. It's sort of like... Kryptonite. But for witches. It weakens their power substantially." Elena replied.

"But not our powers?"

"No, oddly the wearer is not affected by their own Orbo. It only lasts a few hours so we have to be quick about this. Everybody ready?" she called out to the group as she pulled a gun from her desk and snapped in an Orbo cartridge into it's chamber.

"Hey Elena, can I have one?" Sandy smiled sheepishly, nodding at her gun.

"Haha! You are so funny. Too cute. But seriously, no. We will train you how to wield one of these soon though, promise." Sandy looked dejected at her reply but shrugged and rubbed his hand over the strap of his water jug reassuringly. "And S!" Elena called out to Sekeiri as she walked by her desk. "We've totally already had this talk, but no smoking inside! We've got kids here for goodness sake." Elena plucked the cigarette from her co-workers lips and stubbed it out in the ashtray nearby, before tossing the whole thing in the garbage can.

"Whatever, captain..." Sekeiri only shrugged as she reached for the carton and her lighter.

It was a futile battle in any case because the second they got out to the vehicle, Sekeiri would light up another cigarette. That's just how it was. Always.

The group headed to the elevator and down to the parking garage where the ugly but practical team vehicle was located. New STNJ was still getting off the ground and as such they were far from sophisticated. They call clamboured in, Sandy at the very back because there was room for his water jug to sit next to him and also because he was the youngest and even the rest, in their 20s and 30s felt their bones creak a little when they tried to get into that seat. Elena climbed into the drivers side and had to pull the seat up so her short legs could reach the pedals. Felix smirked as he watched from the passenger seat, as was the ritual.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." she wrinkled her nose at him before turning her key in the ignition, violently shifting into Reverse, and gunning it out of the garage and into the street.

"Very incognito." remarked Sekeiri.[/font]

I'm on holidays so I wanna take advantage of the time and get this going :3 So, whenever Drizzt is available he can just come on back but for now it's usssss. Let's do it, everyone! Feel free to do some dialogue or whatever on the trip over, one of you can even start the fight scene if you feel certain enough about it. It'll take place in some sort of warehouse in the Chiyoda ward, Jakobssen needs to awaken. Any other questions, PM or profile comment. Haaaaave fun!

[Akieen Cloud]

[font="Comic Sans MS"][color="#000080"]Sekeiri exhaled a pale plume of smoke out the window on her right and looked up into the rear view mirror at Elena.
"You know, you didn't have to throw my ash tray away, that thing cost me a fair amount of money. Custom made."
"That doesn't mean you should smoke. And the rule is no smoking in the building. You know that."
"And I never followed it either."
"Yes well Sandy is a child and doesn't need to be exposed to that sort of thing."
"Oh please, the kid stays in the office so much that he probably barely notices."
Sandy scoffed from the backseat.
"I am right here ya know."
"I know kid. By the way, what do you say that once we get back we play a few rounds online or something?"
"Really? You'll do that with me?"
"Of course. We can use Haruto's TV."
Elena looked at her and gave her a warning glare as Sandy sat forward some.
"Haruto won't mind?"
"Nope. I doubt and if there's a problem, I'll handle it. Alright munchkin?"
"Don't call me that!"
Sekeiri chuckled but said nothing back as she stretched out the full length of the seat, since Loke wasn't with them this time she had the seat to herself, it felt weird, empty. She inhaled from her cigarette again and blew the smoke out the window allowing her mind to wander from this to that.[/color][/font]

[CaNz]

[font="Tahoma"]It wasnâ??t long before they had arrived in the Chiyoda ward, however it took even less time for a fog to emerge around the car.
[b]â??Can you do something about this little zombie, weather Munchkin?[/b]â? Sekeiri asked in that the familiar jesting tone.
[b]
â??No, I am not too sure about moving that much water, especially in that stateâ?¦â?[/b] Sandy said calmly, then he changed his tone to match the sigh she let ought [b]â??And the cars moving so fast we would just hit another patch, Aaaand I wouldnâ??t do it for you anyways, because you wont call me by my name, plus we are almost there anyways, so stop bugging me.â?[/b] The fog seemed to be getting thicker the closer they came to the warehouse district, which was unfortunate since they were headed that way.

It suddenly got very tense in the car. What started as brief patches of silence grew longer, until barely a word was spoken. This trance was only broken by a swift shadow passing in front of the car.
[b]
â??Did you see that Felix?â?[/b] Elena said with a touch of excitement. The shadow had faded out as quickly as it had came. But its presence made the group nervous with anticipation.

[b]â??Yeah.â?[/b] he replied. [b]â??We are closeâ?¦ too close to be safe. Maybe we should head out on foot.â?

â??I agreeâ?[/b] Sekeiri added,[b] "at least outside I can enjoy my cigarette without the hassle."[/b] She playfully kicked the drivers seat.

[b]â??I donâ??t want to walk around looking for this guy, who knows how long it will be till he shows up.â?[/b] Sandy pleaded, but to no avail. Elena started to decelerate when a car with its brights flashing into the windshield appeared behind the fog.
[b]
â??Doesnâ??t this jerk know how to drive in fog?â?[/b] Sekeiri muttered, right before she realized it was heading straight for them.
Elena instinctively slammed the wheel to the side, but in the fog she miscalculated where the road ended and popped up on the sidewalk, then continued through the garage door of a warehouse.

The aluminum door tore like paper, scratching paint and metal scraps off on the way. The then toppled into a five stack high pallet. This slowed the car to a stop, and knocked down what appeared to be crates of canned tunafish.
[b]â??Is everyone alright?â?[/b] Elena shouted, when they all answered back she let out a sigh of relief. Death is in the job description, but she didnâ??t want it to be because of her driving.
[b]
â??how did that even happen?â?[/b] Sandy asked shaking his head as he emerged from the bent car.

[b]â??We were lured here.â?[/b] Felix stated[b]. â??Jakobssen is closeâ?
[/b]
Elena regained all of her composure [b]â??He is a manipulates what we see. I saw that car, but who knows what we might find hereâ?¦ keep close, right now the only thing that we know for sure is real... is each other.â?[/b][/font]

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[font="Garamond"]Elena pulled several flashlights from the backpack sitting next to her seat. She was fully in work mode now and turned back to look at Sandy.

"You. This is strictly and observational mission for you, got it?" Sandy looked obviously unimpressed but could only nod. He may have been young but he understood the gravity of this situation considering that although there were veteran members of the team there were no fully controlled craft users on it, leaving them vulnerable in some cases, armed as they were. "Headsets in, please." everyone clicked in and she passed out the flash lights. "Avoid using these unless you have to. Jakobssen knows we are here. We don't need to give him any other clues as to our exact locations as we go through the warehouse. I know it's risky but we have to split up. Sandy you're with me, Felix and Sekeiri you take the floor, we'll head up the stairs there."

"Right." said Felix as Sekeiri nodded her agreement. The group unbuckled in silence and stepped out of the vehicle cautiously, the three adults with their weapons drawn, the green laser sights zig zagging through the dark warehouse, cutting the pitch blackness. Silence greeted them.

"Leave your headsets on at all times, if you hear anything out of the ordinary on the other end from your team mates, better go find them. He's more powerful the closer he is so there is a good chance he will be within sight if there is a strong vision and you will have a clear shot at him to take him down. Kid, you're my other set of eyes." Elena nodded at Sandy, gun raised and eyes scanning their surroundings. Felix and Sekeiri headed out onto the floor, covering each other's backs and Elena and Sandy headed right and onto the metal steps that would bring them to the series of connected platforms high above the warehouse ground.

"You okay, Munchkin?" Elena called back softly to him as they reached the top level, her eyes continuously scanning the platforms ahead, the green laser sights of Felix and Sekeiri's guns flashing sporadically down below.

"Mm." was all Sandy said in reply, concentrating hard on the area behind them, knowing how important it was for him to be on guard for Elena since he had no real weapon and had to be able to alert her right away. They continued on for some time, nothing out of the ordinary grabbing their attention. Sandy noticed Elena was worried because at random he would see sparks fly from her fingertips. He smiled a bit, glad he wasn't the only one feeling that way.

****************

Felix and Sekeiri patrolled the ground floor swiftly and efficiently, checking each and every nook and cranny that could be a hiding place. A few times they swore they could hear rustling that sounded like someone's movement but nothing changed, and they could see nothing even using the flashlights, so they had to move on. At length they reached the end of the main warehouse building, a large door was in front of them. "Do we go forward?" Sekeiri asked Felix though the question was directed at Elena who was supposed to be listening to them through the headsets. Felix shrugged and moments later there was still no answer from Elena. "Elena?" Sekeiri called again. Felix's expression stayed the same though his body language immediately shifted, indicated that he felt nervous with the situation. "Felix.. do you think we're in a hallucination? Do we move to Elena or should we wait for her to come for us?" Felix didn't respond for a second as he thought it over.

"I think that, either way, we'll meet in the middle. I think it would be best for us to go to them." Sekeiri nodded her agreement, her gut was telling her that it was not them being affected and suddenly she was worried for her teammates. They doubled back to the front of the warehouse, running as quickly as they could to the stairs.

*******

"Craft user. I was hoping you would come." Elena jumped and whirled around to face the source of the voice. Sandy had been replaced.

"Jakobssen..." Elena breathed. "What did you do with Sandy?!" She took a step toward him, gun aimed at his chest. He merely ignored her question.

"I've come to put your little team out of commission. You'll cause too many problems for us, you know, if we let you continue."

"..Us? Who is us?" Jakobssen only laughed and he raised his hand. Elena panicked and pulled the trigger, only to be greeted with silence. She looked down at her gun in surprise and then back to the other craft user.

"You're playing by my rules here." Elena suddenly felt as though she was choking but she found herself unable to move or struggle in any way. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to conjure up some semblance of her power but still, nothing.

******************


"Elena?" Elena had stopped moving, though she still held her gun in the ready position. She didn't turn her head or indicate in any way that she had heard him. "Elena?" There was a little more urgency in Sandy's voice now, though he saw nothing else that should make him feel alarmed, her rigid posture was unnatural. He moved closer to her and tapped her on the back lightly. Nothing. He moved around her side until he was facing her. He looked up to her face and saw that her eyes were empty - far away from where they were. Immediately Sandy was paralyzed with fear. Jakobssen was still nowhere to be seen but Sandy knew he had to be close and so he tried to wrench the gun free from Elena's grip, but to no avail. Her mind may have been cloudy but her body was definitely still in agent mode. He was, however, able to rip the earpiece from her ear and as he fumbled with it, he shouted into it.

"Something is wrong with Elena! Please come quickly! Please!" Sandy moved to the side of the platform and looked down as he heard the footsteps of Felix and Sekeiri echoing on the floor below. He turned back to Elena again, a cold sweat had broken out on his forehead. A figure was now standing in front of her, his hands wrapped tightly around her throat.[/font]

I think I gave you enough to work with =P

[Akieen Cloud]

[font="Comic Sans MS"][color="#000080"](how sad is it that I have to look at other posts to remember how to spell my characters name? >.<;;)

Sekeiri dashed across the bottom level, her quick footsteps echoing around them, it wasn't until she heard Sandy's frightened voice over the headset that she felt the cold sweat of fear grip her. The chill that ran down her spine was more than enough to make her want to get to the kid faster than before. She knew Elena could hold her own, and knew that the woman would not go down that easily but Sandy was another topic altogether, he didn't have much control over his element and he was the most vulnerable. Being a woman, hearing his panicked voice, it set off her protective nature that all women had and she over took Felix almost instantly, his yell for her to slow down went unnoticed over the sound of her heavy breathing. Finding the railing to the upper level she gripped it tightly and swung herself over not even bothering to go around and hit the stairs like a normal person; the cigarette usually in her mouth lay smoldering and forgotten on the ground as she threw it there, the smoke hindering her ability to see. The grip in her gun began to tighten as she sprinted up the rest of the stairs, happy to hear Felix not to far behind her, she stopped for a brief second and allowed him to catch up before she took off again in the direction of her team mates.
"Sandy! Kid where are you?!"
"You'll give away our position."
"I don't give a damn about that right now Fel, if something is wrong with Elena than this ass wipe already knows where we are!"
He didn't reply, which meant that he either agreed, or just didn't care either way, she didn't really mind which it was, she was more concerned on getting to the others. Hitting the top stair she slowed down and moved on slowly, but with determination. Her gun held out in front of her she scanned the area, as much as she could see as best she could. The laser flickering this way and that as she swiped it back and forth keeping alert. It was only when the laser was cut short on a small figure in front of her did she start to run again, stopping short next to Sandy she dropped down to her knees instantly and looked him over ignoring his jumbled, frightened words.
"Are you hurt? Your alright right? Say something kid, come on!"
He pointed behind her and her heart froze as she heard the gagging breath from Elena, spinning around she gasped as she saw the large figure holding onto Elena and in a flash she raised her gun, aiming swiftly she squeezed the trigger, the gun went off with a loud concussion but nothing happened, Elena still stood there, getting more and more pale by the second.
"Felix!"
the man appeared as if summoned, sweat beading on his neck and forehead, he gave her a pointed look that could only be take as 'never do that again' and strode forward to do his thing. Sekeiri spun around and wrapped her arms around Sandy and lifted him to his feet from where he had hit his knees.
"You okay kid? Can you walk?"
He nodded numbly.
"Good. I need you to do me a big favor alright? I need you to get a hold of your self. We're not going to let anything happen to you so just keep it together."
He nodded again, a slight spark back into his eyes, Sekeiri could almost hear the blame in the boys attitude.
"You did great kid, the best thing you could have done was call for us. Don't beat your self up."
She didn't wait to see him respond but stood and look back at Felix.
"What's going on Fel? How do we get her out of here! I thought these freaky necklace thingies were supposed to help with crap like this!"
"Let me think."
"In other words shutup?"
The pointed glance was all she needed, rolling her eyes she walked forward and put her hand on Elena's shoulder and shook it hard.
"Snap out of it!"[/color][/font]

[CaNz]

[font="Tahoma"]Felix carefully judged the situation[b] â??Calm down, Sekeiri, breathing is an involuntarily controlled function of the body, check her.â?
[/b]
Sekeiri placed a her open hand on Elenaâ??s chest for a few seconds, then stood up,[b] â??her pulse is erratic, but she is still breathing slightly. Whatâ??s going on?â?[/b]

[b]â??[/b][/font][b]Jakobssen [/b][font="Tahoma"][b]controls more than merely illusions, he can manipulate what people perceive, implant thoughts. But when you felt an illusion back there I came up with a guess.
Tell me Sekeiri, Sandy, did you see the car that caused Elena to swerve off the road?â??[/b]

Sandy started,[b] â??No, but I wasnâ??t watching the road.â? [/b]
Sekeiri followed, â??[b]Noâ?¦ but I figured it was another car based on how Elena was driving.. I think I got distracted sometime before we swerved,â?[/b]

Felix nodded at the new information, [b]â??it doesnâ??t matter. If you were part of the illusion like Elena and I you would have seen the cars headlightsâ?¦ our friend Jacobson can only influence two people at a timeâ?¦ now put away your gun Sekeiriâ?¦ you're wasting bullets.â?[/b]
With those words it seemed as though a veil was lifted, she could see the bullet hole where she fired, as well as a half a clip in an adjacent wall. The ground near Elana was also scorched, as if she sent out a directionless electrical current.
[b]
â??I thought my gun wasnâ??t working.â?[/b] Sekeiri checked the firearm and the clip, noticed everything was normal, then holstered it.[b] â??What happened here Sandy?â?[/b]
[b]
â??Elana just freaked out, she shot off her gun then used some of her craftâ?¦ I didnâ??t wanna get hurt so I stepped back, but then she just fell to the ground[/b]â? Sandyâ??s normal, defiant voice now was laced with worry. [b]â??how can we stop this guy?â?
[/b]
Felix looked to the right of the group, [b]â??we just need to get to him,â?[/b] he motioned for the staircase that would undoubtedly lead them to the perfect spot for a man to control the entire house, its roof.

[/font][center][font="Tahoma"]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/font]

[/center][font="Tahoma"]Sandy, Sekeiri, and Felix made it up to the top only to find a barren furniture deprived room. The hardwood floors and the off-white colored walls were blank, save for a few cracks and the splashes of what could only be blood. The three saw a figure standing outside of a balcony, facing the night sky. He turned around slowly to face them.

[b]â??Hope, I presume,â?[/b] Jakobssen smiled lifting his hands in the air.

Felix drew his gun and began running, [b]â??quick, close in on him! The orbo necklaces should stop the illusions if we get in range![/b]â? Sekeiri and then Sandy began to sprint forward.

Jakobssen waved a palm at Felix [i][b]â?? BURNâ?[/b][/i] his raspy voice was amplified through his hand. Felix fell to his knees in pain. He could see his skin cracking, boiling... though nothing was really there. Sekeiri pushed forward dumping a few hastily shot bullets in Jakobssen's direction. Sandy stopped to check on Felix[b]

â??Whatâ??s wrong?[/b]â? Sandyâ??s startled reaction to seeing the pain on Felixâ??s face shook some sense back into him.

[b]â??Goâ?¦ get him!â?[/b] Felix managed, before pain overtook him once more.
[/font]
[font="Tahoma"]Sekeiri went down a few steps in front of them. [i][b]â?? FALL!â?[/b][/i] Jakobssen shouted, waving his second hand now. The ground seemed to have left her, all she could feel was the wind of her decent and the impending doom of when she would meet her end at the bottom. Jakobssen laughed as he manipulated the two, with just a flick of his hands, until he noticed Sandy standing before him, eyes glowing wild with fury. [/font] Edited January 6, 2011 by CaNz

[Ellerby]

[color="#696969"][font="Tahoma"][b]"What is it little boy? Cat got your tongue?"[/b] Jackobssen chuckled and leaned back against the balcony railing, clearly not threatened by the young craft user. The water in Sandy's jug began to steam and bubble as the boy grew angrier. Jackobssen just laughed.

[b]"Oh I see, you're a craft user. How curious that the NSTNJ would stoop to the level of recruiting a [i]child[/i]."[/b] he mocked. Sandy's face reddened with fury and could feel his control over the water slipping away.

[b]"Who gives you the right to alter someones reality?!"[/b] he yelled. While his emotions fueled his craft if he lost control completely Sandy would be of no use. He needed to talk Jackobssen down a bit in order to properly manipulate his water. The comment clearly angered the villain quite a bit as he leaned forward, taking a step towards Sandy.

[b]"Nobody gives me the [i]right.[/i] I take it for myself. This is something you, a fellow craft user, may eventually learn. You shouldn't let those adults at the NSTNJ control you like a dog. Leave that place, and truly explore your power!"[/b] Jackobssen had clearly given a similar speech before to some other poor soul.

Sandy spat on the ground in front of him. [b]"What good is power if you have nobody to share it with? You've only used your craft for evil, and now you will suffer the consequences." [/b]

Jackobssen pondered the line for a brief moment then spoke. [b]"You know, I was going to let you live but seeing as how you are so eager to die, I shall grant you your wish."[/b] Jackobssen lifted his hand to trap Sandy in an illusion, only to find it encased in ice on the railing behind him. Sandy smirked.

[b]"What?! How did I not feel this?"[/b] Jackobssen began to struggle to get his hand off, but it was frozen solid. [b]"You'll regret this!"[/b]

[b]"Oh, I doubt that."[/b] Sandy smirked once more and closed his eyes. He slapped his hands together and the water from his jug erupted from the top. Floating in the air above them as a large water sphere, he slowly moved the water above Jackobssen's head. The man wearily looked up and saw the distorted reflection of his fear-stricken face in the bottom of the water sphere.

[b]"What are you going to do? Drown me?!"[/b] Jackobssen let out a nervous laugh, half mocking the child and half challenging him. [b]"I doubt you even have the balls to kill [i]anyone[/i]!"[/b] Sandy opened his eyes and released his hands. The water sphere dropped on Jackobssen completely soaking him to he bone. The man stood there in shock as nothing else happened.

[b]"You're right, I probably can't kill someone quite yet..."[/b] Sandy let out a chuckle. [b]"But I know someone who can." [/b]he said, pointing behind Jackobssen. The drenched villain turned around slowly only to see a furious Elena, fist raised and surging with electricity. Suddenly the water didn't see so pointless.

[b]"I hope you know..."[/b] she started. [b]"Water conducts electricity."[/b] and before Jackobssen could even gasp, he was clocked in the face with an electrifying punch. In a matter of seconds the electricity carried through all of the water Sandy had drenched him in, immediately frying the villain alive. When his corpse fell to the ground, it was charred black, the steam still rising.

Sekeiri and Felix awoke immediately and looked around frantically for Jackobssen, only to find his corpse fried on the ground. Felix let out a sigh of relief while Sekeiri was a little bit disturbed by the image.

[b]"Sandy did you...?"[/b] she started to ask but Elena quickly interrupted.

[b]"No, I delivered the final blow."[/b] she said, helping Sekeiri to her feet. The woman was clearly relieved to see that a child hadn't just killed a man free of guilt. Felix picked up Sandy's water jug cap and handed it to the boy.

[b]"That must've been quite a show, it's a shame I missed it."[/b] he said. [b]"Tell me, rascal, how'd you do it?"[/b] Sandy accepted the cap and twisted it back onto the now empty water jug.

[b]"Well, the guy likes to talk a lot so I just talked a bit and spat when he said something stupid. He didn't even notice me manipulating the saliva past his shoes and up the railing to his hand."[/b] Sandy waved his hands around mimicking the saliva crawling up the railing. [b]"I knew he could only keep two people in an illusion at once so I figured Elena would arrive shortly after Sekeiri went down. So I matched the saliva's temperature to his own and slowly froze his hand in place. The rest was all Elena."[/b]

Felix ruffled Sandy's hair like an older brother and recieved a big toothy grin from the young craft user in return. [b]"Well done, my boy. You're becoming a true agent."[/b][/font][/color] Edited January 8, 2011 by White

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[font="Garamond"]As the little group watched on in silence for the moment, the vehicles of HOPE pulled in and began to sterilize the area, removing the evidence of the charred body and wiping down the signs of a battle, retrieving every orbo bullet that was shot.

"I'm gonna be in so much trouble..." Elena let a big breath of air out and clasped her hands behind her head, twisting her mouth into a grimace.

"No you won't, it's not your fault. We were unprepared for a witch that strong and we did what we had to do to stay safe. Haruto will understand." Sekeiri punched her teammate in the shoulder very lightly, trying to comfort her.

"This is our only lead on Zaizen! I effed up. Badly." nobody said anything for a moment until Felix broke the silence.

"You're right. You did."

"Felix," Sekeiri groaned "you are so bad at this comforting business."

"So we move on and find a new lead. We did it before and we'll do it again. No more, no less."

"You're right..." Elena conceded. "Better get back to Haruto and report the situation." Elena pouted again but with a little less enthusiasm this time and they piled back into the van and headed back on the road.

*****

"So our only lead was burnt to a crisp, is what you are saying."

"Harutoooooo," came Elena's whine in reply, drifting out from his office and into the main area where the others sat at their desks, Sandy sitting on the couch with a juice box.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It was a loaded hunt, I realize that. It's not your fault or anyone else's that it turned out this way. We'll recover eventually." Elena glared in response.

"Maybe sooner rather than later..." Michael's voice floated into Haruto's office as he walked towards the door. Everyone perked up noticeably as he spoke.

"You found something?" Elena stood up and Haruto leaned forward in his desk.

"Maybe. It could be nothing. But there was a cellphone found in a car a block away that we think was used by Jakobssen, and we can trace it's last few calls to a veritable hot spot of activity these last few months." The rest of the team had ended up at the doorway to Haruto's office, listening intently.

"What kind of activity, exactly?" Sekeiri replied and Michael angled so he was addressing everyone now.

"In the last few months we have seen 3 attacks and 4 awakenings in that neighbourhood. That is too many to be a coincidence."

"We're thinking what, headquarters or something?"

"Maybe. It's worth checking out -" Michael was quickly cut off by Haruto

"Checking out only. This is until further notice a reconnoissance mission. After that, you're all getting some intense training done. I'm not taking those chances again. Target practice for everyone," Haruto made very decisive eye contact with Sandy and Elena "and the two of you some serious practice with your powers." Elena rolled her eyes in response and Sandy pushed his hair back out of his eyes, keeping the relief out of his face. It was too close last time and he knew that as one of two power users they had to be far more efficient to be of any help to each other and to the rest of the team.
[/font]

[CaNz]

[font="Garamond"][b]â??I have modified the course a little bit to better simulate an actual fire fight.â?[/b] Felix informed them, though no one believed the changes were truly minor. He had been working for months on it after all. [b]â??Sandy you are going to need basic weapons training and safety, the rest of you are free to test out the facilities."[/b]

[b]â??Anything we should know before we try out your new toy Fel?â? [/b]Sekeiri asked.

[b]â??Yes. Put on the ponchos and take off any jewelry.â?[/b] they sighed, imaging what could possibly require them to cover up, then walked into the range room. Felix then walked Sandy to the only part of the room that resembled the old practice room. [b]â??Here, take this pistol.â? [/b] slowly he reached out for it. As he did. Felix quickly slapped the gun in his hand.
[b]
â??Shouldnâ??t I be learning safety first?â?[/b] He said uneasily.
[b]
â??There is a more important lesson to learn. Take that gun and point it at me.â?[/b]
[b]
â??What? Wait, is this thing loaded Felix?â? [/b]
[b]
â??Just do what I say.â?[/b] Felixâ??s tone never changed, his eyes focused on the boy, watching every tremble.[b] â??stop your fidgeting and do it.â?[/b] Sandy raised the gun and placed it to Felixâ??s head.

[b]â??Why am I doing this?â? [/b]Sandy couldnâ??t help but cringe, seeing Felixâ??s eyes staring right back at him, yet knowing a hair trigger was the only thing that kept those eyes from dimming.
[b]
â??Because kid, you are going to be shooting targets for now, but thatâ??s going to change. Remember how it feels to hold a weapon against something that breathes while you are practicing.â?
[/b]
[b]â??I donâ??t like it.â? [/b]Sandy complained.

[b]â??If you did, I wouldnâ??t be giving you this gun.â?[/b]

[/font][center][font="Garamond"]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/font]
[/center][font="Garamond"]
The women had done as Felix recommended, wearing the large cameo patterned ponchos, as well as the normal safety glasses and noise reducers.

When the first targets came out they couldnâ??t help but laugh. Felix had switched the normal targets with printouts of famous film witches. They didnâ??t even notice the red lights and small cannon on the rotation mechanism. Their laughter was cut short briefly by the paint ball launched at them.

It wasnâ??t long before they got accustomed to the new settings. The red light indicated which targets were aiming at them, and you had a range of almost a second to hit them with a head-shot or a clean center hit. To stop the paintball from firing. It was an obvious attempt to force the shooter to watch the battlefield instead of just aiming and pulling the trigger, which probably wouldnâ??t help a seasoned vet, but might save the life of a rookie. Either way you had to admit it was kinda fun.

After a set of ten they joined up with Felix and Sandy.
[b]â??Fun game you got there Fel!â?[/b] Sekeiri exclaimed, tossing him her poncho.
[b]
â??Hmmm, four colors , Not too bad for your first try Sekeiri, but you might want to practice a bit more often.â?[/b] Felix stated, not realizing that offense would be taken.
[b]
â??Hey I shoot just fine, maybe if you told me they were gonna start shooting back I would have done better!â?
[/b][b]
â??Sorry, I thought the pamphlet right next to the start button was enough. My fault.â?[/b] He took Elenaâ??s Pancho and threw it in the hamper without looking at all the colors. Relief washed over her face, [b]â??this one wont count, but I have one more room to show you. Follow me.â?[/b] He lead them all through his office and into the back door. There was a small Walkway and then another door on the same side they entered from, placing the room adjacent to Felixâ??s office. â??For safety reasons I think only one craft user should enter at a time... Elena.â? He motioned her into the dark room, which lit up with candle light as she entered, as if by magic, though it was really a system similar to that of a convection oven Felix had applied. The door closed behind her and she all of a sudden became aware of how large the room was. The others moved back into the office, Felix then opened up a wall panel revealing a window into the room. He then sat down at the control station and turned on the microphone. [b] â??Can you hear me Elena?â?
[/b][b]
â??Yesâ?¦ could you have made this place any creepier Felix?â?[/b] she said.
[b]
â??Is that a request?â?

â??No, forget it, lets just get this over with.â? [/b][/font]

[Ellerby]

[color="#696969"][font="Tahoma"]Felix sat in front of a large computer terminal that stretched from one side of the office to the other. An assortment of buttons and screens filled the terminal with 2 microphones on either side. Two raised swivel chairs in front of the terminal made the system look a lot more intimidating than it actually was. Sandy had to stand on the tips of his toes just to seat himself on the chair next to Felix. As the terminal had completely blocked his view of the window, Sandy suddenly saw Elena on the other side.

[b]"Oh hey, there's a window here, neat!"[/b] Sandy said. Elena turned to the window, hearing the young ones voice, and waved with a polite smile. Sandy waved back. [b]"Kick some ass!"[/b]

Felix laughed. He knew Elena would probably do very well, but that was also because he was going to start her on Level 1 of 10. Knowing she was already good to start, Felix moved his hand to a large red button at the back of the terminal. A large glass case covered the button as well as a black dial that went from 1 to 10 to the right of the button. He flipped the glass case open, turned the dial to 1 and slammed the red button. A monotone woman's voice echoed through the speakers.

[b]"Level 1 training simulation. Begin."[/b]

Immediately following the voice, a small door on the other side of Elena opened up revealing a well-built robotic opponent. The robot walked out from the dark and into the lit room, its appearance changing from that of a robot to a spitting image of Elena with a flicker of static. Elena got into a fighting stance, prepared for the worst and the robotic opponent imitated her exact stance. Felix's voice echoed over the speakers.

[b]"This is what I've been working on so late all those nights. A robot designed to copy anything and everything its opponent throws at it. I've pre-coded it with all of your techniques, powers and fighting style, as well as your appearance." [/b]Elena was already exchanging blows with the android by this point.

[b]"So your training is for us to fight ourselves?!"[/b] she exclaimed, landing a right hook across the androids face. The Android went for the same punch, but Elena ducked and skidded backward to avoid the androids follow up electrical attack.

[b]"Basically. And this is only level 1. With each level it's the environment around you that will change, not your opponent. By level 10 the gravity will be intensified, you'll find it hard to breathe, the room will be incredibly heated, etc. Each level adds a new element of change for you to deal with."[/b]

Sandy held a worried expression. [b]"So, what if the android wins?"[/b] he asked. Felix put a hand on the boys shoulder and smiled eerily.

[b]"Then she dies."[/b]

Sandy gulped.[/font][/color]

[Akieen Cloud]

[font="Comic Sans MS"][color="#000080"]"Seriously Fel, you expect me to get in there with that thing?"
He shot her look that clearly said he did.
"I'm only human you know! I can't shoot fire from my hands, or drench someone with a single thought."
She gestured towards the craft users and grimaced as Elena took a hard hit to the stomach and coughed as she backed up.
"Your insane."
"I've heard that before."
"Yeah, I bet."
Sekeiri sighed and dug the pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her coat and lit one inhaling the bitter smoke deeply and relishing the numb, tingling sensation that filtered through her fingers and sighed as she exhaled the pale smoke watching as the air system in the building carried it away. Taking another drag on the cigarette she shook her head.
"I'm out of here."
Felix looked back at her with a look that could have been surprise, but she could never tell.
"I'm gonna go see how Loke is doing."
Felix didn't move but she could tell he was about to say something, she waved a hand at him as she stuffed the other into her pants pockets.
"Don't bother, I know he probably won't talk to me but you know what they say, you have to work at a problem to find a solution."
Before Felix could call her back by pulling rank she briskly walked through the halls raising a hand in a silent hello if she passed any co workers til she reached a small hall that was dark and foreboding. How many times had she been down here now? More than she could count really. Shrugging she walked down the short hall and stopped at an ugly olive green door with a few worn numbers that were to faded to make out. Tapping on the door she gave her best smile as the door cracked open and Locke's right eye could be seen peeking out.
"Hey there stranger. Just wanted to check and see how it went."
"Went fine. Why is it always you checking on me?"
"Cause I can?"
She held up her hands in defense as he scowled.
"Alright alright. Sorry. Hey, you wanna hit the chow hall and get a bite?"
"Your inviting me to eat with you?"
"Uh, yeah. I always do when I catch you here. Is it so shocking that I still am?"
The look he gave her was unreadable considering she could only see one eye from the crack in the doorway. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. Looking up as he emerged and gave him a wide smile.
"See, not so hard huh?"
He didn't answer her which made her chuckle, looking over at him she let her eyes roam for a moment before looking forward again. He was handsome, and she couldn't understand how he had become so withdrawn from people, something she was wanting to change by having him trust her. Getting their food she chose a table in the back and took a long drink from her mug of black coffee and sighed. She looked up and took a small bite of the chicken she had grabbed and grimaced, tasted like usual...crap.
"So, how did training go?"
He shook his head and continued eating.
"Don't worry, it'll get easier the more you practice."
She looked past him and flattened her upper body to the table making Loke jump slightly and jolt backwards, Sekeiri had her hands on his shoulders holding him in place instantly.
"Stop, don't move. It's Felix. He's probably looking for me since I bailed on training earlier. Just don't move."
Whether he complied due to shock, or just for the hell of it she wasn't sure, but as Felix exited the room she gave a sigh and smiled at him brightly.
"Thanks bud. I owe you one. Well I better get back to barracks before he does find me and drills me into the floor with a famous Felix lecture. I'll see you around. Take care Loke."
She checked the halls as she moved quickly through them and ducked into her room locking the door. Trudging over to her bed she flopped down and almost instantly fell asleep.
[/color][/font]

[CaNz]

[font="Garamond"]The robotic simulator had done well. No one seemed to catch on that their opponent was actually the three dimensional illusion provided by the headset he gave them. What looked like bulky training pads were actually high tech equipment designed more to hurt them than the other way around. A punch in the chest would result in a nerve shock from the chest plate, being tripped would result in an intense nerve shock in the legs. These feelings are very realâ?¦ however the opponent they could see was just an illusion. The technology did have its limits though. You can only fight someone you truly knowâ?¦ and that person is usually only yourself.

[b]â??Sandy, I am afraid you are not ready for this type of training yet. Once you have a better grasp on your powers I will let you try.â?[/b] Felix had wanted Sekeri to try it, since she was always battling inner demons anyway, but he could tell he was going to have to wait another day. He had noticed her hiding in the break room, but thought that if she would go to such lengths to avoid him, a confrontation would be the worst thing he could do.
[b]
â??Okay,â?[/b] Sandy said with little hesitation. [b]â??Iâ??d rather practice shooting anyway,â?[/b] sandy stated rather matter-of-factly.

Felix gave him a red card, [b]â??this opens up the door and the ammunition chest. Please donâ??t lose it.â?
[/b]
[b]â??Okayâ? [/b]was all that Sandy said before cramming it into his pocket.

Elena stretched out a bitâ?¦ finally free of the training equipment. [b]â??So I think I am gonna go take a break before we do anything else. Wanna watch some TV with me Sandy?â?[/b] to which he nodded and followed happily. She opened the door and let Sandy pass first, [b]â??You know... you are always welcome to come too Felix.â? [/b]

She is always so considerate, [b]â??No, I have to clean up here.â?[/b] she shrugged and closed the door behind her.

A pitiful excuse. Why couldnâ??t he just risk getting a bit closer to his team. He trusted them with his life, why was it so hard to trust them with his heart.
He shook it off.
If he cared about them at all, he would have to stay strong, and continue to put his job first. A man like him doesnâ??t have much to live for, so to be given this last chance to make a difference means everything to him.
He shook that off too.
It is time to get to cleaning.[/font]

[Akieen Cloud]

[font="Comic Sans MS"][color="#000080"]Sekeiri rolled over on her bed and looked at her clock, sighing a soft curse she realized she had only been sleeping for less than 10 minutes. Pushing her face in her pillow she tried to will her self to go back to sleep but gave up as she noticed it wasn't going to happen.
"Ugh, fine than."
Flipping the one fingered salute at her clock she swung her legs off the bed and shivered as the cold tile of her room met her socks, slipping on her boots she opened her door, stuck the usual cigarette between her lips, lit it and started down the hall, picking up two cups of coffee she walked through a few other halls and stopped at the training room. Looking through the glass she saw Felix alone and cleaning, not surprising. Pushing the door open with her shoulder she nodded to him as he looked up, clearly shocked to see her back.
"Sorry for bailing earlier, you know I'm just kinda intimidated by you guys, I have no special powers, or super human bull **** to help me fight. I'm normal and as much as I sympathize with you all for how hard it must be...there are times I envy you. You guys have the potential to do so much more damage than me. It seems so unfair sometimes. I dunno. I suppose I'm just scared of getting kicked off the team. I don't want that to happen, I love you all to much."
She chuckled lightly and heaved a sigh; handing him a cup of coffee she leaned on the wall.
"You want some help? I may not be superhuman, but I know how to tidy up a place."
"Hard to believe when seeing your room."
"And he speaks! Hey, what does that mean?"
He didn't laugh but he shook his head and went back to what he was doing before.
"Thank you."
"For what Fel?"
"The coffee, obviously."
"Why is it, that when I talk to you, I feel slow."
He didn't answer her but she knew he wouldn't. The look on his face was enough, it spoke volumes and she shook her head chuckling again.
"How was Locke?"
"Usual. Quite, reserved...the usual. Wish he would open up to us more, kinda like you. I mean I know you have your moments but you need to learn to relax and just spend some time with us. You'd be surprised how much it would help."
"Help what exactly?"
"Everyone. We work well together, hell we're probably the best team here, but we would work a lot more well together if we knew everyone better."
"It could be a bad thing as well Sekeiri."
"What makes you think so?"
"Say that something happens where we have a target to protect, if we get to close, any of us, we won't throw our selves in front of our target to protect him or her, we will throw our selves in front of each other for fear of losing one another."
"Is that such a bad thing? If we're willing to risk our lives for each other?"
"It could be, yes. If we have to protect some one important, we can not let the importance of each other get in the way of that, we would fail our objective and be disbanded."
"Yeah, I see your point. But you know Fel...it doesn't always have to be about the job. You can have fun to. That wouldn't hurt anything, and it's not that hard."
Nothing was said after that as she put her coffee down and took up a rag and began to wipe off the table in the room silently. His words filtering through her head, was it such a bad thing to want to put your life on the line for people you cared about? Could it be a bad thing? She had never looked at it that way it was a shock for her, something she would think about for a while.
[/color][/font]

[OMNOMNOMALY]

[font="Garamond"]The next day it was a sunny Saturday morning when the team reunited again in the office. Sandy sat in a chair next to Elena at her computer, a mug of hot chocolate in his hands. Elena sipped from her own cup of coffee as Felix strolled in and pulled his coat off, draping it on the back of his chair. Sekeiri placed his mug of black coffee on his desk and leaned against his desk to give Haruto her full attention as he walked in.

"Morning, Boss." she nodded at him.

"Good morning, Sekeiri, everyone." He smiled, though it looked oddly strained.

"Something wrong, Haruto?" Elena's voice rang out, seeming louder than usual in the emptiness of the office on the weekend.

"It's nothing, don't worry. I'll let you know when its time for our next briefing." He barely glanced at her as he made his way into the glass room of his separate office and shut the door behind him. Elena shrugged and patted Sandy on the head as his expression turned to worry.

"Okay Sandy, we're gonna check police reports from last night for any mention of suspicious sounding activity."

"We can do that?!" His voice nearly cracked in excitement. Sekeiri laughed from her standing spot near Felix.

"With a little help from Michael, we definitely can."

"It's more of a question of if we should..." Felix's voice, soft but firm, floated over to them as he stayed facing his computer.

"Don't be silly. What they don't know, can't put us in jail." Elena grinned as she clicked a desktop icon that opened up an official looking screen of the Tokyo City Police Department. A few typed commands later and she had bypassed the login page and had gone in through a backdoor and was now leisurely browsing through incident reports.

"All hail Michael our glorious Hacker." Sekeiri snorted.

"No kidding." laughed Elena.

"Thank you, thank you. Please hold your applause." Michael gave a little bow as he came out of his own office, heading towards the kitchen.

"God ******* DAMNIT." Haruto's voice exploded from his office, despite the closed door. "****. **** **** **** **** ****." Moments later he ripped the door open and rushed out. "Michael! Michael, we have a problem." The team looked puzzled, unsure of what to do. Michael was back out in a moment, standing next to Haruto.

"What is it? What's happened?" Panic was rising in his own voice at the sight of Haruto so distraught. Haruto glanced around at them before speaking again.

"It's K." Michael was silent for a moment, his face turned pale.

"Oh no..."

"Who's K?" Sandy not-so-subtly whispered to Elena who could only shake her head in reply. Felix had swivelled his chair around now to face them, his own face unreadable.

"She went offline -" Haruto began,

"How long ago?" Michael interrupted as he tapped Elena's shoulder, gesturing for her to move so he could borrow her computer.

"Less than 2 minutes ago." He answered "But its not like the usual disconnect. Its a blackout. Nothing is traceable, her cellphone has been wiped off the map too."

"Oh Christ, this is not good..." Michael's fingers tapped the keyboard quickly, the TCPD quickly replaced by a window of a program neither Elena nor the rest of the team had ever seen before. Sekeiri glared at Haruto as he stood in silence, not explaining to them what was clearly a crisis.

"Who the hell is K, Haruto?" her voice was firm and unwavering and above all else, angry. "And what the hell is going on that has got you two so spooked?"

"Michael, you stay here. See if you can find anything to reconnect us again. The rest of you - briefing, now." Haruto turned on his heels and headed to the briefing room at a pace never before seen. Elena ushered Sandy towards the room, exchanging worried looks with Sekeiri and Felix.

************************

Their computer screens lit up as Haruto opened up a file for each of them to see.

"This is K; Agent Kallie Imotou. She was an American-Japanese agent that we hired soon after the original fall of the Factory. She was the first one to realize that Zaizen was back on the map." A photo of a 30 year old woman with dark cropped short hair and large square-framed glasses, about 30 years old was on their screen. She looked kind but smart. Her info and accomplishments scrolled across their screens next to her picture. It was astonishing the amount of intel she had done for them, most noticeably

"She infiltrated Zaizen's new group," Elena breathed out, her eyes widening.

"Yes. For the past three years she has sporadically sent us intel when possible, on Zaizen's next move. Though recently with the surge in attacks, awakenings and even reports of the 'curing' of the witch gene, she has contacted us far less. Beyond a tightening in security we are not sure happened but we couldn't exactly go in and retrieve her. But we always were able to locate her before." The screen changed again, showing a list of reports that Kallie had sent back, including dates and times. The most recent was dated the day before, 11:27 PM. "Until now. Approximately half an hour ago, we lost contact with Agent Imotou. No more phone GPS, no more signals from the chip we implanted on her. Nothing. It's a total blackout. Now, read the report from yesterday." Haruto gave them a moment to read and let it sink in.

"Is this true?" Felix looked up at Haruto, his face was still a mask of unconcern but his voice betrayed his feelings.

"We have no reason to believe it's not. Witches going missing, awakenings ending in so much bloodshed... it makes sense, really. Zaizen has a new laboratory. This time not just to contain witches, but to experiment on them. Sandy's face lost a bit of it's colour, Elena didn't look up from the screen, unable to tear her eyes off the words.

"They're not experiments," her voice, soft and low, floated over the room.

"What?" Haruto looked at her.

"They're being tortured!" She looked up at the group, tears had welled up noticeably in her eyes. "We have to stop this... They are cutting them open. They are cutting people like us open so they can see what about us is different! Activating our awakenings through orchestrated means, provoking us so we can be shot down like animals..." Elena glowered, Sandy was looking down now.

"Was she a craft user?" Felix tried to ignore Elena's emotional outburst, trying to keep the group focused. Haruto nodded.

"She was a Seed when we hired her, but her powers manifested themselves sometime after she infiltrated Zaizen's group. From what we understand she kept them hidden." Elena was looking even more visibly shaken now, imagining what they all were - that Agent Imotou had been found out and silenced, either for her powers or for her affiliation with New STNJ. Felix shifted in his chair a bit, looking at his team, each more than a little disturbed by the news of what the new Factory was doing. Sekeiri and Elena were strangely silent so Felix stepped up.

"So what's our next move?" he leaned back to look at Haruto.

"We have to stick to the plan. No more training, everyone. It's surveillance time."[/font]

[CaNz]

[font="Garamond"]Harutoâ??s voice came over the buildingâ??s intercomâ? You are heading out. You are taking the new van so try not to wreck it this time Elena.â? she instinctively pushed back the aggravation in her face with her right hand. It wasnâ??t her fault insurance doesnâ??t cover her vision being tampered with by an unnaturally powerful craft user. Everyone loaded in. Felix grinned as Elsa adjusted the seats. For some reason or another they would always be fiddled with. Harutoâ??s voice followed them in their Bluetooth headsets. [b]â??Kalllie had infiltrated a base run by Zaizen, in uptown Setagaya. I sent all of you a picture of Kalllie on your phones. Look at the picture, memorize her face and delete it. We donâ??t have a clue what happened, so tread with cautionâ?¦. I am going to free up the airwaves now.â? [/b]

Felix opened his phone, glanced at the face of a young girlâ?¦ twenty-nine he assumed, but she could be much younger, yet aged by work. When he was confident he could recognize her he did as Haruto requested.

Sekeiri prodded Sandy jokingly since he was the last to delete her picture, [b]â??Do you think sheâ??s pretty kiddo?â?
[/b]
His face turned rose, but not with anger, [b]â??No! she is just an objectiveâ?¦ right Felix?â?[/b]

He paused before answering, [b]â?? a rather attractive objective.â? [/b]
Elena Swerved the car suddenly, and instinctively all three members grabbed at their respective seat handles. [b] â??I will crash that side of the car you two! And I will make it look like an accident!â? [/b]

[/font][center][font="Garamond"]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/font][/center][font="Garamond"]

They enjoyed the first half hour of the ride, but as their destination grew closer, their moods became more serious, (mostly at the request of Felix) and possible strategies and outcomes were tossed around. Nothing really stuck because their were just too many variables. It wasnâ??t much longer until they reached the building.

It had been a dilapidated mortuary turned into a fortress. The iron fence was menacing enough to keep most visitors away, but every window was boarded up and the door was sealed tightâ?¦ until very recently that is. There were no signs of fire, but the old building looked like it had a few new holes with brand new charred corners. Sekeiri was the first to comment, [b]â??looks like someone was chucking dynamite at the rickety old thing.â?

â??It is probably on its last legâ?¦ Is it safe to even go inside?â?[/b] added Sandy.

[b]â??We are on a reconnaissance mission, we arenâ??t going to go inside unless ordered otherwise.â? [/b]Felix concluded. However just as he said those words, Harutoâ??s voice patched into their headsets.
[b]
â?? Change of plans, We got reports of Zaizenâ??s men fleeing that facility. I am sending you there to collect Kalieâ??s final report, bring her back, and if possible take into custody as many seeds and Witches in the building. They probably know you are coming but they wont know how fast you will get there. We need you to get inside and see what went wrong. â??[/b] Haruto did not stay on the line long enough for any questions.

Elena put her new Synthetic Orbo necklace on and motioned for the others to do the same. She took the lead position, and gave her first order. [b]â??Move out.â?[/b]

[/font][center][font="Garamond"]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[/font][/center][font="Garamond"]
Upon entering the room the group could see the damage had intensified. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed and some walls had come down. One toppled wall took the groups interests. The wood floors and warm brown walls were replaced by linoleum floor tiles and sterile white walls. They had hidden a laboratory.
There were bodies thrown about the many rooms, either crushed from impact at high velocity or limbs and heads completely severed by what looked like high explosives.

It wasnâ??t long until they figured out what had happened there. A girl dressed in what appeared to be a gray hospital gown stood up from behind a lab bench. Sparks erupted from her hands [b]â??DONâ??T TOUCH ME!â?[/b] the sparks formed around a glowing white ball that she threw like a baseball at Felix. He dived out of the way and immediately felt the heat of the explosion behind him. He drew his gun, but he dreaded the thought of using itâ?¦. She was just like him, a Seedâ?¦. but those twisted men changed herâ?¦ turned her into a monster against her will. How was she supposed to control her power when it was awakened suddenly?
With a heavy heart he pulled back the hammer of his pistol. [/font] Edited February 25, 2011 by CaNz