*CRASH*

"Wha- what was that?!"

Two pairs of eyes immediately locked onto the source of the awful noise and shouting, right were two buildings used to stand.

"@#%$," Ryn growled as she finally stood. "I picked the worst time to come to this place. More buildings are being torn down now..."

She turned to Kenneth, who stood gazing at the flames which seemed to dance as it burned everything in its wake and the endless columns of smoke rising into the air. Taking a closer look at his face, she could see the tears in his eyes.

She felt sorry for the kid; this was exactly the same thing he'd witnessed when they'd been forced to leave home. Destruction. Blood. Death. He had been seeing all of these things first hand for his entire childhood...

---
OOC: Will add more/edit later.

ooc: is the fight outside the cafe now?

OOC: Yes

With a swift, almost fluid-like motion, the transport skirted over the top of a skyscraper, it's background swimming with the rising smoke and ash as a smaller skyscraper fell. Without pause, Palmer and Jag unanimously fast-roped off opposite sides of the transport, landing at the exact same time, as a swirling hurricane of dust and debris muddled them out of sight of the pilot. As the ropes went limp, he pulled back on the yolk, sending the transport away from the building, and through the cloud of carnage left in the wake of the combat below.

"Godspeed, comrades." He said, as he took off, fleeing the city. They were on their own now.

--~~>

The dust settled, and Palmer was already moving to the edge of the skyscraper. 70 stories up, the combat below was mere ants. Lifting the rifle over the side, he engaged an infrared, invisible to the naked eye laser beam, and trained it on the two psionics dueling.

Jag was quick to his steed, running to his side, armed with a heavy long-range radio. He peered over the side, activating his infrared goggles.

The laser danced about the two as they exchanged blows.

"Kilo six two, this is Scout 7. We are marking with laser, over."

--~~>

Action was full force on the Archaeron Naval Vessel. Within 10 minutes, the strike units had been prepped, fueled, and sat on the runway, engines warming. Gaelic, a wolven captain of the Evolian Bombing Runners, was to lead the charge. Their target? A civilian city.

Deep down, it hurt him to know that to defend the nation he rose his hand and swore to protect would have to feel the nasty blow, all in the name of nation security.

"Kilo six two, green flag, green flag. Throttles up."

Gaelic pulled back the throttle, was pressed against his seat, and took off the runway, flying towards an objective 100 miles away.

"Scout 7, this is Kilo six two. We are inbound, carrying 1500 pounders. ETA, 5 minutes. Keep targets marked."

"I'm sorry soldier, but I can't let you do that." A voice rasp out behind Palmer. Before he could move a heavy and powerful foot stepped down on his back, "Be a good lad and hand over that little toy of yours."

*Click* The sound of a pistol being cocked made Jag freeze. "Speak a word into that radio and you forfeit your life."

Neither dared move for a moment, the voice sounded stern and decisive. Rasping out words so intensely it made them clear their own throats. "To the south southwest, about two hundred ten degrees. Turn slowly or I'll shoot your friend and kick you off this building. Look for a landing craft, it's disguised on radar but it's there. Guide your planes there."

It was perfect, everything proceeding exactly as expected. The bulky figure peered down at Rico and Claw. The foolish fox was still acting as predictable as ever, keeping his only hurdle at bay while he continued his marionette show.

His hints lead the others straight here, no doubt everything was unfolding on the ground as anticipated. Even these army men with their planes, all to easy to predict, he be rid of the remaining witnesses and retrieve what was taken from him all at once.

The massive canine smiled a satisfied grin and pushed hard on the evolian's back, "Target it. Now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rico shook his head at the exhausted Evolian smarting off, "Whatever."

He turned his attention to the troops still hiding in their positions he seemed to making this as big of an exposition as possible, "You who want so dearly to maim and destroy life. Attack me and see if I fall as easily as the women and children you so easily turn to fodder. I am the last of the Warden, and I will kill every single person that stands between this galaxy and peace."

Jag kept his arms up, and sent a glance to Palmer. He was in obvious distress...

Where did they come from? They weren't on the roof....and how did they know we were here?

Palmer turned, facing in the direction he was ordered to. The target was unseen, but he aimed anyway, trying to maintain his bearing.

As long as we don't give them the order to go weapons free, they won't drop the bombs.. Jag thought, turning off the radio. If there was radio silence...the pilots would realize something was amiss, and circle around until given the order to strike.

There were numerous fail-safes to calling in an air strike. Firstly, the air control party on the ground can designate the strike zone with an infrared laser. However, if the opposing forces had THEM under infrared laser, the pilot would be unsure as to where to drop the bomb.

So, during a strike, the air control party on the ground would dictate the coordinates to the pilot, the pilot would confirm them, and thus, the air control party would give authorization to strike. It was a process that was practiced numerous times, and if the air control party, Scout 7, did not relay the coordinates when the strike team approached, there would be no strike. Of course, it would only make things more difficult for Palmer and Jag, but hopefully it could buy them some time to get the situation under control.

4 minutes ETA. Jag kept his arms outstretched, the radio away from his mouth. Palmer maintained his target, knowing well that it wouldn't be hit.

Claw could hear the all too familiar sound of Evolian fighter crafts soaring overhead. Something was up. The engines sounded a bit under strain.

Carrying a pretty hefty payload thought Claw to himself.

No one accused the Evolian people of being kind-hearted. The planet had seen its share of strife, evolving from a ritualistic, tribal society following various spiritual and warlord figures and developing their own proprietary technologies. However the planet didn't know it's first boon until Evalc rose to power, using his amazing psionic prowess to overthrow an oppressive alien regime and establish what was for a little while a benevolent dictatorship. In fact the planet, which had been nameless for so long, took it's namesake from Lord Evalc, Evolia. Suddenly Evolia had become a universal Super Power almost overnight as domestic industry began an imperial campaign. Trade routes which were built, maintained and highly restricted by mandates from Lord Evalc himself are still in use today and are considered the mercantile glue that keeps the universal economy going.

But when Evalc was first struck down by a giant mutinous contingent of his own men, the Evolian empire crumbled and relinquished its control over countless colonies and "liberated" planets. Thanks to the frightening war machine Evalc had set in motion before his first death, psionic warriors got a bad name and were hunted across the galaxy. Some say splinter groups of Wardens teamed up with anti-psionic militant groups to hunt down and destroy schools and gathering places of psionics across the universe. However, Evolia, having known oppression before, became a safe haven, a "Shelter Planet" during what would come to be known as the Psionic Purges.

Claw shook the old day from his head. He was a psionic, learning to use these powers had literally saved him from falling into deranged lunacy back when his age was still only in the double digits. An old hatred began to boil in his blood as Rico's memory ceased to become that of a comrade and more that of a souless Warden Butcher.

The rush of anger and rage from memories long buried bubbled to the surface as he climbed to his feet.

He didn't hear her voice at first as he gazed at the rising columns of smoke and the dancing flames. His mind was focused elsewhere, preoccupied the battle he had witnessed ever so briefly before he was literally blown away by the impact of the explosion from one of the combatants-- the large, towering figure of the vulpine who had frightened him so when he first lay eyes on him, and a certain word he had spoken...

"That man," he said aloud. "He's Kydane, like us."

"What are you talking about?" Ryn asked as she knelt down next to the boy, baffled.

Kenneth looked at her, his eyes reflecting the mix of unexplainable emotions he felt. "He'd mentioned something about being a 'Warden' remember? Didn't you say they're s'posed to protect others, Ryn?"

"Yeah, I think. Why are you asking me about this, Kenneth? You know as well as I do they're nothing but trouble."

"But they're not supposed to go around killing others and destroyin' stuff, right?"

"Kenneth Tylar Sonata, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Ryn snapped. "Whatever you're thinking of, you'd better not dare run off on your own! The best thing to do now is to get outta here and--"

The youth brushed her hands off his shoulders and shouted back, "I'm tired of always runnin' away, Ryn! I-I wanna do something to help. You can keep goin' if you want; that'll just mean... YOU'RE A COWARD!"

With that outburst, the child ran towards the damaged buildings and debris. Ryn, still shocked at his behavior, stood up to full height and took off in pursuit of him.

You little fool, she thought, You have no idea what you're getting yourself into...

***
OOC: Hope this is okay.

Christer was instantly left alone with the hybrid youth, as Tobias and Sparky took off running towards the two standing not 50 feet away. As another building fell, Christer's stomach knotted...these were just kids, wandering around aimlessly amid the carnage taking place. Christer wasn't exactly an adult yet, either...Twenty years old, but still felt the youthful fear he retained throughout his teenage life. However, he had to do something...Tobias seemed a tad scatterbrained, not exactly taking the mortality of the situation to heart. And standing out in the open while some...godlike figure...was bringing forth genocidal powers not a half mile away, he had to stand up and take control.

Corky was in no shape of moving about with that stitching. Even a light trot would tear them loose, bringing possibility of infection, not to mention unnecessary bleeding. So, he moved towards the youth, and grabbed his arms, slinging him onto his back, piggyback style.

"Just hold tight, buddy." Christer said, groaning at the idea of even more weight on his back. He'd have to muster, though. He jogged after Tobias and Sparky, trying to glide across the pavement as smooth as possible, and not to agitate the wounded Corky that now sat on his back.

"Hey! You four!" He shouted, slowly catching up to them. "I don't know what's going to happen, but we need to get away from here...it's way too dangerous. At least let's find some shelter." He wasn't used to taking charge. As a private, he took orders, and obeyed. Not once in his life had he ever attempted to sway people into doing things his way...but he had a uniform on. It was time to be a man.

Rubble continued to rain down from the two buildings, the already gutted caf had received more then its fair share of the punishment. With an eerie groaning the last remaining supports gave up their vain struggle to keep the building together and a section of the ceiling collapsed into the blasted ground floor.

Niki landed hard, having still been on the floor and unable to move when it had collapsed. Her body ached from the impact, the objects she had retrieved from her locker left painful shadows of themselves against her side, her mind and ears felt as though it were rapped tightly in cotton wool. A hum of stunted words and buffered sound surrounded her as she opened her eyes to the light that was streaming through the torn front of the caf, the combat outside sliding into focus. Steadily she forced herself to he knees and turned her head to look at the back door, now blocked by half a tone of rouble with no way to squeeze through. There was no other way out but through the exposed street side entrance.
Squeezing her eyes shut momentarily, the merc reached back into her subconscious and began testing the implants for damage. When the results came back positive she flicked a switch within the bowls of her mind.
She was on her feet, hand within her overalls clutching the gun. The pain had been dampened, now merely a shadowy recognition of damage while the real sensations were blocked by the neural implants. Her senses were sharp once again and she felt like she could take on an army, but experience told her that she was in no fit state for combat. Stepping purposefully toward the street while remaining in the darkness that the caf offered, her eyes traced the wreckage until they landed upon the combatants a few dozen feet from the shop, Eidetic circuitry analyzing and constraining every detail of the battle site layout too memory, adding it to her already existent knowledge of the street.
The fox seemed busy with his monologue, her time for escape was short.
In a blink she was running at full speed, dashing out of the shattered window frame to her right away from the mortal combat ensuing behind her. She was exposed for only a moment before she dove into the cover of the ally beside the caf, almost tripping over a terrified soldier hiding there in the processes. The female privet was a sorry sight, shaking and holding on to her weapon for dear life. The ally was a dead end, and the only way out was onto the street, where shed be cut down by this avenging vulpine with naught but a twitch of his finger.
A moment of thought passed while Niki considered the womans shoes.
It soon vanished.
Get up.
The soldier craned her neck unsurely to look at the raccoon.
I said stand up soldier. Niki repeated in the same commanding tone, the girl following the orders this time and standing to her full height, still shaking but a little surer on her feet now that she was taking orders again.
The raccoon gave the soldier a sweep with keen eyes, looking at the snug fittings on her jacket and pants.
He is looking for military personal. If you want to leave here alive, youll do exactly as I say.

Two minuets later, as the fight had just restarted in earnest, a vulpine waitress made a brake from the shadow cast alleyway, running at full belt away from the fighting and toward her officers post at the edge of town, carrying the message the stranger had given too her.

Niki adjusted the snugly fitting pants. They were perhaps a little too wide for her, but the belt caught the slack nicely, and at least now she didnt have to worry about making her way across town in work heals. The jacket lay to one side of the ally. Millitery gear was one thing, but she was not about to go around parading rank and squadron to every one who might hazard a glance.
With utmost caution, she peaked around the corner and watched for her moment to exit the scene entirely.

That's when she saw him. The small child running full whack towards the battle. Cold mecinary calculation told her it was a fools errened. He was too far away, too far intercept without drawing the vulpines attention. But she was also a mother, instinct pulling her by the neck and stabbing at the pit of her stomach, screaming at her to intervene. Surely the man wouldn't attack a child? But that wasn't the point; he didn't need to be a target to get hurt in a fight like this, just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A peace of shrapnell, falling rouble, a displaced sword...

A furry hand shot and grabbed the charging youth by the collar and lifted him up off the ground. Kenneth suddenly found himself suspended inches away from Claw's face. The psionic didn't looked amused.

"You smell like a Kydane, brat," growled Claw, his glowing red eyes seemingly boring a hole through the kid, "I didn't just topple two buildings so you could go have a nice friendly chat with that nearsighted Warden maniac."

"What's it t' you?!" The boy flailed his arms and legs about in a futile attempt to free himself from Claw's grasp. "L-lemme go, ix'cis! I ain't got no time to deal with you!"

In an instant, Christer's life stopped.

One of the two fighting had gotten ahold of one of the children...

Three-hundred nasty scenarios began flowing through his mind. None of which the child came out unscathed. Then, it clicked.

The shell-shocked guy!

Christer remembered him from before...he wasn't shell shocked, the guy was just...insane! He had one wounded child on his back...there wasn't any other way he was going to let another innocent get hurt in this crossfire. Even if it meant his own tail. He put Corky on the ground, and ran forward. That way, he wouldn't let Corky get hurt if something were to happen to himself.

You'll never hit him, Christer thought to himself, You're a terrible marksman...

He stopped, 30 feet from him, and charged his rifle. He raised the rifle, slapped it against his shoulder, and peered down the iron-sights, flicking the safety off.

"PUT THE CHILD DOWN!" He yelled, a wavering note of insecurity filtered in the commandment. "NOW!"

ETA 4 minutes

"Listen, brat, that Warden's switch is set to kill. I'm tired of watchin' people get blown up today, let alone headstrong little kids like you," growled Claw.

Keeping Kenneth at arms length Claw began to walk away from the rubble of buildings and towards the what looked like a charging waitress.

Then he heard the click of a fully charged rifle.

Claw glanced back at the medic that had tried to stop him earlier.

"It just gets better and better," mumbled Claw.

Claw suddenly turned and dangled Kenneth in front of him like some prize won at a carnival.

"You want me to drop this thing?" asked Claw, making sure that the kid was in front of him, knowing full well the medic wouldn't shoot.

Claw then began approaching Christer. Upon closer observation Christer realized that Kenneth wasn't scared at all, in fact he was annoyed with the scary-looking creature holding him by his collar.

Hands shaking, sweating...

The assailant held the youth as a body shield...what an insidious tactic. There was no doubt in Christer's mind at that point, this guy was absolutely psycho.

Clip him, his face is exposed! Just enough room for a bullet to sail past the youth, slamming into Claw's head, and ending the hostage scenario. But with his shaking hands, and terrible aim, Christer couldn't take the shot. He was terrible with a weapon, why they even issued him one was beyond him. At this point, he was stuck. He maintained his posture, the assailant inching closer with every casual step making Christer more nervous.

"STOP! P...PUT HIM DOWN!" He yelled, still peering over the sights. He rifle was now wavering, his bead jumbling all over the place. He had a clear view of the child....he didn't seem scared at all.

The kid doesn't even know how dangerous this is... This was turning into a lose/lose situation. The psychopath was going to be right in Christer's face in any moment, take him down...and than all the children behind him were in grave danger. However, if he took a shot to stop him...he would have to live with the fact that he ended a young life.

But to protect as many lives as possible...what would be the best outcome.

Deep down, Christer wished he was getting an order to do something. Anything. All he could do was stand there and hope something, someone would help him.

Claw suddenly dropped the youth, who landed expertly on his feet. Now Claw was a few feet from the end of the rifle. Claw peeked behind the medic and spotted Christer's other company..

Claw turned his attention back to the medic.

"Looks like you got quite a collection of children. Get them out of here. Whoever's commanding your troops is planning some overkill," growled Claw as the sounds of distant Evolian Bombers echoed in the distance.

Christer kept his rifle aimed right at his face.

"You going to shoot me or are you going to save some lives, medic?" growled Claw, obviously growing impatient.

The rattle of the closing shutter came to a halt as the large warehouse door jerked to a stop. The screech of metal on metal and the final hiss of momentum gone sour made Key cringe. The trail for the sides of the door had been damaged just the other day, and upon closer inspection she noted now that she wasn't quite strong enough to close the door completely without straightening it out. With a sigh she slipped the unlocked padlock onto one of the shutter handles. It would have to wait until later, there was testing to be done! With a nod she turned and headed off. It was unlikely in this panic anyone would bother with her shop, besides, there was only a foot of space between where the shutter had jammed and the ground, most people wouldn't even notice.

Slipping through the streets unnoticed would have been nearly impossible for her in normal circumstances, her movements making more noise then a parade. Each step was like that of a sledgehammer pounding into the ground, a heavy thud, and a small scraping as her boots pulled away leaving a small bit of gray smoke behind in their wake. Nix sat comfortably on her back pack now. The bulky piece of gear sporting plenty of room for the robotic rodent to fit on without hassle. He sat with his back and tail to key, looking up the rear of their blazing trail.

As she neared she came up around another bend, stopping dead. The weight of her equipment lurched forward nearly toppling her, but a quick grasp at a building wall, and an impressive display of what could only be described as a dancing routine of counter-balance saved her the trip to the asphalt. She had stopped at the sight of Chister with a rifle training it right Claw's face. "Nix, record this."

"I spy with my little eye, something that rhymes with... What rhymes with rock?" Nix chirped from behind her, oblivious to the action at hand. It only took a moment for key to reach back and clutch the small creature in her hand and bring it in front of her. Flipping Nix right side up, she let him sit in her open palm. "Oh! Sock rhymes with rock. Silly me."

"Record them, now you little bugger." Key leaned against the corner of the wall, prepared to get behind it if needed. She kept Nix steady as there was a faint hum, the small rodent's eyes adjusting to the distance. A small red light on the back of Nix's neck lit to show her he was in the middle of an operation, his recording program was active. As she made sure to keep Nix trained on the two men and the kid in the middle of the stand off she took the time to examine the other various scattered people about. Certainly many more then she had thought.

The boy shot an angry glare at the psionic as soon as he found himself on solid ground. When he turned around again, a fist suddenly struck him on the head, forcing him to his knees.

"YOU IDIOT!" Ryn bellowed. "I told you not to run off! You could've been killed!"

"You didn't have to hit me like that!" Kenneth cried out, holding his head.

"Then what would've happened if I hadn't come, huh?"

Ten seconds... Just ten seconds.

The distraction was coming, a distraction that would drive that psychopath over the edge and end all this. He watched from his perch atop the building, one foot on Palmer, a gun trained on Jag. It would all start soon... he'd just about reached the scene.

"Ixcis..." that word. Rico said it lowly to himself, seemingly paralyzed he lowered his head, lost in though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The human seemed to go rigid, he was directly in front of Ryn now. He muttered one word lowly, just loud enough for Ryn to hear, with an almost awestuck tone, "Daddy?" He suddenly turn and looked directly at Claw, Rico, and Christer.

"Sparky wait! God dammit you little bastard! You're going to get killed if you-HEY! Where are you going!" Tobias panted running up to Sash just as the boy darted off toward the ongoing battle. She almost felt like laughing, despite the scenerio the sight of a slightly overweight, glasses wearing, almost nerdy looking brown rabbit failing capture a small boy half his size was almost comical.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile Corky, had vanished.

Christer stepped back, his rifle still somewhat aimed at Claw's head. His hands shook, his vision blurred. He had never stared danger in the face before...his first near death experience.

If I shoot, i'll miss... his mind reeled, trying to get a grip, and a solution, to his current predicament. And if I drop my guard, he'll skewer me with that katana...

There were a million and one things he could do that would be the wrong thing to do. But, one thing was for sure, this psycho was taunting him. Testing him. Waiting for Christer to make a move. The human child was running, the rabbit giving chase, the children were causing commotion. It was white noise now, in his mind, his eyes going tunnel vision, death's eyes picking apart his every move. Claw had every opportunity to end the young medic's life, and Christer played out an infinite amount of scenarios of his demise, all in his imagination.

With rifle still wavering, he continued to back away. "We need to get out of here...we need to run away." His arms grew numb from the weight of the rifle, his legs now quivering. "J-just stay RIGHT there. Kids, come on. Follow me...it's too dangerous here."

He didn't know how many times he must've made that commandment. They still hadn't listened. With despair and a growing sense of doom, he started losing his cool. "DAMNIT! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! WE'RE GOING TO DIE IF WE STAY HERE!"

-~~>

ETA 2 minutes

Kenneth simply stared at her bitterly but didn't kept silent.

"I thought so," Ryn sighed. She looked around at the others who stood just a short distance away, and the Warden kept his own eyes locked on the psionic that had released her brother.

I'll deal with him later, she thought to herself as her ears twitched slightly at the sound of running footstepts coming from behind her...

The feline only had to reach one arm out to grab the boy by the arm.

"Not this again," she muttered. "First, him..." Her eyes shifted to Kenneth before she looked back at the other boy. "... and now you. What the hell is it with kids these days?"

*post deleted*

"To'na Ixcis! Akay!" The boy spat out flailing at her trying to wrench himself loose.

"Keedis... Samox... Underwood... Watch... your language..." The rabbit breathed out.

Claw heard what sounded like a military parade just a block away. He sheathed his katana, giving the poor medic one less pointy thing to worry about. He ignored Christer's twitchy trigger finger for the moment and stared down the block, looking Key and her robotic companion dead in the eyes.

OOC: Okay, I am seriously freekin' confused now. Apparantly not only did the kid teleport past the end of the alley and into the awaiting arms of Claw, but we're also apparantly in a wide enough area for Niki (who's origional work clothes have magicaly reappered on her body dispite having just swopped them with a terrified militery private) to still be running full wack at the kitten whom she was going to try save. Meanwhile, Sash and Rayne, who were a hell'ofa long way away from any action have randomly been teleported one streat up from the fighting, which our medic and half the npcs have now joined in on. WTF?? As far as I was aware the fight was still taking place near the cafe, on the other side of town from where Rayne and Sash were. They were perpusfuly going away from the combat zone! Dosn't anyone even read my posts...

Bugger this for a lark. Edited last post, Niki is no longer running out to save the kitten and Sash along with Rayne are no where near combat. Unless someone explains to me just how the hell that happened don't damn well brake the laws of spacial phisics to get them involved. I don't want those two to meet up with Niki yet hence why they were moving away from the sound of combat. Even if it meens sending them back to their ship and droping them from the PC loop (which was the plan origionaly) they're not meeting up with her.

"Note to self, install some sorta distance microphone on you for the future, can't even hear what it is they are saying for crying out loud." Key stood her ground with a sigh, bringing her other hand up to support Nix as he continued to record. Her gloves with the added weight of the metal squirrel had the task a chore. She say Claw shift, so she prepared to move back around the corner out of sight only to be caught by his gaze.

Like a deer in headlight Key could do nothing but stare stupidly. She had seen the two fighting, Claw and Rico, but knew nothing of why they were and who they were. She felt uncomfortable now having been spotted. No longer an observer, but the observed. After a long pause she nervously smiled towards Claw, not sure what else to do when someone who could potentially snuff you out of existence trains his eyes on you.

It was best not to make any sudden moves, after all, if he was fighting the good fight, and she ran... well that would make here look like one of those bad guys, right? Bringing one hand up from under Nix, keeping the recording robot steady in the other, she waved. "Uh... I come in peace?" She had to speak up, not quite a yell, but a raised tone to cover the distance between her and the group of them.

OOC: Well, as far as I can tell, it was a snowball effect, really. Christer was going to end up running into Tobias' trio. Tobias was, as I can see, trying to get your characters into the plot, thus seeing you and walking towards you. As it played out, we ended up getting closer and closer to the action, so yeah. Relax some. It's an RP, no sense in getting worked up about it.

Hell, I didn't expect my special ops guys to get held hostage, but i'm rolling with it.

OOC: Astral, if you run away from the fight you effectively write yourself out of the story as I'm only working with area's the plot involves (Cafe/Landing Area/Top of Building). I'll warn you now that I'm not going to create stuff for you to do if you run off by yourself, you'll have to figure some other way back into the main storyline. This RP is in the spirit of Evalc's original, anything goes short of killing each other without permission. You'll just have to learn to roll with it. Christer and I are taking turns throwing monkey wrenchs at each other's plots right now and you don't see either of us complaining. 😉

I'll edit out where I tried to pull Sash and Ray back into the story, though.

OOC: Just got back from the US a few hours ago, I'm exhausted, but will probably end up reading everything and then making a post sometime in the next few days. Sorry for holding everyone up.

OOC: Catch up and get into the fray man. Rico's right in front of you, the Cafe is a mess from Claw and Rico's epeen measureing contest so I assume you're under the debris somewhere.

Tobias is by Sparky and Ryn and haven't identified the idiots lobbing energy at each other yet, Kenneth is whining or something, Corky is mia, We have Nikki... well probably doing the same as Key... staring at the superfreaks. On top of the building we have the two soldiers trying to kill EVERYONE being manipulated by a as yet not identified dog furry of some kind. And in the middle of it are Rico and Claw staring each other down.

OOC: Apologies to Astral, I missed the part where Niki changed out of the waitress get-up.

IC:

Claw sighed.

"Great, just what this chaos needs, more casualties," mumbled Claw.

Claw looked back at the rubbled barricade he had created, was Rico distracted or playing cat and mouse. Nonetheless, he would have to get the innocents out of here and reduce Evolian military casualty.

"Take your robo-pest and your loud-ass shoes and get out of here!" roared Claw across the block to Key.

OOC: I'm sorry guys, I think I more then over reacted in that OOC post, I apologise for any offence. I just woke up to find that the laws of physics had been pulled in two and felt kind of miffed that Id missed so much during that short period of time. See, I never intended to get Ray and Sash involved in the main plot until later on (when I had more time and had introduced the exit-ship properly), they were just my link to the ship and backups in case Niki got KIA. You don't need to create plot for them Rico because they're just backup characters that are only there to provide some artistic licence while I flesh out their personalities. I can't have them running into Niki because if they do they'll be trapped in the main plot line and wont be able to write them out so easily without causing some major disruption. At the moment I can just leave their journey at any point if the plot with Niki becomes too time consuming.
Ill post up in an hour or so, we just got audited today and I feel like a squirrel thats been through the washer on a spin cycle. My apologies once again.

OOC: I'll have something written up later today, I'll just have to probably go back and edit some of my posts a bit after I look over them. I think Ryn has some idea of what's going on, but I just kept forgetting to mention it. ><

OOC: Like I said, I'm not going to give up on this being in the spirit of the original one Evlac made. It's going to take something insane for me to say, "No, you can't do that do that." Anyway, back to the RP!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The foot released him. Palmer turned his head slightly to catch a glimpse of his opponent, he caught a split second view of an eerie grin on the face of a scruffy brownish dog-like creature. It quickly turned and walked to the edge of building between to two men.

Palmer was quick to roll onto his feet, leaving the rifle on the ground. Swiftly, he reached to his MOLLE attached to his hip, and removed his sidearm. Jag, following suit, whipped around and aimed the rifle, finger on the trigger. With a free hand, he snatched his radio.

"Kilo six two, this is Scout 7! Standby!"

--~~>

"Standby!"

Captain Gaelic was confused. A standby order from the ground? They had the target, the coordinates...it didn't make a lick of sense. What was going on down there.

"Raptor, raptor." He spoke, alerting his bombing party following in his steed. "Standby, circling city. Eyes wide for SAMS."

-~~>

Palmer was livid.

"Who the f**k ARE YOU SH*T BREAD?!" He shouted, swinging his pistol up in a ghetto-esq fashion, tilted to the side. Jag stifled his laughter, understanding the graveness of the situation. Did he just say....sh*t bread?
Jag stepped away from the edge of the building, cutting off the Canine's exit by standing in the way of the elevator, across the rooftop. Palmer, on the other hand, wasn't exactly taking any precaution. He kept his demeanor, walking right up to the dog and pushing the barrel of the pistol against his temple. "What, you think you're tough?! You know who the F*CK we are?!"

Jag was hesitant, but maintained a clear aim at the dog's head. "Sir, this is a military operation. I don't know what you're doing, but we're going to have to ask you to either lay on the ground and await arrest for interfering with official government business, or we'll take the liberty of erasing your existence with a nose dive off this building. Take your pick."

"Yo yo yo, biz to the nitch... I believe is the proper greeting for creatures of your intellect. If you wish to keep your toys I suggest you point them elsewhere. If I'd wanted to kill you... well, that should be obvious even for someone of your... challenged... experience." The man's voice was a bit shaky, but it didn't seem to be fear. He wiped the side of his face and grumbled, "Spit does not reiterate your point, soldier. It merely exaggerates your lack of thought. For now, please lower those weapons and continue your mission. Unless I'm more important and the murder of innocents, and if you're anything like me larger numbers take higher precedence."

Palmer thrusted the barrel against the Dog's head, increasing his aggression. "I don't believe I ASKED for your opinion, c*ck bite! WHO. THE. F*CK. ARE. YOU. And, give me ONE good reason I don't cap your ass RIGHT here. All it takes is ONE quick squeeze, we dump YOUR ass off the side, and you burn along with that DEMON down there."

Jag maintained his bearing, keeping his sights on the dogs head. Any sudden movements, and lights out.

-~~>

Gaelic banked his aircraft, skimming the borderline of the city. Smoke and ash had filtered into the air, making visibility of the ground quite difficult...the infrared beam was gone, and the target was virtually impossible to locate. "Raptor, raptor. Keep vigil." The captain said, scouring the rooftops for any sign of Scout 7. To the north, a large mass of people had begun crossing a bridge, escaping the city. No doubt the remains of the infantry platoon, bringing as many civilians with them as possible.

This city would be flattened within 10 minutes. It was good they were out of harms way. "Scout 7, Scout 7. Relay chords."

The dog laughed a little, he'd heard the screaming before. Like the screeching of a lame animal just before the final blow came down. "I'm going to guess you're from this world... and have never left. You're reason not to kill me is simple. I'm simple a mind scrambled father who's son you're trying to kill." He smiled arrogantly, "It was a simple lapse of thinking, thats all. If you kill me, my son will find out, and you will both be up for murder. The murdered mans tearful son and family accusing cold soldiers with foul mouths. Have you seen a Kydane prison gentlemen?"

Claw growled as he rubbed the bridge of his furry nose with thumb and forefinger.

"Way to go Kruehees, making sure the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's aiming at," mumbled Claw to himself.

Christer caught the odd expression Claw had just mumbled. Kruehees? As in Jaddy Kruehees, Director of Evolian Special Ops? The medic brushed the strange reference this psychopath trained in his sights had just made.

"Get those kids outta here, soldier, I've grown tired of death this day," muttered Claw.

Claw suddenly turned his back on the medic, giving Christer a perfect chance to kill this maniac with one clean shot...

If he hadn't been so stupid, he wouldn't be in this prediciment right now.

No more than 10 minutes have passed since Craig had pressed his back against the doorframe of the caf to hide himself from The Bladed Terror who walked outside.

In that time he could have easily moved, he could have easily ran and made his way halfway across the city.

But when he heard the voice and name of Rico Underwood his legs gave up responding, his body clamped up tight and he found himself scared, shocked and confused.

When the roof fell in he didn't even brace himself for the blow to the head.

That was a few minutes ago, the darkness had swallowed his eyes and his mind as rubble collapsed in on him. Fortunately, being by the doorway it was such a small amount that had he have been concious he could have stood up as soon as the damage was done.

Groaning and giving a good old Evolian curse, because no one can swear quite like an Evolian, he rose up, the dust and rubble sliding aside quite easily.

The sight he was greeted to was indeed his old master, the stupidly powerful psionic of his past and a whole bunch of new faces which meant nothing to him. Also the air rung with a discomforting sound from the sky.

Giving a fatigued and aggrivated groan he merely stated "oh fur 'eveans sake..." before shaking off his head to regain his barings and plan his escape route.

Ryn turned the youth loose, and he ran back to Tobias. He then glared at her with a rather unpleasant grimace and stuck his tongue at her.

The cat ignored him, instead starting to feel a bit uneasy as the ever continuous humming noise of the aircrafts and the sight of the vulpine to which the youth was running to.

"If that kid belongs to you," she stated plainly to the rabbit, "you'd better keep him away."

She made sure she kept a firm grip on Kenneth's wrist; even if she did knock some sense into him, there was no guarantee the kitten wouldn't do the same bone-headed thing again.

Once again looking towards the sky, she took a single step back.

What the hell is going on up there...?

Palmer grinned, pulling the pistol away from the dog's head. Chuckling to himself, he rounded to his backside, stopping. Jag lowered his aim, as Palmer was now standing in the way of the target.

"Scout 7, respond."

Jag picked up the receiver, still eying Palmer while he dialed into the communicator. "This is Scout 7. Chords two five seven, Lima, Echo, Echo, tango. Will mark with laser."

Jag began walking to the side, engaging the marking target on his rifle, and aimed into the streets below. Quite a crowd had collected...

Palmer, on the other hand, was still laughing to himself. "You...you're kydane, eh?" He scratched the back of his neck. "You kydane PIGS aren't worth my bullets..." He said, holstering his pistol.

"Why waste a bullet, when you can drop them fifty stories?" He said, thrusting his foot into the back of the dog.

"Dude are those..."

"Bombers. Great..."

The first voice belonging to a wiry looking feline of some kind, the second belong to the multicolored dog that had been called Rob before. Robert sighed, "Just', get us off the ground."

The cat looked feebly at the circling planes, "What about..."

"Thats what we're doing, get us in the air, I'll get Shawny and see if we can get you some power." The dog muttered jogging back into the craft.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dog seemed to bend over putting his head almost to his feet as he went over.

*zee-ong*

Laughing came from the edge of the building as the mutt floated back up, a little ruffled but smiled very cleary. His face was in full light now. He was brown, looked to been some kind of bloodhound or other long eared breed, messy hair on his head and dark brown eyes. And the small matter of him FLOATING.

"Just how backwards are you idiots. Are all evolians still living in the STONE AGE? Learn technology, maybe even read a BOOK!." He seemed to slowly showing more emotion now, as if he was making some veiled attempt to seem intimidating before. "Before I kill you you should know one thing. I'm no mere Kydane. I am A Kydane. Not one of those pathetic impure weaklings. I am a pureblood, one of few remaining of House Vand. Look it up. As if you'll have time to do so. Good bye."

The dog popped his knuckles and reared back as if he was going to punch... someone, but he was too far to hit anything save the concrete in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tobias suddenly clammed up, something had his attention on a tall building. "Son of a..." A curse whelled up in his mouth but he supressed it as a more frightening realization hit him.

"Where's Henry?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rico as well blinked back to the real world and glanced over, suddenly freezing in place and staring wide-eyed at the Rabbit and Human in front of him.

"he...cu?"

The fox suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"D.. daddy?" The small voice cut through all the noise and into Tobias's ears. The rabbit jerked around to look at what the boy hanging on his sleeve was seeing.

His muzzle dropped slightly. Rico... and Claw? He been so focus and gathering the boys and leaving he hadn't even looked around the area. He met Claw's eyes and glared for what seemed like hours, it was obvious he recognized him.

The person destroying this town, was Rico? His brain couldn't seem to grasp the concept, just what had happened to his half brother? Regardless it was too dangerous to do this right now, it would have to wait.

His ears picked up another small noise over the roar of planes, a groan, lower pitched but familiar all the same. He turned toward it's origin. He looked more bedraggled, but it was unmistakable.

"Bayfield..." The name dripped off his tongue like poison. His eye's seemed to change, he released the human and seemed to forget all about the child, running full speed at the dazed squirrel. He didn't even seem to wait, he seemed to know the exact distance those powerful Lapine legs could rocket him, and they did just that. Almost two hundred pounds of rabbit suddenly took flight and slammed into Craig's shaken form, pinned him to the ground and sending small piece of plaster and rock into the air from the force of the impact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The human watched almost stunned as the rabbit attacked a seemingly random survivor in the debris around the cafe. Then looked over at Ryn, "I think I wanna go with daddy now..." The boy darted over and stood over Rico's motionless form, he looked over at Claw, "Mister... What's wrong with Dad?"

Craig screamed out in pain as his back was slammed heavily into jagged rock and plaster, once again unbraced and prepared for sudden attack shock spread across his body like a cold numbness. His eyes clenched shut as he seethed and attempted to roll in pain.

"What da hell?! Argh, dammit! The 'eck did ya..." he seethed again, breaking into an almost pitiful whimper "bloody 'urts!"

His eyes finally relaxed enough to see a very upset looking rabbit above him, though no words broke through his stream of obscenities and pain, his eyes certainly recognised the attacker and was not overjoyed to see him.

"What the hell are YOU doing here?" The rabbit growled out loudly, "Not satisfied with last time? Separating us wasn't enough for you was it you damn evolian! He already hated me, did you drive him to this? ANSWER ME YOU LITTLE PRICK!"

His painful seethings slowly switched to a more angered tone, who the hell did he think he was, who did any of them think they were. None of them belonged here. Not Claw, not Rico and certainly not this piss stain.

His hand became a fist and with all his weak might he lashed forward, pain the very last thing on his mind right now.

Toby fell backwards at the raging force of the blow, giving the squirrel time and space to move, think and more importantly reply.

"What am I doin' 'ere?! I 'effin' LIVE here! Dya forget where you plucked me from? 'da 'ell you, 'im and the other one doin' 'ere?!" he pulled himself up and brushed the dust off of his sleeves "and 'ta be 'onest. I don't give a crap. Wotevah you're doin', leave me the 'ell outta it!"

Tobias picked his bent glasses off the ground, holding his face in pain.

"Leave you out of it? LEAVE YOU OUT OF IT?!"

His hand dropped to reveal something the glasses had obscured before, frightening red eyes.

"YOU STARTED IT BY MAKING HIM HATE ME! @#%$ YOU!"

He seethed for a minute, eyes locked on the squirrel. "You are JUST as worthless and disgusting as Kevin. Why couldn't you assholes just tell him to get lost! He was MY brother!"

*Click*

The reason for the trenchcoat was suddenly apparent as the rabbit pulled out a handgun and leveled it on the smaller squirrel.

He rolled his eyes and thrust his arms out to either side "Rick or Tobe? Don't know. Don't care. Wanna shoot me, get it ovah with. I ain't 'ad jack since you guys abandoned me on Mobius. I'm 'omeless, worthless, friendless and lifeless. Dat the same 'andgun dat dragged me inta dis mess in the first place? Let it end it all for me. Cuz I don't give a crap anymore, Underwood. Wotevah I did to you, trust me, you did back ten times worse!"

He pat his medellion a few times and then put his arms out again "den get it ovah with, I'm sick of spendin' my life regrettin' da past!"

The snarl got more bitter, how dare he. Trivializing everything that happened to him as akin to being homeless. He'd GLADLY take homeless and penniless over what he had.

His finger tightened on the trigger.

*POW*

Craig winced... but there wasn't pain. He opened his eyes a little to see a small form in front of him. The small halfbreed that had vanished after Christer, the medic, had put him down was now standing defiantly between him and the rabbit's gun, blood dripping down his leg.

"I'm surprised you could even hit me without your glasses, Tobe. Put 'em back on, I feel like I'm looking at my father, it's making my stomach hurt."

The bullet had hit the very same leg that was already bound from the previous injury. Still, the boy didn't seem to show any indication he was in pain.

"He's been through enough, can't you see that? This is him right? The other experiment? Why did you attack him?" The boy's hazel eyes glared fearless daggers at the much larger rabbit.

"I... He... NNNGH GO AWAY!" The scream was almost bloodcurdling, panic and fear seemed to explode with it as the rabbit dropped both his gun and his glasses sunk to his knees, holding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

The boy's face softened to worried, close to tears expression for a moment, almost resembling the age he seemed to be. Then he tensed and regained his composure balling up his fists and turning to look up at the squirrel. "I'm an expert on regreting the past, mister. You're Mister Bayfield right?"

Craig Bayfield? So he finally manged to get off Mobius. For a moment he could still "smell" The Art wisping off of Bayfield.

interesting thought Claw.

Toby... Toby Underwood, the kid had grown, he'd gotten vicious. War would do that, he'd seen that terrible transformation more times than he cared to remember.

Too many old faces in one spot, it had to be more than coincidence. He looked down at Rico, he look helpless, unconscious on the ground. It was time for some questions and this potential ground zero was no place to start asking them.

Claw then glanced over at the boy and he sensed something all too familiar. He could sense psionic power... faint but there... pulsing along side the magical energies of The Art. He could only think of only one other person who had accomplished this feat. The boy's red hair even looked like that drunkard. It didn't matter now, what mattered was what always mattered at times like these, survival.

Without knowing why he was doing it, Claw went over to Rico's body and hefted it over his shoulder. He didn't expect this to change things between them but he wouldn't abandon Rico to die with a whimper. Claw began to walk away.

"Better make nice with little Toby and get the kids outta here. Don't know how long those bombers can hold their load," warned Claw to Craig Bayfield as he started walking away with the sleeping Warden over his shoulder.