Episode 73

A dim street lamp in front of a tall, simple metal mesh fence flickers momentarily, settling into a steady glow against the darkness. A mechanical roar out in the distance, growing louder with each passing moment. At the top of a hill, bright beams of light push through the surrounding trees bordering the road. The humvee crests over and speeds down the roadway to a hard, controlled slide into the gravel parking lot near the fence gate. All the doors swing open. Cideeda, Sotalia, Aristespha, Bach, and Dretphi pour out and rush towards the entry point in the chain link barrier. Scouting the immediate vicinity, Cideeda glances at the rest of the team. "I don't see another car around here? Anyone spot anything?!"

Sebastian's visage materializes a few meters above the group, and he surveys the area. Moments later, he shakes his head with an unsatisfied grumble. "Nothing from up here. And he's here, right now?"

Sotalia eagerly nods towards Sebastian and hands Cideeda's aetherphone back into her awaiting claws. "OH. YES. He is. Seems to be taking his time here, in comparison to that other place he was at."

Lamplight glints upon her golden eyes, and she sneers, gritting her teeth. "We got the drop on him this time..."

Underneath her full face visor helmet, Dretphi squints her steely gray eyes towards a number of distant spots in view and slowly shakes her head. "Must have parked a distance away. No recent tracks. No disturbances indicate a vehicle hidden nearby."

Floating down in front of the gate in the perimeter fence, Sebastian glances towards the old architecture in the area, calling back to the team. "Okay everyone! Equipment and magic checks!"

Aristespha recites through a methodical check list of the equipment on her, inspects her pack of medical supplies, and secures the sword at her side. Sotalia tightens her belt of pouches around her waist, brushes out her cloak, and readies into a casting stance. In near synchronicity, both Aristespha and Sotalia cast similar protective spells, layers of magical armor settling into transparency upon their bodies. Electronic whines ring out from Bach and Cideeda. Bach's plasma pistol charges up, and flows of prismatic energy sink into the device. In a well rehearsed routine, the weapon transforms into a magically upgraded form, modifications of stabilized energy materializing. Cideeda holds both her laser pistols in hand, and watches the status lights flip to ready, the highest pitch whine tickling her sensitive furry ears. Dretphi cocks her submachine gun, inspects the suppressor on the end, and checks the magnetically secured large machete and powerful rifle on her back. With a determined, toothy grin, Cideeda examines her shotgun and slings it over her shoulder. Sebastian smiles with pride, focuses upon the path ahead, and eyes the rolling track gate in the chain link fence with suspicion. "This has got to have an alarm."

Narrowing her investigative stare upon the frame of the gateway, Cideeda steps up close and carefully inspects the system with her eyes and ears. "Oh. Yes. I remember when we were here last, there were a few simple sensors to detect if outer entry points were breached and a standard alarm system. But..."

She approaches one side of the fence door and focuses her emerald green eyes upon a barely hidden mechanism near the top on the other side of the chain link fencing. "I don't think they have any area motion detectors, at least outside."

With a sly smile towards Sotalia, Cideeda points up and motions over and down. "So, as long as we don't disturb the fence, nothing will trip out here."

Chuckling to herself, Sotalia stretches her arms out and begins to gesture out a spell. "Well. That makes sense. Noxian looked pretty calm on your phone, so he probably flew over this, too."

Cideeda's furry ear flicks back from the building, past the gate, further down the dirt path, and nods in agreement. "And no alarms. So, probably nothing difficult left for me to rig up to get us in."

Sotalia finishes the few remaining incantations for the spell and hovers up from the ground. Glancing between Bach and Dretphi, she holds her arms open. "Who's first over?"

Bach nods towards Dretphi and slowly breathes out, concentrating his flows of magical energy. "You go, Dretphi."

A bit of confidence colors Bach's grin, and he prepares himself, energy drifting around his legs. "I can get over this myself."

Aristespha finishes casting a similar spell and offers Cideeda her hands. Pairing off, Aristespha hoists Cideeda up and over the fence, and Sotalia wraps her arms around Dretphi and ferries her above. The two pairs land safely on the other side. Bach couches down, summoning up the energy flows, and springs up into the air. Clearing the height of the chain link barrier, he maintains his concentration and glides slowly down, descending down and landing next to the team. Sebastian phases through the fence with a brief shudder and smiles proudly to his brother. "Nicely done, bro. A little combo work there or something?"

With a nonchalant grin, Bach shrugs his shoulders and walks with the rest of the group down the path towards the old structure. "Something like that, I guess. Mostly just putting all my half-assed skills together."

Sebastian coasts in the air next to his brother and smirks mischievously. "Ah, so you can make a complete ass of yourself."

Rolling his blue eyes, Bach shakes his head and moves into formation, Sebastian scouting ahead.

---

Aged hallway lamps above flicker near an open hydraulic sliding door. The reflection of the lighting above glints in the growing pool of dark fluid oozing out from the near-invisible seams beneath a door panel. The liquid seeps out, coating the floor a few meters down from the forcefully breached doors. Interior room lighting spreads out between the tilted door panels, and an outline of someone briefly crosses the illumination. Slowly stepping through the large room of tables and displays, Noxian's wiry frame wanders between the aisles, studying the assortment of artifacts and objects in view. He pauses occasionally and picks up items, examining them closely. The brief interest fading, he returns the articles back to their original spots. He narrows his gray eyes, surveys the area, and gradually settles his curious stare towards the far back wall of the room. Twisting his mouth under his blue scarf, he lifts an intrigued eyebrow and calmly navigates the rows of displays and tables, catching sight of a circular stone platform. His eyes widen with recognition, and he moves closer, focusing his attention upon the elaborate carvings on the dais.

A relieved grin draws under his blue scarf covered face, and he releases a long sigh, relaxing his shoulders. Stretching out his arms and hands, he rocks his neck side to side and grimaces with the audible crack. He briefly grunts and massages the back of his neck, rolling his gray eyes at himself. "Gods... Need to get that checked out... Ow..."

Shaking off the stale aches, he readies himself in front of the stone circle on the floor, holding his hands over the device. Breathing out, he closes his eyes and concentrates his full attention inwards. Moments later, wisps of white energy swirl out from the engraved dais and twist towards Noxian. Swirling around his body in an upward draft, the energy sinks into his form, the currents of air lightly tossing stray white hairs on his head. Noxian settles into the routine. The flows of elder energy wane, gradually thinning into fine threads. Seconds later, the last bit of magic settles into Noxian's body. Nothing more rises from the stone platform. Blinking out of his trance into confusion, Noxian lowers his gaze downwards, cocking his head to the side, and stares incredulously at the stone platform. He lowers his arms slowly and scrutinizes the magically empty object, frustration leaking out into his body language. Narrowing his glare upon the stone platform, he throws his hands out to side, sneering his upper lip mildly irritated, and groans out his disappointment. "Really? That's it?"

He crosses his arms with a huff, halfheartedly kicks the large disc on the floor, and slowly shakes his head unsatisfied. "Gods damned research station... badly calibrated... piece of shit..."

Staring at the magical disappointment, he sighs out a begrudging acceptance and slumps his shoulders with a dramatic eye roll. Sebastian's amused voice confidently resonates in front of Noxian. "Aw. You weren't expecting that, were you? Among other things..."

Noxian's body stiffens immediately. He eases his stare towards the ghostly visage of Sebastian, rigidly straightening his posture. Gritting his teeth under his scarf, Noxian gradually turns his head around and glances behind him towards the exit. In one corner of the room, he spots the red armored, large form of Dretphi and her submachine gun barrel precisely aimed at his center mass. Instinctively, Noxian snaps his attention towards the opposing corner at that end of the room and just catches a glimpse of Cideeda's sleek, lightly armored figure, her twin lasers pistols appearing just above the top of a table. Focusing upon the exit point, Noxian watches Aristespha and Sotalia project protective barriers, Bach finishes filling up the doorway with a translucent golden barrier.

Noxian returns his attention back to Sebastian, awaiting with hints of annoyance rising upon his aged face. Smirking smugly, Sebastian crosses his arms authoritatively and narrows his stare upon Noxian. "Alright, Noxian. Let's just make this easy on all of us. Give up. Surrender whatever elder energy you got in you to the sword. And... We'll see what happens from there."

A defiant grin contours the blue scarf covering Noxian's face, and he bellows a loud laugh with a dramatic pantomime of his hands. "Really? You honestly think I would hand over all I have worked for to YOU? At THIS point?"

With a hint of frustration slipping out, he counteroffers, coloring his tone with a darkly demanding twist. "How about your team lets me walk away, and they all get to do the same?"

Lifting his eyebrow, he narrows his stare upon Sebastian. "AND, I understand your desires to be freed from that sword and this state of existence. So I will promise you, it'll be one of the first of the many mistakes our ancestors left for us to deal with that I will remedy..."

With a faint highlight of light in his gray eyes, he states. "Once I take care of things."

He furrows his stare intensely upon Sebastian and tenses his posture with a stern tone. "A fair deal really. Saves us ALL so much TROUBLE."

Sebastian curls an indignant grimace upon his face and slowly shakes his head. "NO. I think NOT."

A determined gaze settles on Noxian, and a flash of white illuminates his eyes. "I thought so."

"FAMILIAR FLOW DETECTED."

A warping, transparent barrier radiates out from Noxian, and Sebastian yells out in a commanding tone. "LET HIM HAVE IT!"

Noxian pivots quickly around. A spray of suppressed bullets impacts the outer layers of the protective barrier around Noxian, the rounds bouncing weakly onto the floor. Twin bright, blue beams diffuse violently upon the surface of the defensive energy, barely burrowing into the protective magics. With eyes radiating a white light, Noxian lifts an arm each towards Dretphi and Cideeda, splitting his attention between them. Streams of flow warp the fields around the impact points of firearm and laser attacks, and the barrier shifts slightly. Bullets sink briefly into an elastic wrap of the elder bubble and launch back in a chaotic spray. Laser beams hit and reflect back under the direction of Noxian's whims. With twists of his hands and swings of his arms, the combination of returning mass and photons launch forth and arc across the length of the opposing wall, focusing upon Aristespha and Sotalia's magical fields. Sparks and crackles of energy mixing with the acoustics of the room, Aristespha and Sotalia buffer the defected brunt of reflected shots. Cideeda and Dretphi immediately halt their attacks. Aristespha, Sotalia, and Bach scatter for cover behind displays. Throwing his hands out, a wave of energy knocks over a number of large tables nearby Noxian, and he dives for cover. Sebastian hovers high above Noxian, maintaining his watch, and calls out. "He's taken cover right below me, behind this table!"

Glancing briefly up at the ethereal watchdog above, Noxian grits his teeth, grumbling out his frustration, and cautiously peeks out from cover. His eyes search through aisles table legs and displays, catching brief glimpses of movement from the corners. Sebastian keeps his vigil and calls out updates on Noxian's activities. Briefly retreating into his mind, Noxian ponders, frantically searching for a solution to the situation. Momentarily peering out, he spots new movement behind other displays. A plotting smirk appears faintly on the surface of his scarf, and he nods to himself. Eyeing up at Sebastian briefly, Noxian stands up and aims his palms at two displays near the exit. White magical flows swirl into small orbs in front of Noxian's hands, and Sebastian's yells out. "INCOMING! LOOK OUT!"

Members of the team peek out, spotting Noxian and the forming energy. Aristespha dashes out from one display to another. Bach and Sotalia rush out from the other display, scrambling for fresh cover. Bright flashes of energy fill the room. Wood and glass violently erupt into energized fragments, peppering the surrounding area. The overwhelming light fades, revealing the fractured remains of two displays. Dretphi and Cideeda appear from new locations and unleash volleys of metal and energy upon the translucent barrier surrounding Noxian. Noxian's attention shifts over. Cideeda and Dretphi duck back down. Searching for other attacks, Noxian swings his arms forward and unleashes a repulsive wave towards the doorway. The magical force launches tables and displays off to the side in cacophonies of destruction. Focusing fully on his barrier, Noxian slowly steps towards the exit. Sebastian signals to everyone else, calling out. "He's trying to make a break for it! Lock him down!"

Popping out from cover mid incantation, Aristespha narrows her violet eye glare upon Noxian and finishes the final gesture with a swing of her arms forward. A translucent wave of energy glides a path across the room and envelops Noxian. The warping field of energy constricts down, tightening upon the protective elder barrier around Noxian. Tensing his body, Noxian grimaces and pushes through the forces upon his defensive field, his progress to the exit slowing by the moment. With a mean grin blatant upon her light tan face, Sotalia appears, takes aim in the last stage of casting, and projects a transparent beam at Noxian. The magical flow splashes over Noxian, and the binding forces weigh him to a standstill, the protective field pressing tightly upon him. Signaling, Sebastian commands the team. "Wear him down! Open fire!"

Bach, Cideeda, and Dretphi emerge from new locations, aim, and unleash. Joining the barrage of mass and photon, balls of green plasma splatter upon Noxian's defensive field, visibly distorting the energy flows. Noxian pauses, stiffening in place. Between swift glances, he reassesses the situation and grimaces in a torrent of annoyance, frustration, and worry. Searching his mind, he begrudgingly arrives at an inconvenient solution, gritting his teeth, and focuses into a harsh wince.

"SURGE DETECTED."

White flows of elder energy ooze out from Noxian's wiry frame, glide into swirls across his form, and force out the protective barrier further. Powering through the restrictive magics, he slowly marches towards the exit. Aristespha and Sotalia strain against the opposition, barely maintaining their spells. Aristespha releases her spell, unhappily grumbling, and drops down into cover. Sotalia struggles and watches Noxian's progress towards the sealed exit, summoning many unsuccessful rallies of magical flow. Sotalia grits her teeth, halting her spell, and drills a furious glower through Noxian. "FUCK YOU, NOXIAN! YOU'RE NOT LEAVING HERE ALIVE!"

Putting her hands together, she wills a surge of energies between her palms. Swirls of air condense down, ignite into a brilliant fire, and compress into a blue orb of hissing flame. Sotalia heaves the fireball into a collision course with Noxian. The explosive fire slams upon Noxian's back, pushing deep into his outer barrier, and radiates a powerful force inwards. The impact propels Noxian forward, and he unceremoniously stumbles onto the floor next to the archway, bullets, beams, and bolts flying at him.

Forcing himself back onto his feet against the unrelenting attacks upon his protective field, Noxian steps over to the golden barrier sealing the exit archway and studies it briefly with an intrigued quirk of his brow. "Fascinating, but..."

He presses his hand against the surface of the magical force field, concentrates his stare upon the energies, and flows a powerful pulse of white miasma out. White arcs crackle upon the surface of the golden barrier and highlight the hexagonal substructure into a sparking, flickering light show. Moments later, the wavering field stabilizes and solidifies back to a defiant, golden blockade. Blinking in surprise, Noxian pauses briefly in awe, his gray eyes widening in genuine shock. "Oh."

Cideeda pops up from cover behind a turned over table, drags two long, blue blasts from her laser pistols, and drops back down. Checking the indicators on her weapons, she grits her teeth in worried frustration and speaks into her radio. "Okay! We need to do something else. I've only got so many cells for my pistols, and his damned barrier is STILL holding up."

Bach sounds out on the radio channel, his location nearby. "I KNOW. My plasma bolts are doing something. But, it's just thinning his barrier. We NEED something that can actually pierce it. Or at least, capable of it."

Aristespha sighs out on the frequency, her hesitation radiating through the audio. "I cannot risk using any more of my reserves."

Another whoosh of an expanding ball of fire sounds out into the room. Frustration crackles in from Sotalia. "I can try something more powerful, but fuck all is hitting him as hard as it should!"

Dretphi reports in a defeated tone. "Sub machine gun ammo is low. Not effective."

Cideeda grumbles, flicking her furry ears, and her emerald eyes sort through options. "Maybe powerful single shots?"

A very wary Bach mumbles on the channel. "Maybe a D-Ball? But, I mean, uh, I'm afraid that he might able to return that somehow-"

An excited prompt from Dretphi springs onto the radio, her eagerness bursting out. "My rifle!"

Grinning toothily, Cideeda glances over at Noxian. Another plasma bolt slams into the elder barrier around Noxian. Cideeda studies the resilient golden barrier over the archway. "THAT might do it. If nothing else, it'll catch him off guard."

With a renewed confidence, Bach chimes in. "If that gun can crack my barriers, it just might do enough damage to Noxian's and wear him down."

Aristespha's hopeful voice sounds over the channel. "Certainly worth trying. Sebastian relayed to me he is good with it, and we should get into position to capture, if it works."

The eager tone of Sotalia perks up on the radio. "I think a distraction of all those really annoying spells is in order."

Listening to the radio planning, Cideeda puts her laser pistols away, swings her shotgun into her hands, and inspects it. "I'll sneak into position. Net and stunner rounds getting loaded."

Peeking out from cover, she slinks off around the perimeter of the room. Dropping behind the cover of overturned tables and display furniture debris, Noxian vents out his swelling aggravation with each breath and glares at the golden barrier. The assault of bullets, beams, balls, and bolts halt against his cover. In the lull of chaos he tries to gain some semblance of calm, sorting through his thoughts. Narrowing a scrutinizing gaze upon the shielded archway, his white glowing eyed gaze studies the golden structure sealing the exit. Gradually, he nods with a respectful appreciation and theorizes out a plan. "So... Interesting... Very intricate, Mr. Warwick..."

From above, Sebastian glances down at Noxian and smugly grins at him with a mocking tone. "Yes, Noxian?"

Rolling his gray eyes in disgust, Noxian readies himself and growls out. "NOT you, Sebastian. Do you have anything better to do at the moment? I would greatly appreciate a little time away from your inane antics."

Sebastian watches Noxian leap out from cover, rush up to the door, and concentrate magical flows upon it. He coasts over, settling next to Noxian with a sarcastic flair. "Well, it's a little hard to get away when you are bound to a sword that... Oh..."

Narrowing a mean glare through Noxian, he sternly states. "YOU. PUT. ME. IN."

Noxian fights to maintain a majority of his focus upon the golden barrier and the energies sinking into the substructure, slightly turning his head towards Sebastian with an incredulous lift of his eyebrow. "To be fair, I only wanted to blast you out of my way. I never intended you to be bound by a badly designed ancient artifact. And, THAT is on YOU for using such a cursed thing."

Pausing a moment, he waits in silence. Noxian glances over his shoulder, searching around expectantly. "Why are they not attacking-"

A swarm of small magic missiles descend from above, the barrage pelting down chaotically upon the outer layers of Noxian's defensive field. Bright blue white, glowing orbs fly toward Noxian, sticking onto the elder barrier, and flash to a bright white. Squinting his eyes, Noxian shields his face with an arm from the intense light. "By the gods- REALLY?!"

Sebastian beams a mean smile and narrows his glare upon Noxian. "You know, if you'd just give up, we could probably work something out. I'm pretty sure with good behavior and a merciful judge, you'd totally be out on parole in less than ten years."

With Sebastian yammering on, a surge of suspicion surges within Noxian. His gray eyes desperately search for justification through the constant warping of his barrier from the magic missile barrage and the bright, sticky flares overwhelming his vision. "Wait... What is this attack actually for-"

Dretphi shouts out, faint echoes barely rising into the room from other electronic sources. "EARS!"

The last of the magic missiles impact, and the flares fade out. Noxian blinks between winces and scans the room swiftly. His gray eyes spring wide open in abject terror, noticing a particular glint of metal sticking out from cover. Following the aim of Dretphi's anti-material rifle, he spots her squeezing the trigger. "Oh my hell-"

A booming shock wave erupts from the end of the barrel and spreads out into the large room, stirring up nearby debris. The large caliber round presses deeply into the protective magical shell around Noxian, stretching the layers dangerously close to his body. The projectile nearly reaches his chest, and a reflexive surge of elder energy pulses out. The layers flex and stretch against the danger. Magical forces erupt, launch Noxian away onto the ground, and deflect the powerful round slightly off its path. Noxian slams down upon the floor, the elder barrier flickers away, and the rifle shot crashes into the doorway barrier. From freshly the embedded round, cracks immediately splinter out into the golden field.

Recovering from the mental haze, Noxian rubs his head and hunts his bearings. Seconds later, he blinks back to some semblance of awareness. In a wild eye glance around the area, he spots Sebastian cautiously observing him and rolls over onto his stomach. Laying out prone upon the debris coated floor, Noxian hides his recovery and searches out from the corners of his eyes. He catches the glimpse of the tip of a furry ear, moving out of view behind an intact display nearby. Slowly cupping his hand upon the floor, Noxian feigns partial consciousness and idly moves, mimicking prior confusion. Sebastian hovers over Noxian, lands upon the ground, and leans down for a closer inspection. "How are you doing there, Noxian? You awake? Ready to cut the shit and talk about this?"

"FAMILIAR FLOW DETECTED."

Noxian rises up with a bright glowing orb in his palm and aims at the intact display. Sebastian's ghostly blue eyes widen in terror, and he shouts out. "CIDEEDA! RUN!"

A bright blinding flash floods the room with light. A white beam of energy shatters through the display and squarely impacts Cideeda upon the chest plate. Threads of flow scatter out into the crackling surface of the protective enchantment surrounding the plate. The powerful collision of magics and matter launches Cideeda backwards, slamming her solidly upon the nearby wall. Bouncing off a desk, she crashes into a pile of broken furniture. Sotalia screams out in rage, summoning brilliant surges of flow to her hands. "CIDEEDA! GODS FUCKING DAMN YOU, NOXIAN!"

Splinters of wood erupt. Sotalia's energy blasts burn and break chunks off remaining furniture near Noxian. Aristespha rushes over to Cideeda. Dretphi snatches up her submachine gun and pins down Noxian under sprays of lead reminders. Bach stares stunned and watches a stern, worried Aristespha checking over the motionless, unresponsive Cideeda. Terror and horror flood his frozen body, overwhelming any other possible expression on his face. His gloved hands shake, his body shudders, and his eyes flicker bluish. Sebastian turns to Noxian and growls at him with an accusing point. "WHAT THE FUCK! OH... I'm going to enjoy seeing that god damned sword stuck right fucking through you!"

Scowling into a menacing glare at Sebastian, Noxian summons up his flows of elder energy and stands back up slowly. "I grow VERY TIRED of all this... STOP YOUR ASSAULT. I ONLY want to leave. Do not MAKE ME put any more of you DOWN-"

His rant halts abruptly. Quickly searching around the area, Noxian narrows his blank stare, confusion furrowing his brow. He hunts through the warping impacts of Dretphi and Sotalia's attacks upon his protective barrier, mumbling to himself uncertainly. "What the-"

"ANOTHER FAMILIAR FLOW-"

Noxian springs his eyes wide open and snaps his gaze immediately towards Bach rising from cover, fear cracking his confident, bold facade. "Shit."

Mustering his energies, Noxian crosses his arms briefly and swings them out, releasing his barrier outwards into an expanding wall. He swiftly rushes to the cracked golden barrier. Sebastian's ethereal form distorts with the energy passing through, and both Dretphi and Sotalia tumble backwards from the force. The energy parts upon the unmoved Bach, and he glares solemnly at Noxian with fiery blue eyes, and white, pinpoint pupils. Noxian examines the doorway field, noticing the rifle's damage, and presses his hand against the damaged section. Glancing over his shoulder briefly, his fear develops into horror, watching Bach concentrate a cold, resolute stare upon him. He releases a massive surge of elder energy. Flows force through the cracks, shattering the majority of the golden barrier. Noxian slips out quickly and scrambles off down the hallway.

Bach grits his teeth, his face twitching, and narrows his whitening eyes upon the exit, focusing himself. A pained cough emerges from Cideeda, and she groans out a few fvalian swears. Blinking hard, Bach flutters his eyes back to current reality, the glows fading. Dretphi and Sotalia pull themselves back up to their feet. Sotalia glances over to Cideeda and Aristespha. "Cideeda!? Are you okay?"

Wincing, Cideeda draws in a pained breath and squirms slightly. "I'll fucking live... Ow..."

Sotalia rushes to the doorway, slips through the shattered barrier into the hallway, and searches around. "SHIT! He's getting away!"

Pausing a moment, Sotalia furrows her brow between internal deliberations, hunting for reason or excuse. Seconds later, she shakes her head, refocuses, and sprints down the hallway. Dretphi springs forth, jumps though the hole in the broken barrier, and growls out. "I will retrieve her! SOTALIA!"

Sebastian shakes his head and darts through the wall. "Gods dammit! I'll be back. Bro, keep it covered here, please!"

Bach nods quickly and yells out to his brother. "Yeah. I got it!"

Slowly surveying the situation, Bach steps through the fresh rubble of wood, glass, metal, and random artifacts. Getting closer to Aristespha and Cideeda, a strangely familiar wave of fatigue seizes him, and he stops. Thinking, he remembers and glances down at his arm. Faintly venting from his limb, a cloud white, magical miasma flows close to his skin. Horror skewers Bach, and he drops to the ground near Aristespha. Scrambling quickly over, he grabs hold of the handle of the sword at Aristespha's side. Aristespha startles at the sudden pull on the sword, and the sword vacuums up the elder miasma, extracting many similar thread flows from within Bach. Snapping her confusion over to Bach, Aristespha watches remaining traces of elder energy leave Bach. She stares in silence, and he lets go, sitting with terror plain on his face. Cideeda pulls in a pained breath and winces her closed eyes. She sniffs with her nose and flicks her furry ears. "Bach? Is that you?"

Aristespha rests a comforting hand on Bach. "Will you be okay?"

Shrugging his shoulders a bit, he tries to smirk meekly. "Right now... Yeah."

Nodding understandingly, Aristespha smiles at Bach and directs his attention towards Cideeda. "Could you help me move Cideeda off the pile of uncomfortable debris?"

Cideeda flutters emerald green eyes open and moans out pleadingly. "Oh yeah. That'd be real nice right about now. I think there's a big nail trying to stick me right in the ass."

Bach slides over, opposite of Aristespha, and assists in carefully lifting Cideeda off the pile onto smoother floor. Keeping an idle, shaky grip on Cideeda's shoulder, Bach feels a familiar five points of sharp pressure on his forearm and glances down at Cideeda. "Oh, hey, uh, sorry..."

Smirking at Bach, Cideeda gazes her emerald green eyes up into Bach's worried blue eyes and sighs. "It's okay. I'm okay. Are you okay?"

Bach thinks a moment, pondering quietly, and nods apprehensively. "Enough, for now..."

Cideeda smiles and rolls her eyes at the entire situation around her. "Yeah... Know THAT feeling."

---

Within the large empty hallways of the old, dusty structure, footsteps echo harshly against the smooth, flat metallic walls. Skidding to a stop in the middle of an intersection, Sotalia glances around in frantic search. "Where did you go, you bastard..."

Heavy boot stomps and armor clacking halt immediately behind Sotalia, and Dretphi clamps a gauntlet firmly onto Sotalia's shoulder. "DO NOT ENGAGE HIM."

Blinking out of her vengeful mindset, Sotalia peeks over her shoulder to the towering Dretphi and grimaces in partial, frustrated agreement. "I KNOW! I know..."

She strains a breath through gritting teeth and sighs. "I just don't want him to get away... AGAIN!"

Sebastian's ethereal form stops in front of Dretphi and Sotalia, and he gazes at Sotalia, leveling stern concern. "First. Stop running off like that! Secondly... You okay?"

Sotalia nods and pants out, the long sprint catching up to her. "Yeah... Just..."

She clenches fists and stomps her boot upon the patterned concrete floor. "DAMN IT!"

Dretphi shakes her head and grumbles, scanning down the long runs of other dimly lit hallways. "I understand."

Landing his ghostly figure upon the floor, Sebastian surveys the scene and frowns with a long ethereal sigh. "Chasing him through this place would be useless. Let's regroup, start calling the authorities, and search around the area for tracks... Or, something..."

Sebastian gazes back down the hallway with worry. Sotalia releases a long, begrudging sigh, and nods in agreement, searching her outfit for her phone. "Yeah... I guess. Good fucking gods... This is going to be a LONG, AWKWARD conversation with the cops."

Groaning out the foreboding dread building within, Sebastian briefly grits his teeth and averts his translucent blue eyes. "Tell me about it. Shit. It's going to be a long day between the police, GAA, and the guild about this whole thing. I don't even know what the hell we tell any of them at this point."

A powerful, rumbling concussion resonates through the building, the fuller notes of the cacophony filtering in the openings in the ceiling. Dust and dirt from the steelwork rafters above. Crisp, metallic reverberations bounce down one hallway and fill the air with the sounds of destruction. Seconds later, red alarm lights pulse along the passages in varying degrees of function, and a barely working public address system chimes out an audible alert. Dretphi sorts between all the emerging chaos and points down the one hallway, checking others for confirmation. "That way."

Sotalia nods quickly and stares in that direction. "Heard it from there, too. That rumble felt like a magical concussive blast. Don't I know what the other sounds were."

Signaling the two to follow along, Sebastian darts down the hallway, determination staring ahead. "Fucking bastard probably blasted out the perimeter fence, and is running off now. Let's see if we can figure out how he's getting around in, at least."

Sebastian, Sotalia, and Dretphi rush down the long hallway, and quickly approach a set of exterior doors leading to the barely illuminated outside. Sebastian phases through the doorway and immediately searches the area for activity. Sotalia and Dretphi forcefully push open the metal doors. Following Sebastian, the group runs along the dirt path towards the gravel lot and perimeter fence. The team approaches, and Sebastian blinks in utter shock, spotting the humvee. Flipped back end over onto a crushed section of fence, the vehicle rocks slightly, and faint magical vapors steam off the underside armor plating. Sotalia notices a similar miasma drifting off a shallow crater in the gravel lot and spouts of an enraged stream of curses in a variety of languages. Hovering over the scene in disbelief, Sebastian twists the confusion on face with the mix of emotions. "THE. FUCK."

The team gathers close to the upturned humvee. A faint, small engine sounds out in the distance. From a patch of bushes further down the way, a dark green sedan erupts out of the underbrush, hops up onto the road, and speeds off down the remote highway. The engine revs up to full speed. Remembering the aetherphone in her hand, Sotalia taps on the camera function and takes aim at the vehicle speeding by. Dretphi reflexively swings her strapped on submachine gun up into her arms, ejects the current magazine, and locks in the last fresh one. Rushing out onto the side of the road, she levels her aim at the escaping dark green sedan. Sebastian zips out after the car and phases into the passenger's seat. "Where the hell do you think you're going, Noxian?!"

Noxian glares over, mixing annoyance and surprise at the ghostly visage of Sebastian, and sighs with a hint of a grin. "Some place where I'll be left to continue my work without your interruptions. AGAIN, I would like to state how much I would rather you and your team to NOT get in my way."

Sebastian narrows a stern, irritated stare upon Noxian, and leans in close. "Well, UNFORTUNATELY for all of us, YOU are kind of our biggest concern at the moment."

Blinking off into thought momentarily, Isaac's expression softens under his scarf, and he gazes at Sebastian with worry tinting his tone. "You should reevaluate THAT..."

He stares firmly at Sebastian, calmly states. "For your brother's sake."

Sebastian's face blanks at the sudden change of cadence, and he stares idly in shock. Moments later, an unseen force halts Sebastian independently from the car and yanks him through the back of the vehicle. Hovering over to the pavement, he shudders back to awareness and snaps his head to face the dark green sedan rolling off into the distance. He squints his eyes at the identification plating on the back of the vehicle. Floating there mumbling out letters and numbers to himself, his visage distorts, a series of small projectiles zipping through. Immediately glides off to the side, he watches a few stray rounds impact the back of the sedan, grazing sparks and solid punctures into the metal. One projectile manages to hit the back window edge and send cracks through the glass. The vehicle crests over the hill and disappears from view.

Sorting through a few pictures on her phone, Sotalia grimaces, the imagery discouraging her. "Gods dammit! None of these are worth a shit. Too dark, and it was moving too fast. Maybe this one will do... But, I can't read anything off it."

Sebastian's ghostly visage zips next to Sotalia, and he sighs with a slight smile. "Got his car's ID plate, write it down quick."

Flipping to a note taking app on the phone, Sotalia pays careful attention to Sebastian reciting a series of letters and numbers. With a growing smirk, she nods and saves the note, comparing the sequence to the picture. "Yeah. THAT looks close enough to blurs on the picture. Okay... So, older green sedan, with this identification, and-"

Walking over to the group, Dretphi ejects the empty magazine out of her sub machine gun and flips up her full face visor with a partial, reserved grin. "Broken back windshield. Bullet marks on back half of vehicle."

Sebastian blinks and smirks towards Dretphi, chuckles slightly. "One or two bullet holes in the trunk actually."

Nodding a hint of satisfaction, Dretphi glances over into the distance and twists her mouth. "Surprising. At that distance. Aim was not the best."

Sotalia finishes recording the information on her phone, reads over it a few times, and taps through the contacts list. "Okay. That'll be a start. Gods. I better make the call now, BEFORE they arrive to investigate this alarm."

Searching through her belt of pouches, she pulls out of a few vials and quickly quaffs down the potions. Finding an old stump nearby, she sits down and groans out a long sigh, removing her radio earpiece. "After I finish this call, I'll see what I can do about getting the humvee back on its wheels? I guess..."

Both Sebastian and Dretphi turn their attention towards the flipped over humvee, each presenting equal mixes perplexed and apprehensive. Sebastian grits his teeth, shifting between different uncomfortable grimaces, and crosses his arms awkwardly. "Well... Um... I think it should still be drivable... Once we get it right side up."

A bit of internal deliberation later, Dretphi rocks her head in partial agreement, taps a button on the side of her helmet, and glances over to Sebastian. "First check on Cideeda. Maybe inform, then? Maybe later?"

The weight of the humvee incrementally compresses the crushes mesh fence further, and Dretphi frowns, furrowing her tan brow. "Upright it before she sees it."

Sebastian quickly nods and starts to fade. "Sounds good. I'll go back to Aristespha and see how it's going there."

Surveying the scene around her, Dretphi slumps her shoulders with a shake of her head and slowly steps over to the two empty magazines nearby, picking each up. Sotalia draws in a long calming breath and greets the police operator on the other side of the phone call.

---

Through the sliding glass door, the ambient glow of the late morning sun lights up the living area of the ranch style house. Above the constant, soft drone of the air conditioning in the room, a dull mechanical rumble sounds out from beyond the kitchen door leading to the garage. Seconds later, the door opens quickly, the air cushioning door against the wall slowing it short of slamming. With an irritable growl, Sotalia rolls her golden eyes and tosses back her fiery orange, wavy hair. "Gods. Fucking. Damn it! THAT is THE last time I think we should call the local cops around here for ANYTHING."

She winces into a grimace and huffs. "OH. I SWEAR they were just thinking of reasons to keep us at the station longer! Just trying to find SOMETHING!"

She undoes her armored cloak, flings it through the kitchen prep area archway into the living room upon the couch, and steps over to the refrigerator. Quickly sorting through the contents of the cold box, she plunks out a bottle of grath beer and aims her voice towards the garage. "Dretphi! I owe you a beer."

Slowly trudging from the garage into the kitchen, Dretphi stops in front of Sotalia and holds out her open hand. Sotalia frees another bottle out from the fridge and slides it in between Dretphi's closing grip. Sweeping up a bottle opener upon the counter, Sotalia pries the bottle cap off her beer. Dretphi clamps her gauntlet covered hand around the top, and wrenches the metal off the glass. In unison, both Sotalia and Dretphi sling back long swigs of their beverages and stare off distantly in their own minds. Moments of silence later, Dretphi snarls her upper lip, quietly growls out her frustration, and mumbles loudly. "YES. I have FUCKING licenses for my firearms. Including my rifle. Absolute. Assholes."

Rolling her eyes in commiseration, Sotalia shakes her head with her frustration. "Gods almighty. I don't know what the hell was up with that one guy. I mean, gods forbid they just run a quick check with the guild... That we are all registered with..."

She pours back another swig of the beer and snarls her upper lip. "THAT should have gotten all the information they would need."

Plodding into the area, Cideeda rubs her back briefly and cautiously stretches against the soreness. She stops a moment and lifts up the top of her old shirt, sniffing. "Wow... We really need to wash the spare clothes in the humvee. Ungh."

Her tail waves slowly behind her. She tries to brush off dirt on a pair of worn shorts, only managing to smear the mess further. Closing her emerald eyes for a moment, she tilts her head back and sighs. She settles her attention upon the hospital bracelet around her wrist and picks at it with her claws. "Before the painkillers wear off, I'm getting this fucking thing off, hitting the shower, and then going to bed."

Glancing between Sotalia and Dretphi, she slumps her shoulders and droops her furry ears down. "No offense, but leave me the hell alone until dinner. Please..."

She walks off into the hallway wincing, breathing in deeply, and mumbles frustrations to herself. "Shouldn't have peeked around the corner... must be how he knew I was there... gods dammit..."

Listening to Cideeda blame herself, Dretphi drinks the remainder of her beer and sighs out regretfully, muttering heavily with guilt. "Should not have taken that shot."

Sotalia narrows her gaze at Dretphi and pats her on the shoulder of her under armor suit. "Now, don't you start blaming yourself, too. We all agreed on it. And, your shot took him down."

Furrowing her brow, she averts her gaze with an irritated grimace. "The bastard just got really damned lucky and pulled a fast one on us... Like before..."

Aristespha moves through the kitchen area, muttering to herself in evuukian, and flips through a combination of tablets and paperwork in her arms. Hovering in pursuit after her, Sebastian halts the chase after a certain set of evuukian phrases. Aristespha speeds through the area with worry plain on her ivory face. She zips past the hallway archway and quickly down the hall, closing her bedroom door behind her. Sebastian's ethereal form rubs his forehead, and he glances over to Sotalia and Dretphi. "I'm... I'm going to give her a few minutes before I go in there. Just to be on the safe side."

Dretphi and Sotalia nod together in agreement. Perking her brow, Sotalia gazes curiously at Sebastian with a tilt of her head. "Is she still panicking about how to explain that supposed anonymous tip we got about Noxian being there?"

Walks in through the door from the garage, Bach closes the door behind him and nods to the gathered team, grimacing. "Yeah... Um... She's been trying to put together a supporting story for it? I mean, that's what I gathered from what I heard. I think an anonymous tip is somewhat believable. And..."

He shrugs his shoulders and sighs. "I mean, we did find him. But... I don't know. Especially if anyone starts digging too deep."

Sebastian groans ethereally, shrugs his shoulders, and crosses his arms. "Well. There's just not much more we can do today. Hopefully, since it's Friday, any serious paperwork about us won't be filed or processed today."

He rolls his eyes to the side and wrestles with a frown. "That'll give us the weekend to sort things out. Hopefully."

Relaxing his shoulders, he dons a grateful smile and nods to everyone present. "For now, let's just take the rest of this day easy. Recover and clear our heads."

Sotalia drinks more of her beer, walking out of the kitchen. "Sounds good."

Politely waving with beverage in hand, she goes through the hall archway. "I'm going to try to get some sleep. Goodnight, morning, or whatever."

Dretphi sighs, rests her empty bottle on the counter, and plods towards the hallway. "Will do the same. Sleep well."

Dretphi leaves the living area. Glancing over towards Bach, Sebastian focuses his concern upon his brother. "Hey. You feeling okay, bro?"

Bach blinks a moment, thinks for a few seconds, and rocks his head side to side. "Yeah..."

He meets his brother's gaze and sighs. "I mean, I suppose you know. Uh... Um... Well... Yeah, I- I really don't know how to feel about THAT right now."

Sebastian presents a comforting smile and shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. "Don't worry about it then. Just feel free to talk to me about it when you feel like it."

Releasing a long ethereal exhale of nerves, he relaxes his form. "Hey. We all made it, bro. That's all that matters right now."

An appreciative smirk appears on Bach's face, and he sighs with some ease. "Thanks. That..."

Combing his fingers through his longer brown hair, he furrows his brow with a frown. "Shit. That was NOT a good situation."

Nodding in total agreement, Sebastian leans close to Bach, lifts an intrigued eyebrow, and whispers. "Just between you and me, I think he ran because of YOU."

Bach blinks absolutely bewildered, pausing to process, and winces uncomfortably. "Yeah... Um... I REALLY don't know how to feel about THAT."