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One thing was very apparent to young Artelind, this man was a complete idiot. "Ye-Yes. Thats very true. That is in fact red." Really she figured this would be something more akin to her brother would blurt out, not some sort of bandit leader. Well she had heard power corrupts so it had to corrupt his brain, there had to be a reason for him to be so blind to similes and metaphors. Maybe she used words that were a little too big for him, multi-syllable words seemed to be just a little too tough for this guy. That could work for her. She just had to play smart against a guy who was clearly dumb to her. Father's teaching skills don't fail her now! Though it would be pretty hard not to say something demeaning like she would to her brother, a little slip of a big word for stupid always made her giggle as he would try to figure out the word. Best to keep insults to herself for now.

Still he wasn't smart, and at this rate she might be able to work something out way better for herself till rescue arrives. "I think I have an idea or two about how to write a letter." When Jack got up to get a broom she scurried her way over to the desk and took his seat. Grabbing his own quill and looking at the paper. Oh this wouldn't do. His penmanship was rather poor and how he wrote it, like a true dreg. "If you don't mind I think I can phrase this much better to a more positive result as well. Lets see here. We have one of your shrine maidens. If you want her returned unharmed, leave. Oh no. See, thats what I was talking about. You are making a blunt accusation here. Do you think city officials would care for that? How about something more like, "Dear Sairaag, your careless actions and actions have left your city powerless to protect its spiritual necessity. As such the bandits of...." Sorry, whats you're groups name? I'll just add it in later. "As such we shall begin to retake the maidens of the divine, we already have one such young woman. If you wish her safety and it shall be only...." Sorry i'm not sure what amount of money you would want as a ransom. Well anyway that can be added later. "Further more our actions against the caretakers of innocence shall require further fee of..." Arty knew she had made more then enough recorded to entice this idiot. This letter was full of colorful words that were well written and perfect for a ransom, but she couldn't make herself any less important with a finished letter.
Pausing as she looked at the paper, letting out a loud sigh. "Oh this won't do at all, this isn't up to par with you." Tearing the paper up and balling up the fragments to throw aside. As if she could come up with a far better letter of ransom then that. "I'm sure I could come up with something better...but." She figured she had him where she wanted. Hook line and sinker. At least she hoped that could work.

Wrong Place: Jack's hideout, Sairaag
Wrong Time: Afternoon, Spring 1

Jack had just been making a joke with the red cloak thing, but he didn't suspect a thing. For all he cared, she was just a bit too scared to laugh. He moved around, letting the girl do what she would. After all, she couldn't do anything in her situation. Jack might even forgive her for saying something stupid. Like that was likely to happen.

Leaning against the wall, Jack waited for Tiny to return with some form of broom as the girl picked up his letter. He raised one eyebrow as she proceeded to make the ransom demand sound flowery and official. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's used to being kidnapped. Does that happen often here? The bandit leader did care; he just didn't care at that moment. If there were other gangs moving in on his turf, they'd have to answer to him. Well... his goons, at least.

She was doing a pretty good job of writing - her handwriting was much better, from what he could see - but then she suddenly stopped and proceeded to toss it away. "Whoa there!" Jack jumped forward, but he wasn't able to save the fragments. "That was pretty good. Now nothing's too good for me, but can people even understand language more fancy than that? I don't want to make it sound like a riddle. Yeesh."

Jack sighed as he let the discarded bits of letter fall to the ground and went to fetch another sheet of parchment. He'd need one for another letter... and then everything shook. There was a slight tremble and the floorboards that made up the basement ceiling shook loose all of the collected dust to rain down on them. What in the world? I swear, if they're having a wrestling match up there again, I'll... Jack grumbled incoherently out loud as he stomped up the stairs to get a very interesting sight.

"Okay," Jack almost growled. "Who the blazing hell are you? And what do you think you're doing to my men?" He drew his sword, a small thing compared to his gang's weapons, and pointed it at the intruder. The fact that he was tall and had a snake-headed tail didn't deter him; his men were bigger. "Alright, get him! I want his tail on a silver platter, you boulderheads!"

---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=Ketos Valatores---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=



Now things were more set up for how Ketos liked it. None of this running around and asking for questions stuff, just what looked like a straight up fight. Everyone was still collecting themselves and trying to figure out what the hell just happened with a guy flying though the door and why a red headed giant was in there now. He was eying over the crowd, trying to find where Arty was in this band of thugs and degenerates. It didn't take long for his new tons of fun friend to come stomping in after him. Ketos couldn't help himself but let out a laugh about what some of the goons were saying about him. "Nice come back. What the hell are you anyway?" It was a wonder, he really didn't know who or what this guy and his cat girl friend were, not even a name.

Before he could get into anything it looked like the big boss had showed up for the party. Some guy in red who decided he wasn't friendly. "Dumb a**! I'm gonna tell you something important so pay attention. The reputation of my team echo's far and wide! When they talk about their badass leader a paragon of total masculinity, one who never yields, never retreats, and never dies, they're talking about me! The unstoppable Ketos! So don't you dare screw with me and get ready for an a** wooping!" Fighting spirit and bravado pouring out of every part of him. With that Ketos was in battle mode. Exerting force his feet moved like lightning and struck the same way. Cracking down on one guy after the next, Ketos focused almost solely on offensive not bothering to dodge or block blows like a sane person. His body could heal quickly enough to deal with what they would throw at him. Besides he had bolder man helping out over to the other side. Leveling his way through one half of the group, this was taking too long. "Hey dumb a** over here!" Ketos wanted to take care of team leader, jumping ontop of one table and sprinting off it. He had a pretty good path set up in his head. First he needed a wedge to get past the small fries and that wedge was a guy called tiny. Moving forward with a jump, hands grabbing onto both sides of tiny's head in the air and his knee flying into his face with a bone breaking blow. One giant guys body was clearing his path towards their leader.

I'm gonna knock you out!✖✖✖ Mama said knock you out! ✖✖✖ I gotta thank God cuz he gave me the strength to rock HARD!! Knock you out, Mama said knock you out!!!✖✖✖ KNOCK OUT! ☆★☆

Current Location:Jack's Hideout,Sairaag
Current Date:Afternoon, Spring 1

Hyrum was in the middle of dealing with the rest of the gang in the shack that made up their hideout while Ketos was doing...something. The guy had some great moves,this punches were flawless. But...yeah,Hyrum for the life of him couldn't figure out the deal with that speech he just gave when he saw that little weenie of a gang leader. ...is this guy for real? Granted,he would probably boast like that too. But this was almost to the level of bad guy/supervillian boasting. With two men struggling to get out of the headlocks they were locked in,the chimera had to watch this for a moment. "This guy's crazy."
"Let us go,you fat load of monster!"
"I'M NOT FAT!!!" Letting them go to grab them by the necks,Hyrum slammed the two bandits together to throw them across the room as they lost consciousness. "I'm just big boned and don't you forget it!" It wasn't a moment after that when someone tried to punch the chimera in the stomach,only to have it force their wrist to bend and pop. While he was shouting in pain,Hyrum simply pouted and punched him in the face. "Shut up,you."

Everyone was dropping like flies and it looked like it was making their little leader nervous. He was facing down Sparky then and he looked ready to run. Only instead he drew his sword and started to go at him with Sparky running his way. Hyrum never liked it when one guy with a sword was running at another without one,and without knowing Sparky's abilities,he was nervous about how this would turn out. That being said,he didn't heistate to react. Grabbing a nearby stool and giving it a toss,Hryum drew back a fist and nailed it as hard as he could. Letting it fly across the room,the stool hit the sword,giving Mr.Masculinity an opening to hit the bandit leader good and hard. "Let 'im have it,kid!" This was his fight,his little sister. He deserved to knock a tooth or two out on this guy.

Wrong Place: Jack's hideout, Sairaag (soon to be in the stratosphere)
Wrong Time: Night, Spring 1

Jack was halfway through his charge when it occurred to him that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to face the giant man-monster who had almost single-handedly defeated all his men. He didn't have much time to regret this, though, as a chair came flying out of nowhere and knocked his sword arm down and to the side. OW! Who's throwing furniture in here? I think that b****** broke my hand.

Of course, it wasn't broken, just really hurt, and Jack had bigger issues at that moment. Like, say, the fist flying towards his chin. And, apparently, his hostage was this man's sister. "OH FU-" He didn't even get to finish swearing as fist collided with chin. The force of the blow propelled him upwards... and through what was left of the ceiling. "WHY MEEEEEEE?!" the poor man yelled as he continued his upward trajectory.

"B-Bossssssss!" Toothy cried. As every one of Jack's men began fleeing, the snake-man was the only one who ran in the general direction of where Jack was likely to land. But everyone still ran away as if they were being chased by the infamous Bandit Slayer herself.

It was quite a sight, watching those boys go running into a clearly unstable building to save the red-head's sister. Wonder how my little siblings are getting along. They always did like brewing more than me. I'll send them a letter next time I get the chance. Teo chuckled to herself as she heard the men shout all manner of curses and boasts, along with several sounds of things snapping and crashing. Sounds more like a tavern brawl than anything else... Well, maybe there's not too much difference between the two if those guys are involved.

And then... CRASH! Just as the sun had finally set, the cougar woman saw something get punched up and through the roof. Not something, actually... someone. Teo whistled from her perch outside as she watched whoever it was keep going and going and going... "That's some pretty good hang time," she remarked to herself. "I wonder which one did that."

Around that time, several big, brawny men - some human, some not - scramble to get out and away from the house. Despite not really liking fights, Teo couldn't help but think that they were a bit deserving of what they had coming. "Air that flows like the mighty river, gather in my hand and unleash my wrath," Teo chanted, raising her hands to her chest level. "Diem Wind!" Thrusting both hands at the fleeing bandits, a huge gust of wind raced in that direction, toppling some of the bigger ones over and lifting others into the air. Either way, it pushed them further in the direction they were already fleeing.

Teo took a deep breath and admired her handiwork for a second before heading inside the dilapidated house. "That was certainly interesting. Is she here?"

I'm gonna knock you out!✖✖✖ Mama said knock you out! ✖✖✖ I gotta thank God cuz he gave me the strength to rock HARD!! Knock you out, Mama said knock you out!!!✖✖✖ KNOCK OUT! ☆★☆

Current Location:Jack's Hideout,Sairaag
Current Date:Night, Spring 1

It looked like everything was going to be alright now as far as Hyrum was concerned. He found their little kidnapped princess in the basement and she was perfectly fine,not a scratch or a mark on her. He was actually a little surprised by how calm she was at that time. If the kidnapping didn't shake her up then he would have thought his appearance would have done something. That was always the case when he first met someone,especially when they were younger than he was. But no. She was calling him sir and bowing before him. "Uh,thank you?" What more could he say?

Sparky came down into the basement then,giving Hyrum a good shove to get to his sister. "Hey easy there!" But he was willing to forgive him,the guy was just worried about his little sister. Watching the hugs and noggies,the chimera couldn't help but smile. That's gotta be nice...having a little brother or sister... "Easy there,Sparky. You don't want to break her or anything." He heard Teo's voice from above,went up the staircase and gestured for her to come on down to see the reunited family. The little lady endured her brother's love filled noggies and squeezes before looking to them and bowing again as a way to say thank you.

"Oh don't worry about! It's what anyone would have done if they were in our position. We're just glad to have helped you before things could have gotten bad. Those losers seemed like the really seedy kind of scum..." Popping his knuckles again to remember how satisfying it was to punch each of them in the face,Hyrum extended his hand and took the little girl's hand into his to give it a hardy shake. "Nice to meet you,Artelind! And it's nice to finally know your brother's name! I'm Hyrum Knoxling. And this cute little kitty's name is Teosinthe Levin,but I've been calling her Teo." Taking a quick glance around the basement,it looked like it was about time to leave. "We should probably get out of this condemned rat hole now and get something to eat. I'm starving!"

The young homunculus just smiled as she listened to the cat girl Teo and the walking rock Hyrum introduce themselves. They seemed rather nice. Well, Hyrum made her wonder just a little though with the rugged hand shake. The girl's hand disappeared in his grasp, she was glad he was on her side. Aside from leaving her arm a little sore with how much stronger his shake was Arty liked these too. "Its still very nice of you. If were so formal then most people just call me Arty for ease, and hes just Keet." Looking up at her brother who had one of those stupid macho grins on his face. Arty just found it so cute when Ketos acted so triumphant. She was glad father found such a nice young boy to be her older brother, even a nice snake to accidentally fuse to his tail bone. "Oh, sorry. Less I forget that is also the illustrious Bitey. Hes kinda like a pet but um....on a permanent walk with my brother." Letting out a little giggle as the long snake rose up more from Ketos' hip to look at the two before the girl patted the creature on its head and it coiled around Ketos' hips like a belt.

Sure enough Teo mentioned her abduction. Yes, Arty didn't do much struggling and that thought made her blush a little. She could already feel her brother's gaze baring down on her for an explanation on that. How to best put it, she didn't want to hurt the brute, she didn't want to use her magic, or she didn't want to show that she was a homunculus? "Yes well. I don't like hurting people, and that man wasn't being very mean. Well aside from not letting me go and not stopping for my lost sandal. But he didn't try to hurt me or anything." It might have seemed just a little odd that a girl that had paperweights weigh more then her mentioned anything about hurting someone, especially the giant that gabbed her. From a girl with such a kind heart and sweet disposition that was almost sickeningly sweet at times. Oh well they could jump to their own conclusions. "Oh yes! It is late and I still need to make dinner. Those guy stopped me right when I got some potatoes." Arty did have something she needed to take care of.

Ketos waited for a moment as his listened to his sister explain things. Looking down at her she was a pretty good kid, rarely caused him problems. Normally she was the one to bail him out of something for some ballsy move he did and didn't think of the repercussions. Arty hinted at not wanting to hurt the guy, he knew she was very self conscious about how she looked when she started casting magic. As sweet as she was she found the demon side of her kinda scared her. Still it looked like everyone was going to head out now, and dinner did sound pretty good. "Hold up you guys!" His bravado taking over again as he had something new to proclaim. Kicking his foot up onto a table as he looked down at the people around him. "Alright everybody! From now on you two are apart of my team! I'm deputizing you into the Nova Braves! Our red hot spirits will echo across the lands as true heroes amongst men! As of this moment you two are honorary members! Braves dismissed!" Proclaiming Hyrum and Teo as new comrades as he marched out of the beat down building. Knowing he would run into them again soon enough.