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No...

Maximos responded as he made his way past the wreckage and down the street. His form was a mess, his pants were worn and torn as was the black shirt he wore beneath. While he had originally had his sleeves rolled up to his biceps combat had caused them to shift, and currently his right sleeve was rolled down covering the black stained "bloody" bandages on his right arm. The entirely of his attire was covered in dried concrete and drywall dust, save for a few spots on his pants and shirt that he had attempted to beat off with his hands while walking.

He was tired, this ways true. But the cuts and bruises his body had taken were relatively healed leaving only a bit of residual soreness, or tenderness in the effected areas.

His navy blue hair was matted down over his face by a combination of sweat, blood, and broken water main spillage. The hair casting a bit of a shadow over his face, save for the white glow of his right eye that pierced the shadow, cutting through the darkness cast by night and signifying his presence. In his right hand, was a sword, a 4ft long, 3inch wide long sword, which he carried in a fashion almost signifying that he was more than ready to use it if the time came.

His soul sight was every active, scanning, who, what and how healthy Owle, and those around her were at the moment. And while that was visible...from about 30 minutes back during his fight with the golem, something was invisible, although very active in a 40ft radius around the Shadow.



He had turned the corner just in time to see someone vanish in a puff of black smoke. That person was very lucky to be outside the range of the lock, and would find it rather impossible to re-enter. Maximos had kept the field active to prevent any surprise Necromancer appearances.

As he approached the group he gave silent nods to all present, he recognized one, and while he had seen the Mac truck speed past him he couldnt identify the driver. He did know one thing, these people were alive, and they were either survivors or here to assist. And in that one fact they were you united.

Evening all! I must admit there are more here than I expected.

He said with a bright smile as if he was speaking, to a group of friends in mid day as they were about to go to lunch. When in fact he was speaking to a group of relative strangers, and that a streak of dried red blood stained his face, and was smudged around his cheeks where he tried to wipe it away. But that was simply Maximos. He then addressed Owle.

With your lovely telepathic ability, I do believe we can call reinforcements. Would you be willing to try an experiment?

Maximos smiled from ear to ear.

I have with me, a piece of a friends soul.

He reached his left hand back into his rear pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper about 7inchs long and 4inches wide. The paper entirely covered in a large array of runes. He presented the sheet, holding it erect in between his middle and index fingers.

At least it was a part of your soul, through it I can reach the rest of the soul, but I cant send a message. And...well....I dont own a telephone.

He seemed rather embarrassed. Everyone owned a phone! But Maximos had basic technology ineptitude, it was a side effect of coming from a world only about as technologically advanced as 16th century Europe. Steel Magic was a mystery to him. As was the basic identity of everyone around him, but there was time for that later. And he was a very friendly and approachable man.

His eyes turned back to Owle. A hopeful smile on his face.

Do you think you can help?

There were a lot of ways to deal with anything, and Kalis tended to go for the extreme when pushed if he didn't keep himself in check. Random gunmen and a city full of zombies weren't so much something to make a sceptical commentary on. No, they were more of a laugh. A little fight, a scratch, and an impossible task, that was nothing. He could just shrug it off and do what he had to. But he'd been more than a little worried when he heard that first shot go off.

It was a hard reminder that even strong as he'd become, able as he was to kill, it was so very hard to keep even just one person alive in this world. Maybe, it was impossible, to hold on and protect everything. Maybe he was still too weak.

He smiled sadly when she reacted so, and rubbed at his wound absently for all of a moment, before the car horn made him jump out of his skin.

's he back?

He quickly moved to the side of the road, out of the vehicle's path, but let himself calm down as he watched it break in front of them. Obviously not the homicidal fellow, and probably not some zombie driver. He just chuckled when the man picked up the speaker phone, and wandered back to his motorcycle while the rest went on.

Magic. Some guy who swords went through without cutting, a disappearing act, and now talk of the telepathy and something or other. He had to listen to, but he pretended they were speaking about a radio and finding the frequency. He hated magic. Especially after that little run in. The telepathy was a little disconcerting, things that wanted to kill flinging sorcery about made him more paranoid than he could stand, and even the damned whatever the hell it was in him freaked him out. Whatever had happened to the good old days when things were just what they were?

He wandered back, leading the motorbike by the handle bars and leaning it up against the side of the truck while the others were all getting deeper into their conversations, and quietly unrolled his bandage wrap, closing off the small gash on his side, right over top of the shirt, and zipped the torn jacket over again when he was done.

'Andi turned her attention to the city itself, watching the ebb and flow of all the potentials around them, it was slightly distracting to have Grace giving people more time even when she could sense the end of their lives so close at hand... but that was one of the things that she had always really liked about the healer, the elven woman had the power and the knowledge to change the fates of others... it was so very refreshing to know that her sisters were loosing the battle whenever Grace stepped in. It worked the same for any magical healer, and almost all really skilled medical professionals. Verdandi was willing to admit that Grace was simply her favorite of the type, she really cared about the other woman, as much as a being like herself was capable of caring at any rate...

There were ripple effects moving out from several different points throughout the city, and unfortunately most of them were looking like the sort of thing that 'Andi needed to keep Grace away from... The healer was strong, and Verdandi was capable of lending the woman her strength directly when the time arose, but Grace was no match for an entire army!

There were several different chances for 'Andi to have some real fun in this place, and all of them so far involved breaking all the rules... something she was not really willing to do at the moment. However, there were several large ripples moving out from a group that she was certain was not a threat to her healer...

If anyone could have seen her smile right then they likely would have run screaming in the other direction, luckily Grace was distracted by her work and no one that they had run across could actually see her right now.... My Grace of the gods, I have found a very nice little group of people who could use your assistance! To aid them would likely save more lives than this roaming of yours right now...

rolleyes "You know I hate it when you call me that... hell it bothers me less when you call me by one of my other names..." stare Everyone that Grace had healed or patched up had promptly left the red head's side to find someplace to hide just as soon as they could walk or be carried away so it was only the elf apparently talking to herself in the street as Grace answered 'Andi.

'Andi laughed softly to herself, a sound that had been known to scare demons back to hell at times... I know, but some day you will thank me for being the light on your soul's past, and together we will make my sisters scream until the end of all time! twisted ...There was definitely a smug sense to the mental voice in that last bit.

Grace shook her head and leaned against her staff for a moment as she looked at the spot that 'Andi's voice was coming from. "So I can really help more people by helping this group that you found.. and you are not going to drag me off without a moment's notice again?"

No, I need you to work with these people, in fact, I will make you a deal!...'Andi reformed herself for a moment, the slightly glowing white figure in her formal white robes and a white strip of cloth covering where here eyes should have been.

Grace had to suppress the urge to run at that moment, blind fate was offering her a bargain, and everyone knew that once you made a deal you could never really cheat fate... "What do I get, and what is the price that I will have to pay for this deal?"

Verdandi smiled softly and held out her empty hand...For the space of one day and one night you, Grace Brigit Sirona, may have full access to MY power so long as you agree to obey Maximos in all things for that space of time!...

eek It was the most amazing deal that Grace had ever heard the oracle offer her, normally there were so many strings attached to the deals that the two of them made that Grace had hardly any room to work with what she was given... There had to be something about the Maximos character that she was definitely not going to like... or perhaps there was something else that Verdandi was oping to gain from this bargain, something that could only come about so long as Grace agreed to help someone that she had never even heard of before! "For the space of one day and one night I will obey Maximos in all things!" Her long fingered hand reached out and clasped the glowing woman's hand for an instant before Verdandi misted away again.

Good, follow me then, I will show you to your new friends!... xd 'Andi was trying very hard not to be smug, all she had to do was sit aside and let Grace use her energy and the potential for a million different futures was springing up all around here, and she didn't even have to break any of the rules that were supposed to bind her... where only a few moments ago the city had been on the road to total decimation now there were plenty of chances for it to survive... No one ever said that fate was fair, plenty of people were dead already, and more would likely follow, but on the whole saving the city itself was more important to 'Andi as she carefully led Grace through back alleys towards the group of hero's....

That was an odd feeling, having another's thoughts pass through your mind and into yet another third party. It was most definitely effective, but it made him feel dirty. It was as if his mind was poking into places it simply had no business being in. Maximos was just not meant to be a psychic. While the message was through, he likely wouldnt be repeating that experiment again.

His left hand closed, another sharp lavender glow overtaking the orb before a sash of black rose up and smothered the luminescence entirely, revealing the talisman Maximos had originally drawn from his pocket. And leaving only a few bits of frost sprinkling down from his left hand to the concrete to ever show that it was ever there.

He could see Rain approach but something else stole his attention, something large and bright coming from the alley. His shoulders half turned to face Rain while his head turned slightly away gazing down the alley, he squinted for a moment before turning back to Rain. He had the largest smile on his face, it stretched from ear to ear. In truth of the dried blood, and soot were present he would look entirely healthy! But as Mr. Yupa came up beside him, he reached his hand out placing it on Rain's shoulder. From the outside it might look as if he was just warmly greeting the man, but for Rain, he would almost immediately be able to feel the extra weight Maximos had tossed onto his shoulder. He took a deep breath, and then responded.

Ten dark elves, one shadow-metal golem, one necromancer and what I could only assume was about 1/16th the population of Barton...zombified...

As he spoke he let the breath out, ending the sentence with a relieved sigh.

But thats over, and I'm alright.

His right arm, and left leg letting out two audible pops as he slide his hand off Rain's shoulder and his body adjusted to the weight shift.

...really!

It was about then that it struck him. Perhaps it was the lightning, or maybe as the life leaf slowly worked at restoring his body and easing the pain his eyes were able to focus a better.

Yupa...Rain Yupa? Team Liberti Fatalli?

"What's... that?"

Her eyes were glazed over in a far-off look, an unblinking stare into the beyond. She'd remained in that position since she sat, since her non-part in the occupation was over. Descant had taken to watching everything else happening. She missed most of KChain's action, though caught his fighting what would appear to be heroes. She couldn't tell if it was another puppet or the real deal, but his shady alliance may be something to look into later.

She'd also seen the truck driving and almost crashing into the building. People moved, things were happening. However, her focus was on that... that thing rumbling through the streets.

Descant's eyes refocused, a quick lift of her brows as she went from observance to broadcast. ~Heads up,~ her voice spoke into the minds of ally "generals," ~Mack truck, East Gate. Honkin' big pig, Town Square. Resistance at the mall's just been swallowed. I'm at the Square. Anyway, looks to be a last stand brewing. Without reinforcements, I can't fight a machine. Show up or I'm leaving.~

Her fingers separated, and she groaned. "Think you've got in you, Sir Knightly?"

Tis Moonblade. I'll be there momentarily, unless you want me to head for the truck.

He was still near the square. It wasn't like he had gotten all that far or accomplished anything after being reraised; the undead proved to be more than sufficent for most of their obstacles. He could swing over to the East Gate if they needed him to, but that would take a little bit of time.

A minute later, her eyes shifted focus once more. After nodding slowly to instructions received, she went on to relay information.

~I'm going to the arena to look for someone. Alex, the sky is yours. Knightly, I'd like you with me in case I meet resistance. Moonblade, to Deity offices-- but don't attack. Try to strike an alliance. Inform them that we're willing to pay gold or let them control the city if they ally with us. And oh,~ she added, ~try not to get killed this time. Take some free-roaming people with you. I'll be in contact to get updates.~

That done, Descant separated hands again and hopped down from what she was sitting on. "You people better pray nobody meets us on the way. Let's go." Whether Sir Knightly followed to accompany-- something she'd be grateful for-- or not, she and her fifteen walked to the arena. They'd take side streets whenever possible to avoid contact with forces along the way.