Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was always easy to recognize those who had seen him in person for the first time. They always seemed to have the widest eyes and the largest mouths compared to the others that were only slightly used to his appearance. Nicodemus had long since gotten used to the awe-filled looks he received during any social events.

As he neared Mya's position in the welcoming line he turned his sapphire glance to her for a moment. His hand raised than touched the brim of his hat as he passed by. Judging by her wide eyes and fidgety feet, this must have been her first meeting... That or she needed to use the facilities.

Kai was the next soldier he acknowledged personally on the line of assembled persons. His entourage halted completely as Nicodemus stopped in front of Kai. The look he gave her was the all too familiar 'we need to talk' later look. His eyes lingered on her a moment only to be pulled to the sulking figure behind her. Before he got to verbally inform Kai that they would need to talk later his attention was fully turned to Blitz. A familiar soldier only by the pictures he had been shown from the soldier's father. Regrettable Nicodemus had never had time to meet personally with the man's son.

"I am not one to be kidding anyone Lance Corpral Masters." Nicodemus addressed the out of attention soldier sternly. Powerful eyes locked onto Blitz's teal eye. Surely one of his rank would have had proper etiquette down to the letter.

----

Cruse all but flinched as Lorna addressed him in regards to his papers for being in this section of the hanger. The psychiatrist behind him took notes on the reaction than continued to watch, his pale green eyes shifting from Cruse to Lorna and Angelina.

"I-I have permission." He spoke softly as he withdrew a paper with the presidential seal upon it. "It is, good to see that you have taken well to the organoid."

Cruse pulled his attention from the problem back to the solution. He had been told not to get too stressed, that that is what was bringing on the terrible nightmares.

"I asked that Kard personally oversee the project..."

Kard once again completely ignored the complement as he devoted all of his attention to the pod with the active organoid within. Hands frantically passed over the keys to get all the necessary information before releasing the wolf.

---

The medics all paused in their work as the shadow organoid approached. They were all used to organoids Fox inc. had created, however, this one was different. This one harbored a terrifying and ancient power which the windows of his icy eyes only revealed a fraction of. The newer medics that had no knowledge of Kai stopped in their work, especially as the beast emitted a low growl.

"WE ARE LOOSING THEM!" A frantic voice called from within the restroom. The medication and supplies halted when the shadow organoid appeared. "WHERE IS THAT-?!"

One of the medics that had been attending to the now unconscious Revel and Mathew rushed out of the restroom only to be paralyzed by the same gaze and growl of the ancient organoid. Anyone looking into the restroom would be able to see the gruesome sight, Revel and Mathew's eyes were wide with fear, blood trailing from their mouths, nostrils, ears and corners of their eyes. With the medics paying less and less attention to their urgent condition their life begun to dwindle more and more.

---

One of the soldiers watching the General's arrival grew wide-eyed as Nicodemus approached and addressed Blitz.
"s**t..." He grumbled under his breath than turned about face and made a desperate escape of the event.. This was not good. He best be warned early before the storm hit.

Edge's snarl increased in intensity, and he leaned over the medic he was nearest, reaching to grab his jacket in his jaws and lift him by it. Notably, he wouldn't care if he got some arm in there along with the jacket. Although he wasn't inherently evil (as far as anyone knew), he still seemed to feed off of human fear at times like this.

Useless. Useless and killing other humans.

He had asked many.. many times before why Kai bothered with dealing with other humans, and even after spending as much time in her head as he did, he still couldn't fathom why.

The 'killing other humans' thing made the pilot's eyes widen, likely at the exact same time the General gave her the 'we need to speak later' nod. A nod that was so common between them, it was about the same thing as a wave hello. And, that sudden shocked appearance was probably not what he would expect- especially with her eyes slightly glazed over in that classic expression of a telepathic exchange.

Her first glance swept from Nic to Blitz, and her gaze hesitated on Blitz for a moment, surprised to see him a few paces from her since she had been paying attention to such a variety of other things and had failed to notice him join the welcoming entourage.

"I-" She stuttered and then stopped, intending to say something to the soldier but obviously thrown off her big and bad rank pedestal by something likely pretty serious. Her widened eyes narrowed and Sakashi grit her teeth, a string of profanities spilling through- muffled only due to Nic being right there. Turning on a heel, she took off at a run through the gathered crowd towards the restroom area.

...It would only take her a few moments to get there unless someone stopped her. Edge wouldn't share with her a visual of what was going on, but the words he used to explain the situation made it a little bit of an emergency. Once she got there and saw him threatening a medic and seeing the blood on the soldiers' faces streaming from their various upper body orifices.... she wasn't really sure what to do about any of it.

Probably teaching Edge the command 'drop it' might be useful.

How do you punish an ancient, blade-covered creature made of metal? You certainly can't whack it one. And you try putting one in time out.

To the medics, she was just some soldier standing a few yards away, staring at the ancient shadow dragon with a most hateful look on her face. Mostly.. looking incredibly worthless. The dragon just stared back, swinging the man around by his jacket and/or arm if he'd managed to snatch him up previously.

"What.. is going on here." She more demanded than asked, the anger oozing over from her mental reprimand into her clipped words.

Nicodemus tensed at the response of his Lance Corporal. Jaw noticeably tightened and lips thinned as sapphire eyes narrowed on the poor lad. Even the bodyguards around him took a few steps away from the general as they watched the nicely pressed uniform become tighter around his body, revealing just slightly incredibly well defined muscles.

"I personally put in for your first promotion two years ago, and again last year." Conveniently the two times he was unable to attend a promotion ceremony due to reasons beyond his control.

Nicodemus shifted his focus from the lad to the growing gathering at the far end of the hanger. He could clearly make out the form of the looming black dragon swinging the medic around as if he were some kind of dog toy. At that point disappointment compiled atop frustration upon his features. This was rapidly becoming one of those days one should have stayed in bed.

"We will discuss this further after this event is over." He spoke sternly as his focus returned to Blitz. "Report back here when the final announcement is given."

He didn't wait for a response before he quickly stormed his way to he gathering, bodyguards in tow. What was meant to be a light-hearted event, one to give a lucky soldier possibly their first partner had turned into a chaotic mess. This was yet another straw on the camel's back. Not broken but very agitated.

As he approached the commotion his eyes narrowed on the black organoid first than to Kai. Spectators parted willingly giving no 'barriers' between him, Edge and Kai. He held absolutely no fear for the creature, that much was obvious within his eyes and tense posture.

"Lieutenant, get your partner under control." He ordered before turning slight attention to the terrified medics. A good portion of his attention remained on Edge and Kai. "You have two lives in your hands and you cower? Get back to your duties."

The medic that had been hoisted up by edge and shaken about by his jacket only gasped, volume had been stolen throat by pure terror. Luckily, and for Kai's sake as well, he had managed to pull his arm back enough to where only his coat was taken and shaken about.

The threads easily gave away and tore the coat within a few shake mercifully letting the medic drop to the floor. It only took a mere few seconds before the man scrambled away in a panic.

Due to the rather unfortunate distraction, care had not been given in time and the two victims of an obvious assault had passed away. Their gazes terrified and full of pain during their last moments of life.

The crowed begun to murmur words of a murder in their midst.

(( Ice asked me via AIM to post this for her since she cannot access gaia from where she is))

Cruse watched with borderline terror as Angelina left in a worried hurry with her organoid. He barely had time to open his mouth before she was gone. When he looked back to his psychiatrist the man only shook his head and pointed with his clipboard to the crowed.

"A-alright...." He mumbled as he turned back to the the pods containing the organoids a little deflated. Worry begun to grasp at his mind once again.

Kard turned around just in time to see Angelina leave in a hurry. Once again he had managed to distract himself from any conversation and thus distanced himself further from the social event. A long breath passed his lips as he looked from his two guards. Things couldn't have gotten worse. His left hand moved to the back of his neck and begun to rub gently before he turned around to face the pod with the black and blue wolf.

"Wha-" He gasped before the pod cracked than was forced open. "Hey!" he called to the wolf as it took off into the crowed toward Mya. He than shot a glance to Lorna as if she had any idea what had happened while his back was turned.



"Sir, they are gone..." One of the medics squeaked as he looked back from the two soldiers. Another medic begun to prepare the bodies for the bags they would be carried out in.

Nicodemus looked from Kai to the two soldiers, removing his hat as he did. A fine way to start off a supposed happy occasion. First the reports from the rogue lands, a possible man-hunt, accusations of who this 'judge' is, and now this. Had so much not been on his mind he would have taken a moment to realize his special ops. soldier had glowed for a moment as her partner had.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. A long and heavy breath passed his lips.
"Do you have a cause of death?" He inquired at the end of his sigh. The medic shot a quick glance to the organoid before his attention was ripped away by Nicodemus' booming voice. "You would do better to blame your own inability to focus on anther's life despite your own fears."

His stern scolding caused the medic to flinch. The organoid's presence still caused a panic among the many who saw him lift the other medic off the ground and shake him about. "Their arm, sir, evidence of a n-needle... e-entry. I suspect foul p-play..."

Murmurs begun to rise from the crowds and fingers were already beginning to point in just about every direction. The woman with the organoid sent her monster to stop the medics from doing their jobs, the poetic man had done it as they passed by, ...etc. There were so many ideas that some begun to merge together. The popular merging being that the woman with the shadow organoid was in cahoots with the poetic man. Revel was a very popular soldier for his charismatic personality, no one was left out of the suspect train.

A blue light flashed from the ZOID parking lot. Within moments a black raptor-like appeared among the crowed near by Blitz. His head bobbled a bit as he approached the disgruntled soldier. The metallic 'feathers' on his head flattened a little as his nose lowered to poke the soldier in the back.

"You seem upset again Blitz..." He hummed whimsically with a subtle metallic tone as he approached. "Should I fetch your diary?"

Mya, unfortunately, could not really see what was going on. Her position near the middle/back of the crowd and her natural shortness was forcing the young blonde to stand on her tiptoes while curiousity and (was it fear? paranoia? or legit concern?) drove the young cadet to find out what happened.

This....well, this ment she wasn't watching her backside.
Thus....

"I wonder if- " A surprised shriek of fear cut off her own muttered statement as something heavy promptly barreled into Mya from somewhere in the directions of the labs; this, in a domino effect, sent her and it flying into more of the crowd around them. The latter, amongst shouts and glares, rolled out of the way. This left Mya (while somehow managing to toss aside her rifle bag and twisting herself so she was on her backside) pinned down on the ground by the black and blue-

Wait....What the-
A wolf?
One blink...two....three....Nope.
The illusion wasn't going away.

Head lifting slightly at the rapidly blinking eyes below him, the wolf had a sort of amused air about him as he stepped back a pace or two. "You act as if you have seen a ghost, young one." A metallic chuckle rang out as Mya sat up and stared more. But before she could say more, the wolf elegantly nudged his muzzle and head into one of her lax hands. "I do promise I am solid though. Perhaps this helps cement the fact?" The wolf, again, chuckled as his eyes flashed gently at the young female.

The metal, she mused as her hands gently traced the surface, was cool yet warm at the same time. But brought out of her musings she was when a prod to the side brought her back from la-la land.

THAT'S when she noticed a lot of people staring at her, sitting on the ground like an idiot and petting an Organiod that likely belonged to someone in the crowd. She could almost hear someone (or a dozen) snickering in the background.

Duh much?
Bouncing to her feet, Mya quickly brushed off the seat of her pants (grabbing her bag from wherever it went flying not two seconds afterwards) before scooting away from the crowd with a red flush decorating her cheeks. The cadet was ready to find some closet to hide in....had the clicking of metallic claws not forced the sniper to look over her shoulders.

The wolf paused, head tilted to the side in question.

"Why....Why are you following me?" She spun around fully as the wolf calmly took a seat infront of her. It's head was still slightly tilted, as though he was contemplating an answer.

"Why should I not?"

"But...." She was a bit flabbergasted. "But don't you-"

"Belong to someone, if I had to take the right words?" She could almost hear the smirk in his "words" as she nodded slightly.

"In a sense? I do."

"Who?"

His tail suddenly flicked as the light of his eyes flashed in irritation. "You're a smart girl. Surely you can figure that one out for yourself!"

It took a few moments. But, eventually, it did click-
And it almost sent Mya back on her bum in shock. the expression brought a pleased growl from the wolf.

"M-me?" A nod. "Why ME? Im just a cadet! A trainee! Surely there has to be someone....someone better?" A partner....for real?

"No." The "tone of voice" was firm and final as he stood to stand beside her. "I want you."

Kai was not even on the list of suspects in Nicodemus' mind. Of all the soldiers in this room, she was the one he knew most as well as trusted. Her partner, though odd, was not one to hold to his actions either. Not with the lot cowering as they had. However, he had no time follow her or had no need for her to stay amongst the crowd. She had her own way of handling things and he could trust she would do so with the utmost respect for the republic.

All attention turned to the deceased soldiers on the ground. One of the less shaken medics begun to show him the details of the entry point of the needle. Fingers moved to stroke at his mustache and beard as he pondered over the wound.

"Were you able to find the weapon used?" He inquired as he inspected the wound with his eyes.

The medic shook his head. "No sir."

Than across the room another soldier called. "Sir! Another one!"

Like clockwork half of the medics attending the fallen grabbed their equipment and hustled over to the soldier falling victim to the same symptoms Revel and Michal had.

Nicodemus followed the other medics after another moment of studying the bodies. Brow furrowed at the thought of a killer amongst them. He turned to one of his body guards who had managed to stay close. "Surround the parameter, do not let anyone leave this base..."
-------

"Well, it would seem as though I have indeed won this round. Good game sir." The Organoid's head lowered to be at level with Blitz's, blue eyes flashed in amusement of the situation. Feathers perked upward again.

He had been fused to the core of the black-wing blade so long he had never thought to un-merge for the core, that is until feeling the stress level of his pilot become so strangely high. It seemed now was a good time to leave the core and be by his new owner's side. Chase had secretly been apart of an organoid personality experiment before he died. The Organoid within his ZOIDs core learned from the pilot to develop a personality. A strange thing the Dr. wished to test; the learning ability of an organoid. The result was an orgaoid with the personality of Chase Donnivan.

"So, have I also gotten your tongue? That is not what I recall of the great pilot 'Blitz Masteres' master of words." He continued to muse.

Head turned toward the approaching pilot and her 'shadow', feather's lowered as did his head just slightly. That one was... different yet strangely familiar. Something about the 'feel' brought back data of that terrifying day everything had changed.