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The port of Tanais was nearly as familiar a sight for Rayyan as his own wonder, having stopped in the city for nearly every departure and return he'd ever taken with his guard. When in the business of hunting down galactic criminals, it was necessary to travel in groups, and he'd found that the best way to travel was by ship rather than the many teleporting items that could be found on various worlds and wonders. It might've been considered a little old school, but it was easier to get a fugitive onto a vessel in the end.

Today was no exception. The hunt, this time around, had been a particularly long one. The woman he had stowed away in the bowels of his ship had a natural affinity for slipping through fingers - and slipping things away with them. The journey had taken so long, across so many cities and stars, that he'd had a need to stop in Tanais before continuing on to his own wonder, just to ensure they had enough fuel to continue on. There was a storm brewing and if they hoped to outpace it, they had to be able to burn fast.

Rayyan, powered down from his Knight form, was busy discussing the deal with one of the port masters when a head guard came rushing down the plank in a flurry. With one strong hand placed on Rayyan's shoulder, he turned him so that he could whisper low in his ear.

"She's already escaped, sir."

One long, irritable sigh was drawn from Rayyan's lips as he brought a hand up to rub at his temples but there was little time for him to waste on his misfortune. In seconds, he had powered back up to the Knight of Gehenna, standing fully armored before the pair of men near him.

"Jashon, send five men to search the ship thoroughly, leave no barrel unturned, no door left shut. Make sure she hasn't just crawled into a corner to wait us out. Send the rest of them out to check every other ship in the port, then await orders if she's not found." As Jashon saluted and turned back up the gangplank, Gehenna's gaze turned sharp and refocused on the Port Master, who looked slightly nauseous at the idea of an escaped convict.

"Habor Master, I must ask that you prevent any and all ships from entering or leaving Tanais at this time." The slightly sick face darkened and turned fierce, as if there were about to be an argument against his orders, but the Knight cut him off with a single raised hand. "This is a direct order, from the authority granted me by Princess Mars. It's in your best interest to do as you're told."

Whatever argument the harbor master had begun to build in his head died on his tongue and he nodded, though not without a glare in his eyes. Just as he turned to go issue his orders, Gehenna stopped him with one last request.

"And please summon Tanais herself, it's urgent."

Gehenna waited patiently for the Knight of Tanais to arrive, though it was not accomplished without his years of training in the art. Even with all of his skill, there was an itch beneath his skin for the case, a call in his heart that made him want to barrel through the streets and drag her down by her hair into submission.

Yet this was not his domain and that called for certain respects to be paid.

For what it was worth, she did not keep him waiting, and he turned to stare at the approaching party the moment the sound of hoof beats reached his ears. He remembered her from their first meeting - a proud young woman that had grown into a fierce warrior. Looking at her and the way those in her guard revered her, he didn't have to know of all the accomplishments she had under her belt in the ways of war. They respected her and he knew, from his own experience, that the respect of one's men meant more than all the acclaim in the world.

"I'd be glad for the help," he answered with a tint of humor to his words, reaching for her hand as she offered it. He caught hers in a strong grip, the greeting reserved for brothers and sisters of Mars - the strong and the brave. Lady or not, she'd earned her spot next to the rest of them. Though he would admit that, despite his respect for her, he had a burning curiosity for what lay under her armor. It was simply his nature, comrade or no. "She's a slippery little minx, she's already sent us on a quest through half the damn galaxy as it is."

He held out a hand to one of his men who promptly passed over a worn photograph, depicting the culprit in question. She was petite, but even her stance suggested how lithe and athletic she was. Wild, blonde curls framed a heart shaped face and deep emerald eyes stared out from a face tanned by the sun of some distant planet.

"And she bites," he offered with a smirk as he held the photo out for her to examine.

The retort was left unanswered, though the dark eyebrow rose above the ridge just slightly, giving him an air of amusement even when his charge had managed to slip through his fingers. Again. This one was getting a stay in the depths for all the trouble she'd caused.

A small nod was reserved for Marcos, acknowledging his presence and his rank, before he left to comply with Tanais' order. There was a certain degree of respect for her immediately at the way she commanded with her presence and the way her men acknowledged her. There was a lot to be said of a commander by the way their men treated them, something he always looked for in his excursions so that he might know what to expect of the leaders he dealt with. He'd already known enough of her by word of mouth, but he was pleased not to be disappointed now that he got to witness it first hand.

"That seems like the most solid plan." As Jashon emerged from the ship empty-handed, the tall Earth-born Knight turned to look back at him. "Jashon, gather the men on the dock and comply with Marcos' orders. You're to search in pairs." No questions were asked as he simply disappeared into the bowels of the ship again. Gehenna stared long enough to watch his guards emerge one by one, filing onto the docks as the message was passed between brothers.

"I've got no objections at all to that, Tanais." And not just because he was eager to watch her in action. "Those were my thoughts, actually. It might be easier to take her by surprise if we go on foot." Though horses were fast, they had their downfalls - surprise and access to certain areas among them. Given it was Tanais' city, he held out a hand to indicate that she take the lead, submitting to her command as surely as anyone else on the scene.

As Tanais powered down, Gehenna followed her lead, leaving him in the traveler's gear he had arrived in. A sleeveless, hooded vest was strapped across the upper portion of his torso by gold twines, with a looser linen tunic underneath that had been rolled up to his elbows and fell nearly to mid thigh. Though Mars fashion generally chose tunics without pants, even for the men, he had a thin pair tucked into sturdy boots, chosen for the voyage and not so much the destination.

"Pleased to meet you Nemea," he offered around a joking smile, "you can call me Rayyan."

Yet the joking smile faded in favor of duty almost immediately, and the intensity of a man on the hunt took his face once more. He reached up to pull the hood of his vest over his dreaded hair - something that would undoubtedly make him stand out to the girl that had spent so long running from him. It cast his face into shadow, just as it was meant to.

It wasn't hard to keep pace with Nemea, nor did he outpace her, for which he was glad. With his own long legs and practiced march, it was easy enough to accidentally leave most women behind unless they caught his arm and forced him to slow down. While she lead them through the most logical paths, he let his eyes wander, staring through crowds and making a point to look between stalls as they passed. When she stopped, he noticed out of his peripheral, and pulled up short at her side.

Yet the kid hadn't seen her.

"Keep an eye out for her, would you?" His gaze leveled on the loitering teenager, then slid back to his companion. "We might check by anyone selling clothes or hand held weapons, too, see if anything has been stolen recently. She's got a sticky set of fingers and a tendency to try and blend in."

Rayyan followed Nemea with the practiced ease of a man accustomed to his role as a blood hound, ever vigilant in his observations. She stopped short as his lead stooped next to a woman she seemed to know on a personal level, though bits of the conversation reached his ears. He was glad that Nemea knew the worth of all her citizens - those that were least likely to be noticed always made the best watchers.

The tall, dark skinned man made a gentle bow at his introduction, but let Nemea keep her lead. The hushed voices they were using of a sudden made him turn away, curious but not wanting to intrude on something more private - though the pleased laughter from his companion made the hairs along the back of his neck rise. Sometimes it was impossible not to notice when one was being discussed in whispers..

"I was born ready," he answered with a charming smirk beneath his hood, already falling into step toward the alley she had indicated, letting his eyes scan the interior of it for any sign of a movement. The Knight of Mars was accustomed to hunting criminals on foreign landscapes, but the tightly knit market of Tanais was difficult - too many little places to hide. He stopped at the narrow mouth of the alley, blocking most of it with his wide shoulders alone. There was little light available, and several doors - some barricaded, other not - that indicated back entrances to various shops along the strip.

"She might've hopped into a quiet shop to wait out the day," he murmured, glancing along the few doors he could see. He shifted to the side a bit to let Tanais head before him, though he was all seriousness now, looking for any sign of a scuffle. "There," he mumbled, setting a hand on the tall woman's shoulder and pointing with the other, "there's a cellar door that's had it's lock forced."

"Understood," came the soldier's response. The closer they had gotten to their target, the more and more serious Rayyan's demeanor had become - until he found himself shoved none-too-gently back into a wall by the strong woman. He wasn't a man too accustomed to being shoved around so easily by others and by the raise of his brows as he stared after her, he had probably very seldom been matched by a woman.

A small, amused smirk curled at the corner of his lips as his soldier's facade broke only for a moment, once again reminded that Nemea was no simple woman.

He watched her disappear from the alley and strode carefully toward the cellar door, walking lightly to avoid alerting anyone nearby to his presence. It was a skill that had been hard earned - much more difficult for a man of his girth to master than simple combat or tactic training. All the while he ticked the numbers off in his head slowly, counting by the beat of his heart as it drummed inside his chest.

16.. 17..

His hand reached out and grasped the handle of the door, pulling it open just wide enough for his shoulders to slip through and thanking Cosmos herself that the hinges hadn't creaked. At the count of 20, he slipped through and dropped down with light feet onto the dusty, hard-packed earth of the basement level. There was a sudden coolness around him, the kind of musty chill that only came from spaces that never met the light of day. From his observation it was a storehouse of some kind - crude shelves lined the walls and created makeshift isles, sacks of flour and grain were piled high in the corners.

He stepped forward carefully, fists raised to chest level as if he expected a fight at any moment, but his eyes were scanning every inch of the storehouse that he could see. At first, it seemed as if they had been mistaken but then he saw it - in one of the corners, water had been splashed around an old wooden barrel and the lid sat askew atop it. Small rivulets still poured down the sides, as if something much-too-large had been added to the already brimming container.

Rayyan put himself between the barrel and the cellar door, counting on Nemea to be at the opposite entrance, and very slowly closed the distance. One hand reached out and grabbed the lid, but just as he was about to pull it away, it was knocked up and out of his hand by the slim figure as she burst to stand - swiping at the air with a pair of handheld daggers in the same swift motion. Rayyan doubled backward from the gleaming blades and it gave her enough room to leap out onto the cellar floor. She was drenched from head to toe with her golden curls plastered against the sides of her face and neck. The sneer on her lips seemed permanent as she held both daggers point-up towards the darker man.

"Stay back away from me, Martian scum," she spat the words in a thick, Earth accent, backing up toward the entrance of the shop and leaving a trail of water in her wake.

"You don't want to keep running, Silvia.." Rayyan's words held a dark warning to them, but it only made her laugh. The little spitfire held no respect for authority.

There was a bit of movement up the stairs that Rayyan caught out of his peripheral vision and he schooled himself not to look toward it was his instinct told him to. He had no doubt that it must have been Nemea, and any attention he shifted in her direction would alert the rogue woman that someone was approaching her from behind.

Luckily, Nemea made quick work of it.

In the span of a few breaths he watched his sister-in-arms grab the woman by surprise, watching as Silvia's eyes registered the presence only seconds before it was too late. She had started to half-turn but stopped, unsure if she should be more afraid of the mystery behind her or the man standing in front of her. By the time Nemea had pressed her down into the hard-packed earth of the cellar floor, her eyes were alive with a fury he had seen only the first time he'd caught her. She wouldn't stop fighting, he knew, and now he was all too aware of how slippery she was.

The bulky man approached the pair of women swiftly as one hand reached up and unhooked something from his belt, beneath the tunic he'd been wearing. It was indeed a pair of cuffs - although they were much thicker than typical restraints. The insides were lined with dozens of small holes and, by the way Silvia's wild eyes locked onto them, she knew exactly what they were.

"No, don't -" she began, trying to move her arms free and slash at Rayyan with her dagger in a last effort, but Nemea was much too strong for the little eel. Rayyan stooped at their side and plucked the daggers from her fingers with relative ease, then opened the shackles and clamped then down around her wriggling wrists. The moment they locked in place, Silvia went still, frozen by some unspoken threat even with the wild anger still burning in her eyes.

"I see I don't have to warn you not to struggle in those," he should have been pleased with the capture, but something in his eyes seemed weary and almost sad, as if he'd done something he wished he hadn't needed to. His fingers gripped the chain between the cuffs and pulled a piece free, extending it to a short leash. "You can let her go, Nemea, she won't be going anywhere."

As Rayyan fell into step behind Nemea, so did Silvia.

"They're an enchanted design used for high-security prisoners," the glance he tossed at the woman standing at his side, attached to the chain he carried in his hands, suggested that he was disappointed to have to put her in them. He gave the the chain a small tug just to ensure she was paying attention and watched her as she took an immediate step forward to keep it from catching tension. So she did understand them. "If she struggles, they'll begin to release small spikes through the inside lining. The more she struggles.."

He let his words peter off and instead looked down at the angry, defiant expression on Silvia's face. There wouldn't be much left in the use of her hands if she tried to get away, that was for certain.

The man and his captive followed behind Nemea almost casually, waiting for her to pay off the damages before they all emptied into the street outside. Having expected dim afternoon sun, Rayyan was surprised to turn his eyes up to a sky boiling with purple-black stormclouds. A chill wind swept through the air and he felt a prickle along his spine - if he took his men out in this, there was a chance they would be overcome before they got close enough to dock at Gehenna.

His dark, knowing eyes turned to meet Nemea's gaze.

"I don't think that we'll escape this storm, Nemea. We'll have to wait it out here before my men and I can continue to Gehenna." Another night on the ship wouldn't kill any of his men - and they knew better to question it, no matter how eager they all were to be back at their post.