She also had a feeling such a spectacle might be a decent introduction to her charge that she doubted would run head first into the structure.
The message had been simple. Meet her at the park at 8pm. She had not given him coordinates or a location. Part of the training was using his senses to track her down. Stibnite had settled herself in the upper branches of a tree where she could use her own senses to track not only Dravite but also if they had any other visitors. This place also gave her a decent view of the grey column that seems to have ‘magically’ appeared.
“Things are never what they seem.”
---
Over the last few months Isaac had grown used to Stibnite’s cryptic, or in this case supremely vague, instructions on where to meet her. Perhaps it was a game to her like children playing hide and seek or perhaps she figured that this would expand his environmental awareness. Either way, even if she were to move her location around within the park he would eventually find her.
This time, however, he had an idea of his own. Once within the park, and Isaac was sure that there was nobody near enough to witness him powering up. He shifted into his feathered uniform for only a moment just to see what aura’s he could sense.
Immediately he felt two senshi within his range but that was it. Now was not the time to be stupid and look for a fight; not only would he be outnumbered but the Captain would be rather put out if she wasn’t able to join in on the fun. And so, Dravite thought of what he had been wearing upon arrival and powered down.
In his casual jogging gear he ran along the dirt path, deeper into the park area and away from city streets before finding another safe place to power up. In a way this method was a bit like battleship; testing areas to see if he could get a aura doppler ping and zero in on her location. This time, thankfully, he had been lucky; or so he hoped. Due west, feathering the edge of his senses, he felt a Negaverse aura stronger than his own; unfortunately without seeing her there was no way to tell who it belonged to.
Although he knew whomever it was out there knew where he was, Dravite powered down once more and used the skills he had learned while camping growing up and those from time spent overseas in the military to carefully pick his way towards where he thought the undisclosed meeting place was at then powered up when he figured that he was within feet of where the aura had been.
“Captain…” His voice was calm. A smirk lifting the corner of his lips as he leaned his back against the rough bark of the tree behind him.
---
“Creative use of abilities.” Stibnite commented, though she remained where she sat. Her own sensed had picked up the flick of a power up and power down moments ago and she had been visually looking for cues since then. “I have a feeling you confused anyone else who might be around here. “
Stibnite allowed silence to fall between them once more before she took the time to address him. “Tell me, what do you see in front of you. And I don’t mind the trees and grass so we can skip over the eye rolling answer.” Her eyes glanced down once at catch the top of his white hair before looking up again.
“Then power down and tell me what you don’t see.”
---
“Your talking about the disappearing tower.” Dravite stated simply, nodding in the direction on the monolith. “I noticed it the second time I powered up. it wasn't there when I arrived nor then I was tracking you.”
“It may be because I'm too far away from it but I don't send any signatures from it.” Rather it seemed to have attracted the attention of every terrorist and agent in the city because the park felt like it was swimming with auras of all factions. “This isn't some ploy from one of the higher ups is it?” If so then they forgot to send out a memo.
----
“I don’t sense anything from it either. Nor have I heard anything through the grapevine of any others sensing it. Instead I’ve heard more of people avoiding it. The latest look of the area has it almost to ghost town levels.” Stibnite spoke calmly as she shifted in the branches. Swinging her legs over, the Captain pushed herself off her perch and landed without a flinch just to the left of her charge. “Which has me questioning it even more.”
“Though I doubt it has anything to do with the Negaverse. We normally try to keep things as normal as possible. Not make everyone run away as quickly as they can.” Stibnite shot him a look, watching his face before glancing back at the tower in the distance. “However there are many fools in the Negaverse so if another idiot opened some door and released a monster, I would not be surprised. Fools.”
“It’s become almost a breeding ground for all the factions. I’m almost surprised there hasn’t been word of fights breaking out. It makes it seem...even more disturbing.”
---
It’s true, what she said about no word of fights. It seemed as if curiosity trumped all else; not even the two terrorist auras Dravite had sense the first time he powered up could be bothered to chase after him.
Even if they had he remained unconcerned; their auras were similar enough to his own in strength that he felt confident enough neither had combat skills strong enough to take him down.
“So what’s the plan?” He asked, casually crossing his arms across his chest.
---
“For now we are going to observe and investigate. The reports I’m seeing are coming in as something hard to believe so I would like to put this to the test. I also want to make sure you are aware of how sometimes things happen in this world that are outside anyone’s control.”
Walking several steps in front of him, Stibnite glanced back. “Sometimes an outside force steps in and it is up to us to make sure they have no intention of harming us or partnering with the wrong side.”
Nodding her head in the direction of the tower, Stibnite began to walk again. “Unless others engage us, let’s try to avoid the battle. We don’t know what will happen around the obelisk. But if someone is foolish…” Her twisted smile should have said enough.
---
Dravite nodded his head in acknowledgement however, something in her warning made him pause. “What do you mean when you say sometimes an outside force steps in?”
His ice blue eyes studied Stibnite closely; even in the dim light he could see her well enough. “There are things in play that are neither aligned with the Negaverse or those terrorists?” If so then that meant that not all anomalies reported on by the media were caused by, or related to, the senshi or their knights. Either way, it was a troubling thing to consider.
---
“Correct.” Stibnite offered as a response, though continued on her course, unchanging as they spoke. “It’s something I have yet to discover a reasonable explanation for but for all this mess, outside things sometimes still get through. Other times, we get dragged to them…” Stibnite shook the thought of the time she spent in a ceil on some strange world or rock. “This is only my guess but something tells me having this many powerful starseeds in such a small space is like a flashing beacon…”
Shaking her head, Stibnite walked from the tree line and into the full view of the obelisk. “It’s why we must always be on guard. Because we never know what awaits us.” Red eyes flickered downward and she kicked a small rock towards the side of the structure.
The rock hit it and bounced. Nothing changed but then something odd began to happen. Before them, it was as if the structure started to ripple. Water almost before it turned solid black.
Stibnite’s brow only cocked.
----
“Hmm…” Dravite summoned his weapon from subspace. In one hand he held on to the feather charm while he allowed the weight of the red crystal to pull about a foot of chain from the loose grip of his other hand. “That was unexpected.”
Gripping the chain he spun the pendant quick enough for it to start whistling before letting it go. The pendant itself struck true but while he had anticipated it breaking upon impact the damn tower seemed to have grabbed ahold of it instead. He gave his weapon a rather sharp tug however instead of the obelisk releasing the gem, as he assumed it would, the links he held onto snapped.
“That was useless” he muttered under his breath. With his strength, the weapon he had been given was nothing more than a delicate necklace. It hurt like a b***h to be hit with and left a rather nasty welt and on a few training sessions it has proven to be useful when choking someone out but times like this it was too frail; or perhaps he was just too rough with it. Either way it didn’t matter; damage done to it was never permanent.
---
“So we have a sticky tower. What the heck is the point of that?” Stibnite questioned, still deciding to play it safe and avoid reaching out to touch the thing with flesh. If a weapon would stick, how the heck did it play with human skin? That was not something she wanted to try out with either herself or her charge.
However with the Order aura she felt closing in on them, now that might have been a better lab rat.
Picking her head up, Stibnite turned slightly back the way they came and gazed into the park. “Pick it up yet?” She questioned Dravite before a sly smile crossed her face. “Some little speck is headed our way. Seems there are foolish ones out tonight.”
~~
Zeta Corvi had been nearby when she had decided to power up. Things had been quiet now for sometime but that didn’t change the fact that she still had a second side to her. A side that she had been ignoring.
Why here? Why now? Zeta couldn’t say. But when she had, she had picked up the aura of a pair of chaos agents and made her way in that direction. Fear was crawling up her spin and into her gut. But that fear was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling mentally after yet another fight with her mother.
Coming into view, she stopped and gazed forward at what looked like a male and female. Taking a deep breath, Zeta called out. “What are you doing? What is that thing?”
---
“I'll take care of this.” If the young senshi was actually expecting an answer from either of the Agents then she was going to be in for a world of disappointment. unfortunately for her Dravite was not one to converse with terrorists on any level of formality, a product of his military training, which meant he felt no inclination to explain that they had no idea either.
Stepping forward he loosened his grip on the remaining chain and gave the feather charm alt the same amount of slack he had given the pendant before striking the tower. “A blessing in disguise it seems.” For it had lured the senshi to them like a moth to a flame. Who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth when there was a starseed ripe for the picking standing just a few feet away?.
---
Stibnite’s first reaction was to take out the target. Her second reaction was to pull back and allow Dravite to handle the matter. He was a skilled fighter but still fresh with battles against those of magical nature. She would not step in unless it became necessary.
Foolish child.
Zeta felt her foot slip back as a gut reaction to the male coming forward. Two hands rose and she felt a cold sweat form. “Look, I don’t want to have to hurt you…” Zeta was bluffing. Bluffing never worked but she still had to try. The young woman had to try something that might not get her killed…
“But if you are up to no good, then I’m afraid I will have to...to do something.” Her mind was racing as she eyed him before tripping over a branch and falling on her a**. Wincing, Zeta quickly grabbed the branch and threw it at him.
---
Dravite easily sidestepped the haphazardly thrown oversized twig and lashed out with the chain in his hand with the intent to wrap it around her forearm. If he missed then oh well the biting sting would be enough to leave a welt if the charm itself didn’t manage to break skin.
The chain whistled through the air and as he expected the senshi flinched; bringing her arms up to protect her face as any normal person would have done. Although rolling out of the way would have been the better option he was not about to complain when his weapon wrapped around her wrist twice and the chain went taught.
Her eyes squeezed shut yet Dravite felt no remorse. If she were just a normal girl neither of them would be in this situation. But she was a terrorist foolish enough to approach them on her own; she deserved no sympathy. With his feet firmly planted, the lieutenant gave the broken end of his weapon a jerking tug to pull the girl up to her feet, it put undue strain on the links but thankfully it held; for now…
Years had been spent grappling with other soldiers both in training and in actual combat. But the senshi was no soldier; not like the hardened men and women he had fought beside while overseas. Her movements were clumsy; disoriented likely from being yanked upright so abruptly, which made it so easy for him to twist her arm behind her back and loop the chain around her neck in a choke hold of sorts.
---
He moved with such trust in his abilities that Zeta almost felt like she was watching a dance. A bit stiff but she didn’t have time to question it as the chain yanked her forward. A ‘yeep’ escaped Zeta’s throat as she felt her body roll over itself. It took another yank before she had to get her feet under her else she worried about being dragged across the ground.
Truly Zeta didn’t have much time to react between being yanked upward, trying to not fall back on her face. Only in her attempt, she missed the skill he used to twist around her, the chain now finding her neck. She could feel cool metal dig into her throat only to have it mix with the pain of her shoulder being pulled backwards.
Why did she always end up with the deadly ones? Not to mention, how was she not dead already?
With her other hand, she tried to claw at the chain to stop it from cutting off her airway. Without her voice, she couldn’t call her shield. Without her shield, how could she protect herself?
Wide green eyes gazed upward at the sky nearly begging for help.
---
Out way past her bedtime, Transylvania had heard whispers of there being something weird at the park. The thing about being a kid, adults never really realize when you’re paying attention to what their saying. So naturally, like the young tween she was, the senshi of garlic decided to sneak out of her house and see what the hush hush gosip was really about.
The amount of activity she felt when powered up was a bit startling. Spread out there was a mix of chaos and order auras that dappled the edge of her senses. For the most part they all seemed to be minding their own business which was fine by her because she wanted to see what was up with this pillar thing.
Unfortunately as she approached the obelisk the feeling of danger made the hair on her arms stand on end and a shiver to run down her spine. Sure the three auras she sensed could be having a civil conversation about what had appeared but her gut said otherwise.
“Uhhh….” Transylvania glanced around hoping to feel anyone, preferably friendly on their way; but after a few seconds she knew that nobody was coming. “Alright then.” She drew in a deep breath to strengthen her resolve and fortify that teenage stubbornness. “I guess it’s up to me!”
Despite knowing that if she could sense them then they could undoubtedly sense her, the senshi of garlic burst through the shrubs a pointed a finger scoldingly at the two agents and yelled “Let… Her… Go!”
Dravite looked over at the kid and raised a brow in her direction. Or else what? he felt the urge to say but kept quiet knowing the girl he held onto was seconds away from passing out in which case he’d have no qualm of dropping her on the ground after procuring her starseed.
---
The edge of a second order aura poked at the back of Stibnite’s mind. Her eyes narrowed watching her ‘student’ prove yet again why he was a perfect addition to the negaverse. No questions, just results. While a small part of her might have felt sorry for the senshi for having no chance, that was easily brushed aside with the knowing that the woman walked into their hands.
Or she was just that foolish. In which case one less idiot.
Red eyes shifted away from watching Dravite when a high pitch voice of someone yet to go through puberty called out. Where Dravite’s eyes might have questioned or else what, Stibnite’s read clearly as you have got to be kidding me.
Stepping closer to Dravite and the senshi, Stibnite let her eyes rest on the chibi. “You have a lot of guts kid. Why don’t you come over here and say that.” Stibnite grinned, casting an eye over her shoulder at the raven haired woman who was clearly slipping in and out of conscious. Meeting Dravite’s eye, she gave him a nod of approval to finish this one off before they took care of the little brat.
---
Having an older sister had its benefits because it meant Transylvania knew that look… Something bad was about to happen and so without much thought she summoned a head of garlic and once the paper like skin flaked away she pointed a finger at the man shouted the name of her attack “I DON'T KNOW THE NAME OF HER ATTYTAAACK"
While Stibs had been the one to provoke the kid, Dravite should have expected to have been the little girls attack despite the fact he was holding in to one of her allies. He could have used the nearly unconscious girls body as a shield if he had noticed the cloves flying his way.
As it was the lieutenant was only able to turn in time to deflect a few unfortunately it did nothing to save him from the feeling of being sprayed by tear gas when her magical ammunition blew up in his face.
Caught in a vicious coughing fit he let go of the blue clad sensei who in turn crumpled to the ground at his feet. His eyes sting like something fierce, making it impossible to see despite there being nothing in his eyes. Damn this senshi magic…
---
The words had come sudden but Stibnite knew what they meant. Magic. The curse these bloody annoyances had over them. It was the last thing anyone needed was to be hit by some stupid spell that made them want to sing and dance.
But when one of the magical hand missiles smacked her in the chest as she turned to gaze at the blue lump on the ground, the Captain couldn’t help it. She started coughing as her eyes began to tear up. Frantically, the Captain tried to block the non-existent spray with her arm only to find that it too had been hit and she just inhaled something even worse…
“Garlic?” Stibs called out, trying to get a look at the child before her eyes watered over. The cough was coming quickly on her as well as she spun back, reached out her hand and grabbed Dravite’s arm.
Without question or warning, she teleported them out of there.
Zeta lay on the ground, a crumbled mess shaking as she tried to breath. Each breath stung and slowly as air filled her lungs again, so did the same cough as the others. The red mark on her throat showed the damage. The lights flashing before her eyes gave her a better idea about how close she had been to passing out.
But it was the smell of the air that made her wish she had.
---
Shanyume
