She had gone to him after the trip to Baikal's wonder.
It had been a difficult choice that she deliberated on for hours, for days before she reached a point where she knew that she needed to make a decision. There were simple facts that she had to accept; Axton had revealed the fact that he was a squire to her under duress, having this knowledge put her in direct conflict with her duties, and Axton continued to be a bit reckless with things now that he knew she knew what he was.
Rory thought it important to note that he still didn't know what she was and there was nothing that she could do about that without potentially putting them in direct opposition of each other. Reven said he loved her and that wouldn't matter, but she couldn't help the part of her that doubted Axton's love for her.
In the end, she'd shown up at Renegade Media-- now Argent Industries -- and asked him for a moment of his time. They'd agreed upon a course of action even though it made her stomach twist into uncomfortable knots.
Axton had a meeting with Chase, but they were going to catch him enroute. She didn't feel good about it, but she knew that bringing Axton to her side of things was the only way to guarantee that he'd stay with her.
(And she hoped that he didn't forget her or resent her for it, she was too desperate to keep the people she loved close, and reasoned that the risk of him dying at the hands of one of her people was too high to let him go about as he was.)
Chase-- No, General Labyrinthite, was more confident than she was.
"If he resists, we break him down and rebuild," he had told her and she had to have faith. He'd been in the service of Metallia long enough and she trusted him to be more reliable, more delicate than her own general when they turned Axton from knight to soldier.
So, she waited in the shadows of an alleyway, nervously looking up at the lurking youma (it'd been Labyrinthite's, the thing that attacked them and she couldn't even be mad about it until everything was settled) who circled overhead.
Somewhere Chase was waiting, just like she was.
beejoux
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 8:42 pm
Axton hadn't actually expected to feel this damn nervous heading back to Argent Industries for his second meeting with Mr. Black. He'd done the leg work; crossed all the t's and dotted the i's. He had a notebook with him with numerous ideas for events laid out in simple bullet points that he was more than willing to expand on, but hadn't wanted to fill the pages with if it hadn't been needed. Chase had struck Axton as a man that appreciated simplicity and cutting out the bullshit.
He hoped he'd been right on that point.
Rory hadn't been available to accompany him today, and he wasn't meeting Desdemona until later, so he was heading into this meeting solo. Which was fine, but the lack of company on the way wasn't helping his nerves much. At least he had his phone.
He glanced up as the bus began to slow, recognized the stop as the one he needed to get off on, and headed for the door once the bus had rolled to a stop. Early evening heat wrapped around him as he stepped out onto the sidewalk and he was thankful he had no plans of patrolling tonight. He would have died all bundled up in this heat.
nuxaz
Beejoux
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:18 am
Axton arrived on the bus that she had expected.
Perhaps that was the nice thing about being familiar with the buses that ran throughout the city and the fact that they were mostly reliable to get to where you needed to go.
Rory's hands were shaking and the phone in her hand trembled enough she thought she might lose her grip on it. She didn't want to do any of this, not when it came down to it, but she knew that she needed to. Them being on different sides of things was a recipe for ruin and at least this way...this way she knew he'd be safer.
She sent a simple text to Chase, notifying him that she'd spotted Axton.
With a shaky breath, she powered up, feeling the pulse of the youma as it circled close enough to feel and waited like they'd discussed.
Once Axton was far enough away from the bus, Koschei swooped down and made his move.
"Little boy, did you think you could crawl out of the rabbit hole?"
beejoux
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 3:49 pm
As a civilian the man couldn't feel the bright beacon of chaotic energy surrounding him, nor the swooping youma circling over head. He was oblivious to the approaching perils until he heard the all too familiar sound of giant wings cutting through the stale summer air a split second before the wind of it's approach stirred his hair and that awful voice descended on him.
"You have got to be ******** kidding me!" Anger and disbelief made it a snarl as Axton throw himself back and sprinted towards the cover of a more secluded side street. Facing off against this damn thing had been enough of a pain in the a** as a squire, he wasn't in any hurry to do it as a civilian. He just needed a bit of cover.
Ducking into the shadows of an alley he summoned his weapon before stepping back out as Baikal. Ice ball swing on it's chain as he whipped his head around to search the air for the youma.
Is it hunting me? He supposed that wasn't outside the realm of possibilities, but he couldn't recall ever hearing about youma's having single minded determination in regards to their prey. They usually seemed more equal opportunity.
Of course now that he was powered he could it, that high level chaotic powers lurking out in the early evening. "s**t..."
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Beejoux
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:43 am
Laughter gurled in the youma's throat, the sound of a dozen birds echoing out of his beak until it filled the air as the boy ran and hid and returned anew. The sight of the weapon didn't seem to deter the creature, who's head swiveled and cocked, near-glowing red eyes blinking in succession at him.
How eerie it must've looked, to see that no matter what the bird did it was always staring, always watching.
From her hiding spot, Hydra shivered, a well of panic sitting heavy on her chest, hidden beneath hands clutched and pressed tightly against the fabric of her fuku. Chase toyed with the cuff of his sleeve beneath his suit jacket, undisturbed by the laughter of the bird or the twisting worry of the girl he could see in the shadows of the night.
He shook out his arms and let chaos ripple over him, crawling up his feet and legs until it covered everything and left something darker, better in his place. It was show time.
"What's the matter mouse? Did you notice the cat's in the room?" Koschei asked, hopping forward when his wings spread and he let out a caw.
Koschei's Flock: Koschei spreads his wings and caws loudly, summoning a flock of shadow birds that attack his intended target. They are used to surround and disorient the target to keep them in place. The flock doesn't physically attack unless the target tries to break out and then the flock uses their beaks and talons to lash out.
Duration: 20 seconds
Birds flew out from his wings to surround the squire, to keep him locked and in place while Hydra and Labyrinthite moved forward. The general's strides were strong, confident, with his shoulders squared and his back straight while the girls was a little more uncertain, hands trembling at her sides.
"Carelessness will be the death of you," Labyrinthite chided, stepping into view as the ravens seemed to clear before him. Hydra came up behind him, teeth digging into her lip but her expression otherwise stoic.
beejoux
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 5:09 pm
Baikal paled as he felt the second high level chaotic aura joining the first. A final nail in the coffin that he had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. No, it was too much of a coincidence for that, as if they'd been lying in wait, but why him?!
Was it because he'd changed so recklessly the last time the bird had attacked him? Had someone other than Rory seen? It never occurred to him that it could be Rory that had sold him out, and why would it? Who would she have even told, and why? No, Someone else on the street must have seen. Someone neither he or teen had noticed at the time.
Not that it really matters right this moment.
Fingers tightening around the chain of his weapon, Baikal took a step back, balancing his weight as he brought the ice orb up and started it swinging. He'd fended the damn bird off before, he could do it agi-
Wings flared open, eerie voice crying out into the darkness, and suddenly there were hundreds, no thousands of birds circling around him. Clawing, pecking, shrieking at him. The squire cried out, more frustration than pain, and swung an arm out, knocking a few small bodies aside but there were more that swooped in to fill that temporary gap. "God damnit!"
Just as quickly they swirled up and away, and Baikal was left staring at the tall figure of a general that looked as if he'd stepped straight out of wonderland. Behind him and younger looking girl, short and nervous. Pale eyes flicked between the two as he turned to face them, arm lifting to get his weapon swinging again.
"Are you my death, then?" He didn't want to die, but he was having a hard time seeing a way around it.
nuxazxx
Beejoux
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 11:54 am
Koschei had seemed to hop backwards, head craning towards the general as if he would pat the bird on the head or as if he might praise the creature for cornering their prey. Labyrinthite did neither of those things.
He moved forward still, trusting that the eternal senshi behind the squire would keep him in place if he tried to run and his youma, the birds he summoned could be summoned again to track and to trap.
Baikal, as he'd been told was the man's name, would not be getting away.
Labyrinthite's mouth split into a leering grin. "No," he said, something glistening in the gold of his eyes," not yet." A dark promise of warning, something that could be but might not be because nothing is sacred or truly promised from the mouth of a man who's darker impulses seek to control him more than they don't.
Hydra shivered, bright eyes blinking when she steps forward, gloved hand reaching for the coat that's too familiar. She knew she didn't want this, that she should have given him a choice but the last person who had a choice left her and she refused to go through that again.
"Please don't resist," she said, struggling to keep her voice from cracking. "You'll only make things worse for yourself."
beejoux
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 6:11 pm
He could feel them closing in on all sides and it left him feeling more than a little twitchy with what tasted like the first stirrings of panic bubbling up in the pit of his gut. Against the bird alone he felt he had a decent shot of walking away again, but that monstrosity paired with an eternal senshi and a general? Not a snowflake's chance in hell.
The general's words were not altogether very reassuring. Baikal found himself taking an involuntary step back from him, only to jerk forward again when he felt the light brush of the small senshi's hands on his coat from behind. "Resist what?" He snapped, turning to keep the two agents in sight(though that put the bird at his back and that wasn't much of an improvement). "I don't know what you want from me."
He tried to think back to anything he could have done that might have drawn this much of the Negaverse's attention but nothing came to mind. He did pick fights with them, didn't actively purse them. He protected civilians from youma, that was it! How'd he end up on their radar?
"I'm not your enemy." Maybe there'd been some sort of mix up. "Hell, I've helped you people before. When a bunch of you got caught and held at that damn prison. I helped you."
nuxaz
Beejoux
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:10 pm
"Please," Hydra found herself pleading, hand pulled back towards her chest when he shifted to keep her in front of him and not behind. Part of her wanted to stop it all, to bring everything a halt and offer him some sort of choice.
But Axton didn't know who she was and she wasn't going to let him know, not now, not when she didn't know what he would come out on the other side remembering.
"We're not here to hurt you," she tried, unable to keep herself from looking at the taller general at her side.
"It'll hurt," he amended, almost looking apologetic for it, "but in the end, you'll be standing on the other side of things." Behind Axton, Koschei cawed, like he was gleeful of what was to come.
"Right," Hydra said, her voice not nearly as confident as General Labyrinthite's. "We're here to bring you with us. To us."
There'd be no death, no loss of life and no loss of friend. They just needed to keep him from resisting and Hydra, in her worry that he would slip away, reached for his hand. "I'm really, really sorry about this," she told him and she'd squeeze his hand if she managed to take it.
Labyrinthite on the other hand, sent out the request for a General-Sovereign with one hand and then, he was in Baikail's space, head cocking as he looked at the main with a hint of intrigue. "Next time, be more cautious, Mr. Finch," he said, delight a dark rumble in his throat when he pressed his hand first against the younger man's chest, then past it into the pocket where the starseed rested so he could wrap his fingers around it.
Part of him wanted to crush it, shatter it and watch the squire shift into something else, but he didn't. For now, it was to keep him in place until their call had been answered. "I look forward to rebuilding you."
beejoux
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:56 pm
The more they talked the clearer it got for him. They weren't here to kill him, this wasn't revenge for some unknown slight. They were recruiting him. "Wait," he protested, even as he felt a small hand catch of his own and squeeze it. He didn't jerk away from her this time, but stared down at her with open confusion and apprehension. "Just wait. I don't...do I know you?" Pale eyes lingered on her face, then snapped over to the tall man to the right.
Things were moving too quickly to really process. He considered trying to send himself the Mercury, but he didn't think he could. The last time he'd done it it had taken a hell of a lot of concentration and he didn't exactly have any o that to spar at the moment. Let alone time.
He took another step back at the general stepped towards him, but unless he wanted to back up into the giant mutant raven from hell there wasn't anywhere left to go.
Silver eyes widened as the general spoke to him by name, and he squeezed the hand in his, body tensing at the brush of fingers against the front of his jacket. Then they were sinking know[i]into[i/] his chest, closing around something inside him, and Baikal grunted, face contoured in pain as his free hand jerked up to grab the other man's wrist. Christ, that hurts! What the ******** was he doing to him?! He could barely even breath.
Then he felt something strong enough to make his blood run cold, and the panic that had ebbed beneath the waves of pain radiating out from his chest boiled out once again to spill out in a tingling rush. He couldn't move, couldn't get away, couldn't even scream as he felt a second hand plunge in through his back and chaos flood into him.
He only dimly heard the general's voice as blackness closed in and ate across his vision. One more unbearable pain, and the next there was just...nothing.
nuxaz
Beejoux
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:28 am
Hydra watched anxiously as Labyrinthite and the General-Sovereign succeeded in doing something she wasn't capable of. There was a flare of envy within her, but she was mostly concerned about the man who's life they were irrevocably changing.
It was for the best, she could keep him safer this way.
Koschei seemed to preen, hopping about as the deed was done before he was dismissed, melting back into the ground like a shadow to return to his home in the Rift.
Labyrinthite, on the other hand, had been concentrating as it was required of him.
As always, it was tempting to shatter the gem in his hand, to break it into something irreparable but it was the girl who still tightly held the hand of the man beginning to wilt that kept him from doing such at thing.
And then, when it was over, when the blue melted into black and the symbol's of mercury broke, he swept the man into his arms like he weighed nothing.
"You may visit him, later," he told Hydra, the snarl on his lips a warning before they were gone in the blink of an eye.
