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[Selena]

ooc: So, so sorry that it took me this long to move along with the plot. Issues and worldly ongoings, you see. Free for all to join. Written quite quickly, so it might be a bit rough.



The Battle of Van'Duras

The subterranean Hakubi Road, named after a former ruler, ran from the innermost regions of the Labyrinth straight into Khuffie's most precious territories. One fork continued directly to the heavily guarded capital. The other turned off towards Van'Duras, an important city in its own right. Attacking the Alliance's central capital would have been suicide. No, it was at Van'Duras that she could make the most of things. It would lure troops away from other cities as they hunted for her, but she could quietly slip away in the well guarded and highly secret tunnel systems built by her ancestors. Her troops would spring up from the underground and then vanish with the dawning sun, like demons rising from their graves.

The end of her great underground march came to a halt a few days after it began. Strategically placed directly under the heart of the city, her soldiers awaited her commands. The shock troops were first in line, she along with them. Then there were grenadiers, their solitary purpose merely to destroy as many buildings and structures as possible. Bowmen and infantry were in the rearguard. They were highly trained, exceptionally skilled, and were master as blending in with the darkness of night. In days of yore, the Labyrinth had been notorious for being nighttime raiders.

“We elite will take out initial resistance silently and swiftly. After the first explosions go off once the grenadiers get above ground, we fall back on our rape and pillage theme. I trust everyone understands?” She asked to her aides.

Nods and affirmative responses. Chikara and Toan were nearby, an awkward silence having fallen over them after the previous argument between the two female rulers. Chik was probably plotting her death, but that was fine. That always happened.

Selena's next word was nearly uttered in a whisper. But it sparked chaos. “Begin.”

The first soldiers in the line opened the entrance to their tunnel, and the elite shock troops began to climb the ladder up to the surface. Boots clanked against the metal bars, and the Heir could only watch the masses take to the streets above. The tunnels opened up on to Rue Jardin, a desolate street in the middle of the city, lined with hanging gardens and trees. Much of its beauty had been burnt in the civil war that had just come through the area. Poor Van'Duras. First the Uradiel army and now the Labyrinth. It was all fine for Selena. A recent conflict meant weary troops and lower army numbers.

She was the thirtieth person of the gate, ascending up the ladder a bit like a well armed monkey. The sun had just gone down, and stars were beginning to appear from behind scattered clouds above. She took in a breath of air. It had just rained. Hopefully it was not so bad that her fireworks would not burn to the best of their abilities. With her feet planted firmly on the ground, she began to rush forward into the shadowed streets, avoiding the torches that lit the way for citizens. The streets were mercifully barren. Most civilians had retreated indoors for the evening.

Her forward soldiers were silently dispatching guards patrolling the streets. The elite warriors sprang from behind corners and dropped down from perches, shoving daggers into the back of their skulls and running swords along their necks. No one had a chance to scream. Selena found one on her own, piercing his armor and chest with her spear. She ripped it back out again, and he fell with a wet thump, blood sinking into cobblestones.

Then, the show truly began. A building far to her left was gutted with a giant roar, and flames shot out from the windows and doors. The weak structure toppled over. Wood, nails and assorted other objects clattered to the ground. More street lights were lit in alarm, and shouting could be heard in the distance. The army was up and alerted now, weren't they! A second building went up. A third. Her grenadiers, all armed with powder kegs, took out targets of opportunity. They hurled molotovs and torches into homes and businesses. All of it was fair game.

Army barracks in the distance spewed forth soldiers and officers. The Alliance army, now in total control of the area once again, surged forward. Her arches and standard infantry were piling out of the tunnels and coming up to meet them. Arrows sailed through the air in every direction. Flames bit at their flesh. Chaos took hold, but her troops felt most at home in such situations.

Selena and her elite soldiers made their way through the city, heading towards Alliance personnel and all those that stood in their way. She looked, oh so briefly, to another exploding building and examined the destruction she had ordered days earlier. It all had a point, and it was being made particularly clear, she felt. She cursed this new international union and lamented the loss of the old ways.

She hoped Khuffie had gotten her message.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel's eyes snapped open. Well, they would have had he been able to see. He sat up quickly. There. There it was again. An average person would have thought it distant thunder, but Steel had been on far too many battlefields to make that mistake, despite the stormclouds slowly dissipating overhead. It was the rumble of an army marching. He swung his legs off of the bed, got to his feet, then concentrated on the sound again. No good. The acoustics of the interior of the old inn threw the sound around so it seemed to come from a point directly over his bed.

Pausing only to grab his Dualist blade, Steel padded silently downstairs into the eating area and outside. Judging from the lack of activity on the streets, it was around 9 O'clock in the evening. He put his ear to the cobblestoned street. No. Impossible. The sound seemed to be coming from underneath the ground. The sound changed subtly and Steel could feel the vibrations. There was no question then. They had begun walking on a different surface, most likely from stone to dirt.

Steel's mind automatically switched into threat analysis and response mode. Threat: Army size? Comparatively small, no more than 5,000 men. Ability and Equipment of the men? Unknown. Objective? Capture of the city, or widespread looting. Steel thought quickly of how he could use the situation to his advantage. The City's archives was sure to have information useful to Dark Juno and the Fortress. One of the Alliance's top Admirals was staying one night in the Governor's Palace. Remove him and the Lalvican would be one measure safer for the pirates.

Steel turned to go back inside the inn, when a black armored figure arose behind him, a sharp dagger driving towards Steel's unprotected skull. Steel brought up the Dualist blade vertically behind his back, the blade deflecting the dagger as it shot out of the scabbard several metres into the sky. He grabbed the armored glove holding the dagger with both hands and flipped the soldier, the man hitting the ground with a clang. The katana, having reached the zenith of it's flight, began to descend, blade downwards. Steel grabbed the hilt when it reached eye level and plunged it into the soldier's heart. They had masked their presence well. Only one organization taught its troops to do that. This changed things somewhat. But no time to worry about that now. Three more had appeared around him. They were almost as stealthy as he'd been. These had proper broadswords. They were smart too, attacking him all at once, unlike common soldiers, who waited their turn patiently. Steel did a handspring off of the shoulders of one of the men, his lack of clothing save a pair of loose pants giving him a significant advantage in agility. He faced the three, waiting for an opportunity to strike. They were good. He would give them that. There was no obvious weakness in their stance, and they seemed as emotionless as Laz assassins.

The inn behind him, his inn, seemed to suddenly explode. Steel turned towards it, and the soldiers charged. One was slightly ahead of the others. They were almost upon him, but then Steel seemed to disappear. He landed catlike behind them. They turned, and the head of the one who had been ahead seemed to split in two as his body hit the stone street. The other two charged, swords forward. The shirtless figure before them turned and thrust his katana into the helmet of one, and its engraved scabbard through the faceplate of the other, the man's skull shattering from the force behind the blow.

Steel turned to the inn, blazing in the night sky along with what seemed like the rest of the city. He kicked down the blazing door and hurried to Freya's room. The door was locked. From the outside. He broke through the thin slats of wood easily. The girl was curled up on the floor. It seemed she'd fainted. Steel picked her up and hurried upstairs. No one there. Good. He retrieved his few supplies and hurried outside. The street the inn was on formed a T with the Rue Jardin, and it was down this street the army marched. Where were Kitsune and Ransom? No matter for the moment, they could take care of themselves. He adjusted Freya's position and ran down the street towards the army, keeping out of sight as best he could. Somehow he managed to remain unseen, working his way up the column until he reached the vanguard, formed mostly of the black armored troops he had engaged earlier. Who was their leader? Wait. There. In the midst of the vanguard. An unmistakable aura which instantly called to mind a face he knew all too well. Selena.

Steel had to admire the strategy. Van'Duras was almost invincible to both siege and assault due to its huge walls and massive food supplies, along with several freshwater springs within the city itself. However, with just a few men Selena and whoever, if anyone, she was working for had managed to surmount both obstacles with ease. But that was unimportant now. A plan was needed. The Alliance forces which defended the city were rushing towards the oncoming army, which Steel guessed was from the Labyrinth. It would be easy to kill the admiral and obtain access to the archives now, but it could be more important to discover what Selena and the Labyrinth were up to. It was possible, but unlikely, that the troops had been told and he could discover it simply by listening to their conversation. He could torture the information out of one of them had he had some time, but time was one thing he did not have, not at the moment in any case. Steel pondered for a moment. Perhaps it would be best to attach himself to the army for awhile. He recalled an ancient proverb once told to him by an old wise man. "The closer you are to danger, the further you are from harm."
He wondered why that phrase had popped into his head at this exact moment. Ironically enough, he'd killed the old man on the very night he spoke that proverb. Inconsequential he supposed. Steel took a deep breath and quickly climbed the building beside him. He leaped off, landing on the head of the soldier beside Selena. The man fell over and was quickly trampled into the dust by the advancing troops. Steel took up the soldier's place and waited to be noticed. He guessed it would not be long.

[SL the Pyro]

A loud snoring was being made from a tall building. Said snoring was distrupted by a loud explosion, causing the person to fall out of bed on his head quite comically. "What in the name or tartar sauce!?" he shouted in disapproval. Sora, the wind sorcerer of Z's gang and undercover operative for Vanadiel, got to his feet and looked out the window. He grimaced upon seeing a very large attack force outside. "Oi gavault! That's a lot of... err, wait a minute..." he said, putting on his green cloak and taking a closer look. "That's not Uradiel... so much for getting my hopes up. The boss man might want to know about this..." he said, pulling out a keychain with seven crystals. He held up the one coloured black, and it glowed, a moment later producing a face. Z's face.

"This can either be really good, or really bad, Sora..." Z said, quite unamused.

"Depends on what you make of it. Take a look-see." Sora said, turning the crystal around so Z could look out the window. "We're under attack, but that's not what we wanted... who are they?"

Z looked closely. "The Labyrinth..."

"...Say what?" Sora said. "What do they want?"

Z glared down at the soldiers. "It seems that the Labyrinth knows about the coming war and is taking advantage of the commotion... this could work well to our plans. If Uradiel doesn't want to get to fighting with Vanadiel, then the Labyrinth will. Perfect; we'll still have a cover as long as they keep up their actions..."

"Sweeeet..." Sora said sadistically. "Sooo... whadoIdo? WhadoIdo?" he asked quickly, as if he were an impatient little child.

"You disappear. Head back to Vanadiel and warn them about this. It'll cause a commotion for sure." Z said, smiling sadistically. "It's almost time for us to begin our plan... just a bit more preparation, and it will begin."

"Roger roger." Sora said, pocketing his crystals and cutting off the communication with Z. He then turned around and let out a loud, howl-like strain of laughter.

Big mistake; as if on queue, a pair of Labyrinth soldiers busted through the door in response to his laugh, their swords drawn. However, they stopped in their tracks. "Wait a minute, that's not a Vanadiel soldier! That's..." one of the soldiers said in complete surprise.

Sora smiled sadistically. "A Sin? Pity your eyes are so good at recognition, because now you know too much..." he said, five blades quickly sliding out of his left sleeve. The soldiers stepped back waiting for an attack, obviously afraid for good reason. "Good-bye."

In the blink of an eye, Sora was on the other side of the soldiers. They screamed in agony as they both had five deadly gashes along their chests, their blood now stained on his swords. They fell over in a heap, and Sora laughed again. Using his wind magic, he blew a hole in the roof and flew out of it, careful not to be seen. He disappeared into the night.

[Selena]

ooc: Don't you already have your two maximum characters, SL?
-----


Selena's men began to disperse, and as she turned to head down an alleyway, she noticed that something was most definitely amiss here. Both her eyebrows went up in wonderment. Dammit, that boy. There was always one in the group. "Ziggy, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times! Stop stripping down in the middle of a fight. Pillage first, then rape."

She then began to focus in on him a little more clearly. That wasn't Ziggy. The stature and complexion of the man was all wrong. She was usually good about Labyrinth soldier names and faces. She'd been with them all long enough to know the difference. This was someone new. She narrowed her eyes. His face looked familiar. Selena had been around the other dorms enough, and had learned even more about them from Chikara, the ambassador, to recognize the face of one of the foremost officers in the Fortress' navy. Two wars and he still wasn't dead? What a fortunate man, indeed! But what was a pirate doing here? And most importantly, could he be trusted? She didn't have much against the other dorms. As it was her goal to remove the Alliance and restore dorms to power, as in the old days, she wasn't closed minded about letting them join in on the fun.

Her spear rested against her shoulder for a moment. She was giddy with pre-raiding excitement. Perhaps some of her caution was tossed aside. "So, are you hoping to be a proper pirate and pillage with us? Or are you going to be horribly noble and force me to stab you in your vain attempt to stop the 'evil, unjust invasion?' In any case, maybe it would be best if you tried putting some clothes, or better yet, armor on?"

[Steel Samurai]

Steel smirked. "Sadly, my clothes perished when your indubitably loyal men blew up my inn. Until I find some more to my liking I'm afraid you'll simply have to live with my horribly flabby body." He flexed his hard, defined muscles. "As for pillaging . . . I haven't pillaged anything since the war ended. It could do no harm to refill my personal coffers. However, I am somewhat . . ."
A commotion suddenly erupted in one of the houses nearby. A dark figure burst out of the roof and flew into the night sky. The figure apparently thought he couldn't be seen. Steel recognized the feel of pure idiocy that accompanied the man. Thrusting Freya's limp figure into the arms of Selena, he leapt up onto the rooftops, chasing the flying figure. Apparently the man could control the wind. He wasn't very good at it though, bobbing from side to side like a boat in a rainstorm, occasionally going in circles. He wasn't going very fast either. Steel pulled two throwing knives from his pouch and threw them unerringly, one burying itself in his back just below the neck, the other taking off an ear. The man screamed and fell from the sky. Steel jogged over and picked up the prostrate figure, retrieving his knives. Good. The man was paralyzed from the shoulders down. His ear was gone completely, the gaping hole in his head bleeding rather profusely. Steel took off the man's shirt and wrapped it around his head, staunching the blood somewhat. It seemed the wizard needed the use of his hands to control the wind, as he simply lay there, moaning. Steel slung the figure over his shoulder and jogged back to the head of the army. He dropped the man at her feet.
"Present for you."

[SL the Pyro]

(Sorry about that, Lena. I was only planning to have the NPC Sora around for that one post to advance my plot; thanks a lot, Steel. )

----------

Sora sagged down into a rather demeaning position on the ground. "Ow." he said as he was dropped. He looked up to see the face of Selena looking down on him. "I tot I saw a Lena-cat! Well, now we know where you snuck off to... goodie, I see fun times ahead." he said, crazy as ever. "Oh, and... PSYCH!" Upon his shouting, his eyes glowed green and a gust of wind erupted from underneath him, blowing him upwards and hopefully blowing his would-be kidnappers away. "Better not bumble around this time; that guy has a good arm." he thought as another gust of wind launched him away, considerably faster than before. His body may be paralyzed, but his wind magic isn't hindered by that. It wasn't long before he was far from Van'Duras.

----------

(Again, sorry about that. I just REALLY don't want any of Z's gang to die yet. I'll tell you when it's okay to start picking fights with them.)

[Selena]

ooc: If they are, in fact, legitimate NPCs, then other people can control what happens to them. Are they NPCs? Or are they yours and yours alone?
----


Selena's eyes fixed themselves on the figure in green that Steel had brought before her like a cat showing off a fresh bird-kill. The heavily injured man then flew off into the night with a burst of wind behind him. He became a dot in the sky, and then vanished entirely. What on earth was that nonsense all about? She blinked once or twice, then looked to Steel. Any domain affiliation was pushed aside due to the sheer confusion that remained. She brought one eyebrow up in wonder. "That was... random. I think you may have just maimed a demonic power ranger or something."

She turned her head towards a fellow Labyrinth soldier. "Did I know that person... thing?"

He shook his head and shrugged. No clue. All right then, whatever. Dealing with nutters was something she was probably used to. They tended to rant then run off, plotting whatever it was they plotted when not in her presence. It was technically in the villain's handbook, but she found it more effective to act like a regular warrior and not strike until the plan was finished and ready to be executed. Regardless of what that had been all about, she looked down at the young bar maid in her arms. Steel had handed her a long legged redhead that looked no more than twenty years of age. She was unconscious, but maintained a delightfully naive expression in her trauma induced slumber. Well, then. What was that she'd said about pillaging first, and then raping? After all, if the raping came first then soldiers would be too tired for the pillaging part, and that was the one that counted.

Selena held her up a bit. "I has a bar wench."

"Ma'am, the regular soldiers have all exited onto Rue Jardin and are spreading down their designated paths," an aide informed. "Grenadiers are heading to the military district."

"Oh, right." She looked off toward the northwest. "I suppose we should help them, then. To the military district. Take out guards and soldiers along the way, naturally."

Her elites continued to press forward, and she followed along. But what of the girl? She could fight adequately with her there. As much fun as it would be to corrupt such a young female in the midst of an invasion, some things had to take precedence. She ducked beneath an incoming arrow and turned her head towards Steel. "Look, is this wench important to you, or can I put her down somewhere? As nice as her ass must surely be, I don't really care to drag it all across the city with me."

[SL the Pyro]

(I know, I'm sorry about that. I just don't want any of the elemental sorcerers to die yet, at least not after a good fight. Steel doesn't seem to grasp the fact that THEY ARE NOT WIMPS. They aren't my characters, I know, I just don't want them to die until I can get my part of the story rolling. Again, sorry about all that, Selena and Steel.)

[Steel Samurai]

OOC - If you really don't want them to die, then you shouldn't probably put them in a battle where some of the most elite soldiers and best fighters are warring. If they're truly NPC's, then you should have little complaint if they get maimed or killed by someone else, especially when you put them in the battle for no apparent reason. Reporting back to "Z" is all well and good, but the task could have just as easily been accomplished by a commoner in Z's pocket. Essentially, if you put random npcs in a combat zone you have to accept the fact that they're going to get maimed or killed. And if you complain because someone did something to "your" NPC, then you need to reevaluate whether that character is actually an NPC or another character of yours. Bah. We need a Chronicles discussion forum.

Steel sighed as the green-clad man flew up into the sky. "Damn. Should've hit him harder. Bally sorcerors, not knowing when they're paralyzed."
He cleaned the blood from his daggers, absent-mindedly grabbing the cape of a nearby Labyrinth soldier to wipe the blood on. The man did not look happy about it, but after Steel's display of marksmanship seemed disinclined to debate the issue. Steel wondered why the green man was there, and what the possible implications could be. He reeked of that upstart Z, and apparently had a similar power. Feh. They were likely involved in some kind of "take over the world" plot. When would these young would-be evil tyrants learn that taking over the world requires so much more than brute strength and power? It requires brains in addition to power, something which they did not seem to have. The magic must've killed their brain cells.
"Look, is this wench important to you, or can I put her down somewhere? As nice as her ass must surely be, I don't really care to drag it all across the city with me." quoth Selena.
"Her ass?" Steel broke from his reverie. "Oh, right. I really shouldn't leave her here. Unfair dismissal lawsuits and whatnot. You understand." He took Freya's slender form from Selena and hoisted her onto his back, tying her arms around his neck. Somehow she was still unconscious. He really should find the poor girl some clothes, she was still clad in her thin nightgown. No time to worry about that now though, the army seemed to be moving again. Towards the military district by the feel of it.

Steel jogged alongside Selena as the army headed towards the Military Quarter. He wondered what had become of Kitsune and Ransom. There was little need to worry; they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.
"As I was going to ask before we were so rudely interrupted by that planeteer, I am curious to know what exactly you hope to accomplish by pillaging the city. Besides the normal of lots of gold and maidens, and or course the pleasure of a good night's pillaging."

[JRPomazon]

"Isn't it obvious?" A child-like voice echoed from the shadows. A person cloaked in gray robes appeared before Steel and Selena. The stranger's face was covered by a hood, only reveling the mouth. On his was a eerie and somewhat repulsive grin, an expression that either instilled fear or hatred. "The bloody princess wants to make a point by destroying this city and the people who live here, am I right? A massacre fuel by the foolish pride of an equally foolish being." The cloaked person began to chuckle, laughing at his own words.

"It doesn't matter what you do, in the bigger picture your battles and victories won't mean a thing." The stranger began to pace along the burning streets. "You'll see for yourself in due time, but I have to ask you something." The pacing stopped and the stranger looked over to Selena. "I'll talk to you later after you've had your fun. But just remember that the Labyrinth wasn't always by itself." The cloaked person turned around, carelessly facing his back to the Labyrinth soldiers. The bloodthirsty vandals began to creep closer. "Have fun," he said as he vanished in front of everyone.

OoC: Hello, sorry about the random intrusion. This guy isn't my normal chronicles character, but he is a specialized NPC. He plays the villain in my story and will have little involvement with everyone else's. The reason he showed up was to help the plot of my story a bit. That's all for now.

[Mystic Kitsune]

(I skimmed most of the page, please feel free to inform me of any inaccuracies. I doubt there are any, since these are mostly references to the other thread.)

Pirate plays, a Shadow in a foolish knightly romance, shadows using grapple-like thingies, the noob squad...and now this.

Where the heck was the noob squad anyway? It must be their bowling night. They always go bowling when they get disappointed on someone who sounded so big and turned out not to do anything at all.

Kitsune awkwardly looked over to Perseus. The expression on Perseus's face already told him that "I'll kill you if you steal another one of my jokes!"

Silence. Where the heck did that come from?

Speaking of "stealing" Where the heck had Steel gone anyway? Randomly running off like that. He can't even see!

Shaking his head, Kitsune just turned to Perseus and asked whether he wanted a cup of tea, ignoring all the sounds of fighting and yelling-bold-text-angry-npc-creator shouts from the side lines.

Edited by Mystic Kitsune, 26 July 2007 - 06:27 PM.

[Selena]

Please read: See my soon to be new post in the discussion thread or risk losing your 'NPC' characters/getting kicked out. [/ooc]

----


So, why was it that all kinds of shadowy figures emerged during times of invasion and slaughter? She really needed to start a council of infamy and depravity, because it was extremely rude to take advantage of another warlord's invasion. If people wanted to get ahead as intimidating figures standing against order and unity, they needed to start their own invasions and loot their own conquered lands. True, there was no honor amongst thieves, but there had to be some sort of ground rules laid out for everyone to understand. Don't sleep with the overlord's girlfriend. Don't take each other's poison serums. Don't mooch off of other people's invasions. Tactless, the lot of them.

In regards to Steel, she sighed and gave him a small shrug before she continued her jog toward the military quarter. "Sort of what he said, but without the 'Selena's foolish' bit. It certainly is to make a point. A rather good one, I might add! It's all a letter to dear Khuffie, telling him that the Alliance is no longer welcome and that domains are once again going to rule the land. As it should be, I would think. Wouldn't that be marvelous? You could raid all you'd like without worry of Alliance naval patrols. We'd be back to honorable clan warfare. Or drunken looting, but that is also wonderful."

She ducked down low and motioned for him to hush. A pair of soldiers were running towards them. She backed herself into a corner, hopped up the wall, and waited for the right timing. Leaping down, she pierced the heart of one using her Kanagida spear. She yanked it free and then opened up the other's jugular with the already bloodied spear tip. Ah, yes, a war was still going on in the middle of their conversation. Best not to forget that fact. She shook the weapon free of blood and continued on her way.

"Although the 'mysterious robed figure,' of which I've known too many by now, made it seem like other dorms were on the move. And, if that is the case, then he would do well to unite with me. But no matter, really." She briefly wondered if that had been One, who had surely been an officer of Laz, but the voice was far different. If she had learned anything thusfar, it was to not trust men in black robes. Or any robes, really. Robes were bad things. Tight leather and armor - that was the way to go.

She pointed her spear at him lightly, though she could tighten her grip in an instant and kill him if she so chose to. "I don't suppose any more of your sea-faring friends are in the area? I wouldn't mind company, and I'm most certain that my dear Admiral DJ wouldn't mind extra gold in his coffers. Gold isn't necessarily what I'm after, so take as many handfuls as you can find. ...The wine and booze is ours, though."

[Steel Samurai]

"Seafarers no. None of them were inclined to break out of Valhalla with me. There were a couple inhabitants of the woods who joined me. And Shiima of course, but I assume you already knew about that. Where is she anyway?" He paused and decapitated a slow moving guard about to cave his skull in with a rather large mace. "I don't know how interested they'd be in pillaging though." He thought for a moment. "There were some pirates down at the docks a couple weeks ago. Got involved in a scuffle with one of the authorities I believe. No, no wait, I killed them on Wednesday for causing trouble in the inn. Sorry." Steel stopped speaking for a moment to deflect an arrow aimed at his heart.
"If you're truly interested in defeating the alliance and returning the land to the way it was in the old days, you'll need a navy. A navy which the labyrinth doesn't have. Make an alliance with the Fortress and you'll have it."

[Selena]

He wasn't too terribly bad for a guy with no eyes. She had to give him that. Shame that there weren't any more Pirates around, but if the Woods also had agents in the area it could make for a very interesting battle. After two giant wars between the dorms, which she had technically engineered, perhaps trying to unite them would prove to be more efficient. She had initially wanted them weakened so that she wouldn't have oppositions from multiple fronts, but... well, if the young officers were willing to work with her, then all the better. It was Juno she was worried most about, of course. Old grudges died hard, but he had always been the apathetic type. Hopefully he wouldn't beat this new ruler for trying to forge such a pact with her kind.

She held up her right hand, balling it into a fist. Her Labyrinth signet ring was on her pinky. She left it hanging there, intending for him to lightly bash knuckles with her. "I'm game if you are."

Let the domain revolution begin.

[Kwicky Koala]

Ducking down the streets of the Van'Duras, Catt realised he was too late to do anything about the Labyrinth's bloodlust. There never was - they were insatiable, all of them. Yet the destruction they brought was attractive in its own way; surely the city had never looked so beautiful, blazing in the darkness? If one could turn off the human suffering and just observe the place in turmoil, it was really quite fascinating. Looking to a market square, he spied a corpulent lieutenant, moustache bristling as he shouted orders from the remains of a war memorial:

"Soldiers of the Labyrinth Army, the women of Van'Duras are yours!"

Catt shuddered at the command and resounding cheers that followed it. In the old days he'd obey - what a terrible way to lose one's virgini-

"Oi! Who's there!"

The foul man had spotted him. Catt had no wish to invite combat and ran back the way he came, turning down another alleyway. He stopped as he noticed two figures talking and hid in the shadows.

Catt gasped. He'd finally found Selena - pity he'd lost Rhia and Khallos in the chaos. From what he could infer, she seemed to be conversing with an unpleasant looking pirate - but this couldn't be right, instead of stabbing him in the kidneys, she had held out her right hand - a sure sign she wanted an allegiance. To make things worse, Catt was sure he recognised the pirate as a senior member of the Forsaken Fortress.

"No" he growled. No good could come of showing oneself so openly to foreign powers. Catt was conservative in his thoughts and believed that the Labyrinth had to maintain its secrecy to ensure its survival. Sure, it was nice to talk about rising up and taking over the world, but what could it come to in the end? Anyone who wasn't part of the Labyrinth feared its name and wanted it destroyed. As if the dreaded Dark Juno would accept this new power rising from the ashes! It was much better to run the place like a gentleman's club - let people come and go as they pleased, able to hold allegiance to other lands. The rulers could play powergames behind the scenes if they wanted to, but keep the place secret!

As soon as he thought this, a man ran down the street, literally on fire. Collapsing near where Catt stood, he let out a dry croak and died. It was a reminder that the Labyrinth had made its mark after all these years, and the days of secrecy were long past.

[Steel Samurai]

"I have only the power to initiate diplomatic negotiations, not finalize them. For that you'll have to speak with Lord Juno. But, for my part, I shall do all I can to make this alliance a reality." Steel tapped his fist firmly on hers, the edge of his Fortress signet clinking lightly against her Labyrinthine one. Something within him wondered if he had made a deal with the devil. Selena did not seem quite the embodiment of pure evil some had made her out to be, however. At least she was open about her deeds and their purpose, rather than hiding behind a facade of searching for peace and justice as Khuffie and the Alliance did. A short, rather portly man, standing on top of a broken statue yelled out

"Soldiers of the Labyrinth Army, the women of Van'Duras are yours!"

Steel turned back to Selena. "Was that supposed to happen yet? I hadn't thought we'd started pillaging."

[Ransom]

Perseus did want some tea, and was about to reply to Kitsune affirmatively when he heard a harsh voice cry out, "This ones mine boys."
Perseus rounded the corner, and saw a big labyrinth soldier crouching over a defenseless, yet attractive young van'durian citizen.
Convincing himself he was noble, Perseus ran to her aid.

"Feel the taste of justice monster!"

The man turned around, only to be stabbed repeatedly in the chest and groinal areas.

"Haha! he left himself exposed!"

Perseus' self esteem was rising rapidly as he stood over his kill.
Kitsune looked unimpressed. What a surprise.

[Mystic Kitsune]

He watched Ransom, all happy, proud, standing tall, grammatically correct. All Kitsune could do is wait for him to realize it, but the light reflecting from his toothy smile was hurting his eyes.

"He was on our side, you tool."

[Ransom]

Perseus stared blankly into space.

"Oh."

Seizing the oppurtunity, Perseus looked around shiftily and then grabbed the girl.

[Mystic Kitsune]

Kitsune thought it would be better to block what he was seeing from his head.

"We have things that need to be done, Perseus."

[Ransom]

Perseus let go of her.

"Alright alright."

Indecisively he turned to the woman. "Ummm... sorry. i'm not usually the rapist type. i just... ummm... you know."
the girl looked around embarrassingly.

A nearby alliance soldier died of awkwardness.

[Mystic Kitsune]

"Come on, stop killing soldiers and let's go find Steel." He said while grabbing Perseus and moving.

[Ransom]

Fortunately for him, Kitsune jerked Perseus away from the awkward situation, allowing him to breathe freely.

"Come on, stop killing soldiers and let's go find Steel."

Perseus stopped and took a run up, and went to launch. He took off and flying close to the ground, scooped up Kitsune.
They gained altitude, and soon they had a view of the whole city.
It was fiery, violent, chaos, and Van'Duras was groaning like an old man in the throes of arthritis.

"Keep a sharp eye out for Steel, and kill some people. or something."

Perseus saw a big group of Alliance soldiers on a street to his left, running toward the main concentration of Selena's troops.
He veered, and dropped altitude, intending to dive low and sweep over their heads.

[Mystic Kitsune]

"Wait...wait...Perseus, that's too low-" he was cut off in mid sentence by Perseus's error in height. Kitsune knew this was going to happen, Perseus has had problems with distance ever since he was dragged along the ground by a horse.

He heard a thick crack on the man's head his foot had smashed, he hoped it wasn't his foot. Tumbling from the inertia, he went rolling over another couple of heads, and the occasional speedbump from the taller soliders. Finally, he rolled off the line, confused, the soldiers turned toward him, but then were run over by Perseus who had somehow looped from the impact and then come down.

Kitsune jumped up and regained his footing just to see a bunch of smashed heads, bruised heads, dead heads, no heads, and a Perseus with...still a head. Good thing, too.

[Ransom]

Perseus thanked Dattatreya the god of Heads that his was still intact and alive.
He looked over at Kitsune. The half demon shrugged. At least they had killed everyone.
Perseus stood up and brushed the blood and eyeballs off himself.

"Steel should be just a head." He said, hoping someone would appreciate his horrible pun.

[Mystic Kitsune]

Kitsune, realizing that some may not realize the pun, had to say outloud to himself to the shadows, "As in, he is forward in this direction, right Perseus? He is not a head by itself, he was not killed, he is just...over there." He said pointing straight in front of them.

[Ransom]

One of the heads nodded in recognition, finally understanding. It then died with the pure joy of enlightenment showing on its face.

Perseus Picked up Kitsune again and they flew off searching the city.

They finally spotted Steel talking to Selena herself, so they landed behind a nearby building, and sat, politely waiting for the conversation to finish.

Perseus looked over at Kitsune.

"Tea?"

[Mystic Kitsune]

Kitsune quietly sat with Perseus and waited. The tea was out of the question, he had lost the kettle sometime during the flight.

Edited by Mystic Kitsune, 30 July 2007 - 09:43 AM.

[Selena]

ooc: Short and sloppy. A bit tired.


Selena turned her head towards the general vicinity of the earlier shout. She shrugged. "Some people just can't control themselves. But so long as people are still on pillage duty, it isn't the end of the world. So to speak."

In regards to Steel's superior, she suddenly felt very much like a seductive teenager trying to coerce the new girl into having sex after school when her parents weren't around. "As for your dear Lord Juno, well... he's not here, is he? You're the one in charge of things. That's what truly matters - the here and now. We'll simply worry about his issues at a later time. If we keep sitting around, however, we'll soon be the sitting ducks for a very angry Alliance owned ar....."

She turned her head around at the sound of a rather large crash, only to catch a glimpse of a winged man (and companion) slam into a crowd of soldiers. Most of her own forces couldn't help but pause and stare at the unexpected incident. Two faces that she knew were vaguely familiar, though she couldn't attach a name to them. Whoever they were, they had technically done her a favor. Which meant that she didn't order their immediate deaths. Shaking her head, she pretended to ignore ever seeing what had just happened. First flying wizards and now angels were falling from heaven only to land, quite curiously, on top of a heap of Alliance soldiers. For a moment, she tried to remember if she had taken any of her brother's hallucinogens before the fight. Because they were certainly working.

Her focus returned to her destination - the military district. If that could be taken out, then the Alliance army would lose its base of operations and would thus be forced to leave the city once overpowered. She shouted out a command for her actual troops. "Elites! Storm the military district and take out those guarding it! Grenadiers, move in behind and use your last charges to take down those buildings!"

It was made so. Her soldiers ran on ahead, and she moved to keep up.

[Steel Samurai]

"It's really rather difficult to be in charge of anything when one's soldiers are scattered willy-nilly across the land. But we'll speak of that later I suppose." Steel cracked his neck and headed off towards the military quarter, motioning for Kitsune and Ransom to follow. Time to do a bit of raiding in the palace.

Freya was beginning to get heavy. Steel untied her arms from around his neck and passed her to Ransom. "Could you do me the favor of flying out of the city and putting her somewhere safe? She's getting a bit heavy." All around them the screams of women being violated (and some men too) could be heard. Steel ignored it, having grown all too used to such during his tenure as Juno's assassin. The bulk of the remaining Alliance forces were gathered in a courtyard up ahead. Steel leapt up upon the roof of a nearby house and, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, skirted them, dropping down silently behind the forces. Hmm. May as well toss the Labyrinth soldiers a bone. Throwing his voice so it appeared to come from within the mass of soldiers themselves, Steel said "Quick! They're behind us! Around the corner!" The soldiers marched off to investigate the cry just as the Labyrinth slammed into their rear. Steel then took off towards the palace.