Domination Break! IC (Started/Accepting/PG16)

[Jake the Sage]

"Not really after that," Kaito said with a grin, joking to keep his nerviousness down. Though he hadn't heard it as loud as Michael the obvious trotting of footsteps had reached his ears, but he couldn't discover the location- nor would he ever get the chance to. Before he could press his ears to either door and guestimate which area it was coming from Michael had already done so and blew the doors locking the stairway clean off their hinges. Which brings us to the present. Smiling he shook his head while the man leapt on the railings, the sound of foot steps heading their way becoming a lot louder. Yet instead of turning to join Michael and Nimue while they headed down the stairs Kaito turned to face whomever was coming. He hadn't planned on fighting anyone, just merely making sure they would not be awake for their escape or alert anyone else if they had been the only ones who'd heard the commotion, [i]"Lets just hope I don't end up getting caught,"[/i] he thought when his partners disappeared.

[encapturer]

"Hmm-hmm-hmmmmmm..."

A bespectacled man in his thirties was fiddling with some levers on a wall, each labeled with some sort of advanced terminology. These levers controlled various machinery in the large expanding room he had made his lab. It was here the strange noises Michael heard originated fro; all of the distinct noises from the machines and enchanted items kind of merged together. It was white noise, usually unnoticable background noise, but this noise was different from the white noise encountered on the upper floors, which could be picked up by someone with superior hearing on the upper floors. Indeed, this man was on the basement floor of the Paradox Magic Crystal Processing Plant, and the entire lab was his playground. All in order to learn the secrets behind Xeno Crystals, of course.

His name tag he wore on his lab coat identified the man as Doctor Andrew Brown, employee of Paradox Magic. It also had his ID number and his photograph. His black hair was perpetually in a mess, which contrasted with his continually upbeat personality. Even though progress was slow, he was still smiling, there *was* still progress made, and until the quarantine was lifted, he expected no one to visit the plant; theives would focus on the warehouse or fabrication plants, and people are too afraid of unprocessed Xeno Crystals in general. And it was all thanks to the government issuing all enchanting factories in Nesland be shut down.

Andrew wasn't lonely, of course. There were three manapods in the room, which are essentially a Xeno Crystal stuck to a pair of legs. If someone did come in and attempt to interrupt his research, they would help subdue the intruder. If they weren't enough, he could call upon the fighting prowess of his assistant. He had run into a girl by the name of Minnie while preparing for the infiltration of his workplace, and he found her to be a perfect helper. She was immune to various functions of the Xeno Crystals he had discovered, making her quite useful. He paid for her services with food and a place to sleep, though he wondered if she was getting bored being stuck underground for over a day now. He had made a note to find out a way to let her outside safely without compromising the experiment, but he drew blanks. It was tough enough evading security and hacking the checkpoints to recognize her and himself as having full access through the plant, and he wasn't quite ready to lose the chance he had.

He glanced at a video feed on one of the terminals he had crudely set up; it had wires running everywhere. On the screen was a guard in his booth, who was just waking up as if he was napping. Andrew found that scene peculiar, that particular guard does not fall asleep on the job at all. Figuring his sleep was magical in nature, he decided to make sure Minnie was awake and alert.

"Hey, Minnie!" Andrew called out. He was very friendly to Minnie, even though he had threatened to report her to the police if she did not help him. He caught her stealing from him, so he thought that was fair. "Minnie, could you be on alert just in case someone came down here?" Andrew turned away from the console he was at to face Minnie, and gave her a smile. "Please?"

[hr]

Zack was having difficulty locating Evan Adarian. No one saw him; there were no soldiers actively looking for him, and he could not sense him. Everything in the town was so... plain, even if half the population happened to be Released. The scene of normality would soon be shattered once he spotted something very peculiar; a ring of fire holding two men who were fighting it out. Inside the ring, he could see signs of electricity being discharged. His eyes widened as soon as he spotted that and began running towards the fight.

Zack knew the one of them was Linus Mathews. His opponent was a mystery, though he did know that he was a Released. And because of that, the Released was in danger. For now, Zack put aside his search for Evan to try to stop that fight; Linus killing a Released would screw everything up...

[hr]

The footsteps suddenly stopped. One one side of the double doors was Kaito, waiting to face whatever was coming through them. The person on the other side was a lone security guard. Instead of heading down the double doors where Kaito stood to protect his allies, he slid back a panel on a wall, revealing a rune. After pressing it, the rune glowed green; the shine easily visible through the small window on the double doors.

Whatever he did, didn't seem good; now there were multiple footsteps heard on the floor they were on. These sounded almost mechanical, and if Kaito turned abound behind him, he would find out why; there was a manapod behind him. Manapods were metallic guardians, made of two feet, and controlled by a magic refine crystal, allowing them to utilize magics against unauthorized personnel. The one behind Kaito began to glow red as it charged a fireball to launch at the man.

[Lust the Lascivious]

''no problem,'' i replied nodding my head right after picking up a tray. the tray had alot of snacks on it with a few drinks mainly tea that i brought over to andrew. setting it on a chair beside him i picked one of them up and poped it into my mouth before pointing at the tray, ''you need to eat too andrew-sama or you cant continue working ...''

it hadnt even ben a day that ive worked for andrew but i already knew i liked him. he had found me stealing some food from him and didnt report me. instead he offered me a job working for him and had keept his deal by paying me in food and a warm place to sleep. i know this is only for a little while until i find kaito-dono but i dont mind it at all

[Jake the Sage]

Kaito watched as the secruity guard activated the rune and could hear the sound of more footsteps, metallic sounding ones, marching throughout the complex; this was of course was only achieved because he strained his ears. [i]"One . . . two . . . no there are more than that . . . possibly at least ten or so?"[/i] he questioned while he listened to the footsteps and noticed a buzzing noise too close to his position. Standing up from his crouched position Kaito turned around to see the Monopod charging a red energy beam pointed at his head and he gave a stifled laugh brought on by a mixture of emberrassment and worry, [i]"Ah . . . crap this ain't good."[/i] In an instant Kaito's eyes shifted from a happily emberrassed expression to a "battle ready" one as he dashed towards the Monopod. Getting past the barrel of the gun/cannon before it was fully charged he slammed his hands into the creature, fingers piercing into the machine's neck, and wrapped his fingers around the wires inside. Yanking with enough strength Kaito fell back as the electricity ran through his body, simultaniously disabling the Monopod without destroying it, and he looked up, "Well besides the midle electrocution . . . I think that went as best it could . . ."

[Magnet Soldier]

"Kaito, Come On!" Michael shouted, his voice somehow amplified by the hall's unnatural straightness. He jumped down from the rail, grabbed Kaito by the scruff of the neck and grabbing Nimue's hand on the way back to the stairwell. "Jump!" He shouted back, hearing Manapod's behind them, preparing spells. Naturally, the two other jumped, as did he, and they dived down the stairwell, towards the bottom floor. The noise was now bursting his ears, and everything else he heard was muffled by it. "Can you two hear that?!" Kazuki shouted to hear himself. He was sure the others should be able to hear it by now, but didn't know exactly.

[encapturer]

"Thank you, Minnie," Doctor Andrew said, taking a sip of the tea that was prepared. He was thankful that Paradox Magic had the foresight to place kitchens for their employees in all of the buildings. "And I know I should probably eat, but we both know we only have a few days at most..." he continued, sounding like he was pleading with Minnie for her permission to keep working. With his drink done, he stood back up to check on the experiment he was running, only to be alerted by a flashing light attached to his makeshift surveillance screen.

After seeing that, Andrew quickly began fiddling with the terminal he was at, then quickly ran to another one across the room. "Minnie, someone is here! We have to get out of here, except no, there's one way out of here, so we have to fight, but what if they're many people?" He was more than panicked, hopping from place to place. "I know! The manapods!" Now with an idea, he dashed over to the three disabled manapods he had repurposed for his use. Outfitted with raw Xeno Crystals, these manapods represent the fruits of his research. "I'll just set these to emit sleep waves, and then we can figure out what to do" he said, placing his hand on each crystal, causing it to glow softly and bring the manapod to life. They each positioned themselves in front of the doors and began emitting their sleep waves.

Little did he know that the three people coming his way were also immune to the Xeno Crystals...

[hr]

The whole corridor lit up, revealing two more manapods circling around the corner behind the one Kaito destroyed. The guard who activated the manapods was now running towards the the double doors, which now were unlocked thanks to the activation of the security system. Seeing the stairwell door blown off, he checked in there first, hearing the sounds of people running below him. They had a good head start, but if they were on the bottom floor, he was confident that he and the manapods backing him up will be able to catch up easily.

On the bottom floor, Michael, Nimue, and Kaito headed down the only hallway available to them. The light that Michael spotted before seemed to come from a large room that lie ahead. There was a transport elevator in the hallway too, but that was obviously powered off as well. That left the large doors at the end of the hallway, containing many warning stickers going on about things about safety procedures, unauthorized personnel, and Xeno Crystals. The three did feel strange waves coming from the other side of the door, but like the waves emitted by Evan earlier, they seemed to bounce harmlessly off of them, leaving them unaffected. Behind them, they could see that the guard from before was chasing after them with two manapods at his side, but he seemed to fall behind as they got closer. About halfway there, he suddenly slumped to the ground - whatever was behind the door was doing something to that guard, but not to the three Released that stood in front of it.

[Jake the Sage]

Kaito looked back at the guard who had fallen down and then at the two manapods that continued to advance. He felt the same feeling he had gotten when he was around Evan, that slight tingle that covered his skin, and believed it was coming from behind the two doors; likewise he believed it was what caused the guard to topple over. Letting out a calm breath he turned to face the door without telling the other two and clenched his fists tightly. He was about to use a technique he hadn't used in a long while, one he would normally ever use in extreme situations, and the result would be . . . showy. Slamming his fist against the steel doors in rapid succession he felt it turn to dust under his blow, nearly half of the door having exploded into metal dust fragments. As the remaining parts of the door fell of the loose hinges Kaito stepped through into the room witha slightly serious expression, "I don't want to fight if I have too . . . so hand over the crystals."

[i]"Man this makes me look like the bad guy here,"[/i] he thought holding out his hand, not having fully surveyed the area around him, or more importantly, the people in the room.

[Kōsuke Ueki]

"What?" asked Johnathan in shock as his eyes widened in the horror of what one of the guards said over the ring of fire. [i]This is bad. I can't dodge the attack, nor can I stop it. What can I do?[/i] Johnathan thought. [i]I can't die now. I have to find out how to stop this attack, to stop this psycho from killing me! I have to win. It's for the sake of the world. If I die now, this may lead to the end of the world in the future. I must win. I just have to!![/i] He then clenched his fists and closed his eyes, concentrating his power to something he had never attempted to do before.

Then suddenly, the flames from the tornado coming from his chain and the flames of the ring of fire began to come towards Johnathan as an red orb of light began to form in front of him, absorbing the flames coming towards him. He opened his eyes as flames arose from them. He then slowly got up and said, "I...will not...LOSE!!" Then the orb disintegrated and the flames formed around his body. "[color="#FF0000"][b]PYRO BURST!!![/b][/color]" As the whip exploded, Johnathan created a shockwave to counteract the explosion. The power was so great that the shockwave overwhelmed the explosion of the overloaded whip and headed straight for Linus at a fast rate.

OoC: This isn't treated as Godmodding, is it? Only at rare time will he use this move. And that's when he feels as though he is going to die.

[encapturer]

((Well, kinda, but it's fine here.))

"Tch..." Linus said outloud as his own move was countered. No, not just countered. His own attack was being used against him. He may be down one blade, but he has more to use. Grabbing two more metallic tube weapons from beneath what remained of his cloak, he prepared to take the brunt of the attack. These weapons both shined a dark brown color, as opposed to the bright yellow of his electricity-based weapon. Within the beams of light they produced, large chunks of rock quickly formed within them. As the stones formed within them grew larger, Linus pointed his weapons forward, to let them fall onto the ground and create a barrier of sorts.

Of course, this was not enough. He knew his own weapons well, and what kind of power would be needed to force the blast back like this. The stone barrier was only one part of his defense. Gripping his now drained weapons tightly, they began to shine faintly; indicating they are recharging their magic batteries. He then threw one to his left, and one to his right. What happened was what Linus expected. The magical explosion generated from his lightning weapon dispersed to his sides, following after his drained stone weapons, reducing the strain on his stone barrier he made.

Once the assault was over; the stone barrier crumbled onto the ground, revealing Linus, panting heavily. On the ground to his left and right were his stone weapons; partially charged, but likely unusable for the time being due to absorbing so much magic at once. Even then, they were unable to get all of the magic; nearby buildings were damaged, though they are able to stand for now. Looking around and seeing all of the damage done calmed Linus' nerves. He was no longer fighting for the sake of fighting, as he was earlier.

"Go check those buildings, guys. Make sure there are no casualties." Linus said to the soldiers outside of the barrier, who took off running to do so. Closing his eyes, he took out another metal tube and activated it, this time revealing a blade made of blue light, with water stirring within the light. He then turned back to his opponent. "I still can't let you leave right now." Linus said to Johnathan, his voice steady. "If you go back now, you'll be able to leave once the DC is done. If not, the we can keep on fighting, but you'll probably end up in jail, or worse. What are you going to do?"

While Linus spoke to Johnathan within the fiery circle, Zack appeared on the scene, in shock from all the damage that was caused. He found himself at a loss for words for once, and instead looked within the ring of fire to watch what would happen next.

[hr]

"No can do," Doctor Andrew replied, not sounding distressed at all. "I... kind of need them for my experiments. But... wow..." Andrew said walking into Kaito's direct line of sight. "You all aren't asleep at all. Are you immune, as well? Perhaps we can deal then." In his mind, these people had the answers he was seeking. They were immune to the Xeno Crystals, and unlike his temporary assistant Minnie, actually actively came here for those same crystals. They must know something about them that he doesn't.

[Magnet Soldier]

[spoiler=OOC]AWW!!! You two ruined my awesome diving down the stairwell scene.[/spoiler]

"Kaito, stop being so Impolite." Michael said, grabbing Kaito's shoulder and pushing past him, inbetween Kaito and Andrew. "I'm sorry, he can be very rude sometimes. What he means is, can we have the Xeno Crystals, [i]Please[/i]?" Michael asked, almost mockingly, but politely. He bowed slightly, noticing the Three Manapods grouped together in one corner and a person, he was unsure which sex, in another. He took this in quickly, as well as escape routes and things to use to their advantage. As he rose his had a polite smile on his face, a plan formulating in his head should the man prove to be aggressive.

[Lust the Lascivious]

It all happened so quickly. One moment there i am offering andrew-sama something to eat and then he begins to act weird. well ... weirder than normal since ive met him. he began racing around the room and clicking buttons before a loud nock on the door caught our attention. then i dont now what happened. the door just disappeared and in walked a man. i couldnt tell who he was with the smoke b ut his voice sounded familiar. coughing i looked up to see kaito-dono asking andrew-sama for something. then another person walked beside him and demanded them. all i could do was watch from my spot on the floor i had been knocked too ...

[encapturer]

((Sorry about the delay, meant to have this finished yesterday ))

[spoiler="Date: 3/3 (Present Day) | Location: Paradox Magic Grounds"]The Paradox Magic grounds were as empty and quiet as before. Empty, except for one area. Outside of the Crystal Processing building was a large collection of guards ; many more than were there originally, and a few manapods to round out their numbers.

"I don't know what kind of fool wants to steal raw Xeno Crystals... but we'll need to bring them into custody." One guard was standing in front of the others, back to the main doorway to the building. "If we're careful, we won't have to worry about the dangers of the crystals, since they'll probably have some way to protect themselves as well." Another guard came out of the building, carrying various wands and equipment.

"Sir," the second guard said. "They've bypassed some of the security somehow, and I found this," he continued showing everyone the card that Kaito stole earlier. "Since one of the checkpoints were disabled outright, I think there are at least two theives in there."

"You heard the man," the first guard said in response. "We stick to the plan. Now let's go get those guys."
[/spoiler]

Doctor Andrew Brown stood silent for a moment, before replying to Michael. "Very well, I'll go ahead and give you some, if you could-"

As Andrew spoke, an alarm began sounding over in the corner of the room. The deactivated checkpoint was actually his doing, which still worked, thanks to some clever masking spells. He had its output routed to the makeshift lab he was working in. He glanced over to the surveillance monitor he had set, flipped through some of the channels, and began shaking nervously.

"They're... coming... the guards... they know already..." Andrew closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before facing the group of people who had came down into the room. He did not know their names, but perhaps they could help, anyway. "Alright, if you want some Xeno Crystals, you'll need to help me out of here," he said firmly, the playfulness in his voice gone. He took off his badge and lab coat and tossed it into an open locker and closed it. "Minnie, can you stand? If you can, help me shut down the systems. Flip those levers over there." Andrew himself was flipping switches and pressing all over the place, and in response all of the machines in the room started stopping. While the machines were shutting down, he turned to Michael, Nimue, and Kaito, and directed them to a large shielded door. He flipped it open, and three large chunks of glowing Xeno Crystals fell to the ground. Each crystal had to be the size of a human torso. Andrew picked one of them up and began carrying it. "You can have that one," he said, motioning his head to the other one on the floor. "You're immune, so you can touch it safely. Once Minnie is finished shutting down the rest of the machines, we can leave.

[hr]

Before Linus was able to get an answer, his radio started going off. He picked it up and placed it to his ear.

"Got it."

That was all he said before putting the radio back on his belt. Apparently someone had broken into Paradox Magic's Xeno Crystal lab, and apprehending them was top priority... for some reason. He wished that he could focus on catching the real criminals, like that Evan Adarian that was supposed to be here. "I am needed someplace else, so stay out of trouble," Linus said, while deactivating his water weapon. Bringing out yet another metal tube, he activated it and a small red dagger of fire was formed by the light. He walked over to the edge of fire barrier Johnathan created, and placed the weapon into it. A pathway opened up, which he passed through. Using a motorcycle that was propped up against a nearby wall, he rode away, presumably to head to Paradox Magic's complex.

Using the doorway Linus opened up, Zack entered the ring of fire, and instantly recognized the face of the one in there. Johnathan was one of the ones who was marked for death back in Eldwund... Zack guessed he was able to escape before Linus got there, only to get stuck inside the quarantined town here. "Fancy meeting you here, Johnathan," Zack said while smiling, he was finally able to contact the last person on his list. A complete briefing on the situation would have to wait, however, as he still needed to find out where Evan Adarian is hiding.

[Magnet Soldier]

Michael cursed and grabbed two of the giant crystals, balancing one in each hand. He used his foot to flick his Katana out of it's sheath, and balanced it on his foot, pointing it out at Kaito. "Grab it!" Michael said, flicking it into the air as he ran towards the steel doors. "You and Nimue defend us. The most important things at the moment are the Xeno Crystals, but only after our lives." Michael said, turning to face Andrews. "Understand that? If anything happens that may put anyone in danger, drop the crystal and run, Okay?"

[Jake the Sage]

Kaito stumbled a bit to grab the katana which was shot at him by Michael, but he successfully grabbed it out of the air. Looking at it he marveled at it's equised beauty but in all honesty didn't know how to use it. In fact he didn't even know how to hold it correctly, as it was shown when he positioned himself in the most awkward position you could imagine. Holding the blade out away form him he looked back to Michael and then glanced over to Minnie, "I'll do my best but don't forget the little girl over there!"

He didn't want anyone to know he knew the girl, though she had called out his name when they first got in. A sweat drop rolled down his cheek as the loud thudding of the enemy raised higher and higher against the alarm signal. [i]"Well lets hope I can fool them into believing I know how to weild this thing,"[/i] he thought once more glancing at the sword. If he needed too he'd discard the weapon, but wasn't sure if he'd have the time or actually remember to grab it once he had to get out.

[Lust the Lascivious]

andrew-sama begantelling me to flipp switches and i didnt want to ask questions ... what with bad guys coming towards us. i got off the ground and started slamming switches off as fast i could only looking every so often to see kaito-dono getting a sword handed too him. when i had flipped the last switch i looked over to andrew-sama and the guy whod thrown kaito-dono the sword ''we arent going to leave them are we?''

i didnt want to leave kaito-dono ofter i had just found him again no matter what the risk. looking at andrew-sama and the man i waited for them to answer while the banging grew louder.

[encapturer]

"Sure..." Doctor Andrew Brown replied to Michael, a little taken aback by the man's forcefulness. Still, he somehow was able to carry two large chunks of crystal with little effort, so he probably knew what he was talking about.

"We're all going together," Andrew said, trying to answer everyone's questions at once. "We'll probably want to either head out through the back door on the first floor, or the garbage chute up on the second floor. Either way, we need to hurry." He moved as quickly as he could while carrying his crystal, and was able to make it to the stairwell with the group before they encountered the first sign of trouble.

Three guards were running down the stairs, who all suddenly stopped when they saw the large group of people coming towards them. Two of them - who were equipped with bucklers - drew their swords to slow down the group of thieves. Meanwhile the third began running back up the stairs, presumably to contact the others who were searching above ground. The two that stayed were visibly shaken as Andrew and Michael approached, and their stances showed that they planned to fight while staying as far away as possible.

[Jake the Sage]

"Okay Micheal you ready?" Kaito said raising the sword to protect everyone from the enemies. When he spotted one of the guards run back up the stairs he guessed what he was going to do- get back up. Looking ove rhis shoulders he gritted his teeth and then at the enemy in front of him, "We need a plan right now!"

Blocking one of the guard's who had lunged at him he shoved him back before kicking him in the stomach. Ducking to avoid getting hit by another enemy Kaito was forced back into the wall and had to roll out of the way to escape another attack. This tiny corridour wasn't making fighting easier for Kaito but as long as he had room to move he could take most of these men out with relative ease. Looking behind him Kaito raised his hand and muttered a single word, causing his hand's palm to glow. With a violent blast he blew a hole in the wall for everyone to escape- there was no use being quite about it anymore . . .

[encapturer]

The hole that Kaito created revealed another part of the building; this area being the underground storage area for the Xeno Crystals, kept nearby the processing zone for ease of use. The crystal formations stored there were [I]huge[/I] showing why the basement level was so deep. The average crystal in this room was about 18 feet tall, making it impossible for them to be carried down the stairs, or even the nearby elevator. There were many shut down manapods nearby... though these were built for labor instead of combat. They were required since no sane human would get near the pure form of the crystals, right?

At least, the two guards thought so. They were tough, as they were able to easily get back to their feet after bearing Kaito's attacks, but they scampered back to the stairwell once they saw the sheer amount of Xeno Crystal that was now exposed. "You crazy?!" One of them said, angry at Kaito in particular. "Of-of course he is. He probably been near those cr-crystals for awhile now!" the other guard replied, still holding his sword up, in case the group decided to push forward.

Doctor Andrew Brown simply sighed. He could not believe how ignorant the masses were. If he had a smaller piece of Xeno Crystal, he could probably get the guards to run away or something, but he did not want to use the large chunk he was carrying right now.

[Lust the Lascivious]

kaito-dono had beaten some of the bad guys who were chasing us but we soon found ourselves at a dead end. blocked in kaito-dono made the wall beside us explode for an escape and then yelled for us to run. but my legs wouldnt move. i was so scared that i might never see him again that i couldnt move an inch. looking between the room filled with glowing crystals and kaito-dono i saw the enemy back off. they asked if kaito-dono was crazy and it got me angry. but then they meantioned the glowing crystals and wouldnt come any closer.

''didn't andrew-sama say i was okay around the glowing crystals?'' i whispered to myself looking at them. the glowing crystals were to big for me to carry or even all of us to carry. but if i could cut it i could get the guards to run away. yes i had to cut it at least enough to make them flee. holding my hands towards the crystals i chanted, ''O septumdecim salamander e incendia! Convenio quod offendo mei hostilis''

my palms grew hot and then shot out fire to the crystal ... smoke making it hard to tell if i made a chunk fall off ...

[encapturer]

The blast from Minnie's spell caused shards to fly all over the place within the storage room. "Take cover!" Doctor Brown yelled, himself quickly ducking behind the wall near the opening to the storage room. He recalled that concussive spells cast on unrefined Xeno Crystals caused them to easily shatter. Unfortunately, the shards that break off fly at such high speeds that they can seriously injure, or even kill a man. One of the shards pierced the heart of one of the guards after the group, who slumped to the ground. The second one quickly dashed up the stairs, but did not escape ungrazed, suffering many cuts to his body. Fortunately, the crystal shard assault subsided after a few moments, and Doctor Brown let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's one way to drive them out!" he said, his perpetual smile back on his face.

[hr]

Zack waited for Johnathan to respond, but there was none. In fact, the ring of fire sustained by Johnathan quickly died out. Zack grit his teeth and dashed over to the now unconscious Johnathan, catching him before he hit the ground.

"Hmm... you seem alright," Zack said, waving his hand over Johnathan's face. Looking around, he noticed a police car... with the keys still inside. How perfect. Carrying Johnathan with him, Zack made his way over to the car and placed the unconscious man inside. Zack began to get in the driver's seat, but a voice called out to him.

"Stop!"

Making the guess that it was one of the soldiers with Johnathan, Zack ignored him and turned the key. As expected, the car flared to life. And with most of the soldiers busy with the rescue effort, they did not give chase. Zack smiled, for now all he had to do was to find Evan, since he had a feeling that this whole quarantine situation was due to something he did.

[Jake the Sage]

Kaito had dragged the rest away from the crystal shards which broke from Minnie's attack, having grabbed her as well, and then looked as the guard fell down; while the other managed to escape. There was no mistaking the look on Minnie's face, she hadn't ever planned on KILLING anyone . . . just trying to escape, and she was shaking in fear. Patting her on the head Kaito gave a warm smile, "Don't worry about what you did Minnie . . . you gave us a chance to escape."

"Now lets not waist it!" he called to veeryone standing back out in the open room. The magical attack from Minnie had been big enough to shatter one of the large crystals completely, leaving a lot of broken pieces sticking out of the wall, but not enough that walking was impossible. Looking around Kaito spotted a way to get out and send his own, unincanted, spell to create the way. Looking at everyone he nodded as sweat dripped down his exhausted face, "Lets get out of here!"

With that the entire group ran, Kaito bringing up the rear to make sure no one followed. As they broke out into the open air Kaito looked down at the inside of his right arm where a shard of the crystal which Minnie exploded had sunk in. It was too dead to simply pull out, but could be cut out when there was enough time. Gritting his teeth he ignored the jabbing pain of the shard digging deeper into his skin, moving it so that no one could spot it, and continued to flee with the rest, [i]"Hope there isn't any lasting side effects of having one of these crystals inside your body,"[/i] the thought fleeted through his mind for a second . . .

[encapturer]

"Stop this nonsense," Zack said, slamming his hands down on the table. He was in the church's basement with Evan Adarian, already in a heated argument. He had finally located him when he went to investigate the strange waves of energy that were flowing through the town. He was especially sensitive to the raw power that Evan was radiating, since he was the one who gave Evan the implant that allows him to release others. When he got there, he was greeted by Mia, who knew the name and led him to Evan. The unconscious Johnathan was still with Zack, of course, and Evan allowed the resting young man to rest on his makeshift bed in the closet.

"I've been reading ancient texts, and I know what I am doing. Since I was artificially granted the ability to release people, I can't use the power of the Xeno Crystals safely. But the people you sent to me, they [I]can[/I]!" Evan retorted. He was standing up, trying to prove his case to Zack.

"Reckless!" Zack countered. He was almost yelling, and it made Mia cower a bit. "You don't know what you are dealing with. Messing with the Xeno Crystals will screw everything up! Why did you think that the crystals must always be handled with care?!"

"Because whatever... whatever the thing that is controlling humanity... doesn't want us to discover how to free ourselves!"

Zack shook his head at Evan's conjecture. "...You fool..."

[hr]

The escape was a success! Doctor Andrew Brown could not believe it. They would probably discover that it was him who broke in originally, but that won't be for [i]days[/i], at least, not until the quarantine was lifted. And he'd be the first out of town when that happened. Of course he'd have to leave Minnie behind, but if his hypothesis was correct, she'd be fine. Of course, it'd be best to test his theory first...

"So Minnie," he asked, once they gotten far enough away to duck in an alleyway to rest. "I see you're kind of familiar with this group that busted us out of there. Care to introduce me to your friends?" He wasn't sure, again, it was a hypothesis, but he always asked questions like that - if he was right, it made him seem smarter than he is, if not then he could play it off as a joke.

[Lust the Lascivious]

thanks to kaito-dono we had all escaped the building and were running away. i was out of breath but really ... really happy to be reunited with kaito-dono after so long. sitting down i looked over at him with a smile. i was amazed how little kaito-dono had changed since i saw him. he was still tall and cool looking which made me turn red. and then andrew-sama asked me something. he had asked if i knew them and if i would introduce them to him. standing back up i nodded my head and walked over to kaito-dono, ''this is kaito-dono ... he is they guy ive been looking for ... i dont know the others.''

[encapturer]

After Minnie introduced her friend Kaito to Doctor Brown, Michael and Nimue formally introduced themselves as well. "And I'm Doctor Andrew Brown, Scientist. Novelist. And now, fugitive." He was still smiling, even after he said that he was now a criminal.

Nimue glanced out of the alleyway; the streets were still mostly empty, due to the fact that the people were now starting to get worried that the epidemic was real as opposed to an elaborate hoax. Doctor Brown drew a sigh of relief at this news - at least not everyone will see them hauling suspicious crystals all over the place.

"So, where are you all headed?" Andrew asked, now placing his crystal on the ground. "I take it you have some sort of hideout, yes?" He couldn't go back home, so his best bet was to stick with the ragtag group of theives, and hope they would be kind to him since he helped out one of their friends.

[Jake the Sage]

Kaito glanced over nerviously at Micheal and Nimue, honestly thinking that they might eliminate the docotr just to cover their tracks; not to mention cause harm to Minnie, which he'd never stand for. However luckily they didn't see enough importance in getting rid of Andrew to kill him on the spot, probably due to the fact he was a fugitive, like he had said, and couldn't run to the authorities even if he wanted to. Sighing he looked over to Andrew with a warm smile, "Anyone who had taken care of Minnie is welcomed to accompant us . . ."

"We really should get moving," he then stated out loud to no one in particular, cradeling his injured arm to prevent the seering pain from becoming too unbearable, and then everyone walked off towards the hideout which Evan had sent them out from.