The Chosen

Link shook his head at the man. He had been shoved back, and now Deron stood with his back to a tiger. He was either very stupid, or insane.

Probably the latter.

With the power in his back legs, he leaped, smashing into Deron's back, hard as he could with another roar, just for show.

Black flames burst around Cyrus with a new-found rage at Hannibal. He didn't know where it came from. He stood on both legs, too much adrenaline pumping to bother with the pain in his right leg. He lunged at Hannibal and they crashed out of the building into the parking lot.

Cyrus jumped back and started creating a large fire ball above him. His whole body was nearly black with the energy that flowed throughout him.

"Cyrus!" Hannibal yelled, "Stop this!"

Cyrus wouldn't listen. He threw the large fire ball at Hannibal but Hannibal easily dodged it. Pulling out his sword, he lunged at Cyrus, stabbing him in the chest where his mark was.

Cyrus's skin turned back to normal as all the flames faded away. He collapsed on the ground. Hannibal put his sword back in his cane and knelt down beside Cyrus. He placed his hand on the stab wound. He transferred his own energy to Cyrus, healing the wound. He looked at his right leg. It was severely wounded. He was able to heal two of the wounds caused by the forks, but he started feeling weak so he had to stop.

"We're working on it. Now that we have the girl it shouldn't be too long until they come to us," Alex said to Janko. "Maybe we should see if she can the shard that's apart of your suit, being as it is smaller than the actual Core itself."

Vera was talking nonsensical nonsense. It jumped from story to story with her occasionally pausing and wondering if she said the right name.

"Oh, let's just call him George," She said, waving her hand, "Anyways, George was this huge, huge guy. I mean like, he uses his third chin as a soup catcher kind of guy. Not the good huge, if you know what I mean," Vera said with a sly wink to Vivien, "Anyways, so he stumbles out of the bar and there's a girl, ahem, 'working it' and he goes up to her. He starts to talk to her and offers to uh, pay up front, and then she turns around and tells him..."

She stopped in front of a door. Her mind seemed to have jumped from that topic to another one and she said, "Oh! We're here!" She dug her fingers into her bra to grab her key and looked at Vivien, "They're the best wallets ever." She explained. She put the key into the door and opened it, allowing Vivien to step in front of her. She immediately waddled over to her dresser and pulled out the drawers. She dumped them onto the bed, showing her massive collection of pajamas.

"Go ahead and pick. I really don't want you to wear my underwear though and my bras won't fit you so you'll have to either wear your dirty underwear or go commando," Vera said bluntly, "Don't worry though! It feels great especially after you shave! You can't use my razor though. That's just gross," She continued, "I think this one will look great on you!" She offered, holding up a pair of blue, white, and grey plaid pajamas. She held it up next to Vivien's face and looked back and forth before nodding her approval.

Heat rose to her face from the stories Vera told, though she was unsuccessful at tuning them out. If Vera was the only female here, V knew she was in for it. A thought entered her mind. Maybe if she could get some of the other members to trust her enough she could trick them or something. It'd save Hannibal the trouble of helping her and possibly getting caught.

She didn't think it'd work, but she could at least try and gain their trust. Maybe then they'd reconsider what they were doing and try a different solution.

She ignored the part about the dirty underwear, not really sure why Vera had even said it, and took the pajama pants, forcing a smile.

"Thanks....Vera. But speaking of showers, where's the nearest bathroom?"

It'd give her an excuse to get away from them for about fifteen minutes, anyway. She needed something to keep her awake too, and usually after she got a shower she wasn't as tired.

DAvid noticed Cel sitting down. Without thinking, he walked up to her.
"Er...hi!" he said.

Vera giddily walked over to the bathroom and opened the door, bowing slightly in a goofy fashion.

"Bathroom's right here, madam. I'd recommend the pomegranate body wash. It smells really great!" Was the redhead's recommendation, "Towels and washcloths are in the closet to the immediate left," She wandered over to her other half of her pajama dresser and opened up a drawer. She tossed a plain white t-shirt over to Vivien.

She waited until Vivien entered the bathroom and then dropped her cheery façade. She sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands, shaking her head a few times. She groaned and thought to herself, her shoulders slumping forward. Could she really be a part of this? Vivien was just a girl. She wasn't even considered an adult yet and here they were, collecting them like sheep to be sacrificed. She wasn't a killer. She wasn't meant to be one. There was a difference between self defense and selfishness. Although Vera wasn't the most selfless person around...

God, what the heck is her problem? Her heart started to feel funny with little tugs pulling at it every so often. There was something nagging at her in the back of her mind. She didn't know how long she sat there, fighting with herself and trying to convince herself that she was doing the right thing.

Unfortunately for Vera, she had an annoying voice called a conscience that kept bugging her.

Cel noticed David try talk to her, kind of nervously.

"Aren't you suppose stay seated so you do hurt yourself? That's what Raize said. I think he did. But what's done is done." she said with a quiet laugh but then stopped. "So, what's up?" she said then watched Raize and Savir for a second, "Their fight is getting intense. Slightly scary."

Vivien sighed, letting the water wash over her body. Was this seriously happen, or was it just one of those freakishly real, freakishly long nightmares? She'd had them before, and she only woke up then because her mother came in and shook her awake.

But she knew it wasn't the case. She shut her eyes, stomach knotting. This was supposed to be her parent's place--her place. Yet she felt like a total stranger. She should remember the layout--the hallways. She wondered where her old room was? Or where any of the other's were? She didn't realize how long she was standing there until the water started to get cold. Hurriedly, she lathered her hair and then used the body wash absently, turning off the water when she was done.

Vera's pajama pants fit, but she had to tie the shirt back with a hair tie because, as she also said, the front was too baggy. She put her mother's necklace back on and located a laundry hamper, tossing the towel and cloth into the basket before opening the door. Normally she would have redone her make-up, but she was in no mood to mess with it. Not that she had any, anyway.

Feel somewhat better...Too bad I can't ignore the fact they'll kill me if the others get caught...Then it'll be my fault they died too... She shook the thought from her head and sighed.

"Well, they fit," she said, attempting a conversation with the older woman, though not noticing her inner fight since V was looking around the room. She was still planning on working with the trust idea. If she could get enough of these guys on their side, they might have a chance.

Vera has never been applauded for her skills of observation.

"Well, they fit," Said Vivien. Vera jumped a mile high, letting a surprised squawk come from her lips, and fell completely off her bed with a loud thud. She hissed in pain and rubbed at her now sore buttocks.

She deflected her clumsy and strange behavior by looking at Vivien and pointing, "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on people?" She said from her vantage point on the floor. She stood up, repeatedly saying, "Owowowowowowow," and poked her sore tailbone a few times. She sighed and shifted from foot to foot. What the heck was she supposed to do now?

"Um... you hungry?" Vera asked awkwardly.

David nodded, trying not to stutter.
"Um...yes, it is. intense i mean. Erm...how are you?"

On the ground with a tiger on top of him. Deron never thought he would go out like this.... He looked over to see Hannibal healing the fire user with the metal stuck in his leg. So it was like that, was it? That trecherous bastard....

"Fine, you want to stop me? You think that'll make all this just go away!?!?" Deron mentally targetted the bolts, rivits, and metal structuring the building used to hold itself together. This was it, his final mission.... "After everything I've done for them... and it all just led up to a single act of treason." He mentioned, supprisingly calmly. "Damnit, Max. You gave me a purpose and I couldn't save the world. This has gone on long enough! The death and destruction... and none of you even know what's at stake, the self sacrifice required to save millions! All you care about is yourselves!"

Suddenly, Deron twisted around and tried to grab onto the tiger's head with his scythe as well as he could. The metal in the building was ready to be activated. Each screw ready to be poistively charged. "You people only care about lust and greed! This world does it, I'm sure of it now! You in particular cared about a special girl, but she's already dead. In this place of enemies and traitors, I'll grant you one final mercy...."

With a thought he activated his most powerful ability! The strain caused thick veins to appear on his eyes as his scythe became negatively charged, hopefully pulling the fire man's still potentially charged leg. His bit his lip out of strain and felt blood come loose. "In death, you shall be reunited!" Deron's grip on his scythe tightened against the tiger's neck! "X-6 gravaton pull!!!"

With the oppositely charged structured being pulled at maxamum force, the entire building simply gave one final groan before falling in on itself.

The air shimmered around Deron and Link. A shield flashed around them, being projected from a ring Skyla wore--it was the only piece of technology she's taken from Valenita, but even though it was strong enough to hold off a large amount of weight, this was definitely pushing it. If she'd even been a second later getting to Link they'd have been crushed. Not that she was doing this for Deron.

"L-Link, get out of here!" she hissed, arms straining. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to keep the shield from breaking for long. This guy's abilities were a LOT stronger than she'd thought. Pulling down a building? She hadn't been expecting it at all. Her arms started to shake more but she forced herself to endure it. Flames panned out from her body and blazed at the metal. She was hoping to melt some of it to lessen the weight, but she wasn't sure it'd help.

~

Vivien shook her head. "Just...ate. Thanks for the offer though." She paused a moment, then looked at Vera. "Hey, I was told about the Core...Think you could take me to get a look at it later?" She wondered if she'd be able to at least make it a little bit stronger. "Not now, but whenever. And uh, where am I going to be sleeping?"

The shield was yellow and slightly translucent around them as Link shifted back into human form, his ears flat on his head and his tail wrapped around him. He placed both his hands on Deron's shoulder, pinning him to the ground, just as he had done thousands of times before in high school wrestling. Tears streamed down his face, his eyes filled with rage and pain, as he growled feraly.

"Take me to her. Now."

"Link!" Skyla yelled at him, slightly more irritated and strained. "Didn't you just hear me? I said get out of here before I can't keep this up anymore! Don't be an idiot! They won't kill her because we still have all of you! They might not hurt her either! But not listening to what I tell you right now isn't going to cut it, dumbass! Get out, now!" By then her flames had made a hole just small enough for Link, in fox, or preferably rabbit form, to escape through. But she couldn't hold it up much more. She was pretty strong for an eighteen year-old, but this was a bit much!

"I'm not supposed to let these people kil lyou, so please, let me do my job!"

"NOO!!" Hannibal yelled as the building collapsed. He dropped his cane and ran to the rubble. He began picking up pieces and throwing them the side. He didn't think he would be able to get to them in time, but he continued digging. That was when Cyrus appeared beside him; he walked with a Hannibal's cane.

The cane dropped as Cyrus covered his arms in blue fire and started helping to remove rubble. They dug as fast as they could, but was probably not fast enough.

Alzack heard the large commotion of falling debris as he drank some ginseng tea. He walked solemly in the vicinity of the large noise, and decided to go on over to the origin of the commotion and see if he could do anything about it. He took notice of a rather large building falling down on a group of people. Immediately he rushed over, massive wood-tendrils shooting from the ground. They carefully blew back debris and sent them flying into the sky. He noticed someone else screaming and digging through the debris. He went over to the man and, without much effort, raised through the debris with the tree roots still active. He then caught the metal frame and tossed it aside with the tree roots.

Alzack noticed the roots grabbing at something and cleared the debris around it to reveal a girl holding up a barrier protecting others inside. Not wanting to interfere, seeing as this man knew the girl, e backed away slowly, breathing softly as the roots went back underground.

Cyrus fell back as the large root things burst from the ground, clearing away the rubble in seconds. Hannibal just held his arm up to deflect things. He helped Cyrus up and they examined the one who suddenly appeared and helped. He wore a fishnet shirt and a white coat.

"The hell's up with those clothes?" Cyrus said, hoping the guy didn't hear.

"Hello," Hannibal said, "My name is Hannibal Stark. This is Cyrus Stark, better known as Cyrus Noble." He picked up his cane and handed it to Cyrus and walked over to the young man. Cyrus just stared at him in shock. Cyrus Stark?!?!?!

Hannibal held his hand out to the young man, "Thank you for helping."

Deron spun the scythe around and easilly knocked the teenager off of him. "I could always take you to her, if you'd be willing to die by her side. But last time I trusted one of you people he got away! You will have another chance to make that choice later."

With supprisingly few words from him, he stumbled away and jumped through the portal back to the otherworld, closing it behind him. Good riddence.... Overall, Deron was satysfied with what he had accomplished. He showed off what terrible power they were capable of, wounded one of them, prehaps perminately, and figured out most of thier abilities. Also Janko had managed to take one of them as Deron found an exploitable weakness in another. With all-else said, it was time to prepare.

Deron looked around and headed twords the dining room. X-6 gravaton force took everything out of him....

Skyla collapsed to her knees, breathing in gasps. The shield faded and her eyes darted around until she spotted the man that had helped. But she didn't have the energy to thank him. Instead, she turned her eyes on Hannibal.

"You...if you're...helping us..." Her vision started to blur. "Please, tell my friend..Tell Raize what happened. Should be...somewhere near here...But I can't stay..awake..."

Using the shield used her own energy, after all. And after that..There was no way she was coming out of that and remain conscious. She fell to her side, still breathing unevenly as she passed out.

Hannibal didn't wait for the young man to respond or shake his hand. He listened to what Skyla had to say about his arrival and started walking away to look for Raize. He took out his pocket watch to lead him to them.

Cyrus quickly caught up to him.

"Cyrus Stark?!?!" Cyrus said, "What the HELL are you talking about?!?!?!?!"

"I am your grandfather," Hannibal replied, "Your name should be Cyrus Stark, not Cyrus Noble."

"Holy hell!!!"

They approached the area Raize and Savir were fighting.

"Gentlemen!" Hannibal yelled at them, "If you could please stop your fighting, Cyrus and I would like to explain to you what just happened."

Hannibal and Cyrus did so.

Alzack grabbed the woman in his arms and looked upwards and to the other men.

"You guys...aren't normal are you? Anyways, I'm Alzack Salazar. You guys better come with me to my house. It's not so cool or anything, but I have food and water if you need any of those. I also have supplies and medical equipment in case you don't Stat for long." He summoned a tree root from the ground, seven more opening up to form a tree tunnel. "Just jump in, the house is at the other end."

"They got Vivien?! Dammit! Link and Skyla are injured too, on top of that..! Urgh! I was sure they'd left!" Furious, he threw his blade into the ground. The cement cracked and the blade stuck in it like a knife to butter.

"Any other time there'd be no way in hell I'd trust you!" he growled to Hannibal, obviously not in the mood. "But right now I don't have a choice. Everyone, follow me."

But he raced ahead of the others, skidding to a stop in front of the now-ruined diner. Everyone had made it, and that was good to see, but...

He looked briefly at the new-comer before hurrying to Link and the now out-cold Skyla. He let out another growl. "Dammit, I shouldn't have left!" How could he be so careless? They knew next to nothing about the group's powers they were going up against--he should have at least suspected one or two managed to stay behind!

"Link, how badly are you hurt?" he muttered, then looked at Alzack. "If you helped them, thanks." But it would have been less bittersweet had he came sooner. He looked at the tree roots, having not come soon enough to hear what the young man said about taking them all back to his place to get much-needed supplies.

"What's with the roots, kid? Don't happen to know any healing, do you?"

"These tree roots heal. It's my own life force." Alzack jumps down into the cave. "C'MOOOONNNNNNNNN…" Alzack appeared in front of a massive tree fort, situated in the middle of a forest. He waited for the others before advancing.

Link only moaned, a little incoherently, his consciousness hazy at best. His back hurt, his side hurt, and he could feel sticky blood dripping down his face, most likely from a gash on his forehead. He neither had the energy, nor the will to stand up right now, and a frightened squeel he recognized, even in his beaten state, did not help to lighten his anxiety.

Emily Mathews, signing as she always did, this time a english diddy about coconuts of various sizes, gazed at the roots holding up the debris, before her eyes found themselves on her injured cousin. She rushed to his side, kneeling down, frantically asking questions like, "what is going on?" and "why is Link hurt?" The reason she was out here in the night slipped her mind, as did the fact that she could control animals with a song.