Transitions

*Wait, is it Shane saying that last line, or someone else?*

*It was Shane*

*Tobias*

"Old man? Pssshh, tis a sad state of affairs in the world when a man my age is considered old," chuckled Tobias. "But bring the young ones in, staying outside is asking for trouble, though I'd prefer if your bird would stay outside, it frightens Megan"

Shane threw the Griffin a look, and silent conversation passed between them for a moment. He and the children then accompanied Tobias inside. Even though the overgrown back yard was only accessible from the air, Tobias bolted the door from the inside once everyone had passed through.

"Expecting trouble?" Asked Shane, smirking.

"Always. But more so recently. Mercenaries have been banging on my door the last few days asking for rifles and pistols, bazookas and smg's. Looks like the citiy's going to war with itself. I've had contractors lloking for hits on all the major leaders and figureheads, all the guildleaders and even some of the gunsmiths. Only one that hasn't been spotted is the GoD, they seem to have escaped it all for some reason...but enough of the gossip, what's got you running around like a chook with no head?"

Shane looked at him pointedly for a long moment, obviously considering no words neccesary.

Tobias had his back turned to Shane, getting drinks from a cooler for them both, but in response to the pregnant silence his stooped back stiffened. He turned around, confronting Shane. "The GoD, seriously?" He looked contemplative for a moment, "I'd kind of figured they were behind the serial assassinations about to hit the area, but it seems they were just on the bottom of the list...Anyway, why on earth would you be stupid enough to accept that kind of commission? It's a death sentence."

"I wasn't really given much choice in the matter, which is kind of why I'm here,' Shane responded, clearly angry at the older man's condescension.

"I make guns Shane, not miracles."

"Well if I have to go through with it, I'd love something to help me with the job; and for you or someone else of the Triste to look after the young ones, but I meant it when I said I had no choice, and I was wondering if Megan could help me with a compulsion..."

"No." Tobias replied flatly. "If you do this job then I'll take the kids in until everything blows over, they get on with Megan anyway, but I'm not draggin her into this hornets nest. I had three hunters asking for missile launchers to go after Gabriel of the Seraphs for goodness sake! Do you know how insane this city is getting if someone's stupid enough to accept a contract on that piece of work?"

There was a sound of a thick book being slammed shut in the adjacent room. Moments later the thin, tall figure of Megan rounded the corner and confronted the two men, and the tired children clustered around or amongst them. "The Wolf puts markers on her compulsions, and I'll not risk her anger by breaking one." She waved her hand minutely, without apparent effect. "But the compulsion will not be as all-consuming as it would soon have grown to be; you will have time to plan, time to assure your survival as you've assured the safety of these little ones.

She grinned suddenly, the ageless glimmer of her eyes becoming suddenly childish and carefree, she helped Shane bring the children into a room lined with cots and beds, a room where the guns that adorned every room of the small compund had been placed carefully out of reach. As Tobias and Shane moved from the room, intending to leave Megan with the other children and discuss the problem facing them further, Megan grabbed Shane's arm.

"There is a storm coming, make sure you survive and help the children weather it....I will not be strong enough.
"I plan to." Shane replied simply, thanking Megan again and moving off with Tobias to discuss logistics and ballistics.

*hope that fits with what people have planned*

*Christie*

Little to the knowledge of Tobias and Shane, Christie was just outside the walls of the fortress, trying to figure out a way in. She had a plan to kidnap one of the children to force Shane to do the best possible job he can do. She wasn't taking any chances.

Christie stole through the trees and underbrush, trying to get a better view of the place she was going to intrude. There, through the treetops was a single white plaster building, with a dark brown roof and no windows. The only way to access it was to either climb the high walls surrounding it, or somehow manage to fly in, which wasn't an option.

Fortunately, there were ruts and holes in the ancient wall, and Christie began the long, tedious journey up the crumbling wall. Minutes later, she was atop the wall and had a great view of the house. It had a huge back yard, and the griffin was snoozing underneath a tree. Christie jumped from the wall, and dashed to the side of the house, where a door was located.

She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She had expected this and brought something useful. Christie reached down to her pants pocket and pulled out a hairpin. It only took her seconds to pick the lock and open the door.

She was inside a room with about four or five sleeping children. Perfect. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for the smallest child. And there, in the farthest bed away, was a little blond girl, who looked to be about three or four.

She tip-toed across the room and grabbed the girl, at the same time putting a hand over her mouth. The girl woke with a start and immediately started struggling. Christie looked about the room for something heavy, and found a book sitting on a night stand. She brought it down on the little girls head, but not before the girl was able to let out the loudest scream she had ever heard. The girl fell unconscious.

Footsteps and shouting came from the other room, terrified, Christie grabbed the little girl and made for the door, but to her dismay, she found that it was shut and, strangely, sealed.

She was trapped.

Shane-

His head jerked up at the scream coming from the kids room. "That was Sarah." Shane said, his voice tight with worry. Jumping up he bolted towards the kids room, Tobias only a few steps behind him.

When he got to the bedroom he took in the scene instantly. The other kids had woken from Sarah's scream. Trace was huddled on his bed, Nick had gone to comfort him, and the twins were trying to help Sarah. That was what he focused on, Christie stood at the other end of the room, desperately looking for a way out. Sarah lay limp in her arms, a small clot of blood staining her hair.

Shane felt his eyes go cold, as his anger flared white hot. He held out his hand and shouted. "Come." Backing the command with his Gift. Sarah flew out of Christie's startled grasp, and settled into Shane's protective embrace.

"Wow." Tobias said, as he stepped up to join him. "You must be pissed if you're actually using your Gift. So, what do we do with her now?"

Gabriel

The entire cathedral lit up with the impact of the rockets, shouts from outside indicating the arrival of well-armed assassins. The low growl of an armoured van signalled their approach, another rocket blowing out a stain glassed window behind the altar.

Gabriel's bodyguards were already moving into strategic positions around the church, weapons drawn and ready.

"Father Lucas!" The head of his security detail yelled, "How should we deal with them?"

Gabriel pushed himself to his feet behind the altar, pulling off his robes to reveal military fatigues and a bullet-proof vest beneath them. He unhooked his sword from beneath the altar, eyes fixed on the door, ears focusing on the sound of the approaching vehicle. "Leave whichever appears to be in charge alive, Brother Gibson. I wish to interrogate him myself."

Gibson nodded, swinging his rifle back to the door. A moment later, the roar of the van's engine reached its peak, and the heavy oak doors buckled inward with its impact, splinters and chunks of wood bursting out from the door. Automatic fire poured out of an opened window, instantly killing two of Gabriel's men. Other Seraphs immediately fired on the van's tires, bursting them. It spun, crashing through several pews before the driver slammed on the brakes.

The doors at the back banged open, and a second assassin jumped out, rocket launched in hand. The weapon whined as it locked on to the altar Gabriel was standing on, and a moment later, the munition was speeding towards him.

With a laugh and a wave of his hand, the young priest sent the rocket careening off into one of the cathedral walls. Even as the assassin dived for cover, trying to reload, bullets shredded through the pew he was hiding behind. Gibson reloaded quickly, then he and the remaining men began advancing on the van.

The remaining two assassins clambered out of the van's cab, hands raised, "Please, we surrender." One said.

Gabriel leaned on his sword a little, looking from one to the other, "Which of you lead this mission?" The speaker pointed immediately to the other, who didn't appear to even have registered the question. Gabriel nodded, "Brother Gibson, kill that one." The brother gave him a confused look, then nodded, firing once.

Gabriel turned to the other once more, "Now, you're not going to lie to me again, mercenary. Who sent you, and, equally importantly, where did you buy such high-quality weapons?"

Christie

Christie saw the anger and hate in both of the men's eyes. They saw her as a criminal. A kidnapper. A murderer. It was overwhelming. She cant believe that this was happening. It was over. They would surely shoot her down.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she dropped down to her knees, with her hands raised. Tears now streaming down her face, her green eyes opened wide, ashamed.

She didn't even register the gunfire that was in the distance. Its just another assassination attempt, or something of the sort. God what has the world come to?

"Go ahead, shoot me," she said. "I can't live in this world anymore. Just think what it used to be like. Kids playing on every street, friendly neighbors, bringing your kid to school. Remember the memories and savor them, for they will never happen again."

Shane and Tobias just stared at her. The anger hadn't vanished. If anything, it had worsened.

Christie lowered her head, finished. Her fate was in their hands. She considered who would take her place in the Wolf Pack.

The children were staring, not at her, but at something behind her, and as Christie turned around, a shudder of terror consumed her.

It was the griffin.

YAY! this is going nicely, you continue on and ill join in in a bit.

Name: Atelda
Age: 13
Gender: female
Outfit: Seraphs
Profesion: Farmer
Gift Level: 4
Appearance: Light blue hair, bangs falling dross one eye. Sea green eyes, Pale skin.
Personality: Kind, willing to share food, loves a god story. She was abandoned at birth, and has had to fight her way through life.

*Okay, I am getting bored..Can anybody answer the last post?*

Roland ran to the edge of the building and jumped, and landed in a roll on the next building. When he rose he was running again. He stopped and looked around once he reached the edge.

This was GoD's territory. It was a jungle, and it's trees stretched miles high. In the distance Roland could just make out the glow from Hiroth, The Gears' capitol city. He fixed the location in his mind, because he wouldn't be able to see it from the streets.

He reached out with his gift and fealt for the minds of the other Gears in his squad, but he couldn't find anything. He cursed. They must be out of range. He looked down and saw the party he had been tracking for the last two days inching along in the street eighty stories below him.

He sighed and thought, this one was going to hurt. He slid his mask over his face and the world went black; he could not see, but instead he fealt with his gift, and sometimes, that was better than sight. He stepped up to the edge and fell. The air whistled past him as he fell. At the last second before he hit the ground he sent out a surge of power from his gift to slow him down, but he still hit the ground hard, really hard.

Roland rose from the crater created by his impact and examined the bone white faces of the men crowded around him. They looked as if they were staring death in the face, and they may have been. Roland grinned behind his mask as he imagined what they must be thinking and said, "Boo"

He put his rifle to his shoulder and fired at the man directly in front of him. There was a crack as the bullets shattered the man's skull, but Roland was a lready gone. He turned to the next person and fired. All ten of the men were dead fifteen seconds later.

He let his rifle hang loosely on it's strap as he stepped out of the two foot deep hole he had been standing in. He slid his mask up so that it wasnt covering his face and went to examine one of the men. These were only the first who tried to kill our leader, how many more will there be? and how much longer do we have until one of them succeeds? he thought.

A voice roused him.

"Roland! Where are you?" It was his squad leader. Roland touched his mind and replied.

"I was cleaning up that mess from the Assassination attempt. Im on second street if you want to come over and have a look."

Roland sat down on a car and waited for the rest of his squad to arrive. He guessed he wouldn;'t be going back to Hiroth today. It was a shame really, he could use some hot cocoa.

When the adrenaline from the fight had faded Roland fealt a pain in his leg. It was soaked with blood. He ran a hand over the wound to draw out the bullet and close the skin up. Even though he sealed it the wound would hurt for a couple of weeks and he would have limp for a while afterwards. He sighed and laid down on the hood to get some sleep, He had used his gift alot today and he was worn out.

I'm waiting for Rubric to post.*

*sorry, I figured since it was youir griffin...my mistake *

Tobias

The griffin ambled into the room, seemingly oblivious to the tension therein. Dusk moved towards the Wolf Pack leader slowly, and with great determination. Reaching Christie, who stood wordessly, tears still in her eyes, the griffin nipped at her with its beak, slashing a shallow wound in her hand. Christie tore her hand out of Dusk's reach but otherwise didn't respond as the griffin eyed the wound appreciatively before trotting away to find himself a roost next to the compund's fireplace.

The bizarre occurance progressed without a singly outcry from any of the humans. It was Shane who recovered first.
"Well Dusk doesn't think you're a threat anymore, but I'd like to hear a good reason why we shouldn't string you up, or shoot you where you stand." His fingers traced the holster at his side as if to make good on the threat there and then.

"You don't understand. I protect my family just as you protect yours," Christie protested, regaining her composure. "The leader of the GoD needs to die, and you were the best man for the job."

"And the Compulsion, the kidnapping?" Shane cradled Sarah close even as he shielded the other children behind him, "are we all just tools to be used and discarded?"

"If I'd escaped from here, none of you would have been hurt, the GoD hit would be done and both of our families would be safe."

Tobias spoke for the first time, moving what might have been an execution a moment ago firmly into the domain of a conversation. "Except that killing the GoD leader wouldn't change their attitudes toward you for the better, if you kill one, another arises, the same except with more anger toward you."

Megan spoke, and it was not until she spoke that Tobias realised she should have been in the room with the children when Christie attacked: rather than on the roof. She climbed down the ladder that lead to the bare concrete roof before speaking. "Unless the leader of the GoD was not the real target of the hit." She looked at Christie with the usual disdain, but Tobias noticed something mingled in there, a hint of...sympathy?

"No." Shane disagreed. "Even after your help I still feel the compulsion to kill him, and no more than him if I can help it..." Shane trailed off as he realised the lengths Christie had gone to to ensure a minimal loss of life.

"Open your minds!" Megan ordered, as if she were the teacher speaking to disgruntled children, rather than a girl speaking to her elders. "Either Shane attempts the hit on GoD leader, whether succesful or not, and the GoD exact reprisals against the Triste for protecting his foster-children, or we catch Christie here and now, presumabely kill her, and suffer those same reprisals at the hands of the Wolf Pack."

"Either way the children are in danger as are your faction," Shane pointed out to Tobias.

"No!" shouted Megan. "It's bigger than that. Uncle Tobias has told you about all the assassinations being planned, and all they accomplish is to sow deeper emnity between the factions, decapitate some, and ensure death and destruction! No faction is favoured, all suffer for it, which means..."

Christie wiped the last of the tears from her eyes as she interrupted Megan, "We're all being played for fools, by someone else."

*Dun Dun Duuuuuuuun*

OOC: can you people read minds? O.o
anyway im going out of town until january fourth or third so you guys will be running the show. Have fun with it, My guy will just be out in the city looking around for people.

Christie

Everybody stared at Christie in shock. All that they had done to protect their families and friends had gone for naught.

"But how do we know that is true?" said Shane. "How do we know that we can trust what she says?"

"If it is true, then everything we're saying now is a lie." Megan shifted anxiously.

Christie stood there, numb. She had to get back to the Wolf Pack. The were most likely short on food and water.

"I have to leave. I sense that my family is in danger. Something horrible is going to happen, I just know it." and with that, Christie took a long lingering look into Shane's eyes, begging forgiveness.


She walked out the door.