Safe Haven? [FINISHED]

[nascent]

Kassom really, really didn't like being ignored in a situation like this. Fortunately, however, being ignored did occasionally have its benefits... especially when it causes people to underestimate you. The small pools of liquid metal on the ground began to stir almost as soon as they landed, sliding silently along the cobblestone like snakes before reaching their new intended targets: the boots of the mysterious masked men. With any luck not a one of them would notice that a droplet of metal now crawled up and secured itself to each one's shoe, the rest of it returning to an inert form laying passively on the pavement.

The young lynx had to suppress a grin at his master's cleverness. Though he'd originally intended to get a droplet onto the woman, sneaking one onto each attacker was just as good for his purposes. Those drops would be useful later... but right now there was a battle to attend to.

"Time to get serious!"

Ilaelis slammed his hands flat onto the cement, sending thin razors of liquid metal out of his host's pores and into the ground. Moments later, the pavement underneath one of the un-confronted mask-bearers ruptured upwards as three sharp spikes of solid stone aimed to stab the enemy's legs and mid-body. With any luck he'd be able to debilitate this opponent.

[Shinn]

With the woman being handed over to a new masked creature, she was moments away from being taken away into the portal and never being seen again. All of this effort into just taking this woman into the portal would make anyone wonder what was so important that these things would risk their so called 'lives'? But the answers to that would have to be told another day, for now they were beginning to be at a disadvantage.

Cid managed to impale one of the creatures that he had rammed himself into. It let out a shriek of agony before vanishing into nothing but dust in the wind. While that one was gone, the one that was behind it went in to attack Cid landing a few hits but was caught off guard by the Gummi mechanic and was then hit across the head with the butt of Cids spear. The force from the attack seemed to stretch the creatures neck out like an accordion. The creature fell back but was not dead. Using its other leg it spun itself around kicking Cid across the face with the same amount of strength he had used on it.

While this was happening the other man known as Kassom had strategically used the melted metal from the blade and trapped one of the other masked creatures. Unable to move it fell victim to his next attack. From out of nowhere the ground shot out thee spikes impaling the creature. It also began to fade away into nothing but billions of dust particles.

With two down there was only the one carrying the woman left to defend itself from anymore attacks. Luckily it was near the portal and was almost there......

That is until a dark portal appeared out of nowhere and Leon randomly appeared in the picture. Immediately he assessed the situation and took action dashing towards the masked creature. Apparently though he was unaware of how these creatures worked, just as he was about to reach for the woman and grab her she along with her captor vanished from his grasp. They quickly appeared a few feet behind the warrior and continued racing towards the portal which was just a few feet away as well.

Leon might have reacted quickly to what was happening right then and there when he arrived but he didn't know anything about the monsters and their unique way of running. The creature continued to disappear and reappear a few feet further in quick flashes until it finally reached the portal. Once it got there t jumped inside along with the woman in its arms the both of them instantly fading away into the light. The second they were in the portal disappeared and they were gone for good.

It would seem that after this it would all be said and done but it was far from over. Not to long after the slain creatures had disappeared did they return to the area from out of nowhere. One appearing behind Kassom like a horror movie villain. The other appeared behind Leon not making any sudden movements. They just stood there motionless, the same went for the one that had kicked Cid.

[Squall Leonhart]

Left in the dust due to his late appearance Leon turned his head plenty in time to see the remainder of the stranger's odd movements and final escape. There weren't an especially large number of people living in radiant garden to begin with and Squall made a point to at least know the faces of most of them. He quickly racked his brain, trying to think if he could place the woman's, though he would be doing to as background thought while a fight was still going on. The warrior gritted his teeth at the loss but at least wanted to help Cid in his fight. Before he could move to do so however, one of the strange invaders randomly appeared behind himself and the another of each of the other two.

Our would-be 'heroes' were in a bit of a bind now, it seemed. How would they get out of it? Did they even really need to? Either way Leon knew one thing: This was still preferable to where he had just come from.

"Anything I should know about this, Cid?" the scarred swordsman asked rather bluntly as he watched the mystery guest from the left eye of his already half-turned head. He didn't want any more surprises than were necessary. He'd already experienced two in a very short time span, both of which were unpleasant.

[High's .Valentine.]

It might have been a mistake to hold onto the enemy’s leg. His struck seemed to have crushed the creature’s skull, but it appeared that it wasn’t going fall that easily. The counter attack was again, unexpected, but hey, Cid lives for the unexpected. Dropping the clammy leg, he instinctively raised an arm to protect his head, but wasn’t fast enough to completely block the attack.

The man might have been kicked in the face, but hey, he was not going to go down with a groan. Hell no. Instead, the minute he was kicked—the force of the impact was so great that Cid thought his face was going to tear right off—the man was of course, snapped back, and his disgruntled blue eyes caught sight of something…a familiar burnet. The mechanic’s wide grin as he fell implied the assumption that everything was going to be alright now.

But of course, Cid’s assumptions couldn’t always be accurate. Why, the man would be a lot richer. But of all the times he could be right, if only this once…

“DAMNBIT!”

As soon as he smacked into the cobbled floor, he raised his bloodied face and roared at the long gone portal. “Damnbit, Cid!” Hissing profanity, he clutched at his nose, which was a bloody mess. The kick might not have shattered his cheek thanks to his instinctive block, but the force of it probably broke his nose and bruised his jaw. None of it hurts as much as the thought that another one had disappeared though…

Though the man was overbearing, loud, and rude, he was…conscious of the meager individuals of the town. The very reason why he became a part of the committee was because he cared for the place. But most importantly he…oh let’s just put it bluntly. Cid cared for the people of Radiant Garden. And no matter how much he griped and growled and complained, he still cared. He knew them, and his job was to protect them. To have someone he knew carted away right under his [currently broken] nose…

Grinding his teeth like an infuriated bull, the blond mechanic reached for his spear. The man had taken on a few too many hits today, and with the swift defeat, the adrenaline was already wearing off. Oh, there was going to be a lot of aches and pains tomorrow awaiting the over eager Cid.

Unfortunately for Cid, it wasn’t time for a cup of tea to revitalize that burned ego of his. The masked creature he had killed reappeared, one of them standing behind Leon. Snapping around, one of his hands now a macabre red and slippery with blood, Cid glowered at his stuffy opponent, who was…not doing anything surprisingly.

The man did not consider the motive behind such a strange halt in action. There was nothing he wished more than impaling another one of these things. The energy rushed back to his weakened limbs.

“Oh yer gonna get it…” Pushing himself up, Cid would have thrown himself at the monster, spear first, but the blunt voice behind him stopped him from beating the thing into a pulp…lucky monster. Without turning around, the mechanic answered bitterly.

“What’s there ta know? You saw what they did. They’re the ones cartin off all bem missin ones…an the devil ‘imself dun like em much…either bat or them got lots of companions.” Glancing at the one behind the furry rogue and the one that he should have killed, the man stopped talking, breathing painfully through his mouth.

[Cid muse! I be flowing with Cid muse!! ]

[nascent]

(OOC: Indeed you do, Northie! You certainly have the character down pat, no doubt about that!)


'Well now... looks like round two.' Kassom mused, spinning around to face his renewed opponent.

<<No... not yet.>> Ilaelis interrupted him, using his will to make Kassom take two steps back instead of lunging in to attack. <<Something's changed... but I can't tell what.>>

'Like the fact that they're seemingly back from the dead?'

<<More than that. Subtler. I'm not sure of the details, so keep your guard up.>>

"So..." Kassom spoke, not turning his gaze from the masked foe who'd appeared unsettlingly close behind him. "Anyone have an idea what these things are? Or why they wanted that dame so bad? Not that I care, mind you... but it'd be nice to know just what it is I'm sticking my neck out for here."

[Shinn]

"Well it seems pretty pointless to ask these questions now huh?" an omnipotent womanly voice said. The masked creatures all began to look up into the black sky making strange shaking movements and unrecognizable whispers began to come from out their masks. A beam of light shot from the dark clouds striking the roof of a nearby house tearing a huge hole through the roof that was 10X10 feet in diameter.

As the beam began to fade away a dark figure rose from the house but was still hard to see due to the brightness of the light. Eventually as the beam faded away the figure was easier to make out. A voluptuous woman with black hair, skin as light as that of the masked creatures and a black and yellow striped skin tight dress revealing most of her legs and her cleavage. She wore loads of Gothic makeup and had her hair tied up in a knot but the hair still went down to her mid back area. She also wore a pair of small yellow sunglasses and yellow GO-GO boots. Her accessories consisted of two large and thick silver rings she wore on each wrist as bracelets and a gold necklace with an upside down ruby heart.

She looked at the three young men lustfully as if she were checking them out. She gave a wink and smiled. "Tee hee boy you guys must have all the luck with the ladies huh?" she said in a very obvious sarcastic tone of voice. "No wonder my boys here had to snatch that pretty lady from you three. You guys would have had no trouble sweeping her off her feet with those looks. It just wouldn't be fair now would it?"

She hovered over to where she could stand on her feet but still stayed above the three men. She then bent over as if she wanted to tell them a secret or to get them distracted on something else. "Don't worry though, I'm gonna take good care of her you can count on that. Shes in a better place now away from this place."

[Squall Leonhart]

'Guess I wasn't too late for the main event,' Squall thought when he saw the light crash down after hearing the voice.(Wonderful... now Leon had another building to repair.) The woman emerging from the wreckage certainly seemed to want to stand out. He'd have to be careful abotu anything else trying to slip by iunder the radar, especially from the stranger still in his "personal space".

"There are a lot of places nicer than this world," Leon answered in his usual manner. The swordsman devoted a few seconds at time looking form his right eye at the woman and from his left at the masked figure right behind him, all senses tense with the instincts of an experienced warrior. "But people don't generally have to be abducted to go to them. Care to say any more on the matter?"

Leon felt something strange in the back of his mind. It didn't start until after he'd already spoken his piece so he doubted it was something the new arrival had brought with her. The timing didn't match, though he couldn't be too sure. It slightly reminded him of the dizziness he'd had a few moments ago, if far less aggressive. It was at the least distracting him from his goal of recalling where he knew the woman's face.

Honestly, he didn't need this many things going wrong at once.

[nascent]

Kassom couldn't resist the urge to grin. Now things were really getting interesting! Seemingly ignoring the masked phantom who'd appeared behind him moments earlier, the young lynx took a few very casual-looking steps towards the building upon which their new arrival perched.

"Ah, so the leader graces us with her presence? I'm honored." He swept into a low, deep, flourishing and vastly overdramatic bow. "In all honesty, it's no concern of mine what happens to these people. I was just passing through and became interested in what was taking place here... though I may perhaps have been a little over-zealous. If I may say so your warriors aren't half bad, and I do hope there's no hard feelings."

"So, by what name can we call this halcyon paramour who descends wingless from the skies?" He gestured with one open hand up toward the woman, making sure to lay the poetic flattery on thick. Rule #1 of diplomatically evaluating a situation is to never close any door until you know where it leads, a fact Kassom knew and practiced very well. Of course, the grim engineer and the gunblader probably would be none too happy about his "friendly advances" to someone who was clearly their enemy... but it was Kassom's policy to play as many sides of a conflict as suited his aims. That's just how he operated.

[High's .Valentine.]

[*cover Cid’s eyes*.__. ]

If Cid had never been astonished in his life, or shocked by any strange event, now was the time for the man to get acquainted with the the spine tingling sensation of ‘SURPRISE!’. Not that 'SURPRISE!' ever meant anything good, and the spine tingling might just be the feeling of an axe chopping into your torso, but I digress.

The hole in the roof did nothing to help either. Like Leon, Cid’s first grim thought was more shingles to replace…, but then the promiscuous female that emerged from the glare immediately shifted his gear. He forgot about the clammy mummy that he was supposed to be cautious about, his blue eyes watching the female with the heavy makeup.

She spoke, winking at the three with the look of a desperate hooker, and laughed at them. There was a short momentary silence after she spoke, broken only by an awkward cough from the middle aged man. He remained unusually silent as she spoke, breathing heavily through his mouth due to his broken nose. Looking to the side, it wasn’t odd to find that his friend Leon seemed unperturbed by the woman’s attempts of…seduction? Another glance at the thief, Cid grimaced. Such fanciful words seemed unfitting for such a female. Unfortunately for the woman, the only things that had ever succeeded in fully gathering the man’s attention were machinery and…a certain other someone.

“How bout I return that favor?” Cid butted in, refusing to allow any more sugary banter from Kassom. Cid’s not much for chivalry, but he had never hit a woman before [verbal abuse does not count], however, there are times when personal ethics must be put aside for the greater good. Regardless, the mechanic wasn’t sure if he was ready to drop his ethics today. But in the name of self defense…

Raising his spear, he assumed a hesitant offensive stance, appearing quite gruesome with his bloody nose and venomous scowl. At the same time, the man tensed up, registering the presence next to him. Would it rush into offense the minute he raised his weapon against its Mistress?

[Shinn]

"You'd be surprised to know just how many better places there are out there handsome." The woman snapped back at his first comment."But I haven't abducted anyone today Scarface. That lady you guys failed to "rescue" was destined to leave this so called Radiant Garden." She left it at that and walked over to the direction of Kassom. Now this guy was quite the character, unlike the other two he wasn't here for the whole hero act of rescuing the damsel in distress. He really didn't even care what would happen to her. This just really disgusted the lady in yellow like nothing else.

"You know it's men like you that tick me off in a real bad way. My boys here are risking their necks and you just come prancing around here trying to flex your muscles for some kind of self satisfaction. Get the hell over yourself." She snapped her fingers causing the masked men to snap out of their trance-like state and leave in their own individual portals.

"You don't need to know their names since all you guys seem to do is just try and kill them. What good would it do huh?" No longer able to look at him anymore she turned around back towards Leon and Cid.

"Besides this will be the last time you guys see them, in this world anyways. It isn't like they can come back here now there ain't gonna be anything to come back to." She had a feeling those words would definetly it Leon and Cid, especially Leon right here it hurts. "What are you gonna call yourself after that Scarface?"

[Squall Leonhart]

Surprised? No he wouldn't. This town needed an automated defence system just to give its citizens a passable sense of security against the ever-present Heartless. Being better than here as it wa snow would be an easy feat. Still, he couldn't help but think the girl was

Destiny huh? Leon wasn't that big a fan of destiny. He was on friendly terms with it since it had given them and their world Sora to help them... but part of the swordsman would always begrudge the fact that destiny couldn't have picked him. Still he was strong enough to accept things as they were meant to be. He just wasn't so confident that this woman and her "boys" were really on destiny's side yet. That was one of this world's citizen's they'd run off with, and according to Cid's deductions probably all the other missing ones. That he took personally.

Though he was a bit worried about Cid jumping the gun when he saw the spear move Leon was glad to see the woman dismiss the masked ones after chewing out the other stranger. He didn't want to escalate the situation here if it could be helped, especially with Highwind hurt already. He'd have to wait for the girl to finish her stereotypically-long speech before he continued. Mysterious invaders always did seem to like to talk without ever saying what you wanted.

The hand around the gunblade tightened as its owner's eyes narrowed. This woman had just pulled a reaction from him, which was doubtless what she wanted to see. he hated giving her that and normally a poker face would be all anyone would receive for such attempts. Still, she hadn't just implied that their home was going to be destroyed all over again, something Leon would rather die than allow to happen a second time. No, she had also implied something much more intimate. Something that he wasn't at all comfortable with her knowing.

"It's not every day I get to meet someone who knows my name," Squall Leonhart said to the yet-nameless one. Obviously he couldn't mean the name taken upon himself over a decade ago. Many people in the world-traveling circles knew the name Leon. Knowing that it wasn't real, however, was knowledge far less easy to come across. "Should I know yours too?"

[Shinn]

"I don't have one to give to someone like you." the femme fatale said rolling her eyes at him. She was a bit disappointed that the scarred warrior hadn't attempted to strike her after what she said. The small pleasure she got from his anger just wasn't enough for the dangerously gorgeous woman. She needed to dig a bit deeper if she wanted to see his true colors. "Now just stay there like a good boy and let me do what I need to do. No need for you to actually do something this time around and fail."

She snapped her fingers again opening up a white portal behind her. She bent over once more trying to look sexy (although to most young men it wasn't that hard) and gave Leon a wink. "Hope you have everything you need for Traverse Town." With that said, she blew them a kiss goodbye and took a step back into her portal. Once she was completely inside the portal closed up and vanished.

Although it looked as though it was all said and done it was far from it. Not that far from where the three were another beam shot down from the dark cloudy sky near where Ansems laboratory was located. Before the three could go and check it out, each were instantly met with two of the masked creatures. They stood there for a second before they snapped their necks and went in to attack.

[You now have to reach Ansems lab and stop the woman before its too late. You have to go through three areas before you can reach her. Time Limit before it all ends 15 turns. Good luck.]

[nascent]

" 'La belle dame sans merci'..." Kassom grumbled, far from happy with how the exchange had gone. She had some nerve for sure, treating him like an unruly child and looking down on him like that. Sure, he'd more or less entered the fray out of curiosity (and just a touch of boredom), but that was no reason to be rude! Hmph! Next time they met, Kassom planned to show that yellow-striped ***** that she was the one who had quite a bit of 'getting over herself' to do!

And, no surprise, moments after Ms. Sure Of Herself left more of her 'boys' popped in, eager to fight. Well, for someone who looked down upon 'men like him', Ms. Queen Bee sure associated with a whole lot of them! Kassom glared at his two opponents while thinking over the woman's parting words. He had no idea where Traverse Town was, or of its significance, but it was pretty darn clear that she didn't want any of the three men going anywhere.

Then he spotted another beam of light come crashing down not far away, and his suspicions were confirmed. That woman was after something... he'd just have to pay her a visit, then!

"Hey, you guys!" Kassom shouted over to Leon and Cid while doing his best to steer clear of his attackers. "What's over there? What is she after?"

As he talked, the throwing knives on Kassom's belt began to melt, forming a thin metal overskin that quickly spread across his entire being. The masked enemies attacks just kept coming, and now Kassom let them get in close... closer... he kept blocking and dodging, waiting for just the right moment to pull his next trick out of the bag.

[High's .Valentine.]

And thus, chivalry and ethics were tossed out the window.

If the bitch’s words had received a reaction from the usual taciturn burnet, she could be sure that his blond friend was about to blow the top. All the blood left in his limbs suddenly rushed to Cid’s head at her pungent words, as if there had not been enough blood rushing out of Cid’s nose already. The light dizziness gripping his mind could not even deter the man from the mind numbing desire to tear the woman into pieces. Cid shuddered, not out of fear, but wholly out of rage. It was a deep bitter fury that keeps a cripple going and drives a man mad. Cid had never felt such a strong pang in his heart or the blinding red that readily filmed over his sight.

He forgot that it hurts to scowl, or frown, or even grit his teeth. There would be only one thing that would ease such venomous pain. It was to kill her. To make sure not a piece of her rotting corpse remains in this universe.

Cid jumped. He utter no cry, no curse, but he was going to impale her, head first. Or he thought he did. She vanished from the spot, and his spear stuck into the ground and cracked the cobble. The mechanic did not move from his spot.

Fortunately, before Cid can bust an artery—either he was going to go first, or her—a light struck Ansem’s laboratory, pulling him out of his rage. Turning, he stared blankly at the roar of holes ripping into roofs and the ominous flash. It took a long while before the initial acidic burn finally gave Cid back his right mind.

“FUCK!” Cid howled, rushing towards the exit. He knew he didn’t need to tell Leon that they need to move. Now. Hopefully someone else of the Committee had seen the blast and had begun to run towards the castle.

Nothing’s ever that easy of course. Before Cid could even take another step, two masked creatures rudely blocked his path. Glancing behind him, Cid realized that he wasn’t the only one getting held up. There was nothing to do except fight them. But any idiot would know that fighting the undead was a waste of time. The woman intended to stall time.

Glancing at the castle and back at the situation, Cid knew there was no other option. Running from the masked creatures and towards the wall.

“Squall!” Cid turned his back on the masked creatures [which probably was a bad idea], and lowered his spear to the ground tip first. Someone needed to get the castle, someone agile, fast, and powerful. Unfortunately, that someone is not Cid. The walls and buildings surrounding Cid is rather tall, but if one follows along it, it would lead them to the castle. Cid needed to get Leon up and far from here. Hopefully, someone would join him. Maybe even the furry rouge. Leon had better hurry though...Cid swiped at the monsters, keeping them at bay. “Jump! I’ll take care of em!” Cid indicated at the spear. Catapulting people had always been one of his specialties. Cid's intention was to boost Leon out of here, to give him a head start...hopefully.

[nascent]

"Oh, so that's how it is, eh?" Kassom complained upon hearing Cid's instructions to this Squall person. It was obvious those two were keen on protecting that castle first and foremost, meaning something veeeeery important was probably up there. Something that they didn't feel like telling him about. Well, that was fine with him... Kassom preferred to find things out for himself, anyway. "This is what I get for trying to help people!"

Without warning, the metal-clad lynx was swallowed up by the ground like as though a pit had opened beneath him, disappearing from sight entirely. He re-emerged atop one of the nearby stone walls, shouting down to Cid and Leon.

"So, not interested in sharing what you know, huh? Fine! Then I'll do this my way." A smug grin emerged on the rogue's face. "But I guarantee I'll get to that castle before you two do, so your loss! Sayonara!"

With a mock salute, Kassom did a back flip and once more disappeared into the earth's embrace, confident that nothing would be able to stop him from getting to the bottom of this mystery. Bypassing roads, walls, buildings, and masked pains in the *** certainly gave him a speed advantage over the Gunblade & Spearhead team, and if Ms. Flirtatious was up in the castle, well... he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. For now, though, he had but a single focus: winning this little 'race'.

If what he'd heard about this world being somehow connected to the Heartless was true, there were probably invaluable secrets tucked away up in that fortress... secrets those other two guys probably wouldn't be keen on sharing. Even if only for that, Kassom had very good reason to stop Ms. Loudmouth's plans. First priority: save the world, then help himself to whatever could help him save his own world, then skip town.

<<It's ironic, though. You and I aren't exactly the 'world saving' type, are we kid?>> Ilaelis interjected his own thoughts amid Kassom's.

'Yeah, but the Kinzoku can't exactly rule Kurai if we just let the Heartless decimate everything.'

<<Heh. True, true. Let's go kick some butt.>>





(OOC: Yeah, it's a bit cheap... but completely true to character! Kassom's not exactly a team player, after all. I'm gonna say five turns for travel until he arrives at the castle gates - Shinn, if you can think up an interrupt for underground travel then feel free, since I know I'm taking something of a 'shortcut' here.)