The O.W.L.s: The World Is Yours

[Scythe de Zaran]

((NPC - Cerbs))

The hellhound had been lazing around in Japan in a smaller form than his giant form in order to fit inside the home and not destroy the Satan Owl's home. The black three headed creature had served as Serena's pillow quite a few times. The dog had taken a liking to Serena and rather liked Serena laying on him. Perhaps, her hair was comfy... or not. Whatever the case, Cerbs referred to Serena as a "Bunneh". At this moment, Cerbs pawed his way into the room Serena and Aeon occupied and then stuck a head to drink all the coffee in Aeon's cup. ":3"With an innocent smile, the hellhound trotted off before disappearing to bother Will.

The hell hound had returned to the Gate to his true home several times to check on matters, but there really weren't any people trying to break into that place. Usually, dead people were trying to break out of the place, and Cerbs was really supposed to just keep those people in and the live people out unless his master allowed them through. Perhaps, the aid of three heads helped Cerbs manage the task. Those heads were said to be able to see the past, the present, and the future.

But as literature and mythology varies from culture to culture, Cerberus was also in charge of the Third Circle of Hell for those who committed the sin of gluttony. Ironic since Cerberus pretty much had a bottomless stomach as Serena, Sebastian, Myra, and Will knew. As Haka wrote earlier, Sebastian really did enjoy a Cerb to "clean up" bodies at times. Contrary to popular OOC belief, Cerberus did not always hum the "nom nom nom" song while he ate.

After some time traveling to Will as a signal, the three headed dog, fondly called a stupid mutt by a Suess, appeared from the electrical sparks that were shooting from the shackles that contained Che. The dog looked at Che and then Will and then grinned with all three mouths. It was pretty obvious what Cerbs wanted. He was hungry. "Mrrr..." And woe if coffee actually worked on Cerbs and caused him to get more hyper....

"Hungry, hmm? Then feast to your heart's desire."

The Satan Owl had no regards for the people in the city. Cerbs knew how to distinguish between them. But Will knew Cerbs didn't just eat warm flesh (although he preferred it). The mutt ate anything, even robots and missiles. And so, Cerbs trotted off and increased his size just a tad bit so that he stood at a height that was the same as Will. He did not take his giant form.  

[Remijio Mendoza]

Demios hated the fact that neither him nor Vincent had any real training against psionic attacks. He watched as the light pole hit Amara, however, it didn't seem that it did much in terms of getting her to give up. Before he could react the things seemed off and then Armand appeared before him. Normally he would be sensible enough to tell it was an illusion especially since illusions were both a psionic trick and a magic trick, but seeing Armand broke his defenses. It was then that Armand began visibly dying before Demios. Demios reached his hand out to help Armand only to see him dying faster. "Armand!" Demios yelled before there was a glow. Demios's powers seemed to be awakening and trying to counteract the illusion. Demios then noticed a small butterfly land on his hand. It reminded him of everything Armand had told him. He frowned seeing Armand was a nice illusion, but thats all it was. Demios had tears rolling down his eyes "Good bye Armand" He whispered. Demios closed his eyes as his rage grew at being deceived by the illusion and having to watch Armand die again.

Outside of the illusion Demios's aura flared as his energy grew and particles of mana could be seen being drawn to him. As he began to force his way out of the illusion the ground began shaking around them. When he opened his eyes they glowed a dark crimson and one could almost see his aura begin taking a familiar glow and shape. "Foolish girl, you thought we came here to hurt everyone, you're about to see what I can do" He said his voice having a strange echo to it. "May the gods have mercy on your soul" Demios said. He held his hand in front of him holding his glaive "Souls of darkness, spirits of heaven" he began chanting. Suddenly the area around them began to grow dark and miniature 'stars' appeared around them. The 'stars' began to rotate and orbit around them as Demios quickly made a hand gesture "Twilight Strike!" Demios finished. There was a loud crow sound before the stars rushed at Amara and began to crash into her. Demios was too furious by her trick to care what effect the spell had. Whatever block over his power, mental or magical, seemed to be gone at least for the moment. He waited ready for whatever she could throw at him.  

[Solaris Beauty]

Vincent walked along the isolated streets. "Hello?!?" he cried out. He began to pick up his pace, running into buildings, nothing at all...just space. Vincent began to rub his head. In the distance he could hear the sounds of moving vehicles. So there were people here. Picking up his pace he began to run towards the sound as it grew closer and closer. Finally he found himself in front of three vehicles and a black box in the middle of the road. This was odd to say the least. The doors of the vehicles began to open as black and white uniformed indviduals stood on the streets now.

Vincent looked at them...their uniforms resembled the U.N.S. but he couldn't be for sure. One soldier began to spin in place as he created a large tornado around himself, moving at quick speeds, Vincent was swept into the tornado. Several hundred feet off the ground the stopping owl tried to use his powers but it was all in vain...he couldn't stop something this big. Receiving damage in his mental mind, his physical body reacted as well as he began to levitate and slam into the ground several times.

"You simple boy. An illusion and a mind based attack...a mind based construction is intricately woven on multiple levels, I've been reading you since you've gotten here...I know just about all I need to know. These aren't mere tricks...what I project can and will harm you" she said to him. As the stars rushed towards the young girl, it headed right for her as it began to hit an invisible barrier. A fiery aura surrounded her as it pushed the fiery constalations towards Demios, burning the street between the two.

"The fact that you think the actual place you're fighting is real gives me enough to know that you are weak" she said laughing like a little girl, still holding on her teddy bear. She was bleeding...badly and her legs crushed but her mind was still intact. Several men surrounded Demios now, all holding some form of anti-magic wielding weapons. One through a type of sword whip towards Demio's side. The other, two cross shaped throwing knives. The other began to turn itself into salt making a circle around Demios himself.

"If I were you...I would take this very serious...because what you feel here...well you see what your friend is going through" she said pointing to Vincent. "It's like he's in a dream inside of a dream...but if he dies there..., he'll die here and in reality...die as well" she said clapping. The salt was representation of a seal she was making within Demios' mind. He and Vincent would have to work together in order to stop her or if she bled to "death" then everything would fade....this Amara had a limited time though and would need to finish up. A teal energy shot from the salt circle around Demios crashing inwards but before hitting him released something that looked like this It was a manifestation of his fears and power. Opening it's mouth it released a horrible cry as an acidic black energy was released, ripping and tearing away at the ground below. Whatever it touched began to cease to exist. Running forward it released several large orbs at both Demios and Vincent.

Aeon listened to the albino, it was clear she was feeling guilty. The projector began to sober a little and began to reach for her coffee when the three headed beast knowns as Cerbs drank her coffee. She placed the empty mug on the counter and continued to listen. "Well often people are trusting...you have to have a litttttle trust when esta...esta...making any kind of relationship" she told her. "And who's to say that what you were portraying to said person wasn't a real aspectttt of yourself?" she asked Serena.

"I doubt his faith has been destroyed...but...his ability to trust maaayy have been tai..tain...messed up" she said honestly. "Buuut he can't let that be a crutch in how he delegates relationships with people in his future...if he does, he's sure to meet a horrible fate" she said in her opinion. "I think you act this way because you don't want to get hurt or too easily attachhhhed. You may not want to put your trust into people as easily as the young man you speakkk of did into you...because I'm guessing you may see that people do just what you did tooooo *hiccup* him" she told her.

When she heard Serena was bringing in another life into this world Aeon's eyes lit up. "Life?!? You're expecting? Congratulations" she said hiccuping once more. And by Will?!?!? Aeon mentally chuckled. "I'm no mother...but just seeing what kind of person my sister is...she's still a great mother. Who you are as a person or things that you have done doesn't dictate if you'll be a bad mother or *hiccup* not" she told the invisible owl.

 

[Mahareshi]

Che's mind was only on getting to D.C. faster now that the missiles had been taken care of. He was already expecting for it to be worse there than it was here. The kids and adults on the bridge were in the wrong place and the Mastering Owl was sure that they knew this. Then again, if it hadn't been for them, the trio would be scattered across the pond forever lost to history. Now that they'd reached land, Che was preparing to follow after Will taking Kate in his arms along with him. Before he could act on the next phase of his plan, he was stopped by shackles that delivered a nice shock after a certain amount of time passed.

When the metal braces were hooked onto him, he immediately figured that carrying Kate was no longer an option unless he could enact just what he was thinking. Whoever laid the trap down for the unlucky Owl had great positioning and prediction, but they didn't have the wits to overcome the experienced bum. "Eh...Can't say I'm a bondage kind of person. But this'll be a shocking experience, yes? Hmph." Shackles this small were nothing to the bushy haired magician. He couldn't Houdini his way out by simply pulling his slender hands from the tight cuffs. "How many times have you been in this situation Will?" Che jokingly asked as he inspected the metal links carefully. Giving them a tug, he snapped them from their base and stood for a moment waiting for the surge to happen again. When it did, he did what he assumed Timothy would do. He released a stream of electricity that short-circuited the insides of the automated shackles, then tore away at them by calling his card armor upward to skewer them.

Now that that was done, Che looked over to Kate, took her in his arms and began to fly behind Will. "Okay. I think we can go now. C'mon." The Italian took off towards the stack of smoke off in the distance wearing the same contemplative look on his face.

~~~

Roulin and Lucien together had been cruising along the darkened highway with little to no trouble. This path to D.C. hadn't been touched by Owls or Humans making the trail a quiet one save for the whipping winds that were amplified by them moving against it. Roulin made sure that he kept quiet here with Roulin as he was still trying to lose him in this mess. He still saw him as a precautionary method setup by Che just in case he faltered on the mission once again. The Owl of Life didn't like the gesture, but he hadn't let his dislike of the decision slip by his father yet. Leaving the changed Death Owl somewhere to fend for himself would be proof if the amethyst-eyed fighter could set it up.

When the silence finally wore on the young man's psyche, Roulin turned his half-opened eyes to the runner below and said, "Lucien. I--" Before he could spark any conversation though, humanoid machines were blockading the path to Washington. Along with them were human soldiers that too had taken up arms to fighting against the Owls. Without hesitation, Roulin activated his vision and decided to keep it on for the rest of his time in Washington. Weaving through streams of bullets placing boxes up as his guard. Giving thought to this, he could either fly over them, under them, teleport past them now that he could see where he was going or fight them. There were more missiles, but that only made the Life Owl grin. What could they do that another Human couldn't?

Half of the team was taken down by him opening the Earth to swallow it. There were cries from both men and woman and the scraping of metals and alloys as they crumpled as the Earth's fissure closed like a hungry maw. Keeping still behind more boxes, Roulin figured this could be where he left Lucien behind to handle this business by himself. Lost in thought for a moment, his eyes wandered around the field surveying just what Lucien would be left with. Sighing, he knew he could leave him behind. At the behest of his tactic which was to make leaving Lucien seem either like an accident or a choice on his part, Roulin opted to stay. The helmets the men wore made it hard for him to get into their heads, but it made it easy to crush them like grapes.  

[Nicko1421]

With every flap of his wings Lucien soared through the air nimbly. As the machines seemed to stockpile on the roads in opposition Lucien felt his hand crackle with electricity. As Roulin severed a fragment of the ground sending them toppling to their deaths Lucien used his weather domination power barraging them with hurricane class winds and lightning to top it off. As the lightning struck the ground it blew other members of the Sibal units into the ground, as for the mechs he would need an old standby. Flying down he released his razor wires which surrounded the mechs, while he didn't plan on cutting through them they provided great leverage. Swinging around Lucien began pulling on the wires using his super strength to his advantage as he began to drag the mechs towards the hole Roulin had left for them. In a matter of moments the mechs fell deep into the crevice, never to be seen again.

Looking back up Lucien flapped his wings again taking flight. As he propelled himself through the sky he stared forward, for the future of everyone he knew they had to win this never endign war. He wondered if this was how the world was when Dante, Che, Will, and Noel were in charge, during the time of revolutions and rebellions that flung the war into a suave of war.  

[dragon-talk]

Shots being fired at her distracted Anya from responding to Moli's explanation. The Earth Herald swiped her arm to one side to raise a wall of stone from the ground to protect herself from the shots. "What the hell is wrong with these people!? Can they not tell we're trying to help them get DC back?!" she asked aloud to no one in particular. "Moli! Heads up!" Anya shouted to the young Light Herald as she called up a huge massive rock to be sucked into the Elle-copy's vacuum in order to save Moli, by smashing the clone to bits. This was going to be harder than Che made it out to be. "What would be easier is if I took us there, you know! I can try to transport us there!"

==

Kate was not happy when Will kicked her and Che towards the shore. Because of how they landed, Kate fell to the ground on her side, making her wince. The Russian owl forced herself to her feet, eyes narrowed dangerously at the Satan Owl. "That was completely unnecessary!" she growled. Of course she was grateful that those Owls on the bridge had saved their lives from those missiles. But she had been planning to use some form of a summon to defend themselves. But this helped to conserve her energy for something later should she need it.

Before she could berate Will any longer, a flicker of motion over by Che caught Kate's eye. Shackles had formed from the ground to chain the Mastering Owl to the ground. She could hardly consider this to be a time for Che to be joking around and making comments like he was. Thankfully though, Che was able to free himself on his own without any help, as Kate didn't doubt that he wasn't capable of doing. Then, Che picked her up and began flying after Will towards DC. "Well, that was certainly a waste of our precious time, yes?" she commented to no one in particular. "So what is the plan now? Your son and Lucien will be taking care of Catherine, and the new Heralds will be handling the old ones. Shall we be going after Thomas, then I assume?"

==

The battle between Amara, Demios, and Vincent had caught Erin's attention even though she was mostly focused on keeping up some form of defense against the missiles and other attackers. "What is going on!?" she said to herself, but before she could even think about helping Demios and Vincent, an even more problematic thing was happening. Looking over at her sister, Erin noticed that Elle had completely lost her consciousness over to their programming. The Artistic Owl's eyes widened as if a deer caught in the headlights or out of pure shock and fear. "Elle! Stop!" Erin cried out as she abandoned her task of defenses and trying help Demios and Vincent. Her reddish eyes glowed a teal color with a hint of red to it as she used her powers to fly up to Elle's level. Deep down, Erin knew that the only way to stop her sister now was to kill her. But she was going to exhaust all other methods of stopping Elle before trying that. Raising her right hand, Erin sent a massive pulse of telekenetic energy surging towards her sister. While in her left hand a halberd formed out of blood as she rushed towards Elle.  

[Luna Kosane]

The missiles proved simple to deal with. They could be outrun mostly, or in Cecilia's case...outflown. Those that came dangerously close were trapped inside the gravity pockets, which the Herald erected for them as a reward. However, more problems awaited the Heralds and Anderson. In Cecilia's case, a group of Sibal units, which seemed to be charging massive orbs of light. If they were to strike her, the Azure female would be useless in this mission. Cecilia prepared to evade when a flash of red hair entered a line of the Gravity Herald's vision and unleashed a massive orb of telekinetic energy.

The beams of light veered off into different directions. Still even though that problem had been averted, there were still the bullets, which would completely cancel out all of their powers. With the Herald of Mind's telekinetic pulse, the bullets were out of control. One could not determine where they would strike. Cecilia erected a barrier to staive off the bullets before she lowered it in order to unleash two powerful cosmic energy blasts at two more Elle/Erin units that were heading towards Moli and Anya, completely destroying them. Cecilia nodded at Anya. "If it'll help us avoid all of these distractions, then do so," she said. Before we run into something even bigger, she added as an after thought.

 

[Nicko1421]

Anderson flipped through the air, gliding effortlessly along it's surface leaving his trademark silver vapor trail behind him. His movements were wild, but still under control as he dodged the storm of attacks, if it wasn't blasts of various energies from Owls or bullets it was a barrage of missiles or Sibal fire. Shooting up into the now black clouds Anderson vanished from sight for a brief moment. Within the camouflage of the clouds Anderson readied another attack. Exhaling he spread his arms out at shoulder level, lightning crackled around him illuminating a tiny silhouette of him in the clouds, but this was merely from the storm clouds not his own doing. Closing his eyes for a moment, slowly the clouds funneled around him creating a tube of clouds which if one looked up through they would see the untouched sky. From the clouds lightning crackled illuminating them briefly. Slowly as the lightning crackled the faint shadow of something massive could be seen coiling in the clouds. Soft traces of silver could occasionally be seen through the breaks in the black clouds.

Anderson floated in stasis like a statue in the sky. After a few more moments the clouds suddenly dispersed quickly in a circular pattern revealing Anderson's dragon spirit floating it's serpentine body coiled in a helix with Anderson in the center. The dragon now at it's full body length appeared to be a giant in size. Anderson opened his eyes watching as fighter planes and Owls alike flew throughout the sky. Lowering his arms to his side Anderson gave his order. "...I command you...Wipe them out." He clenched his hands into fists closing his eyes as if to look away from this scene. But he knew closing his eyes and putting on a smile would not fix this. "Now go." The dragon appeared to be in slow motion as it's body shrank a bit, now some odd 30 feet long with a body diameter of around 4 feet. The dragon turned it's head until it spotted one of the fighter jets, target number one. Without hesitation the dragon uncoiled it's body hurling itself onto the fighter jet, it barred it's rows of teeth before gnashing them onto the cockpit of the jet, the glass held up for a few moments, only cracking before it finally gave way causing the pilot inside to be crushed under the dragon's jaws. It dropped the plane turning it's head it spewed forth a stream of dark gray flames which matched the clouds in color it's target this time was a small group of Owls who had various means of flight.

Anderson didn't move, he didn't look at the onslaught. His hands shook for a moment before he regained his resolve. "No, this is how it must be." He whispered as he flew back down towards the ground towards the Heralds, his dragon would take care of this particular area while they all would go with Anya to some other area apparently. He landed on the ground turning as a Sibal unit thrusted it's hand forth to snap Anderson's neck, but it was stopped midway through the strike. A claws gripped the Sibal's arm tightly before crushing it under it's might. The claw came from a magic circle on the ground with the outstretched arm now pulling up the demon familiar into this world. It screeched loudly as it took a bipedal almost werewolf like body, with massive black horns twisting from it's head. "I have given you a command as well. Fight until the enemies of your master lay dead." Anderson turned then walking towards Anya and Cecilia. Mighty as his familiars were they were still only two fighters, and they to had energy reserves, when that energy was depleted they would simply return to Anderson, he knew that they were not a permanent fighting force but they could alleviate some of the pressure for now.  

[Mahareshi]

"Can't you guys have natural powers at least? This synthetic s**t is stupid..." One by one, Roulin cut away at the armor-clad UNS soldiers. There some Owls sprinkled in the crowd of hostile fighters, but Roulin spared them their powers although killing them still with different methods. The sounds of metal crunching a people crying out in agony filled his ears during his graceful meanderings through the crowd of gun-toting men and women. His nails, which may as well been considered puncturing, short length pikes, tore effortlessly through the skin and the guns of the opposing force. His lavender eyes seemed to stare blankly as if his entire being was running on a program just as the Sibals he trapped beneath the ground were. The only thing signaling that his mind was still intact was the determined scowl he wore as he sliced down attacker after attacker.

His onyx hair that would occasionally explode outward in a massive crown of long, dense thorns took out as many people as any regular grenade could. The Life Owl's control over wood was also imperative when he was surrounded. After snapping many ankles dropping many soldiers, he drug them beneath the surface of the earth why they were silenced soon after. The outline pupils of his lavender eyes swiveled around towards Lucien who, by himself, was doing just as much work as the nimble Italian himself. When he noticed the man take flight, he jabbed his nails into the cheek of man no older than himself and retracted them as he watched him crumple to the ground wincing and wailing in pain. Placing his hand beneath his arm Roulin shot off a beam of light at Lucien in an attempt to knock him from the sky into the ocean of sibals beneath him.

~~~

Che listened to Kate and nodded with each question she asked as silent affirmation. His sight lowered from the deep oranges of the upcoming region and onto Kate. A confident grin swiftly curved his pale lips when he gave thought to fighting against Thomas. The man was just a winterfresh stick of gum now. No longer was the the tar/muck monster he was. He was thus easier to hit and much easier to kill. Thanks to this. Thanks to his mistake, he'd thrown his life away. Che was ready to capitalize on the old man's mistake...his lust for life and his fear of death. "The plan is just as you described it darling. We go and kill old sti--old freshy, and then I get my job back after Lucien and Roulin kill Raven. I can live lavishly again instead of living like this. Walking around from time to time like a bum with a mattress tied to my back." A hint of spite was caught in the elder Owl's tone showing the anger built up from his style of living thus far.

"Maybe after this, I can afford a nice place for us. Me and you and Roulin. Will too if he wants to stay. Maybe even Lucien," said Che, his eyes narrowing decisively. They were nearing the outskirts of their target location now. The explosions going off just before the capitol was enough to let him know this.  

[Nicko1421]

In perfect combination of three of his powers Lucien attacked. First he used his Periodic Generator to release pure calcium into the air, once it fell close enough Lucien pressurized the powder, smashing it against the surface of the machines and Owls below with telekinesis, finally he fired a single bolt of lighting from his hand which when it touched the calcium started a horrific chain reaction, pure calcium when placed under pressure and with enough energy is highly explosive as was demonstrated here. Once the lightning made contact a sudden chain of explosions filled the ground below disintegrating the living Owls below in an instant and shredding the machinations into scrap metal. Lucien flapped his gins a few times to remain hovering in the air, as he watched the fallout of his attack he wondered was this what they had been driven to?

His question was answered in the form of a beam of light, unable to see the light it collided with Lucien's right wing shredding through it effortlessly. Lucien's eyes widened as he began to tumble to the ground. His disbelief was apparent, not because someone had snuck up on him, but that because a single blast of light had managed to tear through his wing, the Owl responsible must have been a very gifted photokinetic. Lucien's eyes remained wide with shock as he fell to the ground in the middle of a Sibal troop. They turned their attacks towards him surrounding the Death Owl they all fired their beams of light and bullets in an attempt to silence him once and for all.

As the Sibal's stopped their assault there was a brief moment of silence. A moment where the world around them stood still, until finally the silence was broken. Thin spires, more like large needles suddenly jutted out of the ground impaling the Sibal unit's through their primary key points, the head, chest, back of the neck and lower left side. The needles glistened black as though they were flawless ebony. The Sibal units then began to melt, slowly dripping away into a black fluid that sort of resembled oil in it's viscosity. When the Sibal units were nothing but a black puddle the contorted shape of a body could be seen in the middle of it. Slowly the shape made some sort of standing attempt, the sound of cracking bones could be heard as it took more human like shape, organs began to develop around the mass then muscle, then skin and finally hair to recreate the body of Lucien. He stood looking down at the black pool, stepping forward through it the pool seemed to absorb into his body with each footstep until it was all completely absorbed. Lucien stood with a single black feathered wing, where the other had been was only a few remnant feathers.

He said nothing as he walked there was nothing to say. Not here and now anyways. Slowly his destroyed wing as well repaired itself until it stood at it's former glory. With a powerful flap he once again took to the skies. Looking around he spotted Roulin who had decimated his own attackers through sheer wrath. He was angry, more than that, he was being cruel, true these were mostly machines with no cognitive reflex but Roulin had never been like this before.  

[Mahareshi]

Roulin did away quickly with the young soldier he'd jabbed in the face by slitting his throat with a swift and precise telekinetic slice. As the man's soul leaked out, it's red liquid form bubbling out as he gurgled for his life, Roulin turned away preparing to move forward against the compiling forces of the UNS and other Owls. His pants leg was tugged by the same persistent soldier who now held a gun in his hand. His helmet fell from from his head as he lifted his neck to aim at the Italian machine. Roulin, sneering with disgust and eyes filling with a particular impatience simply let the man do his job. Be a good American soldier and fight until his dying breath against the giants and the nobodies alike. He shot his gun and the Owl of Grey smiled before returning his bullet back through the barrel of his gun down into his heart. The man's grip on his pants leg soon loosened and giving his last sigh, the man fell dead by Roulin's foot. The Owl fleeced his jacket and looked over to Lucien inspecting the damage he'd done...there was none thanks to his abilities and the constructive properties of Negation...

Cursing in his mind, Roulin approached Lucien wearing a grin that betrayed just what he wanted to do at that very moment. Knock him out and leave him there to die along with the rest of the others in his way. "Good job," the Grey Owl said to Lucien as he neared him while scanning the area. "I would've laughed had these copies of your pet managed to even hurt you. Now that we're done here, you ready to go? There's only more fun up ahead for us." The young raven haired italian lifted a few feet from the ground in preparation to continue the path to Raven and Washington.  

[dragon-talk]

"Hmm... I see..." Kate replied, her tone sounding distracted. After all she was still keeping tabs on the rest of the group with her abilities. However, she was still paying attention to what Che was saying, so she did notice the bitterness in Che's voice when he finished the first part of what he said. "I assume you do not want nor need my help in fighting Thomas Moses given his new status, then?" Kate soon replied, her vision focused on their destination growing ever closer. But she soon glanced at Che for a brief moment before looking forward once again.

==

"Okay then. Give me some time to concentrate, and I'll get us moving. But you'll all have to--?!" From behind Anya, a throwing knife shot out of nowhere. The knife lodged itself in the back of the poison owl's left shoulder. Anya cursed loudly in pain before turning around to face the source of the attack. Anya spun around to face the source.

"You and your friends are not going anywhere."

The man that stepped from his hiding place was the very same one that claimed to be her father. The one she and Nik had fought in Brazil before this whole crazy business had started with Raven taking over DC. Grimacing, Anya watched her father making his way slowly towards them. "Guys. Go on ahead without me." The Poison Owl stated as she stepped forward to keep anybody else from charging at her father. Besides, they had more important things to worry about like the old Heralds who were probably on their way right now to get to them. "I'll catch up with you all later." she stated flatly.  

[Nicko1421]

Lucien looked down at Roulin, the Owl of Grey who was living up to his name now more than ever. "Would you? Glad to see your sense of humor hasn't dried up." He said in an almost to calm voice. His eyes scanned the soldiers on the ground who surrounded Roulin. "Being a bit brutal are we? Killing them seemed like such a waste of energy." He wasn't showing pity for these men and women though he truly felt some. He would have liked to give them some form of service, in the end they weren't bad people, just soldiers following orders, for who were they not to? That was simply their way of life. "Yes I'm ready let's go." He said as he watched Roulin levitate a bit off the ground.

As the two of them traversed the area in the air now, Lucien still looked over the city, taking this all in engraving it into his mind forever more. If this was to pass then he would learn from it, this was the only small conciliation that he was able to provide for those who would not see another sun rise. After a minutes of silence Lucien glanced at Roulin through the corner of his eye. "Roulin, you didn't happen to kill a photokinetic in that last display of power did you?" He asked. He wanted to see whether or not his suspicions were to be confirmed or denied. Under the swirling visage that now was his eyes his passive power of lie detecting had been active nearly every waking minute sense he had first obtained it. "There must have been quite a gifted one within the ranks of those soldiers, they managed to blow one of my wings completely off, looks like there is some talent in the nameless faces of these men and women after all." This form of small talk was simply a filler, Lucien in truth only wanted to hear, or rather see that what he knew to be true was in fact true, somewhere in his mind he prayed that for this time and this time alone he was wrong.  

[Mahareshi]

"Brutal? Just retaliation. Self-defense in it's finest form," replied Roulin as he ascended higher from the ground and from Lucien. "I promised you all I'd fight like it was my last fight. This is just an outcome of that. They followed orders and I followed instinct." The youngest Presidiomni was taken aback by Lucien's obvious concern for both himself and his methods of dispatching enemies. As Che and Thomas both said at separate intervals, 'waste no time winning and don't think about losing'. Roulin's innate ability allowed him to see just where Lucien was coming from. Finding no pity for the fallen men and women, he smirked knowing that somewhere inside of him was the will to fight and not to just roll over because of a disagreement with his partner's methods. The Life Owl looked down at Lucien when likened killing them to a waste of energy. Shrugging lethargically, Roulin rebutted just loud enough for Lucien to hear, "Doesn't matter when you have so much energy to go around..."

Now the duo were back on the path to Washington where their target lay in wait. Against the tapestry that was painted a deep orange was the light blue circulations of electricity. It was undoubtedly Timothy's doing. One bolt screamed across the skies above them towards the Richmond city area. That may have been Timothy himself headed towards the younger batch of Heralds. Roulin didn't care about it nor was he going to turn around to help. That was no longer in his nature. Besides, they were Heralds. Young or old, they were still the strongest of their kind now. This was the time to prove it.

Once again, the silence was broken by the voice of Lucien asking a question to Roulin who soared next to him. From his question, he seemed to be suspicious of just what happened back there with the amount of Sibals and Owls that sprawled the area. Goddamn this perceptive man. Roulin slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat and pointed his finger at Lucien for precaution. Looking over to him with the determined glare he'd wore for the occasion, he answered, "I didn't. Exirians aren't weaklings you know. Neither are Thomas's government sanctioned henchmen." Roulin didn't know that Lucien could see through his lies with no effort at all thanks to his power. Ignorant, he continued to spew falsehoods. "No power is everything. Not even your Negation. Maybe they just hit a critical point? No need to worry because you're alive. Why do you ask Lucien?" Finishing with a question of his own, Roulin steadied his aim more now in case Lucien decided to act on his suspicions in a less than peaceful way.  

[Nicko1421]

Lucien took his eyes from Roulin and returned them forward. As he listened to Roulin's response to his first question he found himself questioning Roulin's reasoning. "Fighting like it's your last fight? You're fighting as though it will be the last time you get to face violence, not the last time you'll fight. Are you relishing in the current moment? wondering what you'll do once this is over and there is no war to fight?" As he finished a bolt of lightning trailed across the sky hurling itself towards the direction they were coming from, towards their friends and comrades. "Timothy." He whispered as he mentally hoped for their comrades to remain safe, they were going up against arguably the strongest Herald, they would need it.

As Roulin began to concoct and answer to Lucien's question in his mind he repeated over and over in his mind. 'let me be wrong, let me be wrong' As Roulin uttered the worlds "I didn't" Lucien could see the words as clear as day over his head. "True." He returned his gaze forward this set his mind to some ease but it did not rule out anything, all the question stipulated was that Roulin didn't kill a photokinetic. "I see. Well then we'd better watch our backs, who knows what other diamonds in the rough there may be." Lucien wasn't one to be tricked, nor was he someone who would sit idle while there was work to be done, and here in this city there was much that had to be done. "So did you detect anyone powerful? Like the photokinetic I mean. My sense of detection must not be up to usual standards I was under the impression that the Sibal Unites were the strongest enemies in the direct area, it baffles me to know that someone like that would have escaped both of our fields of detection."

On their way Lucien needed to confirm his suspicions one way or the other, and then fins out why. If Roulin did try to shoot him out of the sky for what purpose would that serve? Did he want to face Raven on his own? No he should know that something like that would be futile. Was he losing his mind? No someone other than him would have picked up on that sooner, Lucien wasn't the sharpest when it came to personal emotional feelings. Roulin wasn't a double agent, Lucien could see that much with his Wish Detection power, Roulin's most important thought wasn't betrayal so that ruled that theory out. So then why? Perhaps just a misfire? No Roulin was to skilled to let a random attack go flying towards Lucien.