Derailed

[Lyllea]

OOC Thread here. (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?p=307028#post307028)

Erica stood on the cliff, her heart pounding. Beyond the rocks, the ocean rolled and waved, making her feel slightly ill. She'd run too far, too fast, and on too full of a stomach. She'd also managed to lose the others, but perhaps that was a good thing? Suddenly cautious, she stepped back, shuffling away from the edge of the cliff to a distance where it was a lot less likely for someone to come and shove her off the edge.

'So not cool.' she muttered under her breath, bending down to rest her hands on her knees and stare at the grainy sand. She was missing a shoe. When had that happened? A quick look at her foot suggested that it was apparently before she'd run through broken glass, and the sight of blood made her slightly dizzier. 'Not cool at all.'

Not wanting to be uneven, she ripped the other shoe off - tearing the bottom of her shirt to bandage the wounds on her torn foot, sitting in the sand to do so. She sat with her face to the sea, her back to all that was behind her.

She couldn't look back. But she probably should have been. After all - you should never turn your back on danger.

[Copacetic_One]

Johnny stood at the helm of the airship, correcting it's bearings every so often with a slight turn of the giant mahogany wheel. The flight deck was bustling with activity; shipmates running to and fro, consulting gigantic maps and adjusting some of the hundreds of dials and levers set into the varnished wooden console that lined the walls of the room. This was the crews third straight month out of port and it was apparent that everyone was longing to see the neon lights of Cape Matador again. "Hey, Digit," Johnny shouted, "come take over so I can grab a smoke."

A small mousy girl suddenly appeared at his elbow, the sleeves of her aviator jacket almost dragging the ground, her head adorned with a leather cap and aviation goggles. "Right here, Cap." she squeaked, grabbing the wheel from Johnny. "Just remember when you're in your death bed hacking up chunks of lung that I warned you about those." she said, motioning towards Johnny's pack of Withering Vine cigarettes.

"Duly noted, Dig" Johnny replied rolling his eyes at the girl. As he stepped out the door to the observation deck, a gust of wind hit him full force, ruffling his duster about him and causing him to take a step back. The winds were coming early again this year, which was never a good sign. It usually meant a bad storm season, which was bad news for people in his line of business. Johnny lit his cigarette behind the shield of his hand and took a deep drag. One hand holding the cigarette and one resting nonchalantly on the butt of one of his twin revolvers, Johnny gazed out to the horizon, hoping to see the glow of Cape Matador from where he stood.

As he began to take another puff, Johnny noticed some commotion from a cliff top down below. There was a group of figures sprinting toward another figure seated almost at the cliff's edge. Something about the way the larger group was moving didn't sit well with Johnny. "Hey," he shouted, "hey you!! Look out!" but he was too high up, it would be almost impossible to hear him from here. In two running steps he was back inside the flight deck. "Digit, take us down. Someone's in trouble."

[Maikuolan]

Alex knew that the group mustn't have been too far behind and his concern for both his and Erica's wellbeing was the paramount thought on his mind at that time. Sensing Erica's distress, he knew full well that her chances of being aware of the groups approach would be minimal at best, and as such, he tentatively poked his paw and muzzle out from her shirt's under-pocket, taking in the air of their surroundings.

Alex was a creature that may be considered an extreme rarity or aberration of nature by some, but in Erica's case, simply as a close and trusted friend; Standing at less than 1ft tall and a few inches wide, Alex was a talking, walking, calculating, intelligent, red tree squirrel.

Climbing entirely out of her pocket and jumping onto her right shoulder, Alex looked behind to see what Erica could not — The approaching group was gradually gaining ground and would be right on their tail very shortly.

"I told you that you shouldn't have trusted that lot! They were kind and friendly at first, smiled and gave us a meal to eat.. But I could smell on it them; They're intentions were anything but friendly. Wouldn't be the first time we've been betrayed either. But, that's not important right now.. Right now, we need to keep moving; They're right behind us, and will be here soon, and if they're anything like the last group.. They'll try to kill us, and they'll try without mercy or second thought!"

Hearing the sounds of engines above, Alex looked up.

"Erica! Look up at the sky!"

[The Magnan]

One of the group members stood out, for one he had a long red coat, and beneath it a samurai sword in its sheath. He also had a hidden blade attached to each wrist, which popped out every time he flicked his wrist. It was a simple way of killing someone, plus barely drew attention. His contract had been to kill one of the group members. No reason why but he had to do it. That included deep cover. It was all going well until Erica came along. She did something annoy them, and now here they were chasing her. He had no choice in the matter. His name or rather title was Hider. He dropped back a little, he had reason to kill her. If anything he considered trying to do the opposite. Saving people never occurred to him but for the first time, he had too. These people were going to kill an innocent girl, he had to stop them. He sighed to himself, and contemplated what to do.

(sorry this is short, i have to head home, so i had to type it up quickly)

[Lyllea]

The shuffling in her pocket was a strange sensation, but not one Erica was unused to. She took some comfort in Alex's presence, the familiar feel of him climbing out to the fresh air and to his customary place on her shoulder. Absently, she reached up and scratched the back of his head, a familiar gesture - a fond one. This was the end of the line here, broken feet or not, there was no more land to run on.

'I know,' she murmured, trying to keep her voice down. It was pointless - they were right out in the open, but she'd been stupid enough today already. 'I thought we were fine, I should have listened to you.' it wasn't the first time Erica had been wrong, either. This whole situation had the potential to become another "Alex is always right" debacle, but in the nicest way, of course.

She looked up as he told her, the shadow of the ship only just starting to creep over the cliff face. Squintin, she tried to spy the flag on the mast, hoping for some clue of an ally - not that they really had any. The last time she'd found 'allies', she'd ended up running through the streets for her life, hoping to goodness that Alex didn't fall out of her shirt.

'What about them? Reckon we can trust them?' she asked, not wanting to end up with another lecture later on her naivety. She was catching on to this constant danger thing. Even as the ship started to lower, she crept back off the cliff, standing on her bandaged feet and staring warily ahead. 'Murderous group of obvious villains, or possibly life threatening airship?' talk about a rock and a hard place.

A flash of red in the background, she spotted it through the scrub beyond. She tensed her muscles. The ship was still coming down, and the red flash was coming closer. Erica was out of options - short of throwing herself off the cliff and doing it herself, someone was going to run her through.

'That red coat is right behind us.' she said shakily. 'What'll we do?'

[Maikuolan]

(@Magnan: I know the feeling. Writing up my last post was rather.. awkward. I had a friend waiting outside my door worrying about us both being late to a movie that we were both going to watch in like 10 minutes time from when I was posting, so I was basically simultaneously getting dressed and organising my stuff whilst posting. For the record, I managed to complete my post, shut down my PC, head to the cinema, buy tickets and be seated on time, without being late. *Happy* But alas, I detract.)

Alex took some comfort from Erica as she scratched the back of his head, but not being able to see anything potentially distract him from their circumstances, he remained alert and at attention.

As a red flash passed through the foliage nearby, Alex also noticed, and further noticing both the ship and the group quickly closing in on the pair closer and closer, he couldn't help but feel like they were being cornered; Instinctively, he flattened himself low against Erica's shoulders and curled his tail around the back of her neck, darting his attention in all directions apprehensively.

"I.. don't know.. I don't recognise the ship, and it's still too far away to really see any of the important details, so.. I don't know if we can trust them or not. But.. I know that we certainly can't trust those behind us, and I'd happily take something I don't know anything about above something that I know wants to kill us any day. I'm talking too much again, I think.. Look; This is dangerous, and it'll be close, but I think it might get here in time, if we, maybe, call out for help and let it know that we're in trouble. We should try to get on-board as quickly as we can, if it does.."

[Wattz]

Just one shot, that's all it takes.

She watched. She waited. She drew another cigarette. She dropped another cigarette into the streets below. Oz had been sitting there for over a day, waiting for her target to arrive. She perched atop the giant clock tower that hovered over the streets. She could almost taste the smog on her tongue, so high up that it nearly suffocated her. No matter. She was used to smoke filling her lungs, what with her vile cigarette habit.

Her eyes were languid, her black hair a greasy mat stuffed beneath a bowler hat. Her black sunglasses concealed her golden cat eyes, darting back and forth. She had a clunky metal arm and an enormous grenade launcher slung over her shoulder. Oz would have dozed off any minute now, but then she heard it, and saw it in the distance.

A low-flying airship, dangling over a cliff as if waiting. Ah, yes, her target at long last. The flying airship should contain her charge within, not that she could quite remember the name. She raised a thick eyebrow upon her forehead and moved to aim with the grenade-launcher. Oz could hardly wait to pull the sweet, sweet trigger and hear the grenade sing as it exploded upon impact, but she waited patiently to get the best aim.

Steady. Steady.

Now.

With that, she pulled the trigger and let the grenade go.

[Copacetic_One]

Johnny watched helplessly from above as the group closed in on the lone figure. The ship was sinking too slowly and would never make it down in time to help if this was actually a life or death situation. "Digit, make this thing go faster!" he shouted over his shoulder, hoping she could hear him over the roar of the engines.

"I'm trying Cap, but Darla ain't as lively as she used to be!" Digit replied, wrestling with the wheel and shouting commands to various shipmates. Grasping at straws, Digit finally suggested, "If you want we can always try a Plan 42-Delta?" At hearing these words all the shipmates froze where they were standing, staring at Digit in disbelief. There had only been one man in history who had been able to successfully pull off a 42-Delta, and Johnny was not that man.

"Very funny, Dig. How about you shut your face and let the grownups talk." At this the deck hands snapped back to what they were doing, afraid that the usually amicable captain might get into one of his rages. Johnny glared angrily at Digit, still pacing restlessly through the flight deck when he stopped and looked up, a mischievous look on his face. "Alright, that's it, I'm going in. Zeke and Two-Toes," he said, motioning towards two of the shipmates, "cover me on the port side guns but don't fire until I signal." As he darted back to the observation deck, followed by Zeke and Two-Toes, a smirk crept over his face. He just loved doing these crazy stunts. Johnny saluted the two men seated at the mounted machine guns, unfurled a nearby rope ladder, and leapt over the railing onto it. Climbing down the ladder, hand over hand, Johnny's mind went over what Digit had suggested. How dare she mention his father's signature move? He made a mental note to make her scrub the latrines when this was all over. As he reached the bottom of the ladder, he drew one of his revolvers from it's holster and palmed his aviation goggles over his eyes. Johnny took a deep breath, made a silent prayer to Cthulhu and let go of the ladder. As he plummeted through the air, he noticed that the mob was dangerously close to the lone figure. He leveled his revolver towards the group knowing that there was no way the shots would be accurate from this speed but hoping that they would at least startle them. There were a series of three giant cracks as Johnny fired three rounds toward the pursuers. As he rocketed towards the earth, all Johnny could do was hope was that those bullets would be enough and that his jet boots wouldn't malfunction.

[Awean8]

"Holy Macaroni!", Wade yelled at the top of his lungs as something exploded from who knows where and two of the semi-well I guess not so friendly angry people who he was running with began to just drop face first on to the ground drowning in pools of thier own blood.

Wade didn't even know where he was. He awoke that morning after a long night of partying in an unrecognizable town filled with smelly townsfolk who looked like they belonged in The Hills have Eyes. One event lead to another and here Wade is running with an angry mob chasing after someone he never even met but he felt obligated to fit in so he joins in thier wonderfully rehearsed chants, "KILL HER!!! KILL THE INNOCENT GIRL!!!! AND HER SQUIRREL!!! Wade giggled to himself, when he realized girl and squirrel totally ryhmed.

He was getting tired of running though, so when the angry mob finally had her cornered by the cliff he just flat out sat on the dusty broken glass littered ground but than he saw the girl he has been chasing for the first time. "Woah. She's pretty."

[V]

Inside the airship he was hungry, nothing had been offered for a few days now and Mawler was beginning to think they had forgotten about him. "We'll see about that," he grumbled and scurried about from the lower decks. Surely they weren't expecting him to eat rats? Those fully unintelligent beasts. Perhaps the poison left out was meant for him - like that would even faze him, hah! It made things taste funny though.

Ah good, Mawler thought to himself, Digit is piloting the craft. Now lets hope she is inclined to feed me. The cat rubbed against the young woman's leg purring, "food," he asked with a human voice.

"Not now cat!" She replied unfazed. Frustrated Mawler pawed the pilot's leg, digging claws in deep. Leaping out of the way of her angry kick Mawler found a little pleasure in her muttered ouch.

Sulking he left her alone and wandered to the observation deck. He found a seat on a window sill over looking a cliffside. "Hmmm, this could be interesting." His tail flicked about watching the coming conflict.

[Ryoku]

Standing near the tip of the airship's tail, loomed a shadow overlooking the roof of the airship. Kenta Subaru laid down and arched his arms over the back of his head. It got somewhat uncomfortable, because if the airship was to tilt sideways, he was going to meet some very hard dirt and a lot of trees on the ground. But, he wasn't too worried, for now, he enjoyed the scenery of clouds clashing and patiently floating in the skyline.

He remained in the same position for quite a while. With minutes passed, he sat upright and took out a dagger. He examined the dagger, lustrous and keen, then with sudden movements, he scratched the roof of the airship, leaving a few jagged lines. These probably could be heard from the pilot seats.

(Short Post for now)

[DemonGirl00]

The heavy beat of massive wings was the only sign of her presence. Her deep brown eyes scanned the ground below her, allowing no details to escape her sight. Myst Rider was looking for someone. Well, actually, multiple people. A group of assassins, specifically. Unfortunately for her, she had no idea where to start looking. The area she had been told about was a large one, and the only way to find her targets was to scrutinize every inch of the land.

Myst was what one could call an anti-assassin. Her profession was taking out hitmen before they could take out their own mark. And the mark of the group she was currently after -- a girl by the name of Erica -- was last seen fleeing through this area. So, in turn, this was also where her assailants could be found.

The hawk demon heard an explosion below, and her focus quickly turned towards the source. A low-flying airship was hanging near a cliff, as if waiting. But for what? Her grip tightening around the large scythe in her hands, she began circling the area of interest, gradually descending. Perhaps this was what she had been looking for.

[Staplers]

“She shouldn’t be far now!” Horf muttered, signaling to his men further advance after halting briefly to inspect a broken branch. Whichever direction she fled, she was certainly in a hurry.

Horf and his men continued to trek through the foliage of the thick wood, advancing ever closer to the sea. “To think she can get away with this!” he muttered to himself, which comes to a total of thirteen times in the past five minutes.

It was a hectic scene. Without warning, Erica got out and left with haste. The scene was confusing at first for Horf, and he had simply assumed that the simple traveler had other affairs to attend to. However, once it clicked in to what had actually happened, he immediately ordered his men to peruse. Quickly stepping over roots and bushes, the crew drew themselves ever closer to the cliff where Erica lay trapped.

Within minutes, Horf found himself glaring at the back of Erica, wondering if she’s at all oblivious in the situation she’s in.

“There’s no way off that cliff Erica…” Horf’s voice crocked, but soon after swallowed his words as sight of the airship clicked in. Horf looked stunned, “So this was your escape plan all along!” he grumbled, looking back to see if his men had caught up to him only to see they haven’t.

[Copacetic_One]

Wind tore at Johnny's duster as he plummeted towards the ground. He was mentally marking off the seconds until he would have to activate his jet boots in order to not become Captain Pancake.
Five
Johnny caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to look, his breath caught in his throat. He saw it was some kind of missile, heading in the direction of his airship.
Four
As it came closer he breathed easier, noticing it veer off course right in the direction of the group that had been giving chase to the lone figure.
Three
As the group crashed through the last stand of trees it slammed into their ranks, vaporizing at least two of them.
Two
First we have this crazy mess, and now somebody's shooting at my airship. Great. Johnny thought to himself.
One
Johnny maneuvered his feet under him and clacked the heels of his boots together. The hidden exhaust ports on the bottoms of his boots sputtered smoke and then roared to life, slowing his plummet. As he dropped he pulled his radio from his belt and help it to his mouth, "Digit, send out a recon team in the direction of that rocket. Zeke, aim your sights towards negative two seven charlie and if whoever did that tries it again, give 'em all ya got." Johnny clipped his radio back on his belt and drew his second revolver as his speed slowed further. He was about ten feet above the ground when, without warning his jets quit and dumped him unceremoniously in a heap at the feet of what he could only guess was the leader of the mob.

[Wattz]

Damn. Missed.

Oz took another grenade out of her trench coat and stuffed it into the launcher. Her movements were swift and precise, and she was already pulling the trigger again and shooting it right for the ship. She was already reaching into her coat to shoot off another one, when an exceptionally loud noise rang out in her ears.

Ding! Ding!

The clocktower she was perched upon struck twelve o'clock, a series of sounds so powerful that the tower shook, and Oz lost her balance. She was flung off the side and didn't have time to grasp the side, and she began to plummet down. She managed to hold onto her bowler hat, which she pressed a button on the inside of, and it promptly turned into a glider. Oz grumbled as she struggled to hold on, her head still buzzing with the clock's massive chimes, and irritated that she had been so startled that she fell off. Already she was flying towards the ship before her, and managed to crash right into it. She pressed another button on the glider, and it turned back into her hat as she gripped it and the side of the ship, hanging on as best as she could.

[The Magnan]

The Hider looked around, as things were sent in motion. He rushed past, and Horf and some of his men. He was now stand behind Erica. He turned and faced the men, "What's she done wrong again?" he asked folding his arms. Despite having a long red coat, he did little to hide the samurai sword. He knew he was being stupid. He knew his contract was to kill one of these men and now Erica had gone and ruined it. He had to escape. He would return. Sooner or later. And kill his target. So he waited for the reply. One way or another. He would make sure she survived.

[DemonGirl00]

It was only a moment's flight before Myst finally spotted her target. Erica was there, cornered on the edge of the cliff, her assailants not metres away. With a huff, the hawk demon changed course, now flying straight down towards the fray.

It was but just now that she noticed just what the explosion was. A portion of the wooded area that separated this cliff from the city behind it was thoroughly charred, and as it appeared, a couple of men from her target group happened to get caught in the crossfire. Good riddance, she thought.

Still more explosions were heard. Myst looked up, watching the path of the grenades. Someone was obviously very angry with that airship. However, that would have to wait. The task at hand was but metres below her.

In the back of her mind, she was grateful that she managed to intercept the hit before it actually happened. She landed in between Erica and the supposed leader of the assassins, taking an aggressive stance and keeping her wings half-spread to make herself look larger.

"Stop."

The hawk demon's command was concise. Something she was well-known for. Her deep brown eyes met those of the supposed leader, watching him with a fierce glare. If he wanted to get at Erica, he was going to need to get past the Reaper of the Skies first.

[Lyllea]

The thought of boarding an unknown ship was daunting. But so was the prospect of being runthrough by very angry men. She bit her lip and dithered in the ground between them, her very own no-mans land.

'Maybe we should just give it back.' she murmured, as if that would stop the angry horde. They wanted blood now, her blood. And why settle for just having back what she'd stolen, when they could have it and her life too? No, that was definitely a bad idea. The ship at least looked relatively safe, from what little she could see - the ship's crew were docking... for her sake? Or her slaughter? And just when she thought things couldn't get more complicated, a grenade screamed overhead, aimed for the possibly-benign vessel ahead.

'Bloody hell!' she swore, dropping by instinct to her knees. Now her knees were cut, that was going to get awkward. From the ground she watched in surprise as someone appeared to 'jump ship', and now she was sure - dead sure - they were coming to get her.

She froze at the sound of Horf's voice.

'Um. No... actually...' she admitted, perhaps a little chuffed that Horf thought she might have had the sort of forethought to run to a cliff and have an airship waiting. 'But uh... it'll do!'

She turned her head to the clocktower, startled by the sound it made, using the booming sound and all of it's distraction to bolt for the shadow of the ship.

'Only chance is better than no chance, right Alex?' she said, her voice full of her last remaining hope.

[Maikuolan]

Alex, sensing imminent carnage within their proximity and the necessity to move quickly, quickly scrambled back down into Erica's pocket as the pair moved forward into the ship's shadow. Barely poking a whisker out, Alex replied as he looked towards their destination.

"Those that forsake opportunity forsake themselves, and chaos, no matter how dangerous, always presents opportunity - If we are the targets of this chaos, it is imperative that we take whatever opportunity comes, for if we don't, we'll be forsaken by others.."

[Shifty]

"Disengage cloaking, and move towards that airhip, one third speed." Captain Perseus Roland said to hs crew. it was followed by several "Aye, ayes." And everyone bagan to go to work. "Once we're in range, fire two warning shots, detonation range of 100 meters from target." Roand said. "That should scare 'em a bit." he smiled a bit. By now the cloaking was fully off, and everyone on the ground and in the air could clearly see his ship, the Ranger, heading right for them. Except for the airship, seeing as they were directly behind it.

The Ranger wasn't a massive ship, but it was twice as largfe as the other one. It was also a military ship, and as such had better armor, engines, and weaponry, not to mention it's signature cloaking device. One of the officers on the bridge looked up at Roland. "We'll be in range in 5 seconds, captain."

"Good. On my mark, fire." Roland responded. he looked at his pocket watch, and waited. Suddenly, he snapped it shut and yelled, "Fire!" The ship shuddered as two of this ships 6 batteries hurled two high explosive shells towards the other airship. He watched them, and was dismayed when smoke filled his view. He knew it was just smoke from the cannons, but annoying nontheless. When the smoke cleared, Roland saw what he was waiting for. he couldn't see the shells anymore, but now he saw their massive explosions. That should rattle 'em a bit.He thought. Teach 'em not to pick up fugitives, especially ones like that girl. "Speed increased to one half. Comm officer, see if you can't raise them on the radio. If so, tell them they need to leave the area immediately, or else we will fire again, and this time, we won't miss." After this, he tuned all of the action around him out to think. He had nothing personal against the airship, but the girl... If she got away, it would be Roland's head. She couldn't be killed, but she had to be captured.

[Awean8]

Wade was never the intelligent type, his dad always told him that, he would always run off and get himself in ridiculous situations. This particular situation is pretty much the most ridiculous of anything he's ever encountered.

This cliff was quickly turned into a battle zone, missiles exploded out of nowhere, grenades flying just everywhere, people are getting shot and there some big-ass airships floating barely above thier heads. For crying out loud Wade has counted like seven assassins so far. There's no way this kind of thing happens everyday.....or does it?

Wade, being the stupid coward he is ran right past the pretty girl and jumped off the cliff miraculously grabbing hold of a loose cable hanging off one of the airships. "This might have been a bad idea."

[The Magnan]

The Hider folded his arm, and "I thought i was a gifted freak." referring to his ability to make himself invisible. The the strange demon being was definetly no a friend, and Horf was closing in. The new arrival a cloaked vessel was now engaged with the airship. The Hider spun around, "For goodness sake, why are you so damn important!" he demanded to know. But he turned away, he had good hearing and right now he stood between her and death. He drew his samurai sword, "My contract compromised. great. great...." he whispered under his breath."

[Staplers]

Seeing that she was seriously considering escaping on the vessel, Horf’s expression became frantic. He didn’t want to scare off the girl, but she at all costs could not escape.

“Now, now… let’s rethink our situation here…” he began, trying to ease over and lessen the tension between themselves.

Unfortuantely, whatever tension that may have been smoothed over suddenly sky-rocketed when another airship open fired on their location.

“FOR THE LOVE OF… “ Horf stuttered, trying in vein to keep his composure.

In a ditch effort to catch Erica, he dashed towards her in the midst of the confusion. He was a good 50 yards away, and by no means a graceful or fast runner. Never the less, he was now quickly approaching Erica in hopes of catching her once and for all.

[DemonGirl00]

Myst noticed the man's expression become rather frantic. Of course, he had good reason. His target was going to escape! That airship was Erica's last chance of escape, and all three of them knew it.

Unfortunately enough, just when things were about to wrap up, someone open fired.

"For the love of..!" she heard the man exclaim. Just after, he bolted forward, possibly in a ditch effort to capture his target. Myst's eyes widened in surprise. Was the man blind, or simply too desperate to notice that his path was blocked by a hawk demon who had no intention of moving out of the way? Either way, she was left with no other choice. With a heavy beat of her wings, she sped forward to intercept.

In the back of her mind, she was upset that it had to come to this. She didn't want to have to kill the man, but hypothetically speaking, her hands were tied. It was either attack or allow him to capture Erica, and the latter just couldn't happen. In a huff, the hawk demon reared her scythe back, aiming for a direct frontal attack.

[Copacetic_One]

Johnny rose to his feet and brushed himself off as he turned towards the cliff edge where his airship had finally docked when he heard two loud explosions and saw another airship materialize out of thin air near his own. "You have got to be freaking kidding me!!" He bellowed, not wanting to believe that yet another person was trying to shoot his airship down. He started to approach the figure who was the center of all this attention when he was nearly bowled over by one of the mob members who apparently wanted to do the same thing.

In a flash, Johnny's revolvers were in his hands and he was running to catch up with the admittedly determined pursuer. "Stop where you are or you'll be trying to outrun a couple of my lead bellied friends, and I promise they're a lot faster than I am!" He commanded, leveling his revolver at the man's back. Suddenly the beating of huge wings filled the air and a giant hawk thing swooped down to block both Johnny and the pursuer's path. "Whoever this person is, they better be worth all this weirdness." Johnny muttered to himself.

[Staplers]

“M..mmust… c..cat.ch…. HER!” he huffed, already drastically out of breath from a measly 10 yards of running.

Activity was never Horf’s strong point, but where he lacks physical finesse he makes up for physiological determination. Probably too unflatteringly dim-witted to give up, Horf continued forward while his mind raced 10’000 miles a minute.

“OH SH..HIT A BRID!” he ungracefully declared as a winged figure swooped down to intercept him in his path.

Not knowing what to do in this sort of situation, Horf suddenly stopped where he was and played dead. It was quite pathetic really, watching this grown man suddenly collapse to the ground as if he had a chance to fool anyone with this folly. Regardless, his advance was stopped and he now lay motionless on the ground before the winged creature.

[The Magnan]

The Hider saw Horf collapse and drew his samurai sword, "A trap." he said. The Hider then looked towards demon, "So is he your kill or mine," he folded his arms, and the sudden crazyness of the situation hit him. Then again his life was a far from normal what with being a gifted and all. His life was beyond his control, killing kept him from falling apart.

[DemonGirl00]

As Myst quickly closed in on her target, she swung her scythe out, aiming for a quick kill. Unfortunately, before the blade got anywhere close, the man suddenly collapsed. Surprised, as well as confused, the demon landed in front of him, placing her free hand on her hip as she assessed the situation. Was this some sort of last-minute trap, or did he simply pass out from exhaustion? The latter seemed entirely plausible, since his mad dash for Erica seemed rather labored after a few metres.

After a few seconds, it finally hit her -- he was playing dead! Myst cocked an eyebrow. Sure, she was a demon, but did he seriously think she was gullible enough to fall for such a simple trick? Or was this simply a way for him to get out of being killed?

"So," the demon heard someone begin, "is he your kill, or mine?" Myst looked up from the pitiful man on the ground to find one of his supposed accomplices, his arms folded. At first, she was confused by the question, but suddenly it made sense. An assassin working on the inside? Interesting.

It didn't matter, as long as Erica's assailant was either dead or off her trail, Myst's mission would be successful. And if this man's was saying what she thought he was, then the situation was already taken care of. "You take him," she finally replied with a quick nod before turning around. It wasn't necessarily part of her mission, but she wanted to see if Erica was all right. After all, being chased down by a pack of assassins would indeed be stressful and very frightening, so a little consolation may be in order. She approached the girl on the edge of the cliff, her face softened to a faint, consoling smile.

[The Magnan]

The Hider had not expected her say that, but he felt happy. He flicked his left wrist so that the hidden blade popped out, he then approached Horf and picked up off the ground and held his shoulder, squeezing it. He then pressed the tip of the blade on the throat. Enough to draw blood, but not to kill. Because the Hider would give him a choice. Turn and run. Or die. "What's your choice Horf," the Hider spat.

This is what he liked, being in control. A life is a life. But it could so easily being taken. The Hider knew Erica was important from all that was happening but why. Why must this girl be so important. What makes her special. What makes her tick. He never thought of it like that. He never noticed, his grip on the shoulder tighten. What went on inside a mind. In her mind. The questions would be answered soon, he thought. He looked Horf in eye as he waited for the reply.

[Staplers]

Horf was laying there motionless, quietly listening for his attacker’s reaction. So far he could only make out total silence. In his mind this was a mission success, although the truth be told he just simply confused the hell out of everyone by being so ridiculously stupid that they’re unsure of what to do.

Also, unfortunately for Horf, another was very unsympathetic to this man’s attempt at tricking them, and asked the winged demon if he was gonna kill it… “it” being Horf.

Suddenly, he felt a raising sensation which was the Hider lifting Horf to his feet. Once on his feet he then had a blade pressed against his throat. The first thing that ran through his mind was “ow!” since blades were sharp, and hurt a lot. The second thing that went through his mind was “Who is this guy? Why is he so mean?”

Horf was then spat the arbitrary question of what his choice will be. The obvious choices being turn and run, or take a lovely blade in the throat. However Horf was not exactly the brightest as demonstrated by his earlier actions, so he did not exactly have a clue of what his choices were.

“Is… is this a trick question?” he asked, not knowing to do.

***

“Where’s Horf?” a finely dressed man asked, quickly taking a glace at his map.

“Uh, he went up ahead sir!” a small pale assistant answered quickly.

The man took a passive glance to his assistant and stared at him for a good ten long seconds. This made the assistant even more pale as he waited to see his master’s reaction.

“Good, he’ll probably get himself killed if we’re lucky… Goddamn idiot he is!”

[The Magnan]

"Trick question. Trick question," the Hider smiled. He then looked menacingly at Horf, and said, "What you think!" he then dropped him, and turned to the Hawk demon, "He ain't worthy to be killed."

For some strange reason, the Hider wanted to check if Erica was ok too. He slowly approached them, and said to demon, "How is she?"

[V]

Mawler was bored, not a lot seemed to be happening down on the cliff face. He couldn't hear what was going on anyway. The cat yawned and jumped from the window.

Scuttling away through the halls and levels of the airship Mawler came to the room he wanted. Digit hadn't fed him so maybe one of the other crew might. Two toes hunched over the gun controls watched the display of the cliff face. The cat wide eyed waited for the crew mate to turn, when he didn't Mawler pouted. Jumping high he landed on Two Toes' shoulder.

The man jumped, his finger hitting the guns triggers shooting a spray out over the cliff. "Bloody Cat!" He shouted angrily shaking the cat off. Mawler landed on his feet and glowered.

"Mawler." He answered, "food?"

"Go find some rats..." grumbled the mate turning back to the controls.

Mawler jumped up onto the side board beside the mate and cocked his head, "I would if you lot didn't poison them." Stretching he slid and rolled down inconspicuously onto Two Toes' lap. "Might sleep here until food is ready. I'll claw you if you think to remove me." He rolled up and closed his eyes, tail flapping gently.

[Shifty]

"Any response?" Captain Roland asked his crew.

"Not yet, sir." One of the officers answered. "Should we open fire?"

"Only a couple more warning shots, this time aim for about 20 meters directly above the cliff. That should scare anyone there into stopping, or running away." Roland siad. He smiled viciously. He loved this job, and currently he didn't have any orders other than get the girl alive. If he needed to, he could level an entire country to do it. Right now it seemed, he just had to kill a couple dozen people and destroy an airship. Simple and hopefully very quick.

"Fire!" he yelled. Two more shots made the ship shudder again, and he watched as they exploded exactly 19 meters above the cliff, and everyone on it. "Try and hail the airship again." He ordered. He'd actually rather not fight another airhip, seeing as it obviously had some pretty big guns of its own.

[Wattz]

Within a different plane of existence, a woman smiled, though her smile was tainted with tears. She watched the spectacle as so many people came to that very spot, perched upon the cliff and rushing to meet their destiny. It was always a sad thing, when so many individuals were nothing but puppets on strings meant to do the bidding of the universe. But this time it was different, for somehow, somewhere in that mass of chaos, someone had acted out of turn.

The woman frowned and flipped through the pages of the Book of Time. The book appeared blank, though she could read every word, absorbing everything upon the page at once. There were actions unaccounted for.

There had never been a single event within time that hadn’t been accounted for in this book.

She closed her eyes and her smile gave way to a frown. The moment had finally arrived. Her baseless form allowed itself to drop, slowly but surely, into their realm. She hurled down from their sky, as if out of nowhere, screaming through the air like a shooting star in pain.

Finally, she hit the cliff, and exploded into unfathomable amounts of stars. Strangely enough, the impact itself was silent, though soon after the ground shook, and everything was caught in the earthquake.

A good few minutes passed before the earthquake finally died down, leaving a glowing scar upon the earth where the woman had collided with the realm.

[The Magnan]

The Hider stepped back, as earthquake shook him to his core. When it stopped he noticed the scar, and could only, "Say on what on Earth?"

First Erica interuppts his contract, then two airships are locked in combat, and now this. a Scar. It was temporal anomaly. He knew because, he had been a Time Jumper at one point. However, he put that career behind him, and stuck to his own time. But this scar was different. He did not know what to do.