Technologic Arcanum (IC)

[The Templar High Council]

Addison turned with Jessica and started running, slightly behind her from the delayed start but managing to reach the building undetected all the same. Addison ducked down as they arrived, drawing his submachine gun and snapping the stock in place. "So northwest. I assume you know where you're going, look like some sort of deniable-ops type. Just hope this isn't one of those ops and I can trust you to not stab me in the back." Addison spoke cynically and under his breath, not knowing who else was in the Neutral Zone and listen in to them.

"You're faster, and I've got the guns. I can cover you while you move up, just keep leap-frogging up the NZ. Unless you have a better plan?"

"Head Northwest, regroup with the others, don't get killed." Jessica said as she leaped behind the ruins of an old shop to avoid gun fire. She then raised an eyebrow when he commented on her looks and being able to trust her. "I was, once, but not anymore. And believe me I'm not what you have to worry about right now." She said, glancing towards the battalions of technocrat infantry that were now pouring in to the neutral zone. She listened to his suggestion about what they should do, admittedly she was impressed. He candidly expressed each others strengths, and suggested he cover her as she charged forward. "That works, but you'll need to make sure not to fall too far behind. it won't be long before both sides have this place surrounded." She told Addison, before unsheathing her swords and running forward towards the cover of an old news stand. She came up behind two unawares Magi guards, slicing each of them across the back before they could even respond. That caught the attention of one of their squadrons however, and soon magical blasts were flying in Jessica direction. She ran across the street and dove behind a brick wall just in time. She was now pinned down however, and she looked over towards Addison, hoping he had gotten in position to give her cover to move.

Unbeknownst to either Jessica or Addison, while a group of Magi soldiers pinned the former down with basic blasts of magic, there was an Elemental on a nearby vantage point, charging up an explosive fireball perfectly capable of destroying the brick wall that Jessica hid behind, and then some. Once the spell was fully charged, however, and right as the Elemental let it loose, a bullet from very far away left a large hole in the chest of the Magi, whose fireball veered away from Jessica, out of control. It soon slammed right into a large building that began to collapse, its rubble slowly beginning to cover up the path that led north. Of course, there was still the matter of the Magi who were pinning down Jessica with their magic blasts, but both she and Addison were presented with a prime opportunity to leave their pursuers behind a wall of debris.

"You're welcome, boys and girls. Now get moving." Artemis muttered under her breath as she slid another round into her weapon, at the same time standing up and running to the edge of the rooftop before jumping off, landing on another nearby rooftop only a moment after an artillery round had reduced the previous building to nothing. While she had technology that muffled the sonic boom produced by her railgun, she still had to be wary of attempts to clear the way for large amounts of troops or vehicles. Settling into her new position, the Phantom took aim once more, this time against her former allies.

Addison waited until Jessica was into her next cover, before slipping out of his hiding place with his sub-machine gun held close to his chest. He looked past his sword-wielding comrade and sprayed a line of fire at the magi, forcing them back so as to keep Jessica free. "Let's go Jessica! I got 'em pinned!" Addison slammed into cover beside Jessica, reaching over with his right arm and touching the black-clad girl and erecting a shimmering orange barrier over her skin and clothing. "It's an armor construct, should protect you from one good shot. Or a fire blast, or whatever."

Suddenly an explosion rang out, fire bursting against the side of a nearby building and causing rubble to start to fall over the field. "That's the way we've gotta go, let's make a break for it while we've got the chance, before the whole place falls down!" Addison discarded his empty magazine, slapping a new one into the gun and pulling the bolt to chamber the next shot. "I'm right behind you!"

[Brusia]

Dr. Galen Salk

As the two ran through the battlefield, Galen made certain that he remained close enough to Kirisvala for his shield to encompass her. Fortunately, when the shots started flying, the young woman did an excellent job of reinforcing his barrier, and the two were able to get through the combat zone unscathed. After proceeding a couple of blocks further to another spot with decent cover, Galen checked to make sure they weren't being pursued while Kirisvala. Once he was certain no one was coming after them, he approached the young healer and while scanning her asked: "You feeling alright?" Once the scan was complete, he continued: "Well, good news is your epinephrine and norepinephrine levels are still within the normal range, so you shouldn't need another injection." Seeing how drained she looked after their run though, he stated: "Still, probably best if you rest here awhile just to be on the safe side."

He grabbed the canteen off his belt and was about to take a drink when he realized it was almost empty. Instead he handed it over to the young woman, telling her: "Here, you need this more than I do." Pointing to a nearby building, he continued: "I'm going to head up to that rooftop and scout the area ahead, you stay here and rest; I'll be back in a flash." Galen darted off towards the building, but once inside proceeded with a good deal more caution up the decaying staircase. Once he was on the roof, he scanned his surroundings, and after a short search was pleased to see a tall steeple jutting above the ruined town a mile or so from their current position. Marking the approximate location on his map, Galen headed back down the stairs and returned to Kirisvala to inform her: "Not much farther to go now, I spotted the Cathedral's steeple about a mile from our location. Do you think you can make it?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

After gasping for air for several moments, Kirisvala's breathing was finally beginning to stabilize, though she still couldn't do much more than nod at the combat medic when he asked her if she was doing fine, barely managing to give him a tired smile when he stated, more or less, that she was indeed alright - she still couldn't understand his medical jargon, as it was quite different from the few technical terms used by healers, but she figured it did not matter. So instead of worrying about that, she simply sat down to regain some energy once her breathing was stable, in silent agreement with Galen's suggestion.

When the medic offered her the last drink of his water canteen, the young healer was reasonably surprised, but accepted it nonetheless, muttering a small thanks that was followed by another smile, a less weary one this time. Watching him head off to survey their surroundings from a vantage point, she pondered the kindness he had shown her since the moment she and her master had come across him earlier, before the large-scale battle between the Technocracy and the Imperium began. It contrasted with the other Technocrat that had made a strong impression on her, the one that, despite trying to make amends, had tried to kill her. It was quite... jarring, to say the least, to see such behavior coming from those that his people considered to be their foes... but then, she supposed that her 'people' were also her foes now, after her and her master's escape.

Opting not to think of it too much while they still weren't in the clear, she instead took a drink from the canteen, quickly emptying, and then examined it, noticing that her gauntlet's claws had put a few scratches on it already. She frowned, irritated at this and hoping the medic wouldn't mind, though in all likelihood he had more important things to worry about as well. Either way, she did not have to wait for him very long, as he returned fairly quickly, bringing good news: they were almost at the location the red-haired Technocrat had told them to meet up at. Hearing the medic ask her if she was good to continue, she nodded and stood up, carefully dusting herself off while trying to avoid accidentally ripping her white and red cloak.

"Yes, I can walk just fine, and it doesn't sound like the fighting has come up this north yet so we may not have to run." She stated, before handing back the water canteen, careful to keep her claws away from Galen. Since he was the one who knew the path they were to take to reach the cathedral, she waited for him to start moving. "I'll follow you, Mr. Medic." She told him.

[Tomia]

Addison waited until Jessica was into her next cover, before slipping out of his hiding place with his sub-machine gun held close to his chest. He looked past his sword-wielding comrade and sprayed a line of fire at the magi, forcing them back so as to keep Jessica free. "Let's go Jessica! I got 'em pinned!" Addison slammed into cover beside Jessica, reaching over with his right arm and touching the black-clad girl and erecting a shimmering orange barrier over her skin and clothing. "It's an armor construct, should protect you from one good shot. Or a fire blast, or whatever."

Suddenly an explosion rang out, fire bursting against the side of a nearby building and causing rubble to start to fall over the field. "That's the way we've gotta go, let's make a break for it while we've got the chance, before the whole place falls down!" Addison discarded his empty magazine, slapping a new one into the gun and pulling the bolt to chamber the next shot. "I'm right behind you!"

Jessica was still pinned down by the enemy. She couldn't even lift her head up to see what was going on around her, but she could certainly hear it. A machingun blasting behind her was the perfect cue to make a run for it. She pushed off from the ground and sprinted across the street, not missing a beat as her attackers were being pinned down.

Suddenly however explosions filled her senses as the enemies in front of her were torn apart, and so were the nearby buildings. Jess heard Addison's suggestion and looked towards the building. She had no intention of arguing and instead rushed inside.

The swordswoman was greeted with hot and thick smoke as small pieces of stone and drywall fell from the ceiling above. The building was shaking violently as she sprinted across towards the other side. With a hard kick she busted through a blocked wouldn't door that allowed her to escape to the other side. "Come on! You need to hurry!" She said, worried about how much longer this building would be able to stand.

[Lancearc]

Andrew Wells
Techno-Magi NZ

It seemed as though that every miserable day he'd spent in the Neutral Zone, the sun had forgotten how to shine.

"Might start to fucking forget what it looks like..."

Not that the muttering man much minded that the sunlight had, for all intents and purposes, seemingly disappeared for these past few days. The gloominess always meant that rain was possible, and there was no better feeling in the world of Andrew Wells than seeing his rain catcher filled all the way, permitting a long drink of cold water, a luxury to him since he had fled the Technocracy.

It kept the heat of the sun off of him too, which he certainly didn't miss from his long days spent standing guard at the border, or gods forbid the weeks on end of combat operations, sweating his ass off in the field, sprinting here and there, setting up the plasma cannon, fire!, moving again to avoid some fucked up type of spell headed his way. It all seemed so satisfying then. Of course, "then" was more than a decade ago. Now it was just...fucking pointless.

Pops would be proud. Andrew thought with a sly grin behind the scarf that obscured the lower half of his face, laughing out loud and shaking his head. "Rest in peace, old man."

"Ow, Fuck!" was the next exclamation to come out of his mouth, one that was suffocated by the pile of rubble low around his head, not allowing the words to echo outside of the small chamber he was currently crawling through. This is how he got around, typically - crouched low, moving through the bombed out rubble that was a majority of this portion of the NZ. It was at times difficult - as he thought this, the end of the plasma cannon strapped across his back pumped a large rock, shifting the formation above his head and causing him to pause, frightened for a moment - but it was his best bet at not getting spotted and taken out, by either side.

Following the narrow beams of light filtering down through the cracks in the rubble, Andrew pushed his way back up to the streets, shoving aside a fallen slab of rock to emerge onto the ruined avenue. He wiped the accumulated dust from the goggles he wore - it had a bad habit of fucking with the targeting systems on the HUD - and took a knee, keeping in the shadow of the ruined building while observing his surroundings.

Down the street was a cathedral, still relatively intact, and with a tall bell tower that could serve as a nice spot to catch some Zs. Sleeping opportunities were few and far between, but this looked to be a promising location. One way in, good vantage point, and no one would see him entering. Looking over his shoulder, he began skulking down the street.

God, if you're up there, don't fuck this up for me.


He reached for the pistol on his thigh, pulling it from the holster slowly while approaching the two large wooden doors that sat at the base of the cathedral, the bell tower casting a long shadow over the street like a looming monolith. Held steadily in his right hand, he rested his arm atop his left, keeping his aim steady as he used his free left hand to pull open the doors.

Performing a quick check of his corners and a visual sweep of the room, he hurried inside and swiftly shut the door behind him.

At the rear of the cathedral, Andrew was...honestly, and uncharacteristically in admiration of cloudy daylight filtering in through the colorful remnants of a stained glass window. Dust and debris filtered lightly through the rays, and the light that passed through what remained of what once was a depiction of Christ upon the cross filled the room with varying areas of red, blue, yellow. Small patches of the
ceiling had fallen and littered the floor with small piles of debris, but this did little to disturb the peace that had apparently settled over this place. Dusty pews sat largely undisturbed, save for the few that were out of line or fallen onto their backs.

Although he was not religious, even Andrew noted the tranquility of this place.

Shaking himself from this docile observation, he turned and made another sweep of the interior of the structure. He noted a side room, where a stone staircase ascended, presumably to a ladder that would climb to the bell tower. As he investigated further he was correct, at least that this staircase led to a ladder. He quickly ascended, holstering his weapon to climb the ladder.

---

Andrew didn't know how long he'd slept. His bedroll was spread out at the top level of the bell tower, his weapons lying at his side, his pack and a few pieces of rubble large enough to serve as "locks" to the hatch door that had to be pushed open to enter the bell tower were positioned atop the door, to keep out any unwanted intruders.

Roused from his grogginess however, Andrew sat up and wiped his eyes. As he came to his sense, an unmistakable noise caught his attention. In the distance, though still uncomfortably close, the sound of gunfire, plasma shots, and magical bullshit could be heard. Recognizing this, he jumped to his knees, staying low, just high enough to peek his eyes over the edge of the bell tower's window. Sure enough, across the ruins to his south he could pick out a few "hot spots." Magi and Techno forces had moved on each other in the NZ. "Well fuck!" Andrew cursed under his breath, turning to look at his equipment.

Hurriedly gathering his things, he decided it might be worth it to fortify this position. It was easily defendable with his current tools, and he had no intention of leaving to somewhere more uncomfortable this night.

---

It took about 25 minutes for him to complete his makeshift defenses. 4 Plasma grenades were used - positioned on two tripwires of two each, one by the main doorway and the other in the doorway leading to the staircase, low-visibility demo wire that was issued to the sappers of the Techno forces, nearly impossible to detect unless the Magi were using some type of mystical bullshit to reach out or something like that, he didn't quite remember the full speech from his CO. Other than these two small traps, Andrew figured he could cover all other possible entry points well enough from the bell tower with a plasma cannon and rocket launcher at the ready. At first site of hostile forces they would be turned to fucking dust, but preferably any troops that came through this way would be too busy engaging the enemy to take any interest in the cathedral, and he could just lay low.

Patiently, he sat with his back against the wall, out of sight of anyone on the ground, a careful ear out, and occasional peeks out the window, to ensure his position remained secure.

[Brusia]

Dr. Galen Salk

Galen nodded as Kirisvala stated she could walk, and noticed the young woman's claws as she returned his canteen. He was curious whether they were weapons of some sort or purely decorative, but as they had more important things to worry about at the moment, made a note to wait to ask about them until later. When she stated that she'd follow him, Galen nodded and as he began to walk towards the Cathedral stated: "Oh, and the name's Galen by the way, Doctor Galen Salk. Your name's Kirisvala, right?"

Fortunately, the two were not intercepted by any more Technocracy or Magi forces, and were able to walk the rest of the way to the Cathedral. "I think that's it over there" Galen said to Kirisvala when they arrived on the street where the building was located. As they neared the structure however, Galen's scanner suddenly alerted him to the presence of plasma munitions. "Hold up" he informed the young woman "It looks like there's some sort of plasma munitions in the building. It might just be that some of the people we met earlier beat us here, but it might be best if you stay within my shield, just in case." They made it to the Cathedral door without coming under attack, but Galen was still worried someone might've set a trap for them inside the building. With his back against a stone pillar next to the Cathedral's main doors, he looked to Kirisvala and said: "Stick close and be ready to reinforce the shields and run again, just in case it's not our new allies inside." With his weapon at the ready, Galen reached out past the stone pillar with his left hand, and knocked on the large wooden door. The question of whether friend or foe awaited them inside would be answered soon enough...

[Lancearc]

As time passed in the clock tower, one thing became very apparent - Andrew was exceedingly hungry. More notably however, was that this was no minor skirmish in the NZ, this was an all out street brawl, and neither side was pulling any punches. As Andrew sat and listened to the fight raging on a short distance away, he was trying to determine just how many belligerents were present. Hundreds, maybe? There was really no telling, not in the absolute chaos that had descended upon what had once been his safe haven.

If any of the rubble tunnels he regularly used to navigate these ruins collapsed, he was going to be fucking pissed.

He was just about to raise his head for another peek over the ledge of the tower when he heard voices approaching. His heart immediately took off in his chest, and he pulled the plasma cannon into his arms from its position previously leaned against the wall. He cradled it, quietly attempting to get his eyes over the ledge just enough to get a sight line on where the voice seemed to be approaching from.

Sure enough, coming down the street he had used not long ago, were two figures. Interestingly enough, it appeared that they were...a techie and a Magi, and not killing each other? One was a young girl, the spell slinger, way too young to be in a place like this, from what he could see. The Techie was more his age, at least so far as he could tell. Andrew was somewhat relaxed then, but he quickly realized that this didn't mean they were any friend of his. In the NZ, he didn't take any chances.

The pair drew closer, and soon enough he could just barely make out some of the things they were saying. They seemed on friendly enough terms, that plus the not killing each other indicated they were cooperating and not one being taken prisoner by the other. He heard a "hold up" from the male voice, and Andrew immediately frowned and grit his teeth. God dammit. he cursed mentally.

The man's scanner had picked up the plasma surprise he'd left below. Well I guess now I know they can do that. Andrew supposed, but the bright side didn't do much to defuse the situation. He still had two...possible hostiles? And they now knew something was up. Andrew let them approach the door, when he heard...

A knock.

Something about that was absolutely hilarious to him, but now wasn't the time. Suppressing a fit of laughter, Andrew emerged from hiding with the plasma cannon in hand, with just enough strength to aim it at the somewhat awkward angle required to keep it focused on the two standing at the door.

"You fucking knocked?" Andrew shouted down in disbelief, shaking his head. "Yeah, just let me undo the latch asshole, come on in." he scoffed, though the humor was lost after that.

"What the hell are you doing here, and why are you with her?" Andrew called down with a nod towards the Magi girl. "That shield had better be pretty strong if you try anything funny, this thing could blast both of you back to last Tuesday." he warned sternly.

Perhaps he was being too harsh with the strangers who apparently meant no harm, but it never hurt to be too cautious, he'd learned.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

---

Seeing that the medic had begun walking, Kirisvala followed his lead, assuming that he was headed towards the cathedral. Stepping as close as she could without being rude and cutting into his personal space, she matched his pace as the two continued on their way, with the girl hoping that they would find some of their companions there already: she wanted to see her master again, specifically, though on the flip side she was not looking forward to meeting the girl from the Technocracy another time. These musings continued in the back of her head for a bit as she looked around, her eyes alert and scanning the landscape for any possible threat. Her thoughts and her watch were both interrupted momentarily when she heard the medic address her, however, and introduce himself at last. "Yes, Kirisvala Sarafan is my name, Mr. Salk." The girl nodded.

Moving alongside Galen, the young healer was quite glad that they had not encountered any more enemies on the way, as they soon arrived at the old cathedral where they were to meet the others. She nodded at the medic's comment and began approaching the building expectantly, but stopped as soon as he told her to and stepped closer to him, eyeing the structure warily when she heard that there were Technocracy munitions inside. It was very likely, she thought, that it was just one of their allies, but she didn't want to take any chances, and clearly the medic was of the same opinion, as he instructed her to stay close while he approached the door with care. Hoping to contribute somehow, she cast a quick scanning spell aimed at the ground floor of the cathedral, though she was unable to detect any magic within, making her suspect that perhaps whoever had placed munitions inside wasn't an ally. Frowning slightly, she prepared a spell to reinforce Galen's shield as he knocked on the double doors.

What she didn't expect was to hear the voice of someone perched on the belfry atop the cathedral, and she looked up, growing alarmed as she saw that the stranger who addressed them had a large weapon pointed at them. "W-we're... we're just trying to get away from the fighting. A friend told us to wait for her here." The girl stated as she quietly reinforced the barrier. If the man was a fugitive too, then perhaps he would not try to harm them, but if he was a member of the Technocracy, then they were likely in for a fight. A part of her began to resent her for pairing up with another person with abilities focused on support, even though he had been very kind to her thus far.

[Evil Dictators Happyland]

OOC: Sorry I've been so inactive here recently. I've been juggling Magic: The Gathering, another RP (actually several, it's turned into something of an epic saga), International Debating Area, and a bunch of other things, so I guess in all that, I kinda forgot this RP existed for a while.
If someone wants to tell me where Sigma should be in order to help the story, since I honestly couldn't decide, it would be appreciated.