Chapter Three

[Quantum Rain]

First topic message reminder :

As the forum auto-splits topics every 50 pages, the next topics will be named further chapters accordingly. This is chapter three, guys, KEEP IT UP!

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~Jediluigi

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--Yaga Minor--

“Unfortunately, they did not have one.” He stated, looking over the janitor’s shoulder to confirm his directions mentally. Now there was just the matter of blending in without magic…

--Unknown World--

Leon walked up cautiously toward the creature, pistol ready in his free hand as he kept himself aware of his surroundings. So it takes a shot to the head to kill them. He thought, as he used the opportunity provided by the creature to learn how to combat his potential enemy.

--Gothis Orbit--

The Hive Ship activates its telekinetic powers once more, managing to deflect the torpedoes utilizing similar abilities to the Rachni. The Collective fleet presses on still, taking light losses via the Thanix cannons by comparison to the Turians.

--Gothis Land--

Despite the Collective Troops hunkering in and luring the enemy to them, several were still dieing, while some managed to put up a fight.

--Charad--

The pilot looked at the kiwi incredulously, as if annoyed. She hands the drawing to the kiwi, as if emphasizing it.

--Konnsallann Station--

Cross was annoyed, at first, to the interruption, but then intrigued by the report she overheard. She remained silent, however, waiting to see if anyone would even remember her presence and what they would say in explanation.

--Bladnir--

(On hold until JL either gets Victoria II or managed to talk to me on Skype to discuss where to go from here.)

[Wynn]

Daniel's reserves were burning out rapidly as well. He felt his flames failing him, but saw that the ice wasn't pushing toward him. They were at a stalemate in power.
Daniel continued to push what was left of his power out and strode forward, advancing ever closer to Araman. He was nearly in arm's-reach now.

[Quantum Rain]

--Altakiril--

"Orbital bombardment would probably be countered by a shield of some sort, or a counterattack. What I was thinking was more along the lines of sabotage and subterfuge." The general said rather plainly, uncaring of whether such acts could be seen as dishonorable. "If we can break through one of those lines, we can press our advantage onwards to overcome the other two enemy firebases, and thereby march onto their main establishment."

--Ultra Vires--

"But in the end, at least you live another day, right?" Araman muttered to himself as the last reserves of his power were drained, and the ice had ceased to be. It began to lightly snow around them, due to the aftereffects of the duel, but it was not Araman's doing any longer.

[Wynn]

Daniel's reserves were drained entirely as well. His inferno ceased, but he did not stop his advance. He quickened, in fact. He grabbed Araman by his collar, lifted him up, and slashed his throat and threw him back to the ground to let him bleed out.
"You are an [censored]..." Daniel swore at him.

[Quantum Rain]

Araman struggled to stand up on his feet again. Were Daniel to charge once more, a black mass would have stopped him. The mass would take shape and bear the resemblance of a black-cloaked figure, holding onto a large, bloodied scythe. The aura it gave off was that of ice and cold. Behind the mass, Araman's wound healed quickly, despite his lack of power. "Sorry kid, not my time. Doesn't look like it's yours either." He said, smiling in Daniel's direction. "Catch ya later, kid, and good luck facing him."

[Wynn]

Daniel threw his sword at Araman in anger as he taunted him. He was livid at the whole situation. He threw his arms up in anger at the new form and took a few steps forward.
"What?!" He shouted. "You here to take a [censored] on my day off too?!"

[Quantum Rain]

The sword froze in mid-air at a gesture by the entity, as it spoke nothing towards Daniel. It turned and stared at Araman. "Yeah yeah, I'm going." He said, as a portal of black and purple formed in front of him. He walked through it, disappearing, and the portal too did the same. The entity turned back to Daniel and gestured to the sword, still not speaking. Then it turned around and entered a separate portal, which formed at a wave of the entity's hand.

[Wynn]

Daniel walked over and retrieved his sword and glared at the entity as he left through the portal. He had half a mind to chase after and finish the job, but he found a bit of rational thought that prevented him from taking such action.
He glared off into the horizon briefly, then looked up the deserted, sandy side of the beach, then the glassed side of the beach and sighed in irritation. His head was throbbing with pain, and he felt exhausted and overworked.
He threw his robe to the side and spiked his sword into the sand so that the blade stuck in the ground, then let himself fall onto the sand backward. From anyone looking at it, it would look like a painful landing, but Daniel did not make so much as a peep.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

--Altakiril--

Ackbar: I'm not sure that's the best idea, but who am I to talk--I've not been on this planet for more than an hour. *He does another sweep of the map.* We'll need to be quick and quiet, that's for sure. I know just the thing for this situation, but should we send some assistance to your men in the trenches? It sounds like they could use it, and we could drop in some runner ground troops directly from orbit.

[Quantum Rain]

--Altakiril--

Cross thought about the offer for a brief few seconds. "No. I don't want the enemy to know what your men are capable of yet until we've completed the task. My men can hold their posts until then, and when it is complete, then your men can reinforce and overwhelm their lines. Until then, I will send one final wave of reinforcements as I can spare it, mainly as a cover for our departure."

--Ultra Vires--

Lara walked over to Daniel, mesmerized and vastly confused by the recent turn of events. Her mind was attempting to process what had just occurred before her eyes, but all of herself was in agreement. She was not pleased... When she got over to Daniel, she kicked him rather violently, disrupting his peaceful moment.

[Wynn]

Daniel curled up in pain after receiving the blow unexpectedly from Lara. "Agh! Damn it!" He shouted in pain. He endured the pain for a moment, then looked up at her with an expression of confusion and a little bit of anger. "What was that for?"

[Quantum Rain]

"For dieing on me, you [censored]!" She yelled back at Daniel, clearly irritated by her not understanding the events that transpired, and the fact that Daniel did die before her eyes, and managed to come back to life. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

[Wynn]

Daniel gave Lara a look of disbelief at the fact she would actually tell him to die as if he had any control over it.
"Seriously?..." He muttered. He was about to say more then decided to hold his tongue. He simply went back to lying there and trying to get back to enjoying a day off, and chuckled to himself.

[Fore Admiral Disayle]

--Altakiril--

Ackbar: Very well. Where is the force to assemble to prepare for the mission? *He hesitates, and then forges ahead.* While we're at it, General, I need to ask you something else. The rest of your forces went to assist us at Triginta Petra, yes? Have you heard anything from them? A friend of mine--General Ironbeak--was deployed there initially, so my concern is personal as well as strategic.

[Quantum Rain]

Lara glared at him a second longer, then looked over at the sunset. After a few seconds, she sat down next to Daniel, calm as ever, as if nothing happened again. "... If you want... You can take tomorrow off." She offered to Daniel, breaking the silence.

[Wynn]

Daniel smirked slightly. "I would like that..." He said, fond of the thought of getting a second chance at a day off. "...I don't suppose we can blame the glassed section of the beach on that [censored] that killed me?" He inquired. "Having my face on the news isn't exactly helpful in my line of work."

[Quantum Rain]

As if prompting his appearance, and to answer the question posed in place of Lara, Rain's voice spoke up. "I don't advertise the members of my team on news reels." He said evenly, from behind the duo. "And I'm afraid you won't be getting that second day off, regardless of the... circumstances..." He said, taking another look at the ruined beach. He was curious, but he was not going to pry for questions. Certainly not from a mentally unstable child.

[Wynn]

Daniel sat up when Rain began to speak. He frowned at his appearance immediately, but narrowed his eyes and scowled at him when he said he couldn't have the day off tomorrow.
"Considering the [censored] I just went through, I'd think I didn't get a day off in the first place..." Daniel grumbled loud enough for Rain to hear. "I spent the whole time dealing with some ice-brained demonic [censored] your security failed to keep out."

[Quantum Rain]

"We're not security guards... and the decision was not mine to make this time." He said, reaching for and procuring a datapad. "We were requested directly by Commander Serien. Specifically, you were named to be a part of his next operation. He wants to brief you of your next assignment before you depart tomorrow." Rain says, displeased by Daniel's disrespect and by Serien's interference. He looked over at Lara for a moment, speaking to her mentally. She smiled and shook her head, and when Rain looked back at Daniel, he seemed even more displeased somehow, but said nothing.

[Wynn]

Daniel shook his head, catching onto the fact that they were speaking to each other mentally just by facial expressions. When he received yet another look of disapproval from Rain, he sighed and got up quickly. He picked up his gear and began walking away rather quickly. He said nothing, but he wanted to say a few choice words, but he decided to hold his tongue once more.
A couple hours later he began his walk to meet Serien. He had put on a set of civilian clothing, which was mainly jeans and a gray hoodie. For whatever reason, his mind went back to something Araman had said during their encounter.
"Goddamn it, Freeman..." He swore under his breath. "Now you have me wondering if I even have a chance at getting a girlfriend..." He snapped his fingers in frustration and walked a bit farther, then looked down at his hand when he felt a strange sensation. A flame was floating above his hand. It stayed only briefly, then faded.
"Huh." He mumbled. He snapped his fingers again and a flame only shot up for a split-second and vanished again. He snapped his fingers once more, and this time he only got a few sparks. He snapped yet again, and this time he got nothing whatsoever. He sighed in minor frustration and began snapping his fingers repeatedly as fast as he could.
"Come on!" He exclaimed. As he shouted, the air only a couple feet from his face exploded. Daniel jerked back reflexively, and felt his face get a bit burned by the blast. The shock wave broke out the window of a nearby shop and set its alarms off. Daniel looked around to make sure no one had seen that and slowly put his hood up and continued on his way slowly at first, then broke out into a full-sprint once he had gotten around the corner.
Eventually he would reach Serien's office and walked in casually, hoping that there was no footage of his little mistake a few minutes ago.

[Quantum Rain]

--Ultra Vires, SF HQ--

Once Daniel reached the top floor of the towering skyscraper that was the "unofficial" headquarters of the Special Forces, he would enter a massive chamber, more than a room or office. The room was modern, but dark looking, with black ceramic tiles reflecting a dim light from the all-windowed wall in the back. Little did he know, the windows were one-sided. On one side of the room was a massive bookcase, filled to the brim with datapads. The unofficial mission reports of the Special Forces. To the other side lay a massive "television." In truth, it was a digital device designed to present various news reports, breifings, communiques, and so on. It, too, was surrounded by bookcases, but there were several chairs in front of the massive device still.

In the center lay a large, wooden, dark-oak desk. With three chairs in front of it, and one behind, the desk itself was of little import in truth. Cluttered with datapads and a terminal, as well as a projection device, the man who sat behind the desk seemed to care little of the mess. He yawned as he patiently read through one of almost millions of datapads. Coincidentally, he too was wearing casual clothing, compared to IS uniform standards at least. He wore a black leather jacket, with a plain undershirt that matched his dark-blonde hair color. He seemed to have not have noticed that Daniel had walked in yet, still leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk without much care in the world.

[Wynn]

Daniel walked up to the desk and stood before it and "cleared his throat" to get Serien's attention in a subtle manner.
"You, uh...." Daniel stammered. "Wanted to see me?"

[Quantum Rain]

Serien looked up from he datapad groggily. "Oh, you're here earlier than I expected. Go on, sit down." He said, scrolling through the datapad again. He read through its content for a few more seconds before laying it on the desk. He sighed, yawning again. "So, I've been told you were in a "skirmish" earlier?" He inquired, pressing a button that had still been left uncovered past the mess. The screen on the left wall had activated and projected a news report about the beach incident only moments ago. No videos or details yet, however.

[Wynn]

Daniel watched the report for a few moments. His face and overall posture would be that of someone perfectly calm, but something subtle said otherwise. He was tensed up.
"I guess you could call it that..." Daniel began. "If you consider getting my [censored] handed to me on a silver platter with a side of my own teeth a 'skirmish.'"

[Quantum Rain]

"Mmm. Well, we have agents in the major news distributors. We'll ensure to 'alter' the facts of any news released. I would ask that you be more cautious, even on vacation. If not at least for your own safety." Serien replied, dismissing the issue by shutting the projector off. "As well, you will be given a chance to exercise this advice in enemy territory." He followed up, picking up another datapad off the pile and handing it over to Daniel. "Your next assignment, Lae, is nothing short of crucial. You, amongst several other agents, will be sent to the Imperium homeworld of Thanatos, and will gather intelligence on any planned invasions. We believe that the Imperium is preparing to engage in open warfare, and we want a heads up before they strike en-masse."

[Wynn]

Daniel would interrupt Serien in the middle of his sentence when he called him 'Lae.'
"Uhm, Daniel. My name's Daniel." He said weakly, as if he were afraid of being called out on how he figured it out.
After the briefing, Daniel raised an eyebrow at Serien, looked back at the briefing screen, then back to Serien.
"What?" He inquired. "No lecture? No disapproval? No insults!?" He seemed genuinely surprised at the fact he hadn't been verbally assaulted with just those things.

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