Charlotte Hunter - The Ship

Charlotte listened as the voice introduced it's self as Pyrrha. It was a small piece of normality against the stark medical room. Yet as hope began to burn brighter within the small girl, it was quickly smothered.

It began with synchronised footsteps that thudded against the floor and made it shake ever so slightly. Charlotte could feel the vibrations travelling up her chair. They grew stronger as the boots came closer. Pyrrha then shouted something but over the rushing of blood which sounded in her ears, she couldn't tell what was being said, as the footsteps stopped outside her door.
A single pair of boots moved this time, answering Pyrrha's voice with a worryingly lazy efficiency. They moved away from her door. About three or four steps down the corridor then stilled. Then the screams began to sound. Charlotte snapped out of her panic stricken state, her mouth wrenching open in gut instinct to help her friend.

"Stop it! You sick bastards!" Her voice was raw, brittle and sang off the walls of her cell like sandpaper rubbing against metal. But of course, the people behind the door didn't listen. "Cowards! Too afraid to take us on in a fair fight!"

Pyrrha's screams continued and Charlotte became more frantic with her insults, until the shutter on her door slid open and a small canister was pushed in. The metal tin hit the floor with a heavy thunk, and began to hiss. A thick smoke flooded the room, filling it with a choking gas. Against her better judgement Charlotte screamed and struggled, breathing in the gas before realising her mistake. Pyrrha's screams were with her till she fell asleep.

*******

When Charlotte awoke, it was to the realisation that her head had been placed into a metal brace. The cage encircled her head like a bird cage, keeping her head up and her neck straight. At her neck, she could feel the small sting of another needle puncturing the skin at the nape of her neck. Her hair had been pulled back and kept out of the way.

Panic set in again. Pyrrha's cell was silent.

The shutter of the door slid open and the pair of eyes appeared in the slit. Charlotte shuddered slightly at the sound of the shutter opening, but forced her revulsion down. Instead she simply stared at the pair of eyes as they watched her once more. Hatred no longer burned there. Instead she replaced it with an emotionless watch of her watcher.

The eyes however, remained indifferent and the scratch of pen against paper sounded, then stopped again. Recalling the happenings before, Charlotte braced herself for the needle at her neck to bite deeper into her spine, but instead, a small hiss of air sounded.
At first she did not understand what had happened. What that hiss had meant. But when pain suddenly began to burn down her spine, realisation came with a sharp clarity. Poison. This time they were injecting her with chemicals.

Her veins burned with intensity as the poison melted her flesh, seeping into her organs like wild fire. Her power burst into action but Charlotte blacked out as the poison reached her heart. All the while, the sound of the pen scratching against paper accompanying her to the blackness.

**********

It was a gentle pair of hands against her back which brought her out of her sleep. She was weak and her head was heavy, but she tried to focus on what was happening.

She was no longer in her cell now. She was in a cold grey corridor and the sound of feet moving around her confused her. Opening her eyes, she blinked back light as she focused on the people. She recognised no one. Even the young boy stroking her back.

Instinct made her jump up with surprising force and brush off the boy's hand.
"What the fu.." She began, adrenaline kicking in. That was, of course, until she spotted Kieran propped up against the opposite wall.

Glancing up at the people around her, she finally understood. Rescue. They had been saved. Though she had not realised Kieran was here. "Oh my god, Kieran!"

She darted forward, ignoring the guy with the bow and the young boy for now. She grabbed Kieran's hand and without thinking, she let her power branch across her skin and onto his, absorbing his wounds without a seconds thought. The familiar burn of wounds ebbed across her body, but she no longer felt the intensity of its pain. She did not realise this of course. Not now anyway. Too much was going on.

She watched feverously as the wounds disappeared from Kieran until the last of his skin was clear. It was only then that she allowed herself to breath out a steady, long breath. Kieran was fine and now uninjured.

Turning, she now focused on the guys whom stood close by. "How many of us are there? And who needs healing?" She did not bother with thanks. It felt wrong to say thank you right now. The timing was off and there were other more important matters to attend too.

Austin Tseng - Portsmouth, England

Dominique Bisset-- NYK Cargo Ship

Getting here wasn't fun. Just like with the ride with Spectacles, the gravity-thing didn't need to be discussed. He didn't like it and that's really all that needed to be said. Dom only enjoyed flying when he had a thousand ton airplane around him rather than absolutely nothing. The landing was tolerable though slightly irritating. Yeah this whole thing wasn't going the way he'd like so far. The only pick-me-up was seeing Emil put his son in a very uneventful post (something that apparently happened often). But other than that? Yeah... No.

Everyone split up pretty quickly. Emil said to go in groups but Dom decided to ignore that. He didn't need to be in a group, it would have been nice, but he was no longer in the mood. Sleep teased under his eyelids and he cursed himself for making conversation instead of ignoring everyone like Del had. He may have gotten some sleep, but now he was just more tired than he was before he came here. It didn't help that it was cold either. He was fine under his jacket, which was only slightly a good thing since every other part of him was cold and getting colder by the second. That was just annoying. So yeah, he was already irritated, maybe even passed irritated, it wouldn't help being in a group right now.

Dom could hear the guards' footsteps on the stel floor and their was no doubt his could be heard too. Whenever he would cross into the open, he'd look back to see if any guard decided to stop and look around after hearing him, but so far they had all just walked by. Either they hadn't heard him or they took him for another guard. However it was, Dom wasn't going to start posing questions now. He squeezed his way through a space between two crates and looked out the other side. Ahead of him was a large, white, tower-like structure that stretched to either side of the boat. It was impossible for him to see around the entire thing. Dom didn't have much of a choice but to go in blind. He groaned and, after waiting for two guards to pass, he went to the tower. Dominique pressed his back to the wall and when he looked around the corner he saw no one. Just like he liked it. Dom started his sprint through the passageway, but as he did the heavy, steel door in the center swung open. Dom stopped hard to keep himself from slamming into the metal door and ducked under the circular window. Just as he did, two guards walked out, one stopping in the doorway and the other just outside. The two of them were in conversation, probably ending it before they split off, but was it worth waiting?

"Yeah, Pete's a f*cking dick," the first guard, a woman, said, "but don't worry about it. He's going to be down below all day."

"Yeah, still. Did you hear what he said? I should have thrown that *sshole off the goddamn ship!" Dom could hear the second, a man, slam his fists together. The man's voice was deep and gruff and the woman's only sounded a tone or two higher. The both of them, of course, wore those heavy, black uniforms with the poorly selected scarf and hat, the Batman-style utility belts, and held over-sized guns. These ones, however, let their guns rest by their shoulder straps instead of keeping them in-hand and ready to fire. He'd have to act while they were distracted.

First Guard laughed. "Hey! Maybe you can get a favor from that portal kid!"

"A one way ticket to Hell would be nice." Dom could hear the sound of Second Guard checking one of his many uniform pockets and utility packs. Dom concentrated, focusing his power from his body and into his hands. The action was harder than it sounded and he felt his body heat up before his hands did. Keeping his frustration down was harder than telling his fire where to go. Dom had to force himself keep calm until the right moment. The Second Guard let out a mixture of a sigh and a heavy sigh. "Goddammit. You got a light?" That would have to do.

Dom sprang up from behind the door and rammed into Second Guard. The man was big, but surprise took his feet from under him. The guard collided into his partner and the two of them went falling and stumbling backwards. It was then that Dom noticed the set of stairs behind them. His eyes widened when the woman shrieked and fell backwards. There was hard, metallic slam! when her head hit the low archway down. Two more impacts came after followed by a third and final slam--this one deep and hollow on the floor.

Sh*t! The man on the floor groaned, the strap of his gun now twisted around his body awkwardly. Below them Dom could hear the voices of more people responding to the shriek, mostly "what the hell"s and "what the f*ck"s that were too close for comfort. The now blood-covered letters of the already red WATCH YOUR HEAD sign told him that wasn't a good time to offer the guard a light.

"What the hell?" The guard below him groaned and looked back at Dom, his eyes widening once he did. Immediately he scrambled to right his gun. By the time he could grab it, Dom set his hands ablaze. His nerves were still high after that fall and the fire burst from his hands came with more power than he intended, sending small flecks of fire into the air that made both him and the guard flinch.

"Don't even think about it," Dom said as menacingly as he could in hopes of hiding his momentary weakness. Below them the voices and footsteps of men and women stopped at the bottom of the stairs, each of them sharing a gasp or interjection.

"Someone radio this in!" A guard below them shouted. Whoever they asked didn't get much of a chance to start before Second Guard started shouting to them, waving his hands and gun in the air.

"Hey, hey! Up here!"

"Is that f*cking fire!?" Sh*t! Without thinking, Dom kneeled down and grabbed the tattle-tale guard by the legs. The guard cried out in pain just as bullets flew over Dom's head and the sound of combat boots and metal came off the stairs. He lifted the guard by the legs and flipped him forward. The guard yelled out as he fell down the stairs, flaming pants and all, into his comrades ascending. He didn't wait to hear the commotion, without a second wasted Dom jumped out of the stairway and and slammed the door behind him. He grabbed the door's locking wheel and turned it to close, but before he got far there was another voice.

"The hell!?" Another guard. Why were there suddenly so many guards? Just like the other ones he was ready to shoot. Dom put up his hands to send his own attack, but the guard shot first. Before he knew it there were what felt like two explosions in his arm. A wave of intense pain shot through his system, followed by a second wave of heat. Dom grabbed his arm reflexively and cried out in pain. As the feeling spread over his body, so did the heat-- hottest where it was the most painful and cooler in the others. The guard ahead of him stared with his eyes wide. At what, Dom didn't ask. He lifted his good arm and pointed it at the guard. Dom shot out a blast, a blast that was, admittedly, larger than he intended. Either way, it had gotten the job done. The force of the blast was enough to push the man off of his feet. Dom walked backwards passed the door. Passing it worked like a trigger and in a second the window exploded open, bullets shooting out of its new opening. Dom's good arm went up to his face automatically, his heart beating faster than it was a moment ago and the left side of his body feeling hotter than before. The guard across from him was getting back up. Would he be able to fight off all of these guys? The wheel of the ship's door started to turn and Dom took that as his answer. Probably not.

Dom turned and ran full speed from the scene. Behind him he could hear the metal door swing open and the guards shout things or make radio calls. He used crates and small openings to shake the guards off. Turn this way, turn that way, squeeze through this small hole. He was surprised that the guards decided to chase him rather than shoot him, well, that was until he heard one of them say something about tranquilizers. They seemed to stick to him where he went. Whenever he thought he was safe, another one seemed to find him. His hands didn't make it easier to hide either; they were still aflame. Shaking off the flames or telling his own hands to shut off didn't work. Concentrating didn't work. He didn't have time to stop, drop, or roll, but he was sure that wouldn't work either. The flames wouldn't go out, it made an even bigger problem when he found a moment to rest and saw exactly why else he was so easy to find. His hands weren't just on fire, his arm was--the left one to be exact. The flames had been concealed for a time under his jacket, but had now burned holes through his clothing and displayed themselves proudly to the world. They weren't little small flames either, but big noticeable ones. Not huge, just big. It was not only a problem, it pissed Dom off. His clothes were ruined again.

Dom knew the guards were coming again, they were behind him when he stopped. He was tired of running though. Out of breath and out of patience, these guys had successfully gotten on his nerves. They had guns, and that was pretty intimidating, but this cat and mouse game was too much. He'd have to fight and he knew he'd have to fight, one armed and all. Dom readied himself for the guard's eventual appearance from around the corner. He'd have to try and make this quick.

Except he'd be delayed. To the side of him was a roar and right after two thunderous booms. They were loud, extremely loud. It sounded like metal slamming on metal and it scared the living hell out of him. At the far end of the line of crates he hid by, the opening to the other side of the ship was now closed. A crate from above had closed off the entrance, and from the sound earlier, a second one must have fallen too. Dom searched the tops of the crates and saw two bodies standing at the top. Who is that? One was fairly large and the other one was smaller, but he couldn't figure out which AUP members those two actually were.

He took a step forward to get a better look, but as he did, he could hear the footsteps of those same four guards running this way. Dom turned around and saw the men burst out from behind the crates. He reacted immediately, raising his right arm and shooting fire from his palms. The shots came out large, but he couldn't stop to care at the moment. His blast hit one of the guards with full force and sent stray flames towards the others. The guard hit by the large blast was taken by fire instantly. The flames blew him back and clung to his hat, scarf, and clothes. The guard may have tried to get off the garments if his hands weren't clinging to his face. Dom's could only feel momentary concern. The guard's comrades, who were less concerned than Dom was, still advanced on him despite the screaming in the background.

Dom quickly found himself running and shooting at the same time. He could only go so far, it was a dead end here and the guards seemed intent on backing him in a corner. He was going to have to make one big hit if he was going to try and get out of this. Dom charged a blast as he ran, focusing as much heat as he could to his hand. It worked, partially. The heat dominating his left arm seeped away, but instead of collecting in his hand like he wanted, most of the energy spread itself to his body. Something he didn't want at all. Still, it gave him a fairly big amount of energy. The flame on his hand didn't grow like the other times, instead it felt like energy packed under his palm. He didn't pay much attention, though.

Dom turned and faced the guards that ran at him. Thrusting his arm forward, Dom sent out a blast of heat. Except... It was bigger than he intended. It wasn't even a blast. Before then all of his shots had been in nice balls of fire, but this one came out like a stream from his hand. A flamethrower, and it caught Dom off guard. He didn't know what to do, and in his shock didn't notice the man he hit. Yeah, it hit. Hit straight on. When Dom finally noticed he hit something, he dropped the flamethrower, but by then it was much too late. The guard had been burned and deeply. The shot had hit the guard directly in the face and now there was nothing left. The hat, his hair, his face, everything gone. The only thing left on the man's head was black, red, and disfigured. Dom felt sick looking at the thing that used to be or may still be a person. The more he looked, the more Dom was sure he made it to the bone. The body of the man collapsed where it stood and all four of them--Dom and the remaining guards--stood still for a moment. It wasn't hard catch the smell of burning flesh and, mixed with the sight of the man, Dom couldn't top his stomach from churning. It wasn't until one of the guards spoke that he could take his eyes away.

"You Atlantean sh*t!" The guard closer to the burned man yelled, raising his gun to Dominique. Dom couldn't do much but stare at the guard. He was just too... Too... It was bad, bad. Even if he wasn't looking at the man he still saw him. How could he do something like that? It wasn't on purpose, was it? Of course not! But he did build up the energy for it, didn't he? Yeah, he did. The other guards lifted their guns, but Dom didn't even see them, not that it mattered anyways. He had nowhere to go. He never killed anyone--never even dreamed of it!--until he entered AUP. Was it going to stay like this? How long had it been? Two days? What about the girl on the stairs? One person for each day, was it going to stay like this? No, it couldn't. He wouldn't see death like this again, he couldn't make himself.

But what are friends for? Dom jumped, startled out of his daze, when three gunshots exploded over his head. Before he knew it the three guards in front of him were on the ground around their burned teammate; one hole for each head. Maybe he spoke too soon...

Dom looked above his head his head to find his apparent savior. It was Del. She looked down on him from on top of the crates, gun in hand and a victorious grin on her face.

Dominique Bisset, Delta Mayor, and Oakley North--NYK Cargo Ship

It took more energy than he expected to walk passed those bodies. Dom blamed it on the way his stomach turned or the headache he had. He leaned on the large, red crate next to him, not only to catch his breath but to compose himself. The bodies were behind him yet Dom could still see them clearly. Too clearly. It was suddenly hard to believe that Del could decaptitate someone with a kick and not want to saw off her feet the same way he wanted to extinguish the fire out of his system. Maybe she did? Then again, that thought seemed foolish. By the looks of her grin, he could surmise that she wasn't too pressed over killing those people. Maybe she's done this before--before AUP.

Dom lifted himself off the crate. His thoughts had mostly drowned them out, but there were still bullets flying and people shouting. As much as he didn't want to do it, he had a job to do and it would be sad--no, a disappointment--to quit now. Dom took a deep breath. He pushed back the bodies, pushed back the fatigue and forced himself back into the scene. His body, which felt cold inside before, warmed itself. It was like sipping hot chocolate, except it spread from the inside out. When Dom let the air out of his lungs, he was ready. He walked to the end of the crates and took a cursory look around. There was a guard there, which was very convenient at all, but his back was turned and it looked like he was busy with something, so Dom didn't worry about it too much. Other than that small detail he was clear to go. Dom pushed off the crate and made a dash. He had no intention of being down this way when the guard turned around, so getting around the overlong curve was top priority. As he ran he could feel the fire come back to him like timber thrown into the furnance. If they had gotten this far and he could refuel this quick then this mission was going to end quickly. Yeah, Dom was feeling pretty confident right now. Until...

That scream.

Dom skidded to a halt and looked back. It was loud, real damn loud. Behind the scream was the sound of bullets, a lot of bullets. The busy guard from before was on the ground and a moment later another figure was on top of him. What the hell was going on? Who was that? Dom turned around and went towards the commotion, first walking and then running. That scream echoed inside his head, and boy did it sound like someone he knew, but the name on the tip of his tongue wouldn't come out. Whoever it was he couldn't see them past the animal on top of the guard. Wait, animal? He was sure he saw a person before, but that was clearly no person, more like a dog. The closer he got to this dog the bigger it got, naturally of course. The only problem was that its growing didn't exactly look natural. In fact, the more he looked at it, then more this animal didn't look right. As it ripped at the guard below it its frame increased and its greyed skin looked as though it was getting greyer. Dom thought his eyes were doing something when its dark, brown mane seemed to grow before his eyes. Weirder than that? What was on it. Clothing. Dom knew clothing when he saw it. It was nothing spectacular, in fact, the most notable thing the animal wore was a vest. A vest? Hadn't he seen those before? Yeah, he had. He'd seen a bunch of them. On the AUP members when they landed here. Dom slowed down to a stop. Wait a minute...

The dog kept growing and changing. As it grew in size, its skin got greyer and its mane got longer. In no time at all, the clothes and vest the animal wore ripped away and its attacks on the guard, who cried and screamed below it, got worse. Before his eyes Dom watched a man be mauled to death by a growing beast. A beast with a bear's body, a wolf's head, and human's hands. A beast that attacked without mercy or conscience. Before long the guard looked nothing like a person, but the man-beast kept attacking. It didn't stop until it was called out to.

"D-Devon! Wh-what are you doing!?" Devon!? That' was...!? No, it couldn't be. But the beast reacted, turning around to the voice that called him--the voice which Dom noticed now was Oakley. Devon growled at Oakley and then charged and bit her arm. There was a struggle and an attack by Oakley sent Devon flying back. It was then that Dom noticed the armor coving some of her body and he sighed in relief. It didn't deter Devon at all though. He got back up and charged at her again, he may have even gotten her this time if Oakley didn't have the luck of guards getting in the way. The sight was just a repeat of the first guard's death, but with four bodies instead of one. Dom didn't want to stay to watch that, but Oakley's call for help--help from him and Del specifically--kept him there against his will.

A rush flooded throughout Delta each time she squeezed the trigger of her handgun. Another once the bullet infiltrated the head of the guard. The last rush was when their body fell to the floor in a slump. The corners of her mouth turned ever so slightly upwards, her body position grew bolder and this gave more evidence to the enjoyment she was having. Distraction, which was what she was meant to be doing, but instead she found herself being drawn back into that place. The same place she had visited earlier where all of this felt natural, where the morals of society were unraveled, and where no one would stop her. Everything else faded, it was just Delta, her gun, and the targets that were in her way. It felt like a breath of fresh air and Delta wanted more of it. An unsettling hunger gnawed at her conscious and she had already feed it. Each bullet brought another chance to soothe the famishment she felt.

A repetitive clicking noise came from her gun that signaled the magazine had run out of bullets. It took her a couple of seconds to fish out one of the clips she carried in the pocket of her leather jacket. The Atlantean Unification Project had taught her so much about weaponry and guns were most certainly her favorite. A gun had power and if there was one thing Delta was attracted to it was power. Instead of joining the action again Delta sighed and wondered when had her life gotten this complicated. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, as being on top of this container made her a bit weary, and by chance Delta caught sight of a launching ball of fire. Well, technically it was more of a stream of intense flames that left the recipient of it more than a little charred. Delta eyes were wide as she saw the incinerated remains of what she assumed was a guard. There was only one person that she knew was remotely capable of such a feat and she locked her eyes on him.

Dom. He was frozen but the angry guards in front of him weren't and they looked ready to charge. Without a conscious thought Delta raised her gun as she had done time and time again and fired three rounds, one for each guard. Four bodies now lay on the floor by Dom. She grinned because she had won and met Dom's gaze who wasn't nearly as happy as she imagined he would be. Delta turned her head back to Wyatt; perhaps he had seen what she had done. If he had he wasn't pressed to tell her. Delta went returned her focus on Dom except he had disappeared, where could he have possibly gone to? A high-pitched noise grabbed Delta's attention. Locating the source of the sound immediately overrode her need to find Dom. Even after several blinks Delta couldn't believe what she was seeing there was an enraged beast ripping the limbs off a guard. The strength it possessed was mesmerizing; Delta couldn't help but keep her gaze onto it. It was the size of a bear, but had the mane of a lion. Whatever it was it most certainly wasn't friendly or human… but was it Atlantean?

A sentence caught Delta's ear and she couldn't help but repeat it over and over. "D-Devon! Wh-what are you doing!?" She saw the creature react. "D-Devon! Wh-what are you doing!?" That kid was powerless. "D-Devon! Wh-what are you doing!?" No, no this wasn't happening. How? The origin of the sentence was from someone familiar as well: Oakley. Devon and Oakley. A second later they were entangled… He couldn't control himself, the boy--no--the beast. There wasn't any denying he held power but he was an amateur when it came to the utilization of it. He was rabid, a risk and it was no wonder his father kept him at home.

Delta had to do something not only for the fact that Oakley had screamed out pathetically pleading for Dom's and her help. He was there; she briefly caught his silhouette before she looked back at the monster. The mission was at stake. Why did she care so much? The ARF deserved anything and everything they got. If she was needed to show what true strength was then it was best to do it now. What she was about to do was risky; reckless in fact, it was just Delta's style. Those guards that now laid in a pool of their own blood had fired plenty of bullets at it, at him and they hadn't done a damn thing. While remaining on the top of the containers Delta put herself in the most manageable position. It wasn't easy but at the same time it wasn't impossible. There was little time to relay what she wanted to do with Dom and Oakley was about as useless as the bodies of the guards.

With the gun secured in one hand Delta jumped off the crates and onto the back of the beast. Its attention had been fully focused on disemboweling its victim that it almost failed to notice the extra weight on its back. Delta fastened her hand in its mane, which was eerily like Devon's hair when he was human. One buck and it had sent her toppling backwards. Delta laid in a daze, a mistake she soon figured out. The eyes staring back at her belonged to a boy not the beast that towered over her. It snarled fiercely as if to warn her she was going to end up like the guards who were previously in the same position she was currently in.

"Tell me something Devon," Delta began, hoping to keep its attention focused her face instead her body. Her gun had been switched from one hand to the next and that had been easy enough, "Are you ready to see your mother again?" Rage. Delta had expected as much, it's the emotion she would've turned to. A set of jagged teeth clamped down onto the arm she had placed in front her at the last second. In its crystallized state there was no pain to be felt. Thankfully she had shrugged off her jacket in time. In her other hand the gun went off twice, which was embedded a bullet in each of its paws instead of its muscular abdominal area. Delta rolled away from the gray fiend.

Delta panted as she stood up, "Dom, I need your clips. Now." There wasn't much time she was its prime target. "Time to open up the belly of the beast."

His clips? The image of hair clips flashed in Dom's mind before he remembered he had a gun. He pulled the weapon out of its holster and handed it to Delta. He may have taken the clip out himself, but he vaguely remembered how to and this wasn't the time to fiddle with things. Out of his pocket came two spares. That was a lot to hold, though. Maybe he shouldn't have given her the gun? This really wasn't the time to fiddle with things.

"Wait, you're not going to kill him are you?" It felt a bit stupid to ask since Devon had no qualms over killing them, but he was in some sort of "beserk" mode. Besides, killing Emil's son seems against the rules somehow.

"Don't worry, the second time is always better." Delta responded, though whether or not she was joking couldn't be told by her tone. It took a bit more time than she wanted but Delta holstered her gun and grabbed what Dom gave her in haste. A fully loaded gun and two clips. She turned off the safety and test fired two shots at the deck of the ship. She watched as it recovered rather quickly from being shot at point-blank range. They were dealing with something that needed to be put down. As it looked up Delta fired two shots only one hit its mark due to the sudden change in nature, which led to it charging forward toward the duo. Her best bet was to jump to one side or the other so that's exactly what Delta did.

"What do you suggest we do, cuddle him?"

Oh God. Dom had to ignore that first comment. "No, but--" Dom made the mistake of looking away from the beast, but when he heard Delta's shots he saw the thing charging towards them. Sh*t! Dom jumped out of the way, going the opposite direction Delta had. Okay, okay! Fine! All things considered, Dom wasn't trying to get killed, not today. "What's the plan then?" His first thought was doing something about Oakley. It wasn't safe nor convenient for her to sit back there, bleeding and attacked while they try and fend off Devon, but getting around him just to do that was not going to be an easy task. The boat was big and there was enough room to run around him, but he was quick and powerful, he could easily snatch either of them up and rip them to shreds. Dom shuddered when he remembered the first guard. "We have to get Oakley out of here first."

"We? Pfft," It was a terrible idea but still the right one to make. "I'll leave that to you. I'll take care of Fluffy with minor assistance." Delta watched as the prowling animal watched them branch off into different directions. Firing another round had brought its attention right back to Delta and that wasn't necessarily a good situation to be in. Here she was risking her life for a comrade who couldn't even stand up. In Paris she saw Oakley launch Ice Boy quite a far distance and today she had done the same but what was Oakley doing now? Crying for help and sulking in her own blood. It was pathetic, weak, and made Delta's stomach churn. A single bound was all it took for the oversized creature to land directly in front of Delta.

"What are you going to do with her? Clean up her injury? Nurse her back to health?" Delta rushed aggressively toward her opponent as she spoke. Foolish was one word for it. She used her upper limbs as battering rams until it latched onto one then she struggled to free herself before it sank more than just its teeth into her crystallized areas. Delta managed to twist herself into a position that allowed her to knock the creature in its long snout, which in turn loosen its grip enough so she could snatch her arm back. If it there was one thing she had been grateful for it was that the AUP had been insisted on her physical training instead of solely focusing on her ability.

Watching Delta fight the Atlantean beast was no fun. Just watching the attacks made him wince and all the more glad that he only had to deal with Oakley for the moment. Still, even while she fought, Delta managed to maintain the sarcasm she had when he first met her yesterday morning. "Get her to help out, maybe?" Oakley did just punch Devon earlier, didn't she? It wasn't a little gentle touch either. She'd be more than a little help in a situation like this. Dom looked away from the battle to make a quick check around for Oakley. She was still on the ground where she was before, right behind the ripped through bodies of the guards. Honestly, Dom didn't want to go through there. Not just because of ugly, mutilated dead bodies, but because of the pure grossness of it. He'd take getting grabbed by a strange, dirty hobo-conman over wading through blood, guts, and bits any day. It was the lesser of two evils. Dom didn't have a choice in this situation and just the thought of going through that... that mess made his stomach want to crawl out of his throat. There wasn't a shower close enough for this kind of situation, but what choice did he have?

Dom backed up, keeping his eyes on Devon until he was sure the beast was distracted enough. It didn't seem so much like the two of them, Delta and Devon, were going to pay him much attention, so he turned towards the blood bridge and Oakley. The way Devon killed those guards, it left no space to just walk around the blood and avoid all troubles. No, it was everywhere. Gallons of it had spread from the boat's edge to the crates and in many other spots besides. There were limbs and insides detatched from bodies or hanging off something it shouldn't be. It disgusted Dom completely. It took effort to keep the food in his stomach. Dominique took a deep breath, forcing his resolve, and took a step into the blood.

It took Delta a moment to recuperate from using herself as live bait. To resort back to her original plan was looking like a better option. At least she wouldn't be getting Atlantean dog slobber all over her arms. Unfortunately she was given the wrong ability for an instant kill. It healed too quickly for Delta's attack to be anything more than a headache. She wondered if it could swim? Two bangs produced two bullets. It wasn't easy keeping something so large and powerful at bay. Again, the Atlantean shape-shifter sprang forward and Delta walked backwards giving Dom and Oakley enough space.

Delta grunted, "You know what, how many times do I get to shoot Emil's son at point-blank range and both of us walk away unharmed?" She raised the gun as she finished her question in order to unload the rest of the clip into the chest of the beast. As expected the bullets hadn't penetrated nearly deep enough for the damage to be permanent.

"Any luck?" She shouted, hoping Dom was at least doing something with his time.

The smell of fresh death was strong and nauseating. Dom had to use his sleeve to form some sort of protection against the stench, but it was a fuitile effort. He'd just have to bear it until he got across the carnage which, unfortunately, took a bit of time. The ship's steel floors were smooth already, and with the gallons of blood spread all over the floor, it became extremely slippery. Let Hell rise from the Earth if he falls in this sh*t. Dom could already see it happen in his mind now. It made his skin crawl. God, why him? Behind him he could hear Del's fight with Devon. He wasn't sure if the number of shots behind him was a good thing or a bad thing. Something told him it wasn't and he had to fight the urge not to look back in check. Del's call sounded promising. Dom lifted his good arm to single his very good luck.

"Yeah, I'm fi--" Dom was interrupted when, under his foot, something on the floor gave way and his body lurched forward. It took only a second, but for Dom time slowed down and he could see each frame before his eyes. Shades of red and pink sped towards his face and all at once pain hit his body, the most explosive in his chin and in his left arm. Dom screamed behind clenched teeth as the nerves in his arm went haywire. The fire that burned silently under his skin wanted all at once to burst from his body with new energy. His fire's need for freedom went unfulfilled though, dampered not by willpower, but by the tidal waves of disgust that rushed over him. Dom didn't want to move, didn't want to speak, didn't even want to breathe. The feel of the wet, sticky blood made him cringe. It felt like every disgusting corner of the world was seeping--soaking--into his skin and clothes. Dom could barely think. Mechanically, he lifted himself back up, enduring the pain of his early injury. The blood was like warm slime between his fingers, on his neck, and under his chin; he could feel the stuff of body fluid crawl over his skin. He crossed the blood path and stopped before Oakley who sat in front of him, dazed--at what? Dom didn't pay much attention.

"Oakley," he said tonelessly, "you're okay, right?"

Oakley jumped at the sound of her name. She had been watching the chaos take place in front of her, but her brain had gone quiet. Like someone had turned off the lights inside and stepped out for a bit. She could see and hear but she didn't register it, just staring off into space. Instead, a little voice spoke to the Oakley that had shut herself off into the far corner of her head.

Useless. Weak. Pathetic. Unnecessary. Feeble. Not needed. Not wanted. She knew that her breakdowns were inevitable; it had been so long since her head had just... turned off. She thought that she was past this terrible anxiety that shadowed her, but it seemed like she was the fragile little blonde girl that everyone had poked and teased. The one that her brother had protect. She was no knight with this armour. If anything, it only made her feel more useless.

"Dom," she wheezed, her face dirty and wet, smudged with literally blood, sweat and tears. "I c-can't, I don't, I can't... It hurts too much." She lifted her armoured arms weakly, the pool of blood they sat in dripping quietly. Her hands were exposed but the wounds on her palm had started to clot. She probably should have wrapped them to stop an infection but it wasn't as if that was the biggest thing on her mind right now. "I can't do anything." She gulped for air, the tears dropping from her face again.

A half-assed answer wasn't what Delta was looking for especially when she had to deal with the Atlantean hound from hell. The beads in her hair swung with her every step. As much as fun as emptying the clip had been now she had to reload her weapon. This task was made nearly impossible by the amount of times Delta had to duck and dodge an oncoming attack from the beast. Tiresome. That's it she was done. The next time she loaded her gun she would feed her crystallized arm to him and pull the trigger from inside his mouth. Then she would gut him, pull the heart from his chest, and shoot that too. The chances of it surviving that was much, much slimmer.

No... No... What he heard could not have been true. It hurts? She can't? No, no, she wouldn't say that to him. Never. Dom decided to ignore whatever Oakley had actually said to him and contiue on, but that meant that this--what was supposed to be a moment's conversation-- was taking too long and his patience was wearing thin. He could hear the caged fire roar inside his body. It raged and crackled and burned inside him; if he didn't know better he would think a forest was aflame inside his own body. The monster fire behind his ears made it hard to hear even the gunshots behind him. Before it was cold, but now it felt a little warm out here.

"Oakley," Dom's voice shook with supressed anger, "I need you to get up and go help Delta with Devon, alright?"

"Dom, I will kill him," Delta yelled out as she crashed her body into brutish animal. "Final. Chance." She angrily howled.

"I can't," Oakley wailed. "Dom, I can't. I can't. All I can d-do is just get in the way and hurt p-people and then I, I, I," she gurgled a little and sniffed, raising her hands again. The little voice in the back of her head seemed to repeat those series of insults again, adding some other colourful words. The voice was right though, she had no place being here, with friends like these. She had no place as an Atlantean. She should have never left her house in the first place. Just stayed at home with her father in the safety of his arms. "I can't do anything, I can't."

The more Oakley talked the less Dom wanted to hear. He realized now what she said before wasn't just a trick, but the real spoken bullsh*t she expected him to listen to. He still couldn't believe her. She couldn't be serious, could she? And yet she was, totally completely serious. If Dom weren't angry, he'd be shocked, too shocked for words, but he was angry and he had a storage of words.

"Ferme ta gueule!" Dom yelled, his voice loud and superheated. "S'il te plait! Tais-toi! I can't listen to this anymore! Do you even hear yourself?!" It was painful--painful--to listen to her! "What the hell is wrong with you!? That bullet didn't give you brain damage too, did it!? I don't care if it hurts, I didn't ask if it hurts! You know what hurts!? This hurts!" The heat that came off of him were intense and to anyone not looking, it would feel though he had caught on fire. "And don't tell me you can't, I don't want to hear that sorry bullsh*t! You just punched him a second ago, didn't you? I know you did, I f*cking saw you do it, so don't tell me you f*cking can't!" Dom growled. His anger stole his ability to speak in English and since the beginning his words spilled out in French. "Is this going to be a regular thing?" He continued on, "Because I'm telling you now you need to stop. We are not here to hear your excuses about why you can't get your *ss up and help the rest of us out. It hurts!? God I should--!" He cut himself off. This wasn't the time, this wasn't the place. "Look, this is a mission and if this is too damn hard for you then don't come to the next one, but you're here now and while you're here you're going to do something , got it!? Good, because I'm not talking about it anymore! If you want Devon to die over this stupid sh*t then fine, otherwise you need to stop complaining, get your *ss up, get back there, and help Delta so we can wrap this up and get home!" Dom was seething now. His anger had risen so high during his speech that the fire in his ears had gone wild. At this point there was nothing anyone could say--nothing anyone could do--to get his anger down now. The heat inside him had spread to every inch of his body and the cool air outside, to him, felt thick and humid. There was sweat on his brow and the fabric of his clothing smelled like it was burning, but Dom payed no attention.

Oakley blinked back, quivering slightly as Dom shouted at her. She had never considered that anyone else had felt the same physical pain with her power like she had. After Dom had said that, she immediately felt guilty and selfish. As his language slipped from English to French, Oakley sniffed, wiping her face on her cold steel shoulder. She then stared at Dom, trying to use his words to snuff out the little voice who thought she couldn't. He was right. She couldn't just sit back and cry and let someone else fight her fights. She had a power, so that meant she had the responsibility to do something good with it, right? When Dom had stopped, she wiped her face again and wobbled her way to her feet. She would have said something about the astounding heat coming from Dom but she wasn't sure if it was just her face feeling hot from being yelled at or if it was Dom, that he was probably already aware of it.

"Que dois-je faire?"

Oakley's cooperation brought Dom back to his senses, but still did nothing for his anger. He sighed and winced, "Jetez-le hors du bateau."

Oakley gave a small wince as well, but nodded sadly. She had grown to become his friend over this past day but Oakley had to tell herself that her friend was not there right now. Devon might have been the one to save her but he had not been the one that jumped at her and grabbed her arm with his teeth. Of course, throwing him off the boat didn't necessarily mean he'd die (she was sure dogs could swim) but she had to tell herself that getting him away from all these people was not only saving them, but saving him as well.

"Vas bien."

She ran past Dom at Devon, who was currently sparring with Delta. It was an odd fight and not one that Delta would be too happy about breaking up (Oakley liked Delta, but she was sure that she would have rathered kill Devon than what Oakley was about to do) but Oakley grabbed the dog by the throat as it lunged at Delta.

"Excusez-moi."

Her hand was big enough that it could clasp his entire neck but she couldn't hold him too long, not with his legs and arms swinging wildly out of control. She gripped his body with her other arm, feeling the sting and her heart beat throbbing in her palms. The bear wolf snarled at her menacingly, which seemed to only cement her decision even more. Was Devon even still in there?

"Je suis désolé pour cette." She gave him a final nod and lobbed him like a football, as hard as she could throw him. Over the boat and back towards the shore, hoping that his dog or human self, whichever had the brains, would swim back to land. "S'il te plaît es bien."

Charlotte Hunter - Portsmouth Harbour, Portsmouth, England

Charlotte turned as Kieran's hand appeared on her shoulder.

"We're safe now." The sentence echoed in her ears like a soft but confident lie as she continued her work, the gentle hum of her power trickling down her finger tips and into the patient before looping back. The kid was no more than 13 and had numerous cuts around his ankles. From their escape she had tended to as many people as possible gaining her several broken ribs, cuts, bruises and a large amount of blood loss, but still she did not feel the full extent of her absorb injuries' pain. Finishing up on the kid's cuts and giving the boy a gentle smile, the boy thanked her and moved back towards a group of his friends.

"Safe?" Charlotte repeated, now sure that the kid was out of ear shot. "After what we have both just been through?" She stood and turned to look at Kieran, settling her eyes onto him as the skin between her brows puckered in a frown. "I don't think anywhere is safe for us. I mean look this" she gestured towards most of the kids whom lay on the floor or huddled together. "They are just kids. Hell I am just a kid!" She sighed then shook her head. "And now, because of us, that boy, Jeremy is stuck in that hell hole and we are sat here. Helpless." Charlotte kept her tone steady, maintaining eye contact with Kieran despite the anger she felt bubble inside.

"I can heal the physical aspect of this Kieran but the psychological side of this is way out of my area of expertise. I will be surprised if most of them will be able to sleep without night terrors for at least a year. Just look at Austin!"

Here she pointed towards the boy whom they had accompanied to Paris. Since getting him out of the cell Charlotte had manage to inspect him from a distance and as far as she could tell he had no physical injuries but mentally, even from across the small clearing they stood in, she could see not everything was right in Lightlad's head. Shuddering at the sound of her own voice's softness, she finally looked away and studied her own wounds. Blood bloomed across her t-shirt like a bad tie dye pattern, her knuckles were bruised and on the palm of her right hand the puncture wound still stood proud. Breathing hurt too and she could taste blood on her tongue.

"I didn't even get to see if Pyrrha made it out alright." Her voice shook now and she moved her eyes back to Kieran, her mouth a thin line. She felt dizzy and pain, even though it was not as intense as it should have been, still ebbed through her system. Even venom she had been injected with had taken it's toll on her organs.

"I didn't even know people were capable of such barbarity. We were all once considered the same. We are still human. But do you know what is horrible? When we were escaping, I wanted to hurt the men who did this to us. I wanted it so much…" She finally trailed off, again shaking her head as if trying to rid it of her thoughts.

"What was your cell like?" The query was asked in more of a whisper, but when her eyes returned to Kieran's they were cold and unwavering. "I didn't even know you had been taken." Charlotte finally asked, pulling her arms up and hugging her against the cold chill of the air.

Austin Tseng – On that boat