[b][u][center]En Route to the Golden Mercenary Base[/b][/u][/center] Kisheto walked alongside Arianna, having decided to stop speaking. Despite having raised himself in solitude among the streets of Sovereign, he picked up one important skill in his years of observing and listening. He knew how to figure out how a person felt on the inside, and, after witnessing countless break-ups and rejections, he knew when a woman was masking what she really felt. At that moment, all he felt was a strong confliction in Arianna's intent. He could tell that she wanted to be sure of what she was doing, but simply couldn't for reasons unknown to him. It was conflicting enough to stress her out, enough so to where Kisheto felt speaking to her would only put her at more discomfort. For the first time in a long time, Kisheto decided to just keep quiet. [i]'Hali was right. Thinking before speaking is pretty smart, actually,'[/i] he thought to himself. Despite his silence, Kisheto still stepped on alongside Arianna, nonchalantly taking in his surroundings as if he weren't marching to join a rebellion. They weren't far off from the bank that Kisheto had mentioned earlier. It was in that bank, within a vault that the elevator was located. Arianna walked alongside him, watching their surroundings and listening for any thought that might mean trouble. She was grateful for the silence. It gave her time to convince herself that she was doing the right thing. Although she wanted to join the Golden Mercenaries, she was worried that Iktomi would feel betrayed. He seemed to need a loyal friend, but she was needed elsewhere. He would understand, wouldn't he? Anyways, he already had a loyal guard dog by his side, who seemed to want her gone for good. Suddenly, her mind was filled with the thoughts of angry military men and one frightened girl. Arianna immediately stopped walking, reaching out to grab Kisheto's arm and stop him as well. [i]It's the military,[/i] she told him, immediately heading towards the ruins of a large apartment complex that would serve as a good hiding spot. She was tense, the thoughts in her mind unnerving her. Kisheto stood still for a moment while Arianna ran off to find cover. He then shook his head to regian his focus before following Arianna to the complex that served as a temporary hiding spot. "Shit, they're gonna be all over the place now..." he said quietly, realizing that their presence was merely one of many consequences of Victor's speech. Arianna crouched down in ruins, knowing that they wouldn't be seen unless the military was overhead. "It's just a squad. They have a girl, though. It sounds like she's a host that tried to escape a rebel skirmish. She must be weak." Kisheto tensed up at Arianna's words, "Shit... alright, what's our plan? Should I attack from the roofs?" he said looking to Arianna, hoping she had some sort of strategy. --- On the same street that Kisheto and Arianna had been on, not more than half a mile down, the young girl wept as she fell to her knees, hopeless. She was frail and tiny, a girl of about eight years. The squad had nine soldiers, two of which stood beside the girl, one holding her down, and the other loading his pistol. "L-look, girl, you... you don't deserve this, I..." the first soldier mumbled. The second soldier, the one holding her down, shook his head, "Bloody hell, get it over with Jake. Just get it fucking over with." Jake turned to the other soldier and spat at him, "Are you insane? Look at her, she's a damn kid!" The girl in the soldiers grasp continued to cry, "Please, I p-promise, I didn't choose to get powers and I... I never hurt anyone! I'm not a rebel I just want to live please I'm a good girl I always have been please..." Her words poured out incoherently in a speech covered in sobs and sniffles. Jake tilted his head and whispered, "Oh my god... you poor, poor soul..." This time, the second soldier jerked the girl forward, "LOOK, man, if you waste any more time, the rebels will be on us in a second." Jake chuckled in disbelief, "Don't pretend that we couldn't mow down any fool that came our way in seconds with our new rifles. I need time. Why don't you do this, hm?" --- Arianna listened to them, hearing of the new weapons. She closed her eyes and shook her head, her shoulders slumping a little in defeat. "There's nothing we can do for her. They have new weapons. If we so much as step out of this building, we're goners," she mumured solemnly. Kisheto scoffed, "Don't be silly, Arianna. We gotta save that girl, yo, they might hurt her!" He then looked behind him and turned to move towards the edge of the building, near where the street began. Arianna reached out and grabbed his arm gently, trying to stop him. "Kisheto, they've been ordered to kill any hosts they find. They might blink at the command of killing a little girl, but they will gladly kill anyone as old as us. The rebellion hasn't helped their attitudes towards hosts very much." Kisheto shook his head and frowned at Arianna's ability to accept defeat so easily. "You... so? If it was dangerous, we wouldn't need a plan. Everything we've done has been a risk, and you're backing out now cuz this one seems a bit more risky? Alright, then Arianna. I'll see you at the Golden Mercenarie's place." He then shrugged off her hand and jumped down a window sill, landing on a side walk below. After patting his hands he rolled his shoulders and began walking towards the military. [i][b]'Fool.'[/b][/i] Kisheto stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes were locked on the squad that stood about a hundred feet from him, but his vision was replaced by a temporary blur. He felt it - a stirring in the back of his conciousness that he had only put off as his nervousness getting the best of him when it happened previously. But no, this time it was definitely there, and he felt two instances of fear within him, as if he felt the fear of losing his life twice. Yet that made no sense, and Kisheto took a deep breath, shaking his head as he looked to the ground before continuing. However, as soon as he took that first step... *CRACK* The sound of a pistol hitting a skull echoed through the street, causing Kisheto to freeze once again. Once more, his vision blurred, but this time, due to tears that welled in his eyes. His mind raced with images of the girl he had seen - images of her playing with a family, of her going to school, of her graduating, of her getting a job, getting married, having kids, but no. Now, as he looked up, slowly and fearfully, he only saw a corpse. --- Jake wiped a single tear from his eyes, "I hope you find Solace, little one." He shook his head and turned to return to the rest of his squad in anger. But as soon as he did so, the sound of battle cries filled the air. He and his squad quickly turned to the right to witness a group of about twenty rebels rushing towards him, clubs, spears, and rubble drawn against them. Kisheto gasped and then looked around frantically, confused on what he was to do. But just then, the squad pulled out rifles that looked much more complex than the ones belonging to the Blood Saints. After a few brief seconds of whirring, the rifles sprung to life, shooting plasma rounds at speeds that caused Kisheto to buckle under his own weight for just a moment. In an instant, half of the rebels were cut down like a pile of ants at the mercy of a gardener's pesticide. Except death came within the blink of an eye, and within seconds, only three rebels remained, choosing to run back from where they came from. Kisheto had stood there the entire time, motionless, his mouth open in horror. The military began reloading, and just then Jake looked to Kisheto with a raised brow. "Who's that lad? He just been watchin?" His words caused Kisheto once again snap back to reality. He took a deep breath and then barely managed to speak. "I... *ahem*... hm...." he then simply held up a hand to signal that he didn't want to be a part of what just happened and stormed off towards the alleys on his left, opposite the building that he had jumped from. He knew the alleys, he would simply cut through them and be at the base with a short delay. As he continued to storm towards the base, his mind was filled with angry thoughts, as he seemed to forget he wasn't to make his journey alone. Arianna peeked out from the building, shaking slightly from the massacre that had just occurred. She had only moved when the soldiers noticed Kisheto, but now he seemed to have disappeared completely. She felt terrible, and sick to the stomach. For a second, she wished that she had never left Iktomi's mansion. [i]Kisheto, please[/i] she thought, hoping that he was still in her range to hear it. When no reply came, she sat back against a wall in the ruins and held her head, her feelings unbearable. [i]Oh, Aeritus, Castiel. What am I going to do?[/i] She asked him, panic creeping its way into her core. She was too distressed to remember the way back to Iktomi's mansion, now, and she had no clue where this bank was that the Golden Mercenaries used as a way to get to their base. As the last signs of the squad's presence faded, the ceiling of the room that Arianna was situated in began to crumble as a loud banging sound echoed through the room. Dust and debris fell as the rhytmic pounding began to crescendo. Before long, a specific part of the ceiling fell down, as Kisheto kicked off the remaining debris. He coughed and wiped his forehead, before looking down into the room below. "We're gonna stick to the roofs from now on," he said sternly, holding out a hand. Arianna jumped as the ceiling fell apart and looked up, worried that this would be the death of her. She let out a small sigh of relief as Kisheto looked down at her. She stood, unsure if he was still angry at her. "I just wanted to keep us safe," she murmured, hoping he understood why she hadn't attempted to save the girl. Kisheto looked down at the floor below and then back at Arianna, "Well..." he then chuckled softly, shaking his head, "you're doing a good job, cuz as far as I can tell, we're still alive." Arianna could only smile a little before she took his hand and had him help her climb onto the roof. She took a deep breath. "Let's get to the base before we see something like that again."