[b][u][center]Sector Zero[/b][/u][/center]

Hector walked into the briefing room where a new group of individuals awaited his instruction. Upon walking in, he gasped.

"Que la..." he said softly as he eyed the group. It was as diverse as it was large. On the left side of the room sat a huge man surrounded by a group of thugs that looked more menacing then the usual refugee. How they had gotten past the screening was beyond Hector, but the thought that maybe he intimidated his way through urked him. His boys were better than that, right? On the other side, there sat a more harmless looking group of refugees, among whom he recognized a particular young man.

"Kisheto?" he said with a raised brow. 

Kisheto smirked and looked to Arianna before turning to Hector and nodding, "Alive and well, homie. Left me for dead, did yah?" Hector scoffed in disbelief, "Ai mierda, hermano, I cannot believe my eyes!" he said as he rushed up to Kisheto. He held out his hand, which Kisheto smiled and dapped with the most confident motion. "Yeah, man," he replied, "I'm glad to be back. I heard your brother, and shit, I'd be crazy to not join you guys. Promise to not... uh... fuck things up again."

Hector just looked on in shock before shaking his head, "No problem, hermano, look just..." hen then turned towards the rest of the group, "We'll speak later, let me get this done with, si?"

Meanwhile, Arianna eyed Hector, watching him and Kisheto interact. She half expected an apology for leaving Kisheto back at the mall, but guessed that he wanted to acknowledge the others in the room before getting into such a private discussion. She turned her attention to the thugs, her mind being bombarded by their brash thoughts ever since she was put in the room with them. It was an uncomfortable thing to hear, and she hoped that this briefing would be over soon so she could fill her mind with more pleasant thoughts.A slight smile pulled at Miles' lips as his eyes roamed over the room that his group had been lead to. The wide variety of people even in this little area simply amazed him. As he took in the last bit of the room, he started humming softly making his way over to Arianna. Each step he took was light and quick, moving in time with his tune. About halfway to her his movements mimicked dancing while his song reached its crescendo. By the time he reached Ari both his movements and his humming faded away leaving only his smile. "I never got the chance to ask, but where do you hail from Arianna?"

Arianna turned to look up at Miles, her lips spreading into a soft smile. "Argos," she replied, a bit of homesickness rising within her as she remembered her hometown. "Although I moved to Sovereign right before the Void Gate opened." Miles smiled and replied. "I visted there once! It remains one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to, which is quite remarkable really. The College was my favorite place to go while we were there." Miles' thoughts drifted away for a moment, eyes losing focus, before he shook himself out of his flashback. "What brought you here?" 

Arianna chuckled as he zoned out. "I mostly came here for the culture, and for the large Central Library. Unfortunately, when the Void Gate opened most of the books were burnt in a fire. I visited it once, but there was nothing left to salvage. All the remaining books were being used as firewood for the civilians that took shelter in it." Miles nodded along with her words, his smile remaining. "That is a wonderful reason to visit any city, I am sorry that you couldn't find what you were looking for. You are a most interesting woman Arianna, very interesting."

---

Yugeto pranced into the debriefing room after passing a few guards alongside the others, despite warnings of a possible meeting by Ishigo and Raeven. He had entered just in time to notice the exchange between Miles and Arianna, and rudely spoke up. "Well, now! They didn't tell me it was THAT kind of de-briefing room." Yugeto chuckled. "Oh, hello."

Arianna looked up at Yugeto, blinking. She shifted a little in her seat. "We were only chatting." Yugeto smirked. "And now we're all chatting. I'm Yugeto. And this is chair," he spoke, pointing to a chair next to him. Arianna glanced at the chair, then held out her hand towards him. "I'm Arianna." Yugeto slowly shook Arianna's hand, and then pulled back. [i]That Spirit...eh, I promised I'd behave. Fuck.[/i] Arianna frowned lightly as she heard the thought, but decided to keep quiet about it.

Miles tilted his head to the side at the entrance of the new individual, mind wandering idly all the while. "And I am Miles. Where are you from Yugeto?" 

Yugeto shrugged. "Around, I guess. Sovereign, sorta. The details are a bit fuzzy. It's good to meet you two, you're much nicer than some of the people I showed up with." Yugeto glanced towards Hector. "Yo! I'm with the dude with a stick up his ass and too many shadows, and his hot companion. Oh, and Julian." Arianna raised an eyebrow, unsure about who any of these people were. She glanced at Kisheto, then Miles. Miles' attention had already drifted away from Yugeto, and by extension Arianna, as he began aimlessly wandering amongst the couple of groups in the room. He didn't bother them by speaking, rather he just watched them humming softly waiting for something to catch his eye. 

Hector turned away from Kisheto towards Yugeto and raised a brow, "Hm? Oh... the [i]ghost[/i], right, well..." he said as he turned back to Kisheto. "I'll catch up with you later, I gotta get these guys situated, si?" 

Kisheto nodded, "Sounds good, man." He then turned and headed over to his seat.

---

Hector walked over towards the center of the briefing table and activated the holographic interface. The room instantly fell silent as it beeped to life and let him navigate a menu of intricate options. "Alright..." he began.

"So what we have here is twenty nine fine folk, correct me if I counted wrong. You're here because we make sure that all newcomers are well practiced in our rules and regulations here at Sector Z," he said. Chief grunted, causing a few of his goons to chuckle quietly. Hector raised a brow before continuing.

"First, I'll explain a few simple rules that [i]must[/i] be followed. We have a zero tolerance policy for people who break them, unless you're more than a new comer, which none of you are.

First: All basic citizen rights apply at Sector Zero. If you do something that would have broken the law a year ago, you can't do it here. That goes for the obvious - don't hurt anyone, don't rape anyone, and... just don't be a dick.

Second: No one leaves or lets anyone in without proper permission. All use of the lift must be monitored by a Golden Mercenary. If you really need to go outdoors, you're free to wander our biodome. We tend to frown upon recreational leave to the city above.

Third: There are set training hours for the Golden Mercenaries. The most prevalent are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on tuesdays and thursdays. During these hours, NO ONE is allowed on the training grounds except those permitted into our forces.

Fourth: All hosts must be registered and accounted for at all time. If you're a host, for security reasons, you must live within private dorms. It's better really, but more for the sense of security that the civilians get. Furthermore, you are encouraged to join our forces. We have seven squads of golden mercenaries, and five more squads made entirely of hosts. These hosts wilingly joined us to help further our cause. They will lead the charge against the military, seeing as how they can pack one hell of a punch in comparison to our weaponry.

And last but not least, Rule Five: No exhibiting any powers outside of training or missions."

Hector nodded, "Bien, are there any objections? If not, you are free to go, though I do request that anyone interested in joining our forces remain here." Chief raised his hand, "I like to fight my way. Don't plan on having me train with your little golden girls," he said with a chortle. Hector shrugged, "You're free to train on your own with your own men on designated hours. I'm assuming you're joining us then?" he said. Chief laughed, "Sure, you could call it that," he said as he rounded up his thugs and left the room. Hector shook his head and sighed, having finally escaped the uncomfortable company of the titanic Chief.

Yugeto raised his hand. "Dude, I dunno about the no exhibiting powers thing. I'm eventually just going to have so much spirit it'll be bubbling off of my body. I can't do shit about that." he said as he shrugged. 

Arianna let out a soft sigh of relief, feeling the air grow a little less uneasy. She stayed in her seat, glancing around as the refugees began to stand and leave. She raised her hand, a question forming in her mind. "Will we be assigned to these five squads, or will we be a part of a new squad?"

Hector looked over at Arianna and thought for a moment. "It depends. I do believe a few squads may have open spots, but Ishigo and Julian are in charge of that. We don't base the squads on numbers as much as we do according to compatability and synergy," he said. Arianna nodded once in understanding, looking at the holographic screen in slight interest as she thought about how things worked around here.

Kisheto then raised his hand a spoke without waiting to be called on, "Yo, can I be on your squad? You guys had it down pat, I'd love to be able to train with you all." Hector chuckled, "All my boys have years of experience, Kisheto. It isn't something that an emergency combat lesson can prepare you for." Kisheto shrugged, and sat back in his seat, "Bet..." was all he said.

Arianna looked back at Hector. "Will we learn any other combat other than an emergency combat lesson, or will that be up to us to do?" Hector nodded, "Of course, if you want and have the time to do so. However, Ishigo often says that nothing beats the experience of being on duty in the city, learning where everything is and how to maneuver the battlefield. But its ultimately up to you. Are you a host, chica?" Arianna nodded. "Yes. While it may not matter, he is a kamikage. We've survived mainly by avoiding fights, but when I need to fight, I use my rapier and the abilities he gives me."

Miles turned his attention to Hector, his lips pulled down into a slight frown. "I may have some difficulty with the rule number five. My power activates whenever I play my violin, and I dislike not playing. It feels wrong." 

Hector raised a brow, "You know, I once heard a conduit tell me that fighting his urge to kill felt wrong. Said it right before I popped one in between his eyes." Hector shook his head, "If you're not hurting anyone, I honestly don't care at this point." Hector felt somewhat guilty for responding in such a harsh tone, but the stress was beginning to eat at him. [i]Focus Hector, focus. These are your people here...[/i] Arianna glanced up at Hector, smiling softly in understanding.

Miles tilted his head a bit, nodding in understanding a moment later. "I suppose that is a proper response to an individual like that, but I promise you that I am not capable of hurting anyone. I just play music and bring people hope." His frown quickly vanished being replaced with a smile. Hector shrugged, "Ay, if your power is to make people happy, then you can be an exception, alright, hermano?

Arianna raised a finger once more, to get his attention. "What abilities are present in the squads so far?"

Hector crossed his arms while the interface began to load something else. "Hmm.... from what I can remember... we have two elemental squads. Squads 4 and 5 - they both consist of one host with the ability to control fire, one with the ability to control water, and one with the ability to control lightning. It's minor, as their control is rather limited, but it works really well. Squad 3 consists of our tank or bait squad, they have a man who can regenerate faster than anything I've ever seen, a man who can churn the land to his will, and a woman who can turn into various animals. You ever seen a mammoth in rocky armor charging at you before? It's rather scary," he chuckled as he spoke, remembering a past experience.

"Now let's see... I know squad two is Julian's squad, he can bend smoke and make it do things I would never have imagined possible. He can also turn into it - it's actually pretty cool once you get used to it. He is assited by Ria and Ivor. Ria has a unique power - she can heal wounds almost instantly and even cause limbs to grow back within seconds. Mr. Ivor has the ability to send someone's spirit out without them having to physically leave. It's really helpful - he can send in Ria's spirit to heal fallen or injured men without Ria having to actually be in harm's way. She's only about twelve, so its risky just having her in the force. Oh, they also have Rocky, the lad has the strength of a thousand men I swear. Um... Squad one, let's see... who's in Squad One.... OH! Right, that's Ishigo's squad. Originally it was just him, the puto can manage quite well on his own. The dude can control shadows and just... he's crazy," Hector said with a chuckle. "Ishigo serves as our top recruiter, and other than that, the best recon we have. He recently added a new member, though, her name is Raeven, you might see her around here. And... yeah, that pretty much sums it up," he said with a smile.

Arianna smiled softly. "I can't believe all of the different abilities kage's have. It sounds like we might win this civil war with just the hosts." She held out her hand. "I forgot to introduce myself; I'm Arianna." 

Hector smiled and shook her hand, "Hector Esteves, glad to have you Arianna." Hector said her name with a thick accent and he flinched at his sudden change in dialect. "Wow, haven't heard a name like that in ages, where are you from Arianna?" Arianna chuckled softly and smiled. "Argos. I moved here to continue my studies just before the Void Gate opened. Hector nodded, "Ah, sorry things didn't turn out as planned, hm? But, anyway, as you said it does seem rather encouraging to have the hosts on our side. It would be a beacon of hope were the military not to own their own little batch of supernatural whoopass. There are hosts out there specifically designed for hunting down other hosts, whether or not they resist. So I wouldn't call it a surefire victory just yet." Arianna blinked, her eyebrows furrowing in worry as she heard of these host hunters. Did they already have targets?
Miles drifted towards Arianna and Hector, resisting the urge to twist and turn. "Seeing as we are introducing ourselves, I am Miles Gershwin. I would like to do anything in my power to help your efforts, even if I can't actually fight." Hector smiled at Miles, "Good, my friend. People tend to underestimate the power of morale, I feel you could be the key in proving those people 
wrong."

"Do you have any intel on these hosts that are with the military?" Arianna asked, deciding to have him explain it in words rather than pick his mind apart looking for it. Hector sighed, "Negative. All we know is that they exist, and its likely not just one. You saw how this bank was closed off into a little pocket of space in between rubble? Outside that pocket, there used to be a constant flow of conduits running amok. Someone cleaned them up, and it wasn't us. I also highly doubt it was the guns of the military that could do such a thing. Only proof we needed was the bullet-less corpses of the fallen hosts."

Arianna frowned lightly. "There must be around four or so, if they can clean up the streets like that." She had a small, risky idea, but went with it. "Is there any way that you could get close to a military squad without being detected?" Hector hesitated before nodding, "We could figure something out," he replied. Arianna nodded slowly, thinking more about the little idea. She definitely wasn't comfortable with making plans at the moment, but would speak with Hector when she was properly trained and could fully understand the Golden Mercenaries' methods.

Hector thought to himself for a moment. It was curious; these military hosts were specifically designed to kill other hosts. Their powers must have been incredible regardless, but the fact that they were [i]military[/i] hosts meant they had combat training as well. Hector looked up and around the group, "First things first. For anyone who wishes to help - mandatory training is tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. If you're not training, you're helping or going out on duty. If you want to help, you're all in, or you're out. I can't be having halfsies in my forces, comprende? I believe in every single one of my mercenaries, only because I've fought with them, I've trained with them. I need to be able to establish that same kind of trust I have with you."

Hector then proceeded to mess around with the holographic interface, twisting and swiping through floating menus until he came upon a map of the training grounds. He pointed to a spot near the lake, "The lake is the center for all combat training. There's a cabin right around here where we keep our arsenal. Any gear and equipment you'd need can be found there, but first..." he then dragged the map until he came upon a small clearing in a forest near the entrance to the manmade land, "you'll need to be assigned to squads. Here are some of our meeting rooms and mess halls. Look for Merc officials wearing golden armor here. They can direct you to the sign up boards, and keep in mind they'll be eyeing you the second you mention you're a host. It's all in good intention. Once you sign up for a squad, direct yourself over here..."

Hector brought up a separate map of the shelter's housing section. "All hosts get a private dorm, as I mentioned. Once you sign up for a squad, you'll be given a dog tag which will serve as your ID and means of accessing your dorm. I would suggest taking a minute to get your dorm situated, trust me, once you're done with training, the last thing you want to do is return to an unsettled dorm. After you get cozy, report back oveeerrrrr..."

After a bit of scrolling, Hector returned to the training grounds, where he zoomed in on another stretch of forest far from the entrance. "Here. This is where all the hosts gather in their squads. All squads have numbers which are flagged across their respective zones; you'll spot 'em on trees, lamps, posts, etcetera. Find your squad, meet each other, get nice and tight, and then head back to the lake. All of this must be done BY 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Got it?"

Kisheto sighed. His mind was racing as Hector spoke, drifting from thoughts of the execution he had witnessed to memories of meeting all the people he came to know. At the sound of Hector mentioning the time, he frowned, "We gotta wake up early as fuck don't we..."