[b][u]Just off the Coast[/u][/b]

The Cargo Ship [i]Mountebank [/i]sat dead in the water, viscous tendrils of inky pitch spreading through the churning ocean around it - though it was not an oil tanker and had no breaches in its hull. Directly above, the storm had started to force itself forward towards the city, the clouds arranging themselves into the shape of an arrowhead. The ship did not move, save to bob and shift slightly in the turbulent waves around it.

Yet, despite its stillness, the lights of Fortitude City drew closer. The sea in front of the vessel seemed to boil and steam as it rushed, as though some great Chthonic beast stirred the depths.

In the darkness of the ship's interior, several dimly lit figures gathered. The dimly lit environs smelled of blood and rotten vegetation. Standing between all the figures stood a statue, a figure of a kneeling woman, made entirely of salt. 

"Sacred envoy, we have done as you asked. Even as we speak, a fire rages in the warehouse district. Law enforcement and emergency services will be distracted. I think we can expect at least fifteen minutes before they will be able to react to us."

A sallow figure clad in robes spoke. His voice, though soft and low, had an unnatural depth to it. "You have done well. But forces beyond our knowing have discerned our whereabouts. Genevieve gave her life so that I might waylay them, but a number of...other forces are converging. Lesser in number than the law, but great in power. I ask of you all. Who here, might give their life to stand firm against these hazards? I will not force you."

With a rustling of cloth, every darkened figure save for the sallow man in robes knelt, mirroring the pose of the statue.

"...Your sacrifices will not be in vain. Roderick, stand. You shall be my instrument in the coming conflict." The sallow man approached one of the knelt figures, who rose and stood expectantly.

"I now anoint you with the seal of Sathanas." The sallow figure spoke, his hands moving to probe and touch the figure's chest and brow. "All listen and take heed. Here is what you must do..."

[b][u]Fortitude City
The Docks[/u][/b]

The woman flying through the sky did not have to go far before she saw the source of the sky's turmoil.

A large cargo ship, listing dangerously towards its starboard side with its prow somehow impossibly facing more than ninety degrees off the course of its motion as it drew closer, approached the dockside on a collision course. The waters around it were dark, seeming to seethe and boil with vehement force akin to a rogue wave. The harbor this close in was nowhere near deep enough to accommodate the cargo ship's hull, but the ocean apparently cared little for such trivial concerns. The cargo ship drew inexorably closer, the wave of broiling water sweeping before it upturning several vessels moored at smaller docks tilting dangerously on the sides just before the cargo ship smashed headlong into them. With tremendous force and deafening noise, the cargo ship's starboard hull tore through wood and concrete piers, metal rending and shredding as rock was torn apart and obliterated. Refusing to slow down, the monstrous vessel dragged itself further towards land, its side crumpling inward and flooding even as it advanced as an irresistible wall of force. Raising a cloud of thrown up rocks and dust, the cargo ship was finally rammed across its side directly into the dockside. Dozens of ships capsized while more splintered and shattered to pieces as the cargo ship rolled over them, while screams tore through the air only to mingle and be lost in the sound of crumbling cement.

Finally, the massive vessel's motion shuddered to a halt. Immediately, in the massive haze of smoke and debris floating in the air, dozens of darkened figures wearing pitch robes rushed out from the now condemned hull, spreading out and heading in different directions away from the docks.

All the while, fire burned in the distance.