[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/YvQ4m34.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/LxjLmWs.png[/img][/center] [right][sub][sub][h3]SOLDIER Base — [i]Saboteur Centre.[/i][/h3][/sub][/sub][/right][hr][indent][color=dedede][i]A[/i]lmost twenty—four hours had passed since the departure of the SOLDIER contingent of one hundred fifty—five, pattered and inducted with randomized SOLDIER troops from separate units under the President's order; much to the glowering brow of one particular Sentinel Commander and his wife. And within those twenty—four hours a collective of digital information had been transferred through the frequencies of the Libra Scan system linked directly to the eternal collaborations of the Saboteur's Command Centre. The matrix was a complexity of particular codes that created a whorl of imagery in the presentation of textual evidence to the initial battle in the fields of Luan. Beryl oculi swept in increments over the supplied additions to the Libra Scan, properly assessing the evident threat of the fowl known to roost in the spires of Esper Ridge. A pale brow contoured, however, when the Libra Scan also assessed and calculated the [i]lack[/i] of damage and severity when Phantasms — hellacious in their own prowess — seemed to glean over and object to a select few of the SOLDIERS. There was no evidence in the collected arithmetic that broadcast injury, despite the macabre results of sundered infantry and a Behemoth hull damaged. [i]That[/i] is what gave the Saboteur Commander pause. The muffled [i]whir[/i] and [i]whoosh[/i] of the hub's solitary door withdrew her attention briefly, familiarity and warmth lightening her eyes to a tranquil cerulean in sequence with the bulbs flickering to life at the sound of dulls thuds and tread. [color=afafaf]"How was the meeting?"[/color] Magdalena inquired, placing her back against the terminal continuing to process and analyze by the ascending matrix at it calculated through compilations of digital testimony. [color=afafaf]"A waste of my time,"[/color] Rene rejoined, propping his shoulder against azure—coated steel. [color=afafaf]"It's only from Haziq's and Kim's persistence that I even bothered to attend. Rayne was utterly pissed."[/color] His eyes slid over the petite and acute stature of his wife, eyes canted to one side in a curious pass over. [color=afafaf]"Did you know Ondřej Ó Dubhshláine?"[/color] [color=afafaf]"I knew of him,"[/color] she informed in the colour of nonchalance, arachnid fingers sweeping through her blonde fringe. [color=afafaf]"But not personally. I ran a scan, but only gleaned that he was apart of Aeon Technology. But that's a lost terminology, I took the liberty of researching through the archives but..."[/color] Magadalena sighed, a soft whisper of breath bubbling from her lips as her gesture swept over her brow and gathered across the bridge of her slight nose in a delicate pinch of frustration. [color=afafaf]"I can't gain clearance to anything associated with Aeons. The fact that Rayne was so enraged about Ondřej Ó Dubhshláine's death makes me ponder if there is some underlined connection to his demise and his previous occupation."[/color] Rene scoffed. [color=afafaf]"Maybe you should have attended that meeting, I just stood there in the back whilst they all tossed shit back and forth, I couldn't make heads or tails of half of the things those scientists were hashing back 'n forth with the Council."[/color] [color=afafaf]"I would have attended, but I don't want to be too far away from..."[/color] She gestured off handily over her slender shoulder, encompassing her entire terminal of the Saboteur Centre. The hub was minuscule, almost stifling and tomb like in the fortifications of steel and technology; ever span of alloy and walls laden with some model of precocious telecommunication. Rene often felt obtuse and gargantuan when he visited his wife, her own diminutive size bore enough testimony to their vast differences, much to the community's diversion. She bore a grin though, a delicate and fragile simper that was reserved just for him, and though brittle on the edges of her bow shaped mouth, it was endearing. [color=afafaf]"I understand. But you need to rest, you're no use if you're tired."[/color] Rene chastised, his tone gruff, and potentially mistaken as crude, but to her it was of carefully cloaked care and kindness only she was privy to. [color=afafaf]"I would, I will, when I figure out what's going on. I don't like these secrets and suspicions suddenly popping up even since I managed to dismantle the hack. In nearly a day, everything we've known is being brought into question. Even this battle information is... [i]off[/i]."[/color] Magdalena pirouetted on her heel to face and confront her terminal, the screen emblazoned in lapis. [color=afafaf]"And everything I attempt to research is either blocked or suspiciously barren, even the files of our fellow SOLDIERS. I ran a simple diagnosis over the ones selected for the mission, other than their recent physicals and health records, there is almost nothing for their histories."[/color] A swift pass of her palm across the screen maximized the files in question, each SOLDIER individually displayed with their numerical epitaphs glimmering above each profile portrait. [color=afafaf]"I'm beginning to even [i]doubt[/i] the information of their names, ages, and even these health records. It's too neat, proper, as if carefully illustrated for some purpose..."[/color] Rene's brow fell, harsh and broad, his expression one of brooding and foreboding contemplation. [color=afafaf]"Have you spoken to Kim about this?"[/color] He muttered, clipping his voice low to avoid the rage boiling within. Whilst Magdalena sired her company under sabotage and secrets, he disfavoured the inclination of secrecy and lies; you never knew what was real anymore. [color=afafaf]"No,"[/color] she admitted with a sliver of pallid bone against her pout. [color=afafaf]"I haven't told anyone of what I'm doing in here, Olivia and I briefly discussed our suspicions outside the Council Chambers, but she quickly left after that. I don't know where she is..."[/color] [color=afafaf]"She wasn't at the meeting."[/color] Rene concluded, eyes never leaving the profiles of the SOLDIERS. His gaze flickered, darkened on the pass of Henri's file and swiftly fell onto the blonde whirlwind of cheer and exuberance that was overbearingly bright and searing with her vocals and smiles. A minute passed between his events of scrutiny, every SOLDIER presented bore some kind of connection, a deeply pitted and seeded thread of Fate — this he believed. It could not be considered a coincidence, Rene did not adhere to happenstance. Experience had violated and mutilated that luxury of chance in his life, alongside with torturing Magdalena's complexity of persecution and paranoia. [color=afafaf]"Where is Kim now?"[/color] She breathed, drawing and severing his glowering fixation on her screen. [color=afafaf]"I assume they went back towards the Medical Wing,"[/color] Rene supplied, carefully watching and observing as she began rapidly tacking in her process of suspension on her terminal, the sheer amount of gates and method of access daunting as she enclosed each of her modules of research and information. Until finally the screen winked to an ebony glow and finally shimmered with the insignia of the Dalmasice government: the crest of a blue whorl. [color=afafaf]"Good then, hopefully I'll run into a couple of your favourite scientists as well."[/color] Magdalena uttered, ascending up the platforms of her command centre, lights humming to life as she came into near eye level with her husband, peering endlessly into the earthen stare she knew intimately. [color=afafaf]"Join me? We haven't spent much time together in months."[/color] [color=afafaf]"Of course."[/color] And the Commanders of Sentinel and Saboteur left, determined to shed light on their suspicions and ominous quarrels.[/color][/indent] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/w0XWwEk.png[/img][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/5FrbKTm.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/LxjLmWs.png[/img][/center] [right][sub][sub][h3]Mrihl — [i]The Manor[/i][/h3][/sub][/sub][/right][hr][indent][color=728a71][i]S[/i]he had been gazing vacantly at the martial flex of her hands, palms out, digits splayed, her scrutiny deliberate despite the coating of nylon and metallic woven fibers that protected her dexterous implements. When she realized that she was no longer [i]alone[/i], that was the official sundering of her peculiar, vacant observation, and she slowly twisted her wrists, aligning them almost in perfect horizontal performance in juncture to her forearms despite the strain of sinew. Every satisfactory [i]pop[/i] from her impromptu companion made her twitch, the sounds assaulting her ears and nerves, fraying them into queer sensations that spiraled up each of her arms, fingers curling inward to her palms until she thrust her fists down, planting them firmly at her sides. [color=9bab9e]"Yeah..."[/color] Evangeline whispered, meticulous sighs and breaths following, chest rising and falling as she slid her gaze along, peering through the dark, ebony—gold of her fringe of lashes. Exhilaration and terror both masquerading within their hearts and souls, spiraling outward into their intentions and making them ruthless and efficient, yes. . . [color=9bab9e]"It was something, all right."[/color] She managed to compound her sigh, carefully accentuating her cadence in favour of smothering her blossoming discomfort from her previous silence and contemplation. [color=9bab9e]"You kind of lost yourself."[/color] She blurted out then, unsure and incapable of discerning if she was referring to herself, or to him. She recalled to the manic laughter and squeals of the Eagle he had torn apart, the communication channel providing the entire unit with evidence to his brief moment of sadistic lunacy. Evangeline studied James carefully. In truth, she had been anticipating Luc to locate her, to follow up on the conversation to formalize a proper stratagem. Or, the rest of the SOLDIER contingent to host a meeting to discuss the battle. Or, the elusive shadow that had yet to return to the Manor, but James was not the one she had been expecting at all. He appeared too casual, too at peace with himself despite the battle — as if he had come to terms with the yielding results of death and ruin. She had not. Evangeline had no answer to [i]why[/i] the gusts of terrible, slaying wind had spared her and Hally, and yet had flayed apart skin and bone and even damaged the hull of the Behemoth. She should have been damaged, skin should have bled and peeled apart in the manner of separating muscle and veins... She reflected on their first conversation, the official bequeathing of his name accompanied by their eager admissions to battle and the shared exhilaration they shared. But. That battle had been [i]too different.[/i] And that's when she realized she had not thought of Hally at all. She almost panicked, and if not for James sitting there, natural in his reclining figure and tracing idle figures against the wood, she would have bolted from the office. She silently scolded herself, despair coating her oculi, drowning the respective Heterochromia as her brow contoured and fell, her mind awash in near shame. No wonder she felt off—centre, no wonder. . . [color=9bab9e]"How are you so calm?"[/color] Evangeline inquired, palms flush against the desk suddenly, slapping the wood with a groan and snap of her armour nearly fracturing the furniture, the top briefly shuddering as she leaned forward. [color=9bab9e]"That battle... Did you notice anything strange? Did you [i]see[/i] anything?"[/color] She continued, her tangent slipping into a frenzied flourish, the blonde Saboteur hovered, drawing closer to impale her bi—coloured stare deep into the depths of his scarlet gaze. [/color][/indent] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/LxjLmWs.png[/img][/center]