[IC] Chrono Asylum: Prelude to Madness~

[Reaper]

Jason chuckled. "Of course, my dear." He replied to Alice, smiling as he did. "You are an Asylum after all. It was just a jest." When Alice vouched for him and their sudden attacker back down, he sighed in relief. He would have hated having to draw his weapon for a simple misunderstanding, and he appreciated that while they had only just met, the English woman beside him was at least willing to offer him her support.

"Thank you for that... Now I really will have to take out on a date as thanks once we get topside." He offered with his usual poise and charm, before regaining his serious look. "For the moment, let's go find that annoying little brat we call a Chrono. Shall we?" He bent his elbow out as if to escort her down the tunnel, but his other hand was already holding his staff and quite ready to fight.

---

Fiora didn't bother responding to Smartass's comment. Her rifle already had its safety off and if it wasn't for the fact that Aiden had moved in her line of fire, she would have taken down a handful of the Kings already. Just to prove a point, she fired a round past his ear and into the head of a King that was running for him. She was quite certain he was going to yell at her for it, but right now she had more pressing concerns.

That was when she noticed a little ledge she could perch herself on just a little off to the left, and hanging just out of reach. As long as the Kings were only using swords, that position would serve her reasonably well. She took off at a run and cleared the height in a single jump, pulling herself up and seating herself comfortably before resuming her aim again. She noticed the medic was firing a pistol and staying close to her partner, so she was in good hands for now, at least. Though the quiet girl supposed her new friend might need more firepower soon.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, but Fiora still had two pistols and throwing one to the medic wouldn't hurt her own combat ability too much. The girl kept an eye on the group as she fired, pulling the trigger once and opening her non-master eye to scan the space before resuming her next shot. It was the first lesson she had learned when mastering her rifle - letting her world shrink to whatever was within her sniper scope was a deadly mistake. She kept adjusting her field of fire to cover whatever her allies couldn't, and making a bloody nuisance of herself for the advancing enemy.

[xodus]

Xx------------------------xX
Valhalla can wait
Xx-------------------------xX

'To smile at death's embrace.' An uncanny trait made infamous by the Gemellie, two alchemists who have always remained an enigma. Despite being subjected to multitude forms of psycho analysis, a conclusion never came in the form of a definite answer. A social phenomena, devoid of the norms and values which form the basis of humanity, instead following a culture created by them.

As Rena keenly observed the grenade bounce towards her, the child couldn't help but smile innocently. It was unclear if she was merely adhering to her principals, enjoying the thrill or had a counter measure already in place. Before she could act a bulky figure instantly appeared in front of her, shielding the child from the impact and taking the brunt of it all himself.

“Are you okay?”

The Chrono simply blinked, her head tilted as she observed the giant with a confused expression. All the while the forsaken continued their onslaught, unleashing barrages of flames and lightning. Luckily any further injuries were avoided as the attacks either struck the Viking's shield or missed entirely due to the heap of dust which had accumulated from the explosion.

"My big brother says jumping in an explosion isn't smart, you're a dummy!" Rena replied, an innocent giggle following the gentle insult. "Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed as she noticed Bjorn's shoulder, it was limp, clearly dislocated. While the Viking continued to defend them, Rena however decided to amuse herself by comically poking Bjorn's dislocated arm. "You have a funny arm," she chirped curiously, "it seems broken, ill fix it!" VI continued, mimicking a Frankenstein laugh before leaping onto his back and driving her palm into his shoulder. A sickening crack followed as the bone adjusted back into place.

"Success," the Chrono replied feigning a menacing accent while tapping her fingers together. "Now I must find specimens to dissect!" She continued, her mismatched eyes slowly turning to the Kings who had the Asylums surrounded.

"Go my monster," Rena ordered maniacally, pointing at Bjorn expecting him to take on the role of Frankenstein's Monster. Unexpectedly the child found herself staring at a confused Barnabus, her fingers tapping her temple to quickly find a befitting role for the Asylum.

"And his bride!" She suddenly chirped, rather excited at finding a perfect role for the Asylum, "Bring me their limbs so I may create your diabolical offspring!"

"The hell is up with that freak, is she actually role-playing?" One of the Kings spoke up, his expression bewilder almost frightened at the lunacy of it all. However he soon fell silent, a large dagger had suddenly lodged itself between his eyes.

"First rule of Role-playing....you never say you are role-playing," The Chrono replied in her usual accent, innocently winking at the King's.

-------Xx--------xX--------
The Generals and their King
-------Xx--------xX--------

"I see the flock has come to slaughter, pray to your God's this is your final stand... hounds of A.M.R.O." A deep, agonizing voice echoed through the tunnels as a large figure slowly began to approach the group of Asylums,(Siera, Fiora, Cameron, Jax, Aden, Rich, Sel) a massive blade being dragged behind him.

"You cunts may have slaughtered my forces in the outskirts. Look at you fuckers now, no alchemy and limited ammunition." As the man continued to draw near, his visage soon became clear, a familiar foe. Three quarter of his face appeared to have burn marks and where once was his left hand, now a giant blade had been alchemically grafted. It was none other than the man who had dared to perform the forbidden sacrificial alchemy. And now he stood there, Gadrael of the Council of Four, a man whose alchemic capabilities were considered frightening even before commuting the great taboo. No longer a man, now a monster stood before the Asylums, a monster who commanded a legion.

Behind Gadrael, three other soldiers followed their King's stride. Tall soldiers who bore no resemblance to the fodder which were the foes the Asylums had been defeating. These men could only be called warriors, trained brutally a kin to Asylums so as to kill the Asylums, the Generals.

"Enough talk, time to die!" With this command each of the Generals instantly charged at one of the Asylums, their blades burning a surreal glow which appeared to possess a disorienting effect, warping a person’s senses and judgment.

While Gadrael's forces wreaked havoc, the King himself appeared to join the fray. His spiteful eyes singling out any unfortunate Asylum, his pupils madly bouncing from hound to hound till finally laying still, the silent Asian had been marked.

"Turn to ash...bitch!" Gadrael screamed, traversing the distance between him and Fiora in mere seconds with his large fist greeting the woman's face with the concussive force to shatter a wall. However he already knew the Asylum would be able to dodge the attack, though the sheer focus needed would make the Asylum unable to foresee the hundreds of icicles that she will be bombarded with.

-------Xx------xX-------
Dwelling with an Angel?
-------Xx------xX-------

"How many of you are there?"

"Not as many as you are thinking," Angel casually replied as he appeared to unintentionally pass the trio on his way to his partner, a trail of bloody footsteps behind him. "From looking at you I am guessing you are a dweller? The glamorous life in a sewer doesn't suit you child." He continued, speaking to the girl with an unsympathetic almost arrogant tone.

"I believe I read the files on your people. They once formed a prominent and peaceful faction which was suddenly shattered without explanation. The remnants of your broken line fled, I believe some even attempted to get A.M.R.O to aid them. A pity A.M.R.O isn't known for its charity. I suppose I can offer you some solace in the fact that even A.M.R.O doesn't what destroyed your faction....but...I might." As soon as Angel whispered the last two words, a gentle and yet somewhat frightening smile spread across his calculative face.

"But...you know what they say, nothing is free my dear."

[LimeyPanda]

Barnabus, the Bear and Dr Frankenstein (The monster)

---

Having dislocated his arm, Bjorn was trying more than anything to simply ignore the occasional pain that came when a bullet collided with his shield, sending shudders through his body and up to the injured joint. The fact that the Asylum was acting so…Child-like was a strange turn: he didn’t know what to expect when he aligned himself with an asylum, only that it was important. Hell, the Asylum had presented a set of empirical, irrefutable facts to make that point come across.

And yet, this was not the same person who wove words with intellect and pure knowledge: This was a fearless little girl.

Bjorn felt himself inhale quietly at the feel of the woman prodding at his dislocated arm: and was about to ask her to stop when she shouted out her intent to ‘fix it.’ The sickening crunch of his arm relocating and popping back into place was met with the resounding grunt of pain that came from such an action. Few things hurt more than relocating a joint, and even a trained fighter had to acknowledge pain of that level, from time to time.

Following Rena’s ‘success’, Bjorn started to flex his fingers and test the movement of his digits. They felt fine enough, if not a little sore, so he reached at his side to grab his maul. It was about this time that Rena took the role of Frankenstein, while he was assigned the role of the monster. A few memories of his youth, playing similar (albeit, less imaginative) games with Thora. The thought brought a smile to his face, and he decided that he would play along. Taking on the droning, booming voice of a more stereotypical rendition of Frankenstein’s monster, Bjorn responded with a “Yes, master” before beginning his slow advance: Shield still high, so as to block any bullets.

It was when Barnabus was called out as his ‘bride’ that he burst out laughing. “Me think Master should make me better bride.”

It was when the Kings paused to assess the apparent madness of Rena that both melee-focused Asylums seemed to get the idea of attacking. Rena threw a dagger, skewering one grunt through the space between his eyes, while Bjorn went from slow, lumbering and defensive to Aggressive and powerful. With his shield raised still, Bjorn entered a dash that had him in the midst of the Kings, slamming a shield into one and bringing his maul down on another. The sickening crunch of bone was enough to confirm two kills, but the other kings suddenly focused fire on Bjorn and Rena. Bjorn brought up his shield, pinned down by the fairly constant rate of fire. He’d need Barnabus to clear the way, before he could come out swinging again. After all, the priority was keeping Rena safe.

---

Vikings don’t do well underground.

---

With the scrawny king in front of her, Thora was expecting to find her way to the Asylum very quickly. The boy was sure that he knew where the hell he was going, after all: and that was his meal ticket for maybe not dying today.

Sadly, The Forsaken runt was being led by an incompetent man. The little Hispanic fuck had actually gotten his little group lost, so now…well…

…Thora was lost.

At first, she raged at the Forsaken runt, punching him in the face when he finally admitted that he didn’t know where they were. She had basically figured that much out already, and it seemed the boy was just trying to be honest. Then Thora began raging at the Hispanic man who led the Kings before. At least he died like the insignificant asshole he was.

Then she started to rage at the tunnels. Why fucking Tunnels? No landmarks, no stars, no nothing she could use. “This is bullshit! Fucking Alchemy jammers.”

And then something hit her. She suddenly slapped her palm against her forehead as the thought came to her mind, and she turned to the King. “Right, kid: I’ve got a deal for you. If you answer my questions, I’ll put in a good word with the big bosses. They might even not kill you. But you gotta answer my questions, understand?”

The runt nodded, not sure if he should be happy or terrified.

“Okay, here goes. What I need is for you to tell me how you fuckers can use Alchemy. Fact is, a jammer should be workin’ on all of you, if it affects us. There is no way you could have predicted the secondary group being here…” She remembered a conversation she’d had with Bjorn, about how the ‘second element’ or simply, the group of people who’d come in originally to kill the Asylum’s cohorts, were a wild card against the Kings, who might have counter measures for the original alchemists. “…That means that whatever the fuck is stopping my alchemy powers should be unbiased. You guys should be powerless too, so how come you aren’t?”

[Nib]

A sigh of relief escaped Alice as the robots stood down and the girl stepped out from behind them. She was not what Alice was expecting to be behind the massive robots, and she definitely wasn’t expecting the blonde girl to apologize for holding them at gunpoint; no one ever has before now, but there’s a first time for everything. Alice closed her hand around the gas pellets and hid her mouth with the other to conceal the small laugh caused by the unexpected apology. After composing herself, Alice was able to speak.

“It’s no trouble at all. Thank you for the directions. We’ll just be on our way and let you go on your own way.”

Alice was turning to leave when the girl asked her question. Again, the girl took Alice off guard. Had she run into other Asylums on her way to Jason and herself? Alice turned around to look at the girl once more.

“There’s about sixteen of us down here. you haven’t run into anymore of us down here, have you?”

After the girl answered her question, Alice turned back to Jason.

“If you play your cards right, you might just get that chance, Romeo. Yeah. We should get going and try to find the little Chrono.”

Alice made sure the gas pellets she had drawn before were firmly in her grasp before taking Jason’s arm.

---

Barnabas ducked behind Bjorn’s shield to avoid the projectiles flying towards the trio and watched as the tiny Chrono climbed up him and relocated his shoulder with a sickening crack. Barnabas was not expecting the light chirping of the child after she relocated Bjorn’s shoulder. The girl began talking in a heavy accent and took on the role of Doctor Frankenstein and commanded Bjorn be her monster and do her bidding. Bjorn fell into the role and began lumbering toward the Kings. Barnabas was extremely confused, and it just got worse when the girl called Barnabas the Bride of Frankenstein's Monster. The Englishman completely forgot about the Kings launching alchemical attacks at the trio and just stared at the child for a moment. He was about to state that he thought this was not the place or time for pretend when she killed the man, saying, “First rule of Role-playing....you never say you are role-playing.” He froze until Bjorn said he would prefer another bride, and then Barnabas nodded.

“Yes. Perhaps I could be Igor?”

He couldn’t wait on an answer, however, as the Kings began overwhelming Bjorn with their ranged assault. Barnabas nodded to the bear of a man and then rolled out from behind the cover of his shield. He brought up his revolver and fired into the Kings twice, hitting one in the leg and the other in the chest; both went down, one was dead. Barnabas analyzed the group after his shots and then shot two more times. Having a better chance to aim this time, he was able to take two more down. It was when he was taking aim for a third time that a ball of lightning launched from one of the Kings’s claymores hit the rock wall right behind him and sent him flying; he hit the ground and rolled toward the group of enemies a few feet. In the confusion of being launched through the air, he had dropped his revolver, which was halfway back to Bjorn and the Chrono; the problem was, he was too close to the Kings now and was still under fire. Barnabas rolled to his feet, managing to not get hit and drew his sword.

The closest King charged him, brandishing a claymore with flames wrapped around the glowing blade. Barnabas dodged the initial swing of the sword and kicked the man in the side of the knee with his heel; there was a sickening crunch as the heel of his boot met the man’s knee. Barnabas then swung his sword at the enemy alchemist, leaving a gash across his arm. The flames that were wrapped around the claymore disappeared and then the glow of the blade went out. The King swung the claymore around at the Asylum, but Barnabas caught the man’s wrist and directed the blade away from him before bringing the pommel of his own sword down on the enemy’s nose, breaking it upon impact. The King slumped to the ground from the force of the blow to his nose.

[Reaper]

Fiora was quick to dodge the incoming attack. She had anticipated it long before the King arrived. She had chosen a vantage point that offered her a good field of fire to cover her teammates, but that also meant any enemy with half a brain would know to come after her first. She simply rolled off the ledge from her prone position, tucking her body in as she fell and rolling back to her feet. The icicles that followed were a surprise, though Fiora was saved mostly by her training. She didn't stop moving, not to catch her breath, not to fire a shot.

Never let the enemy dictate the pace of the battle. That was a Hunter's most important rule. If you allowed your prey to dictate the speed of the engagement, you lost. Especially when your prey was just as if not more dangerous than you were. Still, she had gotten out of the way of most of the icicles' trajectory, but felt one sail past her ear, leaving a burning sting in its wake as it grazed her. She was thrown off balance by a few more striking her back, but fortunately deflecting off her blade. They hurt and she had to drop and roll again to prevent falling down and getting winded, but bruises and a little bit of dirt was part of the job.

Fiora whipped her gun around and fired instinctively, squaring her scope on the King and quickly pulling off a Mozambique Drill. When done with a pistol, a double tap to the chest and a shot to the head was enough to put anyone down. With anti-alchemy rounds, even an Alchemist was hard-pressed to defend against it without suffering at least a fatal wound. With a large calibre rifle like the one Fiora was using, designed to stop monsters and smash through any defense, it was a the equivalent of sawing a tree with a minigun - overkill.

She wasn't overconfident or determined to put the King down, the silent Asylum clearly recognised the skill and threat her opponent possessed. There was no doubt that he would probably have dodged or blocked any return fire. The only question Fiora needed answered was simple - was he good enough to block three shots?

---

Jason led the way down as pointed out by Robot Girl, nodding a silent thanks as he passed by her. She had no ill intent and didn't seem to be one of the enemy, but Jason knew that could change at any moment. She clearly wasn't very capable of reading situations or the atmosphere, so he wouldn't put it past her to mistake one of the Asylums as the enemy and open fire before they could explain themselves the next time. Still, Alice seemed willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, and they had more pressing concerns.

"I look forward to it." Jason chuckled, in response to Alice's offer. It didn't take them long following the route they were given to hear sounds of battle. Jason would have rushed ahead had he not felt a rush of air going downwards. He stopped suddenly, tightening his grip on Alice a little to warn her to stop. In the darkness of the tunnels, he could just barely make out the hole they almost fell in. "Well, that could have ended our adventure quickly." He commented, fishing out a photoluminsecent stone to try and light up the area. It wasn't much, but enough to make out the edge of the pit.

It was then that he heard the unmistakable report of Fiora's rifle. "My partner's down there, fighting." Jason frowned, hearing other weapons firing off and the familiar sound of Alchemy spells striking targets. "Well, that's just cheating, our enemies can use Alchemy. If I wanted to fight with one hand tied behind my back, I would have said so." Jason shrugged before picking up a stone and tossing it down. In between the sounds of battle, he heard it hit the floor below.

"Doesn't seem too deep... and it's the quickest way to our allies." He commented wryly. "Normally I'd say ladies first, but..." Jason leapt, landing nimbly on his feet and ready to fight. It was fortunate, for he was charged almost immediately. Ducking below the swing of a sword aimed at his neck, the blonde Asylum was quick to draw his baton, unsheathe the blades within and return the favour. A quick slash to the hamstring disabled his opponent and stopped any follow up attack, while severing the tendons of the shoulder the sword-hand was attached to disarmed the assailant. The brute tried to headbutt Jason, but his blade was already pointed at the fool's head. "Try to be less obvious, will you?" Phantom asked as his opponent ended up skewering his eye on Jason's blade.

"It's safe to jump now, Juliet." Jason called back up to the woman above. "I don't suppose you need me to catch you?"

[Kiddo]

“…about sixteen of us down here.” Mariya furrowed her brow and was about to protest that it certainly looked like there were more than just that many, but someone else entered the scene before she could formulate how she would say it.

He was a tall man with quick words which he delivered with a bit of a sneer, though his words could have almost been kind. He certainly did seem well-informed, regardless. And as he got closer and closer, he got quieter and quieter until he stood not a foot away and his last words were nothing more than a whisper. From this close she had to look up much further than she was used to, and to save her neck the pain, she took a step back.

What he said was important, though. He knew what had caused their downfall? Her uncle told her that no one knew due to a mass amnesia spell, or at least that was the best that he could gather from the fact that none of those who had been there and seen the horrors could actually remember what had caused them. Somehow every memory of the battle seemed intact, but none of them held the perpetrator. But this man was suddenly claiming to know what had caused it, and apparently was willing to part with that information for a price.

Uncle would want to know about this. But how would she bring the news to him? If this character did know, and she let him go, and her uncle wanted to know, then they might have lost their chance. If she brought him to her uncle right away, then she might give away their location for no good reason. Even just letting slip that she wasn’t alone might be a mistake.

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to at least see what he thought the information was worth. Maybe she wouldn’t have to make any decision at all if he demanded something preposterous.

---

A wicked smirk spread across Angel face, which had remained arrogantly calm, as he lazily stared at the Dweller with his crimson spectacles. It didn't take long for XIII to realize he had caught the Alchemist's attention, all it took was but a brief glimpse to understand something was a miss with her. The Crimson Asylum was a reputable Psychokinetic, though due to the nature of his ability it is often difficult for him to switch it off completely, a fortunate error in this scenario.

The human mind is an enigma of complexities, and memories are but one part of its magnificence. On average the human mind possesses a 100 billion neurons and each neuron is capable of making a thousand connections, a rough estimate would make the brain's storage capabilities to be around 500 to a 1000 terrabytes. However in Angel's words, 'a man could live a hundred lives and never lose grip over his cognative functions. This is the reason why our minds never delete any information, it surpresses it no doubt but the data is forever present. If a scenario ever does surface which signifies tampering and or deletion of a memory, there is but one explanation....alchemy.

"Tell me, little one," Angel spoke, his tone polite albeit laced with arrogance. "Do you feel there are gaps....in your memory? I don't mean amnesia....I mean a sensation that you literally draw a blank over a period of time....as if a memory never existed?" The Lost Number continued, his nimble fingers tapping the frame of his glasses in a repetitive melody.

---

Mariya was quickly getting less and less comfortable with this character and the situation he was placing her in. The robots subtly shifted to reflect this, Frizz coming up closer and the other two slowly winding up their guns so that the interesting metronome of their clinking mechanical bits created a staccato that reverberated pleasantly to eliminate the silence that would have otherwise prevailed in the pause as she once again tried to figure out what to say to extricate herself from this situation.

There was nothing pleasant about this man. He didn't try to be pleasant in any way, his face leant a conceited and wicked turn to what should have been a reassuring smile, and he looked like he knew it and liked it. And then there were his searching questions, which were not the sort to put someone at ease. You didn't come in claiming to have information about what killed someone's parents and friends and teachers and everything they had, and then ask them if they were missing memories. Especially if there really were times where she drew alarming blanks, specifically around that incident. No, there was nothing unthreatening about approaching someone in that manner. It was almost like he could read her mind, and saying the things which would cause her the most discomfort.

Mariya spent a too-long time standing hesitantly between turning away or turning toward him. Her mouth hung open slightly as she flitted her eyes over him over and over again, looking for something to make up her mind, but there was nothing there. She realized that she was spending too long, and that it would do nothing but confirm his suspicions no matter what she said. But did that really matter? If she just walked away now, she could get back to her uncle and they could figure out what to do together, and meet this horrible man with some sort of plan and on their own terms. She finally made up her mind, and Carl and Ralph stopped their spinning to quickly recombine into her armored bike.

"Perhaps," she said, backing toward her method of escape without turning her back on him.

---

"You can't hide forever little rogue, time is a leisure we can't afford." The Crimson Asylum spoke in a grimmacing tone, the consistent tapping of his spectacles abruptly stopping. "There is a device that is blocking the use of our alchemy and complicating matters," he continued, clasping his hands toghether and pondering over the matter briefly.

"This device acts like a radio jammer, it locks onto someone's frequency and causes a clutter. All Asylums share a link and as such jamming our concentration patterns is far easier, but you," XIII's finger lazily pointed at the Alchemist before him, the true objective of this little conversation was about to be revealed.

"You are immune to this disturbance, the device hasn't locked onto your mental frequency...yet. Locate the device and help us destroy it, quite a simple exchange really. You help us and we help you. But like I mentioned, time is a luxory we can't afford."

---

Mariya mounted her mechanical steed as Angel continued talking, motioning Frizz to come around to his mount point. She was about to bug out without response, but then noticed the small glowing red LED that indicated that Uncle's radio was connected to Frizz. Oh, great, how long had he been listening?

"Hey, Uncle," she muttered, only peeking her eyes over the dash so that Angel couldn't see the holdup. "What's up?"

"I was going to ask the same thing. Turn me up so that I can talk to him." Mariya grimaced, but did as Uncle had asked.

"Hello there, Asylum. I've been listening in for a few minutes, but do excuse me if I don't see how your proposition helps us in the slightest."

[Ryver et Rhine]

Welcome to Purgatory!

Tick...

... Tick....

.....Tick!

Boom!

Splashes of red and flecks of flesh bathed the area as yet another ticker went off. The peals of laughter from the little French mademoiselle was drowned out by the howl of rage coming from the General, as he tried to keep pace with his swifter opponent. Aiden attempted to home in on the two combatants, but he kept being cut off, his tolerance was waning fast. The man plugged two metal slugs into the approaching royal minion. He fired two shots in his partner's direction. Sparks flew as the bullets bounced off polished stone surface of the cavern floor. Maiming the General would have been better, but at least, he bought his little madcap partner some precious time. He huffed and looked around for a scapegoat.

"Oi medic! Keep your dogs in check. Your stray almost cost me the battle."

Seira didn't bother turning to look at the grumpy smartass. She kept her eyes trained ahead. Her hand wrapped firmly round Cameron's wrist. She could hear her younger partner panting slightly as they continued running from everything. "Big talk for someone who couldn't even end the fight."

"At least I'm not running like a coward." Aiden retorted as he kicked away another King.

"Shall we swap partners for a day?"

"Oh yeah. That'll work. You will be begging me to take Jax back."

The next comeback was cut off when the General chasing the new recruits lunged forward. Brightly colored flames fanned outwards in a wide arc. Seira pushed Cameron roughly to the side before dropping down. She rolled to the side. A loud clatter confirmed her worse fears. Her gun was nowhere to be seen. The once cocky medic swallowed nervously as her enemy approached her. His gigantic blade glowing eerily in the dim cavern.

"Game over, Asylum."

The man lifted his blade overhead, and Seira closed her eyes. A bitter taste flooded the back of her mouth as she tried to swallow. Still the stinging sensation left by the bile would not subside. She licked the front of her lips nervously as her eyes opened once more. The blade swung foward. Tiny flames snaked out. A loud hissing sound of sizzling vapor followed behind in their wake.

Bang!

Two consecutive shots echoed in the cavern. Blood flowed freely from both the General's hands. He roared in pain and let go. Seira tried to see who fired those shots, but she saw the blade, and her instincts kicked in. The frazzled young woman rolled off to the side as the sword fell to the ground. A burst of flames scattered from it. She edged away as fast as she could on her bum and hands. A tiny spark kissed the hem of her long blouse, which began to flare up. She panicked slightly unsure if she should grab her blouse and yank it over her head, or if she should try and tear off the hem. Seira clenched her hands nervously as the flames began spreading. How could she remain cool in this situation?

"Hold still," Cameron yelled.

He kicked her hands away and stomped down hard. The teen kept stepping till the flames died off. Both partners wrinkled their nose. The lingering smell of burning rubber and singed nylon was not a lovely concotion. It was enough to bring Seira back to her senses. She opened her mouth briefly only to shut it. She sucked in a lungful. The soot and fumes caused her to cough violently, but she persevered.

"L-l-look out!"

The blonde teen felt himself yanked to the side as yet another blade sailed pass. This time it was a thin bladed dagger. The tip of the weapon bit into his cheek leaving behind a trail of blood. Camron fell to his knees. He retaliated by whipping behind and firing several shots. His finger remained rooted on the trigger till there was no more bullets. The boy grimaced as a bloodied mess fell to his feet.

Aiden snorted. "A bit of an overkill, don't you think?"

Both recruits stared at their fellow Asylum as he dashed off. Seira turned to the fallen General, and she noticed a tiny hole near the juncture where the head meets the neck. There was a term for that spot, but right now, nothing was coming to mind. Another bullet had penetrated the back of his skull. Poor man, she thought. He was probably dead by the time Cameron mutilated his face.

Jax gave a flying kick. Her foot connected squarely with the other General's face. She gave a wicked grin as his mouth opened slighly. The female psycho removed the pin from one of her tickers and tried to stuff it in. The man's eyes bulged slightly, but he spat out the device, and wafted it away.

"Ooopsie," the girl crooned as she dodged yet another well-aimed attack.