[IC] Fateful Convergence

[Vocalia]

"Oh, I certainly won't miss this~!" Arlia giggled softly and helped prepare the plates and set up the table. "I'm rather jealous of you, Sarah. You have so much autonomy with what you can do with your life. Even after months of living with you and Nigel, I couldn't help but be amazed at how free your life seemed to be, even if it's still with its ups and downs."

[Daxam]

Sarah chuckles and says, "Well, you know you're free to do whatever you want, too, now that you don't have to follow your family's rules." A few moments after Arlia finishes setting the table, Sarah dishes the sausage and eggs up, adding, "And in case you're worried, I know my brother will stand by you no matter what you do. He loves you, after all."

[Vocalia]

"Truly, I could never hope to repay his love and I only wish to do the same for you both," Arlia replied with a smile of relief, having to remind herself that she was now free from her late father's iron fist and had her future to herself. "Maybe I should do that by cooking something for breakfast next time. You and Nigel have been hard at work in the kitchen, but I live such a sheltered life I might as well burn a pot of boiling water. That's just how terrible I am, unfortunately," she said with a small giggle, making fun at her own inability to do most mundane tasks an average human could do with little trouble.

[Daxam]

Sarah chuckles and says, "Oh, I'm sure you're not that bad. All you need is a helping hand to guide you as you learn. I'd be more than happy to help you out." At that moment, Nigel steps out of the shower, bare from the waist up, his shirt around his shoulders, as he asks, "Help who out with what?" Sarah sighs and rolls her eyes, saying, "I'm going to help Arlia learn how to cook. Now, brother, would you kindly put your shirt on, please?"

[Vocalia]

Arlia turned around to look at Nigel as he came into the room, only to hastily look away with a vivid blush on her cheeks as she saw him with his bare torso. Oh... I can't bear to look! His body is a temple of physical fitness and beauty! she thought to herself, then shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "Umm... Well, I certainly have no complaints about how he chooses to dress around the house..." she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

[Daxam]

"Arlia doesn't seem to have a problem with it," Nigel says with a chuckle. Sarah sighs and rolls her eyes, saying, "Fine, catch a cold. But know that I won't make you your favorite soup if that should happen." Nigel thinks for a few moments, then pulls his shirt on, saying, "You just had to play that card, didn't you?" Sarah smiles and, with a chuckle, says, "Of course. I am the younger twin, after all. I have to mess with you every once in awhile."

[Vocalia]

"Oh? What soup are we talking about here?" Arlia quickly turned back to look at the siblings, her face still beet red. "Whatever this is, it seems to be sufficient to get Nigel to listen to you Sarah. It doesn't contain drugs or any strange ingredients, right?" Though her question could be taken as being downright disturbing, Arlia's life had been twisted if not disturbing.

[Daxam]

Sarah chuckles and says, "No, nothing like that. It's just chicken noodle soup, but I've added my own--" A sudden banging sound comes from the door, startling Sarah. Jumping up to her feet, she darts behind Nigel as a loud voice calls, "Nigel Howeland! Open up or else we'll break down this door!" A sudden, white-hot fury forms in Nigel's chest as he immediately realizes who it was. "It's Crey," he says. "They've come to punish me for what I did to the Medici's."

[Vocalia]

Arlia sensed danger head of them, so she quickly grabbed onto Sarah's hand and said to her, her voice filled with a dead-on seriousness, "Come with me, Sarah." She too Sarah with her into her bedroom after turning off the stove, then hid the younger Howeland away somewhere safe while she stayed behind to guard her, confident that Nigel could take the intruders on.

Back in Sean's penthouse, Hayley had just stepped out of the shower, her short, blonde hair damp and her torso barely covered by the towel she was using, the woman walking around only waring pants and nothing to cover her upper torso.

[Daxam]

Isaac was taking a nap on the couch, spent from the earlier beat-down Sean gave him and Hayley, when the owner of the penthouse shook him awake. "You gotta see this," Sean simply says as he walks back onto the balcony. What's got his feathers ruffled? Vincent mutters as Isaac walks onto the balcony. "What...the hell?" he mutters, seeing the massive plume of smoke in the distance. Unsure why he was doing so, he turns around and runs back into the penthouse, straight to the bathroom. Forgetting himself, and who was in there, he throws open the door and says, "Hayley, get ready! We have to go, now! The city's turning into a warzone!"

[Vocalia]

Hayley, alarmed by the sudden noise of the opening door, whipped around to look at Isaac as he delivered his grim news, her towel falling off in the process and exposing her bare upper torso to Isaac and, to an extension, Vincent's eyes. "Are you serious?!" she frowned and easily guessed from his voice that he wasn't playing any games with her this time around. "Alright, gimme a minute! Go get your clothes! We might be in for a rough one," she said, ignoring the fact that she had accidentally flashed her roommate and lover, and dashed for the bedroom, putting on an ensemble of brown leather jacket, black shirt with bulletproof padding designed by Sean, and a pair of dark jeans. She also wore a pair of black combat shoes just in case they had to jump into a real warzone. Barging out of the bedroom, she ran into the living room, half-shouting, "Sean, what the hell's going on?!"

[Daxam]

Isaac, his face beet-red after seeing Hayley's bare torso, rushes into their room and dresses in his black overcoat, t-shirt, jeans, and boots. His overcoat was made of a special carbon-polymer, which allowed Isaac to change the hardness of it in a flash, as well as enabling him to dissolve it, if need be. As he returns to the living room, pulling iron from whatever could spare it to make a breastplate underneath his coat, as well as shoulder plates and bracers over his coat, Sean says, "I don't know. All I know is that something over there exploded and there was black fire. I think Nigel's under attack."

[Vocalia]

"Nigel?! That Crey guy's under attack? How is that even possible?!" Hayley's eyes widened with shock, shocked by the fact that he, of all people, was under attack and on broad daylight no less. The other fact was that, given the location of the attack, she realized that he was hit straight at home, the same home where her friend, Sarah, lived. "I would estimate the battle to encroach civilian area if we do not stem this conflict. Regardless of the target of the assault, we must move quickly and minimize damage and casualty," Alexis promptly spoke through Hayley's lips, followed by the blonde's own words, "Lex's right! We have to get there and fast!"

[Daxam]

Before Sean can answer, Isaac turns and walks toward the elevator. "What're we waiting for?!" he says, his voice uncharacteristically hard. "Let's get going! Sooner we get there, the fewer people get hurt!" Sean turns to Hayley and offers her a grim smile, saying, "You heard the man. Let's get going." What's going on, dude? Vincent asks. I don't know, Isaac replies. All I know is that if we don't get there now, something terrible's gonna happen...

[Vocalia]

Seeing no objection was raised, Hayley followed Sean and Isaac down the elevator and into the jeep before it sped off to their destination. Even with her own resolve, she couldn't help but think about Sean's hard smile and Isaac's seemingly sudden agreement when he was normally level-headed. Truth to be told, she had tried to keep her friendship with Sarah a secret and even hid much of her private life from her in return to protect her, but she began to wonder if her decision to do so had been a giant mistake. Still, she knew she couldn't back out now and hoped that no harm befell the Howeland siblings and any other civilians before they arrived. Sarah, hang on! I'll be there soon, she silently pleaded.

[Daxam]

"Shit!" Sean swears as he comes to a stop at the end of a long line of cars. "We can't get through." Without thinking, Isaac steps out of the car and swipes his arm through the air. The cars in front of them, with the loud, screeching sound of metal, suddenly move to either side, creating a channel down the middle of the road, much like Moses split the Red Sea. Sitting back down, Isaac tells a shocked Sean, "Drive." After a moment's hesitation, Sean slams on the gas and speeds forward, wondering if everyone in and outside of the vehicles were safe.

[Vocalia]

The longer Hayley stayed, the more shocked she became as Isaac suddenly parted the traffic in front of them, creating an open pathway for Sean to drive through without having to crush the other cars in the traffic. Amidst the noise of car horns and panicking people, she was relieved to see no casualty in Isaac's uncharacteristically direct approach, though one man might as well kill himself after Isaac's action dented his sports car. Looking at the man on the front seat, Hayley began to wonder if there was more to him than what she had known, but decided that doubts about her own ally and friend wouldn't be a nice thing to have in the middle of a battle, so she pushed the thought aside where it wouldn't hamper her performance, although it continued to linger as the vehicle sped off.

[Daxam]

Minutes later, they turn down a street to find Nigel's apartment building on fire, black flames licking up into the air. In the middle of the street, a creature with large horns sprouting out of his head, flaming silver hair, and a cloak of black flames faces off against a good five dozen Crey foot soldiers. The creature was hunched over and breathing heavily, as if wounded. As Isaac and Sean watch, the creature charges forward just as the soldiers open fire. Reacting instinctively, Isaac slams his hand down on the ground and summons a massive wall of iron in between the creature and the soldiers, blocking the bullets a moment before they slammed into the creature, who turns around to see Isaac, Sean, and Hayley standing there. "What the hell are you doing here?!" he shouts over the sound of bullets pinging off of the wall.

[Vocalia]

Hayley didn't have to be a genius or rely on Alexis' analytical skills to know that the blazing black demon was none other than her enemy Nigel. "We're here to stop this fuckfest, whether you like it or not!" Without warning, Hayley charged forward, using her dark powers to help transport Alexis into Nigel's shadow where she then proceeded to manifest in the form of a moving wall of goo and subsequently enveloped Nigel's body, infusing him with her dark healing powers through his open wounds and dulling his pain, all while Hayley used her improved mastery to summon dark spikes that pierced a rank of the Crey soldier from their shadows and through their bodies, her focus being killing them instead of simply dispatching them.

[Daxam]

Sean and Isaac follow Hayley, only for the latter to be stopped by Nigel, who grabbed his wrist. "Isaac," he says. "You have to help me. They're after me and Arlia and I'm worried my sister will be caught in the crossfire." Isaac's brow furrows, although some part of his mind reacts to the information. "Sister?" he asks. "You don't have a sister...do you?" Nigel sighs and says, "Just find them and keep them safe, got it?! They're in the alley, behind a dumpster! Go!" Before he even makes the decision, Isaac turns and runs into the alley Nigel indicated, unsure of what he would find.