Alan's eyes were steeled the moment he confirmed Finnbar was still on their side. He stayed silent until the folks he didn't know that were with him took the elevator upwards. As soon as he confirmed they were out of sight, he immediately jumped towards his cells bars to get as close to the other side - and to his friend - as possible, before whispering.
"Any chance you can make some mini-portal or something to get this damn thing off?" Alan simply asked.
---
Maria stared into the eyes of the doctor and found something fascinating within them: Relativity, familiarity, like looking into a mirror, fogged and blurred; he saw himself in her, and she sees something back. It was a curious thing for her, as she tilted her head, what must this person have had happened to him to make her eyes so similar to her own?
An exploration for another day, but perhaps it was because of this that when the Doctor mentioned that he was a friend, she didn't need her telepathy active to know that he was telling no lie. ...The fact that he unlocked her cell helped with that opinion as well though. Furthermore, the name Millard was someone Joey talked about during the trip that led them here.
As soon as the door opened, she walked out and pointed downwards with her finger, as if indicating the answer being below them.
"...Two allies. One floor below us lies Alan, a fellow Star Marine...By the voices I'm hearing, it seems Finnbar is already down there with him. Fortunate: He can make them an escape route out of those cells, for him, and for Joseph Albion below them." She told Millard as she looked out the balcony of her floor towards the whole of Cell Block B, watching for potential guards doing patrols on the lower floors.
While her voice was befitting her ten-year-old appearance, it was a cold and distant tone to her every word, there was no relief to see an ally rescuing her, no distress for either of her captive allies, and she spoke of Finnbar as if he was a conveniance and nothing more. It was like she was a doll or a machine, emotionless and seemingly without a soul. Most would find it unnerving, maybe even see this as not being her, maybe she's brainwashed? Perhaps a clone or an android with her appearance disguised as her? But for the Star Marines, this isn't new, she's been like this ever since they met her. They knew she's as human, and just as capable of feeling as the rest of them, but her lack of emotional conveyance was something she could not help.
"Do you have a key for this collar?" The little girl asked, her eyes on that neutral face staring towards Millard, down to her soul.
A ghastly name for a ghastly ship filled with ghastly people. A military level prison ship in which some of the worst and most dangerous criminals of the Ascendancy are detained. Terrorist groups, Psychopaths, serial killers and masterful bandits, Traitors and deserters, this ship has it all. It is infamous for being the top prison ship for transporting the particularly dreadful inmates to maximum security facility planets throughout the Ascendancy - usually for the purpose of executing them.
Not that long before its fate, it was a few hundred light years away from Plenty, about to make a jump from where they were to a Prison planet for the drop off of inmates, when they detected a smaller ship flying to the side of their own, moving in for boarding position.
Communications picked up a message hailing them from said small ship.
"This is Agent Carmichael of Ascendancy Special Forces, I have an arrested and restrained fugitive on board, wanted for piracy, grand theft auto, and mass terrorism across the Ascendancy territory. Requesting permission to dock and imprison him on your ship." Said the young lightly-tanned skin man inside this small ship, could not have been anymore than 30 years of age. Turning towards someone in the shadows of the ship, clearly restrained by the looks of his wiggling about, the Agent took out what appeared to be a scanner of some sort and let the laser field from it cover the shadowy inmate. After which, the data retrieved from the scan was sent to the Circle of Hell, so as to verify the identity of the criminal in question. As soon as they saw who it was, they responded without hesitation.
"Permission Granted, please stand by and prepare for docking procedure." Said the communicator within the Circle of Hell.
As the smaller ship got into position, the Circle of Hell released a docking tube to connect the two ships. A small welcome party of prison guards standing by on the other side of the door as it opens up.
Entering the ship was a rather unusual cast of three.
First and foremost - both for being right in the center and for looking the most uncanny of the three - was an even younger man in handcuffs, looking like he only just hit adulthood a year or so ago, a messy head of dirty blonde hair and seemingly a single eye of sky-blue on his left, his right being covered up by an old fashioned eyepatch. But the most unusual thing about him was that attire he had on. A long velvet red coat over a button down shirt of white silk, dark grey cotton pants and old-fashioned leather boots. Not a single bit of armor protection on his person, and a black cap resembling the design of naval caps on captains in the ancient times of the 1700s Earth. Needless to say, the guards were not expecting what they now saw. The boy looked as if he time-traveled to the future from those ancient explorative days, but was so young that there was no way he could have been a captain even back then. Not only did his appearance make it obvious that he was a Pirate, it was as if he was mocking the very image of a Space Pirate. To resist laughing at this blatant parody - at this boy, clearly either mad or childish or both - was understandably a trying task.
Still, they did resist laughing. In their line of work, appearances can be very deceiving. Moreover, they recognize this one's face. Despite his age, he's infamous as a notorious Space Pirate. This was made clear when a biometric scanner came down from the ceiling, the Agent seemingly pushing the young pirate forward to get analyzed first.
"Oi! Don't go pushin' me like some swine to the grinder, you pompous scallywag!" The young Pirate yelled, stomping his feet up and down rapidly like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Shut up, stop moving, and face the damn scanner, or I and the other guards will make you cooperate." The agent coldly said, unphased by the Pirate's tantrum - same couldn't be said for the other guards. A few moments of silence as the pirate stops his stomping before then shrugging his shoulders in a whiplash-indcing change of mood and turned to face the scanner, much to the confusion of the guards. Reports did indicate a mental fringe on the pirate and potential for insanity, but they were not exactly prepared for this. The poor bastard must not have all his eggs in his basket.
As the scanner activated, a wide-radius laser stretching outward at the waist area of the three, before moving up towards of their heads, followed by down towards the tips of their feet. Within moments, holographic screens showing the records of the three visitors popped up.
"Captain Arron Falcon" was the name of this childish pirate standing before them. Despite his look and apparent personality, he is the Captain of the "Cerulean Eclipse" Pirates, one of the most infamous and dangerous pirate groups in the Ascendancy. This in mind, it was no surprised that the list of crime charges he has on his record reads like a Novel.
Piracy
Grand Robbery
Grand Theft Auto
Extortion
Pillaging of ships and cities across dozens of planets
Terrorism
A few cases of Manslaughter
The list went on. Hard to believe it could be done or orchestrated by such a child like this. He did have weapons on them, but one of them, too, was just as ridiculously outdated as his attire, a classic wood-and-metal Flintlock revolver - though interesting with eight holes rather than six, and an oddly colorful revolving cylinder - and two swords, at least they looked relatively modern, a rapier and a cutlass.
Upon a closer look, the agent to the Pirate's right had a slightly messy head of black hair and a moderate build to his body. But much like the pirate, he had an odd attire to him, wearing a black tuxedo under a grey coat, replacing the bowtie common in it with a black tie, and no armor in sight. Although in his case, it seemed at least possible that he had armor beneath the suit. The only weapon he seemed to have on his person was a Standard-issue pistol you see even Privates with. Either he is super confident with his gunplay, or his real weapon of choice was something else not on his person, his fists being the most likely candidate, what with the short black gloves on both of them.
To the Pirate's left was another man, almost exactly opposite to the agent in terms of appearance and the general impression. Whereas the Agent was dressed in black, tanned, looked young, and looking like he was willing and able to fight, this one was dressed in a white coat, pale, looked rather old with long white hair and a fluffy white mustache, and looked like he couldn't fight a child, much less a soldier or a pirate considering how scrawny his muscles appeared to be. He looked quite nervous of the situation, his hands together behind him. Quite suspicious, but the scanner did not pick up anything on his person save for a PDA with a flash drive jack, and so the guards left it at that.
The scanner also checked the ID pinned on the lapel of his white coat and found a match within the Ascendancy database both in ID and Facial Recognition: Professor Audric Abreo, one of the top scientists in Robotics, Bio-technology, and Artificial Intelligence in the Ascendancy, a genius in his own right who was responsible for creating a few of the androids and cybernetics still used to this day, but retired about two years ago.
They also detected the ID on the Agent's person and found a match for him as well: Agent James Carmichael, Ascendancy Special Forces, an elite group of enforcers outside the Armadas sent out to subdue A-class criminal activity, pursue covert operations and in some cases, even assist in Black Operations such as the Star Marine Project. This agent in particular specialized in hunting down and subduing the Ascendancy's Most Wanted, as such, this wasn't much beyond a normal day for him.
Almost immediately after the scanning process, the people in the hall could hear a loud voice bellowing through the hall, one that made this hard special agent flinch as he heard it.
"JIM! Oh ho, I knew I heard the sound of fun and joy getting strangled on the intercom." The delighted voice said from down the hall, the guards immediately turning towards it and saluting upon hearing it. Along comes the red-haired warden of the ship, Minerva de Silva, walking towards the group in the hall with big smile on her face, and a couple of bulky prison guards at her side.
"...Hello again, Warden De'Silva." The Agent said, with a tone that yelled professional, but a look that screamed irritated. Of all the Prison Ships in the Entire Ascendancy, he just had to have the rotten luck to need the one with her in it as Warden.
"That's the Warden of this ship? ...Oh dear." Professor Abreo thought. She didn't seem like a bad woman or anything, in fact she seemed a bit too pleasant for heading a ship with the kind of reputation that it has. He can only imagine what she's like to the prisoners; from his experience, usually people who show themselves off to be happy-go-lucky while in a position that demands horrific things are those who enjoy what they do. Judging by the Agent's reaction, he'd wager there's at least more to this one than meets the eye.
"Oh come now, Jimbo, No need to be so formal, I keep telling you to call me, Minerva."
"And I keep telling you that I'm not interested in small talk. I'm only ever here on the job, and this isn't any different." De'Silva sighed at the agent's disappointing response.
"Damn, You're still the stick in the mud I remember, Jimmy-boy. ...But at least that means you're stuck to the ground. ...So, what have you got for me this time? Ooo, A cute one, you know me so well." De'Silva looked towards Arron as she said this, who irritably looks away from her as she stares at him.
"Captain Arron Falcon of the Cerulean Eclipse Pirates. Managed to capture him after he attempted a foolish theatric during the attempted Heist of the Platinum Bank of Plutus. I got lucky; the boy's too reckless for his own good. His crew was nowhere to be seen unfortunately, must have abandoned him to save their own hide." The agent said, the boy's face looking grimmer as he talked. De'Silva was quick to notice this dark, almost depressive expression on his face; it made sense to her that they'd do such a thing to a boy like this, there's no honor among thieves after all, least of all among scum.
More importantly, She could not help but look at the boy and then back at the Agent with a raised eyebrow of suspicion. The boy looked young enough to get together with her own kid, and that silly pirate attire he got...
"Captain? Pfft... You sure you didn't just adopt a teenager, dressed him up in this get-up as a joke and brought him here as some...elaborate attempt to say we should be a family?" She smugly asked the agent, resisting the urge to just burst out a laugh. Needless to say, this only served to annoy the agent, as his eyes narrowed before he cleared up his throat trying to get back into his professional character.
"I know he looks strange... It was baffling to me as well, but I have reason to believe he's one of those Star Marines, he must have gone rogue and joined up with the pirates. Their previous Captain was put to death, so it's possible he could have used the rumored magic these kids supposedly had to convince them to make him captain." He explained. Honestly it was hard for De'Silva to believe this brat's responsible for all the heists and ship-pillaging that his crew's been wanted for since the execution of their past Captain, Edward Marshal. On the other hand, she's heard about the Star Marines and how they were some secret force operating in the shadows of black operations during the war. If he truly was one of them, he could probably have scared those pirate scum into making him in charge with that rumored magic she was told about. That experience could also have very well explained those planned operations these pirates are now practically famous for.
"Compelling argument, Jimmy. ...Well, let's hear it from Lil Blackbeard's mouth. Anything to say in your defense, Short John Silver?" De'Silva asked, grabbing at the pirate's chin and turning his face to face her. Despite how she looked, it was clear to the boy that she had quite a strong grip.
"...Aye, Just a question, where on this ship are ye keepin the rum? I'd like ye to send some to my cell, Tavern Wench." Arron said, a silly smile on his face, as if he was thinking of all of this as some joke. The other guards readied batons to give this little brat a beating for insulting the Warden like that, but she was quick to extend her free hand towards them as a sign to hold off, then proceeding to give a hearty chuckle.
"Funny lil guy, ain't ya? ...You know, I never liked pirates. ...In fact, I hate the very ground they stand on. I'm a frontier girl at heart, you probably already know we aren't treated the best by those city folk in the capital planets. But I always felt like we could make due, ignore their disdain for us, and eventually we'd make them give us some respect if we worked hard enough. Who knows, maybe one day, one of us will be a senator, maybe even a president, sky's the limit. ...But then there's people like you pirate and rebels and low-life criminals, who come in and sully all that reputation we built up, on top of just outright attacking and pillaging us! ...But you? I think I like you, you got some spunk on ya... I think it's best you get some 'special treatment'. Boys, take Captain Kid here to his room on the top floor. Let him lie there and think about what he's done." De'Silva said, a sly smile on her face.
On cue, the guards grabbed the boy pirate by the shoulders and placed a collar around his neck, immediately emitting a pulse of some kind to show that it activated. They then grabbed both of his shoulders and moved down the hallway, dragging the pirate with them. Agent Carmichael watched as the pirate was taken away, before then turning towards the Warden.
"With your permission, Warden, I'd like to follow suit and stand guard over his cell." He said, making De'Silva look back towards him with a raised eyebrow.
"Stand Guard? What, don't trust my security detail, Jim? He isn't the first Magical prisoner we had on this ship, you know."
"Maybe so, but despite his appearance, he still has his wits about him even without his magic. This wouldn't be the first time he managed a jailbreak under restrictive conditions. I can't afford to have him escape me again."
"...Jim, this is one of the most top-secured prison ships in the Ascendancy fleet. We've had legions of criminals taken back to correctional facilities during the war, and not one inmate has ever escaped from it, not one. ...Look, I know what the soldiers say about me running this ship, but I do know what I'm doing as Warden. You can chill out and let us take it from here..." Her voice became more stern than it ever did, as if insulted by the Agent's statement about the possibility of a jail break. The agent went silent, looking at the ground before then looking back at the Warden.
"...Even so, I can't take any chances. ...I can't let this one get away from me again. I just can't! ...Please, Minerva." The Agent said, finally saying the Warden's first name from his lips with hesitation, as if he was trying his best to keep that word in himself but succumbed. There was a moment of silence as the two looked into each other's eyes.
"...One magic word, that's all I wanted to hear. ...That wasn't so hard, was it? ...Alright, suit yourself. Follow those guards, they'll take you straight to his cell as soon as they're done readying him for it. Gotta warn you though, Jimmy, Solitary hall's absolutely boring. Don't go crying to me if you wind up wanting to shoot yourself from it." De'Silva said, her demeanor changing again at a dime, giving the agent a big sly smile as if she was a teenaged tomboy teasing the stern jock. The Agent gave a gentle smile right back and a nod before walking off. But before the Warden could do anything else, she seemed to finally notice the third person that arrived.
"Oh, right...You with Jimmy-boy?"
"Hm? OH! Umm, No, well...sort of. My name is Aldric Abreo, ...Professor Abreo. I came here due to a distress call this ship gave, it said it needed someone to help reinforce the cage on their...umm...'special guest'." The old man finally said, a nervous tone to match a nervous look to this otherwise polite old man.
"...Oh, right. We did make that request, didn't we?" De'Silva remembered, before then heading towards another guard to get info from the scan made earlier.
"Huh, says here you've retired for some time now, Professor. We made that request to Ascendancy R&D a little while back, for a specialist still in the field, ...why send a retiree?"
"I had asked for it. I heard from a former colleague about the request, and wanted to head over to deal with it myself. ...The Realist AI is, ...very important to me. I couldn't trust anyone else to do this but me."
"And, you were on Jimmy's ship because...?"
"Oh, I...lost my ship a long time ago in an accident. Agent Carmichael and I have gone way back for a considerably long time, I always assisted him in his missions as a...scientific advisor, so to speak. He was on my home world during the boy's heist. He was going to take the boy to a Prison ship, and I figured I'd advise this one and hitch a ride with him here. Two birds, one stone, Hehehe..." The professor said, giving a gentle, but exhausted laugh to end his explanation, a gentle smile on his face to compliment it. He seemed like a good, kind man, but it was clear by his tired expression he was too old for taking missions like this.
"...Uh, huh. Well... Fair enough, you certainly seem qualified for it. Realist's cell is down the hall of Solitary. ...That said, we are going to have to keep watch over what you do in there for security reasons, I hope you don't mind." De'Silva said, nodding towards a guard as if to imply he will be keeping watch over the Professor as he does his work.
"Oh, not at all, madam. I completely understand the caution. AIs are a more difficult inmate to keep contained on a ship like this after all. ...Well, let's not dawdle. I assure this won't take long, but I'd like to request a transport back home afterwards. Rest assured, fair madam, Realist will not be getting away..." The Professor then said to her, following with the other guards and the Agent towards Solitary Hall. The guard she tasked with watching the professor took a few steps to follow him before the Warden grabbed him by the shoulder, pulled him back to her, and whispered in his ear.
"Don't let him out of your sight... He does anything suspicious, give him one warning... he doesn't comply, shoot to kill." She whispered. The guard nodded, he needn't ask why she would ask him to shoot the professor down, it was clear to everyone in the hall that his story was suspicious, and the AI he's heading to secure was the ship's top priority inmate. No chances can be taken around it. That in mind, with safety disengaged on his gun, he rushed over to follow the Professor.
---
Just as boring as she says. At the top floor of Cell Block A, the very top of the prison cell area of the ship, lies solitary hall. Compared to the incredibly spacious Cell blocks, this singular hallway would feel incredibly claustrophobic and rather darkly lit. Facing down the hallway from the entrance, there was no real decor beyond just plain metal halls, and steel doors on the right wall, and nothing on the left save for cameras near the ceiling to keep watch over the doors. The hall itself was quite long for what it was, stretching about 60 feet long, the steel doors opening up to small rooms just as claustrophobic in nature as the hall itself.
As the Professor and the guard he was assigned with walked down the hall, they noticed near its end that the pirate child was being thrown into the solitary confinement cell, Agent Carmichael standing by the door after it closed shut on the pirate. The pirate screamed profanities, not that the Professor could hear anything, as the rooms were essentially completely soundproof... even then, the Agent could still barely hear the boy's angered screams while standing next to his door. The Professor and agent looked at each other, giving a slight nod as if in greeting, as the professor walked past him.
At the end of the hall was the Professor's destination, a giant cube-shaped room more artificial and feeling more fresh than any other part of the ship. From the evidence of the wall of the hall being cut open to the overly clean polish to it, it was clear this was a room they added onto the ship after its creation, and it didn't take long to figure out why.
Opposite to the door way, past an array of computer consoles in the middle of the room was a giant black device, almost similar in a way to a tree trunk, with glowing red wires hooked up to what looked like a giant red eye at the very center of this device.
This "eye", an octagonal-shaped drive with a glowing red light in the center was the "VIP" of this ship, the core of the AI, Realist, strapped onto a restrictive frame disconnected from the ship's mainframe networks - controlled only by the consoles in the middle of the room as the user interface - and generating a signal that completely blocked the AI's wireless connections outside the frame.
In short, Realist was in the closest thing to a Prison cell the ship could create, made especially for him.
The professor took a deep breath before stepping into the room, the AI's Eye giving him a stare that could pierce his very soul. Yet Abreo stared right back at it, a small smile on his face.
"It's been a while, Realist..." He simply said. The professor and the guard could see the red eye moving up and down slowly, as if scanning the professor.
"...A long time indeed, Professor Abreo. I can tell much has changed since we last met on Earth. Truly a pity that I was not there to witness your ascension." The metallic voice from the wall echoed across the room. For a such a small device, it created quite a booming, yet cold voice.
"A-Ascension? ...What is he talking about, sir?"
"It's not important, best not to think on it too hard. ...What is important is what I came here for." The Professor responded to the soldier's somewhat disturbed question as he walked over to one of the computer consoles in the middle of the room, staring at the monitor.
"Hmm...I can see why they needed assistance. The physical frame is still firm, but the software inside the frame holding you in is corrupting, decaying slowly by the second. No doubt your doing, Realist. You never did play nice with other programs." He said, typing on the keyboard feverishly as he speaks. The eye on Realist's core dilates for a moment before shrinking back to normal, as if coming to a realization.
"...I see. It is all comprehensible now."
"Oh...?" The professor looked up towards Realist as the AI says this, a small smile on his face, the guard looking at both in confusion as he spots the Professor inserting something into the console.
"The breach in the frame was not my doing. A nanite was spotted in this room a few days ago. Not long after, a breach in security is detected wirelessly, creating a hole in the system and allowing me a chance at escape, little by little. They detected it as well... But the programmers that were to be my guards and patch this hole in the system suddenly are inflicted with illness and are unable to do so. The ship calls out for other programmers to come and maintain my 'cell' in their place, and out of all the many humans capable of this, you are the one who heeds the call...the only one who comes forward."
"Are you accusing me of something, Realist?" The Professor's tone starting to shift from the tired but gentle professor to something more sly, as if he was enjoying this.
"...You are the one. That Nano-saboteur was one of yours, wasn't it? You arranged a situation in which you would be allowed here, under the pretense of fixing an error that you yourself caused."
"Heh, Interesting claim. A number of holes in it, but I won't bore you with explaining them, you clearly have gone off the rails like they said. But I will say this: there's no pretense here. In about 45 seconds, the hole will be sealed up, and you'll be trapped once again."
"...Then why are you copying my data files and storing them into that unit?" This one question was enough for the guard to jolt to attention. Indeed, he noticed it as well, that device inserted into the console, it was basically a small black box the professor was holding in his pocket - The 'PDA' detected by the scan, connecting to the console through a wire. This guard wasn't exactly tech-savvy, but even he could connect the dots as to what's going on here. As such, the guard held up his gun and took aim towards the professor's head.
"Simmer down, boy... This AI would lie in order to save himself; he's done so before. This hole in your cyber-security is getting bigger by the second. You shoot me, and it will buy him time to escape into this ship's network." This made the guard's hand shake in hesitation, but the gun was still aimed. The Warden told him to shoot should he notice anything suspicious, but at the same time, the professor has a point; Realist could be lying to keep his cage from getting fixed. As if in response, the Professor slowly put his hand in his pocket, and let out the black box in question, and raised it to his head, allowing it to be in clear view.
"...It's a digital tool box. I don't have a lot of faith in Omni-tools you see, so I crafted a more physical one of my own. Some of my best application programs are installed into this, which I can then use a myriad of different jobs, including bug-patching." He said, still typing at a fast rate with one hand.
But before the guard could say anything else, suddenly the entire room goes black, save the glowing eye of Realist, dimly illuminating the center of the room with an eerie red light. It wasn't just there either, the hall way they took to get there, the cell area beyond that, the entire ship went into a blackout, with dim lights turning on from the floor as the ship's emergency power activates. Screams of panic and alarms echoed barely towards the room.
"...Also including a storage app." the Professor said undeterred, as if nothing was wrong. The guard - looking around in confusion at the panic that was happening - looked back towards the Professor, who finally stopped typing, just to flings his fingers towards the guard, as if splashing droplets of water on him. Before the guard knew it, he could feel tiny pokes all over his body, as if a bunch of bugs suddenly landed on him. He tried to brush them off in a panic, only to suddenly stop and jolted in pain as he falls to the floor, having a seizure. Whatever it was that landed on him gave him an electrical shock across the body.
"He'll live." The Professor said, turning to Realist, continuing typing again. "Well, this charade's been fun, but it seems I've wasted enough time. So..."
On cue, he pushed one last button, and the sound of a lock disengaging could be heard, the Professor disconnecting his device and putting it back in his pocket.
"We don't have a lot of time; the lock has an auto-engage that'll activate soon. Let's get you out of there before they start coming in."
"...I see, you were buying time. This blackout was also your doing, so you came all this way for me, or rather, for the information I hold. I take it the data you copied serves as consolation in case you failed to get me out in time." Realist said as the device keeping in the core was shutting down.
"...I'd rather not have anyone else be in possession of such valuable information - Ascendancy or otherwise - but in case something goes wrong, I don't intend on leaving without it no matter what. Furthermore, not my choice, but I was ordered by the boss to add a little something to your database, just in case... But enough talk, let's-" The professor was interrupted again, this time by a deafening boom and hard shakes, enough to make the professor lose his footing and fall, even more alarms were blaring now, as the gravity started to push the professor towards the console - no, towards the wall where Realist was. He looked behind, and noticed the Agent outside in Solitary hall rolled towards and hit his head on the door leading into Realist's cell, clearly having trouble as well. The knocked out guard also seemed to slide down towards the wall where Realist was.
"What the hell did you do!?" The professor said, trying to keep himself on his feet.
"This is not my doing; I am still disconnected from the ship's systems. ...Judging by the sudden shift in gravity, the sound of explosions, and the heavy vibrations, I deduce the ship has sustained heavy damage, and is now caught in a gravity well, hopefully the gravity of a planet. ...Was this not a part of your plan as well?" Realist responded, as if mocking Abreo. The Professor could not make any response as he instead grabbed hold of the nearest console he could find and braced for impact.
---
Hours later after the crash, once the guards finally got their bearings in order, they searched over Solitary Confinement and Realist's own cell. The Auto-lock reengaged, with the hole in the software patched as the Professor promised. As a result, their AI prisoner was still held captive, just as it should be. However, the professor himself was nowhere to be seen. The guard watching him was the only one found, still alive, though it seemed to be through some assistance, possibly the Professor's.
Furthermore, The Pirate they captured at the same time seemed to have escaped, along with many other criminals whose doors were broken from the crash. Guards suspect that the pirate child could very well have been the one who broke them out, perhaps to keep the guards busy amidst the chaos, though there was little evidence left to tell either way. The agent James Carmichael also disappeared, his body undiscovered amidst the rubble. It's believed by Warden De'Silva that the Agent likely woken up to find out the pirate escaped, and chased after him as soon as he could. He always was - in her words - "wonderfully persistent".
The current whereabouts of the Pirate, the Agent, and the Professor, is unknown...
Not far from the Circle of Hell's shipwreck was the mentioned Vice-Admiral of Alexander Kherol, Kotaro Winterborn. But he did not fly here immediately after the ship's crash-landing. On the contrary, he was here even before the ship crashed. It's been two weeks since the crash, and by extension, two weeks since the negotiations to peacefully end this rebellion crumbled to dust. He watched as the Circle of hell dropped from the sky at the hand of the rebels and was the one who destroyed the cannon that caused it to happen, before then retaliating against the rebels for what they did. Not at that moment though, he gave them time to surrender themselves before he gives the order to suppress them in Grand Admiral Kherol's name. By now, Time was up...
However, he had larger priorities to deal with at the time, which was in part the reason for the time limit. After the Circle of Hell crashed, it unwittingly allowed for a jailbreak to happen as a result of the malfunctioning security of the ship. As a result, a large number of very dangerous criminals escaped and were wandering about the Planet - need it be to try and escape off the planet or to simply cause havoc and satisfying whatever desires they may have there - causing things to become even worse for the bystanders of this battle than it already was. As such, Kotaro's top priority was the capture of these criminals and the protection of the rest of Plenty not involved in the war.
Twisting the arm of Plenty's Garrison Commander, under Grand Admiral Laguna, to work with him on this, Kotaro personally orchestrated and commanded the recapturing effort, sending his best men to procure the criminals, dead if necessary. For two weeks he's been dealing with both criminals and rebels, and any who tried to come after him or the Garrison Commander personally, he reluctantly had executed - well, reluctantly in the case of the rebels, he had no sympathy for any Circle of Hell escapees who dared to come after him.
Kotaro currently was outside a large tent, giving orders to soldiers left and right, when suddenly appears a small person in a yellow hood - a boy by the voice and stature - by Kotaro's side from out of nowhere, prompting a few soldiers to jump and point their guns, only for other soldiers to intervene and push the guns away. Those who are under Kherol - and currently working for the Vice-Admiral - have seen this boy appear and disappear quickly so many times now that it does not phase them anymore, and so they have to explain to soldiers under Laguna that this boy is on their side.
"We rounded up the last of the criminals, Boss!" The hooded boy said, the outright cheerful tone offsetting the hooded appearance he was taking.
"Well done... But faster than expected, were there any issues."
"Errm, well, Some of them chose to fight us and died, Ma'am Nuletta in particular made quick work of quite a number of them. Also, Sir Zebul said he found a ship managed to escape out of the blockade Laguna made, definitely wasn't one of ours either."
...How many was on that ship?"
"Two, maybe three." Kotaro could not help but sigh at this failure. Despite his efforts and the efforts of his men, it seems a few criminals escaped back to the Ascendancy anyways. He thought about what Kherol would do at a time like this...
"...We'll leave them be for now, but not without an eye watching over them. Have Sir Zebul give the details of that ship to one of our recon units to conduct a search, and relay what they find to me. Have the Harlequins keep the prisoners from escaping until another prison ship arrives. If they attempt an escape again, they are authorized to kill."
"And...what about the rest of us, boss?" The boy asked. Kotaro took a deep breath and sighed. As much as he didn't want to, he knew exactly what order to give to the boy, he knew what had to be done.
He made his Ultimatum, to back out of it would be going back on his word and cowardice, especially after they crashed the Circle which caused this further chaos in the first place. He gave the rebels more time to surrender than he likely should have; this bloodshed would have been spared a while ago had he simply arrested their leaders when he had the chance. While he understands their motivations, their extreme aggression and lacking of regret and foresight to the ramification of their actions cannot and will not be tolerated.
"...Time's up. Have the Paladins work with Laguna's Soldiers to shut this rebellion down. Sir Zebul and Madam Nuletta are on recon and rescue duty. They are to find any innocent bystanders still in the warzones and the four remaining leaders of the Rebellion. Relocate the civilians to safe zones and bring the four elders to me. How you do it is up to you, but I want them alive. There are soldiers likely protecting them, kill them only if you feel there is no other option to take, but otherwise, I want them captured as well. The rest of the Paladins are to locate and destroy the orbital cannons stationed across Plenty. The rest of the armies are to overwhelm the Rebel forces, diverting their attention away from the Paladins' activities. Commander, once the cannons are destroyed, relay to Grand Admiral Laguna to bring in her fleet to encompass the world. If things go as they should: their best weapons will be gone, their elders will be captured, and the amount of ships and soldiers should be enough to diminish their morale to the point of surrender." Kotaro said. Thinking from the perspective of an experienced Commanding Officer, this strategy may seem too simple to work. However, Kotaro realizes that these are not soldiers they are dealing with, they are not experienced machines of war that has seen military strategies in action before, they are young and old farmers who were given weaponry and are driven by a reckless passion, drunk on the power they were given. Best to match the strategy to the opponent, lest more people die than necessary. The hooded boy did a bow, and just like that, he vanished in as much of a blink of an eye as he appeared, reappearing on another hill not that far from Kotaro's position before disappearing again.
"Now wait just a minute, You can demand your freaks to do whatever you want, but those are MY Armies and under Grand Admiral Laguna! You have no authority to make orders to them, specially not when it's essentially making them bait!" The garrison commander yelled from behind. Kotaro turned towards him and coldly stared daggers into the commander's soul, before immediately unsheathing a regular blade and pointing it towards the commander's neck.
"I don't recall asking for your opinion, Commander. It was because of you and Grand Admiral Laguna's stepping out out of your expertise that a lot of good people died, and the farmlands are now ruined. We may not be able to recultivate this planet because of your scorched earth tactics. I don't know why Grand Admiral Laguna got involved, and I don't care. Counter-insurgency is our department, so until this rebellion is ended, I am taking the reins of this operation and the authority that comes with it. If Grand Admiral Laguna is unsatisfied, she may take it up with Grand Admiral Kherol after this is over. Now, give the order. Wait for our signal and commence a wave-by-wave assault on the rebels." He said. He knew that it was possible this action could qualify in Grand Admiral Laguna's eyes as insubordination, however there was argument to be had about this whole operation being worse.
The Garrison commander nodded in agreement and headed off to fulfill his order, worried that he was now caught between a rock and a hard place, between the Vice-Admiral having his head, or Grand Admiral Laguna.
As Kotaro prepared himself for this gambit, another soldier came towards him from the crashed Prison Ship.
"Vice-Admiral, ...We recieved word of unexpected visitors that arrived on the Ship."
"Visitors...?"
"They claim to be a relief unit sent to assist the staff in evacuating the ship, remanding any prisoners that didn't escape, and overall be a boost to the crew's morale." The soldier explained.
Kotaro was quick to think about this, indeed it made sense for a relief unit to come down and assist the Circle of Hell, and hopefully get it running again. He ordered one himself after all, and it's been two weeks so it must have been known by now by some that the ship was wrecked here on the planet. By all accounts, these people seem legit.
And yet, something about this doesn't feel right. Kotaro has been on this planet for all of the two weeks that the ship has landed for, and no one came to help with the situation despite his best efforts...and the one he did manage to contact, said they still couldn't come for at least another two days, simply due to the distance.
So who are these guys...?
"Are they still on board?"
"As far as we know, yes."
"...Very well, gather some of the men and follow me. It's high-time we tell Warden De'Silva of our progress anyways." Kotaro said. The soldier nodded as he prompted a small legion of soldiers to follow Kotaro as he walks towards the Circle of Hell.
On the way, he's using his hands to invoke silent orders to his men, prompting some of them to move away and leaving about four men with him as he continued his walk.
The Vice-Admiral is coming...
Circle of Hell - Holding Cells Block B
"GAH!" was Alan's reaction to hearing this person (Finnbar) talking to Jan and happening at his cell, jumping into an odd frazzled position for a second before immediately relaxing and staring at the two in front of him.
"Holy shit, that yelling actually worked?" was all he could think of, so utterly dumbfounded to actually see someone outside his cell after the yelling to the point where he was basically blocking out what the two people were saying to each other, even momentarily not catching what the person asked him.
His eyes widened and he shook his head to get his mind out of the gutter before actually taking a look at the one talking to him.
This person was staring into Alan's soul, and Alan stared right back into his. There was little doubt in his mind, he recognized the old shape-shifting colleague all too well. This was Finnbar, one of the Star Marines he met so long ago, a brother in arms who chose to fight against the Ascendancy with the others, one of the Star Marines who he missed due to his training back on the Rau've planet.
That said, what in the hell was he doing here talking to this woman and acting like an Ascendancy inspector? Did he actually re-join with the Ascendancy since he last saw him, or was this some kind of ruse to get as far into the ship as he was? Now that Alan thought about it, they were suppose to come here for Realist, and not from the experience that got him to this point in the first place, just waltzing in to grab Realist off these people was a bad idea.
Either way, regardless of whether he's joined with the Ascendancy again, or whether this some kind of inside job, what Alan needs to do is the same, he knows exactly how to greet his old friend...
"Yeah, I got a name... It's Kiss my ass and burn you 'Ascendant' Grand-Delusional FUCK! ...My Parents had issues." Alan said, first giving a nod with a stoic face before going angry with the insult then going into a laxed shrug afterwards. It might seem like a bad move on his part, but in his eyes, this was the best way he could either confirm this one's on the Ascendancy side, or tell him that he's on his side without fucking him over, all while trying to make it natural for the actual ascendancy witness right next to him. If he's with the Ascendancy, then Alan'll have naturally shown his...'disagreement' with that decision. If he's working under cover, then the priority was keeping that cover intact. The nod just before his statement, at least in his own mind, was a subtle acknowledgement of the situation to Finnbar, akin to a Wink. It could be looked at as that, or it could naturally just be in conjunction with his response before he thoroughly answers.
The last little joke was for no reason, though. He just felt like adding that there for the sake of the mood.
"Ey, what do you know, sounds like my plan sort of worked." Joey blurted out, overhearing what's going on in the floor just above his own and the additional yelling of his cell mate.
"Shut, up, Joey... Actually yes, yes he is. Shoot him please. Seriously, no one will miss him."
"Oi, what the hell?"
...Is what I want to say, but as annoying as he is, we need him to get us off thi rock, specially since this wole ship feels abandon. I haven't eaten anything all day, and I doubt Maria had anything for days now. Tell the cafteria person they need to step up the food frquency here. Alan said, once again using rambling and treating Finn as hostile while hopefully giving info to him from Alan himself by relaying that info subtlely into his seeming tangents, to show that Joey was an ally, and that Maria was indeed there with him.
---
The girl still was silent to answer this Doctor. She may not seem it from hearing the yelling of her two allies and still being unphased, but she is did have a good sense of hearing. She could hear that there were other visitors on the floor below her, no doubt talking with Alan...and Alan being Alan in response. She looked towards the Doctor, and at that point it'd be clear to him just how odd this girl seemed.
Her eyes were a beautiful violet, yet they were utterly empty, there was no shine to them, no light, not as if she was blind, but as if her very soul was taken from her, as if she suffered enough labotomies to be deemed catatonic.
But that was not the most odd thing he'd see. No, the really odd thing was revealed when she turned her head to see him, and by doing so, exposed the small black valve seemingly attached to her left temple, the same kind of valve you see on pipelines or other such machines was sticking out of her head. One would have sworn it to be some kind of prank, a fake prop gag used to trick people, but no, someone like the Doctor here may be more perceptive in realizing that that valve was physically melded to her skin, as if surgically implanted to her skull.
Maria, meanwhile, simply stared at this doctor for a few seconds. Based on what she's hearing outside Alan's cell, this person must be with the ones down stairs. Could he be just a simple nice guy stationed in the wrong place, or... Joey did seem like he always had a reason behind his consistent yelling about, and the only reason they came there in the first place was because the Xuanxang along with their friends were coming here as well. Could this doctor be a part of the same crew as her allies? Possible, but there was no easy way to tell, now that she had that restraint on her neck. This would easily be solved if her telepathy came back, but it didn't.
"...Maria...Friend or foe?" She simply asked. It did seem a little risky, but even if she can't read his mind, neither could he read her...at least she hopes not. That aside, her name wasn't a unique thing that she alone would have, it should not be sufficient enough to cause any problems for the others.
The timing was perfect, almost too perfect, as if on que. As soon as Blue Crow attempted to make a downward slash towards Nero, a Distortion in space would be detected to the right of Blue Crow near a wall, which seemingly made the wall break like pieces of glass from a window, revealing a relatively large portal, about right feet in diameter. For most it'd be strange enough on its own, but for the Star Marines, there'd be something oddly familiar about the color and feeling of this portal. As if from out of nowhere, a giant armored purple hand - it was more like a claw really, a 3 foot tall gold-plated open hand - flew out of the portal, attached to it by lengthy disturbingly thin stick-like arms. It grabbed onto Blue Crow's arm, and without warning, pulled him off of Nero with a hard enough force to throw mercenary off his feet and into the portal it came from.
As soon as Blue Crow disappeared into the portal, three black chains, each link with two iron thorns to its sides - a design of which Nero in particular may recognize - burst out in his place, each one floating in the air, and like the tendrils of a monster, simply floated around in the air until it found the three Tayanen that assisted Blue Crow, stabbing themselves into each gelatenous glob and pulling them into the portal as well with great force.
As soon as they slithered back into the portal with Tayanen in tow, the portal quickly shrunk and disappeared, as if devouring itself, leaving the wall that it supposedly broke down to open returned to its former state as if nothing happened at all.
All that remained, were the twins, Nero, and the silence of the Armory.
Outside the ship, over a couple of hills opposite to where Kotaro was located, was where Blue Crow and his Tayanen aliens would wind up, a seemingly camouflaged tent, about as large as the command tent where Kotaro did his strategies, though a lot more spacious, there was hardly anything in there, save a few barrels and a few people, most of them women. The one who grabbed at Blue Crow was a woman just as large as her hands would have suggested, covered head-to-toe in an overly exaggerated armor. Complete with bladed wings, a horned helmet with a golden visor completely covering her face and a long blood red skirt covering the lower half of her body.
The chains followed suit, letting go of the Tayanen as soon as they were out of the portal and reeling back into the black cloak of another woman. Most of her features were completely covered in the black cloak she had, save for the boney hand showing out of her sleeves, and the black black hair on her head looking like the typical Grim Reaper if it happened to have barely wore skin upon its bones and nothing else. Blue Crow wouldn't be able to see her face, however, due to a blood red mask she wore.
At the doorway was another roughly as young as the other Star Marines, wearing a white lab coat over to contrast the long black hair and military battlesuit, fiddling with her Omni-tool as she looked outside, her blue eyes focused on both. The noticeable glitches in the camouflage of the tent seen through the thin curtain of its walls as she fiddles suggests she's the one responsible for it.
"...Heeey, Blue Bird. Hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Said a boyish voice by the barrels. Sure enough, a boy dressed in what appears to be a loose and freed full-body straight jacket with all the detached belts on his pant legs and sleeves, a black-and-white checkered scarf around his neck, and messy short purple hair to go with his violets eyes. A cheerful expression on his face as if a friend paid him a visit, an expression that seemed to completely offset the mood of the situation of everywhere else on this planet.
These were four of the nine members of the infamous Squad 0, the vey same traitorous squad who massacred the other Squad leaders back in the battle of Proxima, led by this happy-go-lucky boy whose bright eyes stared at Blue Crow... Crowley.
You ever taken a stop to look at your current situation and ask yourself: "What sadistic bitch you happen to believe is in control of your destiny did you piss off to lead you to this moment?"
This was one of those times for one Joey B.
A simple escort, he said. Just head to where they were going and meet them there, he said. Could be fun ruffling Natty's feathers, getting her target first, . he said.
Hindsight's 20/20, they say, and it was in hindsight that he realized how careless he was with this idea. Of course this ship would still have plenty of guards on standby, and considering the level of criminals that would be - and were - released out into the public, of course they weren't going to be a bunch of peons keeping what remains of them intact.
The thoughts were rolling in his head, cupping his hairless chin with his right hand in contemplation and blowing the messy blonde hair out of his sapphire blue eyes, as he sat criss-crossed on his small and most uncomfortable bed, a wall of iron bars to the right of him.
This was Joey B. Albion, former official member of the Xuanzang crew, now an unofficial part-timer of that same crew. ...Well, until a couple days ago, now he's also an inmate awaiting a death sentence in one of the ship's stops for treason, desertion, federal homicide of military officers, and now - ironically enough - breaking and entering the very Prison ship once someone comes to pick the prisoners back up on their regularly scheduled flight to the death ca-er-"prison planet", yeah that's it; complete with two minors as accomplices. ...Oh yeah, they're probably gonna die too, huh?
It all started about a few days ago, Joey patched into the Xuanzang's communications from his own ship - Some call it stalking, he calls it insuring himself Natty isn't doing something way in over her own head and dragging his pals along for the ride - and heard about their mission from Moonstrike to go to pick up some sort of special agent/secret weapon whatever from the Galactic Bazaar. Interested in what they were dishing out, he decided to ride over to the Bazaar to meet up with them. However, by the time he got there, it was too late and the Xuanzang was long gone, likely with these 'agents' in tow. Seems he wasn't the only one looking for the Xuanzang though, he met up with a boy and girl asking for where that very ship was. Mite confusing at first; he couldn't believe the possibility that these were the supposed special agents they were taking. It seemed the girl had Telepathy though, basically projected the information right into his head while the boy just watched impatiently.
These were the rumored Star Marines he heard so much about back in the war, the supposed special agents that were supposed to be the Ascendancy's Trump Card back in the Battle of Proxima. They were captured by the Rau've but were treated hospitably rather than as prisoners of war. When they decided to Rebel, the girl - Maria - ran off on a mission given to her by one of them - a guy named Tarak - for information and potential aid and was to return to her friends immediately after her finished, but she arrived too late. After that span of Telepathy was, over the boy - Alan - explained that he left himself behind on the Rau've planet to train with some Rau've mentor and only recently completed enough training to be of help to the rest of their friends, but it seemed he also arrived too late with Maria being the only one of his friends that was around.
Realizing the three of them were basically all on the same boat of missing the same ship with their friends on it, Joey proposed to the two kids to come with him to get them on the Xuanzang and reunite with their friends there. They were suspicious - Stranger danger and all - but fortunately Maria's mind magic made things run smoothly as she could tell that he meant well. After deciding to tag along, they followed him to his ship and they headed off to follow the Xuanzang.
That is, until he once again patched into their communications and overheard the Briefing for their mission on Plenty, something about some super-AI that they wish to grab from a crashed Prison ship there. Now, Joey has heard about the situation down on that planet in particular, that it has been a planet under Civil war and rebel suppression for weeks now. He also knows about the Circle of Hell, a massive Prison ship carrying the worst of the worst. This situation seemed like a pretty dangerous mission for them to go on. At the same time, they now know exactly where they're going to go. As such, after some discussion, the three decided to head to Plenty before the Xuanzang reaches it, and capture the AI first. Not only would it help save their friends some trouble, but it would reunite Maria and Alan with the rest of them, and he can rub the fact that he succeeded in this mission first in Natty's face. Three birds; One stone!
Alas, they underestimated the capability of the prison ship's guards. The initial thought was that the Prison guards would be scattered about trying to fix their ship, take in any escaped criminals, and guarding the ship from any rebels who want to take out ascendancy soldiers.
...What they did NOT know is that Kherol's Vice-Admiral just happened to be down on this planet as well with his own squadron rounding up any criminals that escaped, AND dealing with the rebellion at hand, and so there were far more guards than they thought there were, ...they were also far more competant and capable than they thought, managing to capture and restrain the two magical kids while pointing a lot of guns at Joey's face. Interestingly, seemed odd how prepared they were for two Star Marines, but they seemed to think the two kids were affiliated with pirates...Something about them coming for their Captain? Joey had no idea what they were on about, and it seemed the two kids were just as confused.
Either way, it looked like it was just a case of bad luck.
Which brings us to present day, with Joey locked up in a Cell on the second floor of Cell Block B, looking at the utterly massive area just outside his iron bars.
--------------------
Cell Area Description
As this is a Prison ship, it's only natural that this would be filling up the most space within it. Oh, not this Block, rather just the three Cell blocks in general. They all generally have the same design to them, a massive rectangular space of five floors, the walls in five rows lined with prison cells and an open space right in the middle that serves as a sort of courtyard for them. Usually when times comes to let them out to exercise, they place equipment in the open area to use, and when an announcement is being made, real easy to have the prisoners' attention when the ones making the announcement is front and center. The three cell blocks are layered on top of one another, forming a tower of sorts, cell block B being right in the middle. Below that is Cell Block C which is the only one connected to the rest of the ship; if anyone came into the Cell area of the ship, they would arrive in Cell Block C, and would need to ascend upward to get to Cell Block B, and Cell Block A at the top, the top most area of Cell Block A being where Solitary Confinement for the worst of criminals is held. At the end of this hallway was the room reserved for this ship's "guest of honor", Realist's cell. The three block are divided by thick layers of titanium alloy which makes up their central courtyard, the very center of which opens up like a door in order for an elevator platform to go through, before immediately closing upon its disappearance with a razor's edge.
As additional security, a sensor is in place on the block "gates" as the elevator goes up and down, detecting the elevator and how many are on it as soon as it passes by, so as to prevent any prisoners from just jumping to the lower blocks while the Elevator is going through the floor. If too many are on the elevator than there was supposed to be, the gate won't open.
At least, that's how it was supposed to be, however, thanks to the crash, the security system on the ship malfunctioned, which included the security gate of the Cell Blocks. In fact, most of the cells in all the blocks were broken open along with the Block gates in the center. Any prisoners still on the ship are those with Cells that still worked even after the crash, and all the doors in Solitary Confinement - Realist's Cell included - has their own backup systems to keep them locked in case of such emergencies as this.
--------------------
Needless to say, Joey and his two new pals were placed in the working cells of Cell Block B. Let's see...He was on the third floor of Cell Block C, and Maria and Alan were placed just above his own, with Cell with Alan on the fourth Floor and Maria on the fifth and top floor of the B-Block.
One would think these three were capable of breaking on their own, and indeed, Joey does have an unorthodox idea of how to get out of his own predicament. However, As soon as Maria and Alan were captured, they were given mechanisms designed for restraining Kaisoken-infused magic like the Star Marines had, particularly a collar on their necks that seemed to suppress their magical capabilities. Joey could probably escape at any time, but he's toothless without the guns he had with him, and even if he somehow gained them, what kind of asshole would he have to be to leave two kids to fend for themselves on a ship wrecked prison?
He has an idea in mind to help the others get out. Problem? ...It requires getting a guard to come here, and wouldn't you know it? They're pretty few and far between at the moment thanks to this mess.
At this rate, nothing was gonna get done fast. Figured now's the best time to try and get something done. So Joey walked up to the bars of his cell, slapped his cheeks, did a few stretches of his arms, then, with a look of determination, he grabbed at the iron bars, took a deep breath, and...
"OI! CAN SOMEONE GET THEIR BUTT OVER HERE!? PRETTY SURE IT'S PAST LUNCH BY NOW! KIDS NEED THEIR FRUITS AND VEGGIES OVER HERE!" Joey yelled out, the damaged but spacious Cell block echoing his voice across the other Cell Blocks.
---
"OH SHUT UP ALREADY!" A much younger boy's voice brashly yelled in response from just above Joey. The angry look in the pale boy's red eyes almost pushing through the bars as he looked down towards the direction of his loud neighbor. Irritated, he walked back toward the middle of the cell, pushing his fingers across his short snow-white hair. Out of the three, he was the most impatient and consistently focused on escaping, as Maria was more concentrated on meditation and Joey was annoyingly laid back. This was a regrettable decision on his part.
Unlike Joey, he didn't have any weapons on him, hell, he didn't have much of anything on him save for his clothes and his Omni-tool. He didn't need much of anything, as a Star Marine, he was only ever truly reliant on his magic and his physical skills. This, for the moment, is the main factor behind the irritation he felt at present. It was bad enough that these Prison guards locked an Anti-magic collar around his neck, preventing him from just melting the bars and escaping, but Joey's consistently patronizing 'requests' has happened at the top of his lungs has gotten on his nerves for long enough.
"Aw, come on, Al. At this point I'm just playing around."
"You've been at this for fucking Days! DAYS! Even at night for fuck's sake! The few times it actually gets someone here, and what do you do? NOTHING!"
"Calm down and just relax, kiddo. I do have an idea, it's just, they never seem to show up at the right times to pull it off."
"Right time? WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR ALMOST A WEEK! A GODDAMN WEEK, JOEY! We had plenty of times these guards came around, AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING WITH THE ONE ON YOUR FUCKING FLOOR! I HAVEN'T HAD A GOODNIGHT SLEEP OR BEEN ABLE TO THINK ABOUT JACK SHIT FOR FOUR DAYS NOW, BECAUSE YOU'RE CONSTANTLY YELLING BULLSHIT! SO EITHER DO SOMETHING, OR SHUT, THE FUCK, UP!" Alan yelled, the talk between the two echoing across the entire Cell Area. Even people in Cell Block A, and Cell Block C below would be able to hear their screams reverberating off the walls.
Alan couldn't see it, being exactly above Joey's own cell, but Joey was smiling. Not a patronizing smile, as if laughing at the flustered boy above him, but rather a small smirk of confidence, as if things were going the way he wanted them to go.
Amidst all of this, Maria was quiet, sitting criss-cross on the middle of the cell floor above Alan. She said not a single word to stop the bickering of the two, and seemed utterly unphased by their verbal warfare as she kept her focus within herself. As the collar around her neck would suggest, she was indeed a Star Marine as well, but unlike the others who have naturally aged since their time in the war, Maria was still the small pale girl in the purple dress they all met on that day, seemingly haven't aged a day. Of course, the other Star Marines noticed this during their time with the Rau've, but she had no answer for them as to why, only a theory that perhaps the dust injection process that went awry and made her need that cybernetic in her head also stemmed her growth.
She did not flinch out of her concentrated state of mind, not even as Alan's bombastic yells echoed like the wrathful whispers of wraiths. With a deep sigh, she opened her dim violet eyes, a lack of shine in within them as if she had no soul within that small body of hers. Something the guards never gotten used to and were always so freaked out by, but something the Star Marines knew her for well enough. The guards believed that she was simply a husk, some sort of well-kept undead shell; despite the collar on her neck preventing any harm to come to them, none of the guards wanted to go anywhere near this girl when the time came to give her food, treating the task as a punishment more than a chore. But as the Star Marines learned in the past, she was very much alive, and did have emotions and spirit like the rest of them, she did show care, kindness, even some degrees of passion for things, but simply lacked the ability to show these things, not because she was holding back but because the Cybernetic plate in her head simply made her physically incapable of emotional response of any kind, resulting in a perpetual look of sheer apathy.
So while she did not look like it, she was very annoyed at verbal sparring of her partners, moving her waist-length white hair away from her face after the concentration she built up was broken by them. She'd tell them to quiet down so that she could continue her meditation, but her emotionless whispers would be overridden by their loud voices. Unfortunately, thanks to her collar, she can't even telepathically tell them to quiet down.
Joey has a plethora of lasers pistols, designed to look like 9mm glocks, around his belt. However, in addition to the design, he also customized the magazines of each one with a sharp dagger blade at each bottom. This way he can not only use these guns for mid-range combat, but should the situation arise, they can be his close range weapons as well.
Joey's Pride and joy, and his signature weapon. A military standard Peacemaker plasma rifle personally customized by Joey himself by fiddling with the energy core and adjusting the scope and barrel, he crafted a multi-purpose high-powered plasma rifle capable of leaving dents in particularly strong military grade armors. The scope of the weapon was replaced with a sniper-grade one with the barrel capable of extending outward to generate the necessary reach of a sniper rifle. In addition, the once single-barrel was now three interlocking barrels that could spread outwards, producing pseudo-shot gun effect to the plasma bullet, albeit in only three directions as opposed to larger range of a normal shot gun. The three barrels, when interlocked, can give way to a more powerful plasma bullet than one would expect of a rifle, as the additional energy's needed when for the longer range in sniper mode.
Of course, there's a reason this kind of weapon has never been official military despite its power far exceeding that of the military norm. The fiddling of this gun provided a number of drawbacks, the most concerning one being that larger exhaust of plasma energy, regardless of which mode, causes overheating immediately upon firing, allowing only one blast to be fired at a time. There's also the possibility that the largr amount of energy generating larger amounts of heat could potentially cause internal damage to the gun. To reduce this possibility, although they're all connected in the same way to the same barrel, only one "Mode" can be used at a time. In normal mode, the blast is more powerful, but is mid-range and the cooldown takes a little time. In Sniper Mode, the range is longer and the blast is still powerful, but the gun will need much longer time to cool off, so every shot has to count. In shotgun mode, the range in length and power are nothing impressive, but the width range is superior and the ventilation from multiple barrels allows the cooldown to go much faster.
Character Traits:
Weapons Expert- As a former soldier of the Ascendancy, Joey has had military-grade training in all manner of weaponry a soldier could carry on them. After the standard training however, Joey spent his time extending his training further to other sorts of weapons, while also gaining knowledge of weapons he's normally use from said military training. Rather gifted with a gun, he got to a point where he could customize military weaponry on his own, much like he did with "Mickey", and has used that specialty to help enhance his crew's weaponry to be more efficient. His skills with the gun were of such high quality, that when his Captain was finished with her own standardized weapons training for the Ascendancy, she turned to him for further training on how to best wield a gun.
Martial Artist- As a former soldier, Joey also had standardized training in martial arts combat in the event that he is in a situation without his weapons. While not nearly as gifted or capable with hand-to-hand combat as he is with the guns, he is still about as skilled with close quarters combat as any soldier. In addition, Joey self-trained himself in "Gun-Kata", essentially a martial arts that allows the use of guns - specially pistols - to mix close and mid-range combat together into one.
Archaeologist - One of the most important things - and one of the only things - that he was taught as a member of the Albion family was the ancient languages, teachings, and ruins of the worlds. Supposedly, it was to help better prepare religious traditions that would cater to any race and perspective one would think of. Joey may not have had an interest in those traditions and lore, but he certainly learned about them regardless, whether it be by force or actually taking an interest in some ancient ruins of other worlds. He may not necessarily know every single possible ancient language or ruin - the family abandoned him before they could teach him everything they knew - but it's rare to find an Archaeologist who would know more about this sort of thing than he.
Short Bio: Joey Albion was born to a rather large family, assumingly somewhere in one of the middle-ring systems of the Ascendancy. It doesn't appear to be very large, he only has two brothers, a sister, and a father with the Mother nowhere in sight, presumed deceased. However, what makes it large is that his direct family has practically a plethora of relatives, mostly cousins both close and distant that practically lives with them at their home.
The entirety of the Albion family's a very devout one, often traveling to across the Ascendancy for every gathering of the religious for every occasion, something everyone of them, save for Joey, dedicated themselves to. From the moment they are born, they are raised to respect their patriarch, and protect the sanctity of the Ascendancy's religions, often learning ancient languages and writing to undergo whatever ritual was necessary at the time. Some of them even went as far as supporting the religious extremists and templars in their protection and negotiations of said religions. But they are never to interact with people directly, and never involve themselves outside their religious activities, less they be ex-communicated and disowned.
Good thing then, that Joey was always considered something of a black sheep for not being as interested in religion as the rest of the zealous Albions. Laid-back, and not nearly as interested in the religions that his family adores, nor the apostles support. Instead he was interested in the general life of a person: Social activity, learning, training, friendships, technology, the kind of things his family would disapprove of getting involved with. Most of the family were not supportive, but were tolerant so long as he chose only to learn and not get involved with these things.
Which is why interacting with a woman not affiliated with the churches, and instead affiliated with the military of all things, was the last straw that stripped Joey of his inheritance and ex-communicated him from their life. Needless to say, Joey wasn't exactly shedding any tears for them, and decided to take part in the Ascendancy's military. Though he was a bit old when compared to others who joined the military academy, and his family restrictive teachings did not help him in the slightest, what he lacked in general academics and military knowledge, he made up for with a fascination with military weaponry as his primary focus. He found guns to be far more effective and convenient than what little training his family forced him on with more traditional weaponry, and so he got to knowing more about them, what makes them tick, and ultimately became interested in outright upgrading his weaponry for more firepower than it was originally designed for. It helped that he seemed to have a keen eye for marksmanship, becoming a very skilled sharpshooter during the training.
He got separated from the woman that got him to that point after he was assigned to the Xuanxang to be under the orders of another woman: Captain Natasha Zhang. The relationship with his captain was...complicated, The one thing he could never get used to in the military was someone who claimed to be higher in rank and better barking orders at him - it reminded him too much of what his family was like for most of his life - and so he hardly ever actually listened to Zhang whenever she commanded him to do something on her ship. Instead he often marched to the beat of his own drum and ignoring whoever yelled at him for it - usually the captain. Still, it wasn't as if he wasn't listening nor aware of the troubles of the ship, and so he often came up with his own solutions to whatever problems they appeared to be having at the time, even when it's against protocol. Not all of them worked, there were even times where he was very close to getting court marshalled for what was deemed to be recklessness. However, never once did he not try to make an effort to help his crew regardless.
After the Battle of Proxima, however, Joey got tired of the Military's chain of command. He knew the orders were something he had to bear, but it was becoming too much like his past life for his liking, especially when Zhang was being blamed for something she could not have possibly helped. That strict merciless attitude reminded him too much of his own father's attitude towards him, and so he followed his Captain into resignation from the military.
But that's not to say he completely followed her though. Ever since leaving the military, he often got into fights with Zhang on how to do things regarding how to progress from there. it was during one of them that he began to realize that, for all of his want of freedom, for all his wanting to learn about others and learn about the ways of the universe...he never truly became free. He was born to take orders from his Father, he then left to take orders from a military's commanding officer, and he now left only to take orders from someone he began to think of as a friend, especially after surviving the Battle of Proxima together. He realized he needed to be truly free to do what he wants in life, and that leaving the crew was his chance at doing so. Therefore, he stripped himself of whatever medals he earned in his military career, took a fighter, and left the Xuanxang to go where the nebula road takes him. (A play on "where ever the wind takes him.")
That said, he did truly care about the Captain and her crew, and so while reveling in freedom, he never stayed outside the Xuan-Gang for very long. As such, every now and then he finds his former crew and comes back to them, to hang out, to sleep, to help them out on whatever's needed at the time, before jumping on his ship and heading back out again. The ship became something of a small home he knew he could always go back to at the end of the day.
Theme Song:
Name: Alan Mortigal
Age: Supposed to be 17 physically, but the attitude and knowledge he holds suggest a much older age.
Physical Description:
Important items:
A memento of his Mother. There's not much to it as far as he knows, just a pretty jewel in the shape of a rose. However, he is very protective of it, keeping it on his person at all times.
Multi-tool- Your standard multi-tool, not much to say here.
Spell List:
Mana Flare (High/World)- Alan's signature spell. The Raw mana generated from the Kaisoken dust within his body combusts into a powerful white flame, with which he can use to various effects from simply being a source of light to being a powerful fireball he can throw at his enemies. While it appears to be a world-class magic, in actuality, it is the pure magical energy of a High-class magic in the shape of a flame. As such, it can be used in the general applications of High-class magic, such as fueling magitech or enchanting items. However, he has not learned to draw from sources beyond his own dust, and as such, is prone to taking energy from himself to generate the white flame, exhausting himself from overuse as a possible result.
The following two are not separate spells, but rather, different applications of Mana Flare usage.
--- God-Hand (High/World)- By concentrating the white flames around his arms and legs, they become enchanted by the mana and allow him to become physically enhanced all-around for a short period of time.
--- Magic Thruster (High/World)- By concentrating his magic, he can make the flames burst out from his feet as rocket thrusters hovering him off the ground. combining this with erupting the flames from his hands as secondary thrusters allow him the capability of flight for a short period of time. As it is fueled by the mana in his dust like any application of Mana Flare, it can extinguish and exhaust him considerably.
Character Traits:
Hand-to-Hand Mastery- Despite being a Star Marine, Alan focused less on the training his magic, and more using it to help him in physical combat. For many years since his time in the Star Marines he trained himself to be a hand-to-hand fighter, for one reason or another abhorring weaponry of any kind. During the Star Marines' stay with the Rau've after their "capture" he found a particular female Rau've that was a master of close-quarters combat, and begged her to be his mentor and instruct him how best to discipline and temper his physical capabilities. As a result of that training, Alan's skill in a fist fight has been honed and mastered, especially when combining it with his magic.
Swift as the Wind- Alan's always been the small agile sort ever since he was a kid, but further training with his Rau've master allowed him to compliment it with his hand-to-hand skill.
Symbiosis- After his resurrection during the injection process of the Dust, said dust seemed to move on its own, as if still alive within him - a feat that should be impossible for Kaisoken in such a state - to protect his mind and body from harm, creating both a physical and mental resistance to attacks. That said, because of said dust-like state, the Kaisoken within can only do so much in both cases.
Short Bio: There was not much to say about Alan's life before being taken as an experimental test subject other than that it was the typical life of an Orphan living on the streets of a run-down world in the Ascendancy's outer rim. He doesn't remember how long he's been like that for; it felt like all of his life was lived in broken down alleys of an otherwise crappy town feeding off what's taken from more fortunate people, doesn't even remember what his parents look like or how they died. Maybe they never died, maybe they just abandoned him on the side of the street to get rid of him, or sold him off to someone for a quick cash grab and he just happened to be left out in the dirt after that. It really never mattered to him how he came to be like this, he was never the type to focus on how he got there, it's not like talking about it or thinking about it's going to change a damn thing about his predicament. All that matters is that he was there, alone and unrelying on anyone but himself, a little thief self-taught on how to steal and be quick on his feet from the successful survival-necessary thefts and twice as many failures.
At some point in his life things finally changed for him, as he got captured and rather than placed in some small holding cell, he was instead taken off planet by some sort of black-suited individuals, the guards calling it a 'transfer to a more suitable facility'. At first, Alan thought that it was just a case of them finally having enough and sending him off to rot in some federal prison of the ascendancy, or getting executed, or just moving him off the planet just to get rid of the little thief once and for all.
...If only it was so simple.
It seems someone high-up on the Ascendancy food-chain caught an interest for the little boy for one reason or another, likely due to his physical quality as a thief, and selected him to take part in a science project of sorts, supposedly to make him and other children like them some sort of super soldiers against the Coalition of alien forces the Ascendancy was warring with at the time.
Supersoldiers... out of children... Alan was far from educated but even he couldn't help but chuckle at how utterly insane and stupid it sounded.
Regardless, he was a prisoner - albeit a misdemeaning one - he may as well be held at gunpoint when they told him to take part. He didn't fight for most of his childhood just to get killed off because he said no to the wrong kind of people, and so he cooperated in taking part in this insanity. Besides, at least they'd have food and shelter prepared...hopefully.
So they went to some remote location off the radar and he was injected with the Kaisoken dust like the rest of the children. ...Unlike the rest of them however, there was a complication during the surgery. The dust seemed to react violently to the boy and as a result, his heart stopped. Fortunately, the doctors managed to get it beating again, but for about 5 minutes, Alan was dead. The fact they managed to get his heart pumping again after that long a time was nothing short of a miracle; to this day, it's believed the dust may have had a hand in Alan's revival.
Ever since the surgery Alan seemed to change a little bit... His memories became hazy and while he was still aggressive and more likely to talk shit than most, he was also calmer and more rational than his life before then would have you believe. The theory the doctors have for this change is euphoria experienced as a result of his near-death, and brain damage due to those five minutes where his heart wasn't pumping blood to the brain. By all accounts, he should be brain dead at least, but it's likely the kaisoken dust somehow kept the damage to a minimum as well.
It didn't take very long afterwards for Alan, or this memory-hazed Alan, to get a grasp on the situation and begin his training with his new magical power, pure mana erupting into a white flame around his hands and feet. Although it was something he never experienced before, something only a handful of children in this facility has ever felt in the whole of the human race for as far as he knows, it felt...natural for him. That being said, researchers picked up immediately that it seemed he only had one actual spell, and while he found many applications for it, it still made him far less varied and multi-purposed than any of his peers. To top it off, they noticed that he was instead focused more on training his body than anything, often seen punching and kicking the air, trying to get a feel for hand-to-hand combat. It was...an unusual reaction to observe to say the least. He has magical white flames, and yet he's focusing more on how to fight physically? Perhaps his awareness of his own situation was lacking... Regardless, they shrugged off this anomaly, chalking it up to a mental defect caused by his surgical complications, and continued with their observations. At the very least, he seemed aware of who is friend and foe, and so they sent him off on missions alongside the other Star Marines.
Indeed, Alan did his part alongside everyone else. Undergoing covert missions in the Ascendancy's name against the coalition of aliens, up until the Battle of Proxima where he, like others, were captured by the Rau've and 'imprisoned' once again.
But this time, there was hospitality to be had, he has seen what being a prisoner was like, and he felt nothing of the sort while with the Rau've.
In particular, during his stay at their planet, Alan found a particular female Rau've, living as a hermit far from her people. Unlike the other Rau've, this one - known in the human language as Belladonna - was a particularly aggressive outcast among them, who did not welcome these children with open arms like every other, who preferred they died for what they did to her people. Not as if Alan could blame her, regardless of their age and circumstance, the fact is that the Star Marines killed off many aliens during their time. The Rau've on this planet lost family and friends because of them. If anything, the fact that they're welcoming these same little killers of their kind's a fortunate oddity.
But something about Belladonna spoke to him, the 'Hellfire Rose' as the Rau've called her is someone outcasted by the rest of her society for something she had good reason to have opinions on, just as he was outcasted for being a little survivalist.
Splitting off from the rest of the Star Marines, he followed her to her humble abode in some distant desert away from the bountiful forests of her society, and asked - nay, begged her - to take him on as an apprentice. For Belladonna earned that title of 'Hellfire Rose', being formerly one of the most aggressively brutal of the Coalition against the Ascendancy, complete with actual fire magic of her own - fire magic considerably stronger and more potent than most with dust from a world-class Kaisoken. Naturally, she refused at first. The fact her people were sheltering and showing hospitality to their enemies were bad enough as it was, but for one of them to ask her to essentially be made stronger by her is adding insult to injury. However, something about him reminded her of her son, whom the Ascendancy caught and killed in the early days of the war. Seeing her son in this boy, she eventually caved in and accepted to train him...brutally.
Which beings us to now. Alan has been training with Belladonna both in how to use magic - he may have had high-class magic, but that didn't stop him from adapting her lessons, shaping his magic to become flames of white light - and how to properly fight hand-to-hand, all the while strengthening his body.
Trained and built up, albeit late to the party he was - the others left to stage their own rebellion against the Ascendancy - he left to stand by his fellow Star Marines against the government, not necessarily for revenge or for any kind of justice, but simply because the Star Marines were the only real companions he ever had in his life; a very simple reason for committing acts of terrorism against humanity, but his entire life has been driven by simple reasons...
Why stop now?
Theme Song:
Name: Maria Wilhelm
Age: Physically, she should be about 16 by now, but she still looks the age she was when she was first seen in the experiments: 10.
Physical Description:
Partly because of her age and partly due to unknown reasons, perhaps a lack of exercise or maybe the implant stemming growth, she stands at a measly 2'5" and weighs about 23 lbs. It should also be noted that he eyes lost their shine long ago, giving her an eternal look of apathy and internal death.
Weapons:Circe's Hand - As if to essentially embrace her magical nature, Maria possesses a staff with which to channel her magic through. Apparently she tore off a metal pole in the building they were all in via telekinesis and fashioned it up to look like a typical staff a wizard would use. Said staff is a bit big for her though, standing at six feet tall, almost 3 times larger than she herself and weighing about five pounds - likely due to the metal itself, possibly perfected electrum. Despite the size, it's useful not only as a channel of her mind magic, but also as a blunt weapon in and of itself. That said, while she can use magic without the staff, she'd be less able to properly control said magic without it; attacks would be less precise, and mind magics would require more concentration.
Arcane Shot (High)- Maria has the ability to harness the magical energy within herself, and shoot it outwards as silver projectile of light. While she can fire those bullets from her index and middle finger in their strongest state, she can also fire a multitude of weaker magic bullets from all of her fingers in rapid succession. In addition, while she can concentrate it into a powerful beam, she can also concentrate a lesser powerful beam from all of her finger tips, concentrating all beams into one or two larger and more powerful ones as a result. The implant valve can be turned to increase the power and potency of her shots.
Flight (World)- While in her case, it's more used for levitation than anything, Maria can harness her magic to be granted the ability to fly. While it's considered World magic, it's possible that all she's really doing is moving her own body into the air using her telekinesis.
Telekinesis (Mind)- One of the most basic of psychokinetic abilities, Maria can carry and move things of the physical plain by the power of her mind alone, and throw them at decent enough speeds to be considered an attack. While normally there is a limit of how large a thing she mentally grabs can be, specifically about 100 or so pounds, her implant allow her to increase that limit with each turn of the valve, making her able to carry even a fighter ship with her mind if she turns it enough.
Illusion (Mind)- A mind ability of intermediate skill, Maria is able to tap into the minds of others and generate illusions based on what she sees to trick her opponents, need it be of a loved one, perhaps they fear, and is even capable of casting illusionary doppelgangers of herself to trick them to thinking she's either somewhere she's not or multiple versions of her to make tracking her more difficult.
The illusions are a trick of the mind, however, and so have no physical manifestation, making them more akin to holograms you can go through. Furthermore, one could break through whatever illusions she creates if they have the eyes for it.
That being said, if she turns her valve to regulate the implant in her brain, she can enhance the quality of these illusions temporarily, making it harder to break through even with good eyes, and even giving them a physical, solid existence, as if they were real.
Telepathy (Mind)- The other most basic form of Psychic abilities, she can mentally contact and talk to people from afar. This is usually used as a form of invisible channel of contact for the Xuangang, an effective method when any other form of contact is shot from, say, an Electro-magnetic pulse. The turning of the implant valve extends her range the more times she uses it, but the longer the range, the less time she has to cocieve a thought to send before the cooldown hits. As such, she reserves exceptionally long ranges telepathic communications for an emergency SOS.
Character Traits:
Cybernetic Brain Implant- It is unknown what the reason was behind this, perhaps something went horribly wrong in the procedure for her in particular, but it is revealed that she has a cybernetic plate of some kind implanted directly into her brain, a valve of some kind sticking out of her head behind her left ear as a way of regulating and controlling it. Gruesome as it may sound, it seems the implant acts as a mental shielding unit, resisting and shielding her from mind magic and other methods of brainwashing, hypnosis, mental dives, and mind-reading. To top it off, She can use the valve behind her ear to temporarily enhance her own magic for a short time, though after which a cooldown process shuts down brain functions for a time resulting in paralysis or outright unconsciousness. The more spins of the valve she makes, the shorter time she has in using it, the more time it'll take to recover from the cooldown. There has been a case during the war where she span the valve too much and while releasing considerable magic power against her Coalition enemies, it ended with her in a coma for about a month.
However, while this seems like an upgrade, in actuality, its more like a life-support system. She needs this brain implant in order to stay alive. According to her medical/experiment records, the removal of this implant will result magical berserker-like state where her magic goes beyond her limits, matching if not outright surpassing the power of Kaisoken themselves, followed by death. Moreover, if the mind magic is powerful enough, it may be able to bypass the resistance it provides her mind. The removal of the implant, it goes without saying, also would effectively negate said resistance altogether, in addition to the above-mentioned berserker state and subsequent death.
A skilled Pole-woman - There may be a case in time where she is unable to use magic, something she has been heavily reliant on ever since gaining it. Not wanting to be completely defenseless in her ways, she trained herself in the art of polemanship, using her staff as the pole with which to defend herself. While she's hardly a master, she has trained enough to where she can at least defend herself in such dire times where her best weapon, her magic, is unavailable.
Prodigy- Born a prodigal child, Maria had a gift of being able to quickly learn about whatever subjects she was interested in at the time, quickly absorbing information like a sponge. As a result, she is quite knowledgeable despite her age, (both her appearance, and her real age.) and seems to know more than her silence suggests. While she is smart, her body and mind are still that of a child's, and whatever was done to her mind did not help in the slightest. She needs plenty of time in order to properly learn about a subject, and she can only hold so much information at a time.
Short Bio: From the moment she was born, Maria was expected - destined some would even say - for great things. Born a prodigal daughter of a rather noble family - highly influential to a point where family members were also members of the Ascendancy Government - her parents put her through a ringer at an early age of her life. Feeling happiness was an award of success to her throughout her early life, only coming out of her home in order to properly learn about the outside world as part of her curriculum, never truly having friends outside of perhaps the servants in her home and the specific fellow students of her curriculum into the family business. By the age of ten, her intellectual gift placed her in a position of potentially being the youngest to ever attempt at the "family business".
Of course, being a prodigious learner that she was, she made for a perfect target for the kidnappings that have been going on throughout the Ascendancy during the wars. In spite of those familial connections - or perhaps because of them - Maria was indeed taken in and eventually brought to the Black Site of the Ascendancy like other kids, to become Star Marines, the first magical child soldiers of their kind.
Unlike most kids, however, it seems she was one of the few who chose take part in this voluntarily; it is likely the decision was influenced by those in her family who were aware of this project and wanted her to take part in it, perhaps as a want to use the power she would gain as a further influence of power.
But also unlike most kids, Maria suffered a terrible accident. What exactly happened on the lab table no one knows - it's likely some were even kept shut about it - but the reports indicate something went wrong in the injection process of the Kaisoken dust. The surgeon in question messed up the injection of Kaisoken, too much dust having a collective negative reaction causing outright cellular mutation in certain parts of the brain. The process was stopped, but the damage to the brain was immense, the raw magical power of the dust constantly in a state of perpetual growth using the brain as an engine. The pain was immense, the sound-proof walls barely contained the sounds of her cries of agony as the energy slowly ate away at her mind. If nothing was done, the resulting magic power would be immense, equal to higher-ranked Kaisoken, and constantly growing... but it would be the end of her life. As such, The Professor at the time halted the magic through a special cybernetic plate made of perfected electrum implanted onto her Cranium, sealing off this energy within her mind.
The plate managed to do its job, saving her life and preventing a potential catastrophe - the surgeon responsible was found and immediately terminated - but at a cost greatly limiting her ability to emote. While circumstances at her house were not the greatest, she knew of joy, of sadness and frustration, and knew how to emote them properly enough, having experience most of the emotions a child would. She still has these emotions, but emoting anything beyond a blank apathy is difficult for her. In addition, the energies within her mind combined with the implant caused a stunt in her growth; so matter how old she is or how old she becomes, she will appear to be a 10 year old child for the rest of her life. To top things off, the incident that brought to this, that pain, that fear, continues to haunt her dreams even now...
Still, the plate was not entirely bad, and the Professor in question also implanted a way of controlling the restrictive nature of the plate in order to use that energy against her enemies. in addition, the combination of both the plate and energy made become essentially immune to most if not all Mind Magic spells.
From the moment she was able to join the rest of the kids, her lacking emotions made her rather an uncomfortable child to be around, and she in turn kept to herself. Never in her days did she expect her parents' lessons and expectations would lead her to this, a glorified prison/boot camp building magical child soldiers. Her life up to that point gave her a disadavantage when it comes to socializing with others like her, and seems the only ones she could even see herself around were those who were more mature and disciplined.
In particular, it seemed she struck a fancy for the Star Marines' "big brother", Tarak. Out of all of the Star Marines who were with her at that site, he was one she was seen around most of all. Whether that was because he was indeed seemingly the most mature and disciplined of them all, or because she never had a big brother in her life is unclear, but like the little sister to her "Onii-chan", where Tarak went, she followed as a member of his "Army of Demons", alongside the likes of the Twins, Samuel and Iris.
...This of course included the Battle of Proxima that most felt she may not have been ready for. But who could have been ready for the events that transpired that day, their capture, their betrayal, and of all things, the hospitiality of their Prison of War. Yes, the Rau've was indeed a kinder group of souls than the Ascendancy led her to believe, and while she could not express her gratitude like others around her could, she made clear through her actions and her choice of words, rather than the empty emotion behind them, that she was grateful to them for taking care of her and her "Big Brother" in particular. Unlike most, she didn't cry over his chest over this confusing frustration, she couldn't, and while she was nowhere near as charismatic or as capable of gentle feelings as Tarak was, she tried her best to comfort who she could in order to help ease the burden on his shoulders.
The Rau've then gave them an offer of a home among them, now that a treaty was made the war was essentially over. Deep down, there was a part of her that considered the offer. Since the day she left her home, Maria's world was more of a hell than it was anything else. The nightmares, the pain from her mind, everything she went through in her short life was something she would not wish upon anyone, and a chance to escape it was right there in front of her, a chance to finally have some degree of peace.
...But that would betray them, It would betray everyone who was there for her throughout that time, everyone who stood by her, and who she stood by her brothers in arms, her big brother, and the experience and scars she made throughout her brief time of living would be in vain. No amount of peace or happiness would ever let her forget all the pain she has been through nor betray everyone who made an effort to help her through that pain.
And so, like the others, she refused. When the others suggested to rebel against the people who brought them that pain and suffering, Maria was quick to show her approval once her "Big Bro" Tarak showed his.
However, she did not join them right away, Tarak gave her a special assignment of which she was quick to accept. Tarak was told before Proxima of her family and their connections, and so he thought she'd be able to use those connections to their advantage as well. Needless to say, while doubtful, she accepted the task given to her.
Thus, when the time came to leave the world, Maria parted ways with her allies, on a separate ship to parts unknown...
Hoping, very soon, that she will be able to reunite with them once again.
Theme Song
Name: Kotaro Winterborn & Paragon
Age: 24
Physical Description:
Important items:Multi-tool- Being an Ascendancy soldier, it's only natural that he'd have one as well. Not much to it beyond the standard functions.
Weapons:Paragon- The Ancient sword of the Winterborn family, but in actuality, an old High-Magic Kaisoken reaggregated from death, reshaped into the form of a sword and passed down from parent to child of the Winterborn family as their partner and guardian. Being a Kaisoken, the sword is made of crystal instead of metal, and as such is immune to magnetic abilities. More importantly, because it is actually a Kaisoken, Paragon is a magical sword, and is capable of spells that its wielder can harness, one in particular being the sharpening of its edge to create a monomolecular one. However, like most magical swords of ancient lore, it is a weapon that chooses its wielder, and can cause bodily harm via those same magical abilities should someone it doesn't like tries to wield it.
Commander-issue Projectile Pistol- Although it is a side-arm, it is useful to have should he ever be without Paragon at his side, or in need of a long-range weapon that does not require Paragon's Mana. It's old-fashioned compared to lasers, but it packs a hell of a punch against energy-shields and most standard armor platings.
Spell List: (Note: Technically this is not Kotaro's own magic, as Kotaro technically has no magic to speak of. All Spells here belong to his Kaisoken Sword, Paragon. Should he be without Paragon, Kotaro is no longer capable of any of these spells.)
Guiding Hand (High)- As Paragon is actually a Kaisoken in the shape of a sword, it is sentient and capable of movement. The experience it had as a sword wielded by others made it able to learn a variety of swordplay from the classics of the knight and samurai of yore to the modern day soldiers of the Ascendancy. Using some of his energy as a Kaisoken absorbed into the arm of the wielder, Paragon can effectively guide the wielder's hand and direct it to defend or deliver precise blows. It takes a lot of strain and energy to keep control over the arm for the duration of a fight, so he often takes momentary control every now and then to make offensive blows or defensive positions more accuracy.
Penance (High)- Just as Paragon can help guide the hand of the one worthy of wielding him, so too can he direct energy into the host body offensively by discharging his mana into the wielder at high enough intensities to create pain and damage into the person from the inside out. Unless held for a long time, the energy isn't enough to kill the wielder, however, it generates an incredible shock of pain in the arm and eventually the whole body until they let go of him, like a blast of plasma moving through your bones and muscles.
Flight (World)- While this was an ability he lost when he first fell to earth, eventually overtime Paragon regained enough mana to be able to fly again like any Kaisoken. Because of how unnatural it is for a Kaisoken to be shaped and used like a sword like he was, despite his knowledge of Swordplay he cannot wield himself like a ghost sword, save perhaps for a straight-on thrust in an attempt to pierce the enemy. However, he can use this ability to fly as a way of returning to his wielder's hand should he ever be separated from him.
Excalibur's blade (High)- By focusing his mana onto a majority of his body - that being the blade of the sword - Paragon creates a white coating upon that enhances both its durability and its sharpness. With this charged state, it's able to cut through all but the strongest of materials, and can even pierce through magic itself. Even Perfected Electrum falls before the holy blade. The downside is that it takes time to charge up, and can only be used for a limited time before Paragon exhausts his mana.
Silver Wave (High)- By focusing mana at the tip of the blade, Paragon can create a wave of offensive high magic at a target like a projectile when Kotaro move him in a slashing motion. Said energy has a sharp edge akin to the sword itself, but because it is done by using Paragon's mana, there's only so many Silver Waves he can throw before the sword tires itself out.
Paladin (High)- By spreading its mana throughout Kotaro's body, the mana bursts outwards and crystalizes into a suit of crystal armor Kotaro Wears. In addition to the Armor being exceptionally durable as is, it also uses the mana that created it to physically enhance Kotaro's body overall for a considerable period of time. Combining this with Excalibur's Blade, while dangerous for the both of them considering just how much mana and energy it can exhausts, generate an ultimate form as a Magical knight, harboring the physical enhancements of Paladin and the ultimate power of Paragon through Excalibur's blade, becoming a one-man army as a result.
Character Traits:
A Master Swordsman- While Paragon is indeed capable of moving Kotaro's arm to help him fight his battles, Kotaro had no intention of relying on his family sword and be a burden to it. Mentored by Paragon, Kotaro trained himself to be a master swordsman worthy of wielding the holy sword for most of his life. As a result, Kotaro has become essentially peerless in the art of the sword, being capable of using Paragon to go so far as piercing through magic itself. The downside of this, of course, being that a sword is a close-range weapon, and while he's not necessarily defenseless against long-range attacks, distance does create a disadvantage.
A Soldier- While nowhere near as much focus on it than with his sword, as a military officer who went through the academy, Kotaro did learn how to properly aim and fire a gun. While he is fairly decent at it, because his focus was elsewhere, the lacking of training and experience in comparison makes his gunmanship unreliable, being more likely to miss with a gun than he would with sword strikes.
Well-educated- To reach the heights of his big brother Kherol, Kotaro studied as hard as he possibly could at the Academy, and as left the school as a Valedictorian as a result. While he's nowhere near the level of Genius as Kherol, he has enough knowledge of things overall to use to his advantage for any case where strategic thinking, such as using environments against an opponent, are necessary.
A skilled Commanding Officer- While he is indeed inferior to Grand Admiral Kherol, he would not have been assigned to be his Vice-Admiral on his swordplay and his relations to Kherol alone. As Vice-Admiral, Kotaro is to serve as a Commanding Officer to a fleet of thousands, and command them to where ever and to do whatever his Grand Admiral commands of him, separate from him. Should anything happen to Kherol, Kotaro must take the reins of the armada in his place and fulfill his will in substitute. Kherol recognized Kotaro as being capable of leading others to victory which is what led to his promotion to his side.
Short Bio: Kotaro's story begins centuries ago with his ancestors.
The Winterborn has a legend that has been passed down from generation to generation about the history of their family business. Around the Medieval times of the ancient planet of Earth, in the midst of the brutal feudal era of Europe, a white sword of holy light descended from the sky and landed blade first into the grounds of Britain. The legend goes that God, saddened by the state of Europe at the time, ordered his son Michael to send his sword to them, that one worthy of becoming its savior and ruler would take up this holy weapon and become the enforcer of his will, the giver of his love, and the instiller of his wrath. The Winterborn family found that sword, and was deemed worthy of holding it, but chose not to rule as monarch of Europa, instead vowing to wield its might to protect the world and humanity with it from any forces that may spells its end. The sword was a torch passed from parent to child, from generation to generation, remaining hidden in the shadows as thankless guardians of humanity.
The truth, however, was far less epic than the legend perceives.
In reality, the "holy sword" was not a sword at all, but rather a sentient crystal, a Kaisoken, that was exiled from the worlds from which it was born and happening to land on the planet earth by pure coincidence. Because of the peculiar shape of it, its body being lengthy but thin and its hole near the top being a perfect size and shape for a hilt and handguard, the Kaisoken was mistaken for a rapier and was pulled out by Winterborn, who just happened to be at the right place and the right time. One can only imagine what must have been going through the human's head when they heard a voice echoing through their mind and a shock of electricity coursed through the arm. Yes, the first to wield this sword was deemed unworthy himself, though not because of his deeds, or his morality, merely because of he happened to stumble across an alien that was unfamiliar and scared.
For the Kaisoken was broken and drained, only barely able to reaggregate itself to become what it is now, had not the power to break through this planet's gravitation, barely enough to even float. The Winterborn man had soon realized that this object wasn't some ordinary sword, that it was alive, and while it did scare the superstitious mind of a medieval peasant of Britain, the white light it gave off, combined with it falling from the heavens, suggested that it was some kind of holy weapon, an angel perhaps in the form of a sword, and that it was given onto humanity from God. Deciding to treat it as an angel that perhaps lost its way as it fell, the man took up the Kaisoken, which used the opportunity to peer in and learn the language of the planet it was on...well, one of them anyways.
People thought him mad when he came onto them with this crystal sword and swore that it was given to him by god, madder still when he talked with it as it communicated with his mind to further adapt to his new environment, and it did not take long for the superstitious to start coming to conclusions of evil and insanity, striving to put an end to him for the good of their society. As much as it did not want to stay for much longer, it still could not move on its own, and did not want to be constantly thrown around and used for others benefits. Thus he mustered what magic he could to help the man defend himself using it, protecting his only source of knowledge and transportation.
The man named the sword "Paragon", a name often attributed to benevolence, excellence, and example, (Coincidently also happens to be the name of a Perfect diamond of a 100+ carats.) and a deal was struck between man and sword. Paragon would use the man for transportation, knowledge, and for his own ends of gaining energy for itself, and in return, Paragon would protect him, his family, and he would be allowed to use the Kaisoken to be strong. This in mind, Paragon shaped himself to give a cutting edge to his slim body so that it may be used as a weapon.
It was unknowing just how small a time humans have to live, and he was quickly realizing as his "partner" grew older that he would need to switch hands to someone more able to use him and be used. Thus the tradition was suggested, that the sword be passed from generation to generation of the family.
Thus, Paragon live on earth throughout the ages, watching as the world changed around him, learning more about the humans, gaining energy from what little mana could be found upon the planet, until finally they were at a point where they could take him to space once more.
As the years rolled by and the Commonwealth becomes the Ascendancy of Man, Paragon grows stronger and stronger as he returns closer and closer to his own people.
Leading us to today with his current partner, the young master Kotaro Winterborn.
Born to Matthew Winterborn, a man who managed to let the Ascendancy recognize his family as nobles and became Governor of one of its planets, Kotaro was born to a life his ancestors before him could only dream of. He was raised to the traditions of taking up the sword of his family, and being a guardian of humanity, and an enforcer of peace.
If Kotaro would be honest, however, he wasn't necessarily focused on such an old tradition, and Matthew could understand why. The Ascendancy was the very epitome of human negativity and corruption, it was filled with the vain, the power-hungry, but most especially the xenophobic. So afraid of what they don't understand, that they have been ready to destroy creatures simply for existing, including Kaisoken, as Paragon learned.
The two were in agreement that humanity has become so full of itself as it became the Ascendancy, that the vows of ancient to protect them, no longer seemed viable. They were willing to try, to be kind, optimistic, and sincere to others as an example of how humans should be, to be helpful and charitable and hope it could change even a small thing in this cruel life. But deep down, both of their hopes were waning.
But there was one person that changed that for him. One person that made him convinced that maybe there were still people truly worth dying for after all, that maybe, just maybe, things really can change for the better. That person was his brother, an older boy at the time who his father took in and adopted, Alexander Kherol.
Kotaro admired Kherol; although they may not be bound by blood, he was his older brother nonetheless, and Kotaro always listened to how he viewed the way things are and the way they should be. It felt as if he and his father were the only people who made any sense in this insane universe, and so it was through them that he could keep his hope alive. Likewise, while Paragon has been interested in the future Grand Admiral as a person of potential, a rarity in the many many humans he has seen in his life on Earth.
When Kherol was sent to learn at a Military Academy, Kotaro followed suit. He may not have wanted to follow a corrupt government's orders, but if he could be of any help in Kherol's eyes, nothing would make him happier.
His grades in the academy were nothing like Kherol, however his experience with Paragon, the exceptional want for leadership and the experience he held at being one, plus his usefulness as someone with a "magic sword" earned him position after position from captain to admiral, until finally, he rose up to his dream job as Grand Admiral Kherol's Vice-Admiral, his second-in-command. In this position, he could be of the upmost help to Kherol's goals, as well as be there to protect him the way Alex has been there for him.
He was there at the Grand Admiral side, when it was revealed the sickening experiments that were happening to children, when the Battle of Proxima failed, and he continues to be at his side to this day.
For only through Kherol, can this universe find peace and benevolence.
I apologize for how long it took me to make these CSes. But they are now finished. Enjoy ^^
Name: Joseph Bartholemew "Joey B" Albion
Age: 25
Physical Description:
Important Items:Multi-Tool and Credits
Weapons:
Joey has a plethora of lasers pistols, designed to look like 9mm glocks, around his belt. However, in addition to the design, he also customized the magazines of each one with a sharp dagger blade at each bottom. This way he can not only use these guns for mid-range combat, but should the situation arise, they can be his close range weapons as well.
Joey's Pride and joy, and his signature weapon. A military standard Peacemaker plasma rifle personally customized by Joey himself by fiddling with the energy core and adjusting the scope and barrel, he crafted a multi-purpose high-powered plasma rifle capable of leaving dents in particularly strong military grade armors. The scope of the weapon was replaced with a sniper-grade one with the barrel capable of extending outward to generate the necessary reach of a sniper rifle. In addition, the once single-barrel was now three interlocking barrels that could spread outwards, producing pseudo-shot gun effect to the plasma bullet, albeit in only three directions as opposed to larger range of a normal shot gun. The three barrels, when interlocked, can give way to a more powerful plasma bullet than one would expect of a rifle, as the additional energy's needed when for the longer range in sniper mode.
Of course, there's a reason this kind of weapon has never been official military despite its power far exceeding that of the military norm. The fiddling of this gun provided a number of drawbacks, the most concerning one being that larger exhaust of plasma energy, regardless of which mode, causes overheating immediately upon firing, allowing only one blast to be fired at a time. There's also the possibility that the largr amount of energy generating larger amounts of heat could potentially cause internal damage to the gun. To reduce this possibility, although they're all connected in the same way to the same barrel, only one "Mode" can be used at a time. In normal mode, the blast is more powerful, but is mid-range and the cooldown takes a little time. In Sniper Mode, the range is longer and the blast is still powerful, but the gun will need much longer time to cool off, so every shot has to count. In shotgun mode, the range in length and power are nothing impressive, but the width range is superior and the ventilation from multiple barrels allows the cooldown to go much faster.
Misc. Abilities:Weapons Expert (Exceptional Marksman x3, (Bonus) Exceptional Smithing x2)- As a former soldier of the Ascendancy, Joey has had military-grade training in all manner of weaponry a soldier could carry on them. After the standard training however, Joey spent his time extending his training further to other sorts of weapons, while also gaining knowledge of weapons he's normally use from said military training. Rather gifted with a gun, he got to a point where he could customize military weaponry on his own, much like he did with "Mickey", and has used that specialty to help enhance his crew's weaponry to be more efficient. His skills with the gun were of such high quality, that when his Captain was finished with her own standardized weapons training for the Ascendancy, she turned to him for further training on how to best wield a gun.
Martial Artist (Exceptional Gunkata x2)- As a former soldier, Joey also had standardized training in martial arts combat in the event that he is in a situation without his weapons. While not nearly as gifted or capable with hand-to-hand combat as he is with the guns, he is still about as skilled with close quarters combat as any soldier. In addition, Joey self-trained himself in "Gun-Kata", essentially a martial arts that allows the use of guns - specially pistols - to mix close and mid-range combat together into one.
Archaeologist (Exceptional Archaeology x2 (Bonus)) - One of the most important things - and one of the only things - that he was taught as a member of the Albion family was the ancient languages, teachings, and ruins of the worlds. Supposedly, it was to help better prepare religious traditions that would cater to any race and perspective one would think of. Joey may not have had an interest in those traditions and lore, but he certainly learned about them regardless, whether it be by force or actually taking an interest in some ancient ruins of other worlds. He may not necessarily know every single possible ancient language or ruin - the family abandoned him before they could teach him everything they knew - but it's rare to find an Archaeologist who would know more about this sort of thing than he.
Short Bio: Joey Albion was born to a rather large family, assumingly somewhere in one of the middle-ring systems of the Ascendancy. It doesn't appear to be very large, he only has two brothers, a sister, and a father with the Mother nowhere in sight, presumed deceased. However, what makes it large is that his direct family has practically a plethora of relatives, mostly cousins both close and distant that practically lives with them at their home.
The entirety of the Albion family's a very devout one, often traveling to across the Ascendancy for every gathering of the religious for every occasion, something everyone of them, save for Joey, dedicated themselves to. From the moment they are born, they are raised to respect their patriarch, and protect the sanctity of the Ascendancy's religions, often learning ancient languages and writing to undergo whatever ritual was necessary at the time. Some of them even went as far as supporting the religious extremists and templars in their protection and negotiations of said religions. But they are never to interact with people directly, and never involve themselves outside their religious activities, less they be ex-communicated and disowned.
Good thing then, that Joey was always considered something of a black sheep for not being as interested in religion as the rest of the zealous Albions. Laid-back, and not nearly as interested in the religions that his family adores, nor the apostles support. Instead he was interested in the general life of a person: Social activity, learning, training, friendships, technology, the kind of things his family would disapprove of getting involved with. Most of the family were not supportive, but were tolerant so long as he chose only to learn and not get involved with these things.
Which is why interacting with a woman not affiliated with the churches, and instead affiliated with the military of all things, was the last straw that stripped Joey of his inheritance and ex-communicated him from their life. Needless to say, Joey wasn't exactly shedding any tears for them, and decided to take part in the Ascendancy's military. Though he was a bit old when compared to others who joined the military academy, and his family restrictive teachings did not help him in the slightest, what he lacked in general academics and military knowledge, he made up for with a fascination with military weaponry as his primary focus. He found guns to be far more effective and convenient than what little training his family forced him on with more traditional weaponry, and so he got to knowing more about them, what makes them tick, and ultimately became interested in outright upgrading his weaponry for more firepower than it was originally designed for. It helped that he seemed to have a keen eye for marksmanship, becoming a very skilled sharpshooter during the training.
He got separated from the woman that got him to that point after he was assigned to the Xuanxang to be under the orders of another woman: Captain Natasha Zhang. The relationship with his captain was...complicated, The one thing he could never get used to in the military was someone who claimed to be higher in rank and better barking orders at him - it reminded him too much of what his family was like for most of his life - and so he hardly ever actually listened to Zhang whenever she commanded him to do something on her ship. Instead he often marched to the beat of his own drum and ignoring whoever yelled at him for it - usually the captain. Still, it wasn't as if he wasn't listening nor aware of the troubles of the ship, and so he often came up with his own solutions to whatever problems they appeared to be having at the time, even when it's against protocol. Not all of them worked, there were even times where he was very close to getting court marshalled for what was deemed to be recklessness. However, never once did he not try to make an effort to help his crew regardless.
After the Battle of Proxima, however, Joey got tired of the Military's chain of command. He knew the orders were something he had to bear, but it was becoming too much like his past life for his liking, especially when Zhang was being blamed for something she could not have possibly helped. That strict merciless attitude reminded him too much of his own father's attitude towards him, and so he followed his Captain into resignation from the military.
But that's not to say he completely followed her though. Ever since leaving the military, he often got into fights with Zhang on how to do things regarding how to progress from there. it was during one of them that he began to realize that, for all of his want of freedom, for all his wanting to learn about others and learn about the ways of the universe...he never truly became free. He was born to take orders from his Father, he then left to take orders from a military's commanding officer, and he now left only to take orders from someone he began to think of as a friend, especially after surviving the Battle of Proxima together. He realized he needed to be truly free to do what he wants in life, and that leaving the crew was his chance at doing so. Therefore, he stripped himself of whatever medals he earned in his military career, took a fighter, and left the Xuanxang to go where the nebula road takes him. (A play on "where ever the wind takes him.")
That said, he did truly care about the Captain and her crew, and so while reveling in freedom, he never stayed outside the Xuan-Gang for very long. As such, every now and then he finds his former crew and comes back to them, to hang out, to sleep, to help them out on whatever's needed at the time, before jumping on his ship and heading back out again. The ship became something of a small home he knew he could always go back to at the end of the day.
Theme Song:
Name: Alan Mortigal
Age: Supposed to be 17 physically, but the attitude and knowledge he holds suggest a much older age.
Physical Description:
Important items:
A memento of his Mother. There's not much to it as far as he knows, just a pretty jewel in the shape of a rose. However, he is very protective of it, keeping it on his person at all times.
Multi-tool- Your standard multi-tool, not much to say here.
Spell List:
Mana Flare (High/World)- Alan's signature spell. The Raw mana generated from the Kaisoken dust within his body combusts into a powerful white flame, with which he can use to various effects from simply being a source of light to being a powerful fireball he can throw at his enemies. While it appears to be a world-class magic, in actuality, it is the pure magical energy of a High-class magic in the shape of a flame. As such, it can be used in the general applications of High-class magic, such as fueling magitech or enchanting items. However, he has not learned to draw from sources beyond his own dust, and as such, is prone to taking energy from himself to generate the white flame, exhausting himself from overuse as a possible result.
The following two are not separate spells, but rather, different applications of Mana Flare usage.
--- God-Hand (High/World)- By concentrating the white flames around his arms and legs, they become enchanted by the mana and allow him to become physically enhanced all-around for a short period of time.
--- Magic Thruster (High/World)- By concentrating his magic, he can make the flames burst out from his feet as rocket thrusters hovering him off the ground. combining this with erupting the flames from his hands as secondary thrusters allow him the capability of flight for a short period of time. As it is fueled by the mana in his dust like any application of Mana Flare, it can extinguish and exhaust him considerably.
Exceptional Skill List:
Hand-to-Hand Mastery (Exceptional Hand-to-hand x3)- Despite being a Star Marine, Alan focused less on the training his magic, and more using it to help him in physical combat. For many years since his time in the Star Marines he trained himself to be a hand-to-hand fighter, for one reason or another abhorring weaponry of any kind. During the Star Marines' stay with the Rau've after their "capture" he found a particular female Rau've that was a master of close-quarters combat, and begged her to be his mentor and instruct him how best to discipline and temper his physical capabilities. As a result of that training, Alan's skill in a fist fight has been honed and mastered, especially when combining it with his magic.
Swift as the Wind (Exceptional Agility x2)- Alan's always been the small agile sort ever since he was a kid, but further training with his Rau've master allowed him to compliment it with his hand-to-hand skill.
Symbiosis (Exceptional Will; Exceptional Endurance; Bonus)- After his resurrection during the injection process of the Dust, said dust seemed to move on its own, as if still alive within him - a feat that should be impossible for Kaisoken in such a state - to protect his mind and body from harm, creating both a physical and mental resistance to attacks. That said, because of said dust-like state, the Kaisoken within can only do so much in both cases.
Short Bio: There was not much to say about Alan's life before being taken as an experimental test subject other than that it was the typical life of an Orphan living on the streets of a run-down world in the Ascendancy's outer rim. He doesn't remember how long he's been like that for; it felt like all of his life was lived in broken down alleys of an otherwise crappy town feeding off what's taken from more fortunate people, doesn't even remember what his parents look like or how they died. Maybe they never died, maybe they just abandoned him on the side of the street to get rid of him, or sold him off to someone for a quick cash grab and he just happened to be left out in the dirt after that. It really never mattered to him how he came to be like this, he was never the type to focus on how he got there, it's not like talking about it or thinking about it's going to change a damn thing about his predicament. All that matters is that he was there, alone and unrelying on anyone but himself, a little thief self-taught on how to steal and be quick on his feet from the successful survival-necessary thefts and twice as many failures.
At some point in his life things finally changed for him, as he got captured and rather than placed in some small holding cell, he was instead taken off planet by some sort of black-suited individuals, the guards calling it a 'transfer to a more suitable facility'. At first, Alan thought that it was just a case of them finally having enough and sending him off to rot in some federal prison of the ascendancy, or getting executed, or just moving him off the planet just to get rid of the little thief once and for all.
...If only it was so simple.
It seems someone high-up on the Ascendancy food-chain caught an interest for the little boy for one reason or another, likely due to his physical quality as a thief, and selected him to take part in a science project of sorts, supposedly to make him and other children like them some sort of super soldiers against the Coalition of alien forces the Ascendancy was warring with at the time.
Supersoldiers... out of children... Alan was far from educated but even he couldn't help but chuckle at how utterly insane and stupid it sounded.
Regardless, he was a prisoner - albeit a misdemeaning one - he may as well be held at gunpoint when they told him to take part. He didn't fight for most of his childhood just to get killed off because he said no to the wrong kind of people, and so he cooperated in taking part in this insanity. Besides, at least they'd have food and shelter prepared...hopefully.
So they went to some remote location off the radar and he was injected with the Kaisoken dust like the rest of the children. ...Unlike the rest of them however, there was a complication during the surgery. The dust seemed to react violently to the boy and as a result, his heart stopped. Fortunately, the doctors managed to get it beating again, but for about 5 minutes, Alan was dead. The fact they managed to get his heart pumping again after that long a time was nothing short of a miracle; to this day, it's believed the dust may have had a hand in Alan's revival.
Ever since the surgery Alan seemed to change a little bit... His memories became hazy and while he was still aggressive and more likely to talk shit than most, he was also calmer and more rational than his life before then would have you believe. The theory the doctors have for this change is euphoria experienced as a result of his near-death, and brain damage due to those five minutes where his heart wasn't pumping blood to the brain. By all accounts, he should be brain dead at least, but it's likely the kaisoken dust somehow kept the damage to a minimum as well.
It didn't take very long afterwards for Alan, or this memory-hazed Alan, to get a grasp on the situation and begin his training with his new magical power, pure mana erupting into a white flame around his hands and feet. Although it was something he never experienced before, something only a handful of children in this facility has ever felt in the whole of the human race for as far as he knows, it felt...natural for him. That being said, researchers picked up immediately that it seemed he only had one actual spell, and while he found many applications for it, it still made him far less varied and multi-purposed than any of his peers. To top it off, they noticed that he was instead focused more on training his body than anything, often seen punching and kicking the air, trying to get a feel for hand-to-hand combat. It was...an unusual reaction to observe to say the least. He has magical white flames, and yet he's focusing more on how to fight physically? Perhaps his awareness of his own situation was lacking... Regardless, they shrugged off this anomaly, chalking it up to a mental defect caused by his surgical complications, and continued with their observations. At the very least, he seemed aware of who is friend and foe, and so they sent him off on missions alongside the other Star Marines.
Indeed, Alan did his part alongside everyone else. Undergoing covert missions in the Ascendancy's name against the coalition of aliens, up until the Battle of Proxima where he, like others, were captured by the Rau've and 'imprisoned' once again.
But this time, there was hospitality to be had, he has seen what being a prisoner was like, and he felt nothing of the sort while with the Rau've.
In particular, during his stay at their planet, Alan found a particular female Rau've, living as a hermit far from her people. Unlike the other Rau've, this one - known in the human language as Belladonna - was a particularly aggressive outcast among them, who did not welcome these children with open arms like every other, who preferred they died for what they did to her people. Not as if Alan could blame her, regardless of their age and circumstance, the fact is that the Star Marines killed off many aliens during their time. The Rau've on this planet lost family and friends because of them. If anything, the fact that they're welcoming these same little killers of their kind's a fortunate oddity.
But something about Belladonna spoke to him, the 'Hellfire Rose' as the Rau've called her is someone outcasted by the rest of her society for something she had good reason to have opinions on, just as he was outcasted for being a little survivalist.
Splitting off from the rest of the Star Marines, he followed her to her humble abode in some distant desert away from the bountiful forests of her society, and asked - nay, begged her - to take him on as an apprentice. For Belladonna earned that title of 'Hellfire Rose', being formerly one of the most aggressively brutal of the Coalition against the Ascendancy, complete with actual fire magic of her own - fire magic considerably stronger and more potent than most with dust from a world-class Kaisoken. Naturally, she refused at first. The fact her people were sheltering and showing hospitality to their enemies were bad enough as it was, but for one of them to ask her to essentially be made stronger by her is adding insult to injury. However, something about him reminded her of her son, whom the Ascendancy caught and killed in the early days of the war. Seeing her son in this boy, she eventually caved in and accepted to train him...brutally.
Which beings us to now. Alan has been training with Belladonna both in how to use magic - he may have had high-class magic, but that didn't stop him from adapting her lessons, shaping his magic to become flames of white light - and how to properly fight hand-to-hand, all the while strengthening his body.
Trained and built up, albeit late to the party he was - the others left to stage their own rebellion against the Ascendancy - he left to stand by his fellow Star Marines against the government, not necessarily for revenge or for any kind of justice, but simply because the Star Marines were the only real companions he ever had in his life; a very simple reason for committing acts of terrorism against humanity, but his entire life has been driven by simple reasons...
Why stop now?
Theme Song:
Name: Maria Wilhelm
Age: Physically, she should be about 16 by now, but she still looks the age she was when she was first seen in the experiments: 10.
Physical Description:
Partly because of her age and partly due to unknown reasons, perhaps a lack of exercise or maybe the implant stemming growth, she stands at a measly 2'5" and weighs about 23 lbs. It should also be noted that he eyes lost their shine long ago, giving her an eternal look of apathy and internal death.
Weapons:Circe's Hand - As if to essentially embrace her magical nature, Maria possesses a staff with which to channel her magic through. Apparently she tore off a metal pole in the building they were all in via telekinesis and fashioned it up to look like a typical staff a wizard would use. Said staff is a bit big for her though, standing at six feet tall, almost 3 times larger than she herself and weighing about five pounds - likely due to the metal itself, possibly perfected electrum. Despite the size, it's useful not only as a channel of her mind magic, but also as a blunt weapon in and of itself. That said, while she can use magic without the staff, she'd be less able to properly control said magic without it; attacks would be less precise, and mind magics would require more concentration.
Arcane Shot (High)- Maria has the ability to harness the magical energy within herself, and shoot it outwards as silver projectile of light. While she can fire those bullets from her index and middle finger in their strongest state, she can also fire a multitude of weaker magic bullets from all of her fingers in rapid succession. In addition, while she can concentrate it into a powerful beam, she can also concentrate a lesser powerful beam from all of her finger tips, concentrating all beams into one or two larger and more powerful ones as a result. The implant valve can be turned to increase the power and potency of her shots.
Flight (World)- While in her case, it's more used for levitation than anything, Maria can harness her magic to be granted the ability to fly. While it's considered World magic, it's possible that all she's really doing is moving her own body into the air using her telekinesis.
Telekinesis (Mind)- One of the most basic of psychokinetic abilities, Maria can carry and move things of the physical plain by the power of her mind alone, and throw them at decent enough speeds to be considered an attack. While normally there is a limit of how large a thing she mentally grabs can be, specifically about 100 or so pounds, her implant allow her to increase that limit with each turn of the valve, making her able to carry even a fighter ship with her mind if she turns it enough.
Illusion (Mind)- A mind ability of intermediate skill, Maria is able to tap into the minds of others and generate illusions based on what she sees to trick her opponents, need it be of a loved one, perhaps they fear, and is even capable of casting illusionary doppelgangers of herself to trick them to thinking she's either somewhere she's not or multiple versions of her to make tracking her more difficult.
The illusions are a trick of the mind, however, and so have no physical manifestation, making them more akin to holograms you can go through. Furthermore, one could break through whatever illusions she creates if they have the eyes for it.
That being said, if she turns her valve to regulate the implant in her brain, she can enhance the quality of these illusions temporarily, making it harder to break through even with good eyes, and even giving them a physical, solid existence, as if they were real.
Telepathy (Mind)- The other most basic form of Psychic abilities, she can mentally contact and talk to people from afar. This is usually used as a form of invisible channel of contact for the Xuangang, an effective method when any other form of contact is shot from, say, an Electro-magnetic pulse. The turning of the implant valve extends her range the more times she uses it, but the longer the range, the less time she has to cocieve a thought to send before the cooldown hits. As such, she reserves exceptionally long ranges telepathic communications for an emergency SOS.
Exceptional Skills:
Cybernetic Brain Implant (Exceptional Will x3) (Bonus)- It is unknown what the reason was behind this, perhaps something went horribly wrong in the procedure for her in particular, but it is revealed that she has a cybernetic plate of some kind implanted directly into her brain, a valve of some kind sticking out of her head behind her left ear as a way of regulating and controlling it. Gruesome as it may sound, it seems the implant acts as a mental shielding unit, immuning and shielding her from mind magic and other methods of brainwashing, hypnosis, mental dives, and mind-reading. To top it off, She can use the valve behind her ear to temporarily enhance her own magic for a short time, though after which a cooldown process shuts down brain functions for a time resulting in paralysis or outright unconsciousness. The more spins of the valve she makes, the shorter time she has in using it, the more time it'll take to recover from the cooldown. There has been a case during the war where she span the valve too much and while releasing considerable magic power against her Coalition enemies, it ended with her in a coma for about a month.
However, while this seems like an upgrade, in actuality, its more like a life-support system. She needs this brain implant in order to stay alive. According to her medical/experiment records, the removal of this implant will result magical berserker-like state where her magic goes beyond her limits, matching if not outright surpassing the power of Kaisoken themselves, followed by death.
Exceptional Polemanship - There may be a case in time where she is unable to use magic, something she has been heavily reliant on ever since gaining it. Not wanting to be completely defenseless in her ways, she trained herself in the art of polemanship, using her staff as the pole with which to defend herself. While she's hardly a master, she has trained enough to where she can at least defend herself in such dire times where her best weapon, her magic, is unavailable.
Exceptional learning (Bonus)- Born a prodigal child, Maria had a gift of being able to quickly learn about whatever subjects she was interested in at the time, quickly absorbing information like a sponge. As a result, she is quite knowledgeable despite her age, (both her appearance, and her real age.) and seems to know more than her silence suggests. While she is smart, her body and mind are still that of a child's, and whatever was done to her mind did not help in the slightest. She needs plenty of time in order to properly learn about a subject, and she can only hold so much information at a time.
Short Bio: From the moment she was born, Maria was expected - destined some would even say - for great things. Born a prodigal daughter of a rather noble family - highly influential to a point where family members were also members of the Ascendancy Government - her parents put her through a ringer at an early age of her life. Feeling happiness was an award of success to her throughout her early life, only coming out of her home in order to properly learn about the outside world as part of her curriculum, never truly having friends outside of perhaps the servants in her home and the specific fellow students of her curriculum into the family business. By the age of ten, her intellectual gift placed her in a position of potentially being the youngest to ever attempt at the "family business".
Of course, being a prodigious learner that she was, she made for a perfect target for the kidnappings that have been going on throughout the Ascendancy during the wars. In spite of those familial connections - or perhaps because of them - Maria was indeed taken in and eventually brought to the Black Site of the Ascendancy like other kids, to become Star Marines, the first magical child soldiers of their kind.
Unlike most kids, however, it seems she was one of the few who chose take part in this voluntarily; it is likely the decision was influenced by those in her family who were aware of this project and wanted her to take part in it, perhaps as a want to use the power she would gain as a further influence of power.
But also unlike most kids, Maria suffered a terrible accident. What exactly happened on the lab table no one knows - it's likely some were even kept shut about it - but the reports indicate something went wrong in the injection process of the Kaisoken dust. The surgeon in question messed up the injection of Kaisoken, too much dust having a collective negative reaction causing outright cellular mutation in certain parts of the brain. The process was stopped, but the damage to the brain was immense, the raw magical power of the dust constantly in a state of perpetual growth using the brain as an engine. The pain was immense, the sound-proof walls barely contained the sounds of her cries of agony as the energy slowly ate away at her mind. If nothing was done, the resulting magic power would be immense, equal to higher-ranked Kaisoken, and constantly growing... but it would be the end of her life. As such, The Professor at the time halted the magic through a special cybernetic plate made of perfected electrum implanted onto her Cranium, sealing off this energy within her mind.
The plate managed to do its job, saving her life and preventing a potential catastrophe - the surgeon responsible was found and immediately terminated - but at a cost greatly limiting her ability to emote. While circumstances at her house were not the greatest, she knew of joy, of sadness and frustration, and knew how to emote them properly enough, having experience most of the emotions a child would. She still has these emotions, but emoting anything beyond a blank apathy is difficult for her. In addition, the energies within her mind combined with the implant caused a stunt in her growth; so matter how old she is or how old she becomes, she will appear to be a 10 year old child for the rest of her life. To top things off, the incident that brought to this, that pain, that fear, continues to haunt her dreams even now...
Still, the plate was not entirely bad, and the Professor in question also implanted a way of controlling the restrictive nature of the plate in order to use that energy against her enemies. in addition, the combination of both the plate and energy made become essentially immune to most if not all Mind Magic spells.
From the moment she was able to join the rest of the kids, her lacking emotions made her rather an uncomfortable child to be around, and she in turn kept to herself. Never in her days did she expect her parents' lessons and expectations would lead her to this, a glorified prison/boot camp building magical child soldiers. Her life up to that point gave her a disadavantage when it comes to socializing with others like her, and seems the only ones she could even see herself around were those who were more mature and disciplined.
In particular, it seemed she struck a fancy for the Star Marines' "big brother", Tarak. Out of all of the Star Marines who were with her at that site, he was one she was seen around most of all. Whether that was because he was indeed seemingly the most mature and disciplined of them all, or because she never had a big brother in her life is unclear, but like the little sister to her "Onii-chan", where Tarak went, she followed as a member of his "Army of Demons", alongside the likes of the Twins, Samuel and Iris.
...This of course included the Battle of Proxima that most felt she may not have been ready for. But who could have been ready for the events that transpired that day, their capture, their betrayal, and of all things, the hospitiality of their Prison of War. Yes, the Rau've was indeed a kinder group of souls than the Ascendancy led her to believe, and while she could not express her gratitude like others around her could, she made clear through her actions and her choice of words, rather than the empty emotion behind them, that she was grateful to them for taking care of her and her "Big Brother" in particular. Unlike most, she didn't cry over his chest over this confusing frustration, she couldn't, and while she was nowhere near as charismatic or as capable of gentle feelings as Tarak was, she tried her best to comfort who she could in order to help ease the burden on his shoulders.
The Rau've then gave them an offer of a home among them, now that a treaty was made the war was essentially over. Deep down, there was a part of her that considered the offer. Since the day she left her home, Maria's world was more of a hell than it was anything else. The nightmares, the pain from her mind, everything she went through in her short life was something she would not wish upon anyone, and a chance to escape it was right there in front of her, a chance to finally have some degree of peace.
...But that would betray them, It would betray everyone who was there for her throughout that time, everyone who stood by her, and who she stood by her brothers in arms, her big brother, and the experience and scars she made throughout her brief time of living would be in vain. No amount of peace or happiness would ever let her forget all the pain she has been through nor betray everyone who made an effort to help her through that pain.
And so, like the others, she refused. When the others suggested to rebel against the people who brought them that pain and suffering, Maria was quick to show her approval once her "Big Bro" Tarak showed his.
However, she did not join them right away, Tarak gave her a special assignment of which she was quick to accept. Tarak was told before Proxima of her family and their connections, and so he thought she'd be able to use those connections to their advantage as well. Needless to say, while doubtful, she accepted the task given to her.
Thus, when the time came to leave the world, Maria parted ways with her allies, on a separate ship to parts unknown...
Hoping, very soon, that she will be able to reunite with them once again.
Theme Song
Name: Kotaro Winterborn & Paragon
Age: 19
Physical Description:
Important items:Multi-tool- Being an Ascendancy soldier, it's only natural that he'd have one as well. Not much to it beyond the standard functions.
Weapons:Paragon- The Ancient sword of the Winterborn family, but in actuality, an old High-Magic Kaisoken reaggregated from death, reshaped into the form of a sword and passed down from parent to child of the Winterborn family as their partner and guardian. Being a Kaisoken, the sword is made of crystal instead of metal, and as such is immune to magnetic abilities. More importantly, because it is actually a Kaisoken, Paragon is a magical sword, and is capable of spells that its wielder can harness, one in particular being the sharpening of its edge to create a monomolecular one. However, like most magical swords of ancient lore, it is a weapon that chooses its wielder, and can cause bodily harm via those same magical abilities should someone it doesn't like tries to wield it.
Commander-issue Projectile Pistol- Although it is a side-arm, it is useful to have should he ever be without Paragon at his side, or in need of a long-range weapon that does not require Paragon's Mana. It's old-fashioned compared to lasers, but it packs a hell of a punch against energy-shields and most standard armor platings.
Spell List: (Note: Technically this is not Kotaro's own magic, as Kotaro technically has no magic to speak of. All Spells here belong to his Kaisoken Sword, Paragon. Should he be without Paragon, Kotaro is no longer capable of any of these spells.)
Guiding Hand (High)- As Paragon is actually a Kaisoken in the shape of a sword, it is sentient and capable of movement. The experience it had as a sword wielded by others made it able to learn a variety of swordplay from the classics of the knight and samurai of yore to the modern day soldiers of the Ascendancy. Using some of his energy as a Kaisoken absorbed into the arm of the wielder, Paragon can effectively guide the wielder's hand and direct it to defend or deliver precise blows. It takes a lot of strain and energy to keep control over the arm for the duration of a fight, so he often takes momentary control every now and then to make offensive blows or defensive positions more accuracy.
Penance (High)- Just as Paragon can help guide the hand of the one worthy of wielding him, so too can he direct energy into the host body offensively by discharging his mana into the wielder at high enough intensities to create pain and damage into the person from the inside out. Unless held for a long time, the energy isn't enough to kill the wielder, however, it generates an incredible shock of pain in the arm and eventually the whole body until they let go of him, like a blast of plasma moving through your bones and muscles.
Flight (World)- While this was an ability he lost when he first fell to earth, eventually overtime Paragon regained enough mana to be able to fly again like any Kaisoken. Because of how unnatural it is for a Kaisoken to be shaped and used like a sword like he was, despite his knowledge of Swordplay he cannot wield himself like a ghost sword, save perhaps for a straight-on thrust in an attempt to pierce the enemy. However, he can use this ability to fly as a way of returning to his wielder's hand should he ever be separated from him.
Excalibur's blade (High)- By focusing his mana onto a majority of his body - that being the blade of the sword - Paragon creates a white coating upon that enhances both its durability and its sharpness. With this charged state, it's able to cut through all but the strongest of materials, and can even pierce through magic itself. Even Perfected Electrum falls before the holy blade. The downside is that it takes time to charge up, and can only be used for a limited time before Paragon exhausts his mana.
Silver Wave (High)- By focusing mana at the tip of the blade, Paragon can create a wave of offensive high magic at a target like a projectile when Kotaro move him in a slashing motion. Said energy has a sharp edge akin to the sword itself, but because it is done by using Paragon's mana, there's only so many Silver Waves he can throw before the sword tires itself out.
Paladin (High)- By spreading its mana throughout Kotaro's body, the mana bursts outwards and crystalizes into a suit of crystal armor Kotaro Wears. In addition to the Armor being exceptionally durable as is, it also uses the mana that created it to physically enhance Kotaro's body overall for a considerable period of time. Combining this with Excalibur's Blade, while dangerous for the both of them considering just how much mana and energy it can exhausts, generate an ultimate form as a Magical knight, harboring the physical enhancements of Paladin and the ultimate power of Paragon through Excalibur's blade, becoming a one-man army as a result.
Misc. Abilities:Master Swordsman (Exceptional Swordsman x5)- While Paragon is indeed capable of moving Kotaro's arm to help him fight his battles, Kotaro had no intention of relying on his family sword and be a burden to it. Mentored by Paragon, Kotaro trained himself to be a master swordsman worthy of wielding the holy sword for most of his life. As a result, Kotaro has become essentially peerless in the art of the sword, being capable of using Paragon to go so far as piercing through magic itself. The downside of this, of course, being that a sword is a close-range weapon, and while he's not necessarily defenseless against long-range attacks, distance does create a disadvantage.
Soldier (Exceptional Marksmanship)- While nowhere near as much focus on it than with his sword, as a military officer who went through the academy, Kotaro did learn how to properly aim and fire a gun. While he is fairly decent at it, because his focus was elsewhere, the lacking of training and experience in comparison makes his gunmanship unreliable, being more likely to miss with a gun than he would with sword strikes.
Well-educated (Exceptional intellect x2)- To reach the heights of his big brother Kherol, Kotaro studied as hard as he possibly could at the Academy, and as left the school as a Valedictorian as a result. While he's nowhere near the level of Genius as Kherol, he has enough knowledge of things overall to use to his advantage for any case where strategic thinking, such as using environments against an opponent, are necessary.
Exceptional Commanding Officer (Exceptional Tactics x3; Exceptional Leadership)- While he is indeed inferior to Grand Admiral Kherol, he would not have been assigned to be his Vice-Admiral on his swordplay and his relations to Kherol alone. As Vice-Admiral, Kotaro is to serve as a Commanding Officer to a fleet of thousands, and command them to where ever and to do whatever his Grand Admiral commands of him, separate from him. Should anything happen to Kherol, Kotaro must take the reins of the armada in his place and fulfill his will in substitute. Kherol recognized Kotaro as being capable of leading others to victory which is what led to his promotion to his side.
Short Bio: Kotaro's story begins centuries ago with his ancestors.
The Winterborn has a legend that has been passed down from generation to generation about the history of their family business. Around the Medieval times of the ancient planet of Earth, in the midst of the brutal feudal era of Europe, a white sword of holy light descended from the sky and landed blade first into the grounds of Britain. The legend goes that God, saddened by the state of Europe at the time, ordered his son Michael to send his sword to them, that one worthy of becoming its savior and ruler would take up this holy weapon and become the enforcer of his will, the giver of his love, and the instiller of his wrath. The Winterborn family found that sword, and was deemed worthy of holding it, but chose not to rule as monarch of Europa, instead vowing to wield its might to protect the world and humanity with it from any forces that may spells its end. The sword was a torch passed from parent to child, from generation to generation, remaining hidden in the shadows as thankless guardians of humanity.
The truth, however, was far less epic than the legend percieves.
In reality, the "holy sword" was not a sword at all, but rather a sentient crystal, a Kaisoken, that was exiled from the worlds from which it was born and happening to land on the planet earth by pure coincidence. Because of the peculiar shape of it, its body being lengthy but thin and its hole near the top being a perfect size and shape for a hilt and handguard, the Kaisoken was mistaken for a rapier and was pulled out by Winterborn, who just happened to be at the right place and the right time. One can only imagine what must have been going through the human's head when they heard a voice echoing through their mind and a shock of electricity coursed through the arm. Yes, the first to wield this sword was deemed unworthy himself, though not because of his deeds, or his morality, merely because of he happened to stumble across an alien that was unfamiliar and scared.
For the Kaisoken was broken and drained, only barely able to reaggregate itself to become what it is now, had not the power to break through this planet's gravitation, barely enough to even float. The Winterborn man had soon realized that this object wasn't some ordinary sword, that it was alive, and while it did scare the superstitious mind of a medieval peasant of Britain, the white light it gave off, combined with it falling from the heavens, suggested that it was some kind of holy weapon, an angel perhaps in the form of a sword, and that it was given onto humanity from God. Deciding to treat it as an angel that perhaps lost its way as it fell, the man took up the Kaisoken, which used the opportunity to peer in and learn the language of the planet it was on...well, one of them anyways.
People thought him mad when he came onto them with this crystal sword and swore that it was given to him by god, madder still when he talked with it as it communicated with his mind to further adapt to his new environment, and it did not take long for the superstitious to start coming to conclusions of evil and insanity, striving to put an end to him for the good of their society. As much as it did not want to stay for much longer, it still could not move on its own, and did not want to be constantly thrown around and used for others benefits. Thus he mustered what magic he could to help the man defend himself using it, protecting his only source of knowledge and transportation.
The man named the sword "Paragon", a name often attributed to benevolence, excellence, and example, (Coincidently also happens to be the name of a Perfect diamond of a 100+ carats.) and a deal was struck between man and sword. Paragon would use the man for transportation, knowledge, and for his own ends of gaining energy for itself, and in return, Paragon would protect him, his family, and he would be allowed to use the Kaisoken to be strong. This in mind, Paragon shaped himself to give a cutting edge to his slim body so that it may be used as a weapon.
It was unknowing just how small a time humans have to live, and he was quickly realizing as his "partner" grew older that he would need to switch hands to someone more able to use him and be used. Thus the tradition was suggested, that the sword be passed from generation to generation of the family.
Thus, Paragon live on earth throughout the ages, watching as the world changed around him, learning more about the humans, gaining energy from what little mana could be found upon the planet, until finally they were at a point where they could take him to space once more.
As the years rolled by and the Commonwealth becomes the Ascendancy of Man, Paragon grows stronger and stronger as he returns closer and closer to his own people.
Leading us to today with his current partner, the young master Kotaro Winterborn.
Born to Matthew Winterborn, a man who managed to let the Ascendancy recognize his family as nobles and became Governor of one of its planets, Kotaro was born to a life his ancestors before him could only dream of. He was raised to the traditions of taking up the sword of his family, and being a guardian of humanity, and an enforcer of peace.
If Kotaro would be honest, however, he wasn't necessarily focused on such an old tradition, and Matthew could understand why. The Ascendancy was the very epitome of human negativity and corruption, it was filled with the vain, the power-hungry, but most especially the xenophobic. So afraid of what they don't understand, that they have been ready to destroy creatures simply for existing, including Kaisoken, as Paragon learned.
The two were in agreement that humanity has become so full of itself as it became the Ascendancy, that the vows of ancient to protect them, no longer seemed viable. They were willing to try, to be kind, optimistic, and sincere to others as an example of how humans should be, to be helpful and charitable and hope it could change even a small thing in this cruel life. But deep down, both of their hopes were waning.
But there was one person that changed that for him. One person that made him convinced that maybe there were still people truly worth dying for after all, that maybe, just maybe, things really can change for the better. That person was his brother, an older boy at the time who his father took in and adopted, Alexander Kherol.
Kotaro admired Kherol; although they may not be bound by blood, he was his older brother nonetheless, and Kotaro always listened to how he viewed the way things are and the way they should be. It felt as if he and his father were the only people who made any sense in this insane universe, and so it was through them that he could keep his hope alive. Likewise, while Paragon has been interested in the future Grand Admiral as a person of potential, a rarity in the many many humans he has seen in his life on Earth.
When Kherol was sent to learn at a Military Academy, Kotaro followed suit. He may not have wanted to follow a corrupt government's orders, but if he could be of any help in Kherol's eyes, nothing would make him happier.
His grades in the academy were nothing like Kherol, however his experience with Paragon, the exceptional want for leadership and the experience he held at being one, plus his usefulness as someone with a "magic sword" earned him position after position from captain to admiral, until finally, he rose up to his dream job as Grand Admiral Kherol's Vice-Admiral, his second-in-command. In this position, he could be of the upmost help to Kherol's goals, as well as be there to protect him the way Alex has been there for him.
He was there at the Grand Admiral side, when it was revealed the sickening experiments that were happening to children, when the Battle of Proxima failed, and he continues to be at his side to this day.
For only through Kherol, can this universe find peace and benevolence.
Vell was the first to speak, and boy did her words cut like a knife. Not that Helena minded though, simply scratching the back of her head with her free hand and giving a quick chuckle, sticking her tongue out as she gave off a goofy smile. She was right though, she and Dahlia were the only ones that were professionals at this, it was pretty risky to give rookies the chance to come into this and potentially screw things up for them. But Helena was a girl of fair chances, and she didn't pick the people she did in jest. For instance...
"And to top it all off, if there's one thing I'm good at, ...It's puttin' on a show~" the show woman said with a confident grin.
That confidence, that capability of putting on a good show, is precisely why Helena picked her for this band.
She then heard Dahlia's snarky comment before mentioning about outfits.
"No need to worry about that, Dahl. You look great as you are!" She said, going in for a hug to Dahlia, oddly keeping herself like this for an awkward few seconds as her head was to the left of Dahlia's. The very perceptive may notice Helena's lips making tiny movements as she did - enough movement to surmise speech, but not enough to be intelligible enough to read. After those seconds were up, she pulled away and gave Dahlia a big energetic smile of confidence, as if assuring her that everything's going to be alright. She then turned to the green-haired saxophone-playing Seth, smiling back at at his wit. This one was brought into the band at nearing last minute but did so at Helena's request. Helena only barely dabbled in the particularly darker arts of the school, so she barely knew this Necromancer. It was by sheer circumstance and coincidence she happened to stumble across him playing on his saxophone and, without much word, essentially pulled him into this...to the dismay of other band members for more reasons than one.
”Now then, do we have all our band mates here? Or do I need to conjure up a few substitutes.”
"Nah, I think we have more than enough people here for this. Although the thought of purposely leaving out a few and propping up zombies as they're needed's a tempting thought... it'd make for a good spectacle."
"HEY!" Almost all of them said in unison, leading to a rather mischievous chuckle on Helena's part.
"I'm just kidding around, guys. Hehehe... Oh, and Seth, remember what we practiced, start us off small solo, then wait for the right openings, and as soon as you see one, don't hesitate, just go for it!" Helena said putting her hands up towards the other band members who took offense to her idea, before looking over to Seth again and fist-pumping at "just go for it" for emphasis.
The song they chose to play wasn't originally designed with a Saxophone in mind, nor was it rehearsed with one in mind until Seth came along. This, of course, was the main reason for the band's dismay on the matter. However, Helena saw the potential Seth had when she heard him play, and saw how it could work with the song at hand. It's like adding a secret ingredient to a pre-made recipe: Unnecessary, experimental, and potentially dangerous to the recipe, but has the potential to make it even better if it works. She personally trained with Seth during the last few days before the competition in order to look for the precise timing of when they could throw in is saxophone, considering when the saxophone would best be heard in the song, and when it could compliment, not contrast, with the music being played. She must have played this song hundreds of times in the past 72 hours to pinpoint the openings, and when she finally found those openings and did one last rehearsal, it was...sublime.
As she walked over towards the Ishtar stage, she spotted the Marduk folk on the other side, clearly setting things up.
"We got some interesting competition...Well, well, well, Looks like Big Bro's in this too. I thought Jake said Willie was home-schooled?"
"The Head-Bitch probably forced him to come here or something, desperate times and all that."
"Or maybe he's come here by his own choice, I suppose it could happen. Could make things a touch annoying though. Who else do we got here...? A few ladies... Huh, didn't take Willie to be ladies' man type."
"Focus, Helena!"
"I don't like the looks of those guys one bit...A bunch of schemers, the whole lot of them."
"Hey, Pot, need a megaphone? I don't think Kettle can hear you calling it black from here. ...They're pressured to win this as much as we are and worse still is that they got a headmistress who'd probably punish them brutally if they fail, even when it's something like this. They got a lot riding on this, and who knows what else that crazy lady'll make em lose on top of that if they fail here. No doubt they've been forced to play some shady cards just as we're ordered to, that's how important things are right now..." Helena said. Perfectly timed after saying that, as if on cue, one of the Marduk's students created balls of super-heated Magnesium, causing the crowd to cheer in excitement.
"Hot damn... We got a fight on our hands after all." Alice said with a smile, putting on sunglasses as she stared at the magnesium orbs.
"Great, so we can't cheat, but they can bring out those fucking things to cheat Us!?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to call that cheating, not yet anyways... They're just bringing in some visual effects to get the crowd jumping, not too different to what Vell's been wanting to do, though if shiny balls of light's all they can do, I think you got this in the bag, Vell." Helena said as she continued to look at what's going on behind the curtain, pointing at Vell and giving her a thumbs up before popping her head out the curtains and looking at her band mates again, some of them clearly worried over what Marduk could pull. With a sigh, she hopped over to them.
"Don't worry mates, I got your back. I want this to be fair to us as much as it is to them. I've already have ideas of how to make sure of that." Helena told them with a wink in her eyes, sparkling with a starry confidence. With that she walked down to a platform beneath the stage, upon which were most of their instruments that they didn't have on hand themselves. Hopping on it and unstrapping her own instrument from her back, wrapped in tape like a mummy before a simple pull from Helena explosively unwrapped it, revealing a rather... sinister-looking guitar.
Not a concert with Helena where you don't see her with this in hand; it was her pride and joy...and the blade on it was real and sharpened, making it also her weapon of choice. With a throw of the tape, she wrapped it around her neck as a strap, holding the tail with one hand, and from her sleeve pulling out a thin amethyst jewel in the shape of a rounded arrow head with her other hand, raising it up to the sky.
"Now get up here, and LET'S ROCK THIS JOINT!" She said, a big grin on her face as her slit eye gleamed with a purple.
As soon as the rest of the band got up to the platform with her, and got their instruments ready, she stomped a button on the floor, raising the platform that they were on, the circular door on the ceiling above opening up to the stage outside as fog smoke from fog makers could be seen creeping in.
Jacob simply continued to stare out towards the stadium from the curtain as the band took their position underneath their stage. as he waited for the event to get started. More accurately, he stared towards the Marduk side of the stadium on the opposite end, at his brother as he and his 'friends' - though he hesitates to call them that - prepared themselves for this battle of the bands. For a time, he never knew William to be a musically-inclined individual, far as he knew no one else in his family was, and even Gilgamesha was a musician she certainly wasn't the type to teach it to them as things stand. Maybe he learned from his Aunt? ...Or maybe he's not here to actually play and just be a magical aid to the actual band members, seeing as instead of an instrument he seems to bring out a sword.
"Oh dear..." was all he could say with a sigh. He hasn't seen much of his brother since their departure, but he does remember his brother's magic, and recognizes the sword he made that was now in his hands, and by that sword, he could predict rather easily what he intends to do with it. In all honesty, it wasn't the fact that William's endangering Jake's classmates by attempting to use that ability that worries him, nor is it the possibility of him or his friends actually defeating Ishtar's band. No, what really worries him is the fact that he's having that sword revealed and to be used in the middle of an entire crowd of people, particularly in front of every Ishtar Student watching him as well. Sure, Helena and her group probably have no idea what that sword is or what it could do, but Ishtar students will always try to spot an advantage and exploit it, and so revealing a hand too early could spell doom for a Marduk student in the long run.
For Example...
"I'm going to the bathroom."
Jacob couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. To say that out of the blue when there was barely anyone else with them and going to a public restroom that has more than one space, and it's not as if anyone waiting for either of them, considering this current event has nothing to do with them. To top it off, he shuts the door but doesn't factor in the fact that the flash of light he used would slip through the cracks of the door. Alto may have been an honor student, but it's clear he's still an amateur in Jake's mind when it comes to Espionage.
He turned over to a girl standing next to him.
"If anyone asks, I went to the bathroom... and will likely be in there for a while." He said to her. Without waiting for a response from her he decided to walk over and open the door to the bathroom as well, taking a look inside.
The cheer of the crowd was deafening as a giant hologram of a Bard popped out of the center and the Marduk band came out ready to go. The Bard in question was essentially a giant humanoid light armor and silk pants over coats of warm colors and a light-green cloak over all of that as it floated in the middle of the arena with a small harp in one hand, as if waiting for the music to start playing.
Up in the sky box, Alfred Crowley fixed up his hair, getting ready for the cameras that would be turning on and showing him and Madame on the TV screen. As soon as the signal was shown to him that they were live, and broke up his professional ivory-white smile towards the camera.
"And we're back my lovely viewers as the Orpheus duel is about ready to take place, and boy do we have a treat for you today. Coming up as Ishtar's representatives for this Write competition are the world-famous Rock and classical stars, Helena Blackgram and Dahlia Sangrey, alongside a band they hand-picked themselves." Alfred said, with a smile to the camera.
"Dahlia AND Helena in the same band? Holy [Censor], Ishtar's not [censor]-ing around! Just one of those two idols could probably hold their own in something like this, and Headmaster Nergal managed to get both of them in the same band? Those Marduk kids are [CENSORED]!"
"Err... Yes... well... -Ahem- I wouldn't count out the Marduk band just yet, it seems they're showing off they got style of their own from the flares one of them just summoned up." Alfred said in response of Madame's clearly biased view as they viewed the Magnesium orbs Nika threw out. He then looked back towards the Camera.
"Now, let's discuss the rules of this game for those at home. The Orpheus Duel is a battle of musical bands playing simultaneously against each other with the quality of their music and the style of the band itself being judged the giant hologram of Orpheus the Bard. The music is heard by Orpheus, who transfers the sound waves into the harp he then plays, which then is transferred into a magical spectacle of visual art. The two songs are filtered out and divided but the visual art of the music is a combined moving picture that keeps going as the songs continue. If there's any screw-ups, or if one song is being heard louder and with more quality on the opposing side, it will be shown as visual distortions in the imagery. The object of the game is to keep the songs going and of consistent quality as possible. The two groups can make their own music louder and sharper using their magic, but they are not to directly effect the players on the opposite sides. No poison, no harm, and certainly no deaths, and any attempts to attack or manipulate Orpheus himself will lead to disqualification. Orpheus will then judge the music and the one with the most consistent show of musical prowess wins." Alfred explains to the audience at home, the screen showing cartoon examples of how it works as he explains it. As soon as it cuts back to Alfred however...
"Oi, Al. Looks like the stars are finally about to come on stage." Madame said. As if on cue, the Ishtar stage was getting filled with fog from dry ice, as the fog machines activated. Even from above in the skybox, the fog prevented the floor of the Ishtar stage from being seen and so it wasn't noticed when that floor opened up, and raised the Ishtar Band on the platform they placed themselves on. Helena was stuck in position with a pick raised above her head, and as soon as they were seen, the crowd roared as loud as a giant thunder, cheering on both teams.
Helena took a deep breath, giving a large happy smile, and opened her eyes. One of them, her right eye, glowing a deep violet, the same color as the aura of mana around her pick. Throwing the pick down at the cords of her axe-shaped guitar, A loud sound of the guitar's chord could be heard and a shockwave of purple energy exploded outward. Nothing so violent that it could throw even the people close to her off the ground, rather, it would feel like a sudden breeze blowing over everyone in the arena, over as soon as it began, but the only thing it seemed to do was give a rush of more energy towards anyone who felt it, the band of Marduk included. With one note, she got the audience pumped all over again. The sound was detected by Orpheus, who pulled a string on his harp creating a purple cloud momentarily that faded just as soon as it showed up. As if it was a test demonstrating how Orpheus worked.
It's pretty clear what this was to anyone who was the competitive type: An intimidation tactic, she was showing off her magic to show the Marduk band what exactly they were up against, smirking at them with a confident look upon her face. Helena's magical abilities were all about her music, as she could merge her magic into every note she makes.
This was her magic: Symphonic Enchantment, otherwise known as "Siren Magic"
They probably thought she was doing this to make them run away before the competition began. Not too far from the truth; she really wanted to see if they did or not, to see if they had the determination to go through with this despite who they were up against, and by extension, see if they're worthy, fun, and entertaining opposition. If they all stood their ground, her smirk would open up, bearing a fang. It was proof enough they had what it took to go face to face with them, and that's all Helena needed to be satisfied, it was all she needed to know that this was going to be good enough for both bands, for both schools, to rock this joint! She then slowly walked over to the Microphone as the note she played still echoed across the stadium before slowly fading, as did the cheering.
"Hello Iliad!" She gleefully said, in an instant, the cheers roared once more before fading again.
"I think it's time for a little story to start these games off... It's definitely story time!" she said in a almost comically low pitch, as if a child was trying to sound mysterious. Even so, it was enough to make them start cheering yet again. With a turn of her head to her band, she gave them a quick nod, the cue for the show to begin, and for everyone in Ishtar's band to do what they did best.
As the Ishtar band slowly began their song, Orpheus began his own work of visualizing the melody in play. A purple cloud formed above the Ishtar side of the stadium as Orpheus plays his soundless harp to generate the cloud. As soon as the melody began to intensify, the cloud took the shape of a giant book, opening up and exploding out multi-colored lights like stars in a night sky. This giant book, evidently, a storybook, is the foundation upon which the imagery by everyone's music springs from.
Helena's guitar, in particular, made a flock of tiny humanoid-shaped lights, glowing as purple as their moth-like wings, flying about Ishtar's half of the stadium like a flock of butterflies flying about.
As the Orpheus Duel began, a security guard standing on the catwalk of the stadium's open roof, just above the top most audience bleachers in the back, spectated the events happening before his eyes as the two magical bands began their songs. He seemed like an odd one to be sure, his shoulder-length turquoise hair all budded up and hidden beneath a security cap, hazel eyes darkened by the shade of said cap, the metallic black plating on his left hand - of course, that could just be a prosthetic hand.
As he placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up, he listened to the static on his walkie-talkie and stared towards the magical spectacle happening at the stadium's center.
"We're in position, boss!" a voice said from the miniature radio which he then grabbed a hold of.
"Wait for the Bishop's signal. Bishop, commence on my mark." The guard said into it. He then release the button he was holding on the radio and it became a blurred static once more. After which, he leaned on the railing, continuing to smoke his cigarette as he watches the show.
Misc. Abilities:The Whims of a Trickster- Johnny has always been something of a trickster, tricking and manipulating both friends and enemies alike to be placed exactly where he needs them to be.
Outside of combat, he is an experienced puppet master of sorts. Rather than playing a game of proverbial chess, he finds it much more entertaining to go for a direct approach. Contrary to his appearance, he has intelligence and social know-how, and uses it to manipulate not just people, but events, to his favor. In fact, he uses his appearance and oddball and unpredictable personality to his advantage, baiting the people around him to underestimate him and put themselves at a disadvantage for thinking he's not a threat, not to mention making fools - no pun intended - out of those who would use intellect and logic against him. He also knows, how to win the hearts of the masses to his favor.
Inside of Combat however, He is a master of feints, tricks, and traps, and his unpredictable nature makes him more roundabout and indirect with how he fights others. He prefers to manipulate even his foes into walking to their doom, or provoking them into attacking him directly, only to lure them into a deathtrap. When he must go for direct combat...
Jack of Swords- Johnathan has trained himself in the art of swordplay fairly well. While he is by no means a master of it, preferring to use his mind over his Arm, he is still capable of going toe-to-toe with even experts of the field, often using his Noble Arm as his melee weapon of choice.
He is also not bad at firing a gun, but he's something of an amateur with one.
Noble Arm
Name: The Jester
Appearance:
Rank: B
Type: Support; Illusionary; Area
Abilities:Parlor Trick- The most commonly used ability Johnny has, The Jester can generate a limited-field around himself and the immediate area and use it to generate small-scale illusions wrapped around it. True to the name, though, he mostly uses this for magician tricks and entertainment - Popping his hand or his own head off for comedic purposes for instance - both of himself and others. Often times however, he uses it to generate essentially a holographic projection of himself somewhere else, or to disguise himself as someone else.
However, while the normal eyes of people can't see past these tricks, any Arms designed with vision in mind, likely can.
The Circus of Make-Believe- The Main ability of The Jester is creating an illusion field in the form of a dome or a sphere with a maximum of 50 meters diameter. To the naked eye, this illusion field is invisible and undetectable, you can walk into it and the only thing you'd feel is a touch of sudden light-headedness that would disappear in an instant. Within this field, Johnny can generate whatever illusions he wants people to see. While he could very easily craft his illusions around the vicinity and carefully generate a similar but different construct of the building or landscape, making subtle differences that could end up with someone walking into walls without realizing, he vastly prefers going bombastic to the point of practically showing off, changing the area completely into something like, say, a circus tent. Much more fun for him when his imagination isn't restricted to an orderly reality.
However, despite how realistic his illusions seem, in the end, they're still only illusions. While the naked eye can't see the field or past the illusions, any Arms that are designed with vision in mind, likely can see the illusions for what they are, and can see past his illusions fairly easily. To top things off, The illusions extend only as far as the field he generates. If anyone goes outside Johnny's range, the illusions will essentially vanish from their sight, and everything will return to normal, unless they step back in.
All in your head- The mind is a wonderfully strange thing. It can make Placebo pills work even when they shouldn't, and can make the body react to pain that it thinks its going through, even when nothing of the sort is happening and someone is simply tricking it to think otherwise.
The Jester's more dangerous passive ability gives the Illusions he makes a kick of reality. Anyone who stares upon the "eye" of the Jester, (The pretty shiny red jewel at its hilt that glows when illusions are about to manifest.) has their minds tricked into thinking the illusions forged are real. To be more specific: The light of the Jester's eye messes with the brain's signal interpretations which in turn effects how the nerves in the body reacts to the illusions. Even when they know they're not real, when they think to themselves over and over again that they're not real, much like the Matrix, "The mind makes it real."
Of course, this passive ability is likewise only as scary as you make it be. Really, all this means is that these illusions crafted generally have a solid, physical mass to them, they can be touched, they can be felt, and that's generally how Johnny uses it. But while they can be indeed touched and felt, and can bring the pain, they can't actually kill...more specifically they can't actually stab or pierce bodies. Blunt force trauma's the only kind of physical damage they can give out.
Gravity Adjustment- Less an independent ability and more an effect of one of the more advanced illusional spells. The Jester can manipulate the space within his illusionary field to adjust the gravity of it according to the illusion at hand. Meaning if the illusion called for walking on walls or the ceiling, he can adjust the gravity around them to be able to make them walk on the walls or the ceiling of a place.
However, it is limited specifically to the inside of the field, and so if one moves outside of it, the gravity for the person who steps outside will return instantly to normal. So there's no fear of someone on the ceiling of a building falling into the sky above them. But Gravity in itself is a cruel mistress, so watch where you are in adjacent to the ground if you don't want to get hurt by it.
Personality: If Johnathan had to be summed up in one word, it would have to be "Eccentric".
Johnathan is often seen as an optimistic and energetic fellow both inside and outside of his job. He sometimes speaks in a rather high-pitched tone, likely to purposely be annoy others or make the general impression that he's about as much of a clown as his mask and get-up seems to indicate. He does often use a more normal, gentlemanly tone under more normal circumstances, genuinely using the high-pitched tone and laughter whenever he feels comedic at the time, and often when he does feel in the mood for that, it's hard to snap him out of his ball of comedic energy.
If there's one thing he always show in anything he does, it is just how much he absolutely loves his job, as if it was a dream come true for him. He has a great love and respect for all of his students, and wishes only for them to be entertained and educated as best as possible. He shows himself off as a very theatrical man with a flare for the drama and comedy alike, even sometimes changing his mask to fit whatever mood he's suppose to be in, or whatever colors or patterns fits at the time.
Furthermore, this Academy is a family, and he cares for each of his students as if they are his own children. He never talked down to any of them, never treated anyone with a shred of disrespect, and has never picked any particular favorites. If they did something right, they'll praised for it. If they did something wrong, they'll be disciplined. The Faculty too are people he cares about, but he sees them less as students and more as friends, partners that helps him work.
In the regards of the war between the Pro and Anti-Arm factions across the world, Johnathan maintains a neutral stance on the middle of the proverbial fence. He accepts and welcomes any students who maintain either side, so long as they don't set off their own little war in class and endanger fellow students, and claims to have friends on both sides of the argument.
However, behind all of this happy-go-lucky nature lays a darker side of Johnathan, one he hides behind his smiling mask. The man is far wiser and more perceptive than he lets on. He may act like a total goof and a clown, but he didn't catch the eye of the new director because of dumb luck. There's always a method behind his madness, and there always seems to be a reason for every act he performs, no matter how strange or random or bizarre they may first seem, making him something of a Schemer at heart.
He isn't quick to anger, but when he is mad, he's without mercy or ruth.
All of this said, however, the fact that he always hides his face under a mask, plus how whiplash-inducingly fast he can change his mood - one may assume he could potentially be bi-polar - gives way to the possibility that none of these emotions he has are "real". His intelligence combined with his knack for keeping his cards close make Johnathan quite unpredictable in how he responds to trouble. Kind as he makes himself out to be, no one can say for certain what he's truly thinking, or what his plans truly are. He uses the illusions of his arm to educate the students, while hiding the truth of his darker side from them, undergoing a philosophy that lies and deceit can be a necessary evil for a good cause, when used in the right hands. As such, no one can truly say for sure what his real self is like.
Bio: Not much is truly known about the masked teacher of Trinidad. He popped into the scene from seemingly out of nowhere. What could be dug up about him was nothing particularly special. Born November 19th, 1980 to a relatively normal family as an only child of normal parents. One of the lucky normal humans who managed to generate a Noble Arm without a genetic advantage of having one or both parents be Arm Masters. Not as rare an occasion back then as it is now, but some would still consider such an occasion a blessing... or a curse depending on who you talk to. He was sent to a decent Academy for Arm Masters where he graduated without many honors of note, and sent off to the US Military. He spent 4 years in Service in Europe and Africa before being honorably discharged after an explosion from one of the extremist factions cause severe scarring damage to his face.
He seemed to have known Trinidad's new academy director for some time, and was requested by him to join the academy as a Teacher, which is accepted without much hesitation or resistance.
However, it's not hard to see there may be more to this story than he lets on...
Current Goal: It seems to be to teach the next generation of Arms Masters and making them grow as much as he can. Anything beyond that is a complete unknown, possibly even for himself.
Job: Course Teacher for Crisis Management and Emergency Response (Until someone comes along to give him a break. XD)
Member
Alfhedil
King Kindred
Megatron
ScreenAcne
Fetzen
Andre Valias
Snowdrops
CriticalHit
