Samurshy

Zeke followed Misha as he made a path through the people, every so often a gang member would jump out of the fray in front of Zeke. Zeke had a variety of different take down moves, his favorite was a concussion blast of charged energy; non-lethal but useful for situations like this. Eventually, after a few minutes of parting the seas, Zeke saw light from the door to outside. As soon as the stepped through the doorway, Zeke knew they were in even more trouble than they bargained for. To begin with both sides of the street were surrounded by crux members. At the top of the small two story buildings on the other side of the street, a few crux members with rifles and bows were posted. About forty yards away on the same street as the club they were just in, the burning husk of Misha's car was flip-side up in the middle of the road. Even though they were surrounded on all sides, for some reason no one was attacking, all the spells had ceased, but they clearly weren't just about to let them walk away either. In the middle of the fray a pink magic aetheric circle appeared, and a figure rose out of it. The figure was a 25 year old, 5'8" female. She had straight, black hair, with long bangs that hung a bit in her eyes. She was wearing a black leather jacket, a thin sterling silver chain necklace that held no pendant, a black canvas skirt with two zippers on the front running from the bottom to the top, black fishnet stockings, and dangerous looking stiletto heels (the heel of the shoes being made out of metal). "ZEKE MOTHERFUCKING DANIELS!" Were her first words that were yelled from her mouth as she proceeded to walk towards Zeke and Misha. As she got within touching distance of Zeke, she removed her ornate black Celtic dagger from the sheath she had running horizontally along the small of her back. She promptly, and in one fluid motion, drew the dagger and held it to the grain of Zeke's throat in a split second. "Ah, Raiya Davi. Fancy meeting you here." Zeke said, nervously. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't slit your throat right now." Raiya said in a harsh undertone. "Um... because that Celtic dagger is engraved with an enchantment, and my healing ability wont heal the throat wound, so I would bleed out and die." Zeke replied "No shit, Sherlock. That's the point. Why are you back in my town, after I graciously gave you the means to venture off somewhere else? And for that matter, why'd you bring pretty boy, here, with you as well?" Raiya asked "Well, you see... me being here actually has something to do with God's Hand." Zeke replied, as he scratched the back of his head. Raiya removed the dagger from his throat and placed it back into the sheath. "Oh, God. Don't tell me. Is it located here or something?" Raiya's face turned from anger to curiosity rather quickly. She grabbed a cigarette out of her coat pocket and used a flame from the tip of her finger to light it. She took a drag and blew out smoke. I am going to let him say his piece before deciding whether I wipe him from this earth. She thought. "No. You see. The location you gave me to Lightlyn mountains sent me to this cave system that a bunch of other people arrived at at the same time I did. And I teamed up with some of them, and fought some of them, but we eventually found this ancient key relic thing that was a clue, our next lead to finding God's Hand. But after we got the key, and decided we would form a cool group, and got a cool group headquarters, a high level esper came in and stole the key. We eventually figured out where the esper went to through various means. But it turns out that it is being heavily guarded at some sort of top of the line facility in Axoana. And without this key, we cant continue our adventure. So..." This long winded explanation probably made no sense but he hoped that Raiya could look past the nonsense and help out of friendship. "So you were hoping, I, Raiya Davi, the leader of the Crux gang, would just help you with this? Out of what? The goodness of my heart?" She issued a hearty laugh. "It does seem you in quite a situation, but you see, nothing is free. Just like the information to God's Hand costing you your home. Me helping you is going to cost you." "So... you'll do it if I pay something?" Zeke sounded excited. "What will it cost, I'll do anything." "In order for me to help. You, Zeke Redsteele, formerly Daniels, will join as an elite member of the Crux Gang. I can't promise you a right hand position, because I have Saul over there." She pointed to the 6'5" templar with black shaggy hair and a boorish face. "But you could be my left hand man. I'll help you with your little raid, but in return you will forever be a member of the Crux gang." Zeke's heart sank. He had seen first had what the Crux gang did to people. How they extorted and injured people in the name of protection. But, Zeke didn't really have a choice. His expression turned somber, he let out a, "Okay."

The crowd started to converge upon them, the attackers closed in. Eight men in particular circled around them, carrying brass knuckles, magic tomes, wands and swords. "Misha, without slaughtering all these members, it may be a bit difficult to take them all down in this cramped area. We need to start fighting our way out of here." Zeke said looking over at Misha

The man was sent flying across the room and smashed into the wall, breaking the wall just a bit. As soon as MIsha finished his statement, all the mages in the room issued their war cries as they converged on the duo. Zeke shook his head, but he couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well, then, I suppose this was unavoidable. " The scene was hectic as spells were flying and whizzing by Misha and Zeke. Zeke's hightened awareness and reflexes allowed him to dodge them without much effort. Two men ran out of the fold with swords raised above their heads, clearly charged with some sort of spell. The swords made a downward arc at Zeke. Zeke charged his light energy and manifested the plasma lance which he was holding like a sword. He held the plasma sword up horizontally as the swords came down, and as soon as the metal passed through the plasma the swords were sliced in two. Zeke then leaped in the air and kicked one of the swordsman in the side of his head, his foot connecting with with the man's ear. The man fell to the ground unconscious. The other man switched targets, and sent a punch of magical energy at Misha.

After the car exploded and landed on its backside, sliding 5 more feet before coming to a complete stop, Raiya pulled out her phone. She felt the presence of those inside the car leave immediately after the missile impact, so she decided to send out a mass text to all her subordinates. ["A couple of Crux enemies have escaped me using a teleportation method I am not familiar with. The essence scan tells us very little, but be on the lookout for a wealthy man traveling with another humanoid anomaly. If you come across them, confine them to a cell under the HQ, and I will deal with them personally."] Out of the group of gang members surrounding Misha and Zeke, one man stepped forward, obviously a higher ranking member of the gang. He was wearing the crux leather jacket, he had dirty blonde hair and pointed teeth with piercings in his lip. He was carrying a small oak wand. "Well, well, well. What have we, here? Looks like these are the intruders. The boss was talking about." The gangster said as he took a few steps towards MIsha. "Sir, please we don't want any trouble, and I wouldn't touch Misha if I were you." Zeke said "I can't very well let you guys go. You are coming with me, we have cozy cell waiting for you back at our headquarters." He said with a smile as he placed his right hand on Misha's shoulder, his left hand holding the oak wand.

Raiya despised people who couldn't keep their word. Even though integrity and honor are not the most notable of traits that gang leaders tend to have; Raiya figured if at least she had some core principles that would be enough to keep order within her ranks. Today was no different from any other day, another visit to the same business that had refused to pay the agreed protection fee. Raiya strutted in through the front door of an antique shop, the ornate metal entry bell ringing as the top of the door bumped through it. Raiya loathed the scent of the antique shop, it reminded her too much of the scent of the monastery when she was a nun, which seemed like a lifetime ago (but in reality was only about ten years ago). If there was one thing she hated, it was being reminded of her past, which is why she had tried so hard to defy it. Even though the scent of the antiques in the shop angered her, she wasn't an irrational person. The olfactory factor was not what made her do what she was about to do. In the front of the shop were three rows of antiquity, without saying a word, or even gazing in the direction of the nervous lanky middle-aged man who sat behind the counter with a look of terror on his face; she raised her hand. An pink etheric magic circle with all manor of different symbols circling within it appeared in front of her extended hand. within two seconds of the magic circle appearing, the shelves seemed to just explode. Explode might not be the proper term for what happened. Every one of the antiques on these three shelves, and the shelves themselves, seemed to just dismantle themselves in a violent manner. Raiya instantly turns to the shop owner unsheathing from her lower back a horizontally worn black Celtic dirk. Walking briskly over to the counter, the man now whimpering, she stabs the knife into the register counter. "You see this!?" Raiya exclaimed as she waved her arm to the pile of dismantled objects and shelves. "This is what happens to people who request protection services from the Crux Gang but refuse to pay their monthly fee." The man whimpered out a, "I could have gotten you your money if I had more time." "Blah, blah, blah. Does the Dragon Gang wait politely until you have enough money before coming to rob everything you earned? No, they don't they just ransack without question. Which is why I did this to show-" Raiya stopped talking when her phone issued a ringtone that was only for the emergency alarm. "I have to take this." Raiya said. She grabbed the dirk and slid back into her horizontal sheath on her lower back. "We aren't done here." She said pointing at the nervous man as she walked out the door. She unlocked her phone and quickly dialed her second in command's phone number, the Templar Saul. The phone only rang once, as per usual, before being answered. "What is the situation?" Raiya asked "An anomaly has entered through the eastern side of the ward." Saul answered. "What do you mean, anomaly?" Raiya asked "Well, that's just it, it isn't like anything we have seen before. It carries some slightly slightly similar essence traits to a demon. But here is the thing, the essence was scanned at the same time the essence of a mage was scanned. So, no doubt they are together. Maybe the Dragon Gang is sending another Summoner to try and attack us again. I don't know." Saul replied. "Well we can't take any chances. Where are they now?" Raiya asked "The traffic cam just picked them up turning off of Interstate 87." Saul said Without another word, Raiya closed her phone and used a spell which created another pink etheric magic circle, but this time under her feet, and she sank into it. Niveus was on full alert now. Every ounce of his essence burned with the sense of imminent danger. And then he saw it, the danger, in the form of a woman, now standing in the middle of the road. Her hand extended outward towards their car. An instant later a blue projectile of light shot from her hand to under the car, making and explosion that send the care airborne. For a moment Misha and Niveus were weightless, Niveus's hieghtened senses alowed him to move quickly before the car touched ground and fully erupted in flames. Niveus touched Misha on the shoulder and quantum leaped. He didn't know where, but he knew they had to leave the car, so wherever was better than this. Misha and NIveus came out of quantum space, and they only had time to shake off the fuzzy restless feeling of a quantum leap before they realized just where they were. That was when Niveus decided to turn the reigns back over to Zeke. It seems that Niveus jumped them into a bar of some sort. Possible a dance club, but what was waiting for them was not alcohol and dancing bodies, but instead people surrounding them with wands, books, and even swords. Zeke could see that after Misha shook off the initial quantum sickness, he was furious. "Calm down, Misha. I know they totally wrecked your car, but it's okay, you can buy a new one." Zeke said trying to assuage the situation. "We need to be on the best terms with the crux gang or Raiya might not be so friendly."

As the car droned on for twenty more minutes the scenery began to change from lush roadside to signs of human population. They passed a few truck-stop gas stations, and a sign that pointed to the exit they needed to take to enter Vertlyn. As Misha turned onto the exit the duo's eyes were met with a small metropolitan city off in the near distance. The city wasn't too small or too large, it was more of a city where you could get everything you need but not everything you desired. The city was split into three districts, residential, business, and warehouse. Unbeknownst to Misha and Zeke, they had already passed through the spell ward, however Niveus knew the moment they passed through it. Niveus began to wear a nervous expression, which was weird for Niveus because showing discomfort through emotional gestures had never been possible up until now, for Niveus. "With the current parameters, all data correlates that there is a 92 percent chance that something detrimental may happen." Niveus said.

"Cease the vibrations of your vocal chords, nave. Zeke was correct in assuming a ward has been fabricated. There is an 91.53 percent chance there is a magical ward around Vertlyn and a 62.01 percent chance that the ward has an automatic hex system stipulation." When Niveus spoke it sounded quite different from Zeke, it sounded as if Niveus was speaking in water, but more audible." Niveus replied.

Misha's laugh was understandable, so Zeke decided to elaborate a bit. "No no no, you don't understand. She is a Magician Saint. She spent the better half of her life learning everything there is to know about magic. It would take absolutely no effort at all to raise a ward, and she has told me in the past that she monitors the ingoing and the outgoing populace. She definitely has a ward. It is most likely a ward that scans everyone's essence or soul if you will, if they get close enough to the city. The spell is most likely runic, and the rules are probably set on the spell to either alert the gang of who comes in and goes out, or it just kills certain people who try to enter or leave. The problem is, I don't know if there is a way to trick it. I mean, I suppose we could just have you enter and look for the runes and destroy them." Zeke said. "Excuse me, Zeke. But I think I may have a solution for you. I can suppress your essence by overpowering it with mine." Niveus suggested. "But let me guess, Niveus. there is some kind of side effect." Zeke said. "Well I suppose you could call it that. As your essence is suppressed, you will have to take refuge in your subconscious and I will be the one piloting your body." Niveus said. Zeke thought back to a few times when he was younger, whenever he was in serious trouble it felt as though his body was moving on its own. Zeke now realized that that is exactly what it was doing. "And will this work to get us past the ward?" Zeke asked. "I predict a 83.64 percent chance that it will deceive the ward spell." Niveus replied. "Well, that is better than the 100 percent chance that the ward will detect me otherwise. So, do it." Zeke looked over at Misha and realized that Misha could only hear one side of the conversation, "Niveus is going to take over my body for a bit, apparently he thinks it will trick the ward spell by masking my essence with his." Zeke said And with that Zeke began to feel Niveus suppressing his essence. All of the sudden he began to feel like a passenger in his own body, with Niveus in the driver's seat. He then realized that this is what Niveus must feel like all the time and felt a bit sorry for him. Once Niveus took over he began to run some physical tests. He held out Zeke's arm and flexed it a few times. He then ran a vocal test, humming a few diatonic scales. "100 percent bodily functions working properly. Now initiating quantum power activation, limit removal tier two." As Niveus spoke the latter sentence the tattoo began to glow. The sentences he spoke were spoken out loud by Zeke's body, allowing for Misha to be able to hear Niveus for the first time

"I don't think you are a bad guy. Even if it seems that you took delight in killing a few people before, You have had a past that required you to be strong, and take delight in killing or you would have slowly lost your mind. Outside of a combat situation you are a nice guy, you barely even knew us and you were willing to help our group with money. You are a good guy, i have no doubt about it. Whether you believe that or not is a different story." Zeke said Their car kept a steady path on the freeway, ducking and weaving through the cars that were all heading the same way, but at a slower pace. Eventually they passed a sign that said Vertlyn 20 miles and one that also said Vertlyn Next 2 Exits. It was at this point that Zeke realized that it might not be as easy as just driving in through city limits. Zeke frowned once more. "So, I forgot to mention, but there is a very strong chance that Raiya has placed a magic ward around the city limits that, once I enter will most likely hex me in some way, and also alert Raiya that I enteredd. And the last time I spoke with Raiya she made it abundantly clear that if she caught me in Vertlyn again she would kill me. So it might be a death Hex. I am not sure what to do at this point."

Zeke's quirky smile immediately turned to a frown. "She's not bad looking, I suppose." Zeke said. "She has this long straight black hair that reaches down to the small of her back. And her bangs are kind of shaggy and get in her eyes sometimes. She wears her leather gang jacket that looks a bit different from the rest. The upside down cross on her jacket has two lines through it instead of one, the one further away from the bottom is shorter than the one closer. I believe that that jacket symbolizes that she is in charge, that she is the boss. Kind of like a general's uniform. I mentioned fishnet's before but she also wears this black jean skirt that has two long zippers going up the front. And she has deadly black stiletto heels to boot." Zeke said with a frown still. "Sure, she is pretty to look at. But you can only be thrown through solid concrete walls so many times by a woman before you start to think that a romantic relationship with her would not end with only a few thrown out CD's and her stealing your dog. She'd probably hex your dick off." Zeke said, motioning a hurt holding motion towards his groin area. "Yeah, I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole, but if you want to, by all means, go ahead."

"You don't have to worry about directions, the reason I gave up driver position now is because it is literally a straight-shot from here to Vertlyn. Just take a left out of this parking-lot and you'll be golden" Zeke said as he chomped on some more jerky. "Hmm? Girls? Well Lily is kind of cute in a geeky way, Hikari is also pretty cute and seems to be able to handle herself pretty well. Sayaa's asthetics are that of a very young girl and I don't really find that too attractive but I guess she is a bit cute in a platonic way." Zeke said, taking another bite of jerky.

Zeke grabbed a bag of jerky and set it on the counter along with Misha's chiclets. The familiar big burly Mordenic man with thinning hair, Vern was laying back with his eyes closed, a newspaper on the counter. Before Zeke could open his mouth, Vern's boisterous mordenic voice filled the room. "So the adventurer found a group to hunt down the relic with." Vern said, laughing heartily. "Uh, yeah. Astute as always, Vern. How'd you know it was a group though?" Zeke asked, confused. "Well, I didn't. Hah hah. It was just a guess, but it seems the guess was correct. I am glad you followed my advice" Vern said. "Will this be it?" "Yes, that is everything." Zeke said "That'll be $14.52." Vern said. Zeke handed the card over, Vern swiped it and handed it back. Zeke then handed the card back to Misha. Vern bagged the two items and handed the bag to Zeke. As Zeke and Misha were leaving Vern said, "Tell Raiya Vern says hello." "Wait. How do you- when did you- what- Never mind. I will." Zeke said and with that he went back out to the car and put the bag in the middle between the driver's seat and passenger seat. Zeke sat in the passenger seat and opened up his bag of jerky taking a few bites of the peppered beefy deliciousness.

Zeke took the card from Misha and marveled at it. Zeke wouldn't dare get a credit card with the funds he made doing his job at the Record Store, so even holding a credit card was a new thing to Zeke. The gas pump prompted Zeke to slice the card before doing anything else. Once he did, 3 buttons lit up allowing Zeke to choose which type of fuel he wanted from Premium to Regular Unleaded. Zeke thought about it and chose premium, thinking about the type of guy Misha was the most expensive fuel was no doubt the kind Misha would want. He pushed the button and opened the panel to the gas tank cap, and pushed in and unscrewed the cap. He then put the nozzle to the premium inside the hole and began to pump. The sharp smell of gasoline quickly filled the nearby air. Even though it was dangerous, Zeke always liked the smell of gasoline, though he didn't quite know why. Eventually the pump made a click sound indicating the tank was full. Zeke looked at the fuel indicator on the pump and saw the cost was $116.07. Zeke's jaw dropped, but he wasn't super surprised. The pump promptly printed out a receipt which Zeke fetched. He gave it to Misha and walked inside the gas station, waiting for Misha to join him.

The song ended and Zeke turned the music down to a dull roar. They continued on for about two hours. Zeke eyeballed the gas gauge and saw it was on completely empty, which was a surprise mainly because he hadn't payed any attention to it until now. Zeke saw the SletCo gas station from a few days ago. The one that Vern the Mordenic esper owned. Zeke pulled into the station and pulled up to the gas pump, putting the car into park and shutting it off. "So, I don't have any money, and I have no idea how much money it will be to refuel this beast." Zeke said. "Also, I am a bit hungry."

Zeke let out a laugh as well, as the inertia and rush of dodging in and out of traffic caused the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. "Yeah, I know of a gas station fairly close to here. I know the owner a bit, his name is Vern. A big burly Mordenic esper with the ability of clairvoyance." Zeke said. "And that's it for our lunch hour." The radio hostess said "Coming up next, Dragula by Rob Zombie" Zeke let out a, "WOO", and turned up the radio to close to maximum volume as Dragula by Rob Zombie began to play. Zeke sang along but as it was so loud, it was really more of a scream, "DIG THROUGH THE DITCHES AND BURN THROUGH THE WITCHES AND SLAM IN THE BACK OF MY DRAGULA!!!"

"I hope so, because this could be one of the stickiest situations I have ever been in." Zeke said. Zeke decided that they could get their faster if they sped. He didn't know how much power was underneath the hood but he felt it had some getup and go when he first shifted into 1st gear after the parking lot. Now shifting to 4th gear, he saw the spedometer go past 60 mph and keep rising going to 90 mph almost instantly and it was still rising. There were barely any cars on the freeway and he continued pushing the limit, the car reached 100 and went past 110 to 120. Things were starting to become a blur, but to Zeke with his enhanced reflexes now activated, he could zoom in and out of traffic to get past anything without a problem. "So yeah, I hope you don't mind, but I just wanted to see how fast this car could go. Seems it could go way faster even than what it is at now." Zeke said now getting his smile back.

It was at this point the thrill of sitting in the driver seat of a Luxury vehicle wore off. "It might be an exaggeration to say she is a god. She is more like, if the Devil had a daughter and she wore high-heels, fish-nets and a leather jacket." Zeke said with a grimace. Zeke pushed the clutch down with his left foot and shifted into reverse and then backed out and shifted into first. He made it onto the road and followed the traffic signs to find the way out of the city and onto the freeway towards Vertlyn. The ride was extremely smoothe, and definitely a world apart from his Ford Taurus. "She strongly hinted that if she saw me in her town again she would kill me. And, with her power, I have no doubt she could do it."

The car was already started by the time Misha made it outside. The radio was tuned to a rock station with a mix of oldies, and 90's grunge rock. When Zeke saw Misha exit the building, Zeke stepped out of the car and recieved his Baretta which he fixed to his belt. He then sat down inside and waited for Misha to situate himself in the passenger seat.

Zeke looked at the keys in his hand and gave a huge smile to Hikari and Saiyaa. "This is gunna be soooooo awesome." Zeke said as he shook the keys furiously like a baby with a rattle. "See ya guys. If anything happens or you need something send us a text." Zeke said as he walked for the door and joined Misha as they walked outside. They made it back to the hotel. "Hey, if you are going up. Could you snatch my Baretta on my nightstand for me? I will start the car." Zeke asked.

"ME? DRIVE YOUR SWEET CAR!? FUCKIN AWESOME!" Zeke exclaimed at the top of his lungs. In his excitement he realized that it was much too loud, and now everyone in the cafe was looking at him for shouting such language. "Well, lets get the show on the road, then." Zeke said as he stood up, eager to get behind the wheel of a luxury vehicle.

"Pretty much what Sayaa said. But, mostly it is that I am already on very thin ice with Raiya. Scratch that, I have broken through the ice and am beginning to sink to the freezing depths below. I believe that calling her would be a huge mistake we could not correct." Zeke said while finishing his breakfast and shake. "So, Misha. I was thinking that we could take your car, if we are going together, then. You always have the sweetest rides. I bet your car even has heated seats. Much better than my junker of a Ford Taurus." Zeke said.

Niveus returned, and with Niveus's return Zeke immediately felt the surge of consciousness and felt whole once more. "Oh!" Zeke exclaimed to the others. "Niveus is back!" As Lily, the Technopath stated, the outpost is indeed between Arven and Xevera in Axoana. That much is true, however.... This may be more of a problem than we thought previously. The layout of the facility consists of six above ground structures as well as a large underground complex. Niveus stated "So, what is the problem?" Zeke asked. There are about fifty to sixty highly trained guards. Those are just the foot soldiers, though. There is a group of higher ranking guards. Out of these eight high ranking guards, two are powerful magicians. Five of them are level 4 espers, and one (the teleporting esper Hikari encountered earlier) is a level 5. They possess too many forces. It would be much too dangerous for you to go up against them with just the forces you have right now. "Great!" Zeke exclaimed "Apparently, there are about sixty guards, and eight of them are super powerful espers and magicians. So, there is probably no way we can do this by ourselves. Which means, I am probably going to have to talk to Raiya." Zeke's expression quickly turned into a frown.

The food was placed in front of Zeke, and Zeke picked up his fork and began to eat. The western-style omelet was surprisingly well-cooked. The chef who cooked it obviously know what they were doing. He took a sip of his banana creme pie milkshake, bits of pie flowed in with the milk and liquified vanilla ice cream. This was the most fantastic milkshake Zeke had ever laid his lips on. He decided to take it slow with the shake to make it last as long as possible. "Well. This is quite possibly the best milkshake I have ever had." Zeke said with a great big smile on his face.

"I don't care how we get there, honestly. At least with Misha, I know we will be getting there in style. I am beginning to wonder just how long it takes to put a piece of pie into milkshake, though." Zeke said. As if on queue, Zeke's stomach growled ferociously. "Where the heck is our food?" Zeke wondered out loud.

"Well, the Quantum Beasts don't actually have a physical form, per se. He does have a body in my dreams, but I am almost positive that his form in my dreams is what he wants me to see him as. Or I could be wrong, it could be what I want to see him as. But I know that he isn't bound to a 3rd dimensional existence aside from my own, which would have normally been impossible without the help of the other Quantum Beasts. The forms they possess can't possibly be one that we could even comprehend. All Niveus did was project his essence. His essence is basically his mind, and mind isn't a visible or even tangible object." Zeke stopped talking for a brief moment. He realized that his vocabulary and speech skills were completely different than before. Almost more advanced. Had Niveus done something to me? Maybe he was whispering words to me in my sleep, or just placing them in my brain directly. "Needless to say, Niveus isn't tangible except through me. And so his essence can't be perceived by very many beings. He'll be fine."