Prologue

Aalis gave a soft smile as Pyromancer willingly shook her hand, a relatively normal response considering what she usually dealt with.  She briefly recalled the notes she had read about this man, detailing that he had murdered a small group of children in cold blood when he was still at a young age, and after being captured for a few years, somehow managed to escape.  Apparently, his endeavors still ultimately lead to him being captured again, but her notes did not detail why he was kept alive.  Aalis could only conclude that he still had some use to the CIS.

Despite her lenient attitude towards superhumans, the fact remained that many captive superhumans were murderers.  This was something she did not need to be reminded of, but she did not show any hesitation.  Although she didn't look it, she was quite capable of self-defense if it came to it, something not recognized by most people outside of the Holy Church.

"That's French candy, called a bonbon.  I have more, if you want some."  Aalis maneuvered herself across the room and pulled the chair from under the desk, which thankfully was not attached to the ground, and brought it to the side of Pyromancer's bed so that they were directly facing each other.  "I've read a little bit about you, but I don't have the full picture.  Would you care to tell me about yourself?  You do not need to tell me anything you don't want to."

Johnathan shook his head, "There is nothing to say that you don't probably already know."  He cleared his throat and pressed himself against the wall.  Aalis' proximity was jarring, and he wasn't used to people that he didn't even know being so interested in him.  He looked down at the candy in his hands and begin to twirl the wrapper.  A bonbon hu?  I've heard of those.  With her out of the picture, he could concentrate more efficiently.

"I was born in Massachusetts, to Donald and Mary Cook.  I lived what I think is a pretty normal life for a boy up until..."  Johnathan darted his eyes towards her, "What's the point in all this?  You people already know everything about me.  I've already given you everything I can.  You know it."  He folded his arms, holding the candy tightly in his left hand.  She knew what he did, and there was no getting around that.  He couldn't carry a conversation with someone who knew that he killed people.  He couldn't help but be extremely defensive and paranoid.  Everyone else on this ship probably hated him and wanted him dead rather than putting up with the trouble to transport a few people like him back to the United States.  He was scared of them.

This woman was dressed like a priestess, and Johnathan couldn't think of any reason why a CIS agent would bother to dress like that; but at the same time, he couldn't understand why a priestess would be on board a prison ship in the first place.  The thought of a reading of his last rites came up, but that would be too dignified for the CIS to pull off. His eyes bounced around the room and his body movements were sporadic.  He couldn't bare to look at this person again, but every conscious effort to downplay his nervousness only made him feel worse.

"I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to be rude.", Johnathan muttered.  He shook his head, "You have to understand that our lives are different from the rest of humanity.  I, in particular, have been completely isolated from what anyone would consider 'normal'."  He continued, "I don't know what you're looking for, but asking me won't yield anything.  I don't even know why I'm here... It wouldn't surprise me if you knew more about me and what I can do, then what I have ever remembered experiencing."

"Awaiting orders Father" states Buster over the radio; the ship was directly below the transport and was about to commence the operation, White Beard was in the Boarding tunnel A with the Infiltrator and Search teams. "Good... Infiltrator team, i want this as quite as possible" White beard looks at the assembled men and women in the tunnel, the tunnel lurches as it starts to ascend to the bottom of the transport.

There is a small clang when the tunnel met the hull, immediately the engineer starts cutting a U into the hull. After a few seconds the engineer get 2 magnets and uses them to fold the hull inward. without a word the infiltrator team steps through.

Devin stares blankly past the infaltration team with two loaded pistols in each hand. His music could be heard softly behind the noises of the of the blowtourches. The look on his face was that of no thought at all.

"Hahaha you know your going to loss it right?" The figure sitting in a chair in a dark room "so you think you can hold back the urge?" He laughs darkly. " shut up apport I dont want you messing with my mind right now." Apport smiles "but devin im always messing with your mind so relax and just enjoy your self, let go and......" devin interupts "I said SHUT UP!!!!" "Fine then ill back off just dont cry to me when you kill all your little friends hahahaha" apport chulkes while walking past devin ignoring his presence and vanishes in a dark mist.

Devin as is snapped from a trace blinks a couple times shaking his head. "Damn him" he then turn around to meet up with sheara.

He finds then further back in the hall way sheara giving orders on the misson on hand " hey what do you need me to do sheare?"

"I want you protect the search team while they look for the cells, the search team don't have much fighting experience so they will need you" she says. "I'll be there as well but i cant watch over all of them" 

Corona steps through the wall along with the rest of the team, she throws up a hand signal and the team splits into two groups and fans out. they appear to be in a hallway, her squad moves up to a corner and she makes a peak around it. The hallway was clear 'this may be easier than i thought' she thinks to herself, the other squad hits and dead end so they double back to merge with the main force


Corona's voice come on the radio "The path is clear so far Old man" white Beard grunts and steps through wall along with the search team, with only one way to go the force starts moving forward.

James Marshal didn't very much enjoy the sea, despite being on a planned month long voyage back to the United States.  That is why, instead of surveying the ocean on the main deck, he confined himself in the control room.  Still, he couldn't complain, because he would most certainly be rewarded upon arriving home.  Capturing and subduing superhumans was quite a big deal for the CIS, and he had managed to catch three in a single trip with no extra assistance other than his own men. 

He took off his glasses and rubbed the lens, taking proper care not to mess with the encased button on the side.  Of course, the button itself was just a way to connect to The Wired, which then allowed the actual button to be triggered.  This trigger held the life of a certain Igna Petrov, and was a primary reason she was under CIS control.  She was an incredibly valuable asset to him, and although he sometimes felt a tinge of guilt for his role in controlling her, he was simply doing his job.  

And a good job he was doing.  Maybe a promotion was waiting for him back home.  A lucrative one, even.

As he thought this and laid back in his chair, he noticed something peculiar happening on one of the cameras.  A group of people with what appeared to be guns.  Guns?  Wait - GUNS?

James jumped out of his seat and took a closer look.  He could recognize the face of one of the women.  

"Mother f-"

--------------------

Aalis sat in silence while Johnathan seemingly snapped, but her expression didn't much change.  In fact, she wasn't offended or put off at all.  As he cooled down a bit, she lifted her hand and gently pat him on the head, as if she were coddling a puppy.  She did not mean it to be demeaning even if it were possibly interpreted that way - but, just for a moment, he did seem like some lost puppy.

"The only thing I know is confined to a third-person party; furthermore, I don't know what you think of what you've done."  Aalis removed her hand lest the contact become unwelcome, and continued, "I am not part of the CIS.  Perhaps you'll find me a more understanding listener?"  She posed the question once again in an attempt to have him continue.

"In exchange, I'll tell you about mys-" 

In the middle of her sentence, Aalis was suddenly cut off by a loud voice over the intercom.  She immediately stopped talking and listened, her attention diverted very quickly.

"Attention all personnel, this is a Code Silver.  All personnel are to report to the deck as soon as possible.  I repeat, all personnel, report to the deck as soon as possible.  There is potentially a Class-1 superhuman on board.  I repeat, all personnel, report to the deck as soon as possible.  This is a Code Silver."

Code Silver?  Aalis wasn't quite familiar with the terminology, but she recalled that it meant an armed assailant.  But a Class-1 superhuman?  Class-1's were those superhumans who were the most wanted dead or alive by the CIS, and the number of class 1's was extremely few.  She quickly put two and two together, as there'd only be one group that would have the power, capacity, and audacity to attack a CIS transport like this.  But what would they want, attacking a mere transport ship?

Her eyes trailed back to Pyromancer, who very conveniently, just so happened to be a capable superhuman that the pirates would love to recruit.  If that were the case, then they'd certainly be headed -

Aalis jumped from her seat, knocking it over in the process, and checked the glass window on the door leading outside.  The CIS employee that was posted there was no longer there, having probably ran to the deck as soon as the announcement began.  They were alone for now.  How much did Pyromancer know?  Could he tell that these pirates were trying to release him?  If so, he'd probably resist.  But if not...

She looked back at Pyromancer and held out her hand.

"Care to go to the deck with me?"

Devin smiles at sheara "that all this will be the easist jon ive done in a while." He puts away his guns and takes the rear of the party." So we headin to the cells first right?"

Johnathan looked around startled, and didn't know what was going on.  The ship is being assaulted... by what?  he thought to himself.  He looked up at the only person that had shown any interest in him in a while, and nodded his head.  He didn't feel like he had many options.  He considered that this could be his chance to escape, but he didn't know anything about the attackers, or what a 'Class-1 Super Human' meant.

Johnathan sprung up from the bed and stood next to her, ready to follow.  He let his hands lose their grip, and a pinch of dust fell out of his left hand.

White Beard's eyes go up as the announcement is made on the coms, "Damn brats, now its going to get noisy" he thinks to himself. He follows close behind the infiltration team as they round the corner. Even with the alarm sounded there was still no one in their path. After going down one more hallway they find the door to the cell block, the infiltration team quickly dispatched the guards but one of the men was wounded. "Take him to our ships Med Bay" commands White Beard, he looks at the overbearing door 'quite the feat for security' he thinks himself.

He sizes up the door and pulls his hand back, a sphere of concentrated air appears around his right hand, he throws the punch. It makes contact, it cracks like a window being hit with a bat, after a second the door explodes inward. "Infiltration team i want you to take up defensive positions inside the door, me and the search team will look for the prisoners". Corona nods her head and starts to direct the team to their positions.

White Beard starts walking down the central path with Sheara and the search team close behind.

Devin couldnt help but chuckle thinking to himself "looks like its true age is before beauty haha" smiling he he brings up the rear of the search team try to come up with clever puns for the situation. "Cant wait till i get to kill thing" he thinks excitedly while a big menacing grin appears on his face he pulls out two differnt colored desert eagles one black the other silver "wonder who will get the first kill yin or yang" again thinking to himself " thats good need to remember to write that down.

While all this was going through his head he continues to follow the group. At some point he started huming along the current song it sound very up beat , bouncy and cheerful. It even got to a point to where with pistols still in hand he was playing a air trumpet solo. After the solo ended he realized one of the men were watching him act like a moron so he smirked and regained his composer not stoping humming to the melody of the song.

As many of the CIS personnel gathered around James Marshal, the man regained his train of thought enough to finally figure out what was going on.  

"Alright everyone!" James Marshal yelled out in his old field general voice, "I need everyone to form up and prepare themselves for combat.  The enemy is down below near the engine room and might be making their way to the prison cells.  We absolutely must stop them.  Lethal force is authorized."  

As the personnel dispersed, James scanned the area filled with people in search of Rosebud, but she was nowhere to be found.  

"Dammit, where the hell is she..."

---------------------

Aalis was pleased that Johnathan Cook was willing to cooperate, but the moment was short-lived as she turned her attention to the problem at hand.  A loud thud resonated throughout the room, shaking the metal floor itself.  Aalis peaked through the doors window and saw the source of the noise - the metal door leading to the prison room laying flat on the floor - and a group of men wielding guns and a larger man in the middle.  Whitebeard, just as she had thought.  They were searching the cells for captives, and no doubt they'd make their way to this small room eventually.  There would be nowhere to run, and even if she could, she was not the kind to run away from petty, lawless thieves.

She turned back towards Pyromancer, and finally realized that he was actually quite confused.  
"That's Whitebeard out there, a famous pirate and enemy of the CIS.  I'm going out there to buy time.  If you have any desire to seek redemption for your sins, then do not come out, no matter what."  She whispered just loudly enough for him to hear.  As she moved to open the door and confront the enemy, she stopped mid-action as if having a sudden last second thought.  She turned back around and handed Pyromancer another piece of candy.  "Make sure you eat this one."  

Aalis opened the door gently so as to prevent unwanted aggression, and lifted her arms slightly to show that she was unarmed, and addressed the intruders.
"Hello, my name is Aalis Odile.  I'm a representative of the Holy Church, you may know me as The Knight of the Holy Orders.  You are interfering with a joint CIS and Church mission.  I ask that you leave at once, lest there be further conflict."  She spoke with an air of authority despite the situation at hand, and although willing to negotiate, she did not appear afraid.  "You still have time.  If you leave now, the Holy Church may overlook this whole ordeal."

Seeing where this holy nutcases came from he saw a window in to the prison hold "hmm since i have no vendetta aganst the holy morons I'll just be useful another way."

He turns around makes for the first turn and stops closes his eyes picturing the room he just say and in a matter of seconds he appears in the room the preistess had just came out off. " cool now to get to business." In the room he sees a  young kid inside thinking to himself "now that brings back memories" he put a finger to his lips.
.
"Hey kid wanna get out here?" He smiles and the youth extending his hand. "I know a great icecream shop" he smirks at the inside joke.

White Beard looks at the young priestess, she was pretty and seemed to know who he was. White Beard startles a deep chuckle which then turned into a laugh, "Church-brat if i did not want to interfere with a CIS mission i would not have bothered to come this far." he stops laughing a stares her down with his yellow eyes "And your right I still do have some time, and you are STALLING IT!" he slams the butt of his Bisento on the floor sending a circle of dust to expand and dissipate after a few seconds. "I would suggest you move church-brat before you waste more of my 'time'."

"..."

Aalis paused for a moment and stayed silent, thinking of her next action.  Although it was clear to her that she couldn't win, she also couldn't abandon her duties.  The answer was pretty clear, but she couldn't help but hesitate for a moment to contemplate the utter uselessness of resistance.  Still, she said she would buy time - and if this was the only way, then it would have to suffice.

"If you will not leave...  Then I will show you why The Church gave me the title The Knight of the Holy Orders."  Aalis lowered her hands from her previous pose of surrender, and at the same time, her hands began to glow slightly as she injected mana into what appeared to be written pages.  The Holy Church called these apparent normal pieces of paper 'Holy Scriptures', and they allowed a magus to instantly conceptualize and use specific Holy Magic.  In this case, the Holy Scriptures formed into a pair of Black Keys - two in each hand.

Black Keys were ideally throwing throwing weapons used against non-human creatures, and they were able to pin such creatures down by nailing the shadow.  They could also be used in melee due to being durable weapons created by mana, but they were inefficient in comparison to actual weaponry such as swords.  

Aalis gauged the distance.  She did not have much room to maneuver around, which would normally be her greatest advantage.  Even so, her only objective was to buy time, and buying even a minutes worth of time would be considered a win in her book.

She bent her legs slightly forming a defensive position, and stared Whitebeard down, waiting for him to come to her.

White Beard looks at the church-brat, "she isn't going to move is she' he thinks to himself. He grins menacingly "i guess i could toy with her for a minute", he heaves his Bisento into a overhead striking position, a sphere appears around the blade and begins to making a low whizzing sound. And with a heavy swing he flings the sphere towards the church-brat. It errupts just in front of her, the air in front of her shatters like glass and a shock wave bursts out of the fracture towards the church brat

Aalis braced herself instead for impact instead of attempting to dodge the incoming attack, as she wanted to gauge his abilities power.  Her arms covered her face, but instead of some great impact, the shockwave sent a flutter of wind no greater than 20mph - hardly shoving Aalis away.  Her hair and clothes were affected and fluttered back, but the impact caused no noticeable damage.  

'He's not being serious.' Aalis thought, knowing that was the only reason for him to use such a weak attack.  However, if that was how he wanted to play, then that was fine for her.  She did not want to engage fully either.


Aalis stood upright out of her defensive position and threw two Black Keys directly at Whitebeard, each a few centimeters apart from the other and moving at bullet-like speed.

Inga was in her room, attending to her plants.  She was nibbling on a grooming tool while tenderly massaging her latest project.  A soft tune emulated from her throat, and she cheerfully bent down to smell the flower.  Small escapes from her surroundings like this, made life bearable.  She took the tool out of her mouth and began to brush up the leaves.  It had been a while since she had gotten to tend to her plant properly, and it's yellow petals had been damaged on the trip.  She placed the tool down and cupped her hands over the flower.  A small green glow began to emanate from her hands, and she closed her eyes to concentrate.  Killing is so much easier than -

A loud siren pierced the silence and Igna's eyes shot open in disgust.  She turned towards the speaker in the hallway as if it could see her scowling it.  "Attention all personnel, this is a Code Silver.  All personnel are to report to the deck as soon as possible.  I repeat, all personnel, report to the deck as soon as possible.  There is potentially a Class-1 superhuman on board.  I repeat, all personnel, report to the deck as soon as possible.  This is a Code Silver."  Igna jumped out her chair, knocking the plant over.  She quickly turned around and began to walk out of the room.  Her footsteps were drowned out by the siren, but not even such a distracting noise mattered to her.  Igna's mind was focused and she immediately understood the gravity of the situation.  As she made her way quickly to James, she reached into her coat and pulled out a vile.

________________________________________________________

Johnathan stared blankly at the strange man's hand.  Ice...cream..., his mind was scattered.  He slowly backed away, with a frightened expression warped on his face.  He pushed Devin to the side and managed to enter the hallway.  He looked back at Devin and muttered too quietly for even himself to hear over the siren, "You...you're here to rescue me?".  He looked back down at the bon bon in his hand.  Where did the priestess go?  He turned around and saw a ridiculously large man in the window.

Who is that man?  Is he the Class 1 Super human this alarm is going on about?  Johnathan wondered to himself.  Within a few seconds, he came to a conclusion as to what was happening.  "Hey!"  He shouted to no effect.  "Hey!  Hey!" he shouted again, but this time throwing the door open and running out in the hallway.  He sprinted out in the middle of the two of them and then side stepped in front of Aalis.  "LEAVE HER ALONE!" he commanded.  His impulses  had gotten the best of him again, and he realized the mistake he had made.  This thing, whatever it was - towered over him.  He gazed up at Whitebeard, and scowled.  The choice was already made, and he wasn't going to allow White Beard to hurt her.  His heart sank in, and he could feel his veins pulsate, as if his blood was twice as thick.  In that moment, he glimpsed just past White Beard, and screamed.

A monstrosity unlike anything Johnathan had ever seen before stood in the background.  A large red mane of withered petals was draped around its neck, and all along in what should be a face, was a thousand razor sharp teeth.  A putrid mix of saliva and ooze dripped from it's 'mouth' and covered the floor it was standing on.  It's body was composed of twisted vines and branches for a bone structure.  The ends of its appendages were crowned with thorns and spores.  Even without eyes, it seemed to be staring at him.  A dozen or so of similar beasts slithered from the rear of the invasion party, and the one at the head let out a deafening screech.  Johnathan looked back up at White beard and gasped "What...what are you people?!!".

_________________________________________________________
Back up at the top of the ship, Igna raced towards James.  She whipped her hair back and said plainly to him, "What's the sitrep?"  Though calm, there was a profound sense of urgency in her voice.  "I've dispatched a small force to buy us some time, I hope."

White beard looks down at the little man rushes before him, and gets between him and his opponent. The little man looks behind White Beard and screeches, shocked at such actions he turns on his heels and looks at the creatures behind his family "These creatures are not of mine" he says over his shoulder to the little man. 

"Sheara get your people behind me and make a firing line" commands White Beard, as the Search team starts to move they are immediately pounced on. One of the creatures launches itself at the crew but before it could even make contact White Beard appeared in front of it with his fist pulled back. A whizzing sphere appeared around his hand, before the creature could react he punched it down into the steel floor crushing it utterly as the sphere exploded with power.

He pulls his fist out of the mess on the floor and twirls his Bisento experimentally, waiting for the next attack

Devin silently swore to himself "he couldnt come quietly huh?" He walked out the room with both yin and yang in his hands. "guess conflicts the only way apport."

As he steps out of the cell. he finds the religous windbag and oldman instead of fight, faceing the other direction he counst help but ask the priestess "hey what you starin at holy knight?"

Aalis watched in disgust as the strange abominations clashed with Whitebeard and his crew.  Although she was no ally of Whitebeard, she also did not wish to assist the creatures, which reeked an inhuman, demonic stench.  At the end of the day, her dedication was to the Holy Church and not to the CIS, and she could not simply turn away from her traditional beliefs.

"Hey what you starin' at holy knight?"

Aalis jumped slightly in surprise as someone exited from the room that was previously empty.  However, her senses came back to her, and she quickly deduced that he must have some sort of movement or intangibility based power in order for him to have so easily passed without her notice.  She pointed in front of her beyond Whitebeard to the abominations.

"Some form of strange creature.  Although I do not wish to help you criminals, I also cannot approve of such malignant beings, either."

____________________________

James nodded at Igna, relieved that his guard-dog was by his side again.  

"I have my men going down to the cell room to confront the enemy.  Come with me, Igna, we'll block their escape to the submarine."  

James unholstered his own handgun, a CIS issued weapon designed with state of the art technology mostly used by Agents and high-ranking officers.  Its sleek design was impressive and intimidating at the same time.  

"After you, Igna.  We'll get a big reward for taking Whitebeard down."

Inga nodded her head and flashed a smile at the prospect of a large bounty.  She didn't much care for it herself, but she liked James enough to encourage him.  She quickly ran down the bridge to the stairs.  She should be in the cell room in a minute at this rate.

______________________________________________________________________________
Four of the creatures roared and charged at the invasion squad, while five others ran into the main room to confront Whitebeard, Aalis, Devin, and Johnathan.  The monster with the rose main charged forward, hurdling straight for the group, arms flailing.

The foul creatures charged the party, the search team opened fire unloading vast amounts of rounds in the span of a few seconds. The monsters paid no attention to the hail of lead and continued on their frenzied charge. White bead dispatched on of the creatures with a quick slice of his Bisento. one other fell prey to the lead flying through the air and fell with a roar to the ground.

One creature leaps towards White beard, its maw dripping with what appeared to be saliva. It latched onto the White beards left fore arm, he tries to shake it off but to no avail. Frustrated White beard forms a sphere around his right hand and punches it square in the stem. The creature flies off with astounding speed and crashes into a nearby cell.

seeing these creatures of some kind he frowns "hmm more CIS abomination." he thought to himself. " he turns to the priestess with a blank face "well I'll be taking my leave then." he turns to the kid raising his voice so he could hear him "hey kid wanna get out of here? Its kinda dangerous right now.'

Laura is sitting on the bench in her cell when she feels a shock go throughout the ship then the sound of the explosion came, the sound assaulted her ears. After she regain her senses she waits and listens intently, she hears talking followed shortly with another smaller explosion. She gets up and looks through her cell bars trying to see past other row of cells in front of her. 

Laura flinches as a bloodcurdling screech slices through the air, and the sound of gunfire erupts and another explosion is heard. Before she can peer further into the darkness a something bursts through the cell in front of her and continues its path to her. She jumps back and twists in the air and lands with a heavy thud on her gut with her hands on her head, after the dust settles she gets up and with horror sees the plant monster on a few inches away from her.

Seizing the opportunity she escapes through the hole created by the monster, as she climbs out she looks at the cell in front of her and sees through the hole a giant of a man with a large spear like weapon "it cant be..." she mutters to herself in disbelief and creeps closer to the cell and peers through the hole.
                                                                                                                                                     

White Beard punches the air and it shatters like glass, the creatures in front of him are sent flying. The search team continues its barrage of bullets.

Devin notices the kids unwillingness to follow him so he shrugs "suit your self" with that he walks back into the cell.

Walking into the room he closes his eyes and pictures the area behind the CIS creatures and in a matter of a second he was looking at the fray in the perspective of the creatures. smiling he turns around yelling back to the old man "I believe you have this covered." He begins walking down the hall and at the intersection he makes a left instead of a right to find a way further up the ship then to himself he chuckles lets go find the guy in charge here. 

Making many twists and turns and only a few bodies behind him he finds a stairwell going up the a higher level of the ship. he spot a woman with long black hair run past him he freezes and gives a nerves sulte as if he was intimidated and keeps moving forward.