Prologue

The sea currents gently sung a lullaby through the hull of the submarine as the giant figure sat in his chair looking at the flat screen monitor at the front of the bridge. The gentle swaying of the submerged craft made the ale in his mug swirl slowly, the figure glances over his bridge operators who are busily performing the everyday tasks. "When will we arrive at the intersect point?" said the figure in a growl of a voice, Buster (the vice-captain) turns and places his hands behind his back and says "should be a matter of an hour or so at the current heading Father" "Good, we can't miss this transport. If the information is correct there should be some wrongfully imprisoned people aboard" said the figure slowly. 

The giant of a man looks to his right at the figure of the mercenary and says "this information better ring true brat" and takes a deep breath of oxygen.

The mercenary looks up a dark smile on his face replies "dont have a heart attack old man the infos good" with a smirk he finish "trust me" he then proceeds to walk out the room to his cabin.

Aalis sighed as she walked through the tight corridors of the S.S. Anne, flipping through the pages of the portfolio in her hand.  Her eyes briefly scanned each page before turning to the next one, until she eventually landed on a photo of a woman with long black hair, very similar to her own.  The name on the photo was "Rosebud", though Aalis knew that this was simply a codename of sorts.  The bit of text below the picture went into some minor detail about the threat level of Rosebud and a little history, but was otherwise unhelpful.  She didn't know why she stopped on this page particular - maybe because her hair was so similar?  Aalis turned the page again, trying to find the section containing information on the captured superhumans.  

Aalis was designated as the Holy Church's "sponsor" for this mission - in other words, she was supposed to keep tabs on the inner workings of the CIS dominated mission.  Her surface-level job was to talk with the captured superhumans, but this was mostly a facade and had no real merit in and of itself as far as the Holy Church was concerned, but she was still eager to complete her tasks.  It could be seen as a triviality, but she thought that spreading some form of hope, even if only a little, to captured superhumans was a task worthy enough of her time.  Of course, most superhumans didn't see it this way and thought of her as more a nuisance trying to jam her faith down into other peoples throats.  If only they knew the real intent.

She finally stopped flipping through the portfolio as her eyes spotted the section labeled 'Unstable Superhumans'.  'Unstable' meaning superhumans who were not yet captured and institutionalized by the CIS, of course.  There were three superhumans listed here, presumably captured by the CIS in their latest mission, and this convoys purpose was to deliver these superhumans to a CIS base to institutionalize or experiment on them for further use.  It seemed harsh, but Aalis knew that this was the better of the available options.  Better than being killed, at least.

Aalis looked up from her reading and looked around herself, realizing she was somewhat lost in this maze of a ship.  The CIS officials didn't give her much in the way of an introduction and seemed to want to get down to their own business as soon as possible, so she had decided to venture on her own...  This was apparently not the best idea.  

Off in the distance she noticed a figure with its back turned.  Long black hair.  What were the odds?  

Aalis approached the figure and tapped Rosebud on her shoulder.  "Hello, my name is Aalis Odile."  She extended her hand to be shook - and with her hand, a piece of hard candy with an absurdly fancy design for candy.  French dessert - a sign of friendliness, for her.

White Beard listens as the steps fade away and redirects his attention to the monitors in front of him, he watches as everything that was happening in the ship became visible before him. He notices the food supply is running a little, "Buster... we need to go topside after this mission and get supplies" he rumbles. Buster nods "Indeed, there should be a port on the coast of China safe enough for us to resupply". White Beard continues watching the monitors and sees the intersect path and the ETA, "Old man we need to need to surface for fresh air, we shouldn't be noticed this far out in the ocean" says Sheara as she walks into the room, White Beard nods his head and slowly says "Yes i think we all could use a little break from this tin can, Buster take us up"

The ship breaks the surface sending resting seagulls scattering in all directions, White Beard grabs the transmitter and speaks for all to hear "We have gone topside, all stations take a break and enjoy the air". This is greeted with cheers echoing throughout the ship, "Raise my chair topside Buster and you can join us as well" states White Beard. Buster nods as the command chair begins to rise through the roof as a hatch opens to the sunlight outside.

White Beard closes his eyes and basks in the rays of the sun, Sheara clutches tightly to his arm as the chair passes through the hull of the craft and jumps off as they finally stop on top of the hull. The weary crew came out in waves to enjoy the light of the sun. Almost immediately the booze started to flow but few drank more than two cups for they had an unspoken rule to never get drunk while on board the ship. A few of the female crew came out in bathing suits and laid out some chairs to tan on. most of the men just laid up on the hull.

The mercenary joins the crew up top after he stops be his cabin. A the moment he see the bright blue ocean sky and a lone seagull pass by he relaxes and walks to the nose of the ship and lies on his back head on his crossed arms to enjoy the pleasant sunlit and shuts his eyes to listens to the ocean's music

Inga Petrov was descending the staircase down to her quarters.  She had just come back from a debriefing on the bridge, and so her mind was preoccupied with what the captain had said.  This was a normal transportation mission, with most of the captives being your standard mucka-mucks and a few "highly volatile" subjects that required special attention.  The amount of unstable super humans was lower than normal, so her sense of urgency was even more lax than usual.  The only interesting element to this particular voyage was the priestess who was accompanying them.  She, along with the rest of the crew, was told to assist her in any way possible and assume that she has access to wherever she wishes to go.  Inga thought that this person must be very important, and it would be a pleasure to meet her.

Inga eventually made her way to the hallway containing her room.  She turned to the left and began walking down the long and grey path that was lined with metal tubes and valves.  The new collar around her neck was starting to irritate her, and she began to fidget with it.  Suddenly, she stopped and realized that she forgot that her room was actually to the right, not the left.  She began to mutter under her breath "It's so easy to get los-"

Inga felt a tap on her shoulder -
 "Hello, my name is Aalis Odile."
This woman then extended her hand to Inga, holding a strange candy in it.

Inga looked down at her hand, and didn't quite understand what was going on.  But this woman looked very much like her.  She grabbed the candy from the woman and dispatched it into one of her pockets.  "...Thanks."  Igna turned away slightly and began to scratch her neck some more.  "What's her problem?" Igna thought to herself.

Igna took one step away in bewilderment before it finally occured to her that Aalis was the name of the priestess.  "Oh..."
She turned around and replied "My name is Rosebud."  "Do you need anything?"

There were probably more formal ways to greet a member of the Holy Church, be Igna didn't have the consideration in her body to think about it.  She was too busy realizing that that candy was suppose to be part of the conversation.  Debriefings were not the only pointless human rituals that she had to wrestle with.

Aalis observed as Rosebud awkwardly turned away instead of replying, but Aalis was quite used to strange superhumans, so she was prepared to follow her to continue the conversation if that is what it came down to.  Luckily, Rosebud seemed to realize that this was called a greeting which leads to a conversation, so Rosebud turned around and replied.  Aalis smiled in a friendly manner and went off on a small tangent before addressing the actual point, "That's French candy, called a bonbon, by the way.  It's very sweet.  I have more, if you want some."  She pointed at her skirt-pocket, which actually had a slight bulge due to being filled with various assortments of French candy.

From a meta viewpoint, this tactic was actually a way for psychologists to get their customers to warm up to them and reveal more than they normally would.  Truth be told, however, Aalis just really liked French candy, and it was customary for her to give some to people.  

"I was wondering if you'd show me where they keep the...  Captive superhumans.  Maybe we can talk along the way, eh?  I'd like to get to know you a little better, since we'll be on this ship for a few days."

White Beard accepts a mug of booze from one of the nurses and takes a draft from it. He looks across the bow and sees the mercenary laying on the hull, "mercenary-brat... why come to us with this information?" White Beard places the mug back on the tray and nods his thanks to the nurse as she disappears into the belly of the ship.

Not showing any reaction to the question he replies quick "simply.... I have a grudge against those smug bastards" he slowly stands up and walks up to the captain "and besides yall were the closet at the time i gained this.....this nugget of knowledge." Turning around to look back up at the sun "not to mention you guys looked like fun" with a smirk he strolls back to where he was lying and started to hum an old sea song something about a sailor who fell in love with a seagull or something like that.

The priestess spoke,
"That's French candy, called a bonbon, by the way.  It's very sweet.  I have more, if you want some."

"I was wondering if you'd show me where they keep the...  Captive super humans.  Maybe we can talk along the way, eh?  I'd like to get to know you a little better, since we'll be on this ship for a few days."

...

Igna bent down a bit and looked over at her bulging pocket.  She replyed first with a soft "Oooh?"  Then she propped herself up to an upright position and answered with a prompt "Certainly."  Igna knew that she had no obligation to engage in chit chat with Aalis, but with literally nothing better to do - she decided to humor the priestess. 

"You were actually going down the right path, follow me."  Igna turned away with a forced grin and walk down the hallway towards the next staircase.  As she was walking, she inquired "So, what do you want to know about me?"  As she said this, she extended her hand out - waiting for another candy.  She was already interested in this woman just because she was different from the banal agents and captives usually around, but now there was a tangible chest of goodies to exploit.  Igna was going to take as many candies as she could from this strange woman.

The air in the ship was thick with boredom, and it was driving Igna mad.  She felt like she was wading in a quicksand of formalities since this ship took to the seas.

Hearing the mercenary sing a sea shanty cast the old man far back into his memories, he recalled a song that was known to all sailors. "Anyone here know 'Binks Sake'?" the crew all looked at the old man and one man in the back hollered "of course we do!" grinning widely White Beard started the first verse, singing in a deep baritone voice. "yohohoho yohohoho yohohoho" as the rest of the crew began to join in Buster showed up singing as well, he handed White Beard a keyboard. He looked down at the little keyboard trying to recall how to play it, the crew kept singing as the giant fingered a few keys. Suddenly it all came back to him.

He starts to hit the keys in accordance to the song as Buster sings aloud

Spoiler:

As the noise died down White Beard laughs heartily, the crew join in on the merry making. The party continued as the craft made its way along the ocean, putting the thought of the upcoming battle behind them for the time being.

Aalis nodded her head happily as Rosebud volunteered to escort her to the jail room.  She anxiously followed directly behind Rosebud, trailing just close enough to where they were almost touching and they could speak without others easily eavesdropping.  

Aalis noted Rosebuds extended hand and realized she was asking for more candy.  "Ooooo" Aalis purred excitedly, "So you like bonbons too?  You have good taste, I see...  Did you know?  This kind of candy has been around for 400 years."  She pulled out another piece of candy, this time wrapped in a silver plastic wrapper, and put it into Rosebud's hand.  Although excited about the prospect of another bonbon connoisseur, Aalis quickly got over her temporary moment of absent-mindedness and addressed Rosebud more seriously.

"Oh, but to the point.  I was looking at your profile earlier, Miss Inga Petrov.  Although I am not officially tasked to speak with you, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do so anyway." While speaking, Aalis fiddled around in her pocket and took out another piece of candy, this time for herself.  "Well, some of us at the Holy Church believe that superhumans can also be saved, despite them traditionally being thought of as malignant and only subject to hell or purgatory.  I don't think that's the case, though.  I mean, there is nothing you can do about your abilities other than to make the best of them."

Aalis paused for a moment, contemplating how to go about phrasing her next sentence.   "Have you ever considered accepting God's love?"

Igna made a dead stop in the hallway, and turned her head slightly so that she could see the priestess out of the corner of her eye.  She looked at the Bon Bon Aalis was holding with contempt - Did this woman just...?, Igna's mind began to wander.  There was a few seconds of awkward silence before her internal laughter escaped in the form of a small chuckle.  With a small nod, she looked back to the hallway and then started walking.  As she moved, she hummed "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

Igna scratched her collar and then added, "...Especially war dogs."  After some time, she said warmly, "You should stick to your assigned duties Aalis, I wouldn't want you to go around wasting your time."

Igna was not expecting to be evangelized to, and she usually hated the overly-religious types.  But she admired the priestess' earnestness, as it was a quality most people didn't espouse.  However annoying this woman may be, it was preferable to Igna than sitting in her room waiting to reach the destination.

Igna turned back once more, then asked "So, what are you doing here, anyway?"  She furred her eyebrows and cast out her hand for another candy.  Two succulent morsels jingled in her pocket, but that was not enough.  The destination was close at hand, and this little escapade would be over soon.

The mercenary at one point had joined in on the pirate's and for a change he was smile and actually enjoying the company around him, but as soon as he noticed this feeling he stiffed up and went to his regular blank face and rushed down below. Walking down the quite hallways up the ship he had his had covering his face reapeating the same phrase "your alone and you always will be." Then procceded to have a conversation with himself.

"Devin you cant let your guard down you know what happens when you do right?" Devin response meekly "but apport this could be where we belong think about they they all have something against the CIS and they dont treat us like scum." Devin flinches as if someone about to hit him then response " shut up you moron for one to them your only a temporary member so they will tolerate just for your information and two they dont treat you like garbage simply because you havent gone off yet....." devin frow but then his face turned to an evil smirk "remember your a ticking time bomb of choas, but cheer up at least it will be fun to watch it will be like killing fish in a barrel." with this said devin shivers in fear at the thought of the slaughter and response "not if i can help it apport!" With that he snaps back in to reality to notice he was in the mess hall.


There were a few pirates in here relaxing since givin a break some dancing on the table and drinkin some kind of ale devin proceds to take a seat at one of the empty tables he then pulls out a small note book and a pencil turns to about halfway till he finds an empty page and begins to write down thought and ideas try to find a way to peace.

Aalis stayed silent as Rosebud spoke, and eventually nodded her head in understanding of Rosebud's words.  It is not that Aalis had suddenly given up or succumbed to Rosebud's rejectful words; however, there did not seem to be any point in persisting.  There would time to continue later.  Just giving Rosebud time to think about it would be sufficient enough for now.  Aalis was still entirely confident that Igna - not the superhuman dog of the CIS called Rosebud - would be able to come around.  Not just as a matter of faith or God, but as a matter of self-esteem. 

To be ostracized from human society and declared not only inhuman, but inherently evil, was a plight that no doubt lead to self-depreciation and a level of cynicism. Aalis could only imagine what being subject to such prejudice would feel like.  Faith in a higher God, or even just the knowledge that there are humans out there who value superhuman life could be a sobering thought.  For now, that was enough.

"I was assigned to speak with the captive superhumans on this ship.  The Holy Church has gone through some change as of late and has been more accepting of superhumans, so it is possible that we will take them in - and this is something that is important to inform superhumans of, I think."  Aalis had almost unwrapped the bonbon in her hand by this point and was prepared to eat it, but noticed another extended hand from Rosebud.  Reactively, Aalis put the piece of candy into Rosebud's hand once again and briefly thought to tell Rosebud that eating too many could cause a plethora of health issues.  "Hope and morale is pretty important."  

"Of course, the unofficial and more legitimate reason is just to keep tabs on the CIS."  Aalis concluded, "But that doesn't make for a very friendly reason."

...
Igna stood in front of the security camera and waited for one of the prison guards to notice her presence at the door.  "Sorry that they're keeping you Aalis, most of the agents are still getting back to their posts.", she said apologetically.

Eventually the big red light turned green and a loud buzz echoed throughout the hull.  The door opened and a gust of air ran into the hallway.  Igna stepped to the side and gestured her hand towards the door.  "There are agents up and down this floating prison, so don't hesitate to ask them for help if you need it.  The most volatile super humans are in the very back of the room, past another door.  I'm not even allowed in there, but we've been given orders to basically let you do whatever you want."  She gave Aalis a look of mischievousness, and then ended with "If you need anything else, my quarters are in Room 2-39B.".

Igna promptly turned around and started to walk back up the stairway.  She looked back one more time and shouted, "Try not to give them too much of your candy!"  Igna then raced upwards; her mind fixated on the priestess.

As the song ends White Beard grins widely once more, one of the nurses holds up another cup of ale but he waves it away politely. At this time one of the bridge operators comes out of the ship and says "Father we have detected the transport ship, if we are to surprise them we need to dive quickly". White Beard nods in agreement and raises his voice over his crews noise "My children it is time for us to depart from the suns embrace for now, all hands need to report to their stations and get ready for battle." he pauses for a moment to let that sink in then continues "Let us hope that they give up quietly to avoid spilling the blood of my family".

"Buster would you lower me back to the bridge" he commands, Buster vanishes into the crowd moving inside the bowels of the ship. After a minute White Beard is slowly starts lower down into the bridge with Sheara on the side of the platform, the opening closes above White Beard and as the sunlight fades he is greeted with the glow of monitors. 






Corona watched as the mercenary walked into the mess hall and sat at one of the tables, she walked over and sat down across from him and said "If your hungry the chefs are really good for a pirate crew"

Devin flinches and responses by quickly closing the small book and putting both the book and pen in a pocket inside is his jacket and looks up with a smile "ill be fine but if you like to we could conversant for a bit."

"sure, we could tal-" at that moment the Old man come on the intercom "Corona... we have spotted the targeted ship. I would like you to come up to the bridge and help me prepare us for this raid". Corona looks apologetically towards the merc and runs off towards the bridge

Devin frowns and pulls out his book and pen and begins writing again "well I tryed being social" he mutters to himself

Aalis waved goodbye to Rosebud as she began to leave,
"Keep in mind what I said earlier.  We will be here for a while, so I will see you again.  When I'm done with my current duties, perhaps."  She didn't quite understand what Rosebud meant about the candy, but she dismissed it as a triviality.  Rosebud probably just wanted some more for herself later - an understandable sentiment.

Aalis proceeded to pass through the door and nodded at the CIS members posted there, presumably acting as prisoner guards.  One of the guards nodded back and arose from his post and gave her a salute.  "I'll escort you along the way."  He spoke in a flat tone, and although the sentiment was completely unnecessary, Aalis thanked him anyway.  No doubt it was his duty to escort people into the jail and he would not accept 'no' for an answer.

The jail contained about 26 cells in total, and according to her transcript, only 3 of those cells would be occupied at the moment.  2 cells in the main room were occupied, while another cell in the far back contained the third superhuman.  As she and the CIS employee walked along the pathway, she noted that the other unoccupied cells were quite dirty and did not seem nearly as well kept as the rest of the ship. 
'Better not think of that.'  She briefly thought as they reached the end of the hall.

"We try to keep this place as safe as possible, so you will have about 10 minutes total to speak with the Pyromancer, but you can speak with the others as you wish.  I'll be right outside watching.  Stay safe, priestess."  

"Thank you, I will signal you if I need anything." Aalis responded politely, "Please open the cell, as I prefer to not speak through iron bars."  The door separating the last few cells from the rest of the ship had only an extremely small glass mirror for vision, hardly enough to actually see a hand signal even if she made one, but Aalis decided not to comment on that lest she not be allowed to enter at all.  She entered the small room containing the last few cells, and immediately saw the occupied cell to her left.

The cell itself was rather small and had some kind of transparent material completely sealing off the cell from the rest of the room.  Inside the cell, Aalis could only see a few pieces of furniture: a sink and toilet, a bed, a single desk & chair, and a strange painting on the wall.  She didn't pay much attention to it, but it said something about god's being among us.  On the bed sat the one she had read about in her notes.  

He was a young looking male who looked hardly 18, and indeed, had a relatively average appearance in all aspects.  If Aalis didn't know better, she would have thought him just an average man.  But she did know better - he was actually a superhuman, and he had killed people in the past.

For a moment, she simply observed the captive until the cell itself finally opened as per her request.  She entered without fear and once again extended her hand, a piece of candy with it.  
"My name's Aalis Odile.  I'm a priestess assigned to speak with you.  Want some candy?"

Devin suddenly shut the book and puts it away, he then proceded to pull out an old beat up looking blue ipod sets a playlist called "memories" and placed in some black ear buds then places the ipod back in a pocket of his overcoat "well let's see what the old man has to say." 

While saying this he stood up closed his eyes and then vanished to reappear only a millasecond later in the bridge in a dark corner of the room out of sight with a soft sound of "giving up,giving up" playing in the background.

Johnathan was laying down on the uncomfortable bed, with a million worries dancing on his head.  Even though he had already been captured, it hadn't 'hit him' yet.  He buried his face into his hands and let out a despairing sigh.  This is really bad, he thought.  There was literally no escape from the CIS at this point and time, and he was trying to come up with a plan on escaping once they made it ashore.  His palms were clammy and shaking ever so slightly.  Just the idea of what could happen if he tried and failed to escape caused a knot to swell up in his throat.

He forced himself upright and then slumped back into the wall.  The temperature in this cell was very cold, and it was starting to get to him.  He wrapped his arms around his heavy clothing, the only possession he had left.  His mind rocked back and fourth like the boat, swinging from anticipation to regret - over and over until it boiled up inside of him.  He let out a cry, "Goddammit!" and slammed the wall with a tight fist.  The echoing steel soothed him enough to calm his emotions.

Suddenly, the door leading to Johnathan's cell opened, and his eyes widened like saucers.  "Shit!", he whispered to himself.  His immediate thought was that it was a guard coming to check up on him.  Johnathan had not done anything suspicious, but he couldn't control his impulse to remain unnoticed.  He assumed that if he started acting more volatile than he already was, the CIS might do something drastic.  The sound of footsteps inched closer and closer to the cell.  He looked around his immediate surroundings and notice the charred metal where he slammed his fist earlier.  "Are you kidding me?!", he muttered as he slid over to block the spot with his body.  He pressed his back against the wall, then slowly looked over to the entrance of the cell.

What Johnathan saw stunned him.  What should have been a stoic guard was replaced with a beautiful young woman dressed like some kind of priest.  He didn't know what to make of it - she might as well had been an alien.  He quickly turned away and blinked a few times.  The cell opened and she walked in looking quite confident to him, almost intimidating.  The strange woman extended her hand out, which had a candy in it.
"My name's Aalis Odile.  I'm a priestess assigned to speak with you.  Want some candy?"

Johnathan simply looked up at her in bewildered silence.  After a few awkward seconds, he finally came back down to Earth.  "Yes, please.", he said softly.  He reached out to shake her hand.  "My name is Johnathan Cook."

"Old man! why the hell are you taking off the medical equipment! You know you health deteriorates!" shouts Buster, White Beard shrugs off the concern while saying "What!? you want the enemy to surrender out of pity?". Seeing no way to convince the old man otherwise Buster let it go 'at least his health stays intact for awhile after removing the medicine'  Buster thinks to himself. 

At that moment Corona come in saying "You called Pops?", White Beard grins at the thought of all his children being here "Yes, I want you to get the Infiltration team ready and take them to the Boarding tunnel A. Buster I will be going in with them while you are in command of the ship. Sheara you will lead the search team to find the superhumans" 

White Beard looks at the circle of his leaders "may we all come back safe". White Beard notices the mercenary sneak in through the only door to the bridge in the corner of the bridge "hey brat, you will be going with the search team"

Devin looks up with a smirk "only if that what ya want me to old man" he walk out from the corner "lets get this over with shall we."