"At the rate she's moving she'll make it here within the hour." Nadiel said aloud, but to no one in particular. Even under his new mask it was obvious that he was rolling his eyes in annoyance of the situation. "Hmph, and I thought she had learned her lesson after the last time." he continued, now drawing Crisis' curiosity away from Anna's tools which she had been toying with, and towards the incoming object whom she could now begin to hear and feel. Her stomach immediately jumped to life and began its tell-tale growling when she discerned the species of the intruder. "Not this time" Nadiel called, "this one is mine. I have business to settle with her." "You can tell who it is?" Anna chimed in, surprised herself that the new sighting system could gather that much information so quickly. "Yes," Nadiel replied, "I'm sure its her. There's only one broad I know hormonal enough to try a stunt like this a second time." Both Crisis and Anna seemed to have lost recollection of his previous bout with his former comrade, so Nadiel provided them with a visual aide. He lifted his shirt to reveal the scar that ran across his lower chest, even after all this time the Felaryan soil had not completely removed this gristly reminder of his past encounter. "Its the woman who gave me this" He explained. "Not to worry," he went on as he began to make his way forward to greet his new guest, "This time I hold all the cards, this will only take a minute." Unlike Anna, who promptly returned to her own business, Crisis didn't appear to have lost interest in dealing with the matter herself, both to solve the issue of her appetite and to be assured that Nadiel wouldn't end up being left half-dead in the middle of nowhere a second time. He took notice of this and spun around, pointing his finger directly at the center of her forehead. "Don't follow me." He warned in a firm tone of voice. Crisis squirmed in anxiety but remained in place, which was as good reassurance as any that at least for a little while Nadiel could work without her interference. So long as he didn't mess up, a little while would be all the time he needed, so he quickly vanished from the scene to get the matter sorted out.
For days on end Hebron had been endeavoring to track him, and had stirred up quite a commotion as she followed his roundabout trail through the jungle. She had beaten and bludgeoned every creature who stood in her way but had lost nearly all of her patience and composure in the process. Unlike Nadiel, she was still not willing to play nice with the jungle's denizens, and carried enough ammunition to blast her way to her goal. However, at long last she was drawing near, and she still had enough rounds left to keep toe to toe with him. Her biggest weakness was that she believed herself to have the advantage of surprise, while in fact she had been watched for quite some time now. At some point she was confounded at the apparent lack of closure in distance between herself and the blip on the small hand-held scanner she carried. She stopped to examine it more closely, which gave Nadiel his opportunity to make his move. By the time she caught a brief glimpse of the light reflecting from his weapon it was too late to stop him from leaping down on her from above. Within a split-second she was already pinned to the ground, with Nadiel's boot over her throat and the tip of his bayonet incalculably close to her open eye. "Well, well, well..." he said with perhaps the most optimism he had fielded in what must have been ages, "What do we have here? This is hardly a good locale for sightseeing. Are you lost, little girl?" Hebron was quite peeved to be treated so callously, and in fact she was several years his senior so it had become obvious that he was deliberately insulting her level of wisdom, not age. "You bastard!" she angrily spat back at him, "I came all this way to warn you." "Is that so?" Nadiel asked, as he reached down and pulled her weapon from under her. "Then why do you need this monstrosity?" Her rifle was significantly more massive than his own, the Celeste II. Nadiel had difficulty holding it with just one arm so he sheathed his weapon and inspected Hebron's instrument, barely keeping it level even with both arms. "A full railgun? Where did you manage to find something like this I wonder..." "Its name is Belial." Hebron interjected, "It was made specifically to overpower you and your new friends." "By whom?" Nadiel questioned, as he spotted the scanner she had been using to find him. "Neither of these contraptions could have been created by our village's forges, where did they come from?" Hebron hesitated to answer, but eventually said that she had managed to cross paths with a certain civilization whose underground base had come under threat from a certain someone and his gigantic blonde accomplice, and that they seemed more than happy to help equip anyone who was willing and able to get suitable revenge on the intruders. "You're kidding!" Nadiel said with a sigh, "The Delurans are still out for my head?" "They're not the only ones..."
Hebron proceeded to explain just how dire the situation was for her peer. Though the majority of the populace still clung to the rumor of his death, the few who knew he was alive were the ones he had the most to fear, for they were the ones with plans to make use of him to fulfill their own ambitions. "Lord Ellis wants you back, he has something planned but I don't know what. The only sure thing is that some magic trick you've learned is the linchpin of his operation." "Which Ellis?" Nadiel asked. "What do you mean which one!?" Hebron replied "There's only one left, his predecessors all died before you were born." Nadiel took his foot away from Hebron's neck and allowed her to get back on her feet, after which he returned her weapon, and drew his own. "Not long ago I would have believed you." he said as he gripped the Celeste II more tightly, "But not anymore." Just to prove his point he tapped into the seal for a brief moment, just long enough for the whole rifle to light up and sound with their ancestor's voice. Hebron didn't know what to make of it. "Is that really... him?" she just barely worked up the courage to ask. "Correct," Nadiel answered, "That was the voice of the real Ellis, matter of fact he's been getting talkative lately. I don't know what his grandson wants from me, but he has his own wants and needs." But suddenly Nadiel's attention was drawn away from the conversation. His free time was up and in a matter of seconds he would once again be under naga supervision. He immediately took cover behind the closest tree before checking that Hebron had done the same, but she was nowhere to be found. "Damn it all!" he whispered to himself, "This is what she was waiting for."
Immediately he put his mask to work to do a complete movement scan of the area, just as he had predicted but had hoped not to see, the two nearest contacts were moving towards eachother at great speed. He spun his rifle's cylinder to chamber the few regular armor-piercers he had left, using one of his angelic shells would be messy for both himself and his target. After he was locked and loaded he dashed as quickly as he could to the scene of the confrontation. Crisis had met face to face with a figure who at first glance appeared to be the same gruff but lovable man that she had been watching over. It took her a few moments to realize that the scent was subtly different and that the symbol on the back of her cloak was not the Nadiel family's emblem, the easily recognizable vertical eye, but instead her own family's crest, which resembled three tetrahedrons laying side by side. But only when Hebron began to growl with anger and lift her weapon did Crisis realize that something was truly amiss. Her railgun hummed to life and electricity crackled along the length of its barrel. "You're the one, aren't you?" Hebron furiously demanded, "You're the one who stole his sanity! I'll kill you!" The smile didn't fade from Crisis' face, she merely tilted her head in curiosity. She didn't even seem to understand how easily Belial's bolt could turn her brains to jelly. Hebron began to tear with rage as she took aim. "Now I'll finally set him free..." she screamed as her finger drew close to the trigger, but just before she could reach it another rifle's roar could be heard. Three of Celeste's needle-like bullets perforated the length of her forearm, disrupting her aim and sending her own projectile just over Crisis' ear. Before the dust could settle Hebron had the tip of Crisis' tongue at one side of her throat and Celeste's razor edge at the other. "Treacherous little wench!" Nadiel barked into her ear, "Is this asinine hunting trip your real reason for coming all this way? Is it?" Hebron said nothing, she was left speechless, shaking in fear with tears streaming from both eyes. Nadiel lowered his weapon and returned it to its holster, then stepped away. "Crisis, she's all yours." he said as he began his solemn march back to the great tree. Hebron gasped, but her taciturn remained in effect.
Right as she was welcomed into the warm embrace of Crisis' mouth, she finally managed to utter a word.
"Monster..."
Subject: Ch. 12 -Sacrificial Lamb 
Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:35 pm
