Base of Operations (Open to members of the regime storyline)

[Fate Mcloud]

At first Fate didn’t even notice that the letter had been taken from him, so intent was his focus upon the mind of the scurrying messenger. It wasn’t until the messenger was well clear of what Fate had learned was his range that he discovered this fact. When he finally did notice several thoughts immediately crossed the elf's mind and were almost as immediately dismissed. He had not dropped it, it had not been an illusion, and none of the soldiers were still alive to take it. More things occurred to him and were dismissed almost instantly, but all were either along those lines or were simply to foolish to put any real thought to. For a brief moment Fate turned to the window Jen had apparently crashed through. The snow was coming in still, now an inch or so high and spreading, as if winter itself were trying to reach inside the building, hoping to reclaim what had once been its domain. A sort of howling could be heard outside as the wind moved by, carrying even more snow in to the room. During that moment Fate realized it was cold and just as quickly realized it didn’t really matter to him. His body seemed to heal itself of any minor injuries that would be caused by such temperature, like frost bite, and his mind was such that ignored discomforts like the cold unless it became important or vital. Looking from the window to the person he had concluded to be the reason for the message’s abrupt disappearance Fate saw that indeed the women Jen had taken the letter and was now reading the message. He realized that he had been so heavily relying on his ability to see in to other peoples mind for a warning that he might as well have let this happen. And most assuredly instead of sharing the information, Jen was the kind to horde it over him, further compounding his error. Fate thought he could probably take it back, but at the moment they still needed to cooperate. An entire fortress of fanatic cultists armed to the teeth would be too much even for Fate and leaving now with nothing to show would set him back to far. They would be waiting for intruders at the other bases when word got out.

[Jen Li]

As time marched on uneventfully, I had to admit that I was starting to get a little wary of my surroundings and my company. My mind started to race with doubts, I didn’t know if I was just exaggerating before, but a cold, hard and a negative streak of emotions suddenly flooded in and overwhelmed my rationality and pride. I started to think, doubting myself, convincing myself that if Fate really wanted to, it probably wouldn’t have been too much of a struggle to get that letter from me and escape before I even had the chance to draw my blade or slice him in two. I didn’t know much about his kind, apart from the fact that all Vampires were completely full of themselves, but I was almost certain of the fact that they could best me pretty easily. Fate had already shown that I wasn’t much of a match to him, which naturally and annoyingly fuelled his arrogance all the more. Quickly the feeling of doubt and fear started to grasp hold of me, so I made sure my hand hovered lightly over my katana at all times, I was determined to be prepared.


The narrow sectors that we travelled through were starting to all look the same after a while with only a few small distinguishing differences telling each room apart. The hallways that we passed through were very much the same, narrow though lengthy with a wall of glass on one side and a wall full of fine art on the other. The wooden floor creaked softly underfoot, but nothing so substantial as to suggest that it would suddenly fall through under our weight as we passed over. It came over as a real shock then when the ground splintered beneath me and I could feel myself being sucked down into darkness below. Instinctively, although not immediately, I fired the chain from my hidden device and targeted the ceiling. I must have dropped a good couple of feet before my impulses kicked in, but I still had to hope that I wouldn’t hit the ground before the hook caught. Still, there was something else to be concerned about; the length of my chain was probably longer than the drop. Even though the hook hit its mark, impaling itself within the thick ceiling that towered above me, I didn’t stop descending.


My entire body jolted while a deep and unsettling pain rocketed through my right side as the device snagged. It threatened to rip me apart with the initial force, but immediately after, I continued to drop like a lead weight into the abyss. At least the friction on the mechanism that had originally released the chain was beginning to slow my descent, so the future had been confirmed in that instant. I was still going to hit the floor, it was going to hurt, but probably not as much as it could have. I guess I should have been thankful for that, grateful that I wasn’t going to transform into a giant pink splat, but the fact that I was going to be facing real pain just made me focus on my rage instead. I yelled, a deep and bloodcurdling scream and then blasted randomly constructed insults into the black void that was around me, anticipating that the floor would rise up to meet me any moment now. A thought broke out of my expectations for a moment when they suddenly raced back to Fate, wondering if he had fallen with me and if he had, then if I was about to land on him. It would have made my day to land on him, break his back and watch him wander hunched over like an old, decrepit man for the rest of his days, but then, the reality and the truth rudely came to greet me.


I hit the ground, hit it hard and felt my body crumple before it sprawled out across the cold floor. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the length of chain that had slowed my descent then came plummeting toward me. The force of hitting the floor had sprung the hook free from the ceiling and now it came back to me. The heavy metal chain unwound like a ribbon as it dropped gracefully downward, but as it heaped itself atop of my already aching body, the weight of it quickly became realised. The world blurred and darkened around me, the shade turning jet black in my sight and confusing me, causing me to wonder if I was dreaming, wonder if I had my eyes open or closed. Out of instinct, I forced my eyes shut and held them tightly for a short while as if this would restart the world and put it back to normal. I only found the will to open my eyes as the sound of crackling and a heavy, blustery wind caught in my ears. Looking up, I was surprised that I could see at all, but especially astounded to see the surroundings highlighted in a cool, gentle blue haze. Peering further into the area, I noticed what looked like blue flames simmering neatly above me. I groaned, forcing my eyes shut once more, I thought I must have still been dreaming at that point.


“That hurt.” I growled, spitting out the words through an iron gate of teeth as I struggled to get onto my knees. I had fortunately landed on my side and on something that wasn’t as hard as stone. A little battered and bruised, but otherwise fine; nothing had broken so that was certainly a plus. I pushed off the gathering of chain that had drooped over me like a heavy curtain and then rolled over onto my front. My legs bent at the knee and with my only arm, I propped myself up before throwing my body back to settle in a seated position on the back of my calves. It wasn’t until I was sitting back that I was prepared to view the surrounding area again, knowing this time that I was properly awake. Still, as I peeled back that stubborn lid of mine, the bluish flames danced upon the ceiling, flickering like an icy halo above the head of a tall, dark figure. “Perhaps I died this time.” I uttered aloud, feeling free of the restraints of my own mind seeing as how I figured I was dead now. For the moment I felt completely numb, suspended between the waking world and its darker, more mysterious and misunderstood cousin. The first thing I felt was the lack of warmth that should have nuzzled against my bare flesh. I knew that there were no obstructions to this expected heat due to the fact that some of my skin felt the friendly embrace of the soft fabric of my clothing, while my left side embraced the cooling air. My senses weren’t out of whack, which was strange being dead and all, but that fire certainly was. Perhaps I wasn’t dead…


“Oi! Fate. Is that you?” I asked aggressively, my eye squinting as I looked upward into the light, the shadow that stood in front of me still appeared to be lingering there. I couldn’t gaze that way for too long though, the brightness of that light against this darkness caused my eyes to burn. I growled, spitting an incoherent curse and then swiftly averted my gaze. I kind of just had to hope it was him, but I didn’t expect an answer either way. Fate would probably just recognise the fact that I was still alive, grunt and then just continue on his way. I doubted he would waste any time in reassuring me that he was still in one piece and standing behind me, not unless it was to boast of course and frustrate me further. In the meantime though, I concentrated on preparing myself to stand. First I would have to return this chain to its holster with a simple flick of a switch, but the difficult part would be trying to get my legs to respond to standing and then, if Aleesha was feeling merciful, get on with walking. This was going to hurt, I could already sense it coming.

[Fate Mcloud]

Surprisingly it was not as hard as he thought it would be to find her. She made enough noise that was for sure. Only the last sentence had been the least bit intelligible though. With the discovery Fate dimmed the bluish fire he had conjured so as to not blind Jen. It would do no good if she could not find her way out and Fate was not in a charitable enough mood to lead her. Of course if she could not walk out then Fate would have no other choice but to lend assistance. Already he could hear the echoing of medal footsteps from above heralding the imminent arrival of a group of guards as well as the trumpets of a kings hall herald the arrival of a person of importance. If they moved now then the collapsed floor would simply appear normal. An old Castle falling apart is not so ridiculous. If they saw a body then they would have to assume either their own or intruders had fallen through, which would mean they would investigate the incident more thoroughly. "Yes I am here. Were you injured in the fall?" He thought about offering assistance but wondered if it would be greeted with thanks or scorn. Upon thinking about it Fate realized that by not offering assistance he might very well bring about either of those reactions anyway. Human's were an odd breed most assuredly, but this woman made her race as a whole seem simple in comparison.

Fate slowly dimmed the fires some more, allowing both the obstinate woman's eye and his own to adjust to the little light that was available in this room. It might very well be necessary to go without them. When they were almost out he began moving forward toward where Jen had fallen. It was neither out of the goodness of his heart, which had yet to show any signs of having such a thing, nor out of spite for embarrassing the woman that he offered his hand. It was the driving force in Fate's life that brought him to offer aid to someone who was most likely to scorn it. Necessity. The footsteps from above only grew louder as the men searched for the source of the thunderous sounds. Soon they would find it. If Fate and the woman were still there they might very well let off a cry of alarm before Fate had a chance to silence them. His illusions might be able to fool them, but it would be a needless waist of energy to use them on so many so high up. Both the distance and the amount of people were important facts when using his power, and he had been unable to find a way to increase his endurance when using such abilities. His fire's dimmed to the point of being more embers then flames, Fate waited with his hand extended wondering if he might actually be forced to throw the woman out the light and hoped it would not come to that. Of course such a hope was not out of worry for her but worry for creating more noise for an enemy to hear.

[Jen Li]

I found it hard to believe at first when Fate answered, not only because he actually did say something, but also that when he spoke, he almost convinced me that he gave a damn. I smirked swiftly afterward, muttering further rubbish to myself as I struggled about the debris that had fallen with me. It was mostly the thick wooden floorboards that had plummeted down here, but there also seemed to be some stone sediment and chunks of rubble around as well. Grating my left palm against that was not the most pleasant feeling in the world, but I held tightly onto my discomfort, not wanting to show what a state I was in right now. “Injured? Pfft.” I panted between each word, adding in a grumble and a growl here and there as it suited me. “It was like a twelve feet drop. Urg. Why would that hurt at all? Ouch. It’s not like I’m some half-crippled Human female. I mean, that would suck if I were now wouldn’t it.” With sarcasm dripping copiously from my words, the subsequent occurrences took me completely by surprise. I glanced upward having taken a little time to catch my breath and noticed Fate within the dull blue light above, believe it or not, actually holding out his hand to me.


For a while there I was too stunned to even drop an insult or smack his hand away in a bitter fury, but as the sound of footsteps echoed down to us from above, I knew I had to act quickly. Instinctively I leapt up and grabbed both his palm and his wrist, fully expecting him to drag me to my feet so we could get out of here. Obviously it wasn’t a good idea to be sticking around here when there were people on our tails, but if we could just get out of sight it would be better than nothing. It was amazing just how well the energy could flow through you when you’ve got a touch of fear and apprehension in your body. I didn’t truly know whether or not my legs would actually work at this point, but I had to push myself anyway. Willing my body to move, forcing myself up to catch Fate’s hand so he could haul me from out this rut, I was determined for this act to be the driving force that would put me back in control. Though I never would be properly back in control of the situation, I didn’t have a clue where we were and those instructions were now useless down here. First we’d have to find a way out of this basement, first I’d have to get myself up off the ground…

[Fate Mcloud]

Fate didn't have to summon his supernatural strength to pull the women up, but it was close. If there was one thing he knew about women, possibly the only thing considering his upbringing, that would be a comment he would keep to himself. With Jen on her feet, Fate let his lights go out as the sound of the guards above neared. It would be a close thing. Fate quickly scanned what he could see of the room in hopes of finding a place to hide should the guards think it needed further inspection. Normally darkness would have been welcome for Fate but even his eyes need light to see by, considerably less then humans or elves but the need was still there. He found nothing, which meant hugging the wall would be the best option. Fate motioned for Jen to follow and quickly moved to the farthest end of the room.