Bryant and Brandon, through a bit unnerved by the sudden expansion of the beasts as well as the battle, kept their cool. It seemed that's all they could do. Their modern weapons were distractions at best. So, as to save their ammo, both Bryant and Brandon stood back. Bryant, particularly, was fearful on how this battle could hurt everyone around him; especially Veronica, who was still back by the cabin, and Brandon, standing next to him.

However, before it even began it seemed, it ended. Bryant allowed his breath to leave his lungs. He hadn't realized he was holding it before. Brandon did the same. Then, keeping their silence, Lee had left proving to be an ally now. It was time to check up on Veronica and the girl, Bryant figured. So, off they began, to the cabin.

As the group returned to the cabin, Alasea frowned when she heard Sin in her mind. Begone, foul creature. You have no business in my mind.

And she lashed out with the Pillar of Dawn's power, forcing Sin out of her mind. She opened the door to her house and invited them inside, looking about for Veronica and Maya.

"You two alright in here, Maya, Veronica?" she asked as she entered.

Vernoica was sitting next to Maya eating quietly. She looked up with a nod and smiled.

"We're fine. How was things out there?" She asked casually, seeming to forget that their lives may have been at stake.

"For now, we're fine," R.D. said, confirming Mercy's statement. "But we need to get ready to leave, Veronica. We should head out to find Juno's army, if we're gonna confront Sheena."

Meanwhile, Alasea frowned imperceptibly, so the group wouldn't notice. So, Sin was going to keep harassing her? Fine. Using the Pillar's might, she leashed a prison around him, containing him and separating the entity from everything else, unable to do anything, including talking. She'd contact the other Daughters about him later.

When I am ready to talk to the likes of you, she growled at him, with him unable to reply, I will talk and you will listen, or I swear I'll find a way to destroy you. And don't think I can't, either.

(OOC: Zane, next time you want to do this with one of my characters, contact me first.)

Alasea was glad that she set up the field again, preventing intruders from staying. The moment Sin's shade began to appear, it was removed from the boundaries of Alasea's territory, before he could even speak, thus preventing others from seeing the entity's rebirth.

Getting tired of all the interruptions, Alasea thought sourly.

Veronica looked down to Mercy, smiling at him. His reassurance helped her all the more. Just his child like appearance made her feel all the better. Her eyes twinkled just slightly before turning up to her husband. He seemed beat already. Brandon wasn't much better. Silently, Veronica stood as Bryant approached her. He just shrugged.

"Seems its true. Lee's on our side now." Bryant informed rather blandly.

"Well, all the better." Veronica said, a bit skeptical.

"I feel the same, but we gotta trust all who we can. Very few are willing to help, I'm sure." Bryant placed a hand on her shoulder, "Alright?" After a moment, she nodded. Bryant then turned around after speaking with his wife.

"Ok, so how do we get to the army?" He said hastily. Obviously there was no time to spare and, despite Veronica's woman intuition, he wouldn't wait. He could feel her wanting a moment more before going to another exciting moment, but they did have to hurry. He could also tell RD was getting anxious.

Edited by Blazen on December 7, 2007 at 22:29:59.

"That's easy," R.D. said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Chaos Control."

"And how to you propose to find them?" Alasea said, raising an eyebrow at her friend. R.D. looked back at her with his own raised.

"Deus ex machina?" he suggested hesitantly, causing her to sigh.

"You're lucky I can find them for you," she said exasperatedly. "Damn lucky."

R.D. shrugged. "Hey, it worked well enough for Matt, should work well enough for me."

"So, what do you think, doctor?"

"Hmmm...I've never encountered anything like this before. Not only does it seem like this armor is attached to his body, but it's made of materials that don't match anything found on Earth."

"Where did you find him, Guy?"

"He landed pretty far out from the ship. Near the ruins."

"We should be careful."

"That's why I strapped him down...but I'm not sure if it'll hold."

"Then let's hope he's not hostile."

Cautiously, the doctor laid his fingers on the polished emerald breastplate covering the young man's chest. "...I wonder where he came from."

"O... kay?" Maya repeated Mercy's word softly, holding a wet thumb close to her mouth, her legs pulled up on the chair she sat on. The slight-build young girl looked on as the others entered, appearing to be a little bit exhausted for some reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She assumed it had to do with whatever had caused them to go outside in the first place. When she heard the others start talking about a 'deus ex machina', she didn't look too confused as Mercy did. "Isn't that some kind of big robot?" She uttered, still loud enough for the others' ears to pick up.

R.D. merely rolled his eyes. "It's just a phrase, not a robot," he explained, "Basically means for something to solve all the little problems for us."

With that, R.D. turned to Alasea, who looked at him questioningly. "How soon can you find where his army is at?" he asked the Daughter of Dawn. She frowned thoughtfully for a moment, and started a slow walk around the room. Her actions seemed strange, but R.D. figured she must be communicating with another one of the Daughters, and waited patiently with his thumbs hooked into his pockets.

"Okay, know where they are now," she said, turning back to her amnesiac friend. "They're still in Africa, but they'll be on the move soon."

R.D. nodded. "So we'll have to leave as soon as possible."

"Will you need any supplies or the like?"

"No, we shouldn't need them," he said, "I still have some stuff from when we restocked before the Sanctuary."

"Okay," she said. She felt a little sad that he'd be leaving so soon after he returned. R.D. looked back the three Hartnetts, then gestured to them. "Go get your stuff ready, we have to go, and now."

Bryant nodded and Brandon was already heading upstairs. Veronica looked at Bryant again, almost asking for them to hide. For the first time in her life, all she wanted to do was hide and not fight. Bryant just looked down and followed Brandon. Veronica knew it was useless to stop her husband now. She sat down for a moment to recollect herself.

Brandon and Bryant came back down and held in their hands and in their pockets, guns and ammo. Of course in Bryant's left pocket was the cube for the tank. Bryant dropped his weapons on the table and walked outside, and summoned the tank. Brandon and Bryant stuffed the weapons in there, keeping an assault rifle and side arm on their person. The tank remained for now. Bryant came back in, Brandon still outside.

"Ok, we're ready to leave whenever. But how are we gonna get to Africa from here?" Bryant inquired. From RD has said, far travel with his 'Chaos control' was hard. He wasn't sure if RD could pinpoint them there.

"We've no choice but to use the Chaos Emerald again," R.D. replied, shrugging. "A long jump will be hard, but I've done a jump from here to Africa once before."

The name of the jewel sparked something in Alasea. Chaos Emerald? Her eyes widened, and she quickly excused herself, saying, "Hold on a moment!" The girl went into her room, and after a few moments, came back out. She tossed something to a surprised R.D., who caught it in his hand and looked at it.

A white-colored gem rested in his gloved hand, catching the light and refracting it brilliantly. "A... Chaos Emerald?" he mumbled, his mind numb. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it a couple weeks ago, in the forest. It was resting on a rock," Alasea said, softly, "It looked like the one you were given on Khalis, so I kept it here to give to you. I just now remembered it."

===In England===

The man looked at X when he jumped up, slightly startled by his sudden movement, and watched as the blue-armored man staggered and fell. "Careful now," he said, "There's no need to get injured after the trouble I went through to save you."

Bryant watched as the emerald cast through the air, landing in RD's palm. Another? Bryant looked at the emerald for a moment then back to RD. He thought about the fact they had two now. Would that mean an easier jump? God he hoped so, as did Veronica and Brandon he assumed would. Bryant finally nodded.

"Ok, let me just fetch Brandon then." Bryant said before quickly walking to the door and then calling for Brandon. There was a flash of light when the tank, Earthquake Brandon had called it while waiting outside, went into its cubical form. Brandon placed it in his pocket and walked inside. Veronica was standing again.

"Whenever, you're ready." Bryant said, his family flanking him on both sides.

R.D. nodded, acknowledging the three Hartnetts that he heard them. Looking back, he saw Alasea looking at him with a half-frown, most likely not wanting him to go again. He couldn't blame her, look at what happened last time he left. Running a hand through his hair once, R.D. looked off to the side a bit, not knowing what to say.

Alasea stepped forward, quickly closing the distance between them, and slipped her arms around him tightly. After a second or so, R.D. returned the gesture, hugging the girl back. "You'll come back, right?" she asked, not looking up. "You'll come back again, safe and sound."

"I will," he said, slowly loosening his hold on her and stepping back. "I promise."

Alasea nodded, and, leaning forward quickly, planted a light kiss on his cheek, again causing him to blush. "Good luck."

R.D. nodded, and turned around, leaving the house, looking back at Alasea once before gesturing to the Hartnetts to leave. "Let's go."

Taking his time now, X rose to his feet and looked at the surroundings. "It might be best to get out of here for now, and then we can talk later." He said. He slowly walked to an object on the ground: the hilt of a long-broken sword. He picked it up and gazed at it sadly for a moment, then attached it to his belt.

"Let's." Bryant said simply. He folded his arms, waiting for them to leave via Chaos Control. His mind was mostly on the army and Juno, how would he react to seeing Bryant again? Probably not well, but oh well. However Veronica was smirking to herself, after watching Alasea's and RD's little chat. She felt that same vibe she and Bryant shared. And RD's blush only proved her hunch even more.

As R.D. stepped outside, his hand was lightly tossing the white Chaos Emerald up into the air, catching it as it fell back down. He was looking off to the west, a thoughtful frown on his face as he tried to remember his escape from Wulfe. "You three ready?" he asked, not looking behind himself.

===In England===

"Yes," the man said, "That would be wise, however I'm not sure how to escape without being seen. There are these... things outside, flying around. I'm unsure if we can escape them."

X tapped his helmet, a bright doorway opening in mid-air behind them. The doorway was a bright white, but a city was visible through it.

"It isn't the helicopters that I'm concerned about, but enough of that" he said in between pants, "look, I have some 'friends' that can fix us up, but we need to hurry. This takes a lot out of me and I can't hold it for long. We're just lucky our battle warped space-time enough... somehow."

The warrior merely nodded as he looked at the portal, then, after placing his helmet back on his head, walked towards the portal. "Let's go then."

Above a dense layer of grey clouds filled with tons of rain a disturbance in the sky's space-time occurred. It twisted and coiled and turned around into itself, finally tearing apart and opening up as a kind of gate in the fabric of space-time, ripping open farther and wider as time passed, because as it opened up, a colossal structure came through, a colossal structure made of white metal.

As time passed and the dimensions of the interdimensional rip changed, the City of White Metal slowly came through. Meta's indifferent expression wavered only slightly as she herself passed through, flashing a momentary grin, before bowing her head and staring into the scrying pool, then lifting her head up again, having regained the serious look on her face. Thanks to the properties and special abilities that were part of the City of White Metal, the floating city was invisible to all but those at the side of the Nightmare Realm. This ideal base she would use to spy on the world below and forge plans to take down the hideous animunculi that walked across its surface.

Bryant watched RD sternly for a moment. RD seemed a bit troubled. Does that mean trouble then? Guess so, but it could be averted, as suggested by RD's question.

"Yeah, let's go and get this over with." Bryant said, with a small sigh. Veronica, Brandon and Bryant braced for the nauseating ride to Africa.