They Always Say

[Heyo]

The underground city was massive compared to the tunnels they traveled to underground. Such was Almas thought when she returned with her group of Scouts for their days off. It happened fewer and fewer the more they expanded their boarders. This was the first time in a month the tall Elf saw the city. Despite her dislike of social situations, the bustle of it made excitement dance dimly in her bronze eyes. She nodded her farewell to the group beside her and ducked into an alley. She jumped on the dumpster lid and then between the narrow walls until the reached the roof.

There was no other way she'd rather travel after being away so long. From above the city, she could observe new people and check on those she cared about without needing  to interact with them. Just like her job, AL liked to survey the area from a distance before she started her tasks. The 6 foot 5 elf made traveling look easy by roof easy. Running along gates edges, from ledge to ledge, clearing gaps of 10 feet was all made easy by her. She was not invisible to others though. Children tended to play on the roofs, learning to make use of their limbs and bettering their hand-eye coordination for the unknown. It was rare finding a roof that was not in use. Even her own apartment was mostly roof.

Eventually Alma landed on a building near the center of the city. She slid to a stop in a crouched position. Once fully stopped, Alma stood to look around the grungy area. The luminescent lights were enough for her to see clearly. In her vision, it looked like a cloudy day on the surface four thousand years ago. Just enough for her to see and move around, but lacking vibrant colors. Her own outfit was skin tight fabric of dark green. The feel of it was like scales to prevent easy falling, and shield her from certain creatures of the dark. It covered her neck to toes, and even her finger tips. She wore Dark boots and arm guards that wound around her hands, both with pockets that give light when needed. Twin knives were strapped to her thighs just above holsters which contained strange luminescent plants instead of the guns they were meant for. On her back was a Quiver strapped over both shoulders held 5 metallic arrows. On her right hip was a compacted piece of metal that looked as long as her hand tip to wrist. There was no wind to blow her silver locks, but the light did manage to catch her eyes.

She surveyed the area, including the pub below, before turning around and walking through the rigid door to her humble home. There was some business she needed to do before exploring the city on the streets below.

[Brisinger987]

Infiltrating the underground city had been fairly easy. Cameras of all kinds found it impossible to pick him up, the nanites on his suit shifting to become meta-materials, bending light around him, infrared, UV, x-ray. He way impervious to gamma, x-ray and IR anyway. The rest was covered by the nanites. Of course, without a power supply, the suit would run out of energy. It could charge via solar power, but that was useless down here. But he had his rifle. That would protect him as much as anything.

When he finally unboarded the elevator down, he switched the suit from stealth to power. He took a bit of preparation, and launched himself onto a building, switching the armour on to absorb the shock of the impact. The nano-suit had a lot of room for improvement. Perhaps there was someone who knew how.

He thought about how to conserve power. Switching between modes drained power quickly, so he decided to keep one of the four modes on.

The mode that did nothing.

He would be visible, he could still take more shots than the normal human, but he had to conserve power somehow. R.H.I. would be the only function drawing on power. And the HUD intelligence was being quiet, running only background tasks.

He spotted the elf well, and R.H.I. began analysing her immediately. She was a Teinar scout, bog standard elf. Known to have lived for 5000 years. TRIM bounty: 600,000 credits alive, 350,000 dead. Subject must be delivered to TRIM facility upon capture.

Vakar assembled the rifle, unfolding the TRIM Spec Ops rifle, and activated the scope. HE aimed  head wherever it popped up. He squeezed the trigger, waiting to take the shot, and when he thought he had one, he fired.

But he had missed. He looked out of the scope, and saw that a child on a rooftop had botched his shot!

[Heyo]

"You will never defeat us for we are the champion horders! To think a low life as you could beat our gathering skills is to laugh at day light! ha-ha, ha-ha!"

"Your gathering skills may be okay, but  you will never stop us from hunting those items! We'll see who the winners are, and I know it won't be a stupid Nice Dagin!"

The girl let the smug look fall off her face. A team of other children were on each side of the "yard" behind a group of buildings. A classic case of Girls vs boys. However, it was a bit more civilised. "It's Ice Dragin," the girl corrected without  the harshness or attitude as before.

"Oh..." The little boy of about six let out before starting again with equal determination. "I Know it won't be a stupid Ni-Ice Dragin!"

"Poop and Juice until you prove it!" The girls gusto returned,  pointing her plastic picker-uper at  the distant opponent. "Which you can't!" Another one added with excitement.
 
"Wanna bet?"

"Lets."

"CHAAARRGGEEEE!!" With that, the scuffle began. A mixture of boys and girls picking up debri from the area, guarding their own containers to put it in, and others trying to take any the missed the designated area of the bins. In short they were working on picking up the back areas and making it all look nice. To the group of children, they were on an adventure around town.

A figure leapt over the large gap in the buildings with ease. The girl who corrected the boy looked up. Her blue eyes cutting through the haze of their under world despite her spot on the ground as another boy grappled her. She tapped his arm which stopped the ravage snarl he was making. "Time out, okay?" She asked s she lightly pushed the boy off of her.

"Seriously Rae? Haven't you used yours up from the week?"

"Yes. I'm borrowing from Deta's now," the youth said matter of fact-ly. The boys were about to complain, but the look on the sturdy girl Deta was enough to silence them. She was known for her brute strength and quick anger. The fact that she was a head over the boys helped with the intimidation. Rael was too busy getting situated quickly before she lept onto a fire escape. "Deta, you're in charge. Be Back!" she called to the others, then climbed the building.

Once on the rooftops, she looked around to spot where the tall Elf had gone. A wide smile lit up her face as she spotted the short, silver lockes. Without further adieu, Rael ran into action. She followed her own path with less variation in building height to preserve energy and shorter distances between each other. The others she came across earned no greeting nor attention from her as she was focused on not falling off the buildings and following the Elf as best as she could. Fall Rael did though, when she realized AL had come to a stop at her tall building. Rael forgot a decent and took a 3 foot tumble down to the next building. Boxes cushioned her fall, but it still hurt! A groan emerged from her before she stumbled from the pile and kept moving. She didn't want to be caught messing up again!

Moving as fast as she could away from the angry voices behind her, Rael made a mighty leap to the sill of the building the Elf lived on. She scaled the building via windows until she leapt on the balconies and ascended that way. This time a melody of "Excuse me" and "Sorry" came from her lips. She finally placed one hand, then the next on the edge of the building. Though bruised from her exploits, she still had a determined grin on her face. With all her strength, she launched her self up to a standing position on the ledge.

"Hey AL!" Rael called with glee. "Wha' ch-"

She stopped mid-sentance at the onslaught of pain that exploded on her back. Next thing she knew, the world was turning and the world was getting darker.

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

"Hey AL!"

Alma turned at the familiar voice. A warm smile settled on her features. Sound of a shot being fired ended it quickly though. She saw the widened look in the childs eyes as they flashed. Soon enough they closed and the girl leaned forward before falling backwards. Alma rushed to the edge to grab her small hand in time, calling forth an invisible absorption shield around them both. Her eyes caught the gleam from the rifle in the distance, making her bronze eyes narrow, their silver speckles flashing in danger.

The elf quickly moved the child back up to the roof. A low moan alerted Alma to the growing patch of blood on the girls back. Quickly and carefully, the Elf focused on pulling the bullet out of the childs back. Thankfully it missed her spine, but only a doctor could tell if it missed vital organs. Mentally, Alma cursed her inability to heal others as she grabbed for a shirt to use for pressure. As soon as the bullet was out, Alma pressed the wound tightly before wrapping it with a bandage from her pack. She moved swiftly, worry and anger mixing in her eyes. There was no time for questions, only actions. She picked up the child in her arms quickly before jumping over the barrier that he girl had stood on. Hopefully who ever had taken that shot wasn't that much closer  to them. She had to get the girl to help before taking care of the concern.

As she ran, she kept the shield up. It knocked fragile items away, but anything that fell on it was stopped before falling harmlessly to the ground. Should a shot be fired, it would not ricochet, but lightly bounce off without any force. A few shots from such a powerful weapon might be all that's needed to end the span of the shield. Alma continued along sides of the buildings. using fire escapes and balconies while she tried to locate a safe place to leave the girl with. She kept an eye out for Jael or any of the people who could do wonders with medicine. 

[Brisinger987]

He had shot a child. "R.H.I., analyse the possible damage to the child. I wanna know if I at least got a clean kill." Vakar didn't care anymore. He was being selfish, but he wanted to know at least that the child wasn't suffering too much. A clean kill would at least be a lack of misery.

"Child critically injured. Kill not confirmed. Recommend following them to either complete the kill, or to claim the Elf's bounty." The computer's voice was a kind of sexy beyond human capability. It sounded much better than the original voice module. It was actually making him listen more.

Vakar got up, and compacted the rifle, turning it from a sniper to a semi-automatic assault rifle, and he began to chase across the roof tops, jumping and sliding past obstacles at breakneck pace.

[Heyo]

Maneuvering around the city was not an issue for the ancient Elf. She could do so with confidence even without the lights or guide rails. Doing so with an injured child in her arms was another mater. Despite how careful she was and how good she wrapped the wound, the girl was bleeding more. Alma felt the labored chest and harsh breathing. She condensed the force field around them.

A familiar landmark caught Almas eyes and she ducked into a building via window. She moved through the hallway taking the stairs as quietly as she could without jolting the child. She saw a familiar door and gave a firm knock. If one did not answer the door soon, she would push it open. The lock was already turned thanks to her mild telekinesis. Her force field was reduced to cover the child alone for now. It was dwindling as Alma extorted other energy. The extracted bullet was held in her hands, and she wanted to know if it contained any clues.

[Brisinger987]

Vakar saw her enter the building, and decided he needed to go stealth mode. He activated the cloak, dissolving into empty space. He jumped down, using the ledges to slow his descent. He looked at the door and decided to wait. He could wait. He would simply take the elf out when she left the building.

[Heyo]

3 seconds passed. Alma pushed open the door before shutting it smoothy behind her. Thankfully there was no window that she could be visible for here. Threats searched for, she began to look around for friendly faces. She wanted this exchange completed quickly so no one else will be injured. Thankfully she did find someone. A teenager, medically trained Alma knew though the girl might not know the Elf directly.

"What's going on here?"

Alma ignored the question, and weapon drawn on her as she settled the girl on the couch.

"Rael! What happened to her?"

The tall elf patted her head, moving brown strands off the younger girls face before reaching for the teens hand. She held it just over the wound for them to understand what to do. Once the hurried off, Alma focused on fortifying the barrier around the younger people. She did no know how most of her abilities worked, or even all of what she was capable of. She did know that she couldn't let someone else die in her stead. She wouldn't.

Alma stood up, ready to make her move. She left out the door she came in through, placing her final barrier over it. Three was the max for her. More than that, and the quality suffered. She made her way up to the roof, thinking of where to take this battle next with the least amount of damage to others. No one had targeted Alma since coming to Teinar. In fact, most did not even know of her relation to TRIM, or what she was fully about. They knew she was Elfin, and Elves lived a long time. She was one of the most productive members of the society, an effective scout and efficient hunter. It had been years since anyone chased her for bounty benefits. Still concerned over the welfare of others, Alma was unconsciously leaving herself open. She had no idea what was really in store for her.

[Brisinger987]

The rifle which Vakar had was trained on the Elf's head, but he decided that perhaps appeasing Thanatos INC. would help him more. So instead, he walked behind her, silent, and raised the butt of his rifle to the back of her head. He avoided activating the power setting on the Nanosuit. Didn't want to cave her skull in by accident.

Counting the seconds as he drew the butt back, he got to ten, and swung. If it landed, the blow would most likely knock her unconscious, and easy pickings for him to give to TRIM. Then maybe he could learn who he is, and possibly get a job from TRIM. Possibly.

[Heyo]

When Alma left the door, she had seen nothing. No signs of entrance, no signs of a trap. She surveyed the area and stairs as her thoughts were going wild. It veered from planning an effective escape to flashes of what if she's captured. The notion was preposterous. She hadn't been captured in ages. The elf lifted her eyes upward, figuring it would be her best route of escape. Her breathing sped up to counter the rapid movements of her heart. Why was it going so fast? Her ears twitched catching the sound of her heart more. There was something more to  her surroundings. This was the feeling prey had when they were being hunted. This was the feeling She had when...

She whipped her head around only in time to be knocked in her temple. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out. Her body fell to the floor in unconsciousness.

[Brisinger987]

As soon as Vakar saw that the Elf was down, he pulled the plasteel cable ties from his pockets. Even the Iron bloody Golem would have trouble tearing these. He bound her hands and wrists, and gagged her mouth.

TRIM could have their playthings. But they knew his past, so he didn't care if people died in the process. But he needed to know if he had to get a rain-check on any old friends, or kill any old enemies.

He wouldn't be able to cloak carrying her, so instead he picked her up, and climbed to a rooftop with her. He thought about running. It wasn't like he was going to get shot at down here for one goddamn elf. And no-one had a personal vendetta against him. The Iron Golem was elsewhere. Surely she had to be.

He made a dash for the huge elevator, drawing his gun, ready to kill anyone that got in his way.

[Enkashi]

It'd taken Eddie some doing to find an entrance to Teinar - the place was crawling with mutants on the surface. It was strange, but they didn't seem terribly interested in her. Sure, some attacked her on sight, but she was certain several others had scented her and legged it even as she saw them, and more still had simply melted away into the shadows as she approached. She was human, and though it took a little convincing to get let into the underground city, she managed it by helping them deal with a couple creatures that were skirting the outside of the settlement.

After picking them off, she was in! The place was huge... And nobody really paid her much attention. She had an ability - a useful one, and she was a mutant. So what? Mutations weren't odd in these parts. She wasn't welcomed... but she wasn't terribly strange to them either. Some people kept their distance, sure, but hey. That was better than bullets or screaming, so she didn't mind at all.

She had to make a few bucks if she was to find a place to sleep... After fighting that maniac, her leg had at least sealed up, and as she was decontaminated in the entrance, she'd been seen to as well by the medics - it had been so strange to her that she'd had to watch the entire time as the bullet wound was tended to. Such strange magic... and it was magic - she'd never even seen it really before then! Fascinating... But that needed paying, and she couldn't leave the city without doing so. Another thing to pay for, no big deal. She knew about greased palms and favors - maybe she could--

A gunshot echoed across the outer limits of the city, and her head snapped up. She knew that weapon - she still heard that distinctive report sometimes when she thought back about her encounter with the bounty hunter - a TRIM rifle! It was hard to tell where it had come from... but it was close, and on high - so she elevated her gaze, and what should she see... but a leaping woman, carrying a bundle! But even as she watched... another figure leapt after her. A familiar figure.

What could she do from here? She looked around - a fire escape! She took a running leap to catch the bottom rung and swung below it a moment before she scrambled up, rungs flying under her hands until boots met metal and she began to ascend as fast as she could. She made it to what passed for the sky down here just in time to see HIM tying a figure up in something below, a couple buildings away. Then he turned, and made a break for the elevator. She had the head start on him - that was behind her a ways! She turned like a track and field champ and made a run for it.

It took some doing to get ahead of him enough to drop down safely, but when she did, she came at him from around a blind corner, fist swinging with a taser charge on the end of it, aimed right for his head. Hit or miss, she was in his way, and she had the drop on him - and already her powers were active, light spreading from her face and over her body with the scent of metal strong in the air. If she hit, she'd clothesline him straight to the ground, using his full body weight and her own against him - the punch was a haymaker.

[Heyo]

Without her awareness, Alma was bound and carried away. She was light, limp to the movements and exposed as her captor allowed her. Any dormant abilities she had remained so as she faced an inner struggle.

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

Wind. Who knew is could smell so sweet?

You have been caught again.

Almas eyes fluttered open taking in a sea of grass.
The sky was a beautiful blue against the field with a few white clouds.
A herd of horses were scattered in the distance.
She heard movement of a man circling her slowly.

You are not aware of that though, are you love?

No matter where she looked, she could not see the owner of the deep, soothing voice.
Perhaps if she looked faster, but everything was so...
Vivid.
She took in a flock of birds overhead.
Was this Earth?
What period was this?
A gentle breeze blew in her hair which reached her covered chest.

Her lips parted.
What reason would one have to chase after me?
Spoken words came form her.
Such an odd feeling, but welcome.
Like remembering that she knew how to ride a horse after eons spent without seeing one alive.

You are of great value.
To a few, you represent a great investment.
To many, you are the clue to unlock great potential for many races.
To one, you are a key to their past.
You are much to many.

As he spoke, her minds eye saw flashes of TRIM.
They took up her vision with flashes of cell door, experiment rooms.
The more she saw, the more she felt.
Sadness, Void emotions, cold, fear, rage, cruelty...
Each time with new faces.
Most of them others, some of them her own.
Between visions, she clutched herself and bent her face toward the ground.

What am I to you?

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

Her eyelids pulsated on and off. This was the only sign of her inner struggle as her body fought against her mind. Her heart beat against her chest faster as time went on. Not as fast as before, but not enough to waken yet.

[Brisinger987]

The haymaker did clothesline Vakar. It also sent the elf woman flying a few feet. The suit blinked errors and damage reports at him as he nearly lost consciousness. The suit, the new module installed, began to run a painful process.

"Emergency pain revive initiated." R.H.I. spoke calmly. Not a second after, Vakar felt a very painful biting pain on things that men didn't like being bitten.

The pain shocked him awake, and he looked around. He saw that girl, the Iron Golem, had smashed him round the face. He had no use for her. He had AL right where he needed her. He rolled in an attempt to get away, but felt something unusual occur. His mind flashed a rapid transition of horrifying memories across him.

Images of his time in TRIM as a subject flashed. The agony of the needles, the conscious surgery, the beatings. It all flashed across as a bubbling noise played. When the vision finally came to a close, it lingered on a single image. Another person in a nano-suit.

He woke up, not seconds after falling into the vision, and dived for his gun, firing shots in the iron golem's direction, and making another dash for AL.

[Enkashi]

Eddie let out a feral cry of satisfaction as her, by then, bright blue fist collided full on with the nanosoldier's head. It must have felt like running head first into a steel girder, bringing his head suddenly up and over his legs - which in the nature of these things kept coming. The woman he was carrying was flung aside a short distance, where her rear end landed first and she slumped, bound hand and foot.

If it were anyone else, Eddie would have sworn she'd have knocked him out cold - but this was him, and she'd kicked him before so hard she could swear she heard bones crack when she sent him flying, smacked him with a stop sign like a hockey puck, and STILL he got up. Nanosoldiers were tough - and he was the toughest she'd yet encountered. TRIM had sent several after her in the station and at Cancer, but they were nowhere near as balls-out as this guy. Even if she despised him, that fragment of her she never let take hold... she felt for him too, she really did.

But instead of dealing with things as they were... he'd chosen to chase the past. This was the kind of shit that happened in comic books, not real life - and yet here she was. When he rolled and made a break for his target, Eddie had been ready for him - she knew him too well not to be. But this was a practical demonstration of two terrible forces in contest, not a battle of good versus evil. Not really. She wasn't fighting for truth, justice, and grandma's quiche - she was fighting to stop some bugger from dragging some poor woman off to be some evil corporation's lab project for selfish reasons. She didn't have to be doing this... but what the hell.

But the best way to fight someone like her bullets were not - as she rushed Vakar on an intercept course, she crossed her arms over her face, and the bullets hit solidly into her arms, which already streaked with blue light as she moved. Her cloak and jacket helped - the fabric was reinforced by prolonged contact with her, and it dampened the blows of the bullets, but they still hurt like hell and she'd have nasty bruises later, but that was later. For now, she cannoned into the man, grabbed at his gun hand and rushed him bodily away from his target, kneeing and punching and pummeling everything she could reach, her powers dispensing strokes of electricity that crackled and licked from every inch of her exposed skin.

[Heyo]

Her body flew, slumping against a building a decent distance away from the fray. Something triggered in her, allowing her to ability to heal kick in. Without any flair, any scratches she had gained were closed. As her internal struggle went on, she became whole externally. Alma still did not stir. The gag on her mouth did come out though. Subconsciously Al began to mouth words of a spell. These words were not heard; they could not be as the Elf could not speak. At the angle she was, it would be difficult to even see the movement of speech. A chill began to come from her, and ice began to form over the plasteel ties around her wrists and ankles.

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

The images melded together.
Each moment led to one more intense.
The harder she tried to grasp for something stable in her mind, the more it faded.
Everything felt cold.
As if each memory drained her fire for life.
That was until she felt a hand on her shoulder.
All was calm again.
Her ears picked up the gentle, smooth voice once more.
You are my recompense.
As he spoke, the pain dulled.
The Elf remembered where she was in the field.
She felt a warm hand on the back of her neck.
Soft words danced against her long ears.
I am your final regret.
The last words she heard before her world exploded in new sights and sounds.

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

Alma's eyes snapped open, only to find the bonds that held her cooling to dangerous degree. Magic, she realized, as it did not hurt her physically. Sounds of the battle were evident as well. It had been what ruptured her mental distress. Close. Everything was so close. She lifted her head in time to see the hunter heading for her. Ice was forming rapidly on the bonds. Alma lifted her hands against herself. Her eyes were on the man in the nanosuit. Fear in her eyes as she tried to catch up with the events that have been going on. Pain, similar to all that have made it through TRIM had, deep on her features.  Everything was too close, but she did have the ice to defend her. Weither she used it as a weapon against her attacker, or the against a building behind her, her bounds would soon be free. It was the least she could do, and most she could think of right now.

Alma closed her eyes and swung. Her ears picked up another charging in battle. Electricity crackled in the air. Soon, the sound of shattering ice joined the melody. Weither it was against her oncoming aggressor or the building was to be seen.

[Brisinger987]

Vakar felt the electricity overload the suit, and he screamed in agony, falling limp to the ground.

"Argh... I... Won't... Be... Be-... Beat-... En... Ugh..." He slumped after trying to get up. The nanites were fried, stunned beyond use. An with that he fell into a black unconscious.

[Enkashi]

Eddie gripped the man by the throat from her position atop his chest, fist balled to give him one final sharp crack - she already knew he was knocked out - her energy messed with his suit, like it had the others - a design flaw, she wagered... But again, she could not kill this man. It would be like killing a part of herself, like killing her past. She didn't even know his blasted name, but... She let go, dropping his limp form to the ground, and sighed.

She looked up - the woman was awake, and Eddie felt the tang of magic in the air for the second time today. With her hood back, her short, messy brown hair spilled everywhere over her face and the mask over most of it for breathing in the wasteland. But... She probably did not need that here. The woman wasn't wearing one. The guards had been... But guards were crusty types who had to ight the occasional nasty beastie. She reached up, and removed it, eyeing the elven woman ip and down as she broke her own bonds, even as she considered what to do with the unconscious Vakar.

At times like this, Eddie felt like she should have some bad habit to fall on to make the world hurt less. Cigarettes... Or a flask of something that peeled paint. She turned her attention to the man beneath her, and searched through his things to find more of those zipties he used on the woman. She bound his wrists and legs tight... And held up one extra plasteel ziptie. These could be useful. With a moment's concentration, the ziptie glowed blue, turned black, and flew into dust a moment that faded from view and into the air around her. His rifle, his pistol, and another sticky nade followed suit.

"My name is Edyth... Eddie if you like" she said, looking to Alma. "I do not know this man's name" she said, in a Reajh Aedolian accent "But he tried to nab me too. I'm a TRIM escapee." She said, and offered a hand, the blue glow of her powers, which moments ago was so intense that it actually gave off radiant heat, was gone now, leaving a hand in a fingerless glove. But her eyes... Those still shone blue, identically to how a certain little girl's did.

[Heyo]

The ice shattered, along with the restraints on her wrists. Alma slammed her legs into the ground which allowed her to be rid of the cable. The yell soon reached her ears and all she could do was cover her ears with her long palms. Long legs curled against her chest involuntarily. The screaming didn't last long though. More than that, she didn't have any visions. Everything that was in her head she tucked away to be dealt with later. Now was not the time when assessments needed to be made.

As the brown haired girl used her powers of blue and worked on securing the hunter, Alma got a good look at them. She lowered her hands to let her hands rest on her knees. Had she not been a few inches past six feet, she might have looked like a little child. The woman with brown hair maneuvered around the bulky mans frame. She moved nimbly, and Alma couldn't tell much from the powers she used. It was smart to get rid of the weapons. Though Alms disliked most technology, she liked keeping tabs on what was trending and in use. However there would be no chance for her to review the items the bounty hunter had. First come, first serve. Such as things were. There was nothing left but ashes, and that wouldn't do Alma any good.

Her speckled eyes turned to the man who had been the cause to all this. He was about half a foot taller than herself, and towered even more over the woman who helped her. Almas eyes surveyed his unconscious form. This was no average soldier. He was larger than most she'd seen in Teinar, or anywhere in the lands for a good long time. Her eyes came to the nape of neck where a serial number lay. She squinted, embedding the numbers into her memory. There was one reason for that to be there...

It was in that moment that Alma caught the woman's voice. Edyth, or Eddie as she called herself. The Elf looked up at her eyes, confusion apparent on her face before coming to her senses. Those eyes.... they reminded her of someone.

"...I'm a TRIM escapee."

At those words, Almas hand clenched her knee harder. Her eyes became distant as she knew what that meant. So many years ago, Alma made her self free. She could only imagine what the facility was like now, but imagine she did. The offered hand broke through developing thoughts. She accepted it, coming to stand tall and strong. Almas no longer looked afraid, and did not seem unease around the woman. The sounds of the city came to her more alert ears and she released the hand. Without help, who knows where the Alma would've been. A security group of three was closing in on their position. She could pick up the set of foot falls when she concentrated enough. Before they did arrive though Alma looked upwards.

Sure enough there was a group of children looking on from the top floors and roof of the surrounding buildings. They gave a cheer for Alma which grew even more when the woman with Bright Blue eyes looked up. The sound of the ten kids quieted down when Alma raised a finger to her lips, tapping it twice.

"AL! Is everything okay?" One of the girls, about 7, asked with a broken lisp.

The tall Elf gave them a nod. The distant look in her eyes vanished for now. She gestured to the man laying down and the woman whom helped her before tapping her own chest twice. The girl and a few other nodded. Alma then gestured to a few of the kids before doing the same to the oncoming security.

"Sure! I'll tell them!" With that they were off. Either being dragged away, shooed away by Almas suggestive hands, or glared down by her eyes. This was not a safe place for little ones. She did not know how security would react to the woman or the man. She saw no reason for them to have ill-will towards the woman, but the man was not someone she wanted in town. They had to take care of him by getting him to the waste land, or back in space. Still.... there were many questions surrounding him....

[Brisinger987]

Vakar drifted through black space for what felt like hours. Stars died and collapsed, planets burned. But it was all so peaceful. No noise, just silence. Supernovae pulsed, protostars span, black holes drifted in the emptiness. No friends, no family. Just roaming black orbs, devouring everything. Not a care. Just taking all they found into themselves. Like alien life devouring everything to make itself more unique.

But, in this dark dream, time passed on. More planets burned, nebulae exhausted their own resources as black holes slowly devoured every bright speck of gas, dust and liquid. But even as millions of life forms died, he couldn't hear any screaming. No explosions, gunfire, panic. Just empty silence.

Slowly the universe grew blacker, until he was in nothing but a void. Then, a single light appeared.

Hello. We have been watching you.

The voice was familiar. It struck bad notes in his mind, it filled him with dread. But it was not instinctual dread. It was conditioned. A voice he had learned to fear.

Pass me a scalpel.

Sir, the subject is awake...

Give him more anaesthetic.
Or leave him to suffer. Your choice Nurse.

He should be fine. I'm sure he just wants to know what we're doing.

Hold still Vakar. This will hurt.

The light exploded, and he was in a tank. The tank he escaped from. His conditioning tank. He screamed and smacked on the glass, the fluid stopping him from breaking out. Scientists and guards walked by without a second thought.