Ties of Blood: Of Fire and Steel

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu evened out his breathing as the chase continued. His head began to feel better and the world finally stopped spinning. It seemed like hours since their initial escape, but it's only been mere minutes. Shinzuu sat up in the rear chassis of the Humvee, only to duck back down as bullets came flying at them. He got up again, and sat on his knees. Slowly, Shinzuu dug his fingers into a few of his cuts and forced the ice to melt off and gather at his fingers. He pressed into one of the cuts hard and forced it to bleed again. The words of his former master echoed through his head, "Now, Shinzuu. What I am about to teach you is a forbidden form of our style. Resist using this if at all possible, but if it is absolutely necessary try to use it as little as possible." All the water mixed into the wound with the blood and formed a small cube sticking out Shinzuu's chest. He grabbed it and pulled it out slowly, forming a katana of frozen blood and water. Mumyou Saigyou Damejutsu:Chikatana. (Water School Forbidden technique: Blood Katana) The katana glimmered in Shinzuu's hand, its constitution and sharpness more than obviously exponentially stronger than his previous water swords. With a heave, Shinzuu threw the blade at the pursuing chopper. The weapon swung in a vertical circle as it traveled and the blade but right through the glass and the hood, and then cutting right through the chopper blades.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Coraline had ducked when the soldier had jumped out and opened fire on the vehicle. When she felt the vehicle go over a bump, she knew it was safe to sit up, so she did. As Shinzuu stuck his fingers into his wounds and reopened them, she watched him in disbelief. She couldn't understand why he would do such a thing in their dangerous situation. When he pulled the blood katana out of his chest, she finally understood somewhat about what he was doing and she was amazed at the effect it had on the helicopter.

[Armalite_]

Ryan manouvered the vehicle as he heard the sound of scraping metal followed by a thunderous bang. He didn't care to look up at the helicopter or in the back of the Humvee at Coraline or Shinzuu to know what was going on back there. He had to focus on the pitch black road that seemed to carry on and on without end. There was, however, light on the horizon outlined by a silouette skyline. They were heading for the city but still had a lot of ground to cover.

[Necrosis]

Tanner clicked the rifle's safety on and set it by his side. He could finally relax for a moment. Then he looked at Ryan again. "So, Ryan. Can you now tell me what you know about Sue?" he asked, but then he noticed the city in the distance. "Whoa! Is that a city? Are we going in it?" he asked excitedly because he's only lived in his village until recently...

[Gabag]

With the pilot impaled, the helicopter spun out of control, with Juno once again hanging onto the stub of a machine gun turret for dear life. Some of the soldiers with him, weren't so lucky, and were either sucked out of the chopper and thrown out into the wastes, or sucked out then chopped up by the helicopter blades.

"Danger... Danger... Crash imminent" was the alert's only reaction to his soon to be death. Closing his eyes he sighed, as a thunderous impact was followed by a firestorm as fuel tank ignited and exploded.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu breathed heavily as his bleeding slowed a bit. He collapsed and fainted for good, no telling how long he was going to wake up from this one. He had exhausted beyond what he had left, and had risked revealing the dark nature of their art. Thankfully, he only did the most basic form, or else he would've died, considering his current physical state.

[Entaru]

Yamataru layed in a swirl of colors.  They all seemed to float around like oil in water.  He felt pressure on his back as the swirling quickened.  Yamataru tried to make out shapes in the colors but everytime he would look directly at one it would dart to the edge of his vision.  Distance didn't seem to exist as he felt himself bobbing ever so slightly through the colors, changing ever so slightly with each bob.

Yamataru didn't know where he was...but it wasn't where he was supposed to be.

[Armalite_]

Ryan looked at Tanner and then looked back at the road. "I saw your sister. She looked a lot like you. It was not long ago but I saw he beyond the fence boarding a transport truck. At the time, I was just being admitted to the facility. I was brought in and walked down a hall of barbed wire and steel mesh. She looked at me and I looked back before she was boarded." Ryan looked back at Tanner. "Word had it that the transports are being taken into the city for testing on a larger scale. I don't know, the way it sounded was kind of rough so I didn't pay much attention. That's about all I know." Ryan drove on into the early hours of the morning. Daylight was breaking and the Humvee was already through the woods and was now nearing the outskirts of the city. Large industrial buildings stood empty and abandoned. The streets grew wider and were littered with old cars and machinery. Ryan looked at the fuel gauge. It's needle was past empty three miles ago. He looked around and turned a corner into an alleyway. It was narrow and had walls covered with graffiti. He turned into a large garage the was part of a loading dock. The Humvee made it inside before the engine cut out.

Ryan leaned forward over the dashboard, pressing his face against the windshield. He scanned the pitch black factory floor as best he could since the only light came from the loading bay door from which they entered. He looked at Tanner and Coraline and sighed in exaustion. "Let's go." He opened the door and stepped out onto the floor. It was littered with broken glass that cracked under his boots.

[Necrosis]

Tanner pondered at what Ryan told him about Sue. If she was in this city, he knew he had to find her. But he also needed to concentrate on the problems at hand. "What now? Are we gonna look for gas?" he asked as he lifted his PSG-1 and stepped out of the Humvee. Before following his companions, however, he decided to check the vehicle for anything useful, finding red tinted goggles and a fairly well-preserved XM8 combat rifle and several clips of ammo. "Treasure!" Tanner thought as he slipped the goggles on his forehead and strapped the XM8 on his back with a belt. "Hey guys! Wait for me!" he called out as he went to join Ryan and Coraline.

[Gabag]

As the vehicle entered the factory a low hiss echoed off the steel walls of the place. It sounded like a gasmane leaking, at least to the group who entered the factory.

The truth was far worse. Strange creatures were scrambling to and fro on the upper floors of the factory building. Creatures with red eyes watched the group unnoticed. They had seen them from miles away, thanks to radiation enhanced senses, and smelled them even before that. What were they doing in the home of a small hive of Ferals? It didn't matter, they would be a meal soon enough.

The factory bottom floor consisted of mainly wide open spaces of the assembly lines, with a few access ramps leading to the offices and the security department. Near the administrators office, which was the most lavish of the offices, stood stairs to the upper levels, which consisted of more offices and balconies.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Recca crawled along the roof of the factory, interested in why the car would show up at a dangerous building like this, but he was already pushing his luck with what his master said. 'Stop going to the human buildings, they're rarely populated with someone that isn't trying to kill us... now get-' he stopped the thought as it lost its relevence to the situation at hand. He scaled down the wall and followed the vehicle in, his 'skull' working as a giant sunglass lens to let him adjust to the light inside. He stayed behind the humvee and waited to see what was driving it before making any further moves.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Coraline climbed out of the vehicle then turned around to face the vehicle again. She pulled Shinzuu out of the vehicle, draping his left arm over her shoulders and putting her right arm around his waist. It seemed that no one else was going to carry him and she wasn't going to leave him behind. As she walked after Ryan & Tanner and carried Shinzuu along, she made sure to avoid the broken glass since her feet were bare.

[Entaru]

Yamataru woke up inside the internment camp's medical station.  His head was screaming in pain as he sat up in his bed.  He could feel his legs now, so he was slightly relieved at that fact.  He wasn't sure how he was going to explain to his CO that the prisoners escaped, but he was just glad he was still alive.

[Armalite_]

Ryan looked at Tanner when he inquired about their business in being there. "We're here because it's the one place he could hide out in. I'd rather run out of gas here than out in the open. If you find gas...If you find ANYTHING, take it. Food, water, weapons, whatever." He walked further into the darkness before he was out of sight, engulfed by the blackness that consumed the entire factory. The sound of his fingers snapping broke the silence as it echoed through the shadows and a small flame arose on his fingers as he lit his way deeper into the factory. His foot had knocked into something on the floor. It was blunt and made of wood. He narrowed his eyes as he bent down and picked it up. It was a baseball bat; however, it was a baseball bat with nine inch nails sticking out the business end complete with dried blood and chunks of skin coating the rusting spikes. The handle itself was coated in dry blood. Someone had been where he was standing. He could tell by the pair of shoes that lay on the ground with decomposing feet still in them. It was as if something ripped that person off the face of the earth. He looked back at the group. "Get back in the Humvee...NOW!" He said before running back towards them.

[Necrosis]

Tanner looked at Ryan in confusion, but obeyed rather than finding out why he's running away. He opened the back door for Coraline and Shinzuu and then sat back the passenger seat, slamming the door. "What happened, dude??" He asked as he detached the PSG-1 scope from the rifle again and switched it to thermal vision to scout the darkness.