Waiting (OPEN~)

Feet swung out of the bed, followed soon by the rest of his body. Guido stood fully and stretched, rubbing at weary eyes. "Oh Monday mornings, how I loathe you so..." He stumbled forward through the house to the sole bathroom. He could have probably afforded a better house, considering his career, albeit to his annoyed morals, consisted pretty much of discreetly robbing ATM machines. Why didn't he buy a mansion, fully furnished, then? Bah, it was too noticabe, that's why. If it weren't for Gaia and Typhon's accursed squabbling, he would be free to live the life of a king, do anything he wanted, not have to switch locations every few months. No matter, no matter, the problem existed, while an immediate solution did not. In short? He was sailing down a flowing body of liquid, comprised specifically of fecal matter, in a wooden vessel in need of a steering mechanism, haw haw haw.

He picked up his toothpaste and put a bit on the toothbrush, cleaning his teeth in the mirror, ensuring he missed no spots, and spit it into the sink when done, wiping his mouth with a towel. That done, he placed some bread in the toaster and got dressed, re-entering the kitchen at the precise time the toast exploded from the faulty toaster, nearly hitting the ceiling, had Guido not casually grasped them from out of the air. It took some practice, but nowadays he and the toaster were on good terms.

Munching on the toasted bread, he headed over to his desk. Sitting there was a stack of newspapers, about ten. Skipping to the crosswords, he figured he had time to kill before his bus hit the stop.

One down... Unobtanium, of course. Four across... Duh, Septahedron! Forty-one down... Mitochondria, maybe? This wording of crosses went on for about fourteen minutes, until each puzzle was successfully finished and stowed away in his desk drawers. Glancing at his watch, he still had sixteen minutes before the bus arrived. Considering he lived near the bus stop, he could make it in five. So he set out the front door, and walked until he came to a bench and a sign, sat, and waited.

One of them, children was out there in the small and cornered squares of New Zealand. Ash was able after long time to pinpoint a very elusive one, like the fox on the running he was. That child deserved a praise to keep his tracks always clean, Ash wondered to herself, what to do? Should the Kuei-jin wait for the purging kine sent by her so called superiors? Or would she venture into the fox's lair alone? The second choice seemed very alluring, the vampire didn't like to wait for too much. It was the beginning of night already, by then. So much fun, she foresaw it. No, the power of clairvoyance was not hers to begin with. To whom belonged the power? Actually, she didn't know if such power existed or if a person with the eyes of premonition and it irked her not. A seer can see the bullets trails flying, it's metallic heads wailing and death's promising but can he dodge it ? Regardless, Ash knew that Gaia would soon make their move later or sooner to gather most of the lost children out there in their own hypocrite crusade for righteousness. Not that Typhon was that innocent too, there were those who believed in themselves as gods. Still, both of them had pride and pride was the most beloved sins to Satan.

Well, Ash was already out of the door with the very intentions of knocking it. Of course, not knocking it down. On the contrary knock it politely. There was nothing to fear, The Kuei-Jin was pretty much sure that she wouldn't lose in a brawl and someone like him probably wouldn't fight since if he wanted, he would have done that long time ago.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock* her boots sliently knocked

Ash left her hands lazily resting on her waists with body signals of haughty in front of him. He shouldn't leave a lady standing like that. Where were his manners? Ah, So the Jap. already sent that man named as Thaddeus through a SMS that she was going in to speak with the lad. Certainly, Ash didn't wait for a response. After all, she was already there in front of him..the lad that her hands were so much itching her to knock down but that would contradict with the very ideals of the ninja. So, she did bid her time waiting for him to be a gentleman.

Click. The mechanical sliding draw of the Beretta 96 was signature, but it resounded with such gravity and majesty on the battlefield proper. Though... this was a field operation, but no battlefield yet. Garbed in a black tank top with fatigues and a beret, Chi had long since been dropped in alongside him and allowed to approach Pi directly for the diplomatic route. Thaddeus looked to the Auckland sky and growled. "Diplomacy be damned," He snarled in his native language. Hopefully the child would resist. And hopefully he'd get a chance to use his weaponry proper.

The Beretta had been fitted with a twelve-round clip of rubber .40 rounds, and the Ithaca shotgun was filled to the brim with less-lethal bean-bag shells. It would have to suffice; Typhon didn't want their investments damaged too heavily, now. Thaddeus smirked. The girl appeared damaged enough on her own; but Zeus had insisted upon his briefing that for the latest operation in weeks, she would make first contact. He supposed it was a fair enough and methodic way of doing things - the blue-haired Originator was the epitome of organised. Thaddeus was there as muscle and a last resort. The shotgun slung around his shoulders was evidence enough.

So whilst she approached at the bus stop, as wicked and pale as the Japanese girl was, he sat barely two-hundred metres around the corner with two other PMC units, black helmets, body armour, and all, that he was told were at his disposal. Lieutenant Reiden and Sergeant Kadliss. They were there with standard-issue rifles, standard-issue side-arms, standard-issue uniforms, yet he bore no protective armour, a shotgun over one shoulder, and a custom Beretta in his right hand and a phone in the other with an open SMS from Chi saying that she was making first contact now. "Gents, stay ready," The streets were empty. Typhon had twisted the arm of a local roadworks company into placing a block two-hundred metres down the road from either end of Guido, and they had done so barely ten minutes before they'd arrived. Upon seeing the armed, militaristic men, any civilians or passers-by quickly retreated to their homes and shrank into relative non-existence.

Thaddeus swept back his sleeve to check a faded, battered, and dented metal wristwatch. "Three more minutes and we deploy to take this fucker down," His animosity and enmity towards those who were not-so genetically different to he was probably uncouth and uncalled for; but oh how he loathed them so. Children given powers only adults were fit to bear. Children. It was the greatest - and only - mistake that Typhon had ever made in his mind. "Check your rifles," He said mechanically. They bowed their heads and hissed replies through gas masks. They didn't know why their superior was unarmoured. They hadn't been briefed. But with a man as matter-of-fact and to-the-point as Thaddeus van Wolfe was, and with the reputation he had... they didn't bother asking.

So why were they here? Well, Guido Esposito, a.k.a. Pi, was waiting for a bus. They'd received a tip-off from Typhon sleepers in Auckland's centre a few days ago. Thaddeus pondered the facts that they'd been given as he holstered the Beretta and slung around the Ithaca, mechanically pumping it backwards and forwards to load the first of seven twelve-gauge shells into the firing chamber. He'd not covered his tracks well enough; technopathy allowed him to avoid most of Typhon's radars, but their reports had been through one of their own flesh and blood, here in Oceania. And now, because of that, because of his oversight, carelessness, or whichever mistake he'd made rearing his head in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Guido Esposito was waiting for a bus that would never come.

Upo reaching the bus stop, however, he noticed some rather... Peculiar sights. For one, traffic was not only significantly lower in quantity, but it was nonexistant. At rush hour... Strange, very strange. Even stranger, he glanced towards his house, not too terribly far off, and saw a woman at the front door, apparently having arrived shortly after he left the house. Well, he did leave the light on, so it may be a sign that he was present, when in fact, he was no. So in solution to his mixing of signals, he calmly walked over to a nearby light pole. It wasn't hard to scale, and he did so quickly, apparently unnoticed, and at the top, grasped the wire. Normally, this would kill or at the least shock someone, but he was himself, and as such, it did not. No, his hand barely twitched as he grasped it, and in seconds, the light in his living room flicked off, as he could see through the window. But by that point, he had deduced that something was definitely odd. He jumped down, it wasn't a terribly high drop, and in spite of the woman being at his front door, he analyzed his surroundings.

Well... No point waiting for the bus now. It was on a schedule, and he did indeed believe he was being hunted now, so the last thing he'd want to do was be predictable. Hmmm... Well, he was fast, and could run... There was a construction site two blocks away... The question was, could he make it there? Well... He knew the city well. He'd make it there. So, as he wasn't the type to flat yell for Typhon, or Gaia, or the FBI, or the MIB, or whoever to give chase, he remained calm looking several seconds, before making his dash. Not more than seven yards away, a manhole. He grasped the cover and with all of his strength, it eventually gave way, and he gave it a hard kick, stumbling back a bit as it loosened from its position enough for him to take the dive into the sewers and pray he didn't get lost before reaching the intended exit, right next to the construction site, his best bet for escape.

"Oh mi Dio, why do I let myself into this trouble...? I'd have been better off in a cave somewhere... Anywhere but society, it seems." And he ran, he ran so far away! He's gotta get away...

OOC: Yeah, my mistake sorry. I didn't edit my last post enough to clarify any misunderstanding. For that I really apologize.

IC:

So the fox preferred doing the usual, leaving a faux behind that was his lights turned on in his temporarily rat base of operations. He saw her from afar when the Vampire approached his doorstep but Ash didn't well there for long. The kuei-jin concentrated for a second tilting her head, there her vampiric senses kicked in, closing her eyes for a fleeting moment. It was then, Chihaya discovered something very fascinating. The raven haired young woman couldn't feel any signs of the gentle beatings of one's heart. Her lust for blood made her the vampire that she was..

So, the girl with nothing but oriental visage on her took a non straight path where shadows of nearby buildings would give the hiding she yearned for and wanted. Certainly, there was no boot knocking this time, Sound would be riddled by such an existence of which it was incapable to find and trace. The Jap. intended to sit beside Roy mustang's incarnation but it seemed the bells of danger inside him were already ringing. The fox stood up and approached a pole where he touched a bare wire of a light pole full of high current. Ah, it would have been very chilling if he was not himself. Strange creatures those children are, capable of doing peculiar things, able to do what was considered by mere men as the super natural, illogical and weird.

PZZZZZT Oh, the keui-jin could hear it, his bare hands touching the light pole, the running fox of course was not shocked on the contrary he was all alive and well. Too much well, for her tastes. So, that was his first mistake showing a glimpse of his power since Ash being midway between him and his home. The lights went out behind her but she didn't bother to look around, her fierce black eyes were fixated on him curious, He was remotely able to control appliances from far away, there was this harmony between him and electricity or rather they were one. Still, turning off the lights didn't give away any other hints about his true innate. Ash decided to be more careful around him at the least, she knew he was able to touch electrical wires unscathed and somehow control it's flow.

Ah, the sewers, the fox went to that swamp full of rats. Lovely choice, another dark domain full shadows the Ashikaga would dwell well and blend within. But the fox, she didn't follow instead quickly she called the escort "Your target is fleeing away~" to Thaddeus she quietly whispered in her English that very mingled with Japanese accent. Another sewer entrance, that one she entered. Upon landing, there was this nearby sewer map on the wall. Ah, a construction site this must be his destination..

There two entrances to that one which were the sewer's only exits. Under the shadow, Ash used vigor to amplify her senses to hear rats heartbeats and a one fox going out for his escaping escapade while running quickly but in the same time quietly not to be noticed. And to exit first before he would do but from the other exit, to find herself out in the open outside after sucking the blood of two rats to replenish what she sued for Vigor. In front of her a construction site which she didn't dare to enter. That's when, she called Thaddeus again through phone "He is in a construction site. A hunch of mine, he can somehow capable of manipulating electricity to his own will"

No, Ash didn't enter the site yet and waited for the escort to arrive. She could tell there was imminent danger inside so being sly and wry, the Ashikaga waited..

Two minutes. One had passed since the last moment Thaddeus had spoken; rifles were cocked and tension hung heavy in the air like a curtain, thick enough to slash through with a knife. That was, of course, when a rapid symphony of footsteps in the far distance slapped against the pavement and echoed throughout the subtle Auckland morning, and when the hushed call came from the battered, beaten Motorola Thaddeus had holstered at his waist. Not bothering to check the ID, he simply flipped it open and answered immediately. "Van Wolfe."

"Your target is fleeing away~" With that, he immediately unsheathed the KA-BAR and the Beretta simultaneously, jutting the knife outwards in his underhand as he aimed the pistol over. The traditional USMC tac-knife setup; allowed for manoeuvrability, close-range lethality, and the ability to take down targets non-lethally and silently if it should call for it. Shrugging his shoulders in the direction of the curb, Kadliss and Reiden spun around to flank him on either side, raising their M16A4 rifles to the point that on either side, Thaddeus could just about see the barrels protruding past his shoulders. Smiling wickedly, he turned past and saw the vacant bus stop, sprinting towards an open manhole and gesturing for the two PMC agents to follow.

Willingly, they did; swiftly the trio traversed through the sewers, following footprints and noise as best they could. Their speed was somewhat hampered due to the sewers being slightly smaller, which left Reiden and Kadliss lagging behind alongside the increased equipment weight issue. Thaddeus didn't care, though; they were unnecessary back-up. They were there for images and images alone; two meatheads cradling rifles they could hardly carry, and the boss of the entire op, van Wolfe himself. Keeping up appearances, even in underground issues like this, was a point of great importance for Typhon. The phone rang again as Thaddeus pulled himself up a ladder and out a few hundred metres in front of the construction site. He flipped it open and answered the call, but held it at his side as the Ashikaga girl's voice came through, muffled, distorted, and buzzing. "He is in a construction site. A hunch of mine, he can somehow capable of manipulating electricity to his own will." Thaddeus snapped the phone shut and holstered it, calling out to her as he drew up, her slender form very much present.

"No. Machines," South African accent very much heavy, he smiled and twirled the knife about his finger, holstering it at his waist once more. The Beretta hung in his hand, swaying gently as he drew up to the girl, Kadliss and Reiden just about pulling themselves out of the sewer. Incompetent. That means they didn't get to join in when it came to the big fat hunt. "Stay back, girl," He issued the order flatly; she was an asset but he was her escort AND group leader. So that meant that now diplomacy, as an option, had been exhausted... it was his turn.

With a ping, Thaddeus used his thumb to flip away the pin of one of three M84 stun grenades hooked up to his chest. Switching the Beretta to his other hand, not bothering to say anything, he rose his hand and threw it over the fencing in an arc. Almost the moment that it hit the ground, it detonated with a loud whine and a white flash; purple for Guido, if he'd been caught in the radius. He held up his hand and gestured for the sloppy recruits to follow his lead, and rose the pistol, crouching behind a block of sandbags and raising his knife once more. Panting, Kadliss and Reiden quickly drew up and crouched, hissing a response as the grenade's last whines faded. "What do we do, sir?!" Kadliss hissed from his right.

"You," He gestured to Kadliss, putting on false tones of effort. "Hand me your rifle." He holstered the pistol once more and drew out the knife, holding out his hand for it, before motioning then to Reiden. "And you, take off your helmet," Both bemused at first, the pair quickly obliged; and in a moment, it was all too late. Squelch. Thaddeus rose his hand bearing the knife, and with Kadliss' rifle in his other hand, jerked it around in a ninety-degree arc, jamming the knife straight into his oesophagus. Blood began to spurt and trickle simultaneously, whetting the South African's emotionless face. Before Kadliss could react, he spun the rifle around in another hand, and brought the butt up, colliding it with his side and knocking the wind out of him. "Sorry, boys," He hissed, bringing a dazed Kadliss up to his height, locking a knife-bearing arm around his neck and slitting his chin-strap, before pushing the helmet off with a clunk, revealing the Sergeant's bare, brown hair, just in case Esposito decided to get funny. He drew the Beretta once more and aimed it over Kadliss' shoulder. "Walk, and you might live. Shout, and I'll slit your throat. Clear?" He hissed the orders, and, even to the end, Kadliss gulped, and nodded.

He moved a little further into the construction site when the Sergeant began talking again. Mumbling and half-sobbing. "Y-you'll be executed for this," Not if there aren't any witnesses, I won't... Thaddeus thought, another grin slipping onto his face as he jerked the knife up and stuck it straight into Kadliss' mouth, sawing through something pink and fleshy with a single slash. As was to be expected, he spluttered and howled unintelligibly as his tongue fell straight from his mouth and dropped into the sand, bleeding all over the place.

Thaddeus now had an insurance policy. "YOU HEAR THAT, KID?!" Leonidas howled. "THIS IS SOME CONSTRUCTION WORKER WHO'S GOING TO DIE BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T COME QUIETLY!" Lightening his bones a touch to make himself faster, Thaddeus grunted from the pain and began to quickly sweep further through the site.

And he continued running. He moved quickly, naturally agile and swift, nature's bonus for a rather weak amount of strength in the upper body. Soon, Guido reached the end of the line, knowing exactly what manhole to come up through. Darting up the ladder, he heaved with a grunt and finally pushed the large metal disk aside, climbing out and immediately heading for the construction site, fully knowing he was being pursued. In fact, it was so inevitable, that had been his goal; to turn the tables on them. They knew of him, and probably his powers as well, so he knew entirely that they'd know where he ran; he wasn't hiding. As far as he knew, there was a woman, probably with back-up waiting- in fact, as he glanced behind himself, he caught, while turning a corner, sight of a large man and another two other men with him.

Soon, very soon, he came to a pair of cranes, not too far apart; each faced an opposite direction, and thus made this a strong tactical position, as well as hiding him. And there was a megaphone nearby. Picking it up, he addressed the man, throwing his voice to mask his location. "You may well have had me in the original ambush, and I'm horribly sorry I like my freedom too much to surrender. But now it's my turn; the black pieces have moved, it's over, that's it, and now it is my turn, I, the sole pawn left to defend my freedom, the king; And I just touched the end of the board. You're in my playground now, and if you don't play by my rules, I swear; I know every machine present like the back of my hand, and I can easily decimate you. So if I were you? I'd kick rocks behind my feet back to Typhon headquarters. What's it gonna be? You wanna continue playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded railgun? Or do you want to gracefully accept checkmate? The choice is all your own, Rambo."

But as he finished speaking, a device landed nearby, and he didn't have time to look away and cover his ears. The grenade blew, and he winced back a shout of pain as his ears exploded with reverbrations, as his eyes flashed vividly, in agony, and as the sheer disorienting properties of the stun grenade knocked him over. When he could once again stand, he heard the man yelling to him, something about a hostage. Hrm... Poor man. Guido shouted back, "May God have mercy on his soul, then; I shan't come quietly, nor ever will! Not so long as the Earth revolves around the Sun." Heh... This was to be the fun part. He touched the crane nearest the man, and peeked out a bit to view him. He as coming in fast. Boy, this would be fun. Climbing onto the rear end of the crane, he clung on as his body and the crane got to know one another, merged minds, so to speak. The crane lumbered forward at fifteen miles per hour, and when Guido saw it was time, he grinned; the wrecking ball was disengaged from the crane, but not before being drawn back so that it would fly like an arrow to the exact spot Guido wanted it; right into the man. Momentum was a splendid thing; it would be pretty tough to dodge a flying wrecking ball at that speed. " ARRIVEDERCI, MY SHORT-KNOWN FRIEND! PERHAPS WE CAN CHAT AGAIN IN THE NEXT LIFETIME!" And with a mad grin, he got to have one more bit of fun. Taking from his pocket a tape recorder he liked to use for mix tapes and such, he placed an empty tape in and hit record. " To those surviving my poor pursuer; COME AND GET ME! I repeat, and shall repeat!" At that point, he hit Replay, and pressed the loop button, setting it to play this over and over, with a decent delay between messages, as if he were merely shouting annoying rage-fuel messages.

He then looked around. He saw the remaining crane, and the one he'd moved, for one. Also a bulldozer, a forklift or two, and a dump truck of gravel, as well as a concrete mixer. But what REALLY caught his eye was a Suzaki Hyabusa motorcycle some twenty-nine yards away. With little hesitation, he made a bold dash for it, while keeping hidden relatively well, amidst the partly constructed structure, likely a parking garage, and the large construction machines. Some workers were still on the scene, obviously having not left yet, and one was headed for the motorcycle, probably to drive over to McDonald's for lunch or something. Nope. Guido brought up his left leg, giving the poor fellow a roundhouse to the head, leaving him stone unconscious, as Guido fell backwards, not having connected the kick properly. Clambering onto the gorgeous scarlet and black beast of a bike, he revved it once for the awesome factor, before shooting off, gunning it to its full glorious 312 kilometers per hour, making sure to avoid anything. And the beauty of it was, the road blocks had cleared a few streets leading in and out of the closed off one, haha! He could even run the red lights, nobody was around to care!

[EXIT THREAD]

So it went down to this, being ordered despicable Kine and a petty creature. Ash didn't like the 'Stay back' and the more she disdained it when the Van wolfe ended it with addressing her as a girl. However, her oriental visage didn't frown, her lips didn't scowl and certainly, the Kuei-jin or in an essence the Kuen-jin hid her arrogance with a reply and acknowledgment of an Of course while her mind filled with very polite Japanese profanities of Baka-Van wolfe Still, The Ashikaga found maxim in no intervention and the just predestine recognition of what supposed to be a clandestine operation of a child abduction. All for the sake of Typhon, the organization that the vampire both served and loathed.

However, the man who was called Thaddues decided to get rid of his own henchmen whom level was not par with him, probably viewing his cohorts as a liability more than useful. Ash didn't understand it, to her black eyes that lacked mercy, the kine were certainly in ways useful, mere cogs in the shifting gears that would ultimately in the end realize the target if they were used tactically, at least their blood could become of use. Still, they were dead nonetheless as their crimson seeped in the ground and as scarlet decorated their armors of choice. The Ashikaga felt petty over the spilled blood and of course not over the blood spilled, what a loss! but she had no desire for non fresh blood, for there was no life in them anymore. In essence, vampires sucks the souls of humans by drinking their blood. However, she might bring herself sometimes to drink it for the sole purpose of sustenance and perhaps in a way procuring knowledge.

Nonetheless, The commander went inside after the child who went astray from the path. Each of them provoking the other with words, but the fox on the run spoke too much through a megaphone even if it masked it's presence with a well coordinated team, his presence would be located but said 'team' was already dysfunctional, two were lying dead and the third was ordered to a halt. Apparently, that Van wolfe had his own way of doing things..a man of his own.

Regardless, a grenade was thrown but the fugitive was not heavily injured. Ah, yes..The Ashikaga found her way to a good vantage point which concealed her presence and allowed silent observance. The fox was able to control a crane without actually driving it opting to touch the four wheeled beast to gain full control over his new mount, just like that. Intelligent and brilliant, as he may seemed. Dropping a huge metallic ball over the Typhon assailant. The kuei-jin, neither she did flinch nor offered a word of caution, she preferred silence anticipating what would happen.

After that, the fox located a nearby Suzuki Hyabusa to drive thus truly becoming the fox on the run. The vampire didn't bother to follow him, it was an perilous act to trail one of the fastest motorbikes ever made on foot on her current level. Oh, if she reached though her final level, she could have done that with ease. Nonetheless again, The Ashikaga could have intervened before the fox was able to take hold of the bike but she let him pass, another thorn in Typhon's path. The gist of such matter, the Kuei-jin in her own way, subtly defied the reign of six kings and queens.

The fox was no longer there, the Ashikaga went after the recorder to turn it off since it was pretty much annoying then she found her way back to commander Thaddues. To herself she wondered, was he still alive? Or was she able indirectly to rid herself of a future obstacle?

"You may well have had me in the original ambush, and I'm horribly sorry I like my freedom too much to surrender. But now it's my turn; the black pieces have moved, it's over, that's it, and now it is my turn, I, the sole pawn left to defend my freedom, the king; And I just touched the end of the board. You're in my playground now, and if you don't play by my rules, I swear; I know every machine present like the back of my hand, and I can easily decimate you. So if I were you? I'd kick rocks behind my feet back to Typhon headquarters. What's it gonna be? You wanna continue playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded railgun? Or do you want to gracefully accept checkmate? The choice is all your own, Rambo." Thaddeus remained silent and his face stoic and emotionless. His head snapped towards the direction of the noise; the bleeding Kadliss squirmed vigorously beneath his grip but they were moving as swiftly as possible.

He had no comment on the boy's speech. It was just a waste of time that meant he had a fraction more to catch up to him. Pi. Thaddeus almost snarled. Esposito was about as lethal as a fucking fly. He didn't see why the briefing, the dossiers, the caution... all of it had been supposedly necessary. God, the girl alone could have probably handled this; he was three minutes away from faceplanting the little douchebag into scaffolding. The kid wouldn't need his front teeth to be of use to Typhon. Then came the hostage response. "May God have mercy on his soul, then; I shan't come quietly, nor ever will! Not so long as the Earth revolves around the Sun."

Huh. Thaddeus' eyes narrowed; he had to hand it to Typhon, they'd done a good job at making this kids as amoral as they came. Twirling the knife back around his finger, he pressed it against Kadliss' throat. "Looks like you were useless after all," The South African hissed, ready to draw it along as the tongueless man whimpered pathetically in blubbering, bloody sobs. Then, Thaddeus stopped; for the sound of repetitive creak noises resonated about his periphery. He turned towards the source; and after a moment's surveillance, caught the little shitbag climbing atop what appeared to be a crane. With a wrecking ball attached.

Then it clicked. Technopathy. Thaddeus' eyes widened, his pupils thinning to the point that they were barely full stops upon a page; unsettlingly vibrant blue irises flooding the space where black had once been. His very expression became the emotionless definition of the phrase 'oh shit'. By the time Thaddeus caught sight, spun towards the crane and clutching Kadliss still, whose eyes were just as affixed on the sight before him, neither of them had time to struggle or dodge. Only time enough to register the scene properly: the wrecking ball was drawn back as far as it could possibly go. Then came a primal war scream in horrific, strong-accented, flowing Italian that the man couldn't decipher. "ARRIVEDERCI, LA MIA BREVE NOTA AMICO! FORSE POSSIAMO PARLARE DI NUOVO NELLA PROSSIMA VITA!"

The wrecking ball released. Thaddeus didn't have time to speak, or move; not with the amount of momentum the gargantuan blackened steel sphere possessed. Only time to activate his innate ability. The strand of modified, mutant DNA Typhon had blessed him with. Possibly his greatest asset; on a molecular level, the bonds between each calcium atom of osseous tissue slowly strengthened and strengthened. In a solid, atoms themselves are already tightly packed; Thaddeus activating his ability simply flooded the containment areas with even more.

Beneath his skin rippled bumps and shards, his body appearing momentarily to be nothing but skin. Beneath the lurching whistle of the South African's impending fate in the form of a giant steel ball could be heard a series of sickening cracks; and within it all, as Thaddeus felt as if liquid fire or molten magma were being trickling across his skin, agony surging through every vein, artery, and neurone he could feel, his arms just about managed to cradle the bloody Kadliss before the ball finally made contact.


The next thing that Thaddeus could recall was a series of impacts, momentary blackout, and then coming to beneath the mangled remains, vaguely reminiscent of roadkill, of one of his squadmates, the Sergeant he'd threatened. There was a large, jagged round shape in brickwork in front of him as the militant pulled himself to his feet and pushed off the pathetic remnants of Kadliss. The blonde placed a hand out to push himself upwards, but found it a futile affair; recalling his dense bone structure, he reverted his power with another, albeit swifter series of cracking noises, and pulled himself up, looking from side to side at clouds of dust and piles of rubble he'd created due to flying impact through a fresh building site.

Thaddeus felt like hammered shit, but he was alive. All of his clothes were ripped, his weapons scattered, his flak jacket torn impossibly, his comrades dead, and his ears ringing, but once the echoes cleared, all he could hear was a steady, continuous drip, and the nearby sound of an old, spluttering engine revving. Getting to his feet as the girl, Chi, entered the site after him and scoped the child out, the Wolf managed to pull himself upwards and yank a rather large shard of brickwork from his upper thigh with a muffled grunt. "Fuck," Was the summary of it all, and an emotional one at that for the stoic van Wolfe.

Climbing out of the whole Guido had smacked himself into, Thaddeus drew up with the Ashikaga girl and surveyed it up and down, whistling slowly. The hole was approximately twice the size of the wrecking ball; though said ball had still sent a 700-pound human careening into it. "Some impact," He muttered, looking up to a creak and scowling. The black orb was still working off residual momentum, throwing from side to side. He dusted himself off first, and checked along torn fabric for his wondrously intact belt, with the somehow miraculously functional - and still crackling - ancient Motorola. He flipped it open with a sigh, and observed; in death, Kadliss had been of use. Had he not taken the impact first, Thaddeus, skeleton or not, would have been bleeding out with his intestines all over the place by now. A smirk, and he flicked the phone open, checking off into the distance as Esposito drove off.

A scowl; the kid had won this round. He turned quickly to the girl and smiled maliciously, scratching the back of his neck. "Don't bother," The dial tone thrummed a few times and finally connected. Without bothering for an answer, Thaddeus just began railing on whomever was unlucky enough to be working for Typhon's intelligence division and on that end of the phone on that particular day. "This is van Wolfe. I need a Class 1 urgent-priority location trace on a Suzuki Hayabusa, 1999, in the Auckland area. License plate is... Mike Three Yankee, X-Ray Zero Five. Within the hour," Again, not waiting for a response, he hung up the phone immediately as soon as the sound of keyboard tapping filled his ears.

"We'll get him soon enough," With that, the Wolf returned to the impact site to retrieve his weaponry and equipment, and then turned on his heels and made straight for the construction site's exit. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know why he was going, or what he was doing until the results of that trace back. He was only limping slightly, with the fresh wound from the shrapnel still trickling blood down his leg along with a variety of nicks, cuts, and further puncture wounds. He'd been lucky enough to be thrown into breeze-block and not just typical brick; though he still felt as if he'd been fired out of a cannon into a wall full of solid concrete. The reality wasn't that far off.

Regardless, Thaddeus muttered to himself. "Destination, anywhere but here," Typhon crews would clean up the mess. In the meantime... he had another loose end.