Loss of Freedom (EVENT DAY 2)

[Alex]

Alex walked across the school grounds, it was the afternoon, classes had finished for the day, and he was free, thank god. As soon as class ended he had bolted out of the classroom, and pulled out his iPod and book, and proceeded out of the building. He slipped on his headphones, opened his book, and started to read the book that was craddled in his right hand, headphones on his ears, as he listened to his music.

He wasn't looking where he was going, not that he cared, as people who walked by him swerved to avoid him, as he continued on the straight path he was heading. He glanced up occasionally, to make sure he wasn't walking headlong into a tree, and a few times he had to move to the left or the right to avoid an obstacle in his path.

He looked up and around, and saw that he had nearly walked into a tree, yup, he was very into his book, it was a very interesting book. He saw a bench nearby underneath a tree that was near one of the school buildings, and he walked over to the bench, slipped off his headphones, and continued reading, as the sun shined through the tree branches, casting shadows here and there. People passed by him, but he mostly ignored them, save for a couple people who he recognized as Steven, Annie, and Rina.

They waved at him as soon as they had caught his attention by calling out to him, and he waved back at them, before returning back to his book. He was so into his book, he didn't realize someone had walked up to him. " Um...Alex?" he heard a voice inject, as he looked up, he recgonized the person that was standing in front of him as one of his classmates, Maria. " Yeah?" he asked, continuing to look up at her. " Um...I have something to confess...to you. Alex, I...I like you..." she finally said, blushing furiously, as Alex looked at her politely confused.

" ...I appreciate that...but I'm sorry, I can't be with you." he replied finally, smiling sadly. " W...why?" " I have...things that I must do, things that you nor anyone else would understand. I'm sorry." She looked at him, disheartened, and ran away, crying silently, as Alex looked down at the ground.

I'm sorry, really...

[Austin]

"Are you ready to take away life today?" Austin said approaching the kid who had just broken a girls heart, "I was once like her, but then I realized what we're here for. We're simply put here to destroy. It's what we do best."

The once very shy kid was now very dangerous, and very prepared. He carried a back pack chock full of water bottles which were completely full. The water was supplies to him. And he was going to hunt down and kill the soldiers. "Of course you might not have gotten the message, by why not? You aren't one of them are you? Did you bring them here? No.... no I suppose that's be impossible. Anyway, they can fire from a distance, you better hide before you get sniped like she did......."

Austin ran to the fountain, he knew it would be his greatest asset, so he hid nearby in a tree, he waited there until others started attacking, then and only then would he go to work.

"I'll end their lives... so that she may live......"

You can hear me still can't you? I'm betting nobody moved your body, well, you'll wake soon. Trust me Michelle, I'm not going to let this happen. This isn't going to happen........ you.... won't..... die, Austin thought. He was now situated and the tree and stayed there hidden from the rest of the world.

[sephora]

Bare feet left marks in the grass as Sephora moved quickly. She didn't know why all the students were acting so calm, as if nothing was going on. Perhaps they hadn't taken the announcement on their MACs seriously, after all, they all knew that Solaris liked to play tricks on students and teachers alike.

Her green linen skirt swished around tan legs as the Armenian girl walked swiftly for the Cafeteria. She didn't like being outside, since she had gotten the news. If there was one thing that Sephora took dead serious, it was sniper warnings. She had lived through enough attacks to know not to take them lightly. Many times her father's rivals had tried to kill off his secret weapon so that he would no longer be at the head of the industry.

Large sunglasses shaded her eyes from the sun, but through them she passed a girl who was sobbing silently and running in the opposite direction than she herself was going. Walking quicker, Sephora hoped that the girl was alright, but didn't really pause to think about it. She felt exposed.

Hurrying along, her long darkly auburn hair was pulled into a low side ponytail that the wind kept tugging at. Peeking around a bend, she heard students laughing at her caution. Fools, she thought, fools that will be the first to die. Turning the corner, she saw Alex up ahead. What was he doing up there, all by himself? Shouldn't he be indoors, where it was safer? She would take hiim with her.

"Alex!" She shouted, hurrying to him. It was easier to move, now, for the girl had gotten her cast removed just a day before and found the fluid movement of her own arm much better than the chunky movement of her cast. She stopped short, though, as the quiet boy from her class got to him first. Something was different about him, about the way he stepped. Austin, that was his name.

Pressing herself against a tree, Sephora watched their interaction. It looked like Austin was just talking to him, then walked quickly towards a fountain. Sephora wondered if he was alright, his bag looked heavy. He should be inside.

"Alex!" She shouted again, trying to get her friend's attention. Sephora wanted to get inside as quickly as possible, and was going to get as many with her as she could. Perhaps then the other fools who were laughing would understand the direness of the situation. It was not safe out here. The girl dug her toe into the earth, ready for anything.

[Jonathan]

"How far are we now?" He asked to one of the men.

"Sixteen kilometers sir." The soldier replied nervously.

"Sixteen kilometers from the front gates?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, begin firing. Destroy their so called defenses." He commanded. His eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. It was a beautiful day. A great day to be doing the work of the Lord Almighty. "Rejoice children! Embrace our calling! Today we are forgiven all our trespasses, today we earn our stay in Heaven."

Jonathon was his name, a good name. He was named after John the Baptist. He looked over to the artillery as it began firing, his soldiers ready to march forward to the battle ahead. He already had his spies and snipers in there to scare them and rattle the cage, now they would show their true colors. Now they would use their ungodly talents. If not right away, then soon. And Jonathon would give the order to kill every person in that school on site. A bullet in the head for every freak possible. Not to mention the intel he received suggested they were harboring vampires and werewolves.

"Fire upon our enemies, let us strike with the vengeance of the Lord! Those of us who die should be so lucky! March Christian soldiers!"

Jonathan's calling lead him to this point. He was a speaker for the Lord, his words were righteous and pure. Words that would help destroy the evil, the wicked, the devils of this world.

[Alex]

"Are you ready to take away life today? I was once like her, but then I realized what we're here for. We're simply put here to destroy. It's what we do best." Alex looked up, and saw himself staring face to face with a young boy, whom he recognized from his English class. " To destroy? Destroy what?" Alex asked, he was surprised, he remembered this kid before had been completely shy, now he was...serious.Stoic. No mercy. A complete 360. "Of course you might not have gotten the message, by why not? You aren't one of them are you? Did you bring them here? No.... no I suppose that's be impossible. Anyway, they can fire from a distance, you better hide before you get sniped like she did......."

Them? Who's them? Sniped? No...

The mere mentioning of a sniper brought back the painful memories Alex had locked away deep down, the day, the moment his mother had died. Alex had but all forgotten about it, but hearing that word, the memory came rushing back. Alex's eyes flashed, no, he had to suppress it, he wouldn't let it surface. As Alex sat there, fighting to suppress his old memories, the boy moved away, moving towards the fountain, but Alex didn't notice. Only when a voice cried out to him did he snap out of his mind. "Alex!" "Sephora?" he said, surprised, as he stood up and ran over to her. " What's wrong?" The look on her face confirmed his fear.

"...snipers. It can't be...No...I won't let anyone kill innocent students anymore." he growled, as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, going into the building that was nearby. Only when they were safely inside a classroom did he finally speak to her. " Why? Why are snipers here? What do they want? And who is commanding them?" he began firing questions at her, as his eyes held a serious and cold look, not because of her calling out to him, but because of the situation that they were in.

Before he could get an answer from her, a loud explosion ensued, he felt like the ground was shaking underneath him. " What the..!?" he shouted, as he ran to the window, only to go pale. Artillery. Firing at the front gates. The gates couldn't handle such fire power, and Alex only had a few moments to react. " Sephora! Stay away from the windows, get as many students as you can inside here, and then lock and barricade the door!" he shouted to her,

Alex glared down at the artillery that was attempting to barge through, as he clunched his fists, if he had to, he would use his Qi and strike at the gasoline tanks. " ...I won't allow anyone to destroy the school and the students my father took in! I won't!"

[sephora]

Alex had stared at Austin, seeming in a trance. Her call for him seemed to snap him out of it, though, and Sephora felt relief as he ran towards her. "...snipers. It can't be...No...I won't let anyone kill innocent students anymore." The boy then grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, not seeming to realize that he had a very tight clamp on newly healed bones. They made it to a building and Sephora followed him into a classroom. She wondered if it was safe in here, there were so many windows.

" Why? Why are snipers here? What do they want? And who is commanding them?" Alex suddenly drilled her with questions that she had absolutely no way to answer. His face was so intense that she suddenly went on guard, as if he were blaming her for all of this. She knew that he wasn't, but Sephora still felt as if she were falsly backed into a corner. Opening her mouth to rebuke him, the ground started to shake.

Sephora followed him to the window and her cheeks went white when she saw what was out there. Exactly what she was hoping wouldn't happen obviously was about to. There was a small army bearing down on the gates, shooting them to a metal pulp. Her stomach lurched and somewhere she heard Alex, " Sephora! Stay away from the windows, get as many students as you can inside here, and then lock and barricade the door!"

"Alright..." The girl said in Armenian, as if in a daze. Though her mind was working slowly, the girl felt her feet rush her outside of the classroom, her hands throwing open the door and fingers hitting buttons on her MAC.

"EVERYONE INSIDE!" Luckily her words came out in english. Sephora held the door open as screaming students surged into the building. A few were running for the gates, perhaps in hopes of becoming heroes or thinking that their Qi was powerful enough to withstand an army. Fools, all of them.

For the first time in her career at the school, Sephora wished she still had her bodyguards. They were all expertly trained, and would know exactly what to do in this situation. Peering at the open ground, Sephora saw a few students in the distance who perhaps hadn't felt the explosion or hadn't paid it any mind. Running in a low crouch towards them, she shouted for them to hurry and get inside. They weren't moving, and she saw that they both had headphones plugged into the same iPod. Fools.

Another explosion shook the ground, this one much more powerful. The girl was increasingly wary, for the gates were far off and if the explosions were shaking them here, then what would they do once past the gates? "We have to get inside!" Sephora shouted at the students.

[Jeremiah Sykes]

Welcome to hell.

Jeremy grinned.

He had undergone surgery over the past few days, surgery that, while it had saved his life, caused some mental instability, or added to what was already present. He was standing in the middle of the courtyard, A wicked grin on his face as he stared at the munitions that were pounding the gates. He started forward, oblivious to the fact that people were yelling at him to run and hide with them.

When he had been in surgery, his knee, which had been broken into a hundred pieces, was replaced with a large metal plate, and his right arm (which had been targeted by a poison on the blade he had been stabbed with) had to be removed, and replaced with an entirely mechanical arm. It was stronger, faster, and far more durable than his other one was, especially since it had to be made to be huge like his other one.

The skin was synthetic, so it could be torn off, but unless it was nobody would actually know that it was mechanical.

He walked forward, prepared to rush into battle for a final time, his life meaning nothing to him anymore. His body was healed, but was only partly his own, the arm and knee standing out like white in a black world. He didn't want to live like that. He didn't want to be a...machine.

Movement caught his eye.

His head snapped over to reveal sephora, rushing like a fool to try and herd everyone into a building that was further into the compound.

'Fuck'

Jeremy ran over, eyeing the boys who were running inside. He scooped her up and threw her behind a building, knowing that the gates were only seconds away from crumbling. He didnt want her in the direct line of fire, and it was obvious to him that she had no clue the walls were about to buckle.


"Why do i keep finding myself saving your ass? Get inside, before you get yourself killed."

[The Paladin's]

"Gates are down, repeat, the gates are down!

Soldiers in the backs of trucks, a good 60 trucks were making their way towards the gate, as well as a row of fifteen tanks. They were approaching the wreckage that used to be the front gates.

"Fire upon our enemies, let us strike with the vengeance of the Lord! Those of us who die should be so lucky! March Christian soldiers!"

"Roger." The man holding the radio said. The trucks veered to the sides and stopped, soldiers came piling out of the backs, at least twenty soldiers in the back of each truck, not to mention the driver of each one. They began to run, carrying their M-16 rifles, basic ammunition, each had a grenade, a handgun with silver bullets, a blessed silver cross hanging from their necks, 7 inches tall, 3 inches wide. They carried a silver knife in their boots. They wore no body armor, but they were using battle dress uniforms.

1260 soldiers making there way. Soldiers from all over the world. 15 US tanks following behind, ordered to take out the defense systems while the soldiers attempt to infiltrate the school.

[sephora]

Sephora felt the ground rumble a bit and looked back to see a very very large male. To her relief, the girl realized it was Jeremy. Before she knew it, though, he had scooped her up and leapt behind a building. "Why do i keep finding myself saving your ass? Get inside, before you get yourself killed."

[glow=green,2,300]Always danger, little human[/glow]

Sephora heard the trees whispering to her, telling her of the danger. The whispering repeated itself, tellinger her of the danger. They begged her to come home to them, to run into the woods and hide. Shaking her head, she tried to keep from losing herself in their words.

The girl then looked at Jeremy incredulously. "Why do you think I was running in that direction?? Come on!!" She rose, grabbing his elbow, and tugged him in that direction. She couldn't move the boy on her own, though, mainly due to the fact that Sephora suspected Jeremy was roughly 200 pounds heavier than herself. Pausing in her moment of strife, the girl's heart stopped when her eyes peered towards the gate.

Though it was small due to the distance, she saw that they had fallen. There were what she only assumed were men marching past them, moving in formation. The force was still a ways off, but that distance would close quickly, especially since they most definitaly had long-range weapons on them.

"Jeremy we have to get everyone to the AI core! That's what Solaris said to do on the MAC!" The girl tugged harder. Sephora's blue eyes scanned the area for other students when she suddenly remembered. Austin had gone to the fountain. Looking in that direction, she couldn't see him.

[glow=green,2,300]Come to us, little human[/glow]

[Jeremiah Sykes]

Jeremy's eyes drifted over to the gate as men began to pour through. He looked down at sephora, wondering if she had a family, many friends, a boyfriend, a gang she had joined, anything. She must, or why would she even care. He had nothing, and he really saw no reason to follow this girl to die with some computer who thought itself supreme. If he was to die, he would die fighting.

"No."

He pulled his arm away. Though he considered her a friend on a certain level, she hadn't really spent enough time with him, or even showed she cared about him in any sense, friendship or otherwise, so he saw no reason to follow her in her righteous pursuit to become these kids' saviors. He looked down at her, confusing thoughts running through his head. He wanted to follow, if only to find mat and make sure he was okay. Then again, he heard mat and his girl had fled the place, so the only real person he had any semblance of feeling for was the one in front of him.

"Give me one good reason why i should follow you. If you cant or don't care to then your on your own, because i intended to crush some of these mens skulls."

He wanted to feel the blood runs through his fingers, to taste it on his lips. He figured he had gone a little strange in the head since his surgery. Not only did he have no friends, family, or anyone to really care about, now he was a mechanical freak, and he planned on ending that pain this night.

He crossed his arms as he waited for a response, the turmoil around him lost as he stared into sephoras waiting gaze.

[sephora]

[glow=green,2,300]It's safe in our arms, little human[/glow]

Sephora tried to push the trees out of her mind, they were distracting her. She had to admit, though, hearing them was comforting. The girl turned her attention back to the matter at hand. Jeremy wasn't budging.

"Give me one good reason why i should follow you. If you cant or don't care to then your on your own, because i intended to crush some of these mens skulls."

Sephora's blue eyes searched his gaze. Why was he doing this, in the middle of an attack? The gates had just collapsed and he was bucking against her, because he had a blood lust. It was sort of aggravating, but something in the massive boy's eyes told her that he needed her to say something meaningful.

[glow=green,2,300]Come to us, little human. Come home.[/glow]

"Remember how well we hit it off in sex ed?" Sephora said with a laugh, remembering well their flirty conversation. It was the only reason she had spoken to him in gym class, "Besides, even though we don't know eachother too well, you're one of my few friends here."

Sephora's small hand slipped into his and she tightened it around two of his fingers, pulling him towards to building gently. She sort of felt like a child tugging at their father, for his digits were too big for her to hold entirely, "Besides, if you really want to fight these monsters, then let's get these kids to safety so they don't get in our way."

Giving him a mischevious grin, Sephora knew he would catch the 'our' in her sentence. She wanted to teach these intruders a lesson too, it just had to be at the opportune moment. Her gentle eyes glanced at the troops, marching through the felled gate.

[glow=green,2,300]Here you shall be safe, little human[/glow]

[The Paladin's]

Systems began kicking in, soldiers ducked the fire of mini gun turrets and auto cannons that the schools systems decided to spring up. Tanks began taking care of the systems, but not before one of the tanks was demolished by auto-cannons. The soldiers began to march on, nearly nine of them having just been swiped by minigun fire. Once again the tanks did their job and took out the turrets as they went along.

Then something bigger, something from the sky, an orbital weapon of sorts that the Paladins hadn't been expecting, dropped down a bomb blast that destroyed another tank which had already come into damage from auto-cannons, and injured 4 of the other tanks.

(for those of you keeping score at home, thats 9 healthy tanks, 4 highly damaged tanks [malfunctioning equipment/cannon damaged])

Paladins began running from this point on as mini gun turrets swiped down their numbers. Tanks did their work from a distance, not moving as fast as the soldiers were running, of course it didn't matter considering they were not going after the kids per se, they were after the school buildings. 4 of the tanks went towards the boys dormitory, 2 towards the literature building, 3 hung back to provide cover from turrets when necessary, and the four malfunctioning were still trying to make heads out of tails. (they can't even move right now, still way back further towards the front gates)

it was a long distance but finally the soldiers made it. After all was said and done roughly 650 soldiers remained (wanna guess how I decided on that number?) They began opening fire on students. 3 round bursts to preserve ammo, but more importantly, only using whatever ammo was necessary. Each soldier only had one clip of ammo, and they had already began opening fire.

(Now you may commence doing as you wish to these soldiers, bearing in mind, there are 650 shooting at everyone.)

[Jeremiah Sykes]

Jeremy's thoughts scattered. She considered him a friend? and was wanting to fight beside him, and possibly die with him? She had pushed the perfect button. They weren't going to fight. He was going to protect this girl with his life if need be. Just by saying aloud that they were friends, just by being there and holding his hand, by saying she would go into battle with him, she had become closer than matrim ever was. It wasn't love, no, he didn't like her like a man was supposed to like a woman, he cared for her in the sense that she was his only friend, and he would die for his friends.

His gaze shot up to the entrance of the small alley between buildings that they stood in. A man came walking into his, his gun turning to shoot them. Jeremy's left arm came down and scooped up sephora, the man with the gun staring up in wide-eyed awe at the giant. Jeremy, using his mechanical arm, reached down and grabbed the mans head quickly, busting it open on the corner of the wall, blood splattering across its foundation.

Three more turned and open fired at them. Jeremy jumped to his right, Sephora sitting on his left shoulder, her arm wrapped around his neck. He plowed right through the wall, making sure sephora took as little damage as possible. It was pitch black, the men running in after them. Jeremy kicked out the front of one knee, the bone breaking out the back. The butt of a gun slammed into his abs, and since it came from the left and his left arm was holding up the girl, he took the blow full force, pain shooting through his midsection. That was gonna hurt in the morning.

He punched the guy in the face, the metal knuckles breaking bone. The fellow dropped. Jeremy turned as the final man raise his gun. He brought up his right arm to cover the girl he aimed for. The bullet struck the forearm, shooting off the titanium casing. He kicked, the man flying back into the wall with a crunch. He set sephora down.

Walking over to the window, he looked out as the building shook.

He turned back to the girl.

"How do you plan on saving everyone? Seems to me they're as good as dead, and we'd be safer in here."

[Marquise]

Marquise had been waiting for this exact moment. He had been hiding watching Sephora, but now he knew how he was going to get breakfast. He had heard the mans voice, and he had been inside one of the buildings, a broken window and having listened to some of the radio broadcasts gave him there general way of speaking.

"MAN DOWN!" He said from inside the room, calling out towards the soldiers, one of them came in with his gun to investigate. "Bless the lord, I've been hiding in here. I stabbed the werewolf with the knife, it ran off. The vampire burnt up and ran when I protected myself with my cross, can you give me a hand?"

The man approached slowly, "Where's your cross soldier?"

"Oh....." Marquise looked down towards the mans foot where Marquise had left the cross after many failed attempts of wearing it without it burning him. The man grabbed the cross and tossed it to Marquise, his fangs bared his eyes glowed red and his hands began sizzling like bacon. He quickly tossed the cross to the side and pounced on the soldier, going straight for his neck as three rounds were shot into his right forearm. Marquise bit down drinking the blood of the Paladin, the cross around his neck burning at Marquise's chest.

He finally let up and limped away from the cross holding his forearm in pain. "TO HELL WITH YOU AND YOUR KIND!" Marquise sat back down, hiding his fangs and wiping the blood from his mouth. He grabbed the handgun the soldier was carrying, but left the semi automatic weapon. He took the new guys form, giving himself a few seconds. The bullets hurt, but luckily they went straight through.

Stopping bleeding helps when your heart doesn't beat.

Marquise stepped outside, walking around he went after Sephora again, to follow her and make sure he was there the second she died. After all, he had made her a promise. His only worry was someone revealing his identity prematurely. He did love pretending to play soldier and not get shot out in the open after all.

[sephora]

They had been standing almost in an alley between buildings and Sephora's small hand squeezed the fingers she still held onto as she saw a man step into it. He had a gun and was lifting the thing, aiming for them. With that, Jeremy exploded into action.

All Sephora knew was that she was clinging to the head of the bull as it raged. Her arms wrapped around his neck as her body perched on Jeremy's left shoulder. The girl tried to be as small a target as possible.

Sephora cringed when she saw the butt of the gun slam into his abdomen, and she knew it was her fault. He was using that arm to hold her up. The boy she clung to moved faster than she had thought his size allowed, and she nearly cried out when a bullet bounced off his arm. She didn't have time to figure out why it hadn't actually gone in, and had just bounced off with a spark.

During the fight, the murmer of the trees lessened, but was still present, calling her to them.

Once the immediate enemies were dead, Sephora slid off of his shoulder. "How do you plan on saving everyone? Seems to me they're as good as dead, and we'd be safer in here." He said as he looked through a window. One of the buildings they were wedged between shook.

"We have to tell them to get to the AI Core." Sephora said, looking up at him. She whipped out her MAC and sent a txt to Alex,

Tell the students to get to the AI Core, Solaris will know what to do. That was all she had time for, though. Walking to the edge of the building, she peeked around, then darted back into its cover. "It looks like the tanks are going for the buildings. Maybe you're right about staying outside."

Digging her toe into the ground, a cactus sprung up with thorns as long as the girl's forarm. She plucked them off and held them in a fist, weaving a few into her hair quickly. At least now she had some sort of weapon. Toe still in the ground, Sephora peeked ever-so-carefully around the wall and puffballs grew in the grass. They would explode at the slightest contact, letting loose and irritating dust that would cause the eyes of their assailants to swell shut.

"We have to meet them there, somehow. At the AI Core. Then we can regroup with staff and figure out a plan."