The Path of the N2

[Anonymous]

Isabella was terrified.
The girl had been standing there, in the dark and musty cellar room, being a witness for hours. She was forced to watch as Hack had his way many different times with the Godsend Kure, who was naked and chained to the wall with chains by her wrists, drenched in sweat and blood among other things.
At the present, Kure was in a state beyond the describable realms of consciousness and unconsciousness, Isabella was crying profusely after having seen the most terrifying sights in her whole life to date, and Hack was slowly licking one of his bloody knives clean by the sole candle that dimly lit the room. When he was done, he tossed the knive down on the moldy, wooden table that the candle was propped on and grabbed the handgun that was once Kure's weapon on the same table.
The second wave of these Rogue Godsends have been summarily welcomed to our humble abode, and I expect the third here shortly... Apothius telepathed to his mind.
Hack smirked and turned around, taking a glance at Isabella; the little girl was almost literally petrified from the acts she witnessed, her eyes unable to budge from Kure's abused form.
The N2 sauntered leisurely over to the girl and crouched down, saying to her, "Izzy..."
Isabella slowly and mechanically turned her head towards Hack, her eyes only doing so as well at the last possible instance.
Hack grinned and asked, "Do you know why I have shown you these things, Izzy...?"
Her lips moved slightly but no words came out, though the steady shaking of her head conveyed her answer.
Hack nodded his head and continued, "I have meant to teach you Izzy; teach you everything that ever was, everything that is, and everything that ever will be. All of it, everything, revolves around a single concept - that what is constructed must be destroyed. And you, Izzy..." Hack gently took hold of her right hand and presented the gun to her, "will be my successor. And to do that...you must have your first true taste..."
Isabella's lips trembling horrendously, she just barely managed to squeek out, "i can't..."
"You must," said Hack edged the gun closer to her.
"no...i can't, i can't!" The girl was pleading with him.
Hack grabbed Izzy on the shoulder and spun the rest of her body around to face him, saying to her with great importance, "Izzy...it is the way of life."
Slowly, Isabella's eyes trailed down to look at the gun presented to her...
"You know what to do..." Hack told her, taking a glance at Kure afterward; if only she were awake to see it...


Just like at the Skylight, Virtue was waiting on the patio of the small ice cream shop known as The Frozen Treat. She had cast a couple glances back at the shop's mage owner, who was looking at her as if he expected something from her. Nonetheless, Virtue stood fast and waited patiently for Norriden and the rest of Alexiannastraziel's alliance to arrive.
She glanced up at the morning sky, keeping a look out for them.

[Anonymous]

Like a half Archangel bat out of hell, Norriden swooped down from the sky with his normal appearance at last. He carried Kynrei in his arms as he neared his destination. Finally stopping in midair, he slowly let his freakish wings flap, causing his decent upon the land to approach slowly. Once on ground, he gently set Kynrei down on her feet. Soon after, Kaité came flying down with no passangers, followed by Norriden's little brother, Tesri. Tesri managed his way to Serendipity with Rosa in his arms. Once close enough to the ground, Rosa jumped out of Tesri's arms, rather than letting him land. How Virtue got there so fast is beyond Tesri, but that's best left alone. Rosa had every reason to be confused still.

[Anonymous]

Bringing up the rear was Neseraph, who carried the simply estatic Insera.
And the moment they landed, Insera's feet touched the ground and her hand touched Neseraph's face...fast and hard.
He immediately brought his own hand up to his face to soothe the pain and asked as if harassed, "Why'd you do that, babe? God-damn...ah..."
Insera crossed her arms, "Because I was not satisfied with the service on my flight; that was bloody horrible, Neseraph. I had thought that at least by now you would have learned how to utilize your newfound wings with some measure of skill...and don't call me that!"
Virtue refused to think about what could possibly drive that women's violent fervor. Instead, she focused on the task at hand, "Sir Tangent will arrive shortly; my Creator and myself took care of his transportation issue ourselves. Lady Kaite, if you would be kind enough to direct us towards the warehouse of which you spoke of, we can begin."

[Anonymous]

When Virtue asked Kaité to direct them to the warehouse in which the N2 recides, the green haired angel looked down both directions of the street before heading off in a generalized direction. Norriden, Rosa, and Tesri quitely followed, though Tesri always seemed to wear the same grin on his facade all the time. Eventually, the team arrived at the front end of a warehouse.
"Information on this small Hellsend group was not normally gathered on a regular basis as their importantce wasn't much to the SSHE. Though, due the latest investigation on them, this was the last place that was known to where they have lived." Kaité explains, signalling her hand towards the warehouse they stopped near.

[Anonymous]

Virtue's eyes slowly scanned the abandoned warehouse they were led to, scrutinizing it carefully. The warehouse used to be the primary storage building of an old Guild that dealt in the textile business, before their eventual decline and disbanding. More than half of the wares and supplies they had left behind were gone, nearly all of the windows cracked or broken or shattered completely, and one of the front doors leaned precariously on one hinge.
And just then, a copy of Virtue landed near the group and set Tangent down. As the facsimile faded away in a dim blue light, the original Virtue turned away from analyzing and greeted, "Right on time, Sir Tangent."
"Excellent," replied Tangent with a slight hint of renewed furor for the task at hand.
The voice of Alexian descended upon the group then, speaking in each of their minds:
I am glad that all of you have arrived safely. But I am afraid that the easiest is behind us now. What lurks beyond those doors, I cannot tell. Remain on your highest guard and proceed cautiously - I will be watching over all of you.
After the voice of her creator had finished, Virtue faced the group and spoke succinctly, "Follow my lead."
With that, Virtue withdrew her silenced pistol from her coat and slowly made her way into the old building, the damaged door creaking slightly as she opened it.
"Ah, stealth assassin style. I love it," remarked Neseraph in way that seemed heedless to Alexian's warnings of caution before he stepped in after her.
"Silence, you idiot!" Insera hissed, following behind Neseraph for his own safety.
Tangent stalled, looking at the remaining portion of the party and saying, "Go on ahead...I'll bring up the rear."

[Anonymous]

Norriden was first to withdraw his handguns before proceeding after Neseraph and Insera. Rosa and Kaité turned to Tangent upon hearing him as Tesri followed after Norriden with his hands on the hilts of his swords. Rosa nodded at Tangent's comment and followed in after Tesri. Kaité simply watched the woman head in before moving forward with a readied hand on a rapier. Soon, the fight with the N2 will commence.

[Anonymous]

The silencer of Virtue's pistol lead the way in the warehouse.
Light from the outside world managed to dimly shine through the grungy, and in certain places cracked or broken, windows on the upper walls of the warehouse. Large collections of dust and scattered spider webs on the rows of tables of seats were a testament to the place's abandoned nature. The air within was a bit stale as well, but as much as it potentially could have been - something had stirred it up recently.
Indeed, someone had come here not too long long ago and-
"Boo."
!!!!
Insera whirled around and nearly choked the life out of Neseraph for whispering that so suddenly in her ear. Fortunately though, Virtue heard his struggles for air and gave Insera a concerned "Now's not the time for that" look, to which she reluctantly complied and released her death grip on Neseraph's airway.
Tangent almost thought the display was funny...almost.
As they made it to about halfway through the warehouse floor, though, faint voices could be heard coming from somewhere nearby-
"contact was lost with team shining approximately thirty minutes ago..."
Virtue froze when the sound graced her ears, as did Insera. Neseraph almost bumped into Insera though, but luckily avoided the collision by a few inches.
"the assailing force may still be in the area. proceed with caution..."
Off to the left, an open door that showcased a stairway leading downward seemed to be where the noise was coming from.
"for elial..."
"for elial..."
"for elial..."
Insera visibly showed signs of disgust upon hearing that name, and Neseraph spoke softly, "Heh.. Godsends."
"Perhaps," replied Virtue. "If they become a hinderance, I am afraid that we may have to suppress them."
"You won't hear me complain," stated Insera as a matter of fact.
Leaving that comment alone, Virtue started a brisk shuffle towards the door. She pressed her back up to the side of it, glancing in and down the stairs, then nodded to the rest and began her way down them.

[Anonymous]

The basement corridors weren't as dark as common sense would guess; special "ventaliation system" like tubes with mirrors reflected outside light all the way down to the basement. Spaced much like normal lights through the length of the corridor's ceiling, they provided adequate light.
Adequate, but not very good light, as the glass apparently wasn't cleaned in years.
Nevertheless, Virtue cautiously treaded along upon reaching the bottom of the stairwell, her pistol at the low ready-
"There! Engage!!" came some shouted from around the nearby corner.
!!!!
Several bursts of automatic gunfire rang out, along with the sounds of Miracles being cast.
Virtue threw herself flat on the dusty floor in reaction to the attack. Neseraph and Insera each ducked into doorways that offered only partial cover on either side of the hallway. Tangent didn't seem to worried, though, and took no defensive moves.
Not like none were needed though, as it soon became apparent that the no bullets or Divine magic was headed their way. The Godsends were fighting something else around that corner..
"No! What- what are you doing??" came a panicked yell from around that corner.
BANG! - BANG! - BANG!
....
And it was quiet again.

[Anonymous]

Rosa and Kaité immediately ducked upon hearing the firing. Norriden Didn't duck or dive to the ground, but took a defensive stance, nonetheless. Tesri, on the otherhand, threw off his gloves and stood his ground until the firing stopped. Once silent, Tesri was the first to move. In fact, he quickly moved around the corner to see the aftermath. Kaité's eyes widen substantially as the demonic angel vanishes behind the other side of the corner. This could turn out bad...

[Anonymous]

"Wait!" pleaded Virtue-
And around that corner lay two Godsends, who looked dead but did not appear to have any wounds, one Godsend plopped against a wall splattered in his own blood, and finally one still standing, his gun pointed at his bloodied comrade.
He slowly turned his head alone to look at the battle-ready angel, Tesri. Then he spoke without moving his lips at all, "Come to keep us company? Or perhaps...to do your good deed for the day?"
Upon a second thought though, it was like the voice wasn't coming from the Godsend at all, but rather behind him.
"What do you need the girl for?" asked the Godsend, or rather the apparently disembodied voice. "We were using her for something important, among other things. Call it a life lesson if you must.. but Hack insisted on teaching our little friend Isabella what it is like to kill someone for the first time. A necessary evil, perhaps..."
The Godsend, like a puppet manipulated by strings unseen to its audience, pointed his gun at Tesri. "Wouldn't you rather spare a moment and entertain me for a spell? She'll be done soon enough..."


Meanwhile, Kynrei, who had been silent so far, finally spoke up and suggested, "Let's move up," to the rest of the group after Tesri pretty much led their charge.
Neseraph and Insera gave each other the 'Why not?' glance as they jumped out from the their hiding places and followed after Kynrei and Virtue. Tangent still trudged along in the rear, not quite feeling the urgency in the air.

[Anonymous]

Norriden was the first up on his feet and around the corner behind his brother. His guns soon found themselves aimed at the Godsend. Kaité regained her berrings soon enough and gathered Tesri's gloves. Norriden listened and observed carefully as the puppeteer spoke. Rosa rounded the corner right after Kaité on time to see the Godsend's gun point at Tesri. Not a moment too soon, a shot is fired and a magic based bullet hits the Godsend's forehead.
"I don't have time for games! Where's Kure?!" Norriden asks outright. Rosa gasps as she covers her mouth. Kaité was too shocked to believe what Norriden just did. Tesri was even distracted by his brother's actions. Was this the same Norriden everyone knew?

[Anonymous]

The rest of the group catching up to Tesri's advance froze when Norriden took the shot, mixed reactions among them.
Virtue and Kynrei had faces akin to Kaite's own.
Neseraph perked both eyebrows and let out a soft whistle, caught totally offguard for that.
Tangent cocked his head to the side, part confused and part intrigued by the action.
Insera actually smiled a little, liking the display to a certain degree.
After the Godsend's body collapsed to the floor, the voice of person behind him spoke, "Well that wasn't very nice, now was it? Are you feeling quite alright? Perhaps a little...aside yourself, maybe?"
A faint, floating figure was slowly flickering into view from out of a seeming invisibility. Apothius snickered a little and continued, "I sure hope you don't think that you have made it in time.. what a tired old thought that would be."
"Silence, you bloody idiot," Insera spoke up in a commanding voice, training her own firearm down the hallway. "I'll ask you once, nicely even: Get out of our way."
Apothius sighed. "Oh very well. I see that we must play this game. Allow me to make the first move, will you??"
!!!!
The bodies of the Godsends lifted up telekinetically from the floor and formed a kind of human shield in front of Apothius, staying that way for only a second before they were all launched violently at the group.

[Anonymous]

Once the bodies were tossed, Tesri acted the fastest by drawing his scimitars and dashing forward. With a few swings of his blades, the bodies of the Godsends fall in halves while the rest of the hallway behind Tesri gets hosed by the aftermath. Norriden quickly holsters his guns and draws his sword to rush Apothius. Rosa cracks her knuckles. Though when she cracks her right hand knuckles, they sound a bit metallic. She then takes one step forward and seemingly vanishes before she appears before Apothius a second after with her right, 'metallic' fist quickly swinging at his face. In truth, she's simply fast on her feet. Kaité stands baffled until she's hit with a spray of blood to wake her up. How unfortunate for her white suit. Everything was happening too fast for her to comprehend, so she merely stood ready to sheild anyone just in case.

[Anonymous]

Nobody in their right mind really liked getting blood splattered on them, although Insera was the least revolted of those affected, and barely moved from her ground.
Apothius smirked, amused at the lengths that Tesri would go to-
!!!!
Before he was smacked hard in the jaw by the surprisingly fast Rosa. The contact felt weird though, as if punching through water. Apothius' head recoiled violently like he was physically struck; several waves of near transparent energy broke free from his apparation-like body as it became more opaque and in tune with the world.
The psychic glided back through the air, holding his face as he did so. "Ugh! How delightfully adorable!" he growled, "Spare me but one moment and I think you will find that I am not a fan such brute force!"
With that, he thrust out one of his arms towards the group and vanished.
"Ahh!" Insera shrieked in a very bloodcurdling way as she clamped onto her head with her free hand.
Neseraph shot her a quick glance, "Insera-?"
*BANG!* BANG!* BANG!* BANG!* BANG!*
He staggered back holding his chest until his back hit the wall behind him, a small blotch of blood being painted on it from the contact.
"Down!" Virtue hollered as she wheeled around to face the new threat and snap her own firearm into position-
But Insera's moved much quicker, empowered by a force not of her own body, and let loose a couple bursts of bullets down the hall. One of the bullet caught Virtue in her firing foreman, causing her to drop her gun and fall to one knee.
Then Kynrei, taking advantage of her position, quickly tackled Insera by the waist and took her down to the ground. Breathing and sweating very heavily, Insera pleaded direly to the proxy, "Help...me...!!"
!!!!
Way before Kynrei could take further action, however, a telekinetic force launched her off and violently down the hall, where she collided with the ceiling once and began a nasty diagonal plummet downward...

[Anonymous]

The demonic angel siblings nearly skitted to a halt when Rosa surprisingly dashed passed them and clocked Apothius a good one. All three of them immediately turned around when shots were fired. Neseraph was down, then Virtue. Finally, Kynrei dropped Insera but was tossed by an unseen force. This caused Norriden to rush in. Just before Kynrei impacts the ground, Rosa appears in her path on time to take the impact. This action dazed her a bit but saved Kyrei from any further damage. Before anything else could occur, a green hued dome appears around Insera. One equal to the one that held Sizzlebeast in place before. Standing, not far from the possessed woman was the blood soaked, green haired angel, Kaité, with her hands out towards Insera. Norriden slows his pace when he sees that everything is possibly fine and removes his glove. He stops right next to Neseraph and places his demonic hand on the man's chest to heal him.

[Anonymous]

"Hmm... interesting," came the voice of Apothius from slightly behind Insera, in puppeteer fashion again.
"Get-out-of-my-head!!!" Insera snarled viciously as she thrashed about inside Kaite's green dome.
Meanwhile, Kynrei's fall was indeed broken by Rosa, though she was still a little disoriented from the assault. Neseraph breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in appreciation to Norriden, who had cured him of his wounds.
"How about a small taste of your own medicine, my dear?" said Apothius mockingly as his possession of Insera ended and he reappeared where he was before. As soon as he came into view, he launched a solid blast of psychic energy down the hall screaming towards Rosa and Kynrei.
"For Insera!" growled Tangent as he dropped a large chaingun out from under his overcoat, then hoisted it up in Apothius' direction-
The psychic smiled and said in an amused tone, "Useless..."
!!!!
Two bolts of dark pink energy leaked out from his left hand and shot across the corridor and into Tangent's eyes. The Outcast nearly dropped his huge firearm to the ground and stood like a teetering tower, his eyes mesmerized and looking like he was put in some kind of trance.
"Why fight in vain?" Apothius asked in everyone in general as he arched his back and arms back, and an outward kinetic blastwave burst out around him.

[Anonymous]

Once Apothius was a good distance away from Insera, Kaité lowered her shield from the woman. Meanwhile, Rosa tries to regain her barrings when she realized that she and Kynrei are suddenly being assaulted from a distance. With little time to react, the metallic armed woman shoves Kynrei off herself and out of the way. Barely in a timely fashion to take in the entire psychic impact. This sends her back into the wall to further knock her dazed form into an unconscious state. Both Norriden and Tesri take up arms and rush after Apothius from both angles. Kaité was quick to judge the location of the psychic and took little time in taking action. Just as he arches his back, a green hued bubble forms around Apothius. This may be a turn in their favor and cause the kinetics to reverberate back at the psychic within the bubble, or she could have greatly miscalculated and accidentally shield him from harm. Soon, the demonic angel brothers will find that out.

(I'll leave the guessing to you. Just to make things intresting. Heheh...)

[Anonymous]

Almost forgetting that there was a fight going on, Neseraph rushed over to Insera and crouched down to examine if she was alright.
And just as Kynrei almost regained her bearings, she felt something that felt like a monstrous gush of wind brush past her and a blunt collision. Her eyes widened as she looked over her shoulder and witnessed Rosa sailing down the hallway-
Apothius was relentless, and after blasting Rosa it looked like he would catch Norriden and Tesri with another attack as the two brothers charged forward-
Or not.
Even to his surprise, Apothius soon found himself choking on his own psychic waves as a green bubble formed around his person. Like a balloon that was being filled with more and more air without being allowed the expand, Apothius' body began to be crushed until-
!!!!
A very loud popping sound was heard and Apothius' collapsed to the floor, his transparency shield gone completely now.
Laying on the ground, and looking rather mangled, he still smirked a little and muttered, "How classic.. to fall on one's own sword."
Her gunshot wound gone now, Virtue strode up to the bubble and gave the psychic an all-business look. "Our fight is not necessarily with you, but with a greater enemy. We seek the Godsend Kure - tell us where she is or grant us passage."
Apothius' eyes rolled over lazily to glance up at the proxy. "I already told you.. You're too late. Despite her reluctance, young Isabella will soon mercifully end Kure's suffering. And Hack will have no longer have just a student.. but his heiress."
Insera, though still a little ravaged from her ordeal, kicked the bubble and barked at him, "Quit your babbling! I'll 'mercifully end your suffering' if you don't make yourself useful quick and in a hurry!"
Apothius snickered once and replied, "Listen..."
The large iron at the very end of the hallway creaked open, opened by Apothius' whim...
....
BANG!!!
A single shot echoed throughout the basement corridors of the warehouse.
....
Apothius' smirk, however, slowly faded into a confused look, "That.. that wasn't supposed to happen.."

[Anonymous]

Kaité lowers the shield she had on Apothius when she realized he was defeated. While he was still talking, she took her time to give Tesri's gloves back to him. Just as soon as he slides his gloves back on, the shot rings through the basement. Not paying any heed to Apothius, Tesri and Norriden both look at each other before rushing down the corridor. Kaité remains, standing over Apothius, in case he attempts to do something. As for Rosa, she is currently far too unconscious to do anything productive.

[Anonymous]

That wasn't a good sound.
Neseraph and Insera darted off after Norriden and Tesri, while Virtue stayed behind with Kaite. Kynrei was slowly getting back up onto her feet, but was essentially still in the same boat as Rosa. The mesmerization that afflicted Tangent finally wore off and the Outcast's conscious came back under his control, though he looked rather lost and confused on what was going on.
Apothius sighed and glanced up at Kaite and Virtue, saying solemnly, "I'm afraid that this is over. We are no more."

Down the hall...
Through the door...
The four of them could see Kure chained to the wall by her wrists, her body soaked in sweat and blood, and her head hanging limp without support.
But she was still breathing.
"I understand..." said a child's voice.
Slightly off to the left of the room, by a table on which many torture devices rested, lied the body of Hack - a maniacal grin still on his face even in death - with a red hole in his forehead oozing blood onto the floor. At the foot of the dead man stood little Isabella, aiming the smoking pistol at his body, her clothing splattered with a few spots of the man's blood.
"You wanted it all along..." spoke Isabella softly, in a tone of breathless realization as she gradually lowered the firearm to her side.
Neseraph and Insera's utterly surprised faces hinted that they were at a total loss of words or thoughts for that moment.