Tempore, Beginnings: Chapter 4

Earlier as the hostage stand off begun,

“Miss are you sure about this order?” the police chief watches the young mayor, just barely out of college , as she sighs , “Last time I sent a mercenary group in we lost most of downtown , three million , and hundred lives. I don’t want another Sylph team going in.” The police chief watches her, “Nightshade has offer to send in Warmachines,” She corrects him , “Demanded to be let in there,”

The crowded bus station , at the edge of the Paradise Mall,

“Easy kitten,” Vartan touches Rhan’s head , and strokes her turf of hair, Talutah whispers, “Those are like the machines we fought,” Agnessa grabs Seth , she whispers “Calm down,” Vartan watches Seth , as he eyes begin to glow, ‘God not in a crowded area,’

“And GOD spoke to the Angel of Death, pagan angels and the very dogs of hell itself would descend on the City of Paradise,” Talutah watches , she whispers, “Vartan , any objection to us getting involved,”

In a small black van , the pilots sit in big black seats,

Zinerva voice rises from the radio, “We found a team of mercenaries willing to kill police officers. Your orders are to go through police barrier , and retrieve the girl. You are to kill any and all persons getting in your way.” One of the pilots goes cold , he pulls off his ‘VI’ whispering, “I am not sure about this commander Zinerva..” Zinerva voice whispers , “Goodbye Tate,” The pilot , named Tate, feels his hands and feet being locked then electrical energy is pumped through his body.

“Any other objections?” Zinerva asks.

A total of ten warmachines , three Ichtaca, three Moyolehuani, and four Tlilpotonqui. The Moyolehuani , are three legged warmachines , with massive armored plates, their forearms cover in black shields, they have two scatter guns , two sub machines and one mini-gun , which is mounted in its nose.

While the Tlilpotonqui are black warmachines , with bird like bodies , armored interlocking feathers, they have two laser blasters , a cold gun and a flame thrower.

They march through the mall parking lot, the police officers , cock their pistols , semi- automatic nine millimeter types, other police gather with shotguns and M16 rifles. The crowd while being pushed back , is still in the line of fire.

“Christ in heaven,” the police chief whispers, he levels his gun , then watches the mayor, “They mean to go through us… I’m not sure about this,” The young mayor, shakes her head, “Pull your units back, let them through , we..”

Moyolehuani suddenly begin to fire , their mini-gun , the crowd and police officer screams , as the dust clears , a wall of black energy protects the police officers. The warmachines turn as they are surrounded by Vartan, Agnessa, Talutah and Rhan. Seth whispers, “AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH SAID UNTO THE LESSER CHILDREN, BULLET OR BLADE WOULD NOT PIERCE THY SOUL,” Vartan turns to the police officers , “Get these people out of here,”

Seth covers his body in the black energy armor, forms the black energy blade , he turns to Vartan, “DEAR BROTHER SHALL WE STRIKE DOWN THIS EVIL.” Talutah turns to Seth, “Wait we don’t want people to get killed,” Rhan growls deep in her throat.

“What are you fools doing,” Zinerva demands, the lead pilot , states , “We don’t kill women and children, police officers are one thing…”

Talutah watches the remainder of the civilians clear out, she nods to Vartan , he turns to the warmachines, “Ready now,” Two Ichtaca turn on Talutah , letting out a volley of blaster fire , that she easily dodges , then she rockets towards them , slamming them into the ground.

Seth moves through the Moyolehuani, as they strike him , unlike before , the energy armor of the boy, blocks the bullets , the energy blade rips through the Moyolehuani’s five inch armored skin. The boy whispers, “AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH CONSUME ALL MANNER OF EVIL BEFORE HIM” The Moyolehuani begin to retreat , as the boy moves through them, cutting and slashing , when only one Moyolehuani stands , the boy lifts a hand , Talutah, calls to him, “Only enough to destroy , Seth nothing raw,” The beam flickers , then punches through the Moyolehuani’s left leg, it is crushed under its own weight.

Tlilpotonqui pilots watch , trying to get a lock on the boy, then suddenly one of the pilots screams, “Help!” The Tlilpotonqui turn as one , as Rhan sinks her claws into the warmachine’s lightly armored back, she rears back slamming her claws into the machine.

“I got a shot,” One Tlilpotonqui pilot screams , he lets out a burst of flame, that consumes the Tlilpotonqui with Rhan. There is a sound , he turns his Tlilpotonqui, as Vartan lets out a Electric impulse.

Suddenly a Tlilpotonqui, just behind the one hit with the Electric Impulse, is yanked into the first Tlilpotonqui, knocking it forward. Vartan moves out of the way, as the machine crumble on top of each other.

The final Tlilpotonqui, is smashed into debris by Talutah, she rips its arm off and bashes the machine into the ground.

A lone Ichtaca , takes aim on Vartan , when Agnessa appears dropping Rhan on the machine, she begins to wildly strike the machine, cutting it to ribbons.

Meanwhile,

“Ahhh,” The mayor gets toss against a car, she shakes her head, as the huge humanoid, in a greyish suit, stalks towards her , the humanoid is joined by a thin old man , who breathes, “Honor our contract and allow use to retrieve our client’s property,”

The mayor gets up, she whispers, “We are trying to end this peacefully, it hasn’t even been twenty minutes,” The old man stalks toward her, he whispers, “Warlock, shred her mind,” He turns around , he looks to the huge Humanoid , he whispers , “MoonDestroyer where is Warlock,” The huge Humanoid shrugs, “Apparently missing,” The old man growls, “I know that,”

“What the hell is wrong with these people,” Talutah demands, holding a small skinny man in her arms , so if he makes the slightest move she will snap his neck. Vartan watches an old man , flanked by a huge Humanoid , a slender girl , that has a lose fitting jacket and bellbottom jeans , she looks like a snow-cone , from her feet to her shoulder the clothing is white , while the top half is dark blue. Following her , is a large man , that looks like he killed and skinned a teddy bear , beyond him is a small short woman , dressed in gothic style clothing , white face make up and long finger nails. Beyond them is a small girl , who looks to be barley fourteen , she is dressed in deep blues and oranges.

“Champion,” Agnessa whispers as an armored suit breaks through a crowd of children, Vartan watches the armored suit. They watch as the Champion turns and waves to the crowd, then joins the old man, he says, “Emperor, I came as soon as I could,” Seth breathes , “Pagan Angels, slayer of children , and women,” Talutah whispers, “Calm down Seth,” Agnessa whispers to Vartan, “That guy is one from TV , Champion, I thought he was a good guy,”

The Emperor watches them, “Why are you holding a friend of ours,” Vartan quietly says, “I reckon because he doesn’t know how to treat a woman, with respect, especially a female peace officer,” The Emperor watches them, “We are here to collect on a contact… wait a second,” Emperor shivers, “Sinew was talking about you, you are the guys who stole their ship, and wiped out their bank account,” Talutah, smiles, “Sinew how is he,”

Emperor shrugs, “Well enough, considering he and the Vala lost their status in the Guild,” The Champion speaks forward, “You are interfering with official business of the Guild , you are violating..” Set whispers , “MURDERER!” Agnessa teleports grabbing Seth , she pulls him to the ground, the Champion jumped nearly ten feet straight back. Seth whispers, “AND GOD SPOKE UNTO THE ANGEL OF DEATH, THE MURDERER OF INNOCENT CHILDREN , AND WOMEN, SHALL SUFFER THE WRATH OF DIVINE JUSTICE.” Emperor watches Seth, then to Vartan, “Your friend is a bit unstable,”

Champion steps forward, “Release our friend , or we will force you to do so,” Talutah whispers, “Come try it,” Vartan whispers, “Let’s take this to that empty field first, then we can cut lose..”

In the huge open field , with news helicopters flying overhead , the two groups face each other, Emperor turns to “MoonDestroyer take the flyer girl, she is almost your strength,” He turns to the guy in the suit that looks like he mugged a teddy bear , “Monkeyslayer , take the boy , but be careful,” He turns to Champion , “The psycho one is all yours,” He turns to the girl who looks like a snow-cone, “The teleporter is yours, WinterStar , just be careful” then he turns to the Goth girl, “The ‘early Sylph’ is yours, Miasm ,” He turns to the telepathic man , known as Warlock, who is rubbing his neck, “I want you to be ready , to help anyone that gets in trouble.. But don’t do anything to piss off that one, ” Emperor points to Vartan, “Sinew says he stole Panda’s power and killed it, we both know how strong Panda was,” Warlock nods, then whispers, as Champion is out of hearing , “What does that boy mean about Champion? He is squeaky clean compared to us,”

Emperor grabs the fourteen year, dressed in deep blues and oranges. “Your mother was careless, I want you stay and watch , only attack non-super strength types , be very careful, Comet ” She nods , “Yes grandfather,”

“MoonDestroyer!” The huge humanoid poses and flexes his muscles, Talutah just watches him, she whispers, “Ready?” MoonDestroyer, says , “Can we keep this on the ground, I can hover and fly but not very high,” Talutah shrugs, “Ok,” MoonDestroyer rushes into her , swinging with heavy hits , that Talutah easily counters , she hits MoonDestroyer a few times, rocking his body. The humanoid steps back , then moves in once again , the blows Talutah lands do little to his body this time , MoonDestroyer , swings and attacks lack training , unlike Talutah whose hits and kicks rarely miss.

Then MoonDestroyer goes still, Talutah lands a heavy kick , and hangs in the air. She steps back, growling to herself, ‘What is the deal here,’ Suddenly MoonDestroyer comes in swinging, his movements begin to speed up , Talutah , blocks , and counters but her punches slide through the humanoid’s body.

Talutah covers up , allowing MoonDestroyer to land weak punches , watching his form, then she strikes out , catching MoonDestroyer in face , follows in with two quick jabs , and a round house kick , dropping MoonDestroyer.

MoonDestroyer pushes himself up from the , wipes the blood his lips, “Nice, not many can time a hit when I shift my Density around so much,” He rushes into her , Talutah, waits until he nearly on her to grab his arm , toss him into the ground , he hits with a heavy grunt, he gets up , shaking his head.

Talutah rushes into MoonDestroyer , but when goes to hit her , she blocks , comes in with a heavy punch , making him grunt again. She smashes an elbow into his back , and neck. Talutah rears back to knock him out , when Comet comes rushing into her.

“You ok Moon?” Comet says coming back to MoonDestroyer , he shakes his head, “Yeah kid , she caught me in-between shifts,”

In the same heartbeat,

“I reckon, you suppose to be an Ewok?” Vartan watches a man in a teddy bear like suit, the man growls, “I am Monkeyslayer!” Vartan watches him , then shrugs, “I reckon so , you look like a really bad Pokemon,”

Monkeyslayer moves in , landing a sharp jab to Vartan’s gut , Vartan counters smashing Monkeyslayer in the jaw , the two fight back and forth, landing blows and counter punches. Monkeyslayer jumps back , then points a hand at Vartan , a blast of light energy jumps from his hand. Vartan creates a magnetic shell , causing the blast to bounce back , nearly hit Emperor.

Monkeyslayer vanishes , going invisible , he comes up behind Vartan , kicking him in the back. Monkeyslayer pops in and out of invisibility , sometimes firing blast of light at Vartan.

Then suddenly Vartan vanishes as well , Monkeyslayer watches the area , he begins to step through the frosty grass , when Vartan punches Monkeyslayer in the back , then comes in smashing his skull.

Monkeyslayer manages to get up , then rushes into Vartan , throwing open palm punches, Vartan counters , kicking Monkeyslayer. Then Monkeyslayer jumps back he closes his eyes, flashing and glowing.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Monkeyslayer wills his body to be encase in light energy armor , and covers his arms in long blades, he nearly drops to the ground , Vartan watches him , “You need a minute to rest?” Monkeyslayer growls comes up in a ball of light, Vartan blocks the blades , as Monkeyslayer rushes into Vartan , they dance back and forth , each landing blows , but neither doing a great deal of damage.

“Hughu,” Monkeyslayer drops to the ground, he lifts his eyes to Vartan , as Vartan whispers, “Sorry didn’t mean to hit you so hard,” Monkeyslayer pushes himself up, puts a hand under his chest, pulling it back he looks at it covered in blood. Monkeyslayer whispers, “My armor is caved in,”

Emperor watches in slow motion, as Vartan uses an open palm punch dead in the center of Monkeyslayer’s chest, crushing the armor. He watches the Vartan, whispering , “He was able to keep up with..” Then he turns to Champion.

While the battles between Vartan , Monkeyslayer and MoonDestroyer, Talutah, had been taking place, Champion wasted no time with words , he drew his red energy sword , and clashed with the crazy Sylph.

Champion had gotten the worse of the blows , though he had nearly cut the boy’s arm off. The boy had been monster with his black energy blade, Champion had barely been able to parry the blows.

“You are pretty good , for a child,” Champion was panting , hovering in the air, he has had enough of this. Champion then whispers, “I will end this , and you,” Champion crosses his arms , shattering his armored suit, red and black energy engulfs his body , he flashes hovers in red energy armor , huge red energy wing as if they were feathered , and the Champion wields a huge energy lance and shield.

The Champion growls as the boy begins to laugh, “Mmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhwwwwuuuwwwwwuuuuuuhhhhhaaaaaa” Champion charges him then massive column black energy strikes the boy from the heavens.

“AND GOD SENT FORTH ARMOR AND WEAPONS FOR THE ANGEL OF DEATH TO DO BATTLE WITH THE PAGAN ANGEL!” Seth smiles , whispering to himself, “And the Angel of Death was coated in blessing of the Gods , Devils and Demons, the voices of ANGELS , screamed,” Seth emerges covered in full plate mail , black energy armor , holding a massive axe , and huge bat wings rising from his back.

Champion hovers back a bit, “What in God’s name,” But instantly Seth is moving , his massive axe coming down on Champion , who blocks with shield , the two energy explode in massive display of power.

Again the axe comes , again Champion blocks , he dodges , jabbing out with his lance, the boy is screaming “MURDERER OF INNOCENT!” Champion energy lance stabs the boy, as the axe comes down on Champion’s armor , cracking it.

Energy jumps out from the boy’s body striking Champion , who puts up the shield , as the boy begins to slam him down. Then Champion makes a mistake , he pulls left as the boy is coming left , the blow slams Champion into the earth creating massive hole.

Champion rises out of the ground , rocketing into the sky , cutting a news helicopter in two , he hovers , his eyes glowing , he motions for the boy to come. Seth rises into the sky , Champion closes his eyes , as does Seth , under them forms a massive beast of energy. Seth’s beast appears more of a wolf with a bull head , while Champion appears like a massive horse , with six legs.

The two rider rush into each other in a massive blast of energy, both drop from the sky in a smoking heap.

Talutah is instantly in the air , catching Seth , she searches for a pulse , she breathes, ” you did good kid,” She lowers herself down , a team of medical technicians, appear , she watches them , “Its ok,” Doctor Greil pulls down his mask , smiling, “I was called in by the mayor.”

During this , WinterStar and Agnessa dance around each other , rarely landing blows, as both are not well trained in fighting. WinterStar manages to fire gust of wind into Agnessa , but Agnessa teleports when WinterStar does a big gust.

The two battle , in a dance of teleporting , wind gust and fists, until Agnessa turns as she sees Seth turn his heighten armor form, WinterStar takes the advantage , knocks Agnessa out cold with a wind enhanced punch.

During the same heartbeat , Miasm and Rhan dance , Miasm having been cut through the thigh by the ‘early Sylph’ is in no hurry to allow Rhan to get in close again. Miasm thrusts out both hands , attempting to use her ability to exhaust energy in Rhan , but she isn’t having much luck.

Rhan jumps , coming down with a slash that barely misses Miasm , the Goth girl keeps trying but she isn’t having much luck. She whispers, “I need help someone, this creature has a lot of energy,”

Comet rockets through the air, her thinking is to ram the ‘early sylph’ by extending her force field a bit. Just as she is about to hit , Rhan , the ‘early Sylph’ leaps into the air , and comes down on her back , she twist , forcing her force field to become very tough, but she forgets to slow her flight.

Rhan rears back , driving her claws into the force field cover girl , as they both rocket into the woods. Rhan hammers away , the girl twist , and tries to extend her force field , but doesn’t seem to have much luck.

Then suddenly a huge rock looms in front of them , Comet grabs Rhan feeling quills prick her body , as she hugs the girl , puts up a force field as they slam into rock. Comet feels the darkness wrap about her , her words over the radio come out as a groan.

Emperor watches the battlefield , “Anyone seen Comet,” Emperor demands, “Report Comet,” Then desperately , “Megan answer me now,” Emperor walks off the battlefield , as Miasm, reports, “I saw her by the woods,”

“Rematch later , the boss’s grandkid is missing,” MoonDestroyer says stepping away from Talutah, as she had just return to finish the match. MoonDestroyer turns his density very low and flies off.

Rhan shakes the girl , licks her a few times but the girl doesn’t move, Rhan whimpers,

Emperor comes from the woods, then screams, “MEGAN,” Rhan whimpers, the old man runs across the field to kneel before the girl , he traces her face , whispering, “Sweetie.. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Emperor screams, “GET SOME HELP HERE NOW!” He turns on Rhan , “YOU DID THIS!” Rhan shakes her head , but the old man splits into varies Doppelgangers in energy form.

They rush Rhan , throwing punches, Rhan dodges then her fighting skills take over, she strikes back , shredding the energy forms , but they just divide more. Rhan cuts and slices them, they divide even more.

Doctor Greil kneels over the girl , as he watches Vartan and Talutah, the doctor , feels for a pulse, he whispers, “She is dead,” MoonDestroyer, and WinterStar arrive just as the doctor is saying that. The both whisper, “Dear god,”

Miasm sits , she watches the group, Vartan turns to Doctor Greil, “I don’t think she is dead,” He turns to Miasm , “This gonna hurt just relax, ” He reaches out , drains Miasm power a bit , then closes his eyes , as Miasm twist and screams in pain, Vartan places another hand on Comet.

Slowly Comet begins to move, Doctor Greil watches in amazement , as Comet begins to get up, she begins cry. Vartan whispers, “She is gonna be a pain for a while , until we get her patched up.”

Miasm whispers , “What did you do?” Vartan shrugs, “I am a vampire, I can steal others powers , or mimic them for a short time.. Your power is Energy Vampirism, and some kinda of weak Life Drain, I mimic the Life Drain.. Redirected to healing her,” Miasm watches, “You can do that?” He nods, “So can you , just drain your own life force and give to another,”

Doctor Greil , whispers, “You better save your friend,”

Talutah is already moving , catching Rhan , and hover before the Emperor , “Your grandkid is ok,” Emperor pulls himself together has his teams tell him the same thing.

During this , the man known as Faded Glory hovered in sky watching, unlike his teammates , Faded Glory wears simple blue jeans, blue jean jacket, adored with varies heavy metal band, USA, Canada and early 70 catch phrase patches. He was the first United State Sylph to go governmental, he has a super strength, flight, invulnerability, body armor, and is gifted with psionic abilities that provide him with greatly heighten abilities.

He turns to the mall, his team are Special Forces , hand picked because of their sense of duty , barely thirty members, all of them trained in psionic abilities and hyper-shift abilities. He smiles to himself, as he watches the ‘True Knight’ armored suits , take flight.

“Glory , we got some injured in the mall, and the recorder has the battles on tape,” The voice whispers telepathically to Faded Glory, who replies, “Bring them to safe house,” Faded Glory whispers, “Greil we are meeting at the safe house, bring the others with you,”

A high rise building in the middle of Paradise City

Faded Glory enters the room , he watches Christy, the boy and the winged girl, he begins, “That was a brave and stupid thing you did.” He says to the boy, he then says, “But it was a good thing you showed up when you did. Those armored suits are part of a military corps out of North Texas, and I am sure Nightshade Corps would have killed everyone in that mall.” He walks to Garret , “The president herself has gotten the owners of the ‘Scream’ mask to give you the limited rights to wear the mask , when you fight criminals,” He pulls out a watch, “This watch has a link to new government agency , the basics , fire , medical and police are built in, as well as a link to the agency’s news service.” He then says, “There is a new bill which will be signed into law , giving Sylphs and even non-Sylph guidelines on how to handle criminal actives. The news service will detail what you need to do in order to be paid for taking down criminals and getting a limited license to handle police matters…” Faded Glory puts a hand on Garret’s shoulder, “I am not much older than you are, I know there are matters that you are concerned with in your life , but I would be personally grateful to have some help in fighting crime.”

“Do I get a watch?” Faded Glory turns to Rachel, he smiles, “No you don’t,” He watches her face, he pulls out a small ring, “This ring will allow you to get a watch when you get older, the ring gives you access to our website and information,” She takes the ring, Faded Glory ruffles her hair.

“Miss? Would you walk with me?” Faded Glory , turns Christy follows him, he opens the door, then as she passes through , he closes it. He smiles at her, “Your son,” She whispers, “Nephew,” He nods, “Your nephew needs training, you might not like the idea of him running around in a costume and making enemies..” He sighs, suddenly tired, “The current tread for Sylphs is to bust up an area , your nephew took great care to save lives and protect the innocent. He also was willing to give his life to save strangers. I can’t tell you how many times we find Sylphs that level city blocks , simply because they are able to.” He puts his hand on her shoulder, “I suggest you allow your nephew to train with that Vartan and his people, or in the very least to train with his powers in a remote area. He lacks control and lacks the understanding of raw energy.” He smiles at her, “Your daughter?” He pauses , she nods, “Needs training as well, I understand she got exposed to Evacska Eztli when she broke her arm a few years back, she is going to get uncontrollable rages pretty soon its best to have her ready for them,” He hands her a credit card , “Mayor asked me to give your family a twelve thousand dollar reward, and Paradise City Mall gift coupon worth eight hundred dollars to both your children, “

In a small room,

“Never seen anyone Sylph or otherwise demand a fight without innocent people around,” Faded Glory walks in Vartan, Talutah, Rhan, Agnessa and Seth turn to face him. Faded Glory smiles, “Rested I see, I have been instructed to make peace with your team, and give you access to our agency.” Faded Glory hands out watches , same as one Garret got , a twelve thousand dollar check and Paradise City Mall gift coupon worth five hundred dollars to each person.

“I had the Anevay team placed under arrest , as well as the Nightshade pilots and staff members here in town.” Faded Glory watches them , then says , “I suggest you take the mayor’s job offer, I don’t know the details and I don’t know what you all think about it…” He pulls up a chair, “I think Nightshade is gearing up for a war, the Guild are killing people left and right… just the other day , members of the Tora team wiped out a city block with a energy blast. The city needs you , hell I need you to take up some of the slack.” He smiles , “The boy , I think the news media called him the ‘Screamer’ will more than likely train with you. In a few hours , a team of military engineers will arrive to begin setting up a temporary training building, it will take a few weeks to finish it, but I would like to see you training there,”

“THE PAGAN ANGEL HAS TAKEN FLIGHT,” Faded Glory, nods, “I take it you mean Champion? Yeah, never would have figured him to be a such a loser,” Agnessa whispers, “How so?” Faded Glory suddenly looks somber , “He was both a villain and hero , he would set up things and save the day. He wiped out a entire village in South America to score a few points.” Vartan asks, “This Guild what is it?” Faded Glory watches him, “A group of mercenaries , mostly Sylphs , or humans in armored suits , they take contacts , do a job and score points how hard the mission was.” Faded Glory watches them, then he says, “They use to protect each other, until Sylphs and others begin to fight back, in nearly every major city there is a team of heroes that has clashed with them.”

In Garret and Rachel’s room, as the sun begins to drop,

“Here I saved it like you asked,” Garret smiles , taking the catus , Rachel asks, “Why did you want me to save it for you,” Garret shrugs, Christy whispers, “That plant girl gave it to him,” Garret holds the catus.