To Hide A Girl [OPEN]

[Amorite Dolus]

Amorite hoped into the passenger side, feeling such a rush of adrenaline that he couldn't help but pound the car with his fist, "Hell yeah, DRIVE LEE! DRIVE!" Amorite was waaaaay too excited about being in a car. However one thing did catch his attention, he glanced back at Kri with wide eyes as he asked, "Whoa, wait, does this thing usually chase you or something!?"

[Connor Harkness]

I leaped into the back of the truck, keeping my hold on the girl as the older Dolus brother drove. I pulled my coat over my head to keep my face hidden, turning to the others I couldn't help but shake my head.

"I can't leave you guys for one moment can't I?" I looked back at the spot where that thing was, "What did you call that thing? The Stalker? I never saw it before, what is it and what does it do?"

The truck bumped a bit with rough roads, but nothing really too bothersome. I just kept my head down as we passed several of the buildings and out of the area.

[Kri]

Kri sat back in the truck and let out a breath which he'd been holding in for a fair while now. He decided to try and address everyone's questions at once. He started the long process of unwrapping the bandages around his arm.

"The Stalker... Yeah... It's a little side project belonging to Titan Inc. that has been following me for the past few years now, and there's a reason for that, but I'll explain that in a moment." He had nearly finished unwrapping the bandages. "I'm not one hundred per cent sure when I was born, but I do know that since my childhood, I was kept by Titan Inc. for some reason to do with my ability to use magic... It's not something I fully understand myself, and I think that little girl has something to do with it." He nodded at The Girl as he discarded the last of the bandages.

Instead of a standard hand, hidden within the folds of the fabric was instead a large metal, clawed gauntlet.

"Whenever I use too much magic, this thing drains off a fair chunk of it and sends it straight to Titan HQ, along with a warning of my current location. They then send out a bunch of soldiers to come and get me, as well as The Stalker to try and find me. Now, I don't know what the Stalker is but unlike the soldiers, it can't seem to properly pinpoint my location, but what it can do is respond to my name... It used to only respond to my full name, which is why I shortened it to what I normally use, but it's learning and now it's responding to that too... As well as whatever it was that The Girl called me..."

He let out a sigh.

"It seems to be Titan's own little hitman reserved just for me."

[Amorite Dolus]

"WHAT!?" Amorite blurted out, turning around to face Kri with wide eyes, "You're saying that you're some sort of evil experiment that this company called Titan Inc. wants back?" He blinked a couple of times, processing the idea that an electric company was some sort of evil genius creating all sorts of experiments and other weird shit. "Well that explains why we've been protecting you all this time."

That little girl looked at Kri's gauntlet with wide eyes that glinted with a soft green tint. She reached her hand out and touched the gauntlet, looking up at Kri was an expression of sympathy.

"Oi, oi, Lee take a left or you'll miss the road we need to be on!" Amorite called out as the car zipped down the road.

[Lee Dolus]

The turn would be difficult, we were on narrow roadways and with that thing following us there was no way I could slow down significantly enough to make it safely. "You guys need to grab a hold of something!" I applied a small amount pressure to the brakes the swerved the truck, it jerked violently left and slid into place to make the turn I jammed down on the gas getting the hell out of there.
"Don't you think you should have told us about this thing earlier!?" I yelled back to Kri.

[Kri]

"Oh yeah!" Kri called through to the cab of the truck. "I'll tell everyone about the giant death machine that's following me, it's sure to make me plenty of friends!" To say the whole event had irritated him would be a complete understatement. He hadn't seen The Stalker since he'd been found by the Rebels, and deep down he'd been hoping that it had given up the chase.

"Konig told me to keep it quiet." He said "He was worried that if anybody knew about The Stalker, they'd refuse to work alongside me, I'd be considered a liability." The words were spoken with a very audible air of bitterness. Kri looked down at the girl who's small palm was now resting against the gauntlet, big eyes looking up at him. A look of confusion crossed his face as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Who are you..?" He muttered quietly.

[Amorite Dolus]

Amorite glanced behind him, "Well you have a point, that thing looking for you IS a bit of a liability but at least it explains why we've been looking after you." Amorite nodded.

The little girl stared into Kri's eyes and for a moment it was like Kri was staring into a mirror; there was something about their eyes that was just so familiar. "Nikitas." The young girl simply said to Kri. She shifted her hand over to reveal a set of number that were imprinted on her arm, numbers the Rebels had seen before but knew not where they belonged. She pointed at it, opening her mouth to try and say the words but seemly unable to get the right words. In a frantic action she grabbed Kri's arm and with her other hand she pointed towards the skyline of Thelotia where giant buildings reached into the sky, she made meaningless cries that in her language would have explained everything.

Giving up on her little explanation she seemly resigned to defeat... until they passed by a billboard announcing the new leader of the church, Andrew Numen. Nikitas suddenly jumped up once more, grabbing Kri by the head and directing it towards the billboard, pointing and screaming at it.

[Kri]

Nikitas..? Was that her name? Kri wondered to himself as he frowned slightly in thought, even getting her name would be a massive boost for them. Then, she revealed the numbers of her arm before pointing across at the skyline, it took Kri a moment as he tried to string the thoughts together, but before he could even come close to doing so, the girl yanked his head in the direction of the billboard, her little hand waving at it furiously. He gave a slight yelp of surprise before a few things slapped together in his head and started to make sense.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He muttered, turning his attention to the girl. He carefully took her arm in his gauntleted hand and motioned to the numbers with his bare hand, he then pointed to the billboard on the skyline, emblazoned with Numen's face.

"Are you saying, that, that he..." He made another wide motion towards the billboard. "Did this?!" He then motioned again to her arm. He quickly let go of the girl, and lifting the arm encased in the gauntlet up to his face, he pulled down the sleeve to reveal a similar set of numbers upon his own wrist. He re-emphasized his point.

"Did Numen have something to do with this?!"

[Amorite Dolus]

He could have been talking really slow or really fast and Nikitas would have caught just as many words as she did, which was barely any. Yet she was pretty sure he got the point, the young girl gave one defiant head shake.

Amorite, who had been watching this conversation gave a single, confused blink as he tried to piece together what was going on. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I could buy into the conspiracy of Titan Inc. being involved with everything, but Numen and the church? Come on, those guys sing about peace and love, they've even tried many times to broker cease fires between the rebels and government. I can't believe that nice old man has anything to do with all of THIS."

[Kri]

Kri rapped his knuckles against his forehead as he tried his hardest to piece this puzzle together. If Numen had something to do with this, the surely it would be he that was coming after Nikitas and not just the Government. Were they working in tandem? Kri had noted how no Government Forces had shown up tonight, simply the Titan forces... And the mercenary...

His eyes widened in sudden realisation. The gear that girl had been using was definitely not military standard, and she didn't wear the uniform of any Government force or law-enforcement agencies that he would recognise. She was most definitely a mercenary and Kri was certain that everyone in this truck was agreed on that. The Church doesn't have any known paramilitary wing, it's usually protected by the Government and the Police etc, so if they wanted to something as clandestine as kidnap a small child, they'd need private help...

"That merc girl!" Kri suddenly spluttered out. "What if Numen was using mercenaries to do his dirty work?! There'd be almost no way to trace it back to him... The Church preaches all this anti-mana stuff, and Nikitas clearly has some connection to mana! There's got to be something in this, Amorite."