The truth revealed, anarchy ensues

Her role in this was ending, and it left Cass with a question she'd been resolutely avoiding; what to do next. She could stay out of sight and see if she could lend a hand - or more accurately a mind - or she could move to Fordren's location and actually try to fight full-on. This didn't seem wise. She had no physical abilities to speak of, and her innate vulnerability could result in her being nothing more than a liability. There was also the remote possibility that remaining unseen could actually result in a massive pay-day if things went wrong, but she ruthlessly eradicated the fantasy of being a millionaire and concentrated on the task at hand.

Something fluttered in the darkness, and Cass started when Tatsu reacted. She'd only seen a shadowy blur, and remained suitably baffled and alarmed when a voice sounded. When he'd finished talking, she considered it an excellent time to take her leave and spoke sharply. "I have no idea who or what that is. Best of luck, man, my number's in the phone book."

Turning swiftly, Cass made for a stand of trees they'd passed on the way; with the assassin distracted, she should have been able to circle around and enter the school. Stepping carefully to avoid making noise, she updated Fordren again. Loath though she was to admit it, the instant communication had its perks. He's fighting someone, so we have a little extra time. I'll stay in the oak trees outside the wall; I'll help if I need to, and somebody has to keep an eye out for the others. Pulling off her sheepskin jacket, she dropped it into the mulch beneath a gnarled oak, her grey jumper blending in with the shadows better than the brown and white could have. Better than black could have, too.

He's fighting someone? Who?? His first thought was that it was one of the students, but he had doubts that she would be as calm as she was about it if it was. Do they appear to require assistance? I wonder if, perhaps, you should make it to where I am, so that you can be with a group. It's safer that way. But if you feel you are up to the task of keeping an eye on this intruder and possibly receiving more information, that is your choice, and one that I would be truly grateful for. The most powerful ally we can call upon now is information.

He wasn't sure he agreed with Nakata's proposal. While Nakata brought up a possibility, it wasn't something he had already considered. He found it much more likely that the school's attendants would take the possibility of a suspicious stranger on school grounds very seriously. It was typical procedure for these types of situations. Take action first so as to ensure safety, then deal out punishment if it turned out to be a hoax. If they assumed it was a hoax, then they would be in big trouble if and when it turned out not to be.

"Master Nakata. You must believe my words to be true. This is not the time to be fooling around. If the school is not properly prepared and it is invaded, there is a possibility it will fall to the intruders. You must consider all possible and probable situations. There is no guarantee that you, I, and anyone else who comes to our aid will be able to hold the line against them. In such a situation, we will not be able to warn the school in time. We must consider the safety of the school as a whole before preparing ourselves to fight an enemy whose strength we are unsure of." And that was exactly the issue, he didn't know anything about the enemy. Since Cass didn't allow him into her mind, he knew even less.

"What I do know is that there will be more than one of them. And from what I have seen and heard... their power far exceeds that of you and I." He didn't expect the other students to pay much heed to him, considering they didn't even know him. He had trespassed on the school grounds several times - considering he is not a student - so it was possible they would recognize him from the few times he was caught. However, despite his charismatic appearance, he hoped that Nakata would get through to them better - and faster - than he could.

Miles listened to the kid who had just shown up to hear what he had to say about how this situation seemed to be going. Miles figured that if this Alistair guy knew that these invaders were so strong that it would require the entire school to fight them. Miles sat down on the grass to save energy since there was about to be a fight. Alistair seemed like the kind of guy you could trust but it couldn’t hurt to see how the others would react in this situation. He would see how Naka planned on handling the situation and he may follow whatever the two of them decided on doing.

Miles wondered how often things like this happened at the school. This was just his first day at the school and it was already being invaded by some unknown force. If it was always like this than there probably shouldn’t be a problem with the others gathering up students for the defense of the school. Miles laid back and looked up to see the clouds just drifting through the sky. Miles figured that whatever happened today would end alright and they would have nothing to worry about for some time being. It also might be a bit of fun to get in a fight with some random strangers from time to time

"All right," Cyan said with a big ferrety grin, "Let's see if I can copy that." Cyan took a deep breath, focused on the idea of how cool it would be to breathe fire, and let out a tiny bit of air. He couldn't help but be startled when a small jet of flames shot from his mouth. After regaining his composure, he looked at Naka and grinned even more than before. "Oh, yes. This will work."

He thought some more about the situation before addressing Naka again, "Hey, I understand the whole thing about being heroes, but are you sure you don't want to get any help? I mean, I can see it as putting more students in danger, we're not the only ones with powers on this island. We could at least call them." Cyan scratched behind his ear, "Really, If you think we should fight, just us, I'll support you, but we need to decide quickly." Cyan was bad at making decisions himself, but he really hoped the decision the group made would be the right one.

Cyan turned to Alistair. "Okay, we've got a pretty reliable team here. Naka can fly, shoot lightning, regenerate, breathe fire, and I think a few other stuff too. (Freakin' powerhouse.) I'm physically indestructible, and I can now breathe fire and fly. Miles over there is a half-demon, Sorcha can do some cool emotiony powers and sword fighting..stuff, and Tien... Um, she might want to go back to the school. And I don't know the other girl. Anyway, If we have to, we can put up a fight. What do you think?"

"Again, I agree with Cyan, a decision has to be reached quickly, especially if what this guy says is right Naka." Turning to Cyan she said,"That looked kind of cool, the whole breathing fire out of your mouth thing. They certainly wont expect that from you."

She smiled but quickly lost the smile when she turned around and saw Suze,"We have some unfinished business, you and I. However, at this point and time, if Naka feels that we make a stand here, just this group, I will accept you. But, and that is a big but, I will keep my eye on you. I still think there is something off bout you and I am not going to trust you at my back."

Finally, after looking at everyone she turned to Naka and simply said,"Your call"


——————————————————

Suze listened to the conversation and wondered if what the newcomer said was right. Was the school really going to be attacked? and why? what would anybody want with these bunch of misfits? There was nothing special here, not that she could find at any rate.

She felt blinded when she still couldnt hear any thoughts coming from anybody, She wondered if it was a result of the mysterious people on the island that the boy was talking about. If that was the case, her best bet at this point was to align herself with the lame students. At least until she knew it was, maybe she would like the "invading" force better, who knew?

Fluttering anxiously, Tien listened to the hurried conversation. She tried to join in once or twice, but it was nigh impossible to get a word in edgeways. She was small and fast, and could easily zoom into the school to alert the teachers and student body, but nobody else considered it. When her name was finally mentioned, it was by Cyan, whose suggestion she leave wounded her. I'm right here, she wanted to screech, her hurt transforming into anger; I'm right here and I can hear you, you affront to the earth spirit! But the words never made it out; she was stuck, observing, overlooked. Only when Sorcha finished talking did she have a chance to jump in, her small chin stuck out mutinously.

"I can use magic," Tien said, cutting a dark look at the weasel. "And I can mimic human voices and get them lost and confused. I could go inside the school and lure some teachers out here; that way they can't say 'no' or force us inside."

As she spoke, the fairy gently drifted backwards, partly to prepare for what was to come, and partly to stay away from a group that contained Cyan. Annoyed even with Naka, who Tien didn't think was really listening to the others, her violet eyes met Sorcha's, prepared to stay or go at the redhead's word.

What the hell was she, an Encyclopaedia of Manta Carlos Island? She had no idea; there was a dark blur, the assassin blocked it, a man's voice - it wasn't like the blur had come with a driver's license and passport. As for the safety issue, please. Even if she trusted a group of strangers to keep her alive, she would be useless to them. Her powers didn't make her a soldier, they made her - well, they made her an assassin. As long as she was playing look-out and staying out of sight, her power couldn't be countered. It was swift, silent, deadly - and completely useless in a brawl. Anyway, if Tatsujin finished off his unexpected attacker, they'd be busy fighting him when the reinforcements arrived. That was something that required a little heads' up. She could strike as soon as she saw them coming, maybe take down two of them, and climb over the wall to join Fordren and his ragtag warriors. If it all went wrong, she could still warn him telepathically before dying bloody. Good times.

I don't know who, and I don't really care, she answered, hunkering down and peering through the gloomy leaves. If we rush to help him, the ambush is completely screwed. Get everyone in formation behind the walls so he doesn't see it coming. You gotta take him by surprise and disable him fast, got it? Having seen what Tatsu was capable of, Cass expected the attacking redshirt to die in short order. Unfortunate, but no reason to risk the only defense they had in trying to save an idiot attacking alone in dense woods.

The teachers getting involved was actually exactly what he had wanted. He had no doubt that the students of the school before him had considerable abilities - he had seen that much from Nakata already, at least. However, they were still only younglings, despite what they may have thought about themselves. From Cassandra's description, the invaders had devastating abilities and were likely quite skilled. And if they truly were well organized, there was little chance a ragtag group of students were going to be able to defeat them.

At least, not when considered in the eyes of a human.

—

"Don't get involved." He said, holding his arm out and preventing his companion from joining in the fray. Corona was surprised when he was told this. Why wouldn't they help? They couldn't just stand there while a slaughter was before them! "It is not our place to get involved." Elazul explained, sensing the confusion coming from his friend. "Humans fight each other. Destroy each other. Do you have reason to believe that one side is any less in the right for doing so?"

"But they were attacked unprovoked! They are slaying defenseless women and children!" He couldn't believe Elazul would be so heartless!

"That is simply The Way of The World. Humans were blessed with free will by Adonai. Do you see yourself so great as to oppose that?" Corona, for the first time in quite some time, actually found himself with nothing to say. "What is your purpose, Corona? Tell me, so that we may be in understanding as to our role here."

"My purpose.. is to purge those who would threaten Adonai's existence, as well as that of His children. To cleanse the evil that lies in the deepest depths of existence, so that it may be no more."

"Indeed it is." Elazul agreed. "And what part of this situation, may I ask, involves you? Does humans fighting humans threaten the existence of Adonai?"

"No, but it threatens His children.." Wasn't that much obvious? Did Elazul completely miss that point? That humans fighting other humans, technically, threatens the existence of Adonai's children? For they were all His children, regardless of their actions or personal morals. " I am afraid I do not understand, Elazul."

"Existence is not defined as the life one possesses in a mortal form, Corona. I am disappointed you were unable to see that. To intervene in mortal affairs will do nothing more than disrupt the balance. Have the humans prayed for assistance, even? Perhaps if they had asked Him, He would have considered intervention. However, such is clearly not the case. Thus, we have no right to interfere with their Free Will."

And for the first time, Corona truly understood what The Way of The World actually meant.

All that is, shall be...

—

He began to wonder if what he was doing was truly the correct course of action. There were many possibilities to consider, here. Had he not already intervened enough? The more time he spent trying to protect the humans from other humans, the less time he had to search for what he was looking for. If the object he was looking for was truly on this world, and he failed to find it in time, every single human on the entirety of the planet would face a fate far worse than anything they could possibly do to each other. And those of other worlds could end up falling victim, as well.

It was then he knew that Elazul's words made far more sense than even he could have imagined. It was time for him to take a different approach.

Alistair looked down to Cyan when he was spoken to and smiled, then turned to Nakata. "I think I will leave Master Nakata in charge of things here. You all have a formidable group on your own. I will ensure the safety of others out on the school grounds as much as I am able. I do recommend taking up on m'lady faerie's offer, however. If she is anything like the other faeries I have come across, and I have no reason to believe she is not, she should be rather formidable in illusion magic. In addition, her smaller size is in fact a boon, rather than a curse, for larger beings such as humans have a difficult time seeing her. It is likely that those who cannot see her will not even realize they are under her spells."

Miles stood up since it was starting to seem like everybody wanted to go find a teacher and tell everybody what was happening. While they could tell everyone what would happen Miles still thought there was a chance that they would be ignored since what this whole situation was a little over the top for your average problem. It also goes to the other end of the bar and just cause panic among the students due to the fact that there could be some unknown enemy going around the school. Miles decided that no matter what everybody else was going to do, he was either following Naka, since he was the first person he met, or staying with Corona, since he knew the most about this situation. One of the two of them would probably be the most likely to run into somebody to fight first. "What is your relationship to this situation?" Miles asked Corona since he wasn't even sure where this situation started from. That would at least let him know a little more about what was happening where these people were.

Miles turned and saw the weasel copy powers from Naka and sighed seeing that the weasel was probably like Naka and could copy powers that he had observed from someone else. Seeing as how the weasel had just gotten another part of his power he wasn’t sure what the limits were on the ability. “Cyan weren’t you the one complaining about fire earlier, I could have shown you the flames earlier if you hadn’t said anything,” Miles said to the weasel. Miles wasn’t being serious but there was no point in everybody being serious about this whole thing. Miles began to wonder why somebody would be invading this school, he hadn’t been told about any secret this place had. The invaders might be able to tell him something interesting once they ended up here.