The ship's monitors beeped. Once, twice. The third time was enough to gain the attention of the Freelancer, who sensed the disturbance from below-deck. It took him under a minute to reach the bridge. He approached the main screen that was now flashing green. As he neared it, the screen stopped flashing and instead switched to an image of the galaxy's map.

Somewhere on the outskirts of the Orion arm of the galaxy, there was a green blip that blinked at him continuously. An area of interest it seemed. The Freelancer analysed the data and realised that the ship's scanners had picked up a familiar energy signature. The last time he had come across it was on Haven 6 years ago. The Arclight Blade.

Only, this energy signature was very strong. Either someone was trying to replicate the the sword's power or accidentally destroyed the weapon and released all of its energy in the process. The energy signature was faint as he was a few hundred lightyears away from the signature, but that was no matter to him. He had to investigate.

The fabric of space warped and twisted around his ship as it was pulled into a black void. By the time space had readjusted itself, his ship was gone.

Kitty's sword connected with her opponents sword with a resounding crack, and when she turned her eyes back the sword was cut in two. The move seemed to stun her opponent and she quickly pressed the tip of her own intact sword to his throat. "Its over." The sound of someone clapping filled the training room, snapping Kitty out of her blood lust as she dropped her sword. Around her stood, well laid, 12 vampire knights. Sitting on a throne all day with Diana discussing politics and economics had her going stir crazy, thus her blowing off steam with a rather disappointing training session with her knights. One which her sister was now interrupting. "I'm taking over, someone wants an audience with you." "Who?" Kitty's brows furrowed in confusion as she slid her sword into it's sheath and undid her pony tail to shake her hair out. 

Diana threw Kitty a towel, which she easily caught and began to run over her arms and face, cleaning some sweat off her tan skin. "Don't know, just go. Oh you might want to change into something more comfortable." Diana referenced Kitty's current outfit of choice. Her maid was incredibly stubborn, but Kitty did manage to get some leway. "Its fine. I've gotten used to corsets again." Kitty glanced down at the corset and leather trousers, the corset didn't bother her as much anymore. Hell in the old days she used to take out several men in a full hoop skirt ball gown in the old days. Kitty left the training room in the hands of her sister, she wasn't even out of the same hallway before she heard the clashing of swords again. "Shit. I forgot to ask her where this audience was taking place." Then she sighed and shrugged. "Oh well." Letting the towel rest around her neck she headed to the place where the meeting would most likely be taking place. The old war room. As the lycans and vampires were at peace there wasn't much need for a war room lately. 

She was right, as she approached the grand mahogany door for the war room the sound of a fast beating heart reached her ears. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, her eyes focusing on the excited looking young vampire. She recognized him faintly, probably one of the students. Kitty had started teaching magic classes for the younger vampires in the town nearest to the castle. "Archibald?" "Y-Yes Your Highness." Archibald had been on Kitty's radar for the last few classes, he had a particularly strong gift for sensing magic and magical energies. "What brings you to the castle?" "I-I sensed a strong energy. Angelic energy specifically. I-I thought it was perhaps Queen Jaya simply visiting or passing by but this energy had a much older and more powerful quality too. I didn't sense life coming from it either." Instantly Kitty seemed to straighten and lose the casual air she held before. Her eyes were bright with excitement now, and Archibald brightened as well as he was pleased by his teacher and queen' s reaction. "That spellbook you've been hoping for Archie? All yours next class." Then with a snap of her fingers and a flash of light Kitty was gone.

The Colonial Intelligence Agency had bases all over the GSU sector of space. It seemed that one such base was the source of the energy signature.

As The Freelancer's ship exited warp, he was treated to the sight of battle: the CIA station was surrounded by formerly UNSC Frigates that were locked in battle against a familiar enemy: a demonic fleet. Their ships were forged out of a metal that was hellish in origin, with a stone-like material making up the base structures. The ships were decorated with protruding spikes and glowing red energy that lined their hulls. Yellow and red explosions went off in the space surrounding the station as the two fleets exchanged fire. The sides seemed evenly matched for now but The Freelancer's analysis of the different fleets' combined firepower had him predict that it wouldn't be long before the demonic fleet broke through.

His ship engaged it's camoflauge mode which blended its appearance into the blackness of space, while also hiding the ship's mass and energy signature. Quickly, the ship accelerated and slipped past the firefight. The Freelancer released a barrage of missiles onto the station from his ship. Some of them were shot down by the station's point-defense guns but most impacted as the missiles seemingly came out of nowhere. Three of the missiles hit one specific spot which breached the exterior.

By this point, The Freelancer was already in one of the drop pods on board his ship and was launched into the breach before it sealed. As he exited the pod, he looked around at the empty corridor he was in. From his knowledge of Human space stations, he was perhaps somewhere near the cargo bay. Perhaps the Humans had the blade delivered there before it was moved elsewhere. Nonetheless, it was a good place to start.
He unholstered his double barreled grenade-pistol and proceeded to the cargo bay to investigate.

Kitty landed expertly on her feet as she suddenly seemingly appeared out of no where, yet she didn't move a muscle for several seconds. She was getting acquainted with the area as she held her breath, focusing her senses. From her own knowledge before hand she guessed that this was the cargo bay, all the sounds floating to her ears were mostly coming from the firefight outside. She could sense demonic energies even in here, and could very faintly feel something hinting at angelic origins. 

Although Kitty only had possession of the Arclight Blade for a few years, she had grown attuned to the energy it exuded. She could definitely feel it, even if it was faint. With barely a sound she unsheathed her sword, her eyes briefly looking it over. Her mind wandered to the last time she had the sword. Haven. Suddenly Corsetta's whispers in her head became echoed screams and she winced, quickly reigning in her emotions which served to quiet her other half briefly. Then she turned her attention to the empty hallway in front of her, it had another hallway that branched off to the left and she figured she might as well go that way. So with sword in hand she began to move silently.

As soon as Kitty walked down the hallway, the familiar and large figure of The Freelancer seemed to turn the corner from the left one and block her path. The Freelancer quickly pulled his pistol up and aimed at her head, but then paused as he recognised her. He stood there for a second, across the hallway.. staring.

"We meet yet again, Kittiana." He finally said, lowering his pistol slightly. "I'd wager that your presence here is more than just coincidence."

Strangely Kitty's face didn't contort in rage upon seeing The Freelancer, she didn't rush to attack him either. Instead she regarded him calmly, even with a bit of amusement as the corners of her lips twitched upward. "No, it's no coincidence. I'd wager that we're here for the same reason." Kitty paused, the slight smirk falling off her face as she pursed her lips. "Actually, probably not for the same reason, it would be more accurate to say the same prize." Kitty seemed completely relaxed, even going so far as to sheathe her sword and lean against the wall. 

"This may come as a surprise but I do not intend to fight you. But I do hope to be leaving with that sword and not just end up putting in a glass case as a trophy. I've got a purpose for it." Although Kitty looked calm and even casual, her tone was devoid of emotion yet still had an edge to it. Her message was clear, she didn't particularly want to fight for once, but she would fight for that sword if she had to. The thought of offering The Freelancer money did run through her mind, she was adept in alchemy so money was of no issue, but the Arclight Blade was priceless. Nothing else worth offering came to mind.

The Freelancer walked forward a few steps.
"And I intend to acquire the sword for my own purposes. Why should I let you walk away with it?" His tone was calm and gave off no emotion, nothing to suggest what he might do the very next second.

"Because the device we used to seal Legion away is broken. I'm no fool, he will break free of the rest of his confines eventually. That sword is the only thing that seemed to be effective against him." She pushed off the wall, rolling her shoulders back and cracking her knuckles. "I think it would be in everyone's best interests to have the sword be in the hands of someone who doesn't do things for money." She put her hands on her hips as she spoke, tilting her head to the side.

The Freelancer resumed his walk down the hall until he approached her up-close. Now standing a meter away from her, he leaned down slightly.

"I am a professional. Money is merely a luxury." He stood up straight and walked past her into the cargo bay. He looked around and spotted a computer terminal. He walked right up to it and two fingers onto the screen. Sparks of electricity went off as he made contact, the screen seemingly malfunctioning as he searched the ship's manifest.

"Legion is a power beyond anything I have ever heard of. The Arclight Blade may not be enough to battle him should he break free." He paused as he found references to the sword. It has been transferred from here a few hours ago into a lab. The tracked down the lab's location and downloaded the information within a fraction of a second.

The Freelancer then withdrew contact and turned around to look at Kitty. "I have found the sword." He said as he moved past her again down the hallway. "We must move quickly, the demonic fleet has almost won the battle and it will not be long until they board this station."

Kitty followed after him, her stride matching his as she kept that calm look on her face. "Oh I know there's a possibility that it might not be enough, but it is always good to have something you know will at least be somewhat effective. Gives me time to try and see if there are other options. Possibly fixing the machine, finding a new way to seal him away, or find something that could potentially be fatal to him. But for that I would need my grimoire..." Kitty frowned then, her mind wandering to Makou. So far there had been nothing from him yet, and she hadn't felt any traces of her family's own special brand of magic other than her own and possibly Jebediah's on occasion. She was beginning to wonder if Makou was successful in even getting the grimoire open.

As they made their way towards the labs, they encountered the first group of scientists. On their faces were panic-stricken expressions which quickly turned to fear as they spotted the two. The four scientists froze in their tracks, their gazes mainly fixated upon the Freelancer.

This however did not stop the giant humanoid from advancing, causing the scientists to quickly get out of the way as he almost walked through them as if they were not even there.

"The Forerunners were an advanced race. Their level of technological prowess has been unrivaled until now, with the new arrival of the Nypherians. However, even their technology is far from perfection. Many other ancient races came billions of years before the Forerunners and left. Not just in this galaxy, but many others too. For many, not a trace remains of their civilisations."

As they turned a corner, they were met with the sight of two security guards.
"Intruder!" One of them shouted as they opened fire on the two. The Freelancer stepped forward, allowing their bullets to bounce off his energy shielding. He raised his pistol and fired it at one of the guard's arms. The dual-explosive projectiles detonated and blew the man to pieces and obliterated half of the other guard's body due to their close proximity. The Freelancer lowered his pistol as he continued to lead the way.

"That may be true but science and magic have always been two warring super powers. The Convergence caused by the Starforger damaged the machine and broke it. I've actually been to where he is kept recently. There are still protections in place but eventually they will fall." Kitty's eyes flicked the scientists and they cowered under her harsh gaze, fire flickering in her blue eyes. They seemed to value their lives most because they made no move to stop her or move towards any alarms. 

Kitty sighed as she looked to the two security guards, frowning slightly but stepping over the half obliterated body and continuing to follow after The Freelancer. "I'm much more knowledgeable of Legion than you are, and that isn't just me boasting. My ancestors were his magical scribes, their writings grew to become the Dagmaer Grimoire and that book is currently in the hands of a corrupted Celestial. There were various spells in there pertaining particularly to Legion himself and his imprisonments. Time is of the absolute essence."

A corrupted Celestial. That wouldn't be the first it seemed.

"My knowledge of Legion came from the time I had spent under the employment of Draetheus and Mephisto. Indeed, I know little of him ultimately." He admitted.

They stepped into a tram car, which conveniently had its doors wide open. The Freelancer touched the control panel and directed it to the labs. The doors suddenly closed and the tram began to make its journey towards their objective. During this, the station shook slightly as the sounds of explosions began to echo throughout it, followed by screams and roars.

"The demons have made it onto the station. We musn't let them acquire the sword." The tram stopped and outside stood an entire squad of security personnel. All of them raised their weapons as they spotted the two inside. The Freelancer didn't wait for the doors to open however, and instead blasted them open with his pistol. Both doors were thrown forward into the squad with force, crushing a few of them and disorienting and injuring others.

As they struggled to get up, the Freelancer had already left the tram and stood over them, finishing each of them off with single shots that scattered bits and pieces of their bodies and organs all over the floor, painting it in a dark shade of red.

"Well I figured that was a given." Kitty stepped over the dead bodies, although the scent of blood made her throat itch and her mouth water. Clearing her throat to rid herself of the itch she looked forward, continuing on without a word for a few moments. "The demons are scrambling, after destroying Aboleth they've been left without a leader. I haven't heard much about the horsemen either. Have you?" Her eyes flitted to The Freelancer, regarding him carefully as they kept moving.

"No."

After passing multiple emptied-out armouries, the two turned a corner to find a set of doors blasted open. Walking through those doors revealed a room that featured a white floor, walls and ceiling. The overhead lights were also white and the room itself was rectangular in shape, the size of a large classroom. Three long lab tables that were fixed to the floor were placed parallel to each other at the center of the room with a bit of space between each one. On each table there were numerous scientific instruments and equipment - or what was left of them. Pieces of glass and metal lay all over the flood and one of the lab tables had been ripped to shreds by gunfire at one end. Dead bodies of scientists also littered the floor.

The door through which the Freelancer and Kitty had entered was situated at one side of the lab, right behind a group of demons that were throwing fireballs and firing energy bursts at the security personnel at the other end. The personnel put up a good fight, ducking for cover behind the tables and emerging to fire off a few shots. Two demons fell while another sustained injuries. Nonetheless, they retaliated aggressively and blasted through the cover of one of the personnel, killing him through puncture wounds from the table and severe burns from their attacks. A few of the demons jumped over one of the long tables and continued to fire on their cover.

The Freelancer entered the room and grabbed one demon from behind by the neck. He slammed the demon onto the floor and stamped on its head, exploding its skull into tiny bloodied fragments. He turned his gun to another demon and fired, blowing it to pieces, before doing the same to two more. By this time, they had taken notice of him and a large number of them turned to attack him. Their attacks simply bounced off his energy shielding. The Freelancer kept moving as if unphased, firing left right and center and exploding demons into clouds of red blood and guts. The security personnel took advantage of this distraction and also began to fire on the demons, taking a larger number of them down this time.

Fire danced across Kitty's skin, a grin beginning to form on her face as a demon came at her. She ended the first one quickly, her hand sticking out of its back within a second, its still warm heart nestled in her open palm. She yanked her hand back and the demon fell down dead, she let the heart drop from her palm as a demon wrapped its arms around her from behind. She slammed her head back into its nose with a satisfying crack, breaking free of its hold and unsheathing her sword in a quick motion and slitting its throat. 

When that one dropped she turned to the third one, ducking under its swing and jabbing her blade straight into its gut. With a smooth yank backward her blade slid out of the demon, blood gushing to the floor as it fell. She didn't even wait for the fourth one to approach her as she sheathed her blade, jumping at it and tackling it to the floor. Within seconds her teeth were buried in its jugular and with a jerk of her head, she ripped its throat out with her teeth. She spat out the blood in her mouth as she stood, a disgusted look on her face. "Tastes like old boiled cabbage." It seems that that was the last demon, in the room that is.

As all the demons fell, the security team emerged from behind what was left of their cover and looked at the two.
"You two!" One of them shouted. "Stand down, now!"
In response, The Freelancer blasted the man to bits within a second and proceeded to tear the entire security team apart mercilessly with well placed shots to each of them.

He walked past the dead bodies and turned left through an open door, which lead down a large and lengthy corridor.
"From the station's schematics, it seems that there is a large hub-lab of at the end of this corridor from which these other labs branch off - such as the one we just came through. Each small lab is heavily guarded as evidenced from the amount of armouries we passed before entering it. Therefore it is logical to assume that the largest one at the center will have the most protection. However, my scanners are detecting a lot of heat signatures from within the central lab. It seems that the demons got to our objective before we did. We can not let them leave with the sword."

As they reached the end, only a large blast door stood in their way. The Freelancer looked it up and down. Clearly the door has been designed to withhold against immense gunfire and explosive ordinance. It wasn't easy to break through barriers like this.
He holstered his pistol, took a number steps back and ran at the blast door at a speed that made him look like a blur of motions. Just as there was a few meters distance between him and it, he jumped and propelled himself forward into it, smashing the blast door open with enough force to dent it severely and send it flying into the room. He grabbed his pistol again, brought it up to aim and entered the main lab.

The lab was immense in size - octagonal in shape with each wall closed off by a blast door same as the one The Freelancer had just broken through. The middle of the room featured a massive cube of glass, which was tinted white to the point where it was completely opaque like a massive light bulb in the center. The cube was surrounded by smaller glass cubes that were transparent, and within them were different laboratories the same size as the previous one they had been in. All of this was fifty feet below them, and both of them stood on a platform above it all.

A skirmish between demons and human security personnel was unfolding beneath them as well, as scientists rushed around to get into cover, security forces trying to keep them from harm and getting them into elevators that took them back up to the blast doors, and overhead automated machine-gun turrets that were attached to the ceiling, selectively targeting and firing down onto the demons. While the demons were outgunned, they certainly had the numbers as just a few meters above the lab floor there were a network of ventilation shafts that the demons were bursting out from.

The Freelancer wasted no more time analysing and instead jumped off the platform, plunging fifty feet below into the lab. He smashed through one of the ventilation shafts and slammed down onto the floor, crushing a few human security personnel. He then brought his gun to bear and opened fire.

Kitty jumped down as well, except she landed on a demon instead of a human. Her movements were quick but a bit rigid, as if she was trying to hard to control herself as her sword cut through demons left and right. At one point when she had a second to breathe she sheathed her sword, throwing a hand out towards a horde of demons as her palm began to glow. As she chanted quietly, pain began to bloom from her hand as it glowed white. The same spell she had used against Lana, Zalgo, and Aboleth shot from her hand. 

Her spell completely obliterated a large incoming horde of demons, but she let out a gasp of pain. From the tips of her fingers on her right hand to her elbow, the skin was severely burned. Kitty was stunned, looking at the burned skin in shock before she was tackled by a demon. As she slammed to the ground she didn't notice the burns being replaced with black snake skin with lava like veins running through it, it was only there for a moment before it turned back into skin. Kitty jabbed her hand through the demons chest, yanking it's heart out and shoving it off her as she stood. Once more she withdrew her sword, but there was a manic look in her eyes. As she began to cut through the demons again she was not longer rigid and her movements were more fluid but wild in nature, she was beginning to lose herself in the blood lust.

As he dropped a few more humans and demons alike, The Freelancer set his sights on the central cube. The Arclight had to be in there, it's energy readings were radiating off of it immensely. But the path to it was still wrought with obstacles.

The Humans started to bring their vehicles into the fray now. Military quadbikes mounted with twin grenade launchers rode into the room through special garage doors. Soon enough, explosions started to fly all over the massive lab. Demons started to fall in greater numbers as a result, which was only increased with the arrival of more reinforcements. Gunfire also rained down onto the demonic troops from the machinegun turrets overhead.

One particular turret targeted the Freelancer and opened fire. The rain of armour-piercing ammunition caught the giant off-guard and almost caused him to stagger. He quickly rolled out of the way and spotted the turret. It had weakened his shields slightly, and continued to follow and fire at him. The Freelancer continued evasive maneuvers, before reaching a clearing, aiming up and sending a couple of shots up at the turret, destroying it. He then proceeded to do the same to two other turrets to lessen the gunfire coming from the ceiling before narrowly strafing away from a quadbike. The quadbike missed him but turned around and faced him, this time firing off two rocket-propelled grenades at him. The Freelancer failed to react quickly due to attacking demons drawing his focus, and both grenades impacted against his back.

The Freelancer struggled slightly but quickly turned around in time to duck under another volley of grenades. He aimed his pistol and fired off three shots, destroying the vehicle and killing its occupant. The Freelancer then rose and began to fight his way to the central glass chamber.

Kitty turned her head towards the reinforcements, letting out a curse as she then turned to look at The Freelancer fighting his way through to the central cube. "Play nice okay? We need that." She muttered to herself, a grumble of a response from Corsetta echoed in her head. Kitty flexed her fingers and slowly her form morphed from flesh and bone into lava, then she began to simply run through the demons and reinforcements. She was now a liquid after all. But she couldn't really maintain this for more than a couple minutes, lest Corsetta gain a firmer hold over Kitty. 

She ran through everything, reaching the cube before The Freelancer. She laid her hands on the cube, then began to chant a spell quietly. She was hoping the lava would soften the container up a little so her spell would have more of an impact. First she was going to rapidly heat the cube and then rapidly cool it with the ice streaming from her now flesh hands. Once it was rapidly cooled the strength of it might be compromised. Now she withdrew her sword, slamming it down into the cube. She had to work quickly before the demons and reinforcements turned their attention from The Freelancer and each other, to her.

Kitty's attack on the cube caused a massive crack to appear from the point of impact, running up the length of the cube and out towards the sides from where Kitty had hit it. The cube was weakened slightly, only requiring a few more strikes to compromise.

However Kitty's actions did not go unnoticed, garnering the attention of some of the security forces. A few security guards now had their weapon sights set on her and opened fire without any hesitation. All the while, a 19ft tall MECH started to make its way over to the central cube, having been alerted of it being under attack. The pilot of the MECH used its right arm-mounted heavy machine gun to shred through demonic forces while using its left arm-mounted missile launcher to clear up any crowds of them stuck together. Demonic attacks against the MECH were futile due to the MECH's energy shielding.

Making short work of the demonic forces in its path, the MECH made its way towards the central cube, unchallenged by anything else.

Kitty cursed, some of the bullets whizzed towards her and fire pulsed off her skin. She melted a great deal of the bullets, but some still survived and punctured her flesh. Quickly she pulled her sword over to her wrist, slicing it open as blood rushed out of the wound. Kitty swung her wrist in an arc as blood poured out, but then it began to form a rippling wall in front of her. Kitty felt lightheaded but that was the least of her problems.

The bullets connected with the wall of blood, but they just seemed to bounce off and head back to where they came from. Kitty's nifty little spell would last maybe a minute or five, just enough time to get what she needed without getting sniped in the head. She turned her attention back to the cube, slamming her sword repeatedly into the crack and wiggling it. There were still a few bullets lodged in Kitty's arms and shoulders so the movements caused her pain, but she still stabbed on.

Some of the security personnel started to fall as their bullets were bounced back at them, however the remainder caught onto what was happening and ceased fire.
"We need to change tactics." One of them said.
"I got an idea..." Said another as he readied his fragmentation grenade. The others looked at him and did the same.
"Alright, ready? GO!"

They all threw their grenades at the wall Kitty had created and they all exploded at once as they hit the barrier, hoping to inflict tremendous damage or break through it.

Meanwhile The Freelancer had just finished off a group of security personnel. He was near the cube now, only two mini-cubes away from the central one. He looked around, ensuring that no more enemies were making their way towards him and judging which path he should take. A few firefights between demons and humans were taking place so he chose to avoid those paths. He managed to pick out a "clean" path and quickly wasted no time in taking it, hoping to ensure that he'd get to the cube as soon as possible.

The wall exploded but the fire and heat from the grenades did nothing to Kitty, if anything though it made her stab the cube with more force and speed. She had seconds before they started firing again. She had to be quick. 

There was no way in hell she was leeching without the sword.

The security personnel paused for a moment as they waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, it revealed Kitty, still striking the cube which was nearly breached.

"Honestly, who the fuck's idea was it to make something that important out of glass?"
"Probably the jackass who wrote the first post in this thread.."
"Wait... what?"
"What?"
"OPEN FIRE!"

The security personnel fired their weapons at the vampire, their aims not faltering. Meanwhile the glass of the cube began to show its first signs of breach, as one large shard fell inside it and gave Kitty a glimpse into whatever was inside. From this glimpse, all that could be seen was computers and machinery and wiring.