It was cramped and it smelled. Atir sat up in bed or tried to at least. The cot was small and cramped but at least the bed was good enough. She grabbed her things and slung her mechanical backpack over her right shoulder and walked towards the bulkhead of the ship. This was...is a special day for her. Her plans were going to take off with a bang as her contact was suppose to meet her here. She had hoped she wasn't late or maybe way too early. She hated sitting around and feeling like she had nothing to do.

She walked through the crowd of people that were getting ready to leave the ship. As everyone filed out, the sunlight hit her right in her eyes. She covered her eyes with her left hand and tried her best to shade herself from the sun. She scoffed at the heat and dug her hand into her left Jacket pocket to pull out some fancy shades. She brushed her blue hair aside and frowned a bit as the smell wasn't any better than inside the ship.

She was a bit picky but that's life. She passed by a guy who she could tell knew magic. Her Void Magic that she had picked up the trails of magic off the lad. She slightly tilted her head in his direction in curiosity.

"Hope big bad wolf doesn't get him"

She thought to herself as she walked with the rest of the crowd. Her metal arm did gleam a bit in the sunlight but not completely. The metal alloy was Nypherian in nature but most people in UNSC controlled territories didn't know much about the Nypherians, so this was a bonus for her.

And she was a ghost as she was just like the nameless shmucks that walked off this ship. She had no record and she aim to keep it that way...by not getting caught.

Elias squinted and sneezed in the midday sunlight as he stepped off the colony transport and onto the surface landing station. It wasn't until he stepped off the gigantic ship that he realized how bad it actually smelled. He supposed living in such close proximity to other the other passengers must have desensitized him. Bad for magic. Without full awareness of all his senses, Elias wasn't sure if he could reliably manipulate the more mystical forces holding life together.

Not that it mattered anyway. Elias had no plans of practicing magic until he was well outside the UNSC where no one would bother him. Maybe he would be able to rebuild a staff once he got out.

As his nostrils cleared, Elias swore he could feel the presence of magic. Or at least some kind of magical being. It felt dark and metallic, with the purple sheen of obsidian and the sharp scent of iron. But only vaguely. It could have just as easily been the colony ship's ion engines or anyone in the crowd of people flocking off the ship. Elias didn't have any time to investigate before he dodged around a pair of black suited men, each bearing the ONI sigil on their jacket. He was careful to be as inconspicuous as possible.

"Excuse me, sir" One of the men said. Placing a broad and powerful hand on Elais' comparatively thin shoulder, "Can we see your ID"It took all Elias had keep himself from running. In the supernatural community back on earth, it was rule of thumb to keep regular humans out of their affairs, otherwise ONI would get involved and people would start disappearing on both sides.

"Yes," Elias muttered, "of course" He slowly turned towards the agents and pulled out the his ID, a small light up screen, from a secure pocket on his bag.

"Elias Bishop, known wizard and moving off world," the other man said. His voice was noticeably lighter and more kindly, "If I were anyone else, I would assume you're trying to get out of Earth space. Especially with all the... unfortunate prejudice of supernaturals."

"I guess you were waiting for me," Elias asked. Slipping out of the first man's grip and stepping backwards.

"Yes, we're here to recruit you to the knights." the second man replied.

"And here's your answer," Elias continued, "No." The wizard started to walk away.

"I don't think you understand, Mr. Bishop" The first man growled, "This isn't a request, this is an order."

Elias did the first thing he could think to do. Run. He quickly formed a light bubble of air around him, it wasn't enough to stop bullets, but it was just enough to push people and objects out of his way as he sprinted away from the landing station.

The sound of bullets rang through the building just as Elias reached customs.

"Halt, wizard," A gruff marine shouted, "You are under arrest."

Elias stopped just as blast doors fell from the ceiling. A squad of marines and the two ONI agents surrounded him, all holding assault rifles pointed towards his chest.

Elias' heart nearly froze.

"Shit," he muttered.

All she really could think about was finding dome real food. Not like the crap the freighter carried. How many times did she find herself puking her guts out, more than she like to count. The smell of the market finally hit her nose and she was enveloped by the possibility of real food.

Her thoughts escaped her when a few rough voices broke her train of thought. She looked forward and the being she had glanced at before was being question by ONI agents. She snarled to herself as she hated the ONI. In fact, she had already been planning on dealing with them sooner or later. However, since they were here, why not now?

She crossed through  crowd coming from the freighter. Her eyes were not on the guy being question but on the man doing the questioning. There was an obvious disagreement as shots soon rang out. She bent down only a little as she came up behind the man doing the shooting and slit his throat with her knife.

She walked back into the crowd and ran with everyone to look like a scared peasant. She jumped up with her right foot and carried that momentum to hop up on a ledge to get a better view of the man who was running. She scanned for a few seconds and spotted him. She began to run across that boxes that were dropped off by the ship and jumped onto the nearby roof of a building.

The robotic arm of hers slightly opened up at her forearm and metallic dust began to form around her hand. A gun began to take form as she grabbed the handle. She aimed at the other ONI agents and opened fire. The sound of high velocity plasma echoed all around as purple projectiles pierced the ONI agents closest to the man hit the ground as the plasma easily cut them down.

She jumped own and rolled onto her left shoulder and broke out into a run. She easily stayed onto the tail of the man matching his speed. Soon, the man found himself surrounded and the sound could be heard around as projectiles of plasma passed over the man's shoulder and dropped the men in front of him.

She ran past the guy and kicked one of the dead ONI agents in the face as she past by.

" Keep up, we just shook the hornets nest!"

Elias ducked as more shots rang out. Though they sounded more like loud thuds than the typical cracking of UNSC gunfire. The marines quickly turned to focus on the new threat, almost completely forgetting Elias was there to focus on a young looking woman with blue hair and a metal arm. 

"Keep up," She said, "We just shook the hornets nest"

Elias didn't bother to question her. He quickly pulled his wand out of his boot and released a flash of light to blind the marines for a few seconds, and broke out into a sprint after her. He had no idea who the girl was, but anyone who shot at ONI was an ally in Elias' book. Fortunately, a few of the blast doors were still open for the civilians to escape through. 

As the pair sprinted down the halls, the lights dimmed and alarms started going off. The initial surprise of gunfire had thrown the crowds into a panic, and now the screeches of the alarms and red lights only added to the crowd's panic.

"Hey, Blue" Elias shouted over the noise, pointing towards a neon red sign "There's an exit"

The wizard changed the direction of his sprint towards the door outside. Pausing for a moment to steal a mop out of a passing janitor's cart with his spare hand.

Elias had to stop in order to unlock the exit door. He noted a fire alarm switch just to it's right and chuckled to himself while pulling it, causing even more alarms to go off and a steady rain of water to fall from the ceiling as he ran outside.

This guy was definitely a magic user. This only supported her theories that ONI is hunting down magic users. This would only make her a target as well. She ran and the guy had followed. This changed when alarms started to go off and now a city wide search was out for them.

She turned the corner and aimed her weapon down the alleyway. The people where scattering and making it hard to track down their escape. This was a bonus in her books. Her thoughts were broken when she heard the guy call her, "Blue". She looked back at him turning towards a possible exit.

"What did you call me?

She said as she turned to follow him. A ONI soldier turned down the hallway and looked at them. She turned and fired 3 rounds from her gun. The shots echoed as the soldier hit the ground. The shots went right through him and scorched the wall behind him. The exit wounds began to smolder a bit.

She followed him and then the fire alarm turned on and water began to pour on her.
 " Are you kidding me!! Is this really nessisary !?"

She growled in annoyance as she flipped her wet hair out of her face. Drops of water began to drip from her chin. Her boots began to splash the water around as she ran with the guy.

" I really hope you have a plan..."

Blue didn't seem to like her nickname. Not that Elias blamed her, it was one he came up with on the fly and he didn't know her terribly well. Certainly not well enough to get away with pulling the fire alarm without having a very good excuse.

"Yeah, I've got a plan," Elias replied as Blue left the building.

The wizard stopped running and raised his wand. He channeled the powers of magic, funneling the ever present energy of life through the little stick in his hand and gave it an image.

Lightning.

White hot sparks arced from the tip of Elias' wand. The electricity spread throughout the building, arcing through the thousands of droplets of water falling from the ceiling and electrocuting everyone in customs. Everyone inside began falling to the ground.

"That should knock them out for a while." Elias said, he paused for a moment before speaking again, "You don't happen to have a ride off this rock, do you?"

He was smart, she'll give him that. Though, using such a tactic when she's already wet as well. If she had gotten shocked, it would have made her very grumpy for the rest of the day. She just hoped this guy knew what he was doing.

" I'm covered in water as well. I swear Bambi, if I got shocked. I would use your fingers as my next chopsticks."

She said as she placed her hand on the electric door panel and sealed the door shut. She punched the panel with her metal arm and pulled out the circuits. Making it impossible to get through by rewiring. They would have to cut their way through. She scanned the buildings around her till he asked if she had a ride of world. She just glanced at him.

" I literally just got here by freighter. Why would I have a ship off world? Also, no I'm here for...business reasons."

She said as she held her gun over her right shoulder. She tighten her backpack so that it was easier to move with and not flopping around the place. She lifted her left hand in the air and it turned a slight purple. Releasing buts of Void Magic in the air.

" There are armoured vehicles on the way. I can....borrow a vehicle for you. Luckily I'm the greatest person in helping one borrow a ship. Maybe those ONI fuckboys don't mind that we borrow their ship. Hey, they shot at us. It's the least they can do!"

She giggled as she playfully punched the guy in the arm as she waved him to follow. She gracefully jumped over a fence and landed on her feet. She avoided using her magic because there could be a chance that they were tracking the use of her magic. She made a straight "B Line" towards the hangars that were close by.

Elias was surprised that Blue was so concerned about being electrocuted. He had more than enough control over magic to make sure the lightning went were he wanted. Not that it mattered anyway, she wasn't hurt. It hadn't occurred to him that she had arrived by the same freighter he had. Her blue hair would have stood out in the crowds of people. He figured she was just in another wing of the ship, one that he didn't bother exploring.

Elias didn't consider himself an extremely smart person but he was smart enough to know what 'borrow a vehicle meant'. The prospect of ONI trucks showing up wasn't all that appetizing either.

"Even if you helped me 'borrow a vehicle'," Elias said, making air quotes as best he could while holding a wand and broom, "I've got no idea how to fly one."

 Elias waved his wand and cast a simple wind spell as a springboard to launch himself over the fence, landing clumsily on the other side. He did his best to keep up with Blue until they got to the hangars, at which point he nearly fell to the ground due to dizziness and lack of breath.

"I don't suppose," Elias gasped for air, "We could 'borrow' one of those trucks over there" Elias said, pointing towards a row of three unloaded warthogs on the close end of the hangar.

How many questions does this guy ask? Also, how is this guy not dead yet? Many thoughts filled her head but at the moment, she didn't have time to dawdle with questions. She watched him "jump" over the fence and kinda flop the landing. She laughed to herself a bit but kept on running.

As she turned and glanced around the corner. The hangar was completely covered in soldiers. That's a plan she had to trash. Too many possibilities of failure and the chance of being shot. Then the guy chimed in about taking one of their vehicles that were nearby.

" yea...that can work."

She said as she ran up to the punched put the window. She paused and realized the door was unlocked. She frowned a bit, " really....who keeps military vehicles unlocked". She mumbled as she got into the driver seat. She placed her hand on the dashboard and unleashed her Void Magic. The truck roared to a start. She waved the guy over.

" well, we have to get to a place to settle down. Guess where we're going. The slums!! "

As chipper as she was, she had to meet up with her gang members that were arriving on separate ships to attract less attention. She drove away from the hangar district and made her way into the slums. Driving the truck into the dark alley way of the streets and right behind an abandoned storage facility. This was the meeting point.

Elias quickly walked to the warthog and jumped in the passenger seat and watched the warthog roar to life as Blue placed a her hand on the dash. He recognized the same feeling of obsidian and iron from before, definitely a magic user. Elias resisted the temptation to ask what she could do, he knew plenty of wizards who would lash out if you asked what they knew.

She said they were going to the slums.

"Ugh, I hate the slums," Elias muttered, "At least back in New York, I could swear there were more low life supernaturals than there were actual people."

Elias began to calm down as Blue drove the truck out of the airport and towards the bottom end of the city.

"Oh, and by the way," Elias said, wiggling off the brush end of his broomstick and tossing it out his window. "My name's Elias, not Bambi"

He silently ignited a white hot flame in on the end of his wand and began carving a pair of unicursal hexagrams on each end of his staff as well as eight alchemical symbols representing the eight core elements of magic, channeling mana through the cheap wood all the while. "What even is a Bambi anyway" Elias muttered to himself as he carved.

He looked up as the car stopped, noting that they were in a dark alley behind some kind of warehouse.

"You have an odd taste in meeting places," Elias commented as he watched a homeless man scramble out from his cardboard box tent.

She glanced at the work he was doing on that mop. It was odd for her to see someone inscribe runes on a mop. That's probably the most odd thing she has seen today. He obviously didn't like being called Bambi. The idea bounced in her head and all it did is made her smile.

She also looked at the homeless dude. The kid didn't get hideouts. It's the most disgusting places that most people would over look. Not to mention the slums isn't military friendly.

" Come on Bambi, let's meet the rest of the folks inside."

She said as she pushed the door open. There was about 20 other guys and girls. Some were obviously not human. They all stood up as they saw Atir. She smiled as she was happy everyone made it.

" Word on the coms is that a Blue haired woman and a wizard are wanted for murder. You're already making a name for yourself boss."

One of them said with a grin. That man was about over 6 feet tall. Dark skin color and a scar that came scross his face. He wore clothes that a simple traveler would ware. He didn't want to grab attention.

Atir stood tall as she turned the weapon she held into a metallic dust. Her metal shoulder opened up a bit and the dust retreated into her arm.As the shoulder closed up, she rested her hands on her hip.

" let's get to work everyone. Remember, the people aren't the targets. It's the UNSC and ONI. Our first step is to set up racketeering circuit with the city and slowly expand world wide and don't worry about the Bambi. This guy just needs enough to help him get off world or if he chooses to stay. We can see what he has to offer to us. "

Bambi. Blue kept on calling Elias Bambi. It didn't irritate him so much as confused him. Elias let out a small sigh as he finished carving his staff and exited the truck, making sure to safely tuck his wand in one of his boots and slipped inside the warehouse just after Blue. 

Elias counted about twenty people as he entered the spacious room lined with old and beaten up crates of one kind or another. Several clearly weren't human and certainly not of a species Elias had seen before on earth, but everyone was clearly happy to see Blue. One of the men talked about their appearance on the news. A blue haired woman and a wizard, referring to Blue as 'boss'.

Elias nervously shifted as Blue explained their goal of setting up a racketeering ring. He could a number of cold stares burning into him. The only began to relax after Blue said he wasn't a threat. Though once Blue finished speaking, he felt the need to step up.

"Hey," Elias nervously waved to the crowd of gangsters, "I'm Elias, but you can call me Bambi I guess." The wizard nervously shifted his makeshift staff between hands. "I can do some pretty useful magic if you need me to." Elias took a nervous step back behind Blue and let out a nervous breath.

"What kind of mess have I gotten myself into."

-end-