An Open Armed Welcome? (Briggs Brigade, Karyu, Ilona)

Karyu sat in the back of the jet black car with Ilona asleep on his arm. He wore a new, tight black shirt, and had his jacket wrapped around Ilona so she could sleep warmly and comfortably. He had only one intention of being in this place once more. He had come to make amends with the Briggs Brigade for the attack he launched on their fortress not long ago, but he also came for another special reason that he'd keep to himself until the appropiate moment came. As the car headed towards the gate, the militant officers looked into the car, but could only see Ilona, who was resting her head against the window. Surprised and excited, the guards opened the gate, leaving Karyu, who hid in the trunk through the pull out seat in the back, with a short smirk. He climbed out of the trunk and back into the back seats with Ilona, holding her hand gently. When they finally reached their destination, Karyu grabbed his gun and placed it on his back, and woke Ilona.

"I believe we've arrived... So expect a big welcome."

Karyu laughed lightly and kissed Ilona gently before stepping out of the car with a warm smile on his face. The militant officials all took aim at Karyu without hesitation, but did not open fire, for Ilona could be seen behind him in the vehicle. Karyu's warm smile confused some of those, while others thought that he was just crazy. He looked around, never once raising his hands or removing his weapon as he was ordered to do. Instead, he looked around for the Briggs Brigade, mainly Reila and Dai, the only two he believed to have some sensibility of the matter and wouldn't attack him upon first sight. Then he remembered the Houka girl his ally informed him of, and sighed slightly, knowing that if she arrived first, matters might become a little hectic...

"I only want to speak with Reila Tsukino and Daigoro Ito. I hae no intention of starting a fight... I'm only here to return what was wrongfully taken and apologise."

Many of the soldiers looked at Karyu as if he was crazy, while others were slowly lowering their guns seeing that he meant no harm. He sighed in relief, and wondered why it took for such major officials to take so long when a general of a foreign army strolls into their base as if it was nothing. He pulled out a Drachman pocket watch, and checked the time before smirking, realising that the so called 'Briggs Brigade' would be arriving in a matter of seconds. Karyu chuckled ad closed the pocketwatch, placing it back in his pocket and turning the music on his phone to full blast, the white earphones blending in with the snowy background, excluding the loud sound of music it emitted.

{OOC - I'm only going to warn you once. 150 word per post, Ilona. Any more posts like that, and you'll start losing points. Just to let ya know ^_^}

His eyes narrowed at the car that pulled up outside Briggs. Watching from an lookout, Daigoro Ito smirked. So, Ilona was back. He sighed, pulling the binoculars away from his face, and pulling the soles off of his shoes. He clicked his left hand, and magnetised his boots with Alchemy. He vaulted over the side of the lookout, and the metal soles of his boots hit metal. Dai slid down the side, using gravity to move down and magnetism to stop himself from falling down the hundreds of metres that made up Briggs. Putting his arms out to keep himself stable, Dai slowly but surely skated down to the bottom of the wall, and landed in front of Ilona and Karyu, hair falling down behind him. He stood up straighter, and smiled. So, Ilona was back, huh?

He reached up behind his head and pulled out Wolfsbane, the heavy steel whip causing snow to 'poof' up around it, slowly falling to the ground. He smiled again.

"Ah, I see that you've finally returned to us, Ilona. But what about him?" He looked up at the other man, eyes narrowing slightly. He had some sort of... aura of interest about him. Dai wanted to know more, he really did. But he'd wait for Reila. Because she needed to know more than he did. With a small sigh, and a flick of his wrist, the whip wrapped itself around his right auto-mail arm.

"Well, now. Let's just wait for the General, ne?"

[You guys could have told me about it! ;o; I didn't know~]

Reila sighed and pushed her chair out from the monitor where she was watching the whole thing unfold. Ilona returned on her own, huh? How odd. She padded out to the lookout before Dai joined them on the ground. From above, she spotted his red hair as he landed before the foreign commander. "No fair Dai!" She called down to him, pouting from high up. Now...if only she could walk on walls... With a shrug, she approached the railing and leaped over the side...to her death? The men who had been in the control room with her gasped despite their knowledge. She was Reila Tsukino after all. If the General wasn't at least capable of this, then she didn't belong at Briggs.

She slid down a ramp of ice that rose from the snow below moments before she reached it and then vanished to water behind her. Reila's fingertips glowed vibrantly until she stepped elegantly upon the powdery white below her fortress. Smirking with confidence, she approached them the rest of the way, her unsheathed tachi balanced neatly on her shoulder. "I am grateful that you have returned her. ...though at what cost?" Her golden eyes narrowed into an unbecoming glare, and she pointed the tip of her blade at the man known to her as Karyu Jisatsu general of the Drachman army. Her eyes flitted to Ilona, flashing discreet signs of pain from deep within them. I'm sorry, she mouthed silently, biting her lip in inner struggle. Just...what exactly was going on here?

So that's what was going on... Reila threw her blade out to the side with extravagant skill and sheathed it. She ignored the Drachman commander for now and focused solely on Ilona. There was something about her second in commands that always failed to be perfect. She shook the thought away. That didn't matter; what mattered was that Ilona was safe. ...But now Reila had to figure out what the girl was trying to say. "Aa, so he's the one?" Reila shed a small smile, but it didn't reach through the coldness of her eyes. She lowered them briefly in contemplation and then raised them in full fury. "So what you are saying is that you are not only returning to Briggs after disappearing from the battlefield without a trace, but you are also asking permission to bring the Drachman Commander inside my fortress?" It took all of Reila's focus not to laugh in anger. Her eyes darted to Karyu next, alight in golden flames, barely contained. "If that is your true intention, I welcome you. But I would need proof of this alliance and you will be monitored 24-7."

Dai sighed as he took it all in. Huh. So, this was Ilona's husband, was he? He smiled softly, and shook his head slowly, before turning arouns and walking away. No need for him to be there. Reila was the major decision maker 'round Briggs, not him. He may run their Military Operations, but this issue wasn't exactly within his range of abilities or his jurisdiction. Then it it him, and he turned back slightly...

"Wait a sec'. Ilona's pregnant? Huh - explains the sickness alright." He yawned, and instead of walking away decided to sit in on the chat - He wasn't exactly going to be entering any opinions unless he was told to, but he'd sure listen. That, at least, was something that he could do, and do it he could. With a yawn, the red-haired Alchemist found a spot to sit down, and sat. And with his head down, he simply listened.

Great - now we have a Drachman commander on our hands, of all things.

Karyu sighd lightly, and looked up at the grey skies. He tried to think of some way to make these people atleast learn to like him. Maybe he should have stopped Xanthus from making him hold back in the fight. Of all the people to judge and evaluate him, it had to be the two that he had planned to kill. Once again, he had been royaly screwed. He slowly reached into his pocket, pulling out a lighter and a pack of cigarrettes, a nasty habit he picked up in Drachma, and attempted to light the lung killer, but, of course, the freezing winds blew out the small flame. He cursed beneath his breath and slipped the lighter back in his pocket, but held the cigarrette in his mouth. He leaned up against the vehicle and stared at Reila with his cold, azure eyes.

"I come here with information and you treat me like a terrorist. Don't you think that if I was going to kill you, I would have atleast of tried to stop your friend Xanthus? If it had not been for his request, you'd be royaly screwed."

Karyu was going to continue speaking, but before he could, a gun was pointed at him. He smirked at the soldier who took major offense to his disrespect towards Reila, but that only excited Karyu and make him want to stir up more trouble. No matter how kind these people were, obvious sarcasm there, they were still military dogs, his worst enemy and strongest hatred. He simply raised his hand slowly, but then thought for a second. That face on the soldier was rather familiar... Of course, but why was he still here? 'Sahura Kir you sneaky bastard...' Karyu kept his thoughts to himself, knowing that if he spoke up, things would definately go wrong.

"The Drachmans attacked you mainly to kidnap either Houka or Daigoro here. Upon their detaining they'd ne torturrd until death or release of all information asked for. To add to that, they wanted to lure Reila into Drachma, surround her, and create a large controversy by publicly executing her and the captured officers. I was told that Ilona was not here on the day of the attack, and thus I decided to move then in hopes of her being safe from becoming a prisoner. Now, our friend pointing the gun at me is a Drac-Party time..."

Right in mid sentence, the soldier opened fire on where Karyu stood, giving away his alias. Karyu moved infront of Ilona quickly, falling forward into the car with her. A bullet managed to scrape his arm, however, the others were stray. The other soldiers quickly jumped onto the spy and held him down, while Karyu remained focused on Ilona. He looked into her eyes, despite her not being able to see, and smiled lightly, a slight chuckle escaping his lips.

[I]"Are you alright?

"I haven't treated you like anything, Karyu Jisatsu," Reila declared in an annoyed voice. She placed a hand on her hip in defiance and stalked closer to him, a smirk sliding easily onto her glossed lips. As he finished speaking, she leaned very close to him, her long hair falling around her face. In a cold voice void of emotion she continued, "Those who underestimate their foes are the ones to get royally screwed." She stood back to her full height, a wild grin gracing her features. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

Reila jolted to awareness when she noticed the gun pointed at Karyu. She was about to act, but then Karyu began speaking again. She listened intently, but found herself laughing shrilly. "Do you honestly think anything would become of their capture? This is the survival of the fittest; Houka and Dai can handle themselves otherwise they wouldn't be here." She blinked and stepped back abruptly when the man opened fire, but not a trace of fear or surprise shown on her face. Reila wasn't afraid of bullets, especially when Dai was standing a few feet away. She approached the man slowly as her soldiers began to hold him down.

"Let him go," Reila barked. As they did so, the man began to run, but before he took three steps Reila's tachi flew from its sheath and removed his head from atop his shoulders. Killing a constrained man was not her style. At least she gave him a chance. Sighing, she motioned for her men to clean up the mess. Surprisingly, not a drop of blood stained her clothes--that was the display of skill she administered.

Turning back to the couple against the car, the Lieutenant General frowned. "Come inside and we'll get your arm treated." Then she let a soft smile fall over her despite the fact that she had just killed someone. "I've missed you, Ilona."

(How did I miss this thread? I mean really? Hope ya don't mind me dropping in)

Houka had been standing amongst the soldiers keeping herself hidden, ready to strike and take down both Karyu and Ilona if necessary. She had to suppress a laugh when Karyu spoke of capturing her. Did he not realise that Houka was one of the two reasons why there had been a huge rain of icy blades from the sky that had decimated most of his army? Or that Houka was more then capable of defending herself even without her alchemy? She shook her head. However, when Ilona was about to collapse she moved swiftly and caught her before she hit the ground. Her speed had been accelerated by a slight gust of wind and she had slowed Ilona's fall with another.

"Briggs certainly seemed popular." she said with a sigh. She quickly ordered two of the soldiers to take Ilona to the sick bay. "The lieutenant general treats you as you deserve to be treated. You are guilty until proven innocent. You could be a spy, an assasin or a saboteur for all we know. Briggs is a harsh place and we have to be careful with anyone we do not know, most of all those who have been and might still be enemies."

"Correct, Yoshi," Reila said with a calm smile. She faced Dai and the heavily guarded door. "Let's get Ilona inside. Dai, I'm putting you in charge of watching Karyu for now." She walked over to Ilona and Houka, helping her red-headed sister lift the soon-to-be-mother gently up. As she hoisted her, she turned to her men who were dispersing the body and removing the blood-stained snow. "Put the car in the garage." She nodded when they saluted and began the trek to the door. Funny, how the men were standing around while the two women carried Ilona. Reila let a slight laugh out when this thought crossed her mind.

Once they reached the infirmary, Reila made sure that her 2nd in command was as comfortable as she could possibly be and was getting the best treatment. Satisfied, Reila turned to finish her mountain of paperwork that awaited her.

[EXIT TOPIC]

Once Houka had helped her sister in the infirmary she gave a quick salute to Reila and smiled before heading off to the training area to practise with her alchemy and combat skills. There was always a possibility that Briggs would be attacked so Houka was always trying to improve herself so she could defend it more efficiently. Sure, Briggs has throughly trounced the last groups of attackers, but it was a close run thing and they had to call in emergency protocols in order to do it. Besides there was always new ways the enemy might attack, perhaps they would find a way to stop them using the snow and ice. If that happened then Briggs would face a tough time trying to deal with an invasion. However, Houka did not need snow and ice. All she needed was moisture and enough of it to form clouds then she could literally rain down hell upon enemies.

"Rain down hell....I like that." she said to herself. "Might make that a battlecry of some sort."

Ilona woke up a few minutes after she collapsed but did not move fearing that she would be sick again. Instead the sighed and made herself more comfortable in bed, having many thoughts in her head. What happens after this? Now that she is pregnant, Ilona can't fight, only bark out orders. Knowing how reckless she was, there was more than a 50% chance that she would lose the child.
But this gave her a comforting thought: she wouldn't have to fight anymore, Ilona could just settle down in her hometown with her child...No more fighting..But then would Karyu have a place in it if this kept on going..?
Not wanting to think anymore, Ilona closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep...

[Exit--->???]