Re: World-Marleybone

[Ulysses Septimus]

((he's just bitter as the shared punching bag >) ))
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"Protect Ulysses!"Kane was in his offense position, his blade poised to lash out at the fist bit of flesh he could see on his opponent, "use that healing spell of yours!" He turned his attention back to the red garbed Pirate Lord before him: he knew just what he must do, and that is to lure the pirate away from Ulysses long enough to let Hannah use the healing spell, while mustering up energy to use his own powers if that was needed. The first of the clockworks ran at the pirate, quickly stepping to the side with unnatural speed when Adrian was just shifting into his defensive stance.
 
"Adrian Devereaux you cowardly pirate scum!" No words could have described just how angry Kane is as he blocked both of Adrian's daggers with his sword; the clockwork wasted no more time in sending his right fist into the pirate swashbuckler's face, feeling a jolt of what he knew humans described as pleasure when he felt the delicate bone crack under his knuckles, blood staining his white gloves. "There will be hell to pay now!" Adrian's eyes widened slightly in fear, good, so he wasn't stupid to the point of being an imbecile. The pirate fell to the side, his daggers skittering out of his grip as he fell hard onto his side. Kane sauntered up to him in three strides, sending a jarring kick into Adrian's side.

Adrian grunted in pain, trying to stand up, only to be met with Kane's black boot as he kept him down onto the ground with one boot on his shoulder. "You will die today, Adrian Devereaux."He growled angrily, raising his sword in preparation to deliver the final strike... Only to be stopped when another buccaneer, this one dressed in Aquilan armor just like Edward Teach was, emerged out of seemingly nowhere and threw a smoke bomb into his 'face'. Kane staggered back, only stunned for about two seconds before he recovered...yet it was already long enough for Adrian to get to his feet and flee with the newly arrived pirate, leaving Edward Teach for the dead.

Under normal circumstances, Kane would have ordered for his elites to chase after the pirates, but this time, he felt he had something much more important to deal with. He sheathed his weapon with a disgusted growl, then spun swiftly on his heels to get to Ulysses' side, as the other elites rushed into view, obviously most of them having just finished their own personal battles in the halls of Cadiz: Rooke's halberd was stained by blood, and so was parts of his large shield, with bits of the same scarlet fluid staining his face; Deacon sheathed the hidden sword back into his walking stick, after having shaken the blood from it...

"Get Ulysses to Bishop and the Royal Engineer."Kane commanded, hiding the very small hint of concern in his voice, "if he dies..." He allowed the last part hang dangerously in the air. Both clockworks nodded, as two marines rushed in, carrying Ulysses out of sight... Allowing the elites to charge back into battle: Kane rushing into the hallways to join the battle, which was still raging on in the hallways outside, even with Adrian having fled the field-

It was then the ships begun to arrive, ships with stark white sails bearing the Assassin symbol within the cogwheel. Those ships pushed their ways through the pirate vessels, blasting them with cannons before they docked: white garbed men and women with armor over their robes and weapons jumped from the ships, brandishing their weapons as they ran toward the pirates, cutting them down with either swords or Hidden Blades or large polearms, but if they possessed a shield, they would loom over the bodies of any damaged clockworks on the ground, protecting them until more clockworks came out to help...

[Hannah Durante]

((Haha hey, his fault for being so EVUL. >D))
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Hannah felt the tiniest bit relieved when Kane seemed to recall that one healing spell she knew. Good, then he would be keeping their enemies busy as she made her way over to Septimus. The buccaneer didn't have to be told twice once the Supreme Commander had answered, especially not with that kind of tone. He was already upset enough, and for good reason, she didn't want to frustrate him that much further even unintentionally. The only response to that she gave was to nod, before she rushed her way toward the fallen Admiral. Kane could take on what was left of the pirates in this room for now, and once she had utilized the spell she would join in to help if the elite required her to.

She dropped to her knees when she had reached Septimus, trying her hardest to ignore the sounds of battle behind her. All of her instincts made her feel paranoid turning her back on men like those, fearing that any second one of the remaining ones would ignore the first of the clockworks in order to attack her to prevent her from healing Ulysses, but she blocked it out, doing her best to trust Kane would not let that happen. It was harder when she heard that name, feeling disgust crashing through her again when she realized one of the pirates was that awful man who had cost Ulysses everything. A great part of her wanted to turn and look at him to see which one he was, commit his appearance to mind, but this was far more important so she didn't bother to do that either. The Admiral needed more attention for the time being.

"Ohhh, sorry Admiral but...since I'm no privateer, I need to get closer to the skin..."

Hannah didn't think he was coherent enough to hear what she was saying, but she couldn't help making the apology either, before she got to work; tearing the fabric away from where the bolt was embedded into him. His clothing was already weakened there thanks to the device, though she still felt bad about it anyway. Unfortunately though, she didn't have a choice- as she wasn't as good at these sort of spells as a privateer, she had to come into contact with the ailing skin to do much of anything. She was sure he would understand once he was better.

The buccaneer eyed the bolt, gingerly wrapping one of her hands around it. She felt worse about what she was about to do, realizing it would hurt if Ulysses was still conscious, and that once removed it would no longer hold back any of the blood it was keeping in. But she couldn't just leave it here either when she was using a healing spell, or she ran the risk of his muscle tissue possibly healing around the weapon- a mistake she had made once years ago on a fellow soldier that she never wanted to repeat again.

"..I'm sorry about this too, but I don't have any other choice..."

As long as the bleeding could be contained and he could be delivered to the hands of a capable doctor, it should be fine. That was what she kept telling herself in order to calm her hand, so she didn't unintentionally make the wound worse. When she was finally steady enough to do it, she yanked the bolt out of his back; tossing the bloody thing onto the floor. Blood immediately began to seep from the angry-looking wound, and Hannah was quick to place both of her hands directly on the spot, as gingerly as possible to help make up for what she had just done. She closed her eyes, diverting all of her concentration to the spell, as she chanted it slowly to make sure she got it right, to put forth her very best effort. Her hands glowed briefly, a golden light engulfing them before going into the wound. Not nearly as impressive a display as it would be from a privateer, but enough to show the human woman it was working when she finally did open her eyes.

Thank the spiral it was working! Now Hannah was grateful she tended to be stingy with this spell as she could only use it two times a day at most, because perhaps the fact she only used it when absolutely necessary had given her more of an edge here. It didn't seal the wound entirely, it was still there, but a good deal of the blood had stopped which was enough for her. Maybe some of the muscle tissue deeper down had started to heal? She never had been able to completely make a wound disappear on other people immediately. The times she had made them disappear it had taken longer to do so than it would have from a privateer...but so long as she had helped at all, it was enough. Particularly since right now, Septimus felt no different than any other brother in arm and she wanted to make sure he got through this okay.

"...There..I've..I've done all I can on this end."

The remark was directed both toward Septimus if he was conscious and Kane, and after gripping her halberd again, Hannah rose from the floor, turning to observe the battle currently raging on in this room. It was a satisfying sight, to see the pirate under Kane's boot, only seconds away from death. The Supreme Commander was as intimidating as ever, but for once seeing him this way was no different than it had been during the war.

Victory against this wretch was unceremoniously snatched from him however, as another pirate lashed out. Hannah opened her mouth to warn the commander, but before she could even formulate the proper words the villain had struck; tossing a smoke bomb that stunned the clockwork momentarily. Hannah moved forward a few inches in case they planned to take on the clockwork, though she was uncertain about leaving the Admiral alone in such a compromising position. The pirates took off almost immediately though instead of keeping up the fight, prompting her to relax somewhat. At least they hadn't been so bold and stupid they had insisted on keeping up the fight against either one of these men. Because she would have gladly come up behind and stabbed them right in the back, had they dared try.

Hannah stood near Ulysses as Kane stalked over, watching him carefully as he got closer, trying to gauge how he felt about Septimus's current status. It wasn't long before they were joined by the other elites, Rooke and Deacon looking like they had just come back from the same sort of hell more than the rest of them. Good, the elites were still all functioning, which meant the pirates had not landed the blows they had been seeking here...Though they had gotten a good one on Ulysses for sure. And from the man he hated most....There was no way he was going to feel great about that one when he woke up, Hannah thought. But, she had not seen why he had taken the blow, or realized that he had saved Kane's life and that alone might have been a good enough balance.

The buccaneer huffed as the elites left the room as did the marines carefully carrying Septimus to Bishop and Cristobal. Hopefully they would be able to do enough for him. She was almost compelled to follow, to make sure they got there safely enough....but she felt she could not. How could she face the Royal Engineer anytime soon, when he had asked her to watch Ulysses's back and then that had happened? He would feel like she was the most incompetent backup there was! And that thought alone was enough to keep her here, away from her father's old friend out of shame. She wasn't even sure she would be able to face him when the battle was over, and would probably have to use the ship he had given her to leave. Even though that too would make her feel guilty.

Frustrated with herself, and all of this, Hannah stalked over to the man everybody had left behind; glowering down at his battered form. From the look of his weapons and armor, he was either a buccaneer or privateer...and if he was the latter, she knew he could easily heal himself and join in the fray; making Kane regret not having finished him off before much like the pirate she had made a similar mistake with in Marleybone. Her grasp on her halberd tightened as she had every urge to finish the job somebody had not with him there, before she came to the sudden realization she had seen this man before. Memories flooded her, at first making her expression one of surprise...before it twisted again, into annoyance.

"You?" She practically scoffed, unable to believe what she was seeing. He was a man she had seen in Aquila, who then had not appeared to be in love with his Captain. They had even spoken about it, he had seemed like a pirate with some level of sense, somebody who could have escaped this line of work and turned over a new leaf! "..So much for anything you said back in Aquila, eh? Looks like you might just be cut from the same cloth as your despicable Captain after all."

She brought her halberd forward, moving to press the blade of it against his neck. Not in order to kill just yet, but to intimidate, or at the very least show she meant business here.

"A shame you didn't heed my advice..." She continued, her expression shifting again; this time, in a combination of pity and disappointment. "So give me a reason, pirate, why I shouldn't end your existence right here and now. Or drag you out of here so that the Supreme Commander and his court can deal with the likes of you."

[Ulysses Septimus]

((LOL well that is true!))
---

"I..." Edward Teach was trying to breathe though Ulysses had punctured his lung, causing blood to clot up in his airways, "Adrian made me do this, but I guess you won't believe me anyway." The grey eyed privateer looked up, "I've had enough killing for one day: I made the mistake of trusting Adrian, thinking that he was right, that perhaps I was helping to do something good for once. But apparently I was wrong, the pirates really are nothing but criminals and merciless killers, whom I have made myself part of. For this mistake, my life is in your hands... Make your choice." Teach knew that if he surrendered, there would most likely be hell from the Supreme Commander and his court of elites...

The privateer allowed the heavy hoplite's sword to fall from his hands, clattering onto the metal floor of the throne room. Edward looked up, his grey eyes closed as he spread his hands, showing he would not be defending himself if Hannah chose to kill him...

"Rooke, you go help the others, I shall stay here."The Royal Spymaster nodded at the larger clockwork, having positioned himself right outside of Bishop's laboratory, where the imitation witchdoctor and the Assassin Engineer was helping Ulysses to regain his consciousness. Rooke nodded stiffly, shifting his grip on his halberd and shield, "Be careful then, brother." With those words, the General lumbered off to help the other clockworks and the newly arrived Assassins in battle.

Deacon watched until Rooke's black cape disappeared around the corner of the hall, before quickly drawing his sword from the walking stick in his hands, twirling the long weapon in his hands then holding it in a defensive position, drawing his pistol with the other. This way, he would be able to face off any pirate who might come to finish the job Adrian had started, something the clockwork was not about to allow happen anytime soon...

Kane stepped into the docking bay, where the main ground of battle was at, in all his intimidating glory. He glowered at the pirates, using his sword to tear into anyone who dared to come toward him, which was two of the swashbucklers: he skewered one with his rapier, then sent the other down to the depths of hell by the Hidden Blade strapped to his right wrist--a small gift given to him by Ulysses sometime ago, when he completed the El Dorado map--driving the blade into the pirate's eye, twisting cruelly then withdrawing the blade, leaving the pirate howling in agony, clenching the bloody socket with one hand until a white robed Assassin snuck up behind him, plunging a knife into the base of his skull.

"Royal Guards!" A powerful female voice called out, "rally to the commander!" All around the battlefield, Royal Guards, all of them, snapped up at the voice. Quintia Presidos, co-captain of the Royal Guards, slammed her shield into the face of a pirate, then quickly waved her sword in the air, summoning more of the clockworks as the Royal Guards rushed to gather around Kane, shields poised. And just in time too, as the next moment, pirate musketeers charged out, firing messily toward the clockworks, only to have the bullets bounce harmlessly off the wall formed..

[Hannah Durante]

(( I apologize in advance Eddie! XD And yes lurkers, i did ask permission first.))
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Hannah listened to what the privateer had to say, her face scrunching in a calculating manner the more he spoke. She was absorbing and weighing his words as they came, but the buccaneer was also listening and watching for anything else she could, any sign of further weakness or, if he had already healed himself and was simply playing a game, deception. The first thing she noticed, before she had processed his words, was that the man's breathing was very strained, almost wheezing. In a way she felt was genuine, courtesy of whatever Kane or Ulysses had done to him. It very likely meant he wouldn't be trying anything right away, and it made her feel that he hadn't had the chance to heal himself yet. She imagined he would have targeted his lungs first, in order to make fixing everything else easier, though she still kept her guard up in case this was all some sort of clever trick and he was simply a magnificent actor.

The buccaneer honed in on his words next, forcing her expression into the most neutral thing she could manage as he looked up at her- she wasn't sure if he was looking for sympathy, or honestly throwing his hands in the air here. At least not until he finished off his little speech, and actually gave her the choice what to do with his life. Her stonefaced composure slipped into surprise when his next move was to drop his weapon, then assume an incredibly passive, submissive gesture; opening his arms wide in preparation to receive whatever judgement she would pass upon him.

Hannah stared at him, almost as if this was some kind of huge joke, before she finally accepted it as truth. She had never seen a pirate give up so easily, or be willing to let his last words run along the lines of 'you're right and I'm wrong'. He was even closing his eyes, and she could see his body tensing in preparation for the blow he was sure would be coming. She ran through the pros and cons of her choices in her mind, racing to try and decide what to do. Whether he had meant to or not, something about his words, this display, or both had taken hold of at least a few of her heartstrings. She would hardly admit that to anybody else and part of her debating with herself was if she could come up with a good excuse for leaving him alive, but as much as she almost wanted to question if he had really thought things would be different with all the personal experience he had with his Captain, wanting to call it a horrible excuse....she knew what he felt like. She felt much what he was for Kane, at times. She could actually understand where he was coming from, regardless of whether she wanted to or not.

And well, he had been the least...terrible of every pirate she had ever come across. Maybe he did deserve another chance, though she wasn't the one who could truly give that to him. She could spare his life here, but his fate was completely up to the Supreme Commander.

"I'm afraid it's not...not really." Hannah finally responded, as she pulled her halberd away from his throat and walked over to his side. "Kane and his court will determine your fate, since it was their fortress you and your brethren invaded. It wouldn't really be fair of me to take that away from them. But, if they ask, I'll put in at least a few good words for your...coming to your senses at the last moment. Perhaps you can be fixed, unlike many pirates. We can both hope the Supreme Commander will extend mercy to you once the rest of your kind here fall... Until that moment however...rest."

She didn't bother to explain it any more, swing the blunt end of her halberd into his skull- hard enough to knock him out, but hopefully not enough to kill. There was no guaranteeing he wouldn't die from whatever wound one of the commanders had inflicted on him that labored his breathing, but at the very least she wanted to ensure it would not be because of hers. When his body slumped over unconscious, the buccaneer carefully slid the shield still attached to his arm off, cradling it underneath her left arm as she also made it a point to pick up his sword. It was difficult to cradle two sets of weapons, but she had to at the moment- she wanted the privateer weaponless, so he either wouldn't do anything stupid when he woke up, or wouldn't get very far if he did.

Something told her he wouldn't though, so she felt secure enough to exit the room, making her way toward Bishop's laboratory, where she knew they would be taking Septimus. She was relieved to see Deacon standing on the outside, and just to make her purpose clear to the spymaster, moved the weapons she could upward to indicate she was trying to get rid of them. She paused at the threshold of the room, offering the spymaster a side glance.

"Confiscated weapons. There's a potential prisoner either you or His Majesty could weed valuable information out of. I'm here to make sure neither he nor any of his kind get a hold on his weapons."

Presuming that was sufficient enough, she actually stumbled into the room; dropping Teach's weapons onto the floor with a loud clatter. She didn't bother to explain herself to those in the room once she looked up, seeing the two engineers working on a still limp Ulysses, and feeling guilt and bile rising to her at the very sight. Hannah could hardly look Cristobal in the eye right now, when he was right there with the injured assassin she imagined was like a son to him, so she quickly turned on her heel and left the room, giving an equally as rapid nod of acknowledgement to Deacon on her way out.

From there she made her way toward where she could hear the loudest sounds of battle, anything to get away from that sight, her potential failure. It was more of a madhouse before- their reinforcements were cutting through pirates left and right, Kane was a monster to be reckoned with fueled on by this rage, and the royal guard were flooding to his aid. The sight did at least give her enough hope though that they would win this, enough to fuel her on into joining the cause once more; throwing herself into a lanky pirate she easily shoved aside with her shield, before gutting him with her halberd, then stabbing out at another, and another.

She just hoped they would not pay a heavy price for their victory....

[Ulysses Septimus]

((LOL don't worry, he's used to it >) and yes lurkers I gave my permission.))
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"Take prisoners of the leaders!"Kane bellowed, leaving his blade in the body of one of his newest kills in favor of wrapping his hands around the throat of another pirate and brutally snapping his neck, then turning around to rip out his sabre... Only to plung it into another pirate's torso moments later, ripping upward to completely disembowel the human and leaving him a twitching mess on the floor, still trying to gather the slick lengths of his intestines back into his body after Kane had slit his guts open. The Supreme Commander simply allowed his hardwired programming to take over, fueled by pure rage and hate.

He gutted a third pirate, a swashbuckler by the looks of his weapons, with the Hidden Blade mounted under his right forearm--sticking it into his stomach then pulling sideways--not forgetting to stab him again with his sabre through his chest. The clockwork emperor moved quickly onto his next target, whose position immediately froze in fear at the sight of his dark, empty eyes: not that Kane minded anyway, it just made it much easier for him. He kicked down the pirate with the force of a raging bull, stepping back after as though he had lost interset, only revealing later that it was to leave the pirate in the hands of Servus Carbo. Carbo's halberd sliced swiftly through the air, cracking said pirate's skull open with one well aimed strike...

Meanwhile, on the other end of the battlefield, Rooke had busied himself in dealing with an enemy buccaneer. He caught the pirate's sword with his shield, bringing his halberd in, a wide, horizontal strike targeted at the buccaneer's torso. The Grand Marshal's strike was true, tearing through the pirate's armor as though they were nothing but paper, his halberd's blade slicing through skin, muscle and bones like a hot knife through butter, leaving behind two halves of a bloody corpse on the ground, the guts and blood painting the flooring under Rooke's feet. Rooke took this time to crush the pirate's skull as well, then pivoting to face his next enemy: it was much pleasure to the titan, to feel the skulls of such vermin shattered, rendered to little bloody pieces under his feet...

Sentus Optimus stood by his squadron of snipers and marines, halberd and shield poised. His first victim was a pirate musketeer; Sentus ran at the pirate with a speed and grace only a cyborg warrior like him is capable of, using his shield to protect himself from the hailfire of bullets fired by other pirates, feeling what one could describe as dull stinging as those ones he didn't block bounce off his upgraded armor. When he finally reached the pirate, Sentus pulled back his arm and chopped his halberd through the air, lodging his weapon in the pirate's shoulder and pulling back again: "Aaah!" Behind his white bauta mask, the cyborg's nose wrinkled in contempt.

Was this really who he was allied with before he became Captain Sentus Optimus? Pathetic, just pathetic! Those weak little flesh bags, just what made them think they have what it takes to fight against the might of the Armada? He was, deep down, glad that Ulysses had granted him a second chance, because otherwise he might not have realized how disgusting he had been in the past. He drove the spear of his halberd through his still screaming victim's chest, ending his misery, "Go to sleep, fool." The pirate gasped, but went silent merely seconds later, crumpling to the ground in one bloody pile that Sentus quickly marched over with his squadron...

Servus Decimus, standing back to back with his twin Albinus, tripped a pirate with his long leg, driving the bayonet on his rifle into his fallen target's forehead in one fluid strike, ending him quickly and cleanly, well at least until he pulled it back out, when the blood erupted in a fountain and doused the metal vest of armor he was wearing, splattering it with a ruby red the clockwork himself knew he craved more than anything in the whole Spiral. He craved it, wanted it, to draw more of this ruby red from his enemies, though kept himself composed to the best of his ability, keeping up his facade of being just another emotionless clockwork. The sniper sniped off another pirate with his rifle, his black, void eyes never leaving the headless, flailing body of his victim, until he sensed a pirate swashbuckler trying to take him out, likely because having noticed he was an officer.

Not today, the sniper thought coldly. He first fired a shot into the swashbuckler's shoulder, and a second one shortly after while the pirate was crying out in pain, targeting the man's leg. "Requiescat in pace, fatuus."Decimus said, his bayonet slowly, painfully sinking into his fallen opponent's eye and into his brain...

"Despair, you fools!" Quintia Presidos called out, standing on a mound of corpses of the pirates she had killed, "your leader had fled the field: look around, do you see him anywhere? He had left all of you to save his own pathetic skin, so why fight?! Give up, there is no hope!" Around the battlefield, pirates swiftly turned at the sound of her voice, tensing when they finally, finally realized the horrifying truth. They were alone, and their so-called valiant leader was nowhere in sight, while a ship was missing from the docks, Adrian Devereaux's flagship to be more exactly. Panicked, the pirates ran toward the ships, only to be halted when they found that most of the ships had been disabled or set ablaze by Assassins earlier, as revenge for the wound their Grand Master had suffered: many of the ships' sail cables had been cut, or their wheels destroyed. Save for a few ships, the rest were in no condition to even move.

It is truly a wonder how dispair can make men do the craziest things, as even then, many of the pirates took to the ships, kicking away their comrades in their haste to get to them, a fatal mistake that costed many of them their lives, as Kane swept in, killing any who was too slow to get away. What was once the greatest force of pirates ever assembled were now little more than ants scurrying away from the wrath of the Supreme Commander. Their ships took to the skyways... Only to find that a equally as horrible fate was waiting for them there.

Assassini ships, distinguished by the colors of the Armada which they were flying and the symbols on their flags, had long formed a kind of blockade, and the pirates had ran themselves right into them on their haste to flee. Cannons fired in almost perfect synch from the Assassin vessels, gunning several of the remaining ships out of the air until only two remained, two lone ships scurrying away to Skull Island no doubt to report to Captain Avery of their failure.

[Hannah Durante]

((LOL I feel sorry for him that he is used to it though, I really do! AND AW YEAH TAKE THAT PIRATES. >D))
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Shockingly, Kane's voice could be heard over the chaos going on all around them, somehow able to carry throughout this entire portion of the fortress despite all the shouting and sounds of weapons going off and clanging. Hannah turned her head in the direction she felt his command had come from after slicing a pirate's throat disgustingly wide open with her halberd, once her enemy's body fell to the ground before her. She could just make the first of the clockworks out, brutally carving a path through as many of their adversaries as he could. Despite the command he had just issued, it didn't seem like there were going to be many leaders left to take prisoner..especially not since the apparent ringleader of this entire thing had up and fled some time ago.

Oh well though, they would make do with what they could...and dispose of the excess, the ones who weren't important enough, or had enough sense to throw down their weapons and surrender on the spot, hoping by some shred of mercy they would be spared the onslaught that waited for the rest. Hannah truly wondered if there would be any prisoners beyond the privateer she had left unconscious in the throne room, when all was said and done. If there were not, at least it would mean far less trouble for them to go through.

She also wondered what Kane's next move would be, now that he knew an entire horde of pirates had been planning and preparing to mobilize against him long enough to make this happen- maybe they were lucky and all the pirates here were the only ones that knew anything about this, but Adrian and at least a few of his followers had gotten away. The question was, would Kane immediately mobilize a strike force to hunt them down, or wait until more information came to them while stepping up the security around Cadiz?

Important and curious a question as it was though, it could certainly wait to be answered until the battle was through. Hannah forced her attention to focus on their enemies again, telling herself that the sooner their foes were vanquished, the sooner Kane could figure out what his next move was. That way, if he did want to mobilize forces, he could do so quicker. She hardly felt like she would make a huge difference in the tide of battle if she hesitated a few moments longer than the clockworks and assassins did between enemies, but at the same time knew every strike counted.

Narrowing her focus that much more, the buccaneer charged into a group that seemed comprised mostly of swashbucklers and one musketeer, utilizing the sort of tactics the fencers would be more inclined to, as she didn't want to give them the chance to overwhelm and potentially overpower her. She picked the moment they had been anxiously distracted by Kane nearing their position to strike, first smashing the musketeer on the back of his head as hard as she could to put him out of commission for a few moments, as she then drove her halberd straight through one of the swashbucklers. One of the others gasped at the sight, immediately moving to slash out at her, but she had seen this move coming and had already gone to shove her first victim forward as a shield.

The second swashbuckler's strike embedded into his own ally, horrifying the pirate long enough for her to sneak out from his back with her halberd raised high and bringing it violently down on top of the other's head, eliminating the first two fairly quickly. She turned her attention back to the musketeer as the others crumpled to the ground, hearing him groan in pain and attempting to force himself back up. Hannah cursed inwardly at how quickly he was starting to move too, realizing he could be a threat if she didn't deal with him now. Not wanting to make any more mistakes here, she stalked over to him, bashing into him with the shield again to knock him off balance, before she almost mimicked Rooke's horizontal slash; managing to hand the musketeer a nasty fate when the blades of her weapon slit open his throat.

Another sigh, this time of relief, escaped her as he fell and she turned to take in how many pirates were left to contend with, just in time for Quintia to scoff at them all and remind them just how hopeless they really were. At first her words seemed to have no meaning, a few pirates even scoffed loudly at them. But all it took was another minute or so of a few of them looking around and paranoidly shouting to their comrades it was true, for panic to settle in and take over. Soon, all the remaining pirates had realized that their 'great' leader had left them to die here, without even bothering to clue them in on the fact he was retreating, and they all seemed far less inclined to risk their necks when the man who had talked them into this wasn't even here.

Hannah smirked as she watched the spectacle that ensued, pirates trampling over each other just to get back to their ships. Which were fairly damaged, from what she could see as she followed some of the clockworks and assassins that slowly gave chase to their fleeing forms, like predators moving in for an easy kill. It was quite something how quickly the mighty had fallen- the proud group of pirates reduced to fighting each other just to feel they had a chance to escape.

Many of them did not. Hannah stood at attention, watching the utter destruction that was being waged before them all. Even the fires blazing on a few of the ships were nothing compared to the one that burned within Kane, as he viciously tore apart any retreating pirate he could get his hands on. Many of them screamed for mercy, that they would surrender, but by now it was too late- the clockwork did not hear their pleading, and descended upon them like a savage, bloodthirsty animal. What ships did make it out of the dock unscathed were in for a nasty surprise as well, the assassni's cannons tearing most of the remaining ships apart almost as effectively as Kane.

When the smoke settled only two galleons escaped, making for Avernus as quickly as they could. Some sense of relief washed over her then, to see the great victory they had managed, but she did worry about the two ships that had gotten away. As well as what had become of the Admiral during all of this time. Once the battle seemed to be over, Hannah made her way back toward the laboratory, desperate to hear any shred of information she could on Ulysses's progress. She hoped she hadn't made anything worse, and that he was going to be okay- especially since she had supposed to have watched his back.

The relief vanished as she stumbled her way over dead bodies through the hallways, not the only one who was determined to find out how the Valencian nobleman was faring. Anxiety was crushing her chest again the closer she got, and she stopped just outside of the room; craning her neck every which way she could to get a better look of what was going on, while she listened intently. Oh please, please let there be good news!

[Ulysses Septimus]

((LOL well, he is a pirate after all >) HAHA YES, ARMADA FOREVER))
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Cristobal was the one who greeted her. "Thank Lord Kane that you are alright Hannah!" He stepped out of the way so if she wanted to enter the room, she could. "Ulysses is alright: what he suffered was not your fault." He meant it when he spoke, his tone gentle to underline that he didn't blame her for what had happened. The Assassin Engineer glanced behind him, managing to catch a glimpse of Ulysses just resting in a deep slumber, bandages around his torso preventing any more bloodloss after Bishop having cauterized the wound...

Instructing the other clockworks to clean up the mess in the docking bay, Kane snapped off a new command to his elites. "I want the security to be amped to the max around Cadiz for the next following days, no one comes in or leaves without varification. Am I clear?" The elites gave a collective nod of stiff understanding, since none of them needed an angry Kane on their trail; who would be, after witnessing what he had done to most of the pirates just by himself. Spinning swiftly on their heels, most of the elites marched off to carry out the commander's will, leaving Kane free to do just what he wanted.

The first of the clockworks walked quietly down the hall he knew would lead to Bishop's laboratory, entering without bothering to announce his presence. "How is Admiral Septimus faring, Bishop?"Kane asked, careful to mask the genuine concern in his voice, though a small and still detectable trance of it was still clear in the tone with which he spoke.

"He will survive, Lord Kane."Bishop replied in his rasp of a voice, "fortunately, the bolt had not punctured any vital organs, and that he had been delivered here in time..." The imitation witchdoctor wisely halted himself toward the end of the sentence, almost as though he had picked up on the dark aura that was starting to come off the Supreme Commander. "Good."Kane growled, "reversus est novus pro certo, si quid est, Episcopus." Bishop made a sound like a gulp, then quickly nodded.

"Of course Lord Kane, of course."

"Bene."The clockwork king nodded slightly, only to turn his attention away when Ulysses finally stirred, "Ulysses! Non umquam amplius (Latin: Don't ever do that again.)" The admiral managed a weak smile.

"I am merely doing what my duty is, my Lord."

[Hannah Durante]

((Isn't that just the truth? Dang dumb pirates. THE ARMADA FOREVER. >D SORRY FOR CRAPPY POST. D8))
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Shame rocketed through the buccaneer again as she saw Cristobal heading toward the entrance of the lab not long after he had taken notice of the fact she had returned. She wasn't sure what to do as she saw him approach- half of her wanted to turn tail and remove herself from his presence again like a coward, while the other half insisted she stand her ground and simply explain herself if he was going to chew her out or showcase any disappointment. In the end it was the latter that won out and she braced herself for the worst...only to be met with the best possible reaction.

..The Royal Engineer was actually showing concern for her, despite what had happened to Ulysses! Hannah stood there baffled for a moment, torn between utter surprise that he didn't hold her accountable as officers back during the war certainly would have, and guilt that she had doubted his compassion and sincerity for even a second there. Finally she looked up at him, straight in the eyes, her own showing just how grateful and touched she was by Cristobal's reaction better than she could ever put into words.

"...I am. Thank you, I am glad to see you, and Lord Kane as well, are unharmed. I..."

Her words faltered there briefly, as she had been about to mention Ulysses. Her eyes trailed back over to glance into the laboratory however, making what was on her mind fairly obvious to anybody who cared to pay attention to her reaction at all.

"I'm sorry." She choked out, her expression turning incredibly remorseful. "I should have moved faster, to watch his back better like you asked me to...But I was too far behind. I don't know what happened, which one of them shot him- by the time I reached the throne room he was laying there on the ground. I pulled the bolt out and did the light healing spell I knew but...I should have been there. I should have."

The buccaneer sounded just as angry with herself as she was with the pirates.

"How is he?" She finally asked, hoping the news was good. That wouldn't entirely squash the guilt, but it would relieve her to know he would make a recovery and at the very least be a step in the right direction to healing for all of them.

As she waited for the answer, her posture stiffened, instinctively assuming the at attention stature all living soldiers had been taught to adopt, as she caught a glimpse of Kane stalking his way down the hall toward them. Doubtless he was coming to check on the Admiral as well, especially with how concerned he had seemed about him earlier. She stared either ahead at the wall or at Cristobal as he passed, an attempt to show some form of respect, before the first of the clockworks had entered the room. Then, she allowed herself to sneak a peek into the laboratory, curious as to how Kane would be reacting to the news there was.

It was hard to tell what was going on, though it was clear the Commander wished for private time with his favorite little human soldier, when Bishop swiftly exited his own laboratory, fidgeting nervously as he did so. Hannah tilted her head curiously, half-tempted to ask him what in the spiral was going on in there...but she wasn't sure he would part with that kind of private information, or if it was something Kane wanted anybody else to know. Instead, she focused on all those around her, wondering what the next course of action would be. She hadn't been around the group Kane had delivered his orders too, after all.

"...So, what now?" The buccaneer decided to be bold enough to venture, to get a better idea of what she had to prepare herself for, if anything. Something stable to cling to, for the time being.

[Ulysses Septimus]

((YOUR POST IS NOT CRAPPY and haha yes, especially a certain swashie in red >) poor Eddie got roped into all of this.))
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"Lord Ulysses will survive, thank the Spiral it had not hit any vital organs, but he did lose a lot of blood so he is currently in a rather weakened state." The Engineer replied, glancing behind him. 

"Lord Kane's orders are to clean up the mess the pirates left... For now."Cristobal shut the door behind him as he too stepped out, beckoning Hannah to follow him, "according to what Carbo said, the security around Cadiz for the next few weeks are going to be amped up to the max, while no one comes in or goes out of Valencia or the Machine, not without papers and varification." He sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he tapped his chin in thought. "There could be only one who has what it takes, as well as the mind to do this to Ulysses: Adrian Devereaux." When the Royal Engineer mentioned the Pirate Lord's name, even his voice had taken a sharp edge, filled with disgust and contempt.

"Devereaux is the only one in the whole Spiral, aside from Ulysses himself, to possess enough skills in handling a crossbow to such degree: the Seusenhofer armor the Royal High Admiral had donned, its weak spots are relatively small, thus it would take skill to hit them... For what Lord Ulysses suffered, I sense Lord Kane will be launching the final cleansing soon..."

Back inside the lab, Kane loomed over the figure of the human Armada admiral, "You just had to be the hero, huh?" The clockwork sighed in what one could percieve as slight annoyance and relief, "Dixi vobis, quid in meis bonis internecionem damnum?" 

Ulysses laughed weakly, "Lorem domine, sin imperium tuum, quem diligis, et morietur, et concidens pupa et pupa chordas fidibus inutilis est ad ducere eam ... non esse inutile, nolo postquam..." His voice trailed off, since memories were slowly returning to him, trying to pour over the floodgates which he had so carefully put up a little more than a year ago: he has one scar that still aches him, a scar that was no physical one, and only Kane could see in full clarity. And only the first of the clockworks knew how to soothe. The Admiral gave a breathy sigh, leaning back in his recliner-like chair, a small smile curving his face when he felt the familiar wave of metal-tinged air on his features...

[Hannah Durante]

((Sorry this took so long to get to for such a bleh post. xP AND GOSH ADRIAN YOU JERK. We need to smack you. Also lol poor Eddie, all knocked out on the floor in that one room.))
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At least some part of that was a relief. Hannah relaxed slightly at Cristobal's response. Not enough that it was all that noticeable, there was still plenty of tension she was feeling, but it was a start..and that was certainly preferable to no change at all. The buccaneer hoped that she hadn't greatly contributed to his blood loss with how she'd yanked the bolt out of his body, though at the same time was willing to acknowledge at least there she'd had no other choice at that point. Not with the healing spell she'd used. The fact he was going to be okay was probably the best news they would get all day.

"Good." She replied, letting out a sigh of relief at the answer. It was very fortunate that those pirates had not made a huge dent in their forces or actually managed to accomplish assassinating any of Valencia's higher-ups here before the tables had turned against them. "Hopefully he will be able to recover quickly then, I sense the Admiral is not the sort of man who will be happy with bed rest for any great length of time.."

Not that she would blame him for those feelings, if he was like that. She remembered how dull, how useless everything had felt during the war when she had been injured enough to be out of commission to heal for a couple of weeks. Hannah nodded as Cristobal continued, having assumed that first part to have popped up sooner or later. Yes, all of that fighting had left quite a mess that absolutely needed to be straightened up. She followed the Royal engineer as he shut the door to the lab and motioned for her to come with him, expecting that meant they and the others would be on that duty right away, listening intently to what he had to say the entire time.

Heavier security protocols hardly surprised her, the clockworks were paranoid enough as is, so she didn't doubt the blockades would become more intense. Cristobal only confirmed this when he mentioned the papers, but at least this time the Armada actually had a good reason to seal Valencia and her people off from the rest of the spiral. When he moved on to mention Adrian she scowled, feeling irritated with that man herself. Nowhere near as much as Cristobal and Ulysses felt of course, as they had history with him, but the distaste that was growing inside her for this particular pirate was definitely strong enough.

"It was him." The buccaneer confirmed as the two of them continued ambling through the hallways, her expression darkening as she did. Though she had not been able to waste time gawking at the pirate that had been Adrian and thus hadn't gotten the best look at him, what she'd heard from Kane had been plenty. The way he had reacted, there was no other explanation other than Adrian had been the one responsible for Septimus's injury, much less the mastermind behind this entire thing- or at least one of them.

"The Supreme Commander attempted to terminate him and came close, but...another pirate helped him escape. Too bad..."

It really was a shame Adrian had gotten away, instead of being crushed under Kane's boots. Though from what she was hearing, if that scum was in the target range of this final cleansing Cristobal mentioned, he wouldn't escape his fate for very long.

"Oh, Cristobal? I mentioned this to Deacon, but one of the pirates Adrian brought along still lives. He's in the throne room. I knocked him out and left him there, though I did confiscate his weapons so he wouldn't put up too much of a fight. He seemed like a broken man as far as loyalty to his Captain went, perhaps if you and the others need information, he can give it?"

All of this talk about the pirates and justice had reminded her of the privateer she had left slumped over in Kane's throne room, if none of the clockworks or assassins had wandered in there and finished the job for her. She hoped none of her superiors would be upset with her for not simply killing the man, but...it just hadn't seemed as right in the moment as dispatching the others. Not to mention the fact if Kane and his forces required information only a pirate would know, it was a good idea to have a prisoner to extract it from. Especially one that operated closely enough to the fool behind all of this to know intimate details they probably didn't. Hannah hoped that pirate would feel in a talkative mood, to help them all out as well as for his own sake. It would be a shame if he was foolish enough to resist, and wound up frustrating the clockworks into executing him for his crimes.

"This cleansing though," She decided to carry on, glancing at the older man. "What exactly would that entail?"

She had a fair hunch about the gist of it, how violent it would be. What she wanted to know was if there was a singular target like Skull island Kane would pick to launch his retribution on, or if he would simply declare that much more of an open season on pirates as a whole throughout the entire/i] spiral. Either way it was going to keep her busy, she just wanted to know [i]how much. The sooner the pirates were dealt with though, the sooner the apple could help her father....so any measure of bloodshed and weariness was worth it for that alone.

[Ulysses Septimus]

((That is okay, my dear  HAHA ULYSSES WILL DO THAT XD and LOL yes, poor Eddie, everyone forgot about him.))
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"A prisoner? Excellent, Lord Kane would want to see him, of course, if he is still alive."Cristobal nodded approvingly, "as for the final cleansing, it is basically this one operation that aims to take out all of Skull Island with one shot. After the pirate haven is destroyed, the Assassin branches will spring into action, cleaning away all of the pirates who survived or escaped the cleansing at Skull Island." This may sound simple, though it takes the planning of several beings, such as Ulysses, Deacon, Cristobal and Kane to ensure it all goes right, since Skull Island is a rather large world: to take it out in one shot would require precise planning and working, even though it was just one part they are targeting.

Arriving in the docking bay, where clockworks are taking care of the corpses of those killed in combat (pirates are thrown into the skyway, while clockwork bodies are taken to be either attempt repaired, or given their final honors), Cristobal reached into the satchel he always carried, bringing out a scroll and giving it to Hannah. "Here is the copy of Adrian Devereaux's criminal profile that Deacon had given me, figure you would like to see it." Inside it contained a full color portrait of a pirate swashbuckler garbed in blood red clothing, using a combination of a sword and a razor sharp dagger as his primary weaponry. His appearance was those of a 21 or maybe even 19 year old, with hazel eyes and brown hair tied back in a pony tail.

A long scar grooves the corner of his right eye, given by the blade of Ulysses Septimus himself during one of their early struggles. On the margins of the scroll was a series of elegant but also stiff handwriting that everyone could recognize as those of Deacon the Spymaster's: multiple charges of piracy, murder, assaulting Armada officers, along with arson and several other crimes. Compared to Ulysses' now dead nemesis Atticus Mercilus, those two were just about even in being horrible, evil men.

[Hannah Durante]

(Maybe that's a good thing with how mad some chars are Eddie LOL.  AND GOOD GOOOD.)
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Yes, she supposed he certainly would after a brazen attack like that.   Hopefully the privateer was still alive in order to be questioned, to produce any information they might have needed to move forward successfully.   And...for his own good, really.  Hannah couldn't imagine any of the punishments he would face were ideal, or better than her killing him quickly would have been, but maybe he would be extended mercy if he felt like talking.   As far as pirates went, he didn't seem nearly as bad as some of the others- perhaps he could be redeemed, fixed, even though thinking of people in that way always managed to make her uncomfortable as it seemed to be the way the clockworks approached most living beings and their flaws.  

"Then let us hope he is, so we can obtain more information on Adrian to use against him."  She replied, just before Cristobal began explaining the method of the final cleansing.   The purpose and its end goal she was aware of, an extreme version of one of the things the Armada had been built for.   Hannah was entirely grateful now that none of her non-Valencian friends frequented Skull Island, because if they had....it would have been their doom.   The buccaneer listened intently as the engineer explained the master stroke, impressed with the scope of the plan she was hearing.   They intended to wipe out as much piracy across the spiral as they could...it must have been part of what the Armada had been mobilizing against for so long, beyond the obvious conquest of the spiral to rebuild and 'better' it.

"Then what we have witnessed here is merely the death rattle of a soon to be extinct breed.."  She spoke up, as they arrived in the docking bay, watching as clockworks disposed of enemy bodies and preserved as much as they could of their own.    It was...not so easy to wrap her mind around the idea piracy could be ended just like that, with how it had grown out of control in the years following the Great War.   Though, with the protocols the Armada would set to the lands they owned already and would no doubt conquer, she supposed that would go a long way in aiding the process.   There would always be those who tried to revive it, and resisted, but the Armada was growing far too powerful to be denied for very long...so none of it would matter.  

Were they...were they really so close to the golden age Valencia had been assured and promised was coming?  Would it finally all have purpose, meaning, and make every wicked thing people like her had done or allowed to happen justified?   Hannah hoped so.   If there was a new golden age of peace and prosperity, not just for them but the entire spiral, then their actions could be forgiven, and she could see that she too had bought into paranoia; that the Armada were still the tireless defenders of Valencia and her people, that they had been built as.   She hoped for that above oppression, that any of it they had ever shown had only been temporary, to achieve a better spiral..

The buccaneer was torn from those thoughts by Cristobal, who handed a scroll her way, a criminal profile on the very pirate they all suspected had been one of the ringleaders for this brazen, foolhardy strike.   She took it eagerly, determined to learn more about this adversary she had heard so many horrible things about...only confirming the scum this man was with what she saw scribbled on the sides of the profile.    Hannah narrowed her eyes as she read them all, flipping from the charges launched against this man to the large picture of him.   If at all possible, he was almost worse than the assassin that had been executed not that long ago, though not by much.

"...It is truly a shame a man like this has evaded justice for so long, and mounted such a list of crimes in the process.  From what you are telling me though, he has finally been backed into a corner, and won't be hiding from his well-deserved fate for much longer."

That was a relief in itself, to think this man was so close to finally getting what he deserved.   That Ulysses would soon get the full revenge he had been waiting so long to obtain.   Though she knew he would never be the man he had once been after what had happened to him, Hannah did truly wonder if Adrian's death would bring enough closure to the Admiral that he would change at all- to be at least a little happier.   He deserved that much, after everything he had gone through.

She would also benefit from the loss of the pirates as well- not only in the fact many of their worst criminals would finally be gone, and she could hope the one responsible for her father's broken state of mind would be terminated in the process, but he could be helped as well with the apple.  She would finally earn it.    The cleansing would help more than just the spiral, Hannah hoped.  It would also serve to begin healing the scars of the past several of them still bore.

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