Baterilla. The last time Anton had been here, it had been to thwart an assassination attempt on a World Noble. Now, now Anton had been assigned here, but so far there was nothing to do. Just simple patrols to keep the peace, no pirates attacking, no nobles that needed protecting, no revolutionaries to infiltrate. Just a nice, peaceful day to be a marine on the tropical island.

This was how Anton liked it. A nice day where he could relax and simply enjoy the weather. Right now, he was sitting at a coffee shop, having a nice cup of tea. Sure, he was supposed to be on patrol, but since everything was quiet, he didn't see any problem with briefly stopping to have something to drink. He didn't really stand out like a marine, so nobody was really looking twice at him. Taking a sip of his tea, the red head let out a sigh. He wished he could stay on this island. Nice weather, nice people, it was one of the few times he actually liked being a marine.


A single ship had pulled into the dock of the island. Nothing that really stood out. Just a rather small, nondescript ship. Nobody would have realized what had happened on this ship out at sea, or what had happened to the ship's previous occupants.

A single man lowered the gangplank as another tied the ship to the dock. A third headed for the captain's cabin, knocking on it meekly. "Erm, C-Captain? We've made it to Baterilla."

Inside the captain's cabin, a single woman sat before a small mirror. A sinister smile crossed her face.

Baterilla was exactly like Damocles had remembered it. It wasn't much of a wonder. A simple ran-down island with simple, forgettable people. He guessed their was something to be said about the place. Serenity and smoothness were but such distant comforts about this times. Too easily did people forget that it was by will and duty that order was preserved. Had it not been by the braveness and honor of good Marines, the would would end in but resounding mirth and wondrous enjoyment.

Yet, while it had hardly been a month since ending his crisis with 'Great Snake' Keith Braus, Damocles found himself back yet this time he would meet with another rising Marine, a some Anton guy. By name alone Damocles believed ht had ran out of luck. 'Great with a name like that I'll have to work out all the damm mission by my hand.' mentally anguished the young marine who wasn't wearing the usual outfit. Instead of his casual armor, the ambitious Marine wore a plain black suit complete with dark trousers and a simple white shirt that was left unbuttoned at the top, displaying a bit of his muscular shape and thick neck. He also dropped over his shoulders the standard Marine coat with the word JUSTICE emblazoned at the back with his cuffs colored custom black, an aesthetic reason he had personally asked for. His sword was still sheathed to his back, with the handle sticking out from he coat. He appeared much more official than he usually was.

Perhaps is was because he wasn't much interested with the task, or that he though little of the man who seemed to have a nobleman's name, but the Marine had a hard, cold scrawl on his face, signaling his displeasure and quick dismissal. In his mind Damocles still though of what his old teacher told him. "In my day, we used wooden ships and had men of iron. Nowadays, we have ships of iron and men of wood." A sad fate to surely behold, but a most honest and real of ones, much to the black-haired Marine's displeasure.

By the time he had entered most of the town, he had already gone through most of the site. Yet, without raising much suspicion he had seen the other supposed Marine. His ire blossomed into full-blown anger that manifested in the brooding male walking to the red-haired who was just casually enjoying a fucking cup of tea, which he proceeded to snatch from the other before smashing said pottery with his hands. Despite the fact that the hot liquid did some effect, it did little against Damocles's anger. His deep, azure eyes darted crushing glares and his lips were pressed tight against his already steeled visage.

"It is but a disgraceful sight."began Damocles as he whipped his hand, making drips of tea fall off. "To stand so idly by and turn into such slothful state is but a direct violation of what it means to be a Marine. Blood, sacrifice and honor. That is our creed and virtues.  Not fucking pleasure! Now, explain this pitiful sigh before I lose my patience!" preached Damocles as he grimaced at the other and slammed his metal hand against the table, reducing it to shambles.

Meanwhile the sounds of rushed footsteps followed in close pursuit.

OOC: sorry for making such a rude entrance but Damocles is a Justice freak.

The receptionist sat back at his desk, looking over the paperwork for the day. The inn had been busier as of late, and the guy was a little bit irritable from the large amount of work he had to be doing.

"Excuse me."

The innkeeper looked up to see a rather exotic woman standing before him. Dark skinned with wavy black hair and rather fine clothes. Behind him were four rather unremarkable guys, looking rather meek. "Can I help you?" he asked, trying to keep his voice civil. The woman had a rather haughty look on her face. "I'm here for a room," she said, "The finest you have." Something about her attitude annoyed the guy, like she simply expected to get her way. "Sorry Ma'am, but we're all filled out." The smile instantly faded from her face as the innkeeper looked back down at his work. "Well, it should be obvious then. Kick someone out." The man sighed, looking back up at her, annoyed. "Listen lady, I said we're filled up. So find somewhere else, because I'm not kicking people out just because you said so." Behind her, the five men had panicked expressions on their faces. The woman's eye twitched. She brought up a hand and, much to the innkeeper's surprise, began cleaning her ear, pulling out a small amount of earwax.

"Really now?


Anton had just been enjoying his tea when all of a sudden. A large man, a marine he identified by his coat, came out of nowhere, snatched his cup away, smashing it in his fist, and then began growling at him before smashing the table. Anton jumped back to avoid the crumbling table. "W-Well," Anton replied, trying to control himself, but his voice trembled regardless, [color]"E-Everything seemed all quiet, and it didn't look like it would hurt anyone to take a-"[/color]

It was at that point that there was a rumbling boom, coming from some distance away. Looking over, he could see smoke rising up into the air, followed by cries of panic. "Erm, we should get over there," he spoke up. Saved by the explosion.

Damocles growled even further when he heard the other's reply. "Everything seemed all quiet and it didn't look like it would hurt anyone to take a...". Such a sentence alone made the other's blood reach it's boiling point. This was nothing to say about the other's 'manly' trembles between sentences. It just made the furrows on his brow deepen and cringe together. His eyes were held in blasting, wide stark glares. His eyebrows turned to straight narrows and his lips became tight and hardened, drawing out some built-up pressure that manifested in the state of the jaw he clenched down.

"The fuck!" bursted out Damocles who rarely cursed out of anger when he heard the other's reply. He didn't know whether to arrest this guy for a few hours so he learned his place or to simply ignore him. Given his tendencies however, the former seemed like the more realistic choice, especially considering his rather imbalanced state of being. In fact, after smashing the table, Damocles extended his metallic hand forward as if to take hold of the other's throat and possibly squeeze it shut, but the Marine in black reframed from such barbarism when he heard a crashing sound take origin at the distance. Seeing little fruition in the act of committing homicide, Damocles turned around and gave the other his back, a sign of disrespect in his hometown, but not before scuffing at the other. "Do whatever the hell you want, but get in my way. We wouldn't want an 'accidental' death now would we?" said Damocles with a hint of sarcasm to his rather deep and stentorian tone before he ran towards the general direction of the assault. He wasn't wearing anything aside from his outfit, which mean he could move more now, at the cost of less protection. Still he doubted he needed help from the other.

At the sight of the crime, Damocles saw someone threaten a poor man on a nearly destroyed building that barely stood up. Without thinking ti twice he barged in with his sword held in with both hands and swung it down hard, cleaving through the other's insides with his huge slab of metal. Afterwards, Damocles threw the man away from the building and stared before him at the crumbling edifacture. He knew something was up, but didn't know what. Still, he could sense the danger so without much semblance of doubt, he came right to the falling structure and began his assault.

OOC: I hope you don't mind me moving the action scenes a bit more.

btw, 1 Tier 0 NPC dead

OOC: It's cool man.

Anton wasn't really sure what to do. On one hand, he knew, as a marine, it was his duty to get down to the cause of that explosion and do something about it. If someone was behind it, they had to be stopped. And if there were any people injured by it, he had to do something to help them. On the other hand, that man was also heading in the direction of the blast, and the guy scared the living hell out of him. He had a feeling if he headed over there, that guy was going to try and kill him, play it off like an accident or something. Or just outright cleave him in half and not even bother pretending.

Despite his primary instincts being to slip away, pretend nothing had ever happened, he knew that he'd never forgive himself if he failed in his duty. With a groan, the man began to head off in the direction of the explosion, though not fast enough to keep up with Damocles.


As Damocles ran into the building, the wall just to his left seemed to explode violently, sending rubble and debris flying in all directions. The inside of the building was a mess, walls torn apart by great force, furniture smashed, and amongst the rubble, bodies were buried. Standing before him were four rather unremarkable men, and an exotic woman with dark skin. The woman had her hand outstretched, likely being the one who threw the explosive. Oddly enough though, the positioning of her hand more suggested she had flicked something, rather than thrown anything. In her other hand was a rather nicely decorated rapier. Upon seeing who had just rushed in, the expression of anger in her eyes turned to one of smug confidence.

"Well well, what have we here?" she said, lowering her hand and instead bringing up her sword, "Someone wanting to play hero huh?"

Damocles was running around the almost falling building until a sudden burst erupted from one of the walls to his left. He had clearly not been expecting this, given that the shockwave caused him to fall back a few feet. Once he recovered he walked towards the source of the rubble and smirked. Much to his amusement his enemy was a woman and a fine one at that. She was stacked with killer eyes and a tone on her ebony skin that made Damocles feel that part of his that he knew would most likely be reserved for good-natured citizens. Despite this he welcomed her challenge and was more than eager to fight her. Furthermore, there was the tantalizing fact about her weapon of choice, a slim rapier. It seemed rather odd but somehow fitting.

"Heroes are lame. I prefer to be the bad guy." said Damocles who gripped his sword with both hands in preparation for the first set of enemies that would attack. The first to attack was a fool with a mace who tried to attack Damocles by doing a two-handed downward swing, which was met by a black and then continued forth with a quick slide through the left arm that sliced nearly through the other's limb. The second man was rash and tried to attack Damocles by thrusting his blade forward, which only resulted in Damocles dodging the offensive and countering with a strike to the other's side via a side arc swing. Once those tow were handled, the Marine jumped forth and attempted to skewer right through the woman with a downcast thrust aimed at her position. The attack carried behind ti power, but she managed to redirect the blow with a graceful stroke of her rapier. Once that was done, she twirled around and thrusted her blade forward, landing a single stab wound of little to no damage behind it that met on his shoulder, that despite all this produced a small explosion upon impact that hurled Damocles hard against one of the other standing stone walls of the buildings. Afterwards she aimed still and clear, knowing for sure that she could defeat him in one good stroke. This however only reflected further on the urgency of what it meant to keep a good defense. With his feet firmly plated, Damocles managed to block her offensive and do so until the woman resolved to use an explosion that appear from her hands that Damocles managed to see, given his extraordinary eyes, and only minimally managed to save the animal.

It hadn't taken long for Anton to find the source of the disturbance. The sounds of fighting and explosions were a definite indicator that the young marine was on the right track. He came across the ruined building, stopping in his tracks on seeing the body of a man, nearly cleaved in half, laying on the ground. Seeing the corpse and all the blood caused the man to pause. He hated the sight of blood, despite his job. The continued sounds of fighting managed to pull his gaze away from the body. He had a job to do. He couldn't stand here, gawking like an idiot.

Running into the building, he took note of the carnage. Bodies buried under the rubble, and two who looked like pirates, hacked apart no doubt by Damocles, who was currently fighting a rather attractive woman. He couldn't help but be amazed by the fact that she was holding her own against the larger man, though her use of explosions definitely seemed to play a part in it. As the two fought, Anton caught sight of the two remaining men moving to flank Damocles, hoping to catch the marine by surprise and run him through with their weaponry.

Anton acted without thinking. His body quickly shifted into his hybrid form, and with a loud shriek launched himself at the two men. The men only had time to look at what was flying at them before the grasshopper man crashed into them like a large green missile, slamming them into the rubble. The woman Damocles was fighting watched in shock. "What the hell?" she yelled out, not expecting something like this, though quickly turning her attention back to Damocles. She didn't get this far by letting herself get distracted easily.