Convergence

[Jerry]

The feeds in his own contacts weren't as good quality as he'd have liked but the girl with no name and Kali went off-script. Fucking Civilians! She found the boy god. He was carrying a potted plant accompanied by another holding his hand. The girl met them and Durante took up a defensive stance. There had been no mention of a missing arm in any report. The reason he was in the hospital? No Atharim. But how? Why? There were many questions to be answered.

And many more that kept coming in. On his walk to the side entrance, a message from a field scientist caught his attention. She wanted a live specimen and Durante alive. What could she be up to? There had been a few strange reports but he'd dismissed them upon first glance as they held no interest short of potential reagents, but at the moment he wasn't doing anything - he was hunting traitors, and with the Ascendancy's announcement and their so-called registration there were many to find and kill before they revealed secrets - this boy was just one of many.

But Jer's attention was needed on the situation at hand. He had intended to wait outside in case he tried to escape, but things could go sideways quickly. Jer opened the door and stepped into the cool sterile air and prayed to God that the god didn't try to kill people. Jer had his sidearm but he didn't want to pull it in a hospital.

[Sterling]

Nox's friend was nice. She looked up and he smiled - he was cute too. It made Sterling blush a little as he spoke directly to her not at her as Nox did. And then she was abruptly handled by something moved behind Nox and he took up a defensive stance, "What the..." she shouted.

Sterling grabbed her cousin's hand. The world clearer, the sounds around her louder in her ears. The smell of sterile hospital peaked in her nose and she spoke clear. "You won't ever do that again."

Nox growled at the command, she knew it would work. He'd never treat her like that again, except he turned on her and she froze. The look in his eyes was fear and then he looked back at Kali and the woman they were with. Nox grabbed her - he manhandled her physically - again even after. This time though he dragged her and the other man behind him as he spoke to the women and stalked around them. He was being rude to everyone. This was not a person she wanted to know. Sterling struggled with her hand to pull it free. She didn't shout but she made that one thing a command she'd done it like that to her dad a few times and he'd listened. "Let me go." His hand released hers and she kicked him in the shin. But no one saw they were already outside. Nox rounded on her and he growled. "How long?"

[Nox]

Kali was there to see a friend, and the woman she was with confirmed it. They needed to go but then he felt the tell-tale signal a woman was wielding the power of the gods behind him - directly behind him. He turned on Sterling and frowned. Holy fuck! Were they descended from gods? Where there ancestors gods? Fuck! That could explain a lot.

There was a nagging feeling he shouldn't grab Sterling but he did anyway, he had to her to someone who could teach her or she'd die. He'd seen too many stories, too many to know what would happen if she wasn't doing this on purpose. He wrapped her in a weave of air as he pulled her along. He could feel her struggling against the bonds but she didn't scream.

Nox grabbed her hand again and pulled her along. "Excuse me I have to get my cousin home. And you have a friend to see." Why didn't she scream.

She whispered again. And Nox let her go, the weave slipped away from here like it had never existed. She kicked him in the shin. Nox rounded on her. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"What are you doing? Do you even know you are doing it?"

"Doing what?"

"How long have you been channeling the power of the gods to get people to do what you want?" Nox growled softly. It was barely a whisper. "Doesn't matter. Sterling needs to talk to Julianna or Oriena. Once of them has to show her the way." Nox looked at Sterling. "If you don't learn to control this you can die."

[Tenzin]

Not that she was privy to the details, but there seemed a struggle. Tenzin had lived among the spirit-touched of the temple long enough to recognise some of the signs, and she could smell the strength of their emotions. Her nostrils flared, and though she watched them leave she did not interfere. She had wanted to see the man so vilified in her brethren’s eyes; the man who had almost killed Jacinda. But despite the inquisitor’s word and the Atharim’s law, she saw no monsters. She saw a man protecting the things important to him, and like any wild animal, once pushed into a corner of course he would bite. That was simple nature.

She did not berate the other woman for not following orders; clearly that one had her own motive for being here, but unless those intentions caused a scene Tenzin was indifferent to them. “Did not like you,” she said instead, glancing at the woman’s hands.

[Raffe]

“Sorry,” he added to the two women. The apology was accompanied by a crooked grin as he turned to follow the dysfunctional pair outside. Nox seemed angry. Hauling the girl out like that probably looked no kind of normal, and Sterling was strangely quiet given her ferociousness the last few minutes. Raffe glanced back through the doors as they left, his sense of unease still not quite faded.

His attention returned just as the little hellion sought retribution for her cousin’s behaviour. “Woah. Less of the kicking. He’s an invlalid, remember?” He laughed, trying his best to diffuse the burgeoning argument; the pair were like squabbling siblings. Channeling? What had she done? Her denials seemed genuine, but then again she was a teenager, and one caught against the wall of Nox’s temper. Raffe pressed his hand to the small of Nox’s back. We’ve got this now,” he murmured. Family was family, and he guess that included Sterling now. With a grin for the kid, he fumbled for his phone. He’d try Juliana first.

[Jacinda]

Jacinda watched, eyes glued to the feed, heart racing, hand gripping her staves so tight her forearms hurt. She wished she could see Ten's face.

Nox was there, along with the girl. Her heart felt a stab of agony and she briefly glanced at where Jerry had been. The thought of placing her stave at the base of his neck and letting lose did seem attractive. The voltage would fry his brain and would end any threat to the girl or Ten.

But she shoved it aside. Jerry's girlfriend was the problem here. Nox looked at her like she was an enemy. Like he was afraid. Ten tried to be the peacemaker but Nox was having none of it. He seemed to almost literally drag the girl and other guy away.

Tenzin's words made the point. Jacinda turned to where Jerry had sat, blood boiling, then back to the monitor. He was lucky he gone. She hadn't thought about it, not really. But now she did. "Who the fuck is this woman, Inquisitor? Why would you let a civilian in on an Atharim mission?" she whispered.

The stave was firm and ready in her hand. She had never been one for teamwork. Regus had been right about that, she acknowledged. She had chafed under the Archangels, she realized. Titles meant little to her. Metron. Canticle. Regus. Inquisitor. Reborn god. All a bunch of words, really. The black and white universe seemed so simplistic. She and Barovsky had not gotten along.

So she wouldn't hold back. Especially if someone she cared about was in danger because of it.

[Jerry]

Jer saw through the woman's feed Durante walking away. He was fucking getting away. And all because Kali went off mission. Jacinda was in his ear making his question verbal. "I don't know. But I thought she was a friend of Durante's she knew him. She knew him well and was looking for him. It was an advantage. But as it turns out she was not. And now that I think back on it she's Sentient. Manipulating us, me from the start of this." Jer growled at himself for his lack of attention to detail. Blinded by the situation, all around. "If you are in a killing mood feel free to do your job."

Jer rounded the corner faster than he had intended and was walking past the two women looking at his fellow Atharim, then at Kali. "You have about two minutes before the hunt begins Sentient. I'd move if I were you." He still felt that urg that she was an asset, fucking manipulating Sentient bitch. But Jer didn't stay to see what would happen. He was out the door and looking for the boy god and his entourage.

Outside the hospital wasn't as busy as inside and he found the small party not a far distance away. Durante looked to be scolding the girl . What he wouldn't give to hear the conversation. Jer strained his ears and the world became a little more clear. The streets outside began to get louder but that wasn't what he wanted to hear, Jer focused on the group in front of him. And with in seconds he heard them clearly just as if he were standing right with them.

"How long have you been channeling the power of the gods to get people to do what you want?" The boy growled and his voice dropped to a whisper yet Jer heard it without a problem. "Doesn't matter. Sterling needs to talk to Julianna or Oriena. Once of them has to show her the way. If you don't learn to control this you can die."

How does he know the girl can wield the power of the gods? The other man was pulling out a phone but Durante turned and looked directly at him. Jer pushed up his sleeves and reached for his gun, he was going to be ready when Durante attacked...

[Sterling]

Nox rounded on her after she kicked him and Raffe chastised her and Sterling could do nothing but blush at his admonishment. Nox was hurt, but he was also a jerk. But he was also crazy it seemed. She couldn't do what he said. Couldn't wield the power of the gods? What the hell? He really was crazy!

And then he went on about dying and control and Raffe he seemed to follow along. Was this their game? Were they both crazy? "Look, I should go."

But Nox's attention was no longer on her. He was staring in the direction of a man with a gun at his back and a snake tattoo on his left forearm. Something niggled at her memories but she had no idea what it was. Sterling whispered. "He has a gun. What crazy shit are you into!" Sterling tried to run but she found that whatever Nox had done to drag her outside was still wrapped around her. She could only stare. Screaming was out of the question, any attention could mean dead dead dead. And Sterling wanted to live. But fear raced through her body but the world became brighter and there were lights anger fed into the power and fire formed in front of her. This time Sterling screamed...

[Nox]

Power rose somewhere. Some man was pulling at the power inside and the feeling of danger crept up his spine. Nox looked around and saw the flows from a man directed at them. It was an interesting weave. Something he could only speculate at. A cone stretching from them to his ear - listening maybe. But if he were listening he just heard what he'd said.

The man's reaction was unexpected - he was readying for a fight. The hand at the small of his back was distracting. Raffe was here and the gun was... fuck! Then the chill rose again. "Fuck!" Nox turned to see a fire ball floating in front of Sterling as she started screaming. "Fuck!" Nox split his flows yet again, the sweat from the exertion beaded on his forehead and he doused the fire in a bucket of air and water. "Fuck!

The man was Atharim. Fuck! Nox had caught the snake as he rounded to find the fireball. Fuck!

Nox let go of the weaves around the fireball and Sterling. "Run. We will be right behind you." The only weave he maintained was the plat that for some reason meant more to him than he thought it might. He smiled at Raffe and knew if he told the man to go he wouldn't. So he'd have to go with him.

Nox reached into the earth and pushed his power into it, the ground shook slightly as he did it, but no one felt it. It was the tremors of the power Nox imagined the earth wrapping around the Atharim's feet and it was just as he envisioned it.

[Nox]

Nox left. He wasn't afraid of her. What was his problem? Something had changed in him. He felt darker too - more fragile too. He was an easy read but he wasn't as neat and tidy as he had been on their last encounter.

He rushed away. The woman stated the obvious and she turned to look after him wondering if she should follow. But Jerry was there in the seconds that followed. The threat in his voice was new. He knew what she was - the hunt.

Kali looked around and saw too many people they wouldn't kill her here. She just had to find a place to hide. Thankfully there was a security officer near by. She smiled at her supposed friend and then ran for the man standing near the door. Her hand was on his arm in the moments she skidded to a stop. She cried. "Someone is after me, you must help me." Protection and safety and innocence she pushed into the man through her touch. He stepped in front of her and he was hers...