Echoes Of The Past

Charlotte along with Jonathan were inside the Hunter HQ with the former looking through things with the library and the later was off training going through the obstacle course to see if he could beat his best time and keep in shape. Charlotte wasn't looking for anything in particular just some magical theory stuff to expand her knowledge on certain things. In Castlevania she had seen other witches there and they could turn into small animals. She was curious if it be something she could learn as it be good for spying or escaping certain things.

The ghost that was haunting them was another matter.  She wasn't sure what to do about Mally and she wasn't to keen of a ghost in her business all the time.  At the same time while maybe they could get rid of them they didn't want a action that could be seen as hostile and throw more fuel into the fire. If there was a way to bring the young woman back to life or give them a new body she would of done so to make amends for past mistakes. Castlevania storming had to happen back then or humanity would been in trouble, just they had to be careful of who they actually took out.

After some talking, she and Jonathan had decided to start their own cell; they just needed one other person. Once it was more known they would be starting one once they had enough people come forward.

'Hm. Well, this seems good start as any.' The young woman said as she placed a big thick book down and began to read just as Jonathan came back from his training, he didn't interrupt letting his friend concentrate.

She had gotten what she needed to so far so she put the book away. "You ready to get started? Remember, even the first times are a bust perseverance and persistence is key."

"I know. Might not happen over night but with all the things we've done we'll get there." Without another word, the two headed cafeteria since a decent amount of floaters were around there. The next phase after they were done was to split up so they could cover more ground, Charlotte would go churches to see if any would fit for their needs for a base then proceed from there after.

As Charlotte was wandering to find a base in the people start to scatter as a Man in Armor comes walking into view "You are Charlotte Aulin?" he asks "Unbelievable... they sent me to fight a Child?" he asks seemingly himself as he holds his fists up, which start to glow red with alien energy "Oh well. A job's a job."

* *

As Jonathan was heading to the bar, a Woman and looks him.over, as if sizing up a meal "Hello, Jonathan Morris. I am here to fight you, but truth be told, after seeing you, I'm seriously thinking about reconsidering that." she says in a smooth as silk voice as she starts to summon strange and alien magics around her.

Charlotte had no clue exactly what was going on only she noticed a man in strange armor and people scattering. The comment irked them more then anything. "Since when is nineteen a kid?" They had to be doing that on purpose to annoy the crap out of her.

He looks strong. I'm dealing with a lot of unknown's here I need to be careful. She didn't let the defeat of Dracula and Death get to her head, especially since she knew they weren't at full power. Even if they had been she wouldn't have been. It wouldn't mean they were invincible, and as powerful as Dracula was, there was always something stronger.

A magical glyph formed as she summoned forth a wall of magical rocks to protect her from Stone Circle. "I don't know what your problem is but I'm not going down easily."
________

Jonathan frowned as the strange woman came into view, how did they know his name? He had no clue where they were from or what their beef was. Leave it to his luck to have to fight what seemed to be a magic user without Char there.

He took out his sword, but didn't attack just yet as there Might be a chance not to fight and figure out who the hell this was. "I'm going to take a guess that we can't talk this out of why you're fighting me?" He'd understand Castlevania beings wanting revenge or something but they didn't look like those Or Vampire Hunters salty about them being 'traitors' to their cause.

"Since you're not allowed to legally drink or smoke in this country." the man fires back.

As soon as Charlotte forms the glyph to summon her magic, a strange Symbol on a device on the back of the man's armor starts to glow and draws the magic glyph into the symbol, which causes the glowing red parts of the armor to turn a bright red "Ah! So that's what it feels like." he chuckles, just having ate Charlotte's spell.

He looks over to Charlotte and if he wasn't wearing a helmet, you could just Tell that he has a smug look on his face "Now, what did you say about 'Not going down easily'?" he asks in a mocking tone.

* *

The woman smiles at Jonathan "I'll tell you what, IF you manage to survive this, I'll give you my name, but if you want my number, you Really need to impress me." she says as her shoulders glow red and two rapiers appear in her hands "Oh I hope you make this fun for me." she says as she rushes in to attack!

Charlotte didn't bother arguing with him, it was a waste of time and energy and there was something more important going on. Of course he has something to counter my skill set. I really should have carried a special fire arm at all times. She thought annoyed. Being a normal human otherwise she didn't exactly fancy her odds of trying to fight a guy in some high tech armor hand to hand.

Her power set was ill equipped to fight them and Jonathan wasn't here to help her either so she'd have to stall until help came. So with that in mind, she tossed a knife at them towards their eye; not that it likely do anything in the armor but that wasn't the point as it was a distraction. The next moment was shooting her flare gun to signal where she was. Charlotte would try to get some distance on her broom but depending how fast he tried to charge she might not have the time.

____

Jonathan didn't have any interest in someone that was trying to kill him. And the fact this woman thought he did meant she was a bit to full of herself and crazy. Probably both. He didn't reply with a witty quip or anything that he could do better, even if he wanted to, less he gave away the better. If it pissed them off and made them sloppy it may been worth considering though.

As the young woman talked before proceeding to charge forward, he let them. Though at the last possible moment he unleashed a Aura Blast in a attempt to use her momentum against them and do the most damage.

the knife bounced off the man's armor harmlessly as the man uses boot rockets and a jetpack to bridge the gap between them in seconds "Don't take this personally, kid. You're not our only target either." he says as he throws a punch at Charolette. Despite his size and armor, he wasn't as slow as one would expect.

* *

as soon as Jonathan used his aura blast, one of the many magical glyphs formed a shield and blocked his attack "Oh! Did you think we hadn't thought of your many skills and special techniques?" she asks as she continues with her attack "We had studied you Very extensively and know all your strengths and most importantly, your weaknesses!" she says as she slashes with one hand and thrusts with the other.

Since there wasn't Really much room for Charlotte to manvuer the punch did connect without her able summon up some sort of defense. Meaning it either knocked them out, or killed them depending how much force they put behind it.

________

Jonathan once again ignored the woman as she liked to talk. But it did raise the question of why these people were so interested in him all of a sudden. Sure there was the Dracula thing but pretty much the only people who knew it was real were few, and even present day he couldn't recall them doing anything to get them special attention.

He side stepped the first slash and parried the second as he stepped into their space. It be useless for both on a sword fight but if that fancy bodysuit didn't enhance her strength maybe he could use his bigger size to wretle them into submission

The big guy's punch was meant to knock out or disorientate if it failed to do so. The big guy grabs Charolette by the leg and holds her up "Shame you had to become a threat to Humanity and joined the Wrong organization. I have a daughter around the same age as you. I think you both would have gotten along well." he says as he pulls his hand back and levels it at Charlotte's head "Goodbye, Charolette Aulin. May you find peace in the afterlife."

"Find some for yourself!" someone says as a red and black blur Slams into the man, causing him to drop Charolette and sends him Flying back! Shadow catches Charolette before she hits the ground.

The man in armor, however, doesn't get far as Mad catches him mid-flight and Slams his head into the ground with enough force that he Buries the man's head into the ground! As his body ragdolls, Mad grabs the man's leg and brings him overhead and Slams him into the ground, on his back, before driving his fist straight into the man's stomach! His armor managed to take the full brunt of Mad's vicious attacks, but the man Inside of the armor, wasn't fairing too well.

* *

The woman was plenty fast on her own, not to mention agile and flexible enough to slip out of whatever hold Jonathan could muster and being as close as the two of them were, the woman took advantage of this by changing her rapiers into poisoned daggers 'Like I said, handsome, we studied you very closely. I'm more than a match for your size and strength with my speed and agility. I can counter your grapples with my flexibility and your special skills with my magic ruins and my weapons selection is greater than yours, because I don't need to carry mine on me!" she says.

"But can they stop a holy bullet?" Joyce Belmont asks as she points a holy gun at the woman's head "I'd back off my fellow Hunter before I send you to God personally and Permanently!" she says as she cocks back the hammer.

Charlotte was out of it so she didn't catch the bus that had hit her but she was coming to after being rescued. "Ugh..could of gone better.." She mumbled as she came to and tried to see what was going on. She was aware of being carried and though embarrassed she was also grateful.

____

Jonathan knew these weren't Wariors of Light, the chick's armor and style didn't match them at all. And he didn't think they were Vampire Hunters but he could be wrong. But maybe it was them and they had decided to change their game up for all he knew.

He couldn't really avoid everything that close, but hopefully whatever junk was in there wasn't too potent and needed more before it took effect.

Jonathan saw Joyce and was incredibly grateful for the assist. "You got perfect timing." He got some distance not wanting to take anymore chances with those strange daggers; he'd need to have himself looked at afterwards just in case.

Shadow sets Charolette down "Are you injured?" he asks as Mad Ripped and Tore until it was done!

Mad was clearly the stronger, more skilled, and more powerful and he wasn't even using his full strength because it was daytime! After rag-dolling the man a few times, Mad pulls out his Darkness Guns and uses the big one to fire an explosive shot that sent the man flying into someone's car! A second later, the jets could be heard firing up and the armor shoots out of the twisted wreck of the car and off into the sky. The man was in Full retreat mode at this point!

* *

Joyce moves next to Jonathan, still pointing her gun at the woman, she hands two cards to him "Place your intent on them and hold them up to activate them." she says "They'll remove any foreign conditions; like curses and poison." she tells him "Now, who are you and why are you attacking Hunters?" she asks the woman.

The woman shakes her head "Not just Any Hunters. Only the ones who have the power to become a threat to Humanity be removing its biggest threat." she says as she slams a small smoke bomb into the ground and Joyce fires into the smoke!

Luckily no one got hit by her wild shooting. The would-be assassin was gone, but Joyce had a feeling they weren't Too far. She looks to Jonathan "Are you alright?" she asks as she puts her gun away.

"I'm fine, thank you." Charlotte was well enough to be on her own at this point as she got a better view of what was going on. So far it seemed like Mad had things completely under control until they began flying away. "Damn, they're getting away!"

She wouldn't have been able to catch them even with her broom since he was a lot faster then her on it.

________

Jonathan looked at the unique cards before taking them and doing as was asked. It seemed to do the trick and while he heard of these cards seeing them in action was another story. If only the Morris line had something unique to it like that.

The woman left, but it left him more confused. "What the hell is she even talking about? It make no sense." He shook his head. "I'm fine. We need to check on Charlotte if these crazies attacked them to. I wish we gotten them captured for quesioning, they seem to be working for some organization. Might not hurt to see if any other Hunters have gone dark."

Shadow looks over to Mad, who simply watches the man fly away "I wouldn't worry about them." he says "Something tells me we'll be seeing them soon again anyway." he says as he looks back to Charolette "For now, let's get you back to HQ and get you checked out."

* *

Joyce puts her DSS cards away "I wouldn't worry about that for the time being." she advised "Let's get you back to HQ and see if we can find your partner." she says, referring to Charolette.

"They had a symbol, I didn't know who it belonged to but it was a good hint of who they may work for. Regardless, you're right." Charlotte felt calmer now and if they were here, then Jonathan had to be ok as well. She did a good job of hiding it due to training but she hated how helpless she was and how close she came to dying.

Even if Jonathan had been there, it wouldn't have made a difference. His power set more or less perfect countered there own skill set. Without her magic, they had no way to even really hurt them in that fancy armor as Jonathan didn't have any weapons on him that could pierce it.

Still she didn't want to think about that right now.
________

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks for the save." Jonathan was wondering who those crazy people were. Threat to humanity was vague as they didn't know what criteria they had. Was it just certain Hunters in danger. No that wouldn't make sense but neither did this. Even for some reason he and Charlotte 180 on their personalities even together they weren't a threat by themselves to humanity so what exactly were they talking about?

Hopefully these guys don't use civilians against us like the Kozato family.

Possible. A lot of those types had the 'greater good' thing going for humanity which is the vibe he got from them. If they were as dedicated to their cause as some others it be acceptable. And disturbingly if they had been watching, they would know Aira in particular was a weakness. They could kidnap them and demand they go somewhere keeping quite about it or else

.Meh. No use in making my head hurt trying to understand and figure out everything right now. I'll leave that to Charlotte.

Shadow nods as he escorts Charolette back to HQ "You'll have a chance to make a full report once we get you checked out." he says "That was a helluva hit you took." he tells her "But you took that hit like a champ." he says. It was brought to his attention that he lacks compassion and that needed to ease up on his harsh methods. So he would throw out the occasional compliment.

* *

Joyce slaps Jonathan on the shoulder "Don't sweat it. Having each other's backs is what us Hunters do, right?" she says as she starts off.

Charlotte was a bit surprised. She didn't know Shadow except by reputation that he was very strong and could be rather harsh when it came to training and such. So a compliment was a surprise. "Thanks. That guy more or less hard counters me and Jonathan's power set even together so its a good thing you all arrived when you did."

Maybe Jonathan could get some special armor piercing weapons or something? But most things she knew of would be curbsome to lug around.
____

Jonathan, one he went to HQ knew it was standard to get himself checked out so he would do so. The nurses were cute so it was a small bonus on the day. Sure the fight itself didn't go as liked but he and he knew Charlotte were in one piece and that's what mattered.

Once the two were checked out, it was time for their report on the situation. They were taken to separate briefing rooms where a senior Hunter took their statement. Shadow got Charolette and Abraxus got Jonathan.

Abraxus' was pretty standard until it was mentioned where the woman got her weapons from, then Abraxus started to focus on that line of questioning "And you're Sure that they just appeared after her shoulders glowed?" he asked "You didn't see any sort of tattoo on either of her shoulders, did you?" he asks.

As for Shadow, he also focused on the symbol that Charolette mentioned and even asked her to sketch it out. He looks it over, his face was blank as he looked it over. He puts the sketch in a folder and stands "That's all I have. You can go now." he says to her.

Charlotte went to wait for Jonathan to finish briefing with Abraxus who shook his head. "No. I didn't see any tattoo's sorry. I can't think of anything else that stood out. But I do think me and Charlotte aren't their only target but it doesn't help much if we don't know their criteria."

Abraxus nods as he taps some things on his data padd "Okay, I believe we have what we're looking for." he says as he stands "I'll keep in touch. If they attack again, we'll know it. You can go. Stay sharp out there." he tells the young Hunter.

Jonathan left the demi-devil from the briefing room to connect back with Charlotte who was waiting for them. "So good news is they might know something about what happened."

"That's good its something at least.." Charlotte mumbled, something still bothering her. "Maybe we should..I don't know lay low for a bit.."

Jonathan could tell his partner was a bit rattled about things and he didn't like seeing them like that. "So what's bothering you?"

"Dangerous situations aren't anything new, even being outclassed isn't anything new." She began slowly. "But this is literally the first time I was just flat out helpless and close to dying. What are we going to do the next time when just the guy in armor alone counters both our power set?"

Jonathan could see the issue now. He needed to give them a bit of a pep talk. "Yeah, that's true. But that also means they consider us enough of a threat to bother doing all that. Remember, you're thinking about things when it was just us. It's suppose to be a team effort, even if technically we don't have one just yet. Your mental and doubt will hinder you more then anything else. You're not a quit ter Char. Abraxus said if they attack again they'll know."

Charlotte was silent briefly. "Yeah that's true. I can't let that keep me down when a lot of things need to be done. Besides they wouldn't attack so soon when everyone is on high alert in the open. We could continue the base search then wind down. I'm not really in the right place to bother with recruitment pitches right now."

"Fine with me. Long as your head is back in the game." Jonathan was just glad she was feeling better. That attitude from earlier didn't suit Charlotte.

As the two were talking, the presents of something dark seems to come upon them and suddenly Mad was there, seemingly towering over the two, his burning eyes shining from under the shadow of his hat as he looks down at them "I have come..." he growls "I have been assigned as your bodyguard... until this matter is figured out..." he snarls "Where you both go... I shall be not far..." he turns and starts off without giving them a chance to reply.

Charlotte and Jonathan didn't know Mad personally just his reputation, little they seen and that he was a street fighter. They didn't know them as a person or think they were a bad person from what little they did know; the power he wielded was another story. It made Charlotte really on edge.

It did go to show how different Hunters were from Vampire Hunters they used to work. They would have never tolerated someone with that kind of power in their ranks, human or not. Nor would they likely have tolerated some of the nonhuman friends they did end up making.

"Well, thank you." Charlotte began, trying not to make things too awkward not that Mad likely would care. "You ready to head out for potential bases Jonathan?"

"Yeah. No need to wait." While Jonathan also felt at unease at Mad he couldn't sense things so it was more just the general sense. That said it was time to continue looking at churches that could refit for their use, preferably something big and comfy.

"Wait!" Joyce Belmont calls to them as she goes running over to them "I wanna come with you guys as well." she says as she stops by them "I heard you were thinking of a church? Well, those are in short supply in Japan." she tells them "How about a warehouse by docks? That way we have more ways to evacuate in case something bad happens?" she asks "Or maybe an old hospital since Abraxus had a firehouse? There will be Plenty of room there." she points out.

Charlotte didn't expect Joyce to want to tag along, not she nor Jonathan minded of course. Jonathan had long put to bed the inferiority complex and other issues he had with the Belmonts and having the whip when they vanished. Now that was a mystery she wanted to find out before she left this mortal coil.

Only thing that did annoy Charlotte about some of the Hunters is they didn't give families their due credit. Inviduals? Sure. Many people respected Mad or Shadow even if they didn't like them. But when it came to other families? They didn't take account what they were good and respected for. Though loathe as she admit it, the Aulin family pretty much faded into obscurity in present day.

She changed how families were viewed! Somehow. That was part of the reason of having interest in training Taki.

Regardless she could put all her plans on the back burner with what they were doing now.

"We'd be happy to have you along." Charlotte said with a smile. "Hm. I guess a hospital could work. I never really thought of it at the top of my head. What about you Jonathan?"

"No complaints Char. If you get some fixing up and some elbow grease they could look pretty nice. Warehouse could also work." The young man said. It really did depend how much resources they wanted to invest in making something as large as a abandoned hospital worth it.

Joyce clenches a fist "We could also trap the Hell out of that hospital and lay out a route that only we know and anyone who tries to break in will be in for a Very rude awakening!" she says with a wicked grin.

"Yeah, let's try a hospital, I remember one along the way. Plus it gives extra room for guest if we have any.." Charlotte trailed off, noticing what Joyce said. She hadn't said anything directly to Joyce about where their base was going to be, just spread from word of mouth. Plus the 'we' she heard a few times so she didn't seem any harm in asking as they made their way to their destination.

"Just wondering, based on things you said did you have interest in joining me and Jonathan's new cell we're forming? Or am I reading too much into it?"