The wind bit into the clothing of the 4 of team VANE. Even though the sun was out, the cool air caused short nips on any exposed skin, and caused hair to fly off to the side. Team VANE had been deployed by the Vale to find the Harbinger Relic. As they watched down from their airship, doors cracked open, the sea of trees below rushed past. It seemed to be in late spring, and the forest was alive with life, running away in fear at the great vehicle that zipped through the air. And as time went on, the town came into view, a fabled town that had been talked about by the mission briefing as the supposed place of the relic, a small town called Alacar, now little more than ruins. Here, the land had taken control and grasslands covered what used to be the town.

The airship began to slow down above the town, and a green light suddenly came on in the room, signaling that their travels in the airship were over. The ship suddenly swerved, however, and a small missile flew past, exploding in the distance into the trees. As the ship suddenly lurched to the side, Nicoleta stumbled a few steps, grabbing onto the side of the door. The loudspeaker sparked into life, a voice calmly explaining the situation. "The people of Vacuo are here as well, you'll need to be careful in this fight." The airship tried to stabilize more to allow those on the airship to jump off at a safer level.

As the airship leveled off, Nicoleta sprinted forwards, leaping off the ledge and out of the airship, her sunglasses on. She had her machetes in each hand, held slightly to the side. Her hair whipped behind her as she fell, the somewhat tight black t-shirt she'd decided to wear accented by a flopping white scarf around her neck which looked like a wisp of wind behind her. She suddenly stuck out her machete, it biting deep into the tree she was passing by and causing her to suddenly spin around the tree twice, stopping on a branch, from which she then stood on, waiting for the others to land as well. "Wouldn't be a mission if we didn't get rushed for everything, would it?"

Aurellius sighed as he leaned on a wall in the bottom-most section of the Airship. The second-grade ship was aptly called 'Forgotten Rust' for its walls and stained bolts. They couldn't have even grabbed a decent airship for this mission? Just grabbed the closest one they could find, gathered up this rag-tag group, and thrown them all out looking for treasure. He raised an eyebrow as their objective finally came into sight. A three hour flight for an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere?

Typical, that's all they seemed to get these days. He ran a hand along Ascalon, its tip pointed downwards and furrowing into the floor with every rumble of the ship. He had made sure to shine, wax, and apply general maintenance to the weapon before getting shipped off. You never want a weapon to break down in the middle of combat, but if worst came to worse, he could always just bludgeon an enemy with the hefty paperweight. He took a quick glance around the bay again, taking a good hard look at his 'allies.' They had only recently met three hours ago and his expectations weren't the highest. Two women, one man. And one of them being Faunus' to top it off.

One was a red-haired fox who carried a rather odd looking bow contraption that he no doubted could be made into two short swords of some kind. The next was a blonde girl who somehow had some weird feeling of darkness around her and the strange looking katana she bore. The corner she stood in was just a tad darker than the rest of the hatch, even though the sun was shining bright as it could be. The last was a black haired kid who wore a damn robe of all things. At his side he carried some sort of pole-arm that must've been a crossbow to boot. He'd seen a few models of those back in Development. As far as he could tell, he was the oldest person here. Typical he would get stuck with a bunch of kids.

Suddenly the airship began to lurch violently to the side, setting him off balance for a few moments. He groaned as the loudspeakers came on. The damn Vacuoans were here before us. Looks like they weren't getting a soft landing. He watched as the fox-girl sprinted forwards, throwing caution to the wind as her scarf flapped without a care in the damn world. He might as well cover here, placing a hand on the wall to the open exit doors. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something headed on a straight course for their ship. A god damn SHIVA missile. How the hell did they get their hands on one of those! He placed a finger on the trigger, revving his weapon up. "I'd advise you newbies to get the hell off right now! Last one on the ground is a rotten egg!"

His weapon fired, tracers lighting up, visible even in the day. He fired for a few seconds at the SHIVA, a newly made missile that tracked targets, there was no way in hell they would be dodging that. Finally lucked seemed to be on his side and a few bullets slammed into the missile chassis, somehow managing to break off the rudders of the missile. Without those stabilizing its path, the missile veered heavily off course, slamming into a hill on the outskirts of town. He took his chance, looking behind him for a few moments as his innards bounced around as wind caught on him, making his short hair fly around.

Thankfully the others were jumping after him, or at least he assumed. He didn't get that great a look since he didn't have the time. He spotted the fox girl a few hundred meters down, managing to slow herself. He was pretty sure her name started with an N. When he was only a hundred feet above the ground, he fired the thrusters, the straps tugging hard on his back as he slowed his descent. He rolled as he landed, his suit getting ripped a bit by the branches as he went down, but he didn't care much. Oddly enough, he landed mere meters away from the girl.

"Wouldn't be a mission if we didn't get rushed by everything, would it?" she said. He snorted, standing up and brushing himself off. "Oh, don't give me that. You know as much as I do that we would enjoy this a lot more if was just rainbows and dandelions. Its a helluva lot preferable to getting blown up."

Aslin woke up with a start as a sudden lurch of the ship made her bang her head on the wall painfully in the corner she sat. She swore and shook her head as the loudspeaker flared to life.

"The people of Vacuo are here as well, you'll need to be careful in this fight."

Aslin yawned and the area around her brightened back into it's usual state. She had left her power on before for the simple fact that she was a little cold earlier. She was rather excited, even if her nap on the way there would make one assume the opposite. For one, she was on some important mission, and for another, she got to work with a faunus! Aslin had a pretty good feeling about the day.

Rather brashly, said faunus was the first to leap out of the airship, followed by the only one above the age of twenty on the group - Aurellius - shouting that the last on the ground was a rotten egg. Aslin stood up and approached the exit of the airship, and waited for Aurellius to finish shooting down a missile and jumping out himself before she moved. After he had gone. Aslin took a step back and threw herself out the hatch.

The air whipped her hair upward, and she was rather glad she wore her sweatpants rather than her skirt for the mission. She got about halfway down before she heard a sound coming from behind, and turned midair to see a missile gunning straight for her. Unfortunately for her, she was still warmer than the others due to her power having the ability to sap heat. Combine that with the heat-seeking missile...

Aslin's eyes widened as she quickly drew her katana and sliced, spinning gracefully through the air as she threw a projectile of dust at it with a flick of the button on the hilt. The missile was still rather close - within 20 feet - but this was the difference from being near an exploding missile and being hit directly by an exploding missile.

The force of the explosion hit her in the face and body like a freight train, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her through the roof of a building near the outskirts.

The crash was deafening and the dust choked her as she lied there in pain for a few moments. She vaguely heard the souds of people panicking around her, and as the dust cleared, look over to see a small squad of 5 Vaucon soldiers, all clad in heavy combat armor aiming their guns (except one with a spear) at her all with panicked looks on their faces.

"You... You landed on Sarge! Who are you!?" One of the ones with a gun shouted at her, with a mixture of surprise and fear. Aslin looked down at the rubble and saw the head and upper torso of a man who appeared to be an officer, his longsword a bit further away having been knocked back. He looked to have died instantly. The rest of the room looked like a rather plain attic, with a desk to her right and the railing of a staircase leading down to her left.

Aslin sat up, feeling rather sore everywhere in her body from having landed through a roof. "I'm an angel that fell from heaven," she deadpanned, as she glared at them. Aslin stood to her feet and brandished her katana, wiping blood that had started to dribble from her mouth.. "Can't you see the airship I just dropped out of?"

The soldiers looked at each other for a second, too panicked and confused to know what to do. Siezing the opportunity, Aslin swung her katana and with the flick of the button, sent out another projectile at them, hitting the three of them with guns in the center straight through their midsection, seperating their torsos from their legs. She darted towards the staircase and vaulted over it, landing at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor just as bullets started hitting the floor above her. She pressed the button, her sword becoming purple as it went into Resonant Mode, then jumped towards the cieling in the center of the room and sliced a gash through the ceiling. She heard screaming as a man fell through the roof onto the floor, his legs being sundered in two from the knees down.

Aslin hit the wall, landing feet first, and jumped back towards the man, impaling him straight through the head. She heard movement above her, and looked up just in time to see the man with the spear bearing down on her. She jumped backwards, but too late, as a gash was torn down her side from the man's spear. "Shit!" she swore, as she held her katana in front of, the spearman facing her doing the same.

The spearman charged, his boots flaring up with rockets sending him flying at her ridiculously fast. Aslin, her back to the wall, narrowly rolled to the side just in time to avoid being eviscerated. The spearman's spear got stuck in the wall, so Aslin ran forward to bring her katana down on the defenseless man. Unfortunately, he pulled his spear out just in time at a sideways angle to crash it right into her side and send her flying to the other side of the room.

She slammed into the opposite wall and dropped her katana, it sliding off to the side. She struggled to her knees just in time to see the spear being thrown at her, and fell over, ungracefully dodging the thrown spear. It embedded itself into the wall next to her, and she quickly scrambled to her feet as the man ran forward and threw a heavy punch towards her.

She moved to the side, sidestepping the punch. She ducked under a left hook, and took a knee to the gut, keeling over. The man elbowed her in the back of the head, sending her to the floor.

Dazed, she heard the man shout angrily "I'm going to kill you for that!" He never quite finished the sentence, as Aslin quickly spun around and swept his legs out from under him, spun to her feet, and jumped for the spear. She grabbed it out of the wall and pointed it at the man as he stood up, not used to the unfamiliar, and heavy, weapon.

She swung it upwards at the man's face and used the momentum to bring the back end upwards into his crotch. She then shoved him by the head to the side, while tripping him over her foot, knocking him to the floor, and brought the spear downwards. He rolled away, and the spear lodged itself into the floor, and as Aslin tried to pull it out, the man was quick enough to stand and run foward, punching Aslin hard enough to knock her into the corner of the room.

She landed on something hard, and sharp, and felt around to find her katana. She grabbed the hilt, the spearman running towards her with his spear in front, and swung, her enchanted blade slicing the spearhead off, her foot coming up and kicking the broken spear upwards as it hit the wall above her head. She spun around and sliced low at the man's legs, severing both of them, and stood to her feet. The man screamed in pain as he lied there on the ground, missing two-fifths of his limbs, and Aslin put the man out his misery by stabbing him through the throat, deactivating Resonant Mode.

Aslin limped over towards the front door and went outside, spying the rest of her teamates. "Don't mind me, just messed up the landing a bit," she said, as she slumped against the outside wall and sighed.

Aethen Faer inwardly sighed, sitting in a crossed form on the floor of the airship, the exact opposite corner of Aslin. He was at peace, both of his eyes closed, his breathing short and steady, when the ship lurched, sending him forward, awkwardly onto his stomach. Without a word, Esprum pushed the glasses that lied on the rim of his nose up, scoffing as he rose to his feet. He stared up, where he heard one of his... comrades' yell, something about newbies. 'That supercilious clown...' He silently scoffed, brushing his hands down on his cloak, using away any stray dirt that he may have gathered during his fall. He stiffened, reaching to his back to grab his custom weapon. 'An explosion?' As he looked down, the glasses hid his eyes, a stray gleam of the glass making staining the spectacles. 'Right then, best not keep them waiting.'

Unlike the others, Esprum lacked the absolutely athletic body, having to pull himself up and onto deck. He was just in time to witness a missile explode a bit off, sending the one who sat the nearest to him flying. To him, the blast jerked him back, his back hitting the hole he was attempting to climb out off. He heaved, grabbing the edge with his free hand, to prevent himself from falling into the now crashing ship. Without wasting time, he heaved himself fully up, turning to face a final missile... no there were two. 'Why didn't they contact me?!' He yelled to himself, getting into a combat stance with his lance. The staff of said lance began to glow, his hair, normally reaching the middle of his neck, flew backwards, as the parts of the ship began to glow a bluish color. "Deflect!" He shouted his first words ever since this damned trip just as the first missile was about to hit.

What happened next could only be described as a children's dream. Around the dying ship, a slightly transparent blue cartoonish bubble appeared. The missile impacted with it, before bouncing off of the ship's shield, and burying it's self into the ground, where it exploded, the other missile following the heat of the impact. The combined explosions propelled the bubble and the ship skywards. Esprum pushed his glasses back off as the explosion took place, one could only describe it as bad ass. He turned, the bubble beginning to disappear. He quickly crouched, rotating the staff in his palm, behind him. "Bounce!" He ordered, a rune right below him set-off, disappearing into the wind as he was shot upwards.

With enough air, a man of his build had no trouble flipping in the air. He took a deep breath right as he landed, kicking a bit of dust up. He landed right in front of his comrades. Right as he stood up, the airship landed, and exploded behind him, another bad ass moment. 'Perfect.' He smirked, before eying his teammates. Aurellius, the brawn. Nicoleta, the nimble. Aslin, the cunning. 'And that leaves me, the brain.' He cough, otherwise staying silent. What a let down, none of these guys are likely to sit down, and have a cup of tea with him, or play a game of chess. So uncultured.

Nicoleta sighed. "Perhaps you're right, rainbows and unicorns might make a better change of events for once." Her ears twitched for a moment, and she turned an eye upwards, frowning as Aslin was caught in an explosion. "One hard ass woman to make it out of that explosion. . ." She commented, before dragging Gale out of the tree with a jerk. She jumped down from the tree, another explosion causing her ears to shudder once more, and causing her head to turn. She watched the dying ship fall slowly from the sky and Esprum fall to the ground.

"I'm going after the survivors, I won't leave them behind just because we're on a mission. . ." She said softly, starting off at a run after the dying ship. She was going through the fastest path she could, ducking between bushes and tree branches before a large black paw swung its way into the path, slapping her onto her back, a creature of grimm, a massive gorilla-like creature, came out into view fully. She put out her hands and curled herself pack, doing a somersault on the ground once before her foot began to drag into the earth and she came to a stop, dragging Gale from her belt.

The beast roared mightily, spit flying in a display that would set most in disease, however to those trained to kill the beast, it was little more than a roadblock. Her figure became enveloped in orange light as she scraped her weapon together, a high pitched scratching noise amplifying to ear-bleeding proportions in the grimm's direction errupted, causing the beast to fall to its knees. Nicoleta rushed forward throwing a half of gale into the back of the creature's head with a crackling noise as it pierced the creature's skull. As she passed it, she kicked it up, catching it and combining the two sides of Gale into a single blade, storing it in her belt once more. Done with the minor Grimm, she jumped off its stomach, continuing her mad rush forward even as the airship hit the ground, blowing away trees.

Though most would be content with staying at ground speed, she realized quickly that she could move faster from the treeline and she grabbed hold of a branch, climbing up and leaping to consecutively higher branches, reaching moderately well height branches before long. She used the height to move faster, reaching the downed airship within the minute, where she paused from the treeline, catching the sight of a party of Vacuans who marched around with their guns. It appeared the crew had already been finished by this death squad, and that alone was enough to make Nicoleta's blood boil.

Aurellius shrugged as the woman responded to his suggestion. Then he whistled as he looked upwards into the sky, seeing the other woman get almost blown up to hell. He saw her manage to fly towards a building twenty feet away. Then he heard the screams of soldiers realizing they had been hit by a human bomb. She was fiiiiiine. Of course, he didn't have time to enjoy the screams when a huge explosion almost made him go deaf. Their airship was going down, hit by too many missiles to count. The other kid landed gently with the use of Dust, smirking all the while. "You know, we could do without the theatrics." Aurellius mused. It was just in time too, because the girl who had been launched into the building had finished her fight, stumbling out the front door mumbling something that made him chuckle.

He turned just as Nicoleta decided to go and look for survivors. He groaned, wondering if she knew no one would survive a crash like that. And even if they did, they would no doubt be hunted down within' a few minutes. As she began to ran, he looked to their other party members, speaking. "Well, you heard the lady, if she wants to take charge, we all know who to blame if things fuck up. Oh, and try not to die." He rolled his eyes, hefting Ascalon and began to run after her. She was damn fast, but it wasn't too hard to stay a couple meters behind her. He watched as she took out a gorilla like Grimm with one swipe of her weapons. He almost stumbled over the corpse of the damn thing, but a quick blast of his thrusters set him in the air.

He managed to reach Nico within' ten seconds of her arriving first. The wreck of the airship was a complete mess. Large fires sprouted around the entire place, metal warped and twisted. And it also seemed as if she was completely pissed at a squad of Vacuans who had arrived before them. No doubt the crew were already dead. "Well, there goes our ride. What's say we repay the favor in kind?" He said with a grin, hefting Ascalon and beginning to run. He was lucky they were on a slight overhang, because that gave him extra air as he activated his thrusters, flying over the group of soldiers.

Aurellius pulled the trigger, the barrel spinning for a few moments as he grinned. The twelve soldiers didn't even get to look up as fire rained down on their positions, ripping at least three of them to shreds as the bullets decapitated limbs and pierced hearts. He landed amongst the group of soldier, getting a reaction of horrified faces. He immediately locked on to the largest of the group, a high ranking soldier who carried a pretty big greatsword. He lunged forwards at the man, minigun turning into lance with a flip of a switch, who reacted just in time for his lance to slide off of the sword. Aurellius didn't hesitate, going with the momentum of it and sliding around him. He swung hard with the lance, catching the man hard in the back. He stumbled forwards a few feet, but managed to keep his footing.

Still, it gave Aurellius time to stab the man in the stomach, going in deep. He laughed, flipping a switch, lance being replaced with six rotating blades. He lifted the man with a bit of effort, pointing the barrels at a soldier wielding a scythe who had decided to play hero. The insides of the leader were being ripped apart just as the outsides of the hero were being ripped apart. Bright red blood fluttered around him, covering both him and the other soldiers in the sticky liquid.

"Come on, lads, don't make me do all the fun!"

Esprum scoffed, pushing his glasses back up. He had ignored Aurellius's comment, the glare of the sun hiding any emotion he may have displayed through his eyes. He blinked, turning to Nicoleta as she ran off. 'There were other's on that ship? What a horrendous miscalculation.' He looked down towards the ground, his left foot shifting slightly. He was only snapped back into reality as Aurellius spoke. He turned, watching him run off towards the wreck. He then turned towards Aslin. 'In any case, this proves my point. They don't seem to type to help their teammates out.' Shaking his head, he walked forward, toward her, where he went into a crouch and pulled his magic pouch out. Without so much as letting her get a word out, he dug a bit of the dust out with his finger, lightly drawing on her wound. Once he was done, it was glowing a warm gold, and stung quite a bit. Nonetheless, her wound began to heal, mending the flesh. He silently stood, turning back around, putting his dust back. He took a deep breath, before reaching into his robes. 'And those boneheads never thought to grab my book.' He huffed, before calmly walking towards the wreck, a minute or two after Aurellius.

He would arrive rather late to the party, just as the big man killed off two soldiers. Esprum was unnoticed to this point, kneeling by a shrub that had escaped the fire's wrath. Firstly, he began to draw in the dirt, before brandishing his weapon. The staff drew itself in, creating the loading cartridge for its crossbow form. He loaded it, knelt closer to the ground, and took aim. 'My options... Ah...' He took notice of a soldier, covered in blood. They had a crimson covered blade raised before them, about to impale Aurellius in the back. Sure, it probally wouldn't hurt him, but everyone likes to play the hero. 'Bingo.' He muttered.

Half a second later the soldier fell forward, towards Aureliius, the blade falling to the ground. Imprinted into his neck was the crossbow bolt, the reason for the soldier's unfortunate end. 'Good enough.' Esprum silently spoke, before turning, sitting onto the ground, his staff reverting back to its lance form. He slowly rose back up, before slowly sprinting forward, the tip of his weapon a sharp blue. Fortunately, one soldier noticed him, wielding a blade, like the one he just slew. He slowed his run, bringing the staff up to block, and counter, a swipe from the enemy's sword. He pushed, staggering the soldier, before impaling the man in the chest, cruelly twisting the tip, adding insult to injury. He pulled out, letting the soldier fall to the ground.

'Let's do something about this fire.' He muttered, grabbing his bag as he dove towards the outskirts of the field, this time dabbing his staff with the dust. After this, he quietly ran around the field, taking about ten minutes to mark a circle with strange marks. Once finished, he brandished the staff. "Protect." He quietly spoke, his glasses beginning to glow... with a mixture of colors, those of a rainbow. The same happened to Nico's scarf. And Aurellius's tie. And Aslin's hoodie. Rainbows. Without wasting times, he shouted for the first time. "Deprive!" The newly drawn runes grew a grayish color, as the air seemed to drop. Slowly, the fires went out, one by one, and anyone within the circle unlucky enough to be lacking a glowing rainbow article of clothing found them selves lacking air. As it would turn out, two of them fell as the circle faded, Esprum breathing heavily. The other soldiers were taking a moment to recover.

Aslin coughed into her arm, spotting bits of blood in the crook of her elbow. She felt like a train wreck; fittingly too. One doesn't usually crash like a meteor through a building's roof then get punched across the room several times and walk it off casually, especially for one as small as Aslin. It's no small wonder her aura held up through all that.

However, she still had a rather nasty wound on her side which was bleeding rather profusely. Wordlessly, one of her teammates - Aethan, though he usually went by Esprum - lifted up her hoodie and applied dust of some kind. It didn't sting, but the sudden physical touching made her blush awkwardly. She looked at the watch on her wrist; not only did it tell time, it also doubled as a monitor for the state her aura was in. Unsurprisingly after such a dynamic entrance, it was rather low and in the red, but the bar was gradually filling up as both her aura had time to recover and the healing dust did it's work on her wound.

As for the bruising, twisted ankles, and whatever injuries she'd have, she'd just have to walk them off. She had suffered worse in training. "Thanks, Aethan," Aslin said, though she was unsure if he heard her or not, as he just walked off and started running where the rest of the team went. "Good to know I'm not being left behind," she muttered to thin air, before running to catch up to the rest.

By the time she got there, the others were already embroiled in a battle with a squad of soldiers. As Aslin moved towards the arena to get into the fight herself, she noticed her hoodie... glowing. Not just hers; Aurellius's tie and Nicoleta's scarf were also suddenly rainbows. Even though Aslin was briefly confused as to why she turned into a Gay Pride advocate all of a sudden, her confusion was abated when the air went gray and the remaning soldiers all collapsed for air and the fires rapidly poofed out of existence.

Aslin was hardly surprised. Well, she was in a "I was not expecting to walk into a vaccuum today" kind of way, but as for Esprum coming up with such a plan, she had anticipated this. She had done her homework before on the people she'd be working with, after all. Esprum was an absolute tactical genius, always the sort to have backup plans for backup plans, as well as an amazing sniper. Nicoleta was a force of reckoning with her bow, and exceptionally quick and agile, even moreso than Aslin, not to mention her sonic-based abilities. Lastly, Aurellius was some fancy rich brat that was a tad rascist and Aslin didn't like him very much. He's an absolute beast with his lance, however.

Three of the soldiers that had the air ripped out of their lungs were beginning to recover, and Aslin jumped into the fray. She bolted past the leftmost one and bisected him neatly in two as she past, before turning around to face the other, now angry two. They both charged her with their swords, and Aslin did a small hop backwards. She kept doing this in succession, intentionally narrowly avoiding their blades each time, frustrating them. Eventually, their swordsmanship got sloppy, as one took a hefty, but unbalancing swing. Aslin capitaliized this by spinning past him and slicing him through the knee, continuing her spin and decapitating him in one swift motion. She then jumped and threw her leg out, her spinning momentum, carrying it straight through the remaining soldier's face, knocking him back and sending him rolling.

Aslin yawned as the guy got back up and charged her. Almost casually, she sidestepped out of the way and hooked his leg with her foot, sending him face-first into the ground. Aslin sheathed her blade and stomped on the man's hand holding his sword, causing him to release it. She kicked him onto his back and stomped painfully, but not fatally so, on the man's neck to keep him from moving.

"I don't suppose you could help a gal out and tell me where the Harbinger Relic is hidden, could you?" She asked down at the man, staring him right in the eyes.

The fighting that took place in the the field were little more than distractions to her objective. She took a leap towards the airship, surprised as the fires suddenly went out. Her head turned to Esprum, to whom she nodded in thanks before climbing into the wreckage with a quick swinging into the large door. "Anyone still alive in here?" She called, kicking through the battered door to the cockpit with a vicious spin. As she found her way in, there was little left to do, however. She had found little more than the dead, already cleared out by the death squad. She frowned, kneeling over the victims of the war that sat before her. "We'll find the Harbinger, soldier. You did your part." She lifted up her hand to the soldier still in the pilot's seat, a bullet through his skull, and closed his eyes for him.

With a turn, she exited the cockpit, shaking her head. Her footsteps rattled on the metal grated floor which creaked with the sounds that the ship might break at any time. The metallic sounds shifted to the crinkling grass instead as she stepped back outside of the airship, the death squad already gone for the most part. "We don't have the time to play with these idiots anymore. Our ride is gone, so I'd hope we have some form of radio contact so we can get out of here when we find the relic." Her voice reflected the anger she felt, and yet the words she spoke held no prejudice due to that anger.

"I didn't doubt they'd send some of the best on this wild goose hunt, but it looks like it's more a war zone than I was anticipating. I could easily put a bet that there's other squads exactly like our own already in this forest. Our job isn't to hunt them down, though if they've been here for a little while, we might be able to learn more about where the relic is from them." She gazed around at the other three. "Team VANE doesn't have anyone watching anymore, so losing isn't an option, no one's coming for us. We need to adapt to the situation now or die trying."

Aurellius sighed as the others showed up, mostly taking his kills. He was about to pull out of the mangled mess that had been the great sword user, but Bookworm had decided to fire off his crossbow at the man behind him. He grunted a thanks of some kind as the Bookworm, who's name he assumed was Esprum from the briefing, ran forwards, getting intercepted by another soldier. Esprum, however, looked like he could easily handle his combat, which Aurellius had something to thank for. at least his team wasn't useless. His eyes widened as suddenly his tie went rainbow colored.

The soldiers around him suddenly began to choke and grab their necks, thanks to the Dust magic that Esprum seemed to be well versed in. He chuckled as he noted a tie-die hoodie coming straight for the group of soldiers. It seemed as if two had already passed out, and he watched the girl take out the three with a fair bit of style using that katana of hers. He simply decided to put the two that had passed out of their misery by stabbing the back of their heads. Aurellius grinned as he pierced their skulls with a quick thrust. Normally he might have taken his time to enjoy himself, but they really needed to get on with the mission.

As Aslin decided to try an interrogate one of the soldiers, he noted Nico exit out of the airships entry bay. Huh, he hadn't really noticed her coming and going. Too busy watching blood pump out of the new holes in their playmates. Foxxie seemed pretty angry for some reason. Probably because the rest of them hadn't really left any soldiers behind for her to kill. He grinned as he walked up to the interrogatee. "We don't have time to play with these idiots anymore," Nicoleta said, hopping off the bay of the airship. Of course their ride was gone, it had literally just exploded a minute ago.

The soldier with a katana against his neck seemed just to be a grunt, so as he was speaking, begging for them not to kill him, Aurellius thrusted his lance into his neck. The way he choked on his own blood was just too funny. "Please, oh Gods, please just don't kill me. I don't know any- HGLURK!" His Vacuan accent just added to the comedy.

"He wasn't gonna tell us anything," Aurellius said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pockets and wiping the blood off of his face. "Besides, you heard the 'leader'. We don't got time to mess around. We need to make it to Bravo Point. You all studied the map during briefing, didn't you?" He said with a smirk. "However, I need to grab something real quick." Without even bothering to listen to what Aslin might have said, he quickly walked into the wreck of their airship looking for a certain locker.

Oddly enough, there appeared to be a fallen book right in front of it. A hefty black book, with the words 'Dictionary' stamped onto the title. A post-it note was on the top left corner, with the words 'Esprums'. He shrugged, grabbing it before he opened up the reinforced locker. Inside was a rather large backpack, very similar to the one he carried. It had extra ammunition and some supplies. More Red Dust as well. He walked back out of the ship, waving the book at the Bookworm.

"Missing something?" He said, grinning slightly before he tossed it to the man.

"Well, aren't you a charming sort," Aslin deadpanned as Aurellius walked away after finishing off her prisoner for her. Aslin sighed as he left immediately, not even giving her a chance to say much. Everyone was quiet on the airship to here, and now everyone was too busy going off to do the mission to stop and chat. While they didn't have time for a tea party, certainly it wasn't too much to ask to stop and saying "hello?"

Regardless, Aurellius entered the crashed ship shortly after Nicoleta left it. Aslin figured if she ought to at least start a conversation, it'd be best done with her. She didn't want to get scolded about chess tactics from Aethen or really deal with Aurellius in general.

Aslin approached Nicoleta and sat down on a bit of metal that was a good height for a seat. "Hey, Nicoleta, I'd like to ask you something. What's your opinions on the other two?"

". . . in partaining to what? What I think of their usefulness in battle or. . . personality or what?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aslin thought for a moment. "Well, I can tell that their fighting abilities are just fine. I meant what you think of them in general. I mean, I know you didn't get to know them, at all, but..."

"Aurellius is a meat head, and Esprum would make the best leader if he would come out of his shell." She spoke as if it was simple ideas.

Aslin giggled. "I can see that, but all Esprum seems to care about is stuff like chess and reading books. And Aurellius... I dunno, but he kinda just looks like a douche." Aslin did a motion with her hands, pointing out his overly formal attire. "I read his background as well. His company is kinda shit."

"I can't promise I won't turn him into a pincushion for my arrows." She said, crossing her arms. "I see the way he looks at me, I'm not an equal to him."

"Hmph. Fucking rascists," Aslin responded. "Don't worry, I'm sure after you've had to save his ass several times he'll warm up to you. Hopefully."

"We'll see if he lives that long." She said, shaking her head. "Lets get back to the mission at hand, we'll talk again when we're at camp."

"Sounds good," Aslin said, as they started to get ready to head out. Aslin felt glad she had a chance to chat, though anyone watching would wonder why there were two girls gossiping about boys when there was a giant wreckage and slaughtered soldiers lying around.

Esprum had finally straitened himself, right as Aurellius killed the soldier in question. 'Thickheaded cretin!' He silently cursed, pushing the glasses back up, past the rim of his nose. He turned, seeing the other two sitting. Ultimately uninterested, he dusted him self off, setting his staff onto his back. He turned, hearing Aurellius's voice. 'My book... I suppose I shall forgive him for his foolish comings.' He stepped forward, catching the large book with both hands, before stuffing it into his cloak. "Thank you." Was all he had said, before going back into his mute mode, looking around.

Walking to the side, he stood tall, glancing between the others. 'Obviously I'm not in charge here.' He shook his head. 'Where to next.' He sung silently, just as another problem appeared, behind him. There was a snarl, and immediately Esprum stiffened, spinning around, pulling his spear out as a creature lunged out at him. The beast was about the same size as him, but it didn't really worry him. Not as much as the gigantic one behind the first. 'Beowolves.' He grunted, swinging his spear to the side, hitting the offending creature, with the blue tip, right along the skull. The beast howled, skidding to the side. These types of fights where nothing new, save for the gigantic one. 'Perfect.' He muttered, sidestepping as the small one lunged once again. In turn, the large one swiped at him, the momentum sending him flying towards a tree. He cried out as he slammed into it, scowling as he recovered. He suddenly ducked as the smaller one lunged at him, driving the lance through the things chest. He pulled it out, before swiping at the smaller one's neck, just as it began to recover. He smirked, turning to the fist that sent him flying.

He traveled a quiet a bit of distance away from the others this time, the beast howling. He made an indent in the ground, and with a ton of effort, he managed to pull himself up. 'Gah! If I didn't know any better, my 'teammates' are placing bets!' He cursed, rising, his fist tightening around the lance. 'This won't do... I didn't have any time to prepare...' He huffed, as the beast grew closer and closer. He held his ground, sidestepping as he swiped at the beasts large jaw, cutting into it. It didn't seem to do much, the beast howling. It swiped once again, ripping a good part of his robes, sending his journal and the recently required book to the side. 'I just got that back!' He inwardly shout, clutching his chest. He did his best running forward, clutching the lance with bother arms. The beast grew in, howling putrid spittle into his face. His glasses gleamed as he dove the spear through the things neck, letting it spasm for a few moment, before it began howling. 'Wonderful.' He grunted, pulling the blasted weapon out, and began swinging with it, making a 'V' mark in the neck, before impaling the things chest. He drew the lance out as the beast fell.

With a huff, he fell to the ground, promptly grabbing his dust. He began marking his wounds when the creature began fidgeting. Hopefully the others showed up before the beast rose.

As she finished talking with Aslin, she sighed, crossing her arms and beginning to walk towards the treeline once more. She stopped suddenly, however, her ears twitching as they caught the sound of something. Something she could never forget the sound of. The grimm. She turned her head in the direction of Esprum just as he was dragged further into the depths of the wood by the hulking creatures. "Damnit, hold on. . ." She said in a mutter, dragging Gale from her belt, the blade splitting into two pieces which she took in each hand. Her movement changed into a sprint for the zone she'd seen Esprum.

As she reached the first trees, she stabbed into the tree as leverage to get up to a higher branch, swinging off that branch like a monkey. When she went through the air, she flipped once, grabbing hold of the next branch, which cracked and broke under strain from her presence, and instead she landed on a sturdier branch, jumping from that one to the next around the tree. That's when she saw Esprum's fight coming to a close, or so she thought. As the creature began to fidget she paused, watching the spasms it made. The two pieces of Gale locked together as she swung them together, and she took a long red and black arrow from her pack. The bowstring expanded from the handle, and she laid the arrow on it without taking her eyes off the target. Her aura flashed for a moment, the bowstring taking on the considerably large amount of force put on it suddenly.

With a hissing noise, the arrow suddenly released at the massive creature. A click followed as suddenly the dust activated, and it looked like wisp-like missiles suddenly shot out the sides, raining down hell fire upon the massive creature, its body being pierced and set ablaze as if knives had come out of the arrow instead. She jumped then, the two pieces of Gale twisting around by the hilts so that they formed one blade again, and she began to fall upon the creature, sending her blade deep within its head, the grumbling grimm roaring in bloody murder. It began to stand however, whipping its head to the point Gale fell out and Nicoleta with it. She rolled to a stop low to the ground, but on one knee. She rose again, spinning the blade around her hand and splitting it back into two. As they split, her aura flashed again, and an ear-splitting clanging noise ripped into the forest, though mostly at the grimm, which recoiled as if it was hit with a blunt object.

As it fell back, she rushed towards Esprum, putting a hand out to him. "Any ideas, brainiac?"

He grunted, pulling himself up. "..." He was silent, that gleam returning to his glasses. "With enough time, I can turn that thing into a bomb. Without all the explosions."

"Then we'll have to give you that time." She concluded, hoping the others were close enough to hear.

-Void-

Aurellius noticed the new arrivals with a bit of boredom. At first, it only really seemed like a small pack of the damn Grimm wolves. But, it turned out to be the opposite of that entirely. A whole bunch of the creatures seemed to suddenly converge on their position, being lead by what seemed to be a regular Beowolf, but at least thrice the size of the other ones. It was massive, even bigger than a damn Ursa. Had to had been at least the size of a house. Aurellius gave a quick grin to Aslin, who was standing next to him, before he jumped right into the fray.

A massive blast of noise made his ears hurt a bit, almost like one of those fancy new flash bangs he had been unlucky enough to be near. But it seemed to piss off the Grimm a helluva lot more than it did to him. He was still mad at the fox for being so loud. Didn't she know that it would only attract more of the beasts? He paid no attention to it, just managing to hear the Bookworm speak of turning the huge Grimm into a bomb. Sadly without the explosions. Still, he didn't fancy killing it by conventional means. It wouldn't be a small task, if anything.

Of course, he would first have to get to the damn thing before he distracted it. With Grimm howling around them, he was forced to thrust his way to the creature, punting a few of the small whelps out of his way on his path to destruction. He revved up his minigun for a few seconds, letting out a taunt at the Grimm. "Come on, ya bloody tosser! Taste lead!" Hell, it did well enough to grab its attention, even if it didn't really understand his words. Really, it probably sounded more like a dinner bell than a voice.

His Ascalon fired, filling the air with even more stuff, from lead to noise. Of course, to no one's surprise, this Grimm was one tough cookie to crack. Bullets pierced in a few inches along the Beowolf, It roared with anger, even though he knew the bloody holes were more like pinpricks to it. Suddenly, one of those big black paws was headed straight for him. He stopped firing, satisfied with his attention-getting ability. He rolled, grunting as the air around him swooshed past. Still, a grin was on his face as he twisted mid roll, sending Ascalon, which had begun to transform into a lance, straight into the Grimm's paw. Of course, Aurellius wasn't expected to be pulled along with it as it roared. With a bit of a yelp, he was flung into the air, the lance finally deciding to pull out.

Of course, not that he wouldn't make use of this tactical advantage. He flew up high into the air for ten meters above the beast, grinning even more as he began to fall. His lance glinted in the sunlight as he activated his thrusters, being sent downwards with a twisted laugh. At high speeds, his lance pierced the Grimm's jaw, slamming it into the ground very hard. He grunted as he was sent flying away, rolling for a bit before stopping. "Was that enough to give you time?" he said, noting the beast's groans and howls on the ground, bright red blood pumping from a foot wide hole in its face.

The bastard still had the tenacity to not die, though.

Aslin sighed and readied her katana as the new arrivals appeared. A pack of beowulves, with a rather large one leading the fray. Aurellius grinned to her, as he charged into battle, and Aslin was about to follow him before she got pounced from behind by one of the smaller ones.

A rookie mistake. Aslin felt rather ashamed at being taken off guard by such a common creature that she had fought many times before in training. Thankfully, it wasn't a costly one, as Aslin deftly spun around under it's grip and essentially socked it in the face. Even with her meager strength, it took it off guard enough for her to bring her katana up with her other hand and slice it's head off. Aslin quickly rolled out from underneath the corpse just in time to avoid another's claw from impaling her face to the ground.

She didn't even vaguely register the fights the others were having. Aslin focused too much on her own battle. She heard the sound of wind behind her, and did a backslash just in time to bisect a beowolf that leapt towards her. She jumped and flipped over another one that threw itself at her, impaling it through the head as she flew over. Her momentum carried the beowolf by the head with her blade, and she landed on her feet, throwing the wolf forward at another, knocking it over.

She spun around and slashed a projectile at a small group of three that were congregating behind her, cutting their heads off in one fell swoop. Aslin was growing bored during the fight, as it was just routine at this point. Another jumped at her, and got neatly slashed in twain. Yet another pounced and got impaled for it's troubles.

And then she was caught offguard when a giant hand backhanded her hard from behind, not noticing she was getting close to where Aurellius was fighting the giant one. It apparently had just enough strength to knock her away, and Aslin was sent flying right towards the downed airship. She managed to clip an overhang with her head before smacking into the ground. As she tried to get up to look around, everything started spinning as her head felt like it had been split open. The rest of the pack of small beowolves that she was originally fighting had turned it's attention towards Aurellius, but a lone small one started moving towards Aslin.

To Aslin, it just looked like a dark blur against a white background. She swung her weapon wildly at it, the beowolf dodging her with ease and scratching her across the face. She recoiled back but kept her position, and swung wildly again with one hand towards it. Accidentally, she pressed the button on the hilt, and when the beowulf jumped back it instead got split in half by the projectile.

They just started the mission, and she had already crashed through a roof and was nearly killed by a pack of beowolves. Things weren't going too well. She held her head with her left hand and just sat down against the wall of the airship, waiting for the world to stop spinning as her teammates did the rest of the work.

Esprum grunted with pain, straitening up. 'No use sitting now...' He huffed inwardly, turning just as Aurellius entered the field. He turned once again, and after a breath, he stumbled deeper into the woods, sprinkling a bit of dust onto one of his nifty crossbow bolts. He did this a bit carelessly, a very strange thing for him to do. Though, he was a bit preoccupied, searching the wooded area for a place to act.

'Ah... this will do...'

---

"Was that enough to give you time?"

Of course, there was no response from the bookworm, the only sounds other then the tuxedo wearer himself was the growls and breaths from the monstrous Beowolf. The monster in question began to rise, staring down at the man from a bit away. As the beast began its way over to him, a popping sound was heard, followed by a howl filled with pure and utter pain. The Beowolf flailed, staggering to the side, before revealing its left eye, now a very bloody mess.

The majority of his dust gone now, Esprum smirked as the shot made its mark, albeit barely. As quickly as he could, he reverted the weapon back to its spear form, just as the bolt exploded within the eye. He half sprinted forward, able to meet the beast's gaze as he slid under its legs. Much like the Beowolf, however, he was stumbling and gasping, barely given any time whatsoever to recover from the last ordeal. At one point, he nearly tripped over his ripped and battered robe, cursing as the thing nearly flattened him under one of its large paws. After that, the bookworm found a suitable way to dodge, by side stepping to the things blind side.

Soon enough the two approached a field of the forest, which was a surprisingly big forest. This specific area, however, wasn't more then half a minute or so away from where the beast was seconds ago, and certainly wasn't anything special, save for the partially glowing red circle with another circle carved within. By the looks of it, it would seem to almost perfectly hold the size of the creature within. Esprum charged forward, that special gleam returning to his eyes the moment the beast's foot landed in the inner circle, setting off the dusted runes.

A large spire of ice shot from the ground, trapping the beast within.

Nicoleta had her fight cut out for her. The far smaller beowolves were simple enough to kill, a hit to the neck or head, and it was out for good. The problem was their numbers and their sheer speed, and that she was on the defense, whereas she prefered the offense. Her machetes snapped together into the bow, as she watched a group of beowolves began their charge towards her, sprinting on hands and knees in a full on charge. She drew back an arrow, waiting. The beowolves were forming a more concise group to try to all hit Nicoleta at the same time. Just as she'd planned. A thin smile grew across her face, as the beowolves drew within feet. The closest one to her reached out its arm, about to grab her. Suddenly, the arrow released, giving a satisfying "THUNK!" as it embedded itself in the lead beowolf's face. Electricity jumped from the arrow, shocking the beowolves into pausing.

It was more than enough time, her bow split into the two machetes, and she jumped through the group in a flurry of swinging, this way and that, her aura glowing. She made circles, taking on neck after head after shoulder of the beowolves in lightning speed. All the while, you could hear a pin drop, it was so silent. The last three came to their senses before she made it far enough back, and she ducked under one of their paws, jumping back. "You'll need to be faster than that."

The beasts spread out, trying to close in on her from all around. She took a few steps backwards, frowning in concentration. "Faster." She told herself, bolting to her right. The creature in the middle swung at her as she passed, and she raised the machete to it, blocking the paw. She jumped then kicking away the right beowolf's foot in a backwards flip and stabbing it in the chest. She was knocked forwards as the beowolf from the left slapped her down to the ground. She barred her teeth, aura no longer such a bright and rich color of orange. Though it used to shine like the sun, it looked more like a small glow, as if an ember.

She spun around, launching one of the machetes at the beowolf from the left, the creature blocked it with its hand, reeling back in pain. Nicoleta jumped over the paw of the middle beowolf, using it as a launch pad to jump at the one from the left, slicing across its unprotected neck. She pulled out her machete from its arm only in time to parry a flurry of swipes, being pushed back a few feet. She quickly spread the blades to the side, pushing out the creature's arms so she could stab it in the neck. It stopped breathing, dead weight on her blade now. She panted, ripping the blade from its neck. She slowly taking up a more proper stance as another 3 ran from the treeline. She reformed the bow, shooting down the first with a clean shot from a red arrow, the fire missiles released from the sides of it. They seeked out the other two beowolves, striking them down as well in a display of bright lights piercing chests. "I can't keep this up much longer."

Ironically, that was when the spire grew out of the ground, covering the massive beowolf. "Convenient. . ." She commented, sighing. The smaller beowolves, without their vanguard, began to break up, retreating back into the abysmal forest, now full of holes and destruction from the short fight. The damage was only in the nearby area, luckily, not straying too far from the already broken terrain from the fallen airship.

Nicoleta noticed Aslin leaned up against the airship, looking dazed, and so she approached her, somewhat haphazardly. Her usually ambitiously powerful self was a bit less enthusiastic now, as she slid to a stop infront of her. She looked around at Aslin's head, asking a few questions. "Hey, are you feeling alright? Can you tell me what day it is?" She asked, hoping Aslin had no head trauma.

"It's Tuesday." interupted Aurellius after he had taken a few moments to admire the the spectacle that had beheld their gazes. Bookworm seemed to have a pretty nice touch, even if it took him a long ass time to do anything. The pillar of ice had completely trapped the giant inside of its icy grasp. It really was pretty cool, though. He would have gone with something more dramatic, though. A pillar of ice just didn't have the same flare as a pillar of... say, a pillar of cheese curds or something. He almost chuckled at his own thoughts, but held it in. It wouldn't do him well to look weird in front of his companions.

He tore his eyes away from the ice pillar, taking a good hard look at their resident pincushion. Aslin seemed pretty messed up, and was contesting for most injured out of all of them. He didn't even have any scratches on him, but the girl looked like she was hit by a truck. "She'll be fine. Just have Bookworm over there sprinkle a bit of his magical fairy dust on her, and she'll be up and ready to get another thrashing." He gave her a slightly hard smack on the back, to more or less try and reassure her. Even though it probably wouldn't do any good.

"I think we should probably get going, though. We're already behind schedule, and none of us want any more Grimm showing up. Except for me. I really wouldn't mind it at all." He smirked, hefting Ascalon over his shoulder. "By the way, Bookworm. You did good with the magic ice pillar thingy. Not as flashy as it coulda been though, but if you'd like lessons, come to me after this mission."

"Lessons?" Esprum innardly huffed, looking straight at Aurellius. "I did what I could with the supplies I had." Aurellius chuckled. "I mean, you coulda at least spun something a little more grand. Why not have had the ice spikes simply impale the big bad wolf?" It seemed like the Bookworm didn't like his answer. "Don't you think it may be useful to make use of the giant's bones?" His expression unchanged, and emotion hidden under the spectacles.

"Now what in the hell would this thing's bones do for us? I mean, sure, you could make some sick ass greatsword out of it, but other than that, nada." he responded. "...Whatever. Next time, I'll let you stop the giant monster. Let's get moving." Aurellius scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning around. Well, nothing he could do about it if his grand ideas confused the minds of lesser mortals. He waved a hand to the others, gesturing for them to follow him. "And by the way, I coulda just taken it out if you asked me. It would've required a lot less Dust and a little more 'creative ingenuity'. Come on, lads and ladies, time to go down the rabbit hole." He laughed, poking his lance into the air.

Aslin was vaguely aware of someone speaking to her. She looked up and saw a blurry figure saying something about... the day? Why was she asking what day it was? Or was she testing to see if Aslin was concussed? In that case, she was probably asking how many fingers she was holding up. Yeah, that's it.

"Uh... four?" Aslin mumbled, but went unheard as yet another larger blob came forward and said that it was Tuesday. Or did he say two days? Why would he say two days... Ah, clearly he had said two, as in two fingers. That made perfect sense in Aslin's currently dazed mind.

But didn't Aslin guess four? Or was it three? If the answer was two, then that meaned she was probably knocked loopy, and that wasn't a good thi-

Aslin's thoughts were interrupted as she was given a hearty smack on the back. She fell forward, mumbling something about more beowolves attacking. She didn't really move, however, as she laid there staring at the dirt she was lying on.

"You massive fucking oaf!" Nicoleta screamed at Aurellius, uncaring that she'd just yelled at Aurellius with some hateful words. She leaned down to Aslin, putting a hand to her head. "You're still with us, right? Please, say something!"

Aslin felt a hand on her head and winced at the pain, however it had the strange effect of snapping her back to reality somewhat. She looked up at the blur, which was slowing coming into focus and noticed it was Nicoleta. "Ow... I just... I just need a minute. I'm a bit battered." She sat back up and shook her head slightly to try and shake the cloudiness, only serving to further her migraine.

"Just stay sitting, please. Really." Nicoleta put a hand to Aslin's shoulder, sitting infront of her. "What's your name?" She asked.

Aslin rubbed her temples. "Ugh... Aslin. Aslin Forlak." Aslin reactively touched her hand to Nicoleta's, and then something strange happened.

Nicoleta's deep orange aura became actively visible, and Aslin's fading but still existant violet aura also came into view. However, it could be seen that Nicoleta's orange aura started moving into Aslin's. Aslin's head started aching less rather quickly, and her vision cleared rapidly. Nicoleta however, started to feel mildly sick as her aura was being absorbed.

Nicoleta recoiled, scowling. She tried to pull her hand away as she suddenly felt the sickness, falling back. "What are you doing. . .?"

Aslin shook her head, surprised. She felt... reinvigorated. "I... I don't know. I've- I've never done that before. I think I... I absorbed some of your aura?"

Nicoleta held up her hand infront of her, the further weakened aura glowing like a distant star, barely visible. "I. . . guess I'm glad that I could help. Do you feel like you can stand?" She stood up, holding out a hand to Aslin.

Aslin took it and was pulled to her feet. She still felt like she was hit by a truck - she almost literally was, twice - but her mind no longer felt like scrambled eggs. "Y-yeah, sorry. I think I'm ready to go."

"Take it easy, Aslin. You're an important part to this team, and I won't let you die off on me." Nicoleta nodded once. "Now, we have a relic to find, so we should try to get ourselves ready to go again."

"Right," Aslin nodded back.