Jericho listened with a detached interest while getting the food stored in the designated area. A history on Timber wasn't necessary, if anyone else had done the required reading on the way here. Of course, he knew Gracelyn hadn't, she was lazier than him. Then came the interesting bit. "There is an important figure in the Galbadian Army. Someone close to Deling," Mei explained and Jericho sighed. How long did this have to take? Get to the chase already sister... "He's currently stationed here in Timber, at their main headquarters just south of the TV station. Tomorrow evening, SeeD will infiltrate the building and contain him for questioning." And there it was, the first step in getting something done. Though it did feel a little...underimpressive or something similar. The contact put her hands on her hips, Jericho watched her looked over at the group of mercenaries with an endearingly confident grin from the corner of his eye. "And that's where we start planning your line of attack! Any questions before we move on?" With a sigh, he finished what he was doing, standing up and going over to his bag, retrieving his tattered cloak and putting it on before placing the scythe on his back. Turning to the girl, Mei if he remembered correctly, and leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. "Just one or two. Let's start with a name for this important target, maybe a previous operations record if you had access to it. This guy could be one of the most successful military strategists and fighters in the Galbadian military. And we've already been left short on information in the past and I'm not to eager to have it happen again."

While he would be the first to admit his ignorance of female body language, Duncan picked up on Yoko's attitude quickly, though he had no way of chastising her without dropping appearances. Privately determining to have a quiet chat with the girl later, he gave Mei a professional but friendly smile, prompting her and her companion to continue. Duncan pointedly ignored Gracelyn's sarcastic entrance, aware that he probably deserved the sass for sending them out on such a daft errand to begin with. When the contacts finally began their debrief he lit a cigarette, taking long slow drags as he analysed what was being said. No new data for SeeD of course, but the important thing wasn't what was said but how. Garden didn't yet fully trust the Faction given it's history with Galbadia, but this contract was simply too lucrative to let go; it would be up to Duncan and his team on the ground to decide just how to handle them. Mei didn't seem to be lying at any point, nor withholding any information; perhaps the Faction didn't have access to the same amount of intel as SeeD? Or was the girl just so low on the totem pole that the higher ups didn't give her all the information? it was hard to be sure, but he suspected that Mei herself was clean; time would tell whether the Faction itself was too. 'That, my good Jericho, is where we come in.' Duncan stepped forward with Yoko, giving the contacts a polite nod as he took centre stage. 'Garden intelligence has identified him as one Major Wiggs of the Presidential Guard. His record is covered in red tape but reading between the lines, it looks like he's spent time in the special forces and even served as Deling's bodyguard for a time.' Stepping forward to place a holographic display on the table, Yoko couldn't help but smirk at how much better organised SeeD was looking so far; the Faction certainly had money, but it was sorely lacking in information and professionalism. The hologram sparked to life a few seconds later, revealing a middle aged man in a dress officer's uniform. Walking around the table slowly, Yoko pointed to a number of annotations on the hologram. 'Major Wiggs is a savant when it comes to CQB, but otherwise his mind is, shall we say, lacking. Interestingly, before he joined the Presidential Guard he was a promising officer with high marks at both the academy and university. It is unknown whether his mental regression is psychological in nature or if the Guards receive some kind of mental conditioning. In either eventuality, he will not go down easily.' The two of them soon settled down to explain the next day's plan, dismissing the team some hours later once all the details had been thrashed out. As the team dispersed, Duncan called Mei's companion to one side. 'I had some accommodation prepared for you, but I'm afraid we only expected one contact.' He gave the young man an apologetic smile. 'I'd nick the bed first if I were you.' 'All teams, report in. From his vantage point atop one of the garrison's many guard towers, Duncan swept his rifle across the parade square to get a feel for the area. Patrols were light and the lookout had been asleep when the SeeD had scaled the tower to slit his throat. Clearly the Galbadian Army had grown lazy after almost twenty years of occupying Timber; indeed while there were rumoured to be many resistance groups in the city, there hadn't been a single attack in almost a decade. Whether that was the work of Galbadian spooks or ineptitude on the rebels' part was unclear. 'Kein here, I'm in position by the carpool.' Duncan cast an eye over to the left, where Kein and two others were poised to steal a getaway truck; only a handful of the team would egress that way but since they would be taking the target with them, it was a high priority task. 'Good man. Keep alert, I see two patrols in your area.' For once the plan was stupidly simple; kick down the front door, slaughter the garrison and kidnap the officer. Kein's team would drive Wiggs out of the city, then make their way back to the safehouse via the sewer system; by the time the target reached SeeD's ahdoc holding cell, the rest of the team would be clinking glasses for a job well done. The other two teams would soon be in position too; both the front and rear entrances of the main garrison building would need to be breached at the same time, while Duncan provided sniper support and mission control from outside. A textbook snatch and grab, SeeD style. He waited patiently for the others to report in.

Jericho had his scythe in hand as he moved through the darkness towards the front entrance of the garrison building with Gracelyn and two others. The mission wasn't going to be nearly as stealthy as it had first come across as being and that had him both excited and disappointed. He was excited because he actually got to use his scythe, but he was disappointed because he didn't get to use the knife someone had sent him about a week ago in the mail. It wasn't anything fancy, just a standard issue combat knife that had been sitting on his desk, but he had hoped to get to slit a throat or two with it tonight. When they reached the front door, he drew his scythe from his back. {Front door team, ready to ring the bell.} He turns to Gracelyn and taps her shoulder lightly. "Been awhile since the last time we fought together. Think you can keep up?" He was joking of course, they two had sparred to draws more times then he could count, but the jab was always a good way to start the night.

Blood hit the ground as it dripped from the soldiers neck as Jake lowered the lifeless corpse to the floor. The back route had been as lightly guarded as his intel gathering had suggested. He wiped the daggers blade off on a cloth before grabbing his radio with his free hand "Jake here, the last of the rear guard has been eliminated. No accidents or injuries to report, will be at the rear entrance soon." Jake clipped the radio back onto his belt before he gazed back to the SeeD's he'd been assigned to work with. They had proven themselves surprisingly useful so far. "Alright lets move up." Is all Jake said to them before he stepped out from between the buildings where the Galbadian Soldiers body had been left. The team had quickly made their way to rear of the building with no threat of any additional soldiers or reinforcements arriving. He stopped a fair distance from the door as he grabbed the radio once more. Before he spoke however Jake looked upon the Balamb SeeD's once more "It's time to show why you were chosen as Balamb's elite. Remember it's as much about stealth in there as it was out here. Choose your targets and take them out quickly." Jake finished his little prep talk as he pushed the transmit button in on the radio. "Rear team in position, awaiting your go." Jake had been curious as to why he'd been chosen as a team leader, although he was thankful for the opportunity to prove himself. Although had he been working below someone he'd just met, would he really trust them? Maybe that was why... Jake shook the thought from his mind as he drew his second dagger. The SeeD edged his feet as though shuffling toward the door, he rotated the grip of his weapon the blade tucked against his arm as he grabbed the door handle. Jake breathed slowly flushing any nervousness from his system as he awaited that all important order. A building this size was sure to have at least one or two guards almost directly on top of the entrance ways. 'heh they won't know what hit them'.

Gracelyn snuck up beside Jericho, flicking the dark hood over her head. It wouldn't help protect her or anything, but it just felt comfortable to have it there. Listening to Jericho's snide remarks, Gracelyn turned up the intensity. "Don't worry. When we get in the thick of it in there, i'll make sure to save your ass when you inevitably get it into hot water. That way you can thank me later. And besides, once we get out of this, I got a nice bottle of something to drink as a celebration for this mission. Now let's show these other 'members' how to make an entrance, eh? Noise and fireworks I always say." Gracelyn checked her sickles tp make sure they were ready to go. Her left sickle, instead of judt being a normal blade, was serrated and each edge was sharper than the last one. Swinging both of them in rhythm, she poised herself in front of the door, her heavy boot ready to bring the pain to the inanimate object. "You ready?" Gracelyn asked, giving a quick wink.

Yawning, Xerox waited in the carpool area. Why was it that Kein is leading? He is gonna blunder something up. Well, just gotta deal with it. It was obvious that Xerox would be involved in the steal. In the case of anything mechanical goes wrong, he would be the one to fix it. Analyzing the vehicle, things looked to be in good shape, but there was a chance that damage could occur and that would need some patch work. Well I got lots of scrap metal I can just weld on quickly. If the engine fries, there's still some engine parts I've got. Let's see what else I got that could be used. He was checking his "inventory" for the items he would need. Checking the time, he looked over to Kein and the other person. It was almost time for the others to raid the garrison. "Well, it's almost time. Shouldn't be hard.

Freya had been tickled to hear the details of the mission. The idea of busting in and snatching someone was a hell of a lot better than her first impressions of this mission. Destruction happened to be her strong suit, and the only person off-limits was the target. Well, she would prefer bringing the whole place down without restraint, but she'd take what she could get. Maybe she could rough the target up a bit if she managed to get to him first. The thought of the brawl ahead brought a smirk to her face as she trotted in behind Gracelyn and Jericho, cracking her knuckles loudly as she crouched into position. "Love's in the air tonight." she remarked, aiming sly eyes at the pair in front of her. "I myself have two ladies here who are in dire need of some pounding." She pecked the tip of the spike on each of her metal gauntlets with her lips. She could taste the Poison magic junctioned to them, and she had to lick away the bitter sting. "Their last partners have been a bit lackin' in the stamina department. Don't you two be jealous when all the guys and dolls are smitten with my tag-team prom queens."

The confirmations rolled in slowly, as each group got into position and braced for the coming action. Duncan would have preferred a bit more snap from certain members, but he was willing to put his trust in them for the moment; this was a deceptively easy mission however. With the sheer number of SeeDs on hand, it was unlikely that anything would go wrong. Nevertheless Duncan was keenly aware of Murphy's Laws sitting in the wings, waiting for that tiniest hint of inattention to pounce upon. 'Roger all. Routes clear, front and back. Dropping power...' He traversed back from the doorways to the wall of the main garrison, following the external electrical lines to a small circuit box on one wall. It would be his first time using Xerox' paramagic rifle in a combat situation and Duncan was curious despite himself; he had tested it in the bunker and found the operation very much to his liking. The kid really could make money if he mass-produced these things. '... now.' With a gentle squeeze of the trigger, Duncan fired a bright arc of lighting into the circuit box, blowing the fuses and shorting the entire complex in one shot. Christ, he thought. All that from a single Thunder... He looked forward to trying some of the more powerful spells out. 'All teams, cleared to breach. I say again, breach breach breach!'

Syrus had been on alert ever since he had saw Mei, but that night on the mission below the moon he hovered alight above a roof top. He had his comms turned on but ignored them for the most part because if this or anything went wrong he needed to be where he thought he needed to be. He had somewhat of a freedom to use his powers right now, kinda like a special permission from Corvo himself to get a return on his investment. This meant, or at least to Syrus, that he could alter anything he needed to as along it was with in mission parameters. So instead of being in his spot as a look out and he decided to go with higher ground. Syrus served the area as the others breached the compound. He did this to make sure that no one would interrupt what was going on inside the compound. For the most part everything seemed OK but he wanted to stay on guard just in case someone might have been on look out for the other side. He kept a cluster of small ice crystals that were sharpened at the ready to snipe anyone down that might need it.

As the moment of fun neared closer and closer, the time around Gracelyn slowed down immense ly. Each second felt like forever. As she listened even further, she could hear her heart beat over and over. Thump. Thump. Thump. She listened to her heart and as the last beat resounded and echoed throughout her ears, the blissf ul words came too. Breach, Breach, Breach! Not needing to be told a second time, Gracelyn's boot came down hard and fast. It smashed throu gh the door, blowing it off the hinges and shattering into little pieces. The voice came like a primitive yell from her throat, and it surprised even Gracelyn. HELL YEAH! Diving into the room, Gracelyn flung out her sickle to the nearest enemy, cutting open his throat and watching as he grasped at it, trying to catch a breath before collapsing. Gracelyn turned back and yelled to the other two. "Come one guys! You're missing all the fun in here!"

'Breach, Breach, Breach!' The order crackled over the radio, the time to raid was upon them. Jake barged against the door as he pushed down on its handle, still gripping it and following its opening motion. As the door opened he still held fast to the door handle with his right hand as he turned and released the dagger from his left aimed for the first soldier he'd seen. Jake spent little time on concern for its accuracy as he rushed the second guard close to the entrance of what was likely a hall way. As the soldier unsheathed his weapon his gut was introduced to the burning sensation of cold steel as Jake thrust his dagger forward. The soldier did not fall so easily as Jake followed it up with several more jabs. "Just... fucking die!" As the soldier went limp Jake calmed himself, retreating the weapon and then using the sleeve of his jacket, he wiped the blade clean. The small support that had been assigned rushed into the cleared entrance way as they headed into the compound. Jake casually strolled over to retrieve his second dagger. The throw had been rather sloppy at best, the soldier although floored was still alive, though barely. A sigh escaped Jake as he knelt down next to the soldier as it took little effort to free the dagger from the small yet possibly fatal wound it had created where the mans shoulders met his neck. The soldier moved his hand weakened in attempt to block the now un-clotted wound. "Very clever." Jake commented with a small chuckle. "There may be hope for you yet." Jake stood back up to leave the room though not before kicking the man in his gut. Standing in the small compounds hall way he looked to the doors leading off from it. "Now then... If I was a Military Major, where would I hide?..." That was of course assuming the man had some sense to do the cowardly thing, there wasn't many note worthy military personnel within the city, a smart Major would know that this raid was for him.

"Breach breach breach!" Jericho followed Gracelyn closely, already inside the doorway when her sickle found it's target, an unfortunate soldier's throat. His target, the guard who'd been standing to the left of the destroyed door, was still bringing his rifle to bear with the scythe the cloaked man wielded found his shoulder and sliced him in two. "One more for the Reaper." Spinning the scythe, he turns to Gracelyn as she yelled out the door. "Come on guys! You're missing all the fun in here!" Chuckling, he whistles to get her attention. "Actually, I was right behind you."

Gracelyn blew through the door, and this was all Freya needed to spring into action. She charged past her comrades, who was earning their first kill of the night, and spotted a soldier across the way who was watching his friend's throat get cut with a wide stare. "You," she called, thrusting a pointed finger towards him. Magical energy began surging through her body, coloring her figure with a blazing green aura. "Watching's rude. Let's have our own fun! Lights out." The soldier readied his rifle, but Freya was quicker. From her finger came an orb of black that rocketed toward the soldier and stuck to his face, engulfing his entire head in an inky cloud. His grip on his rifle fumbled and he fired into the floor, while Freya closed the distance between them. Her feet met the floor with booming thuds as she wound up a haymaker with her right fist. On impact, the spike of her gauntlet smashed through the soldier's chestplate, piercing deep into his chest and injecting him with Poison magic. Freya kicked him off and he staggered backwards, clutching the hole in his chest. He fell back against the wall and slid down as the poison drained away his last bit of life. Freya spun around, her right gauntlet dripping with red. "Alright!" she cheered. "I give him two points for getting a shot off."

Gracelyn turned around and gave a quick chuckle. Jericho was gonna be Jericho. However, using the havoc the other two created, she sneaked around the guards, behind where they were looking at. sheathing one sickle, she grabbed the other by the chain and wrapped it around a guard's neck. dragging him away from the guards, she silently tried to choke him out. He struggled and struggled, the look of fear apparent on his face. She giggled at his futile attempts to escape. Sadly though, she could not strangle him, as he was moving around way too much for her to do the job perfectly. Instead, she grabbed the serrated sickle from her belt and dragged it across his neck, watching his hands stop trying to grab her and shoot for his neck. He tried to scream, but all that came out was blood. It gushed from his neck, spraying on the floor. His body twitched a few times before stopping forever. Gracelyn grew even happier when she realized that none of the other guards had even noticed her. Looking for her second victim was another guard at the back of the pack. He was separated from the rest. She drew out her sickles again, one in each hand, and advanced towards the unsuspecting victim. The guard had already been frightened by the sudden intrusion. He was crying, he had just joined the Guard and was not ready for this sort of action. The room was already dark, and it was hard to see. The tears streamed down his face as he readied his gun for the killers. He felt a prick in his eyes after readying his gun. The room went from already dark to completely pitch black. He felt his eyes again, noticing a increase in tears from his face. he tasted the fluid and it...tasted like iron. His eyes would've widened, had he any eyes left. He opened his mouth to let out a scream. Gracelyn looked at the guard, feeling his eyes. She knew the realization hit him when he froze. Before he screamed, she dug the sickle into his skull, silencing him and letting his body drop like an anchor. Sheesh. She remarked, looking at the body in distaste. You let them live without eyesight and give them a chance to experience a whole entire new way of life, and they decide to try to scream and alert other guards. No fun anymore. Oh well. She clapped her hands with anticipation. There's much more fun to be had!

While Gracelyn went about her sneaky murderings, Jericho was much more forward, lunging at the nearest guard and thrusting the butt end of his scythe into his gut, the spike on it leaving a small hole in the man's gut. Kicking him back, he swings the bladed end around and hooks it around one of the wounded man's friends neck and pulls, letting the head roll off it's owner's shoulders. Returning his attention to the wounded man, he spins the scythe over his head three times before putting the same spike in the man's head and ending his misery. By this point the remaining Galbadians weren't sure if they wanted to fight or flee by the look on their faces. One stepped forward after they argued amongst themselves for a moment, this one wielding a sword. "Y-you are u-under arrest for a-attacking a G-Galbadian military installation unprovoked." The young man gulped as Jericho maintained an impassive look under his hood. "D-drop the weapon and s-surrender." Snorting, Jericho flowed forward, his scythe knocking the sword from the scared soldier's hands and then gutting the man. "I am Jericho Joranis of SEED. And have any of you ever known a SEED to back down?" The color from the remaining men's faces draining was all the answer he needed, but they flowed forward with their swords and guns anyways. "Very well then, Blizzara!" The ice spell left many of the Galbadians stuck to the ground or frozen solid. "You're falling behind, Gracelyn! I've already killed at least three more than you."

Jericho taunted and Gracelyn rolled her eyes. Sure he killed more. She could count. Gah Jericho. It doesn't matter how many you kill when you don't savor your kills. You're just mindlessly blasting soldiers. You gotta do it, To make a demonstration of what to do, she grabbed another guard by the head. Wrapping her hand around his head, she started to fling him downwards onto the hard ground. Before he finished traveling, he bit hard into her finger, drawing blood. Ow dammit! You damn soldier! She yelled at him as his head hit the ground and cracked. Even though he hit the ground hard enough to knock him unconscious, he still had some life in him, as well as him being still awake. Seeing the fear in his eyes, she decided to enact reveng for her finger. She raised her thumbs and plunged them into both of his eyes. He let out a childish scream, trying to grasp his face. Gracelyn stood the soldier up again, with him still screaming. She raised her sickle and eviscerated him, kicking him to the ground. She turned back to Jericho and pointed it out. See? Style. She looked at her fingers, covered in viscera and blood. Out of morbid curiosity, she raised one finger and tasted it, enjoying the metallic taste of blood.

Jake had been slowly making his way toward the centre of the complex in an attempt to regroup with the front entrance team. To say the back had been lightly guarded would be a heavy over exaggeration, it would seem that most of the guards had been moved up to guard the front of the building. The few rooms that Jake checked had mostly been empty, and there'd been no site of the target. As he passed a door he picked up on what sounded like shuffling footsteps. 'heh some coward who wishes to hide from his fate' Jake turned round heading back to the door, daggers ready he kicked the door open standing in its opening. "There's no use hiding, come and accept the end that fate has offered you." There was no response, the room from what he could see was cluttered with equipment and what was likely old paperwork. "Fair enough, if you won't come to me then I'll come to you." Jake stepped into the room glancing into the blind spot that the doorway had forced upon him. He was greeted by something he didn't quiet expect as a bright light shone into his eyes "argh... you little shit!" Jake swiped out blindly with one of his left weapon. There was the scrapping sound of steel unevenly meeting steel before he heard his left jacket arm tear and an comfortable stinging sensation following shortly afterwards, the pain that erupted from it caused the SeeD to drop his left weapon to the ground regaining his sight as he watched it get kicked back out into the hallway. He looked ahead to see the sword wielding soldier standing before him, as the dark energy filled him with a burst of rage, Jake quickly jabbed his right dagger into the soldiers arm twisting the weapon swiftly as he watched the solider drop his only weapon in page. He softly chuckled before grabbing the solider, pulling towards him, then pushing him out into the hallway. As he pushed the soldier Jake used his heightened agility to slash at the soldiers left leg, watching as he dropped to the floor. "Get up!" Jake demanded as he used his wounded arm to drag the solider back up to his feet. "Where is he?!" Jake interrogated the wounded soldier, dagger held to his throat. His weapon hand began to become unsteady, the darkness taking its toll on his body, and as the solider was about to speak he heavily slashed across the soldiers throat and stepped aside to avoid its spray. The SeeD leant against the wall taking a moment to recuperate. Feeling tired he sheathed the dagger and walks over to recover the other one from where it had been kicked. The pain started to set in and Jake was forced to remove his jacket, making it into a makeshift sling to rest his wounded arm in. "Well so much for being the 'experienced SeeD'" Jake mumbled to himself. "I best regroup with the other team." Dagger in his right hand to defend himself from any un-expected surprises Jake began to navigate his way to the front of the building to meet up with the Balamb SeeD's. "I need to get more used to these human opponents, far less predictable then plain old monsters."

Not one to waste an opportunity, Freya decided to go after the soldiers that survived -- yet were still trapped -- by Jericho's Blizzara spell. "Phew," she whistled, "almost makes me wish I specialized in that kind of flashy magic." She approached the soldier nearest to her, who had his arms free. He swung at her with his sword, but Freya swatted it away with her left gauntlet. She stepped behind him and embraced his neck. With a violent twist, she drew out a short yelp followed by a loud crack. A soldier who saw this started struggling, and managed to crack and shatter the ice at his feet. "Die!" he cried, as he charged at her, sword drawn. "Oh, I like this." she said with a smile. "Come, then!" The soldier swung down at her, and Freya blocked with her left gauntlet. Though the gauntlet's metal protected her from any serious injury, it was still a painful affair, and she grunted as she flung the blade away and stepped to the right to avoid the possibility of being stabbed with a counter. As she shifted, she reared back her right fist and jammed the spike of the gauntlet through the soldier's visor, causing him to stagger backward and clutch his face -- she had managed to poke out his eye and draw a considerable amount of blood, and the poison started slowly eating away at his body. Freya smirked and stepped forward to deliver the finisher, but was surprised when the soldier managed to compose himself enough to flail his sword in her direction. The blade slashed her across the collarbone -- inches away from her neck. It was a shallow cut -- drawing only a few drops of blood -- but it was enough to stop Freya in her tracks and draw her lips up in a smile. "An excellent attempt!" she cheered the soldier's effort in earnest, while he was nearly doubled over in pain. "You may take your accomplishment to the afterlife! If you have the strength, try and finish me off!" She stepped forward with her fists raised, but the poison burned at the soldier's insides. He couldn't muster an attack, so Freya ended it by driving her left gauntlet through the soldier's stomach and kicking him back. He fell and writhed on the ground, no longer any threat since the blood loss and poison would claim the last bits of his life in seconds. With no soldiers around Freya felt the cut the soldier had left her. It stung a bit, and she steeled herself. The next group wouldn't be caught off-guard by a sudden break-in, and she would need some extra protection. When the time came, she would need to shield herself with a Protect spell. In the meantime, she felt the need to regroup with her comrades. Freya appeared by Gracelyn, and watched her with curiosity. "Tasting blood, huh?" she asked. Both of her gauntlets were bloodied and she kept them held down loosely at her side, leaving a trail of red drops wherever she walked. "Well, I guess if someone eats your body's home cooking, it's only fair to take some of theirs. I prefer my meat well-done, though."

"Don't do anything stupid!" That had essentially been Mei's pep talk before Tyler integrated himself into the mission along with the other SeeDs, specifically within Jake Firesong's squad. She was less than impressed on his insistence on joining them in the first place, but that was just Tyler's nature. He fought for what he believed was right, and damn the consequences. That was the intrinsic difference between them really. Tyler was able to control his emotions for the sake of the bigger picture, and Mei just...cared too much. She wasn't really fit for a soldier- heck, she hadn't even killed anyone before. She hid behind the guise that she was just unskilled at fighting, but Tyler knew better. After all, he had grown up with the brat. As the soldier slipped along with the back entrance of the building, he quickly checked his own inventory. Combat was inevitable in these situations, and SeeD was not known for their diplomacy. Frags, smokes, flames, check. Gun's well-loaded, and my basic magic stock's looking pretty good. Satisfied with his preparations, Tyler focused on the mission ahead. The SeeD in charge appeared rather cool and capable; he spoke his men with a calm professional manner, prioritising stealth over mindless bravado, and Tyler could respect that, but he still had to bear in mind that SeeD yet needed to prove themselves. A lot of money and effort was riding on this mission, and failure would prove devastating. The Dollet Incident was a cautionary tale, to be sure. As Jake's squad began to disperse, Tyler held his own in the fight, silencer slotted onto the barrel of his gun as he pressed the nozzle against the back of an unsuspecting soldier's neck and squeezed the trigger with a metallic 'ping'. The soldier slumped into a heap before him, and Tyler did his best to ignore the warm spray of crimson across his face. He was willing to kill, of course, but he took no joy out of it. As he stepped over the body, he found himself grateful that he couldn't see their faces. It wasn't long before the atmosphere abruptly changed, as the voice of the commander (Lerwick, was it?) issued their next command. Breach, breach, breach! The time for stealth was over, punctuated by the swift change in Jake's attitude as he broke into the doorway. The soldiers that greeted them were few and far between, which struck Tyler as strange. Perhaps the other SeeDs were causing more of a commotion at the front entrance? A slight prickle of uncertainty tingled through him, but Tyler repressed the feeling, and instead glanced over to their leader for further instruction. Or, at least he would have, but Firesong was nowhere to be seen. Mutterings amongst the confirmed that he had charged ahead, and Tyler felt a slight hint of exasperation before following the path of bodies in Jake's wake. A leader who doesn't like to play with others...that's just great. The squad soon parted ways, checking various rooms and corridors for signs of Jake or the Major, and it was the sound of a pained grunt that alerted Tyler in his search. Quietly, he split from the others, following the source of the noise with his back pressed flat against the wall. Peering over the corner carefully, he saw Jake interrogate a soldier before swiftly slitting his neck. Tyler grimaced slightly at the scene, before noticing the way the squad leader was carrying his arm. It was bleeding, and from the expression on the SeeD's face, it was causing him quite a bit of pain. Jake was starting to carry on his way again, prompting Tyler to quickly step in his way. "Hey! Easy, it's just me." Tyler quickly spoke up with a frantic wave of his hands as he no doubt startled the SeeD. "It's Tyler. You know, from the Faction?" He added this part in a low whisper, in case of unwanted eavesdroppers. "I tagged along your squad. Going solo now, huh champ?" He said jokingly, blue eyes flickering over to Jake's wound. "Look, let me help you with that. I've got a Cure stocked." He gestured to his arm for a moment before taking another step forward. "It's no good carrying on in the state you're in. Don't want to sabotage the mission now, right?" There was a serious note to his words as he reached over and pressed his hands on Jake's arm before waiting for an answer. "Look, just let me help." As he said those words, blue, purifying magic glowed from his fingertips and webbed over the bleeding wound, cleansing and disinfecting it. It wasn't a strong enough spell to accelerate the healing process, but it got the job done as the bleeding would start to cease. "There. Wasn't so hard was it, Mr Leader?"

"See? Style." In response to Gracelyn's attempt at getting Jericho to waste more time killing soldiers than he really needed to, he drew one pistol from it's holster, aimed one pistol over her left shoulder and fired. The round skimmed her ear and then buried itself in the head of the Galbadian soldier trying to sneak up on her. HE fell with a gasp of surprise and Jericho holstered the pistol once more. "And your style gives the enemy time to flank and kill you. What is that, the third time I've saved your life that way?" Turning to another group of Galbadians coming down the hall, he crosses blades with the first one to reach him with a sword and exchange a short series of blows before gutting him, knocking the sword up into the air and dragging his scythe blade across the man's chest. Moving on to the next, this one proves a touch more skilled with his blade. "Bout time one of you lugs knew your way around a blade."