“Buy me breakfast if I make her scream at me.” The steely voice whispered into my ears, I felt my wings flutter a little and my grin was unbearable. But I just nodded a little and bowed my head somewhat when approaching the team of four girls. They looked close in the way that Stella and I were close. We might throw a hairbrush at each other every once in a while and overshare about our sex lives or lack thereof – but we loved each other.

Once we were in the vehicle proper Jericho sat beside me. I couldn’t quite tell if it was something of a supervisor on a field trip, or rather a simple gesture. But either way I was happy. Either he or Luke were easy enough to talk to on the trip there.

Jericho looked at me with his signature Piper Grimle. It was a grimace and a smile – I had coined the name! Kind of like: “Bianca, I know you’re incredibly attractive, and also my partner in this life and this mission, but I wish you weren’t so fucking awkward.”

Honestly, it was nice to see every once in a while. It showed that he cared. I grinned at the team of girls standing across from us a few of them looked like they’d fall more into the Gratia/Jericho camp of how they’d react to me but maybe a few of them would like me. Well, Gratia likes me, and Jericho likes me more than he likes the average Mistralian – which I’m told isn’t the highest bar but hey, it’s something.

Finally after a deep sigh Jericho handed me an earbud and, placing it gently in my ear the saxophone flooded through my senses. It started with a low basey crawl through the beginning of the song, but almost immediately took off into an electric cacophony of drums, that filled me with energy. I grinned at Jericho and was going to say something but he saw my mouth start moving and just nodded his head.

I laughed a little and nodded back, turning to look at my handbag, slowly levitating in place. It would come in handy soon.

“Soooooooon.” I whispered quietly, the anticipation was starting to kill me. But not because I was scared.

I am so excited. I placed my head on Jericho's shoulder, letting his music fill me with energy and anticipation.

"Let's kick some ass today."

@Crimmy@Slime@Abillioncats



It seems that things had come to a head before they even arrived. Beryl was honestly surprised that there had been no visible fighting in the streets as overflew over the town. Destruction on that scale required serious combat to happen, it looked like somebody had dropped a cargo hold full of firebombs on the place.

Their reception on the ground wasn't any better. The guards were positively twitchy to say the least. VGGB was an expected team of reinforcements on a vehicle that should have been recognized and accompanied by a Hunter the guards should have known on sight. In fact, Beryl didn't think she'd heard Andrew even talking to any sort of Air Control on their way down. All in all she was not impressed by the team's current employer.

One hand rested on her belt next to Stream's hilt as she cast her senses out. Eyes and ears scanned the team's surroundings like radar dishes while her sixth sense reached pit for any sources of water nearby. Specifically the blood of those in the surrounding area. The young Huntress couldn't exactly see people that way, not without specifically concentrating on a person, but even just knowing the locations and general movements of people would let her pick out suspicious behavior.

The impressive beauty of the compound was a secondary detail. Something that was noted but not focused on. She had seen her fair share of gorgeous manor houses over the years. Mistral was full of them and she had often accompanied Father on his attempts to scrounge up donations for the orphanage. She'd also seen plenty of what the people in those manors were like.

Why couldn't they have done something simple, like clearing a forest full of Grimm. Or making Jericho smile. Either task would have made for a worthy mission.

@Forsythe@FlitterFaux@Abillioncats@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@Plank Sinatra

This gig is poppin'

A mere week ago, the grounds upon which the concert was being set up was nothing more than acres of underdeveloped land, a vast but sparse patch of territory that the nearby villages once saw as too costly to expand into. It was open land that was lacking in any natural fortifications, thus the Grimm hordes that menaced the walls of Vale's satellite settlements were usually common amongst these parts. There was no manpower to liberate the land, and there was no strong motivation to hold it.

Until now.

Now, there were no more Grimm. Now, there were humans. Now, the Vale Council had chosen to make use of the cleared land. Now, they had decided to fund a musical concert tour, and the vast field so far south of the city proper had become home to workers and musicians setting up for a musical concert tour. Security too, with groups of armed individuals swarming the place to make sure that nothing went wrong.

Groups that included DAEO of Beacon, who were now landing on some tarmac to be greeted by a member of the concert team on the ground.

"I hope your trip wasn't too long," said the concert team member with a smile as DAEO was deposited onto the ground. "It wouldn't do if Beacon didn't send anyone today."

Unlike some of those nearby, who were dressed in concert t-shirts, their greeter Liwang was instead clad in more typical hunting garb, although DAEO would note the large lanyard and concert armbands sticking out.

"Do you need a quick rundown of anything?"

Briefly appraising the concert area as their transport landed, Oswald was the first to address their greeter. "Well, I'm mostly concerned about the security situation. Local Grimm activity, suspicious individuals, any threats made-credible or not-that sort of thing. I think we're all in agreement that this going off without any complications is the most important thing here." Turning to look at Diamond, he shook his head. "We've had enough excitement for a lifetime with these missions, to be totally frank."

He wasn't sure of what to make of their greeter at first glance. He seemed like he was somewhat stuck between being an organizer for the event and security. It also didn't help that their first two missions went drastically different than originally planned, which made him a bit more cautious and suspicious than he might have been.

Violet’s demonstration made her wonder if the girl had had the chance to use Atlesian weaponry before, or if she was simply that comfortable around firearms. Still, Sand nodded, satisfied by the answer, and produced a magazine from under her vest.

“These hold thirty rounds each,” she said as she passed it on to her teammate. “With luck, we won’t even need to reload, but...” she trailed off, shrugging.

The lighthearted exchange between the rest of the team made it clear that no questions would be forthcoming, and when even the shrinking Violet joined in the conversation, Sand knew there was no point in delaying matters further. She pressed the button to close the elevator, and the platform shuddered under them as it began to rise. Looking up, she could see the hatch leading to open air begin to scrape open.

“You’ll have other chances, Trad,” Sand said, before taking a steadying breath. “The day’s just getting started after all.”

In the intervening moments before the elevator brought them to their destination, Sand felt there was time to say one more thing as leader. A last instruction, or a warning.

She opened her mouth to speak, but a jumble of half-finished thoughts tugged at her. She could give a cautionary warning not to waste ammo until the birds were close enough to shoot. She could share her fear that shooting the flock too early may make them spread out while the Grimm were still too far too shoot accurately, and that it might be best to wait for the cannons to open fire. She could impress upon them that should the Grimm get too close for the cannons, they would become the last line of defense for the airship.

It felt like so much clutter. Everything that needed to be said had been said, and anything else felt like it would simply get in the way of what they needed to do. She hesitated, then closed her mouth again just as they reached the opening.

Sand squinted against the rushing wind, moving a few heavy steps forward and away from the platform. Motes of light at her feet revealed the use of her semblance. She raised her weapon and scanned the skies for the incoming Grimm, ponytail whipping wildly behind her as she turned.

Earlier she had said that this would just be target practice, but she had largely said this to ease any nerves. Both in the others and in her.

She could handle a rifle as well as your average Atlas-trained fighter, but she had always preferred close-quarters. Combined with the cold wind making it difficult to keep her eyes open and the occasional trembling of the aircraft below her throwing off her sights, she feared that she might have been too optimistic.

@Guess Who@Awesomoman64@Abillioncats@Crimmy

@Forsythe@FlitterFaux@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@Plank Sinatra@Crimmy




I let out an uncontrollable yawn as I stepped out of the transport. I hadn't meant to fall asleep on the ride there, I really hadn't. But for whatever reason I tended to get really sleepy when riding in vehicles. I slapped my cheeks as Oswald started talking to the pretty boy with the lanyard.

I visibly grimaced when Oswald hinted at how poorly our previous mission had gone. That...that was the understatement of the year. I decided it was best to forget about it, that was then, and this was now. This mission was going to go just fine, it was a concert after all, what could possibly go wrong? Even if a few Grimm showed up, it wasn't like we couldn't handle that.

Speaking of the concert, just being here, off the transport was already getting me awake and pumped up. Sure we had a job to do but...this was a freaking concert! I'd always wanted to go to one of these! I couldn't help but be excited at all the energy around me.

This of course also raised a really important question that Oswald had failed to ask. It seemed it was up to me then, I raised my hand, making my body float off the ground a little to make up for how pathetically short I was.

"I have a question too! Can we get autographs after the show!? I'm a big fan!"

---------------------------

@Lazo@Guess Who@Awesomoman64


Violet surveyed their surroundings as she stepped out of the elevator, taking it all in. The Grimm were still a good distance away, far enough that the Sand probably figured it would be a waste of ammo to start firing till they drew closer. That was true for most people, but not for Violet.

"I've got this...don't worry." Violet reassured everyone as she stepped out in front of them. Violet was the newcomer of the team, and as polite as her teammates had been to her so far, they still barely new her. They didn't know how what she could do, or how reliable she was, how she felt about things, nothing. It made her feel like a blank slate, starting anew.

This was her chance to show them who she was, what she could do. That was how you formed bonds and mutual trust right? She had to prove herself right here, right now.

Her face was expressionless, she may have been eager, but whenever she prepared for combat she always suppressed her emotions, they would only get in the way. She raised her rifle up and took aim. "..."

The sounds of gunfire went off, Violet began to systematically aim and shoot the closest Grimm. One bullet straight to the head and the first Grimm was falling out of the sky, then another and another and another. Soon she'd gone through her clip of thirty, and there were thirty less Grimm to content with.

She wordlessly loaded the next clip into the rifle and began to process again, using a single bullet for each kill, her aim was perfect.

"Seems like a fair request to me," Robert replied to Trad. The only reason he had pushed the responsibility of one liners to his teammate was because he couldn't think of one on his own either. Soon after Sand got a last couple comments in, the platform would reach the top of their transport and things would get loud. Very loud. So loud that all he could really hear was the rushing wind and the screaming Nevermores. He was pretty sure the wolf girl had said something, but he wasn't sure what. "What do you have?!" he asked, just before Violet began her systematic slaughter of raven-like Grimm. Every trigger pull sent a Grimm plummeting to the Earth below as she methodically emptied the magazine. "Oh you've got this. Yeah, I can see that now."

Not one to let others do the work for him, Robert finished loading in a new magazine for each of his bracers and lifted his arms into the air. Admittedly, he wasn't as good a shot as her, and the rounds his weapon used were a lot smaller than the Atlesian rifle, but he got was able to gain a respectable number of kills considering the conditions. Seven more birds would begin nose-diving downward, while another two would be struggling to stay airborne as the 10mm rounds nicked their wings. "Whoo! Pretty sure I got two of those with one shot. That's two birds with o-"

Before he could finish his lame joke, something very... Well something very predictable occurred considering Robert's presence. As he began to reload his weapons, one of the larger Nevermores swooped down and gripped the hood of his sweatshirt with it's talons and started to carry him away. The young huntsman-in-training tried his best to struggle, but after looking down at the possible fall that would result from escaping his captor, he shouted back to his team, "Guys! Someone help!"

@Forsythe@FlitterFaux@Abillioncats@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@Plank Sinatra

Liwang's expression became somewhat ponderous.

"Hm, the local Grimm hotspots have mostly been cleansed," the greeter recalled. "It was an exhausting duty, but if any survivors show their faces, you are free to waste them all with impunity. Nobody seems to be very suss, but just in case, do report if anything does look out of place."

And that expression changed to a bemused smile at Emerald's question.

"That isn't my department," Liwang said with a giggle, before leaning in close to speak with a faux-whisper, "but if you do see the performers, don't hold back from asking."

@Guess Who@NaraK@HereComesTheSnow

HTTS - Shipment Protection

"Hey, walrus fat burns really well, right?"

Trad only had time to nod to acknowledge his teammate’s replies before the elevator doors slid open. Immediately Trad stepped out with the others and took a starboard position. Dropping to a knee and aiming down the sights, he watched as the Nevermores came closer. He assumed everyone would be holding fire until the birds were in range, but to his surprise a shot rang out and tore through the Nevermore he had lined up.

“Whoa! Nice shot!” Trad called out to their newest member. He then watched in awe as Violet downed twenty nine more before he could even pull the trigger. “Maybe you should have given her both rifles.” He yelled to Sand who also had yet to fire a shot.

Looking back down his sights, the hunter realized the Nevermores were still fast approaching despite half their numbers being erased. Ready on the trigger, he and Robert opened fire almost simultaneously. Keeping his shots in a tight burst he made sure six of the Grimm wouldn’t be making it to the ship; and one more regret ever reaching it. His numbers weren’t what the other’s had, but as long as he was keeping his team safe he was doing his-

"Guys! Someone help!"

His eyes snapped to his friend being lifted off from the ship. Aiming his gun at the large Grimm, he cursed under his breath as he couldn’t get a clear shot. Even if Robert's aura absorbed the shots, Trad didn’t want to risk weakening it in case they weren’t able to catch him. “Violet!” He shouted as loud as he could to be heard over the wind rushing passed them, “Take that thing down! We’ll hold the others off.”

@Crimmy@Lazo@Abillioncats@Guess Who

Eventually Sand’s sights fixed on a cloud of blackened wings in the distance. She knelt for better stability and held her rifle in place, taking aim at the center of the flock for a moment before she lowered the rifle with a dissatisfied grunt. At the current distance she would just have to spray and hope that at least some bullets hit their targets, but she feared she might run through her ammo too quickly.

She was about to aim down the sights again when Violet stepped past her. Sand looked up, surprised, as the girl aimed down the length of her rifle and placed the hand on the trigger.

Sand raised an arm in protest. “Wai—”

The rifle’s rapport swallowed her complaint. Not in a volley or a burst, like she herself had been considering, but a single tap of the trigger. Off in the distance, a single shadow fell from amidst the larger group and vanished some distance below. As if to deny any claims that it had been a lucky break, the rapport rang again and was followed by yet another shadow dropping from the flock. The Grimm began to spread out in the face of this sniper, but even then, Sand simply watched dumbstruck as Violet continued to matter-of-factly kill the creatures with only a short pause between shots.

This aim can’t be natural, can it? she found herself wondering. Last time I looked, she didn’t have eagle eyes. Then again, there was something in the information she had been given regarding their new team member that could work as an explanation. There had been a note about the Huntress’s arrows tracking targets affected by her semblance, but it had not occurred to her that this effect could manifest with other weapons.Though in hindsight, there was no reason to think that. She was not born with that bow in her hands either. In the end, handing her a rifle to handle the Nevermores had been a stroke of luck.

By the time Violet stopped to reload, the number of Grimm had been halved.

“Maybe you should have given her both rifles,” Trad commented from behind her. Given what she had just seen, she was not sure she should treat that as a joke either.

“Let me keep a semblance of dignity here,” she called back regardless. Then she opened fire, and a smattering of black feathers burst from the side of one of the approaching beasts before it began to plummet. One thing was certain. The Grimm that remained had managed to close most of the gap, and as impressive as Violet’s shooting was, she would not be able to kill them all on her own before they reached the ship.

Recognizing this, the other three members of the team joined in the shooting, and were only moments later followed by the thunder of the ship’s own cannons.

In fact, the situation seemed to be set so overwhelmingly in their favor that Sand thought she had misheard when a panicked yell rose from behind her.

"Guys! Someone help!"

When she whirled around and saw the Nevermore hauling off with Robert in its clutches, her blood ran cold.

‘How!?’ she wanted to howl. She had been certain that they had kept all the Grimm far from the ship, but now it was patently obvious that one had slipped notice and closed the gap.

“Violet!” Trad shouted hard into the wind, “Take that thing down! We’ll hold the others off.”

Violet had already turned, drawn by the scream like the rest, and was fixing her sights on the bird. However, she hesitated when she saw the fall that waited under Robert. Sand caught a glance thrown her way, as if asking for confirmation. As if it was needed. The bird was a Grimm; it was going to drop him one way or the other.

Sand surged forward. She tossed the rifle towards the elevator platform, not bothering to check where it landed, then slipped her hands down to the cases at her belt. The metal unfolded at her touch, covering her forearms in heavy, black gauntlets.

She needed a lifeline if she wanted to catch him, she knew, but her claws were liable to break if she tried to stab them into the flying vessel’s metal hull. Sand futilely scanned her surroundings as she ran, deeply aware that she only had a few steps left before she would have to jump, until a thought struck her.

“Trad! Hold these! Your semblance!”

Blades slid out of slots over her wrist left wrist, followed by metal cables, and she spun, swinging her arm outwards. The whip-like cables spun out of the slots, the blades travelling in an arc towards the Huntsman. Sand barely had time to see Trad bring up his rifle and snagging the wires before she had to return her focus to what was in front of her.

The last step.

Not too far in the empty air, Robert let out a panicked scream as the Nevermore let go of his clothes and gravity reasserted itself over him.

Sand leapt after him. Above her, the rapport of weapons and a pained screech sounded out, but her focus was on Robert’s stretched hand an inch away from hers.

There was a spark, and suddenly her right gauntlet had wrapped tightly around Robert’s arm. With her prize secure, she braced herself and locked the metal wires spinning out of her left gauntlet. With a wrenching motion, the downward fall turned into a swing, and the two dangling Huntsmen crashed against the ship’s metal hull. The jarring impact drew a hissing breath from her, but the tight grip on Robert’s arm did not slacken.

For the next few seconds, the pair only dangled from the side of the aircraft, wind rushing against their ears.

It took a moment for Sand to gather enough of her wits to take stock of their situation. Up above, the sounds of shooting had stopped. No more Grimm were visible. It also seemed, judging by the fact that they were not both free-falling into the wilderness, that Trad had managed to catch and hold the wires in place. Down below, against a backdrop hundreds of feet away, Robert stared up at her from only two arm’s lengths away.

“Thanks.” He breathed. “For a second there, I was thinking my last name was some ominous foreshadowing I never got until now.”

Sand gave him a dull stare, wondering if she had heard that right, before shaking her head in defeat. “Let’s not talk until we are back inside the ship,” she stated.

Almost as if of their own volition, the metal wires began to retract into Sand’s gauntlet, slowly pulling the two upwards.

@Guess Who@Awesomoman64@Abillioncats@Crimmy

"Depends on how lonely they are, Lauren. Watch out for the pines. Monsters 'round here never had dark meat before."

Shameful!

Appalling!

Insensitive!

Racist!

The things that Ben Lloyd had just insinuated about this forest's denizens, and their palates, were spoken with all the sensitivity of someone who thought that traffic stops were innocent check-ups on black drivers and Eminem had written the hip hop gospel. In that moment, Lauren saw the blacksmith for what he was - a conquistador in the wrong era, a callow boy whose only regrets regarding the rape of Vacuo were that he wasn't there for the climax. She regretted every word of friendship she had shared with the mayonnaise-hued boy, every sexually frustrated glance, suggestive wink, and pulse-pounding bout of feral, animal sex that they would probably wind up having as soon as they were settled back into their dorms. She hated him. In the streets where Lauren Negasi had penned her own legend, the boy's quips, disrespectful of both her ancestry and the supernatural, would have left him a corpse in the streets.

...

She wanted to grab his dick, but he was about to breach the door and one of the things Lauren had developed in her few weeks undercover amidst the straights was a good sense of timing.

"Fuck, man."

"Fuuuuuuuck, fuck you. Yeah, sure. Let's rock. Fuuuuuucking a."

...

"Fuuuuuck this."

@Lazo@Awesomoman64@Guess Who@Abillioncats

With the successful extermination of the flock of Nevermores that dared to obstruct the path of Atlas' Science Ministry, the members of SVRT found themselves once more safely ensconced within the hull of the vessel, returning to the bridge where the inspector and captain awaited them.

The first to greet the young Hunters was the fluffy pink poodle. Upon their entrance, it yelped cutely in greeting, small frame shaking with every bark it made. Its actions rapidly alerted the master whose arms it was cradled in, and Thoúlē Aristeas' gaze immediately shifted away from the screens to SVRT. She followed in the animal's lead, nodding respectfully at their arrival.

"I am very much impressed by your abilities, Beaconites," she stated. "The enemies of mankind are unfortunate to have your ilk amongst their enemies! Particularly you, Ms Steele. You have been blessed with a remarkable Semblance."

"However, there are unlikely to be any further attacks of such intensity," she continued, poodle happily accepting her gentle petting. "You are free to rest and recover before our arrival at ICE CreAM. If you do have any further inquiries, however, I am receptive to questions."

---

Their path cleared, the rest of the trip to ICE CreAM passed in relative peace. Soon enough, the members of SVRT would arrive at the forested mountain upon which ICE CreAM's facilities were dotted about, floating past the herds of Grimm below to land at a fortified airstrip surrounded by jagged stone. There was nothing welcoming, and the sense of uneasy danger was only accentuated by the stark lack of anybody present. No other aircraft were on the strip. No hustle and bustle of researchers and operatives. Only one man - a white-haired youth - was waiting, watching their vessel dock.

"Atlesians, correct?" he asked, as everyone departed onto solid ground.

In the face of Thoúlē Aristeas’s praise, Sand bowed her head lightly in acceptance. The warm reception was a relief for her, but she could not shake the feeling that this much was expected of them. In fact, Sand felt they had failed to perform to the level they could have achieved.

Had it not been for the surprising efficacy of Violet’s semblance, coupled with Sand’s fortunate decision to fetch the rifles, the flock of Grimm may have posed a real problem for the exposed team of Huntsmen on the ship’s hull. Another may have left it at that and been happy for the lucky coincidence, but the fact that Violet’s use of her power had taken her by surprise made Sand keenly aware that she did not really understand her team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Where she wanted to be happy with the results, the frustration in that thought lingered in the back of her mind even as she addressed the noblewoman.

“We’ll take the chance to rest, in that case.” She glanced back at her teammates, gesturing at the two rifles she was carrying. “I’ll go ahead and return these in the meantime.”

With that, Sand left the others to their own devices. She was quick to find the officer that had lent her the weapons, a young man wearing the Atlas uniform that could only have been a few years older than her.

“Nice work out there,” he said when he saw her approach. “It’s always a treat seeing Huntsmen at work.”

“Just glad to be of service,” she answered, almost automatically.

The man hummed, taking stock of the weapons in her arms. “Looking to put those away, right? Give’em here.” As she handed him the weapons, and just before she took the chance to return to the others, he added, “wait here.”

Sand blinked, pausing to watch the man disappear into the ship’s armory. A moment later he came back out, still holding one of the rifles in one hand, and a harness in the other.

When he presented them to her, Sand found herself reaching out to grab them. “What’s this?”

“For the missy back there,” he said. “After seeing her shoot in the screens, we figured she deserved to keep one. Got a feeling we’ll all be better off with a rifle in her hands, anyhow. Let her know she’s free to keep it if she wants.”

“Oh. That’s unexpected,” Sand said as she took the ‘gifts’ and tried not to dwell on the fact that she was not being given anything despite her having been outside sniping the approaching Grimm as well. “I’m grateful, but are you sure this is fine? Won’t handing out hardware like this get you in trouble?”

“Don’t worry about it. I cleared it with the captain. Turns out these things go missing all the time.” The man winked at her. “For example, when someone tosses it away in a rush to keep a friend from falling off an airship and the gun happens to slide off the edge down to Grimm-infested wildlands.”

Sand blinked as comprehension dawned on her, and the man let out a self-satisfied chuckle.



“Well done, team,” Sand said when she returned to the others. She didn’t waste time presenting Violet with her prize. “Especially you, Violet. You impressed the crew so much, they want you to keep the guns we borrowed. Be sure to thank them before we’re done here.”

With her hands now free, she stood back, pausing to rub her forehead and pull her hair back. It was nervous fidgeting, she knew. Part of her wanted to leave the conversation at that, but she still felt the need to at least address what had happened above.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. “We did well this time, but that could have turned out for the worst very easily. Robert, you need to be more aware of what’s happening around you. We’re a team, but we may not always be there to catch you if you fall.”

This is turning out wrong, she realized. Her intent had not been to single out one of them in the first place. Assigning blame was a messy affair either way. The instructions about sticking to her or Trad that she had given before they went to the ship’s roof had meant to prevent situations like that, but who was she supposed to blame for it not working? Robert for straying too far? Trad for not keeping closer tabs on Robert? Herself for staying close to Violet instead of Robert? Or for not specifying who should pair up with who? An attempt to make their battle plan flexible may simply have made it difficult to follow properly.

She sighed. “That goes for all of us, I suppose. This isn’t just a training exercise. Let’s be more careful next time.”

---

For a place they had been calling the ‘ICE CreAM facility’, the place where the ship alighted gave Sand an intense sense of disquiet.

She and the rest of SVRT followed Thoúlē as she dismounted the aircraft to meet the solitary person awaiting their arrival.

Though it took her a moment to realize it, there was something odd about the arrangement that did not inspire confidence in the young Huntress. It did not surprise her that there were no other aircrafts to be seen in the landing strip— given the location and purpose of this facility, as well as the difficulties they had encountered in the way, she imagined air traffic was nonexistent for most of the year.

What did bother her was the absence of any visible landing crew aiding the descent or storage of the aircraft. She also found it strange that the white-haired man waiting for them had the need to ask who they were. Had there not been any communication between the ship and the facility prior to landing?

She shook away the intrusive thoughts. As far as she knew, it was explicitly because the facility saw so little traffic that none of the infrastructure one would expect was in place. Letting her paranoia run rampant without any context was simply not a good idea.

Better to defer to the inspector where unsure, she resolved, glancing at the noblewoman and waiting for her answer.

@Guess Who@Awesomoman64@Abillioncats@Crimmy

Despite Ms. Aristeas' rather kind evaluation of their results, Robert was not as happy. Of course, no one in their team was hurt or killed, which was always optimal, but he still felt like they could have done better. No, he could have done better. Everything was going perfectly until he had gotten too far away from the others and almost thrown off the edge of the ship. He was alive only through the support of his comrades, not through his own efforts.

The young student turned to his team leader though to try and read her reaction to the evaluation. He'd been in charge once and he didn't envy his admittedly much more worthy replacement. He still knew how it felt to succeed but still feel there was room for improvement. To do everything you could do right, yet still see nothing but more needing to be fixed. The worst part about being leader though, at least a good one in his opinion, was that you often found fault in your own actions first. Sand struck Robert as the sort of person who'd think the same way. So as she left to return their borrowed weaponry, he began contemplating possible words of encouragement so she knew how glad he was to have her in charge.

Those words would be forgotten though once Sand was back, giving the team her own debriefing, which felt very much targeted at his screw up. Perhaps he was solely in the wrong here. He was, after all, the only one who had needed saving. He had thought he was being cautious like asked and the incident was only caused by bad roll of the dice, but maybe he was the problem. "Sorry, guys," he said, embarrassed.

When the ship landed, Robert did his best to push away the creeping self-doubt and refocus on the objective. Being distracted would only lead to more mistakes, past missions had taught him that. Still, while he certainly looked serious and ready in appearance, he didn't seem to yet notice the odd behavior of the facility's employees. Though perhaps it was better to say lack of behavior as only the one man seemed to be working here for all they knew.

@Lazo@Guess Who@Awesomoman64


Violet had felt her face get warm when Thoúlē Aristeas specifically mentioned her in her praise of their work. Her semblance wasn't that big of a deal, was it? She looked away for a bit, not sure how to handle this.

Sand went to return the rifles and Violet figured that was the end of it. However that was not to be, because Sand brought back one of the rifles, and a harness to boot. Violet just looked confused when Sand handed them to her.

“Well done, team,” Sand said. “Especially you, Violet. You impressed the crew so much, they want you to keep the guns we borrowed. Be sure to thank them before we’re done here.”

"They...they did?" Violet said with a bit of surprise, taking the weapons and storing them on her person. She rather prefered her bow for various reasons but...the rifle did become handy back there. Maybe keeping it around was a good idea. "I'll...be sure to properly thank them..."

After that bit of praise, Sand switched gears and berated the team just a little...well really it was just at Robert. Violet felt a little bad for him, but really...he needed to stop being so careless and clumsy. He was going to get himself killed otherwise.

-------------------------------

Violet's ears twitched as they landed and came across this white-haired boy. Who was this person? Why did everyone they'd come across so far seem so...odd?

Violet of course kept these thoughts and opinions in her mind only. Sand had the pleasure of actually conversing with this person. She had other things to worry about, like the sense of danger and uneasiness that was making her hairs stand on end. She kept an eye out.

Receiving Ms. Aristeas' approval of how they handled the Grimm was a much needed confidence boost for the huntsman. While they had successfully fended off the Nevermores, he couldn’t help but feel the close call with their unluckiest member might have given the inspector cause to doubt their skills. Nevertheless, she was more impressed by Violet’s sharpshooting than she was displeased with Roberts short flight. The Atlesian guards felt the same as Sand was given a rifle to award Violet.

Not everyone was willing to overlook that slight mishap with the large Nevermore, however. As soon as they were alone Sand practically called out Robert for his lack of situational awareness. Those who didn’t know Sand might have misconstrued her words as a scolding, but Trad could tell this was just her voicing concerns, even if it was a little blunt. Though as they continued their flight, Trad couldn’t help but think that maybe blunt discussions with Robert were necessary. He knew the hunter was never intentionally getting himself into trouble, but he certainly had a knack for it. And often wasn’t able to get himself out without one of them to aid him. Something would need to be done or else the next time things might not work out in the red head’s favor.

Now was not the time for such things. Just as Sand said this was not a training exercise, they were on a mission and had to remain focused. The last thing anyone needed was the team doubting even one of their members. Trad did his best to bury his thoughts as they stepped off the ship. Eerily that would be easy enough as the landing platform for ICE CreAM felt… Wrong. While he wasn’t expecting a welcome party, it was odd that only one person would be greeting the inspector; and with no security at that.

The biggest red flag was raised by the lack of ships on the landing platform. True traffic through this location would be light at best, but what about emergency situations? This team had seen first hand how fast the Grimm could swarm even a well prepared base. There should have been at least two or three airships ready just in case. Yet it seemed the researchers here would have no means of escape should such an event take place.

His curiosity got the best of him. While he let the inspector answer the white haired man’s initial question, he quickly spoke up after any introductions.

“You must have a lot of faith in the defenses here. Not many facilities operate without some means of evacuation.” He stated glancing around at the empty area.

@Crimmy@Lazo@Abillioncats@Guess Who

@Abillioncats@Slime@Silvan Haven

Gratia Mindaro and Vega Venetia

The air was choking with paranoia. Emotions were running high all around her, with even the slightest sudden move liable to trigger the guards into going completely postal. They were nervous, twitching wrecks, reacting to every little sound as if they were fucking meth heads after a long night of poisoning themselves like brain-damaged cretins. Or did that come after the druggo experience? Gratia Mindaro did not care a single iota for the specifics, but in any case, their caution wasn't entirely alien to her. Given how much of an utter shithole Gallia had transformed into, only a complete fool would think there was no need to be cautious, but this Gideon individual's guards were still unable to crawl out of the pond of prokaryotes where their fellow fools resided by "virtue" of having even entertained the thought of fighting her team.

Her onyx eyes danced across their surroundings. It was a gaudy mansion, a loathsome testament to the Mayor's wealth and power that disgusted her in its excess. No wonder the guards thought they could fucking take her - the hellish environment must have distorted their perspective. How pitiful. If they had any actual ability whatsoever, rather than serving as little more than mid-sized fish in a shitty little sewage drain, then somebody would have managed to bring an end to Gallia's woes by now.

Instead, they called in a team of trainee Hunters.

"Don't take us for amateurs, Felicia," she replied flatly.

Next to her, Vega Venetia was joyfully taking a panorama picture of the hallways on her Google Glass. A quick motion in the direction of one of her teammate's immediately drew her attention.

"I like your shades!" the leader of Vignoble declared as she watched Silver play with his spectacles.

@Crimmy@Slime@Silvan Haven


"I wouldn't dream of it." That was Andrews only response to Gratia before he and the team of trainee hunters entered the office of one Gideon Blue.

Other than the two guards stationed right at the door, the office looked like what you'd expect for a mayor. The main piece of furniture of course being the desk, with various documents laying on it. The man himself, Gideon Blue sitting there, looking over several sheets of paper. The man didn't so much as look up at them until they'd all been shuffled inside and the doors behind them closed with a loud click. It was only then that he looked up and recognized their presence.

"So you're finally here, Mr. Felicia." His expression was neutral, his voice conveyed no real emotion, though one could say it had a certain coldness to it. He looked at them with scrutinizing eyes, as if he was deciding if any of them were worth his time.

"Gideon..." Andrew's voice was much more tense. "...you need to explain what's going on out there righ-"

The mayor put his hand up, "Of course, of course...I understand from an...outsider's perspective that the situation here in Gallia is completely unacceptable. So, I will explain everything in detail till you're all satisfied." The mayor stacked the papers in his hand neatly before setting them on the table. "Before we begin however, I believe introductions are necessary, don't you think Mr. Felicia? We may already know each other, but this is my first time meeting these young ones. This is their missions after all is it not? Why not let them do the questioning?"

Andrew briefly looked back at the kids, before looking back at Gideon. "Fine. Gideon, this is Gratia, Beryl, Vega, and Silver. And visa versa. Boom. Done." Andrew stepped back to the side, letting Gideon have his full gaze upon the team.

"As I'm sure you've all seen first hand flying in here, the situation is shockingly grim." A strange statement from the mayor who seemed so completely calm. "This all really began about six months ago, right after the election. You see, for the past twenty years I had run unopposed as mayor, there simply was no one else who was willing to run against me." He said with a slight shrug. "This year was different. A man named James Poppy ran against me. He was quite popular with much of the community, and to my suprise the election was very, very close. I only won by a small fraction of votes."

"James?" Andrew stated with a tone of recognition.

With this, the Mayor let out a visible sigh, the first sign of any real emotion he'd conveyed so far. "Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse after the results came in. I was accused of manipulating the votes in my favor, by none other than James Poppy himself. Many...if not all his supporters believe and hang on his every word. It's because of that man this whole situation has unfolded, he didn't like how the election went, and he's attempting to take over by force."

"He not only has the backing of nearly half the people, but he's also recruited powerful mercenaries who are comparable to hunters and huntresses. So what I'm requesting from all of you is that you bring James Poppy to me, alive. I don't want him becoming some sort of martyr after all. How you go about doing that is up to you, I do not care to micromanage."

The mayor adjusted his seat. "Now I'm sure you all have your own questions you wish to ask me, I can see it on your faces." The mayor waited.

This was some serious ####ery.

What was the point of having enhanced senses if they didn't sense jack shit when you needed them most? Probably some horrific monstrosity on the other side of that door waiting to punish her for all of her sexual iniquity and she could see and hear jack shit. It didn't take Gift to be able to tell bad stuff was going on, one would hope it would at least give further information as to precisely what she had to be concerned about. Flying was tempting, but being in the air meant she was vulnerable if she didn't know what they were facing.

Amy gritted her teeth, the Fury's shield rattling back into her arm guard as the barrels of its machine gun spun out, her sensory perception expanding once again to warn her of anything coming from where she wasn't looking. She trained the rotary weapon on the door, ready to fire through once Ben had cleared it.

"Nothing to fuckin' report Cap. A whole fat lot of fucking nothing."