๐๐๐ก๐ฅ. ๐, ๐๐๐๐ / / โ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ โ๐ฆ๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ / / โ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ค๐๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ค / / ๐๐๐๐
A matter manipulator, a shadow walker, an injury store-er, a time rewind-er, and... well, Siena could really be anything, couldn't she? Stepping off of the truck, Cal didn't think she could feel any more pumped. The subnaturals that were already there were hard at work, but her attention rested more soundly on the various different monsters beyond them. Her grip on the loosely wrapped object in her hand tightened. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
She was all ears for their instructions, though her eyes never left the blue X'd monsters once they had been marked.
"
Anybody gotta power up or anything?" Cal asked eagerly, her eyes falling on a pale, white haired boy from green group. Less out of embarrassment and more out of courtesy, she wretched her eyes away as he crumpled onto the ground, howling with pain as his skin physically seemed to be crawling to accommodate the transformation she'd heard about in the announcements. How awful. She hoped nobody in her group had to endure anything similar, though really she was just anxious.
She turned to face the others. Her mind had finally made itself up from earlier-- her powers
were a comfort and she was going to abuse the hell out of 'em. Especially since it seemed she was the only one among them who could roll with the hardest punches.
Lily stepped out of the truck, almost tripping as she stared wide eyed at the battlefield. Her gaze shifted from the glowing Ethan Sonnino to the dancer girl to the pig tailed girl then finally the tall African-American man. It didn't seem like they needed help by the way they were handling things. Or... well, if they weren't terribly outnumbered, that is. She looked towards the monstrosities just as the colorful marks appeared on top of each head...or what she assumed to be the heads. Her eyes zoomed in on those marked with the same color as her ankle cuff. She crinkled her nose.
"Where does he get the ideas for these creatures? They're... ugly," she declared and then blinked.
"Err...not that I expect monsters to be cute but... hey! Why does the green team get the yummy looking monsters and we get these creepy fish things and disturbing squirrel rats and...I don't even know what the others are. But... eww... okay, those meatballs have teeth." She turned her head towards the red team's monsters and made a sour face.
"Dolls, hags and eyeballs...no, no. I think I'm just gonna focus on our own uglies." She looked towards Cal and shrugged.
"Not me. I don't even know what I can contribute to this group aside form waiting and watching for one of you to get hurt." She followed her gaze towards the white haired boy in the other group, completely distracted by his transformation.
"Did I just hear someone mention 'meatballs with teeth'? Please tell me that's not an actual thing I just heard." Marcus said, hopping out of the back of the truck. He took one look over to where the green triangle was, and sighed.
"Huh." Marcus said, an audible pause hanging in the air.
"I'll be damned. Meatballs with teeth. How about that nonsense?" he said, crossing his arms in acceptance more than indignation. Of course it couldn't be something normal; nothing was normal anymore. The culinary creatures made about as much sense as anything else on the battlefield.
Speaking of creatures on the battlefield, he looked over to where a blue 'X' hovered, designating that group as theirs.
"Those things look super gross, and one of them looks significantly larger than us. I volunteer to not fight that one!" he said, looking over the rest. Fishmen, rat-children, and a beetle-man. He contemplated whether he'd rather fight the pasta, and sighed again, this time very much in indignation.
Of to the side, over by one of the other trucks, a boy was screaming. Said boy was very much naked, and very much took Marcus by surprise. He was tempted to say something, but as deep as he reached, his mind could not come up with any witty commentary. It was just too easy; the scene itself was golden, and needed no input from him, other than a slightly slack-jawed look. In the same group, someone yelled something and pumped their fist in the air, and Marcus gladly pumped his fist back. They were teams, and it was good to see that they were all banding together; it offered a sense of warmth inside his chest, and he turned to Cal.
"I kinda figured we'd be getting weapons on the way over, so I'm woefully unprepared for this." he pondered for a moment, before bringing his hand to his mouth.
"Do you think G.I Jackass over there with give me his pistol if I ask nicely? I mean, he's got an extra rifle and everything, and I'm sure an extra gunman on the field certainly can't hurt anything. I'll be right back!" he said, half jogging to where the soldier had positioned himself for the fight.
Callan nodded in agreement. It wasn't until that moment she noticed she was the only person currently in possession of a weapon. "
It would probably be a good idea for you guys to go with him," she said, motioning to Lily, "
Grant and I can't be everywhere at once." She nodded in Grant's direction-- confiding in him to help her keep an eye out for the less durable members of their group wasn't too brash of an assumption, was it? The range of his ability was something she hoped he'd capitalize on. For the team's benefit.
Siena stepped off the truck to a faint buzz of conversation, noting that they were in close proximity to the other teams, but quickly tuning the world out in favor of taking int he sight of the targets marked with a blue X. Pushing aside the frivolous thought of comparing their life-or-death situation to an MMO, Siena set her gaze onto each of the beasts in question, her mind already racing to try and complete a decent strategy. A cursory examination of the others told Siena that other than Callan (and she supposed Grant, given his abilities), most of them weren't in possession of a weapon. For Marcus and Lily, at the least, that would be problematic. Assuming that most of her group wasn't trained in combat put another tally in the "disadvantageous" side of the strategy, but that might have a chance to be worked around.
'The squirrels are fast. The big ones are probably more of a threat than the fish, but the fish could be poisonous. Better not touch them.' A pause as Siena crammed her hands into her pockets. Kindle and Overlord aside, she personally only had any experience with one type of weapon, and even then it wasn't actual combat practice. Gerwulf had simply been insistent that Siena learn basic self-defense. With a trench knife. It probably wouldn't do much good against anything more than the most basic of thugs with her natural ability, but if she paired it with a character, she could at least provide some support on the front lines. Lightly tracing the guard of the knife with the tips of her fingers, Siena continued her prolonged gaze over the battlefield, mind drafting and discarding plans faster than she could really keep up with.
'Better pick someone without superpowers...I don't want to waste time getting used to new physiology. Hopefully these things feel pain.'Grant was just getting out of the back of the truck after most of his teammates had gotten out as he caught wind of his name. He turned his head to look over to... Callan, who nodded to him. Well, if he could help it, he was going to try to attack from a distance, but there WERE his team to worry about as well. He merely nodded in return. As if he had a choice in the matter. Once he finally stepped down from the truck, the chain from before rose from behind him, like before, swaying in wait as he brushed one of his many messy hairs away from his eyes. As Callan spoke to the others, he took in his surroundings. Was chaotic the right word? He wasn't too sure.
First thing he noticed was the blue X that hovered over the monsters. Blue. He guessed those were for his team. They looked... well... as creepy and deadly as he could ever imagine. Next thing he noticed was the boy screaming nearby, on the ground. Grant considered that less important than the monsters his team actually had to face.
Lily turned her attention back to Cal just in time to catch her instructions to her. She looked towards Marcus but was momentarily distracted by the squirrel-rat humanoid squeals.
"That sound is gonna give me nightmares for weeks... not that I don't have any," she muttered and then refocused her attention and jogged after Marcus.
"
Okay, cool, so...," she glanced at her remaining teammates before looking at their assigned monsters again, "
It's 10 to 6. What's the gameplan?"
She looked expectantly to Siena, impatiently tapping her weapon against the back of her neck, "
We've gotta move fast so we're ready to stall these things while the others get something to shoot with. Do you know whose name you want to borrow?"
'Eyes forward.' Siena glanced at Cal as soon as the older girl's voice broke through the white noise blanketing Siena's thoughts, eyes snapping to attention as her fingers tugged hard at the end of the hair she'd been absentmindedly fiddling with. She could hear some strands give away with a faint snap, but it was of little consequence. "
I have an idea, but I'll need a moment to take the name. It's...It's going to attract their attention though." Cringing as she admitted the lack of subtlety to her magic, Siena looped the lock of hair around her pointer again, giving it a few quick pulls. "
...and you guys probably won't like me very much while I'm borrowing the name. Don't...don't take it to heart."
"
Alright, so we'll need keep them off of you until then," Cal offered a reassuring smile as she continued tapping her neck, slipping her free hand into her hoodie pocket. Once again, she looked to Grant, "
I think I'd be more useful on the frontlines. I'll try to wreak enough havoc in there to make things easy for you, but could you and Padma watch Siena's back while she does her thing? Marcus and Lily will be back any second now to help out."
As Cal finished her sentence, she recognized that she had some how assumed the position of team leader. Was it because she seemed older than everyone else? More capable? Confident? Whatever it was, people were listening to her... and it felt good. Like she knew what she was doing and always had. Why stop now?
With a nod of her head, Siena flipped the cover of her kindle open with a deft movement, her fingers dancing across the screen even without the aid of her vision. Years of practice and countless rereadings of novels had left her without much fear of messing up. "
I'll join you after I take the name." A sidelong glance at the list of bookmarks that she'd placed within her novel of choice. Under most circumstances, she would have gone for the most powerful characters in her arsenal, but without any knowledge of exactly how durable the monstrosities before them were, she'd have to play it safe. Middle-lower tier. Not superhuman, but far more capable than the average trained athlete. Taking her position behind two of her teammates, Siena finally sent her gaze downwards and let the magic begin to run its course.
"
Alright, Ezio. Don't let me down..." Well, she supposed she should have been hoping that her body didn't give out mid-leap. With his name in sight, Siena took a deep breath, and let herself go. The sensation of her body becoming lighter was the first thing of note--yes, this one was always oddly pleasant, wasn't it? The thought emptied itself into the void as a circle formed around Siena's feet, wide and giving a faint purple glow before the steely color of the mage's eyes drained in favor of a deeper chestnut that bled across the iris. Pinpricks flit down her arm as Siena took the chance to pull Ezio's name from the work. Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
Soon, she wouldn't quite be herself again.
As a faceless pawn of a soldier, Jerry was aware that he was likely to be going through his paces whenever he had to deal with subnaturals. Most of them were brats--kids that were too young to join a standing army if not for the fact that they had superpowers. Jerry wouldn't deny that he was curious about what his motley little crew could do after their conversation on the truck (he had bets on one of the blondes kicking it), but that certainly didn't make him eager to be fighting alongside them.
'Damn punks will probably get me eaten alive out here.'"Hey! Soldier dude! Focus, man!" Marcus said, snapping his fingers to get the man's attention.
"So, I don't know how much listening you were doing back there, but I don't exactly have offensive powers, and I'd really like to do more than hide in the truck. So..." he punctuated this part with a child-like voice and fluttered his eyes innocently,
"...any chance I can borrow that extra pistol you've got there? I promise I won't scratch it!"The sound of fingers snapping brought Jerry's attention to one of the subnaturals that had been in the truck with him. Before he could growl his displeasure, something even
more displeasing to the soldier was brought to his attention. This kid didn't have a weaponized power, and on top of that he evidently didn't have a weapon of his own. As if that alone wasn't bad enough, the blonde was asking for Lucie. Of course, most of the soldiers had the same sidearm, but Lucie was
his pistol. "
You're kidding." No, somehow the world wasn't going to be that nice and let the little shit be kidding about needing a weapon. "
You know what? Don't answer that."
With a faint rip of velcro, Jerry drew the pistol from its holster, staring at the brat for a moment longer. These kids were going to be the death of him, he knew it. If not because these monsters killed him, then because he would try to murder one, which would probably result in someone else shooting him."
Don't mess Lucie up. And don't shoot yourself in the foot with 'er. Or do." A moment of hesitation flared across Jerry's mind. Did he
really want to hand one of his few defenses over to some kid that might not know how to fire the damn thing? Despite the gravity of the situation, a snide voice piped up in the back of his mind. It'd be
fun if brat number one went and fucked up, right? Grudgingly, the soldier carefully held Lucie out for the subnatural with one hand, his other undoing the strap holding multiple magazines for his sidearm. "
You got 15 rounds per mag, kid. Count your bullets."
'Oh man, this little shit's gonna be the first to go down.'"Wow, really? As easy as that? No snide commentary back and forth? No begging? Man, you guys are getting soft!" Marcus said, rolling his eyes, and taking the gun from the man's hand.
"I'll try not to put any dents in your precious 'Lucy'. Wouldn't want you sleeping alone tonight." He said, closing one eye and aiming down the sights. This would suffice; he very much doubted that he'd be able to take the man's rifle, so he'd have to deal with the little pistol...or 'Lucie' as it turned out.
"Extra ammo too, feeling mighty generous today, are we?" he added, taking the strap and wrapping around himself.
"Just make sure you don't get in the way of the action, buddy. If I accidentally shoot you, Zhang might mark that down on my assessment sheet, and I don't need you as a black mark for the rest of my attendance here." he finished. If he had long hair, he'd totally do a catty hair flip in the man's direction before he walked away, but he didn't so he decided to leave one final remark instead, turning his attention to the battle.
"It'd probably be super inconvenient if we had to hose you off the van later; be safe!""
Yeah, yeah. Don't get full of yourself, brat." Not that it would benefit anyone to lose someone in the team while there were monsters significantly larger than humans rampaging. With a snort of derision, Jerry watched at the jokester leave.
Lily stood behind Marcus, rocking on the balls of her feet as she waited for him to finish borrowing a pistol from the soldier. Her heart beat pounded in her chest. In the truck on the way here, she had resigned herself to just staying out of the way while the more combat oriented students took care of the monsters. But seeing the battlefield and the monstrosities that were present, she felt that excited buzz, the disturbing thoughts and images in her head instantly disappearing. She had no idea how useful she can be in battle but there should be something that she could use to help without really coming in close range to the blue exed monsters. Her eyes fell on a belt equipped with hand grenades.
"Ooh, those might work well for me." She gestured to the belt as soon as Marcus left with the pistol the soldier lent him.
The soldier looked at her from head to toe, an incredulous look on his face. He watched her point repeatedly to the explosive belt the way a kid would point to candies or toys she wanted. "
You can't be serious, kid. Those aren't toys. Do you even know how to use them?"
Lily blinked and then nodded, returning the soldier's incredulous look with one of hers. She has never really handled bombs before but how hard can it be?
"Take out the pin, throw it to the uglies and then BOOM!" She gestured grandly with her arms.
The soldier stared at Lily for the longest moment, trying to figure out what to do. True, these subnaturals were here as their back up and this small girl probably had some sort of power to fight off the monsters. But can she really handle the explosives? Won't she blow herself up? That would really suck. The Director would definitely have his head if that happened. "
No."
Lily furrowed her brow.
"What do you mean no? How will I help my team mates then? Grab some pompoms and cheer them on?"The soldier rubber his forehead irritatedly. Yeah, that would probably be better than just handing over explosives to a girl that looked what? 14? "
Don't you have those strange powers like the rest have?"
Lily narrowed her eyes. Here she was trying to find a way to make herself useful to the team and this buffoon of a soldier is refusing to cooperate.
"Obviously I do. If I didn't I wouldn't be a student in USARILN East now, would I? But it's not combat related. So, I have to find away to help fight somehow... Why do I need to explain all this anyway? We're in a warzone!" She gestured towards the belt again.
"Now, Hand. Over. The. Bombs!" she commanded impatiently. She glanced towards the battlefield and saw Cal rushing forward for battle. She turned back to the soldier, her finger pointing urgently to her team.
"They're starting without me. HAND. THEM. OVER. NOW." She was getting exasperated.
The soldier looked just as exasperated as Lily was. He reached for the belt and handed it over. "
You better make sure you don't---Hey!" Once the belt was within her reach, Lily snatched it and ran back to her team, leaving the soldier sputtering angrily about how his head would be on the chopping block.
"Thanks, G.I. Jackass!" she called out, giving him a small wave.
"
What the hell did you call me?" He shouted back at her.
With the monsters fast approaching, Cal quickly tore the fabric from her weapon, sliding a dingy looking katana out of it's scabbard and tossing it aside in the process. Clearly the weapon had seen better days but, more importantly, the marble-textured blue hilt and a small design near where the blade met the collar seemed to suggest it was more for display. Better than nothing, though... right?
"
Time's up, guys!" she shouted, zeroing in on the biggest of the monsters as it charged behind the armored man with the deformed face, "
I'll try to take out that big thing! Give me a holler if you need help!"
The closer they came, the sharper everything seemed. Her heart beat wildly, her breathe shuddered as it reached longingly out of her throat, and she spun the hilt in her palm once, more aware of the little silver ornament's texture than she had been in the store when she found it. Yes. Yes, this was going to work. Was that glitter? She deliberately chose not to focus on the stuff as it rained down upon her-- seemed harmless enough. She charged forward before she could notice the nicks appearing in her sweatshirt.
Much like the the track, the ground exploded at her feet as she leapt over the twitchy squirrel creatures and armored man, holding the sword much like a baseball bat as she twisted her body with elbows raised high. Unintentionally, her following breath became something of a war cry as she swung the blade across the bird-head's face. This was gonna work.
This was gonna work!After standing there, processing the monsters that were quickly beginning to approach toward them, he merely took a step before Callan hightailed it away and toward the group of monsters. For a moment, that shocked him, until that shock died down into a thought.
How reckless is this girl going to be?! Of course, that was immediately answered for him once he heard what her 'plan' was. He shook his head with a sigh before readying his chain, which lowered down to the ground to the side of him, hovering just above it.
"Hopefully her strength's going to pull her through what she's going to do..." He'd mutter under his breath at the moment he saw her jump up, as if out from some kind of super hero movie. It distracted him for but a moment until his eyes focused more toward the giant armored man. Only thing about this giant man is that his face, no, its entire head was horrifyingly disfigured and warped. With Grant's focus now on the giant man, his chain came in contact with the ground, and he used the chain to literally pull a chunk from the ground below him. If anyone were to be paying attention to the chunk of earth that was literally ripped from the ground at the moment, what came out would've measured to about 2.5mx2.5m. But, at that moment, he felt as if intense weight had just been dropped right onto his shoulders. As if he were carrying that chunk of the earth on his own back. His footing faltered for a moment, but he managed to reel back his chain before letting loose, flinging the chunk of earth on course toward the giant man's head, the only obvious spot Grant could hit and ever hope to deal damage to.
The moment the chunk was released, that weight over his body vanished, yet the fatigue of just feeling that stayed. Lingered. He let out a breath he had no idea that he was holding, trying to catch his breath. Padma placed her hands on his shoulders, ready to steady him if he got too lightheaded. Feeling Padma's hands on his shoulders, it made it easier for him to regain his bearings with her steadying him.
"Thanks, I'm alright now." Grant would say after he caught his breath, fixing his feet from their disoriented state. She gave him a reassuring smile and a pat on the back in return.
"
Remember to pace yourself," she advised, "
The battle has only just begun."
"Of course it's just begun..." he'd groan out with an annoyed sigh before turning his head back to the giant man to see if his rock made contact, his chain close to the ground, ready for another chunk of earth. Padma merely shrugged at his response, keeping an eye out for incoming attacks.
Overwhelming calm. Compared to the usual chaos that threatened to drown Siena's rational thought, Ezio had a sense of devotion and calm. It was a nice change of pace, being able to think without having to scream her thoughts over the din. Deep breath. Hold, two, th--something glimmered in the corner of her eye. Almost mechanically, the girl tried to follow the movement, only for the squirrels to respond to the glitter first. A sense of danger settled over her, but before it could register, Siena was already moving to cover her face. If monsters were in pain, then that was a sign that she, as a human, wasn't likely to appreciate the dust either. A stinging sensation spattered across her fingers and what skin was exposed, but not enough to force the brunette into more defensive positions. After the faint discomfort passed, Siena dropped her hands, shoving her Kindle back into its proper place in one less-than-graceful motion before grabbing for her lone weapon with the other.
"
Gonna try and get behind the squirrels. Please don't throw things at me." With only a few minutes on the clock, Siena wouldn't have much choice but to retreat for cover again to borrow another name--assuming she had the strength to do it after a skirmish against one of those ugly things. If Ezio's name left her mid-combat, there was little chance of her minimal "training" doing much good too. Keeping the thought in mind, the girl paused to survey the field, choosing a path away from where Grant had thrown the rock--best to keep out of the line of fire. Unsheathing her trench knife, Siena began to move, picking her way towards less visible areas in a safer, if less direct route, towards the monsters.
"Alright," Marcus said, his new pistol at his side.
"You take out big boy over there, we'll try and keep the little ones off of you!" he looked to everyone else around him, and nodded. By the time he looked back, Cal had already bounded across the battlefield and begun combat. They, unfortunately, were left with the freaky looking rats. Fortunately, Marcus had a
little bit of training with a firearm. As a matter of fact, the pistol he held was remarkably similar to the one he'd been taught with.
Alright, hold the gun like this. Nono; put this hand here, and that hand there. Now, look down the sight, close one eye. Focus on the little notch there, point it directly at your target. Relax your arms a little; don't lock up or you're gonna hurt yourself. Now, slowly pull the trigger until you hear it click. Try not to anticipate it, or you'll throw yourself off. Breathe in. Relax. Squeeze. See; not too hard, Marc!Marcus stood, arms relax, gun straight out in front of him.
Breathe. He pointed his sights down at the front squirrel-thing.
Relax. They were coming closer now, speeding along straight towards them. He altered his aim slightly to allow for a lead.
Squeeze.
There was a loud squealing noise, and pinpricks erupted across Marcus's hand.
"Ah! Shit! What the..?" he said, looking around. Glitter; little bits of glitter floating on the wind, which was apparently razor sharp.
"Watch the glitter! Shit stings!" he shouted to the rest of the team, whirling back around to face the squirrels. He'd gotten distracted, and now they were closer; he couldn't get sloppy with his next shot.
His finger squeezed the trigger, and the clap of gunfire accompanied by the smell of powder rang out. The recoil surprised him, and the gun nearly wrenched itself from his hands in his shock. He quickly regained his composure though, and took one more quick shot at the front squirrel, before lowering his gun and backing clumsily toward the transport.
Find a target, aim, pull the pin out and throw. Geez, I don't even know how accurate I can throw. She vaguely remembered playing darts. Laughter rang in her head, the feathered dart leaving her hand. But the memory ended there. Did she actually hit the board? She shook her head. No real use making sense of it now. She watched as the squirrel things came closer, her hand reaching for the first grenade. But before she can do anything, the glitters floating around caught her attention.
"Oh, pretty. Are we celebrating now?" She held out a hand to catch some. It stung her before she heard Marcus' warning.
"Too late," she muttered to herself, sidestepping some of the falling glitters. She heard Marcus discharge his pistol and it brought her attention back to the monsters at hand. She scrambled to organize her thoughts.
What was his name again? Oh, right, right, Marcus."Marcus, take cover!" she called out. And then pretending to be some sort of pro, she zeroed in on her target, pulled the pin out and took aim. She pulled her arm back and threw the grenade.
Dervish
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