--Rassvet - Sapple Springs--
So if Kalina's assessment was trustworthy - and it was - then that meant they had civilian survivors to rescue, assuming there'd be any. How unfortunate, a military vessel would've been preferable; technology, intel, and key personnel to capture, these were much less likely to be found in a civilian vessel.
"..." or they could stumble upon a golden goose if Justice's hypothesis was to be entertained,
"Heh... a royal entourage's airliner malfunctioning then crashing in the middle of nowhere, but just so happen that a squad of WARDENs were nearby, yeah, that much contrivance is something worth exploding over."Well, the time for talk was over, those survivors weren't going to rescue themselves, time to hop into the truck... or Morden in Silje’s case,
"Just don't run too far ahead of us, yeah? A civilian airliner it may be, we still have no confirmation what's out there." It might be a tad bit obvious, but it was her job to point out obvious things, especially when life and death were the stakes. Fortunately, Gerard's telekinetic prowess meant they didn't need to leave things behind in fear of wasting too much time packing.
..........
.....
...
--Petrified Forest - Crash Site--
It was a rough ride through the unbeaten path, though Sapple Springs was in the middle of nowhere, it was still a nexus of civilization, here, the Earthmother had full reign. It could even be said that Silje had an easier time riding their resident bruiser than the tough and tumble of old tires against dry, cracked uneven ground.
Such a shame... The Nephilim had heard that the so-called forest
was a lush jungle populated by trees and beasts capable of outsizing most of mankind's creations, an unthinkable notion considering its current barren state.
At least, that airship couldn't have taken more lives than what it was already carrying...Speaking of airships, it appeared they had finally arrived...
As a vista straight out of the deepest reaches of purgatory laid bare before their very eyes..."..." For a passing moment, Valerie wanted to jab at Gerard's painfully obvious statement, but within mere seconds of disembarking from the truck, she decided against it... for even within the context of them being WARDENs, the telekinetic socialite
still had a point.
"Tch..." The area was so chock full of mist, even a completely untrained layman could feel its presence here.
For someone as mistly-attuned as herself? It felt like being submerged in a liquefied mist as each and every inch of her body reacted to the supernatural phenomenon; her eyes opened wider, her breaths grew longer and heavier, and her skin felt like they had something crawling on-... no.
in them.
... Raising her hands, the horned WARDEN saw her veins started dimly glowing purple, in a similar manner as when she started using her powers, only this time, she did no such thing. She didn't have a mirror nearby, but Valerie was positive her face and the rest of her body were exhibiting the same quirk too. Nevertheless, it was ultimately harmless, just her mist-altered test subject of a body reacting to the heavy concentratio.
Moving on, Valerie focused her attention on surveying the area properly,
"Squad, be advised, adding to what Morden said, visually-invisible pockets of potent mist are scattered in the area. Mind your step and your spells, this is a veritable minefield, any stray spell of destructive nature can and will set things off." Obvious? She didn't give a fuck, mainly due to Silje being here,
"So if you don't want this crater to become a bigger crater, taking us and any possible survivors with it, refrain from casting any volatile spells."However, despite the towers of roaring flames, time dilated flowers, and malfunctioning gravity, the most stupefying thing of them all was none of the (un)natural phenomenons, instead the identity of a crewmember, made apparent when Gerard flipped one over, one that was fortunate enough to not be charred into an unrecognizable mess.
"..." Valerie frowned,
deep, she knew that the ship could be Vangarian, but if that's the case, she certainly wasn't expecting it to be a civilian model, let alone hosting royalty.
"Don't tell me..." Before she fell into her drug-fueled coma back in the truck, the radio did mention something about an imperial princess assigned as a diplomat for truce negotiations.
The very first thing that came to her mind was deliberate self-sabotage,
"Seems like your wild theories regarding the princess being used as a sacrificial pawn to rally war support isn't so far-fetched after all..." Knowing those goddamned imperial scum, this wouldn't even amongst the worst of their atrocities,
"Doesn't matter if you're royalty, in the end, pawns are pawns."Feeling herself quite riled up, the anger at least provided a distraction from the choking mist, the white-haired WARDEN nodded at the largest of the Barghests,
"Affirmative, Morden, nonetheless, stay sharp." Expecting yourself to be invincible was exactly how plenty of soldiers got killed. For the moment, Valerie just watched as the bruiser hulked out even more before stampeding deeper into the crash site.
Considering how swift he was, it didn't strike her as odd that he'd reach the center of the site in a jiffy, the path was safe, he said... at least until he made contact with an unidentified entity. As soon as Morden raised his voice, Valerie was already accessing her mist pocket, reached her hand inside, then pulled out a weapon,
the weapon; a gun bearing the shape of a heavy machine gun a good seven inches longer than she was tall. It appeared to be dormant at first, but as soon as Valerie held it with both hands, the glowing veins from her body spread outward to cover the gun itself, only then it hummed to life as parts of it began emitting a neon glow of the same indigo hue. At the same time, a halo of black thorns and a pair of infernal wings projected from Valerie's body; ethereal metaphysical manifestations of her mist power, bearing the image of a demonic angel, a Nephilim.
"Haa..." The 2nd Class was ready for combat, even after Morden confirmed that the robot was already destroyed, the fact remained that weaponized machines were on-board the airship,
"I won't be surprised if those were used by the imperials to assassinate their own princess, and the public won't suspect them of foul play because "Vangar would never use automatons as weapons"..." Goddamn glorified mass murderers.
"Affirmative, Morden, we'll join you promptly. Provided Justice doesn’t explode on us."With a nod to the rest of the squad, Valerie jumped off the lip of the crater, her non-functional wings spread as if heralding the Nephilim's descent to hell itself.
@vietmyke @Psyker Landshark @Blizz @OwO @Yankee
The Otter
Yankee
vietmyke
Raineh Daze
Majoraa
Estylwen
TheWendil
Cool Ghoul
Ivar
