Valkyrie [Reboot][Plot][Forever Fall]

[Drae]

Melody stood in front of a large tree in a clearing somewhere in the Forever Fall forest, her normal garments replaced with an almost fantasy-like black attire. Her Railgun was slung across her back as she gently rested a hand on Rail. She scanned the treeline whilst going over the strategy she had come up with during all those hours spent on recon, and she was fairly certain that she knew how to get in and out of the lab successfully. Her mind always drifted back to her friend though, and she couldn't help but wonder how the poor girl had gotten mixed up in all of this.

I just hope she's alright, Melody thought, adjusting the glittering black-blue tiara she wore on her head. She was wearing a complete set of black plate armor, the Aegis family symbol engraved on the right shoulder as she removed Zero from it's holster and spun the small handgun around on her index finger. Now I just have to wait for them to get here.

[Requiem]

Around the same general moment that the girl had thought this, her first, ally-based appearance would become rather apparent and make his entrance.

...Although, not quite in the simple and normal way that most would make themselves seen.

Having been spending time in the Forest of Forever Fall for training purposes in advance, a particular, masked sadist would be lurking around the treetops, skillfully scaling them and transporting himself throughout the area from above. Rather than the normal, semi-formal/semi-casual attire that he sported, his current outfit seemed to give off the aura of a rather serious man on a hunt. Clad was he within his normal, collared, and dark grey dress shirt, which had its cuffs extended all the way to either one of its wrists and actually stayed there for the most part. Alongside this, he would be wearing his normal, slightly worn and torn pair of black chained jeans. Over all of this, he wore a rather large and long, collared, and hooded coat, with its sleeves rolled out and overlapping the sleeves of his inner shirt, though left the slightest bit of space to reveal the faintest trace of his primary upper body wear.

Despite the fact that he normally didn't wear this type of clothing, he wasn't quite dressed casual for the occasion.
Rather than clothing, it was his little accessories and whatnot that seemed to give off a constant, 'on-the-hunt' look from his being.

In addition to the clothing layers that he wore, the dual-toned teen also had several noticeable articles of protection upon his figure, alongside his weaponry. The things to take the most note of were that both of his shoulders were occupied with a duo of lightweight yet effective spaulders, and his feet were clad within a pair of well-built, knee-high armored boots, rather than his normal running shoes, though were padded on the bottoms to enable quietness and silence with movement. Of course, after this, there came his weaponry factors; Bestial Retribution was still kept slung over his shoulders on his back in its primary, club-like form, while Shadow's Embrace was locked within its secondary, gauntlet-bound form upon his left hand.

Soon enough, the lad would cease his movements from the crimson trees up high, slowing his movements as he spotted the Railgun down below. Must be the chick that tossed the call for help out there... he thought to himself, glancing down at his body for a couple of seconds to ensure that he had all that he needed with him at the moment. A sigh left his lips briefly afterwards. Alright, let's get this started...

With that thought, the man shifted his footing upon the branch that he stood on, turning himself around before purposely tipping over and beginning to fall backwards. Before he would have completely plunged down and collided with the floor, however, he locked the back of his knees around the plantform near him, causing him to hang upside down. While the tail of his coat remained locked beneath his knees, his hood hung loosely and freely behind his head as he gazed at Melody through the slits of his mask's 'eyes'. The only thing that could be seen as a facial feature was his mouth, which, at that moment, was curled into a somewhat upbeat and eager smile (though looked like a frown from the current angle, odd enough), as he kept his attention on the lass afar. Aside from the grin, the basic entirety of his face would be shrouded beneath his masking; a white figure, with black and red markings that seemed to be designed similarly to that of a Grimm's.

"Ayeeeee, ya wou'n hap'n t' be th' lass tha' called fer help, now wou'dya, Love?"

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Then out of the trees came a certain blonde "And if I go through here then... Aha! You two!" he said triumphantly "I'm here now, contain your lusts!" he said jokingly "Okay seriously though, what's the deal here and what's my pay?"

[Drae]

Melody glanced at both of the parties and sizing them up, drawing Zero out of its holster before spinning it around her index finger. Guess this is it then, she thought before standing up off of the tree and glancing up the the treetops around her. She glanced backwards to the two boys before speaking, her tone authoritative and militaristic.

"Follow me. I'll explain on the way," She said, the leaves in the tree to her right shuffling slightly as a figure darted within. Melody was well aware of this presence, and knew who it was quite well. Melody looked away from the two men and started walking, her boots crunching against the sparse leaves strewn on the ground before her. Her railgun bouncing heavily in its housing on her back as she twirled Zero around and stuffed it back into its holster.

[Requiem]

In a minor sense of curiosity, Thanatos blinked from behind his mask, tilting his head ever so slightly as he brought his gaze to trail after the supposed party leader. Despite her rather straightforward and all-business way of acting at the moment, he simply gave her a toothy grin, continuing to hang upside down for a moment as he struck a hand of his across his forehead in what seemed to be a salute. "Ayeeeee, ya go' it, lass," he responded simply, chuckling softly under his breath before allowing both arms of his to go limp and hang by either one of his flanks. Immediately after doing so, he swing his figure back and forth, eventually launching himself off of the branch from which he hung upon when his momentum was high enough to do so. As a result, he glided through the air for a moment or so before landing on the ground- and, when he did so, he tucked himself into a sort of ball-like figure and rolled across the grounds beneath him before instantly popping back onto his heels.

"Sooooo~... 'S all this 'bout?" the sadist inquired in a casual, yet interested tone while smoothing his coat down and adjusting his equipment to comfort. "Ya said somethin' 'bout Grimm in yer 'lil message, aye? Changin' a person's aura t' be able an' incorporate some kinda Grimmified effects, 'n all tha' shit?"

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

"Yeah, I wasn't really paying attention when I read the message, I just sorta skimmed it, and... I don't know what's going on, so I need an explanation.... Hindsight is, as they say, a bitch...." Skye said, clearly still disinterested and just wanting to get paid for killing something hostile....

[Drae]

Melody closed her eyes for a brief moment as she walked, her steps quiet as she slowly opened her eyes again to explain the situation to her newfound comrades.

"In that case I'll explain this again. Recently I located an old friend of mine who I haven't made contact with in quite some time. I managed to track her to the Silvershard Laboratory about 1 half mile north of our current position. After seeing her, I went and did some research about the laboratory and found out that the staff there had been researching Grimm until about five years ago when the facility was closed down. As I stated in the message, they were trying to figure out how to make a person's aura more compatible with Grimm. Presumably in an effort to make them less hostile towards us.

Word of their experiments got out into the outside world and into the press, and the lab's owner, Doctor Romulus Grey, was forced to shut down the labs. Through rigorous research and some hacking skill, I managed to not only figure out that the labs are still in operation, but that my friend, Arin Windhelm, is being held in this room here," Melody said, passing out a pair of AegisCorp AirTablets to the two men. The screens flickered to life to show a profile on Arin next to a blueprint of the labs. A large room in the center of the building pulsed with light blue light faintly as Melody began to wrap up. "Feel free to read the profile if you wish. I can safely estimate that we have an eight to twelve hour window of time before they move her at this current moment. Once we make contact, that window will shorten to only a few hours. Cruccifix is in the foilage above us, as Grey would no doubt have hired a mercenary band to guard the facility."

"Now," Melody said, halting in her stride before turning around and facing her allies. "Any questions?"

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Skye looked down at the screen that was handed to him, not actually reading it just staring at it "Romulus.... I don't trust that name... Romulus.... Romulus.... Romulus...... I think a guy from my village was named Romulus... He was a dick.... Like pretty much everyone else except my best friend and Eve.... I am not exempt from that..." he said before unceremoniously throwing the object in his hands behind him "No wait, his name was Remus.... But still, "Romulus", not very trustworthy a name.... Wouldn't trust a guy named that to my theoretical future children... Wouldn't trust a guy named Remus with'em either"

[Requiem]

”A rescue mission, then, eh…?” While striding forward after the newfound team leader, the sadist merely gave a slight nod while listening to what she had to say. During the time that she continued on, Thanatos merely remained in a silently thoughtful trance, keeping his narrowed, crimson-eyed glance upon the girl as she went on. Out of respect and for seeking a more thorough overview of the situation, he kept quiet throughout her little briefing. This continued on even when he was handed a tablet, and he merely gave the Aegis a quick glance before tilting his head down to scan the texts that the device had to offer. On occasion, he swiped his finger lightly across its screen in order to advance upon the information stored across its contents, though looked up at Melody from the corner of his eye to show that he was listening. At the statement that there would be another ally accompanying the trio from the sidelines, the teen took a small look over towards the shadows, murmuring some quote under his breath before nodding quietly, shifting the tablet given to him into the grasp of a single hand before holding it by his flank.

”Aye, I got nothin’ for ya, love… No’ right now, a’ least…” he spoke at long last after noting the group leader’s conclusion. His free hand lifted, the tips of his fingers pressing gently against his mask as he began to adjust it to a more comfortable posture upon his face. Both bold, bloodied crimson eyes of his locked upon the lass as she stopped, and, in turn, he ceased his stride as well while looking at her. ”Jus’ waitin’ t’ ge’ there, by this point… An’ th’ sooner we ge’ there, th’ be’er, ye? I’d hate t’ see a such pretty face ge’ tossed through so much torture, so… Ye. Whenever yer ready, lass.”

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Skye smirked "Does nobody care about how bad the name "Romulus" sounds? I'm calling it now, he's going to be the man behind this... If that's... Not obvious.... It's always the shady man behind the shady operation that re-opens the operation."

[Drae]

"Admittedly, yes. It does appear that Doctor Grey restarted the operation. However, that is besides the point," Melody said, looking up to the trees as a figure dropped down to the ground. Her mouth and nose were covered by a black cloth as she approached, and the only two visible weapons were the twin chakrams on her hips. Her dark hair was tied meticulously into a ponytail, and each step she took was completely silent. Even if the forest had been deathly still you wouldn't have been able to hear her.

"Nothing up ahead," Cruccifix stated curtly as she looked at Melody. Under normal circumstances the assassin would be running bounties, however this current job was paying more. For doing less. While it may not have been her usual way of earning money, it was certainly the easiest right now.

"Good. Did you see anything of the base?" Melody asked as she resumed walking, Cruccifix walked alongside her as they began to close in on the location.

"Several small groups of mercenaries. I noticed a few talking to what appeared to be a low-ranking member of the group as if they were urging him to go on patrol for them, so we may have to deal with a single enemy," Cruccifix said as the wind picked up slightly around them. She looked at Melody once before nodding and jumping back into the trees without a sound.

"Alright then. One possible target within a quarter mile. Those are the best odds we'll have all evening," Melody said as she drew her pistols. She fell silent for a few moments before turning around and handing each of her partners a small earpiece. "Maintain radio silence until we get to the location. Put these on in case we get seperated," she instructed as the top of the lab came into view. It was a tall, two story sterile white building with a flat roof, each window was blacked out, and as the group got closer they could just barely sense the difference in the forest noise.

A short distance away, Melody suddenly shot her hand up in a closed fist. Stop. She motioned towards the area around them as she raised her pistols up. A quiet thud was heard followed by a muffled cry as Cruccifix dropped down on the target. After several seconds of silence the assassin appeared dragging a familiar face out by his left ear.

"Ow! Goddammit Cruc, that fucking hurts!" Kuro hissed as the assassin dragged him out and shoved him towards Melody, who just stared at him in disbelief. "Oh... hey, Melody what are you doing here?" Kuro asked, the chain of Ragnarok hanging just behind his left shoulder as he spoke.

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

"Oh, hey, it's what's-yer-face! Guano! It's Guano, right?...."

[Requiem]

With the group's advance through Forever Fall, Ryan kept oddly silent; an odd thing for him to do, most of the time. However, his gaze remained sharp as he followed his surroundings, ready to retaliate should something suddenly appear.

Nothing seemed to turn up, though, and the young man thankfully found himself doing nothing for the meantime up until Melody signaled for he and Skye to stop. Having both received and given such a signal time and time again with the group that he was affiliated with, he immediately stopped in his tracks just a yard or so behind, waiting for whatever possible threat there was to be apprehended.

...A minute or so, he didn't quite find himself staring at a threat, though. Rather, he seemed to be staring at a particular, feline crossbreed. One that he saw from time to time due to friendly interactions, but didn't quite know well enough to know that much about. There was one thing he knew, though.

"...Tha' laddie, ain't bat shit, ye 'lil turd... 'F I remember c'rectly, tha' man ri' there... his name be, Kuro, aye?"

[Drae]

"Yes. It is, thank you," Kuro said as he went to brushing himself off. After doing so he looked up to see Melody staring at him and raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Is there something on my face?" He asked, glancing towards Thanatos for confirmation as Melody shook her head.

"No. Assuming your occupation I'm going to assume you're here on mercenary work," she stated, holtering her pistols as Kuro nodded. "Thought so. Exactly how much do you know about your employer?"

"Unfortunately we mercenaries all have the same code. We don't ask questions. What he did say was that he needed guards from now until tomorrow morning," Kuro said, shifting his weight onto one leg as he continued, "He also paid quite the hefty sum of Lien in advance. Why do you ask?"

"Because that lab isn't even supposed to be in operation," Melody stated, Kuro's eyes widening slightly as his left ear twitched in annoyance.

"Wait a minute. So you're telling me I've been playing bodyguard for a criminal?" He said, gritting his teeth as a low growl stormed in his chest. His pupils grew slightly slitted as he glanced back towards the labs. Melody nodded in confirmation before launching into the same briefing she had given both Skye and Thanatos.

"So he's pretty much going to put your friend through some horrible experiment is what is sounds like," Kuro said, lowering his tablet slightly as he read the girl's profile. He sighed before handing the tablet back to Melody, taking a small folded piece of tan paper out of his back pocket and tossing it into the air. In one swift motion he drew Ragnarok and cut the paper in half, folds and all. As the pieces of paper drifted down to the ground, he gazed at Melody whilst putting Ragnarok back into its sheath.

"That was Grey's contact I just destroyed. Whatever money he owed me at the end is gone now. I still have the advance. I'll help you. Not as a merc, but as an ally," Kuro said, his eyes glinting in determination as Melody nodded and turned toward Skye and Thanatos.

"Get ready you two. I have the feeling our window is about to close," She said as Kuro took a step forwards. He drew Ragnarok at the same time she drew her pistols, and they set off again towards the lab. When they were seperated only by a single line of trees, Kuro motioned and the group crouched down behind a bush.

"This is the only area the guards aren't patrolling for the next few minutes. I suggest you get in now before they come back. I'll try and get in the easy way to help, but I don't know how long I'll be. I won't go in with you because then I'd be put in Grey's bad graces. No matter what he is he has power. I've got a reputation to uphold.

I'll help you when I can, but I can't make the Doc even the least bit suspicious," Kuro said, receiving an appreciative nod from Melody before he rose and set off on his own.

"On three we move," Melody said to the group, Cruccifix tensing in the tree above them as Melody began her count.

"One.

Two.

THREE!"

[Requiem]

Throughout the interactions, the sadist seemed to continue his silence, and only watched as the scenario before him gradually progressed. It wasn't until everything was explained and the group was ready to push forward once more that he gave a nod and spoke to show that he was ready and was paying attention- but what he did say was only composed of a minor word or two of understanding as he followed and crouched behind the bush. Though he listened to what Kuro had to say, his eyes were locked well upon the building in front of him. His eyes briefly closed from behind his mask as he breathed softly, murmuring some foreign-tongued remark to himself as he pulled the hood of his coat over his head.

As Melody reached the end of her countdown, Thanatos gave a slightly toothy and enthusiastic grin under his breath as he quickly unhooked Retribution from over his shoulder and readied Shadow's Embrace for use within its gauntlet form. In a swift, bolt-like motion, he shot forward from his crouched position, temporarily taking the lead as he daringly and suddenly sprinted forward, embarking upon the final stretch of land between the forest and the laboratory.

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Skye followed quickly and closely behind the others, despite his unsatiated bloodlust, he knew he alone would stand no chance of they got caught, and he didn't have the highest faith in his current allies to last much longer even with all of them at once...

[Drae]

As the group bounded into the lab, Melody slammed the security lock next to the door. Having surveyed the blueprints and knowing the functions of each system in the security network almost by heart at this point, the Railgun was fairly confident that she would be able to guide what she now thought as her team through the maze of halls towards the central room. She twirled Rail around her right index finger as she slowly stalked into the main hallway, giving the appropriate signal to guide her allies into strategic positions on either side of her. Cruccifix brought up the rear, her chakrams glinting faintly in the fluorescent light given off from the ceiling lights above them.

Melody quietly screwed a silencer onto the end of Rail as she slowly approached a corner. Leaning out a small bit into the hallway beyond, she caught a glimpse of two armed mercenaries who were beginning to turn and walk their way. Signalling Thanatos to aid with the dispatch, Melody affirmed that she was taking the left target on Ryan's mark. The Railgun bended around to take careful aim at her target as the men stopped in the middle of the hallway, covered in full-body riot armor so thick that Melody was fairly certain a bullet would do nothing more than knock them out at this range.

[Requiem]

Following after the appointed leader, the Varryx boy kept his figure slightly crouched as he progressed onward, sweeping swiftly and soundlessly across the laboratory floors before reaching the next hallway. Upon arrival, he glanced over at the girl at the lead, watching as she gave her weaponry the necessary attachment that would be most useful while trekking about the facilities. Bold eyes of crimson would keep upon her as she leaned around the corner to survey the hallway branching out into their path-to-be, narrowed beneath his mask within an alert and readied aura about his being. The moment that she looked towards his way and motioned for him to aid within what was about to be, he merely gave a slight, subtle nod before taking a deep breath. Glancing down, he gave a light sigh while holding his right, gauntlet-clad forearm in eye's view in front of his chest, gently and quietly turning the dial to set a pre-recorded Dust pattern that was to be used when he began to make his more major movements. During this, he also fiddled around with some of the other buttons and controls fastened around it, taking care to set the power level at which the Dust would be expelled at to the second strongest, having taken note of the amount of armor that the two afar were wearing.

Once this was done, Ryan closed his eyes for a moment, suddenly clenching his hand into a tight fist before leaning over and closer toward his corner of the sector, unveiling deepened, crimson voids of his yet again before turning his head to meet eyes with Melody. He held her gaze for a couple of solid seconds; a silent signal that he was prepared to make his moves. Afterwards, he bowed his head down a little bit while tilting it and inching closer to the wall's end, glancing ever so faintly at the soldiers for a couple of moments. Within a matter of moments, a slight smile shrouded within a tinge of darkened enthusiasm seemed to tug at his lips as his hand snapped open, baring the central Dust port within his palm as he stepped partially into the hallway, though made sure to keep the more vital areas of his hidden by his source of cover.

In the blink of an eye, he rose his right arm up, leveling it relatively near his face as he aimed at the eastbound troop. At first, his aim was directed for his feet. He quickly released a couple of thin, yet high-powered blasts; each influenced by a heavy-duty dose of Ice Dust in attempt to freeze the man within his tracks and provide a distraction. Immediately after doing so, he took aim at one of his hands, releasing another blast of the same Dust type in hopes that it was his dominant hand before leveling his arm into an angle to point his palm at his target's chest. When this was done, another surge of Dust scored through the air, sending a beam of Fire Dust at the foe in attempt to hopefully cause enough of a scorch to melt through even a small part of the armoring and to also deliver a burn to the skin, should luck allow it. Regardless of whether or not it did, however, another streak of Dust - Lightning Dust - would have soared across the clearing just a fraction of second after the Fire one had departed, trailing behind it as it began traveling to the same area.

Its effects would have been enough to knock out, but not to outright kill.

[Drae]

Melody silently pulled the trigger on her own gun as Ryan began his assault. Watching in silent content as the man she hit dropped to the ground a mere moment before Thanatos's target did himself. Motioning for the rest of the group to follow her, Melody slowly guided them through the winding hallways, silently dispatching the odd soldier here and there before they came across a large blast door.

Checking her digital map of the laboratory's blueprints, Melody confirmed their location before turning back to her team. Cruccifix using her enhanced hearing to listen in on the conversation while silently ensuring their safety.

"To put it in civilian terms, we are exactly three rooms and four hallways away from the center of the complex. That means that we've reached the learning curve in this little mission. From here on in there will be barely any chances to reload, never mind rest. As soon as I blow this door open it'll become a bullet hell until the last hallway. Unless they changed around the setup that center room is completely cut off from the rest of the lab. If we can get in there, we can save Arin," She said confidently, changing out the empty clip in Rail for before adjusting the strap on her Railgun. She debated for a few moments on if she should remove her silencer, but decided not to for the off chance that she was wrong.

"Get your rest now. You have three minutes before I blow open this door."

[Requiem]

To those words, Thanatos glanced over at Melody, flexing his gauntlet-clad hand before crossing it over his chest, alongside his other arm. Due to the scenario and how he had been trained to take situations such as this within the Revolution, he maintained a calm, nearly emotionless expression - though one that was hidden beneath the shade of his mask. "I've been through situations like this time and time again, lass... It comes with being involved with my parents," he said, eying her through the slits of his mask as his voice dropped its accent for the moment, revealing his legitimate and natural tone. "I'm used to hustle situations like this, so I myself could easily rush in there guns blazing right here, right now... The sooner we get in there, the better chances we have of saving your friend, anyways."

A light pause in speech would be taken as the boy undid his armored hand from the fold it was within, opening his palm to face his view while fiddling around with the Dust dial around its wrist a bit. He turned his head a little bit, glancing over at Skye from over his shoulder ever so slightly while adjusting his weaponry. "I mean, like... I know that we'd all have to be in favor of moving forward sooner, since this is a group effort. But...I'm just saying. I'm ready whenever."

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

Skye smiled in a way-to-wide fashion, ear-to-ear, his excitement could be easily heard in his voice "Hehehehe. This is the first time I've been able to shed the blood of man since I left for Vale...!.... If all of you die, but by some miracle I'm still standing, I'm not burying the bodies..." he said bluntly as he looked at his own reflection in his sword, smile vanishing into a more battle-read, serious glare...

[Drae]

Melody glanced at Skye and then at Thanatos, her right eyebrow raised slightly higher than the left in an inquistive look as she looked back at Skye for a few moments before shaking her head slightly. For some reason I was expecting him to say something along those lines, Melody thought calmly as she focused on the door. She had taken time out of her week for the past few months to figure out how the little hints to her semblance worked. She found out that she could focus on an object while in an emotional state to cause the flames to only affect that object... so far she had burned everything from fruit to plastic weaponry, but hadn't had the chance to try it on a door of this size before.

"I take it we don't need the three minutes then. Alright. Stand back, guys. I don't know what exactly this'll do," Melody warned, her body outlining in the familiar red of her aura as she focused on that pit of unprofessional rage towards Romulus Grey, the one that had formed on her way in. As she felt the warmth of anger rise up, she directed the effect to the most productive outlet: the door right in front of her.

With a yell, Melody reared back her right fist and threw a punch. Unbeknownst to her, a split second before her fist made impact her hand had engulfed itself in flame, the impact from the burst of Aura that ensued blowing the door completely off of its hinges and into the room beyond. It landed on a couple of poor sods who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, knocking them out completely. In the moments of stillness while the mercenaries figured out what had happened, a familiar figure nodded at Melody, his hand reaching up for the handle to his blade as Melody ripped her other gun out of its holster.

Three shots. The number of times Melody fired in the silence to drop three different mercenaries as Kuro pulled the chain on Ragnarok.

Two seconds. The amount of time it took the rest of the mercenaries to react afterwards. By the time they had gone to arms a few of their men were already dead, and Kuro was going to town with his Short Circuit Paradigm.

One Chance. To make it count. Now that they had breached the door, Melody and her allies wouldn't have any chance to get out without saving Arin.

[Requiem]

As was commanded, the masked heir gave a slight, yet complying nod as he took a step back, closing his eyes for a moment and sighing softly under his breath while Melody prepared herself. Soon enough, he opened his eyes yet again, his gaze shifted into more of a glare that shone dangerously from even beneath the slits of his mask. With a new aura of seriousness and business about him, he cracked his knuckles one by one, hooking his left hand around and grasping Bestial Retribution before unhooking it from his waistband. His hand tightened and loosened around it instinctively for a couple of moments before finally securing its hold, and he made a couple of moments with the hand armed with Shadow's Embrace before crouching down a bit and leaning forward in a readied stance.

The moment that the door was blasted from its hinges, Thanatos made a sudden, frighteningly speedy lunge forward and through the newly-opened space, taking a quick moment to assist Kuro as he downed a couple of the mercenaries himself with the power of both his club and his gauntlet alike. After doing so, he turned to see another man quickly approaching, and, after departing from the location closest to the other's, grinned beneath his mask as he stepped swiftly towards the newcomer.

With a quick, flawless, and seemingly memorized movement, he swept to the side, dodging a barrage of bullets aimed his way before taking another lunge. His right hand clenched into a fist before he hooked it around, punching the gun that his target held away and sending it sliding across the floor. Without wasting a moment afterwards, he quickly swung his fist in the exact direction that it had come from, slamming the back of his gauntlet harshly into the side of the man's head, which, in turn, seemed to briefly stun him despite his armoring.

Though the strikes were quick, the soldier seemed to recover exceptionally quickly, and went on to deliver several successful strikes at Ryan, sending him sliding back across the floor in reaction to the blows and causing him to lose his mask, which was then located somewhere closer to his attacker. The soldier took the moment to turn around to retrieve his gun, and was just about to aim it at Ryan with the intention of finishing him off.

Before he could even begin to pull the trigger, though, he was sent careening back with a lightning quick kick across the stomach, and collided with the furthest wall of the hallway. With the effects of his Semblance, what pain that Ryan acquired only augmented his senses ever further, resulting in his higher itch for bloodlust, as well as the quickness and severity at which the lab soldier had been hit at and his own recovery rate. This would only become more apparent as Thanatos sprinted further down the hall, kneeing the man once in the chest before punching him so hard in the face that the man himself actually caved into the wall to some degree, completely knocked out within a newfound dent in the wall.

Muttering and smirking in a suddenly darkened manner to himself, Thanatos quietly eyed and glared at his downed opponent before stepping back a little bit to retrieve his mask, bothering not to put it back on as he merely slid it into his coat.

He cracked his neck loudly before progressing further ahead for the moment, assuming a tank's role as he went on to engage whoever else would stand in the way.

...It would become apparent that he was doing a good job as a body flung back towards the area where his first, unconscious opponent still lay, which was followed by yet another poor soul a minute or so later.

[Empoleon_Blownaparte]

While the guards were distracted by his compatriots, Skye stood back, hoping they wouldn't notice him so he could sneak up on one or two before they did... He got behind one and he noticed him near-immediately afterwards "Ah! 'Nother hosti-" he said before Skye stabbed him in the neck multiple times with his sword "Well there goes that plan! Whoopsies!" he said mockingly as he was aimed at by three more mercs, he fired off two of his spears, hitting one man in the heart and another in the... Worst place a man could possibly be hit in... The second man fell to the ground in great pain, the first fought through the pain as best as he could and continued to fight "AH! WHAT ARE THESE!? WHY AM I NOT DEAD?!?" "THIS IS PROBABLY THE FIFTH WORST PAIN I"VE EVER HAAAD!!" they said as the first man and their unharmed comrade continued to shoot at Skye "IT DOESN"T MATTER! JUST SHOOT'IM!!, who was running to cover, luckily most of the shots missed and those that did were in non-vital areas and were either defended or healed by his aura "I DID A BAD, SOMEONE HELP ME!!" he yelled out I am compromising the mission so badly here!!... Oh well, I'll probably survive.... Probably...

[Drae]

((PUNISHMENT!! PUNISHMENT!! PUNISHMENT!!))

God Dammit, Skye! Melody cursed, whipping around with her twin pistols to dispatch the three mercenaries who had been progressing to her ally. As Kuro cut down another few alongside Thanatos, a soft thud hit the ground. Melody glanced over at Skye to see the cause of that thud looming over the poor boy. Shit. Not good, Melody grit her teeth as she threw her pistols into their holsters. Then she did something that she hadn't done in a long while.

The creature was massive, towering so high it could hardly fit into the room. Whatever face it had was concealed by the enormous metal helmet it wore, and it was obviously strong enough to be considered a boss of some sort. There was no way conventional weaponry could kill it. However, Melody's namesake weapon wasn't conventional.

Reaching one hand up above her shoulders, she grabbed hold of one of her Railgun's grips as she pressed a button on the strap to cause it to fall away. After the strap hit the ground she reached her other hand up to grab the other handle and heaved, the massive artillery weapon soaring over above her head before the twin blades on the bottom dug into the concrete in front of her. It was already loaded, all it would take.

"EVERYONE DOWN!"

...is a single shot.

The railgun rocked back as Melody fired, the blades digging up about 2 feet of concrete in a long gash as the girl herself skidded across the ground, the soles of her botts wearing on the concrete as the recoil threatened to dislocate Melody's shoulders. On the front most end an unbelievably fast lance of fire erupted from the wide, futuristic barrel of the weapon, blowing a hole straight through the oversized behemoth and blowing a hole through walls up to five rooms away. Anyone unlucky enough to get hit by the lance would have died immediately.

The massive creature rocked from the impact as a 4 meter-wide hole was blown through its side. A clean in-and-out wound. However tough it may have been, it merely fell backwards, the blade that was in its hand falling and stabbing itself into the ground right next to Skye's head. With the creature dead, the room fell deathly quiet. A mere second before Melody had fired, the last human mercenary had fallen to Kuro's blade.

They were the only ones still standing.

"Let's go. Enemy reinforcements are no doubt on their way," Melody said curtly as she slung her Railgun back into its proper place. She didn't seem fazed at all by the incredible carnage her weapon had created, and she drew her twin pistols once more as she moved to advance further into the complex.

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