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[Glass]

Jessie

"...thanks."

She can see through lies. Goddesses damn it.
Was it a bluff? Maybe. It's not like Jessie had a way to confirm one way or another. But even if it was a bluff, that meant that they already suspected that Jessie was lying. Which... wasn't unfair, considering how little trust she'd been giving them.

Damnit.

Whatever. That wasn't the important thing right now. Focus on the mission.

"She went into a candy store, so I think there's a better-than-usual chance that I lose sight of her at any given moment. Remind me frequently in here."
And with that, Jessie entered, looking for the girl.


Silvia

Silvia considers the question for a moment.
"...it's hardly perfect, but anyplace better we could get to has been gone for years, now."

[Takosher]

Lunete

"Oh kate Lunete, I dunno about this." Shinko responded with her characteristic nervousness, "Didn't Ishma say to stay far away from them? What if she finds out?"

Shinko immediately started checked the surrounding area for escape routes. Although her attitude was innate, some of her nervousness was warranted. Although she was a mere accomplice, any consequences Lunete endured were regularly applied to Shinko as well. That was actually another reason Shinko was useful, she could provide Lunete with a reliable escape route more often than not.

[Chevaleresse]

Lunete

"I would say that what Ishma doesn't know won't hurt her, but it most certainly will. If they're up to no good, where is it better for us to be - meekly minding our orders, or ready to meet the people who would do us harm with the full force of our hate?" She folded her arms, eye swapping between following Shinko's gaze and watching the doorway. "And if they're being honest, well, there's no harm done, right? I'm just a simple woman, trying to keep our valued guests safe." Lunete nodded self-assuredly. "Whatever Ishma has in mind can't be worse than what Katria's meddling might do to the country. And if the 'ambassadors' really mean no harm, then I won't bother them, and nobody will be the wiser except for us."

[Takosher]

Silvia

Ishma kept a measured expression, not giving away her feelings about Silvia's answer. "You may have three days." she said, "You're free to roam anywhere that isn't private. Anyone you're not supposed to meet has already been instructed to keep their distance. Paperwork is on the third floor, room 317. We're still sorting things out, but if you want to understand the new Lanica, that's where you should go."

Mirala nodded thoughtfully, "So it's your people that matter to you. I can respect that. Thank you, we'll make the best of our time here." She turned to leave, prompting Silvia to follow.

"One more thing." Ishma called out, "If someone approaches you in the name of Eden, run."

Astarte

Astarte's radio was alight with calls from retreating soldiers confirming their position. She also got a report that the enemy tank force was using the opportunity to advance. It was definitely a bad position to be in, being forced to retreat before her own meisters could even deploy. But when you were dealing with someone like the Dragon, you had to make unfortunate calls.

"...pinned down." The first negative response to her retreat. The group nearest the advancing tanks were forced to hunker down in the grass, and they were slowly being advanced on. Normally Astarte could ask the backup meister to help them, but both Gene and Hytay were already moving to intercept the Dragon. Those men were effectively dead.

Eilyth

Eilyth's appearance more than served its purpose. Unable to defeat her but equally unable to ignore her, the enemy forces had no other option but to retreat. Meanwhile, Eilyth's troops and the Oh-Three were able to gain a considerable amount of ground. It was likely the enemy would be sending meisters to intercept her, but until they showed up Eilyth's battalion had free reign to kill and destroy anyone and everything they could get their hands on.

Jessie

A quaint little bell heralded Jessie's entrance to the shop. An older woman glanced over at her from behind the counter and offered a warm smile of greeting. "Fairy." Lali fired off her first reminder at the same time that Jessie spotted her target. The girl was shoveling sweets off of the shelves into a bag. Given that the shopkeep was not at all concerned by the amount of product being claimed by a dirty street rat, Jessie found it easy to deduce how the girl planned to afford the bounty of sweets.

Monika and Kirari

Four hours after leaving, Monika and Kirari found themselves inside of Harriet Military Base. Trick's inside woman had managed to sneak them right through the front gate, as task only possible due to the unusual lack of security personnel. There were people around, most of them techies by their outfits, but nothing that indicated this was the location of a top secret Neridan superweapon. According to Trick, that was the point, and there was more security closer to the weapon itself.

The next challenge was to actually find the weapon.

The base had a large, sprawling layout. Most of it was empty field, ready to practice tactics, test new weapons, or erect new buildings as needed. Most of what wasn't field was parking lot, most of it packed full of military vehicles, including at least one variety of tank that neither Katrian had seen before. There were around twenty buildings of various sizes across the grounds. The tallest two were clearly the offices and sleeping quarters, possibly mixed together like in Katrian bases. They were pretty big, and it was likely that they held more facilities than the offices and quarters, unless Harriet Base was secretly staffing well above the norm for a base twice its size. Another building was reminiscent of a school, with a wide floor plan and only three stories. Its purpose didn't stand out immediately.

Most noteworthy of all was the vast building at the back of the complex. Reminiscent of a train shed, it most likely stored even more vehicles behind its massive sliding doors. Although technically the superweapon could be anywhere, it would make sense if it were a new war machine hidden within the shed's walls. It would take quite a while to cross the complex and search the large building, assuming they could even get past any surprise security that decided to pop up.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Astarte

Letting out a small curse under her breath, Astarte continued moving to the secondary position she had laid out before hand, firing a few shots into the general direction of the Katrian military with her pistol. In all honesty, she was prepared for something to go horribly wrong with her plan, the existence of the Dragon putting a gigantic hole in their defense that was easy to take advantage of, a single factor Astarte didn't predict that unraveled the entire system she had created.

But, just because she expected something like this to happen, it didn't mean she was happy about it. An entire squad left to die in their first engagement with Katria was not a loss Astarte had wanted to take so soon, and so she needed to improvise, "Artillery Squads Lambda and Gamma, switch targets to the advancing tanks, give the others covering fire to retreat."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Eilyth
From atop the crushed remains of what used to be a tank, the Dragon surveyed the battlefield and let out a low, clicking growl as it watched its prey flee for it's life. Whoever commanded this lot was wiser than she'd expected for such a small garrison force. With her foes retreating and focusing on laying down covering fire, the second half of her plan was somewhat up in the air. The Oh-three could not have their impunity to clean house on the opposing tanks if none of those tanks were busy wasting shells on her. It was one of the few times someone had actually chosen to ignore the bait... and much to her own surprise, Eilyth found herself offended by it. Whoever the enemy commander was, they constituted more of a long term threat than Gene and Mercurial combined, and while Eilyth wanted nothing more than to cut off the head of the snake, she had no idea who it was. Even if she had, finding her within all this chaos would be nigh impossible. What were the odds that someone as demonstrably competent as that would needlessly risk things by lingering around the front?
   "Whoever you are, I'll find you eventually," She leapt off the ruined tank and continued advancing. A slight alteration was in order: killing off infantry could wait. For the time being she had to continue pursuing and taking down the enemy tanks. She could feel her fury grow even as she came to the decision. "I don't tolerate loose ends. And I'm the best goddess damned bait there ever was, no one fucking ignores me like that."
 
The writhing of warm metal tried to soothe her rising agitation. A reminder that tanks were much greater assets than a few infantrymen anyway. They'd be doing more long term damage if they could deprive them of their armor escort now. She was reluctant to accept the consolation, but let her anger relent anyway. A few of her innermost scales shifted in place, activating the same radio she had used to call for help during that fateful battle against Lily of Damnation.
    "All troops, continue pressing the advance. Leave the tanks to myself and the Oh-three. Command, have Alto and Gentry begin moving into position. The Ladies will likely be here soon enough."

With that said, she picked up speed again, gaining ground on the nearest tank thanks to the immense power of her limbs. She transferred that power into a vicious pounce that saw her tucking one wing in front of her to effectively create an aerial battering ram. A battering ram that crashed directly into the tank's turret with the deafening roar of holy stone against steel, right at the junction where the cannon connected to the main body. She didn't have to look back to know she had effectively disabled the thing, if not possibly killed its commander and some of the crew. She landed with enough force to make the ground shake beneath her colossal weight, and soon began charging again as she set her sights on yet another Tyranian tank.

Being bait and being a commander were the only two roles she was allowed to play right now. She refused to be outdone or ignored in either.

[Glass]

Silvia

Upon hearing Ishma's warning, Silvia sighed a bit and turned back toward the beleaguered rebel leader.
"Would you care to elaborate, or should we just leave it to hang above us like a particularly intimidating raincloud?"


Jessie

Jessie gave a soft "mh-hmn" to Lali and approached the girl.
"You know, you need to leave something on the counter for them, or it's just rude. Save some chocolate coins or something to 'pay' with. Or some pocket lint, if there's nothing else in the place to nick for the purpose."
Not loud enough to get the attention of anyone but the girl. Jessie'd put good practice into controlling her volume, for exactly this sort of purpose.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Monika

"Well, here we are. Gotta say, a bit more empty than what I expected" Monika commented, hands on her hips as she looked around the empty fields and at the various wandering individuals. She could admit that she wasn't the best at stealth (in fact, she absolutely despised it and never thought about trying it out), but she did at least try to keep just out of sight while she took in the base, "So, what are your thoughts Kirari? Think that weapon's in the back? Or Maybe it's one of the tanks parked out here."

[Chevaleresse]

Kirari

She surveyed their surroundings for a moment. It struck her that she couldn't feel the one eye lagging behind the other any more. Hah. Maybe I really am becoming a creature of pure Shadow. Banishing such irrelevant musings for consideration when she had the time and capacity, she gestured at the warehouse. "I think we should start our inspection by taking inventory in the back. Someone will need to address it if there's anything unaccounted for." Perhaps it was just her general lack of emotion, but Kirari did a very convincing job of sounding like their true purpose was ensuring the base was up to standards.

[Takosher]

Yava

Erina nodded politely and took a seat on the side of the table. Sola's home was a vast mansion, but the dining room was actually rather quaint, with a small table well suited to an average family of three. The more Yava was around Sola, the more she was able to see just how unexpectedly normal the chainsaw-wielding aristocrat was. A stark contrast to the prim and proper face that Erina put on.

Erina could still surprise though.

"You're a Thief." she said, immediately suspicious. The mask was still there, but something terrifying was peeking out from behind it. "Keyhole, not the first. Am I the first you've met?"

Silvia

Ishma shot Silvia a glare that made it clear her question was unwarranted. Mirala stopped in the doorway, but didn't leave.

"I have said precisely as much as I mean to." Ishma stated firmly, "I am not one to waste words, you would do well to remember that. Three days, don't waste them."

She returned to the window, her stiff-shouldered back making it clear that further comment would not be met so graciously.

Jessie

Fairy jumped in surprise at Jessie's voice, spilling some of her candy in the process. "How did you-?" she started. She didn't let herself stay startled for long, quickly putting on a very childish approximation of a stern face. "I don't need you to tell me what to do." she said.

"Fairy."

The girl tried to duck behind a shelf, but Lali's warning came just in time to keep Jessie from forgetting about her for more than a few moments.

Eilyth

"Already on our way, Colonel." Regula's gruff voice announced over the radio, "The skirt's trailing, nerves are getting to her. Should I send her back?"

"Skirt" was a term Eilyth had heard a few veteran soldiers use to refer to greener combatants, especially low-ranking meisters. Those who hadn't been in enough real battles to realize how impractical the garment was. It was only a reference to rookie status, as Regula herself preferred to wear a skirt into battle.

[Glass]

Jessie

She sighed. This wasn't working.

She pulled out the gum and walked around the shelf.

"You dropped a piece." She tossed it to the girl.


Silvia

Silvia put her hands up conciliatorily.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Have a good day."

Silvia turned back toward the door and followed Mirala out.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Yava
Yava blinked at the assessment, genuinely surprised that Erina could tell just by looking at her. The question that followed next transitioned that surprise into confusion, however. It felt much the same as when George the lackey had approached them and started asking about birds. The subtle thing beginning to peek out beneath the mask of prim civility only made Yava even more certain she was fishing for some sort of code.
    "I do not deny my past, no," she said, holding her hands up placatively, "but I work for Dame Sola now. And... apologies, but I am not sure I understand question. First what I have met?"

Eilyth
Gentry's reluctance was something Eilyth had expected the moment she settled on her. Her stance on the matter would remain the same as when she'd made the selection.
   "Negative," she responded into the radio, "she has to cut her teeth sooner or later. The Tyranians aren't likely to give a better opportunity than this one. All she has to do is serve as misdirection and keep their attention divided. The rest I leave to you."

She finally closed in on the next tank she had targeted. As with the others, she picked up her pace. Unlike the other times, instead of simply pouncing atop or into the vehicle she wound back one of her wings like a coiled spring just as she reached the machine. Before it was even clear what exactly she intended, her legs pushed off the ground just as she passed by the tank. In that moment she unleashed the potential energy stored throughout her entire body, twisting herself away from her target and unfurling her wing with monstrous force that turned it into a flying guillotine. Her wings were sharp and damn heavy, but under normal circumstances not even she was sure they could reliably carve through tank armor. With so much added power behind it though, that uncertainty ceased to matter. Her body's raw strength combined with the weight of her wing to make it's edge not slice, but cleave through the tank's turret just beneath the cannon. From the outside the damage didn't seem that much- a massive gash in the turret's lower section perhaps, but the tank itself was largely intact.

Eilyth could tell from the gash's positioning, however, that she had definitely hit the gun breech. The blood now adorning her wing was simply an added bonus to her true objective; either the commander or gunner were very likely dead. Possibly both of them. With a callous flick to remove the offending biomaterial from her glorious scales, she turned, picked out a new Tyranian tank in the distance, and once more set off on her rampage.

Well, at this point it was less of a rampage and more of a systematic disabling. There was no point making a show of savagery if they were already fleeing in terror. Her dominance here was already established.

[Takosher]

Yava

Erina smiled sweetly, her eyes lighting up with a delightful hunger that made Ambrosia seem about as terrifying as a puppy. "Ah, so I am." she said cheerfully, "Well then, you're in for quite a shock. Are you particularly religious?"

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Yava
Yava squirmed under that hungry gaze, but resisted the urge to physically remove herself from it. Why did she keep running into all the crazies here? Back home they only popped up occasionally.
    "As religious as next woman, I suppose. " She shrugged her shoulders, trying to play the question off as normally as it otherwise would've been. "...what is this big shock you mention?"

[Takosher]

Yava

"Well, I guess that's okay." Erina sounded disappointed, "You'll change your mind in a moment."

A warm light washed over Yava, seeming to come from all around. It was the most comfortable thing she had ever felt. It was in that moment that she knew that no one had ever loved her.

And the fire, oh the fire. A raging blaze that seared belief into her very heart. One name echoed through her mind, overwhelming her thoughts and consuming her very being.

As quickly as it came, it was gone again. Yava might have thought she imagined it, if not for the confident smirk on Katrina's face.