Post by Jay on Apr 17, 2020 21:10:55 GMT -5
WORDS: 1923 | TWC: 1923 | NOTES: Death Enabled
April 10, 26 AV
”Hey dad?”
”What.”
”That them?”
”Damn well better be. If it’s not, I’ll be sending them off in a bag.” The girl frowned, the cat-like ears atop her head of soft pink hair twitching. ”Hmm…”
Cherise Tarasque (neè Madder) had never been one for her father’s readiness for violence as a solution to most, if not all, of his problems. Sure, he’d been that way since she was born- her mother being one of three people she knew of that he would never lay a hand on in anger or frustration- but that didn’t change the fact that she wished he would settle down and do something more honest for a living.
At least this was better than the robberies.
Quiet, and for a good cause. She could respect that. It was why she’d forced her way into the operation- she couldn’t do much in a fight, of course, but she had a semblance that lent well to keeping her father, and his err… coworkers, alive. It was something she could, at the very least, to help keep him safe, even if her husband didn’t necessarily like the idea of his wife aiding a criminal operation.
Regardless, both the hulking brute of a man called Gryphen, and the absolutely tiny Cherise, stood alert at attention as the first vehicle arrived, carrying what they hoped to be an ally, and not a cop far out of his way, or some gangster trying to prove something. They were definitely an odd pair- Gryphen stood at 6’9”, rippling with hardened muscles, with an equally hardened face, wrecked with the scars of a lifetime spent fighting. And in his well-worn denim jeans and overworked leather jacket, he looked the part. Cherise was, by comparison, not much more than five feet tall, late 20s, and wearing a pretty plain looking blouse, with a black skirt. She’d look a lot more at-home at the Faunus-friendly clinic she worked at, further up in the Ground District, than standing outside of an abandoned weapons facility.
They watched silently as the first arrival stepped within view.
The only ones Gryphen wasn’t sure he’d recognize from recruiting them were Knight and Red, the first of whom his own employer had personally scouted, and the latter, a tag-along with Knight. He’d gotten physical descriptions of them over his burner Scroll, though, so he was confident he’d recognize them if they were the first to arrive.
This was to be a big moment for the Asche Syndicate, after all, and he wanted to ensure that everything went without a hitch. He had his instructions from his boss, and she’d already shared that information with Knight and by extension, Red. And of course, he’d illuminated Mr. Pickett, Ms. Piccard, Mr. Hearth, and Mr. Varice through the proper channels.
The mission was simple- they’d located a potential headquarters, but the issue with it was that it had been abandoned years ago, and was locked up tight. They had no idea, however, what they would find within- there weren’t any windows, but it could very well have been broken into and used as another group’s base of operations. Hell, there could even be Grimm hiding out inside- it wasn’t a possibility he was willing to rule out, given the building’s history. By the looks of the place, and its position in the woods, he figured it must have been forgotten about. Their job was to scope the place out and if they ran into anything inside- kill it.
Aside from that, they were entrusted to not cause too much of a racket, not to damage the building more than necessary, and if possible, to see if they could find any useful materials. At the very least, he was sure the building ran on old Pre-War power technology- there ought to be a generator in there somewhere, and if they could find one of the old Lightning Dust fuel canisters, they should be able to turn on the power. At the very least, it’d help with the lighting- the last thing they wanted to do was go running into a fight in the dark.
Hopefully, there wouldn’t be a fight. Bringing this many of Asche’s team in on this was intended as massive overkill. That didn’t mean that they could afford to be careless- just that he was expecting the worst, and hoping for the best.
The pair waited, greeting each Syndicate member in turn, as they approached- politely, in spite of the older man’s gravely voice and stony expression.
Whitaker Pickett, a man with a reputation for business-savvy and punctuality, was first to arrive. He was met with a firm, proper handshake. ”Mr. Pickett. Thank you for being here this evening. If you’d like a few minutes to scope out the premises, feel free to do that while we wait for the others to arrive.” Cherise offered him a friendly smile. ”And here! One of these is for you.” She presented him with a small mint tin, with a few loose Dust crystals carefully held in ziplock bags. It had taken a bit of footwork to acquire the provisions for this mission, but it was deemed necessary. Two Gravity, One Lightning, a Wind, a Fire, and a Water crystal. Whitaker took the Water dust, which Gryphen noted mentally. Responsible choice, and one that implied confidence in the face of a potential fight. Good to know.
Next to arrive, pulling in to the spot far too fast, and in a ride far too flashy, was Pyre Varice, evoking a grimace from Gryphen. ”Why not add a damn siren to that thing while you’re at it? Let the whole goddamn district know we’re out here.” Cherise tutted, shaking her head. ”Oh, lighten up! You hired him, after all…” Gryphen crinkled his nose, and a quick glance quietened her up, though she shot Pyre a mischievous smile from behind her father’s back, as the large man extended a hand for Pyre to shake. ”I’ll take it from your being here on time that you received my message, Mr. Varice. Wait over there until the others arrive, and try not to do anything else to get the whole goddamn council crawling up our ass.” Cherise offered him the tin, and to exactly nobody’s surprise, the brat took Fire dust. Of course he did.
Fucking kids…
The next person to arrive was one Piroshka “Signet” Piccard, walking in from the old, seldom-used, sidewalk, from the direction of the bus stop a block or two away. The revolutionary. He was still not entirely sure of her loyalty to the organization, and frankly, that meant that he didn’t exactly trust her. This was an opportunity, good as any, to give him a reason to change his mind. ”Ms. Piccard. You got my message, it seems, so I shouldn’t have to explain much else. If you could wait over there until the others arrive, we can start soon.” Cherise smiled, giving her one of the remaining Dust crystals. Wind. A good all-around choice; and by choosing it, she was expressing confidence in her own combat abilities. The question remaining was whether she would use her dust ration to charge into or away from danger.
Charcoal, otherwise known as Kodaal Hearth, was next to arrive, on a motorbike that looked older than Dust, and Gryphen couldn’t help but feel a little agitated at the ages of his subordinates, now that he was looking them over all together. Besides Whit, every last one of them was around his daughter’s age, if not younger. He would have preferred some older allies, but he’d make do. Charcoal was arriving pretty close to the deadline he’d set, which was annoying, but only slightly. At least he was there on time. ”Mr. Hearth. Thank you for coming. We’re still waiting on one or two others, so until then, if you’d just wait over there.” The smaller woman beside him extended the tin, and Charcoal took one of the two Gravity dusts. He wondered if he’d have wanted the Fire crystal Pyre had snatched, considering his nickname, but quickly that thought was removed from his mind at the literally-last-second arrival of Knight and Red. They were walking up, from a different direction than the others- presumably having parked elsewhere, if they drove- and if it hadn’t been for the descriptions his employer had provided him with, he would have taken that much worse than he did. As it was, he offered a relatively neutral, but polite, nod, before moving to shake their hands in turn.
He was a handshake kind of guy. It was just common courtesy. A holdover, perhaps, from his generation.
And ugh. These two looked even younger than the others. Annoying. But from what he understood, Knight in particular would be a useful asset for this operation. ”You two must be Knight and Red. Gryphen Madder. I’m here on behalf of our mutual employer. If you’d take one of these Dust crystals, and stand with the others, we can get started.” Cherise’s ears perked up at the sight of the two fellow Faunus, as she extended her tin to them. Red took Lightning, and Knight took the very last one in the tin- Gravity. Considering their lack of options, the types chosen didn’t exactly say much about their abilities, or motivations, so he’d just have to hope they didn’t turn out to be useless.
Now that everyone had assembled outside the vine-addled front doors, heavy steel, and coated with two decades’ rust, Gryphen took the moment to gather their attention.
”Alright, you’ve all been informed by either myself or my employer of the situation. We’re looking to expand our operation to a consistent physical location, and for that, we need a place to operate. We have no information on what is inside this building, and by all accounts, it may be in use by bandits, or there may even be Grimm sealed inside. I want you all to scout out the place, see if there’s anything we can use inside. And if anybody, or anything, is in there, that shouldn’t be, clear them out. There should be a generator somewhere on the first floor, so see if you can get at that first. Get the lights on, and then look around.”
“This place is old as hell, and falling apart, so watch your step. And remember what was made here- they probably scavenged the place for most of the Dust munitions, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be loose powder or fragments scattered around. Cherise here is our organization’s doctor, so if you get your ass blown up, it’s her job to get you patched up again. Don’t make her job harder than it has to be.” The pinkette gulped slightly at the image of exploded person bits. As much faith as he had in her, she was pretty certain she couldn’t exactly stitch anyone back together after getting exploded.
”Me and my da- err. Mr. Madder. Will be out here, by the door, so if you get in any trouble, try and make it out here to us!”
Gryphen’s scowl was unreadable as he nodded curtly. ”So if there aren’t any questions, get in, check the place out, and report back to me when you’re done. And remember- keep it quiet. We’re out in the sticks, but that doesn’t mean we’re invisible.”
"it's the year of the jackal
saddle up on high horse, my torch forced Polaris embarrassed"
credit to nat of adoxography.