[center][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/Icmastic/MK6TEqW_zps6kzzuhhv.jpg[/IMG][/center][center][sup][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbnPlyqI014]Struggling [Against // Alongside] Fates[/url][/sup][/center][hr][sub][color=steelblue]I S L E   O F   I V A L I C E[/color] / / [color=steelblue]M A N Y   Y E A R S   P R I O R[/color][/sub][hr][color=darkgray]They had been there the entire time. 

Varrina slowly crouched, aquatic irises maintaining contact with temperamental umber and a curious countenance besmirched by a crooked grin. A petite arm reached low and scooped up two lengthy items wrapped in simple cloth and loosely tied with string. Her lips stretched wider, the excitement building and throbbing just under the surface of her chest, rows of teeth beginning to surface through the widening crack. As smoothly as she lowered herself, the young lady knight rose back to full posture and tossed the longer of the wrapped items over to her waiting opponent, eliciting a brow raise and a visage of slight confusion. Corbyn took a moment to bore this look into the confident manner of his associate while nimble fingers weaved through the string and pulled both it and the fabric away. An ornate spear revealed itself under the moonlight as the boy dug the butt of the shaft into the ground to assess the full height of his familiar weapon. He sucked his teeth. "How did you know?" He asked, gaze shifting from the decorative, yet deadly, blades of the spear back to his female companion. 

Varrina crudely tore her fabric away to reveal a long and heavy looking claymore. The silver blade glinted under the moon, rising far above the girl's head as she held the black bandaged wrap hilt to her chest briefly. A small recess traveled the length of the blade in the center though it stopped short of both the tip and the base. The guard was a simple apparatus, merely extending horizontally to the left and right before coning down into the hilt. The lady knight rotated the large weapon in her right hand so as to hold it in an underhanded style, her fingers curling around guard and hilt alike near where the base of the blade disappeared into the guard. "I've seen some of your late night practice sessions," She replied softly. 

"Guess I wasn't as hidden as I thought," Corbyn chuckled slightly, "A sword is a fine weapon, but there's something about a lance that's just... More exciting? I have to tell you though, I've always hated that." 

"Hated what?"

"How you hold that claymore. Is there even a point?" 

"That's right, you've never trained with me. It's just my own style. Don't let it distract you. I don't want to hear any excuses when this is over," Varrina adjusted her footing and slightly angled her body to the side, her left hand resting lightly on the hilt of her large weapon. 

"I figured this was going to be barehanded since we're off duty at the moment. Where the hell'd you even get these from?" 

"You're not the first person I've done this with." 

"That's not an answer to my question." 

"Not the question you vocally asked, sure." 

"More importantly, why are we even using real weapons to begin with if we're just sparring?" 

"I told you, I need to be certain of something. Besides, if you think this is your average sparring match, this is going to be easier than I thought." 

"What are you--" 

She wasted no time. Launching from her rear foot, Varrina exploded forward and closed the gap between the twosome in seconds. Corbyn barely had time to gasp as muscle memory took over and shuffled his feet quickly to the side, throwing his body towards the ground and into a side roll. As he came out of the roll and snapped his gaze back to his feminine opponent, widened eyes caught a glimpse of the ending of a perfectly executed horizontal swipe, the massive claymore now clutched in her left hand and her form rigid and precise. Varrina reclaimed her original stance and turned to face the young, bewildered knight with the kind of smile a mother gives her children. The boy quickly rose and gripped the spear in both hands, the weapon now guarding the front of his body - then he felt it. A slight breeze nipped and gnawed at freshly exposed skin under a newly opened tear in the plain shirt he wore. Their eyes met once more, but the curious blue now glinted within a ray of moonlight in an almost sinister fashion. "It's exactly as I said," Varrina coldly intoned, "This isn't going to be your average sparring match." 

The harsh clang of clashing metal rang out and echoed into the night sky as Varrina bent knees and brought up the broadside of her blade, with both hands, quickly to meet a stabbing thrust. Corbyn sneered behind the shaft of his outstretched spear, his body turned completely to one side and a tight over and under hand grip on his weapon. Any confusion or surprise had been wiped away to be replaced by an almost manic expression of satisfaction. "If that's how we're going to do this," Arms ferociously pulled back, the spear retreating with controlled haste while the body spun a quick 360 to bring the blades atop the shaft back around towards unguarded legs, "then let's [i]fucking[/i] do this!" He exclaimed as his offense was once again met with the broadside of the claymore. The two entered into a state of equivalent exchanges as swipes and slashes were met with blocks and deflections on both sides. Corbyn danced and pirouetted around the grassy, forested battlefield while Varrina only seemed to move in defensive maneuvers, opting to use the efficiency of shorter steps to aid in her masterful offensive technique. A full minute went by as the clashes raged on before the duo stopped a short distance apart - the same distance they had started with. 

"You're a lot quicker with that thing than I thought you'd be," Corbyn complimented, his chest heaving in and out ever so slightly. 

"Unfortunately, I'm not one for pointless reciprocity," Varrina once again regained her original stance. 

"I didn't ask anyway. I was just sayin', mostly" 

"Well we can save that kind of talk for later. You haven't beaten me yet." Varrina smiled once more as she launched herself forward to meet a now equally fast Corbyn in another clash.[/color]


[sub][color=steelblue]S O L D I E R   E N C A M P M E N T[/color] / / [color=steelblue]Z A L E R A    T U N D R A[/color][/sub][hr]
[color=darkgray]The wail of the siren created an odd dichotomy for Corbyn. On the one hand, his body jolted and his head snapped to the nearest loudspeaker as if to confirm the noise and comprehend its meaning fully, validating the subtly rising feelings of worry and dread bubbling within. On the other hand, his heart smiled with a steadily rising frequency of beats, a more feral, primal even, kind of fragmented excitement slowly clustering and joining together in stark opposition to the surface level trepidation and caution. His eyes closed as he let the pitch of the warning banshee penetrate his being and stir his focus. Fleeting thoughts of early days at the Fort wove together in the space of his mentality, creating a tapestry of memories and feelings brought on from the training and speeches of more experienced officers from that time. Countless training simulations and scenarios lost all their heft as the sound of the screaming alarm cemented this first SOLDIER deployment as all too real. This is what the commander had both been weary of and hoping for. This is when everything would truly begin.[/color]

[color=slategray]"That sound... Is truly awful,"[/color] [color=darkgray]Asteria whined. Corbyn shifted in his seat, erecting his back and interlacing his fingers on the table. An influx of personnel had stormed the tent and removed the food and drink to be replaced by dossiers and documents. Though every member of the unit had a responsibility to read files prior to leaving for deployment, this kind of impromptu debriefing was standard even when the alarm remained silent. The fact that it had gone off meant that the mission had just become that much more interesting. The commander maintained a blank expression as a random officer began the meeting.[/color] 

"Archadia has ordered a sudden increase within their border security. Our allotted window of infiltration has been shortened drastically. You must leave tonight, otherwise there will be a full out war on the borders and the chance that we lose the Weapon too high to risk such an affront. The Shyps will hover near the shore, where you'll be required to drop down and swim the rest of the way up. To avoid security seeing the Shyps, we'll use the blanket of the tundra winds and snow to remain hidden, but we can only get so close."

[color=darkgray]Corbyn's brow furrowed instinctively. A sudden increase in security? He couldn't wrap his head around the order. There shouldn't have been a way for Archadia to have been tipped off on SOLDIER's movements, but that would mean that something else was going on that was drastic enough to cause this kind of paranoid reaction.[/color] 

"We've deliberated over your files and have determined that the best course of action would be a troupe designed purposely for distraction, and one for infiltration. The distraction group will draw attention towards them and away from those that will sneak in through a gap in the force, the sudden action will hopefully disturb the tightening of security so you're able to gather into Faelan without trouble. Once the infiltration group has secured a certain point within Archadia, a signal will be provided by the critical explosion of a flash bomb so the distraction team can pull away. The point is to avoid unnecessary... Death."

[color=darkgray]The corners of his lips tugged just slightly as the commander listened to the officer speak. He knew what was coming next.[/color]

"The infiltration group will be led by Corbyn Vesper and the distraction team will be led by Carmen Auset."

[color=darkgray]"Well, shit," Corbyn interjected before waving a hand at the officer to disregard the errant comment and continue. He took a quick look around the table at the others and rubbed his temple. Ranks in SOLDIER were funny kinds of things. Beyond the semantics of title, the organizational hierarchy didn't really mean much. Ranks signified ability and strength more so than authority and seniority - indicative of danger even, in the case of certain individuals. It wasn't that the commander had problems with leading a team--quite the opposite, considering he had done it before--but the man himself figured he was better suited to causing a bit of a ruckus than methodically navigating an area.[/color]

[color=slategray]"You can't be actually disappointed," Asteria echoed, "You don't even like to fight. This should be perfect for a man like you."[/color]

[color=darkgray]"Tch, a man like me... Look, I'm not disappointed anyway. I was just a bit surprised, is all. Figured I'd be more useful as a distraction. I'll go wherever they want me to."[/color]

[color=slategray]"So now you're their lapdog, too? Ha! This should be entertaining, at the least."[/color]

[color=darkgray]"Just shut the hell up, you don't have a clue. I already told you to go back into dormancy anyway, I won't be using your power."[/color]

[color=slategray]"Sure, we'll see how that goes.'[/color] 

[color=darkgray]Corbyn sighed audibly just as the screaming banshee came to life for a second round. One of the young analysts caught wind of infantry already heading to the Archadia borders to help with the security increase. It was now or never, it seemed. Clutching the lance on his back as if to make sure it was still in place, the commander stood and intrinsically brushed off his shirt and stretched before he was hit with the most important revelation of that moment. 

His stomach rumbled angrily as he realized he hadn't eaten a single piece of the meat that had been brought out.[/color]


[sub][color=steelblue]A B O A R D   T H E   S H Y P[/color] / / [color=steelblue]T H E   C A N A L[/color][/sub][hr]
[color=darkgray]Unlike the previous vessel, the transport Shyp taking the team to Archadia was quite a bit roomier within its heavy metallic walls. The overall design of the exterior was more aerodynamic and built to stealth specifications, yet somehow was made to provide almost double the space inside, spread amongst three main compartments. The SOLDIER unit took up refuge in the lower deck where the hydraulic ramp and weapons storage was - though the storage housed standard issue projectiles, not the custom weaponry a SOLDIER might carry. In true uniform fashion, olive hues surrounded those within on all sides save for the presently darkened alarm which stood out amongst the brighter shade it was attached to. Three double rows of seats created a squared off "U" shape on the outer edges of the large space nearest to each of the three walls, but the current roster took up nowhere near the amount of seats available. In Shyps like these, Corbyn always elected to claim a seat on the wall directly across from the hydraulic ramp. He liked to watch the ramp release from its internal locks and slowly drop down, revealing the outside the world. His lance occupied the seat next to him, pointing up at the ceiling and leaning at a diagonal.[/color]

[color=slategray]"What are you thinking about?"[/color] [color=darkgray]Asteria suddenly echoed. Corbyn, slumping and laid back in his seat with his eyes closed, sighed and laced the fingers resting on his abdomen.

"My goodness, you're talkative today," He replied in his mind, "And what kind of stupid question is that? You can read my damn thoughts."[/color]

[color=slategray]"I'm trying to practice being more... Down to earth, as you put it?"[/color]

[color=darkgray]"Yeah, that's not what that means. In any case, we've got a decent chunk of time left, I may as well give in. Nothing much, really. I was just reflecting on that night... "[/color] 

[color=slategray]"We have co-existed for far too many nights for me to understand which one you're referring to."[/color]

[color=darkgray]"Right, right. It was years before we were... Well, before we found ourselves in this situation. It was a similar kind of impromptu outing then too and I just... I just remember feeling the same way then, as I do now. That's a little interesting, to me."[/color]

[color=slategray]"It must have something to do with that female, right? What was her name, again?"[/color]

[color=darkgray]"Heh... It was--" The sudden jerk and pull of gravity and g-force burst open Corbyn's eyes as he felt a sharp downward sensation. It took a few moments to register, but something had wrong - [i]very[/i] wrong. Crimson flashes of light accompanied by an even louder, screaming siren threw the commander's senses into a dizzying soup of amalgamated confusion, shock, terror, and even plain old fear. As the nosedive grew steeper, his thoughts all came crashing together at the same, horrifying conclusion; the shyp was going down and it was going down hard. 

Corbyn awoke with a snap and immediately felt the aches and stinging of various parts of his now sprawled body. Though the seats on the Shyp all came with restraints, the commander was accustomed to not wearing them since SOLDIER had never had to really leave the Fort properly until now. Of course the first time would immediately bite him in the ass. As his vision cleared, the fuzzy figure of Carmen came into view, the unhinged woman rushing to cut restrained SOLDIERs free and the another woman, Natalya, lending a hand in the endeavor. As the two were almost finished, Corbyn took a few seconds to shift his gaze around, regaining his bearings and feeling around for his lance. Luckily, his prized weapon had fallen not too far and with it now in tow, he turned back to see Carmen diving into the quickly rising waters of a flooding, now overturned Shyp. "Water. It [i]had[/i] to be water. Guess I'll have to actually swim," Corbyn muttered to himself as he strapped his weapon to his back once more, took a breath, and followed Carmen's direction hoping she had already found a way out.[/color]