[h3]Cobalt Chideta & Diamond Frost[/h3] [i]You better or mother hen will peck your eyes out. =P[/i] Diamond sent back before turning to Cobalt. “II dunno. Didn’t see you do much of leading thus far.” she said, choosing to be honest. “Can I ask you something? What were you doing before this. Before Beacon I mean. And more importantly, what was your MO.” “You see, I realize I’m the one making most of noise about things, but my previous occupation was equally as dangerous as this, and succeeding in what I set to do required a lot of time. I would be on site for hours, even days, just observing, planning. That is why I can’t stand this approach the three of you prefer. Being careful never failed me in the past, so you see I would be hard convinced to change my ways, so don’t blame yourself for that one.” Cobalt sighed as he thought on his past. “Me? I was just a stupid street thug. I hung out with a gang for protection, did mindless muscle work. Hurt some innocent people. Never was a big fan of it. Eventually I had my opportunity to get out, so I did. I decided to become a hunter as a sort of… atonement for my past.” Cobalt looked thoughtful when asked about his MO and he shrugged. “I don't really have an MO to speak of. As long as the job gets done, anything is acceptable honestly.” Cobalt chuckled bitterly at that statement. “You don't have to answer this one, but what did you do before? You've piqued my curiosity after the description you just gave me.” Diamond froze in her tracks as Cobalt spoke. Was it really that simple? Just speak your sins out loud as if it was normal? Why was she so anxious about anyone finding out, when this, this… man could just blab it out in broad daylight? She shook her head to wake up from the daze she has been torn to. To think that it would be Cobalt that would make her feel stupid about something. Worse, now that she thought about it, that it would be [i]Cobalt[/i] that she could probably tell everything to without worries? Sure, Emerald accepted her past without a second thought, but that was because it was Emerald. Oswald was problematic, but then again, he already [i]knew[/i], which was something she would have to address later. If she was to be honest about herself, it would relieve her of quite a burden if she didn’t have to watch what she said at least in the dorm. Sighing, she decided to take the chance. If anyone was going to have a problem, it apparently wouldn’t be this guy anyway. “It is curious how similar two people with no association whatsoever can be. I… am pretty much the same. Except, I know now it’s nothing to brag about, but I was just a lot bigger deal than you were.” she grinned. “Just to name a few you might know or have read about - two and a half years ago, art heist from the Museum of Mantle. I don’t recall the name of the piece, it was a mercenary job, but not many more if any happened, not in that time. A year before that, somebody took one truck stuffed with dust right form one of the Schnee’s depots. A couple months before that, somebody tunneled into the mansion of a certain corporate magnate and stole a priceless piece of jewellry handed down for at least ten generations, and that’s just to count the recent few.” she recounted, before giving Cobalt a small curtsy and raising her hat, “Congratulations, commissioner, you found your perp.” she said, waiting what would happen next. “Oh… alright then.” Cobalt smiled and continued walking along with her. “I don’t know if you expect me to suddenly hate you or something, but that would be pretty hypocritical if I did.” He then shrugged and adopted a thoughtful pose. “That’s pretty impressive though, I imagine that would indeed take a lot of planning. You sure you don’t want to be leader?” He said half-jokingly. [i]‘Please say yes.’[/i] “Yeh, that was why I said nothing up until now. Go figure that with most of you I actually had nothing to worry about. Just my fucking luck.” the thug rolled her eyes. “Well, two years ago I finally got caught, just stupidly pickpocketing a cop in civilian attire. Two months time in an Althesian prison was enough to realize I would rather be dead than to spend a lifetime there, so I got here, worked my skin off to pass the initiation and here I am. Anyway, now you know both why I don’t like jumping head first into things and why I am not a fan of barrels pointed at me.” she finished, thinking for a while, “I could lead, I think. But that’s not up to me. As I said in the morning to that god awful jarhead of a teacher, I don’t care what anyone decides for me, even Ozpin. I would only lead those who chose to follow. And, well...” she looked at the direction Emerald and Oswald went, “That doesn’t seem likely to happen.” “Damn, that must've hurt. All of those crazy heists and you got caught for pickpocketing. Must've been a bad day. Sorry again about the gun thing.” Cobalt looked embarrassed as he thought about that. “Honestly, I don't think we even need a leader. Hell, I don't think we can have one considering our personalities.” He looked ahead and sighed. “I sure as hell can't do this. I'm too damn nice.” “Believe me the would on the pride pales in comparison to what came once I was behind the bars. Be glad you were never caught.” Diamond shuddered. Thinking for a while, she shook her head. “Not necessarily true. Can I ask you something? What is it that you think a team leader should do? And before you start thinking about it too much, there’s no right answer, at least that I know of. I want to hear what you think.” Cobalt thought about this for a minute and began to speak. “I suppose there's four things. In scale of most important to least it would be to, make sure the team is alive and safe, keep the team on track and stable, insure efficient completion of mission, and if that can't be done, insure completion of mission in general. So far I've completely fucked up 2 and 3. I don't have the will to exert authority like that.” Cobalt shrugged at that statement. “I don't like being bossy.” He stated plainly. “Well, those are all very, hm… how to say it… ‘mission-specific’. Is the leader not the same out of one as well, like you go have a check up even though you are not sick or maintain a weapon?” Diamond though thought loud as the wall came back into view, “You can’t expect to keep four different people together much less in line when you don’t know how they are and what makes them tick. If you are not discouraged beyond all hope, you could stand to talk to us once in awhile. Can’t play a game of chess if you don’t know how the pieces move.” she dropped an advice. “I talk to you guys.” Cobalt replied defensively. “I just invited you guys to lunch a few days ago remember? I'm trying to get to know everyone.” He observed the wall passively and a thought occurred to him. “Hey… I feel like we should check out the wall a bit more closely. For defense purposes.” Cobalt began walking a bit faster to get to the wall. As Diamond and Cobalt neared their section of the border wall, they passed by a defunct turret. Offline, with its barrels pointed downward at the ground in a sad gesture. Stopping to check up on the dead machine, Diamond tried to recall the video she saw from its camera. What attacked it couldn’t be quite seen as far as she could remember, but it was over pretty quick. It definitely seen better days though. “Hey, ‘Think we could salvage stuff from the odd turrets to repair the even ones?” she hollered down form the construct, popping the ammo storage open - if nothing else, they could use the dust. As Diamond looked over the turret and examined it. She would find nothing. Nothing in the sense that there wasn’t anything visibly wrong with the turret. All of its ammunition was intact. Save for general wear and tear for being exposed to the elements for who knows how long, there was no damage to the turret. There wasn’t a thing that was obviously wrong with it. It just looked like it was [i]turned off.[/i] “Hello there!” the ex-thief muttered for herself, seeing the weapon fully stocked. Closing the compartment up, she jumped down and found the controls. Half a minute later, the turret seemed ready to start. “Alright. Explain this to me.” she asked Cobalt, “What possible reason could there be for these things to, according to the diagnostics, be perfectly functional, just turned off - when there is heightened Grimm activity? Either the Grimm are -lot- smarter than we gave them credit for, or they didn’t do this. Please tell me you have another, rational explanation, because Either grimm that can code or traitors are worrying to say the least.” Hovering above the ‘on’ button, Diamond halted. [i]If man did this… Then it’s a trap.[/i] Thus far, thinking of the worst case scenario worked for her just well - why break the habit? Returning to the settings, she checked the targeting parameters. The screen of the turret read: [i]Targeting Parameters Priority: Wall Security Secondary: All[/i] “Mother fucking son of a bitch!” Diamond cursed out loud, scaring a few birds out of their nests in the trees, “Somebody put these things up to defend the wall, and when they’re done with that, to shoot at everything else, like whoever tried to turn it on! NOW can we call for help?” Cobalt was already going into his Scroll to call Ms. Vanhomrigh about the situation. “This has gotten way beyond our original parameters. We were supposed to be doing a sweep for Grievers, not intelligent Ratatosks and possibly traitors.” He said as he hit the call button. “Text the others, let them know I'm calling Ms. Vanhomrigh.” But nobody came. Cobalt blinked and stopped breathing for a moment. Then a flash of terror crossed his face. He hung up the phone and turned to Diamond. “We have a problem. Comms are down.” [hr] [h3]Oswald Connoly & Emerald Felicia[/h3] As Oswald and Emerald headed away from their teammates, Oswald smirked at Diamond’s response. It was odd how caring Diamond was, despite her frosty-HAH!-exterior. It was sweet, though. Punching in another text, Oswald sighed. [i]Ms. Vanhomrigh, this is Oswald Connolly. Team CODE has elected to form a strike force consisting of myself and Emerald Felicia, while Diamond and Cobalt stay behind to set up the defenses in case our search and destroy mission fails. Emerald and I are moving to investigate our last point of contact with the Grimm and will report on our continuing operations. The Grimm in the area are displaying abnormal behavior, however. They seem to be unusually docile, even for the wily nature of Ratatosks. They set up an expertly-performed ambush and escaped with many of our supplies, including most of the Dust ammunition we had with us.[/i] Hitting the Send button, Oswald sighed. She was gonna have a field day with them. “So, I hear that you think I’m a scaredy cat. A bit ironic, don’tcha think?” Giving his temporary partner a playful wink, Oswald grunted and looked around. “Can you find where we broke off from the Grimm before?” Emerald’s cheeks reddened a bit, “I never said you were a scaredy cat...exactly.” She cleared her throat as she got a good look of her surroundings, sniffing the air and listening intently with her ears as they twitched and moved in different directions. “I’m fairly certain it was a bit northeast of where we are now.” She pointed in said direction, “I’m pretty sure those footprints and snapped twigs over there is our doing.” Chuckling, Oswald nodded at Emerald’s reasoning. “Makes sense to me. I doubt little Ratatosks would cause so much damage. When we find where we last made contact with them, what’s our action plan?” “Well, I have a feeling they want to be followed, probably to lure us into some sort of trap. So I was thinking...spring the trap?” Oswald chuckled yet again and shook his head. “Yeah, that….that makes sense. Ya know, you remind me of an old friend of mine, Emerald. Good kid, he was. So, spring the trap, eh? Guess I should be in front in that case, come to think of it.” Emerald nodded. “If they stay focused on you I should be able to pick them off.” “Sounds like enough of a plan. Just keep your eyes open and your ears on the...listenout? Like, lookout but with listening. Just...stay aware of your surroundings. Don’t get snuck up on or anything I guess. That would be bad.” Flustered at his inability to speak properly, Oswald grumbled for a few moments after he finished speaking. Emerald giggled. “Roger that, I’m on full alert.” “Well, I guess we’ve got some walking to do, then. Hooray….” Sarcasm heavy in his voice, Oswald trudged onward. As Emerald and Oswald followed the general direction of the escaped Ratatosks and went deeper into the forests, they casually passed by a defunct turret. Offline, with its barrels pointed downward at the ground in a sad gesture. Emerald glanced at the turret as they passed it, “Someone will need to fix that once we clear the Grimm.” “Won’t fucking be me.” Looking at his Scroll, Oswald screwed up his face. “Nothing? I thought she’d be bearing down on us like a fucking haw-Oh. Oh no.” Sighing, Oswald’s eyes widened in alarm. “Emerald, we don’t have comms in this forest. We may have to go back.” “What!? No way!” Emerald exclaimed, her ears sticking up as high as they could. “We can’t go back now! What if the Grimm take advantage of that?” “Unless you want to keep going with presumably no way of calling for backup, we have to go back and see what’s up. I don’t want to do it either, Emerald, but...this is wrong. This is the second time this has happened in as many missions, and there was somebody behind it the last time. Something’s fucky here.” Grunting, Oswald came to a halt. “I’ve got your back, though. Wouldn’t dare let you go out there alone. Just say the word. Go back and figure out what’s going on, or charge on?” This was Emerald’s choice to make, not his. “I say we keep going, and if we get into more trouble than we can handle we fall back, sound good?” Oswald’s entire body went rigid at what Emerald said. He hadn’t thought for a second that she’d make that call. It was stupid, reckless, hell, borderline suicidal wouldn’t be inaccurate. And he had promised to follow her into the gates of hell itself. “Well, off we go, then.” Sniffing at the ground, a lone Ratatosk crawled out and into view. It was possibly a poor Grimm that had gotten separated from its pack and was trying to find its way. Having lost it. It was clear that this rodent wasn’t one of the smarter Grimm as it appeared very lost and hadn’t noticed Emerald or Oswald standing there talking. “Well, would you look at that. A Grimm. You wanna do the honors?” Normally, Oswald would be much more predatory when it came to Grimm. However, he and Ratatosk….did not get along. Namely, insofar that it was virtually impossible for Oswald to get a decent hit on one of the bastards. Emerald pointed one of her weapons at it and fired. “Kay.” The Grimm jumped at the sound of the gunshot, startled. The shot barely missing it. Turning its head, it finally noticed Emerald and Oswald. Having a bit of an ‘oh, shit.’ moment, the Ratatosk then turned tail and booked it out of there. Desperately trying to pick up on the scent trail of its comrades that abandoned it. Searching for the way to sanctuary. “I say we follow it.” And thus, Oswald began the chase, sheathing his sword and moving after the miniscule Grimm. “My thoughts exactly!” Emerald replied as she followed Oswald, keeping an eye out for a possible ambush as they moved. What a bad day it was having. First, Huntsmen showed up and they had to do things. Then it got separated and lost. Now it was being shot at and chased by the very same Huntsmen from before! Poor thing just wanted to be left alone and live in peace, it didn’t want to get wrapped up in all of this. Running as fast as its little legs could take it, it fought to keep its energy together to try and evade the two. Thankfully, along the way it found physical evidence of its pack. Discarded remnants of the Huntsmen’s gear were left scattered about and the scent trails were getting stronger. It was close now, it knew it. Once it was home, its survival was almost guaranteed. Minutes and seconds stretched, making it seem like an eternity. But at last, the end was in sight. Stopping ever so briefly to look behind and catch its breath. The lone Ratatosk stood in front of the gaping mouth that was the entrance to a dark cave. Home. Zipping forward, the Ratatosk disappeared into the dark shadows of the cave. It hoped that maybe the Huntsmen pair would be intimidated by the sight of the foreboding tunnel and leave. It only knew what would happen if they still dared to follow after. “If I had my Dust crystals, we could at least have used them for a low-tech grenade. Maybe flush a few out. Well, how do you wanna do this, Emerald?” Looking at the cave in front of them, Oswald narrowed his eyes in thought. [i]This could end very badly if we get caught down there with our pants down, so to speak.[/i] “Hmmm…well I have an idea...but it’s kind of crazy.” Emerald said, looking at Oswald. “We’re god knows how far from our team, with no communications and about to engage a cave full of Grimm, the types and numbers of which we don’t know.” Chuckling to emphasize his point, Oswald looked back. “Now is the [i]perfect[/i] time for crazy.” Emerald grinned, “Excellent point. Well basically I’m thinking I’ll just transform my weapon, aim it at the cave, and blow it to hell. I don’t think anything inside will have a chance of surviving. Only thing is it drains my aura completely when I do that.” Blinking, Oswald sighed. “Nope, that’s pretty crazy, actually. Emerald, we have no idea how deep this cave goes. We might alert everything in there, and it might be more than I can outrun while keeping you covered. On the other hand…” Thinking over the pros and cons with a hand on his chin, Oswald nodded for a moment. “On the other hand, we could leave a nice, scorching landmark, and you might set off a bunch of the munitions they stole from us, creating a chain-reaction of Grimm death!” “I just have one question...would you be in good enough shape to sprint your ass back to Cobalt and Diamond?” Emerald fidgeted. “Maybe after a minute or two, but it won’t be fun.” Groaning, Oswald rubbed his temples. “I’ll carry you as far as I can unless we get caught up to. God, my legs are gonna be killing me tomorrow…” Giving a nod to his teammate, Oswald made sure his shield was secure on his back. They were gonna need every ounce of cover they could get. “Do you remember our way back? We absolutely cannot get lost for even a second.” “Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good sense of direction.” Emerald said with a nod, bringing her weapons together as they began to click and merge together. Watching on with discomfort, Oswald took a deep breath and readied himself to grab the girl and run. “If this doesn’t work and we get chased to shit, we are calling Esther and the others ASAP.” Hell, if it [i]did[/i] work, they were still calling them ASAP to figure out what the hell was going on. “Hit it!” With her newly formed cannon, Emerald aimed at the mouth of the cave. The weapon began to glow with a green energy as it drained her aura rapidly. With a cry the cat faunus fired the weapon, the blast flying directly into the cave. The wind howled and whistled with Emerald’s shot. Flying straight and true deep into the cave entrance before being swallowed whole by the darkness. There was a slight delay, but very shortly after her attack the cave erupted with a thunderous concussive blast. Not exactly at the very entrance but a little further in, the crates of Dust that had been stolen from the Huntsmen also exploded. Having been set up along the cave ceiling, held by a curious adhesive substance. Adding to the booming noise that would echo and sound throughout the entire area for miles. With a crumble and crash, the cave finally heaved and collapsed in on itself. Sealing the entrance, entombing whatever was inside. As the two would stand observing their work, with simple deductions made it was clear that the crafty Grimm had planned to trap them inside had they gone in. Unfortunately, Emerald’s cannon shot sprang their trap a bit early, ruining that plan. As the clouds of dust settled and the few loose rocks clattered about, cave entrance smoldering with the flames of various Dust elements all became silent. Nothing else stirred. Emerald collapsed onto one knee, panting heavily as she glanced up at her handy work. “Ow...that was even louder than I expected…” Walking over to his teammate and sweeping her into his arms, bridal style, Oswald whistled. “Good work, Em. Even if I’m pretty sure that my ears are gonna start bleeding any second, at least we’re not dead. Now, let’s get back.” Emerald blushed, being carried like that was so… “Yeah...let’s.” Nodding, Oswald turned his back on the destroyed cave, resolved to wash his hands of this place sooner rather than later. But they’d need help. Thus, he went back the way the pair had come, moving quickly enough to warrant a familiar ache in his legs. Oswald and Emerald leaving, pleased with their work, would come to find that nothing gave chase after them in anger. They would only leave behind the dilapidated cave entrance, still smoldering with the embers of Dust. After a few minutes of nothing chasing after them, Emerald spoke up. “I don’t hear anything coming our way...and I think I can stand now.” Gently lowering Emerald to the ground, Oswald looked around. “Then it seems like we’re in the clear. Good, I’m sick of this shit already.” [hr] [h3]Esther Vanhomrigh[/h3] In the skies above, the airship that carried the Huntsmen team to their mission location had been circling around ever since they had dropped off their cargo. After a short trip back to pick up another passenger, that is. Keeping careful watch on the young Hunters below with their cameras and observation tools. Carnal and Ski dutifully and silently manned their machine guns, hawk-eyes on the alert for anything that may have come. Stovetop sat across from Esther as she stared at her Scroll, waiting for any message that may come through. Earlier, she had attempted to hail the team with a radio check on their headsets. But nothing seemed to go through, not even static. No message had popped up on her Scroll, and there was no response to the message she had sent them. Duckie and Gorilla, the two pilots in the cockpit, both looked at each other worriedly. They knew what Esther was thinking. They knew what she was feeling. The fact that their own systems onboard the airship were going a little wonky didn’t help the situation any further. Helped even less so by the detection of ECMs that when coupled with the nearby mountain ranges, effectively blocked any communications signals to the ground below. They all all suspected foul play, but it was too soon to jump to any conclusions. Maybe it was part of the village’s security systems? But, that hardly added up. The brute Gorilla peered back from the cockpit and tried to see if he could read anything from Esther’s blank expression. No dice. [b]”Vanessa.”[/b] his deep voice bellowed clearly over the din of the airship’s noises. [b]”...”[/b] No response from Esther. Not even a slight movement. [b]”I’m sure...They’ll be alright.”[/b] [b]”....”[/b] She was as still as a stone-statue. Eyes glued to the screen of her Scroll in her gloved hands. Headset volume turned all the way up in her ears. Unfortunately, due to Gorilla’s ballistic facemask-combination-helmet, no one could really see the heavy frown he made. Straightening back in his seat, he faced forward. He wasn’t going to get a response out of Esther. Not with the way things currently were. Duckie glanced to the side at him, and she sighed. [b]”She’s like [i]that[/i] again, huh?”[/b] Gorrilla nodded silently. [b]”Y’know, why don’t we just drop off Stovetop in the village? That way he can-”[/b] [b]”You already know why we won’t.”[/b] Gorrilla cut her off. [b]”...”[/b] Duckie made an exasperated sound. [b]”You and I outrank her, y’know. We’re her superior officers.”[/b] Gorilla ever so slowly turned his head and gave her a ‘look’. [b]”Do you think she cares?”[/b] Duckie held a ‘gaze’ with Gorilla and sighed again, giving up. [b]”She gave us specific orders not to interfere with their mission unless they request us. You’re dealing with her alone if you go against her wishes. I’m not having any part of that.”[/b] Duckie became more and more agitated. She knew exactly what Gorilla meant, but didn’t mean she had to like it or think it was fair. Muttering, Duckie cursed. [b]”Fucking Huntress.”[/b] Stovetop stirred and looked up at Esther. [b]”Hey.”[/b] [b]”.....”[/b] [b]”At least blink or something. Your eyes are going to dry out if you just...stare.”[/b] Esther blinked. Eyes still focused on her Scroll.