[LOG] A 'Simple' Fetch Quest
WHO: Sephiroth, Squall Leonhart, Shane Fitzgerald, Gwen Meynolt, Injue (NPCed by Cloud Strife)
WHEN: May 31st, 2006 (Before the last log)
WHERE: Shakuras
WHAT: ShinRa employs a bunch of people for a simple retrieval mission. It isn't that simple.
WATCH FOR: Everything Injue
At the Gate mentioned waits a military issue jeep, a blue mustang, Sephiroth, and a golden retriever. Said retriever's currently tethered inside the car, but she's making efforts at escaping, squishing her nose in the gap made by partly rolled down windows and pawing at the glass. The General, having reclaimed his dignity after last night, seems to have misplaced his iconic jacket, as he's currrently got a turtleneck on instead. And is waiting very patiently for those he'd selected to arrive.
He'd asked four to come. Four should be able to handle this just fine, and their breadth of skills should make any difficulties they run into a comparitive cakewalk.
A man in SOLDIER uniform with helmet, his face mostly hidden behind its elongated metal visor, approaches Sephiroth and salutes smartly. "Injue, SOLDIER 3rd class," says the young man, who then produces a manilla envelope with the logo of ShinRa, Inc. on one side. "For the retrieval mission, General Sephiroth, sir!"
Must be a fairly young recruit, given that he can hardly sit still, and has a sort of ...barely restrained eagerness that suggests he's still quite green. Or nervous about being in the presence of a famous war hero. He's also the one handling the driving for this mission. Convenient, that.
When the option to volunteer on some missions for extra pay came up, Shane jumped at the chance and signed up. He heard a little bit about ShinRa from Zack but Sephiroth's leading the mission so how bad for humanity could it really be right? He received the notice earlier in the day and quickly changed from his (now normal) suit and tie into khakis, a light turtleneck and a light long coat.
The scion also retrieved his rifle from his locker and filled up the pouch over his leg with several spare clips just in case. Hopefully it'll be a simple mission but why take chances right? Once given the coordinates, he immediately headed out. The Military Jeep is not hard to miss and neither is the General. Walking up to the location, Shane raises a friendly hand in greeting. "General." The old fashioned rifle swings slightly with every step, the sharp spike bayonet extending the entire thing to a good four and a half feet. "Who are the others comin' with us?" The newb is given a grin as well.
Gwen has come prepared. While the Guvner isn't toting her whole planar survival kit--notice the lack of 'camping' equipment attached to that backpack she's wearing--she looks rather prepared. Other than the pack, the more adventure-practical outfit, the band keeping her glasses on her face, what also stands out a bit is the tiny lizard riding on her shoulder.
Either Gwen didn't drink enough to get hung over last night or her body's good at handling alcoholic intake, by the looks of it. She seems as alert as always as she approaches. Her pack for now stays on her back, and she greets the General with a stiff nod and a rather serious smile. She's admittedly not sure how she should greet him, never having formally served in a military organization.
"Lady's grace, General," she says instead, using the old Sigilian greeting as she stands at ready, glancing from him, to the jeep, to... Shane. Well, there's a face she didn't expect to see. "Mr. Fitzgerald, I see I was not alone in offering my services," she observes.
Punctual and prepared, a scarred young man walks toward the jeep. Squall Leonhart is wearing his usual garb, rather than SeeD Uniform. The details on the mission have been depressingly scarce, and he hasn't had time to read up on everything beforehand. Still, it pays well, and orders are orders.
Squall locates the Jeep, walks up to the group, and salutes to the man in the turtleneck. "General Sephiroth? SeeD Rank 10, Squall Leonhart reporting." He drops his salute, and stands at attention, looking over the group.
They're so cute when they're rookies. Too bad most SOLDIERs never grow out of this phase. Sephiroth merely nods when greeted by ALL of the arrivals, filing names with appearances and glad at least something was right, and they were who they said they were. "Gentlemen. Ma'am. I'll be brief." No he won't.
"The four of you were selected for this mission due to your wide range of abilities and aptitudes. I expect all of you to work together." Sepihroth is incapable of being brief, sometimes, but he's intending to try. He holds up a folded piece of paper; written orders in case they forget what they're doing. "Ten hours ago, Professor Hojo's lab was ransacked by Wutai forces and many of his labratory notes stolen. The perpetrators were found beyond this Gate, slain, and the notes missing. Your assignment is to track whoever or whatever relieved them of their stolen property and retrieve it by any means necessary. Please keep in mind that these files are classified and are thus not to be read at your liesure."
It's not really the most high profile assignment out there. They might not even run into anyone. It could just be a matter of hunting across the wilderness looking for scattered notes. "Mr. Leonhart, you have command. Your record speaks highly of your abilities in this regard, so I will trust them. Please keep these in case you or your team forgets their orders." He offers said paperwork. "Should you run into more trouble than you can handle, I will be here, and it will not take me long to find you. Are there any questions?"
The ever-so-eager Injue returns Shane's grin with a toothy smile of his own. There's the beginnings of an attempt to give the man the universal thumbs-up of approval, but he seems to recall in whose presence he stands, and makes a mighty attempt to not practically vibrate with enthusiasm. As for Gwen, he brings his hand up to his helmet as if he might have tried to tip a hat in greeting. It's a very abbreviated gesture, likely due to the fact that he doesn't want to seem like he's goofing off.
Squall gets a flat-out stare, though, by the helmeted SOLDIER, simply because he's pretty impressed that a guy that young has such a high rank and professional demeanor. He's pretty serious about this! He turns his attention to Sephiroth as he explains the mission.
"If it's from Professor Hojo," confides Injue, "You don't wanna read it anyway. So, boss!" Injue's addressing Squall, apparently. "We're ready to go anytime. Just get in the jeep, I'll drive, you guys do the hunting." This time, Injue -does- bounce a little. Definitely enthusiastic. "Hey, is that your pet, ma'am?"
"Miss Meynolt," Shane greets cheerfully. "He asked fer volunteers. I'm sure there's several people who want ta make a bit o' extra scratch on the side." Squall's taciturn nature doesn't go unnoticed though. He just gives the SeeD member a mock salute as he opens his mouth to introduce himself but Sephiroth cut him off.
Folding his arms over his chest, he nods, memorizing the orders. "Sounds pretty simple ta me. Track and retrieve. I kin do a fair bit o' trackin' but it's not me strong suit." Still, how hard could it REALLY be? When Squall's given the leadership position, the scion just shrugs. "Shane Fitzgerald at yer service Mr. Leonhart."
He laughs then as Injue looks so energetic. He gives the SOLDIER a heart clap on the back before holding open one of the rear doors of the jeep for Gwen to get in, "We're countin' on yeh. What was yer name again?" Squall, being the leader, gets to ride shotgun.
(....why am I the one in command?)
Not that Squall vocalizes that thought, taking the offered paperwork with a nod, and taking a few moments to look over it. And then he looks over 'his' team. Well, if he can trust the general's judgement they should be good. The rookie, however, reminds him of Zell.
The rookie who's driving. There's something bad about this, somehow. "Alright then. Let's get in there, find the files, and get out. It would be better if we could do so undetected, but combat may be unavoidable. I'll be counting on your tracking abilities." Squall moves to the shotgun postion of the jeep. "Move out."
Money. Of course. Gwen's expression stays neutral, though; it's not as if she has much room to protest otherwise at the moment anyway. "Ah, I see," is the sum total of her reply.
Squall is spared a brief glance before Sephiroth begins the briefing. Gwen can't place the young man, but by his mannerisms and look, he must be military. Her gaze is on the general, though, as he speaks; although there's a bit of curiosity, admittedly, about what the notes could be about, the diviner does her best to squash that in the bud. There's no room for that here at all.
There's a flicker of memory recalled in her eyes as the unidentified young man is, well identified. Yes, she had seen the paperwork that had gone around with his name on it; impressive. Her gaze does slide his way. He might be younger than her, but age is no matter at all to the genasi.
"I have but one question, General," Gwen speaks, raising one hand to her glasses. "Is there a good description on hand of the notes?" It's a very long shot, and she /really/ wishes she had had more time to prepare, but at least there's a chance that scroll might work. "That question aside, I will do my utmost in these matters, General," she appends, then turns to Squall. "I am at your service, as well, Mr. Leonhart. I am Gwen Meynolt; while I possess a title, perhaps it is not relevant here."
Injue's tip of the imaginary hat brings a bemused smile to her face, and she nods in kind to him. "Is there something unusual about this Professor Hojo?" she asks, curious. "There are few documents I cannot read or comprehend." The mention of her lizard causes her to briefly glance at her little friend on her shoulder. "Ah, that's Paternain, she's my familiar. I wouldn't... call her a pet. Perhaps... assistant would be better, Mr...?" she details, before at last moving to take her seat in the back of the jeep.
Making a fist with one hand, the SOLDIER, Injue, pumps it in the air a moment, grinning. "Okay! Everyone pile in and get comfortable!" He climbs into the driver's seat, snapping on a harness that looks like it's probably the seatbelt. He starts checking to make sure everything looks alright, chatting away the whole while. This guy, along with being energetic, seems to be a bit of a talkative man. "This should be interesting. Never been the only SOLDIER on a mission."
"...Then again, I only got to 3rd class recently, hahaha!"
Description of the notes? The helmeted SOLDIER leans back, propping his elbow on the space between his seat and the front passenger one. "White paper, black text. It's got a ShinRa watermark and probably full of scientific mumbo-jumbo. Unusual?" He kind of looks at Sephiroth a moment. "He's kinda an oddball, I hear. Eccentric, like all those geniuses are. And it's Injue. Ready to go?"
It seems they'll be able to work well enough together. Maybe this will be enough, when they finish, to tell him whether or not they're worth asking back. Until then, he has a rambunctious golden retriever still trying to get out of his car. Attempting to push her nose back in the window only gets him licked. ...And he's actually asked a question!
Sephiroth looks a little surprised at this, but recovers quickly. "Professor Hojo's writing looks like chickenscratch, and is usually in black ink, if it isn't a printout." They seemed an intelligent lot. And came more or less reccomended.. Poor Injue's the only one available to ask. ...And he doesn't have to describe Hojo, as Injue does it /for/ him. This earns the young Third a long thoughtful look, but no comment on it. "Good luck."
He opens the car door, and the dog makes a lunge for freedom - or more accurately the nearest warm body - but Sephiroth grabs her leash before she can get far, and the dog promptly leeeaans against her collar as much as she can, whining, straining to get at /someone/. Given the slobber everywhere, she probably wants to lick them. Sephiroth's not going to let her, he's just waiting til they depart.
With Gwen and Squall both in the Jeep, Shane climbs in and sits fairly relaxed. "Leave it up ta me Mr. Leonhart!" He mms at Gwen's question and then memorizes the descriptions given to him. "Chicken scratch or print out. Shinra watermark. Got it! We'll keep an eye on it." He reaches out and claps Injue on the shoulder. "Let's get going then Injue!" Peering at the window, he flashes Sephiroth another grin. Poor puppy. D:
Gwen frowns. She has probably seen the ShinRa logo somewhere, but she can't recall what it looks like. The description she's been given isn't good enough to use the scroll she has after all. "...A pity, I'm not certain I can visualize that properly," is her only comment, coupled with small sigh. Divination without a good idea of what you're looking for doesn't work well. At least they'll be able to know them when/if they fidn them?
The description of Hojo, on the other hand, does get an intrigued look from the diviner. "Oh, he's a genius? How wonderful, to have such talent!" Yes, Gwen is actually clasping her hands together. "I don't suppose he'd be available to speak with anybody personally, would he...?" A slight frown, there. He's probably too busy. She shakes her head. "No matter, let's go."
"Y--Yes sir!!" exclaims the 3rd class SOLDIER, saluting so enthusiastically he actually bangs his hand against his helmet lightly.
"Hang on!"
The jeep peels out, speeding on through the Gate and into the rough terrain beyond. "It's gonna get pretty bumpy, wheeee!" Oh god, what kind of elite SOLDIER screams 'Wheeee!' while careening at potentially hazardous speeds over rough, unpaved land? Apparently a newbie. He -might- need to be asked to slow down a little, given the rocky, dry terrain, except where it's interrupted by the occasional patch of withered grass, is a bit hard to observe carefully when it's blurring past.
Injue is still chatting up the group as he drives, "The Professor's hard to track down! He's always working on something, won't talk to anyone unless he has to. He probably doesn't even know his notes are missing, too busy with the next thing, I guess!"
He really should slow down. Or... he might just simply slam on the brakes, bringing the jeep into a precarious sideways slide, rocking to a halt with a spray of pebbles and dust. "Here we are!! Uh, we didn't clean up after the corpses were retrieved. Didn't want to disturb any tracks. Wanna go take a look?"
(....I knew this would happen.)
Squall closes the file of what little information he has, and places it carefully away. "Alright. Fitzgerald, take point." Squall carefully gets out of the jeep, not anting to disturb anything. "Is this confirmed to be the entire group that stole the notes?" He asks of the SOLDIER 3rd Class.
There are three dead people over there. They've been there for some hours, but not so long that they're beginning to smell ripe yet. Uniformed as Wutai forces, with the strange pike-guns they seemed to prefer, there's evidence that at least one was shot but all have been ripped wide open. And maybe a little chewed on. It's messy. Hopefully nobody minds a bit ... a lot of blood. Thankfully by now it's all /dry/.
And all of it is now covered in a very fine layer of dust thanks to Injue's impeccable driving skills. The terrain's not precisely level, and it rained maybe a day ago so in places the ground's a bit waterlogged. There's mountains and trees elsewhere, but here it's more rocks and dirt than anything else.
Sharp eyes might pick up on prints around the bodies, leading to and away, mostly where something had tracked through once-pooled blood. ... Mind the flies.
It's a bumpy ride but fortunately Shane's all buckled in. Injue's driving is pretty interesting. Fortunately Jeeps are built to take this kind of abuse. He bumps around a little, using one hand to hold onto the door side. "Woo!" Then again, this kind of driving isn't anything new for Shane. Just part of the adventure!
When the jeep comes to a screeching halt, the Scion makes a small 'umph' sound as he drops back. Ow. But they're already tumbling out of the jeep. "Understood Mr. Leonhart!" Hopping out, he removes his sunglasses and squints at the ground. "Huh..." The scion gets a serious expression then.
The blood doesn't bother him, not in the slightest but he is faintly disturbed by the bodies. "Tch." Taking great care not to disturb much, he kneels down by one of the corpse's side. "Whatever took 'em down wasn't human, I kin tell yeh that. Or if it was human, he was a bloody savage." Standing, he mms some more. He points towards the tracks, "Over there." He swats a hand, shooing away several flies. "Either of yeh recognize that?"
As the jeep peels out, Gwen is notably caught off guard, letting out a 'wauugh!' as she's unexpectedly thrown back in her seat. She eventually manages to steady herself in the back, and makes a futile attempt to pick out the surroundings. Were mortals meant to travel at these speeds without the buffer of magic?
"A shame, but I understand," she replies in regards to the Professor. She presses a hand against the roof of the jeep to keep stabilized as she leans forward to ask, "Aren't you piloting this thing at a rather rapid pace?" Sadly, it's probably then-ish that he hits the brakes, jarring the Guvner free from her carefully balanced position and back into her seat again.
"I... yes," she answers very quickly to his question, fumbling with her door. "I would appreciate, ah, 'taking a look'," Gwen says, diplomatically. It probably beats 'getting the hell out of this automaton' in terms of tact. The door finally opens, and she stumbles out, then heads over (a little more gracefully) to look more closely at the bodies.
"...The notes were stolen no more than ten hours ago, and they have already become deceased," the Guvner comments. "For individuals who were able to infiltrate a lab, they appear to have had less luck with the local monsters..." There are odd wounds on one them, not consistant with their other injuries. Perhaps that weapon, the gun? Despite some of her fellows using it, however, Gwen is not as familiar with the injuries it could cause. She kneels slightly, allowing Paternain to descend. "Paternain," she says in their private tongue, pausing only to retrive a small pellet and offer it to the lizard, "Investigate more closely, please."
She leaves the lizard to do her work, and at Shane's prompting, moves to take a look at the tracks, which are unfortunately laid over one another. The genasi squints through her lenses at the tracks, trying to make out the outline of the prints. "...I'm sorry, but it appears as if there were several animals, or monsters, present. I cannot determine much else. Ah, Paternain? Please, look more closely for me." Come on, Gwen doesn't have Tracking!
Injue leans out of the window of the jeep, tossing a gesture at some dark stains in the dirt. Probably a considerable amount of blood. "Yep. The Turks want these bodies taken away once we're done here, but they're pretty messed up, huh. Tough break." Those words may sound callous, but he shakes his head with visible regret.
"Poor guy. Hey, one time? Came across a Wutaian who got real badly burned. Was still alive, too, just barely." He continues. "We couldn't move him, and Restore materia just wasn't cutting it. No point trying to get info outta the guy. Had to put the Wutaian bastard down." Injue looks nervously at Gwen, "Oh, sorry, ma'am. Keep forgetting I'm in the presence of a lady."
He looks sheepish. "We've been kinda stretched thin lately. Lotta stuff going on like this, little pockets of these guys who can't just take their defeat and be done with the war. They were probably planning it for a while, that's my guess."
"I'm no good at this investigating stuff, so I'll just hang out with the Jeep."
(We don't have time for anecdotes.)
The SeeD looks around, as Shane and Gwen investigate the tracks. Hand on his gunblade, he takes a walk around the perimeter, seeing if there's anything Shane might have missed. Or, for that matter, anyone SOLDIER might have missed. It's a long shot, but it's the sort of thing that's worth checking. "Anything else?" he says to the two investigating the tracks.
"Tch. Who knows. Probably just got unlucky. Fate's awful like that." The Scion rises to his feet and nods at Injue, "Might have used up all o' their bullets during the infiltration, didn't have enough to fend off the monsters. One o' the guys was shot though. Someone probably caught up to 'em or he tried ta betray them and then shot 'em down. "There's several o' them aren't there?" He stands to let the familiar scamper around. "Careful there. Don't get eaten okay?"
Following the prints, he mms. "It's quite possible that animals stopped by for a nibble but they would have devoured these guys and we would have seen scavengers birds." He looks off into the distance, "Still can't say what made 'em but they're all headin' west. There's another set out there though." He begins following the trail, the big ones. "Some sort o' vehicle maybe? They just kind o' stop. Yer the boss Mr. Leonheart. But right now our only real lead's the tracks goin' west."
Gwen shakes her head at Injue's words, her expression serious and slightly sad. "No, there's no need for that. Such an act... mercy takes many forms, Mr. Injue. Not all of them are pleasant to undertake." She's quiet a moment at his possibly explanation for how this might have been able to have worked, then ventures with a nod at Shane, "Fate, or luck, maybe. A misjudgement in the supplies they required is also likely. Or perhaps, infiltration was their specialty while combat was not. Let us investigate further before assigning blame."
She is already deciding that a lack of proper protection is likely in part to blame.
She kneels down, reaching out a gloved hand to Paternain, having felt the emotions of the tiny lizard essentially signify her search was complete. It chirps, the sound sort of similar to 'gekkgekk', causing Gwen to nod once. "She merely verified the prints of the animals, Mr. Fitzgerald."
She stands, venturing a last glance at the bodies. The gunshot wounds troubled her, though. Had they run into other humans at some point? Or had they fought amongst themselves? "...I await your judgment, Mr. Leonhart," she says at length, raising a hand to shade her eyes as she peers westward.
Injue is FULL of anecdotes!! He'll be totally happy to tell all, too. Every person has their quirks and in the 3rd class SOLDIER's case, he seems to be a little in love with the sound of his own voice -- either that, or just really pleased to have people to chat it up with while on a mission. ...On the other hand, if he's too busy talking and not paying attention, that could bode ... poorly for our investigators.
"Scavenger birds?" Injue looks up at the sky. "Hey, you're right, totally empty." It's true, the sky above has no birds at all. With corpses around, there -should- be some. Did something chase them off?
"Did you say they're headed west?" Injue climbs out of the Jeep, hauling with him a simple longsword. He joins Shane, peering, assumedly (hard to tell with that helmet) off in that direction. "Guess they don't have any of the notes on 'em, huh." Where could they have gone?
Did some carrion birds or wild dogs find paper really tasty, or something?!
Squall pauses. "Animals running off with notes would seem kind of strange." It's about then Squall's eyes pass over something to the southwest, walkign over and crouching down to look at it, but not touch it. "Fitzgerald, Meynolt. Mind taking a look at this?" The pistol sitting on the ground is cuasing Squall to have some questions about this. It'd be bad to go on a wild goose chase if the notes are already in Wutai hands. Best to be sure.
"Any of those are possible. If Mr. Alexander were here, he'd be able ta give yeh better details," Shane replies with a shrug. He doesn't have Instant Investigator! "Ah..." He scratches his cheek, partially pleased that his hunch was confirmed by the lizard. "But Mr. Leonheart's right. Wild animals don't normally run off with notes yeah?"
He nods then as Injue stands beside. "West, yes. Maybe there's a nest out there or somethin'." But then he gets called over by Squall and glances at Gwen. "Ladies first Miss Meynolt." The Scion offers a partial grin, waiting for her to walk before trailing behind. He peers down then, over Squall's shoulder and whistles. "Might be the weapon that put down that poor guy back there. But it looks just like a handgun ta me. Hey, Injue!"
He waves to the SOLDIER, "This gun one of yers?"
There's a glance skyward, too. Huh. "...Odd," Gwen murmurs, her brow creasing as she frowns. She's never known a carrion bird to completely avoid the scene of a kill. She quickly reaches to pat the dagger on her belt, and looks down to see that her components are quickly accessible as well.
"I doubt the animals were the ones who took the notes," the genasi speaks up with, raising a hand to her chin. "I cannot see that being the case, save if they were attempting such under the command of an intelligent being. As the possessions of the fallen are not, ah, otherwise disturbed..." she trails off at Squall's voice, then heads over his way.
"A gun," she comments, adding with a half-turn and gesture towards the bodies, "Would this sort of device inflict the exact wounds observed on that singular soldier?" Firearms are definitely not her specialty. There's speculations to be made about its being here, but Gwen's holding them in check until she knows more.
Injue reaches for the handgun. "Woah!"
He waves the firearm around, cheerfully, "All right! ShinRa make, you know, something for home security, for the regular folks." IE, not military issue. "No reason why these dudes from Wutai would bother using one. They hate everything we make. If anything," he adds, rubbing the back of his neck. "They'd have probably destroyed this, not used it."
"Damn, did they get ambushed or something?"
It's to Gwen that Injue looks, next. "Animals under the control of someone else, huh? I wouldn't know any animals that could do - this- under human orders." A beat of silence. "'Cept someone with some really mean guard dogs!"
There is a brief disturbance to the west, as Squall locates the pistol further away from the bodies - the caliber possibly the right size to explain the hole in one of the unfortunate dead. Said disturbance is nothing more than disturbed stones and a small fleeing brown fox, all too quick in its mad scramble to escape what had been a safe hiding spot away from humanity, up until said safe hiding spot moved, ground down under the weight of the vividly green beast that's decided to scale that particular tangle of rock and brush to see what's going on.
The jeep driving and conversation has apparently attracted the attention of a dragon, of the winged variety, heavier in the hind end than would normally allow easy flight but as tattered wings are spread and fanned rapidly, huge hindclaws digging into the stone and shoving away, it can indeed apparently get airborne in a shower of dust, dried leaves and bits of grass. It's not too close yet, it has some distance to cover, but it's making a determined beeline for the four poking around the ruins of three lives, a distant flaming, bellowing roar rising in obvious challenge as soon as Injue picks up the firearm on the ground.
"Heads up!"
The sound of the swooping dragon is enough to get Squall's attention, and the roar is enough to make him take action. "Take cover! Fitzgerald, Meynolt, head left! Injue, you're with me!" The SeeD dashes towards the right of the incoming dragon, moving for something to hide behind, while he focuses. Magic, magic...
(Is there anything to draw from here? Natural magic? The dragon?)
Squall focuses, trying to find something to power his para-magic, expecting Injue to follow him, and everyone to wait for the command to attack.
(...I had better not be surrounded by idiots.)
"Woah there Injue!" Shane warns as he begins waving it about. "The thing might be loaded! Be careful! 's only one gun. If it were an ambush, they would have left more behind. Plus only one body was shot. If anyone, someone probably backstabbed someone." He makes a face. Backstabbing. That's -never- a good thing. Kind of annoys him just to think about it.
"Well, since we don't know what kind of animals those tracks belonged it, it very well could have been some sort of trained beast. I'm not familiar with the animals around these parts." He lifts his head then, looking rather alarmed as his sharp hearing catches something out of the ordinary. Whirling about on his heel, he spots the incoming dragon just as Squall gives the head's up. "Christ! Is that.." He begins laughing then. Looks like this won't be so mundane after all.
"Yeh heard Mr. Leonhart Miss Meynolt! Come on!" He unslings the rifle with one hand while his other reach out to grab Gwen's as he starts running. If she's a bit slow, he's going to pick her up and just run with her over his shoulder until they get the right distsance.
Gwen stares at Injue for a long moment, her expression one of slowly growing horror. Then, she ventures, "It did not belong to them...?" Pause. "It would not have been left here by mistake by the individuals who discovered the bodies, as it is not military issue. ...There may well be another party involved with this." She bows her head, raising a hand to her chin. Shane's comments are also troubling, but she'd rather cover all the bases before thinking, ugh, treachery. "Does the ShinRa Corporation have any other opposition?"
Injue's comment about animals only gets from Gwen, "It is not my speciality, but I have known those who have certain talents with wildlife..." Druids, to be exact.
The leathery flapping is what Gwen notices first, but she doesn't look up until Squall yells, thinking the sound to be perhaps finally carrion-feeders. When she sees exactly what is coming their way, her hand goes to her mouth with a gasp of, "Azuth's beard, a dragon!" before she pulls at the strings binding a pouch even as she heads left at Squall's command.
Gwen is indeed a bit slow on her feet. Shane will probably have to carry her to make time. Embarrassing, but that's what happens when you have low dexterity. Once she's got a moment (read: put down), the wizard draws forth a small scrap of something, her fingers tracing arcane patterns even as she murmurs the phrases to activate her spell. The air around her shimmers for a moment, then fades to invisiblity. The spell's not as strong as some, but it'll provide her with a little protection. Also providing her with a little cover is Shane, whom she is pointedly stepping behind as she prepares another spell. It's not cowardice, it's good sense.
Unfortunately, Gwen doesn't get an answer to her question on opposition. "Holy shit!" Injue exclaims, fumbling with the gun a moment before he drops it, and decides, hey, that thing isn't worth his hide. SOLDIER or no, he's got survival instincts; he follows Squall and draws his longsword, dropping into a crouch near an outcropping of stone. "What's -that- doing out here?!"
It takes him a while, but he realizes just what it is. ...Kinda.
"It's a dragon! From uhhh. What's that area. Starts with an N. Hey! You guys know, right?" Squall can easily find magic to draw. The man next to him has a Blizzard Materia and Libra (Scan) equipped. Enjoy your Blizzara~
Injue is still trying to guess what kind of dragon this is. Why he doesn't just use his /stupid Libra or Scan/ right now is probably due to his inexperience.
To make matters worse, behind Gwen and Shane comes a low series of growls, and from near the rocks Squall and Injue hide behind, there's another low rumble. Brownish-furred, bristling wolves - 1 near Squall and 4 approaching Shane and Gwen - bare their teeth.
Oddly, two of the four near Shane and Gwen are carefully holding some sheets of paper in their teeth. They're a little crinkled (and drooled on) but they're beeing queerly delicate with their treasure.
With a target in mind, the sudden activity of its snacks in splitting up and heading in two different directions doesn't even slow it down.
It hits the ground at considerable speed and slides a little, digging in its claws to slow its progress and taking a halfhearted swipe at Squall and the SOLDIER as they run - but the pistol is its goal, small head snapping down to snatch up the offending weapon and actually /swallowing/ it before rounding on the nearer of the two pairs, tail sweeping in a heavy arc behind it as it turns to face the SOLDIER and SeeD. Don't stand behind it.
This priority of retrieving the pistol means it's wide open for attack by either of the groups, and it seems acutely aware of it - the bellows haven't had much of a pause yet save when it blasts whatever's in front of it in a cone of fire. It's big, it's nasty, and it's going to do considerable harm once it orients on its little targets.
Or, for the very, very watchful, it's doing its damnest to keep their attention on it. Hunting dragons don't usually make this much noise, nor do they put on this kind of an overt display.
(....Is he serious?)
Squall doesn't have time to point out he HAS Scan, he should use it, as his gunblade is drawn from his belt, and slashes into the wolf with a gunshot, the tremor through the blade hopefully adding to the damage. Preparing himself for a potential counter attack, he presses his back against the stone. Taking time to look over...
To see a dragon eat a gun. THAT officially doesn't make sense. "A dragon doesn't go for a pistol when there's meat around." He says, aloud. "Get ready to move. We'll have to try and take it down. Flank, we move on my mark."
Squall starts to focus again, getting ready to cast Blizzara from Injue's materia, but holding....holding...
"Go!"
The SeeD dashes around from the rock, throwing his hand out as a pillar of ice erupts from under the dragon, trying to get it's attention. He's not going to stay still, though. That thing is big and deadly. He keeps running, to the next point of cover, hoping Injue follows through. Provided a SOLDIER 3rd Class can't be downed by a wounded wolf.
"A dragon eh?" Shane whistles, "Pretty scary lookin'. Hey! Watch out!" He shouts to Injue as the dragon tries to eat the gun. He's still carrying Gwen over his shoulder when the dragon's tail comes sweeping in. "Woah! Hold on Miss Meynolt!" That's all the warning she gets when he handily leaps backwards up and over said appending. Still running, he gets behind a sizable rock and sets the wizard down.
"Yeh alright Miss Meynolt?" He casts the gensai a somewhat concerned look just as she pulls out the little bit of scrap. Nodding, he turns his attention back to the dragon, rifle lowered to fire whenever he gets the order. His ears twitch then at the sound of something coming up behind him. "Bloody hell," he grumbles as he glances behind him.
Wait. Bits of white catches his attention then and he turns his head to focus more clearly. "They got the paperwork!" Shuffling slightly so that he's still got Gwen covered he frowns. "Miss Meynolt, watch me back alright? Let me know when the tail's comin'." Because last he checked, the dragon was glaring on the other side. He nods quickly, "We'll get the paperwork! Yeh keep the dragon busy!"
The rifle is lowered, pointed first at one of the beasts that is NOT holding the paperwork. BANG!
Gwen turns with a gasp at the growling to face the wolf-like monsters. Holding the spell she's readied for a moment, she glances back briefly at the incoming dragon and, making a judgment call, calls to the Scion, "Shane, cover me!" as she points and releases the spell at the monsters. Three of them, chosen by whichever three are closest, will be the targets of the magical missiles; the three purpley-pink darts of arcane force fling towards the monsters from Gwen's fingertip.
A tad belatedly, she registers the papers some of the wolf-monsters have in their mouths. "Shane, I believe those are the missing notes!" she calls out again, before glancing over at the dragon. Oh dear. The genasi nods at Shane's instructions, adding an, "Understood!" and moves behind him, watching the dragon while Paternain shifts shoulders to keep an eye on the monsters. She gestures, pulling in threads of magic as she prepares another spell, staying as watchful as she can without losing her focus.
Injue gawks. "...It just swallowed a gun!" ....... The 3rd class swings his sword overhead for a moment. It has the look of outraged flailing, "You're not supposed to swallow guns! That's ShinRa property, you know!!"
Yes, he is completely serious.
"Grrr...! We're taking that back!" But first!! He's going to /duck/. That tail could really knock someone out cold! Or break a neck. "Watch out!" Fiiiire D: Man, only way to deal with this is to avoid it's tail and mouth! Well, there are more ways than that, but those are maybe a bit safer! Injue spares himself a few moments to try to take down the wolf previously wounded by Squall before he goes to follow -- utterly unaware that the other wolves approaching the other half of the team are carrying their objective.
Or so it would appear!
One wolf is felled instantly by a bullet to the skull. The one next to it snarls viciously, shying from its twitching companion, and lunges for Shane. Hope you're fast with that rifle, else this wolf is going to do the lupine equivalent of a flying 'shoulder' tackle.
That is, it -planned- on that, but is knocked off course and tumbling to the ground with a sharp yelping whine as arcane force stabs into it. Another is struck once, and shies away, dropping a few of its pages in its haste to attempt to escape.
"Don't let those get away!!"
A dragon doesn't go for corpses when there's fresh things to be killed, too. The ice spell /does/ get its attention by the roar of surprised pain and the way it immediately searches for whoever just DID that - and Squall's still moving, and it's the motion that attracts it even when Squall hides behind another rock.
There's a lot of rocks and treestumps and debris to hide behind, but some of that is terribly flammable. A sharp inhale, and another blast of flame is sent towards Squall's hiding spot, looking to drive the hidden SeeD from cover so it can attempt to directly sieze the young mercenary with fang-filled mouth in a snap of powerful jaws.
Somehow, all this firebreathing doesn't seem to set off the gun it -ate-. Maybe its gullet is well protected or something. But Squall's succeeding quite well, at the moment, in being a distraction. This doesn't mean Injue doesn't have to watch out for the thrash of tail - or anyone else foolish enough to get in the way of the scaly appendage.
The rocks, though they help, are not enough to stop Squall getting burnt. It's not serious, but it's not exactly not painful. He's going to have to plan his next attack. He focuses again, tapping into the Guardian Force's knowledge, as he runs a hand over his blade. There's a mild frost and shade of darkness over it briefly, as he junctions the blizzara to the blade, along with some of the magic he already had stored up. However, he keeps in the cover as he draws again. Firaga, this time, from the Dragon. He isn't sure how it will react to having it's magic drained, but it's Squall's chance. Besides, it might keep the dragon's attention focused. He's still got a few seconds before it becomes too risky to jump out of the flames, and into the waiting maw. This'll take a few seconds, but it might just work, as Squall presses hismelf against the stone again.
"Yes ma'am!" He shouts in response to Gwen's request at being covered. Shane's not really built for tanking but he'll do his best! There's a bit of a whistle as he witnesses the same attack that put down the Shinigami. Of course, he doesn't know that magic missiles aren't the strongest attack spells that the gensai may have access to. It took down a Shinigami! Obviously it must be powerful.
One wolf is downed and he grins, the rifle already tracking the second beast. It's coming in close though and one hand drops from the rifle to stab it if it gets too close. Fortunately Magic Missile pushes it away. "Good shot Miss Meynolt! Ah! Tryin' ta get away are yeh?" Leveling the rifle a second time, he pulls the bolt. There's a clacking sound as the shell is ejected and the Scion tracks the wolf. The gun in his hand was built by a fellow scion designed to take down frightening monsters. This is most definitely a good time to use it.
Taking a deep breath, his sight homes in on the fleeing wolf. Everything dies away around him as he focuses. The breath is exhaled as he squeezes the trigger, rapidly pulls the bolt to load another bullet and fires a second time all in rapid succession.
It's just too bad. Gwen has a spell that could cut some of the damage the dragon could inflict, but she can't run over and cast it on Squall without hitting the realm of 'mind-bogglingly suicidal'. Poor Squall.
"I think Mr. Leonhart is attempting to distract the beast," she comments to Shane briefly, keeping her eyes on the dragon as instructed. A hint of a smile does cross her face at the mention of the effect of the spell from Shane along with a quieter reply of, "Much appreciated." As her hand ducks into her component pouch momentarily, withdrawing flower petals, Gwen murmurs to her familiar, "Paternain, watch behind me." Hopefully the untrustworthy lizard actually will.
Gwen turns hard towards the wolf-monsters who haven't fled, and... lets rose petals fly at the beasts? But they're not just flower petals in her hands, they're charged with a minor enchantment and fly further than they should, sowing a compulsion to slumber in their wake. Should the monsters find themselves unable to resist, they'll quickly succumb and fall asleep where they stand, for a time.
The wolf that attempts its escape is hampered by the glancing blow it'd taken, but once two bullets rip through its body, it releases its papers with a ragged and brief howl, dropping heavily into the dirt. This leaves but one shaggy-haired beast left, and this one staggers drunkenly as its showered with petals.
And flops on the ground, much like a puppy that has had far too much fun, and hasn't quite realized it's nap time before it's asleep.
Injue, meanwhile, has finally remembered what he brought with him in terms of Materia. "...Oh man, right! This one's a ...!?" Woah!! Ducking out of the way of another blast of fire, he pockets his Libra with another grumble. "Wow, pretty far from home. It's from Nibel. Those Nibel wolves, too, wonder why they're all the way out here?"
And carrying PAPERS. Weiiiiird.
Well. "No time like the present!! GERONEMOOOO!" Injue throws himself recklessly from his hiding place, fully intending on taking on that Dragon! Or being a good distracton.
When Squall fails to appear and get eaten like he should, the dragon gives an annoyed snarl and rears back on heavy hind legs, planting its foreclaws on the rock itself and determinedly setting to work getting over it. It /knows/ when magic is pulled from it by the squeal of protest - not pain, just /frustration/, and from its higher vantage point of mostly on the rock, weight balanced by thick tail, it attempts to bathe the space /behind/ said stone in flame as well.
.. But as this hadn't worked so well last time, as it does so, the veridian beast works on clambering up enough to strike directly at the SeeD - and perched above, it'll be much harder for him to easily evade it. It's a rather clever plan, for a beast that isn't known for its intelligence in its native habitat.
The sudden yell from Injue snaps its small head around, to fix beady eyes on the SOLDIER instead of its preferred SeeDling snack, and shrieks right back at the offending man. This comes with the probably very expected wash of flame. Easily distracted, despite its perch, it seems.
(You IDIOT, rookie!)
....Is what Squall wants to say. On the other hand, he has just given Squall the oppurtunity he needs. A massive opening to take advantage of.
Attack > Renzokuken
Squall stands, the temporary elemental shield of Firaga giving him his chance, as he suddenly rushes the exposed neck of the dragon, raising his Gunblade. And suddenly, he performs a series of slashes at the dragon's next, the ice and blind enchanted sword digging towards it's neck, Squall pulling tyhe trigger with every slice. As the last strike of the combo goes through, he crocuhes, lowering his blade...
ROUGH DIVIDE
Squall pushes himself off the ground, swinging his blade up as he jumps, moving to massively gouge the dragon, and hopefully wound, or even kill it.
Squall lands, a small distance away, in front of the dragon. "Finish it off!"
The last wolf drops sleepily and Shane makes a soft woo! "Excellent job Miss Meynolt!" Sleep is an excellent spell to have. He keeps the gun at the level as he edges forward towards the dropped papers. One eye is kept on the wolf, the other on the ground collecting each sheet just in case the beast decides to wake up. "Come on..."
One. Two. Four. Most of the papers get! Now, normally he dislikes doing this but he can't afford to have the wolf wake up and suddenly start attacking him or Gwen again. Towering over the beast, he lowers the rifle a mere seven inches from its head and pulls the trigger. He makes sure it's dead before picking up the rest of the papers.
"Head's up!" He cries out as he dashes towards Gwen and pauses only to shove the stack of papers towards her. "That should be all of 'em, I'm gonna help out Mr. Leonhart and Injue! Stay back." He grins broadly, slinging the rifle back over his shoulder. "HERE I COME!" He runs close and closer, whistling in appreciation as Squall does his thing. Maybe they might not need him after all! But it's too late, he's already approaching and with a giant leap, he delivers a fearsome dropkick!
There. Gwen turns back to watch the dragon as Shane moves to collect the papers and dispose of the sleeping wolf. Her lips twitch downward slightly, once, at the sound of the gunshot; she's not terribly happy about the fact that the monster was killed in its sleep. Yes, the alternatives would have been far worse and led to the same, but it feels a bit wrong regardless.
Caught off guard when the papers are thrust her way, the genasi stares after Shane, a bit nonplussed. Ultimately, though, she shakes her head, a touch bemused, and sets to sorting the pile of papers--No, not reading them, just making the stack look neat--while watching the fight from her vantage point. "My," she comments to Paternain, "They are certainly energetic young men."
A -fine- marksman, a girl with potent magic, and a warrior, huh?
Injue pumps his fist in the air. "Man!! I can see why Sephiroth wanted you guys!" Having backed off to give Squall ample maneuvering space, he gets a running start and attempts to leap and bury the blade into the flank of the dragon. It's not a Limit Break, but it's still bound to contribute somewhat to the dragon's declining state of health.
The slumbering wolf doesn't have a firm grip on the papers, and especially not when its head gets ventilated by a bullet. The papers are a bit slobbered on, but serviceable.
This is why distraction is bad. Attempting to roast alive one target means not paying attention to the other, and the dragon's first warning that this wasn't a good idea is the sharp bite of the gunblade into its scaly hide. It reflexively curls to attempt to protect itself, but the rain of vicious strikes aren't so easily deflected.
Nibel dragons apparently bleed red. Squall's efforts leave a rather gruesome effect, from shallower blows to the deep gouge that leaves bone and muscle flayed to open air and the beast itself scrabbling in bloody outrage to bite, claw or tear /something/ -anything- within range, slipping on a pool of its own blood.
Shane's kick does absolutely nothing to help the dying dragon's current state of being, nor does the sword slammed into its flank. If they do nothing at all it's not going to be alive much longer, its attempts to set the area around it aflame gaining only bubbling froth at the deep wounds left behind. Even these movements stop, all too quickly, to gasping stillness.
And then even that stops.
A golden armlet rolls away, inexplicably. Why these dragons -liked- those things, nobody may know.
The dragon felled, Squall waves his sword in the air a few times, to try and shake some of the blood off, resting the sword on his shoulder as he turns around to look. And sighs. "We still need to get that gun out, if it's intact." Squall walks over to felled neck, and kneels down, trying to work out approximately where the gun is, and moving to slice the neck open at the point.
"Still, it went straight for the gun before any of us. And the wolves were carrying paperwork. That doesn't make alot of sense." He's awfully calm for being covered in dragon blood there. "I want to know why."
"WOOHOO!" Shane lets out a loud whoop of victory as he feels the dragon shudder beneath his feet. After he had kicked it, he maintained his balance on top of the beast, fully intending on beating the thing to death with his fist if he had to. But fortunately, he didn't have to.
Perched from his standpoint, he sees the armlet roll away but doesn't leap for it immediately. Scratching his chin, he huhs. "Trained beasts then, like miss Meynolt said. Hey, what did the kid say where these things were from anyway? Started with an N but I couldn't hear 'em that clearly over the dragon, the wolves and the gunfire yeh know? Maybe the General might now why. Yeh can ask 'em when we get back."
Seeing that Squall is about to slice open the beast and go digging around, this might be a good time to vacate the corpse. Leaping lightly to the ground, he strides over and picks up the armlet with ease. There's another appreciative whistle, "Pretty. Wonder why the Dragon had this thing on 'em." He doesn't put it on just yet though, but he probably will when he gets back to the office. Instead, it disappears inside one of his pockets.
"Yeh alright Miss Meynolt?" He shouts over to the wizard.
Once it's downed, Gwen heads over in the direction of the felled dragon. "I'm perfectly alright," she calls back to Shane as she approaches, adding, "And yourself?" Once she's closer to the Scion, she hands the papers over to him. "Hold onto these for a tick, please, Mr. Fitzgerald," the Guvner says, shrugging off her pack, and then crouching to extract a thin glass vial from a case within it.
"I'll be glad to temporarily reclaim guardianship of the papers when I have finished, but please, until that time..." Gwen trails off here to pull off her white gloves with her teeth, then drops them on the pack before heading off for the dragon's corpse. The stench of blood and gore is almost overpowering, and the genasi involuntarily gags as she approches. "I'm collecting a portion of blood, Mr. Leonhart. I'll be out of your way in a tick," she explains, before doing so. There's a reason she left her gloves behind, and her hands are showing it.
Once collection's complete, she heads back, and if Shane wants her to, she'll take possession of the papers again. ...Once she's taken a moment to Presdigitate her hands clean, of course.
"Huh? Of course Miss Meynolt. Yeh know, yeh can just call me Shane like everyone else does!" He does take temporary possession of the papers as he watches the Wizard collect blood and Squall rip things apart. "Yeh alright Mr. Leonhart?" The Scion hopes that all that blood on the SeeD isn't his. He really does hope so.
But seeing that he sounds pretty much the same over the radio and he's cutting the dragon open with such ease, it must be alright yes? Yes. He walks over to where the dead bodies were and begins rifling through with one hand. Finding nothing particularly interesting, he shrugs and hands the papers back to Gwen. "Here yeh go ma'am."
Heading back to the jeep, he kind of just plays with the armlet for a little bit as he considers what he saw tonight.
Amazingly, once it's actually found, the gun's not completely destroyed - charred a bit, covered in saliva and stinking of dragon internals, certainly, but in one piece. There won't be any problems with collecting samples, or removing anything from any of the present corpses - none of them are going to complain, after all.
The 3rd Class SOLDIER has the wit to pull out his cellphone and take several pictures, of the wolves, the dragon, the mess everywhere else ... and then Squall, bloodsoaked, Gwen a little neater, and Shane plus new armlet. Some things just need to be saved for posterity. They'll be allowed to linger as long as they want to.
But eventually, everyone's going to be packed up, all the relevant stuff stowed away, and back to the other side of the Gate - where Sephiroth's waiting for the pertinent materials. He won't ask for a full report tonight, the four earned that much in the work they've already done, but ShinRa's loathe to leave their belongings in other hands, even if they are IPA allies.
At least all the blood and gore will wash off.
WHEN: May 31st, 2006 (Before the last log)
WHERE: Shakuras
WHAT: ShinRa employs a bunch of people for a simple retrieval mission. It isn't that simple.
WATCH FOR: Everything Injue
At the Gate mentioned waits a military issue jeep, a blue mustang, Sephiroth, and a golden retriever. Said retriever's currently tethered inside the car, but she's making efforts at escaping, squishing her nose in the gap made by partly rolled down windows and pawing at the glass. The General, having reclaimed his dignity after last night, seems to have misplaced his iconic jacket, as he's currrently got a turtleneck on instead. And is waiting very patiently for those he'd selected to arrive.
He'd asked four to come. Four should be able to handle this just fine, and their breadth of skills should make any difficulties they run into a comparitive cakewalk.
A man in SOLDIER uniform with helmet, his face mostly hidden behind its elongated metal visor, approaches Sephiroth and salutes smartly. "Injue, SOLDIER 3rd class," says the young man, who then produces a manilla envelope with the logo of ShinRa, Inc. on one side. "For the retrieval mission, General Sephiroth, sir!"
Must be a fairly young recruit, given that he can hardly sit still, and has a sort of ...barely restrained eagerness that suggests he's still quite green. Or nervous about being in the presence of a famous war hero. He's also the one handling the driving for this mission. Convenient, that.
When the option to volunteer on some missions for extra pay came up, Shane jumped at the chance and signed up. He heard a little bit about ShinRa from Zack but Sephiroth's leading the mission so how bad for humanity could it really be right? He received the notice earlier in the day and quickly changed from his (now normal) suit and tie into khakis, a light turtleneck and a light long coat.
The scion also retrieved his rifle from his locker and filled up the pouch over his leg with several spare clips just in case. Hopefully it'll be a simple mission but why take chances right? Once given the coordinates, he immediately headed out. The Military Jeep is not hard to miss and neither is the General. Walking up to the location, Shane raises a friendly hand in greeting. "General." The old fashioned rifle swings slightly with every step, the sharp spike bayonet extending the entire thing to a good four and a half feet. "Who are the others comin' with us?" The newb is given a grin as well.
Gwen has come prepared. While the Guvner isn't toting her whole planar survival kit--notice the lack of 'camping' equipment attached to that backpack she's wearing--she looks rather prepared. Other than the pack, the more adventure-practical outfit, the band keeping her glasses on her face, what also stands out a bit is the tiny lizard riding on her shoulder.
Either Gwen didn't drink enough to get hung over last night or her body's good at handling alcoholic intake, by the looks of it. She seems as alert as always as she approaches. Her pack for now stays on her back, and she greets the General with a stiff nod and a rather serious smile. She's admittedly not sure how she should greet him, never having formally served in a military organization.
"Lady's grace, General," she says instead, using the old Sigilian greeting as she stands at ready, glancing from him, to the jeep, to... Shane. Well, there's a face she didn't expect to see. "Mr. Fitzgerald, I see I was not alone in offering my services," she observes.
Punctual and prepared, a scarred young man walks toward the jeep. Squall Leonhart is wearing his usual garb, rather than SeeD Uniform. The details on the mission have been depressingly scarce, and he hasn't had time to read up on everything beforehand. Still, it pays well, and orders are orders.
Squall locates the Jeep, walks up to the group, and salutes to the man in the turtleneck. "General Sephiroth? SeeD Rank 10, Squall Leonhart reporting." He drops his salute, and stands at attention, looking over the group.
They're so cute when they're rookies. Too bad most SOLDIERs never grow out of this phase. Sephiroth merely nods when greeted by ALL of the arrivals, filing names with appearances and glad at least something was right, and they were who they said they were. "Gentlemen. Ma'am. I'll be brief." No he won't.
"The four of you were selected for this mission due to your wide range of abilities and aptitudes. I expect all of you to work together." Sepihroth is incapable of being brief, sometimes, but he's intending to try. He holds up a folded piece of paper; written orders in case they forget what they're doing. "Ten hours ago, Professor Hojo's lab was ransacked by Wutai forces and many of his labratory notes stolen. The perpetrators were found beyond this Gate, slain, and the notes missing. Your assignment is to track whoever or whatever relieved them of their stolen property and retrieve it by any means necessary. Please keep in mind that these files are classified and are thus not to be read at your liesure."
It's not really the most high profile assignment out there. They might not even run into anyone. It could just be a matter of hunting across the wilderness looking for scattered notes. "Mr. Leonhart, you have command. Your record speaks highly of your abilities in this regard, so I will trust them. Please keep these in case you or your team forgets their orders." He offers said paperwork. "Should you run into more trouble than you can handle, I will be here, and it will not take me long to find you. Are there any questions?"
The ever-so-eager Injue returns Shane's grin with a toothy smile of his own. There's the beginnings of an attempt to give the man the universal thumbs-up of approval, but he seems to recall in whose presence he stands, and makes a mighty attempt to not practically vibrate with enthusiasm. As for Gwen, he brings his hand up to his helmet as if he might have tried to tip a hat in greeting. It's a very abbreviated gesture, likely due to the fact that he doesn't want to seem like he's goofing off.
Squall gets a flat-out stare, though, by the helmeted SOLDIER, simply because he's pretty impressed that a guy that young has such a high rank and professional demeanor. He's pretty serious about this! He turns his attention to Sephiroth as he explains the mission.
"If it's from Professor Hojo," confides Injue, "You don't wanna read it anyway. So, boss!" Injue's addressing Squall, apparently. "We're ready to go anytime. Just get in the jeep, I'll drive, you guys do the hunting." This time, Injue -does- bounce a little. Definitely enthusiastic. "Hey, is that your pet, ma'am?"
"Miss Meynolt," Shane greets cheerfully. "He asked fer volunteers. I'm sure there's several people who want ta make a bit o' extra scratch on the side." Squall's taciturn nature doesn't go unnoticed though. He just gives the SeeD member a mock salute as he opens his mouth to introduce himself but Sephiroth cut him off.
Folding his arms over his chest, he nods, memorizing the orders. "Sounds pretty simple ta me. Track and retrieve. I kin do a fair bit o' trackin' but it's not me strong suit." Still, how hard could it REALLY be? When Squall's given the leadership position, the scion just shrugs. "Shane Fitzgerald at yer service Mr. Leonhart."
He laughs then as Injue looks so energetic. He gives the SOLDIER a heart clap on the back before holding open one of the rear doors of the jeep for Gwen to get in, "We're countin' on yeh. What was yer name again?" Squall, being the leader, gets to ride shotgun.
(....why am I the one in command?)
Not that Squall vocalizes that thought, taking the offered paperwork with a nod, and taking a few moments to look over it. And then he looks over 'his' team. Well, if he can trust the general's judgement they should be good. The rookie, however, reminds him of Zell.
The rookie who's driving. There's something bad about this, somehow. "Alright then. Let's get in there, find the files, and get out. It would be better if we could do so undetected, but combat may be unavoidable. I'll be counting on your tracking abilities." Squall moves to the shotgun postion of the jeep. "Move out."
Money. Of course. Gwen's expression stays neutral, though; it's not as if she has much room to protest otherwise at the moment anyway. "Ah, I see," is the sum total of her reply.
Squall is spared a brief glance before Sephiroth begins the briefing. Gwen can't place the young man, but by his mannerisms and look, he must be military. Her gaze is on the general, though, as he speaks; although there's a bit of curiosity, admittedly, about what the notes could be about, the diviner does her best to squash that in the bud. There's no room for that here at all.
There's a flicker of memory recalled in her eyes as the unidentified young man is, well identified. Yes, she had seen the paperwork that had gone around with his name on it; impressive. Her gaze does slide his way. He might be younger than her, but age is no matter at all to the genasi.
"I have but one question, General," Gwen speaks, raising one hand to her glasses. "Is there a good description on hand of the notes?" It's a very long shot, and she /really/ wishes she had had more time to prepare, but at least there's a chance that scroll might work. "That question aside, I will do my utmost in these matters, General," she appends, then turns to Squall. "I am at your service, as well, Mr. Leonhart. I am Gwen Meynolt; while I possess a title, perhaps it is not relevant here."
Injue's tip of the imaginary hat brings a bemused smile to her face, and she nods in kind to him. "Is there something unusual about this Professor Hojo?" she asks, curious. "There are few documents I cannot read or comprehend." The mention of her lizard causes her to briefly glance at her little friend on her shoulder. "Ah, that's Paternain, she's my familiar. I wouldn't... call her a pet. Perhaps... assistant would be better, Mr...?" she details, before at last moving to take her seat in the back of the jeep.
Making a fist with one hand, the SOLDIER, Injue, pumps it in the air a moment, grinning. "Okay! Everyone pile in and get comfortable!" He climbs into the driver's seat, snapping on a harness that looks like it's probably the seatbelt. He starts checking to make sure everything looks alright, chatting away the whole while. This guy, along with being energetic, seems to be a bit of a talkative man. "This should be interesting. Never been the only SOLDIER on a mission."
"...Then again, I only got to 3rd class recently, hahaha!"
Description of the notes? The helmeted SOLDIER leans back, propping his elbow on the space between his seat and the front passenger one. "White paper, black text. It's got a ShinRa watermark and probably full of scientific mumbo-jumbo. Unusual?" He kind of looks at Sephiroth a moment. "He's kinda an oddball, I hear. Eccentric, like all those geniuses are. And it's Injue. Ready to go?"
It seems they'll be able to work well enough together. Maybe this will be enough, when they finish, to tell him whether or not they're worth asking back. Until then, he has a rambunctious golden retriever still trying to get out of his car. Attempting to push her nose back in the window only gets him licked. ...And he's actually asked a question!
Sephiroth looks a little surprised at this, but recovers quickly. "Professor Hojo's writing looks like chickenscratch, and is usually in black ink, if it isn't a printout." They seemed an intelligent lot. And came more or less reccomended.. Poor Injue's the only one available to ask. ...And he doesn't have to describe Hojo, as Injue does it /for/ him. This earns the young Third a long thoughtful look, but no comment on it. "Good luck."
He opens the car door, and the dog makes a lunge for freedom - or more accurately the nearest warm body - but Sephiroth grabs her leash before she can get far, and the dog promptly leeeaans against her collar as much as she can, whining, straining to get at /someone/. Given the slobber everywhere, she probably wants to lick them. Sephiroth's not going to let her, he's just waiting til they depart.
With Gwen and Squall both in the Jeep, Shane climbs in and sits fairly relaxed. "Leave it up ta me Mr. Leonhart!" He mms at Gwen's question and then memorizes the descriptions given to him. "Chicken scratch or print out. Shinra watermark. Got it! We'll keep an eye on it." He reaches out and claps Injue on the shoulder. "Let's get going then Injue!" Peering at the window, he flashes Sephiroth another grin. Poor puppy. D:
Gwen frowns. She has probably seen the ShinRa logo somewhere, but she can't recall what it looks like. The description she's been given isn't good enough to use the scroll she has after all. "...A pity, I'm not certain I can visualize that properly," is her only comment, coupled with small sigh. Divination without a good idea of what you're looking for doesn't work well. At least they'll be able to know them when/if they fidn them?
The description of Hojo, on the other hand, does get an intrigued look from the diviner. "Oh, he's a genius? How wonderful, to have such talent!" Yes, Gwen is actually clasping her hands together. "I don't suppose he'd be available to speak with anybody personally, would he...?" A slight frown, there. He's probably too busy. She shakes her head. "No matter, let's go."
"Y--Yes sir!!" exclaims the 3rd class SOLDIER, saluting so enthusiastically he actually bangs his hand against his helmet lightly.
"Hang on!"
The jeep peels out, speeding on through the Gate and into the rough terrain beyond. "It's gonna get pretty bumpy, wheeee!" Oh god, what kind of elite SOLDIER screams 'Wheeee!' while careening at potentially hazardous speeds over rough, unpaved land? Apparently a newbie. He -might- need to be asked to slow down a little, given the rocky, dry terrain, except where it's interrupted by the occasional patch of withered grass, is a bit hard to observe carefully when it's blurring past.
Injue is still chatting up the group as he drives, "The Professor's hard to track down! He's always working on something, won't talk to anyone unless he has to. He probably doesn't even know his notes are missing, too busy with the next thing, I guess!"
He really should slow down. Or... he might just simply slam on the brakes, bringing the jeep into a precarious sideways slide, rocking to a halt with a spray of pebbles and dust. "Here we are!! Uh, we didn't clean up after the corpses were retrieved. Didn't want to disturb any tracks. Wanna go take a look?"
(....I knew this would happen.)
Squall closes the file of what little information he has, and places it carefully away. "Alright. Fitzgerald, take point." Squall carefully gets out of the jeep, not anting to disturb anything. "Is this confirmed to be the entire group that stole the notes?" He asks of the SOLDIER 3rd Class.
There are three dead people over there. They've been there for some hours, but not so long that they're beginning to smell ripe yet. Uniformed as Wutai forces, with the strange pike-guns they seemed to prefer, there's evidence that at least one was shot but all have been ripped wide open. And maybe a little chewed on. It's messy. Hopefully nobody minds a bit ... a lot of blood. Thankfully by now it's all /dry/.
And all of it is now covered in a very fine layer of dust thanks to Injue's impeccable driving skills. The terrain's not precisely level, and it rained maybe a day ago so in places the ground's a bit waterlogged. There's mountains and trees elsewhere, but here it's more rocks and dirt than anything else.
Sharp eyes might pick up on prints around the bodies, leading to and away, mostly where something had tracked through once-pooled blood. ... Mind the flies.
It's a bumpy ride but fortunately Shane's all buckled in. Injue's driving is pretty interesting. Fortunately Jeeps are built to take this kind of abuse. He bumps around a little, using one hand to hold onto the door side. "Woo!" Then again, this kind of driving isn't anything new for Shane. Just part of the adventure!
When the jeep comes to a screeching halt, the Scion makes a small 'umph' sound as he drops back. Ow. But they're already tumbling out of the jeep. "Understood Mr. Leonhart!" Hopping out, he removes his sunglasses and squints at the ground. "Huh..." The scion gets a serious expression then.
The blood doesn't bother him, not in the slightest but he is faintly disturbed by the bodies. "Tch." Taking great care not to disturb much, he kneels down by one of the corpse's side. "Whatever took 'em down wasn't human, I kin tell yeh that. Or if it was human, he was a bloody savage." Standing, he mms some more. He points towards the tracks, "Over there." He swats a hand, shooing away several flies. "Either of yeh recognize that?"
As the jeep peels out, Gwen is notably caught off guard, letting out a 'wauugh!' as she's unexpectedly thrown back in her seat. She eventually manages to steady herself in the back, and makes a futile attempt to pick out the surroundings. Were mortals meant to travel at these speeds without the buffer of magic?
"A shame, but I understand," she replies in regards to the Professor. She presses a hand against the roof of the jeep to keep stabilized as she leans forward to ask, "Aren't you piloting this thing at a rather rapid pace?" Sadly, it's probably then-ish that he hits the brakes, jarring the Guvner free from her carefully balanced position and back into her seat again.
"I... yes," she answers very quickly to his question, fumbling with her door. "I would appreciate, ah, 'taking a look'," Gwen says, diplomatically. It probably beats 'getting the hell out of this automaton' in terms of tact. The door finally opens, and she stumbles out, then heads over (a little more gracefully) to look more closely at the bodies.
"...The notes were stolen no more than ten hours ago, and they have already become deceased," the Guvner comments. "For individuals who were able to infiltrate a lab, they appear to have had less luck with the local monsters..." There are odd wounds on one them, not consistant with their other injuries. Perhaps that weapon, the gun? Despite some of her fellows using it, however, Gwen is not as familiar with the injuries it could cause. She kneels slightly, allowing Paternain to descend. "Paternain," she says in their private tongue, pausing only to retrive a small pellet and offer it to the lizard, "Investigate more closely, please."
She leaves the lizard to do her work, and at Shane's prompting, moves to take a look at the tracks, which are unfortunately laid over one another. The genasi squints through her lenses at the tracks, trying to make out the outline of the prints. "...I'm sorry, but it appears as if there were several animals, or monsters, present. I cannot determine much else. Ah, Paternain? Please, look more closely for me." Come on, Gwen doesn't have Tracking!
Injue leans out of the window of the jeep, tossing a gesture at some dark stains in the dirt. Probably a considerable amount of blood. "Yep. The Turks want these bodies taken away once we're done here, but they're pretty messed up, huh. Tough break." Those words may sound callous, but he shakes his head with visible regret.
"Poor guy. Hey, one time? Came across a Wutaian who got real badly burned. Was still alive, too, just barely." He continues. "We couldn't move him, and Restore materia just wasn't cutting it. No point trying to get info outta the guy. Had to put the Wutaian bastard down." Injue looks nervously at Gwen, "Oh, sorry, ma'am. Keep forgetting I'm in the presence of a lady."
He looks sheepish. "We've been kinda stretched thin lately. Lotta stuff going on like this, little pockets of these guys who can't just take their defeat and be done with the war. They were probably planning it for a while, that's my guess."
"I'm no good at this investigating stuff, so I'll just hang out with the Jeep."
(We don't have time for anecdotes.)
The SeeD looks around, as Shane and Gwen investigate the tracks. Hand on his gunblade, he takes a walk around the perimeter, seeing if there's anything Shane might have missed. Or, for that matter, anyone SOLDIER might have missed. It's a long shot, but it's the sort of thing that's worth checking. "Anything else?" he says to the two investigating the tracks.
"Tch. Who knows. Probably just got unlucky. Fate's awful like that." The Scion rises to his feet and nods at Injue, "Might have used up all o' their bullets during the infiltration, didn't have enough to fend off the monsters. One o' the guys was shot though. Someone probably caught up to 'em or he tried ta betray them and then shot 'em down. "There's several o' them aren't there?" He stands to let the familiar scamper around. "Careful there. Don't get eaten okay?"
Following the prints, he mms. "It's quite possible that animals stopped by for a nibble but they would have devoured these guys and we would have seen scavengers birds." He looks off into the distance, "Still can't say what made 'em but they're all headin' west. There's another set out there though." He begins following the trail, the big ones. "Some sort o' vehicle maybe? They just kind o' stop. Yer the boss Mr. Leonheart. But right now our only real lead's the tracks goin' west."
Gwen shakes her head at Injue's words, her expression serious and slightly sad. "No, there's no need for that. Such an act... mercy takes many forms, Mr. Injue. Not all of them are pleasant to undertake." She's quiet a moment at his possibly explanation for how this might have been able to have worked, then ventures with a nod at Shane, "Fate, or luck, maybe. A misjudgement in the supplies they required is also likely. Or perhaps, infiltration was their specialty while combat was not. Let us investigate further before assigning blame."
She is already deciding that a lack of proper protection is likely in part to blame.
She kneels down, reaching out a gloved hand to Paternain, having felt the emotions of the tiny lizard essentially signify her search was complete. It chirps, the sound sort of similar to 'gekkgekk', causing Gwen to nod once. "She merely verified the prints of the animals, Mr. Fitzgerald."
She stands, venturing a last glance at the bodies. The gunshot wounds troubled her, though. Had they run into other humans at some point? Or had they fought amongst themselves? "...I await your judgment, Mr. Leonhart," she says at length, raising a hand to shade her eyes as she peers westward.
Injue is FULL of anecdotes!! He'll be totally happy to tell all, too. Every person has their quirks and in the 3rd class SOLDIER's case, he seems to be a little in love with the sound of his own voice -- either that, or just really pleased to have people to chat it up with while on a mission. ...On the other hand, if he's too busy talking and not paying attention, that could bode ... poorly for our investigators.
"Scavenger birds?" Injue looks up at the sky. "Hey, you're right, totally empty." It's true, the sky above has no birds at all. With corpses around, there -should- be some. Did something chase them off?
"Did you say they're headed west?" Injue climbs out of the Jeep, hauling with him a simple longsword. He joins Shane, peering, assumedly (hard to tell with that helmet) off in that direction. "Guess they don't have any of the notes on 'em, huh." Where could they have gone?
Did some carrion birds or wild dogs find paper really tasty, or something?!
Squall pauses. "Animals running off with notes would seem kind of strange." It's about then Squall's eyes pass over something to the southwest, walkign over and crouching down to look at it, but not touch it. "Fitzgerald, Meynolt. Mind taking a look at this?" The pistol sitting on the ground is cuasing Squall to have some questions about this. It'd be bad to go on a wild goose chase if the notes are already in Wutai hands. Best to be sure.
"Any of those are possible. If Mr. Alexander were here, he'd be able ta give yeh better details," Shane replies with a shrug. He doesn't have Instant Investigator! "Ah..." He scratches his cheek, partially pleased that his hunch was confirmed by the lizard. "But Mr. Leonheart's right. Wild animals don't normally run off with notes yeah?"
He nods then as Injue stands beside. "West, yes. Maybe there's a nest out there or somethin'." But then he gets called over by Squall and glances at Gwen. "Ladies first Miss Meynolt." The Scion offers a partial grin, waiting for her to walk before trailing behind. He peers down then, over Squall's shoulder and whistles. "Might be the weapon that put down that poor guy back there. But it looks just like a handgun ta me. Hey, Injue!"
He waves to the SOLDIER, "This gun one of yers?"
There's a glance skyward, too. Huh. "...Odd," Gwen murmurs, her brow creasing as she frowns. She's never known a carrion bird to completely avoid the scene of a kill. She quickly reaches to pat the dagger on her belt, and looks down to see that her components are quickly accessible as well.
"I doubt the animals were the ones who took the notes," the genasi speaks up with, raising a hand to her chin. "I cannot see that being the case, save if they were attempting such under the command of an intelligent being. As the possessions of the fallen are not, ah, otherwise disturbed..." she trails off at Squall's voice, then heads over his way.
"A gun," she comments, adding with a half-turn and gesture towards the bodies, "Would this sort of device inflict the exact wounds observed on that singular soldier?" Firearms are definitely not her specialty. There's speculations to be made about its being here, but Gwen's holding them in check until she knows more.
Injue reaches for the handgun. "Woah!"
He waves the firearm around, cheerfully, "All right! ShinRa make, you know, something for home security, for the regular folks." IE, not military issue. "No reason why these dudes from Wutai would bother using one. They hate everything we make. If anything," he adds, rubbing the back of his neck. "They'd have probably destroyed this, not used it."
"Damn, did they get ambushed or something?"
It's to Gwen that Injue looks, next. "Animals under the control of someone else, huh? I wouldn't know any animals that could do - this- under human orders." A beat of silence. "'Cept someone with some really mean guard dogs!"
There is a brief disturbance to the west, as Squall locates the pistol further away from the bodies - the caliber possibly the right size to explain the hole in one of the unfortunate dead. Said disturbance is nothing more than disturbed stones and a small fleeing brown fox, all too quick in its mad scramble to escape what had been a safe hiding spot away from humanity, up until said safe hiding spot moved, ground down under the weight of the vividly green beast that's decided to scale that particular tangle of rock and brush to see what's going on.
The jeep driving and conversation has apparently attracted the attention of a dragon, of the winged variety, heavier in the hind end than would normally allow easy flight but as tattered wings are spread and fanned rapidly, huge hindclaws digging into the stone and shoving away, it can indeed apparently get airborne in a shower of dust, dried leaves and bits of grass. It's not too close yet, it has some distance to cover, but it's making a determined beeline for the four poking around the ruins of three lives, a distant flaming, bellowing roar rising in obvious challenge as soon as Injue picks up the firearm on the ground.
"Heads up!"
The sound of the swooping dragon is enough to get Squall's attention, and the roar is enough to make him take action. "Take cover! Fitzgerald, Meynolt, head left! Injue, you're with me!" The SeeD dashes towards the right of the incoming dragon, moving for something to hide behind, while he focuses. Magic, magic...
(Is there anything to draw from here? Natural magic? The dragon?)
Squall focuses, trying to find something to power his para-magic, expecting Injue to follow him, and everyone to wait for the command to attack.
(...I had better not be surrounded by idiots.)
"Woah there Injue!" Shane warns as he begins waving it about. "The thing might be loaded! Be careful! 's only one gun. If it were an ambush, they would have left more behind. Plus only one body was shot. If anyone, someone probably backstabbed someone." He makes a face. Backstabbing. That's -never- a good thing. Kind of annoys him just to think about it.
"Well, since we don't know what kind of animals those tracks belonged it, it very well could have been some sort of trained beast. I'm not familiar with the animals around these parts." He lifts his head then, looking rather alarmed as his sharp hearing catches something out of the ordinary. Whirling about on his heel, he spots the incoming dragon just as Squall gives the head's up. "Christ! Is that.." He begins laughing then. Looks like this won't be so mundane after all.
"Yeh heard Mr. Leonhart Miss Meynolt! Come on!" He unslings the rifle with one hand while his other reach out to grab Gwen's as he starts running. If she's a bit slow, he's going to pick her up and just run with her over his shoulder until they get the right distsance.
Gwen stares at Injue for a long moment, her expression one of slowly growing horror. Then, she ventures, "It did not belong to them...?" Pause. "It would not have been left here by mistake by the individuals who discovered the bodies, as it is not military issue. ...There may well be another party involved with this." She bows her head, raising a hand to her chin. Shane's comments are also troubling, but she'd rather cover all the bases before thinking, ugh, treachery. "Does the ShinRa Corporation have any other opposition?"
Injue's comment about animals only gets from Gwen, "It is not my speciality, but I have known those who have certain talents with wildlife..." Druids, to be exact.
The leathery flapping is what Gwen notices first, but she doesn't look up until Squall yells, thinking the sound to be perhaps finally carrion-feeders. When she sees exactly what is coming their way, her hand goes to her mouth with a gasp of, "Azuth's beard, a dragon!" before she pulls at the strings binding a pouch even as she heads left at Squall's command.
Gwen is indeed a bit slow on her feet. Shane will probably have to carry her to make time. Embarrassing, but that's what happens when you have low dexterity. Once she's got a moment (read: put down), the wizard draws forth a small scrap of something, her fingers tracing arcane patterns even as she murmurs the phrases to activate her spell. The air around her shimmers for a moment, then fades to invisiblity. The spell's not as strong as some, but it'll provide her with a little protection. Also providing her with a little cover is Shane, whom she is pointedly stepping behind as she prepares another spell. It's not cowardice, it's good sense.
Unfortunately, Gwen doesn't get an answer to her question on opposition. "Holy shit!" Injue exclaims, fumbling with the gun a moment before he drops it, and decides, hey, that thing isn't worth his hide. SOLDIER or no, he's got survival instincts; he follows Squall and draws his longsword, dropping into a crouch near an outcropping of stone. "What's -that- doing out here?!"
It takes him a while, but he realizes just what it is. ...Kinda.
"It's a dragon! From uhhh. What's that area. Starts with an N. Hey! You guys know, right?" Squall can easily find magic to draw. The man next to him has a Blizzard Materia and Libra (Scan) equipped. Enjoy your Blizzara~
Injue is still trying to guess what kind of dragon this is. Why he doesn't just use his /stupid Libra or Scan/ right now is probably due to his inexperience.
To make matters worse, behind Gwen and Shane comes a low series of growls, and from near the rocks Squall and Injue hide behind, there's another low rumble. Brownish-furred, bristling wolves - 1 near Squall and 4 approaching Shane and Gwen - bare their teeth.
Oddly, two of the four near Shane and Gwen are carefully holding some sheets of paper in their teeth. They're a little crinkled (and drooled on) but they're beeing queerly delicate with their treasure.
With a target in mind, the sudden activity of its snacks in splitting up and heading in two different directions doesn't even slow it down.
It hits the ground at considerable speed and slides a little, digging in its claws to slow its progress and taking a halfhearted swipe at Squall and the SOLDIER as they run - but the pistol is its goal, small head snapping down to snatch up the offending weapon and actually /swallowing/ it before rounding on the nearer of the two pairs, tail sweeping in a heavy arc behind it as it turns to face the SOLDIER and SeeD. Don't stand behind it.
This priority of retrieving the pistol means it's wide open for attack by either of the groups, and it seems acutely aware of it - the bellows haven't had much of a pause yet save when it blasts whatever's in front of it in a cone of fire. It's big, it's nasty, and it's going to do considerable harm once it orients on its little targets.
Or, for the very, very watchful, it's doing its damnest to keep their attention on it. Hunting dragons don't usually make this much noise, nor do they put on this kind of an overt display.
(....Is he serious?)
Squall doesn't have time to point out he HAS Scan, he should use it, as his gunblade is drawn from his belt, and slashes into the wolf with a gunshot, the tremor through the blade hopefully adding to the damage. Preparing himself for a potential counter attack, he presses his back against the stone. Taking time to look over...
To see a dragon eat a gun. THAT officially doesn't make sense. "A dragon doesn't go for a pistol when there's meat around." He says, aloud. "Get ready to move. We'll have to try and take it down. Flank, we move on my mark."
Squall starts to focus again, getting ready to cast Blizzara from Injue's materia, but holding....holding...
"Go!"
The SeeD dashes around from the rock, throwing his hand out as a pillar of ice erupts from under the dragon, trying to get it's attention. He's not going to stay still, though. That thing is big and deadly. He keeps running, to the next point of cover, hoping Injue follows through. Provided a SOLDIER 3rd Class can't be downed by a wounded wolf.
"A dragon eh?" Shane whistles, "Pretty scary lookin'. Hey! Watch out!" He shouts to Injue as the dragon tries to eat the gun. He's still carrying Gwen over his shoulder when the dragon's tail comes sweeping in. "Woah! Hold on Miss Meynolt!" That's all the warning she gets when he handily leaps backwards up and over said appending. Still running, he gets behind a sizable rock and sets the wizard down.
"Yeh alright Miss Meynolt?" He casts the gensai a somewhat concerned look just as she pulls out the little bit of scrap. Nodding, he turns his attention back to the dragon, rifle lowered to fire whenever he gets the order. His ears twitch then at the sound of something coming up behind him. "Bloody hell," he grumbles as he glances behind him.
Wait. Bits of white catches his attention then and he turns his head to focus more clearly. "They got the paperwork!" Shuffling slightly so that he's still got Gwen covered he frowns. "Miss Meynolt, watch me back alright? Let me know when the tail's comin'." Because last he checked, the dragon was glaring on the other side. He nods quickly, "We'll get the paperwork! Yeh keep the dragon busy!"
The rifle is lowered, pointed first at one of the beasts that is NOT holding the paperwork. BANG!
Gwen turns with a gasp at the growling to face the wolf-like monsters. Holding the spell she's readied for a moment, she glances back briefly at the incoming dragon and, making a judgment call, calls to the Scion, "Shane, cover me!" as she points and releases the spell at the monsters. Three of them, chosen by whichever three are closest, will be the targets of the magical missiles; the three purpley-pink darts of arcane force fling towards the monsters from Gwen's fingertip.
A tad belatedly, she registers the papers some of the wolf-monsters have in their mouths. "Shane, I believe those are the missing notes!" she calls out again, before glancing over at the dragon. Oh dear. The genasi nods at Shane's instructions, adding an, "Understood!" and moves behind him, watching the dragon while Paternain shifts shoulders to keep an eye on the monsters. She gestures, pulling in threads of magic as she prepares another spell, staying as watchful as she can without losing her focus.
Injue gawks. "...It just swallowed a gun!" ....... The 3rd class swings his sword overhead for a moment. It has the look of outraged flailing, "You're not supposed to swallow guns! That's ShinRa property, you know!!"
Yes, he is completely serious.
"Grrr...! We're taking that back!" But first!! He's going to /duck/. That tail could really knock someone out cold! Or break a neck. "Watch out!" Fiiiire D: Man, only way to deal with this is to avoid it's tail and mouth! Well, there are more ways than that, but those are maybe a bit safer! Injue spares himself a few moments to try to take down the wolf previously wounded by Squall before he goes to follow -- utterly unaware that the other wolves approaching the other half of the team are carrying their objective.
Or so it would appear!
One wolf is felled instantly by a bullet to the skull. The one next to it snarls viciously, shying from its twitching companion, and lunges for Shane. Hope you're fast with that rifle, else this wolf is going to do the lupine equivalent of a flying 'shoulder' tackle.
That is, it -planned- on that, but is knocked off course and tumbling to the ground with a sharp yelping whine as arcane force stabs into it. Another is struck once, and shies away, dropping a few of its pages in its haste to attempt to escape.
"Don't let those get away!!"
A dragon doesn't go for corpses when there's fresh things to be killed, too. The ice spell /does/ get its attention by the roar of surprised pain and the way it immediately searches for whoever just DID that - and Squall's still moving, and it's the motion that attracts it even when Squall hides behind another rock.
There's a lot of rocks and treestumps and debris to hide behind, but some of that is terribly flammable. A sharp inhale, and another blast of flame is sent towards Squall's hiding spot, looking to drive the hidden SeeD from cover so it can attempt to directly sieze the young mercenary with fang-filled mouth in a snap of powerful jaws.
Somehow, all this firebreathing doesn't seem to set off the gun it -ate-. Maybe its gullet is well protected or something. But Squall's succeeding quite well, at the moment, in being a distraction. This doesn't mean Injue doesn't have to watch out for the thrash of tail - or anyone else foolish enough to get in the way of the scaly appendage.
The rocks, though they help, are not enough to stop Squall getting burnt. It's not serious, but it's not exactly not painful. He's going to have to plan his next attack. He focuses again, tapping into the Guardian Force's knowledge, as he runs a hand over his blade. There's a mild frost and shade of darkness over it briefly, as he junctions the blizzara to the blade, along with some of the magic he already had stored up. However, he keeps in the cover as he draws again. Firaga, this time, from the Dragon. He isn't sure how it will react to having it's magic drained, but it's Squall's chance. Besides, it might keep the dragon's attention focused. He's still got a few seconds before it becomes too risky to jump out of the flames, and into the waiting maw. This'll take a few seconds, but it might just work, as Squall presses hismelf against the stone again.
"Yes ma'am!" He shouts in response to Gwen's request at being covered. Shane's not really built for tanking but he'll do his best! There's a bit of a whistle as he witnesses the same attack that put down the Shinigami. Of course, he doesn't know that magic missiles aren't the strongest attack spells that the gensai may have access to. It took down a Shinigami! Obviously it must be powerful.
One wolf is downed and he grins, the rifle already tracking the second beast. It's coming in close though and one hand drops from the rifle to stab it if it gets too close. Fortunately Magic Missile pushes it away. "Good shot Miss Meynolt! Ah! Tryin' ta get away are yeh?" Leveling the rifle a second time, he pulls the bolt. There's a clacking sound as the shell is ejected and the Scion tracks the wolf. The gun in his hand was built by a fellow scion designed to take down frightening monsters. This is most definitely a good time to use it.
Taking a deep breath, his sight homes in on the fleeing wolf. Everything dies away around him as he focuses. The breath is exhaled as he squeezes the trigger, rapidly pulls the bolt to load another bullet and fires a second time all in rapid succession.
It's just too bad. Gwen has a spell that could cut some of the damage the dragon could inflict, but she can't run over and cast it on Squall without hitting the realm of 'mind-bogglingly suicidal'. Poor Squall.
"I think Mr. Leonhart is attempting to distract the beast," she comments to Shane briefly, keeping her eyes on the dragon as instructed. A hint of a smile does cross her face at the mention of the effect of the spell from Shane along with a quieter reply of, "Much appreciated." As her hand ducks into her component pouch momentarily, withdrawing flower petals, Gwen murmurs to her familiar, "Paternain, watch behind me." Hopefully the untrustworthy lizard actually will.
Gwen turns hard towards the wolf-monsters who haven't fled, and... lets rose petals fly at the beasts? But they're not just flower petals in her hands, they're charged with a minor enchantment and fly further than they should, sowing a compulsion to slumber in their wake. Should the monsters find themselves unable to resist, they'll quickly succumb and fall asleep where they stand, for a time.
The wolf that attempts its escape is hampered by the glancing blow it'd taken, but once two bullets rip through its body, it releases its papers with a ragged and brief howl, dropping heavily into the dirt. This leaves but one shaggy-haired beast left, and this one staggers drunkenly as its showered with petals.
And flops on the ground, much like a puppy that has had far too much fun, and hasn't quite realized it's nap time before it's asleep.
Injue, meanwhile, has finally remembered what he brought with him in terms of Materia. "...Oh man, right! This one's a ...!?" Woah!! Ducking out of the way of another blast of fire, he pockets his Libra with another grumble. "Wow, pretty far from home. It's from Nibel. Those Nibel wolves, too, wonder why they're all the way out here?"
And carrying PAPERS. Weiiiiird.
Well. "No time like the present!! GERONEMOOOO!" Injue throws himself recklessly from his hiding place, fully intending on taking on that Dragon! Or being a good distracton.
When Squall fails to appear and get eaten like he should, the dragon gives an annoyed snarl and rears back on heavy hind legs, planting its foreclaws on the rock itself and determinedly setting to work getting over it. It /knows/ when magic is pulled from it by the squeal of protest - not pain, just /frustration/, and from its higher vantage point of mostly on the rock, weight balanced by thick tail, it attempts to bathe the space /behind/ said stone in flame as well.
.. But as this hadn't worked so well last time, as it does so, the veridian beast works on clambering up enough to strike directly at the SeeD - and perched above, it'll be much harder for him to easily evade it. It's a rather clever plan, for a beast that isn't known for its intelligence in its native habitat.
The sudden yell from Injue snaps its small head around, to fix beady eyes on the SOLDIER instead of its preferred SeeDling snack, and shrieks right back at the offending man. This comes with the probably very expected wash of flame. Easily distracted, despite its perch, it seems.
(You IDIOT, rookie!)
....Is what Squall wants to say. On the other hand, he has just given Squall the oppurtunity he needs. A massive opening to take advantage of.
Attack > Renzokuken
Squall stands, the temporary elemental shield of Firaga giving him his chance, as he suddenly rushes the exposed neck of the dragon, raising his Gunblade. And suddenly, he performs a series of slashes at the dragon's next, the ice and blind enchanted sword digging towards it's neck, Squall pulling tyhe trigger with every slice. As the last strike of the combo goes through, he crocuhes, lowering his blade...
ROUGH DIVIDE
Squall pushes himself off the ground, swinging his blade up as he jumps, moving to massively gouge the dragon, and hopefully wound, or even kill it.
Squall lands, a small distance away, in front of the dragon. "Finish it off!"
The last wolf drops sleepily and Shane makes a soft woo! "Excellent job Miss Meynolt!" Sleep is an excellent spell to have. He keeps the gun at the level as he edges forward towards the dropped papers. One eye is kept on the wolf, the other on the ground collecting each sheet just in case the beast decides to wake up. "Come on..."
One. Two. Four. Most of the papers get! Now, normally he dislikes doing this but he can't afford to have the wolf wake up and suddenly start attacking him or Gwen again. Towering over the beast, he lowers the rifle a mere seven inches from its head and pulls the trigger. He makes sure it's dead before picking up the rest of the papers.
"Head's up!" He cries out as he dashes towards Gwen and pauses only to shove the stack of papers towards her. "That should be all of 'em, I'm gonna help out Mr. Leonhart and Injue! Stay back." He grins broadly, slinging the rifle back over his shoulder. "HERE I COME!" He runs close and closer, whistling in appreciation as Squall does his thing. Maybe they might not need him after all! But it's too late, he's already approaching and with a giant leap, he delivers a fearsome dropkick!
There. Gwen turns back to watch the dragon as Shane moves to collect the papers and dispose of the sleeping wolf. Her lips twitch downward slightly, once, at the sound of the gunshot; she's not terribly happy about the fact that the monster was killed in its sleep. Yes, the alternatives would have been far worse and led to the same, but it feels a bit wrong regardless.
Caught off guard when the papers are thrust her way, the genasi stares after Shane, a bit nonplussed. Ultimately, though, she shakes her head, a touch bemused, and sets to sorting the pile of papers--No, not reading them, just making the stack look neat--while watching the fight from her vantage point. "My," she comments to Paternain, "They are certainly energetic young men."
A -fine- marksman, a girl with potent magic, and a warrior, huh?
Injue pumps his fist in the air. "Man!! I can see why Sephiroth wanted you guys!" Having backed off to give Squall ample maneuvering space, he gets a running start and attempts to leap and bury the blade into the flank of the dragon. It's not a Limit Break, but it's still bound to contribute somewhat to the dragon's declining state of health.
The slumbering wolf doesn't have a firm grip on the papers, and especially not when its head gets ventilated by a bullet. The papers are a bit slobbered on, but serviceable.
This is why distraction is bad. Attempting to roast alive one target means not paying attention to the other, and the dragon's first warning that this wasn't a good idea is the sharp bite of the gunblade into its scaly hide. It reflexively curls to attempt to protect itself, but the rain of vicious strikes aren't so easily deflected.
Nibel dragons apparently bleed red. Squall's efforts leave a rather gruesome effect, from shallower blows to the deep gouge that leaves bone and muscle flayed to open air and the beast itself scrabbling in bloody outrage to bite, claw or tear /something/ -anything- within range, slipping on a pool of its own blood.
Shane's kick does absolutely nothing to help the dying dragon's current state of being, nor does the sword slammed into its flank. If they do nothing at all it's not going to be alive much longer, its attempts to set the area around it aflame gaining only bubbling froth at the deep wounds left behind. Even these movements stop, all too quickly, to gasping stillness.
And then even that stops.
A golden armlet rolls away, inexplicably. Why these dragons -liked- those things, nobody may know.
The dragon felled, Squall waves his sword in the air a few times, to try and shake some of the blood off, resting the sword on his shoulder as he turns around to look. And sighs. "We still need to get that gun out, if it's intact." Squall walks over to felled neck, and kneels down, trying to work out approximately where the gun is, and moving to slice the neck open at the point.
"Still, it went straight for the gun before any of us. And the wolves were carrying paperwork. That doesn't make alot of sense." He's awfully calm for being covered in dragon blood there. "I want to know why."
"WOOHOO!" Shane lets out a loud whoop of victory as he feels the dragon shudder beneath his feet. After he had kicked it, he maintained his balance on top of the beast, fully intending on beating the thing to death with his fist if he had to. But fortunately, he didn't have to.
Perched from his standpoint, he sees the armlet roll away but doesn't leap for it immediately. Scratching his chin, he huhs. "Trained beasts then, like miss Meynolt said. Hey, what did the kid say where these things were from anyway? Started with an N but I couldn't hear 'em that clearly over the dragon, the wolves and the gunfire yeh know? Maybe the General might now why. Yeh can ask 'em when we get back."
Seeing that Squall is about to slice open the beast and go digging around, this might be a good time to vacate the corpse. Leaping lightly to the ground, he strides over and picks up the armlet with ease. There's another appreciative whistle, "Pretty. Wonder why the Dragon had this thing on 'em." He doesn't put it on just yet though, but he probably will when he gets back to the office. Instead, it disappears inside one of his pockets.
"Yeh alright Miss Meynolt?" He shouts over to the wizard.
Once it's downed, Gwen heads over in the direction of the felled dragon. "I'm perfectly alright," she calls back to Shane as she approaches, adding, "And yourself?" Once she's closer to the Scion, she hands the papers over to him. "Hold onto these for a tick, please, Mr. Fitzgerald," the Guvner says, shrugging off her pack, and then crouching to extract a thin glass vial from a case within it.
"I'll be glad to temporarily reclaim guardianship of the papers when I have finished, but please, until that time..." Gwen trails off here to pull off her white gloves with her teeth, then drops them on the pack before heading off for the dragon's corpse. The stench of blood and gore is almost overpowering, and the genasi involuntarily gags as she approches. "I'm collecting a portion of blood, Mr. Leonhart. I'll be out of your way in a tick," she explains, before doing so. There's a reason she left her gloves behind, and her hands are showing it.
Once collection's complete, she heads back, and if Shane wants her to, she'll take possession of the papers again. ...Once she's taken a moment to Presdigitate her hands clean, of course.
"Huh? Of course Miss Meynolt. Yeh know, yeh can just call me Shane like everyone else does!" He does take temporary possession of the papers as he watches the Wizard collect blood and Squall rip things apart. "Yeh alright Mr. Leonhart?" The Scion hopes that all that blood on the SeeD isn't his. He really does hope so.
But seeing that he sounds pretty much the same over the radio and he's cutting the dragon open with such ease, it must be alright yes? Yes. He walks over to where the dead bodies were and begins rifling through with one hand. Finding nothing particularly interesting, he shrugs and hands the papers back to Gwen. "Here yeh go ma'am."
Heading back to the jeep, he kind of just plays with the armlet for a little bit as he considers what he saw tonight.
Amazingly, once it's actually found, the gun's not completely destroyed - charred a bit, covered in saliva and stinking of dragon internals, certainly, but in one piece. There won't be any problems with collecting samples, or removing anything from any of the present corpses - none of them are going to complain, after all.
The 3rd Class SOLDIER has the wit to pull out his cellphone and take several pictures, of the wolves, the dragon, the mess everywhere else ... and then Squall, bloodsoaked, Gwen a little neater, and Shane plus new armlet. Some things just need to be saved for posterity. They'll be allowed to linger as long as they want to.
But eventually, everyone's going to be packed up, all the relevant stuff stowed away, and back to the other side of the Gate - where Sephiroth's waiting for the pertinent materials. He won't ask for a full report tonight, the four earned that much in the work they've already done, but ShinRa's loathe to leave their belongings in other hands, even if they are IPA allies.
At least all the blood and gore will wash off.