Criminal Elements

Cetea had mostly remained silent as she kept pace by Azumi's side. It wasn't out of shyness, she had no desire to speak to any of these strangers extensively until they proved themselves an asset to her group's cause. It took some restraint to keep her objections about letting these people accompany them quieted, part of her silence came from the respect she had for her commanding officer's decisions. Still, there was still a part of her that was restless, agitated, almost fearful of the reprocussions that came from trusting this plan to so many outside of the Order.

These thoughts were interrupted once the club's music grew faint and eventually died out once they made their way down the stairs and through an automatic door. Their walk down through a narrow, dimly lit hallway was met with various hisses from the pale and grotesque faced Vorcha that sat along the hallway walls, and Cetea largely ignored them. "I should look into a helmet..." She muttered, then she held her breath upon finding a pair blue armored and helmetless batarians making their way past several stores occupied by small crowds of humans browsing through a holographic catalogue.

"There, we should keep our distance and see if we can follow them to a more isolated area. Though it would be wise to spread out." Cetea whispered at Azumi, before breaking off from the group and moving through a crowd of varying human males and females walking beside her group. All the while Cetea kept her eyes fixed on the two batarians who seemed to be conversing as they moved towards the market's exit.

They're going to the Slums... How fortunate.

Azumi nodded, looking back to the group remaining after nodding to Cetea. She had a frequency to reach her on anyway. The woman motioned to the others, for them to split up into groups of two. With two fingers, she pointed to each pair. Zero and Lieutenant Hawkeye to take a route on the batarians' right. Cheryl and Kalas to take the left. Isaac and herself to take the back and monitor.

Isaac was less than enthusiastic, but whispered to Cheryl. "Be careful. Can't kick my a** if you get caught," he said. "Plus, someone hs to keep him in check." With that, they continued forward a bit, avoiding some crowds, but nothing important.

Kira spoke into their radios, all who had them save Riza, anyway. "Don't ask who I am, just know I have the contact frequencies and beacons on all of you, so make sure you don't screw this up."

Azumi rolled her eyes. Encouraging as ever.


Cheryl was also less than happy with the decision to split up, but made no complaint outward. She nodded to Isaac before he walked off, giving a smirk to his comment. "Oh don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna do anything like what happened in the rainy city. And I'll keep an eye on the drunken bird-man."

"Can ya stop callin' me that?" Kalas asked, having overheard their whispering.

The Holy Mother rolled her eyes before patting the fellow video game protagonist on the back. "Sure thing, now get moving, Hugin. Or Mugin. Which do you prefer?"

Now the Divine Child had to give the annoyed gesture. "Oh wonderful, now you're bringin' mythologies into this."

"Oh, so you actually know what I'm talking about this time. And all this time I thought that stupid rope in your hair was meant to keep your brain from falling out. Though your skull's probably too thick for that, anyway."

"How about ya just shut up already? I already hate this idea."

"So do I. Doesn't mean I can't have fun with you here."

Kalas rolled his eyes one more time, but dropped it there, even as Cheryl ruffled his hair at the last statement. The two just made their way to the left, to follow their targets their own way. However, there was always a downside to having to split up, especially when some of the group were targets to one certain villain. And in a dark corner nearby, a red glow had shone and would have been caught by the corner of one's eye, followed by the sound of a fireburst that could be heard within earshot.

He had his victims now.

(And this is where I make my exit. I apologize if this changes anything in advance, but this is to lead into what I have planned.)

~*~

(Greg's post again, with apologies of going out of order.)

(Posting out of order for a very specific reason. This is not a habit, nor do I intend for it to become one.)

As the other pairs left, the soldier and the demon started forward, watching the two blue-armored batarians... Wait. There it was.

They could see it: the red glow in their peripheral vision. Hear it: The very dim sound of a fire burst.

Both traded glances at that. Though Azumi's gaze was invisible behind her helmet, Isaac's anger and worry were just barely hidden. Yes, he argued a lot with Cheryl, but they both knew they cared for each other.

"Is that...?" the soldier asked, receiving a nod in return. She had a decision to make now. She waved for Isaac to follow her, walking toward where Cheryl and Kalas had gone, her VISR still up, looking for their green marks... nothing. She scowled, listening...

"I am so very glad to have tracked you here, Azumi Emily Ian. Because of you, I now have what I truly need..."

Both of them could pick that up, that and the laughter and the fire burst from down an alleyway. They shoved aside random natives, getting grunts of annoyance from a few, but no comments. Running, running....

...nothing. They were gone. Isaac glared angrily around, looking to Azumi at last. He scanned into her heart, going quick for what he could, surface emotions, then a little deeper, memory of Fatuus... yes, he was right about the Collective, though he didn't think about what capacity, not caring then or even now... okay, she was clean. She knew nothing about Fatuus tracking her here, truly wanted to fight, but couldn't do very much in... whatever capacity she was working in.

"You, sir, are a blight!" he heard a shouting batarian on a podium surrounded by humans, not necessarily aiming at him. Not exactly wrong, but he was busy.

The demon could tell her confused face at him staring at her, then the annoyance, though more of a feeling than anything shown or stated. That was the general attitude. Or creeped out. "Tell them we're leaving. I'm not letting him get away. I'm getting backup."

"But what about--?"

"Figure it out, dammit. I'm going to get to work, so you get over there and try your best on your end, and I'll save the princess and Cheryl with the cavalry if we're lucky enough." Before she could even respond, he was storming off, shouting to a salarian and a volus. "Out of my damned way or I'll make my way out." The glare seemed enough, for they split up a bit for him to get through, on his way.

Kira's voice was audible widely by those with communicators, as per usual. "Calling in on all channels. We've got a bit of a situation, but we'll handle it. Zero, T'Zumo, you two are in charge. I expect a full report on what's happened and who's with you and in what capacity, et cetera et cetera, when we meet up again. Until then, over and out."

Azumi could hear the sound of a dispersal from the world, the universe, but didn't care, not even for the surprised tilts of the head a few turians were giving. She stormed through as well, off to the traditional save point near one of the exits to a ship... and spoke as well into her comm. "You heard her, people. Clean this up and fix it, and we'll see how it goes from here. Huntress, over and out." And she, too was gone in a beam of light.

The Collective had betrayed her, had broken her conditions. She was within her right to strike back, but she would have to consider the how and when. She had made a bad call as a commanding officer, and paid the price. Something she had to make sure never to do again. One thing was for certain.

If she worked right, Ignis Fatuus was about to have a very bad day.

(And I'm out of this. I'll try to help organize, but that's the entirety of my control of characters here. For my characters and Adri's, the next topic is "Dark Chest of Wonders" in Gummi Space.)

Riza could only watch as Azumi, Cheryl, Kalas, and Isaac all left the group, leaving her, Cetea, and Zero to complete whatever Azumi had planned doing. To say that their sudden departures confused, surprised, and irritated the Lieutenant would be a very accurate statement. She moved close to the remaining two, her entire body tense.

"Could one of you inform me as to what just happened?" she asked them quietly, a serious look on her face. "I heard nor saw no order to split up for some sort of flanking operation, and it's a little uncommon for half an entire unit to suddenly take off without reason."

Zero listened in as K1-R4 and Azumi spoke, carefully taking stock of every word. This change in the plan, while irritating, was not entirely unexpected. They had only come together at the last moment, it wasn't entirely impossible that a new circumstance would appear and bring others off world. The three of them was enough to handle this, anyways, as long as Riza turned out to be competent.

"Understood." He replied, fingers pressed to an ear, despite there seeming to be nothing there. "We'll get you the report as soon as we wrap up here."

He then glanced around the alley they were in, making sure no one was even so much as glancing in their direction despite their cover, and stood still, concentrating. There was a small flash of red light, and his disguise of Girouette was quickly replaced by his familiar red armor and helmet, the Buster Shot on his back and Z-Saber at his hip.

"Alright, I'm prepared for anything now." He said. He looked at Rza. "If you prove yourself in this mission, we'll tell you more about who we are. Don't worry about losing the others, the three of use are more than enough to handle this. We'll have to improvise, but I'm confident everything will go according to the overall plan." This woman wanted to follow along anyways, and it was no major loss if she decided to not go with them. He had yet to see her abilities, and if she did prove useful, then he would consider talking with Cetea and Azumi later about offering for her to join the Assassins.

He looked to the asari. "You know this place and this gang better than me, PFC. I'll follow you."