The One Left Behind [Part 6]

Training Area E-13 was one of the many indoor training facilities the XSG made to provide their agents with a more suitable training space after receiving dissatisfied complaints regarding the boredom of blank white walls and standard training drones that ordinarily filled the standard XSG training centers. In particular, Training Area E-13 was a favorite location for the more powerful members of the XSG; used either as a means to hone their craft, maintain their skills, or to vent out some stress after a particularly rough work day without damaging anything too important belonging to the organization.

The locale had bore witness to all manner of abilities, from those of low-ranked operatives to outright Elite Agents and even the Signs. The landscape was dotted with craters and broken earth, and what vegetation remained were thin and willowy due to being unaccustomed to how much supernatural energy had been infused into the landscape.

Currently using the training area were three people; Mellow Proudmoore and two members of the Signs, Libra and Taurus.

Mellow stood across from Taurus, armed with every weapon he had accumulated throughout his time in the XSG; his bastard father's sword and the 14th Varces blade in his snakejaw modded cybernetic hands. A belt laden with all manner of tools and gadgets that he had appropriated. Knives and throwing daggers lining his left hip while grenades of all kinds lined his right. His face was unmasked, and held a scowl of distaste and frustration.

Before him, Taurus cracked his knuckles and popped the kinks in his neck. He came bare-chested and unarmed, but that wouldn't have made a difference considering the degree of power he had as well as his specialty in unarmed combat.

Off to the side was Libra, watching the pre-match size up between the two men avidly.

"For the record," Mellow said. "I have no clue why I agreed to this shit and I still resent you for tearing off my arm." he pointed his sword at the tiny Sign. "You too, flat chested bitch!"

"Love you to dog!" the cat Anima snarked back.

"Losing a little arm is nothing compared to the chance to fight me like this! Rejoice in knowing Libra was able to convince me to do this." Looking at her the grin grew a bit smaller. "Though knowing her it was probably only to see me beat the shit out of you. Well, go ahead."

"No kidding." Mellow scoffed. "She's a bitch like that."

"What was that?" Libra sang. "You want more whippings tonight? Not a problem!"

Mellow shot a blank look at her, then turned to Taurus whilst gesturing at her. The older mortal laughed at the unsaid confirmation of Mellow's claims.

"Right, we have wasted enough time bantering already." Taurus made a 'come hither' gesture with his hands,  his posture indicating boredom and laziness. Mellow's eye twitched in irritation; the fucker wasn't even taking this seriously! "To compensate for you weakness, I shall allow you to make the first move. Go on then."

Mellow sucked in a deep breath and exhaled explosively, entering a stance.

He hated getting his ass kicked. He hated it with a passion, now morso than ever considering his circumstances. Why did he even bother getting stronger if the end result always had him being beaten into a pulp on the ground and mocked at due to facing opponents who were, quite frankly, ridiculously string? What would this entire thing achieve besides reminding him that he was inferior and a puppet to the XSG, that his struggles wouldn't amount to anything more than an increasingly-bruised ego and a broken body?

Fuck it, what did he have to lose?

Mellow sprang forward, blitzing across the distance between him and Taurus in moments.

He spun to cut at Taurus' legs, then jinxed out of grabbing range at the last moment to throw the gold sword at the larger man's face.

The weapon struck at the older man's eyes, doing nothing besides inflicting miniscule scratches and obscuring his vision. But he hadn't expected it to harm the larger man, and him blocking his sight was all he needed.

Using the opportunity to cloak up, Mellow put into practice every ounce of the stealth training he received from the XSG's instructors and Krag; circling around to throw the Varces blade at Taurus' ankle. The weapon bounced off, leaving naught but a scratch, but it did make Taurus focus his attention (however little it was) in the direct that the sword was thrown; allowing Mellow to sneak around further until he reached a position that allowed him a clear view of the back Taurus' neck.

He lunged forward, snakejaw mods activating, intent on ripping the larger man's head off.

The weapon augment bit one millimeter into the Signs' neck and he reacted for the first time in the spar, screaming and bulging his neck muscles. The weapon was stopped dead in its tracks, its destructive energies countered by the Taurus' power.

Taurus reacted a massive hand coming around to grab Mellow by the chest. He brought the augmented young man around and struck him with an open palm thrust, sending him flying dozens of meters away, skipping painfully off the dirt several times before coming to a stop. A glance up net him a view of Taurus flexing and posing in the aftermath of the attack, the ground around him cracked and broken.

 "Fighters like you came at me in the dozens back in the good old days." The older man said. "A King's head always was highly sought after by people of all kinds. But they failed one after another. Do you know why?" he half-turned, flexing his back muscles. "Because I am strong, and you are still too weak. Which is why I stand here today and you lie there in the dirt."

He started walking towards Mellow, poise sure and confident.

"But don't get me wrong, you could probably defeat that little screamer over there." He gestured to Libra, who screamed insults at him which he ignored her with practised ease. "So got a few more tricks up your sleeve, or was that all?"

Mellow grumbled, standing back up and coughing blood. He wiped the bloody flecks off his lips as his regeneration healed up his internal injuries, and entered another stance. He cursed his own weakness, dissatisfied at him not inheriting the perks of a Chosen One status from his father as he should have. His grip on his sword tightened, white hot indignation and fury coursing through his veins.

He could've done so much more if he had more power to spare. He could have stopped and reformed so many more villains and inspired more people if he only--!

Mellow exhaled explosively and focused back to the spar. No, hating his father could come later. Right now, he had a prick to fight.

Stealth wouldn't do much besides helping him get in close, at which point his attacks couldn't do any sort of reasonable damage besides scratches and nicks... or perhaps he should've aimed for something less obvious during his initial strike? Vital organs? Extremities? The fucking testacles? He'd have to get creative and target things the big guy wouldn't care losing if it meant winning...

...The fingers? Bits of his skin? His hair?

"Why do I even bother?" he asked himself, then paused as he thought of a suitably dickish answer. "Oh yeah; because you tore my arm off. Gotta at least return the favor somehow. Maybe make you bleed a little? Cut off a pinky finger or your little toe?"

Mellow dashed forward, gauntlets ready.

He stopped just before his weapons landed and jinxed backwards, cloak activating. He wouldn't be able to attack the extremities, but he could maybe wear him down and... restrict his movement somehow? Target the joints and connective tissue that let him move his limbs to begin with? Tendons and ligaments?

Mellow darted in and started chipping away  at Taurus' legs and arms, dodging blows and grabs with his nimbleness and his augmented flexibility. He aims for the soft spots on the large man; more specifically his joints. Armpits, elbows, fingers, knees, ankles, even the fucking toe joints.

He wanted to make him bleed, if only just a little.

But his hopes of dealing reasonable damage were dashed as his attacks dealt scratches, even when he aimed at the less defended areas. It felt like hitting solid rock or a hunk of metal; his attacks barely doing anything more besides making Taurus laugh.

Much to Mellow indignation, the older man didnt even attempt to dodge his strikes; instead opting to cross his arms before his chest and focusing more on tracking Mellow's movements.

"I don't get why you're so into the whole strength thing." Mellow conversed as his cloaking expired, continuing to fight even with it off out of pure grit and spite. He threw his sword and cursed internally as they bounced off the Signs' chest. "It's just power; you get it, you change things with it, and wait for a bigger and stronger guy or girl to take it from you. Ins't that how the cycle works?"

Mellow jinxed back and picked up his swords, reentering a battle stance as his mind raced with battle plans.

"Why does a relic like you keep holding on? Is because you have something to prove? Or do you seek death on the battlefield against a worthy opponent?"

"There is no complex reason for me to exist boy." Taurus answered. "I was once a King. I ruled my land. And then it was destroyed by Immortals. Revenge and a death to a worthy foe is all I seek. No moral obligation other than to my own wishes. If you think people only operate for higher reasons around here and then you clearly haven't talked to some of the Signs. Most of us old timers are purely for ourselves in this. Even Leo is sticking around solely because of his bonds and his revenge."

Mellow charged forward and resumed his blistering set of attacks, blades flashing. He flipped into the air and spun, combining his strength and weight and gravity in a devastating downward slash.

To his elation, his blades finally bit into Taurus' flesh; sinking a tiny bit into his left knee.

Noticing that, the bulky man changed pose and moved to attack. Mellow jumped back to dodge, but blinked at the sight of Taurus raising his fist in a motion to punch the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, Mellow saw Libra swiftly vacating the area.

Then Taurus punched down.

It felt as though a god had slammed their fist into the mortal world, the entire area exploding with such force that had Mellow wondering if dozens of bombers had just let their payload loose somewhere nearby. He was thrown back from the force, watching as a entire football field-sized area turned into rubble carried by hurricane-force winds that buffeted him with bone-breaking force. He bounced off the ground in cratering impacts, digging holes and trenches where he landed.

He dew his sword the moment he was clear of the lethal debris rain, stabbing it into the dirt to slow down. Then he buried his feet into the ground, adding more drag that eventually drained his momentum and he stopped. He looked at Taurus blankly, casually cutting away any debris that fell towards him

He laughed.

It was a sound of cynicism and despair, the noise a man made when he accomplished something grand, only to turn around and see that someone else had something grander. It was the mirth of a soldier who survived an enemy onslaught, crawling over the corpses of his comrades and his foes, only to find a second enemy wave approaching. It was the melody of knowing defiance, of a man who saw the futility of his actions but decided to persevere onwards regardless because he had nothing left.

Nothing left but to prove something, even if it was to himself.

"Such logic!" Mellow giggled, dodging a boulder as it fell on his last stationary position. "Such simplicity! Oh, what I'd do if I had so much power at my disposal!"

He kicked the boulder to Taurus, jumped, and kicked more afterwards. A literal rain of rocks and fast moving projectile fell upon Taurus, who he knew would just shrug them off or punch them to pieces. As expected, the larger man laughed and ignored the barrage of rocks as though they were raindrops.

Mellow grabbed the largest boulder, spun in the air, and threw it. Taurus brought his arm up and grabbed the projectile, then widened his eyes when he noticed Mellow in its shadow.

"May be I could have saved my friends! My sister!" he ducked low and swung his swords with everything he had at Taurus' injured knee. The baldes bit deep into the wound, managing to bring some degree of surpside from the living mountain of muscle. "Why did such might have to land into the possession of someone as flighty as YOU?!"

But the wound he dealt was not enough to force the Sign to collapse, or even flinch. Instead, Taurus merely spoke.

"So you think I am 'flighty'." He paused and laughed, hard enough for it to echo around the training area and shake Mellow's blades that were stuck inside his muscled knee. "I have rescued towns where even your people havent existed yet. If I now decide to use my power for my own good, its not your god damn buisness brat."

Energy exploded off him, the sheer force of it enough to knock Mellow off of him and send him flying. The augmented landed in a crouch and beheld Taurus as he was wreathed in power

"My might did not 'land' into my possession. I had nothing when I was growing up. All I am now is the result of me taking it with my bare hands. Jealousy and what ifs are foolish things." he assumed a stance. "There is only the now and the future. If you want to prevent such things from happening again, if you want to break out of this, then you need to grasp destiny by the balls with your own two hands kid! And bend it till it fits what you want!"

He punched the ground and the earth rippled like water, a crater and massive shockwave resulting from one blow.The entire earth shook as the shockwave washed over it and Mellow, far larger and stronger than the previous one.

Through the dust and debris, Mellow saw something; a large, powerful frame with movements that reminded him far too much of a great bull that fell from Heaven.

Then a something hit him and his vision went black.

He woke up gasping a moment later, covered in dust and rubble with the side of his face aching in terrible agony.  He sat up and saw Taurus leaving, his form now back to being human. A giggling and grinning Libra sat on a large boulder beside Mellow, looking down at him.

Mellow stared at the older man's retreating back, then let himself fall back onto the ground. He sighed, letting his regeneration put him back together despite the pain and unnatural feeling of his muscles reknitting themselves and bones rearranging back to normal.

"...Grab destiny by the balls, huh?" Mellow chuckled sadly, speaking softly but knowing that Taurus could listen. "We don't choose how we end, just how long we last. The fact that you've survived as long as you have shows that you've made choices that fit with your standing." he sat back up. "Certainly not the right choices, but they let you survive and that's all that matters in the end, doesn't it?"

Mellow sighed and pulled up his blades, sheathing them.

"...Still wish I could've taken his pinky finger off." he shrugged.  "Oh well. Maybe someone else will." he turned to Libra, battered and beaten, but far from broken. "So is he compensating for something with all that muscle and posing? Because I think he is."

"Nope." the cat Anima shook her head. "From what he said, his culture valued not only posing, but muscles like his were seen as the epitome of male beauty." Her grin lessened into something that would have passed as consoling. "Are you okay? Do you need anything healed properly?"

"I'm fine. Nothing's too out of place." Mellow stood up. "Just hurt pride and shattered expectations, I suppose."

"Expectations?" Libra snorted. "I was expecting you to at least put up a good fight."

"Libra, you sent me against a full-fledged physical manifestation of a Bodybuilder God and expected me to win." Mellow sighed. "That isn't possible, even for someone like me. I have many names, but 'miracle worker' isn't one of them."

He looked at his swords again and quirked a sad smile, sheathing them.  He welled up the indignity and rage and despair, balling it up into a mass of negativity that he compressed into nothing. He would work it out through his usual dickishness, but that would take a while.

"Besides, I doubt you had much luck with sparring with him either." Mellow smirked. "I bet he just tears through your chains, picks you, lays you across his knee, and spanks you." she blushed and he sighed wistfully. "Boy, that would be a sight."

He dodged her chains with a laugh, and takes off running.

X-X-X-X-X

Later that day, after healing and repairing/restocking is equioment, saw Mellow walking through a hallway with an armful of documents tucked in the crook of his neck. He checked his watch as he waited for the elevator; the next mission briefing for Nightfall Squad shouldn't be for another half-hour.

It was a habit of his to appear early before a meet to make sure that everything in the meeting room was set up properly beforehand and find the best place to sit; a remnant of his time as the 909-SOF leader.

The elevator door opened and he blinked at who was already inside. Then he scowled and shot the person a flat look as he entered in the most obnoxious fashion.

"Well, well, well," Mellow drawled at Aries, who looked annoyed. "Haven't seen your flashy ass back at Libra's place for a while now, bomby mccloudbags. Scared I'd accidentally walk in on you changing again?"

The cloud person's initial reaction to seeing him told Mellow that he was lucky they were inside or else she would blow him up for the comment. Her clothing was attention grabbing as always; a rainbow-colored, feminine sleeveless sweater, an equally colorful asymmetrical skirt with elasticated waistband and knotted side tie. One side of the skirt was cut open, revealing all a generous amount of Aries's thigh and leg that led down to feet clad in black-pink stiletto heels.

"As if. In difference than the mutt living with my friend, I actually I have important missions to take care of. Not that I expect you to understand that." She said, pressing the button to close the door and go up.

As the lift moved, Mellow caught Aries' expression shift between frowning heavily to light annoyance. He reasoned that maybe the overly-reactive woman had something sour on her mind, and was hoping that it would go on to ruin her day.

Let it be known that Mellow held grudges to people who literally blast him out of houses.

Then he caught her sighing, and one toned leg lashed out to kick at the elevator's emergency stop button. SHe moved again and slammed the same foot beside Mellow's face, seemingly in an effort to scare the former Summon in an impressive display of agility.

The unwillingly augmented young man didn't so much as flinch. He crossed his arms and looked on, expecting an explanation for the sudden action.

"...About that clothes modelling incident." Aries said after a long moment of hesitation, schooling her face into a friendlier expression. "Sorry that your eye got blown out. Maffy can't contain herself sometimes and... neither can I." she smirked. "Next time we will remember that we have a mutt living with her we have to watch out for when we do stuff like that."

Mellow's stare gained an incredulous edge at her seemingly insincere sounding apology for an incident that happened almost a month ago. Her excuses were valid and concrete though, so he would have believed them were he a better person.

But Mellow was not a better person, being the dick that he was.

And he was feeling more than a little peeved at her for exploding him out of a house for no reason besides embarrassment. Embarrassment that wouldn't have happened had Maftet remembered to tell her that he was still in the house.

...Still, if she was willing to make the first move and extend an olive branch, he was more than wiling to accept it.

"Libra already apologized for the eye. I've forgiven her for it, so long as she doesn't do it again." He looked at her expectantly. "But you still have to apologize for blowing me through a fucking window with an exploding bag." he scowled, fighting the urge to peek at the treasure under her skirt. "And put your leg down; you're flashing me everything."

"Pah. As if you haven't seen it already." Aries scoffed, not lowering her leg and letting it remain on the wall behind Mellow. It almost seemed like she relaxed against the wall behind her, given her positioning. "And you want apology for that? You didn't even get hurt that way. You are a tough boy with regen, why-"

"I'm not like you, woman." Mellow snarled,and Aries blinked at the sheer loathing in the words.

Aries reconsidered and took a deep breath, lowering her leg with a sigh. She crossed her arms before her chest, leaning back against the wall fully now.

"Fine. I'm sorry for blasting you as hard as I did. Next time, I will just give you a little blast."

"There we go, much better. See, you'd get a lot more willing followers if you tempered your killy-ness with dialogue and understanding rather than just threatening to blow them up." Mellow shook his head. "And what's with this pouty-angry shit? Is it that hard to admit that you fucked up and try not to do it again?"

Mellow paused, and considered who he was talking to.

"...Well, maybe it is for you. Whatever." his shoulders slumped. "Look, I know I have regen and I'm tougher than most supermortals on Advatus. But neither of those do anything for the pain from being blown up. Super healing or no, being blown up fucking hurts. You wouldn't want to be blown up either, would you?"

Mellow shook his head and pressed a button, the elevator moving once again. He remembered Capricorn's order and shook off the remaining dissatisfaction still clinging to his heart and made a choice.

"...But I gave Libra another chance, so I'll give you another one too." Mellow said, not looking at the Signs sub-commander. "I forgive you. Really. Just... please think before you act."

"I am a Cloud Woman. Exploding me does nothing but annoy me more than usual. But I get it; you aren't as tough as me." she looked down, hiding her face. "Fine, I will try to hold back next time. No promises though, so better think before entering a room where you think Ladies are present."

She looked up and Mellow saw her usual half-smug half-annoyed facial expression reflecting off the metal elevator walls.

"Speaking of that though, I would really appreciate it if you could make Maffy throw you out." she shrugged at the strange look Mellow shot her. "Nothing against you or her choice, but seriously. It's not okay that you life in her compound. No matter how gentlemanly you claim to be. I will even make Leo add some extra cash to your monthly income to enable you to get a nice apartment."

Mellow found it odd how the conversation had turned from her trying apologize for blowing him up to asking him to have Libra throw him out of the compound she was living in. Such a segue didn't make sense, considering how he had mended the bridge between himself and Libra after the incident.

Sure, they were still at odds with each other but they were beginning to interact more often with a greater sense of comfort than when he first started living there.

"That's quite the segue, Bomby." Mellow started. "Spending money aside, why the sudden interest in me and Libs living together? You didn't quite care about it back when I first moved in there and it's not like she can't control me or..." he paused and looked at things from a different angle. "Wait a minute..."

He slammed the emergency stop button again and turned to the sub-commander.

"You're not jealous of me living in close proximity to her, are you?" he gawked at her. "Don't tell me you want a piece of me too!"

Aries face flushed a fiery crimson and her expression turned angry. Her leg lashed out again, kicking the wall to the right of him hard enough to dent it.

"No, you pissy dog! Of course not! I am concerned for my best friend's well-being! Do you know how vicious rumors can get? It was already bad enough when she treated you badly, but now that you two seem to be quite friendly with each other, it's ony gotten worse! The talks Virgo managed to overhear from the men and women are getting out of hand!"

Her voice rose and she pulled back her leg, walking up to Mellow and lifting him skywards by the front lapels of his shirt, her face even redder than when she started.

"And I would never be jealous of a piece of shit like you!" she shouted in his face. "I can visit her whenever I want and we do something together every week! You are lucky if she is a well enough mood to properly speak to you while I never will have such problems!"

"...When I said 'a piece of me', I meant the whippings and insults and having a glorified butler to clean up after you." Mellow explained, not quite caring that he was lifted into the air. Maybe he would have been terrified were he a lesser man, but he wasn't. "I didn't imply anything romantic or such; not that you'd care, I think."

He raised his arms in a gesture of surrender.

"And why're you worried about fucking rumors in the workplace? There's got to be worse floating around in the world but I don't see you or Libra getting too mad or sad about that." he snorted. "And even if there were vicious rumors floating around in base, why haven't you put a stop to it yet? You're the cloudy mcbomblady, everybody is terrified of you." he cocked a brow. "One threat and the rumors would stop overnight."

"I... you... argh!" She dropped him drop to the ground, angrily clenching her fists a he sat up.

She stepped back and leaned against the wall again, though this time is was clearly harder for her to relax and she still had her hands clenched to fists. After a long moment, she sighed loudly and unclenched her fists, meeting Mellow's gaze with her own.

"Fine. You want to know the real reason? You getting close to Libra will just make her confused on what to do. If she freezes up during a mission and gets hurt or killed... I don't know what I would do." she shook her head. "And that will happen with you, too. I can heal from nearly anything and Maffy might have some chain re-connection ability and good healing too, but she isn't like me. There is no coming back from an exploded head for her. "

She fell back, a small pink cloud manifesting under to catch her weight. She sighed again, continuing. "And if that's the case, then my answer is no too. I am not interested in you per se, though I am more than fascinated by the fact she opened up like that. Don't let that get to your head though; I want it to end, now. Before something happens to her." she looked away. And you I guess too."

"...Aries, are you seriously underestimating your best friend like that? Really?" Mellow shook his head from his position on the floor, almost chidingly. "You and her both work in an organization that fights literal gods and demons and everything in between. Developing attachments and losing them is a dangerous possibility in this line of work that you just can't avoid." the augmented young man put on his most understanding face. "I've made plenty of friends in the 909-SOF, and I've lost just as many on the field. I hated my job because of that, but I learned to accept that risk because it can happen. And when it does..."

Mellow sighed, rubbing the back of his head as bitter memories rushed to the forefront of his mind. Of comrades dying, friends giving up, allies turning away out of fright.

It was clear that Aires held on to the people she cared for, in a way that may have been unhealthy for her. Losing some would change her, undoubtly. And while Mellow was tempted to exploit that... it wasn't worth it.

"Well... Libra's strong in her own right and she can take care of herself. But if anything does happen to her out in the field and you ca't do anything about it, then you have to accept it." the young man stood up. "Accept it and move on. Like how I had to accept that me working and possibly dying for the XSG is something I can't change, and move on with my life because getting mad at that fact won't change that it still happened." he pressed a button and the elevator resumed moving. "And I never thought someone cared enough to worry for me in the XSG. I'm flattered. Thank you."

Aries did not look happy with his answer, but after a few seconds where it seems like she would get angry enough to punch him, or worse, she calmed down again with a deep breath and just spoke up.

"Fine. And I will not accept something I could have prevented happening. I will do everything I can to keep her safe, and making sure she isn't getting into dangerous relationships is just another part of that." She stood as the elevator stopped, walking past. She brought one foot up and stomped Mellow's foot hard.

"Bitch!" Mellow cursed at her stomping his foot, standing up and hopping in place as he followed the Signs Sub-Commander strutted out. "You jiggling-flashy ass little-- I have a fucking mission briefing to go to in a few minutes!"

She ignored him and turned around, her anger lessened considerable as she spoke again.

"Though, with that said... it doesn't mean no-one here is unworried about you. Sure, most just see as you as a work friend or like I do... a well-known associate. But that is more than enough to make us care about if you are doing well or not." her face softened imperceptively. "We are not heartless monsters, no matter how hard you try to make our plan sound evil. And even if it would be, we are still people all the same."

She poked his nose.

"So don't come at me with that 'I never thought someone here cared'. I am pretty sure Libra has a crush on you, the twins just love like anyone else on that god damned planet, and Cancer sure does like to talk about his newest drinking buddy. So do everyone here a favor and act less angry or dickish all that time. That's my job."

As she walked away, Mellow fell on his butt and punched a dent into the floor to help clear the pain from his mind. For someone who supposedly cared for his well-being, she had a really shitty way of showing it.

She wanted him to act less angry? Sure, he could try.

Consider that he has people who do care for him? No problem, so long as those feelings were genuine.

But be less dickish? After stomping his foot?

"For the record," Mellow shouted at her retreating back as he stood up and limped away, documents in hand and dickishness cranked up to eleven. "The bikini you wore the other day made your stomach sag out and look fat!"

He caught her stumble in surprise as he turned away, limping to the briefing room his team was meeting in and grumbling all the way.

"Ask me to be less dickish after crushing my foot why don't you? It's your job to be mean and assholish and bitchy? Fucking bomb-bitch..."

X-X-X-X-X

Nightfall team's next mission had them sent into the rural wastes of Wu, being lent to the Wu Empire on a reconnaisance run in order to locate elements of the rebel army for the government army to isolate and destroy.

What information the Wu military intelligence managed to gather led them to the large city of Shan Jing, an agricuture-focused locale where its inhabitants were made up of farmers and administrators who managed the collection of crop and livestock harvests for distribution all over the vast empire. Most of the city's buildings were of simple make; consisting of wood, stone, hardened clay, and metal in the shape of classical constructions circa World War 2. The wealthier denizens or buildings with greater purpose were more modern in shape and form, cleaner and sturdier than their outdated counterparts.

Mellow Proudmoore crouched atop one such pristine building's rooftop ledge, staring at the main target of his squad's current operation; an old monastery-fortress perched atop a large hill that overlooked the city. He observed the activity in and around the location as the team's briefing replayed in his mind.

"From what Wu intelligence managed to gather, the entire place had been abandoned for some time." Giovanni had said in the team briefing. "It used to belong to the Wu Army prior to its re-structuring and subsequent modernization following the first death of the Wu Emperor. It's overall construction of enchanted wood, mortar, and stone made it too costly for renovations into a more acceptable current-day form so it was mothballed and promptly forgotten about."

"What neglectful management of assets." Tobias had tsk'd. "In the time since they had formed, I have no doubts that the rebel forces must have already seized many mothballed weapons and equipment as well."

"Obviously." Iyera chimed in.

"What suspicions does the Wu military intelligence want us to allay?" Krag had grunted. "Besides checking the fortress interior and looking for potential rebel build-up?"

"Gather as much info as we can and leave in one piece." Giovanni answered the lizard man. "That's the long and short of it. Any other questions? Serpent?"

"...When our cover's blown, what'll be our evacuation plan?" the augmented young man had asked, stunning his teammates into silence. "Because I don't doubt for a second that there's not some kind of super sensor specialist in the rebel's ranks who can sniff our approach." Mellow leaned back into his chair. "When we're made, what'll we do?"

"...Regroup and retreat." Giovanni had answered back then. "That's all we can do in that situation."

"Of course it is." Mellow chuckled in th present time, leaping off his perch and moving towards the fortress. "Welp. Time to earn that green."

The unwilling XSG agent soundlessly ran across the rooftops, augmented feet scracely making a sound on the clay roofs of the lesser buildings he travelled on. Something familiar and foreign touched his mind, and Mellow didn't waste time resisting as it connected his thoughts to that of a familiar network.

/"Nightfall team, sound-off."/ Came Giovanni's voice.

/"Tobias, standing by at the south entrance."/

/"Krag, at the treeline of the eastern fortifications."/

/"Iyera. Sniping position. Ready."/

/"Serpent, on approach to the main entrance."/ Mellow piped up. /"What do we got Iyera?"/

/"Squatters. Hobos."/ the she-Elf paused. /"Lightly armed. Too healthy."/

/"Krag, confirmation?"/ Giovanni asked the lizardman.

In the pregnant silence between Giovanni's order and Krag's response, Mellow reached the base of the hill and began quietly hiking up, using the trees and dilapidated hillside fortifications as cover to mask his approach.

/"Confirmed. The people there are armed and too healthy to be squatters or homeless denizens."/ Came Krag's response. /"I think they're rebel spotters."/

/"So the rebels are smart enough to plan for possible infiltrators."/ Tobias snorted, a sound of false respect. /"So they are not just mindless resistance fighters after all. This will be much more challenging in that case."/

Mellow rolled his eyes at Tobias' observation as he got to the outer wall, falling silent as his old infiltration training kicked in. The young man activated his cloak and invisibility augments as he scaled the walls, remaining quiet as his fingers found purchase in the countless small cracks and dings on the weathered construction's surface.

He reached the top and paused as several rebel spotters 'drunkenly' wandered past, singing drinking songs with bottles in their hands. They would have fooled others, but Mellow saw through their act. After all, drunks didn't walk around with their eyes attentively scanning their environment.

He vaulted over the edge of the wall and slid down into the compoudn proper, hiding in a well and deactivating his cloak to let it charge back up.

/"This is Serpent. I'm inside the compound. Lots of activity where I'm at, so watch yourselves."/

/"Understood."/ was Krag's reply.

/"I don't need you to remind me of that, Serpent."/ was Tobias' rude comeback, to which Mellow sighed sighed but didn't say anything back.

Once his stealth abilities were back to full charge, Mellow reactivaed them and pulled himself out of the well to quietly rush across the open area to the nearest dilapidated building. Inside was a mess of failing interior construction, rubbish, empty bottles of alcohol, and general unpleasant waste.

He ignored the unpleasant interior and made his way deeper into the building, making sure to keep hidden as he snuck into the fortress monastery.

The farther he went, the cleaner and more up-to-date the interior became; with reinforced metal walls and various tubing lining the ceiling which evidenced some degree of renovations and inhabitation of the locale. The people also gradually changed as well; the 'drunks' and squatters eventually changing into soldiers dressed in Wu military fatigues that bore the insignia of the rebel faction.

/"This is Krag. I'm inside the eastern flank of the fortress. There seems to more people here than usual. I'm investigating."/ the lizardman chimed in.

/"Tobias reporting. I see vehicle tracks where I am at. Following now."/ the metal-bender reported.

/"Serpent?"/Giovanni called out. /"Are you still with us?"/

/"I am, don't sweat it."/ the augmented young man called back. /"I'm inside the fortress, observing the difference between the exterior and interior. They've reinforced and renovated the inside with metal struts, armor panels, and enchanted materials. Lots of rebels in proper uniform, too."/ he paused before creeping into a maintenance room, eying one of the many ventilation grates above him. /"I have a feeling that there's more than just a few rebel elements here."/

/"Agreed."/ Krag rumbled. /"I've found storerooms and warehouses filled with supplies that range from food to clothes to ammunition and spare parts. Tobias?"/

/"I've found vehicles. Lots of them. Outdated and old compared to those in use, but there's so many of them that the difference in quality wouldn't matter."/ the mage answered. /"Is this a staging area or something?"/

/"Until we get more information, the answer will be the latter."/ Giovanni commanded. /"Resume intelligence gathering. Iyera and I will be moving closer for a better vantage point."/

Mellow tuned out the rest of the chatter as he unscrewed the vent and hopped in, using his snake-like flexibility to close the grate behind him. He slid along the narrow metal passage, milking his augmented body's flexibility to its limit as he bent around tight corners or fit through nooks and crannies most people wouldn't have been able to fit through.

All the while, he kept an eye out through whatever grate he passed in case he stumbled upon a high-value target.

Some time later, he struck gold as a pair of particular someones entered his field of vision.

The first was a rather small man wiht porcelain-white skin, black hair cut short and a single dark brown eye, the other being covered by an eye patch. He was dressed in high-ranking military uniform the colors of dark green and black, with the medals and decorations to match.

Xie Xuefeng. Also known as the Warlord of Gobai.

The second was a man with long green hair, playing a song on a weathered guitar as he sang. The melody was nice sounding and fluttered through the air in a way that made the augmented young man want to smile despite the sad lyrics he was hearing.

Gong Xuegang. Xie Xuefeng's second in command.

/"This is Serpent. I've found the Rebel leader and one of his lieutenants. Tailing now."/

/"Understood. Watch yourself Serpent."/ Giovanni cautioned.

Mellow moved quietly, using the stealth training he had received to continued to follow his targets. The mission was growing more and more dangerous by the second, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before either he or one of his squadmates were found. Until then, he'd have to do his best in ensuring he remains unseen.

After so long spent in the presence of over-powered individuals, he'd developed a sixth sense when it came to detecting strong opponents. And right now, his sixth sense was screaming at him to flee before he got his ass kicked in by these particularly strong people.

Alas, retreat wasn't an option and his body-control chip was playing a crucial factor in that. He had no choice but to complete this mission lest he be frozen and made to move anyway by that pesky thing lodged deep in his brainmeats. God, if only he was enough of a coward to slit his wrists before going to bed--

He squeezed his eyes closed hard to dispel the thoughts of escape as he continued on with his mission and stalked the Rebel officers onto a balcony overlooking the city below.

Escape was a fool's dream now. Why was he still unable to accept that?

"What happened? You got tired? What about the promised happiness?~" Gong Xuegang sang, trying to serenade the stress from Xuefeng's tense shoulders. "I understand. I don't wanna say any more. Love fades. Dreams went too far away~"

It seemed to be working, as the Warlord's shoulders slowly relaxed. Even Mellow was feeling the effect of the song, his own stress fading with each word sung.

The singer seemed to be really getting into the sad text of the song when a new presence appeared beside him and behind the rebel leader.

"You're still singing that boring song? Can't you learn some new ones?" the newcomer chuckled, voice feminine. Mellow strained to see who it was. "Guess it must be because your girls always run away~"

Gong's expression turned a little angry as he grabbed his instrument tighter and turned to lash out at the speaker.

"You little..." he froze, the anger fleeing from his features. It was replaced by shyness and subdued happiness instead. "Oh. Eh, I guess I need to learn some more song then."

The musician backed away and continuing to play his song, his tune sounding a little happier now. The Warlord turned and smiled at the new arrival as she walked into view. From his hiding spot, Mellow winced at his chances of survival dwindling further.

The lady that had appeared was over eight feet tall, clearly inhuman judging from the horns on her head. Her hair was pure white and reached down to her ankles, complemented by her pale skin and deep blue eyes. She had an extremely attractive hourglass figure that was accentuated by the loose Kimono and traditional shoes she wore.

Even without any supernatural senses, Mellow could feel the power radiating from her like smoke from a bonfire; even just the sheer amount of it was enough to boggle his mind. Then again, Onis were innately powerful to the mind-boggling degree to begin with...

"By the way. We have guests." She said to the General. "Just thought to inform you. You have the new pillows I wanted?"

"I do. They just arrived this morning and have been sent to your chambers." the rebel leader nodded, still smiling. "And thank you for informing us of that. We will be sure to handle them well."

"Aww, you don't want to play with them for a bit?" the Oni woman pouted, making Gong Xuegang chuckle. "No wonder you don't have a special woman in your life; you're so dull."

Regardless, Mellow didn't want to face her in combat and thus fell silent; not moving a muscle nor drawing breath. He activated his life and soul cloak, not risking the possibility of his mere presence being detected by the Oni woman. If the Warlord of Gobai and his best guy friend were humble enough around the Oni woman's presence to act more polite, then she must have some immense pull on them to get them to quiet down. Therefore, he wasn't going to risk pissing them off by giving away that he was here.

Besides, they looked like they were having so much fun socializing that Mellow didn't want to get in the way of that.

Mellow remained in a soundless stationary position and hoped that Giovanni's telepathic comms weren't detectable by magic users. It was a passing curiosity he had entertained before in his free time, but he certainly had no intention to find out in a situation as tense as this. In his heart of hearts, he hoped--

/"This is Tobias, still stationed at the motorpool. Awaiting orders."/ the telepathic connection conveniently piped out. /"I would prefer some direction rather than just standing around doing nothing."/

/"Tobias, keep radio silence damn it."/ came Giovanni's exasperated reply.

/"Stupid."/ Iyera piped in.

/"Elf wench!"/ the bull anima shot back. /"You cannot tell me what to do!"/

The three rebel officers stilled.

Mellow closed his eyes tightly.

God fucking damn it. And it was going so well too.

"Hm." the Oni woman hummed. "I will get a drink."

TheGeneral just nodded as answer, a hand going up to his ear as he relayed orders to his men about a developing situation.

"Understood. Send more forces to Sector B and inform the vanguard to begin mobilizing...."

The musician continued to play sad songs, though no longer sang their lyrics. Mellow didn't have to guess why, and instead braced himself for whatever would be coming next.

The voluptuous Oni woman walked away, sashaying past Mellow's hiding spot before pausing for a long moment. The young man remained unmoving, not daring to breath or even think on the off-chance that his position wasn't compromised--

The Oni woman's hand suddenly struck out, bursting through the wall and grabbing Mellow by his collar. The young man barely had a moment to curse his rotten luck before she moved, pulling him through the walls along with her as she sped through the corridors, moving deeper into the stronghold. Reinforced materials and support structures shattered or broke when Mellow was pulled through them, the sleeves of his infiltration uniform tearing off to reveal his augmented arms.

His captor stopped and fully pulled him out of the wall, dropping him onto the floor and as she acted as though nothing happened. She leaned against one of the walls, addressing him even as he coughed out the dust and light sharpnel in his lungs, rolling over to get his breath back into him. He planted both of his cybernetic hands on the floor and wheezed, recovering from the brutal way the Oni decided to reveal his position.

"You know, talking on a stealth mission is quite stupid. Then again, not many are as amazing as I am." She chastised with a small laugh before sighing. "Could you not have behaved a bit more intelligent? I am not in the mood to fight anyone. Really, it just gives you wrinkles and I hate wrinkles! Or I would if I ever had one. God, getting old must suck." The Oni spoke in all kinds of tones, ending with a laugh. "I am Nene by the way. Though don't take my behaviour lightly, your teammates are getting attacked right about now." she shurgged "I'm not attacking you now because I don't like fighting. So I just brought you down here."

She gestured to the wide room around her, the chamber being filled with hundreds of pillows, blankets, beds and more. Additional toys, snacks and all kinds of other stuff littered the interior as well; all of them ranging in quality and type.

"My relaxation chamber. Please don't mess with anything; it was hard to get this done in an old place like this."

Mellow was courteous enough to spare a look around the room. All the while, he tried to get back into contact with his squadmates.

/"I've been made."/ he called out through Giovanni's telepathic network. /"Leave me and pull back now!"/

/"Holy sh--!"/ was all Tobias managed to get out before a powerful explosion rocked the building. Gunfire echoed in the distance and Mellow feared the worst.

/"Serpent, Tobias get out of there now!"/ Nightfall's leader ordered. /"Rebel forces have been alerted! All units retreat back to th--!"/

/"Taking fire. Evading."/ Iyera spoke up. Mellow felt another powerful explosion shake the base.

/"Goddamn it all!"/ Tobias cursed. /"Giovanni where are you?! Serpent?!"/

/"Just run, Tobias! Get out of here!"/

/"Not without you guys! Serpent come in! Serpent!"/

/"Being overrun. Need reinforcement."/ Iyera grit out.

The young man winced, noting how everyone in his squad was under attack as he swept his gaze around the room. There was no way out of this, he knew. Nightfall squad was deployed without support, it was done for.

"I'm Mellow. It's... a pleasure, I guess." the augmented young man sighed, trying to reason with Nene. "Could you be persuaded to let me go and help my squadmates? I know there's no way out of this, but can I at least try?"

Tapping her chin, Nene seemed to think about it as she strode over and dropped down onto one of the beds in the room. Her large frame easily took up most of the space despite the large size of the bed. She seemed to notice that and quickly changed it into a pile of pillows and blankets. SHe turned to Mellow with a chagrined smile.

"So the cute boy wants me to let him go? You realize what you ask of me there, right?" She said with a grin directed him. "What nerve you have there."

She turned around and took a pillow, boucning it on the palm of her hand. She caught it after a few bounces,  then added more pillows in her impromptu juggling act.

"But fine, I can let you go. Under two conditions." she caught the pillows again, though with her feet instead of her hands, and kicked them at Mellow with energy suddenly coating them.

The projectile hit him with enough force to send him flying into a separate pile of pillows, but he felt no pain at all. It felt more like she just pushed him instead of hitting him, though with body-flying force all the same. It was rather odd all in all.

"That's the first condition. Now, I can say I tried to stop you when Xiefeng asks. The second is that you either give me a new pillow, which I doubt you have one with you considering you have not a single trace of energy in you, or something precious. Like an artifact or an object dear to you." At his expression, Nene laughed and leaned back to rest lazily on her pile of pillows. "Why, you might ask? Because I like keeping such stuff. You should see the other rooms I have! They are waaaaay better than this one!"

Mellow sat up and considered as more explosions ripped through the building. Something precious... he didn't quite have anything like that on his person at the moment. His wallet had very little cash in it, though he doubted that the Oni woman wanted money to begin with. And his ID and various nightclub membership cards weren't all that precious.

Sure, the Varces blade could be considered precious to him to an extent, and he wouldn't feel too conflicted in giving it to Nene since it wasn't something that he could effectively use due to his lack of a personal supernatural energy source that he could properly utilize on and off the battlefield.

He could hand her one of or both of his arms, but he supposed she wouldn't find much use out of them and they weren't that dear to him anyway, considering how often he got them replaced. He had picture of people he held dear, but he doubted she'd want them...

Mellow's face tightened as his thoughts led him to Aurelia Sanctum.

His father's sword, a thing of mastercrafted Elvish steel imbued with the abiliy to dispel curses. In the hands of a worthy wielder, it could shatter curses with a single swing and safely neutralize a cursed item with a one gentle tap on its surface. In his hands, the weapon's famed anti-curse light was reduced to a miniscule fraction of its original strength. The only use Mellow could find out of it was as a cutting instrument rather than magical weapon.

It had no other purpose besides being a glowing sharp cudgel, but it was his. It was the first proper magical weapon he'd ever gotten, and that meant something to him. He wanted to keep it, to hand over the useless water sword while he kept the useless anti-curse sword as a momento.

But what he wanted to do didn't compare to what he has to do.

In the end, he detached his father's sword with a sigh, drawing the blade and presenting it to Nene. It gleamed under the light and radiated an aura of power not from Advatus. He sheathed it and surrendered it to the Oni woman properly, who took it out of his hands with telekinesis and gave it a once over before floating it somewhere in the room.

"That was my bastard father's sword, Aurelia Sanctum. He got this from his early days as a hero and Chosen One, then he passed it on to me after I saved his son from dying." Mellow spoke, voice resigned. "Would this be enough or do I have to give up one of my balls, too?

"A nice blade. Seems off-world. Now that I think about it, you seem off world too. Nice." Nene sat up, interest having been caught by Mellow's non-Advatus origin. "Haven't had a chance to get something like that in a long time."

She paused, considering the second half of his statement.

"And no thanks, even if I am interested to see what you would have to offer in that regard. You are free to go, but don't expect me to stay here forever." Nene gestured him to the room's door as she relaxed into the mass of pillows, appearing to take a nap. "If my boss calls me, expect me to face you once more. That said, I think I will take a nap and perhaps ignore some less dire calls from him. I am sure they can handle you guys."

Mellow nodded his thnaks and ran out the door, blitzing through the hallways as the sounds of battle reached his ears. He rounded a corner and saw a large assemblage of soldiers firing at a target.

He grit his teeth and ran over to them, flipping over a squad's worth of rebel soldiers and beheading a handful of them in the process. He landed and spotted Krag in the midst of a dozen dead rebels, his claws slathered in their blood and guts. The pair exchanged glances and moved, demolishing the rebels surrounding them with blade and claw as they tried overwhelming both agents under their sheer weight of fire. The lizardman disappeared and reappeared at will as though he was teleporting, aiding Mellow in his efforts to thin out the lesser mooks. The pair worked in tandem, killing men by the dozens as they made their way to the motorpool where Tobias was.

"Why aren't you hurt?!" Mellow asked the Lizardman over the gunfire and battle cries, slicing men and supermortals into pieces as he battered soft bodies into torn meat. "I got my ass kicked, how'd you get by undetected?!"

"I can hide well." the Silent Killing specialist rumbled, snapping men in two and coring through chests with single blows of his clawed hands. "Who caught you?"

"An Oni woman, Nene." Mellow grunted, weathering bullets and melee blows with commendable ease as he turned men into . "She had me give her my sword to let me go." he growled. "I'm going to have to find a new fucking sword again."

"Sorry to hear that." Krag noted. "I see Tobias. I'll distract the guards while you get the idiot."

"Why am I the damn sacrificial goat?!" Mellow complained, but threw himself into combat all the same as Krag disappeared. The augmented young man flipped an armored truck on its side, then kicked it away to create a path to the mage.

The vehicle melted while it was still sliding forward, the metal it was made from turning into fluid and leaving behind all the non-metal bits behind to scatter and tumble harmlessly across the ground. The liquid metal flowed into Tobias' range of influence, turning into a protective barrier that absorbed the hail of incoming bullets and shrapnel sent his way and integrating the extra mass into itself. The metal-bender shifted forward in a flowing dance-like movement, sweeping his leg across the ground and turning the metal barrier into a wave that crashed into the squad of soldiers to wash them away whilst suffocating them under its weight.

Mellow dashed over the wave, using the heads of those unfortunate enough to be caught in it as stepping stones. All the while, he deflected the bullets and shells and nullified magics sent his way.

"Tobi, you fucker!" the augmented young man landed in a crouch in front of Tobias. "Get your shit together, we're leaving!"

The bull Anima turned to Mellow, sporting a bleeding shoulder. From the new waves of men attacking him, wielding rocket launchers, sniper rifles, or even the special anti-magic rifles he had seen around, the injury must have been made by one of them.

Tobias snarled, nostrils flaring as his bull heritage would when he got mad.

"What did you call me you little shit!?"  metal fragments rose and bullets outright stopped in the air. There was pure hostility in his gaze, alongside raw fury. "I will bury you with them!"

He threw the projectiles forward as the fresh wave of soldiers opened fire, half of them focusing on the Mellow while the other remained focused on Tobias. Said metal-bender threw his collected ammunition at Mellow as well, diverting the foreign projectiles meant for him to the augmented young man.

Mellow rolled his eyes and entered a stance, deflecting some the projectiles at the surrounding soldiers as he made his way to the Bull anima. Really, after so many months together with him the guy was still unable to get accustomed to his dickishess? For a Bull anima, he had quite thin skin. Then again, Mellow was quite the rude cookie and some people too politeness very seriously...

"Stronger people than you have tried!" Mellow shouted as he slid under the remainder of the barrage, allowing it to kill the rebel reinforcements. "Now lets get moving! Krag, clear us a path!"

At his command, various rebel soldiers began dying in way that made a straight line to the nearest exit. Mellow and Tobias exchanged scowled and locked arms, entering a stance that Gio once dubbed the 'Steel Hurricane'; a combination attack that had Tobias conjure a cloud of razor sharp metal fragments around himself to eviscerate squishy targets while Mellow dealt with any tough supermortals that got through in a partnered combat routine with Tobias.

The pair carved a path of blood and dead bodies to reach the exit relatively unharmed. Krag reappeared beside the pair and the trio immediately sprinted down another hallway towards Giovanni and Iyera's last known position.

"Tobi, keep an eye on the surroundings; let me and Krag know if there's any strong combatants heading our way." Mellow asked the mage as he took the lead, who scowled.

"I don't take orders from you!" he cried back, killing another squad of rebels with a hail of metal shards. "Krag, say something!"

"Serpent isn't wrong." the lizardman rumbled, pulping another rebel's head before disappearing.

"Oh, come on!" the Bull anima complained as Mellow cut down several heavy troopers.

"Less bitching and more running, Tobi!" Mellow called out, leading the charge down the hall. "Gio and Iyera need us! Lets go!"