MINI MISSION: Drachmalands

((Story Note: In terms of the timeline, this occurs BEFORE the Dietrich mission/Creta's invasion. Please keep that in mind when you post. Don't make me break out my flux capacitor.))

Flashback (fluff-tastic, but not required to read):

Spoiler:

Claxons wailed as explosions occurred outside. Several thousand feet up in the air, in little more than a flying tin can, Viktor stood, anxious. Something felt off. Something was… different about this one. He had checked his three parachutes again and again, but still, he couldn’t feel anything but nervous. And now, he was checking his shotgun, his…

”Viktor!” a feminine voice calls out. His concentration broken, he eyes the other chimera on the plane with him as she rubbed his upper-arm in comfort. ”I think Yegor’s up-to-par with your standards,” she says with a laugh. He smiled, looking down into her eyes. There was something about her that always made him feel better.

”You’re right, Sasha,” he says. Lifting her up, she clips herself to Viktor. Since Viktor required three parachutes instead of one main and one backup, they always pooled their parachutes. Apparently, a black ops team couldn’t requisition a couple more parachutes for such an occasion…

Secured firmly, Sasha smiles as she plants a kiss on Viktor’s lips...

Viktor wakes up suddenly, clutching his shotgun close to his chest. Taking a deep breath in, he exhales slowly. Today was the day, and it was close to the time. Shaking his head, he got up and started getting ready for the occasion.

He had recently sent out a message, explaining the situation. There was a Vault with treasure, he knew where it was, and he needed help getting into it. The entire process was anonymous, sent out through his few remaining contacts, though he did provide his name, a time and date, and a set of coordinates. If anyone bothered to look up said coordinates, they’d realize it was in Drachma – more specifically, Bumblefuck, Drachma. The middle of nowhere, with the closest town being a dozen clicks west, past some mountains… and long deserted.

Stepping out of his tent in his old Drachman uniform, he grabbed his shotgun, standing tall and stoic, hopeful to find those that would answer his call. He took a deep breath in, his lungs filling with the fresh mountain air. He was also hoping they took care not to wear any foreign flags or symbols, should they be militants. Last he knew, this would be a military installation, controlled by Drachma. Though it has been five years since he last heard about it, he didn’t want to risk sparking an international incident. Explaining it to Lt. General Tsukino would be the easy part…

Looking around, admiring the mountain range he had chosen to set up as the meeting place, he couldn’t help but admire Drachma’s beauty. But while he was doing that, he noticed some people approaching in the distance. These would be the ones he would lead into battle.

Watching as the first one neared his position, he called out to them. ”Greetings, friend. You wouldn’t be here to admire the view, would you?” His hands gripped tighter on his shotgun, though he didn’t bring it to bear. Doing such would be rather impolite. ”Though, perhaps you’re looking for something valuable?”

"Privet, drug. Vy ne byli by zdesʹ, chtoby polyubovatʹsya vidom, ne tak li?"

He could not understand a thing said out of a giant walrus flapping it's mandibles. Apparently this creature was speaking to him. Until it had occurred to Nikolaus that fuzzy monkey was in fact a human male. Speaking a language most alien to the Major's ears. He would discern it as Drachman. A language he does not speak.

In fact, Nikolaus happening by here was a pure accident, he was not one of the people summoned here, but he does recall having killed some guy hiking his way to this location on the way and having looted his corpse for some details. Or more precisely, just the elaborate design of the thing detailing what must be detailed, so he is without knowledge of the meeting.

"Well... privet vidom back to you, asshole." He retorts harshly, obviously unaware what the friendly tone of Viktor indicates otherwise as an insult, looking around as he now knows, he went the ABSOLUTELY wrong direction for his infiltration mission into Drachma, "Bah, fuck it."

He glanced around, only to look back at Viktor whom was wearing a Drachman uniform in lieu to Nikolaus's white winter uniform lined with fur for warmth.

"Answer me abominable snow man! Answer me thee these riddles three. What are you doing here? Who are you? And where the fuck am I by the bumble!?" For the most part, he hadn't recognized Viktor as someone working for Amestris, yet, but should be promising enough for the quest to begin as to what would happen! At a point.

Brandishing his own SMG, though it is pointed forward in the general direction than at Viktor himself. Oblivious to the recordings of the message and coordinates he swiped from the original holder as for the purpose of this apparent meeting ground, or the were-walrus before him a good distance for that matter.

Dear lord it was bloody cold here.... Creta had it's cold regions too, but this was just.... Vivian was thankful for her snow gear, hugging her coat closer to her body as she peered out through her goggles. Her hood and rather thick gear made it sort of hard to tell just exactly which gender she was, a mask of sorts covering the lower half of her face. It wasn't clear where she was from since she knew it was probably best to just wear some rather neutral clothing on such a mission, trudging through the snow up to the two men before her.

The larger one had clearly spoken Drachman judging by it's sound, but she had no idea what he had said until he began to speak Amestrian. Both of them. Oh good, there wouldn't be a language barrier. She had received info of this from one of her comrades, and.... well treasure hunting was never quite her thing, but she was here as if to prove something to those assholes friends of hers. If nothing else, this was something of interest to her for information. She remained quiet as the two men talked, instead observing the situation since it was far wiser to. A Drachman... and an Amestrian so far.... She regarded the Amestrian with some caution, but she didn't let that reach her eyes or reflect in her body language. Great first impression right? No, she was as calm and impassive as ever, wondering if they could tell that she was a girl.

Observing the Amestrian's gun, she had to roll her eyes and sigh on the inside, stepping forward and actually into their clear range of vision. The fact he already had his weapon out and was pointing it about so placed a slightly bad taste in her mouth. "Calm yourself sir. This is the meeting place for those who are seeking something from a certain place. Whether its treasure, curiosity, or answers. I'll let him introduce himself." She answered, her voice clear yet muffled by the mask that covered her face past the goggles. She bowed her head respectfully to Viktor, debating if she wanted to remove her hood, goggles, and face mask briefly or not. For now lets not, her hands still ready to grab for her pistols should this Amestrian decide to attack. She hoped she would not be perceived rude for answering for the Drachman, but frankly, Nikolaus was being far worse than she.

"How many others are expected if I may inquire?" She raised her eyes to Viktor's, curious to see just how many others had received the call or were happening upon this place just like their third member had.

He heard the message of a vault, and took up the offer. Nuchiha had been in Drachma before, he's been there for a portion of his life as a matter of fact. He knew the dangers, frigid cold, flash blizzards... Drachma was a dangerous place indeed, besides the climate, the animals were extremely aggressive and had thick hides to withstand the cold. What was in the vault? He knew it was treasure, the note explained that but what kind? No matter, maybe they would find out soon enough!

The coordinates led to Drachma of course... But to some town he never heard of in the middle of freaking no where. Was it even near anything? No matter, he trekked onto this unknown area. He wore a thick winter coat, with a some new hat called a ushanka. He had a assault rifle holstered on his back, it was for self defense against the wildlife and flame alchemy isn't best used in cold climates. He swung it out of it's holstered position to inspect it, it was indeed a old rifle. The design was very simple, making it extremely reliable. The long barrel gave it extreme accuracy, the only drawback was the ammunition was a pretty large caliber compared to others, making it heavier, the rifle its self was heavy and the iron sights weren't perfect. Maybe he would customize and modify it later, he used the rifle ever since he found it.

He checked his pocket, he still had a lighter, cigarettes and two flasks of alcohol, specifically Whiskey and the other Vodka. Alcohol could make you warm, or at least feel warm. As he approached the area, he breathed in the air... Cold, frigid but it had a strange fresh feeling to it.

Nuchiha then saw a tent finally, with 3 others... Were they fellow adventurers lured by the message? As he approached the tent, he saw a man in a rather old uniform with a shotgun in hand... Nuchiha approached carefully not to aggravate him, or he could be shot by the man. He heard the man call out to the person nearest to him, he spoke in Drachman. He couldn't hear from his position, he then saw an Amestrian, and a another unknown person wearing a mask. As he approached, he watched the Amestrian, this was a remote area so he could try to pull something. As he saw a SMG this raised his alert, especially since it was in a "ready" position.

As he stopped moving forward a little bit behind the two but in front of Viktor. "Hello, you are Viktor, I presume?" Nuchiha said speaking in Drachman where everyone else spoke Amestrian, he did this as a sign of respect to Viktor. He then saw the masked woman, he could tell by her voice, she looked familiar... Did he see her somewhere? On the battlefield, or maybe she was from Creta? "And you are?" Nuchiha said at the woman, taking a leap of faith. There wouldn't be any repercussions, though he may make himself look weird nothing more. Nuchiha then reached to make himself able to pull his rifle into a ready position, incase the Amestrian or Viktor decided to fire. Nuchiha also noticed, he spoke all the languages being spoken here, this was a great advantage. Unless someone was holding back a language which was quite possible.

[Taking place before Vanity is in control of Drachma then]

Fortunately, Alena had already been in Drachma the last couple of weeks on a special request from a sibling. It really was a beautiful country, a little chilly in parts but the cold didn’t affect the homunculus too much. She received word from Viktor about a mission that he needed some help on. Strange, considering they never really encountered one another, but it sounded promising and a girl could never turn down rewards….

Her agile body would be excellent in the snow, allowing her easy access throughout the heavily dampen from the frosted forest. She wore a tight body suit, black, with a fur hood cloaked around her face. To keep the harsh winds and sleet from her eyes, Alena had on thick black goggles. In her right hand was a whip, and strapped around her left thigh was her infamous rose gun.

Unlike the other, Vanity didn’t travel with them up the mountainside. Instead, she came via her own transportation. A slick, new age jet, driven by her favorite sibling Toss, was quickly hovering in the sky a few yards away from the group.

“1, 2, 3” She mumbles to herself before leaping out of the door. Her body was falling towards the earth in a very graceful way. With a sudden release, a massive parachute flings out allowing the girl a safe landing to the ground. Vanity brushes herself off and detaches the parachute and waving Toss off. Immediately the jet was out of sight, far from any eye to spot.

“Heh, just the way I like it.” She grumbles and struts in the snow towards Viktor. His shoulders were broad, his muscles where tight, and she only imagined what he had underneath all that clothing. “Well, Alena at your service my friend. I’m here to lend a hand in any way possible.” Alena smiles a honest grin as she looks around at the small group of people standing around Viktor.

At one of his mercenary bases White Fox was hard at work trying to gather as much money as he could. White Fox was working hard to gather money because he knew that he would need an extreme amount of money in order to fund a plan he had been working on. Using his contacts White Fox collected information on anything that could help him get the money he needed. That’s when White Fox received a message about there being a vault with treasure in Drachma. Of course he knew that this could be a prank or a trap, but White Fox really needed the money.

So White Fox thought it was at least worth checking out. He then rented a snowmobile and road it to the location where White Fox was supposed to meet the person who sent the message. When White Fox had reached the meeting place, he could see things had already gotten complicated. Fools you are suppose to backstab each other after the treasure has been found, not before.

Viktor looked at the first one to arrive with amusement. He seemed to be missing a few screws, but many of his best war buddies were the same. Maybe once he lowered his gun they could be friends.

”Tell me, Amestrian, do you really not know why I’m here?” A strange situation, though the luck of it spoke wonders. If he had stumbled his way here, then he should be let in on the mission. He seemed prepared enough anyway.

Viktor was about to answer Niko’s questions when a second figure appeared nearby. Heavily dressed, military equipment, though he wasn’t terribly familiar with what the person carried. Sniffing the air, he could smell that she was foreign and a woman. Women always smelled nicer. Except Alexander Krull, who smelled suspiciously of oranges…

”How many others? I do not know, but we have a deadline. We shall wait and see how many arrive on time.”

Then, a third one. Another man, who had some similar smells to the woman. Both foreign. ”Dah, I am Viktor,” he says to the man, who quickly made a comment to his fellow countryman. Woman. Whatever.

”So, we are now four,” he mutters to himself, scratching his chin. ”Excellent. Let us wait but a bit longer. I’m sure more are climbing up as we sp-“

Viktor looked around, his ears twitching. Looking up, he watches as a jet flies by, and another woman makes a particularly improbable landing. She gives her a strange look as she introduced herself, pondering how one struts in snow such as this, before taking a few moments to take everything in.

”You, mystery man,” he says, pointing at White Fox, ”come down here now. Much to discuss.”

Sliding his shotgun into its special holster on his back, he looks around at the group. ”I will take this time to re-introduce myself. I am Viktor Stalin, and I am a soldier of a special caliber. Anything else is not required for you to know, and I expect the same from you. I called you all here for one simple task: helping me find two things of interest in a vault I know of. It is guarded, and will be dangerous. But, in return for your services, you are welcome to take as much as you can carry. Understand?” He looks at them, waiting for their confirmation on that bit of information. ”Good. Then we shall walk and talk, dah?”

Leading them away from the campsite, he takes a small detonator from his pocket, and pressed the button once everyone’s a safe distance. In an instant, the campsite he had made for himself exploded, leaving no evidence of its existence. Overkill? Perhaps, to anyone else. But a true Drachman didn’t know the meaning of that word.

The journey ahead would be difficult, and hopefully they’d hit their destination within a few hours.

((OOC: This is a time for characters to be able to talk and ask questions. Now’d be a good time to gather some information, should you want it. Next step of the mission’ll be in a couple of days.))

Glancing up as another man walked up, an eyebrow raised beneath her hood for she recognized him to be another member of the Creta military. Granted, she'd only seen a couple of other units besides her own, but she was still good with faces. But his name.... she didn't know that. Perhaps they had merely seen each other in passing at some point or another. He at least spoke Drachman and Amestrian which was excellent, another sign that language would not be a barrier amongst them. It was becoming clear that maybe she should have invested more of an interest in languages instead.... Oh well, no matter. It wasn't too much of a hindrance at this point. Her eyes rested upon Viktor at his answer and nodded once in answer to it.

Hearing the other Cretan's question, she was about to answer when a jet flew over head, narrowing her eyes. Flashy. Very very flashy. Not necessarily wise, but clearly this person didn't care. Her gaze followed the lean figure's descent into the group, remaining quiet for the moment. Some people just liked an entrance. Another man showed up and stood off to the side, remaining rather quiet since the rest of the group had at least spoken.

Stepping closer to Nuchiha so she didn't have to shout to him, allowing for the others to speak. "First Lieutenant Vivian Olivia Duchamp of the 58th Division. " She murmured, beginning to seriously debating attempting to remove the water that was about her, aka the snow. It was starting to try to get through her winter clothes and it was not helping her mood any. Still, she would remain pleasant and civil as she had been trained to be no matter the situation. Turning now to adjust for all the people there, she nodded to Alena and then the quiet man, her eyes falling upon Viktor as he addressed them all.

Quick, clear, and to the point. She liked this, she liked this a lot. Once more, Vivian nodded her head slowly, her blue eyes darting amongst the others in her group. Get into the vault, find said things, survive, get out. Simple enough, but there was always some sort of catch. Yes, that death thing.... Ah well, she was good at what she did as she expected everyone else was as well. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled it slowly from behind her mask, her body somehow relaxing further as she followed after their leader. Let it--

BOOM

--begin? The explosion of his base behind them was extremely unexpected, but she merely turned as a reaction. "Huh. Well thats one rather efficient way to do it I suppose." She murmured to herself, shrugging lightly as she returned to following after Viktor. "So Viktor, what exactly is this Vault like? Civilian? Military? Any fortifications or defenses that we should know about?" She called as best as she could from behind her mask, her warm breath briefly heating her skin before the icy cold air sucked it all away. Hearing footsteps coming from behind, she spun and drew her pistol, pausing as she saw it was another person. Raising an eyebrow (even though he couldn't see it), she lowered her pistol and slid it back within its holster, realizing that the direction from which he had come was that of the now destroyed campsite. "We have another. Welcome." She spoke, nodding to Xan in greetings, her feet resuming their press into the snow.

There was a mysterious force that compelled Nikolaus to in fact go against his urges to shoot Viktor for the supposed insult he inflicted upon one of Nikolaus's stature. To shoot him... but this force... it somehow wanted him to follow Viktor just because he was leading an adventure group. Certainly this is a mysterious anomaly at most. But he felt his perception beyond what others perceive itch, his "sixth" sense felt a couple of other presences appear, and one screaming of many souls. Two in fact -- Humonculi.

Viktor's question was not to be answered though, and neither one of Vivian's inquiries.

"Another of Father's kin, eh?" He thought to himself, ignoring Vivian's remark over the meeting place as he walked past Nuchina and the other to feel even another presence besides the obnoxious one that came from a helicopter. Which he knew was a Humonculus, speculating she might be Lust. She was pleasing to the eye, but not exactly Nikolaus's type, he preferred his not frail or petite. But she did have an arrogant look to her, presumptuous and assured, some confidence.

Though he moved past her as she would move towards Viktor, the one whom he had an attention to was the one from a distance, an even greater Humonculus that makes this one a lesser, if not a weaker one. Yes... that one was powerful certainly which slapped a grin across Nikolaus's face. Versin was not in Stuka's interests at the moment.

It was only that Viktor took the lead, the big husky Drachman that Nikolaus followed suit to see what the giant spoke of. Perhaps it was what the Amestrian was searching for after all. Giving an approving nod to Xanthus as he would slow down as to let the rest of the group gain ahead of Nikolaus, this way he would be to the back.

An explosion later and some heated air brushed from Nikolaus's back, nothing too much, it was just nice to feel in the coldness of the weather which warmed him up if not temporarily. He looked back to see the camp destroyed. Explosions... terrible way to get rid of evidences. They caused so much noise. He noted that Viktor was lucky to not have caused an avalanche at their location otherwise all of them are screwed.

Ah well, Nikolaus kept his eyes peeled and so are his senses for any surroundings. Grasping and concentrating as we walked along with this band of plucky misfits he had grown to observe.

(Spot check anyone?)

Keeping his SMG at the ready just in case of any unfortunate events because as one can see, an explosion CLEARLY attracts attention, and does not go for Nikolaus's style of attack. He would clearly be a sneakier element among the team and would prefer to see the threat first hand and deal with them accordingly.

Nuchiha heard Viktor's answer, that was good, he was in the right area. Then he heard the jet... Wait a minute, why? Why would someone fly a jet over? Unless the jet had a good radar, it could crash into a mountain. As he saw the woman jump out, Nuchiha doubted her survival. She landed, wait what? No matter, he needed to focus at the task at hand. As she stepped closer, what was she doing? Maybe it was to lessen the distance for lesser voice volume. "Ah, Sergeant Major Revan, of the Royal Task Force and IC-IC." Nuchiha answered in response. There weren't many Cretarians around, then same could be said about the others.

Nuchiha realized, was his clothing too tight? No, if anything too loose, but he was accustomed to the harsh winter of Drachma because he had lived there before. Then Viktor addressed everyone, Nuchiha listened intently. He was quick and sharp to make his point. This was good, he definitely had leadership capabilities. Nuchiha gazed at the group, they were a little larger than a fireteam which was 4 soldiers but smaller than a squad which was 8. This was good, they were flexible. Nuchiha nodded his head in confirmation of Viktor's proposal.

What was inside this vault? If it was a goose chase, this would definitely put a mark onto his record. But if he found something, he could be promoted possibly. Was there a catch of some sort? Possibly, that was only in movies however and movies... Were not exactly the best source for information. As he was following Viktor, he saw a detonator, was this the catch? Nuchiha slowed his pace, as he pulled the detonator it was the camp. Destroy any evidence he was here, that's a good sign. Maybe he was a criminal? No, the time he sent out the message government agents would've responded.

Anyways, as they trekked on he wondered what the vault exactly was. He heard Vivian question Viktor to exactly what the vault was. The air, it was cold, but it felt fresh for some reason. Nuchiha rubbed his hands together once to produce a small but hot flame that went out in a couple seconds. It warmed him up, and it was small because of the cold air and low humidity. As she suddenly turned around, Nuchiha also looked back as he held his sling to draw his rifle quickly if necessary. It was another person, who was it? He heard Vivian say welcome to the man, Nuchiha nodded as a sign if welcoming him. He trekked on, wondering where the vault was.

As they trekked, Nuchiha had the urge to inspect his rifle, as he reached for it. He was able to slide it over in front of himself. There wasn't any damage, nothing. He checked his radio, he still had a signal with Creta. Since he was IC-IC, he had a better radio than others, because that was his job, Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence and Communications. Or IC-IC if you prefer a shortened version. Where was the vault, what was in it? Maybe Viktor would listen to Vivian, as Nuchiha eavesdropped onto their conversation.

Viktor sighed at Vivian’s questions. ”Simple, little girl. It is a vault. A bunker buried beneath the earth. A complex beneath the feet of the village it resides in.” He remembered plummeting to the earth, with Sasha strapped to his chest, the cold wind whipping across his face, almost unbearable. ”It was not always in military hands, but it was never civilian. It is hidden. It is protected. That much I can be sure of.”

Looking back, he sees Xan running up to Viktor, causing him to raise an eyebrow. He had expected to work with a bunch of nobodies, a rag-tag group, not one of his superiors…

”The general hasn’t learned I snuck out, has she?” he asks Xan instinctively in his native tongue. Shaking his head, he adds, ”Good of you to join us on our journey to the Vault. Just keep in mind who’s leading this… expedition.” He sniffs the air, noting a strange but familiar scent wafting off of Xan. ”Perhaps you should arrive on time next time,” he says with a grin.

Looking back at Vivian, he gives her a nice, strong pat on the shoulder. ”There will be fighting, but at least we won’t need to worry about the air defenses, those fuckers. We’ll just have to worry about foot soldiers and some artillery. That is, assuming the newer tenants haven’t gotten more clever.”

Looking back at Nuchiha, he raises an eyebrow. ”And perhaps next time you can ask a question, and not be all sneaky-sneaky.”



After a few hours, the Viktor leads the group into a Drachman ghost town. Dozens of buildings are lined up in streets, plotting a rough grid on the snow-covered landscape. Most of the windows are shattered, the wood old and splintering from the harsh conditions of the mountains. Some buildings seem to be severely damaged form the weather, with collapsed roofs and supports rotting away to completely collapsed buildings. Stranger still, some seem to be damaged from an outside force. Bullet holes, spent casings, parts of walls completely blown out, and more.

Viktor leads the group into a building on the outskirts of town, kicking the door in rather unceremoniously, causing the building to shudder. Walking inside carefully, the wooden floors creak at his every step. Making his way into what appeared to be the main room, he started to push aside the small furniture and threw old, worn toys out of the way. Whoever was here last must have either had a lot of kids, or ran a daycare.

Pulling out a map, Viktor unrolls it on the floor. It was crudely drawn, likely by Viktor himself, lacking many details that a normal map would have. The scale seemed to have been largely eyeballed, but it did contain a compass in the top right corner, which was surprisingly drawn neatly and accurately.

”We are… we are… Ah ha! Right now, we are here!” he says rather excitedly pointing to a specific square-ish figure on the map. ”And we need to get here.” He points to a large pseudo-rectangle in the center of town, with the label “Town Hall” written inside it. ”If luck shines on us, we will sneak to the Vault door and fight our way through. If not-”

The sound of glass breaking interrupts Viktor, as a grenade lands on top of the map. His eyes widen as he moves with inhuman speed, leaping out of the nearby window dramatically as the grenade explodes behind him, not looking back at it. Landing in the snow, he looks up, seeing two white-clad soldiers with rather spiffy-yet-still-Drachman weapons staring right back at him.

((Dungeon Master’s Author’s Notes:

The grenade is more for dramatic effect. Whether you choose to be caught in the blast (or harmed by it, or whatever) is entirely up to you. Otherwise, might I note that the current objective is to get to the Town Hall. How you do so is up to you, and I’ll outright say that there are no right answers, only wrong ones. That being said, try and split the trip over a couple posts.

Also, I’m experimenting with stuff. Deal with it.))

"Ah, Sergeant Major Revan, of the Royal Task Force and IC-IC." His answer lingered in her mind as she followed after the group, moving forward from the back as Nikolaus began to talk to the newcomer behind her. So she moved up towards Viktor, her strides lengthening thanks to her long legs. The 5'8" woman soon caught up, just in time to hear their leaders answer to her question.

Her lips tightened at the beginning to his answer. Clearly it was a vault, that wasn't the point of what she had asked. So it was beneath a village then. That... She hoped that nobody lived there in case the bunker ended up exploding or caving in by some happening. You never knew with these sort of missions. Especially because she knew so little of this place. Raising her goggled eyes, she nodded once. At least that was an improvement. So it was a third factor persay. Neutral in the sense that it had no official owner. Not in the conventional sense.

"Thank you sir." She murmured loud enough for him to hear, falling back from his side a bit. It was strange to be amongst so many unfamiliar people, even her countryman was foreign. And a member of the RTF... She hoped to apply once she got home from this expedition. Maybe she'd become a member of the Royal Guard. Truly she hoped she made the grade. Taking a deep breath, it was a mix of the steamy breath from her mask and the cold trying to sneak in, adjusting her hood slightly since it felt like it was starting to fall. Whether or not it actually was, she didn't want to risk it.

Blue eyes followed Viktor's movements as he clearly knew the man that had come up late to them, deciding it was impolite to listen in even if information could be gathered that way. In fact... She shifted her gaze and saw that Nunchiha was sticking close, furrowing her brows beneath her warm layers. Eavesdropping? Possibly. Then she wondered about the others of their group.... Alena, flashy and proud. The Amestrian who was seemingly more on edge now that Xan had joined them. Did he know something? Entirely possible. The quiet asiatic one who lingered off to the side, she would be sure to keep an eye on him. Such a strange group they had. But hardly surprising since this was a job more suited for a mercenary or some such.

Suddenly feeling a rather strong pat on her shoulder, it was good her knees were already bent mid-stride to absorb the force of it. A well-meaning gesture she was sure. Well that was reassuring, neither of those two things were too terribly much to worry about. That wasn't to say she wasn't going to take this seriously. All battles were serious in this matter. "Very good sir." Her voice sounded lower than it normally was, whether it was from the distortion of her mask or the elements getting in the way, or all of the above.

Blinking as he suddenly turned back, her gaze came to rest upon Nunchiha, the briefest of glints passing over her blue depths. She wondered about him, she knew his departments from a distance but it raised questions just what he did exactly in those departments. Maybe she'd find out during this mission.....



Long treks, if the military taught you anything, it was how to deal with long treks through shitty terrain. Derelict buildings came into view, drawing Vivian's attention with a rather sharp clarity. So no one really lived here after all. Least she didn't have to worry about collateral damage in that sense. The only people who might be here would be those either guarding said vault, or others like them. And if that were the case... then it would be alright. This town had seen hell in more senses than one and it was somehow... humbling. Least to her it held that sense.

It was so quiet. Besides the whistling wind, it was just... quiet. She never got used to that. Whether it was the life that filled the halls of her home in Oxford, or the military, or even the sounds of distant battle, something could always be heard. To have things be so still.... It was disconcerting. She turned her head sharply as Viktor kicked the door in, a hand sliding into the folds of her bulky clothes to pull out a pistol. They must be close.

She scanned the various items littering the room, the distant sound of children screaming with delight echoing in her mind. Aye, a town gone through hell. She stood by one window near the door, only taking a moment to see what Viktor was doing now. For now, she would keep an eye out for anything. It really was far too quiet. She wished she had grabbed her sword after all. Curse and damnation! The drachman murmuring was doing nothing for her nerves either. At least not until she heard him speaking Amestrian once more. She started to turn to see what he was talking about when she too heard the sound of breaking glass. Right near her.

Oh bloody hell--

She dove out the door at a very odd angle, the explosion raging behind her as shrapel went flying. She covered her face and curled, shards of who-knew-what still striking her since she hadn't rolled nearly far enough away. Ringing... God her ears were ringing. She hated being right sometimes. A shard of wood had stabbed itself into her left arm, gritting her teeth against the pain of it. Great. Things had hardly begun and she already had gotten herself injured. Uncurling, she felt the fact she had numerous cuts on her legs, and she had to ignore them. She could tend to them later.

Immediately sitting up, she pointed her pistols to check the- Oh. Company. One of the soldiers turned to point his weapon at her, forcing her to stand down. Bugger it all, she could feel the blood leaking from her wound into the snow, staining that pure white red. Bugger!

Nuchiha listened intently to Viktor and Vivian's conversation, he didn't want to intrude, or annoy Viktor witha question. He then heard Viktor say something about a general and being snuck out. Wait a minute, something was suspicious... Then he was caught, how? Well, Nuchiha wasn't exactly sneaking just happened to be nearby. The group trekked on, it wasn't miserable for Nuchiha, he lived in Drachma for a little while as a matter of fact. He was used to the cold already.

As the trek lasted for... Maybe a few hours? Who knows, Nuchiha didn't have a watch unfortunately. They entered a town, guess by middle of nowhere, he meant a ghost town. The town was blanketed with white snow, Nuchiha could tell buildings were lined up, a lot in poor conditions. As Nuchiha attempted to gain finer detail, he saw... Strange, bullet holes, casings... Destroyed walls, was this a war zone? Perhaps a trap?

No, if it was Viktor was too close for a artillery shell to kill them and not injure him. Nuchiha squatted down, as he examined a shell casing, he took care not to pick it up. Traps can be made if done cleverly enough. The casing, was clearly smaller than the one his rifle used, but he could find some of the same size. The casings were, not the same as Cretarian weaponry, or the modern ones.

Nuchiha followed Viktor, he lead the group to a building on the outskirt of a town. He saw as he kicked down the door, was he trying to gain attention? Still, the building wobbled a bit, but remained stable. Nuchiha waited for Viktor to go inside, he was the leader and his survival instinct told him to have anyone else activate traps. Nuchiha followed behind, not too close or too far however.

Nuchiha almost stepped on a object, as he looked at it... It was a toy, this brought memories of his childhood... One that was taken away by the Amestrians. He saw Viktor unroll a map on the floor. One of Nuchiha's hobbies was maps, he couldn't help but... Mentally criticize the map, it was poorly drawn and obviously seen a day or two. The only thing done correctly was the compass, sad... The compass could be crude and you can still find your way.

Nuchiha listened to Viktor, all he heard was that they needed to get to Town Hall. Nuchiha was memorizing the map, what if they left him? Or he was seperated? He could get to the vault, or lead everyone else incase of a unfortunate event. Then... The glass broke, as a metal oval shaped object landed on the map, it was a grenade!

Nuchiha immediately sprinted out of the door, he saw his comrade Vivian had already jumped out. She was injured, but he looked to see Drachman soldiers or what appeared to be such. Nuchiha stood, he realized, his uniform was white and similar... Coincidence? Well, they weren't exactly the same, maybe he can pass as a Drachman soldier? The area under his left shoulder was hit by a fragment of wood, it didn't pierce his thick coat or skin, but the blunt damage... Still had quite a shock.

Nuchiha stood his ground despite the temporary pain. If there was one thing he knew, Drachman soldiers were tough. He needed to act like it, if he was going to pass a disguise. Nuchiha was lifting both of his arms, he was giving a sign for the need of assistance, if his attempt failed he would continue until his hands were up. A fake surrender for now, if needed however. Nuchiha never knew that, wearing all white clothing and a old styled winter coat, with some funky hat or a Ushanka as they called it, could be a disguise. Never less, only time could tell... And there wasn't much left.