Through a window shattered

[Denton]

Rocky wasteland stretched for miles behind the backs of two of the rebellions freshest spec ops soldiers. Before them lay the canyon that contained the arcana-rail line that their target train would be coming on in a few minutes. Wind whipped fiercely at their back, flapping the scarf of their uniform forward in front of them and caking the dark red uniform in dirt.

Agni checked his weapons for the nth time, opened his senses to ingrain the feeling of his partners mind, and fondled around with the antigrav parachute strapped to his waist. He was nervous. Images flashed through his mind of being captured by the empire, of the train expoding, of innocents being killed. He didn't even know what was in the train, just that they were supposed to stop it. He couldn't shake the feeling that the orders were purposely cryptic.

He had noticed that something was wrong with the rebellion recently. More brutish punishments, shadier jobs, assassinations against much smaller nobles in the empire. The rebellion was becoming something far less heroic and something far more extremist, something darker. But it was the only way to make the empire pay, and Agni was determined to defeat the greater evil first before handling the others.

He looked to his partner and spoke in a gruff voice, "What do you think we're up against here?"

[Cheshire_Kitten]

Daru closed her eyes, and breathed in the smell of the arid land. "I'm not sure. They didn't really give us much to go on." She checked the parachute at her waist once more, her distrust of antigrav technology making her restless. Not helping this feeling was her partner; he fidgeted far too much.

Missstressss, ssstop moving ssso damn much. Shekar's soft voice hissed from beneath Daru's scarf. He was coiled around her waist under her uniform, and had slithered his way up her spine to voice his complaints at this arrangement. If I would have known I wasss going to be ssstuffed in here, I wouldn't have come. Daru snorted at Shekar. "Shut up, worthless snake. I didn't want to bring you along; you're the one who insisted on coming." Shekar chuckled. I enjoy ssseeing you fail. Daru ignored his comment, and observed the canyon below. Irritated, her familiar slid back down to readjust himself around her waist.

Daru had not wanted to come on this mission; she disliked how little information they gave. Experience had taught her to be informed, always. Knowledge was power, after all. Curiosity was overwhelming her; she itched to know what was inside that train.

[Denton]

Agni felt he'd been alienated already by this woman. This woman and her snake who seemed to be able to... talk to each other. She was bizarre, exotic, but something seemed... fierce about her. He couldn't place it. She seemed to be more concerned with events much farther away than the current mission. The only thing on Agni's mind other than getting in and out of this train was that perhaps-- even as unlikely as it was-- this would be the person he could share his fears about the rebellion with. Perhaps this was the person he needed to help him bring about his idealistic change.

He shook that aside, No use worrying over something that can't be accomplished yet... and looked to her as he felt the ground begin to shake with the arcana-rails approach. "Hey, do you not trust that thing? I could help cushion your fall. I'm a kineticism mage." He knew full well that she'd recieved a dossier on him when presented with the mission. He'd gotten one for her. The only difference was that where his was filled with his past experiences and background along with his various talents, hers was simply two sheets of paper: one had a picture of her and her snake, and the other was a form about her background and accomplishments in the rebellion. The only blank filled in was her name...

[Cheshire_Kitten]

Daru smiled wryly at his offer. Neither his magic nor technology would ever make her feel comfortable when airborne. That comfort had been torn away from her. Her fists involuntarily clenched, anger beginning to grow. Daru forced herself to relax. "If my antigrav doesn't work, yes. If not, no, I can land just fine." As the train approached, Daru's muscles tensed. Without another glance at Agni, she flung herself into the air. Daru, ssstupid girl. I hate falling! Shekar's hiss was carried away in the wind.

In all honesty, it did relieve her a bit that Agni was a kineticism mage. Although he had done nothing to earn her confidence, Daru did trust him more than she did this... antigravity technology that humans were so fond of. Personally, Daru did not understand how they could put so much trust into something so...failure-prone. But whatever. It was none of her concern.

Daru winced as she felt a trickle of blood slide down her back. She would have to change her bandages after this mission; old reflexes had kicked in. It always made her bleed. Some wounds never healed.

[Denton]

Agni was stunned when Daru flung herself off the cliff first. He took two running steps and pushed of hard, going spread eagle the moment he gained his aerial balance. He dived to catch up with Daru then put the spread back out, he took note of every bullet that went flying past him and Daru-- apparantly some soldiers near the front of the train had noticed the two assailants and tried a few shots, but none were close enough for Agni to bother throwing out a field. Seconds before hit the train-- third car from the back-- he whipped out his spear and activated the antigrav device while slamming the spear through the roof. It took a few seconds, but he was quickly kneeling on the train and adjusted to the forward motion.

"Daru, you ok?"

[Cheshire_Kitten]

Daru landed hard near Agni, the forward motion of the train momentarily throwing her off balance. "Damn it, stupid humans and their contraptions," she snarled as she caught herself. She glanced at Agni. "Yes." A slight edge had crept into her voice, and she bit her tongue to stifle it. Her back was burning now; being shot at had once again triggered old habits, and she was definitely going to regret it by the time they were through. Daru unsheathed her shamshir, the blue-black blade glimmering darkly. It was a gift to her from an old friend: it would neither dull nor break, regardless of how often she used it. Daru nodded to her partner, not wanting to be point on this operation. She did not like having someone she did not fully trust to her back.

"Lead the way, Agni."

Time to see how trustworthy this mage really was.

[Denton]

Agni carefully inched forward on the roof of the train. When he reached the edge, he hopped down onto the platform below, cushioning his fall with a small field. He turned around and opened the door behind him, nothing but crates. He decided he could look through those later when the train was stopped. Turning back to face the front of the train he hopped over the gap in the platform and kicked the door down with spear at the ready. He was confronted by two guards inside, each with a presumably automatic rifle trained on him. Bullets came whirring at him, but stopped inches in front of his body, held in air by a field he refexively created.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agni breathed slowed his breathing as he stood in the training room filled with unconscious soldiers. When he opened the next door, he was mowed down by rubber bullets that he was too hesitant to stop. Before he passed out, he heard the voice of his commanding officer standing over him, "Never hesitate to use your talents. Even when you don't think you have much left. If they kill you in the first assault, no one can save you." He didn't wake up for two days. When he did, his rations were halved for the day to pay for his mistake in training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the soldiers stood puzzled and confused as to how two full clips hadn't managed to bring the target down, Agni dropped the field. Bullets clattered to the floor without any drama. Not a word was uttered as Agni charged forward, punching through armor and impaling the soldier on the right with his speard and unsheathing his short sword with his left hand. He dropped to the floor and slid past the guard, slicing at his achilles as he passed. He stood and retrieved his spear very calmly as he watched the soldier writhe on the floor. "Do we finish him?

[Cheshire_Kitten]

Daru quietly walked up behind Agni. She was impressed by his skill so far; her appreciation did not come lightly. Maybe this one wouldn't be such a disappointment. She walked over to the soldier laying on the floor and smiled cruelly. "Yes," she said as she quickly withdrew her dagger from her boot and slit his throat. "I dislike leaving witnesses. Things like that can come back and bite you in the ass."

Moving to the door, she opened it into the next compartment, unsheathing her shamshir with one smooth motion while muttering an Enochian phrase under her breath. The bullets that were jetting towards her slowed down, and Daru easily dodged through them to decapitate one foe, crimson lifeblood fanning into the air. As time sped up, the other three soldiers, shocked to see her so close, attempted to draw their weapons; Daru's blade neatly gutted one, before being thrust into the chest of another. As the third scrambled to aim his gun, Daru threw her dagger with her right hand, managing to impale him through the eye.

She wiped off a bit of blood that had gotten onto her cheek and looked back at Agni with a smile. "This is turning out to be quite fun."

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