Chapter 7: The End of the Beginning

[Diego Stanton]

Deo rubbed his side. Damn, that Jaime elbowed him pretty hard. Well, he definently wasn't tired now, staring across the etremely sketchy looking bridge. It was rocking.

"You know, why can't it ever be like a steel escalator in the middle of a sunny day with birds singing? Nope.. it's gotta be dark and foggy, and we have to cross a wooden bridge that looks like it could give out at any minute." Deo scratched his head. "well.. ladies first!" he grinned.

[Stella]

Stella brushed past Diego shaking her head and heading across the brige after Blaze.

"Wimp" she called over looking over her shoulder at him.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian caught Blaze's dirty look and thought about what she said. If there were something in this bridge a while ago but not anymore then wouldn't that make this 'seemingly-safe' looking bridge even more dangerous?

"Deo what the heck are you saying?" Hadrian ran in front of Stella and Blaze. "Okay, the two of you shouldn't do the mindless march just about yet." He grabbed the sensor from his pocket. "I'm not saying you're bimbos and all, no offense, but only bimbos blindly charge up ahead especially--" His eyes passed at Blaze. "--if they know there's something wrong about this bridge."

"Move aside." Stardust spat and strode vehemently past him. Hadrian caught her on the waist and slightly pushed her back with his arm.

"I said--"

She pointed the Trinity sword in his face. "I said move aside!"

"Like hell I will. I'm scanning the place first before anyone gets killed out there," he said calmly, but with a hint of irritation. This wasn't for their sake, of course. It wasn't out of concern at all. Deep inside, he just didn't want to be pestered by his conscience if one of them dies and he knew they had it coming.

The sensor beeped consecutively when he picked up a signal from up ahead. His face lit up and glanced at the device. "Hah, what did I tell you--!" He looked at the bridge behind him, then back at the sensor once again. "Hn?" His forehead wrinkled. "That's weird, it picked up 10 unknown figures up ahead, but they disappeared."

[Stella]

"Bimbos" Stella spluttered feeling her anger well up inside of her. She was exhausted, still hurting, and very angry with the men on her team for attempting to attack her. It had been a very long day and she was eager for it to be over. She narrowed her eyes looking him up and down. Normally she wouldn’t have been so angry at his remarks but she was walking a very thin line right now, and something inside her broke at the insult.

"SeeD D'arcell, I’m afraid you need to learn when it’s a good time to shut your mouth. I don’t think you have any right to be telling us what to do. After all you were one of men, excuse me, I mean boys attacking your own team members not that long ago" Stella said tartly standing at attention her eyes flashing angrily. She could feel other people staring at her as she spoke but she didn’t care. Her time with these people had been less then pleasant and if things didn’t start looking up she was going to request a transfer as soon as she saw Adel dead.

“Everyone here has been through the same training as you and if we couldn’t handle whatever is on or across this bridge then we wouldn’t be here. I suggest that you listen to SeeD Infinity and move aside so we can continue on with our mission” She finished staring at him meeting his gaze boldly.

“And I can assure you, we all want Adel destroyed as much as you. If not more” Stella finished with a fierce whisper shoving back the memories of her past that threatened to assault her at just the mention of the evil sorceresses.

[waterlily43]

"Look..." Rayden stepped forward just as things were starting to get heated. "Let's not all get our panties..or whatever choice of underwear you prefer in a twist just because of a few wrongly chosen words and misplaced intentions. And you know, he's just taking a precaution." He glanced at Hadrian for affirmation, before turning back. "...and that is a part of SeeD training too." Rayden bit his lip, reigning back the words teetering on the edge of his lips threatening to spill out.

And just because you were spared of Odendria's mind control doesn't mean you can belittle us for it."

He turned his annoyed glance from Stella to Hadrian. "Is that sensor of yours accurate? Cos your data doesn't really make sense. Maybe we should test if something's really there."

[Hadrian D'arcell]

O.O Ph33r Stella...
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Hadrian wasn't able to come up of a come back the moment Stella mentioned the incident with Odendria. Yes, that incident. Boys? He swallowed, his face coming to a frown. That one hit a nerve.

"I was just..."

If Rayden hadn't stepped forward to save his butt, he would've wavered and let these ladies have their way. Seriously, other than for his own sanity, for whose welfare was he doing this precaution for? This was just being responsible.

"Is that sensor of yours accurate? Cos your data doesn't really make sense. Maybe we should test if something's really there." Hadrian turned to Rayden.

"Y-yea..." he grimly replied. "There's something weird about that bridge, so we should make sure we don't provide any blindspot for the enemy. We should stick closer together while passing the bridge, eyes everywhere." He slipped a sly glance at the team. "All the more reason why we shouldn't trudge forward mindlessly, especially the girls." He emphasized that last word.

They think they could take on everything.

[stardust]

Stardust's eyebrow arched. She understood the whole precaution crap, but why did it feel like these men were belittling their capabilities? Here, right now, of all places, they were being irritating--especially this know-it-all hacker. Who in their right mind would cooperate with someone who discriminates gender? Was his sensor really that accurate to trust him in the first place, especially for someone who almost killed his teammates according to Stella?

"You two are jerks, aren't you?" she hissed, scowling at Rayden and Hadrian. Indirect as it was, they were coming off at them as being rude. "Frankly, I don't like your tone. Why do you think we should trust you if you don't even trust what we're capable of?" She cocked her head, turning to Hadrian. "So, are you a know-it-all now? Are you the leader--trustworthy enough to call us, elite SeeDs, as mere girls?" She saw Hadrian's eyes narrow. "You're pissing me off and we're wasting time here!"

She pointed at the bridge. "If someone attacks us, we strike back. We have no time for tiptoeing while sticking together like a glue or whatever your plan is. Adel can kill Rinoa anytime!" Stardust looked back at her teammates.

/Stardust, they're your teammates! No need to be rude as well. Work as a team./ Diwata was at it with her words of wisdom again.

"If anyone wants to follow these two jerks, then go ahead, I don't give a damn. I'll be going on ahead," Stardust began walking.

[miyavi]

Lovely. Just abso-fucking-lutely lovely. They were at the prelude to fighting quite possibly the most sinister Sorceress in the history of the world and they were squabbling. About sexism. Sho could barely contain the annoyance. But he had to, because he wasn't about to succumb to the idiocy that had obviously taken hold of some of his group members.

Hadrian commented, Stella snapped, Rayden tried to soothe, Hadrian commented again--- Sho thought that the best course of action was for the hacker to please just shut the hell up, because seriously, he wasn't helping with anything at the moment--- and Stardust, as usual, exploded, stalking ahead.

Okay. Yes, this was genius. Adel was splitting them up without even trying.

"Oi," Sho said out loud, stretching his arms over his head to catch his teammates' attention; it was pretty easy, considering Sho was one of the tallest--- if not THE tallest--- member of the group. "Let's all just shut up and try to think about this, and decide the best course of action, yes?"

He faced Hadrian. "Thanks for the warning about the baddies." He glanced at Stella. "Stella--- ma'am, miss, whatever it is you prefer, I don't know--- we were kinda under mind control, you know, the kind where we kinda could not control our actions and we're really sorry, but now's not the moment to be mad about it, because... you know, we're supposed to be a team and all..." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Let's all just calm down and remember that Adel's the ultimate enemy, not the hacker, yeah?" He squinted at Hadrian.

"Although... with the red hair and everything, they kinda look alike..."

[Polaris Lyn]

Polaris cut in smoothly before Hadrian could retort to Sho's comment.

"Miyavi's right. Let's just focus on getting to Adel before we completely fall apart and try to kill each other," she said expressionlessly, brushing past the men and taking her first step onto the bridge. Blaze and Stardust were ahead of the rest, and although Polaris had no qualms about Stardust being attacked by some gruesome, possibly-deadly creature of doom, she did not appreciate having to retrieve the Trinity Sword if it fell over.

It was basic SeeD training to approach with caution, and Stardust wasn't following. "Infinity." And Polaris' voice was cool. "We don't know what's ahead and we need to make sure we're not heading into a trap. Take one more step forward and I'm going to have to detain you."

And she wasn't going to be gentle about it.

[ST]

Everyone

Before anyone can continue bickering or hesitating about stepping onto the bridge, the decision is abruptly taken out of your hands when a churning twister appears out of nowhere, sweeps across the entire roof and sucks you within its core. It razes a path towards the bridge, swallowing all those making their way across it as well. Along the midway mark, the twister evaporates into thin air and you are deposited in a haphazard pile on its floor. Violent winds push against its ropes making the bridge sway dangerously at acute angles. As you venture a peek through its gaps, infinite darkness greets your sight.

Pol, Blaze, Stella, Gemma

The twister has deposited you furthest up the bridge. You are able to stand up and notice that the rest of your teammates seem to be taking their time in getting on their feet. An abnormally long time, in fact. Looking ahead at the bridge, you can't see anything as the fog is blocking visibilty further than your arm's length distance.

Sho, Hadrian, Stardie, Van, Jun, Rayden

You seem to be afflicted with slow status, your movements sluggish and clumsy. And just as expected from the wake of a twister, a few of you find yourself lying or leaning on some part of another teammate.

Rayden looks round in a dazed manner, dimly realising that he couldn't move his left arm. Stardust is sitting on it.

"Erm babe, I know you need a cushion for your fall but my hand isn't exactly that comfortable." He says with a half-roguish half-silly grin. "Unless you think otherwise." He turns to Hadrian. "Hey man...there really is something fishy with all this. What's your scanner saying now?"

Jax, Deo, Jaime

You can see the others but you can't hear them. The howling of the wind and the creaking of swinging ropes is the most dominant sound of all right now.

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(Hehe you can be creative with who's entangled or lying on whom...although I took that liberty with Stardie already. Stardie can hit Rayden all she wants XD)

[ani]

Stardust gave Rayden a dirty look and lifted herself from him as fast as she could manage. However, being under a slow spell, it might've taken her three breathings to be able to stand up on her feet.

"What just happened?" she managed to sputter, lurking her eyes out for the others. The fog was too thick.


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The sensor. Hadrian heard Rayden's question and before he knew it...

"Oh...great, that's just GREAT," Hadrian said, realizing that Sho's weight had crushed his precious sensor, probably together with his hand. Crawling away from the rainbow head, he said. "Forget the damn sensor, this retro freak just shattered it to pieces." He knew Sho probably wasn't to blame, but the sight of his broken sensor and the 'persecution' he received a while back doubled his irritation--not to mention this sluggish sensation.

"What now? Did the others die?" he grumbled nonchalantly, moving his hands to cup his mouth.

"HEY! Did you all die?! Can you hear me?!"

[miyavi]

"If they're dead, they're not going to answer you, numbnuts!" Sho snapped, lying on his stomach. There was a gentle weight lying on the small of his back. He struggled for movement, feeling as if he were moving underwater--- Slow magic, then, goddammit--- and turned his head to look around at the pile of human bodies he was entangled in.

"Oi," he said gently, "Pixie. Roll off me, would ya? We need to get up and check things out around here."

[Polaris Lyn]

A jumble of sound, the roar of wind, and then absolute nothingness--- followed by the feeling of a fall. Polaris let out a sharp gasp as her back met the bridge beneath her, and then a sharper groan as a body was deposited right on top of her.

Son of a---

She winced, her bruised and battered body not wanting to take anymore abuse, but she had to suck it up; she pushed off the offending weight on top of her rather unkindly--- "oh, sorry, Ridean, I thought you were Blaze"--- and made it to her feet, noting the way the bridge was swinging and accomodating her stance so that she could stand quite easily and without falling over. It was all in the way the weight was deposited on one's feet, really--- balance and coordination was something Polaris was a bit of a genius about. She glanced about, unable to see anything farther than a foot from her, and decided that maybe she should figure out whom she was grouped with, as there didn't seem to be enough noise being made to merit the entire team.

"Who's with me right now?" her quiet voice is cool and businesslike. "Ridean and who else?" She turned her head and peered through the dense fog, catching a glimpse of red and then a swatch of black cloth, followed by the gleam of what was unmistakably a pair of pistols.

Ridean, Blaze, and Artos. Polaris' mouth was pressed together in a thin line, a smile curving the corners of her lips.

This wasn't bad at all.

"Are you three alright?" she asked in genuine concern, reaching out and grabbing Blaze's forearms to haul her best friend to her feet. "Anything broken? I think it's just us in this section of the bridge..."

She glanced at Blaze. "Think Fire magic can melt away some of this fog, or produce a signal for the others?"

[vanesse]

"Oi," Vanesse heard Sho say. "Pixie. Roll off me, would ya? We need to get up and check things out around here."

"Ah!" She was reclining on top of Sho like he was some kind of a comfy mattress. "Sorry, sorry!" she apologized, blushing. Pulling herself up to her feet, she noticed the toll of the slow spell on them.

Who could've done this?

/Don't you think that's a little rhetoric./

She could still Hadrian calling out to the others in a very grumpy manner. He seemed a little too concern for someone who wanted his teammates dead.

"You know what I think." Vanesse spoke up, widening her stance. "Since noone is hearing Mr. Hadrian's noise here, then that means that either the others really are dead, or they just can't hear us." She nodded and pounded her palm.

"Maybe if I throw Black Wings ahead, we might hit something. My boomerang's range is about 20 feet, if something is there, they'll know for sure we're here."

"Or we can just walk ahead instead and see for ourselves." Stardust rolled her eyes. "Are you inviting enemies to attack us?"

"But I just think it's safer that way." Vanesse scratched her head. It was better than getting ambushed, might as well deliver the first hit.

[miyavi]

Sho finally managed to get to his feet, disliking the way the bridge swayed and kept catching him off-guard. Or maybe he was just disliking the fact that there was squabbling again.

"I agree with Stardust, creepily," he piped up, aware that Stardust was probably changing her opinion just because he agreed with it. "The thing is, Pixie, if you DO throw that thing, we might hit... oh, I dunno, one of ours. And if it turns out to be Blaze, then next thing you know we're having a war again between us. And I'm not really cool with that right about now."