Emotionally Unstable Lesbians and one Man

A gloved hand graced gently over the hilt of the saddled weapon, full lips parting for a moment to take in an unsure breath of air before green eyes scanned the dark artificially lit forest. The unnatural glow was little if not any visibility, causing only another unsure breath from the slim figure. Kailona gripped the handle of the weapon harder as a distant screech filled the unusually quiet forest, this was far out of her comfort zone. She would have preferred to scope the area beforehand, find a high point and map the place, but on ground level she felt vulnerable, a constant feeling of unease and unrest settled in her stomach. Another closer guttural growl sent her lurching forward if by instinct or common sense was unsure but she paced herself, keeping a fluid motion with one foot in front of the other, eyes flicking to every slight rustle or displaced thud. She had been here a few times, Gapra Whitewood, but never this far in and now she had no choice, the easiest way was straight through rather then around, the dangers simply had to come with the perks.

The first rumble almost came unnoticed as she barely flinched in the direction, sharp eyes snapping to the side, then to the other, narrowing to the point of slits. She waited unmoving, her hand slipped around the hilt pulling the heavy gun with a metallic thunk, her other hand held the underside of the gun with a rough care as she froze. Kailona turned, shoulders ridged in a cut military stance as she waited. Seconds to minutes passed, followed by nothing but the low robotic wurr of distant machinery, a glint caught her eye of some form of aircraft crossing just above her. Pausing from her stance, she watched as the unfamiliar marked ship disappeared just out of sight passed a few large branches. She let her stance relax for a moment, surely the ship was the cause of the noise and the engine would startle any remaining wildlife. Pleased with her deduction, the ex-soldier clicked the gun up to rest on her shoulder, eyes shut tight as lips moved to count down to no specific number before they flickered open again to the unsettling quiet of the forest. As if the woman's relaxed posture was que, the branches parted just to her flank, the earlier rumbling was nothing compared to the quaking the metal plate under her was doing now as the beast barreled toward her, snarling and snapping with a distinct animalistic rage. The large creature was on her in an instant, knocking her and her gun to the side both her armor and the gun scrapped and clanked causing the creature to turn back from the charge ready to go again. Kailona recovered quickly, her hands searching with precision for the lost gun as, what she recognized as a Behemoth, lowered for another charge. She fumbled only for a moment once she located her gun, aiming then firing blankly at the angry charging creature, her shots hitting mark on the beasts shoulder. For a moment the monster rerouted stumbling to the side before regaining its bearings before it was ready for another charge. Kailona's right eye involuntarily twitched violently which in turn she shook her head, quickly standing to re-aim her gun. "F-focus" she barked to herself, eyes once again narrowing on the oncoming target.

Sergeant Eneis. The title had a nice ring to it, if a bit awkward due to Cocoon standards. Even after being out of stasis for about a year, the Pulsian female still had a hard time understanding how everything worked on the small planet. A sigh passed through her lips as she adjusted a strap on her field uniform, a tight black outfit that despite how it looked, it moved and stretched in all the right places. Vericity had only been promoted to Sergeant a day before, and she was now being sent out to the Gapra Whitewood to report and investigate the recent outbreak with her partner, Uriah. Somehow, the bio weapons developed there by the Sanctum had escaped; whatever wasn't subdued was running rampant throughout the artificial forest-like facility. She was just waiting for Uriah to get their landing location and later, the rendezvous point.

Vericity looked when said male returned to her, passing over a wireless comm device. "We'll need it for the mission. They're dropping us in the area most invested with whatever Proto-Behemoths they couldn't subdue." He paused as he put the wireless comm onto his ear, the female following his action. "I don't know what they're thinking right now, but you might be able to short-circuit them with your magic."

Vericity snorted slightly as she picked up her bow from where she had it resting against the wall, stringing it quickly and efficiently. "Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it, Uriah." Despite her time on Cocoon, her accent also refused to go away. The only circumstance it would be gone is if she forced herself to talk in a typical Cocoon accent. On the Lindbum, however, nobody questioned it. Nor did they care for that matter.

The red haired male shrugged as he unlocked and pulled open a large door on the ship, one mainly used for quick leaves on a mission. Vericity gripped a bar next to the door, peering out as Uriah finished opening it. Her light purple hair whipped around in the wind as she looked down at the artificial forest below them. "Quite a sight from up here! I can only imagine what we'll find inside the forest!" She yelled over the sound, smirking slightly as she slung her bow across her back. In the time it took Uriah to get his information, the ship's altitude had decreased; it was enough where their jump wouldn't be too far and it wouldn't fry their anti-gravity mechs upon landing.

The male shook his head as he looked out. "Lots of artificial monsters. Although you're probably used to similar. Ready?" He asked, looking over at the Pulsian female. She gave a hint of a smirk. "Of course." Without any other warning, she took the first jump to enter an almost-free fall to the Gapra Whitewood. The l'Cie glanced over at Uriah who had jumped after her, giving a small chuckle. She returned her gaze to the ground, her hair a whipping mess.

100 feet; Vericity snapped her fingers, a small spark coming from them and a violet and blue force field appeared below her, slowly her descent until she was able to land in a crouching position, standing as Uriah landed next to her. She sighed, putting a hand on her gunblade, looking at Uriah as he gave the Lindbum the okay symbol. "Cid said this sect was restricted at the moment, according to the scientists working here. At the moment, we're the first Sanctum military reporting." He looked up, hearing a guttural growl of what he assumed to be a Proto-Behemoth. Vericity glanced over at him, starting to walk briskly in the direction it was coming from. "This way. The Sanctum is making bioweapons out of the wrong monsters..." She muttered the last sentence to herself as she shook her head slowly, running her free hand through her long purple hair idly. She stopped when she heard gunshots, looking back at Uriah. He blinked a few times, running ahead with the l'Cie following him closely.

They rounded the corner quickly, seeing the cause of the commotion almost immediately. Uriah rolled his eyes slightly, watching a figure try to take on the behemoth by themselves. "We need to step in. Behemoths are bad on their own, and I don't think any amount of distraction will stop one designed to be a bioewapon." Vericity's hand dropped from her gunblade, grabbing her bow from her back and docking an arrow. She let out a deep sigh and concentrated her magic into the arrow, the arrow now charged with electricity. It wouldn't be enough to bring it down, but maybe just enough to distract it from its mark. Aiming at the Behemoth's side, at a crack in its armor, she let the arrow loose, the projectile slicing through the air to hit the intended target. The behemoth roared at the impact and shock from the arrow, stomping to turn and face the newly-arrived soldiers.

Uriah sighed, taking out his own gunblade to aim at the behemoth that now had its sights on the duo. "Good job at provoking it, Ver." He muttered, unleashing a barage of gunfire at the monster. "Thank you. I also don't think your short-circuit idea worked. Unless we can melt its armor to get at the inside..."

With a finger on the trigger she braced for impact, her eyes observed what mark she did make on the beast, its shoulder was clear her attack hit but it didn't seem to favor it. This creature was different and would take more effort then she thought. After a moment of staring eachother down, the snarling Behemoth charged with unplanned force, wildly lunging at Kai who in turn managed to side step. The paced move as the creature rumbled by was enough time for her to fire again, hitting the Behemoth along its side which seemed to effect the unnatural creature more then her first attempt if only a flinch. Kai scoffed, the grip on her large gun tightened, the monster had no noticeable weakness and she wasn't about to waste all her ammunition on the local wildlife. The woman had a moment to think, her eyes flicked for a moment to her hands, fingers twitched with a tingle she was still unfamiliar with, Magic. Her mind humored the thought of at least attempting to use what damned her in the first place, as eyes locked with the crazed look of the Behemoth, she felt a swell and change in the atmosphere. Snapping her head to the source of the change her eyes narrowed at the two new figures on the accidental battlefield, they were a few yards away but easy enough to make out distinct features.

Both looked military, their uniforms gave that away one male and one female. Kai frowned, further gripping her weapon she watched as, what looked like, an arrow closed the distance and actually phased the beast as it turned away from Kai and onto the new comers. She paused at this, watching for a moment, eyes switching to the Behemoth then to the new attackers. She could do one of two things, first being turn and just keep going, the beast wasn't her problem now..though on the other hand she never walked away from a unfinished fight. Kailona's eyebrows knitted together, she glanced around to find something that would make a dent in the otherwise impenetrable Behemoth. Her eyes followed up one of the artificial trees, to the "leaves" that covered most overhead, the leaves were sharp and metallic and high enough to leave an impact. An idea danced across her features as she surveyed the battle before stepping back and towards the large thick trunk of the tree and with a deep breath she pressed her body forward, using low hanging leaves as platforms to gain height. Landing on the targeted branch, Kai balanced herself with awkward precision, one hand holding the gun the other pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment, leveling her head from the gunfire below before firing at the base of the branch. Her bullets were thick and heated enough to melt the steel, it groaned as the weight of the sharp leaf began to bend lower, threatening to fall. The L'cie paused, feeling a similar tingle in her fingertips from before return, she glanced down the creature couldn't be in a more perfect place getting ready for another charge on the two others. Allowing her hands shine with a dull glow, she flipped her gun, ramming the hilt of the weapon into the weak point in the branch. The metal roared a steely whine before its decent. Kai braced on an adjacent branch as the leaf dagger plummeted to the ground until slamming into the creature below, she grunted upon impact her hands having a slight shake from one solid thing hitting another, other then her body reacting to the shock she was unscathed for the most part, another small perk to L'cie business. Glancing down, it was obvious her plan worked for the most part, there was no movement from below, which in response she let out a puff of air, blowing a few strands of hair from her face before turning attention to the other two. Kai blinked, hoisting her gun up to rest on her shoulder before hopping off the crumpled metal "if you were trying to flank the thing, you did a hell of a job" she stated, followed by a scoff as she circled the large crushed creature, before returning her gaze to the others, her free hand resting lightly on her hip, the other holding the gun which rested on her shoulder.

Uriah snorted, aiming more precisely to shoot the Behemoth in one of its eyes. It roared in rage, stopping its charge to try and regain its bearings before launching another attack. "Let's just help her take the damn thing down. After that, let me do the talking, okay?" He could tell the other female was trained in the military, but whether she was authorized to be in a locked down sect was beyond him at the moment. And he knew Vericity had a tendency to get brash very quickly...for no legitimate reason.

Vericity smiled to herself, nodding to Uriah as she took a few steps back. "Of course you can...unless she gets snippy first. Then expect me to step in." She docked another arrow, sending it at another crack in the Behemoth's armor. It roared out again as it stomped out its front legs to prepare for another charge, the l'Cie docking another arrow and releasing it at the Behemoth, the arrow hitting another split in the armor. "What the hell is she doing?" She noticed the other military female start to climb a tree, sighing to herself.

Uriah glanced up, firing another trained shot at the other Behemoth's eye before letting loosing another barrage of bullets. "Hopefully something to help." He called over the sound of the Behemoth roaring out again. He looked up to see what the hell the other female was doing, narrowing his eyes to get a better look. It didn't take him long to figure out what she was planning on doing, chuckling slightly. Hopefully it would work. "Keep the Behemoth in this spot!" He called out again, letting loose another barrage of bullets at the monster.

Vericity nodded, putting her bow back on her back before pulling out her gunblade and began to fire openly at the Behemoth. Despite how untrained she was with the weapon, it was effective enough. She looked up when the metal leaf began to bend, taking steps back with Uriah. She heard the groan of metal echo around the slightly enclosed area, the large shard of leaf falling down as the Behemoth started to charge. It was just in time; the artificial leaf pierced the Behemoth through the middle, the beast falling and shutting down. The lights it had that indicated it was operational faded out, a black liquid that she assumed to be oil or something similar seeping out from the Behemoth. She looked up at the female that now stood in front of them, her small comment making her bristle. "You seem like you're in the military. Should've been able to take down an artificial monster without a distraction from us. You're welcome." She did her best to hide her accent from the dark-haired female, but due to the fact she didn't do much of the talking during missions with Uriah and she almost always spoke with it on the Lindblum, there was still a barely noticeable hint of something not-Cocoon.

Uriah sighed at Vericity's comment. He knew she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut, or a level head. Instead he just pointed his gunblade at the other female, motioning for Vericity to follow his actions. "Wide-Area Response Brigade, Guardian Corps, Commander Dreygon. This sect of the Gapra Whitewood is under lockdown due to monsters on the loose. Currently, we are the only Sanctum military branch authorized to be in this sect. Unless you have authorization to be in here, we reserve the right to take you with us. And it'd be best if you cooperated with us, military or not." He gripped his gun tighter, Vericity having her gun pointed at the other female as well.

Standing in front of them now gave her a better look of the two, her eyes flicking to the female first who was quick to comment which in turn caused a sigh to escape Kai, she adjusted her stance lowering the large gun from shoulder to by her side. She sized the other woman up, quickly coming to only a scoff, there was...something about the way the other talked that bothered Kai and she couldn't quite place it. "I am, one of the things I was trained in was using strategy over blindly rushing in" she perked an eyebrow before glancing off to a distant noise before returning her gaze, voice soft but full of an undefined edge "its..obvious..you were trained in the opposite" Kai's eyes narrowed as she stared directly at the woman before her attention finally to the male. It was obvious her odds were low here, it was two against one and she had a feeling that retreating wouldn't bode well.

The male she turned her attention to spoke, a slight frown tugged at her mouth when their weapons rose, she felt her trigger finger begin to twitch, then her eye. Without much hesitation she saddled her weapon into its large holster on her waist, momentarily bringing her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose as a calming technique before holding up both her hands, fingers wiggling slightly for emphasis before finding a place behind her back in a ridged fashion. "First Response, Sanctum sect. PSICOM, Specialist Officer Remaleen" of course she left out she was currently MiA, the fact that she was a Pulse L'Cie, that wasn't something she exactly flaunted lately. "I was sent to investigate a Pulse related incident, there was a mistake apparently on the area code I received and ended up in your jurisdiction." The word 'Pulse' came out almost like venom, she was lying out of her teeth, but she was once a member of PSICOM she considered herself an expert at lying by now. "I will go quietly, of course, so long as you both know how to defend yourselves?" she followed up with a slight scoff, she could only hope their military branches were separated enough that her MiA status would go unnoticed for now.

Uriah glanced over at Vericity, noticing her tense up slightly at the other female's comment on their fighting style. Of course, with the l'Cie originating from Pulse, she was practically raised to rush at monsters and show them as much strength and resilience, since he was told everything crawling on Pulse was territorial and it was a kill or be killed world. If anything, she was more suited for the actual work of the Cavalry, not the side job of working with spies. Since they worked well together, though, it was a good combination. "Sergeant... don't say anything else." Said sergeant cast a glance at Uriah, giving a brisk nod. "...Understood."

Uriah looked back at the other as she introduced herself, and it was definitely not what he was expecting to hear. If anything, it only made him slightly more tense. He more or less blamed PSICOM for taking his parents. After all, they were the military branch to oversee and handle Purges. To Vericity, of course, she just had an all-exclusive hatred for the Sanctum for what they left her former home for and what the entirety of Cocoon perceived it as. He noticed the way she practically spat the word 'Pulse', glancing at Ver as she winced somewhat before tensing up again. He cleared his throat to get her attention, just shaking his head when she looked at him. "Right... We'll take you with us to the facility we are to report at, which is also our rendezvous point for later. Sergeant Eneis can take point, seeing as she is somewhat more familiar with what lives in this place." He lowered his gunblade, Vericity mirroring his actions.

Vericity gripped her weapon tightly in her right hand, her finger still on the trigger as she instead looked straight ahead, barely noticing her partner as he came up to grab her arm. She looked at him, raising an eyebrow. He spoke in a low, rushed tone; ""Don't let your emotions get the better of you, especially in this situation. At this rate, you're going to expose yourself to someone that isn't the Cavalry sooner rather than later. And possibly be executed." She snorted slightly, taking her arm out of his grip. "Yeah, yeah. Just stay close, both of you. I won't feel responsible if one of you two gets dragged off and eaten." Without waiting for a response, she stalked off, flipping a switch on her gunblade to make it revert to its bladed form. Uriah sighed at her actions again, shaking his head. "Charming one, isn't she?" He followed after her, still holding his gunblade tightly.

Her lips pursed as she watched the other two, her eyes flicking from one to the other before resting on the male the 'commander'. Kai tightly squeezed her other hand behind her back, shoulders getting stiff from the tension she was trying so hard to hide. Frankly she was done with any military intervention, the branch she was raised on was sure to find out her status sooner or later, her adoptive father disowned her and by now alerted PSICOM of her newest 'lifestyle'. The idea of going to a place full of more sanctum operatives of any kind was not somewhere she wanted be. Looking past the both of them she nodded curtly "Affirmative, I need to find a point to report back and get the correct area codes." by now her face had to plastered with a bullseye between her eyes. She simply nodded after he spoke, her hand gliding down to grip the handle of her gun, swiftly pulling it out and resting it on her shoulder, after the Behemoth incident she decided being over prepared was better then under. "I'll offer the best defense I can, though I'm low on ammunition, I.." she paused, she didn't want to lead on for how long she had been out in the wood. "didn't think that creature would take so much"

Kai frowned deeper when the commander spoke to the Sergeant, though she looked the opposite way with a mock sigh. Surely they couldn't know about her..no she was just being paranoid. It was when the Sergeant spoke was when she slowly looked back to the two, green eyes narrowing as well as her grip on the gun tightened. "With such sloppy battle formation I should be the one worrying" she spat low, squeezing the handle to her gun out of irritation. She glanced at the man and grunted, returning her gaze to straight ahead. "she must be a joy to work with. hr tone was ridged and icy just as her stance. Eyes still at the alert she half expected these two to turn on her at any moment, or lead her right into a trap, both were high possibilities that she still needed a plan for. Another sigh escaped her as she glanced to the commander, before speaking suddenly "This facility, I assume its Sanctum ran? I want to judge how fast I can get word out to my commander, COM links don't work here well." She lied of course, she hadn't even tried, but she had to make this believable. The L'Cie took careful note of his reaction to her question before adding, "Can't let a Pulse threat taint cocoon anymore then it needs to.." Though her feelings for PSICOM had vastly changed, Pulse was still a sore subject, causing only venom to lace her own words.

Uriah nodded to the specialist officer's question, glancing at her. "Yeah, Sanctum ran. I assume you know what they do here, if that Proto-Behemoth wasn't a clue as to what they do." He looked ahead; they should be concentrated on their route to the facility by now. They had a small walk ahead of them, the reason for them being dropped some distance away was to most assess the damage being done by the monsters on the way there. Since most of the soldiers stationed in the Gapra Whitewood didn't know how to handle monsters, it was up to the Cavalry. 

He stiffened slightly at the other's comment about Pulse. He looked to the officer before shifting his gaze to Vericity. Judging by how rigid she was now standing, she had heard what was said. "Shit..." He muttered under his breath, keeping his eyes on the l'Cie.

Vericity froze, her body becoming tense as she clenched her left hand into a fist, her other hand tightening around the grip on her gunblade. It had taken her longer than she would have liked to recognize the PSICOM officer, but her comment made Ver remember, made her blood boil, made her confused. When it all came down to it, that's all she would ever be: a Pulse threat, taint to the booming land of Cocoon, a monster. Even though the officer had sympathized with her before, now Remaleen had the nerve to say that. "Pulse threat... a monster. That's it, right? That's all I've ever been." She spoke quietly, but loud enough for the other two to hear. She ignored the mild pain on the left side of her torso, turning to face Uriah and the PSICOM officer, but her gaze was directed at the female. "'Pulse threat.' Sitting on your high and mighty throne, and you have the nerve to refer to Pulse as a threat still. What threat is there now? The remaining population of Pulse is dead. Cocoon left my home to die. What makes you think you and your damn people are better than mine? After the War was finished, I had to watch as the rest of your people slaughtered the remainder of my village." Vericity took a deep breath. "I couldn't do anything about it. My family, friends, everyone I interacted with on a daily basis, dead! Cocoon lacks judgment, and that is your problem. You see the Pulse threat, you exterminate it! You openly slaughter those who you believe have been 'tainted' by Pulse!" Her voice escalated as she went on her tangent, wavering as she went on about Pulse and Cocoon.

The l'Cie raised her gun, aiming it at Remaleen. She evened out her voice the best she could. "I remember what you said. That you're alone too, that we can relate. We're nothing alike, you and me. And we'll never..." Her voice wavered again, the pain in her abdomen sharper and almost burning, a faint golden glow shining through her black clothing. She covered the spot with her left hand, hoping pressure would stop the pain emanating from her brand. "...Never be alike!" She yelled before falling to one knee, dropping her gun to support herself with her right arm. Vericity gasped at the pain, tendrils of golden light spreading out under her to form into an intricate fractal design. "What..." She whispered as the light highlighted her features, shaking her head. Back on Pulse, she had heard stories of Eidolons, even seen one. Is that what was happening? An Eidolon coming to put her out of her misery? Ver chuckled slightly at the thought as the light got brighter under her. "Dammit, Vericity! Get out of there!"

Her head shot up to look at the other two before glancing back down at the center of the fractal under her. The pain from her mark had started to fade, if by a little bit. Standing back up and grabbing her gunblade, she quickly ran out of the center of the large design to stand back by Uriah, still holding the spot under her left breast. Her breaths came quickly from the pain she experienced, looking as the light in the center became almost blinding, a loud roar echoing around the wood. "Care to explain what's going on?" Uriah yelled over the roaring.

Vericity nodded. "The goddess sent one of her monsters to put me out of my misery." She said, looking back at the center as a large, black metallic colored dragon pulled itself out of the design, rearing its head to roar again. It set its sights on Vericity, leering at her with its ruby colored eyes. It let out another roar, another shooting pain going through the female. She swore as the dragon's golden claws clicked against the metal pathway they stood on. "But I'm not going down that easily!" She yelled, dropping her gunblade to reach for her bow and arrow. The dragon lashed its tail, charging at the trio.

Kai glanced down to adjust her glove when there was a sudden heavy silence that fell, noticeable enough for her to look up. The look on the commander's face made her pause, grip the handle on the gun and glance around, had there been another one of those creatures she hadn't noticed? The Sergeant at the lead had stopped, there was a new air about the other woman that instantly made her uneasy. The commander cursed, which brought her attention to him again briefly then back to the other. She assumed he was referring to the Sergeant, which made her uncomfortable from the start the other woman gave her this unsettling feeling and now in this thick silence it was all intensified. It was the first sentence out of the others mouth that cause Kai's eyebrows to knit together, she looked at the man for any form of answer but there was nothing, so she returned her attention forward, surprised to see the Sergeant now facing them, more importantly staring directly at her. Gripping her large gun tightly, she parted her lips slightly to say something but quickly shut it again when the other began to speak.

She didn't understand at first, the words confused her until she began to piece together what was now being said, Kai stared at the woman's face in disbelief, her features, her hair, it was all coming together in a distance memory to what felt like another life time. The ex-officer remembered now, the woman in stasis, the one she herself overlooked and monitored. There she was, in flesh. Everything she said rung in the L'Cie's ears, Pulse, the slaughter of innocence. Everything PSICOM stood for, everything she even stood for, for the longest time, came crumbling around her from the heated words of someone else. What made her any different then the L'Cie who slaughtered her entire family, when she partook in the same to hundreds others.

"..I" was all she managed before the Sergeant pulled the gun on her, Kai sucked in a deep breath, her head started to spin, knees were weak and mouth was dry. The one thing she thought she could confide to, what she thought she could relate too. This woman. She was right. Kai jerked back as if she was bitten, a hand shooting up to her face as she attempted to calm the elevating tone in her breathing, which was getting hitched with every second passed. Her surroundings were becoming a blur, she stumbled back, gaze falling on the Sergeant who was now on the ground. Everyone's words were like a funnel, there was a light coming from the other now and the male looked just as confused but Kai only continued to stumble back, gun hanging loosely from her dropped arm.

Barely being able to process the scene before her, she watched as the light grew "what is.." she blurted out, senses slowly coming back to her as she raised her weapon as the fracture of light on the ground grew, it all happened so fast she barely had any time to react when before them was a dragon, It was something she had never experienced in her life. She managed to catch what was said, the goddess sent..so this was..? "this isnt...this can't be" Kai stumbled away from the two, her head shaking and gun drawn "All this time..all those people" she choked, her hands trembling as her wide eyes flicked from the large dragon to the two people "they died for what, they were slaughtered for what..I'm no different from him..I sighed those people's lives away. They fed me lies and I believed it, that...that bastard raised me like this..I never had a choice" her eyes flashed to the battle ready dragon and her voice raised "So this is the mercy a L'Cie is given, this is what the end is, to die or fight there is no in between?" Her voice was hitched and each word was spat out like venom "I spent all of my life being told what I was suppose to do, following the rules and doing what was right, that ends now..I control my fate dammit! and if this is what I have to look forward to..well" Kai took a step back, her large gun fumbling awkwardly to face the barrel towards herself, finger on the trigger "No goddess is going to take mercy on me when I can put myself out of my own mise-" 

A sudden sharp pain raced up her spine, crippling her forward in a sudden gasp, "N-no" Was all she managed before another throb of pain cause the gun to drop, clattering on the metal ground as she went to grasp blindly at her back. The pain was intense, as she managed to keep everything in sight she feel back, writhing on the ground as light broke from the ground under her, her knuckles turned white trying to grasp the fabric of her clothing before through the pain she remembered what had happened to the Sergeant, quickly rolling out of the way she managed in time before a thunderous earthquake rolled through the wood. Kai managed to move toward her gun again, standing passed the shaking of the ground to turn and face the monstrous shelled Eidolon before her. "Fine" She breathed, glancing back at the dragon and the other two before returning her attention to the massive tortoise. "Have it your way" she waited before calling out to the two "Sarg I'm going to have to call a tactical truce on this one" Kai gripped her gun before bracing for the onslaught of the Eidolons.

Uriah stared at the dragon wide-eyed, glancing at Vericity again. "You mean... what?" He looked back to the large dragon before the officer started going off on her own tangent, about some bastard and killing innocents. Of course, with her being in PSICOM, it was expected. From PSICOM's eyes, anything viewed as a Pulse threat was to be eliminated on the spot. 

Vericity glanced over herself, a slight wave of pity going over her. She may have been a little brash, but to her, it felt mildly justifiable. She almost said something to comfort the other, but decided against it for the time being at least. Freezing up slightly when the other brought the gun to her face, she again almost stepped in until the officer collapsed from suddenly pain, her gun clattering against the raised pathway. She raised an eyebrow, noticing a similar light spread out from under the officer. "No..." She whispered in disbelief as the other female rolled out of the way. Looking at Uriah, she grabbed his arm and ran with him a fair distance away. She looked up as a large turtle came out of the light. "Is...is she a l'Cie too?" She barely heard Uriah mutter, looking back at him. "Y...yeah, she is." She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking across at Remaleen, just barely hearing her suggestion. Vericity snorted slightly. Even though the two had one thing in common now, she still didn't trust her. "I recognize I have no authority to do this, but I'm going to have to take your commander rights for the time being." She heard a faint 'uh-huh' from Uriah, chuckling. "I can't disagree with this truce right now! Come on, we can't stay here right now. I recognize we can't hide from Eidolons, but we can run and maybe I can explain more about these guys. But for now, we don't have much time!" The l'Cie called back to the other.

She called her magic forward again, concentrating on what to cast on the dragon. Eidolons only went after their respective l'Cie... unless... 

Vericity looked at Uriah before looking at the PSICOM officer. "Both of you, go! I'll distract them." She turned back to face the Eidolons, glaring at them before firing two well-aimed arrows to get each of their attentions...Challenging them. "Come on! I can take both of you, no problem!" She yelled to the Eidolons, the dragon turning its head to look at Vericity. She smirked slightly; now she just had to get the giant turtle.

Uriah gave a somewhat worried sigh, looking to the other woman. "Remaleen! Come on! She'll be right behind us!"

Gripping her gun tightly, she stared down the giant turtle for a moment before looking back to the others, her eyebrows furrowed at the suggestion, though she wasn't fond of the idea of running away, that wasn't her style to run from a fight she clearly started but the Sergeant had a point. "Whats the plan then?" she called, clicking the gun in position while the two Eidolons were looking particularly irritated with the situation. Kai kept her eyes on the turtle, between the two massive beings it was hard to hear anything but she managed to hear what the woman said next. "D-distraction..?" Kai stuttered dumb founded, she really expected her to drop everything and run and let someone else take care of her problems? She settled her feet firmly where she was, gun still drawn "that's the best idea you have? look at these things!" she looked back at the other two before frowning, from the looks of things it didn't look like there was going to be a better plan.

Kai looked at the commander dumbfounded, as if everyone was speaking nonsense before a loud rumble from the turtle caught her attention "you expect me to just run away? how can we even expect to run from these things, can't they..they track us?" Kai was almost drowned out by more noise from the Eidolons, she gripped her gun tighter and sighed, hearing the coaxing from the Commander, she grumbled relaxing her battle stance "dammit, fine lets move!" Kai hoisted the gun up to make it easier for her to run, quickly following in behind the man before glancing behind her "yeah well she better know what shes doing, this isn't how I deal with things" she called ahead, before adjusting her gun "but now whats our plan?" she called, realizing running haphazardly was the only option. She could hear the sound of the Eidolons, more importantly the sound of the turtle. Kai took a moment, trying to focus on what was ahead of her before she glanced back, her eyes growing as the turtle's attention was still on her and fast coming. "shi-..move!" she quickly picked up her pace moving as fast as her legs would allow. "some distraction that was!" she yelled, turning enough to get a few pot shots in before focusing on her running.

Vericity rolled her eyes at whatever the officer was saying to her. "You don't know what the hell is going on, so I'd prefer not to hear any protests out of you." She muttered to herself, glancing back to make sure the other two had ran. She sighed slightly, firing another few arrows at the turtle to try and get its attention away from Uriah and the other l'Cie. Although, obviously, try as she might, the turtle just wasn't taking her bait. Obviously, the large black dragon was taking it; it was out to kill her for being unable to control her emotions. She hopped back, summoning forth her magic again. She held her hand out, magic tingling in her fingertips. "Firaga!" She yelled out, casting a large ball of fire at the dragon. It exploded as it came into contact with the dragon's neck, the beast stumbling and roaring at the l'Cie in rage. Vericity smirked, using the distraction to her advantage.

"Dahaka, God of the Skies! I call upon you in my time of need! Give me the strength to overcome this trial!" Vericity called to the sky, her current attire fading away only to be replaced by a set of red armor trimmed in gold, a shield on her left arm and a gunhalberd replacing her bow and arrows. She looked back to the dragon who had now recovered from her magic. She aimed her weapon at the dragon, who had begun charging her, firing a shot before quickly throwing it into a tree to her left, hearing a satisfactory thunk into the synthetic material of the tree. Turning tail, she ran towards the tree, leaping off the path right as the dragon would have been upon her. She grabbed onto the weapon, feeling the hot breath of the large beast behind her. Swinging her body to give herself momentum, she swung herself up to the leaves above, taking her weapon with her. Vericity looked at the dragon now below her, jumping down onto the dragon's head. The dragon let out a roar as it felt the extra weight of the l'Cie on its head, Vericity giving it a small pat. "Don't worry." Bracing herself, she gripped her weapon tighter before bringing it down on the dragon's head, the force causing the dragon to swing its head. 

Vericity braced herself, jumping off the dragon's head and snapping her fingers to activate her anti-gravity mech to give her a softer landing on her feet. Without wasting any time, she broke into a run to catch up with the other two that had gotten a heavy head start on her. She looked back at the dragon, casting a round of Fira at it to give her a bit of distance. Looking at the turtle, she gave a small sigh, giving another round of Fira to the second Eidolon. It didn't take her long to catch up to the others; her boosted stamina as a l'Cie assisted her. "Officer, I'm going to make the brash assumption and guess you haven't dared touch your magic as a l'Cie." Well, really, it was less of an assumption and more of an observation. Judging by the fact that the other l'Cie was still using her gun and her gifted strength and stamina only, she was going by the fact the magic hadn't been touched.

Uriah looked as Vericity caught up, looking her up and down before looking forward again. "Some mission this turned out to be, Ver!" He told her with mock joy, rolling his eyes slightly. Really, it wasn't ideal. Or on his agenda. To run from two very angry and murderous monsters known as Eidolons. And apparently, very powerful.

Kai took another glance back in time to see the sergeant casting magic, eyes narrowing before focusing on what was ahead. She tried to avoid using it, she felt the ability start just after she became a l'Cie, a faint tingling just under the skin, and she chose to blatantly ignore it, but now magic seemed to be the only thing to get reactions out of these monsters. She turned to get another glimpse, past the clearly enraged tortoise, she masked her wonderment at the use of magic, only witnessing it once in the field but that didn't make it any less amazing.  The ground rumbling underfoot caused her to nearly loose her balanced, the metal platforms that was throughout the forest whined at the pressure of these monsters.

The noise of the fight between the Sergeant and the Eidolon and the added sound of the rumble from the large turtle made it anything but easy to even hear her own thoughts. A thought hit her suddenly, the noise, these massive monsters, they were pretty deep in the wood but all this noise was hard to miss, and running away wasn't going to speed up the process. Kai looked over her shoulder again in time to see the other woman catching up to them causing her to only grip her gun tighter, glancing over with a frown when she spoke "no..but now it would be a pretty good time to start using it. Sergeant." she grunted, turning back to look at the turtle, fumbling for a moment to put the gun in its holster, tugging off the fitting gloves to free her hands "Someone is going to hear, we have to- Move!" Kai's eyes widened roughly shoving the other woman into the commander before stumbling out of the way of a blast, one that left a gaping hole in the metal platform. The l'Cie rolled, before managing to stop herself whipping her head up to see the massive cannon like gun on the turtle's back, swinging and aiming on an unseen pivot before it's attention was pointed at her. Glancing over to see what had happened to the other two, she made momentary eye contact before her eyes flicked back at the cannon. It was a long shot but most of her life was spent around heavy armed machinery, this couldn't be much different. Using the back of her hand to wipe the corner of her mouth she was up in the next motion, with her gun holsters it made it easier for her to run with more force, feeling the faint tingle at the tips of her fingers she quickly charged the large tortoise.

The turtle rumbled and moved slowly, turning the cannon on the back of its massive shell. A faint glow in the barrel that slowly grew before another shot was fired. Kai stumbled off to the side, narrowly missing the blast, it only took her a moment to recover. Grabbing her gun back out of its holster, she aimed for the large Eidolons head, wasting no time to release a round. Her accuracy and the close range proved to be worth the effort as the turtles head flinched to the side, an angry rumble as it attempted to regain its focus from the stun. The few second delay gave Kai enough time to finally close the gap, grasping onto the large shell. Her climb wasn't an easy one, with the Eidolon under her rumbling and roaring in anger, the shell itself shifted and moved making it difficult for her to get a grip. Kai hoisted herself up to the large cannon, part of her doubted her own plan but it was the best one she had. She gripped her gun, focusing the repressed feeling into the Weapon before it sparked. Biting her lip, her eyebrows furrowed before she slammed the end of the gun into the barrel of the cannon before pulling the trigger, a cold magic flowed out of the gun and into the cannon, blocking most of the rim with thick heavy ice. Kai held her tactic until the cannon began to glow, signalling another round of fire. The l'Cie made her escape, quickly jumping off the shell and on the ground before the turtle fired. The sound was similar to an explosion, the force sending Kai forward as she found herself on the ground for a second time. She glanced back, the corner of her eye twitching momentarily as she watched the turtle stagger, it twitched to hold itself up. She breathed, slamming her fist on the ground before shakily standing, her plan didn't stop the beast, but the damage the blocked cannon was obvious it wouldn't take much more. "W-whats the plan now..Sarg?" she called, leveling her breath before she looked over for some sort of direction.

Vericity rolled her eyes slightly at the Officer's response; of course she hadn't touched her magic. Granted, she didn't know anything of what it meant to be a l'Cie, but it only meant she was merely ignoring her Focus or something. Did she expect a clear message of it to be handed to her on a silver platter?

She was going to say something on the matter of the magic, but then she was suddenly pushed into Uriah, knocking them both over and sending them tumbling. Vericity sighed loudly (HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH), standing back up and extending a hand to Uriah, who took it gladly to pull himself up. She glared at the other female. "We're fighting for our lives out here and she's concerned about other people hearing. Wonderful." She shook her head, looking at the dragon who had caught up in the event of her and Uriah being pushed aside. Gripping her weapon tighter, she glanced at the other male. "Watch my back." She said, running at the dragon. A growl built up in the throat of the dragon, the beast opening its mouth to let out a burst of flames. Vericity's eyes widened, sliding to a stop and crouching down, holding up her shield for it to absorb the dragon's onslaught of fire. The l'Cie looked back up when the dragon had stopped, instead moving to charge her and attack. Vericity tumbled out of the way, holding up her weapon after being in safety's way to try and deal some damage. 

She winced slightly at the sound of metal upon metal. Judging this, she realized the dragon was plated in heavy armor. Sighing slightly at this new observation, she took note of the spots she had previously hit with Fire-based spelled were somewhat melted down. Smirking, she realized this is how she was going to win against the Eidolon brought to her by the goddess. Concentrating, she let her magic flow into her gunhalberd, the blade and bullets now hot with fire. She looked to the dragon as it turned back to her, firing a round of hot bullet at it and concentrating again, she cast a large ball of fire at the dragon's leg, the fire exploding upon impact. The dragon stumbled upon impact of the explosion, almost losing its balance. It roared at Vericity in rage, the metal armor on its leg melting and fusing together. This only caused a smirked from Vericity; the Eidolon was now going to have a harder time moving.

She looked up at the sound of the Officer calling out to her, about the next step in their plan. Vericity pursed her lips slightly. "Keep your Eidolon off-balance. You're already casting magic quite decently for using it for the first time. We can overcome the Eidolons; the weak obey the strong with these guys!" She called back, looking to Uriah. "Uriah, I think we can handle the rest. I need you to keep check of the perimeter, make sure nobody strays too close from the noise." 

Uriah looked at Vericity and nodded. "I will make sure of that! Don't take too much longer, alright?" He turned and headed out to check the perimeter; to make sure nobody strayed too close to see two l'Cie fighting large monsters from a mysterious place.

Kai watched the turtle carefully, it favored one side over the other as it rumbled a roar like sound in her direction. The explosion from the block cannon must had effected the Eidolon more on that side, which she decided to target. She switched her gun from one hand to the other as she thought of a proper strategy, the heavy weapon felt as if it had more weight to it then usual but she ignored the momentary irritant when she heard the Sergeant speak, eyes being drawn away from the turtle and to the other woman. "..The eak obey the strong" she repeated more so to herself then anybody else before she nodded "Affirmative." 

Kai waited for the right moment, the turtle swayed back and forth on its large legs, its massive head turned with a seemingly mechanical twitch. The l'Cie frowned, staring the tortoise down, her gun still at the ready when it did something unexpected. Its large mouth suddenly dropped open with a heavy thunk, Kai's eyes widened as a thin barrel slid out in a smooth machine like fashion, in the split second it took her to realize it was and the next to start running out of the way the small rapid fire gun in the turtles mouth began to fire. Bracing as she ran she could feel the heat from the projectiles on the back of her legs, she hoisted her gun up enough to aim again at the large turtles head. The gun still had a slight chill to it, which she only assumed that the magic was still there, she aimed, the jerk of her running didn't make her accuracy any better but she fired at the turtles head. The ice from the cold magic rounds hit and stuck to it's face, the hard ice momentarily blinded the shelled Eidolon. The accurate rapid shots from before were now sporadic and un-timed. Her eyes glanced over to the other l'Cie, a few rounds headed in that direction to the other Eidolon battle. Kai quickly got up to see the damage before stopping herself. No one was looking out for her well being, she shouldn't care about others either. 

A grunt escaped her lips as she turned her attention back to the now wild Eidolon, gripping her gun tight, the bunt of the gun forward she rushed the tortoise with force, ducking and weaving away from the wild stray shots before finally reaching its head. Kai raised her gun, she focused what strength she could muster from the battle before sending the bunt of the machine gun directly into the forehead of the Eidolon. It made a large crack sound, the turtle rumbled, shaking violently for a moment before stopping completely. Kai took a step back, gun still at the ready as she watched the deathly still monster. There was an unusual shift in atmosphere before the loud metallic thunk came back from the depths of the turtle, parts moved and shifted, the large head disappearing to places unknown before the turtle took on a new shape entirely. Kai watched as a vehicle more specifically a Tank, sat before her. She hesitated a moment before touching what felt like cold steel. She sighed, patting the side of it "That wasn't so bad..now was it?" She breathed, breath slowly catching up to her now. Kai still heard the other fight going on, and with a final force of energy she hopped up onto the side to get a better look at what was unfolding.

Vericity stared down the dragon, stalking to the left to watch the dragon's subtle movements; from what she could tell, its current handicap was going to help. The dragon was slowed significantly due to its leg, but she also remembered the shot of Firaga she had cast at its neck. She noticed the fact that the armor had melted on its neck, making it harder for the beast to move its neck.The l'Cie held her shield up to protect from the volley of fire coming from the dragon, her shield absorbing the balls of fire for a later time, the shield glowing a light yellow color. 

"Come on... make your next move..." She muttered, tightening her grip on her weapon in her right hand. The dragon had ceased its attack, its tail whipping back and forth, a deep growl in its throat. Ver squinted at the dragon's other foreleg, smirking as she casted another large ball of fire at it, the dragon roaring at her as the fireball exploded, melting the dragon's armor on that leg together also. She smirked; it was time. With the dragon rendered mostly immobile, she ran at the beast, just barely dodging attacks of fire from the beast. As she reached the shoulder of the dragon, stabbing the hot blade of her weapon into the metal pathway to jump up on the dragon's back, pulling it with her as she landed on the dragon. She heard a roar erupt from it, laughing slightly at the rage the beast was showing. Looking up, she threw her weapon up for the blade to lodge into the top of the dragon's long neck. She jumped up to grab it, pulling herself up to grab the dragon's horns, gripping as the dragon tried to shake her off. Vericity gritted her teeth as she pulled herself up again to stand on the dragon's head, ripping the weapon out of the dragon.

She looked down at the dragon. "The weak obey the strong..." She muttered, bringing her shield down on the dragon's forehead, a large burst of flames coming from the metal object, the heat melting through the dragon's armor. While the metal of the armor was still hot, she brought down her weapon onto the weakened spot, blade first. It took some effort, but the blade went through. Vericity smiled slightly, twisting the blade before ripping it back out. She felt the dragon shift under her, the beast beginning to fall forward. Jumping off before the dragon  hit the ground, she looked at it with mild pride. 

Vericity stepped back slightly when the armor started to shift on the dragon, the melted plates reforming to their original shape and the life entering the dragon's eyes again. She looked up as the beast stood back up again, looking down at her. She let out a sigh as she walked closer to the dragon to give it a pat on its foreleg. [color:b2f7=bf5fff]"Valkor..." She muttered, taking her hand off of the cool metal of the dragon's armor to look back at the PSICOM officer. "What's a l'Cie doing in PSICOM?' She called out to the officer, raising an eyebrow.

Kai stood on the Eidolon for a moment, before she lowered herself down to one of the ridged edges to sit, her eyes returning back to the fight that was only a mere few yards away. The other woman clearly had more experience being a l'Cie, the fact she had been the same woman PSICOM kept in their facilities for so long only made that more obvious. The thought of the earlier discover sent a nerve just under her eye to flinch, bringing a hand up to her face she tried to find peace among the loud forest alight with battle sounds from the Eidolons. The irony and the coincidence of the situation made the l'Cie uncomfortable, she wanted to get away from both of them as soon as the opportunity arose. They both knew too much now and she couldn't trust anyone, not to mention the other l'Cie was a constant reminder of the damage she had done when she was in PSICOM.

The end of the other fight brought her attention back from her thoughts, eyes narrowing from the large dragon to the Sergeant, then back to the tank under her. A frown formed on her lips to the next words out of the Sergeants mouth, and only made her sigh. "Was in PSICOM."  she corrected the other l'Cie before continuing "and I was making my way to Nautilus, before you two interrupted that" her eyes narrowed at the ground before inwardly she gripped the sides she was sitting on. "by now I'm going to have PSICOM breathing down my neck because of this delay, word gets to Nautilus slower, I'd have time to figure out what I'm suppose to do. But clearly my short time has been cut shorter thanks to you." her words were slightly biting, she knew that, but the shock from discovering who the Sergeant was, was wearing off. "So going back to a base full of Sanctum soldiers is not exactly where I want to be right now. I want to put myself a large distance between the bases" Kai sighed and looked at the Sergeant, before quickly averting her eyes to an undefined spot. "Listen, you were right before, a lot of what you said was. We're nothing alike."  the l'Cie hopped off her perch, reclaiming her gloves before gently sliding them back on between glances. "I'll admit, I was ignorant and blind but that's all I knew. I owe a lot of people their lives, but you can't fault me for doing as I was told, because it was the only thing I knew how to do." Finally and slightly reluctantly Kai made eye contact with the other l'Cie "You don't know me Sergeant, and what you do know is hardly anything to make assumptions on." she didn't hold the stare long, she didn't like making eye contact, only honest people could do that. Kai looked down before turning slightly, adjusting her gloves. "..going to drag me back to that base now Sarg?" she asked in a blank tone, walking over to the Tank to rest her hand on the side.

Vericity switched to holding her weapon in her left hand, narrowing her eyes at nothing in particular as she listened to the other l'Cie's words. She snorted slightly, putting her right hand back on Valkor's side as she looked back up at the Officer. Her words were almost amusing to her, and whenever she got to the Gapra Whitewood base with Uriah, she knew she would almost have the nerve to report the other woman. Just because she was a l'Cie, it didn't make them similar whatsoever. She murdered others in cold blood and l'Cie or not, Ver believed the other needed to atone for that. 

"Well, sorry for the little delay, then. It's not my fault an AWOL PSICOM officer was wondering about in a locked down sect of the Sanctum. So really, I don't see why Commander Dreygon and I are at fault." She retorted, bringing down her weapon to grind it into the metal pathway. As far as she knew, she no longer had plans to allow this PSICOM officer to tag along with them to the base and whether or not Uriah agreed, she didn't really care; she wasn't about to allow some PSICOM...trash tag along, AWOL or not. "And I agree; you were and are ignorant. To everything around you. And I will fault you for what you did. Sure, it was what you were told, but you still had your own mind, your individuality. And not once did you stop and question your actions. It took you until a l'Cie brought it to your attention to realize that what you were doing. Something you were taught was a monster."

When the other l'Cie looked up to give eye contact, however brief, she held a glare and didn't take it off of her even when the other had looked away. "I'm not dragging you along to this base anymore. You can go on your own way now. PSICOM can have you and I didn't plan on taking a...former PSICOM officer along to babysit." She turned to the large dragon, giving it a pat on the shoulder. "Until next time, Valkor. Thank you." The large beast looked down at her with its dark red eyes and snorted slightly in approval, turning and unfolding its wings. It bent down before launching itself upwards, flapping its wings to gain speed. In the sky, gold designs formed and the dragon flew through them, the beast eventually gone and the gold portal-like designs fading. 

Vericity looked back at the Officer from her Eidolon leaving, feeling a slight warmth where her l'Cie brand was. "Good luck." She muttered, tugging her weapon with her to turn away and go in the direction she figured Uriah went in. She prayed the other l'Cie didn't plan on following her, but if she did, she definitely wasn't responsible for her well-being.

Kai turned back to the other woman's words, an eyebrow twitched slightly before she snorted, she should have figured she would get such a response. Her lips pursed tightly together as she occasionally glanced back as the other l'Cie continued to talk,her free hand clenching into a fist before releasing, she found herself doing that several times before the Sergeant moved causing her eyes to flash back. She moved back to the Tank, her hand running along its side before she sighed. She felt her pulse quicken with each word before her free hand now found its way to the hilt of her gun, giving it a tight squeeze.

She waited before she gave a curt snort "Typical" she glanced up as the dragon disappeared into seemingly thin air before her eyes flicked back to the Sergeant momentarily. "Don't give yourself so much credit, you didn't make me realize anything I didn't already know." She didn't care if she was heard or not, her voice laced with another kind of venom. "if anything.." she spat, hand still resting on her gun "you just reinforced things from Pulse can't comprehend any reason.." she called out to the other l'Cie "Savage..just like the place itself." she added curtly to the other woman, who had made it a fair distance away before turning to the Tank.

The Eidolon rumbled as she stared at it before she frowned, looking up to where the dragon had gone before back to her own Eidolon. "I'm not..really sure how this works" she muttered, giving the metal like side another pet, she thought back to what the other l'Cie had done, though her face furrowed into more of a frown at the thought of the woman. "Thank you..Tolba..I'll uhm..see you soon?" she took a step back and studied the massive Tank before it rumbled, turning its cannon on a pivot before it moved itself in the same direction. Light rings fluttered up from the ground, bright enough to make her squint for a moment before the tank rumbled downwards and out of sight. Kai lifted her hand for a small awkward wave before quickly bringing it back down, her other hand moved to rub the small of her back with a sigh before she turned. She didn't bother to look to see if the other woman had gone, she was sure she had. Placing both hands now on her hips she studied each direction, trying to remember which way was Nautilus.

Vericity was going to walk away, but instead tensed up at the other woman's words. Again. She gripped her weapon tighter, turning quickly to fire a shot from her gun halberd close to the other l'Cie's feet. Technically, she should have been keeping control of her emotions still. Since her brand and Focus were both on hold, however, it didn't cross her mind as much.

"Big words from a product of Pulse themself. You may have been born here on Cocoon, but your brand makes you almost as much of a monster and a savage as I am. Get to where you're going and I can almost guarantee you'll be branded the same as I was 700 years ago and still today and be brought to execution." Vericity retorted back to the Officer, sighing to herself as she turned away again. She was arguing with someone she likely wasn't going to talk to or see again, and about matters the other l'Cie wouldn't understand, already clearly exposed to the lies and slander of PSICOM. It wasn't to say the Guardian Corps was any better, but the Cavalry had their ideas straight. It was an ideal place for her to be as well, if she were to somehow spark another war, but this time civil.

Shaking her head, she looked back into the artificial forest. "Uriah! Come on, we're out of here. We need to get that mission done."" She called out for her partner, beginning to walk away again as her red and gold armor faded back into her original outfit for the mission, picking up her abandoned gunblade that was down the way as it teetered on the edge of the path. She heard a shuffle and looked up, Uriah standing in front of her again. "We'll just pretend we didn't meet a PSICOM officer out here. I really don't feel like filling out a mission report that involves dragons and turtles popping out of the ground, along with l'Cie." Vericity said to him, albeit a little quieter than usual so it wouldn't echo around.

Uriah looked at Vericity, nodding slightly. Despite her heightened stamina and strength, he could tell she was more tired than usual. "Got it, Ver. If you need a break, just tell me." He turned to continue in the direction to the Gapra Whitewood base, hearing a small grunt of agreement behind him.

Kai glanced when she heard movement the way the woman had went, her own reactions clearly too slow as a fire was shot at her feet. Nearly jumping into the air the office quickly collected herself, a hand falling on the hilt of her own weapon. She hated being shot at. Having half of mind to fire back she only raised a brow at the other woman's words though as much as she hated to admit, the woman was probably right. Thanks to PSICOM everything she was taught, what she was brought up on, her whole life was a lie. Kailona looked up when another noise brought her back to what was around her. The woman was gone, good riddance as far as the officer was concerned, she should start moving to Nautulis with the time lost PSICOM was no doubt half way to her location.

With a heavy sigh she lifted her gun out of its holster, pausing a moment to check her ammunition before she stepped forward, heading in the opposite direction the other l'Cie had went. Her eyes glanced down at her own gloved hands, they still tingled from using the magic earlier, she was still unsure if she could continue using it or save it for certain situations for the most part she figured it would only put a bigger target on her head. She moved with a ridged precision for the most part of the artificial forest, occasionally stopping suddenly from a noise from the equally artificial wildlife but as the noise became a more common background sound as she allowed her gun to hang by her side, her other hand occasionally moving to rub her lower back. For the first time since becoming a l'Cie, she felt tired.

--

Kai rubbed her arm nervously, there was a lot to take in from the entertainment town. She stood rigid in what she assumed was the center of the place. She had only just arrived and she was already over whelmed with the constant flow and movement of people and lights. Her eyes flashed back from different faces, quickly looking for any signs of suspicions or any longer then needed looks. She paused suddenly when something particularly bright caught her attention, there was a small stand with multiple figurines. It wasn't those that caught her attention as she slowly made her way through the crowd towards the stand, stopping short she stared hard at the little round yellow toy, her finger poked it before she picked it up and examined it. She felt the corners of her mouth turn up for a moment as she examined the object. "Fan of Chocobos?" The faint smile quickly vanished as Kai glanced to the vendor, quickly placing the toy bird back down again. "I ah..was just looking." the man laughed and nodded to a direction behind her. "You should see the real ones then.". Kai only nodded, quickly turning to head toward where the man had nodded, her mind clearly elsewhere as she briskly walked across the paved open area when she finally noticed how suddenly empty it all was.

She stopped abruptly, there was no more people, the area that was bustling moments ago was now deathly still. Kai let out a low sigh suddenly feeling a shift in the atmosphere she let her arms fall to her sides, her eyes closing soon after. The expected echo of boots on the ground filled her ears, from what she could hear was at least a whole battalion. Without even looking she could practically feel the laser-sights on her as she stood there. "Do not move! Show your hands!" the soldier yelled, from the sound of his tone he sounded nervous, and for a moment she considered running. But she held fast, hearing the tentative steps from the soldier up to her, hands being roughly cuffed. "You're under arrest for treason against Cocoon and the Sanctum, l'Cie" yet another pause, she was getting impatient, had she been this slow when she gave the same speech. She twitched slightly when she was drug back and turned around, finally seeing multiple helmet covered faces staring back at her. She felt the grip tighten on her arm, which sent another twitch through her, "you will be put under critical watch until further notice. You will not be able to have any form of communications until you are put to trial." The l'Cie snorted, glancing down at her feet, trial only meant until they decided how brutally to end her. Kai sighed, grunting again when she was pushed forward and onto a landed airship, focusing on keeping her balance from the awkward position. She'd been on one of these herself many times, but never as a prisoner and the idea of being on the other side sent a shiver of guilt down her spine. The soldier who had hold of her jerked her down which way and that before finally they stopped at a door. Kai kept her head down for the most part, only lifting to look at the metal door before it opened, the force slightly blowing the hair from her face. She felt her gun, the only form of her protection roughly stripped away from her before she was shoved in what she knew was a heavily locked and watched room. Kai grunted, awkwardly shifting her bound hands around before leaning against the back wall and slowly guiding herself to the floor. She knew this would happen sooner or later.

She ignored anyone she walked past, her hands balled into fists against her side as she briskly made her way to the Lindblum's bridge, her heeled boots clacking loudly against the metal flooring. A determined expression was set into the woman's face, her brows furrowed slightly as she tried to process what she had been hearing and what had been confirmed on the airship: a l'Cie had been captured by PSICOM in Nautilus and the only one that could come to her mind was the ex-Officer she had quarreled with in the Gapra Whitewood only a few days before. It wasn't to say the Pulsian cared a whole lot about her; the Officer was about as closed-minded as your typical Cocoon citizen. But the fact remained that she was also a l'Cie, something labeled a monster on the small planet. Of course, that wasn't necessarily the case. What they turned into if they failed their Focus was a monster, but until then, they were fine.

At least in her opinion. The majority of the military definitely didn't agree, though.

Vericity came up to the doors leading to the bridge, entering in a code before pressing her thumb down onto a small pad, allowing the device to scan her fingerprint. This system was mostly a precaution; if someone not authorized to be on the ship, they wouldn't be able to get onto the bridge and ultimately, to their commander. She looked up as the doors started to crank open and taking a second to adjust her hat before walking through the metal doors. They slowly closed behind her as she walked up a small set of stairs, the view of the sky clear in the ship's large windows. As far as she could tell, they ironically weren't too far from Nautilus, however they were likely veering away to deal with other menial threats of monsters farther away. She swore quietly to herself, looking forward to see their commander looking out of the giant windows. Letting out a small sigh, she gave a small salute. "Commander Raines."

The commander in question looked up, turning around to look at Vericity. Of the very few people to know of the Pulsian's true identity, it was Cid. He could only assume why she was here; the reports of the l'Cie captured by PSICOM was sent out to every branch of the Guardian Corps as well as the rest of the Sanctum. It was also very likely she was going to try and perform a nearly impossible mission to try and rescue said l'Cie. He gave a small sigh, folding his hands behind his back. "I'm going to make the assumption that you are here now to ask if you have some form of permission to go on a very daring mission to attack a likely heavily armored PSICOM vessel to rescue another l'Cie." He watched as Vericity's expression changed from determination to mild disbelief before back again. She dropped her salute, walking forward to look out of the windows.

"I would be ideal for this self-imposed mission. On top of the fact that the Elite are very under wraps from anything not the Guardian Corps, I'm hardly in the system." She looked up at Raines, blinking. "Considering the fact I have no formal military training and I... theoretically, came out of no where. PSICOM's not going to recognize a Sergeant like me." Vericity turned her attention back out the windows, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'd prefer to go alone, considering you allow me to go. I don't want to drag anyone else into this, especially Uriah."

Cid chuckled slightly at Vericity's words. It sounded like she wasn't going to take no for an answer for this mission. Even if he gave her a no, she'd likely disobey orders and go out and execute the task on her own accord. If he said no, though, it would have been expected. Another l'Cie was at hand here, and to an extent, Vericity had always pitied other l'Cie because she was entirely aware of their fates. He turned back around to look out the windows with Vericity, glancing down at her. "I can't give you no for an answer. You'd disobey orders anyways. So, yes, I authorize your reckless idea of a mission. I don't expect a mission report submitted to our superiors; just a report to me will be fine. You know where the armory is, Sergeant. Good luck."

The l'Cie looked up at Cid when he gave his approval for the mission, giving a barely noticeable smile. She uncrossed her arms, saluting the commander a second time. "Thank you, commander." She turned and left the bridge quickly, making her way to the ship's armory to prep for the mission.


Vericity stood at an opened door on the side of the ship, holding onto a bar on the wall. She looked out, her light purple whipping in the wind. The woman was in her usual attire for a mission and had her usual mechs, although with a few extra. Hopefully they wouldn't bust on the way to attack the PSICOM airship; it would end up not working in her favor. Then again, she didn't have a planned attack of assault. It was mostly to just bust in, get the Officer, and then leave.

She looked down to make sure she had everything else; her standard gunblade, and for a comfort rather than anything else, her bow and arrows. Looking back up when she heard footsteps behind her, she turned to see Uriah coming to her, his own usual outfit for missions on as well. "Uriah... I... are you sure it's safe for you to go on this mission? I'm not trying to say you would slow me down, but... this could get really rough."

Uriah looked down at Vericity, laughing slightly as he moved to stand next to her to look out of the ship. "Oh yeah, and let you have all of the fun? Come on, I watched a giant dragon come out of the ground, followed by a giant turtle and survived it. I think I'm very qualified for this mission you decided to start." He looked back at Vericity, smiling. "Besides, we haven't done a mission separate ever since I saved you from that PSICOM facility. I can't let one mission go."

Vericity smiled back to Uriah, shaking her head. "Fine. I guess I can't let you sit this one out." She gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "This mission might be suicide... but I think we can manage. Let's go." She took a few steps back to get a running start out of the ship, jumping out with Uriah following her closely. Maneuvering her body so her back was facing the ground, she let out a breath as she put a hand over her l'Cie brand. She felt the area get warm under her touch as a golden flame-shaped crystal phased into her hand. Looking it over, she smiled widely before throwing it. A hit to the Eidolith wasn't necessary; she saw familiar almost-blinding designs appear in the sky, a loud roar resonating from seemingly no where. "Valkor! Come on, we have someone to rescue!" As she called to her Eidolon, the large beast flew out of the designs, the portal to the timeless land closing as Valkor flew out. Glancing over at Uriah, she grabbed his arm to pull him closer. "We have one shot to land on him safely. I hope you brought your anti-gravity mech!"

Uriah looked at the large dragon, nodding slightly as it folded its wings against its body to gain speed in order to fly below the duo. "I did, you're lucky!" Vericity chuckled, turning around but still keeping her grip on Uriah. She saw the dragon well below them now, Valkor extending his wings suddenly to slow him down significantly. They were approaching the dragon much faster, time working against them slightly. "Now!" Vericity called, the two snapping their fingers simultaneously to activate their anti-gravity mechs.

They slowed down significantly themselves, landing on the dragon against their odds. Immediately, the two of them situated themselves on the Eidolon, Valkor flapping his wings to keep them at a steady height. Vericity glanced back at Uriah when she was situated, getting an okay from him. The l'Cie nodded, giving Valkor a pat on the shoulder before pointing in the direction of Nautilus. "We need to go that way, and as quick as you can!" Valkor roared in response, turning in the direction Vericity was pointing in before taking off.

Not too long had passed before another ship came into view, and by the looks of it, it appeared to be a PSICOM ship. Vericity weighed out their options as she looked down at the ship before actually going in for the kill. All things considering, however, they really didn't have options. They were on a giant dragon, not a sight to see on Cocoon. Their only choice was a direct attack from the top and as quickly as possible. "Uriah... hold on." She tightened her grip on the dragon, Uriah making sure to do the same. "Valkor! Direct attack!" The dragon let out a roar, extending its claws and folding its wings once more to dive at the ship. They came up quickly, the dragon practically ramming the ship with its body weight, digging its claws into the ship's armor to keep it from falling to the ground below.

Vericity looked at the dragon as it held onto the ship tightly, smiling slightly as she gave him a pat. "Hold on, Valkor. We shouldn't be long." She looked down, hopping off of the dragon onto the ship. Valkor held the ship as steady as possible, the woman already on the search for a way in. Uriah followed, looking around to see a hatch they could get in from. "Here, Ver!" He pointed down before working on getting the hatch open. Vericity came over, helping him twist and pull open the door. She unsheathed her gunblade before hopping in, landing neatly in a crouching position. She folded her weapon into its gun shape as Uriah dropped in next to her, the duo facing in opposite directions. "Ready?"

Uriah glanced at Vericity, nodding slightly as he too pulled out his gunblade. "Ready." He looked forward against, the two of them stepping away and running in opposite directions to locate the l'Cie on board. Seperate was riskier, but it would cover more ground that way.

It was only a matter of time now.

The cell she was put in was too quiet for her liking, too small and certainly not comfortable. The only sound the l'Cie had to listen to was twitch inducing buzz from some sight unseen and her own thoughts, which she decided days before listening to herself was probably the worst option she had. Adjusting her hands behind her back she felt for any give in the cuffs, they were slandered, something she herself used multiple times on many occasion. She knew her chances of escape were slim but if she could just buy herself a little more time, that's all she needed. Kai let out a long sigh, momentarily blowing her bangs out of her face as she lent her head back on the wall in thought, watching the ceiling of the cell as if it would give her any answers.

It didn't.

The ex-Officer sighed, a bit louder this time before closing her eyes, she could at least get some rest, to be well prepared for anything that was to come down on her. A moment had barely past when she heard a commotion outside her cell, she leaned her head forward to strain to hear what sounded like frantic commands. She was about to stand  to get within better earshot when a thunderous moan of metal being crushed stopped her in her tracks. The whole airship shook with a mighty force launching Kai forward, tumbling into the opposite wall. She grunted against the impact but before she could react she was sent sliding back to her original spot. This time she laid there for a moment, half expecting to be sent flying back over but this time it was still. She slowly got up, a loud constant alarm was now blasting throughout the ship. It was obvious they were under attack. Her eyes scanned the damage of her cell, noting the door that held her was now bent considerably.

Kai waited for a moment, her mind raced for all the options she could have, the ship being under attack was exactly what she needed. The l'Cie quickly bit hard on her lip, now deciding what had to be done to get over her first hurtle. The Handcuffs. She was taught how to do this in training if the situation came up, it was preparing herself for what it was she was about to do, was the hard part. She braced herself up against the cell wall, the biting of her lip only got worse as she exerted pressure onto her shoulder, which quickly began to protest at the angle it was being forced. Using her feet to steady her it wasn't long before there was a distinctive pop, leaving Kai with a gasp of pain and breathlessness. "...damn"  she breathed, sauntering away from the wall now to finish her task, now with her shoulder out of socket she used the awkward angle to her advantage, getting one leg, then the next over. Every movement now had a horrible pain that followed but with the commotion going on she found it easy to ignore. Now having the handcuffs in front of her, and with her best attempt not to move her shoulder too much she smashed them on the floor. The electronic handcuffs buzzed for a moment before she was able to pull out of them, her good hand quickly going to her shoulder. She'd have to assess the damage later.

Taking no time to pry the busted door open enough, she slipped through without a problem and now into the deep red flashing hallway. The loud alarm was becoming more dull as she got used to it, setting a brisk pace to find where her gun had been stored. It didn't take her long, she knew these ships well enough to find where it was and not wasting a moment to hold it up with her good arm, moving up to rest on her usable shoulder. After she adjusted to make moving easier she left the small room, only to bump into someone else, making her shoulder sing from the pain. Expecting a soldier from PSICOM, though all expression dropped when her eyes focused. "I-its you.."

Throughout her excursion into the ship, Vericity could still hear the metal creaking every so often between the blaring alarms of the vessel. She knew her Eidolon was making an effort to keep the ship aloft, keep whomever was needed alive until they could leave. Gripping her gunblade a little tighter, she pressed herself up against a wall. She exhaled slowly, turning to look out from behind the corner to see if anyone was there, trying to search for the intrusion on the ship. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed three PSICOM soldiers going back and forth what actions should be taken. It didn’t seem like they had noticed her peering from around the corner, a small smirk crossing her lips. Rounding the corner quickly, she sprang into action.

The l’Cie fired a bullet at one of the PSICOM soldiers, mostly to get their attention as she ran at them. She knew her gun wouldn’t be able to penetrate their armor at this distance, but closer her blade or maybe her bow and arrows could do more damage. Before they could fire their own rounds, Vericity tossed down her gunblade behind her and switched to her bow. Snapping her fingers, she activated her anti-gravity mech once again. Despite the very limited space she was currently fighting in, and more used to fighting in more open areas, she jumped up to perform a backflip to narrowly dodge the bullets being fired at her. Her mech slowing her down somewhat, she was able to dock an arrow and let it soar into one of the PSICOM soldier’s helmet’s eye sockets. She landed in a kneeling position, putting her bow back on her back to only grab her gunblade again. She flipped a switch on it, the weapon switching to a blade. She gave another hint of a smile; one of the other PSICOM soldiers was ordered to go and get back-up. One less to worry about, for the moment. She’d had to catch the other to figure out the other l’Cie’s location.

Gripping her gunblade tightly, she stood back up, staring back at the other PSICOM soldier. He had his gun trained on her, his finger on the trigger. She made a small ‘tch’ sound, running forward at the soldier as he pulled the trigger. Vericity made an attempt to dodge, swearing when she felt the hot bullet cut her sleeve and graze her arm. Shaking her head, she ran past the PSICOM soldier, the two of them making momentary eye contact. Before the soldier could turn, she held the tip of her blade against his back. Quickly she switched the weapon back into its gun form, bringing the gun to the soldier’s head. She pulled the trigger with almost no hesitation, the man slumping to the floor. Turning back around, she ran after the other man.

He didn’t get too far, now stuck against a door that must have sealed itself when Valkor slammed into the ship. She held her gun up as he did, staring him down. ”I’m not looking to kill. Just tell me where the l’Cie you have captive is and you’ll be able to go home to whatever family you have.” She called over the alarms, her finger still on the trigger. She could tell the PSICOM officer was glaring at her, and she wasn’t surprised. “She… we have her kept in one of the cells, that way.” He pointed with his gun. Vericity gave a small nod, slowly walking towards the officer. The grip on the man’s gun tightened and she chuckled slightly. ”Don’t worry. I should be able to keep my promise.” Without any other warning, she hit the man with the blunt of her weapon, taking his much heavier gun in the confusion to repeat the action to his head. He slumped to the floor, unconscious. ”Assuming this ship doesn’t have a crash landing…” She muttered, turning to run in the direction she was told the cells were in. Looking around, she slowed down slightly when she came to a doorway. She planned to look into it, but instead she just bumped into someone. Vericity was about to jump into action, but it was just who she was looking for.

”Ah, good. You already got out.” She nodded; the ex-officer must have gotten out of her cell when Valkor crashed into the ship. Pursing her lips, she looked at the other female. ”Look, I know this is…probably kind of awkward and strange, but my branch got a report of a l’Cie captured in…” She puffed out her cheeks slightly. ”Never mind.” She turned back around, heading in the way she came from. ”I’ll explain later! Right now, we need to get you off of this ship and fast. If you come with Commander Dreygon and I, you’ll have a safe spot with us in our branch.” Vericity put her hand up to her ear, pressing a small button on the communicator there. ”Uriah, I found Remaleen. Meet us back where we came into the ship.” She paused as she heard a brief scuffle, a few gunshots from the other side. ”Got it! I’ll be right there!” Vericity shook her head slightly, glancing back at the other female. ”You comin’?”

Kai adjusted her gun, tightly gripping it when she recognized the other woman, she was weary for a moment considering how she was captured only an hour or two before. She relaxed after she listened to the other l'Cie, though her eyebrows came to a cross. "..I..alright Sarg lets get out of here." she looked up with a stern nod, quickly following behind the woman, it was going to be hard to aim her gun, considering how her shoulder was out of place. Even with this added l'Cie stamina she was suppose to have it still was hard to exert the extra force needed to keep up and carry her heavy weapon. Suddenly the alarm changed to a different pitch, causing Kai to glance up, she had to drop her gun in order to reach out and grab the other woman's wrist, quickly pulling her back in time as a large steel door fell into place in front of them.

"I knew it." the l'Cie breathed, wincing for a moment before she bent down to pick up her gun again, looking back at the Sergeant. "These ships.." she breathed, looking at the woman then back at the door, gripping her gun out of irritation "are timed to shut down if it's being attacked if a code isn't set in." She pushed herself forward to one of the control panels along the walls, clicking a few buttons to pull up a screen. "it's PSICOM's easy way to insure nothing Pulse and the threat it carries gets away" she paused and furrowed her eyebrows and glanced back "I..ah..no offence, I mean I'm in the same boat so..ah." fumbling over her words she looked back towards the screen the last thing she needed was to piss off her rescuer. Setting her gun against the wall, focusing on the numbers going across the thin screen. "If I can break the security mainframe...so long as they haven't changed it since my departure..if I can override the lock down system with the release code..it'll open these fire doors." she paused to read the numbers coming up on the screen, before filling in the next few lines "If not then the ship will go through its procedure..and well, the ship explodes from the inside out." she continued to click certain buttons as the screen changed several time before it finally flashed Rejected Code repeatedly. Kai winced, squeezing her hand open and closed to keep the blood flow before going back to the screen.

Her eye twitched suddenly at the thought of failure, she was captured, her one arm left useless for the time being and now she couldn't even get them out because of a simple code. Whatever reason this woman had for saving her Kai was sure she was doubting it now. She gritted her teeth, quickly snatching the gun from its leaning position, using what strength she had she lifted and fired repeatedly at the small computer until it sparked and blinked. A whole round wasted and she stood in silence not exactly looking forward to the look she was sure she was getting when the damaged computer made a distant 'ding' and the doors flew up. Kai stood straight up, hoisting the gun back onto her good shoulder before looking back at the other l'Cie "After you, Sarg." she nodded forward, having a small moment of confidence.