"One Sovereign and three Beasts. Sounds easy enough. We count any casualties yet, Uri?" Isha’s voice broke through the silence of the Aurelight hold as they cut through the air.
Uriel, who had been wordlessly staring at their glyph, would look up and nod. "We have confirmed that two Hunters are KIA, and another is MIA. These Mystborne have also taken the lives of twelve civilians." Though their tone was as flat as ever, Jayde was sure he’d heard a tinge of regret in their tone. Or he was just projecting. That distorter made it almost impossible to read their leaders tone. "Thus, we must approach this mission with more caution than usual." Their tone was pointed, and it was quite clear who they were speaking at. Isha and Jayde turned their heads to look at their larger teammate.
King, for his part, was reading a book on Vaelstronian poetry, one Jayde himself had recommended to the walking mountain. He blinked and looked up, clearly not having heard a word of what had been said around and to him. “I’m sorry, what? Why are you staring at me?”
Uriel shook their head, disappointed, while Isha merely chuckled “You need to pay more attention during missions, K, or you’re gonna give Uri another aneurism~”
King blinked, then looked to seemingly ever passive Uriel and blushed before shutting the book in his hand. “Sorry, Uriel…”
“No apology necessary, King. I was simply going over the mission prerogatives-"
“And being passive aggressive~” Jayde chimed in teasingly. Isha snickered.
Uriel ignored the provocation and continued their thought, “-and how important it is for us to exercise more caution during this particular mission.”
“Right!” King shouted, sitting up straight and banging his head against the roof of the Aurelight. He cringed and immediately lowered his head “Ugh. I mean, I’ll keep my cool, Uri, no need to worry.”
Jayde could see Uriel visibly slacken, but he was doubly sure that they were still making contingency plan upon contingency plan in case King went berserk. They did not fancy a replay of last time, and Jayde found himself touching the jagged scar along his left arm. It was pure luck that had gotten them through last time, and Jayde was certain none of them had any to spare. Still, the giant lug was their teammate and friend. They wouldn’t let him down. Jayde clenched his fist before nodding to himself.
Isha, probably hating the tense atmosphere they seemed to have generated, let out a loud groan. “Why do you have to be so uptight all the time, Uri?” she quipped.
Jayde smirked. “I’m inclined to agree, cap’n. Feels like you’ve been ridin’ us a lot harder lately.”
Uriel remained stoic under their teammates’ words, showing no reaction to their deliberate provocation. “I am simply assuring that we all remain breathing during our mission. It is an important milestone for all of us, after all.”
“Of cooourse, Uri~” Isha readily agreed, though the glint in her eyes told Jayde all he needed to know. This wouldn’t end there, and right on cue, “Buuut~”
Leaving Isha to her antics, Jayde closed his eyes and leaned himself back against the uncomfortable seats of the Aurelight, memories of his time before team Kaiju invaded his mind, and Jayde found himself willing to indulge.
Jayde was twelve years old when he saw that flare go off. The flare that changed the entire course of his life, little did he know it at the time and little did he care. For what followed was the startled cry of a baby. Jayde didn't take too long to pinpoint where the flare originated in the crowded market. Following the smoke climbing to the sky, Jayde’s eyes landed on the boy wearing a coat that was probably worth more than the building Jayde lived in.
And of course, the crowd that had parted to dodge out of the way of the flare was a dead giveaway too. Luckily, the flare itself had died out before reaching the cart carrying the baby.
“Don’t worry, everyone~” came the voice of the young boy who’d shot off the flare “This was just a safety drill conducted by Vane Industries. As you were.” The tone was mocking, and what followed the words was a mocking laughter that grated on the last thread of patience Jayde had.
Before he knew it, Jayde was in front of the boy, fist flying straight at his face. The spoiled brat had no time to dodge, catching the straight with his grinning teeth, before falling to the ground. His expression had morphed from one of joy to shock. Meanwhile, Jayde stood over the boy, glaring down at him, but before he could say anything, the boy would start scrambling to his feet in a hurry to recover from his humiliation. And he didn't do so silently.
“Y-You! What d-do you think you're do-doing?” he demanded, finally finding his footing and standing back up, “Do you know who I am?”
“No, and I don't care who y'are!” Jayde replied in a beat, “Y'almost burnt a baby, ya maniac!”
“I'm Callisto Vale, you street rat!” Cal continued without a concern for what the other boy had said, “And stop overreacting, you people always overreact!” Callisto smirked at Jayde, who felt his patience give way once again, “Nobody was hu-” Callisto didn't have the time to finish his thought, as another fist connected with his jaw. He then opened his eyes again to see Jayde standing over him, eyes burning but with a self-satisfied grin on his face, and Cal couldn't let that filthy street rat get away with it.
In the next moment Callisto had gathered himself enough to sit up, and then with very little warning tackled Jayde down to the ground, attempting to throw a punch at the boy and with Jayde caught by surprise he had little time to react and took the blow directly. Thus, the two boys ended up on the dirty streets of a random Vaelstronian marketplace, throwing dirty punches and kicks until an officer of the law decided it was time to separate them. Both Jayde and Cal returned home covered in blood and bruises, and both relieved that they'd never see each other ever again.
Neither knew how truly inaccurate that statement would be.
“All right, everyone, it’s time for deployment. Make sure your Flux is at capacity. We are several klicks off of our targets however, I advise you to expect contact upon touchdown,” Uriel's matter-of-fact tone broke Jayde from his musings and brought him crashing to the present “I don’t want a reenactment of midterm.”
“That shit the teachers pulled was bull, and you know it, Uri!” Isha protested, though she did so while doing as she was told. Even she didn’t want to relive that embarrassing failure, especially when death was at stake in place of a poor grade. Jayde and King did the same. Not a moment too soon as the hangar door cracked open, showing them the open deserts of the drylands that made up the majority of Hofliede.
Uriel was already standing at the edge. They would be the last to jump.
King would be the first to jump, and he did so with little ceremony. The giant simply stood up and ran towards the exit, uncaring about the multi-story drop that lay ahead of him. Isha was right behind him, her wings unfurling alongside the shout of joy that left her lips as she jumped out into the ever-present heat of the Hofliedian desert. And then there were two.
Jayde stood, taking a moment to stretch and prepare himself for the physical labor that was to follow. Then, he took a confident step towards the hangar exit, about to build momentum for his descent, only to stop in his tracks as his captain blocked his path with their body. Jayde just managed to stop himself colliding with his partner. “Something wrong, cap'n?” For what felt like an eternity, all Uriel did was stare into his eyes, with the black voids that were in place of theirs'. Jayde could imagine the inquiry that burned in their golden eyes beneath the mask. Yet, Jayde knew he had to play the fool. “My Flux is at capacity, if that’s what yer worried ‘bout?”
That seemed to break Uriel from their silence, “You know it is not, Jayde.” They declared, their distorted voice struggling to portray the tender emotions they were no doubt feeling, “You are distracted. Talk to me.” It was just as much an order as it was a sincere request from a friend.
Jayde honestly hated how direct Uriel could be when the mask was on. It grated on his nerves how they could get to the point without falling for his misdirects. It also irritated him how he couldn’t get angry at them because of how they handled it all. All he could do in the moment was sigh, “Ya getting too good at readin’ me, Uri. Just got some news from back home-” He shook his head, “But right now we got a mission, ain’t that the priority?”
Jayde knew that he had succeeded when no immediate reply came from his team leader. Instead, they would stare at him for a moment and then step out of the way. Though as he passed by them, “We will be speaking about this once the hunt is done. Stay on target, BiXiao.”
Oh, they were pissed.
“As you wish, cap'n. Just lose the mask,” Jayde spoke while approaching the edge and drawing his Zhou’Yin, “Ya know I can’t take ya seriously with that on!” Jayde didn’t dare stay for a reply, throwing himself out of the Aurelight hangar immediately after. Thus, he entered free fall with his giant scissor blade in hand.
Jayde dove, eyes locked on the pulsing marker in his HUD. The wind clawed at his jacket as he dropped. King and Isha were no doubt already down there, King probably brushing off the fall with that absurd physiology of his, and Isha gliding herself to safety with her wings. Jayde angled his body and threaded through the air, tightening his core as pressure built around him. A spark of electromagnetism leapt from his boots to Zhou’Yin, snapping his feet to the scissor blade with a clean, metallic bite.
The HUD chirped: OPTIMUM DESCENT POINT.
He hit it.
Jayde thumbed the hover-switch, the blade humming alive beneath him as its stabilizers engaged. Air Myst surged beneath his feet, and he released it in measured bursts. Each blast kicked against the wind, slowing his fall and nudging his trajectory into a controlled slide. He could feel the heat shimmering off the dunes as he closed in, sand curling in the downdraft from his hover. The last of his speed bled off in a smooth glide, Jayde riding the drop with no wasted motions. He focused his eyes on King and Isha, who were waiting.
“Took you long enough, barnacle breath!” Isha shouted the moment she was sure he was within earshot.
“You sure took your sweet time there, Jayde!” King joined the ribbing, though Jayde could tell that he meant no ill will. He could never say the same about Isha, though.
Jayde laughed as he took his place next to them, disabling the hover feature and returning Zhou’Yin to its place on his back. “Uriel just wanted a word. You know how they get.”
Isha’s face scrunched in sympathy, having been on the end of Uriel's concern one too many times herself, while King narrowed his eyes, concern filling the red orbs as he looked to Jayde. “Are you OK, Jayde?” he asked, a frown growing on his hardened features.
“I’m fine, King, keep ya head in the game. We got a Sovereign class to hunt, ya know what that means, right?”
That put King back into silent mode. He had the most to worry about afterall, if the Sovereign caught hold of him, that would spell doom for this side of the continent. Jayde could feel Isha’s glare on him, but paid it no mind as he stared up into the clouds at the descending figure of their Leader.
“We really need to get ‘em a faster way down, the parachutes are startin’ to piss me off…” Not all of them were crazy enough to throw themselves out of an Aurelight hovering several hundred feet in the air.