Kazumi's first mission, with the 1st Unit's Squad Captain nonetheless, involves an Ogretail.

An… Ogretail.

Kazumi could admit he deflated at that.

"Now, now, none of that," Lindow (he strongly suggested to call him just by his name) laughs, patting Kazumi on the shoulder upon seeing the look on the younger God Eater's face. Kazumi looks up at Lindow, pouting like a child. "I have to remind you that you're still a rookie, not even wet behind the ears, so you naturally start at the bottom, and work your way up. While I did say you're good, I won't needlessly throw you to the sharks without an ounce of actual experience." Lindow explains patiently, and Kazumi realizes the sense in that, and nods, wanting to smack himself for his own stupidity.

"So, from bottom rung, then?"

"Bottom rung," Lindow agrees with a smile, before turning to Hibari who was watching the exchange with patience and a smile. "Well, we clear to go now?"

Hibari nodded. "Prepare your supplies, God Arcs, and head out to the Docking Bay. Use the one the 1st Unit usually uses, Lindow-san."

"Will do," And without further ado, Lindow leaves for the Hangar, where the God Arcs are usually kept safe. Kazumi eagerly dogs after the elder's steps, excited to see the man's God Arc – a veteran must have such a badass God Arc, right? "I see you grinning there, don't get too excited now."

"I can't help it." Kazumi replies simply. It's true.

"Well, tried no to get too carried away. Might muddle your thoughts quite a bit. Oh, there you are," And Kazumi could only gape in awe of the man's God Arc. It was a beast, a large red God Arc that seems to be a cross between a Long Blade and a chainsaw of all things and wow. Just… wow. Lindow handles it with deceptive ease, using just a hand to maneuver it with extremely deftness and Kazumi might just the slightest bit drooling. Wow. "No drooling now." Lindow laughs.

Kazumi shamelessly stared some more. "Can't help it."

Lindow shoulders his God Arc, grinning amusedly at the younger as he leads them to the Docking Bay. "You're like a kid with a candy, you know that?"

"Yup," Kazumi would touch the Squad Captain's God Arc if it wouldn't kill him. It's just so… badass. "I know."

Lindow laughs a little more, before the two of them settles in two comfortable silence. Lindow leads wordlessly, and Kazumi follows, looking around and carefully committing the paths and landmarks to memory so he could go exploring when he has free time and get a better feel of the Den's entirety. It wouldn't do if he got lost on the way to an important mission report or summons.

The Docking Bay is huge, Kazumi first thought, the moment the two God Eaters entered. Vehicles of various sort occupy most of the place, from land transportations, to aircrafts ranging from big to very big. It's amazing.

Kazumi hears a pained whine from somewhere to his left, and he turns to seek out the sound, curious, only to stop. Dread fills him as he sees a man, older than him and sporting a ton of scars, and he's missing his leg. He's missing his damn leg and he's losing a lot of blood as he's carted off on a gurney and-

"Hey," Kazumi jerks almost violently, flinching away from the hand that settles on his shoulders, and when he realizes it was just Lindow, he works to calm down, clutching the haft of his Scythe close to him, knuckles white from the force of his grip. "… First time, that?"

Kazumi could only offer a shaky smile, "Y-yes, it's so… um, overwhelming." He answers. He concentrates on slowing his erratic breathing, heart pounding inside his chest. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Lindow chastises not unkindly, nudging the side of Kazumi's head with the back of his hand. "Make sure that you don't end up like that, okay?"

Kazumi nods fervently. "Yes, sir." He says firmly, swallowing. Don't end up like that, don't end up like that, don't end up like that, don't end up like that. He could do that.

"That's a good kid. Now," Lindow raises a hand towards one of the techs, gesturing, and when the man nods and moves over to a heavy armored car, Lindow tips his head in the direction of the vehicle. "Shall we?"


The area (ironically) dubbed as City of Mercy is a sight to behold; both horrible and beautiful as it lay in ruins, infested with Aragami and devoid of human life. It seems silent, but a careful scan of the place shows that there are faint sounds coming from Aragami, shrieks and roars and other noises caused by the beasts.

Kazumi and Lindow have been dropped off to a spot far away from the center of the City of Mercy – the central area identified by the dilapidated church – and Kazumi is currently tracking the Ogretail he is sent to eliminate. Lindow is hanging back, God Arc at the ready but only when Kazumi absolutely can't handle the mission. Lindow is a safety net, one could say, his only purpose to make sure the rookie comes back alive and in one piece.

Kazumi, for the most part, ignores Lindow, focusing on his surroundings, on the sounds, on what he's seeing. His holds his God Arc loosely by his side, but he had trained himself to react quickly, going from relaxed to tense in a mere blink of an eye. He should trust himself and his God Arc; his only weapons and his only chance at surviving against Aragami.

Ah, but it's not necessary to engage Aragami always, isn't it?

Squad Captain Lindow's Three Four rules; don't die. Get Out. Hide. And lastly, if given the chance, eliminate threat without remorse.

Kazumi could very much work with that.

A low thumping registers in Kazumi's ears, and he pauses, immediately ducking behind a fallen pillar. He lowers himself, pressing his ear against the ground, and he could hear it better. Footsteps. Not too heavy, and the pattern has a very small pause in between. Small Aragami, and this must be their quarry.

Kazumi gets up to his feet, and carefully peeks out from the pillar. Nothing in his immediate field of vision, he has to move. Risk himself in open space, to draw out the target, or keep the element of surprise?

Target's information. Ogretail, regular variant. Pack-Aragami, but often loners would be found. Danger level depends on number present at mission. Intelligence, low. Aggression, above average. Limited in unique attacks. Core size; small. Parts would be decent… Hmm, hmm.

Kazumi ought to take it by surprise. Who knows what he would attract instead?

Kazumi looks around of himself, notes the ruined buildings, the abundance of cover both for himself and the Aragami he's ordered to take out. He should be careful in where he puts his foot as well, there's no telling if the old structures would hold up to his weight. Not that he even weighed anything.

Kazumi catches Lindow's eyes and points at himself, before gesturing to the buildings, at their roofs. Lindow's expression is unreadable, but he nods, giving his consent, and Kazumi wastes no time, dashing towards a building north of where he is and leaping up, easily clearing twenty feet and landing on (thankfully) sturdy concrete roofing. Kazumi ducks low, one hand braced on the roof beneath him and his other arm holding his God Arc low and close. He has a wonderful vantage point from where he was, and he spots the familiar tail slipping behind a cluster of small houses. Kazumi moves, looking for Lindow, and when he finds the older God Eater, he makes the gesture for 'pursuing target' (something taught to him by the man himself on their way to the drop-off point) and when Lindow responds with a confirmation, Kazumi gets a running start and launches himself off the roof, landing on the next building and crunching the concrete beneath his feet in the process. He jumps again – he's almost close to where the target is last spotted – and readies his God Arc.

His next jump puts him immediately above the Aragami – the Ogretail still unaware of his presence – and Kazumi twists, bring the Scythe down and lengthening the reach as well. The Ogretail is cleaved in two with no chance to fight back at all, and Kazumi lands on his feet, the Scythe's blades reconnecting into one. Kazumi turns towards the corpse that is trying to stitch itself back together, and releases the Predator, who immediately bites off the Aragami's core and returning to Kazumi.

Kazumi breathes deeply, before a big, pleased grin over takes his face. "Uwah, I did it!" He cheers, not so loud in case of stragglers. He pulls his God Arc back, before releasing his Preadator once more, biting off parts that he could use (maybe). When that's done, he lopes off, searching for Lindow.

Said man drops from a building to land a few paces before Kazumi, and he grins, shouldering his God Arc, and giving Lindow a peace-sign. "Mission, complete!" Kazumi sing-songs, pleased that it didn't go without a hitch.

Lindow nods, smiling as well. "So it seems. I've already sent for extraction, so let's make our way to the extraction point, shall we?"

"Yeah!"

Lindow leads them once more, and Kazumi happily follows along. The two are still on alert, God Arc ready by their sides despite their aimless chatting, and eyes constantly looking around. Thankfully, nothing happened, and they reached the extraction point, their transport already there and ready to take them back. They leave with no issue, and Lindow turns to Kazumi, who notices the man's focus on him and in response, Kazumi straightens where he's sitting, focused on Lindow as well.

"Well, assessment, assessment… Hm, where to start." Lindow taps a rhythm against the side of his God Arc idly. "To be honest, since it's your first mission, and a very easy one at that, there's not much to take note of. Actually, I have nothing to take note, considering you did extremely well for your first time in the field. Zero hesitance, a hundred percent presence of mind, zero carelessness or sloppiness… All in all, one could say you did perfect."

Kazumi is pleased with himself. He did well!

"And so, I'll see if I could get a hold of my other squad members, take you to missions with them to see how well you'd mesh with the others." Lindow pulls out a cigarette and a lighter, popping the former into his mouth and lighting the latter. He takes a healthy drag of it, before letting it billow from his mouth like a dragon. "You're joining the 1st Unit from now on, and its members rely on each other for anything." Lindow pauses, before chuckling. "Except for underwear."

Kazumi chuckles at that. "Understood, Captain." He answers. "May I ask who the others are? Wasn't able to look it up after my medical and physical."

Lindow leans back more comfortably against where he's sitting, grinning over at Kazumi at the mention of his squadmates. "Well, the other two members of 1st Unit is Sakuya Tachibana, a Sniper, and Soma, our youngest as well as a Buster Blader." Lindow hums for a moment. "Sakuya, she's one of the best in the Far East. Reliable back up, much more reliable friend. She also gives me most of her beer to yours truly so yay for me. Soma is… Soma isn't the best one at socializing, but he's the most reliable out of all of us. You could trust him, he'll never break it."

Kazumi claps his hands in delight, eyes and his smile wide. "They sound very cool!" He gushes, giddy at the thought of meeting the other members of the 1st Unit.

"More than cool," Lindow corrects. "Let me tell you about this one time…"

And so the ride back to the Den is spent chatting, jumping from topic to topic, and Kazumi is surprised at himself. This is the fastest he had come to like someone. Lindow isn't bad, that's very much true, but Kazumi is aware that he has a… a thing. Has a thing about personal relations that is nowhere near good or even safe. He has to be careful; he actually, genuinely, really likes Lindow. He might hurt the man if he isn't careful.

Kazumi can admit there's something wrong in his head, but he also likes to think he's not needlessly heartless. He doesn't want to hurt Lindow.

"Well, go work today Kazumi-"

"Kazu." Lindow pauses, blinking curiously at Kazumi, who's smiling a little bit crookedly and with hands wrapped tight around his God Arc's haft. "Call me Kazu, please."

Lindow grins, and he pats Kazumi's shoulder enthusiastically, the two sharing a grin between them. "Well, then, Kazu-kun! I look forward to working with you."

Kazumi nods eagerly, saluting. "I leave myself in your care!"

"That's a good man, now, I want you to rest up in your quarters – 1st Unit's floor is in the 23rd level, by the way, the doors with no name plate are up for use – and prepare for tomorrow, yeah? I'll see to it if I could get you and Sakuya a mission together."

"I'll go with Tachibana-san tomorrow?" Kazumi asks for confirmation, and Lindow nods.

"Soma's leaving for a mission tonight, might be back the day after tomorrow, so yeah, you're going with Sakuya first. Well," Lindow gives him one more pat on the shoulder before moving away, hauling his God Arc over his shoulder. "Good work today!"

Kazumi watches him leave, a smile on his face, before he heads for the R&D. Lindow had ordered him before landing that to head over the R&D immediately, turn over the core as well as the parts his Predator had chomped off in order to have them accounted for and stored in his 'vault'. Apparently, collecting materials from Aragami, as well as keeping salvageable things during a mission would be included in the rewards for a job well done, along with actual FENRIR credits (or commonly referred to as FC). Both are important to the current economy; what use is money when you're in dire need of raw materials.

And since Kazumi's mission is honestly pathetic, his rewards, in turn are pathetic as well. But he's not disappointed, no, rather it gives him even more motivation to work hard, improve himself, live and survive to provide for his family back in the Outer Ghettos.

He happily turns in his God Arc at the Hangar, before doing as Lindow said; resting up at his new quarters.

He greets Hibari on his way to the elevator, the young woman surprised but pleased all the same, and Kazumi even manages a wave at Kota before the younger is whisked away by some woman in freaky purple outfit. Kazumi had laughed at that; Kota looked absolutely terrified.

At any rate, Kazumi is on his way to the 23rd floor, alone until the lift stopped and… And a rather scary look young man enters, a glower on his face which is shadowed by his hood. His Armlet is the same as Lindow's, denoting his status as a First-Gen God Eater. Kazumi could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, and he has to wonder why his danger instincts are going off. Is it because of this guy? Maybe, but Kazumi has to wonder why.

Kazumi just about chokes on his spit when the guy presses the button for the 23rd floor, and to his utter horror – and embarrassment – the guy notices his dilemma, looking over his shoulders to stare right at Kazumi.

(Kazumi tries his best at becoming one with the lift wall. He fails, the poor thing.)

"… Which floor are you heading?" The guy asks, and Kazumi tries not to make an idiot of himself. Well, more than he already had.

"23rd floor, actually!" Good one Kazumi, you're doing well. "Funny that I'm head to where you're heading too, right? Haha!" … Kazumi, you utter nut.

Piercing blue eyes narrowed at Kazumi, and it takes all of his willpower not to cower and hide from it. "You're Private Kazumi Mizushima."

Kazumi's heart just about stopped. "Y-yes. That's me."

The guy's eyes narrows further, a glint in his eye that made Kazumi break out in cold sweat. Luckily for the poor God Eater, the man turns back to stare at the wall in front of him, with a dismissive click of his tongue.

(Kazumi slumps heavily against the wall; heart jackhammering in his chest.)

The elevator dings, signaling they reached their intended floor, and the guy wastes no time in going out, his strides long and heavy. Kazumi hangs back for a moment, just watching and holding his breath, and when the guy enters a room, they accidentally lock eyes, and Kazumi – by reflex – grins and wags his fingers, and he sees the guy frown, and finally disappear.

Kazumi leaves the lift himself, and promptly slumps on all fours, head hanging.

Poor, poor, Kazumi.