While Teams Dark and Red train, on the vessel hidden behind Avalice's moon, the captain plans his next move. Since the death of his broodlings the night before, he has not been idle: on the contrary, he has been very busy cultivating a new breed of Black Arm, one that he has been working on for several decades. Derived from the design of the Black Assassins, his creations are leaner, faster, and armed from birth with bone blades that protrude between their fingers. The process of creation is not smooth however: despite the number of years spent trying to refine and improve the process, yields are still disappointingly low.
These difficulties do not prevent him producing six of his Black Elites.
The captain surveys his newest broodlings with pride, satisfied that they are ready for their assignment. "My children, you have been bred for a very important mission. I have learnt of the presence of some items of special interest on the planet below. Not only that, but our mortal enemy is also on that planet. Therefore, you will be divided into two teams. One team will retrieve a collection of powerful gemstones for me, and the other will eradicate the only one who can stop us."
"We will not fail you, master," the Elites chorus obediently.
"Be sure that you don't."
As the morning ends, Teams Dark and Red rest in the den of the lakeside house, weary from the morning's intense training. The only exceptions are Omega, who remains outside as his bulk prevents him passing through the front door, and Hanna, who's just finished in the shower.
"Ah, that's much better," the vixen sighs contentedly as she pads into the den, wearing only a spare bathrobe. "Is my spare set of clothes still here?"
"Three sets in the spare room, as always," Maria assures.
"Thanks." Hanna disappears into the spare room, returning a few minutes later dry and in a fresh outfit. "I've been thinking," she announces. "We know of the two groups of Black Arms that attacked us all, but what if they're not the only groups?"
"There's been nothing on the news," Tai informs, turning off the TV.
"It was a scouting force," Shadow reveals.
"How did you work that out?" Hanna asks.
"The Black Arms share a hive‑mind, which I was able to connect to briefly," Shadow explains. "The only groups were the ones that attacked us, and they were sent to scope out the planet's defences."
"So, we can assume they know about the Elemental Crystals, then," Hanna concludes.
"That is an unfortunate consequence of my DNA," Shadow confirms.
Hanna curses under her breath. "We may have wasted too much time already."
"There's not much we can do," Rouge reminds. "Not unless you've got a spaceship hidden in that massive tail of yours," she adds cheekily.
"We could find where these aliens landed, see what we can dig up," Hanna suggests, ignoring the slight.
"The let's go," Shadow decides, standing and heading for the door.
"After lunch," Hanna decides, heading for the kitchen.
"I'm not waiting," Shadow informs, closing the door behind him.
"Guess I'm getting lunch on the go then," Hanna sighs, following Shadow out the door.
"You not going with them?" Tai asks Rouge. "I would, but I'm kinda occupied," she adds, referring to the fact that Maria has fallen asleep in her lap, and is purring gently.
"This is going to sound bad, but I can't stand that vixen," Rouge explains. "I've never met anyone so annoyingly arrogant."
"I heard that!" Hanna calls from outside.
As Shadow, Hanna, and Omega depart Jade Creek, two small dropships emerge from the vessel hidden behind the moon, and track a familiar arc to the planet's surface. Once again, the orbital Coalition patrol detects them, but again, their suspicions remain slight enough that the dropships are simply tracked. The only difference is the citizens of Avalice don't notice the streaks of light in skies of either bright azure or grey cloud.
The dropships land a long way from the major population centres: one in Rage Ravine, and the other in Jade Creek.
"Cookie!" Maria cries, waking suddenly. A moment later, she realises both Rouge and Tai are looking at her oddly. "Sorry," she apologises. "That happens sometimes when I wake suddenly. No idea why."
"I think it's adorable," Tai smiles.
"How long was I out?" Maria asks, blushing.
"About twenty minutes," Tai answers. "What woke you up?"
"Did you not hear something crash in the woods?" Maria asks.
"Not with these little ears, sadly," Tai explains.
"I didn't hear anything either," Rouge confirms.
"How?" Maria asks in disbelief. "Your ears are bigger than mine!"
"Only just," Tai teases Maria.
"I didn't hear anything," Rouge reaffirms, ignoring Maria's unintentional slight.
"Maybe you imagined it?" Tai suggests.
Maria thinks a moment. "I've never made a mistake before…"
"There's always a first time," Tai smiles, scratching lightly behind Maria's ears.
Maria makes to respond to Tai, but the pleasant scratching distracts her enough that she forgets what she was going to say. "You're evil," she purrs contentedly, settling into Tai's lap again.
"Tell you what: I'll have a scout around, see if I spot anything," Rouge volunteers as she stands and heads for the door.
"Sure," Maria purrs, though she's not really paying attention anymore.
Rouge heads outside and takes to the air, allowing herself a little smile of amusement. I'm sure they won't mind if I take a few hours.
Two hours later, Hanna arrives at home, Shadow and Omega close behind. Before the Mobians can object, Hanna parks, enters the house, then exits a few minutes later armed with her black steel heavyweight nunchaku hanging on her hips in lieu of her usual red oak pair, Rob's black steel sai sheathed on her back in a custom double baldric, and as many shuriken as she can carry on her belt.
"Are you expecting trouble?" Shadow asks.
"Always pays to be prepared," Hanna explains as she remounts her ATV. "They came from that direction," she continues, pointing in the direction the Black Arms approached her house from the night before. "We would have investigated last night if it wasn't for Rob's injury."
"Coincidentally, that's also the direction we approached your house from," Shadow recalls.
++I am detecting a faint heat signature approximately 5.726925866 miles in that direction,++ Omega informs.
"If only you could be more specific," Hanna comments sarcastically. "Come on. And this time, do try to keep up," she adds, speeding off before Shadow or Omega can reply.
"It's a good thing she's a supremely talented fighter," Shadow comments. "It's the only thing that makes working with her tolerable."
++I like her,++ Omega opines.
"Only because she's a one‑woman assault squad," Shadow quips.
++I don't see the problem with that,++ Omega replies.
"I'm not surprised. Come on."
Meanwhile, Rouge has found something of interest among the trees. Maria did hear something after all. At first, caution stays her hand, and she flies over the site several times, trying to locate any potential threats. After a full ten minutes, she's satisfied that there's no immediate risk, and she slowly drops into the crater formed when the dropship crashed into the trees.
On the ground, Rouge takes a close look at the dropship itself. Interesting… Maybe big enough for three? Or just two? Either way, it makes no sense. Why send such a small force? Especially as they sent a horde before.
Confused, Rouge searches the crater for any signs of which way the Black Arms went. However, luck is not on her side, and she finds no clues. Unwilling to guess, Rouge decides to investigate the dropship itself in more detail.
With caution, Rouge approaches the open side of the dropship, and gingerly steps inside. The stench is unmistakeable. And from the design in here, there were three on board, but they're not normal Black Warriors or Assassins: they're too small.
Rouge activates her communicator. "Rouge to Shadow."
"Shadow here," Shadow replies a moment later, his voice slightly distorted by the radio. "What have you found?"
"A Black Arms dropship," Rouge answers. "It had three on board, but they were all too small to be Warriors or Assassins."
"Any more clues?" Shadow asks.
"Not yet," Rouge replies. "I'll keep looking."
Rouge deactivates her communicator, and turns her attention back to the dropship interior. However, her next step into the dropship proves to be a mistake: the door slams shut, trapping her inside.
Plunged into absolute darkness, Rouge feels panic rising inside her. Once the surprise has passed however, rationality reasserts itself. OK, think this one through. You're trapped in total darkness inside a tiny Black Arms dropship, possibly with limited air, and no food or water. Doesn't mean it's a hopeless situation.
Rouge activates her communicator. "Shadow?"
There's no answer.
No signal? "Commander Tower?"
Still no answer.
Rouge checks the status readout, confirming there's no signal. "Yep, I'm screwed."
Ten minutes later, Hanna, Shadow, and Omega arrive at the landing site of the horde that attacked the Skarlett house. What they expected to see was a series of dropships that carried the horde. What they didn't expect to see is an extra dropship, still smoking from the heat of atmospheric entry.
Hanna parks at the edge of the small clearing created by the dropships, kills the engine, then walks up to the smoking dropship. "Do you think this is like the one Rouge found?"
"Possible," Shadow agrees as he halts beside the vixen. "Based on her report, this looks the right size for three smaller than average Black Arms."
"The question is, why is the second attack wave much smaller than the first?" Hanna continues, her experience and training raising all sorts of suspicions in her mind.
++Can I burn these dropships now?++ Omega asks.
"Easy, tin pyro," Hanna replies. "Let the adults do what they need to first," she adds, reaching out to touch the dropship.
Shadow snatches Hanna's hand away from the dropship. "Don't touch it!"
"Let go of my arm, or lose yours," Hanna growls.
"Don't threaten me," Shadow growls back.
Hanna wrenches her arm out of Shadow's grip. "Next time, I won't give you a choice."
"You're impossible, you know that?"
"Cry me a river."
"Would it hurt to be less of a bitch for a few minutes?"
Hanna is about to turn on Shadow, but a noise catches her attention. Training and instinct kick in with full force. "Silence."
"You have no‑" Shadow begins.
"Shut up!" Hanna snarls.
Shadow holds his tongue.
Ears twitching at every slight sound, Hanna scans the edge of the clearing, her normally vibrant cyan eyes cold as steel. "We're surrounded," she whispers.
"By‑" Shadow begins
Hanna clamps her hand to Shadow's mouth. "Silence!" she hisses, then points to her ears, her eyes, then the trees.
Shadow knocks Hanna's hand away, wisely remaining silent as he turns his attention to the trees.
A noise. Hanna's ears twitch towards the sound, the vixen directing her gaze in that direction an instant later. She spots something: with surprising silent swiftness, she darts into the trees, leaving Shadow and Omega in the clearing. Shadow tries to keep track of where Hanna's going, but soon loses her as she disappears into the undergrowth.
++She is being lured away,++ Omega concludes, keeping his synthesised voice as quiet as possible.
"Leaving us exposed," Shadow agrees. "Stay alert."