April 15th, 2057

"And that's all for today's entertainment my friends. Thank you, have a nice day today out here in The Lost Traveler's Cove. Let's have another good day for the success of Golden Ace! Oh, one more thing before I go, I'll be off on an assignment for a couple of weeks at least, but Aces High radio will still be coming to you at the usual time, we've got some great members of the guild coming in for guest host spots, so keep listening. Alas, that's all for today. I'm Ascher Grey, and remember to stay entertained."

The man named Ascher Grey leaned back in his chair with a hefty sigh of relief as the radio show went off the air. He got up and looked out the window in his studio to take in a deep breath of the fresh air here in the Caribbean. Ascher was 6'3, likely around 240 pounds. The man was fairly brown in skin tone, a very ambiguous brown, though the man himself didn't particularly identify himself by any specifics of what that entailed. He had eyes the color of gold and brown hair. Currently, he was wearing brown pants with a reddish-brown belt, an equally brown vest with a white short-sleeved button-up underneath. He also was wearing brown shoes.

There was a knock on the door to his studio.

"Come in," said Ascher, his voice sounding like it was pumped through a radio filter at all times.

The door opened into the room as a well tanned woman, likely no older than 24, entered the room. Ascher knew her quite well as he'd done many jobs with her before and would likely be doing more with her in the future. To everyone in the group known as Golden Ace, she was known simply as Noire. She was around 5'9 in height, likely around 125 pounds in weight. Her dirty blonde hair went down to about her neck, but no further. Her eyes were also gold in color funnily enough, no relation to Ascher though. Noire was also noted to be… well equipped so to speak in certain areas. Currently, she wore a white zip-up shirt with a navy blue jacket over it, a gold bracelet on her left wrist, a short navy blue skirt with black tights underneath.

"Are you done with all your radio show?" She asked, her voice very much in the contralto range in terms of pitch.

"Yes. I'm all ready to go. Just let me grab my cane." He got up and grabbed an elegant looking dark-stained wood cane, one that didn't look like it was going to be used to help him walk as he fastened it to his belt on the side.

"Right. Let's just head over to the main hall to inform Ace that we're leaving. You know how he likes to keep all that in order."

"Don't we all," said Ascher with a shrug as he and Noire left the studio. The duo made their way out of the building the studio was in. They both walked through the streets of the Cove as they said hello to their fellow guild mates on their way to the main house of Golden Ace.

The building was a quite expansive building, mainly meant for large gatherings, downtime recreation, or taking and signing off on jobs. It paid homage to the old style of Cuban architecture from before the Great War in terms of appearance. Both Ascher and Noire entered to see many people bustling all throughout the main area, either eating or playing games at the many tables on the main floor, there was also a stage at the back wall for any members who might want to perform or for when announcements needed to be made. They both made their way up the stairwell to reach the third floor before walking toward a pair of double doors with a sign above that read, "Ace's Office" The duo opened the doors as they saw the leader of their guild, the man known simply as Ace.

Ace was the one of the founders of Golden Ace, becoming the sole man in charge of the guild following the death of the other founder, the one who represented the Golden half of Golden Ace. He technically runs the entirety of The Lost Traveler's Cove, but then again he was also the one who helped build the place out of the wreckage that was Cuba following the many, MANY battles that took place during the Great War in the Carribean which caused a metric ton of collateral damage, especially to what was formerly Cuba. Admittedly, he's more dedicated to the purposes of the guild rather than the nature of who's running things like laws, which are delegated to others in the guild who switch out every 5 years. It is technically a country, of which the guild constitutes it's entire population.

The guild itself is what could essentially be called a union of thousands of people who are capable of taking on a multitude of for hire jobs, but also operate in independent ways when not gone on jobs. Depending on the nature of a job it can be taken up by simply going to any various job stations across the country. These jobs often require guild members to go out of the country to complete them. Any of these jobs also necessitate a check-in with Ace before leaving so he can keep track of who isn't available. In some cases, a job may be assigned directly to people by Ace if deemed necessary, such as the case of this job.

In terms of appearance, the easiest way to describe Ace was that he seemed to try and replicate the look and sound of an old, long gone wrestler by the name of Hiroshi Tanahashi in his prime. That was intentional, but nobody really knows why. He was wearing a solid white t-shirt and blue jeans. Currently, Ace was seated at his desk which had various papers strewn about it along with various wrestling memorabilia from the early decades of the century that also was present on the walls and bookshelves of the office.

"Hmm?" Ace inquired as he looked up from his paperwork. "Oh, if it isn't Noire and Ascher Grey. Heading off for your mission so soon?" This was a rhetorical question, he needed them to leave as soon as possible.

"This is kind of a time sensitive matter, sir. We don't know what's out there or who else could be going on this Snipe Hunt that Tara LaFleur seems to have put herself as the target of," said Noire with a cold serious anger that neither Ace nor Ascher could properly pin down the source of.

"On that note of others joining this game, we'll need to prepare for additional backup if necessary. Sending Noire and I is an effective solution for smaller groups, but we'll need more numbers should things get too out of our control," said Ascher.

"Don't worry, just give me a call and I'll send backup to whatever location you need them at. For now though, we need to keep this as close to the ground for now. If word gets to Ms. LaFleur that we're coming after her and not just denizens of other worlds… Well I think you understand what that means." Ace leaned back in his chair as both Noire and Ascher grimaced, the implication very clear to them.

"We'll see to it that that outcome doesn't come to fruition sir," said Ascher again. Noire only nodded at this. Ace could only smile in response.

"Good, now go. Any other participants are likely already on their way."

Noir and Ascher nodded as they proceeded to exit the room. They then exited the main house as they began to discuss where they needed to go.

"Mustan Auringon Saari. Somewhere in Scandinavia. I couldn't find any specific details on any map so we need to narrow our search down as much as possible," said Noire.

"Finland."

"Pardon?"

"It's in Finland, or at least near it's shores," said Ascher.

"How do you know that?"

"I happen to have access to something called a computer that can translate words in one language to another," he said sarcastically.

"Don't need the sarcasm, but alright, it's in Finland. Do you happen to have any idea where in Finland?"

"..."

Noire sighed as Ascher had no idea where it was in Finland.

"I guess we'll have to look at a map while we're on the flight there."

Both of them just shrugged as they went on their way to the guild's airport to head to wherever in Finland Mustan Auringon Saari is.

April 17th, 2057

Both Noire and Ascher were currently driving towards the southwest part of Finland in a rental car their flight from the Lost Traveler's Cove to Newark in New Jersey, plus the layover and following flight from Newark to Helsinki had taken up the total day of yesterday and the remainder of the day before that. They were driving towards Turku, the largest city in Southwest Finland, for about an hour. Currently, they were trying to make their way towards the Åland Islands archipelago as they guessed on their flight that their destination was more than likely somewhere there, but they needed to check the islands in this region as well just to be on the safe side. Noire was the one driving at this moment. Well she was driving before something hard managed to collide with the vehicle, launching it hard off the road and into a cliff face about 500 feet away from the road and about 100 feet above the ground at the point of impact.

The car landed hard onto the ground as Ascher and Noire managed to drag themselves out with only minor injuries, mainly from broken glass caused by Ascher smashing the windshield with his cane in order to allow them to get out. Both of them dusted themselves off and inspected to see what hit them. There was just a minor problem, there wasn't anything other than a dent on the car from the side that was hit.

"No sign of anything hitting our car other than that dent. I can only assume that someone is trying to stop us," said Ascher, trying to make a deduction.

"Yeah, from the looks of it, this dent is-AH!" Noire stopped speaking as it sounded like she was in pain. Ascher turned to see that someone else had joined them, two someone elses as a matter of fact. One man and one woman, both looking like they had just chopped Noire on the side of the neck given that Noire was currently kneeling on the ground, clutching her neck in pain. The man was about 5'11 in height, had short brown hair and green eyes, wore a black t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. The woman was a bit shorter, standing at 5'9. She had long white hair tied back into a ponytail and bright blue eyes. She took to wearing a white jacket and skirt with a black shirt and leggings underneath. She took to wearing white boots as well. They both were fair-skinned, both looked fairly similar in terms of facial structure, and both looked like they were in their late 20s.

"Who are you?" That was all Ascher could ask, though he did so with a harsh seriousness to his tone.

"Us? That's not too important. Consider us just people who're playing defense in this game," said the man, his voice baritone in pitch.

"More specifically, we want to win this game. We suggest you turn back," said the woman, her voice high in pitch. Ascher simply grabbed his cane and pointed it at the both of them.

"Alas not. We also are intending on finding this Ms. LaFleur. That is the will of our guild," said Ascher. Noire scrambled over to stand by him, readying herself to fight.

"We're not planning on failing our master's orders," said Noire, who sounded utterly pissed at being blindsided by these two.

"So you're in a guild as well? Interesting. That won't get you sympathy from us though. Our mistress has demanded the same from us,"said the white haired woman.

"Then we're at an impasse it seems. Well, there is one way to solve this issue. But please, do tell us your names before we begin," Ascher requested inquisitively.

"It'll help us when we make your headstones," Noire said threateningly, though Ascher turned to her, not at all amused.

"I don't think Ace wants any killing on this job if it isn't needed," he whispered to his guildmate. Noire looked displeased at that.

"I make no guarantees… but fine."

"Are you done yet?" This question came from both the man and woman standing across from them.

"Apologies for that. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ascher Grey, member of Golden Ace and producer of the Ace's High Radio Show for the guild." Noire followed her partner's lead on the introductions.

"You can just call me Noire, also a member of Golden Ace and Head Archivist of the Golden Ace Archives." The man and woman facing them turned to each other and seemed to discuss something before they turned back to the member's of Golden Ace.

"Right, name's Mina. Mina DeMille. Member and Assistant Guildmaster of Celestial Guard," said the white haired woman. The man smirked as he began his introduction.

"I'm her brother, I go by Six. Lead Interrogator for the Celestial Guard T&I Division," said the man.

"Now that we're done with the introductions, let's go," said the woman named Mina as she nodded to her brother.

"GALE FORCE LEVEL 3: PRESSURE WAVE!" Yelled the man called Six thrusting an open palm towards Ascher and Noire. Neither Ascher or Noire were prepared for an attack in that instant, especially not for a forceful gust of air to push them back and especially not one coming straight from Six's palm. They both fell back as the air hit them, and the air itself hit hard.

"Which one do you wanna take Mina?" Six asked his sister.

"Give me the radio sounding guy with the cane. He seems like he'll be fun," said Mina as she licked her lips before flashing a sadistic grin. She then sprinted at Ascher before hitting him with a hard kick to the chin that launched him upward with enough force that he landed on top of the cliff face. Mina ran at the cliff face and ran up it, coming face to face with Ascher. She grabbed him by the wrist and threw him into a forest that started on top of the cliff.

Noire and Six both looked on as their respective guildmates disappeared into the tree line before turning their attention back towards each other.

"That just leaves you and me to fight here Ms. Noire. Hope you're ready for more Pressure Waves and then some," said Six as he raised his fist up, air visibly swirling around it as if a small tornado was covering it. Noire readied herself for another wave.

"Don't think I'm going to fall so easily. That attack was nothing I haven't taken before."

"Then let me up the ante a bit for you! GALE FORCE LEVEL 5: PRESSURE WAVE!" Another gust of air rapidly approached Noire, though this one seemed like it packed even more of a punch. When it seemed like it would make impact with her though, Noire quickly sank into the ground, disappearing from view as the Pressure Wave dissipated. Six looked a bit irritated, but he also had a look on his face of having seen something like this happen before. He began to dart his attention all around, not knowing exactly where she could be. A large truck sped by exceptionally loudly which prevented Six from hearing Noire emerge from his shadow as she leapt onto his back and tried to strangle him. The man just struggled, unprepared for this kind of assault. Noire stopped the strangulation as she reached a hand out as dark energy seemed to gather around it. She then tried to ram her hand, fingers straight out, into Six's neck, but he then dissipated, causing Noire to fall onto the ground without any clue where he could be.

"So he's got a similar skill as mine. He's probably identical to me with his Unlock." Noire wasn't exactly asking anyone in particular. Though that didn't stop someone.

"Similar to what you did? Yes. Identical in how I did it? No. I am one with the wind and the air. Where air is, so too can I be," said the voice of Six, but it wasn't from behind her. There was a long pause as Noire kept looking around for where the voice could have come from. "Look up." Noire fell for it as she saw a fist come down and collide with her forehead. Six landed on the ground with grace as Noire clutched at her head in pain. Six moved in for a kick to her head only to notice at the last second dark energy emanating from her hands. Noire pointed her hands towards the ground as a dark shadowy orb formed between them.

"Dusk Shooter: Classic," she said in a low voice. The shadowy orb hit the ground and dark energy erupted upwards right into Six. The force of the move caused him to stagger back. Part of the eruption hit him in the shoulder as he clutched at it in pain. Noire began generating another shadowy orb between her hands. Six braced himself for another attack from the orb being fired, only for Noire to grab it into one of her hands and grip the orb with force as dark energy began to dangerously within her grip. She then ran towards him at full speed, her palm visible as she grabbed Six by the neck and quickly took him down so that he was lying on his back. She then used the dark energy in her free hand to propel herself and Six forward at high speed. Six was slammed into a cliff face on the other side of the interstate, head first. Noire then threw him the opposite way with a lot of force thanks to an explosion of more dark energy as Six was thrown into the street. A car was currently barrelling towards him at too high a speed to slow down and stop. Six dissipated at the last possible moment as the car failed to swerve out of the way in time to avoid probable contact with him.

"And he disappeared again. Dammit," though Noire. "He likely won't try to strike from above again, he's already shown that hand. He'll probably try to come at me from a different angle. Then I'll just have to prevent him from seeing where to attack me." Noire began to concentrate her energy until it seemed to emanate from her entire body, casting it into an all encompassing shadowy shroud. She felt something shift in the air a couple feet to her left, Six must have reappeared there.

"Gale Force Level 4: Gale Fist," she heard from her left in what was very much Six's voice. She waited for him to get close before she unleashed a counter attack.

"Darkness Shroud: Striking Fists of the Night," Noir said before a multitude of shadowy fists all sprouted from the shroud and all of them collided with the attack from Six, but neither side was able to get the edge on that exchange. Both Noire and Six redirected where they were aiming with their attacks, Noire manifesting more shadowy fists, Six simply using his other hand, as both managed to soon strike each other with their respective moves, causing both to send the other back quite a solid distance, putting them at about 150 meters away from each other. Noire and Six made direct eye contact as both began to generate their energy into their hands, wind swirling and circulating around Six's hands, another dark orb forming between Noire's.

"You're not just going to lay down and give up are you?" Six asked.

"Wouldn't even consider it," said Noire with a cheeky grin on her face before turning serious.

"GALE FORCE LEVEL 7: PRESSURE WAVE/DUSK SHOOTER: DIRECT VERSION!" Both Six and Noire yelled their respective attacks simultaneously. A large stream of pressurized air shot forth from Six, while a larger orb of shadow fired from Noire. Both of these techniques collided right at the direct middle point between them. As the techniques collided, neither seemed able to properly overpower the other before both started to simply lose their strength and began to dissipate. Both began to fire more of their techniques into the struggle, trying to gain the advantage. As Pressure Wave after Pressure Wave and Dusk Shooter after Dusk Shooter made their way into the clash, the force of both moves increased which in turn made the exchange larger, and the larger it got, the more it began to kick up backlash from them as the wind seemed to pick up with a dark intensity in the immediate area. Before long, the exchange made contact with the ground as Noire and Six had to start backing away so as to not get caught up by the collision. Unfortunately, the collision had reached what could be considered critical mass for both techniques as they began to become unstable and before long, seemed like any additional input to them could be a mistake.

"ONE MORE! GALE FORCE LEVEL 8: PRESSURE WAVE!"

"DUSK SHOOTER: DIRECT VERSION!"

One more of those moves pushed the collision into such an unstable state that the sheer energy within them couldn't be contained into such comparatively miniscule concentrations. Six looked at the collision with apprehension, as did Noire, as neither seemed to be able to edge out the other and it looked dangerous to be in the vicinity of. However, they didn't have much time to properly defend themselves when the energy couldn't be contained anymore and exploded like two bombs, only one was made out of wind and the other darkness. The end result was that the highway was pretty much destroyed, as was part of the nearer cliff face, and a large amount of dust in the air from the explosion. Six and Noire had braced themselves for the impact just in time and both, unaware of the other's status, waited for the dust to clear. When it began to settle and both Six and Noire saw that the other was still standing, Noire began to smirk as she had only one thing to say.

"Oh this is gonna be fun."

Authors Notes

And that's all for the first actual chapter of Dissidence. I thought that we would start by introducing the first group in this game, that being Golden Ace, as well as have some action to properly start the actual game in this series.

Next chapter will show what happened with Mina and Ascher's fight and the conclusion to Six and Noire's fight. Also, the next chapter is going to properly introduce the Celestial Guard into the equation and explain why they're in this game.

Onto other things, yes Ascher Grey is also in my S7W series, in fact he's one of the few characters I created specifically for Dissidence once this story idea came to my mind. Dissidence might have come second, but Ascher was created for this. I simply thought he'd be intriguing to put in S7W. We didn't get to see him in action this chapter, but trust me, I have some things I'd like to do for his fight with Mina that'd make this chapter way longer than it needed to be if I put it in here. I already do one series with 10K plus word chapters, I don't want to do another.

For Six and Mina, they're characters that came from one of my first fanfiction ideas. We're talking created to some degree in 2009. Six was the first character I ever had in mind and I reworked him over and over into a more legitimate character, after considering using him as a Mary Sue Author Avatar of me, because let's be real, that's what a lot of kids do with their OCs. With time though, I created a more realistic and relatable narrative for him as well as making characters like his sister Mina and making his narrative into one that was all original characters, if based off of existing fictional characters to some degree. For instance, Mina was originally based on a character from Fairy Tail back when I created her in 2014, try and guess who. However like many things, in time I broke away from that characterization for her and tried to mold a distinct character as we'll get to see in the next chapter.

Noire is one of those characters that seems kind of like a blank slate in comparison, but I have a general idea of how I want her to progress and develop as a character, especially in terms of her being a member of Golden Ace. The original idea for her was for her to be the only one sent on this job and Ascher Grey going onto it despite not being ordered or permitted to. However, I thought that was too cliche to do for generating conflict between them. Yes, conflict between group members is going to be something that occurs here because no one gets along 100% of the time, don't fucking deny it.

In general, this I think is a good start for where I'm going with this series.

Thank you for reading, I'm CieraLacina, Adios.