HEYO! How's it going? Just me with the next chapter of Team ASceND. Now, for the thing you've all been waiting for...drumroll please...on with the story!

Aionion's room, 8:17 am

Aionion slowly sat up in his bed after his short rest. He left the room to wash the grime and sweat of yesterday off of him. Dry, refreshed, and dressed in his black mesh suit, no armor at the moment, Aionion left for breakfast. There were small groups of people at most tables but they seemed to be avoiding a particular person.

The person in question, had a more stylish preference of armor than most. It was more of a cloak with armor underneath. The man carried two hand scythes, each about a third of the size of Aionion's. They gave off a dark feeling and the skeletal hand holding it all together didn't help any.

Aionion began to walk over to the ostracized man. The man, as if noticing him coming, turned slightly to watch who was approaching him. Now Aionion could see his face. It was a maze of scars that only added more to his scare factor. He was of a darker skin tone than Aionion, that's not saying a lot, but still resembled a corpse back from the dead. His hollow cheeks and leathery skin slightly disturbed Aionion.

Aionion ignored his brain telling him to run away and continued towards the man. When Aionion was within a few feet of him, the man finally spoke in what sounded like two voices overlapped. There was the twenty year old voice that Aionion expected but it was overshadowed by a deep, demonic-sounding voice. "Go away. I have no use for a weak greenie." Aionion was taken aback by what he said.

Aionion walked in front of the man and held out his hand for shaking. Then man shook it but said, "My name is Dantos and judging from your lack of a mouth, you are mute. I heard about the fights you've been in. Seen a few of them too. I really enjoyed when you destroyed this cafeteria. I've never felt such intent to harm..."

Now he was starting to creep Aionion out. But, Aionion sat down across from where he assumed Dantos was sitting. After a quiet four minutes of eating, Dantos stood from where he sat and said, "Come on. I wanna see how good you are with that scythe." Aionion grabbed his scroll and typed on it. He handed it to Dantos when he was finished.

I cannot spar today. I have a mission that has to be taken care of soon. Maybe we can spar tomorrow.

Needless to say, Dantos was pretty disappointed. Then he came up with the brilliant, in his mind, idea to follow Aionion and fight with him to help him pass the time. So when Aionion left to put on his armor, Dantos hurried after him and waited for Aionion to leave for the mission.

Twenty minutes later, Aionion walked out of his room, fully decked out in armor. He had extra ammo clips clipped onto his belt and some flash grenades on it too. It looked like he was expecting a tough battle.

And so Dantos followed Aionion throughout the complex. He knew that Aionion knew he was there. Dantos wasn't trying to be unseen but he doubted he'd avoid Aionion knowing he was there. So he just discreetly followed him down to the hangar. Aionion hopped onto a plane and left a few feet of room for Dantos to get on.

Dantos sat next to Aionion and neither said a word until they were at the ship that the cargo was on. Both jumped off of the ship and then they began the long wait for the thief.

To pass the time, Dantos pulled a deck of poker cards from his cloak and began to set up the game. Aionion recognizing the setup, sat down to play.

3 hours later...

How can he be this good?! There's no way that he's won every hand since we've started! He has to be cheating! But how?...

Dantos folded again and threw his cards down in disgust. He had lost a good deal of money to Aionion without even realizing how much he'd lost. Dantos stood from where he was sitting and drew his dual hand scythes. "Come on Aionion," Aionion had written his name in some dust for Dantos. "Why don't we spar to pass the time." Aionion nodded and drew his scythe.

Before they began though, both spent a few minutes loading their guns. Dantos fed shotgun shells into his two pistols and Aionion put a fresh clip in the magazine of the scythe. Aionion spent a few minutes scraping a circle into the dust for use as a boundary. When he was finished, Aionion stood on the opposite side of Dantos, who was crouched and had his scythes at his sides. Aionion drew his scythe and held it low at his side.

Both held in a breath and when a piece of paper flew in-between them, both leaped at the other to get the first hit. Aionion swung up and Dantos swung his scythes down. They met in a fury of sparks, clanks, and grunts. After a few seconds of striking and countering, both leaped back and took assessment of the damage. Aionion had a few scratches in his armor but nothing deep. Dantos had a few small cuts on his shins from when he tried to use his cloak to hide his scythe and Aionion swung low.

Dantos, wounds already healing with his aura, said, "Why don't we just have a shooting contest to pass the time. I'll set up the targets and we'll see who can hit the most." Dantos jumped on a crate a few meters away and started lining up bottles he'd found nearby. With about five lined up, Dantos came back to Aionion who had his scythe blade folded down and the sight raised up. Aionion had set a small wooden box as a table and laid his weapon on it.

Aionion looked through the scope and lined up the cross-hairs with the first bottle. Accompanied by a slight click the first bottle shattered with the tinkling of glass. Aionion repeated this four more times before he leaned back. He stood and went to set up five more bottles for Dantos to shoot. As he got closer to the crate, he could see the bullets embedded in the crate behind it. Aionion set up the five bottles and returned to the impromptu table. Dantos raised his pistols and fired off three shots in quick repetition. Four of the five bottles shattered and Dantos fired a fourth shot to shatter the last one.

Just as both were reloading for the next round, they heard the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting a body. Then what sounded like a shotgun kicked in and they watched as a guard got impromptu flying lessons from whoever hit him. Aionion and Dantos hid in the shadows and waited for their adversary.

They were not disappointed when a large man who had to be at least six feet and at least two hundred pounds of pure muscle walked towards the guard. He had distinguished maroon hair that went down to his shoulder blades and his biceps were the size of Aionion's head. He reloaded his bracers and looked around, as if he knew we were there but not where.

"Show yourselves! I know you're here. I can feel the warmth of your bodies. Come out and fight like men." Even the mans voice sounded like it was on steroids. Dantos had frozen for a minute when he realized we'd been found then slunk around the crate he were hiding behind.

"The other one too. Abaddon knows you are there. Come out and play with me before I take all this dust." Well, the man spoke in third person. Great, another person who thought with their fists and not their mind.

Aionion stepped out from his hiding place, behind the crate the bottles were on. His scythe was unfolded and fully loaded, ready to fight. Aionion and Dantos stood together facing Abaddon when Dantos decided to make a terrible joke. "Boss Battle!"

His battle cry said, Dantos rushed in to strike Abaddon. Abaddon just backhanded Dantos and he would have hit a crate but he threw a chain Aionion had not seen attached to his scythe to swing back towards Abaddon. Aionion, not one to sit and wait, gripped his scythe tightly and rushed at Abaddon.

With both of them coming at different angles, Abaddon would have to split his attention and would react slower to their attacks. Aionion fired a few shots from his scythe to speed up and slid under the shotgun pointed at him, dragging his scythe to slow him down. Now behind the man, Aionion slashed his back but never made any deep cuts.

Dantos, coming on a swing, jumped from the chain and spun with drawing his scythes back. He drug his scythes through Abaddon's shoulders, momentarily making them useless. Dantos flipped off of Abaddon, pulling his scythes from his shoulders.

Abaddon spun around to face them but Aionion and Dantos were already gone. A few seconds later, Abaddon's shoulders healed and Dantos was stringing chains all over the area. Dantos and Aionion both grabbed a chain and swung down at Abaddon. Dantos re-cut Abaddon's shoulders and Aionion cut open his stomach.

Bleeding, but still able to fight, Abaddon roared and charged at the two reapers. Both fled and grabbed onto a chain. Aionion and Dantos looked at each other, nodded, and raced back at Abaddon with the chains in their hands. As they ran, Aionion threw a flashbang at Abaddon's feet. It blinded him and gave Aionion and Dantos the chance to tie his feet together. Dantos ran left and Aionion sprinted to the left.

They ran around Abaddon three times before coming to a stop in front of him. His hands and feet were tightly bound and Abaddon crashed to the ground, dying from blood loss. Aionion and Dantos both cleaned their weapons of blood on Abaddon's now ruined shirt and Aionion grabbed the mans bracers, to incorporate the design into his armor. Aionion took his helmet off, placed it on a nearby crate, and took a deep breath of the salty sea air.

Then Aionion realized that this was his first kill. He sprinted to the edge of the ship and gripped the railing along the edge. Dantos tsked and walked back to the area they were told to guard. When Aionion was finished panicking, he too walked back to finish the mission.

Three hours later, Hangar area...

Aionion jumped off the plane that returned him to the headquarters. He walked through the throngs of people heading back to their rooms and went into his. He took his helmet off and placed it on the desk he had. He took his armor off and changed into his black mesh suit. He layed down on the bed and began writing the required mission report...