(A/N: Considering my inability to have a long running story, 'Florida' will be in drabbles that are generally hard to follow and can only be understood if you've messaged me and gotten me to word vomit all over the reply. I'm going to try my best though.)

Ch.1

Welcome to the Jungle

"I know I said I wouldn't freak out but hooooolllyyy shit it's really cool to meet you guys holy shit!" A young woman shuffled forward with wide eyes. "Uh…yeah, hey. I'm Ket, your…guide? I guess? For this whole thing."

Dante smiled warmly and shook Ket's scuffed and dirt smeared hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ket. This is–"

"Zhalia, Lok, Sophie, Den, and Cherit is somewhere in a backpack I'm sure. Harrison not able to come?" At the incredulous looks she received, Ket merely shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I've been following all the news on you lot. Our group doesn't really do international missions so keeping up with your adventures is the most action we get."

"Harrison caught the flu. He's staying at HQ in New York while we train here with you." Zhalia explained quickly. She didn't like leaving either of the Fears brothers alone, but she knew he was in good hands with the Council. "Are you ready to get going?"

Ket spun on her heel and waved the group on over her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah! Let's go! We'll need to make a stop at the supply house before we head into the woods to make sure you have all the right gear. Oh, and sorry about the mess in the car. We don't use unless we're on a local mission and the dig equipment gets sorta piled up…. Don't worry! I made space!"

An hours drive later, during which Ket became happily acquainted with the team and chatted with Cherit about the concrete lawn gargoyle at the supply house she had named after him, the group arrived at their first destination.

"This is our supply house!" Ket threw her arms out extravagantly.

"It looks…nice." Sophie commented slowly. She wasn't used to the muggy heat that made her tongue stick to her mouth, but she also wasn't used to a random house in the middle of heavily forested nowhere. "Are we staying here?"

Ket shook her head and hefted out the team's gear. "Nah, this is just the place where we get some shipments, mail, store perishable goods, etcetera. My team cycles who gets to stay here for three nights every week or so, so we can shower and enjoy some real air conditioning, check the news and stuff." She ambled over to the side door and plucked a note from the handle. "Looks like Cor and Marko decided to go fishing for their days, so it looks like it'll be just us and Mama Cat. Ah, man! They left my stuff outside too!"

As Lok and Sophie helped their guide gather her backpack and other belongings from where they had been tossed out the door, Zhalia leaned against Dante's shoulder. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Metz said he needs a team that can respond to large scale missions in Florida." Dante's eyes scanned the surrounding brush, as if waiting for some Organization or Spiral goon to jump out. There had been rumblings of Titan awakenings throughout the state. Unfortunately, the Central Florida team wasn't a mission team but more of a specialized protective group that didn't, or couldn't, range far from their hidden HQ. "And considering the terrain and particular dangers, we need to be trained in non-magical survival for this sort of climate."

"You think they're all like her?" The ex-spy gestured to Ket, who was unabashedly swapping her clean shirt and jeans for a pair of ash smeared cargo shorts and what could have at one point been a white T-shirt. She was covered with the scent of woodsmoke and moist earth, and by the dirt caked under her nails and smudges that littered her arms, legs, and even face, it was clear the young woman hadn't showered properly in well over a week.

Dante didn't have an answer.

"Alright, alright, let's get this show rollin'!" Ket slung her pack and a leather tube onto her shoulders. "Two weeks in the Central Florida bush! Can't say you're gonna love it here, but at least you're gonna learn!"

"Does that mean we're going to be doing homework?" Den asked with an impish grin, holding open the gate at the side of the house for the rest of the team to file through.

"Ugh, God, I hope not." Ket made a face. "Come on, come on. Cherit, you might want to take cover in a backpack, those mosquitos will carry you off. Mr V, Miss Z! Hop to!"

"Don't call me that." The guide chuckled at the duo's immediate response.

As the afternoon progressed the team took more frequent breaks in their hike. Everyone was drenched in sweat, and the fact that they couldn't take a shower for the next week at least was not a pleasant thought.

To distract himself from the discomfort, Lok chugged the rest of his water bottle and turned to their guide. "So, why'd you shoot the snake?"

"Cuz it's venomous." Ket cocked an eyebrow at him. She was sweating just as much as everyone else, but appeared to be weathering it a touch easier. "Cottonmouths are pretty aggressive little shits. It would have hit you in the leg, and you can't guarantee a dry bite. It's what got my old man's leg."

Sophie put town her canteen. "Your father lost his leg? That's awful!"

Ket shrugged and waved a hand dismissively, batting away a trio of mosquitos as she did. "Eh. It's the way out here. Mama Cat saved his life, but he lost the leg. He runs the supply house now, so it's not so bad.

"'Sides, he was a total badass in the bush and a hell of a Seeker and still is, but he isn't a balunu hitihuta. You can't stay out here too long without being one, and our protections can only last so long. Lok, you look like you're going to bite your tongue off. Spit it out."

Lok grinned at her observation and rephrased his original question. "I meant why did you shoot it with a gun instead of using powers."

"And what's a blana hithula?" Den added, leaning in to the conversation.

"It sounds familiar." Cherit's head popped out of the youngest team member's backpack, ears perked up. "Was it a term used in Casterwill's time? Or is my memory playing tricks on me again?"

Ket smiled at all the interest. Even Dante and Zhalia were casually listening in, sharing trail mix from a bag the detective had brought. They had read the classified files before agreeing to the two week excursion, but wanted some clarification on the more nuanced and vague information they had seen.

"You can't use powers out here." Ket barked a laugh, tossing her thick ponytail back over her shoulder. "It'll get you killed!"

The group went dead silent.

"Oh helllll no!" Den bolted up from his damp leaf seat, arms skyward in protest. "No powers?! No Augerfrost to cool down, no Boltflare when it gets dark, no–"

In a burst of motion Ket was up and diving at the younger Seeker, tackling him to the ground before anyone else could move. The canopy above was growing tight, the previously golden afternoon going bruised gray. Her palm silenced Den's protests just in time for the rest of the team to reflexively hit the ground in response to a deafeningly sharp crack of thunder from directly above their heads. In the distance, the unmistakable sound of a tree exploding from a direct lighting strike cut through the humid air like cold steel.

And then it was over.

Some light filtered back through the trees, but above the clouds still roiled in moody discontent as they did every Florida afternoon. Den's wide eyes stared straight up, eyes never leaving the swaying Jirwolf amulet that dangled from Ket's neck as she growled, "I told you, son. Powers. Can get. You killed."

(A/N: Aaand that's enough non-team centric stuff for now. Pretty jumbled, my apologies. Cheers mates!)