Author's Note: Okay, before I write this, I'd like to get something out. I need reviews. I'm writing this for fun, true, but I have another purpose: I'm trying to improve my writing for another project. Without reviews, I can't find out what I need to improve and what I need to keep in my writing. So if you read this, please please PLEASE review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't.

Now that that's over, let's get down to Chapter 5.

Disclaimer: I own no one but OCs, who are all based rather heavily off of characters that someone else owns in the first place. You'll probably be able to tell who.

Bad Ideas

They're Dangerously Common

There is no wake up call, Adam thought, like having a giant Nevermore sit on your RV.

Such an event is somewhat less dramatic than, say, having the giant Nevermore sit on YOU, but think about it for a minute. The moment it lands, the RV buckles under its weight. There is a shriek of metal, the RV—if it is in motion—slows or is knocked off course, throwing you from side to side in your sleeping place. You wake up, confused, startled, and shove your head out the window. There, you see a giant bird thing, looking down at you, with an air that says "ooh, breakfast."

Also, if it sat directly on you, you wouldn't have much of a chance to wake up. But that's a fairly minor detail.

"What is THAT doing up there?" he hissed at Lancer. Milly, clutching her head, rose to her feet as best she could.

"You're gonna have to be more specific," Lancer replied. "Gotta keep my eyes on the road."

"There is a Nevermore the size of the RV—if not bigger—sitting on the roof," Adam snapped. Lancer raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get so snippy," he said. "I customized this thing myself. It can take a lot more—"

"'Help' says Misaka, trying to free herself from the loft." Misaka said. Adam turned to look up at the loft—the metal roof was being crushed down, trapping Misaka there. He glared at Lancer. Lancer groaned

"Don't cut anything," he pleaded. Adam was already springing into action. Clambering out of the seat, he leapt up toward the ceiling, and grabbed the edge of the loft. The structure in question creaked dangerously and buckled. Then he felt another body slam up against his, saw Milly's hands clasp the edge alongside his own, and the structure gave way, tearing away from the ceiling and spilling Misaka down on the both of them. The case that contained Misaka's rifle crashed down beside them.

The three lay there for several seconds. Then they heard a long, low howl.

"Beowolf," Milly said.

"Big Beowolf," Lancer agreed. In a flash of light, Gae Bolg formed in his hand. Lancer quickly muttered its name and threw it out his window. The RV was rocked by an explosion, and a creak of metal and surprised squawk announced the unseating of the Nevermore that had rudely awakened them. "Not anymore." The spear reformed beside him.

Now there was a loud roar, shaking the four to their bones. A second later, they found out why.

Four claws punched through the ceiling like tin foil. Lancer began zigzagging in an attempt to throw it off, and the claws jerked back and forth with a sound not unlike nails on a chalkboard (in the case that the chalkboard was an armored car and the nail was a well-nigh indestructible Bowie knife… Actually, that probably wouldn't sound anything like nails on a chalkboard. Let's just write it up to a generic metallic screech).

"MY RIIIIDE" screamed Lancer.

"So much for taking more," Adam muttered. "Misaka, get your gun."

"'On it,' says Misaka, complying," Misaka replied, snapping open the case and fitting pieces together.

"Where're my guns?" Milly demanded, patting her blouse.

"Somewhere they can't go off by accident, I should hope!" Lancer shouted. He slammed on the brakes, bringing the RV to a screaming halt, and a giant lion-like Grimm was thrown on the road in front of them. He gunned the engine, and the RV rammed the monster, plowing through it like tissue paper.

"What's going on here?" Adam asked as Misaka finished putting her weapon together and started for the front seat. Milly was beginning to open cupboards with increasing desperation. Adam cast about, and reached under the driver's seat. "Got them!"

"How should I know?" Lancer said. "These things just came out of nowhere!"

"Then find a side road!" Milly said, grabbing the pair of pistols from Adam and checking to see if they were loaded, ready to go. Adam wasn't sure why. They were always loaded, and according to Lancer it had taken over a week to convince her not to leave the safeties off all the time.

"Then if someone could check the map, I'd be much obliged!" Lancer growled. Something roared, and he briefly surveyed the mirrors. "Tyrannosaurus? 'Least it's not a Grimm." Adam and Milly gave him an incredulous look.

"What do you mean Tyrannosaurus? That—"

"'Got it,' says Misaka, holding the map aloft in triumph," Misaka announced, giving the map a half-hearted wave. "'Misaka thinks,' she amends, realizing that she is unaware as to her location.

"You were supposed to be sniping the Deathstalker!" Adam snapped.

"'Deathstalker?' asks Misaka."

"GIVE ME THE MAP AND LOOK!"

"'But you're driving,' points out Misak—"

"JUST GIVE IT!"

Misaka handed Lancer the map.

"Okay, okay," Lancer hissed, spreading the map out on the driving wheel.

"Are you insane?" Adam asked.

"'Oh, that Deathstalker,' notes Misaka, wondering how she missed the twenty-five foot long scorpion closing in."

"Shoot it! Okay, I think I've got where we are… Northbound… There's a cave system not too far from here!"

"That's great," Milly snapped, "Now look at THE ROAAAD!"

Lancer swerved, and evaded the charging Beowolf, and Milly nearly lost her grip on her guns. "Okay, okay…" he said. "We'll reach the exit in a minute or two, so keep a lookout for Exit 21, okay?"

Something roared.

"BAD REXIE!" Lancer shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Get to the front," Adam said to Milly.

"Right," she agreed, shoving her guns into a pair of hidden pockets.

The RV rocked forward, and suddenly stayed that way. Misaka leaned out the window (Milly leapt forward and grabbed the back of her shirt), aimed, and fired off a shot. Something roared, and Milly began to fire again and again, with increasing speed (Adam figured that this was her equivalent of desperation). Finally, the rear of the RV slammed down to the ground. Lancer groaned.

"'Sorry,' says Misaka, attempting to—"

"Misaka," Adam said tiredly, "Just don't."

Suddenly, Milly yanked Misaka away from the window, fast enough to prevent injury to the girl, but not fast enough to prevent her rifle being snagged in the yellowed teeth of a spectacularly large reptile. The weapon was torn out of Misaka's hands as the two fell back against Lancer.

"'Tyrannosaurus,' Misaka gapes," Misaka said as calmly as the next person. Milly whipped out a gun, and fired. The bullet ricocheted pitifully off of the dinosaur's pebbly skin.

"We need a new plan," Milly said tremulously.

"It's too close for Gae Bolg," Lancer replied. "I'm not seeing many—"

"EXIT 21!"Adam roared. Lancer threw the RV into a hard right, knocking the Tyrannosaur's head aside and probably causing the beast to fall over comically, and hit the gas with a screech of tires.

"The caves will be on our left," Lancer announced. "Let's hope they don't follow."

"Come to think about it, why are cave systems on that map?" Adam asked.

"I don't know, I just bought the blame thing! Still comes in handy every so often," Lancer replied.

"Just get us in those caves," Milly grumbled.

Three children sat side by side, staring at the opening to the massive cave system they called home—that the entire village made their place in. It was one of the few constants they were raised with—never go outside without someone with you, because the Grimm (constant number two) would eat you. Every month, a "supply team" was selected and sent out in the old worn out truck that was the only vehicle anyone there owned (constant number three) and they would return with bread, milk, news, and stories.

So the children wondered at the stories, played, and every so often sat as close to the mouth of the cave as they dared, wondering what was out there.

"I HATE GRIMM!"

"We KNOW, Eric! Geesh!"

Occasionally, they did that too.

Today, however, their normal routine was foiled by an RV that looked like it had been shredded—and hadn't looked that great to begin with—which came hurtling through the mouth and screamed to a stop right beside them.

"… Huh?" asked one of them, a boy with a blond pageboy-cut and blue eyes.

"I don't really know," said the only girl of the group, just a bit taller than the others—as is often the case in children just about to hit puberty—with black hair that hung halfway down her back.

"I—" said a boy with brown hair and green eyes who had the look of a shonen protagonist about him.

"I swear Erik, if you say 'I hate grimm,' I'll smack your face!" hissed the blond boy.

"I wasn't going to say that," Eric replied.

"Oh. Go ahead then."

"I think that they might have been chased here," Eric explained. "Look at those claw marks."

The window of the RV rolled down and a brunette girl stuck her head out. "'Is everyone alright?' asks Misaka, concerned for the health and safety of strangers like a good little girl," she said.

"Uh?" the girl asked.

A blonde woman stuck her head out of the window alongside the girl. "Oh hey, could we hide out in your cave for a while?" A hand reached out, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her back in.

"Uh?" the girl repeated.

"You okay, Maya?"

"Fine, Eric. Just… I'm fine."

"'Oh dear,' says Misaka, realizing the scope of the children's state. 'Don't worry,' she continues, hoping to sooth their fear, 'Misaka can act as a medic if necessary.'" Misaka exclaimed, opening the door and jumping out. The three children stared vacantly at her.

Then the blond boy collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach and giggling. In seconds, this had risen to a full-throated laugh. Moments later, Eric had joined in, and Maya followed.

"'It's worse than Misaka thought,' says Misaka, horrified," Misaka said, opening the door.

"No… no… I'm fine…" the blond boy grinned. "What are you, travelers?"

"I guess you could say that," said a blue-haired man who walked around the opposite side of the RV.

"I'm… Owen. Come on… I'll introduce you to the elders."

The man and the girl looked at each other. "Elders?"

"Says Misaka, demonstrating confusion."

"So… You've lived here your entire life?" Milly asked. The odd group had abandoned the RV (Lancer had to be dragged away from his "baby") and was now working its way deeper into the caves, where the children said their village was located.

"More or less," Owen confirmed. "Dad says the village was moved down here about sixty years ago. Maya's the only one of us who was born outside."

"'How did you come to live here?' asks Misaka, trying to make conversation," Misaka said.

"Does she always do that?" Owen asked, giving the older girl an odd look.

"Pretty much," Milly agreed. "But that's a pretty good question. How did you end up in here?"

"I don't really remember," Maya replied. "I was five when I came here."

"You're ten now," Adam pointed out. "It wasn't all that long ago for you." Maya glared at him.

"I SAID I don't remember much," she replied.

"Is that so?" Adam asked.

"Adam!" Milly snapped, "She's ten!"

"Assassins have been younger than—"

SMACK

"Anyways," Milly continued as Adam nursed his bruised cheek, "Do you remember anything about—" Lancer cleared his throat. When Milly glanced over at him, he nodded at Eric. The boy was clenching his fists and had lowered his gaze to the ground at his feet. "—actually, never mind. I guess I don't need to know."

Lancer pretended not to notice, but he could easily pick up the quick look of thanks that Maya flashed him.

"'MIsaka supposes that the village relocated due to the abnormal quantity of large Gri—'" Misaka began.

"NOOOO!" Owen and Maya screamed. Too late.

Eric breathed in deeply, grit his teeth. "I…" he growled. "Hate…" he added, louder.

The small, underground village was a peaceful place. Everyone knew each other and they tended to be, if not friends, then somewhat good-natured rivals. Sure, tempers rose every once in a while, and people complained when there wasn't as much food, but they were always able to get enough that everyone got just the right amount of food to last the month out. The only thing that really broke the peace with any consistency was—

"GRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMM!"

One random villager looked at the other. "Looks like Eric's coming in early today."

"Yeah," his friend agreed. "I wonder why."

"'Ow,' says Misaka, wondering why her ears are not bleeding," Misaka said in the same absent tone she always used. Milly and Lancer uncovered their own ears. Adam writhed on the ground, clutching his head.

"What the heck was that?" He cried.

"That's why we don't use that word," Owen said carefully, "around Eric." Eric breathed deeply, trying to regain his breath.

"Aaanyways…" Milly said, deciding to change the subject, "Why didn't those people sixty years ago just leave? It doesn't make much sense to cut yourselves off from humanity like—"

"Because the village of Sina is our home," a voice rang out, "and we refused to abandon it to the ravages of age and nature."

A man stepped out of the shadows before them. He was slightly taller than average, and had no hair except for his bushy mustache and small, pointed beard.

"Hey, Elder," Eric said. "Some travelers just showed up. They've got a thing like Mr. Irving's truck, but its waay bigger!"

Lancer sighed. "We ran into a few technical problems driving through this area. Mind if we brake here a day or two to get things working again?"

"Of course you may," the Elder said. "Whether you intend to stay or not, all are welcome in our village of Sina."

"It's amazing what you've done with the engine!" the loud, brown-haired lady…

Lancer leaned down to the short, grumpy man. "That's a girl, right?" he asked.

The man gave him a sidelong look. "Obviously," he grunted.

"Okay, good," Lancer said. "And thanks, Miss, but that's not really the issue." He sighed, walking around to the back of the RV. "It looks like whatever it was that got us from behind—I'd say probably an Ursa, but there's no way of telling—got it's claws into the chassis. And accounting for the damage done to the roof…" He sighed again. "AT least they didn't break the wireless. This is going to be an all-nighter at least. Probably two days. How are you people doing for scrap metal?"

"Oh, we've got a lot, most of our old farming vehicles are broken down and we don't need them anymo—wait," the woman said, staring at Lancer, who began to feel like he had said something wrong. "Two days? For a torn-out chassis? You'd have to—"

"I'm very good with this kind of thing," Lancer cut her off, puffing his chest out with pride. "Actually, there's not a part on this vehicle that I haven't replaced or altered. Two days is nothing if I put my mind to it."

"Get into a lot of accidents, don't you?" the short fellow deadpanned. Lancer sighed and un-puffed.

"Something like that, yes," he said sadly.

"Well, we can provide the material for you," the woman said with an air of finality, "But you'll have to make your own parts, and—"

"Of course I can," Lancer grinned, "Just who do you take me for?"

"I don't know. Who am I supposed to take you for?"

"Forget it. Let's just head back to the village, gather that metal up."

"Orion? Who's Orion?" Milly asked.

The little girl glared at her. "Orion! It's like a secret police or something!" she complained. "Don't you know anything?"

"If it's a secret police," Milly pointed out, "why would people know about it?"

"'That is incorrect, actually,' says Misaka, correcting her new acquaintance," Misaka explained. "'Orion, if it exists, is supposedly a special governmental unit of Vale, assembled for the purpose of espionage and covert warfare,' she adds. 'It is quite different from the duties of a police force,' she concludes with an air of smug satisfaction."

The two stared at her.

"'What? Misaka can know things,' says Misaka indignantly."

"You don't sound indignant."

Adam rolled his eyes. The village seemed very much like any other he had been to but for two minor details: it was underground, and people did not seem to come through often. Fortunately, he had been able to find a safe spot—

"Get down off my roof, ya whack job!"

—By which he meant that he had found a place that they couldn't reach him from, abandoning the girls to the inquiries of the residents. Still, the man shouting at him was annoying, so he leapt into the air, dropping down neatly on the roof of another house across the street (they had streets and houses in their little underground villages. Adam thought they would have simply carved their way into the walls of the cave, but it made sense, considering that they wouldn't want to bring their new home down on their heads).

A hidden door on the roof flipped up, and that boy—Eric?—popped out. He walked steadily across the roof to stand next to Adam.

"Hmm?" Adam hummed, raising an eyebrow.

"This is my house," Eric replied, dropping down to sit cross-legged.

"Really."

"Yeah, mine and Maya's."

"Maya? You live with your—"

"She's my sister!" Eric snapped, glaring at Adam.

"… Your sister?"

"She's adopted."

"Ah."

Silence for a few blessed seconds.

Then someone on the ground caught Adam's faunus-sharp ears asking Milly how they dodged the Grimm. Beside him, Eric stiffened and drew in a breath. To be honest, Adam was impressed that the boy could hear the word.

"I! HATE! GRI—"

"SO WHAT?" Adam screamed, covering his ears.

He screamed. The child, the pathetic, driveless, human child, was pushing him, breaking his cool. He had to get away before he did something that wouldn't go away—

"So what?" Eric asked icily. "So what?"

"So what!" Adam replied. "You hate Grimm? Alright! We get it! Now what are you going to DO about it? When you grow a backbone, actually fight for something? Then maybe I'll be impressed, just a little! But you sit around, complaining, that's useless. That's the worst kind of useless in the world! So just… stay out of my way!" He jumped again, putting as much distance between himself and the most annoying boy he had ever known as he could.

And thus it was that Lancer, working out a method of replacing his damaged chassis with the new, reinforced version, found Eric trying to sneak out of the cave with a sword that he had obviously never held, much less wielded before.

The most frustrating thing, Lancer felt, was that they hadn't been able to move the RV down closer to the village. The roof had dropped too low in places, high enough for the open-top jeep that that Irving person owned and maintained, but not high enough for the RV. Therefore, any repairs to the RV would require the parts to be constructed or tooled in the village, and then dragged back to the cave mouth.

So there he was, flat on his back under the RV, wondering how he was going to get the whole thing put together THIS time, when he heard a scraping noise and a voice muttering something about "show him." Lancer was not one to disregard this, because it usually culminated in something bad happening to him. He wriggled out from under, and popped up to see that boy… Eret? Eric? Walking past pulling a sword that was decorative enough that it was probably some kind of wall decoration that, by his strained expression, was far too heavy for him to even drag behind him.

"… Huh." Lancer said. "What're you doing, kid?"

Eric—yeah, that had to be it—glared at him. "I'm going to prove that I'm not useless!" He snapped, although he was panting so hard that it was difficult to tell.

Lancer gave him the mother of all blank looks. "… Huh?" he repeated.

"Your friend called me a coward! I'm gonna prove I'm not!" Eric said, dropping the sword and shaking his fist at Lancer, who was privately grateful that there is no such thing as a ten-year-old head of state.

"Okay then," he said out loud, "What did Adam say to you exactly."

Eric's face fell. "He told me… that I was useless. That I didn't have a backbone… But I'm not! I need to—"

"Okay, I think I've got a pretty good idea of what he said to you," Lancer cut him off. "As I recall, you're the one who hates the—No," he paused, placing a hand over Eric's mouth, "don't go waking up the town. As I was saying, you hate them, right?" Eric gave a venomous nod.

"Okay. I've heard Adam give a speech like that one or two times. He's basically saying, it doesn't matter how much you hate something if you don't do anything about it."

Eric gave him a blank look.

"Okay… Say you find a toy that you really want, but you can't afford. You'd complain about it, right? Do everything you can to get at it?"

Eric paused, considering this, and nodded slowly.

"What if you didn't? What if you just spent all day, every day just telling people how much you wanted that toy? Don't you think that'd get old really fast?"

Eric nodded again, a little faster this time. Good, he seemed to be getting it.

"Well," Lancer said with a calculated degree of finality, "That's what Adam dislikes. You hate you-know-what, but you don't do anything about it. Understand?"

"What would I do about it?" Eric asked.

"Well you wouldn't start by getting yourself killed by an Ursa the size of my baby here," Lancer replied. "I'd say that you'd want to look into a Huntsman's School. Signal is supposed to be good, though there's more than one smaller academy, and solo Huntsmen sometimes take on apprentices. So first thing you do is get yourself into really good shape. You'll want to study, too—those schools usually require a lot of academic work." He crossed his arms behind his head. "You'll want to sleep on it—heck, you should be in bed in the first place. What if your family—"

"PERVERT"

There was a loud, solid thunk and fiery hot pain shot through Lancer's head. He was vaguely aware of collapsing to the ground, and noticing Maya standing behind him with a shovel. Eric turned and started yelling at her, but Lancer's ears were ringing so hard it was impossible to tell what.

"Mean… swing…" he managed, before everything went dark.

Author's Note: So there you have it. Next chapter, our hero-type characters set out from the village of Sina, determined to get back on schedule for their journey.

Adam's speech here was originally meant to be more comprehensible and snap Milly out of her last-chapter funk, but I couldn't figure out how it would work, and an idea for a different scene got me from behind, et cetera. Looking back, a good part of it was probably me trying to chew myself out for my atrociously myopic job-hunting.