Eve gave a heavy sigh as she looked at the floor of the airship glumly. "When did we all become so vulgar and mean?"

"Oh, Eve, we've always been vulgar and mean. You just didn't know us well enough" Automne said with a large smile as he loaded custom-made bullets into a magazine. "I mean seriously, just look at Petunia." Automne gave a nod towards Petunia who had been tied up with a steel cable and shoved into the corner of the cabin.

"You're one to talk, virgin." Petunia said flatly while glaring at Professor Baula indignantly.

"All I'm saying is we're all just lazy, untalented, loud, crass, rude, pessimistic, spiteful, sarcastic, disrespectful teenagers."

"Don't forget about the acne and B.O." Petunia added.

"That was implied with the teenagers' part." Automne said, casually rubbing the side of his magazine against his patchy, stubbly chin. "The point is, Eve, at the end of the day we're all just terrible people."

"That's not something to be proud of, dude." Ty spoke up in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, I am. Anyways, Eve, now that you know that don't you think it only seems reasonable to forgive me for that whole hug thing." Automne tried to reason calmly as Eve steadily held the blade of her naginata at his chest.

"No, you molested me." Eve whined, her cheeks burning a light pink as she lightly pushed her weapon forward into Automne's vest.

Automne gave a nervous squeaking noise, "Okay, okay, I-I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to… molest you. Now, how about you lower the blade-staff-thingermajig and we'll just pound it out." Automne reasoned a bit more desperately as he held his fist up, a weak, scared smile spread across his face as he immediately began to regret his phrasing.

"No, you know I don't like being touched." Eve said in her assertive yet inexplicably adorable manner, pushing the blade into his vest.

"Alright, alright, alright, h-how about I make it up to you?!" Automne begged. He tossed his magazine to the side and quickly locked his hands together in front of him so he could beg for his life like a true coward.

"How?"

"Anything you want! Just name it and I'll do it! I swear!"

Eve paused for a moment and withdrew her blade slightly as she furrowed her eyebrows. "I… I want you to make me chicken and waffles… Please."

And with that all of Automne's fear was assuaged and in turn replaced with confused amusement. "Chicken and waffles? …May I ask why?"

"I like chicken and waffles." Eve replied quietly.

A small smirk crossed Automne's lips. "Alright then, I'll make you some chicken and waffles when we get back to school." Automne held out his fist again. "Now, are we cool?"

Eve stopped for a moment as she swiftly raised her weapon and held it at her side. "No, we are tepid."

Automne blinked a couple times. "I-I don't know what tepid means."

"You know what a cartographer is, but you don't know what tepid means?" Petunia said with a raised eyebrow as she began to grind her bindings against the walls.

"Oh, what, I'm just supposed to know every word ever? Like I'm some kind of dictionary or something? 'Cause that's like totally reasonable! Do I look like some kind of super genius who has infinite knowledge and knows every definition to every word ever?!"

Petunia rolled her eyes, "Geez, calm your tits, virgin."

"No, I will not calm my tatas and you know what, that's not an insult to me because I'm a virgin by choice."

"It's not your choice, dude." A large grin proudly spread across Petunia's face as she verbally wrecked Automne.

"Well I… I have my… I just…" Automne crossed his arms, his eyes darting across the cabin like blind hummingbirds as blood quickly surged into his face. "… Screw you."

"Someone else already has!" Petunia shouted enthusiastically as Ty and her broke out laughing.

Automne quickly bent down and picked up his small briefcase, which was resting at his feet, and walked to the other side of the cabin where he curled up on the ground.

Eve gave a small groan, "Petunia, don't you think that was, maybe, a little uncalled for."

Petunia shook her head, an obnoxious smile still stretched across her mouth. "Eve, that's just how the pecking order works." Petunia said as if emotionally pile-driving her teammate into the ground was as commonplace as breathing. "If we didn't belittle him he wouldn't know his place."

"Yeah," Ty said with a smug grin. "We can't let him think he's people."

Professor Baula gave a heavy sigh. "You four have almost entirely removed my faith in your generation." He shook his head a few times and buried his face in his hand. "I mean honestly, how does this team even function?"

"Eh, we kind of just wing it most of the time." A more than slightly annoyed Ty shrugged.

Baula gave another sigh, "Of all the teams…" He grumbled in a low tone.

No one responded, aside from some incoherent mumbling from Ty and a small apology from Eve. The cabin slowly began to descend into placidity as the ship continued to whist along through the night sky.

Eve gave a heavy sigh as she looked around the cabin. Her eyes slowly swept across her teammates and the clearly disgruntled Professor before she gave another small sigh.

"Has anyone ever noticed that we sigh a lot?" Automne asked as he crawled across the floor towards the magazine he tossed aside earlier.

"It's because the author can't write a decent sentence to save his life." Ty said bitterly, leaning back against the wall.

"Yeah, like you could do any better."

Petunia gave a loud groan and began to thrash about. "How much longer 'til we get there?!"

"We've been flying for about ten minutes so it should be about another hour and fifty." The Professor replied as he scratched at the side of his face

There was a soft static crackle as a few speakers around the cabin popped on. "Ehm, this is your captain speaking and we'll be experiencing some turbulence soon that may take us a bit off course. So, eh, please grab onto the nearest handle and hold on for dear life for the next couple hours."

Automne blinked a few times and looked around skeptically. "Wait, what was that part about hanging on for dear life?"

And that's when the ship went into a nose dive.

Automne and Petunia flew back across the cabin as if they were sacks of potatoes while the others dangled from the ceiling by safety handles like wind-chimes in a hurricane. "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

The speakers gave another crackling pop. "Ehm, hi everyone, this is your captain, sorry about the turbulence back there. We were doing all we could up here to try and keep her steady. Ehhh, but the good news is we are only about fifteen minutes out from our objective. I'll be taking us off the radar in-"

"You stupid son of a bitch! When we get back to Beacon I'm gonna rip your spine out through your nose then shove it up your ass! And then I'll chop your fingers off and shove 'em down your throat; you worthless piece of shit!" Petunia screamed as she rolled over to the door to the pilot's cabin and began kicking it furiously.

"Ms. Kapelle, please stop screaming." The disheveled Professor ordered as he looked around for his hat. "I think you've done enough to the pilot tonight."

"Please, keep her away from me!" The pilot pleaded over the intercom before it gave another pop and went silent.

"I'm gonna crucify you motherbitch!"

"Auuuuuuuugh," Automne moaned as he let go of his handle and fell to his knees, breathing heavily. "Is it over?" He moaned as he began to curl up into the fetal position.

"I think so." Eve said, still nervously clinging to her handle as she looked around the cabin. "Is everyone alright?"

"What do you think, Eve?" Ty responded sardonically as he wiped a bit of vomit from the side of his mouth. "That pilot owes me dinner."

"Why did none of you strap me down?!" Petunia shouted crossly as she pushed herself across the floor with her feet.

"We were busy trying not to die." Ty said flatly as he crouched down and put his head between his knees.

"I still feel like I'm moving." An almost traumatized Automne mumbled as he stared at the wall blankly.

"Because we are, dumbass."

"Automne, are you alright." A concerned Eve called out as she grabbed onto another handle and tried to make her way over to him.

"He will be." The Professor said with a tired sigh as he cautiously walked across the cabin towards Petunia and rolled her over with one foot. "Everyone, listen up." He ordered as he kneeled and unhooked the cable behind her back. "We are quickly approaching the weather station. Calm your nerves and get ready for insertion."

"If you're going to insert something I suggest you leave me tied up." Petunia quipped with a grimace.

The Professor stopped and gave a heavy sigh. He slowly stood and shut his eyes tightly. "Ms. Howlite, since you are the most reliable member of your team, I am placing you in charge of your squad."

"Wait, Eve's in charge of our squad?" A shocked Automne called out as he rolled over into a seated position. "… Wait a minute… That's not surprising, never mind."

"As I was saying, Ms. Howlite, once you reach the security office, clear it of all hostiles and then quickly use the cameras to locate the cache. Inform me of its location over the radio and proceed to hold your ground until further advisory; is that clear?" Professor Baula asked as he pulled a small radio out of his coat and tossed it to Eve who immediately dropped it.

"Hold on a second!" Petunia shouted as she rolled over and began to wriggle out of the steel cable. "We're just supposed to sit there in the security office? I didn't just spend over two hours of being thrown around this flying piece of junk to sit in an office for a half-hour!"

Professor Baula turned on his heel and went over to a small panel on the wall. "Ms. Howlite, will you be able to carry out the objectives I have presented to you?"

Eve froze up as she looked over the radio the Professor had tossed to her. "Um," Eve held the radio up against her head in a salute. "Yes, Professor, I won't let you down."

"A bit clichéd; don't you think?" Automne whispered to Eve as the Professor glanced back over his shoulder.

The Professor gave a small sigh. "I'm not expecting much from you three, but please try and be discreet." The panel gave a loud click causing the side bay door to whir loudly as it lifted open. A thick black forest was rapidly sprinting beneath them as they approached a dim cluster of lights resting atop a stony plateau.

Eve gave the Professor a confident smile.

"So," Some random soldier dressed in black and gray camouflage mumbled as he used a joystick to flip through different cameras. "How'd things go with that Faunus chick on Saturday?"

"Oh, brother," Another guy in a similar outfit moaned as he kicked his feet up onto the control panel. "Man, you are not going to believe this shit."

"What happened, couldn't get it up?"

"Nah, nah, man, that's the problem. Ever since I gave it to her she won't stop fuckin' callin' me. She called me like three times yesterday."

"Oh damn, wha'd you do?"

"I texted her and I was all like 'Bitch listen'. This is basically word for word. So yeah I was like 'Bitch listen, I was in it for the sex, now stop blowin' up my Dust damn phone!'"

"What'd she say?"

"Get a load of this. She calls me up and tells me 'You better not talk that way when you meet my parents.'"

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah, I was like 'I don't want to meet your Dust damn parents'. But she's like 'Too bad, we're meeting them for brunch on Wednesday'."

"That's like some crazy stalker shit right there." The one at the joystick slurred as he continued to flip through cameras. "And who goes out for brunch anyways?"

"Ooof," Eve puffed loudly, her long hair swaying everywhere as she fell out of a nearby vent, the grate falling off nearby her with a loud clatter.

"What the- Hey!" The guard at the joystick shouted as he jumped up and drew a pistol from his belt. He was quickly joined by his fellow from the desk and a couple other guards who were standing closer to the door.

Eve gave a small squeak and curled up slightly as they gathered around and pointed their weapons at her. "Umm… Hello."

"Freeze, hands where we can see 'em!" One of them demanded as he jostled his gun intimidatingly.

"I-I was just looking for the bathroom." Eve said weakly as she batted her eyes innocently.

The guards looked between each other cluelessly as they began to slowly lower their weapons. "Why were you in the vents?"

Eve blinked her eyes a few times, stretched out her legs, and blinked a few more times. "I was in the vents?" She responded like a complete ditz as she tilted her head to the side and looked back at the vent.

"I think she's got more hair than brains." One guard murmured to another.

"Haha yeah."

"She's got a cute face." One of them whispered, nudging one of his buddies with his elbow.

"Hey, how about we go ahead and take you on over to the bathroom." One of the guards said with a licentious grin.

Eve gave a gasp and shot them a large smile. "Really?"

"Of course," One of them said with a chuckle as they all began to holster their weapons. "Anything for a pretty young lady."

"It's too bad she's only seventeen though." A disembodied voice said, which was immediately followed by a loud click. "Hi, why don't you go ahead and have a seat right there." Automne mocked as he faded into visibility behind one of the men. He quickly sprang forward, his pistol in hand, and constricted the man's throat in his elbow as he raised his pistol and shot two others in the sides of their heads.

The fourth guard made to draw his weapon while Automne struggled to choke-out the first guard, but before he could even reach for it a bundle of strings was shot into him, paralyzing him.

"Alright, and we are clear." Automne said happily as he pressed the barrel of his gun into the side of his less than incapacitated guard's head and shot him. "Nice job, Eve, you were very convincing. I'd probably give you about a six out of ten." Automne said wryly as he threw his guard down onto the floor.

"Thank you," Eve said sweetly as she gave a tug to her marionette handle causing the last guard to lurch forward onto his face. Eve quickly jumped to her feet and walked over to the guard who was staring up at her in paralysis. "Pervert." Eve said with a frown before stomping on the side of his head.

Petunia gave a loud groan as she jumped out of the vent with the rest of Eve's naginata in hand. "Where's the control panel?" She hissed before taking five seconds to actually look for it.

"Umm, I think that's it over there." Eve said without any uncertainty as she pointed to the large system of monitors and buttons set against the wall. "So, Petunia, how about you-"

"Yeah, yeah," Petunia grumbled as she tossed Eve's naginata at Automne and made a bee line for the control panel.

Automne rolled his eyes and held out Eve's naginata in one hand for the dark haired girl. "Attitude much?"

Eve grasped her weapon with a puckered brow. "Automne, don't-"

"I'm sorry, did I ask you for your input?" Petunia shot as she walked up to the panel. "I just wanna… Oh come on!" Petunia shouted as she sent one of the office chairs scampering away with a kick.

"What's wrong?" Eve said in hushed panic as she rushed over to join Petunia at the monitors.

"Oh, nothing much. It's not like I found this super well-guarded, highly sought after weapons cache in point zero, zero one seconds." She said sarcastically as she waved to a screen already showing a wide angle view of what appeared to be the completely unguarded cache.

Eve gave a gasp and unintentionally bounced with excitement. "There it is. Petunia, what floor is that?"

Petunia looked around the desk cluelessly for a moment before setting her eyes on a laminated piece of paper glued to the panel. She placed a finger on the paper and ran it down the list. "Fourth floor… east corner."

"Alright," Eve said happily as she pulled her radio off of her hip. "Hello, hello, Sash, do you copy, over." Eve chimed into the radio with a smile as Petunia trudged over towards a ratty office desk shoved against the wall.

"Sash to Gloves, we copy, over." Ty's garbled, static voice called back through the radio.

Petunia gave a tired groan as Automne started to drag the unconscious guards over towards the wall.

"What's up with you?" Automne asked as he rolled one of the guards over onto his stomach.

"Gee, I wonder what it could be. Maybe it has something to do with us being blackmailed by one of the most unforgivably asinine Professors at Beacon. Or it could have something to do with the fact that I got tied up and shoved into a metal tube. Where I was forced to spend a two hour flight rattling around the ship like a baby in the drier only to arrive at our destination; where we'll only spend about a half-hour before we fly all the way back in said metal tube. Or it could just be the humidity!" Petunia finished with a standing kick into the wall.

"It is a bit humid in here, isn't it?" Automne admitted with a large smirk as he pulled out a few zip ties from his vest and went to work on tying up the incapacitated guard's hands.

Petunia gave an annoyed grunt and paced back over to the control panel. "All I know is I didn't become a huntress so I could crawl through dusty vents, sit in this junky control room for half an hour, and then spend the next few hours flying all the way back to Beacon with the most braindead pilot ever just so we could receive no recognition." Petunia dropped her eyes down to the joystick.

"Copy that Gloves, now you three stay put until further orders, over." Ty commanded over the radio before Eve clipped it to her belt.

"Alright, Ty and the Professor know the location of the cache. They said they'll be touching down any minute." Eve said cheerfully as she spun around to address the others.

"That's fantastic." Petunia mumbled sarcastically as she started to flip through camera angles.

"Alright then," Automne said positively. "And I just finished tying up the last of the guards, sooo… I guess we just kick-back for a while." Automne said uncertainly as he looked around.

"Did any of them look like they needed medical attention?" Eve asked as she made her way over to the pile of bodies and glanced over them.

"What- Eve, no, we've been over this before; you're not supposed to heal the enemies." Automne said tiredly as if he had been repeating this phrase non-stop for the past week.

"But, I'm a medic." Eve said innocently as she pointed a finger to the red cross on her shoulder. "It's my duty to help the injured."

"Yeah, our injured, not theirs."

"Automne, I have taken oaths and I cannot in good conscience ignore these helpless-"

"Yo, high horse and jackass, come check this out." Petunia called from the control panel.

Automne rolled his eyes, but slowly obliged with an over-exaggerated turn. "Temperamental bitch," He slurred under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, 'what do you want?'." Automne lied as Eve and him stepped up and stood on either side of the blue haired girl.

"No, you didn't." Eve said with a confused look in her eyes. "You said something like-"

"That's not important." Automne urged "I just wanna know what's up."

"Alright then, shut up and have a look at this." Petunia pointed to one of the monitors with a single finger. The grainy image on the screen was from a camera, set-up in the corner of a hallway, overlooking a couple of guards standing at attention in front of a locked door. If it weren't for a timer counting upwards in the corner Automne would have assumed that he was looking at a still image.

"Doesn't that seem a bit odd?" An evident amount of curiosity heavy in Petunia's voice as she loomed over the screen. "Two guards just standing at attention in front of some random door while no one guards the weapons cache." A smile began to twist Petunia's lips as she looked between the two. "Don't you want to know what they're hidin' in there?"

There was a brief pause.

Automne shrugged. "Not really."

"Uh uh," Eve said with a stern head shake.

Petunia whipped her head between them quickly before giving a loud groan and throwing her head back violently. "Are you serious?! Are you seriously going to tell me that you two would rather just sit around on your asses rather than find out what they could be hidin' in there? Maybe it's somethin' that was too important to keep with the cache. Maybe it's where they're keepin' all their cash and shit!"

"Petunia, Professor Baula gave us specific orders to-"

"Screw the orders, Eve. Come on, don't you just want to live a little?" Petunia asked almost desperately as she backed away from the panel pumping her fist rambunctiously.

Automne gave a sigh, "I'm with Eve on this one. We're supposed to sta-"

"Oh, big shock, Mr. Badass is scared like usual." Petunia mocked as she spun around on her heel and sauntered over towards the door.

Automne furrowed his eyebrows as he began to aggressively follow after her. "Hey, I'm not scared; I'm just listening to orders that-"

"Pfft, whatever, man." Petunia said apathetically as she placed her hand on the doorknob and gave it a twist, sending a shockwave of silence through the room. She slowly inched the door open and poked her head out into the hall like a meerkat.

Eve grew tense as she stared at Petunia in shock while Automne propped his hands up on his hips and tapped his foot nervously.

Petunia retracted her head and looked at Automne and Eve with a rebellious, exhilarated smirk. "I'm going to go see what's in that room; whether you come with me or not." And with that she overdramatically slipped out into the hall, slamming the door shut as she went.

Automne immediately gave a loud anxious groan and rushed over to the door. "Eve, I'm going with her."

"What, Automne, no." Eve spouted in a panic as she strode over to the doorway and grabbed Automne by the sleeve.

"Eve, I- erhm- we can't just let her run around this place all by herself. Who knows what she could run into?" Automne tried to reason as he turned and tugged on his sleeve.

"We're supposed to stay here though." Eve said as she ground the heel of her shoe into the ground as she pulled against Automne. "W-what if Professor-"

"Eve, we'll be back before the Professor even suspects we're gone." Automne lied in his most assuring tone as he tried to pry Eve's hand off his sleeve. "But, Petunia could get into a lot of trouble if she just starts running around. I need to go with her."

"Automne, y-you can't just leave me here by myself. What if they send a patrol around?" Eve whined as she struggled to keep her grip on Automne.

"Eve, you'll be fine." Automne declared confidently as he grabbed onto her shoulder gently and pushed her back. "You gotta trust me on this one."

"No," Eve moped as she attempted to grab him by the front of his vest.

Automne jumped back out the door, evading her grip, and pulled the door shut with a loud metallic crack. "Sorry, Eve, I'll be back in a little while. Text me if Baula gives any orders." Automne said through the door as he used his semblance to fade out of visibility.

Automne took a deep breath and quickly stepped backwards. The door to the security room flew open in a flash as Eve popped out and looked around. Automne carefully began to side-step down the hall as Eve tossed her head around in her futile attempt to scan for him.

Eve gave a loud, defeated whining noise, hung her head and walked back into the control room.

As soon as the door softly clicked shut Automne faded back into visibility and continued walking back down the hall. Automne shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "She's not going to forgive me for that."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have done it."

Automne jumped back and threw his hands up in alarm. "Oh… There you are." A slightly embarrassed Automne said as he stared at Petunia leaning in a doorway as if she were some clichéd tough.

"You know, I thought I made this really clear a while ago, but I guess I have to say it again. I like vagina, not cock." She said patronizingly slow as she pushed Automne aside and continued on back down the hall. "And I thought I was deaf."

Automne rolled his eyes behind his goggles and followed at her heels. "Someone's into themselves, don't you think?"

"At least I don't spend every free second pampering myself and attempting to look some kind of legendary badass."

"Oho, yeah, because you already spend all your time acting like a colossal bitch." Automne snapped back as they rounded a corner and proceeded down another dark corridor.

"Yeah, well at least this bitch doesn't cry when she masturbates."

"That is a lie and you know it, you-" Automne stopped and gave a deep growl. "You know what, I came out here to help you because I'm a good friend. And a good friend like me doesn't let an idiot like you get herself killed."

"Oh, well pardon me, I didn't know I was talking to the saint of good friends." Petunia taunted, turning around and giving Automne a bow. "Let me scratch your ass and get you some nachos. Would ya' like me to grab you a foot stool? Oh wait, no. Here, you can just use my back." She turned and waved at her back as if she was showcasing a living room ottoman, a pricy one at that.

"Are you done?" Automne asked with a scowl as he shoved her aside and continued on towards a busted 'EXIT' sign.

"We're done if you're done being a whiny-"

"What floor?" Automne interrupted impatiently, making his way over to the door and jostling its handle. When the door refused to budge he took a couple steps back and charged straight into it with his shoulder; the exit only responded with a loud metallic creak.

"That's a good way to break your shoulder, genius." Petunia casually stepped up to the door and gave it a kick; eliciting another creak as the door budged forward slightly on rusted hinges.

Automne hastily pulled his escrima from off his back, transformed it into his pistol, and pumped more than a few rounds into one of the hinges, causing metal and powdered rust to fly everywhere. "Try it now."

Petunia stopped for a minute and stared at what used to be the door hinge. She reached over to the door handle and pulled it inward with almost no issue, aside from the fact that it was resting on one hinge.

Automne blinked a few times and stared at the door completely bemused. "I… Uh, I thought I tried pulling it in."

"You're a Dustdamn genius," Petunia murmured loudly enough for Automne to hear before peeking her head into the stairwell.

After she confirmed that the coast was clear with a nod the two silently made their way into the stairwell and began to ascend. The stairs were coated in a thick layer of grime and the occasional patch of mold. For some reason or another the stairwell had the uncanny smell of urine and cigarettes indicating that the stairs also happened to function as, in very loose terms, a breakroom.

Automne gave a small groan and pressed his scarf against his nose. "It smells a bit in here."

"Astute as always, Automne." Petunia remarked dryly as she stepped up onto the flat of the next floor and cautiously edged over to the door.

"Look, I'm trying to be nice."

"And I'm not." Petunia whispered back as she gently pushed the door to the third floor open. She raised a hand up at Automne, signaling him to shut up, as she poked her head out the door.

'Yeah, don't ask the person with night vision goggles to help you out or anything. It's not like he's the best for the job or anything.' Automne whined internally as he adjusted the strap of his goggles.

Petunia lingered in the door for a moment before giving a thumbs up and slinking out of sight like a snake or some other kind of animal that slinks.

'Why are people so difficult to talk to? Like, I feel like I've earned a vacation just from trying to be friends with them. I deserve an award.' He thought as he pushed open the door and creeped out into the hallway.

Petunia had already made her way on over to the end of the hall and was carefully looking around another corner. Automne gave a soft sigh and shuffled over to her.

"So, your, uhm, your semblance, how does that work?" Automne said with an attempt at a smile, which was rather pointless seeing as how his scarf was still covering his mouth.

Petunia flinched as if someone had tossed a flaming rock at her head. She slowly turned and looked at Automne with an expressionless face. "Why do you want to know?"

Automne shrugged and looked around the hall as if the answer were crawling around the halls with them. "I-I don't know, I just thought it'd be a good icebreaker."

Petunia glared at him as if he had just asked her if it was alright for him to sell her laptop to a drug dealer. It was almost uncanny how awkwardly tense she was trying to make this moment; her bright tangerine eyes burning into his like orange juice.

"Each one uses some of my aura. I can change the size if I want and they're all blue triangles." She said quickly before turning to look back around the corner. "Friendly tip, that icebreaker sucks; get a new one. You might as well have asked me how often I- AHHH Nnnnngghhhhhhhh!" Petunia groaned in pain as she threw her hands over her ears and grit her teeth. She shook her head back and forth like an infuriated bull as she stomped a foot against the ground. She managed to wriggle her fingers under her short layer of hair and pulled out two large hearing aids.

"Petunia," Concern heavy in Automne's voice as he grabbed her and pulled her away from the corner. "What's wrong?"

Petunia looked out at him from a single eye as she pocketed the earpieces. She suddenly reached up and grabbed Automne's scarf from under his nose and pulled it down around his neck. She shook her head a couple times and rested her hand on her forehead. "Okay, listen, my hearing aids just went insane. Meaning for the rest of this mission I can't hear jack."

"Wait, wha-"

Petunia forced her gloved hand over his mouth. "Quiet!" Petunia leaned back and glanced around the corner. "Listen carefully, I can't hear shit. So you need to take point."

Automne ripped Petunia's hand off of his mouth. "Wait, what? Petunia, what do you mean you can't hear. Wait a minute, if you can't hear me why am I asking you why can't you hear?"

Petunia stared at him for a moment in complete befuddlement. "What did you say?"

"Wait, what? So you can hear me or-"

Petunia slapped a hand over his mouth again and started to growl to herself. "Automne, you mumbling idiot, I can't read your lips."

Automne smacked her hand away. "Wait, you can read lips?"

"What?"

"I asked if you could read lips"

"Dude, I can't read your lips."

"What? But I thought you just said you could read lips."

"What are you trying to say?!" Petunia growled as she ran a hand through her hair.

"This is ridiculous! You know what, I'm taking point." Automne barked. He immediately stepped forward past Petunia and began to head off down the hall.

"Dust damn it," Petunia grumbled as she took out one of her hearing aids and began to fiddle with it.

"You know I had a feeling everything would fall apart, but I really thought it would fall apart under a hail of gunfire." Automne whispered furiously as he crept down the hall. "Like, seriously is it too difficult to try and follow the simplest of orders? Like, why couldn't we just hang back and just chill?"

Petunia gave a disgusted shiver. "I can feel you talking. Ehck, your voice feels like drain cleaner."

"Yeah, well… you can't hear me." Automne gave a defeated groan and began to slide along the wall as he approached another corner. He carefully inched his way up to the corner, the ancient carpet crisply crunching under the soles of his moccasins as he pressed his face to the wall. He took a deep breath and peered into the hall to his right.

Automne's pupils shrunk down to specks as he set his sights on the door from the camera feed.

'We did it. We found it, and we did it in under 2,000 words no less.' Automne pre-maturely celebrated on the inside as he slid away from the corner and turned back to Petunia.

He rapidly patted her on the shoulder about twenty or so times to get her attention, held up two fingers and pointed to the corner.

Petunia gave a smirk and pushed him out of the way so she could crane her own head around the corner. She held her head out for a few moments before receding with a hand held to her chin in the universal sign of 'I'm trying to think'.

"Alright," She said in an excited hush. "I got a plan. You're going to go invisible and sneak up behind the furthest guard and when I give the signal you knock him out and I'll take care of the other one."

"Ehhhhhhh," Automne droned uncertainly before giving a shrug. "Why, not? Okay, what's the signal?"

Petunia blinked a couple times. "What?"

"For the love of, what – is – the – signal?" His mouth over accentuating every syllable and little movement as he tried to convey the question.

"You'll know it when you see it. Now, go I'll give you fifteen seconds to get into position." She asserted with a violent pat on his shoulder as she leaned back against the wall.

'Automne, stop for a minute and please think about this. You have nothing to gain by doing this and you really do have everything to lose.' Automne's brain advised like it knew what was best for him as he pulled his scarf up over his mouth and flashed out of visibility. 'Like we don't really need Petunia. You can just head on back to Eve and say Petunia was killed by faulty architecture. No one would suspect a thing.' His brain continued as he crept down the hall towards the guards.

'Okay, look, let's face it you can probably handle this, but come on, dude, this should be throwing up red flags like… Something that throws up flags.' He thought as he gently creeped past the second guard and got into position at his left. Automne sighed internally, 'Okay, listen, she hasn't given the signal maybe we can go back and convince her to not-'

"Lololololo!" Petunia whooped as she came running out from behind the corner, her arms flailing in the air like a crazy person.

"Oh my Dust." Automne muttered to himself as he swiftly drew his escrima sticks and smacked one against his guard's outer thigh, causing him to lurch forward in pain, and then again on the back of his head sending him to the ground with a loud wheezy grunt.

Automne looked up from his now disabled guard with a jolt to see that his colleague had turned to him at some point and decided he should aim a rifle at his chest. Which honestly wasn't a terrible choice, but considering the fact that Petunia was still charging him he might as well have chosen to drink an entire pitcher of mercury. In fact it only took about a second for Petunia to close the gap, seize him by the neck, and bash his head into the doorframe behind him about a half-a-dozen times before she threw him forward into the wall running parallel from them.

The guard collided face first with the wall, still clinging to his rifle like a baby chimpanzee clinging to its dead mother, and smeared the plain dusty wall with thick red blood. He gave a loud groan and stirred a little, prompting Petunia to run forward and ruthlessly stomp his head into the dry wall.

When the man finally collapsed after Petunia began to grind the heel of her shoe into his head she turned back to Automne. Her chest was heaving and a large smile rested on her open mouth as she stood tall and made her way over to the door.

"I'm just gonna say this now since… that just happened. Petunia, you scare the shit out of me." Automne said earnestly as he watched Petunia pull her shotgun off her back.

She wordlessly marched up to the door, pressed the muzzle of the gun against the door knob and blew it apart with a single shot. She pushed the door in with her foot and stopped. Her eyes widened as she lowered her shotgun and slowly stepped into the room.

Automne gave a heavy sigh and holstered his weapons. "Alright, what is it? Gold, drugs, some kind of fusion of the… two?" Automne trailed off as he stepped forward into the ice cold room, six large servers aligned in two rows sat in the center of the room while a single desktop sat on a collapsible table set against the furthest wall. "Oh… I wasn't expecting that." An astonished Automne murmured as he closed the door behind him.

Petunia wasn't exactly paying attention to him though she was too busy drooling all over the floor as she made her way up to the computer at the front. "Automne, do you know what this is?"

"Their mainframe?"

"This is their mainframe." Petunia responded in a daze as she ran her hand along the side of a server.

"That's what I just…" Automne gave a sigh and listlessly followed after her. "Deaf, Automne, she is deaf."

"These babies are beautiful." Petunia said with a rapturous smile as she stopped and rubbed herself against one of the servers. "I'd kill to work on these lovely ladies."

"Judging by how braindead that guy outside probably is I don't doubt that." Automne mumbled to himself as he walked over to the monitor towards the back. He pressed down on the spacebar, igniting the screen in a flash of blue. A small window shortly appeared at the center of the screen, indicating that Automne would require a passcode to proceed.

"Who knows what kind of data goes through here?" Petunia pulled open the door to one of the servers. She began to run her fingers over it while she rummaged around in her pocket with her other hand.

Automne glared back at her from over his shoulder. "Are you getting off to this?"

Petunia pulled a wire from her pocket and held it up to the server.

"Oh… Wait, do you just carry around computer wires in your pockets?" Automne asked the deaf girl who clearly couldn't hear him. Automne gave a loud groan and swore under his breath before marching over to the absorbed girl and tapping her on the shoulder. "What are you doing?!" he asked in his most refrained shout as she pulled out her laptop and booted it up.

Petunia glanced at him disinterestedly, "What?"

"Oh my- What! Are! You! Doing!"

"Oh, I'm hacking into their network." Petunia replied simply as she connected the other end of her pocket wire into her laptop. "Baula said we're going to blow this place up, meaning these pretty babies are goin' to get destroyed. But here's the thing, these servers, whoever they belong to has more. A lot more if they need to connect six to one desktop. So, what I'm gonna do is get in and make myself a backdoor into their network so once these bad girls get wrecked I'll still have a way to get into their network."

Petunia shifted her laptop into the crook of her elbow and shoved her hand into her jacket pocket. She pulled out her hearing aid and tentatively raised it up behind her hair. She paused for a moment before fiddling with her fingers, setting the earpiece back into place.

"What! Are-"

"Dude, stop shouting! I can hear you again, jeez." Petunia grumbled as she went back to typing at her laptop.

"Oh, sorry." Automne said meekly. "Well, what are you going to do once you have a backdoor?"

"I wanna find out who these guys are and what they're looking at. Who knows maybe I can find something useful in there." A devious smile spread across Petunia's lips as she typed away at her keys.

Automne looked around nervously. "A-are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, these seem like some pretty dangerous people. What if they try to come after us?"

Petunia chortled loudly, "Oh, please dude, these guys are pushovers. Besides, what're they gonna do, storm Beacon?"

"Yeeeah, but what about your laptop? What if they give you a virus or-"

"Pfft, I can handle whatever these guys try to throw at me."

"Well, I-"

"Dude," Petunia said irately as Automne forced her to look up from her laptop. "I need to focus, so chill."

Automne gave a heavy sigh and stepped backwards as he resigned to leave the girl alone.

Silence quickly fell between the two as the sounds of Petunia typing and the servers humming loudly filled the chilled air.

"Automne, Petunia!" Eve's soft voice called from the door as she quickly pushed it open.

Automne's eyebrows shot up as confusion washed over him. "Eve, what're you doing up here? I thoug-"

"We need to go, now!" A noticeably uneasy Eve pleaded as she pressed herself against the door.

"No can do; I'm not in their system yet." Petunia replied brusquely as she glared at her screen. "I need like maybe ten-"

"No, Petunia, we need to-" Eve stopped abruptly and dove to the ground.

Automne gave a gasp as a chill ran up his body, he quickly followed suit, cradling his face in his arms as he leapt behind a server.

There were several loud pops as bullets tore through the door and some of the wall.

"Oh, crap!"