In which a lot of things cause problems… including this chapter? Seriously though, it was oddly hard to write.

The next mission came up faster than anyone expected.

It was a lazy morning at first. Aile had elected to sleep over with Vent again, too tired and miserable to make the trip back home. She'd fallen into bed beside him and conked out almost immediately. Though she'd originally intended to just take a nap like her brother and head back home in the evening, she found herself being gently shaken awake by Vent the next morning. Slight worry was in his eyes. She grumbled, waved him off when he said he was going to shower, and went back to sleep. He had to shake her to awareness again, something she only figured out after she noticed that his hair was wet. Aile felt like she was made of lead. Her body was heavy and groggy and way too comfortable to move. All except for her stomach, which wasn't comfortable at all. She'd probably forgotten to eat. She felt cold.

Screw this. Aile wanted to go back to sleep, and so she did. Yesterday must have taken more out of her than she'd realized.

Vent struggled to get his sister up for a third time. Aile finally relented when her brother stole away all the covers, rudely preventing her from hiding away her eyes from the bright light streaming in through the windows, then shoved some new clothes in her face. The pure offense at a Guardian uniform being offered to her was more than enough to rouse her properly. Of all the things to throw at her! The cheek! The nerve! Vent had smartly offered her both genders of uniform. She ended up donning a pair of pants while ignoring the awful green mini skirt she'd seen some female Guardians wear, then stole another one of Vent's vests rather than subject herself to the indignity of being recognizably donned in her enemy's attire. The thing was old and yellow and a bit small for Vent, but she thought it was cool enough. Like a military uniform perhaps, or maybe a reporter's gear. Well, right up until she rolled up the pants. Shorts were best, and she told Vent as such when he raised an eyebrow at her mirthfully. But clothes were clothes and she couldn't get fussy; She'd have to work with what she had.

"Finally time for a mission?" Aile asked. She was a little irritable but otherwise raring to go.

"I mean, sure? Why not. I did promise…" Vent mumbled, though it was clear he was still nervous about the idea. Aile pushed him along anyways, and the two began making their way towards the command bridge.

What was considered an early morning for Aile was actually around noon for everyone else, so as they made their way to the elevator and rode it upwards, there were multiple stops along the way as Guardian members shuffled to and fro. Some were clearly harried, dodging past them in the halls or squeezing into the elevator when the doors were almost done closing. Others were more sedate as they wandered nearby. One redheaded girl that entered the elevator giggled at Aile's disheveled appearance. Aile glared, but it was clear that the threat she tried to imply came out more like a grumpy pout as the Guardian female just laughed louder at her discontent. Aile genuinely growled at this, but the other female was already out and walking to her destination as the elevator doors opened once more.

This time the sibling duo stepped out as well. They walked down the hall towards the bridge until Vent made a sudden detour that left Aile blinking stupidly. She shook herself and followed him into the transporter room at a leisurely pace. "Aren't we going to get a mission from Prairie?" she asked.

"Well no," Vent offered plainly, "I can take mission requests from here just as easily as I can from the bridge. Maybe even easier because I've got a computer handy."

"You're literally risking your life for her and she doesn't even give you your missions in person?!" Aile gawked. The thought was utterly insulting to her and she had a hard time understanding it. Whether or not she realized it, Aile was used to Very Important People always paying attention to her. The God of Destruction himself bent an ear to her will! She didn't think that some plain-Jane, pink-clad commander had any excuse for blowing her or her brother off, and she was very vocal about it, "Geeze Vent! You're really gonna take that crap?

"Prairie is the commander of all the Guardians," Vent frowned. He looked at her with some concern, "we're not the only ones she has to pay attention to. A lot of stuff can go wrong if she isn't dealing with it, and there's a lot of people whose lives could be on the line. Besides, she always contacts me later on during my missions. At least we can talk to whoever is giving us our jobs! I hear that a lot of Hunters never get to know who's paying them for bounties at the end of the day."

"Yeah, well, I don't really care about any of the Hunters. That particular group of mercenaries are pretty incompetent as far as I'm concerned! It's no wonder their employers wouldn't give them the time of day. It's their fault for being idiots!"

Vent gave a long-suffering sigh, "Aile…!"

"Hey, I've seen those guys in action myself. Most of them suck."

"Maybe you just met the bad ones…? Like, the ones that weren't going after the super dangerous mavericks? Uh, no offense!" Vent quickly said, backpedaling a bit.

Aile didn't take any offense. It was a fact, after all. She was nowhere near as dangerous as her dad. "None taken. But really, I'm the Imp of Cinq Ville! If they can't figure out that I'm as good as I am, then that's on them," she chuckled. Vent simply sighed again, and seeing his grumpy look she laughed in his face, Then she changed tactics, "So anyways, what mission have we got?"

"I picked one called "Attack the Excavators," Vent explained. "Apparently there's a pseudoroid with a biometal there too? I'll take care of that, and the rest shouldn't be too dangerous, I think."

"It's just a bunch of bozos digging a big hole right? Sounds like we can handle it!" Aile grinned maliciously. "If it's nothing more than some bots burrowing around, I guess I can see why Prairie would feel okay with ignoring us for now."

"She's often busy, this is how we usually do things anyways-"

"Yeah, yeah, I gotcha," Aile complained. She waved him off and stepped onto the transporter. Aile was sure Prairie was blowing them off because she didn't want to actually deal with them, but if Vent wanted to assure her otherwise… even if she didn't believe him, she'd let it slide for now. Eh, whatever. Aile decided it wasn't her problem. Maybe she could give her brother the benefit of the doubt for now. "Shall we go?"

Vent groaned, got ready, and with the blink of an eye, they were off.

Area K, their destination, was apparently accessible via Cinq Ville. As they traveled through the city, Aile couldn't help but notice that it was unusually quiet. Normally civilians were a lot more boisterous than this. This unnerved her at first, but then she realized something else; She wasn't getting nearly as many cautious looks or angry glares as she was used to. In fact, it felt like she wasn't getting any at all! Sure, there were a few curious glances here and there. There were also a couple mildly stupefied blinks when people saw how similar her and her brother appeared. It took an embarrassingly long time for her to realize that it was because she wasn't wearing her Imp mask anymore, and she quietly grunted with that epiphany, "Huh."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just… it's quieter than I'm used to. Just a little surprised is all."

"Maybe people are staying out of the area? Makes sense if they think there are mavericks are around."

There were no less people than usual. Aile shrugged anyway, "Maybe?"

Since neither of them could settle the matter, they let it drop. As they walked through Area C, they saw a sign for a hot spring that was pointing in the direction they were going. Aile couldn't help but joke about it, "Family friendly hot springs? Aw man, Vent! Are you sure this is a mission? Maybe the mavericks just want a vacation!"

Vent chortled, caught off guard by the comment, "Pffft! Aw man, we're really messing up their day off, aren't we?" Vent joked back. The two giggled about it before Vent sobered up, "But seriously, mavericks don't rest, and they're always up to no good. There's no way they'd go on a vacation like this."

Aile begged to differ. She knew one particular maverick who absolutely loved being as lazy as possible and had, on more than one occasion, "fallen asleep" on top of her just to stop her squirming and running around like the feral toddler she'd been growing up. Usually on purpose (though once was an actually genuine snooze by complete accident. She'd never let her dad live it down). There were also times where he'd suddenly be very busy maintaining his weapons when he wanted to pretend that he hadn't heard someone's rambling. Neither a young Aile, nor an older Weil, had been particularly impressed by that behaviour. These stories were among some of her favourites that Daddy told her about her younger days and about her ancestor, but she kept this to herself. Instead she just let her laughter peter out as they continued towards Area K.

After dodging around a kid and his (kinda cool) rideable toy car, they finally saw what lay ahead. The boundaries of Area K loomed like the side of some half-melted volcano, massive gray-red rocks oozing downwards ominously. Maybe it added to the charm of the hot springs or something, who knew. But Aile thought it missed the mark and didn't really look inviting at all. Though maybe she was biased knowing that there were mavericks just beyond the door she could now see. As the siblings arrived at the entrance to the place, it became clear that there was going to be an issue. The door was marked as being higher security, with bright colors and heavy reinforcement that meant that there was no way past it without some serious firepower. It's why she'd never used the "normal" entrance to the Area H amusement park if she could avoid it; it had been sealed with a door just as fortified as this one. Aile was about to be very frustrated. "Oh for crying out loud… it's locked! Vent? How on earth are we getting past it?"

Her complaint was interrupted when Vent took out a key card with a flourish, giving her a wink, "There are some benefits to being a Guardian!" It was the same bright red color as the door.

"Ooh, a bribe! Tempting, but gonna have to say… Not interested!" she jested. Vent feigned offense but led her through the door. On the other side, Aile took stock of the region. The hot atmosphere blasted her face, and the floor into the area started off with a sturdy platform of metal. There was an obvious reason why this was necessary; elsewhere, the ground looked like dried mud had forcibly overtaken most of the real estate. She saw a geyser of dirty water and a lot of electronics half-buried under the terrain, presumably vents or pumps judging by the haphazard steam jets and tubes. It looked a lot like the hot springs wasn't a natural formation… in other words, a total cop-out as far as she was concerned.

Vent suddenly went ramrod straight, and put his hand to his ear. Aile could swear she heard someone that sounded a lot like the commander on the other end of his communicator. Curious about the voice, she asked, "Who was that?"

"Prairie was just telling me some info," Vent explained, "something about how the dig site looks like it continues deep underground, and that we should try to find a way down there."

"Oh good, so she didn't completely ignore us…" Aile found herself being a little less insulted about being snubbed earlier, though there was no way she'd admit it.

"Like I said! Sometimes she's just a bit too busy to see us off, but she always catches up when I get into the thick of it…"

"How do ya think she knows we just arrived, anyways?"

At that Vent gained a somewhat boggled, slightly mystified look. "Uh, actually… huh. Good question?"

"Let's just get on with the mission before I think too much into it," Aile grumbled.

As they ventured through the area, Vent took the lead and dealt with all the enemies that approached them. Aile rolled her eyes at her brother's dumb chivalry, but she supposed there wasn't much else they could do when most of their foes had apparently decided to hone in on Vent. The two of them definitely had to jump more than a few stinking, bubbling pools of water. Aile often had to circumvent some of the sulfur-scented stuff entirely as her brother used the power of Model H to fly overhead. Or perhaps Model Harpuia, she thought, now that she wasn't so oblivious as to miss the connection between the biometals and the Resistance.

All in all, it was a very unpleasant trip.

Aile decided, in no uncertain terms, that Area K sucked. Family friendly her ass! For an area that was supposed to be a relaxing hot springs resort, it was leaving a lot to be desired. Having to deal with boiling, smelly ponds of murky water and dozens of annoying mechaniloids didn't seem relaxing in the slightest. Aile hated extremely-temperatured water now. First that ice cold debacle in Area F, now this overheated shit here? Gross! It was especially bad because she ended up drenched both times too, though this time around it was sweat that made her top stick uncomfortably to her shoulders. "Screw you Serpent, and screw you hot springs!" she cussed under her breath. Her brother snorted a little bit and nodded along with her. His smirk was infectious. Aile felt herself grin despite it all.

Vent came to a sudden stop. He flung out his hand with the palm wide open to stop her. His warning shout of, "Aile!" made her halt immediately.

"What is it this time?" Aile asked grumpily. She followed Vent's gaze, her arms crossed, but her jaw fell when she saw what he was looking at.

A pit of lava.

"Vent. Why the Hell is there a pit of lava at a public hot springs?!"

Vent looked just as baffled as she did, although a bit more concerned, "You know what? I don't really know. But, uh," and here he looked sheepish, eyes flickering between staring at her and the ominously glowing magma below them, "I kinda think you should sit this one out."

Aile looked back down at the lava. The actual, genuine, 100% definitely not child-safe molten rock at the bottom of a massive hole in the ground. There wasn't even a damned fence around the area. "You know what? I think I actually agree with you this time." Aile gritted her teeth and groaned, looking around as she wondered just how much grosser and sweatier she was going to be by the end of this endeavour, "I can handle a few scrubs up here to keep the area clear. You go ahead." It rankled her to have to let her brother go solo. She'd spent more than enough energy lambasting him for leaving her out of his messes before, so being forced to split forces this early into a mission? It was aggravating. But even Aile had to admit, molten rock was more than a little beyond her capabilities right now. Even her dad admitted he hated the stuff. Looking down at the hot mess below her, she knew exactly why he'd looked so disgusted whenever he mentioned missions with lava involved. Yuck.

Vent tried to hide it when he sighed in relief, but the noticeable drop of tension in his shoulders tipped her off, "Thanks, Aile. Stay safe."

"You too!" She shouted as he prepared to leap down into the pit. Vent gave her one last friendly grimace before jumping down the sweltering hole, leaving Aile to turn about-face and survey her immediate surroundings in case any new foes had popped up while they were distracted. Her brother had taken on the brunt of mavericks they'd faced, but now he was gone. Perhaps this was for the better. Aile spotted a smaller robot that would be excellent to release some frustrations on. She brandished her javelin and went to the task with gusto.

If only she could scale walls safely, she could have followed her brother. Damn her inability! Being able to climb up and down vertical surfaces just by jumping on them was something she really wished she could do. Her dad had tried his best to teach her, bless him, but she didn't have the finesse or power needed to get higher than one or two jumps. So for now, no dice. Instead she meandered around, looking for smaller targets she could scrap, or mechaniloids she could kick down a fire-pit to their amusing doom. At one point she even golf-whacked a smaller maverick into a hole. The amusing squeak it made as it fell, as well as the comical stream of smoke and/or steam that shot up from whatever it had impacted, admittedly helped a fair bit in venting some of her frustration.

As she fought the occasional robot, Aile confirmed some previous observations along the way. Chiefly, the realization that most of their enemies weren't taking any initiative towards her. Unlike her brother, whom they had targeted with gusto, mavericks didn't actually act aggressive towards her unless she attacked first. Come to think of it, the ones at the Guardian base had shown a similar hesitance once her brother had disappeared there, too. She found this to be extremely interesting. It was incredibly obvious now that she'd noticed it. It got to the point where she outright poked at one with the blunt end of her weapon and it did its level best to ignore her existence, rather than defend itself from the annoyance of being prodded. She promptly hit it into the air with her staff and let a nearby pool of boiling water finish the job.

Aile was glad that she could confirm this mysterious behaviour. Sure, she'd had her suspicions for quite some time now, but it was always good to confirm her boundaries against the mavericks. And then, of course, mischievously push the envelope as far as she could get away with. No doubt this odd behaviour was because the not-so mysterious 'boss' of Pandora and Prometheus, Serpent, was behind the attacks. Perhaps the twins had passed on the message, and he feared her Daddy's wrath enough to make sure his mavericks didn't hurt her.

Of course, because she was Aile, an ego trip ensued at this realization. More than a few mavericks ended up meeting some very unfair but hilariously morbid ends. Still. It was a paltry distraction at best. Every action was exhausting due to the heat. Aile gave the pit of flaming death several nasty, dirty looks as she wandered around. She wondered how many tourists had stupidly met their end there. And yup, damn it all, as she waited for her brother to resurface, she got superbly gross and sweaty just as she'd suspected. Eeeewwww. Aile was absolutely getting herself into a river or something after this. Her only consolation was that Vent had spared her from the worst of it by going solo, getting right into the burning underground of Area K. He probably had it a heck of a lot worse than she did right now.

Wait. Boys apparently smelt terrible when they got sweaty, right? Drat it all, she was going to have to tolerate her brother's B.O. for a while, wasn't she? Ugh! The things she did for him!

The next time she saw Vent he looked utterly frustrated, scorched and scuffed up like he'd been in a fight, and practically fuming. Literally. Model F was a fire type biometal, after all. Aile greeted him inquisitively as he got off a tram that had been parked on the other side of the lava pit, "Hey! How'd it go?"

"Fuck that lava section," Vent cursed.

An actual cuss from her brother? Aile couldn't help but grin. She was proud of him! "That bad?"

"I swear, this place better be shut down by tomorrow, or I'm blowing up this dratted nightmare of a tourist trap by myself. Ugh! Worst hot springs ever!" He spat on the ground, which caused them both to grimace when it sizzled. Vent's joking demeanor faded as he frowned, "There was a pseudoroid guarding the area… he told me something that's bothering me."

Aile looked concerned, "Eh? Well spill the beans, what's got you worried?"

"He was there excavating for the Model W I think, yet… he said something. About feeling something else down there. Could some other evil power be buried nearby? Is there another threat below the earth? Another world-ending monstrosity hidden beneath our feet that I'll have to stop?" He sighed, exhausted at the possibility of yet another cataclysm breathing down their necks. "Model W and Serpent alone are almost too much to handle. I'm not gonna be happy if some other ancient evil is just sitting around waiting to be found…"

Aile frowned and looked away. That pseudoroid… if it had dug far below the surface, could it have burrowed deeply enough to have detected her father's presence? Could it have been referring to her dad when it spilled the beans to Vent? "Don't think too much about it, Vent. He was probably just trying to spook you," she reassured him.

"Yeah. Probably," he agreed, perhaps a little too eager to drop the subject, "these pseudoroids, man. What a bunch of characters they are."

She gave him a sympathetic look, "Pretty bad, huh?"

"Not as bad as some delivery clients I've met," Vent joked, "but not exactly friendly, either!"

The siblings and the biometals all had a chuckle at this as they made their way back to base. Burnt gravel and dirt crunched under their feet as Aile hurried them along, pushing her and her brother along as fast as she could without making it too obvious, intent on getting them both cool and cleaned up . She was hot and tired and grumpy. While today could have gone a lot worse, it certainly could have gone a lot better, too. Aile dropped a few hints along the way as she asked about what facilities the Guardians had. She wanted a wash, damn it, and she'd been right on the money when it came to Vent. Her brother definitely stunk.

—-

The moment they got back to base the pair of them beelined for Vent's quarters. As they arrived, Vent set about getting himself a new outfit. He turned to his sister with a smile. "I'll be the gentleman here," Vent offered, "how about you go first while I get our clothes sorted out?"

Aile wasn't polite enough to turn him down. "Absolutely!" She raced into the bathroom without a second thought. The small space was utilitarian, but there were still a few odd knobs or levers that she decided to ignore in the name of expediency. She felt gross and wanted to be clean now. She delicately tested a faucet, then pulled out the tab that had a sort of rainfall symbol on it. The last time she'd washed up in here she'd just splashed her face with some water from the sink. This time she needed a thorough cleansing, so she braved the shower stall. There were a lot of things to get used to in a normal bathroom, but she was too stubborn to ask and determined to figure out most of it for herself. Everyone used showers so it couldn't be that hard to figure out, could it? Aile couldn't help but marvel at this unusual (for her) event. Most of the time she'd only had cold, underground baths in a pool or taken a dip in a river. Her normal version of having a shower was just jumping under a waterfall, or getting soaked by rain during badly-timed forays into the forests of Area A. The whole bathroom thing was a lot more convenient in her opinion. A bit less cold, too.

She took her sweet time washing herself off, partly because she was having a difficult time figuring out if she was using the bathroom right, and partly because she deserved some personal time after the inconvenience of Area K. There was a small commotion outside the bathroom, with low voices and the opening and closing of doors, but Aile couldn't hear much over the water anyways. Still, there was the not-insignificant matter of her forgetting to get clean clothes before she got her old ones soggy yet again. At least this time there was a lot less sweat than before, and a little more soapy water soaking into the fabric from where it was tossed on the shower floor. As Aile finished cleaning herself, she noted to herself that she really needed to go pick up some outfits from home. She scrubbed the ones she had now, a bit like she would if she was taking a river bath, then threw them against a wall with a wet plop. She figured she'd at least get those out of the shower itself before her brother tripped on them. The whole thing was a novel experience for her. Maybe she should hang the clothes over the rail? How was laundry even done on an airship?!

Maybe she'd need Vent's help with a few things after all. "Hey Vent!" She yelled through the door, "how do I dry my old clothes off?"

"Oh, just toss 'em out here! I have a hamper!"

What the hell was a hamper? Ah well. Vent said to toss them out for him to deal with. Not her issue any more, problem solved. Now for the next bit, "You got anything to wear yet? I'm not going out there stark-naked!" Brother or not, the only person she'd trust to see her without clothes on was Daddy. This was mostly because he didn't have the audacity or energy to give a shit about her nudity anymore. He'd already been subjected to the rather embarrassing (and oddly numerous) escapades of a small child who suddenly hated everything she was wearing and wanted nothing to do with the tyranny of clothes. It's not like he hadn't seen it all before.

Ah, childhood. What fond memories!

Vent, thankfully, had her covered once again. "Giro did a little shopping for you and got you some basic stuff. He said he's sorry if he got any of the sizes wrong!" Unbeknownst to Aile, Vent couldn't help smile sadly at the recent memory of his father dropping the articles off. Giro had seemed equal parts exasperated and proud of himself. Considering how much effort shopping must have been when he was still recovering… Giro had difficulty moving, and was certainly not used to having his new cane. Vent was proud of him. Walking itself was an effort for the man now. Vent tried not to think of how much Giro must have suffered.

Aile didn't think of it at all. All she cared was that there were clothes out there. She dried herself off with a nearby towel, using it to cover herself as Vent opened the door a crack to sneak the clothes in. Within short order she was dressed in cute frilly shorts and a plain red shirt with similarly fancy edges on the sleeves. Her opinion of Giro went up a notch, even if the shorts were a little big. He had some style after all!

Vent went into the bathroom after she flounced out of it. She located the 'hamper' he'd been talking about and dumped her drenched clothes in there, content to let someone else do the menial task of washing it. She was startled by a very sudden, very loud yelp from her brother. Aile worried about Vent for a moment, but she didn't hear further complaint, and so let it be. A few minutes later Vent emerged in some clean clothes, smelling a lot better than when he went in. "Geeze sis, you could have warned me you like cold showers instead of hot ones!"

Aile was straight up boggled, "A hot shower!? You can do that?"

Vent blinked owlishly, "Well, uh, yeah?! What did you think the red part of the faucet was for?"

"There's no red part, what are you talking about?"

"The little sun and the ice symbol!" He said, dragging her into the bathroom and pointing at the object in question. Aile shoved herself next to him to look, and suffice to say that the small Guardian showers were not really designed for multiple people. They somehow made it work anyways. Aile glared in offence at the symbols near the tap, "Wait, the sun is for warm water? I thought it was for morning!" Aile sputtered, "Why not use a little flame instead? Like, for hot?!"

"Why would it stand for morning!? What even…?"

"It's an airship, maybe they need to, I dunno, rotate the water to keep it clean? I don't fucking know!"

The two quibbled over the details of faucets. Vent was more than a little baffled that Aile apparently hadn't really come into contact with something as basic as a heated shower before, and Aile herself was more than a little confused at that detail too. But to be fair, she never really stayed in civilized areas long enough to need to use them, and the few times she went into public washrooms, it was usually for nefarious purposes. The last thing she would bother paying attention to is a few dumb taps! How frustrating! She was so frustrated, in fact, that she wasn't really paying attention to where her hands and arms were going. The next thing she knew she'd knocked into something, it moved under her weight, and the shower was back on. Way too hot. With both of them in it.

The pair of them shrieked so loudly that a blonde Guardian, named Hareng, suddenly wrenched open their door with a panicked look on his face as the siblings stumbled back into the bedroom area in sodden clothes. Maybe the situation would have been salvageable if Hareng didn't look into the room, take stock of the situation in less than a minute, then point and laugh at them. And then he brought out a camera. Aile snarled as she grabbed her nearby weapon and chased the no-longer-laughing intruder all the way into a storage room. She only stopped harassing him after the man screeched and scrambled up a pile of boxes faster than a cat up a tree. She huffed, used her staff to punish his low-lying ankle for good measure, then stormed back to her brother's quarters dripping water wherever she went.

None of the Guardians were foolish enough to chastise her for it. At least Sardine, who had followed Aile after she nearly bowled him over halfway through the chase, got a giggle out of it. She figured she would have to be satisfied with that and left in a mollified snit. She also made a note to herself to tell her dad about her escapades… And give him a stern talking to about not educating her in the art of warm showers.

At least it would be a funny story to share later. Nothing made her dad laugh as much as when some idiot got on Aile's bad side.