The first step outwards (Open)

It had been a few weeks since Alyth had packed everything that she was going to take with her up and took the ship she had bought with the munny she had been saving up. In that time, she had written to her brother in the journal he had given her, asking him where she should go first if she were to go exploring the worlds. What he told her was a simple two words: Olympus Coliseum. She had no idea where that was. Thankfully, she didn't need to know. Her ship came with a map of all the known worlds in the universe. She set the coordinates to the Coliseum. That was a few weeks ago. She had arrived within a matter of hours, the only real problem being that it was a boring trip. However, when she finally arrived on the world, she found herself rather surprised. It was familiar, but different. She had very little munny left after she had left Radiant Garden, the ship and the classes to pilot it had taken much of what she had.

Of course, in the time she had been here, she had made back a portion of what she earned via fighting in the coliseum. Unfortunately, it seemed that firearms were banned from use by the no killing rule. Sure, Alyth was fast enough to dart around the battlefield, and mostly she could end a few fights quickly, but the problem was that she was usually going up against people that used heavier weapons than she did. Without her rifle, she was mostly useless and frail. She made it a good few rounds through each tournament that she had taken part in, and that had given her enough munny to have a pretty solid temporary setup at a tavern not far from the center of town.

Of course, it was nowhere near enough, and today it seemed that there were not any events being held. So, Alyth was stuck wandering the town, her backup weapon strapped to her waist as she explored the town more. For a place with such an old sounding name, it was exceedingly modern. However, it was missing two things that she had in Radiant Garden: Radio and Television. The second one was easy to live without. However..she had become far too accustomed to having music on demand. She sighed as she stood in the center of town, looking around. There was really nothing to do. She couldn't find a single place to work, the Coliseum wasn't holding an event as far as she knew..this was shaping up to be a boring day.

There had been many occasions where Felicity had visited the Coliseum. The greater part of those visits were to compete in the tournaments, which she never really won. She would simply disappear midway, and there were rumors that she was purposefully doing it because she was either sick, or her opponent had paid her so they could get one tier higher. In truth, she had simply lost interest since her matches were rarely entertaining for her, or that she got a call to deploy somewhere.

She was a fan of the bloodsport, that much was certain, although she had to admit that enforcing the no killing rule had made matches a bit of a bore. She had to tone down her ferocity, which was more of a challenge than anything else. What bothered her was that her opponents were holding back as well, afraid that they too would accidentally break the rule. She'd tell them not to hold back, but some people were still stuck with the mentality that women can't take proper hits. With those kinds of people, her matches were suspiciously quick. Her irritation with them made her forget about holding back, but she had the mind to aim for strikes to knock them out quickly before she accidentally killed them.

She had been scarcely seen for the past ten years now, and only a few people would recognize her, which she was grateful for. She hated being crushed in the crowd of people. And back when she was a regular visitor to this world, those who closely watched the tournaments would always swarm around. She wondered if the people were still acting like that around the good fighters. It definitely would help her find capable people to recruit.

"Looks like we're out of luck today. The arena doesn't seem to be holding any fights, so I guess our plans are put on hold," Cecile said. She was a woman standing around the same height as Felicity, had long blond hair tied into a ponytail with riding goggles on her head. She was a medic, alluded by the red cross on her collar. In the past, Felicity worked alone, only letting close 'friends' come with her. Cecile was the only exception. Like Felicity, Cecile was difficult to work with. She'd still do her job, fixing up the people needing to be fixed, but she was always distant and preferred to be left to her devices unless it was an emergency.

As good as Felicity was, she had been wounded severely on a number of occasions, and it was Cecile who always patched her up. But neither of them considered each other as friends, just people doing their jobs. That was until Felicity returned the favor by getting the medic out of the crossfire. It was a long story.

"We got a month. We'll be fine," Felicity replied. The duo weren't dressed like civilians. It was clear that they were the mercenary types just by the way they walked. Felicity was covered in her full attire with only her head left bare. She wasn't wearing her gas mask. It was strapped onto her left shoulder, which kinda made it look like a stylized shoulder guard. She only seemed to be carrying a knife which was strapped onto her thigh. Cecile had a knife on the same place and a pistol holstered at her side. On her belt were a number of satchels, presumably her medical equipment.

With their plans put on hold, they were strolling around the city. It was a nice break from all the tech, but nothing interesting seemed to be happening aside from street performers and a guy who was selling sundials. They were going to retreat back to the ship to rest, until Felicity spotted someone she saw from the area a few days ago. She waved to the girl with a brown mop of hair and violet eyes. "You were in the arena a few days ago, weren't you?" she'd say casually. She could be mercenary material. She did well enough, but far from the best out of all she saw, but there was potential.

Alyth had caught the wave out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, she turned to face the other woman, Alyth was admittedly shocked to have been approached so casually about her rather lackluster record in the arena. If you mean to ask if I was the one who got my ass kicked a couple days ago, then yeah. It's been a bit of a bitch to fight in the arena since they said I can't bring my guns in. She said, grumbling the last bit. She was rather bitter about it still. She was a very good shot, and the fact that they didn't let her bring in the weapon that she was the most proficient with really did irritate her. Sure, she could have brought in a weapon like a throwing knife. But then, that required her to be stronger than she was to actually make them worth the cost. Still, she had seen a few of this woman's matches. She was a terrifying physical fighter, definitely someone she would want to have her gun to fight.

But then, that left a question in her mind. If she had seen her battles, and this woman had obviously seen a few of hers..why was she approaching her? Maybe because it was obvious that her forte wasn't melee combat. And with those combat fatigues..something told her that this woman's profession had something to do with why she was such an adept physical fighter. But then, if you saw my fight, that begs the question of what you're asking me for? You've seen that i'm not that hot with a melee weapon, no? She asked, tilting her head as she looked back and forth, her eyes shifting between the brunette and the blonde.

It was a rather valid question. She wasn't terribly strong, so she was only so effective with a sword like what she was toting. It was literally named plan b because that's what it was. A fallback weapon. Something to make her not useless at close range, or in places where her shotgun would be too dangerous or unweildly. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about this whole situation was..off. Maybe it was the fact that these women had approached her out of nowhere. Maybe it was the fact that the brunette was wearing combat fatigues. Hell, maybe it was that she opened up by asking if she had been in the arena the past few days. She didn't quite know, but she did know that something about all of this seemed to be more than just coincidence.

For now, she'd ride this one out, see where things led. Hell, if she got lucky, maybe she'd end up with some way to make more munny than what she had. It'd be a nice change of pace to actually have munny.

Guns? Right. Most of the locals would have been decimated if they'd allow guns into the arena. Probably afraid of accidental deaths too, since that is the purpose of a gun. Even if they used non-lethal rounds, a shot to the wrong spot could still be fatal, and with the majority of the combatants preferring close-quarters, point blank shots were bound to be a common sight. It was a shame, really. She could have shown people how to take down someone who only relied on their guns.

"Whoever said I was asking you for anything? I was simply saying hello to another gladiator," she'd say with a scoff, though she didn't mean anything by it. "You looked familiar, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't mistaking you for someone else."

While the two of them were talking, the medic was looking her over to get the woman's estimated fitness. "She seems to be in good shape," Cecile said. "Why not let her fill one of the slots so we can get this job over."

Felicity raised a brow as she sized the woman up, but she lacked the enthusiasm Cecile had. There was a pause as she debated with herself to consider letting the woman aboard. They had a mission queued up. It wasn't urgent, but she wasn't the type to actively delay deployment. But they were short on people at the moment, and she wanted a few friendly faces before heading out. 'Friendly' here meaning that they wouldn't shoot her in the back when she turned around, or would at least try to get along before doing so.

"You said you used guns, right? Which gun are you most comfortable with?"

As the other two women went back and forth, Alyth couldn't help but blink. So the feeling she got from them wasn't inaccurate. They did seem to be mercenaries. In fact, the blonde mentioned possibly taking her along, which earned a second hard blink. However, when she was asked what type of gun she was most familiar with, Alyth couldn't help but grin, holding her left hand out, the space rippling as her favorite weapon, the sniper rifle Bianca appeared, her hand wrapping around the rectangular barrel. I happen to be the most comfortable with the rifle, particularly the sniper rifle. She said as she slung the weapon across her shoulder, Plan B disappearing as she looked back between the two women.

But, I'm also proficient with the shotgun, should I be forced to come into closer ranges. She added after a moment, shifting her weight back and forth between her feet nervously. She hadn't been expecting to be approached to fill a slot in a job for a mercenary group, and it was quite obvious when one looked at her. But..that didn't change the fact that she seemed to be excited at the prospect of it. It was something that would kill her boredom and give her more practice with moving targets. She could hit them far more often than she missed, but complicated movements would still throw her off. Still, she supposed it wasn't up to her, it was up to the two of them to decide if she could tag along or not. If she could, then maybe today would be interesting after all.

"A shotgun is a gun for the blind. Anyone can claim to be proficient with it. But you'll get the chance to show us if you're better with your rifle than with your sword however." It was actually a good thing that she was a sniper. That meant that Felicity didn't have to keep an eye on her as much. Though they already had a sniper lined up, she reckoned that with another scope, they were more likely to spot dangers that the ground team couldn't see. Plus, it made the ground team much smaller in size and so less likely to be spotted.

"Alright, I'll let you tag along. Come with us. We need to give you some gear so we can remain in touch." She turned to the left and followed the main street out, where she landed her shuttle. But while they were walking there, she turned to the new recruit and asked, "Have you ever killed someone before? Heartless don't count. I mean real, living, breathing people."

Whatever she answered with, it wasn't going to affect whether or not she could still come with them. Felicity just wanted to know if she could rely on her to kill any hostiles they may encounter along the way, or if she'd be better off marking targets for the others to take down.

As she was told that she could tag along, Alyth nodded quickly, standing for a moment before picking up her pace to follow after the two women. She knew that this wasn't just something she could breeze through. She had to be willing to harm, or even kill another. It was something she had long since made peace with.

However, she was not asked if she was okay with killing another. Instead, she was asked a more pertinent question: Had she taken a life before? The answer was that to date, she hadn't had to kill..yet. So, after a moments pause, she shook her head.

Not yet. But I do realize that won't be true for my whole life. At some point, I will need to kill, will I not? She asked as she looked around. They seemed to be in a less populated area now. She could don her armor without issue now. So, without a word, the very fabric of space around her seemed to ripple as she became covered from head to toe in her "Stalker" armor, the hood of it keeping her protected from the sun, even if the color choice absorbed heat, it kept the rays themselves out of her eyes.

Her jaw itself was covered by a metal half mask of some sort, while the remainder of her body was covered in combat armor. She seemed to be very well prepared, for someone who had never taken the life of another before.

"When you're in a business like this, you are going to have to eventually." As she finished talking, she noticed the other woman's change of clothes. Well, she looked the part even if she were still green. The very least, she could intimidate people to get them to surrender without even having to lift her rifle. Her tone would need a little work if she was going for that route.

Felicity took out a device from her pocket and fiddled around with it. When a faint beep was heard, she placed it back. A short while later, a swarm of faint lights danced around the sky in front of them and lowered to ground level. They were close enough to hear the sound of hydraulics, and a somewhat strong gust of wind wash past them. Felicity and Cecile shielded their eyes until the gust died down. The lights disappeared, and metal plates seemed to just phase into existence, eventually revealing the form a small shuttle.

The ramp at the back opened and revealed the pilot. His facial features were hidden behind the visor on his helmet, and after Felicity waved to him, he returned to the cockpit. Cecile went ahead and removed a small case from one of the cabinets.

Meanwhile, Felicity turned to their newly hired recruit and asked her, "You could wait here or some other world since the mission's not due for a while. Or you could come with us and wait alongside the other guys we hired for this. Either you're already signed up."

Well, at least she had made a valid point. It was true, you couldn't expect to get very far in a business like what she was finding herself wrapped up in without having to kill someone. She nodded quietly. It was an opinion she could at least agree with. She wasn't a naive girl, despite how recently she left her own world. She had seen quite a bit in her short few weeks. Still, as they walked, Alyth tried and failed to get a read on the two women she was going to be working with. It was strange. Most of the civilians here were fairly easy to get a read on after spending just a little bit around, and usually most people gave enough to go on to at least give you some idea what would annoy them and what would at least keep the peace. These two were different.

It was a..odd situation she found herself in. However, when they stopped, Alyth instinctively did so as well. And yet, when she saw Felicity pull out a small device, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow until the dancing of the lights in the sky just barely managed to catch her attention. She looked to the direction of the light, but actively had to look away mere moments after. The gale that was created by whatever that device had done was actually rather annoying, as it was kicking up dust and small amounts of tiny debris. Once the wind died down, the young woman had to admit, it was rather impressive seeing their mode of transportation. It had some kind of invisibility field. Interesting. She'd have to see if she could get that for her own ship at some point.

However, her attention was suddenly drawn back to the woman that had hired her for this job when she spoke to her, asking how she wanted to go through with this. Would she go hang out on some different world until it was time, remain on the world until she was contacted, or go with them to where they needed to go? All of the options had their own merits. The first option was good as it gave her a chance to explore the other worlds a bit more, while the second option gave her more time to prepare. However, she found that she liked the third option the most, as it gave her a chance to try and get a read on her group perhaps just a bit better than she had right now. So, after a brief moment to think it over, she decided, smiling behind her mask.

I think the best option would be to come with. We can get the job done much more quickly if we all can meet up at once. With any luck, we won't have to wait on anybody, right? She said with a slight tilt of her head, her eyes glinting a bit with some kind of..anticipation? Yeah. She was excited. This was her first real taste of danger, of exploration. It was something that got her excited rather quickly.

She was a sensible girl. Felicity liked that. Because nothing was worse for a mercenary than their own naivety. That quiet nod was at least a sign that she understood what she was saying, and that was good enough for her. This girl could be a potential asset to the group, but she has yet to prove herself.

Cecile took her seat behind the pilot and the sound of locks clicking open could be heard just before she took some medicine.

With the girl's decision to come with them, Felicity nodded and invited her into the shuttle. "Feel free to take any of the seats." There were six seats in all, not including the two in the cockpit. The seats were arranged the same way as an armored transport. Three seats on each side of the craft for easy deployment. Hand rails were fastened on the ceiling for any additional people, and those who wanted to look cool by just standing while the craft took off. The latter group of people always looked foolish more than anything, and the pilot made it especially difficult for them by making sharp turns. It made things lively at least.

Felicity sat across to Cecile, who was returning the case to where she found it. Both of them strapped in, and the pilot started up shuttle again once the ramp closed. "You ladies strapped in tight?"

"Yeah."
"Yeah."

"How about you, recruit?"

When she was invited to take a seat, Alyth gave a quick nod, following the two women into the ship, watching and mirroring their movements, successfully strapping herself in rather quickly, and just in time, as she was also asked if she was strapped in. She found herself quickly patting down what she could only refer to as a seatbelt, sighing in relief when it didn't outright unbind her from just a bit of tugging. Yeah! She said, her voice carrying quite easily to the cockpit as she slipped Bianca off of her shoulder, opening the breech and checking the clip for any imperfections. Just a single glance at the rifle showed that she took immense care of her weapons. The rifle itself was exquisite-for a rifle meant for the average person to be capable of using. Of course, it was more that Alyth wasn't an idiot. She knew the general idea of how to make and take care of most types of firearm and blade. Go through the same class enough times, eventually something will stick.

The other two would likely be grateful that their new recruit wasn't talking much though. Maybe they thought that she wasn't exactly chatty, maybe they thought she was strange. But, Alyth knew for a fact that they wouldn't be feeling the same tension she was. She was an amateur working among professionals. She had every right to be nervous, didn't she? She had no idea what she was getting into. All she knew was that someone was going to die. Maybe even multiple people if there was security detail. She would be responsible for these deaths. She understood this, but still. She knew that she would likely come off as sloppy when compared to the pros at this. That alone made her rather tense. There were a million different things on her mind, and it showed in the almost mechanical checking and maintenance of her rifle. No matter how things might change, the rifle never did. It was something she could fall back on when she got really nervous. For now, they would ride in silence though.

With all passengers strapped in, the craft shook as the humming thrusters lifted the whole thing off the ground, kicking up dirt and some loose blades of grass into the wind. The people inside could see a bubble just outside encircling the ship in its entirety. From the outside, this bubble made the ship invisible to the naked eye, and when they got to the skies, no trace of it could be seen.

The pilot panned the ship towards the city, giving his passengers one final view before they left the world's atmosphere. All the people down there looked like little army men toys one would find in a thrift shop, and as they got farther and farther, they were only tiny dots of color. As they exited the atmosphere, the outside of the ship looked to be on fire, and that made a smirk appear on Felicity's face.

"Don't get out of your straps yet, we're going into hyper speed in 3... 2... 1..." the pilot counted down as the ship escaped the world's gravitational pull. Upon the end of his countdown, he pulled on a lever and everything outside seemed to simply streak past them. It only lasted for a couple of seconds before everything in the background became almost stationary again. Not too far ahead, a ship the size of a cruise ship could be seen.

"Alright, Ladies, we'll be docking in 15 minutes. It's safe to unbuckle your seat belts now, but do keep a grip on the handrails in case we get pummeled by an asteroid."

Felicity looked to the recruit, then towards the ship. "That's the Richter. Guess you can think of it as our command ship."

Alyth hadn't paid much attention to what was being said by the pilot. She was focused on her weapon. She scrubbed and scrubbed down the barrel through the bore with the particular brush she needed to keep the weapon maintained. It was almost to the point of being a seamless, fluid action. She went through at least three rounds of cleaning before she had been interrupted from her focus by the woman who had brought her on this trip speaking up. Her head snapped to attention rather quickly, listening intently as she allowed both her rifle and the brush to vanish into nothing. When she mentioned a ship however, that was the first time that Alyth had taken the time to actually look out one of the windows. She had to admit, what she saw was rather impressive.

She cleared her throat as she spoke for the first time since they had taken off, which hadn't exactly been a long time, if one really thought about it. I see. I can't see much in the way of detail, but judging by the size, I'm willing to hazard the guess that its a..rather impressive ship, no? She asked as she tilted her head, strangely calm considering just a few moments ago her nerves had been shot. Granted, she had to have patience of some kind, having specialized in long range sniping.

Still, everyone had a line before their nerves took hold, and hers had been at the prospect of working with professionals in this field. And yet, now that they were in space, she seemed to be strangely at home. She spent so much time training to use its power that to be surrounded by something so familiar..it did wonders for her nerves. She could actually think now. With that, she realized that she had a few questions. With that, she glanced at each of the two women. So. Where exactly are we all going after we meet up, and what will we be doing? She asked quite bluntly. She wanted to at least have some idea of what her role was going to be before they got there, and what exactly would be going on. She would be ready for whatever they were going to be doing.