D
Dekonic
Guest
Original poster
In Memoriam `Tsubaki Amamiya`
The familiar gravestone had haunted those violet eyes for the last year, every passing minute a constant reminder of what had happened. Every passing minute a solidification of the goal that she'd taken on that fateful day. A large part of her personality crumbled to the darkness taking on more devilish traits. The normally quirky and hyperactive female was much more solemn and lonely. She became even more cantankerous and fanatical about Aragami and her mission in the new unit created specifically for the monsters that had taken her mother away. Her mission success rate remained at a steady ninety-nine percent with only her very first missions being a retreat. That was the only day the mist had won over her aggressive and competitive nature. Even in the face of death was she ever imprudent and pushed her body beyond the limits. Time and time again Minerva has battled against Aragami with ferocity unseen in most God Eaters, butchering small and medium-sized like lamb to the slaughter. Being the first of the newer generation placed a great burden across her shoulders. That burden weighing down upon her frame like stones and boulders, the invisible chip on her should creating even more stress. Too valuable Fenrir said, we can't lose someone like you. Politics never interested Minerva, there was too much of that in Fenrir. Greed continued to ruin humanity even in the face of such powerful and despicable entities. Money was just too important. More important lives and more important than missions.
"Hey… Mom." Minerva drug her fingers across the engraved marble with a saddened sigh. "It's been awhile I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to talk with you one last time but I know there's no way you'll ever hear these words let alone respond. It's…" Her breath hitched with the painful tightening of chest that always came with mental pain as deep as this. "You raised me to be a soldier who obeyed orders and slaughter the enemies of humanity. You watched me grow from a small child into a blossomed woman. We argued and fought like a real mother and daughter would. I disobeyed orders to save lives, went against authority to ensure victory. I was… well I still am a hotheaded and passionate about what I do, but only because I wanted to make you proud. You always stood by my side, even when the Court of Inquiry wanted to strip me of my God Eater rank." There was another pause of silence, violet eyes shielding by heavy lids as Minerva drew in another heavy, shaky breath. Several Fenrir personnel passed on by with silent eyes watching the red-head. She'd received notoriety through the last year of missions, taken on the Mist head one, nearly dying on every perilous mission her 'unit' had been dispatched on. "I know you're always watching down on me and making sure I get home safely. Thank you, for everything. I'm sorry I didn't respect you as much as I should have. I…"
The sudden sound of blaring alarms like nails on chalkboard broke here monologue, the voice of a familiar operator blasting through the halls.
Mist confirmed in the abandoned sector- City of Mercy. I repeat Mist has been confirmed! Unit 1 retreat!
Minerva's eyes widened with an aloof gasp, the sound of shock and desperation shattering her moment as she sped away from the gravestone without finishing her conversation and entering the combat analysis room. All eyes turned to the white armlet, the face accompanying the rare sight set on determination. "Sit-Rep." Her voice was lower than before, much more abrasive and demanding as violet orbs burned a hole through her mother's replacement. Hibari Takeda had long been with Fenrir and a loyal operator to the cause. However, she now took the post of lead command in the deployment center while the other operators took her position. "Kota, Erina and Emil successfully evacuated. The trainees…" Minerva turned her back, boots clacking against the metallic flooring with decisiveness. "Minerva…" The red-head turned her head just enough for the shadowed eyes to reveal welling tears, her lips pulled apart to show clenched teeth. "Deploying Mist Special Forces Unit, E.T.A ten minutes. We've lost contact with the trainees. Unit one please continue your exfil." Minerva entered the elevator and pressed three buttons and waited for the obnoxiously slow shaft to drag down to the bottom floor.
The familiar scenery of the engagement room where all the God Arcs of active members were stored was always a bitter-sweet sight. The slender frame moved towards the console, inserting her armlet and waltzing over to the lowering container. This would be her first mission with the new weapon, a peerless white Buster Blade from the reinforced line, lined in purple along the edge and clubbing portions. A buckler shield rested peaceful in the same coloring while her sniper attachment was entirely purple, all from the same reinforced line. Her right hand gripped the hilt with a warm smile, like greeting an old friend to the war once more. The weapon was light, limber and almost alive as she practiced a few swings and circular movements. Fluid movements of swings into perfect shields. She brought her free hand to her ear, pressing the minuscule communication piece into place and checking the line. "Minerva ready to deploy, moving to launch pad." There was silence on the other end, nothing needed to be said to this huntress. It was all in routine, the same unappetizing routine. She stepped onto the helicopter, sliding her God Arc into the nearby holder and slamming her body against the seatback. Hurry her voice screamed I must get there in time. No more die on my watch. This was her fight, the ones that took her mother would pay dearly.
Approaching target destination. Deploy in thirty seconds. Minerva snapped from the uncomfortable holding spot, gripping her God Arc and starring down at the distant land. Everything looked so peaceful and calm. She counted down in her head. Fifteen. The world was so different from this view, nothing mattered this far away. Ten. But deep-down Minerva knew there were monstrosities waiting in the black mist. Five. Her eyes spotted two little ants frantically sprinting from the engulfing mist. And drop. Minerva turned and fell backwards from the helicopter into a straight-on dive to the earth. Balls of black energy hurled from the mist towards the growing ants. A male trainee tripped, staring up towards the mist with horrified eyes and a blackened paw struck from within, lightning fast. The dust cleared as the male trainee opened his eyes to a smiling female holding bright violet eyes. Her right arm cocked in a ninety-degree angle with her Buster Blade pointed downwards behind her back, buckler shield deployed and holding the massive paw in place. "Get out of here, I'll take it from here." The male trainee wasted no more time sprinting towards the hovering helicopter just as the black mist devoured the rest of the area. Minerva pushed the paw of and spun with a vicious rising slash, her blade covered in thick purple energy and smacking whatever was attached to the paw several feet away.
"Minerva here, contact with a Dyaus Pita subtype." Minerva moved fearlessly through the haze, watching the blurred movement of her enemy dance. Had it not been for the disgusting nature of Aragami they'd be interesting creatures to study. Their own purpose was to devour and to destroy, and Minerva was the reaper coming for her souls. Another quick paw came from the left, meeting the shield of Minerva in the same position and another violent uprising of her blade making contact with the beast's face and shattering the bond like butter. Here comes the hard part. The Dyaus Pita screamed in agony, clearly pissed about the situation and activating its enraged mode. Black lightning shattered the ground for several hundred meters. The lashing wing slammed into Minerva before she could react toppling her frame and sending her body crumbling into the nearby wall. Blood spilled from her nose and lips, coughing lungs bringing forth even more crimson liquid. Normally such a beast would be taken down by at least a group of four veteran God Eaters, but Minerva was the only one, currently, that could fight within the mist. There had been others that passed but those members had yet to be assigned to Mist. She wiped away the excess crimson and rolled to the right avoiding several balls of black lightning. Once more the beast had been upon her with righteous fury, swiping down meeting the metal of her buckler shield. Clattering metal and alien muscles strained against one another before Minerva lowered the shield and fired a round off from her sniper using the pushback to create distance from the beast. She slid behind rubble nearby, hoping to catch a break as beaded sweat profusely dripped from her body. Ringing words of a distant family member crossed her mind as they always did when she had been in dire trouble.
'You have three orders: Don't die. If your number's up, get out. Lastly, hide. If you're lucky, catch the enemy off guard and blast it. Wait, is that 4?'
Like a mantra of sorts, Minerva recited the words in her head several times trying to settle her nerves and batter away the itching sensation of vengeance. Rash decisions only get you killed Tsubaki said after her first mission and for the most part those words of wisdom stuck in a large way. She had settled down her breathing, the stamina returning ever so slowly until the moment of truth arose and she leapt into the air. The sheened white metal glowed a violet color as her body descended. "Activate Link Support!" In a sudden moment, her body erupted in a yellow light, her God Arc covered in violet and purple energy as she screamed down upon the Dyaus Pita unleashing a vicious Skull Crusher upon the beast. Black lightning seemed to settle following the Pita's collapse to the ground, Minerva breathing heavy and covered in cuts and crimson. The beast clambered to its feet with a violet lurch to the sides. Minerva was at her limit once again with the beast in front of her looking like an iron wall not quite ready to fall. Before she could react, the blazing fast tail whipped across her stomach sending her crashing into the rubble once more. The guttural scream that erupted from Minerva was silenced immediately as the Pita came down upon her with both paws. The sheened buckler held Pita at bay with violet eyes shivering in rage, refusing to give up and refuting the beasts attack with a sudden flash grenade with her free hand. Using the leverage from another snipe round Minerva used the motion of her God Arc shifting to blade form to flip her upright. She watched the Pita scream, and charge forward with some sort of devilish grin across the disturbing face. Wait, her mind rattled off while the beast continued to charge forth without hesitation. "Burst duration almost over!" The voice of Hibari rung out like a gunshot but Minerva didn't move. Wait. In one sudden moment of blackened haze and split dust Minerva spun on her heels meeting the wing of the barren beast with her buckler, twisting with a vicious rising slash claiming the Pita's life with one more Final Vengeance.
The dust settled to the Earth, one God Eater standing tall in the mist. She pointed the God Arc forward and unleashed her devour upon the monstrosity, leaving behind scraps. "Minerva reporting in, target eliminated, send extraction team to the edge of the mist. Over." She shouldered the weapon in triumph, limping away from the battle. That was careless she told herself, replaying the battle again in her mind. It could have been over so fast, you need to tighten that defense. Strengthen your core and stop being so reckless. Had it not have been for that subtype being so freshly formed you would be dead. Aragami are dangerous and your luck can't keep protecting you. You know that. She shook her head to the side several times trying to force the inward lecture to cease. Thankfully, it took only a few minutes for the helicopter to gather the worn God Eater and depart back towards the Far East Branch. There was radio static once Minerva and the crew within the chopper at nearly been at home base, Hibari's voice cutting through the static with a message. "Minerva, when you get back I need you in the Combat Anaylsis room for a Mist Special Forces meeting." Minerva cocked her head to the side, asking a question without even thinking about her tone. "Why?" Silence claimed the air, she came off a bit rude but Takeda knew Minerva better than almost anyone. "You're meeting four new members of Mist Special Forces." Violet eyes widened at the news, a small grimace turning into a wide smile as that quirky personality returned from the depths of madness for only a moment. "Awesome! Four new 4th generations? I'll need to shower, so I don't look like death!"
The chopper hadn't even landed before red-hair whipped against open wind and her feet landed on the helipad, rushing forward towards the elevator hoping she could get a quick shower in before meeting with the new members. Anything is better than that other red-head! She hadn't been fond of Isaac even though he did his job and she could always rely on him in the field. The elevator crawled downwards until coming to the M.S.F section, luxurious housing divided into small pods, six in total. Each pod held the necessities for comfortable living with a terminal in the corner, sectional couches for guests and a large bed made for two people on the remaining corner. A sink and large wraparound counter top slunk around the sectional across the room on the inner half. Beneath the counter were cabinets of assorted items and a miniature fridge for rationed drinks and food. None of this mattered as Minerva disrobed and hopped into the personal shower attached to her room. Boiling water cleaned the crimson from her body, the wounds beginning to heal thanks to the superb P99 Bias Factor, though the pain beneath them would remain for days, possibly weeks. After the quick shower, she stepped into the room with a towel covering her, looking at the uniform already sprawled out across the bed. "Dammit Hibari I told you I could take care of myself…" It had been nearly a year since her mother passed and even then, Minerva was entirely independent, and yet that red-head always had her back. She couldn't help but to smile as she begun dressing herself.
First was the undergarments, plain underwear and bras – fancier items had been a thing of the past, there was no time and no place to display your sexual agenda. Not for this female at least. She pulled on the pants white formal slacks with tan pockets on either side of her knees to hold flash grenades and other necessities for the job. With socks on she pulled the brown boots over the pant legs and laced them skin-tight, making sure nothing would slip off. She slipped on pseudo-turtleneck sweater that had been cutoff just above the bellybutton. The coloring was an off-tan as she slung the jacket over the sweater, a darker brown to match the boots with the collar being white, trailing down to the back of her arms and just above her breasts. The cuffs were rolled back to accommodate the large armlet, the final piece being brown fingerless gloves to protect her hands. She took a quick one over in the mirror, admiring the Fenrir plate that had been adorned to the back of the jacket before exiting the private room into the small gathering center placed between the six pods. It was a typical family-gathering room with a table and enough seating for twelve people to convene near the large television. Such luxuries were nice at the end of the day but Minerva knew deep down those distractions only took her attention away from the problem and thus she didn't often join in on those activities. She pulled the jacket taught and made sure the collar was straight and erect before calling the elevator to the combat analysis room. The elevator opened to a nearly empty room, five standing frames with their back to her and Hibari just in front of them, the latter of which tossed a lukewarm smile to Minerva. "It seems like your captain has joined us. Introduce yourself, please Captain."
Minerva stepped down from the elevator until she was standing next to Hibari, holding a slight grin as she looked over the new recruits. One of them looked familiar, almost obnoxiously long blue-hair accompanied with a familiar uniform of the Cradle Unit. She couldn't quite recall the name but Lindow always spoke highly of her, a small smile and nod from Minerva as she moved onto the next member. Another female, just a few centimeters taller than herself with such an innocent and adorable appearance. Dark maroon hair and oddly colorized eyes almost like that of a cat. Never judge a book by the cover, Minerva. She lived by those words and would look forward to this girl's potential on the battlefield. Not everyone was capable of being a 4th-type and that carried weight enough to warrant a position on the unit. Just as she did with the blue-haired beauty Minerva smiled and nodded at red-hair. Yet another female in the lineup, several centimeters taller than herself with shorter black hair and oddly tipped ends in blood red. She looks like I did when I first joined Fenrir. It was odd, almost like looking in a mirror but not seeing your true face reflected across the silvered glass. Her eyes lingered for a few minutes on the black-haired female until Minerva turned a color of crimson, realizing her eyes lingered far too long and moved on to the final member of the squad. A male with a fair complexion and beautiful turquoise eyes, almost like a normal person should be. After her visual inspection, she drew in a heavy sigh and began the boring part of the job, something she never had to do as she always turned down promotions.
"My name is Minerva Evelyn O'Connell Captain of the Mist Special Forces. I've been with Fenrir for almost ten years. I was a member of the First unit up until about a year ago when I was the first to be capable with P99. Each and everyone one of you is now a part of the squadron designated to target and eliminate Psions and combat the Mist Aragami. I don't care for the title thing so just call me Minerva, and we'll get along just fine. Take pride in the fact that you've all stepped up and taken a risk to be a bastion of humanity. " She stopped suddenly, turning towards Hibari with a questionable expression. After a long minute, she spoke again with a shrug. "If you have any questions I will be in the lounge. If not feel free to acquaint yourself with the Branch if you've not been here before. Our quarters are on the fifteenth floor and you'll find your housing pod already assigned. That's all, I guess." With a subtle wave and grimaced embarrassment Minerva left the group and entered the lounged just to the left. She hadn't been the best speaking and never was a solidified leader. She could only hope to bring about the imagery Tsubaki saw within her. She took a chair next to the largest table possible, waving to Mutsumi while she simply waited for the meet and great section of this awkward medium to be finish. There were Aragami to kill and lives to save. Wasting time one something so meaningless was beyond her, but Tsubaki always said… Your teammates will be family. Without them you are nothing. Without you they are lost. Be the leader you need to be for yourself, for humanity and for them.
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