Λbscence

[Bears]

The lass was smart not to trust him completely, but he hoped his grappling hook was a decent enough offering. Only time could tell if this partnership would work out between them, but Diederick was hopeful. Still, he decided he'd hold out from showing them all his tricks but only because he might need them to escape if things suddenly went south.

"Jesus...Goliath you can at least give them a little bit of a chance." Diederick laughed lightly, amusement flickering in his eye as he lowered his rifle. But then the sound of more rushing footsteps filled the wair and out of instinct, Diederick reacted quicker than he wanted his companions to know he was capable of. He shot three men dead and intended to shoot some more before a sudden metal door took up the entirety of his sights.

He lowered his rifle and the old man let out a long whistle. "Or you could do that too, I suppose." Diederick turned back forward, laughing once more. When the sharpshooter came up to Nork, he reached up with his metal arm to pat the shoulder of his new coworker. "Keep it up, bud."

Calm despite the brewing storm just one metal doorway away, he then turned to the woman and nodded. "Getting out of this shit hole sounds like a good idea to me--just lead the way, darlin."

 

[rissa]

She stood there, hands raised slightly, obscuring the blade hidden within her sleeve. Quintana looked calm, calculated, but her eyes were angry. There were many a things she didn't appreciate and having a gun trained on her was definitely high on that list. Her eyes alternated between the two officials, documenting the scene with cameras and the woman in charge, the woman who thought it wise to point a gun at her.

On instinct she reached inside, tapping into the well of power deep inside her. She felt the heat flow through her bones, her being as a whole... and then she dug deeper, searching the emotional climate of her surroundings. Unlike before, bright spots of emotional energy registered across her range and she took an involuntary stepped back, momentarily overwhelmed. Quin acclimated quickly and noted a bright spot of guilt coated fear just before a man placed something against the officer in charge.

The look he gave them was easy enough to interpret, despite not knowing his intentions. Quin reached for the offered gun and she pushed Merrill forward a bit, raising the gun as she did. "Up the stairs, take the kid with ya."

She pulled the trigger, once. The room was small, no real need to aim. Twice. She didn't know if they were kill shots, she didn't really care, but blood blossomed from both of their uniforms.

That, of course, was when Merrill fully realized that this was hell in a hand-basket, and the handle was creaking.

Really, Merrill had seen death before tonight, before the colossus and his neck-wrenching, and before the cold, callous kill-shots of her new compatriot. She had been, admittedly, indirectly complicit in a few - she had baited a few past pursuers into fiery deaths during Cerberus chases, she had heard distant gunshots as a result of her various heists. But she looked away, always. Never before did she see the very life rise up and waft through bullet-holes before the final moment.

Merrill fed off the momentum from Quintana's push, allowing herself to come across their new ally. He was. She was... he was? He was pretty. And pretty people brought out the worst/best in Merrill.

"Trust me, this really isn't normally my scene."

Gah... so much was happening, it was so hard to take in. But a certain word did manage to catch his attention in this carnage. 'Kid'? For some reason, Grant felt a little indignant in the moment. He was a twenty year old man, who'd been perfectly capable of paying taxes, and h-

-*BLAM!* *BLAM!*

Nevermind.

His body flinching at the sound of bullets and bodies slumping behind him, he didn't even want to know if the other two policemen had survived or not. Neither did he want to think about it. In this new world of crime, he truly was just a 'kid'. Pulling the trigger and remaining calm whilst doing it was something he never saw himself being able to do.

Escorted by the younger of the two women, from her signature smiley face shirt, her loose carefree clothing, and a showing of some sort of panic on her face, the young man could tell he wasn't being escorted by some kind of 'ruthless criminal'.

...She was kinda nice-looking, too.

"N-no, that's... I understand. We've really been forced into a corner here." Grant quietly mumbled in reply to her assurance, adjusting his glasses in a mixture of panic and from being in a fluster. He still didn't really know if he was dealing with 'good people' here or not, but he supposed it didn't really matter. Was he himself even a 'good person' at this point? With a new goal, he supposed it didn't even matter.

"Man... t-this is so fucked..."

He scraped his tongue against the edges of his teeth in some sort of effort to calm himself down.

"I-I was... well, I'll keep it brief. I came because of a fruit. I don't really care who gets it, if it's become a race. I'm only interested on the 'type' of fruit, and the powers it's able to obtain. I just... need to 'check' if it can..." Grant hurriedly explained, a hint of sadness evident within his tone, as he tagged along with the blonde-haired girl.

"Well, that doesn't matter. What matters is how we're getting out of here." Grant cocked his head slightly, pushing up his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "...D-did you two already have a plan?"

"Yeah," Quin replied as she stalked forward. "It's called gettin' the fuck outta here."

She bent down and raided the officer whose gun she clenched in her palm. There were two extra clips and Quintana grabbed them both, along with a few items she didn't immediately recognize. Stuffing them into her pockets, she thought a moment -- and then brought the butt of the gun across the officer's temple. The woman was already out, sure… but how long would that last? Longer until they got free from whatever was happening above?

Quintana didn't like chances. Not at all.

"Follow me then." Quin said, raising the gun as she made her way up the stairs and into the maddening quiet above.

---

Part 1: A Collab with @rissa @Shizuochan & @Jakers

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

Robert Junker had been laying low on one of the lower levels of a fire escape inside an alley by the time the chaos started really hitting off. He kept himself close to the thin shadow that the thin sheets of metal provided him on either side as he surveyed his options in his head while simultaneously lighting a cigarette figuring he'd really need it right about now to get him through this mess. The east gate is where you can find the finish line but getting there is gonna be a minefield from both the police and the rest of the underworld bearing down on that location. Quick and fast would be ideal...but I'm bound to catch myself in a conflict if I go there. He'd let out a heavy sigh along with a drag from his cigarette. Before he could continue his thoughts however, a sudden outburst of violence in his vicinity catches his attention as a pink haired woman, an old man and a goliath of a man come retreating into the alley he was residing in leaving a decent ruckus in their wake. Watching them for a moment more allowed him to see them fend off some more heavily armored enforcers and this made the sly Robert bring out his smug smile.

The brown jacket cloaked man leans forwards a bit out of the shadows that concealed him in his high up vantage point in the fire escape and looked down to the group; before speaking he takes another puff of his cigarette. "If you lot are planning to get to the prize your not gonna get there in time never mind in one piece if you keep taking on all this heat." Not mentioning East Gate exactly just in case the enforcers still down the way might pick it up and if they weren't informed of that already. Then looking directly at Torres he spoke to her. "If its alright with you we can discuss what I'll get out of all this once the prize is ours cause without it this whole thing won't mean much to most of us." With a smile the man stomps down on the ladder of the fire escape so that it slides down to the ground for the rest of them to us. He flicks his cigarette out of his mouth and leans back as a sudden gunshot surprises him and whizzes by his head coming from the direction of the enforcers down the alleyway before pinging off a nearby wall. "I suggest you hurry it up and that your ready for some roof jumping. There is too much heat on the streets and the enforcers will be expecting the alleyways and probably sewers to be used." With a signaling "follow me" arm motion he immediately starts booking it up the fire escape and making his way to the East Gate via rooftops hopefully avoiding the chaotic streets and more predictable outlets of travel.

If a fight was gonna break out for the fruit at the end hopefully with at least a short time alliance for now he wouldn't be fighting it out alone.

@BearEnthusiast @alaska @Dunruffle

 

[Jakers]

"You totally brain damaged her, sis." Merrill said as she followed the more or less unstoppable warrior-woman. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, customer's always right and all."

It dawned on Merrill that there while the Sweet Sister only had room for two, there were other modes of transport lying all around - the officers, for one, probably came in Cerberii and the other sadsack criminals as well.

"Okay here's the deal, when you get on the Sweet Sister try not to press..." She began to pantomime the locations of certain buttons and handles, making onomatopoeia resembling the firing of bullets and creaking metal, "Unless you really need to get someone out of your way. Fatally so. You two can take mine - because I'm nice like that. I'll go find another!"

"Gah! What are you... I already used--!" Grant cut off with an open mouth, putting a hand to his forehead as he watched the female police officer's face get battered in, despite being knocked out. Weren't they leaving anyway, why did she...?!

And the anxiety only built up when the cheery young woman started making explosion noises. By the look of her gestures, was it some sort of... Cerberus? It certainly didn't sound safe. God... what was he getting himself into here...

Shooting himself up the stairs with various bags swinging behind him, Grant peeked behind cover, licking his lips in thought. "That's very... generous of you, but..." Grant bit his lip in thought for a moment. Whilst getting on some sort of motorcycle-based death trap with one of the scariest women he'd ever met didn't sound ideal, going to prison on the other hand...

"-Gah, screw it! I'll go, I'll go. Just... try and avoid the cops the best you can," Grant advised, not daring to raise his voice to anger the older of the two women. Flipping open one of his bags, he pulled out a small, tablet-like device. For a moment, he seemed to calm down and speak in a somewhat intelligent manner. "They might track our vehicle, but I should be able to throw them off in that sense. I'll also try and find cameras for us to avoid... other criminals will be too busy hurrying to worry about that. I arrived late, but this is a race, no?"

Grant pushed his wonky glasses up the bridge of his nose, firing up the tablet he was holding as he followed behind. "Thanks again for... y'know, not just punching me in the face and leaving me to rot?"

Quin stalked up the stairs deliberately, gun raised and ready to shoot. In the back of her mind a plan was formulating and the longer the kid talked, the more it blossomed. When the trio finally reached the top floor they were greeted with blessed silence. There were a few bodies scattered about, some alive, some dead; all of the former wearing 'cuffs.

All wasn't good, however…

She could hear the chaos outside Hoki's. Caught a glimpse of pink hair a man of goliath proportions. Quin groaned softly, it almost sounded like a growl. Turning to the two behind her, she glanced first at Merrill. A soft smile graced her face for the briefest of moments. The blonde haired woman reminded her of someone from her past. Someone she used to cherish.

"It just wouldn't be right," Quin said seriously. "You not bein' with yer Sweet Sister."

She shook her head slightly. "Not right at all." She took another quick glance outside, studying the scene, and indeed, the Cerberii the officials had arrived in.

"You think you can rig them Cerbs, kid?" Quin asked, finally nodding towards the tablet he was fiddling with. "You weren't 'ere earlier but I'm still down for some… cooperation. Looks like Pinky and Co. out there might need our help too…"

"Rig them? Well... I'm not entirely confident with the old hacking business, especially into police forces, but... I can definitely try something. Each of the police vehicles should be equipped with a 'tracker'. Essentially, whilst we don't have the time nor the tools to remove the tracker, I should be able to 'spam' the position of the trackers on the vehicles to a different location to us entirely. Unlocking them shouldn't be an issue, either."
Technically, it hadn't been his first illegal bit of hacking. But this was definitely going to land him in trouble. Still... no going back now.

"The police should be barking up the wrong tree for a while, and it should buy us some time, at least until they figure it out. Sound good? Let's get moving...!" With that, Grant reluctantly snatched something from one of the police bodies - a key of some sort - before following behind the other two with a wary eye for danger.

The three exited the building with caution, a plan to steal police vehicles starting to come into action. There'd be plenty of time to figure out more about this ragtag trio later, after the sirens had stopped blaring.

---

Part 2: A Collab with @rissa @Shizuochan & @Jakers

 

[sun.]

[bg=#333333]A R C - 1 // O N | T H E | H O R I Z O N[/bg]

Torres swirled around, her eyes squinting as she looked upwards. Her own gaze stubborn in an attempt to force the eyes between a black curtain of shaggy hair to break eye contact. Who the hell is this guy? He seemed rather relaxed, something Torres didn't find particularly encouraging given the situation.

"How do we know you--" she started, but once again swirled around as steps sounded on the outside of Hoki's, just behind where the three of them had just taken down a bunch of severly underqualified law enforcers. Torres narrowed her eyes, as an unfamiliar figure trotted behind the other two women; it appeared they were all doomed with never-ending acquaintances today.

"Man, look at us, aren't we just a group of rascals?" she scoffed out, unsure whether to lead her new supporters on her own, follow the strange guy's advice, or cling onto whatever the other three had planned. A small vehicle, not a cerberus, but one made specifically for urban environment, with traditional wheels, screamed as it slid across the corner. Kept in immaculate ivory white, the silver and grey of Magna's insignia was displayed proudly on the hood of the car.

"Fuck."

A trail of dust and small rocks rained from above the newcomer's vantage point. In fact, the silhouette of a head leered down from the building, observing the group. While Torres's head went up, and the rest of the group's looks followed, a thin arm reach out over the edge of the building, waving slowly.

"I have to agree with our suspicious friend." the woman's voice trailed downwards. Her tone dry and to the point, she pulled back from the edge, disappearing from view.

Torres herself shrugged, looking at the rest of the group, as if to see how much in angreement they were. The young boy seemed more upset with the situation than any specific component of a plan, while everyone else appeared tense to the woman.

As if to rip everyone else out of their day dreams, the motor of Magna's chariot roared, echoing loudly against the alley's silence.

"Let's book it!" Torres yelled into the round, less a command to her new companions, but rather a cry for everyone to get away. Sure, she didn't HAVE to care for any of them, but it'd be a shame for those two younglings to get caught. They seemed less rotten than anyone else, and even her superpowered hulk of a bodyguard didn't seem a bad soul.

With an inaudible sigh--one of annoyance over her own apparent inability to be quite as cold-hearted as she'd like to be, Torres yanked Merrill along. She could worry about her Cerberus later. For now, they had to get away. She reached out to grasp the cold steel of the ladder, quickly making her way up to par with the guy from before. "Let's keep the pleasantries for later, yeah?"

Making their way upwards, the group eventually reached the rooftop.

"Ah, you made it. Great. I reckon you all want the fruit? Good, me too."

The woman spoke without pause, not even waiting for a reply or as much as a confirming nod. She appeared plain, wearing nothing but a tank top, plain, beige pants, and black shoes. A woolen cloth was wrapped around her midsection. Of course, your average citizen does not carry a katana, whose adorned hilt glimmered in the daylight.

"I've tracked the convoy. I can't exactly say I'm willing to give the fruit to any of you, but I do know that, if you guys help me deliver it, it should be pretty lucrative for all of you. Which is probably better than having to flee the city empty-handed or, you know... Get arrested."

Torres took a seat on the edge of the rooftop, her hands balled into fists resting on her thighs.

"Well, I was kind of planning on selling it anyways, to be perfectly honest.

She wiped beads of sweat of her forehead and peeked down, eyeing the continous stream of Magna forces blocking off roads and alleyways.

"Doesn't look too peachy. I'm down."

With a smile, the strange woman nodded towards Torres, now looking around the rest of the group.

"Everyone else on board?"​

 

[Dunruffle]

Nork watched as the group from the bar joined them. Spotting Merrill, he waved cheerily at her. "Heya girly, good you not get caught. Would be sad." Watching as everyone climbed to the roof, Nork waited to be the last. As he climbed the ladder, the metal creaked in distress and several anchoring bolts popped out of the wall. Luckily, the ladder held and Nork clambered up onto the roof. Looking over at the two new additions, Nork tapped Torres on the shoulder.

"Wadda you wanna do about those guys? Need me to throw them off?" Nork asked in a simply curious tone, with no ill will towards the two men. He simply was making sure to follow orders, no matter how controversial they may be. Noticing the sword on the hip of the mystery woman, Nork pointed at it. "Ooh! Fancy sword! Boss Kitjon had one before. Was called a...a..." Nork's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to remember the name of the sword to impress his new friends. "A tana! Yeah is a tana! Is rare, where you geddit?"

 

[Jakers]

His feet skidding to a halt, his plans to hack police vehicles for the trio to use had seemed to have been not such a viable idea anymore. More Magna cops were coming in, fast. And it didn't seem like he'd been part of a 'trio', as he'd expected.

He'd definitely seen these people fighting outside; that strange haircut the colour of cotton candy, that huge man, and the old grizzled 'veteran' were somewhat hard to forget. But... had they all been one collective group, this whole time? Grant assumed they'd just been another trio, holding their own, and now there was another strange looking bloke there, too. It quickly became apparent that there was a change of plan, and they were going up to the rooftops. Spluttering in confusion as he tried his best to follow along with everything, Grant's light frame and surprising agility saw him as one of the first to whizz up the top of the ladder, but that didn't really matter when he was sort of clueless to go.

Biting his lip, a shaky hand adjusted the glasses on his nose. Had he accidentally become part of some kind of... gang? By the looks of things... everyone seemed to want something. Whilst 'teaming up' was a nice idea at first, how long would it be before they were at each other's throats?

It was a terrifying thought; he didn't know anyone here, but each and every looked just about as ruthless as the next. The only comfort he could find was in that little smiley face shirt, but even still. Another figure was here she hadn't seen before, and every part of the smug smile of his just made Grant want to avoid his line of sight as much as possible. What seemed to pique Grant's attention out of anxiety was when the black-haired girl mentioned the 'fruit'.

"Well, actually, I-" Grant began, lowering his finger again timidly as the question in her eyes was evidently rhetorical. Clearing his throat, he made a mental note to shut up and listen from this point onward. When the black-haired girl asked who was 'on board', Grant sort of nodded, but in honesty, he really had no idea what was going on. It was like being part of some sort of surreal dream. Did he even have a choice other than to follow them?

As he waited for everyone to get situated and moving again, he overheard something he probably wasn't supposed to hear from the hulk of the man, who was probably the 'muscle' of whatever gangs he got involved in.
"H-huh? No, no, don't, don't! I didn't mean to get in this mess, I'm just tagging along to not get arrested at this point...!" Grant struggled to find words, backing up a bit, knowing this man could snap his neck with one hand whilst reading a morning newspaper. ...If he even could read. "If you don't trust me, believe me, I'll make sure you never see me again once we're out of this mess. Just don't... y-you know." He gulped, looking down to the drop below, sirens blaring. It certainly didn't look inviting.

As the huge group would undoubtedly begin to murmur and discuss, Grant felt himself shrinking away. The pink-haired 'leader' of the group probably wasn't going to put up with his anxious, amateur attitude for long, and he knew it. Of all the people, however, Grant found himself standing beside that smiley shirt once more. ...Was it because they were both the two youngest? Or was it because she seemed, like... the only half-sane person here? Sort of.
"I'm sorry about your Cerberus," Grant finally found the courage to mumble, looking into the grimy distance. "I can probably find it for you if you kept a 'tracker' in it, or something... I kinda felt like you might've had time to get it, I hadn't showed up when I did. Being a pain as usual." He adjusted his glasses, keeping still through another moment of awkward silence. "Sorry," he repeated quietly.

Flipping through his tablet, he spoke up a little, finding the courage to speak up again, this time to the apparent pink-haired 'leader', though he wasn't even sure at this point. The ruthless women who hadn't even blinked to pop a cap in two po-po could've classified as a leader, too.
"Erm... hi. I can track us a route," he suggested quietly. "I've got a few pieces that detect the trackers in Magna vehicles, so we'll know where to avoid them. It's just... we're sitting ducks for drones up here. We need to get going. Fast. ...Honestly, I didn't really mean to get caught up with 'your gang', but if any of you get shot... I've got a lot of medical supplies with me. ...Don't ask why. But... I... yeah..."

Awkwardly, he backed off again, clearing his throat. It was only when you were in a life-or-enprisonment-or-worse situation, when you realized how damn hard talking to strangers was.

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

"Agreed." Robert would respond to the pink-haired woman's words in regards to saving the pleasantries for later as he made his way up to the rooftop with everyone else in tow. Upon reaching the rooftop the shaggy haired man would calmly walk over to the square protrusion with the door that leads down to the rest of the building and leaned his back against the wall by the door. He wanted to listen for any footsteps coming up as well as give everyone else coming up some space up here. Which to his surprise the size of the this little group has pretty much doubled as he watched person after person climb up onto the rooftop. He thought to himself... Never mind a group this is a small task force now. He kept up his smile at the amusement this thought gave him as he listened to the katana wielding woman whom if Robert was being honest was quite a looker.

She spoke with haste which would be expected in this situation and the former gang member liked what he was hearing. A lucrative deal for everyone but the real selling point was the part about being better than leaving the city empty handed or in jail. From this he reckoned she knew her business and wasn't about to double cross this many people without a tight plan in place. At least that's how he himself would have gone about it.

"Looks like quite a few of us are on the same page then; I'm in. Besides, I'm curious about this lucrative bit your going on about."

At the sound of the big Goliath of man asking if he should throw the two new men off of the building Robert's eyes would slowly shift over in that direction. He kept his hands by his sides and kept his composure very much so in the opposite manner of the other man that was mentioned who immediately began to defend himself and prove his usefulness to the joining group. The shaggy haired man chuckled to himself a little as he figured this guy wasn't use to the underground world, least that was his thought. But if everything he said was true than he was indeed plenty useful.

 

[rissa]

"Doesn't look like we have a choice, aye?" Quin replied to the dark haired stranger off to the side of her. She took to pacing around the rooftop, sending alternate glares between Pinky and the katana wielding woman. Before climbing up she'd released her power and the adrenaline still flowing in her veins beckoned her to keep tapping it. But why? All of these people seemed cooperative. At the moment at least.

Besides, the longer she was around them, the more weaknesses she could pinpoint. See what, if any, in-group alliances being formed. The closer you are to your enemy, Quin thought to herself angrily, the safer you are.

"So what the fuck are we going to do? The kid here is right," Quin said, jerking her thumb in Grant's direction. "We're sittin' ducks for drones. Probably got about eight minutes before they're swarmin' the skies around Hoki's."

---

 

[sun.]

[bg=#333333]A R C - 1 // O N | T H E | H O R I Z O N[/bg]

The woman smiled quietly, then flashed her teeth. Nodding, she turned to look at each of the people present. "Good, it's decided then. The drones... you can leave that to me, it shouldn't be too much of an issue, really. She carefully stepped back a bit, seemingly worried over her sword's safety. "It was a gift. I have some very generous... friends. I think you all will like them." Her eyes flickered towards Quintana for a second, before returning to Nork. "Well, most of us anyways."

Torres jumped up from her seat on the edge of the rooftop, and cleared her throat in an obviously fake manner. "Sooo...You said you know where to get the Fruit. I didn't exactly intend to spend the entire day in this city. It'd be much obliged if we could get, you know... going." She gestured towards Grant, putting her balled up hands into her hips. "If drones really aren't a problem, then I reckon we should be the fastest to reach the convoy, no? If our new friends here knows when to back the hell off."

"Right. Let's go then, follow me."

Without much fanfare, the woman dashed off, jumping across the gap between the building they stood on, and the next one, winking the rest of the group towards her. "Fastest route, come on!"

Torres sighed, as if she was displeased with the physical demand of the route, and flashed her new companions a look. "Doable?" she asked the large man from Caustic Perch, then eying her older business partner. "Hope the hip plays along." she remarked with a bit of a grin, before taking long strides, following the woman with the bandana.

As the group traveled across the rooftops of Bonheim with varying speeds, following the stranger, the muffled sounds of fights floated up to them from the streets. The city was in a state of chaos, even after Magna forces intervened. Drones seemed to not approach them, just as the mysterious woman had promised. In fact, the lofty rooftops seemed awfully quiet, almost as if there was a clear cut line in the air, seperating them up here, from the chaos down there.

They eventually reached the end of a long line of buildings, the woman with the sword stopping her dash. The sceneries had changed considerably from the center they had come from. The facades here were dirtier, less homely. Little spaces remained between buildings, samey industrial architecture as far as the eye could see.

"You, boy." She gestured towards Grant. "Can you check if any Magna activity is closeby?" She looked down the building; the narrow ladder lead down into a yard, framed with some sort of waste disposal hatches for a few meters, until the path turned around the corner of a coal-colored factory. "They brought the item through the East Portals for both inner and center circles. So! I reckon they should arrive shortly. It seems they're more concerned with speed than unpredictability, so the East Gate is our best bet."

Turning around to the group, the woman put on a thinking face. "Well... I planned for Bonheim itself, but I will admit I haven't considered a group escape, really. So here's the issue. Once we're outside, I have no idea just how many forces are waiting to get the item to whereever they want to ship it off. It's very much possible that there's a small army waiting on the outside. If you aren't willing to take that risk, you will have to remain within the city for... However long they decide to, ahem... cleanse the place."

Torres scoffed.

"I think at this point they might as well send the Sentinel, it wouldn't make much of a difference. It either works, or it doesn't." She bend over to peek over the roof's edge herself. "Pretty quiet. Seems like a good opportunity to go for it."​

 

[Jakers]

No time to waste, it seemed, which would good. Great, in fact. Any second they spent sitting still was more time for Magna to close in, even things felt oddly safe right now, with the promise of drones not being a problem. The retired surgeon seemed to have no trouble keeping up, even with his heavy assortment of gear, until they came to the first 'gap'. Heights. He wasn't deathly scared of them, but... it made everyone hesitate, didn't it? It made him hesitate for long enough to question his life choices, if he hadn't done that enough already.

' . . . What's wrong? Am I not worth that > r i s k ? < '

...Fuck it.

Throwing himself over the gap with wincing eyes, Grant prepared to latch onto something desperately as it all went horribly wrong, but he found himself landing on the other side relatively easily, even with the added weight of his various bags. A half-confused, half-relieved groan escaped his lips. ...Nothing was actually happening on the rooftops. No drones, no helicopters. No Magna forces rappelling up to give an example of what happened to lawbreakers. Had that bandana-clad woman... done something?

The fruits were powerful, indeed... getting powers that virtually bended reality had to count for something, but he wasn't expecting this much chaos to spew as soon as the 'promise' of one of these things arrived. The surrounding area was carnage; more than he'd ever seen before in his life. Even the 'experienced' criminals of this group must've found such a scenario chilling... or was it really just him?

"Y... yeah. Can do," Grant replied after a delay, a quiet hum coming from his mouth as he thought between sentences. Whilst he was still for the most part a nervous wreck, he was starting to manifest some sort of calm attitude, at the least. Shrugging his shoulder so he was able to access some of the contents of his various bags, a *blip* of something electronic being turned on sounded, as he observed the tablet in his other hand. A birdseye view map of the surrounding area was visible on the touch screen; the young man studied this for a moment, before giving his verdict.

"It... looks like we're clear. There doesn't seem to be any Magna transport parked anywhere, so there probably isn't any personnel either," he double-checked the tablet, before giving a quiet sigh and grumble to himself, lacking the confidence and having the sensibility to actually complain out loud. "And... bloody hell, I'm twenty! Why is everyone referring to me using words with juvenile connotations..."

Not being there for the initial 'planning phase' of this whole fruit fiasco, Grant found himself a little lost in the whole context of the fruit's appearance. In transit? He heard something about a 'small army', but he wasn't even surprised at this point. Hell, why not tell the group a nuclear missile would be arriving at their position in one minute, too. There was another thing about a 'Sentinel', but the thought of that was actually scary, joke or not.
"Christ..." he grimaced for a moment, before confirming Torres's intuition. "Yeah, no vehicles nearby. Quiet as we're going to get, by the looks of things. Let's get going and do... like, the crazy 'badass' plan I'm sure one of you people have got prepared for us, huh?" he forced a slight smirk, attempting some form of humour to calm his nerves. ...It didn't really help.

With that, Grant followed after whoever the first to descend the ladder was, tooth marks beginning to deeply imprint on the bottom of his lip by now.