What's love got to do with it?

[Rhi-Rhi]

Of course she would get stuck with Gabriel. Sabela gave a small sigh, leaning into Camael. It wasn’t bad enough she had to wear the hideous protective gear and the air filter, but on top of all that….Gabriel.

Some incident out in the wastelands and they wanted some Pilots to check it out. Mostly because of where it was located, attempting to send conventional troops in conventional vehicles would have a very low success rate. So she had been drafted because of her long range and…well…she could only assume Gabe was along as a meat shield.

Climbing onto her dragon, Sabela adjusted her mask, “You have the coordinates, right Cam?”

“Of course. You have already asked three times. Nervous?”

“Irritated. I don’t want to be stuck with ‘tard-boy any longer than I have to.”

Her dragon just grinned back at her, that creepy, toothy smile the dragons had. Whapping Camael’s back lightly, Sabela settled into the seat. A slight pressure from her legs let her dragon know she was secure and then the two of them were moving.

Once they were airborne, Camael flew slow, lazy circles, waiting for her sibling and his Pilot to join them.




Sabela. Why did it have to be Sabela?

There were a lot of people that Gabriel didn’t like, but that he could also tolerate because they at least didn’t send him spiraling into a frothy rage. Sabela, however? She was one of those rare individuals that he didn’t even like sharing breathing space with. So this whole adventure must have been some higher-up’s idea of a good ol’ hilarious joke, pitching two mortal enemies together and—well, and he just guessed that was the whole point of candidacy and Pilot-hood. You couldn’t always work with the people you liked, so you had to learn how to work with those you hated.

Didn’t mean he liked it, though.

“It wasn’t me,” Siren ‘pathed at Gabriel as he zipped up his jumpsuit, checked his weapons, and hoisted himself up into the dragon’s saddle. He shot the dragon a glare before he pulled on his mask and made sure it was tight enough and that the breathing apparatus was functioning.

“I know. You’re not that cruel,” Gabriel sent back, and with a mental signal Siren’s way, the dragon had soon launched himself into the sky and for a few seconds Gabriel was too caught up in the thrill of the flight, the sheer stomach-dropping exhilaration, to care who his partner was.

It wasn’t until they had leveled out and Gabriel caught sight of the other dragon-Pilot pair that the excitement wore off. Sabela. Ugh…

“Let’s just get this over with…”

With several powerful wing-beats, Siren propelled them over to the other pair and fell in beside them, circling with them, and Siren reached out with his long, slender neck so he could give his sister a quick, friendly nuzzle. The action brought the two Pilots rather close together, too, but Gabriel kept his eyes fixed on the horizon ahead. The plus side of all this? He didn’t have to talk to Sabela except to feed her orders.

Dropping down his outer shield, Gabriel projected his thoughts at Sabela. “Are we ready or do you still gotta do your make-up?”


Camael made a trilling sound in the back of her throat when Siren approached, returning the nuzzle. For all her Pilot hated Gabriel, Camael liked her brother. He was fun and Camael loved fun things.

Sabela made a face at Gabe behind her mask and pointedly avoided looking at him, “All ready sir. I can time manage and make sure I’m ready to go on time. Not 5 minutes late like some people.”

For all her company sucked, Sabela loved flying. She didn’t think there was a single Pilot that didn’t love the sensation. She closed her eyes and just exalted in it. Thanks to the dragons speed, it wasn’t long before they were close.

“Sabela? We’re close enough now.”

This was the part she always hated. And she always got stuck doing it. Breathing deeply, Sabela lowered her shields and started scanning the area. Her mind was assaulted by all the simple and often corrupted thoughts of the creatures that had learned to thrive in the wasteland.

Filtering through it, she felt the thoughts of something sentient. Lovely, that meant she had to go down. With Gabe.

“Sir, there are people there. Or something close enough to human. They are in that crevice.” There was a large mountain and near the bottom it had a gash in it. The crevice went down into the rocks and was riddled with hidey holes, though the gap was far to small for the dragons to get far into, let alone move around.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel rolled his eyes at the comment and pulled Siren away; he didn't want to be near Sabela for longer than he had to, and they couldn't fly this close together, anyway. Siren stretched out and gave his sister one last affectionate headbutt, then banked to the side to put a comfortable distance between them.

Much better. Leaning over Siren's neck, Gabriel settled in, got comfortable, and let himself block out Sabela's existence for the rest of the trip, and that made the flight all the more enjoyable. It was easy to lose yourself in the sensation, let everything go but the sound of rushing air and the rise and fall of the dragon's body as his wings beat the air...

"You really hate her, don't you?"

Gabriel cracked an eye open and made an annoyed sound as his dragon's voice filled his head. Of course Siren could feel the 'do not want' vibes steaming from every inch of his being, the same emotions that poured out of him every time he had to breathe the same air that she did, post in the same forum, share the same sky... "I'd rather shoot out my kneecap than be here right now."

"My sister likes her."

"Then your sister doesn't know her. She's toxic."

Amusement trickled along their connection, and Gabriel grit his teeth. Siren knew, but he was a dragon. He didn't really understand. Human dynamics were too complex, too...un-dragon-like. Siren understood a lot, and he knew Gabriel better than he knew himself, but he didn't get how humans could hold onto something for so long and not let it go.

"Just don't let it affect your judgment," Siren said, and Gabriel rolled his eyes again. He could work with Sabela. He didn't like it, and the whole situation had him all tense and edgy, but he could shut it all down and get the job done. Wouldn't be the first time he'd worked with someone he loathed.

Finally, they had made it, and Gabriel grimaced as Sabela's words filled his head like the slimy things they were. Aw, shit, really? He closed his eyes for a moment, found that calm, cold place, and resigned himself to his fate.

"Alright. Let's go check it out," he 'pathed, and Siren took his cue and pulled himself into a dive, falling like a stone through the clouds and pulling up just in time for a smooth landing. His long talons gripped the dirt and crunched the stone beneath his feet, tail swishing and wings folding in gracefully.

The sleek white dragon stood out stark and shining and semi-iridescent against the rugged terrain. Couldn't really camouflage that, but who would think to mess with a dragon? Siren stuck his nose in the air and his nostrils flared, tongue snaking out from his jaws as he scented and tasted the air. Gabriel slid down off of him and checked his firearms again as he waited for Sabela to catch up.

[Anonymous]

Camael followed after her brother, her form a glittering silvery blue, but just as sleek and elegant as the white dragon. This was Sabela's favorite, the dive. Feeling the wind and the speed and then the raw power of Camael as she beat her wings, landing gracefully.

Sliding down, Sabela kept one hand on her gun, her mind still scanning the thoughts. They hadn't changed, too far down to have noticed the dragons then, "They haven't sensed us sir. Or at least they aren't thinking about us."

Most of it was a gabled mess, she would have to concentrate to make out any one thoughts, but there was no startlement or panic coming from them. She stroked Camael's neck, waiting for orders from Gabriel.

She hated the little blond shit, but he was her ranking officer and she would behave. She just didn't have to like it.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Alright, let's try and take care of this before they do," Gabriel told Sabela as he approached the edge and peered down into the crevice. Eugh. It was mostly pitch black down there, but here and there he thought he could make out a flicker of light. He took a deep breath. This part was going to really suck. At least it wasn't a ninety-degree descent, though; up close, he could see that it was more of a steep slope with hand and footholds carved into the side. Obviously a hide-out.

"Let's go. How many do you estimate there are? And whereabouts are they, roughly? Can you tell?" It would help them plan their route.

[Anonymous]

While Gabe leaned over the edge, it was so tempting to just give him a swift kick. But that wasn't going to happen, though the thought was nice. Moving next to Gabriel, Sabela peered over the edge as well, her eyes trying to make out any shapes in the darkness as her mind tried to sort through all the thoughts being broadcast.

"Sounds like...somewhere between 5 and 7. It's hard to tell at this range. If you want me to take more time, I can get you an exact number."

The climb looks like it would be just tons of fun. And she would have to be worried the entire time about knocking rock or dirt loose and alerting the people below to their presence.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Nah, we don't have time. We'll just have to get closer." Gabriel really wanted to be a dick and give the 'ladies first' line, let her figure out a way down there, but he refrained. It was tempting, but he was her superior, her leader in this situation. He had to exercise restraint and responsibility and guidance and all that crap.

The thought was nice, though.

"Alrighty, let's get going."

So, taking a deep breath, he wandered carefully around the perimeter to seek out what looked like the best starting point. The pickings were slim; one was was no better than the other, at least not in any way that was obvious, so with a sigh he finally sucked it up, found a tentative foothold, and started to climb.

"It doesn't matter where you start. It's all the same," he told Sabela, pausing to find his footing. "Let me know where everyone's at as soon as you can. We're gonna make a clean sweep of the place. If we do this right, we should be able to take them out without firing any rounds, because the second we fire, we're outed. That, and I'm not so sure how stable this crevice is."

[Anonymous]

"There are some to your 4 o'clock, do you see that dark crevice there? They are in there. Probably a cave or something." Sabela moved to the edge, finding her own holds. She was light and flexible, which made it much easier for her to pick her way down than the much heavier Gabriel.

"And there is a large group of them, at least 4, maybe more at 6 o'clock from you. It's hard to focus and make this climb."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Can you tell how deep the 'cave' is? How far in they are? We'll take them first," Gabriel told Sabela as he picked his way toward the area, slow so as not to disturb any loose rocks. "Can you get a reading on their mood? Are they awake? Alert? Or are they relaxed?"

Extending a tendril of telekinesis, he carefully felt along ahead of him as he went, using that as his eyes since it was too dark to see well.

[Anonymous]

"No, I can't tell the depth. And if you want me to tell all that, I have to stop climbing." There was no way she could do a climb as hard as this one and focus on picking apart all those different brains at the same time, "The best I can tell you is they are nervous. I can't tell what without a chance to focus."

She moved carefully down the wall, almost to a ledge. She was sweating and her legs and arms were feeling the strain. Scaling cave walls with little equipment was not really something she was used to doing.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Nervous, huh? Be careful. If they're nervous, they're alert and most likely prepared." Perhaps not for Pilots, but there had to be a reason they were on edge--like the fear of being discovered. And people who feared discovery took precautions against being found.

Gabriel had reached a ledge then and he stepped carefully down onto it, then felt along it to judge its size. "Over here." A little further and they'd be at the cave's mouth. He slipped his hand down to his hip and silently drew his gun.

"Slowly. Can you tell me anything else from this distance?"

[Anonymous]

Sabela made her way to Gabe, her breathing a little heavy as she carefully drew her weapon. She was quiet a moment, shifting apart the minds now that she could focus, "Yes. There are 6 of them. Two are deeper than the rest. They are looking for something. Tech I think. They are paranoid as well, so we need to be careful."

[Rhi-Rhi]

"So the other four are probably standing watch," Gabriel guessed, "while the other two are doing the searching." He paused, just at the mouth of the cave, his beck pressed against the wall near the entrance. It was dead silent, so either their quarry was being very careful or they were just deep enough inside so as not to be heard. Still, it wasn't quite as dark here as the rest of the crevice, faint light flickering out.

He glanced toward Sabela and took a deep breath, mentally and emotionally preparing himself for what he was about to do.

"Alright," he said. "Let's roll. Don't give 'em time to realize what's hit them."

The trick was all in the emotional distance, in pretending they weren't real people, and in never making eye-contact. That's how he was able to empty bullets into torsos and skulls. Following Sabela's directions in the dim light, they moved through the cave with quick and brutal efficiency, cleanly killing several sentries before they'd had time to even cry out. One got lucky and managed to dodge back behind a rocky ledge just in time, the bullet taking out a chunk of that instead of a chunk of flesh, but Gabriel swept a tendril of telekinesis for his legs and let Sabela finish him when he went down.

"Only two left here, right?" Gabriel said, ducking behind that same ledge and ignoring the fact that he was standing in the man's pooling blood.

[Anonymous]

Sabela paused, ignoring the blood pooling at her feet, crouching close to Gabe, sending her senses out to feel for the other men. They had moved since she last searched and Sabela's head shot up. Above them, the two men were on a higher ledge, guns drawn.

They hadn't been as stealthy as they had hoped. There was little time to think or react and Sabela lunged forward, slamming into Gabe just as the gun went off. The bullet that should have gone right through Gabe's heart hit Sabela's shoulder.

Dropping down, Sabela grabbed her shoulder, crying out as pain flooded her mind, not even aware of the sticky blood covering her.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Gabriel never had time to register that he was in danger, never saw the bead on him. Suddenly Sabela was slamming into him and he gave a surprised yelp as he was thrown off balance and to the ground--right as the silence exploded into chaos and Sabela cried out in pain. For a second, panic gripped him by the throat as it took a moment for his brain to catch up with what had just happened.

When it did, it wasn't any better.

Sabela was down.

"Shit!" Bullets ricocheted off the rocks around them and dropping down low, he grabbed the other Pilot and roughly hauled her backwards and behind another rocky wall. It would only provide temporary shelter. They were outed now and reinforcements would probably be coming soon.

Peering cautiously around the side of the wall, he only managed to fire off a couple rounds before a spray of bullets answered, and he jerked back to safety and looked to Sabela. "Fuck. How bad is it?" She was clutching her shoulder--thank gods it hadn't hit any vitals--but there was no telling if it had hit an artery.

[Anonymous]

"Fine." Sabela hissed in pain, already pulling out a field kit to try and stop the bleeding, "I wont be very useful for a moment here." She used her teeth to pull the cap off of package, jamming the goo into the bullet hole. Hands shaking, ignoring the fight around her, she applied another gel, which activated the first, cauterizing her wound.

The pain made her grit her teeth, screaming against them, her leg kicking the ground. Panting, her face pale and covered in sweat, she gripped her gun, "What's the problem? Can't take them out without help? Where are your balls?"

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Oh, shut up," Gabriel said as soon as he saw that she was out of danger--injured, out of commission, but nothing life-threatening. He waited for the gunfire to end before he swung around again and this time his aim was true, having gauged their position. One went down without a sound and the other cried out and returned fire, but even if he hadn't been killed, he'd been wounded, and his aim was off. He didn't have time to wait and see if the wound was fatal.

That was all Gabriel needed. With the men alert now and Sabela down, her mobility hindered--she wasn't going to be able to climb with an injured shoulder--they needed to get the fuck out fast.

"C'mon!" he said, and grabbed her by the wrist of her uninjured arm, yanking her to her feet and giving her a push toward where they'd come. "Move! I've got you covered," he said before he started after her, turning as he went to send another round toward the man he'd injured.

[Anonymous]

Sabela hauled herself to her feet with her good arm and started running. Above her, she could hear Camael let out a thundering roar, furious her Pilot had been injured. The cavern was too narrow, but Camael clawed at it, trying to get down to them.

Quickly, Sabela sent her reassurances, coming to a stop at the wall they had climbed down. She couldn't get back up on her own, not without seriously fucking her wound up.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit," Gabriel said as they reached the wall, which had been a nasty enough climb coming down--with just himself. The light didn't reach this far so they had the advantage of the dark, but it wouldn't help them for long. The enemy would be on them soon.

Rubble came tumbling down the cliff's face several meters away from them from Camael's clawing and above them, Siren's roar soon joined his sister's. There was a scuffling sound, the sounds of a struggle between giants. Gabriel couldn't see what was happening, but above them, Siren had pounced onto Camael to try to get her to stop before she caused a cave-in.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you can't make the climb," Gabriel said, ducking out of the way when some dust and pebbles came tumbling down. He shook his head to get it out of his face. "Can you at least hold onto me?"

[Anonymous]

"Yeah,with one arm. The other is useless. I can help with my legs a little, but I am pretty much at your mercy." Sabela was really glad she didn't weigh much. Her face was pale and a sheen of sweat had formed, trying to ignore the shooting pain in her shoulder.

She wrapped her arm around Gabe, trying to send calming thoughts to Camael who had let Siren pull her away, but was still furious.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Just hold on." As soon as Sabela grabbed onto him, he reached down and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around his waist and, essentially, piggyback on him. Thanks gods she wasn't heavy; this would be awkward enough as it was, for various reasons.

"Tell me where they are. I want you to pay attention to where they're all located," he said as he felt around for familiar foot and hand holds, trying to find the path he'd come down here on.