Rough Start [The Guild]

It was a fresh summer breeze that would greet his face as he opened the cockpit of the zoid. Kael hadn’t been back to the villa since the incident with the research team in the desert. That was where he had picked up the rest of the team he had formed– one was a mercenary he had gotten to know about through Kaiser’s help and information network, of whom he had hired at first to help with the ruins security and exploration, and the other was a girl of mystery along with the physician-slash-scientist whom Kaiser knew in his past dealings as a mercenary. Really, it almost felt as though the premise of this team was revolving around his partner’s mercenary life. But that was long behind them now as the latter was working for his best friend in Adelprade Military.

Leaping down from Aedan, Kael would look back at the vast plains that led to the front of the chateau like villa on the edge of a cliff. It was silent, but he knew that those two would be arriving soon enough. He just had to move faster and reach the villa first to make sure things were well under way. After all, being an off-the-grid location, it was bound to jack any radar systems of any zoid that had no prior knowledge or security for the base. And so a hatch on the ground would open, a large panel rising diagonally, that would lead to the hangar beneath it, right inside the cliff. Aedan would stand guard by the entrance of it as if to act as a key icon to those two who would be arriving.

Meanwhile, Kael went over to the entrance of the villa to find his partner just about walking out from the front doors with a couple of glasses on hand. The redhead seemed like he has just gotten out of the shower, his hair falling on his face rather having it spiked up, and wearing a refreshingly white dress-up shirt. “You’re rather early,” said Kaiser as he reached out one of the glasses to Kael. Taking a moment to drink from his own glass, the refreshingly sweet tropical fruit juice seemed so perfect in this hot summer weather. He would then add, “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”

“Why? You had something in mind?” answered Kael as he took the offer, drank from it a bit before wrapping a hand around Kaiser and giving him a quick kiss, then proceeded to the coffee table at the patio and opened the laptop.

“Well… uh…. nothing really,” answered the other as he followed the raven-haired pilot and placed his glass on the table. “I just thought you’d be resting before heading straight back here. You’ve been taking on jobs far too quickly.”

“It paid off though. They’re on their way here. Make sure not to scare them off,” said Kael who was now busy typing on the laptop.

“Oh? That’s nice. And here I thought I would end up having to be forced to part of the team just for it to take off. But it is quite timely. The league is up and running again.”

“Pretty much the reason,” then Kael stopped for a moment before he looked up to Kaiser for a long while and then spoke, “You better not have spoken to Radu about this.”

“Hey, hey. I’m not snitching on you. Though you do owe him a regular message to make sure you’re alive, but I’m pretty much on the fence here.”

“Good. Otherwise I’d have thrown you out.”

“Big coming from you. I own his villa, for your information. If there’s anyone who’s kicking someone out, it should be me.”

“Small talk aside, has there been any irregularities with the border patrols?”

“Not really. Just same old bandit problem. Nothing big. Why?”

“The incident at the ruins… seems like the Bozzi Brothers has started acting again.”

Sensing a bit of anxiety, Kaiser would ruffle Kael’s hair. “Easy there. I’ll double-check my sources. If they make a move, I’m bound to hear the smallest bit of it.”

Just then, there would be a beeping on the laptop. “Ah, your teammates have entered the perimeter. They should be here in no time,” said Kaiser as the screen would proceed to show the map of the cliff perimeter and two known signals were found to have entered within the security perimeter. “The doctor’s with them, right? I wonder if she’ll remember me.”

“In any case, I’ll have to message Dante to come right up as well. He’ll want to tag the zoids as soon as they’re here.” added Kael as he flipped out a mobile and sent a quick message.

”I just don’t know about this…”

Worry radiated off of the older woman in such palpable waves Chesha felt as though she could pluck it from the air and munch it like a chip. Perhaps it was their lack of lunch that lead her to view it as food, but the girl hardly so much as sighed from her seat. From their last job they’d received a set of coordinates from the man simply known as “Drifter” and an offer that sounded too good to be true. If anything they likely should’ve refused base on that and yet…something about it equally intrigued Chesha.

The pair rode in a Gustav, the beetle Zoid tugging along another pair: a Shadow Fox and a Gun Sniper. Both came in rich, dark hues of red – a color that intrigued Chesha for reasons she couldn’t quite classify. The Fox she held a little attachment for, unable to bring herself to simply ditch it or sell it in the same way they’d done to the Blade Liger from the facility, but she held little intention of using it for potential “sanctioned” fights. It would likely remain a travel companion from time-to-time when she felt an easier and cleaner escape might be necessary as it’d served her well thus far.

’A team hmm…’ Head lolling a bit here and there whenever the Gustav jumped from the uneven ground, eyes hazily watched the scenery race by them. Very few people took her seriously as a pilot for whatever reason, maybe because of her distant attitude and young looks, but for whatever reason Drifter saw fit to offer her a spot…and she hadn’t offered any more than “Chesha” as a name. Many viewed that as a bad sign, a lack of trust on her part (not that they were wrong) and so they hardly wanted much to do with her at all. At the same time they could hardly afford to be or do anything official. Too much limelight or notice would be tricky for them. Yet money remained a problem since they relied on odd jobs and things with little to no record keeping involved. It came in too unsteadily.

With a team though…

The “team” could take any potential glory. If she failed here and there and it became attributed to her name, then not much harm or foul: people rarely cared about losers. Victory though, that could be tied to an over-arching name rather than her’s alone. It meant the girl could afford to take on more fights with less repercussions as everything fell back on a group name rather than her’s. The more the golden eyed pilot considered the offer, the more tantalizing it became. The man went so far as to offer a home base, which meant she wouldn’t have to worry about Xia as much either. That little fact alone stood as the strongest of all lures to the girl. Xia’s safety always sat at the back of Chesha’s mind. Every time she left the doctor behind there existed that diabolical whisper, taunting her that the woman might be harmed or dead by the time she returned. Maybe their enemies caught up with them, maybe some low-lives tried to take advantage of her, or maybe a client decided to force her into their services. Any number of things didn’t seem low enough for mankind in her eyes. To top it all off she couldn’t seem to convince Xia to let Chesha teach her how to shoot a pistol, the woman shying away from harming others. It was a beautiful and aggravating quality at the same time.

While the dark haired girl couldn’t bring herself to outright trust whoever might be at this “base” the fact remained that it might be better than some of the places they’d stayed to date. As long as it proved better than those hovels she might at least convince the doctor to keep a knife alongside the pepper spray on her – something she already had issues remembering to stuff into one pocket or another. Just…anything to keep her safe…

Something finally came into view, a large house in the distance that might lead to a drastic change in lifestyle for them. ’I’ll give it this much: it looks better than our past couple of places…’ Golden eyes narrowed, ’but its inhabitants remain to be seen…’