Viva La liberación! [Freedom at Last] [Job]

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Anastasia's patience is starting to erode as she continues to deal with the Dark Guilds in this manner.  They are constantly causing havoc and destruction regardless of where they go?  These people are beyond evil; they are insane.  Evil people do more than just raid villages and cause oppression to spread.  Couldn't the Dark Guilds think of something else other than the same thing over and over again?  She just recently finished a job with a member of Sabertooth where she encountered a mysterious stranger that tried to harm the mage of Sabertooth.  And that guild had the EXACT same premise that this dark guild had.  The only difference between those two guilds are this one had an occupation over a town instead of just randomly causing destruction because 'rawr, we're evil'.  

Ana sat upon the captain's chair of the ship with a very visible look of annoyance on her face.  The ship continued to chug along towards the mission objective.  She received a job from one of her people about a Dark Guild currently occupying the Mountain Village; the town near the Infinity Hydra.  "Of all places, why isn't the Infinity Hydra taking care of these hoodlums?" she asked out-loud, regardless of if she was alone on the bridge or not.  

Clearing her throat, she looked towards the command console up front.  "George, what's our estimated time of arrival to the Mountain Village?" she simply asked before a series of bleeps and bloops could be heard from the command console.  "Assuming we are remaining on-course; the estimated time of arrival would be 25 minutes and 10 seconds." the artificial intelligence stated.  A groan could be heard from Anastasia.  Well, this would be enough time to give a briefing to the members of the team.  Ashelia, once again, is taking a step out of this job.  Both her and Jessi aren't going to participate in this job.  Jessi was explainable as she wasn't nearly strong enough to deal with this job, but she didn't know why Ashelia was out and about so often.  Perhaps she found a boyfriend?  Girlfriend?  

The door of the bridge opened up causing the Fire Moth to filter in and begin to float around Anastasia.  Along with the Fire Moth, Taliya walked in with a "Yo!" Ana looked at her for a brief moment and turned her head back towards the front.  "George, can you get the rest of the crew to the bridge?" she asked.  No better way to go through a briefing than to get everyone in 1 place, right?

"Compliance," spoke the artificial intelligence before a pinging sound could be heard throughout the entirety of the ship.  "Attention on the ship, attention on the ship.  All members present are requested to appear on the bridge for a Mission Briefing.  There is 20 minutes remaining before the destination of Mountain Village will be reached.  Again, please make your way to the bridge for Mission Briefing," George said before a cracking sound could be heard over the intercomm system.  

"Another one of these jobs, huh?" Taliya asked, placing her hands upon her exposed hips.  The only response given to the skimpily dressed guardian with a groan.  "Yes.  I hope this one goes by quicker than the last one does.  At the very least, I hope it isn't just all fighting."

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Almyra was the first one of the rest of Team Four Star to appear on the bridge.  Her eyes drifted to the adorable dark-skinned girl on the team.  It was strange, that for the longest time. Ana believed that Almyra wasn't a mage and was just a cute and huggable friend that followed them on missions for the sake of adventure.  It wasn't until the Red Sands invasion of Almyra's town did she see the truly awesome and terrifying devastation of Almyra's power.  Such terrifying force at the cost of her hand.  However, upon Almyra's question being asked, all Ana could do was smile.  "Oh, just a dark guild attacking the Mountain Village and terrorizing them.  Our job is to stop them," Anastasia clearly stated.  Her eyes focused on Almyra.  

Something about these kind of jobs, in Ana's opinion, would light a fire under Almyra.  The thought of losing other people or seeing others lose people may hit too close to home for the desert dweller.  "Unfortunately, I didn't accept the job.  It was kinda," she said with a shrug.  "dropped into our laps."  Sitting up, Anastasia's head tilted a bit as a figure began to materialize next to Almyra.  Timara; Almyra's sister.  She had seen her around the ship every so often, but never really took the time to acknowledge her.  As Timara appeared, Taliya quickly hid behind Ana's chair and quivered like a leaf in the wind.  "Something about her scares me," Taliya whispered to where only Ana should be able to hear.  Without looking, Ana attempted to swat at Taliya only to miss.

"Hello Timara," Ana said with a smile.  This was quite strange, being able to see the ghost of someone who had been dead for quite some time.  She was used to seeing the spirits of those recently departed, but not those that stuck to the earth to linger.  Ana read about this phenomena and discovered that those who remain had some purpose to fulfill.  No different than the Einherjar that Anastasia recruits for combat.

Nao appeared on the bridge only to see him completely drenched in water.  "Oh, hey Nao!  Good timing!" she said as she was about to start her briefing, only for Nao to just walk passed and towards the quarters.  "Um, right," Ana said as she settled down for a moment.   A little grumble came across Ana's lips as Nao disappeared into his quarters.  "Well, seems we're just going to have to wait until Nao returns before we can bother start with the briefing," Anastasia explained.  

The ship called out "20 minutes before we arrive at our destination," called out the ship's artificial intelligence.  Narrowing her eyes out of annoyance, time wasn't necessarily on their side right now.  She turned to look back towards Almyra and Timara with a big smile.  "Do you think you're ready for a fight, Almyra?  Because we have some Dark Guildies to neutralize," she said in as level of a tone as possible.  

"Since we only have 20 minutes, I think we should start getting ready," she advised to her friend.  "You can join me and Nao if you're up to it," she said.  If Almyra didn't feel like jumping into this job, she wasn't going to force her to do so.  

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Nao took this opportunity to take his sweet time in regards to coming back out.  She cleared her throat and looked to Taliya for a moment and peeled herself off of the captain's chair and cleared her throat.  "I'm going to go wash my face before we head out, so take your time and get ready alright, Almy?" she asked with a big bright smile.  She waved to both Almyra and Timara before walking off of the bridge, being accompanied by both the Fire Moth and Taliya.  Wherever Nao is, she's going to drag him by the collar to do this job after she cleans up a bit.

Moving in towards her room, the trio walked in with Ana going straight to the wash room to wash up.  Taliya jumped upon Anastasia's bed and bounced a bit.  "You humans have it really nice.  Having these bouncy, comfortable beds and perfume and stuff like that," Taliya said as Ana shouted out, "What!?" from the washroom, unable to hear Taliya clearly.  Taliya looked around the room for a moment with a delighted grin upon her face.  "Nothing!" she said in an elevated voice.  

After washing up, Anastasia walked out with make-up smeared upon her face causing Taliya and even The Fire Moth to recoil at what they saw.  Taliya pointed towards the bathroom with an irritated face.  "You look terrible.  Go back and finish!" she said.  Bewildered, Anastasia turned her head to look into a conveniently placed mirror and shriek.  "What the hell!  I thought that was supposed to be water-proof make-up!  I didn't even use soap!  Oh my god, i need to fix this!" she said before disappearing back into the bathroom, this time to completely clean her face and quickly apply a bit of foundation.  She doesn't wear much, but it was enough to make even Taliya to gasp in disgust.

Taliya used this time to look around the room a bit, seeing all of the knick-knacks Ana has floating around.  Her eyes drifted to Ana's nightstand where she saw an old item that Ana called 'The Nyanplifiers', her first successful dip into electronics before she became an absolute engineering monster that she is now.  The product of disliking a certain guild gave rise to determination to become an engineer.  Whether that is something to be applauded or shunned is up to interpretation.  

Anastasia came out of the wash room, looking like her usual self.  Her eyes noticed Taliya's gaze upon her stuff and cleared her throat.  This grabbed Taliya's attention for a moment.  "Oh! Ana!  Mind if I get my own room with my own bed and stuff?" Taliya asked with a big smile upon her face.  This was peculiar as Taliya would rather live carefree and without attachment.  Muddled, Ana simply looked at Taliya for a brief moment before returning the smile.  "Maybe after this job is done, we can set something up for you," she said.

Taliya jumped upon the bed in elation and then ran up to Ana, hugging her.  "Thanks!  Thank you so much!" Taliya said as she rubbed her face upon Ana's breasts, forcing Ana to pry her away from her chest.  "Alright, alright.  Geez.  Before that, we need to go get Nao," she said before Taliya quickly ran out of the room and appeared a moment later with Nao over her shoulder.  

"I got him!"  Taliya said as she moved her hand up to squeeze Nao's butt only for Ana to shoot a piercing gaze.  This piercing gaze caused Taliya to stop in her tracks, knowing that if she pisses off Ana, she might lose on her chance to get a room.  Turning her head, Taliya turned and looked to the gryphon.  "Yo, featherbutt, let's get going to the cargo-hold," she said before rushing towards the cargo hold with Nao in tow.

A groan came across Anastasia's lips as she closed the door to her room and made her way to the cargo-hold.

"Arriving to our destination in 2 minutes!" shouted George over the intercomm system.  

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Upon being told that he would be sick, Taliya quickly put him down and shuddered, backing up a few paces.  The look of disgust still written upon her face.  This doesn't change her opinion on Nao-tan!  All Ana could do was place her forehead into her palms before noticing the group was ready.  Taliya stuck her tongue out at Nao for his appreciation of her taxi services.  

Almyra appeared, as if on queue, for everyone to be ready.  The sound of the artificial intelligence rang throughout the entire ship.  "Arriving at the destination.  Beginning descending sequence," the artificial intelligence stated before going silent.  "Alright guys!" Ana said as she pumped her fist.  As soon as she did that, the airship lurched upon landing on the ground.  

"You know, at least we don't have to worry about going to the Ruined City again," she said in reference to when the group had to deal with the Treasure Hunters and that stupid tape problem they had to deal with it.  But she doesn't remember much of that.  Clearing her throat, the cargo door of the ship began to lower, creating a ramp going downward.  

"Well, let's get these guys and call it a wrap, eh?  Always fucking Dark Guilds," she said as she started to walk down the ramp and onto the ground.  She was escorted by Taliya, grabbing the Fire Moth and putting it between her breasts.  She skipped down before stopping just behind Anastasia.  

"So yeah.  Same deal guys.  We stick together and take out these guys yeah?" she said, pumped up for this job for some unknown reason.  She smiled to her teammates and turned to look back towards the Mountain Village.  After she gave her teammates a smile, an explosion occurred within the village.  "Well, time to get to work!" Anastasia said as she and Taliya took point towards the village.

Moments later..
Anastasia and Taliya came to a screeching stop upon seeing the people completely losing their minds; and for good reason to.  Anastasia shouted out.  "Everyone, exit town this way!" she shouted out, causing everyone to begin panicking and running in her direction.  Taliya grabbed a hold of Anastasia with one of her hands and pulled her out of the way, saving her from getting rolled over.  

"Be careful, Ana, geez," Taliya stated before releasing the Fire Moth, allowing the weapon to orbit around Anastasia.  "Why are you so crazy enthusiastic today?" Taliya asked.  Ana could be seen smiling and the vein in her forehead twitched a couple times.  "Yes..  So thrilled to fight nothing but Dark Mages.  Absolutely ecstatic on doing the same job over and over again," she said between clenched teeth.  It's obvious she wasn't too happy about doing this job.  Considering that all of the jobs taken by the group seem to be the exact same over and over again.  And the Magic Council doesn't even acknowledge her achievements.  It's getting to the point where she plans on saying 'screw the MC' and do her own thing without their approval.  

But only time will tell.

"Stop day-dreaming!  Let's get to work," Taliya shouted out.  Coming back to her senses, Anastasia nodded.  "Oh, crap, you're right.  Let's go!"

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Even Anastasia heard the extremely loud 'plink' sound of the rock bouncing off of Nao's skull.  She winced a bit and shouted into her microphone.  "Hey, you alright, Nao?" she asked before seeing him stand up.  A nod was given to him before she heard the sound of Taliya's voice shouting, "Holy shit!" Taliya said as she pointed towards Timara whose brutality seemed far greater than anything her or Anastasia could muster.  Taking a step back from seeing Timara's absolute cruelty towards the dark mages.  

This wasn't something she remembered Almyra liking in the past.  No, this was something she had frowned upon in the past.  Her eyes turned to look towards Almyra, noticing her prone position.  There were mages coming from her back side, not even noticing any of this.  She was still in awe of what she saw Timara do only to see Timara, once again leap towards the feet of the mages converging upon Anastasia and Taliya.  She turned her mech to track the spirit only to see the her use some terrifying force to cause the dark mages to stagger.  Then suddenly, with a terrifying screech, the men that were staggered fell into a pile of meat.  At least that was what Anastasia and Taliya processed this as.

"Holy shit, Ana," Taliya said trembling.  "We've got some really scary friends huh?" she asked as her voice fluttered in fear.  

"Yeah, you can definitely say that.  Just be glad she's on our team," Anastasia said before turning to look back towards Almy.  "Almyra, get a grip on yourself!  Timara's doing too much work!" she said, trying to bring Almy back to reality.  

As the other first wave of mages arrived, as if on queue, a second wave made their way towards them.  This time, they were met with the commander of the forces attacking this little hamlet.  A group of more grunts followed the more-than-obvious boss of this raiding party.  Charles Pierstz arrived upon the scene.  The man, or what appeared to be just a shadow, twitched a couple times.  

"Nothing better than to commit a coup against those soft bastards running the guild, right boys?" the man asked as the entire body of the formless creature twitched a couple times. Loud shouts came from the men as they all walked in front of Charles and took up defensive positions.  

"So, you are the group responsible for thwarting our efforts.  I was expecting someone like Blue Pegasus or Black Rose to do something.  No, it seems we're stuck with free-lancers," the man said with another twitch before looking towards Nao.  "How about you join us, hm?  I can promise you something better than that robot and that loli can give you.  We have plenty of women at our disposal for pleasure back at the guild.  What do you say, stranger?"

Anastasia turned her mech around to look at Charles and his men with Taliya standing in front of the mech in a ready position.  "Hey, fuck off!  He belongs to us!" Ana shouted before Taliya nodded her head.  "Yeah!  That's my OUR Nao-Nao!" Taliya said as she hooked a thumb to herself for a moment.  Upon realizing the possessiveness she showed, she dissolved the gesture.

Charles waved a 'hand' out towards the group and sent out his grunts towards Anastasia and Almyra.  "Men, don't kill the male.  Bring him back alive," he said in his voice before the men shouted.  "Aye Sir!" before rushing towards Anastasia and Almyra.  With a grumble, Anastasia turned on her Trans-Am system, causing a red aura to flare up around her mech.  

"Time to bash these bastard's heads in, Taliya!" Anastasia stated.  

"Aye!" Taliya shouted before she ran in towards the large collection of minions and slapped her gauntlets together, creating a black hole, sucking all of the minions into a tight hole.  Taking her mech to the sky, she pointed both of her arms towards the newly tightened collection of minions.  The minions shouted in horror as they are now being pulled together into a tight wad.

"What the hell kinda voodoo is this, Eric?"
"I don't know, Jim!  But it seems like we're stuck!"
"Shut up, Jim and Eric!  We need to find our way out of this before something bad happens!"
"I wouldn't have been in this position if you didn't drag me into this."
"Me drag you into this?  He dragged me into this!"
"Me?  But he dragged me into this."  This kept going for a short while before Taliya interrupted with "SHUT UP!  GEEZ!" she said before moving out of the tight collection of men before Anastasia let loose a single blue dragon of pure energy at the group.  The dragon exploded only for Anastasia to drop back to the ground, delivering a massive strike to everyone in the tight ball.  

Reeling her dragon fangs back up to directly next to her, she looked at the pile of unconscious men that were Charles' army.  A little laugh came from Charles.  "Well, that's impressive.  That's impressive indeed," the man said, tilting his head before looking to Nao.  "Last chance, do you want to join me now?" he said in a rather tilted manner.  The raw power of Team Four Star was enough to spook him, causing his voice to crack when he asked the question.

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Timara's power was absolutely frightening; feeling like the embodiment of anger and rage that Almyra had suppressed, taken form as her sister.  Opening the cockpit of her mech, Anastasia jumped out of the robot and landing on the ground a small distance away from Almyra.  Running to Almyra's aid, she held the girl up by the back of her neck in a strange embrace; as if someone was cradling a dying person.  Almyra clutched her doll tightly before clearing her throat and looked towards Nao.

"Almyra's not doing well!  I need to take her to safety!" Anastasia shouted out to her partner, Nao.  With a snap of her fingers, a strange pink armor enveloped Nao.  While the armor did look quite feminine, it also had strange powers that Nao wasn't used to.  The Pixie Armor had very little coverage in terms of armor, but it also gave Nao the power of flight and the ability to transform himself into a small airship as a form of transportation.  

Anastasia looked back to Almyra for a moment before picking her up and escorting her towards her mech.  Ana expected some struggling and if Almyra struggled too much, she would let her go (but that's assuming Almyra did so).  "I need to get you somewhere safe, Almyra.  Being out here in the open isn't good for you," she said as the mech lowered it's hand down, allowing Ana and Almyra to catch a ride upwards towards the mech's cockpit, where Ana placed Almyra in the secondary seat behind the main pilot seat.  The addition of the second seat was for occasions like this one, thankfully.  

Clearing her throat and narrowing her eyes, she lowered the cockpit door closed.  The Trans-Am system flared up once again, sending out red particles throughout the air.  However, the man named Charles twitched at Nao's answer, making strange twitching movements periodically; as if it was some form of nervous tick that he had.  "If that's your answer, then so be it," Charles said before raising both of his hands out in front of him and fired a black shadow bolt towards Nao.  "If you won't join me, then I'll just kill you," he said with a twitch.   As the black bolt grew closer to Nao, Anastasia extended the arm of her Dragon Fang out and summoned a barrier, allowing the barrier to take the damage from the bolt instead of Nao.  

Anastasia reeled in the dragon fang before turning to look towards Charles before his minions began to rise again.  Ana sucked air in between her teeth upon seeing this and looked to Nao and Timara, speaking through her intercomm system.  "I have Almy inside the cockpit, she's safe.  You two should take on Charles and I'll take on the adds," she said.  While that was gamer terminology, it applied to this situation properly.  

As the men were stirred awake, Anastasia activated the engines of her mech to flash forward towards the group before they had a chance to react and swung her arms, letting the dragon fangs drag along the ground.  She used the fangs like a flail, swinging it towards the group of men that were waking up, rolling over them like bowling pins struck by a fast ball.   The sound of the men screaming came through the intercom system, allowing Anastasia and Almyra to hear what's going on.  Realizing that Almyra might not like that sound, Anastasia placed her headsets over her head and changed the channel to headset only.  

 

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Anastasia finished off the additional men that were causing problems on the battlefield, assisting their guild master, Charles.  Forgetting to turn the intercoms off, a strange feeling came from Almyra; a single word 'no' escaped her lips.  Coming to a full-stop, Anastasia looked over as Nao struggled to fight Charles.  "Hold strong, Nao," she spoke to him over the mech communication system, able to speak to him from mech-to-mech.  She needed to help Nao, but something was wrong with Almyra.  This was quite the pickle she was in; either save the life of Nao or risk Almyra's mind from being destroyed.  

Nao is strong enough to fend for himself for now.  Removing the belt that kept her in her seat, Ana walked around to the back-seat noticing blood coming out of Almyra's nose.  She placed a hand upon Almy's knee and looked up at her.  "Everything is going to be alright, Almy.  I didn't kill anyone so just get a grip for now alright?  You gotta be strong," she said as she heard explosions and a jarring hit go to her mech.  Klaxxon was ringing constantly, becoming a nuisance to the ear.  She looked outwards to see some of the mages she knocked unconscious return to consciousness.  "Shit," Anastasia whispered out, sucking air between her teeth slightly.

She turned to look back towards Almyra and put a hand upon her face in a caring manner.  "You have to be strong Almyra.  Nao and your sister are out there fighting with everything they have.  If we don't get back out there, they will get really hurt.  Do you understand?  You need to keep your composure.  Don't lose yourself like you did the last time we were in Desierto," she said before recoiling a bit, realizing what she said was a bit insensitive.  After all, Almyra did have a lot of her people die that day, to include her sister.  ~Good going, stupid~

Another heavy jarring could be felt upon her large armor before she shifted with the hit and returned her gaze back up to Almyra.  Anastasia tore a piece of her clothing and put it up to Almyra's nose to wipe away the blood.  Ana tried to give Almyra a comforting smile.  "You think you can be strong for us?  We need you to be strong, Almyra.  We can't do this without you," she said before leaning in and kissing Almyra lightly upon the cheek.  "I need you to be strong, okay?" Ana said before quickly returning to her seat, strapping on the seatbelt and placing her hands upon the control sticks.

"Sorry for the delay, Nao.  I'm back in action," she said as the suit sprang back into life, holding it's arms together, clasping the suit's fingers.  The dragon fangs on either side of the arms opened up and a shower of super heated plasma bathed the men.  She quickly turned the intercom system off so their screams wouldn't be heard by Almyra.  Anastasia also turned off all cameras so she wouldn't be able to see.  Opening up the cockpit door, this was the only method Anastasia used to see anything.  Further damage to Almyra's psyche wasn't something she wanted, but it does put her in quite the handicap.  

Clearing her throat, Anastasia took a deep breathe out.  Unclasping the seatbelt, she stepped out to the edge of the mech and raised a single hand into the air.  "Come forth, my noble Einherjar!" she said before dark clouds gathered, creating a supercell just above them.  The clouds swirled around quickly before a figure started to slowly float down.  A single black wing was spread out before the man pulled out an obnoxiously long sword.  Slowly descending to the ground, Anastasia nodded to the man and returned to her seat and rebuckled up.  She grabbed the control console once again only to see the one-winged man fly around, dispatching all of the additional mages in a single blow each.  Each strike from the man instantly decapitated the other mages, leaving no noise other than the subtle thud of their heads rolling upon the ground.

Thankfully, Anastasia kept the cameras off while this happened.  She didn't feel good about this either, but it was something that had to have been done.  Those who commit themselves to evil should be struck down with the same force, if not more force, than they exert upon the weak.  This was one of the reasons she refused to be a savage and massacre innocent people when raiding their villages.  Leave them with enough to live and not kill any who just want to hide.  Those who resist are suppressed in a non-lethal manner.  Lethal force is only left as a last resort.  However, she cannot control the one she just summoned.  His sole purpose is to prove his worth to the Valkyrie and remain sharp until the time comes; that time being Ragnarok.

While this happened, Taliya was throwing punch after punch towards the boss, only to have her punches avoided as the man created holes within his body to avoid the attacks made by Charles Piertsz.  After delivering another punch, she connected only for the shadowy body to bind her.  "Yes.  If that water mage won't come to me, I'll--" Charles said before a part of him was cut off, the part that was binding Taliya.  A long blade could be seen cleaving the body of the shadow mage before the Einherjar impaled Charles for a moment, causing a loud death wail.  The body evaporated with a loud laugh coming from the man, himself.  


"A shadow clone?" the one-winged man questioned.  "I think I'm just going to kill everyone here?  All of those people you evacuated?  Well, I suppose I'll take their souls right now.  It would be quite delicious to do and it wouldn't be hard for someone like me," the man said with a chuckle.   A strange man appeared in between Taliya, the Einherjar, and Nao, holding two massive shotguns in his hands.  

"So that's his true form?" Anastasia asked before looking down back towards Almyra and gave her another comforting smile.  "Everything will be alright, Almy.  Just keep being strong," she said before the man with the shotguns started to turn around, launching multiple shotgun shots towards Taliya, Nao, and the Einherjar.  The man with the large sword attempted to deflect as many attacks before a large dragon fang could be seen grabbing the man.  The man paused for a moment before being yanked towards Anastasia.  Without having a follow-through, the man changed his body into pure shadow before flying in through the cockpit of the mech and passed Anastasia, only to materialize directly in front of Almyra, holding both of the shotguns directly in her face.  

"Crap!  No!" Anastasia said, trying to unbuckle the seatbelt.  Almyra seems to be in a very bad position right now.  "Kill him, Almyra!" Anastasia shouted.