MOAR DAKKA

Rolling for my enemies

The member 'Aliarey Casady' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Appearance

"C-c-c-cold..." Aliarey managed to murmur through chattering white teeth. She was hugging herself while standing there, trying to keep whatever warmth was left within her from escaping and dissolving into the frigid wind. It wasn't working very well much to the blonde's disappointment. She was going to be a frozen human popsicle before she even got a chance to do anything! "Why couldn't there be a war in the middle of a tropical island?! It's freaking freezing up here!"

Ah, yes, the snow capped mountain peaks and frozen cliffs of the border between Bellum and Pergrande were not exactly the top of the list as a sightseeing spot for Alia. In fact, it was way at the bottom. She didn't care for the spectacular view or mass of blinding white snow and slippery ice that surrounded her. There was only one thing that brought her there and that was the war that popped out of nowhere and into the front pages. Well, for her anyway. For anyone else that remotely paid attention to current events and the world outside their own little bubble would have known that the tension between the two nations grew more and more each day. Unfortunately, Aliarey failed history, and she didn't pay attention to global news. Paying attention to even Fiore's news was slim.

Either way, nations apparently paid well when they were in a war. Both Bellum and Pergrande were looking to boost their forces. They were so desperate that they would take anyone. Even the most useless and weakest of people could be excellent fodder and maybe do SOMETHING. Not that she was of that category. No way. She was amazing! She was powerful! She was super special awesome! Okay well, not really. True she managed to give her body a bit of an upgrade that amplified her abilities, and true that she was reaching levels that could compete with those hero mages that were actually living nukes, but she was more of a liability for any side she chose to help. Her teamwork was horrid and the thought of an ally's well being was nearly non-existent until it was too late to change a damn thing. Neither faction must have known about that detail if they were crazy enough to let her anywhere near their forces while expecting her to go all out whenever a fight started. Unless they just didn't care about friendly fire of devastating proportions whatsoever.

"I told you to wear something warmer. Did you miss the part where I explained the average temperature for the border? Or even the landscape itself?" A small lacbot drone hovered around the blonde, repeatedly condescending and nagging her. It was a damn shame that the voice did not belong to the drone itself, but rather someone on the other end. Far and far away. Where her punches, kicks, and bullet fire would never reach. Yet. If his voice annoyed her much further she was making acquiring the ability to make heads explode from countries away her number one priority. Assuming she didn't freeze to death in the middle of nowhere between Bellum and Pergrande first!

Aliarey's brow twitched in frustration. As much as she wanted to destroy the communication bot it wouldn't have the effect she desired. Besides, her adoptive brother was pretty spot on anyway. He had told her to wear something warmer whenever he proposed that she go on this near suicide mission to aid some country she didn't even care about. He also might have just a tad tiny bit explained stuff that she wasn't listening to as well. Like the weather and the temperature and how she would probably get frostbite if she was stupid. Most of that stuff was tuned out but parts of her subconscious mind must have picked it up because, while faded and filled with a bunch of blah blahs, she remembered the scene. "Please," Aliarey told the lacbot and voice behind it in a very sarcastic tone. "The kind of clothing that I would have to wear here would be so thick that I'd look like a walking marshmallow! I can't move around or work like that. Unless I plan to stand there and die by letting the other army hit me I'll stick with wearing my normal clothes. Thank you."

"So you plan to stand there and die by freezing to death instead. Got it. I hope I still get the money you were supposed to get for participating here. Tombstones aren't cheap these days. The market is going to skyrocket after this war too. I might not even be able to get one made at all because of the demand. Hmmmm. Would you settle for a plain rock? There's a lot of them right here that are free. They're even covered in snow and ice so it'd be extra symbolic and being from the location of your death makes it special."

"I'M NOT GOING TO FREEZE TO DEATH HERE!" Her worries about that were supposed to be over exaggerated! Not taken seriously! Her short fuse was making her blood boil enough to almost make her forget about the cold. Another blast of chilled air blew by, causing that warmth to be extinguished quickly as it brought her whole body to shiver. Okay fine. She probably should have at least brought a real coat. The very thin white overcoat she normally wore was simply not enough. The rest of her attire was even less suitable. "Shouldn't the lacnites be pumping out some kind of energy to keep me from freezing to death anyway? This is ridiculous."

"Hmmm, technically, I guess they should. If I hadn't disabled that part of their abilities when they were first implanted.

"WHAT?!"

"Now, now. Don't get so hostile towards me. You were weak back then, and there was concern having them focus on too much to compensate would inadvertently kill you. You being in climates without proper attire to withstand it or even severe climates in general never was a concern before. I'll admit that I should have made some adjustments now that your power levels have increased, but to be fair, I was late for my coffee break when I sent you out there. You know how I am about my coffee breaks."

"Ugh... your damn coffee breaks." Alia was clenching her fists now. Just how much longer she could stand that voice before destroying the lacbot drone it came from she didn't know. The limit was close though. Until he asked another question that near instantly made her depressed.

"Doesn't Bellum have any kind of warming circle or method to keep their allies warm during this... uh... idle period? Just because they're used to it doesn't mean the mages they called from Fiore and elsewhere are. I'd think they were smart enough to know that."

Exaggerated tears of sadness formed within Aliarey's blue eyes. "They... they kicked me out of it! They're so mean and heartless that they want to watch me freeze while they stand in their little dome of warmth! Can you believe that?!" Aliarey sniffled, adding on to her crocodile tears.

The voice connected to the other side of the lacbot sighed, not in the least bit surprised but moreso disappointed. "You said something you shouldn't have again, didn't you?"

In that instant the tears ceased to be just as quickly as they were forcefully created. "Yeah, maybe. I might have mentioned that Pergrande was paying more and that the only reason I was here was because you signed me up to help them instead. Otherwise, I'd be busy becoming richer by helping Pergrande. It's not my fault they asked. What was I supposed to do? Lie and pretend I'm some loyal ally for eternity? Get real. This isn't some social walk in the park. People are going to die today. Not me because I plan to get out of here if it gets THAT bad, but, you know, I could get hurt or something."

The drone had gasped at first, hardly believing that she had the audacity to say that, but then he remembered who he was talking to. "You're lucky they didn't throw you over the mountainside. Did you really want to deal with two enemy armies instead of one today?"

"They wouldn't do that. If you were here you could sense the desperation coming from some of these guys too. They need whatever help they can get to turn this in their favor. Or at the least they figured that if Pergrande was busy shooting at me then they wouldn't be shooting at them. It's totally basic."

"Fair point, I guess. This is only one battle. There are probably going to be more. I am not overly confident that everything between those two will end today."

"Yeah, don't care. I'm only signed on for today unless Bellum keeps paying. I'm not one of their Arcanos zealots."

"You do know that Pergrande is very against magic users, right? They're not above genocide. That is why I signed you up to side with Bellum. If Pergrande wins it's only a matter of time before they set their sights on Fiore."

"And then they'll be sorry because I will care more by then. Right now though? I don't care much for Bellum either. They're just as bad but in the other direction. At least Pergrande has been keeping them busy so they don't try to push their trash views on Fiore."

"Hmmmm." The lacbot drone let the topic drop. It went around Aliarey a few times and then focused on the group that was further away within a protective dome that had been created by a spell. Probably made by one of the more powerful archpriest or mages of Bellum. A thought whirled inside the mind of the one who controlled it. Just how many mages had come to aid Bellum anyway? How many for Pergrande? The last question being quite disturbing. He couldn't judge though too much. He was in the business of doing shady stuff for money. There were limits though and siding with Pergrande was one he couldn't cross. It was amazing that Aliarey was capable of doing that if she didn't have the leash to tell her not to. "Say, you know any of the mages that have come?"

Aliarey glanced her cerulean gaze over towards the group. While it was an army it wasn't the full army. It was a small group in comparison. Other groups were scattered elsewhere along the borders. Or from what she had overheard anyway. Regardless, she didn't know anyone else there. "Nah. That's not saying much though. I don't exactly make an effort to meet too many people." Ever since Grema and Liam went their own ways and practically disappeared off the planet there was only really one person she ran into repeatedly. It wasn't a seasonal festival though so she didn't really expect to see Diana anywhere near there. Her skills would have been useful if what she had seen during that game of laser tag was anything to go by, but a partaking in a mere game and a war were two completely different things. With all the groups scattered everywhere even if she were somewhere there the chances of them meeting up were slim. Even worse if Diana sided with Pergrande. Now that would have been one interesting if not completely deadly twist. It was best if she didn't think about that honestly. She wasn't sure if she could beat Diana if it came to that.

"Probably for the best, actually. The less allies in the way the better."

Aliarey arched a brow curiously. "I thought allies were supposed to be a good thing?"

"Not when you're shooting at them as well as the enemy! Your magic isn't very good at... selective targeting. And before you say it, yes I know you can aim. We both know you aren't going to do that though and will instead keep throwing weapons that cover an entire area. Which, actually, you will need anyway. The lacbot sensors are picking up a large group heading in this direction. They're still a bit away though. You should go intercept them to make sure they don't get this far."

"Psh." Aliarey folded her arms over her chest, turned her gaze away from the lacbot, and shrugged her shoulders. "Nah. I'm comfortable now. Don't feel like going anywhere. They can just come up here and shoot at the flashy dome that can be seen from Pergrande's damn capital city!" She blinked and looked back at the lacbot drone with uncertainty. "That's... far from here, right? I actually don't know where the capital is on a map but you get the point. I'd rather be a frozen popsicle than do that by myself."

"Uggghhhh. At this rate we're going to be wanted by both Pergrande AND Bellum."

"Yeah, probably. That's going to suck."

"..."

If only there were someone else around to help out with that little interception plan so it wasn't completely suicidal.

(Word Count: 2177)

Aliarey Enemies Defeated:
Imperial Army Recruit 0/6
Imperial Army Officer 0/16

Diana is rolling for her enemies.

The member 'Diana Winchester' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Wearing her all-white winter outfit with black boots, gloves on her hands, and carrying Saint Sinner Valentine slung on her right shoulder, Diana was well-insulated from the cold. She also wore her SHG-IV Smart Glasses to help her pick out targets that might otherwise go unnoticed in the fray. They would be needed for what was about to happen. She had also brought Ami to provide air support and the microphone of the Smart Glasses would help the huntress stay in touch with Ami as the battle progressed. Diana would need every one of those assets for what was about to happen.

Today Diana was not taking an ordinary job like rescuing someone from a dangerous place or being a wealthy heiress' shopping partner in Capital Crocus Mall. Today Diana was doing something completely different from her usual routine of peaceful work with the occasional action-packed job for variety. On this day she would be in for the biggest fight of her life.

Today the huntress was going to war.

Diana was here to fight on behalf of Bellum to keep it from being overrun by the forces of Pergrande. She was not fighting for Bellum so much for principles as she was fighting for Bellum because fighting for Pergrande was not a very good idea for a mage. However, money was not the only reason she had taken up arms for Bellum. Her reasons for fighting were numerous, complex, and sometimes even contradictory.

Even though Diana was born in Bellum and had lived there for eighteen of her twenty-two years, she had no special love for the country. She was not a believer in Arcanos and she disliked the extreme pro-magic stance of the country. Diana also had bad memories of her home life and her abusive mother verbally abusing her, slapping her at the slightest provocation, treating her like a servant instead of as a family member, and numerous other acts of cruelty directed towards a child who was unable to stop the abuse. If Diana never set foot on the Winchester property again she would not be upset.

When all of those factors were combined it was safe to say that Diana did not have any special love for Bellum.

In the past the huntress would not have cared too much about what happened to the country. If this war had happened when Diana was at her most mercenary and least morally scrupulous she probably would have signed up with Pergrande just for the big payday that they offered to anyone willing to side with them. But that was Diana from four years ago, when she was at her worst. Now she could not even dream of siding with Pergrande against her own people.

A lot had changed over four years.

Over the years Diana had learned kindness and compassion from people she had met along the way like Angela Helton, Lorelei Wingate, Ben the cowboy, Stella Herschel, Professor Fauntleroy, her android companion Ami, and others. Now she could not turn a blind eye to the possible destruction of a country and the elimination of a people whose greatest crimes were being born with magic and having the bad fortune to live across the border from Pergrande. While Bellum left a lot to be desired in terms of rights for non-mages and in many other categories, it certainly did not deserve extermination for its faults. The huntress knew that Pergrande was not doing what it was doing out of concern for Bellum's non-mage population... Pergrande had its own agenda, one that would only spell trouble for Bellum should the anti-mage country win.

Those same people had also taught her that there was more to life than just survival and profit. There were other things like joy, friendship, love, adventure, and other things that made life worth living. While she could not leave the shadows just yet, Diana saw that life in the light of day was well worth living.

Diana had also learned from Angela Helton and Lorelei Wingate that her oldest sister Lucia was still alive. Diana was fighting for Lucia, the only Winchester who actually cared about her and treated her like a human being. The huntress would fight to ensure that Lucia had a chance at a peaceful life even if Diana could not share it with her. Lucia deserved that much from Diana.

Finally, Diana was fighting for Bellum out of pragmatism. If she sided with Pergrande and Pergrande won the conflict Diana would be paid handsomely, but with her awakening conscience she could not enjoy the big payday. She also knew that siding with Pergrande would not take her off the list of mages to be killed: instead she would only earn a stay of execution for her services. Furthermore, Diana knew that if Pergrande won over Bellum they might be encouraged to take their campaign further abroad and might eventually wind up on Fiore's doorstep. Therefore it was best to stand against Pergrande here and now while her resolve was at its highest and there was a chance to win, even if it was a small one.

Diana had no illusions that winning here would convince Pergrande to shelve its plans. At best a victory for Bellum would slow Pergrande down a little and buy the former time to plan and prepare for a renewal of the conflict at a later date. Even though the best she could do was buy time Diana was willing to fight for that outcome.

Diana continued to walk until her Smart Glasses alerted her to two possible targets. The huntress stopped in place and observed for a moment. The two targets were unaware of her presence, but they were not Pergrandian soldiers. However, they could be mages who had sided with Pergrande. Diana observed them further and noticed that one of them looked like her old partner Aliarey Casady... the long blonde hair, the blue eyes, and the outfit all matched what Aliarey usually wore.

"Hey Diana, are they the guys we need to fight?" Ami asked Diana and began to raise her arm cannon towards the blonde.

"No, Ami. That person is a friend of mine." Diana replied. When Ami heard the response the winged android lowered her arm cannon. The huntress resumed walking with Ami following closely behind her and eventually made contact with Aliarey, who was wearing her usual outfit instead of wearing something better suited for the cold environment they were in.

"We meet again, Aliarey. I see that you have signed on to fight for Bellum." Diana said to the blue-eyed blonde who had been by her side for several events, all of them festivals of some kind. Today was by far the most significant event they would participate in to date. They would be fighting in a war against Earthland's most heavily militarized nation.

"I too have signed on to fight for Bellum. Today we will be fighting together." Diana told Aliarey which side she had joined. Pergrande's offer of significant financial reward had little appeal to Diana, who had already accumulated a decent nest egg of her own through years of work. Diana had decided to side with Bellum for numerous practical and personal reasons and no amount of money Pergrande offered could get her to change her mind.

Diana took a deep breath while waiting for Aliarey to respond. While waiting she looked at the area around her and frowned. There was not much natural cover for her to hide behind, which would make her plan of sniping the enemy from afar a little more difficult that she had envisioned. Since she was not wearing any armor the huntress would have to find some way to keep Pergrande's soldiers at arm's length while picking them off with Silent Hunter using Full Metal Jacket rounds. Saint Sinner Valentine's Armor-Piercing Bullets would be valuable if enemy forces got too close for Silent Hunter to be effective, but she was saving the conspicuously red assault rifle as her backup weapon.

[Post Word Count: 1,340]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,340/4,000]

Diana's Enemies Defeated:
0/6 Imperial Army Recruits
0/12 Imperial Army Officers
0/2 Imperial Paladin- Private

While Aliarey and the communication drone had their little conversation someone had managed to sneak up on them. The calm voice unexpectedly interrupted the conversation. The gun mage didn't put any time into recalling that it was familiar before she jumped nearly ten feet in surprise. Her guard was completely down what with the Bellum army not too far away and all. She didn't expect Pergrande soldiers to sneak that far in! Did they even have cloaking devices? Actually, why didn't she have one of those? No. Wait. Priorities!

Pistols of gold, white, and black appeared in her hands requip style and were aimed right at the one that had approached and spooked her. Her blue gaze had turned into a piercing glare that was also aimed towards the "enemy." Until she realized who she was staring at. Diana. Again? Jeez the other gun mage must have an Aliarey tracker or something. At that point Aliarey would just have to come to the realization that she might as well call Diana to let her know where she was going to be. She was going to end up being there anyway apparently, and it'd be a lot less creepy. No. Wait. AGAIN! What if her original thoughts were true and Diana was one of the ones that had joined the side of Pergrande? Granted it was odd for anyone to just approach an enemy when they could just shoot them in the head from a great distance, but that was going too far in the thought process. Alia did not want to think way too much about the whole day. Period. Or really at all in general.

The next thing Diana said put Aliarey much more at ease. Diana was on the side of Bellum that day. Thank the uh... actually no. Aliarey was not thanking the god of magic for that. She'd just thank her extreme, usually bad luck finally turning around. Now her fears of possibly facing off against Diana in a gunfight could be put to rest. A shame though. Now she'd have to thank her adoptive brother for keeping her away from the riches Pergrande promised or the same scary nightmare could have happened that way.

"Oh, yeah? Cool!" The pistols were lowered and then dismissed entirely. "Not cool that we're both in the middle of someone else's war and all. Just cool that we're on the same side in this." Aliarey smiled, completely unaware that her words might have hit a bit harder than intended. The war between Bellum and Pergrande was pretty personal for Diana. However, Alia had zero clue that Diana was from Bellum, and the rest of the other blonde's history was in the negatives when it came to the amount of knowledge she had on it. "Now I'll live and you won't kill me!" Playfully dramatic, the words came right on out, explaining her real reason for the two gun mages to be on the same side. Aliarey let out a sigh to end her playful dramatics. "You have no idea what a relief that is." One thing that could best describe Alia was that she was a survivor. Not a challenger. The easy breezy fights she welcomed. Diana was hardcore challenge mode. That's a no sign while the alarms of get the hell out of there played.

The frowning of Diana as she looked around was not missed, even if Aliarey had not immediately reacted to it. "If you're worried about being out in the open don't worry about it. I've been standing here a long time and you're pretty much the most frightening thing I have seen. We got the Bellum party over there and my buddy here hasn't scanned anything anywhere near here. Yet anyway. Now that I think about it though want to..." Aliarey trailed off. She had just been about to ask if Diana wanted to join up with her to take out the group that was coming their way, but her focus was pulled away by the drone.

The small communication drone moved and hovered in front of Diana. It remained there for a while, staring at her. Silently. Well, besides the sounds of whirls and small surges of pulsing lacrima energy keeping it in its hovering state. "She doesn't look like a walking marshmallow to me." The man on the other side of the communication device observed loudly, referencing Aliarey's earlier comment on how she'd look like a marshmallow if she wore winter attire. Apparently Diana was smart enough to wear proper clothing for the cold weather. Naturally, he didn't give any details on the reference or further context. It was left to assume that Aliarey at one point must have called her a walking marshmallow. "She looks kind of like you. In a less annoying, smarter, and more calmer sort of way. I like it. I wonder if the old man will notice a swap. The eyes are a dead giveaway, but I don't think he even knows my eye color so the chances of him knowing yours is small. Hmmmm."

Aliarey growled and gave the small drone a punch that sent it flying away and crashing into the snow. "Ignore him." She advised Diana. "He's only here to bug me. He's useless for anything else while his body is sitting at a comfy desk in Fiore." It was then that she shifted her glance slightly to take notice of the other being that was standing right by Diana. Well technically she noticed her before but that was when she had planned to start shooting. She had been ignored right after. One thing was for certain was that the being was not human. With those metallic wings, arm cannon, and less than normal skin it was kind of a give away. "Who's this?" Her actual question would have been to ask what it was, but Aliarey had already learned from her own lacbots and droids that that method of inquiry would probably get her ass kicked.

(Word Count: 1002
Aliarey Total: 3179)

Aliarey Enemies Defeated:
Imperial Army Recruit 0/6
Imperial Army Officer 0/16

Diana watched Aliarey aim a pair of elaborately decorated golden pistols at her before the blue-eyed blonde realized that the green-eyed blonde was not a Pergrandian soldier or a mage who had been hired by Pergrande to fight Bellum's forces. Once Aliarey lowered the pistols before dispelling them entirely Diana relaxed and so did Ami, who was prepared to blast Aliarey with an anti-armor cannon for the transgression of daring to aim weapons at her owner. The winged android looked towards Diana for an explanation of the blue-eyed blonde's behavior.

"Aliarey is a friend of mine, Ami. She is on edge because we are about to get involved in a battle with the most heavily militarized nation in Earthland and not everyone is on Bellum's side. There is no telling how many freelance mages Pergrande has drawn into its service with promises of high pay." Diana explained to Ami why the blue-eyed blonde had reacted the way she did. Ami nodded in understanding.

"So Aliarey thought that you might have been working for the other side?" Ami asked. Diana nodded. It was not terribly hard to get where Diana was going with her statement, but she was still a little surprised that Ami had drawn the right conclusion without being given any additional information. Maybe Ami was smart and she was starting to show it now that she knew she did not have to fear being deactivated as a punishment for daring to question her owner. Diana turned to Aliarey, who had expressed palpable relief that the green-eyed blonde was on her side in the upcoming battle.

"Yes. It is fortunate that we are on the same side in this conflict, Aliarey. Truth be told, I was hoping to find you on the side of Bellum." Diana agreed with Aliarey that it was fortunate that they were fighting on the same side of the conflict and expressed her hope that Aliarey had chosen to fight for Bellum instead of against it. Now that her hope had been confirmed the huntress allowed herself a small smile. It had been awhile since they had participated in any sort of actual combat, but the last time they had worked together during the Pumpkin event many months ago Diana recalled  that Aliarey had an affinity for deploying turrets with a wide variety of weapons. As far as the huntress knew Aliarey could deploy them practically anywhere there was space to do so and could mix and match weapons for a balanced offense, defense, or both at once.

Diana's fighting style was centered around keeping opponents at arm's length and riddling them with suppressed weapons fire until they retreated or succumbed to bullet wounds. If the enemy persisted and got past her weapons Diana also had powerful magic that allowed her to fight without a weapon, including a few powerful spells that could drain a portion of the magic power of mages and harm them, giving her the ability to wear down enemy mages by gradually draining their magic along with their vitality. However, the huntress' bread and butter was wearing down her opponents from long range and keeping them at arm's length to avoid injury to herself. That approach had served her well in combat in the past and she saw no point in changing a winning formula today.

Saint Sinner Valentine was a valuable backup weapon because it having multiple ammunition options available allowed her to take on supernatural enemies, armored opponents, and even other mages without having to switch weapons. It also had a higher rate of fire than Silent Hunter and made for a good weapon when the sniper rifle just would not do the job. However, the firepower it offered was no substitute for having good natural cover since she did not wear armor. That was why she had frowned so deeply when she saw no good natural cover in the area to take up a defensive position behind.

However, with Aliarey fighting at her side, Diana would have a little more leeway when it came to cover than she would if the huntress was fighting on her own. Aliarey and her turrets could easily keep the enemy distracted while Diana picked them off with her sniper rifle. Just like in Lovely Laser Tag, Aliarey was the sledgehammer and Diana was the scalpel. Their approaches complemented one another and the huntress did not see any point in breaking up a winning combination.

Diana smiled a little when Aliarey expressed relief that Diana was on her side.

"I am glad that you are relieved, Aliarey." Diana said calmly in response to Aliarey's declaration of relief that she would get to live another day thanks to Diana being on her side. Diana did not want to have to ever raise a weapon against Aliarey since the blue-eyed blonde was the closest thing to a friend she had besides Ami. Diana was not sure if she could raise a weapon against Aliarey even if the latter had sided with Pergrande, but she was glad that today she would not have to. Both blondes were fighting for Bellum for their own reasons, but they were fighting as allies and that was as important to the huntress as it was to Aliarey.

Even though the huntress had not said a word, Aliarey assured her that there was no need to worry about the lack of natural cover because the huntress was the "most frightening thing" the former had seen. She also said that her "buddy" had scanned the area and nothing had been detected yet. Diana was mildly amused by that statement, but she still wanted to have some cover available when Pergrandian soldiers inevitably found them and went on the attack.

Then Aliarey's "buddy", which was a small communications drone of a make and model Diana did not recognize, hovered in front of Diana and began to observe her in total silence save for the noise made by whirls and small pulses of lacrima energy keeping it afloat.

Diana overheard it say in a male voice that the huntress did not look like a "walking marshmallow" to it. The huntress did not dare to ask what that meant but deduced that it possibly had something to do with her outfit and remained silent as the communications drone observed her further. She had no idea what was going on, but she just went with it. Ami eyed the drone from afar but kept her arm cannon lowered for them time being.

Diana next heard it say that "She looks kind of like you. In a less annoying, smarter, and more calmer sort of way." and was not sure what to make of that remark either. It sounded like the drone was commenting on the physical resemblance between Aliarey and Diana while adding a personality comparison. The green-eyed blonde heard the drone wonder aloud if "the old man will notice a swap."

Diana blinked.

It sounded like the drone wanted to swap Aliarey for Diana. Diana had no idea why, though. She did not notice anything particularly off about her fellow blonde, but the drone had inside information that the huntress lacked. Any possibility of asking it some things about Aliarey was thrown out the window... or rather, punched into the snow when Aliarey herself slugged the small drone with her fist and knocked it into the snow. Aliarey directed Diana to ignore it and claimed "He's only here to bug me. He's useless for anything else while his body is sitting at a comfy desk in Fiore."

Diana blinked again.

Was there a human being observing them on the other side of the drone?

It sounded like there was because the voice it had used to comment on Diana was far too smooth to be robotic, but when she thought about it, Ami's voice was smooth like a human's too. Diana did not know and did not have time to ask because her attention was diverted from the drone to Ami. Aliarey wanted to know who Ami was. The huntress turned away from the drone in the snow to the winged android standing a short distance away from them.

"That is Ami, my android companion. She has been with me for quite some time and she is a reliable companion. She is going to be my air support today." Diana formally introduced Aliarey to Ami. Ami looked at Aliarey and smiled widely.

"Diana said it best. I'm Ami and I'm her companion. I'm here to provide air support for her and help her any way I can." Ami seconded what her owner had said about her moments ago. Diana wondered how Aliarey would react to Ami.

[Post Word Count: 1,452]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,792/4,000]

Diana's Enemies Defeated:
0/6 Imperial Army Recruits
0/12 Imperial Army Officers
0/2 Imperial Paladin- Private

"Ooooooh?" Aliarey stared at the android some more. Diana had explained that Ami had been with her for a long time now but Aliarey had never seen her before. Never heard of her before either. That was kind of rude actually. There was Diana, hiding an air support ace up her sleeve the whole time! Actually, just having an android companion was super cool even if there was no air support involved. If she had known Diana had a pet android around she would have bugged her to know where to get one for herself. Why did her few friends she bothered to have in life have so much cooler stuff than her? It wasn't fair.

Blink blink. Ami then spoke again, confirming what Diana had told her. Blink blink. The blue eyed blonde had a look about her that made her seem as if she was suspicious about what she had been told. As if she didn't believe it at all. In truth, Aliarey was just thinking really hard on how to get one for herself. 'I don't think she'd let me borrow Ami for a year or two...' Trying to steal the android would probably be one of the big mistakes she would make in life as well. Even if the lacnites were able to connect with the mechanic being to begin with. Stuffing her in a bag and running off with her was also a silly vision in her mind that was completely unrealistic. It wasn't completely off the table though.

"Hey!" Aliarey shouted, tossing a glare over towards the downed bot that was still flailing in the snow. "Why don't I have an android companion like her?!" She demanded while pointing at Ami. Like seriously. She should have had one of those by now. A super amazingly awesome one that made the world itself shout its name upon appearance and sing its theme song. Anyone less than amazing would also dare not look for fear of being blinded by the sheer amazingness that radiated from the android. Yes, that was how it should be. Until the day Aliarey realized her daydream coming true would mean the android was more awesome and better phrased than she was. Then that would turn into a dream of turning it into scrap metal. The workings of Aliarey's mind was not one that deserved to have too much thought into why it worked the way it did. At least hers was very mild in comparison to others in the world.

"You've got to be kidding me," the voice of the one controlling the drone said. If only the communication drone could eyeroll to match the movement of his actual eye movement back in Fiore. The drone finally managed to get itself out of the snow, the hovering mechanisms finally giving it enough support and power to do so. "You already have one, Alia. Just because we're still working on him doesn't mean he doesn't exist. Did you also forget about the Draovis droids? You're well equipped when it comes to otherworldly artificial life forms so stop complaining. The only drawback they have is that they don't have that cute human appearance, but in my view I'd consider that a benefit." The drone hovered on back to circle around Aliarey. "Now can we get back to the actual war instead of treating this like a social outing in the middle of town? Remember what I said earlier? Still a problem."

Aliarey rolled her eyes and begrudgingly dropped the topic. He was right. There was that war still going on and even though Bellum had kicked her out of their little circle she was still getting paid to do her part. Might as well get to work before it got rough. "Right." Her focus went back to Diana and Ami. The blue stare hardened just a bit. My goodness, she might actually have just gotten a bit more serious and put on a face that seemed as if she gave a damn. Just a tiny bit. "So this guy here says there's a large group heading this way according to whatever scanner stuff he was picking up. It's probably some Pergrande soldiers stomping their way here to cause some nasty trouble. The plan is to check it out and if it is Pergrande then unleash some hell on them before they can claim whatever here is supposed to be. It sure isn't paradise but I guess they'll mark it as a checkpoint further into Bellum. I wasn't really interested in doing this by myself but since you're here and even got-" Aliarey trailed off and sighed in jealous annoyance that was directed towards the drone, "an awesome android as support I am willing to put some effort into kicking some ass to earn my pay. So what do you say? You in? It'll be fuuuunnnnn."

(Word Count: 812
Aliarey Total: 3991)

Aliarey Enemies Defeated:
Imperial Army Recruit 0/6
Imperial Army Officer 0/16

Diana was pleased to see that Aliarey had taken to Ami so well. In fact it seemed that Aliarey had taken to Ami almost too well. Diana wondered what Aliarey was truly thinking, but she never got a chance to ask because the blue-eyed blonde turned to the droid she had punched and sent "sprawling" into the snow and demanded to know why she did not have an android companion like Ami. The droid that had been partially buried in the snow did not refrain from expressing incredulity over its owner's wishes with the classic phrase "You've got to be kidding me."

Shortly after making that remark it freed itself from the snow and began indirectly telling the green-eyed blonde some interesting things about Aliarey as it chastised its charge.

Diana learned from listening to it that Aliarey had her own android companion in the works, but it was not yet ready. She also heard the droid ask Aliarey if the latter had forgotten about the "Draovis" droids... whatever they were. Finally, Aliarey had plenty of "otherworldly artificial lifeforms" at her beck and call, so she really should stop complaining... according to the droid, anyway. Diana blinked as she listened to the droid say that the "Draovis" droids did not have the benefit of cute human forms, but in his view that was a benefit. Diana was not sure what that meant, but she continued to listen in case it had more interesting things to say.

Diana blinked again as the droid then requested that his charge stop treating this like a social gathering and focus on the fact that there was a war going on. Instead of dismissing him as a nuisance and knocking him into the snow a second time, Aliarey actually heeded his words, turned to face Diana and Ami, and began to tell the huntress what he had picked up before she and Ami had gotten here. Aliarey's facial expression had even changed to be a little more serious than it usually was.

According to Aliarey, her droid companion had picked up a large group of people on his scanner. Aliarey believed it to be a large group of Pergrandian soldiers on the way to Bellum's border to conduct a raid. The two blondes were to go towards the group and check their identity... if they were Pergrandian soldiers the blondes were to stop them in their tracks before they could get to the border. Diana found that to be a simple enough goal.

Aliarey then went on to say that now that Diana was here she would not have to do this task by herself before turning her eyes to her droid and making a pointed statement about Diana having an "awesome android as support." With the arrival of Diana and Ami, Aliarey was now ready and "willing to kick some ass to earn my pay", as the blue-eyed blonde put it in her own inimitable way. The blue-eyed blonde's last question to Diana was whether she was ready to go find some Pergrandian soldiers and stop them before they got to Bellum.

Diana looked at Ami, who turned to her owner and flashed a thumbs-up. Diana gave a thumbs-up of her own to the android. She then turned back to Aliarey and gave her answer.

"Ami and I are ready to go." Diana informed Aliarey. Once she said that she summoned forth Silent Hunter, the weapon she intended to use for picking off Pergrande's forces long before they got within range of her. Now that she had her sniper rifle in hand the huntress was truly ready to go. With any luck the two blondes could take down all of the Pergrandian soldiers heading their way without any undue difficulty.

[Post Word Count: 626]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,418/4,000]

Diana's Enemies Defeated:
0/6 Imperial Army Recruits
0/12 Imperial Army Officers
0/2 Imperial Paladin- Private

"Sweet!" Aliarey grinned widely. A strange sort of feature to be on the face of someone right in the middle of a war but there it was. It wasn't so much because she wasn't one to be appropriate, which honestly she didn't care about such things anyway so she couldn't fault anyone for thinking that. Her expression and delight existed just because Diana and Ami had agreed to come with her to do some damage to the other side. It'd be fun, in its own disturbing way for people that could put fun and war in the same sentence as a positive, and way safer for her. "Just give me one teensy tiny second." With that said, the blonde called forth a sort of golden spike from her storage dimension. It wasn't a requip weapon, armor, or even an item that was a part of her magic but rather something else completely unrelated to it. Some weird stall had been set up in the middle of nowhere selling them and for whatever reason she bought one. It sounded handy enough to have.

Giving no explanation as to why she had brought the thing out or what she intended to use it for, Aliarey silently walked a bit away from Diana and Ami to find a flat clear spot on the ground. Once she had, she thrust the golden spike into the ground and quickly stepped back. In just a few short moments the golden spike had transformed into something quite larger that hummed with strange magic. "Huh, well that's bigger than I thought it would be," Aliarey commented as she stared up towards the top of the device with wide eyes. "I hope no one tries touching it when I'm not here." Hopefully it'd actually work the way she was told instead of just being all looks. "Anyway," she started to say while turning towards Diana and Ami. "This thing is supposed to work like a kind of beacon. If we get into too much trouble we can get back here in a jiffy by using this thing. Somehow. I was told that all I needed to do was think about the location and I'd pop right back to it, buuuttt I haven't exactly tested it yet. But it's not like we'll even need it anyway, right?" Aliarey laughed with a bit of uncertainty. Well, they hopefully better not need it. If the device turned out to be a piece of junk that'd be just a tad tiny bit unfortunate. "So, that's all set. You're all set. Time to go find us some Pergrande soliders!"

"Try sticking to some rocks or other cover so they don't actually find you first. And probably tape your mouth shut too for a bit of quiet." The communication drone advised. He was quite serious about both of those suggestions. Not that Aliarey would put any kind of thought into the second one. As she took her first steps to head further out into the snowy mountainous wilderness, the lacbot shrunk in size and folded itself repeatedly until it was square shaped and could fit right inside a pocket. Her pocket specifically, which is where it floated right into. No more communication required. Aliarey would have to use her own sensors to keep track of the approaching soldiers. A clear visor appeared in front of her eyes. Much like the scanners on the lacbot and the SHG-IV, which she also owned, it gave her access to a ton of information.

The lacbot was right. There was a ton of cover for the trio to use as they made their way through. Trees, rocks, surprise holes in the snow that Aliarey had found by falling into them, etc etc. If any Pergrande soldiers were on to them they hadn't started shooting yet, and based on the dots on her visor HUD the Pergrande group was still heading their way at the same pace and boring style. It was still freaking cold, but at least the thought of causing a bit of mayhem kept her moving and her blood pumping. Until she came to a sudden stop. "Hold up," she told Diana and Ami to get them to stop.

Whether or not the two did as she suggested, Aliarey moved and jumped, climbing her way up a small cliff and then peering around another large rock cautiously. Aha, they were close now. She could see them. So much for those losers trying to blend in. Most of them were wearing black armor! In a landscape of snow! That seemed like a completely stupid thing for a native of that land to do. How Pergrande got to be where they were currently was beyond her if they barely knew what camouflage was. She jumped back down and approached the fellow blonde and her android companion. "Looks like that group is coming right through here. We can probably get the jump on them right here with all the vantage points. I could set up my turrets and easily let them do a lot of the work. Just be sure you're in the clear and not down here. I don't exactly have a say in what they hit." Aliarey wasn't really all that concerned about Diana's well being with that restriction. She had never once seen the other mage do any kind of melee combat so she was sure it'd be easy for Diana to do her work out of range of her turrets. The same went for Ami since Diana had mentioned that she'd be air support. Easy peasy. Thank goodness there was no melee style mage in their group or that'd be one hell of a mess.

(Word Count: 949
Aliarey Total: 4940)

Aliarey Enemies Defeated:
Imperial Army Recruit 0/6
Imperial Army Officer 0/16

4000 used for Event
New WC: 940

Now that it had been decided that Diana would accompany Aliarey on her mission to seek and destroy Pergrande's forces in the area, Diana was ready to set out with Ami when the blue-eyed blonde bade them to stop for a moment. Diana did as instructed and Aliarey pulled out a golden spike from an unknown storage space and then walked a distance away from the huntress before setting it down. It soon transformed into a large object that caused Diana to blink and Ami to step back with an expression of awe on her face.

According to the blue-eyed blonde, the object was a "beacon" that they could use to retreat to this spot should things get too hot for them during the fighting. Aliarey then said that all she had to do to use it was think about this location and she would warp to it instantaneously. Aliarey then admitted that she had not actually tested it yet, but asked Diana if there would be any need for the "beacon" because they would stop the raid with no trouble whatsoever.

Diana looked towards the beacon, then towards Ami. Diana's initial plan was to have Ami watch the beacon in case a squad or two of Pergrandian soldiers managed to slip past the blonde mages and try to attack them from behind, but then she realized that she might need Ami with her. Even though the android's wings gleamed in the sun, her firepower would be an equalizer against Pergrande's forces. Therefore Diana would take the risk and bring Ami with her for air support because having a flying anti-armor weapon on demand was an asset Diana would make use of.

Diana began to follow Aliarey and Ami began to follow the huntress towards the enemies Aliarey's droid had spotted. While they were walking the small droid suggested that Aliarey stick to rocks and other natural cover to reduce the chances of being spotted and to tape her mouth shut for a bit of silence. Diana could not help but to smile a bit at the second piece of advice... the thought of the loquacious Aliarey with a piece of duct tape over her mouth was oddly amusing. Hopefully the blue-eyed blonde did not see the huntress smile or things would get awkward.

Taking advantage of the natural cover to conceal their movement, Diana and Ami followed Aliarey up to the point she told them to stop. The pair obeyed and Aliarey moved and jumped, climbing a small cliff where she briefly disappeared from sight. Diana and Ami waited patiently until the blue-eyed blonde returned and told them what she had seen from her lofty perch.

There was a large group of Pergrandian soldiers about to pass through this area and she was about to set up turrets to stop them. Aliarey added a suggestion that Diana not be down here when the turrets started firing because things were going to get messy. Diana had no problem with that... she was going to find a good vantage point and snipe her enemies from afar, so she would be far away from them when the action started.

Diana decided to climb to the vantage point Aliarey had just vacated so that she could get a good line of sight on the incoming soldiers. She turned to Aliarey and whispered her plan.

"I am taking the vantage point you just vacated, Aliarey." Diana informed her fellow blonde before handing Silent Hunter to Ami, then jumping and climbing the small cliff in order to get where she needed to be.

-On top of the small cliff-

Diana reached the top with Saint Sinner Valentine slung across her shoulder. Ami quickly flew Silent Hunter up to Diana and quickly disappeared towards cover. She had done so without Diana's command, a move which might have compromised Diana before the shooting even started. The green-eyed blonde risked a peek around a large rock and was rewarded with a view of the Pergrandian soldiers marching like they had not seen Ami. Diana readied Silent Hunter, then readied herself for what was about to happen. Once she took down a soldier a lot of lead was going to be directed her way.

Diana waited a few moments to let anyone who may have spotted her forget they saw her, then went prone and crawled over to the rock. This time she got a better view of her targets. There were six soldiers in white uniforms with gas masks and black vests, twelve soldiers in black armor with fully enclosed black helmets, and two people in what appeared to be gray and black outfits with face-obscuring hoods. Diana decided to target the soldiers in white uniforms first because they were able to blend in with the snowy environment the best... everyone else stood out so much that they might as well be wearing Day-Glo Orange outfits.

Diana took a quiet breath and slowly moved Silent Hunter into firing position, then took another quiet breath and focused on the soldier in white to the far left of the formation. She slowly moved the crosshairs into the middle of the gas mask and held them, then fired two Full Metal Jacket rounds that punched through the mask and dropped him. She quickly shifted her aim right and repeated the process on a soldier in white looking for her, taking down the second. She adjusted her aim to the next soldier and fired two more Full Metal Jacket rounds to the head, taking him down.

She had killed three of them when the rest of the soldiers reacted quickly to her presence. She had managed to take down three soldiers before the rest were alerted thanks to Silent Hunter being a suppressed weapon, but now they were onto her and were beginning to take countermeasures against sniper fire. The three remaining soldiers in white began to use suppressing fire while the soldiers in black began to fan out and locate firing angles on the unseen assailant. Diana pulled her head back to avoid taking an unlucky headshot from the incoming bullets and waited a few seconds before peeking out again to see one of the three remaining soldiers in white reloading while his fellows covered him.

Diana took the chance to aim and fire two Full Metal Jacket shots just as the targeted soldier had completed the reload and was aiming at her. The shots hit him in the head and killed him, allowing her to turn to the last two soldiers in white. They were firing at her while the soldiers in black continued to maneuver for an angle on her. Diana's height advantage was currently protecting her, but it would not protect her for much longer.

She waited until the last two soldiers in white were reloading, then aimed at the first one and fired two Full Metal Jacket rounds at his head. They punched through and killed him, leaving one more soldier standing. He had completed the reload and was about to aim at Diana when the huntress aimed and fired two Full Metal Jackets at his head, killing him.

Once all six soldiers in white were down the soldiers in black began firing on her, forcing Diana to break contact and roll behind the rock for shelter. There she waited out the fusillade before daring to crawl over and peek out. The moment her head cleared the snow bullets were sent towards it, forcing her to duck down to avoid taking a shot to the head from rifle bullets. Diana raised herself to a kneeling position and waited out the hail of lead while thinking about a way to counter the soldiers in black.

She had been saving Ami for a later stage of the fight, but the huntress would need to call in air support sooner than she had imagined.

[Post Word Count: 1,314]
[Diana's Word Count: 4,732]

Diana's Enemies Defeated:
6/6 Imperial Army Recruits
0/12 Imperial Army Officers
0/2 Imperial Paladin- Private

The 4,000-word minimum for the event has been reached.
[Diana's New Word Count: 732]

Well, it looked like Diana had no issues with the rough plan. She had decided to go right into claiming the vantage spot on the cliff. Aliarey had no issue with that. There were plenty of others and she needed to be going around setting up her turrets anyway for ultimate mayhem. The hard part would be choosing what ones to use! Not so much looking for a place to stand. With a grin, the blue eyed one of the blonde duo gave the other a thumb's up to show that she was fine with the claim. And that was when the two separated to get the show on the road.

As Diana and Ami went to do their thing, so did Aliarey. Her purpose was mainly to set up the automatic turrets, starting with the place most of the Pergrande soldiers would be coming through. Something fast would need to be used there to get rid of as many as possible. Although technically she could also use a big bang turret like her cannon one to just obliterate the group entirely, but maybe that was going a bit overboard? Ah! It was so hard to choose! If only she had the power to use them all at once to make things so much easier! Well whatever. Maybe she'd put that somewhere in the middle to stop any that were trying to run past the area as fast as they could to escape the bullet barrage set up.

After mentally flipping a few coins to decide, Aliarey chose to put her laser turret down. It'd have both effects that she was trying so hard to decide on. As backup, the gatling turret was placed on the other side. The two turret discs formed into their weaponized forms and stood idle, waiting for the enemy to get within proper range. Activating the lacnite technology within her, Aliarey used them to near instantly move from that position to further down the mountain passage. Next came the Cannon turret placed right there. Then the Air Turret hovering over there, which immediately duplicated itself twice for more fire power. Oh wait! How could she forget her Plasma Turret? Crap! With all those placed turrets she didn't have enough slots left to actually have a weapon handy for herself to wield. What a freaking weakness. She should have bought a normal weapon or something before coming out all that way. Eh, oh well. She probably wouldn't need it anyway. If she had to, she'd just dismiss a turret in order to wield an actual firearm for herself. Not like she'd miss it after it did their thing. If there was even anything left. Already she had to dismiss her eye visor to place the Plasma Turret and she wasn't regretting it.

Whistling a tune, Aliarey made her quick burst movement again. That time leading her right next a snow covered tree. While not the best source of cover it did allow her to see what was going on at least since she no longer had her eye visor on. She jumped up to grab the nearest branch and proceeded to climb right on up. It didn't take long for things to get more exciting after that. Even from where she was she could see that Diana had already made a little bit of chaos, causing the soldiers to be a bit more wary and aware of their presence, but that was where their advantage ended. The range of her turrets was freaking amazing, in her opinion anyway. Those Pergrande soldiers probably disagreed as soon as they started getting bombarded by lasers, bursts of plasma, magical energy bullets, energy cannon fire, lethal radiation and regular bullets. The Pergrande soldiers were not at all prepared for that kind of barrage. Their armor was crap and nearly all of them fell into the trap and quickly became rotting corpses on the ground.

It was actually kind of sad really. That was all Pergrande had to offer? Bellum was paying people to deal with something so freaking easy? That was just embarrassing. Still, Aliarey still managed to somehow enjoy the spectacle. Even if it was lame it was still easy as hell, which was fun for her. Seeing all that damage and flashy destruction was amazing. She couldn't record it all with her eye visor technology since it had been dismissed, so instead she saw fit to just pull out the trusty iLac and take some pictures. Aliarey felt truly confident in regards to her safety and trap set up. No one was getting through that unscathed. There wasn't much worry for Diana either. The green eyed blonde had Ami and a deadly skill set of her own. It was probably going just as easy for those two.

(Word Count: 799
Aliarey Total: 1739)

Aliarey Enemies Defeated:
Imperial Army Recruit 6/6
Imperial Army Officer 16/16

After a minute or two of scattered gunfire Diana took a breath and dared to crawl up to the edge of the cliff to take a look at her opposition. As soon as the target markers flashed onto her Smart Glasses gunfire sounded again and bullets ricocheted off of the edge of the cliff, forcing the blonde back down before a bullet found its mark. She crawled backwards until she was out of the line of fire, then raised herself to a kneeling position and spoke to Ami. It was time to call in some air support.

"Ami, can you hear me?" Diana asked over the Smart Glasses microphone over the sound of gunfire.

"Yeah, I can hear you!" Ami replied in the affirmative.

"Do you see the men in black shooting at me from below?" Diana inquired further, looking to the sky to see if her Smart Glasses could pick up Ami. Now the gunfire was starting to die down, but Diana was not entirely relieved. Chances were good that they were going to make a push on the cliff to try and dislodge her. If they got to the foot of the cliff unharmed it would turn into a game of King of the Hill that she could not afford to lose. Even with Aliarey covering her with the turrets it could get ugly since the huntress was on an exposed cliff... a mortar barrage, an artillery barrage, or an attack from enemy air support could easily force her off the cliff and down to ground level where the waiting soldiers had easier shots on her.

"Yeah, I see 'em. They're starting to move on your position and those two people with hoods over their faces are coming to join them." Ami answered. Now the guns had gone completely silent. Diana was not sure what they were up to, which was why she had brought Ami. Diana needed to remain calm. They knew she was on the cliff, but they still had to force her off of it before she would be in real danger.

"Can you attack them for me, Ami?" Diana asked.

"Yeah, I'm gonna make a run from down the middle and towards the passage. They're sorta spread out, which means that I can hit 'em if I fly in a straight line. Just keep them distracted for me, will ya?" Ami asked in return.

"Understood." Diana replied. She dispelled Silent Hunter since there was no longer any need for stealth and brought out Saint Sinner Valentine, which she loaded with Armor-Piercing Bullets. Five seconds later she was loaded with the rounds she needed to punch through the body armor of the Pergrandian soldiers.

Diana crawled towards the cliff face, peeked over the edge, and aimed her red assault rifle at one of the enemy soldiers, who began to fire back at Diana. Diana "stood" her ground and aimed carefully, then fired ten rounds at the soldier's chest. They punched through and the soldier dropped dead, leaving only eleven left. The two hooded people were following a short distance behind and separated to make themselves harder targets while the soldiers in black began to push for the cliff.

Diana stood up, targeted another soldier, and fired at him, getting off only five shots before she was forced to duck for cover. She was halfway through her magazine and had only killed one soldier... that armor they were wearing was fairly tough. Looking up at the target marker that had flashed onto her Smart Glasses, She saw Ami on approach and remained in a kneeling position while tapping the reload button.

"I see them. I'm making an attack run now." Ami informed Diana.

"Be sure to use something that can punch through armor. Their armor is kind of tough." Diana suggested to Ami. Ami went silent and began to make her attack run. Diana watched as Ami began to fire pencil-thin beams of yellow light at the soldiers, hitting many of them in her pass before zooming towards Bellum while under fire from the ground. Diana could see the bullets fly past Ami as the winged android flew away, then started to come around for another pass once she was out of range.

Not willing to let Ami do all the work and wanting to buy Ami time to set up for another attack run, Diana stood up again and targeted the nearest soldier, a soldier reloading his assault rifle. Diana aimed for his head and fired five rounds, dropping him with five hits and bringing her tally up to two out of twelve. She got a brief moment to look down and saw that Ami's attack run had been quite effective. Four of the soldiers had been killed with anti-armor shots through the head and wounded three of them with shots to the torso. Now there were only six more left, but getting them might be the problem because they were now aware of Diana's air asset and would presumably not get caught in it again.

Diana aimed for another soldier and fired ten rounds at his chest, killing him where he stood and bringing her tally up to three personal kills and seven soldiers in black total. The others returned fire and Diana felt one or two rounds graze her right shoulder. She quickly dropped to a knee as Ami zoomed in for another attack run. Diana watched Ami fire more pencil-thin beams of yellow light at the soldiers before zooming away from the gunfire.

Diana stood up and saw the results of the second attack run. Two more soldiers had been killed by shots through the head while two more had been wounded by shots through the torso, bringing the tally up to nine and leaving only three badly wounded soldiers left for the huntress to pick off. Diana did so by aiming for the head and firing five rapid single shots at the head of each soldier before they could muster a response to her.

Diana reloaded the magazine and saw that all twelve of the soldiers were now lying dead on the ground. However, their weapons began to float towards the two hooded soldiers, who had already amassed the weapons of the dead soldiers in white. Diana was not liking the look of this.

"I'm coming around for another attack run." Ami informed Diana as the two soldiers began to aim the weapons at Diana without even holding them. They obviously had special powers, but the huntress did not have time to ponder what they were. She quickly jumped back and avoided the storm of lead that had been sent in her direction. Diana saw the weapons float higher and aim themselves at her again, forcing her to make a choice.

Did she dodge in place or did she scurry down the cliff and go into the fray herself?

Diana hurried behind the rock and barely made it to safety before the guns fired again. She could not get an angle on them without being exposed to gunfire, so she could only wait for Ami to arrive and take some of the heat off of her. A target marker flickered as she spotted Ami hovering above the two soldiers and aiming her arm cannon down at them. Diana saw the guns that had been aimed at her shift upwards before Ami started firing shot after shot of yellow pencil-thin beams of light, ten in total.

The guns began chattering as Ami continued to fire at the soldiers regardless of the hits she was taking. Her metal body had protected her from some of the worst hits, but the winged android was getting hit by automatic weapons fire and Diana was getting worried. The rifles were doing much more damage to Ami than the submachine guns, which were not very harmful at the height Ami was hovering at because they had lost a good deal of their kinetic energy. Her worries only increased when she saw Ami wobble in midair and then begin to drop.

"AMI!" Diana shouted into the microphone. Ami righted herself after a five-second drop and flew towards Diana as the bullets continued to fly in Ami's direction. The android was still airworthy, but she had taken quite a few hits.

"I killed one of those soldiers, but it took ten direct hits to do it. That armor they're wearing's really tough." Ami reported as she flew over Diana's head and wobbled again. The android banked around and slowed down, making a wobbly landing a short distance from Diana and dropping to her knees. Diana hurried over to her friend and partner.

"AMI! Are you OK?" Diana asked the android. Ami looked at her and Diana recoiled. Ami had taken several bullet wounds to the face and her long skirt had taken a few hits. One bullet wound had traced a tunnel from Ami's left cheek to her scalp.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Mostly. I look worse than I feel." Ami said. It was a good thing she was an android because if Ami had been a human she would have been shot down long before she could have killed either of the two soldiers. Taking down one of them had been a big help to Diana, but that boon came at the price of Ami being badly harmed.

Ami struggled to her feet and faced Diana.

"I'm not out of this yet, Diana. One of those hooded clowns is still alive. Once they're dead we'll be fine. C'mon, Diana. Let's get that clown." Ami urged Diana. Diana nodded. They would finish the fight together. Ami went airborne and she wobbled in place for a moment.

"I'll set up to rain hell down on them while you keep them busy. Don't get killed!" Ami said before flying off straight up into the air. Ami drew the gunfire for Diana while the latter hurried to the edge of the cliff and spotted the soldier at the bottom. The huntress raised her assault rifle, aimed carefully, and held the trigger down. The soldier turned her head from Ami to Diana and formed a shield of densely packed snow the size of a manhole cover with which to protect themselves. Diana's bullets punched through it, but she could not be sure she was even hitting the soldier, which was the entire point of forming a shield of densely packed snow.

Diana saw the densely packed snow fly towards her head and ducked to avoid the cold projectile, losing sight of the floating guns. Where were they? Bullets began to fly up towards Ami and she had her answer.

Ami must have gotten into position because the guns were chattering away at the winged android. Some of the weapons were in the process of being reloaded with full magazines floating towards them in mid-air as the empty ones plunged to the ground. Deciding to use this opportunity, Diana tapped the reload button and hurried to the edge of the cliff, then aimed and waited for the reload.

Once Saint Sinner Valentine was ready the huntress fired right as Ami began to rain shots down from above. The soldier began to dodge the shots from both angles with impressive speed and reflexes, but they were taking hits... and dealing them as well because Ami began to groan from receiving still more gunshot wounds. Still, the hooded soldier was beginning to falter under the combined assault of Diana and Ami.

Ami continued to fire while Diana reloaded her weapon and the soldier took hit after hit from the air until they dropped to a knee and struggled to get up. Once Diana was reloaded she held down the trigger again, firing in bursts but not really caring about precision. She wanted the soldier dead and she wanted them dead now.

Ami fired one last pencil-thin beam down at the soldier's head and hit them in the top of the head, causing them to fall face-first to the snow. The guns they were controlling fell to the snow and landed all around the dead soldier and the other dead Pergrandian soldiers. It was over.

"We did it, Diana." Ami said. She began to slowly descend and fly towards the huntress, who waved at the oncoming android with the red assault rifle. Ami flew towards Diana and landed a short distance away, then fell to a knee. Diana hurried towards her.

"Ami, are you OK?" Diana asked her partner. Red eyes met green eyes. Ami then gave her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah. I'm OK. My synthetic skin got some more holes in it, but I'm OK." Ami replied before giving a slight smile. Diana was relieved to see that. She would have to get Ami repaired soon, but first she had to go talk to Aliarey and let her know that she was OK.

"Can you still fly?" Diana asked Ami. Ami nodded.

"Yeah." Ami replied. Diana reloaded Saint Sinner Valentine, put the gun's safety on, and slung the weapon on her right shoulder.

"I will go talk to Aliarey." Diana said. She began to walk towards the ledge she had climbed to get here while Ami took flight to meet her at the bottom.

-At the bottom-

Diana arrived at the bottom of the cliff without incident and immediately began to look for Aliarey. The blue-eyed blonde was nowhere to be seen, which meant that she had found her own vantage point after the huntress had taken the cliff for herself. Ami was already waiting for her owner. Ami walked over and waved.

"Hey Diana, have you found that Aliarey chick yet?" Ami asked Diana. Diana shook her head.

"Well, she can't be too far from where we left her. We'll find her soon enough." Ami opined and began to look around the area while Diana did the same. Between the two of them they should be able to find the blue-eyed blonde. After all the work she had put in Aliarey was not leaving until she got her paycheck, so Diana knew that Aliarey had not bailed during the battle. Diana would find her soon, but the trouble was knowing where to look for her fellow blonde.

[Post Word Count: 2,370]
[Diana's New Word Count: 3,102]

Diana's Enemies Defeated:
6/6 Imperial Army Recruits
12/12 Imperial Army Officers
2/2 Imperial Paladin- Private

Messing around with the iLac was starting to get a bit boring. No other Pergrande soldiers came around to play dodge with her turrets. Whether that was because they were being way more cautious about it or because there were no more left was still up in the air. She hadn't exactly left the tree yet to investigate. "Hmmm, Diana hasn't come back yet." Was Aliarey worried? Eh, she wasn't all too sure. It was confusing. There was a little something there that told her that maybe she should go look around for Diana or even Ami, but did she really want to label it as being worried for her? That was getting a little too close to the whole close friends label.

More time had passed. Quietly. Besides the sounds of the mountain pass itself. The howling wind was honestly getting too eerie for her to listen to anymore. Even worse is she still hadn't seen the other blonde or her android companion. Hadn't heard any gun fire either actually. Not out in the distance. Not even close by. Fighting altogether had stopped. Maybe it was safe enough to get back into the open.

With that in mind, Aliarey felt a sense of security. The Pergrande soldiers had all been dealt with. Unless there were some snipers hiding around, but she was not patient enough to outlast them. She'd just have to get out there and deal with whatever happened. So she did. The requip mage hopped out of the tree and landed on her feet in the thick snow. The turrets that she could see were idle, bored just as she was. With their long range they would have picked up something if there was anything at all to pick up. They were mentally dismissed one by one, each turret turning back into disc form and then vanishing completely. Well, she hadn't been shot or charged at yet so that was at least confirmation that she was in no immediate danger.

"I guess I can just head back to where I last saw her," Aliarey told herself, thinking out loud of what to do now. They didn't exactly pick a meeting point for after the fight. That was a slight detail they had missed and had been a major mistake that she was starting to realize. Sure she probably could have used her beacon to leave, but that wouldn't settle that whole uncomfortable feeling of not knowing Diana's status. Plus she kind of wanted to look for more Pergrande soldiers to take out. The last batch was so easy she might as well start cleansing the mountain of them. Maybe she'd even get bonus pay.

Either way, Alia started to make her way back. The boredom was starting to make her realize once again how cold she was. Actually, she was pretty certain the windchill had become more intense now. Great. If a winter storm happened now she really wouldn't find Diana. Or at least that was her negative prediction until she was able to see the other blonde walking side by side with the android. "Holy hell, what happened to her?" Alia asked herself while cringing, her eyes immediately noticing even at that proximity that Ami had a ton of holes in her. The ones in the face especially made her look like she belonged in some horror film. The answer was obvious, of course. She had been shot. Several times. Considering her easy breezy experience with the soldiers she figured they couldn't do much of anything at all. Maybe she overestimated the two of them. Overestimating herself and underestimating Pergrande was obviously not the correct view to take.

Aliarey raised a gloved hand to wave at the two. Her mouth opened to shout at them, but instead of anything being said by her the mountain itself groaned. Loud cracking sounds echoed all around, the source coming from higher up. The massive amount of thick snow had begun to break apart. Had the battle caused it? There was a lot of noise from gunfire that could have caused the vibrations needed to start one if the top layer of snow was weak. The pressure of her turrets against the foundation of the mountain probably didn't help things either. Or maybe the incoming storm was more powerful up there already. The possibilities were endless. There was only one important fact though and that fact had taken the form of an avalanche beginning to occur right then and there.

Her free hand went to her hip and the raised one came down slightly to motion at what was happening up there. "Seriously? An avalanche? Now? While I'm here." Yep. She shook her head, dumbfounded and bewildered by the turn of events. "I'm cursed. That's gotta be it. There's no other explanation for this." Whether it was an actual curse of her luck or not would have to be decided later. It was time to get out of there.

(Word Count: 829
Aliarey Total: 2568)