Chapter One

     The Vengeful Spirit, Damian, walked with hard footsteps, metal boots slamming down onto the wooden steps. A mix of emotions were running up and down his mind. Damian was very pleased at the fact that the mission overall was a success. However, he could not pretend to be without trouble at the death of one of his most valuable comrades, Roland, The Shadow. His sacrifice hopefully would not be in vain and that the team could still accomplish their goals without him.
     As Damian stepped down to the concrete floor, the team he had assembled was staring back at him, all with different looks in their eyes. Each one of them a question or an assumption; about the mission no less. Damian, didn't even need his uncanny ability to search out details to realize that someone was already late to this meeting, setting a strain on his mind even further.
      The Innocent, Jack sensing the unease shrank down a bit. Jack was already nervous enough having learned that one of his friends had just died. Jack was named the Innocent for a reason. He ambled over to the corner of the room and aimlessly paced around lost in his own thought desperately trying not to make eye contact with his captain again. He pulled his hat over his eyes just in case.
     The Explosive Soul, Skylar, locked eyes with the Captain for a moment then broke it. Not out of fear or apprehensiveness, just out of sheer indifference. Skylar feared nobody, not even death's icy grip; not like any of them did at this point. It's not that she disliked others, it's just that she didn't care for them either. The death of one of their teammates was just another statistic in her mind. It was to be expected. If the captain was upset about it, it was his own issue.
     The Fire Breather, Anya, was the only one to keep eye contact with Damian. It was a soft gaze, yet focused. Questioning. Her eyes were the sharpest of them all, and Damian, or anyone else she set her sights upon, could feel it. Constantly prodding, seeking an opening of some kind in which to somehow exploit for whatever need she may have in mind. Her questions, whatever they may be, would be answered soon enough. Although, one had to be answered now.
      "Where's the Voice? Isn't he with you?", Anya spoke with a delightfully inquisitive tone unfitting for the atmosphere of the room.
     The door creaked open, "Yo, someone sa-"
     Damian pulled out a small firearm on his hip, a Sig Sauer, finger greased onto the trigger aimed at the door. The Voice, Xephyr, already had a small khukiri on the neck of his captain. Both of them had moved out of sheer reflex, but in the short range, it was clear who the victor was. Damian was disappointed in himself that he could have died right then, but elated that he still had a challenge. Even more so that one of his subordinates was able to move so swiftly in and sloped area.
      "Too slow, Captain", Xephyr said nonchalantly, slipping the knife back into his coat, "I hope that excuses my tardiness"
      Damian's first instinct was to hit Xephyr, but just like everyone else, he had his title for a reason. Even so, just about everything about this man made Damian grind his teeth.
     Xephyr took a seat on one of the couches in the basement that they found themselves in, kicked his feet up onto the table, and pushed his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose. Always so casual. It was abnormal. Always slacking off, being relaxed. It should have been a crime how carefree someone could be. If it wasn't for how very few there already was, Damian would not hesitate even for a moment to kick him out of here.
     "Everyone, please, take The Voice's example and lounge about on the sofa's so we can get this meeting started", making the sarcasm as heavy as possible, though it was intentionally lost upon Xephyr's ears.
     "As all of you know we lost Roland. He gave up his life defeating the Hunter. Let's not make his sacrifice a bigger loss than it is. The Hunter was one of the biggest threats to our plans. To have vanquished him by himself is commendable. We shall honor that by moving forward quickly."
      Damian pulled out various maps and documents, "This will be our first target. It's called Alexandria."
     "Oh, is that the place in Egypt?", Anya chimed in. Jack made an attempt to say something, he opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing and just pulled his hat deeper over his eyes.
      Damian raised his eyebrows, "That is correct. It is the second largest city in Egypt with many admirable sights in its own right. Our primary target is one such place called the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. As the name says, it is a catacombs and is thus underground. It is a major tourist hotspot so there we will easily be able to blend into the crowds. It will be easy to get down inside."
     "Uhm...to do what exactly...sir?", Damian couldn't help but smile. He wasn't sure whether it was form how cute he found Jack sometimes or if he was just excited to be able to tell them of his plan.
     "I'm very glad you asked. That's where you", he referenced the silent Skylar, "are going to earn your keep."
     "You want me to blow it up", not so much a question as it was confirmation. Damian liked that about her. No questions unless absolutely necessary.
     "Correct. We're going to quickly move in there, plant some explosives at the lowest levels, implode it. We need to keep the casualties to a minimum."
     As soon as Damian mentioned that word, the eyes of Jack deadened a bit. It almost hurt to look at him. To tell him he's going to be apart of this. Anya stiffened up a bit, but barely even noticeable, especially when she was next to Jack. If Xephyr had some kind of after thought on this, his body didn't show it. His eyes hidden behind glasses and his body still looking relaxed as ever. Skylar remained stoic.
     "Wait...you said we? Why we?", Jack piped in.
     "Because we're a team. We need to be there for Skylar whether she needs it or not and whether she likes it or not. Plus, we don't know if Revenant won't have some way of intercepting us. We need to be able to support each other. Each of us are very crucial to each mission with something vital that will be important to have in battle."
     Jack slowly nodded in understanding. Damian went over the rest of the details of the plan. How they would move, rendezvous point, second rendezvous point should there be need for one and where to meet afterward. Various points in where to retreat, vital equipment, and most importantly, at least to himself, time. They said very little, which was odd in the case of Xephyr.  It was a shorter meeting than expected.
     "That will be all for this meeting. Get some sleep. Needless to say, it'll be necessary."
      They all stood up in their own pace and walked up the stairs ready for slumber, each mentally preparing themselves for the tolls the mission would place on their minds.



(Again, another draft. Will go more into character detail in the next chapter. I felt that this chapter was a bit...odd. Maybe that's because I've never really written anything before. The storyline will be made more clear later. Again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.)