Perfect Harmony, with a side of discord

[Killmefor0G]

The city of Guygalos... what foul things that go on here that never see the light of day? What secrets does this city hide? All seemed to be going fine in the underground world of the planet Zi until something disturbed the natural order. A new species of creature called "Worms" They were first discovered back during the wars, but were forgotten about because they needed men for the war effort. Worms can mimic a person down to their memories and apperance and will kill without thought. As far as anyone can tell, they simply mimic and kill so that they can continue living. Not much of a higher brain function has been found so far. The secret organization of ZECT has taken over control of handling the Worm problem and has been for quite some time.

When a worm mimics you they can also take control over any zoid that they touch and there for are nearly impossible for the average person to deal with. To combat this ZECT has created a strike team of Zoid Pilots to take out any Worm threat. They have been given a device that is manditory to install on their zoid that they already own. This anti-theft device is called a Zecter. It prevents anyone who does not have the Zector for the zoid from pioting. The Zecter also prevents a Worm from taking control of their zoid.

The top brass has ordered every member of the four man strike team to meet in a small resteraunt in Guygalos so that they can survey the city for a bit too look for Worms. One member was already there, waiting for the rest of them. He was a rather unremarkable man, no real distinct features about him other than that he had no distinct features to speak of. The man looked at the lunch menue of the small resteraunt and grumbled, "I hate french food..." He fiddled with the Zecter in his pocket while he waited for the others.

[Aeolus]

A rather dark presence was clouding the entrance to the restaurant. Standing in a mild slouch, head stuck forward like a Command Wolf's, a young woman surveyed her surroundings critically with a pair of silver eyes. Her black-crimson hair was disheveled as always and bore no sympathy for a polite appearance. The wild bangs obscured the slightly sunken features on her fair face, hiding the fact that she seemed to rarely sleep and shielding her gaze from the innocent bystanders who scarcely noticed the shady creature.

Winter slipped in, folding her arms over her chest to seem more like a killer grouch than a pushover. She lithely snuck around people with the most minute of motions, stealthy as a snake, and her posture helped to convince others not to pay her any mind. Under formal circumstances Winter would have worn something that fit the occasion, but she had opted instead to wear a casual red shirt with black pants to further avoid attracting attention.

The woman continued toward the tables as she heard, "I hate french food..." Knowing where she ought to be, Winter quietly walked up and stood over the man who sat there. She stared down at the head of unkempt brown hair. With arms still folded, the woman remained quiet partially because she was contemplating what to say and partially because she wondered when he would notice her standing there. Supposedly Winter had a tendency to sneak up on people without realizing it. She'd come to find it a little amusing.

Granted, this was a fellow member of the ZECT strike force. There was a fair chance Winter would not go unnoticed.

Winter had arrived mere moments ago, her grumbling stomach ignored and perpetual fatigue on her eyes. Her Heldigunner was parked some ways off and would very patiently await her return. Unlike many, her Zoid had yet to develop a mind or personality of its own. Despite that she still treated the Heldigunner like an individual and dearly treasured him (at least, Winter often referred to the Zoid as masculine). She had taken care to make sure nothing happened to the Heldigunner; if something did, heads would probably roll.

At any rate, she was where she was supposed to be, in the least wonderful condition she could put herself in. Winter somewhat had a habit of doing that as well.

[Bryan Pandion]

A resounding sigh emerged from another part of the dive, opposite the door, as soon as the intimidating woman darkened the step. More specifically, it emanated from a nondescript man, sporting trim brown hair and a broken nose, hunched over the bar. The blue jean and black t-shirt clothed man heaved himself to his feet, and rolling his eyes, began to stroll nonchalantly towards the table where the new-comer had just stopped.

Bryan Pandion had little patience for Winter, sometimes, even though she was senior to him in ZECT. Her theatrics and sullen attitude got in the way of business, which Bryan did not appreciate on most occasions. As he reached his partners, he placed a hand on her elbow, and murmured in an undertone "Please just sit down, Winter, unless you want people to start looking." Not waiting for his companion, Bryan eased himself into a seat opposite the waiting man.

"Waiting on one more, then? Should be along soon. Hope they taught the kid to be at least a little inconspicuous."

[Killmefor0G]

Bump to show Amino that this topic is still alive and is going to live.

[Amino]

((Whoooopsie. lol))

Serenado entered the restaurant. The tall man entered the bar with a not-so-happy face on. It's not that his current situation mad him unhappy, it was just one of those days where you really don't want to do anything at all, you don't want to talk to anyone, and you don't want to be involved in anything. One of those days where you might as well as just stay in bed, and this day was that day for him. But he was just going to have to suck it up today because he was in the restaurant to meet the other members of the organization called ZECT that he had just joined.

As he entered the bar, he looked around to see where the other members of ZECT would be. They didn't wear any distinctive clothing, so he had no clue whether or not they were even there or not because he wasn't told who any of the others looked like at all. So he just walked up to the bar and asked the bartender for a drink and some home fries. He thought he might as well get himself something to eat and drink as he waited. Little did he know that he was the late one and the other members were here already waiting for him.

Serenado sat there in his seat waiting for his drink and food hoping that one of the other members of ZECT was told what he looked like so that they would approach him and tell him what he was there for.

[Killmefor0G]

((my what a friendly bunch of charachters we have here, lol))

The unremarkable man looked over at Bryan while he spoke, but did not say anything. He looked over at Winter with a bored expression on his face. He looked back at his menue and set it down with a resounding sigh. A waitress came up to the table and began to speak when the unremarkable man simply stated, "Go away. We don't want anything right now. If we do need something I'll call for you." The man watched as the blonde waitress walked away to her next table with an indignant look on her face. Probably some dumb girl trying to get money to pay for a new phone anyways... He thought to himself.

He looked at the other members wondering to himself where the fourth man was. That didn't matter right now. He needed to make himself aquianted with the new group he was assinged to. "Alright, listen up!" The man said in a low growly tone, "Since you guys knew to sit here you obviously are a member of ZECT, or you are horribly mistaken and need to leave right now. My names Jack and Ill be your new team leader. I'm sure some of you have some complaints about this but, I don't want to hear them. These are orders from the top and orders from the top are absolute. Ya hear that?" Jack paused for nods and agreements before starting up again. "Now since I'm new to this specific team I want you each to tell me your name and some information about you." This fell in-line with the new "Perfect Harmony" thing that they were trying to enact within ZECT to make teams more efficient.

Jack looked over to the bar and spotted the new recruit. "Aw jeez..." He muttered to himself, seeing that the new recruit was sitting at the bar ordering a drink. He would have to go retrieve him after everyone had spewed their information at him. Perfect Harmony? Feh! Not in this organization. Not in a million years.

[Aeolus]

Winter merely rolled her shoulders at Bryan, a most indifferent and unmoved gesture. Was standing around really so wrong? She often received the notion that he wasn't particularly fond of her, but the young woman tended to ignore it. One could not afford a conflict of any form within ZECT. But nevertheless, she decided she was much more comfortable standing, partly because she did prefer to stand and partly because she did not want to humor someone who was junior to her in the organization.

Winter did have the humility to move a chair between the two, wearing a small and mischievous grin to drive off the shadows of resentment. She never liked having anyone direct a tone at her like Bryan had, so as if to cope, she had developed a peculiar reaction of smiling or grinning. It probably wasn't the best for her in some situations.

But surely, it wasn't her fault. She'd been in a perfectly good mood despite all appearances and now it had crumbled a bit. Juuuust a bit.

Anyway, the woman stood behind the chair and kept her arms crossed. The fourth member would surely sit opposite of her whenever he arrived. Truth be told, Winter did not exactly know who this newbie was, so all she could do was keep her silver eyes peeled for someone approaching. Although the waitress definitely wasn't their guest.

She took a moment to reflect on why she was there again, thinking on how she expected the newbie to have the looks and aura of an inexperienced individual naive to the world of weeding Worms. To think she would ever consider doing that was almost surprising. Had she really been a member of the ZECT for so long? Normally, Winter would keep her presumptions down to a minimum and hover in a position that did not overstate her abilities and status. Then again, she'd met plenty of surprises through her years of work.

Winter cocked her head as a ragged voice addressed them. She quickly turned her attention to the man who had been first to arrive, and was mildly surprised by the authority in his voice as he went on to introduce himself and establish that complaints would go unheeded. New team leader, huh? Well, he had the right of it: orders were orders. If there was a quality Winter could be proud of, it was upstanding loyalty and duty. She merely nodded to express her acceptance, pleased that Jack appeared to be a very capable individual.

For a moment she was inclined to ask why they shouldn't just wait until the newbie was here, but then again Jack was the new leader, and not only that but there were probably reasons for them to introduce themselves before the newbie arrived. Winter glanced toward her fellow ZECT member for a moment to see if he would say anything. She didn't like to speak and unintentionally interrupt someone else speaking at the same time.

Nevertheless, Winter reasoned that the ought to be an ice breaker, and she was the senior subordinate.

"I'm Winter," she eventually put in, turning her pale eyes back upon Jack. "First name's Sheryl, but I don't go by it. I've...been working in this organization for...five years, I'd say." Her gaze began to wander, not even wanting to address him visually by then. She had a tendency to do that too.

Winter's ears nearly pricked as they detected a remark from the unremarkable man. She glanced at him for a moment, somewhat unconcernedly, then followed his eyes toward the bar. Again, Winter didn't exactly know who their newbie was supposed to be, so she didn't recognize what the issue was. The woman quickly dismissed it.

[Bryan Pandion]

Bryan gave a slight grin back at Winter when she pulled up a chair. To be honest, he was a little surprised she'd made any sort of compromise. Bryan hadn't known anyone other than himself to take such a tone with Winter, or anyone senior in the organization, but Bryan had no qualms about it. It wasn't that Bryan didn't like Winter; he just had very little patience for theatrics ever since...well, his arrest. He had very little patience for anything anymore, in fact. But Winter was a good girl, and an excellent soldier.

The Marine resisted the urge to say something to Jack's abrupt dismissal of the waitress. That was something he and his colleague could agree on: this was his Captain, and he would not question orders or authority as long as Jack proved competent. Judging by the authority in his gravelly voice, he was a natural leader.

As Winter finished her short biography, Bryan launched into his. "I'm Bryan. Been with ZECT for a little over 2 years. Before that, I was military." He did not elaborate. He never did.

[Amino]

Serenado continued to sit at the bar as the ZECT team introduced themselves to each other, with the exception of himself, who had no clue that they were ZECT. He figured that they would know what he looked like and would approach him first.

The bartender came back with his food and drink, and he started to devour his fries after he drenched them in barbecue sauce and hot sauce. By the time he finished them, his mouth was burning hot. He gulped down his drink real fast and ordered two more drinks to help cool down his mouth.

When he finished, one of the members of ZECT said something that he could hear, and one of the words that came out of his mouth was "ZECT," so Serenado turned around in his chair and examined the people at that table. They didn't really look like civilians, they looked more like soldiers. So he decided to take a chance and approach them, hoping they were ZECT.

He got up from his chair and walked over to the table at a slow pace. When he got close enough, he felt a bit awkward, and lazy, but he cleared his throat, and asked out loud "Are you guys part of ZECT?" After, he stood there, expecting an awkward silence.

[Killmefor0G]

((Sorry guys, Im taking a long time. I will get to it sometime today hopefully.))

[Killmefor0G]

((Hey guys, sorry it took so long. I was having issues with both my computer and college. I know how much it pisses me off when someone takes forever, so I apologize for taking an obscene amount of time to reply.))

Jack looked at Winter intensly when she spoke. He gave Bryan the same treatment when he revealed what little he would speak of. Jack pondered on the thought that no one seemed to be willing to speak of their past experiances and other things of the matter. "Good, short and without excess. Looks like this unit might function properly after all." He said quietly to himself. Jack looked up as Seranado approached the table. The experianced black ops soldier slowly and carefully reached back to his concealed hand gun, thinking that Seranado might be a threat.

Jack kept on edge when Seranado reached the table and cleared his throat. The unremarkable man was taken slightly aback when Seranado mentioned that he knew they were ZECT members. Jack made sure not to show any sort of surprise. They must have picked a good one if he could pick that up, Jack thought to himself. "Are you Seranado?" Jack questioned, "If you are, pull up a chair and keep your voice down. If your not state your name and purpose. You have to the count of 10 before I take action." Just then as he was focusing on Seranado he felt someone tap on his shoulder. Jack gazed back at the person casually to see what it was and then looked back at Seranado. The person who tapped on his shoulder was an unremarkable person who did not seem a threat. He kept a tight grip on his side arm should the person who asked about ZECT not be Serenado.

[Aeolus]

((No worries!))

Winter took note of the intense stare that their new leader seemed to possess and immediately respected it. So far, their superiors did not appear to have faltered in their judgment, but she supposed it was too soon to tell. She nodded almost indistinctly as Jack remarked on their unit. These several years in the ZECT had given her a good grasp on profiling, and as Winter glanced over the man she decided that he must have had plenty of experience with this sort of thing. Of course, there was always room for error...

The woman quickly registered that the newcomer from earlier was approaching their table. Not partial to strangers, Winter almost visibly bristled and seemed to tense, as if she would simply explode from behind the table and massacre the poor thing who awkwardly addressed their merry little band. She made no movement otherwise, as it would simply be tactless to scare him off too soon.

But he had better be their newbie. Or at least lost. Winter's mild xenophobia did not manifest in a friendly way.

[Bryan Pandion]

As Jack reached for his sidearm, Bryan's eyes danced around the room, noting possible exits and possibly useful items should things turn ugly. He also estimated the distance between himself and Seranado, figuring that he'd rather not discharge his weapon, and tackling the stranger would do just fine, should Jack not be able to get a shot off.

The next newcomer made the situation even more dire. As far as Bryan knew, only one other ZECT member, excepting the trio, was present in the restaurant. So a stranger tapping on the shoulder of the team leader, in the midst of this conversation was not a good thing. Not at all. Bryan gave up hope of denying his firearm, and slowly reached his right hand back to grasp the hand grip of his .44 Magnum, and slowly eased it out of the holster. From years of experience, he'd learned that the threatening ones didn't always look the part.

"I'm thinking we need some explanations."

[Amino]

Serenado stood there and watched the people react to his sudden approach. Their somewhat paranoid reactions lightened up his day, even made him smile. He looked at each of them very closely and examined them. They all seemed about damn near ready to shoot him. He then looked at Bryan.

"I'm Serenado, the new recruit."

Serenado stood there, hoping they would calm themselves and not pull out their guns. He didn't sit, and he didn't make any sudden movements. He slowly reached down into his right pocket and started to slowly take his hand out of his pocket, about to reveal his Zecter, hoping he wasn't going to be shot before they could see it.

He saw in their eyes that they were all ready to start a bar fight if he wasn't the the new recruit that they have been waiting for. He then quickly pulled his arm up out of his pocket with the Zecter in hand, also ready to duck as quick as possible just in case someone fired off a shot.

[Killmefor0G]

Jack took his eyes off of the newcommer for a second to see Bryan reaching for his side arm as well. The experianced black ops member kept his grip tight when Serenado announced his name. After all, it could be that this man killed Serenado and found out his name since no one else knew what he looked like. Jack continued to eye his target closly, looking for sudden movements. The finger that tapped on his shoulder returned. "Buzz off." Jack replied as he swatted the finger away with his left hand, keeping his right on his side arm. This person was getting on his nerves. Touching him was one of the things that the senior black ops man did not allow.

Jack pulled out his side arm when Serenado pulled out his Zecter. He lowered his aim from Serenado's head. "Well I guess we'll have to trust you for now." He holstered his weapon and started to relax. He figured that the person who was trying to get his attention had left, he was wrong. The man tapped him on his shoulder one last time. Turning around Jack said, "I'm not above taking out your eyes and skull-" He stopped what he was saying as he turned around to face himself.

Jack stood up and pushed the perfect copy of himself away, knocking over his chair in the process. He drew his weapon and fired several shots. ((incomming hail of bullets from everyone else too? lol)) The bullets hit their mark, however just bounced off. The perfect copy had holes in his chest and other places, only they seemed skin deep. The skin of the copy began to melt away to reveal a light metallic green creature roughly the size of a person. the beast produced a blade from its fore arm and stabbed Jack in the stomache with the arm-mounted blade. It then proceeded to take off out the door with Jack firing at it with one arm, while holding his stomache with the other. The bullets harmlessly bounced off of the creature. Jack dropped his gun and pulled out his Zecter. He gasped for breath but managed to pant, "Lets get that thing!"

[Aeolus]

Upon seeing the Zecter, Winter felt her body relax a small degree. So it was possible that there was not any danger in this guest of theirs. Granted, anyone could easily claim to be someone named Serenado, especially if one had not seen the individual originally or knew him, but the Zecter at least lessened chances of this being another step in someone's grand master plan. The woman quietly studied Serenado's features. He was definitely taller than herself, possibly around the same age... He seemed like he already had some experience with the rough side of life, but Winter wondered how he would take ZECT's world. He also didn't look half-bad. Was this Serenado really their newbie?

She nodded almost idly as the new leader Jack made it clear they would have to trust him. She had previously dismissed the presence at Jack's back, but now that it persisted to bother him, Winter deigned enough to turn her head and see who was harassing their team leader. She froze.

The stranger's face was the same as Jack's. Every detail matched, down to the finest filament of cell construction, but there was a lack of something in its expression as well. Perhaps a void in the eyes that just told you something was wrong. Her hand flew immediately to something concealed under her shirt: a weapon that was very much like a taser. It clung to the side of a belt she'd hidden beneath the broad red shirt she wore, made further inconspicuous by the fact that she was standing instead of sitting.

Winter mentally cursed herself, then erased the oath so as not to jinx herself. She should have brought a heavier arm or something. Pistols and tasers were nice (though she only had the taser-like weapon on her), but in cases like these she much more preferred her electric whip or something that took two hands. Like a submachine laser gun. But as Jack's imitation emerged from its charade with a ricochet of bullets springing off of the skin, she felt her body automatically adjust into combat mode, each muscle remembering her training and synchronizing with her mind's commands. Unquestioning loyalty and lethal expertise. Communication and cooperation.

Winter bolted away from the table, but she kept at such an angle that kept her out of Jack's and Bryan's line of fire. She wasn't planning on tackling the thing or anything. Not with just a glorified taser. No, it was better to keep on the creature's tail and hope something came along, and she glanced back to where Serenado was, wondering what he would do in this sudden turn of events. Winter silently hoped that Jack hadn't taken a bad hit. Under normal circumstances she would have stayed behind to check, but under training she was made to assume the leader was fine and to follow orders without hesitation.

Others in the restaurant seemed startled. Winter knew that as long as this was dealt with immediately, the people would forget all about the incident and go back to their normal lives. The way Zi should have been. She continued to tail the metal creature, its greenish exterior reflected in her relentless silver eyes.

[Bryan Pandion]

Bryan's weapon whipped upwards, drawing a line on Seranado's forehead, as his hand came flying out of his pocket. He was fractions of a second away from pulling the trigger before he realized that the newcomer was holding a Zecter. "Dammit, son, here's some advice. When you have two hand cannons trained on your forehead, don't make any sudden moves."

Just before the others, Bryan turned his attention back to the other stranger that had made him so nervous. He was just in time to see the creature's skin morph, changing into a perfect clone of the team leader. "Oh, for fuck's sake, the man growled, throwing himself into a roll from the booth, coming up with his gun trained on the worm. His total comfort with the monstrous handgun came to pay off here. The piece of hot metal felt like an extension of his arm, the grip totally formed to his palm. Years of practice had brought this comfort, along with total accuracy. Two shots in the chest, two shots in the head. But like Jack's, the shots did very little, leaving nothing but small dents as they ricocheted off.

Placed just behind the leader, Bryan had a perfect view of the man's wound. From years of experience, he knew how bad gut wounds could be. He was a bit skeptical of the idea of Jack running down the Worm.

"Sir, are you sure you can make it? We can get you help."