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Ain't nobody fucking with my clique.

Date & Time: April 20-22, 1915
Location: The trenches of the German front near Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium
Characters: Jesse, Rin & Vanadi
Summary: Three idiots steal 5,730 cylinders of benzyl cyanide from the German army. It's a mission.
Warnings: History.

The front looks more like the end of the world than the end of the world does. Five battles will be fought here eventually. The first was back in November and the next will erupt in two days. The land has yet to even recover from the previous battle and the winter that followed, not to mention Belgian scorched earth strategies. The trees are bare and dead, the grass and crops replaced by mud that stretches across flat land for miles in every direction. What few buildings remain standing are only skeletal ruins of their former selves.

The Germans have dug their trenches to the west of a canal, with the British, French, Canadian, and Belgian troops forming a salient that juts out into the German territory so that the front looks more like a curve than a line. The particular spot our heroes land is close to the only hill in sight, Gravenstafel, where the Germans are planning to launch their first gas attack. Their trenches are a maze around this hill, with the enemy line and the town of Ypres in clear view.

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[The arrive. Rin looks around, and immediately her expression takes on a new aspect: pale, crushed down, stressed.]

Where do we go?

[ Vanadi has, for once, not brought along the mask. According to what the Initiative had told him about this mission, it's really the last place he wants something not easily repaired. (And having Rin along makes him less reluctant, so — there's that.)

But, naturally, he immediately activates his disguising hologram. Better a grizzled young soldier than an aristocratic kitrite.

He steps immediately in closer to Rin, looking around with a disgusted frown. Battlefields, man. They nasty. ]

I propose we find a hotel. Preferably one not burnt down, yes? [ please tell him they're not sleeping here ]

[Rin's own hologram portrays here as a young soldier with a weak chin and cheeks that have somehow retained the pudginess of youth through the deprivations of war. Currently, the aspect reflects her pinched expression, and the filth of the surrounding terrain - the man's skin might be pale to fit with his otherwise unathletic presentation, but it's hard to tell through the mud ground into the pores.]

A hotel? [She looks at Vanadi as though he's crazy.] There can't be one for miles.

[At least - it's very hard to imagine something like familiar human habitation around here.]

[Jesse needs a moment. He's seen photos of scenes like this one, even watched one or two specials on the History Channel, but it's way scarier being there in person. He hadn't worried about this mission a bit beforehand, sort of expecting it to go as easily as the larger missions do. But there's only three of them. And they're in the middle of this place where a lot of people have died and are going to die. He is so not qualified for this.

He swallows hard, his hand resting on his gun holster for some kind of reassurance.]

U-Um... We should probably...

[He looks all around and edges so slightly closer to the other two. The land is so flat and so nothing. They're totally exposed.]

We should probably just get down in the trenches, right? They sleep there, don't they?

We should get out of sight. [That much she knows. A hotel. She thinks of it longingly. How come the big groups got the cushy jobs? How come the three of them get sent alone to hell?]

Vanadi - you first? How tall are those things? Let's go. [She's edging towards Jesse now, reflexively drawing into their tiny frightened knot.] Let's get out of here.

We're not going down there. [ It sounds more horrified than any sort of actual objection. Really, if the only two people he knows here insist on it, he'll be going down there. Maybe even with minimal complaint.

He edges to the lip of the nearest trench, peering down into it. No dead bodies are immediately in sight, which is encouraging. ]

Gods, I can practically hear the rats, or centipedes, or whatever else.

[Jesse, at the same time, is sort of positioning himself to shield Rin from any surprise attacks that might happen to come out of the no-man's-land while her back is turned to it. It's not that he's sexist, but he's totally sexist. Anyway, it looks like Vanadi's been volunteered for diving first into the pit.]

You're seriously worried about centipedes right now? Don't be such a little bitch.

Jesse--! [But she kind of agrees with him, honestly. Rin reaches out to take Vanadi by his nearest arm and then pulls firmly.] I'm not staying up here. Come on. We're going now.

[ It's a testament to circumstances that the guy who usually lets insults slide right off him, steps back to accidentally trod on Jesse's foot. With his heavier, metallic left foot, at that.

Sorry, Rin, looks like the babysitting gig has begun. ]

Oh, sorry. Ah, but it was very nice of you the volunteer to go first.

[ If Vanadi had just one question about this mission, it would be to wonder why reconnaissance seems to involve so much mud. If you're not crouching in it and waiting for the change of sentries, you're casually strolling through it and trying to look completely at home so as not to arouse suspicion.

He's certain he's going to have to have his left leg taken completely apart to have it cleaned, after this.

And on top of that, he's not sure where Rin is. It's well dark enough for his infrared eye to activate (sorry for that creepy glowing, Jesse, just try to ignore it), but he hasn't yet spotted that signature of a body without the visible body to cast it. He's trying not to suspiciously fidget with this anxiety, but it's definitely not easy.

Low and hissed to Jesse, under his breath: ] Do you at least hear her? How long can it take? [ Seriously there aren't that many supply tents to scope out!! (yes there are.) ]

[A hissed whisper:]

You're the goddamn Bionic Man and you're asking me?!

[Jesse, for one, is glad for all this mud. You know what mud's good for? Camouflage. He would so gladly spend the rest of the day lying very still in the mud, playing dead.]

We probably won't even notice her 'til she's right here.

[ Yeah, Vanadi, asking the guy without the big kitrite ears. He huffs a sigh, spends a few more minutes inconspicuously fidgeting, and mutters: ]

I'm going in nearer. In case she needs anything.

[ A quick glance around, and a carefully casually meander starts him in closer to the targeted tents. ]

Hey, no -!

[Jesse starts to protest, but Vanadi wasn't really waiting for his permission, and he's already out of whisper-range. This is a bad idea. A really bad idea. The whole point is making it look like no one's near the targets. If they're circling around, that makes it really obvious they're up to something.

So Jesse doesn't follow Vanadi. He stays right where he is so he can cover the idiot if shit goes down.]

[ He's listening carefully, pouring over all noises in the area, searching for the one that doesn't line up with a visual cue.

Under his breath, and muttered: ] Come on, Rin...

[Boys, boys, don't rush a lady while she works. Rin spent a lot of time alternately creeping through restricted areas invisibly, and strolling very casually with her camouflage projector up through areas less secured. Even before that she bit the bullet and literally rolled in the mud. Since she can actually divert people's attention from her telepathically, this is not so much a security measure as a mark of paranoia - what if she slips? What if something slips? Her small face is still soaked with mud, she's damp and chilled with the wetness of it, shivering sporadically.

Without dropping her stealth cloak Rin makes back towards where it's the boys' job to wait. Lucky them, she's on just the right path and Vanadi sticks out amongst the proper soldiers, with that white mop of hair and the aristocratic face. Rin swears under her breath, unheard, and diverts from her path to intersect with him.

What is he doing?]

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