"...and now the recoil valve...no. No, the recoil valve..." Priest added, leaning over the table.
"...this is not the reco--" Nadia asked, staring at the cylindrical rod in her left hand.
"That's the sequencing charger..."
"...wait, you said this--"
"Ha! No, no I said that was the--no, that one...here...let me show you..." Priest chuckled, reaching across the small table.
Spread between he and Nadia, multiple sections of Priest's 22nd Century rifle littered the surface with a meticulous placement.
Gabriel gripped Nadia's hands lightly, guiding the rod into the fiber-mesh opening of a small octagonal object.
"...and then, inject the firing charge through the auxillary housing..." he continued, staring as he helped Nadia put the gun together.
Nadia continued to listen to his words, building her understanding of the man's futuristic hardware. But, ever so slowly, as Priest continued to guide her hands, her eyes lifted up, followed by a devilish smile.
"So..." she began. "...you've shown me how to improvise with your big.......hard...."
...Priest's eyes slowly raised to meet hers...
"....gun..." she continued, allowing the obvious flirtation to play over her eyes. "Perhaps I can instruct you on something of my speciality....da?"
Walker stared at her briefly, suddenly becoming aware that he was still holding her hands.
He immediately jerked away, sitting quickly back in his seat; Nadia just giggling at the display.
"What is wrong?" she asked, a broad smile continuing to adorn. "Don't tell me a big, strapping man such as yourself is afraid of a challenge?"
Priest looked all around him quickly, to see if anyone had witnessed the moment.
"I..." he began. Then, looking around a bit again, leaned across the table, trying to get as close as possible.
"I..." he began again, in a whisper. "...I think we are a bit BUSY, right now, don't you?"
"Ve' still have over an hour before we reach the capital..." she replied with a purr.
"It's..."
He paused, looking around again.
"It's not exactly like we have any privacy, either!" he said, a seeming paranoia settling into his tone.
Nadia looked away, searching the interior of the transport.
"Well...there is a bathroom, right over there..." she replied, the grin appearing again.
"...Nadia..." Priest sighed.
In the aft-section of the transport, Grimm's dark visage peered tirelessly out the rear observation window...
"What's the score?" Chance asked, walking up next to the giant, staring out the window with a mock interest.
Grimm just cocked his head around, staring at the new leader.
"Come on, Grimm..." Chance elbowed him in the ribs, with a small grin. "...it's a joke."
"If you say so."
Grimm turned back towards the window.
"What's wrong with you?" Chance asked. "I mean, your not the jolliest of fellows, I'll admit. But, you're acting strange, even for you. Hell, you're positively grim..."
Grimm turned back towards him, opening his mouth to speak...
"Yes, that was a joke, too." the leader sighed, before he could ever speak.
"Since when did you visciously slaughter someone elses sense of humor, and disguise the corpse as your own?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Schanze shrugged. "...I guess I'd say since a demon-lord-former-teammate decimated the eastern U.S. seaboard...Vanguard was blackmailed and framed into global treason...and...oh yes....it was all dumped into my lap."
The Swede sighed heavily.
"Yep. That about covers it." he nodded. "The pressure of having to save the entire planet tends to lend oneself a sense of the absurd, and whimsical..."
"Puts it all into perspective, huh?"
"...and how..." Chance nodded, leaning against the frame of the window.
They both sighed, looking back out the window.
"Still...what's up?" he asked, never looking at Grimm. "You seem a bit off."
"Hey, I got shoved into a command position, too, you know..."
"Ohhhh, come on...." Chance ragged him. "The avatar of Death scared of a little responsibility? Sorry. You can do better than that."
Grimm grunted.
"What are we doing, Kristofer?" he asked.
"You mean traveling half-way across the globe to protect a power-mad despot?" he asked.
He glanced back at the dark man sitting in the corner.
"Or traveling half-way across the globe with a power-mad despot?" he said, his eyes transfixed on Smith.
"Well...that too." Grimm nodded, as they both turned back towards the window. "No, I mean, what's up with all these new guys?"
"You mean all TWO of them...?" Chance cocked an eyebrow.
"Still...what's going on? We're headed into a very dangerous, as well as, personal mission..." he replied. "...and we're going to just bring two new employees along for the ride?"
"We need the manpower..."
"Sure. A stranger that we were forced to put on the field team, and a...a...guy...that appeared on our fucking conference table!" he almost exclaimed.
"I know, I know....but, what else do you propose I do? After losing Bell, Danny, Euro, and Mick..."
"So we just accept two strangers right on in?"
"It's our only choice."
"It's absurd."
"Why do you think I'm making jokes?"
Grimm turned to stare at the leader with a deep sigh.
"I miss Danny." he said.
Chance smiled, slapping the giant on the shoulder.
"Me, too, man....me, too..."
Back-to-back with Priest's section, Kristogar Velo sat rigid, studying political files, geographical maps, and all the information he could gather on D'Goon's Mandelovia. He had been at it for the last forty-five minutes. As well as, the four hours it had taken to get to Espertingonzia. As well as, the six hours between the time the crisis had erupted, and their departure from La Perdita.
Velo finally slapped the folder down onto the table with the briefest of anger, placing two fingers to his temples. Resting his face in his hands with fatigue, Velo sighed with a desperate frustration. Drake remained fast asleep, slumped against the wall next to him.
"Still searching, eh, Kristogar?"
Velo's eyes rose to meet Smith's dark pupils peering out from his shaded form in the corner.
KV said nothing, turning his eyes back towards the closed folder.
"Looking for a way out?" Smith's cat-like growl of a voice seeped with a malicious glee. "Trying to outmanuever the impossible?"
"..leave it alone Smith..." he replied under his breath.
"Oh, have I offended you yet? Have I hurt your feelings? Am I stepping on tender...lovely...deliscious despair...?"
Velo cut his eyes back at Smith.
"Get your fix from someone else, you worthless bastard."
Smith smiled.
"Oh, but my dear man, you have more than enough to satiate my immediate needs." he replied. "The guilt. The despair. It's all my fault...."
Velo's eyes narrowed, as Smith continued to pry into his emotional state.
"...I was the one who made the deal with D'Goon....I'm the one leading my friends into danger....or......perhaps, death..."
"I...said....piss...off..." Velo replied.
Smith chuckled.
"You are in denial, old man..." he said.
Velo sneered.
"No. I'm in deep concentration." Kristogar replied. "Yes, I'm the one that got them into this...."
He paused, making sure that Smith could see the focus and sincerity of his words.
"...but, by god, I will find a way to get them out..."
