It was still midday when they arrived, he drove his Packard far out to to the farmlands of Las Vegas. Too far away from civilization for his liking. They packed enough gas to last the distance and extra just encase, extra of everything as a matter of fact.  The trees that formed the large forest which they had to drive through, had leaves of a dull red color with dots and sometimes striped of black. The trees themselves were a almost black color. 

When they arrived at the millers farm the sight of it made him want to reach for his .45 which was nicely tucked in and holstered  beneath  his cloak. The plants and vegetables were uprooted, batches of them still laid untouched. The trolls had a feast . The other thing he noticed was the barn. It looked like a car had driven through the structure, the main house itself where the farm hands where staying was untouched. 

This was indeed the work of trolls, he knew  little about the situation other than the fact of the attack, but he feared they had taken a greater toll from this poor family. It was his duty after all, the mafioso were known to look out for the people...for a modest price at least, when the police failed it was we who had to clean up the mess. 

He saw a pane in the window open by the front of the farm house then shut back close just as swift. He looked back for his associates to make sure they  were  there by him. He  strolled towards the house. He could hear chatting coming from inside the word ' Mafioso ' and ' gun' where the only ones he could make out.

" I was't..sure....been couped up in this lil ole house wif me pitchfork, wasn't to sure if they would come back for us"

An old lady said as she stepped out the door, she had that country ascent you didn't hear much of those in the city, she still wore he dirty night dress from almost a week ago. She had an old face, her hair was mostly white, with still slightly visible black streaks. She looked like she was barely holding on to strings of hope, her face that of someone who had led a hard life. From behind her a two women and three boys barely fifteen followed. These must be the people who were helping on the farm. 

" I'm sorry it took for us to take so long, we had a few problem with directions"

  She nodded at that, which made him thought  she heard the excuse before. She regaled him with all the events that took place that day. The trolls, six of them, had attacked at night, he could tell she was still mourning since her words seem to crack when mentioning her husband and sons. They were too scared to do anything but her husband decided he could not stand by and watch his farm destroyed. They old man died trying to protect his farm, well he did protect it as the trolls left after that, took the body too and  two cows with them. Her sons, vexed at their own cowardice got the courage from their father and went after the trolls into the red forest to avenge him. They have not come back since then. Almost a week ago. 

Dasuke sighed softly as she waited for him to stop the packard. Stepping out of the vehicle, her Emerald eyes took in the surrounding areas. Her ears picking up on the sounds around them as she silently followed him. She was clad in black leather pants and a form fitting black tank top, albeit it looked completely like one whole outfit. On her right shoulder was a tattoo, One of koi fish and japanese waves. Simply just because she enjoyed the design of it. Hidden all long her body though were her daggers and knives. The only visible weapon on her back being that of a Barrett M82, completely pitch black in color. It was her favorite weapon and along with her good eyesight, it was a deadly combination.

When Lucius looked back towards her, she simply nodded towards him, having never been but a couple strides behind him. She'd never faced Trolls before, but she had indeed seen their damage beforehand. This would be her first time though joining on a hunt for one. One could see around her waist, and along her thighs were extra clips strapped to her body. If the first bullet didn't take the creature down, than one of the many others would.. especially with some of the explosive bullets she had.

Stretching slightly, Dasuke slipped her hands into the belt loops on her pants, standing back as she allowed Lucius to speak to the old woman. She wasn't much for talking to others unless she was interrogating them... and even than she barely spoke. Her dark Emerald eyes held nothing within their gaze however, almost like voids. She had a great poker face, even if she did look a little soft, she had a mask of pure gold covering how she truly felt.

Hearing the woman speak, it was only than that Dasuke stepped forward to talk to the old woman, her eyes blank looking as the dark Emerald orbs looked down upon her. Her voice was soft, but there was a hardened undertone to it. Like that of a person who knew death and had stared it in the face.

"A week. You're sons are probably dead. I wouldn't hope for otherwise."

She watched the woman, her eyes quickly taking in the look that grew upon her face and that of the other childrean and woman who had stood behind her. She was ruthlessly blunt and didn't beat around the bush much. The only time she did was when she decided she wanted to play a game with someone, messing with their minds. Now though.. she just wanted to get this job done and get back to the city. She wasn't too big of a fan of the country. It felt too open and exposed for her. She was like a cat. If she didn't want to be found, you would have one hell of a time trying to find her. She would never appear unless she wanted to. She was often even referred to as a Ghost to some people in the city, for those that saw her... were never sure if she was truly real or not.

It was hot, not too hot but hot enough for Zeo to feel uncomfertable. She took her assassin like hood off, she had long white hair with two long ears. Yes she was an elf. As many people was racists she usually didn't show her ears, but in this case she had to do it, it was very hot for her. Her ears was long and pointy. In her pockets she had two guns which where unknown as she had them custom forged. The reason for this was that so no one could trase them some way or another as they had no marks on them. She also have killed the person making them for her, so people couldn't ask him either. She giggled a little as she thought on that time.

She looked forward towards Lucius and Dasuke, she didn't really care about this whole operation at all, but she didn't have any choice, okat she couldn't choose, but she was bored. She sat on a rock a little far away, she would be there fast if she was called but she didn't like humans, they was bad to her in the past so she felt rage every time she saw a human, wanting to kill it off. "Stupid animals." She went from smiling to angry as she looked at them. She turned around and looks at a rock. She points her left hand towards it. She points at it, then she formed a water arrow that was spinning in front of it. Yes Zeo could use water magic, strong too. She shot it towards the rock, and as it hit the rock it didn't crack. Instead the water arrow just pierced through the rock, making a hole without cracks, heh. If she hasn't lived as long as she has then she wouldn't be able to do this. She created some more water and then drank it. "Ugh, worst water ever." The way she makes water is combining the hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms in the air making water that she turns into liquid as it is a gas when she does this. She can also use ice, but its too hot for that now, well she was able to do it, but she didn't want to show other people it as it could be used against her some way or another.

Geez they took long time, she rose up. She was 5,5 feet. She walked over towards Lucius and Dasuke trying not to look at the humans. She was too bored and wanted to do something, anything.

   He was an anomaly to the world, He was a strange fellow. He stood tall at six foot eight and was built like a prison cell. He stood in the shadows near by the elf, as he awaited the arrival of the others. Now yes, he may be tall, and he may have likely had a great great grandmother who had sex with a bull and that may be why he was as large as he was, but that was not the only unique aspect to him, While he may seem to be a very daft fellow, he hid inside that thick head of his a brain that could comprehend technology like albert einstein did mathematics and this showed by what he had chosen to wear to the current job. 

 

Instead of being in a dress suit as you would expect, he stood in a suit of metal, resembling that of a suit of steel plate mail, and on his back sat a pack much like a small engine for a ford. He did not have it running at the moment, due to the fact that if he did, it would likely drive the elf nuts with the constant rumble of a petrol engine. Along with the strange suit he wore he had a customized fire arm, much like a gyro jet pistol he had a rifle that would fire self propelled shots from a casing, and by, that gun could shoot the nuts off of a frog from a mile away before it sent said frog in five different directions. Nitroglycerin was such a beautiful chemical.
 

" What a wonderful day it is, me armor shines so bright, and me gun shoot so straight" 

 

  His accent was more of a byproduct of how his mind handled technology, since he could turn a pile of scrap metal into a working engine, he lacked the capability to properly handle grammar, and as such, he often came across like a blithering dolt. Having never met any of the crew he was now to be working with before today, he chose to keep his shut when the other two would arrive , lest they think him a mongoloid before he had the chance to prove he actually had some value to put forward to the mission.


When the two had finally arrived he walked over to them, his armor making rather loud clunks as he walked, he was not one for...subtlety, and they would soon learn this as he stood there with them, even his face hidden by a helm made it much easier for him to get a good look at the others without them learning too much of his identity, he was a specialist for a reason, no one knew who he was, and no target had ever survived having him set after them.

"Hello."

Lucius, had waited after the old woman had finished before he took an account of his associates and their nature.   

" Seems you were here before all of us "

Lucius said, giving the tall, giant of a man a smile and a nod. He turned back to the lady, she seemed confused, and why would she not be? all these strange things that she was new too. Different races, technology beyond that of a old farm woman. He decided it was best to try to ease her worries as much as possible.

" We will follow the track, if possible, we will bring your boys back, and be rid of these trolls that have been a torn throughout the outskirts of Las vegas"

With such passion put into the words, the woman seemed to lost what she was about to say. A single tear fell from her eye, she nodded twice quickly.

A woman, with a cold heart. An elf who cares very little for anything and a hunk of metal, who Lucius was having a hard time trying to figure out. They were his family, and together they would face many trials, and this was  but the start of their epic adventure. Not to epic he hoped. 

He held onto his Fedora as he ducked below a branch. They had been walking through the forest for hours now, steadily following many troll tracks. He wanted to know more about the people he was working with, and here was a good as any place. A small clearing in the forest, they would have to move some fallen branches but other than that, it was good as any.

" Okay, we rest here for the night. Trolls don't hunt far, I bet we will reach their cave tomorrow. Zeo, Clear away the branches, Dasuke put up the tents" Lucius then looked at the towering man in heavy armor before him. " And you, draw warding circles around the camp. It would be bad if any other creatures attack us."  

Dasuke was silent as she listened to Lucius' words to the old woman. Not saying anything until they had started to walk away. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes as she walked, her arms crossed out in front of her as she stayed just slightly behind him and to the right. She took in the other two associates, a female elf who seemed rather quiet.. though she got the sense that with her being a human... there was some unknown tension before them for god knows what reason. Than there was the giant. Least.. to her he was... She stood at only about Five foot three inches... the shortest among the group by two inches. She never cared though, simply due to the fact that she like some of the advantages being short and slim gave her. It meant she could squeeze into places the others couldn't. 

Her voice was quiet as she spoke to Lucius, her boss as she thought of him. "Why did you tell her that.. get her hopes from... False hope is the same as lying." She watched him silently with her Emerald eyes, her hands slipped back into her pockets again as she watched and walked. She was fine with walking through a forest, but she was still more content with the city. Especially one that she knew ever nook and cranny about.

It wasn't until they stopped hours later that she sighed and glanced around completely. Hearing her name she glanced towards the male before nodding and moving to set up all of the tents. It was a task that didn't take her long, least not with the amount there were. Having taken about twenty minutes or so in total, she had all of them set up and sturdy, tied down with good enough knots that even a strong wind would have trouble blowing them away.

Something deep down in her gut had her wondering if someone was going to make her have to bond with the people around her. While she was loyal once you got to know her.. it was the getting to know her part that made everything quite difficult, especially with her being as reserved and silent as she was. 

Why did he give her false hope? though it was not truly false hope, her sons could very well be alive. He smiled, as he helped with clearing the space needed for the camp. he had just given her a shrug, he didn't know himself. Just look at him,  he was hoping for hope, he laughed with himself at that. Hope seemed the only true thing all humans do, good or bad.

Lucius wasn't the best cook, but he wasn't the worst and with the river nearby he caught three good sized fish. He now sat on a log, in the center of the camp, three tents surrounded him on either side. Dim streaks of moonlight shot through caps in the red leaves, it illuminated the camp, giving it a red hue. He found the constant red made him sick if he focused to much on it. He just steered the pot of fish soup, then distributed it up between Dasuke and himself.

He expected the forest to be cold, but it was warm at night. How odd was that. Warding the camp was a challenge since the wards had to protect a larger area than he was comfortable with warding but it had to be done.

" So tell me about yourself. " He said to her between a spoonful, he eyes causing at the glowing pupils that surrounded the camp, creatures of magic to be sure, he wondered if they would text to wards, to see how strong it was but their eyes just gazed, dozens of eyes, all around, looking, waiting. He ignored the blue glowing eyes. This is nothing unusual.

" Did you have the lush life i had? too much money to spend, not enough things to spend it on. I doubt that you did. "

Dasuke was silent as she sat on a log, her eyes watched the fire and the fish cooking silently. With it being warm in the forest, she was glad for her tank top, though her leather pants were a bit sweaty. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but it was what she was used to wearing. Her sniper rifle was leaning against the log next to her, and were anyone to try and touch the gun, she'd be on top of them glaring in a heartbeat. She didn't like people touching her equipment and it was mainly due to the simple fact that she didn't want people screwing her settings up.

She quietly thanked Lucius for the soup before starting to eat it slowly. She would never complain about food, having grown up in the streets as she had... she just wouldn't complain about being fed. Even if she looked like she could definitely use a couple good meals to get meat on her bones she was actually optimum weight for what she did and there was barely any fat on her, she was all lean muscle really, due to her running and climbing she did throughout the city each and every day. It wasn't until Lucius asked her a question that she looked up at him.

Not really being all too enthusiastic about talking about herself she just shrugged slightly, talking between bites. "Not really much to say about myself... What about you?" She was a highly private person... and almost never shared information about herself... it kept the mystery going about who she was and what she did for a living. Even if this right now was supposed to

He smiled, thought it didn't last long.

" Now now, you give as good as you get. You may be as beautiful as you are deadly, but you'll still need more than that."

His gazed sifted to the beast hiding in the dark as they came out. They were round looking balls of fur, with short hands. Their teeth were like sharks. They started pushing themselves against the ward first, only to have the warding refuse them entry into the camp, instead pushing then back into others. They tired quickly, Lucius enjoyed watching their failures. They threw rocks and branches, a couple even tried to bite at the invisible blue barrier that only lit up when you wanted to pass.

They were safe here, he didn't enjoy the idea of being around in the daytime should they every come across so many of these fur balls but at the moment they were harmless. He enjoyed watching so much he almost forgot that Dasuke was there.

They needed to get up early. The sooner they finished this the better. He only wished he had a ward to block off sound too.

Dasuke noticed the smile on his face before it was gone. She seemed to have keen eyes as she watched him while still eating. Hearing his words though, she just simply shrugged as if she had no intention on ever learning about him.. at least not yet that is. Noticing his gaze had shifted, she focused on eating in silence. When her meal was done she set the bowl down and bid him goodnight, taking refugee in one of the open tents. She could have stayed up all night easily and been fine the next day, but she wanted time to herself so she did such, having taking her sniper rifle with her, sur curled up in a tent, zipping the door to it closed before curling up and dozing ever so lightly. Were anyone to disturb her tent... well... it wouldn't be a pleasant greeting.

When Dawn finally broke, Dasuke was awake. It took but a few moments for her to be fully alert and up as she slipped her sniper rifle onto her back before leaving the tent, standing up and stretching after slipping her boots back onto her feet. While stretching one could hear her back popping and cracking as she worked the kinks out of it. Yawning she turned to glance around, almost as if waiting for others so that they could get a move on. She knew it was still extremely early due to the simple fact that it was mostly night, except for the west where the sun was starting to rise slowly.

Lucius woke up early as well. It was a habit to him, sleeping with a knife was also a habit. A poor habit thought, at times he would often wake up in the night bleeding. They packed up their camp quickly and as the sun rose, the beast and glowing eyes faded away back to their burrows deep inside the ground where the network of holes they called home was. 

Breakfast was meat a a loaf of bread, a simple breakfast but well done.  They wen't deeper into the forest. Much deeper, the  creatures here were larger. Bears, deer and even the insects seemed to be twice as larger as what he thought they should be. Maybe it was just the forest playing tricks on his mind. He used his mana eyes to scout ahead. Eyes that seemed to detect life. The forest had too many things that were alive. Focusing on the troll's trails while trying to make sure nothing was following them.    

The bushes and trees only got thicker as they went on, almost midday the same day they came across a clearing. A wide open plain that ended against a mountain, that had a cave at the bottom. This was it, the troll's home. 

" This is it, from here on out, it's going to be a war zone" 

A sigh came from the black haired sniper, her eyes closed as she followed the sound of Lucius' footsteps. When she opened her eyes she could tell that things were getting stranger. The size of things were increasing and it was just a tad bit creepy. Though it wasn't until they finally arrived at their destination that a grin slipped upon her face.

"Well... looks like the fun is just beginning then... SO... whose gonna look for the boys." 

She glanced over at Lucius from the corner of her eye. She was hinting that it should be him to go find the boys since he was the one who had spoken about bringing them back.. Either way thoguh... she was best off at a distance, taking down enemies one by one... That was her specialty. She glanced down towards the home of the trolls, narrowing her eyes as she watched it. She had a slightly bad feeling about this.. but at the same time... she felt the adrenaline start to kick in... especially with how this fight could end up going so many different ways

The plain had nothing more than grass, a couple trees here and there but that was just about it. Standing at the edge of the plain, the mass of forest sill behind thier backs, he felt as thought he stood on the edge of a cliff.

" I'll go scout ahead. I will be back soon. It should not take long."

He could feel the pather inside him rise like the dead. His eyes blinked quickly three times, on the third blink, his eyes no longer than of a man, the dark no longer restricting vision, colours he could not name, smells that were new to him. All of that raised to the forefront of his mind. His eyes were mere slits of glowing yellow. 

The bushes clokaed him as he moved from, he was nothing bit a shadow ion the plains, a mere blur in the lighting that vanished when you blinked. 

Dasuke stood just slightly behind and to the right  of Lucius, watching him from her peripherals. The only acknowledgement she gave him when he stated he was going ahead of her to scout, was a simple nod. She'd wait until the man who helped her into this life of hers now was a bit of a distance away before hiding herself among the grass, having slipped the sleek, black sniper from her back and setting it up on it's two peg legs that helped to steady it. Using the scope to see into the distance, eventually using it to watch him.

She narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched his blur work towards his destination. Though between that and everything else. She was keeping an eye on him... in case something tried to attack him she could and would take it down swiftly. Thus why her finger rested by the trigger at all times and her guns safety off as she watched him back. From her position, she could see more of an area around him than he might be able to sense and work with. She couldn't help but thing quietly to herself. 'He best keep out of trouble... it'd be a nuisance if I had to help him out...' She might have seemed like she didn't get along with anyone... but it truth she gave people whom she cared about what she called 'Tough Love' and it was her slight aggressiveness that showed that she cared.