"Central, this is Firebrand, Menace is on the ground."

"Understood, Firebrand, stand by.'

Sunset grimaced. All through the flight, Jane had been giving her a glare that was almost putting her on edge, and now that they were on the ground, it hadn't diminished at all.

She looked back at her friend, and tilted her head, raising an eyebrow, as good as any expression she could think of to communicate her thoughts: Really?! Now? On a mission?

Jane kept her face straight, but her delicate eyebrow rose just above the edge of her sunglasses and she shrugged, looking away. As good a retort as saying: Fine. Whatever.

Sunset shook her head and found the others looking at her with worry. "What?"

"Nothing," Laetitia said.

"Just awaiting orders," Mox added.

"We're wondering if you two need a room or boxing gloves and a rink," Elena said. The other two faction members gave her looks of amused betrayal.

"It's nothing like that," Sunset growled. "Anyway, take your minds out of the gutter and let's get this operation running."

They had made their way through an abandoned building into the undercity tunnels. The place was mostly past-century infrastructure that had remained from the previous cities, before they had been reconstructed to alien specifications.

As such, they were a combination of concrete walls and metal beams old enough to start crumbling a little. Large, rusty pipes snaked out of the floor from the depths of the sewers and provided cover here and there.

The building had opened up into a small room that split into two tunnels, lit by the occasional lamp, with large areas of darkness. Fortunately for the group, no aliens were immediately in sight.

"Menace 1-5, the enemy doesn't know you're here. Take advantage of that and find the General."

"Roger that, Central," Sunset said. "We'll take care of it."

She closed her eyes and let the magic flow through her. The process was always the same in this new body; the energy would start in her chest, roughly where her heart was, and then spread through her veins, warm and comforting, to finally take the shape of the spell she was casting. In this case, her blood vision.

When she opened her eyes again, the world seemed just slightly brighter. Her teammates were close enough that she could see them almost normally, except that there was a faint, pulsating glow from within them. Further ahead, she could see two more heartbeats, moving slowly away from them within her range of vision.

Next to her, Jane bit her lip and turned away, looking straight ahead.

"I'll take the lead," Sunset said, putting words to action as she crouched and ran down the length of the tunnel, towards the faint glows she had seen. She took cover behind a piece of pipe, glancing over and seeing them pause and glow a bit brighter, now that the distance had lessened, she whispered into the comms.

"Mox, Laetitia, you're with me. I just saw two X-rays in this direction. Jane, Elena, I think we're on the upper left corner of the map we saw… that means you two can follow the right tunnel around the bend and flank them."

"Understood," Elena replied, setting off in that direction.

"Won't we see any aliens in that direction?" Jane asked, following at a slower pace.

"I doubt it, but it never hurts to check… just be careful for any mechanical enemies."

Jane shook her head, but moved forward. "Roger that, Bloody."

Sunset didn't reply, merely watching the pair walk around the bend and out of her sight. Soon enough, she heard Elena's voice.

"I have them in my sight."

"Two ADVENT. A trooper and… it's different. Looks a little like a shield-bearer, but… the armor is thinner."

Sunset looked at Mox, who shook his head.

"We don't know what those do, so be careful… let's let the patrol move forward and see where they're going."

"...how did you know they were moving?"

"We're behind them, just keep in cover for now."

The tunnel moved ahead up to a wall that had a ladder on it, granting access to a higher level, perpendicular to, but still within sight of the patrol. Sunset motioned for her companions to follow her as she climbed up and hid, looking down on the patrol as it slowly made its way down the hallway, close to the tunnel where Jane and Elena hid, then turned left, stepping over a metal bridge to access the other side of a long fall into the sewers.

"Jane, Elena, we have you covered. Move when you have the chance."

Sunset watched from her vantage point as her friend rushed to cover behind abandoned building equipment, and Elena flowed from the shadows to hide behind the corner of the bridge and the guardrail.

It didn't look like it should provide cover, but when the trooper glanced in her direction, it didn't even see her.

Sunset motioned for Mox to go ahead. The Skirmisher jumped down to the lower level on the other side, taking cover against the entrance to the tunnel which the patrol was currently on.

When there was no reaction, Sunset motioned for Laetitia to take a position across from Mox, while she ran over to the edge of the upper level, looking down, confirming what her blood vision had already told her. "Another group is there… three more… Trooper, Lancer and... "

"Target confirmed, Menace," Bradford said. "That's the general, don't let him escape.

Sunset slowly slid her hand down to her belt, and picked up a grenade. "On my signal, get ready for action."

"Roger."

"Understood."

"Ready."

"I'm ready."

Sunset didn't say anything more, throwing the grenade at her objective. The explosive flew in a graceful arc, and landed right at the general's feet.

The blast echoed through the tunnels, and by the time the barely-injured ADVENT Troops were reacting to their presence, Mox had shot his grappling hook at the Trooper, who was dragged in an instant past the charging Laetitia, who sliced down with her energy knives at the trooper.

Two shots followed the blur of movement, violently hitting the general, although his armor seemed a lot thicker than that of the others. He regained his footing almost too quickly and took cover, firing straight at Elena, who had to run down for cover as her previous position was exposed.

The new trooper turned, facing Jane, and extended his hand. Tendrils of psychic energy shot towards Jane, surrounding her in a sphere and knocking her down.

"Jane!" Sunset shouted, jumping down and rushing the psychic enemy.

"Leave the psychic to me!" Laetitia shouted, "You go after that one!" pointing at the general, who had retreated deeper into the tunnel. "Catch him!"

Sunset gritted her teeth, but ran straight ahead. "Mox, Elena, with me!"

She ignored their replies, rolling to a stop on the corner of the tunnel. The general had joined more troops.

"Menace, we have picked up the signal for the general's extraction. Do not let him get there!"

"Dammit," Sunset swore, she turned around the corner, planting her foot against the corner for additional support and shot her grappling hook at the general, just like Mox had earlier. The attempt was a success, and she had to brace herself as the heavier man was dragged towards her, stumbling back in surprise while the others shouted and aimed at her, trying not to accidentally shoot the general.

One of the troopers was tackled by Mox, who didn't hesitate in slamming his blades into the poor trooper's head, and just as Sunset's sword pierced the general's stomach and twisted, Elena's rifle made short work of the last ADVENT trooper.

"Well done, Menace," Bradford said "All enemies are down and ADVENT is sure to feel this one. prepare for pickup."

Sunset sighed, wiping the blood from her hands on the wall, before turning around and trotting back to where Jane was. "Jane!"

"She's okay," Laetitia said, looking down curiously at the body of the ADVENT trooper she had killed.

Sunset nodded and slowed down, approaching Jane, who was looking at Laetitia warily. "Jane?" she asked softly.

"She…" Jane shook her head. "I've never seen…"

"What?"

Jane looked at her. "Nothing. It's nothing. It just… I'm still a bit out of it from what that ADVENT did to me."

Sunset gave her a worried look, but tried a small smile. "But hey, it's a new ADVENT unit, what do you want to call it?"

Jane kept her eyes on Laetitia, licking her lips nervously before glancing at the dead trooper. "You ever seen a picture of the pope? Back when there was one?"

Sunset shook her head.

"Must be my Irish family keeping the tradition… but the helmet reminds me a little of what the pope's hat looked like… and it also did this kneeling on the ground thing earlier, like it was praying..."

"So… ADVENT Pope?"

Jane shook her head. "Nah… just priest. Let's call them priests."

"You hear that, Bradford?"

"Advent Priest, got it. Adding it to the list.

Jane tried to smile, but couldn't hide her nervousness when Laetitia approached. "Anyway… let's get going.'

"Right," Sunset said. "Firebrand, this is Menace, we're ready for transport."

"Roger that, Menace, on my way,"