New Stars Are Born (Hawk, Shilo, and I)

Saturday morning. 8:00 A.M. sharp.

Most people were probably sleeping in right now, or watching cartoons, or eating cereal, or going to work. Not Kidd.

Today was something different. Something exciting for once after having gotten so accustomed to the sedentary lifestyle. Today, Kidd was assigned on a mission.

Normally, Kidd was excited about any extracurricular activities that involved kicking ass or saving the day and getting all the limelight, but this mission required more than one person to take. Okay, no biggie. Blakely would just come along for this one. The two of them could bathe in the fame and glory together. No one else, just the two of them.

Of course, things never work out for The Legend the way he wants them to.

Hawk would be accompanying them on their mission. Again, no biggie. Kidd liked Hawk. He was just a likable fellow. Not much to it. Only thing is, there was.

Rori.

Kidd's nose wrinkled up in disgust at just the single thought of her name. She'd be accompanying them on the mission, too.

Despite Kidd's pleas to the teacher giving out the assignment, she wouldn't budge. No matter how much he tried to convince her, she stayed set on her resolve. Her reason being that the mission was quite dangerous this time, and that Kidd had a tendency of over-complicating things. She said it'd also be a good learning experience for the two new students.

"Whatever." Kidd said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the doors of the DWMA. The school was closed now, but this was the location that they'd all agreed on meeting up at. Kidd had chosen to show up a bit early though, and had been waiting there since 7:30, ready to have this mission over with.

Rori wasn't the only reason for Kidd's suffering, however.

Last night, while Kidd was home alone, he was watching his favorite cartoon which involved a young, brave, and heroic protagonist who always had an answer or solution to every problem he was faced with. It reminded Kidd of himself. In the new episode that they were showing, the hero was assigned a mission from headquarters. Much to the hero's disapproval, three other people were assigned to the mission with him. When they embarked on this mission, it proved to be too difficult for the hero himself, who wanted to take it on alone. When the rest of his comrades tried to lend him a hand, he refused. His refusal led to disastrous results.

Everyone in his squad (including himself), nearly lost their lives that day, and all because the hero wasn't willing to accept their help. Fortunately for everyone, the hero was able to find the solution again to their problem, and was able to bring everyone out alive. After the mission though, the hero changed his ways completely. He was nearly unrecognizable to his comrades afterwards.

"What a weakling." Kidd said to himself as he stared out at Death City from the top of the steps. How could he call himself a hero if he almost killed all his teammates AND let that one failure linger in his mind.

Kidd shook his head as he sat there in silence, wondering when everyone else would show up for the mission. It was a shame he was the only one to show up ahead of time. The early bird gets the worm.

But since nobody else had shown up, all Kidd could do was sit there and wait, dreading the mission and his cartoons.

Hawk sighed as he walked up the steps of the DWMA. There were dark circles around his eyes, and he shuffled his feet in a zombielike step. A half-eaten granola bar was in his right hand, and a water bottle was in his left. Mornings were not Hawk's thing. Rori had burst into his room at 7:50, yelling about being late and how they had to get moving.

So Hawk got dressed, grabbed a quick breakfast, and off they went.

It was Hawk's first mission. He was nervous, excited, and terrified, all at the same time. Who knew what the future held?It would probably be dangerous, and exciting. All he knew was that he was right where he should be, a weapon being wielded by a meister.

And that meister was Rori.

Things had improved between the two since they first met. He wasn't uncomfortable whenever he talked to her, and she seemed to be (slightly) more attentive to his personal space. They were partners, after all.

So Hawk walked up the steps to meet up with Kidd and Blakely, and found only Kidd there. "Where's Blakely?" he asked Kidd. "I thought we were supposed to meet here at 8."

Rori accompanied Hawk to their meeting place. She was always on time and would never be okay with a partner who did not appreciate the value of timeliness. She stopped by her locker before they made their way to Kidd and Blakely. This was a daily ritual of hers. Each morning she cleaned out the stack of love letters in her locker and read each and every one carefully. There was time put into these confessions and she could appreciate that, but alas, it truly fueled her desire to be loved by all for her grace and strength. And maybe as a celebrity, as she was the start of the theater club.

She smiled sneakily over at Hawk, before playfully running her fingers all through his hair and messing it quite nicely--knowing it would set him on edge. "Do you think Kidd will be annoyed?" She asked him, eyes bright with the "yes" she knew was coming. "I do hope so." she giggled, draping her arms dramatically over Hawk's shoulders as she walked behind him, her feet stepping just after his so as not to trip him. She leaned on her tip-toes to lift Hawk's right arm to her head which was resting at his shoulder, where she opened her mouth and took a bite off of his granola bar.

If he wasn't used to her having zero regard for personal space, she was sure he would eventually. She peered up the steps, wondering where Blakely was only to hear the crunch of wheels against pavement. She turned to see the girl lazily peddling herself over to them on her longboard.

Blakely was one to run on her own time really. It was just something she'd been doing her entire life, and as such, she wasn't much for timeliness. She was dressed casually in tattered jean shorts, which were bleached out and torn here and there from falling off her board. Her chest was tied up in a neon orange bikini top and then covered in a knit sort of over-shirt which exposed her tanned skin and peeka-boos of the bright orange beneath. Luckily she'd worn her vans today because they would be doing a bit more physical activity than her normal daily regime. She wrinkled her nose at Rori who gave her a sassy wink and scratched her chin, her helmet and goggles tipped sloppily to one side of her head, as it wasn't even fastened around her chin to stay put.

"Morning." she yawned, reaching steps and kicking the tail end of the board up into her left hand before jogging up to Kidd slumping against him, tired and slouched. "sooooo ready for this." she added flatly, her tone perfectly sarcastic.

Kidd was just about to sit down and text all everyone, beginning to grow intolerant and bored with waiting. But just as he was getting to his squatting position, he was able to make out Hawk's head over the peak of the stairs. Kidd grinned. Right as Kidd began to stand straight back up, he saw Rori all over Hawk. "Hey, Haw-" Kidd stopped himself mid-sentence. "UGHHHHHH...." Kidd exaggerated once he saw Rori. Rolling his eyes, he focused his gaze back to Hawk. "You ready for today, bruh?" Kidd said, excited to begin the mission. Ever since the Combat Training class, Kidd had been craving more action and adventure. His insatiable hunger was going to be fed today.

Right after Kidd greeted Hawk, he looked over to see Blakely. Now things were much more bearable for Kidd. "Morning." Kidd smiled at Blakely. "Oh yeah, I can tell." Kidd teased the skater with a grin on his face. Kidd looked down at Blakely and saw something that caught him off guard.

"Whoa." Kidd gulped, admiring her body. What she wore was even flashier than the Legend's skills. Kidd noticed something else that was flashy about Blakely. "What is this from?...." Kidd ran his finger along a scar that was on Blakely's back, tracing it with his middle and index. "Are you alright?"

Hawk turned around and looked at Rori with tired eyes. He then just shrugged and ate the rest of the bar, gulping down his water bottle. He attempted to fix his hair, slightly scowling while trying to hide his smile at the gesture. "Was that really necessary?" He asked in a slightly whining voice.

A mischievous smile suddenly crept across Hawk's face as he reached behind him and ruffled Rori's hair, returning the favor.

Hawk gave a small wave to Blakely before turning his eyes to Kidd. "Hey, Ki-" he responded quietly, before being cut off by a loud groan. "Uh-um, yeah, I'm ready, I guess...bruh. It's mostly in Rori's hands for me."

Rori giggled at Kidd's obvious distaste and let go of Hawk's shoulders, scurrying around to his side and linking elbows with Hawk. "Everything I do is necessary." she told him with a snarky look before giving him a playful nudge for frizzing her hair. She ran her fingers through the dark locks and shook her head back out, looking up at Blakely as she slouched against Kidd. The girl was cute, Rori had to admit and while she wasn't one to ever wear the particular style Blakely had chosen, she could not deny a girl with fashion sense.

Blakely blinked sleepily up at Kidd who was a bit taller than she and nodded to his good morning and to Hawk before she realized that Kidd was checking her out. And not only was Kidd checking her out, she was sure Rori was also checking her out. Her eyes opened wide now and she shot upright to glare at the both of them, but she was much too tired to say any harsh words. Too early. Her mind was a bit fuzzy still. She shivered at Kidd's finger running down her spine and across the scar that she bore on her back. "Hey...." she sniffled at him, frowning at the goosebumps that coated her skin now. "It's a scar, Kidd. I've had it since before I met you." she told him, implying that she was obviously alright. "I got it surfing." She added

Rori winked at Blakely, biting her lip flirtatiously. "That's cute." she teased, baatting lashes at the girl, who stared at her open mouthed.

Kidd removed his fingers from Blakely's back after she explained the reason for her scar being there. "I hit the spot, didn't I?" Kidd winked at Blakely, noticing the goosebumps that arose from Blakely's skin after Kidd's oh so gentle caress. Kidd felt like testing Blakely a bit more, but heard something that caught his attention completely and unexpectedly.

"That's cute."

Kidd took his free hand, stuck his pinky in his ear and wiggled around a little bit, attempting to clean it out of excess dirt or wax it may have had. Taking the pinky out of his ear, Kidd raised it to his face to take a good look at it. Clean. Spotless. Nada. Was he hearing things?

When Kidd looked over to the source of the voice he'd heard, he was met with Rori's smug and disgusting face. Kidd shot Rori a look,



Before pointing down at Blakely with his free hand that she wasn't leaning on and then pointing to himself while wording, "she's mine" to Rori, all the while making sure that Blakely didn't notice.

Just as Kidd was about to continue to go on to a full out rant on Rori, Kidd's phone dinged. Pulling it out of his pocket, Kidd saw that it was a text message from the teacher that'd assigned them the mission. "Guys...." Kidd said, reading the text. After taking a moment to read the text, Kidd spoke up again, "Prof says we have to go to this church that's on the other side of town," Kidd showed everyone a picture of the church that was on his phone. After everyone got a good look at the photo, Kidd looked at it again before putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Ready whenever you are." Kidd said out loud to everyone. The walk was gonna be far, and Kidd didn't want to waste anymore time than he had to.

Hawk linked arms with Rori, looking down at her 5'8" frame scurrying around him with tired eyes. "I suppose so," he responded, linking his fingers with hers as they had done before their "Capture the Flag" endeavor earlier. He sighed and looked back at Kidd.

"She's mine," he had mouthed. Hawk mistook it for being directed at him, raising his other hand and shaking his head. He looked over at Rori, who was focused on Kidd and Blakely, then shifted his gaze to Kidd. He shrugged and gestured in Rori's direction, then looked down.

"Ah, uhm...Yeah, let's get moving, guys," Hawk said nervously. He began to walk down the steps, looking back at the group to make sure they were following him. He began to walk the route they had planned, holding onto Rori and glaring straight ahead.

Blakely was firstly, confused, and second, well.... more confused. She turned her head away from Rori's wink only to be met with Kidd's winking face and comment about hitting the spot. She pouted "No... it just tickles." before leaning her head back against him and closing her eyes, dozing off. I don't even want to deal with this.

Rori however, was gleaming, for 2 reasons. One was simply her joy in setting Kidd off. Clearly Blakely was the key to her future endeavors, endeavors being those which bother Kidd, whatever they may be. And Secondly, the fact that Hawk was comfortable enough to take her hand. She wiggled her fingers within his grasp as if to say silently "watch me toy with him", though found herself unable to do so as Hawk was taking Kidd's gesture as if it were meant for himself. Rori peeked up at Hawk before laughing and sending Kidd a devious smile. "For now, Kidd. For now." She turned on her heel after looking at the phone, being led away by Hawk.

She raised a brow at the boy, wondering why he seemed a bit stiff now, dragging her along. She wondered if she'd maybe upset him with her flirting and as they walked she glanced up at his face periodically to gauge his mood.

Blakely yawned, blinking sleepy brown eyes at Kidd. When it was time to get moving she tugged at Kidd's shirt and gestured at his back. "Can you carry me?" she whined cutely, looking exhausted.

Kidd shared a moment of confusion with rest of his comrades. What the fuck? Kidd cocked his head back, watching Hawk do a series of inexplicable actions. What the hell is he doing? Kidd wondered to himself, unaware of Hawk's misinterpretation. Even though it seemed quite obvious, Kidd hadn't quite picked up on Rori's antics yet. They were working wonders on him because of his stupidity to realize what was going on.

"You're damn right she is." Kidd barked at Rori, responding to the shade she was throwing at him about Blakely. Man, did she really know how to rub Kidd the wrong way.

Following suit, Kidd took a few steps forward, following after Hawk and Rori. Kidd stopped, due to Blakely's tugging on his jersey. "Hey, be careful!" Kidd warned Blakely, "This was expensive!" Kidd snapped at her, showing his great displeasure in what she was doing. "Huh? Carry you?" Kidd stared down at Blakely now. Even if she wasn't tired, he'd probably have done it for her, but there were two benefits Kidd would get out of doing her this favor. The first one being that she was tired, obviously. So by carrying her, Kidd gave her the opportunity to rest up a bit before the encountered their adversary up ahead. The second reason being that Kidd would show Rori who was boss.

"Alright...." Kidd said, looking down at Blakely. Peeking over, he noticed her longboard. A smile grew on Kidd's face as he formulated a new plan. "Lemme take that off your hands first...." Kidd took the longboard from Blakely's hands. Turning around, Kidd squat down and held his arms out. "Alright then, hop on." Kidd ordered her.

Still tugging Rori along behind him, Hawk's glares eventually settled into a slight smile and a blush from the confusion that had gone down earlier. Hawk frequently looked back at Rori, most of the time when he felt she wasn't looking at him. He turned around and looked at Kidd, doing God knows what, and continued walking.

Suddenly, Hawk realized he had no idea where he was going. He had been so caught up with past events he hadn't even thought about directions, just dragging Rori along by the hand. "So, which way is it again?" He inquired visibly flustered from having messed up.

"Why are you being mean." Blakely whined louder now, she scowled fiercely at Kidd, as she was cranky from being tired and not wanting to be scolded about a stupid shirt. Rori could hear Blakely's tone from up ahead and grinned at Hawk. "Hahaha. Kidd... he's not to bright is he now?" she said to her partner so only he could hear, glad to see that he wasn't entirely angry.

Blakely however, was livid and despite Kidd's giving into her request and even so much as taking her long board off her hands, AND even though she really wanted to sleep-- she would not relent. Kidd's comment had set her off. How could he flirt and touch her, but she touches his shirt and it becomes an issue?

She watched him kneel down and pressed her foot against his bum, tipping him over and snatching her board up away from him. "Don't touch my board. It's expensive." she mocked, clearly upset. She hurried down the steps after Rori and Hawk, hopping onto her board and leaving Kidd in the dust, Rori's grins visible from a mile away as she again laughed at Kidd's utter failure. "You've come to momma, like you should." Rori swooned at Blakely dramatically. Blakely sighed and gave a weak smile. I am too tired for this. Her face flushed. She felt like she might cry from frustration and her face said the same.

"Where are we going Hawk?" Rori looked up at the boy noticing the change in pace, just before he too asked the same. All three turned to look at Kidd back on the stairs.

Kidd waited another few moments for Blakely to climb onto his back. All he heard coming from her was a bunch of complaining and yapping from the skater chick. Blah, blah, blaaaaaaaaah Kidd rolled his eyes. "Are you gonna take all day or-" Before Kidd could finish his question, he felt all his weight go forward. "Huh?" Kidd said as his face was driven into the ground by Blakely's kick. Words could not explain how furious Kidd was.

Kidd laid there face down in the ground for a moment. No, don't risk it. Kidd thought to himself, Even though Rori is annoying as fuck, a hater, and not even that cute, that isn't any reason to kill her. Kidd decided against himself, for the better of the team, and more importantly, Rori. But it didn't feel like it was for the better of the team.

Everyone had stopped walking, and turned to look at Kidd who was still face down in the ground. When he'd heard they needed his help, Kidd groaned. "Ughh...." Why should they get any help? They want to show up late, all disrespect him, AND not appreciate what he was doing for them? Kidd could've easily taken this mission on by himself, if it were not for the teacher's conditions.

Raising his head from the ground, Kidd didn't even respond to what any of them. Instead, Kidd sat on the support the steps had and decided to slide down it. If they were smart enough to catch on, they'd know to just follow him. It was better he didn't say anything, to them. All hell would've broken lose if he had.

Looking back at Kidd, Hawk saw him faceplant to the ground from Blakely's kick. He laughed quietly and turned to Rori. "Looks like we have no help in the Kidd department. Let's follow him," he said, walking in his direction while dragging Rori along, still a bit red-faced.

After a little while of walking, Hawk was getting tired. He was already tired to begin with, and the heat and distance wasn't helping. He looked over at Rori to see her mostly alert as usual. Then an idea came to Hawk's mind. Without saying a word, he transformed into his weapon form in Rori's hands. "Oh, darn," he said apathetically, "Looks like you'll have to carry me for a while."

Blakely let Kidd lead the way, a tired silence settling over her as they moved through the dew-soaked city. Really Blakely had never been out into Death City, and especially not in the morning and was quite surprised at the bustle of people who actually woke up early and contributed to society. Her face lit up as she peered into cafes and shops and could smell the pastries baking from a mile down. Her mouth watered and she fought to not run off and get herself lost. But alas, they would not be in this part of town for long.

Rori looked at Kidd's back as he was in the front of their trope, and over at Blakely who was drooling over the scents and sights of Death City. She giggled at Hawk's fading blush and when he transformed and dropped into her hands she brandished him dramatically at the sky. "I'll carry you through hell and high water my love!" she called to the heavens, swinging him back down and over her right shoulder.

Kidd continued on the path to the church. Kidd couldn't be bothered to talk to the rest of the group right now, so he decided to walk ten feet ahead all of them. While he walked in solitude, Kidd thought about a few things. Why would our mission be at a church? Who'd choose that as a hideout? Kidd assumed, he didn't really know all too much about the mission. All he knew was that if there was a bad guy being taken out, he'd be the one to do it. But something about the destination being a church was creepy, almost off-putting to Kidd.

In another ten minutes or so, they'd be reaching their destination. Kidd didn't pay much attention to anything or anybody while they were in the more active parts of the city. The anger and mission were on his mind. Kidd wasn't as angry as he was before, but still had that spiteful feeling towards the group.

Kidd inhaled a deep breath and stopped walking, mentally preparing himself to turn to the group. When he felt ready, he did it. "There's some stuff we need to work out before we reach the church." Kidd said to the group with a slightly bitter tone. As much as Kidd hated to strategize and plan ahead of time, he believed it'd be necessary in this case. "We don't know what's gonna be up there. I want to know what you guys think about that." Kidd said, looking away from them now. It was hard to look at their stupid faces.

Hawk laughed a bit at Rori's statement. "Thanks, Rori, I knew I could count on you." He responded. The rest of the walk was a bit boring, just being carried and twirled around by Rori, trying to rest up before who knows what.

"We should be cautious, and not rush in blindly. We have no idea what's inside, and that's intimidating. So be careful, I guess, is all I'm saying."

Hawk exited weapon form, still clutching Rori's hand. What are your thoughts, Rori? He looked at her face and smiled slightly. He looked around the group, gauging everyone's emotions. Kidd seemed...ticked off, as did Blakely, and Rori seemed to be bursting with joy. Strange. he thought. We'll all have to be on the same page for this.

Ixion found the abandoned church to be his new safe haven. It was just forgotten enough to remain unvisited by curious eyes and after killing Shilo, he somehow felt comforted by the notion that he could keep this place at least. Daylight kissed the stained glass windows at the church's front and painted the walls with dusty, dim, blues, greens and yellows. He sat slouched in a pew, looking up at the ottoman, a massive cross clung lopsided to the bricked walls and shingles dripped loosely from the graying rooftop.  

His mind wandered back to the faithful evening of Shilo's final breaths and he sighed. He'd come too far to look back now, despite his thoughts being free of his witch-mother's commands--he still felt that meisters and their weapons needed to be rid of. His mother was fond of necromancy and so he'd dappled, of course. The result being that he'd managed to conjure up a few monsters. Three to be exact and they were pieced together, sewn and sickly, with remnants of meisters and weapons he'd had the pleasure of eliminating.

One of the zombie puppets limped out of the shadows, a tray in hand which was steaming with hot tea. It made it way to Ixion, placing the tray gently beside him. It was strange how easily he could control the abominations. He stretched his long legs, reaching over and pouring himself a a cup and sipping it, basking in the meager sunlight that spilled in.



Blakely and Rori managed to agree with Kidd on the game plan idea. Strategy was key and they did not know what awaited them in the depths of the empty church.

Blakely could see that Kidd was still a bit irritated as he was being a bit distant and keeping his eyes anywhere but on them. She sighed at this, moving toward him and pointing a finger at his shirt. "You actually have something on your shirt." she told him, waiting for him to look down. She flicked his nose with her finger and snorted a laugh. "Haaaaaaa!" she teased before scooting closer to him and throwing her arm over his shoulder. "Don't be mad anymore. We have to work together this time. Promise me, okay?" she asked him, placing her right hand against his cheek and turning his face to her own, her eyes meeting his with a serious gaze. "Really. If we make a plan, stick to it. We need you to share the spotlight this time." she gave him an almost pleading look before dropping her hand back at her side as Hawk and Rori approached.

Rori pursed her lips at Hawk. "No worries darling. I will take care of you and Blakely." she told him with a smile, excluding Kidd as he was a bit out of her reach and she personally believed he didn't want their help in the first place, especially Rori's. She took advantage of Hawk's grip on her hand and dragged him up to Kidd and Blakely where they'd stopped to plan a strategy.

Kidd had his arms crossed, looking around everywhere that wasn't in the direction of the others. When Blakely walked over to him, Kidd focused his gaze even harder at something else to show he wasn't interested in what Blakely had to say. However, the mention at Kidd having something on his shirt caught his attention. Looking proper and clean was something else that The Legend valued. "What? For real?" Kidd grabbed his shirt and looked down at the spot that Blakely was pointing at. When Blakely flicked her finger up, Kidd flinched upwards. Frozen with rage at this point, Kidd stared down at Blakely with a gaze that could burn through the sun.

Kidd grit his teeth and looked in the opposite direction of Blakely again, restraining himself from losing his shit over her little joke. That was a thin string that snapped when Blakely took hold of his face though. "What is it with you and touching my face all the time?" Kidd asked her, staring her dead in the eyes with the face of a serial killer, "And what the fuck do you think I'm trying to do? If I make a plan, I'll stick to it. Duh. That's how shit works, Blakely." Kidd pulled away completely from her now. "Goddamn." He said, finally dispelling all the anger he had bottles up inside.

"Let's make things clear here." Kidd looked at all three of them now, "I'm taking point of this mission. Rori, you couldn't handle this shit by yourself, whatever it is. So you're just going to be my backup, nothing more, but if you want to be less, I could careless." Kidd stated out loud, not interested in receiving any help from her now that he'd made it this far. "Got it?" Kidd said, staring at all three of them. If anyone was getting the spotlight or credit for this mission, it'd be him.

"Thanks, Rori," Hawk replied. "I hope we won't need too much help." Hawk went along with Rori as she dragged him along by his hand. "What do you think's in there?" He asked nervously. "I hope it's not too bad, it's our first mission. I'm sure no one will be hurt." He found himself holding Rori's hand tighter when he discusses this. "We just have to watch out for Kidd," he whispered to his meister. "He's reckless."

Hawk saw Kidd's gaze suddenly turn into the most intense glare he'd ever seen, and he took a step back from the fiery stare. He then heard Kidd start ranting at Blakely, and he was glad it wasn't him. He ended up standing behind Rori, resting his chin on her head and hanging his arms over her shoulders.

Hawk rolled his eyes a bit at Kidd's self-declaration of leadership. "Sure, whatever you say, Kidd," Hawk sighed.

Blakely stood open mouthed staring at Kidd who was basically losing his shit. She felt her heart rate increase tenfold at the words coming out of his mouth (and maybe her feelings were a bit hurt too, but she'd never admit to that) and as he spoke it took the will power of a thousand lifetimes to keep her from slapping the shit out of him. She let him rant and rave and simply turned and walked away, after he finished his grand plan, which was to let him do everything on his own basically. Soul resonance with Kidd at this point was truly going to be impossible as he clearly wasn't having any of it. "Come on guys." Blakely stated, dropping her board down and turning her back to the three, flicking her bright blond hair over her shoulder and striding off.

"No need to watch him, Hawk. We'll just have to take care of it, so just be ready to clean up his mess. I mean... we already have to clean up Blakely, look at that cute, poor soul." she purred, gesturing to the blond who was feet ahead of them. The church wasn't far now. Rori tugged on Hawk's arms playfully after he agreed to Kidd's shitty plans and waddled off toward the church, Hawk draped over her, lanky and somber. She didn't have anything to say to Kidd about his plan, she simply flashed him a mischievous smile and with a dismissive flick of her wrist they left Kidd to follow after them, yet again.

Kidd watched as Blakely peddled off on her board and as Hawk and Rori left. Laughing out loud at what Rori said, he returned the smile when she wasn't looking. All his life Kidd had to look out for himself and it wasn't any different now. Kidd wasn't concerned with how the other's felt, because you couldn't please everyone in this world. And whether they approved of the plan or not didn't matter to Kidd either, because he was going to follow what he said. And all Kidd simply wanted to do was get this mission over with, because he'd had enough of it for today.

Kidd maintained the distance from the rest of the group, attempting to regain his cool. It wasn't very often that Kidd got genuinely angry at anyone, so the more he thought about it, the more strange it was to Kidd. The feeling was foreign to Kidd, who was often bubbly and happy. The more and more he thought about, the more he developed a sense of guilt. It was obvious that he was overreacting to everything that was going on today, but Kidd just couldn't admit it. Admitting it would hurt his pride, and he held his pride closely and dearly to his heart.

"No, they're the wrong ones." Kidd said to himself, convincing himself that they truly were in the wrong and he was in the right. "If anything, they should feel blessed they even got to come on a mission with someone like me." Kidd muttered to himself.

Soon enough, the group was coming up on the church. Kidd examined the way everything looked. "Man, this place is bigger, older, and more wore down than what the professor sent me." Kidd said out loud. The place just had a vibe to it that probably put people off. Something about it just seemed.... Off. Looking ahead at his teammates who were considerably closer to the church entrance, Kidd sprinted off ahead of them, blocking the doors from them.

"No. I told you guys." Kidd spread his arms out in front of the doors and looked at all of them individually, "I'm taking point on this one. You two are noobs, I'm not risking your lives." Kidd said, looking over at Hawk and Rori. "The professor assigned me as the leader of this group, so I can't afford to look bad because of you two." Kidd frowned at them. Closing his eyes, Kidd used soul perception to sense if anyone was inside of the church.

"There's...." Kidd began speaking to the group with his eyes closed, ".... Four souls. I can feel four souls." Kidd said, opening his eyes to look at the group. "Three of those souls felt...." Kidd was at a loss for words when he tried to find the right words to describe them. "I don't know, they were weird. I'd be careful if I were you two." Kidd gestured at Hawk and Rori. Looking over at Blakely, Kidd held his hands out. "Blakely, transform. We're gonna try and get the drop on these guys. You two wait out here." Kidd told Rori and Hawk. If Kidd could handle this on his own, he'd do it. He sure wasn't in the mood to share any of glory with those two, especially Rori.

Hawk continued to walk with Rori, now somewhat hugging her over her shoulders. He awkwardly stepped with his feet outside of hers, making their way behind Blakely towards the church. "Holy shit, that church is huge," Hawk whispered. "And creepy too..." He found himself squeezing Rori as he looked at the cracked, dusty windows and the decrepit look of the building.

Hawk gave Kidd a confused look at his statement. "Noobs?" He whispered to Rori. "Oh, we're gonna make him look bad? This guy's going to get himself killed." Hawk's face scrunched up at Kidd's comment about them staying inside. "We're not staying put, right Rori?" He asked her. He watched Kidd walk into the church with Blakely and formed a plan in his head. He pulled Rori over to one of the lower windows and stopped. "You should get on my shoulders and try to get through a window, then I'll jump and turn into my weapon form. You'll catch me. We both know that Kidd will be watching the front door and he won't let us through, so we need to do this."

Rori eyed the church, it's towers many, dark and spindling into the gray morning sky. She slipped out of Hawk's arms as they reached the door, Kidd's footsteps thundering past to block their way. "Okay Kidd. Good luck in there." Rori smiled at him, eyes creased as he dubbed them noobs and ran off at the mouth about how many souls were inside. Rori could faintly sense the 4 souls and one was much more prominent than the other three, however, she kept her mouth closed, annoying smile plastered on her lips.

Blakely was still feeling fairly angry toward Kidd as they reached the church, though some of that anger melted away at the sight of the eerie building looming before him, decrepit and ominous really. She stood at the double doors, gaping up at the building. Kidd was speaking, and she did listen, but was a but struck by how strange everything was beginning to feel now. She transformed at Kidd's command and sat silently, a feeling of uneasiness settling over her.

When the other two entered the church, Rori and Hawk sidled away from the doors, Rori leading him to the side of the church. "He'll need us Hawk, don't worry. I can sense someone in there whose soul wavelength is pretty dangerous." she told him, still walking around the outside of the church. If they had to escape, she would find an exit. Best to know your environment really. She peered up and down along the building's infrastructure, listening to Hawk's worried plans. "Kidd won't be guarding the front door for long if whoever is in there is as dangerous as I think. Plus..." she trailed as the rounded the backside of the church. "There's another door here." she purred, hand reaching for the knob of a much smaller door than the front. She pulled it open, its hinges groaning and rust crunching as they entered.

Kidd slipped Blakely on and turned his back to Rori and Hawk, hoping they'd obey his command. Cautiously reaching out for the handle, Kidd focused on the souls he'd sensed earlier, trying to get a good understanding on where the people inside would be. The more powerful one was easy to sense, but for some reason, the other three souls were difficult to read. Kidd could sense them, but he couldn't pinpoint where they were at. This brought forth a sense of anxiousness and uncertainty to Kidd, who'd never had this happen to him before. "What the hell...." Kidd grunted, trying again and again to get his Soul Perception to function, but to no avail.

Running a hand through his hair out of frustration, Kidd decided he'd better actually play this one safe, especially since he planned on doing it with no help. "Alright, Blakely. Here we go...." Kidd said, pulling slowly on the door handle.

Sticking his head in first, Kidd scanned left and right, making sure that the other three souls wouldn't notice him first. When the coast seemed clear, Kidd walked in fully now and looked down the center of the church, looking over his adversary. Studying his opponent, Kidd looked at the person's body structure, calculating how tall and built they may be. From what Kidd could tell, the man had a slight height advantage and had a build similar to his own. It was difficult to tell however, since the man was sitting. In spite of all of this, Kidd still had the confidence that this would just be another day at the office.