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"Wait, let me make sure I understand this," Ruki began, with a small shake of the head. "The Commander's out, the VC is out, leaving me with really no one to inform that two of our members may be dead, along with the entire village that our client was traveling to?" The young dragon let out a small sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew that the "Mishaps" part of this mercenary group seemed to come up more often than it should, but this just seemed to be pushing it a little too far.
The expression seemed almost entirely comical on the twelve-looking-year-old girl.

"I actually have it written out myself, although not on any official forms," the dragon replied, reaching a hand into the duffel bag that hung from her neck. It was the very same one that her captain had given her before they parted ways. She handed it to the winged boy, and continued. "The mission itself was a success; the nobleman was escorted to his intended destination without a scratch, and I have the payment here with me, as well. The rest of it, however... was a complete failure. Alex vanished before we even got off the boat, before he even got a codename, and if he isn't dead, I'll be very surprised. Captain Grave and I were attacked by what seemed to be the usual bandits you see these days, up until they made quite a sizable hole in the ground. The Captain sent me on ahead with the nobleman, and we reached the town with no trouble. Captain Grave never came back.
"I had my orders, and stayed in town for the night before I went looking. It... It was so strange... There wasn't any evidence of those magic-using bandits or the captain. It looked like something tried to erase all of it. I... Well, I'd hoped that the Captain would make good on his promise, and return to the village as soon as he could.
"That's when people started to notice a new disease going around..." At this, Chibi took a deep breath, looking like she was trying to keep herself under control. "The specifics about this disease, I'd like to keep to myself, thank you. Suffice to say that, in that village at least, it proved to have one-hundred-percent fatality on everyone it infected. Fearing for the safety of others, I quarantined myself for probably a more than sufficient length of time. Before coming here, I went back to check on the village for reasons I don't even fully understand, and it was... just gone. The area looked like it had never been touched by human hands, or anything with similar intelligence. I'm... not quite sure what to make of it, honestly..."

((There's Ike, Jen, and Ruki (me) as far as I know. We're all in front of the door to the Commander's office, and Jen is trying to open it.))

(( Sorry, sorry, I just don't really understand the situation anymore...I was actually hoping Sonny would fill in a bit, but I guess not. ))

Korie stared up, trying to concentrate on the dude's face rather than...other places. Her expression was blank with confusion. It just all happened so fast. She stumbled to her feet after the blessed silence fell upon them all and she tried to walk around where he was standing into the basically destroyed bookstore. Her head felt like it was hit head-on with that huge axe from earlier, and her feet felt like they were gonna collapse; she suddenly felt so sick and tired that all she wanted was to get the book and get out of there so she could sleep.

Korie looked scanned the floor as the demented one kept rambling, spittle flying from his mouth and kept the villagers silent with horror. The old man was knocked unconscious from his earlier actions. Strange, she didn't feel the least bit surprised. Just...bored? "Hey, this guy is knocked out. How are we supposed to find the book?" she called behind her, but she doubted that either one of her partners could hear her.

((Right. Snake, no need to worry, post coming from me NOW! I know I've been really unfair on this RP, Magiking's deeds are nothing compared to the stain of inactivity I've left, however, I have got a LOT of programming work out of the way now, so much so, that I should be able to resume my former pace (the good former pace... if there was one). Expect to see my presence on the thread a lot more.))

"What? No, my name is Sergei Vlostok! I come from Moscow, and I should BE in Moscow. Tell me, where am I?" he growled.

However, his grip loosened slightly, as he thought on what the man had just said. It was true that he had found himself in some rubble, and that his head was bleeding. Could he have lost some memories?

No. This was wrong, too much had changed for it to be true. He must have been drugged, and taken here...

"Dammit, your eyes tell me nothing, you emotionless b*****d. How can I know if what you say is the truth? You could be from the Kremlin, sent to kill me . You sure as hell look it. I killed many men sent after me. Some of them, I once worked with. Didn't change the fact they were dead when they found me." he said, trying to intimidate the man.

"It's as plausible a guess as any," Ruki conceded, with a small shrug. "They could have burned it shortly after I left." It didn't seem quite right, but she knew a lot could happen in a year. "I suppose I should focus less on what happened, now, and more on what I should do next."

There was a knock at the door.
"Excuse me?" came a man's voice, followed by a man's head poking around the door. "Oh!" he said sheepishly when he saw all the people in the office. "My mistake."
He opened the door a bit wider, standing in the threshold. "Is this the Commander's office? I was recently accepted into the Organization and they told me to report here for a mission..."