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At approximately 1 AM in the morning two hunter trainees each received a text message. It was a simple one with clear-cut instructions: come here to a specific location, come alone, do not be seen, no one must know that you're doing this. Aria hummed a Christmas tune under her breath to pass the time as she waited, the melody stilling as she heard the faint scuffing of shoes against the hallway. They had arrived.

Aria gave Cassandra and Candace a smile and a nod as they approached, lifting one hand to beckon them. "Good, I'm glad you two showed up." She said softly, leading them down the Deus Ex hallways. "Come with me, we'll talk as we walk. My name is Aria. Please excuse me, I'm still getting used to being here." She chuckled quietly, shaking her head. "After three months alone in the Sahara, being surrounded by people is still a bit to take in."

She fell silent as they walked, not speaking. Why did she even volunteer this information? Aria's hands were kept at her sides before she moved them into her pockets, keeping them there. Reaching out to hug her mist trainees was not something she wanted to do, despite the overwhelming Joy-induced urge.

"So," She said after a moment, "Do either of you have any questions? We have time for a couple before we get to where we're going."

The thing about being young and a teenager was that 1 in the morning wasn't too awful of a time to be up if you hadn't started sleeping already. She'd regret it later, yes, but... she'd probably be fortunate in this instance when the message had arrived on her phone, reading over it a couple of times. Frankly, it really was suspicious as hell. Come alone? Tell no-one? Don't be seen? She wondered for a moment if there was a Life Hunter that was pilfering the organs of innocent and naiive little trainees using this message. Would Nicodemus be enough to keep her from being organ-pilfered, she wondered?

You're going anyways? Nicodemus pipped up. Cass nodded, stretching out and doing a quick check over herself to make sure she actually had everything she was going to need on her before she was out the door. She was getting to a fortunately less 'JOY' buzzed point of the day, so it was really a matter of not doing anything stupid because she was something resembling tired.

She ended up arriving a little later than Candace had, but as alert as she could be. Probably because there was a monster in her head reminding her that she could be walking into a case of organ pilfering. Cass liked her organs where they were. She was relatively certain other people liked her organs where they were as well, so she'd make an effort to keep them there. Yes.

She was almost suspicious of Aria when she noticed that's who it was. Not because of the affair with Red, but rather....she seemed to much nicer than what she had lodged in her memory. Had she been too quick to judge her own Division's leader? She had to wonder that. She'd have to make an effort to amend that somehow, and this seemed at least like a good place to start.

"You're adjusting rather well." Cass commented lightly, "and like Candace said it is good to have you back." she actually reached out - slowly in case of any knee-jerk reactions that could be had - to pat the older woman on the shoulder, smiling.

Candace's question made enough sense, but Cass had one of her own - "Where are we going that requires that we be up at this hour?" she inquired, Nicodemus still suspicious in the back of her head about an early morning Mist-walk.

So wait, had they never actually met the 'real' Aria? That was......

Cass was sort of appalled by this idea. How else could Aria have not known of them? She'd met the woman face to face several times, this was..... it was so surreal. To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. She hadn't been before, but now...now her ability to re-evaluate Aria was even more confused. They needed to completely clear the slate of what she knew and start fresh.

First thing she knew; This was Aria, Mist Division head. She had been in the Sahara for three months and was readjusting to being around people again. She had chosen to interact with herself and Candace - perhaps because they were the two trainees in her division who had advanced the furthest thus far? She'd see. Nicodemus told her to hold onto that thought and not get too far ahead of herself.

Aria's question caused her to pause a moment for thought, 'hmm'ing somewhat audibly as she considered what a 'proper' answer to such a question would be. Was there a right answer?

"From word of mouth, I understand that we are 'special ops', meant to assist other divisions when they're lacking the numbers they need. However, I don't think that is entirely the right way to put it." Cass's hand dropped from her chin. "But I personally think that as a Mist Hunter, it is my job to adapt, cover, and change." Perhaps it helped that she had a weapon that did the same - allowed her to adapt and change whenever the need rose.

And yet, part of her wondered if that was the very reason why the Mist Division was so...few in number. Even now she was only familiar with three...four..? In her own faction.

"Caelius actually did take us to the Sahara desert."

The Sahara.

"We were playing clean up duty for the corpses there..."

Aria's hands rose and tugged at the scarf around her neck, loosening it as the memory of the dry heat suddenly made the hallways of Deus Ex too hot despite the season. Her weapon rumbled in her mind, trying to distract her and keep her attention. Left, right, left -- one heeled foot in front of the other, she had to keep walking. Focus, stay in the moment. Now wasn't the time to be swept up in the memory, not with two trainees following her.

The mist leader stopped suddenly as Candace's arms encircled her, startled. "Er," she managed, her pale complexion flushing with embarassment as she stepped away with a shake of her head. "It's... alright."

When the topic changed, Aria was thankful. "Red, hm? So that was her name..." She trailed off thoughtfully, filing the name away for later. Perhaps she would be lucky and this 'Red' would have a file somewhere in their systems. If not, then perhaps she would need to do a bit of reconnaissance into Halloween later.

Both of the trainee's answers to Aria's question drew an approving nod. "This is correct," she said warmly, turning down a corridor and drawing near an unsuspecting wall. "But there is so much more to being a Mist. It is the most demanding of all of the divisions. Unlike the other divisions, we do not lose most of our members to death. They discover that the demands of a Mist is too much, and go into another division to specialize."

At the wall, Aria withdrew a knife and held it against the wall. The knife began to glow, and a rune appeared on it: the knife was her weapon in its dormant form. The rune continued to glow as the wall slid inward, revealing a passage. "This way," Aria said, waiting for them to enter before following them. The hidden passageway was well-lit and rather... empty.

Shortly they came to another wall. Aria held her knife up to this one and ushered them through. She slid her knife back into the sheath in her hip. "Welcome to what we're calling the Mist Lounge," she said, pride ringing in her voice.

At a glace the room didn't appear to be very large: if anything, it was barely larger than a classroom. One side of the room had several monitors and empty wall-mounts, clearly indicating a work in progress. The monitors appeared to be linked to security cameras, though the operation was not as large (or as organized) as the main surveillance room. There also weren't any chairs in front of the desks there.

The other side of the room opposite of the monitors were several mis-matching couches gathered around a large screen TV. There was even a coffee table complete with one short leg. Aria strode over to this and lifted it up, nudging a block back into place. "We're still in the process of putting it together," Aria confessed, lowering the table back into place. "But this will soon become the Mist Headquarters of sorts once we get everything up and ru-"

Aria broke off, distracted. "I see Julie somehow made it in here," she commented, staring at a counter pushed up against the wall. The counter was lower than waist-high, complete with a coffee machine, several stacks of disposable cups, and various instant mixes and teas. Aria shrugged, moving towards the machine and helping herself to a cup and a packet of instant apple cider. "All of this came out of our own pockets. We're still waiting on the council to make up their minds about whether or not to allow official funding for this."

She sighed, gesturing to the other side of the room. "Anyway. Over here we have our own private surveillance equipment and monitors. While the surveillance room monitors world happenings and Deus Ex, we do our best to keep our eyes on potential areas of Fear manifestations. And when we can, we keep our eyes on any teams currently out on mission."

As Aria spoke she walked over towards the monitors, veering off towards the backwall where a single monitor was embedded in the wall. "This is touch-screen," she explained, shifting her drink to one hand and tapping the screen with the other to show. After touching it, the screen sprang to life and displayed several lists. "Here, we keep up-to-date information on the current missions Hunters are going out on. You see the division markings in this column? Those indicate what division the mission falls under, which in turn tells us what the division is primarily made up of. If it's yellow the mission is underway. Green means it's a low-priority mission that hasn't been accepted yet, orange is medium, red is high priority. If any of these icons is flashing red, then it means that team is currently in deep s**t."

She paused to take a drink, wincing. "Ugh! Too soon, I need to learn to wait for it to cool off. Anyway, you can use this to check in on what sort of missions are going on. I suggest checking this often and preparing, just in case. While we Mists are expected to be able to fill in for every role, other divisions see it as being allowed to pull a Mist in last minute and expect them to be able to know exactly what's going on and what to expect." Aria didn't bother attempting to hide the bitter note in her voice.

"Being a mist is stressful, and quite demanding. With this, we're hoping to negate some of that in order to retain our numbers. In addition..." She tapped the screen. "What nobody else will tell you? We Mists are the backbone of Deus Ex. We're the ones that get our fingers into everyone else's proverbial pies. We might not be as good as any other division in their specialized field, but we can get by in a pinch. We're the glue that holds Deus Ex together: a mist operative is much more efficient on a mission than a squad of egotistical, self-centered, Deus is all about me informational brats that get themselves killed for no particular reason."

Aria broke off and sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Stupid Deaths. Anyway, neither of you have clearance for this room yet. If you want to access it, you'll need to wait for myself or Lance to come and open the door. Lance is our resident Mist, and is only awake at night for reasons that he'll probably explain to you, if you ask nicely. Other then that..."

She trailed off, looking at the trainees. "I think now's a good time for questions and clarifications, if you have any before I continue on and explain the real reason that I've asked you two to come here at this hour."

It was just a surprise a minute with how much approval she was seeming to get from the Division Leader. She'd not exactly been the most...well....when Caelius had originally been dividing them up, he'd called the Mist Division the 'failures'. But she'd been able to tell over time that those words were a complete crock. They weren't the failures, they were the best Division ever.

Which was pleasant.

When the knife was produced, Cass actually stared. Yes, weapons were normal place around there, and yet she always found herself fascinated by whatever one was produced - even one in a dormant state like that. One of her hands rested on the chain around her hips thoughtfully. That was fascinating. It was a magic wall-manipulating knife. Why didn't that surprise her anymore? Her life got stranger and stranger every day and it was less shocking and more interesting every time. She followed after the older pair as the walls continued to reneg to Aria's touch.

Like Candace, Cass seemed completely overjoyed with the idea of them having their own personal lounge. Sure, it wasn't big - but neither was their squad. It made perfect sense to just have a small space like this. A work-in-progress space, even.

Cass walked over to the monitors as well, looking over them in fascination. It was a more exciting get-up than she had ever seen. It was like a hidden lair in a movie! She was visibly excited by it. Completely and totally excited by it. It was beautiful, it was amazing. Okay, it was a work in progress, but... it was still beautiful and amazing.

"I agree with Candace, it'd be great for us to have easier access to this information. Even just for missions that we're more likely to be called out on." She'd definitely keep up on that sort of stuff easier if she didn't have to make sad faces at other people to let her in. Including apparently Lance the..Mist? Was he a Mist hunter or was he something else? Wait, they had a male in their division?? Woah. That was intense.

After a moment, Cass looked to Aria - "I realize I should probably just understand this, but....in terms of efficiency, is it our jobs as Mist hunters to be bringing our knowledge in the other divisions to whatever mission we're suddenly pulled on? I understand that if I was, say, pulled onto a mission with Moon Hunters, I'd need to adapt to their defense-related tactics, but would the reason they pull me into a mission, rather than another Moon Hunter, be that I'm not specialized and have knowledge in other things?" From the way she asked, it sounded like Cass thought that was exactly what the case was, but never the less felt the need to ask about it.

Going, going, going, gone.... Cass watched the phone as it went flying across the room, sort of expecting something amazing to happen for a moment for Aria's point was made clearer - the point was about the phone itself and how easy it was to lose. That was a good point. She herself never actually had too many problems with it, having never lost the phone, but.... it was a proper point.

That was a lot of important information on one small device that if they lost it, that would be pretty bad.

"So it's better for us to come in here for sure then." she agreed, seeing the point quite clearly. "How often should we do that then?" she asked, "I know often, but... at minimum, once every couple of days? Every day?"

However, on the note of why a Mist would be subbed into a group, Aria's answer was about what she'd been assuming, so it was good to have that clarification that her assumption was correct. It sort of made her feel extra special, actually. "Got it. I'll keep doing my best." Still, it was too soon when it seemed a new person entered the room.

A person who looked nothing like she'd ever expected.

Cass stared at Lance with this long and almost disbelieving look on her face. She stared at his scruffy face, then down at the coat across his lap, then up at him again.

"You're......"

In a wheelchair?

"A guy. Oh my god. There's actually a man in the Mist Division, you're like a unicorn!" she suddenly blurted out, no censor between her head and her mouth, "I mean, I'm sure there's more than just you, I just.. I've only seen women! This is exciting!" It put the idea of 'Caelius's Angels' to an end, but... Heeeeyyy!

Cass walked over to offer her hand. "Nice to meet'cha, I'm Cassandra. Hope to work with you for a long time." she beamed, before looking to the monitor set-up as it was going on. "So you're setting all of this up? That's pretty impressive!" She tried to not just lean on him like she was a cat, but it was tempting. Enthusiasm, Cass had all of it.

"Check back every couple of days," Aria clarified to the both of them, gesturing to indicate the room. "At your current levels, you two could even drop by once or twice a week even. Since we're still working on getting everything set up..." She trailed off, shrugging. "You could even get away with visiting once every two weeks or once a month. There isn't much here. Honestly, I'd come here only if a superior isn't giving you details on a mission and you'd like more." She paused, considering before adding, "But even then, some missions are intentionally vague. You may or may not find the information you seek."

At Cass' exclamation, Lance groaned and covered his face with a hand. "You've got to be --"

The man censored himself, lowering his hand with a shake of his head. "I'm afraid," he began as he drew himself up to his full height in his chair, "That you have myself and Avila confused." He carefully shifted to one side, sliding something out of his pocket. Between the two trainees his weapon appeared: it was a long, thick shaft that in any other context would have prompted the two trainees to file for sexual harassment. His weapon was the same as his name; a onyx lance with glowing, fiery swirls and runes. "Avila here's a heavy lance, a C-class pole-arm. I think she's some sort of monocerus..."

Lance trailed off, his free hand absently tracing the decorative swirls on his weapon. "I'm sorry to say again," he continued after a moment, "That I'm not exactly a Mist." He nodded towards his weapon, resting one point of it on the ground. "Afïr and I, that's her nickname, by the way. She and I are -- were Suns. If you have a Mist-question, you're better off asking Aria."

He shifted his hands, reducing his partner and weapon into her dormant form: a set of interlocking rings. He slipped the rings back into his pocket, reaching out to shake Cassandra's hand. "Well," he said, "Being a full Mist isn't easy. I've seen many Mist dropouts as there have been Mist transfers. You two have your work cut out for you. And speaking of... 'suze me."

The man carefully wheeled past them to the monitors, his fingers tapping on the keyboard. The images above him shifted and changed, flickering from scene to scene. "Damn! Aria, I think they have have shaken one off."

"What?! You're joking me!" The Mist leader stood up and strode over towards the monitors, staring over him. "Great. Alright. Trainees? C'mere."

Aria waited for their attention, pointing at a monitor. The monitor wasn't displaying anything interesting: it was a forested location covered in snow, with what looked to be a few rocks. "See that? That's what's left of what we call a Fear tracker. They're like an eartag wildlife services place on animals to keep track of them, except this one only tracks those with Fear. Before I started the mission, I had managed to tag a few. This time it looks like one of them noticed and managed to rip if off."

She took a moment to sip her cooling apple cider, brooding. "This means we've got one real pissed off beastie out there in the field. And if it manages to find one of the other ones..." She trailed off, absently drumming her fingers on Lance's shoulder as she thought. "Hmm. Trainees," She began, turning her attention to them. "What would you two do if I told you both to go out and investigate right now?"

A cup of coffee was poured for Cass and offered to her when the girl asked for it, sipping at her own drink and watching her. Maybe coffee had been a bad idea. It suddenly seemed like she had just given crack to a squirrel. Greaaaaat. So every couple days, once or twice a week, or once a month...Candace would go with every once in awhile. Most likely two or three times a week. Happy mediums! "Mm. With so few of us I'd rather not look like I'm slacking off or something." That was the last thing Candace wanted. She was happy to study, to train, to learn. She always had been! And honestly? Superiors were always not giving details on missions. It seemed to be a delightful habit of Caelius'.

That a*****e.

Candace was still warily watching Cass. Was she going to be okay? Did they need to lock her in a closet soon? Even as Lance began to correct the younger trainee she kept her eyes on her. Or she did until a long, thick shaft suddenly appeared between them. She stepped back to give it room and just stared at it. Goddamn that's big. She thought to herself, her eyes following along the length of it. ...How offended do you think he'd be if I suggested we make his chair look like a horse and send him down the hall? Candace was being serious, which made Atropos laugh hysterically. OH MY JACK HE MIGHT KILL YOU AHAHAHA DO IT DO IT I WANT TO SEE HIS FACE YOU IDIOT AHAHAHAAAAAA!

...Okay maybe she wouldn't say it.

"You..were Sun?" Her eyes widened a little as they fell down to his lap. He was Sun, meaning he wasn't always like this. Meaning Jerry could...o-oh god. Oh god no please. She couldn't..she couldn't let that happen to him. It took a lot of effort for Candace to smile and not crush the cup of coffee in her slightly shaking hand. "I-I'm sorry to hear that. But it's good to have you with us now!" She offered her own hand to shake, realizing she had forgotten to do so. She then stepped aside to let him past her and watched as he approached the monitors, sipping her coffee and trying to find what he was watching. 'They'?

Candace set down her coffee and stepped up to see what was happening when called over, looking up at the screens. All she saw was forest. Wha--oh. he rocks? "I didn't know we could do that...eugh. That's not good." Candace frowned, looking to Aria as she asked them a question. Cass was quicker to answer than her.

"And if we can find out the answers to these things on the move so we don't waste time."