Blue's DW Collection

Chapter 1: Generic Introduction

They each had their morale down. Their Lazarus had died, and he isn't coming back. The only ones not affected are White Shirt and Valentino. White Shirt, it being a nickname for that.. strange, silent man in a white shirt and jeans, who seems to be a rookie. Valentino, the Immolator, was one of the few still trying to keep going and do their jobs, trying to prepare the fort and help the others. Velvet, the Arbiter of the group, always seems cheerful, though she moves slower and talks more quietly then usual. Scarlett, one of those freak Apostles, has just sunk further into being anti-social and conversing with her summoned Shadows that don't talk back. Sasha, the Riskrunner, got more on-edge, starting to have small but still noticeable violent outbursts almost at random. They were one unit down, and the death of their Laz only hurt more because of how much he helped them, wounds small or lethal, skirmishes or wars, he could heal them and protect them. Velvet was elected the new squad leader over a technicality somewhere in the book, though the group could barely tell if she was a Servo or not. [Commander], the over-watch/leading force for the group coming directly from the agency, is a faceless voice to them, occasionally popping in to talk to them through their AG3NT devices, like now, when Velvet's device lit up and the familiar voice started talking. "You'll be getting a replacement agent soon, Beta squad. He won't be a new Lazarus but he will be a large help with combat and scouting. Sorry about him, he was a great agent, just remember that meeting him is the last thing you want to do, so keep going. I'll request for a supply drop to your location, I know you don't exactly need it but.. team morale seems to be pretty low. Keep up the good work." Velvet's AG3NT flickers off and the voice cuts off, she starts talking, "Hey guys, hear that? We're getting a new agent and a supply drop soon! Commander knows what we're goin through so he'll be treating us. Listen, guys, I know he was important but you all have to get out the dumps and help around more, it's  what our Laz would want us to d-" She stops, starting to look downcast. Nobody was listening except White Shirt and Valentino. Scarlett just gave her a glare, and Sasha did the opposite and looked away from Velvet. Valentino walked up and gave her a pat on the shoulder, "Hey, V One, I'll try to get em to help, I know you're just helping with morale but, he was important to everyone, certainly. We should just keep quiet, hopefully get our hands on some Nelophrine and-" Sasha cuts in, "You want to fucking drug us because we don't feel great about our Laz dying? Piece of shit, no wonder you don't care, you're a support yourself, might even feel happy that he's dead, so that we'll have to rely on YOU." Valentino shakes his head and slowly walks off to organize and check storage. Sasha is still fuming from that outburst, fists clenched. White Shirt was still sitting down, slowly loading bullets into pistol magazines for his own gun. Velvet sighed, holding her face in her hand before walking off and sitting on an empty metal crate, pulling close her personal duffel bag and starting to count shotgun shells, storing them in one of the pockets in her EOD armor and tinkering with her blast-wrist. Scarlett was busy examining the hardened, fleshy tendrils on her summons when an explosion rocked the safehouse gate, followed by the ragged cheering of a crowd. Velvet scrambled up, quickly locking her blast-wrist into place on her forearm and grabbing a specialist knife on the way towards the entrance. Valentino ran over, grabbing his Estoc and preparing his Immolator vials. Scarlett sat up, dusted herself off, and picked up a pistol. Sasha picked up her minigun, loaded the bullet chain into it, and rushed over, at the ready near the entrance. White Shirt walked over to Scarlett and whispered something to her, and they had a small conversation before the former walked over with his own pistol, with a casual gait to his step. They could really use that new guy right about now.