Intel Gather: Meeting of the Couple

Introduction
The day after Adrian joined The Twilight Phoenix Guild, he was relaxing in the main hall sitting away from the bulk of everyone else when suddenly the dorr burst open and entered a young beutiful woman carrying the head of a giant lizard like creature.

"Once again, Freyja Kojima has completed another job!!" She exclaimed loudly while flexing her muscles. "I'm just so awesome!"

A lone voice called out from the other mages "Well congrats, you've joined the finished job club!!" Freyja answered the comment by throwing the head at him.

"AH!" Adrian said as he got slammed into the ground by the giant lizard head, quickly pushing it off as he shot up " What the hell?! You didn't have to throw that damn head at me" He said trying to wipe off the blood that got on his black jacket.

Freyja noticed she missed her target and rushed over. "I'm so sorry! I was aiming for that jerk Hibiki...." Freyja smiled at Adrian as she helped wipe the blood off his jacket. Markus suddenly appear on the 2nd floor balcony watching silently from above.

"It's fine, nothing too bad" Adrian said as the woman helped him, which made him blush a bit as she finished up, "I'm Adrian Sage, and who might you be?"

Freyja bowed "I'm Freyja Kojima....Nice to meet you!" She stood up and looked at Adrian. "You new? I've never seen you here before....Your alot better looking that alot of the new guys."

"Oh thanks, yeah I got invited just yesterday" He said with a smile as his blush showed a bit, "So, why did you bring back the beast's head anyway?"

"Trophy!!" Smiled Freyja as she picked it up an tossed it to Markus to went to stick in on the wall. We normally do that on a hunting job." She smiled again as she sat down at the table. Markus then dropped down from the 2nd floor and went to the basement after waving to Freyja and Adrian. "Looks like he's off for an S-class Job." said Freyja as she waved back.

"I see, well I better look around and find something to do, it was nice meeting you" Adrian said as he got up and started walking towards the kitchen, hoping to get some food.

"We could always see if Markus will let us tag along on his job?" Said Freyja as she followed Adrian like a curious schoolgirl. "We're allowed to lend a hand and as i'm a S-Class Nominee we should be fine!"

Adrian thought for a moment, he had done nothing but do chores for the entire time he was in the guild, and decided to take her adivce. "sure, why not, I've never been on an S-class mission before" He said with a happy smile on his face.

Markus suddenly appeared behind them. "Good i'll need help on this....Bodyguard Job....200,000 reward. Need to escort the daughter of a noble on the neighbouring island to another island. Apparently a rival noble put a bounty on hsi entire family's heads and have atleast 40 Dark Guilds after them. He's got enough security to protect him at home but he can't spare any for his daughter." Markus looked at them with a smirk. "Up for it?"

"Hell yes!!" Shouted Freyja excitidly. "So what we gonna need to take with us?"

"Food, spare clothes, extra cash for purchases. The usual...." Said Markus picking up his backpack.

Adrian nodded as he grabbed his gear and begin to pack as well, taking everything that he would need in order to have a successful journey.

The group got the next boat to the island and met the Duke at his home in the hills. "Hello sir....I'm Markus Hotaru, please call me Infamous. These are my collegues Adrian and Freyja, we've come here about the Bodyguard job." Said Markus as he bowed. "What Dark Guilds do you know are after you?"

"Ah y-yes thank you and not really....The only one i know of is  The Black Hand Guild." Said the Duke nerviously and got even mroe nervous after seeing Markus' face after he heard the name Black Hand Guild.

"So Daimon is after the kid...." Said Markus with a smirk. "This will makes things laot mroe intresting espeically if he's sending his false army in."

"False Army?" Asked Freyja with a confused look on her face. "Whats that?"

"It's a Black MAgic spell that allows the user to create an near endless army of fake humans....Very old and very difficult to master....Even he hasn't mastered it fully and is limited to 15,000 fakes at a time." Said Markus as he sat down. "That with his army of Dark Mages, Mercenaries and psychopaths he's got a large Dark Guild behind him."

"I can see how this is gonna be a problem, but don't worry about a thing, with the three of us we can handle things" Adrian said with a ressuring smile at the man.

"I'm not worried...In fact i can't wait the fakes have no real pwoer but their numbers count for something....They can be given enhancements but toher than that it's simple to get rid of them." Said Markus as he relaxed abit more. "Though from what i've heard he's taught some of his top mages the spell as well so their armies will be massive. Which makes our fight against them much more intresting."

"Yeah! Ok lets get this job started!!" Said Freyja with a smile. "Where the kid?"

"She'll be along soon she's just packing. You'll be going with her bodyguard Victor Ibachi. He'll be aiding you during the assignment." Said the duke as he sipped his tea.

"Victor "The Wolf" Ibachi? I've heard of him....He used to be a mercenary from Seven....Master of Fire and a wolf based Take-Over called Lycan Rage, i always wondered where he vanished to after that Southrn Raid job he took 3 years ago." Said Markus with a surprised look on his face.

"That job didn't go well for me....." Said a tall well built man with an eye patch over his right eye. "But the duke found em and payed for my medical care....I'm just repaying my debt to him."

The man entered with a 18 year old woman with long dark purple hair and an amazing figure. The woman smiled shyly at the three mages.

"So why are we escorting your daughter?" Ask Markus.

"She's engaged to be married to her boyfriend.....It's customary for the future bride to live the last 2 years of the engagement with the grooms family." Said the duke proudly.

"Well atleast it isn't an arranged marrige....I hate those!" Said Freyja.

The group found out the last details and made they're way to the carriage at the front fo the mansion. They boarded the transport and began their trip.

With the ride underway, Adrian had placed on his mask to make sure that if anything had hit the carrige, he would be ready as he was also cleaning his guns and making sure they were all ready to use. As he cleaned, he felt the stare of someone as he looked up to see Freyja staring at him with a weird look on her face. "Is there something wrong?"

She poked him on the cheek. "Yeah what in the Lord of War's name with with the mask....i get Markus' but whats with the Scarecrow motif?" She asked with the weird look still on her face.

"Be nice Freyja...." Said Markus who was laying back and relaxing on the roof of the carriage.

"I-i was wondering the same thing." Said Racheal the duke's daughter.

Freyja gestured to Racheal in "see what i mean?" manner.

"Haha" Adrian said with  a smile as he manipulated the mask to ooze off his face, "It's a magic called Membrane Magic, it allows me to control this liquid into different shapes and forms, like the mask you saw" Adrian said as he returned the mask back on. "As for the scarecrow look, it was just something I kind of wanted to do" He said returning to his gun cleaning.

"Weird....Then again it is magic which is weird...." Shrugged Freyja. "Hey Markus how come you don't anything weird like that?"

"Cos i'm an old school Mage....Storm Phoenix Slayer Magic is my thing." Said Markus who was still relaxing. "Besides those kinds of magics normally come with a price...."

"Storm Phoenix Slayer?" Said Racheal with a confused look on her face. "what is that?"

"I was taught by the Phoenix Bolterus how to use a form of magic to kill feral Phoenixes....bolterus was the Lord of the Storms so i learnt how to manipulate thunder and lightning...I also gained some traits that Phoenixes have in common," Said Markus with a hint of pride.

"I guess they didn't teach you some humility" Adrian said with a chuckle as the group joined in except for Markus, "In anycase, with all of our magics, I'm sure we can take on anything that gets in our way" Adrian said cocking his gun before putting back in his holster.

"Daimon is the Earth counterpart to me....But he's known as a Dark Slayer....Those who've turned away from the Phoenix Culture we were all taught......" Said Markus as a jolt of lightning went up his body. "Bolterus told me to kill him before he left....And i will."

"Well that his story....Mine is abit more simple....I enjoy this kind of work so i signed up to the guild." Said Freyja smiling. "Besides i get to meet loads of new people and have some real fun unlike when i was with The Rune Knights....Gods they were boring....."

"I get the feeling by the end of this ride, we'll have known more about each other in one day" Adrian said with a smile, "I guess for me, I used to be part of the Ito Academy, a place where they take in down and out kids like I was" He said looking out of the window;

"I've heard of that place..." Said Markus as he watched the clouds. "I'm tempted to send my son if he proves to be too much of a pain....."

"Thats cruel Markus...Itachi isn't that bad." Pouted Freyja who had a soft spot for young Itachi. "He's an angel if you bribe him enough."

"Haha, it's not as bad as you think, sure they drill you good, but they care and some of the students understand each other. After graduation, I wandered around searching for something to keep me busy and just did some jobs from time to time, though after getting pushed on some old debts from my dad, I had to spend more than earn" He said with an irriatated voice.

"Try not knowing your birth parents and living on the streets after your foster father left.....Not so much fun...I actually have a criminal record in Firoe for some less than polite confrontations with ruge mages." Said Markus with a smirk.

Suddenly the carriage came to a stop as a tree fell in front of it. Markus lept to his feet and used his senses to see if anyone was there. He could detect a small group of mages and fakes around the carriage.

"Everybody out!" Shouted Markus as he fired two bolts so lightning into the surrounding forest. Freyja left out and push racheal back in as an arrow just missed her. The archer was then slain by Wolf who launched a wolf shaped fire ball.

Adrian quickly escorted the daughter to a safe location as he loaded up his bullets, shooting out at some of the people that tried to get at the girl.

"Freyja take the left, Wolf right i got the front!" Barked Markus as he used his teleportation spell to rush several fakes ending their lives with the two swords he's summoned from his Weapon Cards.

"On it!" Said Freyja as she struck a fake and Dark Mage with a palm magic spell.

"Of course...." Said Wolf as he adjusted his gloves before launching several fire enhanced melee attacks.

"Stay right behind me, I promise no one is going to touch you" Adrian said as he reloaded his ammo with blue bullets as he fired at the ground, causing a giant ice barrier to surround them as he launched more into the air, sending down a barrage of ice shards that piecred most of the bandits.

"TAKE COVER!!!!" Shouted Markus as he charged up for a powerful attack. "Storm Phoenix Secret Art: Phoenix Storm!!" He cast a ball of thunder and lightning which launched a barrage of bolts at every enermy near but did so with out discrimination. Wolf and Freyja dived in to the Carriage and Racheal and Adrian were saved by their cie barrier. As the dust settled MArkus dispelled his mask and smirked. "That went well!"

Adrian placed both of his guns back in their spots as he helped rachal out of the barrier and back into the carrige where he then walked over to Markus and the others. "We better find some shelter, otherwise we're gonna end up knee deep with bandits" He said making his mask come off.

Markus picked up one of the attackers "These were Black Hand Mages....New recruits by the looks of it....Typical of Daimon sending the weakest to test us...." Markus tossed the body aside and nodded "Grab the bads...Adrian you scout ahead and find somwhere to bunker down." Freyja and Wolf grabbed the bags and Markus unhitched the horses and let them run off.

Adrian nodded as he went ahead and started looking around to find some place to rest for the night, still thinking about the attack that Markus had dealt to those guys, he thoughts stopped when he found himself staring at the abandon village he discovered.

"I better secure it, which means..." He focused his magic, causing the liquid from his body to peel off in a way as he yelled and started to breath heavily as the liquid changed into a black dog. "Go get them and bring them hear" He said gasping for air as he walked to the village with guns in hand while the dog went running back to their location.

The black dog reached the group and was attacked by Wolf who was quickly stopped by Markus." It smells like the kid....Lets follow it." The others jsut shrugged and followed the dog to the vilalge where they found Adrian sitting in a cafe. "Well this is nice....Save for the cobwebs, remains of small animals and the smell of death." Said Markus as his flipped a chair over and sat down on it.

"Your cheery to day ain't ya?" Asked Freyja as she sat on the drinks bar reaching over to find something to drink. Well booze is out of the question...All dried up."

"Not really" Adrian said as they turned to find him with a few bottles already empty, "Found a storage space in the back, it has food and supplies so we should be good for the night" He said said still breathing heavily as the dog came back and merged with Adrian giving him his color back.

"And theres the drawback i mentioned earlier....That kind of magic is a Parasite Magic." Said Markus as he lent back in his chair with his feet up. "Right we'll set up camp here and i'll go patrol the area."

"Ok...First lets have some food i'm starving!" Said Freyja heading down to the store room. "Hope they got something good!"

"It's not exactly fun to peel off my skin every day, but I can take it at least once in a while" He replied taking a deep breath as his breathing returned back to normal. "In any case, don't worry about me Markus, I'm ready to fight and protect the girl."

The group had a meal and while the others rested Markus left to patrol the area and explore the town alittle more. He decided to check the centre of town and get a feel for what happened here. from what he gathered from the bodies and items scattered around was the town came under attack by a Dark Guild and was destroied despite the best efforts of the Rune Knights. While he couldn't tell how long ago this was he spent afew minutes offering a prayer to the souls of the innocent people and Rune Knights killed in this attack. Meanwhile a group of Black Hand members stronger than before were moving in to attack both Markus and the group. Markus was unlucky enough to have the elite members of this little raid after his head.

Meanwhile back at camp, Adrian was tending to the fire with Freyja, keeping their eyes open as they made sure Rachel was safe from harm. "Man, look at all those stars" He said making his mask come off as he looked up and started at the lights in the sky.

"I don't really watch stars....Dunno why it's probably 'cos i'll never reach them." Sighed Freyja as she layed back. "Even with my magic....."

"What are you hoping to reach then for?" Adrian wondered as he looked over to Freyja.

"No clue!" Said Freyja. "I'm the kidna fo person who cares for the now than the what if."

Meanwhile with Markus he'd just began to engage the elite section of the raid outside the village. Despite being elite they weren't worthy of the title. Markus was showing little or no effort in beating them. The ones after Freyja and her group were just about to attack.

"Yeah but..." Adrian stopped as his skin started to tingle, acting as an early warning system as he jumped on top of Freyja, avoiding a spell that was aimed right at her and saving her life.

"Hey i know i'm good looking but don't ya think you should atleast buy me dinner first?" Smirked Freyja as she used her stretch magic to pull herself out from under Adrian and into the legs of a fake. "Ok now i'm pissed!!" She shouted as she went nuts and started to beat down fake after fake with the odd mage mixed in.

Adrian smirked, pulling his swords out and slashing down the fakes that came anywhere near Rachel, "Where's Markus?!" He yelled stabiing two fakes in the head before slicing their heads off.

"Knee deep in it probably.....He's the strongest here....So naturally they'd be aiming to keep him way for as long as possible." Said Freyja as she struck a group of enemies with her palm magic.

Adrian focused his magic through his katana's as he sliced down, sending a group of fakes down onto the ground in pieces, "We can't keep this up forever, is there something controlling these things?" He asked continuing to protect Rachel to make sure nothing would happen to her.

Suddenly Markus burst through a wall with a mage wrapped in his arms. He threw the mage into a wall killing him. "These aren't controlled by anyone but they follow the Black Hand's orders without question.....Luckly they're running out, the mages are starting to get more invovled." He said as he carged into a gathering of Fake with an lightning infused body. "Keep it up and we'll finish this quickly!"

Adrian channeled his energy through the blades, slicing down into the ground causing a powerful shock wave that blew away most of the fakes as he then went to Frejya, helping her deal with the last of the fakes.