Downtown.
He always ended up downtown. Downtown Silent Earth was a breeding ground for The Crowing; The perfect place for a Hunter to be. He licked his teeth, flashing his evil grin into the air, hearing the roars of the monsters as they roamed the area aimlessly. Ladies and gentlemen, your Pilot has arrived! he thought. He took a look around the destruction of the city: crumbled buildings, broken skyscrapers, glass and rubble all over the ground. Yep, it definately looked like home for The Crowing. Pilot scratched the back of his head. "If Blast were here, she'd go fuckin' nuts", he said aloud. He began walking silently, so as not to be noticed yet. All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks; he had to sneeze. "Oh God", he said, his nose getting stuffy, "Ahhh.....Ahhhhh.......AHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOO!!!!!"
AHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOO!!!!! AHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOO!!!!! AHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOO!!!!!
THe noise echoed through the emptiness of the streets. "Fuck", he said as the sounds of snarls and roars began filling the air.
He drew his guns quickly, shooting the first advancing monster in the face. These things were grotesque: rotting flesh with all sorts of appendages used for human dining. Another came toward him, fangs outstretched and two blade-like arms cutting the air to get to him. Pilot ended that monster with three shots from his left revolver. He backed away from the large group of monsters, thinking of an impromptu way to save his own ass. "Strange. This could be the one time I actually need help and it's not here", he said with a laugh.

All you heard was the roar of a motorcycle and all you saw was a blue streak. Reno had heard that Pilot had already left, and she knew that there was only one place he would go...downtown. The place had been destroyed years ago by all the fighting and was almost a breeding ground for The Crowing. Swiftly turning the corner she could already hear the snarling and gun shots followed shortly after. A smirk spread across her face. She leaned down speeding up.
Putting on her goggles she ran right over one of the monsters. "Need some help?" She parked her bike and jumped off of it. She was already dressed for the occasion. Her black chaps with red firs at the bottom, her white bikini top , and her black gloves with metal spikes. She decided to cut to the chase, sticking a sucker in her mouth she was already in action. Catching one of the monsters in the face with a side kick following with another and ending with a side kick. "Haiya!" was her finishing sound before she was onto the next one.
"To slow!" She ducked upper cutting another one. "Ha, just gets better and better."

Samuel wandered through the halls of The Broken's main head quarters. It was still early but he'd been unable to go back to sleep. He carried a halberd, katana, wakizashi, greatsword, and several knives visibly and a few more concealed. Just because The Crowing had never attacked base before didn't mean they never would. Also, many scientists avoided him when he was armed so he made sure he was always visibly armed. Of course the lead scientists were never scared of him. They knew him too well, or thought they did at least. He scowled for a moment, then continued wandering. He found himself at what served as a cafe and realized that he was very hungry. He looked around hoping one of the other Suffering was up and hungry. It wouldn't be any fun to eat alone.

Jonah was sitting down eating, most of it was junk food. He looked up and saw Samuel, one of the other Suffering. To his surprised he looked more lost than a human in breeding grounds of Crowings.

"Yo Sam!" he screamed as he opened one of his sodas. As a suffering he wasn't required to have the same diet as the humans did.

It was more likely that he was going to eat with Sam and head out together to have fun. He couldn't wait to start killing Crowings. He smiled as he ran his hands against his bow that was laid across the table along with his two katanas. It was something that he and Sam had in common. They both loved to used swords. But what he liked the best was that their weapons were made especially for them. It was amusing trying to see a human pick up the bow and fail.

"Here have a soda, I know how much you love them" he said as he gave Sam one.

Samuel smiled, got breakfast, and sat with Jonah, taking the offered soda gladly. "Thanks," he said simply. He looked around at the absence of others. "Where?" he asked, wondering about the others. He began to eat slowly.

Lillian walked into the cafe, looking as if she had rolled out of bed five seconds ago, a tank top and a pair of jogging shorts adorning her form loosely. She smirked and waved to the two already occupying the area, grabbing herself a glass and some orange juice. She poured a hefty glass of juice, before going back to sit back with the other to members. She looked to each of them casually. "Morning, boys. Where are the others? I know they're early birds, but they usually wait around here to scold me for waking up so late. Any idea?" She asked, her eyes shifting between them, before starting on her orange juice.

"Pilot and Reno are already out and about in some action of some sort." he said as he just sat there watching Sam eat. He was already done with his. He said as Lillian sat down.

"Pilot was talking about going to Downtown or something like that. I'm going there too once Sam here is ready to go" he said as he noticed that Lillian was still in her sleeping clothes. But then again she was quick to change into her regular ones.

Samuel gave Jonah a startled look. Pilot and Reno both had a penchant for trouble and downtown was swarming with Crowing. He started eating faster. "Trouble. Help them," was his explanation. He stood up when he was finished and gestured to Jonah and Lilian. Then he strode out quickly, chugging the soda as he went.

"I thought you might say that" he said picking up his bow from the table and seathing his katanas and heading out with Sam. It wasn't long before he was at the HQ Garage. He made sure his shades were on properly, it was morning and the sun was coming up. Without them he would be blinded by the brightness. He hopped on to his motorcycle springing it to life.

"Take the lead Sam, I'll follow you" he said as she gates opened.

Samuel put his katana and wakizashi in their holders on the bike and sped out of the garage at full speed. It was a 5 minute trip to down town at anything resembling sane speeds. Samuel did it in 2. He caught sight of a swarm of Crowing surrounding a pair of figures and sighed. Pilot was probably to blame, but Samuel couldn't hold it against him. Killing Crowing was fun. He grabbed his swords, slung them through his belt without slowing down, then stood up on his bike and jumped off the highway. The motorcycle fell on it's side and skidded to a stop several yards away. He hoped it would be ok. He'd wrecked four other motorcycles previously, though he maintained that one of them didn't count. He wasn't very good to machines. He drew his greatsword in mid-air and stabbed into a Crowing as he landed on it. The monster never knew what happened. He pulled his sword out of the thing and moved on to the next one, parrying a blow and cutting it down. A large thing with many barbed vine-like appendages approached him and he sheathed his greatsword and drew his katana and wakizashi, one in each hand. Then he advanced toward the Crowing, severing any appendages that came his way.

Samuel or Sam as Jonah liked to call him liked to ride his bike. All the sufferings were used to the way the roads were by now, most of the clear parts were the paths that they took the most. It wasn't long before they got to downtown. The breeding ground of the Crowings, a place that was not meant for tourists. Sam always liked his entrances to be grand jumping out of the bike and into action. Jonah was somewhat different. He always used his bow first then his katanas.

He got off of his bike and stood by the edge. Pointing his bow to the swarm he noticed that it was Pilot. "I should've known it was him" he said as he shot several arrows hitting the back of their head, exploding in second. He made an ok sign with his hand signaling Pilot that help had arrived. He hung his bow on his bike and jumped of the edge taking out his katanas in mid air. Right when he was about to land a crowing that was attacking Sam got in his was. "Better for me" he said as he landed on the head cutting it in two.

"Sorry" he said as he had taken the kill before Sam did. Without waiting for a response, which he doubted there would be one he head to were pilot was. It took him a couple of swings before he got to where Pilot was at.

"You ok?" he asked

Smirking, Lillian almost drowned herself downing her remaining orange juice. She pushed walked swiftly around the table, back towards the stairs that lead to her room. Once there, she quickly changed from her sleepwear, and into her typical outfit. It looked like something a business student would wear..only...not. It was an interesting outfit. She jogged back down the stairs, and headed to the garage, watching Samuel and Jonah sped off on their bikes. "H-HEY! It's not like I NEEDED a ride or anything! APC's don't run on sunshine and giggles like your little crotch-rockets do!" She shouted agrivatedly after them, knowing that they heard her. She smirked, walking over to her vehicle of choice.



She walked over to her military vehicle. She opened the rear hatch, and climbed in. The only word one could use to discribe how loaded with things the large vehicles was 'Payload'. Countless weapons lie around the BTR, stockpiled with explosives out the anus. She walked through the BTR, ploping herself down in the driver's seat, and turning the key to the ignition. The massive engine roared to life, and she slammed her foot hard on the gas, the large armored vehicle roaring out of the garage at a surprising 50 mph.

Lillian drove recklessly, smashing into whatever was in her path. The automatic gun turret on top began to pick out uncoded heat signatures, and opening fire upon them, the .50 caliber machine gun bursting to life with heavy arms fire, picking off the Crowing as they encroached her vehicle. She yelled as she could watch through the camera's eye. "Hahaa! Asswipe! How's a finger sized piece of lead travelin' 2,318 miles an hour treat ya?!" She having memorized the average FPS of a .50 BMG round and converting it to MPH was all a mathmatical matter. It also helped that she had memorized this random fact.

Soon, she was with the rest of the group, whom assumedly had delt with a few Crowing already. She flipped the automatic turret off, before turning the BTR off. She walked to the cargo compartment, and picked up her M82, and slung it around her shoulder, along with an AT-4. Making sure her grenades were in place, she wouldn't resort to the big guns just yet. They didn't need them. The door of the APC opened up, and she hopped out, pulling a pair of blast goggles over her eyes, and cocking her rifle. "Let's just see what we can obliterate!" She called out to her teamembers.

Reno smiled when she noticed the rest of the group starting to show up. She figured that they had already eaten breakfast and had a nice little talk about Lillian sleeping in. She grinned as another Crowing had tried to attack her. Jumping she side kicked him in the face following with a turning back kick and a uppercut. What she didn't see was the The Crowing coming from behind her, which scratched at her back leaving three welts. "You asshole!" Swinging her leg back she let it fly making contact with his neck, breaking it in half. She stuck her tongue out at the monster.
She turned around and jumped on top of the armored vehicle, she needed to check her wound before she continued fighting. "Hey Lillian can you keep the heat off for a second?" She knelt don touching her back. She wasn't really bleeding it just stung and the first layer of skin was ripped.

"Keep the heat off? 'Lemme turn on the AC!" She called out, cracking a terrible joke as usual. Standing in front of the APC, she would raise her high caliber rifle to her shoulder, looking down the iron sights instead of the scope. They were in close proximity right now; explosives ill advised. She quickly lined one of the beasts up in her sight, not waisting a nanosecond, before the rifle sounded, sounding as if someone had fired a cannon. The Crowing's jaw flew straight from the rest of it's head, which was almost ripped in half as well. Yet another found it's way in "Blast"'s way. The rifle again crashed with destruction into the monster, twice in fact. It slumped over plain and easy, before it got close.

Lillian let her offhand from the rifle, and reached to her bandolier across her chest, fingering a grenade, one of her RGDs. She plucked it from the strap harshly, and kept the safety level pinned, as she hucked it at yet another flying target. The RGD's five second fuse was timed perfectly, the shrapnel of the explosion catching the beast heavily, causing it to fall. She let out an enthusiastic 'woop', and turned to another Crowing, raising her rifle to ring death to it as well. She would turn her head, looking back at Reno, up on top of the armored vehicle. "Didn't get hurt too bad, did you?" She shouted up to her, before looking back to see a rather large...no, huge Crowing coming towards her, lumbering on three legs. It was still about 40 yards away. "Someone wants some candaaay!" Lillian's grasp on her rifle was released, as she reached around her body, to grab the yellow rocket launcher strapped to her back. She pushed the safety forward, and primed the rocket, not two seconds later firing the armor shredding explosive, watching it colide with the alien heavily, and detonate in a heavy explosion. She simply dropped the now useless launcher, and rearmed herself with the M82, resuming her covering fire of her comrade.

(OOC: the katana and wakizashi when worn and used together is called a daisho and I will refer to them as such from now on.)

Samuel spared a brief smile for the antics and words of his comrades then his expression blanked out. The world narrowed down to just three things: him, his blades, and the enemies before him. He barely registered the presences of his fellow Suffering, only enough to avoid their attacks. He began to move, quickly and rhythmically. Block, strike, dodge, stab, parry, riposte. He changed weapons frequently to meet different situations. Greatsword, daisho, knife, shuriken, halberd, daisho, throwing knife, greatsword, dagger, and so on. Occasionally he left a blade behind, embedded in an enemy, but he would come back for them later. Samuel made mass death look like nothing more than an effortless, yet obscenely complicated, dance. So he danced his dance of death in near silence, never stopping, and The Crowing fell before his blades.

After dropping another twenty or so of The Crowing, Pilot looked to see a huge military vehicle approaching. "Oh God", he smirked. He watched as the rest of the Hunters filed out, ready to get into the action. "You guys do realize that Erica is going to kill you right? Did you even notify her?" he said, trying to act serious, but that facade was breaking apart really fast. He clipped another Crowing in the face with a plasma bullet, reloaded, and turned back to the scene at hand. "Ah well. It doesn't matter just so long as I can have my fun!" he said, runniing and gunning at the same time. He jumped up, bringing down a hail of bullets upon THe Crowing that surrounded his landing path.

Samuel paused long enough to regard Pilot with a raised eyebrow. He didn't care what Erica thought and he doubted Pilot had notified her either. "Saved your ass," he said finally. He noticed he'd cleared away The Crowing for a few yards around him. He took a moment to check himself over, he had a tendency to ignore wounds while focused on fighting. Sure enough he had a long, yet shallow gash down his right arm. It hurt a bit now that he noticed it but it had stopped bleeding a while ago, though it had bled enough to make his arm look like a worse mess than it was. He shrugged and returned to the fight and his death dealing.

Reno stood up stretching. "I'm good thanks, Blast." Jumping down she sat back and watched the whole fight play out in front of her. Everyone was doing there part, and it was complete chaos. She looked over and saw a hollow metal pole. Reno's mouth turned up slightly. "Baseball!" She ran over and grabbed it, and then jumped back in time ti swing at a Crowing. "Homerun!" Reno was having fun now, not only did she beat them senseless but she got to take a break, and see blood fly.

"Erica, can suck my..." Her sentence was cut off by the roar from the monster who she just killed. Reno had a bad mouth, but she didn't care.

"Who cares what she says, isn't this why we were created for?" he said as she went on slashing the heads off of the Crowings. Jonah's strategy was simple, sneak on the crowing and finish it in one blow, a cut that took the head off. That was his speacialty, he was able to sneak up on anyone so it was easy for him. it was really simple but the only concern was making sure that his shades stayed on.

He noticed that Sam had gotten one of his arms damaged pretty badly. It was almost easy getting to him except for one. Right when he was about to attack its head blew up and he saw a blur pass by his face, centimeters away from knocking off his shades. He looked up and saw that Reno. "YO MIDGET, WATCH WERE YOU'RE AIMING NEXT TIME!!" he screamed at her. They all knew what had happened when sunlight hit his eyes. He remembered when they were knocked off by accident and it took him a week to recover and be able to see normal again.

He ran up to Sam seeing that the Crowings were near, they were focusing more on Pilot and Reno than him at the moment, that was a good thing. "You asswipe, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful?" he said as he took a look at his arm. "It looks bad, and you lost quite some blood." he said as he took a small spray can from his belt, it was disenfecting spray, t hen he wrapped it around with a bandage. "Here this should be good till we get to HQ" he said as he knew that Sam wasn't going to say much.

"Sorry Jonah!" Reno yelled as the monster yelled. She knew that she could get out of hand at times. Picking up the metal pole she twirled it before jamming it through another. She saw Jonah leave over to Sam. 'What happened?' she thought to herself. Looking over she saw Sam's arm. Now not only was she hurt but so was Sam. "Hey, when are these," she was cut off by having to attack one of them that tried to grab her"things gonna stop coming, we should get back to base, before Erica kills us." She laughed to herself at the thought of Erica yelling at them at how they needed to be safe and not just run off. To her it was just jibber jabber.

Samuel winced at the disinfectant but tolerated it. He gestured to his bloody arm. "Looks deceive," Samuel said in a soft voice that somehow managed to carry all the way to Reno. It really wasn't as bad as it looked, though he was grateful for the care of his team. He looked around. While they'd killed quite a few Crowing, more were being drawn in by the sounds of the fight. "Leave now," he said, agreeing with Reno. He made his way over to Pilot, killing a couple more Crowing on the way, and tapped his arm, then he gestured towards the way they'd come with a nod of his head.

"Just make sure you take better care of yourself when you're fighting Sam" he said as he placed his hand on Sams face. "I wont always be there to take caref you" he said as he heard Reno talk about going back to HQ.

"Lets go." he said as Sam made his way to Pilot. It didn't take long for him to get to his motorcycle. A couple of jumps and flips and there he was. That was something they were all good at and that was acrobatics. He turned one his bike, making a loud noise when it turned attracting some Crowing.

"In your dreams" he said as he picked up the bow and fired at them blowing their heads up. He made his way back to HQ

Erica was waiting up.

Of course, there were a slew of ridiculous things that she did on a day to day basis. When she took a shower, the first thing she washed was her hands. No matter what her colleuges liked to do, she could not imagine a world in which she used her bunsen burners to heat her lunch. And she waited up late for hardly any reason, all while knowing that every day she was responsible for the return of the human race. A full night's sleep should have been priority.

But when The Suffering went out hunting, Erica never slept.

So, she had developped the habit of sitting up on the ratty old couch that had been deposited in the front room of HQ. There she could see everyone who came and went, and she could grill the first one who came through the door on how things went. Once that was done, she could go to bed. Maybe.

Erica sighed, pulling her glasses off to rub wearily at her eyes. "They sure are out late tonight..." she muttered to no one. A few of the Suffering already thought she was mad because of the habit. "They had better not be hurt..."

As soon as Jonah was close to HQ it had gotten his signal so the garage door opened. He parked the motorcycle in his section.

"Its nice to see you made it back in one piece Jonah" said one of the scientist as he approached him.

"Just stay there, I'm fine" he said as the scientist stopped and went back to whatever it was he was doing. As he stepped into the front room of HQ he saw the lights were turned on.

"Who the hell would leave the light..." he stopped as he saw Erica sitting on the couch. "Shit, mmm I was....out for a walk?" he said as he knew he was in for it.

Reno saw the group began to file out. "I guess that's my signal." She dropped the pole she was holding, dodging the monsters on her way to her bike. Hopping on she revved it before taking off leaving a trail of dust behind her. The wind felt good in her face whipping her hair behind her. Leaning forward she went even faster so she got back to base in almost less time then Jonah. Getting off she parked her bike in the garage and yawned. "Good times, good times." She walked into the base taking off her shoes and walking right past Erica, not knowing it was her. She paused in her tracks and slowly looked back. "So...how are you?" She gave a nervous laugh.