The fire crackles in place, and I happily consume an 'MRE'. It is not as delicious as other foods, but it is still tasty, and very dense in biomass! One 'MRE' is equivalent to two of mom's meals!

Hastin idly pokes the fire with a long piece of metal, while Aurora stands next to a hole in the wall, looking down at the city below us. The hope with the fire was to attract more kin-prey to our location, but after three hours, this tactic has been unsuccessful. But I am not displeased, as it means I get to study the new structures I had obtained from the kin-prey.

[Elasmobranch Dentition] is an interesting structure. It allows for the regeneration of teeth, diverting microstructures in the body to the jaw. However, I am able to do so at a far more efficient rate, so it is useless to me. [Fulgur Ampullae] seems to be a good sensory organ, as it allows electroreception without the use of [Minor Electrokinesis], which drains Core energy. Perhaps I can dedicate two tentacles for the use of this structure.

"Any movement over there?" Hastin asks, and I turn to Aurora as she shakes her head.

"Nothing." She says quietly, crossing her arms over her chest. Aurora has been oddly silent since I dispatched the kin-prey. She has not been mean to me since, but I do not smell the fear-scent on her.

Hastin nods, pulling out his metal piece and scraping it along the ground. Sparks fly into the air, and for a moment I am reminded of Sun-Walker. I frown as the uncomfortable feelings appear again, and bite down into my 'poundcake'.

"No use in standing over there then. Come over here and eat something." Hastin replies, and Aurora turns to look at him, then at me, before turning her head away again.

"Not hungry. I'll keep wa-"

"Aurora, that wasn't a suggestion. Get over here and eat." Hastin repeats, and I glance at him. He has taken to the role of leader very well. Good use of intimidation!

Aurora clicks her tongue, but knows her place in the pack. She grabs her pack and walks over to us, sitting down heavily onto a broken piece of rock across from us and digging through it until she finds her own MRE. She tears it open, and while she pours water into the 'heating pack' Hastin turns to me.

"So Joey, you were asking about roles in the team?" He asks, and I nod, licking my lips as I finish my MRE. I had been curious about these 'team roles' since the cafe. The pack had their own jobs for each member: Den watchers, hunters, and nurse mothers. Mind-Walker had been a den watcher, but was allowed to hunt with others if there were no other rival packs or kin-prey in the area.

"Ugh, Mikey's." Aurora says in disgust, holding up a small brown pack. She looks over at Hastin and me. "Anyone wanna trade? I hate these things."

I look at my empty MRE pouch and frown. I wished to try these 'Mikey's', but I unfortunately do not have anything to offer. But still, the poundcake was tasty.

Wiggle.

Hastin pauses for a few moments, before peeking into his MRE pouch and pulling out his own pack.

"I've got a cereal bar. Fruit berry." He offers, and Aurora nods. They toss their packs to each other over the fire, and Aurora tears hers open and takes a big bite. I lick my lips, but listen as Hastin starts speaking again. "Anyways, team roles. A full team will have up to six roles, but a partial team, like ours, can be made with only three."

"Now, in order for a partial team to be formed, there are three roles that must be present." He continues, first pointing to himself. "First, the Team Lead. My job is to coordinate with each member, assess strengths and weaknesses, and form plans of action. I am the first, and final, say on an operation like this." He then points to Aurora. "The second position must either be filled by an Advance Scout, or Front Point. Advance Scouts do what you've been doing, scanning for hostiles, looking for traps or hazards, and sensing the lay of the land. Front Point has a similar role, but their job is to make first contact with a hostile, without being noticed, and report on it."

He then points to me, and raises two fingers. "The last position must be filled by either a Rear Guard, or Executor. The Rear Guard's job is to interface between the rest of the team and the hostile. Basically, make sure we don't die."

I tilt my head, but nod. The explanation so far makes sense. "And me? What do I do?"

At this Hastin grins, lowering a finger. "You are an Executor. Your job is to kill the hostile, and to do so quick, fast, and in a hurry. You hit hard so that we don't have to hit at all." He lowers his finger, and gives me a thumbs up. "You did your job perfectly earlier."

I smile, raising my chin as I allow them to bask in my superior presence. Truly, I was better in every way.

"Yeah yeah, you did great. Claps all around." Aurora mumbles around her bar, and I glare at her. Her tone did not sound like she thought I did great. "Anyways, what are we going to do about finding these Entities? According to mission control, there should still be three to five of them still wandering around here. City's big, and we're small. And Fido over there hasn't been sniffing any of them above ground, besides the one."

I take another sniff just in case, but it is as Aurora says. Although I do not know what a Fido is. My name is Joey.

Hastin scratches the back of his head, before looking up at the sky. Through the cracks in the ceiling and holes in the wall, I can see that clouds have begun to form, and I can smell rain on the wind. He looks at me, and I know what he is asking.

"It will rain tomorrow." I answer, and he nods. He taps his circlet, and an image appears in the air. I jump as he does so. Unfair! Gaster has not taught me how to do that yet!

"These are the blueprints mission control gave us." He says, pointing at the image. I can see shapes and squiggles there, the squiggles that form words. Mom had started to teach me them when Joey told them I couldn't read, but they still confuse me. "If you noticed, we passed by the mega pharmacy a couple of buildings that way."

Both me and Aurora turn to look where he points, but all of the buildings look the same to me. But Aurora nods, and I refuse to seem inferior to her, so I nod too.

"Well," he continues, "that means that we're here, in the Skyworld office building." He points to another spot on the image, and I nod before Aurora can. Smug.

"Right, which means we've cleared almost all of this." Aurora says, circling most of the blueprints, and Hastin smiles.

"Above ground, you mean. We've cleared all of it above ground." He says patiently, and she seems to think for a few moments before her eyes widen, and then she wrinkles with her nose.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"You don't mean…"

"Below ground?" I ask, and Hastin nods, tapping the image. It is replaced by what look like straight lines that connect to each other, all over where the city was.

"The city's sewer is extensive, and the maintenance on it isn't as well kept as the above ground training area is. I'd bet our Rift entities are down there, probably chasing some animals that snuck in before Borderland put her barrier in place." He finishes, clapping his hands.The image disappears back into his circlet, and Aurora groans, her displeasure clear. But I lick my lips, excited.

If that is where the kin-preys are, then soon I will be able to devour their biomass.

"Now, let's set up a watch and get some shut eye. I want to go down there before the rain breaks tomorrow." He declares, and I raise a hand. I know what a watch is! Sariel told me! "Yes, Joey?"

"I will take the first watch!" I say proudly, and he nods, standing up.

"Right, then Aurora, you choose second or last." He says, and Aurora thinks for a few moments before shrugging.

"I can take the second watch then." She offers, and Hastin nods.

"Sounds good. I'll go ahead and get some sleep then." He says, then begins to pull off his clothes.

Aurora stares at him, shocked, before screwing her eyes shut. "HASTIN, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" She screams, and I study her. Oh! Her face is red like Sariel's is when she's around Gaster.

Hastin blinks, looking down at himself, then at me. "What?" He asks, naked, and I shrug. I didn't understand, but Joey had said pulling your clothes off around people like that was rude after I started to do it at a diner.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT!?"

Aurora sat, watching the last coals of the fire glow in the darkness of the night and listening for any sound of movement her Class 2 senses could detect. She figured she'd need to throw another couple of pieces of broken chair on there soon, but hadn't mustered up the energy to do so.

Her day had started wrong, plain and simple. First, she had met Joey, who was practically a trainwreck given human form. Well… mostly human, given that he seemed to actually like being part dog, since she'd learned he wasn't mutated like she thought he was. And then there was Hastin, who'd seemed normal enough until he started stripping down in front of them.

She rubbed her temple. Boundaries had been established, at least, after a lengthy discussion. They included no stripping, and no stealing rations, which she'd had to say after catching Joey trying to sneak away some of her MRE with a tentacle.

She let out a pent up breath, watching the shifting burning oranges of the coals. This team was… just wrong. So wrong, compared to her last team. They had been people she'd gone to school with, or had known through her community sports team. People who were normal.

Her team.

Her… friends.

She didn't even feel the sob coming until she had to screw her eyes shut to stop the burning sting in them, laying her arms on her knees and leaning into them to muffle her crying. She sobbed quietly for a good few moments, the grief hitting her full force.

They should be the ones with her, not Hastin, or… or Joey, who looked so much like Jack that she hadn't been able to breathe when she first saw him. Sure, his hair was brown and shaggy instead of blonde, and his eyes were a faint yellow instead of blue, but they could have been siblings.

She cried until the heat in her throat, and in her chest, died down. Until the shudders stopped running through her body. Until she felt a hand gently gripping her shoulder.

She snapped her head to look at this intruder into her most vulnerable state, and saw Hastin there, his brows creased with concern. Makers, she hated that look.

Angrily wiping her eyes, she swatted his hand off her shoulder, glaring down into the dying fire. "I'm fine." She snapped, though quiet enough that it didn't wake Joey. She might give him shit, but he at least deserved to sleep without her baggage waking him up.

Hastin didn't say anything for a little while, but he sat down about half an arm length away from her. He joined in watching the coals with her, before reaching over and tossing a couple of chair legs into it.

"I said I'm fine." She said again, and Hastin shrugged.

"I never said you weren't." Came his reply, his voice soft but non-judgemental. She paused as she recognized that tone.

It was the same one Doctor Kayeera had.

Someone who'd dealt with the pain before.

She glanced at him, and saw that he had grabbed the concrete rebar again, idly inspecting it before poking the coals to stir the fire. She wondered, for a brief moment, what that rebar might feel like in a Class Four's hands. Like putty, maybe?

She wondered what it felt like to be that strong.

"Sorry for earlier." He said suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. She blinked, before turning back to watch the fire. "I forget sometimes that not everyone grew up communal, like I did."

She shook her head, before a hint of mirth came back to her. "So is everyone in Niminir a public stripper?" She asked, and he chuckled.

"No, which I'm sure you'll be thankful for." He said good naturedly, and she breathed a laugh.

"That's good. Don't know what I'd do if I walked into the Academy and everyone was naked."

He glanced at her, a small grin lighting up his features. "Would make for an interesting first day though, wouldn't it?" He asked with a wink. She was a little taken aback. So far he'd seemed professional, even guiding. More mature than her by a mile, and more mature than Joey by a hundred. But that grin looked so boyish on him that she thought it was almost infectious.

She glanced at his ears, the points to them. Looked at the faint purplish glow to his sclera. Her mom had said that full blooded Resson were rarer than Category Sixes, nowadays.

"I'll make you a deal. You don't ask me about it, and I won't ask you about your last team." He said, his smile gone and his tone a little hard. She blinked, not realizing that she had been staring as hard as she was, but nodded. She figured it was a sore point for him. He was probably gawked at pretty constantly.

And she had been the one irritated by a look.

"Deal." She agreed, and he glanced at her and nodded back. She cleared her throat, rolling her shoulders. "So… then while dodging the possible conversation landmines…" She looked back at Joey. "He really sleeps completely still like that, huh?"

Hastin looked back with her, and chuckled, the humor back in his voice. Joey was laying almost motionless in his sleeping bag. Not even his eyes moved in his sleep. It was eerie, but also… endearing, in a way. Like a doll.

"Yeah, well, he probably has his own issues." Hastin reasoned, before looking out of the hole in the wall to the city below. "I hear border towns are rough. Even rougher now, with the Hands of the Makers supposedly back."

Aurora hummed. She guessed he was right. He behaved so much like a kid, she had forgotten that he had most likely grown up in a border town. The union cities, and by extension the Bounty Agency and Rift Containment Office, didn't really have any hold there. Most of them were run by, and dependent on for protection, local warlords.

"I read his file." Hastin continued. "Well, what little of it was there anyway. You know he fought a Class Four Entity as part of his combat trial? It was one of the reasons they required him to be placed under a Class Four team lead, and was marked as special notice for me to pay attention to. Judges described his actions as swift, brutal, and monstrous."

She could guess, from the sounds she'd heard coming from the stairwell after his fight. There hadn't been so much as a chunk left of the Entity after he was done with it. She paused as she thought about their mission later.

"The sewers are going to be dangerous." She said quietly. "Tight space, unfamiliar terrain. Maybe one of the Entities is aquatic."

Hastin nodded, pulling out his rebar and leaning it against the fire pit they'd made. "I know. But we'll be fine. They wouldn't have placed anything too dangerous here. And besides…" He gave her a thumbs up. "I'm pretty lucky."

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't fight the smile that twitched her lips upwards.

Maybe…

Just maybe…

This team would be okay.