"I agree; enough arguing, The Grims assigned us this mission because we are all able to handle it. As far as my plan goes, never did I say it was the definite course of action. It was just speculation," Nox said, a hint of exasperation in his tone. "As lady Destiny here so nicely pointed out, we can surely come up with a plan to suit each of our attributes."

Destiny frowned as she heard the stress on the wordy "lady", as well as the use of such a word in the first place. Certainly some humans called her that, once upon a time, many times over, but Reapers and other immortals tended to only use it nowadays when they were being sarcastic. Two hundred years ago it was common courtesy to speak in such a manner, but even most of the immortals lost such trends as they evolved with the humans. Some did keep their original speech patterns, however, which Destiny actually found to be quite pleasing. They hadn't forgotten who they were in all of this everlasting life chaos. She could tell that was not the case with Nox. Not even close.

"Perhaps we shouldn't push our energies too far beyond the fighting actually. We may as well just follow the "the great and mighty one" over there's idea," Adrian added. Destiny's frown remained, not amused. "The sun is starting to go down. It will be time soon and we really can't afford to debate on tactics any longer. One thing I feel we need to know is: does anyone here have any special gifts beyond the usual?"

Destiny noticed Luka had slammed his head against a wall during all of this. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that. After a moment, however, he seemed to recover from . . . whatever was wrong and responded to Adrian's inquiry with a negative. Destiny could see it in his eyes, though. She could see that he wasn't being completely honest. He was a young Reaper and did not yet have much practice in advanced concealment techniques, whereas she had had thousands of years to hone both her concealment and detection techniques.

After Luka replied, Adrian spoke up once more. "Actually don't worry, I'll find out soon enough anyway." He smiled as he removed his sunglasses and placed them in a pocket. "The sun is starting to set, so we may as well get this show on the road, am I right?"

"Yes, I suppose you will," Destiny said, not having planned to reveal her abilities in the first place. It was a fair question, so that was not the issue. She just liked to wait to reveal such things. It was more amusing, and after six thousand years you either found as many things to amuse you as possible or became as dull as most of the Grims. The Grims were powerful, yes, but a majority of them were just so boring. At least, they were in the everyday. They all had their moments.

A moment later, the group dispersed. Nox returned to the alley that he had come from and wandered over the the warehouse door, practically falling into it. Apparently he was pretending to be blind. Destiny shrugged; a little improvisation was always useful. And amusing. It was a good skill to have.

The warehouse door opened and Nox was greeted by two vampires. A second later he disappeared inside the door, the vampires leading him into what they believed to be a trap. Well, technically speaking, it was. It just wasn't their trap.

There was the sound of struggling, and then the warehouse door flew open, skewered by one of Nox's Bone Spears. In a flash, Adrian had flown through his designated window. Destiny leaped off of her rooftop, her cloak catching wind as she soared towards the warehouse, propelled by her own spirit. With a flick of her wrist, the bolts on the ancient window flew out and the window opened quickly and silently, allowing Destiny to fly through the opening and roll onto the warehouse floor as she reached for her scythe.

Destiny rose to her feet, dragging her scythe in an upwards spiral as she did so, ripping through three vampires that were too close to her. As she stood, she noticed the other nearby vampires hesitate as they turned to examine the third intruder, confused on what was happening and who to attack first. After a second, the group separated, running in equally sized, smaller groups towards each Reaper.

Destiny smirked. These vampires didn't know what the were dealing with. Destiny flicked her wrist once more, creating a small disturbance at the feet of the vampires, causing them to trip over each other. She threw her scythe and it twisted in the air, seemingly taking on a mind of its own. It slammed into the group of vampires and killed about three of them, then it twisted around and sliced off the heads of two more. The remaining two vampires leaped to their feet and turned to run from the "haunted" scythe. Destiny's body dropped to the floor as she used another one of her tricks.

The vampires fell backwards as Destiny's spirit appeared in front of them, shoving them back towards the scythe. The scythe reared and finished off the two undead in one fell swoop.

Destiny's spirit grabbed the scythe and walked back to her body, merging with it. Her body came to life in an instant. She got to her feet and turned towards the others. It wasn't as fun with vampires as it was with humans, but Destiny was the definition of a poltergeist. It could be great fun when she was in a sadistic mood.

She ran towards the others, slicing her way through the vampires as she did so. At least half of them had already fallen. They were not proving to be much of a challenge, which was a bit disappointing. Destiny had no doubt, however, that the Harbingers would provide enough of a challenge to make up for it.​

Destiny pulled her scythe out of the neck of a vampire, who promptly turned to dust.

When she had gone to assist the others, a few vampires had decided to jump in her way. Either they had failed to see the little display she had just put on, they didn't care, or they valued their loyalty to their Harbinger masters more than their own lives.

Whatever the reason, the result had been the same. They had all been reduced to nothing more than piles of dust.

During that little altercation, however, her teammates had been attacked by the Harbingers and nearly overwhelmed. Luka had been severely wounded upon entering the warehouse, and Adrian and Nox weren't doing too great themselves. The Harbingers had certainly given them a harder time than a vampires.

Damn it.

As the experienced Ancient here, Destiny should have been with her teammates to help and protect them. No learning experience was worth nearly losing one's life. They didn't have nearly as much experience as her, especially with Harbingers. It was of no fault of their own; they'd simply lacked the opportunity to garner such knowledge before now. Destiny had been the same way with so many things once, and she had learned the hard way.

It seemed that these younger Reapers had just learned a few things the hard way themselves. Especially Luka. The poor kid looked to be near death, or whatever you want to call the death of a Reaper. At least this would lend them proper knowledge and caution for the future. Sometimes learning the hard way was the best way.

Destiny raised her scythe, resting its hilt on the ground as she waited for the final two Harbingers to approach. She looked to be in no hurry, although she did wish to finish this quickly to assist her comrades.

"You," one of the Harbingers stated as he walked closer. "You seem different from the others, some how."

The second Harbinger stepped out from behind him, wielding a staff. "Your aura," the voice was unmistakably female, "it vibrates differently than the others. What . . . are you?"

Destiny moved her scythe into both of her hands, holding it leveled at her hips. "I am an Ancient. I am Atlantean." She raised her scythe further, shifting into a fighting stance.

The woman raised her staff, holding it out in front of her. It emitted a faint glow, recognition sparking in the woman's eyes. A moment later, her eyes attained a similar glow. "Your energy . . . I knew it was familiar."

The woman's male companion looked between her and Destiny, seeming slightly perplexed. "What's an Atlantean?"

Destiny smirked. She never missed an opportunity to sound cliché. "Your worst nightmare."

The woman's expression remained serious as she held her staff, but there was a brief flicker of fear across the man's face. He obviously didn't like the fact that his partner recognized some ancient energy within a Reaper that claimed to be some being he'd never heard of, but his partner had and looked pretty serious about. The emotion vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The man knew it was a stupid thought.

Although, Destiny wasn't entirely joking by saying that. She lunged towards the Harbingers, her scythe trailing behind her as she gained sudden speed and momentum. She swung her arm and twisted her wrist, bringing her scythe up from beneath the male Harbinger in a circular motion. He barely had enough time to twist his leg and pull out his sword.

While he was able to block the scythe's blade itself, the momentum of the attack still slammed him into the wall, lengthening the cracks that already crossed it. He groaned and slid down to the floor, dazed.

Destiny turned her attention to the woman. "You yourself are different from your companions. What are you, exactly?"

"A shadow of a nightmare," the woman replied simply, the glow around her flaring up as she did so.

"Close your eyes!" Destiny heard Adrian yell, picking probably the worst possible moment. There was a bright flash and Destiny was forced to shield her eyes with her arm. When she looked back up, the woman had vanished.

Crap! On instinct Destiny twisted around, bringing the hilt of her scythe up to block. Less than half a second later there was a loud thwack! sound as wood made contact with wood. The woman had appeared behind her just as Adrian had lit up the room around them, giving her the edge. Destiny's years of battle and training had given her the abilities and reflexes to parry the attack, but just barely.

"You're quick, strong, observant. Your aura vibrates in the most unusual manner and your abilities are hidden to me. You are truly an Atlantean, and an Ancient at that. That much I know," the woman stated calmly, her expression unchanged as she took a step back.

"If you know so much, don't you realize that you stand no chance of winning?" Destiny questioned, taking a step back as well.

"Yes," the woman stated simply.

Destiny blinked. "Alright-y then," she said, a bit confused. "Have it your way." She twisted the scythe in her hand and lunged at the woman. The woman raised her scythe to block as Destiny's scythe came down from above, but Destiny had used the move as a feint, rotating her arms and twisting her legs as she dug into the ground, swinging low.

The woman gave a surprised gasp as her feet flew out from under her, sending her sprawling across the floor. Destiny took a step forward and brought the blade of the scythe down, aiming it at the woman's heart. However, something happened and Destiny found herself spiraling backwards through the air. She landed on her back, slightly dazed. As she got up, she saw that the woman had her staff raised, a bright aura quickly fading from the enchanted wood.

Damn it! She had let her guard down. Not only that, but she hadn't given this woman's magic a second thought. Her use of the staff indicated her as a Harbinger with more magical talent than average, and her spells provided the evidence to support.

"You're certainly not weak," Destiny sighed as she got back to her feet.

"Of course not. You should know better than to think such things."

"Yes, I suppose I should." With that, Destiny ran in towards the woman, her scythe beginning to glow. The woman's staff did likewise as she readied to counter.

Destiny spun once, a ring of energy forming around her. She leaped out of the ring, leaving a dot where she had been standing. As she did so, the ring moved into a vertical position, so that it looked something like a target. "Bulls-eye!" Destiny yelled as she pushed her scythe forward, commanding the ring to loose its energy upon the woman. The dot in the center flared up and the ring collapsed in onto the dot, and a moment later the dot turned into a large beam of energy that soared towards the woman.

The woman twirled around and literally caught the energy on the end of her staff, sending it back at Destiny as her circle turned her towards the Reaper once more.

Destiny grunted as she caught the volley, charging it for a return. It caused the blade of her scythe to glow and the scythe itself to tremble due to the tremendous energy. Destiny tried to hold on to the energy for a second, glaring at the woman as she thought. After a moment, she knew she couldn't hold the energy any longer and sending it back at the woman would be futile. She glanced to her side and then swung the scythe, sending the beam towards the male Harbinger that had just started to regain his senses. He didn't even have time to look up before it reached him.

There was a large explosion that illuminated the warehouse and sounded like a sonic boom. When the light and dust had cleared, there was a large hole in the wall of the warehouse where the Harbinger had been, and there was absolutely no trace of the man. He had been completely obliterated.

So much for quiet, Destiny thought as she returned her focus to the woman. The woman seemed completely unaffected by the annihilation of her comrade.

"So," Destiny said, taking a breath, "would you like to end this now? Or would you like to—"

"There is no need to drag this out any longer than it needs to be," the woman interrupted.

Destiny smirked. She kind of liked this woman. "My thoughts exactly."

Both women charged in, auras flaring as they loosed their energies upon each other.


Destiny kneeled there, leaning against a shelf, heaving. That attack had practically spent all of her energy. The Harbinger woman was in a similar, albeit worse, condition. She lay on the floor a few feet away from Destiny, her chest moving up and down rapidly. In a moment, she began to dissolve into a series of twisting shadows, the life leaving her body. Destiny was confused, because Harbingers normally didn't dissolve like that, but she was in no condition to think. The area around her had been turned to complete rubble. There was practically nothing left other than dust and debris.

She slowly rose to her feet as the last bit of the woman dissolved. She turned to her comrades, eyes and tone in their regular state, despite her exhausted condition. "I think—" Destiny heaved, "I think that's the last of them."​

"All the Harbingers, at least," Adrian responded to Destiny's statement as he killed a few more of the creatures. "I vote that we get out of here, and burn the place down. Then we can clean up any that escape or that somehow survive the fire."

Destiny gasped, filling her lungs with air and straightening her posture. "I can go with that," she chuckled shakily as she ran past Adrian and towards the others, taking out two vampires as she did so.

"Better get a move on if you want to trap them in here!" She slew the vampires near the entrance and around Nox and Luka. There weren't many, but they still would have slowed the four down while they tried to escape the warehouse.

"And who exactly plans to set this place on fire, and with what?"​