Garden Of The Abyss

"Can't you make this thing go any faster?"

Kicking his feet up on the steel table locked into the floor, an array of messy, unorganized papers flustered off the sides as he complained. Blowing between his lips a fit of air, he pushed the messy, low-hanging, light-brown fringes that nearly covered his eyes out of the way.

"If you want to be the driver and pour your own damn mana into this thing, be my guest!"

Yelling from the front of the armored vehicle, the man with pale, blonde hair replied sharply with his rough, unrefined voice. 

"Mm, I'll pass. The captain always needs to stay at one-hundred percent." 

Speaking with a yawn carrying his voice, the relaxed man held a smile that held a certain smugness to it that sent the blonde-haired driver into further frustration. 

"Then shut the hell up! I'm losing focus here…"

It was a less than savory position--driving the unorthodox vehicle. Taking on that role, the blonde demi-human up front kept both of his forearms inside of steel tubes layered with magic seals; his veins pressing against his skin as the metallic limbs inhaled his magical energy as fuel to propel the vehicle. 

Crouching beside the table where the proclaimed captain of the magic-propelled vehicle propped his boots up, a young boy, likely no older than his early teens, began to pick up the papers which fell to the floor. 

"Please be more careful, Captain…"

Carefully gathering the scattered parchment and neatly placing them back on the table formed of dark-gray steel, the boy looked at the man with concerned eyebrows. 

"Alright, alright."

The captain said without looking at the boy, keeping his eyes on the roof of the vehicle as he rested the back of his head against his arms. 

"Give him a sincere answer, Nikko!"

A sudden force smacked the back of the captain's head, following the reprimansive, feminine voice from behind him. Holding a scrunched up map in her hand, shaped into the form of a blunt object, a woman with fearsome, crimson locks stared down at the man as he glanced back without moving his head. 

"Keep acting like that, and you'll never get married…Mary"

Nikko sat up from his lounged position with a sly smile, casually evading another strike of the weaponized map as if never noticing it coming in the first place. Rolling up the sleeves of his long, sleek, black-coat with a variety of pockets, he placed his hand over his mouth before yawning, adjusting his round-rimmed glasses as the yellow lenses obscured the true color of his eyes. 

"Grr...Whatever. Just stop making trouble for Simon!"

"It's really not a problem…"

The boy meekly butted in, making sure the papers were placed neatly back on the table before adjusting his formal, hazel head of hair from the view of his eyes, which held a light-blue tinge. 

"That's your problem! If you don't step up, you'll always be walked over!"

Mary's overzealous nature seemed to be normal around the confines of the odd vehicle as both Nikko and the driver upfront chuckled to themselves. All four members of this group shared the same uniforms, at least in color--what they each individually wore was completely distinct from one another. 

"And you…"

Oh boy, Nikko thought. 

Hearing Mary's voice shift to his position, Nikko let out an audible sigh that he immediately regretted, running his fingers through his bountiful head of hair. 

"This is a CLASS-S mission from the Hollow Order, are you in any position to be lounging around, Captain?"

"I do my best with a free mind. Besides, all we're doing is clearing out some husks. It's not anything worth pulling a muscle in your brain over." 

The frivolity displayed by the captain didn't please any of the other three as he quickly corrected his confident, relaxed smile with a more serious expression, using his knuckles to reposition his glasses on the bridge of his nose. 

"In reality, there really isn't anything to worry about. Unbezwingbar is the perfect counter to husks; I mean, what're they going to do? Scratch and bite at the magically-reinforced metal of it? It'll be an easy bag of gold--right into our pockets."

Nikko rubbed his index finger and thumb together, tilted his head back to look at the stern woman as she finally gave in, folding her arms before returning to her seat on the cushioned, black-leather chairs firmly built into the mythical vehicle. 

"Acting like a bigshot when you were the one who put on that grand, over-the-top display for Commissioner Veldroma?"

A gruff, deep voice spoke out, accompanied by the sound of footsteps against the metallic floor of the moving, insulated vehicle. Walking into the main room of the mobile base, a tall, slender man stood at the doorway, fixing the many straps that ran along his baggy, sable uniform. 

Put on the spot, a nervous chuckle spawned from Nikko as he averted his gaze with a bit of fluster. 

"Oh, I remember! He really did put on quite the show for the commissioner, didn't he? "Where better to look than the 'Sky Dragon Conglomerate'! Together, we've taken down Phantasm after Phantasm--when we put our minds together, nothing can stop us!" Just like that, right?"

Simon struck a pose, earning a small round of applause from Mary while the gruff man with long, curly tufts of jet-black hair chuckled dryly to himself. 

"Hey! I'm the reason our wallets are going to be full, a bit of gratitude here would be nice! Although...I guess there is a fair enough reason to use moderate effort."

Finally standing up from his lounged position with a stretch, Nikko let out a sigh backed by a smile before turning his gaze back towards the other companions behind him. 

"And that is?"

"He's going to be there." 

"Who?"

"Liam Reid, or otherwise known as--"The Wild Card". Or otherwise-otherwise known as, a pain in my ass. Whichever of our groups performs the best during this mission will likely be the deciding factor on which of our guilds is promoted to S-rank at last."