***NEED WORK

Everyone stopped short in their spot. The voice that was all too familiar echoed into the space of Elder's Hall.
"You're late, Ravador," I growled, just in time to see the Chief Elder step through a Light portal.

Ravador gave a swift glance over our small group.
"Ah... I see that my requested subjects have presented themselves in a timely fashion. I pray your affairs have been untroubled as of late." he said, his eyes piercing.
Then he turned his frown at me. Ha!
"And Mivian, I don't take to liking the accusation in your tone."

Of course you don't 'take it to your liking.' You're not supposed to, O Wise One.

"You have been Summoned here today over a matter that will only involve the four of you." Ravador told us.
He glided over to his desk and sat down on his chair. He set his elbows on the surface of the desk and put his fingertips together lightly in a dominating manner.
"Ava, I expect that you received your missions."

Ava didn't look happy but she lifted a silvery card in her hand.

Ravador just nodded and settled back in his chair.
"This is an in-dimension mission. So there will be no ranks or levels given." he declared, his gaze still focused on Ava.
She didn't respond; her face remained in that expressionless mask of hers.
Oh, but did I respond... What the hell?
Is he honestly putting Ava to do some no-level mission, no, some trashy chores? That's crap... no not even; this is Praesidium crap!!

Irritation was boiling over inside my head, inching me closer and closer to detonation. Well, I guess that wasn't something new; every time something involved the Chief, I was usually pissed off.
"If it can't get a rank, what kind of mission is this?" I demanded.

Ravador looked at me, and then back at Ava, who still haven't spoken a word.
"If you still haven't learned, this mission involves a particular individual; a Praesidium rank trainee." he said, sounding surprised. "Ava, you haven't told them?"

Ava didn't say anything and stayed in her gloomy silence. Ravador studied her curiously before turning back to the rest of us.
"All that aside, now that you know what the task is about, shall we get into assigning positions? Ava will---"
"Before I start explaining anything in detail, can you address one issue that has been on my mind, sir?" Ava cut in abruptly, breaking her silent streak.

Ravador looked a bit surprised before he gained his composure.
"But of course, what is it that you want for me to straighten?" he said, looking at Ava expectantly.
"The situation concerning Mivian's de-ranking." she said flat-out and directly.

I winced, not knowing she was going to start off this agenda of my current status rank so openly and bluntly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sarvwen's bewildered look. That was something to be expected, I guess, seeing I had no plans to tell him and everything...
Ravador's reaction, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of what I had thought it would be. He looked absolutely dumbstruck as if I had jumped out of a box in front of him, screaming "YOU'RE UGLY!!"

"I beg your pardon?" he said, his expression not changing.
"I'm not fond of repeating myself, sir." Ava said, sounding a bit exasperated.

Ravador looked from me to Ava, as if to see if this was some kind of joke. Seeing the serious expression on all of our faces, he finally forced himself to regain his usual composure.
"Since when were you set back to a lower rank, Mivian?" he asked.

I shrugged, uncomfortable under the sudden weird prying vibe in the air.
"Ever since the last punch-and-run incident you pinned on me," I muttered, looking anywhere but him. "You should know; you're the one who assigned the punishment."

Ravador studied me even closely, making me cringe even further.
"As far as I am aware of, you are still an Aequitas ranked Slayer." he said calmly.

What the hell?

Before any other thoughts came to mind, an arrogant, egotistical, sneering face of a familiar asshole came floating up: Varsalo.

"Oh really," I said in a low voice.
Ravador looked startled, and I felt a flash of alarm come from him. I didn't really care though, I had other thoughts and ideas on my mind.
"Well in that case," I muttered in the same muted tone.

I started to turn around when I felt a hand grip my shoulder, pushing me back forward.
"Before you jump onto dangerous conclusions, why don't we solve this issue first?" Ava whispered to me.

Before I could snap back at her, she was in front of me, taking over.
"Sir, we're on a tight schedule today." she reminded Ravador.
I heard Ravador sigh.
"Mivian, are you sure that you are really de-ranked?" he asked.
I scowled moodily at him.
"I have a friggin' restraining order to prove it." I snapped.

Ravador considered this, leaning forward on his desk with his clasped hands to his lips.
"I'm afraid this is not a simple matter. I will need to investigate this issue a bit further before any change could be made to Mivian's current status." he said, sounding sincerely sad.

I threw a glance back at Ava. She was wearing a hard, stiff gaze at Ravador. Maybe, that icy stare of hers can turn Ravador into stone...

"Alright, I respect your position in this matter." she said smoothly.
She turned, and started to walk away,
"I'll be expecting a notification of my de-ranked status within the next hour. Should I still be carrying out these missions?" she asked over her shoulder as she walked away, holding up four silver mission cards in her left hand.

My eyes snapped back to Ravador, the present events giving me anxiety. Ravador looked alarmed and confused.
"De-ranked? What for?" he asked.
Ava didn't stop. She was half way down the Elder's Hall.
"I'm one with very few friends. If one of them goes down, I go down with them," she called. "I know; ridiculous girl code. Sorry."
"But it would be unfair punishment!" Ravador argued.

Ava stopped short and turned a half way around.
"Well, that seems to be the theme of this discussion," she brushed off, shrugging.

There was a long, tense silence after that. My eyes were probably wide with anxiety with the whole thing playing out right in front of me. Zavius, Sarvwen and I stood there and waited for what seemed like seconds turning into hours.

Finally, a sigh of defeat escaped through Ravador's lips and he leaned back tiredly against his chair.
"You shall have my word that Mivian's rank status will be renewed back to the rank Aequitas and shall be assigned the proper missions in the future." he said tiredly.
"What about the restraining order?" I asked, cutting in.
Ravador rolled his eyes and gave a dismissive gesture with his hand. Well, I'll take that as a 'that too will be dealt with.'

Relief flooded in my chest, and it took all my will to fight myself from jumping up and down in joy. I turned around, grinning ear-to-ear and slowed my pace to walking in wide strides as I made my way towards Ava.

"Oh, one thing." I heard Ravador call after us, stopping us yet again. "Mivian will be assigned as Ava's assistant partner."

I felt my jaw drop.
Partner? Assistant?

I turned back to spit back a retort when I felt a hand grip my shoulder.

"Alright, let's go, partner," Ava said, stopping me from getting into trouble.

Everything went white as we flashed out of Elder's Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I never got used to dual-teleporting, never mind like it.
Somehow, somewhere during the whole process, I manage to get tangled on the landing. If not every time, 99.999 % of the time. And well, this time was no different.

I could only imagine what kind of artistic landing position I had taken on this time. all I really knew was that I was somehow facing down, my left cheek pressed into the cool stone ground. And there really didn't seem to be much flexibility for moving around, seeing that I didn't really know where my arms and legs were.
My vision was starting to clear when I heard a soft swoosh sound as someone landed right next to me, obviously having better skills and luck than I on the landing.
I heard Ava sigh tiredly before kneeling down before my face.
"Come on, let's get you up," she said.

We were in the middle of my favorite game, Unknot-Mivian-From-Yoga-Position, when there was another set of swoosh-ing sounds that filled the air.
Ava seemed to have frozen in place because suddenly, everything went still.
I knew what was coming, and I cringed.
SO not in the mood, could my luck just be good to me, just this once and let me deal with this some other---

"Hey, beauty down below," I heard Zavius say brightly.

I twisted my head forward as much as my current position allowed me. Which was not a whole lot, but from the corner of my eye, I managed to catch a glimpse of Zavius lying on the floor in front of me, propped up on one elbow, his hand supporting his happy-smiley head. We just stood there, or rather, laid there, him staring down at me, and me glaring enviously at his ease and comfort.
After a while of keeping that up, he finally spoke.
"Not having the best of luck with the landing part of dual-tel, are we?" he mused, sounding somewhat sympathetic.
I couldn't help but snort.
"No, you think?" I retorted sarcastically.
Zavius gave me a crooked grin in return.

Just as I was about to kick (or at least, attempt to kick) that grin off his smug face, there was a strange grunting sound coming from somewhere behind my head. Curious, I did my best to change the position of my head so I faced the other side to where the sound had come from.

And there, on the floor was Sarvwen, in a semi-twisted state I assumed was supposed to resemble mine.
"Okay... the left leg goes... no, no arm... no, wait, Mivi, how the hell do you do that?" he demanded, his voice strained from the effort.
He gave a weak thrash before slumping in a knot.

Suddenly, he gave a puzzled frown.
"Oh... yeah, hmm."
He cleared his throat loudly, and gave another thrash.
There was an awkward silence over the four of us as Sarvwen continued with his flapping.
"Okay, now I'm stuck... Mind lending me a hand?" he asked, slumping breathlessly onto the floor.
When no one answered, slight panic seeped into his voice.
"Guys?"

Zavius and I exchanged looks. Then we burst out laughing. And apparently, laughing wasn't a great idea in the position I was in.
"OW!! No, stop! Don't make me laugh!!" I gasped out, as sudden stabs of pain went up and down my sides.
But the laughing didn't stop. I forced myself to look away from Sarvwen to try and regain my control. It did no good.
Zavius got up from the ground to go help Sarvwen, still laughing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Okay, calm down... breath and relax...

As soon as I relaxed my muscles, my limbs came loose from its twist and I was finally free. With one big sigh of relief, I flipped over onto my back. My muscles were aching with the strain of staying in that position for so long that it felt good to just lay down on the cool marble floor. I finally got to look around to see where I was. We were back in the living quarters, the East Wing to be exact. And we were in the First Court. I sat up and looked around. The large atrium had a domed ceiling, like most of the vastly spaced rooms in the Paramount Towers. The ceiling was glowing with a bright light from an unknown source. The supportive beams came together in a peak at the center of the ceiling, adding to the whole beautiful structure.
An obnoxious laugh from Zavius brought my attention back to my friends, and my aches and pain.
"Okay, don't, hey---Ow! No, let me do it!" Sarvwen gasped as Zavius attempted to pull him up.

He flipped his whole body to the side and with a few for kicks and thrashing, he finally managed to untie himself. He laid flat on the ground heaving as Zavius laughed at him. I forced myself up and walked over to the two.
"Hey Sarv? Are you alright?" I asked.
Sarvwen's eyes flicked onto me and he blinked. He didn't say anything for a while.
"I'm hungry," he said, breaking his silence.

I looked at Zavius, he shrugged. I looked back at Ava but she didn't seem to really mind his spaced-out mind.
"I was planning on taking the review of our mission outside the Headquarter walls anyway. I suppose going out into the city to sate your cravings won't alter the schedule." she said.
She looked around at us, waiting for answers.
Oh yeah...the mission.

"Alright, let's do this." I said, and we all followed Ava out of the atrium, out of the East Wing, and made our way out to the city.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Okay, now that we are settled in, may I start?" Ava asked a bit exasperatedly.

I sat at a large table in the corner of the small tavern, tapping my nails on the wooden surface. I, too, was a bit irritated with the fact that the two "men" in our group were taking their time debating over what they wanted to eat.

It wasn't like we needed to eat; food was just a luxury for us Immortals. We never became hungry like when we were mortals.
The fact that these two practically ate as if they survived a famine irritated me.
And there was also the fact that we were being quite an attraction; our Angel Guard uniforms stood out in the public.
I was on the same side of the table as Ava was standing, facing the two pigs.

Let me tell you; what a beautiful view.

Not getting any verbal answer, Ava went on to the mission description.
She pulled out the silvery mission card. She flicked at it in her left hand and pressed it down on the table. Instantly, it cracked open and a holographic profile record appeared on a certain individual.
"Name: Darvien, Rank: Praesidium, though current status is questionable. Now, this is where the mission comes from," Ava said with an authoritative command in her voice.

Zavius gulped down the bite of his food in his mouth before he spoke.
"A questionable rank? Does this mission involve an unstable subject on the run?"
Sarvwen had his mouth full but turned to look at his friend, waving at him. He had the decency, if I dare to call it that, to cover his mouth as he tried to talk with his mouth full.
"Umph-fum! Humph um e oomph-um!" he puffed out.
"Come again?" I said, my tone taking an unintended edge of annoyance.

Ava grimaced slightly before handing him a napkin. She brought her left hand up to her head and lightly massaged her temple. After a few moments, she sighed and lowered her hand, folding her left arm across and tucked her hand under her right elbow. She seemed to be focused on one thing, because her expression didn't seem to change.
"If only it was even half as exciting as that," she murmured. She passed her hand over the profile, and a 3-D hologram image came up.
The image was one of a boy, in the blue uniform training gear. Right next to it was a graph, displaying his stamina, power, endurance, attack power, etc.
"I'm guessing that's our buddy, Darvien." I said, curious about his skill levels.
"Right. And he has been on top of his year for a few decades I hear, and is currently in everyone's eyes the genius of the generation," Ava said informatively.

Someone choked.
We turned and saw Sarvwen with a bizarre look.
"Wait, a genius? Wow, they must really have lowered their expectations since we leveled out. But can I ask one thing? What does any of this have to do with our task?" he inquired.
There was a pause before Ava turned to respond.
"Everything,"

She reached down and touched her finger to the card. The images faded and the card reverted back into its original form. She picked it up and waved it in her hand.
"Guys, we were selected for this mission not without reason. Zavius,"
Zavius looked up at the sound of his name.
"You, for your gifted talent in weaponry. Sarvwen,"
Sarvwen nodded.
"Your strength in Energy skills. Mivian,"
I jumped a little and straightened my posture.
"You for your power, determination and will."
I felt a surge of warm pride inside of me for some reason. But one thing didn't make sense.
"Wait, if they needed all that attributes in this mission, why didn't they choose just you? I mean, you have the experience, intelligence and wisdom, well-balanced combat techniques, over exceeding skill and power levels, AND the records. It should be easy for you."

Ava grimaced visibly before silencing me with a look. I was about to protest when I noticed the whole tavern was quiet. I turned around and saw every eye on the four of us, listening into our conversation. I gave a sheepish grin at them before slowly turning around. Ava had her left hand clapped over her eyes in obvious agitation.
"I think a change of location and environment is necessary," she said tightly.
She moved towards the door of the tavern.
"Um...so what's the mission?" Zavius asked suddenly, standing up.

Ava stopped and turned to us. To my surprise, she was smirking a bit.
"We are in charge of running Darvien through physical exams to clarify if he is worthy of jump-ranking up to the Aequitas rank."