With a dozen other vehicles, tanks included among them, the Third Regiment had departed for Vasel a few hours ago. The road had been bumpy, due to the fact it was mostly dirt, but Pyrrha was thankfully not bothered by it. However, she couldn't catch a wink of sleep as her heart beat harder than the marching boots of the soldiers. She stared at her hands, at the gauntlet on her right arm, then at the shield laying beside her. She was going to war. To war. On a foreign world... She swallowed empty, trying to find something to drink, to wash her dry mouth...

"Here." A warm voice spoke.

She saw a canteen appear in front of her and followed the armored hand of the woman who extended it to her. A redhead, her hair caught in buns on the sides of her head and with a choker and lipstick. She looked uh... Interesting? She gave Pyrrha a smile, then said "C'mon, drink. I can year ya swallowing nothing, kiddo." as Pyrrha took the canteen and uncapped it.

"Thank you..." The girl said meekly, before dunking her head back and swallowing half the canteen's contents in three big gulps. She leaned forward, before capping the canteen and handing it to the woman. She chuckled, sliding the thing back into her pocket, before going back to checking a weapon made of wood and steel, which Pyrrha could only assume was a submachine gun, going by the size of the bullets.

"No problem, kiddo." Her comrade said. "I'm Brigitte Stark, though most people call me Rosie. Who're ya?"

"Pyrrha... Pyrrha Nikos. A pleasure to meet you, Rosie." The girl smiled at Rosie. She looked around at the others, before watching a grey-haired gal sit herself down in front of her. She extended a hair tie to Pyrrha, then said "You may wanna tie your hair. We're goin' into combat after all." smiling too. Her voice was somewhat more... irritating... Than Rosie's, but she seemed nice.

"Oh, fair, thank you..." She started, staring at the girl as she was handed the item.

"Edy. Edy Nelson. Future idol!" She smirked... Oh, no.

Rosie snorted "Nelson, the only way you're getting to be an idol is if the judges at one of the shows are deaf.", words to which Edy glared fiery daggers at her. Pyrrha looked away, smiling half a smile as she went to tie her hair, tidying it up in her usual pony-tail, before picking up Akoúo̱ and sliding it onto her back. She stood up, gazing upon the columns of smoke that arose from the center of the city of Vasel. She could see the massive, mechanical bridge they were meant to take back, as well as the city itself. The spots where combat was fiercest were visible by the tracers and shells being exchanged...

The Gallian Forces had established a clear beachhead within the confines of the city's western area. As they entered the outskirts, they were greeted by aid stations, machine gun nests and the banners of the Gallian Regular Army. According to the few bits of data she could gather, the Regulars were Gallia's professionally-trained army, the ones that were usually around during peace-time, when the Militia wasn't needed. They were meant to be the beacon of Gallia's military might...

Going by the number of casualties streaming in from within the town, that seemed to either have changed, or not have been real at all. The vehicles stopped dead in the middle of the Gallian encampment and the squads disembarked, with Pyrrha being among the first. Akoúo̱ rested on her back, its weight, a comfort Pyrrha was glad she had. She watched as Squad Seven formed up, with the Lieutenant and Sergeant following the Captain for a briefing.

She decided to stay at a bit of a distance from them. This was war and death was a cruel mistress when she found herself in it. Pyrrha knew Death too well for her liking. Any friendships she could form with the squad were jeopardized by the simple fact of war. If she wanted to form friendships... She herself was still lost in her own thoughts regarding her death... At least she'd managed to save little Misha...

... She gazed upon the burning town... No... She could save more. More than just Misha... And she didn't need to kill. She hadn't killed those men, instead knocking them out. And Prisoners of War did exist. She could only hope the Gallians would treat any she managed to knock out well. She approached the gathered squad just as Welkin had come back.

"Alright, listen up, Sevens. We've got our first mission for the day." Welkin started, opening up a map and pointing to their approximate position. There was a line drawn with marker toward the riverbank. Their targets... "Our objective is to secure two positions on the West Bank of Vasel, to allow us to move our base of operations within the town hall. Said town hall is currently occupied by the Imperial Army. Recon counted at least two Imperial Light Tanks and two dozen infantry in the area of operations. We will be entering the place through the two locations we secure, that being the Library Square here..." He pointed at the square on the map "And the Riverbank ramp here." He pointed at it. "For this, we'll be dividing into two teams, with one team occupying the Square, while I take the Edelweiss and the other team to secure the ramp. We'll then pincer the enemy and capture the Hall. All clear?"

"Yessir!" The squad chorused.

"Alright... Let's get to it, Sevens. Move it out." Welkin nodded, rolling up the map and handing it back to Captain Varrot. She saluted, bid them good luck and left for her CP Tent. Pyrrha pulled her shield to her arm, tightening the straps properly, before joining the team going for the Library Square. She watched the burly, tanned, farmer-looking man with what looked like a massive anti-tank weapon on his shoulder rallying his team.

She saw Rosie tag along, racking the bolt of her SMG. The older woman gave Pyr a smile, then said "Well, I'll be. Largo, we got the Hoplite joining us."

"The more the merrier." The old man said. "Welcome to the squad, kiddo. I'm Largo Potter."

"A pleasure..." Pyrrha nodded, smiling weakly back as she joined the patrol.

"You got no gun, Pyrrha?" Rosie asked.

Pyr shook her head... "I... Don't think I'm gonna need one..." And that got a chuckle out of Largo.

"Sure thing, kid. And I don't need a Lance to take out tanks." He quipped. Pyr elected to stay quiet for the rest of the walk. And as the teams set up in their respective areas, the girl readied her shield, eyeing every corner, wall and window to make sure nobody'd surprise them. The squad settled in, readying their weapons in case of the enemy attacking, with sandbags being put up by the team's engineers.

Pyr was standing up, shield ready... She heard footsteps to the left, from an alleyway beside the building blocking their view into the town hall square. She watched as the first Imperial emerged, only to raise her shield as he started firing his SMG. Bullets pinged off of Akoúo̱'s front as the Hoplite charged forth. Two more weapons, of a larger caliber than the SMG, joined the fire, shots reverberating and almost pushing her shield out. She saw two riflemen... Scouts, she recalled... Beside the submachine gunner.

Slamming shield-first into the face of the Shock Trooper, Pyrrha sent the man into the wall, before spinning and kicking one of the riflemen in the face with the heel of her boot, almost breaking the man's face plate and sending him to the floor. She raised her shield to block another shot from the other rifleman, before she grappled his rifle, wresting it from his hand and slamming its butt hard enough into the man's armored face to break the wooden stock. Bleeding from his nose, the Imperial collapsed, knocked out, as Pyrrha tossed aside his broken rifle.

Bullets raked the wall behind her, but she was quick to put her shield up and take a knee. Below her feet was the SMG from the Shock Trooper. She stomped down onto it, breaking its rickety metal stock, before roundhouse-kicking the weapon into the face of another Trooper and throwing her shield in a follow up attack. Akoúo̱ spun through the air, bouncing against the walls of the alley and slamming into the two Imperial Shock Troops that attempted to advance, knocking them both off their feet and out of the fight.

Using her semblance, Pyrrha summoned her shield back to her, catching it mid-air and slinging it on her arm. She looked back to Largo, with the gaze and pride of a lioness. Surprised was the single word she'd use to describe him right now. Rosie laughed as she approached Pyrrha, giving her a pat on the shoulder and saying "Holy crap, Pyrrha, that was something else!"

"They're out cold! Holy shit!" A Scout stated, a smile on her freckled face. "Nice, Pyr! Prisoners!"

Pyrrha nodded, arranging her shield as she moved ahead of the squad. She wanted to make sure nobody had to die... But going by the gunshots coming from the riverbank, that wasn't gonna be the case. She skidded to a halt as she saw a tank appear to her right, before raising her shield as its machine gun raked her position, forcing the Gallians back into the safe cover of the alley. The burst of MG fire halted as a grenade arched its way toward Pyrrha...

She gasped, catching it mid-flight and throwing it high into the sky, before throwing her shield again and jumping over a sandbag wall. The shield struck true, sending the man that threw the grenade to the floor and Pyrrha's boots made contact with another man's chest, pinning him to the floor and knocking the air out of his lungs and the gun out of his hands. She rolled forward, grabbing her shield out of flight, before looking at the second tank in the square, its turret tracking the Edelweiss as it ascended the ramp.

She gasped as she heard gunfire from her own team, watching as two Imperial soldiers fell, raked by Rosie's SMG, while the rest of the team advanced. She turned to Largo, to see him aiming that Lance, an Anti-Tank weapon, she now realized, toward the enemy tank. She grit her teeth, only noticing the blue-shining radiator on the back of the tank now... Looked like a pretty obvious weak-spot, so...

She threw her shield into it, lodging the bronze-colored defensive tool into the radiator. It whirred, sputtered, then died, as did the tank's engine. Pyr retrieved her shield and watched as a black-haired woman raised her scoped rifle and fired, taking out a sniper that was aiming for her. The dead soldier collapsed, falling off the roof with a wet crunch... The redhead winced, but couldn't bring herself to look at the corpse, instead turning toward the men defending the rest of the square.

The crew of the tank she disabled jumped out, trying to draw weapons, but Pyr disarmed them quickly, throwing one to the floor and knocking out the others with a shield throw. She ran toward the other tank just as Edelweiss's gun struck the tracks. The response fire was a low-velocity 75mm shell bouncing off of the Gallian tank's front armor, before Pyrrha climbed onto the vehicle.

She threw her shield into the radiator again, before pulling the top hatch off the cupola and grabbing the tank's commander-gunner out of it. She looked him in the eye, glaring a deathly glare, before she saw the man lift his hands up in surrender. She dropped him onto the back of the tank, where five Gallian guns were pointed at him... Then she turned toward the Town Hall.

She jumped off the tank, her Aura flaring as bullets raked her shield, greaves and breastplate. She grunted, rolling forth after landing to maintain momentum and charged the enemy MG nest. Jumping over the Sandbag Wall, she punched the gunner of the weapon and grabbed the loader by the arm, twisting it and nearly pulling it out of its socket as she swept her leg under his feet, knocking him to the floor.

Bullets pinged off her shield as she then charged a Shock Trooper, punting him over a sandbag wall, head-first into the floor and hard enough to knock his helmet off of his head. With a swivel-kick to the side of the face of the last man outside, the fight was over and Pyrrha was going inside to clear the place, before the Gallians could kill them... She didn't hate the Gallians. They were in the middle of a war. They were defending their homes... But she couldn't fathom killing... Not even in war. She was meant to protect mankind...

Most of the doors were open. Most. The Imps must've either all run out to engage the Gallians or they were looting the place. The halls were filled with papers and other items like cans. Two of the rooms had bunks in them. For the troops to sleep, she imagined. They thought this place would be their forward ops base to attack the capital... She turned the corner to the mayor's office...

And upon entering it, she felt the cold, hard wood of a rifle stock strike her in the face. She staggered, nearly falling backward as blood fell from her nose. Bringing her shield up out of instinct, the redhead felt the rifle's bullets slam into the plate. Every shot sent a small spike of pain through her arms, which were still healing from the event with the tank... She rocked back her fist, then charged forward, letting out a blood-curdling battle cry, filled with anger... And, with emerald-shining eyes literally burning with hatred, her hardened fist made contact with the man's chest. But this wasn't a simple knock-out punch. Reinforced by her Aura and semblance, it bent the man's armor and did worse...

Pyr heard the crack of bones as the man was sent flying. She had felt his ribcage collapse under the powered strike, as his cuirass bent and broke around the fist. He flew backward, slamming against the wall hard enough to leave a human-sized crack in the bricks... Pyrrha's eyes went wide as saucers as she saw blood spew out of the man's mouth. He slid down the wall, collapsed and died as his heart failed, his black eyes still open, staring into Pyrrha's...

The girl staggered, doubling over and looking at her balled right fist. Her lips trembled and her heart fired off like a machine gun as she stopped against the wall behind her, sliding down on it. Akoúo̱ fell, detached from her hand, to the floor. She covered her face, curling up... Looking at her own two hands, she knew they were now stained with blood... The blood of a man she never met, nor knew and would have no chance of knowing again...

As her breathing turned fast, shallow, she looked up to the ceiling and let out a frightful scream of desperation, to the skies of this new world. A scream damning what she had just done out of anger. A scream damning what her second day in a new world turned out to be...

When Alicia entered the town hall, mere minutes after Pyrrha, she'd heard the girl's scream. She'd rushed up the stairs to the hall and turned the corner, only to find Pyrrha curled up, crying into her knees... Alicia looked inside, to see what had caused the event... With eyes wide, she sat and watched the corpse left behind by Pyrrha. And slowly, she realized Pyrrha was not one to kill... And what had just occurred... Oh, God...

Alicia knelt beside Pyrrha as the others, including one of the Squad's three medics, came inside. She put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, then spoke softly "Pyrrha... It's... I'm... I'm so sorry you had to do that..."

"... I didn't..." She choked out, sobbing... "He... He hit me... He was... Shooting and I... I lost control and... Oh, Gods!" She wept... Alicia stopped for a moment, trying to find words to comfort her... But her search was futile... Instead, she wrapped her arms around Pyrrha and sat down beside her, looking to the doc and shaking her head... Alicia had a feeling it would be a while... And Pyrrha really was a sweet girl. She didn't seem the killer type... All they could do now was be beside her until this passed...

It still didn't make things better... They'd need to have a talk.