intermission // Georgia & Carolyn

---

Georgia blows a bubble with the gum she had managed to barter from a patrol returning from outside Bunker Chicago. She blinks as the pink sugary sweet grows before her eyes before suddenly popping. She jumps, having startled herself with the volume and looks about the garage, wondering if anyone had even noticed. The trick was pretty neat, one of the grunts who had found the sugary sweets had shown her how to do it before saying if she wanted any she needed to trade for it... So far, it was worth the stack of comics. Sweets like these were rare enough as is, leave alone so much fun! -- She draws the sticky gums back into her mouth and starts to smack it as she moves further into the garage over to the familiar mech with duct tape and teddy bear marked on it with a sharpie. "Hey Cara? You here?" She raps on the mech lightly, hoping to draw her out if she was too far in the zone.

Slowly, the cockpit of the partially refurbished mech opens, only for the door to get stuck. A few kicks later, and the door opens with a pained whine. An oily, ruffled looking Carolyn pops out, her hair a ruffled mess and her jumpsuit's top zipped open, arms out of their sleeves, sleeveless t-shirt on underneath, sweat rolled down her arms and from her brow. It mist be an oven inside the cockpit. She blinks seeing the silver hair and smiles awkwardly. "Hey. What's up?"

Georgia smiles a tad and hops up to sit on the edge of the mech, holding out her arm to show a band-aide with a cartoon cat on it. "Back from the lab... They stuck me for tests..." She furrows her brow, looking at her toes and kicking her feet lightly. "Wouldn't let me take Thomas in with me for some of the tests. Like the one with the sticky-cups on my head." She makes suction pop noises as she motions to her head. She shrugs and leans in closer to Carolyn, blowing a big bubble right before her face to show off.

Carolyn giggles as as pokes the bubble and watches it pop in Georgia's face. "Aww. I haven't had this stuff in years. They call it gum right?" She says with a soft laugh, relieved to be out of the cockpit. She wipes the sweat from her brow and breathes heavily, having been working hard. "Tests? What for?"

Georgia rubs over her arm, "Changes..." She furrows her brow, trying to remember what they had said. "With my head. Mu... Mutations?" She shakes her head and pulls on her hair, showing the silvery white locks, a bit nervous before she releases it. Instead she runs her hands into her pockets and procures the packet of gum and offers it out to Carolyn. "I can do a few new tricks, I guess?"

Carolyn grabs a stick of gum and pops it into her mouth, chewing and grimacing slightly. "Oh these are old." Still, she keeps chewing anyway as she softly touches the silver hair, a spine tingling shudder going through her as she did. "What happened to your hair..."

She furrows her brow, lowering her gaze. "Same thing like with my eyes..." She bites her lip uncertainly, "Just another thing that makes me different... That makes them call me a freak or... Or a mutt." She wrinkles her nose at the term some of the grunts threw around. "I don't like it. I miss my hair... It was like... Like mom's... And Thomas'..."

There was a bit of happiness in her, noticing that Georgia was recognizing that Thomas the bear was not Thomas her brother, and yet, that was overwhelmed with sympathy as she frowns and draws Georgia into a warm embrace. "Ahh... I'm sorry they're bullying you again..." Then the both of them felt it as Carolyn brushed against Georgia's hair with her shoulder, a small shock of psychic energy like static which vanished as quickly as it came. "... Woah." Carolyn says as she blinks in surprise. "Um... Was that supposed to happen?"

She shudders and nods slowly, "A-ah... Yeah... I just felt... well..."She furrows her brow, wondering why Carolyn was feeling sympathy, but tries to ignore it as she raises her arms up to hug her as well. "Just a little shock, I think." She couldn't have accidentally read Carolyn from just that little contact...

"Heh..." After a few more moments of hugging, Carolyn snaps back and snaps her fingers. "Right! I forgot! I got something you will looove from R&D! Close your eyes." Carolyn says with a warm smile as she climbs back into the cockpit to grab something.

Georgia blinks before closing her eyes and raising her hands to cover them as well. She pauses for a moment, so tempted to peek through Carolyn's eyes that she fidgets and squirms in her spot and looses quiet whimpers. "Oh gosh, hurry, Cara. You know I can't handle surprises! The suspense is kiiiiilliiiing meeeee!~"

Just as it seemed the wait was going to kill her and time was going to stop, she hears a robotic bark. "Open your eyes!" Before her was the head and body of a robotic puppy, connected to a small battery. He barks again, his electronic eyes staring up at Georgia with happy emoticons. "Robopuppy!... Or what I've done so far." The legs were laying beside the body, disconnected from the form with dozens of wires and screws laying with them. "Isn't he adorable?!"

Georgia gasps and lets out a giddy squeal as she sees the robotic dog, "Oh my gosh! He is so cuuuuute!" She giggles and reaches out to pet the puppy. As her hand comes into contact with him, his LED displays show bits of static here and there. She smiles and looks up at Carolyn, "What's his name?"

"Ditzy." Carolyn says as she notices off-hand the sparks. "Touch him again." She says with curiosity.

"Why?" Georgia asks curiously, scratching under Ditzy's jowl like she would a real dog, looking at Carolyn. Even as she does so, his display fuzzes over again.

She points at Ditzy, resting her hand over Georgia's hand. "Look for yourself." Ditzy's bark sounded a little off, there was static in his voice.

She looks down and frowns, "Oh... Right." She wriggles her fingers beneath Carolyn's, a slight flicker of a smile passing over her lips, "I told you it was a shock earlier."

"Yeah..." Carolyn says as she tries to blow a bubble, and fails. "... How do you do that?"

She smiles and puckers her lips like she's about to give a kiss, "Like this, then you blow."

Peckering her own lips close to Georgia, she attempts to blow a bubble. The first couple of attempts fail until she adjusts her lips to just the right angle, then with one steady blow, a bubble finally comes out. Popping it herself, she smiles and leans back against her "new" mech, patting its leg with her hand. "This piece of junk is a lot of work." Ditzy barks again, causing her to roll her eyes as she rests her hands behind her head, happy to have air conditioning blowing by to cool down her exposed arms and face. "You too, Ditzy." He whimpers, only for Carolyn to frown with her eyes closed. "The good kind, Ditzy."

Georgia looks over Carolyn curiously, shifting closer and sprawling out beside her. "Hey Cara?..."

Yeah?" Carolyn replies as a couple pilots pass by, staring in awe for a moment before they move quickly away when Carolyn looks at them with a knowing smile.

"We'll still be friends even if I keep changing, right?... Even if... If I weren't human?" She looks at her face, watching for her reaction.

Carolyn seems to pause a moment. Not in thought, but in surprise. "Of course... You will always be my friend." Her hand reaches out and grasps Georgia's hand. "So long as you'd keep being my friend if I was horrible mutilated in combat."

She frowns and looks at Carolyn with shock-widened eyes upon hearing that “Cara, that won't happen! I won't let it happen...” She squeezes her hand tighter and gives her a serious look that looks out of place on her softly rounded face. “I... I'll keep you safe.”

Carolyn looks at Georgia eye to eye, breathing softly before she slowly reaches out and ruffles Georgia's hair. Again, Georgia felt a hint of warm emotions from Carolyn. “Don't worry...” There was a hint that Carolyn was uncertain. “I will be fine. I will...” Her hand leaves Georgia's hair, wringing out her wrists nervously. “Hey, could you help me?” She lifts up some duct tape. “the jumpsuit is too big, as usual. They still don't make them in womens' sizes, leave alone in someone with my shape.”

Georgia's eyes drift to the duct tape and instantly her face melts to glee, “Hand me the stick silver, my amigo!” She holds her hand out, a big goofy grin on her face as looks her over, sizing up where she would have to doctor up the suit... and do other adjustments just to make sure she was as spiffy as possible. No friend of hers was going to go about in some silly duck-suit unless it was the most impressive one out there.

Carolyn smiles and giggles as well, handing her the duct tape and then going silent momentarily as she spreads her arms and legs out to be taped at the joints. “So, Georgia... We have our own apartments now. I was wondering something...”

She draws out on the tape sharply, hearing the sudden crrrrriiiiip-ing sound of duct tape with a satisfied giggle before she starts to tape along her best friend's joints to give her a snug fit. She furrows her brow, patting the duct tape along her thighs to make sure the tape sticks before she looks up, “Uh, yeah... What were you thinking, Cara?”

She stretches out, bending her back and admiring how her clothing now fit her properly as she zips up her jumpsuit. “Would you move in with me? I don't like the idea of you living alone.... Neither does your mother.” She says softly.

Georgia toys with the roll of duct tape in her hand as she chews on her lip. “I... Yeah. I admit... It's been a bit lonely with just Thomas... And he's not very good company lately.” She lowers her voice, “Don't tell him that... He'll get grumpy and then he'll just be unbearable.”

“Ha... Unbearable...” Carolyn mutters quietly, obvious concern on her face as was usual when Georgia talked about Thomas. “Regardless... You should stay with someone. Why not me? It'll be like old times, the sleepovers, remember? With Ritz, my German Shepard, and your sparkly plugs. Only permanent so I can keep you close... So how about it? Stay with me?” Offering a handshake, Carolyn looked at Ditzy as he barked, completely unaware of the situation.

Georgia smiles a tad and takes her hand with both of hers. “I'm a big girl, Cara. Different, but a big girl. They send me out there just like they do you, don't they?” She shakes her head as she draws her into an embrace, “But I'd love to move in with my best friend... And I do miss our sleepovers.” She says the last bit with a blush and a slight ruffling of her hair.

“Aww you are so cute when you blush!” Carolyn says in a friendly way, before handing Georgia a wrench. “Now want to help me with my mech and Ditzy?” She says with a small grin.

Georgia rubs her cheek, trying to will the blush away as she grips the wrench, “Definitely!” She looks at the duct tape about her other wrist and holds it up, “Hey, do you think Ditzy needs stick silver too?”

“Maybe, but not right now I think.” Carolyn says with a soft, though almost remorseful smile. “Now come on, let me show you about the cockpit.”

She tries to hide her pout as she follows Carolyn, “Lead on, captain.”

Intermission-Kiku, Col Black and Nomuro

---

Being dead hurt more than Kiku imagined it would. For one, she had thought it wouldn’t hurt at all: like, how could being dead hurt? If you were dead, you were dead. Nothing else to it really.

But nonetheless, she felt nothing but hurt. Her stomach hurt, where she’d got shot, and shoulder felt a strange numb pain to it, as well. Slowly, she tried to flex her fingers, but nothing seemed to obey. Memories started to trickle back into her head: Of the mission, of the hunt and the kill, and then...She got shot? That was how she died, right?

A sound caught her attention, it sounded like voices...panicky voices, at that. She couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like they were freaking out about something ‘waking up.’

Why did death smell like disinfectant?

It took her a while to grasp that she wasn’t dead...A few seconds of acclimatising her body to the various sensations: of the cold metal against her back, of the slow beep of machines, and of the smell of sweat and dry blood and disinfectant. She tried to open her eyes, but was briefly blinded by the overhanging lights. She tried to lift her arms to cover her eye, but only her right arm responded, and it felt numb as all hell.

“Wha…”

She turned her head away from the skull-splitting light, and tried to look down at her left hand. All she saw was the stump of her left shoulder, as well as a number of stitched up holes. She began putting two and two together, and she glanced up to see her limb, dead and retched on a table beside them.

She was broken.

“Oh god...Ohgod, Ohgod! Someone, help me? Help me please?!” She tried to get up, to writhe away from the sight of her own dead limb, but every milimetre felt like a mile. Her body was numb and aching and it hurt so much, but seeing her own arm, just...there…

Slowly but surely as her blurred vision began to focus, several sights would greet her. The paleness of her own skin, her spines folded against her back could feel the drugs coursing through her veins and were fighting them to try and keep her awake, she had no control over this. Still. One of the panicked voices was a man in a lab coat. Really, they were all in lab coats, but this one in particular had a distinctly asian descent in a room full of mostly caucasian doctors, and he was the only one that seemed particularly disturbed by the sight of the dismembered arm.

The asian lab coat was on a phone connected to the wall with a cord, and he was screaming something in a furious tone, though the language was entirely foreign to her ears. As she struggled against the ties keeping her down, a woman enters the room, still decked out in combat gear, though she tosses her strange rifle to the side and dashes over to Kiku. Leaning overtop of the medical bed, Kiku finally recognized her face: Colonel Marie Black. Marie looked over the pale, badly maimed form of Kiku and grasped Kiku’s shoulders, resting her forehead against Kiku’s as her necklace slips out from underneath her chest plate: A cross. “Shh, it’s okay… These men are trying to help you, Kiku, just calm down… I’m here now…”

Kiku’s eyes slowly focused in on Black’s, the fear in them so very contrasting to the normally brazen girl. Everything was moving out of her control, and she was so afraid of being broken. She couldn’t help but recall the times in the pit, of being weak and defenceless: of being forced to do what she must to survive...She’d fought tooth and nail to make herself strong. She’d given up everything, and now she was some useless cripple?

“I’m sorry Colonel Black, I’m sorry. I’m sorryimsorryimsorry.” Kiku tried to raise her left arm again, visible through the tiny movements of her disfigured shoulder. She tried to wrap her phantom left arm around the Colonel, but felt the fruatration and pain of failure. Not being able to move her arm, she just shut her eyes, feeling tears flow for the first time in a what was probably years. “Help me, Marie. I don’t want to be useless; I can’t be useless! I’ll do anything, just don’t leave me here. Don’t leave me as some weak, useless little piece of crap, please?!”

“Shh…” Marie says as she gently caresses Kiku’s cheek with her right hand, her left hand slipping into Kiku’s and squeezing it tightly. “You won’t be… But…” Her eyes move to another metal tray, to Kiku’s right side, that had several metal parts. One looked like a shoulder combined with a motor, another looked like a hand. “They have to connect your nervous system to the wires so you can have control over the replacement limb… You were supposed to be unconscious, because it’s… Quite painful.” Marie turns her eyes back to Kiku, taking a deep breath she stops caressing Kiku momentarily so she can take off her cross and place it in Kiku’s left hand.

“They didn’t know that your body would adjust to the drugs so quickly.” The doctors around put on fresh gloves and masks, as the asian lab coat clears his throat and slowly places the phone back on the wall. “... Colonel…” He starts saying as she brings one of her hands up to motion for him to stop talking. “Kiku, they have to do this now, before the wound heals into a stump and the nerve endings heal… I’ll be here, right here, and so will God, he will watch over you, but this is going to be the most… Painful moment of your life, I will not lie to you. Just trust me, and the doctors, okay?” The tone of her voice was gentle, almost motherly as she waits for Kiku’s response, rather than forcing the procedure forward.

Kiku opened up her eyes and focused on Marie, the fear in her eyes unchanged, but sharpened with a certain focus. It seems her body had fought off the rest of the drugs, and the mutant was fully aware of what the Colonel had said to her. She didn’t let her eyes waver though. “I can do it, boss. I trust you. Just...please don’t leave. I need you here. I’m scared, but I can do it if you’re here.”

With a nod, Marie wraps her left hand around Kiku’s left hand, pushing the cross into Kiku’s palm. “I will. Do not worry. One child of God will not leave another to suffer alone.” The asian rolls his eyes skeptically as Marie sighs. “Just do your work, Nomuro.” He nods and grabs a small drill in one hand. Standing beside Kiku he looks at her sympathetically while the doctors stand impatiently around him. “Nǐ shì yǒnggǎn de.” Without further words, he starts the operation, drilling into Kiku’s flesh as quickly as he could to get the work done as fast as possible.

Kiku’s eyes flared open at the sudden intensity of the agony from her arm. She clenched her teeth tight as she began to scream, pushing her body up as she writhed in torment. It was like a fire had been set inside of her arm. Somehow, it hurt even more than being shot: perhaps because her body was being kept out of shock by the cocktail of suppressed drugs in her system or something.

She wanted to be stronger than this, but in the face of so great a pain, she couldn’t resist every nerve in her body shouting ‘run’ or ‘escape’ or ‘stop it, now.” She looked up at Black, almost wanting to open her mouth and tell her to, no, scream for her to stop the torture.

Something stopped her, though. Perhaps it was the fear of being useless, or perhaps the thought of letting the only person who truly cared for her down, or perhaps it was just the fact that she was too stubborn to lose to something like a lost arm: but she kept her mouth shut, refusing to let her pain beat her. She glared into Marie’s eyes, trying to fight past the fear and the pain and the god-damn self-loathing. A glimmer of Kiku shone through: of the fearless girl, of the fearless, happy girl that got caught up in stupid stuff, and who didn’t even trust herself with money, and who didn’t even care about any of the stuff Marie moaned at her about: like trying ‘Church’ or trying to get a ‘safe job’ or anything like that. It was just a flicker, but it was there, staring back at Black as she kept screamed into clenched teeth; until her throat grew sore and beyond.

The operation proceeded as blood started to seep out of her wounds again, though the doctors seemed intrigued that it was pinkish in hue rather than the dark red they expected. Getting a few samples that were rolling out of her anyway, a couple of them grabbed Kiku’s shoulders and held her down as Nomuro grabbed the shoulder piece and its several connections. Examining it quickly, he then puts it back down and starts putting magnetic metal pieces into her shoulder. They stung, but nowhere near as badly as the drill did. Black smiles, though concern openly showed in her eyes as she rests her hand on Kiku’s cheek. “Alright, it’s going well, just have to survive a little while longer… Maybe after this I can convince you to come to church with me…” She chuckles. “... Probably not, huh?”

The sensation of the pain decreasing in intensity brought about a sense of relief in the mutant. She didn’t feel as much of an urge to scream in protest now, although a few grunts of pain were enough to tell everyone in the room that the process was not comfortable. Looking up at Marie, she offered a sort of half-smile at the joke...At least, she thought it was a joke. “I don’t feel the need to listen stories and promises to do what I do. Sorry boss, but the day you see me in church is the day I get my mom back.” A small wince of pain seemed to cause her face to contort, but soon enough she was smiling again, trying to pretend that this wasn’t the worst sort of agony she’d been through.

Marie hesitates, then closes her eyes, a slight frown on her lips, but a look of understanding in her eyes as she opens them again. “Alright.” Nomuro nods to Marie, who in turn grasps Kiku’s hand tightly. “This is going to hurt.” The engineer then grabs the shoulder piece again, this time lining it up and shoving it hard into the bleeding wound Kiku had. The magnetic receptors which he had put in before attracted the metallic ends of the wires, connecting them to Kiku’s nervous system as Nomuro then grabs a strange looking tool connected to a generator. Shoving it into the shoulder piece, electricity flows into the shoulder piece, into the wires, and floods Kiku’s nervous system.

The confidence and half smiles seemed to vanish in the writhing convulsions of electricity rocking her body. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream as she pressed and writhed under Marie’s strong hand. The convulsions were terrifying and she couldn’t even scream to the world about how much it hurt. It was the worst kind of pain, and she could do nothing but suffer through it.

For what felt like far too fucking long, Kiku was obliterated by the pain. She eventually felt the spasming stop though, and felt her chest heave for oxygen. She’d spent fuck-knows how long screaming out, which meant she’d spent that much time not breathing: and the whole experience had her exhausted.

She opened one eye to look up at Marie, offering her best-worst impression of a smile: which looked painful, to be honest. “Did I do it, boss?”

Nomuro looks at the shoulder, tapping it with a finger. He then taps the flesh just beside the metallic shoulder, and instinctively, her metal shoulder twitches slightly under her own movement. “I would say so.” He says with a small smile. “Here.” He pulls two extra pieces of the limb over, attaching them slowly. There wasn’t any pain this time as he continued to attach artificial nerves and started drilling screws in at certain points. The painful part of the operation was over. Now it was time for the monotonous portion. “Can she sit up?” Marie asks, Nomuro nods as he undoes the straps. One of the doctors looks like they’re about to protest, only to get shot down with a glare from Nomuro. “The girl has been through enough today. She should be allowed to sit comfortable.”

Marie smiles softly as the door opens again, a man was bringing a tray of food in. “Good. She hasn’t eaten in two days. I figured she might be hungry after this ordeal.” There was even ice cream in a small bowl, it seemed Marie was really doting upon Kiku this day.

Kiku was slow in moving, even though it seemed the two adults thought it the best plan. She was...scared? It felt weird to admit that she was a bit afraid of moving, but her entire body weight felt off kilter. She felt like she was going to fall over at any moment, with the added weight of the metal arm.

Slowly though, Kiku shimmies her body up the bed, trying to get a bit more comfortable, and trying to work some of the stiffness out of her body. She’d been comatose for so long that her muscles ached at the very notion of movement, but still; with exclusively the use of her right hand, she managed to sit up.

Looking at both the doctor and the Colonel, Kiku felt the overwhelming desire to move her left arm. She’d felt her body feel...something before, when the left arm moved. It felt more than heavy, it felt like it was there, in some fashion. She slowly tried lifting the steel limb, and found the motion was sluggish, and wanting. It was going to take a long ass time to get used to it, for sure.

Then, the ice-cream was brought in, and Kiku temporarily forgot her worries in a moment of bright-eyed wonder. She had been shown the delight of Ice-cream less times than she had not-metal-fingers. “Holy crap, isn’t this stuff really expensive? Like… More-than-some-grunts-earn-in-a-week kind of expensive?”

“A month.” Marie says with a small smile and a shrug. “There is usually ample amounts of it for patients of these kinds of operations, however. The sugar is good to help kickstart your system into self recovery.” The tray is placed on Kiku’s lap as Nomuro continues to work on the left limb. Aside from an occasional twitch, it was functioning well. It was finished up to the elbow already. “You work fast.” Marie says with a bit of surprise in her eyes. “I have to. If I didn’t, one of these emotionless jokers would take my place, whole bunker would fall apart in a week.” Nomuro says with a smug grin as the doctors collectively rolled their eyes and started to leave the room, or take notes.

Seeing the ice cream on her lap, Kiku lifts her right hand to grab the spoon and tuck in. She makes it as far as grabbing the spoon before stopping herself, and then re-aligning it with the bowl, but on her left side. She glances over at Nomuro, seemingly hoping to get permission to actually attempt to use the metal appendage.

The Asian doctor, however, shook his head: clearly reading her intent. She pouted, but then just grabbed the spoon with her functioning hand and actually dug in. The Ice-cream was heavenly as it touched her tongue, and she couldn’t help but let out an over-happy giggle.

After a few more mouthfuls, she puts the spoon back in the bowl: pacing herself so as to not end up being sick. She looked at the Asian doctor, but decided to actually speak this time. Her face had a bit of a more serious note to it. “So doc, be honest with me: Does this arm make me any stronger? Will I be a better killer with this limb? Will I be more useful to the Bunker with this metal arm, or am I about the same as before?”

“No, depends on how you use it, and about as useful as before. It has its advantages, you won’t feel pain with this limb, though it can be damaged like any other, and excessive stress will cause the motors to overheat and melt.” He taps the motor now hidden underneath a metal plate in her elbow. He was halfway done attaching her wrist. “The metal is non-magnetic at least, so don’t worry about that being a problem.” Marie grimaces as she remembers something foul. Nomuro notices and chuckles. “Don’t worry. The few times arms and legs were ripped out of their owners never resulted in anything permanent, but we had to ensure that didn’t happen again. Oh, and Kiku, this isn’t bulletproof. Don’t expect it to stop a bullet from penetrating your torso.” He finishes with her wrist, then delicately starts attaching her hand. “Keep eating, you heard Marie. The sugar will help.”

Kiku listened to the explanations silently, as she slowly picked at a few more mouthfuls of Ice-cream.Her face didn’t take on the same smiling, giggling complexion it did before, as her mind filled up with a grim determination. She had guessed that this would be the case: that the arm wasn’t an ‘upgrade’ made sense, after all.

Finishing off another third of the bowl of ice-cream, she put the spoon down again, before looking at Black, with a smile. Here was the woman who’d saved her once, and who cared for her still. Here was the closest thing Kiku had to family, and to a mother, even. “Doc, Boss: Are there any special mutations or something that I can get? I’m not going to be leaving the hospital any time soon, so now seems like a good time for an upgrade. I don't mind risky, or crazy, or experimental or whatever; I want to be better than last time: to be faster, and stronger, and stealthier, and more useful. I don’t want to end up like...this again.”

She turned to the doctor, eyes full of a fiery determination. “I trust you two, and I don’t want to be useless ever again. I want to be useful to the bunker, and I want to make up to the people who saved me, and I want to kill any fucker who’d hurt me, or the Bunker, or...any of the people I care about. I don’t have many left, so I gotta protect them with my own two hands. Although I guess one of those hands would also be yours now, doc.”

“Just...make sure you drug me up a bit more, doc. And uh...Boss?” She pauses slightly, as she glances over at Col.Black, the woman who cared so much for her and who didn’t even have to.

“...Thanks. I owe you like...Way too much.”

Intermission // Georgia & Morai

---

As Georgia had returned to her shared apartment with Carolyn, she smelled something coming from the floor underneath her own. Following the trail she discovered it was coming from Morai's quarters, and his door was unlocked. Inside, there were several candles burning, and some incense as well, with Morai sitting in the center of the room, legs crossed, eyes closed, back straight, breathing slowly

Georgia watches him quietly, sniffing the air as she quietly shifts about the room and moves across the room. She finds a chair and moves to sit in it before clearing her throat and piping up, “Hey, you know, you've got something burning... It smells awful pretty, but mom always said if you're going to nap, always put everything out so nothing catches fire.”

Morai rolls his neck, hearing it crack a few times he opens his eyes and looks up at Georgia, his face remaining calm and serene. "It is in these moments that I am the most awake." He slowly stands up, motioning for Georgia to come in. "Would you like some tea?"

She tries to keep from wrinkling her nose at the offer but nods, knowing it would be impolite to refuse. “Ah, sure, Mister Morai. I could try some.” She furrows her brow, crooking her head to the side, “I don't get what you mean by most awake. Only time I can say I've felt like that is when you gave me that weird stuff during the mission.” She shudders remembering how it picked her up and had her going so much quicker. “Or when I ate a bunch of coffee beans. They upset my tummy, though.”

Slowly Morai grabs a tea kettle, and slower still, pours two small cups of tea with almost perfect precision in the amount. Setting the kettle down, he grabs both cups of tea and brings one to Georgia, holding it out for her without a single hint of a tremble in his body, which is strange as he had to be addicted to the combat drugs by now. "When I balance myself to the world as it is, and let mortal worries flow to the wind, I am at my most alert, most capable... I am one with my soul, and my soul is one with me in this brief moment of time." He sips his tea and smiles softly. "Green tea. It's hard to get anything other than this out here."

Georgia's gaze drifts over to the incense still smoking, obvious distrust of it being left unattended like that before she takes the tea and sips at it. She grimaces but takes another drink, nodding politely before settling it down, “It's, ah... good.” She coughs and offers a slight smile. She rubs her cheek, thinking about what he said before sighing, “I don't really understand the spiritual stuff you're talking about, Mr. Morai, I'm more of a science girl. Just like grampa, dad and Thomas. But if it helps you relax after everything we go through every time we touch soil, then maybe there's something to it.”

"Hmm..." He sips his tea again, sitting down on the floor at the center of the room again and crossing his legs. With a deep breath he pats the floor beside himself, inviting Georgia to sit with him. "Even those without belief can connect to their inner mind, and relinquish their mortal concerns. Meditation goes beyond spirituality, it is about finding something peaceful within yourself, and holding to it... Mine is my soul, and yours... Yours is whatever you find at the center of yourself."

Georgia moves to sit beside Morai and raises her brows, “I haven't looked recently, Mr. Morai, but I am pretty sure there's mushy stuff and gushy fluids.” She looks at him, “But this meditation, you really think it might help, huh?... And I might find something?” She ruffles her hair, “What if its something I don't like? People don't have much nice to say about people like me, you know. Think we're all crazy.” She hums and tries to fold her legs like his, setting her hands in her lap.

He grasps her hands and places them on her knees, then straightens her back. "It'll feel uncomfortable at first... And... If you do not like what you see... Hm... How to put this for someone that isn't spiritual..." He seems to ponder it for a moment, the small wrinkles around his eyes showing deep thought on this topic, though his eyes seemed quite clear. "Your inner mind, your... Soul, whether you believe in it or not, is like a garden, a large garden, with a river flowing through it. When you pay it no attention, the garden grows out of control, and one piece collides with another, one plant chokes another, it becomes festered and filthy with unattended thoughts, emotions, dreams... And the river dries, and so too does your peace, your serenity, your control over your emotions die with it. To see within yourself, to meditate, to clease your mind of all distractions and find that which is at the utmost core, you will see this... Mess... And slowly, by simply seeing it, you can clean it, clear it, remove the plants that choke others, restore serenity and see the river flow once more... And from that river, you can derive... Peace. Control. Discipline. No emotion can overwhelm the banks of the mightiest river." His eyes look her over, and he straightens out her back again. "Your inner mind, your heart, your soul... The core of your being, is from whence everything else that is you flows. When you know who you are at the center, the rest will follow, whether that is to change, or to preserve."

She finds herself already slumping again as she stares at Morai, gripping her knees lightly as she stares at him. “That doesn't make much sense, you know...” She frowns and cocks her head to the side. “But maybe it would do some good to figure out what makes me... me... One of the scientists thinks I'm going to keep changing. I heard one of them muttering... They went into another room. I couldn't help but listen in, with my... ah... talent... You know, some of them are worried, they think some of us might start resembling the shapeshifters.” She pauses and looks at the floor briefly, “If I keep mutating, would I still be myself if I do this? If I figure out this thing that's at my center?”

"... Hm... The scientists know nothing of the battlefield." He seemed to hold some of them in contempt as he stands up slowly and walks over to a nearby cabinet. Tapping on it four times with a certain pattern, Georgia could hear a click sound, followed up with the cabinet door opening. Inside was a safe, which Morai quickly opened. It was a rather large safe, about the size of half a refrigerator, and inside were several papers, and other objects. He briefly stares with admiration at a red star medal, then pulls out a small piece of paper and closes the safe and cabinet. He paces slowly back and forth in front of Georgia, tapping the paper as his eyes ran over its contents. "Shapeshifters have the mental capacity to learn and grow as any human does. They not only have the capacity to equal homo sapiens in intelligence, they have the capacity to circumvent and surpass it. The only thing that holds them back is their age." He lowers the paper and looks at Georgia. "Think about it. On the battlefield we have seen them adapt to the environment and yet also use it like any human does. We've seen them identify specific targets and display emotions. The mechanized batallion wasn't beaten by monsters, it was beaten by an intelligent adversary... And with intelligence comes the capacity for reason, for emotion... Even if you become one of these, you will still be who you are, especially if you have control over your core, your centre... Your heart, your soul, your mind--whatever you wish to call it. It is yours, and yours alone, and turning into another intelligent creature will not diminish this."

Georgia stares up at him with wonder, and just a bit of curiosity as to why he even had a paper like that. She stands up and throws her arms about him, hugging him tight, “Thanks, Mister Morai. I'll remember that.”

Morai hugs her gently, patting her upper back before returning to his safe to put the paper away. "Now, you know why there is incense burning, unless you wish to join me, I will return to my meditation.

She pauses before uncertainly taking up her position back on the floor and taking up the position he had shown her. “I... I think I'll try it, Mister Morai.” She nods. “It doesn't do any harm, and... maybe it does sound a little relaxing and peaceful, and everyone could use that.” She offers him a big grin.

Morai sits beside her, straightening his back and hers once again. "It is better for your posture." He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "First, deep breathes in, slowly exhale... Purge your mind of unnecessary thought, and focus only on the smell of the incense, and the light of the candle in front of you."

She follows his instructions, finding herself slowly relaxing into the position he put her in. Her mind begins to drift and she finds her focus begin to blur, as if she was beginning to see the candle from a different angle. She blinks and draws herself back, cheeks flushing as she tries to draw a bit more restraint over herself, embarrassed by her small psychic slip there in her relaxed state and hoping he had not noticed.

Morai smiles a little. "Relax further and ignore distractions." While he hadn't noticed that she had infiltrated his mind for a moment, he had noticed her recoil from something. "Practice, try again... Breath in... Breath out..."

She offers a flicker of a smile before she refocuses upon the candle and attempts to clear her mind. The faint buzzing chatter of what she wanted to do that day, of concerns of what the next mission would bring, of fears of what the future might bring in general, of thoughts of the past that blurred together like a tangled web she couldn't ever quite pick apart aside from time she spent with Carolyn... She watches the flickering flame as her breath draws in and out painfully slow. Time slips away from her. And for a moment, she begins to see what Morai meant as she draws in the intoxicating smell of the incense.

"Now, envision a tree." Morai says softly as he opens his eyes and watches her facial expressions, looking for her emotional state. "A nice, large, chestnut tree, with green leaves, in a grassy field... With a light breeze... See yourself there."

For a moment, she closes her eyes and she tries to envision the tree. Her thoughts begin to drift to something someone had said to her once... That there once were a lot of trees all over... Before things went bad and we were left with the world we had now... She tries to remember who had told her about that and a face of someone who was much older than her drifts into her mind, of someone with wavy dark auburn hair that was like hers before it changed, though cut much shorter. She gasps and opens her eyes, and frowns, looking at Morai. “I uhh... Sorry...”

"Why? What did you see?" Morai asked with curiosity as he kneels in front of her, his wizened eyes continuing to scan her face for whatever information he could derive.

She frowns and looks at her feet, “I... ah... at first the tree, but... then my big brother... he used to talk about the old world a lot...”

Morai tilts his head and looks at her with sympathy. "Oh? What happened to him?"

She furrows her brow, thoughts conflicted for a moment. She opens her mouth, first thoughts to say he was in the apartment with Carolyn before she whimpers and shakes her head. Tears start to roll down her cheeks. She didn't want to think about this any longer.

"Ah. I see." He says as he lowers his head. "I am sorry." He sips his cup of tea once more. "Would you like to sit here a while? Try to calm? Gain control?"

She shakes her head, wiping her eyes on her sleeves, “N-no... I think I've bothered you enough for one day, Mr. Morai... And I should get back to Carolyn and Tho-” she falls silent, frowning. “To Carolyn, she worries a lot...”

"Oh?" Morai asks as he takes her cup of tea and brings it to his kitchen. "Then next time, think of your favourite place to spend time with Carolyn... And relax. We can work on the rest later." He motions to the door. "Take care."

She nods and offers a rough smile, “And maybe you can tell me all about your mystery box and that red star, Mr. Morai... If you want to. I know its rude to pry, though. Sorry if I wasn't supposed to notice that.”

"It is fine." Morai says sharply. He then motions her out. "Now shoo. Back to your sister."

Something twists in her stomach at hearing Morai call Carolyn her sister, “She's my friend. My best friend. We... We just live together, that's all...” She flushes after correcting him and nods before going out the door.

He watches her leave and perks his eyebrows up as he closes and locks the door behind her. "Oh my..."

"Kill it too, then. God knows that America cannot stand cowards attempting to circumvent His will." --"Washington", Page 3. ((Maps here)).

---

Retrieval Team

---

Traveling with a half a dozen helicopters, they diverted off while the others continued on north and west of their deployment zone. Hovering a few feet overhead, the pilot radios them back and chuckles. "Ever tried a HALO jump?" There's a thud heard in the cockpit as his co-pilot smacks him. "Ignore that gentlemen. Y'all are just gonna take a step out about two thousand feet above target. There's no safe place for us to land that we can be sure Eve cannot detect to attack us from. This also means that if y'all want emergency evac in case things go to shit, y'all will have to advance out to a combat zone before we'll be willing to pick you up. That's how jittery this Eve bitch has command, just so y'all know." With a nod, they hover above the deployment zone, and look about the area underneath them. It was a suburban neighbourhood, likely what was once upper class. These neighbourhoods were known for their higher class stealth predators, ordinarily off limits to civilians.

Underneath them, there was an auspicious lack of organic material. No grass, and the trees were dead though still present. There also seemed to be a lack of insects and animals, save for a small kitten that ran and hid underneath an abandoned SUV when the helicopter began to hover overhead, which was still plainly visible to anyone looking in that direction. There was a mansion in this part of town as well, and both Nathaniel and Georgia felt drawn to it by psychic emanations: Eve was in the building, attempting and failing to mask her presence.

Anything else one could say was left purely to the imagination, save for the parachutes on those lacking any method to slow themselves down. The helicopter pilots radio back once more. "Oh, and Eira, your mech will be dropped in with parachutes as well. When it lands there's a cutoff switch in your cockpit to disconnected the lines. Carolyn wanted us to pass that along to you in case you didn't know." With that said, Eira's mech is disconnected from the undercarriage of the helicopter, and after a few seconds, the chutes deploy. "It should autopilot itself to wherever you land thanks to that little technogibberish thing you got." They were likely referencing her ability to give her mech basic commands.

---

U-ARM Wing - West

---

A pair of helicopters arrives to the scene of the western front. Some soldiers and materials had already been deployed it seemed. The helicopters land on the street and quickly drop mechs from undercarriages and let the group off. Colonel Marie Black and Sergeant Morai Lee step out together as they look around at the surrounding area. Suburbia. "Are you sure they'll try to storm this street?" Morai asks. "They could just go through other parts of suburbia." The Colonel shakes her head and motions around. "Anywhere we aren't protecting is being guarded by another squad. We're just certain the main force will attempt to penetrate the perimeter here because U-ARM will want to take the shortest route possible. This is the shortest route." Morai nods, though uncertainty was still in his eyes. "If they went with the shortest route in my country, they would be slain by cultists before they'd make it ten feet." Marie shakes her head. "Not here. Not in The Last Bastion of civilization. Now, do what you do best Morai." Morai nods and quickly moves towards the edges of suburbia, carrying two large bags likely filled with explosives.

Looking back at the group deploying from the chopper, she pulls out a cigar and lights it, activating her lightning rifle as it emitted a low hum. "We won't have long. Deploy yourselves and offer any suggestions now. 'Cept for Morai. Just don't go anywhere he's been. Trust me." She grins, a steady stream of smoke flowing away from her cigar as her radio squacks to life. "THIS IS COLONEL RICHARD F. MILLER. I've heard Colonel Marie Black is over there. I am humbled." Marie Black grabs the radio and responds sharply. "This is Colonel Marie Black. By the authority invested in me by Bunker Chicago and the Council of ADAM, I order you to stand down and go home. This is our manhunt, not yours." There's laughter heard through the radio before a sharp inhale. "My, my, we both know the real objective of your little autocratic regime is to impose further control on a population that is mentally imprisoned through your vicious propaganda. Washington Himself has given me my orders from the spirit of America and her heavenly ruler, God. Upon His word, I will--" Marie turns the radio off with a shrug. "Let him rant to empty space for a while. Maybe it'll buy us an extra minute or two."

---

Shadow Zone Wing - North

---

As with the Western Deployment Zone, a pair of helicopters land and deploy the group into the combat area. A typical suburban neighbourhood, though rundown and decrepit, and lacking any organic material whatsoever: No birds, no dogs, no trees, no grass, not even insects. A quick and sure sign that there was a significant presence of Shadow Zone forces in the area. As mechs are deployed and soldiers land, Abimael cautiously looks to Bruce and blinks. His eyes were sheer black, and he had been nervous the entire flight. Now, on the ground however, he seemed outright frightened of something as he looks to his squad mates. "I hear them. There are howls, and... An Angel is leading them. I can hear His voice, it is... Beautiful." He looks outside of the chopper nervously, down the long, wide road. "... And angry..." Carolyn looks with concern to Abimael and motions to step out of the helicopter and walk with her towards the mechs. Her robotic puppy follows her out, wagging its metallic tail. "Try not to rely on Abimael's premonitions too much. They're useful, but this is his first real battle, he may panic, keep an eye on him." Her robo-dog barks. "As well, reinforcements will arrive from other areas as the battle progresses. We may also be requested to give reinforcements if we have any to spare."

Finally, she reaches her mech and taps its ankles, activating it from its cold slumber. "In the meantime, you're in command. I'll offer orders only if you fail to do so." She looks at him sharply. "Don't throw away people's lives needlessly. That's all I ask." As she climbs into her mech's cockpit, everyone's radio in the local area crackles to life with heavy amounts of static. "This is Michael, of the Shadow Zone. Hear my voice and heed these words men of Sodom: You have already slain one of our more beloved Children, Adam. Now you attempt to do the same to Eve. We shall not allow this. Step out of the way and you shall be spared this day. This is our only warning." The transmission ceases as Carolyn stares at her radio in surprise. "They're... Not supposed to... Have radios..."

Thus, it was clear. They had only a brief time to set up and get ready for the incoming fight.

---

"Ryan, you let her slip away. The entire plan is falling apart."
"I'm already on it, I swear. The Council of ADAM needn't worry. The same mistake will not be made twice."
"It cannot be made twice. If it is made manifest once more, there will be no third attempt."
"I... Understand. I've sent Marie and her specialist squad to take care of it."
"And what if Eve is able to make them see things her way, hm? What if she uses them to manifest her foolish dreams once more, hm?"
"That is what I've sent Alyss for. She will take care to ensure that Eve returns home. With us."
"Good... Because if Eve is not contained, not only will her manifesto destroy us, it will destroy the last bastion of civilization humanity has left."

Shadow Zone Wing - North



---

Brucey studied the area closely. The main throughfare was open and well defended unless the enemy had mutants capable of fucking with their minds, or enough to simply swamp the rate of fire they'd be capable of putting out. Turning to the corner store Bruce climbed up into the Ignis Dei and started playing the music when this 'Michael' figures noise blurted through the speakers. Brucey nodded at Carolyn. "I don't waste the lives of friends and allies, only the enemy is given up unto the god of fire." He grinned at her.

But then his expression went serious as he looked around and studied his team-mates. "Ok ladies and gents. Let's get ready. Gather around." Waiting for the others to gather around for a moment he switched off the music and popped the hatch for a minute and shut off his radio. "Ok mates. This is bad, I wanted to do this chat because if they're using radios and we received we can't give out orders without informing them, at least if they have any sense of smarts whatsoever."

Bruce thought about his deployments and what he wanted, and hoped the team was willing to put up with it and pay attention.

"Kai, Matthew, ideas are welcome, but optimally I want you covering the back access to the Corner Store near where L2 spotter is. Make sure you have a visual across this area. I'll personally cover the closest alley to the main defence post and provide cover for L3. Abimael, please keep close to me. Liam, Carolyn, can you serve as a flying squad? Hold the centre here but reinforce either flank as needed? If you can that'd be great. But I suggest we all keep this street visible so, if necessary, we can pass simple ideas with hand signals." Bruce thought. "And maybe take ambushing positions, if they've got radios I want to pass along some bullshit along." Brucey paused turning back to Carolyn. "And please Carolyn, keep one eye back we don't have the bodies to spare a guy to check out those basements, and they might have hidden connections or tunnels we don't know about."

Brucey turned to Ned in his quadrupedal Mech. "Oh Kelly, I expect our fairy princess to fuck off and do his own emo thing like a proper bunyip. If he does, can you cover Matthew in that alley instead. We need to hold the line."

Brucey smiled as he deployed the Aliquam Ignis Dei, He issued it basic orders to cover and protect Abimael as he sealed up and re-engaged his radio. "Ok folks. The Shadow Zone's yobbos think that we're a right pack of dickheads." He began to prepare his false orders. "Those gits are going to assume the main street will be our strongest defences, I want the heavy weapons relocated to the alleys, don't forget to mine the approaches."

Shutting off the Radio for a moment Brucey turned to Abimael. "So you called this Michael dickhead, at least I assume it's Michael, an Angel? Why, what can he do, and do you know how we can kill or capture him?"

"I don't know... I'm sorry." Abimael responded and Brucey continued.

"So what can you tell me about him? Why'd you call him an angel?"

"I just felt... It. That way." He may or may not be lying. Brucey frowned, the expression invisible in the mech.

He re-engaged the Radio deliberately changing it to the same channel that the 'Michael' fellow used. "Michael we can't stand back to your demands. We'll hold the line by fire and sword. Through purifying flame and the sweep of lasers if you force us. But you want to keep your Eve alive. You want to do something about the prejudice your kind in the Shadow Zone are so often subject to." He paused dramatically.

"Then come forwards under a flag of truce. Step forwards and be willing to talk, discuss and negotiate. But you have to do what you have to do, and we have to do what we have to do." Bruce left it with a polite pause. "But if you don't want what we have to do to be an age of bloodshed come forth and negotiate like a civilised being."

Retrieval Team Transport- Roman Cassidy

The mansion below called out to Roman, an invitation of potential transparency in a world of unfocused blur. Adam Caville was a shapeshifter. Adam Caville doesn't exist. Adam Caville is dead. Here's a promotion. Stop asking questions. Roman often wondered whether Dufont and his lackeys even knew the truth themselves. They probably thought they did. It wouldn't surprise him if everything blew up in the council's faces without a single one of them seeing it coming.

Roman knew that the promotion was a rub meant to get him to stop asking questions. He had no idea why Eira wasn't also promoted when she saved his ass from the Goleyeith during the beginning of their mission, but he was paranoid enough that the thought of her being 'involved' or 'one of them' crossed his mind more than once. Of course, she had been less accepting of Adam and the higher-ups probably knew that, so she didn't need the push to get silenced in their eyes. The fact that they threw one to Roman told him two things: they wanted him to do as he was told without prying and they thought he could be bought.

The promise to the Black Viper still stood. Roman would make something of himself, create his own legacy through his deeds and be remembered for making a difference for the better. He was a foreigner in a foreign land, far away from anything that was or could possibly have eventually been home, in a place full of opportunity.

That mansion had the answers. Eve, Annie, whoever the shapeshifter woman was, she had answers. Was she responsible for Adam's death? Was it the experiment being run that killed him? Roman wanted him to peacefully work with the council, but instead he gave the shapeshifter to a lab so they could poke and prod him, let him die or cause it themselves. He wanted to know how it happened, who was responsible. Roman had his own share of Adam's blood on his hands, but he knew he could find out who else did.

"I'm hitting the roof of the mansion. We need to find Eve and talk things through with her." Getting his pack ready, Roman took another look at the mansion, where he would find what he needed to or die trying... Eve. Truth. Answers.

-

Georgia Rhettland // Retrieval Team

Georgia takes a deep breath as she listens to their briefing. There was no emergency evac. They had to succeed in this. From the sounds of it, Eve was too important to let slip away. Too dangerous. The council would have their heads if they let her get away. She closes her eyes and shudders, hugging herself tighter as they approach closer to the drop zone. She just wished she had brought Thomas with her, but she had decided the battlezone was no place for him after the last time. She had almost lost him. Him and Carolyn both to that fog and the Goleyeith and it was probably luck that so many had even survived the mutants.

Her thoughts continue to drift, following along that path. In one of the other steel birds, Carolyn was bound towards another one of the zones. She would be out there today. Her face turns bitter as she holds her head in her face. She would be unable to keep an eye out for her today like she had promised she would. Carolyn would be out there today against who knows what and she would be unable to see her until after she resolved things with this Eve character... All the more reason to get this over with as fast as she could manage.

The heavy thudding of boots about the interior draws her attention. She blinks and opens her obsidian eyes, glancing about the helicopter as the door opens and the wind begins to whip about loose straps and hind. She swallows hard as she picks up something strand. She looks out over the battlezone and can feel something drawing her towards one building in particular. Smack-dab in the middle center of the hotspot. Where they were to drop. The mansion. “Eve is down there,” she says with absolute certainty, “In the mansion.”

One of the grunts overseeing their deployment pats her on the back before smirking and calling out over the ripping wind, “This is your stop, mutt!”

Georgia blinks at him in confuion, “What was that?” but the wind tears the words silently from her mouth.

He shakes his head and shoves her through the door into the open air, letting her freefall towards the ground. Terror seizes her as she sees the Earth rapidly rushing towards her. She had done this once before, yes, but it was still as terrifying as before... And she had a little more preparation than being thrown out from the plane. She begins to hyperventilate but the air felt too thin up this high. She begins to panic and fumbles for the cord at her chest to release the chute.

She tears at the string and it jerks her body back, slowing her descent. She whimpers at the impact to her small body but slowly relaxes into the harness. She closes her eyes and allows herself to think there as she drifts in the air before she decides, grabbing the straps and begins to angle her descent to go towards the mansion. Someone else's chute could already be seen drifting off from the mansion's top. It seemed a good start. She licks her lips and tries to control her fall, fighting the wind.

She lands to upon the mansion's roof with a soft thud, tucking her body in upon itself. Cut the cords or it'll drag you along. She grimaces as the wind begins to tug at the chute and drag her along the roof's rough, broken tiles, tearing up bites and pieces as her boots skid. She disconnects her harness and the parachute continues to go on without her. She sighs and shakes her head, looking up at Roman before nodding.

Now, ready yourself for anything. Where's your weapons, Mutt? Georgia frowns and checks her waist, her tomahawk was secure in its harness and further down at her thigh was her combat knife. She nods, and moves her hand up, shifting the strap on her assault rifle so it slung easier around her shoulder. Good, good. Check your ammo, Mutt. Make sure your gun is clear. Georgia nods to herself, going through her ritual, as she releases her ammo and checks that her clip was full before clearing her gun.

How long had it been since she had to do these checks on her own... At least since she was back on scout duty... She grimaces and almost feels the burning sting of the mutants claws along her arms once more at the memory before shrugging it off. She stands off and slings the weapon along her shoulder. You're forgetting it again, Mutt. You always forget. Comms. Put your damn comms in. She winces and taks out the earpiece to her radio, putting it in her ear as she clips the mic to her chest. She clicks the radio on as she patches through, “This is Rhettland speaking to Retrieval team. I've landed safely on the Mansion's roof. I'm going to advance ahead looking for a way in on the northern side... Looks like the mansion reaches a crest at the center, so I'll try the east-wing first.”

She could have sworn on her descent she had seen a balcony on that side, at least. It would give them an entrance into the mansion. Georgia starts on a jog towards the northern side of the mansion, careful of the slipping shingles beneath her feet. There was no cover up here, if there was anyone paying attention around that wanted them dead, they were as good as dead. She swallows at the thought and shakes her head. That was a bad thought.

As she reaches the edge, Georgia slips onto her belly before lowering herself down to land onto the balcony below. She lands with a loud crunch of shattering glass beneath her feet. She looks down to reveal she had landed upon an array of glass that had fallen out of the double-pane glass windows before her. She looks at the windows before. Some glass, though shattered, still clung futilely inside the shuttered doors. Even with the dust and grime clinging to them, she catches a faint glimpse of her reflection before she spies the latch through their surface. She reaches through and flips the latch and pushes the doors open with a rusted creak.

Brushing the glass aside so the others would not make the same noise she did coming down, she clicks on her radio once more, “This is Rhettland, I found a way into the mansion from the top. Careful coming down, there's a bit of broken glass.” She draws out her flashlight from her belt and fixes it to her assault rifle's base and flips it on, watching the LEDs flicker at her touch for a moment before flaring to life in the dim of the mansion before she takes a few steps deeper inside.

Paris Rience & Eira Mairwen (Herzi and Holmi Collab Crew)
Retrieval Team

---

With the wind rushing past her mech at a less-than-breakneck pace, Eira directed her attention to the ground approaching beneath her. As encouraged by the pilot, she used her systems to direct her fall, moving past the mansion’s rooftop where most of the team would be landing to instead take her position by the North-Western entrance. Touching down on the ground, Justice braced itself on the lifeless dirt, and Eira dropped the lines, trotting forward a couple paces to leave the parachute behind her.

Paris’s own landing was a few metres behind the large mech’s, his parachute quickly gathered up and shoved into the bag. Hearing the other members of the Retrieval team voice their landings, Paris switched on his own comm. “This is Rience,” he said, “me and Mairwen have touched ground out front.”

Switching the comm back off, he took a few steps out in the street, looking around. Lots of windows, he thought as he saw the mansion walls. If what he’d heard about the freakies around here were true, a drop of a few stories would probably barely slow them down. Any one of those windows could be an exit point for the target.

“Mairwen,” he said, turning, “we’re going to have to keep an eye on the far side of the building. Got any ideas?”

Scanning the streets around them through the mansion’s fences, Eira made sure to also keep a good eye on this new guy. “I’ve got a recon drone, ground-based, self-detonating.” With this, she tapped the control module attached to her wrist, and the two-foot-long metal drone dropped from her mech and landed on the dirt alongside her, folding into a ball and rolling into view of Paris. Quickly checking the screen to make sure his scanners were in good order, she continued. “Shall I send him round?”

“Better than splitting up.” Unslinging his rifle, he headed over to a pickup truck parked on the mansion side of the street. Climbing into the bed of the truck, he gave a quick sweep of the street. The truck itself was probably shoddy cover at best in terms of stopping projectiles, but it was better than nothing; and definitely would help keep him hidden to an extent.

At his words, Eira sent the drone rolling out along the Western wall, staying within the enclosure of the fence. As it did so, she made sure to pay careful attention to its feed, not wanting to miss any potential exits it might pass along the way. Once it reached the end of that wall, she’d send it down the southern wall so as to take position opposite her own position, scanning both walls for activity from the corner.

Placing herself at the inner corner of the fence, she poised Justice’s arms for firing, and also began scanning the streets. “My name’s Eira,” she remarked, absentmindedly.

“Rience.” He gestured towards the buildings surrounding the mansion, “I’m going to send my own drone to start checking those buildings. We may have people holding the line, but there could have been things in the area before hand.”

Shrugging his bag off, he unzipped it and pulled out a small black drone, around the size of a football. Turning it on, the twin propellers in it’s wings began to spin, and the drone rose to hover above his head. After a second the feed popped up in the corner of his visor’s display, and he began directing it to the building directly across from the front door of the mansion.

“Pleased to meet you,” she responded, smiling.

Paris flicked on his comm again instead of responding, setting it to the mission-wide band. “This is Rience from Retrieval,” he said, “if things start falling apart on the lines, we’d like to know before hostiles start showing up. Keep us informed.”

U-Arm Wing
Junko Heizen

---

She switched on the visor, which was fully opaque from the outside but seemingly transparent from the inside, thanks to the HD cameras on the outside plate. Vladimir was resting on the wall beside her, looking very new from the parts she had ordered specifically for it. Especially the bayonet attachement. Never again will she ever have to pull out her knife to face down a huge mutant wielding chainswords. At the very least, she should have some range to her melee.

The heli landed with a bump, as she switched on the MP3 player, the track list automatically playing the first song on the list. Taking a deep breath through her filter, she stepped out the heli, surveying the area for cover and a good place with a good view of the field.

"We won't have long. Deploy yourselves and offer any suggestions now. 'Cept for Morai. Just don't go anywhere he's been. Trust me."

"Understood." Settling on the only building to have two floors on it, Junko spoke to the team. "I set up on that cornerstore's second floor. I will take out any targets marked, or anything high profile."

Taking what the colonel said to heart, she jogged at a good pace towards the destination, marveling at the all the new things imposed on her view in the X-Cell Visor. Several pings appeared on the round radar thing in her HUD, as she passed by the troops who would be running out ammo from inside the building. Upon reaching he second floor, the first thing she did was close all the window curtains on the north side rooms, where they overlooked the northern approach where the U-Arm forces were expected to come from. The second part was to make sure there was no unnecessary lights on at those rooms.

When she was finally done with her preparations, she took up Vladimir and set up in the eastern most room of the north side of the second floor, testing the view by resting the very tip of the barrel on the windowsill, and scoped through the small crack in the curtain. Satisfied with her view, she slumped down on one wall, and waited for the fighting to start.

This is very good music. I should be looking for more of these later.

Shadow Zone Wing

It had been a standard enough trip to the area of operation. Liam had received his brief, and was given instruction that Brucey was in command. Good enough. The Aussie had seen him through one mission, and with any luck he'd see him through a second. It wouldn't occur to Liam that perhaps he had helped himself survive more than make sure he saved anyone else, at any rate Liam stepped out of the transport and onto the battlefield.

This round he felt slightly more confident. Perhaps not in himself, but in the equipment he brought with him. While the silence of the Shadow Zone still caused untold stress, the low hum of his newly equipped LAS-Mod provided some comfort. He'd seen first hand how poorly the creatures had reacted to fire, and short of a flamethrower like Brucey's this would be as close as he'd get. That coupled with the additional support they received for this mission served to ease Liam's mind and gave hope to his survival. Acting against this hope were the predictions of Abimael, because how in the name of whichever deity smiled upon Liam today were they supposed to fight an angel?

And then the radio began.

If Liam was a man less in control of his bladder he might have wet himself. Instead he stood almost paralyzed as the enemy who wasn't supposed to be a technological threat surpassed expectations. Sweat began to form on his brow as he contemplated how else they might have underestimated the enemy. He did a quick check of his surroundings to make sure the enemy weren't already upon them, and tried to regain a normal breathing rate.

Shortly after Micahel's radio announcement Brucey issued orders. After shaking off as much panic as he could Liam nodded, probably 5 times more than was necessary. All the same he was just as pleased to act as floating squad as anything else, and he soon found himself close to the center of the street near Carolyn. He'd heard of her at least, and she was likely a good person to have at his side. With a quick salute towards Carolyn he found himself beside her with his rifle at the ready. As prepared as he could be for what was to come.

James Wolff, U-ARM Sector

The copters touched down and James stepped out of the holding area. Chicago, it continued to become more and more familiar to him, but at the same time it became an increasingly scarier place. As James walked down the street, he continued to keep having a slight urge to look behind him. He couldn't help but take a peek behind his back occasionally. A nervous tick? Maybe. Paranoia? Not out in Chicago. James looked forward and saw the two heavy gun emplacements. It appeared that the upcoming battle wasn't going to be a small firefight. No, this was going to be a real battle. This was just the lull before the storm. James looked around the area. As he walked towards the corner store, James gave a quick salute to Colonel Black. Once he entered he spoke into his radio

"Attention all lookouts. Do not draw any attention to you other than necessary and minimize your presence. This means that you are not to fire your weapon unless you have no choice. You guys are our eyes. We lose you. Then we're blind. Leave the heavy lifting to us. L2, join Junko on the second floor of the corner store. You should have a overlooking position there. Your main priority is to make sure that nothing surprised us from the south. But, if Junko needs anything like for you to be her spotter, then you are to listen to her. L1 remain where you are, take cover behind that corner. If things get too hot, then fallback to the building to your east. Don't run into the street. Hop through a window. We don't want you to be exposed in the middle of the street. L3 take up position in the building to your south. We don't want you too far from us. Note to all units, never be alone. Always have at least one other person in eyesight. Sergeant, you go do what you do best, but please do keep us informed of where you are and what surprises you left. Don't want to accidentally walk into one of our own trip mines due to poor communication. Turret gunners, don't go crazy with the firing. Short, accurate bursts. I would rather have you actually hit something rather than waste 100 bullets in 3 seconds."

James then looked around the munitions. Bullets, rockets and a bunch of munitions were ready to be sent to where it was needed. His eyes continued to scan the room until his eyes landed on something interesting "1,2,3-trinitroxypropane" on the label of a bottle. James smiled slightly. He grabbed it and began working on turning it into another suitcase bomb.

Daniel Ezekiel Anders-U-ARM Sector
Pilot

”I love that new mech smell.” Daniel was sitting comfortably in the mostly-new Crusader mk-II with a very satisfied smile on his face. He couldn’t hide his satisfaction at the new mech and its increased capabilities: especially the upgrades he had been lobbying for since god knows how long ago. Feeling the weight of the mech had been a big shift from what he’d fought with before, but knowing that he was probably the scariest hunk of metal up close was a beautiful thing. This was the sort of mech work he did back before Bunker Chicago took him in. No more weak-sauce Flamethrower work, it was time to bash some skulls.

…Or tanks, in the case of U-ARM. They were a force as technologically advanced as the Bunker itself, and they weren’t afraid to show it off. Some of the tech they had at their disposal was scary, from the stories that had been circulating. The feel of the new Pilot gloves on his hands told him that they weren’t the only ones who had new tech on hand though. The potential of these Gloves had been made very clear, and the prospects of what they could do were very exciting.

Daniel listened in to the various orders dished out, noting how few of them he actually recognised. He knew that Colonel Black herself was in this little shindig, and Daniel knew that she was hardly going to give much of a crap about his opinion. There had been a sort of tension between the two in the past, and with a fairly good reason. Daniel was ‘Protestant’ while Black was ‘Catholic’ or whatever bastardisations of the original faiths these shallow mockeries could be called.

Then there was his past. He was once everything that she despised, with good reason, of course. There was no hiding the fact that she hated Raiders, with good reason. He was an Ex-raider, so the animosity was…understandable. He didn’t begrudge her for it, by any means.

Hearing U-ARM’s request for surrender, followed by Black’s retort, Daniel could do little more than snort in amusement. He respected the woman, in truth.

Following the little exchange with U-ARM, Orders were given by a person that Daniel didn’t know. It hardly mattered though, as the fella didn’t issue her any plans. It was pretty obvious what he should do though.

Daniel flicked on the radio, dialing in the channel for the squad. “Since no one has any plans for me, I’ll advance myself up to the second row of buildings: take cover in the alleyway best I can. I’ll play backup if anyone needs support or cover.”

He flicked the Rossary beads that hung from his cockpit and made a silent prayer to god as he moved the mech forward, avoiding people where he could and popping himself in the right-most second row of alleyways. That way, he would naturally be pointing his shield towards the carnage, when the time came.

---

Kiku, Shadow-Zone Repellent.
Listener-Ghost

---

As Kiku hopped off the edge of the Helicopter, she felt herself nearly stumble at the surprise of how light she was feeling. She had been pretty surprised when she first woke up from the surgery: because she was completely different than when she went under. To think that two weeks had made her from Mostly-human listener into a badass cyborg-listener. It was pretty cool really (Although she hadn’t told Marie that.)

Still, she had only really been up and about fully for a couple of days, and although she’d gotten used to the added weight on her left side, and the strange sensation of her back, she didn’t expect it to be so…natural feeling. Perhaps it was the effect of her upgrades, but she hardly felt like a freak, sometimes. Hell, it didn’t even hurt most of the time.

Still, she had a job to do. No screwing up this time, Marie would have her hide if she got killed or something dumb in her second big mission. She could focus on the fact she was some sort of mutated badass cyborg ninja later…Although she was basically a mutant cyborg-badass Ninja, when you thought about it.

Quickly, people got into position, and the special asset lady was all cool with her robot puppy that Kiku couldn’t help but wonder about whether it pissed oil or not or…

Wait…Were Mutants using a radio? That seemed pretty out of the ordinary, all things considered. Hell, Kiku could barely use a damn radio. Technology had always given her issues, which was actually pretty funny, considering she now had robo-arm, and all that.

Soon enough though, A guy in a mech was giving people roles and jobs and shit. Somewhere along the way, she got missed, and she quickly realised she had two pretty clear options. She could either follow Kai and whatshisname around, or she could follow the Flying squad.

Or, she could play scout. That seemed like a not terrible option, either way.

In the end, it seemed that someone else made the choice for her. She’d been listening to the radio orders of the big shot, and he was sure to emphasise the importance of Matthew’s position. Spotting Kai climbing a building, she pretty quickly figured out that Kai was indeed, doing his own thing. Ooh, I can do stuff over there. Funsies.

Kiku advanced quickly down the alleyway Matthew had moved down, keeping low and silent until she was just behind her fellow Bunker-buddy. Then, she tapped him on the shoulder and offered him a chirpy “Sup, bubblegum. Guess I’m partnered with you; aren’t you lucky?” She offered the man a quick, broad smile as she leaned her head onto his shoulder, getting probably closer than comfort would dictate, on a serious mission. “If you want, I’ll do the stabby, and you do the shooty. I bet we’ll have a fun ol’ time. Do you have any special tricks? I can do this.”

Taking a moment to concentrate, Kiku focused on her Chameleon powers and suddenly shimmered out of existence, before pressing herself against the nearest piece of cover and allowing herself to reappear. “Pretty neat, huh?” She reached for a knife and a pistol at her belt: making sure to arm herself for when shit went down. It was time to be a soldier and shit.

U-ARM Wing: Marvin Walters

The whirring of the helicopter blades did little to soothe Marvin's nerves. Here he was, after volunteering to help out a mission gone awry, they apparently decided that he deserved to be on a special ops squad. It meant more pay of course, but it also meant a much higher chance of death. He definitely had enjoyed some parts of the promotion though, a private room to store his stash of technological odds and ends was handy. Of course, before he could enjoy the room for too long, he had received a mission, and it was an odd one at that. Apparently the "Annie" he rescued was not Annie at all, but rather a super powerful shapeshifter named Eve. No doubt it had been a clever kill and replace ploy by the mutants...although why were the mutants attacking the APC so vehemently? And for that matter, why wasn't there a bloody corpse of the real Annie anywhere? Marvin shrugged, if Eve was as powerful as they said, it's possible she had organized the plan from the start. Even more curious was this Adam fellow. How did he get into the base? Something definitely was not adding up right.

A thump from his mech landing on the ground woke him from his thoughts. At least they had the decency to drop him off this time and not toss his mech off the plane. He ran a bootup sequence; it had more parts to it this time, especially with the modifications Marvin had made to it. He always wondered about whether to use the Beam Laser or the Minigun, and now he was able to use both. The only issues were a very slight lean towards the right side due to the weight of the missile launcher, but after some tests earlier he had determined that it would not affect his shots very much.

Then his speaker blared loudly some rant by the U-ARM. Marvin had apparently forgotten to turn the volume down on that, and as he did so, he caught a glimpse of the conversation "My, my, we both know the real objective of your little autocratic regime is to impose further control on a population that is mentally imprisoned through your vicious propaganda. Washington Himself has given me my orders from the spirit of America and her heavenly ruler, God. Upon His word, I will--" upon that last note, the radio cut off. Marvin let off a quip "Heh, canned rant over the radio. Classic." before realizing he needed to set up for the assault ahead.

He looked at his scanners, they hadn't really given him much information, no hostiles yet, though the lookouts seemed to have devices to extend his range. He was grateful for that, and headed towards the front lines, roughly in the middle of the two machine gun nests. He didn't much like the thought of being the center of attention, but he did have the best mech for the job, plenty of guns, ammunition, and a few missiles to keep things interesting. Marvin hoped that this would help give some of the infantry some cover to shoot from, and that his own guns could support the nests. He pulled the green lever, which caused that familiar "Thump" sound of his Weapons Platform system locking into place.

With little else to do though, Marvin got his special drone glove out. It was a fascinating technology, being able to send out a machine to scout without risking himself to enemy fire. If it could be replicated on a large scale...well, that would be a while yet, right now Marvin needed to focus on the task at hand. He pressed a button, unlocking the drone from the control center, then he used the glove to direct it to head to the top inside floor of the building north and opposite of the first lookout, intending to spy on the U-ARM. Specifically, he wanted to make sure he knew when the enemy was going to deploy RPGs, mechs...really anything that would put a severe dent in his mech. Once that happened, he ordered the probe on autopilot, keeping its position in the air. The drone's video cameras lit up, showing all that was around it on a corner of Marvin's screen.

All that remained now was to wait for the imminent assault.

"Vipers don't run... They coil... Then they strike." -Roman Cassidy, Page 2. (([url=]Maps[/url].))

---

Retrieval Team

---

As Georgia sleuth-fully moved about inside the mansion she would begin to hear the sounds of thunder outside the mansion. The rain had begun to pour from the clouds above, its somewhat acidic nature not seemingly present enough to cause the telltale hissing sound. Looking about inside she would see several burned out lights, the interior of the mansion was naturally dark and the hall she moved down appeared to contain, in order of closest to furthest: A janitor's closet, a security room, and double doors leading somewhere likely important. The doorknobs on the double doors had long since been stolen, as they were likely made out of shiny materials that some fool would mistake for gold. Taking a whiff of the air, the scent of stale air and wet wood would reach her nostrils. This mansion was slowly rotting away, it likely didn't have much life left in it judging by the way the floorboards beneath her feet groaned in protest of her fairly light weight equipment.

Nearby, she felt something pulling at her. It compelled her to close her eyes. Doing so, she would feel from the direction of the stairway a powerful psychic presence, and somehow, it felt... Peaceful. Without any hint of malevolence. It was located somewhere downstairs. Through the double doors however she could hear the sounds of laughter and people talking to each other, she could swear one even whispered her name...

Roman on the other hand would find the slanted mansion roof slowly becoming slippery as the rain began to lightly patter away on it. Judging by the darkness of the clouds, it would pick up in pace very soon. Looking around from his position, he could see eastward. In the distance he could hear gunfire and smoke was slowly starting to rise only a couple miles away from the east. His radio crackles to life. "Gangbangers attacking eastern sector! They're under control for now!... Why are they even here?!" The signal ends. This situation was becoming stranger by the minute: Shadow Zone, U-ARM, and now Gangbangers.

Meanwhile, both Paris' drone and Eira's drone would alert them that they would not perform well in the rain and prolonged exposure would begin to damage sensors. Paris' drone was inside a building, scanning it, and was thus safe from the rain. Eira's drone however was exposed to the elements, and produced a false reading of something moving into the mansion... Or was it false? Eira would notice her drone reported, for only half a second, a humanoid form entering the mansion's rear entrance, but it wasn't able to discern its bio signature, or confirm it, before it disappeared.

Paris' drone quickly confirmed the building across from them was clear of life, save for a single pot plant that had long since overgrown its confines, and was moving to investigate the next building unless otherwise ordered.

Overhead they could hear a helicopter come in flying at a low altitude, hovering a couple hundred feet above Eira and Paris was Captain Derek's chopper. They could tell because it had a woman made of fire spray painted on its side, and he had pointed that out to them several times while they were in the transport chopper. He radios them. "If I had to reckon a guess, some gangbangers will probably slip through the east. They were designed to hold off heavy assault waves, not the quick raider tactics that gangbangers are infamous for. I'll keep a lookout unless called elsewhere." Visible in the cockpit he salutes the both of them, then flies eastward until Roman could see him hovering a few feet away from the mansion's roof, to the eastern side. Switching to a private channel, he contacts Roman and Georgia only. "I heard rumours Alyss was gonna be here. If she is, and we weren't informed, assume she will shoot you if you get in her way." He grimaces visible in his cockpit as Roman could see. "N' I'd hate 'fer you youngin's to bite it to that fishy cunt."

---

U-ARM Wing - West

---

As Junko takes a position on the upper floor and NPC's begin to comply with James' orders, she would see a fourteen year old boy with loose fitting light combat gear hide beside her with an ammo carton in his lap and a pair of binoculars in his hands. "I've heard of you! Junko, right?" He asks curiously. "You made a shot clean through a wall and saved Alyss' life right?" It seemed that Junko had won herself a fan from her previous mission. One that would do as she told him to.

James would find that constructing another suitcase bomb would take him a little more time than he anticipated, as while the resources were pretty significant in the corner store they were more meant for the turrets and for mechs, not for jerryrigged big bombs. Needless to say though, there was enough supplies to get the job done, and as he finished he'd overhear on the radio a warning sound from one of the lookouts. "Cloaked enemies nearby! Power signatures detected, one tank and two suits of power armour!"

Marvin, meanwhile, gets a quick response from Marvin over the radio as she turns it back on and takes a position near him and across from Daniels. "Why not?" She chuckles as she crouches down low, keeping her body pressed up against the wall of the suburban house as she takes aim around the corner. "Damn." She mutters quietly, hiding back behind cover as the tank emerged with its two power armoured escorts. Looking across the street she motions for Daniel and Marvin's attention. Using hand signs, she directs Marvin to take aim at the tank while Daniel moves around. There was no telling if their radio frequency had been cracked. Their radios come to life once more, confirming that they had indeed been cracked as Colonel Richard speaks once again, though with a more annoyed tone. "Disrespecting an opponent is no way for a military officer to behave!" Marie Black grabs the radio and replies back. "Coming from the terrorists who happily kill civilians, I find your facade of honour tiring, and your words empty." There was a growl on the other side of the radio before the transmission cut off.

Morai's voice then comes through the radio channels for the entire squad. "Op zone eight and twelve rigged." It was code. Marie points out the two buildings that were mined. "Don't enter those structures!" She yells, rather than using the radio. A few seconds later, Morai's voice then comes on the radio again. "Rifleman squad spotted. Will wait to ambush." A listening post quickly confirms the location as they try, desperately, to search for cloaked signatures, to no avail.

It seemed that favour was with them in granting first strike against their assailants, as the tank stopped to prepare its main gun. The sergeant was likely commanding them as well as a sort of order relay officer, taking him out might slow down enemy operations.

---

Shadow Zone Wing - North

---

Carolyn seems to quirk an eyebrow of curiosity at Brucey's 'god of fire', though adds no comment of her own as she and Abimael listen to his plan. Agreeing to it as most others did, they took their respective positions. Brucey's attempt to radio Michael only returned static.

Carolyn then opens her cockpit and drops Ditz out, allowing Ditz to scramble to its feet and wag its robotic tail before wordlessly following her commands to go to the back and monitor any attempts for enemies to slip past. As Ditz takes its position, it looks up at Kai, who was attempting to blend in with the sloped, cover-less roof of a suburban house, and barks at him a couple times playfully before sitting down and staring diligently around at any potential ways to get past him.

It seemed awfully silent for about a minute as sounds of distant gunfire begin to echo through to their mission area, reminding them that there were several squads like them attempting to hold the line. Abimael slips past Brucey to look around at the debris ridden area. Had a bomb gone off here a long time ago? One couldn't be certain, though the cover was sure nice to have, for enemies and allies alike. It was also likely difficult for a mech to navigate. Then, the ground shakes beneath his feet as Abimael looks dead on north, towards the main road. "The Gates..." He murmurs with fear. "I... Vaguely remember... Tight, disgusting tubes... Smelled horrible... Endless tunnels that forced you on... Screams."

Back out on the main road, a large, fleshy slab of what could only be described as 'organic material' burst out from underneath the concrete. It almost looked like a tree, and ceased moving after gaining several feet in height and width through the concrete. Creatures then start forming out of its surface and leaping out onto the road, shadow wolves, running towards them as the machine gun nests behind Carolyn and Liam open fire. Liam, naturally, ducks to allow a clean line of fire. Bullets spray across the road and two shadow wolves go down as Carolyn takes aim with her precision laser and splices a third one in two with a shot. These shadow wolves were not as strong as the ones they had faced in the fog.

With the sounds of fighting starting out on the main road, Abimael was distracted. It was at this point that a shadow wolf leaped out at him from behind cover and tackled him, however, Abimael grabbed the wolf by its neck and glared at it angrily. After a moment of hesitation, his free hand punches cleanly into the shadow wolf, and with a twist inside along with snapping the wolf's neck in one clean motion, the wolf twitches, then melts into orange goop on the ground. Abimael frowns, clearly upset as more wolves burst out of cover and start moving for the Ignis Dei.

Meanwhile, Matthew and Kiku, being clever enough to take cover, spot two shadow wolves attempting to sneak down the alley they were guarding. They hadn't spotted Matthew and Kiku, giving them all the opportunity they needed to have a first strike. As the shadow wolves appear, the L2 spotter quietly grabs his equipment and slips inside an open window, keeping low enough to the ground at that point that the wolves couldn't see him, though from the look on his face, both Matthew and Kiku could guess that they'd be able to smell him if they got close enough.

---

HK U-ARM

---

"Position set."
"Richard, I have a target spotted, taking aim..."

Nathaniel Hawthorne - Retrieval Team

---

Nathaniel cursed himself furiously as he slowly fell toward the earth. He was lagging behind the rest of the team after hesitating on the jump, then pulling the cord for his parachute far too early. He'd never been very comfortable with heights, but this was no time to let simple fears get the best of him. The others all chimed in on the radio with messages of their safe arrival, but Nathaniel stewed in his disgruntlement without adding to the radio chatter, muttering curses rather than letting the others know of his problems.

Finally he was nearing the roof of the mansion, so he pulled on the cords to turn his parachute. He intended to land down on the north-east corner where the others had touched down, to join up with Rhettland and sweep the building together for extra safety. However, Nathaniel found he'd misjudged the distance to the roof and went sailing right over the north-eastern corner of the building. It was at this point that he realized that this whole nonsense with the parachute couldn't have just been ineptitude on his part; there was no way he could screw up the jump, the chute, and the landing all by his own failings. It had to be another test, a trial set before him by himself, his future godly self reaching back in time to make sure his mortal form achieved everything needed for the ascension to come. Nathaniel decided that this trial must be meant to teach him humility, that there were things that mortals could not control and forces they must bow before lest they be broken.

He landed on the south-west corner of the roof and managed to keep his feet. He disentangled himself from the parachute and felt the rain for the first time. It brought a tiny smile to his lips; it was just another little piece of the test, of course. Nathaniel started looking round for a way in as he finally chimed in on the radio, following the lead of the others and letting them know of his arrival. "Hawthorne here, got delayed, just landed on the south-west corner of the mansion roof. Heading inside now." He didn't bother giving any further explanation for the deviation from the plan, as that would have just taken up precious time they didn't have. Instead he made his way over to the west side of the building to look for a way in, holding his rifle at the ready, just in case.

Brucey - Shadow Zone

---

"Nice work Abi." Brucey remarks over his speakers as he faces the ruins with the Shadow Wolves in plenty of evidence. He ordered his companion the little Ignis Dei to open fire on any Wolf that it could target as he turned his gaze over the enemies and flicked on the incinerators pilot lights. The Ignis Dei cleared the corner slightly and Bruce smiled. He didn't much like the song but it was soo so appropriate. "This is Brucey to team. It's time to party like it was the post-apocalypse."

The Incinerators roared to life and vomited gouts of flame towards the visible shadow wolves in range as Brucey aimed at the furthest visible wolf and opened fire with his minigun hoping to drop it in only a couple of shots.

U-Arm Wing
Junko Heizen

---

"I've heard of you! Junko, right? You made a shot clean through a wall and saved Alyss' life right?"

A boy barely fit to hold a rifle was looking curiously at her, presumably L2, coming up to spot in relative safety inside the building. Her opaque visor hid her rather surprised expression, as memories long past flooded back into her.

"I know you! The Lightning Hunter! I've seen how you went through Count Regnis' mercs!"

She closed her eyes for a moment, before switching off the music player on her visor, and answering the boy . "I am, and I did. Boy, I want you to stay as silent as possible and not make too much of a disturbance. Spot through the crack in the curtains, but never try to open it wider or disturb the curtains too much." Silently, she put the tip of her rifle's barrel upon the window sill, trying not to disturb the curtains. "The second you do, you will find out whether the U-Arm has a good enough sniper to put a bullet between your eyes."

It was a bit awkward scoping with the visor still on, but it was manageable. She could see the three heat signatures even before the scout reported in. "Hey.. Whats your name?"

Radio chatter coming in through her feed suggested those U-Arse forces had hacked through their frequency. Where was the radio operator and why haven't they given them a new frequency? As it is now, she could scarcely report anything without them realizing there was a marksman on the second floor.

Taking in a deep breath, she licked her lips as she took aim towards the two power suits behind the rather ridiculous looking tank, looking over them for any sign of weakness.

Edward 'Ned' Lawson
Shadow Zone Wing - North

"Sit down, Max" Ned said to his dog, the damn fool mutt had heard the song Bruce had started playing, jumped to his paws and started moving about its safety cage in the Dingos slightly larger than average pilots chamber letting out a low whine. "Yes Max I don't like the song either, now sit the hell down and behave yourself." Ned was moving his mech to the left flank a little slower than he could have been, the Dingo's locomotion systems had frozen as he had tried to move out and a system reboot had been required to get the mech moving again, as a result he could see Matthew and Kiku ahead of him taking cover from whatever was around the corner, likely wolves by Bruce's choice of song.

Well with the radio compromised its not like they could communicate reliably with it so Ned decided to take the initiative on the left and pushed the throttle up so that he would reach the street that Matthew and Kiku were taking cover from, as he did so he rotated his turret to face the direction the hostiles would ge approaching from and prepared to stop so he could open fire with a degree of accuracy as he cleared the corner.

Ned shook his head as Bruce communicated over the radio. "Four Ex, in case you missed it the apocalypse has already been, this is post apocalypse mate, what other kind of party would we be having." He said with a chuckle as the Dingo cleared the building and opened fire with its turret mounted lasers on the now clearly revealed shadow wolves.

Georgia Rhettland // Retrieval Mission

---

"Is Alyss working on direct orders from the Council?" Georgia asks, ducking back to the room she had entered at to gain confirmation.

"Probably." Derek replies. "They don't tell me shit, hon."

"Someone is getting fed a line of spew..." she mutters back into the link, "Let's hope its not us."

"Don' worry, I'll keep you safe. I like it when Carolyn smiles, she wouldn't without'cha."

"Good. Keep that promise. I think I've got a good read here... Going to follow it. Advancing ahead before I lose it... And before we get swarmed. The longer we take, the worse this is going to get, we just don't have the time and I know I'm the fastest here."

Georgia takes a deep breath and eyes the security room. She frowns and takes her combat knife out, on edge after hearing the voices as if they were beckoning her towards the double-doored with no knobs. She fixes it on opposite the flashlight as a bayonet and takes a deep breath, realizing the risks of making too much noise here in the mansion. She could draw in who knows what upon herself. It was apparent there were things in here now besides Eve.

That said, she decides against trying to risk the security room. She was alone apparently with no back-up and a scuffle might cause whatever was in the double-door room to break out and come after her... Even worse, her tapping into the system may cause some sort of psychic disturbance that it might apparently sense. So with that in mind, she keeps to what she had told Derek she would do. She would follow the psychic signal that she had picked up that was guiding her down the stairs. It rang similar enough to what she had felt before the jump, so there was enough of a chance that it would lead her to Eve. And at this point, the only way was forward. Standing still in a place like this would just be death.

So silent as she can manage, she clears past the double-doors and security room and makes for the stairs, gun secure in her hands. Georgia angles her light down the stairs, causing the light to bob up and down with each step as she radios in to the rest of her group, “Roman, go with Nathaniel. I'm going down a level, I think I sense the target. Be careful, though... I... I thought I heard a party. And someone there knew my name. There's stuff that can get in your head in here.”