[i]Ho-lee shiet[/i] was the only thing left in Aidan's mind after he had been numbed by the message popping up on both his and Mike's PADD. He recovered as quick as he could after he read the entirety of the message and while Mike was talking with Kellia, Aidan tried to contact Blade through the COM.

"Sir, Sykes, we've got very capable friends. One guy, or one entity, pulled our pictures, the Claw in its dock, the warehouse and the princess's exact location. Oh, and a good visual on tang- holy shit. Sir, they've got advanced combat armor and prototype GEARs and they're [b]mean[/b] looking. If these photos are for real, we're up against the very best."

"Uh, we'll be there ASAP."

While scouring for a vehicle, Aidan couldn't take his mind off the profile pictures and the image of the enemy combatants. He really didn't know how any of the 'Riders could stand up against the advanced war machines, but sure as hell they would bruise the SOBs real good; he felt extremely uncomfortable being out of his GEAR in that moment, he feared that he wouldn't feel all that safe in the cockpit too. He thanked himself for bringing the PDW with him, fearing that he would most likely end up fighting on-foot. The 5.7x29mm cartridge is made to pierce body armor, but lacks the knockdown power of a heavier round - to compensate for that, Aidan decided to go with a high rate-of-fire submachine gun that could pierce through thin walls or car doors, hit the guy behind the obstacle, pierce their armor and bury the round in their flesh. It won't shock them off their feet, but the mind-numbing sensation of burning metal dug deep in their muscles and organs would temporarily incapacitate their cognitive abilities; a 9x19mm round didn't throw him off his feet, he didn't quite feel it until much later, but the shock of something going through his arm was enough to rattle his brains. Good thing pilot helmets come with sound dampeners, otherwise he would have been kicked out of the military for impaired hearing.

As he remembered the incident, he felt an eerie, warm sensation in his wounded arm still covered by a bandage and glanced at it; it was a close one, if Es wouldn't have pulled him out of the line, he could have been hit more than once and for that, he was in debt. Then, he felt a kick in the brain as he remembered about the stuff Es needed. There was no point in straying away from the direct order, so instead, he decided to wait until a firefight would break out and in the confusion, storm a nearby drugstore and commit a crime. With such thoughts in his mind, Aidan felt frustration rising again, slowly becoming eager to pull out the PDW strapped safely in his briefcase. [i]Why do I want to pull it out? Am I looking for trouble to vent out some of the anger? Or do I want to cling to something powerful, to make me feel safe?[/i] He undid the first zipper of the briefcase and dug his hand into it, feeling the rough shapes of the 20mm picatinny top rail bumps scratching he tips of his finger. Sliding his hand past the weapon, he felt the texture of the composite material making up the weapon's lower receiver, feeling more and more anxious as he could feel the Velcro strap holding the front part of the weapon in place. On the inside of the palm, he could feel the long 50 round magazines sliding up against his fur, he even felt a cold, metallic object running up against his skin; it had to be the exposed 5.7 round from a spare mag, his brain confused by the sudden urge to grip either the mag or the weapon. He exhaled heavily and retracted his arm, pulling something cold out of the briefcase, the distinct sound of Velcro straps undoing themselves came out through the narrow crack of the briefcase.

Aidan unscrewed the cap securing the still cold water bottle, spilling down half of the contents down the pipe, sloshing a mouthful against his cheeks, tongue and teeth to cool down and hydrate. He offered Mike some water, then, the mink.

"Lieutenant Aidan Sykes. Good to know we have capable friends. Want some? There's more from where that came from."