Shortly after having set himself up in wait of the second retriever, his patience was rewarded as he looked over and saw the woman approaching him.  She waved to him from a distance, to which he responded by shoving off from the building and nodding in her direction.  Even from that distance, Nova could tell the woman probably wasn't very experienced in retrieving... or being outside of the deadzones at all.  He wondered if it would be a problem, but then he remembered that Connelly was a smart man.  There was no way he would have allowed someone to go on this trip unless he thought they could handle themselves.  Either that, or he trusted Nova enough to make sure she didn't come back dead.  To be fair, he wasn't wrong on that point.

As she introduced herself, it became clear why she was here.  While he both believed and hoped that a medic wouldn't be necessary, it served as no small comfort to know that she had such experience.  He shook her hand as she offered it, but along with her introduction came some discomforting news.  He had figured the team would be composed of at least three people, himself included.  Hearing her say there weren't any others was unexpected, and slightly unsettling, but he figured the extra mobility gained from having a small team negated that.

[b]"Yep.  Nova Viridian.  I'm glad to have someone with your expertise, though it's not hard to tell that you haven't seen much time outside of the deadzones."[/b]  He paused for a moment, checking to make sure all of his weapons were loaded.  [b]"That's not to say I begrudge you that, though I would appreciate it if you follow my lead.  As long as we stick together and you do as I say, this should go pretty smoothly.  And yes, time is of the essence, so let's head out,"[/b] he finished, holstering his silenced pistol and heading out of Sector Nine before pausing for another moment.  [b]"And to answer your question, no.  I'm not from this Sector, or any Sector, really.  We can talk more about that on the way, if you'd like."[/b]

[hr]

It had been some time since they left the Sector.  Nova preferred to move at a jog, but he wasn't about to ask Taija to exert herself.  It wasn't that he doubted her physical abilities, more that she was definitely not experienced in combat, and he didn't want her to be worried about controlling her breathing on top of shooting things, should it come to that.  They had covered a few blocks since leaving the deadzone, and while nothing had happened yet, he kept his head on a swivel and his senses sharp.

On occasion, he could hear the groan of a nearby building.  It almost became rhythmic and predictable, as if the City was announcing their approach to the cache.  Something about it was different.  Usually the odd sound occurred at random intervals, and they weren't generally localized.  This time, however, they seemed to be following the two, and it almost became something akin to a drum roll.  A slow, dismal, drum roll.  He usually didn't walk with his weapons drawn, but he instinctively grabbed his silenced pistol and flicked the safety off.  The City was undoubtedly acting outside of it's usual behavioral patterns, and Nova wasn't about to let himself be caught off guard.