Wealth in all its forms (Closed)

"My word, it's worse than I thought."
Samantha said with an uncharacteristically dull voice upon seeing the 'ruins'

"It's like my son's room when he hasn't cleaned it in months... I suppose I should be grateful that I wasn't put in excavation."

Besides her complaining, she does as she was told.

Xenox looked around the ruins, his photoreceptors looking all around them. He then heard Crystal's question and turned towards her to respond.

=Indeed. The Nocturnus Clan did have some impressive sctructures. Definitely more advanced than these... Aggregate and cement structures.=

After he had made his short side trip in the camp, Wolf had hurried to catch up with the rest of the team as they headed for the excavation site. Now wearing a belt with a pair of mismatched, sheathed short swords hanging behind him, he trailed slightly behind the group as they traveled to their destination.

Once the team had reached the excavation site, Wolf initially follows suit with gazing around at the ruins that were visible within the clearing. It just looked like a plain building to him with debris strewn around it, but then, he wasn't an archeologist either. What would he know about it?

So, while everyone else seemed content to grouse about the situation, Wolf moves away from the group and begins to walk around the perimeter of the clearing. As they seemed focused towards the structure, he turns his gaze out of the clearing, judging how dense the surrounding foliage was, how much it obscured vision and where there might be good places to hide out there.

The clearing itself was fairly open; there were no trees or any obstructions, save it be for the larger chunks of stone and concrete rubble strewn about, large enough for one to hide behind should the need arise. But the rest of the clearing was simply organized into 2 tiers. The first tier being the wide ring around the second tier, this tier was level with the surrounding ground.

This level ring was far from interesting, although it would certainly serve as the most important strategic location, notable enough to Wolf, as it was the out-skirting of the wide and open clearing where the entire team were shambling through, and directly adjacent to the thick forest. The surrounding foliage went from sparse (if at all) from within the clearing, to almost too dense to see through in mere meters from beyond the clearing's edge. There was a clear area where Team Alpha had cut away the vegetation, and evidence of where some had gone too far, only to be corrected and brought back to the main clearing. 

There were several large bushes, particularly on the south-western side of the perimeter, slightly off to the left of where the group had entered. But to say that's the only place where such thick vegetation was present, would be false. The clear sound of a river trickling in the distance was audible from within the clearing, even over small volume of wind that occasionally blew through, and the chirping of birds.

The mole, who had previously been grimacing over the sun's heat sweltering down of the group from above, was obviously disappointed along with the rest of the group, although they chose not say anything in complaint. Crystal however, continued to grumble about the presence of ruins that were not at all ancient. 

"This isn't worth the pay I thought it was. I thought historical enlightenment was going to be part of our pay..."

But she continued on towards the concrete structure anyway, as instructed by Danielle. The Mole and the Fennec also joined her, them being the only members of the Archaeological and Logistic teams that were in Team Beta. "Zso, vat 'ave ve 'ere?"

The Fennec took one of the flowers from off of the top of their head and held it out in an open palm. The mole watched with curiosity, while Crystal seemed completely unaware of what the small fox was doing.

"Did Team Alpha give you any information on exactly what to expect beyond this shed?" Karn asked, rather pointedly of Danielle. Very obviously, as the archaeology team made their way into the small structure, that there was a subterranean element to the site. Whether it was some underground network of rooms, or cavernous system; well that part was uncertain for now. Although all things considered, it was a safe gamble that it would be the former of the two options.

"They've only told us that there's a ramp leading down into a small room, apparently some vehicle garage or rather." This was confirmed by the small flower in the Fennec's hand glowing up with a bright purple light, shining down into the shed opening, where indeed a ramp led to some larger room down below. The room had several open doorways shrouded in darkness, leading into the shadowy beyond.

Here they were. "Zomeone go aheed of me" the fox said, holding the light out ahead of himself and pointing to the darkness just beyond the flower's purple reach.

"You said it, Crystal..."

This whole thing was a major bummer, but it'd be rude to just quit, so she presses on, intrigued by the fennec's flower.

Samantha summons a red tome, getting in front of the fennec as requested.

"I'd love to hear about that flower of yours, darling. It's very pretty!"

Samantha tries to switch to a different topic, anything would be more entertaining than this mess.

Xenox followed along behind the group. Once they were inside the structure, lights protruded from Xenox's photoreceptors, the light blue accents on his body gave off a faint glow as well.

=Miss Danielle, what do you recommend we do now?=

Wolf continues to make his circuit of the clearing as other members of the team head towards the structure sitting in its center. He could vaguely hear bits and pieces of the conversations going on from this distance, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

For the time being, he would just patrol the area until he was requested elsewhere or he saw need to be elsewhere.

The small fennec gives the elderly hedgehog a warm smile, although it seems to have a touch of a proud smirk in it, "Vell you zsee, iz a normal flower I peeked at ze camp, but I put zome mageek into eet and it glows!" He said excitedly, jostling the small purple light in his hand in tune with his speech. 

As the hedgehog took point of the group and went on ahead of the fox, a passive, cold breeze blew out from the dark opening ahead of them. The small room just beyond the darkness of shadow cast by what remaining natural light there was getting through the shed's doorway. The fennec held his hand out a little further from his body, so as to cast some light ahead of where Samantha stood, illuminating a wall about 4 meters ahead of her.

The wall had an opening, a doorway, regular sized, but with no door or even seemingly a door frame, and the beyond of it was entirely dark save for what meager amount of purple light was able to reach the concrete floor. 

Danielle carefully eyed Wolf as he made his round of the clearing, not suspicious at all, but just to make sure he didn't trip, or stumble. The amount of pointy rubble lying about was immense, and risk of a head injury was nothing to be scoffed at should someone take a fall. "Well, I think the first job should be to find out how far the ruins go, if there's a whole complex down there or what, just so we actually know what we've got here. Then tomorrow Team Beta will come in with floodlights and actually light up the place so we can begin proper digging and analysis."

She sighed, giving the large horse a nod and pointing to the shed, "Lisa, if you'd like to follow up the rear of the group, Lucas and Crystal will take care of all the mapping. I think Samantha is in front." The red cat had to squint to make out the form of the hedgehog in front of the fox, who had just been named Lucas. Then she returned to talking to the group, "You lot head on into the... ruins... and I'll stay up here to make sure nobody sneaks up on us, if you get into trouble give a holler and I'll send Wolf down immediately."

Crystal sighed, "fine..." she mumbled, tacking a flashlight from off of a carabiner locked onto her belt loops and flicking it on, pointed to the right of where the group was currently standing at the bottom of the ramp. The light shone into another room, littered with bits of concrete debris, dust, and heavily rotted wooden shelves, beyond it, there was another dark doorway, leading into yet more of the mysterious and ominous darkness.

The floor felt cold to the touch, and although hidden underground and made from thermally poor concrete, it was probably a bit more of a chill comparison to the humid jungle air than it should have been. "Alright so bloody spooky-ass building down here Danielle!" Karn shouted loudly as the large horse caught up to them, clopping her way down the ramp with bare hoof on the inclined pathway. His shout echoed hollowly through the building, if there was anything in here, the team's entry was now no mystery.

Crystal squeaked in fright at the coyote's sudden outburst, dropping her torch in embarrassment. It fell, illuminating the wall in the other direction she had been pointing it, wherein there was another doorway and another room filled with rotted shelves. "Karn..." She wimpered, "Be quiet! This place is dark, and we're alone."

The coyote sighed, picking up the flashlight and handing it back to her, "We're not alone, Danielle is right up there and this place hasn't been touched for years, there's nothing to be scared of." He says, walking into the shelf-filled room to the groups left, followed by the spotlight of Crystal's torch. "See, no demons or anything. Just some..." He kicked one of the wooden shelves, "leftover garbage."

The Large horse walked into the room, blocking Karn from everyone's view for a moment, and then turned around, with Karn's nape nestled firmly in her large hand, "You. Stop causing trouble." She grumbled, putting him back down and taking the orange coyote back to join the rest of the group. 

"Ok, so how about Lucas, Sam, Xenox, and Pan take that way-" She said, pointing to the doorway directly ahead of the ramp, the one illuminated by the fennec's purple flower, "And Myself, Karn, and Crystal will handle these two offshooting rooms?"

The fennec nodded in agreement with the horse, then gave the Gizoid a smirk, "I vould like to zsee you try and copee zis." He said, bouncing the flower a little in his hand with a proud expression on his face.

"Oh! What a unique form of magic! très intéressant!"

Well, that what she led herself to believe, really all he said was that he could make flowers glow, whether it went any deeper has yet to be seen.

After getting orders from Danielle which she reluctantly agreed to, the horse suggested they split up to explore.
Seeing Crystal's nervousness, she wanted to go with her, but it was just a couple of rooms...

"Please miss, call me Samantha, not Sam." "But alright, that sounds fine, but stay safe you three!"
She says to the soon-to-be-split portion of the group, Crystal especially.

Xenox nodded their head to the horse, then turned to the fennec who was seeming very proud of his ability. Xenox said nothing. He simply looked up and down the flower, the copy beams scanning it intently.

-COPYING BATTLE DATA-

-BATTLE SCAN COMPLETE: LUMINESCENT FLOWER-

The Gizoid then held a hand up as a glowing, metallic looking replica of the fennec's flower materialized, enclosed in their grasp.

=It may not be exactly the same as yours sir, but I can copy what I see from the exterior. A glowing flower. Shall we continue?=

Despite noting the almost everyone else in the team was heading into the center structure there in the clearing, Wolf continues to walk the perimeter of the area.

Fortunately, he hadn't come across anything of note, but seeing that the foliage what quite dense, it would make it nearly impossible for anything to been seen approaching until it reached the edge of the clearing. Unless one happened to be watching that particular direction or was already in that part of the jungle it was quite likely you'd never know anyone or anything was there until it let you know.

Once he is done walking back to the point along the perimeter that the team had initially entered from camp, Wolf starts making his way through the debris and over towards the central structure to join Danielle.

The Fennec at first becomes incredibly alert, a smile of amazement on his face at Samantha's use of his native tongue, and proficiently at that. "Tu parles français!?" He asks, excitedly before turning his attention to the Gizoid as it's scanning reticle hones in on the purple flower resting in his hands.

"Vous êtes invités à essayer, Gizoid." Lucas says to Xenox, forgetting to begin speaking English again, but still with the effervescent smile that he had in excitement of his hedgehog discovery, although perhaps this time with a hint of self-confidence.

This smile drops completely and becomes a frown of disappointment when the the white android is able to materialize a small, purple, glowing object out of thin air. "Ah salaud" he mutters in defeat, looking away from the Gizoid and turning to the task at hand. That task being that of moving forwards into the facility by Lisa's request. "Oui, ve shall move into ze dark tunnel vile ze zfee of you take ze rooms closest to ze exeet. Ov course! Pourquoi pas?"

The mole, named Pan by the large horse, took a step forward to walk alongside Lucas, but as if snapping out of a daze, realized how little of the room ahead she could see and began frantically searching around in her small hip-bag for a flashlight. "Just a moment you guys." She said, something falling out of her bag and onto the floor with a very paper-sounding flap. "Alright I've got it, sorry." She said, flicking it on and holding it out to either Samantha or Xenox, whoever was willing to take it.

Lisa gave elderly hedgehog a nod, "Samantha. Of course, my bad." She said, motioning for Crystal to join herself and Karn in the room they were currently standing to begin their search of the offshooting paths. "C'mon you two." The large horse said, stretching her shoulders and pointing to the room directly ahead of them, branching off from the first room (Room she's pointing to is marked as L in my nice little ASCII art at the bottom of the page)

"A- Alright." The vibrant blue rabbit squeaked, pointing her torch to the room ahead. The view for the other group of the room she illuminated (Room L) was obscured by the immense figure of the one-eyed horse, but there was no reaction of shock or awe from the group of 3 that warranted any inherent need to look.

As for the room beyond for the group of 4, it seemed to have no end, with many offshooting hallways to either side. Because indeed, it wasn't a room at all, but a hallway. And judging by the width of it, it was likely the main hallway of whatever sort of building this used to be. It was all concrete, save for the occasional piece of vegetation that creeped down from fissures unseen in the roof above.

Lucas held his flower out to some of the other hallways, but didn't wander off, "Eet would be best zat we find out how manee of zeez zere are bevore ve go vandering."

Up above the ground, where only the red cat and the grey wolf were located, standing guard over the entrance into the ruins, very little had occurred of interest, save for an airplane slowly and quietly making its way across the sky, dipping behind clouds as they drifted across the blue expanse above.

Indeed the clearing was vulnerable to any hidden attacks that sought to surround the entrance to the ruins, but as Danielle had said before, the security detail was more for bark than for bite. That being said, the amount of ground between the first perimeter, the ring of crag, and the inner section was large enough to be defensible, if the need arose.

Danielle made sure to occasionally look over and systematically scan the treeline, not expecting to find anything, but more or less hoping to find something, as the situation was rather moot. "So Wolf, you got a job other than freelancing?" She said, in an attempt to pass the now indefinite amount of time that they would be spending, waiting for the rest of Team Beta to make some noise.



                    (X is the entrance room) (S is the hallway the group of 4 is in)


=========_____ . . . . . . |==============
=============| . . . . . |==============
=============| . . S. . |==============
=======________| . . . . . |__________======
=======. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ======
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯. .¯¯¯|¯¯¯. .¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|======
| . . . . . . .| . . . . . .| . . . . . .| . . . . . . . . .|======
| . . .L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . .======
| . . . . . . .| . . . . . .| . . . . . .| . . . . . . . . .|======
|________|_______|___. .__|__________|======

"Oui! Je ne parle pas français très souvent, en fait!"
Samantha responds, also excited, she didn't get to speak French very often.

When faced with the multiple hallways, Samantha nodded at Lucas' suggestion.

"Yes, we really should see how many hallways there are first." "We are technically the map makers."

And thus, walk down the hall.

Xenox nods to Lucas.

=Agreed. Let us continue our search.=

Pan then hands the paper to Xenox. He takes it and looks across it, flipping it over and looking at the back as well.

=What is this for?= He asks them in curiosity.

Much like Danielle was doing, Wolf passes the time scanning the treeline for any activity, despite knowing that it likely wouldn't give them much, if any, warning if anything did show up. He at least figures he'd enjoy the quiet for as long as it lasted.

It turns out to not be too long as Danielle asks him a question a short time later.

"Freelancing?" he repeats, his tone suggesting that he is unaware of what that term means.

After a few moments of silence, he adds on to his response.

"I guess I don't really do anything beyond these odd jobs that come up. If someone suggests I might be good at it, I usually give it a try." he says, not even turning to glance in her direction as he does so.

The small, cream fox turns his head about to both sides, leaning out of the purple light of the flower so as to allow his eyes to adjust a little better to the darkness that surrounded them and give him a slightly improved view of the offshooting hallways. There was a dull hum inside the ruins, although this could be attributed to the occasional wind blowing through the above clearing, or the decent-sized stream that the team had walked past on their way here. Although it was certainly quiet in volume, it seemed to reverberate from within the structure, within the darkness.

"Mon Dieu" Lucas mutters, "Eet ees ver' dark een here."

Pan sighs, being a mole she's able to see marginally better than the fennec, although Samantha and Xenox both had their own merits, so she couldn't say for them. "The hallway to our left seems to go on for a while, the one to our right looks like it hits a wall, but there's quite a few rooms off to the sides of it. And the tunnel ahead of us is... well very long." 

"I-" She starts before being cut off from a call by Lisa, the horse, "This seems to be a dumping room, there's just a bunch off.. well rusted metal in here, looks like bits of a car, workshop tools, etc. Everything that isn't metal or wood still... seems to be in good enough condition, if not for the rust. This place can't be more than a decade old." She shouts back to the group of four from wherever in the ruins they were.

"Is that right?" Her voice can be heard softly, talking quietly to either of the other 2 members of her group. "mhm." comes a squeak of confirmation from Crystal, indicating that was the small rabbit's analysis of the debris in the room, but she was too shy to shout it for the other group to hear.

The light of the flashlight that the blue rabbit holds dearly to for life begins flicking around in the hallway to the left of the group, indicating that they were now making their way back to the other offshooting room. (Now indicated by L)

Pan squinted a little as she looked further down one of the new hallways that revealed itself as the group of 4 continued scouting. "Hey guys... I know what what we said about checking these hallways but... check these out." She said, pointing down the dark tunnel to their left (Indicated as P on the map).

As the fox reached his hand out in the direction that the mole indicated, his purple light cast long-reaching shadows across what appeared to be metal bars; as if they belonged to some cage or prison cell. There were more than one set of bars, as Lucas allowed himself to be distracted for a short moment, he illuminated several more of these 'cells'. Each one was damaged in some way, large chunks of ruin or rubble forcing the bars to bend or break out from the floor, doors fallen off their hinges, rust.

"Vat vas zis place?" Lucas whispered quietly.

"We've got more rooms!" Karn shouted back to them, followed very closely by another frightened squeak by Crystal, and very hurried footsteps. "Hey- Hey Crystal come back here!" 

The small blue rabbit very hurriedly made her way into the view of the group of 4, illuminated by purple light. "Karn, you're such a... such a... You're such a dick, Karn!" She shouted back to them in her usually optimistic, but now rather peeved high-pitched voice. 

This was accompanied by the sound of a solid smack, and a shout of annoyance from Karn. "You're supposed to be protecting, not giving her a reason to feel like she needs it." The large horse scolded. Eventually, the two of them would then also join the rest of the group, although with a glare from the blue rabbit.

Up above the flurry of mischievous investigation taking place downstairs, the red cat let her short legs swing around the hanging piece of debris on which she sat. "That's basically what freelancing is. And besides working for this expedition team as an on-demand crew, I freelance myself. Odd jobs, here, there. Went as far as Chun-nan once." She sighed, "That's where I picked up this."

The red cat lifted up her briefcase, "Great piece of tech, very efficient. Although you couldn't tell from first glance." She ran a finger along the top of the sealed container, "Your swords? Do they have some hidden powers?"

Back down below, as Pan had just begun pointing out the apparent prison cells to Lisa, they were very quickly silenced by the sound of something hitting the floor, something hard hitting the floor, ahead of the group. Somewhere further into the facility, somewhere beyond just the main corridor the group had been scouting. Something like a footstep.

"Quiet. Karn, Samantha, Xenox, you go ahead and see what that was. I'll turn back to the first room and watch the Archaeology team there."



(X is the entrance room) (S is the hallway the group of 4 is in) (K is the direction of the noise)


============__. . . . . . ____================
============__. . .^. . . ____================
=============|. . .K . .|===================
=============|. . . . . .|===================
=============|. . . . . .|===================
=________________|. . . . . .|====================
=|. . . . . . . . . P. . .  . . . S . .|====================
=++++++++++++| . . . . . |=====================
=|__|__|__|__|__|__| .. . . . |=====================
=======________| . . . . . |__________=============
=======. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . =============
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯. .¯¯¯|¯¯¯. .¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯. .¯¯¯|======
| % .. . . . | . . . . . .| . . . . . .| . . . . . . . . .| . . . . . . .|=====
| # . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .L. . . . .=====
| @#$%#.| . . . . . .| . . . . . .| . . . . . . . . .| . . . . . . .|======
|________|_______|___. .__|__________|________|======

Goodness, there's a lot to respond to in here, I hope if you don't mind me just not.


Samantha, giving a long sigh at the shenanigans and a glare at Karn, goes to check out the area at the end of the hallway, ready to cast something if needed.

Xenox said nothing, and simply followed a few feet behind Samantha. The Gizoid held his free hand up in front of him, a short flash of energy appearing in their palm as they constructed a metallic staff. They twirled it around as they let it rest in their palm, behind their back. They held the copied flower up close to the walls, preparing for any intruders.

Wolf watches Danielle as she speaks a little about her freelance experience.

"I suppose several people here... freelance." he says, emphasizing the word freelance a bit, like someone not used to using it in conversation, "I think they'd be familiar with each other otherwise."

He then glances to her briefcase.

"I wouldn't know much of anything about that sort of thing really. I wouldn't have figured out any of the details about it honestly. Even with examining it." he says.

Then he glances down to the hilt of one of his swords in response to her question.

"These? No... they're just swords. If there is anything special about them, I haven't found that out yet." he replies.

He then looks back towards Danielle, expecting she might have some sort of follow up.

*The dark and forsaken abandon hallways of a place used for means beyond or even of any normality should've been the last place in the world where any one even remotely set foot, and yet here they were. Oblivious to the truth at large and unaware of someone who had already entered prior. 

The hallway ahead of the investigating crew was slowly being lit up by a cone of feint, and almost undetectable light creeping ever so closer to the connecting hallway's junction point. Within view of the group. The light was accompanied by eerie, echoing metallic thuds striking against the worn concrete floors, along with the rustling of equipment against an armored surface. The sounds drew ever closer and closer, someone else was clearly operating here despite the archaeologist's knowledge that this place was supposed to be entirely abandoned; unexpected company.

Eventually a shadow-cloaked figure emerged from the darkness ahead of the group, from the left. He stood tall, just over 6 feet in height, covered in array of smoke-grey clothing, overlayed with distinct charcoal armor configurations covering his chest, back and shoulders. The blended mix of deep-greys and blacks concealed almost all of his features in the dark hallway. A helmet shielding his face sported a distinct, yet cracked, mint green visor offering the only color among the figure's attire. And finally, clutched in his blacken gloves was a powerful weapon of assault rifle origin. Well armored... and well armed.

The shadowy figure was like a poltergeist in the dark, his silhouette shrouded in the enveloping darkness with only his foot steps an indicator that he could create sound. Until finally it spoke in a muffled voice, one into a radio, and to those with a keen ear; one out of a radio as well.*

"Lower sector data secure....."

:"Well done....proceed to the upper floor and retrieve that intel as well.

"Will do... by the way, how much of this am I suppose to burn once done ? 

:"All of it! Every file, every disk, every hardrive... we not taking any chances."

"Understood heading for upper levels now."


*After the brief conversation of the two unknown voices, the mysterious figure pressed on, seeming to vanish into the darkness again to the right of the group, completely unaware of the presence of those coming from the hallway to his right. Who he was... who he was operating under... or what exactly he was after... was unclear. 

Perhaps some one in the group had seen this individual before? It was unclear. He appeared to be on the move heading for somewhere else on this floor... it was the security team's move.*

(All according to plan)

Karn's eyes widened as a shadowy being drifted across, through the darkness ahead of the group. He was gripped by shock at the... suddenness, sheer size of the figure in comparison to his own mobian stature... as well as the fact that it simply moved past without paying them any mind.

"Did... did you uh... guys, see that?" The coyote stumbles over his own words, refusing to believe what he just saw.

(It's your move)

Up above the ground, where the cat and wolf sat, waiting for any sort of action, a gentle wind began to blow in the clearing, giving some much called-for relief from the humid jungle air. 

And indeed, Danielle listened patiently while Wolf explained his line of work with some sense of vagueness, but with enough mutual experience for her to understand. "Agreed, although I think quite a few of the Archaeologists in team Alpha belong to an organization, that's why they were so put-out by the fact we don't get to keep any of the artifacts we dig up for ourselves."

The small red cat did also have something to follow up the wolf with in her questioning, and it was thus; "So... if you're swords... they don't have any special properties, how do they serve you in an environment where people are using magic and things like..."

She unbuckles her briefcase's lock, a grin of some manner of pride on her face at being able to show someone what's inside, before a loud crackling erupts from her radio communicator, startling her and causing her to drop the now open container. As Danielle attempts to scramble for the radio, the contents of her luggage are splayed out on the somewhat-mossy gravel at the bottom of the inner clearing in front of her.

A small Gatling gun, bolted to the inside of the briefcase, and with an apparently extendable barrel, which would- one could only assume- protrude from the side of the case when fully extended.

"Shit." She mutters, glancing quickly between the crackling device in her hand and the weapon now laying in the dirt. The red cat gives Wolf a nervous look before holding the comm up to her face, "Hello?"

All that was received in reply was more static.

Samantha blinked furiously as she noticed a figure at the end of the hallway, extending her arm as she was about to cast something, but she stops...
That figure seemed familiar somehow.

"Wait, could that have been... But why would he be here?"
And who was he talking to?

"There shouldn't be anyone else here, we have to check!"

And with that, she's on the move after the mysterious figure.

Xenox was somewhat intrigued by this large figure. He followed Samantha after the shadow, quietly saying,

=Be careful Miss Samantha. That thing was already down here, and we don't know what exactly it was.=

Despite all the banter between them, the mood shifts immediately when her radio crackles with static. Wolf watches Danielle's reactions to it and then begins scanning the clearing once again, looking for any sign of something about to happen there.

"What's wrong?" he asks, now on alert.

-Having vanished from sight around the corner, the tall cladded figure was apparently gathering intel located around the ruins. It was still unclear who had sent him to do so, or exactly what intel he'd been sent to pull from whatever still functioning systems there were inside. One thing was certain though, the figure clearly knew for himself what this place was, and where it had come from.

Whatever traces of the cone of light emanated by the figure had dimmed and vanished as he disappeared around the corner to the right, leaving only the echoing thumps of his footsteps, which grew ever fainter the more distance he put between himself and the group. From the last words he'd said, it appeared this unknown assailant was making his final rounds of this floor to recover the final pieces of information, then destroy it all. It was clearly too dangerous to fall into the hands of others.

The figure would now, as he'd made his oblivious way away to the right of the group, take another right, heading down an equally long corridor that seemed to parallel the one the group had come up. The hallway was pitch black, engulfed entirely in darkness. Whether this figure was friend or foe was not yet clear, but the security team best move fast before the figure in question evaded them entirely.