Wealth in all its forms (Closed)

The orange coyote stammered a little, searching for the right word and for the right breath with which to speak. "Th-that thing was already down here?" Karn said, swallowing hard, and hoping that he could only stop the nervous shaking of his hands. It wasn't exaggerated, but it was uncontrollable.

"Well... are we... are we gonna stop it before it... it gets to the others?" He asked, voice suddenly quite hoarse. The coyote speeds after Samantha as she pursues the strange figure, but is more than reluctant to do so in fear of the much taller... humanoid being.

Above the ground, where the situation was certainly not as confrontational as it was below, things were suddenly becoming... eerie. The crackling of the radio became louder as Danielle turned up the volume of the transmitter in an attempt to pick up any muffled noises that she could, but to no avail.

The gentle wind that had settled in only a few minutes prior was now picking itself up into an occasional gust, which rustled the treeline as Wolf tried to get a bead on anything he could. And while there was so far nothing to be seen, the constant and inconsistent blowing of the leafage made it nigh impossible to see anything moving just beyond the clearing. 

The sky didn't grow dark, but the ground did as a cloud moved in front of the sun. It wasn't here to smother the light just yet, but it was clear that there were more of the clouds to come. A coincidence of unprecedented misfortune.

Danielle flattens her ears as she looks back to Wolf from the radio, "Well. I don't know what's wrong, is what's wrong." She puts the receiver back in its place on her belt and then hops off of the piece of rubble which she had perched herself upon, crouching down to fix the briefcase sprawled out on the mossy clearing floor. "Clearly something is wrong, which is why we're getting static, but because that's all we're getting I have no idea what it is that's wrong." The red cat overexplained out of sheer nervousness.

"I think we aught to call the team up and head on back to the camp." She said, wind now blowing a gale. A summer expedition in the jungle was essentially free real estate for the tropical weather, and it wasted no time in threatening to deliver rain sometime in the very near future.

Samantha swiftly chased after the figure, responding while running.

"Chill Xenox, it was just a human." "It's not going after anyone, but we do have to stop him, it's our job after all."

As Samantha turns the corner after passing through the room, she'd shout, choosing her words carefully just in case.

"Hey! Excuse me?! Can you wait up? It's me! Samantha!"

Xenox continued to follow behind Samantha, as he held the synthetic glow flower in one hand, and then with the other, he summoned the staff he had copied before.

> OPTICAL SCANNER LIGHTS: INCREASE 35%

the light blue beams coming from Xenox's eyes started to glow brighter in intensity to hopefully give them a better look on who was down here with them.

=Even still Samantha, they could be armed. We also do not know of their intentions, or why they are even in this underground bunker in the first place.=

Wolf listens to Danielle as she makes her recommendation about what they should do. Not being in a position to suggest a different approach, Wolf nods in agreement. He then pauses for a moment.

"Do you think the team back at camp should be informed that something might be going on here before we do anything?" he asks.

-The light would indeed be needed, for the figure they hunted for blended almost seamlessly into the dark environment. His clothing and armor color were ideal, making almost impossible to spot without either: subtle movement, or direct visual contact with the mint green visor. The group were about to enter the dangerous phase of contact. The so called 'make-or-break' choice that could either see a positive or negative reaction.

Upon the security team's turn, and entrance, into the otherwise unlit hallway the mysterious armored entity had opted to take, he had for all intended purposes vanished from visual sight... at least that is what it appeared. The long winding hallway was filled with ambient sounds of echoing ominousness, the every-now-and-then sound of something creaking or groaning. The wear and tear of the abandoned place.

Samantha's voice echoed down the corridor, into what appeared to be a non-response; seconds of deathly still silence filled the corridor as if, in true ghost fashion, the being had just disappeared into thin air. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this was not the case. Moments later the silence would be torn asunder by a sound like rustling of equipment, followed by a distinct Clink Clank.

Shortly thereafter the same thumping sound of boots perked up. Despite the sound being apparently in close proximity to the group, visually he was no where in sight. That was until suddenly down the depths of the corridor a mint green light spun into existence. And it was looking right at them. Xenox's enhanced lighting systems illuminated the corridor just enough to partially light up the figure who they had been after. Staring right at them, he stood silent, bearing resemblance to a G.U.N-designed uniform outfitting, although the color and armor appeared to be heavily modified. 

The moment Xenox's light hit him the being raised his impressive looking firearm to take aim, bracing himself, this was purely a defensive action. He was lead to believe, from the intel given to him, he should've been the only one down here.....

They had his attention... now they had to make sure the situation didn't escalate...-

Karn was hardly comforted by Samantha's remarks, and continued to shake nervously with his fists raised as he followed the group timidly around the corner. What happened following that, happened very quickly indeed, and the Coyote had little time to react. 

The stranger spun around. The stranger had a gun. The gun was pointed at them.

Karn activated his ability, and while it did nothing sudden or outright threatening, if it caught one's eye it would certainly be... unexpected. The coyote gained a... literal concrete constitution. He could become any material he touched, and at the moment he was frightened, the only thing he had contact with was the broken concrete floor. "Iblis." He swore, with no small amount of fear.

Above:

In the now gusty situation between the Wolf and the Cat, there was much for them to do, but not much they could. "The problem is Wolf, if all we're getting from them is static, then I think all they're going to get from us is the same. I think we-"

"Danielle!-" Came the sound of John, the Orca through a staticky mess. Followed by the blaring sound of some high-caliber gunshots and then more static. "-Now!"

The red cat stared, dumbfounded at Wolf. "Alright. You heard the fish. Now." She demanded, throwing the radio transmitter to the wolf. Danielle couldn't put words in her mouth, and if she could she didn't feel they were worthwhile shouting over the now-roaring wind blowing past them. The only reason they would be able to hear each other at all now would be thanks to what meager shelter the concrete shed to their north was offering.

"Lisa, We're heading back to the camp, bring everyone up!" She shouted down the hole. There was some frightened squeaking from the very bottom of the ramp, followed by 3 pairs of footsteps; the Mole, the Rabbit, and the Fennec, all immediately responding to the summons. Lisa however, was being drawn to the conflict happening already.

Back below:

"Hey!" The Large horse shouted from the other end of the corridor. The intruder was now stuck between a hard place, and three hard places.

Samantha actually seemed somewhat relieved for a brief moment, she was correct in her assumptions, but now a gun was being pointed at them... Nothing she can't handle, but very bad nonetheless.

Switching out for a grey book, Samantha raises her hands in the air before speaking.

"Wait, Shrike! Please!" "We're not here to do anything, we just want to talk for a second."

Samantha would look back, barely paying attention to the altered Karn, and make a gesture toward her hands, seemingly wanting them to follow her lead.

Upon Lisa's arrival in the hallway, Samantha would look behind Shrike, now worried she might have startled him.

"Darling, wait! Don't do anything... I know him."

When Xenox saw the armored figure raise the gun towards them, being an android designed for combat, quickly raised the staff they had created. They were prepared to defend the rest of the group if they needed to. But Samantha silently asked them to not retaliate.

-This situation seems illogical. If Ms. Samantha knows who they are though, there would possibly be no need for violence.-

Xenox then lowers his hand, and the staff disappears in a small white flash, then follows Samantha's lead.

=We are just exploring this underground structure. There's no need to harm anybody, Mr. Shrike.=

After Danielle mentions that they are likely unable to communicate with the base camp, Wolf considers a response for the few moments before the radio crackles to life with a partial message from the camp. It wasn't clear what the actual message was, but to Wolf it certainly sounded like there was trouble there.

He looks up at Danielle as she seemingly replies that they are leaving as soon as possible before throwing the radio at him, which caught him by surprise. Unfortunately, that was all he caught as he fumbles his attempt to catch the radio and it fell to the ground in front of him.

He crouches down to retrieve it as Danielle calls for the rest of the team to join them on the surface. He looks up at her again as he hears the footsteps of the others approaching from below.

"Danielle... do you think you and the others will be okay without me?" he asks, raising his voice to be heard over the wind, "I could head back to camp on my own now and see what's going on there. If there's trouble, I might be able to help. If not, I can give them an update and come back."

He keeps his gaze on her as he awaits her decision.

-There seemed to be a sheer tenseness in the atmosphere where they had converged upon suddenly and unexpectedly. Shrike had come into contact with a unknown of group of beings... mobians in origin, but it was unclear what exactly their intentions where. Because of his own personal experiences, the human's knee jerk reaction was to raise his firearm at them; a warning directed to any one thinking he would simply surrender wholeheartedly. The silence was deafening; he'd found himself once more in a complicated situation. Back against the wall so to speak. And to a degree; quite literally.

However, in a twist of fate or sheer chance, a voice echoed out from the light's source. Among the security team there was but one who held a vague resemblance to a being he'd met previously, if only briefly. Her voice, he had not forgotten... was identical... nor had he forgotten her name. It felt like just the other day he had crossed paths with the Hedgehog, while attempting to locate a favored friend of his own.

The sound of her voice began to ease the otherwise paranoid freelancer, indicated by the 6 foot tall being's weapon ever-so-slowly being lowered. It appeared the situation had been defused quite quickly.

That would be until a certain some one else decided to show up on the complete opposite end of the corridor. The voice jolted Shrike back into his fight or flight reflexes, quickly swinging himself around in the direction of the new character and once again raising his firearm in their general direction. Although turning to face the stranger only allowed him to make out a tallish figure. Right now was not the best time to be suddenly corned, though now finally the masked one spoke up; his voice crackling with it's radio-like tone and filter-

"Well... you lot are not what I expected to discover in the depths of this forsaken hell hole. And here I thought I was alone the entire time. Yea... I'm willing to talk... tell your friends to put away... what ever it is they are holding... Also mind telling Neigh-Neigh down the corridor to not have a fit... kinda trying to operate quietly down here." 

Karn remained very still as the hedgehog and human began communicating with one another, allowing the added stiffness of the concrete alteration to assist him in essentially becoming a statue until he was called upon.

However, not all could be said the same for the soldier, "Shrike." Came one of the voices from inside the freelancer's helmet, "Who are you talking to? Are there others in the facility? I warned you to take immediate defensive action and blow that place if you make contact."

And as for the horse, who had all but ignored the red cat's call to return up to the surface, snorted at the grey soldier's slightly condescending call for her to stand down. Not only did the stranger point a gun at her, but now they were accusing her of being radical. With the rifle still pointed at her, she kept one hand where it was, on the hilt of her staff. Her reflex had been to reach for the weapon upon seeing the soldier, but as he spun around, she had to freeze midway through.

Her single good eye tried its hardest to make out the features of the dark figure in the even darker hallway, but with herself being in the lightest part of the corridor, a meager amount of natural light making its way into the room behind her from the ramp downwards into the ruins, she was barely able to make out the soldier's green visor.

Up above:

Danielle seemed much to worried and frantic with the silence of her second in command, although more accurately; her muscle. Lisa hadn't responded to her call, and the other team was clearly in trouble. The red cat was losing control of the situation, or perhaps she had already lost it?

She very frantically slings the heavy backpack of ammunition onto her back and takes the briefcase in hand. Then she spins, turning to face the opening to the ruins, the archaeology team who had just come back up, Wolf, and the darkening sky; on the verge of cracking a thunder. "Look... Wolf..." She says, looking to the frightened expression of the blue rabbit, the nervous look of the mole, and the confused face of the fennec. Yes. She was not currently in control of the situation, so it was time for her to take control.

Her mind was racing, and it was hard to form a thought, "YeRs-" She says, voice cracking, "Ahem."

Danielle takes a moment to breathe, wind howling into her lungs from the gale blowing around them. "Yes. Wolf, take Crystal, Pan, and Lucas with you back to the camp, I'll round up the security team and whatever's going on downstairs. And if everything's alright back there, we'll meet you at the halfway point. Ok?" The question was hardly directed at the wolf, and more to herself, to which she whispered a response "ok" very quietly.

The red cat assumes that Wolf will accept her decision, considering she's head of the team; although it may not be the most effective decision, as extra companions would likely slow him down. But she hadn't considered that he would object, and so she begins to descend down the ramp into the dark ruins, Gatling Gun in hand. It was not too late.

(Did you want to timeskip 30 mins forward to somewhere near the camp C.S.O? The rest of the group can continue in the current time and you can continue in the 30 mins from now, and then I guess kinda just iron out any kinks involving time disparity when its time for everyone to head back.)

Samantha was slightly panicking, she had to be quick about this before things got out of hand.

"Alright, you heard him, weapons down." "As for this... We were told by an excavation team to search this place and make sure nobody's inside."

"But I'm sure that you have your reasons for being here, likely more important than ours, if you wouldn't mind telling us, we can likely leave you alone."

That wasn't a promise, but it'd be a more peaceful solution, and while it may be ill-advised for her to trust someone she only met once before, she felt she could trust Shrike here.

Xenox remained silent for a few moments as he looked back and forth between Samantha and Shrike. After thinking about it. Xenox dematerialized the staff he had created, the long pole disappearing in a flash of energy.

=I trust you Miss Samantha. But please be careful.= Xenox then leaned in closer to Samantha and said quietly,

=And if anything goes wrong, I will be prepared to protect you.=

After leaving him with orders and the care of three members of the team, Wolf is surprised by Danielle's directions and immediate departure. He frowns slightly as she disappears into the structure.

This really isn't what he'd had in mind when he suggested going back to camp. It was going to take a lot longer, and if there was trouble at camp, time could be of the essence. He glances towards the trio that had been left with him, Crystal, Pan and Lucas.

It wasn't ideal, but he had a job to do now.

"Alright. You heard her. We're going back to the camp. Come along." he says, walking back towards the path they had followed to get here in the first place.

He glances down towards the radio that he was holding after Danielle had tossed it at him. He then looks to the trio.

"Any of you used to using one of these?" he asks, holding up the radio.

( OOC: Maybe we'll initiate the skip in the next round. I might get in one more post before that. )

-As those who complied with Samantha's request in lowering all forms of weapons in their possession, the masked figure responded in kind. Well at least he was no longer pointing it at them, it would have to be good enough from their perspective. There was no need for a firefight right now, and in honesty the charcoal figure had always tried to avoid such situations whenever possible. Unfortunately for the nerves of all those present in the tense situation, the radio on the soldier's right chestplate crackled to life, booming with a new voice that some of the others might or might not have recognized. He lifted a gloved hand up to the radio, and responded in kind.* 

"Got a situation here Darken... looks like you and Lysander's information about this place being off the radar... may've been... slightly wrong... got a bunch of foot mobiles in the complex where I am... looks to be some kind of recovery/excavation team... non hostile... I'll get that data and finish it alright... don't want it spilling outwards... Shrike out."
 
-Raising his head to peer at the mobians among the security team in front of him, the one named Samantha wanted answers. He couldn't really give them answers. The intel he was sent to collect here was volatile in its contents, far too dangerous for it to even fall into their hands.-

"I'm sorry I can't explain what the intel is I am extracting... however what I can tell you is that you have all stumbled into a extremely dangerous place. This isn't just an abandoned complex from a time long past, those who built it and worse - who they created - are a serious threat not only to us but to the world at large... So. take my advice; gather your team, get the hell out of here and let me blow this place to hell... where it belongs. I'm heading to collect the last of the intel, Once that is done I'm rigging charges to seal this place... you can comply with me or be left inside when it all goes off. Choice is yours. I'm not sticking around any more then I need to."

-The very vague information he'd shared with them about the intel hinted that the group had indeed crossed paths with an unfortunate situation. Perhaps this was something that ran a lot deeper then it first appeared. The freelancer urged them to abandon this place with no small amount of haste. He, on the other hand, had an objective to complete. After explaining what he felt was required to tell them, the cladded figure turned his back to the group and plodded his way ahead; crossing past the tall Mobian horse. He gave her a silent glare as he proceeded. They had a choice to make now, and they better make it fast.

The large horse, likewise, did little to demonstrate any pleasure in having the soldier's company. She gave him a one-eyed glare as he passed by, turning slowly to watch his mint visor glide past her as the freelancer continued to move through he building towards whatever goal he had in mind. She had half a mind to knock him over right then and there with her staff, but seeing as hostilities had already been ended... she guessed... there was no point in starting them up again.

Karn began to shift back into his regular, fleshy form once more, concrete reshaped itself to become bone, muscle, skin, and fur, all in one instant as it seemingly drained out of his body and back into the ground whence it came. 

"That's it? We're just gonna leave this place? We just got here." He had hardly accepted the warning of the charcoal-clad stranger, and was at least a little bit pissed off about the whole confrontation.

It seemed that the majority of the security team were on-board with heeding the soldiers advice, but there was one who had not yet been initiated. The head of the security team. The one with the bigger gun, a smaller attitude, and currently very frayed nerves.

Danielle.

As Shrike turned the corner, the red cat- who had just sent Wolf off to check with team alpha's situation - nearly quite literally bumped into him. Her immediate reaction was to let out a elongated battlecry, given that there had been no communication from the rest of the group and her up until this point, and the appearance of a strange figure. It was no stretch to assume this stranger had done away with her team quietly and was no coming for her.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She shouted, jumping a step backwards to try and give her weapon as much time as possible to warm up. Danielle's furious shout of surprise was almost enough to silence another noise. A much more... sinister noise. An unexpected one.

A thud.

Echoing, reverberating, quietly, but present. A concrete slab falling over onto another concrete slab, a wall onto a floor perhaps. It was distant, coming from somewhere much, much further into the facility, down a level, maybe 2. There were more than just freelancer soldiers inside this place.

...

Elsewhere, somewhere there was a lot less action, but perhaps no less panic, it had begun to gently sprinkle from above. Fine droplets, almost a mist if it had been any more frequent, had begun to come down from the howling wind and skies. The trees thrashed in the wind around them.

Lucas's large fennec ears flattened against his scalp, "Non, I 'aven't anee skill wiss zat zort of sing." He says, trying to take the flowers out of the fur on top of his head and place them in one palm, shielding them with the other.

The blue rabbit, however, seemed far to occupied trying to stop herself from getting whipped by a branch or leaf from one of the surrounding cane trees that were now starting to glisten in the fine rain. "S-sorry Wolf, I don't-" Crystal began, before Pan made to snatch the radio from Wolf's hand, "I am." The mole answered, "It won't work very well in the rain, but as we get closer the signal should hopefully get stronger... given it isn't a satellite radio."

"zpeeking of getting closerre, zis rain is goeeng to get strongerre."

Samantha could finally relax, crisis averted, Shrike was here on business far more important than theirs, no need to be here.

"Yep, we obviously are not supposed to be here, let's just leave him-"

Well, apparently she couldn't relax, because she just heard a battle cry, who was it now?!
Samantha started running towards the noise, preparing a spell in case someone was going to get hurt.

She heard the noise too, but that was inconsequential at the moment.

When Danielle let out her battle cry, Xenox went into defense mode. He quickly summoned back the staff, and also a copy of Samantha's fire book from before. He followed after Samantha, until he abruptly stopped in place, looking to the floor.

=My sensors are picking up noise from the floors below us. I think there is someone or something else down here.=

Wolf glances from the fennec, to the rabbit and then the mole as they each respond to his query. He lets Pan take the radio from him and then listens to his explanation about it working under their current conditions.

"Alright. Just let me know if you hear anything on the way back..." he replies, but then pauses for a few moments.

"... but don't try to contact the camp." he adds, "I'm not sure what is going on there, but we did hear a message from them and it sounded like there was weapon fire as well. If there are hostile people there, I'd rather them not know we're coming. Otherwise... we'll have to see what the situation is like when we get there."

He turns to glance along the path back to their base camp.

"I'll take the lead. I'd like to go as quickly as the three of you are comfortable with. At least then we'll be in the rain as little as possible." he adds.

With that, he starts off on the way back towards camp at a light jog, intending to adjust his pace whether faster or slower as Lucas, Crystal and Pan can manage or request respectively.

( OOC: Feel free to write a skip for this group in your next post Wolf. )

-Now seemingly vanished, once more into the darkened depths of the facility, the shadowy figure continued. He was unhindered now and without having to stress about a major conflict. His ultimatum was given, they could continue their search or extract from this place. Regardless, once his objective was complete he was going to seal the entrance behind him and be done with it. 

Apart from the sudden and unexpected run-in, his mission had gone pretty smoothly, no major hitches or interruptions. The unexpected mobian party had been a slight delay more than anything else. But the next unexpected figure was more than just a delay. He continued heading for the last remaining terminal- extract the intel- before running into that figure. A figure who seemed to almost have a damn panic attack at the mere sight of him turning a corner straight into her. 

The mobian this time around was indeed armed, letting out what could only be described as a panicked yell. But boy was it one hell of a yell. It echoed through most of the facility, but worse: she was more then ready to take a shot at the freelancer. She was no doubt part of the team he had just briefly encountered. He had to act fast, and he needed to do so while causing as little noise as possible. 

Instead of 'silencing her' the armored figure had to quickly throw a hand up to his chest rig that overlapped his charcoal armor, yanking off a handheld device. A black-gloved thumb pressed on top of the thing for about a second or so before the rest of the hand hurled said device -a cannister- to her feet. Immediately upon impact with the ground, the cannister let off a faint POP as a disproportionately massive plume of thick grey smoke engulfed the majority of where the two of them stood. 

The grenade hopefully concealing him from her, the Freelancer bolted past the feline;  visor cutting a clear path through the haze of the smoke cloud, no dramatic amount of time was lost, but the situation had been compromised. It was a race against time now to get what he had come for and get the hell out. There was no doubt They where coming.

Barreling up the stairs Shrike immediately contacted the duo who sent him here in the first place to inform them of the escalating situation.

"Darken! The situation is compromised. I'm hauling ass to the last terminal to get that damned intel but I believe situation is no longer viable, I think they are onto me, repeat I believe the agents are aware of our presence inside the complex. Any thing you can do to help monitor possible movement I'm sort of in the dark here!" 

Karn was at least a little bit disappointed, no matter how relieved he was that the soldier was leaving. The orange coyote was here to be payed, by the hour, for a few days. But if this place was blown to kingdom come, and the excavation was called off, then everyone would basically be going home with hardly a day's worth of pay. He let out a frustrated sigh.

Lisa and the Coyote were deaf to the noise, and even when Xenox brought it up, they were far too occupied with the new series of events taking place at the entrance of the facility. Danielle was losing her shit.

"Oh Chaos." Karn said, snapping back into a concrete statue, but the horse could only keep her staff at the ready. The coyote stood perfectly still, unsure of what to do, and in honesty; not wanting to do anything. 

There was little that the metal rod would do to stop a bullet, and she couldn't exactly intervene without putting herself in the way of the cat. She hated guns. So barbaric. It would be dangerous, but Lisa stood ready to trip Danielle with her staff as soon as she came into view, creeping closer to the exit. Better to bring her down without harm than to kill the stranger.

Of course none of that really mattered. The soldier was able to handle himself, as evidenced by the lobbing of a smoke grenade, which immediately began to hiss and gush thick white smoke into the hallway. It concealed the freelancer, of course, but did little other than that but to alarm the frayed cat more. She pulled the trigger.

A roaring, continuous BDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDT accompanied with the clinking of bullet casings on the concrete floor erupted from the small red cat's armament. Projectiles tore into the dark hallway past the smoke, though she was blissfully unaware of the fact that the soldier was no longer in the building. Shards of concrete echoed back at her from whatever points of contact her lead made with the floor and walls.

It was dark, it was smoky, and it was loud. The sounds of metal on concrete stopped for a brief moment, replaced with the sounds of metal on metal hitting something in the dark, only to turn back to metal on concrete.

----

The freelancer received his reply, as audible as it might be with the screams of gunfire calling from below the soldier: "Shrike, I believe that the presence of the others may have triggered Agent #001b. If that's true then you should treat your situation as if you're already- Is that gunfire? Pull out now Shrike! Screw the intel, it's all gone if you don't get out alive with what you have now."

The anonymous fox on the other end of the communicator sounded pissed. Although it likely wasn't helped by the rain drizzling down on the charcoal-clad figure, now that he was standing in the base of the crater.

----

The remaining archaeology team, slogging through the wetting jungle, fell in behind Wolf as he lead the way. Pan had taken the radio with some manner of duty, but was interrupted with her mouth open, ready to call out into the communicator when the wolf advised her not to. She took her finger off of the call button, but kept the device turned on as instructed. "You're the boss." The mole said, raising the speaker to her ear in case any legible signal came through.

Crystal began to shiver in the cold, but there was nothing they could do until they reached the camp, and with Lucas making all attempts at protecting his flowers, the three archaeologists were certainly keen, however nervous, to make it there.

-15 mins from now-

The group was first alerted of their proximity to the camp by the sound of gunfire. Inconsistent, and heavy, likely coming from handguns rather than the insane rifle that the red cat carried with her. It was hard to see the trail beneath their feet with the building mud in the rain, but the shots ringing out across the tropical mountain range was clear indicator that they were getting nearer to the base. Unfortunately the radio was still rife with static.

Not that it was necessary, clearly the camp was still in trouble. "Wolf, we should go back and let Danielle know." Crystal squeaked, long rabbit ears flattened against her scalp in nervous anxiety. "The whole camp is blazing out there, there are 15 of them, and they're clearly in trouble. That means that... something else is out there that can take on 15 of them."

The cry had apparently came from the security team leader herself, and right as when she was thinking about telling her as well...

"Danielle! Stop shooting! This man is not an enemy!"

Samantha shouted as loud as she could, hoping to be heard over the gunshots, she saw Lisa ready to do something, and she couldn't see if Shrike was alright or not, due to the smoke, keeping her spell ready.

Let's hope she didn't have to do anything drastic.

Xenox was still trying to analyze where exactly the sound he picked up came from, when he got a ton of interference, courtesy of Danielle. He turned towards the cat and shouted,

=Ms. Danielle! There are no enemies here! I am also trying to scan where this foreign sound came from, so please lower your weapon!=

Wolf was on edge for the entirety of the trip back towards base camp with the three non combat team members following along behind him. He wasn't well suited to offering words that would keep their morale up during the trip, so he didn't even try.

Once they drew close enough to the camp that the weapon fire was clear to them, Wolf came to a stop and held up a paw to the others indicating that they should do the same. He just stood and listened for several moments, but he wasn't able to discern anything else from the sounds.

He turns to regard Crystal as she voices her opinion on what was happening and what they should do. He considers what she had said, the orders that Danielle had given him, as well as what was going on and what he thought he should do.

"I don't think that heading back is the best option." he says, "But the four of us heading into camp without knowing what is going on is too dangerous."

He looks around at their surroundings, then moves off the trail and a little way into the jungle foliage, motioning for the other three to come with him. Once they are a short distance from the trail and mostly out of sight, he crouches down and looks at the three of them.

"Okay... what I'd like the three of you to do for the time being is to stay in this area, keep quiet and do your best to stay out of sight. I'm going to go on to camp on my own, see what's going on and help if I can." he says quietly.

He looks at Crystal.

"You're right that whatever is there is able to fight everyone left at camp, but since the fighting is still going on, they need help now. They might not be able to last long enough for us to turn around, get the rest of the team and come all the way back again." he continues keeping his voice down.

He glances at Pan and Lucas as well.

"If things are bad, I'll come back as soon as I can and then we'll all head back to Danielle and let her know what's going on. She can decide what to do after. If I don't come back here in... twenty five minutes, head back towards Danielle's group. Stay quiet and stay out of sight when you go. If anything happens out here while I'm gone and you think you're in danger, just go. I won't bring anyone else with me from camp if I come back for you, so avoid anyone else you see or hear. If Danielle's group gets here before I do, go join them, but be quiet about it. We don't know what else is out here. Don't draw attention to yourselves." he finishes, "Any questions?"

Well all hell broke loose, it seemed. So much for stealth. The red feline had unleashed a metric ass ton of weapons fire on him, firepower of a degree that Shrike was usually used to seeing or -better yet- dishing out. With the thick smoke clogging up the inside of the hallway, getting in and around her was easy. A simple flank was all that was required. Of course now, given the fact he had been fired upon, Shrike automatically changed into a far more defensive mindset. 

To ensure the red feline did not attempt to give chase after him Shrike employed suppressing fire form his own military-grade weapon, dozens of rounds came hurling down from his location, causing more confusion and disarray. The wave of fire was not intended to kill but it was intended to ensure they kept their heads down and out of his way long enough for him to break line of sight.

Bursting into a full run, Shrike was heading for the final terminal. The situation was escalating beyond any acceptable limits and time was of the essence, he was going to collect that intel... or no-one would. Still on route to his final location, Shrike responded to the mysterious being on his coms, sounding off in a panicked tone.

"No shit! They just shot at me! Confirmed hostiles present inside the complex! I'm on my way to the last terminal. Will attempt to extract. If not; I'm going to destroy it! We can't let it fall into any one elses hands! I'll be on the look out for 001B, and will only engage if need be. I'll check in at 30 minute intervals. Shrike out!"

 *Due to the chaos of the engagement Shrike failed to hear the thump against the concrete, which no doubt was the sound of the infamous agent. Time was against him, so he continued to hurry his ass to the final terminal. It appeared functional, miraculously enough. Using the coded system given to him by the selfsame voice on his coms, Shrike began the operation of data collecting, nervously tapping his fingers on the worn out terminal surface as he waited...*

"Come on, come on! Hurry up!"