Soldiers Of Fortune (For Crim)

Not that he didn't think Rory wasn't a good person, but the mere thought of it was about as suicidal as what Rache thought he was doing by himself. Standing up from the fridge, he had a frown of annoyance plastered across his brow. "You would love me to die, wouldn't you? Suggesting that I take a non-combatant along with me, fair enough, but Rory? You do know where that kid sleeps of a night time, don't you? Murdoch would slaughter me on the spot." He didn't care if it wasn't public knowledge or not at this point in time.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses, Natal sighed and started making his sandwich to stave off the hunger he was starting to fully feel now. "Let's... just get Mitch figured out first, yeah?"

Which was pretty much his way of saying that the first chance he got, he was gone from the building and alone. He didn't want to hurt any pairings at the base, well, not at the moment anyway and he didn't have anyone to call his own. Seemed logical to the Brain is all

Rache stared at Natal's back for a long moment before he moved to close the door behind him as he stepped completely into the room.
"Murdoch understands that Rory is a comrade first and a lover second. He understands that he has a job to do, and that it takes priority over anything and everything in situations like this." He stated bluntly, staying by the door to make a point of refusing the other to leave before this was sorted out.

"You will not be leaving this base alone, do you understand me? You leave this base without someone at your side and I will have you listed as a deserter, Natal. I am dead serious." And he was, it was eminent in his expression, his eyes. "I cannot afford to lose the best brain in this organisation. No one can afford to lose you."

He gave pause for a short second before shoving his hands into his pockets. "I don't care who you take. Just take someone." He finally added; he was leniant, but he wasn't going to budge on the other going alone. There was no way he was going to allow Natal to go out on his own.

"After we deal with Mitch, you can choose who you're taking and go. Just check in with me the moment you're outside the gates."

"Rache..." He started, gripping the knife in his hand tightly before setting it down after buttering his bread, stacking the sandwich high and turning to the man blocking the door. "There isn't anyone that I can truly trust to take with me aside from you or Alexis at the moment. I trust Rory, but to be honest, I really don't know him that well. I guess, you will have to choose for me, or brand me a deserter that was going to come back with a chance to end this thing...."

Natal realized what he had said and pulled back from the bench, head hung in defeat at this point and sighing. "I didn't mean that, I overstepped my boundaries. You can pick for me, or you can come along if you want. I won't leave until you make a choice on the matter, and until I get some rest by the sounds of it."

"Then as a final option you'll take Sage. Devin's younger sister. Hot headed, but trustworthy; she needs the field experience, and you don't seem to be willing to take anyone else. She's a combatant, she knows what she's doing, and she follows orders-- mostly." Rache responded bluntly, clearly not about to be swayed yet again.

"You'll eat, you'll sleep, and you'll leave in the morning. First thing, on sunrise. I'll make the arrangements." Without waiting for a response, or even giving the Soldier a glance, the man turned and opened the door, walking out and closing the partition behind him forcefully; he was hardly in the mood now. He was being controlling, but in his opinion it was for Natal's own safety.

No one else would be made aware of the mission that the two would be sent on; just Natal, Sage and himself. He would deal with the consequences himself.

He sighed as the door was shut in his face, banging a wrist onto the frame before turning back to his sandwich. Rache just wasn't understanding his situation. If he went to sleep now, he wouldn't wake up in the morning, but a few days later and would be use to anyone. Kinda of like a stupid version of Sleeping Beauty except he had no one to kiss him awake.

Natal would have to leave, and now if he was going to be able to get anywhere before people found out he was gone, and he was sure Rache could ask Mitch why he went crazy. Taking a few more bites of his meal before slipping out of the kitchen and to his room to pack quickly. He hated this, but if he didn't get out of here now, he had a feeling that there wouldn't be another chance to do this.

Rache returned to his own room; he was very aware that Natal wasn't likely to listen to him. The Brain was too smart, and that was what annoyed him most. But he'd done what he could, all he could do now was hope he didn't get himself killed. Though something that he couldn't get past was that he'd have to deal with Mitch on his own. That was going to be a tough one.

When the Brain returned to his room, he wouldn't find an empty space, isolated from the rest of the Soldiers, free of prying eyes, but a figure standing by his window, watching the door, waiting for him. It was a Soldier, one that seemed to have an ulterior motive outside of the game plan of the Aufstand.

He was hurried, throwing the door open to his room, Natal moved fast to gather up his note book, the book he was currently reading and stuffed them into the bottom of his bag. Shivering, Natal flicked on the lights and rummaged around the set of drawers in front of the window for some clothes, piling them on top.

Water bottles and tinned food would be packed also, and he also needed his spare laptop from the War room.

Remaining unnoticed was possibly the best outcome of the other entering the room, the figure watching Natal for a long moment before making a move to make their presence known.
"You're Natal, right?" It was Sage, stepping forward from where she rested against the wall by his window. "I'm going with you to the old base." There was a short pause in her words before she added; "Or I'll alert Murdoch."

It seemed that little Sage was a nosey Soldier, good at eavesdropping as it were; she was small, and quiet, the perfect assassin in training, and she wasn't giving Natal an option in whether or not to take her with him.

The Brain dropped his bag in shock, grumbling as he glared at the girl threatening to go and tell Murdoch that he was about to leave without permission. "Sage, you aren't coming with me," He growled, continuing to pack his things.

"You're stay here, or I will make your trip with me a living hell..."

"Either you take me with you, or you don't go at all." Sage quipped simply, shoving her hands into her pockets as she approached him. "It's as simple as that, Nerd." She gave a light shrug, seeming to be completely unphased by the idea of the other making her trip 'a living Hell'; like she couldn't deal with that. A mission was a mission. Most were Hell anyway.

"It'd be so easy to have you hunted down and brought back here before you can accomplish anything." Clearly, the Soldier's own motives took a higher priority in her mind than taking down Lynch. Another self-player on the board, perhaps even another traitor. But to go as far as to say that would be dangerous.

This girl was different then the other Soldiers, quick to retort, she had something up her sleeve and it wasn't revenge to fall upon Lynch. No, there was something else. "Sage, tell me, why are you here? You don't want anything to do with Lynch and this war. What's driving you to be here?"

Picking up his pack, he added. "If you tell me, I won't kick up a fuss with you being with me."

The Soldier paused, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes before shifting her gaze and moving to block the door; she wasn't going to be taking any chances, nor giving him any to leave without her.

"I owe someone something. They've gotten themselves into some deep shit, and I'm going to bail them out as a repayment. I need to get out of here to do that though." Even as a non-combatant, ex-Soldiers were kept under close watch. It was a reassurance that they weren't going to wreak havoc on any unsuspecting innocents. "As to who, that's none of your business." She added as an afterthought, getting in before he could question her.

"So, are we going? If we want to get out before anyone notices, I suggest we go now." She leant against the door, watching Natal closely as she spoke.

"Ah, I suppose we should get going then, and we will talk about Jordan on the way, yes?" He said, tilting his head to the side before shrugging. "So, would you like to go get my laptop from the War room while I get a few more supplies and meet at the east wing exit?"

Sage snorted bluntly, almost sounding insulted by his question.
"I'm not stupid. You'll fuck off the moment I take my eyes off of you. I know you don't want me around, which is exactly why I'm not letting you out of my sight." She wasn't exactly trusting, for good reason, but she wasn't really being hostile about it. Just blunt.

"So I'll follow you. It's not odd for new blood to tag along after a well trained veteran."

"Not odd, no, but I would hardly be called well trained..." Natal snorted, rolling his eyes at the girl. Young, stubborn and stupid. Wonderful.

"I wouldn't, but if I'm going to go into the War room without a decent explanation, you might as well be useful and get some supplies. We're loosing more time the long we wait around."

The Soldier let out a heavy breath and rolled her eyes, pulling away from the door; she wasn't exactly stupid, just stubborn. She understood that Natal had a point, she just didn't want to give him the chance to leave without her.

"Fine. But you leave without me and you won't have a chance to save the Aufstand." She retorted bluntly, pushing away from the door and opening it as she did so; "I'll go get your laptop. I have no problem sneaking in and out of places. Besides, last I checked, no one was in there. Murdoch's occupied and Rache is in his quarters." It seemed Sage had eyes everywhere, or at least knew everything. She was sneaky. Possibly a good trait for a covert operation such as this.

Natal gave the girl another look, raising an eyebrow and sighed, nodding. "You'd be good as a look out, sharp eyes. East wing exit, five minutes..." And with that, he left the room to gather tins of food from the kitchens.

After a short hesitation and an untrusting glance at Natal the Soldier left the room; in this kind of situation, she was the type of person that believed if she didn't get what she wanted, then no one else would either.

She was in and out of the War Room without a hitch, Natal's laptop packed safely in a bag that hung from her shoulder; in a way she was securing her way off the base by being the one to retrieve the laptop. It was clearly a necessity for the Brain.
Sage made her way to the East Wing exit in silence. The Lockdown had been lifted, but it was late so most stayed in their quarters. Not many roamed the halls, and the odd Soldier that did paid no heed to Sage, going about their business without so much as a glance.

Now it was just a matter of meeting up with Natal, who she still felt she couldn't trust completely to stick by his word.

Natal had gathered everything needed for the trip, first aid kit, food, water, a single change of clothes. Everything was good and now all he was doing is waiting by the door at the east wing exit , looking at his watch before smiling at the new recruit.

"you're late, but that doesn't matter. Let's get out of here before someone actually notices that we have left..." He said, opening the door and stepping out into the cool morning air, sighing a little. He felt bad that he was leaving like this, but he had to, for all their sakes.

He wanted to be gone as far away as possible before the sun rose.

Sage just hadn't bothered with anything. She didn't intend on coming back, but she already had everything of importance on her; small items that would otherwise be left behind by someone unknowing.

Rolling her eyes at Natal the Solider moved past him.
"I'm not the one just standing there." She retorted bluntly, not even making a subtle move toward handing over his laptop; she'd keep hold of it as long as she could. "How far do you think we'll get before they notice? Cause, if it's not far, then I think taking one of the trucks is a good call. Either way we'll be marked as deserters."

"Are you really worried about that?" He asked, shutting the door behind them once they were both outside and staying low as he moved through the yard, heading to the dirt road that ran parallel to the main road. "Being classed as a deserter? I mean, you're obviously not packed to come back."

The Brain wasn't dumb when Sage didn't turn up with a change of clothes or anything then his laptop, which she kept close to her side. She was running, but why?

"So before we go any further, you tell me what it is you are up to. Why are you running away from Rache and looking for Jordan?"

"I never said anything about looking for Jordan. You just assumed." Sage quipped bluntly, irritation clear in her tone as she continued to walk, not appearing to be about to stop.

"I already told you why I need to go with you, and clearly I don't care about being a deserter. So stop being a nosey bitch and keep moving." The Soldier wasn't overly nice, nor did it seem likely that she'd wait for him if she didn't have to. She figured that while she had his laptop, he'd follow her.

"So why are you running away huh? What's so important about the old base?"

"I'm running away so we don't have to keep running the rest of our lives," Natal explained, frowning as she mentioned the destination. He never said anything about it to her, so she must have been eves dropping a lot more then they thought.

"So who else could you possibly be trying to rescue if not Jordan? What kind of trouble is this person in and am I in trouble if you come with me since you know where I'm going?"

Giving Natal a sidelong glance the soldier kept her mouth firmly shut at certain questions, frowning at him before turning her attention elsewhere.

"You're being nosey. Again. Just know I'm not stupid enough to put your life in danger. I want to live a free life after this." Sage seemed distant as she spoke, like she was thinking about something.. Upsetting. Or unpleasant.

"Just let it go. We both have our own shit to deal with. Yours is just more noble."

Natal sighed and picked up the pace on his walking. "Fine, but the moment we get to the old base, you can head off in whatever way you want..."

The sun came up, harsh and bright over the fields they had trudged through during the night to get away from the base. Half way through the day, Natal decided to purchase a car from the nearest used car lot in the next town they came to, making their trip across the country easier.

He had brought out his phone a few times, playing around with the dial pad before putting it back into his pocket. Rache would hate him.