Soldiers Of Fortune (For Crim)

Hanging up the phone and putting it back into his pocket, the teen stood from his chair and sighed. Middle of the night and he now had to drive back to the other base to speak with Rache. At least he'd have Mitch to keep him company, or so he thought when the blond decided to speak for the first time all day.

"I'm going to stay here for a while longer. I'll make my own way back soon and report in before retiring to my quarters," Mitch said, stepping away from the chair to lean against the door frame that Natal was to leave by, the smallest of the three looking a little concerned, but didn't want to argue.

"Okay, I will see you later then, and thanks for today," Was the reply, Natal leaving the pair of giants alone in the room to get back to the car so he could meet up with Rache.

Once the brain had left, Mitch shut the door and took to picking at the sleeve that was empty at his side. "You're an asshole, but you're becoming a better leader then Rache is at the moment. You need me, you just say."

Rache was seated in his office, staring at a blank sheet of paper at this point in time. He was trying to get everything ready to hand the Aufstand off to Murdoch. He needed to do this; he was losing his grip on the collective of, well, everything. Finding it hard to concentrate, finding it hard to think straight. It was just impossible for him to run anything at this point, let alone be a leader.

--

Murdoch's gaze didn't leave his papers as he read them over, only half listening to Mitch's comments. He nodded, though, letting the other know that he'd heard him and understood what he was saying.
"Rache is getting ready to retire from his position. It's only natural that I step up and take his place." He gave a light shrug, which was somehow the most casual thing he'd done the entire time he'd been present and his existence had been known to the Aufstand's majority. He was rather uptight most of the time, but it did appear that he had more of a relaxed side. Sometimes.

The half hour drive back was tiring, especially for Natal, who hadn't really slept for the past two days, having all his attention on making the serum for Jordan and making sure nothing was disturbed in the process. Now after the interrogation, he was even more tired, but unable to shut off due to his new found knowledge from the captive. Knocking lightly on Rache's office door, he didn't wait for an answer as he stepped into the room.

"He's trying to become like Jordan. From what she's said, he's gone completely insane."

Rache stared at Natal a short moment, silently, questioningly, before sitting back in his seat and tapping his fingers on his desk.
"I already realised he was completely insane." He stated. "But this-- do you think it could work?" He gave the other an almost uncertain look, hoping for him to say no. That Lynch's idea would just fall through the cracks, that it wasn't possible. Even if he was lying, he needed to hear that.

"We don't need an unkillable foe."

Sitting at the desk in the nearest available seat, placing all his notes and tapes down on the top of the smooth wood and wished he could lie to Rache, he really did. The look on his face was plain and simple, shaking his head. He wasn't sure if the people Lynch had would be able to replicate the same procedure to give him the ability to live forever, but he couldn't be sure.

"If I had some sort of starting point, some sort of, sample of Jordan's blood from before we knew all this, I could attempt to do something about it, but we don't, and Jordan's blood is apparently normal, though I have yet to test that for myself," He stated, sighing and slumping over the desk, removing his glasses and setting them down carefully.

"She can't die yet, and really, she doesn't want to. You can hear it in her voice if you listen to the tapes..." He added, closing his eyes for just a moment. That moment was all his brain needed to understand that it was sleep time, and he was out like a light.

Rache seemed to tense at the simple gesture; that wasn't what he wanted to know. He didn't need this right now, but he didn't have much of a choice. He was somewhat greatful that Natal had forced his way through Murdoch in a way to get to him, otherwise Jordan would have been dealt with already; but on the other hand this just added to the pile up of problems they already had.

The moment that Natal fell asleep, the man gathered up the notes and tapes and placed them in a pile on his side of the desk, before rounding the heavy set block of wood and very easily scooping the other up into his arms. For convenience there was a bed in the corner of his office, as he often fell asleep in the room, and it's presence more often than not coaxed him to actually sleep in a bed.

Placing Natal on the bed and draping the blanket over his form, the man returned to his desk, gathering up the information and making his way from the room; he'd deal with these in his own quarters.

He stayed up the rest of the night, and late into the morning, listening and reading, taking his own notes and highlighting important information that he felt he needed.
By early afternoon he'd called Murdoch to his quarters, requesting not to be disturbed; he assumed that Alexis would deal with the new recruits without his aid, and that Natal would go about his business with Jordan without being prompted.

The two discussed for hours, went over the information and debated with what they should do; no definitive plan was made by the time that the two emerged from the room, but they had a basic idea of what needed to happen. They needed to fortify the base, so that they could defend against anything. They needed to get a GHOST into Scriosta and retrieve as much information they could, and most importantly they had to attempt to prevent an army of immortal Soldiers, let alone Lynch himself becoming unstoppable.

Murdoch and Rache had made their way across the bases, and now strode down the hall toward the containment cell with a couple of Soldier's on their heels, not bothering to stop before intruding on whatever could have been occurring in the room.

"We're transporting the captive to the main base. She'll be placed in isolation under constant surveillance where you'll be able to continue your task." Murdoch stated, Rache remaining silent as he stood back and let his best Soldier do as he would. Glancing toward Natal, the overly tall man rose a brow. "Do you think she'll need restraints, or will you be able to handle her in the room on your own?" He questioned, honestly wanting Natal's opinion. If Jordan didn't need to be restrained, it might just make things easier.

It was halfway through the day when Alexis called for an hour's break during the second training session with the new recruits, returning them to the same exercises that he had them doing yesterday, the normal sit ups, push ups and running round and round the training room until he felt like he knew the limits of each person and their stamina to move onto something else after lunch.

Sitting against the wall with nothing more than a water bottle in hand and his eyes closed, the teen rested after spending another nearly sleepless night in his room.

-

Natal, on the other hand, slept all through the night and for most of the morning, waking to the sound of his phone ringing softly in his pocket, feeling refreshed and ready for anything. Now standing outside over the transport truck, the doors wide open as they waited for Jordan to be removed from her table and containment room.

"No restraints, she doesn't have her abilities, and to reassure you, I will sit in the back with her. She's not going to stuff up any chance at the moment," Natal answered the hard set man, climbing into the truck and taking a seat. He wasn't sure why, but he just didn't like Murdoch. Maybe if the man gave him something to like, he'd trust him a little more, but at the moment, the brain only had Rache's word to go by.

Angel continued to struggle with the training, but he persevered beyond his limits, determined to prove something-- something that wasn't clear.
At this moment however he was standing off to the side of the group of recruits, who were all standing by idly chatting with each other. He was clearly isolated, being the youngest of them all, and having little to no connection with any of them. He fiddled with the half empty water bottle in his hand, leaning against the wall and just waiting for the training to commence again. There wasn't much else for him to do, except maybe bother Alexis, but he knew the other had his own thoughts to tend to.

-

Murdoch folded his arms, giving a disapproving glance toward Natal as the other spoke. He wasn't sure that he trusted this person's judgement, but if it didn't involve anyone else then he had no qualms to voice.

"As long as you're aware that she's your problem back there." He stated absently as he moved toward the front of the truck. "Oh, and you'll need to inform Mitch that he won't be needed any longer. He'll have no further contact, nor communication with the captive. He can return to his other duties, if he has any." With that he gave the Soldier a small smirk and climbed into the truck's cabin, Rache following him without so much as a glance in Natal's direction.

The Soldiers unstrapped the captive and dragged her from the table, loading the light-weighted form into the back of the truck with ease, that same form merely curling up in the corner of the truck on the floor, not only looking pathetic but feeling much the same way. She was grateful, somewhat, that Natal was willing to trust her enough as to sit in the back of the truck with her-- though she had a feeling that it wasn't trust, but knowledge that she wouldn't be able to do much in the way of injuring him, or proving any sort of threat really.

Alexis knew that Angel was trying his hardest, and that he was currently being left out of groups and conversation due to his age and timid nature. He wasn't sure how the boy was going to make friends, and to be honest, he wasn't very good at it himself. This was something Angel was going to have to figure out himself for the most part, but at least for now, he could keep the kid company.

Wriggling his finger at Angel to come over and talk to him, he watched the other recruits talk to each other.

-

Natal's look in return to the smirk given was that of a sour scowl at the advancing leader, almost glaring at the fact that he was just told that Mitch was no longer needed on the project. If Murdoch was going to be leader, why couldn't he man the hell up and tell the guy himself? Asshole just said that to be... well, an asshole.

Jordan was hefted into the truck and the doors were locked, plunging them both into an artificially lit environment, the light flickering as the truck started up. "I know you're not going to like this, but the only way to keep you alive at all at the moment is to do some more testing and blood work. I need your fully co operation on this, or it's lights out... I'm sorry."

It took the boy a moment to notice the wriggling finger, but he eventually stepped off the wall and moved toward the other side of the room, hesitating a few paces away before sitting himself down in front of Alexis, still fiddling with his water bottle.

"I-- I know I'm not doing as good as the others-- But please don't kick me out." He stated almost instantly, obviously concerned that his inability to keep up was going to get him thrown out of the training program; he wanted to get stronger, and if he didn't have this chance he almost knew that he wouldn't be able to accomplish that.

-

Natal's speculation was right; Murdoch was just being an asshole. Completely and utterly. He didn't want to be the nice, liked leader that Rache was; he'd seen how well that had turned out for him, and he wasn't about to go down that same road.

The truck started up smoothly and they were soon on the way back to the initial base, Jordan turning her face into the wall as if trying to hide.
"It's okay." She replied after a short moment, eyes on the part where the wall met the floor of the truck. "Thank you."

She was grateful that Natal was doing this for her; she somewhat felt that he was the only one left that was willing to help, and really she only had herself to blame for that.

"What? No, I'm not kicking you out! I'm not kicking anyone out, silly," Alexis chuckled after the short shock of what the boy had said got past him, shaking his head. "I was just going over our conversation last night and saw you over there by your lonesome. I wanted to know if you wanted some company. You look a little, lost."

-

Murdoch obviously had no damn clue how important Jordan was to them right now, and by damned, Natal wasn't going to let her die like this, not when they needed her to behave and let him do his testing. It was like she was now their only hope against Lynch and no one except the brain understood.

Focusing his thoughts on the things he needed to do once he and Jordan got back to his lab, all the samples to take, the blood work, more recordings to make, letting her sleep so her body didn't fail and getting her a good meal...

"Jordan, I know where Lynch is."

Angel seemed to deflate slightly with relief, a small smile plucking at the corner's of his lips. Well, that was at least some good news.
"I.. don't know how to talk to people. The only reason I can talk to you.." He gave a slight shrug and hung his head, fiddling with the plastic bottle further. The boy never finished more than half of his bottle of water, somewhat finding it difficult to stomach so much, even after doing such strenuous work. He wasn't an overly healthy specimen at all. "But I'm glad you're not kicking me out." He added, glancing up through his scruffy fringe with a lopsided smile plastered on his face.

-

Jordan seemed to go rigid at the mention of Lynch, and the knowledge of his whereabouts, almost instantly lifting her gaze from the ground and up toward Natal, eyes wide and unbelieving; there was no way that Natal knew where Lynch was. There was a sharp pang in her chest of indecision, as to whether she wanted him to know, or whether she wanted Lynch to get away. To remain hidden. She wanted to kill him-- but then, he was her Father. She was loyal to him.

"You don't." She stated after a moment, turning her gaze down again and lifting her hands to her head, covering her ears and closing her eyes; she was so messed up in the head, it was hard to tell what thoughts were hers, and what was the reminents of the overdosed Obedience.

"There's no way you know."

The smile was still on Alexis's face at the lopsided grin, patting the seat next to him for the boy to sit down. "Why do you find it so easy to talk to me then? Maybe, you could try and see if you can do the same to the others? Or... just ask them if you could hang out for a little while, because you would like to learn more things?" Alexis added, pondering for a moment.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to get rid of you, but I'm not always going to be around, so you find that one person that you connect with, you will be fine, yeah?"

-

"But I do!" Natal replied with excitement and embarrassment that it had taken him so long to figure it out. "The information you gave me, the inclinations of what he's trying to do, the place they found you... Jordan, you've been my biggest clue staring me right in the face and I didn't even see it! I'm so stupid, how could I have not seen this before!"

He was pretty much bouncing in his seat as the glasses came off his nose to be put into his pocket, hands clapped together and rocking a little back and forth as he contemplated the look on Murdoch's face when he told him. It would be priceless.

Angel scooted over to the seat gestured at and sat himself down beside the other, half leaning forward as he looked over at Alexis, his hair all in his face. 
"I don't think they'll talk to me." He answered honestly. "I'm like the weak link, the one Lynch always got rid of. The one no one ever cares about." He gave another shrug and tilted his head back to attempt at pushing his hair from his face, a smile still playing his lips.
"But it's okay, even when you're not around I'll still be fine. I won't be lonely. I promise."

-

The girl stared at him from behind her fringe like he were crazy, or like she were in fact the crazy one. 
"How could you possibly know? I don't know anything-- I haven't told you anything!" She sat up at this point, facing him, gaze questioning, and angry. How had Natal figured it out? How had she been of use? It had been a relief to know she knew nothing of where Lynch was. It meant she couldn't betray him-- meant he had no reason to hunt her down and finish the job that he'd obviously failed the first time. 
Or maybe he didn't know she was still alive. 
That thought calmed her slightly, and she seemed to slump back against the wall of the truck, the anger gone from her expression.
"Where is he?"

Leaning in to match the other, Alexis shifted the mop of a fringe from the boy's face, meeting his eyes and smiling. "We have to get you a hair cut for one thing, and you won't know if you won't be liked if you don't try. Give it a go, you might surprise yourself."

He honestly hoped someone would take him in and show him how to be at least a little bit normal, it would make up for so much Alexis couldn't do. Honestly, he'd never be able to make friends normally, but the kid had a chance to at least.

-

"Hiding in plain sight! Oh my goodness, and if..." Natal was going to drift in and out of sentences with all his excitement, clapping his hands together to focus on what he was asked, turning his head to the slightly blurred figure of Jordan in the back of the truck.

"Lynch would have had to have access to a major la-" His words cut off with the stopping of the truck, the vibrations of the motor suddenly vanishing to indicate that they had arrived at the main base. Surely they hadn't been driving that long?

Angel flinched slightly at Alexis touch, but relaxed into it rather easily afterwards; he wasn't used to such gentle touches, especially to the face. Often he was slapped if anyone ever neared his face. 
"I guess a haircut would be a good idea." He replied with a quirky, hesitant smirk. "But I don't know how to cut my hair."

He twiddled his thumbs as he spoke, honestly not liking the idea of making new friends. In his opinion, Alexis was the only friend he needed, and he hoped that it really was a friendship that he'd gained in this person. 

"Can we.. Start training again?"
-

"You're not making any sense.." She commented, giving Natal a puzzled look and chewing her bottom lip almost nervously. And then the truck stopped. Why had the truck stopped? And why did Natal seem confused by it? Glancing around what she clearly couldn't see beside the inside of the truck, Jordan seemed to huddle closer into the corner; as weak as she was, furthermore without her abilities, the ex Soldier had no way of protecting herself, and she knew that Natal wasn't overly strong himself. But if it came down to it, it wouldn't matter if she died there. 
Jordan could only sit and wonder what was going on; perhaps they had reached their destination? But it seemed too soon, especially compared to the first transportation between bases. 
"Natal what's going on?"

The olive skinned teen picked glasses out from his pocket and replaced them on his head, needing them to see where he was stepping so he didn't tread on Jordan as she was curled up at the end away from the doors and close to the cabin of the truck.

"There shouldn't be anything wrong, I probably forgot the time it takes to get to the main base because I was thinking too much and lost track of time," he explained, patting the woman on the head as a reassurance and to keep steady as he stood near the wall of the truck.

Morse code was a wonderful thing when you couldn't hear voices, tapping to see if the cabin occupants were still there and could hear him.

Have we arrived already?

Jordan shifted away from Natalas much as she possibly could, however failing to actually get anywhere and avoid his patting. She still didn't like those sorts of things. 
There was no reply from the cabin, which was curious, though it could have merely meant that the truck walls were too thick for a message to go through. Either that, or those in the cabin were gone, or preoccupied. 
"Where's Lynch?" Jordan suddenly asked again, like it was currently the most important thing. "Tell me where Lynch is-- in plain sight where?!" It was somewhat clear she was starting to panic, starting to imagine the worst of what could be occurring outside the back of the truck at this very moment.

A slight frown crossed his face before he tried again, tapping out the exact same message as before, waiting and again, getting no reply. Sitting back down in his seat, but closer to the door in case it opened up to a sight he didn't want to see and he had to kick the closest person to him, he answered Jordan's question.

"the world's largest pharmaceutical company, Starlight industries. We all use those products, we've all been wondering how he got the funds to have such a large army and heck, he'd need a lab big enough and well stocked to be able to do all the things he has done."

Jordan paused; in plain sight, in the biggest pharmaceutical company. It made sense. It connected all the dots; how had no one picked up on it before now? Jordan shook her head slightly at the second and third attempts at getting a message through to the other side.
"Why aren't they responding?" She questioned, becoming slightly agitated, especially when Natal moved to sit near the doors. "These walls aren't that thick."

The back doors swung open a few moments later, hitting the sides with loud simultaneous bangs that echoed through the entired trailor. The sounds of struggling could be heard clearly, Rache's voice heard in a clear "Natal, get out of here!" as he stared into the back of the truck, glancing around a moment before having turn on hid heel and throw a punch at one of Lynch's men.

"Get the boy." One of the Scriosta Soldiers stated, giving out the order to the rest of his team; they were after Natal it seemed, but they couldn't possibly have known that he knew the whereabouts of Lynch. There must have been something more to it.

Rache's face when he threw open the doors to the truck meant that everything was wrong, and the fact that he had to swing around and punch some guy in the face was another sure fire fact. How the hell did Scriosta track them here?! Come to think of it, where was here? The truck wasn't on the path that lead to their base, which could mean that Rache took a detour so they didn't find the base. Best not head that way then.

Grabbing the edge of the truck, the teen swung out and hefted himself up onto the roof to scan the area and see where he could run to. A gap in the advancing enemy, and Natal jumped for it, rolling once he landed on the ground and bolted for the nearest cover.

He had to hide, he felt bad leaving Rache and everyone behind, but he couldn't stay there.

Murdoch was dealing with several of the Soldier's, taking one after the other out with ease and speed. Rache was busy holding off the rest of them, allowing for Natal's escape, but he was struggling in comparison to his companion.

Jordan remained huddled for a short period of time, watching Natal escape, before she herself made her way toward the open end of the truck, her gaze on Rache, making sure he remained distracted as she clambered from the truck and made her way around the side of it, her attention taking to Murdoch's whereabouts as she did so. She watched Natal make a break for the treeline, catching the attention of otherwise unoccupied Soldiers, and all she could think was that he'd helped her, and she had every reason to return the favour.

Though she no longer had her enhanced strength and speed, she was able to put herself between them and him with a rather vicious animosity that her personality alone supplied. Launching herself at the first Soldier, she hooked her arms around his throat, swinging her legs out as she did so to take out the following two that flanked the first. With the distraction, she could at least give Natal a head start.

But that distraction didn't last long, one of the Soldier's snarling and rather easily throwing her from their path by her throat, the ex Soldier hitting the ground with a heavy, hollow thud and rolling quite a way before coming to a stop. The Scriosta men continued on after Natal unchallenged after that, branching off into groups of twos and threes in order to have a better chance of tracking the brain down.

It would be another few moments before she clambered to her feet and made her own escape, hidden, into the treeline.

Rache threw one of the last Soldier's he'd been dealing with into the side of the truck before rounding to the back, his jaw tightening at the sight of the empty space.
"Murdoch, finish up! We've gotta get hold of Natal, and we've lost Jordan." He snapped, closing up the back doors rather violently before rounding the truck and jumping into the drivers seat, pushing the dead driver out of his way as he did so.

Murdoch easily finished off the last couple of Soldiers and clambered into the passenger side, the truck almost instantly starting up and taking off after the direction Natal would have logically taken.

He couldn't hear anything over the rapid beating of his own heart, his breathing short and steady as he ran full pelt into the treeline and past it, nothing but open field beyond the foliage, high wheat growing to hide his smallish form.

Natal was sure he was being followed, and that his path through the wheat field was so easy to track, but he had no other choice. He had no clue how he was tracked, how they knew where he was and the worse notion of all, why. Why did they need him now, when before, Lynch just wanted to kill him?

Leaping over the barbed wire fence at the other end of the field, he stopped, pressed flat into the dirt and against the fence, hoping his dark clothes against the black of the soil would conceal him enough to let them think he continued on into the next field.

The Soldiers barrelled through the fields after the small form, the one hot on his trail the only one of the seven that had enhanced vision. And even then, all he could see was the slight movements of the wheat ahead of them.

Throwing themselves over the barbed wire, the first pack of three charged straight past the hidden Aufstand Soldier. The fence shook as the next group went over further down, and once more as the last group went over, having finished scouring the field and treeline present on the first side of the fence.

The truck's engine followed suit quite quickly, roaring through the wheat field with uncontrolled speed, only to charge straight through the fence, and easily missing Natal's figure pressed into the ground. They were following the Scriosta, believing that they were still following Natal.

It worked, the sudden exhale of air from his lungs in turned for relief to fright as the truck engine roared and obliterated the fence he was hiding by, scrambling to removed the wire from over his form to stand up and grab the phone from his pocket.

Hitting the number for Rache's phone, he held it to his ear and waved in hoped the truck's occupants would see him in the mirror, and hoped that no Soldiers were still following behind them, keeping an eye out just in case.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up..."