Soldiers Of Fortune (For Crim)

"I was about to ask you the same thing," The teen asked, voice raspy as he spoken through damage vocal cords. "Everything is on lock down, Angel is sitting in the Iso control room rather then the rooms. He's not the one you are after."

Looking from one person to the next, Alexis looked behind him. "Have any of you seen Mitch? Cause he's gone fucking insane."

Rache's eyebrows rose, and Murdoch stopped in his sorting through the papers, gaze lifting toward the teenager, curiousity and confusion in both of their gazes.

"What makes you say that?" Rache questioned.
"And more importantly, why the hell did you let him out of your sight if he's a security risk? Murdoch added, almost snapping at Alexis. He wasn't happy about this sudden turn of events. Not happy at all. "Natal, get onto the security system, see if you can by-pass the lockdown and figure out Mitch's position."

Natal was out the door and racing for his laptop in his room. He wouldn't need to override much of the security system from his own terminal if he could get to that, stopping at the door and taking out his key card, swiping it over the lock out of habit before just pushing the door open since most of the power was out. Phone in hand for light, he grabbed the laptop after a quick sweep to see if anyone was in the room and returned to the war room.


Alexis huffed, pointing to his neck and the bandages around it, narrowing his eyes at the other giant. "Sorry if I nearly had the life choked out of me enough to stop him from getting away. Doesn't help that all the trust that Angel once had in me is completely gone after he tried to save me from dying, and that he thinks we are all as bad as Lynch. Now, I have to go an get him to a safe location. I will return soon."

A loud bang echoed in Angel's ears, whether real or imaginary it didn't matter, making him flinch and look up, gaze scouring the area around him through the darkness.  The kid stood, continuing to glance around before moving toward where he was sure the door was, finding the latch easily and opening it. It wasn't locked, so maybe he would use this chance to escape-- to run away. He didn't want to stay if what the tall blond had said about Alexis was true. 

Slipping through the door, Angel began hesitantly making his way down the hall, cautious and wary of where he was going and who might be lurking around any corner. 

- 

Murdoch scoffed and placed a pile of sorted filing down on the table, a scowl plain on his face even in the dim light. 

"That is no excuse. You are a trained Soldier. You should have no problem up against any opponent. Even an equally well trained Soldier." It didn't make much sense, but it was the beleif that all Soldiers had drilled into them. They could fight anyone and win any battle. Whether it was true or not, and whether they knew or not, didn't matter. It was expected that they didn't come up with excuses. 

"Do you think the child is in danger?" Rache interjected before anything could really esculate between the two in front of him, his gaze locked on Alexis through the faint light of the torch.

Alexis was about to say for the giant and himself to step outside and go a few round to find out if the man's statement was true and that he should and could win every fight, that was before Rache interjected and made the teen cast his gaze to the floor. "Yes, I think he's in trouble. At the moment, we're all in trouble. I'm going to go get him and bring him back here."

"I got him!" Natal said, pointing to the screen after tapping his way through all the security overrides and pinning a heat signature on the taller man, frowning before his screen lit up with another alert. "I found Mitch, but this isn't right, it says he's in five different locations at once, all his movements. The strongest one is in the training room Alexis held his classes... the others are scattered through the base."

The injured teen swallowed thickly turning his nose up at the situation. "Rache, I can go get the kid and bring him here, it's up to you. What do you want me to do?"

That was indeed.. Strange. For one person to be in five places at once. But Rache shook his head indifferently to Alexis' question.
"It's not my decision anymore." He glanced toward Murdoch, who straightened himself out from bending over th table and gave the teenager a hard look. "You will bring the child here, but you are not to go elsewhere. If we do have a security breach on our hands, we need to know exactly where everyone is." He stated, glancing toward Natal as he did so.

"Are you able to make certain that every Soldier is in their designated quarters, and not wandering the halls?" He questioned; he knew that the brain was smart, but he wasn't sure just how smart he was. "It is imperitive that we know the movements of everyone. We need to contain the situation. Rache, you will go to this room and collect this Soldier." He stated, passing the ex-Leader a file with an unfamiliar name on the label. "She'll be able to aid you in securing Mitch."

The man took the file with silence, glancing over the name and the room number before giving a small nod and going to move from the room.
"Alexis, I expect you to be back here in ten minutes. If you do not return, I'll consider you to be a security risk. Do not be late." The man paused in his instructions, leaning on the table in the middle of the room a moment. "And make sure he's bound. Despite our thorough checks, we're still unsure of what this child is capable of. He's an experiment of Lynch, as we all are, and there are any number of possible surprises that his latest toys can present."

Alexis growled at the order, moving for the door behind Rache, but throwing back his own version of his orders. "I'll be back in ten minutes, with the kid unbound, cause I am not tying up that kid. You wanna loose more troops by being an asshole, you can lock me up along with him when I get back," He shouted, out the door and bolting as fast as he could back down the corridor to the Iso chambers and cell bay.


Natal scoffed at the meager challenge put in front of him, tapping away at his computer before turning the screen around to Murdoch. "Done, everyone else is accounted for, as the laptop is able to run matches on each of our group's heat signatures, dull red for non Soldiers, bright red for enhanced beings and if the computer runs a sweep of the base and comes back with a negative match, then it will flash blue."

On the screen, the whole complex was outlined, top to bottom and every ten seconds, each dot on the map would flash up, showing the location of each of the accounted for of Ausfund.

Murdoch was clearly unimpressed by Alexis' attitude, but he didn't otherwise voice his dislike of the sheer lack of respect being shown. His gaze flickered down to the screen that was being displayed to him, a slightly impressed look falling upon his face. It was only slight, but it was an achievement.

"Well done." He commented, gazing over the screen a moment before sitting himself down at the table. "So Mitch is the only Soldier that isn't in his quarters? Save for ourselves."

-

Angel was long gone from the ISO chambers; he'd made his way along the halls, until he'd found something that was actually familiar to him. And then he began making his way from point A to point B, wanting to just curl up in his room and hide forever. He somewhat even wanted to go back to Scriosta, where he felt safe, where everything was familiar, and he knew what to expect. Here.. It was confusing here, and unfamiliar-- somewhat scary, and full of liars. He didn't like it.

-

Rache watched Alexis a moment before continuing on his own orders, following the halls around until he found the room he was searching for, his knuckles meeting the surface of the door, and a woman's voice being heard from the other side with a cautious; 'State your business', as they'd been instructed.

A few moments passed of debating as to whether Rache was who he said he was, and whether or not the Soldier should open the door, before the she finally emerged from the room, closing and locking the door behind her.

"Hello Ashahn." Rache greeted finally, the woman's gaze drifting over him a moment before she strode past him.
"Let's get this over with. What's the current situation?" Ashahn questioned; she was foreign, dark skinned, her accent thick. Indian, Rache believed, but the woman never really spoke about it, and feigned disinterest or even being deaf when questioned on the topic.

"We've been set a seek and contain." The ex leader responded, following after the woman. "Mitch has apparently lost it; we're needed to settle him down, if necessary restrain him."

Ashahn was one of the most well known trainers of the Aufstand, and one of Rache's close companions. She was one of those that escaped with him, followed him blindly because he spoke of hope. She was one of the strongest Soldier's he'd come across, her enhancements including Strength and Agility, her specialty being Martial Arts. It was suspected at times that she also had a hearing enhancement, the many moments she'd overheard things that were clearly not meant to be heard easily spreading the rumour.

"Fine. I hate being cooped up in my quarters. My room is a complete mess."
"Wouldn't be so bad if you cleaned it once in a while." Rache muttered under his breath, only to catch a sharp glare from his companion.

Headed toward the Training Rooms, the two looked very much like a team of Soldiers on a mission; they were both determined, serious, and Ashahn was overly fierce looking in her singlet and khaki cargo pants. It wasn't long before she was breaking down the door to the training rooms, receiving a look of 'was that necessary' from Rache.

The door was wide open when Alexis got to the Iso chambers, scrambling around the dimly lit room and the back rooms until he was sure Angel wasn't there, cursing a little and moving to take out his phone to call Natal about the missing kid, remembering the signals would have been jammed, so it was useless.

Stopping for a moment to think, the teen closed his eyes and focused on what Angel would do next. One of two things, get out of the base as fast as possibly if he was a sleeper agent to avoid being caught, or head back to his room and hide if he was just a scared little kid. Figuring the first one wasn't what was happening, Alexis opted to leave the room and head for the boy's living quarters, pausing suddenly at the bang of something heavy down the hall, turning his attention fully on that as he silently moved down the dark filled area to check it out.

-

"Mitch, the young boy and us are the only ones out of our rooms," Natal corrected, pointing out all the heat markers on the screen that matched Mitch's own, the frown still slightly there. "Scans aren't picking up anything else out of the ordinary, so I doubt we have a breach in the base."

-

The blond Giant was standing in the middle of the training room, clenching his fist at his side as the door was kicked in, backs to the pair that entered the room filled with black and shining their torch about to get their bearings.

"Come to play?"

Murdoch nodded absently; as long as the situation was contained within the base, and their security wasn't breached, then he believed that they would be able to deal with the current standing. He had a faith in the Soldiers of Aufstand that he didn't outwardly display, ever.

"Keep an eye on the screen, Natal. Alert me of anything that seems off to you."

-

Angel found his way to his room quite easily, stepping into the pitch black room and closing, and locking, the door behind him. He found the corner, Alexis' bangle still held tightly in his hand, and slid down to the ground, huddling against the conjunction between the walls and hugging himself. He was still a child, no matter what Lynch had done to him, and he found it hard to cope with these things; the sheer loneliness, the fear, the confusion. He didn't like it.

-

"Shut it kid, we've come to deal with the problem you so obviously present." Ashahn snapped in return to his smart-assed comment. "Now you have two choices, come quietly, or have your ass handed to you on a silver fucking platter." Obviously this particular Soldier wasn't known for her handle on her anger, or her language, but she did have a reputation around the base for being a hardass, and incredibly difficult to floor.

"Which will it be?"

Rache remained silent the whole time, manning the flash light and aiming it directly on Mitch's figure; that was until Ashahn finished her little rant.
"Mitch, what's going on? Did something happen?" He wasn't really going to leave the talking up to Ashahn. Not with her tendancy to avoid thinking before speaking.

Peering into one of the cells at the end of the hall, there was a faint red glow coming from a small metel container on the ground and a fair amount of heat, Alexis picking it up and turning it over before dropping it to the ground and stomping on it until it stopped glowing, hoping that wasn't important, turning on his heels and racing for the sleeping quarters, taking the long way around to avoid the training rooms and the threat there.

Coming to Angel's room, he tapped lightly to let the boy know he was there and that he was entering the room. "Angel? Angel, are you in here?"

-
The next ten seconds ticked over and Natal tapped the screen, fingers flying over the keyboard, turning to Murdoch. "One of the heat sensors that belong to Mitch just vanished. The one stationary in the cell bay, just gone."

--

Mitch laughed, hollowly, at the threat made to floor him by the woman, still not turning to face them, but his whole being was shaking. "Rache, don't fall for anyone. They will drive you to do stupid things. He doesn't know, but he should have had brain boy by now... I only wanted..."

The giant trailed off, sentence unfinished as he growled, mentality snapping to become the raging monster that most of the Ausfund feared once freed if they knew about it, similar to the one Natal and Rache himself had to subdue months ago.

Face red with rage, he glared daggers before launching himself at the pair, ready to fight everything in his way.

The boy curled in on himself even more, if that were possible; he didn't make any sort of move to hide from Alexis, or stop the other from enterin the room; he didn't make a sound, either. Somewhat hoping that the Soldier would just give up and leave if he said nothing, or did nothing. Maybe the other would trust him if he just.. Sat in the corner away from everything. Maybe he'd stop lying if there was nothing to lie about.

-

Murdoch glanced up at the screen, his expression stern.
"He's playing games." He muttered under his breath, standing from his seat and wondering over to the main control panel of the base situated toward the far end of the room. He flashed the torch light over the controls a moment before selecting one of the buttons, the small plastic circle clicking as he pressed down on it.

"That should get rid of any false heat signatures." He murmured; the button was a control for a signal, that would interrupt the jamming sequence just long enough to hone in on the falsifying objects and short circuit them with ease. If they were unable to be short circuited, they would be marked and labelled with a simple tracker that would show up on Natal's program as a combined heat signature with the original one.

-

"Asha, to the right--" Rache snapped, the woman dodging the oncoming blond as directed before grabbing hold of the back of the Soldier's collar and, with almost scary ease, tearing him back a good few meters and launching him across the room, Rache following the boy's movements with the flashlight as he flew across the room.

"Who doesn't know? Mitch, you need to calm down, and start making sense. We can help you if you just stop." Rache interjected; it seemed he was taking the audio control in the situation, where as Ashahn was taking the physical side of things. Out of the two of them, she was probably the best match for the blond giant on the battle field.

The movement of the boy trying to hide more caught Alexis' sharp eyesight, stepping into the room two steps and sitting on the floor, in the dark, sighing and running his hand through his hair. "Angel, I know you are in here. I wasn't lying about anything. I put you in Iso cause I was asked to, but I knew that it was the safest place to be..." He started, rubbing his hands together in his lap.

"I know... I know how scary it is, having just been pulled from Lynch's grasp, to have freedom and not know who to trust, to want that one person to keep you safe and teach you everything. I had... I had that one person, but he, doesn't have time for me any more, never... shared the same feelings as I did, so I've had to... move on. It's hard, but, I want for you to be able to trust me."

-

Mitch landed on his feet back where he was originally standing in the room, away from the door and facing his opposition. He wasn't in the right state of mind to listen to the man, only grow more angry at the fact that he was being stopped from leaving the room. He launched himself at the pair again, aiming without a plan, just with intent to do as much damage as possible.

"How am I supposed to trust you-- when everything that that blond person said made sense?" The kid sobbed, almost blurting out his reply as if he just wanted to scream it at the other. "I don't understand why you wouldn't lock me up. I'm a stranger! I'm clearly a threat--" Angel clutched at the trinket in his hand tighter, sucking in a sharp, broken breath in an attempt to calm himself down. "I want to go home-- I want to be back with Lynch. At least then I knew what to expect-- I knew that I couldn't trust anyone." The boy whined. He was still a kid, he still wasn't mature enough to handle these sorts of situations well.

-

Ashahn matched his movements, sending herself into the air, the two bodies colliding with a loud sound of impact between them, the speed and velocity of the older woman's actions easily overtaking that of the blonds; she was older, more experienced and far better trained for far longer. It was easy to imagine her beating him without breaking a sweat.

The two hit the ground, the dark skinned Soldier roughly forcing Mitch onto his stomach and grabbing each of his wrists, twisting his arms back and pinning his hands between his shoulder blades with her knee, her other knee on his lower back to even out the pressure and further prevent him from moving.

"Settle the fuck down kid before I snap your neck." The woman barked, placing a hand on the back of the blond's head and forcing it against the floor.

Rache seemed.. Unhappy with the current situation, but he otherwise moved forward, rounding the two and crouching in front of Mitch once he was certain that the Soldier was completely harmless.
"Mitch, you need to talk to me. You need to tell me what's going on-- what're you thinking?" He wasn't being.. Brutal, like he usually was with people that went nuts on the base. He found it hard to do so with someone who was so close to him.

"You can't honestly mean that..." Alexis sighed. "I know it's tough, and as I said, I put you in there cause I wanted you to be safe. I wasn't going to let anyone touch you, and I even told Murdoch to lock me up cause if you were a bad person, then I must have been also."

--

Mitch snarled as he squirmed about, trying to remove the arm holding his down and the hand from his hair, yelling and carrying on like some wild animal. He wasn't going to be reasoned with, he just couldn't at the moment.

Angel shifted slightly; Alexis was clearly right. the boy didn't mean what he'd said. he didn't want to go back to Scriosta. that was the last thing he'd ever want, especially now. The boy shook his head after a moment, holding out the trinket that Alexis had left.

"You left this." He muttered under his breath, hesitantly uncurling his fingers from the bracelet. "I don't want it."

-

Rache shook his head again at the lack of response; he wanted to help Mitch, but he couldn't. Not at this moment, not with the blond in this state.

"Hold him down." The man ordered after a silent moment of thought. Ashahn complied without much hesitance, Rache retrieving a small vile and syringe from his pocket, filling and prepping the injection that would knock the blond out.

"I hate to do this Mitch.. But you've made it hard to avoid."

"Keep it, until you can at least think a little more clearly," Alexis replied, standing from his seat on the floor. "But I won't hurt you, I can promise you that I won't do anything to harm you. I'm going to leave now, but if you need to or want to talk to me more, I'll be in my room after the lock down is complete..." And he disappeared from the room and down the hall without another thought, heading back to the War room, entering the room and staying quiet, glaring at Murdoch.

--

"Looks like they've taken care of Mitch..." Natal said, trying to avoid the elephant in the room between Alexis and Murdoch, keeping to the computer screen, head down and out of the line of fire if anything exploded. "I'll give it ten minute after they secure him into a cell before lifting the lockdown..."

Angel frowned slightly, a forced expression, his eyes welling with tears of frustration and sadness; he didn't want to be alone, but he was too stubborn, to untrusting of those around him. He was helpless, and scared, but he didn't know anything but the darkness of a small room as comfort. It was pathetic, but he was just a child.

--

The moment that they were able, the two Soldiers hauled the blond giant up from the ground, Ashahn shrugging him over her shoulder with ease and lugging him off toward the specialised cells. Binding the blond's arms to the walls with electromagnetic strappings, an insurance that he wouldn't be able to escape, and making sure that the door was sealed and locked behind them, the two began their casual stroll back toward the War Room, of course keeping an eye out just in case Mitch wasn't the only hostile.

--

Murdoch nodded at Natal's statement, tapping his fingers on the papers in front of him a moment before sitting forward.
"The child isn't locked up." He stated to Alexis. "Though he doesn't seem to be about to move from his quarters." The man added, not looking at the young Soldier. "You disobey me again and there will be consequences." Standing, he turned and made his way toward one of the large computers, sitting himself down in the chair to await for the lockdown to be lifted.

The teen slammed his foot into the wall as hard as he could, putting a good sized dent into the plaster board before nearly spitting at Murdoch. "You wanna have a go with me, tough guy? He's a fucking child! He is sitting scared, alone, confused with no one to trust now, all because you wanted him locked up and because Mitch burst in and tossed me about like a rag doll. Angel, with no abilities whatsoever, fought Mitch so he'd let me go and that bastard told all sorts of stupid things to muck up that kid even further! You weren't there when he had his first fucking hot chocolate, he nearly wet himself out of delight, you cold, heartless, sorry excuse of a person! Go on, lock me up! I fucking dare you!"

--

Natal jumped a mile in the air, settling long enough to hack to the speaker system just in Angel's room, letting the small child listen in on what Alexis was saying, wincing as the dots on the screen got closer and closer to the war room, no doubt able to hear the shouting by now.

"I couldn't have known Mitch would do what he did." Murdoch snapped back, spinning around in his seat and staring Alexis down. "And the child was suspect of being a spy, he was a potential security breach; I would have treated anyone the same. Just because he is a child does not ommit him from the fact that he was raised by Lynch. Out of all of us, he has been closest to the tactical upbringing of that mad man; Angel's mind is the epitamy of Lynch's teachings. He knows nothing else. Of course he would be suspect." Not once did the man actually state that he believed Angel to be the rat; he stated the facts that were proven, the reasons anyone would be suspect of the kid. He was being rational, and honestly if it had been anyone else, if it hadn't been a child, he was certain that Alexis would think just as he did.

-

Angel jumped at the sudden crackling of the PA system, closing his fist around the trinket once more and holding it against his chest as he glanced frantically around the room for the source of the loud noise. Alexis voice broke through clear into his room, causing him to pause in his panic; the other's words were somewhat upsetting, and he could feel his chest tightening as he continued to listen. But despite what the teen said he couldn't bring himself to trust these people. Not again. It was all too convenient.

-

Rache paused at the sound of the shouting, glancing toward Ashahn as he did so, before picking up his pace and roughly opening the door to the War Room.
"What is going on here?" He snapped, demanded instead of questioned, staring at Alexis from where he stood in the doorway. "You never speak back to your Leader like that, Soldier."

Natal switched off the speakers to Angel's room, hoping the child would understand Alexis a little better, checking the systems once more for anything else, keeping well out of this fight.

-

Alexis at this point wasn't going to admit that the man had a point, and was about to retort when Rache entered the room, snapped at him and caused him to flinch, backing down almost instantly and advert his eyes to the floor. Any other child, he would have agreed with Murdoch to a degree, but this child, he felt responsible for after the last capture.

"I..." He started, clenching his fists at his side before bowing his head. "I'm sorry Sir, it will never happen again," he emotionally stated, turning to Murdoch with no expression on his face. "By your leave, I'll return to my quarters and remain there until further notice."

"You have leave." Murdoch stated bluntly, dismissing the teenager without a second thought; he honestly didn't care how Alexis acted toward him, as long as the Soldier followed his orders to a tee. Only when he was disobeyed did he have a problem.

Rache waited until Alexis had left before closing the door and turning on Murdoch.
"I haven't seen him so pissed off in a long time." He admitted. "The hell did you do to piss him off?"
"It's involving the child. I believe he feels personally responsible for him." Murdoch commented, giving a light shrug. "Natal I'll need him confined to his quarters, at least until he's thinking rationally again. I understand you can deadlock his door from here?" The man didn't seem in the least bit phased by the idea of capturing Alexis in his own quarters, but really it was better than having him imprisoned in a cold cell.

"Rache, once Mitch awakes I'll need Natal to conduct an interrogation, as he's by far the best I've seen. Though his emotions can get in the way of his judgement." Murdoch stated, turning back around toward the computer screen. "The lockdown will be lifted in five minutes, so I'll need you to be his protection. Ashahn, I'll need you to do a run down of security, make sure everyone remains ordered."

Rache gave a short nod, and the woman soluted lazily and turned toward the door, opening, closing, and making her way down the hall toward the living quarters.

Natal waited until the teen had returned to his room, which took until the lock down was lifted and the lights, cameras, P.A system and security came back online to lock the doors behind the teen, flicking on the camera to Alexis' room to see how he was doing.

He nodded at Murdoch's words, only half hearing them as he watched the display in front of him. "Rache," He waggled his finger for the ex leader to come over, tilting the screen so only he could see the destruction of the boy's room in what seemed to be confusion, anger and helplessness. "You should talk to him..." He whispered, turning it off as the feathers from the victim that was his pillow cover the floor of the room.

Rache stepped over toward the computer screen, his brow furrowing at the sight before him. He frowned and glanced away, half looking over toward Murdoch before giving a short nod toward Natal and moving from the room without a single word. He wasn't one for talking to people, nor was he one for emotional moments or interactions, but apparently this needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later, when everything was calmer and they weren't being hunted, and the lives of hundreds weren't at stake.

It took him a few moments to make his way to the teenager's room, but he was soon knocking on the door, glancing toward the camera he was sure Natal was watching for the brain to unlock the door so he could get in.

Natal was watching, flicking the cameras off the moment he unlocked the door, figuring Rache could handle whatever happened inside and that they needed a little privacy. Rubbing his head, he turned to Murdoch and stood from his seat. "I need coffee... it's been a tough few hours..." He said, getting to the door before calling out. " You want one?"

-

The door unlocked and slid open, Alexis sitting in the corner of his room, covered in feathers, curled up before he realized it was Rache, standing up and to attention, saluting the man as he entered the room. "What brings this visit, Sir?" He asked, staring at the wall in front of him.