Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters

[Anonymous]

"Alright, as you know we've had an increase in the subterranean creatures around the new section of lab we're uncovering. We're guessing we disturbed them below the surface and that's what's makin' em come up. We've already got a few hunters down there, but I figure they could use some help. Never hurts right?" The tall man said as they walked to the entrance of the dig site where they'd uncovered new sections of the lab. Kai found himself nodding absently, he knew they'd disturbed the damn things alright, it was inevitable with all the digging and heavy machinery they were using, it was bound to wake something up. He shrugged his shoulder's, "Guess not. We dealing with the same creeps that were in the last section?" the blond asked, stopping to lean on a large rock and folding his arms.

The man shook his head, "Nah, these things are new, pain in the ass too from what I gather. Quick, and damn loud, got these screeches man.." he trailed off, shaking his head and Kai felt himself inwardly groan. Quick. He hated quick. Why couldn't they be slow and docile? Something easy for once. He pushed off from the boulder, taking out his Pistol and loaded a thermal clip into the chamber, hearing it hiss as he locked it in place. "So...what are we waiting for then?" he asked, holstering the weapon and earning a raised eyebrow from the man stood next to him.

"You're not a one man army you know. We gotta a couple of other people comin'' to help." He replied, watching as Kai rolled his eyes in return, "I'm as good as. Come on, we don't no anybody else, lets do it, you and me." he grinned as the man rolled his eyes and laughed as if Kai had something hilarious, "I'm not trained well enough to be goin' down there, I'm just a guard, but hey, if you run into the boss down there then you can tell him that next time we shoulda' just hired you." he chuckled.

"Damn straight, these guys aren't even on time." Kai mumbled, though he looked like he was joking.

[Anonymous]

"Helloooo!" Finch strolled over with a wave to where she spotted the two men standing. It would be nice to go on a hunt that she was hopefully prepared for. That mess with all the quakes and the underground beasties coming up had been a little too close for her comfort.

"Remember God, you get me through this, I won't spread my legs for anyone for a week!" Finch muttered under her breath before switching to a normal tone of voice, "You can all relax now, Finch is here!"

She glanced around, wondering if the two of them were it.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Cyrus arrived close behind Finch, geared up with his gun fully loaded in its holster. Another hunt so soon after the last one, eh? Right up his alley. He just hoped Violet wouldn't do anything stupid while he was out for a few hours, but knowing the damned Pilot...who knows? Either way, it was a nice break from playing babysitter; he got to run with the big kids today.

The big kids who were...uh...Finch and a smooth-faced boy.

Now, Finch he didn't have much of a problem with. She'd handled herself well enough during the quakes (quite to his own shock) and while he felt a pang of concern and a flash of 'she shouldn't be here, it ain't safe'--her competency, at least, was no longer a real question because it had already been tested. Hadn't quite been thoroughly proven, but fine, it sufficed.

The kid, on the other hand...

Cyrus blew out a breath. Balls. Looked like he'd be babysitting again.

"Hey," he greeted as he came up beside Finch, nudging her in the side. "Fancy seein' you here." And then, turning his attention to Kai, he nodded his way. "Who's the rookie?"

[Anonymous]

"Well thank god, I thought I was gonna have to do all the work." Kai replied, giving Finch a grin and pushing himself off the rock and giving the woman a once over; she was pretty, with large grey eyes and she obviously knew how to handle herself, if her toned physique was anything to go by.

As for the guy behind her, well..dude was built like a brick shit house and seemed like the type to get pissed off easily, if Kai were going off first appearances and he wondered if this was the case, then how quickly could he actually piss the guy off. He raised an eyebrow briefly, looking him over once more. On second thoughts? Probably not a good idea to piss the guy off if he could help it. He could kill someone with his giant man thumbs, let alone a gun.

Not that Kai couldn't handle it. He had been a Pilot after all. Just...nobody really needed to know that.

"Aww, don't call yourself a rookie, that's not nice." He said easily, folding his arms and giving a playful smirk. "Am I gonna have to look after you? Don't worry, you'll be fine an' all that jazz. Names Kai by the way." Kai was torn between continuing or just shutting up, but a look from guard made him wave his hand for him to continue.

"Alright guys, you know the drill. You go in, you kill whatever's down there, you get out. That's all, no wandering off and exploring sectioned off areas like last time. I'm lookin' at you, kid." The guard raised an eyebrow at Kai, who raised one right back, "I wasn't exploring, I was...checking for...okay so I was totally exploring. Can you blame a guy?" he smiled and unholstered his weapon, pressing the small red button on the side and hearing a small snick of something unlocking. "Alright, let's do this." the blond said happily, as if he wanted nothing more than to go into a dark set of maze like labs. The guard rolled his eyes, "Be careful, Kai." he sounded as if it was something he said often and Kai shrugged, backing up slightly, "C'mon, I always a-" he was cut off when he backed into the rock he'd been leaning on, banging his shoulder hard, "Shit! I did NOT see that! That doesn't count!" He shook his head, looking over at Finch and the tall blond, "Come on, let's go before I bust my own knee cap!"

[Anonymous]

Well, Kai seemed like a pile of trying too hard special. Cyrus was handy though and Finch really hoped that Kai was the type that could behave when it mattered.

"Rodger! Go in, kick a lot of ass and get paid. I think I can handle that." She laughed and headed over to the hole. The floor had fallen out and there was a long, dark drop down, with a temporary elevator in place. Peering down, Finch studied the area below, "I'm Finch by the way. That's Cyrus."

[Rhi-Rhi]

A dark scowl crossed Cyrus's face, eyes narrowing as he studied the kid. Oh, great. One of those types. "Ha ha. Real hilarious, total knee-slapper," he growled with a roll of his eyes. He was equally unamused hearing that, apparently, the kid was reckless, and his faith in the boy plummeted when he banged his shoulder. Clumsy, too?

Oh good gods...this...this was gonna be a long hunt. The only thing that was slightly reassuring was the fact that Kai had apparently done this before and had obviously survived with no noticeable limb-loss. Perhaps it was sheer dumb luck, or maybe the idiocy was just an act. Either way, Cyrus could feel his temples starting to throb.

He nodded at the guard to confirm he understood--he'd been doing this long enough, the drill was practically memorized--and turned to follow Finch, shouldering his way past Kai. "Riiiight, well, listen kid. You with us, you do what we say, got it? No dickin' around," he said, checking the safety on his own firearm as he headed toward the rickety elevator.

"I mean it. Think ya can handle it?" With a final long look Kai's way, he turned to Finch and breathed a long sigh as he stepped into the elevator. "Thank gods you're here. Stop me from shootin' him, alright?"

[Anonymous]

Kai gave Finch a grin and nodded, "Nice to meet ya." he replied, waving to the guard as he slowly made his way back from to the guard house he was stationed at. He came to a stop next to the elevator, slamming a hand on the large call button, the elevator whirring to life and slowly making its way to the surface, "Course I can handle it, question is-" the elevator came to a stop, the large doors opening surprisingly fast for such an old looking elevator. Kai stepped inside, "Can it handle me?" he grinned again, leaning against the far wall, waiting for the two hunters.

He sensed that his bullshit would more than likely not be tolerated by either of them. Finch seemed much more laid back compared to Cyrus, who seemed to be wound tighter than a bowstring, but Kai highly doubted she'd be the type to let him get away with shit just for the hell of it. He shook his head, unsure if he was lucky to be with the pair or not. No doubt they' get the job done, but probably as fast as they could and like good soldiers, the job their only focus or something similar. Well, they could do that, Kai on the other hand, was going to look around even if they didn't like it. "Well, come on then, lets not wait for the grass to grow. Trust me, you're not getting any younger, Cyrus." Kai gave a teasing grin.

[Anonymous]

Finch smiled brightly at the kid, heading into the elevator, "Now now children. Let's not fight or Mommy will have to start spanking people." She gave Cyrus a wink at that, leaning against wall as the machine took them down.

Kai was correct in that Finch wasn't going to dick around. That was just asking for trouble. As she exited the elevator, she was already on alert, hands on the hilts of the twin axes crossed at her lower back.

"Dear lord, please don't let the dumb blonds get me killed. I can't very well mend my ways and find salvation if I die, ya know?"

[Anonymous]

"That a fact?" Kai replied to Finch, grinning and resting a hand on the wall as the elevator shuddered and made it's way down the shaft and further into the labs. He was tempted when Finch made a remark about blondes to tell her he wasn't naturally a blonde, but thought better of it and snapped his mouth shut. No need to go blowing his cover all for the sake of a little banter. Instead he gave her a sickly sweet smile. "Dear Lord, please don't let the crazy woman talking to you get me killed. I have things to do, people to scam, things to trade." Kai mumbled off a list, sounding nonchalant.

The elevator slowed to a stop and opened it's large doors with a grinding of gears that ended with a hiss, Kai stepping out quickly and peering down the long corridor in front of them. It was musty and damp and what was probably once pristine labs was now old and dirty and in need of some serious repair. Since the lights in the ceiling were no longer working, small lamps had been posted down one side of the corridor, though they didn't manage to pierce the gloom too effectively, though it appeared much brighter in one of the large lab sections further on from what Kai could see. Least that was something. He turned to Finch and Cyrus, "Anyone wanna take point? Or should I be the first to dive in?" he asked with a cocky grin, fully expecting them to want him to take point, if only in hopes of him being eaten by whatever was down here.

[Anonymous]

"Haha smartass. Mock me all you will, but I know God at least finds me charming enough to keep around." She gave Kai a bright grin, heading to the front of the group, still in that easy, ready posture.

"I can take point." She didn't mind and the big, scary men could bicker all they wanted. She didn't honestly trust Kai to pay enough attention to be a decent point. Her pale eyes scanned the darkness, getting used to the pale light that filtered into the cave in front of her.

She cared less about what she saw, the caves too dark to make much out. Instead she strained her ears, listening for the sounds of monsters ahead.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Y'know, Finch, threatening a spanking ain't exactly making me wanna behave," Cyrus said with a grin Finch's way before he sighed and followed the group out of the elevator.

He went quiet then, listening and moving carefully and silently. It was difficult to see much down here, all shadows and vague shapes--especially before his eyes had even adjusted!--but the ears were more important in places like this. He nudged Kai roughly as he passed him.

"Get in the middle, rookie. I want ya where I can see ya. Don't want ya doing nothin' stupid."