Kent Library

Lili spots Janus, and walks over to him, leaving Chuck to speak with the refugees; he'd probably have better luck getting the last bit of info out anyway without her scarred-up face distracting them. "Naturally," she says to their now first-in-command. "Chuck's getting some more info out of them, but what we got so far is that they're from someplace called Novydom. They're scared to talk about it... kinda like how someone in a cult talks when they know something's fucked up but don't want to get in trouble or get smited- smitten? Smote? Whatever. They said there's a lot of rules about what to do and say," She says.

She double-checks her explosives are secured, and slings her shoddy-looking excuse for a shotgun over her shoulder. "Sounds like the whole place is on stilts over some river. Probably big, too; they said it's a trade center of some kind. They went into their library's reading room and came out here. And they want to stay, so whatever's on the other side probably isn't a benevolent force. Especially given the scar on the big guy's arm."

She stretches and rolls her neck. "So, you know, the usual."

Janus jots down notes as Lili reports in.
He then reaches into his right coat pocket and offers her the main-coms walkie-talkie. The one that also records all the time, the one that tries to do the GPS thing (but never works in the incursion), the one that the second-in-command operates, the one Randeep gave Janus so long ago.

"Don't make me give this to Joe, heaven knows he might just start chewing on it."

Janus hopes Lili will take it. He knows why she's here, serving her time, as it were. But she's an excellent Breaker and she should know that. She's earned this.

He gives it an impatient shake daring her to take it.

Joe had given up on the corpse and was already ready to move on to find out what killed it when it moans. "What in the moonless skies!" He looks back at the corpse and wraps an arm around it to help it sit. "You ok man?"

Looking around, Joe doesn't see Janus anymore and decides it may be a good idea to take the "corpse" back so someone can check it.

Lili looks at the radio, then back to Janus, then to the radio once more. With a groan and a shake of her head, she snatches the radio from his hand. "Man, you know how I feel about havin' more responsibility," she says. She begrudgingly hooks the radio to her gear harness. "I'm still getting out as soon as my time's up, you know." She's said it before and she'll say it many more times, but each time she says it, there's a little less conviction in her tone.

"Don't die because I'm not being number one, alright?" She says, with a little grin as she punches his arm. "Let's get the lads and head in; I got a brick of C4 burning a hole in my pocket." With that, she'll follow his lead.

Chuck turns his attention away from the newcomer when Janus approaches and announces it is time to move out. Seeing Lili take the radio from Janus draws a mixed reaction out of Chuck. He's glad to see Lili take the radio, even though it appears she's not too pleased. He knows she'll be great as #2. He's also sad to see the transaction, solidifying the fact that Randeep is gone.

He snaps himself out of his temporary daze and says, "I'm gittin' nothin' here guys. All I know is that they walked into a reading room in their library and ended up here. We might as well head in and get this over with."

Janus looks at the "visitors" for bearly a moment.
If they are still there once the team gets out maybe he can afford to worry about them. But he can feel time ticking away. He's pleased Lili gave in, but he tries his hardest to mask his emotions. She can't see him react one way or another -- it is just matter-of-fact, how it's going to be, professional-like.

"Right, gather up. We're going to change up the procedure a touch. When we first enter the incursion, we are going to do a quick recon and scavenge. If you can find any more of those feather-weight rocks, or some of those red-orange plants that we got last time, grab'em, as we made bank on those last time. I figure 45 min or so, then we'll make a plan and proceed toward the weirdstone.

"Who wants point?"

Janus grabs onto the front Kent Library door and then looks to Joe and Chuck, and then back to Joe. Waiting for an answer before he pulls the handle. He hopes nobody will object-- though it is definitely not what Randeep would do. Randeep was all about the missions, blowing the weirdstone first, then worrying about loot second. Not Janus, he wants at least some insurance that they get something. By asking about point and changing the subject, he figures the team will be distracted enough to just go along with the change in plan.

Joe looks at the other pink people and just lets them have the "corpse". It’s not like he can do much about this moaning dead stranger anyway. "You know what did this? What type of predator bites like hard?" he asks the nurse just before Janus starts talking. I guess you can teach a new trick to an old dog, but it takes some time and Joe is a creature of habit. "Shouldn’t we bury the weird stone first?" he asks not aware that the change of plan was intended.

Janus eyes the rest of the group to see if any others are tempted to take up Joe's cause.
"If you mean burying it by blowing it to smithereens, yeah sure-- but all in due time. Best to get the lay of the land first, and if we happen to get some salvage all the better, right?"
Janus nods as if Joe, and the rest of the crew, already agrees with him. "So, who's taking lead?"

Then Janus pulls the door open.

Joe knows he's not the brightest of the group, so he just follows along... specially after he apparently scared the pink people by showing up carrying the "corpse" of their friend. He grabs his rifle and walks up to the library door, starting to sniff the air. If whatever waits has fangs as sharp as the one that did it to "corpse", then there will definitely be blood to smell on the other side...

Chuck pats his chest to double check he has his vest on, then draws his Glock and steps up to the slightly open door. He nods at Janus and says, "Let's go."

He steps through as the door opens, aiming his pistol and scanning the area for anything hostile.

Chuck sees them just in time for the crossbow bolt to slam into his shoulder. "Aaahh!" he yells as he falls behind the nearest bookshelf. He shouts out a warning to those behind him, "Pink dudes!"

Grasping the bolt, he gathers his thoughts on how to pull this thing out without doing more damage.

"Ah, fuck it all!" Lili yells out, diving behind a nearby shelf for cover, away from Chuck's position. "You good, Chuck?!"

She takes a breath and flicks off the safety of her raggedy shotgun. She hated when things went to shit before she could even get a lay of the area. She pops around the corner to throw a quick shot at one of the other pink people that hadn't fired yet. "Three of 'em!"

Joe steps into the library in time to watch Chuck being hit by the bolt. "Oi Pinkies! We came in peace!" he shouts, still aiming the rifle to where he saw "corpse" bleeding from. He can’t tell if they have brains or hearts, but he knows that’s where they bleed from.

"I've had worse!" He tosses the bolt on the ground and comes up to a squat behind the shelves. "We should have brought one of those pink dudes with us to talk these guys down."