Alex stare blankly at the soldier in front of him as he searched for something to say. " What?" He eventually asked blankly. To be fair it was still so early in the morning the sun had yet to breach the horizon an he had woken up to the man before him rapping fervently on his door. He ha been with the small army for many years now and although he wan't a particularly high ranking officer many of the soldiers here knew his face on sight while he knew so few of theirs.
"I said," The soldier started, "You are to report to the location enclosed in here." He said as held up a large brown envelope.
"Says who?" Alex asked frowning. The solider just shrugged and handed him the envelope and Alex dismissed him before closing the door. Inside the envelope were to sheets of paper. One was a simple map with an X marked on it. Alex guessed what that meant. The other was a page of writing that made him frown.

Objective: The Landing pad.
You and several other recruits will undertake a top-secret mission. This is unknown to the general populace and the majority of people who do know will be meeting at the enclosed location. Each of you has been recruited for a specific reason. You are all vital to liberating the human race from the plague that is commonly known as the ETs. None of you will know who else will be in the team until you meet at the aforementioned location. Your objective is simple. The Ets have a landing pad a few kilometers west of where you will be meeting an you will all capture it and hold it under our control until reinforcements arrive. None of the reinforcements are to see you under any circumstances so when they arrive you are to leave with haste. The mission will commence at 14h00 and you will have two hours before you have to leave.

The note abruptly ended there leaving Alex confused as he turned it over looking for more information and then looking at the map. The meeting spot wasn't too far away and for a brief moment he considered just not going but as he didn't know who had sent the note he decided against it lest it be someone important. Besides, taking out an entire ET landing base sounded fun. With that thought in min he packed the few supplies he had available and set off as a left the rebel camp. The meeting spot would probably take him a couple of hours to get to an if the map was accurate it was in a small forest area north. Given the time he would probably arrive there long before he needed to but the wait would give him an opportunity to scout around a bit beforehand.

If the sun wasn't up, then there was a good chance that Eli wasn't either. He laid flat on his stomach, sprawled out across his cot with his pillow clutched with both arms. His mouth hung slightly agape, a soft snore coming from his nostrils. He was completely oblivious to the loud knocking on his door. With the man being a heavy sleeper, and a mostly deaf one at that, it took a lot to rouse him.

It was about an hour later than Eli finally got up, his stomach waking him. The man opened his eyes and sat up to stretch, groaning as his stiff muscles moved. The little cot he called a bed wasn't the most comfortable, and often left him sore here or there. It was nothing he couldn't work out with a little morning run. Eli slid out of bed and trudged into kitchen of his small home and began pulling breakfast together. A nutrition bar, only a month past expiration, some cheese with a little mold that he could cut off, a couple plums, and a cup of dry cereal. Eli slumped into the single chair that sat at his kitchen table and began to eat.

He was halfway through his cereal cup when he spotted the paper that had been shoved under his door. Whoever had been trying to get his attention that morning must have given up. Eli got up from his chair and cross the room to pick the paper up. His eyes scanned over his quickly. A meeting? A mission? It had been a little while since he'd made himself useful. Eli shoved the paper in his pocket and quickly went to get dressed. The paper said they had a couple hours before they left, but who knows when it had been delivered.

He pulled on a sweatshirt, his jeans, and then his boots. Eli rummaged around in his supplies for a bit before he found his favorite knife, bow, and quiver with arrows. As he headed out the door, he grabbed the remaining plums off the kitchen table. A snack for the road.

Murry sighed as he looked over the list of requested supplies. He was the closest thing they had to a logistics officer at the moment and that meant he was constantly being asked to look over lists such as these and see what supplies could be given to where. The problem was, while Murry didn't mind helping out with this job, he'd much rather be out in the field again, but not many people were eager to have him on a squad. Stupid superstition, "Excuse me sir?" a voice said, making Murry look up from his papers.

A man stood in front of the desk, a messenger judging by his gear, he held out a small envelope to Murry. "I was supposed to deliver this to you. I think it's important." Murry took it and read over the letter, expecting to another request form, instead it was something much more interesting. Murry grinned as he finished reading the letter and stood up. He thanked the messenger and walked back into the supply room.

If the letter was to be believed then this mission was going to be important, but also difficult, and that meant he would need to bring the best equipment possible. However, he would also have to travel light for when they had to leave. He looked over what the camp had to spare, there wasn't much, but he'd make do. He took one SMG with two spare clips, a metal baton, a few explosives, a first aid kit, and some flares. Murry's philosophy had always been better to be prepared for anything, then to be dead. He stuffed most of the equipment in his backpack, and set off for the meeting point. Finally he would be back in the field. He couldn't wait.

Annabeth sat down on a small pile of rocks. Someone had been following her, and she panicked. Slinging her backpack off her shoulders, she rummaged through for a weapon, just in case it was one of them.

It was not.

A young boy - sixteen, maybe seventeen - ran up to her, letter in hand, panting madly. "S-sorry, ma'am," he huffed, "You are Miss Annabeth Jenna Rogers, correct?" Beth nodded. "I have a letter for you."

She stared at him for a few long seconds. What? Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "Yeah, what's up?" She listened to him ramble, zipping her backpack up again. He was talking about some strange thing that gave him the letter when he threw the letter to her and sprinted away. Confused and intrigued, Beth opened it and read.

After reading, she closed up the letter and smirked. "About time, I need something better to do." She knew where the X was, she took that route when she was feeling a bit more tired than usual at night. And the mission. It was a mission. Her mission. Feeling stronger than ever, she jumped up and ran to her mission.

IT had only been a month or so since Todd arrived at the rebel camp and he was still battling his withdrawal symptoms. Waking from his sleep with cold sweats, panting as he sprung up to right to a sitting position. The withdrawal symptoms weren't as bad as the were the first week of being there but none the less they were still a problem to him. 'Maybe I should just take a little hit... at least enough to make these withdrawals go away...' He thought to himself as he reach for his back that he stored some 'extra' chems in. Just then he heard a knock at his door and he quickly dropped the chems back in to the pack.

"Who is it!?" Todd called out to whoever would be knocking. "Do you know what time it is?" He added with a slight tone of irritation in his voice, but there was none answer and the knocking persisted. Pushing himself out of bed, Todd sluggishly walked to the door. The knoocking seemed as though it only got louder and louder the closer he got to the door. "Alright alright, I'm coming settle down" He said as he sent his hand to twist the knob of the door. Pulling the door open he saw one of the couriers holding an envelope out towards him. "What is this?" Todd asked the courier. "Orders..." said simply by the courier. Todd took the envelope and moved to the and opened it.

Upon reading the contents of the the envelope He let out a sigh. The orders were for a mission where he would be working with other recruits. A spark of excitement came over him as he read through the orders some more. "Finally some excitement, I'm tired of all this boredom and sitting here doing nothing" He said as he rushed to grab his pack. With his pack in hand he dumped out the chems that were in there on to his bed, seeming to hide them under his pillow. 'Well Maybe I should just take a couple with me...' He thought as he grabbed two or three chems for the road. Upon more thought of the chems he took the least potent of the three and brought it to his forearm. He clenched his jaw and took in a deep breath, having the air pass through his clenched teeth. "Ahh... that should hold off some one these withdrawal symptoms" He said as the last of the chems entered his bloodstream. By now he was feeling like a million bucks. Filling his pack with a little supplies he thought he needed Todd took off from his house, heading towards the rendezvous location.

Daily Evans was sneaking onto what looked like an army base. Surely one of these clowns had booze right? She had run out and was getting a little shaky. Stupid habit to acquire but she blamed it on the stupid abilities she had while drunk. That was a good excuse right? Get liquored up in order to fight ETs at your best? Sure it was. Her emerald green eyes peered through the chain link fence surrounding the place, her blonde hair a little bit of a stand out among the green brush but oh well, what was she going to do about it? She narrowed her eyes and held onto her bag tighter. Grabbing a loose piece of fence that had come off of the post it was supposed to be attached to, she quietly (okay, not as quietly as she would have liked) began to roll it back. She could only get a hole barely big enough for her to fit through. Growling to herself, she got onto her haunches and whispered to herself. ”One, two, three,” and with that, dove through the whole. Bad thing was, her hole ridden skinny jeans, thanks to more accidents than she could account for, caused her to get hung up when the fencing bounced back into place. She was laying half inside the fence and half outside it, on her stomach and legs hanging out still in the brush. ”Fan-freaking-tastic,” she mumbled.

”What do you think you’re doing?” a slightly amused male voice came from her right. Tilting her head up, a look of Great… ran across her face. She struggled but eventually flipped over as a man in uniform walked up to her and looked down at her with an eyebrow raised. She smiled brightly and put her hands under her head as if she were simply relaxing and had all the time and innocence in the word.

”Nothin’ Ace. Just wanted to visit the latrine… The woods is no place for a lady, you know,” she said. Covered in dirt smudges, with a heavy jacket and smeared tanktop, heavy leather boots and stuffed duffel bag, she didn’t look much the part of a lady. The officer nodded, a look on his face that said he didn’t believe her for a second.

”Ah ha. I see. Well, how about we get you onto the base then, miss…? “ he trailed off.

”Evans, sir, Daily Evans,” she said in a mocking tone, phony salute towards him and all before smirking playfully. The officer’s eyes lit up in a sort of recognition that made Daily frown slightly. ”What?” she said, sounding a bit hateful in her tone.

”We got a letter to give a Daily Evans when they showed up here,” he said, reaching down to help her get unstuck from the fence and pull her through.

”Welp, if this is the only place with booze in a 10 mile radius, someone just knows me too well,” she grinned, getting up and brushing herself off. ”Thanks buddy,” she said, sarcastic tone still at play, walking with the man to go get the letter.

----

Daily had now made her way towards the meeting place disclosed in the letter she’d received, the gift of a bottle of scotch from the officer who had initially found her now safely in her bag. She had debated a lot with herself about whether or not to come to this stupid thing, but finally decided why not? She could handle her own after all in case it was an elaborate trap. She only hoped she wasn’t going to be the only one to show up. Losers might skip out. And then she’d be left to do this mission on her own… Cowards!

She continued to march until she was sure she was where this so called ‘mission’ was supposed to take place, stopping a little on the outskirts. She stuffed the map in her bag and cocked her hand gun, holding it lazily pointed at the ground. She knew she was early, and didn’t get too close to the landing pad to avoid being detected until whoever else would show up arrived. For now, she was cool with biding her time. She pulled out the bottle tore off the top, sipping it and waiting in the forest.

Beau sat on a high standing stone mound at the outskirts of the city, looking through the trees down to the city below, or what was left of it. The various slave camps being controlled by the ETs were visible by the unique markings. Each camp was built in an octagonal shape, a blue burning substance flaring in the middle, lasting all day and all night but exuding no smoke. Beau's breath simmered in the air in front of him, his dark eyes surveying what was playing out below. He pulled up the collar of his thick coat up around his neck to keep the early morning chill from reaching his skin.

"Beau!" A small voice cried out. "Hey Beau!" The little voice cried out again, getting closer. A young boy raced up the hill that led to the stone mound, a letter clutched in his small hand. His body was covered in what appeared to be an adults jacket, over-sized scarf and beanie cap. His little face was barely visible through the mound of clothing covering his body to keep him warm. His cheeks poking through the high-collared jacket were flushed pink. He stopped right at the lowest rock of the mound and bent over, resting his forearms on his knees as he gasped for breath from running up the hill.

Beau turned around to look at who was calling his name and smiled when he saw Alex, waiting patiently for him to catch his breath. Alex coughed, inhaled deeply, then straightened himself up right, readjusting the jacket to sit better on his small shoulders. The boy pulled the beanie back from his brow to better see Beau, his green eyes looking up to him, a wide smile lighting up his face.

"Beau! I have something for you!" His voice was full of excitement and wonder. Children were always innocent and full of fun but to see a child in their current despondent times be filled with such excitement made Beau a bit curious. Alex raised his arm upwards, his hand clutching a wide brown envelope, and swaying it from side to side. "It's for you Beau!" Alex said, now jumping up and down on his toes.

Beau met Alex's smile with a grin and turned full around. With his hands at the back of the stone, his feet angled to balance himself, he leaned back and slid down the rock mound, swiftly moving down the side until his feet slammed hard but squarely on the dirt floor below. Beau straightened himself up, jerking his coat, and walked the last few steps to meet Alex. "Thanks buddy" Beau said, clapping his hand against Alex's back as he took the letter. "Let's read it together, shall we?" Beau, standing at 6"0, crouched down next to Alex to let him in on the fun. The letter looked official but Beau didn't think it mattered if a 10 year old saw it or not. Alex was too excited about the mystery letter to not be let in on the secret.

Beau read the letter to himself, angling the paper to allow Alex to read it as well at his own pace. He found it interesting as he kept no connection with what was left of the human military. He was a rogue runner, helping free human slaves and rebuilding rebel camps like the one he was currently staying with, teaching them to fend for themselves until moving on to another group. Helping others kept his mind off of his own misery of knowing his captured daughter Rain was still out there somewhere, and raiding ET camps gave him a first hand look as to possible places Rain could be kept. So far he has yet to see her or hear of her. Every group he helps he shares his story. In return for his help the group sends him any information they can about where Rain might be, either by various pieces of ET information or sightings that have all unfortunately turned out to be for another young girl; Rain eludes him still but he believes she is still alive and with he ETs somewhere.

This invitation, which sounded more like a demand than a request, seemed to be another great step towards getting closer to Rain. It seemed to be more believable that Rain would be held in a main camp site for the Others rather than any small human slave camp. Besides, he's pretty sure he has been to them all in the great area, freeing many people but seeing not one trace of his taken daughter.

Beau's jaw clenched in thought as he stared at the letter. After a moment when Alex realized he was no longer waiting for Alex to finish reading, he looked to Beau and placed his hand on his knee. "Does this mean you're leaving?" he asked him. Beau broke away from his thoughts to look at the young boy, meeting his worried gaze. He pulled his frown in to a small smile, placing his hand along the boys side neck. "Yeah buddy" he said, pulling Alex in for a hug. He held the boy to his chest, Alex wrapping his arms around his torso tightly. After a moment Beau pulled back. He never got too close to any of the camps he helped set up but Alex and his mom had become dear friends in the last week they had been together since their escape to freedom. Alex had no father, Beau had a missing daughter, and his connection with him was stronger than words.

Beau cupped Alex's small face in his gloved hands, meeting his eyes with a stern look. "You take care of your mother now, alright? You're a strong young man and she needs you to stay that way for her in my absence." Alex whimpered in protest, his eyes glossing with tears. He pulled out from under his jacket Beau's side satchel that carried everything he owned and traveled with. Beau looked at it, opened it up from the top to look inside at the contents, then looked back to Alex with a smile. "Thanks kido." Alex had packed everything for him, knowing he would go. With a last hug, Beau stood up, arching his back and inhaling the crisp morning air deeply. "Maybe I'll see you again. Maybe not." Beau told Alex. Alex nodded bravely and responded back with the phrase Beau taught him so well. "No expectations, only hope and fortitude." Beau nodded, his smile strong despite how much it hurt to say goodbye. He turned and headed towards the meeting point written on the letter. He was not far and would arrive from the woods, taking the path off of the main land to stay out of sight. He would be there very soon.

As Alex walked towards the meeting spot he realized he was probably going into the situation woefully unprepared. He had no weapons, not the he used them all that often, and very little food and water. The only thing of any use was a first aid kit that he only had basic knowledge of how to use. All in all he felt like a bit of an idiot but most likely it was all a hoax anyway and he would spend a day wandering around the wilderness before heading back to base. It wasn't even an unpleasant prospect now that he thought about it. Maybe it would give him a chance to unwind. With that thought in mind he found the trip far more tolerable and actually began to enjoy himself and if the map was accurate and there was an ET base nearby maybe he would just stop by for a visit.

About two hours later he arrived at the edge of the meeting spot. Instead of going straight in though he took the cautious route an circled around trying to catch a glimpse of what waited for him there. At first he found it difficult to see anything but as he shifted a silhouette became visible and he tried to move in closer to catch a glimpse of who it was but was unsuccesful. What he did see though was a handgun resting comfortably in the person's hand and he swallowed nervously. He had no idea if they were the person in charge of the meeting but something about the way they were standing made him think otherwise. Finally he took a breath and stepped forward into sight with his hands raised to chest height an palms facing outwards. "Don't shoot." He said quickly as he move forward. He noticed that the person was a woman although it didn't surprise him much. "I'm just here for the uh..." He paused for a moment as the words 'Top-secret' flashed through his mind. "Mission." He finished lamely.

Moving slowly he unslung his pack and reached into it for the envelope that contained all the information and tossed it onto the ground between them. If she was here for the same reason he was she would probably recognize what it was however if she didn't then she would have to come close enough that he should be able to disarm her with his own skills. He kept his eyes fixed on her as he waited patiently for her to make her own move.

Murry sat on a rock thinking about the mission. He was near the meeting point, but he was starting to become unsure about going. "There's not even a guarantee that this is a legitimate mission" he muttered to himself. "But, on the other hand, someone went through the trouble of getting me out here, and there are most likely more people too, so something is going on." He stood up and stretched, looking out toward where the letter said the landing pad was. "No point in sitting around here, I've come this far I might as well see what this is all about." He turned towards the rendezvous point and set off.

After walking a little ways he came to the meeting point, unsurprisingly he wasn't the first one there, but one of the people had his hands up, while the other seemed to be holding a gun. 'Might be best to let them get this sorted out before I get involved'. Murry thought to himself. Neither of the other two seemed to have noticed him yet so he crouched down behind a rock keeping an eye on both of them. 'Nothing to do but wait and see what happens' he thought.

Daily was whistling to herself a slow, sad tune she had no idea where it was from, when she heard something. Turning her head sharply, but hand on her gun still relaxed, she saw a man step forward into the small clearing where she stood. He had his hands up and asked her not to shoot, making her smirk slightly. I’m just here for the uh… mission. Raising an eyebrow she watched him as he moved his bag and pulled out a letter that looked the same as hers, tossing it on the ground between them. After a moment she laughed softly and leaned down to pick it up.

”No need to be so afraid of me, Bud,” she smirked, looking at the letter and reading it over. Other than the name on the outside of the envelope it was indeed the same. ”Here,” she said, closing the gap between them to hand it back to him. ”Didn’t know I was so terrifying. Oh right… this thing,” she said, lifting her gun but making sure to keep it pointed away from the man as she rotated it a few times in her palm. ”It’s not for you, so chill. What’s your name? Looks like we’ll be working together after all. I’m Daily,” she said calmly, switching hands with her gun to shake his hand. She could tell the difference between a threat and non-threat by this time in her life. This guy? Non-threat.

”Sorry if this thing freaks you out, but I had no idea if this was a trap or not,” she went ahead and turned the safety back on and stuck the gun in the back of her pants, sighing a bit and looking around them. ”Think anyone else will show?”

Ray nearly ran out of his shack-like house, slamming the broken door behind him. There wasn't a secure lock on the light metal door, and the latch on the doorknob that would normally keep the door from swinging open was non-existent. The door of his small house bounced off the door frame and slowly swung open. The only type of security the housee had was the screen door that seemed to be in perfect shape, from the outside at least. Ray didn't look any better than his house did, although, unlike his house, Ray was in great shape. Every morning Ray would go out into the city, if you could still call it that, and work his body to the limit. It would start as a jog which gradually evolved into a sprint, this was followed by a bit of free running that really pushed the limits of his muscles. Ray was about to go on his 4 hour long training routine until he received a small brown envelope that's contents were of top secret.

Ray hopped down the few front steps and his and ran to the side walk, the sound of the screen door of his house clicking shut was indication enough to go on about his routine. But this time he was going to train, this time he would put his training to practice on a real mission. Ray bounced on his feet as he jogged in place on the side-walk outside in house, he reached around himself and shoved his hand in a pocket of his one strap backpack. His finger's fumbled around noisily through the items in his bag, after about half a minute Ray finally found the envelope inside. He separated the map from the rest of the small package, holding it tightly in his dry hands as he jogged on the spot. "Allllrighty then." Ray stated, his voice filled to the brim with excitement. He stuffed the map, envelope, and letter back in his bag haphazardly and started to jog off in the general direction of the suggest rendezvous point.

Ray ran quickly towards the landing pad, taking the slightly longer way through the rubble of the war-torn parts of the city. If he couldn't do his exercise routine, he might as well make one up as he goes to the meeting spot. Ray floated through the rubble of the broken buildings that dots the city. Leaping over large debris, sliding under beams with ease, sprinting and jumping out into place that's he unfamiliar with, all to get in a bit of fitness before this super secret mission. The ET landing pad came into view and when Ray spotted it, he sprinted with %110. Ray's freakishly light bones made travel easy on foot and made high speed second nature to him. Ray slowed down and stood just a few meters away from the edge of the landing pad.

Faint voices scraped at Ray's ears, curiously he turned his head slightly to spot the one man. The man was seemingly talking to the bush, he was trying to ease his way closer to the bush, hoping the brush wouldn't shoot him. The man, who's is still unknown to Ray, tossed the package to the bush, trying see if the bush was also here for the mission. At first, it hadn't occurred to Ray that there might be someone in, not until it rustled. Making it clear to Ray that there was someone hiding there. The person in the bush must have a firearm, otherwise the man was making a false assumption that could make him look incompetent. Ray didn't assume the latter, instead he took his own little precaution and scooted away behind a bush of his own. Hoping no one had noticed him yet.

Eli had a good pace going, but he wasn't in a particularly huge rush. He plodded along with his boots crunching the leaves beneath him, bow resting in one hand and a plum being eaten from the other. It only took him an hour to arrive at the meeting point. The walk had been rather nice. Peaceful was a good word to use. The sun was warm, but not too hot. The wind was blowing just right. Today was going to be a good day.

He glanced down at his map to see that he would be coming upon the meeting place any moment now. Eli wondered if anyone else would be there. Would there be anyone here that he knew? He was pretty good with faces, but names were quickly forgotten. By now, he could at least recognize most of the rebellion members.

When Eli came across the forest clearing, sure enough, there were other people there. At least he wasn't too late. He took a bite of his plum and looking around at the faces, all people he'd seen before. One man had his hands up in a defensive manner, probably because that girl had a gun. She didn't look like she was going to use it, however. When the two turned to look at him, Eli only smiled and waved dopily with his plum hand.

"Plum?" He took one of the untouched fruits from his pocket and offered it up.

Murry stood up, seeing as the two didn't seem like they would kill each other, and a third man had joined he assumed it was safe enough. He approached the small gathering and took out his envelope from his backpack before tossing it to the man who had shown his to the girl. "So does anyone know just how many are coming to this little get together?"

Todd came into the clearing from a thick bush of the forest line. His arms flailing about as he walked walked turning in circles, it was made very clear that he had troubles making it through the route he took. Todd stumbled as he stepped into the clearing, Nearly falling before catching his footing. Brushing himself off, standing back up right, he noticed the small group that was already at the meeting point. 'Shit that route coming here really killed my high...' He thought to himself, clenching his right fist, closing his left eye and jerking his slightly to the right. He bounced his bag on his back by tugging on the straps, this being his way of reminding himself that he had back ups for if hey need that 'kick'. As Todd approached the group the group, seeming to look to all of their faces for mere seconds apart from each other. He then proceed to look each of them up and down casually. The bow in the man's hand caught his eye leading him to stare at it for a short while as he slightly moved his head keeping his eyes locked on the bow.

When Beau came to the clearing through a thick entrance of the bushes there seemed to be a lot of people already gathered. He had walked his route, not in any hurry to tire himself out. As his he stepped over a final small rim of bushes, exposing himself to the open air at the meeting point on the pad, Beau looked around at who was already here. He saw Eli handing two others, Alex and Daily, a piece of his fruit, looked to his side to see Todd emerging from the forest line, shrugging his backpack. Another man, Murry, joined the others from what seemed to be a hiding point he had. They all certainly had their reasons to have their guards up. If they were all summoned for reasons of special powers there was a faint chance they had been discovered by the ETs and this whole "secret mission" was a trap. Having nothing to gain and everything to lose, Beau came to the meeting point anyway, despite knowing this could be a possibility; anything to take another step closer to find Rain.

Beau walked forward slowly. In the forest he had tucked his pistol in the back of his pants, though if they were to be ambushed by ETs it wouldn't fair very well. Beau looked carefully at everyone, curious if he would recognize anyone from previous slave camps. It was highly likely some of them would know each other.

When Beau saw he had been seen by the others he raised his arm up to a wave, walking towards them still. Once he came close enough to them he raised his hand again in greeting. "Hello everyone. My name is Beau" he said. They would need to get to know each other soon enough.

Daily glanced over as she heard a snap and chewing, to see a man walking closer, eating a fruit of some kind. She raised an eyebrow, thinking he looked rather silly strolling into the clearing in such a way, but then again, it wasn’t much sillier than putting your hands up and tossing a letter on the ground in her eyes. ”No thanks,” she smirked at the man’s offer of a plum, lifting her bottle in the air a little and tapping it with a finger from her other hand. ”Breakfast” she took a swig and then zipped it back up in her bag, stretching her hands above her head, shirt coming up a little before she sighed and let her arms fall again.

So does anyone know just how many are coming to this get together?

Before an answer could leave her lips, another, rather awkward looking man walked until the clearing without saying a word, and then an older gentleman approached and introduced himself as Beau. The lot seemed friendly enough. Offering food, proving their letters, waving in greeting. These were ET killers? Eh, she supposed she’d seen worse. They must have something special about them to be summoned here right? God she hoped so.

”Hey everyone, gather round, gather round. We’re about to sing kumbaya and have a picnic with fruitcup here,” she said, pointing to mister plum. ”And if any of you were sincerely not sitting in the bushes listening to make sure I wouldn’t shoot your heads off before exposing yourself, and didn’t hear it, my name is Daily. No. I don’t know how many are coming. But I do know we need to kick ET ass. Other questions?” she asked, not smiling but not seeming irritated, just laying out facts as she saw them in her mind.

Alex looked around at the people that emerged from around the small clearing. It surprised him how many there actually were and he couldn't help but snort in amusement at the idea of taking all this people and having a picnic instead of actually having a fight. "I'm uh... Alex." He said awkwardly looking around him at all the people gathered here. He wondered if any, like him, had any sort of 'special' abilities. The thought gave him reason to pause. He knew the kind of damage that could be done with his power and he seen one or two others able to do things that should have been impossible but the results were often both dangerous and fatal for the user. Personally he didn't like his own chances for survival if he had to use his powers but aside from a few types of guns he never carried with him he was practically weaponless except for his own skill with his hands and that was still a force to be reckoned with especially when combined with his power.

Looking up at the sun Alex guessed that there was probably a little under an hour before they were supposedly meant to move out and take down an entire ET landing base and looking around at everyone he found himself surprised at the level of confidence he felt with their chances. No one here looked inept in any way and by the time they left only more would join their small force. It gave him some measure of hope for the future if all these people were as capable as they looked. "I guess we wait for a bit before actually leaving then?" He asked. "Maybe more people will show up between now and when that note said we should leave." He sighed and moved over to a nearby tree and leaned heavily against it as he waited expectantly.

The sounds of wind blowing through the crevices in what remained of an old building gave Darren peace of mind. While being conscious, he really had no desire to open his eyes. He weighed his options softly to himself.

“I should probably get up, meh, but at the same time this is a really nice cement floor, the dust makes it feel soft.”

Slowly, he opened his eyes and took a long yawn. Around him were various backpacks and bags loosely filled with items he’d stolen, each one a trophy to his ego. “Wouldn’t it be magical if I ‘borrowed’ some food and forgot about it?” he chuckled to himself. As he opened bag after bag, sifting through the stolen junk, he eyed each piece with a small memory of the day when it came into his life. There was that shirt he’d taken from a narcoleptic man in the park, the baseball that was hit over the fence and he told the small kids he didn’t know where it went and, of course, Lucky, his stuffed dog that he’d had since a small child. “Huh” he came across something he didn’t remember taking. A sealed white envelope without a name or return address, but he also found a can of pork and beans, so that took priority.

After the beans were cooked, he opened the letter to give him some accompanying thoughts as he finished his breakfast. The letter started “You and several other recruits will undertake a top-secret mission” and continued from there. Two options came to mind as he continued skimming the letter. On one hand, he could do the just thing and ignore the letter, after all, it probably wasn’t for him and there was no way he could get to the meeting place at the designated time. On the other hand, being fashionably late is common for those of the upper class and he might be able to have a little fun and also potentially get some loose cash and items as well. “What do you think, Lucky?” he said as he looked at his faithful stuffed companion. “Fine, but you can’t come. Because what would they say, honestly, they’d think I was crazy.” The stuffed dog looked back with dead, plastic eyes. “I’m sorry, how about you stay here and I bring you a big steak when I get back?” No response. “Fine, I’ll take one of the backpacks and you can ride in it, but don’t call attention to yourself, got it?”

Darren stood up, dumped out one of the backpacks and put Lucky, an assorted handfuls of other items and the letter in it. He waved farewell to his loot, someone would probably find it and remove it while he was out. As he walked out of the building, he grabbed two hard-drives off the solar-charger and connected them to his belt and the XLR cables. He started towards the general direction of the landing pad mentioned in the letter, and chose random play on the hard-drives to accompany the start of his journey. He muttered to himself, “I’ve always wanted to be fashionably late anyway” as he left the abandoned building behind.

Murry glanced around at the others present, they seemed capable and ready. The girl who had been here first was clearly armed, he just hoped the alcohol didn't throw off her aim. The man who had arrived before him didn't have any visible weapons, but it was usually the weapon you don't see that causes problems. The one who had offered the plum seemed capable, and if he was good with his bow then they had a reusable weapon. As for the others, they seemed confidant which made sense. They wouldn't be here if they couldn't handle themselves. Still, it never hurt to be sure everyone was ready. "Should we take an inventory of our supplies, see what we have? We could make a plan after we know what we're working with."

Eli finished his plum by sucking the rest of the meat off the core, then spitting the seed out into the bushes nearby. Since no one seemed to take up his offer, he proceeded to chomp down on the last one. He glanced around the clearing as he ate, taking time to appreciate how nice it was out here. He was pretty sure he'd been out here hunting before. Maybe some time during the winter. Everything looked so much nicer with leaves and blooms on the trees.

He noticed a few more people joining them, and was sure to wave and smile to greet them. Eli noticed a bit too late that the woman with what he assumed was a flask of alcohol had been talking this whole time. Should he have been paying attention? She seemed a little off putting, like maybe she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed today. Eli saw her ask if anyone had questions and sheepishly raised his hand.

"Could you repeat that?"