"Well don't."  Marcus said simply, pointedly refusing to dwell on any mentioning of Casper.  Not dwelling, he wasn't gonna dwell.  "That's what Im supposed to do.  Just sit there and look all pretty you fancy pilot."  He teased, nuzzling her slightly and grinning against her cheek to let her know he didn't mean it.  Sure there was always friction between pilots and soldiers, and Marcus did love to tease her about it.  But in the end he knew he could never do what she did and respected her for it, still it was fun to tease.

[i]Now.[/i] It wasn't verbal, just a simple flicker of light.  Like someone had opened and shut a door into a well light room in a fraction of a second.  Then there was clattering and a hiss, and Tess's eyes widened in alarm as a smoking canister rolled into view.  If anything could jolt her from a comfortable silence against Richard, that could.
"Gas!"  She shouted, bolting to her feet and grabbing at Richard to pull him back and away further from the sinister cloud billowing out of the hissing gas grenade.  Immediately there was panic from the civilians, Tess's shout of alarm stirring them all and many stumbled wildly into the growing cloud.  

Marcus and Rin were far enough away to have time to get up as the fog swirled at their ankles, Marcus snatching up his gun and bringing it up and around in the blink of an eye.  Twisting he snapped it around in the direction the gas grenade had come from and tapped the trigger.  It was an assault rifle, not his weapon of choice, but it only rattled briefly.  Short controlled bursts was all they could afford, and he was rewarded by a shout that was sharply cut off in the direction his bullets had flown.  
"Catch, Wasp up!" He barked, snapping back into the right mindset at a moment's notice.  

[i]Prisoners requested.  Do not take unnecessary risks. [/i]  That was the order, and the Trackers intended to follow it.  One bloodied but not down they sprang into action.  Another gas grenade was flung into the ring of scrambling survivors, guns raised and firing with short bursts into the growing smoke aiming for crippling shots or simply to scare everyone into submission.