[hr][hr][center][h1][b][i][color=b93c3c]Arcturus Hale[/color][/i][/b][/h1][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/4c/ca/624cca17467decaf28e8236f7734c15c.gif[/img][hr][hr][b][color=b93c3c]Location:[/color][/b] The Framework
[b][color=b93c3c]Skills:[/color][/b] Telepathy[/center][hr]
They followed the route into the side-building and through the wreckage left by someone before them. Arcturus didn't dwell on the blood, and was only vaguely interested in the cassette tape. Whoever came this way before had good taste in old technology; it was just a shame he didn't have his Walkman with him, not that it seemed to be anything but a mixtape. Nikolova took it with her, which was her own prerogative, but Arcturus couldn't help but thinking it was a waste of space.

He had more important things to worry about. Whispers of [i]HYDRA[/i] in his ears from afar. Someone was thinking about HYDRA. He wasn't entirely surprised –– it was a topic that constantly found itself at the forefront of his own mind –– but what he heard didn't sound like the, 'ooh, those bastards' or 'I wonder what they're up to' or anything along those lines. The words almost seemed reverent. Whatever mental signature it was attached to, Arcturus couldn't be sure. It didn't sound like someone he knew.

They carried on down towards the stairs, and that was where they found [i]actual[/i] evidence.

The syringe was a different matter entirely. When he found it, he inspected it without touching, both due to memories of high school warnings about not touching used syringes kicking in and an unwillingness to contaminate it, on the off chance that they stumbled across the equipment to analyse it. Though there was little to be seen on the outer surface that betrayed its purpose, it was worth bringing with them. Part of the mission parameters was to find a way of preventing the virus, and who could say whether this contained it, or something like it? [color=b93c3c]"I'm no scientist, but we should probably take that with us."[/color] The last part was directed to Nikolova or Sparks, given their background in Sci-Tech, but he didn't fancy stuffing it in one of his own pockets. That would just be unsanitary.

As they moved up to the second floor and surveyed the standard office environment, Arcturus stopped in his tracks. Stared, for a heartbeat, unable to process any thought beyond, 'Oh, fuck.' Positioned at the fringes of the team as they cleared the stairwell and entered into the offices, he hardly expected to come face-to-face with the first mutant threat of the day. Less man than animal, like his moniker suggested, Sabertooth had seized him before he ever had time to get out of the way. A white-hot flash of pain seared through his arm as he was tossed bodily into the wall, hitting it shoulder first. He remained in place for a moment, still as could be, to blink the haze of pain from his eyes before there could be a follow-up assault. How on earth would his power help with that?

That would bruise. He looked down at his forearm where the impact had scraped the surface of the skin, and though it was only a minor scrape, an ache settled in. It felt [i]real[/i], this Framework. Maybe this was karma for doubting it in the first place.