Maxwell Bastion stood outside the briefing room, on his own for a change as he stood with his Pebble in his paw, looking up to the holographic image, the sight of family one that didn't come often, but was one he had to deal with before things stepped up a notch.

In the middle of it all, family life had come back to him for a moment, the tall lion occupied with a video call.

"Look, Talisa, I know....yeah, I know I said I'd be back for Dad's 70th. You know how it is right now though." Max simply commented into his Pebble, the female lioness on the other end of the video call visibly and audibly sighing, as she shrugged. Talisa Bastion was Max's closest sister, her big sis who was probably too much of an influence with him. They played together a lot, and while she got herself together quite quickly, he really didn't.

"And they definitely can't let you go? I mean, c'mon Max, I thought you were seriously going to quit and take some time, do some contractor work, like you said right? Heck, even come work with me? A man of your talents, in a legal environment? You'd clean the place up!" Talisa replied as he sighed, shrugging his own shoulders.

"I signed up again. Can't tell you any details at all. It's a long one."
"Oh, Maxwell Bastion, man of international mystery! So elusive!" The sarcasm was clear from Talisa, as she didn't hide it at all what she felt.
"Oddly enough, sometimes I am one. Sorry, Tal. I can't. Just....pass on my regards, okay? I'll call him if I'm free...it is what it is."

"Bloody hell. Well, you go off to your briefing. For the love of everything don't go getting killed. Mum is worried sick about you as is. Always going away, and with last time, she was really angry."
"And she knows I'll never change. I literally said the same thing to Helen too. This is what I do best...it's how I help the world."
"Right, by coming back with more cuts every time you return home. Yeah well....we all love you anyway, Maxy. I mean that."
"You too, sis. I've got to go....see ya, bye!" With a reciprocation, Max cut the call, turning his gaze to see that he wasn't entirely alone right at the end of that.

The other members of the team were standing not too far away when they came over, the sight of Logan, Maxine and Anna a sight for sore eyes for Max.
"You're still getting shit from your siblings, "Maxy"?" Anna bluntly retorted, to laughter from the others, as Max shrugged once more.

"Yeah, well....it turns out being a special forces soldier when you were meant to use a History degree to go and do something "productive" in society wasn't in the plan?" Max chuckled, making the sarcastic fingers remark as the others chuckled in response.

"Yeah, I suppose. We have a briefing with your new honcho now, yes? This Captain Silverwind Blade, I heard he's a mean bastard." Anna commented, the blunt jaguar probably one of the only people Max demanded to be in his fireteam from day one. Nobody else could work with her, given her overtly blunt and sassy demeanour at times, but Max just loved it. It was almost a foil to him, as he was a foil to her.

"You might get on well with him. I fought with him a few months back. Handy as hell in a GEAR, even without most his limbs. Your type of person, Anna." Max retored, Logan nodding.
"Yeah, I heard of him. Crazy guy. But good at what he does. Looking forward to it." Logan said, Maxine quietly nodding.
"I'm sure we'll all get on. Look at us, back together again. I really hope you haven't signed us up to anything crazy...but thanks for bringing us back into it, Max!" Maxine added, the fact that there were technically two "Max"es on the team meaning Hopper was used much more commonly in response by the rest of the team.

"Pleasure. Let's just keep our heads screwed on, and keep an open mind for what comes next. Not too much, as this shit is serious. What we might be going into is gonna be crazier than that deep recon operation in Galandria." Max added, speaking to all, before Anna stepped up.
"Mr fucking namedrop, are we? "Oh yeah, back when I glided into a mountain base and killed like 20 guys and personally disrupted the Galantrian Guards servers all with a silened pistol, I'm Maxwell fookin' Bastion!" " Anna retorted sarcastically, with an indicated and obvious tease of Max's accent, knowing she enjoyed pissing off Max greatly.

"Shut your mouth....come on everyone, let's go." Max replied with a wry giggle, quickly shutting down the jaguar as he blew her a kiss to her, the jaguar sighing. It was a sarcastic relationship, but man, it worked and kept them both out of trouble. 

They headed through the doors of the briefing room, the lion in the lead followed by the black jaguar, red squirrel and the Flemish giant bun, all in their fatigues and looking sharp. Their fatigues were the golden-grey-brown that the 505th Recon had, a special breed designed for grassland and light arid conditions, something that the team liked as their little signature compared to others. Max had gone back to having his farie locks, while Anna had an undercut of sorts, her noir black skin and hair gently pruned back, with her golden spots very tricky to spot in the darkness, whilst glaring a little in the light. Logan had a typically pruned cut, whilst Maxine's big ears poked over a cap she wore, the team medic carrying a sachel with her at nearly all times, almost in the same way Max carried a M8 on him almost by force of habit. Viper Team did not look like your ordinary bunch of special forces soldiers, more like a bunch of scraped together misfits from afar, but Maxwell and his team proved their results on paper every time. 

The lion looked over at the desk at the front, giving a nod to Silverwind.
"Greetings, boss. Viper, this is Captain Silverwind Blade. Ghost Hunters unit commander. Captain, this is a band of lunatics I can't believe you managed to get me to bring on board." Max stated, a simple enough introduction and one that he hoped would get the ball rolling, Max comfortable enough to greet his commander with a little more casual tone, whilst the rest of the team held back.