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Ben listened to Olly lay out the plan for their training excursion. It was not a terrible plan. He had to admit, he would've much rather have been the person on the crane than inside the building, but overall, it was a thought-out plan. Olly was right- this was not a group that they would win against if they charged at each other full-on. Binx was a menace with her explosives. Alice was crafty and dangerous with an advantage. Adam was practically a troll from Lord of the Rings. And Bug...Emily was somehow scarier than the rest. If there was anything inside that building that had a drop of voltage in it, it would all be over. Still, Ben was quite confident in his team. They were, for the most part, the listeners and rational thinkers of the group. That was probably why they were the defusers and the others were the bomb planters, anyway. [color=SeaGreen]”Sounds like a plan. Let's just all be very careful, alright? Outside of the paint cleaning, it hurts like hell. Don't want any of y'all to go through that. Hurts like a bitch.”[/color]

He looked at the group of so-called "distractors." Olly was pretty good at distracting, with his skillset and all, and he was a decent shot on top of that. Carmen...was pretty much useless here. Not to say she was useless in general! She was definitely not at all. But, for this particular combat exercise, she was rather useless. Ben had seen Carmen in the practice range at the HQ...truth be told, he was more worried for his teammates being hit by stray paintballs than he was for the opposition.  Still, Ben put on his confident smile as he approached them. [color=SeaGreen]”Alright, let's get ready. Olly, you might want to head for that IT room. I'd be damn surprised if Em isn't holed up in there...”[/color] Ben noted, looking down at his AP-Watch and speeding through the small report HIRAM had compiled for them. [color=SeaGreen]”Keep her busy. I'll distract the others. Carm...you should probably come with me.”[/color] Ben gave a (somewhat forced) kind smile. [color=SeaGreen]”Don't want you getting caught out by one of them and getting shot. Erik, don't miss, or I kick your ass!”[/color] Ben added, calling out to the crane, before re-adjusting his focus on the building.

Nadia, who had been looking at her watch for the past few minutes, looked up at them. [color=SteelBlue]"That is time. Move in. Best of luck,"[/color] she said, before looking down at her phone to check something out. 

Ben moved forwards quickly, one of his chosen pistols holstered at his waist and still spinning around his finger. He tightened his grip on the weapon as he crept over to the building. Most of the windows were either shattered or removed, which was a good sign for the group's sniper. Still, there were a few glass panes and other walls to block Erik's shot. Ben took a mental note to avoid standing near them as he carefully crept through an open window, landing quietly inside the building. The first floor, as the report had noted, looked fairly abandoned. Mostly pillars and the like. Ben's eyes swept the vicinity, searching for any signs of life, as he shimmied behind a concrete column. He pressed a finger to his earpiece. [color=SeaGreen]”Kingfisher here. No signs of life where I'm at.”[/color] He peered around his cover again, noticing something. A blinking red dot in the distance. Not good. [color=SeaGreen]”They got the cameras online. Be careful,”[/color] he noted,  aiming his pistol out from behind the pillar, and fired a round. A gentle "pop" sounded out, not too loud but not silent for sure, and hit the security camera square on the lens, covering the aperture in pink paint. Ben retracted the gun, turning and firing again. Another camera was splattered in paint soon after. [color=SeaGreen]”Knocked two down. Keep your eyes out,”[/color] Ben said as he stepped out, cautiously moving forwards.

He positioned himself behind another stone pillar at the stairwell. [color=SeaGreen]”Binx left us some presents,”[/color] Ben said into the comms, picking up a pebble from the ground and tossing it at the bomb. A volcano of paint quickly erupted from the modified explosive, sending a myriad of rainbows splattering all across the stairwell, as the sound of the explosion echoed through the building. It was fairly loud. [color=SeaGreen]”Nice try, Binx,”[/color] Ben whispered to himself as he quickly crept over to the staircase, hopping up two at a time. There would be paint on his shoes, and there would probably be questions, but that wasn't the prime concern right now. If they lost, there would be a lot more paint everywhere. 

Ben knew that, odds are, there would be angry people with paintball guns heading their way shortly, so as soon as he got up the stairs he quickly sought cover, and he found it. A nice cubicle up against the wall. Ben quickly moved inside the cubicle, pressing his back against the cubicle wall, until he saw something perfect. [color=SeaGreen]”Air vent!”[/color] he said quietly but excitedly as he hopped onto the desk, reaching up to the ceiling-mounted vent. He had to stand on his tip-toes, but he managed to reach the grate, giving it a wiggle. It came off without a hitch, nails popping right out, and Ben slowly lowered it, being careful not to drop it, before hopping down to the ground himself. [color=SeaGreen]”Carm, this is perfect...you can climb right in and head around the whole floor from above!”[/color] Ben said excitedly. [color=SeaGreen]”Just watch out for any rats or loose screws.”[/color] 

Ben's face quickly scrunched up with guilt, however, as he shoved a hand into his pocket. [color=SeaGreen]”I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. Just an idea. I mean, I can go, it's just, you know, Nadia made me go through air vents all the time on missions. Because of the height thing,”[/color] Ben said uncomfortably. [color=SeaGreen]”But I don't want to volunteer you, y'know...I'll do it, actually,”[/color] Ben said quickly, starting to step onto the desk and head into the vents. [color=SeaGreen]”Keep an eye out for traps, I guess.”[/color]

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Meanwhile, Nadia was glaring at her phone [color=SteelBlue]"The audacity..."[/color] she muttered under her breath as she typed furiously on her mobile device. [color=SteelBlue][i]Kem ona sebya vozomnila? Neveroyatno...[/i][/color] she added in Russian. [color=SteelBlue]"Hiram, get her off my phone. I leave my hotspot on for one second, and she tries to leap her way into classified intel! Shut her down, immediately,"[/color] she commanded, and the robot helper obliged. 

Back inside the building, Bug's computer screen would flash blue, as Hiram's voice (very loudly) filled the entire room and then some, blaring out of the speakers at full blast. [color=aqua]"I'm terribly sorry, agent, but I'm afraid I can't allow you to access the Director's phone,"[/color] HIRAM said apologetically. [color=aqua]"If you continue trying to access the Internet, I will have to shut you down. Again, sorry about all that! But rules are rules. No Internet for you. Oh, dear, I'm not giving away your location, am I?"[/color]

Nadia, meanwhile, looked up from her phone to see another agent arrive. Yuto Shitnaga, fashionably late. What a surprise. Luckily for him, Nadia hadn't put him in the assignment. In part because, as the driver, she couldn't fault him too heavily for the failure of the Timbuktu mission. Also, in part, because she knew that the Japanese agent could not aim a weapon to save his life, and that forcing him into the assignment would only be bad for him, his team, and for Nadia to watch. Nadia instead just glared at the agent silently, before accepting the bottle of iced coffee. She removed a switchblade from her jacket pocket and flicked out the knife, using the blade to pop the top of the bottle. She took a long gulp, before shaking her head. [color=SteelBlue]"Not dark enough,"[/color] she noted, flicking the blade away and stuffing it back in its spot. [color=SteelBlue]"You are free to watch,"[/color] she added after a moment of somewhat awkward silence, tapping a button on her phone. An image of all the security cameras (most of them; some were covered in paint) appeared on a TV screen Nadia had wheeled out from the van. [color=SteelBlue]"I have a feeling things are about to get...interesting. In a good and bad way."[/color]

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