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[color=red][sub][i]Location | The Ruined City
Time | February 23[sup]rd[/sup] - Evening
Interaction | V-C-A-L Squad; Lysandra (with [@Force and Fury])[/i][/sub][hr][/color]
Ajax kept on his way in the lead of the pack, senses on high alert. As their squad progressed further into the arid skeleton of the city, he kept his eyes moving. On the low, given that Cerise had found one of her memory fragments here, Ajax hoped that perhaps he could find one as well…It had been quite some time since the last one, and that agitated the hunter in the back of his mind. However, he was more than disciplined enough to keep to the course they were on; the safety of his squad depended on that.

As far as observation went, in the direction they were headed, the Sword took note of the growing amount of Grimes. Although the slime creatures didn’t impede their path, nor present much of a threat themselves, it could be an omen of more Lost ahead. Since their last encounter hadn’t exactly gone well, he was more on guard, as there were much less of them now and Vincent was still injured. That was when he felt it, and he stopped in place. He raised his hand as he did, indicating to the squad to pause. 

Rumbling beneath his feet, barely audible to even his hearing, yet without pattern. Definitely not an earthquake, or footsteps…yet there was an eerie familiarity to it. As memory of Cerberus served him with regards to various Lost, as well as the implication made by Lysandra earlier…His head turned to her as she broke the news to their group. 

Before he could make a call, Vincent had already broken into a sprint for the other group; running through walls in an already crumbling city. Good heart, boneheaded decisions. Regardless, as each member sprung into action in their own way, Ajax stuck close to Lysandra who had gone into her ‘drone zone’. The last thing they needed was for her to just be out in the open alone and somewhat unaware of her surroundings. 

Lys was almost wholly immersed in a world of pure videogame combat, darting and dodging tentacles with Sky Princess as Sage hovered above her keeping a proximity alert. A notice flashed through her heads-up display as Poppy approached and the group's lone human gave a brief, blind thumbs-up. 

With her clearly still being unstable on the ground at least, the Sword had a hand ready to catch the Sidhe pixie. Though with her determined task laid out to them, Ajax nodded as she flew off. Ajax recognized that they needed to move; he needed to be there for the distraction to be more effective.

[color=red]”Alright Legs, we need to hit the ground runnin’.”[/color] He called before throwing an arm beneath and between her wheeled chair to lift it with one arm.

Lys died a little bit inside at the quip, but it was more or less a routine thing at this point. It was weird being around people and hearing them, but not feeling like she was around them. With the headset on, she [i]was[/i] Sky Princess. Presently, a sharpened tendril came shooting out for Vincent and she blunted it with a rocket strike. It was enough to make the thing recoil, but Princess’ regular payload wasn’t having much of an impact except when it struck things like those ‘eyes’. [color=7FFFD4][i]Wasting my fucking ammo, dude. Goddammit![/i][/color] There was a brief pause in the action and she responded to Ajax, pursing her lips in unamused duckface. [color=7FFFD4][b]”Alright, arms, let’s roll. Pops is right: we need to distract it. That means drawing Big Ugly off.”[/b][/color]

Clearly not much fazed by how little she weighed, even with the chair, Ajax started on the rush down the street. His coat straightened and flapped behind him as he raced towards the increasing sounds of carnage. [color=red]”Once we’re close enough, I’m going to go in to help with the diversion directly.”[/color]

[color=7FFFD4][b]“Roger that, chief, and thanks for the lift.”[/b][/color]

The crashing of debris and gunfire now much clearer in earshot, Ajax put Lys down, just out of sight. [color=red]”Alright. Keep an eye out, as soon as they are out of there, start rolling out. Once you have a good head start, signal to us with the drone and we’ll follow after you.”[/color]

Lys flicked Princess’ controls and the drone momentarily buzzed up outside of the Tsar Bomba’s reach. She flipped her headset up and glanced Ajax’s way. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Don’t have to tell [i]me[/i] twice.”[/b][/color] She paused for a moment, extricating her breath mask from a backpack pocket. [color=7FFFD4][b]“And watch out for that powder cloud thing it does. That shit messes with your eyes.”[/b][/color] She slipped it over her nose and mouth and pulled the headset down over her eyes. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Stay safe out there. I’ve got your back.”[/b][/color]

On that note, Ajax ducked out of the corner and sped for the action. Time was of the essence, but he would be very deliberate. Although to catch its attention, it’d need to take damage, the Sword would be wary of going for the kill. It would not be worth the risk of a final explosion, especially with his allies all so close. Thus when he arrived on the scene, he took notice of the direction where Poppy and Cerise were firing. 

Calculating his route, he lowered into a crouch start with one hand on the ground. When the other unsheathed his blade, his body surely became a blur to the eye as he sprinted full force for the Tsar Bomba. He timed a jump as a tentacle was coming down, using a two-handed slicing motion to diagonally dismember that limb. Ignoring a possible roar of pain, the Sword nimbly flipped between retaliating spikes that protruded to impale him. With one quick strike in, he got out of range of the Bomba’s body. Using a perpendicular building as a springboard to repeat the process, this time he jumped nearer to the head.

Hopefully the ones inside got what they needed, because now all of them were on a dangerous time table…