Once on the bus, Edard chose a seat a few rows back from the driver so he could watch the road, with a window seat, setting his pack down beside himself, grabbing the drink tube for the hydration pack for a quick sip. He preferred a less than lethal method of combat when civilians are concerned. It's why he preferred the humble blade strapped to a forearm, with a tazer-punch mode. he could probably whip up something similar for anyone that wants some for the final attack. He made everyone an email of the weapon design titled 'Want one?: R.S.V.P. with any necessary or desired customizations' It also meant he could leave all his other less than lethal weapons here. He planned to bring a portion of his ammo to trade with the refugees, and walk in upon arrival. "Well, I could feasably fit in either the primary or secondary wave, but I believe The Axeman should be on the second wave, as we might need a more rapid unfolding of events during that stage. Red, How close do you want us to get with the van before we get too close and they find the hack signal from the van, or will you be continuing the cyber warfare simultaneous with the street level brutality that might at any instant erupt in there? Bus could go mobile if necessary. Wheels, would she be able to handle off road?" he asked, patting the foamy cushion of the bench seat in front of him.
[simultaneously, He sent the mute a silent AR message reading : if you would like some company on the walk from bus to sniper post, you wouldn't have to reveal the location to me later. Not trying to make a move: you're obviously taken and just as obviously not interested in me that way, but if we are to be a team. Well, teamwork means you don't have to walk alone, is all i'm saying. I'll watch your back, if you need it. and stay out of the way until then. I imagine it will be quite the show.]
He already set the AR rigging to go into 'Wayfarer' mode, activating autonomous cartography, real-time subsonic radar, gps tracker, activating auditory subtitles while playing music on his audio feed, and set the minor AI he'd managed to get talked into finally accepting two days before the blackout, what served as the embryo of the robotic pet has gone dormant, but the software was already running and aware, as he'd entered the activation code the very hour of the blackout, so for all he knew it had been fried with every thing else, but a part of him wouldn't give it up so he carried it along. Maybe if he could get a sufficient charge into the device, he could find out if it could still run a robot, even if he had to build it from scratch. But that might have to wait.