Fantasy Beyond the Barrier

[LadyMatsudai]

Still staring off into the woods curiously, Margaret did not pay much attention at first to the movement of the rest of the team both setting up a perimeter to make sure the area was secure as well as the others that were coming through the Rift to the other side. But hearing the others start to mention that there was movement, Margaret spun around to see in the far distance a figure that was separate from their group. The person was a little blurred, Margaret only able to make out some older features and something being held in his hand and that was it. His face looked like a watercolor painting, the lines smeared and the features not distinct with her affected vision. Moving a little closer to the center of the open area towards the others, Margaret tilted her head curiously. He was just standing there...motionless as the others of the team were moving around to try and figure out just who this person was.


Margaret blinked to the sound of Tiffany saying something like a name. A name of who? Certainly wasn't one of the names of someone on the team but that is a different matter. But she gasped to hearing grass crunch under someone's feet, turning around to see Tiffany herself bolting out into the woods without looking back. "Tiffany stop! Where are you going?!" called out Margaret, starting to run a little herself before stopping right in place, remembering that they needed to stay with the group and not go dashing off on their own. She tensed to the sound of a chuckle in the distance, looking around quickly in circles to try and locate the origin of the sound, turning up with nothing.


Hearing Tiffany shouting out in the distance, Margaret turned back to the rest of the group. "We can't just leave her there. We have to go grab her! The whole team doesn't have to go. What if Victor, Chris, and myself went to go find Tiffany and bring her back here? She could be hurt," offered Margaret.

 

[Aura]

Victor tensely moved back into position realizing that he had made a mistake by abandoning Arlet's command. A small part of him could see the reason in holding their ranks in case the old man returned in a violent manner but at the same time he thought that she wasn't being flexible enough. The old man hadn't done anything to them that would indicate that he was a threat unless you wanted to make the correlation between Tiffany's odd behaviour and his presence. While that wasn't an illogical assumption, it was still an assumption. The only concrete thing they knew was that one of their team had disappeared into the trees and into the unknown.


"She can't get far obviously, but she doesn't need to. She's screaming for help and Gabby says she's under duress... I see that as signs that we should try to help her." he explained. Margaret suggested a small group be formed and he internally cringed at her suggestion though his face remained neutral. Arlet would never agree to that suggestion.


He swallowed heavily. He was probably going to kick himself for what he was going to do next, but that wouldn't be the first time after making an impulsive decision. He didn't particularly like the possibility that within ten minutes of entering the new world that a team member could be killed. They didn't know what was out there and for all anyone knew Tiffany was dying right now. He would prefer to make assumptions about the group and their health rather than upon the intentions of a mysterious man.


"I'm going." he said harshly. The words tasted sour, "I understand that's not within my authority so I guess I'm going rogue. Consider this my early retirement." Ironic because when he got back he most certainly would not be receiving his pension. Oh well, it was done. He had burned that bridge and he would have to deal with the consequences of his choice later. Right now he had a missing team member to find instead of waiting for an old man that might not show himself again or even be dangerous. Human life should take priority over protocol and it was too bad he had been under someone too by the books and rigid to realize this.


"I'll be happy to revisit my contract when you're done hunting ghosts," he complained.


"I'm not going," Chris snapped realizing that Margaret's suggestion was becoming a reality. Arlet was able to think subjectively and put aside the needs of individuals to assess the needs of the group. Victor may not agree, but Arlet was exactly the kind of leader that they needed.


Victor wasn't surprised at Chris's refusal. He wouldn't ask Alexander to join not willing to make the man make the choice and sacrifice that he had. He also decided to skip Derek because he would be Arlet's priority and he didn't want to cause more conflict with the woman than he had already surely caused. He had already accepted Margaret as part of his group despite how her sight might make her into a liability so he passed on asking Hector who wouldn't bring him much skill.


"Gabby, would you want to come with us? Tres?" he asked extending his invitation to them.

 

[Hazak]

Arlet saw the chaos unfold before her, this typically happened with new recruits. A bad situation occurs and they allow their animal impulses to take over, very useful if fighting an equally feral opponent or even when attempting to frighten a smarter one but this was not the case for them. Arlet let out an almost mournful sigh and steadied her breathing as she prepared to fire on Victor. 10 minutes into exploration and he had already become a cancerous tumor in need of removal. Then she heard her instructors voice echo in her head. She lowered the rifle. Shooting Victor wouldn't solve anything, not at the moment anyway. The units chaotic behavior was a mild hindrance so Arlet decided to allow Victor his child-like tantrum. "Victor, you have been given permission, however your retirement will wait, if you feel the need to be duty bound for this retrieval for someone under my command than you will remain a soldier under my command and receive your punishment upon your return. You and you alone will go and retrieve Ms. Bowden. Civilians will not follow you until we are out of combat." She made sure to keep her voice level and assess the rest of their situation. "Alexander move your mark towards my location and then escort all other civilian units to my location as well." She then looked at Derrick. "Gabriella if your willing and capable would you accompany Officer Robson?"


Gabby's first response, at least in her head, was no. This Victor was insane, she could easily keep track of Tiffany from here, yet he is running off into the unknown to pursue a person under some kind of mental influence. She did not want any of them to die but she did not want crazy people infecting the group with panic either, no wonder this guy never moved up in the ranks. But she thought better of it. She basically could not die from conventional means and could move around much easier than her human counterparts. "Yes, Captain Lancaster, I can do that." She then activated one of her 'orbs' small, metal computers shaped like a baseball. They were designed by Derrick and carried some of her operating systems inside. This one was designed for low altitude flight and pulled in air from to small holes at the top, heated the air inside and expelled it from the bottom allowing the unit to stay afloat. "I can already communicate with the units technology but this will allow me to give visual assistants to Officer Robson." With that she flew off and soon caught up with Officer Robson.


Well, this was new for Derrick for once he was not the one doing the crazy stuff. After hearing what everyone said and their actions he knew that moving would only complicate matters. As Gabby raced of Derrick decided to make himself useful, he was the leader after all, and escort Chris, who he seemed to be closer to. He removed his pistol from its holster and walked slowly toward him, trying to hold it steady and look around. Hold did the military guys do this so easily? Once he got next to Chris. He spoke in a whisper. "So what do you make of all of this? Old guy comes in, laughs and then leaves. Shortly, afterwards Tiffany snaps. Everyone can tell that its him but what do we do about it? Not the Tiffany part. But rather the old man, if he can do it to her why not all of us? Perhaps he can and is toying with us, just wants us to free one and then he zaps another?"

 

[Aura]

It was almost comical, the way that Derrick stalked around him with the gun, but he ignored that. Chris pursed his lips. He had been thinking about the situation honestly and he had managed to draw a few conclusions, "We all heard her before she went off... she said a name. It's not anyone here on the crew so it must be someone that means a lot to her. It must have sounded realistic enough for her not to realize that there is no way that that person could be here.


"That must mean that it can replicate and produce sounds. It's illogical but let's assume that every noise that we haven't seen is produced by that thing, a type of mimicry, then what if it had tried to lure us out with Tiffany's cry for help? It clearly worked on Victor, who is now separated from us. It probably wouldn't take much more to split us apart. I can understand its mimicry but I'm struggling with its motives. It clearly must view us a threat, the way it seems to have been trying to pull us apart. But that also might mean that it knows its weaker than us when we're together. Divide and conquer, classic, right?


"Okay, but if that's true, why? We haven't shown ourselves to be hostile so that doesn't make much sense. Maybe the previous groups had gone through and shown destructive tendencies that would make our group viewed as dangerous. Possibly. Maybe it's just terrified by the presence of something new or foreign in its forest... or maybe it isn't motivated by fear of us. But if fear isn't its motivation... then what would be? Why would it want to tear us apart if not to harm us? Gabby's last monitor showed that Tiffany wasn't in physical distress... I just don't get it. If I didn't know better, I would say that it was just doing all of this for fun. Just because it can... but that's not a realistic motivation is it?"


Their radios crackled and it was Victor, "Fatality found." he said mournfully, "Returning t-" a strange inhuman sound echoed through the radio and then it went silent.

 

[Hazak]

Derrick raised an eyebrow at how much Chris was rambling. Not that non of it made any sense, in fact he agreed with Chris' theories to a point. It was just fascinating that Chris seemed to be one of those intellect that said everything out loud as he calculated, that and it seemed Chris was talking more to himself than to Derrick. He gave the man a light slap on the back and chuckled a bit to himself "Chris...you don't read fantasy books due you? Everything you said is perfectly reasonable if you consider that this isn't Earth or at least not in the way we are accustomed to Earth. This creature reminds me of a lesser fae. I don't see it as a threat either but it is clearly a trickster. Regardless, I don't think we have much to fear from it as long as we remain harmless to it." He said the last part as he looked at his gun and placed it back in the holster. He then eyed the Captain. He decided to shout a little to her what him and Chris had theorized. "Captain Lancaster, perhaps we should try removing weapons from this situation? The creature in question seems to have the turf advantage and I don't think it aims to...." Derrick's sentence was cut short as he heard the news from Gabby over his watch. He stopped and waited for Arlet's response his eyes taking on a somber look. Could she have died already? Why remove her from the scene to kill her? This would be typical predator behavior but did this thing eat humanoids or just slayed them for entertainment. Regardless, it went through a lot of effort to trick them for that kill. Worse still was that they have possibly lost a crew member already, and Derrick did no take losing his people lightly.


When Arlet heard the news about Tiffany's fate, she let out a slow sigh and shoulder her rifle. She then stood up and spoke in a tired tone. "Confirmed, Officer, remain with the body, we will meet in you soon." She slide down the small slope that she was positioned on and meet with Derrick and Chris. "We are to gather everyone and move to Officer Robson's location. Keep your weapons ready and remain within site of each other, the large amount of vegetation will make it difficult to see at certain points." Arlet then considered Derrick's words. "We shall keep weapons lowered but ready, I also do not want to fight with any life forms if possible but after recent events we cannot be careless either." With that she took he sidearm pistol and a combat knife, however they were not placed at the ready but held near her sides. She began walking ahead scanning the area for the group to follow.

 

[Dragon Lancer]

Tres was looking through a book to find anything that might resemble this creature's behavior. She absentmindedly shook her head when asked to look for Tiffany. She wasn't a combatant or a tracker and doubted that she'd be of any help. Ah, here it was. As Derrick mentioned his lesser fea theory, she found an entry on fairies. This creature certainly seemed to act like the more malicious of the race, but until she could get a better understanding of it, Tres decided not to mention it.


Alexander nodded in acknowledgement of Arlet's orders and began rounding up the civilians. Tres didn't need any prodding, but it was clear that some people did. As Arlet joined the party, Alexander noted the change in weaponry. He elected not to change, but he'd follow her lead and lowered his own rifle. Hopefully, this creature would not see them as a threat. They didn't need another casualty.

 

[LadyMatsudai]

Margaret watched Victor and Gabby start to file out from the opening into the woods, beginning their search for Tiffany deep in the midsts of the massive trees that trumped any Redwood back on Earth. She frowned to not being allowed to go with them to try and look for Tiffany, just to see if she was alright given her stress levels were read to be high. Something was happening to Tiffany and as much as Margaret wanted to dash out there to aid her, she knew too well she would likely be shot on site...if not by Arlet, then certainly by Chris. She knew he hated her being there most of all.


Starting to walk back towards the others and sat down on a rock next to Hector, Margaret's ears perked at the sound of static over the radio, quickly standing up to rush towards Arlet, leaning her head in to try and listen to whatever was going to come out. She gasped a little to hear Victor's voice, a lump in her throat at learning he found a body before his voice cut out, jumping at the inhuman sound that emerged from the other end of the radios, looking up to the commander seriously. "Should we go after them?"

 

[Aura]

"Confirmed, Officer, remain with the body, we will meet with you soon." Arlet's voice sounded through his radio and Victor glanced at the radio with a bewildered expression.


"Did I hear that right?" he asked Gabby pursing his lips into a frown. What body? He glanced at Gabby's intel which monitored Tiffany's location and wondered if maybe Arlet had found Tiffany before they had somehow despite how she expressed no interest in finding their teammate.


He pulled the radio from his waist and held it in his hands for a minute as he tried to interpret Arlet's radio message. Was it possible that the message was meant for Alexander? He couldn't imagine why she would address Alexander using his title though, given how professional and meticulous Arlet was... or why he had received Arlet's message and not Alexander's in this case. The whole situation was perplexing because he had most certainly not found a body let alone used his radio. While he was approaching the area where Tiffany seemed to be, he had not found any body... which is what it sounded like Arlet had heard from him, but how? He quickly reviewed what he had been talking about with Gabby, had the radio transmitted something out of context? Victor wiped the beads of sweat that were beginning to form along his brow from the humid environment and decided that it was worth his time to at least check on this radio call.


"Clarification needed. We are following Tiffany's signal but no contact has been made with her." he said into the radio feeling a little uneasy from what the situation seemed to look like.