"Follow me."

Starr unslung her M4 and flipped the selector to full auto. She started off at a faster than normal pace in the direction the merc had told them.

He couldn't have been too far, he was only gone for about an hour.

"Try to keep fire to a minimum, we don't want them tracking us," she said to the group.

Luckily the jungle had a somewhat beaten path for the group to follow.

"Slow down," Demetri said, "Unlike you I'm carrying some weight." Trying his best to keep up, "We should be wary also, who knows what comes out at night here, we have ferals, this place probaly has oversized lizards..."

Demetri took a quick look up and thought he saw something in the trees, Shaking his head to clear the image, most likely just the light he thought, that and he was tired, this mission had been a strain on his mind.

As they went deeper into the jungle, Mark noticed that they were being surrounded by 12ft tall grass stalks. He realized they'd actually walked into a small swamp, and that these plants were some kind of mutated sawgrass. Mark could see the remains of animals that had wandered into the grass and had been sliced to pieces. He then said, "Watch out for the sawgrass, or should I call it swordgrass?"

((Back! Sorry guys, had to do stuff.))

After hearing a gunshot off in the distance Aiden would smirk. "That means someone is alive out here...". He'd then continue toward the signal, trekking through dangerous jungle until he came upon the sight of a massacre. Dead Enclave soldiers lie strewn about, large and terrible bite marks all over them. "The..spiders did this? Doubtful. Something worse is out here... I better keep my guard up.", he said before continuing onward.

Eventually the merc would come upon the ruins of a town, the signal now only meters away from his current position. He would begin searching the abandoned buildings nearby, kicking in the doors and and readying himself for an ambush. Eventually he'd come upon the radio sending out the signal, and just as he thought the thing was set on loop. After inspecting the device closely, he'd continue onward in search of the merc that set it.

Continuing on the trail he found the corpses of what would appear to be slavers, a trader, and a very unlucky slave. The slaver and slave were of no consequence, probably victims of the local wildlife, but the trader... The trader had a pipboy on him. Knowing he was on the right track, he'd raise his M16 and crouch down, aiming to catch whatever killed these poor bastards off guards if he could.

Demetri looked at the tall grass and could see it moving, "It can't be that sharp," Demetri said, "Seems to be something in them, keep going."

Starr saw the town ahead of them about 300 yards away, she picked up the pace leaving the rest of the group behind.

She quickly started searching through the houses for a radio that was broadcasting.

Aiden would slow to a complete stop after hearing something that sounded like conversation. He'd head toward the sounds slowly, using his past training to move swiftly yet silently. Aiden was also instinctively covering his footprints by smearing them with mud, more out of habit then necessity. Eventually he'd spot them, a group of around 4 that he could see. Each seemed to be armed, minus the unconscious merc that he'd deducted to be the one that sent the signal.

Deciding not to waste anymore time, he'd quickly begin climbing a nearby tree that had been completely covered by growth, swinging his MI6 over his shoulder in one smooth motion before doing this. After reaching a sufficient height, he'd then aim the assault rifle at the one leading the group, pausing for a moment when he saw something move with incredible and unnerving speed.


It was clear this creature meant to sneak up on the group, and Aiden wouldn't have that before he got some information out of them. 6 shots rang out, each of them connecting with the monsters left leg, not that the thing even noticed. "GET THE HELL DOWN!", he screamed before firing off the rest of the clip and reloading.

Mark picked up a piece of wood and rubbed it against the swordgrass, the wood slicing cleanly in half. Mark said, "If the swordgrass could be so sharp, then what could've killed those other creatures." Suddenly, what appeared to be a mutated mantis with an armored exoskeloton jumped out of the swordgrass and attacked.

"Dam it girl," Demetri said as he saw Starr run off, picking up his pace he went towards the town. Stopping suddenly as he heard the deafening roar the group had heard earlier, "Run! Hurry!" Demetri ordered, though trying to run with a man on your shoulder is hard enough. Making it to one of the houses he placed the unconscious merc in a corner, bringing off his minigun he went to a window and peaked out of it, seeing the creature moving about slowly, looking for them...

((Posted just after you did, I was thinking our original creature, we do have something that is very inhuman, a mantis wouldn't sneak but just lay in wait, and in trees))

((LOL were we all thinking the same thing?))

Aiden, after seeing the group scatter and head into town would decide to retreat from his perch as well, once again concealing himself in the overgrowth and heading the direction of the town he'd found earlier. He'd spot the group head into an abandoned house, this would be where he'd get his information. One way or another.

The merc would silently sneak around the back and crouch down near a window, listening closely for any useful pvssyr between the bunch before revealing himself.

Upon hearing the creature make a deafening roar with its regrown head, Mark ran with Dimitry to the nearest house and holed up inside. He then said, "If that thing is a mutated mantis, then that means..." Mark then heard the sound of beating wings as the creature searched for them by air.

Starr saw the rest of the group running towards the town. "Its about time," she remarked as she looked in a house with a radio broadcasting. She'd found it.

Starr picked up the transmitter and spoke into it, "This is Finch," Starr was using her old Talon Company call sign, "I've located the Talon merc in distress, and will be returning with him to the wasteland in three days. This message repeats." She set it to loop and looked outside. Her jaw dropped when she saw the bug from earlier was back... With a new head.

"I don't think it's a mantis..." Demetri said, "The creature was bulkier when we first encountered it." Demetri thought for a second, "[censored]..., He can adapt to a new enviroment in record time." Demetri heard a thud on the roof, looking up he suddenly saw a claw smash through the ceiling, "Out now, take him," Demetri ordered, whirling up the minigun he sprayed the ceiling with 5mm rounds hoping to tear it to shreds, "Hurry!"

Using the creatures entrance as cover, Aiden would swiftly jump through the back window and locate the passed out merc, grabbing him by the chest plate of his armor and dragging him out the back again.

After securing the merc Aiden would begin to search for alternative cover from the intensely powerful beast, finding a small shed nearby that he could easily fortify. After shoving the passed-out merc inside, he'd enter the shed and crouch down, aiming his rifle directly forward, ready for anything that may approach.

Mark started firing with his Plasma Rifle, but the creature shrugged off the plasma and bullets as if they were nothing and tried to skewer them both. Mark dodged and thought, "It must not only have rapid regenerative abilities, but also a brand new adaptation in insects, a tertiary brain. That must be why it was so coordinated even after it lost its head and ganglia, if it wasn't trying to kill us I'd be awestruck by its adaptations."

Starr went back in the house and took out her bomb kit. They were going to need a lot more fire power. Pulling out a jar labeled "napalm-B" she started making a sticky grenade.

After five minutes of work Starr had one sticky grenade ready. She looked outside for the bug. She saw it, but saw Demetri firing his mini gun from inside the house it was on. She cursed under her breath, she would have to wait for it to take flight again. Meanwhile she started firing at it with her M4.

"I don't care if it has three nipplies, it's trying to kill us and just won't die!" Demetri shouted in frustration, another claw came through again being only a few inches away from Demetri's foot, "Go! We need to get out, you first then me!" Demetri was throwing orders around, it was taking him back some what,. "Snap out of it, this is no time to be thinking back," he thought to himself.

Having secured the merc he'd been tracking for hours now, Aiden would set up a small booby-trap by taking an old farming implement, something that resembled a grim reapers scythe, and attaching it to a string. He'd then tie the string to a beam running over the door frame, so if anyone tried to enter the shed without taking the proper precautions, they'd get a rusty blade in the stomach for all their troubles.

After setting up this makeshift trap, Aiden would then get a better look at who he was dealing with, both of the creature at the people fighting it. "They seem to know how to use their weapons, which is more then I can say for some of the mercs I know...", he said under his breath.

"As for that monster... If I had some high explosives it could kiss it's ass goodbye...". Just as he said this, Aiden spotted a woman wearing Talon merc armor, this catching him off guard a bit as there weren't many female mercs to begin with. He'd decided to contact her using an old Talon merc trick, firing a few bursts of rounds into a tree nearby her, the bullet holes forming what would appear to be an eagles talon, a message that she wasn't in fact alone.

Mark ran out the house with Dimitry close behind but tripped and fell. The creature, sensing weaker prey, flew over to him and pinned his body to the ground with its legs. It then raised its blade up, preparing for the killing blow.

Seeing the opportunity to have a little fun, Aiden would fire a few bursts into the creature before it could claim another victim. After doing so he'd quickly and silently re-enter the shed, as not to give away his position.

Demetri saw the creature come down on Mark, carrying on running, straight into the creature he unblanced it, now the creature was pissed with Demetri, upon realising that this person was the one who blew his orignal head up roared with defiant anger and smacked his arm into Demetri sending him through the wooden wall of the house.

It soon took off, looking down at him, prepareing to dive onto Demetri.

Starr saw the old signal, returning it with a two shots in the same tree. She was surprised how her old habits were coming back to her. When Starr looked back to where the bug was it was gone. She spotted its head over the roof of another building, she quickly ran over to where the bug was. She cursed again, she would kill Demetri if she threw the explosive now. She loaded another magazine and instead of shooting for the head she tried shooting it's joints. The mantis became more enraged when hit in the joints. It left Demetri and made it's way to Starr.

Starr ran as fast as she could, feeling her adrenaline carry her faster than normal, she made it around another building and prepared to hit the bug with the explosive. As it loomed over to Starr, she threw it as hard as she could. The grenade landed near the bug's bottom area. Starr waited hit the detonator and watched the bug turn into a conflagration. Most of the napalm had stayed on the bug, burning it, but some of the houses caught fire too.

Just as the creature was about to kill him Dimitry crashed into it, unbalancing it. Just as it was about to kill Dimitry instead, Mark suddenly heard gunshots and saw it get hit by bullets. The creature, not hurt but obviously pissed off, got off Dimitry and started looking for the source of the gunshots. He then ran over to Dimitry and said, "While that thing's dstracted, let's find Starr and get out of here." As he said that, Mark heard a large explosion, and saw some houses light on fire. He then started running towards the explosion, not sure what he'd find.

Aiden, after smelling smoke, grimaced. Someone had gone and set fire to the surrounding houses. The shed he was in, however, was made out of tin sheets.

Not a great deal of cover from say, gunfire, but it would do against fire. He would then bust a small window on the right side of the shed out, aiming his rifle through he and leveling it on the creature and firing on it while it burned, thinking not even that could put it down for good.

Demetri groaned in pain as he got up, "I really must stop trying to play hero," he joked, "Everytime I do something bad happens to me..." Seeing the creature on fire, it was screeching but still very much alive, it flew back into the swamp and a splash was heard. "It must be trying to put the flames, the main question is, who done it?"

Demetri followed and saw Starr there, "You did that?" Demetri asked, "Good girl." HE grinned slightly, "Didn't we forget something, where is the bastard that has tried to kill me, how many times now, seemed to of lost count..."