It's the edge of the Fairhaven bubble, and the nanite signal can be felt weakening as the group aproaches the outer rim. There is no greeting agent this time, just a gathering place for agents who accepted the call sent out on comms. Once confirmed, the mission details give previous knowledge on the ferals, and includes the route to the feral's nest from the gathering point. It's just up to the agents to be ready first. It's warmer and sunny for a late January day, hopefully the weather stays that way.

Arris shuddered lightly as she left the bubble, giving her pockets a brief pat-down as she approached the gathering point. The gator had been out on one of these ventures in the past, and decided it would be best to help, based on her prior experience. She double-checks hir pockets - knowing how freaky these creatures could get, she had gotten some specially-crafted ammunition for this exact purpose. Now all that was left was to wait for the others to arrive at the meetup point, and she re-examines the route once more on hir comm.

"Skipper's in the wardroom drinking gin!" Magnus would sing a merry tune, his stride wide and his face graced with that ever-present smile of his. "Hi-ho, chicken on a raft!" his wee footpaws would impact the ground in time with the rhythm, "I don't mind knocking but I ain't going in!" his attire was fairly modest, just a jacket and some pantaloons, the former a smooth leathery brown while the latter were well, denim! "Hi-ho, chicken on a raft!" 'Jimmy's' laughing like a drain!" he'd keep on singing as he approaches the meeting spot "Hi-ho, chicken on a raft!" Once he spots arris, he'd quickly blurt out the rest of the lyrics~ "Been looking at m' 'comic cuts' again. Hey -oh, chicken on a raft!" hefore moving in to give the gator a quick hug! "Hey there good lookin' whatcha got cookin?"

Gliding low as he approaches the large winged Hellhound makes his landing at a jog as the nanites slowly thin out to the point his wings refuse to work properly. Drawing them around himself as if a cloak the 'hound, toting a rather large shogun and no doubt several other weapons concealed in his coat, the infernal canine comes to a stop at the meeting spot... third to arrive. Shrinking down from the grand size he usually sports to one more appropriate for staying alive without the Nanite Soup he clears his throat and smiles. "Nice to see some familiar faces on the job." he says, repositioning his shotgun to be balanced on his shoulder with just one hand on the stock he continues, "So... the job called for six people. Are we a bit early, or are we undermanned?"

Time passes as the three stand waiting for more agents, but none arrive. Eventually the comms beep with updates on what to expect, the path to get to the mission location, and a short message to stay on the lookout for anything valuable to bring back if anything is found.

*beep beep beep* "Ack... this blazin thing again?" Magnus huffs as he looks at his comm unit. "Wait... just us three then? Alright! Let's make this a good one then!" the fox... actually smiles about that? Well, then again given his last blunder outside the bubble's reach, he'd reminded himself how poorly he functioned in large groups. A soft rub to his bicep would serve as a chilling touch of bitter recollection, not something he'd be forgetting anytime soon to be sure. "ALRIGHT!" he'd sound off. "WE HAVE A JOB TO DO! Let's make this quick, keep it simple and try not to get horrifically massacred by whatever it is we might encounter out there!" The fox would yip sharply, give Arris a quick hip-bump, a nod to Ebreus, then head off towards their assigned destination with a wide and jovial stride. Adventure!

Arris gets bumped a little by Magnus hugging her, but laughs it off. "Ah, not much is really goin' on with me... if that's what you're asking, that is." She bumps him away with her hip, spotting Ebreus after she does so.

Shortly after, hir comm would beep with the new information recieved. "Be on the lookout for anything valuable, huh..? Well, I suppose looking at things is one of my expertises." Adjusting the position of the rifle slung over her back, she gives the two others a nod. "Alright, let's go." The nod sent Magnus' way is interrupted by the hip-bump, and she just gives him a chuckle.

"Say, Ebreus..." As the group walks, Arris drifts closer to him. "I don't think I've seen you on the last mission, so I can give you a bit more briefing if you need it."

With the waiting and then finally the message acting as their briefing Ebreus shakes his head, "Right so undermanned it is." he says. Taking the shotgun from his shoulder he stretches as he's bumped by the smaller man. Flashing a wider grin to him a moment before turning his attention to Arris, "Yeah, I hadn't had time to read the report of the previous mission so the bullet points would be helpful... I assume this can't be worse than the CoT but I've been wrong before.... and of course they'd want us to grab anything valuable we're bein' sent out by Zephyr." And with that the hound does a few simple stretches and follows after the Fennec.

The trip to the nest is uneventful, but is quite a walk away from Fairhaven. A couple hours the route leads to the desolate town where the nest was known to be. Over a decade of neglect has caused this small town to become just as empty as the wasteland, the chilly air hanging still and foreboding. Even the slightest sound carries through the empty buildings like a lost echo, as if anything greater than a whisper would draw in terrible danger.

Magnus meanwhile had pulled out a flute to play a tune on, the very same he'd been singing on his arrival. It was his way to pass the time and keep his steps even, his stride energetic and his advance tireless. He kept his ears perked though his eyes seemed to wander more often towards the clouds than anything else. It was a warm and sunny day, the kind of weather that Magnus would thrive in, energizing and soothing all the same. Once they'd reached the town however...

"Aw, man... I didn't know we were headed to Gloomsville, USA. Heck, I didn't know it was a place to begin with!" He'd spot something in the shadows, though makes little sense of it. "We got uhhh... snakes? They might be the locals. Poor sods, living in a dump like this..." Magnus would raise his shoulders, then continue playing his song as they advance.

"The 'see-oh-tee"..?" Arris raises an eyebrow before shaking her head. "Well, the basic gist is that, y'know, they're flesh abominations. And that obviously means they're bad. Uh.... let's see, what else... oh, right, there was a room that looked like someone's chest cavity, but big. And a goo blob thing that sucks you up and drags you to the chest cavity room to be, y'know, deformed into a flesh abomination, because I guess the nanites watched too much of John Carpenter before this place was made."

As the group approaches the town, Arris hushes up and unslings her rifle, fixing a supressor to the end of her rifle as sie follows after the others. "Sssh, Magnus. I see something else..." Loading an incindiary round into the chamber, she takes aim at a feral she spotted, lurking in the shadows; after lining the crosshairs with its back, she pulls the trigger, aiming to blast the wings until they're of no use.

Morale kept my the pleasant tune on the hours of walking the still quite large Hellhound keeps pace with the fox just fine, covering distance in great strides that would be short leaps to most. Nodding as he's given the jist of the last mission he replies, "So don't get sucked into the giant chest cavity... good to know." he says. He snickers lighly as Magnus describes the place... only to immediately quiet himself when Arris tries to quiet Magnus. Bringing up his shotgun he scans the area down the sight of his scattergun as Arris fires her silenced shot.

As Arris fires off into the bushes, a roar of anguish echoes out through the town. Jumping away is looks like a hedge in the shape of a dragon with a wasp stinger. As the incendiary rounds continues to smolder through it's fiberous wings, the mutant starts running away. As for the other mutant mentioned, it doesn't seem to move from where ever it is.

"Perfect..." Magnus sighs and shakes his head. "Well if there was any doubt they didn't know we were here, now they certainly do, and they think we're hostile too." Magnus casts Arris a disappointed look and puts his flute away, muttering something about an itchy trigger finger. "Since you two are very well armed and ready to fight a war by the looks of things, I'm gonna use the commotion you just caused to see if I can slip in undetected and get a bead on any valuables worth looting."

The wee lad proceeds towards the nearest wall and takes a leap into it, latching with those nimble fingers of his onto the cracks and even faintest of imperfections in its surface. The ruins he was using for his ascent were nigh ideal for the purpose.

He'd scurry up the sides with great rapidity, almost crawling up their surfaces as he moves quickly toward the roof of the first, then takes a leap to the second and advances up the side of a third structure, taking a dive into one of the windows to emerge out another and proceed all the way onto the chimney of the nearest and tallest structure in view. There he'd perch with his hands and toes, looking over the better part of the city. Seems he'd found something, or so did the expression on his face suggest. Taking out his comm unit, he fiddles with it for a few moments before sending pictures of the town hall, and streets leading toward it from his vantage point.

Arris gives a nod Magnus' way. "Sure. Would probably be better that way, if I sniped for you as you got in and pinpointed the exact location we need to go to. Try to stay in locations I can see you from - it's safer that way." As the fox set off, Arris loaded a normal round into the sniper rifle, keeping Magnus in the center of her vision and a watchful eye on everything else, glancing back to see if another feral she had spotted before hadn't already escaped her sights.

Crimson-glowing eyes immediately catching the movement of the fleeing abomination the 'hounds inclination toward science kicks in and he scrutinizes it's form, taking note of all the different mutations present and how the mix is very unlike what can be done back come. "Strange hybridization they've got..." he says. He blinks and his eyes glow brighter as he scans the surroundings for anything giving off heat, they may be able to hide in the visible spectrum but infrared may reveal them. As he scans he mutters something about Magnus and his father.

As his enhanced sight picks something out he slowly steps forward, continuing to look down the sights of his scattergun as he moves, lingering on one spot and returning to it periodically... is he trying to indicate something... if so maybe not the best way of doing it.

The screeching of the fleeing mutant echo in the empty town long after it leaves line of sight, fading away until the town lies silent once again. A chill wind blows through, and the second spoted mutant seems to stay immoble and quiet.

The fennec in the far distance meanwhile reaches into his pack and pulls out a pair of binoculars. He'd spend a few seconds fiddling with them to adjust the magnification and focus the lenses, then spend a few good seconds peering down towards their objective. There was no way he could send magnified pictures to his team, nor was he about to jump down there on his own, but at the very least he could let them have as much information as they possibly can.

Once he'd seen as much as he can see, the fox puts his specs away and dangles down from the chimney, one hand gripping the edge, his feet propping him against the side opposite the town hall, and his other hand grasping his comm unit. He'd ping the others and let them know, "That's our mark, there aren't any ferals in the area, none that I can see at least... there's some strange frog of some sorts, metallic somehow... it's in the building. Be careful, guys. This smells like an ambush six ways to Sunday."

Seeing that Ebreus has now spotted the feral she saw earlier, Arris does a focused look around to try to see if any more ferals are present before her sights settle back towards Magnus as he drops down the chimney. The comm message comes shortly after, and Arris stands up from her position, rereading through the pile of images sent to her via comm; once she approaches the town's roads proper, she clicks her tongue to discreetly get Ebreus' attention as the gator steadily and quietly made her way towards the town hall. "A metallic frog..? This, I'm curious about, now."

Slowly moving toward the hall as the images come to him he studies the images, mental for him as his comm is integrated into his NICE. He tries to remain quiet as he studies them and as Arris speaks something occurs to him and his eyes widen for just a moment before returning to normal, "Metal hide... shot'll probably ricochet off." he says, "It is curious, and dangerous." he says. *Also, if you can, using the comms would probably be safer... never know we may be dealing with something that has very keen hearing.* He taps his temple to indicate his comm is in his head as he slowly turns around to check behind them then to the other side before continuing toward the Town Hall.

Making their way to the town hall no other ferals are found, but it's clear that the second mutant is following them from the shadows. As the afternoon wears on, the sun hangs lower in the sky, lengthing the shadow cast by the old town hall.

From up high spotting their follower, especially with a sturdy pair of binoculars proved at least manageable. Considering the possibility that these things were sentient, Magnus starts a gradual, and quiet descent downwards, weaving and ducking among the rubble to intersect paths with the strange creature stalking his team. He'd drop down with a soft gust of air around a corner among the alleyways, in a good place to ambush the beastie.

As it rounds the corner, he would silently leap, cling to a space in the wall before dropping down onto the serpentine entity. Alas, at the size of an adolescent, all the agility in the world could not help him right now. The so called monster thrashes and flails, its strength overwhelming his, proving fierce and slippery enough to force him off. Tucking and rolling as he impacts the ground, Magnus is given but a half-second's time to react once the beastie lashes out at him with its tendrils.

Here, at the very least, a nimble body proves useful, as the horrid creature strikes naught but air, no matter how hard it tries. The fox huffs and folds down his ears, then reaches into his coat to pull out a menacing looking wide-nozzled pistol-esque device. Aiming however was difficult under the barrage of swipes from its stretchy limbs, for now...

Arris tsks, observing the sky as she steps up to the town hall. "I'd bet that the mutants around here have improved night vision. Going out in the dark might be dangerous." Just before entering, she takes a quick glance around the foyer of the town hall, starting with the ceiling and going down from there. "Step 1 is to always look up. Faceless soldiers in the bad guy's army always forget this and miss something crucial."

Holding the door for Ebreus, Arris enters the room. "If you have a way to hold the doors down temporarily, one would be appreciated. I saw a big-ass bug on the way here, and I don't like bugs." Her gaze once again moves over the rest of the room, and eventually she spots the stone statue from last time. "...ah, Ebreus, there's that goo ball thing I was talking about before, it's pretending to be a statue. Hang on, I think the Zephyr scientists might want to take a closer look at this, so one second..." A nanite collecting-vial kept in hand, she cautiously approaches the statue, preparing herself to dodge on the spot if need be.

Ebreus follows close behind Arris as she opens the door, "Yeah..." he says as she reiterates one good tip for dealing with situations that may, or definitely, have creeping horrors. He takes a breath as she holds the door stepping inside, "Didn't bring any nails... if you can make a nanite field I could glue-" he cuts himself off as the sound of combat reaches them, "Damnit Magnus." he says and grabs the door handle, "Hold up on that." he calls to Arris as he exits the building, bounding out toward the sound of combat and quickly arriving at the fight between the creature and Magnus, "If you can understand me freeze!" he demands, "You don't want to feel what happens when I fire." he adds and gives the beast a second to process what he said... and with it continuing to attack his teammate a loud blast rings out from his scattergun as metallic shot quickly impacts and cuts into the creature.

The naga-millipede attacking Magnus screeches in pain as the shot tears into its back, and starts to flee toward the town hall where Arris is. Meanwhile, with Arris left in the hall a stone statue seemly comes to life, jumping like an amorphous slime and coliding strait into Arris. As it pins hir to the ground, shi sees a robot-like frog jumping to the top of the front hall's stairs, firing off what looks like a glob of latex that further pins Arris down.

The moment a familiar figure pops into the scene, Magnus was out of there. Ebreus needed no help, but his big ears were acute enough to tell someone else did. Bounding over and under the wreckage of the town, rolling with the terrain, he outruns the injured feral heading towards the hive and arrives just in time to see Arris in her predicament. Raising the weapon in his hand, he once more folds down his ears and braces himself. Pulling the trigger, the kickback from the device is enough to force his light frame back a few inches, his footpaws sliding over the ground from the pushback as his weapon bellows out a concentrated shockwave potent enough to bowl over most foes. Unfortunately, his target ducks for cover and avoids the worst behind a bannister.

Arris falls right on her ass as the goo pins her to the floor by her abdomen. Letting out a yelp, she immediately begins struggling free - though its usefulness was debatable, it's further dampened when the latex glob smacks against her leg, pinning it down and preventing use of it. "Hey, when I said I was curious, I didn't mean I wanted to go this close!" The first nanite vial gets dipped into the latex glob and pulled out before Arris caps a cork onto it, and another one is pulled out to scoop up some of the concrete slime's goo. Both are rolled off to the side for a temporary safekeeping, and the gator returns to struggling. The most important part was to keep all the goo off her mouth and nose - based on her past experience, she remembered seeing a friend's head get stuck in it, and since she needed air unlike him, being suffocated was a bad thing.

The loud sound catches her attention. "Hey, careful! I can handle myself, if the things here planned on directly harming me, they would've done it already! Just handle the feral outside!" She begins making an effort to escape the globs of slime, and failing that, would at least attempt to prevent the concrete from spreading over her head.

"Oh no you don't!" Ebreus yells at the wounded monster as he swings his scattergun like a greatclub, nailing it in the middle of the back and knocking it down just long enough to follow up with a strike to the back of the head rendering it unconscious... or at least the 'hound hoped that hit wasn't lethal when he saw it stop moving but there was no time to check as he was quickly off... not as fast as his fox friend but, hopefully, not too slow to not be helpful he rushed back toward the Town Hall now that the naga-millipede had been dealt with. "Da fuck?!" he says seeing how the situation has deteriorated since when he left to aid Magnus, Arris fighting the good and mecha-frog

While Arris manages to pull the slime off of hir, the metal frog on the second floor fires off another latex glob, sticking to Arris. As this combat progresses, the town hall starts to feel 'funny'. A nanite signal starts to spread through the building, everyone's nanites 'itching' at this wierd signal.