The tilled land north of of New Hope remains somewhat intact; as the group approaches, they can identify what was once a sprawling field of crops, now reduced to dust and sand by the arid Arizona air. Well, all but the first field on their left, but it too showed signs it wasn't liking the dryness. It's clear that this field was the one being used to feed the modest population of the settlement, with how it was the only one maintained in any sense and how the dirt path was far more beaten-down leading towards it than it was going beyond.

With the time turning to dusk, the land has begun to turn dark. The one exception rests at the north end of the farm on the right-hand side, a faint flicker of flame refracted through the windows of one of the buildings, one presumably once used to process goods obtained from the surrounding fields. The cat woman -- who had introduced herself as Rosa to the rest of the group -- had properly directed the other four towards the building.

"Riley should be in there, yes." The prostitute dismounted off of Zophah's horse once the vixen reached the hitching post. "He always made a point to follow... well, I suppose 'being obsessed with a routine' would be the best case to put it. Always asking to do it the same way every time, getting a touch upset if I didn't come within a certain timeframe, and still insisting on paying me even though I stopped asking for coin three months ago." She smiles to herself, some memories jostled free in her mind as she approaches the metal door. "Mind reviewing our... plan, please?"

"Catch the goon, squeeze him for information, maybe drag him at gunpoint to his fellows and use him as a human shield." Magnus tosses out with a chuckle. "Alright, maybe not that last part. If he stops being a problem and gives up the information, then you can do with him as you please. Not like we have much say in that anyway." His shoulders shrug deeply. "I have a few clues myself as to where those dirty rags might be dragging their festering flea-bitten asses from, but let's hear the fucker out first. Can't really confirm that's where their homestead is, but if we have a match, then... that'd be good to know."

He then casts a glance towards the feline. "Here's a question for you though. If'n your fellow refuses to cooperate, how much are we allowed to rough him up?" Magnus asks as he cracks his knuckles. "The best solutions are often the simplest, but... that might involve the breaking of kneecaps and well... it takes a lot to recover from that. If'n you want us to be delicate with the sod, then that's where I'll leave it. But... keep in mind it might be the deciding factor between you folks having the bandit problem dealt with forever, and... well, only temporarily."

The fennec sighs softly and casts a glance at his team. "We rode for six days to get here miss, I ain't thinking anyone will be too happy to do that again. Not unless the pay check is fatter'n a sow six years of cake frosting and sugarwater. If they open fire, we're firing back. Ain't no way otherwise. Not unless someone pulls a miracle of verbal coersion out of their back pocket..."

Zophah dismounts from the horse as well, taking a look around before speaking. She speaks with flowing words, like she is imagining a scene better than will actually happen. "We surround Riley, get him to confess to the location of the server, then if his love is true we can let Rosa take care of him while we move on to recover the server. I'm sure we can convince him with Rosa's help to repent his evil ways." She then turns to Rosa and adds "Your boyfriend in there is an insectoid, right? I can barely see him inside."

Nena tucks her hands in the pockets of her jacket, following along. Her tail flicks as she regards the building. "Hopefully I can talk some sense into him. I was a bit of a... Person of ill repute back in the day, maybe I can talk him into 'reforming' too. You never know. I'd rather not rough him up too much though if we can avoid it. Or at all, even, perhaps..."

Deciding to try a different avenue of investigation, Zen relaxes and rests until it was time to head out for a clandestine rendezvous with the cat woman's contact. How fortunate it would be if they were able to get all the information they needed out of a single source. Even should it prove to be a waste of time, they would still be able to do some scouting around of their own around the farm. When dusk rolled around and it was time to move, the kitsune mounted up and followed the rest towards the farm to the north.

When asked about what the plan was, Zen takes a moment to listen to Magnus speak. Nodding at a few points, he adds, "Right, I understand you don't want nothing bad to happen to him... But that is up to 'him'." He gives a sly grin to Magnus and adds, "Not only that, but even should he want to turn over a new leaf, I'm certain the settlement will demand some level of retribution. Seeing as to how cooperative he is, I might be inclined to put in a few good words to lessen his punishment."

With Nena and Zophah trying to talk about a more peaceful resolution, Zen nods again, "Right, well, far be it from me to say what'll happen, but I hope you aren't planning on talking your way through the entire gang. We only have Rosa's word on this guy after all, who knows what he is truly like... as well as the rest of the gang for that matter." His eyes dart around to survey the area, looking for anything out of place.

After a short pause, Rosa turns to Magnus. "If he turns violent..... you may hurt him." That's all she says on the matter before addressing Zophah. "Yes, he's of an ant mutation. And..." She steps away from the door, letting the agents prepare to set up an ambush against Riley, still inside the building and -- as far as anyone could tell -- unaware that a trap was being prepared right in his proximity. "...I'm thankful that you four are willing to help me instead of just... roughing him up and all." Her warm smile is visible in the light of the setting sun.

Magnus raises his leg and prepares to kick the door in, though... his head clicks that his team wanted to try a peaceful approach. Lowering his foot down, he gives a nod to Zophah and sighs softly. "Go and try to talk some sense into the bastard. If that doesn't work, then I'll get involved and make him wish it had. There's a new poison I've been brewing that I've been itching to test anyway." Magnus chymes softly and stands aside for the others to enter before he does. His ears flit upward and he focuses on his hearing, scanning for what may happen around him, the footfall of someone running away perhaps... anything suspicious, really. "Might be best if I stay out of his line of sight right now. I'll keep an ear on the situation."

Zophah makes one final note before doing her work. "If he runs, I wan't you to jump him. I won't have the strength to hold him down." She then moves up to the window and pries it open, having wedged apart a useless lock on it first. Without a single sound she sneeks in quiet as the vixen she is, and takes a seat next to Riley. "I've heard you've fallen in with a bad crowd, Riley." She mentions aloud and nonchalantly. "Rosa is worried about you. I'm quite sure she even loves you, but if you keep following the wrong people you will get in trouble." She tries to keep the conversation normal.

After positioning himself around the side of the structure, Zen starts to look around for any signs of recent tracks. Figuring that the ant man must have arrived from somewhere, he was willing to bet that following him back would lead them to another discovery. He just wanted to be in earshot of the conversation inside, keeping himself quiet so that he could better hear. There wasn't any need to show up in force after all. Doing that might just make him feel betrayed and less inclined to help. Maybe it would give him a sense of confidence too... make him think his situation wasn't so dire... perhaps evoking a more dastardly nature from him. In any case, if they were going to try and speak to his good nature and all that, the kitsune would keep himself out of the picture. While he can be cordial, he hasn't had much luck appealing to others. He sided with Magnus in fact that he didn't necessarily care how they got the information they needed. Rosa's crush knew what he was getting into when he signed up to roll with the gang, and he wouldn't feel one shred of guilt in showing him that the hard way. Well, if Magnus was going to sit by the main entrance, perhaps he would find another point of retreat to camp out at. Heading around to the north side of the structure, finding some tracks eluding to the direction of the ant man's arrival.

Nena starts to reach for the door, before lowering her hand and frowning as Zophah opts for the window. "... I'm not entirely sure what the point of sneaking in is when we're going to talk to him, but... Anyway, no, not the whole gang. Just this guy. Maybe we can get some information from him on how to approach the rest of them, that's my hope anyway." She gives Zophah all of a couple of seconds before seeking to simply open the door and walk in, though she'll not immediately interrupt.

Riley fails to notice Zophah as she enters and seats herself on the haybale next to himself. He does notice her guilting, however; his gaze lifts back on the same level as the horizon, and his left hand lifts to hover above the shirt pocket tied by the sleeves around his waist, where his revolver was kept. The mention that Rosa is worried about him and getting into trouble, however, causes his left hand to shoot across his body like a whip, the barrel of the gun aimed an inch off of Zophah's fur.

In response, the vixen asks only one question: "Do you love her?" This prompts him to shove the barrel right between her eyes, pressing into her hide now.

"Where the hell are you keeping Rosa, and what do you want of me, you daughter of a whore!? Did Old Red send you!?" He holds tight against the vixen, right up in her face. "Answer me!"

"It's called entering with style, and I can dig it." Magnus nods with a soft smile. "I don't wanna miss it if he refuses to cooperate. I haven't had the pleasure of flaying something that's still alive in weeks." The fox enters the building and takes a look around, should there be stairs, he'd make sure there were no traps in place with a glance and a sniff, before making his way back towards the entrance. His stomach grumbles, signaling that he was hungry. Glancing around for the presence of a fridge, or mini-fridge, the fox sighs as he is left disappointed. He'd have to eat later, but the rumblies were already making him irritable.

As he exits the building once more, the fennec casts a glance towards Rosa. "Of all the people..." he'd huff "But then again I don't blame you. I have a terrible thing for dangerous girls myse-" his ears flit upwards. The fennec draws his M4 and immediately steps into the windowframe. "DROP THE GUN ASSHOLE! NOW!!!" He'd yell loudly at him, barrel aimed right at the fucker's head. "Hands behind your fucking head and low down in the fucking ground or so help me I will turn your brains into fucking paste!" He'd hop the window sill and practically shove the gun barrel in the ant's face.

Zophah is an island of chill in the face of danger, about to try and talk down Riley. She should have known Magnus was going to step in the moment she got threatened, so she tries to reasure Riley as quickly as possible. "Rosa's fine! She's right outside! We're trying to take down Old Red!" Zophah is quite sure she can come back with her power of the Phoenix if Riely takes it too far, but she's not looking forward to getting shot.

"It's called entering with style, and I can dig it." Magnus nods with a soft smile. "I don't wanna miss it if he refuses to cooperate. I haven't had the pleasure of flaying something that's still alive in weeks." The fox tries to enter the building but decides against it, as that'd cause a whole bunch of noise... His stomach grumbles, signaling that he was hungry. Glancing around for the presence of a fridge, or mini-fridge or fucking anything that was tasty and edible, the fox sighs as he is left disappointed. He'd have to eat later, but the rumblies were already making him irritable.

As his hopes are crushed, the fennec casts a glance towards Rosa. "Of all the people..." he'd huff "But then again I don't blame you. I have a terrible thing for dangerous girls myse-" his ears flit upwards. The fennec draws his M4 and immediately steps into the windowframe. "DROP THE GUN ASSHOLE! NOW!!!" He'd yell loudly at him, barrel aimed right at the fucker's head. "Hands behind your fucking head and low down in the fucking ground or so help me I will turn your brains into fucking paste!" He'd hop the window sill and practically shove the gun barrel in the ant's face.

As Zen was waiting at the rear of the building, he kept his ears dialed towards the window, allowing him to hear Zophah's exchange with the ant man. Though, from the escalation in tone soon followed by the threats from Magnus make it clear things weren't going to plan. Not wanting to act rashly, the kitsune positions himself outside of another window. He already seemed to be feeling cornered, so rather than introduce himself as another unfamiliar face, he would wait for the moment.