The Call To War (Pre-mission briefing!)

[Your Mom~]

"Whoa, hot head."

She held her hand up to her wolfy friend, not wanting to start any sort of war before the war began.

"You're more of a tank. You are strong and quick and more than that, you're creative. You're quick on your feet and instinctive. From what I can see, Matt's putting the starting line on the inside."

She looked to the 'board,' Marcus, Mathew, David...all heavy hitters. All strong men...all in the line of fire. Mathew would need his key players on point if he wanted to pull this off.

[Marcus Prasad]

For a moment the man would simply remain silent, having effectively ignored Olesya's attempt to talk him down and glare eye to eye with Mathew, the tension in the room more likely than not palpable. If Marcus had proper Hackles they would definitely be sky high by now. Just as it was becoming truly uncomfortable, Marcus would visibly relax and smirk.

"Nah, I came. Just need to towel off. Nice job though."

Fuck if the bastard didn't hit the nail square on the head. It was true, all of what he said was true.

Sometimes though one likes to hear it from time to time.

Giving Les a respectful nod of his head the man would keep his peace and listen on.

[Bastille Amtrum]

Bastille had stood and had changed her clothes in the time it took for them to argue. Back in her normal garb she tied the lion to the chair and jumped over the wall into the arena. She would make her way towards her husband, sliding her swords into place as well as a few other concealed weapons. For some reason she had an ordinary whip coiled at her hip. Clicking the metal heels to her boots she was obviously amused by the drama, the smug grin turned her lips.

Ignoring the chance to make any lively comment however, she spoke instead of herself.

"Why dont you jerk me off for a change and explain my position... and it had better not be watching your ass because that gets boring fast" Bastille commented. She looked to Oleysa and smirked.

"Oh oh! Do I get to trail my fine fair haired friend or shall I be in the exquisite company of my bomber jacket brethren...........or David too, then I might actually get a nap in for a change."

She of course was being a right git for the hell of it, but could you blame the girl- she was freaking excited to be able to go out and test her training. Mexico had been a nice vacation but this was an actual ordeal. That and she wasn't having to sneak out and mutter a string of eloquent profanities directed at her husband for daring to order her to stay home. At least the guy was sensible enough after this much time to realize that the only time Bastille was disloyal was when she was disobeying his cautionary movements towards her safety. But that was insulting and therefore completely justified when being broken.

[Lucien DeChain]

The women were giving Lucien a headache. Too much estrogen in the air, maybe. He tried to breathe more shallow, which was hard when he was wearing a weighted coat. He thought it best to keep the conversation going, at least it might help Marcus to be a little more level-headed. Women always seemed to do that, didn't they? Lucien was glad in that moment, that he was who he was.

"Okay, everyone's positions are set. What is our strategy here?" He stared at the board, trying to map out where everyone was headed. He quietly mumbled to himself.

"Advancing from the front, flanks support.. Infiltration team in the facility... We're leaving the back wide open as potential for escape or reinforcements. Wait..."

He looked up at Mathew.

"How are you going to get in the facility, if not from the front door?"

[Aryn Valcoph]

Aryn, who had completely devoted herself to sizing up all the yummy eye candy all gathered in one place - war or not - just for her to ogle, turned her gaze to Lucien.

"He said it, already. Underground."

Shit, man. The woman could listen while undressing people with her eyes. A talent that was most useful in her business, to be sure.

"And even if he hadn't said it, it's pretty much Mathew to take the path his qi lets him. Earth qi." She concluded, not snippy but not really being gentle. Just matter-of-fact.

[Bastille Amtrum]

"Hello Aryn, beautiful as always" Bastille snickered. God Bastille really should have been a lesbian, half of the drama in her life might have been avoided that way...Thoughts aside, it was interesting to see Aryn when they weren't planning on drinking-....


Bastille mentally chided herself- mother of the year, god she needed some reform.

[Aryn Valcoph]

"Drop-dead sexy, you mean. And I have a partner in crime~" Aryn's eyebrows lifted in appreciation. Nope. She certainly wasn't done eying the blonde bombshell that was Bastille. With a pearly white grin, she moved towards the - now shorter - woman an and would pretty much snuggle up behind her, arms curling around Bastille's midriff and leaning her chin on her shoulder with a clearly catty grin.

What?

Aryn's business was pleasure.

[Lucien DeChain]

Earth Qi. I guess I should have known that, him being the Earth Dragon... Still, this is the first time I've met him...

That woman, though, the one who corrected him, he nodded his thanks to, oblivious of her and the other woman being... like that.. She looked familiar. That time at the tower, she was there, wasn't she? Must have been.

[Mathew Amtrum]

"I doubt that the back will actually be open. I suspect that Levi and the others will be keeping it messy for some time."

Aryn had the right of it and he nodded at her. He planned to just get them inside. A small team he could do without making a huge gaping hole, and with distractions at both gates they shouldn't run into too many mooks inside.

That was the plan from what he had seen with other facilities thus far though.

Reluctantly he picked up Bastille's piece. He didn't like having her on the board. She wasn't slated to die in his plans, but on the battlefield it could happen. Especially if he wasn't there to watch her, and he wouldn't be.

"If you two insist on doing that then I am joining in."

Dead serious. He placed Bastille's piece behind the main forces of the frontal assault. A fair distance away, and facing away from the compound.

"Bastille will take a contingent of God's to ensure that when the base calls in the attack that forces from the Orange County Shelter do not overwhelm us. This is important. And I am entrusting it to you and your men. Don't let me down Bastille."

If anything, he expected the most from her.

[Delilah A. Black]

Delilah stood there, for the most part, dumbfounded by the absurd amount of compliments hurtled at her. It was just as uncomfortable for her as being flirted with. She had the good grace to incline her head and hide her smile, unnerved and pleased all at once.

She would choose to say nothing when Marcus snapped at Mathew; it was expected, this was life or death. But things settled quickly and Delilah nodded her agreement.

Mathew's plan actually made strategic sense, she should be outside with the others. She was very versatile, and had plans already hatching deep inside her mind. Her command of troops not withstanding, she was known for having an ace in the hole. But...she wondered.

Technically, she would be at her best in the centre, with the bulk of the forces headed right for her. That was where the situation would be the most dire. But he had chosen 'Les to be in the position.

Curious. It wasn't a bad choice, but tactically, perhaps not the best...unless there was something she wasn't seeing.

She regarded Mathew from the corners of her eyes. She had decided to trust him, and was reminded about him wanting to 'test' her.

"They're going to figure it out, if they don't already have a contingency plan for your arrival," she pointed out quietly. "'Les, Lucien and I can only hold the line for so long before we start inevitably taking casualties. What makes you think he wouldn't expect such an entrance from the Earth Dragon?"

[Mathew Amtrum]

"He will. Which is why we are putting pressure on all sides. If he turtles then we lay siege and still bust in from below. He won't have a choice but to try and repel you."

He shrugged. Casualties are going to happen. There was no way that people wouldn't die. Anyone in this room could die, or those under their command. This might be a chilling thought, but he was calm. The only unacceptable loss was Bastille. Even above his own life. She had to live.

"Barker will likely have his strongest people in the center waiting for us. Which is why David and myself are going in. As well as Mr. Surprise surprise your still alive."

He shot that last bit to Marcus.

"Make no mistake. We will be on a time limit. You can't hold the line forever, and we can't stall inside. But the longer you hold them off the longer we have inside to deal with the freaks."

And undoubtedly the heaviest hitters.

[Your Mom~]

"You're looking to create a power vaccuum, then."

Their mission wasn't to annihilate the entire compound, no. They didn't have the manpower for that, or the kamikaze attitude. But cut off the head of the snake...and the rest of the body was useless. Dangerous, but ultimately effective if they could pull it off.

[Marcus Prasad]

Marcus felt that familiar tingle in his body. It was happening, it was FINALLY happening! The first step towards the end of a nightmare. He was excited despite the obvious chance he was going to bite it in this battle.

Well, obviously not if he had anything to say about it. His thoughts turned to Silk. If anything happened to him, the woman would go insane with rage, he knew.
But if it meant taking out Barker? Avenging New York City? If Marcus was going to die, he damn well knew he was going to die doing the most damage he could.

It was all he could hope for.

"Good plan. Makes sense. Question though, Say we get Barker but essentially lose EVERYONE here in this room. Do we have contingencies in place for when the next Big bad shows up? I'm betting that fucker has ALOT of Barker wannabe's clinging to his skirt."

[Your Mom~]

"Hmm."

Marcus had a point, but more than that, he'd made a point no one had voiced yet. There was a good chance none of them would return. Did Olesya have contingency plans for Maddie?

She would need to make her own preparations outside of which weapon she wanted to use to chop Barker's head off. She pressed her lips together, listening but her gaze was slightly unfocused. The wheels were spinning.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mathew's lips curled into a Cheshire grin. If there was one thing Mathew had it was a contingency plan. Well that and a massively average dick.

"I'm actually glad that you brought it up. A lot of this is actually because as you stated. Taking out Barker will not mean peace. And him being gone will indeed end with a new threat arising."

It was something Mathew had given a lot of thought about. And one of the main things that brought him to this today. Barker wasn't the end. And it was damn good to see someone else that could see that part of the picture. There may be hope for these people yet.

"Should we all fall the main bastion of safety will be in God territory. Which is why the bulk of their forces will be staying in their lands. Should the worst happen and we all fall they should have protocols to accept refugees. And enough Dragons will be held back under Leon's command in Dragon territory to ensure a safe escort out of possibly threatened lands."

After all Leon didn't have a piece on the map anymore. The Lightning Dragon was the new guy. Untested, but interesting. He was sad that he couldn't see what Leon saw in the man, but an unknown element couldn't go to the inside battle. He couldn't afford to have him buckle there.