Thread: predatory ● instincts

One moment he was slouching his way toward D.C. and the next he was flying. Flying?! His eyes widened a bit as he looked at the ground that was slowly moving away from him. Ground, no, come back! Is this my punishment for hating gravity?

When his feet were dangling above the ground, the slender male considered throwing a hissy fit but found the reward of his lack of reaction to prove most useful. Now on the broad, strong shoulders of Duke, the yellow-green eyed male grinned. This was his kind of team! Big guy to baby him. A silent little lass not to bug him. Yes, things were perfect. Well, maybe not. How the hell were they supposed to 'win' this competition? With a bit of a hopeless look in his eyes, the pink-haired lad knew he would have to pull some weight - eventually. But now was not the time to worry about that. It was time for a peaceful cat nap!

Leaning himself forward, he rested his arms on Duke's head, which eventually allowed him to rest his head on his own arms. A bit of a smile on his face, he settled right down. This guy was okay in his book, he decided. Heck, he was even starting to like the busty, purple-haired girl. They were going to be the best team. Team C. Okay, that name needed some spazazz added to it!

Team Cullen. What the fuck. We are not sparkling vampires. Team Catnip. What the? No, just no. Team C-Cup. Well that worked for Baby Doll but Dukey-poo and I don't have boobs. Team Cactus. Yes. We are a prickly bunch of green, people eaters. Okay maybe I need to lay off the Oreos for breakfast. Hmmm, how about something like… Team Catastrophic.

Team Catastrophic! That was the name he eventually decided on. Sooner or later, he would break the news to the team. Would they get 50 points for being the first to form an official name? They better. Princess wanted 100, but would take 75 as a compromise.

He was utterly content right now and decided he needed to express this (which went against his usual character). "I take it all back," he said with a bit of a new deposition to his voice, "you're okay in my book."

"Shhhh," said Duke, putting his hand atop Princess to shut him up-covering his face and torso with his hand. "The deal was you stay silent and you stay up here. If you start to bother me, I see how far I can throw you."

Duke had no intention of being quite that violent, but scaring this man was fun. Heck, it might even be good for him.

"Also I would encourage you to stay awake. If you fall asleep, you might just fall off and then you'd have a hard time catching up. Especially because I bet the fall will bust a rib. You're almost a whole story above the ground, you know."

Duke had made a decision. He was going to try very hard to make things difficult for his teammate.

Bili grinned as Boomer pulled them both to her. Boomers observations were nearly identical to Bili's own opinions. She chuckled as Boomer spoke
"I totally agree I mean look at them..." she whispered, motioning to the whiny Princess, and barely even needing to point out Luli's team. "We can win... I'm glad I got the super criminal and the explosions expert, it sounds like quite a fun trip! And you're right, I don't think anyone could get the best of us 'Cap" she smiled, turning to look up at Boomer and then to Paladin. She couldn't help it, she was excited and couldn't wait to be with just her and her team, she was likely to kill the other six before long.

Gabriel laughed when Bili mentioned she used to be a cop "There may be a small chance I have shot at you and or struck you if I have I apologize for that. But if I haven't fantastic! You probably know what I look like then, I have no doubt my mug shot was in your station somewhere." Before he could continue Gabriel was pulled down to Boomer's level as she went on about their team "I too enjoy explosives...I just want to throw that out there."

Once released from Boomer's hold Gabriel stood straight up again and surveyed the teams, sizing up the competition. "I have to agree that we do look the most formidable, if people mess with us they'll either get exploded, beaten up by an ex cop, or thrown from a building. Also we need a team name, I vote Team Apex." Gabriel turned up the volume on his helmet so that it acted as a megaphone "Team A is now Team Apex!" Turning the volume down he looked at his team "I'm sorry I kind of jumped the gun there...I do that a lot...ANYWAY let's get going!"

"This is going to be a long walk isn't it?"

Lerien took occasional glances up at her new 'team mates'. She had mostly tuned out the conversation that had been going on between the two so she missed most of what they were saying. Well, at least I'm not the only one with colored hair..well mine's natural I'm not sure about his..She took a side glance up at Princess wh had recently proped up on Duke's shoulders. Gee..I wish i was tall but this Duke fellow seems a bit too much..

She quickly turned her face away again, remembering that no one likes to be stared at..well maybe some people but still. Her cheeks turned light pink a little as she sighed and spoke silently. What a drag..

Taking Princess's silence and apparent complacency as a sign he was not terrified of him, Duke leaned sharply forward, feigning a trip. Thinking Princess would either reel back or cling on tightly, the man swooped his free hand back and caught him by the head and shoulders, righting his footing as he swung the body of his teammate around, placing him on the hard earth.

"Sorry," he told him, grinning wide. "Tripped."

Boomer stared at Paladin for a moment, trying to hold back a laugh. She liked this kid. He was entertaining, someone she would probably get along with easily. "Alright, alright. I don't mind Team Apex." She said, not really caring. She was fine with just 'Team A' but if they wanted team names, Team Apex it was. She thought on that for a moment, Why Apex, though? Was that just the first thing that popped into that insanity chamber he calls a mind? Boomer shook her head and nodded as he asked about the walk, "You hear Sycom. 5 days on foot. Though, we should get a lift from the military somewhere along the way."

Boomer suddenly heard a thud behind her. She looked behind her at Duke and Princess. Duke had an ugly smirk planted on his face while Princess's face... was planted in the dirt. She let out a bit of a chorckle before turning back to her team and whispering, "Oh, yeah. We'll be the last ones alive."

As Max stepped on the road he looked to his team mates and asked "So...should we walk or run?" he looked at his watch and threw it away "Remind me to get a working watch".

Gabriel stopped walking and turned to Boomer "5...days...On...FOOT! I am not okay with this" Gabriel resumed walking and turned to PB "Sure Peanut if you want to run for 5 days straight go ahead! We'll all catch up when we find your passed out body, I think we could convince Duke to carry you." Gabriel trudged on dreading the 5 day trip he had ahead of him.

"Well if we're going to be walking for awhile I may as well take off my helmet and get some fresh air." Gabriel pressed a button on his left wrist, his helmet started folding into the armor around his neck revealing his face. His face was battered and scarred, his black hair stood up in an unnatural way. He had the workings of a beard around his face, jolting his head back and forth to each side a loud pop was heard produced by his neck.

"Well we gotta save the world, may as well rush to the starting line" Max said trying not to sound like an idiot, truth was he was feeling a bit scared, being responsible for a team and what they do right and wrong. He shrugged off the feeling and kept walking.

"Liar," Princess hissed as he was rudely awoken from his mini catnap. Still, he couldn't help but like this guy. He had a sneaky side, which was something Princess loved above all else. Duke was going to be the god-send for the group - or at least for Princess. He had just the right amount of balls to pull tricks while having just the right amount of kindness to not go over the edge.

As his eyes slid from Duke to Baby Doll, he smirked. "What a drag is right," he mused. Although, it wasn't really that much of a drag. Sure, walking was a bitch and yes, he was hungry and tired, but it could have been much worse. It could have been raining.

Using his newfound gear - the high-tech eyes they were all given - he pulled up a weather map. Upon first glance, the thing posted clear skies and a tranquil night. "Success," he announced louder than he meant to; loud enough that the others all heard his little escape of enjoyment. "Erm, the weather radar says we have smooth saili- hey, what the?" Taking the glasses from his head, he gave the device a good pounding. Upon sliding them back onto his face, a large scowl appeared. "Fuck. Looks like the forecast just did a three-sixty. We now have rain approaching from the West, and fast. It'll hit us by nightfall."

With an angry growl, he turned his eyes toward the clear, blue sky. "Why do you hate me so much today?"

"Sorry, Princess, but I think it's me that the heavens hate," Xiaolian piped up. "I've never really had that prosperous luck on my side."

"So she speaks," the sister added with a giggle. "Glad to see you're warming up to the idea of traveling with this crazy bunch of misfits. I can totally see why the agency picked us nine to… save the world."

Upon hearing PB's comment, Princess snorted. "I refuse to run anywhere." It came off cold and dry, just the way he wanted. He really wasn't up for making friends with any of the other teams. Duke and Doll (he was just going to call her that) seemed good enough for him.

"I don't think we need to run, per-say, but I do agree what we might want to hustle our pace some. If you check out the map in these goggle things, it shows our ETA - estimated time of arrival. Right now, at our current pace and with Princess' intel of poor weather, it looks like we'll get there in… FIFTEEN DAYS?!" Eyes wide, she looked over at her sister. "That's fifteen days without a shower!"

"It'll be raining…" Princess interjected, "you will get plenty wet."

Giggling, Xiaolian found herself amused by this pink-haired, half-sized man. He was a bite burly and rude, but his obvious statement were very entertaining.

"Ah-ha! I knew it. You've got a crush on Princess. Want me to hook you two up?" Luli jabbed her elbow into the older Chinese woman's ribcage. "Eh? Eh!"

Flustered beyond belief, Xiaolian tried to pull her hair before her eyes in a failed attempt to hide her bright blush. "I-I-I…" was all she could stammer out before hiding her red cheeks behind her hands. "You're so cruel," she muttered.

Things, for the most part, were going rather smooth, save for the foredooming rain. But a little rain wasn't about to break their spirits or ruin their courage. They would just have to rely on one another to pull through this.

"If you worries about how long it'll take us to get there, Princess, I could pick up the pace. If you've not noticed, I have a much wider step; if I were to walk at my normal rate, it might take us only half that, but then I'd be leaving you and Babydoll behind."

He said this aloud more to snipe at the other teams for being short than any other reason.

As soon as she heard that Paladin was taking his helmet off, Bili turned to look. She'd been curious as to what he looked like all day. Peeking around unabashedly, Bili was quite surprised to see that he was rather handsome. Granted, he'd certainly taken a beating, but there was a good looking man under than. Thank goodness. Not only had they gotten a very adept crew, but they'd gotten a little piece of eye candy too. "Nice to see your face there, Paladin. Though you look a lil' rough." she said with a smile, continuing to walk with them and keep herself away from the other teams.

She hadn't been paying much mind to other crews, other than to bemoan in her mind how lucky she was to be with Boomer and Paladin. But Princess's strange reaction to the weather caught her attention. "Wait so you're saying the weather just changed all of a sudden? Just right before your eyes?" It was suspicious, and she felt the group wasn't paying near enough attention to the strangeness of that.

Boomer raised a brow at the mention of seeing Paladin's face. Sure, she was fine if he wanted to wear that helmet everyday of his ever loving life but it would be nice to see his - She turned her head to look at him, Well... Hot damn. Boomer snapped her head back in front of her and adjusted the goggles on her head. A pleasantly thoughtful smirk was planted on her lips. Not only do we have a competent team, we're all pretty damn sexy. A chuckle came from her throat at her own thoughts before she turned back to Paladin and stepped over to him. She placed her thumb on his chin and a curled up pointer under it and examined the marks on his face. "Damn, kid, you look worse than when I got my arm blown off." She said, "And let me tell you, that was not a pretty sight."

Boomer turned back on her walk, rolling her mechanized shoulder. Sure, losing her limb wasn't fun, but she had a hell of a time building her new arm. It actually had a lot of good functions that she equipped to it. Mostly for her mechanic work, though. Although, she did have a few explosives hidden in those wired muscles. Other than that, her fingers could become screw drivers and such. Boomer glanced back at Princess before getting Sycom's message. She pulled her goggled over her eyes and pulled up the weather forcast. "Sadly, He's right, Bili." She said, "Sycom just sent out a message and I can see the forecast now. There's one hell of a storm comin'. I suggest we all pick up the pace and get to Perth Amboy. Sycom's sayin' there's a dock there we can hunker down in."

"Now that settles it. Pardon me, Princess, Babydoll," the giant said as he took them each, respectively dropping Princess on his head and Babydoll into his overly large satchel (even for him). "It may be a tight fit but we'll get there faster than the rest of these hokeys and this way we won't get seperated. Any objections, captain?"

He was already walking at his full eight and a half foot pace, entering into a jog as he started to pass the other two teams.

"Gangway, gangway, Team C is for Cookie coming through," he alighted.

Gah! Lerien gasped a little as she was picked up and put into Duke's 'satchel'. Her face was a light red color, and had a flustered look on her face. She was not used to being picked up like that, let alone by suprise. She herd duke ask if there were any objections, she was about to yell and say 'hell yes there are objections!' but she simply gained her composure back and smoothed out her long purple hair, taking it out of the ponytails. She let her hair fall down all around her, which made it look like she had some purple barrier around her. For she had not cut her hair in 13 years. She tucked her knees under her chin and sighed heavily as if she were saying; 'no objections here.'

She glanced over at Princess, who had been dropped on his head. She silently smirked and then looked away again. She, for right now, was not in the mood to look at or talk to anyone. They did not know though that wen her hair was down she was basically in a raging mood which usually meant 'talk to me and die' sort of thing. Lerien was not dramatic but when she was like this, most people knew just to ignore her. She figured that her newly found team mates wouldn't give her much attention anyway she she finally decided that she would tell them later.

Gabriel laughed at the comments about his face "Yeah my face has seen better times..." Looking down at Boomer's arm he couldn't help admire the handiwork in the arm "That arm is very impressive if I can say so myself!" Continuing to walk he heard princess mention the change in the weather "I'm sorry did no one catch Princess saying the weather is going to do a Three Sixty? That would mean the weather stays the same, you're thinking of a one eighty. Either way! If the weather is about to get bad we should find someplace to bunker down for the night."

Looking around Gabriel tried to spot anything that could be used as a shelter looking around Gabriel saw a somewhat destroyed house off to the side of the road. "Well there's that house over there I think it'd be best if we went and stayed there until the storm passes."

Max looked around for anything else and said heading over to the house "Well...I say we check the house out, never know we might find something useful, or someone who can give us some info" he continued to the house even if someone disagreed.

The crew had probably only been about two hours into the walk and they were already freaking out about the storm. Sycom did tell them they would have time to make it to the docks, which meant they should, if anything, pick up the pace. Some did while others seemed more interested in securing a shack.

His eyes looked up at the sky - it was still clear and still. The calm before the storm, he figured. They had time. They needed to have time. Besides, what was an adventure without a bit of a rain. Okay, a ton of fucking rain. Nonetheless, they couldn't just stop whenever the weather looked bad. It just didn't seem… patriotic. Were they not Americans - save for Luli and Xiaolian (or maybe they were)? Were they not supposed to be fearless and brave? Valiant and strong with an unwavering deviation to save their country? Those were just some of the things that swirled around Princess' mind. For not being one to care, he sure was giving a damn. And a hell of a damn at that.

Being back on Duke's shoulders, the pink-haired male let out a gleeful chuckle. This was going to be fun. They were going to charge on ahead of the rest and make sure came was safe and secure. Or so he was envisioning. Not that he didn't trust Sycom and Daliah's friend at the dock! No, no, he trusted them, he just didn't trust the idea of entering a foreign warehouse in a huge-ass group. If something went wrong, all nine would die. Then, they would all fail, would they not?

Rolling his eyes, he couldn't quite see what the ladies - Bili and Boomer - saw in Paladin. He wasn't that good looking. Besides, Duke was cooler. Way cooler. What lady didn't want tall, rugged, and tall? He was everything Princess was not. Rough and tough. Large and strong. They were the ideal pair. Baby Doll, too. She was the quite one of the group and seemed a bit moody. Perhaps she wasn't a fan of heights? Eh, he wasn't going to let her little silent streak taint the moment.

Hands flying before Duke's head, he pointed toward the South. "Onward march!" he commanded with a bit of a sarcastic tone. Rolling his head back to look at the others, who were probably annoyed at their sudden rush toward the docks, he smirked. "We'll check the area out and see if it's all clear. Should we be compromised, we'll let you know. Maybe." A devious flicker went through his eyes but soon shifted when Duke gave him a bit of a jerk. "Okay, okay. We'll warn you…."

Princess adjusted himself once more so that he would have a secure hold on the guy. With his glasses now covering his face, he gave the big guy a pat on the head. "Let's see how fast you can go," he said with a bit of a challenging authority. If this guy could run twice as fast as the average man, they would get to the location - Perth Amboy - by maybe four o'clock. That seemed fair. Duke, Baby Doll, and Princess could scavenge for food and get the camp set up, assuming it wasn't already ready and waiting for them (which Princess hoped it was).

"You're telling me to go full speed, Crumb? Oh, you better hang on tight."

Duke leaned down, bursting full tilt into a mad dash. He was sprinting, which surely didn't seem wise, that couldn't last much longer than a minute or two.

"Just do me one favor, Princess," he panted. "Stay awake and navigate me. I'm bad with directions."

Lerien was thinking to herself while leaning against the side of the over sized satchel that she had be so carelessly put in, when suddenly she was jolted forward from duke running. Her head kind of got pushed against the satchel as her eyes widened in bewilderment. You IDIOT! Her face turned bright red both from anger and embarrassment from hearing her own British accented voice. Ugh! She flipped her hair out of her face and tried her best to smooth it out, while still being carelessly bounced around since duke had still been running. Do you mind? Honestly, what's their rush..? She re adjusted her gear and decided to take off the chains that had been neatly tied around her waist. The had since dug into her skin a little, leaving a chain looking imprint in her pasty white completion. Ugh, great..

Lerien bowed her head, stupid stupid..She did not want to be mean to these people, she was not a mean person but she had a little problem with containing her anger. Alot of things could get her upset but she decided that these people er- Princess and Duke, she would treat them differently. She hoped.

Duke slowed back to barely more than a jog. "Yes, ma'am!" he shouted, taking care not to bustle the bag his boss was in.

"Well, Crumb, if you didn't hear, I've been instructed to never again go that speed. We made good distance, though." It seemed as if he was bringing this up to remind Princess that he was the bottom of the barrel.

Boomer sighed, I suppose it's time to start being the leader, huh? She looked toward the house they were pointing at. There were many around but that one looked simply abandoned. A few seemed to have a more lively look. If they could get under a more... stable house, they'd be safe. However, it would take off a lot of time from their walk to DC and they had to get their fast. Boomer placed a finger on her collar and tried contacting sycom, but she got nothing but static. Lost contact. She bit her lip and eyed the more lively houses. It wasn't late... but evening was threatening on the horizon. "Team Apexd, Sycom said earlier that we would have enough time to get to the port." She said, turning and walking backwards to talk to her crew, "Now, we could go for the abandoned building which probably has a bunch of spoiled food that would make us sick, or we could go for that house over their with the lights on."

Boomer pointed out the house she was referring to. Sure, the lights could just be on and no one lives there, but that was very unlikely. "However, staying a few hours here to wait for the storm to pass would cause us to lose a lot of hours. Team C is already a good hour or so ahead of us. The storm is closing off a lot of communication and I'm not sure if we'll be able to contact them." Boomer turned back around and stopped, thinking of the best plan of action. They were already behind on time and risking her Team's health wouldn't help them. "We're behind on time as is. We're hungry and I don't want to get caught in that storm." She finally decided, "I say we head toward the house and see if they'll take us in. Team B, if you want to join us, you're more than welcome. Let's move."

Boomer headed toward the home. It was a regular city home and probably accommodated a few apartments in the past. She stepped up the stairs and knocked on the door, hoping for the best. She waited there for a few moment before she heard the click of a lock and watched the door open. An older woman stood a few inches shorter than her. She looked like one of those old ladies who would pass out cookies to anyone. Boomer gave her a bit of a smile, "Good evening... We're from The Agency. We're heading toward DC, but there's a bad storm brewing and we need a place to bunker down while it blows over. Would you mind taking us in?"

The woman stared up at her and eyed the people behind her. "You said you're from the Agency?" She asked. She waited for a few moments before she opened the door and allowed us in, "Come in. Come in. We always welcome those trying to save our world." Boomer stepped in and called out to her team, "C'mon, Team A!"

She didn't like all this talk of stopping, Bili was hell bent on continuing the mission as quickly as possible. A few hours in was much to early to stop, but her stomach told her otherwise. She'd grabbed food for the journey, but didn't want to eat from her stores unless she had too. Being taken in by a family for a meal was a good option, and she commended Boomer just going up and doing it. Bili would have been more than willing to do it, but she likely wouldn't have handled it with as much tact as Boomer did, so it was better to let their leader do the talking.

Bili smiled at the woman as she let them inside, but once they were out of earshot of the woman she turned to Boomer. "I know we need to eat, but I do think we should just continue on after eating, the storm won't hit for a while yet and I think we can make great time getting closer to the first rest stop if we just keep moving. We'll lose so much time by stopping. I mean the final decision is up to you, but I honestly think we should keep moving until it is absolutely unsafe to continue doing so." she explained quietly, not wanting to offend the woman that was being so kind to them, but knowing they needed to keep on, well, keeping on.

His brain had probably turned to mush wit the speed that Duke had been charging forward at, but, as if by a miracle, it was still in tact and working quite well. Perhaps the boost of adrenaline did some good for the petite lad.

It was then when his remorseless eyes slid toward the gargling sounds that echoed from the nearby abandoned translation. "Captain," his eyes wandered toward Baby Doll, "please tell me we aren't about to check in there." It wasn't so much that he was afraid to enter the area. No, if anything it was the fear of never returning, or worse, finding something that would scar them all. Yet, within him, Princess knew that it was the job of the first group to scout the area. Granted, the teams with the scouts were over an hour behind them. With a heavy sigh, he found his strength to stand on his own.

Shoed feet on the earth, his pink hair tousled in the faint breeze some. He didn't really like the feeling that started to form in his gut but he knew that luck rarely let him down. So was the fate of a shorty - forever blessed with all one could ever need to get buy and without lifting a finger.

Skipping toward the station, he spied what looked like a female deer (a doe). With quick hand gestures, he motioned that the crew ought to circle the creature and, with force, take the being down. And by circling the creature, he meant Duke and Baby Doll would have to do all the dirty work. Or at least that's what he had planned.

An odd noise (thankfully faint), cackled from the Sycom Comm. Hands gracing the electronic communication device, the boy didn't really pay much more attention to it than that. If the thing was having interference, it was meant to be. The storm, as determined by his radar, was massive. Looked as if there was going to be a hell of a wind force, too. With some serious scrutinizing, he discovered a 'LIVE CAM" view of the area that was currently under heavy rainfall. Upon seeing the images, his pale eyes dilated to three times their size. Shit was going to get real by nightfall. They needed to get to those docks on the off chance that the land flooded.

"I hate to be Johnny Rain Cloud, but we have a dilemma." For not really having a specific role, Princess was really getting into the whole 'rain on your parade' information rely job. "This storm. It's fucking huge. Appears to have tornado-like winds."

The deer seemed to pay no attention to the trio as they spoke above whispers. In fact, if anything, it seemed rather peaceful. It obviously knew it was about to become someone's lunch and it had no qualms about it. Truth is, the animals of Earth knew of Judgement Day and most of the gentler ones didn't seem to fear or hate the idea of dying. The creatures seemed to just… accept it all.

Looking toward their leader, Princess shrugged his shoulders. "Your call, Captain. Do we take a peak inside the station? Or do we kill the doe, eat, and get back on the road?" To him, both options sucked. One would push them further away from their agency friends and the other would prolong their journey to the docks. With a sigh, he muttered, what a drag - a new catchphrase he adopted from Baby Doll.

Lerien peeked her head up out of the satchel, looking over at Princess then at the eery looking station. Should they check it out or not? Ugh, Decisions decisions.. Well since we've already stopped, we might as well go take a look.. She sighed and helped herself out of the over sized satchel. She re-tied the chains around her waist and walked forward, a little hesitant to go inside. Its not that she was afraid, but what if there really was something big and mean in there? Would her team mates be able to protect themselves? She knew Duke probably could, and she certainly could, even though she knew people thought otherwise. Princess however, looked like the type of guy to run away from something mean and nasty. But, looks can be deceiving, hmm maybe he's alright after all..

She sighed heavily, smoothing her long purple hair back. She had gotten over that little 'fit' she had just moments ago, but she had forgotten her ribbons. She shrugged a little and decided to just let her hair flow freely along with the wind. She took a deep breath then exhaled, and started to walk up to the station.

Duke didn't really feel like venison. Nor did he feel like stopping. But Princess had seen a train station and protested and now they might kill a deer and Princess was making them investigate a building. And the storm was worse than imagined.

"Should we tell the others, or no?" He glanced at Babydoll, not exactly expecting an immediate answer, but trying to convey that he was not going to persue any course of action without her approval.

He looked down at the doe. She could feed Princess and Babydoll for days-him, maybe she would last two meals. A waste.

Gabriel stood behind everyone and saw the elderly woman listening to Boomer talk to her. Standing and pondering what everyone's next move should be, his thoughts were interrupted by Bili interjecting that they all should keep moving "I have to agree with Bili here actually, the storm isn't here yet so we could probably cover a few more miles before the storm hits. I'm certain we'll be able to find some type of shelter."

Walking up to the door he placed both his hands on the elderly woman "Madame we thank you for your kindness but we must keep moving!" pushing the woman gently he moved her back and shut her door, turning around he looked at everyone "We ride!" Parting the crowd he stepped through them all and made his way down the road.

Not phased by Paladin's overly handsome looks, the brunette kept her iron grip around PB's arm. Her eyes flicked to her sister who hadn't said much lately. In fact, PB hadn't said much either. Or even her. Were they to be the silent team? Team B for Boldly Silent.

With a light sigh, she moved toward the woman and give her a curtsey. "Thank you for the bit to eat. Your kindness shall not go unnoticed. All will know how you were sweet enough to take in some strangers without hesitation or fear. Again, we thank you as does our great nation of America."

Slipping away, she produced some food for her teammates. It was nothing super fancy. It was obvious that the little old lady didn't have much. Why would she after all? She was in the middle of nowhere. It was a dark and desolate area that seemed to have lost faith in salvation years ago. Although some of the houses were lit, they all seemed so sad and depressing. The once brilliant blue and white houses had faded to ugly shades of gray. The once green grass wilted away and the birds that lined the down power lines seemed to lose their glorious songs.

Never before had Luli seen such a poverty stricken area. Everything out here was poor, old, and covered in a thick layer of dust. Even the people - there were a few eyes poking out from behind blinds and curtains - seemed to be aged. Wrinkles marred the faces of the children who laughter was no longer heard. The mothers of thirty were faced with gray hair and their husbands did nothing but curse. The toll of it all was taxing and it was going to break this nation in to shambles.

Finding a spot of courage within, Luli's wild eyes flicked from the faces of those that hide within their homes. "You're in good hands, America. We, the chosen members of the agency, will bring back the light and laughter. Joyous days… they will be had again. That, my fiends, I can assure you."

Head held high, the Chinese woman skipped forward so that she was now in-sync with her sister and PB. The crew was back on the road again and, she swore she saw out of the corner of her eye, a smile on the faces of those that heard her words. Perhaps, with that bit of cheeriness, this area would get back on its feet and work toward mending the other broken towns around them. America was built by the a group of hardworking individuals bonded by a common goal and dream and America could be saved by that same thread of hope and pride.

"That's the spirit Luli...but you make it sound like were travelling through the land of rainbows and leprechauns...being threatened by a rabid bunny" P.B said as he watched Luli. She had spirit, energy and determination but too much of it in his eye's, she had some growing up to do and was going to be a hard time for her when he does, in a way it scared him.