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Mokoyis had been bending her bow, standing in the doorway of the plan as she wrapped the greased rawhide around the wood. She had not moved when the taunting voice had spoken, obviously Audun was close enough to see them. Which meant he must be on this side of the plane, or up high. With not large buildings left standing she had to assume that meant he was standing in front of them. She was about to make this observation to Rodney, looking over her shoulder as she did so when the gunshot went off.

Her head whipped around, her braids smacking against her neck as she looked around. She was kneeling, bow drawn in the doorway when she caught sight of the fallen Eponine. s**t. English was much better for cursing. She lowered her bow and stepped out into the open just as Audun did the same. s**t again.

She felt her temper rise as he spoke. She ached to go to Eponine, not that it would do any good- she just didn't want her friend laying in the mud. The woman was about to take back everything she had said to Lai. She was ready to go for the mans throat, the Russian would probably feel even more so. "Do as he says," she agreed with Lai, nodding at the two men. She raised her bow again, the arrow still nocked. Most people underestimated a flint tipped arrow- it could drive through a human skull with almost as much force as a bullet. Enough to kill anyways, and that was all that was required. It was slower though, and it was unlikely she could dodge a bullet if Audun decided to get rid of her too. But it would be one less bullet in his gun.

It was a risk, but she aimed at Audun. "I wont shoot...yet, unless you try to fire at them." She flicked her eyes at Lai and Alberto. Audun only had two hands, he could only aim at two of them at a time and if he was smart it would be Alberto and her. Lai might even be able to move Eponine. "Take Eponine over with you." Her voice was dead even.

MEDICAL/RESEARCH TEAM

"Listen to Lokiairi and Estrelas, Einar, and just shut up and lie down like you're supposed to."

Shee shook her head in frustration at Hyo's answer. She could use herself as a source of the anti-A antibodies, but they still needed to find someone with type A blood. Wraith, she knew, was type AB. But-- maybe either Johannes or Archer, who had gone with him to the library, could help.

Shee shook her head again at Lokiari's question. "I don't think so. If we could do it that way, I'm afraid I don't know what to look for." Looking up at Estrelas, she hoped that they could find someone. They didn't make a habit of testing the recruits until they were at a higher level, but she thought that she might just have to start.

If Estrelas couldn't find anyone... Shee was well aware of the blood types of the LOTUS core. And one of them would have what they were looking for. She let out a small, pained noise as she contemplated the thought.

"Estrelas, go to the library and tell Wraith we need to find someone with type A blood."


Wraith closed his eyes for a moment. That was not much to go on. If it had such a defined killing time, it was likely the bullet contained something more than what he was used to bullets containing. Wounds could be patched up; the bullet didn't kill by bleeding its victim out. Eyelids slowly opening, he glanced at the two men in front of him. Johannes was more a tune to diplomacy, so he thought he might give Archer the first assignment.

"Archer, we may be able to find something in looking at war records. It appears that Einar did something without the knowledge of the administration, and thus it seems to me that there is some connection to his past and with Norway here. Audun," he mused, "appears to be a Norwegian name." He got up, lifting himself gracefully out of the chair, and swept a hand across an intimidating row of drawers. "War records tend to be all sorts of shapes and sizes, so I keep them in here. Look under Norway and see if you can find anything about special kinds of bullets."

Wraith began walking to the far side of the library, gripping a sliding ladder and pushing it into position. "We'll look in the general Norwegian records. From what I recall," he quickly sprinted over to a large cherry wood desk, and pulled a battered ledger out of the top drawer, returning to the ladder as quickly as he could, "Norway, in Einar's time, was at war. Land barren... not relevant except to likely rule out a plant-based weapon... not much to go on, I'm afraid. Johannes, we'll be looking at the general Norway materials. They're up there." Wraith pointed up to a section of books along the wall, and the need for the ladder became readily apparent. "See if you can find anything that may tell us about Norway's future. The newer books tend to be blue and obviously are not so heavily worn. And be careful with them. Now get on that ladder."

CAPTURE AUDUN TEAM

The gunshot had nearly jerked Alberto out of the semi-calm state he was in. Slowly, almost too slowly to his mind, he turned.. just in time to see Eponine spill to the ground.

No.. Not yet. Not the youngest one.

Alberto's eyes widened and his grip on the gun in his hands tightened in order to control himself. Already they had lost one of their number, and so easily.. it had been easy enough to know that this man did what he felt on the fly, and Alberto certainly wasn't a stranger to seeing death.. but the impact never diminished.

".. Dios mío." The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop them, and the tension and anger of the very action, as well as Audun's taunting, began to wear his tact thin. But he had to keep calm. They all had to. He took a steadying breath as he drug his eyes from the girl lying in the mud (Oh god, so easily, so easily she went down.. why?) to the guns in Audun's hands.

And the one pointing right at him.

He tightened his grip on his own weapon as they were instructed to stand near the assailant's welcome message, but Alberto felt an icy sensation settle in the pit of his stomach. It had to be a trap.. they had walked right into it. This man laughed at Eponine's death, marred her name.. he had no respect for the dead, and the Nicaraguan's mood darkened at the very thought. Lai's quiet voice instructing him to do what Audun said filled his mind with doubt, and the commotion on the plane as Mokoyis appeared in the doorway and nocked her arrow only served to make him more apprehensive. But what else could they do right now? They were at the mercy of this madman for the time being. He looked to Lai over his shoulder.

".. Right." It was a trick to keep his voice steady as he took leaden, heavy steps towards the garish welcoming sign. He needed to stay calm; staying calm was essential to this situation. But as he moved he chanced a glance at Eponine's body and felt his throat constrict a little. He'd almost forgotten what war felt like.

But he would remain at the ready. With slow, careful movements, he steadied his grip on the weapon and moved a little more easily towards the welcome sign. He had to be ready to use it, just in case.. if Audun picked out Lai as the one Einar treasured most.. what would happen then?

Alberto stopped just short of the welcome sign as instructed and turned towards Audun, focusing on the gun that was pointed directly at him. While the others were approaching, he said a silent prayer for Eponine, as he had for his other fallen friends back home. She only deserved the best words for her bravery and dying for her comrades. 'Vaya con Dios; God be with you.'

"What next.. ?" He whispered the words half to himself and half to Lai as he followed. Indeed. What were they to do next, when they were the ones cornered?

“Ah, yes…understood” Johannes said while grabbing the ladder. “I’ll try to see if the war escalated or something along the lines” exclaimed he while climbing up the ladder and stopping near the fourth, fifth row of books lined up. “Newer books are blue…” mumbled Johannes while gliding along the rows. “I wouldn’t mind looking over the old books – but I have to assume that the newer ones have updated info.” “Unless he meant new by the quality of the book itself…” “Oh, ridiculous!”

Skimming through some of the pages in the books that he had managed to hold in his hand without falling, Johannes was trying to see whether keywords such as war, famine, future (he assumed much much later than his own time period) appeared in the texts. Any book that did, he handed it to Wraith -- carefully.

AT LOTUS

Einar had somehow managed to listen to what the others were barking at him again, his body not willing to listen to his stubborn nature, and he found himself just laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling of the atrium. Part of him though it was rather pretty, not a bad thing to look at as he died, and another part of him thought he was sick in the head for giving up so easily.

Lai was gone, in Poland, and if Audun had anything to say about it he was probably being shot or tortured as he lay there thinking. His 'best friend' was certainly not someone he'd wish on anyone, and even though the others had tried to tell Einar that Lai had gone out of love for him, and for worry, he couldn't help but wish that the Russian had stayed by his side.

If he had wanted to die without Lai, he would have just stayed in Norway with Audun.

But now it made no point for him to die anywhere, he hadn't even given a proper good-bye, and that kind of pissed him off. Screw the good-bye, he was still a virgin and hadn't even gotten a chance to try anything.

No man wanted to die a virgin.

Einar turned his head a little and noticed that while they had all split up there were several people still around him, tending to him and what looked to be some French guy he'd never seen before, and he cleared his throat to the best of his abilities to garner some attention. He'd been so quiet before about the actual nature of the bullet and of the antidote that he'd only mentioned before, but seeing as his manhood was at stake here, talking probably was the best thing to do. Even if he couldn't do it well.

". . . The bullet Audun shot, the NK-VB2, it's survival chances are very low to begin with - probably about 25% for everyone. However . . .there have been some survivors."

Who he was talking to was up for grabs, but hopefully they'd all be listening to what he was saying and taking notes. This was important.

"NK-VB2 attacks your body through your blood stream, but it seems that somewhere along the way a certain blood-type developed something of an immunity to it. While it didn't mean they'd all survive, it raised their chances up to about 45%. Naturally only a few made it out of that, but those who did were found to be immune when shot again with the bullet, and because of that -"

He talking was cut off as a low rumble moved across his chest, and Einar did his best to roll over onto his side as he started to cough up a massive amount of blood. It was thick and almost black, some part of it bright red, and it puddled near him as the young Norwegian man continued to cough as though he could never stop. Whatever color had remained in his face seemed to come up with the blood, his skin now so ashy it looked like soot paper, and he closed his eyes with a wheeze when the spell finally passed.

"Those people, who have been shot before . . ."

He wheezed again, almost like his breathing was becoming something of an issue. Had it spread that far. . . ?

". . .they are immune and therefore . . ."

He could say no more, his whole body refusing to work any further under its strains, and perhaps for what may be the last time Einar smiled before he closed his eyes.

THIRTEEN HOURS REMAIN

CAPTURE AUDUN TEAM

Lai had not seen Mokoyis exit the plane but he did hear her words. By the time she had said to take Eponine's body with them, he was too close to the wall and if he turned around he had a feeling he would be shot. A hindrance, not a help. While standing next to Alberto he could only shake his head and whisper an apology to Mokoyis and to Eponine as well.

"I do not know." It was the only answer he could give to Alberto when the man asked. It was a grim realization that they were stumbling in the dark about what could happen next. Stumbling in the dark with a monster lurking somewhere in the shadows. His eyes flicked to Eponine around the same time Alberto had done his silent prayer. Mokoyis' words about not rushing in were starting to grate him. His anger was still bubbling up, and for those who had never seen the gentle Russian mad (practically everyone he's ever met) it would be a frightening sight to behold. When his eyes flicked completely back to Audun, he was startled when gunsmoke clouded his features. The resounding shot followed after, and he felt no pain. That left only one other option.

"Comrade!" He whipped to his left where he saw Alberto recoil and drop his rifle. A white flash came before Lai's eyes and before he knew it he had withdrawn a blade and held the handle tight in his grip. His first choice came in the form of an extremely sharp carving knife. The handle was a decent length, it fit comfortably in his grasp. The blade, on the other hand, was twelve solid inches of stainless steel. The sharp edge wasn't grated like a steak knife, but smooth like water on a day with no wind. Lai gave himself a three-step running start, the blade sinking down to his side (first step) before rocketing up above the Russian's dark colored hair (second step). On his third step he swung his weight into it and whipped his arm down. When his arm was straight out about a second and a half later, he released his knife. In any light it passed it would glint, the blade spinning over and over as it headed toward its target.

Please let it hit...

It did. When the blade lodged itself into Audun's thigh Lai had to resist a whoop of triumph. The enemy was clearly slowed down and, with one look back at Alberto, the Russian withdrew his second knife (another carving knife, but this one's blade was ten inches instead) before taking off after Audun. He knew the risks, especially the hidden traps, but in his mind if he followed Audun's steps exactly he would be fine. Mokoyis was going to chew him out for this, he had a feeling, but he cared not. He passed Eponine's body laying on the ground and Mokoyis too, but the Norwegian fiend had a good length ahead of him and Lai's boots weren't built to withstand such thick mud. The roar of the yet unseen motorbike's engine caused him to flinch heavily. Lai recovered from the shock and returned to his chase.

He was still at least twenty yards from the the wall Audun had taken off to, and once he was there the bike came into the open. Lai, not sure of what that was exactly, stumbled down to prepare to leap out of the way should Audun ride at him. He didn't of course, and Lai was back up when he took off. The Russian reached the wall when Audun was riding away and he released a loud, echoing yell of rage and frustration.

"YOU COWARD!"

He didn't look behind him to see if Alberto, Mokoyis, or Rodney were coming up, but he did look to where Audun had pointed. At the sight of the arms and his bloody knife against them, Lai doubled over and dry heaved. At this point now, he was glad he hadn't eaten anything yet today. Dear God, Audun wasn't a man he was a demon. After spitting up some phlegm-laced strings, Lai's shoulders gave a shudder and he slowly approached. In the dying light he could see that it was covered in blood.

Something is not right with it...At all. He used his ten inch blade to lift the knife handle off the pile, heavily wincing and feeling damned all the while. Once the longer knife was on its point and his almost forgotten flashlight was haphazardly in his bag, he grabbed it. Disgust almost made him try to shake the blood off, but then he saw the color. So much like Einar's blood...What could it mean? He cast his eyes to the wall and saw the message. Biting his tongue, he ran into view of the others.

"Radio! Someone get on a radio! We need to call LOTUS now!"

CAPTURE AUDUN TEAM

".. S'what I was afraid of." Alberto couldn't hold the bitter sentiment back as he turned his head towards Lai, doing his best to keep his eye on Audun as he did so. The Norwegian's words (was that doubt in his voice?) demanded his attention as he turned to face him again. Was this a positive sign? Mokoyis was behind them with a steady arrow and he himself was armed, and Lai had his knives.. there was a chance that Audun saw his disadvantage in this situation.

Then the shot went off. He didn't have time to think before the searing pain went tearing across his arm and the gun clattered to the ground. He stumbled in surprise and fell over into the mud, gripping the wound.

'I'm shot, oh man, oh man.. it can't be serious though, no.. just missed, just missed..' His mind raced a million miles a minute as his heart pushed to keep up the pace. What was he complaining about? The poor French girl lying adjacent to them was dead, and he had just been skimmed. He'd been lucky enough to not been shot during the fighting back home, and this was probably the basis for most of his surprise.

Audun took off and Alberto cursed aloud as Mokoyis came forward to examine him. He shook his head impatiently, agitated at himself and them for fussing.

"Forget about me, go after him!" he told her, but Lai was already on it as he deployed one of his knives and sent it hurling after Audun in a moment. The blade hit him square in the back of the leg and as Audun stumbled, Alberto's heart lightened. They got him... but he still kept on running. Luckily rather than stay and fuss over the fallen, Lai had the sense to make chase. The Nicaraguan wished one of the others standing by would go after him.. partly because of their mission, and deeper down because he was embarrassed at his inability to help with the situation for the time being.

Just a scrape, get it together. He gritted his teeth and pulled at the hem of his shirt, and with a rough rip part of the fabric came free. He looked to Mokoyis nearby and gave her a defeated look as he tried to fold the fabric over his bleeding arm. "Just my arm.. help me tie this, will ya?" He was finding himself unable to properly do so himself - his good hand was shaking from the cold and the small shoots of pain.

An engine roared deeply nearby, and before he could even turn his head Audun raced by the scene again astride a motorbike (although it was unlike any motorbike he had ever seen). The knife that Lai had thrown at him was gone, likely discarded, but he caught a glimpse of the wound and the blood staining his pants. But this was only for a moment and he roared out of sight.

'Dammit, he's getting away.. dammit!' He was even angrier with himself. He hadn't helped at all.. why did he bother coming? Because he wasn't any good at research? At least he wasn't detrimental there. However Lai's presence interrupted his thoughts as he charged back onto the scene, carrying the dislodged knife and shouting for a radio.

.. Perhaps he wasn't entirely useless after all.

"Over here!" he called to Lai and immediately reached for his shoulder pack that had been flung to the side during his stumble. The zipper was a bit of a struggle with one hand but he worked open the half-open bag by forcing the hand inside and digging. He knew the feel of the small metal handset.. and as soon as he grabbed on it he yanked it free.

From there he turned it on and tuned the frequencies. His hand was still shaking as the signal whined at them, until he settled into the frequency they needed. Immediately he was on the handset.

"This is Alberto, is anyone there? Shee?"

RESEARCH SUPPORT
The radio that Archer had set down suddenly whined, then burst into action, startling Estrelas into a yelp.

"OHHH MISTA ARCHER, MISTA ARCHER, MACHINE IS TALKING TO YOU!" she cried, snatching up the little radio and yelling, "YES THIS IS LOTUS! AH GO GET MEEZ SHEE, WHAT YOU NEED?" She stopped, then shouted, "YOU COME! YOU COME WITH ME MISTA ARCHER! TO GO SEE MEEZ SHEE!"

Estrelas ran out of the library with the radio and over to Shee. "Meez Shee, strange machine ask for you. Ah no know what do," she explained, handing the radio to Shee, but not before shouting. "YOU! YOU MAN, YOU KEEP MY EPANINNY SAFE FOR ME SO SHE COME BACK!" Estrelas cried in a desperate, perhaps even heartbreaking (if one was had romantic and generous notions), voice. "YOU! PLEASE!"

Suddenly aware that she might have been obstructing some signal, Estrelas gulped and immediately ran out of the room, leaving behind a small tray with glasses of water.