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If Lucas weren't terribly concerned with the questions at hand, he would have awarded Hayes with the venerable title of Most Awesome Stranger Ever for the younger man's valiant efforts toward answers. As it were, however, he locked an expectant stare on the female agent and hoped against hope for a favorable reply.

Her initial 'I'm sorry' was quickly misinterpreted as a preface to the worst-case scenario, though it was a misunderstanding that was cleared in short order (much to the relief of the glass held in his hand, his tense posture indicating that he was ready to chuck the poor thing at the nearest wall in a fit of rage at the first bad news he heard).

No one died.

Oh, thank Arceus...

No one even really got seriously injured...

Even better.

Except Stephan.

Who was Stephan? A sheer, overwhelming love for all of humanity, inspired by the knowledge that every one of the agents had returned safely, drove Lucas to entertain the idea of finding the man in the infirmary and wishing him a swift recovery, but an even more overwhelming sense of relief had made his legs quite noodly and incapable of standing for some indeterminate length of time. So Claire was fine, and so was Faleen, and obviously Nyx too, and Lucas hadn't even known Aulus had gone but felt relief for the fact nonetheless. A slow sigh expelled the built-up feelings of grief that he had been sure he would need to embrace, and a normal color returned to his complexion.

He blinked in a mild surprise as he found a glare turned on his person, though the vague expression became a wide grin as he realized the implications of that glare. The fact that Aulus was there, glaring at him and calling him an arsehole, meant that he was alive and safe, and that was all Lucas needed from him. The older man wouldn't give the other grunt the opportunity to ignore him - not without an intent attempt to do so, anyway - as he found himself renewed by the sight of someone he knew fairly well and stood to approach, moving to plant a hand on Aulus's shoulder.

"Evening to you too, you sick b*****d," he said, still grinning. "Damn right you didn't die." The statement was said with a great breath of relief, and he regarded the man as though he were a friend. A slight worry intermingled with curiosity took his expression, "What the hell happened to you guys? Where's Claire?"

Not to much longer aster Aulus stepped into the rec-room, that another Agent, with her dark blond hair came walking briskly into the room with purpose.
Unlike Nyx, The agent did not look newly showered, and relaxed, she looked quite stressed, loose strands of hair that has fallen out of her ponytail were framing her face, and her uniform certainly had the signs of being caught in a mine for most of the day. the side of her belt where her Rocket Dex had been was frayed, the uniform and slightly burned.

Gray boots stopped her abruptly, seeing to be taken surprise by the amount of people in the room, Lucas, Frost, and Hayes, she knew, glancing at them each in turn... and suddenly very aware of the state of her uniform. but her eyes instantly locked onto Nyx and she took another quick long strides over.
"Nyx, can I borrow your Dex?" She asked, her voice implying great importance... or just an overwhelming curiosity. either way, she -needed- it

Hayes let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and sat back. TRP, Nyx, Faleen, Claire, Aulus.. he would have ticked them off some mental list, except he only recognized two of the names. And now everyone was talking about this Aulus. Who the hell was Aulus?

Content to let the conversation flow around him, the agent set his cards down, reached for one of the cracker packs, had a sip of soda, and raised his brows over the top of the can at the shirtless pizza delivery. O-kay, well, it was after midnight. Apparently, this was Aulus, and by the look of him the rumors of being the party's tank were right.

The next person in after Aulus was someone he did know, though, alive and well. Reasonably well, at least. The blond grinned at her, shoulders sloping slightly. Hayes voiced an offhand "Hey. Welcome back."

"Shove it up you arse, Lucas," Aulus growled, flopping down in a space on the sofa. Ripping open the box of beer, the younger scarred man continued to glare at his elder counterpart. Ignoring all else he said; "Why do you even care? I thought she was just a co-worker, isn't that what you told me? Told her? Before you ask me about Claire, ask me about everyone else who is just a co-worker. Oh," Aulus' face twisted into an ugly snarl, "and help yourself to pizza and beer, you b*****d." He didn't want beer, and he didn't want pizza. He wanted to crush Lucas' windpipe. He'd hurt Claire. He'd hurt Claire!

"Everyone else is here. They're clearly fine." Well, one, two, three-- Besides Claire, there was one other missing, but Lucas felt it would be taken as pure defensiveness if he said he was worried about the other one. He was, though, now that he thought about it, but the fact that he couldn't remember the name made it difficult to ask. "If that's how you wanna be then tell me about Stephan." There was a name he recognized. "Nyx said he was hurt. What happened?"


Drawn by the strange juxtaposition of anger and relief that floated out on the words that escaped the rec room, Aila entered curiously and glanced around the room. She had taken the time to shower and dress in something that wouldn't irritate the burn at her hip and the scratches on her leg. "What on earth is going on in here?" she asked in a quiet voice, side-stepping the angry scarred men to take a place in the vicinity of Frost, Nyx, and Faleen.

Ugh, poor Stephan. Hopefully he recovered to the point that he was able to pilot aircrafts again, unless he'd never wanted the position in the first place, in which case-- This was not the point. The topic suddenly shifted, catching Lucas completely off-guard, and he gritted his teeth for a few silent moments before breathing out a frustrated sigh. "No, she doesn't mean nothing and it drives me crazy." There he had been, purposefully distancing himself from her for her own benefit, determined to step aside and make the relationship impersonal, but he'd spent the whole time worrying over how she was taking it nonetheless. Not a single step in the process was taken without regret. "She doesn't mean nothing and I'm really worried right now because you're not telling me what happened and she's not here and would you please just tell me already." He turned intent blue eyes upon Aulus's own of red, expression imploring, almost begging for the information he had asked for.

"Do I look casual to you, you insufferable a**?!" Last he'd look, 'casual' didn't refer to someone who was very nearly literally sick with worry or pleading with someone to hear about another's condition. "I thought she was dead! I thought you were all dead! All I want to know is what happened on the damn mission! If you're not going to tell me, then say so already so I can find someone who will!"

The information that she had apparently been burned was neatly filed away so he could find her and make sure she was all right himself. If all else failed he would just ask Claire about the mission then.

"Dead?" She said, looking over at Lucas when he said that,

She thought about that for a moment, why had they thought they were dead... it didn't take long for her to figure that the signals from the chopper and the Dex were offline for quite sometime... that news must have spread.
"... oh." She hadn't thought about that.