#embeddedecho

Decker had felt an uncomfortable prickle at the back of his neck as soon as they had set foot on the property. It was far too silent compared to the usual hustle and bustle of the middle of the day. There should have been people around or, at least, the owners of the house lingering around. It should not have looked like everyone had just left without a trace in the middle of the day. As if they had simply stopped what they were doing and left with no warning. It made it all the more obvious that something had to have happened.

What exactly that was? There was no way to really know. But even the humans on the team seemed to be putt off and weary of their surroundings.

It had to have been much worse for the wolf given the enhanced senses. The ever hyped vigilance that he was forced into out on the field.

The silence had been hanging over the room for the better part of an hour. Between the exhaustion from the day they had and the pain currently digging its ugly claws into Decker's bones? He did not have much strength to do much aside from observe Alex at his side in that silence. The little fur at his eyebrows and the way that he could practically hear the gears turning in the other man's head. It almost became a game after a couple minutes — Waiting to see how long it took Alex to notice how he was being watched.

"Is that what you were doing?" The tiniest hint of amusement in his tone.

Decker would have brushed off the comments and chosen to sit in silence with anyone else. There seemed to be enough camaraderie between the two of them, at that point, for him to indulge the comment with an answer. A continuation into a conversation, maybe.

Being used as some sort of glorified bomb dog was nothing new to him. Despite being a lieutenant, there was not much that Decker could do to prevent being used like that. He was the only one that could do the job, after all. He might not have minded it if there was not always one idiot with something to prove who didn't want to listen.

He should have let the prick get a little maimed in the blast. It would be a learning experience.

Instead, there was a small crowd around the aforementioned idiot to worry over him. Some making rather pointed comments about the dislocated arm caused by the wolf grabbing and yanking him away a bit too harshly, a bit too quick. Far better than to have a limb completely blown off but that was just Decker's own opinion.

Exhaustion was merely something that came with their line of work. That was something that he had figured out in his earliest days of a recruit — Something that he had gotten used to long before their current situation. But, despite that and all the practice that he had, Decker could still feel the exhaustion clinging to him. The way that it seemed to be digging its claws deep into his bones.

"I'm fine," he said flatly, not bothering to glance over at the other man.

It seemed pretty clear that he had barely even registered the words or the mild concern in Alex's voice. The lieutenant was running purely on fumes at that point. Stubbornness alone, maybe a bit of the way higher ups were breathing down his neck, was one of the only reasons that he refused to go to bed with almost everyone else.

Another beat passed before Decker's brain seemed to fully comprehend the words. Hazel hues flickered over toward the other man before focus was back on the task at hand.

tim snorted and barely contained the urge to roll his eyes, he understands underestimating the people here, but he needs the keller to understand what exactly they're capable of before he actually takes him out into the hollers. so he points to a homestead on the map in front of them, the name bennett is written across it. "woman that used to run this family, run that whole town actually, her boys put a man's foot in a bear trap and after that they gave him poisoned moonshine."

he's not gonna act like he spends all his time afraid for his life, hell he barely remembers what it feels like, but he don't want to die so he does his best to always have the upper hand. which hear has meant understanding just how many different ways you can be killed and your body forgotten. "dropped him down an abandoned mine shaft and the old woman took the man's daughter in as her own for a while. kid ended up pulling a gun on her when she figured it out."

" looks different from the ground, " she adds, trained focus on the landscape displayed before them. it wasn't very often that logan had her wings clipped, but the occasional reconnaissance mission required a seasoned soldier. this was an area that she knew well, in concept. another mission entrusted to her from her commander, allied with their high morality-based companions. they were allies here, marching toward a similar cause.

a pair of binoculars provides insight into what they're walking into, and she passes them to alex with prompt frown. " we got some people on the ground, " she comments. " guess this won't be as easy as it said on paper. "

it rarely ever was.

Not that he gave a flying fuck about that, some things were bigger than homelands and countries, and the sentiment of betraying and breaking rules for people you had come to love, well, it wasn't exactly a frowned upon practice in those Price kept company.

'Okay?' He asks with a silent look, gaiter pulled down and pooling loosely about his throat, lips moving slowly as his hands remained occupied. 'Want some company?'