VonArtsy

    Bravo Team was then able to successfully bring the anomaly to M Lab and have it put in a more secure containment cell for research. And, with any luck, they wouldn’t have to deal with it again.

     “Salem. Guess you didn’t die.” I-12’s voice had a hint of disappointment. Why that was wasn’t to be discussed right now.

     “Must be such a sorrow for you, eh?” The passive aggressive tone in Brit’s voice wasn’t being hidden in the slightest. “Just tell me what excess I need to file and I’ll be on my way, okay?”

     “... Fine. We can chat later.” I-12 handed Brit several papers.

     He took the papers and glanced over them. There were two more than usual, which was two too many. “And sir?”

     I-12 tilted his head.

     “Please stop doing this.” He glared down at his boss.

    The robot was quiet for a little while. “No promises.”

     Brit sighed, stepping out of I-12’s office without another word. He couldn’t stand to be around that freak any longer.

     “Hi, angelo,” Dipaulo greeted with a smile. 

     “You were waiting for me?” 

     The man nodded. “Of course!”

     “Oh. Er, thanks.”

     Some silence passed, but it wasn’t awkward at all.

     “Hey, Dip?” Brit asked as him and Dipaulo walked back to their shared dorm.

     Dipaulo looked up at him. “Yeah?”

     “How come you knew where to find me?”

     “Oh. Well, just uh… just luck.” He shrugged. It wasn’t very convincing, but the answer wasn’t super important. Probably.

     “... Right.”

     When they got to their room, Dipaulo took off his equipment and shoved it in his drawers, gave Brit a goodnight kiss on the cheek, and plopped down on his bed to fall asleep. The mission that day was much more tiring than most others, so he felt that he deserved to sleep in a little extra. Besides, it was almost eleven. 

     Brit finished up the reports, finished being that he fell asleep at the desk.

     As for the other three, Erikson got an ice pack for Vance’s head, and also a Zyrtec® for his allergies… Phillips got them all a pack of cookies from the cafeteria to share.

     Reflexively, the man yanked his hand away from the vine that had attempted to latch itself onto his glove, and sprinted for dear life.

     Oh dear. Things were not going well, not at all. The worst part was that it was all up to Vance to get them back. No offence to him, of course, but Vance wasn’t really the most… ideal person of choice. Not for a task of this much importance, and to do by himself no less. 

     Oh no, oh no—nononono… Vance quickly paced through the alleys without paying much attention to where he was walking, his hands absentmindedly playing with his left glove he took off. “This is all bad—really really bad…” He took even breaths so as to keep calm while his mind thought and thought about what his course of action should be. “Sooner the better, but I gotta put some thought into this too…” He continued to mutter under his breath, aimlessly wandering through the city. Then, Vance found a man leaning against a brick wall in a sort of dark and ominous alley. It would almost be cartoonishly scary if not for the cigarette held between his lips, golden yellow smoke being exhaled rather than the expected smoke. With his height, he was like a tree compared to Vance.

     The two exchanged glances. Both were expecting someone, but, well, other people. The stranger lifted a hand out his jacket’s pocket and took the cigarette out. “And who might you be?” The man had a distinct Russian accent.

     “Oh, hi. Vance. ” Vance waved a hello. As suspicious as the stranger looked, Vance wasn’t cautious at all about him, for some weird reason. “You happen to see a lil’ plant kid that’s, like, ye high?” He made an estimation of its size by putting one of his hands at about knee height.

     The stranger thought for a few seconds, then remembering that he actually had seen something like that. “It was bigger than that, but I think I know what you’re talking about. Thing went down that way.” He pointed with his cigarette at a slim entrance to a separate area that Vance would have totally missed if he hadn’t asked. 

     “Thanks man!” Vance shouted as he ran over to go in that direction. “‘Preciate it!”

     The stranger watched as he scurried off. Lab people are so interesting…

     Strangely, Vance felt somewhat happier from the stranger. Maybe it was because he helped him, or because he just wanted some social interaction after having not talked to anyone for a solid 15 minutes—he’s the kind of guy to hang out with someone 24/7 if given the chance after all. Whatever the reason, Vance would probably try to find him again and be friends. ‘Can’t have too many friends’ is what he basically lived by.

     As he got closer to where he was told the anomaly was by, it smelled like… cut grass? Vance sneezed. Oh dear; it seemed like there was also an abundance of pollen. There’s probably a good chance it really was still around there then, and hopefully, it hadn’t sucked the life out of his missing team members. He didn’t know what he’d do without them; just an abrupt and forced goodbye. Best to not think about it, however, as he felt positively certain he was on the right track.

     Then he heard them, just faintly enough that it could have been bypassed without a second thought, but he recognised them instantly. It was hard to make out any words though, so he needed to get closer. Vance sprinted to where the echoing of their voices seemed to be originating from, focusing more than he ever had before on a task to try pinpointing where they were.

     “Erikson! Phillips?!” he called out.

     “Vance!” It sounded, and seemed, like Phillips was close by.

     If anything, Phillips sounded like she was… above him. He looked up, and above him was an amalgamation of brambles, leaves, fungi, and basically every other plant Vance couldn’t think of off the top of his head. The anomaly wasn’t even in a specific shape, just some sort of mass that fumbled around with the use of vines to pull itself. In this case, it was using the vines to stick to the two buildings making the narrow alley. It was encroaching on him, and fast.

     The man blinked a couple times to see how true this was until it was only a metre or two away. He jumped as he realised the freak really was there, running out onto a sidewalk. The anomaly chased after him like a feral animal, leaving trails of moss and fungi spores in its wake. Vance walked backwards and onto the road while loading his tranquillizer, glancing up at the anomaly every other second to see how fast it was gaining on him.

     “C’mon c’mon, just load already!” he growled. His gun just happened to be jamming at the absolute worst possible time. Finally, after enough hits, the tranquillizer decided to properly work for once, and so Vance raised it up and fired two darts.

     One flew just above the anomaly, the other lodging itself right into the core of the target. It shrieked, flailing its plant appendages in rage, but despite the fact the poison was designed for anomalies, the rain seemed to be reinvigorating the entity and washing out the effects. All his attempt at defence did was make it furious. The anomaly lunged at Vance, only to be rammed by Bravo Team’s van.

     Vance stared dumbfoundedly as the anomaly flew across the road, the van skidding to a halt.

     One of the front windows rolled down. “Get in, loser.” Oh. It was Dipaulo sitting in the passenger side. Did… did he have a flower crown on?

     “Yeah, yeah,” Vance grumbled, climbing into the back seat. It looked like Brit was driving. “Where’d ya’ find Brit?”

     “The plant freak had a nest, or… something like that—on top of a building. He was just chilling in there.” Dipaulo whispered something about running over the anomaly to Brit, to which he shook his head. 

     “And what’s with the flower thing? On your head?” 

     Dipaulo shrugged. “Brit was bored when he was stuck with the anomaly.”

     While those two continued chatting, Brit left the van and cautiously made his way over to the anomaly. It looked like it was, unsurprisingly, knocked out. Thing is, it was far too big to stuff in the back of the van though, so they’d just deal with that later and hope it didn’t wake up by the time they got back from getting the rest of Bravo. Brit went to the van, driving down the road to the building with the entity’s nest. If it behaved the same, then Phillips and Erikson were expected to be there.

     Brit parked in front of the building and turned to Dipaulo and Vance. “Alright, so, you lads are going to stay here and watch for the anomaly. I’m going to check if Erikson and Phillips are in the nest, and if they are, I’ll bring them out. Got that? And please, no funny business. This mission is already spelling out way too much paperwork that I don’t have the time or energy for.”

     Vance and Dip both looked at each other before nodding.

     “Good.” With that said, Brit promptly left.

     “So…” Vance got comfortable, and since he had the backseats all to himself, laid down with his hands placed on his stomach. “How long were ya’ looking for Brit ‘til you found him?” He asked curiously. “Like, considering we didn’t stay long at the lab at all, and y’ already left, you must’ve been searchin’ like a dang hound.”

     “I was… worried.” Dipaulo looked out the window at the building.

     “Mmm, yeah, fair.” The van got mostly quiet, the only sound being Vance softly humming a cheery tune to himself. 

     It wasn’t long before Brit came back with Erikson and Phillips tailing behind him. Brit got in the front, Erikson shooing Dipaulo to go in the back (which he did with a pout), and Phillips sitting in the back as well. Now they were all in their usual placement.

     “Oop, that was fast,” said Vance. “So we gon’ get that thing now?”

     Brit nodded, driving them all to where it was, and somehow, the anomaly was still there. Actually, it seemed too still… Eh, not that much of their problem. Bravo Team got out of the van, staring at it until Phillips had an idea of how to bring it to the lab.

     “What if we, uhm, we took it and like… put it… on top of the van? You know?”

     Vance grinned at the idea and put his left glove on again, briefly giving Phillips a thumbs up, and then grabbing a couple of vines. He managed to pull it towards the van a little bit, but he’d definitely need some help if they were going to get it on top anytime soon. Vance turned to the others, gritting his teeth while he still kept pulling it. “Am I gonna do this all by myself?”

     “You caught it?” 

     “Yes, sir,” said Erikson. His fingers fidgeted anxiously behind his back.

     “Well done...” I-12 half-heartedly praised, then leaning back in his chair. “Now we both know reports are usually Brit’s job. Where is he?” 

     Erikson took a deep breath. “He went missing, sir. We believe he’s been taken by an anomaly.”

     “And are you going to find him, or simply wait, Erikson?”

     “We were planning on looking for him in between missions. Is that alright?” 

     I-12 sat in thought for a few moments, running all the possibilities through his head before he came to a conclusion (though it would be one that Bravo wouldn’t be too happy about). “Better for you to cancel those plans.”

     Erikson’s breath caught in his throat. “Excuse me, sir, but we need him as part of the team. It isn’t like we would be leaving work for it. Could you please rethink i—”

     “Permission denied,” he stated, more as a matter of fact this time, making sure Erikson understood his response. “He’ll turn up.”

     “And if he doesn’t?”

     “If he doesn’t, then, well... Get used to your team having four.”

     Erikson opened his mouth to speak his mind, but I-12 spoke first. 

     “Do. You. Understand?” He kept his gaze on the employee.

     “... Crystal clear, sir.” Erikson felt his chest getting tight and his hands tensing.

     I-12 sighed, although it was unclear if it was a sigh of relief or annoyance. “Good. Dismissed.” He waved Erikson off.

     I-12 allowed himself to rest a few seconds more, groaning as he sank back into the chair.

     Then he got a notification. One he really never wanted to hear nor see; especially not now.

     “Bravo?” I-12 asked over a communication feed that sat directly in his system. 

     “Uh... sir? What is it?” Phillips responded. She’d just gotten back to her dorm on the other side of the lab and was currently lying down on her bed without a care. Well until now of course. It felt like her heart either stopped when she received the call from I-12 or accelerated to an alarming amount of beats per minute. One of them anyway.

     “The anomaly Bravo Team captured is gone. Within a matter of only twenty minutes on arrival no less.”

     “W—wait, really?”

     “Would I lie?” he said with a certain amount of snarkiness to it. I would... It’s not like that’s too out of the question... 

     “So... we—er—we hafta’ go back out to find that anomaly? ... Again?” Phillips asked as she twirled her finger around a drawstring for her uniform’s hood.

     “Correct,” I-12 confirmed. “Better get on that then, shouldn’t you?”

     “Yeah, I... I guess I should go tell everyone. Uhm... Just a quick question, sir, if you don’t mind?”

     “I do mind, actually.”

     The call promptly ended.

     “meet at the van. I 12 said we gotta get that plant anommaly,” Phillips texted in the group chat (with a couple of typos) before slipping her phone in her pocket and leaving the room, now making her way to the others. Hope we can get the anomaly and make sure it stays this time... the woman thought. And also... also find Brit... Dipaulo’ll be sad and lonely without him and I... Well, he already is all sad and... Her mind kept running while she walked on autopilot to the parking garage. When Phillips had gotten there, Erikson was already in the driver’s seat waiting, and Vance only a few paces behind her. They both got in the back seats, and only then did the two realise Dipaulo wasn’t there.

     “Where’s Dipaulo? He, uh... He should be here by now...” Phillips looked around.

     “He went to look for Brit, surprise surprise,” said Erikson sarcastically. The van had already been started, so the moment Vance and Phillips had buckled their seatbelts, Erikson backed out of the space and sped down from the parking garage. It was a good thing there were never any verifiable police officers in the lab otherwise Erikson would’ve lost his licence way more than just once and the other two in the vehicle would lose any sliver of hope they’d have left for getting their own licences.

     “That’s just fantastic,” Vance commented with the same amount of sarcasm. “I know he cares about Brit, but we still got a job to do.”

     “If we find Brit—” said Phillips, only to be cut off by Erikson.

     “When we find Brit,” he corrected.

     “Oh, of course… Okay then; when we find Brit, d’ya we should get him to talk to Dipaulo about staying on-track about this job?” she asked.

     “That would probably be best,” said Erikson. The car took a sharp turn that bumped the side of Vance’s head into the window, but no one said anything. He probably shouldn’t have been speeding this fast considering the rain both made the road wet and was restricting his sight... “It’s not like this is the first time Dipaulo’s gone off on his own for his own reasons either. It damages how much our group can do with even just one of us gone. We’re down our leader, and now because of him, a scout as well.” He sounded disappointed at how irresponsible Dipaulo had been acting.

     The van grew silent after that. There wasn’t much to say at the moment. Actually, maybe a ‘You okay?’ or something like that to Vance who was currently holding his bruised head, but sadly, he’d find that no one would say anything.

     The van arrived at the same location that it had not that long ago, even sitting in the same parking space. They all got out of the van without further ado, going through the same process they always had, only without Brit and Dipaulo this time.

     “Right, so, we’re going to head to the same place Brit and Dipaulo were at and search around there. The anomaly is our priority, but… let’s find the two if we can, yeah?” Erikson took a deep breath and motioned for the rest to follow him, and so they did.

     The trio tentatively searched the alleyways and streets for the anomaly and teammates, although they didn’t find anything. The sky faded darker and the sun began to hide behind the horizon line, but still, they kept searching. The rain continued to storm throughout the city, but still, they kept searching. Their mission wasn’t done yet after all, and they still had plenty of energy left to keep looking for at least a couple more hours.

     Phillips’ eyes were drawn to the night sky for a few brief moments, though nothing of interest happened, so she turned back down and kept making her way through alley after alley and street after street. Not a single star could be seen through the dark clouds. Just a passing thought, I guess… Phillips sighed. With the click of a button, she turned on her radio and started speaking. “Vance?”

     “Yeah?”

     “Are we, uhm… we’re sure that Brit and Dipull—Dipaulo… that they, uh…” Phillips tried to speak, but for some reason, the words found trouble leaving her mouth. She took a deep breath. Once. Twice. The smell of rain made itself very clear, its abundance almost overwhelming. Despite that, it still managed to be calming. Phillips looked up once more, and could have sworn there was something up there, watching and waiting—if only momentarily. It felt quiet. It felt still. 

     “... Phillips?…” Vance sounded worried from her abrupt pause.

     Phillips looked around the alley where only she stood alone. Brick and concrete walls made a narrow path, water pouring down the gutters to tend to the foliage that climbed up the walls and that lay below her feet. One bunch of weeds in particular decided to coil around one of Phillips’ legs—not of its own volition though. Phillips was in trouble.

     “Phillips, are you there?” He was starting to sound more urgent.

     Phillips felt herself get pulled to the ground by the plant. By the time she’d realised the severity of what was happening, it was too late to help herself. The anomaly had found her.

     Vance heard the thud of her body hitting the concrete on the other end of the radio before her mic clicked to an off. "Cheri!"  Hurriedly, Vance opened up a channel with Erikson. If things kept going this way, there wouldn’t be a Bravo Team anymore. “Erikson—Phillips got taken by the anomaly!” he nearly screamed into his radio.

     An uncomfortable silence followed.

     “Erikson?” 

     No response.

     On that note, Bravo Team split up, heading in their respective directions. Though even with five professionals (only two of them could be considered that), looking for an anomaly that supposedly should be easy to spot turned up with nothing within the first thirty minutes.

     “Erik!” Shouted Vance from across the alleyway, who was peering into a dumpster. “There a—there’s a thing!”

     Both Phillips and Erikson’s heads turned on a swivel, assuming that he’d found at least some trace of the anomaly.

     “Y’ got it?” Erikson asked, him and Phillips running over to Vance to see what he’d found.

     “It’s, it’s not that plant thing, but it, uhm...” He gestured to the inside of the dumpster. Inside laid two black trash bags wrapped around a shape that looked suspiciously like a human body.

     The three Bravo members exchanged dumbfounded glances, before Erikson walked away. “Not our problem.”

     Phillips looked confused, and one couldn’t really blame her, but Erikson was right. It isn’t their problem.

     Then, Erikson’s radio buzzed to life. “Erikson!” It was Dipaulo on the other end.

     Erikson stopped in his tracks, holding the button to speak on his radio and putting a finger up at Phillips and Vance for them to be silent. “What? Why’re you ye—”

     “Brit! He just... just disappeared!” Dipaulo explained not very calmly at all. “I turned around for a second and he’s gone! I—He’s not even answering my—” 

     “Take a deep breath, Dipaulo. We’ll be there in a second, don’t worry.” Erikson turned off his radio, looking at the other two. “C’mon. They need help.” 

     They nodded, chasing a little behind Erikson as he wasted no time to sprint through the littered alleyways and over to where Dipaulo said he was. In less than 3 minutes, Erikson had already ran halfway across the small city while barely breaking a sweat, with Vance and Phillips lagging behind as anyone normally would.

     “Geez, Vance, how is he—” Phillips took a sharp turn, nearly slipping on a comically placed banana peel next to a torn open garbage bag. Stupid raccoons did that, she thought. “Is he always this fast?!" 

     “Uh-huh!” Vance answers, almost running into Phillips but managing to stay just behind her.

     Soon enough though, they turned a corner and both crashed into Erikson, all of them toppling onto one another. But hey, they found Dipaulo. Only Dipaulo, however.

     “Seriously guys?!” shouted Erikson, obviously annoyed as he hurriedly untangled himself from Vance and Phillips. 

     “What?” Vance nonchalantly said while dusting off his gear from the fall.

     “You know what, Vance.”

    Phillips’ hair had somehow untied itself, so she was currently in the struggle to retie it into a tight ponytail, the wind working against her.

     “Guys!” Dipaulo shouted to get everyone’s attention, which made Vance flinch. Dipaulo didn’t ever get this worked up, so when he did, it was certainly a surprise. “An anomaly took Brit!” Just behind him on the wall were thick patches of moss and lichen, and other various foliage which definitely wouldn't have grown naturally in that spot, nor would they regularly be glowing. It all seemed to be originating from up the wall onto the roof of that building, and was undoubtedly the work of that anomaly they were after.

     “... erhm... I think something’s up there,” Phillips commented.

     “I think it’s up there,” Vance mockingly repeated, “Nooo, really? I couldn’t tell.”

     Whilst Vance and Phillips bickered like siblings arguing for their turn on the console, the other two looked around for a ladder of some kind, and luckily, there seemed to be one conveniently sitting in the corner.

     Erikson grunted as he grabbed it, unfolding the ladder and leaning it up against the brick wall. It was just tall enough to lift himself over the ledge and onto the flat concrete roof. On the roof was indeed something. Well, ‘something’ might’ve been a bit of an understatement. There were many things, like little alive plants scurrying about a miniature forest, which was really just a bunch of blades of grass and a moss canopy. In the middle of it all sat a humanoid looking child with dirty tattered clothing, pale green skin with mushrooms and the like sprouting from various spots on its body. Its ‘hair’ was actually vines. The entity was most definitely unique looking, to say the least, and looked to be playing god with the little habitat that laid in front of it.

     Erikson wasted no time in grabbing the anomaly by its vine hair, it not being able to react quickly enough.

     “BRO SNATCHED THEY WEAVE!” Blurted Vance.

     “Vance! Take this seriously,” Phillips scolded, lightly hitting Vance with the back of her hand. Erikson hopped down off the building roof and down the ladder, dragging the entity along with little regard for its physical wellbeing. 

     “I’m doubting this weak thing is the freak that stole Salem from me...” Dipaulo muttered under his breath.

     “So we got our mission objective, but... where’s Brit?” asked Phillips. 

     Erikson thought for a moment before he answered. “I don’t know... We might have to search for him in between missions if he doesn’t come back by himself.” He didn’t pay any mind to the anomaly now flailing about and trying to escape, but to no avail of course.

     "Wait, but shouldn't finding him be our top priority?" said Dipaulo worriedly.

     "I know how much you like him—we all do—but anomalies could harm civilians. We can't abandon our job in favour of searching for Brit." 

     "But, I... Brit... he's just..." He trailed off, though still, he understood why they couldn't drop everything. Fine then. I'll just leave to look for him later if they won't let me now.

     The team got the anomaly into the van without much trouble, it sitting tied up in the trunk. I’m sure if anyone witnessed it, they definitely would have assumed someone was in the process of being kidnapped and murdered, but that wasn’t the problem at the moment. The real problem was that they were still missing the team leader, and that was not good in the slightest.

     All the members were now wide awake from the events of the morning, the mood lingering in the van thick and quiet. The members of Bravo weren’t the only ones worried too, with the anomaly fearing for its life. You couldn’t blame it, considering  what regularly happens to its brethren. 

     “... Dipaulo?” Vance said after some indefinite amount of time. 

     “Yeah?” 

     “You ‘n Brit.”

     “Mm? What about us?” asked Dipaulo, turning to glance out the window of the van for a second.

     “How, ehm... how worried are you about him... ?

     “Mm... very... I hope he’s alright... I mean I know he can take care of himself,” he quietly responded, "but I still—" 

     He was then interrupted by the van coming to a rather abrupt halt, the only thing keeping them from banging their heads into the seats in front of them being the extremely useful seatbelts.

     Erikson muttered frustratedly under his breath and shot a stern glare at the three behind him that basically said “Don’t do anything stupid”, before leaving the van as well, to which they all briefly glanced at each other. Where a tire on the van should have been, it was in fact, not there. In place of it was a mess of vines clinging onto the motors and such on the underside of the van, and while the tire was likely still there, you couldn’t even see it past all the plants in the way. The man crouched down, and just to test, gave a quick tug on one of the smaller vines that then broke off with ease. Not too long after, rain drops began to fall from dark clouds quickly sweeping over the region, water starting to slick the road and Erikson’s uniform. What timing... he thought.

     While Erikson went to work on removing the plants from the tire, the other three were talking about god knows what.

     “... ‘m just saying, if you were to have a father, how would that help when fighting a slasher guy?” said Phillips

     “But,” said Vance, “It won’t not help.”

     “What if Hatsune Miku was a slasher?” 

     “Oh nonono—Hatsune Miku does NOT talk to dead bodies.”

     While the incessant voices of Phillips and Vance continued their debate that was loosely about slashers (with a couple of vocaloids), Dipaulo was watching to see if anything were to appear. And, well... maybe also to see if the missing member were to somehow just return. Nothing out of the ordinary did though; only a couple of occasional cars zooming past their van on the side of the road and the pitter-patter of rain that was growing in volume. It was clear he was the most concerned about Brit, that much was obvious.

     The van door opened after some amount of time, Erikson sitting in the front seat with a somewhat soaked uniform. He tossed a small black bag behind him, which Dipaulo caught.

     “What’s this?” said Dipaulo.

     “Anomaly samples. Just don’t open it ever,” Erikson answered firmly.

     Dipaulo nodded and kept the bag in his lap, returning to gaze out the window.

     “To begin the day, sightings of an anomalous being have been found yet again in the downtown area of Salamander City, more specifically on Gecko Circle. Witnesses say that it was a human-like entity, covered in fungus, tree bark, and lichen. Stay in lighted areas and remain in groups. In other anomalous news—” The television cut off, its remote held in the hand of the teammate who had just entered the common area. 

     “Hey Dip,” Brit says simply. He’s not really one for small talk.

     “Already up?” the other man asks with a raised brow. His short curly hair was still ruffled, eyes clearly showing a sleep-deprived man. “... I guess that freak’s what we’re goin’ after then?” he said, setting the remote down on the TV-stand and looking over at the team leader.

     Brit gave a little nod, standing up from the seat. “Not freaks... but yes, Dipaulo, seems like that’s our target. Where’s the others?” questioned Brit as he made his way out of the common room and through the hall.

     Dipaulo followed closely behind, looking up at Brit as he spoke. “Just came back from the mess hall. I think... Erikson is still helping Phillips with her equipment? No clue where Vance went off to though...”

     “Right behind you, buds.” Ah. There he was.

     Dipaulo spun around, almost jumping at the sudden appearance of the (figurative) little gremlin known as Vance. “God—Vance! Yer’ such a little—” He hisses, making a pouting face before facing forward again.

     “You two’re so immature sometimes...” Brit muttered under his breath, which earned a smug chuckle from Vance and a huff from Dipaulo.

     The trio continued to walk over to the dorms, being greeted by Erikson and Phillips in the middle of the hallway. The two were chatting, likely just on their way to go see the others.

    Vance perks up, jogging across the hall in no time.  “There you two are! C’mon guys, we gotta go, uh... We gotta... gotta... ” He looked over to Brit.

     “Contain an anomaly like we always do,” he continued.

     “Right, yeah, that.” Vance said, nodding his head and keeping his actions just as confident as if he was the one who finished the sentence. He dragged both of them by their wrists, even though they were already on their way over.  “What’s this thing about anyway, Brit?”

     “I’ll explain when we’re ready to go. Erikson: start up the van, make sure ev’ryone got their equipment, that stuff. I’m telling I-12 we’re heading out,” Brit announced.

     "Yep-yep.” 

     Erikson took off to the parking lot with Phillips, Vance, and Dipaulo in tow; while Brit made his way through the many sterile concrete hallways, reaching I-12's office in only a few minutes. Just a quick in 'n out, no longer than it has t' be, he reminded himself. After a couple knocks, and the go ahead from him to enter, he took a step into his office. "Sir.” 

     I-12 looked up at me from his desk, his TV screen remaining its usual turquoise blue. “Yes, Salem?” His voice echoed with just barely audible static. 

     Brit never got over how... odd I-12 was. No offence to the robot-man- of course, but having a boss with an expressionless television for a head wasn’t exactly the norm; even when one works with anomalies every day. “Permission for Bravo Team to attempt to capture an entity in the city?” he asked firmly.

     “Permission granted. File a report when you’re done with the mission,” I-12 states as per routine. “And one other thing..."

     "Hm?"

     "Don't deal with it like last time, alright? We kinda need them alive and still anomalous. I don’t even know how you five did that catastrophe that was last week...” I-12’s screen changed colour to purple a few times, which was presumed to be a...  change of emotion? Brit wasn’t quite sure.

     “... O’ course. We’ll refrain from doing that again, sir.” 

     “Good.”

     Brit nodded respectfully, making his way out and to the exit. Lovely, he found out ‘bout that, he thought, then sighing. Erikson should ‘ave everything settled and ready to go by now.

     Everyone's loaded up into the van, their weapons, anomaly restraints; all the things required for each and every mission. Brit gets into the driver's side, Erikson to his right, and the other three in the back. “ ‘re we all ready to go, lads?” Everyone states a form of confirmation, and the van leaves the parking garage by the lab, moving smoothly down the road to head for the city. The drive would be about 15 or so minutes, as it always was; and it was only about 0600 in the morning so the whole drive was generally quiet. Once Vance woke up fully though, he was like a hyperactive toddler. One interaction that other people may think is strange that’s actually expected when it’s coming from Vance would go along something like this:

     Phillips taps Vance’s shoulder, as he was the one right next to her. “U–uhm... Vance?”

     “Obamna soda.”

     “Wha... ? N–no, that’s—”

     “BIDEN BLAST!” Dipaulo loudly interjects after having heard the ‘calling phrase’. Dipaulo and Vance are already wheezing with laughter at their own ridiculousness, while Phillip’s expression can only be described as both confusion, and/or immense fear. All the while, Erikson is holding his head in disappointment.

     “Good luck getting used to us, Phillips,” Brit said in a deadpanned voice while driving. Phillips couldn’t tell if it was actual good luck, or a threat that they could get a lot more chaotic. Probably both.

     “... Thank... you... ?” Phillips mumbles. “Right, uhm, sir? Weren’t you gonna tell us about the anomaly? I mean... we should probably know what it is we’re even going after.”

     Brit glanced at her for a second or two in the rearview mirror. “'S a plant humanoid, somewhere downtown. That’s all we’ve got on it.”

     “... Oh, yay...” She says back sarcastically, looking out the tinted black van windows. So they were going after an anomaly that could almost definitely blend into foliage with ease, and none of them even knew what it looked like... Better than being completely blind to what I’m looking for, I suppose... Phillips thought.

     “Well then,” said Erikson with a sigh, still brushing off what Vance and Dipaulo just did. “Brit, how long ‘til we get there?” 

     He shrugs without another word. The man is still very sleepy, that much is obvious. 

     The van returned to silence, of course with the occasional small talk or jokes that randomly popped into Vance’s head, but nothing of note. Some time later, they pulled into a parking space on the side of the road, now in the city.

     “Remember guys, no civilian harm—we hafta get at least 2 months without doing that, got it? I really shouldn’t even need to tell you guys,” Brit said as he turned off the van, his eyes shifting between Vance and Dipaulo specifically.

     “Yes, yeah, I know, but I keep telling you that it's their faults!” Vance retorted. 

     “That doe’n’t make it any better!” Brit loudly said, before sighing and lowering his voice down to normal. “C’mon everyone. Out the van ‘nd grab yer equipment.”

     All of them did so, getting out of the vehicle and taking their respective weapons (even though they barely used them), and anomaly restraints out the trunk. Of course, that earned them some weird looks from people because, well, no one in the city was really used to anomalies or the people that wanted to capture them. Not going to lie though, they did look like they were on their way to kidnap someone, so the weird looks were more than justifiable to call the cops; and that has definitely delayed them more than a couple of times. 

     Once everyone had settled with their equipment, Brit spoke up again, looking at Erikson, "2-4, you're bringing 2-3 and 2-1. You know the drill, search the west side."

     Erikson—callsign 2-4—gave a firm nod.