Anomaly of the North [IC]

[Atlantic Isles]

At this, of course, Jonathan quickly glanced behind him, more out of nervousness than the actual suspicion that the... thing... would be behind him. "Alright. Let's get to somewhere quiet, somewhere we can hold our ground. I got some basic intel on whatever this thing is, but I'd love to hear anything you can add on to that. Kinda wish I'd brought some more frags, now that you mention that... Oh well. 7.62 should buy us some time, at least. That and smoke. Of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so we'll keep our eyes peeled and ears open. Crazy times." Jonathan shook his head slightly, wondering just how in over his head he was, before dropping his rifle to its sling and making a note on a small pad he pulled out of his pocket, then stowing that and grabbing his rifle once again. "Onward, I suppose. I have a feeling 'improvise, adapt, and overcome' is gonna be the theme of my time on this rock."

Jonathan and Shamus go into a nearby building and into the basement, but not before setting up a frag tripline at the front doorway. "Uh, I'm Agent Shamus, I'm with the Gulen National Police, more specifically the Anomalous Investigation Unit, we're kinda like the SCP Foundation, but we actually exist. Me and my team were sent here to investigate and capture anything anomalous on the island, but it looks like that didn't go to plan, I would radio for backup but the radio in my gas mask got pretty busted up in that attack," Shamus said he said before pulling out his first-aid kit to patch himself up. "I'll tell I everything I know about this thing, guns, well at least assault rifles don't damage it much but explosions and shrapnel is really good at damaging it, it can turn invisible and it is very strong, what do you know about it?" shamus asked...

"Nice to meet you, Shamus. Jonathan George, Atlantic Islesian military. Pretty similar story to you, sent here to investigate some kind of... anomaly, as you put it. Damn, though, SCP-style work... that's wild. Kinda thing you read about in books, right?" He looks around the room, settling down against a wall facing the door. "Got most of the same info as you... assault rifle rounds don't work but supposedly battle rifle rounds at least injure it. Hoping to avoid finding that out first-hand, though. Might be able to regenerate body parts, which is... alarming, to say the least. Heard it can hear pretty damn well..." he lowers his voice, more out of superstition than the though that it'll prevent anything "which is, again, alarming. I have a radio in my kit. Encrypted, so I don't know if it'll get through to your people but you're welcome to try. The more people we get on this island the better the chance we get at ending this, right? Anyway. Let me know if you need any medical help. Gotta look out for each other." He makes another small note on his pad and pulls a roll of electrical tape out of his bag, hoping to tape some loose hardware and equipment down to reduce his sound signature.

[The Gula]

Jonathan and Shamus go into a nearby building and into the basement, but not before setting up a frag tripline at the front doorway. "Uh, I'm Agent Shamus, I'm with the Gulen National Police, more specifically the Anomalous Investigation Unit, we're kinda like the SCP Foundation, but we actually exist. Me and my team were sent here to investigate and capture anything anomalous on the island, but it looks like that didn't go to plan, I would radio for backup but the radio in my gas mask got pretty busted up in that attack," Shamus said he said before pulling out his first-aid kit to patch himself up. "I'll tell I everything I know about this thing, guns, well at least assault rifles don't damage it much but explosions and shrapnel is really good at damaging it, it can turn invisible and it is very strong, what do you know about it?" shamus asked...

"Nice to meet you, Shamus. Jonathan George, Atlantic Islesian military. Pretty similar story to you, sent here to investigate some kind of... anomaly, as you put it. Damn, though, SCP-style work... that's wild. Kinda thing you read about in books, right?" He looks around the room, settling down against a wall facing the door. "Got most of the same info as you... assault rifle rounds don't work but supposedly battle rifle rounds at least injure it. Hoping to avoid finding that out first-hand, though. Might be able to regenerate body parts, which is... alarming, to say the least. Heard it can hear pretty damn well..." he lowers his voice, more out of superstition than the though that it'll prevent anything "which is, again, alarming. I have a radio in my kit. Encrypted, so I don't know if it'll get through to your people but you're welcome to try. The more people we get on this island the better the chance we get at ending this, right? Anyway. Let me know if you need any medical help. Gotta look out for each other." He makes another small note on his pad and pulls a roll of electrical tape out of his bag, hoping to tape some loose hardware and equipment down to reduce his sound signature.

"Uh, well, I guess it's worth a try, I mean we got pretty good hackers in the GNP," Shamus says before picking up Johnathan's radio and putting In the radio channel for the sub he arrived in, he presses the button, "Hello? Can anyone hear me, this is agent Shamus of the GNP, Hello?" -Strhhh- "Hello?" -Strhhh-Hello? Sham-Strhhh-tha-strhhh-yo-strhhh- radio crackled, "Yes, Captain, Is that you?" Shamus asked, -Cant-strhhh-he-strhhhh-underwa-strhhh- Shoot, they can't hear me, the sub must be submer-" Shamus stopped, "Wait, is there a radio station anywhere? If so, I might be able to talk to the mainland and get some troops out here," Shamuus said before waiting for a reply...

[Atlantic Isles]

"Nice to meet you, Shamus. Jonathan George, Atlantic Islesian military. Pretty similar story to you, sent here to investigate some kind of... anomaly, as you put it. Damn, though, SCP-style work... that's wild. Kinda thing you read about in books, right?" He looks around the room, settling down against a wall facing the door. "Got most of the same info as you... assault rifle rounds don't work but supposedly battle rifle rounds at least injure it. Hoping to avoid finding that out first-hand, though. Might be able to regenerate body parts, which is... alarming, to say the least. Heard it can hear pretty damn well..." he lowers his voice, more out of superstition than the though that it'll prevent anything "which is, again, alarming. I have a radio in my kit. Encrypted, so I don't know if it'll get through to your people but you're welcome to try. The more people we get on this island the better the chance we get at ending this, right? Anyway. Let me know if you need any medical help. Gotta look out for each other." He makes another small note on his pad and pulls a roll of electrical tape out of his bag, hoping to tape some loose hardware and equipment down to reduce his sound signature.

"Uh, well, I guess it's worth a try, I mean we got pretty good hackers in the GNP," Shamus says before picking up Johnathan's radio and putting In the radio channel for the sub he arrived in, he presses the button, "Hello? Can anyone hear me, this is agent Shamus of the GNP, Hello?" -Strhhh- "Hello?" -Strhhh-Hello? Sham-Strhhh-tha-strhhh-yo-strhhh- radio crackled, "Yes, Captain, Is that you?" Shamus asked, -Cant-strhhh-he-strhhhh-underwa-strhhh- Shoot, they can't hear me, the sub must be submer-" Shamus stopped, "Wait, is there a radio station anywhere? If so, I might be able to talk to the mainland and get some troops out here," Shamuus said before waiting for a reply...

"Don't know... haven't seen one but that definitely doesn't mean there isn't one. I guess we could try to get up on the mountain, too. Height might help get your signal farther. If there isn't one and you can't get through still, we could try building a field-expedient antenna up on the mountain. I have no idea what frequency you're trying to get out on, but it's probably doable regardless. Just gotta find some branches and a bunch of wire. Neither should be too hard to come by around here, though, judging by the general state of the island. Up to you, I suppose."

[The Gula]

"Uh, well, I guess it's worth a try, I mean we got pretty good hackers in the GNP," Shamus says before picking up Johnathan's radio and putting In the radio channel for the sub he arrived in, he presses the button, "Hello? Can anyone hear me, this is agent Shamus of the GNP, Hello?" -Strhhh- "Hello?" -Strhhh-Hello? Sham-Strhhh-tha-strhhh-yo-strhhh- radio crackled, "Yes, Captain, Is that you?" Shamus asked, -Cant-strhhh-he-strhhhh-underwa-strhhh- Shoot, they can't hear me, the sub must be submer-" Shamus stopped, "Wait, is there a radio station anywhere? If so, I might be able to talk to the mainland and get some troops out here," Shamuus said before waiting for a reply...

"Don't know... haven't seen one but that definitely doesn't mean there isn't one. I guess we could try to get up on the mountain, too. Height might help get your signal farther. If there isn't one and you can't get through still, we could try building a field-expedient antenna up on the mountain. I have no idea what frequency you're trying to get out on, but it's probably doable regardless. Just gotta find some branches and a bunch of wire. Neither should be too hard to come by around here, though, judging by the general state of the island. Up to you, I suppose."

"Guess we could go to the top of Mt. Pojokai, surely there's a radio station up there," Shamus said, "oh, and the radio frequency is 4724.0 kHz. Are there any roads to the top of Mt. Pojokai?" Shamus asked...

[Atlantic Isles]

"Don't know... haven't seen one but that definitely doesn't mean there isn't one. I guess we could try to get up on the mountain, too. Height might help get your signal farther. If there isn't one and you can't get through still, we could try building a field-expedient antenna up on the mountain. I have no idea what frequency you're trying to get out on, but it's probably doable regardless. Just gotta find some branches and a bunch of wire. Neither should be too hard to come by around here, though, judging by the general state of the island. Up to you, I suppose."

"Guess we could go to the top of Mt. Pojokai, surely there's a radio station up there," Shamus said, "oh, and the radio frequency is 4724.0 kHz. Are there any roads to the top of Mt. Pojokai?" Shamus asked...

"Let's give it a shot. Looks like there's a road that gets us... well, close enough to the top to look around, anyway. Highest point on the island." He grabbed his gear, throwing his backpack back onto his shoulders and picking up his rifle. "Just gotta keep our heads on a swivel, keep our ears open. We got this, though."

[The Gula]

"Guess we could go to the top of Mt. Pojokai, surely there's a radio station up there," Shamus said, "oh, and the radio frequency is 4724.0 kHz. Are there any roads to the top of Mt. Pojokai?" Shamus asked...

"Let's give it a shot. Looks like there's a road that gets us... well, close enough to the top to look around, anyway. Highest point on the island." He grabbed his gear, throwing his backpack back onto his shoulders and picking up his rifle. "Just gotta keep our heads on a swivel, keep our ears open. We got this, though."

Shamus and Jonathan left the building and walked through the town, "You think any of these cars work, I doubt it but it'd be nice" Shamus said whilst looking at a red Nisson Altima. "So tell me a little bit about yourself, I can't really trust you that much If I don't know you that well," Shamus said, "If you can't tell me cause its classified info, I understand, most of the work-related stuff I do is top-secret," Shamus said...

[Atlantic Isles]

"Let's give it a shot. Looks like there's a road that gets us... well, close enough to the top to look around, anyway. Highest point on the island." He grabbed his gear, throwing his backpack back onto his shoulders and picking up his rifle. "Just gotta keep our heads on a swivel, keep our ears open. We got this, though."

Shamus and Jonathan left the building and walked through the town, "You think any of these cars work, I doubt it but it'd be nice" Shamus said whilst looking at a red Nisson Altima. "So tell me a little bit about yourself, I can't really trust you that much If I don't know you that well," Shamus said, "If you can't tell me cause its classified info, I understand, most of the work-related stuff I do is top-secret," Shamus said...

(Oh jeez this completely slipped my mind!)
"Dunno. It'd be great if one of 'em did." He peered into the cab of a beat-up Ford Ranger, then into the bed, looking for anything useful. "Grew up in a small town on an island, got pretty much free run of the place as I grew up. That was awesome, definitely made me who I am today... love of the outdoors and all that. Mandatory service was still in place when I came of age, so that's how I ended up here. Did my mandatory service, loved the people and the experiences, so I stuck with it, made a career out of it. It's a shame that came to an end, I made some of my best friends there and did some cool stuff... still doing the cool stuff, hopefully still making the friends. It's been good to me. As work goes, I'm a bit of an all-arounder. Started off doing grunt things, then medic school, then other assignments. It all came pretty quick, so by the time I age out of this job I'll still have plenty of time to pursue a civilian career. Fun times. How about you?"

[Monfrox]

Santaral Island, Janpia
Port Ereno

Mud
The boat ride in had been scheduled in advance, but that didn't stop Cheresha from running late as usual. Now that she was finally moving in, she kept her hood up on her head as the waves bounced around the small craft that was ferrying her to the island. The Corporal checked her gear and made sure it wasn't going to fly off mid-trip. When she had satisfied that part of her brain, she checked the map on her TAC display on the inside of her left arm. It held all the relevant data to the mission, and to her own mission. While the Janpia government wanted to recapture the specimen, Cheresha had an ulterior objective. Officially, she was still assigned to the Special Tactics Unit. But her mission to the Joint Task Force for Special Acquisitions, aka the "Devil's Advocates", was to assess the threat and discover a true way to neutralize the creature. It was all in the name of protecting the country, as that was the JTFSA's primary mission. It sent agents out around the world to trouble-spots to come up with strategies to fight inhuman creatures as well as observe threats that could be leveraged against the nation.

As the boat approached the dock, Cheresha pointed to a small ladder near the dock. The driver nodded and parked it right next to the pier, allowing for Cheresha to leap out and latch onto the rungs. She gave the boat driver a gesture back to where they came from and he was off. She got the distinct feeling he didn't want to spend any more time here than he had to, but that was fine. Cheresha had been trained to work in small units as well as solo. The Special Tactics Unit was a tryout unit for genetically enhanced soldiers like her. Those who didn't succeed or show promise, stayed in the unit. Others, like the fox girls of the Recon Corps, were moved to their own bonafide special units. Cheresha didn't worry herself about the politics of it all. At the end of the day, she was a soldier, and she was a damn good one at that. No matter what unit she was in, she'd take it all in stride anyway.

The Corporal poked her head above the pier and scanned for movement as she hung off the ladder. When there was no immediate response to her arrival, she scaled up the rest of the way and took off down the length towards the port city. She moved fast towards a small store which was the closest thing she had to any real cover before getting into the urban area. She sprinted in and burst through the door before shutting it behind her. Luckily for her, it had been unlocked. She panted and crouched down, letting her heart settle and stop beating in her ears. Sound was the greatest way of detecting movement. You could hear before you could see certain things, and Cheresha needed to hear if anyone had taken an interest in her. She slowly pulled her Royal Froxian Armory Standard Combat Rifle off her back and racked the charging handle to chamber a 5.56 round. She did this without looking at her weapon, but press-checked the bolt so she could visibly confirm that a round was indeed seated in the chamber of the rifle. She then put through a message on her TAC display that sent it through an encrypted burst transmission to her handler.

Rook is in the AO. Proceeding on mission.

Cheresha didn't wait for a response. She stood up as soon as her body settled down and carefully went about clearing the small store of any possible threats. When she was satisfied that it was empty, she peeked out into the streets ahead where the urban sprawl started. She'd had to make her move there soon, but she wanted to bide a little more time to avoid anyone getting too curious for their own good. Cheresha pulled the hood of her uniform off and ran her gloved hand through her damp hair. The red tinge stood out from dull blue of the rest. Her bright yellow eyes automatically adjusted her pupils to control the amount of light coming in, which was what gave her such excellent natural night vision. Her battle-rig, thigh pouches, and assault pack had remained thoroughly strapped down and still held all the equipment she came in with. With all the checks done, Cheresha opened up her TAC display and turned her comms to try to pick up on any chatter going on around the area as she monitored the approach to the store.