<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/13/Ha_Otoko_color.jpg)</div><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Wrociaw - Dense Forest</strong><br/><br/>Damian had to push Charybdis as far as he could feasible have it take just to keep up a steady pace through the woods. So far, he had managed to shake direct pursuit, but what little of his sensors were still operating indicated plenty of enemy activity all around him. They were on the hunt and since Damian was riding clan tech, he would make for a very juicy target. The Ha Otoko wasn't exactly the greatest piece of equipment ever to come from Clan Sea Fox', then Diamond Shark's, many research projects but it was valuable nonetheless. While the damage to the machine was considerable, it could still be patched up, or stripped for valuable parts.<br/><br/>He had left his commanding officer behind, that was a thought he found difficult to shake. There were few things that could damage his calm and collected nature, but abandoning a comrade was definitely one of them. Carlos had had no chance of making it out of there alive, at least if the account of his injuries was to be believed. He hadn't heard an explosion behind him, so that either meant he bled out before he could set his machine to blow, or it had been just another blast among the countless others spreading flame and debris all over the place. He had seen a lot of battles over the years, and many of them had been bloody, destructive, chaotic and almost apocalyptic affairs. But, this one took the cake. He knew the Jade Falcon were brutal, but it was still something else to be slapped in the face with it.<br/><br/>He felt anger rising again, but instead of acting out on it, he pushed it down, as deep as he could. There would be time to break his fists against a boxing bag later. As he pushed on, it didn't take long for him to catch some familiar sights. The discharge of weapons reached him as well, and a Jade Falcon 'Mech attempted to get away by taking to the skies. Judging by the chatter on the comm, one of them had to be Kari, though the nature of her words escaped his comprehension at the moment. He knew that Shadow Cat was only going to be a problem later on, and he had plenty of ammo left to shoot the bird out of the sky.<br/><br/>Fortunately, he found himself in a clearing of some sort. From that vantage point, it was easy for him to get a lock on the 'Mech as it took off. A single pull of the trigger unleashed a full volley of missiles up at the Shadow Cat II. Direct hits piled up, the explosions taking any semblance of balance the machine had with it and sending it crashing down against several trees before it was reduced to a smoking wreck. With the coast somewhat clear for the time being, he decided to try and get word out to the two 'Mechs up ahead. The last thing he needed was to be mistaken for an enemy and get ripped to shreds by friendly fire.<br/><br/><strong>"This is Charybdis. Identify yourselves,"</strong> he began repeating the line as much as necessary, while continuing to close the distance between him and the other two. Smoke, debris and a veritable wall of trees made visual confirmation difficult at best.</div>