The walk back from the mayor's house to the Humvees and Stryker was short and uneventful, and Russell relaxed as he chatted with Jessie. As they approached the vehicles he grinned as he saw a number of beast-kyn gathered around, looking curiously at the camouflage-clad soldiers and the horseless carriages. The Marine's blue eyes widened and he grinned in appreciation as he watched a cat-girl who looked in her early twenties, her dress tightening across her backside as she bent over to pull back a toddler of the same species from touching one of the Humvees' rear fenders.<em>The only thing kids are more likely to do than touch something unfamiliar is put it in their mouth,</em>he noted whimsically. As the cat-girl straightened up his gaze drifted away to check on his teammates.<br/><br/>Any trace of mirth vanished from Russell's face to be replaced by an angry scowl and his blue eyes burned with barely-checked fury as the orc leered at Jessie who had accidentally bumped into his. The Marine's grip tightened around the forestock of the M-249 and he took a step towards the orc even as he fought to keep his temper in check - he'd fought during the gate invasion of San Francisco and had killed many orcs in the house-to-house fighting, and had seen what they had done to many of their captives. The young Marine glanced around the nearby crowd to look for any possible allies the orc might have nearby, but a single look around didn't reveal any orcs in the crowd near the one yelling abuse at Jess. As Russell strode towards the orc with mayhem on his mind Lt Black moved in and almost negligently slammed the butt of his rifle into the pig-faced lout's gut. What surprised the Marine was that the Army lieutenant had executed his attacks in such a way as to make it seem as though he had merely tripped over his own feet. To someone unfamiliar with hand-to-hand combat it would have looked like an accident but Russell had seen the deliberate way in which Black had moved and struck.<em>Looks like the butter-bar's got some good moves,</em>he thought as he took a deep breath, reining in the adrenaline rush as he watched for any potential trouble.<br/><br/>What Russell did catch sight of was Niko and an elderly rabbit-woman approaching the 13th Recon Group's vehicles. Waving his arm to attract her attention he called out to her.<em>"Lady Niko!"</em>he exclaimed, beckoning her over. Once the elfmaid had moved to meet him Russell gave her a charming smile<em>"It's good to see you again,"</em>he said truthfully.<br/><br/>