So Rex hadn't just been lucky enough to stumble on these strange ruin hunters, he'd been tracking them like animals for days. The Commando's drone had been out, and had it's own unique stealth mode capable of keeping it invisible and strong surveillance capabilities. It was even strong enough to detect other cloaked players and traps...

A small red ping drifted on Rex's screen, and it was all the warning he needed to know there was someone else lurking behind him cloaked, so without hesitation he grabbed his assault rifle with the hand that had been groped to the woman's clothing and aimed it towards Papi's direction, firing off a burst of bright and bloody colored projectiles.

This gave the caster he'd been interrogating room to move and her crying face quickly twisted into a rage filled expression of survival, with a growl the robed woman pounded into Rex's chest with a knee tossing the man back and swept a hand at him to produce sharp shards of ice that embedded themselves into his chest and left him stranded on his back in a groan of pain.

“Die!” The caster screeched out in her rage as she gathered up a large spell over top of her head, a swirling mass of ice that would surely end the Commando. You could see the tremble in her legs and arms, she wasn't really prepared to be a murderer, but she didn't want to die herself either!

Time slowed for Carlo in those brief seconds, his teeth ground together in his usual inner rage as he thought of a way to survive. Before he'd even have a chance to make a play, Naomi swooped in and tackled the woman, and when they tumbled away the soldier sat himself up on his knee and went wide eyed to see his lover here virtually out of nowhere. With a swirl of emotions in his chest when the caster started to run it triggered something automatic...

A burst of bullets would pierce though the woman from the back and she'd collapse forward in a dull scream, slowly fading away from the game would in a drift of pixels. Rex had killed her, even though she was running. This was the cruel nature of war, he didn't know if she was running for help or just fleeing to survive...It didn't matter.

He sat there on his knees breathing heavily, distraught and rage filling his heart as he had no idea what to even say. So he broke, “What the hell are you doing here?! Why did you follow me?!” He snapped loudly over the rushing waves of blowing sand. The soldier got himself back to his feet and wiped his face, stalking towards the woman, “You shouldn't of came!” Rex yelled again, looking furious.

“You're lying!” Carlo barked back, not believing that she'd just happen to be in the right place at the right time. But when she started to cower away from him and worry for his safety everything clouded back into reality. He wasn't just some lone wolf running around doing a nasty job anymore, he had friends...Someone very important now.

And he'd nearly shot her, and that fact settled deep within his soul in a rush of emotion. His angered expression quickly folded into a desperate despair, and he reached out briefly with a hand and groaned with sadness. The poor guy was probably teetering on the edge of losing himself to all of this, but he had to keep fighting.

So as to not lose his resolve entirely recollected himself with some deep breaths...counted to four and repeated a few times before he leveled out into something manageable. “I'm sorry.” He muttered lowly as he crept forward and attempted to wrap an arm around Naomi and hold her head to his chest. “...They're a guild of player killers, and they're after something...” As vague as the explanation was, that was honestly all he knew.

Him and Towns had gone on a mission together before he died, and the sniper had helped him stop one of these lunatics from sacrificing a kid to God knows what in game mechanic. At first he thought it was just a solo incident, but then quickly realized there was quite a few of these bastards in the game world causing havoc.

He'd pull away, if she hadn't shoved him off yet, “I-I can't stay here, I'm sure there's more inside from what they were talking about. I have to stop them...or at least see what they're up to. You should leave, I can't ask you or anyone else in the guild to do something like this.”

He frowned as he back stepped and looked over his shoulder at the chamber's entrance, “...You haven't killed anyone before, this isn't new for me, I'm not going to break any further. Nobody should get blood on their hands like that.” Carlo's warning was from experience; Killing people did horrible things to the mind, and he expected that just because this was a game it wasn't going to change that fact.

A grim and desperate smile slithered to Rex's face when Naomi refused to leave, of all the times she had to be acting this way, “...Why do you have to be so stubborn, especially right now?” He pleaded with a long breath. There was just no way around it, she was coming with him as much as he hated the idea. He gave one last pleading gaze towards his lover, “Just...promise me if things get bad you'll get out? You have to.” Carlo was nearly begging as he reached to grab her wrist.

After that he'd turn his attention back on the ruin's entrance, knowing Naomi probably didn't have the answer he wanted to hear. There was a declining ramp of sand where steps use to be, and It was there that Rex jumped himself forward in a slide that carried him downwards into the sunken ancient structure.

When he finally got back on level ground, he'd stumble to his feet and brush himself off, flicking a look over his shoulder to make sure Papi was still there, he'd hold a single finger towards his lips and then make a swatting motion towards the ground as if he was trying to say stay quiet and low during their infiltration.

He'd move them forward, hopping between crumbling pillars, and giant aged pieces of sandy stone within the dark and poorly lit depths of the ruins, all the while looking as military and frighteningly precise as you'd expect from a former marine. As collected as he seemed, he was just as nervous as anyone else would be; Every encounter with a strong enemy was going to be a close brush between life or death.

The Commando tried his best to make as little sound as possible, and each movement was pinpoint cautious to his environment, you could really see the solder in his heart blossoming in moments like this. With a deathly serious expression he led them forward, only pausing to glance back and keep an eye on Naomi.

She was slowing him down, but he'd never admit that. He knew in the end she was going to end up being far more help than not if things went sour. They'd round another corner and slide down a smooth decline of broken wall before landing against another ruined statue, now the faint sound of voices could be heard.

He'd stop them and hold up his cloaking device for Naomi, nodding. It was a straight forward hint enough before he cloaked himself and grabbed her hand so they wouldn't lose each other. He'd gently tug them forward, hoping the fairy's own cloaking ability would hold up as long as his did.

The voices were easy to follow in the echoing ruins of the ancient place, up until they'd finally be able to see the people who were up to no good down here. Rex pulled Naomi with him to hide behind some overturned large sand blocks, peeking out to catch a glimpse to who they were dealing with.

They were still far enough away it was hard to understand their conversation, but you could make out their faces and figures well enough, and that's when things got seriously shocking. One of them was a large and older man in heavy armor with a massive sword, and the other a younger blonde with a devilish and dangerous look about her.

Their faces were entirely to familiar, and it left a shiver down Carlo's spine as he tried to recall just who they were. It took him a few minutes but it finally slammed him like a truck, the Commando quickly pulling away to lean against the rock with wide eyes and a deep breath, he decided to kill his cloaking before him or Naomi got lost in the haze of invisibility, shocked expression settling on the woman as he nudged her to take a peek too.

Sure enough what she'd see was the two players who'd given them the free tickets to the hot springs, but now they were entirely equipped for battle. Rex must have been far to drunk that night to even notice their guild tag, the sick irony of the moment was enough to make his stomach hurt. But just what were they up to?