Destroyed Winter Military Base.

Rei was pointing at the floor. As Dwyrin got closer she saw why - there was another hole. Without thinking, she pulled her arms into her chest and jumped down through the floor.

Rei waited until Dwyrin had vanished through the hole before acting. She pointed two fingers of her left hand at the oncoming attackers and struck. A loud crack was heard as lightning leapt through the air at the men. It flew through their midst, striking several of them in their legs. The resulting pileup consumed all of them. Smirking, Rei dropped through the hole, sealing it back up as she fell.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"I was thinking the same thing," Rei's smirk was contagious, "Nice machinery."

Dwyrin looked up at the ceiling. Just a second ago there was a hole there, and as she had been staring through it she saw something very fascinating. Rei had stood tall, shoulders back, legs set apart, automail flashing and fired her alchemy at their pursuers, unhesitatingly. Dwyrin didn't know where she had hit them, but that wasn't the point. It was a very different picture of Rei than the one she had seen inside that weapon hut.

"You'll have to teach me that," she muttered vaguely. She looked back down at Rei, then at their surroundings, wondering where Military Man was.

Rei blushed slightly, unaware that Dwyrin had been able to see her lightning alchemy. "Perhaps," Rei muttered, looking around the room.

The room looked to be a normal office, albeit one thoroughly ransacked. "Someone beat us here. Probably whoever those people are," Rei said, pointing at the ceiling to clarify who "they" were, though she doubted she needed to. "At least I was right about these people not being Resistance."

"Of course they weren't," she nodded absently, "Mm, but what were they looking for??"
Dwyrin paced around the room a bit, shuffling papers here and there, not really sure what to look for. Off in the distance there was a dull, repetitive clanging sound. Like metal on metal. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Rei.

"Is this really an ok place to be staying, right now??"

"Oh, probably not," Rei said calmly, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. "Though before we head out, I do want to warn you of something."

She paused, looking like she would never complete the thought. She walked over to the door and grabbed the handle and opened the door a crack. "Des has been ordered to kill all Resistance members on sight."

"What?!?' Dwyrin said more loudly than she realized was prudent. Lowering her voice, she said, "What, does the military think they all carry signs, or something?? How can he know who's resistance and who's not??" She though back to Ace presenting Des with his badge - Where did he even GET a badge?!? - and groaned inwardly.

She bit her bottom lip, thinking quickly now, "Where is he??"

Rei shut the door again, hoping nobody heard Dwyrin shout.

"I don't know. I lost him a while ago. Ace is in danger if the two ever meet again. Though I wouldn't know how..." She paused and looked at the woman. "Somehow he's decided you're in the Resistance movement too."

Dwyrin stared at her blankly, not wanting to lie - but not coming up with an excuse quickly enough.

"Well, he's got to be thorough in his investigation...But, I suppose that means I wouldn't want to meet up with him, right now,' she finished lamely.

She contemplated asking Rei why she was here. She didn't need Rei asking her why she was here though, so she though better of it and said, instead, "I don't suppose you know who the people running around here are??"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Rei said, leaning against the door. "Des assumes they're Resistance, but if he's right about you, then they're not.

"Not that I care that much. I'm just here to have some fun, if that makes any sense. Get the blood pumping," she added with a crooked grin, chuckling at the ridiculousness of the statement.

She smirked, "Why wouldn't it make sense??"

After a moment of speculation, she answered, "Well, as far as I know, the resistence members don't wear uniforms, and the few people I've seen here were wearing one. Speaking of which, I think it's time to get away from here. At least, for me, if you're expecting Military Man."

"If I get out of here without Mr. Military Man, then good for me," Rei said as she took a step away from the door. "We can go together or go separately, it's up to you. He has an uncanny ability to find me and I don't care to have to stop him from killing you. Again," she added wryly. Without waiting for a response, Rei opened the door, looked about, and raced down the hall.

Dwyrin followed Rei. Now that someone knew there were people in the building who didn't belong, they would be looking for them. When stealth was dead, there was power in numbers. The increased risk of meeting up with Des was an acceptable one for the advantage she gained by being with Rei.

"We need to go down," she said, catching up with Rei, "do you know the way??"

"Going with me, huh? Greater of two evil: lone intruder or 'enemy of my enemy,' I suppose."

"Down," Rei repeated as she raced down the hallway. "My only plan is to use alchemy to go down. Go through a hole in the floor, go to a different part of the building, go down another hole. Keeps a minor element of stealth in that they can't follow us straight down, but it also runs a chance of being found by other soldiers while traveling."

She slid around a corner and ran down another hall. "I'm only here for fun and exercise. If you have a plan you'd rather execute, then we can go with that one."

Dwyrin slowed her pace, "Floor-holes it is, then," she stopped.

"I'm not sure exactly where I'm headed," she glanced at Rei, then back down at the floor, "But, what I'm looking for is in the basement. Probably in a filing cabinet... or something similar." She stood staring into space, trying to think if she had been given any more details.

Something about the fifth sector, maybe?? Oh, well. She'd know when she saw it.

Snapping back to the situation at hand, she gestured at Rei and asked, "Well, is this a good spot for jumping??"

"As good as any," Rei said, kneeling where she stood. She placed her hand on the floor, metal clanging softly against metal. A hole opened in the floor around her hand, big enough for them to fit through.

"I don't even know what I'm here for looks like, so you're ahead of the game," she joked. "After you."

Dwyrin dropped to the floor and poked her head through the hole, looking to make sure no one was around. The floor below them was dark.
Really dark
As in no lights dark. She swore. "We've got a problem," she said with her head still in the hole, "but maybe I can..." She looked back up, then stuck her head down through the hole again, "Wait here," she said tumbling the rest of the way through the hole.

Dwyrin stood in the little circle of light from the above floor for only a second - to listen - then she backed into the darkness.

Rei sat patiently by the edge of the hole. The thought occurred to her that Dwyrin may have used this as a diversion to get away from her, but she pushed the thought aside. "I told her straight up she didn't have to stick with me."

She looked around the hallway, listening and watching for any signs of the enemy. She grew somewhat antsy after a while. "Hurry up, please."

After a minute her eyes had adjusted and it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. She still couldn't make out what the objects were that she had stumbled into a few times, but at least she could see that something was sitting on the ground going out of it's way to bump her shins.

She groped along the wall and found the light switch, and of course, it didn't work. Feeling the fixture she found the wire had been cut.

That's odd. Once again she pulled off her ring, changed it's properties a bit, and filled in the gap. She would have to leave it there until they left the room, but it wouldn't be that long. The lights switched on.

Rei heard footsteps coming at the same moment she saw the lights in the room below turn on. Assuming Dwyrin had found the lights, Rei swung down into the hole, once again sealing it. "Where are we now?" she asked before she even landed on the ground.

Dwyrin looked around with dismay. The entire room was full, of metal filing cabinets. She walked to the one closest to her and opened the top drawer. The folders inside were packed so tightly she couldn't fit a finger in between them.

She clenshed her fists, "I better be getting paid OVERTIME," she kicked the drawer closed, "for this!" She stood for a moment pondering the best way to go about this.

"Well, I guess the easy part was getting here. I need to find three folders - at least they're all together - in this mess. They'll be labeled with the letters SRA," she sighed, "that is, if you want to look."

Starting at the far corner, Dwyrin starting methodically opening every single drawer. A sound caught her attention.

"Do you hear that??"

Rei looked about the room in dismay. She had been hoping Des' papers would be in an obvious place so she could steal them and run. These folders that Dwyrin spoke of could very well be the same ones Des wanted, but she had no idea. She opened a drawer to begin her search when Dwyrin stopped her.

'Do you hear that??'

Rei froze in place and listened. She nodded to confirm that she did indeed hear "that," whatever "that" was. It was totally foreign to her while at the same time familiar.

As it turned out, 'that' was the stomping of many feet.
Heading towards them.
Hopefully, to completely bypass them.

Dwyrin ran for the light switch and yanked her ring out of the wiring, casting the room into darkness.

The stomping continued for a moment than came to a descisive halt. There was suddenly a rectangle of light on one of the walls, and a man - with a few behind him - stood outlined in a doorway she hadn't known was there.

"Metal floors, many feet, hidden passageway behind metal walls. Of course I'd totally lose it."

Rei leaped back as the door opened, trying to hid between the filing cabinets. There was very few places to hide in this room and the space between the cabinets was slight. She kept her left arm poised, ready to strike the first person to find her.

"Tough job it'll be, finding me, too."

Four of them. I wonder if they've got guns... I hope not. That door needs to be shut, before they see us... But they need to be in here first...
"Turn the light on," the man in front said.
He must be in charge

The three men behind him shuffled into the room. Fortunately, the switch was on the other side of the room, but they were heading right for it. Dwyrin picked up a random piece of clutter from the top of a cabinet, and hurled it across the room. At the noise of the bauble's landing the men in the room all turned in that direction, fluidly unholstering various weaponry. Guess that answers that question.
Their leader, who had been standing in the doorway, moved to step into the room, and Dwyrin took the chance. She padded as quickly as she dared, towards the doorway, coming from the opposite end of the room that she has thrown that thing.
And slammed the door shut.