Cyrus remained firm about Lila's inability to join his team, the risk too high for her, and he did not want the risk of her captured, especially by Omega.
"I can fight," Lila snorted as she asserts that she's capable of defending herself against the likes of Omega, whatever, and Theodore vouched for her, saying that he's seen her handy work many times.
Can't tell Cyrus that Lila made work of Cybermen and Daleks, but he left it as that, she didn't go down easily, and she tends to leave visible marks when she did.
"I'm not risking it, it's already too dangerous for our like, it'll be worse if you come with us. You're staying," Cyrus affirmed his disproval for Lila's attempt. He won't risk his team nor risk adding to the already suffering populace. Lila's remaining back at the camp working with Dimitri as his nurse, effective immediately, there's no room for arguments.
Years of surviving taught Cyrus many things and one of those things that haunt him more than what's in the darkness.
Despite their plight in a dying world, there's still people who have no qualms doing what they please, sickeningly as it sounds, though Cyrus and others like him wish it were different.
"Since we've just come back from our latest scavenging attempt, we're not going on another one for now, collect your gear from Rasputin. Make sure you don't lose your gas mask or Geiger counter. He'll want to make sure you can shoot. Knives are good for somethings, but never discount even a small pistol. All weapons have their uses, big and small, and you need to know what you can and can't carry," Cyrus gave his order to Theodore as he leaves them to stare at each other with various looks on their faces.
Lila's agitated that Josef and Cyrus won't let her come along on scavenging parties, but Theodore tells her it's safer for her here then out there, because they're right. Women like her and young children, they're easy pickings for Omega and others alike.
"So, what, you expect me to kick around here, telling patients to cough, while you're scavenging?" Lila balks as she crossed her arms as she sat across from Theodore as he pondered to himself.
It seems that it's the case, much as Lila disliked it, and Theodore warned her not to try anything. She can't just do what she wants just because she disagrees, not now.
"You sound like dad," Lila bitterly exhales as she lightly leaned against the wall of their flat.
Standing up, Theodore helped her up, and they departed from their flat, as they went down the steps to the bottom floor, where they exchanged words shortly before splitting off into their respected duties.
"Stay out of trouble," Theodore tells Lila as she stretched her arms, popping her back, and she sighs as she responded that she won't cause any unless trouble starts something with her.
"Don't shoot your eye out," Lila warns Theodore about his test with Rasputin and he nods, telling her that he won't, and she asks if he even knows how to shoot a gun.
Snorting, Theodore replied that he knows how to shoot guns, his mum taught him, of course, it's saved her plenty of times when she traveled with his father. When she left that life, she made sure her children knew how to defend themselves, knives, guns, hand-to-hand, you name it, she taught them.
"What kind of adventures did she have that required Krav Maga?" Lila curiously asked Theodore and he shrugs as he answered her that he lost track of all the adventures they went on, only that there's a reason she taught them everything she knew.
Nodding, Lila sighs as she poked him, reminding him, "Just don't shoot your eye out, I really don't want to be the bearer of bad news."
Oh yes, let's go home and tell Hammond that Theodore lost one of his eyes to a freak accident shooting a shoddy gun during an adventure in the post-apocalyptic world!
"I'll be fine, now go on, nobody likes a late nurse or a nurse who doesn't know where the vein is," Theodore prods Lila by gently poking her nose and they split into different areas of the library.
His heavy feet pattering against the laminated floors, Theodore held his hands in his pockets as he walked towards a fenced off area, complete with barbed wires, electrified even, and he learned as he walked towards it that it's restricted armory.
With the vets, gas masks, filters, guns, knives, ammo, everything else scarce, what's found remained in high demand, and heavily guarded, punishments for attempting to steal from the armory resulted in execution.
It's better than the alternative that other camps doled out for thieves.
Camp Beta sends thieves blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs out into uncharted tunnels.
Camp Gamma does similar, with the added bonuses of tying thieves' feet together to cement blocks and letting them walk barefoot.
Camp Alpha, filled with the Old Blood, wanted to set an example to hopeful thieves. They don't tie the hands and feet of their punished thieves, put them in blindfolds, they preferred it differently. They'll escort a punished thief out into a charted tunnel. A tunnel that's unknown to the thief. Once they stop at a certain point, the guards shoot the knees of the thief and leave them there, with their screams echoing throughout the tunnel. Then, the guards flee, leaving the injured thief to the creatures in the tunnel.
Then there's the aptly disdained Camp Omega, they take a different approach, by forcing their captive thieves, bound and gagged, with their eyelids cut off, so they can't close their eyes. They take their thieves to the rat holes where there's recent activity and hoist the bastards into the holes. Just to make sure the rats know, they cut a part of the thief's body, letting blood flow, and screaming loudly enough that it echoes down the rat holes.
Unlike the previous camps' guards fleeing before the monstrosities come, they watch the bloodshed from a safe difference, like gleeful children.
Whether Theodore sees the mythical Camp Omega or its occupants, he rather not, if the stories he's heard plenty meant anything.
Going up to the electrified gate, Theodore's halted by a guard, and after telling him that Rasputin's waiting for him, the guard let Theodore through with a harsh warning that he'll shoot to kill if necessary.
Trying to keep the peace, Theodore acknowledged the warning as he went through the corridor of fencing woven together, until he gets to a stall in the middle where there's an elderly man polishing what looked like an old '45 Luger, his fake yellow eye reflecting the sheen of the Luger.
"What're you buying?" Theodore hear's the deep throbbing voice coming from Rasputin as he turned his head to properly look towards Theodore with his good eye.
Stepping forward, Theodore answered that he's there to pick up his gear, he's got permission, and Rasputin checked to make sure that he's expecting Theodore.
When he sees Josef's letter behind the counter with his stamp, Rasputin nodded, and went around lockers filled with different guns of various calibers.
There's noises as Rasputin disappeared into the deeper area of the armory, when he returned, he came with a wooden box, filled with filters for the gas mask, portable Geiger counter, two small med kits, three holsters.
One for handguns, one for his provided knife, and one for long range weapons in case Theodore finds one along the way.
A carrying bag to store whatever Theodore collects, also carried only two small boxes of 9mm ammo.
With his long finger, Rasputin pointed Theodore towards the shooting range where he wanted the aloof giant to practice with a simple handgun and some bullets.
As a courtesy, Rasputin didn't want anyone wasting bullets. He wanted them to make each one count, since they're hard to come by, and creating them's a difficult process that only a handful knows how.
Following his command, Theodore practiced the old, possibly soviet, handgun, on targets made of thin wood cutouts.
His mum taught him everything and had him and his siblings practice the moment they came of age, he didn't have any problems hitting targets dead center, and Rasputin's amazed as he looked over to the targets.
"Very nice," Rasputin gave a rare compliment to him before he helped Theodore into a vest and helped tighten the holsters around parts of his body.
When done, Rasputin checked his work, making sure the gas mask fit Theodore properly, made sure he knew how to change the filters, what to look for if he finds filters on his travels, and how to tell when to change them, the most important part.
"And watch out for the fakes," Rasputin warns Theodore that he can't afford coming across fake filters. Though rare, there have been instances of people accidentally using them to horrifying effects.
Expecting the filters to work, they traveled until eventually they become overburdened by the environment that they can't possibly survive and nobody's able to help as it's too late for them, then.
Theodore asks how he'll know it's a fake filter and Rasputin showed him one someone gave to him for identification purposes.
It's lighter than the real filter, seemingly opens at the seams compared to the real filter, and the innards filled with random things such as meshes cut from clothes.
Rasputin warns as he tossed the fake filter behind the counter that not all fakes looked alike, some passed off better than others, but dangerous to confuse them, all the same.
The one thing that all camps can agree with, anyone who fakes something as essential as filters won't survive long to gloat.
"Beware of the fakes, demons, shadows, and your fellow man," Rasputin summed what Theodore's going to deal with and he sheepishly nodded as Rasputin continued helping him ready.
Rasputin gave Theodore a hunting knife, telling him that it's his chance at second wind if he ends up without any ammo left. Most beasts it'll work on, but anything with a thick skin, Theodore risks the knife breaking. If he finds anything like it on his scavenge, he better take it, else someone else takes it. Nothing goes to waste.
By the time he's finally done, Theodore looked like something straight out of a movie. Heavy vest over his dress shirt, the gas mask that suctioned tightly around his face, his holsters carefully tightened around parts of his body. The handgun holster around his waist, the holster for sniper rifles on his back, and the third holster slightly tightened but reinforced around his thigh, allowing him to move and not cut off blood pressure. Last but not least, the portable Geiger counter, fine-tuned by Rasputin, carefully tightened around Theodore's waist via a strap that interlocked with the handgun holster, so it won't fall off.
Getting the clear from Rasputin, Theodore's allowed to leave the armory.
Leaving with the gas mask pulled down under his chin as he took a deep breath before exhaling, Theodore muses to himself.
He doesn't know if he's somewhat immune to radiation, his father never speaking about instances where he came into close contact with radioactive material, but Theodore didn't want to test and see, lest his brother gain a grey hair at the sight of Theodore walking into the library with two heads.
As Theodore walked away from the armory with the guard watching him like a hawk, he overheard Josef and Cyrus talking to each other about a potential resource that Josef heard intel on from other camp leaders.
Apparently, the camp leaders refuse to send any of their teams to investigate because of rumours that've sprung up weeks ago about people going missing near it.
"And you, do you believe in them?" Cyrus asks Josef if he believed in the rumours that the camp leaders believed in that made them hesitate in sending teams to an unknown area in the Ruins.
Rubbing his grey eyes, Josef gruffly responded that he tries to keep an open eye and ear on everything that passed through the camps, even if they're not true at the end of it, only because he can't afford being wrong.
"I may not believe shadows killing us, but I check my shadow every day," Josef summed his reasonings.
Rather risk the chances of him wrong, Josef doesn't automatically dismiss anything unless he sees proof otherwise. It's ludicrous to some people, but Josef doesn't care what they think, what matters more to him's mitigating tragedies.
Conversing back and forth, Cyrus seems intent on investigating the rumours, but Josef told him that he had bad feelings about it.
"What if you're wrong?" Cyrus asks him what if his gut instinct's wrong this one time and they miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime.
As he frowns, Josef reminded him that he didn't want to be right, either.
Seeing how intent Cyrus looked, Josef exhaled as he compromised with him, saying he'll ask around about the rumours.
"Until then, don't take your team out," Josef passes by him as he went back to his office.
Theodore wanted to broach the subject with Cyrus, but he saw the man in a mood that he didn't want to accidentally incite.
Cyrus vehemently wanted to investigate these rumours but Josef didn't want him going out until he gets confirmation.
It's something important and since Theodore's playing close to the chest as it is, he opted to get intel by asking around, leaning on the truth.
Took some time, but he managed to eke out details about a power plant further north of the Ruins. There's talk of supplies and whatnot stashed away inside, but there's some underlying rumblings that there's something off about it.
Anyone who goes near it disappears without a trace, some think it's an anomaly, but nobody knows and no one wants anything to do with the power plant.
Must be something to the rumours, Theodore heard that some people who allegedly gotten close to the power plant says there's no beast prowling near it. A person chased by a mutated dog survived because it quickly broke off the chase, fleeing as he stopped to catch his breath, before realizing he's only a metre from the power plant.
Whatever's in that power plant, Cyrus thinks it'll give them an advantage, and the desperation in his voice said it all, the camp needed every effort from him and his team possible.
Josef remained neutral on the rumours, but showed caution on letting Cyrus undertake a scavenging in the power plant. He only relented a little because he didn't want Cyrus going out on his own, so rather risk that, he'll ask around.
Of course, Theodore realized that he's going to that power plant once Josef clears the scavenging team, if he doesn't find anything that grounds the mission permanently.
Already, Theodore has a bad feeling about this and he knows he can't do anything.