A lot of the narrative in this chapter and the next is going to be carried by OCs including some who have not previously had a POV in the story. Still the alternative was to have the main characters being told about events or coming to them afterwards and trying to guess what happened. I will resume the Cardin story, but will progress this one first as I am within a few chapters of a logical end.

Merendinoemiliano – Thanks for the feedback

Adam woke early in Blake's arms. He checked the time and nodded to himself. The three SDC supply ships were due in three hours. It was time to double check that the necessary preparations had been made and that nothing about the supply base would arouse suspicions. He wished that Sienna had allowed him to participate in the actual attack on the mine, but he could understand the reasons for her decision. He gently woke Blake and went to prepare his forces for the hijack..

The two people they had not tranquillised seemed to be behaving themselves and to have accepted that cooperation was their best option. He had let Rouge deal with them. The aim had been to ensure that the humans were scared enough to obey their orders, but not so alarmed at the possible intentions of the White Fang that they were tempted into acts of heroism. As far as the base manager was concerned this was a heist pure and simple with the supplies being the main target together with the three bullheads. This was not a price which was worth risking his life and the lives of his subordinates for. The SDC standing instructions to junior managers had been explicit on this point and Rouge citing them to the two civilians had been designed to remind them that they were not expected to risk their lives once they had been captured. Bruno and Adam had kept in the background but had loomed. The sense that Mr. Reasonable was in charge, but that some of his subordinates were looking for an excuse to let rip was the White Fang's variant of good cop/bad cop. It had the merit in that accepting that the good cop was for real was actually a sensible move. They had shown that they had the weaponry to shoot down the bullheads so that should further deter the two civilians from being tempted to warn the pilots.

The members of the team who had been designated to disguise themselves as ground crew and warehouse men were got into their uniforms and they awaited the three bullheads. They arrived on time and as ordered the site manager cleared them to land at two-minute intervals. The head loader greeted the pilot of each bullhead as it landed and did not try to warn the crews.

Each bullhead had a crew of four. Adam knew that there were no security protocols requiring the pilot to stay on board and as he hoped the crews went off towards the mess hall for breakfast. As Adam had expected they simply told the head loader to load the bullheads while they were eating. Each crew was taken by surprise and there was no resistance. They were shocked of course, but the odds were so clearly stacked against them that only one of them briefly considered resisting.

This time Adam did the briefing of the pilots. While the White Fang team did include three people capable of flying bullheads, he had decided that it was better to co-opt the pilots who knew the landing procedures at the Rising Sun mine and were known to the mine staff. However, he did want their minds to be concentrated on survival rather than heroism.

"We are the White fang. We are in the eyes of your employer a terrorist organisation. However, we have no desire to kill you or your fellow workers unless you make it necessary. Our plan is to make your employer and the Atlas government take us seriously and to cause economic disruption. The mere fact that we have been able to take over this supply depot and hijack your bullheads will cause the SDC to spend serious amounts of money in seeking to prevent us from ever doing it again. In addition, raiding a mine and taking the dust which you are being sent to collect will be useful to us. You should regard us rather as bank employees are told to regard armed robbers. There is no need to risk your life to protect the dust belonging to the SDC. Please confirm that you understand."

The pilots nodded.

"You will fly us to the Rising Sun Mine as though this was a normal mission. You will land in the usual manner and will not seek to warn anyone that you are carrying some uninvited guests. After the raid we will leave you at the mine where we anticipate that in a few hours the Atlas military will arrive to close the stable door. I confirm that we do have trained pilots with us. When the military arrive, you can then tell them where the rest of your crew is being kept and I have no doubt that the SDC or the military will then arrange for them to be picked up. As you can see we are masked and so while you may in some cases be able to identify the type of Faunus we are, you will not be able to give detailed descriptions of us. If you seek to thwart us you will put not only your life at risk, but the lives of your crews and the lives of the people at this supply base. Our leader's desire not to cause unnecessary casualties is subordinate to the need to ensure that the SDC and the Atlas government know that we will carry out our threats and promises. If you betray our presence, you and your fellow workers will die."

He then took off his mask and said, "As a sign of the White Fang's desire to avoid unnecessary casualties, I have been ordered not to participate in the attack in case my desire for vengeance distorts my judgement. However, rest assured that my comrades are aware of the full evil of your employer."

The pilots all reacted with horror and fear to the sight of the eye branded with the initials of the SDC.

An hour later the three bullheads were in the air again on the way to the mine. They had loaded the more valuable supplies which were due to be delivered as doing so supported the story that the raid was more about raising funds and causing extra expenses to be incurred by the SDC in the future.

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Winter was airborne with her team consisting of Marrow, Corkran, Hartnell and twenty soldiers. She had contacted the ten multi-kingdom mines in the south-east of Vacuo. She had been surprised to find that Major Bronze was not at the secondary base but was actually in transit to one of the mines. She told the secondary base and each of the mines that there was a rumour of a White Fang attack which the military were taking seriously and recommending that extra vigilance be maintained at the mines. They were also instructed to call her airship if there was any sign of trouble at a mine. She also asked each mine to contact any incoming bullhead flights to ask them to keep an eye out for any signs of a convoy of vehicles and to err on the side of caution in reporting them. The risk was that they would pick up safaris or tribes in movement. Still, they could filter out any obvious sightings of tribes and they had asked for photographs to be taken and sent on to them.

The call with Major Bronze had been a little odd. He had expected that she would need to have emphasised harder that she was following orders from Colonel White rather than usurping on his territory. Her previous dealings with him had shown that he was sensitive to perceived snubs and being taken for granted, while at the same time being aware of her social status as being the oldest child of Jacques Schnee.

She was thus prepared for a difficult conversation when thirty minutes after she contacted the base, she received a call from the Major.

"Captain Schnee, thank you for notifying me of your presence. I understand that there is a terrorist alert today and that you are in command of a rapid response force patrolling this area of Vacuo. If you need to refuel I have instructed my base to be ready to get you back in the air as soon as possible. I have also asked Captain Violetta to prepare a bullhead to be available for immediate launch with an armed squad in the event that there is a real emergency."

"Thank you Major. That is most considerate of you."

"Captain, is there any reason to believe that this area is likely to be attacked or is this a precautionary measure?"

"Sir, other than the proximity to the Vale border, there is no particular reason for thinking that this area is more likely to be under threat than any other. Colonel White and Major Magenta are acting on information received which suggests that we should err on the side of caution. There are two other rapid response forces in the air over Vacuo at the moment, one led by Major Magenta and the other by Clover Ebi, the commander of the Ace-Ops."

"I suggest you liaise with Captain Violetta in relation to any contingency planning. If it assists your planning, I, together with a small squad, will be at the Rising Sun mine for most of the day. In light of recent developments and the recent increase in worker numbers at the mine, I thought it best to check that the new workers were being treated well and that the SDC were not trying to hide evidence of wrongdoing."

"Thank you, Major. I will let Captain Violetta know if assistance is required."

The call ended. Winter thought that it had seemed slightly off. He had been more helpful than she had expected, but the fact that he had gone out of his way to tell her what he was doing at the Rising Sun mine had surprised her. Also, the suggestion that he was apparently on his own initiative checking up on the SDC went against everything she had heard or experienced about the man. Still, it was possible that he was merely recognising a new reality and was demonstrating that he was prepared to move with the times as a way of preserving his position.

She decided to convene a meeting with Lieutenant Amin, Sergeant Hartnell and Mr. Corkran. In the event that something did happen today then the likelihood was that it would take them between an hour and two and a half hours to get to any mine under attack. They were flying in a circle at approximately the centre of their area of responsibility. She knew that herself and Lieutenant Amin had a landing strategy and if she used her semblance to summon a Manticore would allow an early intervention.

"Sergeant Hartnell, do any of your men have the ability to disembark in mid-air safely?"

"Sir, three of the men and I do, but it is more a question of necessity rather than tactical advantage. If it is necessary, I would suggest that they follow ten seconds behind you or the lieutenant."

"Understood Sergeant. It should only become necessary if there is an ongoing attack with surviving defenders clearly being hard pressed. Mr. Corkran, have you had the need to develop a landing strategy?"

The Lynx Faunus responded, "Yes, Captain. It works up to 100 yards from the ground. It does use up about 10% of my aura if the drop exceeds 50 yards. However, it is not a problem. "

"Thank you." She thought to herself that this was a Faunus they needed to bring into the fold properly and recruit into counter-intelligence.

/-/

At the Rising Sun mine, Brian Thrush was aware that the mine management were very tense. Over the last week there had been new arrivals of miners at night who were being kept in huts separate from the other workers. There was clearly something going on today and it seemed the management team either wanted to moan to him or tell him things. He found both behaviours disturbing.

First thing this morning, the chief engineer had come and complained to him for the third time this week. "Mr Thrush, after having told me last week that a new shaft is to be opened in an area I believe to be risky, Manager Ochre says that they will start work today and wants me to look at it for the first time. He only showed me a summary of the geologists' report justifying opening the new shaft this morning. However, I cannot remember any geologists visiting the mine recently. I suppose that they could have come when I was last on leave, but none of my team can recall a visit taking place. "

The head of security had come round this morning. He had said, "Mr Thrush, headquarters has warned us that the military has warned us that there is a credible threat of a planned White Fang attack on a mine in Vacuo. Could you and your team look out for any potential signs of trouble? The last thing we need today with the opening of the new shaft is uninvited guests."

The man had looked very tense. To further add to the peculiarities of the day, Major Bronze arrived with a small squad on an Atlas military bullhead and was spending time in the hut inhabited by the new workers and speaking to Ochre and the head of security.

Brian had learnt from various things which had been said that the hints he had given to Corkran's Faunus friend in the military had been passed on to Captain Schnee and that she had acted on them. So far it appeared that there was no smoking gun leading back to him. The main blame seemed to attach to a Lieutenant Beamish, Major Magenta and the Atlas ambassador to Vacuo. The local managers had decided to be very tactful in relation to Captain Schnee and decided that their line would be that she had been put in a difficult position by her subordinates and the ambassador.

Brian had his suspicions about what was going on at the mine but was desperately trying not to find out anything which confirmed them. Still his bet was that the SDC had concentrated the branded Faunus at the Rising Sun mine while they sat out the storm. They could rely on Major Bronze to ensure that any inspection by the local inspection teams would not discover anything embarrassing to the SDC. If he was right on that point then he could only hope that the rumours of a White Fang attack were unfounded or, if true, then any attack was against a different mine.

He thought of pleasanter things. His nephew Russell had recently attended an open day at Shade Academy and had been told that he was on track for being admitted as a hunter in training in a few years. Brian felt a little ambivalent about this as losing a strong fighter from the tribe for at least four years did have its disadvantages. He also was conscious that if the life suited Russell, he might well leave the tribe indefinitely. No doubt he would tithe 10-20% of his earnings back to the tribe. Still Brian was in favour of widening the perceived career opportunities available to the tribe. He knew for himself that he preferred to spend half of each leave in Vacuo rather than with the tribe. He also knew that some of the youngsters longed for an opportunity to have an easier life than being with the tribe entailed and that they did not wish to serve as guards for the SDC.

He checked the time. The three supply bullheads were expected to arrive in twenty minutes and his team would be expected to check that no dust was smuggled out of the mine in a loose form. Most of the pilots on the run knew the form and either did not break the rules or kept their infringements to an acceptable level of petty pilfering.

He looked out at the desert and saw a truck heading towards the base. He assumed that it was one of the safari guides, presumably coming to ask for water and perhaps to buy additional supplies. In light of the security alert, they would not be allowed into the mine and would eb forced to prove their identity. Still if they wanted water then he supposed that they would have to let them have it. If he were one of those guides who made a habit of understocking essential supplies in the expectation that he could beg the SDC to make good the shortfall they may even charge for water. Still the Rising Sun mine was not normally on the tourist trail. He detailed four of his men to go to the gate and warned them to be more suspicious than normal and to activate their auras.

/-/

Major Bronze was running over the plans for today in his mind. He did not entirely trust Umber Raddock and had taken a few photographs of the scarred workers to give him some leverage if Raddock tried to stiff him on the deal. If all went to plan then he would have financial security. He would retire from the military on a full pension and be employed as the new head of security for the SDC's Vacuoan operation on a generous package from the SDC. His bank in Argus had confirmed that the down payment had been received this morning in his secret account so that was encouraging. Still killing fifty or more Faunus and a few humans was a little raw even for him. Fortunately the CSM welcomed the opportunity to kill a few Faunus and had a background in explosives.

He thought back to the conversation with Raddock and wondered whether Raddock was right in saying that provided that they could get through the first 48 hours without anyone challenging the analysis that this was a tragic accident then they would be OK. It had sounded very convincing at the time, but since their meeting he had allowed himself to think it through.

After Raddock had presented his plan to him, he had said, "Obviously you will have questions and suggested refinements. We will not be able to discuss this in private again, so please do raise all your concerns now."

He had at that time still been minded to decline the offer, but there was no harm in investigating the proposition. "Umber, I agree that it well best for Atlas as well as you and the SDC to bury the branding story. I am also very tempted by the money and the job offer. However, an explosion at a mine where you have just moved in 50 workers to commence work on an abandoned seam within such a short time from the incident at the De Lagers mine must risk an investigation and there surely will be people who will know enough to cause Magenta to investigate."

"A fair point. However, the fact that Bruce was able to hide from me, let alone the authorities, that there were over forty workers with branded eyes for six years when the evidence was walking around the mines is reassuring. In my view, we can be reasonably relaxed provided that the story lasts 48 hours. We will lie about the numbers involved and there will be twenty deaths of people who did not get to meet Bruce in one of his more unforgiving moods. They and the overseers who will be collateral damage do not have spouses or children and the overseers are Mistralians who are estranged from their families. There will be few people demanding an enquiry and we will have a readymade scapegoat in the mine engineer who will be among the fatalities. The Faunus have been kept separate from the other miners. The SDC can live with some toughening of the regulations on mine safety better than some of their competitors and in any event the inspection teams never turned a blind eye to mine safety."

"Is your local manager likely to stay onside? Even a pro forma investigation will be hard-pressed to avoid criticising him for allowing the seam to be reopened."

"He will be on record as having expressed misgivings to me and for me to have persuaded him to rely on the professional judgement of the mine engineer and that the geologists report did suggest that the seam was worth exploring. The report is mostly genuine, and its full version does contain the safety doubts. We have a prepared file of written messages between the manager and the engineer which will tell the story we want that the engineer will have argued that modern techniques meant that the safety doubts were misplaced. The engineer is not popular and in any event as far as his subordinates will be concerned whoever was responsible for opening the seam, it is he who will have been responsible for setting off the explosives which brought it down. You know how these things work. Everyone will be happy to lay the blame at the feet of the person who is not in a position to answer back."

"Can you be certain that the overseers and the engineer will not have talked to the other employees or to the security staff?"

"The manager assures me that the staff can be relied on to cause as little trouble as possible and after all the only evidence will be hearsay evidence which will be contradicted by the records and your testimony that the dead workers were not scarred. They may know a fix is in but will not be able to or want to do anything about it. The local security force consists of Mohawks. In practice they will not be a problem. The tribe as a whole keeps away from strangers and regards other humans and Faunus with equal suspicion. The security team there will take their cue from their leader and while he has no love for me he takes the duty of confidentiality and loyalty to the SDC and the family of Nicholas Schnee seriously. He will not tell a direct lie, but he will not volunteer information and will not pass on gossip. He was also involved in the original cover up of the brandings at the Rising Sun mine. Provided no member of the tribe is amongst the collateral damage and none of them are required to participate in the deaths we can rely on his silence. I think we can rule out the risk of Jacques Schnee asking him direct questions about what he suspects or what others told him."

"Why do you need me? The payment you are proposing is generous and the job offer will land you with me and my CSM for a considerable time."

"Your testimony that the workers were not branded will mean that the military will not insist on a full investigation or on recovering the bodies. It will predispose them to accept the story and ignore any rumours to the contrary. I would also like to have to have someone there to take charge and tidy up any loose ends. As for employing you, I think that you can do the job better than any of the other candidates. Also, we are a good option for you. You always say you like the desert and this way you get to stay here. Besides which I expect to be promoted to the main board in Atlas next year and would prefer to have someone back here with no interest in uncovering my skeletons."

The Major had almost been persuaded at that point and had then decided to see whether he could raise his price. "I still have a chance of succeeding Colonel White when he retires at the end of the year."

Raddock replied "I factored that into the offer. Your pay will be halfway between your current salary and that of a colonel and the lump sum more than covers the pension differential. It is unfair, but you have no chance of getting the job. White will support Magenta and my sources tell me that Captain Schnee is likely to lobby Ironwood on his behalf. The fact that he never received a direct payment from us will make him Mr. Clean in the eyes of Atlas. While he did suggest that we make payments towards facilities for the enlisted men and NCOs at the bases, that seems unlikely to hurt him. In addition, most of my competitors would prefer to keep you in place rather than seek to promote you. After what happened with the ambassadorship the multi-kingdoms will not risk supporting you against the Major especially as you are not seen as acceptable to Ironwood. Our guess is that lobbying for you would only make it more likely that Magenta would be appointed and would further ruin your reputation in Atlas. We are going to look for someone with acceptable views in Atlas who is either an Ironwood loyalist or preferably someone who Ironwood is looking for an excuse to move out from Atlas. Our betting is that Magenta will be promoted to colonel but retain his current role underneath a candidate who can be relied on not to rock the boat too much but will make a half-hearted effort at cleaning the stables."

Bronze had accepted that the analysis was right and suspected that he would be a sacrifice in any stable cleaning exercise. In the end this had made up his mind. If he went seemingly of his own accord, no one would object or look too closely. An announcement a week before his official date of retirement that he would be joining the SDC would almost certainly be frowned on, but no real fuss would be made. He would be financially secure for the rest of his life.

He was slightly concerned about the circumstances which meant that there was a vacancy for being head of security. He had known Bruce Crimson for ten years and the man had been efficient and brutal. He did not believe the White Fang assassination story and presumed that he and Umber had fallen out over who was going to take the fall for the brandings. He would warn Raddock that he had taken out insurance against any similar attempt to blame him for today's events before they next met.

He still wondered whether his career could have recovered from backing the wrong man when Ironwood had become the leader of the Atlas military. He probably had been right to take the offer of leaving Atlas after Ironwood had been appointed. His closest friends who had remained had not lasted long although most had retired rather than being sacked. He had settled for a semi-independent command and Colonel White had not interfered too much.

Still now the plan was just about to be implemented, he saw that it needed a following wind to be successful. The CSM had had to be delegated to set off the explosion and he had reported the need to have a secondary explosion in reserve to deal with the fast or the lucky. While the CSM could shoot them, the bodies would need to be covered up. He also was not impressed by the mine manager or the head of security who were just talking too much. What they said was not really a problem, but the fact that they were saying it at all was not good. Bronze decided that he would have to rely on Raddock's views on the discretion of the chief Mohawk who was clearly getting irritated by the need of the management team to go and have a word with him.

He was also not overjoyed about Captain Schnee being in the vicinity. He would have preferred to have the first responders being his own men who could be relied upon to take the hint that the part of the mine affected by the explosion was too dangerous for a sustained rescue mission. It also meant that he would need to commit himself to the story that the explosion was down to the chief engineer's incompetence rather than an accident. The one thing he could not allow to be suspected was that it was a White Fang operation as there was a risk that in order to substantiate whether or not this story was true, Ironwood would insist on a full excavation.

He looked into the sky and saw that the three bullheads were approaching. He had decided that it would be a good idea for the explosion to happen at a time when semi-independent witnesses could see that an accident had occurred and that the personnel at the mine were reacting naturally to it. He nodded to the CSM who made his way toward the mine and gathered the small detachment he had brought with him which consisted of the more gormless troops under his command who he could rely on not noticing any incidents which required subtlety in interpreting. The pilot was more observant but was safely involved in preparing for the allegedly imminent departure.

/-/

Ronald Rouge was preparing for the landing. He was in the third bullhead sitting next to the pilot who had been nominated as the main liaison with the mine. They were taking advantage of the SDC standard operating procedures for multiple vessel convoys which provided that the main conversations with the ground crew was carried on with the pilot of the final member of the convoy. The other pilots in the convoy were required only to give brief affirmative or negative replies unless there was a serious mechanical problem. Rouge was with the pilot of the third bullhead together with three other White Fang members and had beside him a print-out of the SDC handbook which included a list of codewords. He had produced this early on in the flight to reduce any danger that the pilot might try and warn the mine what was going on.

He had also impressed on the pilot that it was in the best interests of all concerned that Rouge was safely landed. He reiterated the message behind Adam had showing his branded eye to the pilots. Before setting off on the flight he and Bruno had told the pilots that because he had a personal motive for hating the SDC, Sienna Khan had ordered Adam not to lead the attack if the mine chosen belonged to the SDC in order to reduce the risk of casualties. Bruno had made it clear that he was the second in command and would be with the first bullhead and would lead the initial seizure of the mine in accordance with Rouge's orders. Bruno had acted up the wild bear persona, Rouge was happy that the pilots knew that they were more likely to get out alive if Rouge was in overall charge of the attack and making certain that he got on to the ground was for the best. It also had the advantage that he would have an aerial view of what was going on in the mine and could send a scroll message to Bruno and the others confirming where any armed guards were situated.

The first sign that things might not go totally to plan occurred thirty minutes from the mine. What passed for air traffic control at the mine contacted the Bullhead with a message.

"SDC convoy 30. Rising sun here. Just to give you the heads up that the Atlas military have alerted us of a possible threat somewhere in Vacuo. On landing you must follow the dark amber protocols. Over."

Rouge swiftly checked his copy of the handbook and saw that this was one level down from expecting an imminent attack.

He said to the pilot, "Reply in a normal manner. If that includes asking for more information, do so.".

"SDC convoy 30 to Rising Sun. Understood. Are there any specific instructions or warnings? Over."

"Rising Sun to SDC convoy 30. You are requested to keep an eye out for any large convoys of vehicles and to alert the Atlas military if you see any such. You are asked to take pictures of any vehicles or large gatherings you see and to forward them to the Captain Violetta at the secondary base and also Captain Schnee on Atlas Vacuo 3. She is in the air around 2 hours from us. Over."

On the plus side it seemed that the Atlas military were not expecting an attack from the air. On the negative side there was a real risk that something had leaked about the White Fang having plans in Vacuo, the fact that extra precautions were in place would increase the tension levels among the White Fang and it should be assumed that they had an hour less in hand than they had expected. It also meant that the two trucks approaching the mine pretending to be a safari tour looking to acquire additional supplies would probably receive more attention than they had bargained for. Still, he and Adam had made certain that those accompanying the guide could pass for human and the intention had been to allow the guide to do the talking. While the guide was not a White Fang member, he did hate Atlas and the SDC. Perhaps it might mean that more of the mine security team would be distracted by the seeming safari.

He sent a message to the team on his scroll saying that there was no reason to think that this was anything more than an inconvenient practice exercise and drawing their attention to the fact that an attack from the air was not anticipated. He did say that they should be prepared to speed up the operation. Fortunately, there was a contingency plan which anticipated having an hour less to play with and he instructed them to familiarise themselves with the revised plan as that was the one to be followed unless they heard to the contrary from him. He hoped that his troops would believe his rationale for not being overly worried about the presence of an Atlas warplane and of Captain Schnee.

Rouge had an ambivalent attitude to the Vytal festival. He had justified watching it on the basis that the more knowledge you had about the enemy's capabilities the better, but he acknowledged to himself that he enjoyed watching the hunters and huntresses in training strutting their stuff. However, his knowledge that Winter Schnee could summon a Manticore had determined him to move to plan B as soon as he knew she was in the area.

They were now minutes away from the first bullhead landing. The pilot and he had discussed the approach to be taken to the communications with the mine. The pilot had said as they were the only flight scheduled to arrive at the mine this morning he expected that the mine would prefer to banter with him and that it would be more suspicious if he kept it strictly professional rather than responding in kind. Rouge had agreed that he could respond in kind if the mine personnel wanted a more informal conversation, but not to initiate one. To the surprise of the pilot, the mine kept things formal. Perhaps as part of the training exercise the people at the mine were concerned that the Atlas military would listen to the tapes of the conversations between the mines and incoming flights. As the first bullhead started its landing run, Rouge saw to his horror that a small Atlas military bullhead was parked on the airfield. He could only see four people in uniform, but he ordered Bruno to target them in priority to the security guards. He felt the stress levels rising and texted Bruno to keep his cool.

He saw the first bullhead land and the second one commenced its approach. Seconds later, he heard a large explosion from the mine and the emergency klaxons at the mine start to sound. What on Remnant was happening down there and how would everyone respond? It was clear from above that the explosion had happened in the mine. He sent a scroll message telling everyone that and to keep calm while knowing that it was inevitable that someone would panic and start firing. At the very least everyone with an aura would have activated it as soon as they heard the explosion