"Guys!" Donnie cried into the air from behind the crew. "Look who's back!"

Immediately from the stationary positions, all of them ran to the Northeast portion of the Base, including Donnie with Zags slowly descending to meet his shoulder as he ran.

With haste, Tyra squandered the Enchanted Forest, considerate of her surroundings as she heard the barks in the distance of her prized canines, steading her rifle like a viper mocking its prey. Unsettled, the remnants of that magnificently agile intruder faintly remained on the smooshed green grass; the small pink sparkles clinging to life as they slowly faded into mist within the roots of the grass. She was certain of crystal technology but the scale of them was immaculate - beyond her general understanding. Suddenly, leaves behind her disturbingly fluttered not far from her, a creature fleeing violently to her Northeast. Steadfast, Tyra jogged in pursuit.

Jeremy was glad he was stationed at the Northeast end, away from all the hectic, possibly deadly combat, for he was fortunately tasked to guard their unmarked crystal cache so elusive and secretive that no one would dare walk near it. He considered himself very lucky, standing near the clearing labeled "PROVISIONS." Luck always is a double-edged sword in the Realm. Maraya silently punctured the small crossbow arrow into the guard's neck silently from a distance, and, being the only one currently watching the Northeast end, she signaled Hugh and Clint to closely follow to a small backdoor entrance behind the dead guard. Clint pulled a lockpick from his shirt sleeve and nonchalantly picked the padlock as the crew walked right in only to be immediately halted by another door. While there was room for them in the small indoor space between the doors to act as cover, the other door presented had no noticeable lock, and after Hugh gave a hearty attempt at the reinforced door, it didn't budge.

"We're gonna need something really heavy-duty to break these hinges." Clint jested, slowly losing hope as they overheard the approaching sharp ferocious barks of multiple dogs coming their way. "We can get a shotgun for that door! That'll work!"

. . .

Donnie eagerly watched the troopers invade the front of the facility after Maeve, sipping tea while camouflaged in the bushes only to instantly spit it out at the horde of vile greyhounds headed for their suspect of disturbance. He quickly opened his backpack to search through its huge depths, and found a rancid pile of meat for this very occasion, wincing at the smell it emanated, but it was surely fit for a small pack of these dogs. Donnie was elated and proud, expressing his clever smile while throwing the pile of meat on the ground and shuffling his position 20 more meters south after whistling the dogs attention. They reacted, all fighting over each other for the meat, distracting them in the Forest for now. Now the plan was surprisingly smooth after the crew bashed in no problem until he once again spotted a guard noticing the corpse of the one Maraya bypassed to access the backdoor.

"Zags, tell Clint there's a guard coming in real soon." With a gentle signalling to the bird Zags bounded off of his shoulder and soared to Clint's location to warn them, zooming past the startled and confused guard near the entrance.

. . .

"How are we going to get one?" Maraya protested as if she figured Clint had lost his mind. Clint chirped from his mouth, making countless different bird noises to Maraya's disapproving look of dismay and confusion. Surprisingly, however, Zags appeared through the open door behind them, landing on Hugh's shoulder.

"SQUAWK! A guard coming in real soon!" In an instant, the guard peeked the room only to meet Hugh's preparatory overhead blow to her head, knocking her out cold. Clint smiled in disbelief and Maraya's confusion only worsened as to how Clint's elite tactic worked. Relieved, Clint spoke to Zags.

"We need a shotgun! Tell Donnie we need a shotgun!" Clint desperately waved Zags on as the bird flew back to Donnie.

"Why can't Maeve open the door from the inside?" Maraya asked.

"The guards will chase her," Clint reassured, still staring at the door in front of him, growing more and more desperate. "She's not a stealth expert, she'll lead them right to us, but she can continue to evade them until we get what we need!"

Maeve staggered beneath the conveyor belts, hearing the clatter of hustling soldiers beneath her, getting closer and closer as their boots clanged on the metal maintenance access stairs. Haunted by the innumerous firepower, Maeve dismounted onto the conveyor and started sprinting from the footsteps to alert the guards to her presence with her own noise that was not the steps of her feet but the prowling ambient that followed her, sending countless projectiles her way yet again. Concealed by the small brittle aluminum walls that made up the conveyor system, the soldiers only shot at her general location, surrounding her commute in a hail of bullets encasing the girl in her own miserable luck. Running on a conveyor, her speed greatly increased so much, almost giving herself whiplash. Enough to eventually conceal herself again from the soldiers, she cowered behind a still conveyor way high, almost kissing the roof. After the soldiers ceased fire, having lost their target, the room grew still while distant flapping of a bird's wings enveloped the room, growing closer as it navigated the base towards the source of the accumulating pink mist that slowly started to fill the factory.

"SQUAWK! Clint needs a shotgun!" Zags shouted next to her, notifying Maeve of her next task, but also notifying the guards of her presence again, starting her annoying process over. Through bold galavanting footsteps the guards stammered to shoot the aluminum barriers to shreds and end this attrition. Maeve slid away from them and towards the backdoor to possibly open it from the inside, but it occurred to her that it would attract the guards' attention, and now looking at it from her birds-eye post far above ground level, the door was locked with a key from the inside as well, certainly hiding something entirely, even housing a lone guard heavily armed, standing idly yet attentively by the door, hoping no one got near it, almost expecting an attack of some kind. Above him, however, lurked the rogue's gambit, and his misfortune had his unprotected skull penetrated by two shark-toothed daggers; one between his eyes, and another through the center of his chest, reacting with instant death, dropping his trusty shotgun and collapsing to the floor, knives lodged in his motionless corpse. Maeve jumped down and grabbed the shotgun without a second thought and sprinted away from the body, leaving her daggers lodged as the soldiers trailed nearer to her vicinity. Unable to operate the firearm having received zero training, Maeve's current combat ability was crippled, so she had to move fast and get the shotgun to Clint. Just like back at the Keep, Maeve knew her best bet was to exit the same way she entered, climbing and vaulting off of conveyors and ladders in order to gain height for her escape through the sunroof windows. Pace given, Maeve soon found no trouble out-maneuvering the gunners, fleeing flawlessly with the shotgun in her hands, circling the complex in order to hand it to Clint.

. . .

"Oh, lunas," Donnie spoke aloud, and through his binoculars the battle waged while Zags returned to him without a word. "I'm glad you're back, Zags!"

"SQUAWK! Glad you're back Zags!" His companion landed on the birch branch nearby instead of his shoulder and itched his neck with his small talons, and Donnie sighed in relief before he felt the hollow barrel of a rifle gently kiss the side of his skull.

"Found you."

. . .

Maeve eagerly crept into the backdoor, greeting the crew with a smile as she handed Clint the shotgun. Clint nodded in approval, and the crew stood back as he flicked the safety and shot 3 massive holes where the reinforced hinges used to be, knocking the door over in a loud thump. Moving the assorted rubble, Hugh's grunts evolved into disbelief as his eyes beheld a small room with another door at the end filled to the brim with crystals of all shape, color and size, filling their eyes in a rainbow of untapped power and potential.

"Grab what you can and let's go!" Clint urged as they all took part in grabbing as many crystals as their satchels could hold, eyes wide with joy and wonder at the sheer volume of power in a single room.

As the crew departed the backdoor - satchels stuffed - the troubling, ear-piercing sound of a powerful high-caliber gunshot alerted the entire facility, echoing into the night as Maeve, in disbelief and shock, saw Zags retreating before another gunshot splattered the bird in midair, sending it to the ground in pieces, mutilated and desecrated into unidentifiable scores of flesh. The crew gazed at Donnie's old spot, and in its place stood Tyra, who watched their faces turn white as she nonchalantly peered into the clearing at a brisk jog towards the crew for a clearer shot.

"Run!" Clint ordered through a cracked and petrified voice. "To the woods, hurry!"

Tyra opened fire a bit too late just as she acquired the targets through the midnight woods fleeing behind the left of the building, all while her mediocre guards gave chase from the right of it. Angrily pestering over her dogs feasting and fighting over some kind of distraction, she failed to notice the dagger flying towards her from the Base's rooftop, striking her in the leg before she could properly retaliate, only firing three bullets in return, hitting one of the desperate shots, knocking Maeve off the roof in a violent tumble, tearing a round clean through her shoulder as it exited her body in a tracer of blood.

"Ahh!" Maeve cried on its impact as she fell behind the facility, unconscious, into Hugh's arms as they fled back into the Enchanted Forest, Tyra failing to give chase due to her injured leg and the cloak of the night. Tyra's eyebrows fiercely declined, expressing ravenous but controlled hatred in her failure, more than furious as she stood in the outskirts of the forest, witnessing her guards helplessly give chase to their fruitless endeavor, eventually losing to the Marauders in the brisk fall twilight.