After the lounge meeting, Frost returned to the training fields to clean up some of the mess left behind. He had to be escorted by guards due to standard protocol, but as he stayed in his office and didn’t move for half an hour, the guards eventually went to have dinner, giving Panda the chance to sneak out and join him at the office with a backpack. He made sure to wait until it was dark enough outside to make a run for it, but after entering the shack, he was surprised to see Frost laying back on his chair nonchalantly, pretending not to see Panda at first until he closed.

–Do you think Indie will notice?– Panda asked with a bit of concern as Frost seemed too relaxed, but since he stayed silent for a while, Panda took his opportunity to open the backpack he was carrying, taking out a rope coil.

–Let’s just hope they are fast enough…– Frost replied casually before looking around the office for a pen. He searched in one of the drawers of the gun cabinet behind him, which now had a rifle missing. And right as he reached down for a pen on the ground, Nitro appeared at the door, startling both Panda and Frost with his loud entrance.

–I got it…– Nitro announced as he barged into the office out of breath, stopping at the door to compose himself and slowly walking over to the table with a small device in his hand. Frost gestured for him to close the door in frustration, but seemed more distressed when he noticed that Nitro had a radio in his hand, one that he seemed to be familiar with.

–Wait, that isn’t Indie’s radio, is it?– Frost asked suspiciously, leaning to take a closer look as Nitro handed him the radio. But even though he seemed proud of himself for bringing Frost what he asked for, Nitro hesitated to answer his question as he noticed his increasing concern.

–Y-yea… I couldn’t find Snake’s, so I just snuck in while she was showering and-…– Nitro replied in a casual manner but became nervous as his teammates' reactions subtly changed. He was cut off by Panda as he grabbed him by the shoulder to turn him around and face him away from Frost, as his temper was running short.

–Did you really just…? Ugh, I don’t want to hear it, just go…– Frost asked in annoyance, but since Nitro didn’t seem to understand what he did wrong, he gave up immediately on trying to argue. Instead, he let out a sigh and dismissed him, prompting Nitro to leave in a hurry since he knew better.

–She is going to notice…– Panda said apprehensively, with Frost agreeing with a nod but not sharing the same concern as him, even though he couldn’t stop staring at Indie’s radio, trying to clean a smudge on the backside where her name was labeled.

–Not if we put it back tonight…– Frost replied thoughtfully, extending his arm for Panda to hand him the rope, which he kept hidden behind the table. The missing rifle was found placed against the foot of the table, alongside a couple of magazines sticking out of his own backpack. But as he tried to put away the radio and organize his stuff, Candy and Kiwy showed up at the same time, which actually startled Panda so much that she almost tried to kick them out.

–What are you two doing here? You can't be seen-...– Panda asked in a panic, though he was trying to be considerate as he spoke quietly to warn them before Frost noticed, saving them the trouble. But even though he blocked his view of the door, Frost instantly recognized who had shown up and ordered Panda to let them in.

–Don’t worry, nobody suspects them…– Frost said nonchalantly before gesturing for Candy and Kiwy to come over. Panda checked outside to see if anyone had followed them, but he could still see Nitro running back to the base, so they were still in the clear. He quickly closed the door and turned back to Frost and the girls as they handed over their items.

–Snake didn’t even ask why, he just gave it to me…– Candy said with an insecure undertone as she handed Frost some binoculars, which he picked up and immediately inspected from up close before smiling mischievously.

–Good job. Those are the perks of having such a cute and innocent face…– Frost replied lightheartedly, giving both Candy and Kiwy a frisky smile, but he mainly focused on the former to both thank and tease her, almost making her blush as he sounded genuinely pleased. But despite taking the compliment to heart, Candy limited her response to a sheepish smile and was ready to leave with Kiwy, though the cat girl left a set of keys on the table before she forgot to hand them over.

–Good luck with your mission, but please stay safe…– Candy said in her usual sweet, compassionate, but slightly worried tone, rubbing her forearm nervously as she was barely able to look at Frost, who became cocky and excited now that he had most of the things he requested for his mission. But after Candy’s blessing and picking up the keys that Kiwy left, he just nodded mindlessly at them as they were escorted out by Panda.

Frost toyed around with the binoculars, jiggling the keys with a content grin, and distracting himself in his thoughts while Panda checked outside again. However, he was surprised to see that Tricky was coming to the shack with her hands full, being in such a hurry that she didn’t even greet Kiwy and Candy after bumping into them. Panda held the door for her to come inside, and as soon as she walked through the door, Frost stood up for once out of excitement.

–Alright, I stole as much as possible. There were some guards at the warehouse, but I don’t think they saw me…– Tricky said as she panted from running half the field with a few bags full of weird-looking devices. Frost helped her unpack the bags, only to be confused by the gadgets she brought him. He picked one up by its round head and began inspecting it closely, still quite confused by its slick design as it looked like there were no buttons or anything to activate it. But after Tricky noticed he was messing around with her device, she snatched it out of his hands to set it on the table before explaining without him even asking a question.

–Those are the sensors that track enemy movement. Well, they just track any movement, but you simply set them up wherever you want, hiding them, of course, and activate them with a specific frequency using the radio. It takes a while for it to start, but it should give you an approximate location every minute or so. That’s the best I could do…– Tricky explained rapidly, still a bit flustered, but even becoming slightly nervous as she tried to solve any doubts before leaving. But as it looked like neither Panda nor Frost understood half of her words, she just stayed awkwardly quiet as she waited to confirm if she had made herself clear. Panda and Frost looked at each other confusedly, but as Frost picked up one of the sensor devices again and toyed around with it, he looked much more confident and eager to use them.

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–Alright, and how do I set them up? Do you connect them with something or what? We have a bit of rope and stuff just in case…– Frost asked in a more docile tone, not sounding too versed in the topic, waiting impatiently for Tricky to explain everything, which she seemed tired of doing, but it wasn’t like she had a choice.

–No, and even if it did, you need wires, not just rope. You just have to place them, and they work when you turn them on from the bottom, like this…– Tricky replied in an almost condescending manner as she wasn’t too keen on answering, making sure to demonstrate instead of explaining with words as she ostentatiously showed how her sensors worked. She picked another device to turn it on its head and showed Frost a small switch at the bottom, which he quickly located and activated to make sure his device was working.

He still seemed slightly confused, though more taken aback or offended, as Tricky showed some superiority and was pretty assertive. His ignorance and lack of experience in her field, plus the slightly insecure nature he adopted for a brief moment, gave Tricky the pleasure of using her knowledge to teach him something for once and show off her intelligence. However, he was quite indifferent to it, not even trying to argue or even say anything about it. He just nodded at Tricky as she let out a sigh of relief now that Frost had stopped asking questions and began packing to leave.

–They work by sending electromagnetic waves, which are triggered by the radio, sending a signal to each sensor, and in response, they send a signal back with the distance from the radio if they catch some movement. Other signals can’t interrupt their functionality, so the only way to deactivate them is manually. If they don’t catch any movement, they simply wa-…– Tricky continued explaining with quite some passion as she found herself enthralled by her own explanation. However, only Panda seemed to be even remotely interested, although he just seemed to nod at everything she said without much thought, unlike Frost, who just ignored her as he was done listening and was focused on packing everything in his backpack.

–Okay, I don’t care about how it works, I just want to know how to use them. I press this button below, and it’s done, got it– Frost replied dismissively as he grabbed all the sensors he could stuff in his backpack, getting an annoyed reaction from Tricky, who stepped back to give room him to gear up.

–Fine, just go already before someone notices… You are welcome, by the way…– Tricky said in exasperation, with a bit of spite in her eyes, though it wasn’t out of the ordinary for her. Frost didn’t pay much attention and mindlessly nodded as he strapped the rifle behind the table around his shoulder. Even though he didn’t seem to need the rope, he packed it as well, knotting it to one of the handles of his backpack, which looked like it was about to burst, and while he didn’t look too comfortable using a rifle instead of his razor blades, he looked perfectly capable of carrying out the mission all by himself from now on.

–Good luck, tell us what you find out there– Panda said with an optimistic and enthusiastic grin as he walked out of the office with Tricky, waiting for Frost to adjust his backpack before leaving as well. They followed him a few meters as he headed towards the woods at the back of the field, staying back behind the shack to not be seen from a distance as the guards at the walls were about to take up their posts.

–Yea, if anything happens, tell Indie I’ve been kidnapped. I’m sure she will ignore it and give us more time…– Frost responded jokingly, getting a laugh out of Panda and even making Tricky reluctantly crack up. He was now as confident as ever and more eager than when he was watching the game earlier today. With his determination showing in his expression, he started running away, heading into the dark fields as he stepped out of the safety of the base’s lights, with Panda and Tricky quickly losing sight of him as he ventured into the forest.

He was gone, and as the night became darker, it took him three hours to come back. Tricky and Panda had returned to the base, but they began checking back on the training grounds every hour to see if he had returned. After the second time, they grew a little worried, though they couldn’t search for him as they tried to make up a story to cover his disappearance now that some soldiers started noticing, forcing Crisis to keep them distracted and doing whatever to stay away from the training grounds.

The saviors were more active at night than during the day, mainly because the recruits went to sleep early, clearing their base, and giving them the freedom to do whatever they wanted like they were used to. And since most recruits had gone to sleep earlier than usual on this particular day, Cookie and his friends decided to have a sort of party on the first floor of the main building. Crisis had to attend to keep up appearances, and as everyone had eyes on them, they were trapped surrounded by their own kind, ignoring the fun as they became anxious for Frost’s arrival.

After a few attempts, Panda was the only one who managed to sneak out of the party, heading directly into the training grounds, where he had to manually open the gate after it was closed a few minutes ago. Luckily, there were no guards nearby, and while he took his time to be as silent as possible, Panda still managed to make his way to the field in a hurry before everyone else realized he was gone. It was so dark outside that he couldn’t even see the full area in front, so, with one last hope of finding Frost, he headed towards the shack, where he heard some noises inside. Keeping his head up, Panda slowly opened the office door to confront whoever was inside, but his worries disappeared as soon as he saw Frost waiting for him, laying back on his chair again with a smug face.

–So, how was it? Did you find anything…– Panda asked curiously, now relieved to have found his chief, though the anticipation was killing him. He couldn’t figure out if Frost’s cocky expression was genuine or just a front, especially when he turned serious at his question. But after a few suspenseful seconds, Frost playfully looked around the office before staring back at him with the most joyous smile Panda had seen in a while.

–I might have found something…– Frost replied with a fulfilled grin before pulling out a small map and opening it on the desk, revealing some points that he had marked on it, all of which were relatively close to the base. Panda got closer with a confused look, though he turned excited as he noticed one big red point that stood out the most on the map. Panda had to check its location to get an idea of what he was talking about. But after thinking for a moment, he began looking at Frost with keen interest, and as he looked back with delighted eyes, he knew they were on to something.

| WE JUST GIVE IT A LITTLE TIME

WE CAN SLIP AWAY, SHE COULD NEVER SAY |