Takuya kept a steady jog going with John and Melissa following shortly behind him.
He didn't really care about making too much noise at the minute if what had killed that Xenomorph was still around Takuya's guess was that it had killed most of the other Xenomorphs in the area and if it left the area most of the Xenomorphs probably chased after it.
So making noise was semi-okay. Takuya still kept up his guard, however.
"Takuya...Why are we running?" John was slowly getting out of breath from the jog, his thin frame obviously struggling with the exercise. Takuya turned his head and shook it, signaling that he'd tell them when they got to the Canteen.
John grumbled slightly but Melissa gave him a reprimanding look which soon stopped his faux-sulking.
It took them around the same time it took for Takuya to walk to the vent the first time, to get to the canteen and by this point both John and Melissa were out of breath and quite fatigued. But this did nothing to stop the immense joy shining through their eyes when they thought about how they would be reuniting with their children once again.
Takuya and the couple came to a stop in front of the canteen door and Takuya walked up to the barricade which had been put back up, "Oiii~! Mikasa!" Takuya whispered sharply at the redhead sitting on some crates not too far from the barricade.
Mikasa's head instantly shot toward the direction of Takuya's voice and a small smile appeared on her face as she saw Takuya. She got up and walked over to the barricade.
Obviously, she'd been put under a lot of stress as if Takuya died, she'd have lost the only other useful person on the team. No bad feelings to Kazuma and the two other girls but they were after all just civilians who couldn't help much in situations like these. Maybe after they'd gotten enhancements they would be able to but not now.
"It's good to see you back in one piece, Takuya, did you find--" she cut herself short as she saw the couple behind him and Takuya's seemingly smug smile. She couldn't help but feel he was unlike the normal assassins she'd met, he was too...filled with emotion.
Mikasa shook her head, "Well, let's get this barricade out of the way so you can get back in, okay?" Mikasa started removing some things while Takuya's face paled slightly as he remembered the news he'd received earlier but nonetheless he started removing things from the barricade.
With the combined effort of the two teens, a small space in the barricade was opened up and it allowed the 3 people to enter.
As soon as they did enter, they heard two high-pitched voices, "Mom, Dad!" and then two blurs of black charged at John and Melissa. Melissa opened her arms and embraced the black blur which came to her; Tad.
While John picked up Sala and swung her around while letting out a low chuckle. He then went over to Melissa and Tad who were hugging each other and bent over and wrapped himself and Sala in a big group hug with them, "I'm glad you're safe, kids...If anything happened to you I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for leaving you here..." John expression went dark but it soon brightened again as he turned his head to Takuya, "Thank you, Takuya...Just...Thank you..." his voice sounded choked as he looked at Takuya with grateful eyes.
Takuya didn't know how to respond but he didn't think he needed to over complicate it, so he just calmly smiled and nodded his head at the scientist.
Sala realizing Takuya was there, wiggled her way away from her families and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his thick waist. Well, to her it was anyway.
"Thank you, Takuya! ThankYouThankYouThankYou!" Sala looked up at Takuya with a blinding smile and Takuya felt a warmth spread throughout his heart.
'I could get used to being the good guy...It's not a bad feeling, I guess...' Takuya smiled slightly when he thought this.
He put a hand on Sala's head and ruffled her hair up a bit, earning him a childish pout which caused him to laugh, "Well, I did say I'd save them didn't I? You should know that I'm always true to my word, Sala. So, if you need any help, just ask, okay?" his gentle smile seemed to take away Sala's annoyance at him ruffling her hair and she just nodded with an 'Mhm' sound escaping her throat.
After that, Takuya separated himself from a reluctant Sala and walked over to Mikasa and asked if he could speak to her in private. She saw the serious look in his eye and agreed instantly, so both of them walked away from the group for a while.
"So, what is it you want to tell me?" Mikasa looked over at the family with a smile on her face and Takuya felt guilty in advance for taking this short happiness away from her but he still responded to her anyway.
"The Hive Queen's Quarters are under us right now. You think those Xeno Drones are scary, you should see the thing they call a Queen," Takuya let what he said sink in. When he saw Mikasa's pale face and worried eyes, he carried on, "We have to move and soon but we can't tell the others their's a birthing chamber underneath us with hundreds of those eggs. I think Kazama could handle it and Sasaki-san would probably hold out for Kazama's sake but Uehara and the kids would freak out and we really don't need that right now."
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Mikasa took a few deep breaths, calming herself down before she responded, "So, why have you told me? Why didn't you just tell us all that we had to move?" Takuya knew she'd ask something like this, so his answer was almost immediate.
"Because you and I are the backbones for this team. We're both calm despite the situation we're in and I've already shown I can kill a Xenomorph, so everyone else looks to us for what to do. So, quite frankly, I need you to be on my side when I say we need to move and if I didn't tell you, you could ask me why we're moving in front of the others and I'd have to pull you aside to tell you, making the other's worry. You get what I'm trying to say?"
Takuya's reason lit up an admiring light in Mikasa's eyes and she quickly nodded her head in agreement, "As expected of an Assassin, you're always a step ahead," she smiled slightly before walking back over to the group.
Takuya decided not to tell her about how he suspected there was a Predator on the Colony as well, purely for the sake that telling her there was a Hive below them was already pressing on her psyche. If he added an Alien Hunter onto that, she'd probably break.
Martial Artists don't go through the mental training an Assassin does, so she was much less resilient than him when it came to pressure.
Resolving himself, he walked back over to the group who was in a merry mood. Uehara instantly came over to him and stuck next to his side like a conjoined twin while Kazama came over to ask him if he killed any Xenomorphs while he was out. Takuya just tried to ignore the two of them as he thought up a way to break the news to the others.
"Uhh, can I get everyone's attention please?" Takuya looked around the room with a slight smile on his face. Everyone turned to him as they viewed him as the de-facto leader of the group.
Seeing he'd gained everyone's attention, Takuya spoke in a calm voice, making sure his poker face was flawless, "After speaking with John and Melissa, I've decided to leave this area and venture into a more safe place. Does anyone have any questions?"
Instantly, Sasaki's hand went up as he expression paled, "Why are we moving? Isn't this place safe? Are those things going to attack us?!" her voice was incredibly shaky and her eyes were wide in fear.
"No, nothing like that Sasaki-san. I just don't like how there are so many vents in this room because even if they're sealed, Xenomorph blood could melt through it easily enough," Takuya turned and pointed at the barricade in front of the Canteen entrance, "Plus, that barricade wouldn't hold up against more than a few Xenos. They'd tear through it like wet paper. So, I think we need to move before something bad happens; to stay ahead of the curve."
Takuya's calm smile and strong eyes conveyed to Sasaki that they were safe and she calmed down slightly. Seeing her calm down, Takuya thanked God that she brought it and looked to the others, asking them if they had any other questions.
Unluckily, one of them did.
"So, where are we moving to Tepes-kun?" Uehara looked at him with slightly panicked eyes but there was also an eerie amount of trust in them as well.
"Well, I was thinking that we could go to the Communication Tower where John and Melissa just were. It's already been sprayed down and I'll do a quick run through it to see if there's any danger there," he looked over to John and Melissa, "Unless you have a better place for us to go, John? Melissa?"
John and Melissa knew why they had to move so they both took this question in their stride. John smiled and stepped forward, "Do you have the map for the colony on you? I can show you a relatively safe place and we can head there."
Takuya gave a thankful look to John and quickly passed him the map Sala had given him before.
John opened it up for him and Melissa to look at. Both of them spoke in whispers between themselves, obviously thinking of which route to take and where to take it to. But it didn't take long for them to figure it all out.
John pointed to a certain part of the map, "This is where we can go, Food Processing. It's where our back-up base was going to be and we sprayed it down with gallons of anti-Xenomorph pheromones and it should still be fresh and active, we should be safe there and there's definitely going to be food as well," John smiled at the others and then looked at Takuya, wondering on the tall man's thoughts.
Smiling, Takuya nodded, "That should be fine, it's not too far away as well and we don't need to move through any vents either which is always a benefit with a group as big as ours."
After sorting this out, everyone got to packing up supplies they wanted to take to the new camp. More accurately it was Sala, Tad and their parents who did this, the others just helped with what they could.
Takuya made sure to check the knives he had on him and the amount of ammo. This was all because of the threat of a Predator being on the colony and if it appeared, he'd have to take it on to save the others.
He could only hope it was a newly blooded-Yautja and not a more experienced Hunter otherwise he'd have even less of a chance to even injure the thing.
It didn't take long for them to pack up their things and Takuya had already checked his things and moved a part of the barricade out of the way. Looking at the group in front of him, Takuya could only hope most of them survived, he didn't want to have to get used to new newbies next mission.
"Okay, so we're gonna head out now but I'd like to give you all a warning," his eyes flashed with a serious light which caused multiple people in the group to gulp down any saliva in their mouths, "You listen to everything I say, got it? I say run, you run, I say jump, you ask how high, understood?"
Everyone bar Mikasa, John, and Melissa gave a nod in a nervous manner, obviously intimidated by a serious Takuya when he was usually so carefree and jovial.
Takuya didn't want to intimidate them but if it kept them in line and alive, he didn't care if they were scared of him to some degree.
"Okay, let's go then. Try to walk as quietly as possible," Takuya led the way out of the canteen with the Glock and a flashlight aimed in front of him.