Isobel was beginning to regret agreeing to Ian's request. After all, even the occasional colorfulness of the higher-up marines had to have it's limits, right? A marine lieutenant couldn't possibly be as reckless as to get captured so easily ...right?

As she watched Kennit examine a slender, flat blade, no bigger than the width of three fingers, the doctor had to reconsider her stance on the matter. The thing was buried (hilt deep) in one of the many trees lining a dark clearing. Within seconds of kneeling down, Kennit declared it to be their captain's. Not only that, he informed them that she wouldn't part with it without good reason. Apparently, their captain was too paranoid to leave any weapons behind.

Therefore, she really was reckless enough to get herself captured.

"Th-then why?" Myra mumbled.

"To show she was here," Kennit replied, straightening up as tugged the blade free. "Mainly, to tell us someone strong is here as well. Irie--er, Cap'n doesn't go down that easy without reason. Either it was a surprise, or whomever made this mess," he paused and gestured at the wrecked trees around the clearing. "Is pretty badass."

Isobel turned away as Kennit proceeded to instruct them to search the area. She could hear Myra questioning him on searching methods-- no doubt the girl had little experience in actual field work-- as she examined the underbrush surrounding the clearing. It only took a few minutes for her to locate where dozen of footprints had pressed into the soft earth. No doubt their captain would have taken off at this point without a word to the rest of the crew.

"Kennit, Myra, over here," she called out.

Within seconds the two had darted to her side. Isobel gestured towards the prints, earning herself a grin from Kennit. Isobel grimaced at the sight-- Kennit was too much like Ian. That grin could do a girl in... well, any girl except Isobel, she decided. With a shake of her head, she gestured towards the direction the tracks led.

"Shall we?"

"Yeah. Let's go rescue our idiot."

_________________________________

Her head hurt.

Not that, that should have come as a surprise. Irie's head had been slammed into a tree trunk after all. Still, even those few thoughts alone were hard to string together when consciousness finally returned to the snowy-haired marine. She made an effort to keep her breathing at a similar rate to unconsciousness and was careful to keep her eyes closed. No doubt binds around their wrists could lead anyone to the conclusion that their circumstances were less than ideal.

Then there was the voices.

"You attacked a marine!"

"She was really young! I mean, only the old ones are important, right?"

"What the hell does age have to do with the fact you attacked the marines, Igneous!"

"Only one marine," Igneous replied childishly. "The rest were mine workers."

"Oh. I stand corrected. That changes everything. You only attacked one marine. It's not like marines are like bugs or anything. It's not like where you find one you find a lot more."

"Just shut up, Kimi," a third voice sighed. "It's not like Iggy's ever going to listen to you. Especially when he gets like this."

From how long she'd been listening, it sounded as if there were three of them. If there had been more individuals in the group, she held little doubt that at least mention of them would have come up by now. But, they hadn't. Which meant these three were most likely on their own.

The sound of someone else moving around met her ears. She stiffened slightly, picking up on a soft groan from a short distance away. That must have been Isaac-- Kita would have been swearing. Hibiki would have been smart enough to keep his mouth shut-- not that she thought the elderly miner would have woke up so quickly.

"Hey, they're waking up!" the third voice warned.

"Hm? Oh. Right."

A sudden gust of wind swept through the room and Irie was grateful she'd never moved from the wall. Otherwise, she would have ended up like Isaac who let out a sharp help as the gust of wind was followed by a sickening thud. He must have hit the wall again.

"Now, they're not," Igneous said, his tone dangerously close to somewhat sing-songy. .

One of the other three snorted, but left the matter be. Within seconds silence had descended upon the gathered group. It gave Irie a much needed chance to consider her situation. At the same time, the lack of conversation made it difficult to mark out the locations of the criminals in her head. From the steady sound of something hollow hitting wood, she knew one of them to be far ahead of wherever she sat against some sort of earthy wall (she knew that from the smell of damp dirt). Then there was a sound just a bit to the right of that one, a steady thud that would have been lost to anything less than Irie's sharp ears. Most likely, it would be the anxious one...Kimi, pacing.

The third one had gone completely silent.

As for her situation, Irie had two options open to her. Her hands were settled at the small of her back and pressed harshly into the dirt behind her. No doubt someone had taken time to arrange her in such a position, as just throwing her against the wouldn't have resulted in a damn throbbing wrist. Whatever the reason for her position, she held no doubt it wouldn't take long for the jewel thieves to realize that a live marine was even more dangerous than a dead one. For all they knew, their names would never truly get connected to hers if the rest of her crew found a body and nothing else. So, not only was she far from defenseless, she was a lethal weapon even with her arms bound. So, her options.

One: Irie could wait for her shipmates to find her. Kennit would no doubt be able to figure out where she'd gone. From there on, there had to have been at least one person intelligent enough to follow her tracks. She'd managed to nail one of her hidden blades into the tree when she'd been slammed into it before, so hopefully they found that as well. Altogether, the chances of finding her were rather high. After all, she held little doubt that the earthy ground and walls meant she was in an old mining tunnel like she'd figured they were hiding in. It would take an idiot to skip over checking the marked mines in the area.

Two: Irie could fight her own way out. It wouldn't be that difficult. All she had to do was use her fruit and she'd easily break the binds. They were tied with the intentions of holding a child-sized marine, not an adult-sized bird-human hybrid. Then, all that would be left was taking down three, probably shabby fighters. The only real challenge would be the one with the wind powers (most likely the Kaze Kaze no Mi, she'd heard rumors it'd been reported stolen by a merchant). But... she was underground.

As unlikely as she was to admit it, Irie loathed being beneath the earth. It was one of the main reasons she'd yet to open her eyes. After years as a free-flying, avian-hybrid of a marine, she'd grown to love the open-air. It wasn't as if she was claustrophobic, she could handle small spaces just fine. It was the idea of being trapped underground that had her hesitant.

What would a full-out fight do to the old wooden beams that no doubt served as the only support in a old tunnel like this? Irie almost shuddered at the thought. Just one wrong move and she could-- depending on just how deep underground she was-- send hundreds of pounds of dirt cascading down on top of her.

Still, it was against Irie's nature to sit back and take something like this.

"Shit. I think the marine is awake," the third voice announced.

"Huh?" Igneous muttered, voice decidedly less composed than it had been only a handful of minutes before. It would seem that the one hitting something against wood had been him, and no doubt that "something" was a bottle of booze. "Aw, dammit. Just when I was getting comfortable."

Seeing as she'd been discovered, Irie forced herself to open her eyes. The scene was just as she'd pictured it.

Approaching her was a strange, almost comical-looking male. His eyes were sky blue, but his hair consisted of wild, honey blonde curls. He wore a strange, inch-wide black collar around his neck and an off-white button-up that couldn't have been more than half-way fastened. His cheeks were noticeably flushed and his brow furrowed in utmost concentration.

"Her eyes are gold!" he declared.

The sound of someone smacking their head into their hands echoed around the room.

"It's hopeless," Kimi groaned, somewhere off to the side from where Irie sat. A tall, wooden table blocked her view of the figure.. "We're doomed. We finally land a huge break, and we're going to be killed because our star player is drunk!"

"Am not!"

"Just... shut up, Igneous!" she retorted.

The blonde spun around, the air in the room sudden whipping about in a rather threatening manner as he spewed out insults. The third, unnamed member sighed, stepping around the two feuding thieves and closer to where Irie sat. His coal black eyes were narrowed in a calculating manner, moss-green hair trimmed into perfect, inch-long locks. Within seconds some sort of decision seemed to swing into play behind his cold eyes and he pursed his lips before leaning over to seize the front of Irie's tank. Within seconds she'd been dragged upwards, her entire body screaming in protest. Apparently, it didn't like the sudden movement after however long she'd been sitting in that cramped position.

She didn't say a word, simply watched as the third thief clicked their tongue in annoyance and dropped a hand to their side. It was only then that Irie realized another flaw in her plan to rescue herself, her entire collection of blades had no doubt been confiscated while she'd been unconscious. Well, perhaps with the exclusion of the one settled in her bra (now that she thought about it, she could feel the cool metal touching her skin). It made sense,. Kimi didn't seem like the type to feel other girls up, nor like the type to allow her male teammates to do the honors.

"I'll kill her," the thief announced.

Great, he'd realized the whole better dead than alive thing.

The bickering duo stopped, although Irie couldn't see them very well from her position. Only the sudden pause of the wind indicated that he'd caught even the inebriated Iggy's attention.

"Huh? Have you gone insane, Merrick?"

Well, that was that.

Irie slammed her knee upwards, only dumb luck and a bit of surprise enabling the limb to nail Merrick in the gut. He yelped, dropping her instinctively. She winced as her body hit the earth, but forced herself to shift forms at the same time. The binds around her wrists snapped almost instantly. A breathless curse hit the air.

Apparently, Merrick had already caught onto her little trick

At that same time, another yelp hit the air, this time from across the room. The sound was followed by Kita's announcement of "take that!" It would seem that Irie hadn't been the only one smart enough to keep quiet. Still, she had her own fight to focus on. Within seconds of Irie's little trick, Merrick had recovered and slung a leg through the air. Irie just barely managed to duck. It seemed that was a waste of time, however, because she was still sent flying back as a sudden gust of wind stormed through the room.

"Shut up," Igneous grumbled, waving his bottle about as the wind currents mirrored the action. Irie flexed her feathered arms, holding them quick to her side in an attempt to keep from being thrown around anymore than she already was. Their "star player" was pathetic. "I'm drinking here, you know."

Just as she was about to snap something-- her temper reaching its limit-- Merrick lunged towards her. Irie twisted around, dodging his outstretched fist and swinging at the back of his head with one, talon-covered hand. The man ducked, striking his elbow back as if to nail her in the gut as she'd done to him earlier. She just barely lept back in time to avoid the blow. Her eyes narrowed, feet settling in the "ready" position she'd learned long ago.

This guy knew what he was doing. If she was going to fight, she needed her weapons-- there was no other way. Having figured this out, she retrieved her only remaining blade and flicked it out. Merrick's eyes narrowed. Another yelp sounded from Kimi and Kita's direction. Who made, Irie wasn't certain. She didn't really care, either. Her only goal at the moment was to take out the three thieves. It was her duty as a marine to return the gems.

That in mind, she launched herself into battle once again. This time, her tiny switch-blade against his bare fists. A bit unfair, sure, but Irie had never claimed to be honorable. The result was Merrick backing off, eyes going narrow. After all, one look at Irie's stance revealed just how much experience she had with a blade.

"A deal," he announced after a moment, pitching his voice so it rung around the room. Silence followed the words. "How about we make a deal, hm?"

Irie narrowed her eyes, a clear response for the thief to continue.

"Marines don't get paid a lot, right? Take a few of the gems and leave this place. No fight on either side. It's like there isn't president-- Marines get paid off all the time. So, ju--"

He cut off as Irie suddenly lunged forward, her slender blade leaving a streak of blood down his side despite the speed at which he dodged. Merrick swallowed thickly, his mouth suddenly seeming to go dry. It was as if her golden eyes were shining in the dim tunnel lighting, as if they could see through him to his every weakness. Despite the small-size of her blade, he suddenly felt as if he were facing someone with a sword.

That gaze was intimidating.

"I'll take that as a no," he grumbled, resting one hand against his side (which was rapidly turning crimson).

Irie shrugged, eyes never shifting away from him.

"My brother would kill me if I let something as simple as money sway me," she retorted, then paused with a thoughtful look. "Or view me as not worth his time. Either one."

Merrick narrowed his eyes, bringing both his firsts up into a ready position despite how one of them had become dyed red.

"Then a fi--"

"Could everyone shut up already?!"

The sound of breaking glass echoed through the room as Igneous suddenly slammed his bottle on the ege of the counter. The thing shattered into a million pieces, the air in the room echoing the movement as wind suddenly seemed to surge out from where he sat.

Irie's heart seemed to stop for a second as the old support beams groaned. Merrick's eyes flew wide as Igneous gave the beams an expression that was more bored than worried. Apparently he was too drunk to realize what he'd just done.

"Iggy, you idiot!"

Just as Irie lunged towards a mining cart-- criminals forgotten-- the beams gave out.

Irie really did hate the underground.