"We've been betrayed... by who!?"
The dreadful drumming caused Lincoln's entire body to tremble, and yet perhaps, it was only the beating of his heart that resounded through his ears as he realized the connotation of Rhys's words. Lincoln then started to look at everyone, before his suspicion suddenly snapped when he once again realized something.
And very slowly... he turned to look at Rhys. Out of all of them here, he was the only one who actually had a motive to betray all of them.
"Good guess, but no," Rhys only let out a small sigh as he saw not only Lincoln's suspicious glare, but everyone's, "I'm not even supposed to be here, I was forced and dragged."
"That..." Lincoln still had his suspicions, but the only thing he could really do was just nod. They all heard Rhys's circumstance, and they all knew he was reluctant to join the mission and was only forced by General Banner... but then again, that doesn't change the fact that he could have still revealed all their plans.
"And if I was the one who revealed this..."
Lincoln held his breath as he saw the look in Rhys's eyes; almost as if he was going to swallow him and everyone here whole in the darkness hidden within them,
"...All of you would have been dead even before we got out of the truck."
Lincoln turned to look at the other men, and when he realized that Stretcher wasn't there, he was finally able to let out a breath. Someone who was trying to blend in and be inconspicuous wouldn't beat someone close to death right in front of the people whose trust he wanted to gain.
"Sorry, Sir," Lincoln nodded, "You've already been blamed once, and now you're being blamed again."
"Story of my life," Rhys let out a soft chuckle. But soon his expression turned serious as he leaned his head out of the Earth shield to look at where the arrows were coming from, only for him to see the head of an arrow just a meter away from piercing him straight in the head; Rhys, however, just calmly stretched out his hand and caught it...
...before suddenly spinning in place and throwing the arrow back.
"Did you get him, Sir!?"
And almost as if to answer Lincoln, a barrage of arrows once again started bombarding their Earth shield.
"We should fall back," Rhys grumbled as he looked around for a place to hide, "We don't know how many they are, but there's a possibility they know just how many we are and what we're capable of — there's a chance they're just going to tire you and the other Earth controllers out."
"Tch..." Lincoln gritted his teeth as he looked at the other Earth controllers. Although none of them seem tired yet, it won't be long until the stress of being trapped gets to them, "You're right, we're sitting ducks here."
Lincoln then slightly opened a hole in the Earth shield so he could safely check the surrounding areas, but before he could fully see every direction, he was almost hit by another arrow as it flew straight toward the hole he made.
"Shit... just how fucked are their vision!?" Lincoln could not help but curse as he almost died, "Do... they have a Noble on their side with Artemis' blood!?"
"Lieutenant, focus," Rhys grabbed Lincoln's shoulder.
"...Right," Lincoln breathed out heavily, "I saw a small building at my three. We should—"
"Fuck this!" And before Lincoln could finish his words, Stretcher's men ran toward the direction that Lincoln pointed; effectively splitting the Earth shield in half.
"You—Hold it! Fuck!" Lincoln quickly rushed out of the Earth shield, taking a piece with him as he chased the other soldiers,
Soon, however, the relief and excitement in the captain's breaths disappeared as he shook his head.
"Someone leaked our plans, downright to our men's positions," the captain uttered as he once again placed his shoulder on his technician's shoulder, "Tell them to standby to retreat, we will figure out how we're going to rescue them."
"Sir..." The technician nervously looked up at the Captain, "...I can't."
"What?"
"...I've lost signal with their radio."
"Are you saying we can't contact them?" The Captain glared at the technician, "But how is that possible!? Their body cams are working!"
"Captain, what's the situation here?"
"Commander Ayesha!" The Captain quickly straightened his back and saluted to Ayesha, "What are you doing here, Ma'am? You're... not authorized in this area."
"Let's skip all the bullshit," Ayesha just casually saluted as he approached the briefing area. Some of the men were about to stop her, but the Captain quickly gestured to them to stand down, "You don't need to be so formal with me, I've been retired."
"...No," the Captain shook his head, "You are still registered as the Commander of the Underworld Corps, Ma'am. You outrank me by at least two steps. But...
...they truly can't enter here."
The Captain then turned to look behind Ayesha, only to see Rhys's entire harem there.
"That's fine, those people all outrank you too. 3 Princesses, and then two retired assassins who used to work for the government. They were probably from the IIA or something, that means they bank your payroll."
"That..." The Captain turned to look at Katarina and the others, only for him to stray his eyes away as soon as Agatha returned his gaze with a glare. He also suspected Rhys to be the person behind the leaking of their mission, but seeing all these women surrounding him...
...if Rhys truly did want to overthrow the entire Amerkan government, he probably didn't even need to play in the shadows. Just Princess Agatha and Ayesha alone could call forth an army if they wanted to.
"...We lost audio contact with the team."
"What...?" Katarina's eyes trembled as she quickly tried to find Rhys on the screen, and not even a second later, he saw him all bloodied up and being dragged from the rubble, "If he dies, Captain...
...I swear all of you will—"
"Relax, Doc," Ayesha stopped Katarina from finishing her words as she also looked at the footage showing Rhys, "The Recruit's fine. But let's return to what you were saying before we arrived — you're saying the mission is compromised, Captain?"
"Yes," the Captain took in a deep breath as he looked at the monitors, "The Dregs of Society, although I am not at the liberty to say since you are considered a civilian right now—"
"Out with it."
"They... probably have a spy here in the base right now. Rhys Wilder and the others...
...they walked into a trap."