[1-3] The Nose

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

The gun-wielding woman did not break eye-contact, her quivering hand keeping her pistol trained on Nanaki. She was visibly shaken, coated in a mixture of sweat, dirt, and soot. By the state of her, he had to assume she had been among the lucky survivors of the crash, her seat probably having been thrown from the body shortly before impact. As a pregnant silence hung over the group, the feline finally spoke. “See what?”

Another pause, as if she had not quite understood the beast’s inquiry. She heaved uneven breaths, slowly lowering the firearm a few inches. Red’s apparent (at least somewhat) amicable approach had earned him a few degrees of freedom, though not enough to spur the woman to lower the gun entirely. “The...THING,” she uttered, gesticulating wildly into the forest with her pistol. 

“Ms. Adams, can we lower the pistol a touch, hmm?” the sumptuously dressed Syntech employee said, somewhere between a question and a command. A mischievous smirk seemed to be permanently stamped onto his face.

Red turned to look over his shoulder, mentally checking out of the conversation for a moment while the frightened gunslinger continued to express her concerns. The canid’s good left eye traced the path of torn leaves and splintered branches toward the direction the Adams girl had pointed. From between the woody boughs, the beast’s optics could spy what seemed to be a murky fog, thickening the further into the forest he looked. Sighing with frustration, he closed his eyes as he focused on his more primal senses.

“There's something out there!” the shaken girl asserted, leering at the Syntech staff. “It was chasing me, I heard it!”

“I'm not sure of what could have been chasing you, but there's definitely something strange out there,” Red commented, turning back to the group. He cast a gaze upward, nodding as his suspicions were confirmed. “There's a fog overhead,” the burgundy beast continued, “And I'm sensing something...strange from deeper in the brush.”

“Strange?” the group's leader inquired. “How do you mean?”

Nanaki stared back blankly at the man, shaking his head. “I can't explain it. The smells and sounds aren't like anything that I'm familiar with.” 

“What is it?!” the woman demanded, gun still leveled on him. Though the feline could tell that her demeanor stemmed more from fear and anxiety than anything they had done, he couldn't help the annoyance he was feeling.

“I don't know,” Red said flatly. “But you're going to need to lower that gun if you want any kind of help.” He paused for a moment, waiting as she begrudgingly lowered the firearm. “Besides, whatever it was that was after you is gone now...or at least I can no longer sense it.”

“Well, I quite enjoyed that little bout of excitement,” Mr. Syntech said, “but I should remind everyone that there are still corpses and rubble to dig through. Let's carry on.”

The newcomer gave the well-dressed gentleman a dismissive look before following the group. They made their way through the area around the crash site, each casting their gaze around and lifting the occasional chunk of debris. Nanaki relinquished his spot at the front of the pack, instead fall back near the rear as he focused his senses on the perimeter. His initial assessment of the strange presence in the distance did not sit well with him; he had seen a great many strange things in his time but it was quite a new experience to be completely unable to describe the sensations. Tiny inklings of worry sprouted in his mind as he sniffed around, hoping for any clue of what could be out there or where they could be.

“So, are we on the Island right now?” a disembodied voice asked from the front of the group.

“Not the island, no, but an island,” the Syntech staffer replied cheekily. “This is just as much of a surprise to you as it is to me.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, not exactly the smooth sailing I had expected, but we can't always have what we want, can we?”

“I guess?”

Nanaki ignored the chatter, instead focusing his hyper-sensitive ears and nose on the island. The Omniverse had brought its own unique set of limitations on his various capacities, though he had yet to fully measure just how hampered he was. Perhaps if he simply redoubled his efforts he could get a better idea of what was hiding at the edges of his range? 

“Hey,” a gruff female voice commented, jarring him from the fiery feline from his thoughts. “You really can't sense it?”

Red XIII turned to see the girl that he had just met, limping unsteadily beside him as they both followed the group. She seemed to have calmed somewhat, though worry was still stitched into her visage.

“I really can't,” he repeated, eyeing the girl suspiciously. “Adams?”

“Christa,” she said, nodding. “But you're sure there's nothing there?”

“Red XIII,” the feline replied in turn. “And yes, I can't seem to sense anything right now other than something vague and indecipherable in the distance.”

Christa frowned, obviously finding the beast's words somewhat unhelpful. She squinted in the direction she had come from, perhaps hoping to catch sight of what had remained unseen to the others.

“Wait,” Red commanded, stopped suddenly. He lowered his nose, sniffing at a dislodged chunk of airplane seating. “Something's here,” he commented, jamming his head beneath the seat. A moment later he tugged the object free, leaving it at Christa's feet. 

“Looks like some kind of bag,” she said, grabbing the black strap and holding it before her. Aside from being covered in a thin layer of dust, it seemed to be largely untouched. 

“Could have supplies or something in it,” Nanaki commented, “But for now just hang onto it. We should focus on casualties for the moment.” 

Christa nodded, slinging the bag over her shoulder.