[76 doesn’t take this well.

It’s unhelpful that the last thing he remembers is being in a desert, and the sudden change of location has him instantly assuming he’s been kidnapped or otherwise compromised. The things he’s told don’t exactly make sense to him, but what he does know is that his gear is gone, he’s not in his safe house, and Ana is most certainly nowhere to be found. The last realization has him throwing one good swing at the COST soldier, but it’s his own disorientation that prevents him from making good on physical violence. Beating answers out of people seems counterproductive when, seemingly, all the answers are already provided.

The problem is that they're fairly unbelievable, but 76 quickly figures it’s going to be a bad idea to kick up a fuss. The message from the so-called commander seems to imply they expected him, and though he isn’t sure how that can be possible, as soon as he steps outside the tent, he realizes he might have to play along

He gravitates to the weapons, first, trying to find something a little bit familiar, but coming up empty. Swords and spears, sure, fine. He thinks he can probably navigate his way around one, but the bows and crossbows as the only projectile weaponry seem to offend him personally. He didn’t fight his way through The Robot War and Two Subsequent Decades of Various Military Conflicts for this.]

This is it, huh.

[He doesn’t even bother to keep his lamenting to himself. Surely someone’s invented gunpowder by now??]

[All of this is a little hard to swallow (time travel of a sort isn’t unheard of, but it’s not like he ever expected to be victim of it), so he figures the most likely explanation is that he’s strapped to a chair in one of Talon’s creepy basement, wires plugged into his skull, trapped in some kind of bizarre simulation meant to…what? All of this is a little excessive even for a global terrorist organization, but he can’t set aside the possibility that this is it. He’s been captured and compromised. They know who he is, and all he can really do is hope that he finds a way out sooner rather than later.

Perhaps the deeper he goes, the more cracks he might discover. It’s worth a shot. That’s what has him accepting orders. Sometimes it’s easier to do that, instead of think.

In more recent years, he’s foregone stealth in favor of punching the answers out of people with little regard for subtlety, but he can still fall back on covert ops training if he has to, staking out the oasis perimeter. He’s not the best conversationalist, but he’s fairly vigilant and is quick to alert anyone with him (you) to suspicious movement in the dark.]

Three o'clock. [He even points helpfully.] Someone's out there.

[He doesn’t have his gun, or his body armor, or his tactical visor, or his biotic emitters, which are all things easy enough to take for granted, especially in a situation like this. If there’s one thing 76 knows, however, it’s war—he’s been a soldier longer than he’s been anything else, and if he pushes the impossibility of the situation out of his mind, falling back on those instincts is almost automatic. So everything here is centuries behind what he’s used to. So what? There’s a mission to complete, a battle to win, and on the field is where he belongs. He can sort out his apparent kidnapping and/or lapse in memory later, once he survives this.

It doesn’t take long for him to realize they have an inherent advantage—the enemy has heavy armor, sure, but it makes them slower. Speed and efficiency will be the name of the game, and it does help that he actually knows how to ride a horse (thanks, literal farm upbringing). Though he isn’t an archer, he can certainly act as cavalry, as it seems prudent to stay on horseback and mobile, following the lead of the soldiers who are actually supposed to be here, striking quickly and then retreating again.

He isn’t so laser-focused, however, that he’s ignorant of anyone on foot who might be overwhelmed by the chaos.]

Need a lift?

[Should you choose to accept, you might find yourself dragged up on horseback with what seems like minimal effort from the man at the reigns (thanks, literal shady government soldier enhancement program).]

I'll ride, you shoot.

[Period accurate? Maybe not, but teamwork in a situation like this seems to be a good idea.]

[Getting chatty isn’t what he wants to be doing, but sooner or later, he’s going to want answers. 76 is a little skeptical about actually recieing said answers from shouting into the void of a mysterious messaging system, but with little else in the way of explanation, he figures it’s worth a shot.]

UN: 76

@ALL: Who the hell are you people?