1936 hours,

Inside Temple Ruins

Sighing lightly with a small shrug Andre patted his friend on the shoulder. “Meh, it is what it is Shorty. Nothing we can do about it now since we did sign the dotted line.” He added.

William ignored Dylan and Andre as he walked over to the front of the massive stone door, which barring them from going any further. “So… how do you expect us to get through this door?” He asked as he ran his gloved fingers along the finely carved stone wall.

Erynn gave a sly grin as she walked up beside William. “That, that, Anderson is the fun part.”

“Hah? What do you mean, ‘fun part’?” He questioned quickly, brow raised.

Turning back towards her researchers she waved over two of the younger academics, one a tall lanky fellow with green eyes which were hidden behind a pair of rather expensive looking glasses, while his brown hair seemed to suggest he was quite the lazy individual. The other researchers, however, seemed a lot more organized as her hair was neatly tied in a ponytail, while her sea blue eyes seemed to show a scary intelligence. They both didn’t waste time as they walked up to join the Will and their boss.

“This, Anderson is what we’ll be using to open the door.” As she spoke she grabbed what looked like some sort of idle from a sealed case.

With brow still raised William looked a bit unsure. “See what I mean, adventure novel shit.” Dylan said as he walked up beside Will.

Andre, grinning as though he was about to laugh just shook his head, “Yeah, yeah, keep your fantasies in that bald head of yours there Shorty.”

“Pfft, Tyrone, you’re just jealous I look like Jason Statham.” He retorted quickly smiling.

Walking up and in between his two brothers, Lucas rested his elbow on Dylan’s shoulder as he looked over at the idle with a rather keen interest in… the one holding the piece. “Come on guys, let’s give her a chance to show us.” He said, before turning over to Evan, “Right bro?”

Evan remained silent as he closed his eyes and shrugged, which more or less went to show his neutrality on the matter.

Lucas frowned slightly, “Still shy, hey man?”

Evan just raised a brow before flipping Lucas off before following up with a “Love you too bro.” finally speaking.

Lucas chuckled softly before turning his attention back towards their employer.

“Anyways, no point in wasting any more time. Might as well do what you took that piece out to do.” William said, ending any other additions to the conversation.

“Mhm, thank you.” She replied coolly as she turned away, her slender fingers running along the crease of the stonework until finally, she found what she wanted. “Got it.” Grinning she pulled out a loose stone, letting it fall to the ground before replacing it with the decorative icon.

As she locked it in place, the room suddenly began to shake before the large stone block began to slowly inch away. The group watched in silence, with only the researchers moving around as they took notes on the mechanics of the trap door, while their employer just stood there confidently as she once more folded her arms across her chest. Once the door slipped into the wall, vanishing into whatever space was there, the five rangers knew that a new level of hell was about to start.

“Whelp… this is gonna suck a lot of dick…” Dylan mumbled in annoyance.

William turned back to his friends, “Alright guys, just in case, pull out your gas masks. We don’t know WHAT we’re walking into, and for all we know, there could be some gas trap or some shit.” As he told the others to get their masks out, was already beginning to remember a lot of his classes that went into detail about the traps many tombs and ruins seemed to have.

Andre nodded slowly, “Yeah… I wouldn’t trust this place to have ‘clean air’”

Everyone else agreed at the same time with a, “Agreed.”

It was one of those things that just seemed to be a precaution that each of them wanted to be sure of. So without wasting another moment the team quickly returned to the camp, before they began to gather things and set them all up in the temple ruins. While the researchers were looking for further clues to what might be waiting in the tunnel, the former rangers, however, were getting their gear all set up, checking their kits and gear to make sure that they were ready for everything that could possibly happen. They had everything they needed from their NVG’s, gas masks, thicker armour for their limbs to avoid getting hit by sharp objects; yet still light enough to ensure they could run at full sprint. Their tactical vests and plate carriers had a new harness put overtop them, with a number of extra clips stuffed in them. William, on the other hand, was the one carrying the explosives, having gone through their supplies remembering the C-4 bricks they had, plus he was also the only one with the most EOD experience. After having spent his first time working with the EOD units back during his first combat tour, he learned a great deal from them, so he was more or less the explosives guy and team lead.

“You have everything?” Erynn asked as she walked up behind the group.

William was the first to turn back, patting his kit. “Yup got it all.”

“Though if you’re really concerned you could always come with?” Lucas added, a grin soon appearing across his face.

Dylan just patted his lucky hat, “All I need.”

Evan just remained silent, not a word escaping past his lips as he began to check his M110. Andre on the other hand just grinned, as he passed a pack of trail mix towards Dylan. “Pretty sure we’re all good, just need some sleep.”

“Good, glad to see our money and time is being well spent.” Erynn said, a smile now on her face.

“Don’t worry, we know what we’re doing… been soldier for the better part of our twenties.” William said as he pushed himself back to his feet.

“Mhm, well then, I’ll leave you gentlemen to it then.” And with that their employer began to walk away, her focus now on Doctors Jourdain and the one ponytailed woman whom all the rangers had forgotten the name of.

As she walked away, William watched her for a moment longer before turning back to his brothers, “By the way, anyone knows where the rope is?”

The other four paused before they all turned over towards Dylan who looked up and around, “What? Me? Why’re you all looking at me? I’m not the… oh… wait…” He stammered a bit taken back by the sudden cast of blame being placed on him before suddenly he remembered he was indeed the one who was the last to have the rope.

Quickly recalling the moment on the plane, he was the one putting it to the side for a moment so he could focus on the rest of his kit. It was then that he remembered that he didn’t actually remember to put the rope in with the rest of the stuff. Eyes going wide, he began to laugh nervously.

“Uh… yeah… so, funny story about the rope… I may or may not have forgotten it on the plane.” Dylan said looking down in a way as though he was embarrassed.

The four others just looked at him in silence, a silence that much to unnerve the one who was known as Bull. “Come on! It was an honest mistake, I know you would’ve forgotten it too!” Dylan said trying to save face.

Soon the group broke out into laughter, with Lucas pulling out a set of climbing tools and rope. “Don’t worry bro, I saw the mistake back on the plane and packed it. You’re cool, we’re just bugging ya.”

Dylan raised both his hands, flipping everyone off, “Fuck… you guys." As he flipped them off he grinned shaking his head.

The guys all just laughed the insult off as they continued to go back to their kit checks, ensuring that everything was set and ready for when they went in.

--

“Hmm… I’m telling you, man, this is just risky as hell.” Dylan said, once again voicing his concern.

William just shrugged, “Meh, adventure, right?”

Andre, grinning walked up beside Dylan patting him on the shoulder, “I agree with Will there. You gotta lighten up bro. It’s an adventure.”

Dylan focused over towards Andre with an unconvinced look, “Yeah… and if I remember correctly you said the same thing about the military. All the adventure I had was getting shot at.”

“Pfft, details, details!” Andre dismissed the reply with a wave of his hand. “You know you liked doing Ranger stuff.”

Sighing in defeat, “Yeah, suppose I did, but that’s that, and this is this.” He said motioning towards the dark narrow hallway that looked more like a tunnel.

Lucas pushed both of them towards the tunnel, “Stop flirting with each other and get moving. Don’t have all day here guys.”

William stood silently as he watched his three friends enter the entrance to the unexplored part of the temple structure, his own thoughts soon being filled with what if’s. It wasn’t until his actual brother, Evan came walking up nudging his shoulder with the butt of his rifle as if trying to reassure him. Looking over at his brother William smiled, shaking his head.

“Thanks, Ev.”

Evan just smiled and walked ahead of him waving for the two researchers who were joining them to follow him, which they quickly did, the look of pure excitement fully displayed on their faces as they began to follow their armed escort.

“You sure you guys will be around while we’re away?” William asked Erynn who came to stop beside him.

“Don’t worry, you’ve left us plenty of ammo, and your own carbine for us, so we’ll be fine.”

Looking over and down at her, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something might happen while they were away, but taking a deep breath in, he quickly dismissed the worry. “Alright… well, we’ll try to return as fast as we possibly can. Wish us luck.”

Erynn didn’t say anything, merely waving her bare right hand. As William soon vanished into the darkness she stood there a while longer, a frown now growing across her face. “Good luck…”