It probably says something about Sam that despite the danger and the time limit and everything else, he's feeling pretty good right now. And really, he knows exactly what that something is - but the benefit of being mission orientated is that he doesn't have to give a shit about that right now. This is what he does, what he spent two years in training and a decade in service doing, he's in his element.

Once he hits the surface of the arena, he's moving quickly. The fact that he's back in the fucking arena registers, yeah, but only dimly. This is pararescue, and he spent far longer in that mindset than he did in the arenas.

So his guard's up, but he's not on the offense, and when a figure darts out at him, he immediately ducks down. Sam rolls to the side, springing back up on his feet and taking a few steps back, hands held up as he scans her over. Aemila, District 2, one of the ones who's actually trained for this, and he might have a fight on his hands with her.

"Hey, slow it down, all right? We're not here to hurt you, we're here to get you out of here."