xp_logs | Fianchetto: Endgame (part 1) (Reply)

After checking Katie's dorm room, Doug figures out what's going on, and who's behind it. With time at a premium, he has to call in some favors. Including one with someone who he's not on great terms with at the moment...

Doug was already reaching for his phone and thumbing a speed-dial number as he left his sister's dorm. Her roommate had been frantic. Of course, she didn't know half the things that Doug did, and just how much reason there -was- to panic. "Pick up, pick up..." he muttered as he walked just short of a run to where he had parked his car.

Leaving the office, Amanda paused to tug up her scarf when her phone rang. With a muttered curse she pulled it out and checked the caller ID, frowning. Doug? Calling her? She was half-tempted to let it ring, but then again, what other reason would he have for calling her other than some kind of emergency? Besides, it was the season for forgiveness and all that crap and maybe this whole thing had gone on long enough. They did have to work together, after all.

She thumbed the little green phone icon. "What do you want, Doug?"

The bald-facedness of the question caused a brief twinge, but this was far more important than his dignity or hurt feelings. "I need your help," he pleaded, his voice raw with pent-up emotion.

The tone spoke far more to Amanda then any amount of explanation. "Where are you?" she asked, immediately brisk and business-like. White Knight of the Hell-fucking-fire Club or not, her instinct was still to immediately help when asked. "I'm just leaving work, pick me up as soon as you can."

"I'm at Columbia." The businesslike tone of Amanda's voice helped him snap out of the emotional circle he'd been chasing himself in. "It's my sister," he said, his brain already racing down decision trees, weighing move and countermove, looking at every aspect of a potential plan. "She's been abducted."

Shite. "Trenchcoat problem?" she asked - if someone had worked out what work Doug actually did for Snow Valley and was using his sister as leverage, their cover was well and truly fucked. Amanda let her feet drop below the level of the pavement, merging partly with New York and 'asking' it to give Doug's car a run of green lights, if possible. "Do we need to hit the panic button?"

"...Maybe." And Doug's tone went right from businesslike back to something semi-panicky. The throaty growl of his car starting up was audible over the line. "Almost certainly something Hellfire-y, if not both," he said slowly, knowing Amanda's opinion of the Club and his dealings with them. "Either way, I know who it was, and it's obvious he thinks that having my sister will give him leverage over me. It's a power play, whatever way you slice it."

"Fucking cunts," Amanda said, hand tightening on the phone. "I swear, Doug, if your bloody costume party bullshit has blown our cover..." She didn't need to finish the sentence - Remy would have his own say on things if that was indeed the case. "So you know who it is. What do you need me for?"

"I..." Doug bit off a heated response to Amanda's ire. They'd been down that road several times before, and rehashing it wouldn't do anything to help his sister. "He's a teleporter," he grated out after several calming breaths. "One of his boltholes is a brothel in Madripoor. He might be stashing her there, and I don't know anyone else that can get there in any kind of quick time frame. Or that I trust to get her out of there."

"You... wait, what?" Amanda had been ready for some kind of justification of Doug's Hellfire activities, but he'd floored her with the statement about trust. "I can't 'port with a passenger," she warned. "So if she's there, I won't be able to just grab her and run. Or take back-up in with me."

"I know." Doug sighed. "But it's all I've got. Illyana is time-limited, Kurt is distance-limited..." The shrug was practically audible over the line. "It's a total desperation move, but it's the only one I can come up with." He bit his lip. He wouldn't blame Amanda if she didn't want to stick her neck out that far for him.

There was a very long pause on the phone, then Amanda's voice returned. "Give me the location," she said. "Let the team know what's happened and where I am."

"I...thank you." Doug blinked back a tear and took a deep breath before passing the information Vanessa had managed to dig up for him on Porter's place in Madripoor. "He's got a safehouse here in New York, as well. I'll let you know if we find her there. Amanda..." He gripped the wheel tightly. "Watch your back." The unnecessary advice would have to take the place of the mishmash of emotional things he wanted to say.

"We'll talk when I get back." Her voice was softer than the implication of her words. "Oh, and Doug? If I get killed, I am so haunting your arse."

X-Factor: SVU. Doug calls in his other favor to someone who already knows Porter's New York safehouse very well because she's been paid to stake it out. X-Factor busts in, and finds more than just Katie Ramsey...

The sun was in the beginning stages of setting. Tall buildings obscured much of it but its light bathed everything in a warm glow still. It was a lovely evening, really, for January. The people who made up X-Factor Investigations, however, were dressed more for stealth than the chill and they weren't particularly admiring the evening. They moved on the house with two at the back door and one at the front. Rather than announcing their arrival through breaking windows the fourth member of their group was in the air to sneak into the second floor or quickly come to the aid of whomever potentially found themselves with more guns pointed at them than they could deal with.

"Anyone makes noise before the first body drops is fired," Vanessa whispered, her voice travelling through the headset she wore to her three companions. "Let's get the first floor cleared as quickly as possible. We don't know how many girls they have in there either. They get moved in but we never see them leave." Presumably Porter was teleporting them to his brothel. She strolled up to the front door, gun tucked away under her jacket and a knife hidden behind her thigh, and knocked on the door.

With two people in back, Bishop peeked in the lower corner of the window while leaving Laura to cover the door. It wasn't likely he would see any exits before things started and he'd likely be able to see if anyone was headed this way. At the moment, he was focused on providing possible cover for Vanessa, or shooting someone who took cover from her while they were focused on the opposite direction. He watched silently as a man approached the front door from the staircase.

She had heard him coming, a single claw appearing slowly in her balled hand; Laura had taken the caution to cut openings on her gloves so she didn't need to struggle with the dammed things when she needed her claws. And also, if you compared them with guns...much more stealthy. Flattening herself next to the door, she gave Bishop a glance, just in case he hadn't taken cover. No, not towards them, yet the claw remained where it was, and the second one soon joined it. While she had already decided to kill if needed -it was a bit scary how easily she convinced herself- Laura was going to go and try to just incapacitate, but without taking any chances. But for now, she needed to keep all her senses on the task at hand.

Jean-Paul held himself mostly stationary over the house, staying near the center of the roof to avoid someone glancing out a window and seeing him. Whatever he might want to do was, for the most part, at his discretion, but he reminded everyone, "Tell me if you need assistance," even as he allowed himself to drift toward the front so he could set himself lightly on the edge of the roof - balancing without actually placing any weight on the shingles. Peering over, he could keep an eye on Vanessa.

The door opened to reveal what very well could have been the archetype of hired muscle. He had muscles big enough that Vanessa was sure he couldn't scratch the back of his neck easily, a too tight black tee shirt over comfortably fitted black jeans and a visible shoulder rig with a pistol in it. He had no weapons in his hands but she was willing to bet there was another gun at the small of his back and maybe on his leg. "Yeah?"

Vanessa responded with a dazzling smile and a step closer. "Hey, I'm looking for a friend of mine. About yay high," she held her hand up at about five-foot-four, "blonde hair, cute. Someone said they saw her here." Her voice kept casual even as her grip shifted on her knife's handle. "Have you seen her?"

It was obvious when he realized who she was talking about and even more obvious when he tried to give her the brush off. "Never seen her." He took a step back in order to shut the door but Vanessa followed.

"Are you sure you can't help me?" Another step and she was now intruding on his personal space. They'd been too close from the start for his gun to be of much use to him. By time he got his hand on it a blade could be sliding into him. It paid to know your advantages.

"No." The word had that ring of finality. Vanessa loved that, because in her mind it gave her permission. His hand reached for the edge of the door in order to shut it but her arm darted up at the same time. He realized what was going on and went for his gun but the blade was at his throat before his hand even touched it.

"I want my friend and I won't leave until I get her."

"She's not here, bitch." His voice and face were full of tough guy arrogance as his hand twitched and moved toward his back.

"Wrong answer, sugar." Her hand drew the blade sideways and Vanessa watched the realization dawn on his face. It was about when the blood streamed through the slice that he realized he was too slow. He landed with a thud on the floor. "Jean-Paul, get down here and get the back door unlocked. They might notice soon that he isn't coming back but if they haven't realized what that sound was yet I'd rather not give us away by breaking in."

"Oui," Jean-Paul said, hopping off the edge of the roof and landing without a sound just behind Vanessa. He was over the body and inside, heading for the back door faster than anyone could clearly see.

The deadbolt turned easily and then the regular lock. Opening the door, Jean-Paul motioned Bishop and Laura inside silently.

Good thing she had enhanced smell, or she would have been halfway stabbing who she shouldn't in the gut. Which she totally didn't want to, for the record. Claws retracting as she nodded, Laura made her way in first; they could probably use her senses to keep them aware of whoever else was around.

Bishop moved in behind Laura with the smoothness of practiced efficiency that gave him speed. He followed the right wall, clearing himself out of the door way and checking the room completely before preparing to move on to the next. Laura or Jean-Paul might be able to worm their way out of a mistake but bullets were just as lethal to Bishop as anyone else.

Looking back to make sure she knew were Bishop was, Laura kept moving forward. Although she could hear others inside, she wasn't entirely sure of just where they were, and if they kept running around like that they would end up being surprised. "We're in," Laura whispered over the comm. She reached a new door, and peered slowly, eyes taking in every detail. Two men with guns, but she smelled a third that wasn't there. It was either the one Vanessa had taken down, or one that had just recently left. "You might have company, 'Nessa," she added as she retreated a little, turning towards Bishop and making a 'Two' signal with a hand. She could smell more people, but not in that floor, so they needed to clear it to keep going up.

Company, Vanessa always loved company. She'd stopped to divest the fallen guy of his weapons so no one else could grab them, throwing the guns off into a bush and pocketing the clips after popping the bullet in the chamber out. Unfortunately she had to take the time to drag him back into the house fully so she could close the door and not alarm people who may walk or drive by. He was being set up in a corner when she heard Laura's warning and Vanessa whispered only, "Copy that." On silent feet she crept up to the first doorway to peer inside. Lo and behold, there was her company with headphones on sitting at a laptop.

Vanessa was careful to make sure there was no one in the room with her guy so she didn't get surprised but he was in there alone. A floorboard creaked underfoot as she advanced and she thought she was made for a moment, but he barely twitched. With another step she realized he'd just started to bob his head to his music and likely hadn't heard her at all. He startled when she grabbed his hair but he hadn't registered what was going on in time to do more than turn to look at her. Vanessa had a smile on her face when she slit his throat and then set his head down on the table by the laptop as if he'd fallen asleep. "Jean-Paul, see if there's more than one way up to the second floor and report. If there's only one I want everyone everyone meeting me there once the floor's cleared. We've got one down by the front door and another in the front room."

The furnishings in the place weren't as rundown as they might have been, but they certainly weren't very nice. Jean-Paul kept himself about six inches off the floor to avoid pesky, creaking floorboards and dodged the random chairs and tables that littered the kitchen. No pans for cooking, just old takeaway boxes in the trash.

Through the kitchen there seemed to be a set of stairs that led up and one that led down, both using separate doors. "At least four men, based on Chinese food containers," the Quebecois said softly over the comms. "There is a set of stairs here that leads up as well as one that leads down. I believe there was a second in the front. I didn't see any others on my way to the kitchen."

"You're going up with me, then. Bishop and Laura, head down when we're clear."

"I'll get the one at the right, the other one is sitting on the sofa, by the left wall." It was pretty easy to spot, as he was huge and had a ridiculous light blue baseball cap, which Laura had no idea of why would he use something like that inside a house. Still, she gave Bishop a little nod before disappearing on the other room, crouched and practically gliding until she was behind her target. Once she was sure Bishop was ready to act, she moved quickly, claws popping as she drew them perfectly through his chest, cleanly impaling the heart as her other hand moved up his throat, killing any sound he might make.

A silenced shot pierced the other man's neck as Bishop moved into the room, checking behind doors and furniture to see they were clear as he had been trained to do. Once he had checked the room he gave a thumbs up to Laura and moved back to the stairs so they could meet with Vanessa and Jean-Paul.

Vanessa was keeping guard at the foot of the stairs in the front of the house. Her back was pressed to the wall with her eyes directed up to where the stairs vanished into the ceiling. When Jean-Paul had joined her she'd set him on guard duty to watch the floor in case anyone came in a door or tried to surprise the group of them. Her eyes flicked over her companions when Bishop and Laura joined them. "There's stairs to a basement in the kitchen, Jean-Paul's seen no one else down here. You two head down there. If you find Katie let us know. If you find anyone being held get them out, aye? Jean-Paul and I will head upstairs and see what we find. If you need back up down there let us know." Having a speedster was damn handy for near instant back up when you needed it.

Bishop stood at the set of descending stairs behind Laura to 'stack up,' his hand on her shoulder so he could feel if she moved in case he wasn't looking. He nodded in response to Vanessa's directions. "Let us know if anyone comes down so we can cut them off."

-----

Vanessa crept up the stairs as silently as possible with Jean-Paul following right behind her, albeit completely soundlessly. When she had advanced high enough to see part of the hall she froze and ducked down with a gesture for Jean-Paul to do the same. Her gun was in her hand as she crept higher, practically on her stomach. The hallway was perpendicular to the stairwell which put them at a disadvantage.

Peering around the corners revealed two men down on the right and another one on the left. There were four rooms up here. Two doors were open revealing one as a bathroom and one as a sort of lounge area for the guards hanging out up here. The lounge area was empty. The other two rooms were not only shut but padlocked and behind their respective guards.

Vanessa held up two fingers to Jean-Paul and gestured to the right, then held up one and pointed to the left. She then pointed to herself and indicated the right end of the hall. Her next gesture indicated she wanted him to go left, but then she pointed to the right after and hoped he understood without her having to risk speaking that she wanted the guy on the left taken out and then she wanted back up. After all, Jean-Paul was fast enough to pull that off without breaking a sweat.

Jean-Paul nodded his understanding and waited for Vanessa to make her move before shooting off to the left to deal with the man there. One hand went to his gun, pulling it away from him before his reflexes could kick in to even reach for it, while the other punched him rapid-fire style in throat, then the temple.

The Quebecois let the man drop and turned to help Vanessa even as he shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. That was what you were supposed to do with guns, wasn’t it? Especially when you didn’t want to risk leaving them laying around for inconvenient people to find. He just hoped he didn’t wind up inadvertently shooting himself in the ass - he’d never hear the end of it, but there was no time to check the safety before getting to Vanessa.

Vanessa had just gotten her gun properly aimed by time she heard the body hit the floor behind her. The other guys saw her, then heard it and seemed torn on where to aim their guns. There was the guy dropped on the floor without any bullet holes or cuts, then there was the blur of motion and the blue woman. Vanessa helped them make up their mind by shooting one of the guys directly between the eyes.

The last remaining guard had his gun trained on Vanessa with his eyes flickering between her and the now still Jean-Paul. “You can run or you can get dropped,” he said by way of warning. Of course, if they ran he’d probably just shoot them in the back. He didn’t need to let them know that so clearly, though.

Jean-Paul snorted, his expression conveying how utterly unimpressed with the man he was. One moment he was standing near Vanessa and the next he had one hand on the man’s arm so the dangerous end of the gun went toward the ceiling while he reached in and broke the man’s neck with a single, very violent twist. “Cocky men, they are annoying,” he muttered as the newest body dropped.

“Gotta agree there.” Vanessa holstered her gun and moved to the man she’d shot. “We need to find the key to both padlocks and then we’ve got to see what or who are behind these doors,” she told her friend in hushed tones. Since they didn’t know who may be on the other side of the door she didn’t want to risk speaking too loudly and being overheard. “But we go into both rooms together. Do this smart.” She rifled through the pants of the man she’d shot until she found his keys. There were a few that looked like they may have gone to a padlock but that didn’t mean any of them went to the padlocks she needed to open.

“Oui,” Jean-Paul murmured, nodding as he kept his eyes on the doors with the locks. Then he grinned. “This is much better than previous teams I have worked with.” Maybe it was that this was more the kind of work he was interested in doing, rather than flying about and being told to wait somewhere for a super special, ultra secret signal before flying in and waiting for everyone else to use their more combat-oriented powers while he made sure no one was sneaking up from behind them.

Or maybe it was the people he was working with. Either way, it didn’t feel like he was being held back. “It would be nicer, would it not, if the keys were color-coded.”

“Yeah, but the bad guys just never make it that easy, do they?” She started to try keys in the lock on the door in front of them. “Check the other guy for keys too, aye?” Vanessa didn’t comment on the team situation. She didn’t know much about how the X-Men worked aside from what Nathan had told her in conversation and she certainly knew fuck all about Alpha Flight. Jean-Paul the non-joiner hadn’t seemed to be particularly cranky over working with X-Factor thus far so apparently they were doing things right. But then again, Vanessa and Bishop ran the investigative agency much like how X-Force and Mag Ealga had operated. Exploit everyone for their skills and draw short straw for the rest.

A key finally popped the lock open, but she didn’t remove it from where it lay looped through the latch just yet. “Brilliant, one down and one to go.”

After riffling through the dead man’s pockets, Jean-Paul came up with a set of keys as well and held it up. “For after we have cleared that one, non?” He nodded toward the room where she’d gotten the key in.

“Non,” she replied without a smile. “Find the key for that lock and pop it before we go in anywhere. This one was more heavily guarded so I want in it first but I want easy access to that one if we need to split quickly. Just don’t take the lock out once it’s open.”

Jean-Paul gave a small salute and did as instructed, unlocking the padlock once he’d found the right key and then leaving the lock itself in the door. He nodded as he approached Vanessa again and took up a position on the other side of the door. “Whenever you are ready.”

Vanessa was about to pull the lock out of the latch when her eyes landed on the man with the presumably broken neck. Crushing injuries could be tricky. Just to be sure she pulled out her combat knife and slit his throat. Her blade got wiped off on his sleeve and replaced in its sheath hanging off her belt before she stood again. “I want you in there once I clear the door,” she whispered to Jean-Paul.

Gun out, Vanessa gave Jean-Paul a nod and pulled the lock out of the latch. The knob turned slowly and was then kicked open so whoever was inside couldn’t prepare much.

Waiting just long enough for the door to open and Vanessa to clear it, Jean-Paul blurred into the room and took out the one man standing over the girl tied to the chair. Before the man could do more than point his gun at Vanessa, the Quebecois had the weapon away from him and had broken his neck from behind. It was less work for Vanessa and her knife, he supposed, if he made sure the man was dead himself. That left him with a gun in hand and a girl tied to a chair, so he looked toward his friend and raised his eyebrows.

Katie was fairly freaked out. Being kidnapped was one thing. Yeah, she was tied to the chair most of the time and the rope cut into her wrists and her face hurt from when she yelled with the duct tape on, but it wasn’t the same as seeing some guy get his neck snapped. Well, she probably didn’t really see it so much as hear it.

Vanessa recognized the girl from a photo Doug had shown her and holstered her gun before going to pull the duct tape off her mouth. “Sorry,” was all the warning Katie got. “Katie Ramsey?”

“Y-yeah,” Katie answered, stuttering from her dry mouth. She looked around at the body on the floor next to her and then saw the ones out in the hall. Her eyes went wide, but she wasn’t entirely sure if she was afraid or not. Maybe she’d run out of fear. “What d’you want with me?”

Vanessa was cutting the ropes off the girl when she paused to look up at her. “I’m a friend of your brother’s. He asked me to deliver you back to him. Sorry, I’m all out of bows but we can maybe tie one on you with some of this if you want.” She held up the cut rope in suggestion.

The girl shook her head. “No more rope. Ever again. Scarves only.” She wasn’t sure why she was making sex jokes exactly, but it seemed like a better idea than dealing with reality. “You know Doug?”

“Aye,” Vanessa nodded and stood. “We used to work together but we’re still mates. I’ll get you to him myself. Scout’s honor and all that. No one else will touch you if you don’t want.” She offered the girl her hand and Katie slipped a clammy hand into it. “We’ve just got to check on who might be in that other room,” she nodded to the one at the other end of the hall, “and meet up with our mates downstairs and we’re out of here, aye?”

Katie started nodding before she answered. It was entirely possible that she was holding onto the hand of the pretty blue lady with the gun just a little more tightly than she needed to. But right now she really liked people with guns who were on her side. They were on her side, right?

Jean-Paul headed back out into the hallway first to make sure the noise of the door being kicked in hadn’t alerted anyone from the other closed room, but it didn’t even look like anyone had tried to open it, let alone break the lock from the inside. He tipped his head toward the door when Vanessa emerged with Katie Ramsey in tow and asked, “The same as the first room, oui?” The girl would have to let go of Vanessa, but he was sure his friend could take care of that as elegantly as she did everything else.

“Aye,” Vanessa nodded. She advanced toward the room with Katie in hand, but the closer they got the more her arm pulled the girl behind her. When she got to the door she stopped to look at the blonde. “I need my hands, but I’m not going far, alright? Here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re doing to stand right here,” she literally slid Katie into the corner so the girl’s back pressed into the wall, “and you’re going to take this.” Vanessa pulled out one of the handguns she’d appropriated from one of the guys downstairs and slid it’s clip in. She chambered a round, took off the safety and placed it in the girl’s hands. “You keep your finger away from the trigger unless you’re going to shoot someone. Anyone comes at you and you shoot first, think later. Or scream.” If she screamed Jean-Paul could always come to the rescue.

Katie nodded along a bit numbly, looking at the gun with saucer-like eyes. She’d never even seen a gun up close before and now there was one in her hands. Her shaking hands. And she was supposed to shoot people. She wasn’t sure if she could shoot a person, but if it meant being tied up again and getting these people killed or shooting someone then she thought maybe she could probably do it.

“Just don’t shoot any really tall black men or pretty brunette girls with claws. They’re with us.” Vanessa gave the girl a long, considering look, then nodded to Jean-Paul. The girl would be okay eventually. Vanessa readied her firearm again, pulled out the lock, turned the doorknob and kicked in their last door.

Into the room Jean-Paul sped just after Vanessa - and then he froze, which was a very strange sensation, given all that forward-momentum he’d had going on. Still, it wasn’t difficult, given his powers, and... there were at least ten girls in the room, all them looking at him with nothing but fear and anger in their eyes. He blinked and took a step back, since there was no one who needed killing, and then tipped his head to the side. Vanessa seemed far more equipped to deal with these kinds of situations, but he’d do what he could to help them once they knew he wasn’t there to do horrible things to them. Or take them somewhere else where other people could do horrible things to them, anyway.

Vanessa’s eyes widened just the slightest bit as she looked around at the girls. They weren’t restrained as Katie had been, but they were all equally unwashed looking. They were shrinking back and huddling together. Vanessa put the safety on her gun and slid it back into its holster under her coat again so it was out of sight. “It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you. Were you all kidnapped?”

A silent chorus of nodding heads erupted at the question. They seemed to calm down a little, but not by much. Vanessa took a few steps backward and gently prised the gun out of Katie’s hands. The young Ramsey was back to clinging to Vanessa’s hand for dear life even as she peered around her at the rest of the girls in the room. “Those men took all of them, too?”

“Aye.”

“Why?”

Vanessa looked at Katie over her shoulder, then at the girls in the room. “I’m pretty sure they were going to ship you all out to a place called Madripoor. To a brothel. You’d be forced to be whores. Maybe never get your freedom back. Madripoor isn’t the sort of place any of you would do well in on your own if you managed to escape.” She could hear Katie swallow and press in against her back a bit more. “C’mon girls. Let’s get out of here. This is my friend, he’s going to help keep you safe until you’re out of here.”

Into her comm Vanessa said, “We’ve got Katie. And another ten or so kidnapped girls who need to get to the police and then home.” She was hoping Laura and Bishop wouldn’t mind getting that part done.

“Oui, mesdames,” Jean-Paul murmured, gesturing for the girls to stand and walk out of the room behind Vanessa and Katie. It was easy enough to get them all down the stairs, since they obviously didn’t want to be in the room any longer.

--------

Bishop followed Laura down to the house's basement, vigilant about the most often neglected zone; overhead. His hand gripped the back of her collar, an old SWAT trick that she might not take to well but that wasn't on
his mind at the moment. Bishop kept them covered high as they descended the stairs and he waited for her lead on entering the room proper.

Oh, she felt like a dog guiding a blind guy. A tall, black, dangerous blind man, but it didn't make it any better. Weren't they in a mission, she would have been growling, but given the fact any indiscretion could get Bishop shot dead, she was just going to frown and focus. She could kick him in the shins later for just not keeping his hand over her shoulder.

Laura then stopped a few steps from the actual floor, head up and looking around, although she was hardly seeing. Hearing, actually. Steps, murmurs, down there the echo was working on her favor. Laura raised a hand, two fingers up. She was about to move when she heard something else; a whimper. "Girls," she hissed as she took a step back slowly. "Not sure of how many."

"Step in, I'll blind the room, we'll just have to be careful." Bishop whispered, his hand moving for a moment to get his flashlight before returning to her collar.

Laura nodded, claws popping on both hands. "Just stay behind me", added as she finished going down and headed for the room, making a small pause to let Bishop get ready -and honestly, allow herself to get ready- before nodding and moving in, tearing the door out of its hinges with a precise kick.

A bright light strobed the entire room as they entered, refusing to let the eyes of anyone inside adjust. Bishop picked out the targets expertly, peeling away from Laura and allowing his hand to fall behind so that any possible return fire would trail him. He fired his silenced pistol with careful, patient precision to avoid any mistaken identities or stray bullets.

First she was in front of Bishop, next she was already over one of the men, a single sweep cutting the man's throat in two places deep enough to cut any possible noise he would make. Turning quickly to the second man, she saw him hit the ground, but knelt down and plunged a claw on his heart anyway. She wouldn't risk getting one of the girls being shot just to leave him alive.

Laura stood up, looking at the small group of girls, and her claws re-entered her fists slowly. "Don't worry", said in a friendly, easy tone she didn't know she could muster in the middle of all that killing. "We have come to help." She didn't see Doug's sister, so looked up to Bishop. "I think we just stepped into something bigger than we thought."

"I think you're right. We better work our way back up, if there's more down here than we expected there's more up their too." Bishop took one final took around the room before moving to lead the way out for the girls to follow.

She was about to exit as well, but Laura gave the room a final look, taking note they weren't missing anything -or anyone; there were guns stashed down there, and a small table with...CDs? "Wait a minute", said as she made her way to the place where the men had surely been while handling the girls, and retrieved a couple of DVDs. "These ones might come in handy." Because you never knew what kind of things the bad guys kept with them. "Okay then, let's roll."