[hr][i][h1][color=red]Meifeng Zhao[/color], [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Zhao[/color], [color=fff200]Alice Barrett[/color], [color=darkslateblue]Reed[/color] & [color=gray]Quentin[/color] [color=darkslateblue]Tay[/color][color=gray]lor[/color], & [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color].[/h1]
[sub](collaboration between [@Mr Allen J], [@Nosuchthing], [@Zombiedude101] and [@tsukune])[/sub][/i][hr]
[b][code]DOVE/RAVEN West Coast Joint Headquarters_[/code][/b]

With RAVEN Headquarters in ruins, half of the agents dead, and the equipment fried beyond all belief, there was only a handful of people capable of assessing the damage.

Lihua stepped over all the bodies and chaos with casual indifference to all of it. The battle-worn woman had seen incidents like this like it was nothing, it even [i]reminded[/i] her of her Hei Long days. The elder woman paused for a brief moment, as if she was suddenly hit with a realization of some sort.

...Maybe she shouldn't be reminded of those days.

There was something Meifeng mentioned that Lihua wanted to check herself. Which is why she was moving over to forensics. The district of the building was completely abandoned the very moment the attack began - which Lihua attributed to the fact that forensics didn't really fight in the front lines. Though, a few members were in hiding. Lihua took a step through the normally armored doors that were blown open by the IU during an insertion. So much for the "top secret" portion of the building. If it wasn't for how terrible the situation was getting, she would have cracked a smile. There was something she wanted to investigate. According to the computers (which she checked and memorized before all of this) it should be in [i]this[/i] room...

Opening the door to the high-security section of the forensics storage, Lihua looked around, shining a flashlight on the contents of the room. The room was, predictably, destroyed. [i]However,[/i] Lihua wasn't the type to merely leave without confirming anything. She traced her fingers along the tags searching for designation 361... but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find it. She put fingers on her chin as she finally realized what had happened.

[i]I have to find Meifeng.[/i]

[hr]
Once he'd known they were safe, or at least as safe as they could in the aftermath of this attack, Reed had left the Zhao matriarch with her daughter and departed towards the lower levels to survey the damage.

He could barely fathom the destruction of HQ.

For the last seven years, this had been his workplace, almost a second home to him. Colleagues he'd known and worked alongside for years had been walking through these same corridors just a few days before, going through the same routine as always.

And now most of them were [i]dead[/i].

It was like Verthaven, all over again. Down to the colleagues in the VPD who'd died fighting off the Devil and her abominations, the good friends that he'd seen dying on the streets. Soon, he he came to the realisation that there was something he'd missed. [i]Quentin.[/i] After he'd done what he could for the others, Reed had made a steady course towards the hospital wing, passing by survivors and first respondents alike. Only, when he stepped onto the wing where his brother had been staying did he find beds that were empty, or filled in by others. A few of the occupants of said beds were dead, shot through the head or chest. [i]Executed.[/i] Reed's gaze frantically searched for any sign of his brother, until he found the bed that had belonged to Quentin.

It was empty.

What had happened here? His brother had been dressed in hospital wear, last time he'd seen - not exactly dressed for a fight. There'd been no sign of the elder of the two Taylors on his way down though and given his position in RAVEN, what if he'd been taken, like Cindy? [i]No.[/i] Reed refused to accept that outcome. He'd lost one family member in Verthaven. He couldn't have lost another tonight. 

Instead, Reed quickly took a knee beside the bed and checked for any clues that might've explained what happened. First thing that Reed noticed was that the IV drip had been disconnected, its contents having slowly leaked out onto the floor. There was no blood trail coming from the bed, no clear sign that Quent had been wounded, either - maybe he escaped? Two of the paramilitaries lay dead at the end of the corridor, empty nine-millimeter shell casings scattered across the floor across from the bed. Neither of the two bodies had any weapons with them, which suggested that someone had pried them from their cold, dead hands. Was that his brother's handiwork? Maybe there'd been someone else with him, too - it would've explained the shell casings across from his bed.

It was a lead, whatever way he looked at it.

Taking care not to disturb the bodies and aware that forensics, be it their own, or the [i]actual[/i] BPD's would need to take a look at this either way, Reed headed back towards the stairs and started heading upwards, towards where some of the heaviest slaughter had been. If there was one guess where that stubborn brother of his would've gone, it was wherever he felt he was useful - where the fighting was.

Alice almost cannoned head first into Reed, she was moving as fast as she could with her injured leg, using her ability to cover distance more quickly down the stairs, but she hadn't been quite prepared for the other agent coming around the corner of the stairs.

"Alice?!" Reed barked out loud, grasping onto a railing to stop himself from tumbling backwards as she phased in front of him.

"Fuck." She dropped the pistol from it's ready position as she realized it wasn't another member of the Intimidation Unit. She winced as she rested her weight on her injured leg, shifting slightly to stay upright.

It didn't take more than a couple of moments before Reed caught a glimpse of the tourniquet around her thigh. "How bad is it?"  he asked.

"It's fine," she replied, resisting the urge to reach for her hip flask once more. "Stings, but I can move on it."

"Those bastards seem to have pulled out," Reed said, before shaking his head. "Here, let me give you a hand, or you'll just make it worse."

She shook her head. "I have to get down there, and I can move faster without you, that prick has Quentin..."

It was a remark that quickly caught his focus. "What?! Who? Where?!"

If it was possible, Alice's face darkened even more, "Phantasm, this floor."

There wasn't time to expand on the events of the last few minutes, and Alice turned away from Reed to push open the door, fearing the worst.

"Al, she slipped through my fingers--" a familiar voice croaked, before its owner's eyes widened in surprise as Reed showed up just behind Alice.

Quentin looked a strange thing in his choice of attire. Over the hospital gown and shorts, he wore a scavenged RAVEN vest that had some clear tears in its external fabric from where [i]something[/i] had punched into it. The veteran RAVEN was clutching a revolver in his right hand, whilst the other was planted against the wall for support. A pattern of bloody hand prints trailed behind wherever he'd touched it. Worst still was a gash that ran up his left cheek and just past the eye, which in turn had left his face awash with blood.

"He's gone?"

Alice moved past Quentin, scanning the area for any sign of the Phantasm, and spotting only the abandoned helmet.

"Fuck! [i]Fuck![/i]"

She kicked the helmet, grunting as the pain shot through her leg. "Alright, take it easy..." Reed responded to her with an equally stressed tone.

"Is Javaunt safe?" Quentin's voice cropped up from behind her, "As can be..."

Alice hadn't turned around, simply thrown the response over her shoulder as she stared at the spot where the helmet had been. Her fingers flexed on the grip of her handgun, clearly anxious to be using it again. She turned around, resolved. "Where is he?"

"[i]She[/i] disappeared through the god-damn wall before I could stop her," Quentin said, with an aggravated tone. Reed was by his side, clearly concerned about his physical state, though Quent didn't seem particularly concerned about his own health so much as the fact that the assassin had escaped. "How bad is it?" He was asked, by his brother, but all that did was cause Quent to snap at him. "How bad... You didn't see the fucking bodies outside?"

"I meant your injuries," Reed pointed out with a sharpened tone. "I [i]saw[/i] how bad it was. I just wanna make sure you're in one piece."

"I'm alive, aren't it?" The veteran said, rhetorically, before shaking his head and gesturing to the gash across his face. "Tried to slash my throat open," then pointing downwards to the two clear tears in the RAVEN vest where he'd been shot, "She did these too. Don't worry though, vest stopped the rounds. Fucking ribs are gonna be bruised for a while, though."

Alice had been listening, but it was only now that something penetrated through the haze, "Wait... what? [i]She?[/i]"

Her colleague tilted his head towards her, "Yeah. Helmet got knocked off in the struggle, got a good look at her... you can write it up in the report," Quentin paused, then reconsidered. "Assuming there's anything left to write on."


[hr]
While Lihua was searching forensics, Meifeng was trying to assess the damage done. What [i]had[/i] happened during the final stand. Dr. Cross, the Mannequin, and Ignatius were all gone, and they left behind a pile of dead bodies for Meifeng and the others to sort through. But, something wasn't right here. Meifeng squat down over a dead RAVEN. She examined glass fragments deeply embedded into his neck... the same emerald-green glass that [i]Cindy[/i] used. It couldn't have been a simple case of friendly fire as [i]many[/i] people were pierced with the glass. Meifeng had picked up a stray piece of glass - forensics would tear her a new one for this, but [i]was there even a forensics team anymore[/i] - and closely examined it.

Everyone here was dead. There were no witnesses, no cameras, no nothing. Only the word of dead men...

She crushed the glass in between her gloved hand, as she looked forward in anger. Meifeng was not a good loser. First Uncle Jiao-Long, and now this?  Meifeng stood straight up. Whatever the hell those bastards were working on... was this the price? Meifeng knew that every agent that died here today had a family back home, had something to strive for. And this was what the Family strive for in the name of perfection? What sort of perfection was this? It's just... narcissism.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"Hello, Meifeng," Lihua said as she made her quick approach.

"H-hey, Mom," Meifeng said. "I'm just... checkin' the bodies for Cindy... can't find 'er for the life of me."

"I checked forensics, and that case you recovered from Singapore?"

Meifeng rolled her eyes. "...Gone, ain't it?"

"Yes," Lihua said.

"Well, damn it," Meifeng said, throwing her arms behind her head as she looked around. "I have no fuckin' idea what the hell we are even supposed to do at this point. Houndie and his pack have trashed Headquarters, and not only have they got the Hands, but they got their mystery serum back."

She loudly huffed in anger as she tried to contain herself.

"Cindy's MIA, half of RAVEN is dead, and the other half is doing no better, we have [i]zero[/i] leads on the F-F... just... [i]ugh![/i]" Meifeng kicked a rifle belonging to a fallen IU member, as the hopelessness of the situation began bearing down on her. Everything was just so bullshit.

"Meifeng I understand..." Lihua said as she put a hand on her hips. "...But getting angry about it is what they want. They want us to act rashly, they want us to lose hope."

"I know you're right, but [i]Jesus,[/i]" Meifeng said. "It sure as hell ain't lookin' up for us."

"Darkest before the dawn," Lihua said.

"Now you're just being [i]cliche[/i]," Meifeng rolled her eyes up into her head.

That's when Lihua remembered the text message that Shizuka sent her, and she dug it out her pocket... but of course, her phone was fried. Ugh. This situation was getting worse by the second. Lihua looked back towards Meifeng.

"Where is that white-haired boy's lapdog?" Lihua asked.

"You mean Holly?" Meifeng said.

"Yes, her. I need her," Lihua said, wondering about where the hell she even was. Unfortunately for them... they didn't keep tabs on Holly, but there was that text Shizuka sent her. Something about a plant in the break room (if it wasn't currently on fire). She glossed over it [i]only[/i] because there were more important things to deal with, but now she wished she did pay attention. That gave Lihua an idea. She grabbed onto Meifeng's wrist, and said, "Come here!"

"Hey, wait!" Meifeng said as she was dragged along through the ruins of RAVEN/DOVE Headquarters. Stepping over all the bodies was... difficult for Meifeng, but simple for Lihua.

Sometimes Meifeng wonders [i]how[/i] she did it.

They arrived in the large break room that Meifeng often visits in her off-time... surprisingly, it was pretty intact. As intact as blown to bits, and shot up, as it could get (what Meifeng guessed was that anyone who was in here bailed because it wasn't a tactical position). But, Lihua found the plant that Shizuka mentioned without a single shot in it.

Taking a shot in the dark, Lihua touched it with a finger.

'[i]Ah, Ms. Zhao. Finally.[/i]' Holly's brisk voice manifested as a telepathic message in the matriarch's mind. Without wasting another second, the chloropathic agent went straight to the point. '[i]I'm aware of the situation at the HQ, that currently the IU has Dr. Cross and the other two prisoners in their custody, and the Family is probably using them to complete the Machine together with Mr. Liu. Fortunately, we have managed to locate the most probable place the machine is hidden at, and chances of Mr. Liu and Dr. Cross being held there is very high.[/i]'

That was excellent - she knew that she could count on Shizuka. [i]'Good, now where is it?'[/i] Lihua asked Holly.

'[i]Regal Square, Prince Ed-Field,[/i]' Holly replied through the plant-mind link. '[i]However, we should regroup and come up with a plan first, and work together to bring the Family down for good.[/i]' She paused for a moment, then continued in the same curt tone, '[i]Also, we have other intel that would greatly interest you, but it's best to tell you in person. There are things that you - and the rest of the Verthaven survivors - should know before we raid the Family's base.[/i]'

Lihua nodded her head, as she realized how useful Holly was being right now. What intel did Shizuka get his hands on? But, if it was so important... '[i]Where can we meet you in person?[/i]'

'[i]Lower-South Royer Town. Shizuka will get in contact with you there.[/i]'

'[i]I'll gather everyone and meet you there.[/i]'

"Alright, I'm going to brief here; Shizuka has found the Family's base." Lihua said as she turned back towards Meifeng.

"Whoa, are you psychic now?" Meifeng jokingly asked with a grin.

"I enjoy how you can ease the tension, but you have to be serious right now," Lihua said. "Gather everyone you can... we'll need them."

Meifeng looked down. "Well, I'd like to get comms back up and running again before we do anything." She looked around. "You know, communications."

"I'm certain our techs will do all they can to get the systems back in operations - but, we have no time to waste." Lihua said.

[hr]
[b][code]Lower-South Royer Town, Prince Ed-Field_[/code][/b]

Gathering everyone that could be trusted was easy. Lihua left that to her daughter's judgement because she seemed to have a way with people that Lihua - [i]honestly[/i] - always seemed to lack.

They met at the coordinates that Shizuka had thankfully given them - and Lihua was glad that it was in Prince Ed-Field where there was actually power - and they met the white-haired man there, where he was explaining everything they needed to hear as they walked down the street.

"...So, yeah, that's about all the info I've gathered so far," Shizuka finished summarizing the logs for his RAVEN comrades, turning his head away from Zhaos and the Taylor brothers to look up at the sky. "I know it's a lot to digest, but I thought that you guys have to know about these; the truth behind the Founding Fags, the Prague incident... and the Verthaven disaster." He had purposefully left out a few things - Haruka's meeting with Xing Huo, the cryptic warning from the Fire Spirit, and Jennifer being under the Family's control - from the briefing. Meifeng would definitely be pissed at him for roping her best friend into this shitstorm, but this was the only chance for that edgebitch to be done with all her retarded lies and excuses to run away from reality and repeat the same mistake [i]again[/i], her own personal battle to grow out of her disgusting pitiful state (and in turn stop being Haruka's dead weight). Also, Polaris only had interest in the twins, so there was really no need to get these people involved in his own family problems, adding fuel to the fire.

Tucking his hands into his coat pockets, he added, "Of course, we should focus on the most immediate problem - the [i]Fags[/i] - for now, and once they're out of the way we can worry about the rest."

Meifeng was walking alongside Lihua with her arms thrown behind her head. "So, we got experimental drugs, mind control, and children raised to serve the Family to deal on top of the shitbags like Blake, the Hound, and whatever other weirdos they have," Meifeng rolled her eyes. "This is gonna be [i]greeeeat[/i]."

"I'm concerned about the children," Lihua said - letting her soft spot for children show a little more than she'd like. "If we do rescue them, who knows what the Family has put them through? They could possibly be beyond saving..." She mused.

Quentin had simply nodded, hiding a cold fury that broiled beneath the surface at the revelation of the truth. With a dressing wrapped tightly around his left palm, along with another that covered the gash along the side of his face and several weeks' worth of accumulated facial hair growth, the veteran RAVEN looked more a thug than a government agent... which was probably more appropriate, given what they had in store for these bastards.

"We have to try," said Reed, who wasn't far behind his brother.

Meifeng rolled her eyes up into her head as she continued, "There won't be [i]any[/i] kids to save if they blow up the moon, or something stupid like that."

"You mean if they blew up your [i]ovaries[/i]," Shizuka corrected her in a deadpan tone, slightly amused at the unexpected joke he had just uttered. "Anyway, whatever that Machine is, we'll have to destroy it before it destroys everyone in this city, kids or not."

That joke made something inside of Meifeng want to throw itself in front of a bus that was passing by. Hidden behind that smile was now a tormented soul that, thanks to Shizuka's joke, only prayed for the sweet release of death. It was a sentiment shared by the Taylors, which earned Shizuka a strange look from Quentin whilst the younger of the two brothers facepalmed.

Fortunately, Lihua was able to save Meifeng from this torture, at least. "But, there is something else I need to discuss with you, Meifeng," Lihua said, before switching to Chinese. "[i]It concerns a certain man's diary.[/i]"

Meifeng perked her head up, and looked at Lihua as she realized what she meant.

Luis' diary.

It was mentioned in passing by Lihua.

"[i]I believe there could be further information on the Family in Luis' diary... but, I had left it in the Liu estate. It may not have been the safest place to leave it, but with Jiang lurking around, I couldn't risk him finding it.[/i]"

"[i]But, the Family probably got eyes and ears all over that place,[/i]" Meifeng said. "[i]Going back there might be a risk.[/i]"

"[i]If Luis knew something about the Family that could help, then that's a risk I am willing to take.[/i]" Lihua finished.

Shizuka had been listening to their conversation quietly - well, he was still within earshot, and he could understand Mandarin. Knowing Lihua, it could only mean that she wanted him to know about Luis' diary as much as Meifeng. He spoke up after the Zhao matriarch in her native tongue, "[i]I'm more suited for covert jobs like this. Besides, you two simply attract too much attention wherever you go, so it's best you hold the fort here and keep the eyes of their spies glued on you, giving me some room to get more work done in their blind spot.[/i]"

"[i]Ah, but, Mr. Takashiro,[/i]" Lihua said as she came to a stop. Wrapping an arm across her chest, and looking at Shizuka with a look of concern. "[i]The Liu estate is quite large... you'll get lost in there if you don't know exactly where you're going...[/i]"

"[i]Yes... Lihua knows this from experience.[/i]" Meifeng flashed a cat-like grin to Lihua, as she recalled a certain incident where Lihua got lost in the Liu Estate (except, it happened four times).

"[i]You do have a point there...[/i]" Shizuka let out a sigh and shrugged. "[i]But I'll still go with you two. Just a gut feeling that I should.[/i]"

"[i]Well, I don't think the Liu Estate is a big target this late in the game,[/i]" Meifeng said. "[i]If we're quick we can be in and out before they send any of their goons after us.[/i]" A part of Meifeng knew how horribly wrong it could go if the Hound or Bonecrusher showed up. Now that would be a dumpster fire.

Glancing down at his automatic wristwatch, Shizuka said, "[i]Right... we can get the diary before raiding the Fags' base. Other than that...[/i] We should probably get started on coming up with a plan to--" He had switched back to English for the last part, only to be cut off by Reed.

"No offense, but I didn't get a word of that. Mind letting us in on this, or is it some kind of ancient Chinese secret that us foreign devils aren't allowed to know?" It was admittedly a shitty joke, but he'd made the quip in an effort to take the edge off his query.

Meifeng wondered if she should even reply... before, she simply answered with, "Oh, sorry, my Uncle has something that could help us in the fight against the Family at his mansion. We were just trying to decide how we are going to get it."

"And that we might as well collect it before we give the Fags a taste of their own medicine, of what they've done to our HQ," Shizuka finished for Meifeng. "Just me and the Zhaos are more than enough to get this side job done before the main showdown - they know the layout of their relative's huge house, while my power is perfect to nick the stuff without making much fuss." The Zhaos (especially Meifeng) would probably try to blow up a safe with their flashy powers without much thought, and that would put the Family's dogs on their tails again.

"Also..." Meifeng said, looking over towards Shizuka with narrow eyes. "This Malik guy, this Rhea girl... can we really trust them?" Meifeng asked. "I mean, even if they are trustworthy, they could get in the way..."

"While I do think you have superb judgement, Shizuka, I do think we should officially limit our involvement with them," Lihua agreed with Meifeng. Something about all of this didn't quite make sense with Lihua - and she wasn't the most open, trustworthy, woman on the planet. Especially with strangers of the [i]strangest[/i] variety... "It just doesn't sit right with me."

"Actually, that's my intention," Shizuka raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the Zhaos. "It took me and my friends quite a bit of push to get them to trust us, so they'd probably feel the same way about you guys also. The spotlight is yours, the RAVENs; our role as a wild card team is to continue to stay hidden in the dark and launch a surprise attack from their back while their eyes are fixed on you all." Though, he had a nagging feeling it was odd how things on his side seemed to be unfolding too smoothly for comfort. He could only hope that even if they were still being watched, as long as they played their cards right, they might be able to stay one step ahead of those watchful eyes.

"But..." Lihua was about to voice more concern, but kept her mouth shut. Shizuka was placing too much trust in these strangers. Lihua, again, was never really the type to place overwhelming trust and faith in other people, but a total ragtag band of misfits that Shizuka only known for a few hours? That was just a recipe for disaster. Lihua herself would be more comfortable with it if she had known more about their talents, but she wasn't sure about leading what had to be civilians in a fight against the likes of the Black Hound. But, once again, she'd trust Shizuka on this... but if they got in the way, then Lihua would have no choice but to remove them by force.

She couldn't possibly let some strangers get in the way of her mission to rescue Jiao-Long - regardless of what reasons they might have.

"I trust you on this," Lihua said, hiding her true intentions.

Shizuka regarded Lihua's silent hesitation for a moment, before shrugging in the end. "Honestly, we don't have much choice in this matter, not with how the IU had pretty much wiped out a large number of DOVE and RAVEN agents, and they have successfully acquired Dr. Cross and her cronies. We need all the manpower with a common goal we can gather to get this done and over with, or else [i]everybody's[/i] gonna die. You don't have to worry too much about [i]my[/i] team - they ain't idiots." Besides, they had other agendas to settle than getting into a suicidal fight with the Hound and the Blessed Three. He could leave them to be tamed by a trigger-happy Meifeng (and the vain Lihua while at it), allowing him to freely sneak beneath everyone's nose to finish whatever he had to do.

[i]One mistake - one error - can change everything[/i], Lihua thought to herself. Despite all of Shizuka's reassuring, she was more than prepared to finish where they fail if it came down to it. That was the risk Lihua knew was omnipresent when working with unknown parties. "Very well, I have faith in your team."

"Yeah, we got more important things to worry about," Meifeng said. "Like smashing that machine of theirs."

Shizuka gave Meifeng a look at how simple-minded she was. If the Fags were as [i]blessed[/i] and perfect as they had claimed, he wouldn't be surprised that everything happened so far was within their calculations, all part of whatever shitty grand plan they had... They would probably be expecting the RAVENs to raid their base, and maybe even waiting to welcome them with some nasty surprises. Even so, he could use her brashness to his advantage. "Yeah, you can have your fun with the Machine, and save your uncle in the process," he said to her with a smirk.

"Anyway, Malik, Rhea and Ai are probably still not back yet," he said as they turned around a corner. Then he dropped his voice and muttered to himself, "I doubt Haru is, either, especially since it's [i]that person[/i]..." He spoke up again, glancing at the comrades he had been with through thick and thin for the past seven long years. "We really should start planning our next move - we don't have much time to lose, if you truly want to rescue your family and destroy the Machine before this city becomes Verthaven or Prague 2.0."

"First thing we need is proper means of communication," Meifeng said, still not getting over how comms were still down. "I don't want to walk into there, and find out that they have another trump card. 'Course, we need organization, intelligence, and so on." Meifeng trailed off.

"And that reminds me - second, we probably could use some reinforcements from [i]anywhere[/i] because the five of us going in there alone would be [i]great[/i] if they weren't seeing us coming..."

"Four, you mean," Shizuka rectified without missing a beat. "I'll leave it to you guys to plot the frontal assault, while I'll just stay out of your hair with my little [i]rogue[/i] team." Well, because he had other - more important - things to do, and they couldn't afford to be stalled by the Family's minions, preventing them from getting the [i]real[/i] work done.

Meifeng rolled her eyes. "...That wasn't my point, Shizuka." Briefly, Meifeng wondered how dense Shizuka was, but he seemed to be keen on wanking his 'Stealth Expert' approach.

"Either way, we're going to need some time before we do any of this, Meifeng," Lihua said.

"Which is why I'm going to put the call out, then we search Uncle's mansion." Meifeng said, scratching the back of her neck. 

"This better have [i]something[/i] useful in it."


[hr][i][h1][color=Blueviolet]Malik Jakane[/color] & [color=#ffe0bd]Rhea Harlow[/color].[/h1][sub]Written in collaboration with [@Estylwen][/sub][/i][hr][hider=Assassin's Creed Unity OST Vol.1 - A Sneaking Sense of Liberty][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UpCqGkidiE[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[i][u]Courtbridge, Prince Ed-Field[/u][/i]

Rhea’s feet pounded the concrete, her body twisting through the air as she landed on the next rooftop. The clouds above were thick, low, and the atmosphere misgiving. At the agreed time, she took cover two blocks off the dead drop behind an air duct. Peering over the angled metal, she searched the gray canopy for signs of movement. 

Knowing Malik, he’d arrive any minute. Many of the locations they’d looked at over the last several days were duds — someone already made off with the dead drops. Despite that, they pressed on. Perhaps the ‘Lightning Tag Team’ - as Shizuka so eloquently put - would be ahead of the race this time.

"... You rang?" Malik said as he fell from the sky, his landing cushioned by using his wind abilities, before he hopped up to his feet, and looked straight at Rhea. "What are we looking for, again?" 

"The next log," Rhea said, grinning. She'd grown accustom to Malik's theatrical entrances. "One of the last, I think. And the coordinates are recent; we might get the [i]drop[/i] on whoever-- whatever's taking them."

"Good!" Malik said, rubbing his hands together. "Hopefully, this will give us a clue as to where Marcelle is."

All this information about the inner-workings of the F-F was useful and all... to Shizuka, but Malik came to America just to find out where Marcelle is. And that's what he intends on doing. Once Marcelle is okay, he'll have to respectfully bow out of this confrontation. Superpowers or not, he's not a soldier.

The rooftops were surprisingly void of life, giving them the perfect opportunity to sneak in. Rhea got her game face on. "Ready? Keep your eyes peeled for those damn IU's."

Keeping low to the ground, Malik and Rhea moved at a clipped pace to the coordinate's location. Leaping over an alley way, they found themselves on a half cement, half glass ceiling. Rhea could see a botanical garden below them, humidity fogging up the panes. There were a few large objects here with them, namely a maintenance entrance, an electrical box and ventilation system. The fan was offline and the garden sat in the dark, so Rhea had to assume they lacked power in this section of town.

"You know," Malik whispered, as he crept over to Rhea's position. "Maybe after all of this is over - you can join me on my world adventure, y'know?"

Rhea raised an eyebrow at Malik. "Your... world adventure?"

It was probably inappropriate at this hour. "Everyone needs to leave their country just [i]once[/i]... and I need to look for someone to help me with my little family problem."

"Huh. And you actually want me to tag along?" Rhea said, smirking. "I'll consider it. Later. With a full brief."

He looked up at the top of the building, and eyeballed the maintenance entrance. "Right. But, let's focus on the task at hand. Is it on the roof like the others, or is it a surprise?"

He tapped his foot on the glass. "I don't think we got to worry about any alarms."

"Fortunate for us." Rhea moved to the air duct, searching around it. "As for the drop, I think Marcelle's following an evolving pattern. It's always on the roof and hidden in glued rocks, or something unassuming. That electrical box over the strip mall, however, was the first time she set the drop in a hazardous place - meaning there's reason for her to get serious."

"Could this be the log that leads us to her?" Malik said with hopeful optimism... all he wanted to do was find Marcelle and get far from this crazy conflict as he could. Fighting evil wasn't Malik's thing. He'll leave that for all the Captain America wannabes out there! But, maybe he should help. If they destroy the world, where will Malik live?!

Her methodical sweep of the roof brought Rhea to the maintenance door, where upon she found a pile of rubble on the back side. It was placed in a specific way, as if there was something to hide. Rhea knelt before it, moving aside a worn brick — unknowingly disturbing the nest. She could see the corner of a black tube glinting in the shadow, alongside a large, pale yellow egg sac.

"Malik, you'll-- shit!" Rhea dropped the brick, turning her wrist to see eight legs and gleaming eyes digging into her skin — a Black Widow.

"Rhea!?"

Swearing like a sailor, Rhea flailed her hand in the air until the Widow lost its grip, falling to the cement. Without hesitation, Rhea laid into the spider with the heel of her boot. A crunch, and then silence. Rhea grimaced, first at her boot, then the bite. Two puncture marks and a slight swelling of the skin. The pain made her eyes water, but if there was anything she knew about venom, it needed time. Black Widows held a neurotoxin that developed into nausea, muscle cramps, and in extreme cases, hypertension. Maybe death.

Not that she had experience healing venomous bites; Rhea wasn't sure if treating it like a tumor - and flushing it from the system - would be effective.

Malik hopped over to Rhea, riding a wind over to her, and asked, "What's wrong?!"

"Black Widow," Rhea said, showing her wrist to Malik. "I don't know if I can fix it; this is a hell of a way to find out."

Malik thought she was talking about the Marvel character for a second!

Rhea sat with her back against the wall, face contorted. "Also, ugh. The drop... it's in the rubble."

Malik merely nodded his head as he sent a kick forward, and what followed was a powerful wind that was enough to blow the rubble away, revealing the dead drop that he reached down and picked up, placing it in his back pocket.

She held a hand over the bite as water-like energy collected in between her fingers, disappearing into the wound site. Rhea was able to stop the pain, but how did one tackle a micro toxin? For all she knew, the venom already circulated her veins, interspersed with cells. Very unlike a tumor... [i]What if I tagged the venom and burned it?[/i] Rhea pursed her lips. No, no, she couldn't feel the venom directly - it'd be impossible to tag, or identify. She would have to use some kind of micro-counter. But what?

Rhea sighed, leaning her head back. Until it dawned on her - [i]antibodies.[/i] Of course! Fight proteins with proteins. Rhea wanted to smack herself for not seeing it sooner. White sparks concentrated around the bite, shifting as her immune system started producing a counter protein. In a few minutes, she'd pull through.

Rhea got to her feet, still a bit dazed. "Huh. Good to know deadly spider bites aren't a big deal." She stuck her tongue out, more in mockery to herself. "Can't believe I didn't see that coming. Do you think Marcelle...?"

He awkwardly laughed as he scratched the back of his head, "Well, Marcelle hated spiders-"

Malik's little quip was cut off when he felt something metal and round press up against the side of his head. His eyes drifted to the side - [i]but he couldn't see anyone[/i].

“Malik... Don’t move a muscle…” Rhea whispered, cautioning with her hands.

It took a moment for the gun - a massive revolver - to appear alongside... floating clothes. A floating grey long coat which was zipped up tight, a matching grey bowl fedora, and sunglasses. Of course he floating gun, but Malik was pretty sure it wasn't floating, and the person was just invisible...

"So, you two must be the ones going out of your way taking the dead drops?" The invisible man asked. "Who are you with? The IU?"

"... H-hey, hey, hey..." Malik awkwardly stammered as he searched for a response. "We're with no one... I'm Malik... I'm just searching for my best friend Marcelle."

"... And I'm supposed to believe that?" The Invisible man asked, he turned towards Rhea, keeping the gun pressed against Malik, and asked, "And who are you, young lady?"

“Rhea Harlow,” she said, eyes wide. “Like Malik said, we’re just trying to find Marcelle. And we hate those Family guys.”

She squinted her eyes at the invisible man. “...You’re not with them either, I take it.”

The man was silent for a moment, before he looked down at Malik, "If you know Marcelle so well, what was her favorite city to go on vacation?"

"Lyon, she had the time of her life there," Malik said, trying to stay cool. "Look, I don't know... wait, are you Graham Morris?" The thought occurred to Malik when he remembered what the man said earlier.

Again, he was silent. "That is correct."

"Look, we would love your help. We have a team of people willing to go up against the Family," Malik started off. "And I've been trying my hardest to find Marcelle. Just give me a break here..."

A few tense moments passed.

Which felt like an eternity of being at the mercy of this invisible man.

Then he pulled the gun away, and placed it into the holster hidden underneath his longcoat. "Alright, I'll play ball."

Malik sighed in relief. "Thanks friend, thought you were going to kill me there for a second..."

Rhea relaxed, clasping her hands together. "Halle - frikin' - lujah." [i]An invisible man with some goddamn sense — the very one Marcelle seemed to trust.[/i]

"So, you're looking for Marcelle?" Graham asked.

"That's the reason why I flew to America, and started collecting the dead drops, fightin' the Family..." Malik shrugged. "... You know.

Fortunately for Graham, he was invisible so his facial expressions were impossible to tell. "You said you had a team, who are they?"

The courier stepped in for this one. “A small conglomerate of people from RAVEN and CID, working independently and under the radar.” Rhea said. It was the safest answer, not giving away any individual identification.

"RAVEN?" Graham answered. "I doubt you should place your trust in them... given how many Agents the Family has in their pockets...."  He wasn't in America long enough to tell who this CID even was. "I am with the British MISW investigating a lead on the Family in America - Oh, Malik, this keeps concerning me, but you mentioned you came to America?"

"Yeah, I was in Morocco when I got a message from Marcelle," Malik nodded his head.

"May you play it for me?"

Malik quickly dug through his pocket to pull out his phone, before finding the message, and putting it on speaker...

[hider=Marcelle's message to Malik][quote]"[i]Malik, c’est le dernier message que vous allez recevoir de moi pour un certain temps. Mais, permettez-moi de vous donner une explication. Je dois vous que beaucoup. J’ai été envoyé vers l’Amérique pour aller d’infiltration pour la Direction généralede la sécurité humaine méta, mais les gens qu'ils veulent savoir sur... la famille fondatrice... Ce sont des gens fous. J’ai soufflé ma couverture... et ils viennent après moi.C’est le meilleur que je pouvais aller à vous avant qu’ils me trouvent. Ne venez pasme chercher.[/i]"[/quote][/hider]

Graham was quiet yet again...

"... That has to be before she fell under the effects of that damn drug. Pre-recorded." He said as he walked off to the side, with his hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean?"

"Marcelle was given an experimental drug by a member of the Blessed Three... I don't know the details, but she felt quite addicted to it. So addicted that she made a mistake and blew her own cover."

Malik was... concerned for Marcelle. That was an understatement, his heart was racing. Not only was Marcelle addicted to a weird drug, but she was also found out. With the Family... they are crazy, man. He couldn't help but feel like she's already dead. He couldn't formulate a single sentence.

"... But, there is a glimmer of hope." Graham said. "I know where Marcelle might be held..."

That gloominess that was overcoming Malik was replaced with a ray of sunshine. "Really?! Where?!" He said, sounding like a child.

"They have a major base of operations in Silver Hills, Hailey Boulevard... an ISD building that is the cover for a massive underground complex..." Graham said as he took a few steps towards the group. "I have the fleeting suspicion that she's there, but lacked the manpower to go investigate..."

He groaned.

"Against the likes of the Hound, and their Blessed Three, I am powerless..."

[i]Well, that's relieving.[/i] Rhea tilted her head back. Towards Malik she didn't say a word, but she knew how the game was played. Before this, she thought they were tailing a dead woman. Graham, however, offered more than just a sliver of hope. If Malik and her knew Marcelle was still living, breathing — despite having an addiction — they would be more empowered to find her. A state of mind like that was a force to be reckoned with. Who cared if she was locked away within the enemy fortress?

"Hey, now, don't worry," Malik said. "That's why we're a team."

"We're?" Graham asked.

"Well... let me put it this way," Malik said as he walked over to Graham. "If you help us find Marcelle, we'll help you defeat the family. Deal?"

Graham paused, as if he was considering it. "... Very well. Deal."

"We'll shake on it." Malik said as he put his hand out, and Graham firmly shook it.

"But, I prefer to work alone," Graham said. "I will help you... but, I think it would work better if I stay hidden, so to speak. Helping you from the shadows..."

"... Now you sound like our leader." Malik said.

Rhea chuckled. "Ooh, spooky. Well, the help is appreciated." [i]Especially with the Family, and their crazies.[/i]

Graham slowly walked to the edge of the building, before he turned his head and looked back at them. "Just do me a favor and avoid mentioning this encounter... we'll keep in touch."

"Yeah, we sure will..." Malik said, still happy that he may have a lead on where Marcelle is.

Graham suddenly vanished, and Malik wondered if he was still there or not.

But, that wasn't important.

"Okay, yes!" Malik said as he turned to Rhea. "Our first real lead on Marcelle in awhile! But... maybe we should go contact boss-man?"

He reached behind himself, and pulled out the dead drop spike.

"... And show him this, yeah?"

Rhea nodded. "Agreed. Then, a scouting mission around Hailey Boulevard, mm?" A mischievous smile played across her face.

"Yeah." Malik grinned back.

He was close to finding Marcelle! He's so excited.