Kimball, Carolina, York, North and Wash stood around a huge oak table, staring down on the groundplan of a building in Chinatown. It was a four-story building. On every floor was one apartment for one of the richer people living here. At least it had been planned like that. In the end, some multimillionaire bought the whole house, now using two stories for his own and the other two for his wife and kids
"Okay, just to get everything right: the Abnormal will get sold there today evening at midnight?" asked York, mustering the groundplan to find every lock on their way to the top story.
"Exactly." Confirmed Kimball, pointing on a room in the top story, almost in the middle of the house. "It will happen here. It's the only place big enough to house the cage with the Abnormal and all the potential buyers."
"How do we want to enter the building?" this was North asking, also mustering the plan attentively.
"Wash and I will enter the house by coming in over the roof, while Carolina will make her entry here." Kimball pointed on the western side of the building. There was a massive window.
"Carolina will come through the window after climbing the façade. The guards there will be no problem for you, I guess."
"No, absolutely not." Replied Carolina curtly, her eyes trained on the spot she would enter the building.
"Now to you and York. You two will enter the house here. It's a back entry with enough space for Sarge to drive the car over when we need to make a fast leave. There are locks at every door from the entry up to the selling room, which needed to get picked for our retreat. This'll be your task York." Explained Kimball.
Carolinas emeralds shifted from the plan to York, mustering the scars over his left eye. "You think you can handle that?"
York grinned, shrugging easily. "Sure thing, I will get these locks open. You know that I'm good not only with locks, Carolina."
"They're holographic, York. Your depth perception isn't that good anymore." Carolina ignored the last comment.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I do my best. You will be so impressed that you will go on a date after that with me. Alternatively, I can still tear down the door or unlock it from inside. Although I doubt you would go on a date with me then." Again this easy grin and shrug.
Carolina only rolled her eyes in response, focusing again on the grounplan.
North mustered him from the corner of his eyes, face still turned to the plan. He shortly followed the way they would have to take with his eyes, counting the locks. "That would make six locks, two of them are holographic."
"Indeed." Replied Kimball, pointing to the locks, which would cause most problems to York because of his damaged eye.
After they discussed the rest, Kimball began putting away the plans, Carolina taking the lead. "Okay guys. I want you in the armory at 2100, heading out at 2130. The mission will start at 2230. Copy?."
"Copy that." Answered the rest of the team, heading out for a short lunch before heading to the armory. It was already 8 p.m.
In the armory, North, York and Wash were already preparing to head out. They checked their guns, packed ammos and some grenades (Normal and stunning grenades).
York additionally packed his lock-picking set, giving his stuff to North. If he couldn't open the door with that, he would use a big door key to open it – a grenade. York only hoped he wouldn't have to knock at the first door with a grenade already and bust their cover way too early.
Wash still seemed to remember how to prepare from Freelancer-time, his movements swift and trained, not missing a beat when he stepped out of York's way.
His ears meanwhile turned in every direction possible, scanning the area for unknown sounds. His tail slightly flicked back and forth, indicating that he was as unsettled and nervous as the rest.
For Wash, York suspected, it must be the first mission since Freelancer. The first mission and again with the team he had been before shit hit the fan.
York could understand when he was nervous. Fuck, even he was nervous as fuck because of this mission.
Failing meant losing an Abnormal. Either by him or her getting sold to the highest paying person or by getting killed during their raid.
York always was nervous when it came to chasing down a wild Abnormal or free one from captivity. It always meant additional stress for the subject before it was able to really live without fearing to get caught and sold every minute.
Well, York stretched his back until it popped lightly, thinking about his task. The hololocks were installed at the last two doors, so if they had to break them down it would be easy. Only one thing was sure at this point. He had to make room for his friends to get out with the Abnormal as soon as they freed him. No matter at which cost. Even if he had to take a grenade to open up the door.
"You have everything?" asked North, stuffing away the pistol and the rest of Yorks equipment.
"Yep, ready to go." York stretched, walking towards the door to meet outside. Wash followed them suit, having more weapons with him than anyone else, but surprisingly well hidden and not attached to his body in case he would have to change his form. You wouldn't suspect this guy to be a walking arsenal.
Nothing new for the weapons specialist of the former project though.
Kimball and Carolina were already outside, wearing rather dark clothes. They looked like going on a walk with good friends, not like going to raid an illegal auction in Chinatown.
Entering the black box wagon of Kimball, they could see Sarge sitting there, waiting for them to start driving. During the drive, they were quiet. Even when Sarge stopped the car some streets away from the house and the guys got out, they were quiet. Everyone focused on their task to accomplish.
With a curt nod, the group split, everyone starting to head out towards their assigned directions.
North and York wandered to the eastern side of the building, North taking the lead, York following suit. The blonde, being an excellent sniper, checkmated the guards before they noticed them being around. Luckily North only used rather soft bullets with narcotics in it. The bullets would just pierce the skin and deliver the narcotic in the bloodstream underneath.
York immediately went to pick the lock after North cleared the field and gave him the go, opening the relatively easy lock without problems. The alarm system was also no problem.
The brunette reduced the entity-energy, entering the wall and messing up with the system. He made the system believe that everything still was perfectly fine and didn't need to start up a ruckus when they picked the other locks.
Pretty useful to turn into a ghost by reducing the entity-energy by your own free will. Coming back out, York slipped back in his clothes (Unfortunately he couldn't control them like the molecules of his body, before going to the next lock.
He could hear North shooting down more guards, keeping York's back while he opened lock by lock, having no problems with the mechanical ones. Picking them was more a thing of listening attentively when a cylinder snaps in the opening position. Holographic locks were much more difficult to pick. Even more, since he had lost his left eye.
During all the time, they could hear Kimball and Carolina inform the others about their location and how the situation looked like. North did the same for their part. During picking a lock, he heard Kimball giving orders to Carolina, something hissing in Kimballs background.
Looks like Wash's gone on a rampage again. He didn't need to turn into a full cat. It was enough to attack like he was. His fangs and claws were sharp like a fucking scalpel!
They were ahead of their scheduled time, but York knew that they will need the time for the holographic locks. The last lock, the one to one of the entries to the room, will be opened just when Kimball, Carolina and Wash will be ready to bolt.
Kneeling down, York began to fuzz with the first holographic lock, when they reached it. From the last lock, they had to run down a hallway, taking two turns to their right. All guards on their way are now having a nap for several hours. No dead people, just napping.
The door to the room was shut and locked for good measure. This lock also looked more difficult than the last. Intertwining his fingers and bending them until they cracked, York began analyzing the lock and trying to pick it.
It was a special type of holographic lock. Luckily, York already knew all the different types from the Project.
This one here would shift his upper levels when you move one of the lower one. You always needed your second hand to keep the upper rings from turning before you could start working at the next level. It's tricky, because sometimes you have to let go of one of the rings, just to move the one underneath. After moving this one, you need to turn back the higher level ring back in its unlocking position.
Behind him was a muffled noise, followed by a horrible cracking sound. Sounds like one's neck got snapped. York shortly glanced over his shoulder, seeing North knocking another guy out with a perfectly aimed hit with the butt of his pistol.
For a person with his bulky and vast build, North moved surprisingly smooth and silent, taking the spot beside York to keep an eye on both sides of the floor. He shortly informed Kimball by radio that they were at the second last door, ready to unlock the last door as soon as they got her go. She told them to stay on standby and wait with unlocking it definitely before she would give her go.
The brunette whooped lowly when he managed to open the lock fast. Almost as fast as his old top score. Reducing his entity-energy, York ran through the colons of guards standing there, leaving it to North to deal with them. He knew that the blonde had no problems dealing with that much enemies at once.
While he began to pick the second holographic lock, informing Kimball that they were already at it. The leader of the Sanctuary spontaneously ordered them to help if he managed to get the lock open in the next four minutes.
Behind York, he heard dull sounds of a pistol being fired, followed by a groan. One of the guards sank to his knees, a nice red spot blossoming on his grey shirt. Although York must admit, red and grey don't fit well together. They're a pain for the eyes.
One of the guards tried to sneak up on North who was occupied with four others. York let the lock be, whirling around to kick the enemies legs away from under his body.
To manipulate the lock, he already had to increase his entity-energy and become a full human again. Lucky him, this helped him now.
Just when the guard was about to get up, York landed his fist in the guys throat. He heard the cracking of bones inside, being pretty damn sure that he broke his laryngeal.
His suspicion got confirmed when the man made a gurgling noise, grabbing his throat. York let him and the other guards be. The guy would be dead within three minutes and North would take out the rest.
While walking away to again mess up the lock he hear the guy fall to the ground and gurgle, desperately trying to get air into his lungs. Only that his lungs filled with blood instead of air. Little streamlets of crimson red blood dropped out of his nose and mouth, indicating clearly that he had blood in his lung.
York couldn't care less.
Sure they had the order from Kimball to spare as many lives as possible. Most of them weren't even hurt that bad. Nothing a surgery and some days rest could heal. Only the guy here spitting blood. He was dead. But well, York didn't had time to ask him nicely to stop sneaking up on North.
With a low click, the door opened, just in time to see the blinding light of a flash grenade explode.
"Son of a bitch!" York jumped back into safety, trying to blink away the dark spots in his peripheral vision. One eye damaged and the other blinded by the flash grenade, what a great position to run into a fight like that!
Rubbing his eyes, he had to wait some moments until he could see a bit better, before rounding the corner and running after North who already jumped in the middle of the warzone.
The millionaires began to scream when suddenly two more guys appeared, making clear that those asshats were cornered from all sides. Those guys did what they could do best and began running around like headless hens.
All the while Kimball and Wash managed to open the cage and free the Abnormal. First he was reluctant. York couldn't see the Abnormal as the person in there used the shadows for cover. While Wash kept the guards on distance, Kimball talked to the abnormal still hiding in the cage.
The brunette could understand that he was reluctant and anxious about what happened. He didn't want to imagine how long the Abnormal have had to be in this cramped cage until he came up here, only to see dozens of swollen up and greasy faces, every single one foreign, but only bad news.
Getting kidnapped and going through something like that without having some familiar face around is really tough and you often need some time to trust people again.
However, after some minutes (an eternity considering the ongoing fight here) the Abnormal slowly began to move, stepping out of the cage.
To York's surprise, there were two Abnormals in the cage. One with a dark olive, almost brown skin and leaves in his hair, whilst the other clearly was a Faunus. The one with the dark olive skin had an arm slung around the Faunus' shoulders, leaning heavily on him.
The Faunus didn't look to well himself, swaying a bit under the additional weight of his cellmate, but determined to keep him upright and not leaving him back.
The whole situation brought some relieve, knowing that the Abnormals were at least still alive. However, York found it strange, that there had been a Faunus in the cage. He always had thought Faunus got extinct long time ago?
Kimball and Wash gently began to herd the two young boys to the door. Wash carrying the almost unconscious boy, while Kimball helped the Faunus.
"York! North! Help Carolina! Buy us some time before retreating!" Shouted Kimball when they passed the two men, standing a bit back to secure the exit they just opened.
"Okay!" York and North both bolting forward, attacking the guards coming, trying to keep them away from the group. Besides the exit they had taken, there was only one other entry. That's where the guards came from.
York luckily had thought about blocking the doors to this exit, granting a halfway smooth retreat after they were done here.
Although this buying time would probably take longer than normally. Looking at the two rescued boys, York doubted they would be able to make a fast start. They were slow. The bulkier one looked pretty bad off, his skin sickly white while he seemed to die soon. He looked like he would constantly be at the brink to unconsciousness, slipping in and out, not really realizing what happened. The Faunus on the other hand was limping. His leg had a nasty angle, and the fur around the strange kink looked sticky with blood.
Great… Those assholes didn't only chase freely living Abnormals for their own monetary profit, but also inflict them heavy wounds without bothering to treat them properly. If the Faunus was unlucky, he would lose his leg because of those ignorant assholes of 'normalos'!
Seeing such things always made York wanting to puke. In the face of such greedy people.
Ducking to avoid a painful hit with a baton against his head, the brunette kicked the legs out from his attacker's body, making him fall to the ground. Luckily his head connected rather painfully with an ancient vase (not sorry about that, dude's got enough money to buy a new one), knocking him out for at least two hours.
North beside him sent two guys to dreamland by hitting their heads together. The crunching sound of bones connecting with bones made York shiver. He hated this sound.
Carolina was at the front row, thinning out the masses of guards coming in. When she obviously decided there was enough time over, even for the injured Abnormals, to get down and in the car, she threw a grenade, again stunning the guards coming after them.
"Out!"
Spinning on her heel, she followed the two men towards the exit.
Just when they were about to leave the room too, North suddenly turned his head to a scream coming from behind them. His eyes became wide in horror, when he shouted. "Carolina! Watch out!"
Nevertheless, it was too late. The next thing York heard (He hadn't had the opportunity to turn around because he had to knock out a guard who had come to earlier than expected, was the awful sound of a knife cutting through fabric and flesh, cutting apart muscles and sinews and veins.
Turning around too, he could see that someone had stabbed Carolina in the back, where her heart was. Her eyes were impossibly wide, the emeralds showing surprise and disbelieve. She was so stunned about the attack that she didn't even scream from pain. She simply forgot it.
"Carolinaa!" the brunette turned on his heels, just in time to see blood dribble down from Carolinas lips on her teal shirt and her sparkling emeralds getting dull before she fell to the ground lifelessly.
Within moments, his shock turned into pure rage, attacking the murderer of his crush (York was still in debate whether it was already love or not) with an anger, making every Diacom jealous.
He began to swing at the murderer of Carolina, his fists connecting with his face and body, breaking every bone they connected with. He kicked him in his abdomen, causing severe internal damages with only one hit, before letting his knee shoot up when the guy toppled over, effectively breaking the already broken nose a second time. Additionally, he felt one of the cheekbones crack.
His next hit broke the guys jaw and knocking out some teeth. Another fist cracked the rest of his still whole his ribs. When the guard tried to lung at York with a grimace showing pain and anger, the ex-Freelancer simply snapped his hand and arm, before dislodging his shoulder with an awful cracking sound and an agonized scream of the victim.
He still viciously swung at the guy, drawing blood at the most impossible places, inflicting open fractures and a pierced lung. One of the ribs must have jabbed the lung as the guy began to hack up blood while desperately trying to at least defend himself.
"Stop it York!"
"He deserves it!" Another hit to the guys jaw.
"There's no reason in killing him as revenge! It won't bring her back!"
"I don't care!" This time at his back, just where the left kidney was.
North sighed heavily. "Either you beat the shit out of this guy or you help me getting Carolina back to the car."
"I want to do both!"
"You already did first. Now come on, help me get her back. You need to keep my back while I carry her."
It sounded reasonable enough for the brunette to not beat the guy to dead. Although, how he looked right now, York wasn't sure if he would survive that. He knew he would feel horrible after the adrenaline rush was over hand his logic would make him feel bad.
Letting go of the guy, he stomped ahead of North, only wanting to get the fuck away from here.
If he had continued beating up the guy, North simply would have turned him to a ghost. North still had more control over York's powers, being able to effectively stop him by reducing his entity-energy to a minimum when he snapped like this. It was a blessing sometimes, but also a curse at all the other times. York couldn't decide whether he should think of this as blessing or curse in this special moment.
While North pulled out the bloody knife and picked Carolina up, York was already waiting outside the door, securing the way. Although York stopped the beating on his own, North seemed to have decided that it was better to not give York another opportunity to beat someone up. He still held back most of York's entity-energy, letting him only the option to warn North before someone came, but not enough energy for a solid form to hit someone.
Until they reached the car Kimball, Sarge, Wash and the two boys waited for them, they didn't meet other guards. Obviously, they had peed their pants and fled with their tails between their legs. Or were sleeping soundly on one of the floors in the house.
York would have loved to beat some more to mush. He was angry. Furious. And sad. All at the same time.