Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Bancroft.
She's not alright.
I pulled my pants up, clasping the straps around my waist and thigh while I was at it. As soon as I secured my weapons and got rid of my clothes, I jumped straight down from my perch, landing with a barrel roll in the middle of the street. Securing my mask and hood with near automatic dexterity, I then began walking right for the entrance like I owned the place.
I did.
The gunshots started as soon as they spotted me, but I easily dodged those bullets as I started to run like I'd been taught. By the time I got to the actual entrance, knocked one guy out and I punched the other hard enough that he crashed through the door. A satisfied inward grin took place, but I dared not let them see. When another well dressed man came running at me from inside, I showed no mercy and shoved him out of the way, causing him to crash through one of the gaming tables. A low growl left me as another charged. That time I caught him and wrapped my hand around his neck. Steam left my shoulders as I lifted him off his feet fro a few centimeters and wasted no time in forcing him right through another glass surfaced table.
During all the excitement and adrenaline coursing through me, I'd forgotten how many Elsa said there were. Crouching after the table shattered, my eyes narrowed while my gloved hand snatched up a load of broken glass and I threw it at another charging guy before flipping over a different table, taking him with me so his bullets wouldn't end up in more people than it should have. Unfortunately for him, there was another idiot shooting that had accidentally killed him and after I sprung up from the other side, I threw two of my daggers at him with enough power to make him fall backwards. As soon as he was down, more gunshots rang out that had me ducking and rolling before springing back up so I could throw two more at the shooter.
When I turned around after taking what looked like the last two out, I'd just turned and was partly surprised to find a pool stick had smashed into my side, snapping in half during the impact. The man who'd taken the chance to hit me blinked questioningly at my annoyed face until I snatched the half he was still holding and stabbed it straight into his foot. Walking past his wailing body, I carelessly shoved him out of the way and continued down the hall to where Elsa said the office was. The door with the 'Manager' sign didn't even stand a chance as I kicked it in.
Stepping through, I immediately saw Reis holding a gun to Elsa's head. The sight caused a dangerous growl to emerge from my throat along with a good amount of steam, but the underlying calmness in those pretty eyes let me know she was alright. "Let her go." I demanded, taking my stance.
There was a pause as things clicked. "So the Alpha is real, huh?" Reis chortled and then looked at Elsa with a sneer. "Does this 'partnership' you mentioned make you another Alpha, or are you the counterpart: Omega?"
"I haven't thought about calling myself anything." Elsa grinned back at him while I took a stealthy step forward in his distraction. "But I did like the sound of your password too." Purring her lips curiously. "Which do you think I should I use? Frostbite or Omega?" That time she looked from him to me with that grin never leaving her lips.
Before either of us could say anything, Reis spoke up. "It won't matter, Blondie." He pressed the barrel closer to her temple. "You're going to die anyway."
"In your dreams." She breathed and I saw the tips of her fingers ignite in a pale blue glow which immediately converged into a brilliant blast of white that forced the two apart. Reis fell to the floor and I was there to drag him up by his collar, forcing him into the wall behind him just after.
"Where are the Lockharts?" I said through clenched teeth.
"Who?" He asked, still a little dazed from the impact.
"Six months ago, you had them kidnapped!" I snapped at him, letting my canines grow as another hiss of steam left my mouth. His eyes widened in budding fear.
"I-it was just a job." When he faltered, I wrapped my hand around his throat. "I-I promise! I was given a name, I didn't ask questions."
"Then who was your employer?" Elsa stepped next to me with a taser pointed at him. "Either get the crap shocked out of you or let my partner tear you limb from limb." She added, pushing the button for effect. Where'd she even get that? As far as I knew, she could have had some sort of ice spike or something...
"H-he'll kill me." Reis suddenly whimpered, ripping me out of my thoughts.
My hand tightened around his delicate throat, letting me feel the delicious pulse there. "Drain his assets." The sound of my voice was nearly guttural, but when I glanced at Elsa who perked up and then spun around to saunter towards his desk, I felt myself calm a little better. No need to get blood drunk. "Last chance, Reis." Growling right into his face, I let him see the fury in my eyes as steam wafted between us. "Where. Are. They."
"You think I've never taken a beating before?" His attitude changed again, having grown confidence from somewhere else in him. A second wind, so to say, but he wasn't fooling me.
"You're gonna wish I beat you." I whispered with a crooked grin of my own.
"Marcus Arthur Reis. Social Security Number: 36-00-3948." Elsa began just then.
"The hell?" Reis tore his eyes away from me to glare at her.
"Ooo, would you look at this?" She sent him a none-too-sweet smile. "You have a bank account in the Cayman Islands- two million dollars?!" An exaggerated gasp. "That's impressive, but it looks like you just approved a wire transfer of 1 million dollars to the Children's Hospital fund! How sweet are you?" Reis then struggled against me to no avail. "What should I do with the rest?" Elsa pondered aloud and I made the mistake of glancing at her, only to find her in a somewhat compromising position as she leaned over to access his computer.
Damn it, Anna. Focus! "The Wounded Warrior Project?" I couldn't stop the smug grin from catching my lips once my eyes met hers.
"That's a good cause, Partner." Elsa snapped her fingers at me. After a few clacks, she smiled at him again. "They appreciate the support."
"Bitch!" Reis snarled, but I clamped my hand down a little harder to where his next breath wouldn't come as easily. He didn't have the right to call her anything.
Elsa chuckled and then leaned over again. "Hey, Marcus, I see that your parents have a very nice looking retirement portfolio too. Sadly it looks like they're going to make a some really bad investments. Oh no." She drawled out in more exaggeration.
"H-Hans Westergard!" Reis spat and as soon as he answered, I let out another fierce growl, barely holding back when my fist collided harshly with his face.
Creed.
That had to be one of the most thrilling missions I'd gone on in forever!
Usually with my mentor, he would do the majority of the job while I covered him and wished I could help out more. Granted, I would not have minded watching Anna take care of everything and had even been a little disappointed to walk back out through the casino to see it in the state it was. We had heard all the commotion, gunshots and other chaos and that scared the crap out of Reis, but then she'd shown up like she hadn't done anything. It just succedded in making me wish I could have seen just what she did to them.
Anyway, as soon as we left the casino after tying Reis up, Anna took me straight back to the lab and snuck me in. It was there that she told me to stay and that she would be back in a few. My excitement seemed to dissipate right then, leaving me a little more drained than I anticipated. When she left, I let my hair down and took my heels off, but that only relaxed me a little, considering that I would have preferred to be dressed in my comfortable jeans. Since I was alone, having a dress on with no one to tease was a little depressing and before I could actually start complaining, I found myself nodding off in front of the computers.
Around 1:30 a.m. I heard the door open somewhere in my half asleep state.
"Hey, are you asleep?" The familiar voice asked in slight surprise.
"No." I groaned, burying my face in my arms. "I was just sitting here naming my unborn children."
"Okay." A half-hearted chuckle. "I need you to pull up Hans Westergard's phone records." Anna said in her authoritative voice from beside me when she came back from wherever it was she went. "He made a call from his office to wherever the Lockharts being kept at 10:14 p.m." That's where she went? Without another word, I did as she asked. She still smelled like the night, felt just as cool, and I resisted the urge to inhale it all in. Beats being cooped up in here.
My fingers stopped when I found it. "LUDs show Hans made a call to a tenement complex located in a place called Santa Rosa." My eyes scanned the computer for a few minutes until I felt her shoulder brush mine as she leaned in to get a look.
"Can you pull up a satellite view?" She asked a little more gently than before. In turn, I sent a concerned glance her way before doing just that. When the computer zoomed right in to the map and then to the building itself from the street view, I could see people walking around.
"That's a lot of security for low-income housing." Pointing at each red box, "There's two guards stationed at all points."
"Not the roof." Anna whispered hoarsely.
"It's not like there are other buildings around the place." I sighed. "If you want to get onto the roof, you're going to have to jump off of something." Usually, I didn't mind staying up so late, but those nights didn't include traipsing around in a dangerous underground casino or having to use such a sudden spike of my powers after so long. Speaking of. My stomach growled right then, causing Anna to pull back and give me a curious look.
"Right, I was supposed to get you dinner." She admitted while pushing a hand through her fiery locks.
As much as I wanted to just stay with her and have her feed me, I sucked it up. There was some food at my place, so I would just have to deal. "I think the Lockharts are more important." I sent an encouraging smile her way. "I'll survive." And I would. Anna just needed to come back and get that haunted look out of her eyes. It hadn't been so bad before, but now that she'd gotten a little closer to getting her guardian's parents back, she was that much more focused and it was a little unnerving.
Still that didn't deter my gaze from her gorgeous, leather-clad rear as she walked out after instructing me to go home and that she'd contact me when they got back.
This girl.