The brush was thick, and Penelope had to fight her natural inclination to roughly tug her clothes free from the twigs and weeds, knowing that she couldn't afford to leave any trace of herself behind, just in case Gideon searched the woods outside his place. She didn't think that would be a problem, since he didn't know that they were searching for Erin yet, but still she knew that she had to be as cautious as possible to keep her safe.

Alex was better at moving through the wilderness, and so Penelope couldn't help but catch glances of her bum in front of her as they went along. That helped to keep her going, until the woods started to thin a little, and they were instinctively slowing down, taking more care to not be noticed by anyone that might be around. And then, she saw the house, and a shiver of fear ran down her spine. Alex reached out for her hand, stopping them before they burst out onto an unkempt lawn. "We have to be more careful now, Penelope," she whispered, adjusting her hat on her head.

Penelope nodded as she touched the baseball cap on her head, hoping that she wasn't noticeable, that Gideon wasn't there, that they would be able to find Erin relatively quickly and get her out. "Do you think that we should contact the police today, to tell them what we think?" she asked lowly as they crept out of the woods and made their way to the back of the house.

"No, we need concrete evidence that she's there, before the police will even begin to entertain us, Penelope. Especially since we are acting outside our jurisdiction. At this point, we're going to have to come up with a very believable story of hiking in the woods and hearing Erin call out for help before we can bring the police in and have them act. If we want to make Gideon pay for this heinous crime, we have to try and make it seem like we followed protocol."

Penelope's shoulders slumped as she realized that Alex was entirely correct, and that she needed to keep her tendency to fly in and rescue people in check. "You're right. I just don't like the thought of Erin staying in that basement a second longer than she has to."

"I feel the same way, but I know that Erin would never forgive us if we muffed this." Alex's voice sounded thicker than normal, and Penelope looked up to see that she was close to tears. "I am not in a good headspace at the moment, but I need to keep it together for Erin. Don't…"

"I know." And she did, honestly, know that she couldn't push Alex any further or risk having her lose control. That was the last thing they needed in that moment, so she gave her a small nod before taking hold of her hand and guiding them closer to the house. There didn't appear to be any security sensors or alarms, but she also knew that Gideon was intelligent enough to make his house boobytrapped, just in case he was found out. "We should make a complete circuit of the house, just to see what's going on."

"I thought the same thing. I want to try and see if we can get in the house, too."

"Really? What if he's laid a trap?"

"Then you'll have to get the police and come up with a different cover story to make certain that we don't get in trouble."

Penelope nodded a little, knowing that Alex was correct, if things went south, fast, she'd have to get help and make certain that the police were on their side. Alex flashed her a quick smile before she led her around to the back of the house. "There are a lot of windows, but there's nothing to the basement level," she remarked, still feeling a little spooked by the thought that Gideon might appear at any moment, and then they'd be in trouble.

"We'll find one, we know there has to be one, based on the conversations that you've had with Erin." There was an unspoken coda to that thought, that if there was no basement window this had all been for naught, but neither of them wanted to say that aloud, since that would mean they were back to square one. Instead, Penelope gave a jerky nod before they continued looking around the house. Turning the corner, Penelope let out a relieved breath to see that there was a bank of windows along with a door to the basement located there. "See? We just have to have faith."

"I know." She squeezed Alex's hand tightly before going to the first of the windows and collapsing to the ground, trying to see in. The room was not lit, and the sun did little to add to the ambient light, but still, she knew that Erin was in there somewhere, and she pushed at the window, hoping that it was loose, and she could open it without disturbing anything that surrounded it. A small gasp of surprise tore from her lips when she found it easily opening beneath her fingers. "Alexandra! Look!"

The woman paused at the end of the house, gazing back at her as she pointed at the now open window. She jogged over to her side, crouching down on the ground as she rested her hand on the small of Penelope's back. "I wonder how far it is down to the floor? There's no easy way to measure…"

"I could hold on to your hands if you wanted to slip in and see if it's a long way down," she replied quickly, knowing that she didn't want to leave that space just yet. Getting down there was perfect, since she didn't think that Gideon would think to put an alarm on that window. She hadn't disturbed anything or felt a wire brush against her skin as she had opened the window, at least.

Alex took a deep breath before she responded, staring at the open window and into the darkness that lay beyond it. "I suppose that this is the best way to find our answers," she finally said, turning to look at Penelope. She was a little taken aback by the naked fear evident on Alex's face, and she held out her hand to her. Alex clasped it tightly as she lowered herself to the ground, scooting her legs through the open window and dangling there as she looked into Penelope's eyes. "Hold on to me tightly, please. I don't like the dark."

"Of course, darling," she whispered as she took hold of Alex's other hand, gripping them tightly as the woman slid down the wall, her eyes seeming to grow impossibly large the further she disappeared into the basement. "I have you," she murmured as she followed Alex inside, knowing that she could add a little extra length to Alex, hopefully keeping her from falling and hurting herself.

"All right, I've touched the floor, you can let go of me now. If you want to go over to the basement doors and make certain that I can get out of them? I'll probably use that exit rather than trying to find my way out upstairs. Besides, we have no idea when Gideon is going to return."

"Of course, Alexandra. Please, stay safe down there. I would hate if I lost you, too."

"I will, dear." Before Penelope drew her hands back, she felt Alex kiss them almost reverently, and she burst into tears as she lost contact with the woman. Scrabbling backwards, she got to her feet before staggering over to the basement doors and setting about to clear it off, so that Alex would have a clear path to the outside when she finally made her way up to Penelope.