A/N: Things are gonna be picking up here.
Cat awoke to a pounding on her door, surprised from her slumber. Her feet met the floor and she began staggering to the front door like a baby giraffe learning to walk. Cat looked through the peephole, seeing it was Jade, and started unlocking the door. The moment the deadbolt clicked, the brunette stormed right on in. Cat was half-asleep but that snapped her wide awake.
Jade looked back at her flustered friend, emerging from behind the door to close it.
"Jade, its you. Come on in," Cat said with a deadpan tone.
"Sorry," the brunette said contritely, realizing how rudely she entered the apartment.
The redhead looked closer at her friend and saw that she had been crying.
"What's wrong?"
Jade rubbed her arms as fresh tears rolled down.
"She's gone," Jade replied.
"What? Who?"
"Tori..." she said, sitting down. "I went to the hospital this morning and she wasn't there. Nobody saw her leave; must have been before sunrise - that's when they say their nurses change shifts."
Cat sat next to her. "So she just disappeared? No call or..."
Jade wordlessly handed Cat the piece of paper Tori had written the note on. She read it carefully.
"So what does she mean by that?" Cat asked, confused.
"I planted a bug on one of the police detectives from last night."
Cat sighed, "As you do..."
Jade appreciated the redhead's pointed sarcasm, it was the levity she needed. She went on to explain further.
"I may have mentioned that the man who broke into the lab was under the employ of a Mr. Hand. At least that's what the cops called him."
"Who or what is Mr. Hand?"
The brunette threw up her hands.
"No goddamn idea! I was going to investigate but I was so tired when I got home and then I woke up and went straight to the hospital and..."
"Hey, hey," Cat hugged Jade tightly. "Its okay. Its been a weird few days for all of us."
Jade wiped her eyes and smiled.
"Thanks, Cat."
The redhead stood and walked over to the kitchen. She began brewing come coffee.
"Want some coffee?" she asked.
"Look who you're asking," Jade replied with a sniff.
The little white machine began percolating.
"Still drink French Roast?" she asked.
Cat shook her head. "No. I've been getting into Colombian; less bitter." She then leaned against the doorway leading to the kitchen. "So, you think Tori will go after this guy?"
"It's possible," Jade replied. "I mean from what she's told me, her knowledge of the criminal underbelly of Kinopolis gives her a step up from the cops."
"You're worried she will succeed," Cat figured.
Trash cans fell over from the impact of Josh Franklin, a local dealer with some ties to some big names.
His head was spinning, so his surroundings were all a blur. But there was no mistake that the tall woman was approaching him again.
PUNCH!
"Where is he?" she demanded.
Franklin touched his mouth with his forefinger and stared at the blood. She was everything the rumors said.
That means she wasn't going to give him respite until he gave up the information.
This time, she pulled his hair. Franklin yelped like a dog.
"TELL. ME."
"I told you, I didn't see his face or know where he is. I've only been approached to work for him."
"And you don't know what he looks like?" she asked.
Franklin admitted, "He...uh...wore a mask."
Tori tilted her head, realizing the irony.
"Fair enough, but what do you expect?"
Jade tapped away on Cat's laptop while the pair sip their coffee.
"Mr. Hand..." Cat read, looking over Jade's shoulder. "was a robber who hit up four banks."
"Doesn't sound like the criminal mastermind he's building up to be," Jade remarked.
Cat pointed to the screen. "And it looks like he vanished eight years ago. Accomplices have been apprehended but none of them could give anything on Mr. Hand. The guy's a phantom."
Jade shook her head.
"I just don't understand. A fucking bank robber? Doesn't add up."
Franklin's head hit the asphalt once again, the recent rain making it extra cold.
He held his torso, certain his ribs were busted from that last one.
"Listen, listen..." he held up his hands, defensively. "This guy is different."
"How?"
"I mean, he paid good. But he had problems with guys asking for extra."
She gripped his shirt and drug his closer.
"What are you talking about?"
"There was a time when we took over an armored truck. It had $2 million in there but he didn't give us more than $10,000 a piece, what we agreed upon. He held up a gun to all of us and dared us to walk away with a penny more. He actually said we made a third of what many make in a year from a single day's work and we should be happy with that."
"What happened to the rest of the money?" Tori asked.
Franklin chuckled nervously, shaking his head. "I don't know. Ask him, if you can find him."
She slammed him against the wall and held a bayonet to his jugular.
"How do I know you haven't been bullshitting me this whole time?"
He looked down at the ground and looked back up into her "eyes."
"Either I'm lying and you kill me because you know I'm lying. Or I tell the truth and you kill me anyway because you got what you already wanted out of me."
Tori relaxed the blade.
"Good point."
She started walking away while Franklin collapsed, holding his throat and coughing.
"If I don't find what I'm looking for because of you, I'll be back later."
"So what do we do?" Cat asked.
Jade paced around the living room, pondering the question.
"We need to intercept Tori before she finds Mr. Hand. If she does, she will kill him."
Cat looked concerned. "Because he's a threat."
"She won't hesitate," Jade explained.
"But I thought she didn't want to kill anymore."
Jade shrugged.
"She did...she does...Cat, if someone broke into your home and threatened your family and you had a gun...would you not use it?"
Cat looked out the window, imaging the frightening scenario.
"I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't do whatever was necessary."
Jade smiled and patted the redhead's shoulder.
"What's the plan?" Cat asked.
"Let's get down to the lab. I'll call Sikowitz."
On the other side of town, Holy Mother Church, an abandoned cathedral lay overlooking the wharves. The once magnificent building stood at a maximum height of forty feet. At least half of the stained glass windows were broken, primarily from rocks. The brickwork was crumbing in some places but the whole structure maintained somewhat. It just looked like any other condemned property in the city. Especially in this part of town.
The only reason this remained was as church property, it was considered privately-owned. But the diocese has been scuttlebutt when it came to real estate matters. Obviously they're going to put their energy in an active house of worship.
Nobody had known that this building had been taken up as residence a long time ago by a man.
A man whose methods were anything but pure.
Terry Thomas was sleeping in the old priest's office down in the basement when a knock came to the door. He snapped awake and planted his feet on the floor. Beneath his desk, he reached for his mask and fixed it onto his head. This completely obscured his face and was always worn within the presence of absolutely anyone. When Thomas was all alone, it was indeed a relief to remove it. But it was necessary.
"Come in!"
The door knob turned and in walked a twenty-something boy named Kyle. He was fresh out of the halfway house when Thomas took him in a few weeks ago. He promised him a lot of money quickly so as to avoid drugs and carjacking. The street kid felt his heart drop. Ever since he was very little, clowns particularly spooked him.
The mask Thomas wore was a classic black and white Pagliacci but with one odd feature. The nose was elongated, strikingly similar to Cyrano de Bergerac. Under ordinary circumstances, such a sight would have evoked delight in most people. But those like Kyle who had the displeasure to get close enough to the elusive "Mr. Hand" knew that behind that mask was a fiercely intelligent maniac who would sooner destroy you if you crossed him or merely questioned his methods. That made the absurdist mask surrounded by inadequate light all the more unsettling.
"She got another one, boss."
Thomas just thought about the latest information. He had been getting reports like this all morning long. His eyes and ears outside this church are being bruised, broken and left bleeding.
"Do...do...do you think its the same one?"
Mr. Hand stood up and held both hands behind his back.
"No, Kyle. I expect there are a dozen 5'10 women who are all after me. I was never that popular."
The dopey kid smirked and began to chuckle at the moment of self-depreciating humor. But Mr. Hand turned swiftly, staring him down silently. He showed with body language and no words that he didn't say what he said for his amusement. The hapless boy promptly shut his trap and searched for a new subject.
"Do you want me to return on watch?"
"I think that would be wise," Mr. Hand replied.
When the kid was brought on board, his number one task was to monitor the grounds and give warning of any approaching threats. Kyle figured it was a bit much, considering that nobody frequents this part of town anyway, let alone a dilapidated church. But his boss made it this far without being caught and was still a force to be reckoned with among the criminal community. Mr. Hand thought of everything which made him always stay a step ahead of those wanting to take him down. His intelligence and ruthlessness made him something of a legend.
And when he caught wind of another legendary figure in pursuit of him, Mr. Hand regarded it as a minor problem. But he kept an eye on her progress.
"Why don't I just live here?" Sikowitz yawned, referring to the lab.
Jade simply rolled her eyes. He had a point but now wasn't the time to argue.
"We need to find Tori," she explained.
Sikowitz barely knew anything about the woman Jade was currently seeing. But he knew this; she really must mean a great deal to her. Sikowitz hadn't seen this much agency in Jade since news of her father's helicopter going missing.
"Do we have anything to go on?" he asked.
Cat chimed in, "Only that she was looking for some crook named Mr. Hand or whatever..."
The balding man practically leapt across the room and gripped the petite woman's arms.
"Did you just say Mr. Hand?"
"Y-y-yeah," she stuttered.
"You know him?" Jade asked.
Sikowitz's eyes widened. "Of course! He was a big deal years ago. Knocked over the major banks of the city."
"They caught some of the guys who worked for him but they didn't have anything for the cops."
"Right," he told Jade as he let Cat go. "But Mr. Hand himself always gave them the slip." His face fell. "Are you afraid he has Tori?"
Jade moved a chair aside to get closer to the scientist.
"Not really. I'm worried she will kill him."
He retorted "I fail to see the problem, Jade."
Jade sighed heavily and got much closer to him.
"Listen to me," she started. "Best case scenario, she kills him and broke her vow to never take another life. Or worse, he gets the jump on her and plants a bullet in her head."
Sikowitz let that sink in and started thinking.
"Well, unfortunately we can't find out anything about Tori's whereabouts until she does something."
Jade sat Cat down and handed her a pair of headphones. She opened a laptop and started typing. After a few seconds, she plugged the headphones into the jack on the side and told Cat to put them on. The redhead obliged.
"I connected my signal from the police to this computer. Listen to the headset for anything. I have a feeling Tori is going to be punching her way through for information. With any luck, maybe we can work out a path. Just listen carefully, Cat"
The redhead looked at how the brunette's eyes were practically saying 'please' and nodded with a small smile.
"I will, Jade."
"Thank you."
She turned and saw Sikowitz rummaging through her bag.
"Hey!" protested Jade.
"Ah," he said, holding the cube in his hand. "Now let's talk upgrade."
Jade raised an eyebrow. "Upgrade?"
Sikowitz replied, "This armor is pretty good now, but you're gonna need something better if you are going to be facing Mr. Hand."
"Why?" Jade asked. "He's just some small time crook with delusions of grandeur."
The older man blinked.
"There is nothing small time about this guy. He is going to be heavily armed if you come across him. Not to mention he is a master of explosives. You not only need to withstand damage; you'll need to deliver it too."
Jade looked back on her two bouts from the night before and they were rather sloppy. Jade wasn't much of a fighter outside the schoolyard.
"Just let me work on this while you two search for Tori," Sikowitz said.
Jade nodded and jumped on another computer opposite of where Cat was.
Sikowitz held the cube in his hands.
"I sure hope they find her," he thought.