"Can I say, for the record, I think this is a bad idea?" Will whispered, shifting uneasily from foot to foot. "They out number us ten to one. We're not going to make it out of here."
"Pessimist," Cecilia breathed, flashing him a grin before moving to take the lead. Helen dropped back, allowing her daughter her moment. Behind her, she could feel the rest of the team silently tracking along. They were close, too close which would no doubt mean that security would increase any second now. So far they'd come across frighteningly few staff. Of course, Cecilia had said they'd come up against minimal resistance but Helen wasn't ashamed to admit that she'd doubted her daughter's ability to create a virtual distraction to buy them more time.
"I'm a realist," Will replied, rolling his eyes. He looked pleadingly towards Helen but she merely shook her head. Will would simply have to learn that there was no talking Cecilia out of a dangerous plan. She was too much like Ashley in that respect, almost too eager to get out there and try her hardest. It was a trait that she knew both her girls had inherited from her and even her father, to an extent, but it was something Helen felt strongly that she ought to have found a way to discourage. It was too late now, of course, Cecilia was a grown woman likely to do the opposite of what Helen tried to teach just for the sake of it, but she cursed herself for not correcting her biggest failing as a parent the second time around.
"I'm with the realist," Nic whispered, flexing her hands. "I don't like this."
"None of us like it," Nikola corrected softly, creeping up and around Helen to stand by Cecilia's side. "But what else is there to do?"
"We could sit at home and not get ourselves shot up?" Nic suggested.
"Oh what are you worried about?" Cecilia snipped, her voice getting a touch too loud. "It's not like you can die."
"Getting shot still hurts," the other woman muttered in reply. "I still get the pain."
"Don't worry," Nikola said over his shoulder to his daughter. "The Magnus family will never understand why exactly shooting people isn't polite."
"Shut up," Helen muttered at the exact same moment Cecilia scoffed and shot the vampires a derisive look.
"In all fairness, Mother has shot you far more times than I have," Cecilia tried.
"Only because we've only just met," Nikola retorted, shaking his head.
Cecilia chuckled softly.
"That's what you think."
"Later," Helen said, cutting off Nikola before he could ask the questions she could see bubbling on his tongue. "Timelines are not important right now."
Nikola rolled his eyes but, thankfully bit his tongue. The last thing they needed right now was to draw the attention of what few security staff were left.
"I still don't like this plan," Nic muttered. "We're too-"
"Exposed," Will finished.
"Why don't you all just keep a lid on it?" Kate hissed. "Since when was danger a new part of this job?"
"Thank you," Cecilia said smugly as she held up a hand, signalling for them all to stop. "Now, hunky Brit, come here. I need a leg up."
They were all silent for a long moment before eyes slid in Declan's direction. The poor man was bright red but Cecilia was unrelenting, gesturing for the man to hurry towards her.
Much to Helen's surprise, Declan looked to her in askance, apparently unsure if he should follow Cecilia's order.
"Oh hurry up," Cecilia grumbled. "She's not the boss of you."
"Technically, she is," Declan said softly, making a face that Helen couldn't decipher before doing as asked. Cecilia looked smug as Declan knelt, grabbing her legs as she jumped for an exposed pipe on the roof.
"You could have just asked for me to do that," Nikola said, shaking his head. Cecilia chuckled, not looking away from whatever it was she was fumbling with. Helen decided it better not to ask exactly what she was doing, worried about receiving a lecture when it was probably not the most appropriate time for such.
"Yeah," Cecilia breathed. "But you're not nearly as pretty and muscular as Mr. Macrae here."
Declan coughed and shifted uncomfortably, causing Cecilia to yelp softly.
"Hold still," she grumbled, glaring down at Declan.
"Sorry," he muttered, not meeting her eye and Helen felt sorry for the poor man. No one deserved to have the full force of her daughter turned upon them without at least a little prior warning.
Cecilia grumbled something under her breath before getting back to work, leaving the rest of them to try and quieten their breaths in the uneasy silence that followed. Helen turned away from where her daughter was working, scanning the corridor quickly before turning to scan another. She could hear no footsteps but history had taught her that didn't mean that no one was coming. Given that they were in a compound filled with abnormals, and angry abnormals at that, Helen knew that the silence was a bad omen rather than a good one.
"All right," Cecilia huffed. "I'm done, you can stop fretting, mother."
Helen turned back just in time to watch Declan set Cecilia on the ground before stepping back rather quickly. He cast another uncertain look in Helen's direction that she couldn't quite understand before melting back to stand behind Nikola who was giving her a saucy look that spoke of leaving quickly and undressing even more so. She tried her best to stem the shiver than ran through her system but, considering the way Nikola's grin only widened, she got the distinct feeling that she had failed.
"So where to now?" Henry asked softly, gripping his stunner with unsteady fingers.
"The main labs, I should think," Cecilia replied. "But give it a moment."
"Wh-" Will started only to be cut off by a shrill and piercing wail assaulting their ears.
"The enclosures have mysteriously opened," Cecilia yelled over the racket, grinning madly. Nikola laughed heartily, clapping her on the back and Cecilia looked rather proud. The others though, were still staring at her in disbelief.
Helen, on the other hand, was going more for anger than anything else.
"What on earth possessed you to do that?" she cried in alarm. "Cecilia, we aren't equipped to rescue all these abnormals at this point and nor are we equipped to deal with the rampage you've just unleased."
"There are only a handful left," she yelled back, frowning. "If you'd bothered to read the documents I brought with me the other day, you'd know we're only dealing a handful of very non-threatening Abnormals."
Helen was about to let loose some kind of retort about sharing information and using proper channels but Nikola stepped between them swiftly, giving her a meaningful look.
"Argue later," he commanded over the still shrill alarms. "We have to get to the control room quickly if this is going to work."
"Agreed," Nic put in, shifting nervously. "I don't like this one bit."
"Fine," Cecilia grumbled, her words almost drowned out.
"Stop!" a strange voice suddenly called out. "This is private property!"
The group, as a collective, made the decision almost instantaneously to run. They sprinted down the hall, the shouts of those pursuing them barely making it over the blaring alarms still ringing out.
"Next right," Nikola bellowed, leading the group as they continued to run. Together they rounded the corner coming to a dead stop when it became apparent Nikola had led them to a dead end. Helen turned, half tempted to rouse on Nikola for his bad instructions but, before she could even draw her gun in defence of the men skidding around the corner behind them, a massive metal door slid down between them, just barely missing one of the SCIU security guards who made it through to the other side.
His eyes were wide and he opened his mouth to speak just as the alarm cut out but, out of no where, Cecilia launched herself at him, her leather boot slamming against his chest with enough force to shove him back against the metal door, his head clunking against it before he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Nice work," Declan breathed, admiring not only the metal door but the unconscious body Cecilia stood beside. She toed it with her boot before looking up, grinning at them all.
"Nicer work from wonder-boy Tesla over here," she said, shrugging her head in Nikola's direction.
"And people said my working for SCIU was a bad idea," he teased in reply, looking over to Helen pointedly. Helen merely rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm fairly sure it was still a bad idea," Will muttered.
"More important things to worry about," Nic reminded them. "I don't think that this door will hold forever."
"And we have some abnormals on the loose to deal with too," Henry replied. "I think we need to start moving just a little bit."
"We should only be a few foot from the computers we need," Cecilia said, looking around with a frown. "Only, I think we need to head through... well, that wall."
"So, wonder-boy," Helen asked as she turned towards Nikola, crossing her arms, "what do we do now?"