As Richtofen, Booker, Elizabeth, Cole, Saya, Irisu, 47, Gordon, Madotsuki and Shu made it to the house, they just knew that Cortana's side weren't far away. Richtofen, in a rare decision, decided at the last moment that the rest of Primis would not join him on this particular adventure, not that any of them objected.

The house was as Richtofen had seen it, with a perimeter of blue energy that made it look like it belonged to a different world, as it may have done. The house itself looked dilapidated, but it didn't look totally crap, just a little on the old side.

"This is his base?" Cole raised an eyebrow. "I figured his standards would be a little higher than this." As they got closer, they could see that the house was quite big. Not massive, but there was more than enough room in there for everyone. "This house holds importance to him." Richtofen explained. "It's like a trophy which he presents to the world." The house he was based in was originally part of Agartha, Monty's perfect world. For the Shadowman to be displaying it like he was, it was comparable to how hunters showed off the animals they killed.

Entering the house, it was bigger again on the inside than it appeared on the outside. It wasn't that amazing though. Richtofen recognized a few of the things in there, like the perk-a-cola machines, the Pack-a-Punch machine, several chalk drawings and the mystery box. A similar collection of crap like what Marisa had at her house. Only difference here was that there was some organisation, things were put in places where there was space for them, rather than being piled up wherever in a jumbled mess.

"There's no one else here." Booker commented, looking around the house. "Though, that might change."

"I wouldn't give us too long before Cortana's Elite show up." Saya added. "I agree." Cole backed her up, a rarity since Saya's little secret got loose. "Scout this place as much as you can before the opportunity slips."

Their suspicions were correct, as approaching from the other side was Cortana's team. Banjo, Kazooie, Shepard, Conker, Sun Kin, Dovahkiin, Isaac, The Jack, Shovel, and The Gunstringer had made it to the house unchallenged, a common theme in their journeys to locations. Past experience also told them to expect a fight here too, and seeing that Vert's Elite were nowhere to be seen outside only meant they either weren't here yet or that they were already inside. Either way, it meant they had to keep up their guard as not to fall into a trap.

Moving around to the front door, Cortana's Elite could see that there was no one anywhere near the building. "Must be in there..." The Gunstringer muttered. "Keep on yer toes!" Dovahkiin then kicked down the door, allowing the Elite in. No one here. They must have been in the rooms.

"What do we do now? Split up or stick together?" Shovel asked. "I suggest we split up, try to cover more rooms." Isaac suggested. "The house is big alright, but it's not that big. If one of us gets into trouble then we can just shout for help." That much seemed to satisfy everyone, as they all went different ways.

The house wasn't a labyrinth or anything, but there were more than a few moments where the different members of the Elite would get lost due to the nonsensical way in which it was laid out, as if it wasn't designed by a human.

Richtofen knew this was the case, but not because the Shadowman had designed it, instead because Monty did. Too bad he didn't seem to care for the place. Currently Richtofen was in the attic space, tall enough to stand up in. It didn't look like there was much here, but at the same time, he could hear fights beginning to start below him. So Cortana's Elite were here after all, lovely.

It begged the question of which members were there though, and how exactly they would fare against Green Heart's team. Was Richtofen better to stay up in the attic to avoid capture? Or maybe he needed to man up, go down there and kick some serious ass.

Shit. Richtofen could hear the attic door opening behind him. He spun around just as Isaac Clarke was able to get up and point his Plasma Cutter in Richtofen's face.

"I don't suggest moving or making any noise right now." The Engineer threatened. "Could end badly for you."

"The threat is mutual." Richtofen responded. Isaac looked down to see Richtofen's Mark II Ray Gun pointed at his balls. Isaac stepped back, but he kept the Plasma Cutter trained on Richtofen at all times. Isaac was impressed by how quickly Richtofen managed to pull out his own gun with no one noticing, and remain so silent.

"Well, why don't we get the formalities out of the way?" Richtofen suggested. "Sounds good." Isaac agreed, as both fighters formed an 'X', which took them both away to settle the score.

The room Shepard had entered was like a child's bedroom, littered with toys that looked like they had been played with recently enough. She picked up a few of them to inspect, finding nothing out of the ordinary about the little figurines, they were just toys.

"I'm not sure what you expected to find here, this place is just another shithole to me." Shepard remarked. It was at that point Gordon knew the person he was dealing with was serious. He hadn't given off any indications that he was going to attack her, but then again, maybe it was just the fact that she hadn't seen Gordon before, therefore assuming he was the enemy. The assumption was correct obviously, but still, Gordon was impressed by her confidence.

He still said nothing though, as per usual. Shepard then held out a strange looking alien blade, extending her arm to Gordon, but not to attack. "Well? You wanted a fight, so time to put your money where your mouth is."

That threat didn't really work because Gordon hadn't said anything, but he was looking to fight. So with that in mind, he formed an 'X' with Shepard, using his crowbar, starting the fight just like that.

Gordon was cautious in his approach, as was Shepard. Both were smart enough to realize that the other was looking for the first move, and that was what prompted Shepard to make the first move.

She fired her Acolyte at Gordon, who had no response in time. He was hit well, and knocked to the ground. Getting up, he noticed that Shepard was nowhere to be seen. Gordon was on edge though, knowing there was no reason for her to suddenly vanish like that.

He needed a weapon that was quick to respond, so he took out a .357 Magnum for use. He was keeping a close eye on the area in front of him, but not behind him, and that proved to be his undoing. Shepard reappeared behind him and stabbed him with her Omniblade through the gut, seriously wounding the scientist. He used his elbow to force her away before turning and firing his Magnum, getting a good hit of his own. Shepard staggered backwards as Gordon continued to fire, going through all six shots before he knew he would have to reload. That had built up his special move meter already, but he knew now that Shepard was going to pounce when he ran out. Right he was, as Shepard ducked underneath the revolver as Gordon threw it, slashing with her Omniblade. Gordon had his trusty crowbar on hand though, quickly countering the Omniblade's first swing, but Shepard's second was more difficult to deal with. He couldn't get his guard up in time to stop himself being stabbed, which letting Shepard take full advantage to reach her Level one, before a few more slashes built the gauge up even more.

He backed up, but as it turned out, Shepard was anticipating just that, taking out her Valiant sniper rifle and shot him again, only doing herself more favours. Gordon was quick to respond though, taking out the gravity gun and using it to steal the Valiant from Shepard's arms, then reversing the gravity field and letting the gun fly towards Shepard and striking her in the head, catching her completely by surprise. Next Gordon took out an MP7 and unloaded as many bullets as he could into Shepard, making her fall backwards. She was quick to reactivate her invisibility cloak though, letting Gordon know what happened the first time she disappeared, though that didn't make things much easier for Gordon. He still had to figure out where she was, and before she could get a hit in too.

He did have a plan though. Since the space was enclosed, there was only a limited amount of space for her to move in. Gordon quickly reloaded the MP7 and started firing one bullet at a time, quickly changing his aim from one side to the other and back again, being sure to move around the room too. He could hear movement after every shot, especially to his right. He then picked his spot and fired, hitting Shepard to knock her out of her cover. Now!

Gordon unleashed another hail of bullets, while Shepard could only get out the occasional shot. It didn't matter that he was getting hit, because he had just reached his third special move.

He activated it, taking out his Pulse Rifle and aiming at Shepard. It got to the stage where even Shepard knew despite her efforts to fight on that nothing she could do was going to be enough to fight off the upcoming blast.

When Gordon fired it, the outcome was assured. Shepard couldn't tank the hit, vollapsing in a heap without even needing a fatality. Gordon still had nothing to say, holding his silence.

As soon as they were returned to the house, Gordon knew he had to do something with Shepard before someone walked in. He knew he was lucky to win, but the only word that mattered there was 'win'. He had just made a huge capture. Getting Shepard out of the way was massive.

Elsewhere, Banjo and Kazooie were the second to fall, with Booker and Elizabeth coming out on top in that bout. "A bear and a bird, huh?" Booker still had a hard time believing some of the shit he was seeing. "Apparently they have a huge fanbase. Bigger than ours." Elizabeth commented.

"I sure hope not."

Death's Hand took care of Agent 47 just like that. Not exactly the hardest fight he'd ever been involved in, but 47 managed to hold his own for a while before losing. He didn't know it was the first victory Cortana's side had in the strange house, but he also didn't want to bite off more than he could chew. Placing faith in his teammates, he ran around to the back of the house with 47, waiting for the rest of the Elite to come back out.

Inside the house though, things weren't going to that plan. Saya had just completely overwhelmed Conker with more force than the squirrel could have ever anticipated. That was obvious from the look on his face, not that anyone cared much. Saya was no longer proud of what she did, instead feeling more anger inside her for having to resort to...that. But still, she had hope that she could be useful, and if that meant beating the crap out of the enemy with her hideous, ugly monster form then so be it.

Upstairs, Richtofen finished off Isaac Clarke with ease. The engineer put up a good fight, but against Richtofen's arsenal it was only a matter of time before his lack of fighting experience became his downfall. Richtofen planned to take Isaac with him, though looking a

Wait...Richtofen looked again. Was that...? It was. The Shadowman. He stood there menacingly at the other end of the attic, not saying a word or doing anything that might have alerted anyone to his presence. He just stood there. Richtofen looked around, making sure no one was sneaking up on him, before he looked back. As it turned out, Richtofen had spent just a second too long looking around, as when he looked back, the Shadowman was gone.

Richtofen couldn't just leave it at that though, he had to try and look for the Shadowman while he was here. At the same time though, did he really want to take that risk when the whole house was filled with people who wanted his hide? Richtofen thought about it for a second, pacing around the room.

Wait a second. Most of the boxes were covered in cobwebs, because they hadn't been touched in years. But there was one box that really stood out. Not only did it not have cobwebs, it stood out for how clean it looked. It was a shiny wooden box, obviously meant to blend in with the other wooden boxes. But if it looked that clean, then it was obvious that the box had only been put there recently.

What was inside it? Only one way to find out. Richtofen couldn't open the lock on the front, and so he resorted to stabbing through the roof until the box was weak enough to break apart.

There were pieces of wood everywhere by the time Richtofen was done smashing up the box, but there were still a few pieces covering whatever was inside. Swiping those pieces away, his heart skipped a beat.

No way.

That...that couldn't be. Richtofen took the device out. The Vrill Device was infused with the Focusing Stone, exactly as it was meant to be. To Richtofen, it was like winning the lottery. He then quickly put it back in the box and then looked around. What if the Shadowman saw him? He looked around again, happy to know that he hadn't been seen.

But wait, there was an idea. He would have to be quick, but he could slip the Vrill Device into an old looking box and make it seem like he was carrying out some random old crap...yes, that was a good idea indeed. Time to put it into action.

On the main level, things kept getting worse for Cortana's side. Kaim just couldn't keep up with Shu, no matter what he did, he and Blue Dragon just seemed that much faster every time. Eventually the swordsman was beaten, with Blue Dragon picking up Kaim and the duo awaiting the call to leave the house.

The whole reason for them being there, the man himself, Cole Phelps wandered into a small room which looked like it was used as a storage, strange considering how there was already an attic, but fair enough, he was content with the knowledge that he was away from the fighting going on across other rooms being enough to keep him content.

That was, until Cole heard someone placing their foot down and taking out two revolvers. "Did ya think you'd get away with hidin' out here the whole time?" The Gunstringer asked. Cole was more relieved than dreading it, knowing that he needed to find someone who could beat him in a one on one fight. It was the Gunstringer, as Cole noticed. It looked like someone who would be on his level when they were both trying.

"Well, you got me." Cole raised his hands in surrender. "What the hell?" The Gunstringer demanded. "Were you born yesterday?! Fight me ya damn fool!" Cole cursed his luck, being drawn against one of the few people who was actually looking for a fight rather than to just capture him.

Still, if he showed reluctance to fight, then the Gunstringer would surely smell something off. He was no fool.

"Fair enough." Cole fixed his hat. "It's your funeral!" As Cole took out his handgun, the Gunstringer formed the first half of the 'X' needed to start a battle. Cole soon completed it, and so both men were taken into the fight.

The Gunstringer immediately started firing, giving Cole no time to react whatsoever. Cole couldn't even guard himself if he wanted, which suited him. Cole pulled out his handgun and began firing, though his shots were all misses, but they came close enough to look convincing. The Gunstringer suspected nothing, except for the fact that Cole was trying to capture him. Right now he was trying to close the gap between him and Cole, rolling under shots and delivering a kick to the gut which forced Cole to his knees. Had he really hit Cole that hard?

Cole tried pulling out his gun again, though he was far too slow for the Gunstringer who had already fired twice. The Gunstringer didn't feel the need to use his fatality, simply shooting Cole once more and watching as he fell to the ground in a heap.

It felt surreal, though to be honest, the Gunstringer wasn't totally surprised. It was typical of know-it-alls like Cole Phelps to be completely inept when it came to defending themselves one on one, and unfortunately that was the case this time too like so many other times. The Gunstringer couldn't see Richtofen looking through a gap in the ceiling though, now with the knowledge that they had achieved what they set out to.

Saya dragged Conker outside with her, before she heard "I HAVE IT, I HAVE IT, LET'S GO!" from Richtofen. They all knew what that meant, and like bats out of hell, Vert's Elite tore away from the mansion, carrying those they defeated with them. Cortana's Elite attempted to give chase, but gave up quickly afterwards as they saw no point to it.

"Damn it!" Dovahkiin punched the side of the house. "They were clinical alright." Death's Hand remarked. "Whatever they came here to do, I cannot say, but they certainly did it with conviction." The Jack rolled his eyes. "I can't believe we spent all that bullshit time dancing around the basement with those imbeciles."

"Just be thankful that you were not caught, as many of us were." Shovel reminded him. "Good point." The Jack conceded. "Still, at least we made two captures." The Gunstringer reminded both of them, trying to lift the mood somewhat. "That's better than nothin', right?"

It was, but one side was clearly happier than the other.

Richtofen clutched the Vrill Device and Focusing Stone fusion, knowing how important it was that he had saved this for himself. It made his job of defeating the Shadowman just marginally easier, no matter what happened next. No one else seemed in the slightest to be happy about it though, probably because they didn't know what it was, and didn't feel like asking. No matter. Richtofen wasn't dying to give a speech about it either. When the time came, he would be more than happy to demonstrate its powers.

"That went pretty well." Booker remarked. "Pity we lost 47, but other than that I can't think of any downsides, with our six captures and all." He looked around, counting Isaac, Shepard, Kaim, Conker and the duo of Banjo and Kazooie.

"Cole was captured too, so it shouldn't be long before we know where Cortana is based." Saya added. Booker nodded. "That's what we set out for in the first place. Just to make sure he got taken. Mission accomplished."

Now, it wasn't a matter of 'if' Cortana's base was found, but now instead a matter of 'when'. Green Heart said she was going to have a 24 hour buffer period to make sure Cortana wasn't giving them a fake location, which gave Cole some time to kill, although it wasn't like he had anything to fill that time with.

Cole eventually woke up in his cell, rubbing the back of his head. Where was he? He looked around for his hat for a few seconds, relieved to find it was on his lap. Once that was done, he looked around again. He couldn't see into the other cells, and there was nothing in his cell but a bed. So how was he going to entertain himself while waiting for Green Heart? Ah well. It didn't matter, as Cole knew his plan had worked.

Cortana's days were now, with utmost certainty, numbered.

Author's Note

Cole's finally in the base, but does anyone see through his plans once he's in there?

I know the fights were short in this chapter, but I was just eager to get this chapter out of the way. There'll be more fighting later on without a doubt, as well as some other stuff I'm excited to get to.