"24. Nbj 1942" had been the first line of the coded page Tanis read in Hildebrant Wesker's journal. Clearly the line was a date, the twenty-fourth of an undetermined month in the year 1942. It had been the line Tanis had gone out of her way to memorize. Cracking the month was the first step and would be telling of at least two common and one uncommon lettering in the coding alphabet. The first question that wracked her brain was whether or not the month was abbreviated without punctuation or if it was in fact a three-letter word. If it were the latter n stood for m, b stood for a and j stood for I, it would spell out Mai. If that were true than Hildebrant Wesker had used a Caesar Cipher. But was it so simple?

Tanis continued weaving the dark red wiretap through the mess of cords that met in a row of sockets beneath the security console's central keyboard. She lay on her back as she multitasked between locating the console's video output connection and obsessing over the coded journal.

"I believe Miss Wong Will be assisting us in locating a mermaid."

Based upon what little time she had to skim the pages, she assumed the letters were shifted alphabetically. If she was correct about the month, then that would mean the letters were only shifted alphabetically by one...but was that too simple? Or she could be altogether wrong, and the month was an abbreviation of Okt and the alphabetical shift was a lot more than one letter. Tanis could fathom a doctor in a concentration camp having little concern over their property being violated but couldn't help questioning the need for coding his entries. The fact that Hildebrant coded his entries was telling. Of what Tanis wouldn't know unless she broke the journal. Tanis blinked in response to a speck of dust falling into her eye and stopped was she was doing to wipe her face on her sleeve. Pain tore across the bridge of her nose in protest. She grit her teeth and looked up at the cords in her hand. She'd found the connection she was looking for and was a single gesture away from connecting the wiretap when she stopped short. What did Albert say just now?

"For the record, I won't be meeting with anyone," Ada called from across the room.

Tanis rolled her eyes before she finished her wiretapping and slid out from beneath the console. She regretted how quickly she stood when the room tilted, and a powerful wave of nausea made the corners of her vision prickle. She grabbed her backpack from its place against the console and peeled open its zipper. Her eyes lingering on Hildebrant's journal as she grabbed the repossessed Broom HC from its place against the leather bound journal. When she stood upright again, she spotted Ada standing with a book open in her gloved hands, smirking back at her.

"Go ahead," Ada shrugged her slender shoulder, "pull the trigger. But you won't be able to meet with Minette if I'm injured or dead, will you?"

At first Tanis didn't understand Ada's threat. She realized a moment later she'd lifted the Broom HC in her right hand in an unrelated attempt to clutch at her aching head.

"There will be no trigger-pulling, Miss Wong," Albert said from behind Tanis. "You may feel free to mention anyone else you like, but the simple math remains that regardless whom you name drop. Right now, it's still only your one versus our two. Best to just continue cooperating."

"Before that you'll make our job easier." Tanis frowned as she still tried to piece together Albert's long-winded attempt to…what was it he'd said to Ada? Her short-term memory was failing her, but she didn't consider the symptom a serious problem. "I'm assuming you entered the building from underground since we had to smash a window to get in. There are too many locked doors and light coming behind the painting in the foyer."

Rather than answer, Ada snapped the book in her hands closed and replaced it on the shelf.

"Indeed. Miss Muller makes a good point," Albert agreed, coming to stand by the front desk of the library, "So much so that I'd say it make you the perfect forced guide for our little group."

Tanis looked at the triumphant, if not caddy, little smirk that stretched on Albert's face for a moment. She envied the mirth the man displayed, considering she hadn't found it in her to table her earlier concern regarding the other woman still drawing breath.

"Shall we?" Albert asked as soon as Ada turned fully to face them.

"Not sure I should bother; she's swaying a little." Ada slipped her hands into the pockets of her trench coat.

"If you're lucky, I'll topple." Tanis said, staring the younger woman down with a slight wiggle of her gun. It didn't bother her Ada met the verbal threat with a snide smirk of her own. It bothered her Albert was so lenient with the situation. If it weren't for her concussed brain, she wouldn't be questioning if she misremembered Ada's lack of reaction towards Albert's use of Minette's codename.

"If she topples, I, the man with the gun, will have you carry her. So, no need to linger around."

Ada held Albert's eyes for a moment, her snide expression shrinking a fraction before she moved to cross the library. As she passed Tanis, she glanced at the Broom HC in her and said, "Let's hope I'm lucky."

Tanis switched the pistol in her hand and watched Albert open the door for Ada to step out first. She glanced at the locked door on the other wall, noticing the painting hanging by its side for the first time. The painting was of an old man in a faded green robe holding a lantern. The lantern, Tanis realized closely resembled the large brass lantern hanging by the locked door. She wouldn't get used to the décor of these places any time soon.

"Let's stay together," Albert called from the door.

Tanis blinked, realizing she'd spaced out and approached the doors leading back to the hallway.

"Once done here," Albert whispered into her ear as soon as she stepped towards the doorway, "I'll have her placed close to track further."

Of that, she had little remaining doubt. Tanis met his gaze and nodded dutifully before exiting the library. She kept a watchful eye on Ada as Albert exited and closed the door behind them. She tabled her curiosity for the time being regarding what Albert planned to do about the woman and instead wondered about something else entirely. She hadn't considered the possibility of Albert hiring someone other than herself. The possibility would explain Albert's aversion to silencing the spy. He wasn't wanting her to discover a second employ if it offered unnecessary complications. The idea that Albert had an arrangement similar to hers with Alec was disturbing. The bridge of her nose jolted with pain is if disagreeing with the speculation and she winced.

"Lead the way, Miss Wong."

Ada obliged, but hardly stayed silent. "She'll find out about this one way or the other you know."

"Do I know? I have not reached that conclusion just yet."

Tanis glanced between the two, though she kept an ear for their surroundings. It seemed they were heading back to the foyer, to which Tanis assumed Ada's entry point possibly pointed to the opposite wing. She'd been upstairs when Tanis had received her untimely whack to the face, but if that were true, where had she been heading?

"What happens when her irrational fondness for you gives out, I wonder."

"What?" Tanis asked before she could stop herself. She pretended not to notice Ada's smirk stretching as she looked at Albert. Irrational fondness?

Albert didn't entertain her with a response.

Tanis thought back to the emails she'd hacked from Alexandrine's computer, remembering the DNA tests she'd received. Was Albert actually the subject of one of those tests?

"For your sake I hope—"

"Where are we heading, Ada?" Tanis interrupted before Ada could continue. Her eyes went to the door to the foyer at the end of the hall.

"Underground," Ada said innocently, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we'll be done here." In one swift motion, Albert took a single step quicker and wrapped his hand around Ada's forearm, forcing her to slow. "Since you're suddenly so eager."

Tanis walked past them and opened the door to the foyer, allowing them to pass first before stepping out herself.

"I'll need both hands to—"

Tanis closed the door and paused, waiting to hear Ada finish her sentence. The fact that Albert remained equally silent made her turn her head. Tanis opened her mouth to ask what was happening but stopped when she realized they were both staring at something. She tilted her head and stepped around Albert to see what it was they were staring at. As soon as she did, she saw it.

Someone was slumped against the pillar closest to the grand staircase across from them.

It took a mere second for Tanis to recognize the bloodied exterior similar to that of the vagrant Tanis shot earlier. The second following, she assessed the person was someone new. Rather than a deeply stained suit, the unconscious figure seated across the foyer from them wore a pair of deeply stained jeans and a dark colored polo shirt. Without a word, Tanis stepped around Albert and Ada to make her approach. For the moment, she had to assume this man had to do with the other she'd shot down. She scanned the floor around him, looking for a blood trail that would indicate where he came from. When she found none, she focused instead on the deep lacerations that covered his arms, the holes in his pants that exposed skin and the dust littering his boots. She guessed the man was in his mid to late forties based upon his physique and his full head of matted blonde hair.

"Sir," Tanis called, lowering the Broom HC in her hand. No mistake this time. They needed answers and clearly it was no coincidence this stranger appeared right after the other. Tanis looked him over as she came to stand in front of him. Another victim? Or was this their captor? He wasn't as hurt as the man lying in the classroom upstairs...but where did he come from?

"Tanis," Albert sharply called from across the room. "There's something odd about all of this."

Tanis knelt in front of the man and reached for his neck. She didn't disagree, but corpses didn't just place themselves in rooms, especially not one they'd already been through before. The man's skin was cold to the touch, but she wanted to blame the chill of the autumn night for that. She ignored the crawling of her own skin as felt the man's flesh squish against her fingertips. Almost like...Tanis pushed the thought from her mind. They hadn't left this room for very long. Tanis preferred to believe the possibility that this man came out here on his own, sat down and fainted…because the alternative meant he was placed here. Tanis bit at the corner of her lip and retracted her fingers.

No pulse. No trail of blood or drag marks on the floor either. The deep stains to his clothing were brown and the flecks of dried blood peeled from his face upon her touch.

Tanis took a breath and immediately regretted it. She lifted an arm over her nose and balanced herself on the balls of her feet. He smelled foul. The air around him was peppered with rot, the lingering stench of copper and something sickly sweet lingered in her nostrils. The latter of the smells was what interested Tanis the most. It was the same stench coming from behind the grand staircase in Spencer's manor. Her eyes watered as she forced herself to inhale. Even if she couldn't identify it, memorization was vital. Up close, it smelled like...almonds?

"—don't trust it."

Tanis jumped at the sudden sound of Albert's voice. She blamed her concussion for the ear ringing that fallowed.

"I'd rather you…play it safe for once."

'Play it safe?' Tanis frowned at Albert's choice of words and looked back at him. He'd come closer to her than she'd based upon the echo of his approaching footsteps. What surprised her more was his grabbing her by the arm hard enough to pull her to her feet. As soon as she stumbled a step back, she heard a hiss. She wanted to believe she hallucinated the noise, but what moved in the corner of her eye convinced her she hadn't. The man against the pillar now lay face down on the ground with his arms stretched out towards her.

Wide-eyed, Tanis stared at the man dragging himself towards them. She tried speaking, but her head throbbed in response to her trying to make sense of what she was seeing. That was impossible. He had no pulse. Was her head injury so bad she'd missed it? A long, labored moan sounded from the man's parted, swollen lips and he craned his head to look up at her. He stared at her with eyes as white as milk pressed between pairs of swollen, purple eyelids.

"Get back," Albert commanded, pulling her back a step.

Tanis didn't resist as she numbly lumbered back a step. Had the man hissed at her just now? He'd lunged…and hissed at her. She stared deep into his unseeing eyes. He was crazed. Blind and crazed. How were they going to extract—

The boom of Tanis' revolver bounced about in the interior of her skull. Pressing her palm and the Broom HC against her ears as soon as the bullet flew did little to minimize the agony assaulting her eardrums. She'd managed to keep an eye cracked open as she flinched. She watched the crazed, blind man's forehead thunk hard against the marble floor. While still processing that Albert had opened fire on the defenseless man, he emptied another bullet into his skull, as if for good measure.

"What the fuck?" Tanis demanded, though in an afterthought she couldn't tell if the words she spoke sounded intelligible or not over the ringing of her eardrums.

Whatever Albert said to her, Tanis couldn't hear. She fought the eager urge to curl her index finger around the trigger of the Broom HC in her hand as she tried deciphering what Albert had told her.

Before she could ask, Albert sharply turned his back to her and fired her gun a second time. Tanis backed several steps, clapping her free hand over her left ear and the Broom HC against her right and braced for the sound. She had the benefit of her already abused eardrums to thank for the muffled boom that sounded from the barrel of her pistol.

Dust and shards of marble burst from one of the banisters of the grand staircase and rained down on a retreating Ada who almost stumbled off its first step.

"—humored you enough, Wong. Last warning, don't cross me again." Albert barked raising his aim level with Ada's head.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Ada's hands were by her head in an instant her eyes wide, though they were lowered towards the ground.

"He couldn't defend himself!" Tanis snapped. She knew she should have kept quiet; she knew taking a step towards Albert with a gun in hand was a bad idea. Except her head hurt and the aching in her skull equated to suppressing her own reasoning like an embarrassing memory.

"What do you mean?" Albert tilted his head at her, "Didn't you hear him?"

Hear him? Tanis couldn't tell through Albert's shades if there was a look of arrogance of innocence hiding behind her pair of reflections.

"Whatever he was on had him ready to kill. It was you or him and that decision was easy in my book."

Albert was gaslighting her. He had to be. The man had clearly been blind. He could have...stumbled out blindly and fallen over. Tanis hated that she swayed, especially when Albert's hand caught her forearm to steady her. She hadn't felt a pulse…she was sure she hadn't. He spoke? That was impossible…or to her perception it had been. He hissed but...No. She was sure—

"Now focus on me, and the task at hand."

Tanis met Albert's gaze, staring at the dazed look in her own eyes in the reflection of his shades. When was the last time she'd looked so haggard? She hadn't been hit that hard, had she? The blood from her nostrils had stained little trails down to her chin, parted by her habit of licking her lips. Her hair was disheveled with strands of her loose, swooping curls matted to a thin layer of sweat that coated her forehead. Had she been sweating this whole time? She hadn't failed to acknowledge the possible concussion Ada gave her would result in her delayed senses. Even so, the cold sweat that plastered her sweater to her skin had gone unnoticed. She was reeling from the bludgeoning she'd received but…how long ago had that been again? The sight of the swollen and enflamed gash on the bridge of her nose made her vision speckle. Realization settled at the forefront of Tanis' mind like an itch she couldn't scratch. How could she gaslight herself so easily? Of course, Albert wasn't lying, corpses didn't just spring up at people.

Albert stepped away first, hesitating briefly to release Tanis' arm before returning his attention to Ada. Ada stood watching him, arms folded across her chest with an air of impatience…and perhaps anxiety after having been shot at. Tanis blinked a few times and looked back to the filthy man on the ground. She bit hard at the corner of her lip, wrestling with her own brain to try to recall her exact interaction with him.

"Shall we?" Albert asked.

There was nothing for it. Tanis accepted the fact with a huff that stung her nose.

"Following you." As soon as Tanis responded, she realized Ada's visible confusion indicated Albert had been talking to the other spy. She flexed her hand around the grip of the Broom HC as she watched Albert usher Ada to the top of the stairs at gunpoint. They moved to the statue of the woman holding a pair of golden scales, tilted by the weight of a little black winged statue in its right scale. Ada knelt, vanishing behind the banister briefly before she placed something in the other dish. The scale tilted and something clicked. Tanis climbed the steps to the platform, curious to see what Ada had seemingly placed to balance the scale. As soon as Tanis' boot came down on the middle platform of the grand staircase she froze. The painting of Doctor Marcus sank into the floor, revealing another set of stairs and her earlier suspicions correct.

Tanis tried to hide the surprise on her face as Albert returned with the younger spy. Albert was expressionless, and Tanis assumed he was saving face for pretending earlier the painting was nothing more than a display. Neither of them said a word as Ada took to the steps first, followed by Albert. Tanis flexed her hand around the pistol again and followed. She focused entirely on not swaying on the thin, concrete steps that led to the lower floor. The task was made harder by the sickly-sweet stench that invaded her nostrils. He anxiety tripled when the image of the blind man's eyes repeatedly invaded her mind's eye.

*DF*

The foot of the stairs they'd been forced to make their way down single file ended at a long stretch of a single concrete hallway. The hallway stretched far ahead of them and bent left across from a single door on the right wall. Tanis spotted a plaque next to a door at the far end of the right wall. The stench was everywhere in the room, palpable enough to make Tanis' tongue itch. She didn't see Albert or Ada reacting to it and questioned if her concussion was to blame. The incessant itch of her tongue resulted in Tanis scraping it against the inside of her teeth, the sensation maddening. Her eyes went to a pipe that lined the bottom corner of the wall to their left that wrapped around the corner ahead. Above their heads, florescent bulbs hung from rows of metal grates. Along the right wall, electrical cords stretched from the iron grating above their heads and dangled from mounted racks. The simple hallway looked otherworldly compared to the opulence upstairs.

"What did he say to me?" Tanis asked, desperate to distract herself from the itch that invaded her entire mouth. Dear God, where was that sickly sweet stench coming from? Was it just polluting the air?

"It was…unintelligible."

Tanis tried smothering her rising suspicion. She wasn't thinking clearly. Her anxiety was nothing more than a side effect of her earlier bludgeoning. Albert didn't answer right away. Tanis reasoned it was because he didn't know what she was referring to at first. He kept his voice as low as hers, though Tanis suspected Ada could hear them anyway.

"His eyes were glazed over, clearly violent from whatever drugs were pumped into his system. I preferred not waiting for him to take out his distress on you."

"I guess that makes us even." Tanis's gaze moved to Ada's back when she noticed the woman slowing to a stop by the door. Her eyes narrowed as she looked to the plaque hanging by the door. "MONITOR ROOM" was stamped across the plaque. Her eyes darted back to Ada who stood with an ear tilted towards them. Why did she stop?

"Yes, I believe so. I'll be keeping score for the future, too." Albert walked past her and straight to the door to the monitor room. He reached for the handle of the door and stopped, looking at its barred window. Tanis stepped a little closer and spotted what had stopped Ada and Albert in their tracks. Albert didn't hesitate to free the folded piece of paper dangling from one of the bars, fastened by a piece of string and a bent paperclip.

"Examining surveillance of an abandoned facility. Interesting move." Ada commented as Albert skimmed whatever was written on the paper.

"Your approval fuels me, Miss Wong." Albert opened the door with his free hand and stood back for Ada to enter first.

Tanis followed, glancing down the adjoining hall and spotting a round wooden door at the end. No way to talk her way in that direction. She entered the monitor room after Ada, taking in the mess of the L shaped room in front of them. She first noticed the console anchored to the wall right of the door. The thick layers of dust that coated the three rows of six screens suggested the worst. A foldable table stood across from the console, littered with various tools and an open midnight blue toolbox. Across from where she stood, a reinforced iron door with a barred window and a large handle. Pitch blackness hung like a curtain beyond the barred window. To the right of the door the room stretched farther back. The corner was occupied entirely by knocked over shelves and discarded equipment that ranged from ham radios and projectors whose lenses were cracked or coated with dust. To the left of the door stood, a metal cot with thoroughly brown-stained sheets crumpled upon a deflated mattress. A pile of dated pin-up magazines stuck out from beneath the bed alongside wires, more discarded electrical cords and a pair of thoroughly rusted lockers. Tanis' eyes were glued to the bed. The room tilted in response to the barrage of thoughts that raced chaotically through her concussed brain. Old blood. Why was this bed stained with old blood? Tanis' mind immediately went to the two bodies upstairs. Neither of them could've come from here. Anxiety was making her brain desperate to put together explanations regardless of whether or not they fit.

"I would describe our endeavor more as canvasing an apparently abandoned facility. Quite different."

Tanis blinked when the folded piece of paper Albert took from the door came towards her face. She took the paper without thinking and watched Albert cross the room to lean against the reinforced door. Or block it, perhaps?

Ada leaned her hips against the foldable table and tossed a knowing smirk Albert's way.

"And what ever will I report to my employer when I don't carry out my orders in Leclaire's hotel room?"

Tanis tore her eyes away from them and pretended to read the note now in her hands. She read the first line over and over until her inevitable curiosity latched onto the words her eyes repeatedly skimmed.

White Knight,

The security department head questioned the Mermaid again. She played it off, thank God, but Spencer's daughter isn't done with us. The Asian vixen's definitely hers. Sent a box of chocolates, awaiting this week's story.

Ascension through Petals Red Inflamed,

Consumption's Oracular reward.

The Alchemist

"My dear Miss Wong," Albert mused, "your orders were to come here and search for a journal. You came and did that. I submit you followed your orders." He tapped the grip of Tanis' pistol twice against the metal door he leaned against. "I'll be sure there is a firm understanding regarding my property."

'Ascension through petals red inflamed, consumption's oracular reward.' Tanis repeated the coded phrase in her head again and again as she crossed the room to inspect the security console against the wall. She drew a line in the dust that coated its surface, unsurprised when her attempts to power the archaic equipment failed. They were planning another meeting, which meant Hideki's arrest hadn't reached them by the time this note was posted. They also knew who Ada was...which Tanis was eager to understand how they'd come to know such information. She thought back to the elevator ride with both Ada and Frederic. She thought little of it at the time, other than the fact that Ada and Frederic disembarked on the same floor. She had to assume crossing paths with Aprico's ringleader wasn't a meeting he'd forgotten, especially following Hideki's employ. Tanis refocused on the unresponsive console. They'd certainly found somewhere Aprico came by but the equipment in this room wasn't suitable for use. Was any? Aside from the concerning sight of a filthy bed and two corpses she and Albert were equally responsible for...what were they doing here when they met? Experimenting on the pair of poor bastards they'd killed? Still she didn't know where they came from, but a return trip to set up bugs would be required anyway. The thought of having to return those corpses from whence they came was...disturbing but if they were Aprico's victims, their absence wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Lock me up in there and you'll—"

"Why did Alex send you after this?" Tanis interrupted Ada before she and Albert could get into another argument. She glanced between the two as they regarded her, but she locked eyes with Ada's. It took a moment for the younger spy to understand with the help of a gesture on Tanis gesturing to her backpack to indicate the journal. Aprico knew about Alexandrine and her spy. The two were at odds. Alex possibly discovered the existence of their group...and wanted Ada to destroy Hildebrant Wesker's journal. Not to monitor or involve security. Did that mean there was something related to William's work in its coded pages?

"Who can say? Maybe she's as disgusted by Nazi sympathy as the rest of us," Ada answered nonchalantly.

Without a word, Tanis tossed the Broom HC onto the filthy bed across the room and crumpled the note in her fist. Tossing the gun made both Ada and Albert flinch; clearly neither noticed she'd turned on its safety. Tanis shoved the crumpled note in her pocket and snatched one of the many discarded electrical cords lying about the ground. Aprico was going to be meeting soon. They would definitely be meeting in the Training Center, but the only way to know exactly where would be to get ahold of Frederick's email. Hideki would receive one, and Tanis would have to explain how she got a hold of it.

"Turn around, put your arms behind your back." Tanis said, unravelling the dust-littered chord between her hands. Albert mentioned earlier he had somewhere he'd be keeping Ada. Now was the time to use it. Tanis' brain was a buzz with activity. They'd have to find out exactly how much Ada knew, but they would need her to meet with Minette first. Before any of that could happen, they'd need to know the meeting place, bug their location of choice and deal with the bodies. Tanis wondered if Albert would bother with an autopsy for her sake or not. Regardless, she assumed Albert had been waiting for her to come to the same conclusion about Frederic setting the meeting and possibly what Ada knew. His opinion regarding the journal Tanis had yet to guess, but immediately thought of the miniature camera in her suitcase. She could be fast enough if Ada provided enough of a distraction.

Ada's eyes flickered between her and her hands, looking almost offended by the request.

"Excuse me?"

Ada backed when Tanis took a step towards her. Albert was behind her in an instant; Tanis' revolver probably touching her back was the cause of the younger spy stiffening.

"I would highly advise complying. We have you to thank for her current unstable behavior."

Ada scoffed in irritation as she raised her hands in surrender instead.

The brief flicker of confusion on Albert's face wasn't lost to Tanis as she bound Ada's wrists.

"We'll need to take care of the bodies," Tanis said, "Figure out where they came from."

"Yes, yes, we will," Albert said, brushing her off casually. He retrieved the Broom HC from the bed and tilted the weapon with a flick of his wrist. "I plan to take that initiative on that question."