Chapter Six: Predator
"Who're you?" the confused airship pilot asked when he saw Phoenix, equipped with his vigilante gear, board the ship.
"Don't you know who I- you know what, not important. What is important is there's a hostage situation at the SDC facility at the corner of Lake and 16th. Get me there now!" Phoenix demanded.
"I'm not sure I should-" the pilot tried to reply.
"I said now!" Phoenix ordered, losing his patience.
"Okay!" the pilot yelped, starting the engine.
"I never thought I'd say this, but can this thing go any faster?" Phoenix asked the pilot, clinging for dear life to the co-pilot's seat.
"Doesn't matter. We're here," the pilot answered, "but there's nowhere to land. I could always clear away a few buildings to make room, but-." Before he could finish his sentence, Phoenix had jumped out the window and landed on the roof of the warehouse.
When he landed, he looked the scene outside the warehouse. He quickly found who he was looking for and tapped into their personal radio. "Grant, I have a plan," he said once Detective Grant, a crime specialist huntsman who chose to work more more like a standard police officer than a trained huntsman, picked up.
"What do you want? I've already told you that was a one time thing," Grant stated, trying to keep his voice down so the other officers didn't hear who he was talking to.
"I've got a plan, but I can't put it into action if I've got to worry about you and your friends kicking down the door. I need you to make sure that doesn't happen," Phoenix explained, not bringing up the fact that all of the times they'd worked together had been a "one time thing". "How someone can work with me as often as he does yet still be in charge of the task force in charge of hunting me is beyond me," he thought during the silence that followed his response.
Grant broke this silence when he grudgingly responded, "Fine, but if a single hair on the head of any of those hostages is harmed-"
"You'll hold me personally responsible? Wouldn't have it any other way," Phoenix finished. "Now, my plan is…"
"But what's the signal?" the Grant asked after Phoenix had explained his plan.
"Trust me, you'll know it when you see it," he replied grinning under his mask. With that, he entered the building, using the air ducts to remain undetected. When he found the area where the hostages, he saw they were being held in the manager's office. The office overlooked the storage room which was guarded by White Fang. He got into an air duct above the room and slipped through it onto one of the rafters. While there, he switched to infrared mode and surveyed the room. "13 enemies total, all armed," he thought to himself, "One sniper, two thugs guarding the hostages, both armed with shotguns. The rest are equipped with assault rifles. They're grouped together right now. I need to separate them before moving in."
He tapped into the facility's speaker system. "Attention White Fang, I'm you one chance to end this peacefully. Let the hostages go and turn yourselves in," he said.
One of them, presumably their leader, responded, "And just what are 'ya going to do if we disagree to your terms?"
"Simple. I make sure you can only feed through a tube after this."
This remark caused the leader to burst out laughing, "And just how do you propose you'll do that?"
"I beat the crap out of you," he answered simply.
"Patrol the area! Find this scum!" the leader ordered. "You two!" he barked, pointing to the thugs by the manager's office, "Stay here! If you see anyone other than us, waste the hostages!"
Phoenix continued his planning as they spread out. "Perfect. Now that they're on patrol they're split up, and there are only two thugs guarding the hostages. Stealth just became a hell of a lot easier. Now, time to take these scumbags down." He started out by taking out the sniper, who was standing on a balcony overlooking the facility. He dropped down behind the man, bashing his face into the railing and knocking him out cold. After that, it was a simple matter of memorizing the guards on the main floor's patrol pattern. He used this knowledge to pick off the thugs one by one, saving their leader for last. He waited for the man to come his way, hiding behind a corner. At the last second, he grabbed on to the man, forcing him to the floor and pinning him there with the pommel blades on his swords. Before the thug could scream for help, Phoenix covered his mouth and said, "I warned you didn't I," before smashing his face into the floor.
"Odds are he won't even be able to remember his own name after that. Ain't karma a bitch," he thought as he climbed up the outside wall of the office. As he entered the room he used his grapnel guns (he had designed a second one specifically for combat, although the other one was still effective) to pull the shotguns out of the hands of the two White Fang guarding the hostages before they could fire. He then pulled out his swords, put them into rifle mode, and fired two ice Dust rounds, freezing the foes solid.
"Are all of you okay?" Phoenix asked the hostages once the guards had been dealt with. Most of them were still too frightened to speak. "A bit roughed up, but other than that we're fine," one of the braver ones answered.
"Do any of you know what they wanted?" he asked as he started cutting the ropes binding the hostages. "It didn't look like they were planning on taking any Dust."
"They had us give them the shipping records for the next couple months. I think they sent them to their boss or something."
"Thanks for the intel," Phoenix responded, going over to the terminal and unlocking all the doors. He also downloaded a copy of the shipping records to his scroll. "You might want to get out of here," he suggested. The recently freed hostages complied, running out of the room. "Alright, now to get these bodies out of the way and give Grant his signal."
"He has one more minute before I do things myself," Grant muttered as he took a brief look at his watch before returning his gaze to the warehouse. It'd been ten minutes and hadn't seen any sign of a signal. He was starting to wonder if he'd missed it. "Maybe he just made a bit of noise, threw a box, or something like that," he thought.
The sounds of explosions and the fire alarm going off could be heard as the newly freed hostages ran out of the building. "Or he could do that."
As he flew away, Phoenix saw the police questioning the hostages, while paramedics dragged the unconscious bodies of The White Fang members away. After everything that had happened that night, only one thought went through Phoenix's head. "Weiss is going to be pissed."
Hmm… I wonder why the White Fang would need SDC shipping records. Anyway, last chance to present ideas for ep11-14 of the show in this fic. As always, thanks for reading!
