Raelle slipped away even before the reporters drove away. She returned inside the building expecting to be reunited with Scylla but didn't find her at the spot they agreed upon. She had a foreboding that something had happened to her.
"Raelle, you can't just bail on us like that," Abigail complained, following her back in. "It reflects badly on our unit."
"They were packing up," Raelle reminded her. "So, as far as I'm concerned, the show is over."
"Where's Scylla and Jin?" Tally wondered, looking around.
"I guess your girlfriend decided she wants to play hide-and-seek now?" Abigail teased wryly.
"Ready to go?" Quinn asked, joining the unit inside the building.
"Who are you looking for?" Khalida asked curiously.
"Scylla and Jin," Raelle replied, trying to figure out why they weren't where they should be. She saw the rest of their group arrive.
Khalida looked around and detected a life force and led the group towards it.
"Where's the door?" Abigail asked, looking at the wall.
Adil stepped up and bore a hole through the wall to reveal the hidden room.
"Jin," Tally said, giving him a quick hug in relief that he was alright as he was recovering from the effects of the gas.
Anacostia studied the room and recognized it as a panic room. "Hearst must've been hiding in here all that time."
"Where's Scylla?" Raelle demanded from Jin.
"I don't know," Jin replied. "We were watching the video and trying to figure out where the leader of the Camarilla went before the room filled with gas. When I woke up, she was gone."
Anacostia replayed it for the group and saw two masked men exit the room with an unconscious Scylla over the bigger man's shoulder.
Raelle watched intently and confirmed one of the guys was Hearst when they pulled off their masks. "We need to go after them; they can't have gotten far."
"You heard Khalida, there's no one else here but us," Abigail reminded her, blocking her way.
.
Scylla was slowly recovering from the effects of the gas as she was taken through a dark tunnel. She knew her chance to fight back may be shrinking especially if her two abductors join with others waiting at the end of the tunnel.
"Secure her in the back," Hearst ordered as he prepared to make his escape.
Scylla was relieved that they were the only Camarilla at the end of the tunnel and before the one carrying her could strap her with a neck brace, she used windstrike to send him flying off back to the tunnel's edge. She got out of the vehicle ready to strike Hearst only to find him countering her work with his voice box.
"Feisty like your girlfriend," Hearst said mockingly. "But I'm not going to let you slip away." He used his voice box and struck Scylla back.
Scylla was barely able to shield herself and in her weakened state couldn't fight back. She reached for the next thing she could think of to give Raelle a sign that she was there.
"Do you think this trinket will save you?" he asked smugly, taking the charm away from her and throwing it to the ground.
Scylla did a last-ditch effort to fight him by summoning her avian friends to attack him or at the very least distract him but he quickly stabbed her with a syringe that made her blackout ending her work.
.
Raelle wasn't going to let Abigail get in the way of her finding Scylla. "Get out of my way!" As she uttered those words, the room shook.
"Do you even know where to go to find her?" Abigail challenged, ignoring Raelle's implied threat.
"You need to calm down, Raelle," Tally entreated. "We will find her."
"We found something," Gregorio said excitedly and leading them to where Adil had found the entrance to a tunnel.
"It has to be how they got past our perimeter traps," Anacostia concluded. She was disappointed that she hadn't thought to lockdown better.
Raelle didn't hesitate to enter the tunnel to find what was on the other end of it. She tried to get past Tally who was nearest the opening.
"Let me go first," Tally offered, leading the way for the group. She immediately saw the guard on the ground at the end of the passageway.
"She must've struck him," Abigail noted, checking on his state. "Maybe she got away."
"No, she didn't," Raelle said, picking up Scylla's charm on the ground where it was dropped.
"There are tire tracks here," Adil noted, trying to determine where it led.
"Maybe we can still catch up to them," Raelle suggested.
"They're long gone," Anacostia said, remembering the timestamp on the video. "We need to figure out where they went another way." She started to head back.
Raelle didn't agree and refused to follow. "We have to go after them. We have to rescue Scylla."
"We will but not without a plan," Anacostia pointed out. "We don't know what we're up against."
"He could be torturing her or worse, kill her," Raelle contended.
"I've seen how she operates, she'll know how to survive anything," Abigail assured her.
"Not if she has witch plague," Tally said, revealing the empty syringe she found.
Abigail gave Tally a look that spoke volumes but primarily about why she chose that moment to freak Raelle out. "She survived it before, she'll survive it again."
"She barely did and I was there to fix her," Raelle said, panicking at that realization.
"It's not witch plague," Adil interjected, taking the syringe and studying it. "It's a sedative."
"Are you sure?" Abigail asked, growing concerned as well but hiding it from Raelle. She was relieved to see him confirm.
"We'll get more answers back in that room," Anacostia suggested.
.
"Scylla is out there somewhere and I can't even help her," Raelle said sadly to Quinn and Khalida who were tasked to keep an eye on her.
"She's very resourceful," Quinn reminded her. "She'll find a way to escape."
"What if she gets herself killed in the process?" Raelle said pessimistically, having seen her more reckless moments earlier that day.
"Try to sense her," Khalida suggested. "You'll know if she's in trouble or not."
Raelle didn't know she could even do that so Khalida showed her how. She honed in on Scylla's heartbeat and found it unusually calm which meant Adil was right about the sedative. "Can I find her as well?"
"Not this way," Khalida said. "But my brother can find her if he had some of her blood."
Raelle pulled out the handkerchief she used on Scylla before. "Will this work?"
"It should," Khalida confirmed, taking it to her brother.
"What if we find her too late?" Raelle continued, seeing that the day was almost over.
"The goddess will protect her," Quinn said positively. "Soon your friends will figure out where he took her and you can rescue her. But you have to be patient, she's counting on you to be."
Raelle heeded her advice and settled down. She preoccupied herself with fixing Scylla's bird charm that was damaged during her struggle with either of her abductors.
"How are you holding up?" Jin asked, sitting next to her. He watched as Quinn took her leave.
"So, you're my new babysitter?" Raelle said, noticing the change.
"You can think of it that way," he teased. "If it helps, Scylla has a reputation of getting out of difficult situations."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me," she said gloomily. "Is she trying to prove something to the Spree?"
"Not at all; she's already a legend among us," he revealed. "I think she's trying to prove something to you."
"We found her," Tally said, running over to the pair. She watched Raelle dash towards the van.
"Tally, come on," Raelle called back to her.
.
Raelle waited for Tally to get back as the latter scoped out the residential building that Adil determined was where Scylla was taken to.
"I just can't find Scylla anymore," Adil said, trying to detect her again to pinpoint which floor she was on but failing.
"It's probably because he's using dampeners again," Abigail supposed. "But I don't see what his endgame is. Why did he come here?"
"He probably feels safe hiding behind civilians because he knows we won't charge in," Raelle said unhappily, wishing Scylla wasn't held hostage in the process.
"There's no one named Hearst listed," Tally reported after checking the building call box. "So, what do we do now?"
"Maybe we can lure the residents out and put them to sleep?" Ash suggested the tried and tested approach.
"We already did that so he won't fall for it again," Anacostia dismissed the idea.
"Pizza," Raelle suggested.
"How can you think of food at this time?" Abigail wondered.
"No, pizza delivery," Raelle clarified, pointing to a delivery guy entering the building. "We can pretend to be delivering one and knock on doors."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Anacostia acknowledged. She stationed Ash and Jin on the roof, Gregorio and Adil to the parking lot and, Khalida and Quinn at the lobby to keep all points covered while the rest of them checked on the residential units Adil singled out for them.
"Why am I the one knocking on doors?" Raelle asked, eyeing Abigail who was clearly enjoying seeing her in a delivery uniform.
"It was your idea," Abigail reminded her with a gratified smile.
"But won't he recognize me?" Raelle challenged, knocking on the first unit they were going to check.
Abigail took the pizza box and pushed Raelle behind her when the door opened. "Hello, did you order a pizza?" She quite expected the negative answer but when the door was about to close, she asked for help. "I was wondering if we could use your phone; you see, my trainee here lost the details of this delivery and it would save us some time if we could just ask a colleague."
"Please, I don't want to lose my job on the first day," Raelle pleaded when the lady at the door looked unwilling to help them.
.
"Scylla could get hurt if we do that," Raelle objected to the plan.
"She could already be hurt," Abigail countered, drawing that conclusion from their previous experiences with the enemy. "We need to get to her before anything else happens."
"But this could draw unwanted attention," Anacostia agreed with Raelle's preference to go in a less invasive manner.
Abigail deferred to the majority and had to accept that Raelle was capable of thinking on her feet. The blonde did manage to find out where Hearst's unit was just by playing on the lady's sympathy earlier.
"And you're sure she saw Scylla?" Tally asked, working on the locked door.
"She said she saw him carrying a pretty girl in a hoodie," Abigail gave a verbatim description. "He apparently claimed she was drunk."
"Pretty, yes; drunk, that's questionable," Tally joked.
"Will you hurry up?" Raelle requested impatiently.
The unit didn't know what to expect but certainly they weren't expecting it to be empty when they finished checking the place.
"We're late again," Raelle said angrily and punched the wall next to her.
"We'll find her; we just need to figure out where he took her next," Anacostia assured her, signaling the other two to start looking around for clues.
"What I don't understand is why leave the dampener on if he's not here," Abigail wondered, looking on one side of the room while Tally did the same on the other.
Anacostia found the circuit breaker and turned off the dampeners. "Now we can work to find where he's hiding."
"It's definitely not here," Raelle said, trying to sense Scylla as Khalida had shown her before and not getting anything like before that gave her hope.
"This doesn't look like his home," Abigail noted, looking at the framed photos. "It feels like someone else lives here."
Raelle picked up an album laying on the coffee table and began leafing through it. She recognized the couple on the photos. "Guys, this is from the wedding me and Scylla went to." Flipping through the album she found Hearst giving away the bride.
"Oh, my goddess, he must be the father of the bride," Tally determined in shock.
Raelle slammed the album closed and had an urgent need to smash something. "Why didn't we know about this until now?"
"She or this place wasn't listed," Anacostia reasoned, realizing that Hearst had intentionally left his family out to keep them safe.
"That's why he came here; to take his family to safety," Abigail determined.
"And clear out his safe," Tally added, leading them to an open but empty receptacle.
Anacostia could see how agitated Raelle was becoming so did the hard decision and put her to sleep.
.
Raelle woke up the following morning with a start and quite aware that she had been put to sleep by Anacostia. She was angry and was about to give her a piece of her mind but only found Abigail and Tally who appeared to have worked through the night to go through the place to get a clue of Hearst's whereabouts.
Tally noticed Raelle first and greeted her. "How are you feeling?"
"Furious," Raelle answered truthfully. "Where is she?"
"She's been gathering intel from the neighbors," Abigail revealed. "Hoping that we can figure out where they are."
"And how far has that gotten us?" Raelle asked pessimistically. "She shouldn't have put me to sleep; I could've helped."
"Not last night," Anacostia declared, returning from her latest intel gathering attempt. "You need to control your emotions."
"My emotions aren't the problem," Raelle defended herself. "The problem is we've wasted too much time planning our next move than actually searching for Scylla!" She was so worked up that she unconsciously made her companions fall asleep. "Shit!"
"Whoa, what happened?" Jin asked, entering the room right after it happened.
"I didn't mean to," she said, walking out to the balcony to get some air. "I was trying to sense Scylla and then it just happened."
"We're all worried about her," he reminded her. "You really love her, huh?"
"Was there any doubt?" she wondered where this was coming from.
"It's just that she's Spree and you're Army," he observed.
"You're Spree and Tally is Army," she compared their pairings.
"I think that's what's holding Tally back from committing to me," he said sadly.
"Give her time, she had her heart broken the first time so she's being careful," she explained. She had her hand on the railing when a crow landed beside and started to peck it. "I don't have food for you today."
Jin watched as the crow insistently tapped Raelle's hand. "It's very persistent, if only it could talk to you."
They simultaneously realized it must be trying to tell them something.
"Do you know where Scylla is?" she asked but still unable to understand what the crow was trying to communicate back with its beak taps.
"Look," he pointed to a flock of birds swirling overhead. "Maybe we should follow and see where they lead us."
"What am I going to do about my unit?" she wondered, knowing they'd be upset with her when she wakes them.
"We can let them sleep," he suggested, thinking the same thing and worried they might put Raelle back to sleep before she could explain what they're seeing the birds do.
.
"Scylla must've called for them before he took her," Jin supposed as they went to the parking lot. "And they've been following her all this time."
Raelle was hoping that's what happened and looked around the lot for a vehicle they could use to follow where they led because the van would make it difficult even if it wasn't already out with Quinn and the rest of their group.
"How about a convertible?" Jin suggested, walking to one and jumping in.
"Do all Spree agents know how to steal vehicles?" she wondered, wishing she knew how.
"It's a skill we learn during Spree basics, it comes in handy in our work," he joked.
"Hey, where are you two going?" a familiar voice called out.
The two looked nervously at Ash jogging towards them.
"Going to get donuts," she fibbed.
"Great, I'll come with you," Ash said, jumping into the back and watched Raelle and Jin exchange looks.
"The truth is, we're going to find Scylla," she came clean, hoping Ash wouldn't stop them.
"I figured as much," Ash said. "I'm not just a pretty face you know."
"I thought you were the brawn," she teased, relieved he was on-board with the plan.
"I can be that, too," he confirmed. "Anyway, can we still get donuts on the way?"
Raelle nodded in agreement as Jin drove them out of the building.
.
Raelle was fairly certain they were on the right track because the flock of birds would circle back when they made stops to get provisions and resume the same direction towards the mountains. She even recognized it as one of the photos in Hearst's daughter's home.
"How much further do you think?" Ash wondered as he took over driving from Jin.
"I don't know," she admitted, hoping that the distance meant that Scylla had been spared from harm and simply kept sedated all that time.
"We may have trouble following the birds once we're further in the mountains," Jin noted from the backseat.
"That's not the only problem," Ash said, seeing the birds veer towards an unpaved road.
"I guess we're going on foot from here on," Jin said, pulling their gear out of the trunk when they drove as far as they could.
"We can't just leave the car here," Ash said disappointedly.
"If things go as planned and we get Scylla back, we can drive it home," Raelle told him to ease his worry about the car.
Ash took one last look at the car before following his companions and the birds flying ahead of them.