A/N: As always, comments and critiques make my day!
Looking back, having Doc tape her inside a giant cardboard box probably wasn't her brightest idea.
She was definitely too sober for this to be amusing, and she was about a foot too tall for it to be comfortable. Her leg had a terrible cramp, and the now stale air inside the box was making her claustrophobic. It didn't help that she had absolutely no idea what waited for her on the outside. Charlie had had some of his guys pull up the blueprints for the building, so she knew what the layout was at least; but other than that, she was on her own.
There was absolutely no intel on what kind of secret government agents were in here, or what kind of super scary top secret weapons they had. Now that she thought about it, they probably should have done a little more prep work, but honestly she couldn't think of a time where she had come up with a plan that wasn't half cocked. She could only hope that the familiarity of having no freaking clue what she was doing would work out in her favor.
This is exactly why she needed Dolls.
He was the one that came up with the plan and provided the intel. She was the one that ran off into danger and almost got them killed. It was just the way things worked.
But she didn't have Dolls.
She didn't have Waverly either who was almost as into planning and preparedness as Dolls.
Which was exactly why she was in this position in the first place. The irony of the situation was not lost on her.
Ten minutes, that was how long Charlie's team was supposed to wait between Doc leaving and staging the diversion; but it was beginning to feel like hours. The only thing that kept her remotely focused was the idea of Waverly fighting off a demon with only Nicole to help her. Not that Nicole wasn't more than capable, but the poor girl had been informed of the supernatural aspect of Purgatory less than forty-eight hours ago, and that was a lot of responsibility to put on someone.
Finally, the screeching sound of the fire alarm interrupted her thoughts.
She could hear the stampede of office workers evacuating the building, and she waited a few more minutes before slipping on the gas mask that she had packed with her. That was the plan- they would pull the fire alarm to evacuate the civilians, wait ten minutes and then put knockout gas in the air ducts for any secret government agents still lurking around.
A deceptively simple plan.
IF it worked, and that was a big if.
Especially considering the most important and dangerous part of the plan -the part that involved finding Dolls and getting him out of the building - rested entirely on her shoulders.
She took the knife out of her pocket and stabbed it through her cardboard cage, sawing down until she created a slit large enough to reach her fingers through and pry the box apart. Luckily no one was at the front desk to witness her escape, and she quickly jogged through the lobby towards the stairwell. She wasn't looking forward to climbing stairs, but she knew that whatever secret government agency had Dolls captive probably had cameras in the elevators.
To her credit, she didn't start huffing and puffing until the third floor; but according to the tracker on her phone, she had at least six flights left. She was just about to contemplate taking the stupid gas mask off when a cloud of smoke whisped its way under one of the stairwell doors and she found herself grateful to be wearing it.
She was hanging on the rail, dragging herself up to the eighth floor when she had an epiphany.
How exactly was she going to get Dolls out?
If the plan was working, and she sincerely hoped that it was, then everyone left in the building should be out cold. It was only now occurring to her that that would mean Dolls would be passed out too. She had been working out lately, but dude was solid muscle - there was no way she'd be able to carry him out on her own.
Shit, shit, shit.
Oh well, she'd have to figure that out if and when she found him.
The door to the ninth floor looked like all the rest of them, solid grey with a silver handle. She pushed it open, beyond relieved when it swung open on the first try.
She jogged down a short hallway littered with passed out government agents before she came to another door, this one locked tight.
Fuck.
Her eyes scanned the agents around her, before she bent down and snatched up one of their name badges. Hurriedly, she swiped it through the card reader beside the door.
"Hah!" she cried out when the door slid back. "Take that, secret government agency!"
Dolls' tracker was blinking steadily barely ten feet ahead of her but a quick survey of the wall in front of her showed no door.
"Where are you, you little fu- aha! Yes!" She spotted a metal gate off to the left side. "Just call me Earp, Wynonna Earp!"
Luckily, the keycard worked on the gate as well, and she slid under it as soon as it was raised high enough. There was a long hallway with nondescript doors down each side, and she chose the first one on the right, hoping that Dolls was on the other side. She crossed her fingers as she reached for the door handle, only to groan when it refused to twist.
"Damn it!"
There was no place for a key card to swipe, and no keyhole either. She pounded her fists against cold metal.
"Dolls!? Can you hear me?!"
She collapsed back against the wall, slowly feeling her spirits drop.
And to think, this ridiculous plan was going so well.
She felt angry tears sting her eyes behind the gas mask, but she shook it off. She had to figure something out. There must be a computer system somewhere that had the ability to open the doors, that was the only explanation.
"Wynonna?"
Her heart thudded in her chest at the sound of the voice calling out from the other side of the door.
"Dolls?!"
"Wynonna, what are you doing here?"
"I came to rescue you! But I can't figure out how to get this door open."
"You know we could both be tried for treason for this, I can't let you break me out of here."
Only Dolls would take issue with being broken out of prison.
"It's for Waverly. She touched some kind of black goo and now she's possessed by a demon and as much as I appreciate your devotion to the letter of the law; you're really my only chance of saving her, so if you could just help her out I promise I'll bring you back to prison when you're done.
There was a moment's pause before he yelled out.
"Step back, I'll try to knock the door down."
She barely had time to shuffle down the hallway a few steps before a loud crash sounded and Dolls barreled through where the door had been, still dressed in his tux from Bobo's party.
"Wow. I guess all those push-ups are good for something."
"Earp, what are you doing, are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Uhh, I'm rescuing you. And I'm doing a pretty good job at if I do say so myself."
"What's up with the-" He gestured to her face mask.
"Oh! Knockout gas. Speaking of which; why are you not, ya know, knocked out?"
Dolls regarded her as if she'd just asked him his bank password.
"Different air duct systems, I don't know. How much time do we have?"
She glanced at her watch. It had now been twenty minutes since the fire alarm had sounded, and she was sure that fire fighters were beginning to make their way through the floors - they had to hurry.
"Not long," She peeled off her gas mask, tossing it to the floor. "The gas is probably going to wear off soon, and first responders are on their way."
"Did you have an exit plan? Or?"
"Yes, I did, actually. There's a bike waiting in the garage. And it's this way." She took off down the hall, only to stop abruptly, Dolls slamming into her as she turned around. "I mean this way, it's this way."
She patted his chest with her hand.
"Eww, are you okay? You're all sweaty."
"I'm fine. Focus, Earp."
"Obviously being locked up hasn't done anything for your grumpiness."
She started jogging again, this time in the right direction, but ten feet from the door to the stairwell, it flung open, a line of soldiers in tactical gear filing in. They lined up along the wall, weapons trained on Wynonna and Dolls as a tall man in a green dress uniform made his way through their ranks. Dolls snapped to attention, and she felt suddenly out of place. Her heart sank to her toes, all hope of escape disappearing before her eyes.
