"Check the basement, he says," Face grumbled to himself, "See what you can find, he says…what the hell am I even supposed to be looking for?"
So far Face had done a good job of searching the basement, but all he'd found so far was the furnace, the water heater, the water softener, and a lot of taped up boxes kept down there for storage.
"20 stories to this whole building," he whined, "A deluxe penthouse right on top, and I get stuck sifting through the soot and excelsior down here in the filthy basement, I don't…"
He heard a noise above his head and immediately shut up. He remembered what Melissa had said about hearing people talking through the air vents, so he listened to see if he could decipher what was being said on one of the floors above him.
"We ain't found it yet, boss."
"You better, or you're dead men."
"We've already torn apart half of this building."
"Then tear apart the other half!"
Sounded like a regular vaudeville duo to Face. He wondered what floor that was on? With the radios out he couldn't warn Hannibal or the others. He crouched down by the furnace and found some tools left scattered on the floor by the maintenance man; he found a particularly large wrench he liked and started to think. Hmmmm…he wondered if beating on the furnace pipes would reach up to the air vents, and if so, who would be the first to hear? The guys? Or those guys? If the intruders were on a lower floor, they might get down here first, and he could knock them out, and if they were on a lower floor, and his guys heard the noise at the same time, they might catch sight of the crooks on their way down the stairs, then they'd have everybody right where they wanted them. On the other hand, what if the bad guys were on a floor above and caught the Team as they came out to investigate? Maybe he'd just work his way up and find out where everybody was hiding.
Wait a minute, Face froze in midstep as something occurred to him. The maintenance man didn't leave the tools down there. He remembered what Melissa said about the hot and cold air coming on at random times, so then that meant…but wait, there was something else he remembered. When he'd asked if Melissa knew who knocked her out, she said she could guess, but upstairs she'd told Hannibal she had no idea who the men forcing everyone out were, never even seen them. And then something else…she'd also said that she had been down here, meaning she would've seen the tools laying around…or that she was the one that put them out to make them think somebody had been tinkering with the furnace…something wasn't adding up, and he didn't like the way it looked for any of them.
He took the basement steps as quietly as he could, he didn't want to draw any attention to himself just yet. Reaching the first floor, his eyes scanned the whole area for any sign of life, none, perfect. He took the stairs to the second floor, checked around again, nobody, beautiful. Two stories down, only 17 more to go, swell. Face rolled his eyes and made his way up to the third floor. Before he could start up the next flight of stairs, he heard somebody coming down them, so he ducked into one of the apartments, before he could even check to make sure there wasn't anybody in there. He closed the door and listened to the footsteps pass him, and he let out a small sigh of relief, and then a shocked YELP as he felt somebody grab his arm.
"Do not move," a voice said to him, "I will turn on the light for you."
The lights flicked on and Face saw who it was gripping his wrist.
"Murdock!"
"Shhh," Murdock whispered.
"What's going on?" Face asked.
"I don't know," Murdock replied, "But I can't find Hannibal or B.A. anywhere."
"Where's Melissa?"
Murdock shook his head, "I can't find her either."
"Oh well isn't that just ducky?" Face asked, "Now everybody's missing!"
"Not everybody," Murdock replied, "You hear that ruckus going on upstairs?"
"I heard it in the basement, and look what I found by the furnace," Face held the wrench out.
"Ah, perfect!" Murdock took it from him and slapped it against his palm, "Let's go find out who's behind this and split their heads open like melons."
"Careful, Murdock," Face told him, "You're starting to sound more like B.A."
Murdock nodded his head towards the door and said only, "Come on, Faceman."
They moved towards the stairs and worked their way up, all the while keeping their senses alert for the slightest hint there was another person anywhere in the immediate vicinity. They managed to get up to the 19th floor with no trouble, but also without making any contact with Hannibal or B.A. But when they reached Melissa's apartment they found the place empty again. Face smacked himself in the head repeatedly, Murdock held onto the wrench and shushed Face with his free hand as they heard sounds from the penthouse again. Face just about fell to the floor in a fit at having to climb up another flight of stairs, but he followed Murdock up for the last time and they found the door closed.
"Next time we take a client," Face said to Murdock as they reached the door, "Let's find somebody with a ranch house."
He grabbed the knob and turned it, and told Murdock, "It's locked again."
"Still got your lock pick?" Murdock asked.
"Forget that," Face said, and kicked the door open.
The two men stepped in, and froze just past the doorway when they saw Melissa standing by the couch, with a gun in her hand and aimed right at them.
"Ah geez," Face whined, "All that's missing is for me to be in my underwear and this would make the perfect nightmare."
Melissa lowered her gun and let out a shaky sigh of relief and said, "I thought you were somebody else."
Face turned to Murdock and said, "I'm getting the weirdest sensation of déjà vu."
"What happened?" Murdock asked Melissa.
Melissa explained at a rate twice as fast as the usual talker, "Hannibal told me to check the closed circuit TV at the front security desk downstairs, I saw some suits roaming around in the halls, I tried getting hold of B.A., I couldn't get him, I tried contacting Hannibal, I couldn't get him either, so I came back upstairs, and I couldn't find anybody."
"Yeah that seems to be contagious today," Face grumbled, "But what're you doing up here?"
"I came up here to look for the guys, and one of the suits came up and tried to muscle his way in here, so I slammed the door on him, he tried pushing his way in so I locked him out."
"Okay, where'd you get the gun from?" Face asked.
Melissa raised the gun again and held it near her shoulder and said, "Found it lying on the inn table."
"Is it loaded?" Murdock asked innocently.
"Of course it's loaded," Melissa told him, "Nobody would be dumb enough to leave an unloaded gun around."
"They would if they didn't want you being able to use it," Face said.
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
"Uh oh," Murdock said.
Slowly, the two men turned around and saw a man in a black suit and trench coat who looked like he stepped straight out of the Mafia, with a gun pointed right at them.
"Alright, all of you, get over there," he gestured towards the wall with his gun.
Murdock and Face raised their hands high above their heads and moved over towards the opposite wall with Melissa; they were positioned so she was on one side of Face and Murdock was on the other.
"Drop that gun," the man told Melissa, and cocked his own.
Melissa let go of the gun and it fell straight on Face's foot, he managed to restrain from yelling in pain though he grumbled and gritted his teeth.
The man switched his aim towards Murdock and added, "Drop that wrench."
Murdock complied, dropping it on Face's other foot and getting another grunting, gritted teeth response from the Lieutenant.
"Who are you?" Melissa asked him.
The man looked between 35 and 40, he was built thick like a brick house, he had short, stringy black hair, a square jaw, actually he looked like he could roll with the goons from the Dick Tracy comics.
"Name's Rizelli, and my boss ain't gonna be happy to see you people hanging 'round here," he said.
"Well if that's the problem, we'll just leave," Murdock said.
"Shut up," Rizelli aimed his gun straight for Murdock's stomach.
"Okay," Murdock tucked his chin down to his chest.
"You," Rizelli told Melissa, "Get over here, or your friends get it."
"They're not my friends," she said.
Rizelli readjusted his aim for Face, Melissa lowered her hands so they were level with her head and complied, "Alright, alright," and walked over towards the man.
"Not here, sweetheart," he told her, "Over on the couch."
Melissa looked over to the couch, and then back at Rizelli and told him, "You're sick, you know that?"
"Move it," he told her.
"If you're gonna shoot me, I prefer to stand," she said.
"Just keep moving," Rizelli forced her over towards the couch, "You and me are gonna have a nice private talk."
"Private, with them here?" Melissa pointed to Face and Murdock.
"Sit down," he told her.
Melissa sat down and kept her hands by her head where he could see them.
"Put your hands down," he said.
She did, and she didn't move an inch as he sat down beside her and seemed to put as little space between them as was possible.
Over at the wall, Murdock and Face watched as somebody approached the door and saw it was B.A., they said nothing but pointed frantically over towards the couch, and it looked like B.A. was going to hit the ceiling. Instead, he walked right in and said to Rizelli, "That's my woman, dead man!" and before Rizelli could do anything, Melissa knocked the gun out of his hand, and B.A. grabbed the man and swung him clear over his head and got ready to throw him.
"That's perfect, B.A.!" Murdock said as they came forth, and Murdock was putting his hands together like a director looking for a proper camera angle as he added, "Perfect, throws him against the wall, and he stomps on his head and mashes his face."
"Well now I just can't leave you kids alone for a minute, can I?" they heard Hannibal ask from the doorway.
They turned and saw Hannibal standing in the door, his usual smirking self, though they noticed he looked like he'd been roughed over, his grayish/white hair, short though it was, stuck up in some parts, his face was smeared with dirt on one side, as were his clothes.
"What happened to you, Hannibal?" Face asked.
He said to Melissa, "Remember what you said about that malfunctioning elevator?"
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Yeah well," Hannibal grunted, "Somebody decided I needed the grand tour of that vacant shaft, four floors straight down."
"Are you alright, Colonel?" Murdock asked.
"I need a new pair of gloves," Hannibal said, "Otherwise I'm fine. I got lucky, that rope's more enduring than it looks, came to a stop just before I hit the bottom." He saw B.A. holding Rizelli up in the air and asked, "B.A., you want to let him down before you strain your back?"
"You kidding, Hannibal?" B.A. asked, "My gold chains weigh more than this fool."
"I'll believe that," Face murmured to Murdock.
"Hey Hannibal," B.A. said, maintaining an overhead hold on Rizelli, "This the fool that knocked you down the shaft?"
Hannibal got a look at the man and said, "Well, admittedly I didn't get much chance to see his face, but…it could be."
"That's it, I'm gonna break every bone in your body twice, sucker," B.A. told Rizelli.
"B.A.," Hannibal said, "Put him down."
B.A. turned to Hannibal with a grunting 'huh?' look on his face. Hannibal repeated, slowly, calmly, "Put-him-down."
"Hey Hannibal," B.A. told him, "This fool try putting the moves on my woman at gunpoint, ain't no way I'm letting him go."
"He's not getting away, put-him-down, B.A.," Hannibal calmly ordered the larger man.
B.A. growled and grumbled, but complied, and put Rizelli down and his feet back on the floor. Hannibal got right up next to Rizelli and said to him, "Now, I'm sure we can come to a reasonable understanding about," before Hannibal got the word "this" out, he clocked Rizelli in the face with a swift left hook and watched as the man fell back.
"Ooh! I wanna turn, I wanna turn," Murdock said as he practically hopped over to the scene and took a turn punching Rizelli in his face.
"I'm next," Face said as he came up behind Murdock and gave Rizelli a square right jab and sent him reeling back against the wall.
Melissa looked at Rizelli's gun that she still held in her hand, she tossed it on the couch and went over to the others and said, "I'm done playing games," and instead of punching him in the face like everybody else, she grabbed one wrist with her opposite hand, drew her arm back and rammed one large, sharp elbow full force between his stomach and his chest. Rizelli got the wind knocked out of him and his head dropped down, so Melissa was able to reach up with her free hand and give him a good chop straight on the neck.
"Alright, that's enough," Hannibal said as he walked up to Rizelli and grabbed him tight by the collar of his coat. "Alright, pal, now let's get something straight here and now, who's your boss?"
Rizelli looked Hannibal up and down and looked at the man gripping him by the neck as if he didn't believe Hannibal was actually there. After a few seconds of an unusual silence, the man said in a stage whisper, "Michael Crenna, if you don't know the name, you will soon enough."
Hannibal looked at Rizelli for a minute before turning his head slightly to the side and said, "B.A., put this guy on ice," and promptly let go of the man's coat.
B.A. came up behind Hannibal and with one swift move, knocked Rizelli into unconsciousness, a quick but not painless experience.
"Oof," Murdock grimaced, "He's gonna feel that one for sure when he wakes up."
"Who's Michael Crenna?" Hannibal asked Melissa.
She looked him dead in the eyes as she answered, "A troublemaker, some small time hood who thinks he's the Godfather or something. Like you said, he doesn't have the money or the political influence to actually call in favors with people, but he doesn't let that stop him."
"So how do you know him?" Face turned away from their guest and towards her.
"Oh everybody around here knows him," she explained, "Rather they know him well enough not to know him. Everything he touches, dies."
"Where'd he get the finances to put his little gang together?" Hannibal asked.
Melissa shrugged and replied, "I imagine from selling drugs, last I checked that was one of the largest corners on the criminal market."
"I see," Hannibal said, "So what're the odds he's right here in the building as we speak?"
"He's hands-on, bets don't come much safer," Melissa told him.
"Then I guess we ought to lay out the welcome mat for him," Face said.
"Alright," Hannibal paused and squeezed his eyes shut momentarily as he pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to think, "First thing's first."
"And what's that?" Murdock asked.
Hannibal opened his eyes, looked to Melissa and told her, "Sit down."
"What?"
"Do it, sit down," he told her.
Melissa shrugged but sat down on a chair by the couch. "Now what?"
"Lift up your feet," Hannibal said.
Melissa did, Hannibal went over to her, felt along the bottom of her shoes, and then grabbed the heel on one and snapped it off, and before anybody could even realize it, he grabbed the other heel and broke it off too.
"There," he said as he tossed the spiked heels on the floor, "Now if we get into a close knit fight, we won't have to worry about any friendly fire puncturing anything of ours."
"Very funny," Melissa dryly remarked as she stood up.
"I already got them in the gut once today," Hannibal said, "I'm not taking a chance next time you miscalculate and one of them jabs me in the skull."
"Or me," Face said.
"Yeah," Murdock agreed, "Faceman's got enough holes in his head already, he don't need his ears pierced."
Face turned and scowled at him.
"Uh," Murdock raised his hand like a student, "How will we know this guy Crenna when we see him, what's he look like?"
"Like that," Melissa pointed to the door.
The guys turned and saw another man standing at the door with a gun drawn on them.
"Okay everybody, assume the position," Hannibal said, and promptly reached for the sky.