Episode 17: Change in Plans—Part Two
At first Oliver just stared at her behind his mask, and Anna only gazed back with a confident yet pleading look. She knew he was thinking about it but she wished he would hurry up and answer. "Fine" he finally answered. Anna held back a breath of relief and simply nodded, like she'd expected that answer. She walked past him and motioned for him to follow.
As he followed Anna gave the little details she could about the list. She feared if she said anything more he would know it was her—and she preferred to keep that a secret. Domino was her old handle from before she left Gotham for good. "Who is the list for?" he asked. Anna briefly ignored him while she vaulted to the next roof. She landed on her feet and braced her knees by bending slightly, then straightening. "It's for a colleague of mine" she said, as he came to stand next to her.
"Who do you work for?" he asked, as she started walking again. She sighed, annoyed, and kept walking. "I work for myself and I work with my allies" she answered. They made the rest of the way to Sebastian Blood's manor in silence.
They stood on one of the four, four-sided corners of the roof. Each four-sided corner had a thin walkway the size of a small sidewalk connecting them. In the center was the glass roof that looked into the ballroom area of the manor. Anna walked to the edge closest to the glass roof and knelt down.
She pulled a gun out of her belt and turned it sideways in her hand to see a row of different colored buttons. "What are you going to do? Shoot the glass?" Oliver asked, behind her. She pressed the third button from the left—the blue button. She then cocked the gun and aimed at a spot nearest her on the glass. She pulled the trigger and a little blue dart shot out, hitting the glass with barely a sound.
The glass around the dart started a frost that spread to three feet in diameter and then stilled to a stop. The glass then slowly cracked away in little pieces the size of dust particles, starting at the dart and moving outward the the three feet mark on all side, until it was gone. Anna slid her gun back in her belt and pulled out a round of wire from her pouch. She dropped down onto her stomach to get closer to the glass roof.
"If we're going to get in we've got to disable the security systems. Most of them are automatic but we can turn off the guards and the really deadly ones" she said, lowering the wire down to the hole.
"That's reassuring" he said.
"Well, it ought to be, seeing as if I don't if this right we're dead" she said. Once the wire was down far enough, she tied it off on an un-even piece of the roof. She sat up and swung her legs off, then slid of black nylon gloves. "I'll be back" she said, glancing over her shoulder. She grabbed the wire and slid off the edge of the roof. She wrapped one leg in wire and held on with her hands, slowly making her way down so her head was just inside the roof.
She used the grip her leg held on the wire to let go completely so she could use both hands. She eyed the black box with a blinking red light on the solid wall beside her as she pulled a compactible screw driver out of her pouch. She un-folded it so it was full size and reached for the box. She pried the door open and inside was a panel of numbered buttons and red blinking lights. "We've got company" Oliver said glancing over the edge at Anna pressing buttons on the black box.
Anna looked up as he moved from the edge to where she couldn't see him. Then a second later a man in black pants, shirt, and a Kevlar vest flew over the edge and fell through the glass. It shattered into a million tiny pieces and the man hit the floor. Anna swung close to the wall as the glass fell so she wouldn't get any on her.
After the glass stopped falling she heard the sound of hand-to-hand and some gun shots from the roof edge above. Then she heard a snap and she, too, fell down and hit the hard wood floor on her right shoulder. She groaned and rolled onto her back.
The man that fell down first had gotten to his feet and he dashed for his gun. Anna rolled back then lurched forward, vaulting off the ground and landing on her feet in one quick motion. She went for the gun as well but the man grabbed it first. He waved it at her with shaking hands and Anna swung a leg up, kicked the gun to the side, and then hoped to the other foot to kick the man. Her foot connected with his jaw and he recoiled back onto the floor.
She turned around at the sound of footsteps as more men filed into the ballroom. One came at her to the left and she easily kicked his gun away, too, and landed a hit to his abdomen with her elbow. He doubled over and dropped to the floor as another came at her. He fired a shot and Anna cartwheeled sideways to avoid it. As she stood upright another didn't waste his time coming for her.
Her fist connected with his jaw and swirled her foot up, kicking his head at the left temple. He dropped to the floor and two more came at her. As they came at her side-by-side, she timed it. She let them get close enough and then she sprung up into the air and shot her legs out, both landing a hit on each forehead. She landed behind them as they flew to the floor.
No more came and that's when she noticed the red lights flashing to signal more from other sections of the house. She stuffed her wire into her pouch and the 'hood' landed behind her with a roll to his feet. He glanced around ta the men on the floor then looked at her with a sort of admiration. She motioned for him to follow her out of the ballroom and he did.
She led down the hallway past the foyer and to the study. She opened the door and cautiously stepped inside. She looked around and noticed several, two inches-by-two inches boxes on the walls, the ceiling, the floor…she knew what they were. Oliver stepped in and she stopped him with an arm across the chest. "Don't," she warned. "It's laser protected." She reached back and pulled out her gun.
She pressed the white button on the side and cocked the gun. She aimed at the floor a few feet out and pulled the trigger. It shot out a small black pellet that bounced onto the floor and hissed, spewing out a white smoke. She put her gun back as the lasers began to become visible. They crisscrossed and parted vertically and went all over the room at crazy angles.
Anna sighed ruefully and glanced at the 'hood'. She looked back at the lasers and secured all of her pouches. She was going to have to weave through somehow to the study desk on the other side. She didn't know quite how she would get through, but it was either that or give up. And Anna was anything but a quitter
To Be Continued…