"Room for one?"
"Dah, odin." Tobias replied, handing over two coins to the familiar man at the front desk of the Continental.
"Room 394, a smoking permitted room, Mr. Darkwood. And do enjoy your stay at the Continental." The deskman slid the coins off the counter and replaced them with the room key. "Mr. Wick shall be informed of your arrival immediately."
"Spasibo." Tobias accepted the key and went to the elevator, showing the key's number to the attendant inside, who took him to the proper floor. Tobias went to his room, opened it and closed the door with his Telekinesis, standing at the window with a careful eye. Several possible sniper perches were visible, some even beyond a normal marksman's ability. After scanning them all in turn, he evaluated the best one for a human and smirked just before a knock came from his door.
"Good seeing you again, Toby." John Wick smiled at the similarly dressed man staring out the window as he entered the suddenly opened door. "How many spots?"
"Two concern me, but one's too tempting to ignore." Tobias replied without turning around. He knew and trusted Wick, so it was a subtle symbol of that trust to allow the older man to stand behind him.
"So, you mentioned laying a trap for the Syndicate. Something about a key target here in New York?" Wick closed the door behind himself, speaking in English despite his fluency in Russian.
"Key is an understatement. This is vital." Tobias turned around and produced a cigar and his lighter. "I need them alive, and they know I'm in town. Ran into a Syndicate rat at the airport." He added the last part as he lit his cigar.
"So you're doing it boldly?" Wick smiled at Tobias' nearby bags. He didn't need to check it to know they contained Tobias' guns, ammo and gear.
"My new exosuit's in the dufflebag. Valentine upgraded the old T-13's to the T-15's." Tobias chuckled. "Care to join me for the fun part?"
"I'll make the arrangements." Wick smiled before turning to leave, but paused. "Oh, there's a new rule on premises... No hunting. I'm sure you understand why."
"I came prepared for the sort. I'll see you downstairs at the bar." Tobias smiled as he exhaled some smoke.
"Tobias... To what do we owe the pleasure?" Winston smiled at the tall frame of Tobias standing beside Wick in the entrance to the hidden bar beneath the Continental.
"Prep work for some personal matters in the city." Tobias replied, still smoking the cigar from his room. "I figured I should enjoy a drink while I work things out."
"Now now, I know you my boy..." Winston began, but Tobias held up a small, very old bottle of pills with a smirk.
"I have that part covered. Trust me." Tobias smirked, knowing exactly how many G-Serum pills were remaining inside the bottle. He'd kept them after all the years since Umbrella, only using them for special occasions. "I'd like a White Russian, to start."
"I'll let the bar know." Winston nodded in understanding, recognizing the small Umbrella logo on the side of the faded label. He left, allowing Tobias and Wick to take a seat at a wall booth to go over the intel they had on Tobias' target.
"So, how are the kids?" Wick smiled as Tobias produced his phone, noticing the background on it was of his family.
"The twins are preparing for college, Valentine's been busy with BSAA projects, and Sheva's been managing to keep up with us. Rize's new book is due to be released at the start of September, and Serenity's going to be in town for the new season of Ink Masters as a guest judge next week." Tobias replied as he brought up the target's information. "Here's our guy... He's about equal to a sergeant in their ranks, but he's in charge of regional intelligence gathering for LA."
"Any military history?" Wick read the profile, already thinking of tactics to use.
"Not US military, but he's definitely received Syndicate training. I highly doubt he'll be unarmed or unguarded too." Tobias accepted his drink from a waitress, then took one of the G-Serum pills before sipping his drink. "Been too long since I tasted such good vodka... For obvious reasons, of course."
"So what hardware are we going to be working with?" Wick read more, knowing the location and surroundings they'd be working with. A sniper rifle would work excellently, but so would close quarters wetwork, with Tobias working to the same end, either was possible.
"I'm going in for close contact, sniper support will be perfect. Unless you want to join me." Tobias pulled out a small hologram projector, already loaded with a map of the area they'd be working in. "He'll be here, overseeing a meeting. Whole building belongs to the Syndicate, they operate it under the guise of a Mafia branch. So we should expect hefty firepower."
"I know the place. Did some business there, good lines of sight from this rooftop." Wick indicated the particular roof, but continued speaking. "But they'll know that if you're the one that created their training."
"So tag team it is." Tobias drank some more of his White Russian. "Need a kit?"
"You have a new gun, I can tell." Wick smiled as they concluded their prep work and sat back to enjoy their drinks - and for Tobias, his cigar - before going ahead with the assault.
"Position 3, check in."
"Perimeter clear."
"Position 4, check in."
"VIP's arr..."
"Position 4, repeat."
"VIP's on site. Over."
"Copy that, Position 4. All teams, VIP's on premises. Snipers, survey and secure."
"Sniper team 1 copies."
"Team 2, copy."
Wick smirked at the systematic chatter over the hijacked radio channel. Tobias knew exactly where the snipers were, and was already on the inside, preparing countermeasures. Wick was waiting for Tobias' signal, then would attack the front gate, where four guards with assault rifles were watching.
"Wick, tick tack." Tobias reported a moment later, the signal to attack, already in position to cover Wick's approach.
"On it." Wick replied, breaking cover and raising his own M4a2, opening fire on the guards and took two down in just as many seconds. The others raised their own rifles but were shot from behind by Tobias, and the two hitmen were already on the move, taking out half a dozen more guards that came running from the gunfire.
"All teams, we are under attack, two shooters at the front gate! Position 4 is KIA, I repeat, two shooters, position 4 is KIA!"
Wick and Tobias were already taking cover from the suppressing fire, but they shared a glance at each other, nodded, and broke cover as Tobias covered Wick in Ice Skin and ignored the tings of bullets hitting himself as he lifted his new custom MG4, Ripper, and took out several guards in quick succession.
"Shit, what the fuck is that?!" The guards didn't seem to know about Tobias' powers - or likely his existence for that matter - so they just fired and fired at the two men, falling back to draw them into view of the sniper teams.
But, before the two snipers could fire, their entire vision was filled by a floating wall of ice, preventing them from taking a shot. And down below, the other guards were being effortlessly slaughtered one by one, until the ice walls vanished and the two men disappeared from their view.
Inside, both men worked in tandem to sweep and clear, going room by room and floor by floor until they reached the most heavily guarded place yet, over two dozen guards in tactical gear were waiting with their guns raised, more than one was a Ghoul with their Kagune out and ready.
"Wait, don't fire." Tobias held up his hand to stop Wick from shooting. "We don't have time for this."
With a sudden crunching of bones, all of the men's necks were twisted in full circles, all of them crumpling to the ground at the same time.
"Move." Tobias raised Ripper and went for the door, listening through the metal surface for a moment, detecting the sound of several frantic movements and guns being prepared. "I'm going to blow the door off."
Wick understood, moving behind Tobias as the doors were blasted inwards by his Telekinesis, both springing into action to take down the last few guards before coming face to face with their target, armed with only a pistol.
"Darkwood... Who's that under the Skin?" The man sneered.
"An associate. Now, give me that." Tobias disarmed the man of his gun and forced him to levitate in the air. "Now, enough bullshit. You're going to make this part easier on yourself by answering my questions. My associate here is an expert at torture... Not that I'm not either."
"I'm not telling you shit, Darkwood!"
"I only have two questions." Tobias ignored the defiance. "Who is leading the Syndicate and why are they after my family?"
"I don't have that kind of information, and even if I did, why would I fucking tell you?!"
"You do have that information, actually." Wick spoke up and stepped forward. "You're not the only one with an information network, we were directed to you by our previous targets. You have the answer to those two questions."
"All I know about the leader is that she's named Alex. Nothing else." The man sneered. "She never lets anyone know shit about anything, not even her big shots above me!"
"Excellent. Thank you for your assistance in this... Family matter." Tobias and Wick spun on their heels as the man's neck was twisted around like the guards outside of the panic room.
"Excellent work, starik." Tobias thanked Wick as they drove back to the Continental in Wick's Mustang, their gear bagged in the trunk.
"That suit of yours is quite the sight to see in action. Must make your BSAA work a breeze." Wick smiled, having watched how Tobias moved so effortlessly in the T-15 armoured exosuit during their assault.
"Damn right it does." Tobias chuckled. "And it's all thanks to Valentine."