"Ms. Fen!" Wind cried, being hushed immediately by the rest of the crew. He internally chastised himself for his outburst, he knew stealth tactics as well as anyone and felt beyond stupid at letting his little one-sided crush get the better of him in this moment.
"Mr. Link…?" She whispered in hoarse surprise. She dropped the iron fire poker that she had been wielding like a bat with a muffled thump onto the heavy Berber carpet and stumbled forward on bloody bare feet clutching her side. She sagged heavily against the door frame, breathing hard. A deep red bloom of wetness seeped from just under the left breast pocket of her smart lavender blazer and poured a steady stream down her front. Her once, elegant hair was mussed up about her face and head in a rat's nest. A thick gob of what could only be dried caked blood covered most of the left side of her face. The eye beneath it was swollen shut. She looked at them with her one good eye with a slightly mad, feral expression. "T-thank goodness…"
"You….clocked Ravio pretty good," Hyrule murmured quietly checking the man's head as he was laid upon the floor.
Ms. Fen stared blankly and made a small grunt in the back of her throat that was possibly a laugh. "I swung pretty hard. He most likely won't remember."
Wind snorted at this. She certainly was something.. She slid to the floor beside Ravio, and looked at her downed boss with something across between aggravation and exhaustion. She sighed heavily.
"What happened here?" Asked Time as Hyrule began to heal the injuries on their newest party member.
Ms. Fen watched the magical blue glow with a look of child-like wonder for a moment before she shook herself back to the moment. She cleared her throat.
"It happed so quickly. I was in the office on a phone call dealing with a client of Ravio's and the power went out. Within only a matter of seconds the doors to the office burst open and this black….'Thing' burst in! It stabbed me in the chest with this spear-looking thing and knocked me flat." She shuddered as she recalled the moment. "It stood over me screeching. I-I think it thought I was dead…or maybe just not worth its time. It seemed to be issuing orders to other monsters-...demons?... things that were flooding into the room. They tore the office apart…. I-I just..lay there bleeding, I thought I was a goner. Then, I guess, not finding what they wanted they began to tear the rest of the house apart. When they were gone…I got up and crawled to a room they'd already been through and locked myself in… I must've passed out from the blood loss because it's dark now." She murmured, looking a little embarrassed. "The next thing I knew I heard the doorknob turning. I panicked and grabbed the first thing that looked useful and swung. I…didn't think." She admitted, hanging her head.
"Are you kidding? That was awesome! You're like a born warrior!" Wind beamed at her. The woman looked up in surprise at the boy's words of praise and gave him a small wan smile. His grin widened.
"I agree with the Kid.. You think fast on your feet." Wars said, helping the now healed but still bloody woman to her feet as Hyrule moved onto Ravio's minor head wound. "Do you know if the beasts are still in the house?"
Ms. Fen shook her head. I don't know…they were obviously looking for something. I don't know if they found it or not. If they did, I don't think they'd have had a reason to stay.."
"They didn't…" Ravio sat up with a grunt, looking at the woman who wore a somehow simultaneously sheepish and defiant expression as she regarded her boss still sitting on the floor. "They're after the Triforce. It wasn't here so either they're waiting in ambush, or they moved on. Either way…it's not safe to linger."
The group agreed and began to make their way down the hall to each bedroom to collect their kits and get out of the deathly quiet house that seemed more oppressively dark as the minutes ticked by.
The first room in the hall was Time's. The man shouldered his Biggoron sword and his shield, simply stuffing everything else into his pack.
Wars gave the man a funny look indicating his confusion at the fact that he was apparently going to continue to rock the jeans and V-neck.
"No armor...?"
The Old Man shook his head with a grim expression. "Later… Takes too long to put on. No Time." And winked at the younger man, grinning. The whole group groaned at his terrible dad joke.
"Got enough for jokes though..." Legend grumbled under his breath as the group moved onto Sky's room next.
"I guess it's a good thing that Valda already left, huh.. Since it's your golden treasure thing they want?" Winona said with a grim smile as they went from Sky's room down the hall to Four's.
Ravio stopped in his tracks and turned to give her a quizzical look. The man opened his mouth to say something and seemed to think better of it.
"We'll be seeing her soon; she simply went on ahead to prepare." He simply said. Winona smiled at this, just a little.
After a few more minutes nearly everyone had grabbed their equipment and though, following Time's lead for expediency, none had yet switched into their battle garb yet they already felt much more confident with their odds in an ambush with at the least weapons and shields equipped. The last room to go was Legend's, then they could head back to the car.
"Once I grab my bag, we can make a break for it," he said to his oldest friend in a low voice as they opened the door quietly.
Ravio simply nodded and was almost beginning to look relieved. That relief was short-lived however, as soon as the door was open an arrow shot through it and directly into the Legend's left leg just below the knee. The man screamed and stumbled backward crashing into Winona and Four who did their best to hold the injured vet up. They quickly pulled him back from the coming fight, Wars and Sky charged into the room with a tandem battle cry. A piercing shriek of a Lizalfos met them in the dark along with the sounds of clashing metal.