The snowy mountains of Roumania. She'd always wanted to visit the country, preferably off duty. The same could be said of many places she'd gone in the name of fighting Bio-terrorism. Tundra—Real name, Emily Berkhoff—was left thinking what she always did when the guns weren't firing and the environment caught her eye. Taking in the scenery while she could.
"I wonder where the rest of the cannon fodder is hiding." Lobo—Real name, John Perlman—broke the silence. The man not so keen on sight seeing. His attention was focused forward, occasionally glancing about for movement and threats.
"Not around here." She'd done enough recon in the area to know. "There hasn't been a Lycan this side of the village for awhile."
"I wonder how many are left."
"A lot more. There was a small army's worth here before Miranda put her plan in motion."
"That's comforting." He huffed, craning his neck to scan the towering ruin walls. The edge of the village itself coming upon them. He knew those fuckers could climb, he remembered getting nearly shot with a flaming arrow from above these same walls on their first clearing.
"I know you hate it—"
"Mm."
"—But on the upside, if we contain this we'll never need to worry about fighting werewolves again."
"I can't tell if I prefer the zombies or the werewolves." He confessed.
"I prefer the zombies. They go down easier."
"Yeah, if you hit them in the head." He shot her a smile, amusement sitting in his words. Their playful banter seeping in; a perfect way to take the edge of their job off.
"Worried your aim is degrading?" She shot the same look right back to him, earning a snot.
"No, I'm more worried about Canine—" Real name, Dion Wilson. "—Then again, maybe it's the human faces that bothers him and not his eyes."
"He was always sentimental."
The concept of sentiment rested on her mind. Seeing the emotions that flashed in Chris's eyes and the minuscule ways his face wrinkled and tensed when it came to Jill. In the way he approached the issue with the Lords… "What do you think about this whole thing?"
"Mind narrowing the question down a little?"
"With Dimitrescu and Heisenberg." She wanted to pause and face him, to hear his full opinion but they had a job to do. Evident by the growing volume of gunshots.
He shrugged, reaching the gate to the village. "We've never had infected work with us before and the plan being moved up? It makes me uneasy."
She nodded, taking point through the gate he held open. A mental note that there were still no Lycan in sight. "I've got a mixed feeling, but we've faced worse."
"True."
The conversation died down as they cleared through the square. No enemy in sight. Only two goats wandering the graveyard. Tundra could feel the hair on her skin raising as they approached the gate that lead into the church. A light tremor under her feet the closer she got. Taking a moment, she checked to see if Lobo felt it too and it appeared he had the same idea. The man turning to look at her the same moment she looked to him. A silent agreement.
Followed by a not-so-silence roar just passed the walls. Point was returned to Lobo as he pushed forward first, peeking through the bars of the gate to get a look at their opponent. Brows raised at the size of the thing and finger to his ear to radio in.
"Jill wasn't exaggerating."
"Then it must be the alpha." Came Night Howl's—Real name, Charlie Graham—reply.
Chris cut through next. "I have Umber on stand-by."
As the boys chattered on comms, Tundra snuck around to get a look at the situation herself. "Good choice, but I think we can handle it. Jill's been taking pot shots from the window. It…looks like the beast refuses to attack the building."
Lobo's brows knotted, "Odd. The Vârcolac have had no hesitation attacking all the other buildings."
"Maybe…it's a programmed response through the mold?" Night Howl hypothesized as Lobo got into position, aiming his gun towards the beast and following it's movements. "If the church has significance to Miranda in someway, they may be restricted from destroying it."
"I wonder why, her face is plastered all over the thing in there." Tundra remarked, remembering the inside from recon.
"Maybe Jill knows." Umber Eyes—Real name, Rolando Elba—interjected. "A shame we can't ask."
"You know her and headsets." Night Howl defended halfheartedly.
"She needs to stop being stubborn."
"I agree." Chris spoke up again after a sigh. "But focus on the here and now. Tundra, Lobo, you have permission to engage."
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, sir."
Gunshots.
That's the first thing Donna registered as she came to. The hard wood underneath her body and the stiffness of laying on it for too long. Then she moved and with it came long other realizations. The soft pain of still healing wounds. No longer bleeding as she placed a palm to the spot and it came back without new blood. She was okay, but that wasn't the pressing matter. No. She didn't care if she were rapidly losing blood if it meant Angie was okay.
Where was she? She reaching around her for the doll and panic washed over her newly awakened body. Bolting up in the pew, she frantically looked around. A faint recollection came as she saw where she was. Miranda's little church by the cemetery. Artwork, decorations, gold, wood, and no Angie. Not beside her. Not below her. Not on the other pews. Not on the altar.
Where. Was. She?
The gunshots had ceased, not that she noticed. Panting heavily behind her veil. Hands to her face.
A face so pale that Jill was sure she'd gone white despite the heavy black lace shielding it for the woman's sight. She had stopped firing at the Alfa when she heard the heavy pants nearby. Her lips pursed before confirming Donna's worst fear. "Angie's not here."
She watched as Donna froze, akin to a statue with how she wasn't breathing. Aside from the beast outside, they sat in that uncomfortable silence. Jill had never been one for comforting outside of her experience. Calming survivors and civilians on the job? Sure. Comforting someone who had anxieties she wasn't familiar with? Especially a B.O.W.? It took some time before her mouth opened again.
Only for her attention to be drawn away by the sound of gunfire outside. Peaking out the window, she saw her reinforcements. Tensing lightly when it charged them and they had no protection like her and Donna did. She had trust in them, but fuck if that beast wasn't a pain in the ass.
"I promise we'll find Angie, okay?" She positioned herself at the window once more to provide aid. "She'll be alright."
She let the worry for Donna's mental state slip away, focusing on her aim and the battle outside. Assuming the woman would remain frozen or slink back to her seat. Instead she took her spot on the same pew Jill was stationed at. When it felt safe enough to look, she glanced at the woman. Seeing her frozen state had returned to trembling once more. The silent anxiety eating away at her.
It was hard to imagine the same for herself. To put herself in Donna's shoes. Perhaps the hardest. To depend so heavily on something like that to function. Something external. It gave her goosebumps, turning right back towards the fighting at hand to ignore the feeling and the hint of Chris's words in her ear.
The first thing Ethan noticed—as they walked into Heisenberg's lower office—was Chris. As Dimitrescu went to settled herself in on the ratted furniture of the room, it took some staring to realize why it was Chris he noticed first. Then it clicked, he was alone and laser focused on the laptop set up. He wasn't the best at small tells, but this one glared enough at him to rub him the wrong way.
For all the talks and discussions around Miranda, it was only now, as the time drew near, that he thought about the outcomes. His marry band of allies and freaks, for all intents and purposes, had grown on him. Will he have them ripped away just like Mia? The possibility seemed outrageous. These powerful mutants, but there was a reason Heisenberg had never broken free until now. Had spent decades building this army for a moment like this.
Will his family crumble again?
"…Now all we have to do is wait for Jill and Mr. Informant's team." Speaking of Heisenberg.
"Wasn't Jill supposed to stay above ground?" Ethan's recollection earned him a nod of confirmation.
"Until she stumbled upon The Alfa."
Before Ethan could ask just what the hell is an Alfa? Chris broke from his stewing over the laptop. Immediately Ethan tensed up and adjusted himself in his chair. Knowing that look on the man's face. Removing himself from the conversation as if he was just a bystander student in a class after the class clown pressed one too many buttons on the teacher's last nerve.
"You knew what it was?"
Just like a class clown, he shrugged and continued unperturbed. Hiding his tension under a facade.
"Answer me—!"
"Relax, I didn't know the Alfa was in that area. By the time she informed you it's big and nasty that was all there is too it." He played with his knife, using his magnetic powers to throw it up and down like a ball. "It's not that special anymore."
Not in comparison to Miranda.
"Is there anything else lurking that we need to know about?" Chris attempted to glare the answer out of him. The intimidation would've worked on anyone else but those in the room. Whether he knew it or not, he relinquished when all he got as a shake of the head. Returning back to monitoring the situation and ignoring the three of them.
"I was right." Charlie—if Ethan remembers correctly—proudly comments. To the response to no one, with no reply in return. Beyond a brief chuckle from Heisenberg himself. Whatever the reference is, Ethan didn't get it.
A part of him wished they had continued discussing whatever the hell was going on. It would be nice to piece together more of the situation through their back and forth, but first and foremost it would've filled this damn tense silence that now sat like an elephant between them. It felt smothering with the anticipation. Ears twitching with every keyboard click, tap of a foot, shuffle of fabric, squeak of a chair.
"Sir." One of his men—Wilson, he thinks—cuts through it despite the low voice. "The activity along the route is gone."
"Any sign of more?"
"No, sir."
"Alright."
He waited, subtly shaking his leg but no other discussion amongst them came. If he prodded, he knew Chris would just tell him to stay out of it. Fine. He'd start his own conversation before he went insane with this silence.
"Why did you guys follow Mother Miranda?"
Dimitrescu was the first to answer, no pause for thinking needed. "That's simple, she provided me with a renewed life and returned me to my heritage."
Unlike her wistful smile, Heisenberg had nothing but bitterness. "Aka mega bitch won the lottery. Nothing left to lose."
"Oh, hush now. I doubt Ethan wants to hear your woe is me spiel."
"Fuck off, you don't know the shit I've gone through because of your precious Miranda."
The tension began to bubble with more than anticipation. It wasn't as if Ethan needed an extra cue that his question had an unintended response, but he got it anyways. As Rose began to stir in his arms. The little girl sensing the trouble in the air. She wasn't the only one, Chris had glanced over but remained quiet.
Feeling a sense of responsibility, Ethan spoke up. "Uh, guys?"
"Please, you don't know the hell I had to endure during the war."
"Oh, you had to endure? Trying being a child experiment! You fucking clueless vampire."
At the raised voices Rose began to cry, earning a sigh and crossed arms from Chris. A moment away from stepping in. Dimitrescu gestured towards Rose in Ethan's arms, paying no attention to anyone else besides Heisenberg. "Look what you've done! You've upset Rose!"
"Fuck sakes…" Said man kicked his stool in annoyance, muttering various curses and insults while he stomped off. Ethan half-expected the man to turn on his heel and flip Dimitrescu off when she tsked and shook her head in disapproval; Instead he continued, disappearing behind a slammed door.
Silently, while rocking and patting Rose, Ethan looked to Chris. Wondering if the teacher was going to go after the class clown or not. Thinking to himself the comparison still fit in an odd way. Chris instead looked unexpectedly understanding as he read Ethan's silent question.
"Don't worry, I've seen guys like him blow up before missions before. It happens."
"Right…" He let Chris return to…whatever they were doing over there. The faintest sound of radio chatter in the silence. He wasn't even going to try and make out what was being said as he cooed his little girl. She really was an angel, settling back into a peaceful state as the atmosphere around calmed down. Little attempts at speech coming out as she reached for his face and anything else she could grab.
He provided a finger, watching her own tiny ones curl around it. Getting big enough that such a trick wouldn't work for much longer. A little reminder to cherish even these moments. It seemed he wasn't the only one thinking it either. The feeling of a gaze on him pulled his own up, finding Dimitrescu's eyes with a wistful tinge on him, or more accurately, Rose.
"I was never able to experience that stage with my girls." The look in her eye translated into the tone of her voice. A question bubbled in Ethan's throat, one he had wanted to ask this entire time.
"Why are they uh, like that?"
"Moth—Miranda was doing experiments and she wanted me to oversee them. There were three girls who responded well to the test and, eventually, they formed into the girls you see today."
"Did you know them... before the experiments?"
She shook her head, "No. I don't know how much of the previous girl's personalities carried over." There was a pause in her answer, one Ethan filled by looking down at Rose. The idea, the concept, so foreign to him. Not being with Rose during these years…Dimitrescu continued. "I wouldn't trade my girls for the world, but some days I wish I'd lived these precious years."
It felt bittersweet to imagine. Knowing if Rose came into his life later on, he'd still love her, but he still couldn't imagine it. Inside of that contemplative silence came the sound of the door opening. Heisenberg emerging from the place he had stormed off to. Cooling down quicker than Ethan suspected.
"I see you've decided to rejoin us." Dimitrescu's prior sentiment was cast to the wind.
"Miranda's called a meeting."
A sentence that not only cut Dimitrescu's banter into non-existence, but the entire room's atmosphere. Chris and his men being the first to shake off the surprise. Only pausing a moment before packing up their temporary station.
Charlie was the first to speak. "The schedule's moving on up."
"Something's off about this timing." Came Rolando's concern.
Chris picked up his share of the equipment, commanding as he went. "It doesn't matter. There's no time to adjust the plan." He only stopped to address Heisenberg on the way. "Counting on you to have them ready."
"We're all set." He nodded the man and his crew off before turning to them with a loud clap of her hands. "Are you guys ready?"
"We don't exactly have a choice." Ethan sighed.
"We are." Dimitrescu stood with a confidence. Hand on her hip as she strode past him. Giving the men a glance over her shoulder by the door. "She'll regret breaking my heart."
Heisenberg leaned towards him as she crouched through the doorway, flashing his teeth. "She's not as insufferable like this." Then he followed after her, beckoning Ethan to join, guiding them onto the elevator. "While we're doing all the heavy lifting, you and dear Rose will be far away from here."
"Where exactly are you sending me?" The gates closed, creaking and whirring to life as they began to move.
"You're always chalk full of questions, aren't you?"
"Not my fault no one ever fills me in."
"You'll be staying in the Duke's carriage. Miranda is a lot of things but she knows to leave him alone."
"I hope you're right." It juttered to a stop at the top floor, gate opening once more.
"Take a cue from mega bitch and have some confidence." Heisenberg was the first out, leading towards one of the building's gates. It was one Ethan wasn't used to, venturing to the back of the building instead of the front.
"If you're going to insult me, at least get more creative." She rolled her eyes, letting him do all the work in opening it.
"I'll work on it after dear old mother is rotting in the ground." He smiled before opening it. The old metal creaking as he used his power. Behind the wood sat the Duke and his carriage.
His face lit up at the sight of Ethan, hands pressed together. "Ethan! So nice to see you again."
There was a light shake as the Alfa hit the ground. Bringing out a sigh of relief from Jill before she stood and stretched. The doors of the church had turned into revolving doors by the time they were done. With Tundra and Lobo ducking in and out constantly to use Miranda's sentiments against it. In turn, no one else was injured and the two women inside were given time to regenerate.
Looking at her remaining ammo, it was good the giant beast was dead. Only so many shots left. If she'd been alone…She pushed the thought out before it formed and looked to Donna instead. Her shaking had gone down but the distraught was still plainly visible in her body language. Looking quite keen on leaving and returning to her companion.
"Hey-" She instinctively went to hold her shoulder before Donna shied away from the touch. She pulled her hand back with a quiet sorry to brush the awkwardness off. "Angie should be unharmed. When I lead the Alfa away it ignored the doll and chased after us."
At that burst of hope, Donna stood up from the pew and gestured for Jill to lead the way. Outside they join Tundra and Lobo by the carcass. Tundra was the first to notice them. "Nice to see you both, I see we're one-" Her comment was cut short by the look Jill shot her way, nodding in understanding and apology afterwards.
"On the way here we saw Ethan and Lady Dim heading to the factory." Lobo shifted the topic. "Last I've heard they're still monitoring the lycan and Miranda activity."
"How was Chris doing?" She crossed her arms, knowing what sort of answer she was going to get.
"The usual. You're going to give him an aneurysm one of these days."
Jill scoffed, or maybe it was a chuckle. "I always thought it would be me and not a B.O.W. that does him in."
Her eyes trailed from the body to the trail they'd come from. Seeing white turn to red and into the horizon. It would be smarter to move as a pack, a thought interrupted by her phone. A ringtone that wasn't without comment.
"You really should use your headset." Lobo chastised as he watched her pull it out.
"Then he'll just use it to scold me more." She grumbled, seeing said man's name on her screen. Remembering their last mission where she went off on her own. Ignoring Tundra's Mmhmm… as she brought it to her ear. Speaking before Chris had a chance to. "There are no injuries or causalities, well, besides the Alfa—"
"Miranda's called a meeting."
"Fuck. Already?" She hissed, seeing her teammates' expressions contort as they're presumably told the same information by Night Howl. "We'll be in position. Be safe out there."
"You too."
She dropped the phone back into her pouch, seeing the hint of Donna's fallen expression behind her veil. It doesn't change anything, heading straight down the trail they'd come from. "Don't worry. It'll be suspicious if you arrive without Angie."
"I'll stay here to meet Umber Eyes." Lobo confirms while Tundra follows behind them.
"Roger that. We'll be quick." Jill led the way, or intended to, but Donna stayed consistently ahead of her. Her head was on a swivel, scanning the environment for any glimpse of that familiar white amongst the stark snow. The matching colour didn't make it any easier.
Which was the excuse Jill first told herself when they arrived where Angie should have been. Jill could've sworn the doll had been resting in that spot, or the surrounding spot. There was no reason for the lycan to pick the doll up. Unless Miranda had done something…that thought disturbed her.
Disturbed was too kind of a word for Donna, however, the poor woman looked on the edge of hysterics as she frantically dug through the snow and grass and everything else nearby. Leaving nothing untouched until Jill was sure there had to have been another party involved, and time was running out.
"Donna." She called.
Heavy, frantic breathing and the first faint hint of her voice came in response.
"Donna!" She tried again. It was a shame, but time was out. When the woman wouldn't stop, her hand was forced, grabbing her shoulder and shocking her from her search. "Donna, we need to get to the meeting."
She saw underneath the veil then. The mutation of her eye wasn't disturbing, no, it was the fear in her other eye that made Jill sympathetic. A long, drawn-out sigh. "Go with Tundra, I'll stay behind a little longer to search for her. You'll be reunited."
Donna didn't look persuaded. Not until Tundra came over and pulled her to her feet. Whatever energy she had to fight wasn't enough against the woman. Maybe it was depression syncing in, maybe it was trust, maybe something else Jill couldn't ever fully experience. Whatever it was, it got Donna moving.
Leaving Jill to search by herself.
Looking for white upon white until her timer sounded.
No Angie. No time.
They had to carry on.