Capital: Dante and Leena PT 1 Who: Dante and Leena What: Two vigilantes on the streets of the Capital Where: The Capital When: Recent Warnings/Rating: Violence, language.
Repose wasn't like Jersey in the way that nowhere was quite like Jersey. She had memories of it now, dark, slick streets with lamp lights that looked like isolated halos of light on the gum-spattered sidewalks. Tonight Repose tasted like fall between her teeth, like falling leaves and impending cool mornings, with the promise of apple cider and wholesome hay rides that hopefully wouldn't end in horror. Jersey had tasted like rain and grit, with the tang of oil and sometimes the shock of death that clung to fresh waterways.
She knew what brought the tang of oil.
In all her years here, she never took the wheel of a car or anything else. Her own two feet could get her where she needed to within the town, and the bus could take her further if she needed to. If she was really bad off, she could call Damian, who would send a car around for her until he'd had enough and just told her how to get in contact with them herself. And speaking of, she'd seen the news about Shadow in the Capital, and a few checks confirmed that neither he nor Misha were at the lake anymore.
The last check had been tonight, before she'd come here, to the backyard of the Mansion. It wasn't the Behemoth anymore, but it wasn't home either, not like the one in Jersey had been. To get into the cave was still the same though, and she was careful to key in the strokes that would identify her in the alarm system.
She hadn't keyed them in since she'd been Helena, but they were there, in the recently uncovered parts of her memory. The layout was both familiar and not, this cave had a different layout, but she had been here before, and se knew where to find what she needed.
The suits were right where she expected them, and she stared at hers for a long time, the royal purple and the white stripe that went across her breasts and bisected her body. A tentative hand reached out to touch the armor that she hadn't worn in years. There was no memory of the feeling, nothing it had been tied to except duty and safety, and to a girl she was only slowly regaining.
It took her another hour before she put it on. She'd been more muscular the last time it had fit, and she could feel it now, loose around the shoulders and biceps and a little around her thighs. The rest of it was perfect, and the gloves didn't even creak when she shoved her hands into them. She flexed them out, made a fist, had the material stretch over her knuckles and it was good. Really good.
But it took her another moment to go find what she really came here for. It was there, under a tarp, only a slight bit of dust on top of it. The bike. Purple with a black seat to hide any blood and she sat down on it for a moment, expecting it to feel weird, to feel something so bulky between her thighs, but it didn't either. It felt easy. Like breathing as she leaned over and finally started it up, the machine purring to life under her. Her eyes closed as she pumped more gas into it, letting it rumble all the way through her.
This was -- this was -- it was the closest feeling to belonging she'd had in so long that it tasted unnatural to her. Foreign. Sweet.
Repose had no need of her, but the Capital? Maybe she'd see Damian there, but driving out of Repose felt like the first shivers of flight without the harsh bite of anxiety.
Spider was out there. Somewhere. There was a tingling in her blood, a boiling of anger that shook the young woman to her core when allowed to overtake her mind unchecked. If Dante - Inferno when on the streets like tonight - knew where Spider was she’d track down the bitch and murder everyone in sight until Spider gave herself up. IF she knew was the unfortunate part of that and for now, perhaps for the benefit of everyone, Dante did not know. However, what Dante did know was where Katagawa was stashing the goods the local gang had stolen in Spider’s name. That’s what had spurred Dante to gather up her gear and pick up the motorcycle she’d hidden off of the city’s radar which was much easier to do while working at a small mechanic’s shop than one would think.
It hadn’t been hard to wait until sun down, gear up in what looked much like a standard motorcycle suit to the untrained eye with a helmet, jacket, pants, and gloves and drive out into the evening with one goal in mind. To a trained eye and a close examination of the pieces it was possible to notice potential ‘offness’ of the suit in slight bulges where there normally wouldn’t have been, or re-sewn seams. Dante had taken extensive periods of time to incorporate small, overlapping ceramic plating along with titanium ribbing and added additional plating where appropriate to make the gear as safe and resistant to damage as it could be. Realistically, all she’d really accomplished so far was effectively making a mostly bulletproof suit on steroids with some tech buffs. There were plans for something more advanced but nothing concrete had come to her yet on how to make it as functional as it’d need to be.
Yet, what she wore tonight? It was this suit that had allowed the vigilante Inferno to roam the streets of The Capital for as long as she had. That and whatever other random piece of combat or defensive tech she’d whipped up over the years. While the shock batons were an old time favorite Inferno had recently taken to her newest invention the stun knuckles. Brass knuckles with a taser shock incorporated might be a little too close for comfort for some people but Inferno loved to brawl. Of course she had other things in her bag of tricks that would allow for much easier fights but.. Where was the fun in that? If she didn’t come away with at least a busted lip how would anyone ever know she’d been in a fight?
The path to where Katagawa’s thugs had stored the goods was… Unnervingly clear. Almost as if they were….
Was this a trap?
Admittedly, Dante had spent years meticulously carving out this plan, carefully, creatively, taking out each new person she found of the criminal faction piece by piece. She’d done everything she ever could have to seperate Inferno’s world from Dante’s and…
This still felt like a trap.
Eyes narrowed as the throttle of the motorcycle was carefully lessened and her speed dropped into acceptable limits for this area of The Capital. It wasn’t exactly early in the evening but the streets were never this dead at night. There was a long, slow inhale as the bike slowed to a stop and her feet impacted the ground. If there was going to be a trap it was either going to be here or further up where the streets narrowed and signs lost all meaning as locals ignored them if they existed at all.
A heavy exhale out was given as Inferno kicked off, lifting her feet back onto the stirrups of the bike and the motorcycle roared to life. Katagawa’s gang was only a few blocks into the lawless streets ahead but that meant any sort of ambush was going to be twice as large and four times harder to contain.
It was gonna be a shitty night for them.
Roaring forward Inferno progressed on the supposed location of the stored goods with full intention of murdering everyone who’d been involved or die trying.
There was a peace to being on the bike, a freedom that she'd only ever felt about running when there were miles between her and whatever she was avoiding. The bike gave her miles between her and Repose, until the city loomed ahead, lights in the windows interrupting the backdrop of it against the sky.
She wasn't here for peace. Her hands didn't itch to feel skin splitting, nor did her knuckles yearn for the crack of broken bones beneath them.
This was something else, the flicker of a cat's tail as she merged onto the streets. There was a small radio on her bike, and she knew it went to one of the communication devices that she'd left behind in the cave, but it could also double as a police scanner if she was looking for something specific.
She wasn't. It was an ear out as she prowled the streets until someone went streaking by on a bike like hers and maybe it was nothing, but maybe it was something, and she flipped her U-ie in the middle of the street, following the other lazily, like a little piece of string that could be attached to a ball, but might not be attached to anything and could be quickly forgotten.
Perhaps it was an instinct that she hadn't yet remembered, that still existed in the grey murk of things uncovered in her memory, but if Leena was asked, it was simple: curiosity. Perhaps she should have thought twice, armed only with her fists and her wits, her crossbow left in the cave as she hadn't intended tonight to be that kind of night. Yet, armed with only those two things she'd also escaped her own prison; she was not unarmed as a foolish person might think.
Her brain clicked away listing her current armaments, defenses and repeating the various escape routes she’d planned from the floorplan found online. The storage compartment in her leg held the G19 pistol she’d brought for the night. Admittedly, it didn’t have the same stopping power as her .357 Magnum but little did in comparison. Hopefully, she wouldn’t regret the choice tonight. There was her shock batons strapped inside a quick release velcro compartment of her pants, the taser knuckles in her pockets and a couple flash bangs - one inside the leg, and the other in a side pouch of the jacket.
The motorcycle engine revved as speed increased and a sharp right was taken causing the motorcycle to lean dangerously to one side but Inferno remained unfazed. This machine? This was a part of her. An extension of who Dante was as a creature in the world. Just like her cars or computing rig at home. The network? Technology? That felt like home or… At least more like home than anything else ever did now-a-days.
Speed picked up dangerously as the road ahead looked clear of people and another sharp turn - left this time - was taken. Tonight was going to be a hard ride. Dante would have to take her baby - she’d jokingly named the motorcycle one night after too much wine Evade - into the shop for some work after.
However, those were thoughts for later as the clearly abandoned looking warehouse building started coming into view. This wasn’t an area that cops regularly patrolled if for fear of the impending death they may encounter or a complete lack of care she’d never fully figured out. Regardless, speed slowed, her grip on the throttle loosening to allow Evade to glide. Revving an engine now? Here? Inferno wasn’t going down without taking at least a few of these assholes with her. While there was no intention to leave a pretty corpse in her mind the vigilante had also made peace with the idea that she could die going into these reckless and incredibly dangerous situations.
Yet that hadn’t stopped her one bit.
Evade cruised to a stop in an alley about half a block from the final destination. There was a moment of consideration given to if this was a good idea with a potential trap on the horizon. She could drive away right now. Try again another-
No.
There was no more argument or consideration in her head as Inferno tossed one leg over the motorcycle and kicked the stand down. A quick pat down was given to herself - a mental checklist of every item on her person gone over - and the voice changer in her helmet was activated. There was debate given to the night vision or heat sensor abilities being activated but they ultimately were decided against. With a heavy exhale hands were stuffed in her pockets - slipping into the knuckles - before Inferno exited the alley and made her way to the building.
The building appeared underwhelming low staffed with only a couple guards outside. For what they were guarding and who they were guarding it for this almost seemed laughable but often there was more than met the eye to these situations. A hand slipped out of her pocket to tap at the helmet. Turning on the night vision a quick scan of the surrounding area was taken with no real threats clearly visible outside of the guards. Another tap was given to the touch panel and heat vision replaced the night vision for potential additional precautions but yielded similar findings.
By now the guards had easily taken notice of the figure in jet black motorcycle gear walking directly towards them.
“Hey!” One called out. “The fuck are you?”
Inferno continued to walk towards them silently, watching their movements and responses.
“Yeah! Who the fuck are you?” The other called out sounding much more pissed off than his friend.
A few more silent steps as one hand remained in her pocket with the taser knuckle already equipped and both guards readied their guns.
“Sound off, bro. Who you?” More anger in the voice, both of the men were starting to look nervous as itchy seeming fingers neared the triggers of their guns. Oh. This was going to be delicious.
“Friend of Spider’s.” The voice was hers but not. The little device inside the helmet did a surprising great job. As long as her helmet didn’t get rattled around too much it worked like a charm.
One of the men seemed to visible relax at that while the other was still clearly on guard. Inferno continued to walk towards the men regardless.
“Oh yeah. Which one?” The angry one remained the most tense.
“Yeah! Which one? Why the hell didn’t we get told you were comin’?!” Unfortunately, this fool was starting to tense as well thanks to his friend’s paranoia.
“Spider needs to keep a low profile.” The first question was completely ignored as Inferno continued casually forward. Her complete nonchalance toward the anger and danger was immediate, obvious and only served to set both the men further at unease. They remained stationed in place, guns drawn and obviously torn between trying to consult with each other or focus on the bitch headed their way.
“We’re gonna need to check with the boss.” The less aggressive of the two finally relented as all three of them stood there with the tension palpable in the air.
“Then check.” Came the indifferent - and practically flippant - response from Inferno.
There was still hesitation however in their postures and their faces. Neither of them trusted her and it showed. Not that there was any reason to trust a stranger walking up emotionlessly to an abandoned guarded building in the middle of the night. Another pause was taken as the men seemed to be trying to communicate without saying a word. Finally after an admittedly brief but heavy with the tension about them silence one of the men broke stance. Reaching up to his ear a tap was given to the communication device before the angier of the two spoke.
“Boss.” His eyes never left her. “Terry.” A beat. “We got a visitor.” Another pause. “Yeah.” Silence lingered for a moment. “They say they’re here from Spider.” There was a longer silence this time as the man appeared to be carefully listening to the message being relayed to him.
Fingers tightened on the taser knuckles in her pocket.
“Understood sir.” The man’s face seemed to have a realization before he nodded. There was something that had shifted in the atmosphere around them. A calm before the storm and Inferno was already launching herself into action.
“So?” The calmer of the two asked while waiting to see what had been said. The other man opened his mouth and that was all Dante would need.
An incredibly fast rolling of hands retrieved the flash bang in her jacket, masked the movement with her other hand moving forward to knock the muzzle of the gun away from the man that hadn’t received the message before pulling the flashbang out, unpinning it and simultaneously throwing the device at the men’s feet and diving off to her left. A quick shoulder roll had her feet back under her almost instantly as she popped back up from the ground. Too much time brawling in bars had taught Dante that you never stayed on the ground unless you wanted to lose. Turning back and dashing in to close the distance between herself and the temporarily disoriented men the knuckled hand rose up in a half boxing position while her other hand retrieved a baton. A flick of her right wrist extended the baton as the taser knuckle sparked to life before being slammed into the nearest jaw she could get to. The sharp outcry from the angrier of the men released from the slug to jaw would bring trouble.
Her thumb flicked on the shock feature of the baton as Inferno twirled with a wide and sloppy swing to luckily land a blow with the shock baton against the second man’s gun arm causing it to be flung and skitter away. It was a dicey tactic and the blow location sucked but risks had to be taken in moments like this where there were only seconds between taking these assholes out and potential death. Especially, as frenzied movement towards the door and shouting inside the building had started to occur. Inferno had heard…. Four voices? It was at least four people then but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be more.
Thankfully, the shock the man got seemed to be enough to drop him for at least the moment and her attention turned back to the angier of the two who seemed to have recovered from the blow. It was… Surprising but not out of the realm of possib-
He was moving.
And fast.
Inferno barely side stepped a full on tackle from the man but now found herself with a new problem as the calmer man - the one she’d thought would be dropped for the entirety of the fight from the power of the shock batons - was beginning to rise which left her flanked between the two of them.
“You’re fucking dead.” The man licked his lower lip, removing the blood from her previous attack as he squared up. At least his gun seemed to be lost for now. Where it had gone? She had no idea but assumed it’d been dropped from her prior strike.
“We’ll see.” Was offered in response as Inferno shifted into a battle stance and waited to see who made the next move.
Look at all the information. All the evidence should lead to one conclusion. If it doesn't, look for more. That was something she could remember now, a lesson instilled in her father's voice, proven by his actions, the few cases they had worked together before her world had shifted into something hostile and unknown.
Someone expected would not coast into a meeting place. The guys that were standing around guarding the warehouse? They were clocked as ordinary goons, which meant that whatever was inside was ordinary.
Like the person before her, she coasted in, switching off her head light so as not to alarm either party that she was about to crash this little tête-à-tête. Pulling off to the side, far enough that if the girl she followed tried to disable her bike she'd leave her own wide open, Leena parked hers and cut the engine.
Why would she attempt to be stealthy if she was expected? That didn't make sense. She crept closer, using the shadows of the buildings and the containers as a means to hide. Her boots made little sound on the pavement, certainly not enough to be heard from their distance, and as they got closer, she could hear the guest and the two guards. Why did the other woman still have her helmet on? What was she hiding?
The voice was good, but she heard the faint metallic in it, the edge of a synthesizer that meant they were masking their voice. They now, as the person in the helmet could have been male for all she knew.
They weren't supposed to be here. That left one of two options: either they were here to break up this party with the goons, or they were here to take whatever the goons were hiding. There wasn't enough data for either one yet, so she waited, crouched, as the scene unfolded.
The goons attacked, but they didn't go for the kill, they went to disarm and incapacitate, and even if the sound of the shock batons had her flinching, she made her choice, and ran forward, the base of her spine going numb. Even if she was wrong, she could deal with that after, but the goons weren't playing and with a snarl as her only warning, she leapt up on his shoulder from behind, her body swinging around with the momentum and pulling him off balance.
So much so that she kept going, swinging around to his other shoulder and landing on the ground a second before he face planted into the pavement with a groan. Leena never expected anyone to stay down easy, not goons, not monsters masquerading as men, and she grabbed a handful of his hair to slam his face into the pavement hard enough that the impact sounded wet.
That only left the one man outside that they were both looking at, and whoever was inside. And, just so they knew that she wasn't here to entirely crash their party, "Hope you don't mind sharing the fun."
The sudden assist in taking down one of the thugs - a new person was another unknown variable to calculate - had caught both Inferno and the other goon off guard briefly. Unfortunately for her the man beside her recovered first and was already on the offensive with a knife drawn from his belt. Inferno reeled back but the knife still skittered across the motorcycle gear revealing quickly that it was much more than met the eye. The knuckled hand drew up again defensively before the man slashed forward and the blade was feigned away with a baton. A brief opening was taken advantage of and Inferno lunged forward driving a knee into the man’s gut and delivering a downward strike against the man’s head as he doubled over. The downward momentum of the strike was followed through to bring the man’s head into the concrete with an obvious, thick CRACK. Maybe she should have hacked the local PA system to play the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams while doing this tonight….
There wasn’t any time for that thought as Inferno launched herself back up to her feet as quickly as possible and positioned herself to keep both the newcomer and the door that the people inside were going to come busting out of both in her line of sight.
A baton and a fist raised defensively with Inferno clearly giving the other person outside with her more attention than the door for the time being.
“Who are you?” The question was as short and direct in tone as the wording might suggest. They didn’t have much time - maybe one minute - before the men inside came running out with guns and her plan to take out the guards, use their keys to open the doors, flashbang the people inside and then take them out like shooting fish in a barrel had just now met one hell of a major snag.
And taking the time to deal with this variable was complicating her potential plan that much more with every second they stood facing off - in Inferno’s mind, until told otherwise - against each other.
She started to call out a warning when thug #2 recovered faster than the other person, and she caught just enough to see that the motorcycle jacket was more than just a jacket. Not their first rodeo then, and she stepped back, recognizing another cat's kill. A little smile pulled her lips upwards as his face cracked on the sidewalk, a twin for goon #1.
But now was not a time to relax, not with the other person springing to their feet, everything about their posture screaming defense, and unknown. Leena got that, she'd been there before she decided to jump in. Were they a threat? Were they not? It was her turn to face the threat assessment and she slowly raised up her gloved hands, fingers loose and relaxed, in the universal sign of not being a threat.
"Artemis." Greek Goddess of the hunt, amongst other things. It was not a name she'd associated herself in a long time, longer than associating herself with Helena Wainwright, but there it was, rolling off her tongue. "Introductions maybe later?"
She didn't need her cat hearing to know that there were more goons coming, and out of the warehouse currently behind her. It wasn't a good position, and she started walking, slowly still, hands up, so she could at least watch the door and keep an eye on the person with her too.
"You here to steal what they've got in there?" It was straightforward, and blunt even, but she was watching them as she asked, waiting for all the little tells of their body to discern if they'd only be fighting goons tonight, or if they'd be fighting one another.
Head remained locked in position to keep all threats in within her line of view. This wasn’t good. They were losing time and she suddenly desperately wished she’d figured out how to make an audio enhancement feature into the helmet’s abilities. It was hard to fully gage where within the building the current group of thugs where but…
Hands up. A name. A suggestion. The newcomers potential threat level was lowering in Inferno’s mind.
“Introductions later.” Was quickly agreed upon without a name being given in return. It wasn’t that the concept of returning a name wasn’t considered, it was simply that Inferno wasn’t sure it was a good idea yet. What power would giving up her name give? Well, Spider’s people knew full well Inferno was the one who continued to do all the damage to them. If this person was connected to Spider she didn’t want to fully give herself away quite yet.
“Four minimum inside.” The defensive stance was held but no movement was taken as Artemis began to move away from her prior position. Inferno at this point seemed far more locked on the door - though her attention didn’t completely remove from the other person - than not. However, the new question was a matter of… Eyes narrowed inside the helmet. What game was this person playing at?
“Are you?” Was quickly and defensively shot back at the question and the hand with the taser knuckles turned off the charge before pocketing the piece of equipment. The baton remained crackling in the night air and readied for combat as the now free hand reached down and began to pull open a flap on the right thigh of the pants. To a close eye underneath would appear to have a smooth black metallic sheen and gloved fingers pressed against the leg causing a small metallic arm to hold out her remaining flashbang. The flashbang was snatched from the arm and just as quickly the arm folded back into the leg and the flap was flipped closed as if nothing had happened at all. If the momentary show of trust - partially unarming to equip new gear - didn’t put them on the same page and side for the moment Inferno wasn’t sure what would.
“Stay out of my way if you are.” The words were gruff and terse - almost seeming like the split second decisions were more of a frustration than anything - as Inferno shifted and held the flashbang up to indicate what they were doing now. Beginning to move towards the door Inferno had a new plan. She’d hide outside of immediate sight range and toss the flashbang at their feet as soon as they came running through the damn door. It wasn’t the best plan but bottlenecking them for ease of murder was a better alteration on her original plan than none. Here was hoping this new person wouldn’t fuck that plan up too.
She nodded, a simple bob of her head, her hair glancing off her shoulders with the movement. Introductions later, because they didn't have the time now. And as for the goons inside the building -- she tilted her head, eyes blinking slowly, too slowly, as she focused and listened. Four sets of feet coming fast, two more behind, still, one set of the behind feet was jiggling on the floor. Perhaps they were back watching the video feed.
She listened for another minute to their breaths, the jingle of guns against buttons, all the little sounds that counted up. "Six inside," she said with another one of those lazy blinks. "Four coming out. Two hundred feet." If asked, Leena wouldn't explain how she knew that, or how the sides of her face were numb. Beneath the shelter of her hair, her ears had moved slightly, rounding entirely, but the most noticeable change was how they were granite.
The question had her focus re-centering on them and she shook her head. "Came kinda light if I'm hoping to take anything out with me," she pointed out as evidence. Her gaze focused on the baton, and she half expected to feel that tingle of unease creeping up from between her shoulders and seeping into her neck, but it didn't come.
What did come was the curiosity as she watched that little arm emerge from their leg holding out a grenade. Cybernetics? Armed prosthetic? Her gaze sharpened, not in that want it-gotta have it way, but in that curious want to see it way pumped up to a 10. It would have to wait though, the goons were coming, and she didn't have to focus anymore to hear them. "One fifty."
When they moved as if to bottleneck the incoming goons, Leena caught on and moved out of sight as well, once again using the shadows to mask her presence from anyone that might be watching on camera. Yet she stayed where they could see her, and she counted down their distance on her fingers until they were clearly heard on the other side. There was a clank and a clang, additional locks being opened and she assumed they were counting down to throw the door open. It seemed exactly like that as the door was thrown wide, guns all pointed out and she closed her eyes against the inevitable flash.
What the actual fuck?
Eyes narrowed and a low murmur was given to change the helmet over to dark vision for a quick scan of the area and nothing seemed to come up. How the fuck did this new person know about the number of people inside? Their distances? This screamed set-up. How the fuck would anyone be able to….
She should have hacked the warehouse’s systems and then screen-in-screened their feed in a smaller window on his display. Why the hell hadn’t she thought of that before?
Next time.
Yet, if this person was helping her…. There was really only one way to find out.
Positioning herself accordingly while keeping an eye on the countdown was easy, it only took minorly longer than normal due to trying to find an appropriate cover location that would allow her to spring into combat as soon as it happened. Regardless, it would seem the other person’s count was right and the flashbang went rolling to their feet earning a - far too late - yell of ‘watch out!’ from one of the men and attempts to dive out of the way were made.Two of the four managed to keep ahold of their guns, while the flashbang managed to clearly heavily disoriented both men with guns and one of the others who had dropped their gun. The last man who had dropped his gun wouldn’t appear to be quite as disoriented as the rest and - as Inferno didn’t recognize him as someone she needed to question - would be the first one she set her sites upon.
There was heavy consideration given to blowing the less disoriented man’s brains out right there but they still - in theory - could use surprise to their advantage. If they kept everyone as quiet as possible it would delay the cops getting here and it would delay anyone inside from playing back-up to the goons in front of them.
A pop of the compartment in her leg released the pistol it held into her grasp and the weapon was quickly strapped underneath the flap that had covered her batons. She’d save the gun for later. The second baton was retrieved and extended with Inferno dashing before dropping into a slide that would take her right to left across the front of the group of men. With the slide a baton would be turned on and extended as she attempted to take their knees out with it, or at least give them one hell of a shock, before scrambling to get well away from the group and back up into a defensive position again.
This was their show, and Leena could follow up, add support as was needed, and watch as the grenade made her eyelids flare pink. Once it was gone, she was moving high as the other person went low. Only one of the goons looked really aware, and she went after him first, running out from her hiding spot and using one of the downed goons as a leaping point, legs out in front of her to hit him high in the chest.
They both went down, and she stopped with her knee in his chest, her other leg stretched out to pin down his gun hand. She shifted a little on him, her plumed tail flicking behind her for balance, the tip vibrating a little in the air as she leaned her weight onto her foot and listened to the bones in the thugs wrist protest the treatment. "Drop it," she growled, easing forward until her knee was threatening his throat.
The others were still moving behind her, though one of them was down and groaning, reaching for his knee where the other vigilante must have gotten him. One was out completely, and one was leaning up against the wall, cursing. Yeah, he needed to go down before he shot one of them, and with another low snarl, she twisted up, tail grabbing the end of her thug's gun and flinging it backward to hit the other goon in the head. He hit the floor with a muffled moan and she dropped back down, knee fully on the guy's throat. "You need this one for anything?"
Inferno finished up her slide and got up to her feet relatively quickly and even then it seemed not quite as quick as the newcomer was moving. There was time to witness a bit of their handiwork before Dante was moving again.
“Only one I need is Katagawa.” The words were short and direct as eyes fixated forward towards the remaining thug that had been taken down via the thrown gun. Even if he was on the ground and moaning that was still a risk, a variable that she wasn’t about to get shot over. Minimize your risks. was all that ran through her head and it accompanied hard shock baton strikes at the back of the man’s neck. That left the one the other person had, the other one gripping his knee and the final one that appeared to be unconscious. There was only a second of debate before Inferno would move to kill the man out cold by driving a baton through his eye socket unless otherwise stopped.
The last thing either of them needed was one of these fuckers finding a gun and shooting either of them in the back.
Who Katagawa was, Leena didn't know, but she understood well enough that this one was not of use. That was all she needed to stay where she was until his eyes rolled up in the back of his head. He was still breathing, but he was going to be out. That didn't stop her from rolling to her feet and grabbing his wrists, one hand already reaching into her utility belt for the zip ties. Police could deal with them once they were done here.
She turned back to see what the other person was doing, and they were standing over one goon, body poised for a killing blow. Of that, Leena was sure, and she wondered if she should stop them or not, before the decision was made. "Hey, tie him up," she said quietly, as if that would break the spell, and reached into her belt to grab more. There were plenty of them, and it wasn't anything to hand them over. "Cops can deal with them. More than likely they have priors and shouldn't be out here anyway."
That wasn't a death sentence to her. She continued to move, zip tying wrists and ankles, then attaching them together behind the goons' back to keep them on the ground. Once they were bound, she searched them quickly, making sure none of them had knives that could help them get out sooner than they were ready, but also aware that there were at least two more in the warehouse. One of them had a pea shooter that she tossed deeper into the warehouse, but there wasn't anything else to find and she stood, nodding to the other vigilante. "Ready when you are."
They had to be a girl. Following a man wasn't nearly as easy.
“Tie them up?” Even with the voice scrambler the sharp disbelief and anger at the direction was immediate and obvious. There was a scoff in response and the ties offered were looked at briefly before the hand was completely ignored and Inferno’s gaze rose to study the other person.
“Who said the cops were coming?” This question was biting and pointedly direct. The more this person talked, the less they were making friends. Dirty cops were in every city and Dante wasn’t about to chance any of that. One brush with bad cops had cost her far too much already and knowing Spider could buy members of the police force? Oh no, there was no way in hell she was doing that.
However, the one she’d been moving to kill? Dante would leave alone. If this person wanted to get one of them shot then so fucking be it. This partnership was going to draw to a close really fucking fast with how this other person kept stepping on her damn toes and that was putting it fucking politely.
Hands shifted to pat down her pockets. Everything was still there and the batons were finally flicked off. The hidden panel they’d been stored in prior was opened - revealing the pistol - and the batons were traded out for the gun. Fingers moved quickly, popping the clip out to check it was fully loaded before clicking it back in, flicking off the safety and checking the sight. It all was working just fine and Inferno moved to roughly grab up the man who’d been hugging his leg prior. Inferno lifted him easily to his feet and pressed the muzzle against the center of his back. It would probably make sense to cut the ankle tie but…
“Please don’t kill me.” The man’s voice shook with a whimper as he realized the exact position he was about to be placed in.
“Ready. Let’s have our friend lead the way.” Inferno completely ignored the man’s request and spoke directly to the apparent follower she’d just gained. Honestly, she hadn’t been waiting for the other person, didn’t want to wait. The fact of the matter was their timing seemed serendipitous as they both finished their tasks and checks roughly at the same time. The gun pressed into the man’s back more, prompting him to hop forward.
“Take it slow.” There was a growl in the command even if it might have been the first bit of kindness she’d shown. “Fall and I’ll shoot you.” The man tensed but gave a small nod and repressed a mild whine. Another nudge of the gun was given to his back and he hopped forward again. Having to seemingly learned how this was going to work the goon would abide by the nudges hopping forward - with a mild whine on some - on command each time carefully as he ‘lead’ the way into the largely empty and open warehouse.
Any shelving it had was mostly gone and the northwestern entrance they entered through had nothing remotely near it. There was a brief side glance given to her left down the length of darkness that stretched fuck all knew how far but the man seemed focused forward.
“Stop.” The command was immediate and the man froze with fear clearly streaking over his features. Suddenly words started spilled forward in a hushed panicked whisper from him that sounded much like a prayer “Ángel de la Guarda, dulce compańía, no me desampares ni de noche ni de día. No me dejes-.”
“¡Cállate! Jesús no te salvará.” Came the instant hushed snap at the man. The harshness would cause his jaw to quickly shut on a silent sob. The gun was shifted into one hand but remained pressed in the man’s back as her other hand reached up to tap at the helmet. The dark vision was flipped on and eyes scanned the darkness off to their side. As far as she could see there didn’t appear to be anything out there that would pose a threat. The vision would be flipped back to normal - she really ought to hook this directly into her thoughts already - and the free hand fell to sure up her grip on the gun which was pushed into the man’s back signaling him to progress forward.
Realistically, it wouldn’t take them long to make it to the warehouse office door but even the minute or so it took felt like forever. Of course Katagawa wasn’t going to make this easy. Now the question was did they open the door or did they let the man in front of them? She didn’t have another flashbang…. But this pistol would easily cut through the thin metal of the door.
“Open it.” Was the next command given and the man - seemingly resigned to his death - gave a nod. His hands reached up fumbling with the handle briefly before pushing the door open in front of them.
As the door started to lazily swing open - inwards, of course it had to be fucking inwards - Inferno smashed the butt of the gun into the back of the man’s head dropping him to the ground unconscious almost instantly and forcing the door open faster. Thankfully, the man’s weight dropped like a rock hitting the ground before the door even finished opening because Katagawa was there and ready for them with an Uzi aimed at the door. It seemed their saving grace was Katagawa’s surprise at the sudden change of speed in the door opening as she locked eyes with him milliseconds before he would start to fire. There was an intentional slide backwards as an attempt to shove the other vigilante safely out of the way of gunfire before dropping into push-up position on the ground.
It was pure luck that bullets only grazed Inferno’s suit but the pressure from even the glancing blows was going to leave bruises later. ‘Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.’ Ran through her head as the hail of bullet fire continued above their heads.
“Get out of here!” Was barked back at the other person hoping they were still capable of fleeing. Playing hero was not on her list of shit to do tonight. Head turned up, looking towards the open door that gunfire had just stopped coming through. Katagawa seemed to have not caught that they weren’t dead yet… Or maybe he was just too busy reloading. Regardless, Inferno rolled out of any potential line of sight before smoothly pulling herself up and keeping the pistol in one hand. They needed a new plan and they needed it now. ‘LEEROY JENKINS!’ Her brain helpfully supplied. ‘No. Bad plan. Plan F go.’ Because they had easily already burned through plans A through E.
There was rapid movement, hands swapping gear to holster the gun and pull out the taser knuckles from her pockets. A quick press of buttons had them crackling to life with around 300,000 volts of electricity. The batons held a higher charge but that wasn’t what was important right now. Keeping silent and ensuring she was off at an angle to not really be visible one activated taser knuckle was hucked through the door and into the office sparking all the way.
Unfortunately, her hopes of the thrown electrified brass knuckle didn’t work at all how she hoped and instead of shooting towards where the knuckle would land Katagawa would instead begin unloading a clip in Inferno’s direction. The bullets sliced easily through the thin metal of the office’s walls and Inferno was once again scrambling in attempts to not end up on the coroner's table.