Axis

[Rose]

“Pardon me,” Basia said in her thickly accented and slightly snobbish way, looking to Ghost as she stood just outside of the van. “But I think it’s much too late to worry about this security nonsense. I’m going in there.”

She turned to gaze at the stretching field that lead to the mansion and her heart picked up pace. Off in the distance she could see something bright, though it flickered too much to be lights. And when she strained her eyes against the dark night she saw a solid black mass rising up, twisting into the sky…

“We have to go, now!” She had no gun yet, but she planned on getting one.

Inside the van, Jimmy was staring through the windshield. He felt his blood run cold, the sight of the distant fire sending a wave of flashbacks behind his eyes. He tried not to remember the burning temple crumbling to the ground, the dead monks around it. His eyes narrowed and he drew Dominik’s gun, cocking it and nodding to Pilot in response. It was obvious what he wanted to do. Jimmy slipped out the back of the van, pausing just long enough to glance over the women. He nodded to them as well, the dark look back in his eyes, and slammed the door shut, running out to meet Basia.

----------------------------------------
Outside the mansion, guards started falling, their gunfire redirecting but disorganized from the sudden confusion. Cally heard shouts and peaked outside the window to see one of them firing out into the darkness wildly. She turned and nodded to Jack.

“I think reinforcements arrived.”

(((sorry, my head hurts so bad and I’m all dizzy and whatnot. I had to end the post here.)))

[GnomesAteMyCake]

Jack stared at the smoke that was inching its way under the door, his eyes widening. Taking a few steps away from the door, he nearly bumped into Cally as she muttered that the reinforcements were on their way.

"Reinforcements?" he parroted, confusion clear on his boy-like face, his upper teeth biting down on his lip. Jack wasn't scared of many things- drunken people and clowns to name a few- but fire was one of the things on his list. As much as he knew that the four of them needed to get out of the mansion alive, the thought of fighting through the smoke made him shudder. "You think there's much of'a chance of them gettin' us outta here?"

Cally shook her head, and Jack sighed loudly, eyeing the smoke again. It would be so much easier to stay in the room and hope for rescue to come....but if Cally thought it was less than likely, and she knew their companions better than he did, then he better believe her. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he looked her deep in the eyes.

"Cap'n....yah gotta believe me when I say yah need tuh trust me right now, okay?" he got a hesitant nod in response. Giving the girl a small smile, he gripped her wrist and pulled her towards the double doors and towards the smoke. Dragging her to the ground with him, Jack reached up to push the door open before crawling along the floor on his belly, remembering a fire-drill lecture back in school about how you need to get under the smoke so you could breath. Granted, the smoke wasn't all that thick as of yet, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Still managing to pull cally along by the wrist, he was soon beside Silk and Lauren; Silk was firing out of the windows, his lips drawn back in a snarl as he fired round after round into the guards, and Lauren was lent against the marble column, her hands gripping her leg and her teeth gritted. Touching her arm gently, Jack pulled her hands away from her leg so that he could look at the wound. Pulling the medikit from his back, he quickly opened it and pulled out a gauze patch and a roll of bandage before quickly binding the wound, stopping Lauren from bleeding anymore but not removing the bullet. Surely there were better Medic's under Clementines employment than him.

"Ya think ya can move?" Jack whispered quietly to her, getting a nod in return. Giving her a gentle smile, he tapped Silk on the shoulder, causing the man to duck down and look at him, his eyes darting around. "Right. On my count, we run. Cover yur mouth'n pray we don't run inta nuthin', cuz I can't fire through smoke." Looking grimn, Jack counted them off.

"Three, two, one....run!"

On his word, all four of the Beta team ran for the stairs, Silk with his arm around Lauren's shoulders to help her stagger down the stairs. Holding his Remmington aloft, Jack fired at any sound of movement, the cries of injured men sounded like music to his ears. As they entered the kitchen, Jack raised his gun at the sight of a giant in the smoke. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Cally shrieked, grabbing the barrel of the gun and pulling it downwards, the bullets tearing though the tiles on the floor, the chips showering the four of them.

"Cally, wha-"

"Don't shoot him! That's Jimmy; he's harmless!" she coughed, covering her mouth with her hand as the smoke thickened. Grumbling to himself, Jack reached out and grabbed someone's wrist (Silks' or Laurens, he wasn't sure) and tugged them towards the figure.

"Hi, m'names Jack n' we need tuh get the hell outta here!" he shouted to the figure, rushing past him and raising a booted foot to kick the door open. The smoke bellowed out into the night. Dragging his companions after him, Jack managed to get a few hundred feet from the house before the whole thing collasped, a loud whooph and crackle sounding out as the building crumbled. Apparently Cally wasn't the only one to lay bombs in the house, as an explosion boomed behind them, knocking them flying. Spitting grass out of his mouth, Jack snapped around at the sound of a grunt of pain to see Silk collasped on the ground, the back of his head bleeding.

"Mr. Silk!" Lauren cried, covering her mouth as Jack crawled towards him and scooped the thin man into his arms.

"F'get it, I got'em! Just get movin'!" he shouted as he began to run again, the blaring of a vehicle horn directing him through a hole in the wall and towards a truck. The tall man named Jimmy bolted past them, throwing open the back of the truck as they all piled in.

Panting, Jack laid Silk out on one of the seats that ran along the back of the van, making the others that were already sat down move so he could lay the injured man out. His chest continued to rise and fall, although his head bled profusely. Once again opening the medikit as the truck sped away, everyone in the back staggering at the sudden burst of speed, Jack pulled a pad of gauze out and applied it to the back of the mans head. Sighing, he looked over at the others, a weak smile breaking out over his face.

"Hey y'all....m'names Jack...Cap'n, please tell me yuh still got thuh laptop..."

[tystys03]

Vincent found the night air to be quite stifling. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was because he hadn’t seen Clementine in so long or if it was just “one of those days”. There was one thing that was certain, however: this visit would be quite the interesting one. Any evening with that man had always proven to be fulfilling, if not at the very least entertaining. At this point in his life, Vincent would have given anything to see some sort of excitement; a robbery, a bar fight, a mission gone awry, anything. But, thanks to Vincent’s inherent nature, things had always gone “according to plan.” No matter what the nature of the job was, he had always had a rather meticulous approach to his assignments, starting from the planning phase, right down to the very execution. He was incredibly precise in every little thing he did, going through each and every detail and reviewing them thoroughly. Some would call him a perfectionist; he merely saw it as “taking pride in one’s work”. Yet, the problem with accomplishing tasks so efficiently in one line of work was that it really sealed off many other opportunities for you. In the end, it was always the same. Infiltrate the area, seize the target and “extract” the necessary information from them. In and out in about two to three weeks, a month at the latest. In seven years, he had not fired his gun once and had only taken the lives of about forty people; a phenomenally low amount when you consider what his profession entails. With that said, one could only imagine how ecstatic Vincent was when he got the call from Clementine hours earlier.

He and Clementine had a bit of history. For the longest time, they had taken on the criminal underworld and been at the top for years. With Clementine’s perseverance and resources and Vincent’s professional skills and methods, they had been quite the unstoppable force for what seemed like an eternity. Yet, as the years flew by and the duo became increasingly noteworthy in their profession, Vincent had found that Clementine grew tired of their escapades. Clementine had felt that they were nothing but mere thieves and craved more. He wanted to become something greater than the two of them could ever hope to imagine, an honest to god crime ‘King pin’. Vincent, however, saw things a bit differently. As far as he was concerned, they had it made already. They lived like kings, experiencing a rock star’s life style, with parties, women and an extensive amount of illegal, intoxicating substances. He loved the life he lead and didn’t want a single thing to change. The two of them argued over this conflict in interests, almost for months at a time. Finally, they had decided it was perhaps best to part ways.

Every now and then, Vincent would check in on Clementine, watching as he laid down the foundation for Axis and gathered his would be agents, yet the two never really conversed. For seven long years, the duo had not spoken one word to one another. Then, out of the blue, Vincent received a call from a blocked number and was excited to recall a voice he hasn’t heard in a very long time. The call was even more exhilarating when Clementine had called Vincent with an interesting job proposal. For old-times sake, Clementine had asked if Vincent would like to come out to the mansion in New York, as to perhaps catch up and correctly explain the details of the mission he was to be assigned.

Vincent heard the crunch of gravel underneath the tires of his limo, signifying his arrival. He began to survey the landscape, taking in each and every detail. As his ride drove up to the side of the mansion, Vincent laughed silently under his breath, shaking his head. “Still quite the exhibitionist, I see.” The driver parked the car and ran to Vincent’s door, opening it for him. As he stepped out into the night, a cool night breeze fell over the land. He took in a deep breath of the fresh air and smiled.

The doors to the Victorian mansion flew open, with Seven running out to meet Vincent. Seven approached him with a wide smile. “Welcome, sir. It’s been quite a long time,” Vincent smiled and replied “Far too long, my friend. Where is that beast of a man?” Vincent inquired. “Right this way, sir.” Seven began to lead Vincent into the mansion. After a rather tedious trek through the old mansion, they had finally happened upon Clementine’s den. Seven proceeded to open the door and enter the room, Vincent following closely behind. As Vincent walked in, he took a large whiff of the air and smiled. “Still smoking the cheap stuff, I see.”

[Aubs]

Gretchen wanted to nonchalantly fold her arms across her chest and cross her legs to be completely hostile toward the other people inside of the van, but she couldn’t do it if her heart pleaded with her to. There wasn’t much room for movement and Gretchen wasn’t exactly too keen on the matter [something that definitely showed across her entire face]. She usually would have hid her feelings to stay in good graces with the others, but she wasn’t going to pretend. “Ugh, could you scoot over more? I need a little more room!” She sneered at Audra, who had been seated next to her in the van.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to be able to do that? Does it look like I have any room to move over?” Fox responded, glaring back at Gretchen. She turned over toward Basia and rolled her eyes. “God, she’s so annoying..” She whispered over.
“I may be annoying, but I’m certainly not deaf, sweetie. I mean, I didn’t think you were so slow in the head. You seemed way smarter than I thought you were.” Gretchen retorted, batting her eyelashes.

“You two need to stop! We have much more important things happening right now than this petty argument! I mean, look at Silk for heaven’s sake!” Basia screamed at the top of her lungs in her heavy accent, causing the car full of talking people to go silent. “Save the drama. Now isn’t the time.”

Not Miss Nice Manners anymore, are we? I figured it’d be a matter of time before she cracked. Gretchen thought rolling her eyes and staring over to Jimmy, who hadn’t had the same appearance he had prior to the beginning of the mission. He was even more reserved than before, which seemed impossible in a sense. Then, without even a few seconds after Basia spoke, Gretchen shoved her entire right elbow into Fox’s left side. She giggled a little before muttering out, “Oh my god, I’m sorry.” before overriding that apology with a few giggles. Most of the eyes in the van darted over into her direction, when a new set of eyes belonging to Jack set Gretchen off.

“Who the hell are you?”

Jack looked around, confused as to who Gretchen had been speaking to. He wasn’t sure if she’d been speaking to him so he casually turned back around.

“Yes, I’m talking to you, Trucker Hat. I mean.. it’s more than obvious who I was speaking to, duh.”

Jack turned back around. “Oh… well… Mname’s Jack. Clementine sent me tah cover ya’ll.” He didn’t know what more to say so he finished his words with a little smirk.

“I see,” Gretchen responded back, not really caring.

“He’s our new weapons expert. He’s on our team and he just saved us, so try to be a little nicer.” Cally turned around and chimed in.

“But I definitely was being nice,” Gretchen announced. “I just needed to know who this big muscle-y guy was. It’s not like I had a fucking cow or something, god.” Pills definitely needs to take notice to her name and take one! Just who does she think she is? The hick is good looking, but he’s got nothing on my sexy quiet hotness over there! She played with the strands of her black hair. “Anyway,” she moved her eyes at Jack. “I sensed a little twang in your voice. It's cute. You’re most definitely a country boy.” She playfully winked.

The van finally came to a stop as the group made it back to the mansion. Opening the doors, everyone sighed of relief. Gretchen sighed because she’d gotten to move around much more while everyone else had been sighing for freedom from Gretchen of course. It was a sign that if they had to suffer through her any longer, someone would have been killed.
Everyone gathered their things and began to make their way into the house when Gretchen noticed Jimmy still outside. She walked over, buttoning up the buttons to her trench coat. “Are you alright? You just.. something doesn’t seem right with you.” Normally, Gretchen hadn’t been as caring with anyone in her life. This was sort of new for her, but she was going to try her hand at being nice. Hell, maybe it’ll cause him to actually speak to me for once.. Here's to hoping at least. I'm not one to pray or anything but I definitely think now is a time you owe me, God. I mean, look at me I'm being..... nice. Just help me out, will ya?

[Rose]

As the van pulled up to the mansion Cally forced herself to stop glaring at Gretchen and looked down at her bag instead. She unzipped it and carefully removed the computer, passing it over to Ghost with a small smile.

“Here. This is your area of specialty, I think.” As she handed it over, Ghost rested the laptop on his knees with a relived look. It was the only thing on the whole mission that had any sort of familiarity to him. He started typing away furiously, bent over the screen as it lit up his pale face, making him look like the being he was named for. Cally felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around, startled slightly. She let out a breath when she saw it was Jimmy. He was looking her over, concerned, and she waved him off with a grin.

“I’m invincible, Jimmy. Don’t worry, there’s not a damn scratch on me,” Cally said with a laugh, but it slowly died off when she glanced at her friend’s shoulder. She’d noticed it before, but it was still bleeding slowly and she wondered how well he’d be able to use his arm. He needed it to do his job, after all. With a sigh she stood up and jumped out of the van as Pilot pulled them to a stop.

“Get that taken care of, dude. I’ll go tell the butlers we’ve got injured people.”

As Cally and the others ran off, Silk and Lauren carried between them, Jimmy looked up at the night sky. He had killed people, he thought. He killed people he knew nothing about for a mission he didn’t understand for a man whose motives he questioned. It wasn’t sitting right with him. But what worried him the most was that he didn’t regret killing those men. There had been a vastly more peaceful time in his life when the thought of death on his hands gave him nightmares. Now his worst dreams were of never killing the men he hunted. That would be his only regret- to die before he could make things right. But Clementine had promised to help him…

“Are you alright? You just... something doesn’t seem right with you.”

Jimmy blinked and looked down at Gretchen, only just noticing her. Behind them Clementine’s butlers One and Seven had come to collect the unconscious Dominik, dragging him off to the side of the house and presumably through some side door. Jimmy didn’t know what they’d do with him and didn’t care to think into it. Pushing it out of his mind, he gave the woman before him a tired smile and nodded. He pointed to his shoulder, indicating the ripped piece of his tattoo and the sticky, half-dried blood down his front. Then he shrugged.

She must have been waiting for him to say something, because the silence drew out between them as she stood there staring. Jimmy looked around, and when he realized they were alone the giant man did something unheard of: he blushed. Suddenly nervous, he smiled sheepishly and put his hand on Gretchen’s shoulder, turning her toward the door and guiding her inside after the others. The last thing he needed was for this woman to be rubbing all over him again. He wasn’t sure what their last encounter meant, if it was a part of the job or something more, but with his recent slipping practice of his faith, he didn’t want to push his luck. Swallowing hard, he closed the door behind them and released Gretchen as they approached their team just inside.

---------------------------------------------

Candles flickered in the den of the house, their illumination aided by a single lamp on Clementine’s desk and the glow of a small, personalized laptop before him, not unlike the one taken from Dominik. He glanced up distractedly at the sound of the door opening, but Vincent’s voice made a smile split his stolid face. He closed the computer and leaned back in his chair, opening his arms wide in greeting.

“Vincent! You’ve no idea how glad I was to hear that you accepted my request. It’s been too long, really.” Clementine pressed his cigar down into his marble ashtray and stood up, walking over briskly to shake his old friend’s hand.

“My newest project, Echo, has already arrived. One of them is here- a Ms. Ehrlichmann, who you might remember meetingbefore- and the rest are on their first mission and should be returning shortly. They seem like a promising group. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed here, Vincent.” Clementine looked like he wanted to say more, but One poked his head into the room, bowing his thin frame.

“Sir, Echo is pulling in. From the talk over their communication links, it sounds like there are injured among them. Shall I get Dr. Ehrlichmann?”

“Yes, get Angie,” Clementine said with a grunt and nodded, waving a hand. He looked back to Vincent and gestured toward the door. “Let us go see how our project is going, hm?”

Ehrlichmann, Clementine, and Vincent were all waiting just inside as the haggard-looking team came through the door. Angie immediately went over to Silk, yelling at some butlers to take him to the nearest couch in the other room. She followed after them quickly, the clicking of her heels against the tile the only sound in the room for a moment. Clementine looked over the rest of the group, frowning.

“I am both very pleased that you have all returned from your completed mission and terribly sorry to see you in such a state because of it,” the boss said, stepping closer. “I promise you that I did not foresee any extra troubles you might have encountered. Regardless, you are all my responsibility and your welfare is important to me. An extra three thousand dollars will be put into your accounts as compensation on top of the ten thousand you’ll receive for your success. I hope this is acceptable.”

Clementine smiled hopefully at them all, then gestured to One, who stood in the man’s shadows as always.

“A celebration is in order, I think, for your outstanding job. My men will be setting up some scotch and cigars, as well as bringing you all something to eat in the living room, should you feel up for it. I want you all to feel welcome and refreshed after your mission, so I encourage you to indulge yourselves. Whatever you desire, One or the others will see what they can do for you.” Clementine nodded, and at the end of his words One bowed to them all and set off toward the living room to get things read.

“I will join you soon in your little celebration, and then I leave you. I will return to the house the next time I am in need of your services. I expect this will be in two weeks. You are free to come and go as you please, but I ask that you do not stray far, in case I have need of you sooner. Now, go enjoy yourselves.”

Clementine waved them off then, and people started to wander off, some toward their rooms and others for the living room. Cally stayed by Jimmy, inspecting his wounds, and Jack was by Lauren, helping her stand. The boss looked her over slowly, then back at Vincent over his shoulder.

“Get the computer from the scrawny boy,” he said quietly. “Then destroy it. We’ll deal with Dominik later tonight. For now, you might as well indulge yourself as well. Mingle if you’d like. There are beautiful women here for more reasons than their skill. If you aren’t feeling up to it, there is the master bedroom beside my den that is unused. Feel free to make yourself at home. For now, I’ve got some things to discuss…”

Smirking, Clementine nodded to his friend, then approached Lauren. He nodded to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“The doctor is busy, but please, let me care for you. I have some supplies in my den. It would be terribly rude of me to make you wait around in pain. Here-“ Clementine put his arm around Lauren to support her, moving her from Jack. Despite his words, he didn’t seem to take any notice of Jimmy and his bleeding shoulder. Nodding quickly to Jack, the boss began escorting Lauren to his den.

[Tusk]

Ghost typed in the password and feverously began searching for the file. He made sure to keep himself quiet and in a corner as everyone began to be driven to the mansion. He hooked up his laptop to the one from dominik, His laptop was hooked in to make sure there was no security viruses on his laptop. Ghost reasoned that if someone would burn down a mansion over a laptop, they would most likely have a few security systems in place. Ghost was right.
" Great, the password was only to log into the computer. There are three more surrounding three files, "
He mummbled to himself as he began to type on his computer. His fingers moved like lightning. After several scans, he noticed two were dummy files and one was the real deal.

Ghost began hacking the real file as his mind began to wander. At least two were injured and the mission was a success. However, something did not sit right with him. Why would Clementine go through all of this just for a laptop. What was on that file that was so important. Dominik was out, but Ghost knew something was wrong. THere would be no way Clemintine would of been interested in them unless they were useful. Ghost looked back at Dominik as the van stopped. It was easy to ignore the pale guy with the laptop, so no one even noticed Ghost as he finally cracked the code and accessed the file. He needed to see just why Cleminine sent them on a death mission. He needed to Know just Why clemintine wanted that one file. He did not trust Clemintine. Ghost could not help but think that if they were obsolete, Clemintine would have no trouble in throwing them away. Ghost saved the file on the hard drive, but he also copied and sent the file to his laptop.
" All done. Time to erase. "
He said to himself as he began to erase everything on Dominik's laptop. He even did something that caused the hard drive to simply stop working. He got what he needed. THe file was safe on his own laptop. He Created a simple Ghost file to hide it. No one except a major computer geek would be able to find the file and when Ghost had more time, he would create a better Ghost file so that only he knew what it was. He noticed that the Van had stopped and people began pouring out. He unhooked his laptop and put it away and kept Clemintine's hard drive out. He stepped in the mansion with Dominik's laptop as he watched Clemintine. There was something more to it than what he was doing. Ghost could see Clemintine, the man moving like a snake toward Lauren and not even seeing Jimmy. Clemintine was on a mission. Ghost was starting to see the demon Clemintine was. If Ghost made one wrong step, he was dead. When Clemintine Left with Lauren, Ghost let out a sigh.
" I really have had my fill of people today. I am going back to my room. I thought Clemintine was suppose to take the laptop and the file, but I guess not. " He said tiredly. He was not made for missions like this. He put the laptop on the chair but gave the file to the butler.
" Make sure he gets this. "
He said as he walked up to his room. THe laptop was useless and the butlers would no doubt do what they were told. Now it was time for some peace, quiet, and seeing just what the file held.

[Eva]

Lauren flickered in and out of a confused state, unable to register the events around her. She could hear voices, and see vague shapes, but for the most part it was all a blur. Had she hit her head? A shot to the leg wouldn't make her feel so...out. She had probably hit her head, yes, that made sense.

It wasn't until she was dragged out of the van that Lauren actually began to realize that the mission was over. She had survived the first round, with only a minor issue of being shot. Not bad, truly, but she had room for improvement. Someone was helping her to stand, so Lauren decided to reassert herself and tried to walk evenly. "I can...my leg hurts." she laughed, although it was a rather weak laugh.

When they got inside, Lauren was almost immediately taken away by Clementine. She didn't really understand anything he said, and she didn't care, as long as her wound was treated.

While the philistines worked, the good Doctor tended to Silk. She was silent, for the most part, and didn't seem to notice the others. She had turned the man onto his front so that she could examine his wound more closely. "The bullet is preventing bleeding, but we need to examine the damage. If we can stop the bleeding..." Dr. Ehrlichmann looked up at the people and saw that one of them had an aid kit, so perhaps he knew a bit about medicine. "You, with the guns, come here!" she barked. When the man came over, the Doctor pointed to Silk's wound. "Time for a lesson, young man. Tell me how one treats this wound. Time is of the essence." she ordered. Dr. Ehrlichmann knew what needed to be done, of course, but that wasn't the point. She had to work with these people; she needed to know their competence level. "Every second that you blither on, your ally suffers. Come to a conclusion, young man. Tell me what I need to do." she snapped.

[Aubs]

Gretchen smiled, showing a genuine display of emotions for perhaps the first time in years. She couldn’t quite figure out why this guy had a hold on her. He had yet to speak one word to her and she was still caught in his presence. Surprisingly, she wasn’t accustomed to playing the role of the cat in the typical game of cat and mouse. She usually just had to flaunt the goods and the guy was as good as her’s. With Jimmy, things were so different. He was so different.

“You know, I’m going to get you to say something to me one of these days. Just you wait!” Gretchen giggled, as Jimmy pushed her gently inside of the house. With hands as large as his, who could have ever thought that he was capable of being so soft? Especially with the display of roughness Gretch had seen from him much earlier in the night at Cristal’s Donkey Punch, it almost was alarming in a way. His unexpected traits that were coming to the table made her even more interested in him. She needed to uncover his secret.. and his clothes. Immediately. *wink wink*

Every time he touches me I get all tingly inside, she of course couldn’t calm herself. She found herself getting hornier by the second. Ugh, why does he have to keep playing so hard to get? He knows he wants this. No one would dare turn Gretchen Okamoto down! She turned around and took a quick glance into his eyes. I guess I just have to go with the flow and play my cards right. He can’t keep backing down for long. Like all the others, he’ll give in to my advances. I just have to keep doing because the moment I stop he’ll move on to some other bitch. Ugh, like haggardly Fox. I’m positive she’d hoe it up for him. Desperate skank. She seems like the type to want people’s left overs. Feeling Jimmy’s touch getting lighter and them finally coming to a stop, Gretchen stared at the others in the room. She sighed, having to come back to reality. So much for spending the rest of my life in my hunky and silent boytoy’s firm hands. Now it’s on to these boring people.. AGAIN. It was then she saw the face of someone she never thought she’d see in years. Vincent-fucking-Grand. Why didn't I expect this bastard to know Clementine? I mean, we know about the same fucking people for Christ's sake! She thought to herself, as the man looked over at her.

Why the hell does this have to happen to me? This is going to definitely put a damper in all my plans.. Gretchen wanted to panic, but she kept a calm stature as if she hadn’t known the man before her. From here on out, he was a stranger. No one needed to know about their past escapades. [sexcapades if you will..] She was going to be professional. For now at least. He didn't want to unleash the bitch if he knew what was good for him.

Did he though?

[Rose]

Cally lugged her bags over her shoulder, ready to carry them off to her room, when she heard the doctor yell for Jack. She peaked around the corner into one of the sitting rooms, where Silk was laid out over a couch, blood dripping down the side of his head. Cally grimaced and went to step back when the doctor spoke up.

"Time for a lesson, young man. Tell me how one treats this wound. Time is of the essence," the woman barked, staring at Jack with those narrow, impatient eyes. “"Every second that you blither on, your ally suffers. Come to a conclusion, young man. Tell me what I need to do.”

Jack was staring at Silk, his mouth open but no sound coming out. Cally gritted her teeth and marched over, puffing out her chest and standing as tall as she could. It wasn’t as impressive of a site as she would have liked, but she didn’t seem to be aware of it.

“Didn’t you go to school to learn this shit? Just do your job and fix our friend. The more time you waste, the more time our friend suffers. Come on, Jack.” Cally rarely lost her cool, but when it came to mean people, she knew no mercy. And she could just tell the doctor woman was a bitchy as it got. Grabbing Jack by the hand, Cally threw once last glare to the woman before yanking him back to where Jimmy and Gretchen still stood. She let out a long breath and released Jack, putting her hands on her hips.

“Jimmy! Why the hell are you still standing around bleeding?” She stepped up to him, standing on her tip-toes to peer at his wound. After touching the red, inflamed skin with two fingers she nodded and grabbed his hand too, then Jack’s again in her other.

“Let’s go get something to eat and drink. We’ll get someone to take a look at you in the other room…” Cally started yanking the two boys toward the living room, intent on ignoring Gretchen’s existence completely, when she stopped suddenly and looked over her shoulder at the woman. She had a bad feeling about her, but Jimmy didn’t seem to mind. And if Jimmy trusted her…

“Come on. I’m sure you could use a break, too. That mission was rough.” Nodding to Gretchen, Cally turned away again, pulling the boys with her.

The living room might have been the most lavish of them all. Everything looked antique, foreign, or a mixture of both. Some if the pottery and swords mounted on the walls looked more ancient than antique and Cally didn’t bother to doubt their authenticity. Clementine really had some fine taste and obviously settled for nothing less than excellence.

Food was set out on little silver platters all around the room as if the companions had entered the most luxurious buffet anyone had ever seen. The chandeliers above were lit with fake candles, but foot-high towers of wax sat on some of the old wooden tables, dripping slowly into bronze trays. There was a fireplace in the middle of the room fighting the slight chill let in through the open windows. Cally paused, taking it all in despite having lived in the house for some time now. She’d probably never get used to the rich life.

She shook her head quickly and let go of the boys, running off between floral armchairs to grab a butler by the hand as she had done the others. After whispering in his ear he nodded and hurried off. Cally ran back with a grin, snatching up a few elegant crystal shot glasses and a tapered bottle of scotch on her way over.

“He’s going to grab some supplies so he can fix you up, Jimmy,” Cally said, her demeanor all joy and ease as if their mission was little more than a dream. She set the glasses down and bent over them, pouring the bright golden liquid into each.

“Now, let’s enjoy ourselves a little. I think we earned it. Here, ladies first-” Cally handed Gretchen a glass, clicking hers against it before throwing back the alcohol past her lips. The drink burned her throat and gasped out a little laugh before passing the boy’s theirs. There was a circle of armchairs and a couch around a table just beside them and Cally stepped back to it, falling into the couch with her feet propped up. She grabbed the scotch and moved it to the table, glancing up through her hair at the boys. Neither has touched their drinks and was staring into the gold liquid with odd expressions. Cally shook her head, grinning.

“Just do it. Let loose a bit, guys. This job is way too stressful to be so serious all the time. You’ll go insane.”

Jimmy sighed, looking from Cally to the drink to Gretchen. The latter was still holding her shot, staring at Cally with a raised eyebrow. Muttering a quick, inaudible prayer beneath his breath, Jimmy clicked his glass against Gretchen’s in a toast as Cally had done with a smile that said “why not” before throwing back the drink. The man nearly choked, a novice when it came to alcohol, but it would take a lot more than that to bring the giant down. Blinked back tears, he sat down on the couch beside Cally and leaned back, attempting to be laid back as she had suggested. A minute later the butler came back and stood being the couch, working on Jimmy as the four sat together. Cally pointed to the other chairs and looked between Jack and Gretchen.

“Well, make yourselves comfortable.”

[Rose]

Clementine carried Lauren off to the den and set her down gently on a thick plush couch a few feet from his desk. The wall beside them was covered a quarter of the way across from floor to ceiling by books. A small antique bronze chandelier was set high above, but its lights were out and the tall candles were still the only thing illuminating the room. Kneeling down in front of Lauren, Clementine reached over and clicked on the small lamp resting on the table next to them before gingerly inspecting the woman’s leg.

“Ahh...I see. It’s not so bad as I thought…” he muttered, rolling the torn leg of her pants up above the wound carefully. “I can fix this up and have you walking in a week or so. You should be just fine for your next mission, though you should let the doctor take another look at it before you go, regardless. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt worse…”

Clementine stood as he spoke, walking over to his desk. He pulled open one of the drawers and fished out a small medical kit. As he came back to her, he looked Lauren in the eyes with a soft smile. His gaze stayed on her a moment longer as he knelt down again and opened the little box, swiping a wipe lightly over the wound to clean it.

“There is something strange about you that I can’t quite place…”The man muttered over her leg as he worked. “Not that I am surprised. I know that the people I work with are never open books. But there seems to be even more to you. Tell me, Ms Lauren Brie, is there anything I should know about you?”

His words abounded so serious, but as he finished wrapping her leg and stood his eyes went to her again, and in them there was no trace of malice or distrust. He simply smiled at her, his eyebrow raised.

“You are free not to answer, of course. I am your boss, and I would understand if you didn’t our relationship to seem so…personal.” He stood just beside her, his hand tracing down the spine of a book. “Your secrets can remain your own. I am just a curious man, I suppose….and even though I’m your boss, please let me know if anything I ask offends you.”

[GnomesAteMyCake]

Jack stared at the doctor for a few moments, his mouth hanging open somewhat and his blue eyes wide in confusion. She was... asking him how best to help Silk? Wasn't she the doctor? This didn't make any sense!

"Um, I'm not sure I'm thuh best person tuh be askin', ma'am..." he started, scratching the back of his head as he pulled his cap off so he could run a hand through his hair. "I think he was knocked in thuh head when we were 'scapin the mansion... it did blow up n' all, maybe he got clonked in thuh back'a thuh head..."

“Didn’t you go to school to learn this shit? Just do your job and fix our friend. The more time you waste, the more time our friend suffers. Come on, Jack.”

Jack looked down at Cally, the same look of confusion on his face. He didn't realize she'd come to help him. Allowing her to take his hand and lead him away, he smiled softly at the girl.

"Thanks, Cap'n. She was one cranky lady...I dunno how tuh help Silk. I'm good at stickin' bullets in people, not gettin'im back out." Cally give him a wide smile over her shoulder before she approached Jimmy and Gretchen, two people that Jack had yet to meet properly. Scolding Jimmy for standing around bleeding everywhere, Cally grabbed his hand as well as Jacks again and proceeded to pull the two men into the living room, glancing back over her shoulder at Gretchen and telling her to come along as well.

Jack looked over Cally's head at Jimmy, giving the man a small smile, which he returned; the smile clearly said "This happens all the time. Better to get used to it." His smile widening to a full-blown grin, Jack allowed Cally to flit off for alcohol, then hop over to a group of four chairs, putting the scotch and crystal shot glasses on the table, filling them and handing them to their separate owners.

“Just do it. Let loose a bit, guys. This job is way too stressful to be so serious all the time. You’ll go insane.”

Collapsing into a chair, his feet propped on one of the fuzzy little footstools that dotted the place, Jack raised his glass with a grin before knocking back the contents, taking a shaking breath and shuddering as the alcohol hit his stomach.

"Y'know, I never did like all this fancy stuff. Gimme a pack'a beer any day," he muttered, opening and closing his mouth a few times to try and remove the burning the scotch left on his tongue. "Still-" reaching over, he refilled his glass, as well as Cally's and Jimmy's. He picked up the small glass between his fingers, looking at the contents before looking up at Cally, his eyes darting between her and Jimmy, a dangerous smile on his lips.

"-When in Rome, do as thuh Romans do. Y'all wanna race? Betcha I can knock back more'a these babies than you can, Cap'n Cally Carnage."

[Eva]

Dr. Ehrlichmann quickly dove in and returned to work, examining Silk's wound. "IV, one of you workers. Do hurry." she snapped. Dr. Ehrlichmann pulled a sterilized scalpel out of her bag, as well as a small flashlight. "You, give me light." she ordered, handing the light to a random servant. With that, Ehrlichmann began the quick process of locating whatever had penetrated Silk's head. "It's a fragment of metal. Not a bullet. I need something to pull it out. SOMEONE!" she shouted. One of the servants ran off, and the Doctor sighed. She checked Silk's vitals again and nodded curtly. "He's still with us." she muttered. The servant returned with a pair of pliers, and Ehrlichmann took a bottle from her bag and dropped the pliers in. She quickly took them back out and went to the wound.

After a few tense seconds, she managed to pull the debris out without rupturing anything, and mopped up the blood with a clean towel. "Give me bandages." she ordered. As fast as she could, the doctor sealed up Silk's wound and finished the impromptu surgery. "As well as I could. Somebody tell Clementine that this man needs further treatment that I will not be able to provide here, with such limited resources. Do it now!" she ordered.

[Tusk]

Ghost closed the door to his room with a long sigh. He had been around so much, it was hard for him to comprehend it all. Several team mates were injured ad he would not be able to digest everything in one night. Not only that, it was time to see just what was in the file. It was a good thing no one noticed him save it. Everyone figured he did not exist or had other things on their mind.

Ghost walked toward his computer and unlocked it. After running several scans, he found that there was only one attempt to hack into his computer. Whoever tried it was now fighting a virus that would lock down their computer and attack any sort of trying to undo the damage. Good bye back up cds. He transfered the file from his laptop to his main computer and then began creating a heavy Ghost file. Only ghost knew what to look for and everyone else would not be able to find a trace of the file. He then hid the file and took a long breath.

Before he dared even open the file, Ghost searched his room for any sign of a hidden camera. So far there were none. Still, opening the file in this manson seemed like a risk, but so did waiting too long. How long before someone comes in and questions him about the laptop? Ghost scratched his head and then went to the computer. He opened the Ghost file and then looked at the file. He remembered Dominik and what he said. Ghost could not help but think Cleminitine knew. How many would know? He could of guessed no one cared....maybe Fox. FOx was too dangerous and there was a good chance she noticed him. Still, he had to see before anyone else could question him. He double clicked the file and waited for it to open.

[NicoJoe]

Your life doesn’t flash before your eyes before you die. Or, at least, it didn’t for Silk. He saw no images of his family, no memories of the shows he’d done with them, no pictures of him murdering his father in cold blood and, gratefully, no acknowledgment of the many missions he had been apart of. No, all Harrison saw was a flash and then everything went black. He didn’t even feel the pain from the shrapnel in his skull. He didn’t know how long it had been but images began to surface in his minds eye again. It was a dream. Not a dream like he had ever had before, this was much more vivid and lifelike.

“Andrew?” a voice called to him. Harrison was standing in the doorway to a bedroom, leaning against the frame. On the bed, a young girl he recognized but couldn’t place sat. Her hair was black and she was smiling at him and clutching a tattered teddy bear in her arms. She couldn’t have been more than eight years old. “Where did you go, Andrew?” Harrison looked behind him and then all around. No one else was there. Who was she talking to? He pointed to himself with a quizzical look on his face and she nodded. “Yes, you silly,”

Harrison wanted to speak, but the words weren’t coming to his lips. Instead, he stepped inside of the room and sat next to the girl on the bed. Her face turned from welcoming to distraught. “You left me, Andrew. You left me all alone. Why did you go?” her voice was cracking, tears forming in her big green eyes.

Harrison shook his head, confused, unsure of what she could possibly be talking about until it all hit him. His eyes rose to hers and locked into her desperate stare. “Rebecca,” he whispered.

“Yes, Andrew, it’s me. You left me all alone,” the young girl’s eyes dripped with tears now as she stared at the Harrison.

“No, I didn’t. You had mom. You weren’t alone,” Harrisons eyes were now fighting back tears of their own as he tried to keep his composure in this most bizarre situation.

“Mom’s gone, too, Andrew. She lost it and now she’s gone and I’m alone. It’s all your fault, Harrison!” Rebecca jumped up on her feet, towering over Harrison on the bed as she screamed at him. She chucked her teddy bear at him and continued to cry. “I have nothing, now! And it’s all your fault. I don’t even know who you are anymore! Do you?!”

Harrison could say nothing. He simply nodded, tears streaming down his face as he stood again. “I’m Silk, Rebecca. It’s all I am.”


Silk’s eyes flew open and the immediate pain the side of his head farced a cry of anguish from his mouth. He was sure everyone in the house could hear him scream, but he didn’t care. All he could feel was pain, fire rushing through the side of his head. He instantly regretted waking up.

[Aubs]

Gretchen didn’t know what to think between the fact that she’d actually been invited to hang out with Pills or the fact that the woman seemed sane.. for once. She continued to stand, keeping her guard from the others as they all sipped on their glasses of champagne. Even more surprising to Gretchen had been the sight of watching Jimmy [who’s name she still hadn’t known], drinking alongside Cally and Jack. Not only had he been drinking but he HAD been drinking. In a way, Gretch found this to be the perfect opportunity to make her move.. again.

This is to be done correctly. I’ve already fucked up like three times now. Although, if he just doesn’t bite on I’ll probably have to just move on.. right? She paused, taking a little sip from her glass as she heard a loud yelping sound from upstairs. Knocking her out of her trance, she started moving. Who am I kidding? I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of denying me! No, I’m going to make sure he gets at least one taste of this whether he wants it or not! Gretchen smirked, shifting her eyes over to Jimmy. She moved over, past Cally and Jack engaged in their drinking race, over to Jimmy being worked on seated on the couch adjacent from where she originally stood. She sat down next to the large man and bat her eyelashes flirtatiously.

“Are you doing better now,” She questioned reviewing the wound. His beautiful tattoo had been banged up. The bullet had scraped away a good chuck of the ink away. “That looks painful, but you didn’t even look like you were in pain at all during that entire fight. It was really remarkable.” She looked down at his body and then back up into his eyes. “I figure you’re probably intimidated by me, which is why you decided early on not to say anything to me,” she sipped her champagne slowly. “But I just want to let you know that I meant no harm in perusing you. I want to get to know more about you and you keep shutting me off. That’s never happened to me before.” Gretchen was surprised she had even been admitting anything, but it was all a part of her master plan. At least it could have been if she’d bother to actually think up this part. In more than enough ways, she could feel the alcohol getting to her but she wondered if it was getting to Jimmy at all. She prayed to the highest above that it was. “Can we just- can we just start over again? Get on the right foot at least? You could start by telling me your name..I mean.. if you want to. I’m not like- I’m not pressuring you are anything.”
Here she was putting herself out here for a guy who wasn’t even bothering to bite back. Half of her said it wasn’t worth it, while the other told her to keep at it. He’d have to give in eventually, right?