Like the Sun We Will Live to Rise [Hoss & Lara]

It was almost 9:00pm, it had been dark for a few hours, which meant the scene below had been bustling for a few hours as well. Lara stood atop a large warehouse full of, well that wasn't her job to know, all she knew was that whatever it was they had was being packed up high in a couple of trucks, and she couldn't let them get to where they needed to be.

Earlier that night, Lara was contacted by a member of Solstice. She had put in a request a few weeks back for her recruitment, and when she finally got her chance she was overcome with a wave of emotions. It was more excitement than anything else, and perhaps a bit of anger as she recalled her motivation for entering the ways of the night in the first place.

Her hands quivered and a bitterness boiled inside her as her father came to mind, he had destroyed her world, he took the only person who ever truly loved her away along with any hope to have things the way they were again. He had left her alone, a cold and broken soul with nothing to live for, hatred and anger being her only fuel to carry on.

"SHIT! Pick that crap up and don't let it happen again or else I'll knock your teeth out you hear!?" Lara was knocked back into reality as a commotion had broken out below. Some boxes lay scattered on the ground, but the workers kept things moving and soon the first truck was ready and loaded.

'Fuck, where is this guy?' She became agitated as her nerves got the best of her. If it was up to her she'd be inside locating the main computer already, but no she just had to be paired up.

In her debriefing she was told she would meet another potential recruit at the vantage point at which she stood, she didn't know much else about this mystery partner except that he was supposed to be there any second now, and honestly that's all she did care to know. All she wanted was to get to work on this sabotage job so she could(hopefully) join Solstice already. Joining meant achieving new experiences and skills necessary for her ultimate goal, to rid her father from her life forever. So really, her life's goal had become to join Solstice, and she wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through her fingers.

She let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the ledge with her arms crossed. As she looked to the infinite sky, the cool air brought a calmness upon her. 'I'm ready.'

Things had been getting rough lately. He hated feeling tied down by obligation, he hated not being able to be like his mother or sister. Why couldn't he just leave and stay gone? Why couldn't he just stop visiting the abusive asshole that was his father? He had run away at seventeen, dropped out of high school at eighteen, and has been working ever since then odd job to odd job. Yet still, after everything, he visited his father from time to time. This last time he was sick and his job apparently hadn't kept him around because of his drinking which meant that hospital bills wouldn't be covered by insurance to say the least.

He had given the old man enough cash to see a quick clinic but nothing long term to help him out. He needed more cash, which meant riskier jobs, which meant gang affiliation. It meant protection but it also meant that he was going to be doing some really sketchy things. Thankfully murder wasn't the primary objective of this little audition as he liked to think of it. He wondered if they were being watched at all or if somewhere they were just waiting and watching the news to see if him and his partner had managed to screw the pooch completely.

8:57....

He was making his way to the vantage point, taking a moment to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves before the mission at hand. He knew what they had to do, simply change the route on the computer without being seen and it would be an in and out. The only thing that troubled his mind was, what if they were seen? Then the mission would be a clusterfuck of danger and he'd be responsible for getting himself out of there. He had no trust in whatever partner he had and he doubted they'd bother to help him in a bind.

As he stepped up to the meeting place he checked the time again.

9:01... whatever. I'm here. He slowly approached the girl and knelt down on the roof of the warehouse. He looked over to the girl as he outed his cigarette and raised his thumb up to himself.

"Hoss." He whispered, looking down. He thought about different ways to enter the building, from the top, the side, to dress up like one of the workers or to cause a distraction. He wasn't sure but he had a bag full of newspaper and his throwing knife on him in case he needed to fight.

He'd nod and whisper, "I can reroute these trucks on the computer easily enough if you can help me get to them and provide a distraction." Unless she was some computer genius he figured this would be the easiest way to do it, he was a lot smarter than he let on.

He was smoking? Was this guy serious? All Lara could think about was their cover being blown all because this guy decided he needed a puff before something as delicate as a stealth job. Luckily for them, the warehouse had a choice smell all it's own, one that flooded out all other odors, so she decided to keep quiet about her opinion in the matter.

"Fair enough." Lara nodded as she stood up. She was average when it came to technology, she could get the job done, but maybe not as quickly as this guy. He volunteered after all, that must have meant he was pretty confident in his ability to get it done fast. "Follow me." If there was anything Lara was good at, it was getting into places people weren't supposed to be able to get into.

With the little time she had to prepare, she had studied some blueprints of the warehouse and had a general idea of where the computer room was. However, things didn't always transfer well from a piece of paper to the real thing, so she hoped for the best and prepared for the worst.

Instead of picking the lock like she normally would have, Lara decided it would be safer to unlock the doors from inside, just in case they had some kind of alarm system set. She lifted her arm and held out her hand, signalling for Hoss to remain dormant, then she proceeded to pass cautiously through the solid steel door that led to the roof access staircase. Once on the other side she carefully listened for any movement, it was dead silent in the staircase, so she turned around and unlocked the door for her partner.

In all honesty, she wasn't sure she even liked the word partner in this case, not just because she didn't like partners to begin with, but because that would imply that they trusted each other. Lara didn't know this guy, how was she to know whether he'd pull through for her or not? How did she know he wouldn't chicken out, or even leave her once he did what he needed to do? Surely he had the same doubts about her, what if he decided to try and beat her to the punch? It would be easier for him to leave anyway, since she had so stupidly allowed herself to take on the role of 'distraction'. 'Oh well' She thought to herself. He needed her and she needed him, so they had to trust one another, whether they liked it or not.

"It's Phantom by the way." She whispered lowly, having a weird sensation in her mouth from the foreign name. It was the first time she had introduced herself with the alias in fact, and it felt very strange to her. She had it picked out for a while, and she knew it was necessary for this kind of life, but it was still so new to her, and it made everything that much more real.

They quietly made their way down the stairs until they reached the 5th level where she could recall the main computer room was. "Okay here's what we're going to do." She was totally improvising. It would have been a smarter idea to go over the plan before hand when they were still outside, therefore minimizing the amount of sound they made, but they just weren't prepared enough to do it that way. "You'll find the computer room behind door 28E, I'll create a distraction while you redirect the shipments. When all is said and done, if all goes according to plan, meet me on the ground floor." Her eyes narrowed as doubts filled her thoughts once again. "I might be in need of assistance by then."

He was still a little nerve wrecked, he knew it was something incredibly dangerous and yet here he was still doing it. Was it really going to be worth it? Putting himself on the line with little planning or strategy and a single partner just to get into a gang? He could see it now, the bullet that had his name on it just waiting to find him and all just so some gang boss could get a little bit further in the world. It was a means to an end though, an end that he felt obligated to search out. The smoke had been snuffed, the timer had started, he was seeing this out as well as he could.

He followed the girl despite her lack of greeting. It didn't piss him off at all though, he only did it to make sure he was even talking to the right person. Had it been a security detail that looked at him funny he would have slit their throat at the first sign of a negative reaction.

Making their way it seemed that they were heading in the right direction. He hadn't been given anything really useful. Blue prints were available but he only studied the entrances/exits. Those were his primary concern right at this moment. Even as he followed her to a door he could only think of every last staircase, every fire exit, every large and small door for people and vehicles. He thought of where the windows were, where there might be small hiding places.

Then as he watched her she gave him a signal to stop and he gave a slight nod as he waited and watched. Was she going to break in somehow? Even as the thought entered his mind he saw what she was really doing. She could go through solid objects or possibly vice versa it seemed as she passed through it. She disappeared completely and for a second Hoss wondered if she was going to open the door for him, wondering if she had been caught immediately, but then the door produced a small metallic noise as the lock slid out of place, allowing him to join her at the staircase.

"It's Phantom by the way."

"I can tell why." The name was suiting, it fit to her ability. Hoss tried to imagine what name would fit his ability but the best he could come up with was replicator. Each descending stair had him second guessing his decision, had him itching to turn and run at full speed, but he remembered something in his history books. It seemed that turning and running in battle produced a greater chance of dying while fighting and facing your enemy actually had a higher rate of survival.

"Okay here's what we're going to do."

He listened as she explained it to him, her idea. Door 28E was his destination, and she would provide the distraction. Meet her on the ground floor and she might need assistance.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Assistance. Fighting. Killing. Running.

"Understood, you can count on me... alright?" He told her, hoping that it would put her at ease if she was worried. It was also his way of committing to the task. He wasn't used to this at all but it was a solid plan. "Just... whatever it is. Your... cost. Don't use that ability if it's too costly. At least, not too much."

You can do this, H.

"Alright, go time." He pressed into the hallway of the fifth floor, stepping low to the ground and silently with his hands against his messenger bag, his fingers of one hand lingering against his throwing knife as the other gripped a bit of cotton in the bag itself.

24E.... 25E.... 26E... 27E....

Her eyes widened at Hoss's words. Was that, concern? Did he actually care about what would happen to her if she strained herself? He was trying to comfort her as well, to reassure her that he had her back, and that she could trust him. She was shocked, and all she could do was nod as her partner(it seemed to fit better now) parted from her and headed down the hallway.

'A distraction huh?' The blonde had no idea where to begin, her priority had always been to move about undetected, both in any sort of 'odd job' and life in general. How was she supposed to distract a group of seasoned thugs without being caught or seriously injured?

Before she knew it she had reached the end of the hallway, and just as she had feared, the layout was not transferring well. 'Uh, um. We'll just go with door number 1.' She pulled up her mask as she turned the loose knob. The door swung open to reveal a makeshift break room, four white walls, mismatching furniture, a small fridge, a small t.v., magazines and paper laying at random around the room, and two occupants who almost looked surprised when she appeared in the doorway. '..shit.' "Get her." One of the guys calmly spoke, a hint of mercilessness in his eyes that was all too familiar. "No!" He slammed his companions hand on the table as he went to raise a gun at her. "I want her alive." He spoke again while looking her up and down, his eyes burning a hole through her soul.

In a panic Lara charged the one who spoke, her heart pounding with both fear and anger. She aimed to kick him directly under his chin and knock him out, but she was blindsided by a metal pole that whacked her right in the gut and sent her flying back. "Ugh!" She cried out as she slid across the dirty floor and hit the now closed door with her head. "We're going to have us a real good time." The larger man from before said as he picked Lara's limp body up by her shirt. "Too bad her tits are no more than a mouth full though, haha- UMPF!" He shot down to the ground as Lara launched her knee into his groin. The smaller thug took another swing at her with the metal pole, but this time she was able to grab it, and before he realized what happened she pulled him forward and took hold of his wrist. He managed to grab onto her hair, but she was still fast enough to break his arm on her leg like a stick. "AAH!" He cried out as he also took to the floor. "You bitch!" The previous man yelled as he put a hand on her shoulder and tried to bring her down. However he was much too slow, and in one swift move Lara flipped him and he landed hard on his back and was made unconscious by the whiplash.

Lara took a moment to catch her breathe and slow her rapidly beating heart, she rested her hands on her knees and looked around the room. There didn't seem to be much food, but there was plenty of alcohol and cigarettes. 'Hey, a distraction.' She walked over to the moaning man on the floor who was cradling his broken arm. "Shh, hey hey it's going to be alright." By this time she was crouched over him, and leaned in close. "I mean sure you'll get into a lot of trouble with some powerful people, and if they do decide to let you go on living your pathetic excuse of a life you'll have a useless arm for a while, but hey, you get to tell this jackass 'I told you so'." She slowly stood up straight and looked down upon the man with a disgusted look. "You should have shot me." His eyes widened then tightly shut as her foot slammed into the side of his face, rendering him unconscious as well.

Although she was able to get herself out of the situation, she still couldn't help but beat herself up about it. Precious time was wasted on something that could have been completely avoided had she memorized the layout of the warehouse. She hoped the little charade didn't cost her her spot in Soltice.

Wasting no more time, she popped open one of the many bottles of alcohol and knelt down next to the bigger man she had knocked out. She tore a large piece of his shirt and stuffed it into the bottles opening, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. 'Perfect.'

After a bit of searching she came upon a small window on the third floor, she tipped the bottle a few more times to make sure the cloth was soaked before tossing the molotov cocktail outside onto a pile of garbage. A few confused screams later, and every able body was addressed to get down to the ground floor to help put out the fire and scope the area. 'Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, a distraction.'

Smooth move, H. Lie straight to her face. You know if you are gonna get killed you'll run at the first chance.

He shook his head, he may need her after this though, especially if they were going to be in the same gang. If anything else her abilities were useful and she was cute. Still, he would be needing friends, he just didn't trust her to have his back especially with her abilities. If she really wanted to, she could leave at any time.

28E

He grabbed the handle of the door and turned, but to no avail. "Shit.." He muttered under his breath as he looked at the slide key lock system. He wasn't exactly ready to go rewiring a lock system he had never seen but he heard someone approaching on the other side and darted around the corner as fast as possible, pressing to the wall. As the door opened he quickly tucked in his white shirt, yanking off his sweater and dropping it on the floor so that he had more of a professional appearance. He quickly grabbed his messenger bag and put it over his shoulder once more having torn that off on accident with his sweater before turning the corner. He was faced with what appeared to be two technicians.

"And so I told him, if I'm fucking working over time I'm gonna get paid time and a half. I work for a living ya know?"

"And who do you think you are staying this late?" Hoss said with a bit of authority behind his voice.

"Told the boss, there was a flaw in the-"

"Badges, now. Lemme see 'em," Hoss said as a finger gingerly pressed the cotton in his bag through a corner. The first one produced his security badge, the kind with a magnetic strip for the lock as he held it in his hand. He knew this would be difficult. Really difficult. But he copied the small piece of plastic right down to the very detail, everything right down to the level would be as is. "Alright then, the boss sent me in to check out some sort of glitch or something. Since you guys are already here why don't you go ahead and show me."

"And who are you? We haven't seen you here before."

He pulled up and flashed the copy of the badge quickly before swiping the magnetic strip through the side lock and opening the door. "Nice to meet you I’m the guy who’s going to rip you a new one if you waste any more of my time. We have a shipment that's really important and if what's glitching the system compromises that we're gonna have a problem."

Focus, H. Don't whistle, don't whistle, don't whistle.

The two gave an annoyed glance and looked at each other before going in. The lights turned on to show several computers, the two went toward one and walked in as Hoss held his breath to keep from whistling. No air, no whistling. The two booted up the machine as he watched them closely, specifically their fingers. He watched them type in their systems administrator account info, noting the password. Once it was logged in he couldn't hold it.

He began whistling the globetrotter theme.

Just as he could the faint noise of screams.

It's go time.

It wasn't very long until they had the fire contained on the ground floor. It had spread a good few feet, but most importantly it kept them all busy. Lara quietly made her way back up to the fifth floor, not that she had to be very quiet since almost everyone had made their way down to where the fire was.

Taking one final glance outside a window, she could see that some of the workers had started loading the trucks again, and they were almost on the last one. 'This Hoss guy better be getting shit done.' She thought as she hid from a couple of guys with bats. 'I don't want to be here much longer.'

A thought crossed her mind as she remained hidden away snug in a vent. What if she just left? She had done what she said she would do, and it didn't seem like Hoss had gotten into any trouble, so she could go right? In fact, what if Hoss had already left? Sure he made it sound like he wouldn't abandon her, but Lara knew all too well how deceiving men could be without even blinking an eye.

'Is that.. is that whistling?' A faint sound had interrupted her thoughts, a tune that sounded familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Against her better judgement, Lara decided to follow the sound, since it seemed to be coming from the direction Hoss had headed.

'What the hell?' Just as she speculated, it was coming from behind door 28E, the main computer room.

Now she was faced with the dilemma of whether or not she should go in. If he was whistling it couldn't mean he was in trouble, maybe it meant he was totally calm because he was achieving his goal, but if he continued he'd attract unwanted attention. She had to get in there and stop him.

She turned the door handle, but it barely budged. 'Oh, duh.' It required a card key to open, so how did he get in without breaking it she wondered. Maybe he got someone to let him in somehow, or maybe he stole a card. Either way it might not have been smart to just barge in, so instead she knocked and waited off to the side. If it was just Hoss that'd be fine, but if it was someone else she had the element of surprise and could easily take them out.

Lara could hear screams, gasps, and movement come from behind the door. Her feet remained planted on the ground, and she was about to charge in when it was all suddenly over, and she could hear Hoss speaking.. and whistling. "It's just just me, what happen-" She stopped dead in her tracks, about halfway through the door, and stared wide eyed at the scene before hand. He had killed them, whoever they were, they lay still and bloody on the ground, a lifeless look of terror on their faces. Death came hand in hand in this profession, but that didn't make it any easier to see it so soon.

She looked up at Hoss who was uncontrollably whistling, and seemed to be more shaken up than her, which was understandable since he was the cause of their death's. "Hey it's okay, it had to be done." The rest of her body appeared through the door and she walked up to her partner, the tips of her fingers barely grazed his shoulder in a poor attempt to comfort him. It was an automatic response, and she wouldn't have done it had she been thinking more clearly since contact made her extremely uncomfortable.

"We should go." Lara spoke softly but sternly after glancing at the screen behind them that read, 'change complete'. He had done it, their mission was almost complete, she just wanted to make sure the trucks left. "Follow me." Lara led the way down the hallway after closing the door behind them so no one could see the bloody scene inside.

They quickly reached the roof access where she paused a moment in front of the door and looked back at Hoss. "See we made it, we're almost out of here." She turned the doorknob and barely took one step out when someone grabbed her by her neck and threw her almost ten feet away from the door. She hit the roof hard and slide a few more inches, her neck, arms, and back were burning from her attackers grip and scrapes caused by the impact. Her vision was blurred by her pumping adrenaline and she groaned as she struggled to look up at the figure that approached her.

"Remember me?" The man said as he lay on top of her, pushing her neck hard into the warehouse roof. His grip was tightening, and Lara could feel her airway become more and more restrained, making it impossible for any oxygen to pass through. Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and she was struggling less and less. "You're not getting off that easy you piece of shit." He loosened his grip and punched her face hard, causing Lara to take in a deep and painful breathe. The lifesaving oxygen made her more alert, and she could see it was the large man from before. 'Looks like he woke up.. and brought some friends.' Lara thought as she noticed a couple more figures in the distance.

"Y-yeah, I r-remember you." It was difficult and almost painful to speak now. "How could a girl f-forget an ugly prick like y-you?" He expressed his feelings for her statement by giving her another good whack, causing her teeth to cut the inside of her mouth. However this only made Lara more angry and gave her the strength she needed to get up and pass right through him. She concentrated on only making enough of her body phaseable so that she could get out from under the man, and so that she wouldn't fall through the roof while she was at it.

Once she was up and a few feet away from the men, she took out her hunting knife and assumed a readied position where her knees where bent and her arms were up in front of her. "After you." She said, wiping away some blood from her lips.

He needed a smoke now more than ever, but until the whistling cut out, which took another moment or two, it was impossible. Her gesture helped a little, though, if only because the confusion stopped him from shaking. Usually hands on him meant he was about to get socked in the mouth for leaving his dishes out or screamed at in drunken stammering. She was right though, it had to be done. So now he wore the dark blue shirt like some sick trophy. It was out of necessity but he didn't feel any better about it.

"We should go."

"Y-yeah," He said as he held tightly to his single throwing knife. Most people would look at him in confusion, and she still had yet to witness his power. He wondered if she would ever get the chance to see it. He wondered if he would be using it again tonight. Hell, he wondered if he'd be using it ever again given the dangerous situation. Still, he snapped out of his confusion long enough to follow her, grateful to find that they seemed to be heading to the roof where he could have a smoke.

"See we made it, we're almost out of here."

Through she went, and out she kept going. Hoss immediately ducked in the staircase. He seemed to go ignored for the moment which worked to his benefit. He had just finished whistling but it seemed he wasn't done quite yet. He went to work, opening his bag completely and making copies of the throwing knife using the various cotton and newspaper. One after the other he produced the blades until he had a grand total of ten. He could hear her talk back as he stepped out onto the roof.

Use it to your advantage.

It was all he had as he held the blades in such a way that he had one between each thumb and forefinger, the others gripped tightly in his palms.

"After you."

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Whistle.

The one Lara was facing off with seemed to be a poor choice of target, she was in the way. The two on either side of him had enough distance though that if nothing else he could concentrate enough to not hit her. He let both knives fly, spinning through the air on either side of her before the found their homes. On Lara's left the knife would land in the man's throat, lower toward the base of the neck as blood oozed and the man struggled to breathe. To Lara's right the blade found a home at an angle in the eye of one of the attackers. He was still alive and conscious but screaming as his hand moved up to try and grab the knife, a mistake which he immediately seemed to regret as he dropped down in pain.

Lara didn't take her eyes off of her target, but she could see out of the corner of her eye that Hoss had taken on the other two thugs, and she was relieved. She knew she could handle this guy, despite his size, but trying to take him on and the other two would be near impossible for her, although she'd never admit it.

One took a knife to his neck and within seconds was down, he hit the ground hard and a puddle of blood began to expand under him, it was a similar scene to the one inside the main computer room. She didn't see where the second knife made contact with the second man, but she could hear him scream out in pain and reach for his face. The commotion had caused her to shift her eyes over ever so slightly, and the man took that opportunity to swing at her.

Lara barely managed to dodge his fist, the strong gust of wind that came from his strong swing sent a chill up her spine, she really didn't want to know how badly a hit like that would hurt, but she had a feeling she might have to take a few to put this guy down.

"Look at you, you're just a scared little bitch!" He screamed at her as he regained his footing. "I bet you've spent your whole life running!" Now his words were starting to cut deep. "Running from any little thing you can't handle, which must be a lot seeing as you're a weak little girl!" She tried to remain calm, it wasn't like she hadn't heard it all before anyway. "Probably a family trait, I bet your mom and dad were little bitches too! They probably ran away from you in fact, the biggest problem that they ever had to deal with!"

'That's it.' In a flash Lara had ran towards the man, avoided his hands, and slid right from under him. As she stood up from behind the man, he spun around with his fist on root to her face, but she managed to get her arms up in front of her, causing his fist to slam into her hunting knife.

"ERG!" He cried out and grasped at his bloody hand. With his attention momentarily divided, Lara was able to roundhouse kick his face and down he went. He was disoriented and couldn't do much more than roll his head back and forth, but Lara still wanted to make sure he wouldn't be getting back up again.

She stood over the man, one leg on either side of him, he was grunting and moaning in pain. Lara crouched down over the man and took his hands in hers, then proceeded to push them hard into the roof of the warehouse. "Wha- what are you d-doing?" He could barely speak, and Lara continued on without a word to him. With quite a bit of effort, Lara managed to make half of the man's arms phase through the roof, however she stopped at only half so that his arms were stuck in the roof preventing him from moving.

"You know you were right, my father was a little bitch." She took her knife and slowly began to push it in between his ribs, he moaned and squirmed under her. "However, you sealed your fate when you dared to compare my mother and I to that worthless piece of shit." She quivered with anger as she gave one final push into his lungs, causing his airway to flood with his blood.

((Posted for Hoss, as his internet says no.))

The rest of the fight for Hoss was spent watching the two he took down and waiting for an opening. With close quarters combat he could probably throw a knife through Phantom if he could just manage to speak to her. The problem with that was he couldn't stop whistling for two seconds at this point so he resigned to moving over the guy he got in the eye to put him out of his misery.

The guy in question had been on the ground writing in pain as Hoss stood over him and threw down another knife straight into his forehead. Almost immediately he stopped moving around in pain and his arms fell limp on either side of him.

"ERG!"

Hoss looked over as he continued the tune, watching his partner use her abilities. He made a mental note. If a body goes through a solid object and is left it simply gets stuck. Judging by the fact that the guy didn't seem to be in pain from his arms, one could guess that the body takes priority over the object and therefore his arms would remain intact while most likely the roof lost material. Then again, it could be based on other factors as well, including the density of materials. He'd have to watch her use it more to tell.

He listened from afar to discover that she obviously had some daddy issues. Then again, who didn't? This kill was personal for her, it was no longer business. She had it out for this guy and if it weren't for her ability and how useful it could be in a bind now that he knew she could take someone with her, he would have been gone.

He walked over as he put his hands together, shifting all the knives into one hand as the whistling came to a short end and he put his hand gently against her shoulder. Already his cheeks her from the whistling but he managed speak as he took his hand off of her, "Got it out of your system? We should probably focus on getting out of here."

Downstairs a large truck door opened up as a couple delivery trucks started pulling out. It looked like the mission itself had gone off without a hitch so long as the trucks were heading where they were supposed to be. Hoss watched them but ultimately grew more curious in some of the yelling he could hear. "What the hell are they saying..."

He listened carefully and heard it as his eyes went wide.

"It's just a pair of fuckin arms I'm tellin ya! I could smell blood in the hallway on the way back here too, it's fuckin gross!"

"Alright men, secure the building perimeter, look for freaks and someone check out the smell in the hallway!"

People started pouring out of the garage into the street. Some started climbing up the fire escapes.

Lara was in a sort of trance from the blood curdling gasps for air that came from the man, she was waiting for any kind of satisfaction, she was beginning to worry there would be none. She was worried that all there would be was guilt, the guilt of killing someone. As the man's struggling slowed, his words began to replay in her mind, and the same anger burned inside of her, so watching the life leave the man's eyes became easier and easier. It even began to feel.. good.

As the man finally lay motionless, something changed inside Lara. In the beginning she had wanted to join a gang to be exposed to these kinds of things, because even though she was angry she didn't think she'd ever be able to actually kill another person. Her father may have been corrupt, but her mother was a kind and caring woman to all, she was so different from what she had come to know normal people to be. She was selfless and genuinely cared about others, Lara wanted to be just like her, but that just wasn't possible now. Now she had to be like the man she hated most, she had to be indifferent to the feelings of others, taking a life would be nothing more than removing an obstacle from her path, if she wanted to achieve her goals she would have to turn off any 'human' emotions and just do whatever needed to be done without a second thought. If being like her father was what it took to someday take him down, then so be it.

A gentle touch woke her from her trance, but she came back a different person from when they began, and whether or not it was noticeable, it was there. She raised an eyebrow at the hand, but it was removed before she could say anything. 'Out of my system? Ha, more like in system.' She smirked to herself.

The sound of trucks departing brought a sense of accomplishment, they had done it! The trucks were off to the location Solstice wanted, and those dumb fucks didn't have a clue.

"It's just a pair of fuckin arms I'm tellin ya! I could smell blood in the hallway on the way back here too, it's fuckin gross!"

"Alright men, secure the building perimeter, look for freaks and someone check out the smell in the hallway!"

Okay maybe they knew more than Lara would have liked, but all they had to do now was escape with their lives.. easy enough, right? She looked around for a possible exit. They couldn't go back inside, that was too dangerous, and going off the side wasn't an option seeing as thugs were steadily making their way up, and either way being directly below where they were was a bad idea because it was being flooded with men carrying weapons. Her eyes darted around when a cluster of long pvc pipes caught her attention. "This way." She ran over to the pipes and grabbed one before turning to Hoss. "Our only way out is across, so grab a pipe and follow my lead."

Lara took off towards the edge of the building. The warehouse was a few feet away from another building, too far to jump normally, but maybe with a little sling shot action they could make it. As she reached the end she jammed the end of the pole into where the roof and parapet met, and it launched her high in the direction of the other building. She did a flip mid-air, then rolled into a landing on the other side. A few scrapes here and there, but it wasn't that difficult to make it onto the neighboring building. She signaled to her partner in the distance, hoping he would make it over without a hitch.

Spoiler:

"This way." He watched her grab a pipe as his eyebrow cocked. The hell was she thinking? Did her ability have some sort of… of course!

He grabbed a pipe, completely misreading her plan as something genius. Granted, she may have not thought the same way he did but then again not everyone knew the full extent of their abilities. Hoss probably didn't understand a lot of what he could do just yet and he would never truly reach the potential of it yet here he was grabbing a pipe and running to follow her.

He watched her, wondering when she would slow to a stop, wondering when she would lower the pipe into the building and leave it stuck in it so they could balance their way across the distance safely. His heart sank as she pressed the pipe down and seemingly pole vaulted across. He grimaced as she landed and wondered about just how badly he was going to die if he followed her.

He rushed though, because people often do in these situations. He rushed without thinking as he tried to reenact her attempt to cross the distance and as his feet left ground they soon found their way lowering as he slid down the pole and over the edge of the building. His gloves being the key thing he forgot, their material not meant for gripping but rather for warmth.

"SHIT!" He called out as he fell back first onto a parked van, hearing an audible crack as pain racked his body and it felt like something had landed on his chest. At first he wondered if someone was chasing after him and fell on top of him. Then he realized that wasn't the case.

Can't… breathe…

Voices drew closer as he reached for a knife. He slid himself off the roof of the van only to land hard once again on the pavement. He let out a hurt cry as he looked up at what the approaching figures were carrying just in time to see a hatchet flying toward him, catching his cheek roughly as his head moved with the attack before he flung a knife in the direction the axe had come from. He heard a yelp of pain from both himself and the target as the knife luckily got the target between two ribs, puncturing their lung.

Fuck….

He figured he was dead at this point. He didn't think of Phantom because he figured she would be long gone. Truth be told, he probably would be at this point.

"Shit!" Lara ran to the edge of the building as Hoss fell hard onto a van below. To her surprise he was still able to move and actually managed to land a knife in one of the guys coming towards him.

She looked up and could see figures making their way across the roof they just left, and they were moving fast. Then she looked below her, there were some thugs gaining on her partner too, and although he could move he must have been in too much pain to even walk on his own. Lara was faced with the decision of bailing or going back for Hoss. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't convince herself that he could take care of himself in his current condition. But if she did go back it meant putting her own safety at risk, and it would be so much more difficult to escape from the ground.

"Fuck me." She couldn't do it, she couldn't leave him, why couldn't she leave him? As she mentally beat herself up for making such a stupid decision, she leaped off the roof and aimed for one of the figures before Hoss. A loud crack rung out as she landed straight on the shoulders of the man, breaking his spinal chord. Then, taking her large knife, she swung around and sliced the last one's throat open.

The noise had alerted some more thugs in the distance, but they were just far enough that Lara could retrieve Hoss and move to the shadows against the building they were supposed to be on top of. There was hardly anytime to think, they couldn't afford to be seen, and there were small groups approaching them from all sides.

She took a deep breath and quickly gathered up all her energy before backing up through the wall. When she was about halfway through she wrapped her arms around Hoss and began to pull him through to the other side with her. It must have been very painful for him since she wasn't too concerned with taking her time and being gentle, so she clasped her hand over his mouth tightly so they wouldn't be found out. When they were on the other side she quickly propped the both of them in a corner under the window, then once she was sure no one saw them, she broke down.

"FUCK!" She said low enough so as not to be heard from the outside. Her knees where up close to her chest, and she rested her elbows on top as she clasped her hair in her hands. Sweat was dripping down her face and chest, her heart was pounding rapidly and she felt extremely weak. They had been fighting all night, fighting to escape, fighting to stay alive, and it was beginning to catch up with her. Not to mention she had just phased them both through a wall which was something she avoided because of how draining it was. Her hands moved to wipe sweat from her dirty face, and to top it all off she was getting a fever.

She reached into her pouch full of meds and rummaged around before pulling out a bottle of large white pills, she pulled down her mask and popped a few in her mouth before turning to Hoss who seemed to be as bad off as she was. "We need to get as far away from this warehouse as possible, if we could just get to a bus or train or something I think we'd make it. Can you walk?" She spoke from bloodied lips, and between heavy breathes.

Phantom nodded and went to get up, but she quickly dodged out of view as a few bodies and lights passed by the windows. They were searching outside for them, but it didn't seem like they knew the two were inside that particular building, for now at least. Still, it was too risky to run about the room searching aimlessly for something that might not even be there. A pen, there had to be a pen in the room somewhere right? There was always a pen, but needles were harder to come by obviously.. 'Oh!' She quickly reached into her thigh bag again, and this time pulled out a used Epipen.

"Here." She whispered as she uncapped the needle and handed it to Hoss.

She was trying her best to remain calm, but it was distressing to even look at her partner. Not only were they trapped like rats, but they were also badly wounded. It was difficult for Phantom to see the extent of his injuries because the room was so dark, and he had quite a bit of layers of clothing, but his struggle to even speak said enough.

Her injuries weren't as bad, or so she figured, because she could still walk, and it wasn't as painful for her to talk as it seemed to be for Hoss. She was out of breathe and her throat was burning because of it, but it wasn't unbearable. A fever began to grow inside her, but she was used to that and knew how to take care of it before it got very bad.

As she concentrated on her body she began to feel sore, she had been through quite a bit of strain after all. Her body was bloodied and bruised from hits and misses, and she became increasingly aware of a sharp pain in her ankle from landing on the guy moments ago. Everything was starting to catch up to her and she didn't want to wait for it to get much worse.

The commotion outside seemed to die down a bit, so she took a peek from a corner of a window to see how many were left in the area. She thought she saw maybe three, but it was only a quick guesstimate since she didn't want to look for too long and risk being discovered, either way a good amount had left to search elsewhere.

"Okay we're somewhere between seventh and eighth, there's a Metro station on seventh somewhere by some shops that takes you West." She was thinking out loud, barely aware of the painful procedure Hoss was preforming on himself behind her. Phantom carefully took another quick peek outside the window. "There, where all those lights are, that's our best bet." She said half talking to Hoss and half talking to herself while she pointed at an illuminated area in the distance.

The epipen had told him something about the girl at the very least, though his mind didn't focus on that. Instead it focused on the fact that there was in fact a needle in front of him. He quickly opened up the back, fumbling to get it prepped before he finally lost patience with it and stabbed his chest with it, into the area he needed in order to perform the makeshift needle aspiration. As he drew the air out of the area he felt his first real breath of air and pulled the needle straight out with a gasping breath.

He rose up and dropped the epipen on the ground, hoping that she didn't have any sort of infected blood. He was half listening and half getting used to the feeling of full deep breaths and the pain that he could now discern was coming from a busted rib that had been peaking through skin after being dragged. He looked down and pushed it in just to keep it from poking out anymore than it already had and immediately regretted doing so as he was forced to bite his own hand to stifle the screaming pain.

"Okay we're somewhere between seventh and eighth, there's a Metro station on seventh somewhere by some shops that takes you West." West wasn't where Hoss was going but if he had to make a stop to get out of here, he would do it. He grabbed the window sill and pulled himself up before slowly shifting forward and taking a few steps. He put a hand on Phantom's shoulder for support and looked out to where she was now pointing. "There, where all those lights are, that's our best bet."

"We should split up there," He said as he grabbed a knife in his left hand, feeling his fist tighten around the true blade as he spit blood off to the side. His face burned from the cut of the axe and the wetness running down his face didn't do anything to put his mind at ease. "I think you have a better chance of escaping without dragging me around. Besides, you don't even know what I can do, do you?"

He laughed slightly and regretted it as pain entered his body. Instead of speaking he motioned toward the station and looked around for the door out of the place.

The sudden physical contact startled Phantom, and frankly made her uneasy, it was because of all the contact today that she was starting to catch something. However, if he looked passed a used needle that could have been tainted with infected blood, she could look passed him using her for support. Her blood was clean so she hoped he wasn't carrying any sort of virus with him either. It was almost inevitable that she would get sick after a big job like this, but she hoped it wouldn't be anything too serious.

"We should split up there," Phantom looked at him as he took another knife in his hand, he seemed ready enough but he didn't seem well enough to be left on his own, well not to her anyway. "I think you have a better chance of escaping without dragging me around. Besides, you don't even know what I can do, do you?" Still, it must have been what he wanted, and it would be a lot safer for him at that point, so she nodded in agreement. "If you think you'll be able to make it on your own, then fine we can split up there. You better be careful though, I don't want the blame to fall on me if your body turns up on some street corner."

His last statement was true, she hadn't given much thought to what his ability must have been. It was a subtle one, that was for sure, unlike her's, so she really hadn't the slightest idea. "No, you're right I don't," She said watching him search for a way out. "I don't suppose it's teleportation, that'd make my night."

She stood up and stayed fairly close to Hoss, in case he suddenly collapsed or something. Looking around it seemed like they were in some kind of storage room, that or it was just abandoned because it was pretty dusty and cluttered. After a few moments of shuffling around Phantom spotted a back door. "Over there," She pointed to the back of the room, it was very dark but you could just make out the shape of a door.

"If you think you'll be able to make it on your own, then fine we can split up there. You better be careful though, I don't want the blame to fall on me if your body turns up on some street corner." The words were honest enough that Hoss smiled, but remembered to try not to laugh as he focused on what needed to be done. He had to get out of here, he had to find some help for his injuries. A hospital was too risky, just in case any of them would be smart enough to check there. He had killed someone, he was able to breathe now at least so maybe he should go somewhere else.

A few names came to mind but none that would help him without a heads up first.

"No, you're right I don't. I don't suppose it's teleportation, that'd make my night." Sadly, it wasn't teleportation. Sadly still, it wasn't healing. That's what he wished he had, the ability to heal himself. The only person who could heal him instantly though would be Trevor and like hell he would let someone else just take his injuries for him. Trevor would be a last resort and strictly for bandaging up purposes only.

"Nah, if I could teleport I'd have left your ass behind long ago," He kidded as she pointed out a door. He managed to walk on his own a bit as he put a little bit of distance between the two of them. His feet shuffled across the floor slowly as he made his way to the door. He looked at it like some exit in a video game. Just make it to the door. Just make it to the door. Just make it to the god damned exit you can heal between levels.

Only life was not a game.

The doors opened before he got to them. His heart stopped but the person on the other side didn't hold a weapon. "THEY'RE-"

Hoss lifted his knife up, the one original. He had dropped the copies in the fall except for the one he threw. This was it, his last weapon. "Not here." He got out. The guy turned.

"-NOT IN HERE. I have kids…"

Hoss watched as the guy took a step away from the door, still inside the building. Hoss slowly made his way past him with the knife never pointing anywhere except toward the guy. He motioned toward the door after looking over to Lara. "Good, shut up and stay here and maybe you'll get to see them. Come this far, and if I'm dying I'm taking as many of you with me as possible."

By now his chest felt like it was on fire. Breathing hurt his ribs, talking hurt his ribs, existing hurt his ribs. The only thing that did not hurt his ribs was the pain in his face from the axe wound. That distracted from the ribs time to time. Moving woke the pain in the ribs back up to an alarming rate, however, so he enjoyed the moment of pause as he waited for Lara to open the door to their escape.

Finally…

"Nah, if I could teleport I'd have left your ass behind long ago," Phantom raised an eyebrow, and a small smirk made it's way onto her face. His little remark was refreshing to say the least, if he was able to joke in his current condition, why couldn't she loosen up a bit too?

She opened her mouth to shoot a remark back when suddenly the door flung open. Her adrenaline started shooting through her veins as she prepared to fight again, this time to the death. She just couldn't see making it through another round, her body was on the brink of shutting down, even if it didn't look like it on the outside. On the inside, she was ready to collapse, or go giving her all. However, Hoss had stopped the man from squealing on them, and as they moved inside away from the door she saw how.

Lara cautiously, but quickly made her way towards the door after Hoss gave her the signal to. How were they to know this guy wouldn't give them away, but it did seem like he was scared enough to let them pass, and if they could at least leave the building and make it to the street she knew they could make it.

When she opened the door she poked her head out and scanned the area, to her surprise it was clear, there wasn't another thug in sight. Maybe the others didn't hear him, or maybe they believed him and didn't want to bother with a couple of kids, either way now was their chance!

With one last burst of energy, Phantom ran up to the man, grabbing a pole from the floor on her way, and whacked him as hard as she could on the side of his head. He fell hard to the ground, but she could tell he was still alive, there would be no more killing tonight, they didn't have the time.

"The coast is clear, let's get the hell out of here!" She said as she ran up to Hoss and wrapped his arm around shoulders, supporting him as they rushed out the door. They were finally out, they had made it, and she could hardly believe it.

She had took to his side that seemed to be bothering him less and remained there even as they had made their way onto a fairly populated street. She didn't know what it was, but she felt this undying need to get the both of them out of there safely. Even though she had plenty of opportunities to leave him that night, she always found a reason to stay.

They had walked in silence most of the way, probably from the shock of all they had just been through, or at least that was the case for Lara, but when they had finally made it to the metro she couldn't help but laugh. She sat Hoss down on a bench and collapsed beside him, and laughed. She laughed in relief, in disbelief, and frankly for reasons she couldn't understand herself. It was all she could do, she had been beaten down the most she had ever been beaten down in one night, and there was an amazing sense of accomplishment that came from surviving the night.

As her laughs slowed to a few giggles, she pulled her mask over her head and used it to wipe a variety of bodily fluids from her face before putting it away and looking at her partner. She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head as she brushed back her drenched hair. "You know, for all it's worth," She acted like shit was about to get deep. "I would have left your ass too if I could." She smiled as a train pulled up and sqreeched to a hault, then she stood up and turned to face the harbinger on the bench. "Guess this means we're teammates now or some shit like that, right? If any of this was worth it anyway." There was a last call for boarding, and Lara looked behind her before turning to her partner one last time. "Well, it's been real. See you around Hoss, you know, if you don't decide to kick the bucket tonight." She smirked as she left for one of the carts, and when she was inside she gave one last wave to Hoss. She wasn't one to get close to or even like people, and she wasn't entirely sure if she would go as far as saying she actually liked this guy, but she could admit he was bearable, as far as partners went anyway. Whether she liked him or not, she did sincerely hope he would get some medical attention that night so he would live to see another day. After all, he had accomplished just as much as she did, and they both deserved a good nights rest. "Hot tea and a warm bath here I come!"