Bloodied, Bruised, and Never Giving up for a Second. You Know, Girl Stuff. (Haze/Phantom-Delivery)

Fall had come so quickly, it was literally a chilling reminder of how life is ever changing, and how time will never slow for anyone. Lara was never one to pay much attention to time, for example she couldn't exactly say how long she was on her little 'break', but she figured that would have to change soon on the count of most of these missions were all about time.

'Speaking of time, better get going. I don't want to be late to my first real mission.' Phantom finished off the last of her tea and tossed the white cardboard cup, that was still warm from the previously present steaming liquid, into an overflowing trash can. The night was extremely cold, but not quite cold enough to see your breathe, not yet anyway. Still, having an immune system as weak as hers meant bundling up was a must. She wore a white long-sleeve under a leather jacket, jeans, boots, and a scarf. Causal was the way to go on a delivery mission right? It would make it easier to blend in and harder to catch, or that were her thoughts behind her outfit anyway.

As she approached the room containing the package, she looked on either side of her. 'Hmm, no one yet.' Her partner wasn't late, Phantom was just a bit early, so she decided to go in.

Using the keys given to her, she unlocked the door that lead to a fairly empty room. Once inside, her eyes immediately fell to a satchel that lay on a table. "So this must be the ever so important package.. looks harmless enough." She ran a hand over it gingerly and let her fingers linger on the buckles. Admittedly, it was extremely tempting to take a quick peak while no one was around, a sort of 'Pandora's box' situation, but we all know how that ended. Letting out a sigh, Phantom moved to the end of the table and leaned against the edge. 'Something tells me this isn't going to be as easy as it seems.' These things never were, and she was trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. 'A delivery's simple enough right?' She pulled out a piece of paper with the address on it. 'Still, that's a lot of ground to cover from here to there.'

Lara nodded at the girl, not exactly smiling, but not frowning either. Lara didn't exude friendliness and didn't trust easily, but seeing as her partner was female, she was already in a better mood about the whole situation.

'Haze..' Lara ventured a guess at her partners mutation as she watched her poke curiously at the satchel, but her alias alone wasn't much to go off of she supposed. After a moments thought, she simply accepted that she'd likely find out later and turned her attention back to the paper, pondering possible routes.

"There's a bus that stops a few blocks away from this address, I'd say that's our best bet." Lara replied as the violet-eyed girl appeared at her side. The Metro was more of a direct route, but Lara figured anyone trying to intercept them would expect that. Plus, she had seen a package intercepted in the Metro first-hand a while back, and she wasn't about to get trapped in a tunnel a second time.

She lead the way out of the building and onto the street the bus stop was on, it wasn't too far from where they were but she hurried so they were sure to catch it. "I hope this means we're early." Lara stated, half joking and half serious, but mostly joking because she knew they hadn't missed it. Although, she had wished they had better timing, because now they were stuck waiting out in the bitter cold.

A brisk breeze caused Lara to shiver awkwardly, so she pulled her jacket closed tighter and rubbed her hands together. Looking around, she noticed there weren't as many people out as she had anticipated, however it wasn't hard to see and feel why. "Damn this weather." She cursed under her breathe.

Lara noticed Haze pull out some gloves, they weren't the typical warmth type gloves, in fact they reminded her of her own gloves that had brass knuckles built in 'Oh shit!' , she realized she had forgotten said gloves. It was an honest mistake, she tried convincing herself, and it wasn't like she had to have them to fight well. Still, it was a little unsettling just how out of practice she was. Not that she was afraid, or at least she wouldn't admit something like that to even herself, but she simply thought it'd be nice if she caught a break this one time. Just once, in her rock slide of a life, she'd like for things to go smoothly. Really, was that too much to ask?

As the bus screeched to a halt she let out a sigh of relief right along with her partner, who seemed to despise the current chill as much as she. They payed the fare and Lara followed Haze to the back, but instead of sitting right by her she took a seat a few feet away, far enough so they didn't seem like they were together but close enough to where they could speak without drawing too much attention.

She pulled up some of the scarf from behind her and used it to cover her head like a hood as she sat back to assume a position that read more relaxed. Lara was still alert of her surroundings, but she had to admit that after a few minutes of steady swaying and the warmth of the heating system, she could very easily fall asleep.

Lara motioned at the satchel and peeked out from under her newly formed hood, "So, you're a student? What year, or how long have you been enrolled?" She decided to speak up to keep from dozing off, and although it was just them and the driver at the moment, she chose to talk in a sort of code rather than come straight out and ask the girl where she stood in Solstice.

“Yup, just got out of a psych class. And only for a few months, so it hasn't been too bad. I've been doing pretty well so far, but I know it’s going to get worse soon.” Haze replied in a rather chipper tone, and Lara couldn't tell if she was simply playing the part or if she was really trying to be friendly with her, either way she understood most of what she was trying to translate over to her. They looked to be nearly the same age, and yet Haze was already an associate and probably very near another promotion, this revealed a lot about her own drive to Lara. Maybe her heart wasn't as in it as she had originally thought, it was pretty clear to her there was something holding her back, something that kept her from giving it her all. Maybe she simply didn't care about labels, maybe she just wanted the experience, that would be the "cool" thing to call her slacking off anyway.

Lara didn't think much of Haze's mention of a psych class until she seemed to shoot an odd glance at a woman boarding the bus, then shortly after seemed to have some kind of twitch or irritation in her eyes. Maybe she was hinting that she could read minds or something? Still she didn't think too much on the matter as Haze posed a similar question to her own.

She shrugged and moved into a sitting position, giving more attention to their small conversation. "Yeah, but I guess you could say I'm as fresh as they come, I just started some weeks back. I'm a bit of a slacker though, I should probably be done with my first semester by now, but I took some time off for a while." Lara paused for a moment of thought, "Maybe I'm in it more so for my parents than myself, or for my dad I should say. He has really pushed me to where I am today." Her gaze trailed off, "He deserves all that I hope to give him someday, I owe him much." Lara cleared her throat and fidgeted a bit as she realized just how personal she had gotten, and she was relieved when the bus coming to a stop had changed the mood back to high alert.

She sat back and let her hood shadow her face once again as three men around their age boarded the bus. Lara was no mind reader, but these guys were definitely radiating some weird vibes their way. She peeked at Haze from under her hood to see her reaction to the small group, something told her she was a better judge on personalities than she was.

Lara didn't budge the whole time the little scene of the three men following Haze off the bus played out, they were successful in hiding the fact that they were together, and she wanted to keep it that way as long as she could. The bus began to take off once again, but as soon as the group was out of site and in the alley, Lara quickly phased through the back of the bus and landed on her feet with a small splash. 'What the hell.. rain?' Lara hadn't even noticed it started to rain, well it was more of a sprinkle, but it was going long enough that the streets were now glistening with a light coat of water.

'Shit, they'll hear me coming for sure.' She thought as she slowly made her way to the entrance of the alley and peeked in from behind one of the building's corners. They were keeping very close to her, but for some reason they hadn't made their move yet, which was very baffling to Lara since they had the perfect opportunity to do so in the alleyway. Anyway, now wasn't the time to get into her enemies minds, now was the time to act fast and make a move before they did.

Without much more thought, she hurried into the building, hoping she could make it to the end of the alley before the others did. The door she busted in through revealed a small Chinese food restaurant that seemed to be closing for the night. The little staff that was there looked at her in shock and barely got any words out as she swiftly made her way through to the kitchen in the back, where she grabbed a cup and shattered it on the floor. 'Come on come on come on.' She took a small handful of shards and quickly took off for the back door. Once outside, she jumped off the stairs and passed right by Haze as she turned the corner out of the alley, and instead bumped into one of the guys following her.

"Oh shit, sorry!" Lara apologized, while keeping her head down so her hood still shadowed her face. "Move!" The same guy barked angrily, shoving her to the side. He grabbed at his chest as he continued in pursuit of Haze, and with that Lara smiled. She had successfully inserted the small glass shards into his system, they were small enough that he didn't notice them too much, but they were enough to get the job done. Within minutes his body would have carried the shards to his heart, and he would collapse in excruciating pain, and possibly die a few minutes later. It was the best she could conjure up, but it could possibly provide a quick distraction for Haze to make her escape. At the very least, it was one guy down.

Spoiler:

Yes, only a few feet later he collapsed, and now Haze's pursuers were down to one. Lara had no doubt in her mind that Haze could easily take him down, so she focused her attention on the two left behind. One was on the ground and slowly losing consciousness, obviously, but the other one who was standing nervously by him seemed to have some sort of phone or radio held up to his ear.

"I don't fucking know! He just fucking collapsed all of a sudden!" He had his hand to his head in disbelief and looked at his fallen comrade. "What the hell!? Now blood's coming out of his fucking mouth! I thought this was supposed to be a cake walk! What the fuck's goin' on man?" It was clear her was freaking out, but whoever was on the other line seemed to be calming him down because he took a few deep breathes before giving the names of the streets they were on, in a much calmer tone than before.

'He's, he's calling for back up? Damn, how important is this package?' She slowly made her way closer and closer, hoping he didn't turn around, but just as she was about to grab him, he quickly spun around and swung at her. Lara ducked just in time to avoid contact, and since he aimed high, she was able to land a good punch to his side. He grunted as some air was knocked out of him, but it wasn't enough to knock him down.

"Y-you!" He looked at her, confused as ever, she didn't give him time to put pieces together though. Lara ran straight for him and dodged most of his throws before she finally managed to get her knee up to his chin, knocking him back. In the split second that he held his face in pain, she heeled him hard in the side of his head, causing him to lose consciousness as well. 'Two down.' She thought as she tried to figure out which way her partner had gone.