A Woman Scorned [Plot Post: OTA]

[baisant]

((ooc: plotting thread here, for reference!))

Because of the nature of Guilty Pleasures itself, Jean-Claude had not noticed that anything was afoot at first. Saturdays are Ladies' Nights (not when they invite the ladies as clientele like most other clubs would use the term, but rather when they invited the female dancers to participate as well). For a weekend, it brought in a larger array of people and thus more revenue for the club itself. And thus because Cherry was not due for another full day yet, it was not until he was pulled aside by her on again, off again lover and fellow dancer, Zane, that he understood what a grave error he had made indeed. For Cherry was not answering Zane's texts, and even though they were not currently sleeping together, she would never go the day without at least letting him know why she was so quiet.

It did not bode well. The fact that Millicent had issued the statement earlier in that day that in celebration of her victory, her vampires were given permission to hunt, feast, kill, and turn whomever they so desired, and the ensuing chaos that had begun in the wake of that is hardly a coincidence. Nor is the fact that Cherry, Jean-Claude knows for a fact, had been the dancer he'd chosen to play Millicent in his little display of politics the month previously.

No, it doesn't bode well at all, and after Jean-Claude's own attempts at contacting her are met with a phone call gone straight to voicemail and text messages about payroll left unanswered (which would never happen for anything short of a disaster), he knows that he has a kidnapping on his hands. And he need not exercise too much imagination to understand who it is that might have taken her. The trouble is, how to get her back without landing himself in even more trouble with the Duchess herself. The answer? Crowd sourcing.

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

"Nice night for an extraction," Natasha says softly as she joins Evie, her voice low. Overcast with a foggy drizzle—Natasha hides her movements, moving silently, but with this weather, you barely have to bother. No one on street level is going to notice.

"In and out."

And if they're lucky, with a living dancer and not too many bodies left behind.

Natasha's expression is grim though. A location like this still has a lot of potential ways to go sideways.

"The guard on patrol is at the southeast corner."

[freelife]

"Quick, easy, not too much blood." Ironically, which she was fully aware of.

Evie looked out across the way again. The rain dulled her hearing, the fog making it harder to see. But she'd dealt with worse, without heightened senses.

"Do you want to take care of him, or should I?"

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha glances from Evie down to the street, doing a little math in her head. Either of them can handle it—the guard isn't anything special. Vampire. New. Probably something of a low level tough in life. Not any better now.

After a pause, she snorts and tips her head.

"I'll take him. After that, we'll have about... nine minutes before he's missed. That should be enough time to get to the attic."

[freelife]

But it was always the baby vampires you needed to watch out for.

"Perfect. I can meet you there in ten."

[outstandingbalance]

"Find the girl, then we'll get out together."

Which just left Valentine between them and the door. Between the two of them, he shouldn't be too much of a threat.

That was the theory, at least.

[freelife]

"Of course." Evie took a moment to look at her bracer. Usually, it held the Assassin's hidden blade. But she'd made a few adjustments in her time, and had a few people make adjustments for her. So this time, instead of a blade, there was a long, thin stake.

Perfect for clandestine vampire assassinations.

"If you find Valentine, I don't need to tell you not to hesitate. Earlier I saw him head into a room on the 3rd floor. I'm willing to bet that's his office. Shall I pay him a visit?" It's completely a rhetorical question. You don't kidnap innocent girls and not pay the price.

[outstandingbalance]

"I wasn't planning on leaving witnesses." Said neutrally, and absolutely seriously. Natasha is here to help a girl who got pulled into things that she shouldn't have been her problem to start with. Natasha doesn't mean to get drawn into it either just because someone caught sight of her.

She doesn't pull out any of her weapons, but they are there when she needs them.

Then she half smiles. She understands the question doesn't need answering, but she adds dryly, "But if you find him, you don't have to save me a piece."

[freelife]

"Likewise," she promises Natasha, before drawing her hood up.

"Nine minutes from the time he's incapacitated to the door to the attic. I think we can do it." Evie checks her supplies one last time. "If I'm not there, go in anyway. We're here to bring her home, so let's do it." She didn't imagine she wouldn't be, but if worst came to worst, she wanted Natasha to go ahead and save the girl first and foremost.

She looks over at her companion. "Ready?" When she started, Evie would make her way to her designated entrance, and, hopefully, Valentine.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha straightens, her attention fixed on some point off in the fog for a moment, then she nods.

"For this?" She snorts softly. "I doubt we'll even break a sweat."

Somehow, she doesn't sound like she's boasting. This is a small time player, someone trying to curry favor and gain influence the quick way. But it never actually works that way. Really power isn't that easy to win. This kind of favor is as easily lost as won.

"Ready."

Then she's on her way down, making her way silently through the fog to meet the guard.

[freelife]

Evie knows that tone, and she accepts it. The tone of a woman who knows what she's doing, and isn't bragging. That's important, she finds. Bragging was just... Not one of her favorite things, truthfully. Jacob had always been a bit of a braggart, and she took him with a grain of salt.

She waits until Natasha replies, and sends the other end of her zipline across the street, before using it to ascend to the roof of their intended target.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha is quick on her way down, and she works as a professional. She was trained for this. The patrol guard dies without even knowing she was there. Of the kills she's made, he won't be one that stays with her. Not even for a moment.

From there she moves inside on the ground floor, watching for anyone else who might want to get in her way on her way to the stairs or make her and spread the word later.

So far, everything goes to plan.

[freelife]

No, it won't be one Natasha remembers, nor is the first henchman Evie comes across. Honestly, Valentine will only be memorable because she's doing this with Natasha, a girl she hardly knows, with an extremely red ledger. Then she disappeared for a few years, and there has to be a good reason for that. The nineties had been rife with work, after all.

But she wasn't thinking about Natasha right now, no, Evie was completely focused on the job ahead of her, back to the wall as she approached the office she'd seen Valentine in before, his desk situated parallel to the door. Evie placed her hand on the knob to find the door unlocked. Evie stilled and, listening carefully for a few seconds, she swung open the door and almost immediately fired on the vampire in question. Closing the door behind her, she's back to creeping towards the back-stairs.

[outstandingbalance]

There's another lackey loitering on the stairs. He's alert enough and fast enough that he has time to get on his feet before Natasha takes him down. that's all he manages, though. Then he's down, staked like the guard at the door.

The encounter barely slows her down.

Nine minutes from when they parted ways on the roof, Natasha is closing in on the attic where Cherry is being held. She's alert for any last minute surprises, and for her night's partner in crime. She hasn't heard anything to indicate that anything's gone sideways. No alarm. No fires. All by the numbers.

[freelife]

It's almost nice to have an easy extraction. Less bloodshed, significantly lower stress. There's another guard when she comes up the landing, but he's gone before he hits the floor.

She arrives at the attic door in time to see Natasha coming down the hallway. Perfect timing.

"I doubt she'll be alone," she whispers on an exhale, quiet as she can. She crouches in front of the door and pulls out a set of lockpicks. It's quick work, getting the door to click open, revealing a dark set of stairs ascending upwards. Time to save the girl.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha tips her head toward the stairs, raising her eyebrows briefly as though to volunteer to take point before she starts up. Then she's on her way up, her foot steps silent as a ghost.

As she climbs, she pulls a gun from a shoulder holster. Loaded with hollow tips bullets, it won't take down anther vampire, but it has enough stopping power to slow one down and distract him—prevent trying to use the dancer as a hostage.

[freelife]

Evie responds with just the smallest of nods, then follows Natasha up the stairs. They don't creak once as the two ascend. Once they reach the top of the stairs, though, there's nothing but a blacked-out window, forcing the two women to have to turn a full 180 degrees to face the hostage and the guards.

It's a few seconds that allows them to get a head-start, and when you're dealing with vampires, that means they're already on them. Evie responds in kind, her body moving in a well-learned dance as she works to clear the room of those they'd deemed enemies.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha responds immediately, but while her movements are faster and stronger than human, they're not what they should be. Her face is expressionless, a mask that hides her frustration when she's not as strong as her attacker. She has to make up for it by being smart, perceptive, and well trained—and she does just that.

She regrets that she gave up on human blood now. Or she regrets the consequences of it, at least.

[freelife]

No, they aren't what they should be, and Evie notices. She notices when another attacker comes seemingly out of nowhere, aiming a gun for Natasha. "Look out!" She calls, because it's the only thing she can do when she's got two men on her, both with guns.

Natasha is still good, though, and Evie's happy to see it. But she files away the information for another day. After they get Cherry back to Guilty Pleasures, they'll have to have a conversation. It's, surprisingly, worrying.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha is slower than she should be, but fast enough to wheel and unload two rounds in the would-be shooter before he can squeeze on off: one in the head, the other in the chest. He staggers back under the pure physics of the impact, but unlike a human he stays on his feet and manages to squeeze off a shot as Natasha closes the distance between them. The bullet catches her upper arm and passes through it, breaking one of the windows behind her.

Then she's on him, driving a stake into his chest before she turns back to Evie to see if she's finished hers off.

[freelife]

The room is coated in what appears to be a thin layer of dust, as Evie finishes off her last victim. She turns back to Natasha, the iron of blood puncturing the air. Damn, that smells good. Evie traces her elongated teeth with her tongue, willing herself to focus. Natasha will heal quickly, thank goodness.

"Cherry?" Evie's at the foot of the chair the dancer is tied to. "It's alright," the girl's terrified, from what she's just witnessed, but Evie's making quick work of her bonds. "My name's Evie Frye- this is Natasha Romanoff. We're here to help. Are you hurt?"

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha hangs back while Evie goes to Cherry, her jaw clenched tight. Not because she can't handle the pain. That part is familiar enough. Because she's frustrated with herself for being slow, and because she's skating close to the edge as it is without losing blood.

This month hasn't been forgiving when it comes to testing her resolve not to feed on humans.

She looks over when Evie asks if the girl is okay, though, reining in her thirst by sheer force of will.

[freelife]

Evie glances up at her companion when she senses the movement. "Natasha, do you want to stand watch in-case?" Get her out of the room, allow her to breath a few minutes. For whatever reason, there was a tension in the other vampire's jaw, and Evie could guess, to some degree, why. The exact details, naturally, were unknown to her.

[outstandingbalance]

"You sure you're okay here on your own?" She's torn; she'd rather not leave Evie here alone in case anything else came up—but she doesn't actually believe there's any more threats here, and some cool air would clear her head.

[freelife]

"I'm fine," she said, and looked over at Cherry. The girl seemed upset, and Evie wanted to make sure she was alright to go back to the club before they left here.

"If you want, here-" she reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys to a black Jaguar she'd parked a few blocks away. "I left her on Wood Lane and Hartford. Less for us to have to walk back. I'd rather not have Cherry in the open, just yet." Take the out, Natasha, go clear your head, take some time to heal. She's doing this for you.

[outstandingbalance]

Natasha meets Evie's eyes, recognizing that they both realize that she needs to take a minute. While Natasha doesn't enjoy feeling exposed, she appreciates the chance. After only a brief hesitation, she nods.

"I'll pull around front. Meet you there?"