"Are we almost there? It feels like we've been walking for hours!" Alices' voice cut through the heavy night air, a thin, sharp blade of sound that seemed to scratch at the silence. "And just so you know, I haven't spilled blood in a while, been forced to see it spilt and have my own spilt to a limited degree. I need my fix of being the one doing the bloodshed!" Her barely contained bloodlust coiled in her words, a palpable tremor of anticipation as a faint, unsettling red glint sparked in her eyes. The madness that perpetually danced at the edges of her sanity seemed to press closer, eager to break free after keeping herself restrained for so long.
"We're almost there," Rebecca replied, her voice low and a stark contrast to Alice's fervor. They had stopped not far from their target; the last vestiges of sunlight surrendering completely to the blanket of night. The moon, a lazy sliver was tucked away behind a drift of clouds, offering little light, seemingly working with them to achieve their sneak attack. "It's three blocks ahead, just around the corner. That's the base I checked in at and came through, I heard from my friend it's also where they store their loot before moving it along with both residents, they allow to work for them and the people they take captive. But that blade person is also there so no one really tries anything against the place anymore and those that do don't really last long, or at least that's what my friends told me."
Braedon's voice cut through the slowly growing tension. "You two remember the plan?" He looked between them, receiving sharp nods from both before giving one of his own. "Good. Then let's do this. Don't hold back. If they surrender just knock them out. I don't want any chances or for them to turn on us the second we turn our back."
He began to creep forward, his bulky frame surprisingly adept at navigating the debris-strewn ground. Ahead they could see a brightly lit building, its walls a patchwork of salvaged metals, clearly scavenged from countless abandoned cars before being plastered together. Through the gaps and crude seams of its construction, the pulsating orange glow of a huge fire could be seen casting shifting shadows. A massive iron gate seemed to the primary entrance and exit.
Beyond the walls, the skeletal remains of houses jutted into the sky, their tattered roofs barely visible above the fortifications. In front of the gate, two figures stood guard, clad in makeshift metal armors they had seen earlier. They clutched oversized rebars, each tipped with a crude chunk of concrete making them heavy makeshift clubs. Their posture though showed a distinct boredom, their heads occasionally nodding in sleepy rhythm.
"Change of plans, Alice, go in first and see if you can take them out quietly. As long as they go down and we can get inside that's all that matters." Braedon's instruction was met with a wide, feral grin from Alice. She seemed to coil before springing forward, somehow blending into night. One might have thought her blue and white dress would make her a conspicuous target yet somehow, she seemed to melt into the shadows like a ghost. She soon appeared behind one guard before, with chilling speed and deadly grace freed his head from his body in a single, fluid motion. Before the first body could even begin to fall she had already spun, the dagger drawn and thrust upwards piecing the other guard through the bottom of his jaw and up into his head causing a quiet gurl before he to fell silent.
Climbing a rope Alice threw down Braedon looked over the two bodies. "Rebecca, help me move the bodies aside, preferably into a dark and shadowy corner where they won't be easily seen." He ordered well making, Rebecca silently acknowledging his command before a wet sound drew their attention, Alice, with an excited glint in her eyes was plunging her bloodied dagger into the lifeless guard a few more times before looking at him innocently. "Just to be sure they were dead, double tap and all that" she chirped, looking up with the most innocent expression she could muster well holding the gore-soaked blade as if it were a child's toy. This was Alice and well he knew how she was he couldn't help but question, even for a moment if she was actually right for John or not.
It took a few minutes but the trio had managed to drag the bodies into a dark corner out of sight before heading back and trying to scuff loose sand over the bloodstains to make them harder to notice. "Plans changed, we won't be having Rebecca a distraction well you kill them from behind. Instead, we're going to try and kill them quietly, it could work out a lot better for us and prove less chance of anyone getting hurt or worse. We move and act as quiet as possible until we have no other choice. Understood? Any questions?"
"So I get to be a ninja now? Well, I would have very much preferred to face them head on and send blood flying this also works!" Alice's voice was overly sugary, her giddiness bordering on maniacal. "Ooh, ooh, no not a ninja but something better! An assassin, like that game with a creed! But do you really think the tin girl can be sneaky in that armor? Rather just leave it to me and if things go bad then have her draw them to her and take the blows as a shiny distraction." Her tone abruptly turned serious, an edge of cold cunning replacing the sweetness that had even taken him by surprise. Alice had a good point with the last part; this would indeed work much better overall if Rebecca acted as a distraction should any alarms be sounded.
"Let's go with that then," he conceded, nodding slowly well ignoring Rebecca's protests." Go and cut loose Alice, do your best. As for you, get ready to draw them over when things go south. Tell me something though, where would your friends and the prisoners they had recently taken be along with their loot?" He asked as he turned his focus to her, pleased that she was already preparing herself for the inevitable fight. Alice meanwhile grinned widely, excited to finally be getting some action before slipping back into the shadows, slipping from one dark patch to another as she snuck deeper within the compound.
"Uhm, my friends would be in the third shack on the left over there, next to the mostly intact building," Rebecca said, her voice a little unsure as she pointed carefully into the darkness. "That building there, the intact one should be where Blade and his elites probably are along with the loot they have, wanting to keep the stuff close by to them well having the best residents for themselves. As for any prisoners, they're probably in that half-destroyed one on the right. I remember seeing them adding extra security measures and reinforcements to the building, there was a lot of bars and steel all over the place."
"Should have expected something like that," Braedon muttered, his eyes scanning the layout. "People in power often try to keep their wealth close and under their own guard rather than hiding it in decent places and what you said would match a prison. Hmm, do you think you would be able to get to your friends and warn them to stay inside before getting ready to act as the distraction for any alarms and the sort? Well after urging everyone else you trust in the shacks to not come out till you give an all clear?" His tone was steady, his gaze unwavering as he kept watch, barely managing to catch sight of Alice taking out another group of three seemingly drunk men, their muffled thuds barely registering over the distant crackle of the bonfire, seeing her stab them a few more times before seemingly propping them together to make it seem as if they had passed out.
"I… I can try, I think," Rebecca replied, drawing his gaze back towards her. "If I stick to the side, I should be able to get there unnoticed before moving to a spot to draw attention as bait if any alarms go off. But what about you? Can't you rush over and also start killing people or warn the people in the shacks yourself? I think you would blend into the shadows far better with your dark colors." She tried to convince him to go instead, a clear note of anxiety in her voice.
Braedon shook his head in denial. "Not happening. First, I'm not fast or agile or even remotely flexible, you would need to be blind to have not noticed that fact. This body isn't made for fast or stealthy movements; it's been luck and my own skills that allowed me to manage to go undetected so far. Secondly, why the hell would any of them even listen to me? They would have to be absolute idiots to just trust a random stranger showing up at night. They'd sooner call the bastards over to deal with me than listen. No, you will go. I plan to see their prisoners instead. Maybe someone they captured could be useful and help us out in taking them out after freeing them, if nothing else they can help cause some chaos to cover our escape if we get overwhelmed or outmatched. Look at it this way, it means you probably won't be seen or treated as bait." He didn't even wait for a reply before creeping into the shadows. Rebecca couldn't help but pout well trying to do the same, attempting to mimic Alice's seamless stealth as she moved through the deep shadows cast by the large bonfire in the middle of the camp well aiming for the shacks, only to give up after a few moments when she noticed how her armor would glint and shine due to the bonfire.