S A M S O N
Alpha / K Nine
Pandora narrowed her ears at this girl who dared question her.
"I told you," She said severely. Pandora took a step forward and extended her thumb and index finger forward. With a matter of moments the air between her thumb and index finger condensed into an ice cube, and the ice cube changed into the shape of a coin, and then a few seconds later it became a genuine copper penny.
"I can do whatever I want." She concluded.
"Take anything, and turn it into something else. In this instance, turn concrete into liquid and then back again wherever I go, allowing me to swim through the very Earth itself." Her eyes glittered, in not a nice way, with the possibilities of her fate-granted powers.
Patricia gulped and shifted around where she was sitting, refusing to meet Pandora’s mildly threatening glare. On second thought, maybe she shouldn't have asked. Even though Pandora’s power was kind of cool to watch.
“Alright, I get it…” she muttered. She was still a bit curious, but she supposed she’d just have to look Pandora up on the employee database or maybe ask Christina later. There were about a million burning questions swirling around in her head, but she supposed that asking anything else wouldn’t go well.
Wanting to change topics back to the mission, Patricia looked out into the street and across the way to Club 27.
“We should probably get moving into the building soon,” she whispered.
“It’s only a matter of time before Chief Woofs or someone else finds our little hiding spot over here.” Patricia ducked back behind the dumpster.
“Everybody’s ready?””...standing by...will talk to Bulldog...maybe I can use my enhanced senses to locate that secret room...if any...just so you know...I trust you all...I put my CPD and HERO badge in your hands…”, K Nine monotoned.
Pandora crossed her arms, sighing and nodding at Alpha.
"All right," She said, rubbing her chin.
"Go talk to Bulldog, distract him, like I said. It might be a little awkward at first but just take one for the team. I’ll probably stumble into the secret room while I’m swimming around." Pandora continued, but it was almost like she was talking to herself towards the end.
Blinking, she looked at everyone else in the group.
"We need to find safe spot so I can make a hole in the wall. Let’s try an alley between the club and another building, with as few sightlines as possible." She said.
“Okay…” Patricia looked at both ways out of the alleyway. One, of course, went directly out into the street in front of Club 27. They could technically sprint across, she guessed, but they would probably be right in front of the cops if they did that, and the chance of getting caught was a bit high for comfort. The other way, though, led out to another major street. It would be easier to snake around and get to the club without getting caught that way, even though it’d take a bit and they’d be out in the open for longer.
After thinking for a short moment, Patricia raised her head.
“We should go out that way.” She pointed to their left, to the street unoccupied by cops.
“Sprinting for it probably isn’t the best idea, so we can just walk on the sidewalk and snake around to the back of the club and get in from there.” Patricia smiled, smug. She had finally had a good idea! Now it was just time for the execution.
“We should get going,” she said, glancing at the street again.
“It looks safe.””I feel no extra vibrations across the ground from automobiles, nor hear any other voices. Whoever is in this closed off section of the block, is who will remain, so long as nothing drastic happens. Samson reopened his eyes after focusing on his surroundings. With that said, it was clear that he was willing to go along with the plan with no issues.
Following Patricia’s suggestion to take the road that his back was initially facing, Sam nodded in agreement, leading the way to the outside of the alley.
"Very well then. Let’s get a fuckin’ move on," She mumbled that last part, swearing like an old habit. The group, with Alpha’s assistance and Samson’s advanced perception, navigated their way stealthily to the walls of Club 27. An isolated spot, the western wall with the narrowest alley. Confirming with Sam that there was no one directly on the other side of the wall, Pandora stuck her pretty face directly through the break. She barely emerged from the other side. Going by the implements on the outside of the building, it was as she predicted. It was the ladies restroom. Perfect. Pandora took a step back, cockily rolled her neck, and clawed her fingers into the brick wall. She turned it all into wet paper and tore it easily away in a matter of moments. The way was clear. She ushered Patricia and Samson inside, Alpha most likely having gone the front way. She sealed her entrance way shut and wiped her hands clean.
"Right. Here we are. Righty-o, Aria. Kanati and I will start bagging and dragging these cops. An isolated bathroom around a turn or two is just what we need. Samson, signal to me when you’ve captured one but can’t deliver it to Aria. I’ll drag him back here." She spoke in a hushed tone.
"Most of these pigs can’t even see their toes when they’re standing up straight, so I doubt they’ll be able to see us coming." She joked mean-spiritedly.
Patricia snorted at Pandora’s comment. She was leaning against the golden bathroom stall, which was, as far as she could tell, quite literally made of gold. The women’s bathroom in Club 27 had smooth, pristine white marble flooring and gold-brushed stalls.
Fancy for a bathroom. There was shrubbery and even a leather sofa by the door, and the room had a pleasant smell to it.
“Alright, then.” Patricia nodded at Sam and Pandora.
“I’ll just hide in here while you guys go kidnap some cops. Hopefully nobody else will wander in here, but I can always just do a little bit of mind control. No biggie. I’ll be fine.” She fiddled with her water-logged, dripping hair as she spoke, wringing the rainwater out. Droplets fell onto the tile.
“Just… please be careful. I know that you know what you’re doing, but one fuck-up could blow this whole thing and get us all shot full of isolene and carted off to god knows where.” Patricia took a shaky breath in. They were going to get out of this insane operation alive. They had to.
“You two should get going now. There’s only so long that we’ll be able to keep this up without being caught, so we need to be quick. Good luck. I’ll be here.”Pandora nodded and peaked through the walls at floor height to get a peak. With Alpha’s help, the path was clear, and Kanati would be able to begin his stealth in the furniture laden rooms and lounges of Club 27. There would be many places for him to hide and attack from. Meanwhile, Pandora sank into the floor. She could strike from anywhere, at any moment, pulling police officers under the ground silently. She was the first to bring an unconscious officer to the ladies bathroom, his body flopping out of the tile and in front of the teenager lying in wait. She was smiling brightly, excited about something for the first time in a long time.
"Here," She said simply.
"Make sure this one doesn’t wake up." She was still in the ground up to her waist.
Patricia, sitting on the couch, jumped with surprise.
“Aah!” she yelped, quietly. She hadn’t been expecting Pandora to just… pop out of the floor like that with a body. She stared at the cop and at Pandora for a second, startled.
“Christ, you scared me…” She squatted down, looking at the officer laid out in front of her. With care not to wake him, she finessed the bulky headphones he was wearing off his ears, casting them to the side. If he woke up, she wanted him to be able to hear her sing. She looked back up at Pandora after doing this.
“...Okay. I’ll just put him back to sleep if he does.” As Pandora left, Patricia sat down on the leather couch again and watched the man lying on the floor. It occurred to her that, in a few minutes, she’d likely have a host of sleeping cops lying around.
That would be weird.
Then, Pandora sunk back under the waves of the sparkling bathroom, vanishing from sight. When Kanati subdued an opponent, he could signal for Pandora to approach and ferry them under the surface. One by one, a collection began to form in the bathroom. It was, at least in Pandora’s opinion, quite funny.
"You holding up in here, love?" Pandora asked on her eleventh drop off. The term of endearment was said in an offhand way. For the first time since they had met, Pandora seemed to be in a good mood.
"I think one of them is about to radio and check in. Do you think you could wake one up and get him to answer his radio? Give the Sergeant the all clear?" She asked.
In Patricia’s eyes, the piling up of the cops in the bathroom was also pretty funny. But, in a way, she felt guilty, too. But they’d wake up soon, she reassured herself. For most of the time that Pandora and Kanati were gone, she sat on the leather couch, staring at the eleven or so people she was keeping unconscious. It was boring. Unused to not having her phone on her, Patricia thirsted for her headphones or some Instagram to browse through or something. Like clockwork, every few minutes one would wake up, and she’d have to rush over and sing them back to sleep before they made a peep. So far, nothing had happened. She’d had a few close calls, but everything was as it should be.
Patricia didn’t jump when Pandora entered this time. She was, however, a bit taken off guard with the term of endearment.
Love? That was odd. The woman had been a bit more than bristly towards her since the beginning, but now she seemed to be in a super good mood. Odd. Did knocking people out put her in a good mood? The cop flopped down next to one of the ones she had just hypnotized to sleep, and Patricia once again squatted down and took off his headphones. She shrugged at Pandora’s question, not meeting her eyes.
“I’m a fugitive hanging out in the ladies’ room with eleven unconscious cops. What’s not to like?” she quipped, dry.
“It’s going fine. They keep waking up, though, so I have to keep hypnotizing them. Which is good, because that means you didn’t give them permanent brain damage.” She stood back up, tossing the headphones into the corner with the rest of them. Her eyes met Pandora’s, and she wrapped her arms around her own waist.
“You’re sure nobody is noticing their coworkers up and disappearing?” she asked, doubt in her voice. She couldn’t imagine that no one was noticing- she’d sure notice if she was doing work and then turned around and her friends were gone.
“One phone-in and I’m toast. We’re toast.”“You want me to- you want me to what?” Pandora’s next question took Patricia off guard. She immediately started to sweat. This would either go really well or they would be arrested.
"You know, radio in, or something." Pandora said nonchalantly, pretending to be unaware of Patricia’s nervousness.
"Break radio silence, so no one gets suspicious." “Okay. Okay. I'll just, um, uh…” She searched the room for a suitable officer, kneeling down next to what she thought was the sixth or seventh one who had landed. She had already woken up and been put back to sleep, so Patricia was confident she could wake her. With a grunt and a heave, Patricia turned the woman onto her back. The officer was a short, young woman with brown hair pulled into a bun. The name badge on her chest said Burke.
“I’m going to wake her up and have her give the call. If you’re gonna stay, do me a favor and pop your earbuds in. You know, the ones I gave you like half an hour ago?”Then, with great care, Patricia clamped her hand over the woman’s mouth and shook her awake.
“Hey. Hey! Wake up.” This was the riskiest part, Patricia knew, so it was vital that the woman not make any noise. The cop’s eyes fluttered open, groggy at first, but then wide-eyed and panicked. Within seconds, she began to struggle, reaching for her taser and pistol, but wasn’t fast enough to stop the power of Patricia’s singing from washing over her. With a single, prolonged note, Officer Burke’s eyes grew dim, and she relaxed. Patricia kept the hand over her mouth, but she smiled, thin-lipped. This was one of her favorite feelings, even though it made her feel guilty. Using her power was exhilarating.
“You’re safe,” Patricia told the officer. The woman nodded.
“I’m your friend. I didn’t do anything. You want to help me.” Officer Burke nodded again, eyes wide and calm.
“Good. I’m glad you think so too. Don’t speak unless I tell you to, and only say what I tell you to say. Don’t tell anyone I or anyone else besides yourself and the other police officers are here. Don’t scream, don’t make any noise louder than what someone outside could hear. Don’t leave the room. Don’t attack me or my friend here.” She pointed to Pandora.
“Don’t do anything unless I tell you to. Understood? Tell me if you understand. Yes or no.” Patricia removed her hand, finishing with the rattling off of commands. It sounded as if she did this a lot.
The woman, wide-eyed and looking dazed, nodded. “Yes, I understand.”
Patricia smiled and patted the officer on the head.
“Good. Now pick up that radio there,” she pointed to the officer’s radio, which she promptly picked up,
“and switch to the channel or dial the number or whatever for Sergeant Bulldog. You know, the cop that looks like a dog? Call him.” Officer Burke looked a bit confused at first, but switched to the channel anyways.
Officer Bulldog’s gruff voice came over the radio. “Burke, glad you’re checking in. Can you give me the code we agreed on? To ensure that there’s no mind control going on over there?”
Patirica nearly short-circuited, having no idea what the hell to say. After a second to think (she really only had that), she leaned in to tell Officer Burke,
“Tell him the code.”“The code,” Burke repeated, and Patricia felt her brain explode.
“...” There was an awkward silence on the other end.
Seeing no other alternative, Patricia snatched the walkie-talkie from Officer Burke, holding it up to her own face.
“Tell me the code,” she hissed, and Officer Burke gave her it in a dazed, dull voice. It was pineapple. She took a deep breath in and began to speak.
Oh God. This has to work. “Sorry, Sergeant!” she said, in a strangely modulated female voice.
“You know Officer Burke! She’s such a joker. This is, um…” She gazed around the room, settling on a female officer.
“Officer Miller! The code’s pineapple. I’ll just give it back to Officer Burke now…” Patricia made a sharp exhale, her eyes bugging out, before passing it back to Officer Burke.
The conversation continued much like it had before, with Patricia whispering the responses in Officer Burke’s ear and the woman spitting them back out at Bulldog. Thankfully, there wasn’t another mishap, and they ended off the radio call with Officer Bulldog thinking everything was fine.
Once it was over, Patricia leaned back and groaned, and then sighed with relief.
“God, you cops are really stupid, aren’t you? You won’t remember any of this. Go back to sleep.” She waved her hand, and the woman fell back into dreamland.
“I did it. Happy now?” Patricia looked back at Pandora, who had just witnessed that entire trainwreck.
“God, okay… well, you keep doing your thing. That went okay. Nobody’ll come in any time soon, we’ve got time.” Pandora was resting her chin in the palm of her hand, grimacing. She had removed one earplug.
"Whuf. Hard to watch, that was." She commented plainly, smirking smugly.
“Oh, shut up. Mind control is really complex, you know!” Patricia crossed her arms and huffed.
“Don’t you have something to like, go do?”Pandora shrugged, turning her palm upward in a confused gesture.
"What’s so hard about it? Just tell them what to do and they do it, Officer Miller." She poked.
Patricia rolled her eyes, and stood up from the ground.
“Oh yeah, because you’ve so mind-controlled someone before, woman who moves through walls and flooring. Most people are stupid. They think you say one thing when you mean another.” A smirk.
“Same thing would happen if I tried it on you. I won’t, obviously, but it would.” Pandora leaned forward, somehow, even though she was sticking halfway out the ground. She put her hand up as if to tell Patricia to stop.
"Wait wait wait," She chuckled.
"Are you blaming the people that you mind control for their misinterpreting your commands? You are literally subverting their free will." She snapped her fingers, looking for an apt analogy.
"It-it’s like playing one of those video games, and blaming the little man on the screen for losing. You are in complete control. If one wants to stop the stupidity one must look only to the source, yes? I have no doubt that if you were me, I would look like an idiot." Pandora responded, getting a kick out of all this. She didn’t seem bothered in the slightest that they were on a ticking clock, that Kanati and Alpha were out there in the sharks den surrounded by enemies. This was just a good use of her limited time as anything else.
Patricia blushed, flustered and defensive. She crossed her arms and uncrossed them, stuttering.
“W-well, I… yes! They’re not just avatars, they’re people too, they’re just people that have to do everything I tell them to. Basically, if we use a computing analogy, all I’m doing is reprogramming them to do what I tell them to. That doesn’t overwrite any of the previous code. I can be unspecific at times, but… well, that’s how it works.” Patricia then realized what Pandora had
really implied, and turned even brighter with anger.
“Are you calling me stupid?! I’m not- I’m not- you don’t know what you’re talking about!” She gave her best death glare, wanting to stick out her tongue but feeling as though it might make her come across as even more immature.
Pandora chuckled, clearly getting a kick out of all this. She winced sardonically, like Patricia’s death glare actually had a physical effect on her.
"No, I’m not calling you stupid. You are calling you stupid." She explained with Level Four condescension, using simplified grammar like she was talking to a child. Now she began to slowly lower herself into the ground, with the intention of accusing Patricia of wasting her valuable time if the teenager tried to get the last word in.
Pandora’s work insulting Patricia was certainly paying off. Patricia, in typical fashion, fumed. She had never regarded herself as a genius, but she did regard herself as an intelligent person. Had to be to use her power.
“No I’m- no I’m not! You’re just… not smart enough to understand what I’m saying. You’re the stupid one.” Patricia crossed her arms, triumphant with her insult that was effectively “no u”. She then did stick out her tongue.
Pandora submerged as Patricia talked, and then re-emerged, looking confused.
"What?" She asked.
”Sorry, I went underground. I don’t know if you know this, but I’m kind of in the middle of something here." She replied.
“We all are!” Patricia whisper-yelled, growing irate.
“Maybe you shouldn’t insult my intelligence while we’re in the middle of a covert oper-”"Shhh! We’re in the middle of a covert operation!” Pandora interrupted Patricia, looking earnest all of the sudden.
”Do you want them to hear you? Be quiet. I have to go. Stay focused, Aria." She looked at her pointedly. She rolled her eyes, as if she couldn’t believe she had to put up with all this nonsense, before sinking back below the bathroom floor and vanishing from view.
“I-I- argh!” After Pandora disappeared, Patricia made a quiet noise halfway between a roar and a yell, and sat back down on the leather couch. She crossed her arms and bubble with rage. She’d watch over her group of unconscious cops until someone told her she could leave. Until then, she’d sit there and seethe.
Meanwhile, Kanati stalked the halls. So far, Pandora’s plan was going successfully, though there was still an issue in terms of finding this secret room. There were only so many places it could actually be. He had long removed his ear-plugs and had been hearing everything up to this point; the voices of policemen, Alpha and Bulldog, as well as some of Pandora and Patricia’s back and forth.
So far, though, the only thing that seemed to irk him truly, was the distant sound of a draft. Like air coming in through a vent separate from the rest of the club. Likely where the room of interest was. As he was nearing the sound, which was definitely coming from somewhere in one of the next two rooms, two sets of foot falls came from behind.
Going by the ear being the left mostly, he could tell that they were soon turning the corner. In turn Kanati immediately jumped up and planted his fingers into the ceiling, pulling his feet up into something of a ball. Hanging upside down, the giant watched a pair of cops walk beneath him, looking around. Clearly they had heard him, and then his hair drooped down just in their eyeshot. Just as they looked up, the hunter dropped.
Landing on one of them directly, he snatched the other down by the face with one arm. Covering the officer’s eyes with two fingers and clamping their mouth shut with the other two, Kanati had the officer pinned to his chest, the struggling being not much more than an annoyance. For a moment, he waited to assure no other approaching sounds. With relative silence in this area being the response, he caught a glimpse of the officer beneath his knee trying to go for his radio. With his free hand, he plucked the man in the temple with just enough force to knock him out.
Gauging how to get them out of eyesight, Sam picked a room and dragged the officers to the door. It was locked...One forceful twist of the knob and a busted lock later, he was inside. The sound of the vent was much louder now. The pinned cop’s struggling had only gotten worse as they desperately tried to break free, but to no avail. The hunter’s annoyance level had reached enough of a peak though to pluck that one to sleep as well.
Now able to focus on where the sound was coming from, Sam planted an ear to the ground. It was definitely there, though he couldn’t hear anyone inside initially. Standing up and looking around the small, somewhat out of place office space, in a club no less, he walked around the computer desk. He could only guess that from movies there had to be some sort of special code to reveal the secret location. However, he also caught sight of a closet door. Knowing full well that this was the room, Sam kept in mind that there could be some traps laying about. Likely a good measure for their Spirit woman to investigate.
Thus, leaving the two cops behind the computer desk in the room, Sam knocked on the ground to get Pandora’s attention. Perhaps now they’d actually get an idea as to what was going on.
A few moments passed and the woman emerged partially from the floor. She glanced around, looking for unconscious or captured cops.
”Think we finished all of them. You get these two?" She asked rhetorically. Clearly, he had.
Pandora looked up at him expectantly, raising an eyebrow. There must be something else.
The giant eyed the ginger with a wandering soul, pointing to the ground.
“What we are looking for is below.”Pandora raised both eyebrows, making a faux- impressed face.
"Yes, I see. I shall report to Aria." She mimicked his cadence temporarily before vanishing under the surface. A few moments later, she reappeared in the ladies bathroom.
"That’ll do it then, Officer Miller. Job done. Kanati found the room, and everyone in the building is now in this room." She debriefed Patricia. For the first time in a bit, she clambered out of the floor and stood on her bare feet, twisting her back a little.
Patricia gave her best glare.
“It’s Patricia.” But she stood from the couch anyways, walking over to Pandora and standing beside her. For the last half hour or so, she had just been watching the sleeping cops, and she was bored. Singing and saying “sleep” was getting old. So, finally, they were going into the secret room. Whatever was in there, well… Patricia had a feeling they were in for a fight.
“Awesome,” she said, dry as to not show the nervousness coursing through her veins.
“Let’s go.”Pandora led her out, through the empty lobby, and into the room Kanati had indicated. She gave Alpha a thumbs up along the way and wove for him to follow, aswell.
Once they were all gathered, she looked to Kanati.
"Below, is it?" She asked, cracking her knuckles and rolling her neck.
Patricia waved to Kanati.
“Hey, Sam! Thanks for helping out, again. You might wanna put your earbuds back in before we get in there- and that goes for all of you. I think there might be something we’ll have to fight in there.”With everything settled, Pandora kneeled to the ground and placed her fingers in the carpet of the office space. Sticking her tongue out one side of her mouth as she focused, the floor sank down and opened up in a strange, liquidy way. The hole grew and grew and Pandora followed with it, eventually sitting down entirely like she was sliding. The decline was at an angle, and one shallow enough to climb on with only a little effort. There were little places to grip one’s hands and feet, as well.
When the tunnel was done, Patricia gulped, staring into the darkness. She was a bit scared to go into the secret room, but it was necessary, she knew. They need to find more evidence.
Now or never. She glanced to the rest of the group and, seeing no one else going for it, she stepped into the tunnel and walked down after Pandora. They emerged in the basement after less than thirty seconds, standing before the secret room.
