Return To Sender

[Volume Virus]

*I smile at the Doctor as he helps to haul me up.* If you think you can without getting yourself caught, by all means, go ahead. Then we'll pick up the other two. Sound good?

[doctorwhen]

*i tighten my vambrace and pull out a hooked dagger* alright be careful you guys, sona you still have my gun?

[Stained Sonata]

Yeah. *I pulled it out of my bag as proof* Do you need it? *With my aim, I don't know how much use of it I could make.*

[doctorwhen]

no, keep it you might need it, good luck guys *i run and jump out towards another piece of the wall and start climbing up with the hooked blade*

[Volume Virus]

We'll try not to fall off the roof. *I laugh and settle down, thinking about the boarded up windows. Why are they like that? Could Vanity and Endgame have been....* Sona, I need you to help me out a bit here and shoot that window in. I need to get inside.

[Stained Sonata]

Yeah, sure thing. *I didn't question her; I learned not to question people in these things. I aimed the gun at the window and shot it in like she asked me, thankful now that he gave me the thing.*

[Volume Virus]

Thank you! Be back in a few minutes. *I grab hold of the pipe and tumble off the roof, swinging inside.*

*I land more gracefully than I did last time, actually hitting the ground with my feet, although I stumble a bit after I hit. The male guest room is a bit dusty; a miniature dust tornado hits me in the face when I land. I walk down the short hallway with my hand on my gun (just in case) and open the door to the girl's room. There's dust in there too, and the pile of Vanity's clothes looks rather undisturbed. It smells wrong in here, a bit like desert graves and hospitals. More and more suspicious by the second, I start down the stairs, but stop midway through, and for good reason: I almost step on Vanity.*

*She's obviously dead, what with the smell of corpses and the fact that she's lying in a dried-up puddle of blood. The spiked brass knuckles that she threatened me with once or twice are on her hands. I can see Endgame's head downstairs, just poking out from around a corner. Both of them were shot once, from what I can tell, and directly in the forehead. Whoever attacked must have been a good marksman....*

*That's as far as my thoughts get before I have to run into the bathroom so that I don't make the already-grisly crime scene even more disgusting.*

*Five or so minutes later, when my stomach is free of absolutely anything, I hazard a few more steps downstairs. EG must have fallen off his chair when he was shot, because the thing is lying overturned next to his body. Someone drew the Greek letter Omega on the closed, locked door with blood. I'm on the verge of being sick again. On my way back upstairs, I stop to grimace at Vanity's body and slip one of the sets of brass knuckles off her (dead, decaying, and downright disgusting) hand, weighing it in my own before slipping it into my backpack. EG's computer mouse gets unplugged and placed in the same pocket.*

*A Drac mask, slightly burnt. A small piece of painted concrete. An ineffective beetle bomb. Basilisk's revolver. The useless hilt of Nox's sword. Vani's weapon, EG's mouse. I close the eyes of two dead comrades, walk gingerly back upstairs, and scramble back out onto the roof.*

[doctorwhen]

*i climb up to the tower and quickly dispose of the dracs inside, i plug in my computer and hack into the systems, i shut off the cameras and replace them with a still picture of the video before* this is too good to just leave now *i hack further into the systems and begin ripping through BLI plans and schematics*

[Stained Sonata]

You don't look too good... did you find anything? *I asked, tired of sitting around.*

[Volume Virus]

A lot of things. Nothing that I wanted to see. Don't go in there unless you like horror movie scenes, dust, and...blood. *I imagine the omega symbol again and almost gag.* ...yeah, just don't go in there.

[Alexander Ludovico]

(Transferring from 'Wilson's Office' pg 2)

*I get to the intersection I'd seen on the feed just in time to follow a family of three around the street. Their clothing is in more shades of grey than white, and it's not surprising. Property loses value as it gets closer to the wall, and neighborhoods like this one are about the closest to 'low income' that the city gets. A flock of pigeons is pecking along the sidewalk on the far side of the street, and I cross so I'm less likely to be noticed by the guard tower about a block farther down the wall. The birds hop along in front of me as I walk, getting nearer to the wall with every step, but when they start to come even with the last house on the block they suddenly take flight. Odd. There's an alley between the house and the city wall, and plenty of room for a handful of pigeons. It's like they don't want to get close.*

*Pausing where I am, I look back up the street. One last chance to back out... and I don't even really know what I'm looking for. I make a deal with myself; I won't go back to the office yet, but I also won't go marching straight into the possibly killjoy-infested guard tower. Circling around the building that the pigeons avoided, I look for a way up the wall.*

[Volume Virus]

*I suddenly hear footsteps, then get a faceful of pigeons. I lean backwards, away from the edge of the roof, until the bird mob passes. When I can sit back up without getting a mouthful of feathers, I lean my head over the side of the roof a bit, then quickly pull back. There's a person on the ground, a house away, wearing pristine white and looking at the wall. I grab the neck of Sona's shirt and pull her over to the far side of the roof, where we'll be at least a bit more hidden.* (to Sona) There's someone down there, and I don't think it's someone we want to see us. Keep quiet. Be prepared to sprint; if we need to, we're going inside.

[doctorwhen]

*i look out onto the cameras and see a man in the streets, on radio* be careful guys, want me to make a distraction? a fake alarm or something?

[Volume Virus]

*rb* Just get out of there before you attract any more of them. How long have you been pawing through their records? Because I know from experience that it does not take that long to hack a camera.

[Stained Sonata]

*I stayed hidden, keeping quiet. I bring my knives a little closer, just in case.* It may be easier to hide inside if he gets too close.. *I whispered to Volume*