We Gotta Find That Lab (Row)

Bliss assembled her finest team to take find and take down her newest foe. To cut out all the dead weight, she slimmed the team down to merely herself. A team she could handle and deal with without all of the troubles and problems that come from incompetence and people getting taken hostage.

Without anyone else slowing her down, Bliss took to leaping from building to building with a combination of telekinesis and being partially a vampire. She did not actually know which helped more, but as the sun dipped behind the skyline, it became a little more obvious which power made this easy.

"Bliss! Come in!" A voice rang through her ear, furrowing Bliss' lips into a scow at the sound of her half sister's voice. "Bliss! The new suit you have should be able to deal with that sample of poison you gave us."

"Thank you. You told me that already. When I told you not to contact me." Bliss kept her finger to her ear to make sure her voice hit the proper channel. "I will thank you to continue not contacting me for the remainder of the mission, unless I hit the emergency button. K?"

"But, we're bored."

"Okay?" Bliss reached down to the oversized ribbon on her chest and turned off the channel. The rest of her outfit remained largely untouched, black boots, black pleated skirt with a silver unitard, white gloves, and a black sailor collar made up her magic tech mogul outfit, but now with some added antitoxins to deal with the prior strand the doctor had used against her.

Bliss could imagine the doctor put something new into place, but protection from what worked last time would put some of her worries to rest. Now she just needed the tracker on her left wrist to pick up on the traces of the toxin the doctor employed. She did not necessarily want to find him, but to find wherever he set up his major lab.

Perched over the side of a building, looking down on the streets with her hair falling just about her shoulders, Bliss waited while her scanner went to work.

The shadow assassin walked the streets with a paper in hand. Scribbles of buildings and notes filled the paper with the name of a certain man written in red. Normally, the girl's targets consisted of a specific group of people but this time was different. After her embarrassing defeat at the hands of her own hostage, the girl was now out to erase one of her 2 stains. How nice would it be to just finish off the last target that got her into this mess but a promise was a promise.
"My child, your blood lust is showing."
"My apologizes," she whispered continuing down the street, "Such failure in your name... I have brought great shame to your name. Almost rivaling that of our family."
"That is why you are here today. Forgiveness is not a limited resource though it's price does inflate. Your desire to pay thee debt is satisfactory in my eyes."
"Our existence being known is not. Less is always better... since honor will prevent us from achieving none."
Gia grew silent as the girl walked under a street light. While her energy was sapped she rested against the light and looked at her paper. Today was the day the doctor would be making an appearance in front of some shady businessmen, if you could call them that. This organization was anything but legal. However they managed to stay out of the public's eye very well. Lunetta only managed to obtain any info through a few random murders. It was sloppy, but she had no other leads. Also, the one group she tried to join to help with this had disbanded without giving the girl access to any of their resources. Maybe she should start her own group. Her plan was to break into the the hideout and off the good doctor the first chance she got... but there were several problems to her plan. She let out a sigh and moved out of the street light.

She had on a black and dark purple hoodie with a purple skirt attached, black glasses to hide her glowing purple eyes, and dark purple cargo shorts that cut at her upper thigh with pockets meant for storing important tools and small weapons. Underneath her hoodie was a purple vest with matching pockets and a black skin tight unitard which covered her arms and legs up to her hands. Her feet were covered by the unitard. she had Black strapped gloves and military style black boots. Attacked to the vest was a retractable hood. It was similar to the outfit she wore with that disbanded organization with a few minor alterations. Never the less, it was not fully up to her standards yet but it would receive it's first test run out in the field. The strong survived and the weak perished. There was no other test better than that.

Bliss hopped down to the street below her, immediately offended by the smell seeping out of the steam vents rising from the ground. Her heels tapped along the concrete with a soft pitter patter of rubber, making the sound of metal under her heel more outstanding. And, hidden.

Before she went through the strain of moving the bin with telekinesis, she slid ice under the wheels, allowing her to slide it all the more easily. "Bingo." Indeed, a locked grate stood between her and the unraveling of her investigation. Or, at least the lock did stand in her way before it shattered so effortlessly. At least the mechanism within the lock broke, allowing it to fall.

Bliss cracked her fingers and pulled the grate up with telekinesis. Then, she got a feeling. A feeling like she was being watched.

Lunetta continued walking the area. She knew she was in the right part of town. What she did not know was where the building would be located. She kept an eye open, looking for any signs that would reveal a hint. It was all fruitless. This area of town was dark with minimal warm bodies wandering the night. Despite her expedites in hiding and the nighttime advantage, she doubted anyone would not find her suspicious. After all who moves around a dead part of town in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, a figure caught her eye. Someone was moving around rather. Had Lunetta not have better vision in the dark than the light, even she would have missed it.
"Interesting..."
The girl found something to chase. She doubted it was the Doctor, but it was the only thing she had. Several black knife flew threw the air and caught onto various buildings near the area Lunetta saw the figure. Then she shifted, appearing where the knife once stood. She was not sure if the figure saw her. All she knew was that she had a lead.

Suddenly a small chill slap her face. The air itself was not cold but something was off. Something made Lunetta want to just retreat. Still, she pressed forward she caught another glimpse of the figure and quickly ducked behind a wall. It was moving something but lunetta did not have time to identify it. her heart beat. She did not know what to do. A frowned grew on her face. It was all or nothing now.

The grate dropped over by Bliss' side, letting out more of a  crash than Bliss would care to deal with, but still not drawing too much attention from the regular bustle of the city. Fine enough she thought; the echoes at least remained above ground where no one down this access tunnel could hear. Or, so she hoped.

Bliss turned to give one more look to the alleyway, checking to see if she could make out any cameras. None she could see. Nothing really stood out to her, so she would take that as a good sign. She could use a few of those.

Bliss hopped down into the access tunnel, taking out a flashlight to illuminate her path. Tunnel looked cramped enough, about five feet in diameter, forcing Bliss to duck as she navigated herself through. Reverberations in the pipes let her know something more than mass transit operated down here. Several spaces within New York still managed to escape renovation after the assault, making New York a leading avenue for villainous lairs.

Bliss just needed to find out just where this lair lie, and she had a good feeling about the ladder just before her.

Lunetta's eyes widen as she heard the clapping of metal against the concrete floor. Whoever was acting was going underground. This was perfect, a dark confined space was the best spot to catch a target alone. Giving the person a several seconds to start entering the ground, Lunetta quietly rushed down the alley. She threw several black knifes into the walls. If she saw someone looking at her, she would keep charging forward while pulling out her sword. If she saw someone in the tunnel, she would create a shadow dagger and throw it down the hole hoping to hit the person. Else she would jump down and pull out her Voglia dagger and pistol. If she saw someone moving down the tunnel, she would would shout out demanding they freeze.
"FREEZE, OR I SHOOT!"

Shadows never made a sound. It made things far more complicated that way. Bliss never thought this would be easy, but she did expect her problems to be in front of her. Would this doctor yell freeze? In a woman's voice? A familiar woman's voice? Of course with how things played out last time this woman would want to follow up with the doctor- or maybe she wanted to follow up with Bliss.

"Freeze is an odd thing to say to me." Bliss kept her back to Lunetta, but turned her head. "I want to say you know that too. Do you have trouble with me or is it with the doctor?"

"Cazzo"
Lunetta jumped back and readied herself for retaliation from the meta. The woman turned her head but did not make any sudden movements. Her little taunt would have gotten her 2 pieces of lead in the back of her head had this been their first time meeting. This time, she had potiential value and an air of mystery. Why was she here? Why did she mentioned the doctor.
"Honestly both, but he... takes priority, we suppose."

This small space was not an advantageous spot to engage this type of woman. Lunetta groaned and lowered her weapon. It was not worth failing again because of ice witch. This was all a waste of time. To think she could be engaging with a real lead.
"Are you here to ruin our mission again? You won't stop me from finding Dr. K. So just give up and I might spare your life again."

"You must have gotten hit in the head way harder than I thought if you think you won last time. I don't really have time to deal with you right now, because I'm dealing with the greater of two evils- you're the lesser. That's your name now, Lesser. I need to find a lab- or a lair, whichever he calls it. Pretty much the same thing." Bliss kept Lunetta in front of her at all time, trying to shine some light between the two of them to keep herself in a relatively safe position. Most likely, Lunetta would not mean her any harm, but it was hard to tell.

"So, unless you wanna wind up wrapped up in duct tape again and shoved in a box, you can do yourself a favor and stay put of my way." With a flick of Bliss' wrist, she formed an ice ball around her hand, freezing her phone in place and letting the light reflect through the prism, bouncing off of Bliss' closed mouth smile.

A beep came from her phone. "I charged it before I left!" Bliss looked down to hear the sound of her power down music coming through. "Whoever unplugged my phone to charge there's is in for a world of pain when I get done with them!"

Bliss looked up and narrowed her eyes. "I'm busy right now!"

"Lesser? Are we suppose to be insulted?" Lunetta mumbled to Gia.
"Focus. The girl seeks our target despite having insufficient information. She is not a threat."
Lunetta nodded and put her eyes back on Bliss. The girl was being cautious shining her flashlight between them. Lunetta could only snicker at the attempted. The lights aided the woman last time due to the nature of that op but it would not proof as useful this time. Lunetta was fully geared with actual weaponry this time. It would only prove to be a nuisance, at least compared to the woman's ice powers.
"You talk big for someone who's afraid of the dark," A black figured stepped out from behind Lunetta with daggers in hand. She placed both hands on her gun ready as Bliss activated her ice powers. However a flash of light burned away the dark figure and forced Lunetta to take a step back. She did not expect such a trick, and was now feeling a heavier drain from colorful light off the prism.

What was this? Why was this color light so much more powerful than the brightest of lights. Sweat rolled down her face as she fought to remain standing. She moved her hand back to her gun. If this lasted any longer she would be forced to engage. Lucky for her, the phone's battery died and Lunetta was once again shrouded in darkness. Her strength quickly returned but now the girl was a little annoyed.

"Well stay busy with your little light tricks. Just know this. The doctor is not in some 'Lair or lab,' so out of my way. I have a man to kill and don't have time to play in the sewers with some strega di ghiaccio who's useless and ill informed."
Lunetta then covered her head with her hood and walked forward through any light Bliss might be shining. Sure it was uncomfortable being drained of your energy over and over, but she bared it. If given the chance she would shoulder check the woman before continuing down the tunnel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A black limo cruised through the empty streets. Inside were three burly men and one Doctor with a bag over his face. Secrets were important in this business and bring this man here was already a huge risk. However, his over was too good to just ignore. The doctor was not worried. There was no place he could not weasel his way out of. In all honestly, he was just happy to be given another shot. He needed money to further progress his studies, especially after that incident in South America.
"Gentlemen, I don't mean to appear impatience but how much longer must I wear this dreadful bag."
"As long as I say. Last I checked you needed money."
"And you are in need of breakthrough no?"
"I always wanted to break through your nose."
"Wait... i forgot how much I love bags."

Nothing bad came from the death of Bliss' phone- save not being able to see anything not illuminated by tunnel lighting. "I've got pretty good information saying you're wrong, but if I were going to humor you, where would you say he is?" Bliss shook the frustration from her head, but failed to use that energy to power her phone. Letting out a sigh, the phone- and the hand holding it- fell to her hip.

Bliss moved with the shoulder check, getting skinny and shimmying around. "The doctor escaped, well he left, last time, but if you think you know anything about where he went- or where he is, I think you and I could set aside some differences and work this out."

The heel of Bliss' boot continued to suppress the sound of her hurried footsteps as she made her way out of the tunnel. "It's not like we haven't worked together before, and even though we were only mildly successful because of me, that doesn't mean it isn't your time to shine- or whatever shadow people do."

"Wouldn't you like to know..."
Of course the woman would challenge her. She did make it this far using whatever unknown practice. However, Lunetta stood her ground if only to be perceived to have the upper hand. Clearly the woman was interested in the information no matter how nonchalant she acted. Still she had an ego just like Lunetta. So when the girl proposed a team, Lunetta stopped.

"Work with la strega di ghiaccio. I'll be burned," a deep breath followed. She was not a threat right now. If she followed unwanted, she could be a hindrance if not a obstacle again. She would slow Lunetta down and possible create another opening for the man. She was not an opponent to be taken lightly since she knew the weakness for the shadows. She would be a great asset and might even get killed. A smile crept on the assassin's face. That would be one less person with Voglia information.
"But fire doesn't scare una strega nor una phantasma."

Lunetta took several steps before answering, "Don't slow me down."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The limo stopped inside of a garaged under a tall grey building. A swinging light illuminated a sign reading, "Pets Mas." It was a small business that sold pets which were typically rare or illegal to obtain. With plenty of clients and a vast market, it was a very safe and profitable business with the low threat of intervention from the police. Should a more dangerous animal create problems, the company had ties with a few high ranking officers that would allow them to clean the mess giving another source of income. Nobody handed dangerous animals like Pets Mas.

The Owner was a ambitious man who started out young and honest, but after a running with the civil court over a bad experience with an unchecked animal, he was forced to go underground to stay afloat. In the dark cold world, he learned what real profit was like and evolved his business. Sadly he was never able to truly expand with his current model.
"Rare or exotic animals just don't cut it like they did back in the day Doctor. However, I hear there is another more... aggressive market in need of warm, loyal bodies with a little kick behind them. We heard of experiments. It's the only reason I am not using you as kibble."
A couple of blood hounds followed up with snarls and barks with blood shoot starving eyes.
"I must apologize, they are hungry and i'm unsure what to give them. So show me doctor why you are more than a menu item tonight"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wrapping up her explanation, "So like I said. He is not at a lab as he is trying to procure funding from Pet Mas CEO, J. Hound. Today is the day he makes his over and base on my research on his previous experiment... he is going to get it."

"Slow you down?" Bliss hurried up behind Lunetta, scoffing. "You are really ungrateful for me saving you last time- and really forgetful of me beating you straight up in a fight before that." The exit from the access brought her back into the air of the night- and whatever Lunette happened to have planned. For now, the alliance would continue, built off of good will Bliss bought by saving Lunette no doubt- but possibly sabotaged from the exact same act of salvation. This woman kept a very big ego, and needing saving probably went against her ego.

"So, what's the deal with the shadowy persona?" A little insight never hurt anyone. "You make a deal with some kind of creature or something? And, do you have a phone? I might have someone who could help get us in there. I'm not on good terms with the fancies anymore, but she is."

Bliss started looking for any access to a phone- or a charger, assuming Lunetta would tell her 'no'.

Lunetta refused to acknowledge being saved. It was her mistake to turn her back on such a man, but she was not grateful for baring the scar of defeat. It was not in the teachings. Plus this girl just wouldn't stop gloating. It was really getting annoying, enough to make her want to stop the mission and close off another loose end. The promise was to not kill that other girl. Not this ice witch.

Then the girl started questioning Lunetta on other things. The woman sighed before. "We grow weak in the light. It's only reasonable to adapt to embraced your strength." While to wasn't smart to reveal your weaknesses to your enemies, this one already knew. However, Lunetta quickly realized that the nature of the question after the woman spoke again. "Spiacente, my English is not the best," Lunetta pondered how to say this. On her story was long, one the girl probably would not care to hear. But, her mockery of Gia really just begged for an education.

"My family does not make deals for power. I are blessed by my ancestors and was chosen after... how you would say... a test?" Lunetta was sure there was a better word, but she rather not waste the breath. "I was bestowed this power by the elder, a stupid man who did was was right. The only man I admire. So I appreciate it if you cease insulting my ancestors with your frivolous banter," Lunetta stopped to look Bliss in the eye, "Even we know not to disrespect the dead."

Turning back around to continue walking forward regardless of the girl's responses, Lunetta went on to answer the rest of the questions. "We lack phones as we returned to working alone. What is this fancies? We... I am not familiar with American slang."