This was a horribly stupid and incredibly rash plan.

And yet they were still going with it.

After Lin had first pitched her idea, pretty much no one had been on board. 'We walk in there and we fucking kill them,' wasn't exactly a great business pitch, to be fair.

But, no one else had been able to come up with a plan that didn't resemble that, or that had a higher chance of success.

So, they went with the walking in and killing.

They'd divided into three groups. PJ and Egan, Lin and Rory, and Marzia and Jack. The group had somehow managed to convince Signe to stay behind and return home for her own safety, leaving them with a party of six.

The timeline they'd set up was simple in a similar fashion. Jack and Marzia would walk right to the front door as bait. These people were expecting Jack to show up, and since the group was concerned for the safety of Jack if he went unarmed and alone, Marzia volunteered to go with them. Her presence in the situation was logical, too, as she was the closest to Felix out of all of them. It wouldn't be seen as odd for her to want to be directly involved in the interaction to ensure his safety.

While the group of three played along at the front doors, PJ and Egan would flank left while Lin and Rory would flank right. One of the two groups would hopefully find an alternate entrance into the building, which they could use to sneak in and eliminate any guards or other co-conspirators that lay in wait. The more of them they could pick off at the beginning, the easier the fight later on would be.

That was phase one.

"Do we have all the weapons?" Rory called quietly, taking inventory.

"Yeah. Is everyone still alive and accounted for?" Lin's voice responded.

Several voices called out to indicate their presence. The parking garage filled with IH-owned cabs was nearly pitch-black, save for the piercing beams of the group's flashlights, and it was hard to keep track of who was where.

"Great," she continued. "Now who wants to help me hijack a car?"

Jack hear a small grunt of pain and a complaint from Lin, the latter sounding something like "you have pointy elbows."

"I already have the keys," Egan chimed in. A car door opened with a click, and Egan could be heard getting inside. "I took them from the main office. Those people get way too invested in small talk, but it made it easier to take some stuff."

Quietly (or as quietly as six people could muster in an otherwise noiseless garage), they all hopped in the vehicle. Egan had made the perfect choice, snagging the keys to one of the bigger cars. Apparently, they were normally used for larger squadron missions, but the musty smell and blankets of dust found inside indicated that the one they picked hadn't been used in a long while. It seemed they hadn't needed larger teams lately, which was strange, because one would think finding their own missing members would be an organization's top priority.

With a soft click from the key the behemoth of a car was revitalized, the engine humming its old tune once again. Someone in the middle row of seats, who Jack couldn't see at the moment, clicked on the light. The seven faced each other underneath it, all of their expressions grim but determined. Jack noted that PJ seemed a bit more nervous than the rest of the group, but he dismissed it as an effect of the light from the small, dying bulb, which was stretching shadows across his face.

"Are we all ready?" Egan asked from the driver's seat.

Everyone muttered in agreement.

"This ends tonight," Marzia said confidently. The mood in the car seemed to lighten at that, Marzia's simple but sure statement bringing encouragement to all of them.

And then they were off.

The journey there was surprisingly short. Too short. At least to Jack. He was anxious to have Felix safe and sound, as well as all of the other people, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared. There was a high chance this could go horribly wrong, and Jack was savouring every moment he had before he was potentially killed or taken.

As they drove, the road signs began dwindling, as well as any lights. The streets became narrower, rougher, as if they hadn't been updated in years. Which, to be fair, was probably true. Jack had never been on any of them before, and after asking everyone else, it appeared they hadn't either. Except for PJ, who said he vaguely remembered traveling down them years ago. He didn't go into specifics.

The remote location, tall trees, and darkened night sky sent chills down Jack's spine. 

This was where people go to get murdered in horror movies.

That thought was only amplified when they finally saw the building that matched the dreaded "1006 Montgomery Street" address.

They slowed to a stop farther down the street, as it was a bad idea for all of them to be directly in front of the building, but the estate was so massive they had no trouble seeing it from there. Rickety wood and odd extensions covered the structure like ugly scabs, tainting what would've once been a picturesque manor. The roof was slowly caving in on one of the sections, materials from it clinging onto the tops of the walls like desperate fingers. Two larger towers protruded from opposing sides, which would be the left and right sides if you were facing the front door. What they were built for and what they were used for today, Jack didn't know, but they looked like demonic horns to him, shadows from gas lamps stretching strange shapes across their crumbling bricks. Large doors served as entrances to various different points, tall, wide mouths to this monster of an establishment, ready to swallow all of them whole.

"They could've picked a nicer place for this," Marzia said.

Egan and Lin laughed nervously in response, though Jack could tell they agreed with her. Everyone clearly did.

"I'll get the weapons," Rory stated in a flat tone. There was a look of unwavering determination in her eyes that Jack had never seen from her before, countering her normally timid nature. She felt a bit intimidating with that composure, and it made Jack feel glad to be on her side of the fight.

Swiftly, they got out of the car, and after curt goodbyes they split off into their groups. Marzia and Jack moved towards the building last, giving the other groups a head start in order to help them sneak in with less difficulty later on.

So, the three were left in silence. Bone-chilling and horror move-like silence.

Even as they started walking, neither of the two wanted to break the quiet that had fallen over them. There wasn't much left to say, really. They were potentially heading to their deaths, so obviously they didn't want to be too loud, and they'd already gone over the plan several times. Plus, talking about trivial matters in such a grave situation felt... wrong. There was so much at stake, so many lives at risk, that attempting to discuss the weather felt ridiculous.

Plus, Jack hated small talk anyways.

Eventually, however, he resolved to break the silence, much to his own chagrin. 

"Why do you think they're doing all of this?" He whispered, speaking so quietly he wasn't sure his friend had heard him over the sound of their footsteps.

There was a reply from Marzia just a couple of seconds later.

"I don't know. I guess some people are just fucked up."

"I guess," Jack said. "But I feel like there's something else, you know? And I guess it would bother me if, at the end of the day, all of this was just because a group of people decided that kidnapping would be a fun hobby."

"How does having a motive make what they did any better?" Marzia asked.

"I... I don't know. It's hard to explain. It just means that maybe there's a way to reason with them, and maybe they weren't always like this."

"That's a nice thought. But there's no redemption after something like this. I used to work with some of these people. I would love more than anything for things to go back to the way they used to be, to see all of them on just a normal day. But I know there's no way that could ever happen."

There was a moment of silence before she continued.

"I get the 'there's good in everyone' philosophy, but some people just can't be forgiven."

"Yeah, I suppose," Jack replied dismally. As sad as it was, Marzia was right about redemption not being an option in some cases, no matter the motive.

But that wasn't the only reason he was curious about the rationale of their tormentors.

Alex seemed like a straight-up psychopath, sure, a man who was just out for slaughter. But Casey seemed different. Deliberate. Like she had a reason to want anarchy, to take the IH apart, and she had based a plan around that reason.

And since she obviously needed Jack for that plan, it made him wonder what the reason was. What did she have against the IH? Against him?

They didn't know the whole story here, and that really didn't sit right with Jack. They could be missing a huge part of the bigger picture, one that might save lives.

Jack didn't have time to bring this second point up, however, as they arrived at the monstrosity of a building before he could say anything.

Here goes nothing.

Almost immediately after they'd stepped within the grasp of the flickering tendrils of light emitted by the gas lamps, the front door opened. Silently, like two shadows, members of whatever organization Casey and Alex were apart of came to greet them.

The two opposing sides met halfway, and yet they still remained a considerable distance apart from each other (about two metres). No one dared to step any closer, as the tension in the air made the odds of an explosion occurring as a result of contact seem genuinely likely.

It was a member of the other group that spoke first. Jack could see their face, though making out specific features was proving to be difficult. The poor illumination from the gas lamps and the large hood the figure wore concealed the details of the figure's countenance, merging their head with shadows. All Jack could make out was a prominent, hooked nose and a sharp jawline.

"I was expecting more fanfare than this," they said. He couldn't actually see it, but Jack could feel their eyes looking the group over. Assessing them. "A bigger squad. We didn't think you'd agree to the terms."

"You took Felix. You took so many others," Marzia said, her voice uncharacteristically harsh. "We're done fighting."

"You never put up much of a fight in the first place," the other figure remarked. They were shorter than the other one by several inches, and would probably only come up to Jack's neck. Despite their size, Jack had a feeling that they would still easily outmatch him in a fight.

"It's hard to fight when people like you are hiding in the shadows. Cowards."

The first figure scoffed.

"Don't confuse strategy with cowardice."

Jack and Marzia started moving closer together in case there was a need for better defence. This only prompted the other two people to step closer forwards, the taller of the two pulling out a strange pair of handcuffs.

"Enough talking," they said. "Let's get this over with."

They moved forward again, but neither of the two made any move to flee. The taller one approached Jack with the handcuffs, forcefully turning him around to lock them around his hands. They felt cold against his wrists, metal digging into skin. Jack got the feeling that the figure restraining him wanted to cause him pain, which was unnerving. He really shouldn't have expected any different, considering who these people were, but there was something so unexpectedly alarming about this person's movements.

"Move," the figure said in a tone that can only be described as a growl. Jack reluctantly complied, his shuffled footsteps crunching across the dirt and gravel ground as walked slowly towards the door.

Marzia started to follow, but Jack heard her footsteps abruptly stop, a voice quelling the noise.

"No no no, there's no way I'm-" Marzia's voice halted suddenly. There had been a rustling noise just before she fell silent, giving Jack the impression that someone had pulled something out of a bag or their pocket.

"Just him," the shorter figure said. Marzia didn't make another move after that, which meant that she was probably being held at gunpoint.

"Where's Felix?" She demanded. Jack had to admire her courage, as it would take a lot of nerve to be that defiant with a (probable) weapon pointed straight at you.

As if on cue, the front doors began to open. Their hinges groaned with exertion, a haunting moan seemingly emanating from inside the building. Though he was still fairly far away, Jack could make out two figures steadily approaching them. One was dressed similarly to the other two figures who'd greeted them, and the other was handcuffed with a bag over their head.

Felix.

A hand tightly gripping his shoulder told Jack he wasn't moving as fast as his now-captor would like him to. He picked up the pace, but only slightly, as running straight towards certain doom was never a good idea.

A hush fell over both parties as the two sets of figures approached each other, the tense silence as they got close to halfway feeling as though the world was holding its breath.

But as Jack got closer, something began to feel... wrong. Obviously, everything was already wrong in this situation, but there was something else. Something worse. 

He couldn't quite figure out why he felt that way until it was almost too late.

At first glance, Jack had missed it, as most would have. But once he saw it, he couldn't stop staring at it.

Peeking out from the sleeve of Felix's shirt was a tattoo.

A tattoo that most certainly had not been there before.

Suddenly, everything else felt off as well. The way this person walked was different from Felix. They were too mousey, too timid, as if they were afraid they'd shatter the ground with one misplaced footstep. They were also too tall. Jack and Felix has been roughly the same height for as long as they'd known each other, but this other figure was a good inch or two taller. Jack hadn't noticed it from afar, as gaging someone's height from a distance and in the dark wasn't easy, but it was blatantly obvious now that they were closer.

In short, the person with the bag over their head was not Felix.

And this was a trap.

Before the other set of figures could pass them entirely, Jack sprung into action. Without thinking, he reared his head back, feeling it connect with his captor's nose as a sickening crunch echoed throughout the silent clearing. The figure cursed and stumbled backwards, releasing their grip on Jack and allowing him to move quickly towards the two other stunned figures.

How Jack did what he did next, he wasn't sure. He just kind of did what he thought looked cool and hoped it would actually work.

With his hands behind his back, Jack couldn't make proper use of them, so he settled for his head, legs, and torso. He slammed into one of the figures, knocking them off balance. Jack wasn't sure how that had actually succeeded, though he deduced that perhaps the person wasn't expecting Jack to be as strong as he was. Whatever the case, it threw them off just long enough for Jack to headbutt them, which was the blow that sent them tumbling to the ground. 

Jack immediately turned his attention to the fake Felix afterwards, not wanting to let him get away. He brought up his knee and hit a not-so-comfortable spot, causing the other person to immediately cry out in pain and hunch over. From there, Jack was easily able to knock them onto the ground, their head disrupting the gravel of the deserted lot. Awkwardly, he turned and reached with his hands still cuffed behind his back to pull the bag off of the person's head.

His suspicions were confirmed. 

The eyes of the person looking up at him were not the stormy blue of Felix's but the unfamiliar brown of a man he'd never seen before.

Jack surveyed the area quickly, checking to see where Marzia was and if she was alright. He spotted her running towards him, her form merely a silhouette in the darkness. Behind her was a body lying limp on the ground, which Jack assumed was the figure who'd been holding her there. Marzia must have disarmed them.

The first figure, the one who'd been holding him, suddenly started to stand up again, and Jack knew he had a fight coming his way. He wasn't really experienced with this, but given that it really hadn't taken much for him of all people to knock down three opponents already, these people probably weren't as experienced as Jack had originally hypothesized. Plus, he had Marzia with him as well.  

It was two on four, with every one of them being an immortanimus. That was a bit disquieting, but Jack knew they had no choice.

Jack finally let go of his restraint, the surge of power he'd been unintentionally building up due to unease no longer suppressed by his will. A dangerous mixture of adrenaline and that familiar electrical feeling coursed through his veins, helping Jack gear up to try and break through the handcuffs-

A sudden jolt of electricity, a different, more painful kind, shut down Jack's abilities entirely. His vision went white for a moment as his knees instantaneously buckled, and he sunk to the ground unwillingly and defeatedly. 

All his strength was gone, the power dissipating almost as quickly as he'd released it. Jack's limbs felt heavy, so much so that trying to move them felt painful, and his mind was so sluggish it felt like he hadn't slept in days.

Whatever had done this to him had somehow drained every aspect of his strength.

The handcuffs suddenly felt infinitely tighter around his wrists, cutting into his skin with a disgusting hissing noise. An acrid smell filled Jack's nose, and had he had the energy, he would've gagged. 

They were burning his flesh.

"You have no idea how badly I was hoping you'd try that," came a voice from above him.

Weakly, Jack was able to lift his head to face the person. His eyes met the figure from before, his captor, as they towered over him. Jack felt immeasurably small in that moment, unable to even form words to challenge them.

"Those aren't normal cuffs. They were designed specifically for an immortanimus and use the power from your abilities to reinforce themselves. Attempting to escape only makes them stronger."

Panic began circling in Jack's mind, like a bird desperately trying to take flight, but he was unable to act on it. All he could do was groan in pain and try to stay conscious, blinking away the stars he was seeing.

Several more people sauntered into Jack's field of view, all of them familiar. The two other figures from before, the fake Felix and his faux captor, stood to the left. To his right was Marzia  with hands cuffed behind her back. The short figure who'd held her at gunpoint before was now doing it again, an alien-looking revolver-type firearm pointed at her captive.

"You've lost, mate."

Jack wasn't even sure which one of them had said it, as the world has started spinning. The figures in front of him seemed to multiply, and he could've sworn there was a whole armada surrounding him. Trapping him. It became hard to breathe, hard to see, hard to discern if he was seeing double, triple, or if there really were dozens of armed opponents ready to close in on him at any moment.

And he didn't get