Hide and Seek

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Cage nodded. "He got there before me," he said. "He pretended to be Jack..."

Dom closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath. "We were with each other the entire time. We... fled, while he was busy..." He opened his eyes again, his shame apparent. "I can vouch for these two," he said. "I figured there was nowhere else to go but here..."

She rolled her eyes at him and flipped him off. "I think I'll be fine," she said, looking back at her father. She didn't think he was done trying to get her to leave quite yet. Even if she was exhausted she'd have insisted otherwise.

He gave her a wry, knowing smile as he turned away.

They made it back across the border easily enough - the city was still struggling to recover from both the night before and that day. The toll on the peacekeeper force had been huge.

"Alright," Dom said, looking around at their small group and reaching up for his bandanna as he thought. He took a breath. "I can't make all of us invisible," he said. He gave a short, angry laugh. "And I suppose we don't really need these anymore," he said shortly, "what with everyone..."

He shook his head and pulled his bandanna off. "Go ahead," he said to the other two. "The peacekeepers are less likely to recognize us without them on, and it's not like we have to hide ourselves from each other when we're all paying O'Leary a visit."

Iris nodded, taking her own bandanna off as Cage reluctantly removed his. Laura frowned at him. He seemed so familiar....

"Yes, Raziel," Dom said, his voice sharp, pained. "We know."

He cleared his throat. "The tunnels," he said, trying to sound calm. "Let's go."

The team made it down into the tunnels quickly, and as they stepped onto the tracks Dom held up a light for them. Laura created a light of her own as well, looking over at Cage again -

"Kieran," she suddenly breathed, and Cage seemed to freeze. She felt a rush of triumph. She was right. "Holy shit," she muttered, as he looked away.

"Don't let anyone out of sight," Dom said loudly, before Cage could reply, and they started down the tunnels.

"But you were a peacekeeper..."

"They found me out."

Cage's expression grew tight as they spoke softly. "Dom broke me out. But he's..." He looked at the back of Dom's head. "He's your father, isn't he? I thought I recognized his voice..."

Laura nodded, holding her light up higher. What were the chances? First her father, and now Kieran?

Her heart sank. Now there were three people who she might lose here...

"Here," her father suddenly said, stopped and reaching out to a door in the wall. "Everyone ready?" Cage nodded, materializing his sword, and Iris muttered under her breath for a moment, closing her eyes until that strange red bird-thing appeared in front of her. Laura looked back at Raziel and looked away again quickly. The beast was there, and as much as she said she could handle it...

She shuddered. It's still Raziel. Not... She drew her knife, holding up her light along with Dom as they stepped inside.

It was dark inside, and silent, almost deafeningly silent. They wandered down the hallway into the large, main room, and Laura's eyes darted between Cage and her father cautiously. No sign of anyone. Where the hell was he?

As they wandered down after Raziel, they would eventually start to hear sounds, farther below them. They reached the top of a stairwell, and Raziel would hear a voice, a bright baritone, faintly singing below.

Down the stairs was what looked like the foundation of the facility - large, rusted over machines that had once run the facility and supplied the power lay in broken wrecks, and the trail led further down into these ruins, towards a large room in the center of the basement.

As they arrived at the door, the others would be able to hear the voice as well, and Dom's expression tightened in anger. Cage looked over at Laura for a moment, raising up his sword. They exchanged looks, and Dom nodded, cutting out his light. Laura followed his lead.

They waited for their eyes to adjust to what dim light there was, coming from under the door and from Raziel's eyes, before they nodded at him.

The man inside stood with a light floating above him, tall, wearing a long white coat and glasses, and standing in front of a machine fiddling around with it. He perked up as the door opened, his form shifting in moments to the yellow-eyed man, and he darted away from the blast that struck the machine he'd been playing with.

"I was hoping you'd come back!" he said, sounding excited as Dom and the others followed Raz inside and threw up their own lights again. "You, that sword, and four friends! How kind!"

The man reacted quickly, darting to the side as the beast charged at him, the shockwave from the sword throwing him off balance just barely before he charged back in to slam his fist into Raziel's gut as the others hung back for a moment, shocked for just a moment. Laura nearly drew her chameleon spell over herself, until her father grabbed her shoulder, shaking his head. They needed to keep an eye on each other here.

He twisted, but not quite enough to avoid the blow entirely. He hissed back pain as the blade dug into his shoulder, and he slammed his knee between Raziel's legs as he pulled away, kicking out hard at his hands to try and disarm him.

The man stumbled back, growling as he was thrown back by the energy, and his form seemed to melt, changing swiftly into that of the small, asian woman. She raised her hand and the ground exploded beneath Raziel, throwing him back.

She turned as Iris' bird summon flew at her, catching it as it flew by and engulfing it in a moment. "Nice little snack," she said, grinning at Iris before her form shifted again, turning, for a moment, into an older, dark-skinned woman. "I thought your face was familiar," she said. "Is that my little Marisa Sturm?"

Iris' face darkened in anger and pain as she started to chant under her breath, and he turned back into the yellow-eyed man to dodge Cage's knife throw.

Laura's father suddenly reached for her shoulder again. "We can keep an eye on each other," he muttered, drawing a chameleon spell over the both of them.

His eyes widened as the energy from the blade raced towards him, and his form shifted quickly until Jack stared back at him, just before the energy struck.

He was blasted back, slamming into the far wall hard before he fell to his knees. His eyes glassed over for a moment in pain, and he coughed, shifting forms in an instant back to the smaller asian woman as he seemed to breathe out a vapor into the air.

She set off another explosion when he came at her again, this time following it with several more, driving him and the others who fought her back. "No more games," she snapped. "Dioltas. Give it to me and you won't suffer when I have you."

She ducked behind a machine at the first blast, shifting into the yellow eyed man and dodging around his next blasts. The sword put him on the defensive, and he growled, his eyes glowing brighter as he dodged another slash and slammed a kick hard into the side of his leg, followed by a knee to the gut and a strike to the arms to try and disarm him again.

Iris paced angrily, searching for some way to strike out at the monster, but with the two of them locked as they were, it was impossible to intervene without the worry of hurting him.

Laura and Dom kept their distance as well, waiting for some way they might be able to intervene and give Raziel an advantage...