The Good Old Days

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abby_icon.gif bennet_icon.gif cat2_icon.gif ivan_icon.gif lashirah_icon.gif rene_icon.gif ryans2_icon.gif

Scene Title The Good Old Days
Synopsis Noah Bennet's plan to find the paintings runs into a snag at the home of Ivan Spektor.
Date August 20, 2010

The rain has not abated, through the night it hammered down on the St.Petersburg safehouse's roof, and come morning was a torrent sheathing the streets in rainwater. A full day in the city has given Noah Bennet time to plan the next course of action, has given the team he's assembled in this densely populated Russian commerce center time to acclimate themselves to the native environment.

«Lee, stay in the car, keep it running. We may need to make a quick exit.»

Perched on a canal, the three story residence on Rimskogo-Korsakova blends in with the other stone-faced houses on this street. A short distance from the safehouse, this dark-shingled residential building is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with houses on either side, narrow alleyways between the buildings lined with cobblestones.

«Ryans, Chesterfield, Beauchamp, I want you around the side entrance. I'll be coming in the back.»

This meeting was planned out through the entirety of the prior night. Early in the morning, an arrival at the Spektor residence going unannounced would afford the least likely possibility of Ivah being intercepted or Noah's movement in the city causing undue ripples. Parked on the street beside the canal, a black BMW idles in the falling rain, where Company agent Lashirah Lee sits on her radio, laid back in the driver's seat, headset in one ear and cord microphone dangling down the front of her jacket. On the seat beside her, a Company-issue .45 rests under a Wired magazine in Cyrillic.

«Remember, Ivan may be under surveillance so we need to move quickly and efficiently. Stick to the plan and remember to wait to move until his wife is out of the house.»

No one has physically seen Noah since the night before when the plan was laid out, some seven hours ago. Now, satellite phone contact is how the teams keep in communication, each member of the small team being assigned a phone and a headset by Noah for this sepcific assignment.

«Remember, no matter what happens, we need to protect Ivan's life at least until we get the location of the paintings from him.»

In one of the narrow alleyways beside the house, rain falls in a curtain from the gutters around where Benjamin Ryans, Catherine Chesterfield and Abigail Beauchamp wait in the shadow of a cloudy morning. The side entrance to the Spektor home is a brown painted wooden door with no windows. Two narrow windows flank it on either side, curtains partly drawn revealing a hallway inside the house leading out into a living room.

«I have visual on Ivan, he's walking Katarina to the front door. Be ready to move on my signal. Lee, watch Katarina's car, make sure she isn't followed.»

On the opposite side of the street from where Lashirah is parked, with two lanes of traffic dividing them, a tan colored sedan is the vehicle Bennet explained belongs to Katarina Spektor, while the SUV behind it is Ivan's. For now, the street seems clear enough, rain keeping people off of the street.

«Going radio silent now until the signal.»

Thunder punctuates Noah's words, a rumble in high clouds.


St.Petersburg, Russia

9:30am Local Time


Out in the car, Lashirah keeps alert. She is both FBI and Company trained and had spent more than a little time dodging Company tails in her past to get some time as her other self for practice, so knowing what to look for isn't a problem. Still, she tries to keep focused on the car in question, even as she tilts the seat back upright.

Rain drips from the rim of his fedora, as his eyes are on that narrow view of the hallway, watching for anything unusual. One of a pair of Company issue firearms is held partially concealed in his duster, which hangs untied around his form. It feels cold on his shoulders where the water is slowly seeping into the fabric, weighing it down… Waterproof isn't always that way.

He doesn't say anything over the com, just listens to Bennet's voice. On their end, he speaks up softly off radio. "Catherine…" That name sounding much more appropriate, then calling her a feline. "I'd like you to bring up the rear when we go inside." He turns his head her way, but is slower to pull eyes away to look at the woman. "Abby…."

There is a pause as Ryans is having a problem with her being a part of this… It's hard not to see her as a girl the age of his own, it's hard not to lump her in them. "Abigail. You watch my back." He's obviously going in first, when the order comes down. "I sweep right… you sweep left when we go in. Got it?"

A lot of people have a hard time seeing the bible thumper as much of anything beyond medic and … bible thumper. "go left" Abigail's hand tightens around her taser, adjusting and re-adjusting her grip on the black and yellow weapon. Ivan is going to love this, someone is going to get shot, she's sure of it. Das vidaniya Ivan! We're here for the paintings! How's that goulash?

In the alley, Cat awaits the signal, nodding to Mr. Fedora's recommendation. She doesn't speak. Despite Ben's reluctance to address her in feline terms, she's clad in black and seems to have some aspect of a panther about her. Alert and ready to move on signal, poised, but not letting herself seem tense. Much like a panther lurking in grass may seem not to be paying attention and leap into movement should a target come within range.

Out front of the house, Agent Lee can see the front door open and a dark-haired woman unfold an umbrella as she steps out. The dark shawl wrapped around her shoulders keeps off the chill, and as she steps down out of the front door, she turns to face someone standing in the doorway. Ivan Spektor's face is a familiar one to the team, even Agent Lee, there's a portrait of him hanging up in Fort Hero's hall of retired agents for his commendable service over the years.

Leaning up and towards the white-haired old man, Katarina Spektor lifts one hand and presses it to the side of her husband's cheek, then turns away and begins walking to her car. «That's the signal, let's go.»

Bennet's voice crackles over the phones, and while Katarina is moving into her car from the sidewalk, Lashirah can see the front door slowly closing. Over the phones, there's a noise of movement. The source of the sound comes from out back, where a snap-gun in Noah's hand quickly clicks thorugh the rear entrance of the house, door pushed open and leather shoes stepping wetly into the back of the house.

He isn't alone.

Shadowing Noah, a tall man in a tan colored suit follows behind the agent, knowingly dogging his heels. Noah turns thorugh the kitchen, rainwater running off of his glasses, hair matted down to his head. As he passes by the stove and a breakfast nook where plates containing the scraps of breakfast are still contained, he emerges into a spacious living room, divided from the kitchen by panes of glass ina wood frame wall.

Behind him, the dark-skinned ghost following at his heels is ominously silent, long limbs carrying him with a lanky gait thorugh the back entrance and in view of the door just as it closes. No guns in hand, but equally threatening in posture and abrupt presence, Noah Bennet and the Haitian slip into view of Ivan Spektor and the view of the hallway that the side-entrance covers.

Outside, Katarina's car starts up with a rumble of the engine and waits for an opening in the busy morning traffic before pulling out onto the road. So far, from Lashirah's perspective, everything seems to be all clear. The weather isn't helping with her surveillance though, so a keen eye being kept out is important. That's sort of a standard in Lashirah's specializations, a keen eye and a cool head.

Lashirah keeps calm, keeps sharp. Yep, it's her field, and in this particular play it's her eyes that are eyes and ears for if things go totally to shit. So she watches, waits, and doesn't let a single moment escape her attention. She eyes Katrina's car, and waits to see if anyone moves to follow it. She also keeps an eye ot to see if anyone is watching HER.

"Here we go." Is murmurs, but it rumbles loud enough for the ladies to hear. Ryans tucks the gun is tucked away for another. The same sort of lockpicking gun comes out of his jacket. Pushing it gently into the keylock, he gives it a few clicks before the door gives a satisfying sound. He's being subtle for once.

Tucking it away, the gun is in his hand as it comes back into view. "Here we go ladies." The knob is turns and pushed open. As it swings open, Ryans comes into house, his weapon sweeping to the right, since it's more visible. Abby will have time to slip behind him and check to the left. Any door way is checked as they move deeper into the house.

In truth, probably would have been better for Cat to have done the sweep left. Abby's experience in such things as home invasion tend to be trying hard to not let Teo's jerry rigged security systems from blowing off a foot or setting off a shotgun. But she moves, inches in behind ryans and then around to the left, sure that it's just Noah and Ivan in the house.

Coming right up the center behind Mr. Fedora and the Nun is Cat, with alert eyes seeking threats that might be present and prepared to deal with them as needed. A .40 caliber silenced pistol is held in one hand, extra ammo tucked into a jacket pocket with the other such firearm.

The expression on Ivan's face isn't necessarily one of surprise. He's spent the last few years looking over his shoulder for Noah Bennet, and now that the man is finally in his periphery, he allows a crooked sort of smile to hook the corners of his mouth. There's no humour in it, but he relaxes a fraction when Catherine and Abigail come into view a moment later. He and Katarina opened their home to Team Charlie less than a year ago, and although allegiances sometimes change swiftly in his former line of work, he's confident that the women, at least, aren't here to kill him.

"Benjamin as well," he remarks, voice low. "I'm impressed, Noah."

"Ivan," is Noah's smooth greeting as he takes a few steps away from Rene at his back. Moving deeper into the living room, Noah offers an askance look to Ryans, Abigail and Cat, then turns his focus back to the white-haired former agent. "I got your message, a little belatedly. I didn't quite know what to make of it at first, but given that you've moved out of Ryazan, I think I can see what's going on a little clearer now."

Lifting up a hand to Ryans and the others, Noah slowly lowers it in pantomime that everything is okay and the firearms — at the moment — aren't necessary. "I'm sorry I didn't call in advance, but we're here for the collections you've been safeguarding for the Company. I need to know where they are and get them out of the country as soon as possible."

While Noah is speaking, Rene takes a few steps thorugh the living room, coming to stand beside a floor-length mirror on one wall, catching Catherine's stare in reflection, offering her a solemn nod of recognition before returning his attention to the meeting taking place. That he is even here means that Bennet has been pulling strings most of the Ferry was unaware he even had anymore.

"I'm prepared to offer you and Katarina safe passage out of the country as well, if you'd have it. I can promise you protection, if you'd have it." It's not usual for Noah to be so conversational, but there's a tension in Bennet's expression that belies some faint vestige of emotional connection to this man. "But we need those paintings."

Once they are there and Bennet give the gesture, Ryans gives him a short, sharp nod of his head and tucks the gun away into his jacket, his other hand holding it open so that he can. There is still tension in the older man's frame, as he sees his instructor for the first time since the man retired.

"Ivan." Ryans rumbles softly, in a polite greeting to the man. "You look well."

There is a small nod of Ben's head as Noah explains. "I think you should take the deal." He offers, glancing at Noah, before letting his gaze settle on the man. Ryans looks about how he did when they first met… nearly, unlike Spektor who looks his age. "Not sure what news you've gotten over hear, but trust me when I say… this a good idea." Brows furrow slightly, hesitating on how much to give up, just yet.

See, the message got through, that Ivan had asked one of the two women to deliver to Noah. The taser shoved into the kangeroo pocket, the medic offers a friendly smile for Ivan, a familiar face if the circumstances for them being there the first time weren't. And a smile for the Haitian as well. Someone she hasn't seen in a long while, even if she's felt his ability not that long ago. Other than that, she's quiet, letting the others speak.

Communication is kept non-verbal, consisting of slow nods gifted to both Ivan and Rene. Cat seems marginally surprised to see the tall man from Hispaniola, but it's not as sharp as it could be. Claire did say she'd known him before and trusted him. This would probably be part of why.

In that same silence, the safety is placed on her pistol, which is then pocketed.

Ivan's smile thins out. Although the house in St. Petersburg is much smaller than the Spektor home in Ryazan had been, he and Katarina have enough belongings that leaving the country on such short notice might be problematic, but Ryans knows that the Spektors aren't particularly materialistic people. His hesitation stems from another cause. "And Andrei?" he asks Bennet. "Mikhail? They will come after our family next, if they discover us missing. Better I stay and face the consequences for my actions than leave my children at the Institute's mercy.

"Take Katarina. She has a sister in Paris." He makes a vague gesture with his hand. "The paintings are at the Mariinsky Theatre," he says. "Under the orchestra pit. We hid them with the help of one of Katarina's friends. Yustina. Only we three know their location."

The world is a small place, two Andrei's of different descendency being brought up withint he span of two days. Noah doesn't do anything to dispel the confusion over Ivan's son and the Russian-born Indian they'd met on the air-strip. "The theater?" Noah's brows rise at that and a look is offered over his shoulder to Cat, then back to Ivan.

"We can make arrangements to retrieve the rest of your family after we get you and Katarina to safety. I'm not going to just abandon you here, Ivan. You taught me never to leave an operative with sensitive information in the field, and I know that even if your family was safe, you'd still be a risk to leave hanging as a loose end." Admittedly, Ivan also taught Noah how to handle loose ends swinging in the breeze.

Sever them.

"I need to know how many paintings there are and if there's any security countermeasures on them," because it's hard to tell if Ivan Spektor is still a fan of a well-placed claymore or not. "Where was Katarina going when she left?"

"He's right. We can't leave you." There is concern in Benjamin's eyes for his old teacher. "The Institute will snatch you up in a heartbeat." He doesn't hesitate to invoke the name of an organization that people despise. "They have been collecting Evolved. There is a good chance they have someone to rip the secrets out of your head." Company secrets.

"Can't risk that kind of information getting into their hands." Reaching up, a finger tilts his fedora up just a little as he gives his old teacher a matter of fact look. "You need to seriously consider Noah's offer. The Company can't protect you this time around, we have little ground to stand on anymore." If anything that tells Ivan that it isn't just Ferry standing here.

The euphemism earns Bennet a soft snort from Ivan. "In an orchestra pit? Truly?" That's probably a no, at least on the claymore front. "She was going to the Mariinsky," he says, showing Bennet and Ryans his hands, "to pick up Yustina's daughter from her violin lesson. They have a lunch at the bakery by the Summer Garden."

He looks back to Abigail and Cat. "What do you want me to do?" he asks then, and it's a question for them as much as it is a question for Ryans and Bennet. "We do not have many things to pack, Katarina and I, but we will need our paperwork, clothes. The personal possesions that are irreplaceable. How much time are you giving us to prepare?"

"I don't know how much time we have, maybe a few hours on the outside. I did my best to limit the number of individuals involved in this assignment and compartmentalized things to keep you and your family safe, Ivan. But we don't have the liberty of knowing our enemies' schedules, so we just have to assume they're already a step ahead of us." Stepping over to Ryans, Noah looks at the former agent, then back to Cat and Abigail. "I have a boat coming to the harbor near the railyard, a friend of mine is slipping it through customs as we speak. I have backup waitingo n the vessel for us and enough cargo space to move us all out of the country."

Turning his attention to Ivan, Noah's brows furrow. "Travel light, whatever you can pack into your car. Abigail and Catherine will help." Bennet then finally looks to Ryans, "I need you and Rene to head to the Mariinsky with Lee and get Katarina out of there." Reaching into his pocket, Noah withdraws a folded slip of paper and holds it out to Ryans. "That's the ship designation and port where it will be docking."

Meanwhile, outside of the Spektor's home, a vehicle pulling up from the road comes to a slow stop one house down. From inside of the BMW she's parked in performing survaillance, Lashirah Lee becomes privy to an escalation of the situation. The brown van that rolls to a stop parks so that its sliding door is obscured from the street view. But the five men in balaclava masks and black uniforms heading towards the Spektor residence certainly aren't moving men, they look like mercenaries.

With that harrowing revelation, Lashirah's attenuated senses snap around the street, then upwards as she spots movement on the roof of the building adjacent to Ivan's, where a darkly dressed man is setting up a cloth-covered sniper rifle on a bipod.

Noah's estimate on how much time they have has suddenly narrowed.

Lashirah keys her radio and hisses "Incoming. Five masks, semi-pro." She eyes up the traffic situation, and slips the car into gear, foot still on the break as she gets ready for what is likely to be not pretty. "Brown van out front, one door down." She finishes her message and lets go of the radio, and takes a deep breath. "Shit. -Get Down-. Sniper on the roof." She doesn't move quickly, as she looks to see if they have noticed her yet.

Benajmin's head turns slightly as the voice of his agent reaches his ear. "We're out of time." Even though his nerves have just twisted with the first hint of worry, he says it with calm. He says it outloud Ivan's sake, looking at Noah standing next to him. "Have to go now." The piece of paper is snatched out of Noah's hand, since he intends to still get Spektor's wife… if the men outside haven't already. He doesn't voice that, hoping Noah is thinking the same thing.

He focus' on Ivan then, "Do you have any sensitive information here?" He glances at Noah as well… "We may need to take care of it, if there is."

"I know a teleporter, that I trust. I can call him, see if we can get him to meet us wherever the boat will take us. I don't rightly know how long that will take for him to get to us, after that, he can cart them to New York and drop them at a ferry house. He's been to a few dropping me off. Wireless may not like it, but I am confidant that the Ferry can see to giving you refuge be it stateside or sequestering you in another country" Abigail chimes in.

She shifts in spot, only one of the three council members that are present. "I highly doubt that he's ever been to this particular location, and this is if he's willing to do it. This might be a little more.. sensitive. But I can certainly help pack for you Ivan. Just.. whatever's not replaceable. Clothing can be bou-"

Abigail stops talking as Lash's message crackles over their radio and the blonde stiffens, eyes going wide in alarm. "What are we going to do?" The medic looking to the quartet of Company men both current and retired. She also actively works to stay calm. It would really suck to burn the house down.

She's listening as others speak, perhaps about to add some form of commentary and move to assist with packing up when the dire warning comes. It changes Cat's intentions, she moves swiftly. Silenced pistols are pulled out and safeties are switched off, then she quickly scans the room they're all standing in for the presence of windows. Those would be very bad to be in front of right now. Of course, in doing so it occurs to her there's a valuable detail she doesn't have, and thus the radio is keyed.

«Which side of the house is this sniper set up on? State answer as if you were inside.»

Next action is to take a position where she can be shielded from wherever sniper fire might come from and still cover an entry point with the pistols. An Abby ignition isn't worried about at all. That won't happen unless they want it to.

Rene is in the house.

Ivan had been about to head up the stairs and begin packing according to Bennet's specifications, but he pauses at the bottom of the steps, one wrinkled hand on its banister and steers his gaze back over his shoulder at Ryans. "No," he says, "of course not. I'm retired, you fool. All I have that's of any worth to you or the Institute is in that pit.

"What's happening?"

Lashirah's warning is shrill in Noah's ear, like claws on a chalkboard if only because of what it means: The operation is compromised. "It's about to get like the good old days," Noah notes as he moves out of direct line of sight from the windows, putting his back to a wooden post at the side of the living room, reaching into his jacket to withdraw his old and battered Company-issue .45 in a swift and practiced motion. "Ivan, we've got a sniper taking aim on the building," Noah instructs, leaning to look towards one of the windows, "at least five hired guns headed for the building."

Nodding his head towards the back door he had come through, Rene moves with the wordless instruction, unholstering his own Company-issue — though newer looking — pistol, ducking into the kitchen and out of sight. "Bennet, Chesterfield, watch the side entrance. Abigail watch the front with me. Ivan, do you have another way out of here?"

On the outside of the house, Lashirah can see the sniper getting into position, no spotter with him on the third story roof he's perched on, a wide canvas had and poncho keeping the rain off of his body. On the street, three of the five men make their way into the alley that leads to the side entrance, two begin to move around the front. One heads up the front steps, carrying a square of plastic that he affixes to the door before ducking out of the way. The second gunman trains his aim on the door, though his attention bobs side to side from the windows.

Lashirah recognizes that piece of hardware on the door — it's a det-cord shaped charge. They're going to blow an entrance in the front of the building.

Lashirah shuts the car off, as she pulls her pistol out from under the Wired magazine and speaks into her radio clearly and calmly. "West side. Three coming in the alley, two with explosives about to blow the front door in. Keys in the car. Shall I go take out the sniper?" Safety is flicked off of her pistol as she eyes up the building to her left, and the best way up. one handy thing… a sniper rifle, while great at range… sucks to aim up close.

There is a firm nod from the old agent to Bennet, letting Spektor's comment slide off his back. He hurries to the back, making sure the door is shut and moving to stand to one side of the window, head moving just enough to watch for bodies to come into view. He's also in a good spot to shoot anyone that comes through the door.

His hand dips into his jacket slowly as he watches for movement, removing his Company issue firearm, barrel pointed at the floor. Ryans falls into silence there, expression unreadable still as he waits.

Noah speaks. Abby follows. He says go with him to the front, Abigail's looking over her shoulder to Rene, Cat, Ryans and Ivan before she nods, drawing out her phone and tossing it to Cat to catch and the same follows for the little monitor that she pulls from under a shirt with a giving way of velcro. Tuck that away, you never know. And then she's on the horn rimmed glasses mans heels, taser at the ready.

Caught partly by surprise, already having two pistols out in hands in preparation for upcoming gun battle, Cat fails to catch the items tossed her way. They make sounds on striking the floor, and prompt a quietly exhaled "Shit." But there isn't any further commentary, not really time for it. One pistol is tucked under an arm just long enough to scoop up Abby's devices, then she's back to readiness.

Weapons are trained on the door assigned to her along with Ryans, even as a piece of structure is used to avoid sniper fire.

"No other way out," says Ivan, "you'll have to go through," and whatever plans he'd had to pack are cut short. What memories he has will have to do; all his personal belongings, including the photographs on the walls and on the antique upright piano in the den, aren't going anywhere. All he has time to grab is his coat from the hook beside the stairwell's banister, which he pulls on in a hurry, not bothering to adjust his collar or his sleeves.

He's the only one without a gun, and judging by the downward slant of his brows — he hates it.

A split second later there is a deafening explosion that blows the front door off of its hinges and sends shards of wood flying across the house. Sweeping into the building, the first man on scene emerges through the cloud of dust and debris with a crunch of bootfalls, black dressed with a tactical vest strapped with magazines of ammunition, balaclava covering his face and pistol gripped tightly in both hands. "«Spuskaemsya! Spuskaemsya na zemlyu!»" Russian comes barking out of the man's masked mouth a moment before Noah pops out from behind the column, training the sights of his pistol on the center mass of the invading mercenary, opening fire with a double tap that knocks the gun-toting merc straight off of his feet and onto his back.

The noise of Noah's gun echoes through the house, followed by a shout of, "Cover Ivan!" Ducking behind the column again, Better presses his fingers to his earpiece and calls over the radio, "Lee! We're pinned down while that sniper is in place. The west building has a fire escape behind it, get up there and take him down!"

In the side entrance, the door is kicked in and slams against the wall, a row of three mercenaries in black fatigues and tactical vests storming in down the hall. They're bottlenecked in this position and unaware of Ryans and Cat's positions at the mouth of the hall behind cover of the walls. The lead mercenary in the line hugs his AK-47 in close as he moves, the man behind him armed with a handgun watches the hall, while the rear mercenary is watching the exit, his back to his ally.

From the kitchen there is silence, no sounds of forced entry from the back yet and Rene remains perched in wait to defend that entrance. Though to make up for the lack of an attack from the kitchen, another gunman — the one who'd set the explosive charge — comes striding in through the front door with an AK-47 raised to his shoulder, stopping at his downed ally as he fires into the living room, bullets splintering the wood of the oak pillar Bennet and Abby are covered behind. "Someone get Ivan a weapon!" Noah hollars over the noise of gunfire.

Lashirah was already dashing from the car almost as soon as she asked the question earlier… the explosion covered the noise of her jumping onto the fire escape, scrambling up it with all due haste… not long to make the roof really… she pops up over, curses the lack of one other thing, making a mental note to herself: Ask about silencer when we get back, before her .45 gives but one shot. She's conserving rounds, as she pokes a hole in the sniper's head with the other end.

"Boom. Headshot," is all she says over the radio as she walks over to pick up the rifle… not her strong point, but she knows the basics, and her handguns won't have the reach to do any good from up here. She puts her eye near the scope, and whispers. 'Now where are you little bastards?"

From his position, the Assistant-Director can see them coming, so as soon as the door opens, Ryans opens fire on the mercenaries. Jaw clenched and eyes peering from under the brim of his hat, the gun goes off several times into the first person piling through the door. He then quickly, shifts his position to catch people beyond the first, before ducking out of sight again.

"Good job, Lee." Is spoken over the Radio from his position. "See who you can pick off. Take out tires too, maybe if you have a little extra time and ammo." Ryans voice is almost conversational, one would not think he's pinned down in a firefight.

"«You First»" Abigail bellows in Russian even as Bennet is flanked by danger both enemy and friendly. A man with an AK letting loose and easy with it's ammunition and heat that pouring off of the blonde hunkered beside him, behind the pillars the shots embed into the wood and cause the blonde to hold tight to the taser and clamp her eyes shut to keep from scorching up Bennet and screwing over what they came here to do. The Lord's prayer uttered under her breath even as sweat gathers at her temples as she tries to ward off igniting. They were supposed to have a couple hours. Not a couple seconds. Those are really old picture and that, that is a really beautiful piano.

As Ben opens up on the first of those men in through the side door, Cat trains both weapons on the other two and squeezes the triggers to send several rounds their way. Silencers keep the sound of this fire suppressed, not that it matters in the presence of un-silenced guns. It occurs to her briefly she could slide one of the pair toward Ivan, but she's busy and that might require exposing herself to boot.

Given that the attacking men are wearing body armor but not helmets, she aims high.

The combined firepower of Ryans and Catherine down a narrow corridor spells doom for the mercenaries treading into the building. Ryans' first shots slam into the vest of the lead mercenary, knocking him back into the man behind him, Catherine's high-aimed shots — though against a small target — have striking accuracy due to their limited field of movement.

Sprays of read splash against the warm mocha-colored walls, ruining the beautiful paint as one mercenary after another is felled by her gunfire. While using two pistols is highly inactive, Catherine has always been efficient at multitasking. The recoil alone of multiple firearm use does cause some of her shots to go stray into walls, knocking pictures clear off of their mountings and shattering wall sconces.

By the time she's done firing off some fourteen shots down the corridor, there are just bodies where there were men. Where quality of aiming falters, quantity of bullets makes up the difference.

Seeing Abby tensing up and feeling the heat coming off of her, Bennet calls back, "Rene! Beauchamp!" Crouching as he ducks out from behind cover, Noah squeezes off a few more rounds from his .45 towards the legs of the mercenary in front of him, blood spraying from the gunman's knees, but the mercenary only drops to the floor and sprays automatic gunfire through the building. Bullets rattle up through the ceiling, into the walls, tear up the floor and somewhere in that gunfire hit Noah.

Bennet lets out a scream and spins around from his crouch from the force of the tumbling AK round, falling on his back with blood sprayed out beneath him. Wool and cotton at Noah's arm is shredded and blood pulses out onto the floor, quite possibly an arterial injury with his much blood is already seeping into the hardwood.

Noah's gun has wound up at the base of the stairwell away from the agent, while the mercenary laying on the ground is very much still alive and getting his bearings, trying to train his assault rifle across the floor at Bennet's prone form.

From the kitchen, a wave of sedating cool comes down over Abby as negation smothers her internal fire. Popping out from the doorway of the kitchen, Rene moves to open fire on the man on the floor, only to catch the osund of spraying bullets as the AK-47 goes off, aimed up at the negator. The aim is just wild enough to miss Rene, shattering glass in the kitchen and sending the agent ducking for cover behind the wall, unable to lend support fire.

Outside and on the roof of the adjacent building, Lashirah's point of focus can't see into the building from the angle its at, but through the dot scope of the Dragunov she now is set behind, she can clearly see the back of the Spektor's home and the front of the building. Notably, that there is a driver waiting in the parked van.

Lashirah hmphs. She takes aim twice. two suppressed shots later, there's a nearly headless man sitting in the driver's seat. The second shot doesn't go for the tires, but for the engine block. Enough sensitve stuff in there that no matter WHERE the bullet stops, that engine isn't likely to go very far, if at all. With luck, it'll jam a crankshaft or cylinder head solid. She moves back to the house for her focus point. "yeah, not much help to you inside." She radios calmly. "Their ride isn't going anywhere."

The scream from behind him, has Ryans turning. "Noah!" There is worry for the ex-agent, it shows. "Hold here, Catherine. Cover the door, just in case. Call out if more come along." That said, the Company agent moves back down the hall to help Rene and the others. Back pressed to the wall, Ryans moves to where he can just see the front door.

Trying to gauge, Noah's position and Abigail's, as well as the shooters, he leans just enough to do so. Only then, does he swings the gun up, to try and starts firing on the man with the AK-47, giving Abby some cover, he hopes she'll take it. "Get Bennet, under cover!" He can only hope to hit something vital, as he continues to lay down cover fire.

She was already on it, getting him some cover. Thank god for Renee, or there's be peeling paint and flesh peeling from bone when Abby's hand latches onto Bennet's good arm and forcibly hauls him back behind the pillar. She's not good to him if she's also writhing with a gunshot wound. His belt is next to go, no useless platitudes about how it will be okay, don't worry, it'll be over soon. Just a meeting of her eyes to Noah's, and working the belt from around his waist so that she can settle it around his upper arm.

"Sorry Mister Bennet" Because the tightening of the belt is going to hurt like a bitch from the pressure that she'll need to keep him from bleeding out right there. Oh but for her backpack and some quick clot.

Hold the door. Okay. Cat can do that, but she doesn't stay behind cover. A span of seconds is allowed to pass by after she sees the third man drop and Ryans bolts to give assistance elsewhere, then she carefully and quickly moves out toward the felled attackers. Their weapons are collected, she can see about claiming ammo soon enough.

As she slings the assault rifle over her shoulder and moves back to cover, one of the collected pistols is sent sliding toward the stairwell. "«Ivan! For you!»"

Ivan scoops up Bennet's fallen gun and takes cover behind the same pillar as Abigail, mindful to keep his head down. He hasn't been in a situation as hot as this one for years, but apart from a slight hitch in his breathing when he drops to a knee beside the medic, he appears to be handling himself well. Placing a hand on Bennet's shoulder to steady him while Abigail slides his belt from its loops, he drops his eyes to the wound in an attempt to assess.

"Just like Bucharest," he mutters under his breath around the time the pistol Cat sent spinning across the floor hits his foot. He picks this up, too, and forcibly sticks it down the back of Abigail's pants after flicking on the safety. "Learn."

The last of the mercenaries is dropped down by gunfire launched across the house by Agent Ryans. Blood tracks across the floor beneath the bodies stacked two-high and more comes from where Noah has been dragged. With a belt cinched around his arm and pain shooting up and down on either side of that makeshift tourniquet, Bennet is clearly out of the fight, though thankfully at its end.

Coming around from the kitchen, Rene checks Bennet from a distance, then offers an askance look to Ivan and Abigail, then Cat and Ryans. He's absolutely silent, stoic in his demeanor while assessing the situation as best as he can.

"Benjamin," Bennet croaks out, looking up to Ivan and then over to the other agent. "Ben, I need you to take Catherine with you and go after Katarina and the paintings. The theater isn't far from here, take the Beamer we came in and get the paintings and Katarina to safety, then meet us at the location I gave you." Swallowing dryly, Bennet looks away from his arm and exhales an exasperated breath.

Huffing out a shallow breath, Noah looks over to Cat and makes a motion of his eyes for her to follow Ryans, then turns to Ivan. "We're going to need to borrow your SUV. Abigail," Noah's attention turns ot the blonde tending ot his injury. "We need to head to the rendezvous point at the docks. Lee, if you can hear me, get in here you're going to be switching vehicles." Huffing out a noisy breath and looking down to the blood soaking through his black jacket, Bennet trembles in shock.

"Remember," Bennet implores as he looks up to Ryans, "keep the paintings out of Institute hands at all costs." Maybe that's why he's sending Cat with Ryans, maybe somehow in his shock-addled state of being, Noah still has a plan together.

Maybe they still have a chance.


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