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Nyx grabbed the rail of the stairs and, in an unexpected display of agility, slid down the railing quicker than one of her stature would be able to run. Small legs and stairs didn't mix well. She stuck with Nadja and Mau as they ran towards the room containing the orb.

Newton started to float towards the human. She was sorta hot... and frozen... he could get a few nice gropes in and then go back to being serious. Oh hey! What was that shiny thing in the middle of the room... It looked sorta like... a ball of jelly. "Floooon..." Newton made his kissy face and started floating towards it. That was going in his mouth. RIGHT. NOW.

When her breath returned to her, she shakily stood up at her full height. That Growlithe could pack a punch, but other than her winded state, she felt perfectly fine. She thanked her lucky stars that there weren't any broken ribs.

Skye made a move to evade, but was caught short by his tail. The Growlithe had landed a vicious bite that stop him in his tracks. Skye turned around with teeth bared and grabbed onto the back of his tail, getting a better aim at his target before unleashing another Thundebolt.

Cal was amazed that Skye was doing well on his own, but the guard mobile and what was he doing? Taking out a.... A gun!? Well, she was warned about this. His not quiet awake look meant anything could happen, and then the shot was fired. She braised herself for the worst, an a second later, looked up. It was a very good day for her, the shot missed! Or did he hit someone else?

The guard had strangely fired first. Kunai acknowledged this for that split second before the bullet was fired at her.

This was not the first time someone pulled a gun on her. This was not the first time someone fired at her. And in all honesty, it wasn't the first time someone had shot her. Yet, Kunai stood there, with absolutely no fear in her eyes. Her underlings, in all honesty, probably knew this was exactly how she'd react to danger. The bullet's force jolted her body back, but the girl just gripped onto the edge of the railing running along the stairs, keeping to her feet. There was strangely no change in expression upon her face, even with a darkening spot in her shoulder dampening her stealth suit.

The guard had fired first. The guard wanted her dead, so she had no hesitation in feeling the same way towards him.

Before another shot could be taken, a blur of white and green rushed past the shortest of the Rockets. However, it halted immediately in front of the Elite, tail flicking in a vaguely annoyed fashion. It narrowed its eyes for a moment and glared ahead of them. The Pokemon were locked in battle and were not guilty of the bullet now lodged in the girl's shoulder. There was only one guilty party.

The Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue once more as it concentrated on picking up the half awake guard, a blue aura surrounding the man in uniform. It would not kill the guard, though it was very capable. Just simply force the body to bring the gun up to the guard's head and pull the trigger. No. That privilege was saved for Elite Agent Kunai.

In a slightly more strained version of her usual scolding tone, Kunai informed Cal, "End your battle quickly and head to the central gallery with the others. I will take the up the rear." She obviously needed to attend to certain issues. Like that bullet in her flesh. She already had managed to pull out a kunai knife from her pouch and had her thumb stroking the blade.

(( Roll Sammy, roll! ))

Sam was Nikki's shadow as the two left to be backup for their compatriots at the orb, her face grim. Gunshots were bad. Coincidental thieves were bad. Hopefully, hopefully, they had taken out enough of the guards that all they had to worry about was a lone interloper.

That thought gave her pause. Pretty ballsy for just one person to try to steal the orb on her own. She signaled to Teru as she ran. "Watch our six." She wanted Gespenst ready to fight, if necessary.

Everything happened so quickly, he didn't have time to react. The Growlithe attack, the gun, and Kunai getting shot... For once he felt compelled to stay behind and see if she was at least ok. Despite her obvious hatred towards the grunt. But she didn't get this far to be taken down by a bullet. And she still had her Mewtwo, which would probably take out anything that the guards had.

So Leonard ran, towards what he thought was the central gallery anyway. He first forgone any stealth, since speed was more important when everyone here already heard that gunshot. But then he slowed down, allowed himself to think, which was a good thing because he didn't expect what he saw near the Blue Orb.

"Who... who is that?" Leonard stared at the frozen girl in the back. She wasn't part of the raid, was she?

((He runs fast. XD))

Mau eyed the intruder. Another thief huh? This was just a kid, and it seemed Aki had already slowed her down. That bulbasaur could be problems though. "Take out the bulbasaur now." Mau commanded. Aki understood.

"POR!"

"Ice beam the bulbasaur now!" This should be ended quickly, and they needed to get out of here. There was already a gunshot... this could get very bad VERY fast.

The Growlithe yelped muffledly as the Thunderbolt sent a jolt to its system, but its owner evidently paid attention to his Pokemon - although very weak, it wasn't quite done yet, and held fast to Skye's tail. Flames burned around its body and it threw itself at the Pikachu in a Flame Wheel attack.

The guard, meanwhile, found himself lifted up by an unseen force, which happened all the time in dreams. The feeling of cold metal against the temple, however, was an instant wake-up call. The man's eyes widened in fright - he did this because he got paid, not because he believed in a cause, and when the situation sank in, self-preservation took hold. "Wait- don't-"

"Go on," said Hayes, shutting the switch box. The agent leaned over the computer terminal that controlled the closet-circuit television network of the cameras, intent on the screen. "I'll catch up." His work wasn't done yet; as long as he was here, it was worth the extra minute to erase the surveillance video footage.

As Sam and Nikki neared the second floor landing of the stairs, however, a gruesome figure lurched into view - a burly security guard doused in what looked like blood, his hair all askew and a highly irritated expression on his face. "You two!" Aila's decoy had woken up. Relieved of most of his tools, he still found himself with his Pokemon, and he released one now - a Machop, who flexed its muscles. "Chopper, take them down!"

Nadja cut a tall, lithe figure, disguised except for her sharp grey eyes, which subjected Aila to a long, evaluative stare. "You would presume correctly," she answered in a cool murmur, stepping briskly over one of the downed guards, "and are presumptuous indeed. Kodo belongs to Rockets." She drew a slim case from the pouch over her left hip - lockpicks - and set to work on the display case as her Dusknoir hovered over her, leaving Aila to Mau and Nyx.

Sam wanted to laugh. So there was an "injured guard" after all. If he was well enough to fight, he wasn't all that injured. The grunt gave the barest tilt of her head to Nikki as she put on an extra burst of speed to get past the guard. It was pretty obvious the agent could handle herself. The orb was the important thing now.

With her pokemon as semi-visible guards, she bolted up to the third story.