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Nyx nodded as Nadja finished up and gave the order to leave. She returned her Chikorita and Wartortle to their pokeballs as she followed quickly behind the Elite. That girl wasn't worth a reply. Plus, there were gunshots. That seemed to have her mind occupied.

The invisible blimp grabbed a handfull of Aila's bum before becoming visible and flying after Nyx. He turned briefly and made a kissy face on his way out.

Nikki looked on with satisfaction and a smirk as the guard fell to his knees. Bira looked on with an ear twitch while her Drifloon poked at the Machop.

When Hayes made his appearance, she looked up to see him finish off the guard and her smirk broadened a little. "Its about damn time." She was sure her partner remembered all too well when he had been at the receiving end of such a blow.

However, Nikki's attention suddenly riveted to the second floor door as the shot rang out. Her lips down turning down into a frown as her pokedex signaled her to a new message. Rendezvous on the roof. "Let's go," she told Hayes and started a hurried trek up the stairs just as Sam joined them. The fire escape leading them up to the roof.

Cal watched as Aila went back and forth with their group. When Nadja had obtained the Blue Orb and opened her Pokedex to send a message she received it a short time later. She flipped it open but didn't have to read it to know what she needed to do.

For the quickest escape she deemed possible, she followed Nadja's group as she signaled them toward the roof to meet uo and make their escape.

She'd sent the call. Now all there was to do was wait. Sitting in the dark like a waiting duck wasn't Lynette's idea of a good time. She'd feel better if she was doing something. There were multiple thieves in the building, more than she could take out on her own, but..

The minutes were stretching into what seemed like hours. They must be arriving by now.. cameras going out on the third floor meant they must have come in through the upper stories, so.. Moving as quickly as she dared, Lynette headed for the loading dock. She'd slip outside that way and wait for her backup - she was useless and at risk here.

Once she was outside in the cool night air, she was confronted with yet another unconscious coworker: Kevin, who'd probably stepped out for a smoke break.

Lynette gritted her teeth and began to skirt her way toward the front of the building. "They don't pay me enough for this."



s**t. A gunshot? Definitely time to leave, then; bullets and groin shots were two experiences Hayes would rather not repeat. "Right behind you," the agent replied. Despite being the ground team, they had enough flying types to go around. Once on the roof the blond released his Pidgeot with a muttered "Quiet," which kept Darwin from uttering his usual scream of challenge when he emerged.

Hayes grinned at Sam, who had caught up with them somewhere around the second floor. "Need a lift?"



Nadja moved much more quickly now, striding past a century's span of art in less than a minute's time. Her Dusknoir kept pace with her, faded out but for its red eye, visible only to someone deliberately looking for it. The elite didn't pause when her Rocket Dex buzzed dully, but whipped it off and scanned the message as she went.

The short reply was clear enough. Kunai would be fine on her own.

The Rockets would find no further obstructions in their way, only unconscious guards and puddles of water from Beaker and Aki's attacks. A light breeze whipped through the hair of anyone not wearing a hood as they made their way onto the roof. Nadja released her Metagross and waited for the others to secure transport before a murmured "Rise," sent her steel-type floating over the street toward the alley again.

Once on the roof, Nikki recalled both Bobble and Bira and then released Darkfeather in a flash of light. The black Pidgeot stretched his wings and turned his head to scowl at Darwin. Nikki was quick to climb onto the dark bird's back. Then with a wordless command, Darkfeather lifted off the roof and flew behind Nadja's Metagross.

When they reached the roof, Newton formed a seat with one pair of arms, as he had done the first time, and Nyx took a seat. The scientist and her blimp followed Nadja down and back to the awaiting Van. That had been easy.

When Nadja's Metagross touched down in the alley with her Dusknoir trailing behind, Kunai was already there. The elite recalled her Pokemon, and her gaze flicked to the damp patch on the short female's shoulder. "Ah." But Kunai was conscious, apparently stable enough and time was of the essence, so she said nothing more.



In answer to Darkfeather, Darwin's crest puffed and he opened his beak in an aggressive gesture. "C'mon Dar, cool it," Hayes murmured to his Pokemon as he mounted up, then leaned back to offer Sam a hand and a grin. "No problem." Once Sam was securely aboard - or abird - the Pidgeot took off, heading for the alleyway with Hayes' direction. He'd show that overstuffed Murkrow reject - he'd get there before him, carrying two people.

The Pidgeot looked rather winded when he landed in the alleyway, Hayes already holding the van keys. There was a quiet 'clunk' as the doors unlocked, and the blond patted his Pokemon on the neck and waited for Sam to dismount before returning him. "Thanks buddy." As others arrived, the agent looked around - amazingly, apart from the shorter elite, everyone was in one piece. Compared to his last two field missions, this had been a breeze.

Given his last two field missions, that wasn't saying much.

Once everyone had gotten in, the van started up and pulled into the street. They were heading home.

Could she hear sirens yet? No. She couldn't. Unlike the larger cities on Kodo, Jinko needed at least a mad scientist and a bolt of lightning to achieve anything approaching a nightlife. Lynette squinted in the darkness, as if that could help her make out any approaching sirens in the quiet.

Where were they?

There. Not a siren but a car starting up - and from the alleyway just across the street.

Irritation, by this point, had overtaken some of Lynette's common sense. Hell if she was going to let those.. people get away, just like that. Looking both ways out of habit, the guard crossed the street, working her gun out of its holster as she went. It'd be enough to get a license plate.

Instead, she got a whiff of exhaust as a black van pulled out from between the next two buildings and accelerated down the street, just as she started to hear the faint 'wee-oo, wee-oo' of police sirens.

It had been ten minutes.

Somewhere, in the midst of her broken microwave, the missed TV show, the quarter-life crisis, slow as mud police and the about-to-be successful heist, Lynette's patience with the universe snapped.

"Oh come ON!" She fired at the van in frustration, never intending to hit.



There was a loud bang, and suddenly the wheel wouldn't respond to Hayes' hands. "Hell-" he managed as the vehicle skidded on three wheels, careening into a streetlamp and falling heavily on its left side with a crunch of metal and the sound of breaking glass.



Lynette stared.