"What do you mean, I can't go?" The morning's tranquility was shattered by Taylor's voice. "Karlie, you can't leave me behind again! You need me!" Karlie turned to her, exasperated.
"It's going to be dangerous, Taylor. Arsyn and her goons have it out for you. Not to mention that the people who are supposed to be on our side will look for any way to get you in trouble." Various scenarios raced through her imagination: Taylor getting hurt and the police choosing to leave her behind, or worse, hurting her themselves and making it seem like Arsyn was responsible.
"I can handle myself. I'm practically fully recovered," Taylor protested. "And I know that building and Arsyn. I'm invaluable to this mission. Please let me come with you."
"We've already got a plan set up, Tay. We're not going to change it the morning of the raid."
"Well, I bet it's a bad plan!" Taylor said, disgruntled.
"You have no way of knowing."
"Let me guess," the blonde said, stalking toward Karlie. "You're going to go in the front door and try to bully the guard into giving you the elevator keys. You'll tie him up and start sending people down there, completely unaware of what's waiting for you below."
"I've been there before. I know what the layout of the building is." Taylor raised her eyebrow and Karlie sighed and added begrudgingly, "...vaguely." The shorter girl rolled her eyes.
"Okay, here's what you don't know," she began. "The guy at the front desk? He's got an emergency button to push as soon as he sees something suspicious. There are also cameras. You got lucky last time when there was no one around to monitor them, but I guarantee they know something's up since you broke me out of there."
"We'll have to be quick, then."
"No, Karlie. You don't stand a chance. The elevator takes approximately 45 seconds to get down to the lower levels. That's enough time for the advance guard to assemble and take out the four or five of you that squeezed in. A minute and a half later, the next group of you arrives; by then, half the gang will be waiting for you, and so on until you're all dead. Seriously, it will be a bloodbath."
Karlie groaned. "Why couldn't you have said all this at the planning sessions?"
Taylor blinked. "...You didn't let me go to the planning sessions."
"Oh. Right. Once again, I'm an idiot and I'm sorry. Okay, so what do you suggest instead?"
"I take you in through one of the lesser-used secret entrances. I take out any cameras or guards that might be in the vicinity, then I send the rest of you through. Piece of cake." Karlie thought about it for a moment. The idea did seem slightly safer than their plan - at least for the officers. For Taylor, not so much.
"Are you sure you have to do it?" she asked. "Can't you just tell us where the entrance is?"
"Nope," the blonde answered cheerfully. "It opens with facial recognition. I'm the one who set it up - no one else ever really used that entrance. There's no way Arsyn would have thought to mess with it."
Karlie pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache coming on. "Okay, fine. You can come. But promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
"Um, have you met me?" Taylor said. Karlie gave her an unimpressed look. "No, you don't get to look at me like that!" the blonde jabbed her finger at Karlie's face. "It is not my fault that I keep getting hurt! Wipe that smug look off your face!" she threatened as Karlie's expression morphed into a smirk. "I swear, I will slap you -"
"That's not necessary!" Karlie shrieked, jumping away as Taylor lunged for her. "And of course it's not your fault. Your name was Catastrophe; it was clearly fated to be." She was too slow to escape the other girl this time. The blonde jumped onto her back, wrapping her legs around her waist and putting the detective in a headlock.
"What are you...ow!" Karlie tried to jerk her head away as Taylor gave her a noogie, but the smaller girl clung to her tightly like a koala. She tried to throw her off, but was unsuccessful. In desperation, Karlie tottered into the living room and collapsed onto the couch. She heard a whuff of air leaving her attacker's lungs as Taylor found herself squished under Karlie's body.
"Karlie! Get off!" She complained, her voice muffled by the taller girl's hair. She struggled weakly, and Karlie let her body go limp, pressing her full weight down on the blonde. "Karlie!"
"Are you done?" the detective asked, laughing at Taylor's futile attempts to move her.
"Are you done?" the blonde retorted grumpily.
"Don't be like that," Karlie chided. "You're the one who attacked me."
"You said I could!" Taylor continued to struggle. Karlie sat up, removing her weight from the smaller girl, who breathed in relief and relaxed.
"I said you could slap me. Noogies weren't included in the agreement." Taylor's eyes narrowed, and Karlie felt a thrill of fear run through her. A split second later, her cheek stung with the force of the blonde's hit.
"...Okay. Now that that's covered, we're going to be late if we don't head out soon." She stood and reached a hand out to help Taylor to her feet. "Let's go get them."
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"Are you sure this is the place?" someone behind her asked. Taylor whipped around and shot a glare at them before sighing and turning back to the small door. It was on the side of a small hill about 100 yards behind the building. The grassy area was part of a park, but no one ever came over to this corner. It was sheltered behind trees, and besides that, the grass always looked like it was dying. Probably from all the underground disturbance due to the headquarters.
The door blended in fairly well also, but if anyone ever did see it, they would probably assume it was some sort of maintenance hatch or even an entrance to the sewer system. No one but Taylor could open it, so it was never a security risk. Until now.
The door scanned Taylor's face and opened. She could hear gasps behind her - clearly they hadn't expected her to be of any use to them. She moved to step in before someone complained.
"Wait a minute!" a sergeant said. "Is it really a good idea to send her down there alone?"
"It will be fine," Karlie answered. "Taylor's a formidable fighter, but she's also great with stealth. She'll be in and out quickly and will get us all in safely."
"I'm not worried about her getting hurt," the man said. "I just think she should probably be supervised. What if she warns them all while she's down there? We wouldn't stand a chance!" Taylor bristled and Karlie stepped in front of her, trying to prevent an argument. Taylor, however, wasn't going to back down.
"Have you forgotten that Arsyn tried to kill me?" she spat. "Why would I help them?"
"Okay, we don't have time for this," Lily interrupted the argument. "Taylor wouldn't do anything to jeopardize this mission, but in the interest of speeding this up and everyone's safety, maybe you could go with her?" she said to Karlie.
Karlie sighed. "Fine. Taylor and I will go down there. We'll let you know when the coast is clear. Tay, lead the way."
The descent down into the headquarters wasn't exactly pleasant. It was a seemingly endless set of stone steps with very little lighting. The tunnel was damp and earthy-smelling. As they got farther underground, they could no longer hear the chatter of anyone above them. After a while, they could barely see the light of the entrance.
Just when Karlie was debating to ask "are we there yet," the end came into sight. An identical door to the one at the entrance was placed against a sleek metal wall, which stood out drastically from the soil. Taylor opened the door and stuck her head through cautiously. The detective waited with bated breath, and seconds later Taylor turned back to her, looking confused.
"It's dark," she said. Karlie blinked.
"So?"
"So, it looks like there's no one here. The cameras are off, the lights are off, and I don't hear anyone, even though we're near the training facilities."
"Okay, so what do we do?" Taylor hesitated.
"I could go in deeper. Get to the control room, turn on the cameras, and see if anyone's still hanging around."
"You're not going alone," Karlie said.
"You have to stay here," Taylor answered. "If something happens to me, you have to be able to make contact with the others and warn them. We can't both go in."
Karlie nodded, defeated. "Alright. You have your communicator?" Taylor nodded, putting it in her ear. Karlie did the same. "How long will you be?"
"It's not far," Taylor considered. "I'll talk to you if I feel like no one will hear me. Expect the lights to go on within ten minutes." She turned to go but Karlie grabbed her arm and dragged her back.
"Be careful," Karlie said. "Please." Taylor smiled and tucked her head under the taller girl's chin.
"Of course I will," she said. "Same goes for you." With these words, she vanished through the door and began to make her way to the control center, leaving Karlie alone in the darkness.