She’s dressed in black. Good. natalie fairchild has already made a better first impression than the last partner who wore white to steal Meteor fragments from a cave. Idiot.

“Doctor Fairchild,” she purred as she seemed to melt from the shadows into view. Lex too was dressed in black with a hood pulled over her bright red hair. The mask still laid loosely around her neck so Nat could see the small smile painted on her crimson lips, “You seem prepared. Good.” Lex glanced at her watch, it was almost time, “Are you ready?”

natalie fairchild

Alexandra Briarwood | MISSION

natalie's eyes flick up to catch sight of the crimson haired thief as she emerges. she seemed every bit the professional in her get-up.

"i like the look. very post-apocalyptic chic." she compliments, no detection of sarcasm in her voice.

"i am ready, though, yes. i'll follow your lead."

natalie kicks off the wall and approaches the woman, reaching a small hand out in greeting.

"and please ms. briarwood, my friends call me natalie."

what friends?

Friends already? Lex smiles before slipping the black cloth up over her nose, “And you may call me Lex, Natalie,” a gloved hand lightly grasps the doctor’s in return as they give their brief introductions. This has been the longest no one has pissed her off on a mission so far. Lex is hopeful this will go through without a hitch.

“Perfect,” she glances at her watch, “This way,” Lex leads them deeper into the alley. Past the store’s large dumpster there is a steel door. The light above it that is normally on looks like it has been crushed. This is on purpose, of course.

The thief keeps them in the shadows beyond the sight of the security camera. The thief’s shadow stirs restlessly in contrast to her smooth movements. The Gengar hidden within is anxious and hungry. As the watch strike 1:30am, she signals for the Gengar to go.

A shadow flashes across the ground, up the side of the wall and the security camera cracks and flashes in a spark of electricity as the ghost’s fist crushes it. He disappears beneath the door. Lex approaches the door and places a hand on is expectantly, “At 1:30 the second guard always takes his coffee break. The first door on the left in this hallway is the security office. One guard will be there. Incapacitate him,” the door clicks open thanks to the Gengar’s training. Lex opens it and allowed natalie fairchild to enter first. If she failed at her task, Smoke would be ready with a HYPNOSIS.

natalie fairchild

Alexandra Briarwood | MISSION

"lex," natalie says, emphasizing the x for a second longer than normal. "pleasure."

she follows the red headed vixen further down the shadowed corridor, admiring the view. respectfully, of course. when her eyes flick up to the broken lights, she smiles, impressed.

they cling to the edge of night, and just out of sight of the nearby security camera. natalie, comfortable following the professional thief's lead, simply waits. curious hues of emerald watch as her shadow tears away, slipping under the nearby door.

"oh, how interesting."

she continues to follow, standing behind the woman as she reaches for the door, listening to her instructions.

"you certainly came prepared. i like it."

seeing her cue, natalie moves past lex and inside. from behind, an arbok slithers with, the massive serpent clinging to the shadows behind them since the beginning. she moves to the aforementioned door and opens it, a man in the midst of pouring a cup of coffee.

'who ar-' he starts, but in moments, the words die on his lips.

silhouetting natalie like an eclipse, the arbok's hood is a distraction for the inevitable GLARE of his peircing gaze. his body locks up and he drops the glass container full of steaming coffee, crashing against the tile below, following shortly behind.

natalie blinks at the mess. only one thought going through her mind.

"oops."

Prepared? Lex is always prepared. That’s why she’s never been caught. Well, almost never. Fucking Raziel Beckett.

Natalie moves past her and Lex side steps to allow the large serpent to follow its master. Lex has a degree of respect for serpents. They’re powerful, cunning, quick to a degree. There were always pokemon faster and that’s what kept her from collecting them. With her experience limited, she does find a certain intimidating quality to the pokemon as she watches it disappear into the room followed by the crash of glass.

Crimson eyes peaked out from the shadows to his trainer. Lex frowned along with the Gengar. She steps up behind Natalie, peering over her shoulder at the shattered glass, paralyzed man, and coffee spilt everywhere. Her shoulders shrug casually, “Not our problem,” she grins, slipping past Natalie and the Arbok.

A flash of light brings a Shiny Rotom forward. Digit cracks with lightning, naturally gravitating towards the main security feeds, “Alright,” Lex bends over and leans against the desk, “The vault we want is here,” a click of the screen brings the vault’s main feed into full screen. There’s a guard standing dutifully at the door, “There’s one more guard roaming around,” she takes the vault off full screen and glances through the different feeds, “Somewhere,” she couldn’t pinpoint him (or her), “Just keep your eye peeled.”

Lex stands, motioning vaguely towards the screens, “Infect ‘em” The Rotom takes that as its cue to slip into the mainframe. The live video feed flashes and shudders before being consumed by black screens with a red Rotom flashing across it. Digit exits the computer with a happy buss before being returned to its pokeball, “Grab his security card, we’ll need it,” That combined with the Head Security Officer’s fingerprint would get them to where they were going.

They just had to find him now.

natalie fairchild