[break-in 2] this is a crime and it’s punishable by crime.

[fracturamods]

[reminder for anna to put a meme here later]

Comments

[souheki]

[Good luck with that gater, y'all, because that is Lan Wangji's cue to get out his knife and pick up the pace!!! It's probably dangerous to full-out run down here but he's gonna get as close as he can to it. HOW CAN HE DEAL WITH THIS GRATE can he open it, can he kick it down, can he shoot it open LET HIM GO GET THOSE KIDS]

[fracturamods]

[The alligator doesn't make any kind of growl, of course, as Tsukasa and Kangai panic. Its beady eyes watch them without moving, though when Tsukasa rushes by, it does turn its head and open its mouth.

OH BOY.

It's fine. The two of them are much faster because the alligator is being lazy, and it can only slap a bit more up the incline. Hm. Maybe he just wanted some pets...? Gator. :'(

For Lan Wangji, he finds... that despite being a mammoth-sized man, the grate is out of reach on the ceiling of the large tunnel. There's no way he'd be able to reach it, even if he jumped. Someone above gives what must be the hood of the truck a few slaps. (This bad boy can fit so many kidnapped people in it.)

"Alright!" someone barks. "Head 'em out!"

Hm. The truck starts up, rolling carefully away, as the sound of the engine shifts. Kangai and Tsukasa run up with the light finally, and it illuminates the glint of a ladder a bit farther down. Looks like a manhole is above!]

[descried]

[anna, why are the way you are.

anyhow, as kangai runs up—]

Alligator in the other tunnel...!

[as lan wangji probably nyooms towards the ladder tbh]

[stressweets]

[ GATOR IF ONLY I, BELLA, WERE THERE.......

Ah-- well, this seems like a better way anyway. Stopping might be nice, but he's actually got !!a job!! to do so he is also just going to be nyooming to the ladder... LIKE HE'LL PAUSE SO THERE'S NO FIGHTING OVER WHO GOES UP FIRST but rest assured he is here to get out of this awful smelling sew- that is to go help people. ]

[souheki]

[LET HIM SAVE HIS KIDS!!!! HE'S NYOOMING TO THE LADDER how can he climb so fast with his hands full of weapons, we'll never know. MORE IMPORTANTLY ARE THEY GONNA MAKE IT]

[fracturamods]

[While they scramble, someone on the street says, "We still got one more. We'll come back by the rest, too." And another car starts up.

But oh! There's a manhole cover at the top. :'( It's pretty heavy. Hopefully it was Lan Wangji first so he can push on it. Hm. He'll have to give it some real secretly-ripped-6'2"-dorito-body elbow grease. Wow, it's really heavy!

It's fine, Lan Wangji gets it to slide away after one or two pushes.

Unfortunately, even by the time they get out of the sewer, the cars have already made a turn in the distance. There's a warehouse beside them, though! And one side door they can try to get into if they want. A majority of the lights have been turned off inside, but a single set remains on.]

[descried]

[... well, if kangai can, he tries to open that door as quietly as possible so he can peek in?]

[stressweets]

[ thank goodness for lan wangji.

Tsukasa twists to see where the cars've gone, but... They so wouldn't catch up at this point. At least they still have the warehouse, and he turns attention to those--

Kangai!! ]

I-- suppose that would've been my first idea too, but... [ He's keeping his voice on the quieter side of things, Just In Case. But to Lan Wangji- ] I can bring up the rear this time.

[ It's... probably better to have someone who definitely won't hesitate to shoot bitch than someone who might run even the slightest risk of it, especially with their friend-who-can-only-bludgeon-with-a-telescope snooping first. ]

[souheki]

[HE'S AT 100% INTENSITY RIGHT NOW honestly it's a wonder he doesn't send the damn thing flying up and through a window or something... HE'S ALSO ALREADY AIMING HIS GUN IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CARS but fortunately for everyone, probably, he doesn't want to risk aiming for the last glimpse of a tire and accidentally blowing all those kids up or something. GOD.

It's been many years since he was so clearly, visibly pissed, though, and it looks like he's seriously contemplating running off to scale the nearest building and try to catch up or something--but then Kangai heads straight for the warehouse, so... the warehouse it is.

After this maybe he can murder Anna specifically. As a treat.

Tsukasa just gets a stiff nod; he's more focused on the door, honestly. If Kangai can't open it he'll just shoot it open or something HE'S NOT FUCKIN AROUND ANYMORE]

[fracturamods]

[Peeking in, Kangai is greeted with... a lot of something. Rows and rows of something; not too many to overwhelm, but enough to be disconcerting.

Cages.

But they're empty. Also, it smells ghastly inside, enjoy. The scent of unwashed humans who definitely had been trapped in here, though it's hard to tell if they had been trapped for long, or if so many of them have just come through to this fate that it compounded. Beneath that is the faint smell of bacon?

There's also crackling off to one corner--it looks like a working incinerator.

Distantly, they can hear the fussy sound of... something? But it's hidden behind the rows of cages.]

[descried]

[please no dead bodies.]

Ugh...

[but this sure is a disturbing sight! why the fuck does it smell like bacon. hesitantly, kangai's going to check out the incinerator.]

[souheki]

[Good luck with that Kangai!! Lan Wangji's gonna go straight for the noise, if he can. He's at least trying to be quiet but he's moving as quickly as possible... DON'T YANK ANY MORE KIDS OUT OF HIS HANDS AND ALSO LET THEM BE ALIVE PLEASE :< ]

[stressweets]

[ AND WITH THAT Tsukasa's going to regretfully shut the door behind them enough that it won't be too sus-looking from the outside should anyone come around and check out... the cages, just to see if there's anything left behind in them, any writing on the metal that might've been scratched in, anything dropped around them, so on so forth. THE CAGES. ]

[fracturamods]

[Well, Kangai finds out why it might smell like bacon. The incinerator is going, but seems to be on its last few hours of use just judging by the lack of heat. From inside, the faint crackling of flames can still be heard. Off to the side, there's a heap lying on the ground.

It's a woman. But sadly, she seems to be very dead.

Inadvertently, Lan Wangji and Kangai go in the same direction! Lying bundled up in the crook of one of the woman's arms is a baby, its face mottled red and wet, and its voice hoarse. It keeps trying to cry, but is running out of energy.

Tsukasa doesn't find any bodies in the cages, luckily! They are empty of people, though smell bad and look worse. One of them has only lines etched into the bottom plate: IIII, like tally marks. As he goes down along the rows, however, he does come across an interior door at the end, left open. Inside at the only table with a chair is a device: a portable box connected to a metal headpiece.

As policeman, Tsukasa thinks it maybe looks like an electrocution device.]

[descried]

[well

kangai sure gets increasingly sick as they approach, so he knows what's coming even before the corpse comes into view.

... the baby is a surprise, though.]

... Oh...

[he doesn't reach out for the infant, though, partly because he assumes lan wangji will and partly to avoid touching the corpse and activating his power.]

[souheki]

[OH. WELL. That does get his entire demeanor to shift, and Kangai is right!! He's immediately moving, putting his knife and gun away and crouching down next to the woman. He spares a minute to wipe his hands off on his pants (not great but better than nothing, since they were just bumming around in the sewer) before he reaches for the baby, trying very carefully to extract it.]

[stressweets]

[ IIIII... Five days, maybe, if he assumes it was made by someone being kept there; five hours seems hard to take note of, and five weeks is too long to measure. A regular person would keep track of days, if it's time-based.

Only if, that.

He didn't expect to find too much anyway - there can't be too much on people when they're taken, especially because, well. They're probably stripped of anything nice or identifying by their captors, so he's not too terribly disappointed. In fact, the only thing he feels is a sense of unease as he peeks into the open door and, as what it is registers in his mind, dread.

Tsukasa spares a look at Lan Wangji and Kangai, then goes into the room to check it out better. Is the device turned on? Can he disconnect the potable box... And is there anything else in this room that's notable, or is that it. ]

[fracturamods]

[Baby!

It's not too difficult to pry the baby away. The motion sort of startles it into not crying, eyes large and brown and watery. It stares up at Lan Wangji for two or three beats, and then it gives an airy, happy squeal.

Tsukasa won't find anything else in the little room except for the device. It's not turned on, so he can touch it without any kind of vibe check. The portable box can be disconnected, too! You know, for evidence and not for using it on people who are thrown in jail. Right?]

[descried]

[...]

Should we... take her as well?

[the corpse, that is. so that they can give her a proper burial.]

[souheki]

[BABY!!! He'll hold it carefully, tucking it into his arm and trying to wipe away any dirt (or blood?? WHAT IS UP WITH THIS BABY) off of its face. He'll also try and gently check it over for injuries or... anything notable.]

Can you check her over?

[For anything that stands out... he'd do it himself but his hands are. Kinda full.]

[stressweets]

[ YES IT'S FOR EVIDENCE OH MY GOD.... Tsukasa is the nice cop, remember.

But cool, he'll take that and head out. Are there any other doors inside as he goes along the wall or nah, should he just go hang with the newly formed babysitter's club. ]

[fracturamods]

[Bitty Baby is just covered in dirt and streaks of tears! It fusses a bit grumpily when Lan Wangji wipes at it, reaching out to latch its little hands on one of Lan Wangji's fingers to hold it. This finger is the baby's now, binch.

Tsukasa won't find any other doors that don't obviously lead outside of the building, so he'll get to join the Babysitter's Club over by the incinerator and the body of the woman.

Hm! Will Kangai go ahead and Haley Joel Osment it, or will he let Tsukasa?]

[descried]

[he hates this, but fine, he'll look her over. which inevitably involves physical contact, so here we go.]

[souheki]

[BABY CAN HAVE THE FINGER it's fine. There's not much else he can do now so he'll just hold onto baby for the moment.]

[stressweets]

[ The baby is so much more delightful, but he's on the job............. weighing hands.....

He's gonna be nice and help Kangai look over the woman, especially considering he doesn't know Kangai's about to have a real bad time. ]