Pov 3
Blake made her move just in time when one of the three intruders , lay on the ground to check through the gaps at the bottom of the stalls to see if anyone was inside . Due to the fact that Lappland and Blake did not close their stall door , it was also not clear through the red marker on the lock outside whether anyone was inside . Ultimately this led to a situation where it was unknown which stall they were in .
Of course , with the knowledge of the intruders , that they are in here . It didn't really matter if they were hiding . After all , they must be inside this room . Still , hiding bought them time and gave them the element of surprise in a situation where they would have to defend themselves . The intruders also knew this , which made them not want to recklessly open the stalls .
After all, the intruders were not uninformed idiots . They knew who they were kidnapping . Both girls because of their parents should have self-defense abilities including aura . Such skills in the hands of a child could make them difficult to capture . Of course not much more difficult in the end they are still children without much experience or intuition . Nevertheless, in the case of a surprise attack even a normal child can hurt an adult .
And well none of the intruders were willing to lose an eye as a result of a scratch . In this case, however, these children are faunus , who may have an aura and an unknown level of training in self-defense . Which makes the situation likely to end in something worse than gouging out an eye . A small amount of information , combined with a lot of probabilities makes this at first uncomplicated mission , become dangerous at any time .
And that's not even counting the parents and guardians of their targets . If it were not for the fact that the targets had separated from their caretakers , the mission of this group would still remain only to observe the family . They did this from the time the Belladonna family arrived in Atlas , until the children were separated . Then when the management learned of this opportunity , they immediately ordered the observation group to take advantage of the situation .
Surprisingly , it was not Blake Belladonna who was the main focus of their task . It was a girl named Lappland , Belladonna's family adopted child . For some reason , the bosses are much more focused on capturing the adopted daughter than the biological one . Of course the purpose of the task did not matter , they were to capture two targets . If that is not possible then only one , preferably Lappland .
This made this group , not focused on fighting but on information gathering and espionage , has to do it alone . Due to the suddenness of this order, they had no time to be prepared . Support would also not arrive in time , so they were left alone with what they had .T hey did not have the aura , equipment or support to handle a fight with a trained hunter or aura holder . If something changed and the parents or their guardian would appear at any time , the entire operations group knew they would have to run .
They were not hunters or aura holders . They were not even officially affiliated with SDC or atlas , even though they're working for them . If caught , they would be left alone by the SDC , they would be nobody . Therefore , despite the fact that they ware facing the two children they remained professionally cautious .
After all , who knows what the kids will come up with in a moment of danger . With this type of operation they does not want to get scratched or injured because of some stupidity . Not so much for the sake of leaving a trail , after all if the kids go missing , their bosses will make the police only pretend to care . What motivated them to be cautious , was not wanting to get another scar or getting caught by parents of ther targets .
??? : " Sir , I'm not sure if threats will help us here at all . Scared , they may start doing stupid things and we do not want that to happen . Besides , I'm not sure I want to take part in harming children . "
Said the young male with a clear in his voice discomfort and hesitation for the current situation.
??? : " You kidnaping them idiot , you are already hurting them . Besides , you've already signed the contract , so there's no escape now . An order is an order . Let's get this done quickly , the last thing I want is to be caught in the ladies room while kidnapping two underage girls . "
Said a second male voice belonging to the intruder lying on the ground . Who after saying this got up from the ground and after looking at the third intruder who was standing in silence with his arms folded , he shook his head letting him know that he found no movement in the stalls .
Standing under the flashing lights of the toilet . The three intruders looked no different from the other people outside . They were wearing ordinary civilian clothes . On their hands they were winter gloves made of leather , quite normal for the cold climate of the Atlas . On their heads they were hoods from their black winter jackets .
Only the surgical masks on their faces and sunglasses stood out in their clothing . Although the recent flu epidemic may have been a pretty clear justification for the face masks on ther face's . So in the end , the only suspicious thing about these intruders may have been the bulge from under their winter jackets . As to what it was , who knows . In the eyes of the people it could have been anything . However, looking at the situation it is most likely a weapon .
??? : " Behind the bathrooms door , in the escape van, our female agent is waiting for us . Her job is to draw people away from the bathroom . Unfortunately, this may draw attention to us which we do not want , so we need to act fast . "
Said a deep male voice , belonging to the intruder standing with his hands folded . After saying this , he pulls his glasses off his face , showing the world his red eyes .
Red-eyed man : " Besides , the store employees will eventually turn their attention to the two girls who did not give back the key to the toilet . Too much noise can also attract their attention , so let's do it quietly . "
Said the red-eyed man, putting his glasses in the pocket of his jacket as he spoke . After these words he began to approach the door of the first stall .
Red-eyed man : " And harming children is not in my plans , but if they do not cooperate we will have to use force . "
Said the red-eyed man turning to the uncertain co-worker , making his attitude clear . He did not have a strange fantasy of harming children . Kidnapping them was just his job , the morality of this action is certainly questionable but such is the world . As for hurting them , as he said " if you force me to " he will drag them out by their hair .
Red-eyed men : " You open the other stall . And you watch the exit . I don't want them to somehow manage to open the door and start shouting . "
Said the red-eyed man addressing first the co-worker , who just got up from the ground . The second task belonged to the man , who expressed his discomfort and hesitation . Such a distribution of tasks clearly indicated that the red-eyed man , trusted the first co-worker as more composed and willing to do the task of capturing their targets .
Immediately after issuing this order , the two intruders , cautiously opened the first two stalls . Immediately after that they moved on to the next two and these also turned out to be empty . After those failures , the red-eyed man finally stopped in front of the last stall . The three Intruders already knew that it was in this stall that Lappland and Blake were hiding , they were sure of it . Likewise , Blake and Lappland were also certain that there would be no more stalling of what was to come .
Lappland already knew that there was no escape or solution to this situation, so she simply watched the door behind her back with complete seriousness . On the other hand Blake sat frozen with fear . She was deeply panicked and only holding her breath ensured that she did not give in to her emotions .
Even though she too already had an aura and had her own training program . She was not mentally prepared for the conflict . At the training she never felt real danger because her mom or dad was there . She was just a kid with basic training . So because of her stress-free life , Blake first encountered a situation where her instincts panic like this . She did not know what to do with herself , so she just sat there with her pants down , paralyzed like a kitten in front of a speeding car .
Looking into the near crying eyes of Blake , made the look in Lappland's eyes change . From earlier curiosity and joy , they now have coldness and indifference in them . Although her silver blue eyes had lost their luster , somewhere in them burned determination fueled by years of trauma . At this point in her life , Lappland had experienced things that would shatter the psyche of many .
For this reason, this situation like these did not seem scary in the eyes of Lappland . The sense of danger and the reaction to it , because of her life was completely different from normal . It's like comparing a veteran and a new recruit . Lappland had already experienced her wars and for Balke this was the first rodeo .
Lappland had everything to keep calm in this situation . Her only reason , her purpose . Her friend with whom she has been for years .Now threatened and frightened . Her new family that saved her . If there was a chance to pay off the debt of life she had incurred . Now was the moment . Like a grateful and loyal dog ( wolf ) Lappland had no plans to facilitate anything for their oppressors . If she does not do it for herself she will do it for Blake .
Rip and tear as much as she can , that was Lappland's best plan. Either she will kill them all , give Blake a chance to escape , or just buy them time for someone to come check the confusion . It didn't really matter . Lappland has already lost her fears , she is not afraid of pain or death . Lappland is a literal reflection of a person who had nothing to lose but everything to protect . And it was this thought , this awareness that fueled the flames in those eyes of her . Madness just taking the opportunity and jumped aboard that ship , which was heading straight into a bloody and uncontrollable storm .
Under Blake's frightened and tear-filled eyes , Lappland slowly removed her winter jacket . Then pulling out a smal knife from a inside pocket of the jacket . Lappland turned to face the stall door while giving Balke her jacket to hold . Lappland's behavior shocked Blake . Lappland courage gave her encouragement it is true , feeling Lappland's willingness to fight and protect her made Blake try to gather the courage to help . However , seeing Lappland pull out a small knife made Blake realize the stakes of it all . After all, Lappland has no intention of making sandwiches with this knife .
They were still children . It is true that Lappland more than once hurt someone badly , the sight of blood was quite frequent since Lappland came into her life . However, Blake knew that Lappland would not stop at hurting someone . She saw it in Lappland's eyes . A look she had never seen but her body instinctively knew . Everything about Lappland betrayed her intentions and Blake didn't know how to feel now . She was smart enough to know that there was nothing wrong with Lappland's actions , but she was young and innocent enough that fear was normal .
While Lappland right hand held the knife her other , left hand , being clenched into a fist between the knuckles of her fingers held the key to the toilet . Due to the fact that her fist was quite small , the key served as a good claw to push . Then putting , with the help of Blake , her jacket over the clenched fist with the claw , Lappland began to listen and wait like a predator for prey .
Red-eyed men : " Are you going to leave this stall or not ? "
Asked the Red-eyed men for the last time . Lappland's actions , despite her caution , were heard in the quiet toilet . This gave the group of intruders confidence that they were inside . At that moment Lappland's heartbeat slowed down . Her mind was in a complete blank from any thoughts , voices or hallucinations .
Her breathing was incredibly calm and even. In her eyes the world slowed down . Her pupils contracted , her tail slowly waved from side to side . Her ear twitched . Her body no longer made even the slightest sound . Under her black pants and white shirt with a red heart , you could clearly see how her muscles , tensed up in readiness . At that moment Lappland was like a true wild animal , focused on the target , not caring about the outcome ... ready to jump .
Swallowing saliva her ears listened for the slightest rustle . She could hear the panicked heartbeat of Balake and the calm heartbeat of the people outside the stall . Lappland was already in a trance-like state . Her instinct began to take over for the first time in many years . Her blood seemed as cold as the Atlas tundra , despite the fact that her body was getting hotter and hotter .