[PRP] Set up Target

[Blood_Goddess]

Drop points in the city were not the most secure, Jerome and his crew knew that whenever they had a pickup or drop off that took them into highly populated aria, they had to be on their game.

Today wasn't anything too important though, with the change of shifts from duty on the submarine, and they were just heading back to the van that the last crew had dropped off so that Kyle could take them home.

It had been a miserable week, Jerome in particular wasn't enjoying the work spent in the tight spaces with no real escape, so any time that he could spend making his way to the van in the open air was greatly enjoyed.
the back alleys were a reminder of home, though not necessarily of better times. still, the streets were open, and familiar, the old gangster could same some comfort in that.

Upon reaching the van, Jerome had told the small team that had been tailing him through he city that they were going to stand around a bit. "I need a smoke." He explained while chewing on the back of one of his lip piercings, a hand running over the shaved half of his head.
He wandered off then, standing by the curb so that he could light up, inked black eyes wandering from the van, to the open streets through a curtain of smoke, Feeling the breeze of his companion drifting past him and forming into view as a large half glowing Gengar.

"At least the headaches stopped" Jamie, one of the four team members mentioned sighing as he leaned himself against the side of the van.

"small favors right?" Ryan added, opting to open up the side van door and sit down on the foot hold.

"You don't have any right to complain, I didn't see you even take any pain meds for it." Kyle complained to his partner, standing a few feet from the other two and crossing his arms, frowning at the only female in the group as she smaller girl made her way past Ryan and into the van.

"Not that you saw." Ryan pointed out.

"That's the point, idiot, we were always together down there." Kyle snapped back. Ryan just shook his head and glanced down, leaving Kyle to take in a break of stale air and pull his arms up over his head "I just want to get back now, I hope Jerome hurries up."  

[Grike]

Rooftops were marvelous things. Everyone was different. Some were flat like open plains while others bore mountain top peaks. City's tended to cater to the former. They were Icebergs in a sea of steel that could carry Tes from one horizon to the next. Her boot's whispered off a ledge, barely making a sound when she landed the jump. Not missing a beat, she keeps running; nothing but a cat's shadow along the rooftops.

Drawing a hood low against the wind, Tesla skips another gap before pulling to a sharp halt. Her steps were slower now, moving with the shadows of high noon. Pulling a mask across the lower half of her face, Tesla tucks herself into a pocket of darkness cast by a rooftop A/C unit. With her dark hoodie, she was but a bruise upon the darkness - hardly noticeable even as she peered at the van below.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome idly watched the rest of the team from the curb he was standing at, the back ally was abandoned, and being in a slow secluded part of town didn't get a whole lot of foot traffic.
So it was quiet, all seemed well, all seemed secure for now, so he had no real reason to worry that they were being watched.

Taking another drag from the cigarette, Jerome allowed his eyes to linger on his team for a few moments more, before he turned to address Bro. holding the cigarette out to the ghost type who took it with clicking teeth and sucked down some of the poison smoke.
The Gengar breathed, allowing the smoke to curl up from his gaping teeth handing the cigarette back to his trainer.  

[Grike]

Tesla watched patiently, settling down for the potential long haul.

A sea town, Goldenrod had given her plenty of opportunity to try her hand at fishing. This was a lot like that. There was a lot of waiting around and timing was everything. A lot of people assume night time was the best time to go fishing. In reality it was late noon, when the sun would be at it's brightest; so bright in fact the fish could hardly see past the sun's reflection in the water.

Though usually the fish weren't so...prepared.

Frowning thoughtfully, Tesla couldn't help but wonder if the Griff's had sold her out. Nothing she could do about it at any rate. Best to just sit, wait, and watch for an opportunity.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Kyle was starting to push their buttons, the man’s posture was already stiff and his mouth moved a little wider as he spoke, Ryan’s demeanor didn’t change much other than a slight drooping of his shoulders that indicated that Kyle’s behavior was starting to escalate.
And even Jamie was putting on a defensive posture as he visibly argued back with Kyle.

“Looks like breaks done.” Jerome muttered to Bro with a light sigh, taking one last drag from his cigarette and tossing it onto the pavement, pivoting the ball of his boot to extinguish it, the gangster made his way back over toward the group. “Aight’” He announced, his voice calm and level even though the booming of the tone carried clear over the still air.
“Kyle- gets us outta here, We got s**t t’do”

The grunts immediately straightened up at Jerome’s voice. Kyle pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, tossing them up for a moment before catching them in his hand “Yes sir” He said in a smug pleased tone.
“Jaimee, is everything secure back there?” He asked crossing to the driver side while Jerome moved to the passenger seat.

“Yeah-“ came the voice of the girl quietly, while the others, in quick efficiency got into the van, closed it up and sat themselves down in time for Kyle to start it up and start pulling it out into the street.  

[Grike]

An uncharacteristic grimace shadowed her expression as she watched them pile into the van. With time, there were a lot of things that could have been done to stealthily make off with the goods. But there was no time was there? A few weeks made for poor prep time so now she was reduced to a simple smash and grab.

Shadowing the van, Tesla pulls a gas mask from her pack. What happened next flew by like a poorly put together home movie. One tick and Tesla was sliding down the slope of a roof that that ended with a one foot onto the van. Landing as silently as possible, the woman clings to the roof. It wasn't like the movies, where you could just cruise alone the top like a board on the waves. Too bumpy, too windy. Instead she was reduced to a crawl, worming her way to the back of the van inch by inch.

Suddenly, a flash of gold caught her peripheral. Lit was already getting to work. Carefully avoiding the windows as trained, the joltik crawled her way to the nose of the car. Her electric retardant fur would protect her from the worse of the engine's bite but Tes knew even that could only afford her a hand full of minutes. Sooner rather than later the heat would become too much meaning she had to work fast.

A hiccup in the engine was her cue. It was nothing more than a sputter really, a result of Charlotte syphoning off power to the alarm fuse. Tesla let her grip go slack, sliding back before hooking her fingers into the groove between the body of the van and the trunk's door. Her arm ached as she hung there, using the extra hand to fish out small screwdriver from her pant's pocket. Digging the tool into the trunk's lock, she'd attempt to break it before pulling herself back onto the roof of the car with the trunk's door flapping up behind her.

If successful, Tesla would pop what looked like a glass perfume bottle into her hand. Removing the bubble wrap, she'd lean to the side to chuck the home made tear gas into the mouth of the trunk before moving to slam the door closed once more.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Soft conversation drifted from the back, providing a calm ambiance to the rumble off the van's powerful engine, one Kyle didn't actually mind as he settled himself in for a long drive home.
Yellow eyes focused on the road ahead, allowing one arm to drape over his lap, while the other gripped the top of the steering wheel.
It was times like this that Kyle felt the most content, and much less inclined to start arguments.

After being trapped in a sub all day, he was looking forward to the quiet drive... only he wasn't even driving for a few minuets before there was an alarming 'ding' coming from his dashboard.
Yellowing eyes blinking sharply as he looked down to see what the problem was, surely there wasn't a problem with the engine already, and he knew they should have enough gas to get back. but what he saw instead took his by surprise.

"what s'it?" Jerome muttered, his head snapping over to look at Kyle at the notification.

"The sensor alarm is going off." Kyle replied in a bewildered tone, this had never happened before. "There's something on us." though as he spoke the engine started to sputter, and a look of pure surprise took over his face.

"Really? We don't even have anything this time." Ryan replied, just as surprised.

In a moment, Jerome had removed his seat belt, holding a rough hand out to gesture to Kyle to slow down and stop if he could.
In another second, the calm demeanor man had his door open, hands barely touching the top of his door frame before his body was hoisted up seemingly effortlessly and a dark skinned man with blacked out eyes and sprawling tattoos was crouching onto the van top, in time to see what looked like a figure trying to throw something into the back of the van.
"Y'wanna re-think that?" His calm but deep voice carried, though his posture resembled that of a predator, ready to spring into an attack at the drop of a hat.

From in front of Tesla a figure suddenly ghosted through the walls of the van, deep purple fur, spiked up tall, large glowing green eyes and half a body covered in glowing markings. The Gengar, smirked with an unnerving delight as teeth were clacked at the girl.  

[Grike]

Vial winking between her fingertips, Tesla sloooowly turns her head.

The homemade tear gas was her own design. A mix of hot peppers, ethyl alcohol, and home made water. The prep was a bit of a pain but Ho-Ho if it didn't get her results. Except...if she chucked it now it'd likely just blow back in her face. Wind was a pain like that.

So instead, Tesla decided to take the scary man's advice. She didn't drop it all together. It was glass after all. If she broke it right she'd have a few stabity stab, stab bits on hand.

Oddly, all that was just surface thoughts; as instinctual as breathing really. It was Lit who was her main concern. Somehow the little bugger had grown on her and amber eyes continuously flicked to the van's nose.

Ah, this was not good.

"I miiight." Tesla ventured after a long moment of contemplative (Yes, contemplative. Not stunned, or scared, or freaked out because Leaping Lugia what was up with this guys eyes?!) silence. "Depends on my options..."

Aaand then the Gangar popped up.

"HOLY-" And suddenly the tear gas (as well as a number of colorful expletives) was snapped reflexively at the ghost pokemon.  

[Blood_Goddess]

It didn't take much to take notice of the gas mask that the girl was wearing, contrasting colored eyes flicked over to the little glass vile in her hand, He had no idea what was in that thing, and how dangerous is might be to him and his crew, so the man's movements were hesitant as the van pulled to a stop and allowed him better balance on the surface.

"Yo options are T'hand m'that s**t and tell me what ******** yo doin' or-"
Before Jerome could finish, the sight of Bro seemed to have startled the girl, causing whatever she was holding to break.
In reaction Jerome sprung from the roof of the fan, hitting the ground and rolling to create more distance "OUTTA THE VAN" His deep voice boomed to the Grunts still inside.

Bro however managed to react in a way that stopped much of the gas from spreading, if he could get to it in time. Green eyes widening, the Gengar lurched forward, opening his mouth with the intent to take the girls arm, along with the vile and gas into his mouth, closing his lips to keep it from spreading.  

[Grike]

Panic, flurry, chaos; normally Tes thrived in these kind of environments. She was the worm that left behind the rotten apple with a full tummy and a smile on her face. Not exactly a ringing endorsement but Tesla wasn't the type to entertain illusions about herself.

This however, getting her arm gnawed on by a Gengar? Yeah, sooo not her scene.

Her next move was instinctive. Yanking her arm back, Tesla flings forward - fully intent on nailing the ghost pokemon with a solid headbutt. If successful, she'd roll away under the mantra 'ew, ew, ew, ew, ewwwwwwwwwww!'  

[Blood_Goddess]

Bro smirked with his eyes, but kept his lips closed around the women's arm before she yanked it out, his saliva covering her in thick almost green globs. The headbutt took him by surprise, even if it didn't hurt him much, but it caused him to drift backward a little, watching as she rolled forward and away from him.

His mouth still closed, the gas from the device she had broken leaking out slowly from between his grinning teeth. Bro rubbed the spot where she had headbutted him with a muffled cackle as to not allow the tear gas to escape from his body just yet.

It was here that Jerome took into action while the doors of the van started to open and the grunts inside hurried out. Jerome wasted no time in diving at the girl to try and grab her into a choke hold to keep her from escaping or reaching for any kind of weapon.  

[Grike]

Blunt nails instinctively scratched at the chokehold. For several minutes she wiggled like a wet cat. She hissed, bit, scratched - whatever she could do. As a girl who grew up with gangs; Tesla knew all the unhappy turns this situation could take.

A mixture of exhaustion and sense eventually won out over instinct. Can't punch through them? Then start talking around them.

"Sooooooo..." Her words panted out heavily from behind her mask. "I'm gonna take q shot in the dark here and say you guys are not the people I thought you were. Unless Sylph has started hiring out mercs...in which case I'm more than happy to pay for my uh...freedom. Or at least a towel?" Yep, just keep talking. Completely innocent. Pretend there's a halo instead of a gas mask around your head.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Though he was the smallest man in the group, it wasn't hard to tell very quickly that he was probably the strongest in the group. Though he growled lightly for her to stop struggling and biting him, his lean arms didn't loosen their grip on her, not willing to loose the girl who tried to... probably rob them.

She chose to speak eventually though, and this caused Jerome to arch an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly and causing some of his dreads to fall into his face as he spoke back to her.
"An who exactly d'ya think we are?" Jerome asked.

"Why does that even matter, you messed with the wrong van kid!" The tallest of the men asked as he walked over, two small scars over his cheekbones flared slightly pink, his face strained to a look of great frustration.  

[Grike]

Tesla bristled at the 'kid' remark but kept her focus on the fellow with his hands on her throat. "Now? Obviously not Sylph. I dunno, someone the Gryphs got a beef with?" She went quiet, gaze flicking about to gauge the general reaction to that name.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Griffs?" Jerome questioned from next to the girl's head, pushing himself straighter with the girl still firmly in his grip.
Moving his head so he could share a glance with the Gengar, who had closed his mouth again to keep the gas from leaking out too much. The Pokemon's eyes widened a little before throwing up his hands in what could easily be identified as some kind of gang signs.
Jerome let out a heavy breath and turned his head back. "Got one W'th me maybe. Ain't got one f'who I work fo' "

"Try Team Rocket." Kyle answered in a smug tone "You just tried to rob something from Team Rocket."