The plan was outright crazy for Iris' standards, being basically a vigilante for little more then a day, but from her perspective, there weren't any other options. Night was starting to settle so it would soon be time to break into a place. She would have preferred to just ask like any law abiding citizen probably would, but she was supposed ot be dead, which would lead to a whole bunch of questions and even then, the local Marines would probably not let her in on any investigation details. So the girl would have to go in on her own accord when no one was around and take a couple good hard looks. Ideally without anyone noticing. Having spent the day staking how many Soldiers were around town, she could assume there was maybe a handful of people on guard, at best. Which should make breaking into the office the local documents were likely held in easy enough from that viewpoint.
All that had to happen now was total nightfall so that between no active duty going on and the night's darkness, Iris' chances to get by completely unnoticed would rise into comfortable territory. And thus she waited, the station situated on the market street in view, observing when guard shift took over for the night. Eventually they did, and she gave it an extra hour or so before setting the plan in motion. Having decided to leave the trunk safely hidden away to be faster and more agile, she set out with just her legs and tail in case the whole party turned south. Taking a couple alleys she rounded the building to approach from behind. There was no way in the seven hells she would get in through the front, where two guards with a light sat at the door. From the back however, the place seemed like any old run of the mill building. Couple windows distributed for 2 floors, a door and not a lot of space to surrounding construction. But most importantly, no lighting or visible guards. Carefully, watching to not accidentally step on noisy garbage or something like that, Iris approached the door. She could not hear anyone inside within it's vicinity. But a turn of the handle revealed that it was locked. Not that her plan would be foiled on a locked door alone, she had anticipated that the marines didn't keep their entire everythings openly available for any random person to stroll in.
With almost no hesitation the girl went about solving the problem. As it turned out, the bladed tail's tip made for a decent crowbar if need be. She took barely a second attempt after jamming the appendage into the crack of the door. It was not easy, but the wooden fram did give way, with some amount of noise. This had Iris hold up for a mere moment, listening for any stirred up guards or the likes, but apparently the fram breaking went by unnoticed, masked between various sounds being produced around the block regardless of the late hour. The inside behind said door was mostly dark, but having adjusted over the nightfall, there was enough reflective light to make out the corridor with doors along it's walls up until a corner and there was also a flight of stairs to her left leading upwards, probably to more offices or similar rooms. A slight shimmer let her vague that there must be some light source upstairs. Slowly, still trying to produce as little step-noise as possible, the girl entered.
Now, the hard part would begin. Being entirely unable to recon the inside of the place beforehand, she had to find out where investigation files were kept. But also had to avoid running into any of the guards. Any of the available options being as good as the next, Iris decided to just try every door until any helpful clues might pop up. Some of them, including the first, as she learned quickly, were locked. Others were practically dead ends, leading into bathrooms, a small kitchen and cleaning utensil storage. But just as the short girl had discovered that very same cleaning utensil storage, she heard sounds of someone coming down the hallway. Pulling the door almost close, she left a little room to see when the person had moved by. The soldier had a light, so Iris had to hope he would not notice the door being ever so slightly ajar. And he did not. That in turn, gave the opportunity for iris to quietly reopen the door and take initiative. Her prosthetic arms were made of metal and fairly hard, while also not being dingy enough to make much of a sound when they hit a small layer of fatty skin and then bone. More exactly, the back of the guys head. With a slight thud, his body lost tension and dropped to the floor. As did his light, breaking immediately, causing considerably more noise and returning the hallway into darkness.
And as such, noise started to cascade. Steps echoed through the ceiling, from slow noiseless walking to running apparently, then down the stairs. Now it was too late already and she might as well try and get rid of as many problems as possible quickly. Anticipating the upstairs guard, she could jump him as soon as he turned the corner and tussle him to the ground, leaving him no time to follow protocol and shout loud enough for his colleagues outside to hear. It was a wild knot of both of them trying to get a good swing at the other but ultimately, metal knuckles proved superior, bestowing the gift of free nasal correction and deep sleep upon the guard. With two taken care of for the moment, there could not be many more guards, or so Iris figured. One upstairs, one downstairs and two out front. That seemed light about the right amount of people for a building of this size. With the stairs in view however, the shimmer of light had not vanished as expected, meaning there was another light source and possibly another person upstairs.
Seeing how she had already put hands on two people anyway and that probably getting noticed sooner or later, the decision to go for ti was easy. With minor creaking noises, she shifted up the stairs and followed the corridor with heir eyes. The layout seemed basically the same. The key difference was, on this floor, there actually was an open door with light coming through. Judging by the intensity of it, probably a terrible desk lamp or a candle or something comparable. Sneaking up close, Iris could spy through the crack, revealing the light source, it was a desk lamp after all. But there was also a person. Apparently way absorbed in some kind of paperwork, surrounded by folders and stacks. The room was laid out a bit like a class room, work desks lined up in rows for maybe sir or eight people. As such, the engrossed guy sat with his back to the door, giving ample opportunity to be sneaked up on. Hoping to use that to her advantage, that was what Iris did.
His head got brutally cranked back, as an arm wrapped around his neck, placing a gloved palm with painfully strong grip generally on this poor late-working office worker's face. “No experiments.” Iris threatened, underlining the intent with a metal blade creeping up on the guy's peripheral vision. Probably shocked and somewhat less probably complying, he did not try to say anything or do anything. “Looking for something. Investigation file on the villa burned down a little while ago. You better know where that is at.” she just said. She had no plan to kill a random person who had no involvement with anything, but it was good if he thought so. Luckily for her, the gamble came up heads. After thinking for a sheer endless second, he dropped the pencil he had been clutching in panic for the last few moments and started to try and remove a thin file from one of the stacks on the desk with shaking hands and hectic movements. With her free hand, she pulled it out and opened it for a cursory glance. Just a look at the second page already confirmed it. There was a list of victims and she was on it, photo, name and all, as were her late parents. Saying nothing else, she closed the file and slammed the poor guy's head into the table. He'd be out at least for a few moments hopefully. Showing the folder into her vest, Iris had what she wanted.
Now she only had to escape. But there was audible sounds from downstairs. Apparently mallet-narcotics only worked for so long. There was no way Iris could get past the men downstairs and out the back, especially not now that they would probably alert whoever else was around, like the guards out front. Alternatives? There were not really any, besides the windows. Better then getting caught, beaten up and jailed, she concluded. Opening the nearest window, she opted to not look down first and just swung herself over the windowsill, falling for just enough to register that she was actually falling. And then landed, but not exactly on a stone floor. Instead, she got lucky and jumped onto one of the front guards, who had moved to the side of the building to take a leak, if her nose worked right. That would bring her tally of knocked-out people to 4 for the night. Hearing that the other front door soldier was being alerted by another person -probably one of the inside men- Iris got up somewhat shakily and bolted. She'd take a look at the file later in private. For now, she had to disappear in the back alleys and starting tomorrow, she might just be somewhat on the wanted list, even though she was sure no one really saw her enough to identify. A last over the shoulder look back to the corner of the building showed her that someone was coming around from the front, probably stirred up by the thud she caused or by his co-working guard not returning. Not that it mattered to her, a few minutes of running and taking corners and she would be safe for the moment.
All that had to happen now was total nightfall so that between no active duty going on and the night's darkness, Iris' chances to get by completely unnoticed would rise into comfortable territory. And thus she waited, the station situated on the market street in view, observing when guard shift took over for the night. Eventually they did, and she gave it an extra hour or so before setting the plan in motion. Having decided to leave the trunk safely hidden away to be faster and more agile, she set out with just her legs and tail in case the whole party turned south. Taking a couple alleys she rounded the building to approach from behind. There was no way in the seven hells she would get in through the front, where two guards with a light sat at the door. From the back however, the place seemed like any old run of the mill building. Couple windows distributed for 2 floors, a door and not a lot of space to surrounding construction. But most importantly, no lighting or visible guards. Carefully, watching to not accidentally step on noisy garbage or something like that, Iris approached the door. She could not hear anyone inside within it's vicinity. But a turn of the handle revealed that it was locked. Not that her plan would be foiled on a locked door alone, she had anticipated that the marines didn't keep their entire everythings openly available for any random person to stroll in.
With almost no hesitation the girl went about solving the problem. As it turned out, the bladed tail's tip made for a decent crowbar if need be. She took barely a second attempt after jamming the appendage into the crack of the door. It was not easy, but the wooden fram did give way, with some amount of noise. This had Iris hold up for a mere moment, listening for any stirred up guards or the likes, but apparently the fram breaking went by unnoticed, masked between various sounds being produced around the block regardless of the late hour. The inside behind said door was mostly dark, but having adjusted over the nightfall, there was enough reflective light to make out the corridor with doors along it's walls up until a corner and there was also a flight of stairs to her left leading upwards, probably to more offices or similar rooms. A slight shimmer let her vague that there must be some light source upstairs. Slowly, still trying to produce as little step-noise as possible, the girl entered.
Now, the hard part would begin. Being entirely unable to recon the inside of the place beforehand, she had to find out where investigation files were kept. But also had to avoid running into any of the guards. Any of the available options being as good as the next, Iris decided to just try every door until any helpful clues might pop up. Some of them, including the first, as she learned quickly, were locked. Others were practically dead ends, leading into bathrooms, a small kitchen and cleaning utensil storage. But just as the short girl had discovered that very same cleaning utensil storage, she heard sounds of someone coming down the hallway. Pulling the door almost close, she left a little room to see when the person had moved by. The soldier had a light, so Iris had to hope he would not notice the door being ever so slightly ajar. And he did not. That in turn, gave the opportunity for iris to quietly reopen the door and take initiative. Her prosthetic arms were made of metal and fairly hard, while also not being dingy enough to make much of a sound when they hit a small layer of fatty skin and then bone. More exactly, the back of the guys head. With a slight thud, his body lost tension and dropped to the floor. As did his light, breaking immediately, causing considerably more noise and returning the hallway into darkness.
And as such, noise started to cascade. Steps echoed through the ceiling, from slow noiseless walking to running apparently, then down the stairs. Now it was too late already and she might as well try and get rid of as many problems as possible quickly. Anticipating the upstairs guard, she could jump him as soon as he turned the corner and tussle him to the ground, leaving him no time to follow protocol and shout loud enough for his colleagues outside to hear. It was a wild knot of both of them trying to get a good swing at the other but ultimately, metal knuckles proved superior, bestowing the gift of free nasal correction and deep sleep upon the guard. With two taken care of for the moment, there could not be many more guards, or so Iris figured. One upstairs, one downstairs and two out front. That seemed light about the right amount of people for a building of this size. With the stairs in view however, the shimmer of light had not vanished as expected, meaning there was another light source and possibly another person upstairs.
Seeing how she had already put hands on two people anyway and that probably getting noticed sooner or later, the decision to go for ti was easy. With minor creaking noises, she shifted up the stairs and followed the corridor with heir eyes. The layout seemed basically the same. The key difference was, on this floor, there actually was an open door with light coming through. Judging by the intensity of it, probably a terrible desk lamp or a candle or something comparable. Sneaking up close, Iris could spy through the crack, revealing the light source, it was a desk lamp after all. But there was also a person. Apparently way absorbed in some kind of paperwork, surrounded by folders and stacks. The room was laid out a bit like a class room, work desks lined up in rows for maybe sir or eight people. As such, the engrossed guy sat with his back to the door, giving ample opportunity to be sneaked up on. Hoping to use that to her advantage, that was what Iris did.
His head got brutally cranked back, as an arm wrapped around his neck, placing a gloved palm with painfully strong grip generally on this poor late-working office worker's face. “No experiments.” Iris threatened, underlining the intent with a metal blade creeping up on the guy's peripheral vision. Probably shocked and somewhat less probably complying, he did not try to say anything or do anything. “Looking for something. Investigation file on the villa burned down a little while ago. You better know where that is at.” she just said. She had no plan to kill a random person who had no involvement with anything, but it was good if he thought so. Luckily for her, the gamble came up heads. After thinking for a sheer endless second, he dropped the pencil he had been clutching in panic for the last few moments and started to try and remove a thin file from one of the stacks on the desk with shaking hands and hectic movements. With her free hand, she pulled it out and opened it for a cursory glance. Just a look at the second page already confirmed it. There was a list of victims and she was on it, photo, name and all, as were her late parents. Saying nothing else, she closed the file and slammed the poor guy's head into the table. He'd be out at least for a few moments hopefully. Showing the folder into her vest, Iris had what she wanted.
Now she only had to escape. But there was audible sounds from downstairs. Apparently mallet-narcotics only worked for so long. There was no way Iris could get past the men downstairs and out the back, especially not now that they would probably alert whoever else was around, like the guards out front. Alternatives? There were not really any, besides the windows. Better then getting caught, beaten up and jailed, she concluded. Opening the nearest window, she opted to not look down first and just swung herself over the windowsill, falling for just enough to register that she was actually falling. And then landed, but not exactly on a stone floor. Instead, she got lucky and jumped onto one of the front guards, who had moved to the side of the building to take a leak, if her nose worked right. That would bring her tally of knocked-out people to 4 for the night. Hearing that the other front door soldier was being alerted by another person -probably one of the inside men- Iris got up somewhat shakily and bolted. She'd take a look at the file later in private. For now, she had to disappear in the back alleys and starting tomorrow, she might just be somewhat on the wanted list, even though she was sure no one really saw her enough to identify. A last over the shoulder look back to the corner of the building showed her that someone was coming around from the front, probably stirred up by the thud she caused or by his co-working guard not returning. Not that it mattered to her, a few minutes of running and taking corners and she would be safe for the moment.