I May Look Old, But I Can Still Kick Your Arse

Michael and Brian both caught the young woman's disdain of Michael because of his age. It made Michael smile. He was used to it. But she didn't know him from Adam's housecat. She had no way of knowing that if push came to shove, the Lupins banked all they had on him. They knew his skills that well.

"We're leaving soon," Michael said.to her with a smile. "And thank you for remembering your potion. You do realize I did have a responsibility to your grandfather to ask. Nothing personal."

Brian went over to Mis and put his arm around her shoulder. "We're gonna get her out, Mis," he reassured her. "I promise. Robert assembled this team the minute he knew she was gone. And he specifically asked that Michael lead this team. You'll be safe with any of them. "

"Brian, you brought Robert's bag, right?" MIchael asked.

"I did," Brian responded.

"Excellent. We don't know what shape she'll be in. I want you ready if we need a healer tonight. Whoever gets her out, you get her straight to St. Mungos. I don't care what you have to do to do that. Just get her there. And, oh, by the way, if we can take out Luther Burke tonight, so much the better, but I doubt he'll show up. At least stop whoever has been torturing her by whatever means necessary."

“Oh really...“ she murmured to herself when the old man told her about a responsobility. “Care to share this information with me?“ she asked with the polite voice, but then she looked up at Brian. She felt herself strange. She was the youngest, yet, she always mixed herself in the middle of some action and as always, there were adults. And she had to listen what they had to say, she had to take the orders, and be careful, and at the same time look how they act. No, she did not agree with that. She will fight, no matter what the situation might be.
“I know,“ she said, looking now down. They all hoped so. “But why didn't you tell me this earlier? Why didn't someone inform me about the whole situation?“ Miseria didn't push Brian's arm off of her shoulder, though, she would love to. His words weren't helping, only the actions would prove something. “And another question. How much men are there?“

Despite the dire situation, Michael seemed to be in terribly good spirit. Rob resented the nickname the man had adopted for him but he did notice the way he’d subconsciously reacted to it, as if his magic thought it right. Jen had remained as tiny as before and, to him, she looked more pixie-like. It was a little unnerving but she’d always been small and her features had always been small. Yet her eyes would quickly grow to the size of saucers if the situation warranted such a change. Jen, despite how bang on the nickname was, didn’t seem bothered by it and just took it in her stride.

Reaching down, Rob grabbed the packs off of the floor. He heaved one up and down a few times before tossing it to Jen. She caught the bag by the strap and heaved it onto her shoulder. Rob smirked and chucked his onto a spare table. He opened it up and rooted around inside before deciding his bag was equipped with more of the necessary equipment. He zipped the bag back up and dropped it down onto the floor. He righted the lamp he’d knocked over and moved to stand by Jen who looked at him quizzically.
“I have potions,” He offered as some sort of an explanation, “And a wand and a few guns...I’ll be fine sweetheart. I’m no cat burglar. I think you’ll find I’m more of the negotiating type.” Jen snorted and Rob smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Listening to the plan was insanely difficult for the two siblings. Jen liked having no boundaries and therefore plans did not come into a situation. She liked to make as much mess as possible, gain as much attention as possible and disappear amidst the panic and confusion. This was more subtle but it was necessary. She wasn’t usually one for rescues, preferring kidnap, but she knew she could make this torturer panic. She could scare him. Rob, on the other hand, was interested in how he could be useful. He had studied guns and weapons of all kinds day and night just like his sister had but he didn’t like to use them as much. He preferred torment and cleverly worded sentences that would confuse the simple-minded idiots that usually did the torturing. Jen did the hard stuff, Rob was the politics – ironically, he hated politics too.

Rob looked over at Brian. Michael wasn’t wrong – the guy did look like hell. He’d be no use with them and Rob was infinitely glad Brian wasn’t being invited on their little exertion. Silently, for his own sanity, Rob was making light of the situation even though he knew that he should have been taking it seriously. He didn’t want Khaat hurt. He didn’t want to see anyone in her family hurt. Although he acted flighty and arrogant he wasn’t always – well he was but not as often as Robert probably assumed. Charlotte liked to comment on how like his father he was. Jen was like their mother and Rob their father. Charlotte was more blood thirsty, Jen taking after her. It seemed Joseph had been the one to keep Charlotte grounded.

Rob cocked an eyebrow at Mis and opened his mouth to answer. Thankfully Jen beat him to it.

“Because it is not for you to know,” She said sharply, “The last thing we need is for you to be emotionally involved. You’ve got a close bond with Khaat as it is, the last thing we need is for you to act on your emotions,” Rob flinched at this although it did not go unnoticed by Jen. “The less the better,” Jen said with regards to her last question, “We don’t want to alert the Muggles do we..?”

"No. We do not," Michael said. "We've got a tad bit of muggle grace getting us in, but that's all. The rest is up to us. Alright, you lot...." he spoke to Steven, Jack, and Ronata, "Go get all the other operatives in their places. Make sure Robert is under heavy guard. We don't want a screw up tonight. Then get to your own places. You have exactly 3 minutes." He had timed this out with a very narrow window for error. He hecked his watch to be sure of the time. He had it synchronized with the muggle clocks precisely.

He watched them leave. He narrowed his eyes at Mis. "I know you don't have any reason to respect me, but I'm asking you to. Just for a few hours. My name is Michael. That's all you need to know right now. And I'm your mother's godfather. All I want is the same thing you do. I want her back safe and sound. Let's go. Pick up that pack that Pan left. You'll need it."

He shouldered his own pack and waved a wand around them casting a spell. The spell threw them all in deep black shadow that would be visible only to muggles. He figured they had no idea if he was just swishing his wand because he was senile or what. But in the darkness, the shadow would help.

"Alright now. Casual. Look like a bloody family if it kills you," he ordered, leading the way to the floo network to floo to Whitehall.

The Floo would never be Rob’s favourite transport. His sister never seemed to care how she got from place to place as long as she got there somehow. Somehow Rob always felt that, despite the fact he told the fireplace where he wanted to go, the thing would take him somewhere obscure. But he followed behind Miseria none the less, keeping a close eye on his sister who seemed to be thinking carefully about the whole thing which was unlike her. Perhaps she was just going with the plan; unlikely.

When Rob emerged from the Floo he felt Jen pull his wrist and he was tugged down behind a large box which had been stacked up. He poked his head out to the side and watched the loading doors open. A van drove in and he looked over to where Jen was and found the space empty. He looked to his left, then to his right and found her unscrewing a ventilation shaft. Rob opened his mouth to protest but Jen was already shimmying herself into the shaft.

“What the bloody hell are you doing?” He hissed.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” was response before she crawled into the darkness. Rob shook his head and took her pack. He slung it onto his shoulder and looked at Michael.

“We’re taking the high road then are we?” He asked.

"Yes. We need an alternate route in case Tinkerbell gets her bum stuck in the air shaft," Michael sighed dryly. He liked her, but why the hell could a Dent never follow directions? What was it with them? DId they all have that defect in their gene pool? Joe had been the same damned way. He should have expected it, but it did somewhat throw him a bit of a curveball.

Michael swung his grappling hook with ease and precision, and it hooked on the first try. He thought about serving as the anchor for Pan, but then decided against it. He decided he was definitely more agile than the younger Dent child. He took the building freehanded and, wearing just his gloves mostly to defy muggle technology, he scaled the buildng to the roof. It always made him feel a bit like a spider doing such business, and he still liked it. He could still make it up the side of a building faster than catburglars less than half his age. Pan had a thing or two to learn if he had made the mistake of underestimating Michael. However, Michael got the feeling that the Dent kids were generally better judges of character than their mother had ever been. More like their father. He had been a very wise man. And they both took after him in some way or another. He landed silently on the roof and used his wand to fog over the muggle cameras while the shadow shield still concealed them. Then he waited for Pan.

Jack saw Jen move but not the way she was supposed to darting behind her he followed, not completely trusting her after what her and Rob had done to Khaat. He used his werewolf side to stay out of her way and in the shadows as he Watched her move into a hanger he wondered shy she was there as it was not what Michael had asked her to do , slowly and silently he followed behind her his pack safe in his pocket he knew if anything went wrong he would be the only one to get her out and when he did he would make a note to scold her for deviating from the set plan.

His wear eyes watched her move as he stood his back tight against the wall he not huddled against , quickly he moved as she moved , he now crouched behind a small plane why it was there he could only venture to guess but he was glad of it as he hid quickly a passing muggle guard went with in inches of him but never saw him. He turned his head to find where Jen had gone too following her scent as he moved.

Living out a dream wasn’t something Jen needed to be doing at that moment in time but Rob watched, despite the darkness, until he saw her slip down the shaft into a lower level. She’d get her arse stuck or get lost or something equally horrible if she wasn’t careful. She hadn’t been big before Azkaban and she was smaller now so she could get in a fair few places. She was definitely putting her fairy-like stature to good use. Rob shook his head and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He pushed himself out of his crouched position and moved to stand behind Michael.

Rob watched as the grapple was sent up into the air and smiled slightly when it caught on the roof. The boy watched as Michael took himself up the rope and onto the roof. Rob only just remembered to grab hold of the rope. Rob saw the man disappear over the top and he turned the rope around in his hand. He sighed and bit his lip before pulling himself up. He had hated the climbing exercises that they did in France when he and Jen were training to be whatever they were being fixed up to do. Chris had been a bloody spider and Jen had used David as a support half the time. It was just he and Pierre that seemed to struggle with it.

But Rob had gotten in a hell of a lot of practice over the years. He was still rubbish but he got himself up there.

The rope burns weren’t that harsh but Rob could have done without. He hoisted himself over the side and landed easily on his feet. He rubbed his hands and pushed his glasses up once more. He shook his hair out and unhooked the grapple. He pulled the rope up and held it out to Michael, “Here,”

"Use the damned gloves next time, Lad," Michael frowned. "They do have that DNA business now, you know. The last thing you need to be doing is leaving little bits of yourself so they can track you down later. God, I can see I need to teach you a thing or two. You're not bad, but you do have a couple of rough edges, don't you? Too bad Joe didn't get to finish teaching you all he wanted." He made his way into a maintenance door that led to the inside of an elevator shaft. He smiled. This was his favorite bit.

"You can go down, can't you, Pan?" he asked. He pulled an enchanted rope from his pack. "Go," he told it softly. It slithered like a snake and tied itself to the inside of the airshaft. "Its name is Hiss," he told Rob. He didn't know why he'd named the bloody rope, but he'd had it for years, and the sentient rope was the closest thing Michael had ever had to a partner in his work.

Once Hiss was secure, Michael tossed Rob an extra pair of gloves from his pack. "Put 'em on. Or you;ll be on trial in your wife's courtroom, more than likely. He drew out a few pieces of equipment and clipped them to Hiss with carabiners. They would repel down the elevator shaft to the basement. "Coming?" he asked,, as he disappeared down the shaft like a falling rock, rappelling down the shaft on Hiss with a smile.

It wasn’t often that Wizards took into account that Muggles were advancing. They were actually beginning to overtake Wizards who were trapped in the Dark Ages and probably would be until someone brought on a revolution. But Rob didn’t think that that would be in his time. He didn’t think it would be in Elijah’s either but Fauve’s and Thierry’s was a definite maybe. DNA wasn’t something entirely new to Rob but he didn’t get caught that often unless these Muggles had gotten hold of an Indian Wanted Poster. Then they’d probably have a reason to arrest him. He was quite content to leave his DNA around, however.

Rob smiled and shrugged one of his shoulders. He slid Jen’s pack off of his shoulder and pulled the zip back. He pushed the grapple into the bag and closed it up once more. There, sorted. He pushed his arm through the other shoulder strap and looked at Michael quizzically. Joe? He didn’t mean...Rob bit the inside of his lip and dropped his head a little. He frowned and tucked some of his hair behind his ear. He lifted his head again and swallowed, pushing the words out of his mind. Joe could have been anyone...Charlotte had enough boyfriends when Rob was a kid. He could have been anyone.

Stepping forward a little, Rob watched as Michael produced a rope from inside the pack. The rope was attached to the airshaft and Rob caught the gloves Michael threw at him.
“I’m sure the Dementors have missed me,” Rob quipped, pulling the gloves on. He shook his head, something he seemed to be doing often tonight, and dropped himself down, hanging onto the rope as he did so. He landed fairly well at the bottom and brought himself out of the crouch he’d gone into. He turned and looked around, seeking Michael out with his eyes. “What did you mean by that...back there I mean? Joe...who’s that?” Rob decided to ask.