“That one,” she said. “It’ll take us up to the basement. We should be behind the demon army, and I’m betting that Cass is in the lower holding cells.”
“You just know everything, don’t you?” Slade said, trying to be sarcastic but clearly impressed. Jenny grinned.
“I was undercover here for quite some time before you guys came in here and junked up my vibe.”
“What are you implying?” Slade asked.
“That you’re a wrecking machine of incompetence,” Jenny muttered, shaking her head.
“Excuse me ...” Slade began, truly outraged now.
“Family bonding later,” Flash snapped. “Rescue Cass and foil evil plan now.”
Jenny nodded, crouching as she gathered her muscles, then leapt to grab the manhole cover. She got it open and kicked upward to wriggle through.
“She really is something,” Flash muttered, following Jenny and trying to emulate her grace, and ended up smacking his jaw on the edge of the hole.
They waited for Slade to jump through, then hurried out of the storage area where they had come up. Jenny trotted down the hall, her footsteps light as she stayed close to the walls, peeking carefully around each corner. They only ran into a few demons that were easily dispatched.
“You know where you’re going?” Slade asked. Jenny nodded.
“Holding cells are just up here.”
They turned a corner and approached the doorway, seeing a bright beam of light coming from it. Jenny frowned.
“Looks like it’s the only room with all the lights on. I don’t know what to make of it.”
Slowly, they entered the room. All of them feared a trap, but none of them would back down. Flash paused as he saw the bodies that littered the floor.
“There must be dozens of them,” Slade muttered.
“What the fuck went on in here?” Flash asked.
“She’s not in the cell,” Jenny said.
Flash hurried to the door and looked inside. There was definitely no one there. He turned around, his heart sinking with despair.
Suddenly, a blinding blow struck him on the back of the head. He went down on his knees, shouting out in pain.
“Flash?” a soft voice queried from above.
He looked up, seeing Cassandra unfolding herself from an air duct. She dropped down beside him and wrapped him in her arms. Slade bolted across the room and threw his arms around both of them.
“What happened?” Slade asked, gesturing to the room. “Did you do all of this?”
“Yeah,” Cass said. “As soon as I got a break in the onslaught, I hid to regroup. Never expected you guys to come in next.”
“Well, we did,” Jenny said. “Hello, Cassandra.”
“Nice to meet you, Jenny,” Cass answered. The two women smiled at each other, sharing a moment of warmth even amidst this chaos.
“Let’s get up to the roof and nail this fucker,” Jenny said, gesturing to the door.
“Language,” Slade muttered.
“Don’t even,” Jenny muttered.
Cass grinned. “I like this girl.”
