04-11-2020, 12:01 PM
04-14-2020, 10:24 AM
04-14-2020, 10:20 PM
February 22, 2020
Valeria wasn't surprised that SCW was marching on without her. She never expected that to ever be the case, but the moment there was no sign of Las Bandidas de Gata Negra on the post-trios card and those questioned about it would reveal their hiatus, she was half-expecting the rumors to start flying. A good portion of them were likely from those who had done their best to bring the tandem down, no doubt claiming victory and taking credit for whatever reason why they were no longer present and expression joy that there was one less team in the way now. Kandis and Tommy were likely at the top of that list, which made the former Ruby shake her head at how paper thin the former's alliances were if they didn't involve some guy worshiping her in a way that invalidated everything she claimed she wasn't.
Make no mistake about it... Las Bandidas de Gata Negra may be gone, but they'll be back soon, and they'll be watching everything that unfolds in the meantime to plot their next move.
For now, there were simply more important matters to attend to.
While most SCW stars were either heading back home briefly to rest up in the aftermath of trios or already on their way to Raleigh to get a jump start on preparing for Breakdown, Valeria and Maria had decided to take a trip into the state of New York instead. While it seemed pretty out of the way, the duo had their reasons, and they ultimately linked back to their true target. Unsurprisingly, Maria still had plenty of concerns, especially when the trip out here had seen a small handful of attempts to try and pry for more information, but even when Valeria seemed like she was finally going to open up, a nasty migraine would put the brakes on the attempt altogether. Maria had apologized and certainly didn't mean to keep trying to dig, but she wasn't going to risk dealing with someone as dangerous as a Norwegian millionaire who was even feared by some of the most ruthless crime lords in all of Mexico and was a household name worldwide without something to work with.
Whatever past Valeria had with Ivan Telebor, it clearly wasn't something she wanted to recall even if she was willing to do so. A mind as brilliant as hers outright rejecting the notion of sharing details and flat out shutting down in response was a terrifying thought.
Garcia: Alright, I just about have these ones set up. You have those last few cables we needed?
Vencejo: Yup, just as fresh as when I stole them from that tech warehouse in Louisville.
Maria gleefully passed along a few different kinds of cables to her partner, who make short work of plugging them in to not only ensure a stable and undetectable internet connection even from the notoriously shoddy hotel wi-fi, but complete her network of various different laptops of all brands and models interconnected like digital spiders caught in a web of cables scattered throughout the room, all ultimately linking to her main laptop that sat at the table pushed up against the wall just beneath the window of their room that gave them a breathtaking view of the city.
Vencejo: I have to hand it to you Valeria: only you would ever devise something this convoluted and somehow make it work.
Garcia: I'll take that as a compliment, considering this is the best way I have to create what we need out of what we have available to us.
As Valeria sat down as her actual laptop and began running diagnostics to make sure her setup would work as intended,,her mind drifted to a thought that had been plaguing her ever since she'd started trying to open up about her past with Ivan to Maria. True, what she had at her disposal was incredible by all conceivable logic of technology, which was far for the course for someone as smart as her, but she had her doubts about this working. The idea had been to do her surveillance work to guide Maria in her capers through an interconnected network of systems that, each running their own copy of a program she created to act as an ever-changing pseudo VPN of her own design, would make it absolutely impossible for anybody, no matter how technologically savvy they were or how infallible they thought their security system was, to be able to actually track down where she was even if they realized their systems were hacked or compromised. For something like what they were pulling this evening it seemed like overkill, but against a man with enough brilliance and foresight like Ivan, she feared that even if she somehow possessed every computer in North America for this purpose it wouldn't be enough.
Vencejo: You alright chica?
Valeria snapped out of her thought and looked back at Maria, who had stripped off her casual attire and was slowly slithering into the trademark bodysuit of her Mala Suerte thief identity. Despite her focus on that, her eyes never left her partner and the concern in them was palpable.
Garcia: Yeah, sorry. Just... something on my mind...
Vencejo: Ivan?
Valeria silently nodded before turning and trying to refocus on her work. Maria carefully finished getting ready but couldn't help but let her concern grow. Despite wanting to get revenge the way these two typically did with people who crossed them back during their original days of doing this south of the border, she was getting worried that Valeria was doing this more out of blind hatred for part of her past over anything else. Even if it wasn't for exactly who she was targeting, the fact that Ivan clearly had some sort of impact upon her that was still affecting her in ways that Maria had never seen in all the time she's known this woman, and she had every reason to be concerned.
Garcia: Alright, I'm all set up and everything's running smoothly. You ready to go?
Vencejo: Just about...
Maria actually had gotten finished shortly before that exchange, but she stayed rooted in place through her concerns for her partner. Valeria picked up on that in her tone and turned to look at her again as she put her earpiece in.
Garcia: I'll be fine, I promise. I just... have some things I need to mentally work through to be able to talk about it. I honestly didn't think I'd still have any of it this barricaded away in my head.
Maria still had her worries, but she nodded in understanding before putting on the long trenchcoat that hid her bodysuit and taking her leave from the room. As she made her way out of the hotel and along the streets towards her destination, her mind was constantly moving with all manner of possibilities as to what could have happened between those two that left Valeria in this state. Some of the more obvious but gruesome ones she immediately shook out of her head as she didn't even want to consider them as possibilities, but she was hard pressed to think of anything that would actually shake Valeria Garcia of all people this badly. Thankfully for her, she didn't have to dwell on it for a while, as she soon found herself at one of the small communities on the outskirts of the city and shed her trenchcoat before hiding it away, putting on her facemask and stealthily making her way into a nearby tree. Obscured by the thick leaves, she had no trouble getting the vantage point she needed for the mansion before her as she popped in her own earpiece.
Vencejo: Alright chica, I'm in position.
Garcia: Copy. I've cracked the house's security codes and hijacked surveillance.
Vencejo: That quickly?
Garcia: This is nothing... all a warm up for the real challenge.
The way Valeria's voice began to trail off near the end aroused Maria's concerns once more, but she shrugged them off as best as she could because right now there was work to be done. After about five minutes of waiting, she saw a man in a business suit leaving the mansion with a lovely lady in a beautiful dress practically draped over his arm. They both got in the back of a waiting limo before its chauffeur got in the driver seat and drove off through the front gates.
Vencejo: Target is leaving the premises, right on cue with our intel.
Garcia: Perfect. I see his various butlers and maids are roaming around, but it's nothing you haven't slipped through before. None of them are of any threat if something goes wrong; the only real issue's the security system which is about to go offline.
Maria grinned, waiting for her cue to pounce as she saw the automatic front gate slowly swinging shut once the limo was through, only to come to a stop with a small gap in between. With a small verbal hint from Valeria that indicated it was go time, Maria quickly leaped from the tree and slipped through the opening, dashing as swiftly as she could along the front lawn before ducking behind one of the elegant shrub sculptures that decorated the front of the house. She looked up and counted the number of floors leading up before applying the claws to her gloves that allowed her to effectively climb the wall of the structure, making sure she stayed out of sight until she was just below the window she was after.
Vencejo: Third floor, second window to the right of the front door from my perspective.
Garcia: That's a guest room, and it's unoccupied right now. You should be able to slip in from there. Hold for a moment once you're in, because a few maids are in the hall outside doing their thing.
Vencejo: Have they gotten to this room yet?
Garcia: They look like they're working their way down the hall away from that room, so I'm positive they have.
Maria gave a small grunt in confirmation before she slid the window open, taking note of the small devices attached to it that were no doubt supposed to be setting off an alarm right now had Valeria not gotten into them. She slipped into the room and closed the window to avoid suspicion before crouching down near the door on the side it would open towards, just in case.
Vencejo: Let me know when I'm good chica.
Back at the hotel, Valeria closely eyed the cameras, only glancing away briefly to check to be sure her network of laptops was doing what it was supposed to in making their switches every minute to ensure anyone in that mansion who might notice the outage couldn't trace it back to here. As her attention turned back to her main laptop, she saw the maids begin to file down the stairs to the floor below. Once they were far enough down...
Garcia: Coast is clear.
She watched through the cameras as Maria slowly cracked open the door to double check before stepping out and closing it. She swiftly sprinted down the hall to a door at the very end of it, set up so that there was no direct window access inside from the exterior. One turn of the doorknob indicated that it was locked, which Maria wasn't surprised by as she began working on picking it.
Valeria took a deep breath as she kept her eyes focused on her display to confirm nobody on the staff in that place was aware of Maria's presence or was even heading up to that floor. Thankfully, they seemed unaware their security was even offline and were going about their usual tasks. Watching this, she couldn't help but think back to those old times, as much as her brain painfully reminded her against something that had been resurfacing in her dreams without her control anyway. The way Ivan's staff had been so thoroughly trained their exact schedules were easily readable for her to exploit when she got away, a practice she wondered if Ivan had changed because of her escape. All these upper class people who wanted a large staff that would follow their every command to the letter... it always left them the most vulnerable to situations like this when up against someone who knew how to tear down all their precious security systems and leave no trace behind of their presence. This was going very well and there was little chance of that changing, though she knew full well this was only the opening act. The main event couldn't possibly go this well... could it?
Vencejo: Chica, I've got what we need. Hope you don't mind, but I swiped a little something extra that might be of use to us.
Valeria snapped out of it as she focused on the camera in the room Maria had broken into. She'd already grabbed the valuables they were here for, all of which Valeria had pieced together were gifts from Ivan to the man that lived here as a thank you for being one of his many connections either legal or otherwise in the business world. Despite the bags Maria had them tucked into, she was drawn to the envelope that was currently being held up to inspect. While it was a big difficult to do so over a screen, Valeria was able to make out the receiving address of the man they were robbing as well as the send address from a place of business that clearly had Ivan's name in it.
Garcia: Go ahead and bring that back as well. It might have something we could use to set the stage for the last phase.
Maria nodded and slipped the envelope into her catsuit before taking a quick peek out into the hallway, finding it still empty. She left the office room and made sure the door was locked behind her.
Garcia: Heads up, one of the maids is heading back up right now. The closest room to your right has a window, so get out of there and come on back.
Maria nodded as she glanced over towards the staircase, hearing footsteps making their way up. She swiftly ducked into the closest room and made her way out the window, using her claws to scale back down the house before quickly leaving the premises, leaving behind no trace that she was actually there. She could hear Valeria breathe a sigh of relief over the earpiece as she began making her way back.
Garcia: Maria, if you've got a moment... find someplace where you'll be alone and read off whatever's in that envelope. If Ivan's personally sending something out to one of his connections, I want to know what we're working with sooner rather than later.
Maria nodded as she made her way to the alleyway where she would retrieve her trenchcoat anyway, hearing Valeria on the other end typing away to put the mansion's security system back online and do whatever else she needed to in order to leave zero evidence behind. As Maria slipped on her coat, she pulled out the letter and opened it up before skimming through it... and in doing so, she almost let it drop from her hands.
Garcia: Alright, our test run of my setup was a success. What's in the envelope Maria? ...Maria?
Vencejo: ...there's stuff in here about investing in SCW...
Valeria could feel her heart sink as she stopped dismantling her convoluted computer setup back in the hotel room. She waited until Maria returned so she could see it for herself, and there was no doubt that it was right there in black and white: Ivan Telebor had taken an interest in the wrestling promotion. Worse yet, among the script of establishing the means to set up his investment as they had targeted someone who usually helped set that up for him when he didn't want to deal with it himself for usually shady reasons, there was mention of a “certain someone” there that had caught his eye and was the main reason he was interested.
There was a very real possibility Ivan had found her...
We open up in what looks like a bar, although it's odd that there's a distinct lack of people inside doing whatever business they need to attend to within these walls. The only two people present amid the dimly lit place are the tandem of Las Bandidas de Gata Negra, seemingly taking it easy at a time when many feel they should be more concerned about what awaits them. Valeria has her feet resting on a table as she leans back and reads while taking a sip of her alcohol of choice every now and then while Maria seems preoccupied with a round of darts, somehow having far more than what you'd normally find in a bar that actually has a dartboard to throw in its direction. Valeria glances past her book and notices the camera, but gives it to further obvious attention as she begins speaking over whatever tune is playing in the background.
Garcia: I'm sure not many of you are impressed, and I wouldn't be surprised. Blame SCW for that one. We weren't exactly planning some grand return scheme in the first place, but I bet most of you are taking notice of the fact that we took down the Stewards upon our return and are probably just shrugging your shoulders, questioning if that was supposed to do anything. Truthfully, it established that we are back with no rust from our time away and knocked that family down the proverbial ladder of the tag team division. We all know they are never truly deserving of such an opportunity, but as we said before: it's better to not leave anyone believing there is no right for us to be ahead of them in line as it makes it even sweeter when that reward is finally ours for the taking. The same logic even applies to the team we're meeting this week, even if it's hard to consider them much of a team at the moment.
Vencejo: I guess this is where I'll take the initiative and oblige the wishes of one Jordan Majors: we don't want you around anymore.
Maria had paused in her game of darts to turn her attention to the camera for that line, and she briefly turns back to the dartboard to hurl one more dart at it before giving the camera her undivided attention.
Vencejo: Seriously chica, you need to get your priorities straight. I know that's hard considering all the trouble you're causing for everyone around you, but for someone trying so hard to ignore all those fires you're starting you sure do like spending a lot of time talking about them. Valeria and I barely got so much as a passing glance, which either tells us you're very confident in the idea that you're going to beat us or you think we're not as much of a threat as the mess you surround yourself with. Let's be honest for a moment: you really need to stop worrying about what your brother's doing beyond teaming with you or what Sienna's up to or how badly you want to keep your title against Peyton on Sunday. You have two very dangerous women standing in front of you right now, and not only will a victory ruin whatever hopes you have of being tag team champions alongside your dear hermano for the foreseeable future, but also could easily put one of us at the front of the line for the adrenaline title on top of it.
Garcia: I hate to be the one to tell you this Jordan, but the world doesn't work under the belief that you can always have everything you want. Sienna and her friends have already shown what kind of people they can be to anyone who crosses them, which is why it wouldn't be surprising that if Bree succeeds where she and Chris failed that her first response will be to knock her out cold and declare herself first in line to challenge for both of her titles. As for your brother, history dictates that he has a reputation for being a rebel and doing his own thing even to the detriment of his own allies, which was the main reason he found himself alone and devoid of backup when he needed it the most in several fights he picked a long time ago. He's just as selfish and hungry for attention as Sienna is, so it was only a matter of time before the two of them started trying to destroy one another, and it's no one's fault but your own for believing there was any peace to be had in that situation, just as it's your fault that you are not as ready for us as you claim to be and will have to explain to your brother why we were the starting point for the bad luck you're about to endure for what should be a huge week for you.
Garcia: But of course, we would be remissed if we did not acknowledge how much the two of you truly are like brother and sister. After all, while Jordan is worried about trying to get all her friends and family to love one another and worrying more about the title defense down the road instead of the match right in front of her, Jake is too busy starting fights on her behalf when he knows the odds of actually having a focused mind to challenge us with are slim at best. Tell me Jake, what happens if Sienna sends one of her cronies down to ringside to get your attention? What if she actually struts down the ramp pretending it's a catwalk to draw your attention towards her for this Sunday? Sure, you can be ready to defend yourself from them, but what about us? It would feel a little insulting if you simply turned your back on us in the middle of a match, and maybe we'll be left with no choice but to remind you of why it's never a good idea to turn your back on someone like us.
Valeria closes her book and sets it on the table as she consumes the rest of her alcohol. Maria had gone back to hurling darts as her partner spoke, but after throwing the last one she spins around ro return her focus to the camera.
Vencejo: Surely you would've learned something by now Jake. After all, how many times did you create this exact same scenario for yourself in the past? You were always the one ready to start swinging a chair to try and even the odds, and yet it's hard to give you a chance in this match considering you've been letting your sister down for weeks now with this inconsistent streak of losses and generally having someone leave you laying on the mat. It almost seems like you were better off staying away from SCW and preserving what legacy you still had around here from those old glory days of yours. It's no skin off our bones, because the fact of the matter is the two of you are in our way as we climb back up the mountain in pursuit of tag team gold, and we aren't here to give you a competitive match or any of that nonsense. We're here to win, by any means necessary, to move one step closer to the prize we're after. We have no reason to be nice about it, because there's nothing you can do about it anyway.
Garcia: I can assure you both that we are no mere warm-up for the two of you being buried beneath the avalanche you brought upon yourself for Cold Blooded. As far as we know, we have no place on the card so we have nothing to lose here. Neither one of you can say the same... then again, you've already proven how much you're looking ahead as it is, so your fates are already sealed.
Vencejo: And don't worry... there's no need for us to take that to the bank. We'll just take it from you on Breakdown while you're busy worrying about everything else.
Valeria stands up as the two ladies take their leave. Once they're out of the shot, the camera slowly pans over to find that a promotional photo of Jake and Jordan has been taped to the dartboard, and every dart is piercing the image of one of the two siblings with no missed targets as a warning for how focused these two women are for what's directly in front of them, not what's waiting for them in a few days' time.
Valeria wasn't surprised that SCW was marching on without her. She never expected that to ever be the case, but the moment there was no sign of Las Bandidas de Gata Negra on the post-trios card and those questioned about it would reveal their hiatus, she was half-expecting the rumors to start flying. A good portion of them were likely from those who had done their best to bring the tandem down, no doubt claiming victory and taking credit for whatever reason why they were no longer present and expression joy that there was one less team in the way now. Kandis and Tommy were likely at the top of that list, which made the former Ruby shake her head at how paper thin the former's alliances were if they didn't involve some guy worshiping her in a way that invalidated everything she claimed she wasn't.
Make no mistake about it... Las Bandidas de Gata Negra may be gone, but they'll be back soon, and they'll be watching everything that unfolds in the meantime to plot their next move.
For now, there were simply more important matters to attend to.
While most SCW stars were either heading back home briefly to rest up in the aftermath of trios or already on their way to Raleigh to get a jump start on preparing for Breakdown, Valeria and Maria had decided to take a trip into the state of New York instead. While it seemed pretty out of the way, the duo had their reasons, and they ultimately linked back to their true target. Unsurprisingly, Maria still had plenty of concerns, especially when the trip out here had seen a small handful of attempts to try and pry for more information, but even when Valeria seemed like she was finally going to open up, a nasty migraine would put the brakes on the attempt altogether. Maria had apologized and certainly didn't mean to keep trying to dig, but she wasn't going to risk dealing with someone as dangerous as a Norwegian millionaire who was even feared by some of the most ruthless crime lords in all of Mexico and was a household name worldwide without something to work with.
Whatever past Valeria had with Ivan Telebor, it clearly wasn't something she wanted to recall even if she was willing to do so. A mind as brilliant as hers outright rejecting the notion of sharing details and flat out shutting down in response was a terrifying thought.
Garcia: Alright, I just about have these ones set up. You have those last few cables we needed?
Vencejo: Yup, just as fresh as when I stole them from that tech warehouse in Louisville.
Maria gleefully passed along a few different kinds of cables to her partner, who make short work of plugging them in to not only ensure a stable and undetectable internet connection even from the notoriously shoddy hotel wi-fi, but complete her network of various different laptops of all brands and models interconnected like digital spiders caught in a web of cables scattered throughout the room, all ultimately linking to her main laptop that sat at the table pushed up against the wall just beneath the window of their room that gave them a breathtaking view of the city.
Vencejo: I have to hand it to you Valeria: only you would ever devise something this convoluted and somehow make it work.
Garcia: I'll take that as a compliment, considering this is the best way I have to create what we need out of what we have available to us.
As Valeria sat down as her actual laptop and began running diagnostics to make sure her setup would work as intended,,her mind drifted to a thought that had been plaguing her ever since she'd started trying to open up about her past with Ivan to Maria. True, what she had at her disposal was incredible by all conceivable logic of technology, which was far for the course for someone as smart as her, but she had her doubts about this working. The idea had been to do her surveillance work to guide Maria in her capers through an interconnected network of systems that, each running their own copy of a program she created to act as an ever-changing pseudo VPN of her own design, would make it absolutely impossible for anybody, no matter how technologically savvy they were or how infallible they thought their security system was, to be able to actually track down where she was even if they realized their systems were hacked or compromised. For something like what they were pulling this evening it seemed like overkill, but against a man with enough brilliance and foresight like Ivan, she feared that even if she somehow possessed every computer in North America for this purpose it wouldn't be enough.
Vencejo: You alright chica?
Valeria snapped out of her thought and looked back at Maria, who had stripped off her casual attire and was slowly slithering into the trademark bodysuit of her Mala Suerte thief identity. Despite her focus on that, her eyes never left her partner and the concern in them was palpable.
Garcia: Yeah, sorry. Just... something on my mind...
Vencejo: Ivan?
Valeria silently nodded before turning and trying to refocus on her work. Maria carefully finished getting ready but couldn't help but let her concern grow. Despite wanting to get revenge the way these two typically did with people who crossed them back during their original days of doing this south of the border, she was getting worried that Valeria was doing this more out of blind hatred for part of her past over anything else. Even if it wasn't for exactly who she was targeting, the fact that Ivan clearly had some sort of impact upon her that was still affecting her in ways that Maria had never seen in all the time she's known this woman, and she had every reason to be concerned.
Garcia: Alright, I'm all set up and everything's running smoothly. You ready to go?
Vencejo: Just about...
Maria actually had gotten finished shortly before that exchange, but she stayed rooted in place through her concerns for her partner. Valeria picked up on that in her tone and turned to look at her again as she put her earpiece in.
Garcia: I'll be fine, I promise. I just... have some things I need to mentally work through to be able to talk about it. I honestly didn't think I'd still have any of it this barricaded away in my head.
Maria still had her worries, but she nodded in understanding before putting on the long trenchcoat that hid her bodysuit and taking her leave from the room. As she made her way out of the hotel and along the streets towards her destination, her mind was constantly moving with all manner of possibilities as to what could have happened between those two that left Valeria in this state. Some of the more obvious but gruesome ones she immediately shook out of her head as she didn't even want to consider them as possibilities, but she was hard pressed to think of anything that would actually shake Valeria Garcia of all people this badly. Thankfully for her, she didn't have to dwell on it for a while, as she soon found herself at one of the small communities on the outskirts of the city and shed her trenchcoat before hiding it away, putting on her facemask and stealthily making her way into a nearby tree. Obscured by the thick leaves, she had no trouble getting the vantage point she needed for the mansion before her as she popped in her own earpiece.
Vencejo: Alright chica, I'm in position.
Garcia: Copy. I've cracked the house's security codes and hijacked surveillance.
Vencejo: That quickly?
Garcia: This is nothing... all a warm up for the real challenge.
The way Valeria's voice began to trail off near the end aroused Maria's concerns once more, but she shrugged them off as best as she could because right now there was work to be done. After about five minutes of waiting, she saw a man in a business suit leaving the mansion with a lovely lady in a beautiful dress practically draped over his arm. They both got in the back of a waiting limo before its chauffeur got in the driver seat and drove off through the front gates.
Vencejo: Target is leaving the premises, right on cue with our intel.
Garcia: Perfect. I see his various butlers and maids are roaming around, but it's nothing you haven't slipped through before. None of them are of any threat if something goes wrong; the only real issue's the security system which is about to go offline.
Maria grinned, waiting for her cue to pounce as she saw the automatic front gate slowly swinging shut once the limo was through, only to come to a stop with a small gap in between. With a small verbal hint from Valeria that indicated it was go time, Maria quickly leaped from the tree and slipped through the opening, dashing as swiftly as she could along the front lawn before ducking behind one of the elegant shrub sculptures that decorated the front of the house. She looked up and counted the number of floors leading up before applying the claws to her gloves that allowed her to effectively climb the wall of the structure, making sure she stayed out of sight until she was just below the window she was after.
Vencejo: Third floor, second window to the right of the front door from my perspective.
Garcia: That's a guest room, and it's unoccupied right now. You should be able to slip in from there. Hold for a moment once you're in, because a few maids are in the hall outside doing their thing.
Vencejo: Have they gotten to this room yet?
Garcia: They look like they're working their way down the hall away from that room, so I'm positive they have.
Maria gave a small grunt in confirmation before she slid the window open, taking note of the small devices attached to it that were no doubt supposed to be setting off an alarm right now had Valeria not gotten into them. She slipped into the room and closed the window to avoid suspicion before crouching down near the door on the side it would open towards, just in case.
Vencejo: Let me know when I'm good chica.
Back at the hotel, Valeria closely eyed the cameras, only glancing away briefly to check to be sure her network of laptops was doing what it was supposed to in making their switches every minute to ensure anyone in that mansion who might notice the outage couldn't trace it back to here. As her attention turned back to her main laptop, she saw the maids begin to file down the stairs to the floor below. Once they were far enough down...
Garcia: Coast is clear.
She watched through the cameras as Maria slowly cracked open the door to double check before stepping out and closing it. She swiftly sprinted down the hall to a door at the very end of it, set up so that there was no direct window access inside from the exterior. One turn of the doorknob indicated that it was locked, which Maria wasn't surprised by as she began working on picking it.
Valeria took a deep breath as she kept her eyes focused on her display to confirm nobody on the staff in that place was aware of Maria's presence or was even heading up to that floor. Thankfully, they seemed unaware their security was even offline and were going about their usual tasks. Watching this, she couldn't help but think back to those old times, as much as her brain painfully reminded her against something that had been resurfacing in her dreams without her control anyway. The way Ivan's staff had been so thoroughly trained their exact schedules were easily readable for her to exploit when she got away, a practice she wondered if Ivan had changed because of her escape. All these upper class people who wanted a large staff that would follow their every command to the letter... it always left them the most vulnerable to situations like this when up against someone who knew how to tear down all their precious security systems and leave no trace behind of their presence. This was going very well and there was little chance of that changing, though she knew full well this was only the opening act. The main event couldn't possibly go this well... could it?
Vencejo: Chica, I've got what we need. Hope you don't mind, but I swiped a little something extra that might be of use to us.
Valeria snapped out of it as she focused on the camera in the room Maria had broken into. She'd already grabbed the valuables they were here for, all of which Valeria had pieced together were gifts from Ivan to the man that lived here as a thank you for being one of his many connections either legal or otherwise in the business world. Despite the bags Maria had them tucked into, she was drawn to the envelope that was currently being held up to inspect. While it was a big difficult to do so over a screen, Valeria was able to make out the receiving address of the man they were robbing as well as the send address from a place of business that clearly had Ivan's name in it.
Garcia: Go ahead and bring that back as well. It might have something we could use to set the stage for the last phase.
Maria nodded and slipped the envelope into her catsuit before taking a quick peek out into the hallway, finding it still empty. She left the office room and made sure the door was locked behind her.
Garcia: Heads up, one of the maids is heading back up right now. The closest room to your right has a window, so get out of there and come on back.
Maria nodded as she glanced over towards the staircase, hearing footsteps making their way up. She swiftly ducked into the closest room and made her way out the window, using her claws to scale back down the house before quickly leaving the premises, leaving behind no trace that she was actually there. She could hear Valeria breathe a sigh of relief over the earpiece as she began making her way back.
Garcia: Maria, if you've got a moment... find someplace where you'll be alone and read off whatever's in that envelope. If Ivan's personally sending something out to one of his connections, I want to know what we're working with sooner rather than later.
Maria nodded as she made her way to the alleyway where she would retrieve her trenchcoat anyway, hearing Valeria on the other end typing away to put the mansion's security system back online and do whatever else she needed to in order to leave zero evidence behind. As Maria slipped on her coat, she pulled out the letter and opened it up before skimming through it... and in doing so, she almost let it drop from her hands.
Garcia: Alright, our test run of my setup was a success. What's in the envelope Maria? ...Maria?
Vencejo: ...there's stuff in here about investing in SCW...
Valeria could feel her heart sink as she stopped dismantling her convoluted computer setup back in the hotel room. She waited until Maria returned so she could see it for herself, and there was no doubt that it was right there in black and white: Ivan Telebor had taken an interest in the wrestling promotion. Worse yet, among the script of establishing the means to set up his investment as they had targeted someone who usually helped set that up for him when he didn't want to deal with it himself for usually shady reasons, there was mention of a “certain someone” there that had caught his eye and was the main reason he was interested.
There was a very real possibility Ivan had found her...
*****
We open up in what looks like a bar, although it's odd that there's a distinct lack of people inside doing whatever business they need to attend to within these walls. The only two people present amid the dimly lit place are the tandem of Las Bandidas de Gata Negra, seemingly taking it easy at a time when many feel they should be more concerned about what awaits them. Valeria has her feet resting on a table as she leans back and reads while taking a sip of her alcohol of choice every now and then while Maria seems preoccupied with a round of darts, somehow having far more than what you'd normally find in a bar that actually has a dartboard to throw in its direction. Valeria glances past her book and notices the camera, but gives it to further obvious attention as she begins speaking over whatever tune is playing in the background.
Garcia: I'm sure not many of you are impressed, and I wouldn't be surprised. Blame SCW for that one. We weren't exactly planning some grand return scheme in the first place, but I bet most of you are taking notice of the fact that we took down the Stewards upon our return and are probably just shrugging your shoulders, questioning if that was supposed to do anything. Truthfully, it established that we are back with no rust from our time away and knocked that family down the proverbial ladder of the tag team division. We all know they are never truly deserving of such an opportunity, but as we said before: it's better to not leave anyone believing there is no right for us to be ahead of them in line as it makes it even sweeter when that reward is finally ours for the taking. The same logic even applies to the team we're meeting this week, even if it's hard to consider them much of a team at the moment.
Vencejo: I guess this is where I'll take the initiative and oblige the wishes of one Jordan Majors: we don't want you around anymore.
Maria had paused in her game of darts to turn her attention to the camera for that line, and she briefly turns back to the dartboard to hurl one more dart at it before giving the camera her undivided attention.
Vencejo: Seriously chica, you need to get your priorities straight. I know that's hard considering all the trouble you're causing for everyone around you, but for someone trying so hard to ignore all those fires you're starting you sure do like spending a lot of time talking about them. Valeria and I barely got so much as a passing glance, which either tells us you're very confident in the idea that you're going to beat us or you think we're not as much of a threat as the mess you surround yourself with. Let's be honest for a moment: you really need to stop worrying about what your brother's doing beyond teaming with you or what Sienna's up to or how badly you want to keep your title against Peyton on Sunday. You have two very dangerous women standing in front of you right now, and not only will a victory ruin whatever hopes you have of being tag team champions alongside your dear hermano for the foreseeable future, but also could easily put one of us at the front of the line for the adrenaline title on top of it.
Garcia: I hate to be the one to tell you this Jordan, but the world doesn't work under the belief that you can always have everything you want. Sienna and her friends have already shown what kind of people they can be to anyone who crosses them, which is why it wouldn't be surprising that if Bree succeeds where she and Chris failed that her first response will be to knock her out cold and declare herself first in line to challenge for both of her titles. As for your brother, history dictates that he has a reputation for being a rebel and doing his own thing even to the detriment of his own allies, which was the main reason he found himself alone and devoid of backup when he needed it the most in several fights he picked a long time ago. He's just as selfish and hungry for attention as Sienna is, so it was only a matter of time before the two of them started trying to destroy one another, and it's no one's fault but your own for believing there was any peace to be had in that situation, just as it's your fault that you are not as ready for us as you claim to be and will have to explain to your brother why we were the starting point for the bad luck you're about to endure for what should be a huge week for you.
Garcia: But of course, we would be remissed if we did not acknowledge how much the two of you truly are like brother and sister. After all, while Jordan is worried about trying to get all her friends and family to love one another and worrying more about the title defense down the road instead of the match right in front of her, Jake is too busy starting fights on her behalf when he knows the odds of actually having a focused mind to challenge us with are slim at best. Tell me Jake, what happens if Sienna sends one of her cronies down to ringside to get your attention? What if she actually struts down the ramp pretending it's a catwalk to draw your attention towards her for this Sunday? Sure, you can be ready to defend yourself from them, but what about us? It would feel a little insulting if you simply turned your back on us in the middle of a match, and maybe we'll be left with no choice but to remind you of why it's never a good idea to turn your back on someone like us.
Valeria closes her book and sets it on the table as she consumes the rest of her alcohol. Maria had gone back to hurling darts as her partner spoke, but after throwing the last one she spins around ro return her focus to the camera.
Vencejo: Surely you would've learned something by now Jake. After all, how many times did you create this exact same scenario for yourself in the past? You were always the one ready to start swinging a chair to try and even the odds, and yet it's hard to give you a chance in this match considering you've been letting your sister down for weeks now with this inconsistent streak of losses and generally having someone leave you laying on the mat. It almost seems like you were better off staying away from SCW and preserving what legacy you still had around here from those old glory days of yours. It's no skin off our bones, because the fact of the matter is the two of you are in our way as we climb back up the mountain in pursuit of tag team gold, and we aren't here to give you a competitive match or any of that nonsense. We're here to win, by any means necessary, to move one step closer to the prize we're after. We have no reason to be nice about it, because there's nothing you can do about it anyway.
Garcia: I can assure you both that we are no mere warm-up for the two of you being buried beneath the avalanche you brought upon yourself for Cold Blooded. As far as we know, we have no place on the card so we have nothing to lose here. Neither one of you can say the same... then again, you've already proven how much you're looking ahead as it is, so your fates are already sealed.
Vencejo: And don't worry... there's no need for us to take that to the bank. We'll just take it from you on Breakdown while you're busy worrying about everything else.
Valeria stands up as the two ladies take their leave. Once they're out of the shot, the camera slowly pans over to find that a promotional photo of Jake and Jordan has been taped to the dartboard, and every dart is piercing the image of one of the two siblings with no missed targets as a warning for how focused these two women are for what's directly in front of them, not what's waiting for them in a few days' time.