Until We Go Down

~Hope~

Silent.

Dante struggled to keep his composure as Will sequenced the events of last night. Mavis gnawed at the dead skin falling from her fingertips. Kim and Henry fidgeted in their seats. Roxy held a straight face on as her lieutenant, Will, stole several glances at her after key events have been stated.

Luca, however, was not allowed in the room for these meetings, but little did they know that she watched through the peephole in Will's room. She sat quietly and listened to the story, not making a single noise to gain attention.

Roxy was the first to speak when Will concluded his speech. "We have no way of saving her, your video holds no evidence of the attacker's face. How do you think we'll be able to do anything when we have no lead?"

Will avoided Roxy's eyes. He had no answer, no lead, nothing that would help his case at all. He looked at Kim, his brown eyes sparkling. "Do you think you can somehow clear the image?"

Kim hesitated to answer, twirling her hair around her fingers. "I can't promise anything."

Dante rested his elbows on his knees, "I agree with Roxy, I just don't think that we'll be able to do anything with no lead. I know that-"

"You guys can't just give up." Will interrupted, slightly raising his voice. "I'd expect this from Roxy, but not you. We need to at least try to do something instead of waiting around."

Roxy ran a hand through her red locks. "What do you think we should do then?"

She looked at Mavis and Henry, the only two who haven't spoken yet. Both shifted uncomfortably in their seats, not wanting the attention from Roxy's icy glare. The last thing they want is to suffer Roxy's wrath when she's angry.

Henry was the first to speak, "I agree with Roxy and Roid."

Dante growled at his nickname, 'Roid' being short for 'Steroid'. "That's not my name, and you know it."

Henry flashed a grin at Dante. "One of the major side effects of over excessive steroid intake is mood swings. I could go on. Let's see... there's erectile dysfunction, maybe that's why you don't have a girlfriend."

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

Henry ignored him. "There's baldness too. You're already halfway there, baldie!" The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement, a large smile tugging at his lips. He started counting side effects off his fingers. "Severe acne, infertility, breast development, shrunken testic-"

"This isn't helping our case!" Roxy shouted over Henry. "You guys shut up!"

They both shrunk under Roxy's gaze, pouting to be told what to do by a girl. Dante grumbled about how Henry started it. Henry muttered something about how he is always treated poorly because he's apparently the minority of the group. Dante overheard him and pointed at his own ebony colored arms.

Roxy rested her hands on her hips. "We can try to clear the image, but this doesn't mean that this solves anything. We would still need a name and address. Even if we have all of these things, we still won't know if this guy is the right guy. I'd rather not waste my hope on a pipe dream."

Will gazed at his leader. "But you're saying that we might have a chance at winning this one?"

Roxy hesitated but decided to enlighten him and sighed. "Yes."

Will smiled triumphantly at Kim, his cue for her to start getting to work. She sighed and stood up. Stumbling over her own feet, she lumbered over to her workstation in the corner of the living room: three giant monitors, cords tangled everywhere, a giant multicolored keyboard spread across the desk.