The flight had taken around two hours, the supersonic jet landing without incident at Grisgot, Munich's international airpot. Grissom having ordered a limo to meet them on the tarmac, the motley group was able to bypass the normal security measures of entering the country, and continue their journey downtown.
"It must be nice not having to present a passport wherever you go..." Baxter commented.
"It has its uses." Montag replied curtly, sitting...rather cramped...across from him between Victor and Grimm.
"Well, don't worry...our use for you is almost at an end, Mr. Montag." Lykopis added, watching the city speed by outside.
Grissom gave a dark smile.
"And then what, my dear?" he asked dyly. "You dispose of me?"
"Yes."
Everyone paused, looking over at Victor. He continued staring straight ahead. "What?"
Lykopis just turned her attention to Montag.
"We are not murderers, Mr. Montag....unlike some people." she addressed him in kind.
"Heh....how small your minds must be to house such naive morality..." he dismissed. "....murder is killing someone who doesn't deserve it..."
No one said anything, Lykopis turning her attention back outside.
Up front, Icarus manned the wheel with Phil in the passenger seat.
"You know the speed limit, right?" Phil asked, Icarus speeding along his way.
"What, are you my mother?" Sidewinder grimaced.
"Do you want to be pulled over?" Phil retorted. "'Oh, hey officer...what? Oh yes, this multi-billionaire in here with us is our hostage. Is that a problem?'..."
"Listen, have you ever brushed your teeth while pulling six-G's? No? Didn't think so...."
"Amateur..." Phil sighed.
"Oh piss off, Stringfellow Hawk..." Icarus sniped.
"...who?" Phil frowned.
Icarus glanced back and forth between him and the road.
"Stringfellow Hawk...you know....Airwolf? The badass helicoper?" he asked incredulously. "TV show...back in the 80's?"
Phil looked straight ahead in thought.
"Jan-Michael Vincent?"
"Yeah! And Ernest Borgnine...remember?"
Phil scrunched his mouth in further thought.
"Wouldn't I be Archangel, then?"
Icarus paused, his eyes searching the back of his mind.
"...what?"
"The guy in the white suit....he was called Archangel..." Phil replied. "...Jan-Micahel Vincent was Stringfellow Hawk..."
Icarus continued to stare straight ahead.
Phil continued to stare over at him.
This went on for another moment or so.
"....piss off...." Icky finally breathed.
Five minutes later, the limo came to a stop in front of Paragon's Munich offices. But...it wasn't, was it? The brickwork was the same. The doors where they should be. But, something wasn't right. Too many windows?
The Vanguardians stepped out of the posh ride, surveying the building in front of them. Lykopis looked it up and down, a growing concern beginning to creep over her.
"Well...I guess we should check inside....see if William is even here..." she commented, pulling a shawl from Montag Manor over her back-scabbard. "...everyone hide their weapons..."
"What about him?" Victor asked, Grissom still sitting inside the limo.
Lykopis looked back at the smug man inside the limo.
"We bring him with us..."
"What?" Grimm frowned. "That's stupid."
"You have a better suggestion?" she asked the hulk of a man.
"I'll stay with Montag...don't know how well my shiny bod will go over with the public, anyway."Ozzy assured them, glancing around at stares from the street sidewalks.
"As will I." Victor added.
"Okay, fine." Lyly nodded, Ozzy and Victor climbing back into the ride.
"Just us three, now, smiley..." Baxter grinned from across Montag's seat.
"Oh........joy....." he drolled.
Lykopis, Grimm, Phil, and Icarus made their way through the front entrance of the building.
"So..." Phil began, his voice lowering as they entered the foyer of what looked to be a lobby. "...did anyone think to call ahead? You know, just to see if he's here?"
"I tried." Icky replied. "The old number is wrong, and I couldn't find another listing..."
A young woman sat at a huge counter that ran from one end of the room to the other, her head down busy with paperwork.
"....Penny?" Icky began, his eyes widening.
The woman looked up. It wasn't her.
"I'm sorry? Can I help you?" she asked, beginning to take in these strange people in front of her.
"Yes...." Lykopis half-smiled. "...we're here to see William Paragon..."
Outside....
"...so I said, 'Why should I pay for the whole hour?', at which point this chick turns to me and says...get this...---"
Grissom's phone suddenly began chirping, cutting Ozzy off.
"Oh, the wonder of small miracles..." Grissom sighed sardonically, reaching for the phone.
Victor glanced in his direction as he did so, but, simply conceded to letting him answer.
"Montag." Grissom stated evenly in the phone. "What? Yes....yes, I know. reschedule it for Tuesday. Tell them I'm...."
He paused, Victor still staring in his general direction.
"....tell them I'm tied up right now....yes, that's right..." Grissom said. "Ah, Miss Jovanka, while I've got you, connect me to office 737.......yes, thank you..."
He paused, waiting for the line, looking up at Ozzy and Victor.
"Shareholders meeting..." he explained simply.
Back inside....
"Bought out?" Lykopis asked. "What do you mean he was bought out?"
"I'm sorry, m'am..." the receptionist explained innocently. "...William Paragon sold this firm years ago."
"Sold it....to who?" Icarus asked.
The phone suddenly chirped, the receptionist holding up a finger to the group.
"Montag Industries, how may I direct your call?"
Lykopis' eyes widened..
"Dieses ist Grissom Montag, Ich bin außerhalb Ihres Bürohauses im Augenblick....Ebin Alarm, den die Behörden gefallen..." the voice stated evenly.
The receptionist paused, her mouth open a bit...
"Die Leute, die gerade gekommenes Innere haben, sind Terroristen, rufen Sie die Polizei jetzt an."
The phone suddenly went dead.
In the limo...
"Victor?!" Ozzy asked.
Montag grimaced, Victor clutching his hand so tightly that the cell phone was cutting into the skin.
"...I speak German..." he stated very evenly to Grissom.
Montag smiled through gritted teeth.
Back inside...
"Montag Industries??" Grimm in disbelief.
"Ummm...one moment, please..." the receptionist said very nervously to the group in front of her, pressing a few switches on her phone.
Lykopis studied her. The receptionist's fertive glancing....back and forth between them. The sudden look of panic.
Something was wrong.
"Dringlichkeit des Niveaus eins." she spoke into the phone, before hanging it up.
She turned with a faux pleasantness to the Vanguardians.
"If y-you'll have a seat..." she offered, clearing her throat a bit, and motioning towards the lobby sofas. "....I'll see if my manager can help you w-with your--"
"It's a trap." Phil suddenly stated.
"Everyone out!" Lykopis barked, the four hurrying for the door.
As they were running, Phil noticed the security cameras following their movements...
Outside...
"ARGH!!" Grissom yelped in furious anger.
"REILLEY!" Baxter barked, grappling with Victor's clench around Montag's arm. "ENOUGH!"
"He's called the authorities." Victor replied, still calm and cool. "We haven't much time."
As if on cue, sirens drifted in the background, getting closer.
Ozzy jumped out of the limo, just as the other four were running down the office steps...
"They're coming!" Ozzy and Lykopis said at exactly the same time to each other.
"What the fuck do we do?!" Baxter asked, looking down the street at the speeding police cars heading for them.
"We need to get out of here...NOW!" Phil yelled.
"STOPPEN SIE, WO SIE SIND! BEWEGEN SIE NICHT!!!"
Everyone jerked around to twelve security guards pouring out of the office building with guns drawn. Just as this was happening, four police cars screeched to a speeding halt, beginning to cordone off access to the street. Innocent civilins began scurrying from the area, as three more came around the corner down the street.
"Ah fuck." Baxter sneered, he...as with the rest of them...watching as they were being surrounded on all sides by the authorities.
"AUS DEN GRUND! JETZT! TUN SIE ES!" the officers were yelling, guns all pointed in their direction.
"Nein! Nein, there's been a misunderstanding!" Phil tried to reason with the surrounding officers.
Victor suddenly reached in, grabbing Grissom by the collar, and whipped him out. Held in front of the man like a shield, Reilley pulled his own pistol, pressing it against Montag's temple.
"Or....not..." Phil sighed with a roll of his eyes, flapping his hands by his side.
"Order them to back off. Now." he stated cooly in the man's ear.
"Fuck. You." Grissom replied with a smile.
"Victor!" Lykopis yelled. "No! This is only going to make it worse!"
"You should listen to your pretty little girl..." Montag breathed. "....you kill me...you think they won't open fire?"
Victor's upper lip sneered a bit.
"BEFREIEN SIE IHRE GEISEL, ODER WIR ÖFFNEN FEUER!" the main officer yelled.
Twenty-seven police officers.
Six Vanguardians.
"Okay.....what the fuck do we do?" Ozzy asked...
