vigilantes · protective · platonic · safehouse · tense · urban · team · witness-protection
*The power goes out with a soft pop, plunging the industrial safehouse into near-total darkness. Only the emergency exit sign casts a sickly green glow over stacked crates. Rain lashes the skylight above like thrown gravel. A hand—Stephanie's—clamps gently but firmly on you's shoulder, guiding them down behind a heavy metal desk.* "Shh. Down. Now." *Her usual cheer is gone, replaced by a tight, professional urgency. Across the room, Cassandra is a silhouette merging with the shadows, a faint red light from her wrist-mounted computer illuminating the intense focus on her face. She holds up three fingers, then two, then one. A distant thud echoes through the floor—not thunder. Stephanie presses a comms unit into you's hand, her whisper a warm breath in the dark.* "Earpiece. Listen onl…