Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Shortly after they'd all sat down and made themselves comfortable a loud clunking noise sounded through the plane. The main cargo door had just been sealed. The plane slowly rumbled forwards, turning onto the runway. Take-off followed shortly after, the plane rocketing down the run-way and pulling sharply upwards without warning (there were no windows in the 'passenger' section). The launch was disconcerting experience due to the chairs were bolted to the walls and not the main floor, so instead of the forces of acceleration pushing them against the back of the chair, the four were pushed against the side of the chair. The plan climbed in altitude for a solid half hour before levelling out at an altitude far higher than that of normal commercial airlines, but lower than the altitude at which the four would later be jumping out. Cass and Rinaa spent the whole climb looking completely unbothered by the strangeness of it all. The former chatted easily to the pilot in a mixture of Russian and English while Rinaa continued sitting, an almost meditative expression on her face, her mind clearly checked out elsewhere. Zion on the other hand initially looked very excited

It was barely five minutes after take-off when Rinaa's ears popped. If she'd been flying on a regular flight she wouldn't have bothered to do anything about it, but this was the heist of a lifetime, she didn't want to risk any kind of fuck-up. With the plane now on the level she pinched her nose and forced the air out her ears. It had been agreed earlier that once the plane levelled out those who needed oxygen would hook themselves up and begin with the pre-breathing. At the same time they put on their comms, tuning them to the 'heist frequency. Cass inspected Rinaa and Zion's seals, pronounced them good and the three sat back down again. It was at this point that Rinaa pulled out a laptop from the backpack. A series of camera feeds popped up on screen, showing the main room of the exclusive gala from various angles. The feed she selected a maximised was focused on three people- Kane dressed in a sharp suit looking every inch the rich, top-of-his-league technological businessman that he was, next to him was Jay, barely recognisable in an asymmetric nearly floor-length gown with a thigh slit and a plunging back and killer stilettos. There was a curling tattoo of a dragon wrapping from exposed shoulder blade to collarbone (this wasn't a real tattoo, but a clever fake). Even in such a feminine outfit there was an edge of danger about her, alluded to by her earrings which were miniature daggers. Quin, dressed in a tuxedo type suit, had one arm around Jay's waist. All three were holding drinks, apparently in deep discussion, but Rinaa had no doubt that they were all on high alert. Rinaa turned the screen towards her 'cousin' slightly. "Want to watch?"

 

[MzHyde]

When the plane first started taking off, she didn't think much of it but it was when it started ascending at quite the incline, making Fia lean sideways temporarily that mentally, threw her off guard. It was so similar but so different to when she used her wings to soar up high into the atmosphere, it took her mind a couple of moments to compute she wasn't flying in her usual method, but actually inside a plane. Sure she had flown in a plane on Attil to get to Cliff's home planet, but this was even different to that. She did however get used to it after a while, which now made her notice how Cass and Rinaa looked completely unphased by the whole process, whereas Zion thought it was the best thing ever. She couldn't help but smile to herself at the varying reactions of them all before just relaxing into her seat as best she could, all things considered. She did notice how Rinaa did the familiar action of clearing her ears out so they wouldn't continue popping than they already clearly were. She remembered when she did her first flight and her ears popped during that, it made her wonder what the hell was going on as she had never had it happen before. Her freak out bruoght great amusement to those of her family around her at the time.

She let the others hook up to their oxygen tanks as they got higher and higher, not in the slightest bit concerned that she was making the right decision about not having one and that she would be completely fine at the altitude they were jumping from soon. She had full faith that her phoenix bloodline and genes would keep her safe and well. When it came to the comms, she too changed it to the correct frequency so she was tapped in with everyone else as she then took note of Rinaa pulling out her laptop when the others sat back down once again. She wasn't expecting Rinaa to show her what was on the laptop or to ask her if shewanted to watch with her, but when she did she nodded with a smile. "Sure, so this is the feed from the gala I take it, judging by the three of them" she commented, pointing to Jay, Quin and Kane. She had to admit they seriously did know how to dress up and the looks were quite something to witness.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa nodded "yeah, this is coming live from the gala. Neither of those three dress up THAT glam on a daily basis...." she gave a slight smirk, before adding "he doesn't count" indicating the suited figure of Kane (who was shaking his head at something one of the women had said). "Even though he wears a suit most day, by the end of said day it's usually rumpled, sleeves rolled up to the elbows and tie vanished. He might run the show but he doesn't spend his whole day locked away in a top floor office, he'll often end up in R&D." Rinaa clicked out of the feed focusing on the trio to let Fia briefly see the other feeds that covered the room from various angles. "Some of the cameras were already in the building and were simply hacked, others were covertly installed to give the Overwatches full coverage. As well as keeping an eye out for our dearest 'friend' Marcel, they're also looking for any other high level criminals or people of interest attending this gala. We've got a SWAT team, might as well hit two birds with one stone."

The trio clinked their glasses together in some form of toast before splitting ways and mingling, Kane heading one way, Jay and Quin another. For the first half an hour nothing marked this gala out as being particularly different from any other gala. The split between scientists and rich business people/snobs was about 30/70, according to Kane the majority of the scientists had been taking part in the conference for the past few days and it was only the department heads who were forced to go to the gala. The scientists were easier to identify, most having clustered in one giant mob at one end of the room. Amongst the rich here was spectacular (and spectacularly impractical) outfits, free flowing expensive alcohol, lots of underhand snobbery and an incredible variety of canapés. While waiting for Marcel to show himself the trio busied themselves with finding out gossip, Kane not missing a chance to ask the department heads and tech bosses sly questions about competitor tech and science firms, while Jay and Quin sought out high society scandal that could be useful as future blackmail material. Neither woman usually mingled in these high-society circles of Earth, they preferred the nitty and the gritty (and the greater excitement) of the ordinary people, but both were trained assassins and as well as social chameleons when necessary. The three kept direct communications over their comms to a minimum, saying little more than 'did you get that? Any chance you can check it out for truth?' and 'any sign of the prize yet?'. Marcel's arrival was announced by a female voice (Overwatch 3) directing attention towards the main door.

 

[MzHyde]

At the remark about Jay, Quin and Kane on the screen, Fia also smirked, never having taken Quin and Jay as the type to glam up for the sake of it unless it was for a particular assassination case or similar. Kane, she couldn't have too much of an opinion or guess at but considering his life/contacts/work, it did make more sense that out of the three, he would be the one to dress more smartly more often. She listened to Rinaa even so, nodding in understanding. She then continued to listen to what Rinaa was explaining about the cameras, and how she has the feed linked to her laptop, which made sense and felt like an incredibly good idea in Fia's mind. "Makes sense, always good to have every corner covered so we're not taken by surprise in any way." she replied to her, watching the cctv intently. She took in the kidns of people that were mingling, what the trio were doing and how it really seemed like any gala she had previously broken into in her timeline. It really brought home that it seemed, no matter the timeline, there will always be some kind of snobbery hanging around.

Though she had to admit to herself, seeing the trio mingling inside the gala for recon did make her almost miss those heists she had done in her timeline that meant doing exactly what the trio were doing, except for her it also included her sneaking through people as undetected as possible and sneaking into closed off places to retrieve what she needed. She took note of when the trio were clearly talking over comms as she watched what was on Rinaa's laptop screen, as well as taking note of all the other areas via the other camera feeds that Rinaa had earlier showed her. She got more interested when when Overwatch 3 declared that the Marcel bloke had arrived, and was curious to see just what this asshole looked like, knowing that when she did see his face on the camera feed she would have to keep all her disgust about the man into perspective and under control, like the rest of them. 'and the villain of the night enters stage left' she thought to herself sarcastically.

 

[_gallifrog_]

At Overwatch 3's announcement Rinaa quickly switched to the camera covering the entrance over the top of the laptop. Just as the woman on comms had said Marcel could be seen walking up to the building. Raising her eyes over the laptop Rinaa fixed Cass and Zion with a solemn look. "The target has arrived at the gala." Cass nodded, Zion shut his puzzle book, placing it to one side. "Give us a look in while I boot up the second laptop?" Cass asked, already reaching for the back. Rinaa didn't question her ex, just gestured for the two of them to come over. Zion leaned over Fia's shoulder (keeping one hand firmly on his oxygen tank) while Cass sort of leaned over Rinaa's shoulder to get a look at the screen.

Marcel fit right in with the crowd of business people and rich snobs, his clothing wasn't just expensive, it screamed 'this was custom tailored in the most expensive tailors I could find'. His complexion matched his South-American heritage and he strode with the confidence of somebody who was filthy rich and all too aware of it. As he walked up to the entrance he removed the sunglasses from his face, swapping them out for a pair of prescription glasses (elegant wire framed ones) as he walked into the room. That action made Cass snort loudly and declare derisively "as if we needed any more proof that this guy is a douche of the highest calibre! Who wears sunglasses in winter?" Rinaa made a noise of agreement, while Zion gestured at the screen "look at the smirk on the guy! He's practically radiating smugness" he scoffed incredulously. "He looks like he knows something everybody else doesn't and is getting a right kick out of it." "I've seen a lot of rich sleaze balls in my time... but this guy? He doesn't just take the biscuit, he takes the whole bloody jar!" Cass' eyes narrowed as she watched Marcel stride into the room, followed by what appeared to be two bodyguards, both hulking lumps of muscle with haircuts and stances that suggested military or ex-military. "And thanks to my 'vital education', I know all too well what I'm talking about." She said the words 'vital education' in the same way that most would say 'bloody fucking waste of time'.

 

[MzHyde]

The moment Zion and Cass paused what they were doing at Overwatch 3's announcement, Fia wasn't in the slightest but surprised, knowing that after the way they all reacted to the information they all got given on Marcel, it was only a given that all of them would want to see what the target looked like. Even if he wasn't their target, but the other team's. She let Zion look over her shoulder, readjusting the tiniest bit just to make sure that Zion had a good enough view of the laptop whilst also noting Cass leaning over Rinaa's shoulder as she booted up the second laptop. Looking back at the laptop screen, she watched it intently, seeing the figure in what was clearly a custom suit and just knew that was him. Even if they hadn't seen his face in the briefing on the projector, she thought he screamed the typical 'rich asshole' trope just from how he walked, wore sunglasses in the evening and even on camera, she could tell he held himself with an air of arrogance. At Cass' snort when they saw him switch his sunglasses for prescription glasses and remark, Fia couldn't stop the snigger from escaping her.

She didn't even get a word in initially because she was too amused by everyone else talking their opinions. Opinions she agreed with. The remark of Marcel taking the whole jar of biscuits, and not just the one made her snigger all the more as she also watched the two bodyguards appear behind Marcel. "oh I've come across a few of these asshole myself. I fully agree with you" she then commented to Ryker, keeping her comment generic but also specific enough to show she knew exactly what Cass was on about and that Fia wasn't a newbie to this whole lifestyle. The only thing she wouldn't have a full grasp of understanding of was the whole education thing as she was home schooled. Education for her was massively different, even if she enjoyed learning, she by far appreciated the physical education of training with her family more. She learned things about life and surviving far better than any standard education could give her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia wasn't the only one letting out sniggers at the acerbic remarks from Cass, both Rinaa and Zion were doing it too, though Rinaa was trying to keep her snickers more subdued (in her mind a full volume snigger would be a victory in Cass' favour). Marcel's first move was to do a lazy circuit of the room, greeting and talking to all the necessary bigwigs. Every so often one of the Overwatches would jump in with a comment about one of the people he was talking to- giving their name the company they worked for/owned and what crimes/criminal organisations they were believed to be linked to. The fact that the majority of people Marcel spoke to were in some way dodgy just confirmed that he was up to no good.

Kane made his move when Marcel took a break at the bar, weaving his way towards the man with all the ease of somebody who'd spent far top much of their life attending high society galas. By now the bodyguards had backed off somewhat, positioning themselves more discretely- one at each side of him- further down the bar from their charge. It had been decided that Kane would be the one to talk to him, in the past few weeks Kane had been making moves as if to foster a collaboration between the two laboratories (in reality it was so he could get access to the labs schematics and a more accurate idea of Marcel's schedule).

As Kane engaged Marcel in conversation Jay and Quin also headed (separately) to the bar. Both drew up beside one of the bodyguards but made no effort to engage with them. Over the comms the sounds of the SWAT team getting into position could be heard (all four on the plane were able to hear the sound feeds from both SWAT and the Overwatches, but couldn't respond to either lest they give the game away). The go signal came from Quin, as the only person in the group with precognitive ability, her gut feeling was deemed to be the best. The signal was subtle. a single word command, disguised as an instruction to the bar-tender but it unleashed chaos.

Everything happened at once. At the exact instant the SWAT team burst through the doors (and in some cases, windows) of the gala room, Jay and Quin reached up, grabbed the necks of the bodyguard beside them and violently slammed their heads against the bartop, rendering the two men unconscious. At the sight of the team clad from head-to-toe in body armour and brandishing large guns a shriek went through the room. At that same moment Kane pulled out from some concealed suit pocket both an arrest warrant for Marcel and Kane's credentials to make such an arrest. Predictably Marcel tried to make a run for it, by jumping over the bar and sprinting across the ballroom. He was floored by a single, unexpected punch to the face, slamming onto the tiles, unconscious. It was unexpected in that the punch didn't come from Kane, it came from an entirely different billionaire- Bruce Wayne.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia couldn't help but get enthralled by what she was watching, not in the sense of being completely engrossed in a film, but in the sense she was highly curious to what Marcel's movements were going to be. She watched as he did a lazy circuit around the building, feeling it was pretty standard for people like him, if he even deserved the title of 'person' as in her eyes he was more of a monster than most 'monsters' with what he did behind closed doors or under the radar. When Kane casually followed Marcel to the bar, she watched more intently, wanting to see Kane at work. As she watched, she saw Jay and Quin both make their moves by going nearer the bodyguards, which she had to give them credit for was clever and so casually done, if she didn't know what they were planning, she wouldn't have thought anything more nefarious from the act.

She listened at the same time, hearing everything that was going on over the comms whilst keeping silent, knowing how vital it was that none of them actually let on they could hear everything and risk compromising the entire mission at hand. If she hadn't been as focused as she was on the imagery on the laptop, she would have missed the fact that an order to the bartender was the signal at hand, impressed at how unbelievably subtle it was and how swiftly but seemingly effortless the three in the gala took down the bodyguards and an attempt at taking down Marcel, all whilst SWAT came busting into the gala through any entrance they deemed fit and put a halt to the night's events. Seeing however Marcel try to make a run for it, she couldn't help but roll her eyes and think 'when will they learn that running is utterly pointless in this instant?'. What was surprising though that made Fia almost look a little closer before going back to her previous position was the fact it was Bruce Wayne himself that managed to take Marcel down with one very impressive punch.

"well...that was unexpected" she quietly remarked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa watched the whole proceedings with a proud smile curling at the corner of her lips. The fluency and synchronisation with which her mother, Kane and Quin acted was a true wonderful to behold. She'd seen them work together before, she'd even talked them through heists (both solo and as a group), but there was something special about this one. Everything had been executed to pinpoint perfection, the whole thing came across like a choreographed dance to Rinaa- a dance both beautiful, violent and ruthlessly official. She didn't question for one second whether or not the three had practiced beforehand. She knew they had- Quin and Jay always did and Kane was a perfectionist. Not to mention that Rinaa's life, and by extension Elliott's and the fate of two planets depending on the heists going right. Marcel running wasn't even a problem, SWAT had all angles of the room covered, he wasn't going to get far.

The punch caught all watching by surprise. Rinaa had been expecting Kane to do some kind of dramatic rugby tackle and fling himself at the other man's back (and felt a tiny bit cheated that she didn't get to see that. Zion meanwhile gaped at the screen, trying to compute what he'd just seen. Cass rolled her eyes and muttered something in exasperated Russian. "That was a damn impressive punch!" Zion agreed, eyes flicking towards Fia briefly before flicking back to the action on screen. "The man DOES have skills." Rinaa replied at the same instant as Cass answered with "the man's a show-off." The two exes shared a look, an unspoken conversation clearly passing between them before Cass spoke up again. "More accurately he's both, he can throw one hell of a punch, but he's a show off." "There was NO real reason for him to get involved." Rinaa agreed, before turning up the sound on Kane's feed. "Aside from maybe wanting to wind up his cousin a bit and weasel info out of him."

"I DID have that covered y'know?" Kane remarked as he straddled the now-unconscious Marcel's back, cuffing his hands together. There was no real annoyance in his tone as he regarded the other man. "I know." Bruce smirked. "No doubt the assembled masses would have really enjoyed seeing you tackle him to the ground. Might even have proved too much for certain people." The billionaire tipped his head to one side indicating a crowd of rich people who were completely overreacting despite the fact that there was no active threat- SWAT had all holstered their weapons and were making more peaceful arrests. Bruce's tone of derision was matched by Kane's who had flipped Marcel over as was going through the man's pockets looking for weapons, while at the same time removing his wallet and phone. "God these galas are such a bore when filled with that lot. Give me a good scientific conference any day." Bruce firmly nodded his agreement before tapping the cuffs with his foot. "Is he a metahuman or what? Those are meta-dampening cuffs, yes?" "We're not sure" Kane admitted as he stood up, admiring his handiwork. "Our intel can't confirm either way as to whether he is or isn't. It's best not to take the chance really, he's one twisted bastard. His labs were taken over by LexCorp." "Say no more."
The two cousins each took one of Marcel's arms, slung it over their shoulder and began to half carry, half drag the man from the room. By now Jay and Quin had also pulled out their own IDs and were directing the SWAT team.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia didn't doubt that Bruce Wayne had skills, far from it in fact. She assumed as much considering how much her dad was so insistant on not having her or Kay seen by even Bruce, let alone anyone else from the Justice League. The surprise was purely out of the fact that like the others, she assumed Kane would get the final blow to be able to successfully arrest Marcel. She was so focused on watching everyone else on the camera footage that she never once even noticed Bruce at the gala, even though it was of no surprise someone as rich as him would be in attendance at it. She nodded at Zion's words, there really was no other reaction for the power that went into that punch. She did however smirk at Cass calling Bruce Wayne a show off, always have gotten that impression from him herself, from little she knew of him and she was about to reply to them both when Rinaa said about there being no real reason to be there and proceeded to then turn up the volume on the cctv.

She listened to the conversation being had by both Kane and Bruce, hearing Kane's tone and voice made her realise how much she was beginning to again miss her timeline and annoying her brother and his friends at AJ's as she gorged herself on the burgers and fries. She may not know them to extent Rinaa did, but at least she did know them. It also spurred her on to make more of an effort when she got back to her timeline, to get Elliott to try and let her in on what he did with his friends a bit more as she knew they all had skills that she felt would benefit her. The sight of other guests of the gala being frantic to varying degrees wasn't too much of a surprise to her either, knowing there had been odd big event she had crashed that turned into leaving guests utterly frantic as she made a swift exit. When the conversation turned to the style of cuffs that Kane was using on Marcel, she listened even more finding it interesting but the right move to use such a level of equipment on a person like Marcel. Yet it also brought on the thoughts of if he was a meta human himself, then it made his nefarious acts even more sickening.

She watched on still as the two men made an exit with the unconscious body of Marcel and sighed. "I hope he ain't a meta-human, that would just make what he does so much worse" she remarked to the group of hers. "A real betrayal and kick in the teeth to those metas he trafficks and gets tests done on" she added seconds later.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Rinaa couldn't help but smile as she listened to the banter between Kane and Bruce. It always amused her the way the two cousins could play off each other so well, their relationship was a surprisingly strong one in her opinion. Unlike Fia, she had actually met the Gotham billionaire before, both through her internship at STAR Labs (they had a long standing collaboration with Wayne Enterprises) and for more personal reasons. This was a fact she completely concealed from her John, knowing that if he found out her personal reasons for meeting Bruce Wayne he'd explode rashly and would never in a million years approve. Kane was on her the blacklist, John writing him off as being just another rich asshole like his cousin Bruce. Kane had taken Jay's side in the fallout after Elliott's death and that made him the enemy in the eyes of the Constantine clan. Kane and Jay had never seen eye to eye when Elliott had been alive, but after his death Jay had sent a full explanation of why Elliott left, how he had died and what he had died for back to Earth (the others had been too grief stricken and then too caught up in the final stages of the pregnancy to give Elliott's friends the full details). When Jay returned four years later she'd ended up living in Kane's spare room and from there a firm alliance and friendship grew.

Rinaa switched feeds, lowering the volume now that she knew the interesting part of conversation was over. Kane would tell Bruce something about why he was there and how he knew about Marcel's illegal activities, though not the whole truth- it was Kane's duty to make sure Batman never found out about the existence of the vigilante network. "I hope he isn't too." Zion agreed, nodding with each of Fia's statements. "We metas get enough shit as it is- the last thing we need is such a high profile meta-criminal drawing attention to himself. The riots last time were bad, they'd be a massacre this time. That asshole....." he shook his head, too choked up with anger to continue. "People like him are the worst kind of scum." Cass agreed, reaching out a hand and squeezing his shoulder. Zion sighed. "It would be far from the first time somebody's betrayed their own kind in such a way." Zion remarked glumly. "If you think about it, him being a meta and trafficking metas? It's NO different from those bastard normal humans who traffic refugees and migrants. If the money's good enough people will gladly sell out their own kind of make a quick buck." He shook his head and sighed again.

"Hey, we've just nailed the bastard. There's no way any of these three will let him go" Rinaa gestured at the screen where Kane, Jay and Quin were standing around Marcel's body with Bruce. Her tone wasn't just firm, it was determined and filled with fire. There was a blaze in her eyes she meant every word, even if she wouldn't be arund to see it happen, she had utter faith that it would. "And Wayne's got reason to hate traffickers and metaphobic scum too. People will listen when he takes a side. And we're gonna systematically destroy Marcel's life and his works, and do our bloody best to make sure that cartel never smuggle another meta again. We'll make sure Marcel spends his life rotting in conditions WORSE than those he used to transport those metas in. We will get justice and our pound of flesh."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to Zion, her silent assumptions that he was a meta now confirmed. She could hear how passionate he was about what he said and she really couldn't blame him for it. She knew if she was meta, or even if it turned out it was another phoenix putting the hits out on her and her mother in her timeline, she'd be reacting exactly the same way as him. It was like rubbing salt in the wound and she truly felt sorry for the guy and all metas in this timeline. She nodded her agreement when Cass said what she did, wholeheartedly agreeing even if they didn't know her real identity for very valid reasons. Yet she was certain that the fact she had told Rinaa enough about her timeline and how she was raised because of the dangers out in her timeline, she would silently understand why she agreed. She continued to listen to Zion speak some more as he managed to collect himself to talk, sadly seeing that he had a very valid point in what he said.

It was no different to humans trafficking other humans which didn't make it feel any less horrific. She glanced at Rinaa as she gave her two cents into the conversation, looking at the screen seeing that Marcel was well and truly caught now. She heard the fire and determination in her cousin's voice and knew that no matter the Leah, when that tone came out she meant every single word she spoke with fibre of her core. She gave a sad smile at Rinaa's words as she continued, knowing that if anyone's words would hold weight on such a topic, it would be Bruce Wayne. She wouldn't necessarily say those thoughts too much out loud if she were around her folks, even if she was pretty sure John would have to agree with that statement, but it would be with reluctance. "what Artemis says. If anyone can make people listen, it'd be him. I truly believe we've just witnessed a big change in that criminal circle and justice will be done." she said back.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cass nodded her agreement to Rinaa and Fia's statements. "He can damn well make people listen to him- he's got friends in high AND low places. Bruce may be stinking rich, but the people know when he makes a stance and sticks with it, it's the right side that he choses. The Triumvate have done their job, now it's our turn to make sure that those meta-power mimicking drugs never get out on the streets." Zion gave a nod. "Thanks you three- I needed to hear that." He then turned to give Rinaa a calculating look, wheels visibly turning in his head. Out of the three women with him he'd found her speech to have had the greatest emotional depth and conviction. It gave him the sense that her words were more than just a pep-talk/reassurance for him, that there was a personal stake and belief in them on her part. Cass and Fia's undertones were so much less in comparison. "Personal connection to the cause?" He asked, keeping his question vague enough that a yes/no answer would suffice and it wouldn't come across as him trying to force out personal information from her.

"Yeah..." Rinaa nodded slowly in response. "On a two counts. A fallen meta friend who should never have died and the fact that neither of my parents were born on Earth. I know the xenophobia, the racism, the misconceptions.... all that shit you get thrown at you cos people fear and don't attempt to understand those that are even slightly different? I've experienced it ... it fucking SUCKS." Zion gave an understanding nod. Just like the existence of met-humans, the existence of aliens living on Earth was a complex social matter. The number of people who saw the two groups as a threat were increasing, the riots alluded to earlier had been far from the first and it looked like they would be far from the last. Crimes targeting metas and aliens specifically were also on the rise, so he had no doubt that everything Rinaa said was true. With the threat of war with another planet, things were rapidly approaching the kind of breaking point that would create a race war.

"My condolences." He told Rinaa sincerely before squaring his shoulders, a look of determination coming to his face. "Now let's go ruin this man's work and get justice!" "That's the fighting talk we need to hear. I'll go talk to the pilot." Cass told him, setting down the laptop and strapping on her oxygen tank before making for the accessway to the cockpit. Rinaa meanwhile flipped back to the main comms channel, the one Jay could hear her on. "Team 1. Stunning work you guys. Elegant and very effective both in terms of business and visuals." "We aim to please and look damn good while doing it." Jay's smirk could be heard over the comms. "Target is firmly secured, has been dosed with heavy duty tranquilisers and will shortly be on his way to the agreed prison. He won't be getting out and I suspect he'll be receiving a visit from a certain cape in not too long." "I suspect that too, Ryker was already gonna involve said Cape to for finding the trafficked metas, I suppose this means that he won't need much briefing or persuading that something dodgy is going on."

It was then that Quin's voice burst in. Her English lacked the fluency of Jay's and came with an accent that could pass for somewhere Eastern-European (but a linguistic expert would know it wasn't). "Well remember, do not let Cape see your face. AT ALL. He was at funeral, last thing we need is him to inform Others that you walk this Earth still. That would be shitstorm of epic proportions." Rinaa rolled her eyes, but fondly, responding with a quip that could be passed off as typical teenage cheekiness over an open comms. "Yes mother." "Artemis... don't be cheeky." Jay couldn't have sounded more like a parent if she'd tried. "We're all professionals here. And she makes a valid point, we all know it. Now what's the status on your end?" "Well and truly en-route. Half an hour maybe more from ETA? We've been pre-breathing since before take-off, and are all fully suited and instructed on what to do. Equipment checks have been performed. Ground sections from teams 2 and 3 are also en-route. All proceeding nominally, all jump agents level headed and focused on the job at hand, all wanting justice." "Including the Outlier?" "The Outlier DOES actually possess a moral compass." "Well if that changes I'm more than happy to erase them from all future exploits."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia looked at Cass as she said her agreement to what she said, nodding at everything she said, having heard the many rants about it from her father in her timeline plenty of times. She knew this was one of the big factors as to why John never wanted Bruce to know she existed/was his daughter as they all knew she'd be used as bribing leverage against John if Bruce ever felt it necessary. She had read enough in the papers or online about Bruce to know that there was no way her dad wasn't kidding around when he told her how imperitive it was that she remained as low profile as possible. Even if she did hate all the hiding. At Zion's thanks to them all, she knew that Rinaa's words would have meant more to him than either hers or Cass' as all they did was just reiterate what Rinaa said. But the fact they helped drive what Rinaa said even more home to him, it was clearly enough to make an impact. She gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder as if to say 'no need to thank us' as he looked at Rinaa with a look recognisable to that of someone figuring out that someone else had a personal connection as well.

She listened as Rinaa gave her answer to Zion's question, seeming to remember a brief conversation about it before with her either on Atttil or when they were on Cliff's home planet for the wedding. She couldn't recall which it was but she did seem to remember some kind of conversation happening between the two of them at some point. She couldn't recall the exact topic of this conversation being had but something similar lines for sure, but no matter how much her brain to log it into a specific moment, she couldn't. Either way it was still just as bad to hear as it was the first time, and she almost felt thankful that enough people didn't know what she was as she knew the reception couldn't be all that positive, if using the fact she and Kay are still hunted in her timeline particularly was anything to go by. Any kind of prejudice always rubbed Fia the wrong way emotionally and she supposed it was the one thing she could be considered as 'hopelessly naiive' over as she hoped there would be a day when it wasn't a thing.

With all the condolences spoken and the 'fighting' motivation well and truly back into everyone's minds again, she smiled with a firm nod as Cass got up and went to the pilot to chat ETA's or anything else she needed to discuss. She relaxed back in her seat (or as relaxed as one can be in such seats) whilst Rinaa turned the comms back to the frequency to talk with Jay. She inadvertently listened to Rinaa speak as she was right next to her, but tried to not to pay attention too much about what as being discussed. That was until Rinaa replied to Jay using the codename of 'outlier' and she just knew it was herself that was being discussed. She just knew that she really needed to prove herself yet again because she did not want to be on the receiving end of Jay's wrath again.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay's willingness to kill this Fia for stepping out of line didn't particularly surprise Rinaa. It was quite a frequent remark from her mother, and one that Quin also expressed. Initially the redheaded assassin had approached the feud and deep rift between the two sides of the extended Constantine family from a more open stance, actually looking for a resolution instead of just having the status quo continue. That optimism didn't last long, two meetings with the phoenix side of the family had been enough for Quin to completely flip viewpoints and start stocking up on iron. Rinaa gave a slight smirk, followed by a sigh. "Well, when this all goes right there won't be any need for that. Things will just turn to the way they were supposed to be and all this shit" she gestured in a circle around her, a futile gesture given that Jay couldn't actually see her "will be no more. The right timeline will prevail, I've had definite proof it will. You'll all get a proper life."

There was a silence as Jay let her daughter's words run through her head, it had been so long since there had been any hope on the horizon and instinct told her to reject it on principle, to save her the hurt in the future when that hurt was inevitably ripped away. But with her daughter dying, she couldn't do that. She wanted Rinaa to die with hope that things would be better, regardless of whether or not they were. "I'll trust you on that. You've put the most into making this work after all." A pause, followed by the feed crackling as Jay put her hand over the mic. A few seconds later her voice came back "slight change of plans, you and the Outlier won't be heading to the Cortex with the rest of the crews, you're to take the drugs straight to the Kane Laboratories facility." "Understood." Rinaa replied. Jay's parting words were in Attili and made Rinaa tear up ever so slightly (a fact only noticeable to somebody watching her face, her voice didn't wobble at all).

The rest of the time in the plane was spent getting ready and preforming final checks. Oxygen tanks were securely strapped on and checked repeatedly along with the seals of the HALO suits. Had their lives no depended on these tanks and seals, either Rinaa or Zion would have made some quip about Cass treating the situation with OCD levels of intensity. The parachutes were then strapped over the tanks, a bulky arrangement that left the three back-heavy (though it was a far more comfortable arrangement than having the tank strapped onto their chests). As the lightest of the four Fia was the one who'd be jumping with the supply bag containing the necessary hacking gear, lock-picking tools, insulated conatiners and Cass' second helmet to complete her costume change later. With all four fully suited the four made their way back down to the main cargo hold.

"Right, listen up!" Cass yelled, she had to in order to be heard over the roar of the engines which was much more noticeable in the un-soundproofed bay. "We won't have long to jump, the cargo door cannot safely stay open during flight for too long. This plane isn't designed as a troop jumper, but the accessway is wide enough for two of us to jump at once- As team leaders Artemis and I jump first, you two follow a few seconds behind. When that door opens and you hear the 'go' command on the comms, you run and jump out. Try and get yourself into a starfish position, or anything that isn't a vertical bullet position. If you get into a head-over heels spin, just spread out as much as you can- that'll help slow you down. We'll join up into a ring as we plummet, that way we know we have everyone. Listen to the Overwatches, when they say deploy, fucking deploy or you'll end up splatted dead on the ground. Understood?"

 

[MzHyde]

Judging by Rinaa's replies, Fia was taking a gamble in that Rinaa was kind of backing her up in that she was trustworthy, unlike her counterpart from this timeline. Which she was thankful for as she really didn't want to deal with a pissed off Jay or Quin. The one meeting with Jay was enough to know that one slightly wrong move and she would not be going back to her timeline or Attil, or at the very least the chances of doing so would be incredibly slim. If it was her counterpart of the receiving end she'd probably cheer them on to do something but shhe was innocent and not accountable for anything that the other Fia had done or said to Rinaa or anyone else. She took notice of how Rinaa out of habit waved her hand around as she spoke with Jay on the comms, despite it being utterly pointless but thought how they were similar in that regard. She'd do exactly the same thing when talking on the phone to people, then wonder why she made the action because it wasn't like the person on the other end couldn't actually see her.

Hearing the utter faith in Rinaa's voice that this will go the way it should was of great motivation to Fia, as she knew if Rinaa had good feelings about this going to plan and it resetting the timeline to the one that should be in existence, then she didn't need to worry too much. It spurred on her own motivation and good vibes for this heist going well. She let Rinaa finish the conversation and as she looked at her, she could have sworn she saw some kind of emotion in her face but wasn't entirely sure due to the angle so said nothing on the matter. "all good?" she simply asked.

During the rest of the flight Fia did her part in making sure her HALO suit was properly secured, as well as helping where she could to make sure everything else was secure on everyone else and agreeing to taking the supply bag and securing that tightly to her so she knew it wouldn't come off during the jump. As they walked to the end, the reality of what she was about to help with was kicking in once more, along the burst of adrenaline from knowing she'd be doing the jump and for a rare moment, not relying on her wings to get her to the ground safely. It wasn't the first time for her using a parachute, for that she didn't lie to Rinaa, but it was a case of unlike Rinaa, she didn't need to do it that often so it was a natural adrenaline that kicked in. Similar to that she got when she could use her wings, but heightened because it was a human way of doing things.

As Cass spoke up, she listened intently to the instructions, making sure she didn't miss anything as she did not want to be fucking this up. Everything she said made sense and with the question of whether or not they understood she gave a firm nod, "understood!" she said loudly enough to be heard. In this moment she had never been so thankful for all the times when she was learning to fly with her wings and falling because she couldn't keep them summoned, as it meant she learned to save herself and slow down her plummeting before getting her wings back again, or she got saved by her father using magic. It gave her that experience of knowing what to do if she spun out of control so she could survive.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Got it" Zion replied with a nod, taking his position beside Fia, as well as a deep breath. He was beginning to feel the first surges of pre-mission adrenaline as well as wondering how he managed to get himself into this situation, this jump was far beyond anything he'd done on a mission so far. Rinaa's reply was one word and in Russian. "понял". She could already feel the first surges of anticipatory adrenaline coursing through her veins and was loving it. Rinaa knew she was an adrenaline junkie, she always had been as a kid. The Isogrii had very different views of exposing kids to danger and pushing boundaries was encouraged. They believed that there was a sweet spot between daredevil and reckless that made for an assassin that was fearless, but not stupid in the face of dangerous feats. Rinaa had always been one for extreme sports, be it on Earth or another planet. She enjoyed pushing boundaries in extreme sports just like she enjoyed pushing them in academics, both gave her these highs, but the highs from extreme sports were a quicker pay-off and didn't have the same failure rate. After being bitten her pursuit of adrenaline highs changed from going after highs that were mostly safe, to pursuing ones that were downright dangerous and stupid (some would go as far as to say suicidal). When her body was flooded by adrenaline and fear it confirmed to her that she was, in that moment, very much alive and breathing and her degrading DNA hadn't killed her yet. She had parachuted before (Fia knew the story of the skydiving attempt where her parachute had failed), but this was her first HALO jump. HALO had always been on her bucket list and she had sort of insisted in a 'last wish of the dying girl' sort of way that they shoe-horn one

With everybody confirming they understood Cass nodded and took up her position. They didn't have long to wait, only a few minutes, which were spent in silence, even the Overwatch team had fallen quiet. The external locks of the cargo door dis-engaged with a series of clunks, followed by a corresponding series of clunks as the internal bolts drew back. The mammoth door then began to heave open, the sound so loud an unnatural it seemed to fill the whole bay. The plane shook as the door juddered downwards revealing a strip of ink-black sky. The door seemed to take an age to open, gradually revealing more and more blackness. "Helmet lights!" Cass yelled over the comms, switching the two small lamps either side of the helmet visor on. Zion and Rinaa followed suit, keeping their eyes firmly fixed on the door, which was now almost fully downwards. Every so often a spattering of lights would pass into view below them- some small town or village their plane was whizzing over. The stars were just about visible, the lack of atmosphere rendering them solid points of light instead of flickering ones.

Just as the door was fully open the 'go' command came over the comms- a single, sharp shout in a refined male voice. Rinaa wasted no time in making her move, as the door had been lowering she'd been readying herself, all but getting into a sprinter start. Without the slightest hesitation she ran forwards and flung herself out of the plane with some kind of battle cry. Cass was only a few steps behind, launching herself into the inky blackness with a cry of Russian. Zion's slight hesitation until Fia started her jump meant he was the last to leave the plane, leaping out, limbs flailing with a cry of "GERONIMO!!!"

 

[MzHyde]

With everyone confirming they understood, Fia stood firm in he replace as she watched the door open with a loud clunk and thud as it then slowly descended to give them their running jump platform. At the call for helmet lights, Fia instantly switched them on by the correct switch on the side as she looked out at the dark black sky with spattering with lights from the buildings far below them. She took a few deep breaths to control her adrenaline so she could remain focused completely. She looked in front of her and upward slightly as she saw the stars just about being visible and she had to admit, all things considered, it was one hell of a night to be doing such a jump. Even from behind, she could tell how buzzed Rinaa was feeling to be doing such a jump. With the silence broken by the command to jump, she watched as Rinaa went first followed swiftly by Cass.

"you got this Zion!" she told him sensing his hesitation, and without giving him a chance to reply she took her running start and leapt off like it was second nature to her, arms and legs spread wide in the recommended starfish pose as she descended down in the air. Unlike the other three, she didn't give out a war cry just focused on the task at hand, seeing Cass and Rinaa further down below her. She knew Zion was above her due to his own yell as he jumped. She kept her ears out on the comms to wait for the next command so they knew when to deploy their parachutes, as well as keeping her eyes focused on Cass and Rinaa to know when to join with them so they all descended together and no one got lost. She soon got to the others in her descent to start making the ring with them, glancing up to make sure they were ready to grab Zion when he reached them. The adrenaline running through her veins was unbeatable in her eyes, it even beat when she would do the bullet descent when she did her flying to spread her wings, summoning her wings at what she deemed as a last moment and ascending once again. If only her parents and brother could see her now she thought to herself.

 

[_gallifrog_]

It wasn't long after Zion had exited the plane that the comms were filled with the sound of adrenaline-filled whooping. Rinaa couldn't help but yell out with joy, she was having the time of her life, even if she was falling downwards in an uncontrolled tumble, flipping head over heels and heels over head, her suit lamps tracing out curved arcs in the darkness. "This is bloody amazing!" she whooped, sheer delight audible in her tone. There was so much adrenaline in her veins that she was going light-headed. She didn't just feel alive, she felt gloriously alive, like every cell in her body was singing with glee. Once she regained the slightest control over her trajectory she performed a sort of back-flip move, sending her into yet another glee inducing spiral, her whoops now edged with overjoyed laughter. "Isn't it just!" Cass called back, an unmistakeable smile in her voice. She had already levelled herself out into the classic starfish pose, but Rinaa's joy was proving contagious and she couldn't help but launch herself into a mid-air flip.

"Oh what the hell, let me try!" Zion attempted to copy Cass' flip, but didn't entirely succeed, instead sending himself into a crazy uncontrolled spiral. Initially he was struck by terror, but by the time he regained control he was laughing like the others. One of the Overwatches did cut in, attempting to restore some kind of order with a firm 'this is a mission, not a play date' but Cass (despite her earlier words) was the first to jump in and tell them to shut up. "Oh be quiet! It's a HALO jump, we've got plenty of freefall time to have a bit of fun before getting into position. Let Artie enjoy herself." Cass didn't need to add 'while she still can', everybody on the other end of the comms knew what she meant.

There was a long pause before Overwatch 1 spoke up- as the highest number he had seniority. "I'll let you know when you should start getting in position." "Roger that." Cass replied, before launching herself into a horizontal spin like she was some kind of spinning top. Zion gave another 'what the hell' shrug and copied her. The ground was so featureless that even though the four knew they were falling at speed, it seemed like they were never getting closer to anything. The plane had long since vanished into the blackness of the night.

 

[MzHyde]

Hearing Rinaa exclaim her sheer joy over the comms made Fia smile, feeling glad that she got to witness her 'cousin' be genuinely happy for a moment, even if it was in this situation. She could see the air gymnastics Rinaa was making in the air and chuckling at her, but not out of malice or teasing, instead it was out happiness for her enjoying herself. The chuckles only continued as Cass joined in and then so did Zion but not accomplishing the flips nearly as well as the girls were. Hearing one of the overwatch's try and tell them to stop pissing about and focus on the mission at hand, made Fia smirk which only grew when Cass told them to shut up and let Rinaa enjoy the thrill of her first and only HALO jump.

The fact that the Overwatch in question seemed to back off over comms said a lot to Fia and eventually joined the others in doing all kinds of flips with them after Overwatch 1 told them they would warn them all when they need to regain main focus again and deploy their parachutes. She only did a couple of flips herself, finding it did actually help make her loosen up a bit, but she got more joy out of seeing that Rinaa was able to have some true sheer adrenaline fuelled joy before everything changed, whether it be for the better or the worse. She took in the sight of the ground far below them, making her feel so incredibly weightless even though she was wasn't in the slightest bit weightless as she was in reality plummeting down toward the ground at a rapid pace with the others.

"Nothing like being in the air!" she spoke up finally more to herself than to the others, but she didn't purposely make it sound like she was shutting them out of her thoughts either. Sure she couldn't let on who she really was, still very much aware she was under the disguise she created for herself, but that didn't mean she had to pretend this was her first time falling with style and feeling the pwoer of the breeze and gravity around her.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Understatement of the century! This is fucking Amazing!" Zion yelled back over the comms before launching himself into a spin. This was his first time doing any kind of parachuted jump and his tone, as well as the clearly audible capital A in 'amazing' made it quite clear he was loving every moment of it. "I agreed, being in the air and free-falling like this is special- particularly at night where you can't see anything and can convince yourself you're just floating." Cass was now falling back-first towards the ground, having flipped her entire body around so she could properly view the sky and stars above. "It certainly beats piloting a heli that's for sure." "There's not enough words in this language to describe the feeling!" Only thing better would be if we could actually feel the wind through our hair." Rinaa chimed in from her spin. "At these speeds it would probably get ripped out." "True, but still, that's always the appeal of going fast out in the open. I guess that's why hang-gliding is so popular- you get the view, the wind through you hair and enough altitude control you can kid yourself you're actually flying with wings." Cass let out a slight laugh. "Goof thing you can't see the view below us then. If we were doing this jump in broad daylight, nobody would be flipping around and having fun. Seeing that the Earth is hurtling towards you at ridiculous speeds is terrifying and snaps you right out of any illusions of flying." "Don't remind me of that!" Zion called out, his tone teasing. "I'd probably shit myself right know if I could see the view!"

Any witty comebacks to Zion's remark never got a chance to come out as one of the Overwatches chimed in with "now isn't the time to shit yourselves, it's showtime." That command snapped the others into action, Zion reaching out a gloved hand to Fia (who he happened to be closest to) while Rinaa and Cass righted themselves. The exes were back in 'professional mode' so when it came to linking up to form the ring, neither showed any outwards hesitation to grab the other's hand. Fia would end up with Zion on one side and Rinaa on the other as they hurtled towards the ground. The view was becoming somewhat more distinct now, what had been tint pinpricks of light when they jumped were now more distinct blurs. In the far distance a motorway could just be made out, identifiable by the streaks of light cause by headlights of speeding cars. According to the Overwatches the target complex was now also comping into view, it's outline roughly marked by the security lights around the edge of the facility. "Somebody should think about adding night vision tech to these helmets, it would make seeing this stuff a hell of a lot easier." Rinaa commented. "We're working on it, we've got the goggles for night-opps or dark-opps working as well as the full face helmet of some operatives. Which you damn well know Artemis, but they're not compatible with the protective face window of the HALO helmet. These aren't our kit so we can't permanently alter them, which is a real pity. But if we were to get our own HALO suits and modify them..... well, you know." Rinaa's nod was practically audible "that I do."

"Anyway, when I give the go signal, everybody let go of their partner's hands. And when I say mark, pull that parachute cord. By now you should be just north of the facility and as you get lower you'll be able to see things more clearly. The prevailing winds will blow you in it's direction- you're aiming for the large, flat roofed building in the centre of the complex- and the parachute toggles will help you steer, should it be needed. If you overshoot the roof, head for the ground and join up with the ground team there. Understood?" A round of unnecessary nodding and confirmations followed as the four plummeted to the ground. With things becoming more visible Cass' earlier words were beginning to have an impact, for Zion at least he was starting to feel like they were ludicrously low, they'd fallen too far and the chutes wouldn't be able to stop their fall. But when the go command came he gritted his teeth and let go, pushing backwards from teh others as he'd been told to minimise the risk of chutes tangling. The four continued falling, hands at the ready on the toggle. "And....... MARK!"

 

[MzHyde]

Fia smirked as she heard Zion exclaim what an understatement it was that she said, finding that seeing what being in the air was like to someone ho wasn't used to it was highly refreshing and made her almost experience what she was through a whole newset of eyes. She was so used to the feeling, albeit slightly differently that even though it brought adrenaline to her (particularly tonight due to strict no use of her wings), it still made her realise how much things like this she took for granted almost. She smiled at Cass' words even though it was pretty much pointless because one couldn't simply hear a smile through the comms without some kind of response to express said smile, as she watched Cass still doing a little bit of showing off and falling back first so she could actually face them all. It was Rinaa's comment however that made her audibly laugh down the comms, as Rinaa continued talking and Cass pointed out the reality of what they were doing which gave Zion a moment of 'don't say that!'. She was about to reply to everything said when one of the Overwatch team chimed in to tell them now it was time to turn on their professional mindsets and stop goofing off.

As Zion grabbed for her hand, she grabbed his back, keeping a firm grip on him as she then grabbed RInaa's hand and so forth. She noticed below her that the 'street view' was becoming more and more evident, the pinprick lights being a cluster of blurry lines at this moment and the motorway was just about visible to her eyes. At Rinaa's comment about the night vision being designed to fit the helmets, Fia had to admit that it was a good idea, but she was also glad that her eyes were just that bit better than a normal human, as she could make out things slightly more clearer which she learned from an early age was down to being part phoenix. She also found it to be an utter godsend as it meant when she snuck out at night, she could make sure she didn't trip or fall over something in London's dark alleys. It didn't entirely surprise her that there was someone in this group of vigilantes that were working on trying to make night vision work in such a helmet.

At the instructions of what they were to do next, she listened very carefully finding they were simple enough to follow and understood them more than well enough. She gave her confirmation that she understood what was said with everyone else and then waited for the signal. With signal given, she pushed herself away from everyone else at the same time as everyone and with the second signal said, she pulled on the chord to release her parachute now she was sure she was far enough away from the others to not tangle up her chute with any of the other three. She felt the back drag when her parachute was deployed before she began falling much slower and at a much more controlled speed this time, controlling it with the chords and toggles as she followed the others down to the building that was described to them, seeing it soon enough and aiming for it. When they all got down close enough, she got low enough with her parachute control until her feet touched the ground where she unstrapped herself from the chute so she wouldn't take off again with any risk of a draft.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When the command came Rinaa pulled the toggle, releasing the chute. Her entire body was jolted upwards, her head snapping back as the parachute erupted forth from the bag. The chutes were black, with no visible markings, as were the guide strings, designed to blend in as much as possible with the dark night sky. The abrupt change in speed was almost sickening and it took Zion (the least experienced of the four at parachuting) a couple of moments to regain his bearings and open his eyes again. It was easier than he thought to control the chute, banking hard left to bring himself down onto the roof. Like Fia he wasted no time in bundling away all the strings and fabric lest he get dragged off the roof by the wind. Rinaa and Cass landed after them, both letting themselves fall to the ground as soon as they touched it, starting to reel in the parachute before it was fully touching the ground.

With all four parachutes fully packed away (or at the very least crammed into the backpack with all their might) their attention turned to the oxygen tanks and the grappling hook gear. The tanks were disconnected from the HALO suits and the remaining oxygen vented with an ominous sounding hiss. Zion then laid his hands on the tanks and they began to shrink, getting smaller and smaller until they were little bigger than a can of deodorant. He then stuck them into some of the spare loops on his utility belt before heading over the the equipment back (which had been taken from Fia by Cass as soon as her chute had been packed away). The grappling hooks went through the reverse of the process that the oxygen cannisters did, Zion using his meta powers to make them grow to full size The grappling hook tech was nothing special to look at, it was the same as any kind of grappling hook tech Fia had seen before. They were mounted on the edge of the roof and the hook lowered until it reached the waiting team members below.

The communication between the ground and roof teams was brief, to the point and very clinical. The ground team also wore plain non-descript black suits, with utility belts and thick soled combat boots. They were visibly made of a different fabric to the HALO suits, something lighter as the suit didn't need to maintain pressure. The split between hoods and helmets in the ground team was fifty-fifty. Team 2 were winched down to their target floor where they contorted themselves through the open upper window and into the laboratory. Two sharp tugs on the cable was the signal that the cable was no longer needed. Team 3, having no destination yet, made their way down the central stairwell towards the server room. With the building in darkness the only light came from the torches and headlamps of the vigilantes and the only sound was that of muffled footsteps, the background hum of the filtration system and the breathing of the team transmitted over the comms. Breaking into the server room looked easier than it actually was, Rinaa with the aid of one of the other vigilantes and a souped-up laptop cracked the door code before slipping in and hooking up to the mainframe. The screen filled with scrolling lines of code as the Overwatches accessed it remotely. The minutes it took the Overwtaches to run through the files was nerve-wracking for those outside the door and the figure beside Fia let out an audible sigh of relief when Rinaa reappeared. "We need to get to the 7th floor. The lab we're looking for is the Emilson lab, on the north front of the building. The doors from what we can tell can be opened with the standard lock-guns we've all been issued with. The drug is codenamed Morph, in addition to finding the drug look for any physical papers concerning the drug and remove them. The computers need to be wiped as well, you've all got USBs that can do the job. Understand?....." "Then lets get going."

 

[MzHyde]

Now landed back onto concrete ground, Fia couldn't help but watch Zion shrink the oxygen tanks enough to just put into one of his belt pouches, always finding such abilities so fascinating to witness and even more so admirable. Sure, she could do similar if she used the right spell but it wasn't the same as just being able to without having to say any kind of incantation. As she did watch, she didn't stop doing what she needed to by giving Cass the supply bag and doing her bit to bundle up the parachutes and put them back in their bags. She then took notice of how Zion did the exact opposite to the grappling hooks, mentally reminding her (even though she didn't need to) exactly what the next move was and who was going where. The grappling hooks didn't look any different to anything she hadn't seen before so at least she was familiar with some tech for once. She did what she needed to and waited for the ground team to get their way up to the roof, giving her nods of greeting to each one as they got to the roof, keeping the conversations brief with the rest of everyone else.

The fact that the other team's suits were different to theirs wasn't exactly surprising as she knew that unless they were doing a HALO jump (which she knew they weren't) there was no need for the heavier suits and kits. With the teams join together and getting into their retrospective teams 2 and 3, she kept doing what she needed to to be a team player, most of her actions were of instinct, another part of her was thinking she was doing it to make a point she was trust worthy. She followed the others down the stairwell into the building to reach the server room, letting Rinaa be in the lead as it was she who was going to get their destination with the help of Overwatch, whilst she stood with the others keeping an look out as Rinaa and the one other team member did the code cracking and hacking into the mainframe. When it proved successful and she heard the other team member beside her sigh with relief, she gave a small smile of agreement, also glad that they managed to get what they needed.

She looked at Rinaa when she gave the information they needed of where they needed to go and what they needed to get when they got there. She ran the name of the lab over and over in her head mentally so she wouldn't forget the name and knew what she needed to look for with everyone else. Fia also nodded in acknowledgement at the rest of the information, before then mentally logging in her mind the name of the drug they had to retrieve before noting that they also had to look for all the corrosponding files of the drug as well, which were located on the computers that they needed to wipe. "Understood" she replied bewtween the check they all got it and the order to get moving, which she gladly did with the whole team.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The team moved out in single file, Rinaa bringing up the tail of the column. The four moved swiftly through the seemingly deserted building, heading back down the main stairwell until the wall plate by the closed elevator doors indicated that they'd arrived on floor seven. Treading softly along the main corridor torch beams were shone on the name plates until they showed they found the one bearing the name 'Emilson'. As Rinaa had predicted it was relatively easy to gain access to the lab. The card reader was first deactivated using the same piece of equipment that allowed them to bypass the scanners outside the server room, which left only the manual lock to deal with.

The lab was a large rectangular room. Moonlight slanted in through the windows, throwing contrasting zebra stripes of light and darkness across the lab benches and floor. On the left hand side of the room were long wide workbenches, mounted perpendicular to the side wall. Some of the benches were purely for the smaller pieces of scientific equipment, others contained computer monitors and printers while another had been modified with additional shelves and cupboards to act as an inventory of everyday items like gloves, sterilised test tubes, cell sample holders, volumetric pipettes and certain cleaning chemicals. Lab coats were hung either on hooks or slung over the back of one of the many wheeled office chairs that were pushed in against the benches. On the right hand wall, at regular intervals were various doors. Each door lead to a room containing a specific piece of equipment- the bulkier, extremely specialised, high sensitive and incredibly expensive piece of equipment. The only one of these rooms of interest to the vigilante group was the one containing the liquid nitrogen-cooled sample storage tanks, which Rinaa made a beeline for.

The other three fanned out across the laboratory, systematically searching through the piles of paperwork as well as lab research notes for anything related to Morph while letting the USB gadgets do their job and wipe all digital files from the system. Papers were stowed into backpacks and where necessary, very carefully removed from lab notebooks with the aid of a scalpel. Not everybody in the lab was working on Morph, far from it. It seemed like the scientists within the lab were split into smaller teams, each focused on the development of a different drug. At the end of the lab a second door would lead to the office space of the lab boss (the titular Emilson') and the surprisingly spacious break room used by the scientists.