Pursuit of Justice (1x1 Mitheral and Industrial Lace)

[Mitheral]

The other Legion soldier there, Maverick, struck the group as a bit of a clown. But he was also pleasant - and his sense of humor wasn’t warped like Matthew’s. “You two are going to want to see the Commander. If your group is going to work with us, we will be seeing to your training. Of course we can only take you so far. But at this point it will be simple tactics. James and Jennifer have 4 years on you. Let me tell you, they are something else to see in action. Micronaut is already working on a strategy. But that will get discussed tonight. The Commander really isn’t keen on sending in kids his age into combat.


Kevin nodded. “Yeah, most of us feel the same way. But I think we need to at least give his ideas a listen. He sounds creative - like someone who thinks on the fly.” He winced at his choice of words. “And I guess that joke has already been made by Arachne.”


++++++


The first stop for Kevin and Antonella was the water. “I really don’t like the idea. But I think the person to try and go after Hellburner is you. He burns so hot that I’m not sure you can extinguish him. And we have no way of knowing if boiling you would be a problem. The other option is to have fire extinguishers ready. I guess the first thing we need to do is have you attempt some smaller, more controlled effects - like a simple squirt gun. In short, I am thinking of a water fight. Just try not to drown us.”

 

[Industrial Lace]

"Ok that sounds cool and all but how do I do it? This isn't like a clap on kind of thing Kevin. I don't know how it works....I just know it does." Antonella said in the water clueless. "Doll I have no idea what I have to do." She admitted understanding the responsibility but not really knowing how to get into the zone to make her powers work. She was very wet behind the ears to do such a thing.

 

[Mitheral]

Throughout the latter half of the day before the briefing more Legion personnel began to arrive. Perhaps the most shocking was the arrival of three children, escorted by a squad of Legion soldiers and three civilians. Because these were civilians, the metahumans were advised in advance in case they preferred to don masks.


First of the children was an eight year old boy with dark hair and blue eyes. He had that frail look of Harry Potter in the first movie. he showed signs of heavy abuse. No, not merely abuse - torture. In one hand he carried what looked like a Transformer a little over a foot in height. Clearly this was his toy of choice. This was Mark Hamilton. His attention was drawn, wide eyed and excited to the submarine. He nearly smacked the young girl following hot on his heels in the head as he pointed at it. “Oh cool.”


The young girl that was hot on his heels was a young hispanic girl named Rachel Reno. This was Dr Muriel Reno’s daughter. The girl’s father had died from a BL-5 flesh eating bacteria incident only a few years before. Her mother had only been able to watch helplessly from the other side of the containment wall. Rachel had grown up the past few years learning more about diseases than any child her age should know. She had also spent far more time around adults that children. As a result she was remarkably mature for her age … and perhaps a little condescending of childish behavior. Mark was one of the first boys she had met who didn’t always act like a child. And he was always amazing her with mechanical wizardry. But she often found herself in competition for attention with whatever technological marvel came into Mark’s view - like the submarine. She decided she had an instant dislike for the Nautilus.


The third child was a 13 year old girl whose attention was primarily on the kids, especially Mark. This was Amanda Hamilton, Mark’s big sister. Like Mark she showed signs of abuse. She was armed with a pistol unlike any Antonella had ever seen. Oh she had heard of it. But she had never actually seen one. It was an amphibious pistol. The Russians had had one for some time. And the rumors were that the US had been working on similar designs. But this was a first. Of course, the Legion soldiers had larger weapons with similar capabilities. But the pistol was new. What was interesting was the way the girl kept the weapon ready. She moved like she was SEAL trained at a mere 13 years of age. But her readiness didn’t last long as she was forced to grab Mark before he ran off. Doing her best to multitask she scanned the room for threats. Her face blanched a little as she spotted Talon. But she didn’t overreact. Instead she tried to steer the boy toward the Commander who gestured where the boy was to stand. Mark pointed at the submarine hopefully. All that got him was his hair tousled.


The first adult was a giant of a man, African American. He stood 6’9 with a frame that would have made him a linebacker had he played football. This was Dr Jagga Reed, a recent Nobel Prize Winner. Just ten years ago he has just reached adulthood. He was the contender for the heavyweight kickboxing championship title. In a brief moment of anger he had killed his opponent with a single blow - just seconds after the bell. Most of the world, he hoped, had forgotten him by now. He had ended up serving 10 years in prison, during which he had earned his degrees and a Nobel Prize.


The next adult was Dr Muriel Reno, Rachel’s mother. Muriel had once commanded a wing of the CDC in Atlanta. But since the death of her first husband she had moved into the field of mutations and metahumans.


The third adult was another giant of a man who stood even height with Dr Reed, but had a frame more like that of a quarterback. This was no coincidence as he had once turned the NFL down to pursue engineering at MIT. This was Dr William Greyson and the romantic interest in Muriel Reno’s life. William was Montana born and bred, and had grown into a real family oriented man.


-------


The next group was a pair of women and an escort of four who had weapons ready on one of the women. That woman was armed with nothing but a sword. This was Karen Adams. Karen was dragging the other woman Dr Pauline Fraser, unconscious. The unconscious woman had been fitted with a mask and O2. Karen was refusing help getting Pauline onto the dock despite clearly having problems even standing on her own.


Karen’s teeth were chattering from the cold. She wore ear muffs and dark sunglasses such as elderly wear. Her hands shook from the strain of doing much of anything. It was Muriel Reno who moved in as the four escorts took positions with weapons aims at Karen. “Let me help Karen or so help me I won’t let you out of Sick Bay for a week. And if you so much as catch a sniffle I am putting you in quarantine.”


“Like you could hold me,” Karen’s teeth chattered. She struggled again stubbornly.


“You are going to give yourself a heart attack. I KNOW you can do all that biorhythm control crap. But we kind of need Pauline up here and conscious. What the hell happened?” Muriel asked.


“SHE did it, ma’am! Blade attacked the Captain,” one of the Legion soldiers reported.


Karen smiled. “Just a little pressure point work. Had to be done. If I wanted to actually hurt her - or any of them - do you really think they could have stopped me? Why don’t you ask her if it was necessary when she wakes up. She’ll be fine.”


-----------


The last to be escorted in was an aging man, one Pete Donnelly, husband to Mary Donnelly. Mary was quite possibly to become the next Chief of Police in NYC. Pete was clearly agitated about something. He took one look around and focussed on the Commander. “This is YOUR doing! I would have thought you retired by now.”


The Commander spoke. “You would be referring to my predecessor. She is the General now.”


“Great. So I am babysitting the kiddies today?” Pete tried to rile the Commander.


“Briefing them. Dr Darwin Jackson is no longer in prison.”


“Dear God!” Pete blanched.

 

[Mitheral]

When the group finally assembled in the main cave for an initial strategy briefing Dark Knight stepped forward to speak. “Okay, we’ve had a little time to discuss team capabilities. Now we need to talk about how we go about the exchange.”


The commander nodded. “Very well, we have selected several sites.”


James interrupted. “We also need to discuss some gear – simple stuff we could make ourselves, but that your people could get faster. Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt, but the gear is going to be as important as the locations – more so in fact.”


The commander stared hard at James, reminding herself the boy’s age. “We?” She glanced at Kevin who shrugged.


James did NOT back down. “Yes, Ma’am. We. You’ll need me. In fact, without me any plan you come up with is going to be risky to Janice’s brother.”


“How old are you?” The commander asked.


James paused for just a moment. He almost mouthed off a little, but instead kept his tone respectful. “Old enough for military service with a waiver from my parents. And they have given their blessing – however reluctant to my decision to pursue this life.”


The commander gave a mental count to ten before she responded. James was actually correct, though she doubted the boy’s mother would have been thrilled to learn her son was wanting to face superhuman megalomaniacs and terrorists. “What sort of things do you need?”


James nodded. “Well, if possible we need two things at our exchange site – a large electromagnet – like a junkyard crane – and the ocean. A scrap yard along the coast would be ideal. There a large one halfway between here and the Brooklyn Bridge. Third we’ll need to have your fastest mini sub and crew standing submerged just a little offshore a little with an airlock open. A second sub – if you have one would also be good. One should be prepared to handle Janice’s brother – maybe with a medical specialist. The other should be ready to monitor Dr Jackson’s medication to keep him under.


“I’ll also need a transport tank filled all but a foot with water. Next, six fire extinguishers or more of various kinds. An asbestos straitjacket. A dozen silver arrows. A dozen vanadium alloy arrows or copper beryllium ones. You can get copper beryllium at almost any scrap yard. They store it in separate bins. Oh .. and about a pound of plastique. That should be plenty. Six bags of pure salt – not anti icing kind. 25 pound bags would be ideal, but I’ll work with 50 pound if I have to. Finally .. any chance you can find us about 50 pounds or more of some really strong magnets – super magnets.”


The commander’s mind had stuck on one word. “Plastique?”


James grinned. “That’s for me.” He winced a little. “No detonators.”


She smiled. “What … do you need it for?”


James grinned wryly. He wanted this to be a surprise. “Well, I was going to roll some up and stick it in any gun barrels Muerte has in his armor. Then when he goes to shoot ..”


“… Nothing will happen,” the Commander finished for him. There were a few chuckles behind her. “It won’t detonate if hit by a bullet, nor if burned. That is what you were hoping for, wasn’t it?”


James reddened. “Oh. Uhm, yes ma’am. That’s why we have this planning session. So you can shoot holes through my ideas with facts.”


The Commander nodded. James took constructive criticism well enough. “Muerte is supposed to have a high energy laser and an advanced flamer mounted on his suit in addition to a chain gun. I am assuming you had that in mind. Now assuming you could get close enough to ‘gum up’ the works, some sort of refractory material would do a great deal better. In fact, modeling clay would be ideal. It hardens when baked.”


James laughed. “Huh. Really! Okay, that works. Thanks.”


One of the men laughed. “I still think I liked his idea better – even if it wouldn’t work. I’d have given a month’s pay to see Muerte’s face.”


Another man laughed. “Pay? Commander, you actually pay this clown?”


The commander just shook her head pitifully. “Okay … the sites. Once a site is selected we will need recon. We have every reason to suspect Muerte will attempt a double cross. And he is going to expect one from you. So whoever is the best you have at stealth and mobility will need to sweep the area for snipers. Once a site is selected we will grid it off and mark the likely spots for snipers. The scout will check each one. We can provide a thermal imager.”


Dark Knight nodded. “We have two good scouts.”


“Remember Muerte may have thermal imaging scanners as well.” The commander pointed out.


Huntress spoke up. “My camouflage masks my IR signature. And our other scout doesn’t have much of an IR signature either.”


The commander again nodded. She would leave the assignments up to the heroes. “Second part of the plan. Make sure Jackson is sedated – not so much he can’t speak. They may want proof that he is alright. You will want Muerte to do that same with Jake Mueller.”


“And THAT is when we strike.” James piped up again. “As soon as we have the guy in sight and are sure it is him.”