[The Human Element] Delta Division HQ

For a moment, it seemed that Drake didn't hear Grace. Since he'd finally returned to headquarters sometime late the night before, he'd remained in a state of total concentration. Somebody was messing with them, and he'd figure it out come hell or high water. His gaze studiously remained fixed on a point on the wall, even when he finally did speak. "I had a second safe house set up in the event the first one was compromised. I was the only one who knew about it, and to use it in the event of a security breach. The Fae involvement was...unexpected, but fortune favors the prepared."


"Given their telepathic abilities, there are any number of ways the Fae could gather intelligence on us," Charity chimed in. "They're capable of making themselves literally out of sight, out of mind." She tilted her head enough to read the title of Grace's book, and smiled. "Nice to see someone else reads things off of actual paper these days."


"Luddite," Drake muttered, clearly teasing her, though his face didn't lose the deadpan expression.


"I am not! I just like the smell of real books. And I can't short them out..." She gave a sidelong glance, a little embarrassed.
 
Vladamir had been barely paying attention to what was going on for some time now, for any who had any astute sences and were paying attention, they might have noticed Vlad spontaneously appear into existence without so mutch as a popping noise, where their was once nothing visible there was Vlad sitting in a chair reading Dantes Divine Comedy in Latin, if any one had sutch a skill to notice It bore striking resemblance to an original copy. In his right hand he held a glass of what appeared to be a slightly steaming thick red liquid that he appeared to be pooring out of a bottle that was tucked into some sort of heavily insulated cozy.
 
Grace laughed at Drake's comment. "She was used to his little remarks. It was his own way of motivating people, forcing them to think of the real reasons for their actions. Quite often she found that his barbs were aimed at her inventions as Drake tried to figure them out. He never did seem to understand the "short-cuts" she made in her designs.


"You would think Mister Drake, that you would appreciate the interest in a physical book. Its not like I see you sitting around eating those nutritional squares they are making. Regular food is no different than a physical book - using your philosophy of course." Grace wasn't as quick as Drake could be, but she wasn't a slouch either. She would probably lose her argument. Fortunately someone else appeared in the room.


"See, someone else who appreciates.... eeewww. I hope that isn't blood you are drinking."
 
"Why, would you rather I procure my sustenance from some place more... Fresh? Do you so wish to donate some? or would you prefer I sit here drinking that witch was already donated?" he asked as he took another sip, not taking his eyes from his book while he spoke.
 
Sam rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Miss London, start the briefing if you please, before Mr. Brodavitch becomes any more...solicitous."


Charity stared at Vlad a little, open-mouthed, though that had little to do with the blood--she was used to his habits by now--and everything to do with the book in his hands. She had an appreciation for old books, and more than a passing knowledge of what made one valuable.


Sam's words interrupted her thoughts. "Right, uh..." She got up and began to pace as she spoke, like a teacher giving a lecture. "A little background. Centuries, possibly millennia ago, a battle was fought against the entities known as Ptah, Set, and Osiris. Little is known of that battle except that they were bound together and sealed away, presumably for all eternity, though when does that ever actually work? Somewhere near the turn of the century, the seal was broken by Delta Division analyst and amateur archaeologist Jerrod Yoseph. The circumstances around that event was supposed to have killed the man, but he did in fact survive to be used as a vessel by the newly-freed Egyptian trio.


"In the intervening years, Yoseph created a correlation of sorts dedicated to the concepts of chaos, creation, and reincarnation. Their bioengineering capabilities have been, to date, unsurpassed. As a company, they are best known for the 2018 Niagara Earthquake. Obviously, that's not public knowledge. The world at large is welcome to see that as just a natural disaster. It was, however, intended as a catalyst to spread an artificial metagene over the entire planet. Delta intervened, and though the agents of that mission were not completely successful, they were able to prevent the widespread distribution of the metagene. It does tend to genetically affect those who are born in and around Alliance City, built on top of the original earthquake site. Many are born with powers. I, for example, am one of them.


"Most recently, we have crossed paths with Ptah-Setker-Osiris when I was uh..." The hesitation and tremor to her voice was slight, but unmistakable. "Detained by them for the purpose of study. Delta launched a rescue operation, and in the process, Jerrod Yoseph, granted a form of immortality by the gods that possessed him, was killed. Since then, we have heard nothing of the entity itself. The company it created, however, is a constant thorn in our side, and we often run several counter-intelligence and rescue missions involving whatever atrocities they seem to be committing that week."


She took a breath from the rather long-winded explanation and turned to the holographic display hovering over the table. "Some fancy tricks with satellite imaging have given us some intelligence of a base they have located in the Sahara, as you can see here. Tonight's mission will be to infiltrate the base and gather whatever intelligence we can. There'll be a closed server or two that can be hacked on-site, and off-line data stores we can pilfer. As of yet, we do not have a layout of the base, but we'll see how successful Drake is at changing that as we get closer. As for resistance, PSO bases tend to be guarded by a menagerie of genetically engineered creatures with varying levels of intelligence and abilities. Be prepared for anything." She returned to stand behind her chair, her hands on the back. "Any questions?"
 
She grinned a little in Vlad's direction, though not directly at him of course. His hypnotic motion destracted her from the lecture, and she couldn't look away from the book. "Maybe. Little bit." Her gaze caressed the book somewhat reverently. "I can only imagine the story that book has, and not just the one between the pages either."


Sam smirked. "Precisely the reason I'd rather not touch it. Being as it's been in Mr. Brodavitch's possession, I'm sure there are several post-cognition images that I'd prefer not to be implanted in my eidetic memory. But this is relevant to the mission, how exactly? We are at a briefing, not a book club."


Charity shook her head a little. "Right. Focus. Any questions pertaining to the mission, please."
 
Desmond walks in just as the others finish speaking, grinning sheepishly.


"I'm late again, aren't I?" he asked. "I really need to stop getting lost." He'd dressed in jeans and a shirt with his tattoo prominently displayed upon it


"What've I missed?"
 
"oh this? I procured it from a Byzantine merchant in Constantinople. I assure you the worst memories of history you might see on my part from what this book would be able to observe is a rather enjoyable night in my study while I tutored a nobleman's daughter in... Anatomy... Beyond that its generally stayed in my study until the last hundred years or so when I had it tucked away in a chest that had been buried." he said closing the book. "It a very nice read, Ive red it maybe a hundred times and only recently remembered I had it." he said as he waved the book in Charity's direction.


"So we have a Facility guarded by all forms of super mutated icky, that were created because by some lunatic wishing to create metahumans for what ever insane and devious reason, at some point in time some lunatic Dies after ascending to some sort of near god hood but fails misserably, and now we have to go to said icky guarded facility... Why...." He said blinking innocently at Sam.
 
"Anatomy. Of course. Yes, that right there is something best remaining as your business, if you don't mind," Sam commented. "As for why we are undertaking this mission, there is a slight possibility that Ptah-Setker-Osiris, the entity, could be in collaboration with the Fae. If not... well, frankly that'll be a relief. And as always, the more we know about our enemies, the better. Knowledge of Ptah-Setker-Osiris' dealings will never be amiss.


She turned to Desmond. "Mr. West, if you insist on wandering lost for ten minutes, would it not then be advisable to leave for your destination ten minutes earlier?" Her lips pinched with displeasure. "Regardless, your expertise might be invaluable on this mission. Much of what Ptah-Setker-Osiris records will be encoded with symbols. Your insight will be most appreciated, though seeing as this is a stealth mission, we will have to find some way to counter your..."


"Brilliant personality?" Charity chimed in. She smiled as if she hadn't practiced that pun in the mirror a few times.
 
Desmond grinned in response.


"Maybe someone should get me another map then, since the first one combusted in 'mysterious circumstances'. And you could never hide someone as brilliant as I from the legions of fans I undoubtedly have by now." He pauses and shrugs, frowning as he actually considers the question.


"If you have magic, that may work. Nothing else has so far though. I'm like a candle in the daylight, and I shine like a bonfire at night."
 
"So... Is there anything in particular we are going to be looking for or are we just going to wander aimlessly threw a compound for an hour or two and hope we dont die horrible." He stood up and moved behind Charity with his enhanced speed as if it were natural. "and even possibly find evidence or in some cases evidence of a lack their of, of the twos involvement then?" he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and gently handed her the book. "Do be gentle with it I am some what attached to the few treasures I am still able to hold on to... Curse of age.. We don't like give up things, especially ones that cant be replaced.. Especially with this knew tablet internet fad that's going around.."
 
Eric tensed when Vlad moved near Charity, and a flicker of expression crossed Drake's face. Both relaxed when it was clear Vlad had no intention to harm her. Charity's big brown eyes somehow grew bigger and as round as saucers. She held the tome with awe and carefully opened the cover. Her fingers ran over the first few words and she spoke them, her voice lilting as if she meant every one of them. "Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah me! How hard a thing it is to say! What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, which in the very thought renews the fear? So bitter is it, death is little more..."


Her voice trailed off. "That's all I remember. I...don't read much Latin. I memorized the first few stanzas in high school, but that was a while ago." She shook her head. "Anyway. To the task at hand. The objective will be to gather as much data as possible. Once we get there, we'll have a clearer look at of the layout of the place, and a better idea of how to carry that out most effectively. Desmond, I'm thinking we'll keep you in the Maverick and send you the images of what we see via shortwave communication. Less likely they'll be able to detect and hack it, and you'll be nearby for backup if things go sideways."
 
"I will help with scouting my.. Invisibility trick... is masked to all senses, they would have to be ontop of me t o detect me, and even then its unlikely." he said taking note of the twos tention and giving some what of a mischievous grin as he moved to the center of the room where every one would easily be able to keep an eye on him. Mortals are so paranoid when dealing with the things they don't understand. "Don't worry boys I have little taste for the unwilling."
 
The thought that she was just a feed bag for one of her superhero companions scared her. She paled considerably as the briefing continued. She tried to take notes but was distracted every time the vampire moved. Even slightly. Her notes were sloppy and missing parts of the important parts of the mission.


"Who are we stealing from?" There were parts that she had missed. Normally she could play things back in her head, but there just wasn't anything she could remember. It was all focused on the vampire. She didn't know that her imagination was just as vivid as reality, but she couldn't stop seeing the images of the man tearing out her throat with his teeth. That also meant she had no recollection of the details of the conversation.


She looked over her notes which had a mention of stealing a hard drive, and that was all that was involved according to her notes. There had to be more.


"When are we planning to go? Will I have time to make a stealth suit?" She was planning on having a high-neck collar, reinforced, with silver and garlic. She had hoped to impress the group enough to accept her as one of their own. She hadn't considered that failure would leave her bloodless.
 
Charity nodded to Vlad. "That's perfect. Hm, actually, you and I can hunt though whatever documents we can find, and if anything encoded comes up, you can telepathically show it to Desmond. That'll be more secure than transmitting images electronically."


Grace's questions caught Charity's attention, and for the first time, she noticed the girl's discomfort. A look of sympathy crossed her face for a moment. It hadn't been that long since she'd been an easily intimidated teenager thrust into a world she barely understood. Of course, since then, Charity had stared down a number of things a lot more terrifying than an immortal with a dark sense of humor, but that was something only experience could bring.


"A group of rather unethical bioengineers," she answered, making sure to pause long enough to make sure Grace had the information. "They call themselves Ptah-Setker-Osiris, after the gods of creation, chaos, and reincarnation respectively. We'll leave within the hour." She smiled. "I'm sure your current configurations will do just fine. I have every confidence in your abilities. You'll be teaming up with Drake, and the two of you together can go through their electronic trail onsite, pick up any traces of outgoing and incoming communications, that sort of thing. Okay?" She was possibly being a touch patronizing, but Charity liked the girl and wanted to see her succeed.
 
Vlad couldn't peal his eyes off of grace, her discomfort was some what of an interest to him, his ability to relate with humans and their emotional states was some what lacking with his years of being removed. "I assure you young Ms Grace I have no intention of simply draining you dry. When you never forget a face and you don't die, willy nily killing people tend to leave you with a lot of horrible images you will see for the rest of eternity no matter how hard you try to forget them. Their are very few beings I consider worth the eternal torment of their horrid death visages, you most definitely not one of them." He said finishing his drink. "Now may we proceed onto the mission."
 
Stefan had no questions or objections; at least, none he would voice. He'd spent most of the briefing toying with Nicky's code, with help from his tether, and had discovered why it seemed Nicky hadn't been as observant as he once was. Whatever temporal event had damaged most of his electronics had affected both Nicky's and his own mind less than it had his equipment, but apparently it DID change some things around. Reversing the order of two lines of code to get them back where they were supposed to be, he quietly asked Nicky to restart to let his repaired boot-up sequence run. It's not quite what it once was, but at least his skills are initializing properly now. Nicky spends the rest of the briefing playing with his active camo and practicing his newly improved ability to hide with it. Once he's sure Stefan has gotten tired of watching him every moment, he also attempts to sneak up and drain the battery from one of Drake's non-mission-critical devices, preferably a tablet since those were being talked about earlier...


Stealth 7, Disable Device 9. Wow, what terrible rolls. Still, he might have passed the Stealth check anyway, just from being Concealed from visual/auditory/mental senses.
 
Nicky's attempts at subterfuge were met with a flick of Drake's fingers as the man produced a small magnetic forcefield. A soft whomp-CLANG! followed as Nicky was knocked flat on his ass. It did no damage in the slightest, but would certainly come as a surprise.


"Okay, I think it's time to go," Charity said a little loudly, very ready to get out of the room and away from the growing awkwardness. With that, they were ushered out of the room with instructions to suit up if they hadn't already done so, and meet in the hanger by the Maverick.
 
Vladamir was sitting next to the Maverick with a wet stone sharpening his cane sword and waiting for the others to hurry up and finish playing with there toys. "You would think that a place full of super humans would infarct have more superhuman and not as many people with gadgets..." Vlad mumbled to himself as he honed the blade to a fine point.
 
------->From Saharan Nights


That feeling of unease didn't go away as the Maverick teleported back to HQ, landed safely, and shut down in the hanger. They disembarked to find the entire Division in an uproar. People scurried around, talking in hushed tones, when they didn't have the looks of someone shocked into silence. Fear, worry, and horror pricked on the edge of Vlad's consciousness, the emotions so overwhelming in the room, he didn't have to even try to pick it up. Even the others could sense it without benefit of telepathy.


Sam stood a few feet away from the aircraft as they exited it. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her dark eyes held barely restrained fury. None of them had ever seen her this angry. She swallowed, as if she didn't know what to say, which spoke volumes of how dire the situation was. Whatever it was.


She frowned, and sorrow lined her face, usually so devoid of any emotion not carefully calculated to make her point.


"Stryker is dead. He was assassinated less than half an hour ago."
 
Grace felt the strange air in the hanger as they landed. It was as if tragedy was approaching. No one wanted to be there it seemed. Then when she saw Sam it looked very much like how her mom used to look when Grace did something with powers at school. She was about to brace for being yelled at, when Sam told them Stryker was dead.


"Myst. Oh, geezy. How is Myst?" She blurted it out before her mind could engage. Her head was pulling out details about Stryker and Myst. Stryker was nigh indestructible... not in the way that Vlad could come back from a puddle of goo, but purely invulnerable. Nothing could hurt him, so how did he get assassinated.
 
Vlad walked into the office sat down and looked at the room.


"So, I found out little to nothing, I know nothing of this person who was killed, Ive had every bone in my body pulverized to dust, and every thing inside of my skin turned to jelly already. Can I please have my leave to go devour some one Im rather hungry?" he said waving his hand.
 
Charity covered her mouth at the pronouncement. "Oh dear God..." she breathed.


Sam looked at Grace with a raised eyebrow, schooling control back into her features. "She is with her husband right now. Jayson Allison was John Smith's brother in law as well as his partner. He was there and witnessed the incident. As you can imagine, neither of them are doing well right now." She glanced at Charity. "Miss London..."


Charity nodded. "Of course." Meryl Allison, aka Myst, was her best friend. She followed the unspoken request and dashed out of the room to do what she could. Eric followed.


Sam continued. "Mr. Hachirobie--" Drake was gone. Stryker--John--was a friend and a team mate. He was going to figure this out, and if anyone could it was the Legendary Mister X.


The mission leaders dismissed, Sam turned to the others. She sighed. "I understand you have frustrations about your last mission. The rest of the night is yours. Please have your reports on my desk in the morning." She turned to go, then looked back at Grace. "Oh, Miss Romanelli, I'd like to see you in my office in a few minutes."
 
It wasn't Grace's fault that she knew so many of the heroes in the city. She had grown up with many of them as her role models. Finding out that one was dead was a jolt to her foundation. She could only image how his wife would feel. She just didn't know how to express it.


"Yes, ma'am." Her head dipped down. She couldn't look at anyone else in the room. It was almost like the teacher telling her to stay after class. Next thing she knew Sam would give her an 'F' for her participation in the last mission.
 
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