I bet you thought I wasn't going to finish, huh? Surprise! I'm doing something a little different this time around, publishing as a serial instead of a complete work, so let's see how that works out for me. (Don't worry, this is complete, no waiting a week between updates.)

As always, I owe IllusoryGentleman a ton of thanks for being a sounding board as well as keeping me focused. Go read and love his work, it's awesome.

And... I own none of this, except maybe the OC's, and even then, I'm making no money off of them, nor do I claim ownership of any property already owned and trademarked.

April 9th
Destin Florida
1515 CST

The Hacienda was buzzing with a flurry of activity. Even though the League had returned to more or less normal duty following their exercise in seeing what their people were capable of, it seemed like it was the right day of the week for some messed up things to start happening.

"So, get this." Fractal said, his nanosuit stopping at his neck for the time being. He pointed to a map of the Middle East, marked with a couple of red dots and a broken path line. "The League received a communique from Bialya of all places. Seven missile launching vehicles were hijacked from a convoy."

"We care why?" Shield Maiden asked, studying the map. It was no secret among the world that Bialya wasn't the friendliest nation on Earth. "Seven less weapons at their disposal after all."

"We care," Fractal said, zooming the holographic map into a tighter view. "Because before the GPS units in the vehicles were disabled, it showed them heading in a direct line into firing range of Kandaq. Even Queen Bee fears Black Adam, and he takes any act of aggression against his people as a reason to personally devastate the responsible parties."

"So, we're stopping a war between two nations that a lot of people want wiped off the map. This'd be a lot easier if there weren't innocent civilians in harm's way." Mustang mused. "What's the plan?"

"Shield Maiden, Fujin, and I are Alpha. We're heading into Bialya to investigate the source of the theft. Miss Martian is giving us a ride into the country in her Bioship. Daeva, Mustang, and Lady G are Bravo. Your task is to make sure those missile trucks don't make it close enough to fire their payload, by any means necessary." Fractal said, and then turned to focus more directly on Scramble.

"You'll be the search for their destroy mission." He signed, speaking as well so everyone heard him. "Once you've spotted the trucks, plant a tracer and head into Bialya, to support Alpha."

Scramble nodded and gave a thumbs up, leaning comfortably against the wall.

"How are we getting to them?" Daeva asked, looking at the map.

"After the problems Qurac had with Bialya, they've been much more open to League presence, so much so that there's a Zeta stop in three cities. Mustang will fly you to the location once Scramble has placed the tracker."

"What about us?" Koa asked, gesturing to himself and Pacifica. He didn't like being left out of a gig, especially one where he could show up and run wreck pretty much at will. He didn't mind having some quiet time with her, but not at the expense of his team's safety.

"This mission takes place entirely in a desert. While you aren't susceptible to that environment, Pacifica is, and we need her here to rift us if necessary. You will remain on standby in the event of an emergency, so go ahead and get your party favors ready." Fractal said, his mask crawling up his face in a truly creepy fashion.

"It's game time, let's go." He said; his attitude relaxed and calm, not the fussy nitpicking everyone had gotten so used to. If it weren't for the fact that his transition in attitude had been so gradual, it would be suspect.

April 10th
Southern Qurac desert
0015 AST

Bravo team sat huddled together out of necessity. It helped that Daeva and Mustang were already close to one another emotionally, and Godiva was in no way afraid of physical contact, especially considering the dramatic shift in temperatures. "I'm freezing my tits off." She complained, huddled up close with her teammates.

"I don't feel the air temperature." Daeva said, though she wasn't saying it as a taunt. It was just truth. The natural world belonged to her, and as such, wasn't a threat. She knew it was cold, it just didn't affect her with anything more than annoyance and discomfort. Besides, she was perfectly willing to add her small body to the huddle to provide warmth. "Mustang's coat is insulated though and it expands too." She added helpfully.

"That's all you had to say chick. Mustang, make room, I'm coming in." Godiva said, scooting around and getting under the drape of her teammate's long rider coat. Immediately she felt the heat trapped within in, and squirmed as close to his body as possible. "She'd kill me for this, wouldn't she?" Godiva asked, referencing Mustang's fiancée, who was none too fond of her aggressive flirtations and propositions, to the both of them.

"For this, no." Mustang replied, his focus slightly divided in an effort to generate a telekinetic dome over them to block the winds. It was easy to forget how cold the desert could get at night. "You're too cold to do any bad touching anyway."

"Hey, I'm never too cold to bad touch someone, but if I were, this is close to it." Maddie argued, wishing the alien half of her physiology would kick in and offer her some measure of adaptation against the bitter chill. "Can't you do something about this Daeva?"

"You're asking me to effectively command the winds that cross a million square miles of desert Godiva. I appreciate that you think I'm that powerful, but I'm not. I can't make a fire either, because we'd be seen for miles." Daeva countered, though yeah, the fact that such a feat was assumed within her purview felt nice.

"I don't think it matters anyway." Maddie said, hearing a faint beeping sound within Mustang's coat. She reached behind her and fumbled for it, leaving him glad he hadn't pocketed the small tracking monitor in his jeans. "Scramble found them about six hundred miles away. This doohickey says they're within forty miles of launch range."

"I gotta break the sound barrier to get there then. We're gonna get heard before we get seen. I hope you're ready for hostilities ladies." Mustang said, banishing the dome and wrapping both of his teammates up in a telekinetic grip. While Aasha was perfectly capable of sustained flight on her own, her air speed was considerably lower than her teammates. It didn't so much bother her though, because despite his leaps and strides in gaining maneuverability, she could fly circles around him with no effort at all.

[Link's up, hold tight, I ain't wasting time here.] he said and carried them a few hundred feet into the air, before generating a massive amount of potential energy. In the near absolute dark of the desert, the visible disruptions in the air couldn't be seen, but they could be felt. He kept at it for several seconds, doing all of his acceleration at once before popping the clutch and sending them rocketing at hypersonic speed in the direction they needed to go.

[I'll handle ground forces. Daeva, if you can keep them guessing where we are, it'd make things easier. Mustang, you keep them from launching.] Maddie said, pulling a small respirator mask from her belt and cinching it. A sandstorm wouldn't affect Daeva, and Mustang would be shielding himself. It left her in the unenviable position of having to worry about a lungful of sand.

[I'm good to go when you are. Navigation app says six minutes to destination.] Mustang said, still generating force behind them.

[Ready.] both girls replied, functionally at once, before the acceleration hit them. Protected by his telekinetic shielding, the force wasn't necessarily dangerous, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either, the ground and sky shooting by so fast that their equilibrium couldn't keep up. Daeva counted six sonic booms in rapid succession, amazed by the cone of pressure that built up before each one. That same cone was beginning to develop again when their momentum arrested to a near stop.

Below them, several men in tactical gear and balaclavas were scanning their surroundings, rifles out and at the ready. [That's my cue.] Daeva said, and felt her teammate's telekinetic grip release her. Floating in midair, she reached within herself and found her core, a bright mote of light within her soul. She tapped into it, and willed the Earth to her bidding, commanding wind of terrible speeds to whip up, spraying the area in a maelstrom of sand.

[My turn. Drop me.] Maddie instructed, and she too felt the careful grip of her teammate let go, allowing her to plummet to the ground. She landed at high velocity, kicking more sand into the storm, but the impact was no worse than hopping off the next to last step for her, meaning once her tech glasses calibrated to the weather, she was ready to go.

From his vantage point up above, Mustang took in the view without being able to contain a laugh at the misfortune of the mercenary troops. He'd hit the record button on his own tech glasses, so that everyone else could appreciate the sight of one of these mercs trying to escape the storm, only to get yanked back into it by a deep blue sleeved arm. Their fear was palpable, but these guys were professionals, and tried their best to regroup to respond.

He didn't feel like telling them it wouldn't be enough, instead, he felt it necessary to demonstrate it. First, by extended his telekinetic reach onto the missile trucks, and then further, enveloping the missile pods each carried, before ripping them off of the trucks quite handily, a grand gesture preceding an awful sound of metal shearing and twisting.

[Daeva, pound the ground so I can herd these guys.] Godiva requested, brushing another AK round off, before dashing directly to the shooter and crumpling him with a punch so weak she almost felt guilty it took him down. Almost.

[As you like.] Daeva replied, calling the lightning to join the wind, her sandstorm getting ringed with bright flashes. Each impact scorched the ground, leaving a dark spot which was quickly scoured away by the rushing sandstorm which still filled the area. It did the job of herding the merc team, who was smart enough not to run where lightning was, instead willing to take their chances against the demon amongst the winds.

[You need me to drop these rockets and help out?] Mustang said, feeling like teats on a boar hog at the moment.

[Nope, this is woman's work, you can keep yourself out of it.] Godiva replied in a jokingly condescending tone. [I needed a chance to stretch out anyway.]

[Is it even a stretch? All I'm hearing is small arms fire.] Mustang replied, keeping his eyes out on the periphery of the sandstorm, in the event one of the mercs managed to slip away. They could have a shot lined up on Daeva and eliminate the crowd control in less than a second, and with her lacking any ability to defend against bullets, it left her more fragile than he cared to consider.

[Nope, there's grenades happening in here too. They make my boobies jiggle, it's kind of, oh you son of a bitch, hang on.] Godiva replied in answer. Unable to see what was happening, the two fliers were forced to wait until Lady G had solved whatever problem had cropped up.

When one of the missile trucks went flying out of the sandstorm to land a dozen yards away, they had their answer. [They caught me fighting a cluster and thought running me over might work. These guys were seriously unprepared for us.]

[I believe that's a good thing.] Daeva replied, still focusing on the winds and lightning. She hazarded a glance over to her teammate, still floating calmly in the air, his telekinetic grip on the missile pods absolute. As an artist, she'd trained her eye to zero in on a moment and hold it, and in the dark desert, with wind whipping about, she saw a moment of him that she felt absolutely compelled to commit to paper or canvas.

The honesty of expression was important to her, catching people at their most unhidden and vulnerable. She'd drawn so many nudes of her girlfriend for that reason, and even the clothed pictures were inspired by moments where she wasn't the nightmare of criminals in her city. In fact, Daeva had more than a couple of books filled of pictures of her team. Maddie and Kris were her favorite subjects, due to how closed off they were. Liho and Deke, well, those two were a painful case of getting what you see, but on a rare moment, they could surprise her.

[Okay, kill the weather; I think I've got them all. Mustang, get ready in case of stragglers.] Godiva said over the link. She kept vigilant as the winds died down, and when they'd ceased, she couldn't help but laugh at the situation. The aftermath of Daeva's crowd control had caused a shallow bowl shape to be dug from the sand, so gradual that nobody had even noticed.

"I think that's it. What are we doing with the missiles?" Godiva yelled out in her real voice. To answer her question, seven of the pods, each carrying eight missiles, lifted several hundred feet in the air, before being crushed violently. Contrary to Hollywood, they didn't explode though, as they'd not yet been armed. The last pod though, remained quite comfortable on the sand.

"I thought Fractal might want to have some fun with the tracking and guidance packages in these things, so maybe we don't have to do this anymore." Mustang said, releasing his grip and scattering the ruined pieces of the destroyed pods over a half-mile of desert.

"Look at Mustang using his thinking brain." Godiva said once the three of them were all within conversational range. "Daeva, what are you doing?" she asked, noticing her diminutive teammate rooting about on the periphery of the depression her winds had created.

"Looking for fulgurite. It's pretty." Daeva said in a very matter-of-fact tone, summoning much more gentle winds to blow the sand away near where her lightning had struck. "I bet Shield Maiden could make some lovely jewelry."

"Well hurry it up, we're on the clock here. If Alpha doesn't report in soon enough, we need to get into Biyalia in a hurry." Godiva said while tying up the mercenaries. While lackadaisical in most regards, when it came to doing the job, as it were, she turned into pure business. "While we're waiting though, what'd you wind up doing for your birthday?" she asked, turning to look at Mustang.

"Nothing, actually. Been too busy." He drawled, reflexively casting a glance at Daeva's behind as she was bent over looking for lightning glass. "I was wanting to do something tonight, so long as Queen Bee doesn't get frisky."

"Is Psimon still in her employ?" Daeva asked, picking up a piece of the material she was looking for. The intense heat generated by lightning created small pieces of glass out of the sand, and she'd found a nice sized chunk of it.

"I hope not. I dunno if I can handle him or not. Miss Martian put him down but she's a way more powerful telepath." Mustang said with an involuntary shudder. The longer he could keep from tangling with that sociopathic asshole, the better. He aided his teammate in her endeavor, cuffing the paramilitary thieves so that Quraci forces could swing by and pick them up safely. When Godiva saw him helping, she went about the onerous task of destroying their weapons, bending and breaking them beyond repair.

"Mustang, what kind of guns are these?" She asked, holding a rifle in the air.

"AK's and Krinkov's, a few Galil's too. Good guns for desert combat." He said, cuffing the last of the mercs. "Nothing out of the ordinary really."

"Worth asking though." Daeva offered, pocketing the piece of fulgurite she'd recovered. "Let's clear out of here, shall we?"

"Sounds good," Godiva said, wrapping her arms around her chest to stave off the cold. The fight had warmed her up, but not well enough. She dropped a beacon among the cuffed and unconscious mercenaries, and then looked at her teammates. "Okay, I'm done being in charge, one of you two get to do it now."

"Well then, saddle up." Daeva said, winking at Mustang. "Let's ride."