October 16th
Montauk New York
1645 EST
Camp Hero, a part of the Montauk Air Station, was a decommissioned military base. It sat unused for twenty four years, so far as anyone was aware, but looks were apparently deceiving. Well off the beaten path, away from the hiking trails that tourists loved to use, sat a facility that had seen better days, but again, that was deception.
Koa, wearing black shorts and strips of black greasepaint (stealth gear in his own words) moved silently through the undergrowth on approach to the facility that Batgirl and Fractal agreed had to be in use. His size would lead people to believe that he was a lumbering ox, but the opposite was actually true. He'd received a lot of training in his role as one of Mera's guardians, not just knowing how to jump in front of a live weapon.
[Clear to a hundred feet.] he thought, using the mental link Mustang had set up to communicate silently.
[We're on your back.] Batgirl replied, moving through tree branches above him like the ninja her boyfriend liked to describe her as. Below her, Fractal moved along on the ground, carefully picking his way through the forest floor. He walked in slow, measured steps, taking his time to remain quiet.
Behind them, just in the woodline away from the beach, Godiva, Mustang, and Daeva sat ready. Godiva might be agile, and she was certainly graceful, but silent, she was not, so she remained behind to hang with their air support, ready to be called into her full ass kicking glory.
"You okay?" Daeva asked in a small voice, putting her small hand on her teammate's bicep. She'd heard he hadn't taken the news he'd received well.
Mustang nodded, reaching into his coat to withdraw a small circular container, about the size of a hockey puck. He quietly snapped the thing a few times before taking a pinch out and tucking it between his lower lip and gum.
"That's a gross habit, how does she even kiss you?" Godiva asked in a similarly low voice, her nose turned up in disgust.
"Beef jerky's a disgusting habit?" Mustang replied quietly, turning the can around so they could see the lid.
"Sorry," Godiva replied. "Can I have some then?"
Mustang handed her the plastic container and relaxed, letting the flavor of the salty spiced beef dissolve into his mouth. He was still a nervous eater, and at the moment, his nerves were twitching. He wanted desperately to be aloft, providing overwatch for the forward team, not hanging back and waiting for the all clear.
[We're at the building.] Batgirl said over the link. [Fractal and I are breaking security. You're all clear to move up.]
"Let us sally forth." Daeva said, smoothing out the black athletic gear she wore. This would usually be accompanied by a purple and blue sari, but such a thing had no place in the woods at night, especially on a stealth mission. Once she rose, she made a quick swishing gesture with both hands, summoning low fog to help conceal their boat.
"I'll take point." Mustang said, and began walking along, going down the same path Fractal had followed. Daeva came up behind him, and Godiva pulled up rear, intentionally putting the most fragile member of their team in between them.
Once to the door of the building, which was at one point a gun turret during and after World War two, they saw their team gesturing towards them. [All the cameras are on loop.] Batgirl said, sounding quite proud of herself. [And Fractal's got control of the doors. There are people inside, but it doesn't seem like many, and the ones who are there, don't appear armed.]
[Obfuscation security.] Fractal said, gesturing towards the door. [It's amazing until you're discovered.]
[Seems so low buget.] Godiva said, glancing around. If they hadn't been in costume, they could have just acted like a bunch of horny teenagers trying to find a place to have some fun, but if they were caught, it would be a fight. [Hope it stays that way.]
Batgirl waited by the door. When she signaled Fractal, he in turn issued a mental command to his nanite army, triggering the sequence which opened the doors. Greeting them was a long descending hallway, which the crew moved down quietly, hugging the walls. It was dark, with only dull yellow running lights to offer any illumination.
The first few levels were nothing more than utility. A few quad bikes sat parked near the landing on the first floor. Batgirl and Koa cut the ignition wires, and they continued on. Down further, they found a cafeteria, which earned Koa and Mustang the nicknames of Shaggy and Scooby when they both tried to sneak in for something to eat.
Down further were empty labs, further still were storage areas full of empty crates, and that's where Batgirl started getting annoyed. [We shouldn't have this easy a time.] she said, signaling the team to hunker down in the empty depot. [There were people inside, we saw it.]
It was then that Koa scowled. His ears, biotechnologically enhanced, began picking something up. [We're made.] He said, and cracked his neck and knuckles.
[Up high.] Daeva said, lifting herself aloft, joined by Mustang who bounced himself into the air, the two of them hovering among the ceiling mounted crane assembly. Fractal and Godiva slipped towards the doors, while Batgirl simply vanished.
There was nothing for several minutes. Koa, who had positioned himself behind a forklift, grabbed hold of the thing, waiting to lob it, when the doors swished open. [Now!] Batgirl said over their link, having identified the people coming in as having weapons, which made no sense.
The forklift went flying as Koa whipped the thing, giving a terrifying roar as he did. The group of armed people scattered, some coming in, others keeping out. Batgirl lobbed a few smoke pellets from her concealed position, and leapt in, striking several as she moved.
The forklift, meanwhile, began melting, dissolving into its constituent materials, before reshaping itself. It allowed more people in, but once Koa and Godiva got mixed into them, the extra pressure could be handled.
Up above, Daeva generated winds to buffet more of the team at the door, while Mustang yanked weapons from their hands and crushed them, using the power of his telekinetic grip to ruin them quickly.
[We have a problem!] Batgirl called out as she dropped what had to be her twelfth target. They just weren't stopping. How they missed all these people in the security scrub was impossible.
[I have the solution.] Fractal replied, stepping into the mass of machinery he'd created. Immediately, it came to life, the power armor he's crafted for himself out of forklift parts becoming much more threatening than the scrap it was only a moment ago. [We can't get pinned here, might as well make a mess getting out.]
[I heard that. Link's going down for a minute.] Mustang said, coming to a perch on one of the beams. He severed the link and reached out, touching the minds in range. Fear was the overwhelming sensation he felt. These people weren't professional soldiers, only a small handful had any amount of weapons training whatsoever. It meant they had no real stomach for what they were doing, which gave him an in. Instead of some kind of communication, which he felt would be ignored out of that same fear, or a telepathic suggestion, which he really had no desire to ever do to someone, he instead generated a massive amount of psychic static. Almost immediately, the press-gang of security began wailing and screaming, dropping their weapons and going to their knees, ineffectually covering their ears.
"It ain't permanent." Mustang muttered, pushing hard at them. His heart beat, only seconds ago pounding, found a calm, steady rhythm, and the excitement and tension of the moment just seemed to fade away. It wouldn't take much to end these people, their brains melting out of their ears in psychic trauma, and what in the actual hell was he thinking?
He severed the connection, shaking his head with a furious motion. It had tried creeping up on him again, that hateful voice fueled by years of solitude and abuse and intensified by being pent up for so long. "Wish somebody would try robots again." He muttered.
"Let's go!" Batgirl called. She dashed down the hallway, the team on her heels. She wasn't about to waste the trip here on thumping some half-assed security forces that didn't know the barrel of their weapon from the stock.
[We're live and in living color.] Mustang said, swooping down from his perch, but remaining aloft as they went down the hallway. It was game on now, and no sense in being quiet. He kept near the ceiling, every door they almost passed, he ripped from the wall, giving them access.
[We on the bottom level.] Koa said, a few floors and a couple more altercations with the low rent security later. Just more and more empty labs, offices, and utility areas greeted them as they'd moved. [No echoes below us.] he said, referencing the sonar he had built into him.
[Security office, right here.] Daeva said, pointing towards one of the few doors still on its hinges. [If you would please?]
Fractal grabbed the thing in his massive power armor fist, ripping it from the fixtures. [That was cathartic.] He said, and stepped aside. Batgirl and Godiva moved in, one to try and get information, the other to cover her.
[One last room.] Mustang said, grabbing the huge double doors and pulling. Unlike the rest, this one was anchored more securely, and weighed a great deal more. Sweat formed as he pulled, putting everything he had into his effort. Slowly, the metal buckled and groaned under the enormous pressure he put against it.
[Goldmine! Fractal, drop the suit and get in here.] Batgirl said after she cracked the security on the computers in the security office. Unlike the people who were guarding the place, the cybersecurity was excellent.
Fractal willed his creation to release him, a panel opening up just as the doors at the end of the hall finally gave way. He'd no sooner stepped from around the thing when a single shot rang out, striking him in the collar.
"Oh Hell no!" Koa roared once he saw the shooter in the huge room. A man with unruly blonde hair, wearing a loose red bandanna for a mask, and dressed in a green longcoat dropped the scoped rifle he held, and drew a pair of pistols.
"Oh hell yes." The man said, peppering the massive Hawaiian as he charged. Daeva was immediately with her team leader, checking him out, and was joined quickly by Mustang.
"He's not good, we gotta get him out of here." Mustang said with a frown. The bleeding wasn't bad enough to indicate damage to the subclavian artery but all that meant was death wasn't going to be immediate. He tore a pouch of quickclot open with his mouth and dumped it into the wound.
"We'll cover your exit, get out of here." Godiva all but shrieked, waving as she and Batgirl passed on their way to help Koa. A trait she didn't often display, Lady G moved at incredible speed. Not on the level of Kid Flash, but definitely superhuman when motivated.
[Be careful, I love you.] Mustang sent directly to his love, and used his abilities to lift Fractal as smoothly as possible. Out loud, he spoke to Daeva. "Time to show 'em who's boss."
"Of course." Daeva said, and took the forward position. Mustang put Fractal between them and followed his teammate out of the place.
In the huge room, which looked like some kind of training facility, Koa was busy with the mercenary man. While he wasn't as slow as he looked, the other guy was just plain faster. The guy dumped his ammunition ineffectively into the Atlantean warrior and went to hand to hand, striking at whatever vulnerable areas he could.
When a cloud of smoke erupted at his feet, he prepared himself for what was coming. Instinct warned him of the attack before it came, and it gave him a chance to duck an elbow shot that would have crushed his teeth and jawbone, and also allowed him the chance to retaliate on the overextended Batgirl, giving her an elbow of his own to the back of her head as he rose back up.
The explosion of pain rocked her, not at all expecting to be anticipated that quickly. She stumbled a step but regained her balance quickly, whipping a nasty crescent kick just as much as a deterrent as means to end the fight, but her foot only caught air. It was then she felt a hard impact at the back of her ankle, at the Achilles tendon, which put her on her back, hard.
"Sorry it had to be this way," she heard in her ear. "But if it's any consolation, once this is over, I'm rooting for you. Go see to your team, all of them."
Batgirl kipped up to her feet as the smoke cloud cleared. Koa was leaning against a huge treadmill, several small wounds in his torso trickling blood. Godiva was clutching her face while blood poured from between her hands. "We gotta go." She said, pulling on both of them. The way the blonde mercenary had emphasized his statement, she was worried Daeva and Mustang were about to meet something unseemly upstairs. The way he'd vanished in her own smoke cloud was already bothering her more than getting hit.
And that's exactly what happened. The moment the doors to the outside of the facility blew off their hinges, weapon fire filled the hallway. Mustang barely had a chance to throw a barrier up before the hallway turned into a lead blender. "Daeva, would you mind terribly buying me a minute?"
"Not at all." She said, able to summon lightning now that she could see the sky. Thunderheads formed rapidly, blotting out the moonlight, and within seconds, lightning began striking the ground. The weapon fire stopped as the shooters scrambled for cover, or had their night vision ruined.
That's all the time Mustang needed. He began whipping wide swaths of telekinetic energy, the force blowing people backwards, knocking them down, and nearly ripping trees from the ground. He was in absolutely no mood to put up with their nonsense. First, he's led here to get answers, then, there's not a damn thing at all, and finally, he was getting shot at while one of his friends was in serious condition. To hell with all these people.
He kept up his telekinetic assault, unleashing a steady cone of pressure. More of that fear met his thoughts, and it didn't take long before the people broke forces and ran. Mustang let them run, except one. That one got lifted from the ground and held there.
"We're here!" Godiva called, barreling up the ramp to the outside. "Let's get moving!"
A quiet ping in Batgirl's earpiece brought a moment's satisfaction. The decryption program had finished, and the data on the computers in the building were currently being pushed to a remote proxy of the Batcomputer. Whatever they had, she had. Of course, so did Bruce. She wasn't looking forward to that conversation.
"Yeah, one second." Mustang said, and made a dramatic grasping motion, yanking his prisoner towards him. He stared into the prisoner's eyes, and his whole face went slack as his thoughts were being rifled through. It lasted only a short moment, before he was dropped the few inches to the ground. "Run, and pray to God that you never show up around me again." Mustang commanded, pointing towards the walkway that led away from the clandestine location.