March 30, 1986

"So here's the plan," Spaceboy said as they hid behind a rather large and conveniently located tree, "Ben with Diego and Klaus with me. Everyone keep your communicator channels open."

"Who's with her?" Kraken asked, jerking his head in Claire's direction.

Claire shrugged like it didn't matter. From beside her Horror started to type away on a small laptop.

"No one," replied Space, "She'll go in first and hopefully be the one to find Nix. Although it wasn't unduly deserved, Nix doesn't trust us. She might find it easier to believe what Claire says. Not to mention the fact she probably works best with her."

"Your niece's name is Vi you know," snapped Claire irritably.

"Why don't you send me with Claire and you go by yourself?" Kraken said.

Space looked him over.

"While I know that she's your daughter and you're probably rather anxious to make sure she's alright," he said, "Whoever this is is probably expecting Claire and Claire alone. Not you, not Academy. If she goes first, and alone, then they won't be expecting us."

"Fair 'nough," mumbled Claire, "But we're essentially flying blind here and I think there's a pretty good chance that she might run into one of you first. So, just tell her that Claire's with you, and she had butter fudge ripple at the water park in June."

She felt four pairs of eyes on her.

"She'll know what it means," she snapped, annoyed by the fact that everyone was staring at her ever five minutes, "You'll get her to believe you that way."

"Not only does she use soulless shampoos but also eats full-fat cholesterol ice cream," muttered Séance.

"I'll take your word on it," said Space, ignoring his brother like everyone seemed to do, "Is the virus ready?"

"Just about," Horror replied, clicking away on the keyboard a little more, "When I say go Claire, just go. Keep low to the ground because I think they're some sentries, but for the most part speed over safety. Try to enter through one of the side windows. I think that's one of the storage closets. There is only a minimal chance of you getting shot."

"Nice to know," said Claire sarcastically.

"Ready? Horror asked.

"As I'm ever gonna be."

"Virus has uploaded…" Horror said, watching a small loading bar on the screen, "Now!"

Claire hit the ground running, making sure to have cover at almost all times. She saw the lit tips of a few cigarettes from above her, confirming Horror's hypothesis about sentries. Luckily they seemed to distracted by whatever the hell it was they were doing. Finally making it to the building she weaseled her way in through one of the windows.

She fell ungracefully inside and picked herself up. Once again Horror had been right. It was just a storage closet, something Claire was very grateful about. Despite the fact that it was a very small space, at least it wasn't a room full of armed men or some shit like that. When the door handle turned though, Claire's luck ran out.

As the door open Claire grabbed the closest thing she could get her hands on. It turned out to be a bucket of paint, which she had no idea in hell was doing there. As soon as the man stepped in it connected to his skull with a very solid thunk. As he crumpled Claire wondered briefly if she'd given him a concussion. She found that she rather enjoyed the idea.

Setting the paint can down she peered around the door. The hallway it connected it to was mercifully empty. Shoving the man's body into the closet she shut the door and proceeded cautiously. There was a dimly lit flight of stairs that led down. She could only assume that the man had come up from them, since the other end of the hallway was a dead end. Deciding it was as good a way to go as any, she went down them.

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Spaceboy waited with his brothers and growing impatience at Séance's slow movements. He wanted to get this over and done with rather quickly. To be perfectly honest he didn't quite think that he was doing it for redemption, he had operated with the facts and orders he'd had. New information had not been available to him then, so how was he supposed to have known that they were related?

On the other hand, he did have to admit that he was still hoping to impress Rumor. Yes yes, very stupid and it would probably prove him to be the show-off Kraken had always called him. Not to mention the fact that he hadn't factored in a sarcastic daughter who hated him. Still, it was worth a shot. After so many years of not having a chance in hell any sort of shot looked like it should be taken advantage of.

When Séance finally did catch up he jerked his hand for him to follow him around the front of the house, under the overhanging porch. Due to the fact that Space's large bulk made it unlikely for a covert entrance to be possible, they were just going to give Claire a few more minutes before they charged in through the front door. After that they would split up.

He drummed his fingers against his arm as the minutes ticked by. Space noticed that Kraken was doing the same thing. Of course, he did have a much bigger stake in this mission than anyone. While the words 'father' and 'Kraken' didn't seem to fit together in a sentence it made sense in an odd way. Part of him couldn't believe that he hadn't seen it sooner. A girl as rude and daredevil as Vi could only have been Kraken's daughter.

As he mused on this a high-pitched keening noise started from inside the house. Men started shouting and running around. The brothers looked at each other, knowing they'd have to go in now. Just before Space battered the door down he muttered to himself;

"What the hell did that girl do now?"

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Inside the house Claire had reached the bottom of the staircase. It opened into a larger room where several men with semi-automatics drank coffee around the table. She winced. A break room. What kind of a super-villain had a break room for his employees? It boggled the mind, it really did.

Suddenly a high-pitched keening noise sounded. Red lights flashed and all the men turned and looked at her. Going for the gold she placed one hand on the light switch and stretched the other one forward. Bolts of blue electricity flowed from her fingertips, hitting each one. They fell down, dead or unconscious, she really didn't care. It certainly didn't help that they had all that metal on.

Moving on before reinforcements could arrive she muttered through gritted teeth;

"What the hell did my bastard uncles do now?"

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Vi really hadn't meant to trigger the alarm. It had just happened. She'd been busy hitting one man while another must've called it in through his walkie-talkie. It had pissed her off; he had just let his co-workers be pummeled by her while he fiddled with his goddamned machine. So when she'd run up to him, her fist pulled back for a hit, she'd already decided to give him at least a broken jaw.

What actually happened was that his head had come off. She'd half-screamed in surprise and pain from the pressure exerted on her hand and the sight of a head just coming off. Shaken she looked down at her hand to find bones splintering out of her knuckles. The pain she was feeling then was five times what she'd felt when her wrist was sprained. Then, right before her eyes, the bones slide back in and the skin stitched itself back together. That combined with the now headless man sinking to the floor made her stomach churn.

She promptly vomited all over the floor. Maybe she had let too many walls down. Right now she literally didn't know her own strength. Still, knowing that she could take off a man's head if she so chose made her feel rather more confident about her chances with Jormungand. Now all she had to do was get past the rest of the guards and find him. Piece of cake.