Music Choices: MIC Drop (BTS, Steve Aoki remix), Boss Bitch by Doja Cat
Author's Notes: If you haven't watched Birds of Prey yet, the soundtrack is fun. Also, stay safe out there everyone.
Eclipse
Chapter 23
The Raid Part IV
There are a few major roads that eventually lead out of the Kingdom of Vale. However most vehicles, like most people, have the good sense to stay within the Kingdom walls; unless they are specifically anti-Grimm in characteristics and capable of sudden off-roading. All of Vale's serious inbound and outbound traffic arrives by air or sea, after all. Unless you are a Hunter, a farmer, a part of the Valish military, or just an obscenely wealthy individual, you won't be driving anything with four wheels out of the gates.
So it was fairly apparent that something interesting was afoot when, at ten thirty pm exactly, three separate blacked out, heavily armored caravans rolled out of the various traffic tunnels across the city, heading for the major roads that led out of Vale. Each caravan possessed two anti-Grimm SUV's flashing gold and green lights at the front and back, signifying King's Service to anyone who might try to intercept or slow them down. Civilian traffic immediately pulled over to make way when they saw the SUV's lights, and any traffic lights in the area flipped to green automatically.
Sandwiched between them were two IFV's, each visibly manned up by unidentified uniformed personnel in gold and green body armor. Between the none too subtle IFV's were three large prisoner transports. Anyone on the streets who saw these caravans rolling by obviously took notice of them, but the majority would simply comment on it to their friends before carrying on with their evenings.
However, the criminal undercurrents of the Kingdom broke out with a flurry of chatter, as everyone panicked trying to figure out what had happened and who was being transported where; no one could agree on how many caravans there even were, because they seemed to have come from nowhere and were all beelining for different gates.
As each caravan continued on their path unobstructed, they picked up a few rubberneckers, following at respectful distance. Most were just overly curious, bored people. A few were the boldest members of various criminal enterprises who wanted confirmation that it wasn't any of theirs being carted off and out the Kingdom; and three were people on black motorcycles, dressed in black body armor, who suddenly appeared on the various roadways in hot pursuit of the caravans.
The riders wove in and out of traffic, but stayed well enough behind the caravans that they didn't immediately stand out. However, as the moments passed, the more 'situationally aware' cars began to slow and turn off at the exits, realizing that this particular rodeo didn't involve any of them. The eyes in the sky quickly confirmed that these three riders were working together and were most likely some of their actual targets.
"All stations, this is Adria."
The riders were pressing closer to the end of the caravans, but had yet to break away from the rest of the traffic that they were running with.
"You've got someone's attention. Vanguard, make sure you keep it. Rearguard, get in there and get ready to make a nice little sandwich."
The three caravans began to slow as they reached their various overpasses; the riders followed them, seemingly unaware of the new vehicles coming up rapidly from behind.
"Vanguard, slow her down. Ooh, look, a nice traffic jam. Come on now, come and get the shiny."
The various Vanguard caravans had slowed to a crawl, obstructing the different roadways. Behind them by a quarter of a mile or so, the Rearguard's smaller, faster cars had broken out the lights; the last of the rubberneckers and traffic began to fall back and out of the way, allowing the Rearguard to charge on by. The motorcyclists were quickly getting sandwiched in between the Rearguard, and the IFV's, who had pulled back and were getting ready to throw out a blockade.
Then something happened that no one was really expecting. Each rider suddenly whipped their ride around, and tore off in the direction they'd come from, right towards the oncoming vehicles of the Rearguard.
"Rearguard, don't let them squeeze by!"
The low slung vehicles activated their Hard Light barriers, driving abreast with one another, creating an impassable blockade; at least, for anything determined to keep its wheels on the asphalt.
"Air support, standby. I'm blacking out traffic cameras in your regions in five."
Above the three different roads, several hawks equipped with tiny microphone pins and cameras made ready to dive down. When Adria killed the traffic cameras below, they'd be able to shift skins, and sky drop onto the unsuspecting riders.
At least, that was the plan. Until each rider threw something blinking at the concrete barriers that separated the traffic lanes from several dozen feet of free air. Three separate explosions caused sharp, but brief, bursts of static over the comms. Then, rapid chatter which was interrupted by a familiar, impatient, voice.
"All stations, Regalia, report status in order."
"Regalia, Allwyn. No casualties."
"Regalia, Rosemary! No casualties!"
"Regalia, Bellicose. No casualties."
"Regalia, Adria, I have lost eyes on the riders."
A beat.
"Regalia copies."
There was chatter as the police and several other departments tried to get an update on what the hell was going on, as explosions were typically frowned upon within city limits. The riders had apparently blown exits out of the bridge's barriers and literally dropped down onto the streets below, fortunately without harming any bystanders. Adria was filtering through the traffic cameras at rapid speed, trying to find the three motorcycles.
"All stations, Regalia. Keep going. Adria, get another update from Brunoz, yesterday. I want confirmation on STRQ's location."
"Adria copies, wait one."
"Yesterday, Adria."
Adria muted her mike and groaned aloud before swapping the channel to Brunoz.
"Brunoz, I need an update on team STRQ and Arc's current location."
Crackling bursts of static, before a frustrated voice answered from over three hundred miles away.
"Adria, I am still looking right at them. I really can't talk right now,."
Adria made a face. Brunoz was always so testy over the littlest things, like he was the only person who ever had to deal with stress.
"Oh, I'm sorry? Are you busy, too? Get over it. The Lieutenant is literally inside my butthole right now, asking about you. So unless you want her climbing inside your butthole too, keep me fucking updated."
"...Brunoz's butthole copies."
"That's what I thought."
The caravans were beginning to pull away, heading for their separate gates in earnest. In the sky, one of the hawks had spotted a motorcycle; the small camera attached to the collar around his neck zoomed in as Adria focused, trying to get a better visual. Their bike had apparently sustained damage when they had literally ramped off of the overpass, and they had not reached cover like their compatriots.
"Hayan, get closer! Let's see if we can get an id on who that is!"
Hayan screed softly and began to descend rapidly. The rider's bike was smoking, and they were careening recklessly through civilian traffic as they made for downtown. The rider seemed to notice Hayan and swerved dangerously to the right; a truck sat on his horn furiously, nearly colliding with another car.
Hayan, angered by the rider's recklessness, dropped even closer, almost right on top of them. They were dressed in all black, black armor, black cloth, black shoes, the bike had been painted black; no skin out, no hair, no faunus limbs, nothing. He couldn't see their face through the reflective shield of the rider's helmet, but he knew they were looking him in the eye as he flew parallel to them.
"Hayan- look out!"
Hayan did not have time to react, other than to lift his beak up. A black bag bore down upon him, scooping him out of the air as another rider arrived on the scene. The limping motorcycle suddenly stopped smoking, as her rider scooped a black canister out where they had hidden it and tossed it into the street before roaring away. The other rider was already blasting past a red light, and cornering sharply down an alleyway with no lights or camera coverage.
"FUCK!"
"Adria? ADRIA. What's happening?"
"Addy? Do you have eyes on Hayan?"
"Quiet on the net. Adria, Regalia. Report when you get a visual. Everyone else, focus on the task at hand."
There was a more ominous silence as the caravans reached their respective gates and were waved through quickly by the personnel on guard. Overhead, the remaining eyes in the sky were trying to locate the rider who had taken Hayan captive, while Adria tore her way through Vale's cyberspace; after several seconds, she found a livestream from a teenager, who currently had a drone in the air that was following one of the riders. The teen apparently thought the rider was a Hunter, or someone interesting, and was trying to get footage of a Semblance in action. Adria promptly took over the drone, and gave pursuit.
The rider had a black bag, covered in strange, shimmering glyphs, strapped to their back. Adria started broadcasting the rider's location to the rest of the King's Service.
"I've got eyes on Hayan! The rider is headed south on Riverwood; I can get cars there in under three minutes."
Then, more live video and online chatter blossoming across the net like wildfire. Adria was beginning to sweat despite the climate control.
The other riders had reappeared, and they, too, had weird black bags that could possibly contain Hayan.
"Um. Belay that. All stations, all three riders have reappeared. And they are all carrying bags that could hold our operative."
There was a heavy silence.
"Regalia, Allwyn. We've passed the south gate. What are your orders?"
Adria could practically feel Allwyn's anger from here, but took comfort that it wasn't directed at her.
"All stations, Regalia. Continue with the plan and stay sharp. I will personally get Hayan back."
The riders were scattered across Vale, but they seemed to be following some pattern; namely, large serpentines, going several blocks right, then up, then left, rinse and repeat. Every move they were making was coordinated with their peers, meaning they had to have comms; Adria had spent the past several minutes trying to crack the channel they were talking on, and was growing increasingly frustrated and more upset.
Nobody understood how hard her job was, and the other only person really empathetic to her struggle was riding out of the city right now. Leaving her alone with the bitch from the pit, who was clearly furious that she'd gotten Hayan bagged. Regalia was going to tear her head off after she got Hayan back.
If she got him back, and they didn't kill him first.
Refusing to hyperventilate, Adria threw herself into the job of finding her colleague. Regalia was already in the skies, and was zeroing in on the rider closest to the palace. However, if she attacked them and one of the other riders was the one with Hayan, then the shifter might die for their mistake.
The only upside to any of this, was that if it was anyone Regalia had encountered before, she would recognize their auras and Semblances. So in a few more seconds, they would know for sure if the riders were anyone already on their shit list.
Meanwhile, the caravans had all exited their respective gates, and were on their way to the staging grounds. If the Branwen really were going to make an appearance, it would be soon.
"Ok, Regalia. You're almost on top of them. Can you feel Hayan and is the rider anyone you recognize?"
The falcon woman was high enough up that she could technically shift back, answer, and shift again, all without being seen by anyone in the dark. There was a windy pause, before Regalia's irate, pompous accent answered her.
"-no! I can't detect anything coming from them! They're like a void!"
Adria paused, checking the location of the cars she'd broken away from the Rearguard earlier and sent out into the city. Three of them were closing in on the rider's position, ready to give Regalia backup.
Adria swapped Regalia's camera to infrared after she'd swapped back to her feathery form. Adria cursed.
"Oh fuck me, they're wearing anti-aural foil under their clothes!"
Anti-aural foil had originally been designed in Atlas, for suppressing dangerous Semblances in prison populations. There's really only one reason anyone would wear something that would willingly hamper a Semblance and aura like that, and it was to make them unidentifiable to anyone with an aura hunting Semblance. Indicating they knew about Regalia's own abilities, or suspected they had people with such Semblances on hand. Whoever they were, they were ready and willing to engage them without using their own greater abilities; and they were also afraid that Regalia could identify them by aura alone.
"Shit, we know them! We HAVE to know them! But it can't be STRQ or Arc, Brunoz has been sending me updates during the chase! They're still in Burhhurst!"
Regalia didn't reply to this observation as she circled above the rider. The cars that Adria had dispatched had reached the block where the rider was; meanwhile, the other riders were similarly being boxed in by the rest of the Rearguard drivers on the other side of Vale.
Two cars whipped onto the road where the black rider Regalia was tracking. The drivers activated their Hard Light fields and drove down the middle of the street, trying to sandwich the rider between them. The rider sped up, and at the last moment, hopped the curb and up onto the sidewalk; then threw something as they barely skirted past.
Another explosion blossomed, creating more static over the channel. Adria squinted, anxiety mounting as one of her driver's cars spun out; the rider had used a Dust charge to blow a hole in the car's engine, punching through it's light armor. The Rearguard vehicles were not explosion or Grimm proof, and had been built with high speed pursuit and kettling tactics in mind. Because they were supposed to be the hunters here, not the other way around.
The rider banked left, then left again, circling back around the block. They were coming back for the other car. The remaining driver was trying to U-turn in the street, leaving their compatriot behind. The bike whipped onto the road and came at them, more explosives in hand.
The remaining driver, aware of what was coming, decided to turn out and block the street with the angled length of their car at the last second. But the rider throttled, and actually bunny hopped their bike onto the hood of the pursuit vehicle.
They dropped their explosive after they ramped over and hit the pavement again, blowing the car's engine out as the Dust ignited. Glass shards and acrid smoke burst out over the street, as the rider made a break for it.
Regalia had not made Hayan's mistake by flying too close to the ground, but she was clearly getting fed up with just watching. She kept dropping lower, trying to stay right on top of the rider. If she could get the drop on them, perhaps it would be worth it; however, if this person didn't have Hayan, then the other riders might take that as their signal to do something more serious with their captive.
Adria considered her other options, but before she had a chance to make a decision, the rider whipped their arm up; and shot an explosive Dust round directly up at the Lieutenant. Adria could only watch as the falcon dodged the projectile with a shriek. The rider shot again, and again, each near misses, before buckling down and taking off down the street at dangerous speeds.
"Regalia?!"
Regalia shrieked again, angry but apparently unharmed. The Lieutenant pursued the rider, trying to keep up even as they drove at insane speeds towards the industrial district. Meanwhile, the other riders were making fools of their own pursuers and the caravans had entered the forested regions outside of the Kingdom. The police kept hailing their channels, wanting to get in on the action every time they heard an explosion or saw one the riders and their pursuers run a red light. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of noise was happening all at once, and it was nearly overwhelming for Adria to keep up with at this rate.
The rider was beelining for the shipyard, Regalia hot on their tail. They blew a chain link fence with another explosive round, screeched left, and started riding along the waterfront; there were few cameras if any in this region, at least any that would be able to spot Regalia shifting skins.
However, before the Lieutenant could make the decision to shift and drop down on top of them, the rider unslung the bag from their back. With one hand they held the bag out, and with a quick snap, flung the bag into the shallow waters. There was a split second of hesitation on Regalia's part, and Adria could practically hear her thought process.
It was unlikely that Hayan was in that bag. It was more likely that it was empty, or that it contained more explosives. However, in the event that it was Hayan? Then he would certainly drown, as the heavy bag was already sinking beneath the waves. And if he died, then everyone would know that Reggie had personally failed to retrieve him.
The Lieutenant screamed in frustration and banked sharply to the right, pursuing the bag. The rider rapidly disappeared into the dark of the dockyards and Adria lost sight of them, as Reggie shifted skins and dove beneath the waves. The camera could not see in the blackness of the harbor waters.
" Shit, shit, o t."
"Adria, Verdant. Status update on Hayan and Regalia."
"W-wait one, sir."
Things slowed to a crawl. The other riders had gotten away from their pursuers and Adria's attention was split between trying to keep track of them, the three caravans, and all the peripheral noise on the net. In fact, Adria was completely unaware of her physical surroundings.
She didn't even feel the prick at the base of her neck, and was slumping out of her chair before she could even register that she was losing consciousness.
Adria's body was laid carefully out on ground, where she continued to breath slowly but steadily. A figure dressed all in black took her spot at the rig where she had been overseeing everything, lifted up her headset, and pressed a device to their throat; and Adria's voice came out.
"All stations, Adria. Hayan has been successfully retrieved by Regalia. Both are currently in pursuit of a target."
Various voices of confirmation bubbled back at the figure, but they had already moved on and were instead focused on the resurfacing of one very bedraggled, and very angry, Regalia. The Lieutenant was pulling herself out of the nasty harbor water and up onto the dimly lit pier, hauling the sack after her. Instead of hailing Regalia, though, the intruder proceeded to instead kill her comms, before lifting a small mirror piece up to their mouth; it flashed silver as they spoke into it.
"Skogg-man, do you have the shot?"
A weirdly muffled, but distinctly deep voice answered them.
" Does an Abu have a red butt?"
The figure giggle-snorted.
"No? Do they? I've never- Nevermind, knock her out, please."
"With pleasure."
There was no sound indicating gunfire of any sort. However, an hypodermic dart, propelled at intense speeds by a Semblance that could manipulate the kinetic force behind any object, was flung with incredible precision over a healthy distance in the dark. Her aura didn't even have the chance to activate.
The Lieutenant was hit, one could say, a bit like a dump truck; right in an artery, in fact. Regalia managed to stagger up only to drunkenly slam back down on her knees, and flop over onto the pier; a few heartbeats, and then she was out like a light. In a few more moments, she would be safely tucked away in the fish packing plant next door, set up for some nice people to find in the morning.
"Annnnd, kill their comms - Now."
"Comms killed."
The King's Service communicated using the very high to ultra high frequency spectrum, much like the Valish military. By emitting a jamming frequency that ranged from thirty to five hundred Mhz, utilizing an omnidirectional, portable frequency jammer with a range of several kilometers and enough punch to make a Goliath dazed, a cone of silence immediately fell over the Kingdom of Vale.
However, by using this device, more agencies than just the King's Service would be affected, and genuinely freaked out. That's why the person doing said jamming had to be constantly on the move, as well as invisible. Once he dropped off Regalia with Hayan, he would have to boogie.
"Ok, stage two starts now. Good luck everyone."
"Hey, luck's overrated. I only rely on skill."
"Stay safe. We're right behind you."
"Love you, can't talk! Woooooo, hohohooooo! That was so CLOSE!"
The figure slipped the mirror piece back into their pocket, and set to disabling the security system and cameras for the prison hidden deep in the palace's underbelly.