A mile from the refinery, Tony and the members of Mutant X walked to the ocean's edge.
"You ready for this?" Shalimar prompted.
Tony seemed casual. "No sweat." He started to wade into the cold water.
Jesse called to him. "Just remember, once you've found a security station you've got to shut down the alarms on the south perimeter, and keep them down for at least---"
"Ten minutes, yeah I know!" Tony waved them off and got shoulder deep before Emma added,
"We'll meet up with you as soon as we can."
Without a word, Tony dove under the water and disappeared.
Mutant X started the long trek to their entry point.
# # # # #
They hid in the darkness outside the electrified fences.
"He's late." Jesse muttered.
"What's taking so long?" Brennan wondered intolerantly.
Emma smirked. "You boys have no patience...but I could give you some!"
"Jesse you went over everything with him at least three times, he knows what to do. He might have run into trouble with something other than the security system..." Ally was getting worried.
Jesse spoke. "Well maybe we should---"
"Wait." Shalimar interrupted and her eyes glowed yellow.
Ally became still and after a few seconds she sensed what Shalimar had...though in a different manner. "The temperature's dropped."
Brennan frowned. "Well it IS night."
Ally gave him a mildly flagrant look. "I thought YOU of all people would sense it."
"The fences are powered down," Shalimar clarified for everyone. "I can't smell ozone anymore."
Brennan grabbed a stick as they came out of hiding and tossed it at the fence. Sure enough, Shalimar and Ally were right. The fences were no longer electrified. At least not on the south side.
Jesse phased them through it and they made their way towards the warehouse.
Once inside they divided up. Shalimar and Ally were one team and Jesse, Brennan and Emma were the other.
"Jess, how much time?" Shalimar asked.
He checked his watch. "Six minutes."
"You guys get what you came for, Ally and I will find Tony."
# # # # #
They found him (still wet) in the security station nearest the coolant tanks. Three unconscious people lay scattered around the room. Ally regarded them with raised eyebrows as Shalimar walked over to the other feral scanning the monitors.
She leaned in to have a look over his shoulder. "Any sign of Xenos yet?"
"No," Tony replied, keeping his eyes to the monitors. "But it's not eleven o'clock yet. Your friends should be out of sight before David or his 'partners' arrive."
"Brennan, how're you three doing?" Ally called into her commlink.
We're back outside with the package. We'll let you know when we've cleared the fence. Came Brennan's reply.
"Stay alert." Ally pleaded and broke the connection.
"We've got company." Tony nodded to the top left monitor.
Ally walked over to have a closer look. It was Ox and Scarface. Ally thought it good fortune that it only seemed to be the two of them.
"And look who's right behind them." Shalimar nodded to the next monitor down. A limousine was pulling up to the front gate.
Shalimar straightened up. "I'd better get back down there. Wouldn't want to miss the show."
"We'll follow you in a minute." Ally promised.
Shalimar made her exit and headed back down to the warehouse.
Looking around, she figured her best view would be from above, so she climbed up into the rafters and poised herself in the shadows, crouching comfortably like any jungle cat waiting for prey.
Tony and Ally continued to watch Xenos and the thugs.
Ally we've cleared the fence, we're on our way back to the Helix. Tony's okay to reset the systems he shut down.
"I hear you Brennan, we'll be walking out the front door soon enough." Ally replied.
Watch your back.
"Tony, get that south side system back up and let's finish this."
Tony grinned. "With pleasure."
# # # # #
The meeting had already begun when Tony and Ally slipped in. Shalimar kept one eye on them while still using her commlink ring to take pictures of Xenos with Ox and Scarface.
From where Ally and Tony hid, Ally took photos too, these ones showing the barrels that contained the waste in plain view of the criminal trio.
"So what you're telling me," Xenos was saying. "Is that not only do you not have that tape, but you don't even know if the woman that got away HAD the tape. I suppose you're now going to tell me that you didn't even see the body of the man you shot!"
Scarface faltered. "Uh..."
Xenos started to laugh...then he lashed out, grabbing Scarface by the throat. "Your incompetence could be the end of me!" He snarled. "I should have you ALL killed. But that would only draw more attention." He reluctantly released Scarface. "For starters, you're going to find a new dump sight for all of this."
He waved idly at the waste barrels and Tony bristled.
"Then you're going to track down the little bitch and her girlfriend who are trying to ruin me!"
It was both Shalimar and Ally's turn to bristle. In fact, along with her nerves, Ally's anger over the words she was hearing was effecting her more than she realized. She started to emanate waves of heat, and that distracted poor Tony. He started to swoon like he was going to pass out and lost his balance. His arm struck against the metal of the surrounding barrels and it made a horrible, echoing clang.
Xenos, Ox and Scarface all became alarmed and withdrew guns.
"Someone's been listening." Ox grunted.
"Where did it come from?" Xenos demanded.
"Over there." Scarface pointed right in Ally and Tony's direction.
"Quick!" Ally wheezed. "Hide us!"
Tony held Ally close and disguised them both seconds before the nasty threesome appeared from around the corner.
Xenos blinked. "Hmm. Must have been rats..." He was getting uncomfortable and just wanted to get out before someone really did show up.
But Ox wasn't so convinced. Something had been going on since the first run-in with the freaks. People kept vanishing into thin air...
"Yeah..." He muttered. "Rats..."
He lifted the barrel of his gun and aimed it right at Tony's chest.
Not left with any other choice, Shalimar leapt down from the rafters and swatted Ox's gun away for the second time.
"So I take it you three are the brains of this operation?" She bit-off.
Ally spun out from behind the ferals and rushed Xenos. Drawing together all the heat she could, Ally forced a gush of hot air right down Xenos' throat, at the same moment he was inhaling to shout out. Choking on the lungfull of hot air instead, Xenos dropped like a stone.
"Round three Scarface!" Tony shouted, as he came out of hiding and swung a sharp right hook into Scarface's nose.
"I'm going to enjoy taking you apart, freak!" Ox roared at Shalimar.
Her eye's glowed. "Funny," She murmured through clenched teeth. "I was just thinking the same thing."
He kicked her in the face then punched her arm. She did him one better and belted him in the face, then the stomach, grabbing his head and whirling around laying him out with a sharp sidekick to the head. As he leaped to his feet she picked him up over her shoulder and flung him back down to the floor. He sprang back up but she blocked his blow and got in a sharp undercut to his chin, whipping back his head. Then a left, then a right and he was down again. Enraged, he flung himself at her, but Shalimar was ready and the kicks and punches came fast and furious. She used him like a punching bag and then she dragged him forward, ramming his head through a wooden crate, then back up through the top. She threw him backwards and he landed on the floor, down and staying there.
Shalimar looked over at Tony to see him pummeling Scarface.
A frontkick, a roundhouse. Pushing him backward against a stack of crates, Tony heatbutted Scarface and finished him off with a wild flip, slamming him hard onto the floor.
The ferals looked at each other, then checked on Ally. She was standing over Xenos, who hadn't moved.
"You are such a cheater!" Tony chirped.
Ally just shrugged.
Shalimar seemed satisfied at last. "I think we've got what we came for. Tony?" She looked at him meaningfully.
"Yeah, I'm satisfied." He drawled.
"You ready for this?" Shalimar prompted.
Tony seemed casual. "No sweat." He started to wade into the cold water.
Jesse called to him. "Just remember, once you've found a security station you've got to shut down the alarms on the south perimeter, and keep them down for at least---"
"Ten minutes, yeah I know!" Tony waved them off and got shoulder deep before Emma added,
"We'll meet up with you as soon as we can."
Without a word, Tony dove under the water and disappeared.
Mutant X started the long trek to their entry point.
# # # # #
They hid in the darkness outside the electrified fences.
"He's late." Jesse muttered.
"What's taking so long?" Brennan wondered intolerantly.
Emma smirked. "You boys have no patience...but I could give you some!"
"Jesse you went over everything with him at least three times, he knows what to do. He might have run into trouble with something other than the security system..." Ally was getting worried.
Jesse spoke. "Well maybe we should---"
"Wait." Shalimar interrupted and her eyes glowed yellow.
Ally became still and after a few seconds she sensed what Shalimar had...though in a different manner. "The temperature's dropped."
Brennan frowned. "Well it IS night."
Ally gave him a mildly flagrant look. "I thought YOU of all people would sense it."
"The fences are powered down," Shalimar clarified for everyone. "I can't smell ozone anymore."
Brennan grabbed a stick as they came out of hiding and tossed it at the fence. Sure enough, Shalimar and Ally were right. The fences were no longer electrified. At least not on the south side.
Jesse phased them through it and they made their way towards the warehouse.
Once inside they divided up. Shalimar and Ally were one team and Jesse, Brennan and Emma were the other.
"Jess, how much time?" Shalimar asked.
He checked his watch. "Six minutes."
"You guys get what you came for, Ally and I will find Tony."
# # # # #
They found him (still wet) in the security station nearest the coolant tanks. Three unconscious people lay scattered around the room. Ally regarded them with raised eyebrows as Shalimar walked over to the other feral scanning the monitors.
She leaned in to have a look over his shoulder. "Any sign of Xenos yet?"
"No," Tony replied, keeping his eyes to the monitors. "But it's not eleven o'clock yet. Your friends should be out of sight before David or his 'partners' arrive."
"Brennan, how're you three doing?" Ally called into her commlink.
We're back outside with the package. We'll let you know when we've cleared the fence. Came Brennan's reply.
"Stay alert." Ally pleaded and broke the connection.
"We've got company." Tony nodded to the top left monitor.
Ally walked over to have a closer look. It was Ox and Scarface. Ally thought it good fortune that it only seemed to be the two of them.
"And look who's right behind them." Shalimar nodded to the next monitor down. A limousine was pulling up to the front gate.
Shalimar straightened up. "I'd better get back down there. Wouldn't want to miss the show."
"We'll follow you in a minute." Ally promised.
Shalimar made her exit and headed back down to the warehouse.
Looking around, she figured her best view would be from above, so she climbed up into the rafters and poised herself in the shadows, crouching comfortably like any jungle cat waiting for prey.
Tony and Ally continued to watch Xenos and the thugs.
Ally we've cleared the fence, we're on our way back to the Helix. Tony's okay to reset the systems he shut down.
"I hear you Brennan, we'll be walking out the front door soon enough." Ally replied.
Watch your back.
"Tony, get that south side system back up and let's finish this."
Tony grinned. "With pleasure."
# # # # #
The meeting had already begun when Tony and Ally slipped in. Shalimar kept one eye on them while still using her commlink ring to take pictures of Xenos with Ox and Scarface.
From where Ally and Tony hid, Ally took photos too, these ones showing the barrels that contained the waste in plain view of the criminal trio.
"So what you're telling me," Xenos was saying. "Is that not only do you not have that tape, but you don't even know if the woman that got away HAD the tape. I suppose you're now going to tell me that you didn't even see the body of the man you shot!"
Scarface faltered. "Uh..."
Xenos started to laugh...then he lashed out, grabbing Scarface by the throat. "Your incompetence could be the end of me!" He snarled. "I should have you ALL killed. But that would only draw more attention." He reluctantly released Scarface. "For starters, you're going to find a new dump sight for all of this."
He waved idly at the waste barrels and Tony bristled.
"Then you're going to track down the little bitch and her girlfriend who are trying to ruin me!"
It was both Shalimar and Ally's turn to bristle. In fact, along with her nerves, Ally's anger over the words she was hearing was effecting her more than she realized. She started to emanate waves of heat, and that distracted poor Tony. He started to swoon like he was going to pass out and lost his balance. His arm struck against the metal of the surrounding barrels and it made a horrible, echoing clang.
Xenos, Ox and Scarface all became alarmed and withdrew guns.
"Someone's been listening." Ox grunted.
"Where did it come from?" Xenos demanded.
"Over there." Scarface pointed right in Ally and Tony's direction.
"Quick!" Ally wheezed. "Hide us!"
Tony held Ally close and disguised them both seconds before the nasty threesome appeared from around the corner.
Xenos blinked. "Hmm. Must have been rats..." He was getting uncomfortable and just wanted to get out before someone really did show up.
But Ox wasn't so convinced. Something had been going on since the first run-in with the freaks. People kept vanishing into thin air...
"Yeah..." He muttered. "Rats..."
He lifted the barrel of his gun and aimed it right at Tony's chest.
Not left with any other choice, Shalimar leapt down from the rafters and swatted Ox's gun away for the second time.
"So I take it you three are the brains of this operation?" She bit-off.
Ally spun out from behind the ferals and rushed Xenos. Drawing together all the heat she could, Ally forced a gush of hot air right down Xenos' throat, at the same moment he was inhaling to shout out. Choking on the lungfull of hot air instead, Xenos dropped like a stone.
"Round three Scarface!" Tony shouted, as he came out of hiding and swung a sharp right hook into Scarface's nose.
"I'm going to enjoy taking you apart, freak!" Ox roared at Shalimar.
Her eye's glowed. "Funny," She murmured through clenched teeth. "I was just thinking the same thing."
He kicked her in the face then punched her arm. She did him one better and belted him in the face, then the stomach, grabbing his head and whirling around laying him out with a sharp sidekick to the head. As he leaped to his feet she picked him up over her shoulder and flung him back down to the floor. He sprang back up but she blocked his blow and got in a sharp undercut to his chin, whipping back his head. Then a left, then a right and he was down again. Enraged, he flung himself at her, but Shalimar was ready and the kicks and punches came fast and furious. She used him like a punching bag and then she dragged him forward, ramming his head through a wooden crate, then back up through the top. She threw him backwards and he landed on the floor, down and staying there.
Shalimar looked over at Tony to see him pummeling Scarface.
A frontkick, a roundhouse. Pushing him backward against a stack of crates, Tony heatbutted Scarface and finished him off with a wild flip, slamming him hard onto the floor.
The ferals looked at each other, then checked on Ally. She was standing over Xenos, who hadn't moved.
"You are such a cheater!" Tony chirped.
Ally just shrugged.
Shalimar seemed satisfied at last. "I think we've got what we came for. Tony?" She looked at him meaningfully.
"Yeah, I'm satisfied." He drawled.