Chapter 17 - "Ambush"
"Vermin! Wait up!" Annalise yelled, the girl's name sounding odd coming from her lips. Again, she wondered if the name was one she had chosen herself or if it had been assigned by someone else.
Vermin froze on the stairs, glancing back to the others. Annalise, Sean, Mia, Dante, and Romero stopped behind her. "We've gotta take this carefully," Annalise said firmly, looking to her companions. "You never know when we'll walk into a group of them."
At the top of the stairs, Vermin sniffed and then turned her head slowly. A grin curled at her lips. "Like that?"
The group all followed her to the top of the stairs, where they saw a cluster of armed thugs—some with guns, others with melee weapons. Annalise slowly nodded. "Yeah. Like that."
Without waiting, Sean pushed Annalise aside and his sidearm rose in her place. He squeezed the trigger and one of the thugs doubled over, blood spurting. "Go, go, go!" he yelled, rushing for cover behind a metal container.
Once they got inside, the group realized the room was some sort of shipping area; the metal crates confirmed that much. Mia crouched down beside Sean, who fired several more shots. One winged a thug, and Mia fired and downed him. Sean grinned and glanced to her. "Nice shot."
Mia barely seemed to notice. "Thanks," she muttered as she gripped her pistol with two hands and picked off another thug.
Vermin, Annalise, Dante, and Romero slid behind another crate. Romero peeked out and squeezed off a few rounds before he turned back, reloading the pistol. "So . . . I'm the only one with a gun? Again?"
"There are other methods of fighting," Dante replied casually, and a mystic spark appeared in his fist. Romero caught glance of it, and before he could question, Dante stepped into the open and held both hands out before him, palms outstretched. As if to show one such method he was speaking of, Dante sent fireballs at the thugs.
One of them saw the balls of fire headed his way, and seemingly froze out of shock. Before he could move, one of the fireballs slammed into his chest. He began to scream out of anguish from the flames, and one of his nearby companions helped out the best he could—the man waited until his ally was near a window and kicked him out of it.
"They look like good friends," Romero remarked with a snort as Dante moved further up in the room for cover.
Vermin snarled. "Magic and guns are overrated," she spat out before letting out a husky laugh. "Brute strength is more my style." She quickly tore off towards the group of thugs, and Annalise yelled her name and reached out a hand.
"I'd better go help her," she muttered aloud and followed closely behind while Romero got up, firing off another shot before Vermin was in his line of fire.
On the other side of the room, Sean spat a curse. "What're they doing? Why'd they get in our way?"
Mia ignored his remark. "Relocate," was all she said as she moved behind them, and Sean took her cue and followed closely behind.
Vermin charged forward, her enhanced speeding a surprise to her attackers. One of the thugs charged forward, swinging a crowbar wildly. Vermin snapped out, her left hand wrapping around the guy's wrist. She spun his arm aside, and a crack sounded as the bone broke. He screamed as he lost grip on the crowbar, and Vermin kneed him in the groin. As the guy fell down, another one ran to take his place, twirling a chain over his head.
Vermin leapt out, swinging a clawed hand. It raked across the guy's face, and he spun away, falling to the ground. She heard a sound behind her and turned to see another thug with a pipe held over his head. Before he could bring it down, Annalise came behind him, grabbed his shoulder, and spun him around, swinging up a gold-hilted dagger and tearing across the man's chest.
As he sank to the ground, Annalise whispered, "Inveti," and the dagger extended into a short sword. She swung it to slash across another charging thug across the chest.
The man fell to the ground, and Sean and Mia came past her, both of them holding their guns on the last thug. He dropped the chain in his hands, and he nervously sputtered, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I give up!"
Sean kept his gun trained on the guy and he muttered, "What should we do? Kill him? Capture him?"
Vermin said, "Kill," as Annalise said, "Capture." The two exchanged a quick glance before Annalise added, "We can't just kill people when they surrender."
Vermin huffed. "Fine. But I'm not dragging him behind me!"
As she stomped off, Annalise walked towards the thug. He glanced about nervously; he seemed unsure that he was actually going to survive. "Who sent you here? To do this, and ambush these cops?" she asked, her voice stern. Her forest-like eyes drilled into his own pupils.
The guy stuttered, "I—I don't know!"
Sean snorted, "That's a lie." He clicked back the hammer on his pistol; just for show, but maybe it'd help prod the guy's memory to start jogging.
"Okay, okay!" he shouted, holding a hand out to Sean. It worked. "It—it was Falcone. He said something about some chemicals he needed for some job that was going down. That's all I know though, I swear!"
"Chemicals?" Romero asked aloud, crossing his arms. "What would Falcone want with chemicals?"
"I don't know, but it can't be good," Dante mused. "Maybe his trying to create some chemical weapon."
"That isn't our department, that's Gordon's," Sean cut in. He slipped his gun to his belt, gesturing to the door. "So is this guy. Let's take him to Gordon."
The two thugs ran down the hallway, hoping to find a way out. They had been jumped by a group of three wackos, a guy with long hair and an ice sword, a girl with fierce claws, and some cowboy with two guns. They had seen what they'd done to their companion, and they didn't want to be the next to succumb.
As they rounded the corner, the first was met with the crack of a staff against his chin, sending him sprawling into the wall. The second raised up his gun before dark tendrils groped around his neck and pulled him into the shadows.
From behind the second thug, Matt stepped from the shadows as Renegade stepped forward to meet him. "Nice and clean," Matt said slowly as footsteps came from down the hallway. Both Matt and Renegade glanced to see John, Nansi, and Clyde round the corner. They all came to a stop.
"So there you are," John said as he looked to the unconscious guy on the ground. "Looks like you got the last stragglers."
"Yep," Renegade replied. "Where are the others?"
"We split up," John said. "We'll go look for them."
"What about Emily and Aria?" Nansi cut in.
John nodded. "That's right." He glanced to Renegade and Matt, and then said to Nansi, "You wanna lead them to go help get them outside?"
"Sure thing," Nansi said, taking off down the hall. "Come on!"
"What happened?" Renegade asked.
Clyde answered, "Aria used her powers and it caused her to pass out or something. Emily hung back with her."
Renegade nodded and gestured to Matt. "Come on, let's go." As the two took off, John and Clyde turned the corner.
"We'd better go try and find the others," John said, and Cly nodded his agreement. The two moved along until they came across Sean, Annalise, Mia, Vermin, Romero, and Dante, along with an unarmed thug. "Who's this?" John asked.
"The survivor," Annalise answered. "We're taking him in." She narrowed her eyes. "Where're the others—Emily, Aria, and Nansi?"
"Great. Two of us are already dead," Vermin growled. She didn't sound too upset over the potentiality.
"They aren't dead," John quickly put in. "Aria used her powers and she passed out. We ran into Matt and Renegade—they're going with Nansi to help Emily get Aria outside."
They others all nodded their assent. "We'd better head outside too. Hopefully we can get all this sorted out—and find some answers."
Once the groups all left the warehouse, they reunited in the parking lot. Matt, after returning to his human form, had carried Aria outside, followed by Renegade, Nansi, and Emily. Much to Renegade's surprise, when he changed form, Matt had retained the easygoing, boyish personality he had had earlier.
Ambulances and other vehicles had arrived at the scene and paramedics were attending to the injured officers. As they had suspected, the two in the car covered in blood spatters were both dead, but Montoya and Fletcher were able to be taken to the hospital and were being treated. Gordon took the captive into custody as SWAT teams scoured the warehouse, taking care of those inside—both dead and alive.
Gordon surveyed the area. "Things got pretty sticky, but that can't be pinned on you guys. You all did really good for your first mission." A brief pause, then he added, "Did you find out anything?"
Dante stepped forward. "Yeah, Jim—the guy we captured said that Falcone had staged this operation to secure some chemicals from the factory."
Gordon stroked his chin. "That's strange . . . none of the guys you ran into had chemicals on them, and there didn't seem to be any type of escape vehicle. Almost as if they weren't even part of the chemical extraction."
"Which leads to something that's been tugging at my mind," Cly spoke up. He eyed Gordon, then said, "These guys weren't set up to steal the chemicals. They were set up for ambush. They knew that your people were staking this place out."
Annalise felt a tug of admiration for the guy. His got some brains behind that southern charm after all.
"This is troubling," Gordon mused. "If what you're saying is right, then there's an inside man in GCPD." He noticed the group was eyeing him, and he cleared his throat. "But we can worry about this later. Honestly, I wasn't anticipating you to have your first mission on the night of the meeting, but it is what it is.
"As I said, you all did well. You all can go about the night however you wish. I'm sure this fight probably has you a bit tuckered out, but you can do whatever you have a mind to. Hang out, get to know one another—whatever. But I look to see you all tomorrow—maybe in the afternoon sometime?"
The group all gave affirmations of the idea. "Where could we hang out?" Sean asked, arms crossed.
"The GCPD has a rec hall, you guys can kind of reserve it for the night, or if you have anywhere else in mind."
"The rec hall would be fine, for an impromptu meeting," Annalise said. Gordon nodded.
"Fine. I'll see you all later then. You all have passes into the GCPD complex—the desk officer will give them to you once you get back to HQ." He gave a brief smile. "I'll see you all tomorrow."
"I can't believe they have no beer," Sean groaned as he flopped into a chair.
John chuckled. "This is a police station, Sean. Not a bar."
Annalise walked up and tossed a water bottle to Sean. He quickly snapped a hand out and caught it. "This'd be better for you anyways. Especially after that fight."
Sean gave her a sideways grin as he screwed the cap off and downed a mouthful. Annalise took a seat between him and John. The others were all seated next to one another to form a circle. All except Vermin—she preferred to stand, close enough to converse but still more distant than the others.
Aria let out a slight whimper as she shifted. The nerves in her body were tingling. Matt heard her and glanced over. "You okay?" he asked.
She gave a slight nod and a slim smile. "Yeah. Thanks. It'll be fine tomorrow. It takes a few hours to recover from my recoil period."
"Your recoil . . . what exactly causes it?" Annalise asked. Seeing Aria's face redden, she quickly added, "If you want to talk about it, that is. If you don't—"
"No, no, it's fine," Aria said. She looked to the others and saw all eyes were on her. It caused her to flutter a bit, but she held in her urge to crack a joke to lessen the tension and said, "My powers . . . they allow me to use human body parts to create different tools and weapons. But after I use them, that body part inside me will hurt. The longer I use them, the longer I hurt."
"A fitting power, your father being a coroner and all," Dante commented with a grin.
Aria nodded, and her urge to withhold a joke broke. "Yeah. When I use my powers, he always has a bone to pick with me."
"Oh my gosh," Mia groaned as Clyde snorted a laugh and the others all laughed heartily.
"Another joke-teller," Sean said, his grin beaming. "I'm gonna have competition I see."
Annalise took the reigns of steering the conversation. "What about you, Sean. What's your story?"
Sean's laugh began to fade. "Eh, it's a bit much, as I'm thirty-one, but I'll sum it up for you all."
"You're thirty-one?" Mia said, seemingly doubtful.
"Yep."
"You certainly don't look it," Mia added, and inwardly, Annalise thought, Boy, could I floor all of them right now. As she thought it, a flicker of an ironic smile crossed her lips.
John caught sight of it.
Continuing his story, Sean said, "Anyways, when I was a kid, me and my sister were both injected with some mutagen." A shadow crossed his face, and he continued, "My mum and da were killed. The mutagen made my metabolism a lot more . . . stronger. My sister's, too. Only I was able to process mine better. My sister . . . hers put her into a coma."
A silence fell over the room. "I've been bouncing around ever since, trying to earn money to pay for doctor treatments to help her get better."
No one said anything, but their looks all conveyed to Sean that they thought his intentions were noble. He was putting his powers to use to help his sister.
Sean scratched at his head. He had begun to feel a bit dreary—he didn't know if it was recollecting his past, the fight, or a combination of the two. But he knew he felt down. "I hate to be the bearer of a sad story and then just cut out, but my lack of energy is beginning to nag at me." He downed the last but of his water bottle as he got to his feet.
Stepping from the group, he flashed a smile to them all. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Maybe we can get together somewhere with something a bit better than water to drink." With that, he gave a slight wave, strode to the door, and tossed his empty bottle into the trashcan.
Councilwoman Sarah Stevens hung up the telephone. She rubbed her temples in weariness. She had been up all night, answering calls from her fellow city council member Arthur Reeves about things he had failed to follow up on himself—likely too busy pursuing social activities and not doing his job.
As Stevens got to her feet, she instinctively reached for her intercom before she remembered that it was after one. No one else was in the office besides her.
She grabbed her coat and purse and opened the door to her office, shutting out the light. As she stepped into the lobby, she heard something rustle in the corner. Stevens narrowed her eyes. "Who's there?" she called out, but there was no answer. She felt around for the light to the lobby, and flicked it on.
But no lights came on.
Something was wrong, Sarah knew it.
She quickly sped towards the door leading out of her office's lobby, when she heard a cackle of laughter. "Oh, my dear Councilwoman. I was afraid that I'd missed you, it being so late and all."
The hairs on Sarah's neck stood up. "Yes, yes, I know one o'clock in the morning is awfully late to be paying someone of your prestige a visit, but it couldn't be helped!" The voice was silky, smooth—and most of all, frightening. "You see, it's a bit troublesome in the daytime; there's so many people!"
Sarah started forward, before a flash burst before her. Her hand was on the doorknob, but the figure shut it just as quickly. When the door flashed open, a ray of light sprayed inside, illuminating the figure briefly.
Sarah saw a flash of color—it looked like . . . purple clothing? But the clothing wasn't the worst part . . . it was that . . . that face—pale white, as a ghost, with wild green hair and awful red lips. . . .
"Oh, come, come, my dear Councilwoman—you can't tell anyone. That'd ruin the surprise! AH, HAHAHA!"
Sarah had to get out, escape this madman. How had he gotten in?
She sprang for her office; there was no way out from there, but she could at least get inside and hole up, maybe wait for the police to arrive, just if she got there before he could.
"Oh, you are hilarious, Councilwoman! You are going to make me die of laughter. HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!"
Before Sarah could even reach for the doorknob, she heard the sound of something muffled, then she felt a sharp pain in her back. Losing all control of her body, Sarah collapsed, and she knew what it was.
A bullet, fired from a silenced pistol.
Before she could even scream, another shot pierced her. Then another. And another, and another, and another, until the only sound was a cackle of hysterical laughter, and then the thud as the office door slammed shut.
A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 17! In this chapter we get to finish the first exercise, get a bit of relationship-building between the team, and we get introduced to yet another DC hallmark character. How does this all fit together? Let me know your thoughts on this chapter in the reviews! Next chapter should be a bit of a break from the action and let our characters get some downtime and get to know one another better. Thanks for reading! Until next time.