The fact I had a good chunk of this outline typed with fire ideas, but then it didn't save TWICE for some reason. I took it as signs that I needed to rework it … but here we are now. Third time's the charm.
Intersession: Drugs Lure the Devil: Part Two
Mensra Pharmaceuticals
Angela takes a breath, focusing on the clicking sound of Victoria typing on one of the labs computers, searching Mensra Pharmaceuticals' database. Merida stands guard at the lab door they left open since they wouldn't be able to see outside otherwise, and Iqadi scans the lab's contents while Orchid hovers near the scientist, Dr. Colza, whom they knocked unconscious to get inside.
"Orchid," Iqadi calls, "hand me your clipboard, please, unless you're using it."
Orchid snorts a short laugh and shows her clipboard, which is full of scribbles, doodles, and fake messages to Victoria written during the inspection.
"What were you doing?" Angela asks.
"We're deep undercover," Orchid responds. "I'm keeping in character."
Orchid hands Iqadi the clipboard and Iqadi starts copying the names of substances in villains and their chemical formulas on their labels.
"I don't know how much time we have before guards do their rounds or another scientist shows up," Angela informs them.
"Still, though," Merida says.
Victoria huffs. "Do you know how challenging it is to search a vastly database for information that might not even be on here under pressure of potentially compromised with an idiot talking over your shoulder?"
"You try using the map on your phone to give directions while Apollo is driving and James is yapping from the backseat. That's the same thing."
Angela and Iqadi quickly glance at each other and smile. Some of the best and most chaotic memories would be in the car when Apollo was the one at the wheel. It was always an adventure to see how well he would obey the road rules and signs when taking them from Point A to B. Sometimes, they held bets.
"There's a reason your computer-illiterate self is standing at the door and not in the lab," Victoria says without looking away from her screen.
Merida rolls her eyes.
"I can't tell if any of this stuff is Dysphoria or its components," Iqadi tells them. "I don't recognize any of the formulas."
"Can we try them?" Orchid asks.
"Orchid," Angela states.
"What? My granny might've said that drugs lure the devil, but I think I can take him."
Victoria exhales a quick laugh. "An ironic amen, Sister. Agent Moore, I can't tell if Mensra doesn't keep a digital record of their clientele— personal or coded info, banking details, exchange, whatever— or if it's just so heavily encrypted for even me to break."
Agent Moore: Don't waste your time.
"Send it over to her and let's get out of here," Angela orders. "Destroy their system too."
"One step ahead of you," Victoria says.
Agent Moore: Great work, Kovanova.
"We should bring samples of these vials back," Iqadi suggests.
Without looking away from the computer, Victoria takes off her black bob wig and the net and tosses it over her shoulder to Iqadi. Her silver locks are still pinned back against her scalp. Iqadi takes a sample of each vial and puts it in their wig enclosure thing, securing it like a pouch.
Orchid smiles. "I can't believe we did it."
"We still have to get out," Angela tells them.
For some reason, a warm and flickering feeling in Angela's chest withers away. There's nothing to worry about now. Their part of the mission is done, but it doesn't feel like enough.
"Someone's coming," Merida quickly tells them.
There it is.
Merida backs away from the door and loads her bow. Victoria stands from the computer and takes out a USB from her SHIELD suit. Once she transfers the system's database, she moves another file onto the desktop that will remain hidden until they're out. Once activated remotely, a slow-acting virus will destroy the database.
Angela loads her gun as Orchid fixes her hair, checking it in the mirror. She looks at Iqadi for verification and gets a thumbs-up. Orchid takes her clipboard back except for the sheet of paper that Iqadi scribbled on, which Iqadi folds and puts in her sleeve.
Orchid walks out of the lab and the door closes behind her, sealing into place. She straightens her shoulders as she taps her earpiece concealed in her. She turns a corner and sees a familiar older man in business attire underneath a clean and open lab coat heading her way.
Agent Moore: Orchid, you've read the file. That's—
Orchid clears her throat and her fake accent shines again. "Dr. Mensra. What a surprise."
"Is it Agent Tassima or Bouvier?" He asks her, offering a hand.
Orchid shakes it gently. "Tassima. Agent Bouvier is in the lab with the lovely scientist showing us around. She's more of the science perspective while I handle the contracts."
"And I take it that everything is going well for the ESR?"
"Splendid."
-o-
The girls don't move as they listen to Orchid and Dr. Mensra talking outside the lab. Hands are still on weapons in case the door were to open, although they know that Orchid would put up a fight and that would be their warning.
"Agent Moore, we should bring him in," Angela says into her earpiece.
Agent Moore: Absolutely not. You will compromise yourself. There's still the chance in making it out of here without a trace.
"He's the name on the building, Agent Moore."
Agent Moore: Rogers, you and the girls are my priority here. You have your intel. You need to get out while you still can.
Angela bites down on her lips from the inside of her mouth. As much as she disagrees, she knows her place. "Is the door our only shot?"
"Is there a back door of some sorts in the lab?" Victoria asks. "An emergency exit?"
Agent Moore: Not on my schematics unless it's classified. Don't risk yourselves looking through a strange lab with potentially lethal substances.
"Can you reroute us around them?" Angela wonders.
Agent Moore: Vermillion has to draw Dr. Mensra out of your only exit.
The girls look at each other, still hearing the conversation outside go into details of stocks and investment periods.
"There's only one person who can tell us if the lab has another way out and he's slumped on the floor," Victoria says, pointing at the sleeping Dr. Colza.
"Yes, but can we trust whatever he'll tell us?" Merida asks. "Not to mention that the moment he wakes, he'll call security and shut this whole place down with us in it. He could also walk us right into another trap."
Iqadi shrugs. "We could always threaten—"
"Jesus, Iqadi."
Victoria nods her head. "No, no I like her thinking."
The voices outside grow softer, joined by footsteps heading down the hallway. The girls inside smile at Orchid managing to get Dr. Mensra to head elsewhere in the building.
"Good job, Orchid," Victoria mutters proudly.
"Okay, you three find a way out of here," Angela orders. "I'll trail Orchid and Dr. Mensra. We'll meet up again once all hell breaks loose."
"Orchid's granny did say drugs lure the devil," Merida grins.
Angela opens the door and looks both ways before following the sound of Orchid and Dr. Mensra's voices and footsteps trailing away. She cautiously treads down the corridor as their voices echo the hallways. Keeping pressed to the wall, Angela inches towards an open doorway. She hears leather chairs shift and the conversation continuing.
-o-
Still in the lab with the clock running down, Victoria, Iqadi, and Merida with the unconscious Dr. Colza slumped on the side try to think of an idea to get out of the building without risking the mission. Merida walks to the back of the lab, examining around for some escape through the walls or a secret passage. Victoria is back on the lab's computer to see if there are any schematics of the building.
"No-!" Iqadi exclaims as an alarm starts going off.
Merida immediately turns around and fires an electric arrow at Dr. Colza who awoke for a slim second to warn the whole building through a failsafe device. He falls back into darkness as the room starts flashing red and the booming sound nearly deafens them.
"A few seconds too late," Victoria grumbles.
Without another thought or word, the three of them run out of the lab doors before the emergency protocol seals them shut, and they start sprinting through the building at top speed.
-o-
The second that the alarm flashes red, Orchid's eyes flicker to a knife coming out of Dr. Mensra's lab coat. She blocks the stab attempt with her clipboard and juts it into the couch. Orchid quickly kicks up her leg and kicks the man down in the chest. She kicks up, flicking his neck back. His body cranes over the back of the couch but he shoves Orchid over the coffee table. She rolls over and lands on the ground. As he gets up, she quickly pushes the coffee table with her foot and it connects with the sides of his knees. She stumbles and Orchid leaps onto the coffee table from the ground, pouncing on Dr. Mensra. She wraps an arm around his neck and he writhes like a snake.
When he gets a firm grip on her arm, he throws her over his head. Orchid slams on the ground and winces for a second. She feels around her, looking for her clipboard with the knife wedged in it, but instinct takes over when the sound of shattering glass and the debris itself fill the room. Orchid curls into herself, peeking to see a henchman being thrown in the room. Angela runs in and Orchid immediately uncoils and reaches for her clipboard underneath the table. She takes out the knife and throws it at Dr. Menstra, but the old man makes his escape through a panel behind his desk.
Orchid runs over, yanking the knife out from the wall.
"Dear god," Orchid exhales, "I have never fluffed so much about investing in my entire life."
"You did good," Angela responds.
The two look out the window and see Iqadi, Merida, and Victoria running through the main lot with henchmen on their trail.
"We really gotta get out of here," Angela states.
-o-
Angela and Orchid run outside, but hide along the building. For the most part, the building's defences are focused on Iqadi, Victoria, and Merida. They can handle that more than ever. Although the group is already compromised, Angela and Orchid still have an advantage by not having any eyes on them at the moment. Before the girls could create a strategy to get their friends and get out of here, fog starts creeping around them, thickening and wrapping like a warm yet suffocating blanket. For a moment, it cleans just around the two of them just as Iqadi, Victoria, and Merida join them.
"Our lovely scientist friend snitched," Victoria explains.
"Not important now," Angela responds. "Look, we need to—"
Angela stops when they see Dr. Mensra running through the fig alongside the perimeter of the fencing.
"Agent—" Angela states, but stops when she already hears her supervisor's disapproval.
Agent Moore: Rogers, your mission was to infiltrate Mensra Pharmaceuticals and find Dysphoria. Your mission is complete.
"But—"
Agent Moore: Rogers, that's an order.
Angela says nothing. She looks at her girls and notices Merida removing her earpiece and wrapping it in one of her curls that escaped her ponytail.
"That was an order for you, and last I checked, this was your mission," Merida says as Angela starts grinning. "You're above me in the current chain of command and we're already compromised."
"Get him," Angela orders. "I'll be right there to cover you."
Merida winks as she starts sprinting through the fog.
"You three," Angela continues, looking at Victoria, Iqadi, and Orchid, "get to that jet and find us."
"Roger that, Rogers," Orchid says.
Angela nods. "Go."
They head their separate ways.
Iqadi swipes her hands and clears the fog for them three as they run through the lot. "Victoria, you can fly the jet. Run over and keep the vials safe. Get our ride so we could pick up the others."
"Gotcha," Victoria says.
"Orchid, cover her."
"And leave you with all of them?" Orchid asks, jutting a thumb to the numerous henchmen.
"So greedy with all the fun … but give them hell," Victoria teases.
Iqadi shrugs a shoulder. "As your Granny said, Orchid, drugs do lure the devil. But I can take them without even moving."
Orchid and Victoria snicker before running off to their jet. Iqadi turns, standing her ground as defence for her girls against the men coming before her.
"Anyone here wants to dance with me in the rain?" Iqadi asks, teasing them as her eyes start clouding. "Too bad rain isn't in the forecast."
Iqadi doesn't move from her spot as she raises her arms to the sky. Under the grey sky, the dark clouds over power, surrounding them all but encircling her. She lowers her arms as her storm builds and looks back at the men pointing their weapons with pure white eyes and a grin hiding Mother Nature's secrets. She claws her hands, raising them to the sky once more as thunder and lightning strike. An excited laugh escapes her mouth as she hears the sounds of weapons cocking in her direction. When she swipes her hands down, rain and hail pour from her loaded clouds like rapid gunfire.
-o-
Merida runs to the sound of thunder as she gains more footing on Dr. Mensra's trail. She can't help but think that, for an older guy, he's pretty spry. She wouldn't be surprised if he was doped up with some steroid concoction he made in the lab like some heavily discounted Captain America.
"Merida, give him something soft to land on at his 3 o'clock!" Angela yells from behind her.
"Copy," Merida responds.
Merida fidgets with her quiver before firing an arrow. It skids the ground just ahead of Dr. Mensra and the arrowhead explodes into a giant ball of pink putty. Angela speeds in from behind and body checks him into the mass. She rolls to the side and stands, pointing a gun that was holstered at her thigh at him as Merida joins them with a loaded bow.
"Don't shoot, don't shoot! I'm not him!" Dr. Mensra exclaims.
Angela and Merida don't hesitate. Their weapons don't move, even when the so-called Dr. Mensra removes a holographic mask from his face and throws it to the side. He throws his hands up in surrender.
"Who saw that coming?" Merida wonders.
"Where's the real Dr. Mensra?" Angela says, stepping closer with her gun.
"We don't know!" The man yells."He's never at any of his locations."
"Is he involved with The Dollhouse?"
"The what?"
"Damn."
Merida purses her lips. "If he wasn't here, then—"
Angela lowers her gun. Her shoulders slump. "He knew someone would infiltrate."
Victoria: Or self-preservation.
"Then the stuff we took wasn't even real?" Merida questions. "What a fucking waste of time."
Iqadi: It's real, even if he isn't using it for Agent Moore's white whale. It's … questionable at best.
Agent Moore: Princess Iqadi is right. Now, you five, get the hell out of there now!
Merida fires an icer arrow at the imposter before she and Angela start running towards the storm that Iqadi centres.
Agent Moore: I know I gave you orders and that you disobeyed them. However, if you didn't pursue him, then we wouldn't have known he was a set-up. This changes things. I guess I'll have to find the man myself. I would've done all that completely different, but you've aced it and more. Congratulations are in order, ladies. As the old saying goes, you can kill a cat many ways but it'll still be dead.
By the way, we will eventually get a Part Three to this mission.
And with this, we will jump into Year Five! (That I still need to finish planning).