Green Team Mission Thread [E]

[GuyYouMetOnline]

Liquid's battle with the boss began in that one isolated room in the fortress.The boss was clearly quite skilled, and very powerful. He probably had more experience with his powers than Liquid had with hers. But Liquid had her own advantages. While the boss was powerful, his power was seperate from him. He had it, but that was it. He had to concentrate, draw on the energy he needed to perform his magic. The energy was there, he had it, but it wasn't a part of him. Liquid's abilities, however, were a part of her. Her power was a part of her. She used not spells, but the natural abilities of the half-water elemental being she was.

A couple minutes into the battle, the fortress began to shake. An alarm began to sound, warning off multiple system faliures. [color=darkred][b]"Damn,"[/b][/color] the boss said to himself. [b][color=#8b0000]"Time to go." [/color][/b]The next thing Liquid knew, she and the boss were back on Easter Island. Their battle paused, they both watched as the floating fortress fell into the water. It hit right next to the island, and did not sink.

[b][color=darkred]"So I needn't have teleported away after all,"[/color][/b] the boss said. He and Liquid turned to face one another. [b][color=darkred]"Well, I already did that. Now then, Ms. Liquid, shall we finish our battle? Oh, and don't worry. I'm not able to teleport away from you. You're probably wondering why I brought you with me in the first place."[/color][/b]

"I'm curious, yes," Liquid replied.

[b][color=darkred]"The reason is simple. Confining a teleport spell to a small effect radius-say, smal enough to contain only one person-takes time. A quick teleport spell cannot be confined to a single person. Such a spell has a significant base effect range, a range which you were inside of. I couldn't leave without taking you along, because if I'd taken the time to confine my spell to myself only, you'd have easily killed me. And the base effect range is great enough that I'll be unable to escape from you by teleporting away. So, our battle will end only with the death of one of us."[/color][/b]
[b][color=#8b0000][/color][/b]
"Sounds good," Liquid replied, and their batle resumed. Now Liquid had one more advantage. Her power was greatly augmented by the pouring rain, as well as by the nearby ocean. She was in her element. Her power was greater, she would be able to move and react a bit more quickly, and she'd tire out at a much slower rate. She was confident that she would win, though her opponent was definitely putting up a fight.

The boss's situation became even worse when Era, Sakura, and Arachnid showed up and joined the battle. But the boss still refused to quit. [b][color=darkred]"You have reinforcements,"[/color][/b] he said, [color=darkred][b]"but that won't change the fact that you'll all die here."[/b][/color]
[color=darkred][/color]
Now that the battle was no longer between him and Liquid, the boss no longer confined himself to water magic. He beganusing everything at his disposal against Liquid and the others. While the others provided a distraction, Liquid reached out to the ocean. When she was ready, she gestured to Sakura, who understood and warned the others. When they were ready, Liquid brought a large wave crashing down. When the water subsided, teh boss was nowhere to be seen.

The boss had performed a magic-aided jump over the wave. [b][color=darkred]"Surprise!"[/color][/b] he shouted as he came down. Sakura, in creature form, leapt up to meet him. After exchangeing a few blows, the boss hit Sakura with an orb of daarkness, blasting her to the ground. She changed back to human, formed her hands into blades, then noticed that Era was out of bullets and allowed the time witch to take her extra clips.

Sakura reentered the battle as Era reloaded and resumed firing. She didn't fire wildly, as she didn't want to hit her teammates. Her shots were infrequent and timed for minimal risk of friendly fire. She didn't land a hit on the evasive target that was the boss, though she tried her best.

Arachnid entered the battle, trying to web up the wizard. He wasn't successul. Neither was Sakura, who attempted to hit the guy with a tree. Liquid quickly identified the problems that the two of them were having. Arachnid's webbing was easily countered by one with the magical abilities of the boss, and Sakura's attacks were such that the boss had enough time to react and counter her projectiles. And when either of them attempted to close to fist range, he easily blasted them back. Liquid, who could fight at a range just like to boss, was having better luck, but she didn't want just 'better luck' She wanted the man dead, and she figured out how to do it.

Liquid condensed some of the water in the air, pushing it together behind Era. She shot it forward, coliding it with one of Era's guns. The water carried the gun with it, carried the gun right to Liquid's hand. Liquid spun and fired before the boss could do any thing. Her shot hit him in the head, and he was finished.

Liquid tossed Era her gun, then looked around at the others, noticing Kaida's absence. "Okay," she said, "who screwed up the fortress's levitation system?"

"That was Kaida," Arachnid explained. "One of her shots missed her target, went through the wall, and hit something important. Next thing we know, the dude we were fighting had killed himself and we were frantically trying to get out of the fortress, a task made more difficult by the fact that someone had sealed most of the doors."

"That was me," Liquid replied. "I'd gained access to a control room and located you all on the fortress's survailence system. As I knew I was about to engage our now deceased friend, I decided to seal some doors, making your only directional option a path straight to me. Obviously, that turned out to be unnecessary. Now, where's Kaida?"

"Back on that fortress's island," Sakura told her. "We came to help you while Kaida fought a bunch of creatures. We should go back and find her."

Everyone agreed, so they began walking towards the fortress. "Is there any chance that somebody could give be a brief rundown of everything that happened after I split off from you?" Liquid asked as they walked. Arachnid summarized the events that had occured since Liquid's departure.

"I was wrong, then," Liquid remarked when Arachnid was through. "I thought you were fighting the rouge. I was referring to the guy I was fighting, the one we just killed, as 'the boss'. Well, my mistake. Not that it matters."

When they reached the island, Kaida noticed them and waved. Arachnid jumped up to her, then jumped back down with her in tow. "Hi, Kaida," Liquid said. "Nice to see you made it."

"Same to you," Kaida replied. "I take it we're done here?"

"We're done here," Era told her, "but we're not done. This whole thing was a decoy, meant to draw us away. Something else is happening at some point in time, but I don't know when, where, or what it is."

"That's not good," Kaida said. "You're sure about this?"

Era nodded. "I'm sure."

"Then we need to get home quickly. You up to it?"

Era hesitated for a second before replying. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I am."

"Good. In that case, let's go home."

As Green Team prepared for the trip back to their time, Laqara had something on her mind. [i]What was the point of this decoy business?[/i] she wondered. [i]I mean, we're talking about time travel here. A distraction doesn't really mean anything in time travel. We can take as much time as we want, and Era could still drop us at the real trouble site mere seconds after the enemy gets there. So why bother with a decoy?[/i]

Liquid didn't know why the enemy had gone through the trouble of setting up this decoy business. She did know one thing, however. She knew that she wanted her shot at whoever was behind all this. All of Green Team had been led on a wild goose chase through time, but Liquid had been through more. She'd seen her father die, and though she'd accepted his death long before she'd seen it happen, she still wanted to be on the team that took out the man who was really responsible. She wanted to kill him herself.

Era finished preparing for the journey. As she bagan using her power, the area around her began to glow. There was a flach, and Green Team was gone, its five members returned to their own time.

[DeathKnight]

[color=green][center][size=3][b]Mission #112: [u]Spider Town[/b][/u][/size]

[i]"I need to get out of this city."[/i]

~-~[/center]

The Legionnaire's stealth helicopter descended steadily onto the helipad, making no noise whatsoever as it went. The pilot skillfully landed without attracting any attention- a successful landing. A hooded figure dressed in a long black robe stepped out and hastily walked through the rooftop doors. It jogged down the staircase to the next floor and went inside, letting out a low sigh as it pulled back the hood.

"Kaida." Z stepped out of a nearby doorway and leaned against the doorframe, "Enjoy your visit to the LAPD?" He seemed amused as she shook her head no.

"I have not had to deal with someone like that in years." She said, cracking her neck while doing so. "He wasn't particularly pleased at having his authority superseded by us. I suppose his day hasn't been going that well, though." She rubbed her bandaged arm and cocked her head to the room, "Any change?"

"Nothing at all. MS13 hasn't made any new moves. We're all kind of.. bored." His eyebrow arched up as he said the last word.

Kaida removed the robe and rubbed her chin, "I suppose we'll have to take the next step then." She walked past him and into the room they had chosen to observe MS13 movements. A perfect view of the massive, decrepit warehouse that had been identified as where the 90 kindergarteners had been taken after being kidnapped. Various equipment littered the room- it had been put together in only two hours so it wasn't too visually pleasing, but it was functional enough. Z shut and locked the door, walking past Kaida and into the room. She nodded to the enthusiastic Mirror, the cheerful Aura and the ever-reserved Vinovka. "I'm back."

"How'd it go with the chief of police?" Mirror asked.

"He was in a foul mood. I suppose this hostage situation might have ruined his day." She tossed the black cloak onto a nearby piece of furniture, "Since they are not making any moves I believe we're going to have to assess the situation from within."

"You are referring more to the 'strange technology' they used, aren't you?" Vinovka said with a questioning gaze.

"Indeed." Kaida said as she sat down. "The reports the police gave us were.."

"Total ****." Z said as he kept watch over the warehouse.

"I was going to say they were erratic but that works well enough." Kaida crossed her legs and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. "An entire group of children disappears and the only suspects are MS13 gang members wielding 'strange devices'. Are they still demanding Arachnid deliver that insane sum of money?" She asked and glanced back to Z.

Z shrugged, "Yes."

Kaida rubbed her injured arm again and glanced down to the assault rifle she had acquired from that mission. That battle.. That battle that had taken the lives of too many good people.

"You said something about assessing the situation from within?" Mirror asked and pointed to herself. "I could probably get in there using the form I got earlier." On cue, a low groan came from the nearby closet.

"Looks like our little MS13 friend is waking up from his nap." Z said and began to walk towards the closet, "I'll put him back to sleep."

"I'll handle him." Vinovka said as she stood and walked over to the closet. She stepped inside and there was strange pause.

"Mrrff rff ruff?! Mrrfff!" The gang member yelled out.

"Oh hush up." Vinovka said and.. [b][size=2]Wham[/b][/size]. Silence overtook the room after the loud noise and Kaida grinned slightly as Vinovka walked back out. She nodded once, "Problem taken care of."

"I just hope you didn't kill him." Mirror murmured to herself.

"Well, let me handle the infiltration." Z said as Vinovka took her seat again.

Kaida, who was back to staring at the ceiling, leaned back a bit more so she could look at him. "You want the job?"

"Why wouldn't I? Espionage is my forte."

"Alright. Count their numbers, look for any weaknesses in their defenses, check the condition of the hostages, whatever. Just get me enough information so that we can do this without a heavy loss of life." She sat up and put on a headset. "Stay in contact. If you get into trouble, we'll bail you out with whatever force necessary."

"That won't happen." He stated confidently.[/color]

[Onix]

[COLOR=SeaGreen][SIZE=1]Z grinned as he slipped on his black gloves, a low eletrical hum resonating off of them. When he tapped his boots on the ground, they released the same charge. He cycled through the vision settings on his sunglasses quickly, and found them all working well - the unique UV signature that the strange technology outside the warehouse gave out was certainly interesting. He straightened his shirt one last time, making sure the shoulder holster was concealed, and smiled jauntily to Kaida.

"Back in a flash, boss," he said cheerfully.

Normally, he would've just taken the window out, but he didn't MS13 to know he was coming, so he restrained himself and took stairs down. According to the mission, they knew quite a bit about the Legionnaires, so he was glad he stuck to the Enigmatic Loner routine. Hopefully, the Legionnaires had less info about him than anyone else and, ergo, so did the gangs.

Carefully, he crept around from the door of the building they were staying at and kept his eyes on the warehouse. There no one out in front, but on the infra-red channel, he could tell there were plenty of people inside, easily on the upside of 100. Not surprising, of course, just a momentary assessment. 90 of those were kindegarteners, though, but from the looks of things, 30 gang members was low-balling things.

He slipped through back-ally after back-ally, trying to look for a viable opening in the warehouse's defenses. It seemed to be surrounded with tech, and there were windows on all sides. Well, almost all sides, Z noted to himself with a grin. Around the back, an unloading area, most likely, there was only one little window, a large metal door taking up most of the space. Additionally, there was a smaller door to the side.

Sliding a lock pick out of his front pocket, he slid over to the small door and slipped the small metal rod into the lock, fiddling around slowly until he heard a welcome click. The door opened slowly, and he checked out the hallway for anything inside. Nothing. He made his way along the corridor, infra-red on to scan for anyone entering the area. A soft glow of heat began to show up, building as he drew closer to a doorway. He turned to look in, and was stunned.

Twenty men were in the shipping area, each holding some kind of technology that was giving off small abouts of thermal radiation. They had circled a group of children, it appeared to be about fifty of them. They probably split the group to make things more managable. They pretty much split the group in two, so there were most likely twenty more men guarding the other half. And the thought that all the gang members would be guarding the kids was unlikely, so there were probably others scattered around. A solid estimate put the total number at 50, at the least.

He pulled back quickly and crouched down, switching on the com-link back to Kaida.

[B]"The kids are split into two groups, I think,"[/B] he said in an almost inaudible whisper. [B] "Twenty MS13 are on one side, I figure the same's on the other. That puts us at 50, maybe. Probably more. Kids seem fine, if scared, and there's guns all around. The back way in is open and there's little surveilance back here, so it should be safe to move in. Got all that?"[/B]

[B]"Got it, Z,"[/B] Kaida said. [B]"Now, get out of there so we can regroup."[/B]

"Roger, boss," Z said, standing up slowly.

It was then that he heard an ominous clink of metal and turned to the side. An MS13 was standing there, gun raised.

[B]"****! Kaida, reinforcements, no - "[/B]

There was a flash of light and Z pulled to the side, avoid a burst of energy. He lunged forward quickly and slapped his hand against the man's chest. Electricity charged through his chest, and the man's eyes dulled, his body going limp. Z dropped him to the ground and pulled out of the doorway, hiding next to the frame. He might be able to take on twenty gang members usually, but with kindergarteners in the next room and loads of unknown tech, the odds weren't exactly in his favour.

Time to stack the deck with a few aces.

A sniper, a shape-shifter, a cyborg, and an alien - sounded like a good mix for this kind of mission. Of course, he'd never been much for "teamwork," but everybody has to change some time. This seemed like a right proper time to change, too. He went to turn the com-link back on, but found the radio dead. That energy must have fried the radio signal - or the batteries. He wasn't entirely sure yet.

[B][I]Well,[/I][/B] he sighed to himself. [B][I]Here's hoping they come quick.[/I][/B]

***

[B]OOC:[/B] Let me know if I screwed anything up.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Soliel]

[color=green]Aura, in her natural state, leaned against the wall of Green Team's little "make shift base" not saying much since Z left. She had tuned the others out, thinking to herself what skills she could bring to this mission. She had her shifting ability, but Mirror was better suited to that being as "she" wasn't restricted by gender and form as she was. Aura really didn't see this as a weakness though, being as she seldom relied on that ability in battle.

She sighed as she lightly tapped her foot against the floor. A soft jingle followed the tap and Aura was drawn out of her train of thought. She glanced down at her feet and noticed her gold anklet nano computer. Aura rolled her eyes and grinned, "Well, duh."

"What is it?" asked Kaida, turning towards her. Aura sat down on the floor with her legs crossed. She began to turn the nob on the anklet as you would your average combination lock and a small holographic screen was projected from it. Kaida and Mirror gathered closer. Vinovka continued to stand and the far side of the room, but gave a side long glace in Aura's direction.

"This is a type of highly compact, nano computer that was issued to me by my creators." She said this as she punched in a code from a displayed key pad of unEarthly symbols.

"Yes, I remember reading something about that in your bio," Kaida chimed in, "So what do you plan to do with it?"

"Well, with this little device, I can easy hack into any computer mainframe on the planet."

Before Kaida could respond, Z's voice came through the com-link. "The kids are split into two groups, I think," he said in an almost inaudible whisper. "Twenty MS13 are on one side, I figure the same's on the other. That puts us at 50, maybe. Probably more. Kids seem fine, if scared, and there's guns all around. The back way in is open and there's little surveilance back here, so it should be safe to move in. Got all that?"

"Got it, Z," Kaida said. "Now, get out of there so we can regroup." She turned back to Aura "So are you saying you can find out how they know so much about us?"

Aura noded, the grin on her face growing bigger. "Yeah, no sweat! I just need to..."

"****! Kaida, reinforcements, no - " Z's shocked voice came through the com-link without any warning, and cut off just as suddenly.

"Z! Z, come in! Can you hear me? Z" Kaida yelled throught the com-link, but to no avail. D****t! Lost him! Aura, is there anyway you can find his location?"

"Already there. I've just taken control over a millitary imaging satalite. We should have a picture right about... now!" An airial video image of the warehouse flashed to life across the nano computer's holographic screen. The image quickly changed to infrared and began to zoom in on the compound. "Let's see," she mumbled as she scanned the screen for Z. She noticed two heat signatures near one of the rear entrances. One seemed cooler and was not moving. The other was a short distance away, moving a little and seemed to be ladened with much tech. "That must be Z" said Aura pointing to the second heat signature.

"Good work!" complemented Kaida in her usual monotonistic way. Aura was about to shut down her comp when she saw an unusual heat pattern in a far courner. Just as she was about the get a better look at it on the sceen, it suddenly vanished. [i]That's weird.[/i] she thought, but she just dismissed it as a glitch in the system and shut down the comp and stood up to stretch.

"So what's our next move?"
[center]~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/center]
OOC~ Hope this is fine![/color]

[Raiyuu]

[font=Verdana][color=DarkGreen]Kaida looked thoughtful for a few seconds. Ash had been a little put off by her re-assignment so early on in her Legionnaires career, and even more so by her new team members; what with Kaida and Aura being non-human, she'd been unable to imprint them, a situation she'd never encountered before. But now the initial xenophobia was fading she could acknowledge Kaida as a good leader and astounding tactical thinker, an opinion backed up by what she'd heard of the disastrous Temple of Aton mission.

[b]"Right," [/b]Kaida started, having reached a decision, [b]"Mirror, grab the uniform and head in there disguised. Rendezvous with Z and give him the spare commlink, his is obviously faulty. Then join a patrol and start feeding us more intel on their movements and positions."

[/b]Ash nodded and grabbed their MS13 hostage's uniform, which was lying draped over the back of a chair. She'd lured him in with the old seduction trick and zapped him with Tech's little stun pistol, which the genius had let her keep after their encounter with Al-Hadiye. She shut her eyes and leaned her head back, visualising the form of the henchman in the wardrobe and allowing her body to change...

[b]"We especially want information on the man in charge," [/b]Kaida continued. [b]"He shouldn't be hard to spot, Arachnid pounded his face into the concrete last time they met. Let us know where he's hiding."

"In case I have to shoot him," [/b]added Vinovka, grinning behind her rifle.

[b]"Give Z a commlink, find the head honcho," [/b]Ash repeated, pulling on his uniform. [b]"Gotcha."

[/b][/color][/font] [center][font=Verdana][color=DarkGreen][b]~~~~~~~~~~~~[/b][/color][/font][font=Verdana]
[/font] [/center]
[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS][font=Verdana][b]
"Thanks, my man," [/b]whispered Z as he fitted the new commlink into his ear. Aura, still in the building across the road, had used her infrared satellite map to guide Ash to his location. Now they were both crouched, concealed behind some massive piece of heavy machinery in the hall where the fifty children Z had found were being held.

Z didn't seem at all fazed by Ash's gender-switching. He flirted when Ash was female, acted laddish when he was male. He'd probably met all sorts if half the stories about him were true. Ash was starting to find that quite attractive, but this wasn't the time.

[b]"Take a look," [/b]the espionage artist suggested, handing Ash a monocular. Pointing it in the direction he indicated, Ash saw a gantry running around the walls near the warehouse's high ceiling; at one point there was a door, and next to it, a large plate-glass window affording a view of some kind of control room.

Ash felt Z's fingers touch a button on the monocular, and his view zoomed in several times. There was a man lounging in the control room, swinging round in lazy circles in an executive swivel chair.

[b]"So that's our man," [/b]Ash concluded. There was no doubt. The man's face was surrounded by a framework of fine steel pins, like some kind of bizarre mix between orthodontic headgear and a ball-and-rod molecule model. Presumably, after Arachnid's enraged pummelling, those pins and rods had been surgically implanted to hold his head together until the bones healed.

[b]"Can you let the chief know?" [/b]he asked Z, who nodded an affirmative and gave a thumbs-up. Ash nodded back, threw in a wink for good measure and emerged from behind the machine.

[i][b]Blend in and bluff. No problem. Been doing it all my life.[/b][/i][/font]
[/font][/color]

[DDG]

[color=darkgreen]Vinovka languidly pushed a magazine into her rifle. She stalked over to a window and leaned on the sill, awaiting confirmation of the leader?s position.

She turned her head in Kaida?s direction as the radio crackled to life. The Green Team Leader spoke calmly and nodded before terminating the link and setting the radio down.[/color]

?We got his location, boss?? [color=darkgreen]Vinovka questioned idly.[/color]

?He?s holed up in a control room on the second floor, the left side of the building from our position.?

[color=darkgreen]Vinovka stared out of the grimy window and eyed the warehouse critically. She counted the number of windows on the front and frowned as she attempted to imagine the interior layout. Her gaze turned to the building on the left of the warehouse.

It was abandoned and towered two storeys above the warehouse. A multitude of broken out windows on the second storey and a fair few on the third storey made it ideal to finding a shot on the leader when the situation called for his termination.

The close proximity of the building to the warehouse immediately counted out using the fourth storey as a sniping point. A terrible angle; no shot at all. Usually she preferred to snipe from higher up; targets generally kept to sweeping the windows at their eye level for threats. Hopefully, one of the broken windows on the third storey had a good view of the control room. If not, she?d have to be very careful about choosing one on the second.

Slinging her rifle over her shoulder, Vinovka nodded to Kaida.[/color] ?Do we have another comm-link??

?Where are you going??

[color=darkgreen]Vinovka tilted her head in the direction of the abandoned building.[/color] ?To get a better shot. The building next to the warehouse.?

[color=darkgreen]Kaida grabbed a comm-link from the table and held it out to Vinovka as she made her way over. Taking the device, she fixed it to her ear and headed to the door.[/color]

?Contact us when you?re in position, then standby for further orders.?

?Roger, boss.? [color=darkgreen]Vinovka left the room quietly and turned down the hall. She headed toward the nearest exit and descended the stairs.

At the bottom, she ducked into the shadows of Green Team?s makeshift headquarters. She scanned the front of the warehouse for threats before moving farther back in the alley and turning into the alley behind the nearby building.

She emerged in a larger alley just across the way from the abandoned building but continued walking until she?d reached the next alley over. If she crossed the road so close to the warehouse, someone might spot her.

Cautiously, she peeked around the corner of the building and upon spotting no one outside the warehouse, quickly made her way across the narrow road.

She searched out a backdoor entrance and found one, a door with a busted lock. Once inside, she headed up the nearest staircase until she found herself on the third floor.

It was an old office building that stank of mold. Vinovka wrinkled her nose but ignored the smell and quietly walked to the windows, avoiding desks and toppled over cabinets, busted computers and fax machines. She pressed against the wall next to the first glass-less window and carefully looked out.

The control room was in perfect sight. An average-sized window gave view to the leader spinning around in his swivel chair.[/color]

?Amateurs,? [color=darkgreen]Vinovka murmured to herself before looking around the room. She spotted a chair that still had all four legs and walked over to grab it. She placed it in the shadow of the wall and un-slung her rifle before sitting down. Resting the edge of the stock on the sill, she peered through the scope and began adjusting her rifle for distance and wind speed.

When she was done, she pressed the button to connect with Kaida.[/color]

?Vinovka here. In position, boss.?

?Good,? [color=darkgreen]came Kaida?s swift response.[/color] ?Keep an eye on any activity from that side of the building and stay in contact.?

?Gotcha, boss.?

[color=darkgreen]The link went dead and Vinovka rested the butt of her rifle in the crook of her arm, beginning her slow, tedious watch of the warehouse below.[/color]

[Raiyuu]

[font=Trebuchet MS][color=DarkGreen][font=Verdana]Ash felt like he?d fallen into a game of Metal Gear Solid. He was wandering steadily along what he hoped was the same patrol route as all the other guards, cradling his stun pistol in the hope that it looked futuristic enough to blend in with the crazy stuff the MS13s were packing, occasionally muttering into his Legionnaire commlink. He?d imprinted every guard he?d come across, just in case the mission called for it.

He?d found the other half of the kindergarten behind a huge soundproof screen. It divided the warehouse down the middle, with the shipping handled on one side and storage and wholesaling taking place on the other. Z was ? Ash assumed ? still on the shipping side, which was full of winches and cranes to hide behind. This side was far more open, with only a few stacks of crates up against one wall. The children sat in a huddle right in the middle of the floor, twenty armed gang members surrounding them.

One man didn?t appear to be holding a weapon. He was wearing an expensive-looking tailored suit and sunglasses ? [i][b]shades, inside?[/b][/i] thought Ash ? and was talking on a mobile phone.

[b]?Whaddya mean, you don?t have that authority??[/b] he yelled. [b]?You?re the chief of police. Look, the deadline?s coming up in five minutes and I don?t see any sign of Arachnid with our money ??[/b]

[b]?Got another MS13 boss,?[/b] Ash mumbled, [b]?east side, suit and shades. I doubt you can see him from ?"[/b]

[b]?I see him fine,?[/b] Vinovka?s voice crackled over his commlink. [b]?I?ve changed position for better coverage.?[/b]

[b]?They?re getting edgy,?[/b] commented Ash. There was no reply; he reckoned Kaida was working on strategy. Green Team was in about as advantageous position as they were going to get; two agents inside the warehouse, sniper in position, satellite imaging and a top-class tactical mind on the case. The plan just needed fine-tuning and then they could spring the trap.

[b]?Hold it,?[/b] ordered the shades bloke, holding out a hand. Ash halted. He tried to force his breathing and heart under control, telling himself this would be some order, to guard the front gate or get himself a less puny-looking weapon or something, he [i]wasn?t [/i]rumbled, he [i]couldn?t [/i]be rumbled ?

[b]?What the hell is that thing??[/b] He was indicating the stunner. Ash had to concentrate hard to stop himself breathing a sigh of relief. [b]?I don?t care if it?s a Noisy Cricket or what, go up to the office and get something that doesn?t look like a kid?s toy.?[/b]

Ash nodded subserviently and started walking briskly towards the stairs.

[b]?Wouldn?t want to make our benefactors look bad, Legionnaire.?[/b]

Ash froze.

[b]?Turn around. Slow.?[/b]

He did. Twenty bizarre pieces of weaponry were trained on him, all beginning to glow or spin or whine. Ash would have found it ridiculous if he wasn?t scared out of his wits. They?d been briefed that MS13 somehow had accurate intel on their respective abilities; what they hadn?t expected was for the gang to have whipped up effective counters at such short notice. [i][b]And it was all going so well, too.[/b][/i]

Shades tapped his shades. [b]?Another gift from our benefactors. No hiding from me,?[/b] he grinned. He had lots of precious metal in his teeth. [b]?Time to go see the boss, Legionnaire.?[/b]

Ash couldn?t see any way of escaping that didn?t involve being fried, disintegrated or blown to pieces, so he settled for letting the team know what had happened. [i][b]That way, hopefully they won't get hit the same way ... I bet MS13 has counters set up for all their powers, too.[/b][/i]

[b]?Looks like you blew my cover,?[/b] he said as a gang member disarmed him. [/font] [b][font=Verdana]?Congrats.?[/font]

[/b][/color][/font] [center][font=Trebuchet MS][color=DarkGreen][b]-------------------------------------
[size=1][font=Verdana]OOC: [/font][/size][/b][size=1][font=Verdana]Just trying to speed things along a bit, seeing as we've only got until January 1st to wrap this up...[/font][/size][/color][/font][/center]
[font=Trebuchet MS][color=DarkGreen]
[/color][/font]

[DeathKnight]

[color=green]Kaida clicked her tongue as she mentally reviewed their options- their advantageous position had died somewhat with Mirror's capture.

"Kaida." Vinovka's voice came over the commlink, breaking the silence that had overtaken the room.

"Yes? Go ahead." Kaida replied and hoped for some positive news.

"Some of the MS13 members are on the move. They are flanking around towards your building.." She paused, "I believe they seek to kill or capture you."

"How many are there?" Kaida sat down at a nearby table and flipped open a laptop- though they had only two hours to prepare, they had installed some limited detection systems that were wirelessly connected to their 'HQ' room A quick glance over the system showed nothing amiss but she wondered if they had installed it properly- they had, after all, been in a bit of a rush. She mentally 'hmmm'ed and tapped her hand on the desk.

"Thirty or more." Vinovka said after a few moments. "Fully armed and dangerous although they are rather.. unprofessional looking. Even for MS13 members."

"Have they noticed you?" Kaida asked and brought up a small administrator's console, typing in a few commands. A diagnostics program quickly popped up and began a self-scan, the progress bar steadily rising towards 100 percent.

"No." Vinovka curtly replied to the question.

"Well," She arched her eyebrow- everything [i]should[/i] be working. "Continue keeping a watch. Be careful, though."

"Will do, boss." Vinovka said and the link fell silent once more.

Several windows popped up on the laptop as the system detected something moving into the first floor stairwell. Immediately, all the sensors in the building went offline. Kaida grinned grimly and muttered "At least they were working for a second." She stood and walked over to a crate prominently marked with the words "[/color][color=red]PROPERTY OF [b]THE LEGIONNAIRES[/b][/color][color=green]".

"Boss." Z's voice came over the link this time. "What are my orders?"

Kaida lifted the crate open. She took out several sheets of paper filled with various warnings about the possibly illegal nature of whatever was in the crate and set them on the table next to her, "Don't get caught. Don't die. Find a hole in their operation large enough for us to slip through. Don't bail Mirror out unless absolutely necessary. She's a professional.." She paused, ".. shape shifter. Just.. I need something new to work with or else this is going to be resolved in an ugly manner." She set out several lengthy belts of ammunition on top of the papers and rummaged through the packaging within the crate for a few seconds. "Very ugly."

"No problem, I'll see what I can do." Z responded.

"You might have high tech weaponry but we're still the bloody Legionnaires." Kaida mumbled to herself as she grasped what she had been looking for and slowly took it out. A sleek, black minigun emblazoned with her own personal emblem. She heaved it up and sat it on the table, "It will take them some time to make their way up here. We should prepare."

"What do you plan to do?" Aura asked, eyebrow raised.

"Slaughter them, I suppose." Kaida replied and looked over her assault rifle. "We will find something we can exploit soon enough. Then we can make a real move."

A strange noise began to emanate from the wall next to Kaida. [i]Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep[/i] it went, on and on. She peered at the wall and didn't notice anything unusual. "What in the world.." She muttered and poked at the wall. There was something there that couldn't be seen. She carefully took it off the wall and it appeared in her hands suddenly.

"Some kind of cloaking field?" Aura offered.

"Looks like it." Kaida said and looked down to the device. The screen on it displayed the number '17' and was counting down with the words 'WARNING' flashing as it went along.

Realization hit- she was holding a bomb.[/color]

[DDG]

[COLOR=DarkGreen]Vinovka eyed the thirty-odd MS13 members as they hurried toward Green Team's makeshift headquarters. She tapped her fingers against the stock of her rifle. Kaida and Aura could take care of themselves. They'd brought along precautions in case any drastic measures needed to be taken. Vinovka could always provide backup if need be. The rifle magazine held twenty rounds and she had two more magazines hidden inside her coat. Sixty rounds, though she hoped all sixty of them wouldn't be necessary.

...after all, she had to be conservative. Obtaining bullets for a sniper rifle not even legal in the states was difficult. She couldn't very well go to the nearest gun shop and ask for a case of the rounds. That would raise a few awkward questions.

She snapped her gaze back to the warehouse and peered through a pair of binoculars. From what she could see through a window that showed a small portion of the, presumably, storage section, Ash was being bound by a member of MS13. Other members had surrounded him, each wielding various pieces of bizarre weaponry.

Vinovka scanned the nearby rooftops. A sniper's worst enemy is another sniper and if MS13 had detailed information on the Legionnaires...

Something glinted off in the distance and Vinovka shifted her gaze.

[i]BOOM![/I]

Vinovka whipped her head toward Green Team's makeshift headquarters. The front side of the building, the road and sidewalk were charred and burning. Every windowpane on the bottom floors had shattered, as if someone had just thrown a bomb out the window in a last-chance effort.

Wait...bomb?

Rapid fire from a machine gun interrupted Vinovka's thoughts. Kaida was working over the MS13 members with her minigun somewhere inside the building.

Another glint in the corner of her eye. Vinovka pulled up her binoculars and zoomed in. The familiar shape of a rifle stood out against a rooftop.

Vinovka smiled and continued observing. She set the zoom of the binoculars to max and studied the other sniper's actions. The sniper laid unmoving against the dark rooftop. Vinovka focused on his eyes, trying to discern if he knew where she was.

His gaze was elsewhere, sweeping rooftops and windows. He hadn't found her yet.[/color]

"Kaida," [color=darkgreen]Vinovka left the window and headed toward the stairs,[/color] "we have a little problem."

[color=darkgreen]Kaida's response was hurried and difficult to hear over the din.[/color] "We have more than a little problem!"

"MS13 has a sniper posted."

[color=darkgreen]The cacophony of machine gun fire and various other sounds, presumably from MS13's weapons, stopped abruptly.[/color]

"Permission to exterminate him, boss?"

[color=darkgreen]There was a pause, then another burst of fire and Kaida answered,[/color] "Permission granted!" [color=darkgreen]The link was severed and Vinovka made her way up the stairs, taking them two steps at a time.

She cautiously pushed open the door to the roof and dropped to her stomach. She crawled slowly over to a metal air vent and pulled herself into a kneeling position behind it. From there, she could see the sniper but it was difficult for the sniper to see her.

The crosshairs fell in the middle of the sniper's forehead. Vinovka flipped the safety off and slid her finger over the trigger...

The sniper suddenly locked eyes with her. He pushed a pair of glasses up the bridge of his nose and lifted his rifle.

Vinovka quickly changed her aim and shot.

On the nearby rooftop, the sniper smirked, thinking Vinovka had missed and pulled the trigger.

The resulting explosion blew the sniper backward.

Vinovka grinned at her handiwork. She'd shot the barrel of his rifle, knowing the bullet could penetrate one side of the metal and get lodged in the other. The other sniper had shot, thinking she'd missed and the obstructed barrel had exploded back on him. She'd killed the sniper and destroyed his rifle in the process. If it was one of those bizarre weapons that the other MS13 members were wielding--and she was sure it was, it didn't look like any rifle she knew--no one could use it now. Vinovka hoped she never found out what the rifle could have done to her.[/color]

"Vinovka."

"Yeah, boss?" [color=darkgreen]Vinovka pushed the safety back on her rifle and sat behind the air vent.[/color]

"What's the situation at the warehouse?"

[color=darkgreen]Vinovka peered over the edge of the roof.[/color]

"I've taken out the sniper but the warehouse..." [color=darkgreen]Vinovka tilted her head.[/color] "There are a couple MS13 members outside."

"What are they doing?"

"They're just standing there---wait. They're going back inside." [color=darkgreen]Vinovka pulled up her binoculars.[/color] "Something's happening inside. I don't know what, but whatever it is, it can't be good."

[Soliel]

[color=green]Everything happened so fast. One moment Kaida was chucking the micro-sized bomb from the room, the next, the thirty-some odd MS13 members had the two surrounded. "Well, chief, looks like it's time to put that little plan of yours into action." Aura mumbled to Kaida.

A shot was fired at her from the crowd and Aura jumped out of the way to avoid it, landing nonchilantly on the shoulders of the gunner. "Not very bright, are you?" She leaped down behind him and planted a swift ax kick to his shoulder. Three others opened fire with their suphisticated weapons. Aura once again jumped from harms way as the three ended up shooting at each other.

Aura glanced over at Kaida to find her firing at the MS13's with that special gun of her's. After a few more minutes the gang members sent after them were all either dead or unconcious. Aura stooped down and picked up one of the strange weapons. "Something about this thing is familar, I just can't put my finger on it," she informed Kaida as she finished checking in on Vinovka.

"So what are you saying? Do you know who these mysterious "benefactors" could be?" Kaida asked.

"Well, not exactly. These guys are supposedly from another dimension, right? So I've probibily been to the world where this thing came from. Maybe if I inspect this thing more thoroughly..."

"That's good, but I'm more worried about another problem. I doubt MS13 expected us to be taken out by that explosion. It seems that Mirror's theory on our enemy's having a counter for each of us was correct."

"So, you're worried about who our counters could be. I see your point; kind of hard to counter an alian and a genetic experiment."[/color]

[Raiyuu]

[b][color=DarkGreen]"The name's Zone." [/color][/b][color=DarkGreen]MS13's head honcho had to speak with his teeth clenched, his jaw held shut by the reconstructive scaffolding implanted in his face. [b]"Not my real one, hehe. But your name's not Mirror, either. It's a pleasure to meet a harmless Legionnaire; last one I met, see, saw to it that I have to eat through a straw for the next sixteen months."

[/b]Zone held out a hand for Ash to shake, fully aware that his captive couldn't shake it. They'd tied his hands behind his back, pretty expertly. But he had a plan for that little problem.

His eyes met Zone's, just for a second or two.

[b]"Not gonna shake?" [/b]Zone feigned gentlemanly offence. [b]"No manners. Kneel, then!"

[/b]The one with the fancy shades planted a kick to the back of Ash's knees, and he went down hard onto the floorboards. The impact jarred up his thighs and made his head spin. He was vaguely aware of his stunner and commlink being tossed onto the control desk, and then the shades bloke left and he was alone with Zone.

[i][b]Good. I was counting on that. Time to show the team I'm not just a rookie.[/b][/i]

[b]"Well, what are we going to do with this one?"

[/b]That was confusing. Ash's head had stopped pounding, but the question seemed weird. Was it addressed to him, was it rhetorical?

[b]"What?" [/b]he managed.

[b]"You're right. He's neutralised. The others will be too, soon. Disappointing about Arachnid's no-show, though. I was looking forward to a rematch."

"Arachnid's dead," [/b]Ash volunteered, as much to get Zone's attention back on him and off his imaginary friends as anything. The scarred man looked back at the kneeling Legionnaire, surprise evident on his face. He didn't reply for a few seconds, and when he did, he seemed to be talking to himself again.

[b]"You're confusing the poor kid," [/b]he said. [b]"And talking to thin air's creepy. Come on out, why don'tcha?"

[/b]Ash looked around. There were no cupboards, no possible hiding places in the room. How could anyone -

- and it was like the scene before Ash were painted on a rubber canvas, and someone had stuck a pencil in from behind and [i]twisted, [/i]and then let go so the canvas snapped back -

- and there were three more figures in the room. They looked human. But Ash met the central creature's eye, and hit the same roadblock he'd met trying to imprint Kaida and Aura. The man's eyes [i]glittered.

[/i]And none of the three were touching the floor.

[b]"This was taking too long in any case," [/b]the central, tallest figure was saying. [b]"Even with our equipment your people are failing. Your sniper is dead, and your bomb was ineffective."

[i]Good to know. I heard the explosion ... if he says it was ineffective, Aura and Kaida must have survived.

[/i]"We will handle the situation personally from now on," [/b]the floating creature continued. He addressed his companions. [b]"You, find and neutralise the infiltrator. And you take care of the sniper. I shall deal with the two fugitives myself."

"Hey ... !" [/b]protested Zone ineffectually, as the three figures dissolved, first into ethereal smoke, then into dense pinpoints of light which rocketed out of the plexiglass office window.

[b]"No choice now, I s'pose," [/b]Ash said, almost to himself. [b]"Got to escape and warn the others, haven't I?"

[/b]Zone, obviously sore from the dressing-down he'd been given and looking for somewhere to take out his frustrations, started stalking across the floor towards Ash. Ash just grinned and began his morph. The MS13 guard was quite a big bloke. The ropes would be significantly less restrictive on Tech.

As Zone approached, Ash rolled back and lashed out with her legs, knocking the man's feet out from under him. Her hair was lengthening, her body was becoming smaller, slimmer. The ropes fell off her wrists and ankles and she scrambled to her feet, beginning another quickfire morph into Z, the brawniest frame that came quickly to mind.

When Zone came at him again, Ash knew exactly what to do. He blocked the first punch as well as he could with his limited fighting experience, then made a grab for the gang leader's face. His fingers curled around one of the metal rods running along Zone jaw. He planted the sole of his foot on the man's chest.

[b]"Neutralised, am I?"[/b]

He just had time to see Zone's eyes go wide before he heaved. Something went [i]ping.

[/i]Once he was sure Zone was out cold from shock and pain, Ash grabbed his commlink. [b]"Mirror to Green Team. The head honcho's out of the picture, but there're bad things coming your way!"
[/b]
[/color] [center][size=1][color=DarkGreen]~~~~~~~~~~~~[/color][/size][size=1]
[/size][size=1][color=DarkGreen]OOC: If anyone had different ideas for the extra-dimensional 'benefactors', let me know and I'll edit.[/color][/size]
[/center]
[color=DarkGreen] [/color]

[DeathKnight]

[color=green]As Mirrors's warning came to pass, a heavy silence fell over the room. The air was thick with the remnants of the 'battle' that had taken place. It had been more a slaughter than any real battle. MS13 members were strewn about either unconscious, wounded or dead. Some blood had splattered on Kaida's cheek- she could feel it slowly sliding downwards irritatingly. She reached up and wiped it away, smearing it across her palm. Her eyes locked on it and her mind began to wander to her last mission. Could she have..

"Kaida?" Aura cocked her head to the side as she spoke.

"Huh?" Kaida snapped out of her trance and looked to her, "What is it?"

".. I asked you what your plan was. Are you..?" Aura peered at her with concern.

"I'm alright." Kaida replied and rested the minigun on her shoulder. Ignoring the look on Aura's face she cracked her neck from side to side, "A plan, hm. We've got to secure the children.."

A loud crack from behind interrupted her. She spun around quickly, her minigun was already lowered and her finger rested on the trigger. The wall had a long, deep crack in it that seemed to be steadily increasing in size. Finally, the wall completely ripped apart and crumbled to pieces. A humanoid figure hovered outside- the sky around him was distorted. It's color and appearance shifted erratically. It gave him an ethereal appearance- like an angel of death, perhaps.

"Eerily beautiful.." Aura whispered to herself.

"Greetings." Kaida hailed the man and let her magic flow into the minigun, bringing it on-line. "Here to kill us, are you?"

"It's nothing personal." The man replied and raised his hand. There was a [i]snap[/i] as one of the extra-dimensional guns appeared. The man grabbed it and pointed at her. "You are merely in the way of our objective."[/color]

[Soliel]

[color=green]A humanoid figure hovered outside- the sky around him was distorted. It's color and appearance shifted erratically. It gave him an ethereal appearance- like an angel of death, perhaps.

"Eerily beautiful.." Aura whispered to herself.

"Greetings." Kaida hailed the man and let her magic flow into the minigun, bringing it on-line. "Here to kill us, are you?"

"It's nothing personal." The man replied and raised his hand. There was a snap as one of the extra-dimensional guns appeared. The man grabbed it and pointed at her. "You are merely in the way of our objective."

Realization suddenly hit Aura like a ton of bricks. She now remembered where she'd seen those weapons before. "Hold on! What in the cosmoes is a Selenian doing here on Earth? And threatening us with leathal force, no less?!"

Aura had a stunned look on her face as she demanded information from the extra-demensional. Kaida, meanwhile, wore a look of shear confusion. "Wait! Do you mean to tell me that you know this man, Aura?"

"Well not personnally, he's a Selenian from the world Raolyn. Their technology is not only advanced, but has a unique design to it, that's why I recognised that weapon of their's. But I don't understand," she turned back towards the man, "Your people are a non-violent, prosperous race when I last visited your world."

"Your last visit must have been quite dated, Agent of the IOPS, for quite a bit has changed."

"[i]EX[/i]-agent," she responded with a hint of disgust, "and what do you mean things have changed?"

"We are not as [i]prosperous[/i] as we once were. In fact, that is what brings us to your world..." he cut off from the conversation as he seemed to be listening and receiving instruction from some sort of com-link they couldn't see. "Roger that." He turned back to Kaida and Aura, "It seems I'm needed back inside. Heed my advice, leave us be and you will not be harmed."

With that, he vanished through the portal he had come through, which faded into the darkness. Kaida scoffed, "Heh, like we need to heed a warning from a guy like that. We have a mission to finish, y'know. Right, Aura?"

Aura, however, was still staring at the spot where the Selenian had vanished. "Selenians don't have the technology to travel between demensions," she said coolly.

"What? Then how do you supose they got here?"

"I've been thinking the same thing."[/color]

[DeathKnight]

[color=green]"The plot thickens." Kaida said with a hint of sarcasm and a slight upturn of her lips- she was enjoying this somehow. The challenge, the mystery of it had her curiosity firmly focused on it. "This situation is getting more complicated, Aura."

"The mission.. hm. It isn't so black and white anymore, is it?" Aura leaned against a nearby wall and looked to Kaida. "It's not just us versus the bad guys. These guys seem to have a less malicious motive behind their actions.. something that has driven them to such a desperate length."

"Malicious or not we will follow the Arbiter's orders still." Kaida said and held her forehead as she continued speaking, "We are still too ignorant of the situation to do much else beyond being soldiers."

"It's obvious we'll discover more about their plight, their 'situation'. What will happen then? What will you order us to do?"

"Whatever I feel is the right course of action." Kaida's eyebrow arched and she shrugged, "What else is there to do?"

"True enough." Aura responded and nodded to her.

"I should check on Vin." Kaida murmured to herself and turned to the room. A few pieces of rubble were strewn about haphazardly around the furniture and equipment within. A quick search of the table turned up the com-link underneath some papers. She raised it to her mouth and spoke into it, "Vinovka."

No response. Kaida furrowed her brow, "Vinovka, come in."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Vinovka's voice came over the com. "I had a.. visitor. Ran off suddenly." Boredom was apparent in her voice as she continued, "I'm a bit disappointed."

"You too? They're making a different move, then. Something aside from trying to kill us.. the hostages? Blast, are they going to do something to the kids?" Kaida stepped towards the new 'window' their opponent had made for the room and peered towards the warehouse. "Mirror, what's the situation?"

Static came back over the com instead of the usual silence. Kaida lightly hit the malfunctioning device, "Worthless terran technology.." She muttered to herself.

"The link going down.. you think that's a mere coincidence?" Aura tilted her head at Kaida.

"No, I think not. Come on. We're going in." Kaida hoisted her mini-gun up, resting it on her shoulder. She nodded to Aura, "Let's go see what kind of trouble they are stirring up. Vinovka will come along soon enough. Any objections?"

"I'm always up for waltzing into trouble, Kaida." Aura replied with a slight smile.[/color]

[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Verdana]"Mirror to Kaida, over." The commlink hissed static. Ash frowned. "Mirror to Green Team. Green Team, respond, over." Still the wash of static.

[i]Interference ... deliberate jamming? Or something else?

[/i]Ash shifted, becoming Zone, the MS13 leader. He couldn't replicate the surgical splint in the man's face, but he reckoned he could explain that away as another helpful gift from "our benefactors". Throwing on the unconscious terrorist's black flak jacket to cover up his stretch-fabric Legionnaire fatigues, he threw open the control room door and stormed down the stairs.

"What's going on?" he demanded of the masked MS13s guarding the schoolkids. "Arachnid delivered our cash yet? Or are we gonna have to start popping kiddies?"

All the goons looked puzzled, as far as he could make out under the balaclavas. He hoped it was just because his face wasn't full of pins, but started running excuses and back-up plans through his head just in case.

A guy hefting a rifle-like weapon, seemingly made of glass shards and with some sort of blue liquid slopping about inside, was the first to snap out of torpor and respond. "New plan, boss," he explained slowly. "The, uh ... weapons dealers said to start setting up their heavy equipment."

"I know that!" snapped Ash, feigning fury to push the goons onto the back foot while he processed this information. "Just don't forget we're in this for Arachnid and the money, whatever it is the ... dealers are after. And why the hell aren't you setting up the heavy equipment like they said?!"

"MacKenzie's team's setting up across the way," replied the goon, cowering and indicating the storage area on the other side of the soundproof screen. "We're just guarding the kids till then, boss..."

"Good," Ash interrupted curtly. "Don't nap. Our benefactors haven't caught all the Legionnaires yet." He strode off briskly towards the warehouse's dividing wall before anyone could question his false authority.

[i]What are they setting up through here? Some kind of weapon, is my best guess. And they're only guarding the kids "till then"? What do the kids have to do with anything? What could a bunch of extra-dimensional arms dealers want with a hundred kindergarteners?

[/i]The clang of metal on metal and the roar of welding equipment rushed through the soundproofed door as Ash let himself through. All the stacked crates had been opened, and twisted, alien technology was visible protruding from some of them - a sure sign this whole operation had been planned well in advance, to have the warehouse pre-stocked with the creatures' 'heavy equipment'. Ash hoped briefly that Z was still all right, having had the crates he'd been using as cover moved around and inspected, but had no way of finding out without a working commlink.

Three of the extra-dimensionals were gliding gracefully about, fusing together pieces of metal and glass with compact, wrist-mounted welders. Thus far the 'heavy equipment' was taking the shape of a half-circle; from the shape of some of the parts left, Ash guessed the finished article would be a massive ring, the height of the warehouse roof. Already fat orange sparks were crackling along its length, filling the immediate area with a smoky haze; Ash guessed the alien power source was probably the cause of the Legionnaires' comms interference. Acutely aware that the three hovering figures would be able to see through his disguise, he zipped up Zone's flak jacket, drew Tech's stun pistol and shifted into his default form - now smaller and fleeter of foot, she could more easily escape detection.

Ash hunkered down in a gap between two now-empty crates, hoping they wouldn't be disturbed again. From here she could observe both the construction and the large group of children huddled along the warehouse wall. She set her commlink to scan mode in case the jamming let up, and waited for reinforcements.
[/font][/color]

[DDG]

[color=green]There was an eerie disquiet that Vinovka couldn?t shake off as she headed back down the stairs into the office building. Her rifle was slung over her right shoulder and she pulled it into her hands at the third floor landing.

Peering into open doorways as she passed them in the hallway, she considered anything that seemed out of place.

She stepped lightly over an old swivel desk chair and bit her lip to keep from cursing as the floor beneath her boots groaned.

From her periphery, she eyed the shadows across the hallway, almost expecting someone ? or something ? to come flying out of them at any moment, thinking to catch her off guard.

She listened for the click of a gun or the shallow breathing of an assailant, the slight shifting of feet, the rustle of clothing.

But there was nothing. Nothing to cause her worry. She was alone ? completely alone ? but she furrowed her brow and frowned because it felt like someone was watching her, following her, waiting.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway and silently perused her surroundings. The length of hallway before her was empty ? ignoring broken office supplies and the multitude of paper strewn about ? and, twisting her head around to look, it seemed the length behind her was the same.

Her rifle found it?s way back to her shoulder as she slung it, smiling to herself. If there was someone following her, might as well give them a sense of false security.

She stepped over a filing cabinet, glancing at the contents spewing out, before she [i]knew[/I] she was being followed because shadows didn?t just [i]move[/I] like that.

And there was a quiet rip ? or was it whirring? ? before a click ?

? and Vinovka pulled her rifle off and up to her shoulder, turned, and pointed into the face of her assailant in one fluid moment while the assailant smiled at her, his own rifle pressed into Vinovka?s forehead.[/color]

?You?re quite interesting, I hope you know,? the assailant murmured, amused. ?Quite the reputation.?

[color=green]Vinovka allowed herself a small grin.[/color] ?It comes with the territory.?

?So it seems.?

?Here to kill me then?? [color=green]Vinovka cracked a larger grin and pushed again the barrel of the assailant?s rifle daringly, her smirk challenging him.[/color]

?Can?t get anything past you.?

[color=green]There was a silence, with the two staring one another down, neither moving, each holding their rifles with steady hands.

Then, the assailant tilted his head to the side ? Vinovka followed him carefully with her rifle ? before nodding.[/color]

?Looks like you got off lucky,? [color=green]he drew back a few feet, his rifle resting on his shoulder, while Vinovka kept hers raised at him until he laughed and waved her off.[/color] ?I?m not going to kill you. My orders seem to have . . . changed, it seems.?

[color=green]Warily, Vinovka lowered her rifle and held it with both hands, ready to raise it again if needed.

The assailant turned and a small ripple coursed through the air ?[/color]

?You?ll have to teach me how you do that, you know.?

[color=green]He turned and raised an eyebrow at her. She gestured in the general direction of his feet.[/color]

?That floating thing.?

[color=green]And with another smile, the assailant was gone.

It took Vinovka a moment to realize someone was speaking to her over the comm-link. She shook her head and turned, pacing toward the end of the hall.[/color]

[i]?Vinovka, come in.?[/I]

?Yeah, sorry about that,? [color=green]she answered, rifle slung back over her shoulder.[/color] ?I had a . . . visitor. Ran off suddenly.? [color=green]She made a face, even though she was aware Kaida couldn?t see it.[/color] ?I?m a bit disappointed.?

[i]"You too? They're making a different move, then. Something aside from trying to kill us.. the hostages? Blast, are they going to do something to the kids?"[/I]

[color=green]The connection was severed and Vinovka shrugged, knowing she?d find out what was going on soon enough as she opened the door to the stairs, and headed down them.[/color]

[Raiyuu]

[color=darkgreen]The final section of the circle was slotting into place when Ash noticed Vinovka slip silently through a high window from the fire escape outside. The sniper dropped, catlike, onto a stack of discarded crates, lowering herself into a firing position.

The orange sparks arcing and sputtering around the giant alien machine lashed out and met in the circle?s centre. Abruptly all the crackling, whining and whirring emitted by the machine ceased, replaced by a deep, muffling silence, as the space inside the ring turned black; dead, warped reality, an ethereal wind vacuuming sound.

[i]?? to all Green Team personnel in the field. Repeat, Kaida to Green Team. Respond, over.?[/i]

Ash didn?t question the details of the commlink reactivating ? perhaps whatever energy had been jamming the signal was being sucked away by the void the extra-dimensionals had created. ?Mirror to Kaida. Vinovka and I are in position. Awaiting orders, over.?

[i]?What?s the situation, Mirror? Do you know Z?s status??[/i]

?No, Z is out of contact. There?s a machine set up in the warehouse, looks like something out of Stargate.?

[i]?It?s no good trying to guess their plan any more. They?ve had us on the back foot every step of the way, so I say it?s time to abandon stealth. Aura and I are incoming. Green Team will launch an all-out assault and destroy that machine. Portal, gate, whatever, we do not need more dimensions bleeding through into this one. Mirror, Vinovka, move on my signal. Do what you can. Out.?[/i]

She could see Vinovka readying her rifle as Kaida ended the communication, and gave her stunner a check. Still fully charged; she hadn?t had a chance to use it yet. There was little chance of her damaging the portal, but she reckoned she could provide a decent enough distraction to allow Kaida and her heavy artillery to do the job.

[i]?Vinovka to Mirror, what?s your position? Do you see what I?m seeing??[/i]

Looking up from the pistol, Ash could see the oily surface of the deadspace rippling. A hand emerged, followed by a body, a head with flaming red hair and leonine features.

?That ? it looks like a male version of Aura,? Ash replied dumbly.

The air was suddenly full of the whine, chatter and staccato shredding sound of Kaida?s minigun chewing through the warehouse door. Light shone briefly through the perforations before the entire door flew out of the wall, revealing Kaida, minigun barrels smoking, and Aura, lowering her foot from the kick she?d just dealt.

?That was the signal!? the Team Leader yelled, grinning ferociously. ?Green Team, mobilise!?[/color]

[DeathKnight]

[color=green]The beast of a minigun awoke once more and churned out a stream of bullets. With an air of surprise to their arrival, Kaida dropped a dozen gang members within a few seconds as Aura surged forward up into the air. She sailed right into their ranks landing squarely on top of a shocked MS13 member, toppling him to the ground. "What a feisty woman." Kaida muttered amusedly to herself.

"Kaida!" Mirror's voice came through the communicator somehow making it through the cacophony of gunfire and yells. Kaida glanced to the shiftling who pointed to the ring shaped machine and then to the vortex. She mouthed 'I've got your back' and held up an unimpressive little device. Kaida blinked at it, thinking of the wide array of armaments MS13 was using against her.

"With that little Terran thing?" Kaida asked sarcastically, arching an eyebrow. Mirror tilted her head questioningly and tapped her ear. Kaida sighed murmuring 'nevermind' and nodded affirmatively to her. "Do not let me down.." She whispered.

Between her and the impressive machine was a small army of angry, well-armed MS13 gunmen. Their confusion was wearing off and being replaced by conviction- they weren't going down without a fight. Aura was still in the thick of it. Her movements were simply mesmerizing. Shifting between the soldiers, deftly dodging bullets- she seemed untouchable as she moved, dancing and weaving as only a master martial artist could.

Kaida jogged towards the machine blasting away gunman after gunman. It was a difficult environment to fight in as the scared, huddled mass of children was just a short distance away. There wasn't room for any error on her part. Still, she smiled as she looked at the machine. Destroying things seemed to amuse her the most in war. You can slaughter a dozen different types of fool but there is a unique show only a dying machine can produce.

"I can hardly wait."[/color]