Rogue: The Uprising

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Mac had spent the better part of what remained of the day staring at the skull-cap that bound her hand, for no real reason other than the absence of a more currently agreeable sight, weird as that was. She had allowed the idle, most inane thoughts free reign as she sat herself down in some innocuous corner. If the gauze strip was the ‘least rad’ form of injury-accessory, where did Luna’s skullcap rank? Somewhere above pony-pattern band-aids, somewhere below the galaxy-pattern. The most optimal, perhaps, was a lasting scar, so that one could flaunt their scar-tissue with every high-five they meted out.

She had been thinking of such things because she wanted to distract from the aftermath. Cause the aftermath sucked. Always, unless it went perfect - and it never did. Rescue missions were a bit of a foregone conclusion in that sense. Something usually went wrong for them to happen, and - whether or not it really was someone like Josie’s fault, which it wasn’t - that meant angst. Josie would probably feel all down about it; Mac herself hadn’t done particularly well; Lex seemed cross about the little mishap near the end; Luna seemed all shaken up about their injuries; Keith was probably the most even-keeled of the lot, but maybe even he…

It felt like an ‘ah, man’ type of win, for some reason. But they did win. They won.

Their other squad had even come back with a new guy. She had chanced nearabouts the kitchen to… ‘borrow’ some of Lex’s frozen dessert, when she saw him. Looked like the ‘fan favorite’ type, about as pretty and maybe even more muscly than eighty percent of Pearl Halladay’s seasonal love interests. She had her suspicions that they’d probably all love that. Mac allowed that he seemed cool! Anyone that looked like they could wrestle a biker-jacket wearing, shades-wearing shark with legs probably deserved the moniker.

And Penny had gotten shot, apparently. ‘Ah, man’.

She thought she had heard something about that amidst the blur of noise when the group had returned. Mac herself had just about come to terms with the idea that if anyone got hurt, Doc would either save ‘em, or she wouldn’t. If they hadn’t rolled with her, Mac couldn’t do anything about it. The helplessness of the soldier’s wife, the soldier’s kid wasn’t good for anyone, and Mac had once decided against dwelling on such thoughts too hard.

Still, she had needed to resort to the liberating void of beddy-bye to stave off the matter of Penny’s wound.


Keegan’s call had prevented Mac from a sleep-in she desperately craved. At least she didn’t get the ‘rescue’ mission this time.

“... why’d you say ‘no more driving’? What Finn do?” Mac’s face gleamed in spite of Keegan’s severe frown, dodging it and instead veering towards the famously hapless one.

They’d probably roast Finn when they answered, Mac knew. But honestly: she expected something cool.
 
fright

Keith Fuller
Location: Conference Room, Rogue HQ MiamiInteractions:

Keith had slunk out of his room early in the morning, having gone to sleep pretty early. Fortunately, a bit of rest tended to do wonders for the “power migraines,” when they happened.

No powers today…

He had firmly decided. Of course, that was assuming they’d have a peaceful day today after their mission briefing. And the “new recruit” hadn’t had time to cross his mind yet, and he definitely wouldn’t be able to resist studying Deck’s aura to get an idea of what he would bring to the dynamics of Rogue.

When the loudspeaker came to life, Keith jumped with absolutely no dignity in the motion. He knocked over the couple empty yogurt containers next to him, and cursed softly. The kid was hunched over on his bed, staring at a TV screen with a controller in his hands. Final Fantasy had seemed like a pretty good escape measure for the moment. He gave a soft sigh.

”Sorry, guys. We’ll have to kick Diablos’s butt later,” he lamented to the pixelated figures.
Keith sat down in a chair, nursing a travel mug of cold brew coffee. He regularly made pretty large batches for Rogue, and the cold brew was more likely to still be there than a fresh pot of hot coffee. He definitely wasn’t feeling anything warm at the moment. He eyed Keegan for a moment, then offered the man a slight wave and a smile, nudging himself back towards his usual demeanor.

Deckard entering the room would draw Keith’s attention. Of course it would. They hadn’t actually met yet. So that would be the new recruit. Already, Keith found himself itching to let his eyes unfocus slightly and inspect the tattooed man. He shook his head a little bit and waited, somewhat patiently, for Keegan to start.

The moment Keegan mentioned an Archivist distress call, Keith’s pulse shot up and he could feel his stomach twisting into knots. It’s not my dad… he told himself firmly, Keegan wouldn’t put me on a team to check it out if it were my dad. I think. Probably. I’d fucking freeze up and be useless… His entire face was drained of color.

He wouldn’t know for sure who it was until they were already neck deep… His name being said pulled him from his thoughts and he shook his head slightly.

”Yeah… yeah. I know…” It came out tired sounding, ”No one’ll get the drop on us… I can’t promise about anything mechanical, though.”

There was, however, a brief pause in his slight freak out.

”...Aero…? Finn, you drove? And the van made it back whole?” Keith fixed Finn with a look, raising an eyebrow, ”Holy crap. Last time there was a lot of repair work that ended up needing to be done.”

He considered, briefly, adding that his driving skills must have had something to do with Penny getting hurt yesterday, but decided it would be in bad taste at the moment.

So much for no powers today… He would definitely need to… inspect Deckard. He hoped he’d have a chance to.

He stood from the table somewhat hesitantly, taking another swig of his coffee as if to steel himself, turning to look at Keegan. He opened his mouth for a moment then closed it. ”I don’t know if I’d be better off knowing if it was him or not…” he finally said, lips twisting into a irony tinged smile.

He turned to look to Penny, ”So. Which of the two of us is driving?”
 
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Luna Cambridge | Codename: Nostalgia | Rogue Headquarters: Conference Room
Interactions: Uncle Kee @DarinValore


After Penny had finished giving Deckard the full tour of Rogue Headquarters, Luna had excused herself to well-deserved nap. She had barely bat an eyelash at the mess of tech and devices strewn about her floor; appearing very much like a zombie on death row, she had gracelessly stepped over the clutter and fell face-first into her bed. Usually, she counted sheep, tallied the number of scratches on her headboard, took note of the half-empty prescription bottles balancing painstakingly on the edge of her desk, threateningly to spill with the perfect draft, or even recalled the fact that Mac still had her skull cap.

However, none of that happened. Running on less than one percent of battery power, Luna was out like a light. She didn't dream.

---

The intercom scared the ever-freaking living daylights out of her.

As soon as the static voice blared to life, Luna shot up in an elegant cacophony of flailing arms, untidy curls, and a groggy declaration of, "Avacados are fruit not vegeta--oh. O-oh God!"

Her balance, unfortunately, failed her. In the next moment, her backside and the floor had a smashing (ba-dum-tss!) family reunion. Hissing in pain, Luna struggled onto her feet and rushed to throw on a new beanie (it was covered in a black spiderweb design with a white backdrop), grabbed a lukewarm bottle of water, shoved two pills into her pocket and clumsily sped off to the Conference Room.

---

Luna listened to the briefing nervously. She wasn't exactly bouncing off the walls at the prospect of yet another infiltration mission, not after yesterday. Something in her gut told her she wouldn't survive watching her friends undergo another round in the ring; however, she had no say in the matter. Plus, she'd never gain a wink of sleep due to pure guilt if they didn't answer the distress call.

Her hand slipped into her pocket, tracing the capsules...then retracted from it. Stupid, stupid, stupid times ten! Now definitely wasn't the time, especially with how groggy they made her. She wouldn't be able to help the others in that state. From now until the mission was over, Luna would endure the nerves. Her mind swept through the situation with a fine comb, thoughts racing.

"U-um, Uncle Kee?" she called out while raising a hand. "Did the distress signal give us a specific l-location? Or are we just s-scouting an isolated area?" She hoped it was another tech savvy building like Aspida; the more advanced the establishment, the more she had to work with. It would also help if the location remained within the city; outskirts would be less convenient, and rural could prove to be a challenge. Nothing impossible. Just a tad difficult. Then her head swiveled to the rest of the group. Everyone should've been equipped with their earpieces, surely Deck as well; she would need to keep his abilities in mind and adapt to the situation at hand whenever he needed the assistance. Maybe she could snag a pair of gloves for Mac before they headed out? Or would she view that as insulting?

Oh Lord. Moving on.

Josie would be in the van with Luna, which made the young Rogue sigh in relief. Good--it was a nice change of pace to keep her friend away from high-risk danger for once. Yes, it didn't help that everyone else was entering the field but she took her reprieves whenever life gave them.

At the end of the day, it didn't matter if the others could use their powers. This was a covert operation, after all. Maybe they had a facial recognition system installed? Well, depending on what kind of area they were in, it was possible. Very possible. Luna would start brainstorming on the most effective and quickest method to override that without triggering any alarms. She couldn't afford to be sloppy and trip over her own techno feet...

And just like that, she was lost in her head and zoned out completely. Incomprehensible and whispered syllables danced under her breath as the possibilities popped up left and right.
 
FINN WESTFALL
Finn thoroughly enjoyed spinning in the chairs when they actually let him in the room. It was rare, frankly, for him to be even show up, even to be called. But of course, there was always some new life threat deserving of a team meeting. It was a new day, and Finn had put on his face all over again, after washing his hands of Penny’s blood, he was back to his old self. No matter how depressed Keegan sounded over the intercom, nothing could detain his childish glamour for long.

Stopping his swirling, Finn giggled as the world around him spun, pushing the chair into the back of Mac’s as he stared up at the ceiling. Keegan drawled on, and at the mention of Archivists Finn flinched. Didn’t matter, he wasn’t going on the mission anyw— What? Keegan called his name! Bogus. Shit. Now it had better not be his own friendly Archivist, Mr. Harper himself. Shaking the fear away, not daring to linger on the thought of his old chummy pal, Finn smiled up at his two friends as they commented on his driving abilities.

Once Mac and Keith started ragging on him, Finn pushed off of Keith’s chair and continued to swivel around the room. “Calm down, kiddies.” Finn said with a smirk. “No one else could drive, and I didn’t really feel like killing Penny twice that day.” He drawled. “Really, Keeg, I think I should be promoted to our chief driver. I got us back here in record time.”

Through his speech Finn swiveled on over to Keith, overreaching just a tad and slamming into the boy’s chair. Out of instinct, Keith shoved back, and Finn’s eyes widened, much too late. “Gah!” He shouted as he toppled over, his bestest friend Joe the Swivelling Chair betraying him in an instant.

“Can’t get no peace.” Finn whispered from the floor. “Do I really have to go on this mission?”
@Reythaak @Shizuochan @DarinValore
 
Josie could not afford to get proper sleep last night. With the major part of her notes gone, she'd stayed up all night writing and scratching out formulas on a new set of paper. Frustration tingled through her for most of the night before she'd finally passed out at three o'clock in the morning, head on the desk. The buzzing was not welcome, but when Keegan's voice held a grim tone, Josie went to the meeting area as soon as she was able.

A notebook and pen under her arm accompanied her as she she stopped by the kitchen for a cup of coffee and a granola bar before making her way down. Josie flipped her hair and turned away when she yawned. Keegan's voice reiterated everything she already knew; she was compromised. Mac too, and Lex. She grimaced at the briefing and took a large swig of coffee from her twenty six ounce refill.

Josie took a deep breath and looked at her girls; Lex, Mac, Luna, and Mara. She felt bad for Penny that the girl had to have Finn, but that was of no importance right now. She had to figure out how they were going to get the supplies without making a ruckus, especially with RIEF most likely setting up extra security measures.

"Alright, ladies. Looks like you're with me. Let's figure this out."

Josie took a bite of her morning breakfast and ran her hand through her hair. Some of the supplies were quite bulky; this wouldn't be easy, but her girls were strong and she had no doubt they could fulfill the tasks they would be sent to do. Josie began to scratch down everything she knew they would need for sure without overkill; This was a time constrained mission and grabbing anything she didn't actually need would be a major risk, as much as it dismayed her.

"Mac, Mara, Lex... You girls got nice muscles. You can get shit out of that place faster in the blink of an eye. Luna and I will keep an eye on you obviously. I'll tell you what you guys need to grab, even go over what they look like beforehand, minus the stuff I want, so you guys can go in, grab things, and get out. You girls with me so far?"


TAGS || @Kimberlyn @Mobley Eats @Shizuochan @La Reina
 
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“Since you all are lingering,” he picked up the files that were sitting on the tables beside him and handed them out to Josie and Penny, “Here’s more information on your assignments,” he paused as he wondered to the wall of screens and nodded toward the tech guy. Up went a picture of a facility that housed state of the art scientific and medical equipment for Aspida, “Josie, you’ll be feeding your team the information as they infiltrate the facility. Remember, while many of these people work for Aspida, they are civilians, and, despite what the world says about us, Rogues don’t harm civilians if it can be avoided.”

Keegan stepped back a few steps, his cane clicking out of habit, and when a picture of a janitorial employee popped up on the screen, he started again, “Lex, meet Ricardo Gomez. He’s called in sick today. You’ll use his persona to enter the facility and let in the remainder of your team. Luna will take care of cameras and scanners. Josie, make sure you get the bare necessities. Everything should be small enough for the others to carry. Doc has also asked that you guys keep an eye out for a small, portable x-ray device that Aspida has just put into circulation.”

“If we had one of those…” Doc wondered, “imagine how many more lives we might be able to save.”

“In and out. No fuss,” Keegan reiterated before turning his attention to Penny,” Last night, we received a distress call from this location,” a map of miami appeared on the screen and a pulsing red dot marked the spot, “We aren’t sure which asset it is, but I can’t tell you how important it is that our network of Archivists remain as undisturbed as possible. Your team will insert here, about two blocks south of the location. Keith will be your eyes from the van unless the surroundings are too much for him, then he’ll have to exit the van and move on foot with you guys,” he turned to the tech and nodded, “Play the distress call.”

A grimace flickered to Penny's face as the call came over the loudspeaker, the harried, unfamiliar voice whispering beneath a layer of static.

“Sphinx calling Rogue HQ! I need immediate evac from my location! I have been compromised! I repeat I have been--”

The message cut off with the unnerving sound of a door slamming opened, and Penny straightened, “Sounds like someone's on his trail hard… Won't be long before they catch him. If they haven't already. We need to move out, now! Keith, you're driving. Finn, in the back with me. Deck, shotgun… sorry, Big Guy. First mission is a hell of a thing…”

Deck sighed, “Archivists aid not just you guys. While I have spent much of my time alone, I would not be alive today had it not been for the occasional Archivist. I’ll do what I’ve got to do.”

“Excellent… Let’s go then.”

TAGS || @CloudyBlueDay, @Kimberlyn, @DarinValore, @Kat, @Mobley Eats, @Shizuochan, @Reythaak, @La Reina
 
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Reactions: Reina and Reythaak
fright

Keith Fuller
Location: "His Van"Interactions:

”You knocked into me,” Keith grinned down at Finn however, and gave the other boy a hand up a moment later.

His attention went back to Keegan when the man started speaking; he turned around and looked at the screens. While the other mission wasn’t strictly his business, he could still be curious. He folded his arms over his chest, watching and listening quietly.

His eyes flickered over the location shown on the screen, picking out the streets and lay out. He didn’t even try to disguise the relieved huff of breath that escaped his lungs. ”Thank fuck…” he murmured. He couldn’t help the slight relief of it not being his dad. While any Archivist being in danger wasn’t good… well. It wasn’t his dad. He tilted his head to the side slightly, however, allowing himself to think on Sphinx for a few moments. He didn’t immediately recognize the call sign, but there wasn’t any way for him to know all of the Archivists floating around anyways.

He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, contemplating.

”Folks have been getting more paranoid lately. I can probably get away with being on foot with everyone from the start, just so we’ve got a more accurate view… But when I was out and about a day or two ago, some folks had started wearing medical masks out and about. I guess some folks got worried about contracting SHA-13 or something crazy like that,”

Keith rolled his eyes.

”They’re dumb. But, it’s a good excuse for me to be able to hide my face. Aspida and REIF employees aren’t allowed to do it, obviously, even encouraged not to outside of work.”

It was a lot more courage than Keith usually showed. But a mask and some sunglasses would probably do the trick well enough for him to be safe if someone from REIF or Aspida saw him. He ran a hand through his hair, trying not to think too hard about it, otherwise he’d quickly change his mind.

”I’ll get the van ready.”

And with that, Keith headed out. A stop to see Doc and grab a couple masks, and some other supplies (A med kit, as well. How had it been yesterday that they DIDN’T have a med kit in the van? It was dumb!). It was only about 5 to 10 minutes before he had plunked himself in the front seat of “his” van (he couldn’t help it. He had one he prefered), and started the engine.
 
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“I, for one, am totally down with Finn being chief driver.” Mac had half-shouted to the assembly, hand raised in a benign mockery, “And if we’re gonna split all the time, I think you all should let me be the other driver.”

She turned back to Josie, who had led them in a huddle of sorts before Keegan had supplied the rest of the mission specifics. Mac was rather fond of this particularly grouping (not that, as a rule, she was less than fond of any of the other various permutations), a perfect power quintet of estrogen supreme. The thought occurred to her, admittedly, that perhaps they needed Penny for the sextet. A missed opportunity.

“I gotcha, boss.” She allowed Josie the thumbs-up, her attentions instead diverted to the juvenile backpack upon her lap. "... by the way, I was kidding about the driving thing..."

Rad-Shark paddleboard was a no-go for today’s choice swim-aid; if it was a smash-and-grab, she’d need her hands free. Next item she could spot were the flippers, which were always a no-go, ever since that one time she needed to haul ass with her feet on the ground; they were basically high-heels except instead of making you look taller they made you waddle like a duckling. The obvious pick for today were probably the water wings, inflatable little shits that came in green, orange, red, rainbow…

Mac had too many of these.

“Hey, you think they got like, candy bars and peanut butter or something? Is that like, essential or non-essential?”
 
FINN WESTFALL
Offering Keith a small smile as the boy pulled him up, it was clear Finn wasn’t holding any grudges. Keegan continued the briefing without much notice to his embarrassing tumble, which Finn would likely complain about later.

He played the distress call, at which Finn cringed. It didn’t sound like Daniel.. But it could be. Sphinx didn’t sound like a codename Daniel would use, but it could be.The location wasn’t the old house, but it could’ve been moved. Could’ve, could’ve, could’ve. Even though his gut told him this wasn’t the man Finn had spent five long years with, his head kept allowing him to worry. Despite the vacant smile on his face, under the table Finn fidgeted with the scar placed smack in the center of his palm.

“Mac knows what she’s talkin ‘bout.” He hummed as he entwined his fingers together.

The one thing that worried Finn is that he’d already be dead. Daniel or whoever. The door slammed open at the end of that signal - either the Archivist escaped with an inch of his life, or he was barely alive. And Finn didn’t really feel like seeing any dead bodies today, especially not ones of people he knew. Another fluttering smile came towards Keith’s direction as his courage showed through, with Finn wondering where the hell his own was hiding.

Shuffling silently out of the debriefing room, he made no comment about being lumped in the backseat with Pen. Instead, as always, Finn pressed his cheek to the window and stared out.

He was silent for a little while, rehashing old memories and always fidgeting with the scar, before he abruptly turned to Penny. “My favorite coin,” He sang. “You wouldn’t happen to know who this Sphinx is?”

@Reythaak @Elle Joyner @DarinValore
 
Luna Cambridge | Codename: Nostalgia | Rogue Headquarters: Conference Room
Interactions: Josie @Kat


Luna oh-so-stealthily (lies) heaved a sigh in relief as the building came into view. There was no doubt now; this mission involved infiltrating yet another tech-packed building, so she could delve further into the idea of hacking their facial recognition systems.

They would likely cover their countenances with something, of course they would, but she'd rather be safe than sorry. She would need to grab the Descrambler K-37 drive on her way out; it came quite in handy for emergency situations. Though the occurrence was rare, Luna never knew when she would cross paths with her match one day. One moment, she'd be hacking away at the mother board like a Lumberjack high on pine and the next--boom. Reverse hacked. Her tech and toys thoroughly thrashed from the inside out or, even worse, her location traced.

Thus, the K-37 drive would definitely be tagging along in her pocket.

When Keegan addressed Josie about veering away from harming civilians, Luna couldn't help but flinch. Her head lowered in shame. Even after a thorough session of self-loathing, she couldn't help but berate herself for exposing those people to such a dangerous level of oxygen. Again, there was a set time of exposure before the pressure plates righted themselves, but the logic never won over her emotions. That has been a decade-long losing battle.

"A portable X-Ray m-machine?" Luna mumbled under her breath. She caught the gist of Josie's words and nodded when she was addressed, but half of her brain was devoted to Doc's request. Of course, she imagined it to be located in the medical ward somewhere but still, this place was huge. She only hoped the security cameras had a flimsier firewall than the last ones. She was probably over-thinking anyways; how hard would it be to find the darn thing? Surely not too difficult, right?

Sphinx calling Rogue HQ! I need immediate evac from my location! I have been compromised! I repeat I have been--

Luna's heart sank.

Oh God...The fear and desperation in his voice, she wasn't sure how her lungs managed to stay put inside her chest. She couldn't imagine the ground-breaking horror rushing through the poor man's veins while falling into Aspida's clutches; there was no telling if Keegan intended to motivate her, but the recording had definitely strengthened her desire help Sphinx as quickly as possible. Inhaling a shaky breath, Luna paced over to one of the tech assistants, tripping over her words to ask for the K-37, before approaching Josie once more.

"R-ready to do this, Josie?" She attempted a confident smirk, though she knew the sentiment fell flat. "Th-the ultimate science nerds are a-about to bring the house down, right?" Then she had a flicker of a thought about the woman, specifically about her powers. They were involved with electronic signals. Perhaps, just maybe, if their van was parked close enough to the facility...Then we could really even the playing field...maybe...

She stowed the idea away and let it brew for a bit.
 
[fieldbox="Deckard Hallows, green, solid"]
There were jokes and questions all around. It reminded Deck of all the times he sat across for Alys and her family at the dinner table. They would always drill him about his plans...their plans...all the while sharing a laugh over the occasional joke. Those were good times...times that served as both his nightmares and his dreams. This time, it was different, though. The questions and jokes were all circling around a person that could be in extreme danger, or worse, dead. They didn't have the time to continue to waste standing around talking even if the questions were pertinent to the mission.

"Can you feed us any other information while we're on the way?" Deckard asked Keegan, "I don't think it's wise to waste anymore time if this archivist is in as much danger as it seems. We need to get to him and save him...or recover his body to find out who was responsible for his death."

Keegan pressed his lips together as he nodded, "I could do that, but some of your teammates will function better in the field with their minds at ease," with that, he turned his attention to Finn, "Don't worry, Finn," he flashed the young man a comforting smile, "Just do what you can do save Sphynx. The man's built quite the network for us and if he's been compromised, we need to know. There are mutants running through those channels now that would be in serious trouble."

Looking back to the monitor, Keegan let out a sigh, "Penny will handle the details for the rescue, as I said, and Josie will take care of the retrieval," he put up a finger as he recalled something, "Josie, if there is anything you need that might be too difficult for you all to retrieve, note it and I'll send a second team to another location on a later date to fetch it. While it is important that both teams succeed in these missions, I want you to remember that it is more important that you return in one piece. We can always go out another time if things go poorly. We can never replace you if you die."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Deckard leaned back against the table and sighed, "Anyone else need their mind put to ease? Or can we stop wasting time and get out there?"[/fieldbox]
 
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"Come on, Sunshine..." Penny said with a small smirk to Deckard. He seemed like a man who was fairly accustomed to getting things done quickly and efficiently, but he'd learn in time that Rogue wasn't a military operation. They were a family, and their nuances and differences were what made them stronger together.

As they headed out to the van, Penny sank in the back with Finn and almost immediately, he turned to her, his question asked with a note of simple curiosity. She didn't, however, miss the weight behind it and she was sure he wasn't the only one wondering. Her eyes drifted to Keith and she shook her head, "Sorry... Not familiar with him, myself. But he ain't yours. Yours either, Keith. My guess is he's one of Keegan's reserve crew. The area isn't full blow with R.I.E.F. right now, so he's not likely anyone we've run into often. Sounds to me like he ran into a fake Rogue agent, who exposed him..."

A vaguely uneasy sigh escaped, and she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Just... be ready, okay? There's a good bet we won't get to this buy on time... You all need to be prepared for what we might find. Deck and I will go in first... after Keith's given us a read, you two will watch our backs. If anything goes south, you get back to the van and get the hell out of here. Stay focused, and we should be fine... But this isn't a pick up or a recruitment mission, I don't think I need to tell you to be careful."

The route was a good few miles from the head quarters, but the drive gave them time to prepare... It had been a long while since Penny had done anything so outright dangerous. Her missions as of late had gone unexpectedly, but they had, for the better part, been simple at the start. This, though, was chaos out of the gate, and the more focused they all were, the better off they would be. When they arrived at the indicated point and the van came to a stop, Penny pushed her fingers through her hair, using the holder on her wrist to pull it back into a ponytail, "Alright... Keith. You ready to do your thing? Deck, with me... Finn, on our six, eyes open. You see anything, you find a way to alert us, without giving yourself away, and remember. Anything goes down, looks like we ain't gonna make it, you and Keith get back to base."

TAGS || @CloudyBlueDay, @DarinValore, @Reythaak
 
fright

Keith Fuller
Location: On location.
Interactions:Deckard (@DarinValore), Penny (@Elle Joyner), Finn (@CloudyBlueDay )

”I know he’s not mine,” Keith said over his shoulder with a little nod, ”I… know mine’s voice well.” That was an understatement, but still. Keith pulled a little tablet out, punching in the neighborhood they were headed to, then popping it in a dash mounted holder. He had Luna create some special filters for the GPS that would bypass the scanners and the like a while back, though he still prefered getting back via his own navigation abilities.

He listened without complaint to Penny and gave another little nod. ”I understand.” His hand slid to rest for a moment on the holster hidden under the light, grey and black flannel he wore. He wasn’t a great shot, but he’d been taught the basics, and had a pretty good idea of what they were walking in to by going after Sphinx. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling a little bit sick. It’d probably be unnecessary, and for that he was grateful. Or it might be what damned him if they were captured, or something stupid like that.

He closed his eyes a moment, and once Deck got in the van, Keith straightened up and opened his eyes once more.

”Here we go.”

The van slowed a little bit away from where they’d tracked the distress call to; leaving the get-a-way vehicle right in the middle of where shit might get real didn’t seem like a good idea. He killed the engine and stashed the tablet that’d served as his guide, giving it a little affectionate pat as it vanished into the console. As soon as the van had stopped, Keith’s eyes were doing that weird little slight-unfocus that they did when he was looking at a little bit more than most folks could see.

”Already working on it, give me a second to orient a little bit…” Realistically what he wanted was a moment to get a bead on Deckard, and how Finn and Penny were doing at the moment.

Reds and blues… maybe it’s violet instead… he studied Deck a moment more, picking out the layers and trying to understand them a little bit better.

”I don’t know if it got mentioned to you, Deckard. I can see auras, that’s what Penny’s talking about,” he decided to fill Deckard in a little bit. He looked like, for the most part, he could take care of himself. But there was that little tinge of gray that most SHA-13 carriers ended up having; that hint of trauma. Probably due to his abilities and their discovery. But, Keith wouldn’t pry. He tried not to ever pry, or tell anyone what he saw. It was a good way to go.

His eyes swept the area, seeking the lighter, slightly fuzzier auras of those further away or through the various walls. Of course there were people around, but he was ignoring the folks who walked and moved with purpose. Agents tended to look a little bit different, hold themselves a little bit different. Their auras almost always looked “on edge,” was the best way he could phrase it.

He gave a little nod, grabbing one of the masks he’d gotten from Doc and slipping it on, as well as a pair of sunglasses, looking in the rearview for a moment. ”Good enough…” he decided.

He popped the driver’s door and stepped out, closing it behind him, leaning against the van for a moment and sweeping his gaze around.

”Looks okay at the moment… let’s go, I guess…”
 

Josie let it stew quietly in Mac's mind that there would be no candy bars or food for her to snack on during the operation, much less steal. As Luna drove the van towards Aspida Labs, Josie briefed Mac, Lex, and Mara, with visuals and explanations on what they would need for the recreation of the synthetic blockers. A bunsen burner, a scientific microscope, slides, test tubes, beakers; hopefully, it would not be too hard of a job to get in and get out. She'd desperately wanted to help Mac out, but after she'd been compromised, going in hardcore was out of the question.

"Try not to carry it all at once guys. Treat everything as if it was something you never wanted to break or part with. Treat the equipment like million dollar vintage equipment. I don't know. Just don't bite off more than you can chew, essentially. Be quick, quiet, you know the drill."

She glanced over at Luna who was visibly nervous. She really needed her to stop stuttering altogether, out of missions and on. It was only making her more nervous.

"How far do we have until we get there, Luna? We shouldn't be too far, last I checked."

She went over everything with Mac, Lex, and Mara one last time and told them which equipment to grab first; the first few pieces were crucial to the success of the blockers before any other equipment.


TAGS || @Shizuochan @Mobley Eats
 
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Mac pouted as Josie shut down her benevolent quest for peanut butter, face pulled with an exaggerated, mock petulance that was acceptable between friends only. She pouted some more as Josie went into the varied scientific minutiae of her blockers, although her pretend sulkiness had given away to an effortful furrow; shopping lists, as it happened, were a bit of a weakness of hers. Typically, one of the smarter, more ‘studious’ of the bunch had her back. Josie. Luna. Two of her favorite geeks in the whole wide world.

She stretched to occupy as much room in the back of the van as she could without antagonizing somebody, finding some sweet victory in it as she always did. The sacred right of shotgun was off-limits to her, given both her lack of seniority and young age, but then shotgun was overrated anyways. Mac had caught enough violent movies to know the fate that befell the one in the passenger side; they always did have a preternatural disposition to getting headshot by thriller-movie snipers.

Not that Mac wished that on any of the Rogues or anything.

And, really, not that she had time to think about it: in movies it was the driver that had just a bad a chance of making it out the ride alive. It occurred to Mac that she probably shouldn’t let Luna know about that ‘fun fact’. Her poor friend seemed a little out-of-it lately. More askew than usual.

She leaned forward, addressing the lot of them. Luna, mostly. Josie, kind of - even if she was super good at seeming all put-together. “And not to like, be all unprofessional and feelings-talkish right before mission-go, but we all feelin’ okay? Just… wondering.”
 
Luna Cambridge | Codename: Nostalgia | Aspida Building: Items Retrieval Mission
Interactions: Mac @Shizuochan & Josie @Kat


"A-almost there," Luna quipped as she gripped the steering wheel a tad too tight. She figured she had snagged those pills for good reason; she by no means had the ability to foresee the future, but she knew herself. Knew how fickle and prone to anxiety she was. Again, she'd rather not take them until afterwards, once everyone was free of imminent danger, but she could admit that temptation tickled at the base of her skull sometimes. Those moments when desperation cloaked the logic, but not now. Definitely not now.

As she navigated the streets and back roads, veering away from well-known routes in hopes of evading attention, Luna nearly jumped out of her skin when Mac's voice broke her concentration. All she could say was thank the ever living gods that her handling proved to be more stable than her state of mind.

Swallowing her heart back down into her chest, she managed a soft smile and said, "Th-thanks for asking Mac. I'm, uh, a little bit starting to look like a h-humanoid jumping bean, but that's nothing n-new right?" She attempted a joking tone, even tossed an awkward laugh into the mix, but that only made the nerves in her voice more prominent. Unacceptable. Just purely pathetic. God, I've got to get myself together, she mused tiredly.

However, a more genuine breed of affection seeped into her visage as she continued, "O-oh! By the way, no worries Mac. After a-all this blows over, I'll find you the grand slam big daddy jar of peanut butter. Th-the biggest you've ever seen, deal? Or, well, i-it could be grand mommy...but that sounds kinda weird and I d-don't know why...G-grand aunty then...?" she trailed off sheepishly.

Approximately five more minutes of driving finally brought their destination into view. The facility was as massive as the last one, though there was more nature surrounding the area. Luna assumed that had to do with its more remote location. Either way, this was good news. The more trees and foliage, the more cover for their van. Pulling to a stop behind a generously sized family of bushes and trunks, she immediately crawled into the back (she apologized repeatedly to Mac for invading her space) and started warming up the system. Monitors flickered to life, their screens fuzzy and awaiting their next victim to snag between their techno-maws.

Ah...her advanced, viscous babies. How she loved them so.

"A-are we ready to do this, guys?" Luna tapped her comm, checking to make sure the channels were in tune and functioning properly.
 
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[fieldbox="Abandoned Warehouse - Deckard Hallows, green, solid"]
Settling back into his seat with an air of relief, Finn crossed his arms. "As if we would ever leave you," Finn said with a pout. "Don't do anything dumb."

Penny chuckled and shook her head, “Now when have I ever done that, hm?” With a wink, she pushed the door open and slipped out after Keith gave the go ahead. There was always a layer of tension to missions, no matter what they were after, but this time felt different… This time, the risks weren’t just their own lives, but the life of an Archivist.

Not often sentimental, Penny nevertheless held a great deal of respect for the people who willingly put their lives on the line to help the Rogues. This… this was R.I.E.F. making it personal, and she wasn’t going to sit idly by and let it happen. Not for anything...

Deck offered a silent nod to those remaining in the van before he hopped out behind Penny. Stretching his arms over his head, he let out a satisfied groan, “Where to?” he asked as he dropped them to his side. Not standing out was something Deck had learned a long time ago. He was a tall man and tattooed, so he always stood out in that way, but learning to never act suspiciously and trying his damndest to look as normal and relaxed as possible always helped him survive. Even with these skills, is eyes bounced from person to person suspiciously despite Keith’s all-clear. Trusting people he didn’t know was difficult for him despite the fact that other people trusted them.

Gesturing up the street, Penny nodded, “That's the address. You and I will go in first… give the all clear.” It was optimistic, Penny knew, especially since the likelihood of them avoiding trouble on such a hot mission was a pipe dream… but outright assuming they were screwed seemed like a bad way to start off, “Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Deck replied as he rolled his shoulder.

Approaching the warehouse, nothing seemed out of place. In fact, no one around the building seemed to be aware of what the group of Rogues were, “Not sure I like this,” Deck mumbled as they approached the door. He took a position to the left of the door and waited for Penny to step up, “I’ll go in first. On the count of three,” he started as he wrapped his hand around the knob.

Penny, in no mood to be superior nodded, flanking to the right side of the door, “Two…” she murmured quietly.

“Three,” Deck nodded before pulling open the door and rushing in. As much as he didn’t like using his power, he was prepared to do it, expecting resistance as soon as the door was flung open. Instead, they were greeted by nothing but crates and silence. It was an open two story structure with a walkway that clung to the walls and wrapped around the interior of the building. A series of offices stood firm on the second floor at the southeast corner.

“Keep your eyes peeled,” he warned as he began to search around the crates, “He’s in here somewhere, and we don’t know if there are any surprises left for us.”

Moving slowly, Penny's eyes danced around the warehouse. There we variables of every shape and size. Places to hide. Too many places. Easing forward, she gestured to the metal staircase leading to the walkway, “Vantage point…”

Deck nodded, “Got it,” he told her as he made his way toward the staircase and carefully climbed to the top. His eyes scanned the warehouse, and while he still felt uneasy, he couldn’t find anything...until he saw something shift in the southeast corner of the ground floor. Partially obscured by the office, he reached out and shifted a box ever so slightly next to Penny in hopes of getting her attention so that he could tell her.

Penny froze as the box shifted and turned to Deck, she nodded, her voice barely a whisper, “What is it?”

“Not sure,” he returned, “Something moved.”

“...We’re in a warehouse, Deck. They ain’t exactly free of things like roaches and rats. We talkin’ something like that? Or something bigger?”

Deck squinted in annoyance before he answered, “Something bigger. If I come down there, we can come at it from two sides and pin it. Otherwise, you’re on your own, cause I can’t see it clearly from here. It’s a bad angle. Your call.”

“Come down, Slick…” She retorted with a small frown, before muttering quietly under her breath, “I hate rats…”

Making his way down, Deck circled to the left while Penny mirrored his movement on the right. Carefully, he cleared the boxes until, finally, he could get a clear vision of what lay before them, “My God,” he uttered. Before him lay a mess of man obviously worked over and struggling simply to cling to life, “Penny,” he called out as he hurried to the man’s side.

Swearing, Penny halted in her tracks, and for a moment the color drained from her cheeks and she looked dangerously close to buckling on the spot. It was a moment, however, and shaking lose, she yanked the comm receiver from her pocket and jammed it in her ear, “Keith! Finn! Get in here… We found him. It… it's bad.”

Hesitating a moment, she inched forward, before pausing again, “Is he…?”

Deck shook his head, “No, I saw him move, but I don’t think he has much time left,” he looked him over again, “Jesus...who did this to you?” he asked rhetorically.

“This, Deck… this is why we needed you. Because this is what they do. This is what they always do.” As memories flooded in, Penny shivered and turned away, shaking her head, “I'll call it in to HQ. Finn and Keith should be here in a sec…”[/fieldbox]
 
FINN WESTFALL
Keith didn’t stay right by the van; he moved a little closer so he could at least get a little view of what Penny and Deck would be walking in to, though he didn’t end up being able to see anyone just inside the walls of the warehouse. He couldn’t say he was particularly surprised, and forced himself to appear to settle slightly, folding his arms over his chest.

”I don’t like this, at all. I haven’t really liked the past two days at all,” he grumbled quietly, shoulders slumping slightly.

“Me too.” Finn muttered, hands uncomfortably jammed in his pockets. “Aside from the past two days… this.. doesn’t feel right.” He glanced shiftily at Keith and then to the warehouse, wondering wait awaited Penny and Deckard inside. “There’s no one else there with them.. Right?”

”I can’t see anyone but them from here. That doesn’t guarantee anything, though, unfortunately,” Keith replied. He was drumming his fingers on his elbow, shifting slightly and glancing around the surrounding area again, ”I don’t see anyone around us that I’d be worried about either, though. I’d probably have to wander around the entire building to make sure there was no one besides them in the warehouse, though…” Realistically, Keith could see (unimpeded) auras a little over half a football field away. It was rapidly reduced by walls as well; Deckard and Penny were already far enough away that he couldn’t see their auras anymore.

“You’re not makin’ me feel any better, man.” Finn said, gnashing his teeth together. Warehouses made him nervous. They were always big, echo-y, and full of promised trouble. And rats. Fuck rats. “If they don’t say anything in, like.. one more minute… we’ll go in.” He said, trying to will himself to muster up the courage necessary to defy Penny.

”I thought you’d feel better knowing there’s a limit to how far I can see with it,” Keith teased, but he did nod his agreement.

It was only a few moments later when Penny came over the comm, and Keith flinched. He took the time to grab the med kit from the van before heading into the warehouse.

Finn lightly chuckled at Keith’s comment, though it sounded more anxious than anything. At Penny’s voice over the comms, Finn could feela chill run up his spine. “Shit..” he murmured, watching Keith rush back into the van to grab the med kit and duck into the warehouse without a moment of hesitation. Finn found himself stuck for a moment, and cleared his throat nervously before running in after Keith. He’d known something felt off from the start.. “Please no rats.” He hissed.

”No rats, Aero,” Keith said over his shoulder. It wasn't strictly true. There were rats. But they weren't going to impede their progress, the creatures were hiding and Keith could see that. His attention shifted, and he was able to see Deckard and Penny again. There was some anxiety there, nervousness. A little fear or panic? Keith shoved that assessment to the side and found himself focusing on the fainter aura on the floor nearby.

”He… He doesn't look good…” Keith managed to get out, but held the med kit out anyways. At least it'd be a start.

Well, if Keith said there were no rats, then there were definitely no rats, right? Finn scurried on, and once Keith stopped beside their two team members, Finn’s stomach churned. “Oh, fuck.” Finn winced. “Did.. auhg… did you call Keegan? We gotta get him outta here… what if they’re… nearby..?”

collab with @Reythaak @Elle Joyner @DarinValore
 
The man beneath him had been beaten badly. Blood leaked from gashes and his eyes were swollen, one to the point that Deckard doubted the man would be able to open it. From the look of his hands, his fingers had all be broken, and he was sure that if he had lifted the man’s shirt, he’d find bruises signifying significant damage underneath.

“Jesus,” Deckard breathed, “Look at his fingers. They tortured him.”

The man groaned again and Deckard leaned in to listen, “Har-,” he swallowed and groaned in agony.

“It’s alright. We’ll get you out of here and to someone who can take good care of you,” Deckard reassured him, though he was unsure if the man could even survive being moved.

The man shook his head weakly and swallowed again before speaking barely over a whisper, “Harper,” his one eye bounced between the four people standing before him, “Save..Harper.”

Deckard looked up to the group and shook his head, “Harper? He said ‘Save Harper’. Do we know a Harper?”

The man groaned again and Deckard returned his attention to him, “Go,” he started, “Tr-,“ he winced as he pulled in a breath before coughing, blood dripping from his mouth.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take you with us in just a minute,” Deckard returned, but the man shook his head before repeating ‘Go’.

“Go,” he seemed to grow more desperate, but Deckard could see the desperation was taxing him and tried to calm him, but the man shook it away, “Go….now...tra-.”

The man’s words trailed off with the last breath that exited his lungs. Deckard checked the man’s pulse and when he found none, he washed his hand over the man’s face to close his eyes. With a sigh he stood to his feet, “We were too late,” he started, “We lost him, and all he gave us was Harper. Is it a last name? First name? Business? We’ve got noth-.”

A sudden explosion sounded from the entrance. Deck’s spun to look and immediately his heart stilled, “Drones!” he called out. He looked to Finn and Penny. They had managed to fight off one drone the day before, and, still, Penny had been shot and would have died. There were three of them here, and, from the sound of boots that accompanied the slight hum, soldiers were coming, too.

The man's words finally took root in his head...Go....now....

"Trap!" Deckard called out.

@CloudyBlueDay @Elle Joyner @Reythaak
 
Finn Westfall

Life seemed to crawl back under the man’s skin for a fleeting moment, Finn flinching as his eyes swept over the horrible damage inflicted. With every day R.E.I.F was growing more and more hungry, and taking any means to get what they wanted. This man didn’t even have powers. Finn could hardly imagine.. what they would do to someone like himself.

As the man sputtered a last few words, blood trickling from his lips, a switch went off in his head at the strangled syllables. No, no. It couldn’t be… he didn’t want to believe it. Harper.. who else could he be talking about but Finn’s own archivist? He took a scarce step back, suddenly picturing Daniel on the floor in a puddle of his own blood like the man before them. It was true that Finn had hoped to never see his caretaker again, but hell if he was going to see him for the last time in a body bag.

His throat was dry as he opened his mouth to finish the puzzle, a puzzle he was sure Penny had to already have the answers to, when a new piece came into play. An explosion. The whirring of drones and the rumbling of harsh footsteps. A trap.

Why was there always so much blood involved in everything? Now his panicked gaze, eyes big like a deers’ caught in headlights turned to Penny, and in his mind’s eye he could already see that bullet clogged hole blooming red through her blouse once more. No, no, no. This couldn’t happen.. not again.

“Daniel Harper,” Finn choked out. “The archivist who took me in. We can’t let him die.. please.” He stared at his companions, begging for them to tell him what the hell he was supposed to do. Faced with the weight of what might happen to Daniel, Finn felt ten years old all over again, staring up at an impossibly taller figure, always looming over him. He was small, weak, insignificant, and panic had struck his heart all over again, playing with his head and keeping him on edge. Keeping him afraid. “They probably already blew up the car or something! We could barely take on one drone.. shit! Shit!”

@Elle Joyner @DarinValore @Reythaak