ic Ounce of Prevention [IC]

[Heritage]

Gretchen heard the pop of the grenade, but it was moving too fast for her to follow it; by the time she spotted it, it was too late to move. All she could do was throw her cloak over her head and pray to God the enchantment could take it.

 

The flechettes ripped apart the trees overhead, and the concussive blast and wave of steel drove her to the ground, but whatever magics the Magi had woven into the Cloak held; not a drop of her blood was spilled!

 

She was about to crawl to her feet and jump back in the fray when another piece of advice from her boss bobbed to the surface of her rattled skull.

 

If there are no innocents at risk, there is no shame in playing possum from time to time; it can make the bad guys drop their guard, or come in close, maybe even let slip a vital clue or two. But the minute the jig is up, be ready to fight, and fight dirty!

 

So the Shrike stayed down, partially covered by shredded foliage, and waited to see what the thugs did next; as an afterthought, she stealthily pulled her hood back a bit, just enough to deactivate her invisibility, just like in the movies.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Heritage

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass

"SHRIIIIKE!"

 

Torpedo Lass came down with the full force of a battleship barrage on Coyote. The dive and the punch that followed shattering the sniper's helmet and showing signs that her button was pushed rather easily, as she falls to the dirt. She then turns to the others with a glare. "You... You hurt my partner... you stole government property and have control of a weapon of mass destruction." She points at them. "You're unlawful combatants in my book and I've been commissioned by the US Navy to sort this out. Therefore..." She glares... "...based on the Geneva Convention and meta-human accords amended to it, I get to do whatever is necessary to stop you..."

 

She takes a momentary look over at Shrike before turning back to the two still concious thieves. "You're just lucky my partner's not bleeding out. So what'll it be, Terrorists? Surrender? Or I get to have some fun." She said, punching the palm of her hand. It felt like little shock-waves rustled the grass around her. There still was the mark of the rifle shot on her head as well... something she took with ease.

 

"WELL?"

 

Kite rushed in, throwing a punch, but the prototype armor she was wearing wasn't a combat exoskeleton by any means... Torpedo Lass grabbed Kite's wrist and started to squeeze. "Again... Last chance. Surrender."

 

Hyenah dropped her weapons and fell to her knees, holding her hands up... seems she's been in this position before. "I think you'd better listen to Sailor Girl there..."

 

Kite winced in pain. "You call yourself a hero?"

 

Torpedo Lass leaned in close. "Today... you call me Chief... Master Chief."

 

Kite's eyes widened "We... we surrender."

 

Torpedo Lass tosses her back over towards the raft.

 

"Where's the targeting computer?"

 

"We... we moved it inside the raft so it can't be spotted by sattelite. We... we're waiting for our contact to pick it up." Hyena said.

 

Torpedo Lass turned to Shrike. "You concious over there, partner?"

 

"You're lucky Shrike's good at what she does..." Mary says. Hearing a beep from the computer inside the raft.

[The Sailor]

GM

The computer hidden in the raft was blinking, in fact it seemed it was blinking a glowing red light, at least from what could be seen through the flap of the raft being used as an ersatz tent. The two looked over and Hyena got a good look.

 

"Oh crud."

 

"What?" Kite asked, now looking as concerned as she was angry at getting caught.

 

"It's the KKW. It's locked on this location and it's about to drop it's payload soon."

 

"Can you see what type?"

 

"High yield one... biggest shot they got. It'll take out the whole area out to a kilometer radius."

 

"Son of A..."

[Heritage]

"I'm fine," Shrike said innocently as she hopped up to her feet and dusted herself off. "I didn't mean to frighten you, but at least you put the fear to good use."

 

Landing next to the terminal, she quickly scanned the monitor. "This is not good." She commandeered the keypad and rapidly typed, her fingers flying like a concert pianist. "Oh bloody crap. Someone has hijacked the system." She looked up at TL, her face filled with dread. "Someone else has the keys to the kingdom." Her eyes darted about the screen as her mind raced. "Let me try something." 

 

She held the Ring of Power against the side of the terminal, her eyes squinting with concentration as she cocked her head this way and that. "Please let this work, please let this work..." Finally she gasped in frustration. "Damn it, this thing is full of fail-safes!" She turned, fired a blast into the ground, then turned back to the terminal in one fluid motion, her face taught worry. "Sorry. Okay, I've got one last trick up my sleeve. If this doesn't work..." She sent a sending to her boss.

 

- Hey. -

 

- Hey, how's it goin'? I'm almost done with the inspector. -

 

- We have a situation. -

 

- ...What kind of a situation? -

 

- The 'holy s###, we're all gonna die' kind. -

 

- Holy s###. -

 

- Yep, that's it. -

[The Sailor]

GM
The two started to work feverishly on the computer. Grimalkin talking to Shrike as things started to tick down.

 

Then it dawned on Grimalkin, there wasn't a hijack, Shrike was panicking.

 

She missed one simple command that caused the computer to seize up. Almost blue-screening it. But with some coaxing and backing up the Z-attitude of the sattelite rotated upward, and the sattelite corrected itself as planned, with it's payload pointed harmlessly into space. Then it fired... the recoil of the shot and the thrusters started to push it out of orbit. It would re-enter shortly.

 

Shrike and Grimalkin put their minds together to evade a crisis!

Edited April 28, 2016 by Sailor

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass

 

While this was going on Torpedo Lass had properly restrained the three miscreants. "Everything alright back there?"

The lack of red lights was a good sign. And the warning beeps were gone as well. Just a Lost Contact on it's screen. "Seems it's fine isn't it?"

 

Making sure the restraints were set up Torpedo Lass sat on the raft looking in, looking around until she found a large camo poncho that Coyote was using to hide herself earlier. "This'll make a stretcher/sled. There's enough dead wood here to make it. I can tow him over easy... Him being the guy that infiltrated this group trying to stop 'em."

 

The two concious thieves looked at each other with annoyed faces.

 

"Remember... say anything and we're sure to tell the authorities. You'd better save the talk for Navy Intel... if you don't want things to get toooo nasty."

 

The thieves went pale as Torpedo Lass headed back to the beach. Poncho under arm as she effortlessly grabs a log... as long as her. Her fingers embed into it like nothing. "Then again if you wanna clear your consciences now, Shrike's a willing ear... and a lot nicer..."

 

Mary trusted her partner in this... "Be right back."

[Heritage]

Shrike stepped over to the restrained criminals, arms folded across her chest, and shook her head. "She's wrong, of course. I'm not nice at all." She crouched next to Coyote and smiled, not at all pleasantly. "You want to go for a ride?"

 

And with that, the sniper began to float straight up at an alarming pace; Shrike rose to her feet, her face showing casual disinterest as she followed her progress with her eyes. "I know what you're thinking. 'She's a hero, she can't break the law.' But you have no idea how twisted I am." Gretch smiled cooly, laying it on thick as the sniper rose ever higher. "I'm pretty sure I can get you into the flight path of Trainor Airport with this thing. Better talk now while I can still hear you."

 

Of course, she wasn't actually a socipath, but with dark and brooding cowls like her, could a criminal ever be sure?

Edited May 22, 2016 by Heritage

[The Sailor]

GM

He looked at the Cowled vigilante at first with feigned disinterest, but then seeing how high he truly was, and the possibility of splatting on a 747 changed his tune quick. That and the thought of being taken where there was thin air was a higher problem.

 

"I... It's the Admiral..." She said, her voice now clearly audible as a voice changer device damaged in the fight falls off... And it was afraid. "He... he's tryin' to start something with the Russians. He wanted that thing to fire off at a hotly contested area near the Crimea in the Ukraine... We were to set up a firing solution, park ourselves in the Atlantic somewhere, scuttle our blimp and while we float out there supervise firing off the weapon."

 

She looked at the ground wishing she got the suit with the parachute. "I'm gonna need protection... The Admiral's got connections... spooky ones."

"That NSA guy wasn't with him... he was investigating what the Admiral's up to... that's why he infiltrated our team."

"P... Please, get me back to the ground... safely safely!"

It seemed the dark tan uniform she was wearing in the pants just became darker. "Why couldn't I have gotten a parachute too..."

 

After that Shrike notices a Sea-Stallion in Navy colors start heading for the island. It seems it came from the Lonely Point Naval Base by the markings, but it was flying from the direction of the docks the two heroines came from. And it was hauling... Not to mention it was armed with Air to Ground missiles.

"Oh crap... the Admiral is coming to clean up..."

[Heritage]

Shrike shook her head and barked out a cynical laugh. "The Admiral's dirty? Should have seen that coming." She looked back toward the computer console, then up into the sky. "I guess we know who was targeting us. He must have had a spare set of keys." Then she finally started to lower her captive to the ground.

 

When the chopper appeared bearing down on the them, the flying barista just sighed and crossed her arms. "Great. Now he's coming to kills us. You guys really need to pick better business partners." She looked over her shoulder and indicated the ground with a nod. "You might want to find some cover. I can't guarantee I can stop all his missiles."

 

And with that, she rose up into the air, placing herself between the Sea-Stallion and the criminal element as she did her best to stare the helicopter down.

[The Sailor]

==On the Sea Stallion==

 

The Admiral looked down at the island, narrowing his eyes. "Great... what does she want..." He thought.

 

"Admiral... seems we got a Cape intercept..."

 

"That's fine, Pilot, keep in the air. Anything happens, start unleashing hell. Not sure if the two cape assets we put on this mission are compromised."

 

"Understood."

 

The Admiral stuck his head out from the open side-door. "What seems to be the problem, Shrike?" He shouted, oddly enough he could shout loud enough to be heard over the propellers.

 

That and he could be heard nearby where Torpedo Lass was organizing the prisoners and the wounded NSA agent.

[Heritage]

Shrike cupped her hands around her mouth a bellowed back, "I was hoping to ask you about your plan to start a war with Russia, and the ongoing NSA investigation into your illegal activities!" She shielded her eyes as she peered up into the sky. "I just hope their spy satellites can get my good side as easily as they can make out the insignia on your chopper!" Then she smiled and waved towards orbit. "Hi, NSA!  Normally I'm kind of ambivalent about you, but today, I think you're awesome! Woo-hoo!"

 

Was there an NSA satellite focused on her position? She had no idea, though for once she actually hoped so. But hopefully she could ruffle some feathers and make the old goat second guess himself.

 

She continued to float in the air and wave towards the 'satellites'.