Day Zero - Team Foxtrot - Something Like A War

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After freeing the Armory, Team Foxtrot works with the human forces to devise a plan to take the battle to Apocalypse.




They might have been tired, but behind the stout brick and concrete walls of the Pershing National Guard Armory, everyone breathed slightly easier, with the first feeling of safety since they hit the island. Out on the grounds, police and FBI agents were streaming in as Duncan moved his headquarters to the larger structure, and a new system of communication was being patched between the communications available to the guardsmen and the police networks. They still couldn't raise anyone off the island, but inside Manhattan, there seemed to be no interference on their normal walkie-talkies and radios.

Colonel Parks turned out to be a fifty-ish professional soldier, eyes red-rimmed from countless hours of watch and trying to make sense of insanity. While it wasn't officially required in any regulations, he had greeted Duncan with a handshake, and all but turned over command to the man. With the sixty or so guardsman manning the armory, Duncan had a considerable army at his command. They convened in the main boardroom, with the map of Manhattan spread over the table, and a considerable command team arrayed around it. Besides Duncan, there was the head of the New York FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, the Deputy Fire Commissioner, Manhattan's Chief of EMS, Major Williams of the New York National Guard, two NYPD SWAT Captains, and the head of the NYPD's Aviation unit.

Some had looked at the mutants oddly, either out of physical appearance, or more commonly, wondering why they had a voice here. Duncan had followed the fiction by introducing them as a special FBI unit, currently a national secret, which quelled any potential objections.

"Alright people, there has been some limited communication with the outside. I've been given orders coming directly from the Executive, so while I can't give you all the details, I can tell you that we are running up against the clock. In the next 24 hours, the US is going to launch an attack directly on the main enemy stronghold, using a special top-secret team. If this attack fails, the President will have no choice but to use more direct methods to neutralize the threat. That means Manhattan becomes an acceptable casualty of war." There was a moment of muttering, and Duncan held up his hands. "That means we need to do what we can to help that attack, so we don't have to go to a last resort solution. We've got a lot of tools at hand here. We just need to decide what to do with them."

"According to your people, those 'Horsemen' are mostly to the north, so it's regular opposition between us and the Citadel." Kane pointed out.

"Does the regular opposition include those creatures that were showing up?" Wanda asked from where she had managed to grab a seat. "Or is it mostly mutant opposition we will be facing?" There certainly be any humans among them - there were some human fanatics that almost seemed to worship mutants but they would have been slaughtered without a thought.

"According to what we've been able to observe, our opposition is similar to the crowds encountered here at the armory." Duncan pointed to the map. "Those strange lumbering creatures move in packs, like some kind of shock troops for the mutants that Apocalypse has recruited. There are mobs of humans, but they seem to be two types. The first are typical packs of gangs and looters; the traditional New York badboys. They aren't working with Apocalypse that we see, more following his squads and looking for opportunities for looting. The other mobs are led by this figures in the grey robes."

"Madri. One of my men heard them refer to themselves as the Church of the Madri. They're mobs of humans, but the mutants are working with them." The Deputy Fire Commissioner said. "They look like they're being influenced some how. Can mutants do that?"

Sofia nodded in agreement sharply. "It's not in their nature to become the offense. They're merely the hyenas in this savanna. However," she continued, looking up at her group. "If these other humans are being influenced, we need to know how, if we want to stop it. Taking out the Grey Robes might do it, or it might send an electro backlash and kill them all. Do we have any video on them?"

"That's going to make things tricky. We can't just wade into those mobs firing if people are being mind controlled some how." Garrison pointed out.

"We can get you into position to watch one of the crowds with the Grey Robes, Miss." One of the SWAT Captains said. "We've had some of our snipers moving over rooftops, keeping an eye on the crowds with their scopes. We can get you a chance to see them up close relatively safely."

"The big problem is going to be coordinating things. We can lash up a shared radio network, but we don't have any way to get an overview of the city. I've got three birds grounded over by the docks. If we try to go airbourne, those Horsemen will shoot us down like my other choppers." One of the men said, nervously picking at the buttons of his Aviation uniform.

Morgan's eyes immediately went to Wanda, "Would you be able to do anything to tip the scales in favor of not getting shot down? Barring that, if you've already got snipers with eyes up high we can use that easily enough in conjunction with walkie-talkies to keep eyes on everything and coordinate as well. The helicopter would be more useful, but you work with what you've got."

Wanda shrugged. "My powers do not operate on luck and chance," she replied, rubbing her chin as she gave it some thought. "If they were throwing some physical bombs at the helicopters, I could make them malfunction in some form or another. Mutant powers would be slightly trickier. Not that it could not be done and considering what we have, I would be your best bet to keep something up in the air long enough to do some real damage. Depending on the power being thrown at us, I could potentially screw with it but I have no idea. It's all very random."

After falling silent for just a moment Morgan looked to Garrison and Duncan. "You don't need to get into those mobs on foot. Play pick-n-choose. If people are being controlled then you're not getting to the person or people pulling the strings anyway. From above, with a scope, you can see who's where, figure who is doing what to a degree and try to eliminate the real threat to see how that effects the people who are being controlled, if they are." With a slight grin she asked the SWAT captains, "Just how many snipers do you have lurking about?"

"Not as many as I'd like, but we've got enough to do some damage." He said, and the head of the FBI's HRT spoke up.

"We've got a few from the Bureau here as well. Enough to put together a decent little squad."

"Use the choppers and the snipers to pick and choose the targets, clear the ones they can, and we roll up with heavy weapons on the ones they can't. It could work. If we can break the points of resistance, unless one of Apocalypse's command people is diverted down here, we can fragment his forces into small units, and mop them up using conventional means." Garrison nodded his head. It made sense, and worked to their strengths. As well trained as the police were, they weren't troops. Treating the whole city like one giant riot made perfect sense, and stuck to the skills the people they had already knew.

"We could put together a unit. Clear a path with heavy weapons." Colonel Parks suggested, but Duncan shook his head.

"Too many innocent casualties. Plus, none of our men know how to support that properly." Duncan leaned over the map and started to point at streets. "What are our advantages? We know the city far better than the opposition. We're coordinated, they're not. The power levels are unequal, but the numbers aren't. Most importantly, they don't have a real goal here, and we do."

"Thin blue line?"

"Exactly. We put a bird in the sky and snipers on rooftops spotting for us. SWAT and HRT tac weapons teams hit the hard points of resistance. Fortunately, our mutants look a lot more dangerous than his. Behind them, police and FBI agents run the line and expand out, block by block. As they hit the fragmented mobs from our forward units, they can get them disarmed, safed and pushed behind us. EMT and fire patrols follow the line, keeping damage to a minimum and dealing with as much as we can. I don't want to save the city, only to have it burn down around me. Colonel, I want your men behind the line as a quick response team. If the line starts buckling, or anything gets past, your guardsmen plug the hole and re-establish the line as fast as possible. We push all the way until the Citadel, just south of Columbia Park. If worst comes to worst, we can push everyone we can save as far south as possible, incase the Navy or Coast Guard can evacuate them." He looked up at the five mutants. "It's your team that's going to take the brunt of this. HRT and SWAT already signed up for it with the job. You willing to take the risk?"

"Get me a line of sight, where I can observe them for a period of time, and I'll have a draft on the most direct method for dealing with the human mob on the walk back down to you," Sofia said as response, lifting a pen from the table to tuck behind her ear.

The rest just nodded in agreement.

"Alright, everyone talk to your people, get things organized, and try to get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. Let's hope it's not a short one."