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xp_logsBack in New York, waiting for their deployment, the remaining team finally gets the go-ahead.
Doug walked back into the small coffee shop, flipping his small phone closed. "That was Remy," he said quickly, pulling his laptop closer to his chair as he sat down. "They got the info, we need to go to Krakow. And we've got a name. Rumlow, Brock."
In the corner table, Wanda stirred and pulled out her own phone. "Well, that's something at least. Let me put in a word to Emma and see if her jet is ready; all things considered, the sooner we are in the air, the better."
Mark tapped his cigarette, the black specks slowly falling to the ashtray below. "So this is the guy who knows how to save Natasha? What's his story?" He kicked his feet up onto the table and passed his package of cancer sticks to Amanda.
Amanda accepted the pack with a nod and pulled one out. "And what's the set-up?" she asked, lighting up and blowing the smoke away from Wanda and Doug. "Somehow I doubt he's going to help out if we ask nicely, but are we looking at the subtle sort of sneak in, or a smash and grab?"
"Given the time constraints we're under, I'm guessing we don't have time to be subtle," Doug replied, pecking at his keyboard to see what kind of information on their target and his living conditions. "So smash and grab, get in, get the papers we need, and get out." Not that it was necessarily likely to be that simple.
"Sounds messy. Damn." Sarah smiled grimly, and wrapped her hands around her coffee cup, maybe imagining her hands around Rumlow's neck instead. That this guy was one of Strucker's goons meant that as far as she was concerned, he didn't deserve any better. "You know how I hate property damage."
"Here's hoping he isn't hiding that Swarm fucker anywhere in his place," Amanda replied wryly as she peered over at Doug's shoulder at the map he'd brought up on his laptop. "Hmm, so it's here?" She pointed at a spot on a lake about 70 kilometres southof Krakow itself. "I'm going to need to charge up in Krakow itself - that looks pretty remote."
Wanda peeked over the top of the laptop from opposite of Doug, hair swaying as she got a good, if upside, look. "The Pieniny mountains?" she asked, eyebrows raising. "That is remote. It should take us about an hour to get there from Krakow, probably a bit more if the roads are horrible. Which they probably will be."
"Gotta brush up on my Polack jokes," said Mark. "How do you sink a Polish battleship? Eh? Put it in water!" He nearly fell off his chair avoiding being attacked by the cigarette carton. "What? That was a perfectly good one."
Doug shook his head. "Looking to see what kind of info we have. Overheads, background, habits, anything." The information from his 'moon on a stick' database was somewhat sparse, and tangential at best. Wolfgang von Strucker had a much larger portion of their files, and the information on Rumlow was marginal, relating to his work as head of security for Strucker. A brief mention of a career in the US Army had Doug sifting through service records, but those were fairly bare bones and lacking in anything interesting.
Amanda stopped trying to bean Mark with the cigarette pack and turned her attention back to the matter at hand. "Hopefully the others can give us more, seeing how they're on the ground already. How long do we have before Natasha goes critical with this thing?"
"It's, what, four days 'til the glove goes Chernobyl? Only gives us three days." Mark took a puff and considered. "We're looking at a nine or ten hour flight, too, unless Emma has a supersonic jet she hasn't been telling us about."
"Speaking of..." Wanda had pulled away for a moment to answer her phone. "Emma says that by the time we arrive at the airport, the plane will be ready and waiting for us. I suggest we head over there soon, cut down on as much time as we possibly can. Until we hear from the others, we should dissect the information we have now as much as possible. I know something of that area so I will brief you all on that in the air. But dress warmly."
Doug swung the laptop closed, letting it go into a hibernation mode to keep his searches and information active on the desktop rather than powering down completely. He slipped it into a bag and nodded. "Last one down to the lobby gets to play stewardess on the plane," he quipped into the serious silence.
En route to Poland, plans are discussed.
"Oh stewardess!" Doug called in a sing-song voice, waving his tumbler that had come from the well-stocked beverage area on Emma's jet. "My drink appears to have run out." He grinned at the grumpy look on Amanda's face. "And can I get some more peanuts?"
A bag of peanuts came sailing over Amanda's shoulder from where she was bending over the bar fridge, nearly hitting Doug in the nose. The witch herself soon approached with another drink. "Will that be everything, sir?" she asked in a syrupy-sweet voice, complete with fake American accent.
Oh, that tone carried vast undertones of 'mystic witchy death in your future'. Doug just knew it. But it was still fun to tease Amanda. And with his head sort of getting back to something resembling normal, he was enjoying having slightly more normal conversations and interactions with his friends and coworkers. He smiled, part amusement and part apology.
With practiced ease Wanda half-ignored her younger co-workers, though the sides of her mouth twitched as she hunched over the maps spread out in front of her. She was not as familiar with this part of Poland as she was with others but it seemed to be a fairly straight shot once they got on the ground. "Anyone volunteering as our driver?" she asked, marking something on the map - it could have been she was noting where restrooms were at or, more likely, where a good area for an ambush might take place.
"I would volunteer, but to hear Remy tell it, I nearly got us killed driving in Africa." Sarah didn't open her eyes, head resting against the closed window shade next to her. Some things were just too high. "See if I ever drive his broken ass anywhere again."
"I'll drive," Doug volunteered. Leaving the heavy hitters free to do their thing in case of an ambush on the roads made sense. He looked at a blurry overhead view of a rambling estate that was their target. "So how do we want to play this?"
Mark pulled the bud out of his right ear and twirled the wire around his finger. "I can probably electronically knock out whatever security system he has and make it look like a power outage," he offered. "That doesn't give us much time to get in, find what we need, and GTFO, though."
Amanda came back and flopped into a seat near Mark, biting her thumbnail thoughtfully. "Can you knock out the power, too?" she asked. "We've got Sarah, who can see in the dark mostly and Boss Lady, Mark and me who make our own lights - might give us a bit more of an advantage. None of these fuckers are powered, are they?"
"Probably not the best idea," Wanda responded, finally sitting up from the maps. As she worked out the kinks in her neck, she continued, "We don't know for sure if they are all humans and a black out of that nature will probably rouse a great deal of suspicion. Besides, I would not be surprised if this compound has back up generators. Getting the security system offline might be a hard enough task."
"We could try to black out the area and then take out the cameras," Mark suggested. "I can interfere with 'em and your powers could keep them offline. Then they'd assume that it's a real power failure, not us."
"And then get Sarah to sneak in and make the initial breach, with the rest of us causing distraction?" Amanda suggested.
Sarah laughed, pulling her legs up into the seat to get more comfortable. "I'm the sneaky one in this operation? You all must be one hell of a distraction."
"And by 'distraction'," Doug made air quotes with his fingers, "we mean 'very large explosions', yes?" He grinned. "Hard and fast up the middle is probably our best bet, given the time constraints we're under. Hit them, keep them off balance, get the intel, get out, get the intel to Vazhin." Simple plans were always the best.
"You make it sound so easy," Wanda said, half-teasing as she kicked her feet up onto the seat in front of her. When she slumped, she made it look pretty and she settled back to get comfortable. "Between now and then, however, I would suggest rest. Or whatever you children do these days..." Wanda gave them a broad wink before closing her eyes and in a heartbeat was already asleep.
Doug walked back into the small coffee shop, flipping his small phone closed. "That was Remy," he said quickly, pulling his laptop closer to his chair as he sat down. "They got the info, we need to go to Krakow. And we've got a name. Rumlow, Brock."
In the corner table, Wanda stirred and pulled out her own phone. "Well, that's something at least. Let me put in a word to Emma and see if her jet is ready; all things considered, the sooner we are in the air, the better."
Mark tapped his cigarette, the black specks slowly falling to the ashtray below. "So this is the guy who knows how to save Natasha? What's his story?" He kicked his feet up onto the table and passed his package of cancer sticks to Amanda.
Amanda accepted the pack with a nod and pulled one out. "And what's the set-up?" she asked, lighting up and blowing the smoke away from Wanda and Doug. "Somehow I doubt he's going to help out if we ask nicely, but are we looking at the subtle sort of sneak in, or a smash and grab?"
"Given the time constraints we're under, I'm guessing we don't have time to be subtle," Doug replied, pecking at his keyboard to see what kind of information on their target and his living conditions. "So smash and grab, get in, get the papers we need, and get out." Not that it was necessarily likely to be that simple.
"Sounds messy. Damn." Sarah smiled grimly, and wrapped her hands around her coffee cup, maybe imagining her hands around Rumlow's neck instead. That this guy was one of Strucker's goons meant that as far as she was concerned, he didn't deserve any better. "You know how I hate property damage."
"Here's hoping he isn't hiding that Swarm fucker anywhere in his place," Amanda replied wryly as she peered over at Doug's shoulder at the map he'd brought up on his laptop. "Hmm, so it's here?" She pointed at a spot on a lake about 70 kilometres southof Krakow itself. "I'm going to need to charge up in Krakow itself - that looks pretty remote."
Wanda peeked over the top of the laptop from opposite of Doug, hair swaying as she got a good, if upside, look. "The Pieniny mountains?" she asked, eyebrows raising. "That is remote. It should take us about an hour to get there from Krakow, probably a bit more if the roads are horrible. Which they probably will be."
"Gotta brush up on my Polack jokes," said Mark. "How do you sink a Polish battleship? Eh? Put it in water!" He nearly fell off his chair avoiding being attacked by the cigarette carton. "What? That was a perfectly good one."
Doug shook his head. "Looking to see what kind of info we have. Overheads, background, habits, anything." The information from his 'moon on a stick' database was somewhat sparse, and tangential at best. Wolfgang von Strucker had a much larger portion of their files, and the information on Rumlow was marginal, relating to his work as head of security for Strucker. A brief mention of a career in the US Army had Doug sifting through service records, but those were fairly bare bones and lacking in anything interesting.
Amanda stopped trying to bean Mark with the cigarette pack and turned her attention back to the matter at hand. "Hopefully the others can give us more, seeing how they're on the ground already. How long do we have before Natasha goes critical with this thing?"
"It's, what, four days 'til the glove goes Chernobyl? Only gives us three days." Mark took a puff and considered. "We're looking at a nine or ten hour flight, too, unless Emma has a supersonic jet she hasn't been telling us about."
"Speaking of..." Wanda had pulled away for a moment to answer her phone. "Emma says that by the time we arrive at the airport, the plane will be ready and waiting for us. I suggest we head over there soon, cut down on as much time as we possibly can. Until we hear from the others, we should dissect the information we have now as much as possible. I know something of that area so I will brief you all on that in the air. But dress warmly."
Doug swung the laptop closed, letting it go into a hibernation mode to keep his searches and information active on the desktop rather than powering down completely. He slipped it into a bag and nodded. "Last one down to the lobby gets to play stewardess on the plane," he quipped into the serious silence.
En route to Poland, plans are discussed.
"Oh stewardess!" Doug called in a sing-song voice, waving his tumbler that had come from the well-stocked beverage area on Emma's jet. "My drink appears to have run out." He grinned at the grumpy look on Amanda's face. "And can I get some more peanuts?"
A bag of peanuts came sailing over Amanda's shoulder from where she was bending over the bar fridge, nearly hitting Doug in the nose. The witch herself soon approached with another drink. "Will that be everything, sir?" she asked in a syrupy-sweet voice, complete with fake American accent.
Oh, that tone carried vast undertones of 'mystic witchy death in your future'. Doug just knew it. But it was still fun to tease Amanda. And with his head sort of getting back to something resembling normal, he was enjoying having slightly more normal conversations and interactions with his friends and coworkers. He smiled, part amusement and part apology.
With practiced ease Wanda half-ignored her younger co-workers, though the sides of her mouth twitched as she hunched over the maps spread out in front of her. She was not as familiar with this part of Poland as she was with others but it seemed to be a fairly straight shot once they got on the ground. "Anyone volunteering as our driver?" she asked, marking something on the map - it could have been she was noting where restrooms were at or, more likely, where a good area for an ambush might take place.
"I would volunteer, but to hear Remy tell it, I nearly got us killed driving in Africa." Sarah didn't open her eyes, head resting against the closed window shade next to her. Some things were just too high. "See if I ever drive his broken ass anywhere again."
"I'll drive," Doug volunteered. Leaving the heavy hitters free to do their thing in case of an ambush on the roads made sense. He looked at a blurry overhead view of a rambling estate that was their target. "So how do we want to play this?"
Mark pulled the bud out of his right ear and twirled the wire around his finger. "I can probably electronically knock out whatever security system he has and make it look like a power outage," he offered. "That doesn't give us much time to get in, find what we need, and GTFO, though."
Amanda came back and flopped into a seat near Mark, biting her thumbnail thoughtfully. "Can you knock out the power, too?" she asked. "We've got Sarah, who can see in the dark mostly and Boss Lady, Mark and me who make our own lights - might give us a bit more of an advantage. None of these fuckers are powered, are they?"
"Probably not the best idea," Wanda responded, finally sitting up from the maps. As she worked out the kinks in her neck, she continued, "We don't know for sure if they are all humans and a black out of that nature will probably rouse a great deal of suspicion. Besides, I would not be surprised if this compound has back up generators. Getting the security system offline might be a hard enough task."
"We could try to black out the area and then take out the cameras," Mark suggested. "I can interfere with 'em and your powers could keep them offline. Then they'd assume that it's a real power failure, not us."
"And then get Sarah to sneak in and make the initial breach, with the rest of us causing distraction?" Amanda suggested.
Sarah laughed, pulling her legs up into the seat to get more comfortable. "I'm the sneaky one in this operation? You all must be one hell of a distraction."
"And by 'distraction'," Doug made air quotes with his fingers, "we mean 'very large explosions', yes?" He grinned. "Hard and fast up the middle is probably our best bet, given the time constraints we're under. Hit them, keep them off balance, get the intel, get out, get the intel to Vazhin." Simple plans were always the best.
"You make it sound so easy," Wanda said, half-teasing as she kicked her feet up onto the seat in front of her. When she slumped, she made it look pretty and she settled back to get comfortable. "Between now and then, however, I would suggest rest. Or whatever you children do these days..." Wanda gave them a broad wink before closing her eyes and in a heartbeat was already asleep.
