Hotel Saragarhi - Kill The Power

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Meltdown and Hamster go for the power lines and generators.



It was almost like there was a ticking clock over their heads, slipping into the hotel and splitting up. They needed the protection of darkness, and only the sheer size of the hotel had kept them from being discovered. Still, each had poured over the floorplan of the building, and knew where they were supposed to go, heading down into the maintenance area of the hotel. Dark, twisting corridors lead into

the basement, and the oily smell of grease, diesel fuel and hot steam was ubiquitous in their nostrils.

Tabitha felt her pulse pound in her temples. A fierce grin pulled at her lips as she and Lex came to a stop. She jerked her thumb at a doorway. "Generators through here, get them first?" Her voice was barely a whisper of sound in the echoing hallways.

Lex nodded, using hand signals to indicate the affirmative. With the power up he didn't want to risk giving away there position, even if he could barely hear Meltdown's whispered question. He hoped there wouldn't be too much opposition ahead of them, especially if they only had three minutes to book it once they shut down all the systems. By his count it had already taken them twice that to get in.

The blond woman edged through the doorway, relieved to find the large room empty. She dashed to the first machine, searching for the electrical panel.

Of course everything was in Hindi.

Lex followed Meltdown, keeping his back to the walls and his hands

bristling with a fine electrical buzz. He kept watching the way they came, the last thing he wanted was for them to be caught unawares.

Tabs just started popping open panels. She shoved a small bomb into every bunch of wires she could find. She held a thin tendril of concentration on each one, so she could blow them all at once as they were leaving.

She looked to Lex. Any more? she gestured.

Lex shook his head in the negative and pointed towards the door. This way he proposed, the main grid connected to the building just down the next corridor.

Moving towards the door he ran face first into a terrorist who'd been patrolling the area. Without thinking, he shocked the poor man and watched his body fall to the floor, twitching. Turning back to Meltdown, he waved her to follow. They needed to move before anyone came looking for the bastard. She paused only long enough to fumble some zip-ties from a pocket and put them on the fallen man. She had to sprint to catch up, but was right on Lex' heels as he found his spot.

She held up three fingers in question. He takes out the power as she blows the bombs?

Lex pried the paneling open as he looked at her. When he saw her signal he nodded. They would have to blow them simultaneously to achieve the desired effect. There was no room for error.

Grunting, he grappled with the circuits until he found the ones he wanted. They were marked with the standard high voltage warnings he'd memorized on the plane ride over, and he could feel the power flowing through them. There was a lot more than he'd ever tried to control before and he hesitated. If he did this wrong he could end up dead, or worse, he could shut down the power to the entire city and blow up the plants producing the energy.

"Here goes nothing," he whispered. He took hold of the wires and began feeling for the right circuits.

Tabs’ fingers counted down, she took a shallow breath right before she dropped the last one. A muffled series of explosions, like distant fireworks, echoed down the hall.

Tabitha stuck her head out the door, listening for anyone who’d noticed.

Finding the junctions where the energy flowed into the building, Lex warped the levels, sending them towards other areas of the city. He concentrated, sweat dripping down his brow, as the energy tried to overwhelm his manipulations. He needed to seal it mechanically. Reaching out with his newly evolving senses, he tried to find the override for the junction. It took him twenty seconds, the most agonizing he'd felt in recent memory, to lock in on the switch and throw it.

"Oh, fuck," he managed, turning his head to Meltdown, "Get out of here."

The blond woman’s head snapped back around. “What’s wrong?” she snapped, already moving toward him, brain racing. Carrying him would be a bitch, but hours of training made sure she could do it.

"I said away, not towards me," Lex's voice was fraught with pain and anger. The feedback hit him like a truck, launching him back against the other wall. For a split second electricity arced through the room, and it took a great deal of his remaining strength to keep it from lashing out at his companion.

The wild energy receded and the power remained off. "Son of a bitch," he moaned, "I wasn't expecting that."

Tabitha just laughed. “You thought I’d listen? Are you safe to touch? We kind of need to get out of here.” A shout sounded down the hall. “Soon would be good.”

Lex pushed himself off the wall. He could move, if only just, and he knew he'd have terrible bruises from the impact. "I'm safe to touch, and yes, I did think you'd listen. I'm not in the habit of telling people to do things when they're not important." He coughed, it felt like he'd been kicked by another deer. "Help me, if you would, I think we need to go this way."

Tabs shoved herself under Lex’ arm to prop his weight across her shoulders. “Okay, I admit, I didn’t think about things like, oh, LIGHTNING. I clearly need to learn more about your powers. But dude, I am NOT abandoning a team-mate.”

"Much appreciated," Lex coughed, smiling at the woman holding him up, "Now, we just have to get out of here before they send people to figure out what the hell we just did."