Christian's Angels: Following Lady Death

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

Dominion's team tracks Deathstrike to the Hong Kong warehouse, and goes in looking for evidence.



"That is some kind of aerial surveillance you guys have." Luke Cage said, picking up Angel high over the safehouse, visible only due to her fiery corona. "Beats the hell out of calling up and old Bell Huey for the job." They were perched on the roof of a seven story import/export company four blocks away from the Sublime Pharm warehouse that they had picked up as the possible safehouse for the company's less legal activities. The others were split into two teams ready to go in, once they received the all clear from them. It was important to make sure this was the right target. Otherwise, they were breaking into a legitimate business and that raised too many questions.

Bobby put down his binoculars for just a second to turn to his colleague for a second. "And it totally tops when I was a kid and had to use the old rolled up newspaper during my pirate games too." He couldn't help but chuckle to himself slightly as he spoke into his communicator, aiming at his teammate in the sky. "But I'm guessing you prefer being up there than trying to survey the scene with cool equipment like us?"

"And what - sit on a hard roof with bird droppings and god only knows what else up there?" came Angel's reply over the comms as she snickered slightly. "You know what, I think I'll totally take lazing about in circles up here amongst the clouds. Besides, Ice-y, I am the cool equipment when I'm up here."

"You know, my SHIELD handbook specifically says no flirting during surveillance." Cage said with a smile, scanning the streets. "In fact, there was a whole subsection with illustrations about what you should not do. Based on those pictures, the first real of surveillance was apparently not to be white. I- wait, Drake, the southwest corner. You see her?"

"I'm going to need to confiscate those illu...." But Bobby was able to cut himself off as he was redirected by Cage. Instantly he was able to drop the humorous facade and shift back into mission mode. With a scowl on his face, he raised the binoculars up to his face and turned them in the direction that Cage had directed him. "There's something going on there." But Bobby was afraid to make a full call. He still remembered the time during school when he woke up people at the mansion, thinking there was a full scale invasion, when really it was a pair of raccoons. "Angel, does it look sinister to you?"

Up above them, Angel swung herself in a tighter arc and drifted a little more downwards, though she was careful not to let herself be spotted from the ground. She immediately spotted what both Cage and Bobby had been seeing and she felt something tie itself into knots in her stomach. The memory of Deathstrike was firmly implanted in her mind - there was no doubt at all that the woman below them was her. "Mr. Cage, Iceman," she responded, voice calm despite her jumping nerves at seeing that woman again, "that's a confirmation on Deathstrike. Looks like she's heading into the warehouse."

"I got to say - she don't look like much." Cage kept his glasses trained on her. He didn't doubt the info that he'd been given; more amazed at how unassuming someone so dangerous could be. He lifted up his walkie. "Dominion, Beast, we have confirmation on Deathstrike about to enter the warehouse. You are a go in ninety seconds."

***

"And she's in." Garrison touched his earpiece and nodded to the other two. While hiding behind a pile of barrels in the hot sun wasn't a lot of fun, it made sure that they were already onsite when the move order came from the surveillance team. He shared a brief look with Marie-Ange and waved at Jubilee. "It's your show, Jubilee. Get us through the door."

Jubilee could've wished for more cover but she was used to running drills on what to do in various situations, followed closely by what to do for situations you couldn't plan for. If she knew anything, it was that Murphy was an optimist. She'd spent time studying the camera positions as they waited, and she now took off as the camera started it's outside arc, knowing she'd have a minute or two at most before it came back toward her.

Luckily for her, she'd trained enough that it was only going to take her that long to get in, and the sound of the lock clicking open was the reward for all that time spent. She slipped inside the door, and shined a torch along the darkened hallway, no one here, at least for the moment.

She waited a few minutes and then popped back out as the camera started it's track back away from her, forming a small sparking ball of plasma in her hand and sending it upwards to melt the wires at the back of the camera. It would look like the wires had overheated were anyone to examine it closely. She gestured quietly for Garrison and Marie-Ange to follow her inside as she moved back from the door and started down the hallway beyond.

"See, quite useful. I told you." Marie-Ange said in a near-whisper. She kept a few paces in front of Garrison, letting him take up the more vulnerable rear. "Stay close, Seagull, we have some live security." She was going to use that nickname for Jubilee until it stopped being amusing.

"Security room should be up ahead." He caught Marie-Ange's arm, stopping her for a second. "She knows no bodies, right? We don't know who's involved or not, and I'm not getting some innocent nine to fiver killed."

Marie-Ange nodded. "She and I are quite clear on that." Which was not quite the same as an absolutely affirmative answer, but close enough, she supposed. "We do try not to do that all that often." It left messy evidence sometimes.

Jubilee could have told him that their training wasn't just for killing, it was knowing how not to kill as well, and she intended on spending this mission as bloodlessly as possible. She raised a hand to hold them back at the end of the corridor, looking around for the security devices she knew had to be close by, and spotted the cameras that were keeping an eye on the security room.

She paced back to where the other two were standing, "How much live security are we talking here?" she asked quietly.

"No idea. They don't publish their rosters online." Kane looked around, trying to scrutinize the place. "Seeing as Deathstrike came in, she's almost all the security they need on their own."

"Unless you have Wolverine, and then you put them into a sack together and hope they do not make babies." Marie-Ange was clearly biased on the subject of Logan. "I think we are clear, keep moving ahead - keep us off the cameras, Seagull, and we will handle anyone not Deathstrike." She glanced at Garrison, caught the expression on his face and shrugged. "I am assuming if she shows up, we run. Let us not get you fellated again, no?"

"No, if Deathstrike shows up, we take her. She's got to be part of the attack on Alpha Flight, and must have some information." Kane said grimly. "And I don't have any problems with going all out against her."

"Dude, you're the one that told us not to kill anyone," Jubilee replied, before shaking her head and looking up, if she could get into the duct works, she should be able to get into the secure room without alerting anybody inside. She just had to hope that whoever was looking after security weren't Remy levels of paranoid, otherwise she'd be dealing with security in the duct work as well. "Give me a few minutes...then like, come to the rescue. I can get the door open, but if you don't want people unnecessarily dead, I'm gonna need some backup."

Marie-Ange had raised a skeptical eyebrow at Garrison, not quite sure if he was serious, but quickly dropped it at his expression. "Make it fast, I do not think we have that much time." She said, to Jubilee's departing back. The Asian woman really -really- overexplained herself too much sometimes.

"When have I ever been slow," Jubilee said before pulling herself up into one of the ducts.

"You're sure that we needed her?" Kane said after she'd disappeared into the vent. His idea of a spy was someone like Wisdom; close-mouthed and focused. Jubilee was like having a radio on in the background all the time.

"Can you pick a lock and fit inside a tiny vent?" Marie-Ange said. "I know, she never stops talking, but she is also remarkably good at infiltration. Also she is the size of a small bird and can put her ankles behind her head." she was fairly sure that was the entire reason for at least half of all of Jubilee's relationships.

"Things I did not need to know." He whispered back, waiting for the all clear from Jubilee.

"Door's open, a rescue from the two guards currently trying to shoot me would be good," Jubilee said a few moments later.

Jubilee kept the plasma shield between herself and the two guards, pushing the door open behind her and stepping out into the corridor.

This "do not kill the hired help" rule made things... difficult. Even as much as Marie-Ange did try to avoid killing when possible, 'don't kill them' took out, oh a good half-dozen options right from the middle of the list. A wall of thick interlocked disks appeared in front of Jubilee, blocking the guards line of sight, and forcing them further out into the corridor.

"This is subtle?" Garrison said to Marie-Ange as he yanked the door off it's hinges. The guard closest to him has keyed his comm, but Kane's blow dropped him before he could call out an alarm. His rush cleared him from the doorway and allowed Marie-Ange a clean shot at the second man.

"No. Did you want subtle?" Marie-Ange said, casually striking the man in the midsection and then along the back of the head with a staff that had appeared while she was already in motion. He went down hard,

and fell to the ground wheezing. "If you wanted subtle, you should

have said. I would have brought Sofia. But then, she demands payment in shoes. Italian shoes."

"Dude, if I'd known I could demand shoes, I totally would've put that in my contract," Jubilee noted, side-stepping Marie-Ange's disks before moving past the now prone guards to get a closer look at the equipment inside the room. It was the work of minutes for her to disarm the camera systems and security, all the while keeping up a running low-grade mutter about shoddy work and people's lack of professional pride in their job. "There, all done."

Kane keyed the all clear to Hank, Paige and Callisto outside, to let them know they were safe to make their way into the warehouse. "Good, then we just need to keep watch for any last minute surprises."

"Yes, because you are still not living down the orange juice in tubes comments from the last time." Marie-Ange said, shaking her head playfully.

***

"Guess this must be a little different than your usual blow into town and fight the bad guys. I've read some of the SHIELD files on your outfit." Luke said affably to Bobby, keeping an eye on the perimeter. "That New York situation with- hang on. Guard in the front gate station is on the phone. He look unhappy to you?"

"Leather has its advantages..." Bobby mumbled before he pulled his binoculars up to his face, squinting as he noticed the cell phone and some hurried movements. Pulling them down he turned towards Cage while simultaneously shuffling back from the edge of the roof, trying to conceal himself and his leather at least a bit. "He looks like there's something up his butt. Time for Operation: Get the Hell out of There?"

"I don't think he's ordering a pizza, man." Cage zeroed in on the guard, who was talking animatedly into the receiver. A couple of the perimeter guards were walking towards the guardhouse to confer with the guard there. "Angel, your people are going to need to get out now. Can you see any gaps in the perimeter from overhead that they can get through?"

Up above them, Angel tapped the mic in her ear. "I think there are a couple of viable spots but let me double check that, Mr. Cage, before we send our people into a potential mess." With that, she signaled off and swung over the complex another time, eyes tracking the ground as she moved. There had been a few places she'd noted earlier that could serve as easy places to slip out but she needed to double check before she felt comfortable relaying that back to Cage and Bobby.

Finally satisfied, she hovered in mid-air and spoke again. "Sir, there are at least two places they could slip out without a problem - one on the south side and another on the west. They're badly guarded but they are a bit of a hike from the building but I think the folks on the ground could get out fast if they had to. There's another one ..." She squinted. "North west but it's closer to a road, more likely to draw, you know, unwanted attention."

"I'll tell Dominion." Cage said, hoisting up his bag and slapping Bobby on the shoulder. "And it's time for us to get moving before they notice the boys on the grassy knoll, if you get my meaning."

"What that people are starting to realize that my good looks resemble that of a young John F. Kennedy?" Bobby turned back towards Cage. "Oh, you mean that we should get our asses moving too?" Bobby had a smile on his face as he quickly pushed towards Cage's position, aimed at their exit point.

"I'm right behind ya big boy."

***

With security disabled by the other team, it was just a question of opening the door and keeping out of sight of the security guards to get inside the warehouse. Most of the space was taken up by the cavernous interior storage space, loaded with skids holding boxes and crates plastic wrapped for transport. There was a long line of refrigerated cargo containers, meant to hold specimens and heat sensitive materials along the one wall, and another was festooned with bio-hazard stickers and heavy steel raisers to minimize the chance of an accident spill or damage.

Callisto, as was her habit, kept to one edge of the room, slim fingers as usual reaching out to run along the wall beside her, silently sliding along the smooth surface of the first container. "What. The fuck," she muttered eloquently.

"Is there any way that is a good what the fuck?" Paige asked, already knowing the answer. She trailed behind a little, Hank between the two of them, taking in the destitute scenery. "You know, the kind with ponies and a beer or something."

Smirking dryly, Callisto shrugged. "Just... what the fuck," she said. "This place is... weird." She shook her head. "It feels weird. Gimme a minute, okay?" She apparently considered this the end of their exchange as she looked away again now, off down the rows of crates, that trademark scowl in place that wasn't so much thoughtful as it was trying to be, like there were too many ideas jammed into a head that didn't really know how to process them.

Hank crouched low, removing the tiny, low-light camera from his utility belt. Snapping flashless and quiet photos as the moved along, Hank stopped along with the rest of the group and used the camera's zoom function to get a closer look at the far side of the room. He waited for their escorts all clear in an uncharacteristic silence.

"Surrounded," came a quiet mutter from the ex-Morlock. When she realised she was being stared at, she looked around herself, shrugged. "I mean, we're not. Obviously. But... somehow I feel like there's... not mutants, but, kinda... Sort of like a smell of them? Only, not a smell. Y'know? And everywhere."

Brow furrowed, Paige pulled one of the various gadgets from her bag and waited for a reading. "Alright, no radiation. Had to check. So, a metaphorical mutant scent, like when someone wears a specific perfume and you can still smell it after they are gone," she rattled, punching in various sequences before letting it run and putting it in her front pocket, ushering in Hank as she did so. "Not picking up much of anything, really. Hank, can you check to see if anything can be saved from the computers while we look for less circuit-y clues?"

Paige snapped on a pair of gloves, heading to the filing cabinets, metal, and so a possibility. "Have you ever had this feeling before? A lingering mutant signature?" she asked Callisto.

Callisto frowned, and shrugged, jamming her hands deep into her pockets. "I dunno. No? I guess not?"

Hank was sorting through the destroyed computer banks as soon as he got the all clear. It was, to put things simply, a mess. To complicate it, the mess was on a scale he'd only witnessed in his own laboratory. "It doesn't look good, I'm afraid, but there may be an intact hard drive somewhere in this slag. Give me a moment- I'll need to open a few chassis."

The computers were a write-off; hard drives and cpu's slashed into fragments, the edges as sharply cut as if it had been Wolverine responsible for the carnage. As they picked over the damage, there was a beep on the comms, and Garrison's voice in their ear.

"Security has figured out something is wrong. If you head out the south entrance now, you should be clear all the way out of the complex." Kane said, letting them know where it was safe to escape from.

"No, no, no..." Paige muttered under her breath as she flipped through tabs, with the other hand signaling the other two out ahead of her; whoever had organized this needed to be shot. At last, the manifest, which she grabbed out and opened, being sure it wasn't mislabeled, before following the other two, being careful to let the door close with barely a click behind her.