xp_logs | Fires From The Ashes

Remy's group does a little covert work to narrow down Apocalypse's destination

"Multiple locations? Dat makes it difficult. What was de direction de private plane left in? Right, Remy make some inquires. You stay safe, chere." Remy snapped off his phone, looking at the team in front of him. It was not exactly an assault force. "Dark Riders are on de move and dey think dat Apocalypse is alive and wit' dem. Others are following up on other locations, but we get a choice."

There was a moment of deep, contemplative team silence at the prospect before a hand went up. The blond in question smiled nervously, looking back and forth between the twenty-somethings and Remy. "I vote we look in someplace with a five star hotel. Or possibly a beach."

Artie shook his head, projecting "what are the locations?" Time was an issue. Subtlety was an issue. He blended in superficially. Tracking Apocalypse was an issue and one that left him wanting to go change his pants. "and which one do u pick as the favorite?" He looked at Remy and then at Arthur, focusing in on him. "u have luck powers, right? if u don't have a run of back luck, ur guess would be the right one."

"Doesn't work like dat. But... dey left on a modified DC-10. Old plane, poor range, and headed east. Not a lot of potential sites, since it needs a stable concrete airstrip to land on." Remy said, pointing to Jubilee. "You feel like breaking into Cairo's air control station?"

"Remy, I like breaking in anywhere, but testing out their security will be fun. Let's see what their citizen's tax dollars are paying for, yeah?"

Jubilee had been standing close to the door, angled slightly in her stance in case of attack. She'd not always been so jumpy, but several years in the job and the recent bullet wounds had tightened her easy going personality into professional paranoia and a front of indifference that only the people who worked with her regularly could see past.

She'd found her calling in the life of a spy and a thief, it wasn't where she'd expected to find a sense of purpose and peace but she wouldn't have changed anything, even given the chance.

"How much time do I have?"

"Under two hours." Remy said, heading for their car. "If we can find the flight's footprint and trajectory, we can narrow down some of the possibilities."

As the two spies were having their little confab of shadows, Arthur made saucer eyes at Artie and silently mouthed, with helpfully enthusiastic pantomime, "that's fucking awesome" in reference to the holograms. This was, perhaps, not very subtle, and the man tried to save face a little when all eyes were back on him with another helpful insight.

"Hi. New guy again. Question: Say we catch up with this these dramatically named criminals. Then what?"

"We find out what dey planning and if possible, fuck it up for dem." Remy said, motioning them into the car. "Or get killed trying. Never know in dis business, homme."

***

Cairo international airport wasn't the most secure airport in the world, but it still certainly had plenty of security moving around. They bypassed the terminals, moving towards an administrative building that a hundred dollars had confirmed for them was where the air control servers were housed. Remy had them all waiting outside of the terminal, concealed near an unoccupied loading area.

"One exterior guard. Artie, Arthur, we need him out of the way in a way dat doesn't bring security down on our heads."

Artie nodded and thought for a moment. "I'll distract him. All he'll see are strippers doing a cancan for a minute. He'll need a moment to realize they're not real. You" and he pointed, letting that underscore the text he projected at Arthur "will be visible to everyone but him. As long as you're quiet, he won't know you're there. Just walk up and slit his throat. Knock him out. Something."

Arthur's shock at the first suggestion played testament to his odd-man out status on this spy team, and it took him a few second a gobsmacking to realize that Artie was staring impatiently. Clearing his mind, Arthur made an okay gesture and put up the hood on his jacket. Go time.

Rather than appropriate from front, the ex-television star circled the small, ground-hugging building and climbed -- the small squat building, like most airports, made up for its utilitarian height by boasting a sturdy entrance covered by a sturdy block of a an overhang. As Artie set up for his illusion, Arthur used a set of generators, a barred window, some loose brick, and some tricky bouts of waiting in the shadows to perch himself on top of the overhang nearest to the side the guard was impatiently pacing toward. The square, concrete blocks of its top proceeded excellent concealment.

Plink.

The guard blinked, turning, and moved into position.

Cancan dancers.

The guard shifted, shocked, but could not look away. Arthur swung down head-first, feet braced against overhang's ledge, and used his position to tap a series of pressure points on the arm the guard had risen to call for help. A quick third blow below the neck luckily tumbled the unconscious guard into Arthur's waiting grip. With a swing and a heft, the man pulled the limp body up and onto the convenient concealment of the entrance overhang.

Entrance secured.

Remy moved across the tarmac with Jubilee in tow. "Dat was different. Remy didn't expect de off-Broadway treatment." He reached the door and picked it on the run, ushering her in behind him. "We need de flight records."

"Dude, you end up the weirdest places, also - if you've got an in for tickets to Wicked for me and Kurt, I'd owe you one."

Jubilee headed up the stairs and then turned to the left, she'd spent the trip in the car looking at, and memorizing building schematics that she'd downloaded from a local data cache that Doug had set up some time ago - you could never tell when you'd need something quicker then International download speeds could give it to you. She'd wiped the cache, set a message in a secure drop spot for one of their people to replace the information, and then turned the phone to slag afterwards.

"Should be the next door to our right."

"It is locked." Remy paused for a moment and popped the lock. "You take de lead."

"I'm just glad we're doing this during stupid o'clock, my accent in Arabic and French is crap."

Jubilee pushed through the door after a moment of listening to see if there were any unwanted surprises beyond. She moved straight for the computers, inserting a USB stick with cracks that Doug had provided her before they left. It was going to take a few minutes to get through the security and allow her to start searching.

As Jubilee confirmed the information was downloaded, he started them moving out at a brisk pace. He double-clicked the comms, letting Arthur and Artie know to lose any pursuers and get back to the car. While it was a secure area, the information they'd grabbed had little real value to anyone else, and they were able to easily slip past detection and make it back to the car at the same time as the others.

Jubilee slipped the stick into her laptop and Remy leaned over her. "'Ro gave use de tail designation. Search for its last known transponder signal, arc of flight, and speed."

"Got them, transponder signal shows their last location as over the Indian Ocean, and while their lodged flight plan says their destination is London, from their heading, and speed looks like they're bound for Southern India."

Jubilee sat back, glancing up at Remy with a grin.

"So, what sort of welcoming party should we send them?"

"Visakhapatnam is de only one on de list which makes sense." Remy said with a nod. "Let's get moving."