Operation: Mutant of the Seas - Log 14

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Kevin, Dom and Amanda find a nasty surprise in the security room.



“That is the security room. I cleared it with the team in the kitchen that handles their meals.” In their tiny room, Kevin put down a simplistic map of the ship that was provided to the crew with an X marked on one of the lower decks. “However, our cards aren’t even cleared for that deck, much less getting into the room. I thought about staging a disturbance, but if you ladies have any better plans…”

"I'm always up for a good disturbance." Dom didn't even mind being the cause, since her powers meant that she was usually able to get away from the scene of the crime without being caught. "What were you thinking - the old fire in a crowded room scenario? Ooh, maybe the 'two chicks fighting over a guy and it gets messy and there's hair-pulling'," she suggested, her eyes lighting up. "That one's always a winner."

"Depends if we wind up in the brig afterwards or not," Amanda said wryly. "Still, getting manhandled by security gives us our best shot at lifting a couple of cards without being noticed."

"We don't want anything that they're likely to remember. Maybe a theft accusation? That's always a big issue on cruises. I can borrow a face off of one of the mid-level managers."

"Sure, that works," Dom said with a shrug. She didn't really care about the how so long as it got them what they needed. She glanced at Amanda. "You want to be the stealer or the stealee?"

"Stealer. I'm enough of a chav any way that it'll be more believable," Amanda replied, snorting. "And better to keep your "perfect" work record unblemished, yeah?"

"Game faces on then, ladies. And literally a new face on for me."

***

Clifton Knowles kept a tight grip on Amanda's upper arm, pulling her along the corridor. Nina had to rush to keep up with the fast walking man. He was a deck supervisor, responsible for making sure that the complicated rituals of cleaning, services, and other vital ship functions took place on time and invisibly on his decks. He was notorious for his attention to detail and his short temper. He was also prone to migraines and currently lying down in his cabin. They approached the door to the security deck, and he gave Amanda a shake.

"Stop squirming! Hey Dave."

"Hey Cliff." The guard gave him a nod. "New date?"

"Funny, asshole. Looks like we've got a sticky fingered maid here. I'm going to take her down to- shit. I left my card in my room. Can you buzz me down?"

The guard paused for a moment. Card access was strictly enforced but... Cliff was a no nonsense guy. "Yeah, here." The door opened.

"I have to give, like, a report or something," Dom reasoned as Kevin and Amanda headed through the door. The guard raised an eyebrow and she blew out a beleaguered sigh. "It sucks. Hey, d'you mind telling Cliff that I just got like, called away or something?"

The idea of being the bearer of bad news was enough to override any compunction at letting her past, and he shook his head vigorously. "Sorry, no can do. You better hurry up," he added, jerking a thumb down the passageway. Dom pouted and dragged her feet as she followed after them until a turn in the corridor took her out of sight, and then she broke into a jog in order to catch up with them.

"This is total bullshit, I didn't do anything!" Amanda was protesting her innocence and pulling slightly away from the hold on her arm, not enough to break free but enough to give the impression she was very unwilling. "I've been set up, I tell you!"

"I said shut up. You're giving me a headache." Kevin knocked on the door and pushed it open when he heard the grunt. The security office was of a decent size, designed to hold up to eight people at various stations, although there were only three there at the time. A young bald man sat in the corner, back in a spare reclining chair, his eyes closed. One officer sat in front of an array of screens, cycling through the ship. The final man sat behind a desk, and his face was easily recognizable from the prison on Genosha; Brandt. He looked a little fleshier than he had been, but his military poise remained and his eyes caught every movement. Fortunately, Brandt had been focused on other prisoners and Amanda was almost unrecognizable from her time in the cells.

"What is it, Cliff?"

"A bit of a mess, sir. I caught these two going at it in their room, screaming about... what as it she stole?"

"My e-cig!" Dom whined. At the blank stares that elicited she rolled her eyes. "Y'know, for vaping?" Still nothing. "Okay well, since staff aren't allowed to smoke in front of the guests or whatever I guess little miss sticky fingers thought she'd take my stuff and all my watermelon flavoring! Which is totally the best flavor."

"Like I'd be caught dead with that kind of crap!" Amanda's accent was as valley girl as Domino's. "Pretentious, much? I was just looking for my spare work shirt, which she borrowed without asking!"

"I did not! You probably just forgot to pick it up from laundry services or something, god! It's not my f--"

"Alright, shut up. Both of you." Brandt leaned back in his chair, massaging his temples. "It seems every cruise, some pair of gels come down screaming that someone stole something. And it is amazing how often it works out that someone just misplaced the item. So, here's what we're going to do. You're going to go back to you cabin and see if you can find where the, what, e-cig and the shirt 'mistakenly' got put. And you're not going to fight about it. Because if I hear of anything else going missing involving you, you're off the ship at the next port, a flight home docked from your pay, and a guarantee that you'll never so much as sniff a job on a cruise ship ever again. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Amanda muttered sullenly, still careful to avoid eye contact with Brandt, just in case.

"Yeah, fine," Dom echoed in tones just as sulky. She cast a glance around the room, taking in as much of her surroundings as she could - after all, not many employees got the chance to see the security suite so it wasn't as if it was out of character to gawk a bit. She didn't see anything that illuminating, though. Whatever secrets they were keeping would be harder to suss out than a simple once-over would allow.

"All straightened out? Good." Kevin said, releasing them both. He stepped back, a few feet behind Amanda and changed his stance slightly, shifting out a foot a little further towards the man in the corner.

It was easy to take the hint. As she was released, Amanda made a move as if to head for the door, but instead tripped over her own feet and stumbled towards the man in the corner, hands out as if to use him to catch her balance.

The second her hands touched him, his eyes jerked open in surprise and he flailed back. "“Captain Brandt! Mutate 9 did not mean to drop the field! Mutate 9 wants to obey!"

"Oh for fuck's sake... Terry, calm down the gimp, would you. Cliff, get these fucking morons out of here. Now!"

"Yeah, sorry! Sorry boss." Kevin grabbed Amanda by the back of the shirt and thrust her through the door with Dom following close behind. It slammed behind them and only once they'd cleared through the secure area and back out on to the regular deck did they start breathing easily. Kevin dropped the look of Knowles as soon as possible, going back to his look of the blandest man possible.

"OK, what the fuck was that reaction?"

Dom was staring into the middle distance with an expression Kevin knew meant she was turning something over and over in her head. She didn't have much experience with mutants and none with these so-called 'mutates', but... "He said he dropped the field. That was where I'd expect to see the controls for any proximity detection system the ship was running, but there wasn't anything like that there. What if that guy was the system?"

Amanda, for her part, looked like she could quite happily dismember someone. "The bloke's a mutate - one of the Genosha slaves. Poor bastard must have been grabbed when Genosha fell." Fury laced her words. "And I doubt they went for the useless ones - odds are this mutate is their detection system. And I recognized Brandt from the prison." She looked at Kevin and Domino. "Whatever else is going on here, we have to get the mutates off so we can get them back to Genosha and the process reversed. This isn't living."

"Great. That's going to make this more difficult." Kevin said with a sigh. "Shit, I didn't realize Genosha had gotten that bad. We side-eyed it pretty hard when they set up the Commission but there was never a follow up."

"Kay, we can put that on the to-do list for later. For now let's get back before anybody notices we're not doing our 'jobs' and make sure the others know everything that's gone down," Dom said, reaching up to pull her hair back out of her face. She really hated wearing it this way.

"I'm off shift, so I can pass the info on." In her mind's eye, Amanda was seeing a small redheaded girl being forced into the Genegineer's machine, to meet her apparent end. This abomination had to stop. "I figure we'll need to have a meet up tonight and plan our next move, depending on what they've found."

She didn't say the words that were burning in her brain: Bastards are gunna PAY.