Operation: Mutant of the Seas 20

[xp-changeling.livejournal.com]

North and Jubilee stage a violent assault on the bridge



The green light started to blink on the comm that Jubilee had taped to the boat’s dash. It was the signal that the security system that the ship used to monitor its outer hull was down and they could move unseen. The smaller boat revved up and cut through the water at an angle, staying dark and close to the wake to mask their approach. They tore up the side, passing hundreds of metres of hull before settling in under where the bridge was located, more than a half dozen stories above the waves over them.

Jubilee set the craft over to the remote control she'd wired in over the past few days and stuffed it into a pouch on the sleek bag she had on her back.

Once they were on board, she'd steer the boat away and leave it anchored for when they needed it later. She had to admit, this stuff was a favorite of hers and the glint of excitement in her eyes might have been scary if she wasn't also so good at it.

"You ready for this, old man?" Jubilee asked with a grin.

“Perhaps before you were even born, young lady,” North deadpanned, swiftly recoiling their climbing rope and tucking it back into its pouch. He reached up behind him, and gloved fingers found purchase on a ledge. With one last confirmatory glance swapping between the spies, he pulled himself up and over the railing, more spry than she had ever seen him.

They landed in relative darkness, rubber soles almost silent against metal. Taking a steadying breath, North closed his eyes and reached for his thus-far-elusive powers, but received only a vague smattering of images for his efforts. “Six in the bridge, four outside. Maybe more beyond. Don’t kill the blonde man in orange.”

"Quick and brutal then, one of us takes the four outside, than comes to help the other one on the bridge?" Jubilee breathed - voice quiet but not quite a whisper to avoid any sound carrying beyond them.

"As you say," he replied in the same pitch, producing a bowie knife from a boot as he blinked himself back to the present. "I will take the bridge. And then you can come save me when the head honcho pulls his gun on me."

"Just don't get shot," Jubilee quipped - pulling a knife from a wrist sheath. "Felicity would kill me."

She ghosted away from him, using shadows to blend in with her surrounding as she moved. She would be outnumbered if she made any mistakes, so quiet and with all due attention to not alerting them to her presence as she killed each of them was the name of the game.

Moving stealthy to the bridge wasn't an option. Cruise ships were open by nature. However, they did have speed an surprise on their side, as well as the fact that only two of the men appeared to be guards, and they were only armed with handguns. The other two were wearing steward outfits, possibly updating their weather charting to pass along for the next day of cruising.

Jubilee set off a flash-bang version of her power - a lot of noise and a greater deal of light before she waded in to deal with the four men and keep them occupied as North headed past her onto the bridge. She was going to need to do this as quickly as possible, even while she knew they wouldn't be quick enough to handle all of them before some security procedures could be worked into place.

"Come on assholes, let's get this done."

The chaos in the bridge may not have been as dazzling, but it was no less exciting as North tripped up a pair who looked like they were about to head outside to investigate the noise. His knife flashed sinisterly under artificial light, and the wet gurgle that followed was drowned out immediately by the shouts that rang out both from inside the room and out.

Blue-grey met the eerily blank eyes of an orange-clad man who was backed into a corner, even as blood gushed from the knife wound the spy had carved into another man's neck. The visions in his head froze mid-play like a faulty DVD, but North did not falter in his work until two more men had hit the walls, gasping helplessly through the fresh holes in their throats.

Only then did he have to stop, just for a moment, as the click of a gun's safety release sounded amidst the hoarse sounds of a bleeding battlefield. North stared down the barrell pointed at him from three feet away and allowed his lips to curl in mild disgust. "And who might you be?"

"Mutate 8. Make him burn." He said in response, as a fireball curled out of no where, washing across the deck plates directly at North.

Mutate. North detested that word. He dropped flat, cheek to the floor, and pushed himself up and to the side once the rush of heat had passed his ankles. There was no time to check out the damage it had wrought -His new healing powers had not be tested against burns, and this was probably not the best time to do it. Between flame and gunfire, the choice seemed simple enough.

It took two steps and a tackle towards the apparent Man In Charge before his cavalry of one finally arrived.

"You know, I'm starting to think you don't love me," Jubilee said - a flash-bang of power igniting in her hand and sending the room into a whiteout of bright pulsating light. Anyone looking directly at her would be blinded instantly. "You could have left a few for me."

The guards outside the room were dead, forensics would show a single stab wound, one to the back of the neck, the other through the trachea, she'd left the non-combatants alive however - if knocked out. She wasn't sure that was a good idea to be honest, but majority opinion was innocents should be left alive if possible.

"Get off!" A powerful knee caught North in the side. He didn't look very big, but the man had wiry strength. He was fumbling for his gun, trying to get it clear. "Kill the other one!"

"Mutate 8 can't see!" The woman sobbed. "Mutate 8 wants to obey!"

Jubilee went quiet, using the blindness of the mutate to her advantage as she crossed the floor, wanting to get as close as possible the flash-bang took affect. She wanted to avoid actively hurting the woman, considering she wasn't in her right mind but the best way to do that was to get in close and knock her out before she could use whatever abilities she happened to have.

The mutate went down hard as Jubilee elbowed it in the back of the head. It was only by luck that the bullet missed her head. North and Razamany fought for control of the gun while prone together on the floor.

Jubilee dodged several more bullets as North and Razamany struggled before she'd had enough and simply launched two massive volley's of plasma sparks upward to rest above her head. They coalesced into a cloud above her, making a crackling sound like fire as it swirled violently, spitting sparks to singe the deck around her.

"If everyone doesn't shut up and listen to me right now, I'm going to burn each and every fucking one of you into slag in about two seconds." she said through gritted teeth, gaze direct as she locked eyes with Razamany.

"Jesus, what the hell do you want!"

"Shut up! Don't listen to her." Brian yelled, he kicked free long enough to clear his weapon, intent on ending Jubilee. North shifted and Brian's arm suddenly slackened as the German drove a short knife home, directly into his heart.

With their captain dead, the rest of the bridge immediately surrendered, locking down the crew sections of the ship as directed by Jubilee before allowing themselves to be ziptied and left on the bridge as they moved to phase two of the assault.