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xp_logsX-Force assaults the facility where they believe Kevin is being held.
The building was nondescript, which was exactly what they didn't want to see. There were few windows and doors, and those were guarded by serious looking men. There were no visible weapons, but a closer look revealed bulges under their jackets that were likely handguns. Their mission had been clear; cut the power and blind the security.
Amanda chewed on her thumbnail absently as she observed the building from the doorway they were standing in. "I can 'port in there, cut the power, no problem," she said quietly. "But I can't take passengers."
"But no telling what is on the other side of the port, right?." Clea said, looking at the building as well. She pulled out a tiny notebook and began to flip through it. It was a tiny grimoire she was making while taking on extra studies on magic. "I want to make sure you are well protected if we decide to go that way. Another way is that we use a spell to make us invisible, like an invisibility cloak but more modern. Walk in, cut the line, walk out. Anyone on duty will not see it coming."
"Funny, I was going to say I didn't like leaving you unprotected while I was 'porting. Tell you what, you watch my back and I'll watch yours." Amanda leaned over and looked over the spell. "Invisibility takes a lot of juice - if something comes up, we might be caught short on power. But it's a risk we'll have to take - time's running short and we need this done. As long as we're quiet and careful..." She didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to jinx them.
Clea smirked at her teacher, "We'll be fine. These came from the library of the Ancient One." Wiggling her eyebrows in glee. Looking back down at the components needed, Clea reached into her satchel and knelt down. She pulled out small flat crystal and a piece of chalk. Writing a rune on it, Clea whispered, "Though they look, we will not be seen. Though they hear, we will not be heard." Once she was done she handed it to Amanda and repeated the process once more for herself. She stood up looking a bit more pale, "Alright. They are charged. I would give it, 15 minutes tops."
"Then we better not waste any more time." Amanda slipped out of her (creaky!) leather jacket and took the lead, moving as quietly as she could. They paused at the back door - the lock was no bother to Amanda, but if they opened it, the guards would notice and they didn't have time to hang about and wait for a shift change or visitor. Amanda glanced back at Clea and mimicked throwing something into a pile of garbage cans down the alley, before sinking her arm into the wall up to the elbow to show she would go inside and unlock the door while the guards were distracted.
Nodding in understanding what Amanda was suggesting to do next and picking up a small pebble, Clea waited until Amanda was completely inside before throwing it into the cans. It did cause a loud noise which drew the attention of the guards. With her back against the wall, they passed by her, mere feet away, without looking her way. The spell was holding up indeed.
The door opened a crack, then a little more, barely enough to let the slim girl slip through. Amanda closed it silently after Clea, but left it unlocked. "No point making things difficult if we have to scarper," she murmured. "The fusebox is in the basement, through that door at the end of the hallway and down some stairs. They're narrow so we'll have to go one at a time and scrunch up if someone uses them." They'd both memorised the building's layout from the schematics Doug had gotten, but it was hard transitioning from teacher to team.
Clea nodded as Amanda went through the layout again. Making her way down the hallway, Clea stopped at each open door to verify that no one was just going to walk out, even if they were invisible, it didn't mean they were intangible. Her fingers had a spell at the ready just in case Plan B would take affect, but luckily she made it down the hall with no incident, the building was either empty or people were doing other things,
Amanda took the lead again as they reached the basement door and stuck her head through the wall to be sure there wasn't anyone on the stairs. Not on the stairs, but she couldn't see much beyond that, the basement lying deep in shadow. "It's dark," she murmured to Clea as she pulled her head back in. "Stairs are clear, but watch your step." With that, she carefully eased the door open and slipped inside.
"Fifteen steps down." She whispered back and then followed her teacher into the darkness. Clea didn't want to risk another spell for light, even if she did have one handy. It would be in case of emergency if they need that one. Down into the darkness they went until they reached the last step. "Back left wall, correct?"
"Yeah." There was a slight hum, inaudible to most but a beacon for Amanda's city-attuned senses, coming from said corner that confirmed the target. "We won't have long to get out after we do this so stay on your toes." Gliding her fingers across the wall until she hit the metal cabinet of the fuse box, she traced the shape until she found the bottom, and the cables leadings into it. "You pull the plug, I'll cut. On three." She paused long enough to pull the heavy-duty wire cutters out of the holster hanging from her belt. "One, two..."
"Three." Clea used magic to pull the plug. Immediately the power went out. There was silence at first but the footsteps scrambling above was more than enough indicator that the power outage didn't go unnoticed. She didn't have a clear view of the staircase from the fuse box but she knew that they would have company soon from the sounds of it. "Our job is done right?"
"All done bar the shouting," was Amanda's reply as she cut the wires leading up into the fuse box for good measure - fuses could be reset, but this would be more difficult to fix. "Let's be away on our toes." The pair had only just turned back to the stairs when the door was flung open, the light of a powerful flashlight momentarily blinding them. A bulky silhouette was framed in the upper doorway and there was a rumble of a man's voice, complaining about the state of these old buildings.
He stumbled down the stairs, swearing under his breath all the way down. He never felt the brief stirring of air as the two witches slipped past him, invisible to all eyes as they made their way up the stairs and back out of the building into the alleyway.
***
The lights went dead, signalling that it was time for the assault. The guards were now checking their headsets, talking animatedly even as they looked around, trying to see if the power outage was limited to them or the surrounding area. Their window was a minute, maybe less.
Fortunately, it's all the time they needed.
Artie rolled his shoulders, trying to shake the fatigue out of the muscles. He was tired and sore and sadly, today was one of those days where a frontal assault was where it was at. Fuck. He signed to Marie Ange and Felicia. "Lights going out on three, two, one." He ran into the darkness, trusting to surprise and slammed his baton into the solar plexus and neck of the first guard. Go team surprise.
Marie-Ange was a moment behind Artie, sparing a glance to make sure their assessment of the guards had been accurate and that her favorite student-turned-teammate was not running into anything unexpected. They had luck and a glimpse of the future on their side - but neither of those factors were foolproof. She flipped on the handlight strapped to her palm right into the eyes of the next guard, and then crushed it into the nose of his very surprised light-blinded face.
"Fucking up people time, fucking up people time..." Felicia sing-sang, sotto voce, as she wove through the group of guards, clipping the backs of knees as she went. Her destination was the door, and the access panel beside it, where she would plug in her gadget and circle back for round two as it worked.
Artie took up his place beside Felicia, crouched low, baton at the ready and run pointed back down the hallway looking for any movement further out.
"Clear." Marie-Ange said, after the last guard hit the ground unmoving. "Did any of them them get a warning out?" She had not heard more than a few grunts and expected profanities. "Black Cat, confirm when the door is opening, yes?"
Felicia gave one of the guards a sharp kick, unapologetically petty, and looked over at the door just in time for the light on her gizmo to turn green with a quiet ding. Gently pushing open the door to show it was dark beyond as well she threw a flash inside. “Door’s open,” she grinned after a sharp bang, and flicked something on her mask, diving through.
Artie followed her through the door, pivoting as he stepped through to provide cover into the new room and trusting Marie-Ange to have their backs behind him.
Marie-Ange lingered back long enough to confirm they were not followed and that the guards had not gotten out a warning, and then slipped into the room. She cuffed a man on the back of the head a moment before he got a shot off, and then gave Felicia a little thank-you salute as her imaged glove slipped away into mist.
The building was nondescript, which was exactly what they didn't want to see. There were few windows and doors, and those were guarded by serious looking men. There were no visible weapons, but a closer look revealed bulges under their jackets that were likely handguns. Their mission had been clear; cut the power and blind the security.
Amanda chewed on her thumbnail absently as she observed the building from the doorway they were standing in. "I can 'port in there, cut the power, no problem," she said quietly. "But I can't take passengers."
"But no telling what is on the other side of the port, right?." Clea said, looking at the building as well. She pulled out a tiny notebook and began to flip through it. It was a tiny grimoire she was making while taking on extra studies on magic. "I want to make sure you are well protected if we decide to go that way. Another way is that we use a spell to make us invisible, like an invisibility cloak but more modern. Walk in, cut the line, walk out. Anyone on duty will not see it coming."
"Funny, I was going to say I didn't like leaving you unprotected while I was 'porting. Tell you what, you watch my back and I'll watch yours." Amanda leaned over and looked over the spell. "Invisibility takes a lot of juice - if something comes up, we might be caught short on power. But it's a risk we'll have to take - time's running short and we need this done. As long as we're quiet and careful..." She didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to jinx them.
Clea smirked at her teacher, "We'll be fine. These came from the library of the Ancient One." Wiggling her eyebrows in glee. Looking back down at the components needed, Clea reached into her satchel and knelt down. She pulled out small flat crystal and a piece of chalk. Writing a rune on it, Clea whispered, "Though they look, we will not be seen. Though they hear, we will not be heard." Once she was done she handed it to Amanda and repeated the process once more for herself. She stood up looking a bit more pale, "Alright. They are charged. I would give it, 15 minutes tops."
"Then we better not waste any more time." Amanda slipped out of her (creaky!) leather jacket and took the lead, moving as quietly as she could. They paused at the back door - the lock was no bother to Amanda, but if they opened it, the guards would notice and they didn't have time to hang about and wait for a shift change or visitor. Amanda glanced back at Clea and mimicked throwing something into a pile of garbage cans down the alley, before sinking her arm into the wall up to the elbow to show she would go inside and unlock the door while the guards were distracted.
Nodding in understanding what Amanda was suggesting to do next and picking up a small pebble, Clea waited until Amanda was completely inside before throwing it into the cans. It did cause a loud noise which drew the attention of the guards. With her back against the wall, they passed by her, mere feet away, without looking her way. The spell was holding up indeed.
The door opened a crack, then a little more, barely enough to let the slim girl slip through. Amanda closed it silently after Clea, but left it unlocked. "No point making things difficult if we have to scarper," she murmured. "The fusebox is in the basement, through that door at the end of the hallway and down some stairs. They're narrow so we'll have to go one at a time and scrunch up if someone uses them." They'd both memorised the building's layout from the schematics Doug had gotten, but it was hard transitioning from teacher to team.
Clea nodded as Amanda went through the layout again. Making her way down the hallway, Clea stopped at each open door to verify that no one was just going to walk out, even if they were invisible, it didn't mean they were intangible. Her fingers had a spell at the ready just in case Plan B would take affect, but luckily she made it down the hall with no incident, the building was either empty or people were doing other things,
Amanda took the lead again as they reached the basement door and stuck her head through the wall to be sure there wasn't anyone on the stairs. Not on the stairs, but she couldn't see much beyond that, the basement lying deep in shadow. "It's dark," she murmured to Clea as she pulled her head back in. "Stairs are clear, but watch your step." With that, she carefully eased the door open and slipped inside.
"Fifteen steps down." She whispered back and then followed her teacher into the darkness. Clea didn't want to risk another spell for light, even if she did have one handy. It would be in case of emergency if they need that one. Down into the darkness they went until they reached the last step. "Back left wall, correct?"
"Yeah." There was a slight hum, inaudible to most but a beacon for Amanda's city-attuned senses, coming from said corner that confirmed the target. "We won't have long to get out after we do this so stay on your toes." Gliding her fingers across the wall until she hit the metal cabinet of the fuse box, she traced the shape until she found the bottom, and the cables leadings into it. "You pull the plug, I'll cut. On three." She paused long enough to pull the heavy-duty wire cutters out of the holster hanging from her belt. "One, two..."
"Three." Clea used magic to pull the plug. Immediately the power went out. There was silence at first but the footsteps scrambling above was more than enough indicator that the power outage didn't go unnoticed. She didn't have a clear view of the staircase from the fuse box but she knew that they would have company soon from the sounds of it. "Our job is done right?"
"All done bar the shouting," was Amanda's reply as she cut the wires leading up into the fuse box for good measure - fuses could be reset, but this would be more difficult to fix. "Let's be away on our toes." The pair had only just turned back to the stairs when the door was flung open, the light of a powerful flashlight momentarily blinding them. A bulky silhouette was framed in the upper doorway and there was a rumble of a man's voice, complaining about the state of these old buildings.
He stumbled down the stairs, swearing under his breath all the way down. He never felt the brief stirring of air as the two witches slipped past him, invisible to all eyes as they made their way up the stairs and back out of the building into the alleyway.
***
The lights went dead, signalling that it was time for the assault. The guards were now checking their headsets, talking animatedly even as they looked around, trying to see if the power outage was limited to them or the surrounding area. Their window was a minute, maybe less.
Fortunately, it's all the time they needed.
Artie rolled his shoulders, trying to shake the fatigue out of the muscles. He was tired and sore and sadly, today was one of those days where a frontal assault was where it was at. Fuck. He signed to Marie Ange and Felicia. "Lights going out on three, two, one." He ran into the darkness, trusting to surprise and slammed his baton into the solar plexus and neck of the first guard. Go team surprise.
Marie-Ange was a moment behind Artie, sparing a glance to make sure their assessment of the guards had been accurate and that her favorite student-turned-teammate was not running into anything unexpected. They had luck and a glimpse of the future on their side - but neither of those factors were foolproof. She flipped on the handlight strapped to her palm right into the eyes of the next guard, and then crushed it into the nose of his very surprised light-blinded face.
"Fucking up people time, fucking up people time..." Felicia sing-sang, sotto voce, as she wove through the group of guards, clipping the backs of knees as she went. Her destination was the door, and the access panel beside it, where she would plug in her gadget and circle back for round two as it worked.
Artie took up his place beside Felicia, crouched low, baton at the ready and run pointed back down the hallway looking for any movement further out.
"Clear." Marie-Ange said, after the last guard hit the ground unmoving. "Did any of them them get a warning out?" She had not heard more than a few grunts and expected profanities. "Black Cat, confirm when the door is opening, yes?"
Felicia gave one of the guards a sharp kick, unapologetically petty, and looked over at the door just in time for the light on her gizmo to turn green with a quiet ding. Gently pushing open the door to show it was dark beyond as well she threw a flash inside. “Door’s open,” she grinned after a sharp bang, and flicked something on her mask, diving through.
Artie followed her through the door, pivoting as he stepped through to provide cover into the new room and trusting Marie-Ange to have their backs behind him.
Marie-Ange lingered back long enough to confirm they were not followed and that the guards had not gotten out a warning, and then slipped into the room. She cuffed a man on the back of the head a moment before he got a shot off, and then gave Felicia a little thank-you salute as her imaged glove slipped away into mist.
