xp_logs | Case File: Clan Akkaba - Inception

Based on their investigations, the X-Factor team arrives at a warehouse where they hope to find the missing children.

Warehouses. Why was it always warehouses? Yeah, they were big and easy to break into, but it was still cliche.

Alex bounced his leg, looking up at the looming warehouse, then looking at Hope's body. They were waiting for her to come back from scouting the place out, and every second was making his leg bounce more. He hated waiting.

With a deep inhale the flower gently pulled its petals together and just as gently Hope slipped back into her body. She gave herself a moment to settle in before opening her eyes and sitting up more fully. "We found them." She stated clearly. "Miguel and several other kids. They are being held..." She rose and looked around. "... does anyone have the blueprint of that warehouse?"

Callisto snorted. "Left it in my other jacket. It's a warehouse; they're all pretty much the same, right?"

"Big empty open space, probably some rafters or something you can slip through and an office somewhere in there? Yeah, I used to hate breaking into a warehouse, it's just too...unsophisticated, it's no fun doing something that any bored teenager can do." A wry smile touched Sue's lips as she reached for her phone, tapping at the screen for a moment before placing the phone down. "I wouldn't assume that it hasn't changed but...it's really what you'd expect. Where did you see the kids?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "I would not have needed it if our obliging crooks had not done remodeling. There is still a fairly large space in the center, but they have created smaller plasterboard separated sections along the wall for some reason I could not discern." Leaning over the phone she studied the pictures for a moment. "There are five smaller spaces. They have three kids in this one, among them Miguel, and one in each of these."

"All right." Alex cracked his knuckles. "How about heavy hitters knock on the front door while the sneaky people get in and get the kids out. Did you happen to see how many people we'll have to fight?"

"I was unable to do a full head count, but I would say about a dozen, maybe a dozen and a half. I also spotted some blunt weapons and knives, but I would not be surprised if some of them had firearms." Hope checked the blueprints again, tapping a small side door. "Sue, what if we slipped through here, while Alex and Callisto create that distraction. I should be able to pick that lock."

The blonde took a moment before biting her lip, white teeth pressing into the soft flesh of her lower lip for a moment, working at it before nodding slowly. "That's definitely how we should exit, but I'd wanna sneak in first, maybe through the windows up top and get to the kids, get them out of the containers before we open the door and risk anyone spotting the opened door. If they're all focused on the surprise knocking."

"Works for me if you can get me up there with your force fields." Hope looked over to Callisto and Alex. "What do you think?"

Callisto shrugged. "No point fucking around. Point me where you need me, and let's go."

+++

It wasn't knock knock, exactly - more like blasting through the doors with plasma rays. But, semantics.

The crashing noises, of course, caught the attention of every single guard in the place, who all swarmed toward the front to see who was actually stupid enough to break in through the front door. Alex was already warming up for another blast when the first of them came into view.

Callisto strode in past Alex with the insouciant air of a person used to being in the right place at the right time at all times. Which for somebody who was rarely any of those things showed either an enviable degree of self-confidence or an impressive deficit of self-awareness.

"So, uh, who wants the shit kicked out of them?" she asked. She was here to create a distraction, and what was more distracting than extremely bad quips? Well, concussive blasts quite possibly but other than that.

+++

"Looks like they are ready." Hope hefted the metal pipe she'd found just before Sue had lifted them both to the roof on a forcefield elevator. "Are you ready to catch the glass?"

The blonde arched an eyebrow at Hope, that single eyebrow reaching up for her forehead as a small smirk played across her lips. "What exactly do you think you're going to do with that? Unlike the movies, it's not so easy to break glass like that and it's always going to get attention, now if we do this."

A hand pressed against the glass, a forcefield flaring to life as she removed a section of it, the forcefield cutting through the glass like a tool as Sue pulled it back to lay down the glass. "See, quiet, unobtrusive, no-one would know what's going on till it's too late."

+++

Alex had certainly caused a scene. People were coming at them, some with weapons raised, others with energy projecting powers ready to go. Alex smirked and easily took most of them down, save for a couple bigger guys.

Meanwhile, someone decided they could take some skinny goth chick in hand-to-hand and was Finding Out. Callisto helped two goons into the soft, dark world of unconsciousness before a collective understanding was reached on this topic, and she now found herself facing off against a mountain of a man whose hands glowed gently under the harsh-but-inadequate strip lighting.

"Aw, are you all for me?" she said before springing up to throw her full weight into a punishing blow that would've knocked most people flat. This guy, to his credit, only staggered.

Alex was taking a second to recharge while the rest of the enemies collected themselves, and chuckled when he saw Callisto. "Definitely owe her another hot dog," he muttered before springing back into action.

A loud curse, a hiss... and the smell of burning cotton and cooking flesh.

"You- fucki- Jesus. FuckingChrist!" The words came as semi-intelligible howls of fury and pain as Callisto punctuated her punches with invective. She was behind the big guy, somehow, her legs wrapped around his neck, and he was clawing at them, his now-poker-red fingers searing through her jeans to leave long welts on her flesh. Shallow and brief, they were visibly healing within seconds, but they still seemed to be causing Callisto no small amount of irritation.

"Would. You. Just. Fucking. Ahfinallythankfuck." Big Guy's face turned from red to purple, and finally, he toppled over like a felled redwood - backwards onto Callisto. Fucking obviously.

+++

Hope ducked and caught the bat on her metal pipe. "See..." She hissed at Sue. "That is why I kept the damn thing with me. If we could just have stayed invisible... but no... you had to trip over that brick..." Hope stayed low and finally swiped the pipe low, hitting the crook in the back of his knees and neatly sending him to the ground. "Do you have that door open yet?"

"Well, if someone had told me that these guys are the messiest villains I've ever seen then I might have been looking at the ground. I mean, seriously? My arch nemesis is a mole and his lair is so much clearer than this. Seriously, whatever happened to classy villains?" The blonde kept up a flood of speech as her fingers deftly fell into familiar patterns, taking apart the padlock before swinging the door open. "All aboard, the freedom express is leaving the station."

She counted as three figures hesitantly left the room. "That's three. Two more to go. There should be one each section left. I'll take this one, you the other one." Hope twisted to one of the boards of sections and upon spotting the rest of the men still being distracted by Alex and Callisto, she pulled out her own lockpicks, but kept the pipe nearby. Luckily the lock was as flimsy as the plasterboard and she pulled open the door quickly.

"You are safe now, but we do need to leave quickly." She encouraged the slender girl inside and upon seeing her wobble, she stepped inside and pulled an arm over her shoulder to help her outside.

+++

Gunshots were loud. Who the hell brought a gun to a mutant fight? Alex ducked behind some boxes; he had no idea where the gunshot came from, and no interest in finding out the hard way. Someone was closing in on his hiding spot. He popped up again to hit them with another bright red blast, momentarily blinding someone else nearby. He took his chance to take him down as well.

"Head's up!" A flash of leather and denim - Callisto bombed out of cover, dodging back and forth as a hail of gunfire sprayed across the space. If he was to capitalise on the distraction Alex would have to act fast.

Time to stop holding back, Alex thought as he pushed himself out of his hiding place, entire body glowing red. Hopefully Sue and Hope would see the light, take the hint, and get everyone out. "Get down!" he called Callisto before releasing the energy, taking down every guard it hit.

Callisto was already running back for cover but she now sprang forward, diving behind a pile of crates. Red light bathed the walls before her, and she heard the shouts of shock and fear.

Now that was teamwork.

+++

Sue instinctively ducked as the sound of gunshots echoed around the warehouse, her blue eyes casting around as a forcefield flickered around her for a moment as she faded in and out of sight before ducking down and gesturing to the kids. "Come on, this way guys, door's right there."

At the sound of the gunshots Hope immediately popped back into her body, the coast outside clear and slowly raised herself on her knees to pry the door open. Unfortunately this was a more challenging lock and she stifled a growl when her first attempt didn't work. She quickly pulled out another pick and slowly inserted it, jiggling it around and finally getting all the pins and turning the lock. Slowly she pushed the door open and waved at Sue.

The blonde gestured at the kids, one hand lifted as a forcefield flickered to life for a moment, intercepting a stray bullet before dropping as she glanced down at the opened lock, "Not too bad..." a small smile as she watched the kids stream out, interposing her body between them and the fight. "You lead them out, I'll bring up the back."

Hope ducked outside the door, glancing over her shoulder to see if the kids were following. Seeing them rush behind her she quickly guided them through the alley to the cover of a stack of crates she'd seen while scouting and paused, turning to scan everyone for any obvious injuries that needed immediate attention. "Is everyone okay?"

Her gaze specifically caught upon a young man and she stepped a little closer: "You must be Miguel. Your mom is looking..." Hope's voice died down as she narrowed her eyes. Delicate blue markings covered the young man's skin and that of the others. "What is that?"

The boy lifted his hands to glance down at the sigils covering him before shrugging, "They put them on us when they brought us in," he allowed before ducking as another bullet impacted a forcefield mere inches from his head drawing a strained gasp from the blonde.

"Less talking more you know, running."

Relax, I got this." Miguel stepped up confidently, raising a hand to the bullets... and nothing happened. Confusion etched across the boy's face as he lifted a hand to try again. "It's not working"

"Can you shield us for a little longer?" At Sue's nod, Hope turned towards the kids. "Down the alley, everyone, then turn right. There is a blue van there. Go!" Hope waited till they were all moving before following herself. As she ran, she was relieved to hear Sue moving behind her as they turned the corner.