Log:Spies Inside

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"Spies Inside" (Spies, Lies, and Family Ties, Pt. 14)
Emitter	Odin
Players	Spectrum, Travis, Jennifer, Knockout, Reckless
NPCs	Lady in Red, Glacier, Banshee, Crosshairs
Place	Jennifer's Apartment
Time (IC)	September 12, 2012 - Night
Time (OOC)	September 12, 2007

Spectrum isn't exactly a visible guest there, either. She's out and about as she has been in the afternoons lately: watching for various sorts of small trouble as she's been, though at present she's actually focusing on Jennifer. Which in this case means perching on a rooftop a half mile away and looking down to spot her and Travis there. "Well, guess she's in good company for dangerous stuff."

Digging into her pocket, Jennifer pulls out her key to the apartment, slipping inside the main building to the foyer, before inhaling slowly. "You know... there are some days I wish I was born someone else. I'm still angry at him. And scared to death of him," she states, sticking the key into the lock, just to make certain it is unlocked, before twisting the knob and pushing the door open. "Welcome to the humble Wright abode."

"You don't need to be," Travis observes quietly; stepping along behind her with a shake of his head-- craning his neck to look within as the door's pushed open, glancing about the place curiously. He's wondering what this place is like!

The room is dim. The darkness is a friend - sheltering, disguising, comforting. The only sound is the continued noise of the police scanner that the young woman's grandfather continually monitors. There are no lights on in the apartment, leaving that blanketing darkness. Pop Pops must have just stepped out for something.

Spectrum watches them vanish into the building. Another quick scan about the neighborhood and she decides to linger longer even with that assurance. Suddenly, she vanishes, only to reappear in a shimmer of light on another roof opposite the building. Closer up this time, which is part of why she now fades from view entirely.

There is a 'crunch' of glass breaking as Jennifer takes a step into the darkened apartment. An eyebrow has risen on the young woman's face as she looks around. Bending down, she picks up the picture, frowning. "Ma'ams' picture. He'd never let this fall on the floor," she says, musing to herself, and half commenting to Travis. One hand reaches out to flick the light switch with a click. But with nothing happens, Jennifer goes rigid. She flicks the switch again to no avail.

There is a pause as the young woman's mind races wildly. She starts to reach for the watch on her left hand, but stops, instead cradling the picture to her chest and takes another step further into the darkness. "Hey, Poppops! You around, old man! The light's burnt out! Grab another one, we've got a visitor, someone I'd like you to meet!"

As the door reveals only darkness, Travis's brow furrows just a touch... and then he takes a step in, reaching back to take Jennifer's shoulder and lightly pushing her back a step. He looks at her, then holds up two fingers where she can see it, head jerking towards the kitchen door indicatively. A whisper of heat spills off him then as the air shimmers like a mirage about him, blurring his outline as he steps to one side, stealthfully easing close to the wall and trying to creep closer to the kitchen.

Spectrum moves to the edge of the roof....just a quick appearance from there through the windows if she must, on sight of what's inside the darkened apartment. She remains unseen for the moment, just the same.

The slight sound of a foot shuffle from the kitchen can be heard. A muffled male groan from someone within the room sounds out. Something that some might register as the distinct 'click' of a gun being readied to fire seems to echoe in the quiet of the house, much like that crunching sound of Jen's foot on the glass. Whoever it belongs to is still inside the kitchen, however.

Blue eyes flick around as Jennifer is pushed back. The woman frowns at what she's hearing, and what she isn't seeing. Looking at the picture, Jennifer glares for a moment, before setting it outside in the hall. Then she stands and closes the door. "Oh, come on, Poppops, you're scaring me here. Look, if you didn't want me to bring a visitor home, that's fine! Sheesh! It's not like I'm bringing home a girl and announcing that we're dating or something. Fine, if you won't get the lightbulbs from the kitchen, I will," she states, before giving a firm nod to Travis, making the shape of a gun with her right hand, just in case.

It's with startling silence that Travis's blurred form moves slowly towards the edge of the kitchen door; pressing back against it, he just remains there for the moment, letting Jennifer take charge and initiative here. Tensed and waiting.

Another flicker and the invisible heroine vanishes from there and appears....not in the kitchen, but rather on its far wall, in Hayden's apartment, listening at the wall a moment there.

The heat signature in the kitchen moves forward, but there is no actual /visual/ sign of anyone there. Not to the naked eye, at least. Unless you take in the fact that a /gun/ is floating in mid-air. And that is difficult to actually see just now, obscurred by the shadows of the kitchen. It is possible to smell the hint of smoke and the little burning embers in an ashtray on the kitchen table. Cigarette butts. Poppops is seated in a chair at the table, slumped over with his head resting on his hands as if he's been posed that way.

Knockout is crouched nearby, enjoying the new costume and such she's gotten her hands on. That inner-glove trigger for her new toy is tempting to play with, but instead, she just waits and watches. Basically, she's looking for signs of trouble. After all, the guy she knows is safe, and she smiles as she sees Travis with Jennifer... but Jennifer's beau is apparently MIA. That's not cool. So, she observes from a distance. She's not got super senses or anything. Just instinct. When they go inside and the lights don't come on, she raises a brow, but doesn't approach. Instead she just becomes a bit more intent.

Jennifer wrinkles her nose at the smell of smoke, turning to look at the table, at Poppops, then towards Travis. She just shakes her head, and moves slowly to the man slumped in the chair. "Hey, Poppops," she says gently, her face crossing with worry. "Poppops, are you all right? You never take naps this time of day...." Another pause and Jennifer straightens and crosses her arms over her chest. "Oh for the love of Mary, Old Man! Quit dicking around and wake up!" she says, reaching forward with a foot to shove at the old man's knee.

As the woman steps into the kitchen to check on her grandfather, Travis creeps slowly to the edge; leaning in, his outline still blurred, he catches sight of a faint glint of light - and then snaps one hand upwards, the air briefly shimmering with heat as the gun suddenly /liquifies/ into molten metal in the hand of the unseen man.

Jennifer's grandfather doesn't respond to either Jennifer's cursing OR her nudging of him. That nudge of the foot sends the old man topping out of his chair into a lifeless seeming sprawl on the kitchen floor.

"FUCK!" a male voice shouts from right next to the refrigerator in the Wright's kitchen. The molten slag of the gun is dropped and the man holding it shimmers slightly as he reappears into the spectrum of sight. Ironic as this is just as the blindfolded Jedi (?!) woman appears in view, being that is her code name. The man, handsome and in his late forties early fifties, drops back into a defensive stance.

Blonde brows raise, and Knockout straightens up to her feet. It's one of those slow mo movie moments when the heroine has just realized that she needs to do -something-. Unfortunately, this heroine is stuck on -what- to do. Oh hell with it. She can apologize later if she's barging in. She casts her eyes about to make sure there's nobody else charging in as backup for whatever's going on inside, and then drops off that rooftop, landing at a run.

Jennifer kneels next to the old man as he is toppled out of the chair. Her right hand runs along her left arm, before reaching out to move the unconscious man's face and head a moment. Soft murmuring is heard before Jennifer slowly rises, straightening with a cold, calculating and deadly demeanor. She tilts her head to the side, almost looking over her shoulder as she speaks.

Comlink→ Nighthawk: Operation: Crazy Haibrained Plan Number 2 is active. Bring her to the base, Girls.

Comlink→ Nighthawk: Reckless, I know you monitor this frequency. Triangulate my signal and determine my location, it may change shortly.

"You really are an idiot, Spahr," she says, that tone capable of sending chills down spines. Crossing her arms over her chest, Jennifer turns around now, lifting an eyebrow to survey the scene, her lips turning down in a frown. "First, you take one of the men I was going to recruit, and now, in some misguided attempt at revenge, you've gone and nearly killed one _our_ most valuable assets." There is a sigh, then Jennifer shakes her head. "You know, We, at first, found this game of yours ... amusing. But it's beyond that point now. While I appreciate you breaking down Hayden Mallory to the point you have, We'll take him back now. We want to be the ones to finally break such an exquisite mind as his, before you fumble around and destroy it beyond any usefulness."

Comlink→ Reckless: Roger that, Nighthawk. I'm somewhere above Port Liberty now, and I'm getting you in my sights. You want me at your location, or just to keep watch?

Comlink→ Nighthawk: Watch for now. Where I am is a little cramped, you wouldn't fit.

The ambient heat is definately surging upwards about Rafael Spahr; it's not /immediately/ obvious, however, as Travis's outline is still blurred by the mirage-shimmer where he lurks beside the doorway, watching the situation and ratcheting up the heat. He doesn't pass out, but he may start sweating...

Comlink→ Reckless: Acknowledged. Holler if you need me.

Spahr does indeed begin to sweat, but the ex-soldier doesn't wipe at his brow. Instead he is looking from Jennifer to the man at the doorway and the woman with the lightsaber. There is something akin to puzzlement on his square-jawed face before the jaw tightens and eyes harden. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he demands of the woman spouting off conspiracy babble. Conspiracy babble that sounds unnervingly convincing. He looks down at the molten puddle that was his gun, and to Jen again. "WHO are you talking about?"

Spectrum's holding her ground for the moment, not attacking but keeping her blade at the ready. Her gaze doesn't move, off into the room somewhere, but she's tense at the older man's falling. Or perhaps Jennifer's words that follow.

Feet and arms moving outside, Knockout dashes across the lawn towards the window she saw the green light in. That light looks kinda familiar. That's when her thumb caresses the stud to activate her newest toy and it hits her. Spectrum is inside? She pauses to peer into the window and see what the heck is up.

Jennifer unfolds her arms and starts moving ever so slowly forward, her gaze flicking towards Spectrum and Thermite, taking stock in them, before she turns a cold, malice-filled, evil smile back on Spahr. "Oh, We don't have a name," she drawls casually, that easy tone making the woman's words all the more dangerous. "What you call ... meta-humans today, have existed nearly as long as humans themselves. We have been around since then. Over the aeons We have had many names - Illuminatus, The Libermentum, The Priory of Light." Jennifer waves her hand, dismissing the titles. "But, titles are constraints We've found over the years, so We have not adopted any of them."

Again her gaze shifts to Travis and Spectrum, before looking at Spahr. "We are what you DREAM of being, Spahr. You and your ... associates have some talent, and initiative. But you lack ... finesse. Hayden Mallory, son of General Benjamin Mallory, was the wrong Mallory child to take."

The half-blurred form beside the door doesn't move, remaining silent for the moment.. though ready at the slightest hint of further danger to strike out with something rather more serious.

Rafael Spahr lifts a hand to tug at the collar of his shirt, but he doesn't speak. His adam's apple bobs in his throat as he swallows, the sweat just a little more apparent on his brow. "I think you're lying," the man says, although the claim doesn't sound even remotely convincing. Jen's performance has the man shaken. "You're just a kid. You're his goddamn grandkid." He cannot say that there is no such thing as secret organizations of metahumans. He knows for a fact that they do exist. "No. We took the right one. The traitor's first born," Spahr growls, a hand twitching at his side, intent on pulling another weapon.

Spectrum doesn't add into the story: she knows she's not a skilled liar there, and mostly just focuses on keeping an impassive expression and not giving any "is he buying this?" looks? But when Spahr moves she brings the blade up and around at the ready to bring right down at him. "You might say I'm just a kid too. Put your hands up or I'll show you how my toys work."

Hey, what's that? Knockout notices the appearance of the backup she's been expecting, and she tries to sneak up on them. When she sees the Lady in Red turn incorporeal, she changes direction and speeds up to vehicular velocities. Her shoulder slams into the teleporter who shot her desk, bones crunching in that shoulder, and healing right away. The impact sends the teleporter flying through the side alleyway and likely out the other end, skidding to a stop where she lies battered. Knockout remains where she was and mutters, "That's one down." as she turns her blue eyes onto the Lady in Red. "And the doorway out is closed."

Jennifer laughs, a cold cold sound ringing in the kitcehn. "You did him a FAVOR, Spahr. He is ASHAMED of his gay son," is offered with mirthless amusement. Then it is gone. Completely gone as those light blue eyes harden and fixate on Spahr. "Where do you think the government got the idea for the super-soldier projects?" Jennifer continues to close the gap between herself and Spahr, always watching him with her intent gaze. "We gave it to them," she whispers breathily, before arching her eyebrow upwards with a cocky smirk. "Now, now," says Jennifer to Spectrum, waving with her hand to the younger woman. "We don't want him killed, unless it is _absolutely_ neccissary. Then you can have your fun. I'm sure you'll enjoy disecting him to see how he works."

"He's got back-up," Travis declares, stepping out of the doorway; his features and outlines still obscured by the heat-shimmer that blurs him into an indistinct form, "It's time to end this. Sergeant Rafael Spahr, you may consider your project officially..." His hand lifts, fingers splaying wide as a furnace-blast of heat slams into the former military man, slamming him back against the wall from the force of it, snapping out, "Take him down. Now. We're leaving."

Banshee is sprawled at the mouth of the alley, out cold and not moving. Knockout did a number on the red-headed woman. She's not teleporting anywhere any time soon. The Lady in Red scowls and takes off down the alley toward her fallen partner, she shouts into the collar of her red jumpsuit words that can be heard from the earpiece the Spahr is wearing, "You're on your own. Banshee is down. We're out." A glaring look over her shoulder sends a mental blast at Knockout, hoping to well, knock her out... but it only manages to give her little bruising as synapsis crackle from the assault. "Glacier. Car. Now."

In answer a car comes squealing around the corner to pull to a stop in front of the alleyway. The Lady in Red goes corporeal again as she runs toward the car. Glacier, the driver of the car, jerks it to a stop and jumps out to check on Banshee, to see if the woman is still alive.

Spahr grunts as he hits to wall, his face flushed with color and more sweat dripping from his brow. "That boy isn't gay and you know it," the man grunts, managing to remain concious even in the face of the furnace blast that's hit him. The words sound over his comlink, but he ignores them, a gun being whipped out from his shirt and aimed at Jennifer in quick-draw motion, the trigger squeezed. That sharp CRACK of gunfire and the smell of a smoking gun as the ex-military sharp-shooter fires at Jennifer Wright.

The man's quick....that, and the last part of Jennifer's story makes her uneasy enough to hesitate with that blade of light. Dissection, after all? Well, she's seen that. The gunshot spurs her into motion again, though, and she brings the blade in a tight arc...aimed for the gun itself. Unfortunately, he's too quick for that, and pulls it aside narrowly. "I'd rather take that than your arm, but don't tempt me!"

Banshee is still alive, and Glacier moves away from her to jerk the car door open and then picks her up. The Lady in Red is running full tilt toward the car. "Get in the back with her!" the woman snaps as she dives into the driver's seat, leaving the young man to shove their teammate into the rear of the car and fit in with her. The car has yet to pull away again.

Spahr grunts and jerks back as that lightsaber comes at him and then the man's form ripples, going invisible. The gun floating in mid-air is now aimed at the woman with the light sword, the most direct threat and another bullet squeezed off. The second shot rings out, but the bullet goes wide, passing through the kitchen and going through a window.

"We don't have time for this..." A second blast of heat crashes over the unseen man, the pistol wavering in the air and nearly dropping as he's stunned from the rush of unbelievably hot temperatures, the counter rattling as he stumbles into it, "...Jen, take him down, we'll question him later. We need to get out of here."

"Ahhhh, but the General doesn't know that," says Jennifer with a wink to Spahr. "Hey, nothing wrong with getting attatched to a valuable asset," she offers, before suddenly the woman is a blur of tumbling movement, ending up on the invisible Spahr's left side, a flash of green light from Spectrum's weapon glints off of something metallic in Jennifer's hand. The random movements of the tumbling making Jennifer's trajectory difficult to discern, the dark-haired woman takes advantage of it, bringing the baton around in the vague area a body might be hiding given the position of the gun, and a few other variable.

Metal strikes flesh as Jennifer's aim is true. The instant the strike is made, Spahr's body ripples, becoming visible once more, and the man groans as he drops to the floor unconscious. Jennifer sighs and shakes her head. "Damnit, I wanted him to take that information back to his friends. What do we have outside?" she asks, looking over to Travis.

Shaking her head, Knockout watches the Lady in Red fleeing. She reaches up to wipe a droplet of blood that seeps from her nose, "Mind games?" she asks as she virtually ignores the mental attack. In fact, any damage done has been healed already. She smirks as she sees the goal, and the car, and then she's moving again. She would do a Dukes of Hazzard slide over the hood, but there's entirely too much leg exposed for that. So she just steps on a fender and jumps into the air, spinning to turn and face the car as she lands in front of it. As she comes down, she plunges her hand into the hood, and with the torturous sound of metal and metal and more metal grinding, not to mention fleshy sounds, she grimaces and pulls as hard as she can. Half of the engine comes out through the hood, and she tosses it aside as she holds up her mangled hand while peering into the windshield, "You're not going anywhere." she mutters, even as the hand heals before the eyes of the Lady in Red.

"Right on it." Spectrum vanishes, appearing at the edge of the roof and letting the blade flicker out again. She can't help but gasp at the sight of Knockout mangling herself with that car, but it doesn't actually stop her either. She takes a deep breath and calls out with a shout, "Okay, down there! I've got you covered." There's suddenly a flash and a crack....not like lightning, but rather a tight and deeply red beam that seems to come straight down from the heavens, though the most focused portion of it covers a circle as wide as one lane of the street and stretches at least ten stories up. The searing heat off it can be felt from well around, and when it fades there's, not really a crater, but a place where the blacktop is left in the form of bubbling tar with a few flames dancing around the edge. "Running's not always healthy."

Running? Who's running? Glacier, in the back seat with the staggered Banshee. The young man gives her a gentle shake. The redhead winces, pain screaming through her body, but this along with the melting of tar outside the vehicle is insentive for the teleporter to react. Holding onto her one and only passenger, Banshee and Glacier vanish in a puff of green smoke from the back seat of the vehicle. Yes. She left the Lady in Red behind. And Spahr too.

"There's three more people out there," Travis replies tightly, pushing out of the doorway, "I think one of them may be a friendly, but I can't be sure-- well, looks like Spectrum's on it." A step over, and he reaches out to slide an arm beneath Spahr and haul his senseless form up over one shoulder, gesturing to the other man, "...grab your grandfather. We've got to get out of here."

Jennifer rolls her eyes. "Do I have to? Can't I just call 9-1-1? I mean, he's responsible for this whole mess in the first place!" groans Jennifer, even as she kneels next to the old man, and gently cradles him as she lifts him up. The red light draws Jennifer's attention and she looks out the window. "When we get Hayden back, he is NOT to know about the Red Deathray from Above Attack. He'll want one."

After the display of strength and healing power, Knockout glances towards the Death Ray and then up to Spectrum. She flashes a grin and a thumbs up before stepping around to the driver's side door. With a casualness that only the super strong can show, she puts her hand through the window and grabs the Lady in Red by the neck while saying, "Red? What a horrible color for you. I'm sure you've been told that before, haven't you?" She's not trying to pull the lady out of the car, but just has a hold on her, "Okay!" she calls out, "Someone get over here who can contain this poorly dressed bitch!"

"Damn it!" Spectrum sees the vanishing and the green smoke, yes. "They're the ones that got Felicity Faison too. We'll have to find out what these ones know. Knockout, are you okay down there? And contain? I don't have handcuffs or anything, I'm afraid." She teleports down to street level after that, though: not like she needs a closer look, but this way less shouting is needed.

Spahr is out cold. He's not a concern for anyone right now. Except what to do with him.

The Lady in Red is another matter. Fear flashes over her face, something that rarely happens to this woman. She flinches as Knockout grabs her and then goes intangible, slipping from her grasp. The incorporeal woman takes off at a run, through the car, toward the wall of the next closest building!

"Take him to the Center's infirmary, call Epiphany to take a look at him," Travis says quietly as he hauls the man towards the door, "I'm going to find a hidey-hole and call Reckless to make sure they can't just find him again."

Jennifer shifts the old man to lift her watch to her mouth. "Reckless, what ID's are you picking up currently? Also, Thermite wants a meet. He comes bearing gifts. And he WILL tell me where you two are hiding said gift when I'm done with the injured," offers Jennifer, frowning at Travis as she says the last.

An electronically altered voice echoes from Jennfier's watch as she moves to the door, "Hang on, scanning. Had 4 contacts in your vicinity, one in your location, three outside up til a moment ago. It's down to two contacts now, the one at your location and one outside."

"Good," says Jennifer, "Keep tracking it!"

Gesturing towards the fleeing Lady in Red, Knockout growls out, "That's what I mean by contain! She can walk through walls, fists, cars, you name it! I have no idea how to stop such a poorly dressed bitch."

"Great, you can't just hit her?" Spectrum knows well enough that she wouldn't be bothered when she's hit by such attacks, so she tries a more blinding flash, not from above but rather just centered around the fleeing woman. It seems she's quick enough to shield her eyes, and doesn't appear to be disoriented.

The Lady in Red practically dives through a wall with her incorporeal body, and she is getting the hell out of dodge. The first chance she gets, she's calling for her transportation out of there. Today did not go well.