xavier_institute_logs | Hellfire Club: The Mission [CLOSED]

"Quiet." X-23 wanted to hear what she could before they began, she was also taking the 'tough brusier type position at the front. She didn't smell any Sentinels. Which was by far the best news for them. She hadn't drawn her gun, which was one of the two main differences between her costume and the others.

The other being she didn't like sleeves.

"If I tell you to stay back, Listen. Clear?" Laura didn't spell out that it was likely a trap that would kill any of them, but she did not want to scare any of the people she didn't know very well.

Aqua had been in her armor in the Blackbird, terrified not just of the heights, but now also of accidentally phasing OUT of the Blackbird while it was in flight. She didn't show her fear, but she felt it. Strongly.

Teleporting to the ground was a relief. Ground under her feet. she punched her armor back into the sleeves she wore over her new uniform. She nodded to M'Gann and moved towards the front, summoning her Keyblade, which now looked like
http://www.khwiki.com/images/thumb/5/5f/Fairy_Stars_%28Terra%29_KHBBS.png/200px-Fairy_Stars_%28Terra%29_KHBBS.png

She took a deep breath, waiting for everyone to be ready to move.

If Kanji's keeping this gear, he's damn sure he's going to put his own touches on it soon enough. ...But that's a matter for another day. His eyes flickered towards their leader's weapon as he joined the lineup, moving up near the front.
Unusually for him, he was quiet - both due to knowing just how serious the situation was, and due to trying to focus somewhat on getting the last few scraps of charge that he could into his system while they had a good chance. Sure, he could hardly wait to start breaking things that needed breaking, but even he could make himself hold back to listen to orders for this.

"Heard ya. Ready as I'll ever be," he responded, voice low.

Shindou kept himself back against one of the walls in the chamber they had been teleported into, hanging near the center of the group.

He'd been quiet for the majority of the flight over as he sorted and re-sorted the details of their mission in his mind. The fact of the matter was, for what their team's objective required, there were more gaps in their knowledge than solid information. And, while they'd been able to teleport in without causing immediate disruption, entering a couple of levels below where the Hellfire Club's socialites were busily celebrating, now they were squarely in hostile territory. As soon as they moved out from their present location, there was no telling how soon the facility's security would be on them -- or what form it would take.

Under the circumstances, he was focused on watching and waiting, keeping his attention on Aqua and Laura so as to follow their lead. He did, however, circle a quick glance around at the rest of the group, nodding Rinka and Kanji's way and spreading out his own mental links to the rest of the team. He'd keep anything he had to say strictly psychic from here on and hope everyone else followed suit.

"I'll stay linked to everyone for as long as I can, just in case we get separated and need to share information. But I may have to start dropping some of you if I need to power people up - " Juggling a team of eight with both aspects of his power would be pushing too close to his limits, and this wasn't the time to be taking unnecessary risks. "Miss M, can you keep communication up for everyone if that happens?"

Rinka checked her hood one last time, her one small addition to the unfamiliar uniform she was wearing. Her nightsticks were already looped around her wrists, extended and ready for use. When this was over, she was going to ask her father to send her black ones.

Catching Shindou's nod, she gave one in return as she felt him establish the psychic link. She was starting to get the hang of this whole linkage thing, though having two psychics in her head might be interesting.

'Roger all that.'

She lets her mind stretch out and brush up against a few of the others; a basic, cautious psychic equivalent of a poke to see if contact is okay by the other person. If people bristle against it or push back, she's quick to drop the link for them.

The situation IS critical and dangerous of course, but... she can't help but smile a little from the extra bit of psychic feedback. It's NICE having another psychic on the team and mentally online. 'Leave the link up to me! As long as I can visually or audibly keep tabs on people, we'll be okay.'

And in response to X-23's question... well, she DID demand quiet. At least verbally. So M'gann answers by giving a thumbs up 'okay.'

At the not-quite-sound of other people's words in her head, Rin pressed a hand to her forehead, her mind seething even as she tried to suppress that response. She had...basically made peace with the fact that this was happening (read: grudgingly accepted it) on the flight over, but even if she couldn't argue about its practicality, that didn't mean she had to like the idea of other people being in her head.

At least Nightcrawler had made good on his word and equipped her with a holovisor.

Not caring about whether or not she was cutting other people short, she 'said,' Let's get this over with as quickly as we can. That was just good sense—and the sooner she had her thoughts to herself again, the better.

Edited 2015-01-22 03:35 (UTC)

Aqua agreed, though for different reason. The sooner they were done, the sooner and more likely that they would all be back safely.

She checked in mentally, that she accepted the contact, and moved quietly, her Keyblade out in front of her. It crackled with electricity softly but phasing it and out of physicality seemed to help keep it from making notable noise.

She would do this, she would help keep these others safe and achieve their goal. Whatever it took from her, they would succeed, and they would survive. '

She tried to keep this next thought from the mental web, though she was unused to shielding her thoughts. But she would NOT loose people again the way she had before, she would not watch anyone else die.

Toushirou wasn't a big fan of psychic links on a purely personal level, but he was nothing if not practical. They provided an advantage and an easy way to co-ordinate. He could live with the situation for a while. Besides, he was accustomed to at least Shindou's version of it to some degree. They'd worked together before, after all.

His blade was on his back; he wasn't drawing it before he needed to, thanks very much. He moved quietly and swiftly, a mark of the training he'd received when he'd been on a proper team. He was more of a fighter than anything despite that training, but he was no slouch at this. In the classes he'd taken? You had to be good or you literally got your ass kicked. Surprise surprise, the latter wasn't very fun.

Thanks to his work with Shindou, Kanji was familiar enough with the feeling of someone else riding in the back of his mind, but two of them was a bit unusual all the same. His pulse starting to race, he scanned the scene as they moved - "Which way're we heading?" he asked. "Anyone see anything yet?"

X-23, thankfully, had gone through the more unfortunate to explain thoughts on the jet before arrival. Nasty side-effect of her conditioning was her first thought when meeting anyone is the quickest way to kill them. By now she was thinking of their safety first and foremost. Which was her job on this mission.

"I will lead. I do not die as easily as the everyone else. And it will keep your scents from interfering." Because even over a mental link Laura had all the social graces of a tactical missile strike. She worked through what the various not-teammate scents she picked up were, then added over the mental link. "No Sentinels."

Best news all day.

[No Sentinels.

No immediate sign of any defenses springing to life, actually. There's only one route away from where the team's been injected, just outside of a lift which presumably would lead back up to the festivities on the levels above. A tight corner turns into an open corridor, neutral and evenly lit from overhead.

At a glance, they might have been appeared to be making their way down any bleak, corporate hallway, save for two minor details: the reinforced, metallic door at the hall's end, with no visible means of access other than a keypad positioned on the adjacent wall...and two black, semi-spherical installations positioned on the ceiling, one hanging midway down the corridor and one poised in the corner just above the waiting exit. They rotate, steady and mechanical, sweeping the space around them.

Security cameras?]

Aqua pointed to the domes on the ceiling with her keyblade, one at a time. "I do not know what these are," she sent along the mental connection. "Are they something we should be taking out?" She rather suspected they were.

"Oh, oh! Maybe they're like sensors in movies? Like the sci-fi kind; they've got the right shiny blackness to them. Maybe I can take them out?"

M'gann has settled into a spot at the back of the team as she speaks; her powers work just as well from the back rows as the front, after all. She doesn't get much further than stretching her hands up before checking herself, though; new team she's on, and that might mean that she doesn't HAVE to rip anything out and risk tripping alarms, since these are people with new and different skill sets than what she's used to.

"...Ooor the people that are good at this could give it a try before strong arming things. That'd work too, I guess."

But she's just so eager to please and impress these people! She has to remind herself that she'll probably get a chance soon enough... though M'gann still keeps and arm outstretched and at the ready.

"A camera? Hell yeah, I've got thi-"

Kanji starts focusing a bolt ready to fire before M'gann's finished her 'speech'. Right. He might be getting carried away a little here; still, the sparks are dancing ready at his fingertips and ready to go. He glares at the - whatever it is.

There might be a hint of Japanese cursing in his mind before he chimes in further with a "Yeah, just say the word."

"It would be preferred to not trip any security countermeasures. Security could be lethal and this is not a defensible position."

Laura's mind was also actively working through how quickly she could cut through that door with her claws. The likely response times for manned security. If there were vents in the walls to release a poisoned gas. Sliding panels for weapons. She also wasn't convinced those were security cameras. They seemed too... mundane, given Trask's expertise and Shaw's financial weight.

"If one of you can disable the security at range without destruction, do it. Otherwise we do not have time."

Aqua looked back to the girl who had given her the power of intangibility. She didn't fully understand what the security counter measures might be, but the general concept of trap was not foreign.

"Can you unplug it, or something? she asked. She had learned that much, at least. Electric things stopped when you unplugged them.

[Whatever the plan is, a close eye will suggest that there may be a timer on it now: In the brief stretch that the team's been assessing, the device nearest them has completed a sweep of the room, and now instead of the silent rotation from before it stays locked in their direction. The red light showing from its surface, fixed on the group like an eye, was most definitely not there a second ago.

Down the length of the hallway, an alert flashes on the display above the keypad, and anyone moving close enough to make out the lettering will find a prompt requesting security clearance. They'll also find that the second installation mimics the first, fixing its "gaze" on them the instant they approach.

Nothing actively hostile, still, but it wouldn't be groundless to think that the sensors have noticed them.]

Edited 2015-01-24 14:49 (UTC)

"That could be just as bad as knocking them out physically."

She'd have to get into the ceiling to rummage around, and who knows where the plugs or wires for those things are. Electronics aren't really Rinka's thing.

"They'd probably notice if one of their screens went blank. But whatever we do, we need to do it fast. I don't think that red light was there before and they've stopped moving."

Edited 2015-01-24 15:14 (UTC)

While the others talked, Takane sat down on the ground before chiming in, "Ugh, just let me handle this--and uh, don't just leave me lying on the ground. If I'm not back before you start moving again.

Immediately after Takane's body went limp as she projected herself into the security system to see what she do about this, Convincing the system they had clearance was a good place to start.

...Yeah, probably a better plan than his own. Kanji crouched down near Takane's still figure, pulling his sparks back in for now - "Dunno if you can hear me, but I've gotcha. If we've gotta run, I'll take ya." He should be running at full strength, he figures, and the uniform looks tough enough that he can avoid giving a shock - she shouldn't be a problem to carry at all.
...Of course, it's still a bit weird thinking about carrying a girl, but - details.

[They weren't security cameras.

Not in the typical sense, at least, with a video feed being routed back somewhere else for human eyes to see. Instead, the sensors had locked onto each figure drawn into view and were running through a whole range of bio-physical data, cross-referenced against a set of acceptable patterns. No match to one of the personnel with security clearance, paired with the right keycode entered on the pad down the hall? No entry.

Oh, and also a rapid-fire countdown until "Security System Engage." There was about a minute left to go now, and given the concussive energy weapons Takane would find embedded in each sphere and trained on her teammates, it was probably a good idea to hurry. Fooling the system from within, luckily, wouldn't be too much of a puzzle. Just forcibly input one of the acceptable template patterns here, match it with the right code, there...

And instead of hitting the floor, the team would be watching the doors slide open to admit them deeper into Shaw's lair.]

Edited 2015-01-25 16:28 (UTC)

While the others had been debating how to deal with the security system, Shindou'd hung back and watched, knowing there was little he could add to the discussion. But when the doors came open he didn't hesitate before moving down the corridor and leaning around the frame to scope out what lay ahead of them. (They'd just convinced the place that they were harmless, so it seemed like a safe bet that nothing was going to be trying to kill them, right on the other side...)

"Good work," he noted. "We're in, Takane."

And, on the other side of the entrance, there was way too much white. The walls and floor practically shone from it in the wide, open chamber they had come to. Some kind of meeting space, it looked like? Or a hub for whatever sort of projects went on in this part of the facility. A long, glassy table dominated the room, chairs lined all along it, but against the far wall there were several computer terminals set up - all locked for now.

There were also, a quick sweep of his eyes around the room confirmed, three exits branching off from here: One, nearest them, was helpfully labeled "Robotics" on an adjacent panel...but the portal leading right past the computer set-up and the third, directly ahead, offered no similar clues as to where they might send them. Shindou slid inside, glancing back at his squadmates.

"Kanji, can you get her up until she can move on her own again?" And then, to X-23 and Aqua: "What now?"

She looked to the other point guard then back at the group. "Does anyone here have a talent for path-choosing?" she asked the group, better to ask that than to ignore a potential ability and work on hunches and guesses. If no one had a better idea... She'd spin the Wayfinder and trust in Terra and Ven to lead her to a safe path, a path that would bring them together again....

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