Continued from Fire Power

Hades arrived then next day feeling refreshed. He raised a section of the floor in his lab to act as a table. He pressed another button and hologram portals appeared at set intervals on the table. There was a large screen at the far end of the room. He mentally checked off the people who he had invited
There was Kami, Adian, Shogun, Nox, Abyss(possible). ‘There is always room for more’ he mused especially where mutants were concerned.

He turned back to recheck the preparation work he had done, on the fly sending an e-mail to Ingram to make a black stealth version of Shogun’s amour. One could never do too much preparation, especially on missions like these.

For weeks now, Hades had been intricately laying out plans, finding information, using his outside contacts; Hades was the managing director of Orcus Tech. Orcus Tech was a technology review and consultancy firm. It was highly regarded among the tech and scientific firms. Entry into Orcus was for the elite scientists. Basically if a company wanted to invest in a new(normally expensive, say billion dollar) technology, to assure their investors and their directors that the project was viable they would call in an external tech consultancy firm to review it. An approval from Orcus was almost like an assurance that the project was feasible. Orcus was among one of Hade’s many sources of information.

All was set and ready, all he needed to do was to wait for the others to arrive. Meanwhile he returned back to genetic research he was doing. One the screens around him diagrams flashed rapidly, pictures of DNA strands, spiders, snakes and other reptiles….

A mission: a chance to stretch her legs, to test her new ‘toys’ in the field, and to get out of this suffocating lab. The white wash labyrinth had been grating away her sanity; she was use to being able to roam without any constants, and if it hadn’t been for all the training she would have snapped long ago. As it was, she had okay, wound up and quick to anger, but okay. It was for these reasons that, upon hearing the news of a new mission, she had had to restrain a rather overwhelming joyous yelp. Luckily, it had been restrained though a crazy grin hadn’t, which had rather off put the bearer of the good news so that he scuttled away to whatever work he was working with and left the mad women be. Nox had wasted no time in navigating her way to the Hades’ Lab with a considerable amount of vigour, resulting in her colliding with several techniques, and only just managing to avoid crashing into a delicately and heavily laden trolley.

Her efforts were rewarded when she soon found herself outside the Hades’ lab doors once more. Having set her palm against the chilling metal, she entered to see, for the first time in history, she was the first to respond. Pleased with her rare punctuality she approached the long table, which she didn’t remember seeing the day before. Noticing that Hades seemed otherwise engaged she stood restlessly for a moment before deciding to sit herself down. Unfortunately, her restlessness simply converted itself into a somewhat irritating table tapping, but as soon as she realised what she was doing she drew her hand away to prevent further disturbances. Figuring that she had already interrupted him, she concluded she might as well greet him, it was after all common civil behaviour. “Morning,. So who else is on the team.” She hadn’t planned to ask the question, but it simply come out – Her control seemed to be somewhat lacking this morning.

On seeing him, she remembered his parting words yesterday, it hadn’t taken much thought for to decide. Did she want to be able to use lasers? Yes. Was she willing to work extremely hard for it, even when it was only a possibility? Yes. Did she mind it taking a long time? No. Which concluded quite nicely to the fact, that she was most certainly game. Unsure whether to mix this individual matter with this public meeting she kept quite on the subject, she would talk to him after he had given the briefing.

Kami had recieved the message for Hades, that there was an infiltration mission for which he requiered certain mutants with specific skills. Apparently Kami was one such mutant. The maze of white corridors that his temporary home was made of had been confusing at first, but after discovering that he simply had to ask to be directed to a desiered location he had stopped trying to memorise the layout.

Entering the lab he was Hades, Nox and Abyss. Haveing joined the Order in essence Kami was glad of the oppertunity to work alongside Abyss, one of the more long standing members of the group. Seeing that Nox was also on the mission he had a feeling of confidence in the missions success. Giving Abyss and Nox a nod Kami simply stood by the table, waiting for Hades to go into detail.

Late. Shogun was never late. Ever.

His watch had stopped, and due to its lack of a second hand he hadn't noticed. Now he was late. He was never late. An annoyed thundercloud, Antonescu's men scattered as he stormed though the halls. He was never late. And he was late for a mission. He was never late.

He neglected to knock as he opened the door, and saw the rest of the team already assembled. He assumed it was the rest of the team; then again, a fair number of the mutants staying at the labs did seem to have an annoying tendency to be late. Something which he had vowed never to do. "I apologise for my lateness; I hadn't realised my watch had stopped." He noted who was there; Kami, Nox, and Abyss. Not a huge team, and he didn't particularly dislike any of them. His mood lightened considerably; if he had been stuck with some of the all-too-common teenagers strolling the halls he would not have been impressed.

He noted that they didn't appear to have started, so he took a seat at random and waited for it to begin. They had a good mix of powers here; this should turn out to be an interesting mission.

Seeing that most of them hade arrived Hades turned to them and began is briefing. Clearing his throat slightly, once he saw that he had the attention of everyone in the room, he began the briefing.

“The main purpose of this mission is very simple, to gather intel in preparation for the eventual camp raid and to find any info on helping us combat the stalkers.” He paused as a huge 3D map of the world was projected above the table, the globe rotated to show first the united states, then zoomed into New York state. As Hades spoke it zoomed in even further to a complex just on the border of New York State, the image went from top down to looking at it from the horizon with the complex going three dimensional.

“The central control complex for the mutant registration, directing Stalker missions and coordinating logistical operations for this region.” The view went to a cut away version. “I expected that base to be heavily defended, but this is way out. You can see where I got a friend to run his company’s Geo Sat over it, the mass of metal in that base is unbelievable, that alone indicates a massive stalker presence. I dug a little deeper and got my hands on the builder’s blueprints, they were no more encouraging. The complex stores enough oxygen so that even if it’s air vents were blocked, it could sustain the full base for up to three weeks, and enough food and water for a month.”

The map zoomed back out and went back to the 3D rotating globe.

“To successfully infiltrate that base would be an even bigger task than the final assault on the camp. So that option is closed, it is secured by a powerful firewall that would detect any attempt to hack it immediately, and this is to be a stealth mission.”

Hades paused and studies the faces of the mutants gathered before him, learning something more about them by the expressions on their faces.
“So we will come at them from a side wind, and strike them where they least expect it. Recently it has come to my attention (Hades never mentioned how he obtained this information) that the US government has been doing some highly classified cooperative research with the British Government. Therein lays their weakness. There is a direct secure undersea fibre-optics cable linking the US secure server to a British Secure server.”

The hologram once again zoomed in on the US military complex and a yellow flashing line. The map rotated to follow the yellow line through the sea to the United Kingdom. It then zoomed in on to a huge underground military complex with a flashing red X in the lowest room.

“There lies their server, but that is also not our target, our target is slightly less conspicuous and less fortified.”

The map once again zoomed out to trace a lazy path to another sector, zooming in on a satellite picture of three buildings surrounded by a heavily fortified fence.

“This is the distribution centre for the main server, network lines run from here to the various laboratories participating in the research. And it is here we will strike, launch a coordinated hacking attack on all three of the secondary servers at once, gain control of the main server and from there we have a direct access to the US server’s data. Here is the layout of the complex. Take a look.”

As Hades spoke the sate picture was replaced with a layout. (This was once again obviously highly classified information, but once again Hades had gotten his figures on it)



After giving them a chance to study the photo, Hades cleared his throat and continued…

“I asked you here on this mission for a specific reason, it is your choice to accept or decline, but the plan so far is as follows. We will fly on a private jet to Germany and then to Europe under the guise of a B rated action flick. Something along the lines of a Russian Mafia boss, Abyss, who is a war lord to a samurai, Shogun, and due to injustice done to a girl, Nox, the Shoalin monk who falls in love with her, Kami, is forced to fight him.”

Hades allowed himself the tinest flicker of a smile at seeing the reaction on their faces before continuing.

“I know, I know, but that is not the point. Now back to business, we are not taking much gear and will be buying and building much of the required gear on site as to make it harder to trace. To get all the needed materials we will need to use the black market, that is where Abyss comes in, as Ivan my Russian helper he will act as a strong deterrent to any trouble makers, but Abyss you may need to put on body paint for this. Nox I’ll need you to get us past the Heat sensors and light sensors and to prevent telecommunications when necessary, you could also cause hypothermia in people which could be useful to get past guards. Remember people this needs to be untraceable, so nobody can die unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

Shogun is our human radar and also our guide, but I will get back to that later. Kami I believe can hold uncomfortable positions for long period of time and as a martial artist knows how to knock out people easily.

Shogun, if you don’t mind I have asked Ingram to make a stealth version of your armour, also for the flight, as we will be taking a public flight you might need to wear tight wraparound sunglasses and casual clothes if you don’t mind.

When we get over there we will link up with two of my top men, Shane and John who will aid us on this attack.”

Hades paused once again, to take a breath.

“Right, does anybody have any questions? Cause if not, when you exit please go through that metal frame as it will take your measurements and your disguises will be premade and waiting for you in England. It is now 1100 hours; the van to take us to our first flight will leave from the vehicle bay at 1300 hours sharp.”

He looked at each of their faces, prepared to answer any questions they might fire at him.

Following Abyss’s entrance Nox quickly scolded her features into a more professional unemotionally mask, all traces of excitement, except for a slight glint in her eyes, were hidden. As the others arrived she was pleased to find that she was already acquainted with everybody; it made the entire process far easier. Additional, the fact that their team lacked any of these naïve teenagers that wandered uselessly about the labs was a major bonus – this mission had all the making of a success. As she listened to the briefing, Hades’ well thought out plan confirmed this, everything sounded fine. That was until she heard about the guise; as it happened damsel in distress wasn’t exactly her favourite role to say the least. A twitch of her lips was the only outward sign of her displeasure, yet inside her disapproval writhed . Yet a rational voice, pleaded against her pride with cries of professionalism, it reminded herself that she should be able to take on any role necessary. For once, its logic persuaded her, she had after all, or so this voice informed her, endured much worse.

The rest of the plan had the same well informed logic that it began with, and since there was no possibility that she would refuse to go back to Europe, she knew she would go. “Well it sounds like you thought of everything, though I ‘m curious as to what exact information you hope to obtain?” Having asked her question, she waited not just for the answer, but there was also that other, unrelated matter, she hoped quickly to discuss with Hades after the others had left.

Kami listened intently to the briefing. It all sounded simple enough, though he raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Nox at the mention of their cover. Hades seemed to have this well planned out, covering almost every angle.

The specifics on what they were after was of little interest to him, they would help in the fight against the humans, that was enough. With no further questions Kami said, "Unless there is anything else I shall go and use the remaining time before we leave to do some more training." With that he left, ensuring to be there in two hours time.

(OOC: I'm going to go ahead and assume you've got Psyite working alongside these holograms, right?)

Shogun was not fond of their cover; pretending to be something greater than what you were was something he frowned upon greatly. But he was pretending to be an actor, so he would allow it. Concerning the plan itself, Hades appeared to have everything covered. "I agree with Nox, everything does seem to be covered." He nodded to Kami as he left; "I have just one question, how many of my weapons will I be allowed to bring? Will it only be my armour and duel-sword, or will it include my psyite weapons?" He hoped it would include his psyite weapons, as that would make things rather easier, though due to the covert-ness of the mission he assumed that a longbow with psyite arrows wouldn't be permitted, probably just the grenades.

Hades first turned to Nox, “Well firstly a copy of the mutant registration database, and any other helpful intel, guards lists, builders blueprints of the camp itself, schematics of a bracelet etc. To answer Abyss’s question, I expect that the mission will take around three days including flight times, max will be just under a week, this mission is to be quick and efficient. Shogun, you will need your bow, your knives, and yes psyite weapons, but no firearms allowed on this trip. Nox, 500 throwing knives are waiting for you in the cargo hold of the plane. IS that all the questions? If so then I shall see you in the vehicle bay, by the way Abyss please drop by the disguise department and Shogun, pick up some street clothes before we board your wrap around shades are also ready at the disguise department.”
(OCC of course Shogun, ALL hologram projectors in Mondragon Labs are outfitted with psyite projectors.)
Continued in


The Skeletons Depart