෴Hex෴

෴Darby O’Cellan෴

෴Hutch෴

෴Jim ‘Blink’ Thorpe෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Evasion

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Hex Four took over narrating the run so her other selves could save their breath. “Hex One and Two are still comms dark for stealth, Hex One has eyes on the subject.” Hex Four announced from the command center. “Something spooked him. He’s on the move.”

“Hex One and Two in pursuit. Had eyes on VIP but VIP is fleeing. He’s moving fast. This place is a damn maze. VIP is going through this place at a full run, I would have thought he wouldn’t know this facility well enough for how fast he’s getting through here.” Hex Four said.

“One and Two are passing the emergency exit we blew open. He’s on the street.” Can't get a lock on his location for a short range teleport.” She said calmly.

Hex One and Two ran in sync, jumping small obstacles and dodging around those that were too large.

“Caught a glimpse of the subject. He stopped for a second to stare at the city lights for some reason, but now he’s on the move again.” Hex Four calmly reported.

Hex One and Two broke into a sprint to try to close the distance out in the open. The subject ducked into another alley just as they were nearly close enough to teleport to him. One of them slipped and went down hard on a patch of rain and oil slicked concrete.

“Hex Two is out of the chase. Her ankle feels sprained at the very least.” Hex Four reported.

Hex One kept running and looked away from Two just as she popped out of existence with a loud snapping sound and release of heat and light.

Darby finished stowing Zoom in the detention hard box and came over to Hex Four. “If that's the VIP, how is he making such good time? Does he have a movement ability?”

Hex Four shook her head slightly. “It seems unlikely. I don’t sense any kind of physical ability being activated, but detection is not a strong area for me. What I can say is that if he has an ability, it’s something subtle. Whatever it is, it's working really well to keep him ahead of me. I’m in good shape, but Hex One is not gaining any ground on him. We need to get someone ahead of him if you want to have a better shot at it.” Hex Four replied.

Darby frowned. “I better check and see if our client is available. He’s the fastest mover we’ve got access to. Damn, we could use Blur right about now.”

He fiddled with his comms gear for a few seconds and then took it off. The belt unit came off his belt in several fragments “Four, can you pass the word that I’m off comms, looks like Zoom managed to bust up my radio. I’ll grab a spare from the box but it will take a minute to get it synced to the group encryption.”

“Ok, I’ll let people kn—Hex One is down.” Hex Four blurted out with a gasp.

“What the fuck? What happened?” Darby exclaimed.

Hex Four regained her composure. “I can’t say for sure. But it seems our subject got tired of running and ambushed her around a corner. It happened pretty fast.” Hex Four dispassionately reported. She murmured something else under her breath.

“Now the VIP is attacking our agents? What the flying fuck!? How bad is it Hex? We’re going to be having words with the client about this.” Darby growled.

“I doubt any permanent damage was done. The ambush was a single hit to my midsection. I'm laying on the ground gasping with the wind knocked out of her, I’ll be fine.” Hex Four said.

“That's a relief. We still need to get this guy into custody asap.” Darby said.

He climbed down out of the comm trailer to get into the mission box.

Hex Four keyed the general team comms. “VIP has evaded us. Need tracking or fast movers, or both. Who is available?

Darby stepped back to the outside of the open door to the comms trailer and looked at Hex Four. “The client’s people said this doesn’t qualify as an emergency and it will be a few minutes. Any chance you‘ll be able to catch the VIP?” He asked.

Hex looked at him and answered immediately. “Doesn’t seem likely. I'm pretty sure if I can't catch him on a sprint he’ll be able outrun me long enough to lose pursuit.”

Rhino jogged up to the truck in bloody tan coveralls with his rifle in hand. His other hand was clutching a bloody wound on his thigh. “Can I get some help? I think it nicked an artery.” He walked around the mobile barricade protecting the comms center toward Darby.

Darby nodded at Rhino and turned to the rolling mission kit. Looking into the case he shook his head, “Nicked artery is serious. Let’s get that leg wrapped up tight. We need to get you an outfit that can keep up with your ability. Did you already break your mask?”

Rhino laughed and made a soft clicking sound with his tongue, “Yes, I suppose that would be good.”

The radio in the comms chair crackled to life. “Hex, warn Darby, that is not Rhino, repeat that is not Rhino.” Rex shouted into the comms.

Hex Five looked back from her position with the fireteam at the action unfolding at the comms trailer and spotted the man in tan coveralls

Hex Four spun and leaped from her seat at the comms desk with her sidearm in hand. She heard several suppressed rifle reports. She whipped her head and arm out the door frame and opened fire.

Rhino looked down in surprise at the series of bullet wounds across his chest, and then dropped his rifle and fell to the ground. His face began shifting as though the flesh under the skin had turned into a loose flowing gel.

Darby turned around from the mobile armory. “Hex, why’d you shoot Rhino?” he asked. Darby stumbled, and then gasped and started to wheeze. “Man that fight took a lot more out of me than I thought. I think I need to rest for a second.” His words were broken by a harsh bloody cough. He tried to lean against the mission box but lost his footing and slid to the ground. “Oh crap. I think I’m hit.”

Hex Four just nodded to him and helped him to the ground. She began to administer first aid.

Hex Three jumped to the ground to assist and grabbed the trauma kit Darby had been getting into. “Just relax, let me see how bad it is.”

Hex Three caught some motion from the corner of her eye and glanced over in time to see the thing that had looked like Rhino sit up. Without missing a beat both of herselves used their free hands to draw and fire.

Hex set her pistols down in easy reach and continued to apply pressure and setup the combat dressing. Hex Three assisted as Four spoke into the microphone. “Darby is hard down, repeat Darby is hard down. We have a rapidly regenerating enhanced nearby, it’s a shapeshifter type.”

The faceless thing sat up again, reaching for his rifle before being taken back down by coordinated pistol fire.

“We need additional force here asap. Cannot keep the shapeshifter down.”

Blink popped into being a short distance away. After looking around to assess the situation, he drew his heavy kukri and advanced on the prone figure. As the shapeshifter began to sit up again Blink beheaded him with a smooth swing. “Let’s see you shrug that off,” he said as he kicked the soft gelatinous head away from the body.

Blink wiped and then sheathed his knife. He looked at the shapeshifter for a moment and then ran over to Darby’s gasping figure. He crouched down and looked on with a helpless expression. “Can I help?” He asked Hex.

Three and Four shook their heads. “I have this. It may not matter. He has several serious hits to center mass. I am simply trying to buy him as much time as possible.”

Over with the nearby fire team Hammer behind a barricade, Hex Five braced her suppressed rifle on the temporary stone wall and pulled a small device from her pocket. Glancing at its indicator she pressed the button. “Message for Midnight actual. WD40 #2 is hard down. Extreme intervention needed.”

She let up on the button and slid the device back into her pocket. Encrypted digital streams found their way to the nearby Norn drones and relayed the message.

෴Midnight෴

෴Darby O’Cellan෴

෴Wilson Meyers෴

෴Hex෴

෴Jim ‘Blink’ Thorpe෴

෴Hutch෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Desperate Intervention

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A few seconds after leaving Braithwaite behind, Midnight landed in the combat zone outside the building. He looked around and spotted Blink wiping down a large forward curved bloody knife next to a decapitated man. Nearby the decapitated man on the ground there was what appeared to be several blobs that looked like heads. Nearby he saw two of Hex rendering first aid. A handful of rounds ricocheted off his back. He ignored them.

“I’m here, what do you need?” He called out as he jogged over to them.

Blink used the knife to point wordlessly at the still form by Hex Three and Four.

Midnight knelt down by the three. “Damnit Darby, I told you reaction speed isn't enough by itself” The electronically disguised voice didn't hide his concern. Scarred black armor flowed away from his hands and he placed one bare hand on Darby’s chest, and the other on the back of Hex Four’s neck. “Sorry about this, it won't be pleasant.”

Instantly his carriage changed. A palpable aura of power in action began to radiate out from him. His body went taut. His other hand hovered over each entry wound briefly. Anyone able to see into the injuries would have seen the expanded and mushroomed bullets reshaping themselves into perfectly smooth round balls. From each wound with a bullet still inside, a round copper colored ball popped out and clung to his hand like iron to a bloody magnet.

Both Hex’s stopped what they were doing, stunned at the sight and feel of what was happening in front of them.

Hex Four stiffened and then sagged in place. “What... What... What... What...” she stuttered as though trying to speak but unable to marshal further thought.

“What are you doing?” Hex three demanded.

“I forgot how little energy your aspects have. I took a little too much from her. She’ll snap out of it in a second. Midnight flicked his hand to the side and let the bullets roll away.

He let go of Hex Four and leaned on that arm. “Keep working on him. I can't save him alone.” He sagged and panted. “I’m not sure I can save him at all. This is all going so wrong this time,” he whispered.

Both Hex’s jumped a bit when they heard that and then got back to the first aid.

The man with the knife sheathed it, and vanished. Midnight cast a skeptical gaze at Blink’s messy teleport. “Air on the brain just waiting to happen,” he muttered.

Hex three caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. Both Hex Three and Four instantly snapped their heads to look at the decapitated shapechanger. Only the severed heads remained vaguely solid. The rest of the body had melted into a muddy brown gel. The gelatinous mass ignored the bullets passing through it and slowly crawled away as they watched.

Hex Four keyed the mic. “Blink, overwatch, the shapeshifter is still in play. We’ve lost sight of it. Client is onsite, rendering aid. Wilson, you might want to get down here. Blink, please relieve Wilson on secondary Overwatch.”

Hex Three was sprinkling quick clot onto one of Darby’s wounds when Wilson sprinted up, fear written across his face. He fell to his knees next to Hex three across from Hex Four and Midnight. He stared down at Darby with glowing eyes. “Oh no.”

Midnight grunted with exertion. “I can keep the bleeding minimized or staple him shut. I can’t do both at the same time. If you’ve got a medic here, get them over here now.”

Wilson’s eyes shifted colors. His gaze projected beam like cones that rendered Darby’s torso translucent, showing everyone there where the injuries were. The pinched shut blood vessels and wound channels were clearly visible.

“This is bad. I think his only chance is to patch him up here and then fly him to the hospital. I haven’t got any local resources that can handle something like this. What do you want to do?” Midnight said to Wilson.

Wilson clenched his fists impotently. “Go, take him. I’ll follow in a car when we’re done here. Don’t you dare let him die!”

Midnight nodded and got to work. “I forgot you can do that. Keep that effect going. I can patch better if I can see what I’m doing in there.” He grunted in exertion, metal flowing from his suit to slide deep into the wounds and creating tiny smooth clamps on damaged blood vessels.

Working as fast as he could, it was still several minutes later when Midnight breathed a small sigh of relief. When he’d stopped all the bleeding no one there could have said how many small clamps and staples Midnight had formed inside, and outside Darby’s torso.

Midnight looked at Wilson. “I’m exhausted. Seriously scraping the bottom of the barrel here. He’s lost too much blood. I think I have enough to get him to Emory, but I’ll have to stay with him. You don’t want them trying to remove these clamps.

Midnight didn’t wait for an answer. Metal flowed off his suit like water, enveloping Darby in a slim case resembling a tightly fit torpedo with an open face for air. Midnight put his hand on the torpedo. The two shapes merged to be joined by a solid pillar of metal.

The two rose into the air and disappeared from view.