I stared at the matte gray suit made of kevlar weave with ceramic plating to protect my vital organs. I began to remove it from the stand, dressing myself piece by piece. Once I picked the mask up I stared into the lenses and I began to prepare myself for the fight ahead. With the team I was handed I might as well forfeit to the Blood Tridents and let them blow up both the league headquarters and city hall. No matter, I still needed to be ready and try to achieve that one in a million chance. Placing the mask on my head activated it and the system began to boot up. After the blue screen dissipated the lenses turned on allowing me to see what I could see with the naked eye.
The suit then began to run a diagnostics check ensuring that all functions were working properly. When it gave me the ok, I grabbed my batons placing them in their holsters as I walked over to my bike. I turned it on before tapping my wrist pad, which opened part of the wall revealing a ramp that led out to the city. The tires screeched as I gunned it up the ramp, and for a moment I was airborne before the wheels touched pavement.
Having driven the streets thousands of times, I weaved in and out of traffic effortlessly as I sped to the headquarters. I came to a screeching halt in front of the building a couple of minutes before the meeting time. The rest of the team had already arrived and was waiting out front on the marble staircase, geared up ready to go. After sliding off my bike I walked over to stand directly in front of them.
After clearing my throat I began to speak, "Alright, listen up. This will be the first mission for all of you. I'm going to need you all to listen to me, and follow my instructions to a t or this could be your last mission, understand?"
The whole group nodded in unison, except for Amber. She was adamantly typing away on her phone; about what and to who remains a mystery. A mystery I didn't care to solve.
"Amber, either pay attention or pack your shit and leave. There is no room for mistakes, and I really don't feel like attending any funerals." I said sternly.
She huffed, but complied.
"Great, now that we're all on the same page let's sync up our comms and head out." I said with fake enthusiasm.
They all double tapped their ear pieces, while I broadcasted the frequency for our channel. My wrist pad registered four other devices connected to the channel. I did a quick check to ensure that they could all hear me. Once they gave me thumbs up I indicated for them to load up in the van provided by the league. They all piled into the van.
When they were all settled with John in the driver's seat, I brought my bike back to life and took off for the northeast sector. They had a GPS in the van, so there was no need for me to wait up, and so long as John has some kind of a brain they'll make it there on their own. They can consider this their first test.
I pulled into an alley on J. Abrams rd. and parked my bike before activating its cloaking device. I waited for the rest of the team to arrive before moving up to the roof tops. The rest followed suit, and we began leaping from rooftop to rooftop until we reached Fifth street.
On the corner sat the warehouse from the photos. It looked more run down in person, and I began to question if Al Summers still owned the place. Hell, there weren't even any security cameras. Any business man would want to ensure that their property stays up to date.
Then again he was dealing with the Blood Tridents, so the run down warehouse could be a disguise to keep people away. No one would question an inactive building awaiting renovations. To ensure no one was inside, I scanned the place using both normal and thermal vision. There wasn't a single soul in or around the place, at least not from what I could see.
"Ghost, here's your time to shine. I want you to move in and check the place out. When you're done, report back here with what you find." I said as I continued to scan.
Ghost began to move elegantly down the stairwell next to us, reaching the ground in no time. Once she was crossing the street, I followed her movements to ensure she didn't run into any trouble. When she reached the door to the warehouse she disappeared, and then the door opened and closed. It was like a gust of wind had blown the door open before letting it shut.
She was gone for several minutes, and part of me was beginning to worry. She could've been caught. The mission could be compromised. Just as my anxiety was reaching its peak someone tapped on my shoulder. When I looked back, Ghost appeared. Relief went through my body and I began to find a little faith in the team.
We all gathered around her before she began to tell us about what she found, "The place is empty. There's no people. No equipment. No uranium."
I cocked my head in confusion, "Are you sure?"
She nodded, "Yes. Once I got inside and realized no one was in the building, I ran through the entire facility looking for any details on where they are keeping the uranium, but as far as I could tell the building hasn't been used in a while."
"Okay. Let's all go down and do a thorough search. They could've caught wind of our plan and cleared house, so we need to ensure there's nothing here to point us in the right direction." I replied.
We all made our way down to the building and entered. Even though the place was abandoned, I was still on guard. Something felt off to me and rarely was my gut wrong. I've been doing this far too long for my gut instinct to fail me.
The inside was dark, the only light coming from the lenses of my mask. They glowed gold to prevent the enemy from seeing my eyes. It also added a fear aspect to my aesthetic. Criminals are afraid of the golden eyes because it's usually the last thing they see before waking up in a jail cell.
I pulled a small flashlight from my utility belt and passed it to Ricky, and John pulled out one of his own. He did his best to replicate my style, but his mask didn't possess the same capabilities as mine. Night Vision being one of those features.
"Lady Fire you and Innovator will be a pair and Ghost you'll go with Steel. Stay with your buddy and look for clues." I said to the group.
Once they were all wandering about searching the place, I began to do a deep search. Something wasn't right. Rarely was the league's intel wrong, and even when it was, it was only minor details. We were definitely missing something, and that something was staring us right in the face.
On my second loop of the place I noticed the floor was metal near the back right corner. That stood out to me because the rest of the floor was regular concrete. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a small amount of light peeking from underneath the metal. I wasn't sure how I missed this on my first loop, but hopefully, it led us in the right direction. Swapping my lenses back to normal, I bent down and dug my fingers into the small gap. I then began to lift, and after a moment, the metal popped free. There was a loud clang as the slab hit the concrete.
The rest of the group all made their way over to me, ready for a fight, until they saw me standing next to a hole in the floor. Light flooded the inside of the warehouse. I peered down into the hole to find a ladder way.
I looked back at the others," I'm going down to check what's at the bottom of this hole. I will signal for you if I need you. "
They all wanted to protest my decision, but there was no time for complaints. I needed to get down there and see what was lurking at the bottom. If it was a trap it'd be better for me to go solo to avoid unnecessary casualties. Better my life over theirs. I began to descend down the ladder, which felt like forever. Whatever was down there, they wanted it to stay hidden. Unfortunately for them, I found their hiding spot.
When I was a few feet from the bottom, I dropped down the rest of the way. There was a thud from my heavy boots, and it echoed through the long hallway in front of me. The hallway was well-lit but empty. I highly expected someone to be waiting, but just like the warehouse, it was barren.
What the fuck. I thought to myself. Was the intel really this far off?
"The rest of you make your way down," I told the team through our communicators.
"We're on our way," they all replied.
Once they got to the bottom, I gave them my game plan, "We're going to split into teams again to clear as many of these hallways as possible. If you run into resistance, defend yourselves and radio up. Lastly, there will be no lethal force. Does everyone understand?"
I waited for them all to confirm," Alright. Ghost, Innovator, and steel, you three will be a team. Ghost, you'll be the team leader. Lady fire, you're with me. Remember if you get into trouble, radio up, so we can all be on the same page."
With that, we began to move, Amber and me going left while the other three went right. It was just hallway after hallway, with the occasional room here and there. Even though there wasn't a soul in sight, and it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, something was still bugging me. My gut instinct was usually right about danger, and in this moment it was telling me something is brewing down here. I stopped for a moment to radio in with the other group.
"Team two, how are things on your end?"
I waited, but no one responded.
"Ghost, are you guys okay?" I asked.
Still nothing.
I looked at Amber, "Somethings not right."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard gunfire echoing through the hall. I turned to head back to find team two until Amber perked up.
"Hey I see someone. Don't worry, I got him."
I turned back, "Lady Fire, wait!"
Too late. Amber was already in pursuit. The rest of the team would have to hold off until I reigned her back in. I booked my ass down the hallway, following Amber and her prey. Gunshots came from up ahead, and Amber came flying around the corner. She had narrowly avoided the rounds that impacted deep into the concrete wall. This told me they were using armor piercing rounds.
"Holy shit, they tried to shoot me." she said with disgust, " I'll show them not to mess with Lady Fire. "
Before I could do anything, she erupted in flames and stepped around the corner. Fire shot down the hallway filling it with a bright orange glow. I could hear the screams and smell the burning flesh of our attackers. That wasn't what concerned me the most though. The steadily growing rumble is what caught my attention. I grabbed Amber by the shoulders and yanked her into the small room nearby. Right as our bodies crossed the threshold, the hallway erupted. The force pushed us deeper into the room, slamming us into the wall. Amber fell unconscious while I was dazed. The room was spinning, but I could still see that the tunnel had collapsed, trapping us in the room. Before I, too, fell unconscious, I activated my tracker. It would send a signal to the league so they could find us, dead or alive.