twiceahero | (no subject)

Her comm crackles. "You're four blocks east of the target building. If you take Grand Street you should hit the loading docks pretty quickly. Check in when you arrive."

Funny, Babs seems to keep initiating contact without waiting for a check-in.

If X were anyone else (not one of the Birds), maybe she'd be surprised.

But she isn't.

"Understood."

Again, she says it quietly. Then she makes her way down the stairs and out onto the street. Her path to the docks is just slightly meandering, a little like someone who is out of their comfort zone and not entirely sure of their destination.

Next time she'll even have a piece of paper for verisimilitude.

Though her pace does pick up once she hits Grand Street. And a few minutes after that --

"Here."

"Everything is routine. Standing guard should be visible from your position. You have two minutes before the next foot patrol passes."

"Um. Excuse me."

X only stutters a little as she steps toward the standing guard.

"I think I'm lost. Do you know where -- "

When he's in range she takes him out.

A sharp hit to the solar plexus just as she hooks a foot around his knee makes it hard for him to cry out. A side foray into the art of pressure points means he's unconscious forty-five seconds later.

Finding the key and hauling his unconscious body through the door after her takes up the second minute.

The door is just closing behind her as the foot patrol starts passing by.

"No sign of alarm," Babs announces. "I count six men on this floor, but three of them are in the security office, two at the front desk, and one doing rounds."

X pauses for a moment, scenting the air and listening.

Babs' count is correct.

The walking man -- probably the one doing rounds -- is making his way toward X's position.

She breaks left, avoiding the front desk and passing by the door to the security office.

Still listening for movement in the office and in the corridor, she crouches down, nudging a flashbang under a nearby radiator.

It might be useful later.

She picks up her pace on the way to the stairwell, turning a corner just after the door to the security office opens.

"Hey, Frank," a voice calls after the man who walks through the doorway, "get me a fresh cup while you're there, would you?"

"Yeah, me too!" called another voice.

The break room is right across from the stairwell door.

X hesitates, listening to Frank's ambling pace and judging the distance from here to there.

Then she slips into the break room, dumps out the current batch of coffee, and replaces the pot.

That should keep him busy for a little while.

Seconds later she's closing the stairwell door behind her -- very carefully.

Frank is now close enough to hear it close if she just lets it fall.

X can hear a muttered "Damn it" from the break room, but that's it.

No signs of pursuit so far.

She pauses by the door to the second floor, listening intently for a few moments.

The process is repeated on the third.

On her way to the fourth floor, a door lower down on the stairwell opens.

She can hear someone muttering as they begin their ascent.

This could be problematic. For one, the stairwell echoes, and she still has to get up another flight of stairs.

Babs' voice is soft over X's comm. "Standard procedure is to start at the top and work down. If someone's on the stairs, chances are they aren't going more than a couple of floors."

Or maybe three...

X stays still, listening for the sound of another door opening.

It doesn't come.

The muttering gets closer.

X does not sigh.

She does, however, peer over the railing, making note of the way the guard is looking at his feet.

This will simplify things.

Then she drops down on him.

Carefully.

He does not see it coming.

But it does mean she'll have to work faster. Someone will notice that he's missing before long.

(It might be useful.)

Not to worry, Babs has got her back.

"Floor's clear."

No tension ekes out of X at the news.

Right now it's just a convenience. She cannot afford to think of it as anything else.

She moves through the door quickly and efficiently, looking neither left nor right -- though she doesn't miss anything in either direction.

She's far better trained than that.

"Location check."

She says that very quietly , head tilting as she listens for more than Babs' voice over the comms.

"Server room is down the hall on the right. Frank's finished making coffee and is back in the security room. Two still at the desk. The one you ran into on the stairs was doing rounds. No one's tried to raise him yet."

"Also, be aware that there's a sweep team working their way down from the top floor. They're on the ninth at the moment."

"Pace."

X likes being able to keep internal time, even if she knows Babs has her back.

Old training never dies.

But while she's waiting for that, she starts heading down the hall.

One door, two, three --

Server room.

There.

It's locked. There's a keypad. Some of the numbers are more worn than others.

She could guess, but --

Hmm.

"Codes?"

"I'll notify you whenever they transition floors," Babs assures X. "But they take five to ten minutes a floor."

"Code is five digits: Seven-three-two-nine-five. Root password once you get inside to a terminal is hotel-echo-romeo-mike-india-oscar-november-echo."

If Babs can't run a mission herself, she can at least ensure that whoever does can get in and out without any friction.

"Understood."

X falls silent, slipping her gloves over her hand and punching in the code through the cloth.

She opens the door before slipping her glove back into place. If they don't find evidence of tampering on the door, they are less likely to check inside.

Especially if all the damage is in other parts of the building.

She finds the flash drive ports on the terminal, then types in the code Babs gave her.

She does not know enough about either popular culture or Greek myth to understand the reference.

"I am in."

Now to hook up the flash drive and download the virus.

She keeps a weather ear out, just in case, while she waits.

"The sweep team has transitioned to the eighth floor. It looks like they're starting to miss the one you took out on the stairs, but no one's actually trying to raise him yet. You've probably got a minute on that."

And maybe if this all went smoothly, Babs could hook X up with some DVDs as payment.

"Ninety seconds to complete download."

X is fairly sure Babs is monitoring that, too.

But it functions as a mission-appropriate response.

She's also got her hands positioned to yank the drive and log out as soon as the download's done.

It will save time.

There is a high chance that she is going to need it.

"Radios just went live. They're trying to raise the guy in the stairwell. Past patterns suggest you have about sixty seconds before they get worried enough to lock the building down."

Just so you know, X.

X doesn't say anything.

She just grabs the flash drive, logs out, and bolts out the server room door as two things happen almost simultaneously.

1) Her sixty seconds are up.

2) The flashbang under the radiator on the first floor goes off.

The timing could have been worse.

Babs doesn't ask if that was intentional.

"That got their attention. They're locking the building down. The sweep teams are moving to the stairwells, the security office is shutting down the elevators, and everyone on the first floor is moving to investigate."

Pause. "I can give you elevator control if you want."

"No," X says, moving to the stairwell.

This is what the smoke grenades are for.

Well. One of them.

She gives it a five count to start filling up the stairwell, pops a flashbang and throws it up, then drops over the railing and down.

The second smoke grenade is for the first floor hallway.

"I think you got their attention," Babs chuckles over the comms. "The sweepers in your stairwell, there are four, are heading for the sixth floor where your flashbang went off, and two of the first floor security men are entering the stairwell now."

"I'm about to lose visual," she warns. "These cameras are crap."