twiceahero | (no subject)

"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."

"Good."

That is the last thing X says.

If either of the two security men on the first floor hear it, they probably will not remember.

X packs quite a punch.

And they can't see for shit.

But they can get punched in the face, grunt, and collapse bonelessly.

"Three left in the hall somewhere," Babs announces. "And there are three exterior guards now heading for the main entrance."

And then? The fire alarm went off.

X slaps one set of explosives on the poor beknighted coffee-maker in the break room.

Then she starts running.

It's a good thing the front desk isn't being manned.

She ducks behind it, plants another set of explosives, then moves back the way she came.

The exterior guards will be getting a very nice surprise right in their faces.

Now to get back past the break room. Again.

The front doors slam open and three men rush in with weapons drawn.

"Sweeper teams are headed down both stairwells, looks like they're heading for your floor," Babs warns. "ETA: forty-five seconds."

The boom of the explosives by the front desk is not as loud as it could be.

And most of the blast seems to be directed upward. Still, there's a hell of a lot of smoke, even with the sprinklers.

X, meanwhile, bursts past the break room and the wreckage there, dropping low to take out the legs of the security guard that's giving a sitrep while the other two investigate the blast.

He knocks his head on the way down, eyes fluttering shut.

She doesn't stop to check his pulse. His breathing is still audible.

Of the other two guards, one is slow looking up from where he is investigating the cause of the explosion.

The second gets his weapon up, but a flashbang goes off practically in his face before he can get a shot off.

This is followed by an explosion by the side door that X came in by.

When security gets there, they'll find two very bewildered people -- one a college student and the other a local businessman out for a walk on his late lunch break -- half-blinded by smoke, and insisting they'd been pushed inside by a --

Well. Reports vary as to whether it was a boy or a girl that had yelled something about people inside needing help, someone had already called 911.

The college student was also upset about the loss of the sweater she'd had tied around her waist.

* * *

But while all that is happening, X -- clad in a periwinkle blue sweater just a size too big -- makes her way toward her extraction point. She's got one hand in her pocket, and the other is reaching up to twist her hair into a high ponytail.

"Clear."

Edited 2011-02-07 05:55 (UTC)

"Nicely done," Babs responds. "The Aerie Two is inbound."

Nice thing about being stupidly well-equipped? You could get helicopters with sound-dampening technology. And the Aerie Two descended with barely a whisper.

It didn't land. Instead a rope was tossed out the side.

X, pushing the arms of the sweater up above her elbows, grabs the rope and climbs up, quick as you please.

Even if the helicopter were moving, it would not be difficult.

She has a strong grip. (And lots of practice.)

Zinda's grinning over at her when X reaches the cockpit. "Any trouble?" she asks in a tone that suggests she doesn't expect any.

"Nothing unexpected," X confirms, slipping into her seat.

It is a more informative answer than a simple 'no'.

"Where to now, sugar? The boss said to take you wherever you want. Or I can drop you back at base."

Someone else could pick up the car she'd taken to the airport.

X considers that for a second.

"Base would be good. If it is not problematic."

Anywhere with a door will do, really.

X is good at finding her own way home.

Zinda laughs. "So polite!" She shakes her head. "It's no problem at all."

It doesn't take long before they're hovering over the Clocktower, thirty feet or so above the balcony that leads into Babs' command center. "Same way you came in," Zinda suggests, nodding to the rope.

X nods in return, just once, then slips out of the helicopter to slide down the rope to the balcony.

Once there she pulls something out of her pocket, holding it in her left hand as she opens the door to the Clocktower with her right.

It's too bad that the sound of the helicopter drowns out the unexpected noise of clinking plates and cups, and of voices human and inhuman.

And then the door closes behind X, and those sounds are gone.