âYouâd think these masks wouldâve learned by now, wouldnât you?â The secretary shook their head, tsking at Timâs audacity. âGot it, Mr. Bird. Weâll have that cell ready for you.â
Tim allowed Mâgann to push him through the double doors, and they started down the long hallway. That secretaryâs obvious enthusiasm regarding Timâs capture was⊠a bit concerning... He wondered if the Magistrate was so convincing that all of their employees shared their negative opinion of heroes. Or perhaps alternatively they were threatening enough that everyone pretended to. Neither alternative was particularly heartening. But at any rate, that wasnât the important thing right now. Had to focus on the mission. They reached the staircase that would take them down to holding. But instead of heading down the stairs, they started up.
Head to the room two floors up, fourth door on the left. Thatâs where they keep the mainframe. Tim said to Mâgann telepathically. Her Martian memory contained the schematics, so she already knew how to get there, but heâd rather be overly cautious than risk any miscommunications or deviations from the plan. Thankfully the stairwell was empty and they slipped into the mainframe room undetected.
Once in, Tim slid the handcuffs of his wrists and clipped them to his belt. They were designed to repress powers, but as he didnât have any, they were basically just normal, boring handcuffs. Easy to magnetize the locking mechanism and get them off. Not that Mâgann had put them on all that tightly anyway. With his hands free, he started up his portable computer, opened his hacking program, and plugged in to the mainframe. Hacking sequence initiated. He told Mâgann, fingers tapping swiftly over the holographic keys of his computer. A few moments later and: Ok Iâm in. Retrieving files. He plugged a flash drive into the computer. It would have been easier to just upload the files to their remote database, but it was safer to do it manually. Transfers could be tracked after all. Even his transfers, though he didnât think there were many people out there who would be able to manage that. Still. He didnât want to risk giving the Magistrate any leads to them. Thatâs why he and Mâgann had risked coming here in person instead of just hacking in remotely. Oracle had enough work trying to keep the Magistrate out of her servers; Tim wasnât going to just give them a way in.
The progress bar of the upload sequence slowly filled. This was the worst part: the waiting. Tim glanced back towards the door, listening for any approaching footsteps. So far so good. Maybe too good. He looked back to his computer. Almost there⊠The bar reached completion. Done. Initiating corruption sequence. Their main mission was to get these files, but they had figured while they were here, they might as well leave the Magistrate a little souvenir. Timâs program swept through the Magistrateâs database, corrupting all the files they had just transferred. Not only would that decrease the amount of info the Magistrate had, it would also make their mission here harder to discover and track. (Plus, it would put a damper on the Magistrateâs day.)
Ok. The files have been transferred and corrupted. Letâs get out of here. Tim disconnected and closed his computer and started for the door. He froze in place. Did you hear that? Footsteps outside the door.
boyblundrrisingâ:
@stargazingmartian
The glass windows of the building burned orange in the light from the setting sun. Tim had chosen evening for this particular mission because, although many of these administrative types worked around the clock, most of the rank and file personnel would have clocked out for the day. This way there would be less people to fight through if things went awry. Hopefully they wouldnât, but it was better to be prepared for the worst than have it take you by surprise.
They reached the large double doors and the Peacekeeper pushed him through. As he was led across the shiny marble floor towards a reception desk, he took stock of the room. Elevators to the left, shadowed by the large staircase leading up to the next floor balcony. Additional balconies extended with each level towards the vaulted ceiling high above. Lots of visibility. That could make escape a bit more difficult, but Tim had the schematics of this place memorized, and he wouldnât choose this way out of the building anyway. The roof access or the vents would be much better.
The reached reception and the secretary behind the counter greeted the Peacekeeper. âCaught another vigilante? Well done! Does the Magistrate want to see this one immediately, or should I notify the people down in Holding to get a cell ready?â
This night was weeks in the making, and not just for Tim. Mâgann had quietly chosen her own mark, Angel Vallelungua. Shifting her body into his powerful build, complete with his beloved bird on her shoulder, was the easy part. It was one thing to observe a man and copy him from afar. It was simple, even, to slip invisibly into his pocket and nab his security clearance card just hours before mission start.
It was another thing to get close enough to a man to match his retinas perfectly.Â
But that was a part of the job. Sheâd chosen Angel, or âBirdâ as he preferred to be known professionally, because he spent most of his mornings at the pier with Talon. He was predictable. A couple hours of flirtatious small talk and sheâd gotten all she needed from those eyes. Hazel, with the tiniest flecks of green. Her Martian mind memorized every mark. Mâgann felt a pang of guilt, using him that way, but it comforted her to remember that Bird was one of the Magistrateâs top Peacekeepers.Â
Mâgann and Tim were going to sweep in and out. Get in. Let Tim do his thing. Get out. And none would be the wiser. Ideally, Mâgann would return Birdâs clearance card before he even noticed it was missing. But it rarely went so easily. They needed to be ready for anything. The stakes were high for both of them.
âHolding cell,â she said in Birdâs smooth voice. âCaught this one out trying to stop a purse snatching right out in the Village. Can you believe it? Right in the middle of a crowd.â Mâgann reached into her pocket, into Birdâs pocket, and fed a piece of meat to the falcon on her shoulder. âAnd it was Talon that got the purse back.â She gave Tim a little shove to drive it home. âLet this one spend the night in a cell.âÂ
Casually, Mâgann offered Birdâs security clearance card and brought Tim through the double doors.
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A scan of the premises with his night vision binoculars showed they were devoid of human activity. There was a van though, parked at the side of the building. He zoomed in on it, taking note of the license plate. Same one as from the security footage. That was something. Switching to infrared, he scanned the inside of the building. No heat signatures. Empty as well. That was odd. Everything up till now had lead him here. Maybe he had missed something⊠His comm crackled to life in his ear, Batgirlâs voice cutting through his thoughts, âMore of a rager, ya feel?â He put the binoculars back into their pouch on his belt. The case could wait.
He tapped his 'watch' (more accurately a portable computer), bringing up the holographic screen. A flashing light on the map showed Batgirl's location. Just a few blocks away. Good. "Location received. Red Robin en route," he replied into his comm.
A few minutes later and he was dropping down from the roof above to stand beside her. âHeard you were having a party,â he said, extending his bo staff and taking note of the positions of each of the thugs below. Satisfied that they seemed to be holding their ground for the time being, he turned back towards Batgirl, and seeing the blood all over her sleeves, reached into his utility belt and pulled out a pack of tissues. âAnother bloody nose, huh? Those are the worst.â Well, maybe not the worst worst, but still. âDoesnât look like itâs broken at least. You ok otherwise?â
A sweep of the area confirmed what Batgirl had stated over comms: didn't seem to be a clear way out. Unless... "See that fire escape over there? Maybe if we--" he cut off, alerted by a sound from down below: the faint click of a magazine being loaded into a handgun. Whirling around, he retracted his staff and threw it at the gunman. Ping! The staff made contact with the gun, knocking it out of the thugâs hand, then spiraled around back towards Tim. He caught it and extended it out again. Looks like they'd be fighting their way out of this one after all. âIâm thinking itâs time we made that exit.â
@boyblundrrising
Another night, another bad guy, another fucking bloody nose.
She didnât think her nose was broken, just gushing like a goddamn mall fountain. The split in her lip was more annoying than anything, and otherwise she wasnât all that worse for wear - sheâd taken more than a few hits (a lot more than a few) and she was absolutely going to be sore in a number of places in the morning, but sheâd still consider it a success. Well, she had anyway, until it turned out thugs 1 and 2 had some friends that were rolling in for back-up and she might be in a little over her head.
Not unusual. Disappointing, but definitely not unusual. Fuck.
"Batgirl can definitely use a little back-up to the pinged location.â Her voice was definitely a little thicker than usual, muffled as she used her sleeve to try to stem the flow of blood from her nose. âDefinitely more of a party than I anticipated. Turning out to be more of a rager, ya feel?â Sheâd opted for the open line utilized for the Gotham-based heroes rather than going for Oracle directly - Oracle was more likely to yell and she really didnât need that sort of energy right now.
âThere's at least....four armed assholes that I can see down below.â No clean exit she could see, definitely looking messy, which was a problem when sheâd already been at the wrong end of some fists and an elbow and yeah her ribs were starting to ache just a little bit. "Not seeing a free-and-clear exit on my own. Any takers? Câmon, itâll be fun.â
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@stargazingmartian
The glass windows of the building burned orange in the light from the setting sun. Tim had chosen evening for this particular mission because, although many of these administrative types worked around the clock, most of the rank and file personnel would have clocked out for the day. This way there would be less people to fight through if things went awry. Hopefully they wouldn't, but it was better to be prepared for the worst than have it take you by surprise.
They reached the large double doors and the Peacekeeper pushed him through. As he was led across the shiny marble floor towards a reception desk, he took stock of the room. Elevators to the left, shadowed by the large staircase leading up to the next floor balcony. Additional balconies extended with each level towards the vaulted ceiling high above. Lots of visibility. That could make escape a bit more difficult, but Tim had the schematics of this place memorized, and he wouldn't choose this way out of the building anyway. The roof access or the vents would be much better.
The reached reception and the secretary behind the counter greeted the Peacekeeper. "Caught another vigilante? Well done! Does the Magistrate want to see this one immediately, or should I notify the people down in Holding to get a cell ready?"
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