Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Fiction - [A&A] Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts [IC]

[Slither]

Beauport Park, Hastings, East Sussex. January 26th, 1941, 5:10 PM

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Claire Kincaid's boots crunched through the snow as she wandered aimlessly in the chill evening air, her breathe billowing out as clouds of vapor; though the air outside was quite cold, she was perfectly comfortable in her dark blue aetherfiber coveralls. She enjoyed walking the grounds of the old country estate; it allowed her to clear her head from all the madness of the war. In the last few months she'd lost so much; her home, her family and any sort of normal life. Some nights she still woke up sweating, imagining she was still trapped under the rubble but without her new abilities; other times she dreamed she had them, but was still powerless to reach her mother and father. But now she had a sense of purpose, and it suited her well.

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It had only been a few weeks since they'd all been transferred to Beauport Park, its somber bulk hiding the maze of tunnels and bunkers newly laid beneath its old foundations. The accommodations were vastly improved since they first arrived, with new mattresses on the bunk beds in the ladies' quarters and working oil stoves for heat, not that the Dynamics complained about the cold as much as the rest of the staff. Claire craned her neck to look up to the windows of the men's quarters on the west side of the house; some nights, if she was very lucky, she'd catch a glimpse of the strapping American as he attended to his toilet. Of course with her abilities, she could always sneak a much closer look, if she dared...

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"Steady on now, girl," she murmured to herself with a chuckle. "That would hardly be professional now, would it?"

[June O'Gara]

June had no use for her usual surroundings. Most of the time she had been spending reducing the number of condolence letters being sent from the government to mothers about their flying sons. It was what little she could do. The sting of losing her little brother no more than a year prior still effected her in ways that she was yet to discover.

Usually she spent her nights either on SAR duty or getting her rest. Occasionally, getting to help Slither as she was quite strong and durable, as well as a capable high-story rescuer was an added bonus. But it was her guilty pleasure smashing German bombers that really kept her morale up. The home effort gets her down, she'd smash in a couple wings on some bombers and enjoy the fireworks show.

She was wearing her tan trenchcoat she earned on a couple missions, covering up the odd blue jumpsuit she liked wearing. She would wear the blue overalls that Claire wore as part of her duties, but June just would have her jumpsuit change form. Aetherfiber tended to do that pretty easily. Then again it was her stark-red beret that got the attention of everyone. She wasn't a member of any organization per-se, in fact her actual disposition had more classification marks on it from the Ministry of Defense than anything.That and she was smarting a little from a recent dressing down from Churchill himself for being "too dilligent" in her efforts. She knew that the boys were itching to shoot some Germans down. She just can't help herself that whenever she sees a damn kraut, she has to punch it! But... old winston was right, after all... Then again she wanted to score some German loot as a trophy for her efforts at some point.

Seeing Miss Kinkaid was a nice little bonus. They had become fast friends, although June couldn't talk much about her own work.

"Oi! Miss Kinkaid! Nice seein' ya again! I'm hearin' that there's some sorta meetin' of the minds shortly."

She grinned, handing Slither a warm cocoa. "I find this helps when our duty is standin' and waitin'."

[Ryan Hawke]

For Colonel Hawke, the evening was one he still felt somewhat ill at ease about. Since they really didn't want him staying off base, even on leave, the American dynamic accepted the barracks style accomodations stoicly. He was used to it, and to be fair, these were new, and even nice, compared to others. His Air Group was on two weeks R&R after nearly a month on Combat Patrol.

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He still had his Uniform as he'd planned on going out for a drink before turning in. Still when he turned the corner, to see two of the female dynamics bundled up against the cold, walking together he figured it would be better to show some solidarity. "Good Evening ladies." The two meter tall blonde American was Hitler's ideal personified, save he was an American patriot. He tipped his hat and gave them a disarming smile. "Wandering the compound aimlessly, or perhaps, you're heading somewhere?"

[Karren Gaunt]

There was a flapping of wings overhead and the rustle of fabric as the fourth member of the group dropped to towards the ground with measured beats, breaking her fall by flaring her dark wings wide and touching down in a crouch. Lian Chang looked up at the trio, breathing heavy and green eyes not giving away what she was thinking. The Chinese Dynamic was clad in a safety-orange colored Aetherfiber flightsuit modified to acomidate her distinctive apendages, a visual eyesore patterned to keep a jumpy sentry from taking a potshot at her during her 'afternoon constitutional'.

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She didn't like it. Not at all. But she had been shot at enough to not want to be shot by people who were supposed ot be on 'her side'.

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"Evening," Lian exhaled, rising to her full, not very impressive, height and folding her wings more against her back, pulling the hood of her flightsuit back to reveal a head of messy-black hair, "I hope finding you all here means I didn't miss the meeting."

[June O'Gara]

"Oh my... let me guess, all we need is UXB to complete the set."

June grinned. "Orange... I've never tried that."

She takes her arms behind her head, stretching out. "Now... I know I and Jian here can fly, and Ryan is a hell of a pilot... so what is the plan these guys are gonna spring on us..."

She smiled at Ryan. "And we actually got some business to attend to soon... some mission down from the Ministry of Defense itself."

She pulls out a envelope. "Can't read it out loud until UXB shows up. Since we all have the clearances for this mission."

She grinned. "Can't wait personally... it means I get to..." June armored up over her clothing, and her clenched fist slammed into a open hand with a clang. "...play wrecking crew on some krauts."

"Bloody barbarians... first chance I get..."

She de-armors, remembering she really shouldn't be wasting power right now. She may need it.

[Ryan Hawke]

Ryan nodded. "Right. They moved up the timetable." He sighed. His leave was canceled it seemed, and he knew it was just going to get worse, so he settled in, switching to "On Duty" mode. "They may be barbaric in their actions, but their skill is first rate. They are well trained, and inspired. Their morale is very high, and that can add difficulty to any engagement."

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He looked at them. "Not that I think most regular soldiers can hold against dynamics who are battleworthy, but it is wise to be prepared for any situation."

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Inwardly, he was abit put off, considering three of the five dynamic group were women, and not the sort of women one expected to find anywhere near a battle. June perhaps, but Lian and Claire, not at all, by what he'd observed.

[June O'Gara]

"I would hope so, at least in the bein' prepared department. I've been practicin' with diff'rent firearms."

She smiled, pulling back her coat revealing a damn nasty pistol in a holster under her arm. "Don't worry, guv', I got the papers for my bodyguard. Then again, we might get issued far more... nastier pieces of work."

She remembers the time she used a Bren... it was a joy.

"Then again as is, most of us are nasty pieces of work, right?"

[Karren Gaunt]

"I can take care of myself in a fight. I have before and will again," Lian offered in a voice of soft confidence, distracted as she concentrated on reweaving her garishly-colored aether fiber into a more standard dress and coat top, "Much as I'd prefer to be on the construction and repair end of any war effort, I am not fool enough to try and build a house out of wood next to a raging fire."

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The Chinese Dynamic's pursed tersely, gaze troubled, "Not again anyway."

[Shimmer]

There was a momentary blur, that was the only indication for most people, though those dynamic's who possessed enhanced perceptions would be able to see more, but one moment there was no one there, and the next Shimmer was standing with the others, where exactly she had come from was as difficult to say as it was to see her arrival, but she had done the sudden appearance before with some of the other's dynamic's here, one or two had been seriously startled.

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"A gun? Are you sure that's something any of us really need? I mean, I think I can do more damage without a gun, but what I really dislike, is sitting around here waiting for something to happen." She glanced over at Colonel Hawke for a moment and she frowned.

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"I don't suppose you have any idea what they have in mind for us, Colonel?"

[June O'Gara]

"Well, I'm sure we'll know soon enough. We still got UXB to wait for."

She adjusted her blue jumpsuit under her coat. "Of course, the majority of us have just arrived it seems."

She sighed. "I'll give UXB a minute or so then we should head inside. Then we can see what's in this envelope. After all I don't wanna read this bad boy until I know there ain't any kraut eavesdroppers in the trees somewhere."

She looked around, she's learned to keep her eyes open.

[Ryan Hawke]

Ryan nodded. "It is. It pays to be prepared for anything, including running out of power."

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He looked to Shimmer and shook his head. "Only that it's major if it involves this many dynamics at once in one op, miss."

[Slither]

Claire happily accepted the hot cocoa from her new teammate. "Cheers, June! This should hit the spot." Once Colonel Hawke appeared, the young Scot became noticibly quieter; the truly observant might have noticed a slight flush of color in her cheeks and ears as she held the steaming mug close to her face. As more and more dynamics arrived, she seemed to loosen up a bit, and her eyes widened slightly at the sight of the precious envelope.

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"Sure enough, a bit more action would suit this lass." Claire lowered her voice somewhat as she leaned forward a touch. "I wouldn't mind a little holiday across the Channel, if you know what I mean." Then she frowned. "Maybe we should just head back inside; perhaps UXB is already waiting for us, eh?"

[June O'Gara]

June smiled.

"Yeah, let's. I've still to learn how to make my Aetherfiber more insulative. I know a few fliers and mountaineers who have, I'll have to figure it out. We can use briefing room #4."

She brushed off her coat with her free hand, leading everyone to briefing room 4. It was a bit of a walk so the group had a little time for more talk. "I'm just glad after a little romp a couple weeks ago I'm not sitting out of what I was signed on for... I... got a little pissed after seeing some people hit by a random bomb so I... sorta... well increased our scrap supply by bringing down a couple bombers. Wasn't supposed to, but I sort of flipped."

"The thing that got me out of trouble was the fact I inspired old Winston himself for a little idea. Of course that guy didn't tell me what he had in mind instead he had orders whipped up by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Defense. Although your connections to those agencies probably sent you here too."

[Ryan Hawke]

Ryan had the envelope and now that everyone was here, well nearly, he'd waited long enough. They sat in the briefing room, everyone comfortable, while he stood at a small podium. He opened it and read it and his expression darkened.

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"Well Ladies, you will get your wish, if we don't get killed in the process. Our Mission, one ordered by Prime Minister Churchill himself, is to at the earliest opportunity, Capture a German bomber, and ensconce ourselves within. We will then masquerade as a returning bomber after the next bombing raid, and infiltrate the German airbase they're sortieing from. From there our mission is simple. We are to cause as much destruction as we possibly can, sowing confusion, taking out key command control and communication structures, along with any ordnance and fuel depots.

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"We are then ordered to exfiltrate enemy territory by whatever means and return to England. We will not have fighter support, further, mission details are to remain top secret."

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"I will fly the bomber, once one is acquired. I will handle all communications, and each of us will be provided appropriate German AIrman garb."

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He looked at them. "Any questions?"

[June O'Gara]

"Well, where to start..."

She scratched her chin. "As we will be taking a German aircraft, we might want to hide the aircraft in a way that the aircraft was assumed lost in the raid. Is that part of the plan? Hijacking a bomber might cause the targetted plane to scream to it's wingmates what is going on."

"If we make it look like we got on to take her down, and sell that sham to the Krauts, we won't have to worry much about tipping our hand."

"Then the next night we quietly slip into a formation as the bombers return home like a rabid stray cat looking to claw some kraut bollocks off."

She smiled looking over the group. "If you want my opinion... If a kraut is your size... gaffle them for their threads and gear and chuck them overboard. Little Blackpool alley justice, right?"

To be honest she just wanted to throw some trash into the English Channel.

[Karren Gaunt]

Lian's expression was serious, thinking over what they *hadn't* been told. She steepled her fingers and leaned forwards on her stool, wings subtly folding and refolding.

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"I guess I'll be staying aboard our ride until the rest of you need an extraction or a distraction. As for the first part... Do we have a airbase assigned to refuel and repair our captured prize? A contact with air defense to make sure we're in position to get one in the first place? Spare parts that'll fit if some of us get... overenthusiatic taking it? Failsafes in case we get made too early?"

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The second to last one was semi-addressed June, the Chinese Dynamic weighing the younger woman against some internal set of standards. She was an engineer by trade and by calling. It was her way to worry if something wasn't three degrees of failure-proofed.

[June O'Gara]

June adjusted her beret. "Oh I don't intend to trash the aircraft, love. Just toss overboard whoever gets all rustled over our shenanigans, right?"

She smiled. "Of course I'll let them bail out voluntarily unless I see something my size... I'd rather not keep anyone aboard that isn't becessary to be aboard. Most we'll have to patch hopefully is a few mauser shots and a couple dents from our punches. We'll just have to make sure it's close to the channel so any krauts we leave alive are picked up by our men as POWs... better than what our boys get but we're not the savages they are. No secrets will get out. I'd rather not have it happen over land, as the aircraft would be dropping it's payload."

"To be honest... I'd rather not have a bomber's worth of hell raining on London." June said, suddenly looking and sounding forlorn.

[Shimmer]

"It would be better if we could hit them over the channel, yes... of course, I'm afraid I can't fly, but I believe there are others of us with that issue, but get us on board the plane and I believe we certainly deal with just about anyone they might have aboard, short of other dynamics.. and even then, I expect the group of us can deal with any one or two on board. Though it seems unlikely that would be the case, we likely should prepare for worst case senario's."

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She paused "Also, I'd like to avoid the raining of bombs on the city as well."

[Slither]

Claire frowned as they discussed this rather daring mission; almost reflexively, she began preparing tea, placing steaming cups and matching saucers in front of the rest of the team. At length, she spoke up; years of living in London and attending Oxford had softened her Edinburgh accent somewhat, but she still spoke with a bit of a Scottish lilt.

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"Well I can't fly to save my life, but I fold up pretty as you please; you might be able to squeeze me into a wee knapsack." She looked to the others. "Who can match Luftwaffe speeds among you flyers? Can all of you?" She nodded at the ginger-headed dynamic. "And June's right, for the initial assault on the plane, we have to knock out their radio before Jerry has any idea what's going on."

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She took a long sip of her cocoa, then nodded more to herself than anyone else.

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"On the way back, the only way they're going to believe us is if we slip into a formation of bombers that's already gone a few rounds with our Ack-Ack, and is therefore already down a few planes; if we come back in as an extra bomber, they'll be suspicious."

[Ryan Hawke]

"The filers can Carry those who don't. I do plan on getting in fast enough to hit the radios, thus I'll need someone fast with me who can stop them while I take control of the plane.."

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"We won't be able to hit them on the channel, we have to wait until we can assure local air superiority."

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He looked to Lian. "We won't have a refueling base, or any other support. The only weapons we will have is what we carry with us or take from disabled Germans." He frowned. "I don't like it but they're not budging on that aspect. They've agreed to get us uniforms and that's it. "We'll each carry packs with them in it, as well as some various weapons. I and UXB will carry the demolition charges."

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He sighed. "Getting home again is going to be interesting, and again we've no support. If we can steal another plane great, if not, well it's not that long of a flight, It won't be comfortable, but I can probably carry everyone home on some sort of makeshift sled."

[June O'Gara]

"Well if anything I can take care of having some ruckus. I'll take care of any radios, which means once we select an aircraft the squadron around it is dead meat."

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She sighed... "I can get someone up to help you out, Ryan. Thing is and I know this for a fact I am fully capable of matching speed with these aircraft."

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"Depending though on how much work I'll have to do, I might be staying behind once I've delivered the packages."

[Karren Gaunt]

They were expendable then. Lian had given up her work at Liverpool Gas and Electric for this? She was getting really sick of being owned by others. Still nothing for it. The engineer squared her shoulders, brushed a strand of black hair out of her face, and nodded.

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"Alright. Then since we aren't getting a chance to land patch our transport up, everyone be *extremely* careful about getting rid of the Germans aboard. Aethertech can have very delicate parts in even the most robust machine. Especially German technology. They're perfectionists and sometimes stumble over themselves making something too good for it's job," she commented with the merest hint of a smile, remembering some of her experiences with German engineers before the Japanese invasion.

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"Well, I'm not fast, but I can be on station hours before the mission starts, antisipate where to go and fluster them for you. Everyone loses focus when a ball of plasma half the size of football field drops towards you," she finished seriously again, smile melting away.

[June O'Gara]

"Well, love..." She said to her asian teammate, "...see, there is one thing ya must remember about dem German garbage scows. For instance... their wings like to snap when you compromise their integrity... also... you flyin' around in of itself won't take much of yer stamina in the overall scheme of things... it's only when you really bring the pain that things start runnin' close to empty. Ya want my advice, ya let me smash up the tin cans, while you give them one nice bright light to distract them. That's a bloody huge bright light to be spitting out."

"Sometimes I underestimate myself, but somethin' we'll need to get clear before we decide to play trojan horse is who is coming along and who is stayin' behind."

[Slither]

Claire took a deep breath; this sounded...well it sounded mad, but then again the whole damn war was mad, so why should this mission be any different? "How much time do we have?" She closed her eyes and her aetherweave suit shifted into a fair approximation of a Luftwaffe flight suit, starting at her neck and spreading down to her boots. She opened her eyes and grinned.

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"I'm already dressed."

[Ryan Hawke]

Ryan nodded. "Now all we really need is an Air Raid to get the plane."

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No sooner had the words left his mouth then the great warning sirens began to sound. "Speak of the Devils."

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He looked around, and sighed. "There wasn't supposed to be one tonight, last report I had..."

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"We can try it now, on this one, or we can wait, ladies. If we wait though, we risk alot more than the city's safety. What do you say, ready to fully go off on this mad adventure? It does sound abit whimsical, and very farfetched, but here we are, nonetheless."

[June O'Gara]

June had full memory of what a Luftwaffe pilot's flight suit looked like. Her Aetherfiber outfit changed form into something that June took much distaste in wearing. "Well... at the very least I get alot of practice in on the way." June said with a grin. "Old Winston had better enjoy the scrap."

She put her trenchcoat on tightly. "I really... REALLY hate German uniforms. So... cold looking."

"So who needs the express flight to a Bomber?" June said, pulling a pair of goggles out of a pocket on her coat.

"Oh and once we set off our fireworks at the Kraut airbase, and we get home, I am NEVER wearing this again."

As she started out somoene stopped her, dressed in uniform from the nearby RAF airbase. "Miss O'Gara? We just recieved a message from the ministry of defense... they pulled you from the mission. Seems something to do with what happened a few weeks ago and..."

June looked cross. "What?"

"Look they need you at London right away."

June sighed. "You'd better have someone to replace me."

She shifted her suit back to what she originally had it set up as and loosened her trenchcoat. "Okay I'll get there shortly."

What she didn't know is that her leaving also draws off a German Dynamic from the raid. They will battle in London, and she will die with her hands around the throat of a dead german Dynamic... as she always wanted.

note

I really can't work with June anymore. I just can't work up anything. So... that is that.