Mutants & Masterminds: The Magisterium - [FIC] Cleaning up after yourself

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

May 25th, 2012

0230 hours.

7 kilometers SW of Playa del Carmen, Mexico

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It took some convincing, but Idris was getting annoyed smelling her burned clothes from a few days ago, so she went over her mental list and remembered a dead-drop she set up in Mexico for a extended mission she was on, taking down a drug-lord who had been dealing with a free-range mutant who could generate a drug from her skin that matched the effects of crystal meth. She had to take everything down, and she had left her gear in a dead-drop so she could sneak in the forests around the compound.

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She showed Jaunt the coordinates, but oddly enough, she gave him retrieval coordinates for almost 4 hours from then, and almost 100 kilometers into the carribean sea off of the Yucatan coast. at 0600 hours. Right before sunrise.

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She even said if she's not treading water there when he looks there at precicely at that moment, something went wrong, and he should abandon her. Wasn't much hair off of him as she is ported to her requested spot alone. Wearing nothing more than a black sports bra and some biking shorts. She didn't want to risk any guards smelling her burned fatigues.

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She snuck through the jungle, observing the area around her Dead-Drop. There was a old box, still intact, that she used. It looked like she could store her stuff there for a year easily.

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As she snuck around, she encountered a suprise. The mansion was back up and running... the guards walking the perimeter told it all.

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"Bloody hell, a new cartel. They're like damned cockraoches."

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Her ears pinned back. While there was no fences to her dead-drop, she would be within their perimeter. She would have to be clever. As she snuck through the growth there was the snapping of twigs.

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The two guards spun their flashlights towards her direction, looking aruond as she took to the ground, just her shiny eyes visible. As they leveled their guns out into the night, she growled.

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"Shit... there's a panther or something out here."

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"You sure man?"

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"Ya, see thsoe eyes?"

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Idris squinted, keeping her growl as one of the guards leveled their rifle in her direction.

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"Nah, man... she won't attack, not with what we got... let's keep goin'"

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"Man... I wanna bag one of thos things and stuff it."

"No... the last thing the boss needs is the federales bustin' down his door for shooting at endangered animals."

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"Shit... Right... yer lucky bitch you're rare."

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The two walk off, unaware that some 20 meters away and in the brush was a 5'8" cat-woman mutant holding back every urge to rush them and rip out their throats. She slinks through the brush, happy that in the night she could pass for a particularly large panther.

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Soon she finds her drop-box. Opening it, she breaths a sigh of relief. The black waterproof bag was still sealed and intact, so everything inside was protected mostly from the humidity and tropical climate. She puts on the dark reddish bodysuit on, followed by the dark grey tactical vest that came with it. She checked her M1911A1, still loaded and looked like the day she packed it. There were some spare clips and some MREs that were close to expiration, but still sealed. Also the helmet she wore when she was air-dropped into that forest some 8 months ago.

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She tossed the random left-over things into the black bag and zipped it back up. Starting to circle around to observe things further and formulate how to get out as undetected as she came in.

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Suddenly she heard a sobbing.

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Sneaking around behind the sobbing, she carefully peered through the dark.

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It was a girl, no older than 12, clutching something in her hands. Bloody and injured, she looked very scared. The insect bites were not helping her situation. Idris could smell the minor infection she had in the large gash on her leg.

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Suddenly the girl fell silent.

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"Who... Who's there?" She weakly said.

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"You're lost, child." Idris said, keeping her appearance hidden.

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"N... No... You're not taking me back."

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"I'm not. you're in a dangerous place. There's wild animals here that would eat you for dinner... Why are you here?"

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"I'm... I'm... running away."

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"From?"

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"They kidnapped me a year ago..."

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Idris took a closer look. She was not Mexican. She looked like she was American. By the accent... from Texas or a border state.

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"Say no more." Idris said, her liverpool accent showing.

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"Wait... are you a... soldier or something?"

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"No... But the guy running that place is a dead man. What was he doing with you in there?"

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"He... filmed me."

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She shushed the girl. "I get it." And Idris did. She knew exactly what was going on. "Now I got a reason. The 307 is northwest of us, about a Kilometer away. Run and don't stop. I'm about to give you an opening."

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She reached into her bag and put her helmet on after putting the hooded respirator on first so she could hide her face. She stepped out where the little girl could see her. "Someone hired me to take that guy down. What I want you to do is run. You never saw me, got it?"

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The girl nodded, swallowing back her fear. Idris moved with purpose to where she knew the two guards she saw earlier were. She took off her gloves, stuffing them into a pocket on her vest before lining up.

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She growled again and the guards once again were listening. But then she sprung out. The first guard didn't even have a chance as Idris' claws ripped through his neck. The second guard wheeled around with hsi rifle, but idris had faded into the forest. She took a moment to take her helmet and mask off, her growl more audible.

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As the second guard stumbled backward his rifle went off through the trees, firing into the night.

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"Bingo, asshole, I want the attention tonight!"

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It wasn't long before her claws were into his chest and her mouth full of teeth had bit through his neck. She timed the 15 seconds until he bled out into unconciousness and shock. By the time she heard the jeep full of more guards, she had faded into the forest again, setting up another flank. Taking a rifle with her and the ammunition.

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"Shit..." One of the guards that went to check only to find the eviscerated guards on the ground. A look of fear on the second.

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"Looks like a Panther was out here alright. A pissed one."

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"Yeah. Jose and Rodriguez were talkign about that over the radio."

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Radio... important to note. Idris thought as the bodies were looked over...

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To be continued

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Idris grinned putting her helmet back on, tightening the straps. She remembered some simple spanish phrases she was slipped for the mission a while back.

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"¡Alto! Policía!" she shouted, followed by unloading into the squad, A couple were dropped instantly in a red mist, another took a wound to the chest. The last guy panicked, and Idris capitalized leaping out of the brush, cold-cocking him. While she as on him, she pulled her knife and slit his throat. As he was on the ground wheezing through the blood and gore, his radio chirped up. "Responda! Por Dios, responde!"

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Idris turned on his radio and did her growl again. Licking her chops making it sound like they were getting eaten, the sound of the guard she knifed only sold the horror story she was leaving behind. She grabbed the radio, hooking it to her own vest, grabbed some spare ammunition, and continued on. Tonight she was going to tear this place to the ground.

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Back at the Mansion "El Hefe Gordo" as he was called sat drumming his fingers. "Okay, explain to me how a damn cat is killing my men."

"It seems that is the fact of matters, sir... If I may offer..." The woman straightened her black hair, her brown eyes had a look of malice behind the goggles. "I've made it my career hunting simple beasts like this. After all... the illegal trade in tusks and other manner of trophies has made the both of us quite, quite rich."

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Her french accent was light, and it turned the boss on. "Well, as long as you can bag me a damn new carpet, chica, we can get back on to business."

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She nodded, grabbing her AR-15 bespoke with scopes and other tactical equipment and headed out of his office.

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Back in the jungle, Idris was closing on her target when the sound of gunfire. "What in the hell? That's no cat!" She said, and Idris could hear that over the radio. Someone had night vision. Thankfully the shots landed behind her as she disappeared into a brush covered culvert.

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"Hefe... mobilize the mercenaries you hired dammit, time for them to start earning their pay..."

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Idris grabbed her rifle, looking at a hacienda overlooking the ocean. It was all within reach, at least this probable place they were roomed up in. She unloaded into the windows. "You mean that wake-up call?"

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"Who is this? Who are you?"

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"Oh... someone who is about to leave nothing but a burning wreck of a compound. Unfinished business."

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El Hefe Gordo picked up his mic while Idris checked her work, a mercenary jumped up, nursing a head wound when she caught him with her claws.

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"I don't know who you are, pequeña perra colegiala, but you're dead!"

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"Oh, sorry, but I've just made you waste all your investments so far to get me."

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There was a shot, hitting at her feet, and Idris bolted, ripping out the man's larynx as she moved.

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"Good god, El Hefe, you better get the hell out of here!"

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"El Hefe Gordo doesn't run, Perra!"

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Idris grinned, followed by hopping over a parked jeep, slinging her rifle up, she aimed right at the poacher. "Say Cheese, bitch!"

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She unloaded, the look of shock on the woman's face before it was obliterated by gunshots was one Idris would remember for a while. Landing on her feet she pulled the radio up to her face. "Hey... El Hefe Gordo, your frensh maid just bit the big one. She's a Jackson Pollack on the wall now."

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"Don't call me fat you limey bitch."

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Idris looked around. Not distracting herself with the banter. "Good luck." Idris said, tossing the radio away, as well as her firearms save for her pistol. She was going to get her hands dirty from here on.