Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 11e: Plans for the Future

[Dawn OOC]

As Draygo watched, the soldier with the General fired at one of the three-wheeler riders. The man threw himself nearly off the stationary vehicle to avoid the shot, and somehow matrixed himself out of danger.

The General got luckier. When he aimed and fired at another man, his target seemed to almost throw himself into the attack, getting thrown off the vehicle. He sprawled in the dirt, choking up blood from his chest wound.

Dylan, you're up next, you have until 7 CST on the 23rd.

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan made his way in to the fountain and quickly got a laptop out. Plugging in his up-link and booting up the machine seemed to take a whole lot longer with shots being fired and dragons throwing tanks around. When he finally got a connection and was able to broadcast on the right frequency he slipped on a head set.

"Dylan to Fox, come in Fox. Anyone there? We have hit a bit of a snag. If you could open a portal that should allow us two way communication over the walkies." Dylan did suddenly have the thought of what if they weren't in Hawaii anymore. Well if they didn't hear anything in a few minutes then he would send a message to the base.

[Dawn OOC]

“Roger, Dylan. Let me get some altitude and then I’ll do that,” Fox said. He motioned to Dan to follow; once they were higher than any zombie could go, Fox opened one of his silver warps. “Go ahead, Dylan, what’s your status?"

Click to reveal..

I'm dropping out of combat, so Draygo can feel free to describe his mop-up. The guys are all hurt enough that they won't resist. I'll be getting with Dylan to work on the conversation that is about to happen.

"Our Lady Queen of Peace Church!" the man squeaked, his courage failing him in the face of Walker's icy, invisible grip. "We're hiding the ATVs there until they can move them home!"

[Stargaizer]

Draygo watched as one of the guys and his ATV suddenly stopped in the alleyway, lifted off the ground, and just hung there. From the way that he was squirming, Draygo assumed that he wasn't floating there of his own free will.

Regardless, Draygo realized that this was the time to collect his 'witnesses'. So, he walked (because of his weight it sounded more like thudding stomps) over to the closest guy, picked him up and tucked him under one of his arms (all the while trying his best to not slice the guy to pieces with his claws). Then he went to the next guy and picked him up by his collar, and did the same thing with the third guy (the one the General had shot).

Then he took them over to the base of the building that Jules had been on top of, and tossed them (he tried not to be too rough) against the wall.

Now that they were all nice and positioned and hopefully cowed, he crouched down on his backward bending knees, spreading his wings out fully, to both hopefully keep his wounded captives from bolting to either side, as well as both stability and a modicum of privacy.

His deep, gravelly voice rumbled and reverberated through the three humans, the ground and the wall behind them. "Talk."

[Amarant]

Through his captor's invisible form, the terrified ATV rider could see as Draygo gathered up his companions and cornered them against a wall. What he couldn't see was Walker's inhuman head swiveling around on an inhuman neck so that he could watch as well. Good, thought Walker as he watched.

Turning his attention back to the ATV rider, Walker hissed in his face again.

"Next question: yer super-humans rendezvous there too? Or 'nother place?"

The ATV rider suddenly gasped in pain as he felt the invisible hands gripping him like vices begin to squeeze, stopping just short of rib-cracking pressure. Then, just as suddenly, the pressure let up again.

"If answers aren't th'same as yer friends back there", the death-smelling voice whispered to him, "won't be good for you."

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan watched Draygo go to work as he answered Fox. "Well sir, it seems that D.C. is under the control of some group you all know of, R.U.S. They control the pentagon so Jules set up a neutral location to talk with them. Have a General here who we were attempting to negotiate with for some satellite control. Got attacked by a second group who we still don't know. Draygo is getting information out of them, still waiting for Walker and Jules to come down from the roof tops.

We have seen supers in both groups but we have seen more R.U.S. and only one super from them and the group that attacked us seemed to be a strike force with at least two supers, suggesting they have more to spare. We are one hour south on foot from the pentagon if you want to fly down so we can use this place, or somewhere near by, for a staging point for future visits."

[Dawn OOC]

Draygo

"Look, I don't know what you want to know!" the man Draygo had by the collar babbled. "Just... maybe... ask what you want to know? I mean, I can guess, but then I'd just be babbling-"

"Shut up, Cole," the skinny man on the ground hissed. Draygo blinked and took another look when he heard the voice. Under the clothing and dirt was a woman - a skinny woman built like a tomboy, but a woman nevertheless. She'd been the one the General had shot, and she was shivering with the effort to stay upright. She glared at Draygo and said, "We aren't talking to you. You were consorting with the enemy, the damned R.U.S."

As she bowed her head, Draygo realized she didn't have much time left - or really anything to threaten her with. Cole, on the other hand did, and the dragon-man looked at him. Just a scalding look melted the man's resolve and he said, "I'll take you to our base. It won't be easy to get in, though."

"Cole... you cowardly fuck..." the woman hissed as she sagged further, blood loss and shock catching up to her.

Walker

"Hey now! I ain't gonna lie to you, Mister... uh, Mister." The man was on the verge of tears and possibily urination; Walker could feel his entire body shake from tiny tremors. "Look, we live in the subways. They're easy to block off and clear out, and they have limited access points. But the entrances will be heavily guarded against even guys like dragon-man."

Dylan

Fox asked, "Do you need me over there? I mean, so far, aside from me visiting long enough to make it a staging point, it sounds like something that you guys can handle."

Dylan, still watching Draygo, replied, "Actually, we'd like to GTFO, if you get my point."

"Understood," Fox said. "Send up a flare for me to help find you easier."

[Dylan Harvey]

"You got it, flare will be up momentarily." Dylan glanced at the general, then to the men that Draygo was intimidating. Jules must have her own find up on the roof with Walker, maybe they had captured one of the supers.

"Hey Fox, tensions are running a bit high here, I might suggest getting close and then coming in on foot."

Reaching in to his bag he pulled out the flare gun. He stood up and walked over to Draygo. "Fox is in in route. Should be here soon." Aiming the flare gun up Dylan fired. Once that was done he approached the general. "You ok?"

[Dawn OOC]

He and the single soldier from the tank were sitting down, covered in a dried layer of blood. The misting had gotten all over the two men, turning their uniforms an ugly reddish-brown.

The general glanced up at Dylan and snorted. "Nope. Won't be alright for a few more days." He was sitting on the ledge of the fountain. The soldier sitting next to him had turned his back to them, and occasionally made a choked noise. The general ignored the crying soldier and eyed Dylan, who had only a few flecks on him, sheltered as he'd been in Draygo's wings. "You should wash up. You might still have a chance to escape it."

[Stargaizer]

Draygo eyed the man as he used his claw to effortlessly slice of the bottom edge of his t-shirt. This woman mightn't want to talk, but if they kept her alive they might be able to find other uses for her...

He handed the strip to the man who was probably about to wet himself. "Bind her wound; she might still prove useful. And while you do it, tell me more about your base and why it won't be easy to get into. If you don't..." Draygo pointed one sharp, gleaming claw at the man, then flicked it in a slicing motion "...then all the kings horses and all the kings men won't be able to find all your pieces to put you back together again... got it?"

[Amarant]

Now that his captive had reached a point of abject terror, Walker took a moment to relax his position somewhat. Still unseen, he extended the strand of hyperstrong spider-silk he was hanging from until his multiple, several-meter-long legs could touch the ground, righting himself and setting down the unneeded ATV he'd been holding in two of his arms as he did so. Though this initially brought his captive closer to the ground, in the end he actually wound up a couple of meters higher in the air than he'd started.

"Two questions, now", said Walker, not bothering to threaten the man by squeezing him near-to-death like the last time, but not bothering to soften his grip in the slightest, either.

"How many soldiers in yer sewer-base, an' how're the entrances guarded?", he asked.

[Dawn OOC]

“It’s underground, in the DC subways and sewers. They’re easy to block off, and we can move around under large parts of the city without the United States of the Delusional spotting us,” Cole replied, his voice shaking only a little now. As he warmed up to his role as snitch, so did he warm up to Draygo. “We’ve got some of them rigged to blow, too, in case of invasion or zombie swarms.”

The man Walker was speaking to answered him with much more terror than Draygo’s man. “I don’t know how many men we have guarding; we have a number of people, and they all take turns guarding and stuff. The tunnels we don’t use are closed off with plugs made of concrete and debris. We have some dead ends we use as zombie corrals, for when we need something like for the bombs.”

[Amarant]

"Didn't ask 'bout tunnels you don't use", Walker hissed in the man's face, and for the first time there was a hint of real emotion in his voice. Not good emotion, either.

This time the ATV rider wailed in pain, because this time Walker didn't stop his squeezing short of inflicting actual damage. Afterwards, Walker waited invisibly, with his implacable, arachnoid patience, while his victim writhed and squirmed and moaned, trying to catch his breath inside a chest that now burned terribly with the effort.

When he felt that the man's efforts had been successful enough for him to at least speak if pressed, Walker squeezed him again - but much less fiercely - and hissed right in his face, "Said tunnels were defended against 'dragon man'. How? Tell everything now or I pop you like a grape an' start over with yer friends back there".

Click to reveal..

Re: Damage: Walker will use just enough of his mega-strength to inflict 5 Levels of Bashing damage (which the guy can soak with his Stamina, obviously), as per the "Pulling Your Punches" rules presented in Aberrant, pg. 241.

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan looked mostly confused by what the general had said. Before he could really get in to it though something Draygo's captive was talking about caught his attention. His mind raced as he thought about the possibilities.

"General, these guys are obviously not your friends. What if we could help you keep tabs on them, would that be worth the use of a few civilian comm sats? If they are all sitting down in the subway system I might be able to get the city subway grid connected to the pentagon system so you guys can use the security cameras, at least any that are still working. That would also give the RUS full control of any power grid still operational down there. If you wanted to hit them you could just turn off the lights before you did it.

Now I am not promising this is possible, I would have to get access to the system and see how damaged it is and I obviously can't promise how much of the security still exist down there but it might let you guys have some warning before these attacks happen."

He glanced over at Draygo to see if he had heard Dylan's plan and approved. He also looked around trying to find Walker and Jules. Dylan really needed to put together some simple head sets. With the parts he could construct a half dozen in a day pretty easily. Add that to the list.

[Stargaizer]

Draygo heard Dylan, but gave nothing other than a snort of hot air on Cole (similar to a bull's huffing) and a quick, affirmative nod of his head. Honestly he was paying more attention to his informant, so as to make sure he didn't miss anything and would be able to tell if he gave misinformation that contradicted itself.

He also watched the bandaging job Cole was doing on his partner. "Tell me more. Main entrances, bolt holes, security, electricity, food, water. Tell me everything that you know."

[Dawn OOC]

The general stared at Dylan and then nodded. "You make that happen and you'll have your deal."

Cole sighed as he finished binding the now-unconscious woman’s wounds. He was speaking softly enough that his voice only carried to Draygo; Walker’s enhanced ears also picked them up. “We have three entrances that aren’t sealed off: the Eastern Market Station, the Tenleytown – AU station and the Crystal City Station. If you want to go in another way, you need to break through our fences or a bunch of debris, usually held in place with cement plugs. Lot of those – fences and plugs – are rigged to blow, to keep them sealed, right? Then the tunnels have periodic guards – we have a number of people there, everyone around here who didn’t want to sign up with the military. So most of the stations have a rotating shift, to watch for people trying to get in through the plugs, or zombies that get in the system itself.

“The stations have cameras – some work some don’t, but enough work that you won’t be able to overwhelm the guards without being seen by the main group, and by the time you get to them, they’ll be ready for you. Some of the tunnels have spots rigged to blow, too, in case we have invaders. That’s a last option, though, since blowing the tunnel means that people can’t use them anymore. We like being able to travel around under DC without the spooks watching us from the air.

“We have electricity, mostly because we’ve been able to rig some houses with solar panels together,” Cole continued. “It’s a big mess, but we keep it working. We have food stored there, and we have collected rain water. We’ve also got access to the Potomac for bathwater – we haven’t gotten desperate enough to drink it yet.” He looked up at Draygo. “That everything?”

The man who was in Walker’s grip was talking, too, just as softly. He said more or less the same thing Cole did, but he added, “Don’t… tell the mil’tary… they wanna wipe us all out…”

Walker’s reply was cut off by sudden tingles ran throughout his body. The man had never felt anything like this before; it was similar to what he imagined touching a live wire felt like. The sense of his surrounding faded to be replaced by something alien – something from someone else.

There was a word in his head; not a voice, but a word: Come. Immediately, it was followed by an image:

Then the tingles, word and image were all gone, as if they'd never been. The only proof of what had happened was Walker's memory and the man screaming in his unconsciously tight grip.

Click to reveal..

Two things. First, if Walker wouldn’t squeeze the man accidently, I’ll remove it. That’s for dramatic purposes.

Second, unless your character has access to a map of the DC subways, I ask that you, the player, not look at a map. If your character has seen such a map and did so while having perfect memory, then feel free. Dylan, talk to me about whether you have a map in your database.

[Amarant]

Walker didn't know what to make of what had just happened. Whatever it was, it had hurt. It took him an instant to gather himself afterwards and then the giant, invisible super found himself looking down at the screaming terrorist he'd been interrogating. Walker ignored the man and his screaming for the moment and turned his grotesque and unseen head towards the northwest. It did no good; he couldn't see the strange rock formation from where he stood in D.C. and he didn't hear the call again, but the direction felt right...

Looking back down at his captive, Walker regarded the badly injured human as he squirmed in agony.

"Thanks fer th'information", he whispered quietly, even for him. And then he reached up with one of his hands and clamped it over the man's head, giving it one short, hard twist to the left. The man's spinal column put up no resistance at all - either to Walker's hand as it snapped it in two or to his victim's life as it fled from his body.

Walker dropped the body at what were not quite feet but were his, nonetheless, and turned and started back towards Draco and Dylan without so much as a backwards glance.

************************************

The general stared at Dylan and then nodded. "You make that happen and you'll have your deal."

"Make what happen?", asked a suddenly-present, perfectly visible Walker, looking about as normal as he ever did. He'd just appeared as if out of nowhere.

"Found out where they're holed up", he said, adding, "Got us an ATV we c'n use, too."

The four-armed super was silent for another moment, and though he was perfectly still Dylan could see that he was struggling with something. Finally he said simply, "They took Jules".

[Stargaizer]

Draygo nodded and picked up Cole by the back of the neck. He walked over to where Dylan, the General and now Walker were.

"This one has been a fount of information, and there's another one, a female, unconscious over there. Where's Jules, we need to figure out what we're going to do next. Anybody happen to have a map of the subway system?"

Apparently he had been far enough away that he hadn't heard Walkers initial proclamation about Jules having been taken.

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan looked between the two supers, weighing their abilities. He was already hard at work coming up with a plan and now that Walker had revealed why Jules had not joined them it was being edited to fit the current need. Draygo had seen this look in Dylan's eyes several times. When ever he was presented with a new problem he would just seem to process through it.

"Walker said the subway rats took her. I need an electrical blueprint for the entire D.C. subway system. That way I can find a surface connection to the security system and hack in so we can see whats going on down there, and hopefully locate Jules. Once we know that we can plan a rescue."

"Once we know the layout I can cut the power. Darkness doesn't really slow you two down very much. Draygo can go in guns...scales a blazing and stir up a racket while Walker sneaks to Jules. The places they have rigged to blow could be a problem though. They most likely just have them rigged to wire or pressure sensitive. I will try to figure out a way past that while we work on getting eyes up down there."

Dylan wasn't fully comfortable with the idea of treating these people like enemies, or with the idea of killing any of them, but they had attacked and kidnapped Jules. And in the back of his mind he felt if anything happened to any of them it was his fault. He had brought them here.

"Let me look online for a blue print while we wait for Fox to get here so we can update him. If I can't find one we are going to have to go to the main power and water offices for it."

He looked to see if either of them had a problem with his plan before he got to work.

[Dawn OOC]

General Wilson stared at Dylan for a long moment; then he nodded. "It'll take a bit to get you the layout," Wilson said, "maybe an hour." As Dylan opened his mouth, Wilson cut him off. "I'll put out the order for your maps, but it'll take time to get those found and out here. You'll have them as fast as humanly possible."

"Is your speedster going to run them out?" Dylan asked. "Look, you gotta understand - those guys are holding our friend captive. We've gotta get her out of there before they hurt her."

"I do understand," Wilson said evenly. "They've taken our people before and I got them back in pieces. I doubt they'll do that to your friend; beyond them considering her 'entertaining' in evil ways, she's like you. I bet they try to recruit her to their side first. They've done that to my people too. That'll give us time. Now, I gotta make some calls."

He stood and started to turn, then he looked back at the tank. "Hey, Dragon... can you get my tank out of that rubble and rescue my men?"

[Stargaizer]

Draygo listened to Dylan's plan. He was concerned that Jules was gone, but from what he had learned about the subways and how they were guarded, rushing heedlessly to her aid would put her in more danger than coming up with a strategy.

Figuring that Dylan and/or Walker would watch his snitch, Draygo snorted at the General and his request, small sparks coming from his nostrils, then he turned, moved over to the ruined building and started digging through the rubble towards the sound of the men in the tank.

Once he had cleared off enough so that the top portal of the tank was visible, he worked his claws down and, with a loud wrenching and popping noise, pulled the hatch clean off.

[Amarant]

Walker watched as Draygo yanked the top off of the general's tank. He was pretty sure that wasn't what the general had intended for the dragon-man to do, but it wasn't his tank and he didn't like the people whose tank it was, so he also didn't care much.

Turning back to Dylan, Walker said, "Don't know where Jules is in th'sewers. Might take a while to track her down. Sure you want the big guy ta make a scene 'fore I've found her?"

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan frowned slightly. "That's why we wait until I have hacked the cameras Walker. We will know the layout before either of you go in."

Sitting back down at his laptop Dylan started typing. The general said it would take an hour but Dylan still wanted to see if he could find a blue print before that. He still had to figure out what to do about those mined areas. Something would come to him.

[Dawn OOC]

Dylan eventually found an internet tourist's guide to the DC subway system, but much of its usefulness was removed by the fact that the website owner hadn't assessed the subways for the refugee lifestyle. He'd had little control over what he'd been able to save from the internet in his files, but he'd tried to dump some stuff about DC into this laptop.

The general watched Draygo rip the top off the tank. "I was thinking you'd could lift it out of the rubble, but this works, too," Wilson said. "Thanks." He nodded his appreciation to Draygo and pulled all of his men, even the bloody one, aside.

A transport truck arrived soon after and the general walked back to them. "You can come with us to the Pentagon, if you'd like," Wilson offered. "If you don't, I'll have someone out here with what we have on the subway soon." He paused and then added, "If you want help to rescue your friend, let me know now. I can provide some support or firepower. At least what we can spare from our own defenses."

A rush of wind announced Fox's arrival. The charismtic red-headed leader dropped out of the sky between Walker and Dylan. "What's the situation?" he asked, his green eyes taking in the blood-coated general and soldier as well as the tank and prisoner. He blinked and his calm veneer slipped a touch. "Where's Jules?" he asked, worry in his eyes.

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan looked up from the laptop. "The R.U.S. control most of DC. There is a group of people living in the subways that seem to be fighting a street war with them, including using tactics like dropping zombies on them to infect them. They kidnapped Jules and now we are waiting on intelligence we need to infiltrate their area and get her back."

Dylan looked to the others. "Am I leaving anything important out?"

[Stargaizer]

The lack of ire from the General surprised and slightly confused Draygo, but he didn't let it get to him; there were too many other things to worry about at the moment.

When Fox arrived, and Dylan relayed their current status, Draygo simply nodded where appropriate. He didn't have anything more to add, so he just waited for their next move.

Hopefully this would be over and they could all get back to the refuge, safe, sound and soon.

[Dawn OOC]

"Alright," Fox said heavily. "I'm going to head up a bit and call the other team. They need an update; some might want to help." Lots of the supers liked Jules. "Though we have another situation - a group in Las Vegas is being overrun right now; a survivor has an ability like mine and he caught up with us in Hawaii. We might want to shift people from one team to another - take our heavy hitters to Las Vegas, leave our sneaky people here to get Jules and take Dylan to Myf. Thoughts?"

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan stopped typing and looked up at Fox. "Take Dylan to myf? What the hell! What were you thinking? Just go ahead and head in there and hope your not noticed with no idea of where your going? She could be anywhere in the entire subway system. How do you plan on getting in unnoticed? How do you plan on avoiding the mines?

With me here you need three people to get Jules, you, Walker, and Draygo, at least if I am not mistaken about how all your powers work. I can locate her, disable several of their defenses, be your eyes and ears. I am not going anywhere."

[Stargaizer]

Draygo didn't really want to leave Dylan, but Fox did have at least a small point.

After Dylan's outburst, he chimed in, hoping to smooth things over a bit with Fox. His voice low and rumbling, "The General of the RUS is gathering what info about the subways they have, and then they're going to bring it back here. That would be good intel to have, especially with these two," he pointed a clawed finger at his snitch and the unconscious woman. "But since it'll probably be in electronic form, it'll be useless without Dylan.

From what we've learned, they've got cameras, boobytraps and reinforcements able to focus on any breach. Plus, they've got supers capable of flying or jumping high enough to turn a dropped zombie into a bloody bomb. Who knows what other abilities they have.

While I agree with your idea to get sneakies here and heavy hitters to Vegas, I don't really want to leave Dylan, and I think he's needed here. Besides, if things turn south here, you'll need someone who can hold their own."

Draygo really had a very limited idea of what everybody else could do, but going with the stereotype that rogues or other stealthy people are usually squishy, and that tanks are usually very not stealthy, it seemed like a good idea. He hated the idea that another compound was getting overrun, and if Fox insisted, he'd go... he just didn't want to risk the life of the first person he'd met after Z-Day (and thus his oldest friend). Hopefully Fox would take their ideas as 'second opinions' and not as criticism or insubordination. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off the only person able to get them back to all their stuff... it wasn't quite home just yet.

[Amarant]

Walker's carapace-black eyes shifted smoothly between Fox, Dylan and Draygo while the rest of him remained silent and motionless. As usual, his face showed no expression and he kept his thoughts to himself. After the others had had their say, the strange super's head swiveled to face Fox and his inhuman eyes locked with the Refuge's leader.

"You need me in Vegas?", Walker rasped, "Or lookin' fer Jules? Jus' tell me which an' I'll get to work."

Originally, he'd intended to scout out the enemy's network of tunnels himself, map a route of escape, and then find Jules and escape with her - in that order. Depending on the layout and numbers of the enemy, his options would've been to find Jules and then, starting from her position, move out into the network and simply slaughter them all, thus removing any potential threat in the first place (this would work best if their numbers really weren't that great and they were in the bad habit of grouping themselves into small clusters of people spread out over a relatively wide area), or to map a route of rapid escape, find Jules, clear the route, then lead her out via the cleared route (the best option if their numbers were greater or if the majority of them tended to remain clustered in a central area, with only a light presence along the peripherals of their network). If both the numbers and the security of the enemy were so formidable that neither of these options would work then, frankly, Walker did not hold out much hope for Jules.

Still, he was aware that the new guy, Dylan, was supposed to be some sort of genius. Perhaps he was seeing options that Walker wasn't. Time would tell.

[Dawn OOC]

"Walker, no, I'm sure I want you here," Fox said grimly. "Draygo, I want you in Vegas. With your strength, we're going to need your help. Dylan, you'll be here to help Walker with the electrical." He looked at the boy. "Dr. Shattuck will be checking you out. I need to coordinate with Hawaii, then we'll be ready to go, Draygo."

He looked at Walker. "Once I'm gone, it'll be your job to get Dylan and Jules home alive and safe. Understood?" Walker saw the pain in Fox's eyes. Fox feared for Jules - a little for Dylan but the woman had almost been. It was killing him to even think about leaving this with Walker alone.

As he waited for Walker and Draygo's acknowledgement, another jeep pulled up. The man who exited went straight to Dylan. "I'm Sgt. Bill, yes-that-really-is-my-last-name. I have the plans, you ready for the briefing?" He had a thumb drive.

[Stargaizer]

Draygo didn't want to go leave Dylan, especially if only one person were going to be staying here with him.

"I'll go, but Dylan and Walker are going to need someone else, in case something goes wrong, in case they need backup."

He gave Dylan his 'everything's going to be ok' look, and tried to give Walker a 'bring them back alive' look... though with his reptilian face and relative unfamiliarity what Walker actually got was anyone's guess.

He was ready to go, or discuss more, but either way Draygo was waiting on Fox.

[Amarant]

Walker regarded both the Refuge's leader and the enormous dragon-man with an unreadable implacability that was almost alien. After a just-slightly-too-long pause, he answered Fox's question with a rasping, "Yessir."

His head twitched so that he was looking at Draygo and he added, "Backup's fine, so long's they don't get in my way."

[Dylan Harvey]

Dylan just snatched the thumb drive and put it in to the laptop without saying anything. As he typed and clicked he muttered slightly under his breathe. He seemed to be debating how much he wanted to blatantly undermine Fox's command. As his eyes scanned the screen he kept glancing at the three supers. Finally he spoke quietly, clearly showing he was attempting to keep his anger and what they would mostly just take as "youth" in check.

"If you think Vegas would survive for just a bit without you and Draygo, Fox, we can most likely have Jules recovered. If Walker can make you as hard to notice as he seems to make himself at times, then you can just float him through the tunnels so that you won't trip any mines. Once I am hooked in to the subway cameras I can direct you two to Jules and if necessary, Draygo goes in the front door and creates a distraction. Once you two reach Jules you just portal back to the refuge. Then Draygo and I go back to the pentagon and I trade the surveillance control over for the satellite codes and you just open a portal for us to come back."

He stopped typing and looked at the screen and nodded.

"Twenty second street north west and F street northwest, near the school without walls. That is most likely my best place to try to connect with the systems down there.

[Amarant]

Walker watched and listened while Dylan attempted to rein in his emotions and avoid having an outburst. On the one hand, he could appreciate that the kid was staying focused and trying to keep his emotions out of things. On the other hand, he wondered what Dylan thought he had to prove.

Fox had given an order - it was that simple. Sometimes orders didn't make perfect sense to those stuck in the trenches (and if anyone from Fox's crew currently qualified as being 'stuck in the trenches' it was Walker, Dylan and Draygo) and sometimes they left a fellow without all the resources he wanted access to, but they were still orders and they still needed following. Dylan's ideas mostly seemed like good ideas to Walker, but if the resources weren't there - or weren't going to be made available - then they might as well have been the worst ideas ever for all the good they would do.

Fortunately, for both Walker and Dylan, Walker wasn't the man in charge - Fox was - so it really didn't matter what he thought about the situation, meaning he could just take a back seat and let things play out.

Fox being the kind of guy he was, he listened quietly while Dylan outlined his (only slightly sarcastic) rescue plans. When the younger super was finished, Fox turned a questioning glance Walker's way.

"Can't do it", Walker said, "can't make others n'vizible." Instead of the typical jerky motion, Walker's neck swiveled with an eery slow grace as he looked back to Dylan. "Sorry", he offered, "s'a good idea, otherwise."

[Dawn OOC]

“It was a good idea, and I’m glad you suggested it.” From anyone else, that might have sounded patronizing, but Fox’s supernatural presence saved it from sounding like anything other than a sincere statement. “But I trust Walker to tell me if he had that ability, so I knew he couldn’t do that and that’s why I didn’t suggest it.” It was a gentle reminder that Fox knew his resources.

“But Draygo is right – someone should stay with Dylan. And since I’ll be needed to transport you guys home anyway, once we have Jules back, it’ll be me,” Fox said. He glanced at Draygo. “I understand your desire to stay with Dylan – he’s your buddy. But I need you in Vegas and I swear I’ll get Dylan out, even if no one else does.”

[Stargaizer]

Draygo gave a short nod to Fox. That was all he needed, and he was ready to go.

[Dylan Harvey]

Letting out a slight sigh of frustration that was clearly directed at the fact his plan couldn't have worked, Dylan nodded and started packing up. He still had time to figure out how to get past those mines. His knowledge of the supers abilities had all been gathered from stories. Draygo was the only one he knew the full read out on, at least as far as Draygo knew of it. Walker seemed more then capable of raining down destruction on a platoon of soldiers if he needed to. Dylan had yet to see the super hurt so he could only assume that along with being very strong he was very fast. His ability to become invisible had mostly been something Dylan had pieced together by several accounts of people just never noticing Walker, especially when Walker's mere presence gave of a feeling. Several of the supers had that affect, yet Draygo didn't really. He wondered what caused that.

Violet also gave off that feeling. Others had described it as creepy and he supposed it was in a way but he didn't want to just think that was it. There was something more to it.

Well he went through the list of what he knew about the supers he was also thinking of the wiring of the subway. From what he saw of the layout he was trying to create a mental picture of what they could have cannibalized. He also went through the list of all the ways they could have made mines and how they could be avoided or disabled. Outwardly he was just quickly packing everything up and handing the jump drive back to the soldier. He turned to Fox and Walker.

"I'm ready, let's go get Jules."

[Dawn OOC]

Click to reveal..

5 xp for this subchapter