15775/The Path of Progress: Back to the Start

The Path of Progress: Back to the Start
Date of Scene:	09 September 2023
Location:	Downtown -- Madripoor
Synopsis:	Cable and his team storm the evil law offices of evil to try and dig up information on John Sublime's whereabouts. Afterwards there may be a trip to the Waffle House.
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Monet St. Croix, Tabitha Smith, Quiet, Franklin Richards, Sally Pride

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Cable has posed:
Since the ambush last time that left a research facility outside Gotham City demolished to the ground and Cable and his team at the bottom of a pit, there has not been a single trace of John Sublime. While hunting down his various Transhumanist backers might prove easy enough, it is the big fish that they want now. No more intermediaries, or diversions.

Of course, first they have to find Sublime and whatever hole he has crawled into. One problem at a time.

As fate would have it, X-Force already finds itself in Madripoor on a separate matter and since the entire hunt for the traffickers in mutant body parts started here, it seems only fitting that they try to pick up on whatever loose threads remain to be gathered and picked through.

And then probably blown to pieces. The team is nothing if not consistent.

Madripoor has always been a study in contrasts, with much of the city dirt poor, a proper hive of scum and villany. But the free reign given over to the wealthy, to the criminally inclined and to anyone who cares to do business in Madripoor also insures that there is a thriving modern heart to the city as well, with gleaming towers stretching towards the sky -- and casting their shadows over the less fortunate who dwell in the city.

One of those gleaming towers is the target of Cable and his team today. The law offices of Asshole, Bigger Asshole and Biggest Asshole, or some such. The international branch of Evil Incorporated. Fitting representation for John Sublime and the individuals responsible for arranging the factory turned fortress that the man was using to hold kidnapped mutants while they were dissected for parts.

Again the future soldier has reached out through the shadowy lines of communication that he always keeps open to supplement the team and gathered them together in an empty office across the street from the target.

By now the setup is likely familiar to those that work with him often -- a simple table stretched out in front of the window looking out over the gleaming monument of glass and steel across the street, schematics of the building stretched out on the surface. Yet another table is loaded down with a wide assortment of weapons, ranging from the small and discrete to the ridiculously oversized cannons that Nathan Summers seems to prefer.

"Mission is simple. Snatch and grab. We want the files from the central database. It's a closed system, no outside access. Hopefully their records will give us a starting point on where to hunt down Sublime next," Cable says flatly, tone even with none of that desire to get his hands on the dangerous businessman evident in his voice. "Security will be a little more viscious then we might normally expect. These guys represent most of the major merc teams that operate out of the city and sub-contract some of the best so expect things to get... violent."

As they normally do on any of Cable's missions.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Just like the last few times have gone so well when it comes time to nabbing records from Sublime. "We're certain that it's not a trap this time?" The way it was the last one that had them having to explode their way into a hole to escape being exploded. "We'll need to make sure we have an escape method this time. Have you figured out what blocked your teleportal last time so that we aren't at risk of having it disrupted again and jammed?" Or telepathy. Sublime had shown himself to be rahter annoyingly thorough.

"Given what we've run into shock and awe is going to be less than effective even if we breach successfully." The man had been annoyingly ahead of them so far in every encounter.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
At least the view is nice even if you know what's actually down on the street levels. The only difference between Hightown and Lowtown is pretty much just cleaner clothes and trash removal.

Tabby Smith. Blonde Bombshell of a mad bomber hmms as she looks over the schematics and blueprints and all the layouts with a very squinty focuesed look behind the yellow tints of her cateye framed glasses.

Tabby may possibly have come up with an idea and she beams a grin to the team. "It's getting in and plugging into a computer. Getting in is pretty easy. Find someone in IT, snag their credentials, walk in like you meant to be there. Plug in, crack their authentication. I can probably snag the means for that from Shadowcat or Cypher. All in a fancy USB drive, plug in, act like at work working on work. When it's down and done, just walk out with the drive." the young woman explains.

It might need ditching the black and yellow synthleathers of her X-Suit but even Madripoor probably frowns on leather looking pants and bare midriffs in corporate environments.

Quiet has posed:
Quiet met Cable through a friend of a friend kind of arrangement. She ffancies herself a reliable teammate on these kind of missions too, and after their last in Gotham she hopes she's proven herself as such.

Here and now, the young looking woman is seated on the edge of a chair's arm rest. She's got one booted foot up on the front of the chair's seat, and the other down on the floor. In her lap is a giant sniper rifle that she is casually cradling after removing from its container case. Dressed in a sleeveless black bodysuit that is form-fit to her figure, partially see-thru under bright lights suggesting its heavily breathable material, with a drab green army harness worn around her torso, she looks like she's ready for either this... or fighting Cyberdine Corporation. One or the other. You choose.

Quiet's green eyes glance up from her heavy gun when Nathan starts to speak, her eyes lingering on him for a moment before they drift to the window viewing the building outside, then finally to the table of weapons. They look so pretty... but, she's a bit of a gun nut herself.

With a light breath, her right fingerless-gloved hand comes up to brush brown locks of hair out of her eyes. She hums a very soft tune under her breath.

Franklin Richards has posed:
As Monet spoke, a mysterious portal materialized behind her, and from it emerged an older, middle-aged version of Franklin. This Franklin appeared quite different from his younger self, wearing plain and unadorned clothing that lacked any connection to the Fantastic Four. He seemed more serious than his usual jovial self, and his appearance had clearly changed over time, reflecting a more matured and seasoned individual.

He directed his attention towards Cable and questioned, "You called me?" He seemed aware of the temporal nature of his arrival, having received a message through time to be at this specific location. His gaze swept over the others briefly, but his focus remained on Cable. "This better not cause any new issues, as it's already hard enough to hide me popping in here. No one is to mention this... to me."

After emphasizing the need for discretion regarding his presence, he continued, "Where do you need me?" He was ready to assist, fully aware of the extent of his powers and control over them as a more experienced individual. Franklin had come prepared to help in whatever capacity was required, and his attire, demeanor, and age all reflected the journey he had undertaken through time. The portal behind him closed, offering only a brief glimpse of a futuristic environment, possibly in space, leaving it unclear from which exact time he had originated. Only Cable had the connections and capabilities to summon him from his temporal location, a connection that this Franklin had forged in a time yet to be experienced by his younger counterpart.

Sally Pride has posed:
The last foray started out good, but then went south and to the ground very quickly once their quarry proved himself to be more aware and prepared than they had anticipated. It was an uncomfortable loss, but they owed it to the mutantkind they were trying to help to pick themselves up, consider what had happened, and move on.

But that also meant finding a new point to start from. Which meant going back to one of the places they had previously ventured to look for new leads.

At the mention of the likely strong resistance they're going to meet Sally Pride simply grips the cuff of one studded glove and tugs it firmly into place, and nods to Cable. "By this point we've learned there's no holding back with these guys." She had her usual blaster holstered at her hip, and a larger military rifle slung across her back. There was no 'light loadout' for dealing with these guys, even if she prefered to be using her fists and claws more than the guns.

Casually she glances over the new faces in the gathering, her tail swaying idly. She is not surprised Cable reached out for additional assistance after how things went sour before.

Cable has posed:
There are a lot of ways to approach any mission.

To be sure they have done their share of loud. And most of the time it has been effective. Walk in, take out any opposition and achieve the objective. Straight-forward and to the point. No muss, no fuss.

Just plenty of explosions.

Of course they have had luck with a quieter approach too. Infiltrating the headquarters of the Sublime Corporation, tapping into their computer systems, their security systems all proved fruitful.

Right up to when it didn't and Sublime turned things around on them, trapping them in his Gotham facility and very nearly blowing them all to hell.

Cable is all about efficency. The right tool for the right job. But there's no doubt about what one he prefers. Walking softly is fine. He'd prefer to carry the really big gun.

"No sneaking around this time Boomer," Cable says quietly, shaking his head. "Sublime already knows we're hunting him, there's no advantage to it. I'd rather that we made something of a statement here," he says, smiling briefly though the expression has a distinct grim facet to it. "I think it's past time that he get a nice, big picture of what it means to be hunted by us," he adds with a certain satisfaction.

Glancing towards Monet, the big soldier gives a shrug. "Really? We can't know if it's a trap. Except that while these lawyers," he starts with a bit of a sneer, "may work for Sublime, they're not otherwise a part of his company. Though they represent just about every other scum bag, mercenary, criminal or drug lord in Asia," he notes. "I'm sure they're ready for trouble. No reason for them to be ready for us though," he points out.

Sally and Stefani each receive a nod, a quiet gesture of thanks. The assist always most welcome. "If any of you need additional weapons just pick from the load out over there," he says, gesturing to the loaded down table. From pistols to rifles to fullblown cannons and everything in between there is no shortage of options. Not to mention the various explosive and incendiary devices lines up as well. "Never let it be said that I don't share my toys," he points out, turning for the table himself.

"Thanks for making the trip," Nathan adds quietly to Franklin as he steps past him. "I was hoping you could provide the transport in. You're a little more reliable then my tech, especially since Sublime found some way to block my teleporters last time. He might have shared it with some of his friends," he says quietly. "I mean, we can just go through the front door which is always fun, but there's something to be said for just suddenly appearing in your enemies midst," he points out with a tight smile.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over at Cable, "Very well. Then best to slam through and make a hole as big as possible for those faster to exploit. With your approval.. Myself and Tabitha can make a sufficiently large breach in the primary entrance to let you follow up as best fitting. That will make a hole for the infiltration team to breach through and sneak to try and get to primary systems access while the primary field of battle is the exterior." And she has no real idea just what to suggest ot have Franklin do. So she's not putting one up.

She would glance over at Cable to see his commentary on her suggested start for things. "We can at least maintain communications even if we cannot stay in contact telepathically and he has jamming devices, hopefully. We can't be spread out throughout the entire facility and have no way to coordinate."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It's probably a sign of apprehension when Tabitha of all people advocates stealth. But then she was a thief long before she wore an X.

"Okay, so then we just bust out the black long coats and guns, lots of guns. Shooting up a lobby might not go so well even if we can do some of those sick wall running flips." The blonde aiming a couple finger guns at everyone while small little pops go off like cap guns at her fingertips.

"Just saying no everyone in the building is like that complicit in harvesting mutant organs. We need to make sure the temps and subcontractors and folks all have a means to get away. Otherwise between Monet, Frankie and me, we could just level the building. Frank and I alone. I blast he contains the falling debris. You do have the TK chops right?" she looks at the Fantastic one. "You'll at least wanna wear a hat and shades cause you might get yelled at if we accidentally leave a lot of bodies."

Quiet has posed:
Plastic crinkling noises.

Quiet deposits a green apple lollipop in to her mouth, the wrapper tucked away in to a pouch hanging on her harness. She holds the stem of the candy treat as she turns it around in back and forth circles as she listens.

The last bit from Nathan gets her to set her big gun down on the ground, and she rises up to her feet to step over to the table. Continuing to enjoy the candy treat, the sniper just lets her eyes roam over the selection of bufffet weapons and armaments.

The sucker is turned back and forth. Her eyes wander back and forth.

Finally, she starts to make her choices, and begins strapping various explosives to the harness around her body. Clipping noises, gloved hands moving all across herself, as new items begin to get hung from the webbing belts. Lastly she drops a handful of various ammo magazines in to some of the pouches that were not already filled with her own gear she'd brought in from abroad.

And she continues to just hum that soft tune to herself. She is seemingly ready for action now.

Sally Pride has posed:
"Sometimes it's better to trigger the trap and break through than expend the time to find a way around it," Sally quips. Stealth and subtefuge worked... up until their quarry wised up. So now it's time to play less nicely.

She mmmhmms at Tabby. Though the deeper they go, the harder it gets to weed the two apart. "Try to pick targets appropriately. I know most of us here aren't worried about things getting violent, but keep it to the scumbags that deserve it as best we can."

That said, she walks over to the table and grabs a couple of the smaller personal explosives. Flashbangs, incendiaries, so on. They're potentially useful but won't weight her down too much, she prefers being able to shift from being a cat to being a gunner as the situation requires.

"The better we stay organized, the quicker we can get this done and the less likely collaterial bodies are to get in our way."

Franklin Richards has posed:
Franklin nodded in response to Cable's instructions, refraining from asking any questions. Instead, he turned his attention outward, his gaze focused on a point beyond the walls of their current location. He began rubbing his hands together, and as he did, a subtle blue light emanated from his hands, casting a soft glow. Tiny specks of light began to fall to the ground from his fingertips, forming a peculiar display.

His frown soon transformed into a nod as he observed the phenomenon he was causing. "Hmmm... interesting," he remarked, his expression changing to one of intrigue. Then, for the first time, a smile graced his face. "Get ready. When it opens, it will be rather obvious."

With growing intensity, the blue light radiated from his hands, and Franklin, now fully engaged, pulled his hands apart with a sudden tearing sound reminiscent of thunder. The space in front of them seemed to crack and warp as if reality itself were being torn asunder. The portal that formed resembled a jagged tear with edges emitting strange variations of colors across the spectrum. It was a far cry from the typical appearance of a portal in normal reality.

Franklin exerted effort, knowing that the protections in place were designed to thwart such actions, particularly by someone like Cable. Nevertheless, the crack in space continued to widen as the scent of ozone filled the air. Beyond the expanding rift was a glimpse of a different location.

On the other side of the portal, bewildered individuals stared in astonishment at the opening that had manifested before them. The alarms in that space blared even louder than on the opposite side where Franklin and Cable stood. Franklin could have attempted a more stealthy approach, but it would have been time-consuming and required significantly more effort. Instead, he had opted for a brute force method, essentially tearing reality itself to connect the two points from where they stood to inside the Sublime Corporation's lobby.

Turning away from the stunned guards on the other side of the portal, Franklin shifted his focus to Tabitha. He waved a hand over his face, and a grinning fox mask appeared, concealing his identity. His hair had returned to its natural blonde color, making it difficult for anyone to recognize him in his current state. He nodded at Tabitha, acknowledging her suggestion. "I could send the whole building to space, but the more I do, the bigger the waves. Too many waves, and some unpleasant people in suits will show up. We do not want that," he explained, taking into account the potential consequences of his actions. "I can't say more without spoilers, but don't worry; I will participate, just not on that level."

He gestured for the others to enter first, and as they did, he prepared to close the portal behind them. The absence of an exit would serve as a motivator, ensuring they stayed focused on their mission. As Tabitha received praise for her suggestion, Franklin gave her a quick smile, acknowledging her expertise before returning to his serious demeanor.

As the group discussed selecting their targets, Franklin shot Cable a meaningful look, silently conveying the importance of thoroughness in their actions. He didn't verbalize it, but he hoped Cable understood the gravity of their mission and the potential consequences if they didn't address the problem at its root. Franklin remained vigilant, keeping the portal open until everyone had safely entered the Sublime Corporation building.

Cable has posed:
If nothing else, at least Cable has chosen to hit the place after evening has already settled over the city.

In part it is definitely to keep down any chance of innocent casualties. The casual clerks and assistants are likely gone for the day already, which likely means that there are only the janitorial staff still present in the building to worry about.

The lawyers, the mercenaries, it would seem that Cable doesn't have quite as much concern for them. But then they traffic in human misery.

"Agreed," Cable says quietly to Tabby, briefly inclining his head. "Given the hour there should be a minimum of innocents in the building but use your discretion where needed," he says flatly.

There is a difference between be driven and bloodthirsty afterall.

"M, Boom-Boom, you'll keep us telepathically tied in. We'll fall back on conventional comms if anything goes wrong with that, but I don't think it should be an issue," Nathan adds, once again passing off telepathic responsibility to the others as is normally the case wherever he can. "Otherwise, by all means, make a commotion and make sure that security is suitably distracted. And make it loud."

He has little doubt that will be an issue.

Glancing back towards Sally, Quiet and Franklin, Cable starts to pick out his own weapons from those on display, a couple of the more discrete offerings tucked away before slinging one of those suitably huge plasma cannons over one shoulder. Definitely not a stealth mission then. "We'll focus on getting to the server room and extracting the datacore," he says, slipping a headset on. Just in case. "Any questions? Otherwise lets do this."

Then the portal is opening up, right in the middle of the tower's fifteenth floor. Indeed, anyone peering out the window can probably even see the glow from the other end coming from the building across the street.

One more advantage to the portal that Cable's bodyslide technology does not have, it lets you see what's on the far side before stepping through. No blind leap of faith. And what stands there is what one would expect from a bustling law office, numerous cubicles and desks arrayed throughout the main room while the closed-door offices line the outer walls for the more important lawyers. Video cameras are discrete but numerous throughout the room for those who know where to look and while a handful of what appear to be suited lawyers stand around a nearby table, looking back through that hole in space towards them, suitably shocked expressions on their face, others in body armor and bearing auomatic rifles almost immediately begin to spill out one of those sealed off rooms. "On the ground, on the ground!" the one in the lead calls out before opening up with a spray of bullets.

Taking the lead, Cable steps through that portal, the plasma cannon already aimmed and glowing before unleashing a burst of green energy that rips across the room, absolutely splintering a desk and sending those nearby ducking for cover.

Apparently they are going to be a little hard on the furniture here because Nathan's free hand lifts, extends and a half-dozen other desks rise up before them, serving as a makeshift shield from the automatica gunfire directed their way.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would give a nod over at Cable. "Understood." As the group goes to teleport over in and then as soon as they do they're under attack! "So much for stealth." She would deadpan over quickly. "Tabitha, down and up!" What she means is something akin to their maneuver last time. Cable goe sto keep up the shield to cover for the rest of the team while they brace and scatter.

Then Tabitha blows a hole in the ground on the side of the shield, then a hole on the other ground going up to the side. And they have a rapid made route tos cramble and hit their enemies over from behind. At the very least, if Tabitha's in agreement on the setup!

Monet herself is going to simply pick up things to throw over at the machine gun. A bad modern art deco piece. A lava lamp that could pass itself off as Inque. Some sort of strange large gold plated chicken. The stand said gold plated chicken was on. A pretentious painting of something or other from the lobby. There's plenty of ammunition after all.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"We'll try and find the guest wifi access as well if both of those get cut off." Tabby chimes in and puts an earpiece in one side. It's just a standard bluetooth and one half of a pair but it's the one with the mic and it's easily hidden under the looser parts of that wildly thick mane of blonde not quite completely contained in a ponytail.

<<We should probably go for any onsite backups if we're just gonna pull drives.>> The mindlink set up between the two telepaths gets voices actually inside people's heads.

Once through Franklin's portal. One of the nicer portals really. Tabby gets in sync with Monet's suggestion and starts knocking walls down making the explosions seem a little louder even if the visible damage alone is enough to probably cause some panic. Sight is one thing but a louder boom is often what sells it.

Beyond that she starts streaming arcs of plasma from her fingers, flying like the unholy marriage of a shotgun, a flamethrower and the both cheating on each other with an anime missile swarm.

Al aimed at the weapons of any armed security getting up in the team's grills. "No, I am not showing you my lanyards!" she yells.

Quiet has posed:
When the portal is opened via Franklin's abilities, Quiet just casually leans her head over in to frame to view it over Franklin's shoulder... She stares at it, then looks over at him and offers him a smile of approval. With haste, the sniper sweeps herself over to her rifle and gathers it up, pulling its strap over her shoulder as she holsters a pistol on her right thigh. She spins around then to watch the others progressing through, until it is her turn...

She marches then through the portal, the stem of her sucker still sticking out of her pink hued lips as she only moves it around inside her mouth via her tongue now.

Once through, Quiet feels the air around her change, different scents, different senses all together riding upon it. Her chin lowers, and the skin around her eyes begin to fade in to a deep ebony hue until a makeshift domino masks forms across her visage.

She unholsters her silenced pistol, and raises it up. Shot after shot starts belting out of her silenced handgun, aimed specifically at cameras that she's rapidly identified... One another another just bursting in to broken pieces and sparks!

When the opposing enemies come out of their hiding places, and begin to fire, Quiet suddenly is erased from view, disappearing from head to toes in a puff of black smoke that flutters down to the ground where it rapidly slithers across the floor toward some of their newly arrived foes.

Within seconds later, one of them begins to shake uncomfortably as the smoke surrounds his legs, and crawls up his body. He starts slapping at himself, like an army of ants were crawling up the inside of his clothing, his chin down against his chest as he curses loudly, his gun aimed away toward the floor as he tries to ffigure out what is happening to him. Quiet reappears behind the man then, and she wraps an arm around his neck as she drags him behind one of the cubical walls!

Sally Pride has posed:
Being able to see before they step has it's perks. A glimps of the scene as they pass through. Even as Cable takes the lead, opening fire, and pulling together a makeshift shield to give the rest of them a little more cover for a few more seconds. Monet and Tabs tagteam to one side of it.

Sally goes to the other side so they don't bunch all their numbers into a predictable target. To the point that she darts around the desk shield and then goes to all four on the floor. It wasn't often one saw her move more akin to a natural lioness, but at this moment, it was useful to be both fast, mobile, and a lower profile as the initial enemy fire is aimed up at blasting through Cable's defense. Until she jukes and jumps atop a desk, using it to leap up and over to land atop one of the armed security men. The force of her pounce is enough to throw him off his feet, the security armor abruptly working against him with it's weight as the two crash into one of the cubicles. He tries to get up, only to get a studded gloved fist punched directly into the front of his helmet, shattering the visor and slamming his head back against a desk. Between the loud thud and what might of been the whiplash snap of a bone or two, he's probably not getting up a second time. Or anytime soon in general if at all.

Franklin Richards has posed:
After everyone had entered the portal, Franklin floated gracefully a few inches above the ground, his arms folded behind his back. He moved through the portal with an air of confidence and calm, exuding an aura that bore a resemblance to Dr. Doom rather than Reed Richards. He appeared entirely unperturbed by the gunfire and the ensuing chaos. Franklin chose not to carry any conventional weapons, as he considered himself a living weapon.

He came to a halt just beyond the portal, patiently waiting for a moment as the crack in space seemed to be drawn back together, as though it wished to vanish.

As bullets from the security personnel's weapons headed in the group's direction, Franklin displayed his formidable power. He effortlessly froze the bullets in mid-air, preventing them from reaching their intended targets. Although he trusted his fellow team members to handle the situation, he remained vigilant to ensure their safety.

Cable initiated the disruption, turning the office furniture against the Sublime Corporation's personnel. Tabitha unleashed her explosive abilities, creating holes and chaos within the room, while Monet launched her unique abilities in the form of a "lava lamp of doom." Franklin recognized that the situation was well under control, and he focused on intercepting any stray bullets to minimize any evidence of their presence.

Spotting one of the lawyers attempting to escape, Franklin raised his hand and pointed at the man. In a dramatic and surreal display, the lawyer was disassembled at an atomic level, reduced to nothing but a cloud of dust. Franklin's actions ensured that no one would escape to spread word of their intrusion.

After this dramatic intervention, he returned his hands to their folded position behind his back and patiently waited for the rest of the team to clear the room efficiently.

Franklin acknowledged Cable with a nod of appreciation for assembling the effective team. When it came to assaulting a base like this, Cable had a knack for choosing the right individuals. Franklin couldn't help but grin as he observed Sally pouncing on the guards, and he found Stefani's smoke-based abilities intriguing. While he wondered whether it was a telepathic or physical attack, he decided it was a question for another time, as there were more pressing matters at hand.

He listened to the Telepathic conversations for now though didn't respond. While he could he did not have anything to add beyond what they already had noted as their efficency was beyond what he needed to add to.

Cable has posed:
As effective as that plasma cannon can be at reaping destruction, for the moment Cable focuses his attention on insuring that the rest of the team can make their way through the portal in relative safety, those heavy desks practically dancing through the air as they interpose themselves between Nathan and his allies, and then gunmen intent on taking them out. Each time one of those desks is more or less cut to pieces by the automatic gunfire, he simply lets it drop with a clatter to the floor, splinters absolutely everywhere, and scoops up another one to soar out over the cubicle walls and join the array.

Some people appreciate the artistry of a great painting, others might revel in the perfect composition of a musical piece. Cable appreciates well coordinated violence. The mercenaries responsible for providing security at Evil Incorporated's lawfirm are no doubt competent, no doubt capable. But they are also very clearly overmatched by the team assaulting them now. Those automatic rifles absolutely chew up the floating array of desks that safeguard the attackers, but each time one is rendered useless, another simply floats up to take its place.

Nor does their body armor do much to defend them from Monet's strength, or Tabby's plasma. It can't defend them from Quiet's stealth or Sally's physically bowling them off their feet.

And then Franklin is through the portal as well and the need to play defense rather abruptly vanishes. As effective as Cable's telekinesis might be, simply plucking every bullet out of the air an instant after its fired is that much more so. So as another of those side doors opens up to spill out another quartet of armed men onto the floor, the future soldier simply hurls those half-dozen desks towards them, letting them fly across the room, over cubicle walls to go crashing loudly to hinder the reinforcements.

<< Response time is pretty good. I imagine their should be more arriving from the floors above and below shortly so keep an eye on the stairwells. Leave a couple of cameras up as well. I want Sublime to get his show when this is all said and done. >> comes those grim, mental tones of Nathan Summers.

Turning, he strides down one of those long rows of cubicles, plasma rifle leveled as he starts towards the server room across the floor. << Good notion Tabby. We'll do that too, >> he agrees, aimming another burst of that bright green plasma over the heads of a pair of lawyers who go scampering aisde, diving into the surrounding cubicles seeking cover from the violence going on around them.

Watching one of their number simply dematerialize definitely seems to do a number on the other lawyers on the floor, eyes wide with terror and simply fleeing from Franklin. Either the arriving mercs missed it, or aare made of sterner stuff and instead they attempt to take cover, creeping around the cubicle dividers, ducking low to try to stay out of sight as they start to spread out across the floor, trying to catch the others in a vulnerable position.

Good luck with that.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Monet goes to call out to the group <<Doing some above-level reconittoring.>> That's sent along telepathically - and then verbally as Monet goes to get ready to make her way up. Wait, make her way up? She's guessing that there's probably heavier weaponry or equipment a few stories up but what can she mean by that? It's not like there's a stairwell anywhere nearby so unless she wnats to fly outside of the building and then back in through the windows..

No, Monet just goes to launch herself through the ceiling. Through packing foam, through insulation, through electronics, through vents, through power cables, through concrete and steel beams.. Then out the next floor. Then repeating the process until she's gone up about four floors, does a quick sweep of the area ahead, whether or not there are hostiles or heavy equipment present.. Then she's going to just head along several dozen meters to hopefully get 'ahead' of the group going for hte breach..

Then goes to smash her way on down ahead. HOpefully this would rather startle anyone or anything coming down as reinforcements - or leave them with a gaping hole in the ground to have to bypass. The name of the game here is disorient and delay. If she can spook anyone heading down for bcakup to stall them, then that's all she has to do.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
<<You know we're probably gonna need to like drop some major evidence on the news and stuff for this to fly. Wonder if we can time it with any pardons from the Mutant Cure crap we just went through. Assuming we get pardons.>> she states while bouncing from spot to spot. Just as likely to send concussive blasts of plasma to knock guards out as much as disarm them.

Despite the more manic glee at watching goons panic and pat themselves down while on fire. The blonde is dialing in just enough power to not be lethal.

They won't die, but they really won't be happy! <<Try to not get too far up. At some point they'll probably start throwing heavier ordnance. One day we should totally see just how bullet proof you are Monet!>> it's only a joke though. No way the woman would aim a fifty cal at the Monegasque woman. Nor would said Monegasque woman volunteer.

Quiet has posed:
Quiet bounced back up from her dismantling of one of the attacking security guards. She rushed forward, keeping low beneath the cubical walls tops, before coming around behind another small group of soldiers. Two of them. She ducked back behind cover as they turned around, leveling their guns at some noise that they perceived to hear behind them, but saw nothing before they rose up to take more shots at the others on her team.

Quiet detached a smoke bomb from her belt, uncapped it, primed it and rolled it behind the men where it began to wildly unleash a torrent of smoke. When they began to react, is when she came in upon them, disappearing in to the smoke with the men, the sounds of their screams coming out from the pufffs of grey clouds pluming up out of the cubicals.

When they fell silent, is when Stefani reappears, this time beside one of the stairwell doors. She could hear the team leader speaking of reinforcements, and with a push of the stairwell door, she peered through it. Stepping fully through, Stefani moved to the stairs going down, peering over the railing. The sound of men rushing up the steps could be heard, and their bulky shoulders could be seen rounding levels as they ascended.

Clip.

Another explosive device was removed from her belt, and Quiet triggered it with a thumb before she dropped the powerful flash bang down, just letting it fall, timing it to let it burst right as the men were bulked up two floors down.

Turning away from the stairs now, back to the floor they're sieging, Quiet slipped through the stairwell door again as the flasher did its thing, rocking the northeastern stairwell with a powerful reverberation!

She ducks back in toward the others, reaching up to adjust the stem of the half finished green apple sucker still sticking out of her lips.

Sally Pride has posed:
The reinforcements seem to at least get the idea that they can't just charge headlong into a fray with the highly capable invaders. (One of the corrupt lawyers being vaped on the spot probably helped with that). So instead they try to play a very deadly game of hide and seek amongst the cubicles and office furniture.

The only problem with that plan, at least for their side, is that the invaders include the mutant of a lethal predator on their side who is just as good at stalking when she needs to.

<<Don't let them slow you down from finding the databases,>> she mentally remarks. <<As security they're more likely trained to impede and delay for heavier ordinance to be brought in.>> Or at least that's how she knows Null would do it, and Sublime certainly seems to work on a similar level.

Gunfire briefly sounds off. Holes popping through a divider. Followed by an armored body being flung out of the cubicles and several meters down a corridor before finally collapsing. And Sally stalking out a moment later, now with his tactical rifle in her hands and ready.

Franklin Richards has posed:
Floating gracefully, Franklin followed closely behind Cable, maintaining his position above and slightly behind him. He had joined this mission at Cable's request and was ready to provide support where needed. Franklin's attention briefly shifted upward as Monet burst through the ceiling, but he quickly sent her a message through their telepathic connection. His voice, usually characterized by whispers, took on a deep and solid tone in this moment. <<Be aware you are leaving my influence range.>> He didn't believe she was in immediate danger but wanted to ensure she was informed.

Continuing to float forward, Franklin exhibited his formidable powers. He effortlessly plucked two bullets out of the air, holding them in his hand. A soft blue light emanated from his grip, and as he opened his hand, he whispered something to the bullets. They seemed to come to life, wiggling and then rising as they shot off in the direction Monet had gone. These two bullets would follow her, ready to intercept and neutralize any potential ambush if necessary, otherwise remained behind her if she continued on her path.

Turning his attention to Tabitha, Franklin couldn't help but grin behind his mask as he quipped, <<Perhaps I'm not the only one who should have hidden their identity?>> He didn't express concern about the pardons she had mentioned earlier, as he knew that they would ultimately become meaningless in the future. However, that time was still far off. Franklin noticed that Tabitha hadn't killed the guards and opted not to comment, instead directing his gaze toward Cable. If survivors were indeed the goal, he would respect Cable's mission objectives.

Franklin didn't take further action for the time being, sensing that the others were closing in on him. He didn't mention it but tapped his watch three times, signaling how many larger actions he had left before they needed to be concerned about potential third-party interference. Franklin understood that this mission was already complicated enough, and they didn't need additional unexpected factors. While he could handle such intrusions, he recognized that the others were not yet prepared to encounter them.

Quietly following the group and maintaining his defensive posture, Franklin continued to play his role. The bullets fired at the group were rendered useless by the combined efforts of his powers and those of his teammates, falling harmlessly to the ground. As they moved forward, Franklin left the room to progress further into the facility. He had said what he deemed necessary and fell silent once again, observing the others as they carried out their respective tasks. Though he almost felt sorry for the guards, he quickly pushed such feelings aside, reminding himself of the nature of the organization they were guarding.

Cable has posed:
So far the building schematics that Cable managed to obtain have proven rather accurate.

That's one of the nice things about Madripoor -- at least for those willing to play on the shady side of things. Everything is available to purchase. Sometimes rampant corruption plays in one's favor, so long as you're willing to get down in the muck.

Apparently Cable has no problem with that.

Based on the building blueprints, the server room is just ahead so when a pair of those mercenaries appear right in front of him, Cable refrains from simply unleashing another plasma bolt. No need to risk taking out the information they need afterall. Instead his hand comes up once more, gesturing towards the duo and motioning with his wrist as the pair are lifted from the ground and bodily hurled out of his way, slamming into the far wall.

For his part, Cable never even looks back, simply continuing on his way. He does pause outside the door to the room, just long enough to rear back and simply kick the door in, revealing the banks and banks of electronics beyond. "A little hand," Cable says, glancing down at his wrist and the screen there as Greymalkin begins to rely the necessary information to him as he makes his way towards the backups they're seeking. Then, glancing back over his shoulder towards Franklin he nods briefly. "I'll just be a moment. Keep them off of us as you can. M has good instincts. Chances are those heavier weapons are about to come into play."

The blueprints had indicated some sort of workshop on the levels above -- a likely location for those heavier weapons. And Monet is indeed correct. As she slams up through the middle of the tower itself, plowing through steel and concrete in equal measure, the scene on the nineteeth floor is mildly concerning. Largely because those same mercenaries that are rather ineffectually trying to deal with them down below are busy strapping themselves into armored mech suits up here. The first of them are already piling into the freight elevator and starting to descend. When M makes her brief appearance, a pair not yet in line to go down but crewed turn her way, the whirling assault cannon mounted on one of those exo-skeleton arms pointing towards her, tracer fire just a second or two too late as she plunges back down into the building.

That could be a little more trouble.

Between Tabby and Sally's efforts, the mercenaries on the fifteenth floor are rapidly thinning out and Quiet covers off one of the stairwells, cries muffled by the heavy door as the flashbang goes off below, blinding the approaching assault team.

Across the floor however the other stairwell door cracks open and a trio of grenades are tossed into the room, explosions ripping through those cubicles an instant later as debris flies seemingly everywhere.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Those assault cannons would mess her up if they hit. Monet isn't even bothering to try and charge at them - she's just diving down into the hole. The exo armor will now have to cross the gap on thier own to get to a point where they can get down and join the group rushing down the stairwell. So that's at least a few seconds of delay for the heavier artillery. Now she's going back down to join the group, even as she goes to call ou ta mental warning over about the grenades that she's too late over to intercept.

She gives a quick location over for the mechs that she had spotted and gives a quick query to QUiet. <<Can you pilot one of them if you can get in it?>> There's an offer in her mental tone if the silent woman wants to get a quick 'hopscotch' to be launched up that way to gets ome heavier artillery for the battle ahead.

The offer is there to give Quiet a boost up and then some cover - it will take the men several seconds to strap their way on in. Of course, Quiet may prefer to keep on doing her own thing now and coordiante with the group - being separated from the team may not be the best idea after all.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It might be a little cheaty but that telepathy really helps when it comes to finding mooks to pacify as they try and contain the attack. The telekinetic control of that Plasma also ensuing that there is no cover shy of hiding under a dome that's safe. And that dome had better be some hekking durable material at that.

Around corners, over cubicle dividers. Plasma streams in arcs and changes directions mid flight as needed. A grin as Monet suggests for their newest accomplice to hijack a mech. <<Like Chewie on Endor? Or armor like Iron Man? If more come lemme know where I can send up some fun for them?>> she suggests while jogging from spot to spot.

She herself still needs cover since bullets hurt even her. <<Hey Boss, you stopping for coffee? If you are I want a tripleshot hazelnut latte! Six sugars!>> she chimes in. Thirsty work being a distraction.

Quiet has posed:
Quiet is quietly observing Sally's handy-work, admiring the viscious nature of a Lion-woman, and what she's capable of. It is respectable in her strange book.

Pressed up against a still whole cubical wall, Quiet observes across the offfice space the other stairwell being breached, and the grenades going off. This makes the sniper huff out a heavy exhale, her bottom lip making that 'blublublublublub.' exclaimation of 'oh god, more of them.'

It is Monet who draws her eyes away from that impending madness, and a quizzical eyebrow raise comes from the young woman. She accepts Monet's offer, and within moment's she's going where no Stefani has gone before.

In to a power armor suit?

She takes the advantage of the other enemies being delayed in reaching their own suits, and is quick to slide herself in to one of them. She's been around military hardware for over 4 decades now, and with a bit of familiarizing herself, she gets hers started up, and is soon sealed inside it.

What follows is an anti-climatic motionless matter of moments. Maybe she doesn't know how to operate it afterall?

And then one of its giant hands smashes outward in to the other power-armor suits, causing them to all topple over like dominos, or like the Harley motorcycles in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

Inside her suit, Quiet smiles from ear to ear, her sucker stem still sticking out the right side of her lips, as she keeps her candy high going.

Her suit starts to march then, forward, heavy footfalls carrying it back toward the chasm Monet created.

Her suit lands with a building-shaking rumble back in the office level that they're sieging, and the onboard weapon systems begin to come online...

Sally Pride has posed:
<<Knew they had to have something bigger on-site.>> It only makes sense when your primary shady business requires incapacitating mutants and similarly superpowered individuals.

Sally's ears pick up the sound of movement coming from the other stairwell, and it's just enough warning for her to sidestep into one of the offices a few seconds ahead as the grenades are tossed and go off. It keeps her out of direct force of the blast, but the rumbling vibrations through the walls is unpleasant, and she almost has a shelf in the office topple over on top of her. This place isn't built with heavy interior walls unless it's a support it seems. "Figures they'd cut corners from cost..." she mutters under her breath.

When Sally steps back into the corridor she's got the tactical rifle in one hand. But more importantly the other has one of the explosives from Cable's stash in it, already armed and counting down, which she chucks in the direction of the stairwell and the recent wave of reinforcements. The incendiary goes off in a bigger, fiery blast than the grenades did, as much to wreck the structure around the stairwell so it can't be used as it is to get the enemy forces to scatter out of the way.

So she can start picking them off with the rifle of course.

Until Quiet returns with her new toy. Now -that- is giving them a taste of their own medicine. After they don't have a stairwell to retreat back from it.

Franklin Richards has posed:
Franklin acknowledged Cable with a nod but didn't follow him out of the stairwell. Instead, he turned to face the outside, where reinforcements were emerging from the staircase. Using his telekinetic powers, he projected a message to those near the staircase, <<If you're on the staircase, you might want to move, and if you're nearby, grab onto something.>> He created protective force fields around those who couldn't get out of the way in time to shield them from harm.

With one hand still concealed behind his back, Franklin extended the other hand with his fingers spread. He gave those in the area a brief moment to evacuate before he brought his fingers into a clenched fist. The sound of bending metal and breaking stone reverberated throughout the building as several floors above and below, everything in the staircase?windows, doors, walls?was yanked from its original position. Franklin used his control over gravity to create a small singularity, causing anything and everything in the vicinity to be drawn into the hole.

The building's very walls began to creak and crumble, with chips and debris being pulled into the singularity as if a portal to space itself had been opened within their base. Franklin couldn't help but comment, "Oh... that might have been too much." He promptly dispelled the singularity, and the compacted mass of materials and objects that had been pulled in plummeted several floors below, reaching an area not affected by the intense gravitational forces.

Floating in the now-open space, Franklin glanced up and then down. He projected his thoughts to his team, <<I don't think they'll be coming from this direction.>> Unless they could fly, there was no way to reach the doorway Cable had entered, as it was a considerable distance away.

Franklin tapped his watch twice but didn't mention it explicitly. He briefly assessed the condition of the people in the area, making sure he hadn't inadvertently placed them in a more precarious situation. Satisfied that they were safe, he returned his attention to Cable and gave a thumbs-up, considering it a successful execution of Cable's request. He relished the moment of silence that followed as the once-active staircase for several floors had been transformed into a lump of mass resting far below.

Then, he addressed the team, <<Anyone else need something?>> Curious and ready to assist further, Franklin remained at the ready, awaiting any additional tasks or requests from his fellow operatives.

Cable has posed:
<< I thought I would give you all time to enjoy yourselves. It's not every day we get to total an office building. Even in Madripoor that doesn't happen often, >> Cable retorts over that telepathic link, letting his upload to Greymalkin guild him through the server room. When he nears the datacore, to narrow tendrils extend from the device around his wrist, latching onto the dataports and begin to download the totality of the files located there.

The nice thing about the slow progress towards the future. No more paper files. This is so much easier then backing up a truck to the service entrance and trying to ferry all the hard copies down.

Within moments the device pings that little chime, a green light flashing to signal that the download is complete and the tendrils retract. Which is the moment that Cable brings that plasma cannon swinging up once more. The first shot pours virulent green energy through the servers, blowing them to pieces and two more quickly follow into the other storage banks leaving them a smoking, flaming ruin.

Hey, he wasn't about to let the others blow up everything and not engage a little himself.

<< I've got the data. Franklin, if you would be so kind as to provide our exit, >> he asks through that link. << And if one of you wanted to take care of the file room as well while we are on the way out, >> he adds, stepping out of the room, not bothering to use the door this time. Just walking through one of the holes he's blown in the wall.

The scene that greats him is suitably impressive. There's not a whole lot remaining of the makeshift cubicle walls. Those that haven't been completely blown appart are all but shreaded, bare frames with dangling fabric that is more whole then cover at this point. Shattered furniture lies everywhere. Even the walls bulge and doors dangle from their fastenings where Franklin has warped reality and very effectively sealed off the stairwells. And of course there is quiet, in the middle of the floor in that suit of power armor.

"Huh." It's not much, but clearly even Cable is a little taken aback. At least as much as he ever is. "Lets fall out," he calls out.

Of course, they are not completely in the clear yet. Across the floor the freight elevator dings quietly, the door sliding open to reveal the pair of exo-suited mercenaries there. Those assault cannons on their arms are already levelled and begin to spin almost at once, spraying out those heavy tracer rounds that tear through what is left of the interior walls, shattering windows and even punching holes in the outer wall as they simply spray and pray, blanketing the floor in that heavy arms fire.

Just in case those two were not enough, the only two armored suits to survive Quiet's simple but effective attack up suddenly drop down those same holes of Monet's, landing in a crouch in the middle of the floor, starting to rise up as they look to bring their own cannons to bear.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix is out of position to try and engage the two falling suits, even as she goes to send out a mental warning to the rest of the team. She's out of position to be able to engage them, and those miniguns they're packing will turn her over to mincemeat. She's not at a great angle to throw anything over at them or even to make a charge. The best she can do is try and fly along in an arc in their direction tot ry and draw fire towards her from some of the others.

Because as messy as the bullets might make /her/, they'll be decidedly worse for most of the other members of the group. So better she's shot with a chance of surviving it than one of them being made itno meat pulp. Ther'es no real time for her to try and do a telepathic attack eitehr. By the time she focuses, thinks, and mentally attacks it would be too late.

So she can just try and make herself a target by flying along and hope that the HUD's of the suits will be more prone to locking onto her than the rest of the group and that she's fast enough to dodge for a few tenths of a second from the minigun fire.

Sally Pride has posed:
Departing with the goods is a good idea. Unfortunately one that is brought short as the freight elevator dings, and a couple more of the mechanized armors drop through the holes made in the upper floors. <<Looks like they still want to play a bit.>> Sally mentally snorts, even as she's moving to the side.

The elevator dings and the heavy doors slide open. The exo-suits step off the freight lift, their cannons already up and their attention turned on the invaders on the floor and the hijacked armor. They have their targets and open fire.

Which is why Sally had made a quick move so she was to the side of the elevator, counting on their focus to start on the chaotic ruins of the floor. When they start to march onto the floor, the wily lioness lunges to get onto the back of one. And jam the rifle violently into it's shoulder, in an attempt to jam the joint and keep the operator from being able to effectively move and aim the weapon arm.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
<<I still want that latte!>> Tabby snarks in playfully while she works. Despite the haphazard seeming of her moves, she is trying to keep the pain inflicted to just pain and to mooks. Most folks not security already piling down the stairs to evacuate.

<<We can level the building once we can get a bead that nobody is in here. Just cause we survived a building dropping on us, don't mean some random receptionist can.>> she points out while she turns on a pivot to grab a a tackling mook and redirect him head first into a wall with a crunch of plaster board on impact.

And then a small bomb stuffed down the back of his pants.

Insult to injury. <<Gotta be a better class of mutant terrorist after all!>>

Quiet has posed:
Quiet's power armored form just stands there for a ffew moments before her own cannon mounted arm snaps up with a metallic snapping of joints slamming together. What follows is not so much a machine gun, as it is the braying sounds of endless bullets firing at such a high capacity that they become a near stream of destructive power. The insane gun begins tearing a canyon of damage across more of the office space, tearing apart walls, the floor, the windows, as she strafes the area where she'd last seen security movement.

Two more suits of armored soldiers slam down on either side of her then, and Quiet's suit looks right, then left, then her metal opposing hand snaps up, and pops outward, as she sends a drunkenly-looking punch at the one to her left! Her own suit even stumbles in to the punch, sending both of them whacky-walking to try and stay on their feet! These things aren't that easy to pilot!

Quiet's right hand, meanwhile, snaps up and backward to fire at the second one that had landed on her right side! More braying gunfire sounds that are loud enough to rock one's unshielded ear-drums.

Quiet begins to feel a bit delirious with the power, or the lack of enough oxygen inside the suit to keep her feeling as powerful as she normally is when she's absorbing enough oxygen...

She grimaces inside the suit. She should've known better. Time to get out of this beautiful thing!

Quiet reangles her suit, and charges at the two in the freight elevator before they can disembark it! She jumps her suit in to the air, before slamming the ejection mechanism!

The back of the suit snaps open as it flies through the air, and Quiet falls out of it, puked out on to the ruined office floor where she slams down upon her back. With a wince, she coughs, rolls on to her left side, and starts moving to rejoin the others on their retreat as her head swirls with the renewed level of delicious oxygen surrounding her once more!

Franklin Richards has posed:
Departing was a simpler task than their initial arrival since there was no significant defense to contend with. As Franklin glanced down at his surroundings, he sensed that he had only a small amount of time remaining.

<<Until next time, Cable,>> Franklin conveyed his farewell and snapped his fingers. One by one, the members of the team began to disappear without the need for portals or rips in reality. They simply vanished from their current location and reappeared in their respective starting areas. The transition was abrupt and disorienting, causing some to find themselves with a stray bullet lodged in a random wall or throwing a punch into thin air. However, it was the most efficient way to return them to their original positions.

All the members of the team, except for one, safely made their way back. Franklin, who had played his part and completed his mission, did not return. Instead, he had been sent back to his own time. Now, only the much younger and more straightforward Franklin remained in this era. Cable knew how to reach the older Franklin if the need ever arose.

At this moment, Franklin found himself in New York, savoring a burger from a street vendor. He paused and looked up at the sky, then back at the vendor, commenting, "Huh... That's weird. It's like, for a moment, there were two of me." The vendor, unfazed by the remark, replied, "Sure, buddy, that's still five bucks," oblivious to the extraordinary events that had just occurred.

For now, the timeline remained secure. Apart from those in the room during the mission, no one knew that Franklin had ever been there, not even Franklin himself. The only remnants of his presence were a simple watch he had left on the floor for Cable, to be used on that day when it would be needed, and the aftermath of destruction he had left in his wake.

Cable has posed:
This much heavy weapons fire in this confined a space? Yes, it very nearly is deafening.

It's a good thing that they are relying on telepathic communication instead of verbal because there is absolutely no way to be heard above this sort of fray. Even Cable who has been in the midst of one battlefield or another for most of his life grimaces a little as he strides across the floor towards the others.

<< When we're out of here we'll see about that latte. Though I think I'd prefer something a little harder, >> Cable says bluntly.

Hey, the hour is late. No need to load up on caffeine.

If the mercenaries thought that sheer firepower alone would even the odds, well, they are in for a bit of a rude awakening. Just as planned, Monet making a spectacle of herself by whipping about the room in mid-flight does indeed attract the attention of the pair emerging from the elevator, those cannons starting to track her through the air and getting dangerously close.

Which is when Sally leaps up onto one of them, jamming it's arm with the rifle as it abruptly stops tracking M, giving her that moment of respite needed. Meanwhile Boom-Boom has little trouble dealing with the last of the non-Power armored guards, adding a little insult to injury. Certainly no more are getting through that staircase, that much is for certain.

Then Quiet goes into action, unleashing her own power suit on the pair that drop in beside her. It is tough to tell just how much is deliberate and how much is good fortune, but either way it is extremely effective. That heavy punch smashes into the armor of the mech suit to her left, leaving it dented and reeling. Nor does the one on the right fair any better as that mini-gun rips through the armor sending it crashing to the ground in a smoking heap.

Then that suit is directed towards the remaining pair of soldiers at the freight elevator, Quiet springing free at the last moment. Cable's voice reaches out to Sally telepathically << Clear out now, >> he warns before lifting a hand towards that reeling suit of armor, adding the force of his own telekinesis as he launches it forward, slamming into those two power armored mercs and sending them crashing back into the freight elevator.

Which promptly buckles, dropping several inches noticably. A moment later the entire elevator gives way, beginning to drop rapidly down the elevator shaft, a loud crash echoing up from below.

And then, with no more of a warning then the psychic voice in their heads, Cable and the rest of the team vanish for just an instant before reappearing across the street in that deserted office. << My thanks, old friend. >> While night shrouds the streets of Madripoor, the devestation wrecked on the law office is plain, shattered windows revealling the battered interior beyond, smoke rising up out in multiple places.

Glancing around at the others, Cable gives a small nod of satisfaction. "Mission accomplished. I'll have Greymalkin decrypt what we obtained and see what information they had on Sublime and his dealings. With any luck we can finally put him down for good in the near future.

Because it is long past time that he got what was coming to him.

Quiet has posed:
Through the portal the team goes. Back to Cable's safe house.

Quiet lands upon her feet within it, and huffs out a heavy exhale before she looks back over her shoulder to watch the portal close. Her right hand goes up to her mouth where she plucks the stick of that sucker from between her lips, the candy part long gone now. She huffs once more before turning back to the table where she stomps across the room toward a notepad and pen.

Leaning over the table for a moment, she scribbles soemthing down, before turning swiftly to raise the notepad up aimed to the others.

'Is there a Waffle House in Madripoor?' she has scribbled out questioningly for everyone else to respond to.

Her finished sucker stick is then just unceremoniously thrown toward the waste bin in the corner of the room, where it skids around the rim and falls silently down inside it.