5678/Genetic Raid

Genetic Raid
Date of Scene:	22 March 2021
Location:	Rundown Apartments
Synopsis:	Mutants saved! More info gathered.
Cast of Characters:	Irina-As17, Frank Castle

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Irina-As17 has posed:
Ever since the attack on the Titans, someone with the skills of Microchip wouldn't have had much trouble finding out a number of things. First is the most important one. Soon after being detained every single modified soldier lost their powers mysteriously. Analyzing their blood, it was found that, like Irina, they had two mutations. Each had an associated animal type of DNA spliced into them, and connected to the strips of genetic code that made them animal mutants were strips of DNA identical to the raccoon girl's mutation. That is, the ability to reset their genetic code and purge it of any irregularities. The second and perhaps most important thing is the fact that this ability was inhibited in all of them by a third modification, one that altered its way of functioning so that it would not activate unless it came into contact with a special serum. Said serum was found in the bloodstream of the captured soldiers and can be reproduced if so desired.

By what can be assumed, all soldiers had subdermal chips packed with the chemical which were remotely activated. This activation also caused a potent short-circuit, frying the chip, though it is not known how the signal was sent, from where, and how those responsible knew the time to activate it. Lastly, he is able to discern, based on the model and fuel usage of the hybrid air vehicle, a maximum distance from the staging area


Today in mutant town screams cut through the night as multiple people have their shabby apartments broken into. About a dozen enhanced soldiers bashing their way in or entering through the windows, armed to the teeth. They seem to be rounding up certain mutants of interest.

Frank Castle has posed:
Sometimes, it pays to keep an AI monitoring the police bands... or just to have informants in Mutant Town. The Punisher being one of the few humans who is willing to ignore the law completely tends to get him the attention of those in Mutant Town who don't trust the X-Men to handle business.

Tonight, both of these facts pay off... and the fact that The Punisher had Microchip build specialized rounds for his M4 and Beretta with the antidote.

No need for covert movement for this one. As he sits in the drivers seat of the Battle Van, Frank is just pulling up to the apartment building itself. Offhandedly, he barks to Microchip in the passenger side of the cabin, "Get the recon drone in the air. I need to know if we should expect more." He locks his magazine into his carbine, and opens the door, stepping out into the open in full Punisher gear; the white skull under the trenchcoat is prominent as he comes into view, and looks around the street first, carbine in hand.

Irina-As17 has posed:
The drone goes up, it scans, immediately finding a single imminent threat. Wearing only a black jumpsuit, one soldier seemed to be the lookout, and was attached at a very awkward angle under the ledge of a building, using the shadows to conceal itself. It seems to take a few moments to realize what was going on and speaks on the radio. Then it unsticks itself and lands with a heavy crash across the street from Frank, to his right, and starts charging him down with a grunt. It seems to be a large man with a bit of a wobbly body, but somehow it's also covered in a hard almost rock-like surface with tiny little protrusions. Just like a starfish.

Frank Castle has posed:
One moment is all it takes for Punisher to realize that he's going to need to use his reserve already. "Fuck."

Casually, Punisher takes one hand to his gear web under the trenchcoat, pulls out a cylinder, pulls the pin with his teeth, then tosses the chemical grenade right at the soldier. A foam/gel/gas combination of the anti-dote sprays directly for him once in proximity, including making the ground slippery.

Then, he starts firing single shot rounds at his joints, in case that doesn't work; The grenade will be a useful distraction, at least.

Irina-As17 has posed:
There's a suction noise as the man's feet stick and unstick to the ground, like those suction arrows for kids. The man grins, tightening up his guard as the shots start going off. This makes him much more defensive than he was before, slowing him down some too, the bullets bounce around his armor and some catch thinly exposed flesh below. However, since the strips are small and plentiful it's more of a battle of attrition. He swings at Frank with both hands, groaning out in pain with yellow blood dripping from the spots where the bullets found their mark. There did seem to be a bit of a delay for the serum to start working. He swings with both hands, he wasn't the power type but these were more advanced than the raccoon girl, even a swing from him would be able to dent a car, particularly due to the hardness of the body.

Upstairs there's shouting and the soldiers gather up around 6 mutants and start rushing to the rooftop.

Frank Castle has posed:
Slow and antidoted, good enough for him. Frank takes out a flasher and aims it in the soldiers eyes to blind him, then starts dashing for the stairwell to the roof. "Microchip, get the minigun prepped. If they have transport and manage to get it up, I want it shot down."

Irina-As17 has posed:
The soldier roars behind him, smashing his way after Frank in a bumbling rage. He lets out a few wheezing breaths though, like he had suddenly gotten athsma, then slows down a bit, seeming weakened. "Ughh what is this?" He groans and falls to a knee. One of the soldiers with better senses hears Frank going up and stops, turning around. They take a shotgun and loads it with anti-armor slugs, aiming down at the floor. They begin firing, trying to get hits on the incoming man, but it is hard to pin his exact location through the resounding halls of the apartments, so it was more of a way to slow him down. In the far distance another hybrid chopper can be seen, but it doesn't approach quite yet.

Frank Castle has posed:
Once it's clearly in sight, that minigun pops out of the rooftop of the Battle Van, and Microchip programs it to disable. Manual aiming is supplemented by AI targeting assistance, and a short burst is prepped to fire once it's over an unpopulated space.

Inside, meanwhile, Frank is dodging those shots pretty easily; he's a former marine commando who already had a considerable amount of breaching experience... and that has only been fine tuned since he began his war. Now? Now, this sort of fight is mostly rote to him. He has decades worth of experience with urban combat, and it shows in the way he times his movement.

Irina-As17 has posed:
Nervously, the soldiers reach the rooftop and two of them go to the edge. They read the reports about this van, they were more prepared than before. They both pull out grenade launchers and start loading them up with high explosive shells, at least to try and flip the damn thing over. In the meantime two more go down with automatic rifles and start unloading in short bursts. They try to keep Frank off, following the lead shots of the one with the shotgun. They're at the far end of the corridor and Frank reaches the last set of stairs, all that's left is going up one more floor and they'd have clear sight of each other.

Frank Castle has posed:
Both a smoke and a fragmentation grenade are tossed up onto the landing from the stairwell itself, one two seconds after the other. Once the three are sufficiently disabled, the Punisher blind fires in automatic mode into the floor, sweeping across at chest and 'down on the ground' level. Then, he puts on a pair of thermaloptic goggles to see if any of them are still moving.

Outside, Microchip grunts as he sees the grenade launchers... and the minigun gets reprogrammed to aim right for the two, even as Microchip guns the acceleration to dodge the incoming shells. That armor might be able to take those hits, but it would leave the Van in the shop for a good few days.

Irina-As17 has posed:
The chopper accelerates, coming flying in at top speed towards the roof, not seeming to have any intentions of stopping but throwing out some grapples for the soldiers to catch on to. Six of them are carrying the restrained mutants. Three, on the lower floor, are downed by precise shooting. Despite the armor, automatic fire does catch them in exposed spots and messes them up. They seem content with staying on the floor groaning in pain, however, a large guy abruptly gets up and grabs a teammate by the foot, hurling them at Frank to try and block up the stairway for a bit. The other is thrown shortly after. THe chopper comes in making sharp maneuvers, trying to keep the van from taking it down while it was being harassed by the grenades, even if that lasted shortly. There was only one uninjured soldier left to deal with with the others being busy trying to kidnap the mutants.

Frank Castle has posed:
Dashing right up to the rooftop, Frank dodges around one, then two bodies, and comes out of the doorway M4 blazing, his magazine having been switched out for a fresh one. Luckily, Frank has plenty of antidote magazines still, and the second one is used up just before he does a combat dodge, grabbing a grenade from his gear web, and tossing it right at the soldiers with the kidnapped mutants.

Then, Frank earns his reputation for boldness... by grabbing a grapnel gun from his gear web, and launching it right at the inside of the chopper as it descends. Within moments, he's being yanked into the chopper by the engine inside of the gun, even as he slings his M4 and pulls out a Baretta, ready for boarding.

Meanwhile, the Battle Van is taking a few indirect hits, but nothing too bad besides the shockwaves. It is, however, trying to keep those explosions away from civilians. Microchip knows exactly how much punishment that Van can take versus those in Mutant Town. You know, since he designed it.

Irina-As17 has posed:
The soldiers all jump and grab on, frowning as they see Frank fling himself inside. That was definitely not normal. They couldn't shoot their own escape vehicle and they were in an awkward position holding the mutants. The chopper takes flight and turns towards the sea, flying off for a few minutes before the pilot is informed of what is going on. It makes a sharp turn towards the city, he sets it to autopilot to fly low in a straight line and ejects. The soldiers wait while grappled to try and jump off and scatter into the city when possible. It was up to Frank to decide how to deal with this, as the soldiers were all currently unable to do much but wait and pray.

Frank Castle has posed:
Hanging on gives him time to study the chopper itself... and gives a precise location for Microchip to follow, with the tracker on his gear web. "I have an idea, keep on standby." Frank practically yells into the commlink, before he notices the pilot going for the eject button. "Shit." A smaller pistol is taken out, and once the ejection occurs, Frank fires it right at the bottom of the ejection seat. "tracker planted on the pilot. Knock his ass out and grab him. I have the helo." Punisher takes a moment to climb around and get inside the chopper, heading for the cockpit.

Within moments, he's going over the controls... and taking command of the craft.

One helicopter, added to his armory.

Irina-As17 has posed:
two of them groan weakly and fall off into the water just as he grabs the controls, by the time he they all seem weakened. However, they all drop off. Some land gracefully on rooftops while others come down crashing and bumping into everything. None of them are doing well, but they seem to have planned escape routes through the city. One of them is definitely dead from the impact. That leaves three more, all of which leave their mutants behind while escaping.

Frank Castle has posed:
He lands right back on the rooftop where the mutants were, expertly, and gives the victims time to get off, before the Punisher takes off again, heading for where the pilot is being handled. 'Microchip, I'm on my way."

Irina-As17 has posed:
The pilot doesn't have much time to unstrap and get ready before he's knocked out, so he's currently unconscious by some alleyway. Were Frank to question him he'd find that each pilot has a different staging area and they're spread all over the place, none of them know exactly where the base is, only the pickup squad that comes once they land at the staging area do. And they're usually in large numbers and heavily armed.