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Post by skybright on Aug 7, 2006 2:14:04 GMT -5
"Sounds good." Daws gave a quick half-salute. "See you in a few."
She made her way out of the lab and into the larger warehouse area, noting with smug satisfaction that all of the guards were trussed up neatly -- and apparently, none of the resistance members were badly injured.
She sauntered over to where Sid, Alex and Miriam stood guard, and gave them all a cheeky grin. "Well, that was fun."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 7, 2006 15:44:32 GMT -5
Sid's scowl clearly indicated that when he volunteered to guard the door, he'd had no intention of missing out on that "fun".
"I thought more a' these science goofs were gonna run toward the door, not toward the fight." He gave a futile shrug. "Oh well. They're all rounded up and nobody's hurt bad, so I guess I got no squawk."
Miriam patted him on the shoulder, then stepped forward. "I guess we'd better have a look at what they've got squirreled away in here, and see what we can pick up for Caddy--even if we can't tell what half of it is."
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Post by skybright on Aug 7, 2006 23:37:33 GMT -5
Daws nodded. "Precisely my point in comin' out here, Doc." She gestured towards the lab with a grin. "Let's do some Christmas shopping, shall we?"
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 7, 2006 23:57:03 GMT -5
With Alex tagging along, the two women began to go through the rooms within the small lab complex. Wearing rubber gloves, Miriam examined everything from notebooks to vials of chemicals, occasionally making some clinical comment half to herself. She packed her finds into a series of duffel bags, after first sealing up the unknown substances in separate plastic containers.
"See if someone can take the hard drives out of the computers," she suggested to Daws at length. "They should be the biggest prize of all, if Ana didn't fry them beyond all hope."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 0:03:49 GMT -5
Daws nodded. "I'll see who I can find -- and that reminds me." She frowned. "I want Timothy and Ana to double-check and make sure they've wrecked the cameras beyond repair -- including any footage. I don't want anyone ID'd by Tiernan's people after the fact."
She ducked briefly out of the lab and returned with a thin, hawk-nosed young man in tow, who nodded briefly to Alex and Miriam before grabbing a duffle bag and going to work on the nearest computer.
Daws smiled faintly and then turned back to the bench where she and Miriam were working, picking up the nearest vial and examining it with a mixture of curiosity, incomprehension -- and faint unease.
"Y'know," she remarked casually, "It's not that I dislike science or anythin' -- but labs kind of give me the creeps."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 0:10:32 GMT -5
"The labs I used to know were meant for catching killers," Miriam replied, flipping through a file folder. "There's nothing better than science when it's used the right way--and nothing worse when it's used the wrong way."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 0:19:38 GMT -5
Daws nodded. "I couldn't agree more, Doc." She shrugged and handed the vial across to the other woman. "You hear a lot of stories in Mutietown, y'know -- rumors. Urban legends. Experiments on mutants by the government, or corporations, or whoever. And even if ninety percent or more of 'em aren't true, well . . ." she shrugged. "It gives someone whose looks might inspire some scientific curiosity reason to be a little nervous."
She picked up a notebook full of writing in what appeared to be Spanish, and grimaced. "This must be one of Cordova's." She handed it across to Miriam. "Dunno if it's any use or not, but we could maybe have Jai run it through a translator program or somethin'."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 0:32:16 GMT -5
Miriam took the notebook. "Anything and everything around here might be valuable. I don't know enough to tell."
"Even if we can't decipher it, at least whatever we take or destroy is one more thing these creeps can't work on," Major Vance said as he came through the doorway. He turned to Daws. "We've got all the scientists and guards sewed up pretty good. Now the question is where you wanna dump 'em. This neighborhood is gonna get a little hot before we leave it."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 0:36:58 GMT -5
Daws grinned. "I say we dump 'em down on one of the piers -- dockworkers'll find them when they come in to work in a couple hours. But meanwhile," she chuckled somewhat maliciously, "It'll give them some time to think about what they've done."
She raised an eyebrow at Vance. "You had anyone check out that vault your guy saw last night yet?"
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 0:43:26 GMT -5
Vance shrugged. "Flash tried to pop in for a look, but somehow they teleport-proofed it. It's got some kind of electric current or something running through it that blocks him. I've got a pyrokene working on melting a hole in it now. That oughta be enough to let Flash through, or at least give us a peek inside."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 0:47:46 GMT -5
"Jeeze." Daws raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe we oughtta leave it alone, Major." She said in a jokingly earnest tone. "I mean, you'd sort of get the impression that Tiernan doesn't want us to see whatever's in there, or somethin'."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 0:56:39 GMT -5
"I'd blow the whole thing wide open if it didn't call for more careful handling," Vance retorted. ...And if I had the juice left in me for it right now.
"Well, we've about stripped the place bare," Miriam observed, looking around. "I guess that vault is the last thing. Maybe we should go see what kind of progress they're making."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 1:02:04 GMT -5
Daws nodded. "Sounds good to me. You know me an' my nosy nature."
She turned and gestured to Vance. "Lead on, Major. Let's go see what Tiernan thinks is the secret of secrets around here."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 1:21:00 GMT -5
With a shrug, Vance led them down the hall to the room that contained the vault. They found Sid, Handy, Flash, and a handful of others watching a ruddy, red-haired pyrokene, who was directing a focused stream of flame at the vault's massive door. The man paused in his efforts as Vance approached.
"She's as thick as Blackness Castle," he said, in a heavy Scottish brogue. "But I'm making my way with her. You give me a few more minutes, and I think I can punch through."
"Okay, Kindle," Vance replied. "I think we can chance the wait. We seem to have everything locked down, and if they'd managed to get out a call for reinforcements, we'd already be hip deep in snakes. Go ahead."
Kindle nodded, and continued his blow-torch act.
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 1:31:35 GMT -5
Daws tilted her head to one side and watched with keen interest as the Scottish flamethrower went about his work. "Well," she said thoughtfully, after a few minutes of silence, "I'll say this -- if this job doesn't give Tiernan an aneurism, I'm gonna be awful disappointed. We've cost him an arm and a leg tonight."
There was a keen, indescribable sound as Kindle's flame finally breached the armored door, and the detective grinned crookedly. "Make that an arm and two legs."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 1:53:25 GMT -5
"And both his ratty wings," added Vance with a fierce grin, stepping forward. "Blizzard, do me a favor and chill this thing down."
The mutant who had created the ice bridge during the Murfeeston fight stepped forward, directing a spray of frost at the red-hot metal surrounding the hole Kindle had made. When the steel was cool, Vance stepped up and shone a penlight into the hole, peering in.
"Looks like more of the same," he said, a little irritably. "Files and test tubes. Not that we can tell how important any of it is--and if it's locked up like this, it must be." He turned to Flash. "See if you can get in there now. Be careful."
Flash saluted, took the penlight, and vanished. A moment later, his voice rang hollowly from inside the vault. "You want me to start bringing this junk out?"
"You got it," Vance replied.
A moment later, Flash reappeared outside the vault with an armload of files. He deposited them on the floor, then vanished again. A dozen times he repeated the procedure, alternately bringing out books and folders or jars and vials of chemicals.
"That's all of it," he finally said. "The vault's empty."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 1:58:02 GMT -5
"Hunh." Daws stepped closer and eyed the pile of scientific miscellany. "Well, I was half-expectin' some sort of killer robot or an explosion at least -- guess that's what I get for watchin' too many old sci-fi flicks." She frowned thoughtfully and crouched down, leafing idly through one of the notebooks.
"Hey, Doc -- any idea what any of this stuff might be?"
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 2:13:54 GMT -5
"Not at first glance, but anything that doesn't involve dead people is a little out of my line," Miriam replied. "Anyway, I'd rather look over it all somewhere else. As you said, this place gives me the creeps."
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Post by skybright on Aug 8, 2006 2:16:38 GMT -5
"Fair enough." Daws cast the notebook aside and stood, stretching lazily. "I'm about ready to ditch all this extra covering, too." She gestured at her mask, and then turned to grin at Vance.
"Well, Major, I guess it's about time we moved out and let you get down to your favorite part of the proceedings."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 8, 2006 2:33:56 GMT -5
Vance smiled, although tired as he was, it lacked its usual edge. "Fine by me. Let's move everybody out."
With the prisoners already removed, the next several minutes were spent hauling their loot across the street, and making sure no stragglers remained in the building. Then Handy and a few of Vance's other people produced several tanks of gasoline to be trailed through the building.
Vance squeezed Handy's shoulder and leaned close. "Douse it good. I'm about spent."
Handy nodded and crossed the street with the others. They disappeared into the building, and returned a few minutes later, carrying the now-empty tanks.
"Okay." Vance looked around to make sure everyone had taken cover, then closed his eyes and breathed deeply, gathering his strength. At last he generated two kinetic grenades the size of softballs, and launched them at the Gray Lab.
The building went up in a firestorm of smoke and flame.
As soon as he let the boomers fly, Vance wobbled, and would have fallen if Handy hadn't caught him. He squeezed Handy's arm, but did not try to pull away from him.
"I'm okay. Just need to rest."
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