2013.08.16 - Dead Men Don't Play Fair

 Magneto's voice comes across clear, if a bit tinny, through the earpiece he'd given to John. For some reason, the little piece of steel- no larger than a hearing aid- phases with John as he does, going along with the man on his little ethereal jaunts. 

The entire enterprise had been a bit of a surprise from the start. Magneto had tasked John out to perform reconnaissance on an 'abandoned' warehouse in Gotham that was possibly being used for smuggling unregistered mutants and illegal aliens into Gotham. Magneto is not often wrong, and tonight, he seems nearly clairvoyant- there are indeed several cargo containers with a few dozen people in them, mostly families, and all under armed guard. The thugs are a typical motley assortment of mafiosos and hired guns, but they seem alert and well-armed. Hence, Magneto's request for John to be point man for this operation.

The Ghost doesn't answer, but merely taps his ear gently twice, to send the double-click over the comms that anyone with any training would know was the 'silent' method of acknowledging a question in the affirmative. A quietly whispered "stand by" follows, as The Ghost moves, invisibly, and mostly phased further into the warehouse.

The man in the gray trench coat, fedora hat, and full-face-mask slips further away from where the men work, but with a good vantage point to watch them, and answers then. "I'm seeing at least 2...check that, three dozen people being held by some dirtbags with some serious fire-power...." there's a long pause before he speaks quietly again "I can probably take out most of the guards, but once I start squirting lead, the captives might be in jeopardy of getting hit. You want this done quiet, or are we going in hard?" he asks.

 Magneto replies. The guards start corraling the mutants and humans into little portable sheds, the sort that cost a few dollar each to build and keep. It looks like there isn't even running water in them. A handful of individiuals- mutants and humans both- are cut out of the heard, being escorted to the back of a large unmarked van. It's apparent that the driver is preparing to take his hostages somewhere immediately.

 Magneto urges, unaware of the rapid change in the situation that's occurring in front of John. Without immediate action, a half dozen young people are going to vanish into the back of that van, to end up god knows where.

The Ghost replies quietly "We may not have a choice, boss." he says merely "They're culling some out and preparing to drive them out of here..." he says "white van...if I don't move now, they're going to be out of my range." he says, and speaks again "going radio silent....."

The Ghost was adept at many things, and infiltrating hotzones was one of them. As the young folks are being loaded into the van, he phases completely through the front of the van, pausing while in the engine compartment just long enough to make his hand solid (with A LOT of concentration), and tear a few important looking electrical leads off important looking parts. (really he just pulled the leads off the spark plugs).

He comes through the dash into the interior then, and into the van proper, still walking, his chest and shoulders about the only thing sticking up. With a little more concentration he rises up through the van's floorboard, until he's crouched inside with the youngsters already loaded. He goes visible then, and holds up a "shhh" gesture to them, while he waits for an opportunity to ruin someone's day.

The driver frowns as the engine goes *clickclickclick*. He leans out the window and shouts something that sounds Eastern European- Ukrainian or Polish- and gestures at one of the guards to help him out.

Inside the van, the youngsters- none of whom are likely old enough to drink- nod frantically at John as the Silver Ghost rises out of the floorboards. One of them, a hulking looking man with his hands bound and a gag on his mouth, gestures at John to help him out, brows furrowed in bright anticipation of a release of his anger.

The Ghost looks to the bound and gagged man, and leans close, un-gagging him, and whispering "ready to get out of here?" he looks at the kids, and then to the man again "what can you do?" he asks "if you can fight, that'd be a plus"...of course, Magneto's likely hearing all of this. When he gets back from this mission he should mention something about patching in his optics to Magneto's computer system as well, so the Imperator, or whomever was on overwatch duty could see what he was seeing. Might make life easier for future missions.

Far away, sitting in the embassy, Magneto smiles and accepts a ten-dollar bill from his operations supervisor. "I told you he wouldn't listen," Magneto informs the man. He picks up the transciever and activates it, speaking to John again.

>

Inside the van, the big man takes a few deep, happy breaths as he's ungagged. "Da. They call me Vidnymolotok," the big man says. " 'Jackhammer'. I can fight." His English is heavily accented, but passable. "But no good with hands tied," he says, gesturing at John again to cut his bonds. The other occupants of the van all shake their heads numbly- all young women between sixteen and eighteen, prime candidates for the mail-order bride business. None look like fighters.

The Ghost grunts "we just need to keep 'em occupied for...." he pauses "about 4 minutes...." he says "you're not bulletproof, are you?" he asks 'Jackhammer', but reaches down to the man's bindings, phasing them, but not the man, and tossing them on the floor. "just don't get dead. My boss is already less than pleased with me." he says "and I got a feeling he's hoping to meet you..." he looks around to the girls then "all of you." he says quietly.

At that he phases again, fog forming as he also goes invisible, and slips through the fog toward the cab of the van, and into the passenger's seat (provided it's empty). There he drops the invisibility again, and goes solid, pulling out his .45, and pistolwhipping the driver to knock him out.

"No." Jackhammer stands, his weight shifting the van. "But they say, I go to laboratory. They say I live in cage. Be dead before in cage." Jackhammer turns and runs at the back door at full speed, slamming into them with enough force to rip both doors off the hinges. He grabs one and hurls it like a discus, bowling two of the guards over, and slams his fingers through the door panel to use it as an improvised shield. He runs up and punches one of the guards in the face- and Jackhammer earns his moniker right there, his fist hitting the man thirty times in less than a second.

Inside the disabled van,the guard slumps forward, unconscious. Outside the van, panicked gunfire erupts, and Jackhammer bellows in pain, the sound loud enough to shatter glass. A guard goes flying across John's line of sight, up and over the van in a high arc.



"I set one captive loose...sounds like...damn, sounds like he's not being very subtle....I can get out, but I'll stay until they arrive, and keep the captives safe." he says "Do you have a contingency to keep the authorities occupied? This won't do you any good if the coppers show up to the party too soon." he comments. Magneto might have his suspicions about the detective, but so far he's proven he's as mercenary as most mercenaries. Sure he wants to protect innocents, but he's not above taking life if need be, nor in getting 'dirty' as it were.

"Don't worry about me, boss, remember...I don't die so easy...." at that he stops talking and phases out the side door of the van, moving to cover the rear, and Jackhammer if he's not down. He notes a guard taking aim at the rear of the van with a submachine gun, and fires off a shot toward the man aiming for his head.

The mutant called Jackhammer is fighting a dying battle on the warehouse floor. In grand tradition, he's going down swinging, arms pumping like pistons as he systematically pummels men to death. Their little Czech Scorpions are such a small, light round that his impressive chest absorbs most of the bullets- but he's bleeding, and badly.

 Magneto informs the man over the radio piece.  he urges the Silver Ghost, even as the guard is dropped by John's skillful shot. In the back of the warehouse, there's an explosion of fury and gunfire as the point team makes contact with the rest of the guards. 

Not responding to the voice in his ear, The Ghost shoots down two more guards in quick succession, before running to Jackhammer, and picking him up as best he can, walking him to the van again. He shoves him in with the others still in the van and says "Stay inside, see if you can help him..." he says, and then phases through the van to the engine again, reattatching the leads he'd earlier detatched, and then running around to the side door, opening it, and dumping the guard in the driver's seat out. He hops in, starts the van, and squeels the tires as he takes off "Hold on back there!" he calls out.

He floors it forward not even aiming for a door, but driving directly at the wall ahead of him. He takes a breath, and phases the entire vehicle and its occupants, driving THROUGH an exterior wall, and into the outside world. "Boss, I got a van-full here...one is badly wounded...please tell me you've got a medic somewhere near here..." he says.

There's a loud FPAAAP and a mutant phases into existence next to John in a flash of scarlet smoke. "Ghost! Quick, pull over and let me take the van," the teleporter tells the man. Nervous eyes under shaggy brown hair gives the boy a decidedly youthful look. "There are still a few dozen mutants back there. I'll take this over," he tells John, tapping the dashboard a few times. "Can you get back into the fight?"

The Ghost looks at the other man in the cab with him, and grunts "I can. Just get the guy back there to a medic. He's been shot, and he's bleeding out...." he says, never slowing the van, he just calls "take over...." and rolls out of the van, phasing through the door.

What happens when someone who is phased is moving at high speed, and meets the ground? Nothing really...until they begin to unphase, which is what The Ghost does, leaning against his momentum. His feet begin kicking up dust in the pavement as he slides, becoming more and more solid, until finally he's stopped, and he starts running once more toward the wall about 50 feet back which he'd just driven through. He phases through the wall again, his gun already drawn once more, and fires off a few more shots. It was nice that he could shoot his .45s while phased...the bullets, once they left the barrel had a tendency to go solid again, losing contact with him...he could shoot from relative safety, as long as nobody was shooting tazers at him, or energy weapons.

It's turned into an out and out gunfight inside the warehouse. Hostages huddle, screaming, as bullets and kinetic energy blasts fly across the room. One mutant in the point team goes down to a hail of gunfire- one human, manipulated by a psychic, turns the gun on himself. Another heavy mutant- the kind Magneto favors as shock troopers- slams into the side of one of the buildings, ripping it open with his bare hands. "Out! Get out!" he bellows at the occupants. He holds a hand up to shield his eyes from the bullets digging small but bloody holes in his chest, then charges one of the guards and uses him as an improvised flail to knock down two others.

It's turned into an out and out gunfight inside the warehouse. Hostages huddle, screaming, as bullets and kinetic energy blasts fly across the room. One mutant in the point team goes down to a hail of gunfire- one human, manipulated by a psychic, turns the gun on himself. Another heavy mutant- the kind Magneto favors as shock troopers- slams into the side of one of the buildings, ripping it open with his bare hands. "Out! Get out!" he bellows at the occupants. He holds a hand up to shield his eyes from the bullets digging small but bloody holes in his chest, then charges one of the guards and uses him as an improvised flail to knock down two others.

The Ghost rushes in just then, seeing the craziness. As the newly freed occupants all rush for exits, he lays down covering fire with a sub-machine gun he picked up from a fallen guard. It's the old "spray-and-pray" method, but it isn't meant to be surgical, it's meant to keep the badguys with guns at bay by ducking and covering. Once those who are able to run have run, he starts picking off more guards with his pistol. He was a better shot with that anyway.

Police sirens blare in the distance, closing in fast. Jim Gordon is inside one of the cars, barking orders into his radio. "Well, get a man over there on the double and tell me if we're dealing with Billings, Grimley, or some other unknown!" Pause. "Yes, I'm well aware of that." Pause. "Copy that, we'll bring in it in. Tell our man to find out if we're dealing with metas."

Meanwhile, a lone unmarked cruiser comes tearing around the corner, screeching to a halt. It's driver bails out and rolls across the pavement, before scampering to his hands and knees behind the safety of his bumper. Up comes a pair of binoculars, and he peers at the house in an effort to try and ascertain what's happening.

"Oh sh..." he starts, then grabs the radio from his shoulder. Seems he just saw a heavy hitter tearing the building open. "Dispatch, we got metas in here." Lowering the radio he curses violently, and reaches for his standard issue sidearm with a sad look on his face.

One at a time, the little portable sheds get ripped open, and under cover of metahuman gifts and raw brute strength, the hostages are extracted. The humans go running in all directions, but the mutants and metahumans are quickly subdued by their rescuers and carted off to a safe location, before they can lash out with their own powers. It takes only a minute or two, but by the time Jim's car rolls around the corner, the hostages are either dead, or clear- a few mutants and metahumans lay in pools of blood on the concrete, and the gangsters are rapidly running out of time and muscle. John's presence and accurate shooting seems to be winning the day for the attack team, who are moving and fighting as a single cohesive unit, as opposed to the increasingly ragged tactical manuevers of the hostage-holders.

BLAM...BLAM...BLAM...The Ghost's gun coughs .45 calibre bullets again and again at the various guards. Any who shoot at him are disappointed when he neither takes cover, nor gets hit. It's like shooting fish in a barrel when you can't get hit back. His head turns, hearing the cop-car screech to a halt, and he looks toward the officer huddling behind his car, and sighs "Boss, the bulls just got to the party, are we good to bug out?" he asks over the comms. "I'd really rather not have to make this any uglier than it is by shooting a flat-foot." he says "They're just doin' their job after all..." he says

He begins moving toward his comrades who have grouped up to better combat the thugs they've been cutting down left and right "What's the ex-fil plan?" he asks.

Something can be said about GCPD response time. Under Jim Gordon, the cops have been forced to memorize the street grid, and have gone through a number of planning sessions to improve response time. One by one, GCPD cruisers, SWAT vans, and black-marked SUV's begin pulling up on every side of the location. A pair of choppers is not far behind, their lights flashing to life and seeking out the carnage below.

It all happens over the course of ten seconds.

"My God," mutters Jim as soon as he sees the pools of blood. Grabbing the radio, he says, "Dispersal, option Delta!"

Cops and SWAT officers begin disgorging themselves from their vehicles. However, they do not yet engage. Assault shields and armored officers form the front line perimeter, while the uniformed cops hang back to serve as a second line of defense. If anyone hopes to get out before GCPD completes their perimeter, they'd better hurry! It seems a majority of the department is being called in on this one, and the fire trucks aren't far behind.

"I am," announces a young man's voice, as the quick-eyed teleporter pops into existence without so much as a 'hello'. He grabs two mutants by the hand and immediately vanishes again, leaving whorls of scarlet in his wake.

 the voice on the radio says.  the order comes. 

The Ghost knew the drill. He knew his compatriots also heard the orders, he nods to them "Get to it boys..." he says picking up the nearest of his compatriots who is down, helping the man to his feet, and walking toward the teleporter. "Make as many trips as you can..." he says handing the man over to the teleporter. "Grab me last...." he says moving through the gunfire toward another fallen comrade. Luckily the thugs weren't nearly as well trained as the folks he was with, so there were fewer casualties. Of course, the civilians didn't fare quite as well. He drags one man by the arm, while helping another to walk toward cover behind which they could hopefully all get poofed to the fallback point. Once there securing transport shouldn't be TOO very difficult...he hoped.

As the GCPD continue to form their perimeter, the helicopters soar in overhead. One of them has their light shined on the collected casualties, while the other is encircling the area, trying to ascertain who is responsible. A voice booms over the helicopter's loudspeaker.

"Drop your weapons and lay down on the ground. You have fifteen seconds to comply. Repeat, drop your weapons and lay down on the ground. You have fifteen seconds to comply."

Exfiltration goes off without a hitch. The teleporter takes mutants one at a time out, though at a much slower pace than a more famous, blue-skinned one would do. John's rapid evacuation of the wounded and the systematic teamwork results in the entire team, plus nearly twenty of the former hostages, vanishing into the shadows. John is, indeed, the last out, dug in to a good defensive position and laying down cover fire as the criminals slowly realize the net is tightening around them. Just as SWAT approaches John from the rear, and the criminals open up a crossfire, the teleporter appears and grabs John by the shoulders. They mingle and disappear in another soft burst of smoke and scarlet, leaving Gotham PD to duke it out with the dozen-odd gangsters left in the warehouse, and to round up the humans who had vanished screaming into the night after their liberation.

As the GCPD continue to form their perimeter, the helicopters soar in overhead. One of them has their light shined on the collected casualties, while the other is encircling the area, trying to ascertain who is responsible. A voice booms over the helicopter's loudspeaker.

"Drop your weapons and lay down on the ground. You have fifteen seconds to comply. Repeat, drop your weapons and lay down on the ground. You have fifteen seconds to comply."

When all is said and done, Jim Gordon is found walking through the carnage, wearing a GCPD-emblazoned ballistic vest and helmet. Scowling, he walks for some time, studying the corpses, watching as the wounded are carried off in stretchers, and observing as witnesses are rounded up by his Lieutenants.

Out comes a cigarette and his zippo lighter. It's gonna be a long ass night.