THE SPIES WHO SPROCKED US - modplot

[letsgolegion]

Who| Everyone who signed up
What| The Espionage Mission Against the Council
Where| Brainiac 3's abandoned asteroid base.
When| Set during the same time as "Through the Looking Glass"
Warnings/Notes| Potential gore, due to the plan to fake a betrayal. Also potential mind-borkery, due to the Herald involved. (Think similar to telepathy or empath powers).



The abandoned base of Brainiac 5's grandfather, Brainiac 3, is simultaneously perfect for a secret meeting and perfect for an attack. Built into the asteroid itself, it had labyrinthian tunnels, extensive computer monitoring systems, and countless security measures. And a faked radiation spill means very few would risk going to it.

But all the things the Council-members and the Herald are using to guard the meetup can be used against them as well. The tunnels, ducts, shady rafters, and countless levels provide ample opportunity for hiding, sneaking and bypassing certain areas to avoid getting caught. The security systems -- everything from alarms to wall-mounted stun blasters, to capture droids -- can be hacked and exploited, either by the hackers among them, or by security bypass devices similar to the ones that were used during the heist on Rimbor. Even when these devices fail for whatever reason, such as security code shifts and updates, the hackers can gain new security codes and bypasses and send them to their compatriots.

The most dangerous part of this mission is the use of the Nysheef, Harrubian ninjas that have been lent to the UP Council-members as security from the pissed off Harrubian elite that were arrested by the Legion. Juuust on the off chance that the Legion might come snooping around. But with the right amount of stealth and subterfuge, the Legionnaires can take out the Nysheef without raising the alarm, and there are plenty of places to stuff their unconscious bodies.

Brainiac 5 went all out to make sure that the Legionnaires are well equipped for this mission. Before it started, they had access to a tech armory that let them get their hands on a wide variety useful tech, such as: security bypass devices, mini-computers for the hackers, stun weapons, smoke bombs with stun gas that can knock out most sentients for hours, hard-light holographic projectors that can cast illusions over an area or disguise an individual (which can scan new things to create new disguises), stasis field devices, personal cloaking devices, high-tech anti-grav climbing gear, recording drones, grappling hooks...

Basically, if the Legionnaires needed it for the job, they got it. As usual, they also have their flight rings, omnicoms (which have useful scanners), and transuits.

A sensor sweep indicates that the Herald and the six Council-members are meeting in a particular central chamber -- with an addition two unexpected life signs -- but with the team's plans, powers, and equipment, it's Mission: Highly Probable instead of Mission: Impossible.

And the Council will never see them coming. (Which is kind of the point, really.)

Comments

♫ MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THEME ♪ - AKA ALL THE SNEAKY BITS

[letsgolegion]

There really should be sneaky music playing. But since this is a stealth mission, everyone will have to just imagine it in their heads.

Whether it's climbing through ducts, swooping out of the shadows to knock people out, phasing through walls to open new sections from the other side, using equipment to get past dangerous inexplicable fans with an undetermined purpose, taking out Nysheef ninjas, hacking systems and siccing internal security on the ninja mooks, or...anything else, the Legionnaires can do it.

And they'll need to. There are quite a few levels between them and the meeting between Council-members and the Herald. And they'll really be much better off taking out all the Nysheef ninjas quietly rather than leaving them conscious to intercede in the final confrontation.

[ooc: For all the stealth sneaky.]

[vata]

It's like breathing, missions like this one. Shrugging off the second skin of her alias and making the transition between kind, attentive Azúcar and Sombra: a creature invisible on digital pathways, quick to cut a practiced course through whatever defenses she can find. A habit she exercises right from the beginning— camouflaged as she clambers up into the vents from the outside, hunting for wiring or any accessible digital markers.

Eventually, she scores. A maintenance hub that's been fed by cables run close to the ventilation shaft. It's not a backdoor to the entire system, but it's eyes wherever the Legionnaires might need them, visual feeds running circles through her skull as she calls out across her earpiece.

"Looks like the back entrance is swapping out shifts. Bypass the alarms and be quiet about it, and ahí está — you'll have yourself a ticket inside."

[rushing_by]

After the guards clock out and leave, there's a blur too fast for the cameras to pick up, and each of their replacement are quickly knocked out before they notice anything is happening. Barry takes their ID cards and comms just in case they wake up, and then phases through the door.

Quick use of one of the ID cards once inside means the alarms in this section of the base won't be going off anytime soon.

"I'm in. What's next?"

[vata]

"Huh. You really do work fast."

She'd heard rumors, but nothing really stacks up to seeing it in action. Or not seeing it at all, technically. "Security seems pretty standard so far. Try not to set off anything that looks dangerous and you should be fine."

There's a few seconds spent paging through the feed, mulling over options for relocation and whether or not she should bother to attempt to move with him as he and the others progress— ultimately she'd risk losing the advantage of digital eyesight if there isn't another hub farther in. The shot's too long: for now, she'll wait. "Take the stairwell on your left, avoid the elevator: there's no way to tell who's getting on or off once you're stuck inside."

Flick, flick, flick— more feeds, more information.

"Think they've got guards set up on the third floor. Looks like three, maybe four, but there's a blind spot. Ten cuidado."

[mylawn]

76 might not look very well suited to stealth, what with the jacket and visor and the sheer size of him, but he's much better at it than he lets on. He moves quietly, efficiently, and though he doesn't exactly have the tech know-how of some of the others on the team, he's more than capable of taking the brunt of any physical contact with enemies.

They're trying to avoid it if possible, of course, but sometimes there's no other way around it. That's where 76 comes in.

He'll only engage the Nysheef if there's no other way around it, and he holds out a hand to whoever he's with (that's you), indicating that no one should go any further. Talking more than a few whispered words at a time is too risky, so 76 motions to indicate what's around the corner.

"I'll take them."

[touchmydragon]

This was where Genji tended to prevail too, his lights turned off for the sole purpose of not standing out like a traffic signal. It was a handy feature on his cyborg armor that helped make him not seem like a useless ninja.

The Shimada gave a nod at Soldier and sent a signal back. It was probably language Soldier hadn't seen in a while but when you spend time together as a team, albeit reluctantly on Genji's part, silent language became part of the dialogue. And Genji was asking Soldier to wait one moment. He could at least get them to look in another direction for one quick moment.

Silently, three shuriken slid into his hand and he gave them a quick toss after confirming a short nod with Soldier. He aimed them at the ground to minimize noise, instead relying on the whistling noise of them as they sped by the enemy to cause them to turn their heads away.

[mylawn]

Though it's been years since he's used these particular hand signals, they come back to him quickly, and he responds in kind without missing a beat.

76 would have been perfectly content to handle these particular guards himself, but he can't deny that Genji is practically built for this, so he defers for the moment, stepping back so that he can take point.

As soon as he lets those shurikens fly, 76 is moving, looking to take advantage of the distraction to get behind one of the guards and wrap his arms around their neck.

[touchmydragon]

Once Soldier was out there, Genji was right behind him. Making use of his newly gained powers, though it still felt similar to what he would normally do, he quickly dashed forward at another guard, lashing out with his shorter sword. He did, however, use the blunt end and made a careful placement of it right where the spine met the skull, sending the enemy into unconsciousness.

With him taken care of, Genji turned his head, just to make sure Soldier had his own enemy under control. Genji had no doubt that he did but it was best to check.

[mylawn]

76 knows he doesn't need to worry about Genji in the middle of a fight, but he keeps one eye on him anyway, when he can spare it. It all happens too quickly, however, for 76 to really mind anyone other than himself, but the moments he takes to choke out one guard afford him an opportunity to make sure that Genji is handling his.

It's been a long time since he's seen Genji in action, and it's no less impressive than he remembers. He has no idea what the Legion might have gifted him with in addition to his cyborg abilities, but it's clear that he had nothing to worry about as they both make swift work of their respective Nysheef.

That still leaves one, and they've lost the element of surprise, which means the final guard won't go down as easily. 76 lets his now-unconscious ninja assailant drop to the ground, springing at their last opponent and hoping that Genji has enough sense to join him.

[touchmydragon]

Sense is something Genji thankfully possesses now, not that the lack of it would have stopped him. Since Soldier was taking the ground, he leapt upwards to go after the enemy. The enemy ninja was going to be forced to make a choice to either counter the cyborg or the soldier. He did have the third option of running away but that probably wasn't what he was being paid to do.

[mylawn]

The Nysheef choses 76, and they're on him before he can even blink. He raises his gun to block the onslaught, hoping to turn the guard's actions against him, but he doesn't seem to be able to knock him off balance right away. Jack pushes back, trying to use his greater stature to get the upper hand.

He doesn't call out to Genji--trusting him enough to know that there's no possible way he won't take advantage of a two-on-one situation.

[fantasmaniac]

Reaper stays in range of Widowmaker, able to place his trust in her sight without thinking too much about it. If he needs her input, he can just communicate with her over the comms. Just another day infiltrating a secret base in broad daylight (baselight?) without being seen.

He quietly seeps into the ventilation system, unrestricted by the size of the shaft or its entrance, and takes his time scoping out a good place to watch the rendezvous go down. Even sensors have a hard time picking up on his gaseous form, though the density of it discourages him from simply passing through any laser sensors. He just goes around them, or through the spaces. There's a lot of moving parts in this mission, and as usual, messing up on any part will prove disastrous.

Not impossible to salvage, but disastrous nonetheless.

He pours out of the vent, weighing himself close to the ground. Even if he's not exactly hidden, the sight would mostly confuse someone rather than alarm them straight away. Any Nysheef ninjas unfortunate enough to cross his path are quickly taken down, however. Just step on him, he dares them. Whoever is shadowing him to find unobstructed routes has a clear hallway to run through.

[steelandtemper]

"Somebody didn't file changes with the Planning Board." Because evil masterminds are very concerned with filling out the proper forms.

That sure is a blank wall standing where the blueprints say there's supposed to be a doorway. Cortana briefly considers and immediately discards the idea of telling Locus to get his fingers in a seam and just plain rip away the metal--even if he were strong enough, that would be the opposite of sneaky. Not every problem needs to have the Master Chief's brand of destruction thrown at it.

Hence the reason she's riding with Locus in the first place. He's no Chief, or even Sombra, but he's a professional and she finds his armor comfortably familiar, albeit something of an economy hotel compared to her usual digs. She likes the integrated cover shield, and the only thing stopping her from trying to install a similar system in the Chief's armor is the resigned awareness that making him invisible will not actually render his preferred full frontal assault combat style any stealthier.

Having most of her resources currently devoted to cyberintrusion, the digital equivalent of what they two of them are up to in the physical world and just as invisible to their organic targets as Locus is, Cortana isn't sparing much thought to how she's mad at him for missing the point of the Human-Covenant War entirely. Hardly relevant to the mission, anyhow, since Locus is unlikely to stop and commit genocide for the cash on the way.

Cortana is growing as a person, since she doesn't vocalize that last thought.

"Okay, rerouting. Backtrack a bit. We can go through the warehouse hub. Lots of moving machinery, good audio camouflage." She adds a navpoint to his HUD. "I thought this was too easy. Expect patrols."

[agnominal]

Given his strength? He probably could dig the panel open. But it would be inefficient in the long run, and finding another point of entry would maintain the element of stealth. That was, after all, why she was coming with him. Yes?

"Acknowledged."

The words are toneless. There's no time to feel starstruck, ashamed, or any other number of things one might feel having a very judgmental AI belonging to a hero of yours riding shotgun. Missions aren't a time to feel anything at all, and he's locked down as much as he can.

Backing away from the door, he makes his way towards the navpoint. For as heavy as the armor is, he's relatively quiet in his movement, practiced in this form of stealth from years of experience. And he's keeping an eye out, as she requested. The patrols so far seem to be on the quieter side, so it'll take focus to pick them out.

[steelandtemper]

"You're looking for a big set of blast doors, got a couple of humanoids guarding them." Advance scouting is one of those things where having someone along who can tap the security feeds comes in handy. As much as she'd prefer Locus simply put a bullet through the heads of anyone willing to work for Chronoblivion, the Legion has its rules, and instead of a targeting reticule, Cortana just puts a pair of red dots on Locus's motion tracker. If lethal force is off the table, she's indifferent to how he handles them, and rather than offer suggestions, she leaves Locus to his own devices and leans over the metaphorical table, unrolling the blueprints to look for a good spot to stash two limp but still breathing bodies.

[agnominal]

Blast doors. The kind that someone is going to notice being opened. Hopefully they get through this quickly, his invisibility is a limited thing.

Luckily, his aim, isn't. Taking position and popping off two shots in quick succession is child's play, even with the slow fire-rate of the tranq rifle he's using. He barely needs to break stride in order to pick them off and move to haul them up.

Two limp bodies flailing around in midair supposedly on their own? Will probably draw interest if they're spotted.

[steelandtemper]

"Hmm. Harrubian. Let me just..." There's a crackle and a hint of smoke drifting up from one side of each unconscious head as Cortana fries their comms with a power surge. "Call for help now, you amateurs." Locus's victims are going to miss any check-in regardless; at least this way if they shake off the sedatives they have to find the 31st century equivalent of a phone booth send or receive any intel.

"Handy ventilation duct here," she says, clearly now addressing Locus, because a second navpoint pops into being on his HUD. "I'll bypass the doors while you throw out the trash. Won't take long."

[agnominal]

She's not going to receive a lot in the way of banter, though perhaps she's used to that. Locus is far more concerned with hauling those two out of the way, and luckily he's strong enough to haul them over and shove them into the vent system with relatively little trouble. They're still breathing.

For however much that counts for.

"Anyone on the other side?" He's keeping communication inside the helmet, silent on the outside. She's hooked into the armor, however, so she'll still be able to hear him just fine.

[leverageintceo]

It feels good to be working with Hardison again.

Sneaking Parker can do and has done on her own, for most of her life even, though it doesn't usually involve ninjas sneaking around as well. Or space, but space is outside and she's inside, so that doesn't really count. But she's been sneaking for over half a year without her hacker running commentary in her earbud and it's nice to have that option back again.

"I think we're clear," she whispers, peering down from the grating in the duct work.

[age_of_the_geek]

"All right. Gimme a sec to check the data feeds."

Hardison was a smudge frustrated. It would have been far more open and annoyed if it hadn't been for Eliot rubbing off on him after so many years, but in getting used to the new tech he had to learn a whole lot very quickly. He was at least passable in his future hacking. Some tricks never change, just their mode of transmission, but others he'd have to relearn his playbook.

"Okay, I...am...into their feeds. Looks like you got a patrol of guys coming in right below...above you? I don't have the best read-out. Two seconds."

[leverageintceo]

Parker shrinks back into the vent shaft, waiting for the ninjas to pass by. With two seconds, she doesn't have the time to move the grating quietly, and moving it loudly will just alert them to her position and give away the surprise. If she were Eliot, that would be fine, but even with the combat training she's hand with the Legion, she's no Eliot.

This would really be easier if their whole team was here, but as long as she can get Hardison in, they'll be able to take out the ninjas without too much problem even without him. It'd just be easier and more fun if Eliot were here too.

"Tell me when I'm clear to move," she says, her words barely more than a breath.

[age_of_the_geek]

"Got the patrol circling back around. Once they're clear-go. Go now!"

Hardison was watching the feeds and the theyweren'tkiddingthey'reliterally ninjas had passed by the point where Parker could drop down. These guys may be ninjas, but Parker is Parker and would put whatever the 30th (31st?) century has to throw at them.

[leverageintceo]

Parker immediately got to work on opening the grating with the tools she'd packed with her. And some of the Espionage Squad had looked her her funny when she'd requested screw drivers for their infiltration kits. Ha!

She slides out of the vent and carefully replaced the grate so as to leave herself a speedy escape route without leaving a huge hole in her wake. Then, hugging the ceiling with her flight ring, she took off after the ninja guards. Her objective was in that direction, and if she could follow them without getting their attention, she'd have more time to work before their next patrol brought them this way.

[age_of_the_geek]

"Man, even in the future, nobody seems to look up."

Hardison takes a look at the readouts. Now that he's past the messy stuff, it looks like he's not getting the active resistance that was giving him problems. Still, it doesn't look like it would be enough data for him to jump through.

"Looks like I'll just be in your ear for now, Babe. But if you can get to a place with a lot of data being used, I can possibly jump through if you need back-up."

[wallsofjericho]

Perhaps, somewhere in some Legionnaire's head, this is the sneaking music of choice, but Joey's preoccupied listening to something else right now, the steady step of at least two people who aren't as concerned as normal about being stealthy.

From Joey's position, it's easy to see why. With the help of the flight ring, he's pressed up against the ceiling in that partial blind spot of space just above a door, listening to people in the hallway through that door and trying not to be distracted by the smell of burnt popcorn and coffee that lingers every break room for all eternity.

That's why he knows they don't care about being heard. It's the break room; the only thing to fear is expired food in the snack machine. It's not where Legionnaires have ducked to ambush them, oh no.