Summary:Incognito, Emma, Pris and Catseye go after the pirates who'd hijacked a prior shipment and killed all the crew. Pirates and wraiths and Supers, Oh my! Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Three Frosts ride in a surprisingly comfortable shipping container on the on the Frost International cargo ship Bellerophon. None on board know of the extra special cargo they carry, all they know is that the last ship sent to the current waters was attacked by pirates, and all hands killed. Not comfortable news for the crew, especially since this one has been dispatched in a hurry and their scheduled additional security got delayed in a storm. The decision to proceed was made, and unwelcome.
What they didn't know is that the last minute cargo container loaded contained FAR more defense for them than the fireteam that as never sent.
Emma is dressed in her matte black armor, the outfit skin tight and a fairly high-tech polymer weave. Two fairly high calibre pistols at her hips, a sword at her back, and her mind - the deadliset weapon of all, honed and ready. "Radar contact at five clicks, a boat with no transponder to identify it on intercept course." Emma notes in a voder modulated voice.
"Time to intercept…one-zero minutes at present speed."
Catseye has been waiting in smoothskin form. It takes up less space, and hours and hours in a shipping container can make a little shed fur a major annoyance. Now she stands, does a slow, leisurely stretch, and shifts to furform. "Catseye leap over to othership. Can just sink it when done. Less to clean up, yes?" And Catseye can leave a large mess to clean up when she gets going.
"OK." Voodoo's altered voice is one both her mother and sister have heard before, if not often. It's all part of the nature of what she changes when she pours herself into the skintight padded gold-accented purple costume and weapons bandoliers. Blaster, sword, knives, grenades. Voodoo is ready. "Douse the lights, release the locks. Wait ten, then we swing open the door. Each of us knows our positions." She pauses long enough to kneel down and press a kiss to Catseye's furred forehead, and then stands to kiss Emma's cheek. "Good luck, both of you." Then she walks over, douses the lights, and the countdown begins.
« 1, 2, 3, 4, »
Patched into the Bellerophon's comm system, they can hear the broadcast from the Pirates, it is /arrogant/. "Bellerophon…you are unarmed, we have you locked up with autocannon and two missiles, cut your engines and stand to for boarding." The Bellerphon's captain, Morgan Wallace replies. "Unknown vessel, this is an an unarmed ship on a humanitarian mission, stand down your weapons, allow us to proceed. We have zero valuables, no passengers, merely food and medical supplies. I say again, stand down."
The response is swift, cannon fire rips across the bow. "That is your only warning, Bellerophon, heave too and prepare to be boarded."
The engines are cut, and anchors are dropped…per standing orders they do not even attempt to resist. Some few minutes tick by and then the enemy ship closes and moves along side…
Emma stays en rapport, and will coordinate. «Go.»
Catseye crouches, tensed at the broadcast from the pirates. Silent, still… well, almost still. She does that ridiculously cute butt wiggle cats do before they pounce. She doesn't even realize it, most likely. Then Emma gives the go and she MOVES. The fastest men on earth run around 23 mph over short sprints. Catseye's speed is closer to 40, a lavender blur of fur and fury as she rushes across the deck and pounces down onto the pirate ship.
Don't worry, she picks a small group of pirates to break her landing. *crunch*
Right before pushing open the door, Voodoo kneels in front of Catseye and holds up a tube about two foot long, close to eight inches across. "Open up." She tucks the object into Catseye's mouth. "Drop that when you land on their boat. Five minutes from the spoon flip, that thermite grenade will flare and melt down through the hull of their ship." And hey, if that catches fuel or weapons stores, kaboom!
That done, the stripper ninja of the family pushes the door open in the darkness and melts away in her direction, towards the Con and the crew, while she leaves her mother and sister to their positions; they all know this well.
Emma's mind presence links them, she coordinates and Pris can also sense her weaving mental illusions to cloak them, another layer of protection, why wipe minds when you can prevent them from seeing anything in the first place?
Catseye's launch and landing are /devastating/. The pirates bunched together, the boarding party armed with military grade weapons and clearly ready to just go to town again.
«We need the captain and the navigator.» Emma states via the telepathic link.
Unspoken is that they don't need any of the others.
Voodoo melts out of the darkness near the Con, dousing the lights. "Captain, get your people down and stay down. We are here to keep you and your people and cargo safe. You and yours can best help that by staying out of the way until this is handled."
That done, Voodoo sprints through the darkness towards the pirate ship approaching. « Keep an eye on what that radar is showing. Pirates like being sneaky fucks. I'm betting there's a second boat out here somewhere, either ahead of us if we tried to run, or lingering behind that one if we turned out to have more security. »
Voodoo skids to a halt atop the cargo, down to reduce her profile against the night sky as she prepares her blaster to cut down every fool stupid enough to try to get away from her sister.
This is a killing field. UNtil she spots their captain and navigator, all of the rest are expendable.
Catseye figures that means the shouty guy giving orders, and someone standing by important equipment inside. In the meantime, she knocks over and claws her way towards the hatch to below, keeping the tube in her jaws very carefully in place. She isn't worried about where her claws land beyond 'incapable of using a weapon' when she's done getting through them. She takes some bullet wounds, but they don't even slow her down. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
Once through the hatch, scent leads her to the engine area, and she tosses the thermite grenade in the direction of the thickest, most complicated machinery. Then she spins around, mouth free to bite as well as claws available to rend.
Emma continues to monitor the waters around them, and spots a 'ghost' that fades on Radar. «Fuzzy bogey, I think you might be right Voodoo…I'm going to send my astral self, will be off Radar during the search.» Fortuantely Emma can still tepe. It takes mere moments for her to find - yes - a second ship, this one of exotic design and made of radar resistant materials. «Confirmed - there is another ship, but it is small.» She shares the location and the nature of the ship, and Pris can identify the design - Wraith.
The Captain and Crew of the Bellerophon obey her instructions, blacking out the lights and taking cover. She does get to take a couple shots as Cat's focus was on getting /through/ the mass, not utterly slaughtering it. See? She DOES love you!
Once inside the ship, the fighting gets much nastier, but really…these guys are all norms, some are even well trained and armed…it matters not a whit.
The blasts from above stop as Voodoo picks up what Emma has sent back. « Mother, get back to your body, immediately! There could be one of THEM aboard! » And given the fell magicks the Dire Wraiths have to hand, they could ensnare even Emma's astral body, and that would be horrendous for her health and safety.
Realizing how bad this could be, Voodoo leaps from above, a gold-accented dark purple missile, and lands on the deck with a roll as she kicks the Captain square in the head with, to be fair, far more foce than a mere human would could manage. The kick is incredibly swift and brutal, driving the human to the deck. She stabs him through the shoulder to hold him still with one of her knives, and binds his wrists and ankles, wrestling at him with the knive in his body whenever he gets pushy, until she is sure he is going nowhere.
Voodoo leaves the knife in, because that prevents him from swiftly bleeding out.
« Navigator, navigator … » Voodoo starts sweeping through the minds of those that still have pulses, looking for the one who thinks of himself as being the capable navigator, still considering charts and speed of approach, local sea floor conditions, weather patterns and such.
Catseye appreciates her sister's and her mother's subtlety and focus. Catseye is more of a terror weapon. There's something about LARGE FURRED FANGED SNARLING coming for you that goes directly to the reptile brain. True, when she charges into the small bridge area, that instinctive terror has the two men there drawing guns and firing. But they aren't aiming worth a damn, they mostly shoot up their own equipment. One of them even shoots the other!
So Catseye grabs the one with the bigger gun. In her jaws. Crunching down on his shoulder. She does NOT tear out his throat, though having over a quarter ton of kitty on his chest probably isn't helping either. Nor is her spinning on top of him to launch herself at the second man and repeat the maneuver.
She's smugly pleased that the gunfire in the room has stopped. It was hurting her ears. Haunch hurts too and the injured things are making wounded noises… but even as her mind slips towards the feral she remembers you don't eat the smoothskins. And needed some alive. So she leaves them, screaming and whimpering in pain, and prowls back out.
Smell of gunpowder. Blood. Death.
Fight. Maim.
Kill.
Not even a second of hesitation - Emma crash translates back to her body, which leaves her stunned for a few moments, but back. A good thing two, Pris can sense the flare of a soul-snare, which would have indeed captured Emma's projected self - if fires a split second /after/ Emma's immediate withdrawal. Thankfully Voodoo can sense her back in her own body - though the mindlink is severed for several moments.
The Captain is handled — and yes, he needs a few pointed reminders before he's bound.
The Navigator takes a few moments to find…he's in the bridge, the second man that Catseye cripples.
Shortly after the navigator is found, Emma is back online mentally. «Voodoo, mission command is yours. I don't know the Wraiths…how do we proceed?»
The grisly slaughter of the pirates is very effectively done, the thermite grenade having perhaps another minute, probably less before it goes off…right next to the primary fuel pump.
Lucky toss, Cat!
Voodoo approaches Cat and kneels down, scooping up the navigator. "Catseye, come. We're done with these. Find new toys to torture." the stripper ninja intones as she lopes back out of the cabin and leaps up onto the cargo ship, dropping the navigator close to the captain and trusting her sister to follow.
« Mother, I need you out here with your weapons to take charge of the prisoners and start pulling intel out of their skulls before they expire. I will deal with the goddamned wraiths. »
Voodoo binds the navigator and waits for Emma, while she gives instructions to Catseye. "Watch. Do what comes naturally. Love you." She touches the cat on the forehead despite the blood, and as soon as Emma is in visual range Voodoo salutes … and leaps off the edge of the ship, morphing as she goes.
Who knew Priscilla liked mermaids?!
Incoming, you foul alien bastards!
Catseye chuffs affectionately at Voodoo, padding along side her. She only leaps half-way up the ship, but her mutant abilities let her cling to the side and climb up it. She sits and glares at the two surviving pirates. Must not bite. MotherMotherFrost wants to question. Then the Captain tries to inch a blade out of his pocket and Catseye swipes with one massive paw and set of claws. Idiot. Does he think she doesn't know what a knife is?
Recovering from the disorientation, Emma once more powers the three way link, then Cat and Pris can feelseveral layers removedas she drills into the captain's mind with all the tenderness of an oil rig and blasting gear. His hand slashed to the bone, the man's screams cut off abruptly as his mind is more or less shattered by Emma's probes.
«How can we assist you, Voodoo?» They're working, so…codenames.
As Voo nears the boat she can see…three dire wraiths, two minor ones, if there is such a thing and one that's rather powerful, this is going to be pretty ugly, the powerful one is likely the source of that soul snare spell. The two lesser ones invoke sorcerous shields and ready energy weapons up on the deck…one on top of the bridge, one on the main deck, separated.
« In short, Queen, if they get away we are going to have more problems. » Voodoo answers, as she swims with incredible swiftness thanks to the morphing to the mermaid form. She really does have a wealth of skills rarely seen in her life in New York, thanks to her time with the Guardians. « Chances are this op was intended to increase instability in the region, probably looking to aim for NATO interventions and military contracts, beneficial to their long-term goals and infiltration. But if they realize I am connected to this somehow, they'll be coming after all of our resources, and us. »
More proof that Emma's adopted daughter is one Hell of a lot smarter than she - or most anyone else in her life - ever gave her credit for before Emma entered her life.
« We may need the backup launcher. If I can't get them on my own. »
If Voodoo could teleport Catseye onto the wraith boat with her, she'd do it in a heartbeat. But she can't. « Going dark. » Voodoo warns, right before she shuts down their link and launches herself out of the water, tossing grenades with each hand towards those energy weapon mounts. The grenades theselves won't go through those shields, but she's not aiming at the wraiths or their shields, and instead aiming to get around them and tear up the deck beneath them and their weapons, causing the weapons to detonate inside the shields.
This move leaves her rather wide open for blasts from either one or both canons, let along whatever the greater wraith has planned - likely more magical than technological. But with her telepathy on lockdown, there's nothing for the soul trap to nab. And pain just doesn't matter. This is why she was born: to hunt the dire wraiths.
Catseye rumbles unhappily at her sister going dark. With the Captain's mind shattered, she knocks him over the edge of the ship into the waters. Still bound. By targeting these supplies the pirates would have killed hundreds of innocent civilians. Many of them children. Catseye has no mercy for such people.
She headbutts Emma gently, Catseye's wounds stopping bleeding. Not closing, that will take a large meal and a larger nap, but no longer leaving blood everywhere. She then glares at the navigator, and cocks her head at Emma, silently asking if Emma needs this one, or if Catseye should deal with it.
Catseye -can- talk in furform, but with the pain of the gunshot wounds, words are more effort than they are worth at the moment.
«I will prep it personally, Voodoo.» And Emma does just that, preps it, deploys it, and bring it weapons hot. Nope. NOT fucking around. She shakes her head to Cat. "The Captain had all we needed." Emma states aloud without saying any names, and her voice masked by a device on the throat of her sealed armor.
One of the wraiths topside is killed immediately, dumb luck working against him and sending a shard of deck plating through the base of his spine, the second however ignores the explosion, taking serious hurt in exchange for firing his weapon full auto and sending crimson energy bolts scything at the attacking mermaid.
The older one hisses in fury as the soulnet misses the ghostform it sensed, and then again when the mermaid kills one of its servitors. ~You will die, Earthling.~ Clearly it doesn't recognize Voodoo…yet. That /can't/ last, still, it is a /small/ window of opportunity.
To be entirely fair, the wraith said Earthling, not human. So it's not wrong. It's just not as clued-in as it should be.
The scything full-auto catches Priscilla - already morphing to human form, as she'll need those legs shortly - once, twice, three times across the midsection. Searing agony lances through her mind, but she knows how to fight through pain.
Voodoo had planned to concentrate her attacks on the elder wraith, now, but she has to waste time and finish with the youngling first. Her momentum alone is enough to land afoot and roll clear before the trap laid there can go off. None but the sharpest eye would catch the sailing knife thrown right down the path of the third shot to slice into her body, passing through the shield and embedding itself into the barrel of the weapon.
Then the handle detonates.
This puts Voodoo, however, on the deck with the elder, trying to regrow her seared, charred muscles and tendons, morphing so that she can keep moving despite all of that damage. And she still hasn't got a weapon to hand. She would normally lash out with her telepathy, but with the soultrap spell in place she cannot afford that; she must find a way to attack physically.
Chances are the pair of blasts from her energy weapon will splatter harmlessly away. But it's the best Voodoo can manage right now.
*splash* And the Navigator joins the Captain on the way to the bottom. Cleanup done, Catseye turns in the direction Voodoo flew off in and snarls. She -wants- to go after her sister, but she knows trying to swim after her is suicide. She pushes mental images at Emma… the freighter is so much bigger than the pirate ship was. If the wraith ship is similiarly small… can't the freighter just run over it and send it to the bottom?
Emma sighs gustily…/hating/ that she cannot sense Voo, and then nods. "Yes, it will also position us to assist if she needs it." Emma looks to the captain. "Alter course to this heading, Captain." To his credit the man only hesitates a moment, a bit unsure of who these two are, but unwilling to earn their ire. "Yes ma'am."
The freighter is not a nimble craft, it is big and ungainly, but also very much a powerful thing in a ramming contest. The course change will take some time all the same.
On the wraith ship, the elder finally spots her. ~YOU! I will /feast/ on your soul, turn your body into a weapon for the ages!~ Yeah, that infestation power…not GOOD. At all.
The second youngling down, the elder hisses again, and then launches a levinbolt at Voo, this not intended to hurt her at all…just slow her healing as it approaches in a sinuous glide. It is knocked back a step with each of the blasts, crimson shields absorbing and deflecting the bulk of the energy from Voo's hand weapon without any obvious damage done beyond the knockback.
Catseye gives the Captain a very Feline 'Don't Be An Idiot' look. They just saved his ship from pirates, saving the lives of his crew if the last hijacking is any judge. She then moves to the front bow, wiggling a little as she crouches in place, watching for the ship her sister is on and enemies that might need to be pounced over several hundred pounds of irate Cat.
"< That's right, you f**king filth. Me. >" Voodoo snarls in wraith as she turns about, grimacing in pain behind her mask as her healing is slowed to almost nill by the blast she could not avoid. Her shapeshifting has her mobile, but she is hurt, and only time and healing will fix that.
Having expected her bolts to have minimal effect, Pris is not surprised, but she is annoyed. The only way to beat those shields is up close and personal, and there is always the risk that an elder could actually overcome her resistance, manage to possess her. But Voodoo trusts in her power, and in her training, far more now than ever before: she is the 'padawan' of the goddamned White Queen. Bring it, alien sh*tbag!
Voodoo pulls her sword and another knife and advances, ready to meet the elder. Elders are a lot stronger, able to translate magical energy into direct physical augmentations of their host bodies, so this is going to be a lot closer to a fair fight than she would ever want. Even stripper ninjas never fight fair if they can help it!
The blade itself is exceptional, but what gives her a chance in this fight, beyond her incredible strength and reflexes, not to mention amazing skill and grace, is that she can focus her power - not just her mind, but her raw magical talent - into the blade, making her much better able to pierce those shields. And all Pris needs is one opening to lob that dagger through - another with a bomb in the hilt!
The ship continues to turn, and Emma spends her time trying to compensate for the cloaking on the Wraith Ship with the launcher's targeting systems. Busy work, yes, but the large ship is /slow/ it will be some small amount of time yet…this gives her hands something to do as she dare not use her mind. «I hate this part.» She confides to Catseye.
As the large boat adjusts course, and the White Queen and Catseye each ready themselves, the elder wraith laughs. ~So arrogant, youngling. When you've lived a few centuries as a Host, /then/ you might be a threat.~
Indeed, this Elder /is/ strong. As the injured stripper ninja approaches, he../it/..draws two short swords. A sneer of pure malice as it infuses itself and the blades with sorcerous power, then /leaps/ to the attack, pressing hard, swinging with frightful speed, horrific power.
And yet…the Empath's training can sense it is afraid.
Catseye remains in the bow of the ship. She sends affection and worry back to Emma. She hates this part too. Waiting. Her sister alone, and no doubt outnumbered. But hating it won't make time go any faster, she has to be focused, ready to see as soon as her better than human kitty eyes can see. Ready to pounce.
Having never met Spider-Man, Voodoo has no idea how similar their outlooks might be in a fight. But one thing Voodoo has gotten very good at is quipping at her enemies. Unnerving them, confusing them, riling them up. She's an empath, and she knows better than most the incredible power of emotion to disrupt someone in a fight. And quip she does, using her panting breaths as inspiration. "Your powers are weak, Old Man. When we last met, I was but the learner. Now I AM THE MASTER." Voodoo performs.
Hey. She's a ninja assassin. She is allowed to Vader to freak out her opponent! It's in the rules! Somewhere, here, pretty sure that got jotted down at the last second …
Voodoo is incredibly good at physical combat. Frighteningly so. Ever wonder how much synergy there is between dancing and combat? A lot, and she uses it all. Voodoo reads every attack before it lands, twisting, avoiding, parrying. But every movement is more than one thing, a parry into a riposte, an avoidance into a kick, a stab into a block. Powerful and full of malice the elder might be, but that will not win him this fight.
That does not mean that the elder misses every time. He does not. She takes wounds. But when he gets in an attack? That is when there is an opening, and she slices through those shields of his, and lobs the dagger through the opening. Yet it misses the elder!
But it was supposed to do that.
Tick. Tick. BOOM!
No question, the Elder is a terror…but it is already off balance, it lost two promising younglings, and is confronted with a known slayer of its kind. That opens holes where none normally exist. And yes, throws it off. The Star Wars quote has the intended effect. ~You /mock/ me…you DARE MOCK ME?!~ Its blows double and redouble in fury but Voo's discipline, her grace, even injured she is the better hand to hand combatant.
The thing crows triumph when the thrown dagger misses, having in the heat of battle forgotten what happened with the last weapon the empath threw. And then it has a moment to remember…eyes widening in sweet sudden horror at the realizaion…and then the weapon explodes.
Gore spatters Voodoo as the thing is literally blown to pieces, shields collapsing but having contained enough blast that she deals with mess, instead of bone shrapnel.
Catseye sends a surge of excitement to Emma as she spots the ship. The freighter needs to slow up, even a near miss could be disastrous. The butt wiggle is back, it's so HARD to wait and be still. Then she sees the figure confronting Voodoo go splatter, and damn it, there is a lot of wiggle to a kitty her size!
Voodoo drops to her knees as the explosion ends the fight. Coated in dire wraith gore and her own blood, she grimaces as she opens up her mind, isolating the pain she is feeling from the link the way Emma has taught her. « Wraiths are down. I need to scavenge what I can from this thing, any clues that might lead to more of their operations. Five minutes, no more. Keep the launcher ready. »
Then Pris glances up, and grins. « Don't scratch the paint, Queen. No need. But thank you both. »
That said, Voodoo pushes herself up to her feet, sheathes her blade, and starts rifling through what remains of all three kills, as well as the boat. Chances are she's not going to find a lot. But she is a hunter; she must find what she can.
«Thank god.» Emma sends across the link, now fully restored since Voo isn't mind-dark anymore. To the captain. "Resume former course and heading, Captain." He just nods, issuing the orders. He doesn't know who this woman is, but she's got a massive frickin' lion - a /purple/ one at that, AND lots of guns. Also, saved his life and that of his crew.
Unfortuantely there is precious little to be found, though a few relics that will need to be dealt with carefully, the rest if of little help other than to confirm the information Emma has from the pirate captain's ex brain.
«We will await your return, then plan our next moves.»
Catseye resists the urge to leap down and purr at Voodoo. She just sends mental purrs instead and that is an interesting sensation. Instead she strolls over to Emma, sitting neatly at Emma's side, curling her tail around her paws, then beginning to groom her fur. Just so much blood, she's a mess really. And salt-water was would be even worse.
« OK. I'm done here. » Priscilla sends. Then she tucks what she found way in a pouch, seals it up, and then leaps from the boat into the water, morphing into her mermaid form. Once she has leapt back up onto the deck and laid down beside Catseye - lion purring helps promote healing, and she could use some of that - she transmits, « Fire, Queen. I do not want that boat found by someone not prepared for what it's tech means. » And neither would SHIELD want that.
Pris is trying to piss off SHIELD as little as possible, given her girlfriend works for their magic division.
« We safe to hose off and hole back up in the cargo container? Or do we need to catch a helo out of here to get to the pirate base more quicky? » Voodoo inquires.
«Better to hole up and let you heal.» Even though Voo is shielding, Emma can /see/ the injuries are not healing, and frowns. «How long will you need?» And then a crisp nod, and a 'Mmm', and she launches. The missile flies swift and true, and the explosion is rather a satisfactory one on many - indeed - *every* level.
Mildly regretful, she then proceeds to wipe the minds of the captain and crew of the entire incident, keeping Pris en rapport so she can see how each wipe is an individual event. «The trick is to paint in broad strokes when you wipe, overwrite but leave the details up to the target's mind…it /wants/ to make things fit, so, let it…» This is some SERIOUSLY complex stuff she's doing, more art than science, though there's science to it too. «…be very cautious with this, daughter-mine. It can go very wrong, and if you leave emptiness it will not go unnoticed.»
Once that grim task (and training) is done, they can rest and deal with their wounds once more in the cargo container.
Catseye curls up around Pris in the safety of the cargo container, and purrrrs herself to sleep. Heck, she purrs in her sleep. An hour or two later, there's faint clinking as her healing factor finally manages to push bullets out of her. Then they can truly seal up and start to heal.
Priscilla watches the mental efforts with great interest, as mind-wipes have not been, beyond theory, part of their lessons thus far. This is her first chance. Nicely, this keeps her mind off her injuries. But getting hosed off helps, too.
Once closed up inside the cargo container, Priscilla peels down and stretches out, welcoming Catseye's cuddling and purring. This will help her a lot, as well. « It's going to take a while. Maybe an hour or two. He managed to get off a spell which is dramatically slowing down my healing. But, with food and meditation, I can force the process forward. Unfortunately, the spell won't end until the injuries are completely healed. » Apparently Voodoo has been hit by this before.
While she meditates. Voodoo also takes time to gently but thoroughly brush down Catseye, cleaning up the last of her fur in the way she knows will be most pleasurable for her sister. This family has done well on this mission. Better, in fact, than Pris expected once she realized wraiths were involved. "How much did we get?" she inquires of Emma.
Emma joins in on the grooming of the sleeping kitty.
At Pris's question she smiles…well…kind of it might be smile-like, really, more a predatorial baring of dentition. "Everything." She says with satisfction. "I know where they're based, who within FI tipped them off, I know which local officials are on the take and turning a blind eye, and the location of the first shipment, it is presently in a warehouse awaiting resale and trans shipment in two days."
Emma nods. "Everything."