[hr][h1][i][color=Lawngreen]Sonya Mayfield[/color], [b]Henry Olin[/b],  [color=Gray]Quentin Taylor[/color], & Task Force RAVEN.[/i][/h1][sub][i]Written in collaboration with [b][@tsukune][/b], [b][@Zombiedude101][/b], & [b][@UrbanEvolution][/b][/i][/sub][hr]

"RAVENs assemble..." Maximilian weakly said as he sat in his chair. Face in his hands. 

The members of Task Force RAVEN that weren't injured sat down in the meeting room. Sonya had clung herself to the ceiling again. Sonya's eyes drifted off to the side because she knew that something was off about Maximilian. She heard about the reports soon as it happened - and it was gruesome. The former Director got dismembered by that damn PR-1. She felt a bit bad for not being here. Maybe she could have helped. 

"So, uh..." Sonya scratched the back of her neck. "I just got us a hacker!" Sonya cheerfully said, and smiled widely. "Found the two bastards dicking around with NEST tech - one was a Technopath and all that noise - but me and Leon got to the bottom of that one, didn't we?!"

"Mhm..." Leon said, with his arms crossed. He gave Sonya a wry grin, as he looked at her. "Though, I'm surprised you didn't blast 'em. God damn, you looked like you were ready to explode in there."

"Oh! I-" Sonya yipped, before she covered her mouth with her hands. "Nevermind. Cut 'em a little deal. If their techie help us in our little storming the castle, they don't have to suffer years of getting a little too comfy in those nasty Meta prisons."

Leon laughed.

"Take [i]that[/i] Henry! [i]I[/i] can get some help from civilians, too!" Sonya playfully stuck her tongue out.

Henry snorted, and crossed his arms. But he did give Sonya a smile. Looks like he was rubbing off on her some. One NEST agent at a time, they'd get their reputation back.

Dana, also known as Grue, wheeled up to the table. "Sorry I'm late, I was helping get the systems back online." Dana started off. "Thank God that the databases are on a separate grid, or else we would have been in some serious trouble...."

Daphne Hope - usually known by her callsign 'Holly' - followed behind Dana quietly, her green eyes studying the members of the team she would be joining in with interest. She had been briefed before she came in here, but seeing them up close gave her a different feel than merely looking at the photos in the files.

"[i]Thank God.[/i]" Sonya echoed, she looked over to Maximilian, almost tempted to say something - but decided to keep her mouth shut about it. "So, how about Adam? Is he okay?"

[i]Sonya Mayfield - callsign 'Merryday' - one of NEST's best snipers, and her extensive knowledge on firearms is probably second to none[/i], Daphne recalled what she had read from the files. Seemed to be the mood-maker in the team, in which her bestial appearance allowed her to achieve that with minimal effort. [i]Bullseye[/i] was Daphne's personal name-tag for her.

Helena sighed. "We got healers on him, but he was almost dead. I can't believe the old man is still alive."

[i]Helena Page - 'Supersonic' - her power is just as her callsign says: instant movement faster than the speed of sound[/i], Daphne mentally recited the description from the files. She had heard a handful of lower-ranked agents calling her a 'stuck-up bitch' behind her back. She name-tagged her as [i]Thunderstruck[/i].

"He's still very pissed off, though." Leon said, laughing. "So, uh, Henry, how is your grand plan coming along? Shit's not going according to plan around here, so I'd love [i]some[/i] good news, heh."

[i]Leon Vahan - 'All-Seer' - another one of NEST's marksman who is capable of using guns like they are simply an extension to his hands.[/i] Daphne also noted that he had a bit of similarity with herself (in particular their easygoingness). Her name-tag for him was [i]Peeking Tom[/i].

Turning to the largest man - or rather, [i]lizard[/i] or even [i]dragon[/i] - in the room, Henry Olin (callsign 'Dragonfly') had no need for a file. Daphne was not sorry at all that she immediately thought of Rex from the [i]Toy Story[/i] franchise, only that Henry was way cooler than the cowardly dino toy from the movies - which was also the first name she thought of associating with him.

"Okay, so I have some good...ish news." Henry began, sitting up straight in his seat. "Both of the Obotts are in, but Trevor has some...conditions that he wants met once the whole thing's over."

Henry sighed and drummed his claws on the table, no doubt leaving prick marks where his fingers impacted.

"Some of them I've already met from my own wallet, but the others I'll need RAVEN's help with." Henry began. "He wants to meet us all... formally, after the whole thing's over. He also wants an all expense paid trip to Applebees with all of us as his guests. He also wants to be able to call us at any time to have us confirm that he is in fact a secret agent. Eli, Dana, you'll probably need to help me set up an Auto-voice messenger for that." Henry said, looking to the wheelchair bound woman. Eli, who was in Black Fall, heard over the comms and sighed from his end.

"He also wants to use our shooting range...and wants a tour of the NEST Verthaven base. And a selfie will all of us in it." Henry finished, giving them group a sheepish smile. "All of which I already agreed to so...no one die, okay?"

"Greeeeeeeat," Helena rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her chair. "We have to play VIP with a teenager..." She groaned, she wanted to say more - but she knew her complaints would fall on silent years.

Quentin reclined against his seat, rubbing his jaw for good measure with an amused snort. "Nothing like a bit of good old fashioned child labour, I'm sure."

[i]Quentin Taylor - 'Counterpoint' - a power replicator who'd not been with NEST for long and by several accounts had a questionable story[/i], Daphne had to raise an eyebrow at his file. In particular, the rest of his family were VPDs, and the VPDs had a love-hate relationship with NEST whenever it concerned with how to deal with Meta-criminals. One glance at her mobile made her thought of the name-tag [i]Powerbank[/i].

"Oh!" Sonya said, putting her fingertips together. "I can show him some of my trickshots!" She loudly declared, her tongue flopping out of her mouth.

"You've been playing too much Call Of Duty. I knew it was a bad idea to get you an Xbox for Christmas..."

"It's hard to play it, though," Just to demonstrate why, Sonya rubbed her fingers together, and a trickle of her slime connected her fingers. "The controller keeps slipping out me fingers! Hahaha!"

"...Whatever gets him to go along with the mission. It's no real problem, Helena." Maximilian let out a sigh. "Just play along with it just this one time."

Helena looked at him, before letting out a sigh of her own.

Sonya raised her hand up into the air. "Also, if you don't want anyone to die, then don't put [i]Leon[/i] on the mission! Have you [i]seen[/i] the man's record? He shot twenty NESTies!" Sonya put her hands on the side of her head. "...In one mission!"

"Oh yeah," Leon said. "Last time I ever huff canned air."

"Sounds like our last Christmas party." Henry commented, re-crossing his arms and frowning. Actually, he thinks, that was [i]AT[/i] the Christmas party. Damn.

"...We attack in two days." Maximilian said as he stood straight up. Everyone stared at him as he walked to the door. "We're going to finish this, once and for all. With the arrest of Dr. Cross, and the destruction of The Hands of Science."

Sonya raised her hand. "Can we call it Operation: [i]Surprise Party?[/i]"

"No." Max said as he walked out the door. "RAVEN dismissed."

"Aw."

As Daphne left the room after the dismissal, she counted off the last - and the most important - member in the team: Maximilian Cornell, A.K.A. 'Praetorian', currently acting director of NEST. (Let's not talk about the former and now [i]dead[/i] director Miranda Caryl. [i]Long[/i] story.) According to the files, he had some sort of thingy - called Echo - in him which he could bring out to get more work done quickly (or do [i]all[/i] his work for him?). There was a footnote mentioning his sub-ability to fly or levitate, which led her to name-tag him as [i]Martian[/i].

With that, the chloropath looked forward to work with RAVEN, a special task force formed with the (sole) intention of bringing the Hands of Science down, once and for all.

[hr][h1][i]...[/i][/h1][hr]

It was almost time.

The darkness of the sewers hid her figure from sight. Not a soul had an idea that she was here.

Or what she was doing.

Anyone foolish enough to walk through the sewers would be attacked by [i]them[/i]. In the darkness around her, purple eyes started glowing brightly. Growling, grunting, and scratching the ground - ready to kill. They were all hers...her brood. Her army. The instruments of her revenge. What this power gave to her was something that the world would fear. She was confident in them. She never felt this strong in her life. Being stepped on by everyone. Her family, the police, the gangs, NEST...

But at what cost?

Humanity was long gone, and she was unsure of whether or not she could ever get it back. Her hands...these were not the hands of a woman.

But a monster.

The monster that would get revenge against this world. This city...for taking her Jason away. For turning her into this in the first place. The Hands of Science...they were supplying the Fiends with the serum that turns a man into a [i]God[/i]. NEST was just as guilty as those bastards. And Sarah... No, no...that was no longer even her name. She abandoned it when she took the serum. She didn't even know what to call herself anymore. A monster? A demon? Both were good since she was now a demon meant to haunt this world, and the world would only remember here as a monster, and she didn't care.

Every passing day, she grew in power. She could [i]feel it[/i]. In three weeks, she already felt powerful enough to destroy this city. But it wasn't time. She'd let the Hands of Science and NEST squabble, then she'd destroy both of them to serve as a grim reminder to this world. She needed to be strong as possible, her armies weren't big enough to threaten this city sufficiently.

One of her beasts crawled through the shadows, and handed her a heart. She held it in her hands, before it dissolved and she felt a power high rush through her body. Yes... A metahuman's heart. It'd make her [i]powerful[/i].

Once she's ready...

The rain above the city intensified. Sarah looked up as rain poured into the sewers.

...She'd wash away this bloody paradise with rain.There would be nothing left. But distant cries of pain that would warn the rest of the world.

[hr]
[b]Two days later... 10:23 PM.[/b]
[hr]

[hr][h1][i]Dr. Cross, & Ignatius.[/i][/h1][hr][hider= Armored Core V OST - Scientist][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xklleXyya7I[/youtube][/hider][hr]

It was here. The night of the grand meeting that she was waiting to arrange for far, far, too long. Dr. Cross spent the last hour in front of a mirror. Adjusting the front of her black suit. She'd prefer a suit over a dress at a time like this. Suits were more serious and imposing. She needed to discuss the future of the organization, and hoped that they could resume their endeavors in hope that they could save the world from the path it's going down. Because it seemed NEST, and the rest of the world, seemed well intent on preserving the status quo.

While she was adjusting her tie, she stopped.

Ignatius.

"You look great in that suit." Ignatius complimented as he stepped behind Cross, looking at her reflection in the mirror. He stood at her side, rubbing his hand through his faint beard.

"I hope you're ready for this, Ignatius. I want REAPER's general front and center."

"Oh, I am ready." Ignatius put a wry grin on that earned him a look from Dr. Cross. "...What I want to know is how all of this started?" He asked, and made Cross pause for a moment as she thought about it. Ignatius started walking a circle around her. "There must have been [i]someone[/i] out there that thought "Hey, these...Metahumans contain the secrets of the universe, I should share their power with the world!"." Ignatius slammed his fist onto an open palm as he stopped.

"I..." Dr. Cross started, stammering. Before she composed herself. "I don't know who they are, but the Hands were formed by a family that might have died out decades ago." Dr. Cross shrugged. "They elected the first group of Chairmen to run the organization for them...and then they...vanished."

"Hm..." Ignatius put a finger on his chin, before raising it into the air as he realized something. "Who says they vanished?" He started laughing. "They might still be in plain sight. As you said, you don't know who they are... Or waiting to reap the rewards of the Hands."

"I'm not sure if they're leading the organization from the shadows, or could be one of the chairmen." Dr. Cross shrugged. "That isn't important - what is important is that, whether or not they're around, [i]we[/i] continue what they started."

"All I have to do is kill their silly little RAVENs before the world gains confidence in them, and that's the end of that." Ignatius shrugged.

"It won't be that simple." Dr. Cross said. "Think of it like chess..."

"PR-1 would have destroyed NEST if it wasn't for their...containment foam." Ignatius shrugged. "If we threw an army at them, NEST - or any of our enemies - wouldn't stand a chance, and we'll be able to do as we please."

"I'm very hesitant to create an [i]army[/i] of them." Dr. Cross bluntly said. "They turn against us, and we'll have a problem. They could usurp the Organization with ease, or form something much worse."

"Failsafe." Ignatius playfully said.

"It'll take me a little bit to work one in." Dr. Cross said.

The sound of wheels rolling up heralded the arrival of Stephanie, Dr. Cross' assistant waiting at the doorway. She looked into the room, and nodded at Dr. Cross. "Everyone's in the conference room, waiting for you."

"We're on our way." Dr. Cross did the final adjustments to her tie and walked out the room, followed by Ignatius. The three walked side by side, and at the end of their hallway was a pair of wooden doors. They three stepped into it, and were immediately assaulted by the bright lights of this massive room. A round auditorium that was set up like a coliseum. There was a ring in the center of the room, with rows and rows of seats right above that (Doors were leading into this area). With several balconies far above the seats for the Chairmen, and right off the bat, she could recognize a few. Dr. Cross walked up to her balcony, and stepped over to the microphone. With Ignatius and Stephanie at her sides, she said,

"Hello, fellow men and women of [i]science[/i]...."

[hr][h1][i][color=Plum]Trevor[/color], & Scarlet Obott.[/i][/h1][hr][hider= Johnny Rivers - Secret Agent Man][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGZ0ntpSx2Y[/youtube][/hider][hr]

[u][b]Hours earlier...[/b][/u]

"... Secret, agent man!" Trevor sung along to the radio, which his iPod was connected to. He was shaking his behind rhythmically as he filled a black canister - given to him and his sister by NEST to store his drug - with the drug. He was standing in the living room of his house - in front of the table where he and Scarlet stored all the canisters they filled the last few days. It was at least a few dozen. Fortunately, Trevor had the ability to produce a limitless amount of the drug. Unfortunately, he could only produce it at a certain "pressure" shall we say. So it was a pain in the ass to fill up one.

But Trevor was going to work for those favors!

"Trevor, focus." Scarlet said, filling up her last canister. "Actually, maybe how about we work together to fill up the rest? It'll go faster."

Trevor nodded, and scampered over to Scarlet, and put his fingers into the canister. Just like Scarlet said, it filled it up faster. They quickly went to the next one, and had it filled up soon. In an hour, they had the rest of the canisters ready.

"[i]Phew![/i]" Trevor wiped some sweat, before he carefully wiped it on his shirt. "Just in time. Henry should be on his way now...." He trailed off. "Well, I ain't carryin' none of this stuff." He said before he flopped down on the sofa, and took a nap. Scarlet on the other hand, just sat down on the table, and pulled out a book. Ignoring Trevor's snoring.

Scarlet got a text message from Henry. He was at the door. She quickly ran up to the door, and opened it, seeing her lizardman friend.

"Let's go." Scarlet said.

[hr][h1][i]The Changeling Unit[/i][/h1][hr][hider=Massive Attack - Angel][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiK2JlBpzvI[/youtube][/hider][hr]

"God damn it, Luis, I'm sick of your shit." Heartbreaker hissed into the phone, talking to the Changeling Unit's mysterious "boss". She was leaning up against the wall of the hallway leading up into the conference room. Her hand safely rested her face. "Look, Dr. Cross, the bitch [i]you[/i] met a thousand god damn times, just wants you in this stupid conference for one night. One!"

"Look, Heartbreaker, I'm busy in Toronto." Luis said, sultry. He was going to follow it up with another sentence, but Heartbreaker quickly followed it up.

"Look, [i]Luis[/i]," Heartbreaker venomously said. "I'm doing what you told me to do; make nice with these Hands of fuckers. And I just need [i]your[/i] presence because I need the big three on deck."

"Know what the rest of the Unit is doing?"

"I [i]know[/i] it can be put on hold. Just have Flashbang teleport you here."

A few moments of silence passed as there was some footsteps. Luis muttered something, before a man screamed, "[i]LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T KNOW [b]ANYTHING[/b][/i]"

"... As you can tell, we're having a [i]swell[/i] time with NEST in Toronto." Luis said. "We're after a special Metahuman, and these NESTies won't tell us what we want to know. So we have to pull a...double-shift." There was a brief pause as Heartbreaker thought of ways to murder Luis. "[i]Hugs and kisses![/i]"

"Luis-" Heartbreaker shouted, just as Luis hung up the phone. She let out a screech of anger. "Well... Dr. Cross is going to be [i]pissed[/i]." 

The Mannequin leaned into Heartbreaker, his eye twitching. "We'll have to make due." His monotone voice spoke. "When will we kill Blackbird? I've been waiting to preserve his daughter."

"With NEST on his ass, we'd only give ourselves away. I bet they got a nice little trap laid for us if we go in now." Heartbreaker said. "Wait for the right moment...and, he's dead. Then you an do whatever weird thing you want to that little girl." Heartbreaker shrugged. "Well....guess it's just the two of us. Let's get in there."

Mannequin nodded before, the two walked into the room. Assaulted by the light, they stood on the balcony with Witch Mother, and Fig, standing behind them.

[hr][h1][i][color=Lawngreen]Sonya Mayfield[/color], [b]Henry Olin[/b], [color=Plum]Trevor Obott[/color], John Cole Sykes, [color=Gray]Quentin Taylor[/color], & Task Force RAVEN.[/i][/h1][sub][i]Written in collaboration with [b][@tsukune][/b], [b][@Zombiedude101][/b], [b][@UrbanEvolution][/b], & [b][@DJAtomika][/b][/i][/sub][hr][hider=Timesplitters OST - Docks][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FtwISEQPNU[/youtube][/hider][hr]

Wednesday night...the day of the Raid. Task Force RAVEN was arriving on the outskirts of the base driving three disguised vans. Maximilian was standing in the back of his van, holding onto the cabinets on top of it. Behind him was Leon, Henry, and their two "guests", Trevor and Scarlet Obott - holding their drugs in the special containers NEST gave them. Disguised in black NEST Armor... Henry's idea. Just in case this went wrong, their identity wouldn't be compromised. Not that it would, with NEST's finest being present.

Maximilian turned around to the siblings, and nodded his head. 

"Are you two ready for this?" Henry asked. "Because there's no going back now."

Trevor was practically shaking. Now that they're on the way...this didn't seem like too good of an idea - even if he got some favors out of Henry. "Y-yeah, I'm...ready."

"Don't be nervous, Trev." Scarlet put her hand on Trevor's shoulder.

"She's right, you know?" Maximilian said, "You have NEST's finest on this mission, keeping an eye on you. And Leon and Henry will be personally escorting you." He nodded at Henry. "...They're two of the best Agents I know."

Leon wryly grinned. "Heeeeey, that totally goes against that time you called me the worst Agent ever back at the Christmas par-"

"Stop. [i]Mentioning. [b]THAT.[/b][/i]" Maximilian's pectoral muscles almost exploded in rage. He pressed his comm piece, "Does everyone remember the plan?"

"What? The Christmas party plan or...?"

"Henry, shut up." Maximilian hissed. Prompting the reptilian man to give him one of his signature shit eating grins.

"Yup!" Sonya said.

"I remember the plan perfectly." Adam said.

"Well, kinda." Leon said, scratching his head. "By that I mean, not at all. Could you repeat the parts after 'Listen carefully'?"

"Well, I'm sure as hell not repeating it on Comms," Max said, rolling his eyes.

"[i]D'oh![/i]" Leon shouted.

[hr]

[i]Earlier that day..[/i]

The RAVENs were gathered in their meeting room with their entire team, and their guests were in the room too. Maximilian was the only one standing up, and he was holding a pointer in one hand, and a remote in the other. A projector was displaying images of the base on the wall.

"Alright, here is the plan." Maximilian pressed a button that displayed the Hands base from a bird's eye view, the streets leading up to it being the focus of the image. "We are going to show up at the Hand's base via three disguised vehicles." He pressed a button, and the images changed to simple delivery trucks. "Once we're there, Trevor and Scarlet will be escorted by Henry and Leon to the AC units - while Agent Mayfield-"

"Um, which one?" Sonya said, with a silly grin on her face as she leaned back in her chair with her tongue flopped out of her mouth.

"Both." Max said, annoyed. "Both Mayfields will get into position ahead of the team - here." He pressed a button, and the image displayed a hill that overlooked the Air Conditioners, obscured by bushes. The perfect place for a sniper. "You'll cover the Obotts, and the Agents. While Agent Swarm Queen will be going in there, and using her control over insects to monitor the entrance, and activity throughout the factory itself. If anyone comes out, you're our first warning."

The small Korean woman sitting in the corner of the room, skin was a pronounced light-yellow color that was heavily white. She was thin, but what she had was solidly built. She looked up, nervously. She was Agent Swarm Queen, an agent that was a former vigilante. Very rarely did she use the name [i]Nikki Biyung[/i].

Henry, at one time, thought the code name was lame. Swarm Queen thought Henry should get stung by wasps. Henry never commented on it again.

"Uh, yeah, I'll do it." Nikki said. 

Max then turned to Cole, "Meanwhile, Cole will be in one of the trucks with one of our high end laptops, and he's going to tap into the Hands of Science's systems. I want you to get into the systems, then disable the security systems [i]on my mark[/i]." Max made it very clear. because turning off the security systems too early would definitely tip them off. "While you're waiting, I want you to extract as much information about the Hands as possible. Look for anything that could lead to other facilities, or a member database." 

Max crossed his arms. "Agent Blackmore, and Agent White Leopard will be guarding you."

"A-alright, sir."

From his little chair, Cole nodded. Seated in a room full of tough, hardened types made him extremely nervous, moreso than his classes at the Academy had ever made him. His role in all this was simple though: inside that van, he'd jack in, tap into the Hands' security systems on their mark. After that he had free reign with the system, but strict orders to sap [i]everything[/i] from their databanks. Easy stuff.

Maximilian nodded his head. "Everyone else will be on position within the base's grounds, waiting for the go ahead. If anything goes wrong, Olin, Vahan, tell us on the comms. We'll be there in a second, and while we're engaging the threat, you and Vahan will get the Obotts out of there."

A lightbulb went off inside of Max's head, he raised a finger. "Once we're deployed, we're to use codenames - and - [i]only[/i] codenames" Maximilian said. "We are to refer to Trevor and Scarlet as the [i]Panacea[/i], and Cole as [i]Cyber[/i] to protect their identities from any possible REAPER counterattack. Am I understood?"

"Yup!" Sonya cheerfully said, whilst Quentin acknowledged it with a simple thumbs-up.

Dana rolled up in her wheelchair. "Just a reminder," She started off, "We're the only people who know of this operation - for security reasons. Squads will be on standby and briefed once Henry's plan has succeeded." Daphne, who was next to her mentor (or senior, but she suspected that Dana probably didn't remember her anyway), did another quick scan of her new team members before she nodded, to reaffirm Dana's words.

"Which it will!" Henry interjected.

"...After the base has been drugged, we will extract the Panacea, and we're going to push into the base." Maximilian said, raising a fist chin level...the same fist that was holding the remote. He pressed the button, and displayed a map of the underground Hands base. The layout meant that there was two ways to go from one singular nexus. "Once inside, we'll split into two teams. Each team will go into another part of the base. If the Obott's drugs are effective, then the scientists, guards, and prisoners, should be incapacitated."

"...Most of them." Helena noted. "We don't know how well that drug will work - it could take out a chunk of them, or none at all. And what if-"

"Ptttttttttf," Sonya scoffed. "Stop being so negative. If we take out even a [i]small[/i] amount, that'll make a difference!"

"Agent Mayfield is right." Maximilian said, and Helena scoffed.

Leon raised a finger, "Before you ask, the left half has shit like labs, operation rooms, and this big ass conference room - while the right half has prisoners, REAPER shit, and...more shit." He flicked his sunglasses, with a smile on his face. "I checked."

"If what Agent Vahan reports is true," Maximilian placed the pointer on the big conference room. "[i]This[/i] is where the Chairmen will be, and this is where I'll personally go. I want to be the one who puts an end to this madness." Maximilian slammed a fist on his palm.

Henry came in again. "Just be careful in there everyone. We dont know what they're packing in those labs of theirs. Lets make [i]this[/i] easier on them than our last one!"

"Just so long as they feel what's coming to them." Quentin finally added.

[hr]

"Operation: [i]Surprise Party[/i] is in motion!" Sonya shouted through the comms with a smile on her face. Maximilian groaned. She could hear Henry laugh over the comms. She was in her vehicle, sitting down with her black painted Barrett in her lap. Agent Inkshade was sitting right next to her. Cole, Adam, and Savannah were in the truck with her. Fortunately, their vehicle was a bit ahead of the others so that Sonya and Inkshade can get off.

Sonya grinned as she looked up at Cole. "You ready for this? Sorry I couldn't stick around with ya', but duty calls." She smiled widely - exposing her long, needle-like, teeth. "But, at least you'll have Adam, [i]and[/i] cat lady with you."

Adam merely gave Cole a stern look that just said, "Don't fuck this up".

Savannah was trimming her claws with a nail filer, hopefully she won't have to use them. What was distinct about Savannah was that her normally Caucasian skin had patterns consistent with White Leopards on her sides. Without a hint of fur on her. Her eyes were vertically silted like cats, and her pronounced canines and claws were apparent.

She didn't say a word however - because when she was, the truck came to a stop.

"Oh! That's our stop, let's go Inky!" The back doors swung open, and Sonya turned invisible, hopping out the doors. Inkshade did the same - using her ability to turn into Ink to camouflage herself. She was practically as hard to see as Merryday.

Adam grabbed the laptop, and pushed it into Cole's chest, saying, "You best get to work."He sternly ordered.

"W-well, o-okay, s-sir."

Cole grabbed the laptop and took a seat in one of the tiny office chairs in the truck. He popped it open and booted it up, waiting past the familiar screens before the thing arrived at a desktop. With a sigh, he sat the laptop down on one of the ops tables, underneath a bank of monitors, and sat back in the chair.

"I-I hope this truck's fortified... You guys b-better stay here, cause once I jack in I won't be in my physical body any more."

"We got you covered," Savannah assured him, putting her hand on Cole's shoulder. 

"I'll make sure nothing happens to you." Adam said, crossing his arms as he sat down in the chair. "They put me here to defend you for a reason."

"T-thanks.."

That being said, he tried to make himself comfortable, focused his gaze on the laptop monitor and jacked in. Immediately the truck around him rushed away and sank straight into the background, as data streams turned into highways of light that wove webs all around him. His body went limp in the chair as his consciousness turned into data, and the systems all around him shone brightly in his newfound vision.

He followed a data stream out from the truck and up into the air, halting mid-stream instead of following it all the way through. From here, he could see into the entire complex; the factory complex that sat dormant above the whole facility, glowing brightly in the dark of the night. A long tunnel that led downwards into a huge, circular chamber that had two paths extending from it. The wing on the left glowed brighter than the right wing, and from the looks of things the architecture and electrical grid were wired for work. Equipment, projections, lights, weird things that he couldn't put his finger on at first glance. The right wing glowed less, but its grid was more uniform; lights spread out equidistance from each other, wiring that led to doors spaced equally apart, central hubs and other things. The prison wing that the telepath had mentioned.

Cole diverted his attention from the facility and focused on finding a way in. Thankfully the facility drew so much power that generators weren't enough, and as such the factory's landline power grid was still connected and functional. With a quick hop from a nearby payphone into Verthaven's computer-monitored electrical grid, Cole rode an information highway straight into the Hands' facility. Once in, he extended his senses, looking for concentrations of information throughout the whole facility, specifically imagery and audio data. The security hubs in the prison stood out, but the biggest one was a huge octagonal chamber deeper in the facility. In a split second Cole was there, and he just had to smile.

Jackpot.

Before he did anything, he looked for the RAVEN ready teams; who were situated outside the factory walls. Using the facility as a conduit, he sent a data burst through their power wiring, through Verthaven's power grid, up into a mobile tower and down into Max's datapad. It would vibrate, and this message would show up on its screen.

[quote]I'm in.
- Cyber[/quote]

[u]Good. Keep up the good work.[/u] Max returned the message.

Once done, he focused on the task at hand. The main security hub was totally manned with people. Through the cameras within the hub itself, he could see at least two dozen men and women scattered around, watching camera feeds, monitoring cells and other miscellaneous things. The system itself was easy; from the main hub, wiring led to virtually hundreds of cameras all throughout the facility. Those could be disabled with a thought. The alarms were something else though; placed throughout the whole facility were biometric sensors that he found would sound if they detected someone without...something from the Hands in them. All he could gather from them was that they could distinguish between one of the Hands and anyone else, say one of the prisoners. The sensors were also wired to alarms, obviously, and an automatic system that overrode all current processes with a hard reset that locked all doors and began an automatic wipe of all data within their databanks.

Databanks, that was right. He needed to find those. The security systems were easy to disable with a hard wipe that would knock out every system at once, but to stop the data wipe he had to secure those databanks. He flew the streams of data that wove through the whole facility, finding the main server room in a heartbeat. 

[quote]Databanks found. They have a data wipe worm in them, in case someone trips an alarm. Getting a handle on security.
- Cyber[/quote]

[u]Make sure you disable alarms, and all ways for them to communicate with each other. We don't want them alerting each other.[/u]

[quote]Yes sir.
- Cyber[/quote]

Another message wove its way towards his handler's datapad as Cole exited the databanks and flew back towards the main security center. It'd take split-second timing, but he theorised that he [i]could[/i] perform a complete blackout of all security by shunting all the power inside the base out into the factory compound, all of it save for the server room. It would knock out all the lights, alarms and door locks, but the ready team would be in total darkness.

Another idea that sounded better was that he'd stay in the server room, ready to tap into the banks as soon as he disabled security. Trip the locks on their doors, trap them in their hub room while disabling all other door locks and severing the main alarm connection outwards from the hub. Then he'd wait for the data wiper to kick in and destroy it as soon as it showed its ugly face. Comms were easy to disable; a swift kick to the centralised landline system in the facility would knock out every radio, PA speaker and landline phone inside.

He took a few seconds to formulate the plan, cemented it in his head and then sent it off to Max.

[quote]Plan:
Step 1) Disable security
Step 2) Lock security forces in hub room
Step 3) Sever alarm connections
Step 4) Disable landline comms
Step 5) Disable data wiper
Step 6) Retrieve data

Cyber ready to proceed.[/quote]

He floated in cyberspace within the server room. All he needed now was a cue from Max.

[u]Good. Just wait for my cue before you do anything. Like I said, we can't tip them off unless Olin's plan is finished.[/u]

[quote]Yes sir. On your go, sir.
- Cyber[/quote]

[hr]

The truck carrying Maximilian, and the first group came to a stop a little bit of a distance away. Maximilian and Leon shared nods as the latter stepped out. Leon immediately put his all seeing eye powers to good use. He immediately surveyed the area. Now, as the earlier pictures showed, it was a factory. Only problem was that there was a [i]big[/i] field leading up to it. It had tons of shrubbery - mostly consisting of bushes, and trees. It obscured a direct view at the factory, and the few paths in there lead straight to the factory. The field wasn't exactly flat land, either. There were tons of hills, and inclines. Which could be hard to traverse. The Hands probably picked it so that they could catch anyone trying to sneak up - or cover up whatever sinister things they're up to.

It was no James Bond villain's lair, but it was definitely somewhere Leon wouldn't suspect. Hell, up until the Hands were discovered, all they were probably worried about was a teenager sneaking in, or some gang burying a body.

That all-seeing eye of his didn't pick anyone up. "Yo', I don't see anyone." He spoke into the comms.

"As Agent All-Seer says, there is no one around the exterior perimeter of the factory," Daphne drawled through the comm. "The plants have told me so."

Leon reached to his hip, and pulled out his Smith & Wesson 686 from his holster. "Ya'll ready for this?"

"I don't think we have a voice in the matter at this point." Henry commented, cracking his knuckles and loading his LSAT. He was the big gunner. Always had been and always would be.

Quentin shrugged as he loaded the last few shells into his Remington 870, remarking before glancing up to them and throwing the sling over his shoulder, asking "Would it make a difference if I wasn't?" before waving them off without waiting for an answer.

"After you, green man." Leon stepped off the back of the car after Henry. He needed to be on guard. He was observing the plains using his power. He couldn't see any snipers - but that would attract too much attention. Leon figured that the Hands were just relying too much on stealth.

Henry slid off the side of the car and immediately moved to the building's wall, an began to camouflage against it. His exo-suit was built for this- to change with his skin. His gun had been meshed as well to add to it's effects. He was still very much visible up close, but if someone wasn't looking for him or didn't know he was there, they'd miss him.

"I'm in position. Send the Panaceas in. I have eyes on the AC units. All's clear. Heatseek's picking up nothing."

On cue, they started moving in out of the vehicle. Trevor found it hard to move with his leg shaking uncontrollably. Scarlet was much more collected, being a trainee and all. They eventually made it over to Henry. "We're here." Scarlet quietly said.

"Thanks for telling me. I didn't notice." Henry replied.

Trevor playfully punched Henry in the side.

"That's swell, because Agent Merryday is in position!" Sonya said through the comms, excitedly.. She was on the hill, she was kneeling down, hidden well by the bushes and trees around her. Looking through the sights of her sniper rifle at the AC Units. Agent Inkshade was right at her side, crouched down. Looking through the binoculars for potential threats.

"Please. Be louder. I don't think the opposition heard you. Here, I'm sure there's a megaphone around here somewhere."

"Well, with all these overwhelming odds against them, maybe we should try to make things a [i]little[/i] a fair." Sonya playfully said.

Henry looked Scarlet and Trevor. "This is the NEST Elite. Task force RAVEN. Now go earn your pay and breathe."

"Heeeeey, maybe I might join NEST after all." Trevor shrugged as she spoke to Henry. "They sound like my kind of people. And frog lady's kinda cute." He chuckled. 

"I heard that, Panacea." Sonya said. "Appreciate the comment - but don't piss off a sniper. Might be the last thing you ever do!" She playfully said.

Henry turned the corner looking down the barrel of his gun, and thankfully the many forms of sight had not betrayed them. They were met with unguarded AC units. Perfect. Henry moved quickly over to them and using the claws on his fingers unscrewed the metal side of the box. Leon moved up to his side and handed him a prevision scalpel, which Henry used to cut a hole in the air uptake pipes.

"Panacea, there is an Oxygen mask in your vest. Move over to me and put them on." Henry instructed, extracting two hoses from his own vest and attaching them to a connector, which conjoined the two tubes into another, wider tube. He slipped the connecting piece into the hole he cut into the pipe.

Trevor had no god damn idea there was an oxygen mask on this super suit! He reached down, and grabbed it, putting it on quite well. Those NEST examiners always make him wear a stupid mask whenever he goes for his check-up. They're afraid of what he'll do. But what is there to be afraid of with Trevor Obott? 

Scarlet put her mask on quickly as possible.

"All-Seer, tape."

"Bossy." Leon commented, handing his reptilian friend a roll of ductape. Henry cut a piece off, once again using his claws, and closed up the hole he had cut in the air uptake. He sat back on his haunches and admitted his work.

"Heh. Whaddaya know? Dragonfly. NEST Agent. Black Ops. Handyman. Panacea, you two have your masks on?"

"Wait, just as a reminder, which one of us is Panacea again?" Trevor said as he put the last strap on.

"You're both Panacea. Now hand me your tubes. All-Seer, reminder, masks on just in case of a leakage." Henry said, hitting a button below his jaw that caused the biometrics of his suit to shift to cover his snout. He reached forward with his open hands waiting for the siblings to give him the tube endings.

Both of the Obotts handed Henry the tubes without a word. Henry wordlessly attached them, and gave them the thumbs up.

"Ah, don't worry about me," Leon started off. "This won't be the first time I got high on the job."

Henry rolled his eyes.

"Alright you two, time to save some lives. Breath normally. We'll be here for a bit. Anyone wanna play some cards?" Henry said, pulling a deck from his vest in offer. Something to do as they waited for the drugs to really kick in. Could be an hour or more. Only time would tell.

"Sure." Trevor said. 

"Well, got nothin' better to do," Leon said, "Oh yeah, I gotta watch ya'll." He quickly used his power to observe the area around them.

"Lame."

"We'll be keeping watch, too." Sonya said. "And don't worry kids, if Henry cheats, I'll shoot his cards!" She had to resist the urge to start laughing.

[hr]

"Agent Swarm Queen, in position." Nikki said in the bushes. Her NEST armor was a bit different. It involved a helmet, and a spider masquerade-like mask. Nikki's armor was covered in insects, and she immediately deployed them. They quickly pushed out, going into the factory. Taking position in each and every part of the abandoned factory - specifically the entrances. Which were trapdoors with wheels on them. Which Nikki put plenty of bugs on. With her ability to tune into insects, she should be able to sense vibrations - which would be someone coming out. Then she can alert everyone else. Though, she had to focus.

Maximilian walked up behind her, and put his hand on her shoulder. Almost making her shudder. He calmly pressed his comm-piece. "Agent Praetorian, Agent Supersonic, and Counterpoint are all in position."

Maximilian nodded at Quentin. He crossed his arms, and stood in the bushes overlooking the base. "And now we wait. I pray everything goes well for us."

Quentin seemed to share the notion, remarking "Never thought I'd say it, but I've lost sleep at the thought of these bastards getting off the hook. You're not the only one."

Maximilian nodded. "Long as RAVEN is in action, there won't be anything left of the Hands when we're finished."

"All's going well for us, and there's anything I've learned it's the karma has momentum." Henry said over the comms. "Take it slow. Try and fuck as many up without them realizing as possible before hell breaks loose. You know, the usual Tuesday afternoon op." Henry said. The comms fell silent again before Henry piped up again.

"Dude fuck this rain man."