2008-02-11: H.R.G., Heat, Ghost

Starring:

Noah_icon.gif Church_icon.gif DL_icon.gif

Summary: Meanwhile, on the low road, Church, H.R.G. and his black-up Special Guest advance on Claire's location.

Date It Happened: February 11th, 2008

H.R.G., Heat, Ghost


Warehouse, Pinehearst Research

Fort Lee, NJ

The time? Late o'clock PM. Moving toward the service entrance, a figure dressed in a black tactical suit (like the ones the SWAT teams wear), a masked figure makes his way to the loading dock. While he doesn't have a large assault rifle, a silenced handgun is tucked in his side, a Company taser out and ready for use (after all, it's better not to kill when you can). Moving along the wall or trucks in the lot for cover, a familiar voice speaks into the headset on his head.

"This is Team One. Proceeding to enter building," Noah states in a clear voice before moving toward the closest door.

Just behind Noah, in mimicked gear sans drawn weapon in the form of that taser, is another figure. Similar build, similar height, completely different man. The only thing that could betray his real weapons is that the air around him seems warmer, and if he stands still enough, any light that reflects off of him is going to give face to a small ripple of visible heat. Lawrence stays at least one stop behind Noah, shifting to the places that he leaves behind for cover after the other goes ahead. His ears are listening to the radio, but luckily when the second voice rings in his head Church doesn't hesitate.

His voice pipes up on the channel now, somewhat bothered. "There won't be anything left to put in front of the altar if it does. Stay focused, Meryl." Women.

Seeming as there is no one currently trying to stop them, Noah figures that he still has the element of surprise. Handing off to Church his taser, Noah merely pulls out some equipment from his tactical vest. After a bit of work, the lock will yield under Noah's expert skill. Taking back the taser if it was held for him, the older man moves into the hallway. He inspects the warehouse while keeping under cover, trying to mentally superimpose the floorplans on top to get an idea of things. He knows the rooms is going for. A small cell more than likely, in the basement. If these people are run by or with ex-Company, it's likely they will do things the same way. Of course, he figures he also has a room number as well, but sadly, warehouses don't really have directories in them usually.

Of course Church will hold your taser, Noah. Even if the last time he had one out on a mission, he dropped it on his leg and buzzed himself silly. Wasn't his fault, there were ample distractions. Lawrence casts a quick glance around behind them while Noah works at the lock; he takes a note of where anything potentially useful is, and in this case, especially useful when one might need a speedy escape. When he turns his attention back, Noah is slipping into the building. Keeping his head down for practical purposes, Church follows right behind with enough of a whisper to have it register on the radio.

"Team one; inside warehouse, will update."

While the warehouse is cold and empty, serving little purpose at the moment (except to house intruders while they sneak around, evidently), the so-called exam rooms in the basement are guarded. Rather typical-looking security stroll the hospital-like hall, two flanking D12 in particular; none of the other rooms are granted special attention, and in fact, most are empty.

Moving through the hallways, the Company Man Bennet continues on until he gets to the hallway of the basement. Knowing that it is best to divide and conquer, Noah tries stay out of sight and figure out the 'end' of a patrol route. If a guard is always in sight of another, he do the classic 'knock' distraction method to try and draw one away from the rest of the group.

If this works or there is a patrolling guard all on his own, a taser will soon be sent his way, Noah swift to swoop in and use plastic ties to keep the guard immobile should he take him down. All of this is without a single word.

The guards are always in sight of one another, but at the knock, one guard — a free-strolling man, rather than one of the two by the exam room of importance — gestures to his comrades and investigates. He turns the corner, only to be taken down swiftly. H.R.G. may do this all without a word, but the guard does not. Tased, he shouts out, which prompts another guard to jog down the hall while murmuring into his security staff walkie about a potential problem.

While Bennet branches off to instigate his scuff with the freeform guard, Church remains behind, hidden, and waiting for what signal he deems most important until he makes a move on the guard left behind. The shout comes, and barely a second after, so does the heat. It hits the guard left behind first. The temperature of the air around him begins to rise, from that comfortable level to a sudden one that might start frying eggs; but more importantly, render the human body unable to stay coherent and therefore send him fainting to the floor.

As the guard goes down, Noah begins his work. He doesn't even look up, knowing that Church already has the situation covered. Experienced people don't need orders or banter, training and policy are the unspoken language, words only coming when the system breaks down. He just worries himself on the binding of the guard as well as gagging him. While his temptation as a rage-filled father is to leave no survivors that could remember him or his daughter, his better half's influence spares these innocent people Bennet's wraith. Once that is done, Bennet prepares to move ahead. He tries to do swift peeks around corners, trying to get a general idea of numbers. Two at the door are in sight as he looks down the lonely hallway. If they see him or already on the move to investigate, Noah will just take cover and prepare another shot of his taser. If they don't, he'll whisper to Church. "Two… Think you can take them down?"

As the guard goes down, Noah begins his work. He doesn't even look up, knowing that Church already has the situation covered. Experienced people don't need orders or banter, training and policy are the unspoken language, words only coming when the system breaks down. He just worries himself on the binding of the guard as well as gagging him. While his temptation as a rage-filled father is to leave no survivors that could remember him or his daughter, his better half's influence spares these innocent people Bennet's wraith. Once that is done, Bennet prepares to move ahead. Peaking around the hall, Noah tries to make sure there is no one around. If that is so, he will leave Church to properly handle his own guy, merely trying to see if he can get into the exam room door with conventional lockpicking. If not, he has a Plan B already set up.

The security staff immediately start to sweat and stagger; metal buttons melt to their uniforms, they stumble again and pass out from the heat. But Pinehearst doesn't take even potential threats lightly, and the brief radio chatter seems to have been enough to send them into action. Footsteps only barely sound on the stairs at the other end of the corridor before a team of four inches along out of sight. "Intruders at the exam rooms. Going in," one of them says quietly into his comm.

The exam room door is thick, metal, solid and its lock is not conventional. It's accessible by a slot for an ID card and handprint.

Concentrating on keeping his heat at a reasonable level again, Church hears the rustle of movement in the ear not covered by his headset; his eyes turn to the end of the hall quickly before he enters the empty exam room walkway, eyeing the downed security and the door in turn. Time to do some quick digging.

His first search is of the security guard slumped to the wall beside the exam room door; looks like he tried to pull himself back up, at least. His hand is within enough range of the lock. Church, however, is looking for that ID card he also needs. If this plan doesn't pull through, then maybe he'll just have to batter the wall in. Unfortunately, that would obviously be very noisy.

As expected, the defenses are thick. As expected, Noah does what it takes to get what he needs. After making a brief radio message which ends with "…Ghost, you're needed", Noah stops to hear a voice. It is not his baby. It is someone that plans to keep them apart. Noah backs away slowly, trying to get some cover. Noah gives the 'back up' motion to Church, pulling out his gun… Not the silenced gun, but the Noah Bennet 'I'm gunna make you scream' shiny gun. He doesn't say a word, but Church likely knows what this means.

Darkness. Sewer Level.

Minus the brief illumination from a small hand light held by a figure dressed in all black. It's a talk and diesel figure, from the looks of things. And everything about him is dark. Even the eye holes in his mask, which is worn beneath a black hoodie… that naturally has the hood up. The hand light is used to find the right pipes and a crudely drawn: 'Here' with an arrow going up. Somebody must've been down these parts already.

No words are said into the headset that Ghost is presumably wearing. He's got nothing to say. There's no reason to speak. He's been given his orders and that's all that matters. Folded back up and pocketed, the hand light is no longer needed as Ghost plants himself against the wall and starts to rise up it. Sliding, gliding, etc…

Until his head comes through the floor of the Hall with Noah, Church and Downed Guards. His head is followed by his body and soon enough, the musclebound form of Ghost is present on the floor. Just a little off. Noah's a couple steps away.

"Boo." Some people just have to banter. A little.

There's a hand, and there's an ID card. Church sets them to Test Mode as he can hear Bennet call in the reserves; the failed beep of both of them register, and the lock flicks back to 'READY…'. His attention being on this task, when there is suddenly an echo on his set. Boo #1 is tinny, and Boo #2 is pretty much right behind him. Rather unceremoniously, the agent drops the guard's arm and the ID card. He wanted to do that. Honestly. They were useless, remember. No better place than the floor.

Good for him, he has no patience to tarry; Noah's gun and the beckoned gesture are taken into account, and Lawrence mimics Bennet in order to backtrack into hiding just the same.

One of the security men spares a glance into the hall at the H.R.G. and "Ghost". He then flattens against the wall by the stairs, gun at the ready before he turns, popping around the corner long enough to fire down the hall. One, two.

Shots ring down the hallway. While many of them miss, Noah leaps to the prone position to minimize his profile just the same. He tries to fire a few shots toward the guards, but considering this is right after he leapt to the ground, his aim is far from perfect. It might be enough to do the job through. Even on the ground, Noah gives out the orders, still in control (or at least doing a good job of pretending).

"Ghost, the door with the ID. If she's there, let me know. Don't get shot." Yes, he actually orders D.L. not to get shot. After all, if he dies, it really makes the plan a lot harder. "Need some heat down there!" he calls out, clearly avoiding using names even in the middle of a firefight.

Ghost is busy with heading over to the Big Door of Doom. This is where he must do his work. And since he's focused on that at the moment, he doesn't quite get the chance to phase out of the way of bullets headed his direction. If this was somebody else, you'd think he'd be used to getting shot at and LEARN by now. But since this isn't that somebody else and this is Ghost… well… the bullet connects with his arm, slicing through the shoulder of his hoodie and causing a bit of blood to leak.

Stay Focused. That's the pep talk that Ghost gives himself, as he holds his hand up, peering at the lock for a second and decides to go to work. Stupid ID locks. But if there's one thing D—Ghost knows: It's locks. And with his hand going into (no, literally. INTO.) the door's ID lock, there's some wiggling and putzing and then, hopefully, Green Light.

If it's heat that Bennet wants, he gets it. Shortly after the order flies, the temperature pulses up a notch. Church raises a hand to the goggles on his head, shaded like sunglasses. the others should have them too, and hopefully both of them know what it means. Potential for retina-scarring light. Potential, mind you.

What does come first is that same rush of heat; it funnels down the hall like a blast of Martian air, in the only direction that the open hall can take it. Right down to where the group of gunners are keeping back. There is leftover swelter immediately around Church, but for the most part he has snuck to the end of the hall behind the corner, pushing what he can down into it. It's harder than the first time, but hopefully it will help get the job done. They're surely not the only ones decked out in heavy gear, after all.

Usually, security staff doesn't need to wear protective gear against intense blasts of heat — unless they know what's coming. They didn't. The guard, missed by Noah's bullet by moving quickly back into position, meets the same fate as his colleagues before him, along with the other three around him. Flop. Thud. And a little bit o' sizzle for good measure.

Normal people would feel guilty for killing those people (if they are actually dead), but Noah doesn't have a shred of remorse. He didn't steal an innocent girl to abuse, he didn't put innocent people to keep her a prisoner. The blood is not on his hands, only the expectation that his daughter is home for dinner.

Pushing up once the hallway has gone back to silence, he gets his feet before giving simple orders. "Ghost, door. Heat, cover." Putting in a fresh magazine into his gun, Noah moves to the hallway where the guards lie, merely pushing his back against the wall and waiting for the reinforcements to come. This will likely be hell as Evolveds are sure to be here soon if they aren't already, but Noah is more than ready to take it on full force.

Ghost is on the door like black folks on chicken. Which is why when the green light goes off and the clicking of locks happen on the door, it makes it easier for Ghost to push it open. Which is always a good thing. Mostly because this will let him see what's inside. "We're in." is what he's saying down the all to Noah, not quite sure if that should be tossed over the radio or anything like that. It might confuse those on other floors doing other things.

But just what is behind Door Number Doom?

TO BE CONTINUED…

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