"Fine I screwed up! Is that what you want me to say?"
Grifter ignored Sass. She kept working at her desk, filling out the paperwork for finalizing the billing. Sass kept staring at her, which was easy because they both had matching desks that butted up against each other.
Sass may have been the leader and the strongest in the group, but she didn't want there to be distance between her and the other members of the team. She had seen it before, a team finally becomes successful and egos start to get in the way. Pride is the single most expensive thing a person can own. Handled improperly, it can cost you everything.
Sass had a private office in her quarters, but she didn't meet people there. If she needed to speak to someone in private, they could step into a meeting room. They had a several conference rooms. When it came to do the day to day work, she sat right in the middle of the room, across from her right hand and best friend, Grifter. Although, at the moment, anyone watching the two might not know that last bit of trivia.
Also at the moment, nobody else was in the room.
The mission could be called a success. One might say it ended splendidly. It certainly was profitable. Out of network, the mission was recalculated from a Chi level to a Psi level threat. The low end of Psi, but Psi none the less. The only way for it to really go any further would have to be considered a danger to an entire region. As such, it was considered a threat to only several city blocks. If it was an omega level threat, then it would no longer have been a billing matter. In an omega level situation, every registered cape that is available is immediately drafted into The WASP of the US of A and expected to follow orders for the duration of the crisis. Billing would be taken care of later, if anyone survived, that is.
On top of that, the rascals, yet again, managed to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, even if the museum director complained about having to hire someone to remove the vines that criss-crossed the building. On top of that, three hostages were saved. Fortunately, they all were unconscious for the majority of the event, and as such the psychological trauma was at a minimum.
Adam, on the other hand, was a basket case.
Currently, he was in his assigned room with Grease of all people. He just refused to let go of her and she carried him to his room where she eventually texted to Sass that she was going to sit with him until he fell asleep. Wanderer was angry that Angel just rushed into the situation like that, but besides complaining about it on her EAR, she didn't bring it up again. Apparently the huge pay out, of which the majority of the bonus was going to the only three participants, was enough to quell the alien's concerns.
As for the Golden Knight, her only complaint was that she didn't get to lead the charge. She recommended that if Adam was going to be doing front line duty more, he needed more training. Other than that, she was happy as a clam with the outcome. Yes, she almost died, but she didn't. As far as she was concerned, no harm, no foul.
Yet Grifter was clearly pissed off.
That was why everyone left. Someone made a point to drag Ivy out of the room to explain things to her elsewhere. Nobody wanted to be around when Grifter finally blew her top. Sass might be the toughest member of the team, but Grifter was the smartest. Grifter never lost her temper, persay, but she certainly knew exactly what to say to cut you deep. Wanderer might be able to read your thoughts, but Grifter got inside YOUR HEAD.
Sass looked away and ran her fingers through her hair, "Please talk to me." Grifter looked up at Sass silently. Sass stared back, catching her reflection in the smokey lenses of Grifter's gas mask. Eventually she turned away to stand up.
Finally Grifter spoke, "I get it."
Sass stopped and looked back at Grifter, "Huh?"
Grifter turned away as she looked around the room, then quietly took off her mask. As she turned back to face her friend, Sass, once again, was disturbed by what she saw. Her friend's affliction was obvious when you saw her face. That was the reason that she always kept it covered. It didn't bother Sass much, but as she always felt a little twinge of pity whenever she got to see the naked truth. Sass tried hard not to let it show, but she also knew nobody could read you quite like Grifter. It was an odd recursive loop.
Don't think about a camel. That sort of thing.
Grifter rested her mask on the desk in front of her and leveled her gaze at Sass, "I understand what you wanted. I'm here with you, through thick or thin. I wanted this too. I wanted to rub a win in the Caretaker's face as well. I wanted to cuck my father in his own backyard, just like you wanted to rub your mother's nose in it."
Grifter reached up to pull out her hair tie. She ran her fingers through her hair to pull it back and started to tie it up again as she continued, "So we're both to blame. I'm not just angry with you. I'm angry with myself. We both pushed too hard. We both knew this was dangerous, but we both lied to ourselves and pretended that there was a chance it was over blown. We hoped Wanderer could pierce the warding and give us something to work with, then we were going to go in there and kick ass like we always do."
She pointed at the door, "We sent in someone we knew wasn't properly trained, who we told previously they would be on standby for medical assistance only." She stabbed her finger again at the exit, "We sent him in because that stupid kid, I don't care how old he says he is, was all gun-ho about doing the right thing and saving the day!" She swung her finger around to point at Sass, "And you filled his head with the fear that if we didn't get the recon done, more innocent victims would die."
She pounded her fist on the table, "How the FUCK did you think he was going to react if he FOUND HOSTAGES IN DANGER?"
The room was quiet. Sass said nothing and just looked at the desk in front of her.
Grifter shoot her head and took a deep breath, "I knew it was a bad idea and I kept my mouth shut. I don't know why." She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward while she rubbed her forehead, "We fucked up. We almost lost half our starting line up. I don't care how much money we get out of this, or the fact those three are getting serious hazard pay. It doesn't matter. We got lucky. We got fuckin' lucky. Maybe too lucky."
Sass blinked, "Explain?"
Grifter picked up her mask, "When the SePU showed up, I knew something was off. WAY OFF. So I snuck inside to check out the crime scene." She held up her mask to the side like there was another person sitting next to her and jogged her head towards it while she looked at Sass, "There was someone else there."
Sass blinked, "What?"
Grifter put her mask back on, "The way the Lich died does not match up with getting a sunlight infused punch to the face. I didn't want to bring it up on site because it contradicts what little Adam told us." She sighed deeply "Clearly they were meta. We didn't find anyone inside. If there was another meta in there, there is no possible way they got in and out past the SePU, unless he's the greatest teleport in the world." She made a circle in front of her on her desk with her hands, "That auditorium was in the heart of the EMMA. The guy who did all this picked that location because it was directly above the shield generator. The extra-dimensional and teleportation hardening around that place is legendary and he parked his boney ass two stories above it. On top of that, the Caretakers had a bazillion scanners trained all around that place. Doctor Microbe himself couldn't have snuck out of there."
Sass suddenly straightened up in her chair, "Wait a minute..."
Grifter stared right at Sass and pulled out a small hand held device, "Someone shot the Lich with an energy weapon at close range." She then brought out a small coin in an evidence bag, "I also found traces of cosmic energy." She took a deep breath and let it out her nose, "Not from Adam, either. His presence at the crime scene muddled the traces but it doesn't match. If anything, it's the exact inverse of Adam." She clicked her tongue, "It's almost as if..."
Sass shook her head slowly, "Don't say what I think you are going-"
"No Body."
Sass closed her eyes tightly, "Shit." She made a fist and leaned into it, slowly hitting her forehead with it, over and over.
Grifter shrugged, "I don't like it, but it fits. No Body can get into anywhere and..."
"And we know he works for Ben frickin' Sinister." Sass rubbed her eyes and looked up, "If you detected the inverse of Adam's cosmic power, that means Ben was there as well." She narrowed her eyes, "I wonder why he was duplicating Adam's powers?" She rubbed her face with both hands, "We are so in over our heads."
Grifter nodded a bit, "Most likely because they wanted to cover up their involvement. Whatever was going on, they timed it while everyone from the Caretakers who could stop it was out of town or unavailable. The experiment was conducted, the experiment either succeeded or failed, and they needed to tie up the loose ends. Most likely our entire team was captured and they just duplicated Adam's power to kill the patsy, then planted false memories in Adam's head."
Sass looked thoughtfully off into the distance, "That would explain why the SePU showed up in force at the end there."
Grifter shrugged, "So. What do we do?"
Sass quirked an eyebrow, "Do? We do NOTHING."
Grifter tilted her head to the side, "Nothing?"
Sass nodded, "Ben did this obviously to cover his tracks and clean things up. If he doesn't want anyone to know he's involved, then let him THINK we don't know he's involved. We make sure the reports all indicate we believe this is wrapped up. Case Closed."
Grifter leaned back in her chair to look at the ceiling, "You are hoping this will blow over."
"Normally No Body doesn't leave witnesses. If we start investigating and come up with any hard evidence, he might come here to murder us all on principle." Sass started drumming her fingers on her desk, "I'm thinking this is in my Mom's backyard and this level calamity is more up her alleyway. Since the SePU showed up after the caretakers returned, they clearly know what is going on. She can have this one."
Grifter glanced around, "Yeah. There's no way we can handle No Body." She turned back to Sass with a shudder, "You want to tell your mom?"
"All-Star? I'm sure she's already figured it out. Besides, clearly Ben has a mole or a leak on the inside of the Caretakers. If we tell her we think something is up and the wrong person finds out..." Sass slowly shook her head in a dismissive fashion, "No... No... Let's stay off the Legion Sinister's radar. Any one of them could flatten our entire team."
Grifter shrugged, "What are we going to do about Adam?"
"I... I don't know. I feel horrible about this. I need time to think." Sass ran both hands through her hair, "He needs training. He is definitely off the roster and to be kept back at base until further notice. I hope he can bounce back from this."
Grifter glanced over her shoulder towards the exit, "I... dunno. He seems like he's pretty broken, but there's something about him that's tougher than one expects." She turned back to Sass, "If he was a normal man, I'd say he was all washed up, but I get the impression men from his world are made of sterner stuff." Grifter shrugged, "Maybe he just needs to cry his eyes out and he'll be better tomorrow."
Sass frowned slightly, "I'm unhappy he's clinging to Grease like that."
Grifter shrugged, "She did lose an arm taking care of those bomb collars."
Sass quirked an eyebrow, "What's that got to do with anything?"
Grifter shrugged again, "Just an observation."
Sass narrowed her eyes, "Well... I had better not observe Grease doing anything that gets us another sexual harassment lawsuit."
"Grease has many flaws, but there is no way she'd make a move on Adam. Not like this." Grifter snorted, "She is many things, but a predator isn't one of them."
Sass said nothing.
"Fine I screwed up! Is that what you want me to say?"
Grifter ignored Sass. She kept working at her desk, filling out the paperwork for finalizing the billing. Sass kept staring at her, which was easy because they both had matching desks that butted up against each other.
Sass may have been the leader and the strongest in the group, but she didn't want there to be distance between her and the other members of the team. She had seen it before, a team finally becomes successful and egos start to get in the way. Pride is the single most expensive thing a person can own. Handled improperly, it can cost you everything.
Sass had a private office in her quarters, but she didn't meet people there. If she needed to speak to someone in private, they could step into a meeting room. They had a several conference rooms. When it came to do the day to day work, she sat right in the middle of the room, across from her right hand and best friend, Grifter. Although, at the moment, anyone watching the two might not know that last bit of trivia.
Also at the moment, nobody else was in the room.
The mission could be called a success. One might say it ended splendidly. It certainly was profitable. Out of network, the mission was recalculated from a Chi level to a Psi level threat. The low end of Psi, but Psi none the less. The only way for it to really go any further would have to be considered a danger to an entire region. As such, it was considered a threat to only several city blocks. If it was an omega level threat, then it would no longer have been a billing matter. In an omega level situation, every registered cape that is available is immediately drafted into The WASP of the US of A and expected to follow orders for the duration of the crisis. Billing would be taken care of later, if anyone survived, that is.
On top of that, the rascals, yet again, managed to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, even if the museum director complained about having to hire someone to remove the vines that criss-crossed the building. On top of that, three hostages were saved. Fortunately, they all were unconscious for the majority of the event, and as such the psychological trauma was at a minimum.
Adam, on the other hand, was a basket case.
Currently, he was in his assigned room with Grease of all people. He just refused to let go of her and she carried him to his room where she eventually texted to Sass that she was going to sit with him until he fell asleep. Wanderer was angry that Angel just rushed into the situation like that, but besides complaining about it on her EAR, she didn't bring it up again. Apparently the huge pay out, of which the majority of the bonus was going to the only three participants, was enough to quell the alien's concerns.
As for the Golden Knight, her only complaint was that she didn't get to lead the charge. She recommended that if Adam was going to be doing front line duty more, he needed more training. Other than that, she was happy as a clam with the outcome. Yes, she almost died, but she didn't. As far as she was concerned, no harm, no foul.
Yet Grifter was clearly pissed off.
That was why everyone left. Someone made a point to drag Ivy out of the room to explain things to her elsewhere. Nobody wanted to be around when Grifter finally blew her top. Sass might be the toughest member of the team, but Grifter was the smartest. Grifter never lost her temper, persay, but she certainly knew exactly what to say to cut you deep. Wanderer might be able to read your thoughts, but Grifter got inside YOUR HEAD.
Sass looked away and ran her fingers through her hair, "Please talk to me." Grifter looked up at Sass silently. Sass stared back, catching her reflection in the smokey lenses of Grifter's gas mask. Eventually she turned away to stand up.
Finally Grifter spoke, "I get it."
Sass stopped and looked back at Grifter, "Huh?"
Grifter turned away as she looked around the room, then quietly took off her mask. As she turned back to face her friend, Sass, once again, was disturbed by what she saw. Her friend's affliction was obvious when you saw her face. That was the reason that she always kept it covered. It didn't bother Sass much, but as she always felt a little twinge of pity whenever she got to see the naked truth. Sass tried hard not to let it show, but she also knew nobody could read you quite like Grifter. It was an odd recursive loop.
Don't think about a camel. That sort of thing.
Grifter rested her mask on the desk in front of her and leveled her gaze at Sass, "I understand what you wanted. I'm here with you, through thick or thin. I wanted this too. I wanted to rub a win in the Caretaker's face as well. I wanted to cuck my father in his own backyard, just like you wanted to rub your mother's nose in it."
Grifter reached up to pull out her hair tie. She ran her fingers through her hair to pull it back and started to tie it up again as she continued, "So we're both to blame. I'm not just angry with you. I'm angry with myself. We both pushed too hard. We both knew this was dangerous, but we both lied to ourselves and pretended that there was a chance it was over blown. We hoped Wanderer could pierce the warding and give us something to work with, then we were going to go in there and kick ass like we always do."
She pointed at the door, "We sent in someone we knew wasn't properly trained, who we told previously they would be on standby for medical assistance only." She stabbed her finger again at the exit, "We sent him in because that stupid kid, I don't care how old he says he is, was all gun-ho about doing the right thing and saving the day!" She swung her finger around to point at Sass, "And you filled his head with the fear that if we didn't get the recon done, more innocent victims would die."
She pounded her fist on the table, "How the FUCK did you think he was going to react if he FOUND HOSTAGES IN DANGER?"
The room was quiet. Sass said nothing and just looked at the desk in front of her.
Grifter shoot her head and took a deep breath, "I knew it was a bad idea and I kept my mouth shut. I don't know why." She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward while she rubbed her forehead, "We fucked up. We almost lost half our starting line up. I don't care how much money we get out of this, or the fact those three are getting serious hazard pay. It doesn't matter. We got lucky. We got fuckin' lucky. Maybe too lucky."
Sass blinked, "Explain?"
Grifter picked up her mask, "When the SePU showed up, I knew something was off. WAY OFF. So I snuck inside to check out the crime scene." She held up her mask to the side like there was another person sitting next to her and jogged her head towards it while she looked at Sass, "There was someone else there."
Sass blinked, "What?"
Grifter put her mask back on, "The way the Lich died does not match up with getting a sunlight infused punch to the face. I didn't want to bring it up on site because it contradicts what little Adam told us." She sighed deeply "Clearly they were meta. We didn't find anyone inside. If there was another meta in there, there is no possible way they got in and out past the SePU, unless he's the greatest teleport in the world." She made a circle in front of her on her desk with her hands, "That auditorium was in the heart of the EMMA. The guy who did all this picked that location because it was directly above the shield generator. The extra-dimensional and teleportation hardening around that place is legendary and he parked his boney ass two stories above it. On top of that, the Caretakers had a bazillion scanners trained all around that place. Doctor Microbe himself couldn't have snuck out of there."
Sass suddenly straightened up in her chair, "Wait a minute..."
Grifter stared right at Sass and pulled out a small hand held device, "Someone shot the Lich with an energy weapon at close range." She then brought out a small coin in an evidence bag, "I also found traces of cosmic energy." She took a deep breath and let it out her nose, "Not from Adam, either. His presence at the crime scene muddled the traces but it doesn't match. If anything, it's the exact inverse of Adam." She clicked her tongue, "It's almost as if..."
Sass shook her head slowly, "Don't say what I think you are going-"
"No Body."
Sass closed her eyes tightly, "Shit." She made a fist and leaned into it, slowly hitting her forehead with it, over and over.
Grifter shrugged, "I don't like it, but it fits. No Body can get into anywhere and..."
"And we know he works for Ben frickin' Sinister." Sass rubbed her eyes and looked up, "If you detected the inverse of Adam's cosmic power, that means Ben was there as well." She narrowed her eyes, "I wonder why he was duplicating Adam's powers?" She rubbed her face with both hands, "We are so in over our heads."
Grifter nodded a bit, "Most likely because they wanted to cover up their involvement. Whatever was going on, they timed it while everyone from the Caretakers who could stop it was out of town or unavailable. The experiment was conducted, the experiment either succeeded or failed, and they needed to tie up the loose ends. Most likely our entire team was captured and they just duplicated Adam's power to kill the patsy, then planted false memories in Adam's head."
Sass looked thoughtfully off into the distance, "That would explain why the SePU showed up in force at the end there."
Grifter shrugged, "So. What do we do?"
Sass quirked an eyebrow, "Do? We do NOTHING."
Grifter tilted her head to the side, "Nothing?"
Sass nodded, "Ben did this obviously to cover his tracks and clean things up. If he doesn't want anyone to know he's involved, then let him THINK we don't know he's involved. We make sure the reports all indicate we believe this is wrapped up. Case Closed."
Grifter leaned back in her chair to look at the ceiling, "You are hoping this will blow over."
"Normally No Body doesn't leave witnesses. If we start investigating and come up with any hard evidence, he might come here to murder us all on principle." Sass started drumming her fingers on her desk, "I'm thinking this is in my Mom's backyard and this level calamity is more up her alleyway. Since the SePU showed up after the caretakers returned, they clearly know what is going on. She can have this one."
Grifter glanced around, "Yeah. There's no way we can handle No Body." She turned back to Sass with a shudder, "You want to tell your mom?"
"All-Star? I'm sure she's already figured it out. Besides, clearly Ben has a mole or a leak on the inside of the Caretakers. If we tell her we think something is up and the wrong person finds out..." Sass slowly shook her head in a dismissive fashion, "No... No... Let's stay off the Legion Sinister's radar. Any one of them could flatten our entire team."
Grifter shrugged, "What are we going to do about Adam?"
"I... I don't know. I feel horrible about this. I need time to think." Sass ran both hands through her hair, "He needs training. He is definitely off the roster and to be kept back at base until further notice. I hope he can bounce back from this."
Grifter glanced over her shoulder towards the exit, "I... dunno. He seems like he's pretty broken, but there's something about him that's tougher than one expects." She turned back to Sass, "If he was a normal man, I'd say he was all washed up, but I get the impression men from his world are made of sterner stuff." Grifter shrugged, "Maybe he just needs to cry his eyes out and he'll be better tomorrow."
Sass frowned slightly, "I'm unhappy he's clinging to Grease like that."
Grifter shrugged, "She did lose an arm taking care of those bomb collars."
Sass quirked an eyebrow, "What's that got to do with anything?"
Grifter shrugged again, "Just an observation."
Sass narrowed her eyes, "Well... I had better not observe Grease doing anything that gets us another sexual harassment lawsuit."
"Grease has many flaws, but there is no way she'd make a move on Adam. Not like this." Grifter snorted, "She is many things, but a predator isn't one of them."
Sass said nothing.
