Interaction: Team A, Talon @Courtaud
Location: Inside the Kobra factory; La Hoya

As Cybergirl pulled off the grate, Mirage muffled the sound of the metal tearing. It wasn’t a perfect illusion. As she’d never heard that kind of noise before, she could only dampen it instead of fully erasing it. She waited a tense few moments, waiting for a guard to notice. When there was silence, she made herself invisible and slipped into the grate to start sliding in. It was a bit of a squeeze.

Once she made it through the vent, the corridor ahead was long and metallic. There were four doors, all of them closed. Carefully, she went to each and tried the handles. Three were locked up tight, with no key in sight. She didn’t dare try to break in. Her raw strength could do the trick, most likely, but the noise would cause all sorts of trouble.

The last door, surprisingly, was unlocked. She tried the handle slowly, and froze in fear as two Kobra agents stared right at her invisible form.

“What’s that?”

Mirage didn’t move or breathe, as one of the agents approached the open door.

“Huh. Must be the hinges. I told maintenance about these freakin’ doors weeks ago. But do they get fixed? No.”

“Tell me about it. The toilet in my bunk has been backed up for days.”

“That’s nasty, man.”

The agent began to close the door, and Mirage let her gaze dart around to see everything she could in those few seconds. They had all trained in memorization techniques within the last two weeks. Maps, papers, computers with some kind of reports on them. She read as much as she could before the door shut, then exhaled silently.

Treading slowly back to the group, she approached Talon. “Team Leader, I think I may have hit the jackpot. There’s an open door about 50 feet ahead, two guards and lots of information. At least one of the computers said progress report, and there are world and country maps pasted all over. The guards seem very relaxed; I opened the door and they really didn’t even investigate, just closed it. I didn’t want to attack them without your go-ahead. What would you like me to do?”

---

As Alisa's enhanced strength tore the vent from it's screws, with it came the sound of metal on metal. Talon flinched at the sound. It was louder than he would have wanted. He was about to say just that when Cybergirl apologized to him. He must have shown his irritation on his face. Luckily, Mirage had used her ability to dampen the sound. It was quick thinking on her part, and Talon was grateful. When it appeared that no guards inside had noticed the noise, he was relieved. So far things were going okay. Recognizing that his leadership would require him to be more supportive than he was probably coming off, he took the time to speak to both Cybergirl and Mirage.

"Thank you, it was good work. Let's move."

Mirage lead the way first, and gave the rest the okay to drop down into the room below - it was clear. Talon was impressed with her natural ability to handle the mission - she was someone he respected and trusted, even if they hadn't had much of a chance to spend time together. Still, when it came to the field, she was coming off as incredibly dependable. She returned after only a few moments, Talon momentarily startled as her camoflauge dropped to reveal her standing an inch away from him. When she told them about the guards, Talon nodded seriously.

Things were going easily enough, she was a natural at stealth. Was it possible that room number one would be the key already? The thing they were seaarching for. He turned to Zatara.

"Zatara. Can you enchant that room? Make it look like the two guards are still standing around normally? Mirage and I are going to clear them out."

He turned to Mirage.

"Take the one on the left. Start cloaked, the second the other one moves I'll-" Talon had a flash in his mind. Slashing the exposed skin beneath a guard's chin, breaking a man's back before they even noticed someone was in the room with them. The violence dripping from the metallic talons of his gauntlet...

"I'll...disable the other."

He dropped down into the vents behind the others as they began their infiltration.

Location: La Hoya
Interactions: Squad 🐝

---

Rain had kept his eyes on Daphne until she picked herself up off the ground before he returned to his previous position of watching Ja. According to a message relayed by Daphne, Ja discovered something peculiar while investigating the vehicle spotted at the start of the mission.

He was lucky enough to have returned from scolding Daphne to witness Ja climb into a tree.

"Brightheart, I have eyes on Metamorph. You are free to scout out the perimeter, over."

"Hex ensure Coal continues scanning, over."

"Gold Rush what's your status?"

"Getting ready to drop a clone and circulate their summoning. Squad A needs to pick up the pace, over." The lighthearted hero replied. It was shortly after this that Rain noticed something or better yet, someone approaching Ja's position. He noticed the person's hand was wrapped with cloth or a bandage.

"Nymph, relay to Metamorph that someone is approaching him from his rear and that he needs to move." Rain he shared as he continued watching.

---

Daphne listened to Ja´s message. She wasn´t sure how to reply. With Ja being part of squad A it was up to Talon to decide how to approach this situation. It wasn´t that cut and dry though. Talon was already infiltrating the factory with the remaining members of squad A. Ja was more part of her squad, at least right now he was. She contemplated what to say and felt anxious. If it was up to her she wanted Ja to find a safe place to hide out. Maybe the people who were part of that struggle were still around somewhere. They could be the ones observing the team instead of the other way around. It was a scary thought. Ja had also discovered some kind of strange liquid. It could be the drug produced by the Kobra factory.

The teen girl didn´t have to complete on what to say any longer. Viktor asked her to relay another message, this time in his usual even toned voice. She could handle stoic Viktor much better than the angry one. Daphne nodded in acknowledgement and turned on her ear piece, opening her mouth to start to speak.....only she...couldn´t. Her face wasn´t moving. Immediately panic started to crawl through her, creating a lump in her throat. What was going on?
With trembling hands she touched her face, brushing over the surface of her skin. It had turned into bark, just like the rest of her body. Daphne didn't want to believe what was happening. Her body just acted on its own, without her being in control. It felt like all of the work she put in with the Martian Manhunter was for nothing. If she could cry she probably would have, as it were her face was frozen in a wooden expression.

A string of disturbing thoughts ran through her mind. She had no idea how to reverse this and operating the comms was not possible anymore. Viktor was going to yell at her, but she was scared. There was no one else she could turn to for help. How would she explain to him what was going on? This had never happened before, she didn't even know her powers were capable of this. She couldn't put her team in danger so she put aside her anxiety and approached their leader.

Daphne touched Viktor's shoulder, pulling at him a little so he would turn around. They still had to relay the message to Ja, if he didn't know someone was coming his way he could be in danger, they all could.

Meanwhile the guard was fast approaching Metamorph's hiding spot. It would be a matter of seconds until he was found out. The canister was missing and the guard was starting to investigate. The safest option was to subdue the guard, before he could warn the factory, potentially taking away from the time available to squad A to investigate.

Cybergil ripped the vent off. Could she have been any louder? She may as well have thrown some fireworks while she was at it. Surely there had to be a quieter way to do this. The job was done though, and the group went inside, and Mirage dampened the sound.

Once they were inside, Mirage did some sneaking around, and found a room which by her description had some guards being completely incompetent, and might have what they needed. It worked for their purposes, but it was a miracle those guards hadn’t been fired or something… Talon then asked him to enchant the room to make it appear as if the guards were still standing there. Zach smirked. ”Of course!” He waved his arm with the wand in hand and recited. ”snoisulli draug etaerc ,srorrim dna ekoms” In a puff of smoke two illusory copies appeared, standing still and waiting at attention.

“That should do it. Mirage isn’t the only one capable of illusion magic.” These weren’t perfect illusions, but it should at least be enough to fool somebody monitoring the room on a camera, which was most likely the case.

Talon talked about disabling the guards, and Zach cringed. “Wait… you’re not going to murder them are you? Because I’m pretty sure Old Justice wouldn’t want us dropping bodies…”

Kassandra nodded at the instructions from Talon, then waited on Zatara to do his thing. The illusions were well done; she couldn’t have done better under short notice.

“Nice work.” She smiled at Zatara, then got serious again. She exhaled slowly, steadying her nerves, and then she vanished yet again. Her soft, disembodied voice echoed in the hall. “Back in a bit.”

She approached the door, waiting for Talon to approach as well. Once they were both in position, she opened the door again, very slowly, and slipped inside.

“The damn door again? Gurk!” One of the guards started toward the door, but then he seemed to freeze, his hands going to his neck. Kassy popped up out of stealth behind the guard, holding him in a well-performed chokehold.

She had been working and studying on different types of fighting and combat techniques, to figure out what would suit her best. After much internal debate, she had decided on wrestling. It was a decently popular sport underwater, and she had a lot of fun watching the costumed version on television with the bombastic storylines. Putting it into practice had taken some more time, as she had limited practice partners. The only one who matched her weight class was Victor, so he had become her teacher.

The guard clutched at Kassy’s arm, his fingernails scraping at her skin. She flinched but held tight. After a few seconds, he dropped, unconscious. She let him go, gently laying him on the ground. Then she checked his pulse to be certain he would live. It seemed to be okay.

Once that was done, she went to the nearest terminal and started reading.

Location: La Hoya
Interactions: Squad 🐝 and @Dclassified Ja

---

Rain watched as the guard he had his eyes on moved closer and closer to Ja’s position. Ja not moving from his position caused Rain to furrow his brow in frustration. Why isn’t he moving?! He even grunted with narrowed eyes at his teammate. He thought Ja had the discipline to act when given guidance… He should have, right? Rain slowly turned his head as he felt a light tap on his shoulder. A face of hard bark greeted him with alarming news. Words were not needed as he quickly deduced what was happening.

“Shit!”



“What the hell… Hey, I got something in a tree. I think. I think it’s a person… over. I’m gonna check it out.” The guard approaching Ja’s position reported over the radio with his walkie talkie as he approached the tree where Ja was perched. “HEY! HEY YOU!” The guard shouted.



”METAMORPH TAKE OUT THE GUARD AT YOUR REAR, NOW!”

“Talon, Nymph is down, I am taking over comms, over.” Victor held Daphne by the shoulder as he jumped from Squad B’s communications channel to Squad A so he could directly communicate with Ja and Talon. Shit! Viktor shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, visibly upset about the current circumstances.

“Nymph! Nymph, answer me! Get a hold of yourself! I need you to get a hold of your abilities… NOW!”

---

SQUAD A @Mistress Dizzy@Crimson Flame@Courtaud@canaryrose

Within the room that Squad A infiltrated were files displaying two key items. One was information concerning preliminary planning for a prototype biological weapon to be used on a populace. Third world and authoritarian controlled countries are listed as prime targets. There is also a note stating “this will take our organization to the next level. Toppling countries with ease.

The second piece of information was of a supply of Kobra Venom that was currently stored at the factory in room S17 on the first sublevel. It would be quite easy to search and destroy, and prevent the use of such a powerful strength enhancing drug, but...

---

With a flourish, Zatara had effortlessly created duplicates of the guards that lay in the next room. Having someone with Zatara's abilities was undoubtedly comingin handy - he was capable of a great many things provided his insecurities didn't get in the way. This was of course, an unfair look at Zatara, as the same could be said for each and every member of the team - Talon included. There was no one among them who was flawless, who could do things without nearly second guessing themselves or tripping over their own feet. Gold Rush came close, but Talon was mature enough to know that if he did have anxieties and struggles, he was likely just better at hiding them than the others.

Talon looked deadpan into Zatara's face when the young boy asked if his plan including killing the guards. If it was a joke, he wasn't sure how to react to those kind of things yet. So instead, he moved along silently behind Mirage. The Atlantean likely dwarfed Talon's own strength, but Talon's discipline was likely the sharpest among Squad A's. As he slipped in to the next room, Talon motioned for Mirage to action, and as she grappled with one guard, performing a reverse chokehold he likely would have difficulty escaping from, Talon moved onto his own target.

Talon leaped toward the other guard just as he noticed Mirage's attack. As the guard lifted his weapon, Talon was upon him. Using his speed, the former member of the Court of Owls wrapped his legs around the man's neck before using his own shifting momentum against him. He was thrown hard against the wall and landed in a crumpled pile, and approached the various items in the room. As they all began searching for any piece of information that would assist in the completion of their mission, it was Cybergirl who first reported finding a disturbing piece of information - plans for use of a prototype bioweapon, and a list of potential targets.

Talon was about to pass the information along to the others, before Zatara found something of his own. A Kobra Venom supply was here at the base.

The others looked to Talon, waiting on his cue.

"Batman and the League gave us orders. This is a recon mission. Knowing there is Kobra Venom below changes nothing. We have our strict orders, and we are going to follow them."

He looked to see what the others thought of this.

While he waited for their feedback, he joined the comms.

"Squad B - we've located potential targets, as well as some disturbing information regarding a bioweapon. How would extraction go at this point?"

Static came in on the line before suddenly - and surprisingly - Rain's voice came through the other end.

And Nymph was down.

Talon looked up at the others, unable to hide the concern on his face. What was the story? Did the situation change? Things were going so well. The mission was going to become a success, his team had gotten what they were looking for, and the League would undoubtedly be impressed with their abilities up to this point. But now Talon was faced with something he was trying to prepare himself for. The completion of the mission could be compromised. Was he willing to allow that to happen? Not ever in his development, but now? And that it was Nymph of all people. Hopefully things weren't that bad - not yet.

"Rain what is happening? What's wrong with Nymph??" Talon snapped into the comms, knowing his question would based more in personal concern than in the missions goals.

---

---

Alisa clambered down the vent behind the others while trying her hardest not to make any more loud sounds. Lucky for her, Kassy had deafened the sound of the ripping vent- but she couldn’t rely on anyone else to fix stuff for her. Maybe she did need a swiss knife hand. Certainly something to consider. Awesome. More time in the lab. It was thought sarcastically, but schematics and plans and equations started to run through her head. A technological mind never stopped running.

She jumped down from the vent after Zatara and followed the rest of them into the room once they had neutralized the guards. She didn’t watch, but she did see the bodies as she walked in. A pained look flashed across her face before vanishing.

Along with Mirage, Alisa started to flip through the files on the computer and desk, although at a much faster pace. Lines of data and words flickered past her eyes, searing themselves into her hard-drive. If they needed her to, she'd easily be able to recall this later or bring it up on her memory drive.

There was disturbing information on this hard drive. Very disturbing. And Talon was just willing to leave it all behind? Alisa pursed her lips, conflicted. They had gotten the information they came for, but were they heroes if they left it? She knew they should at least comply with the mission directives a little bit, but there had to be something they could do. Her urge to contradict overpowered her. She wasn’t built to follow orders.

“Destroying the Kobra venom would be a big mistake, but… there has to be something we can do to make it a bit harder for them. Like disabling the firing systems for that bioweapon. It’s not as covert, but it's something we can do...” she trailed off, expecting a snappish response from their team leader.

His exclamation about Daphne made her eyes widen. Her comms weren’t connected to the network, so she had no idea what was going on. “What?! What’s wrong with Nymph? Are they under attack? Is something wrong?”

---

Inside Daphne wanted to scream. Trapped in her own body. It was a terrifying feeling. No matter how much she tried she could not move her face. Viktor yelling at her made things even worse. Trying to calm herself down felt like an impossible task. Daphne covered her ears to drown out Viktor´s harsh tone and shook her head fervently. She couldn't do it, she couldn´t regain control. Daphne pulled away from Viktor and held her head in desperation, still shaking no.

How could she control something she didn't understand?
Nothing like this had ever happened, not in her study sessions with her dad or her lessons with the Martian Manhunter. Was this what her powers were going to be like forever? Always scaring her, always just outside of her reach.

It was overwhelming. Daphne wanted someone to tell her it would be okay. She didn’t want to be here anymore, out in the cold, her friends in danger because of her incapability. Her shoulders slumped and she broke down into tearless and soundless sobs. Without thinking too much about it Daphne looked for comfort in the only person that was there, Viktor. Maybe it was for the best she couldn’t see the stony look behind his helmet, or that might have deterred her from approaching him.

Daphne leaned her face against the padded chestpiece of Viktor’s suit and wrapped her wooden arms around his body that stiffened from the sudden contact. He hadn't expected the action. A hug of all things! It had even delayed his reply to Talon. Daphne could initially feel Viktor grab her arms so he could begin pulling away, but leaves he could spot on her body were welting and beginning to fall from her plant formed body. The cold… she's more susceptible to it.

Daphne felt Viktor's grasp on her arms surprisingly transition into a one-armed hug from Viktor.

"Talon, I have Nymph under control. Extract from the roof an-"

The sound of an alarm blared as red lights flashed within the factory

"Fuck…"

---

That was enough for Talon. Rain's confirmation that Nymph was handled brought a wave of relief, and Talon could feel the tension spill off of him. His concern had caused internal conflict that Talon himself was not comfortable with nor able to really comprehend and handle. His desire to complete the mission at all costs was engrained deeply in his being. This wasn't something he was unaware of, he knew it could potentially lead him to difficult decisions and could cause a rift between the team and himself. But this mission seemed like one of lower stakes, and he was confident it wasn't going to come into play. The fact that it had nearly happened already was frustrating, but luckily it seemed to have passed. Talon was almost glad enough not to have picked up on Rain ordering him and his team to rendezvous and leave. Barking orders and not even being the leader of the squad. Talon gritted his teeth. He hadn't had to recover any of HIS squad, those who infiltrated the building itself were completing the mission effectively without any sort of issue.

"You listen to me you Jock, everything here is going fi-" and then the alarms started blaring all around them.

Talon looked around at the others, who looked just as shocked and surprised that the situation had so quickly turned riskier. Something was wrong - they hadn't been noticed, had they? And if they hadn't, then that would mean there was some other problem going on in the factory. What could that be, if so?

And there was all of the data that the group was able to find. Grasping at straws, and quickly, Talon turned his attention to Cybergirl.

"Cybergirl - your abilities. Do you have any way to sync up with these systems? Can you download any of the information we found? As much as we can get our hands on." Switching over to Mirage and Zatara, he was counting on their skills as well. Everyone would have a part to play.

"Mirage, Zatara - lead the way on clearing us a path out of here, now. I'll stay here with Cybergirl. We'll meet you both up there with the others. Tell Rain when you see him that we'll be on comms."

---

"Alrighty!" Brightheart cheerfully said to Rain, taking one last look over at Metamorph to make sure he was okay before she flew over some parts of the enemy's base to scout the perimeter for any potential threats. No signs of movement from the agents from her point of view, the guards all did their usual routines, and based on Rain and Daphne's conversations with the other team, things were doing pretty good so far. Of course, things only went downhill from there.

It was like what humans called a 'domino effect.' It started when Rain started shouting at Metamorph over their comms to take down an enemy. Brightheart was alarmed as she thought everything was going well. She was in a different area of the enemy's base so she had to fly back over to her original position, only to gasp as she saw one of the guards shouting at Metamorph, clearly spotting one of their teammates. "Metamorph, look out!" Brightheart could only say to him as she couldn't really do anything else without her leader's orders.

She could also hear Rain seemingly struggling with Nymph. When she looked over, she saw Rain had his arms wrapped around her. Brightheart was worried about the state of her teammate, it looked like she's being weakened but by what? They all ate the same meals Nymph prepared for them so there's no way she would be poisoned by the food. While she was worried about Nymph, something about the way Rain hugged her with his big strong arms and comforting body warmth made her feel something weird inside too. She couldn't describe the feeling, it was like she was angry at Daphne for being that close to Rain even though the human had been nothing but kind to her ever since. One thing was for sure, Brightheart definitely wanted to be in Daphne's place right now.

Just when things couldn't get any worse, Brightheart had to cover her ears over the loud, blaring sounds of the base's alarms going off. Did someone manage to spot and apprehend Squad A while inside? One of Squad B was definitely seen but was it even enough for the enemies to sound off their alarm? Whatever the cause may be, the entire team needed to get out of there fast.

"Rain, I have to go and help Metamorph. It also seemed that we've been spotted since the alarms went off. I will make chaos to distract the enemies so everyone can easily escape. Do I have your permission?" Brightheart said to Rain though she didn't realize she had an angry tone on her voice when speaking to him when she remembered the way he and Daphne were hugging.

---

Metamorph remained perched in the tree as he awaited orders from the rest of his half of the team. In the meantime, he kept his eagle-inspired eyes roving around and caught sight of the guard as it initially passed him by. His instincts told him to strike while the security was occupied. Observing them, however, Ja was able to put together that they were there to look for something. Looking at the container that he still held in his hand, he started to wonder if it was a good idea to take it in the first place.

All the while, he felt a strange sinking feeling in his chest. Something was wrong…Very wrong. The Red ate at him from within, a feeling similar to guilt welling up inside, as if watching a friend die. The feeling brought him to a memory, the first scar line for the first companion he’d lost on a mission. His vision glazed over and a momentary flashback overtook him.

It was a mission like this, that he lost his friend Djum Djum. Infiltrating a facility that Ja later learned was operated as a safe-house for metas from the Buredunian Special Forces. The facility had been apparently protected by Batwing at the time…The mission was a failure, as Djum Djum had got spotted. They had to retreat, and their commanding officer was angry, too angry. Djum Djum had cost them the mission, and their CO had to answer to King Lion who already wasn’t keen to failure. It wasn’t before Djum Djum was executed out of their commander’s anger and fear… Djum Djum was older than he was back then. He was funny and sometimes shared food with Ja…His friend should not have died…Ja shouldn’t have let that happen to him.

Blinking the memory away, Metamorph squeezed his fingers together in internal pain. It was right afterwards that his eyes widened momentarily as his hand was void of the little container of evidence. Realizing that he had dropped it, his eyes went down to search for it and instead caught the guard staring up at him. Ja froze in place. He hadn’t heard anything back from his team up until this point.

That was when the alarm went off.

The Red’s worry still sat in his chest but now combined with Djum Djum’s scar. Was Ja the failure of this mission? The question along with his instincts prompting him to action pushed him to move on his earlier predatory inclination. Clawing his fingers, his arms spread like an eagle and he dove down from the tree. Swooping on the guard, he extended his legs and crashed feet first directly into the man’s chest. Once on the ground, Metamorph placed a foot on each of the guard’s elbows. His suit took a Lion’s pattern to mesh with the Golden Eagle. His fingers became the jaws around the guard’s throat and arteries to disable him.

Afterwards, he looked around. He took notice of the container he dropped earlier, but now was trying to find Nymph as it was clearly where he was receiving these signals from. Remembering where he had left her earlier, he snatched up the strange container and flapped his arms once to become airborne.

Once finding her and Rain, he landed near them. His suit’s pattern swapped to that of a German Shepherd, a dog’s whine briefly audible as he stared the wilting girl down. He dropped the container on the ground and absentmindedly nudged it close to them. His inability to remain focused failed his teammates. The rest of the team with Talon was still inside, but he had no orders to follow. Ja didn’t know what to do with himself now.

”I am sorry, Vicky…”

Talon gave him and went about his business. Well, at least the guards weren’t dead… After the guards went down, the team began searching for any piece of useful information they could find. Cybergirl found something about a bioweapon and list of potential targets. As if that weren’t bad enough, Zach himself found some notes about a supply of Kobra venom that was being stored at the factory. So now what do they do? Batman said not to engage, but could they really do that knowing what they know? They probably couldn’t do much about the bioweapon, but maybe something could be done about the venom… The bad guys certainly don’t need both.

Well, whatever, Viktor told them to meet up on the roof, so they were going to follow the plan. At least until the alarm sounded. Then things went to Hell. What could have set it off? Did somebody notice them? Probably.

Well, now he had Mirage had to clear a path. “Well, it seems like things have gone to Hell in a handbasket haven’t they. Going back the way we came doesn’t seem like an option at this point. What do you say Mirage? How about we burn a hole through the wall, and make ourselves an exit! Reworhtemalf!” A stream of purple flame spewed from the tip of his wand slowly burning a hole through the wall. It wasn’t any hotter than normal fire, it was just purple because Zach wanted it to be purple.

Location: La Hoya, on route to extraction
Interactions: Rain, Metamorph

---

Rain grunted as he heard the blaring of the alarm repeat over and again. Squad A had collected the information the team needed, but an alarm going off was demoralizing to him. Whether or not Ja was the one who triggered the alarm did not matter at the moment. He needed to communicate with his team. He switched over to Squad B’s channel.

“Squad B, do not let that alarm distract you. Move to extract, now! That includes you, Brightheart. As I said before, we will not compromise ourselves. Go to the jet. He ordered.

The sudden landing from Ja, caused Rain to wince as snow blew towards he and Daphne. The container in his hand briefly grabbed his attention first.

“Metamorph. Rain had a hint of worry on his face, before his natural expression quickly returned
”I’ll take the container and you can take Nymph…” As Rain tried to move Daphne’s arms, he realized how stiff they had gotten. He grit his teeth. What if he… what if he snapped them? No, he could not. He would not. “Fuck… Metamorph, get the container to the jet to rendezvous with the rest of my squad. I will continue to keep up comms with Squad A and get Nymph out.”

Sharing body heat with Viktor if only for a short amount of time was already making a noticeable difference. Her face felt less stiff, she still couldn’t move her lips to speak, but the sensations were coming back. When Daphne's arms softened back up some, Viktor attempted to free himself again but she only held on tighter. All the while she continued listening to her team over the radio. She wanted to keep up with the things that were happening. Even though she wasn’t much help in her current state.

If Daphne had to guess on what triggered the alarm, it was either the guard who spotted Ja or Squad A being held up inside by Kobra agents. She had been relieved to see Ja didn’t have any scrapes on him from his showdown with the guard. She turned her blank stare to Ja, looking at him with feelings of concern but unable to show him she cared.

“Squad A. Talon, what is your ETA for extraction? Squad B is currently securing the extraction point, over.”

Location: La Hoya
Interactions: Squad A

Mirage was about to speak up about perhaps trying to find a way to steal some of the venom, when the alarms went off. She initially panicked, starting to sweat despite the icy cold of the room. Hearing Rain over comms made it worse, and she spent a precious moment taking a very deep breath to center herself.

Luckily, Zatara was calm, if not annoyed. His idea to break down the wall seemed crazy, but it was also going to be unexpected to their enemies. “Burn down the wall? I’m with you.” She had to think about it first, though. The purple fire was catching, but didn’t seemed to be doing much more than external damage. Didn’t humans make their buildings from stone, much like Atlanteans?

“I’ve got this.” She anchored her staff against the ground, and willed it to control earth. The octopus lit up and the wall started to crack, right where the fire was. It seemed to take an agonizing amount of time, but the cracks spread, the concrete in the wall starting to crumble down under Mirage’s magic. Once there was a sizable hole, enough so that she could see some wood beams, she switched the control to fire and started pouring out red-orange flames to burn through it.

“Come on…” She poured on the magic, making the flame brighter and hotter. “We need to get outta here...”

---

---

The alarm went off like a bomb in the computer room. Suddenly they had more to worry about than what was going on outside- whatever was happening, they were in the most immediate danger. Alisa’s worries about Daphne mostly dissipated as her head snapped to the screaming, flashing red alarm in the corner of the room. If spy movies were right, things were about to get bad fast. “Oh, shit,” she whispered, devoid of any other response. Her mind flipped through the possibilities of what could’ve gone wrong. They must’ve made a mistake, somewhere, but she couldn’t figure it out.

While Mirage and Zatara started to make their escape route, Alisa rushed back to the computers, her eyes furiously flicking over information. When Talon asked his question, she furrowed her brow but continued reading. “No.” The answer was closer to I don’t know, but they had limited time for her to explain. “I’m an artificial intelligence, not a flash drive. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. Essentially…” She wracked her mind for a simple computer analogy, unsure that a more complex explanation would make sense. “If a flash drive plugs into a computer, the flash drive can install data… and so can the computer from the flash drive. I really don’t want Kobra inside my head.” Her words were rushed, a note of anxiety in them, but she hoped Talon got the message. Not a good idea. Abort! She had a distinct feeling that those computers had some sort of malicious safeguard, and she wasn’t made to be a particularly secure system.

“I do have a photographic memory, though, so just give me a few minutes and I’ll be able to recall and play back all the files here later.” Her fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard as pages upon pages of data ran past her laser-focused eyes. They were under a time crunch now, and she felt it. The bioweapon files would have to come first. Surely that was more important than the serum? If everything went right, she’d get everything.

---

Talon listened as best as he could while Cybergirl explained herself. The alarms were blaring inside of his own head, and he could hear Mirage and Zatara blasting away an escape route. As Cybergirl scanned through the digital files on the computer screen, Talon looked up to check on his two magical teammates. Zatara's purple flames were dancing along the walls, burning their way through. The former member of the court of owls was briefly stricken by the sight of them. The mission had quickly descended into a fervor, but Talon hadn't ever seen what it essentially was a private indoor fireworks show. Mirage's contributions at that point were just as impressive and snapped Talon out of his reverie. The Atlantean's magics were an a completely different wavelength than Zatara's - the destructive nature of whatever was emitting from within Mirage's staff were not to be trifled with.

Talon was continously surprised by his teammates, as each of the people he's gotten to know carried themselves almost the opposite of how their powers worked. Metamorph's confidence withheld a wild, untamed style of fighting, Hex's quiet and sociable nature was a counterweight to his necrotic and dark abilities. Mirage was an interesting case. Although Talon had only brief moments with her separate from the rest of the team, she had a friendly personality, what some would describe as bookish, polite, considerate. Despite her quite literal "Fish out of water" existence, she seemed uncomplicated by her situation. Her quick-thinking during the training exercise to save Talon demonstrated a cool head, and it was a large contributing factor to Talon wanting her on his squad. And seeing how powerful she can be under pressure was a glimpse at the potential she had to be a powerful hero. Seeing these two working side by side like this, especially after their less than stellar first day together, was a testament to their strengths as teammates. Talon was glad he got to see it firsthand.

With the two magical beings abilities, the foundation of the wall was weakening enough for Talon's equipment to be really effective. He pulled three sticky Nightwing snapmine's from his belt and called out to the others to retract their torches. He could feel the heat of their strength on his skin, felt the hair raise on what little exposed skin he had. He tossed one of the snaps to Zatara and pointed to an exposed beam. The magic boy would get the message to place it, and after a few blinking light up flashes, the three mines ruptured, igniting and blowing a larger hole for the 4 of them to make their escape.

"Cybergirl, there's no time now. Whatever you've gotten so far will have to be enough." Talon called out to his cybernetic teammate. Assuming his team was behind him, Talon rushed through the smoke and debris of the next room, one with a window overlooking the yard of the base. It wasn't going to be long before the noise from everything happening all at once would attract guards to where they were, and Talon wanted to leave without any fighting. Talon threw one of the modified batarangs that he was given by Nightwing to replace the sharp knives on his person, and the window exploded with a crash. Talon leapt out of the now open window, and using a maneuver he'd seen Dick use across the rooftops in Bludhaven. He fired off his grapnel gun as he arched back, firing upwards at the rooftops. He retracted the device with ease, flying up on the line until he was atop the roof. He started to cross the rooftop and open up comms when he realized he hadn't confirmed the others were truly with him.

In comparison to the old days, the escape from any particular situation or mission was in the hands of the individual. It was an expectation that each person would be able to take care of themselves. But the team here was a far-cry from that. On a team like this, you had to think of the others. The ultimate goal being to work together to support each other - at least according to Nightwing. The mission was more easily handled and successfully at that, when the team worked cohesively. When they communicated and supported each other. This first mission out in the field had worked well, but whatever variable caused the alarm to go off put things a bit more at risk. Were they scrambling? Did the others feel put ill at odds? Talon felt a creeping anxiety - although he most assuredly didn't know that's what it was. Complicated feelings like this were handled incorrectly by someone with Talon's lack of emotional intelligience and expression. More often than not, complicated feelings just manifested as anger, or irritation. Luckily, at this moment Talon was distracted enough to not have to worry about it. Remembering his friends, he pulled a cable from within his equipment and left it hanging down towards the window - he was sure that the others probably wouldn't require something so basic, but didn't want to leave them without the option to climb upwards.

"Rain, we're on the rooftop. What's Squad B's current status? Do you have eyes on Metamorph?"

---

"N-No?" Brightheart asked Rain as he ordered her to return to the jet immediately instead. She remembered the importance of the plan and she knew the right thing to do was to escape instead but, out here in the mission, she found herself having difficulty leaving one of them behind. In all her doubts, she could see Metamorph taking down the guard that spotted him and he quickly went to where Rain and Nymph. They're still there, hugging each other as if there was no tomorrow. Once again, just seeing them made her feel weirdly annoyed for some reason she couldn't explain and she was annoyed at her being annoyed at nothing. Maybe Nymph just felt really cold and Rain, like the gentleman that he was, volunteered to wrap her in his warm embrace. There's nothing wrong with sharing body heat with your teammate. If Rain would have felt really cold, Brightheart would be more than glad to give him a big warm hug, no questions asked. Rain only needed to ask and she will give. Again, there's nothing wrong with Rain hugging Nymph. Brightheart's just saying that Tamaraneans absorb ultraviolet rays and had a high tolerance to extreme temperatures so she would be the perfect candidate for the giving of body heat. She would be happy to embrace her other teammates as well but if Rain would require it as well, there's no doubt that...

As the alarms continued to go off, the Kobra agents started getting out of the base, armed with guns as they're ordered to shoot and kill anyone on sight. Brightheart continued to be so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't realize some of the agents spotted her hovering in the sky. She managed to snap back to reality just in time to evade a bullet as it whizzed only a few inches away from her ear.

"Eep! Kobra agents have spotted me!" Brightheart said in alarm through the comms as she continued to fly in different directions to evade the soldiers who were firing at her. "P-Please go- Eep! Please go quickly! I have- Holy spacenuggets! That was close! I-I seem to have their attention for now. G-Go quickl- Eep! I'll follow suit!" Brightheart managed to say to her teammates.

While evading their attacks, she saw the car that Metamorph spotted a while ago in the forests. She quickly flew down and ripped one of its doors off then groaned from the effort of lifting such a huge vehicle. She knew her energy was limited so she had to make this one count. Using her alien strength, she tossed the vehicle to the sky, and Kobra agents that were firing at her shouted and jumped out of the way to avoid being crushed by the car. It even exploded on impact, making the agents scatter around in panic.

Brightheart took this chance to strike at them, sending them flying away with her kicks and punches while she used the car door as a shield to block their bullets. She did hope that both of the squads could manage to get to the jet.

T H E J E T

---

The members of squad A and B now reunited as the Team were spread throughout the jet. Some looked defeated, heads hanging down huddled up in a miserable pile, others were holding in frustration, scowling and pacing back and forth. The team’s effort at a covert mission hadn’t gone as planned. Thanks to the stern leadership of Rain and Talon the team’s involvement in Kobra’s business could not be traced back to the League.

They managed to find the information the league required, but it remained to be seen what could be salvaged from Alisa’s memory. Would it be enough? The hidden supply of Kobra venom the team discovered was another loose end. They decided against trying to destroy the venom. The container Metamorph managed to retrieve would be more important than they would realize at this time.

The jet served as their momentary refuge. It would take some time for Kobra to regroup, figure out what happened and formulate a plan of action. Brightheart´s brave distraction bought the team some precious spare minutes to catch their breath, share their thoughts and talk about what happened, before either Cybergirl, Rain or Talon would fly them back home.

Daphne sat in one of the seats with her knees drawn up to her chest. Viktor carried her all the way to the jet, running to escape Kobra´s agents. He´d wrapped her in a bunch of blankets without saying anything, that same stoic slightly annoyed expression on his face. She was still trapped by her powers and was somehow also unable to create her own warmth. What little heat Viktor had left her with she trapped inside the blankets.

She briefly wondered if this is what every plant went through during winter. Her limbs were stiff, her head foggy and she was so tired, like she hadn't slept for days. The exhaustion settled on her chest, feeling incredibly heavy. Daphne lowered her head to her knees and closed her eyes.