The Thread, Part 4: Guero Canelo

June 27, 2015:

In Bahrain, Rachel Summers investigates what happened to the Quraci terrorist while the Huntress and Hawkeye investigate the fallout after the death of Galushka. Meanwhile, in Washington DC, Grayson and Mills catch a surprise on stakeout.

Various

Various

Characters

NPCs: Mills, Perrin, Titus Czonka

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: Guero Canelo, Calexico


Fade In…

THE THREAD
PART 4
GUERO CANELO

BAHRAIN

Long is the way, and hard, but by the time that Rachel Summers arrives at Bahrain, it is mid day. Only a few days after their liberation, there are people out in the streets and the vibe is positive. Let's hope she remembered to bring her Burqa.

The roads are dusty and the nation, especially in the capital city is somewhere between first world and something else; the product of huge influxes of cashflow and the types that follow that desperately try to pull the old world into the new.

Not far from where she stands is the only press against tranquility; an old administrative building built in the classical arabesque, that looks to have been the hideout headquarters of the Quraci terrorists who ruled this nation for a month. At least, one would assume, since it is blown straight to hell.

NEW YORK

In New York, it is night.

Fresh off of palming a ton of Galushka information, Huntress has put herself in prime position to start making herself a nuisance to those in organized crime. Her first 'hit' is taking out a tanker full of young women brought here from eastern Europe for the sex trade. The boat is unmarked and filled with lots of other sorts of cargo just in case they were stopped. But this late at night, the chances of them being stopped were unlikely, all until they came ready to dock. Which is right now.

Oppositely, the JL:A had also been digging up more and more information on the trade going on in the Big Apple. Now that the Galushka's are dead, it's not clear who the ladies are for. But never worry, there's always someone to fill in the space. On a hot tip from Interpol, Kate is able to track down the same boat.

WASHINGTON D.C.

"You want the burger or the pastrami?" Mills asks from the passenger seat of the vehicle. Dick had wanted to come here as Nightwing, but Mills had made a big push for a stake out and the former didn't have a good excuse not to come along. 'I want to dress up in my spandex and beat the guys face in' is probably not a valid excuse. So, Dick Grayson sits in the vehicle outside a swanky Washington D.C. townhouse, wondering how in the hell Jonah Perrin got out of a murder charge way up in Gotham City, New Jersey.

"Burger. Pastrami sucks."

Rachel was walking through the streets in the clothing of choice for most women in the region;, a burqa that covered her fully and modestly. Her eyes were visible, although a pair of brown contact lenses had been placed over them; the cheap kind you could buy at any costume store.

As she moves through the crowds of people out in the streets she keeps an eye out for military personnel, cautious about any suspicious figures.

Reaching out with her telepathy, she attempts to see if any of the people near her have strong memories or emotions of what might have occurred only days ago.

She can't stretch her telepathy too far out though, if she did her mark of the Phoenix would likely flare to life; making discretion difficult. Instead, her efforts are focused on 20 meter radii as her path inexorably takes her towards the site of the blown up headquarters.

Huntress has done this before, and has put herself in place to begin scanning for any guards waiting to secure the ship when it's unloaded first.. she has her blunted bolts ready, and a couple syringes of sedative to make certain anyone she disables don't wake up.. amongst her other gadgets.

High ground: It's Kate's natural habitat. She's staked out a warehouse rooftop not far from where the ship is docked, crouched by the edge where she can get a look at the activity around the docks. "Watchtower, this is Hawkeye," she murmurs into her communicator. "I'm on scene. Looks pretty quiet out here right now."

BAHRAIN

In the hustle bustle of the main part of the main city in Bahrain, Rachel has little trouble finding those who have strong memories. Through their eyes, a mix-matched flow of visions from different angles flood into her brain. They would disorient a normal person, but she is no doubt used to the process.

As she reads the memories, she pieces together in some semblance or order. They came from the west, out of the sun, shrouding the sky in their shadow. Gleaming purple and silver, their haunting faces augmented by yellow lights for eyes. Landing in a heap, the two story mechanical monsters wasted no time getting to work. The mission had been rehearsed and loaded. By the time they arrived at the headquarters, it was finished almost before it started. Several of the terrorists flowed out of the building, but they were no match for the Sentinel program and easily discarded via energy blasts, sonic disruption, and machinegun fire. The entire battle, if her information is to be believed, lasted only 20 minutes.

Other than police, she notices no military presence.

NEW YORK

The silence experienced by Huntress and Hawkeye is broken by the sound of waves rippling up against the rocks. A boat is coming and once it clears, the markings tell both of the young vigilantes that it is indeed the boat their separate information told them it would be. Hawkeye's computer program running at the Watchtower only confirms what she already knew. And as Huntress suspected, waiting at the dock are a group of six men, who looked to be armed with submachine guns.

WASHINGTON D.C.

"Grayson," Mills whispers to his partner as he gives a little point out towards the house. "Wake up. Look."

Dick, who had dozed off, awakes with a start and gets his bearings. It looks as though some sort of prowler is scoping Perrin's pad. Immediately, Dick assumes the worst, that someone is here to kill Perrin to ensure his silence.

"You stay out front, I'll go around back," Dick says as he slowly opens the door of the car, stopping only to ensure the dome light doesn't come on. He slips out silently and disappears into the shadows, heading towards the alley behind.

Very few things could fill Rachel with the sense of fear that the Sentinels could, her eyes show it and momentarily she loses focus over her telepathy as that fear leads to distraction; visions of her own future playing out in her head.

If it wasn't for the burqa, the markings on her face would have also been visible in that moment of weakness.

Bumping into a man, she bows her head respectfully and gets out of the way; since an unaccompanied woman shouldn't address a man outside of her own family and continued towards the former hideout of the Quracis.

Provided there are no police watching her, she will use her talents to slip inside without the aid of powers; trying to sneak in and see what further physical evidence she can find.

Huntress drops down from her perch, moving in to start hunting the dock guards… looking to find them isolated, or distracted so she can make a quiet takedown.. stalking the mobsters like a cat hunting it's prey, crossbow at the ready.

"Hello there, boys," Kate murmurs as she marks the guards, creeping toward a spot where she can get a better vantage. Nice thing about arrows? They're quiet. Once she has a clear shot, she settles a trio of taser arrows between her fingers, shooting them rapid fire into the guards below before making a dash for another spot along the roofline in preparation for the inevitable retaliation.

BAHRAIN

Unfortunately, it appeas that Rachel will need to use her powers. It's the middle of the dusty day here, and in a busy area of town. The chances of her not being seen are very small. Once inside, there is still remnants of the massacre. The terrorists blood has attempted to be scrubbed, that much is clear, but it appears as if what was started was finally given up on. The Prime Minister's office, rather than advocate for refurbishment, decided to scrap this whole place. Fittingly, initial reports are that they would like to create a monument of some sort.

NEW YORK

As Huntress approaches, she does so silently, and like a lioness finds the little deer who has strayed from the pack. This one is going to take a leak at an extremely unfortunate time. The high pitched sound of splashing upon the ground leads her right to him, unseen.

Kate's arrow zips out through the night, sending out tazers into three men. Those two who remain are definitely spooked. "Quick! It's the cops!"

"Cops don't carry bows, you idiot! It's Green Arrow! Get cover!" The pair duck behind one of the storage containers and one of them begins to fumble with the radio, trying to make a call to warn off the boat.

WASHINGTON D.C.

Mills draws his gun as the giant of a man lumbers towards the door. Dick, meanwhile, in the alleyway, does not. He doesn't hate guns in the same way Bruce does; his parents were murdered in a different way, but he's not a fan of them nonetheless and prefers not to use them. He only pulls it out for show.

He crouches down low in the alleyway, careful not to knock into the trash cans that line the car ports. As he approaches Perrin's townhouse, he sees a whole lot of nothing.

Once inside, having used the appropriate illusions to disguise her entrance Rachel begins to look around at the grisly sight before her with a frown. Removing a phone from inside of her clothing she begins to snap pictures of everything around her, just so there is some frame of reference for others as to the aftermath here.

She looks for some of the largest concentrations of blood in the wreckage, hoping in fact to find a mixture of individuals in the same place before kneeling down.

Placing her hand upon the blood and rubble she tries to get a clearer sense of who these individuals were and what happened to them leading up to the moment of the attack and during the attack from their own perspectives.

Over her left eye, a blue-gold phoenix symbol flared to life as she began to concentrate heavily upon her abilities.

A cry for alarm.. and Huntress is certain it wasn't her this time, luckily she had already moved down towards them, putting her in a position to react. "Mediocre." She murmurs to herself, but is sent into fast mode to try and mitigate damage! She fires her crossbow into the back of the head of the pissing thug, the blunted bolt sure to knock out the man, she's then moving in a flurry of fluttering cape and bared midriff towards the rest, drawing out throwing knives to try and disable radios before moving in to finish..

"Seriously, the Green Arrow?" Kate mutters to herself, shooting a grappling arrow down the docks and starting to slide down it back toward the guards. In the meantime, she pulls loose a a canister of tear gas, slinging it down to where the guards took cover. Apparently, she isn't aware she has backup down there.

BAHRAIN

The images flood into Rachel likes a rush of blood to the head. From what she can gather, the attack came with little precursor. These men, who on behalf of the Quraci government, had terrorized the populace for months, engaged in public killings of women and children, and ruled with an iron fist.

Their occupation of the nation was a cog in a longer term approach of gaining a foothold in the region. Not only do the Quraci's want to take over Saudi Arabia to gain hold of the important Islamic cities of Medina and Mecca, they also want to expand into Iran and gain control of the nuclear program there. They have big plans, these terrorists.

NEW YORK

The pissing thug is knocked unconscious immediately, falling right down into his piss as Huntress moves on. One of the knives tears through the next thug's shirt, while the other bursts through the other man's radio and his hand behind it. Radioman screams as he pulls the knife from his hand, and holds it in between his legs, while the other guy is desperately trying to get the knife pulled out of the wooden crate that keeps him trapped.

THINKthunkthunk

The canister hits the ground right in front of Huntress and begins to spill out the tear gas right at her feet. Smoke begins to billow out towards her, and she'll definitely have to act quickly to protect herself.

GOTHAM

The gun pulled up behind Dick Grayson's ear makes a cocking sound, and inwardly the young detective gulps. He curses at himself for letting his fatigue dull his senses.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved in this, Grayson." says Titus Czonka in a sneer.

"Now put your hands where I can see them."

Rachel takes a moment to steady herself before pushing further into the psychometric projections to when the attack took place; she had no doubt that these people deserved what happened to them but that wasn't her concern.

She just wanted to see how they were dispatched, first-hand and then get out of here before someone discovered her.

Mentally, she prepared herself.

Of course, with her focus on all of this, she had not been keeping any eye out for people that might discover her .

One of the perks of being Batman's daughter, is you get your first experience being tear gassed at a young age. That doesn't make it any more pleasant, however! She goes to kick the canister away from her, aiming to send it out towards the water's edge, or at least further from where she plans to fight! She brings her cape up to shield her mouth and nose from the fumes as she dashes in towards the two gunmen to engage in a little hand to hand with the two!

Kate Bishop thumps down onto the top of the container the men were hiding behind, an arrow already knocked and drawn. "Hey!" she calls down toward Huntress as she kicks the canister toward the water. "Subduing hostiles here!" There's a blunt-tipped arrow for one of the guards, right at the back of his head, before she's jumping down into the fight as well.

BAHRAIN

The terrorists comprised of your normal fare. Speedsters, bricks, and even a pre-cog. Nothing seemed to work—it was if the Sentinel protocol knew what the terrorists would do before they did it. They started off with a massive, unified blast to the headquarters that took out 9 of the 15 enemy combatants. From there, it was easy pickings.

But Rachel doesn't get busted by any authorities. Instead, a pair of young boys filters in and look at her quizzically. Boys think this kind of thing is cool, but they didn't expect to see a woman here.

NEW YORK

The canister goes over the edge and harmlessly into the water as Huntress moves in to attack. As she does, the first man with the kinfe trapping him, finally gets the weapon out and uses it as he moves to attack Helena. He doesn't really want to hurt her with it, he's just trying to work himself around to get to his rifle, which he dropped.

The man with the knife fhrough the radio and his hand gets up in order to help his friend, only to get nailed in the back of the head with a blunt tipped arrow. The knock leaves an immediate concussion, which is only worsened when his head hits the pavement.

GOTHAM

"Grayson" yells Mills, and Czonka pulls the gun away an inch, giving Grayson just enough room to operate. The gun goes off and the bullet whizzes by his ear, but that's not something new to Dick Grayson. The only new part is trying to fight in a suit which is cumbersome.

He's up quickly and breaks Titus' arm in one move, leaving the gun to clang upon the ground. From there an upwards strike to the throat that puts the bahemoth down.

Mills approaches in a huff, slowing down when he sees Dick make quick work of the assassin. The look of shock on his face says it all.

"Karate as a kid," Dick mutters.

Rachel took deep breaths after processing the images that had been shown to her, with that kind of power; most metahumans and mutants would not stand a chance, especially considering a group that had invaded an entire country had been wiped out in minutes.

Then she realizes the boys are behind her and she turns to look at them, contemplating exactly what she should do.

If they were adults, she would not think twice of altering their memories but to do that to children? It could have consequences on their development, she wasn't a monster.

"You two should not be in here." She says to them in Arabic, smiling beneath the veil covering her face. She allows just an edge of telepathic influence to flow into her voice, trying to further impress some sense of authority upon the boys.

Then again she was a woman, that might make it harder.

"You're making a lot of noise doing it!" Huntress retorts, "If they think there's trouble, that ship won't dock!" all the while, she is moving in with a flurry of kicks, punches and knees at the man going for his rifle, working to subdue him quickly and cleanly, with an emphasis on quickly.

"Oh, and you had a plan to take out six of them at once?" Kate retorts, leaving Huntress to handle the last of the guards and going to take a count of the guards and their radios. "What exactly was the plan if I didn't have four of them down when you got in here? Watchtower, guards are down," she reports back to the League with a sidelong glance at Helena. "Mostly. In a minute. By the time this transmission gets to you." Once she's sure no one else is getting up, she moves to keep an eye on the ship moving in, checking the area for good places to reach the ship.

BAHRAIN

The boys look at each other and peer at her. <Who are you?> they ask. <What is a woman doing here? You're not supposed to be here either!> Rather than leave, they approach her, but as the light effect of her power begins to take them over, they stop in their tracks.

NEW YORK

Despite the noise, the boat pulls into the dock. The lack of the guards doesn't seem to bother them as they pull in. One leaps off then another as they begin to dock, wrapping large ropes around posts to keep the boat at port.

Meanwhile, Huntress completely whoops up on the man, beating him with ease.

Luckily the women are not noticed despite Kate's chiding and have the upper hand.

Rachel eyed the boys for a moment, replying to them softly, "<I'm just lost. I won't tell anyone you've been here.>" She gives the pair of boys the mental impression that there is something really interesting a few feet past her, there's nothing of course.

Once she steps past the boys she takes a pause near a shadow before focussing her powers on creating a small illusion to mask her exit from the building; making it appear as if nobody has gone in or out.

Rejoining the crowds of people if nothing has gone wrong, she prepares to leave the country; not wanting to stick around any longer than she has to.

She couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine at how quickly life had went back to normal here after The Sentinel attack.

Is this how people would react when the Institute or the Hall of Justice was attacked? As if nothing had happened..

"As a matter of fact I did." Huntress says in response, "Are you supposed to be Lady Green Arrow or something?" she asks the she-archer. She does look towards the docking boat, "You start at the back, I'll start at the front." She adds, giving a slight nod towards Hawkette? Then moves into a position to begin engaging the boat-bound crims!

"Seriously?" Kate glares after Huntress for a beat, then takes off toward the other end of the boat, muttering under her breath. "Damned bats." But there's time for posturing and recrimination later. At the moment, she's more involved in getting the women on that ship back to safety, which means taking off at a run to start taking out any guards left on the ship.

BAHRAIN

If she does any more looking into the memories of the people of the city, Rachel's question is easily answered. It's not so much that they're going on as per normal, they're jubilant at regaining their freedom. They shed no tears for their terrorist captors, and have a renewed vigor for life. These purple and silver saviors have returned their way of life, and they couldn't be happier.

NEW YORK

As Huntress and Hawkeye put their differences behind them long enough to give the boaters the beat down, a man picks up the telephone in another part of the city and makes a call to Washington D.C.

In the dark, the receiver is awaken. Though we cannot see his face, we can tell that he lives a rather swanky lifestyle.

"It's like 3:30 in the morning," says the man, clearly upset he's up, but trying to be quiet in order not to wake his wife who sleeps next to him.

<They took the girls> comes the voice in Spanish, belonging to a suave looking Latino man in a dark New York room. <I told you before,> Aurelio chides his boss. <If we want to do this right, we need to start using supers>

"Supers? You kiddin' me? And risk—"

<You risk everything now and all we've been doing is losing.>

The man in Washington rubs at his forehead, "I'll see what he has to say about it. As for now, keep your damn head low. None of your boys from the Casino better talk."

<They won't talk. Don't you worry.>

"Yeah, well. I'm worried."

WASHINGTON D.C.

Detectives Grayson and Mills are inside Jonah Perrin's home with a thug tied to a chair in what must be an awkward way to wake up in the morning.

"Mr. Perrin," Dick says. "We think whoever helped you is now deciding better of it. We can't protect you for that much longer."

Perrin takes a look at Czonka, and then looks back to the policemen.

THE THREAD
TO BE CONTINUED

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