OPERATION: MAD MEN - Prologue 1
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xp_logsX-Force is out on a mission, tracking a pair of Sapiens League members to a meet.
Spring in New York. Entirely too many Broadway tunes had already been written about it in Kevin's opinion. He eased his collar furthered forward in the light rain, trying to keep the cold trickle from going down his neck. The older man was unrecognizable, a white beard and beaky nose dominating his aged face. He jokingly called it his 'Uncle Vanya' face; an old, vaguely Eastern European look which was as remarkable as a yellow taxi on the city streets. He wiped his glasses twice with a tissue before starting to cross at the light. Ahead of him, two men in short cropped hair and dark clothes hunched their shoulders against the rain falling on their bare heads. They moved like soldiers, which both had been in the recent past, and had landed them on X-Force's radar.
"They're still heading north on Third. I'm peeling off at 115th. Gabe, they're yours until 120th."
"Yep, got it." Gabriel was doing his best to be as inconspicuous as possible, a feat made easier by the fact that he could hide behind a black umbrella. He stayed quiet for a bit as he followed them across a street, using a slight boost from his powers to avoid getting caught as yellow lights turned to red. Neither of them were speaking to each other, not even making passable small talk. It was the kind of thing Gabriel now tried to take note of, even though he was sure that when they debriefed later, Kevin would have a perfectly logical explanation that had nothing to do with spycraft.
His umbrella collided with another as a short man passed him on the street. "I still don't see why I couldn't be in the van."
"Blame your powers," Wanda responded into her headset, only smirking a little bit as she shifted behind the wheel of the van. "They fit the perimeters of the mission better than either of ours do at the moment. We'll refrain from giving you a detailed description of the dry conditions inside the van, though, we promise." She gave their surroundings a quick glance but all she saw was rain and miserable people in the rain. And traffic, never ending traffic.
"Anything interesting on your end?" she asked towards the back of the van.
"Yeah, there's a couple about to have a throw-down fight on the corner of 118th," Dom said with no small amount of glee in her voice, leaning in to peer at her monitor. "I have no idea what it's about but I'm gonna get the popcorn out."
"Can we focus on the very dangerous men we're supposed to be watching?" Kevin said as he ducked down an alley. He emerged moments later, his jacket reversed to a different colour and now wearing a considerably younger and blander face as he moved quickly to reach the corner of 120th ahead of their targets.
"Dom's good at multi-tasking," Wanda replied, "though she'd better share that popcorn. Gabriel, any change on your end? I'll give them another few minutes before shifting the van again but I want to make sure we're as invisible as possible."
"All good," Gabriel replied, "but shut up for a second." His eyes flickered to his left. I can't—" A swarm of people was headed down 116th Street toward the same intersection as Gabriel. A pack of umbrellas opened as their wielders, having recently disembarked from the subterranean TK of the subway, adjusted to the weather. Still a horde at this point, the group started crossing in front of him, blocking his eyeline. And his targets were nondescript enough that he worried he'd lose them.
Gabriel swore, then closed his umbrella in one fluid motion. Navigating New York could be a pedestrian puzzle in the best of circumstances; with rain gear, it was a headache. Feeling all too much like Frogger, he used his powers to weave around the incoming ex-straphangers until he appeared on the other side of the street. The men were much closer now, which he realized may have been a small miscalculation, so he bent over to tie his shoe so he could gain a little more distance.
"I'm a few minutes from the intersection. Tell me we've still got eyes on them?" Kevin muttered into his comms.
"Yeah, yeah," Gabriel mumbled. He waited until the men had made their way down the street a bit before rising and resuming his walk. "I'm not completely useless. I do follow along with all those lessons, you know." He tossed his umbrella into a nearby trash can as he continued toward 120th. "Move the van, Wanda."
"We're back in traffic now and I am managing to keep them in my sights. We can thank New York traffic for that." It was extra congested thanks to the rain and, Wanda knew, a little manipulation on behalf of Dom in the back of the van. Just enough to delay lights or release when necessary to make sure they could maintain a decent distance from their quarry. But being on foot had advantages that being in a vehicle did not - there were plenty of side streets someone could duck down before they could even get their turn signal on.
But for every side street, there were cameras.
"How is it looking from your end, Dom?"
"They've stopped - hold on... one of them's gone into a shop." Dom frowned; this could be a diversion, or a way of trying to smoke out anybody tailing them. She hurriedly set about locating the security camera feed for the store. "Gabe, keep going for now. They better not be splitting up, that would be a total pain in my ass to deal with. Let me check if he's going out the back-- oh, no, just buying gum. Seriously? Gum? Okay, whatever, looks like he's heading back out to his buddy. Syd, they'll be hitting you in a couple of minutes, minty fresh."
"Using the shop window reflection to check for tails. So, we can confirm they've been well trained." Fortunately, being a shapeshifter did a lot to screw up the normal rules of spycraft. "They're turning at the intersection and... looks like they're going in to the building on the north side. Good job, people."
Spring in New York. Entirely too many Broadway tunes had already been written about it in Kevin's opinion. He eased his collar furthered forward in the light rain, trying to keep the cold trickle from going down his neck. The older man was unrecognizable, a white beard and beaky nose dominating his aged face. He jokingly called it his 'Uncle Vanya' face; an old, vaguely Eastern European look which was as remarkable as a yellow taxi on the city streets. He wiped his glasses twice with a tissue before starting to cross at the light. Ahead of him, two men in short cropped hair and dark clothes hunched their shoulders against the rain falling on their bare heads. They moved like soldiers, which both had been in the recent past, and had landed them on X-Force's radar.
"They're still heading north on Third. I'm peeling off at 115th. Gabe, they're yours until 120th."
"Yep, got it." Gabriel was doing his best to be as inconspicuous as possible, a feat made easier by the fact that he could hide behind a black umbrella. He stayed quiet for a bit as he followed them across a street, using a slight boost from his powers to avoid getting caught as yellow lights turned to red. Neither of them were speaking to each other, not even making passable small talk. It was the kind of thing Gabriel now tried to take note of, even though he was sure that when they debriefed later, Kevin would have a perfectly logical explanation that had nothing to do with spycraft.
His umbrella collided with another as a short man passed him on the street. "I still don't see why I couldn't be in the van."
"Blame your powers," Wanda responded into her headset, only smirking a little bit as she shifted behind the wheel of the van. "They fit the perimeters of the mission better than either of ours do at the moment. We'll refrain from giving you a detailed description of the dry conditions inside the van, though, we promise." She gave their surroundings a quick glance but all she saw was rain and miserable people in the rain. And traffic, never ending traffic.
"Anything interesting on your end?" she asked towards the back of the van.
"Yeah, there's a couple about to have a throw-down fight on the corner of 118th," Dom said with no small amount of glee in her voice, leaning in to peer at her monitor. "I have no idea what it's about but I'm gonna get the popcorn out."
"Can we focus on the very dangerous men we're supposed to be watching?" Kevin said as he ducked down an alley. He emerged moments later, his jacket reversed to a different colour and now wearing a considerably younger and blander face as he moved quickly to reach the corner of 120th ahead of their targets.
"Dom's good at multi-tasking," Wanda replied, "though she'd better share that popcorn. Gabriel, any change on your end? I'll give them another few minutes before shifting the van again but I want to make sure we're as invisible as possible."
"All good," Gabriel replied, "but shut up for a second." His eyes flickered to his left. I can't—" A swarm of people was headed down 116th Street toward the same intersection as Gabriel. A pack of umbrellas opened as their wielders, having recently disembarked from the subterranean TK of the subway, adjusted to the weather. Still a horde at this point, the group started crossing in front of him, blocking his eyeline. And his targets were nondescript enough that he worried he'd lose them.
Gabriel swore, then closed his umbrella in one fluid motion. Navigating New York could be a pedestrian puzzle in the best of circumstances; with rain gear, it was a headache. Feeling all too much like Frogger, he used his powers to weave around the incoming ex-straphangers until he appeared on the other side of the street. The men were much closer now, which he realized may have been a small miscalculation, so he bent over to tie his shoe so he could gain a little more distance.
"I'm a few minutes from the intersection. Tell me we've still got eyes on them?" Kevin muttered into his comms.
"Yeah, yeah," Gabriel mumbled. He waited until the men had made their way down the street a bit before rising and resuming his walk. "I'm not completely useless. I do follow along with all those lessons, you know." He tossed his umbrella into a nearby trash can as he continued toward 120th. "Move the van, Wanda."
"We're back in traffic now and I am managing to keep them in my sights. We can thank New York traffic for that." It was extra congested thanks to the rain and, Wanda knew, a little manipulation on behalf of Dom in the back of the van. Just enough to delay lights or release when necessary to make sure they could maintain a decent distance from their quarry. But being on foot had advantages that being in a vehicle did not - there were plenty of side streets someone could duck down before they could even get their turn signal on.
But for every side street, there were cameras.
"How is it looking from your end, Dom?"
"They've stopped - hold on... one of them's gone into a shop." Dom frowned; this could be a diversion, or a way of trying to smoke out anybody tailing them. She hurriedly set about locating the security camera feed for the store. "Gabe, keep going for now. They better not be splitting up, that would be a total pain in my ass to deal with. Let me check if he's going out the back-- oh, no, just buying gum. Seriously? Gum? Okay, whatever, looks like he's heading back out to his buddy. Syd, they'll be hitting you in a couple of minutes, minty fresh."
"Using the shop window reflection to check for tails. So, we can confirm they've been well trained." Fortunately, being a shapeshifter did a lot to screw up the normal rules of spycraft. "They're turning at the intersection and... looks like they're going in to the building on the north side. Good job, people."
