Vulnerable part 1

Dr. Catherine Ansari stepped out of the helicopter and was immediately greeted by Director Pierce at the Manchester Interpol HQ.

“Dr. Ansari, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person,” Pierce shook her hand.

“Likewise, Director Pierce.”

He began to usher her inside as he spoke, “I trust you had a pleasant flight. Apologies if the weather in Britain isn’t to your liking. I’m used to it, obviously, but I understand if you were looking forward to a sunny week in France. The Lyon headquarters aren’t quite ready to receive visitors.”

“It’s fine, Director,” she said with a smile, “It certainly beats New York at the moment.”

“I suppose so,” he politely opened the door for her and let her enter first.

“I understand your team went through quite an ordeal.”

“So it goes. One gets used to it in this line of work. I’ll be honest, in the past, I might’ve simply told them to take a rest and have a pint to relax but with mental health being encouraged in the metahuman community these days, particularly in light of the Rex Robinson mess, I found it prudent to leave it to more capable hands.”

“Well, I’m glad you contacted me. I look forward to meeting them.”

“Splendid. They’re a fine bunch of agents but they can be a bit rough around the edges. Just remind them, you’re here for a reason and they must get vulnerable.”

One month earlier…

He woke up in his queen-sized bed with the sun beaming through expensive curtains and a variety of nude bodies scattered about the room. He rolled over two of his unconscious friends and sat at the edge of the bed for a moment to gage the severity of the previous night’s bender. Once he was confident that his hangover was going to be a mild one and his comedown was manageable, he stood up to get to the satin robe hanging off the leather chair nearby. He draped it over his shoulders and put on a pair of silk boxers before tying his long, dark hair into a messy ponytail. His next stop was his bedroom mirror to quickly apply moisturizing lotion and a pair of sunglasses before exiting through the large double doors.

An armed guard nodded in respect as he happily made his way down the hall, his robe flowing behind him. He then shuffled to an open-air walkway connected to an annex which gave him a gorgeous view of the small island and the waves crashing into the rocks below. His excited shuffle turned into a full-blown dance as he continued through his mansion, passing two more armed guards stationed in front of a vault door. He happily entered a code into the keypad and the mechanical door slid open to reveal a lab full of identical powered suits. A few engineers worked diligently to construct the latest suit which the man studied for a moment before moving to the finished products. “There’s my babies,” he spread his arms wide and began caressing the armor, “Did you miss Daddy? Daddy missed you.”

His cuddle session was interrupted when he received an alert on his phone that notified him of an approaching boat. “Billy Bacchus is now open for business today!,” he shouted aloud then turned to his team of scientists, “Just keep making me richer, gentlemen!” Billy Bacchus then danced his way out of the room to greet his clients.

Dubai…

The IMD had very specific limitations, as expected of law-enforcement agents (particularly international ones). Generally, they were only meant to respond in cases that dealt with metahuman threats or those tangibly related to them. High-tech weaponry was not within their jurisdiction, normally, unless it was a case in which sufficiently dangerous armor was involved.

One such instance occurred in the UAE; the armored men in question sent a terroristic threat to demolish the Burj Khalifa unless certain needs were met. Initially, it was a matter for the Special Police Unit in Dubai but when investigators tracked down one of the terrorists to his home, they were attacked by a man in a suit of armor who ignored their bullets, killed two agents with crippling punches, then flew into the sky. At that point, it was a matter for the Interpol Metahuman Division. Agent Adrian Klausman was fine with that since, after healing from his battle against the Surrealist, he was ready for action.

The terrorists had decided to carry out their attack and flew to the Burj Khalifa, killed the guards who got in their way, and loaded many floors with explosives. They didn’t get far before the Cloudburst arrived in the city with Klausman racing to the building on foot.

“Remember the plan, Blitz,” Jill Frakes told him over radio, “We need numbers before Warp and I get there.”

“I can do much more than that,” Klausman ran down the street, weaving in and out of traffic.

“Stick to the plan,” Frakes ordered.

“Will do. I’m just excited to get back into it is all. I was sidelined through most of the Resurgence, remember.”

“You were right there alongside us,” Lowanna Jones reminded him.

“Yes, but with a cast. Now, I can cut loose.”

“Stick to the plan,” Frakes repeated her order.

Klausman reached the location first and used his inertia to run vertically up the world’d tallest building.

Once the terrorists set all explosives in place, the armored men planned to leave as quickly as possible. On the top floor, one of the terrorists created an exit by blasting a massive hole through a wall with a wrist-mounted grenade launcher. Once the hole was made, he poked his head out to ensure the coast was clear. No enemy aircrafts were on the horizon but when he glanced down, he briefly caught a glimpse of a man running up the outer wall. Klausman used the momentum to push into the armored man’s chest as he entered the building, sending the armored man into the ceiling in the process. He man fell onto a table, which collapsed under his weight, and Klausman was already out of the room. “One combatant on Floor 163,” Klausman said over radio as he searched the rest of the offices. The top floors were not accessible to the public so Klausman knew he had plenty of space to move and investigate before racing down maintenance stairs to the rest of the building. As he made his way down, he saw two more suits flying on thrusters up the shaft. He leapt off the stair case at highspeed and wrapped both arms around the first terrorist and spun into a whirlwind. The two suits of armor collided in mid-air, then dropped several stories.

In the Cloudburst, Jones and Frakes heard Klausman over the radio. “Two more combatants in the East maintenance stairwell… between floors 145 and 133… three more on the 123rd floor… make that five… Lots of activity… Might be a minute.” Inside, Klausman entered a restaurant on the 123rd floor, and found the first explosive strapped to a wall. “One explosive found… and disarmed…,” his voice came over the radio, “… Seems to be some… Wait, I’m disarming another explosive so sorry if I’m distracted… done… So anyway, these guys seem to be trying other means of escape. Approximately five more combatants heading down the 87th floor. West side.”

“Keep searching for the explosives,” Frakes told him, “Me and Warp will head ‘em off.” The Cloudburst whipped around to the West side of the building. Their scanners indicated five large objects flying down an elevator shaft toward the 87th floor. “Get ready for the drop-off,” Frakes told Jones as she flew in close. Jones unstrapped herself and teleported once she had a clear view.

The armored men arrived in a department store warehouse, hoping to hide out from the Badges. Initially, they felt they were safe but once they saw Jones appear in the middle of the facility, they opened fire with wrist-mounted machine guns. She teleported around the room, knocking them out of the way with flying kicks before grabbing a crate and teleporting it. A second later, the crate fell from the sky on top of a terrorist. The rest blasted their way through the warehouse wall, which kicked up enough rubble and dust that Jones briefly lost sight of them. From there, the armored men forced their way through the department store and entered an office complex.

“I’m on the ground floor,” Klausman said over radio, “I counted ten explosives, all disarmed.”

“Thanks for the update,” Frakes told him as she set the Cloudburst to hover along the outside of the building with a clear view of four men racing through offices, knocking down each wall they came across.

She set the autopilot, phased through the ship, and floated to the location of the terrorists who quickly spotted her and opened fire. As she came in for a landing, she phased into one suit of armor, wrapped her arms around the man inside, and tackled him to the ground. An empty suit flopped onto the floor. Another terrorist ignited his armor’s jets and fkew toward a window, but Frakes phased into his back, grabbed the man, then pulled him out of his suit; the empty armor smashed through the glass and plunged several stories to the ground below. Jones then teleported to their location to block off any escape route. The remaining two men quickly removed their helmets and surrendered once they noticed her standing behind them.

Later, the three IMD agents met with a Special Police inspector in his office. “We doubt these guys built their armor,” the inspector told the Badges, “None of them have the education or resources. They had to have bought the weapons somewhere but they won’t say where.”

“No money trail, I assume?,” Frakes asked.

“None so far.”

“Any leads within the country?”

“No, but they had fake passports under different names and we know they traveled to Greece. We’re pretty sure the suits are foreign-made.”

“It’s a start, thank you.”

They left the building in the Cloudburst and landed some time later in Manchester. There, they immediately made their way to the Debriefing Room where Director Pierce had been waiting for them.

“Just in time,” Pierce checked his watch, “I trust the mission went well?”

“We halted the attack, sir,” Frakes reported, “But we’re unsure of the origins of the armor the terrorists were wearing. We suspect they were manufactured and bought outside Dubai.”

“Arms dealers?”

“That seems to be the case, sir. Possibly Greek.”

“I’m not sure I’ve seen arms dealers mass-producing weapons that powerful before. Whoever it is must have their hands on some advanced technology. Keep me abreast of the situation.”

At the HQ lab, Soyeon Kim worked diligently on her Hammer-Space project. She wore a glove with multiple wires and nodes attached to it that connected to devices spread around the room. As usual, she experimented on a cup in her lab despite complaints from the Break Room of missing mugs; she lifted the cup off a nearby desk with her gloved hand and rotated her wrist until it activated a switch inside the glove. The cup disappeared in a flash of light but Soyeon could still feel the weight as if she were holding it. She rotated her wrist in the opposite direction and the cup reappeared in her palm along with a second flash of light. The young woman smiled to herself as she sat the cup down and began scribbling notes.

“Hello, Soyeon,” she heard the telepathic voice of Kisi Yeboah in her mind and she surmised that the agent was in her sensory-deprivation tank in another section of the building. She wasn’t used to communicating in this manner so she tried her best to put her questions at the forefront of her mind while speaking aloud.

“Hi, Kisi. What can I help you with?”

“Director Pierce wanted me to see how things were in the lab. Particularly with the Hammer-Space technology you’ve been developing.”

“Where is he?”

“In a meeting with some of the other Badges. He was able to salvage quite a bit of your equipment from Lyon while they were repairing our old headquarters. He hopes it’s adequate.”

“Very adequate. I actually just had a break-thru,” Soyeon showed off the gauntlet and immediately felt ridiculous as she had to remind herself Kisi wasn’t in the room.

“It’s okay,” Kisi assured her as she could sense her embarrassment, “I can see it through your eyes. Is it finished?”

“The prototype’s finished. I only need to make it a little more compact to be mission-ready.”

“Great. I’ll relay this information to Director Pierce.”

Soyeon stood in her lab, wondering if the conversation was over. She really had no way of knowing if Kisi was still inside her mind but assumed she wasn’t. Telepathic communication made her uneasy and what’s worse, there was a strong likelihood Kisi picked up on it.

The Arabian Sea…

The bulk carrier drove through dark waves on its voyage from India; throughout the cargo decks, it contained several tons of ore, grains, steel and other goods on its way to Yemen. No other ships were in view that night which was a relief for the security firm onboard. Somali pirates had been a problem in that area in recent years so they were on high alert. And while they made sure to watch the seas, they unfortunately did not look to the skies.

There were only two of them but with the armor, they didn’t need large numbers. They dropped out of the air, firing a barrage from wrist-mounted guns. The security forces who were not killed within the first few seconds returned fire but their bullets simply bounced off reinforced plating covering the pirates. It was short but messy work and after the security was taken out, the two armored pirates began commandeering the ship.

One month later…

Dr. Ansari received profiles on the agents she was commissioned to evaluate. Much of the information was classified but she had enough to go on. She waited for her first subject.

Continued…