The Magnificent Five (Tess, Felix)

[The Brotherhood]

3:44 PM

"Dude, when are they gonna get here?"

"Whenever. Felix still has the homefront to deal with. Probably had to feed his mom some extra lines to explain why he's gonna be out all night."

"If he's not here soon, we'll miss the pick-up window."

"Relax. We still got plenty of time. Ha! Noob!"

Tron gently lobbed a frag grenade into what KillZoNe had thought was the perfect sniper nest.

"We still have to go over the plan with everybody, don't we? I don't think you've even told Cirque what she's doin'. Hey, you even listening?"

"Sure I am. Heh, check out the thermal scope."

Tron's new sniper rifle skewered three heads in rapid succession. Geryon gave an impatient huff.

"Thought you said you'd never played this before?"

"I haven't. Look, I can just see the code. It's just another Unreal clone. It's cake."

He threw down the sniper rifle and found some sort of flamethrower. After he'd sprayed a whole room full of enemies, the message queue in the lower-left-hand corner of the TV started filling up with complaints like, "hax!" and "lamer!" Tron just laughed and ducked out of the way of a hail of machine gun fire.

"Listen, the plan is simple," he said. "A blind, deaf, and retarded chimpanzee on morphene couldn't misunderstand it. Some of these morons might have trouble with it." He torched someone called SnakeEyz, who flailed amusingly.

"You are hacking, aren't you?"

Tron laughed. He lifted his game controller, which was just a bundle of wires wrapped around his hand and plugged into the homemade PS3/Xbox360/PC console in front of the TV.

"I just have the best interface on the planet. Not my fault they can't keep up. Hahahaha, yes, die!"

Geryon shook his head. "You ain't that bloodthirsty when we're on missons."

"Geeze, Geryon. Video games do not make people more violent. That's a myth perpetrated by people who can't take responsibility for their own actions."

"If you say so." Geryon grunted and heaved up out of the couch.

"While you're up, you might want to clean up the kitchen."

"Why?"

"Because Cirque's on her way. And sinks full of dirty dishes do make her violent."

Geryon sighed mightily. "Fine. Holler in when they get here."

"Sweet, the barrels are explosive!"

Neither of them heard the knock at the front door over the barrage of gunfire and explosions from the TV.

[Flux]

Felix beat the front door harder. He wasn't in the best of moods; he'd had to orchestrate a careful net of lies to keep his mother from discovering the truth. God, what a pain. He was gonna hafta tell them somehow, and soon. Still no answer. He could hear the TV going; somebody was making lots of colorful explosions. Exasperatedly, he tested the knob; it moved, and he walked in and took Geryon's place.

"Jeez, make it louder, why don'tcha? Been pounding your door for nearly a full minute."

[Tess Abrahams]

Almost as if they'd instrumented it, Felix's entrance was quickly followed by that of Boomer and Tess. The lone female mutant was in mid-laugh at something that had been said, but when she walked into the apartment her expression abruptly changed. Tess' nose wrinkled and she waved a delicate hand in front of her face.

"Augh, it smells in here," She said, narrowing her eyes. Boomer didn't seem to notice and just carried on into the living room. Tron rolled his eyes in a long-suffering manner and hunched protectively, focusing all the more intently on his game.

Tess neatly slung her coat up on one of the hooks by the door (the rest of which were bare) and poked her head into the kitchen, where Geryon was busy slogging through what looked like a weeks worth of dishes. Soapy water was all over the floor. Tess winced.

"Hey, unless you wanna do 'em," Geryon pointed a spoon coated with dried marinara sauce at her, "No complaining."

"I'm just happy the mess hasn't migrated past the linoleum." Tess put her palms up in surrender and then joined the others in the living room.

"At least someone's being productive," She said loudly, arching an eyebrow and looking pointedly at Tron.

[The Brotherhood]

Tron raised a can of Red Bull in salute as he fragged another poorly-spelled nom de plume.

"Be right with you guys. Oh, Felix, meet Cirque. Cirque, Felix."

Boomer shrugged off his jacket and threw it over Tron's head. "C'mon, man, turn it off. We got work to do."

"Dude!"

For the very first time, the TV screen filmed over in red, and Tron's character tumbled to the floor.

[Flux]

Felix smirked a little behind his fist, which had settled itself in front of his face without him telling it too. He was thinking idly of the upcoming mission, and of Banner. He gently kissed his hand as he thought of her, and spoke up as that memory brought forward another.

"Dude, I set up your program at the Institute. You're good to go. You want that USB back?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"The Institute?" Tess looked from Tron to Felix, mildly alarmed and trying not to sound it. "What were you doing at the Institute? What program?"

[The Brotherhood]

Tron pulled the jacket off his head, scowled at the countdown on the screen, and quit the game. Then he looked a Tess and shrugged.

"It's a surveillance program," he said, as if it were really no big deal. "Just keeping an eye on the other team. Good work, Felix. Yeah, I'll take it back. I'll wipe it and reload it, and we can use it again later."

Boomer held a steaming espresso from the Galapagos Cafe below, and he blew across it delicately as he took his seat in the easy chair. "Cirque's another new recruit," he told Felix. "She used to go to Cullen's."

There were a few wet crunching noises as Geryon began attacking the dishes six-armed. He'd also managed to throw a box of frozen pizza rolls in the microwave.

[Flux]

"...and we trust her?" His skepticism was readily apparent in his voice, face, and body language. "We're sure she's not gonna go and tell them what we're about to do, or have already done?" He pulled the USB off his keyring and tossed it back to Tron.

[The Brotherhood]

Tron laughed. "She's been with us as long as you have, Magnet Man. Relax, the Boss signed off on her himself. She's cool."

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess looked loftily at Felix, obviously unamused, and then flopped onto the couch. There was something stuck between the cushions that was pressing against the small of her back in an irratating manner, and Tess reached behind her and tugged to free it. A pair of Spongebob boxers emerged. The girl stared at them, horrified, before flinging them across the room.

"Alright - hey!" Geryon turned the corner and found himself assaulted by underwear. It was lucky that the Samoan was multi-limbed or he might have dropped the pizza roles as two of his hands went up to peel the boxers off his face, where they had landed. "Oh, been lookin' for these."

He set the plate onto the coffee table, snagged a handful for himself, and then collapsed into a recliner, which groaned under his weight.

"So, what's this all about?" Tess started before her eyes went wide and she spread her hands in the air in front of her. "I mean, if you think you can trust me - I can always go outside or plug my ears and hum..."

[The Brotherhood]

Tron rolled his eyes. "Cute. Gather 'round, kids. It's time for business."

Boomer just stared at the boxers in Geryon's fifth hand. "You. Are. KIDDING. Me."

Geryon stiffened and flung the garment over his topmost shoulder. "Look, my girlfriend gave these to me. Back at USC. Said they made me look cute."

"DAMMIT." Boomer squeezed his eyes shut. "You had to make me think about it. Aw, damn, I'm gonna need Spectre to scrape that image out of my brain now!"

"Can we please have a little focus?" Tron erupted. "This is big!"

Boomer and Geryon traded glances and gingerly found their seats.

"Okay," Tron said, appeased. "We're not doing delivery duty anymore. Lately I've been keeping an eye on pick-ups and deliveries around the Jericho Center. That's the place that's supposed to be a hospital for mutants. But it's more like a butcher shop."

That was for Felix's benefit, since he knew Tess was already familiar with the place. Tron waved his controller at the TV, and it displayed a roadmap of northern Connecticut.

"I've been able to zero in on the dispatches for a truck that runs supplies back and forth between Jericho and a couple medical warehouses. It's making a run tonight. But it's not gonna make it there. 'Cause we're hijacking it."

[Flux]

Felix had stayed silent through the other's talk. He'd had a retort, but Tron had launched the briefing too quickly to get it out. Now it felt too late to matter, and he didn't want to stir up trouble. Still...it bugged the crap outta him that they were using his given name. He'd insist on Magnet Man if he didn't think there was a better name out there for him.

"Sounds like fun," he said evenly, trying to keep down his excitement and the traces of irritation he felt at Cirque's sass. "What's the plan?"

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess sat up straighter, eyebrows climbing upwards. She wasn't sure if she'd heard Tron right. "Hijack? We are?"

The idea itself wasn't hard to accept but she was skeptical that they could actually pull it off. Tess rubbed the back of her neck idly and was about to ask how this was supposed to go down, but Felix beat her to it. She nodded and turned to Tron, quiet for once.

[The Brotherhood]

Boomer and Geryon were silent - except for the occasional sound of a pizza roll dying. Tron smiled coolly, just to milk the drama a little further.

"The plan has three phases," he said. "Phase one: the mole. We sneak an agent into the shipment at the loading dock. The agent travels with the truck, lets us track it to ground zero, and opens the trailer from the inside."

"An agent," Boomer replied. "And who gets that honor?"

"Well..." Tron leaned back and looked squarely at Tess.

[Tess Abrahams]

"Me?!" Tess balked incredulously. She searched Tron's face for any sign that he was joking but found only a conniving sparkle in his eyes. Geryon snorted.

"Those trucks are pretty guarded, dude, how do you suppose we get her in there?"

Tron's grin widened. He didn't say anything but Tess got the message pretty clearly. She scoffed and shook her head. "Oh you have got to be kidding me - I knew you were going to get ideas from that stupid movie..."

[Flux]

Felix was starting to get annoyed at how little he seemed to be in on.

"Okay, so what'd I miss?"

[The Brotherhood]

"Ocean's Eleven," Tron said to Felix by way of aside. "So how big a box do you think it would take to fit you? Or would you prefer a barrel?"

[Tess Abrahams]

"Gee I don't know - I haven't crammed myself into any suitcases lately." Tess rolled her eyes and then plopped herself onto the floor with a determined set to her jaw. She let out a slow breath and bent at the waist until she was flush against her knees. Then, with ease, she grabbed her ankles and stretched her legs over her shoulders, pinning them flat with her arms.

"'S'about as small 's I can get." Said Tess, her muffled voice emerging from somewhere within the human ball.

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon craned his neck to get a better look. "Daaaang."

"You think you can hold that for long?" Tron asked. "It's gonna be two and a half, maybe three hours... But, heck, at that size, you could bring a book and flashlight."

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess would have shrugged if she weren't pretzled up. "This's as comfortable as sitting."

Gingerly she unfolded herself and, sparing a glare at the ogling Samoan, laced her fingers behind her back and stretched out her arms. "As long as there's a decent air supply I'll be ace. So what's phase two of this brilliant plan, mastermind?"

[The Brotherhood]

Geryon actually looked abashed. "Naw, I meant... that's just... really cool."

Tron ignored him. "We'll punch some air holes. Boomer's transporting you to the dock, and then he'll meet up with us around here..." A stretch of Route 8 on the map on the TV lit up. "...for phase two. And that's where our other rookie comes in."

He turned toward Felix. "Think you can stop a fully loaded semi? Um, without twisting it into work of modern art, that is."

[Flux]

Felix, like Geryon, had been stunned at the display of Cirque's power. At least it answered his question properly. Ocean's Eleven? Felix hadn't seen it.

"Yeah," he said as Tron asked him the question. "I can magnetize the brakes, or maybe mess with the engine so that locks up. Otherwise, I can hit it with oncoming cars." This last suggestion he meant (mostly) as a joke. He'd already done the brake trick on the punk mundanes at school, and he was confident that he could mess up an engine with enough meddling.

[The Brotherhood]

Tron nodded. "We'll be able to slow it down a little for you so it doesn't roll or jackknife."

He caught a sharp look from Tess. "Look, it's all covered. You'll be fine. Even got a GPS transmiter to drop in with you just in case the truck takes a detour. I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think it was safe."

He positively radiated altruistic conviction.

[Tess Abrahams]

"I'm so sure." Tess jibed, more to cover the spike her nerves had just taken than anything.

"Okay so, theoretically, he manages to stop the truck," She jerked a thumb at Felix, "and I, not being dead and/or mangled, let you guys in. What's in this shipment, anyway, that makes it so special?"

[The Brotherhood]

All eyes turned to Tron. Tron sank a little in his seat with a sort of half-shrug.

"We don't really know," he said. "Don't get me wrong - we know it's something special. I've been tracking all of Jericho's communications on the net. They've been requisitioning all sorts of special supplies for this trip. And they're keeping it all on the DL, and I never found a manifest. My guess is they're starting up some new project. Something nasty. They want whatever's in that shipment pretty bad."

"So it'll be guarded," Geryon surmised.

"Phase three," Boomer said. "Gery and I run in and bust whatever jarheads are hanging around. If the truck's driveable, we take it down to HQ, and if not..." He opened his hand to reveal a flickering white orb, and it burst with a pop and flash. "Is that the general idea?"

"Yeah," Tron replied. "That's about it."

[Flux]

"Hah. This is gonna be cake," Felix asserted, settling back and putting his feet up. It had slipped his mind that the cake is a lie; with his Brothers and Sister, he was certain that nobody, Mutant or Mundane, could possibly stop them from getting anything they wanted. "When do we head out to do this thing?"

[Tess Abrahams]

Cake? He thought this was going to be easy? Tess shook her head at Felix; just talking about this caper was making her nervous.

At his query, Tess tuned back in. Hopefully they'd at least have some time to wrap their heads around it. "Yeah, how long do we have to gear up?"

[The Brotherhood]

"The truck loads at a warehouse outside Scranton," Tron said. "You'll need to get there by nine to insert yourself, and it's a two-hour drive, so you've got some lead time."

"Don't you worry, sister," Boomer said, "you're in good hands with me."

"Things in your hands usually blow up," Geryon pointed out.

Boomer glared at him. "Do you mind?"

"As for the rest of us," Tron continued, pointedly ignoring them, "we're rendezvousing at ground zero at ten-thirty, and the truck's scheduled to roll through at eleven. Like I said, we'll be monitoring its position the whole way. There's no way it's slipping past us."

[Flux]

"Good deal. Oh, hey, are we using our usual names, or what? Like, are you gonna be Tron, or Leader, or what?"

Ordinarily, Felix would consider Tron the codename, but given that his Brothers used codenames like given names, he had to wonder what was going on with the mission protocol that says "Dont' call anyone by their real names".

[The Brotherhood]

"Oh, yeah," Tron said, "mutant names. Even if they get word out, they'll have no way to track us." He threw a look toward Tess for added confirmation. "And if anything goes wrong in transit, the GPS unit we're giving you has a panic button. If you're discovered, cooperate with them. Up until we get there to kick their butts and get you out of there. But I think it's highly unlikely they'll bother you, since as of thirty minutes ago their manifest includes an unmarked fiberglass container of sensitive equipment that is not to be disturbed before arrival under any circumstances."