Prepared

Tuesday, August 26 - 4:09 PM

"I'll take next in line."

Trench coat, a black turtle neck, stubble beard, narrowed pupils in the center of green eyes, and on his left ear, a deep cut which continued as a scar across his face. He stood before the bank teller, head tilted to show he didn't forget what she did.

She remembered.

"...no." She murmured and took a step back.

The other two girls at reception saw she was in distress but didn't know why. They turned to the man before her, then back to her.

"Abby, you ok?"

The man nodded to the security guard by the vault, who pulled out and cocked his gun; the other guy who came in with the man in the trench coat did the same with a rifle, and they opened fire on everyone but Abigail. Screams. Yelling. Silence. Abigail had fallen to her knees in fear and defeat, eyes red and wet. The man leaned over the counter to make eye contact.

"Clock out. We get lunch." He snarled, accent heavy. Russian.

"Reports say there was an attempted robbery today at this Chase Bank, but no money was stolen. Twelve people confirmed dead; two have been hospitalized and are in critical condition. This is an ongoing investigation. Analysts believe this was planned-- an inside job as the security cameras were inoperable at the time investigators believe this horrifying event took place..." The news reporter inveighed. "CCTV footage shows a young woman coming out with three men, but that's all we have to go off of. All the men had their faces covered. It is believed this may be connected to last week's sex trafficking raid, which got us nowhere close to shutting it down for good!"

The Generals frustration seemed personal over the news on TV in the briefing room, then he revealed why.

Abigail was his daughter.

"General Ramirez, we'll do everything we can to bring Abigail back to you."

"I know, Foxtrot, I wouldn't have requested you if I had doubts."

But, he should have.

Ramirez briefed and supplied the team with all the information he had on who may have been behind his daughter's second abduction. This operation had to be completely black. For that, there was no better team. The President didn’t even know they existed, yet. This guy who took General Ramirez's daughter, Abigail, it seemed, wouldn't be easy to bring down. There were no apparent loose ends. How he knew the location of Abigail was evasive. The team had a real job ahead of them.

Sunday, September 3 - 7:43 AM Flagstaff, Arizona

Somewhere in the wilds in a brutalist bunker

The curved monitor on the wall showed reversing scrubs of the captured CCTV footage of the men escorting Abigail out of the bank.

"I had one of the injured interviewed and was able to get some promising details, but we run the risk of skewed memory-- with the trauma involved and all."

That's Gregory Smiles. If you needed information from anyone, he was your guy. His means to retrieve are very branded. His charming smile is contagious in more ways than one.

[Flashback]

Gregory stood in the doorway of one of the survivors' homes, witness protection placated. He flashed a terrible grin.

He received a terrible grin back.

"The trauma wasn't caused by you, correct?" Foxtrot scolded.

"I was able to get a visual on the guy, at least the side profile." Gregory gave the description, "about 6', dark-haired, with a wild scar on his face. May have got clawed by a bear or something."

Foxtrot elevated his voice so that the team heard him. He asked for no casualties on this mission. No one responded. But when you usually get paid not to take prisoners, you can't promise you will.

Gregory continued tapping away at the computer.

"LCD, what have you found?" Foxtrot asked, facing the curved TV.

The screen went black. SMPTE color bars appeared. The horizontal bar had curved, above it, distortions formed eyes to make a simple face.

"What Gregory said." It spoke like a radio talk show host. "He had Russian features. This mask was in the way," LCD brought back up the footage, "but watch this model I made. More or less, this is the guy."

"oh, he's handsome." her voice, soft.

Meet Do. Have you ever kissed someone, and it felt like time stopped, briefly, as you anticipated everything to come next? Remember your heart and how fast it was beating, the frequency. What if it kept getting faster?

She pulls out a little black book and marks a tally, "I can't wait to meet number 73."

Do was wearing an extra-large sweater, which draped over her, one shoulder out. The holes under her collar bone dilated and began emitting a soft whistle. She was excited.

LCD was successfully able to access every public camera in an area the man would frequent. He analyzed patterns of where their guy would show up with the data it had and triangulated an average of those locations.

"Do we have a name?"

"No," LCD replied.

"Quail will be ready at 0900." Redwood had run diagnostics for their aircraft.

The Quail was a remarkable application of electromagnetic propulsion. Arguably, one of the faster things that can get in the sky. The team was often dispatched to remote locations. If they had back-to-back objectives, they needed something quick and quiet to cover distances. Seconds mattered in this line of work.

"Do what you need to be ready for search once we touch ground. Be prepared." Foxtrot gave his pep talk, continuing to delegate tasks to each one according to their strengths.

The team wasn't exactly sure what they were getting into; LCD had mentioned a string of crimes the Russian may have been associated with. A guy of this caliber wouldn't go out without a fight. His broad reach might prove troublesome, and where they would be heading may not even be his current location. The ultimate goal was the acquisition of Abigail Ramirez. The team betted she'd at least be where they were going.

9:15 PM St. Louis, Missouri

They came in low, cloaked, and out of sight, ready and prepared. They split up. LCD had transferred his consciousness to his android to accompany Gregory. The two of them entered the Hyatt Regency Hotel less than a mile from the Gateway Arch. The android's appearance held a classic bob, pencil skirt, high heels, and a red lip. Gregory came in with a mask over his mouth, wearing a high collared coat. His voice was muffled but understandable.

"Elevator, there."

LCD turned its head, attempting not to look like a poltergeist operating a fully functional android. The pupils of the machine became green as LCD began peering through walls, scanning for abnormal heat signatures.

Gregory pushed for the top floor.

Foxtrot found himself standing before a dark alley where he had thrown one of his black paint bombs and darkened the area even more. If a fight broke out, he'd be more than ready. Phone in hand, his tail strapped to his back, he adjusted his suit and tie, then began searching the minds in his radius, looking for any thought that would lead them to Abigail.

Redwood made his way to the Gateway Arch park, while Do, who had more than enough personal experience with trafficking, made her way to another hotel and tried to look vulnerable for bait.

"Wait." LCD exclaimed, looking in the top right corner of the elevator. "4 bodies, crouched. 2 people standing-- what is that?"

Gregory radioed the rest of the team, stating they found something and were closing in.

"There is no other occupied room on this floor," LCD informed.

"You're so pretty." A girl had approached Do in the hotel she was in and complimented her.

"thank you, so are you. what are you doing here?"

"My mom told me to stay here-- um.. while she went to the store. But she's been gone for hours." The little girl exaggerated.

"Oh no, do the people at the desk over there know you're here all by yourself." She assumed while looking around.

"Yeah!"

Do had looked over. The people smiled and nodded.

"Oh--."

The girl interrupted, smiled, and asked if she would walk with her to the store, showed her own money, with youthful exuberance, to get a few snacks."

"Sure." Do replied with the same youthful exuberance. They exited the hotel. "Did your mother tell you where she went?” She strained.

"No, she was in kind of a rush. She's always in a rush." The little girl dramatically sighed.

"Foxtrot. On me, can you hear these people?" Gregory invited Foxtrot to use his mind to reach those of the group LCD saw on the floor with only one occupied room.

"I'm not in range. On my way."

The store the little girl and Do walked into had a bell that told on anyone that entered. The man at the front counter looked up without speaking and kept his gaze on them. She smiled at him with youthful exuberance. She struggled to turn on her radio but talked to the little girl while emitting a faint ring loud enough for the team to hear as a warning.

"I hear you," Redwood spoke up, looked around the park, then began walking toward her location, but stopped when his eyes caught an arc of electricity flash between the Gateway arch.

Gregory and LCD got off on that floor and made their way down a perpendicular hall, out of sight of the room where that group was. They heard the door open, then a man's voice.

"It's charging up; we're moving. Laurel caught another."

Back in the store, "What's your name?"

"Laurel!" The little girl smiled as she made her way to the back, looking for the best snack.

LCD began twitching but regained control.

"Energy spike, not sure the source, but it's interacting with my internals."

The hallway lit up in a soft azure glow. The sound of thunder shook the hall.

"Get the girls."

"Whoa. We need need to move now! Foxtrot, where are you!" Gregory exclaimed quietly.

Static.

The Gateway arch had a few more bursts of arcs between the connected pillars. In the store, the floor gave way underneath Do. Laurel's entire demeanor changed as she looked down with a grimace as Do fell further into the dark, shock on her face. Gregory shot from behind the corner in the hotel, mask off, rifle up. LCD stepped into the fray and raised its arm, which shifted and opened like a flower revealing a metallic structure. Its signature railgun began charging up, but the girls were in the way. The men let out an arrogant snicker as they maneuvered among the crouched and distressed girls they were herding into this portal in the hallway. None of their faces were able to be seen in full.

Gregory smiled.

The men did not.

LCD tried to find a clear shot without hitting the girls. Another man came out of the room carrying a duffle bag. He turned toward Gregory, who was confused over his ability not working, but ready to fire, and LCD, who was trying to analyze the situation quickly.

“Oh?” The man tossed the duffle. Out of it burst money. Seeing Gregory and LCD armed caused not flinch or care, "$20,000 for your troubles." the Asian man returned a smile with gold caps, his suit, finely tailored, "and your help Mr. Smiles." Unbothered, he walked in backward behind the others into the portal as it began collapsing.

LCD and Gregory raced toward him, but then the money began coming up off the ground. They stood stunned before a life-sized origami samurai.

They were not prepared.