Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[siobhancan99]

Monica moved for the door. She assumed it wouldnt be locked as she was technically on the inside. opening it, she did a quick scan of the hall to see if there was anyone on the floor, and what other doors there might be.

 

[Halcyon638]

The lights in the hallway were on now, though Monica didn’t see anyone either to the left or to the right. In front of her was another Laboratory marked Laboratory 312. The hallway to the left went down about twenty feet before turning a corner, and the hallway to the right went down roughly 80 feet to an intersection with another hallway. Emergency lighting was now dimly lighting the area for anyone without Monica’s enhanced vision.

In the distance and down below, she heard another pair of gunshots.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica tried the lab door and if it was locked, she'd kick it off the hinges if at all possible. she had to be fast about this, and with all the gunshots she was confident it would cover the noise "well here goes nothing"

 

[Halcyon638]

The door was locked. It took a few hard kicks, the still blaring smoke alarm serving to cover the sound, but Monica was able to break the lock. The room was similar in set up to the first room she had entered, with the exception of an oversized, wired chair that sat in the middle of the room, dozens of electrodes streaming from it. There was a locked metal cabinet about a foot taller than her in one corner. All of the computer stations in the room appeared to be locked. There was one other door in the room.


The lights in the hallway she had just emerged from turned on fully.

 

[siobhancan99]

"well. that's just fucking great" Monica moved to the door that did not lead into the hallway, assuming that it led further into the lab. If she had a super secret alien gizmo, it'd probably be in the middle of the floor and on that theory she attempted to navigate to get herself into the center of the building.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica stepped out into the hallway, which turned out to be lined with windows. To her left, there just appeared to be a single door which led to a stairwell. To her right, the hallway split off into two directions, one way leading her closer toward the center of the building. As she took that turn toward the middle of the structure, she spotted a burly female security guard sporting a pistol making her way down the hallway toward the lab that Monica had been in a few moments ago when she’d initially exited the first room. The guard didn’t spot her.

To Monica’s right were a pair of restrooms. The hallway straight ahead led to a cluster of about 6 rooms which signage identified as offices, but overhead identified more labs beyond the offices. To Monica’s immediate left were three more offices along a hall that also had signage pointing toward a stairwell.

 

[siobhancan99]

monica made her way through the cluster towards the labs. While there were a lot of stairs, Thalmer's intel suggested it was on this level. That meant clearing the labs here first before moving towards any stairs. She moved slowly, focusing on not drawing the attention of the guard.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica crept along the hallway, the fire alarms still blaring. When she was about halfway down the hall as she passed the first two offices and a hallway to her right that led to the elevator bank, she heard another trio of gunshots far below. A moment later, the alarm stopped.

Monica saw the very tip of the barrel of a gun poking out from around the corner of a hallway ahead near the laboratories. The wielder of the gun was about 60 feet away, a distance she could easily close with her speed. To Monica's left, there was an office door, though it may or may not have been locked, and there was the hallway leading toward the elevator a few yards back.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica rushed to where she could see the gun, trying to grab it and haul the person with the gun out into the hallway, or at least pull hard enough they let go of the gun. "Its never simple" she muttered as she did so, hoping she didn't have to hurt some poor guard.

 

[Halcyon638]

A tall, barrel-chested security guard with a salt-and-pepper beard rounded the corner. Monica got the jump on him, easily wresting the firearm out of his hands. “What the--?” He stared, dumbfounded, at the intruder, then tried to regain his poise.

 

[siobhancan99]

Trusting the voice modulator, Monica pointed the gun a the man and spoke "no need to die for 10 bucks an hour, hero. I'm looking for something specific, you've probably seen it on your rounds. you show me where it is, and you get to go back home to your spouse. or your dog. or your empty house or whatever the fuck you have going on." She kept the gun steady, but it felt wrong in her hands. still, if he knew where it was it was worth it. Quickly describing the device, she gestured with the gun "now show me"

 

[Halcyon638]

The security guard put his hands up, eyes wide. “Whoa, whoa. You think I can tell the difference between any of those tech thingies?” he said. “They all look the same to me. I swear.” From his voice and expression, Monica was almost certain he was telling the truth.

 

[siobhancan99]

Nodding "well, I don't want to kill you and I can't take the time fucking around to tie you up so, you're gonna open doors and if anyone radios, you're gonna tell them everything's fine up here. If you do that, you live. If not, I spend whatever time left I have in this life making you regret your choices. now move" she gestured towards the lab doors "open them"

 

[Halcyon638]

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard said, nodding. He made his way toward the other labs. Another gunshot sounded below. The man led Monica into a first locked room, using his card, then a second, moderately-sized lab, then through a third door into the biggest lab she had seen yet, this one needing both a keycard and a numerical code to enter.

The room was strewn with an assortment of different gadgets, most looking like they were in prototype stage. One looked comparable in shape and size to the Fermian Interface Adapter, but not quite the real deal.

There was also what appeared to be a vault door in the room. The guard’s radio sounded. “Checking out the East Wing labs right now,” the man said. “No sign of her. Over.” He looked at Monica. “My card and code don’t give me access to the vault, so this is as far as you go.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica frowned and looked at the vault "who can get into the vault?" she pulled out her phone and texted Thalmer "slight issue. vault door." then turned to the security guard "and are they here?"

 

[Halcyon638]

"Only the white coats," the guard noted, sounding slightly apologetic. "The last one left six hours ago."

Monica received a call from Thalmer. "What about explosives?" he asked, out of breath and sounding harried. Another gunshot sounded. "What's the vault look like?"

The door itself appeared to be thick steel. It appeared possible that the lock might be damaged in the blast, though it also brought with it the possible chance of damaging objects on the other side. "We need to move fast," Thalmer said.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded. "we have to take the chance. we can't stay. I'll try to blow the lock and maybe if it moves enough I can rip it off. We have to leave with this thing." She set the charges, then moved back from the vault "get out of the way buddy. dont want you injured in the blast"

 

[Halcyon638]

The charges exploded with a calamitous bang. By the time the smoke had cleared, Monica could see that there was now a sizeable gap taken out of the rather impressive lock, and she could make it some of the reinforced metallic tumblers, some of them shattered in half, but some still intact, though seemingly bent. While the gap was too small for her to reach in from the other side, it was large enough to insert her fingers to give her leverage in tearing open the door. It still looked to be a formidable task.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica examined the lock, and rather than trying at first to rip off the door, she made an effort to rip out the remaining mechanism of the lock, which might be easier. If not, she'd make a heroic effort to rip off the door.

 

[Halcyon638]

Putting all of her strength into it, Monica grabbed hold of the remnants of the lock. As another trio of gunshots sounded, she tore backwards on the metal, limbs tensing and straining. The damaged metal creaked and cracked, and a moment later, she was tearing open the vault door. Despite the size of the door, it was a relatively small room with little in it aside from metal shelving and wiring. Three boxes sat on the shelves. The first contained a series of 4 slightly blue-tinged vials of liquid, all labeled with the same code: 4Q1873S. The second box contained the Fermian Interface Adapter, its sleek, almost organic shape giving it away. The third and final box contained a device that resembled an all-metallic syringe with wires trailing from it.

 

[siobhancan99]

"jackpot" monica exclaimed, but rather than first moving for the actual adapter, she grabbed the other boxes. "Come to mama" She looked around and then gestured with her head to the guard "grab that thing and stick it on a chair and wheel it over to the window for me." She assumed her massive display of strength would keep the man in line "once i'm gone, you go do what you want. I'll leave your gun in the parking lot."

 

[Halcyon638]

The man nodded, making his way out into the windowless lab adjoining the vault. Keeping an eye on her, he grabbed a rolling chair from behind a desk, then started making his way toward the next two rooms that led out into the windowless hallway.

As they entered the hallway, the guard and the chair in front of her, Monica spotted two additional security guards about sixty feet down the corridor, pistols aimed and pointing in her direction. One of them was the female security guard she'd seen earlier. "Hands up!" she shouted.

 

[siobhancan99]

"this can go one of two ways, lady. you can understand that I ripped a vault door off the hinges and you can put your guns down and beg me not to crush your skulls with my very own hands, or i can crush your fucking skulls with my very own hands." Monica put the stuff down on the ground "tell her. I like you, her not so much."

 

[Halcyon638]

"You have until the count of ten to put your hands on top of your head and get on your knees," the female security guards said calmly. She and her partner kept their pistols trained on Monica.

 

[siobhancan99]

Stepping forward, Monica adopted her super-villainess persona full on "ten" She stepped forward again "nine...." then again "eight." before saying "fuck it" and barreled towards them "at least your estates won't be able to say I didn't give you a chance to surrender." She tried bowling into the two of them like a football player hitting a line, tucking her packages under her arms.