American Freedom’s Personal Areodyne
“But, I was on vacation…”
Screaming Eagle, sitting at the controls of the aerodyne, switches on the automatic pilot. “Andrew, that’s all you’ve said since we’ve boarded. Enough already,” she says, looking to the hairy, beast-like person sitting next to her in the co-pilot’s chair.
“Yeah, but, I was on vacation…” Andrew says again.
“Well, this job sometimes requires a little extra work, Devil. You know that. Quit complaining,” Eagle says, rolling her eyes.
“It’d be nice if the government could get another team together, then we wouldn’t be on call 24/7,” he replies with a snort. He looks back at the other person sitting in the cockpit with them. “Do you have the profiles up, yet, Barry?”
The young man in the back nods as he types on the laptop in front of him. “Yeah, here they are,” Barry says, scratching his goateed chin. “Now, let’s see what we got here,” he says clicking a link. “Samantha Montgomery. Woah, a cutie,” he says, and then laughs. “You gotta be kidding me, she’s an anthropomorphic cat. Ouch, those claws are bigger than yours, Devil.”
“It’s not the size, it’s how you use it,” Andrew replies with a grin.
“Ahuh…she’s fast, and a quick healer, too, we better keep an eye on that,” Barry says. “Hmmm,” he says, moving on, “Aaron Kuyper. He can assume one of four elemental forms and control those elements, too. Geez, he’s just a kid. Who recruits kids into a terrorist group?”
“The same terrorist group that makes its getaway in a minivan, maybe,” Jennifer replies with a bit of smile. “I’m starting to think these people aren’t associated with Pantheon directly, maybe just sympathizers that got in over their heads.”
“No kidding,” Barry says, grinning himself. “Okay, next is Miguel…huh, no last name. He must be a soccer player. Hey, this is interesting; he can copy another elite’s powers and use them himself. Geez, this guy could be dangerous.”
“They’re all dangerous, Berrett, keep that in mind. They may be amateur terrorists, but they’re elites nonetheless. Don’t think this is going to be a walk in the park,” Screaming Eagle says, looking over the instrument panel.
“I know, I know,” Barry says. He scrolls down some more. “They have a big guy, Maximillion Romanoff. He turns into a minotaur and can take a lot of physical punishment. We really coulda used Silvertip on this mission.”
“Yeah, well, he’s backpacking somewhere in the Northwest, without his cell phone, I believe he said,” Jersey Devil says, shaking his head. “Now why didn’t I think of that?”
“Jaya Kalam. A scientist. Another one we need to take care of quickly; she can both make an elite’s powers more powerful or stop them from working completely. That’s not a good combo for us,” Berrett says, scratching his chin again as he stares at the screen.
“Well, we’ll just have to take her down first, no problem,” Andrew replies, grinning a sharp-toothed grin.
“Maybe not…they have a mind witch, too. Sarah Edwards. Telekinetic and telepath. I hate fighting those,” Berrett says, rubbing a temple.
Andrew looks at the screen, “Huh, she was a police officer, too. I heard of bad cops, but that’s ridiculous.”
Berrett groans at the lame joke. “Kiro Shiantsu…what the…hey, check this out, that’s Kensei!”
“What? Very funny, Berrett, I think you need your eyes checked,” Jennifer said, still looking over the controls.
“Hey, I’m not kidding, looks just like him…well, except he’s a kid,” Berrett replies.
Jennifer turns to look at the screen. “Berrett, that’s not funny, just because he’s…wow, he does look like Kensei.”
“Yeah, that’s nothing, check his powers out,” Berrett replies, looking stumped.
“What the hell? Does Kensei have a little brother?” Andrew asks, looking at the screen.
“I don’t know,” Jennifer says, “But what’s the odds his brother would be an elite and have the same powers as he does? Anyway, it doesn’t really matter who he is, he’s part of the group that we’re to take into custody.”
Berrett shrugs and continues. “Heh, and now this last guy looks like Tyroc…hey, I think it is Tyroc!”
“Tyroc? Really? I heard he had disappeared a couple months ago,” Eagle says.
Andrew snorts, “Yeah, to go to terrorist school. A bad terrorist school, at that.”
A light began flashing on the control panel. “An incoming message,” Jennifer says. Her face suddenly shows annoyance. “…from Strafe. I knew it.” She presses a button and a small screen lights up, showing a rough, unshaven man’s face.
“Hey, Eagle, baby, how you doing?” he says with a smirk. “Just lettin’ ya know that me and my Evo boys are on the way to give you suits a hand.”
“If it were up to me, Strafe, I wouldn’t have your hand, or any of the rest of you, anywhere near us,” Screaming Eagle replies curtly.
“Yeah, well, both our bosses say differently, so looks like we’ll have to play nice,” Strafe says with a cocky grin.
“You bastard,” Berrett spits at the screen in reply. “I still owe you for that stunt you pulled in LA last year.”
“Oh, hey, Neutron. Not in your usual meth-induced haze, I see,” Strafe replies with mock concern. “Look, you buncha momma’s boys, we’re supposed to be working together on this job. Leave your baggage at the door, we can settle some other time. I ain’t messin’ this job up, you’d best not be either.”
“Listen up, Chafe,” Jersey Devil mocks, “Don’t worry about us. We actually have some concern for the people that these freaks could hurt, we’re not just chasing after a few dollars like you and your toads.”
“Hey, the only difference between me and you is that you have one boss, mine keep changing. You make some pretty sweet coin with your nice little government jobs. Don’t tell me you’d do this crap for free just to help the poor people,” Strafe says. “Anyway, they’re closer to us than you, we’ll be there soon, but don’t worry, we won’t start the fun without you. Later, angel,” he says, winking at the winged woman before signing off.
Andrew sighs. “I’m supposed to be on vacation…”
