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[freelancer_mass]

They had planned and prepared for this assault in advance. They had separate parts for most of the mission, but would both accomplish their ends of the objective, she was sure, unless an unidentified obstacle stepped in their way. And really, what were the chances of that happening? Aside from her recent encounter with California, she usually had

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[freelancer_mass]

Lizzy's grip tightened on her rifle as Cal was swarmed. She had been expecting some resistance, but they had known he was already there. If the shooting hadn't confirmed that, the slew of guards that went up against him did. Of course, he was a freelancer. Lizzy kept her eye to the scope of her gun, waiting to see if their plan would still pan out without being too much of a risk to Cal. He held his own for a while, but, as they had planned, he was captured-- and beaten, that hadn't been in their calculations-- by Fortin's guards. Lizzy shook her head slightly in sympathy as they knocked his helmet off, then her eyes were glued to it as they dragged Cal away.

The capturing, not such a big problem. The helmet? That was a huge problem.

Sil, Lizzy thought, already breaking down the rifle.

Omicron has been left behind. The guards seem to have no interest in the helmet. You have a short window in which to retrieve her.

No time to waste.

Lizzy had barely locked her case before she was running for the nearest staircase. She wanted nothing more than to lizardline down the side of the building, but that would draw undue attention to them, and she couldn't afford that. Still, for added safety, Lizzy activated her invisibility just before she opened the door and let herself out into the street. She tried not to use it often, but this was an emergency.

She moved as quickly as she could while making a minimum of sound on the pavement. She was too far, too far. She crouched behind the short wall and set her case down so she would have her hands free, then vaulted over the wall and took cover behind the bullet hole-ridden gatehouse. She peeked around the corner. Those guards had been ready for them, more than she or Cal had expected them to be. At least she could see he'd taken care of some of them. Unfortunately, those bodies would be clean up sooner rather than later, so she wanted to get that helmet and get out of there. Maybe that would tip them off that he had a partner. She rather hoped not.

Stealing across the driveway she cast a last look around with assurances from Sil that the nearest lifeform was in the building and grabbed the helmet before hightailing it back over the short wall that Cal had hidden behind. She peered down into the eye holes of the helmet for a moment, then picked up her case again and moved over to the alleyway between the building she had been set up in and another business complex of some kind. She unpacked the rifle again, reassembling it with sure movements, and then attached it to her back and slid the case behind a dumpster. Lizzy managed to jerry-rig a loop on her belt that allowed her to attach Cal's helmet-- and Omicron-- there, while Sil took care of some preparations of her own.

Adjusting parameters.

The rifle, and the helmet, vanished. Lizzy sighed and turned back to Fortin Firearms, her face serious. Yes, this was definitely a mission where her ODST sense of humor was not making an appearance.

"Let's go."