Thanksgiving
It was like any other holiday dinner at home, even though it had been postponed due to two of the team having family dinners the night before, even despite Mr. Lynch’s order that they were supposed to stay in.
Caitlin and Sarah were having coffee and discussing similarities between current white house policies and McCarthy era, and in turn similarities between the McCarthy Hearings and the Salem Witch Trials and really the pack mentality of humans in general.
Roxy and Grunge were having their usual pre holiday dinner DDR dance off.
Bobby was playing the sullen teenager and was still up in his room with his guitar.
Mr. Lynch was helping set the table while Anna basted the turkey for the last time, checking almost simultaneously on the side-dishes, everything was progressing right on schedule.
That was when the turkey exploded.
Not the turkey all on its own really, but the entire oven.
And not just the oven, but the entire wall containing the oven.
Sarah and Caitlin, being the closest, were on their feet in an instant, tea and conversation forgotten. Grunge and Roxy were right behind, the former having taken on the sheen of some sort of metal, nickel perhaps, he always had pocket change he could mimic.
As they were all facing the kitchen and the billowing smoke, they nearly missed Bobby’s calm, “Guys, behind you.”
He was right of course, I.O. operatives were very nearly swarming the front yard, all of them armed for bear. Grunge whooped and sprang into action, deflecting a hailfire of gunfire and shattered glass as the front window was done in by the first wave.
Caitlin was right behind with a wordless warcry, diving through the opening for whoever was nearest.
Bobby was on her heels, already wreathed in flame, clothes reduced to char, uniform remaining, he’d learned that lesson the hard way. He was sending off fireballs whenever he could get a clear shot, cracking heads when he couldn’t.
Roxy hung back, waiting for the window to clear so she could take to the air as she usually did, doing what she could to shift the Operatives’ gravity without sending her compatriots off course.
Besides Bobby, Sarah was the only one in uniform, yanking her way out of her sweater and releasing her arm-guards, diving out the window behind Caitlin and right into an updrift of wind, starting with lightning, picking off the Operatives that were further away, trying to pen them in.
The neighbors wouldn’t notice, they never did, that was what the holosheilding was for, so they wouldn’t notice things like this.
At times like this it was unfortunate, but the last thing they wanted was to get innocent bystanders involved. They could handle this themselves.
Or at least, they thought they could, but then Bobby went down, shot right out of an arc, tumbling for the ground. Sarah was too high to catch him, even with a headlong dive, so she didn’t try, just hoped that he wouldn’t get trampled in the fray.
Roxy was the next to go down, caught as she kicked herself skyward from the window. She was netted and pinned so that even a reverse of gravity wouldn’t lift it, staked down and clubbed in the head so she couldn’t help even though her own mobility was impaired.
This made Grunge reckless, and he was caught between shifts, as he hadn’t yet mastered going directly from one mimic to another, he was still himself between and it was one of these times that he was shot with a stunner and sent reeling, toppling, down.
Sarah was smart enough to keep herself low enough to stay inside the holoshielding, but not so low that she was within range of the stunners, still doing what she could to pick off the Operatives one by one, slowly gathering power for something bigger, something stronger, something that would take them down without damaging any of the surrounding houses, cars, or people.
She almost wailed when Caitlin took a stunner to the back of the head and just collapsed. Sarah hated being the last defense, hated it with a passion, she snarled however, focusing her concentration, she couldn’t call in lightning from outside, but she was mad enough, and focused enough she could generate it on her own.
She felt the charge, even felt the heat of it, but she was concentrated, sweeping the collection of bolts across the Operatives still standing, and it worked, though she could feel herself tiring, drifting lower, only able to keep her concentration on one thing at a time.
Some small part of her mind registered the fact that the fallen Operatives had disappeared, and continued to vanish as they fell, it wasn’t until her feet touched the grass, hair still drifting with the static, sparks flicking off the ends, that she realized Mr. Lynch was in the doorway applauding.
“A drill John?” Caitlin was Not Amused. She shook her head, taking offence for the rest of them, arms folded, “That’s low, even for you.”
Bobby and Grunge had recovered, freeing Roxy between them, furious ball of teenager that she was.
Sarah shook herself, sending off sparks still, not even listening to their leader’s explanation, just brushing past the man and into the house...
Caitlin and Sarah were having coffee and discussing similarities between current white house policies and McCarthy era, and in turn similarities between the McCarthy Hearings and the Salem Witch Trials and really the pack mentality of humans in general.
Roxy and Grunge were having their usual pre holiday dinner DDR dance off.
Bobby was playing the sullen teenager and was still up in his room with his guitar.
Mr. Lynch was helping set the table while Anna basted the turkey for the last time, checking almost simultaneously on the side-dishes, everything was progressing right on schedule.
That was when the turkey exploded.
Not the turkey all on its own really, but the entire oven.
And not just the oven, but the entire wall containing the oven.
Sarah and Caitlin, being the closest, were on their feet in an instant, tea and conversation forgotten. Grunge and Roxy were right behind, the former having taken on the sheen of some sort of metal, nickel perhaps, he always had pocket change he could mimic.
As they were all facing the kitchen and the billowing smoke, they nearly missed Bobby’s calm, “Guys, behind you.”
He was right of course, I.O. operatives were very nearly swarming the front yard, all of them armed for bear. Grunge whooped and sprang into action, deflecting a hailfire of gunfire and shattered glass as the front window was done in by the first wave.
Caitlin was right behind with a wordless warcry, diving through the opening for whoever was nearest.
Bobby was on her heels, already wreathed in flame, clothes reduced to char, uniform remaining, he’d learned that lesson the hard way. He was sending off fireballs whenever he could get a clear shot, cracking heads when he couldn’t.
Roxy hung back, waiting for the window to clear so she could take to the air as she usually did, doing what she could to shift the Operatives’ gravity without sending her compatriots off course.
Besides Bobby, Sarah was the only one in uniform, yanking her way out of her sweater and releasing her arm-guards, diving out the window behind Caitlin and right into an updrift of wind, starting with lightning, picking off the Operatives that were further away, trying to pen them in.
The neighbors wouldn’t notice, they never did, that was what the holosheilding was for, so they wouldn’t notice things like this.
At times like this it was unfortunate, but the last thing they wanted was to get innocent bystanders involved. They could handle this themselves.
Or at least, they thought they could, but then Bobby went down, shot right out of an arc, tumbling for the ground. Sarah was too high to catch him, even with a headlong dive, so she didn’t try, just hoped that he wouldn’t get trampled in the fray.
Roxy was the next to go down, caught as she kicked herself skyward from the window. She was netted and pinned so that even a reverse of gravity wouldn’t lift it, staked down and clubbed in the head so she couldn’t help even though her own mobility was impaired.
This made Grunge reckless, and he was caught between shifts, as he hadn’t yet mastered going directly from one mimic to another, he was still himself between and it was one of these times that he was shot with a stunner and sent reeling, toppling, down.
Sarah was smart enough to keep herself low enough to stay inside the holoshielding, but not so low that she was within range of the stunners, still doing what she could to pick off the Operatives one by one, slowly gathering power for something bigger, something stronger, something that would take them down without damaging any of the surrounding houses, cars, or people.
She almost wailed when Caitlin took a stunner to the back of the head and just collapsed. Sarah hated being the last defense, hated it with a passion, she snarled however, focusing her concentration, she couldn’t call in lightning from outside, but she was mad enough, and focused enough she could generate it on her own.
She felt the charge, even felt the heat of it, but she was concentrated, sweeping the collection of bolts across the Operatives still standing, and it worked, though she could feel herself tiring, drifting lower, only able to keep her concentration on one thing at a time.
Some small part of her mind registered the fact that the fallen Operatives had disappeared, and continued to vanish as they fell, it wasn’t until her feet touched the grass, hair still drifting with the static, sparks flicking off the ends, that she realized Mr. Lynch was in the doorway applauding.
“A drill John?” Caitlin was Not Amused. She shook her head, taking offence for the rest of them, arms folded, “That’s low, even for you.”
Bobby and Grunge had recovered, freeing Roxy between them, furious ball of teenager that she was.
Sarah shook herself, sending off sparks still, not even listening to their leader’s explanation, just brushing past the man and into the house...