Chapter 2

June 9th 2020 – ERT Training Center, 18:00

“Alright newbie, let’s see what you can do,” Kara heard as she entered the training gym of their small building. She could see Cristiano Rodriguez and the new recruit, Dean Carter, in the center of the room, facing off on the mats, Dante Alvarez stood off to the side, watching with vested interest. She had seen the kid sparring with Divya recently, and he lived up to the reputation that had driven her to recruit him. She leaned against the wall, folder tucked under her arm, and watched the two men as they began to dance.

Dean’s stance somewhat resembled the beginnings of a Judo kata, but with looser limbs. Chris, seeming as if he didn’t expect much from the smaller man, was in a simple boxing stance, clenched fists brought up to guard his face as he leered over them at the new recruit. Dean’s stance seemed so relaxed that it surprised Kara when he rushed towards Chris, deftly avoiding the right hook thrown by the larger man. As Chris swung again, Dean grabbed his extended arm with both hands and twisted his body, throwing the man off balance. Taking advantage of this, Dean dropped to the mat and swept out his leg. In seconds, Chris was flat on his back, on the floor, Dean’s elbow to his throat. He grinned up at the new recruit as Dean stood up and offered a hand.

“Not bad kid, not bad at all,” he took the offered hand and dusted himself off as he stood, “good job with this one Cap.” He smirked at Kara, he was probably the only one on the team that didn’t treat her with deference.

“Well, we’ll get a chance to see you in action, that’s for sure,” she forced a smile at Dean, worried after Lindquist’s comments at the end of their conversation, “Chris, get the team together in the briefing room, we’ve got a mission.”

Chris seemed stunned, only shaken awake as Kara walked over to Dante to collect her winnings.

“Israel,” was all she said to Dante as he handed over the ten bucks he had bet on Chris. Dante shook his head; he should have known better than to bet against her anyway.

“You bet against me Cap?” Chris called after her, Captain Piers raised the ten in a salute to him as she walked towards the conference room.

“Briefing room Chris,” was all she said as she shut the door and began preparing for their meeting. She heard the voices of Chris and Dante pass the door and fade away. Glad that they were off to find the rest of the team, she turned her attention to the file before her.

Almost as soon as she finished reading the file, she heard the door open.

Excellent timing, as always, she thought as she looked up to see Dean enter the room, followed closely by the rest of her team. Divya, Chris and Dante took the seats to her right at the table. Dean and Anna Parsons to her left.

“Divya said we have a mission? Are you shitting me boss?” Chris, eloquent as always. Kara leveled her gaze at him as she replied.

“No, I assure you Chris, I am not ‘shitting’ you.”

She looked around at her team, took a deep breath and dove into her briefing.

“I have been informed that we have lost contact with the New Candor Facility as of June 3rd. According to the information Lindquist has shared with us, the facility has been offline for approximately 6 days now,” she took another breath and observed the stoic expressions of her team, she continued, “We have been told that the facility is currently operating under emergency power, unfortunately, that power is scheduled to shut off around the time of our arrival.”

“Of course,” Chris. Kara ignored his remark, she had felt the same way when she had heard that bit of information as well. She just had the good sense to keep her opinion to herself, not something Chris was blessed with.

“We will be provided with our own generators, upon arrival, it is imperative that we set up our base of operations at the nearest lab. Divya?” She looked over at her Lieutenant expectantly.

“According to the maps Lindquist provided, the nearest lab is Lab 4, at the South West side of the building’s first floor,” Divya pulled up the blueprints to the building and sent them over to the screen on the far wall. The image followed the path of the hallway leading out of the main lobby and led them to Lab 4, “when the power goes completely, the elevators will become useless. If we want to use them at all during the Evac I suggest we hook them up to their own genny as soon as we land.”

“Think you’re up for that Divya?” The Captain asked.

“Yea, it shouldn’t be too difficult, as long as I get some muscle to drag the gennies around, once we find the machine room,” she smirked at Chris, who stuck his tongue out at her childishly. Kara didn’t mind a few jokes, she understood that jokes were how Chris dealt with stress, and this situation was stressful. There were only a few reasons why New Candor couldn’t respond to communications, and none of them were good.

“Alright, so once we get into the building, we secure Lab 4. Chris, Dante, you’re with Divya. Divya, can you map out the route to the machine room on that tablet of yours?” Divya smiled and tapped something out on her screen.

“Done,” she said after a few seconds, “I’ve sent maps to the team’s handhelds as well, just in case.”

“Good thinking,” Kara nodded, she didn’t say it out loud, but spreading out their assets was always a good idea.

“Once our base is secured our next step is surveillance. Lindquist has also included the passcodes to the CCTV system in here Divya,” she passed the papers off to Divya as she spoke, “we’ll need eyes everywhere, so you’ll need to set this up when we get in, preferably before the machine room.”

“Agreed,” Divya chimed in, “it’s better to know what we’re dealing with before we head up there anyway.” She made a few notes on her tablet and handed the papers back to Kara.

“Chris,” Kara looked over to him as she spoke.

“Yea boss?” he replied with forced cheer.

“Once you secure the machine room with Divya, you and Dante report back to me. I’ll need those muscles to drag a few more gennies down to the sub-basement,” she caught Dante’s eye and acknowledged his nod with her own, “Dean, you and Anna are with me until the unit is together. Once we’ve regrouped, Divya, you take mission command and the rest of you get those gennies down to the sub-basement.”

She took a moment for the plan to sink in.

“Any questions?” She asked, looking around at her team, no one came forward, “No? Good, we all have our parts to play. There are civilians in there, they need us to be organized and calm to get them out of there. If we encounter any sort of terror threat or enemy, the first priority is the people. We’re not authorizing deadly fire until we assess the situation. Divya, that’s up to you.”

Divya paled slightly. Kara knew she had been on missions like this before, Divya had been by her side for half of her career in fact. It was the reason she asked her to be a part of the team, and Divya had accepted, coming on a Kara’s Lieutenant before Chris had joined them. Divya always reacted like this when they acknowledged the importance of her success though. It wasn’t easy being the eyes and ears of a mission, especially when they were, literally, going in dark.

“If there are no questions, we meet tomorrow, 06:00 at The Bus,” her team smiled at the nickname, “dismissed.”

They all rose from their seats and herded out the door.

“The Bus? What’s that?” She heard Dean ask Dante.

“Oh you wouldn’t know what that is would you?” Dean shook his head. He had only been with the team for a few months so Kara wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t caught on to their jokes just yet.

Dante stopped beside the younger man, to explain, “It’s all Divya’s fault, she said that the Humvee looked like something out of that kid detective cartoon. You know, with the talking dogs and the guy that’s always hungry?”

“Oh, yea, Mystery Gang?” Dean asked, Kara looked at him out of the corner of her eye, smiling at his eagerness. The tips of Dean’s ears went red when he realized she had heard them, “Uh, my brother used to watch it when he was younger.”

Dante chuckled at his embarrassment, “It’s okay dude, we’ve all watched it, especially after Div coined the nickname for us.”

Dean smiled and ruffled the hair at the back of his head as Dante mentioned Divya again.

Hmm, that’s interesting, Kara thought as she walked past them, heading to her room to pack for the mission.

She reached her rooms quickly, got her travel rucksack and started rifling through her drawers for everything she needed. Not even ten minutes into her packing, there was a knock at her door.

“Come in Chris,” she called out, already knowing who it was.

“It’s like you expect this Kara,” Chris said as he walked into her room, “It’s not like—”

“Like you do this before every mission we’ve had together in the last 12 years? No, not at all,” she interrupted him, folding her blacks small enough to leave space for her Ruger in the pack.

“I thought we weren’t using deadly force?” He smirked as he watched her holding the Ruger, almost lovingly, before depositing it into her pack.

“It’s more of a good luck charm than anything.”

The gun had been given to her by her father before she had left home on her first term of active duty. He had hidden it from her mother and snuck it to her just before she had left home. It was the last time she had seen him happy, excited to see her off, proud. When she had seen him next, he hadn’t woken up to greet her, she hadn’t seen his smile in a long time.

“Cap,” Chris said gently, rousing her from her memories, “you okay?”

“Yea, I’m fine Chris, so, the usual?” She asked, turning around to grab the bottle of Glenlivet she knew he was here for. Chris smiled at her, a genuine one now, nothing forced when it came to this little ritual.

“You know it!”

Kara smiled in return and grabbed the two whiskey glasses she kept in her cabinet. She poured out a decent shot of the single malt and offered a glass to Chris, “To a successful mission.”

Chris raised his glass to her, the tinkling of glass touching followed, then they both knocked back the shot. There was a quick, smooth burn, followed by a soft heat blooming in her belly as the alcohol settled her nerves.

“You think they’re telling us everything?” Chris asked quietly as he set his glass down and leaned against her desk.

She sighed and closed the flap on her rucksack.

“Do they ever?” she ran her hand down her face, tugging at her chin slightly, before letting go, “I don’t think either of us have ever had a full disclosure mission.”

Chris grunted a short laugh.

“You got a point there, Cap,” he stood up and stretched, as if he had been in that position for hours rather than seconds, “Well, maybe we’re just too suspicious for our own good?”

Kara doubted it, and she knew Chris doubted it as well, but she gave him a small smile. This was all part of the ritual, reassurance. Chris accepted her small comfort and headed out the door.

“Chris,” she stopped him before he walked out, “Keep an eye out for Dean would you?” She didn’t know why she asked, she didn’t need Chris distracted trying to babysit the kid. Chris seemed to understand though.

“Keep an eye out? He kicked my ass earlier, didn’t you notice?” He laughed and she felt some of her tension bleed away. She smiled.

“I did, actually, or the ten bucks in my pocket noticed at least,” Chris tried his best not to laugh again as he looked mock offended. Kara chuckled and shut the door on him. She stripped, headed into her shower and stood under the hot water, trying to relax. It was always like this, Chris had known her long enough to know she needed to unwind before the stress got to her. Stress led to mistakes and they didn’t need any of those before the mission even began. She felt her tension melt away as the water rolled off her body. Ten minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, threw on a large t-shirt and settled into bed with her remote. She was expected at the garage earlier than the rest of the team. She threw on the game show channel and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of ‘What’s My Name Again’.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3