The Project X series-3. Xx marks the spot

The Barn.

The phone rang; it was Phil.
"There are no plans for this barn, and certainly no information regarding a cellar or room underneath." Said Phil

Storm ended the call, and before Storm could brief the others, Lightning had gone over to the 6-foot reinforced steel trap door, and almost in slow motion, her right leg lifted level with her flat, muscled stomach, her knee bent, and her foot then went in a downward movement. Her tactical boot made contact with the reinforced steel. Her calf muscles and quads were tensed. The large reinforced steel door dented as her boot continued to push downward, and her strong muscles continued to push. The steel twisted and groaned as it gave into her strength, moulding around her small yet powerful foot.

She moved off the 1-inch-thick trapdoor and put her right hand in the gap formed by her powerful stomp. Her forearm muscles tensed, as did her biceps, as she started to pull upward. The heavily reinforced steel trapdoor, with its enhanced strength hinges and multi-point anchor fixings, couldn't overcome any resistance to Lightning's strength. Her powerful 16" bicep expanded, filling her utility shirt to bursting point. The steel was pulled upwards with her strong grip, groaning and creaking as its new shape was being created by an unstoppable force. Lightning then grabbed under the newly formed gap with her other hand and aggressively ripped the large, 6-foot trap door off its various enhanced, secure, tough fixings and out of the concrete surround. It didn't matter how many or what name they had—they couldn't offer resistance to Lightning's strength.

She threw the trapdoor over the other side of the barn.

"No traps with this door," said Lightning.

"For fuck's sake," Storm muttered under her breath.

But the team was close and didn't dwell on things. They trusted each other. But maybe, just maybe, Lightning was a bit hot-headed.

They carefully went down the 18 or so steps; there was another door covered in bolts and a securing bar.

Inferno quickly said to Lightning, pushing her out of the way, "You're not having all the fun!" as she kicked the steel door open. With a single kick, the steel door imploded inward from the impact, and bolts and lock mechanisms went flying as her powerful leg smashed the door off its hinges.

Inferno flicked the light switch; it took a while, but the lights began to flicker into life.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Storm.

There was enough to supply a small army, and that army belonged to Colonel Frank Thomas. They had recovered a lot of arms from his failed coup; it looked like they could restock them all over again.

There was a laptop on a desk, and it appeared to be hooked up to two large-screen monitors. Blaze started taking photos of the IT setup to send to Clive, the tech guy. The rest of the team looked around. Pictures were also being sent to Phil. He could claim this haul for himself when they had finished.

"What about Anderson?" Asked Storm

"Oh, he's still out for the count." "And...a little tired up at the moment," laughed Blaze.

"I couldn't find any rope, so after Anderson was knocked unconscious by Inferno with the tailgate she folded into fun size, I crushed the seatbelt thingy in my hand." He won't be leaving that car if he wakes up. "Comms are also disabled!" explained Blaze.

"What about when the emergency call gets made?" asked Lightning.

"Phil's got it covered, he's owed him a favour," said Storm. "We're good for about another hour before we need to get out of here."

The phone rang, and Storm answered. She was given instructions on where to connect a gizmo that Clive, the tech guy, had come up with. It could retrieve anything from a computer, whether it was on, off, or partially destroyed. The four continued the search around the large underground room; it was around 50 feet long and 18 or so feet high. Numerous steel boxes and filing cabinets were ripped open, but it seemed what they were looking for would be up to Clive and his tech skills. The phone rang again.

"Hi, it's Phil. I'm at the...erm...staged car crash. Wow, they did a good job ripping his car apart," said Phil, who had just arrived at the scene of the staged crash.

"You want me to do that to your new car?" shouted Lightning, with a laugh at the end.

"No thanks, Lightning; very kind of you to offer." "Is this guy okay?"

"Yep, he's having a little nap." Clive has given us a nanometer that goes inside the body and clamps on. Any time that bird sings, Clive will know. "It's in a bottle of water, which you'll give him when he comes round," Storm explained.

"Stay on scene with Anderson; we'll let you know when we have finished here."

"Thanks, Storm. I hope you are..." Storm ended the call.

"He likes you," teased Inferno.

"He's not my type; he's got a shaved head," said Storm, but not very convincingly.

"You don't like shaved heads? I love bald guys as long as they don't let it grow or comb over," said Lightning.

"Okay, okay, I'll invite him to the Christmas party," said Storm sarcastically.

The phone rang again; it was Clive. They had everything they needed on the computer. It was time for the team to leave.

"What are you doing?" Storm looked puzzled.

Lightning had picked up an M16 rifle; she was holding it at either end and started to bend the gun. It got to a certain point of tolerance and then snapped in half.

"I'm confused?" said Storm looking at Lightning.

"Didn't you ever watch Wonder Woman? I always wanted to bend a gun in half, and now I can," said Lightning happily. Surprising considering her many other impressive feats.

"Well, Wonder Woman, it's time for us to leave." "Let's get into the truck and get out of here," said Storm as she was calling Phil.

"Phil.  We are all done here and leaving the scene. I'll call you later, and you can hook up with the team and go over what Clive found.

"Ok, Miss Storm...." The phone went dead. "Oh shit! "Did I say that?" Phil decided he must stop trying to be cool when speaking to Storm.