Super Thieves

Carter

The possibility of us winning this battle actually seems plausible now. We've got the last two pieces Black Ice needs and superheroes in our back pockets. Hopefully with the master plan Heather and I have cooked up, we can get out of this with as few casualties as possible. Glow Woman and her crew agreed to meet us in the hotel the three of us were staying at.

Heather had sprawled out maps and documents all over the dining table in our hotel room, the risk of setting up her broker terminals was too high with supers coming over so we stuck with a pretty low tech set up in the dining area. Andrew looked over everything with us as we waited for the heroes to arrive.

"Do you really think we can pull this off?" he mumbled to Heather and I.

"I've pulled schematics of the base and have a meeting arranged with a dealer to get us some anti-hero weaponry," she replied with an anxious sigh and a half baked smile, "with a team of superheroes, that should hopefully be enough. If everything goes according to plan."

The plan of course is probably the most elaborate attack ever created. The NSL teleportation device can't drop reinforcements underground unless a beacon is placed. And without those reinforcements we'll all die. Heather, Andrew, and I have the best chance of getting in undetected. So, the plan is to sneak in and split up to avoid drawing attention. Andrew will make his way to the facility's control room and set up the beacons. Heather's job is to secure the four other pieces to the battery. And my job is to be the distraction. There's a weak exterior wall on the far side of the base that would be torn open with a few well placed explosives. Once I blow that wall, Glow Woman and her team will rush in and draw attention off Heather and Andrew. Then we call in more heroes with the beacons and take down Black Ice.

Simple.

The shadow of bird wings drifted into our room and I turned to look at our balcony. All three of the heroes were waiting to be let in. Andrew opened the door and they gathered around the table we had set up on.

"You'd better have a damn good plan," Birdman gumbled.

"As long as you're okay with a little illegal activity, everything should go perfectly," Heather chuckled as she stared down Birdman, "first, we need to blow up the city of Chicago to draw out Black Ice."

"Can I remind everyone that time is a factor?" Glow Woman said with a small huff, she seemed more annoyed with Birdman than Heather.

"It's an ambitious plan to say the least," I said quickly before Heather could crack another joke, "we managed to get our hands on schematics of the base."

"We'll be doing most of the heavy lifting. No offense or anything but you superhero types aren't exactly subtle," Heather followed as she pointed down to spots on the map where we would be moving to, "Andrew will be setting up beacons in the command center. Once those are active we can call for reinforcements. Carter will meet you guys along the west wall of the base, there is a point where you will be able to enter and draw attention away from what I'm doing."

"Wait for my signal, and then attack anyone or anything inside," I explained, "our job is to make as big of a distraction as possible. Once Andrew gets the beacons working, it should be smooth sailing."

"What is the signal exactly?" Gravity Girl said with a very sarcastic eye roll.

"A big ass explosion," I answered with a satisfied smirk plastering itself to my face.

"I'm going to secure the four pieces he stole from us and then join the fight," Heather said, "are there any questions?"

All three heroes were silent. Birdman gave us the location of where the beacons we needed would be dropped and then he and Gravity Girl left. Glow Woman stayed behind pretending she was reading something on the table.

"I need to go meet our dealer and grab our equipment. Help yourself to a juice, Glow Woman," Heather said, grabbing her bag and a key before slipping out the door and down the hallway.

Andrew and I stood in awkward silence with Glow Woman for a few moments. She chewed her bottom lip as if she wasn't sure how to deliver some bad news.

"I'm sorry for arresting you guys," she said with an awkward laugh, "I hope you understand that I had to obey my orders."

"None of this would've happened if we'd sold the first piece we'd found and moved on," I chuckled. Glow Woman laughed at that and set down the document she'd been reading.

"But then Black Ice would've for sure succeeded in gaining those weapons. They way you operate and things you've done may go against my beliefs, but you are the real heroes here."

"I hope you know we're going right back to our old ways as soon as this is over," Andrew said with a small smile.

"I'll turn a blind eye as long as you don't try to blow up a city or something," Glow Woman laughed.

"How are you not behind bars?" I asked, sitting down in one of the kitchen chairs as Andrew started to clean up and dismantle equipment.

"Birdman isn't the smartest one out there. I told him that you guys sent a virus into our systems that helped you break out of your cells and take control of the teleporter," she responded with a small smirk, "and he bought it. Did Heather actually encrypt the chip like she said she did?"

"Do you really want to take the chance and find out?"

"I guess I'll need to keep drilling it into Birdman's head that betraying you three is a foolish mistake."

Another break of silence filled the room. Andrew finally finished packing up all of the gear and papers while Glow Woman and I sat there awkwardly.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," she said quietly.

"In Chicago. We'll radio when we're ready to start the attack," I replied. Glow Woman flew out the balcony door and into the night sky.

We need more heroes like her.