Sparrowhawk: Extraction
"They... they're gaining!" the young boy feebly announced, his frightened voice trying to reach over the roar of a motorcycle engine and the rush of traffic. His small hands clung desperately to the black jacket of the person in front of him.
Most people would not be able to hear his warning. Most people, however, were not gifted with the talent of being able to hear a pin drop in a crowded room. They were also not gifted with the talent of driving a slightly modified Kawasaki Ninja H2R at over two hundred miles a hour on the highway while taking in the minutiae of their environment. However, Alex Harper, the driver of said motorcycle and the heroine known as Sparrowhawk, could do both. Others liked to mention that she was a woman of numerous talents... and they were right. Thankfully that list involved the ability to keep her wits about her in high stress situations.
"I know," Sparrowhawk replied cooly, eyes straight forward, even though she was sure her response wouldn't reach the boy's ears.
The Ninja's tires screeched on the pavement as Sparrowhawk sharply turned, exiting one high way to enter another. The motorcycle was quickly brought upright from its turn as it passed between two cars, an extremely tight fit between narrow lanes. Beyond the honking of cars and the whipping on wind past her, the whir of several low flying gravity bikes was becoming more audible. It wasn't a question of if they were going to catch up, but a question of when. The lenses in Sparrowhawk's mask were showing a map of the general area to her, a benefit of having high level technology on her side to combat crime. She considered her options as a best course of action.
It had been easy enough retrieving the child. Sparrowhawk was a trained spy, one of the best in fact. Getting in wasn't the problem when dealing with an extraction, it was getting out. Especially when dealing with an organization as cunning and resourceful as VIPER. Fortunately she was able to perform her rescue before they were able to get the boy out of the country, unfortunately they now found themselves hunted. Sparrowhawk knew WHY they wanted the child, but was more unsure why they needed him in the state he was. Tesseract and Razira, two of the members of Sparrowhawk's organization, the Protectors of the World, were just as important to this mission so it finished successfully... but both went offline some twenty minutes ago, and lord knows what they was tangling with on their end. That was then, though, and this was now. And 'now' found Sparrowhawk and her wide eyed, blonde haired six year old companion in danger.
The Ninja was almost clipped as the first blast came down upon Sparrowhawk and her young charge from one of the gravity bikes, destroying a large swath of pavement and sending the car next to her spinning wildy. Sparrowhawk swerved as the car came within an inch of her own vehicle, smashing into a second car and initiating a pile up behind her. Collateral damage wasn't a concern of the enemy... getting their hands on the boy was. She could feel the child's hands tense up as he held onto her, the fear of the situation welling up in him obvious. A second blast rained down, and a third, and a fourth as Sparrowhawk zagged to and fro on the highway. She mused this would have been more of a fair fight if she had her own gravity bike, the Night Bird, or especially her jet, the Valravn... but the situation played as such and neither was a current option on the table, so to speak.
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"Hold on tight!" Sparrowhawk yelled, cocking her head slightly back to the boy as she unlocked one of two silver hued batons currently located on her motorcycle's sides. As she gripped the baton, it sprang to life in a rush of blue cackling activity.
Accelerating to top speed, Sparrowhawk leaned down into the motorycle's seat as they sped to an overpass. With luck on her side as no other vehicles were in the immediate vicinity, she lifted the baton at the overpass' edge. A burst of electrical energy expelled forth, surging at the short barrier and obliterating it into rubble with a loud bang. Sparrowhawk shifted her weight, slightly pulling the motorcycle back as it flew out of the gaping area that was just created. The boy screamed as Sparrowhawk and he landed, the sleek cycle connecting with the highway below and travelling onward, meshing once more into the busy traffic.
Sparrowhawk continued to monitor the area map that was shown on a portion of her lenses. She saw an industrial area somewhat close... and away from civilians. If there was a last stand, that was going to be the place. She could hear the gravity bikes as they continued their approach, and two errant shots from their side plasma cannons only reinforced the severity of their situation as the heroine charged up an exit ramp with no time to stop past the traffic. Cutting a left, she veered off from the main road as the motorcycled roared into an area currently devoid of people. An old factory district, probably thriving fifty years ago or so, stood barren and stretched out along two full city blocks. Sparrowhawk quickly snatched her other baton upon the motorcycle, and with alarming ease while still driving connected the batons together and slipped the now short staff to a holster on her back.
"This is where it gets tricky," Sparrowhawk warned, looking behind her briefly.
Four gravity bikes, all still oncoming. Flight was over - it was now time to fight. One of Sparrowhawk's hands reached down to grasp the child's arm that was about her. The other hand gripped the handle of the motorcycle firmly. She looked back just for one more second to gauge the general locations of their enemies. In one smooth motion, Sparrowhawk whipped the child about to her chest. Focusing her chi and inner resolve, she felt her muscles surge. Her other hand, the one upon the motorcycle, flipped it about, her whole body in a spin motion as the vehicle was brought off the ground as Sparrowhawk's strength whipped it about, flinging it at the enemy like a five hundred pound projectle. It met with the head gravity bike, the two metal beasts rocketing off a shower of red and yellow and they burst into flame and black charred metal. With inhuman speed, Sparrowhawk managed to wrap her arms about the boy and cradle him within her chest as her body harshly connected with the gravel road, rolling over and over before she could come to a stop.
Her body was hurt but she was aware that that it was a case of 'one down, three to go'. Releasing the boy, who appeared more or less unharmed, she instantly and instinctively reached for her short staff, separating them into two. Seeing the plasma cannons charging up on the gravity bikes, Sparrowhawk crossed her batons. As she did so, a bluish hued, circular electrical field emanated from them. The cannons went off, sending a wave of plasma discharge towards the heroine and boy. They connected with the shield created by Sparrowhawk's batons, and she could feel her feet as they dug into the ground from the force of the impact. Still, it was enough to ward them off, even if by moments.
Releasing the batons the shield dissipated, and she pointed them at two of the oncoming bikes which were nearly upon them. Two forceful blasts of blue electricity came from their tips, each one striking a gravity bike. The explosion was close, far too close, and the immediate area rained debris about her as well as the bodies of the VIPER agents who were too slow to react in time. They attempted to get up, each of them reaching for their weapons. Sparrowhawk was upon the first, one baton hitting down upon his wrist to disarm him as the other baton cracked upon his helmet. A shot was fired, Sparrowhawk arching her back almost preternaturally as it passed by her. Another shot was fired to which Sparrowhawk deflected with her baton. A third shot was prepared, but never arrived... the VIPER agent was greeted with a Muay Thai roundhouse kick to his leg followed up by a forceful baton jab to his upper body.
They weren't dead, but obviously incapacitated. Either way, they were out of the equation. The third gravity bike sped by, a body jumping from it and right at Sparrowhawk. The green and black armored person slammed into her, the full weight of their heavy form briefly taking the breath from Sparrowhawk's lungs as both her and her assilant were taken to the ground. It only took a second for her to realize it was Black Adder, one of VIPER's Dragon Branch, who was trying to kill her.
'Trying' was the operative word in this case. One metal gloved hand reached around Sparrowhawk's throat and she could feel the intense pressure upon her trachea. She reacted in kind, her baton thrusting into his kidney area. Though armored, the baton's high level electrical charge went through his system, and as he reared back she struck him in the face with her other baton. As he was knocked off her prone form she was able to hurriedly jump to her feet. Two large mounted shoulder weapons clicked as they went off, releasing two shots of white hot energy. Sparrowhawk leaped up, clearing fifteen feet into the air and flipping right down upon Black Adder, both batons smashing into said weaponry. Black Adder's hand reached backwards as she landed, her reflexes barely evading his grasp.
As Black Adder turned around to meet her, Sparrowhawk kicked him squarely in the chest withy enough strength to knock him back at least ten feet. As the young boy looked at the fight in the near distance, Black Adder released a cable that shot right out of his glove, the line wrapping around Sparrowhawk's arm. A powerful current was released from it like a taser, shocking the heroine as she let out audible gasp. Gritting her teeth as her body shook, she dropped one baton, forcefully grabbed the line with her other arm and pulled with all of her might. Black Adder rocked towards her, the cable slighting giving and Sparrowhawk brought her open palm directly into Black Adder's chest, severely denting his powered armor. He took a step backwards as the central light on his chest piece dimmed, and in a few seconds the rest of his systems went offline. The suit locked up.
"It goes without saying, but don't move a muscle. Though from where I'm standing that doesn't seem likely anyways," Sparrowhawk said, shaking off the pain of the current she was hit with and retrieving her dropped baton.
"That was GROOVY!" the young boy said, finally breaking free of the shock of the conflict. "I wanna be a crime fighter, too! Like Red Ensign! Or Beowulf! Or VANGUARD!" he exclaimed, running around and mock fighting invisible combatants around the landscape filled with fire and defeated enemies.
Sparrowhawk couldn't help but smirk watching the child move about. "Mmm, yeah. I don't think that will be an issue," she replied, joining her batons once more, putting them behind her back and lifting her gauntlet close to her face to access the communicator upon it. "Tesseract, Razira... I need a status update. Extraction has been successful. I need to put in a call to UNTIL as well... what's your twenty?"
It took twenty five minutes before Black Adder and his men were escorted by UNTIL off to whatever fate they deserved and ten more minutes for Razira to arrive on the scene. Sparrowhawk was sitting on some of the VIPER wreckage as the young boy she saved was excitedly moving about, talking about a variety of topics at a rapid pace. As she glanced at the lycanthropic fire mutant touching ground from her fire flight in the skies, Sparrowhawk could only shake her head with a smile etched on her face.
"What happened to you? To Tesseract?" Sparrowhawk asked Razira, standing up to greet her.
"We had to fight a squad of VIPER agents ourselves and they brought some heavy weaponry. It wasn't easy, but we made it. Tesseract is waiting for us at the Barlowe," Razira explained, her bright green eyes taking note of Sparrowhawk's demeanor. "You're smiling. What's wrong?"
"It's not everyday you get to... hm," Sparrowhawk began, getting lost in her own thoughts momentarily. "Let's get this little guy to Tesseract. VIPER's Serpent-Mages may have got him like this, but if time shenanigans are involved, she's the only one getting him OUT of it."
Razira studied the child as he continued to talk to no one in particular, also slightly amused. "Craig Carson, Thundrax, at six years old. Who would have thought he was so adorable?"
"Or precocious," Sparrowhawk added. With a gentle laugh of a job well done, the heroines departed with one of their oldest... and currently youngest... friends.
