Triple Point

Chapter 114: The Interception

Content Warning (see in-line comments for details)

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Camilla

AJ resumed her navigator role at the front of the pack, but Camilla decidedly stuck to the back of the group besides Elsie. She still felt a little shaken from what she had seen in the control room, and she didn't want to serve as the group's first line of defense if she wasn't in the position to guarantee their safety. Thankfully, Abby didn't need an explanation, and she reassigned one the senior Alliance metas to fill in Camilla's role.

It wasn't long before their group was met with more resistance than ever; Camilla and Elsie even warded off some attempted surprise attacks from behind them. Still, their group welcomed it, and Abby even encouraged them to make a scene. Because out of all of their teams inside the facility, the Capture Team was the best equipped for staging an offensive, and every guard they drew towards them was one less that their allies had to contend with.

But they couldn't afford to have any interruptions when they confronted Hester, not when they needed her confession as evidence. So when they reached the floor Hester was on, they fought the guards they met with the intention to capture instead of immobilize. Once they had three meta guards securely restrained, AJ approached them individually, placed a hand on their foreheads, then muttered a quick apology before sparks flew from her fingertips.

"Stop anyone that tries to pass," AJ ordered once they were all under her trance. "Try not to kill anyone."

"Impressive," one of the Alliance metas commended as they continued down the hallway uncontested, leaving the brainwashed guards to their orders.

"And I'd rather not do that again," AJ snapped irately. "Now focus up; we're almost there."

The door they stopped in front of looked just like the hundreds of others they had passed throughout the prison, with the exception of the room number placard posted beside it. Without a word, the Capture Team clustered around it, ready to attack. At Abby's signal, Camilla nodded, then extended her energy through the closed door and into the room.

Even though she couldn't use her cell control abilities, Camilla could sense the long lab coats she saw the scientists wearing in the security feed, as well as their body heat escaping into the cold air around them. By her count, there were six scientists in the room, and only one of them had a higher body temperature than the rest.

With everyone's eyes on her, Camilla held up six fingers (six potential hostiles), then one finger (one meta), an O-shape (zero armed non-metas), then five fingers (five unarmed non-metas). Abby nodded in understanding, then held up three fingers; it was a scenario with less than five metas and less than ten non-metas, therefore they were going with Plan Three.

One of the Alliance metas put a palm on the door, then looked to Abby for her signal.

Abby held up three fingers. Three.

Camilla blindly reached behind her.

Two.

She felt Elsie squeeze her hand tightly, then quickly let go.

One.

The door swung open, with the force from the Alliance meta's abilities almost tearing it off its hinges. Immediately, the Gorilla disappeared from her spot right in front of the door, and a chorus of startled yelps rang out from inside soon after.

Camilla was up next, and she ran inside just in time to see the Gorilla being flung across the room. While Camilla spared some of her energy to cushion the woman's fall, she reserved most of her focus to attack Hester, who was still facing the operating table with her back to the door.