CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:
GET THEM ALIVE
"JOHN SAID IF YOU BREAK this one, then you can get your own." Artemis entered the room, hands in her pockets as she watched her mother slam her fist against the punching bag. She cocked her head slightly, watching as her mother barely glanced her way. Artemis sighed before walking over to her mother and grabbing her wrist before she could hit the bag again. Aphrodite looked at her daughter. "Meeting's starting, alright? Murder the punching bag later."
Aphrodite sighed before unwrapping her hands and following her daughter out of the room and into the room in which John had gathered a couple of mutants. He glanced up at the woman, only to find she wouldn't meet his nor Sonya's gaze. John looked at Artemis who simply gave him an apologetic look. He sighed before nodding his head.
"We know that Lorna is being held in a cell at the Sentinel Services Regional Headquarters." John started. "We believe that Reed Strucker is there with her. They're being moved soon to an ultra secure facility. And we don't know much about it, except that the people who go don't come back. That's why we got to move now. And I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. We're talking about attacking the Sentinel Services."
"We lost six people the last time we went up against them directly." Sage spoke up, and Aphrodite closed her eyes at the memory.
"I know that better than anyone."
Marcos shook his head. "It won't be like last time."
"You're right. Last time, we just hit a relocation center with a fence and some guard towers. This time it's a prison. Their systems have improved. Extrapolating from other attacks, we've got an 86.5% chance of failure."
"And a 13.5% chance of success." Artemis pointed out. "We've done better with worse odds."
"And if we do nothing, then there's a 100% chance we never see them again." Marcos added.
That's when Caitlin spoke up. "I know we're new here, but please."
Marcos looked at the group of mutants. "Lorna's risked her life for everyone in this room. Harry, your parents would be dead without her. Sage, she pulled you out of a gutter, and she got you clean. I mean, she's. . . she needs us."
"Doesn't change the math, Marcos." Sage shook her head.
"I don't care about the math. I care about Lorna. Who's with me?" Marcos looked at the group and Sonya was the first to speak up.
"I'm in." Harry raised his hand as well. And then Clarice. No one else said anything, and Artemis couldn't help but look down at her mother with a deep frown. She watched as Aphrodite stood up.
"Mom." Artemis called after her, and Aphrodite didn't say anything, only walked down the steps. Artemis looked between John and Sonya, narrowing her eyes for a moment as she looked at her aunt before a scoff fell from her lips, barely paying attention to the other mutants as they departed. "What did you do?" Sonya looked at Artemis with a guilty look before watching the teenager stand up and turn to John and Marcos. "Mom and I are in, just give me a second to find her before she kills a poor tree."
Following after her mother, Artemis found her sitting on the steps outside, a blank look on her face as she stared in front of her. Artemis took a second before sitting down beside of her. She didn't say anything, sitting in silence as she thought of what to say. But she could feel the betrayal radiating from her mother. And a soft sigh fell from the teenager's lips as she leaned her head on her mother's shoulder.
"Let's get Lorna home." Artemis whispered. "Then we can deal with that." Aphrodite didn't say anything, instead she sat there for a few more minutes, before turning her head and giving Artemis a kiss on the head.
"Go find Lauren and Andy." Aphrodite whispered. "I don't want you anywhere near Sentinel Services." Artemis nodded her head in understanding before standing up and making her way inside. Aphrodite took a moment to compose herself before standing up and walking back inside, entering the room where everyone who agreed to go stood. She looked at Marcos, answering his silent question with the nod of her head.
Marcos sighed. "Six people? Unbelievable."
"Marcos, don't be so hard on them. A lot them lost friends the last time." John shook his head as Marcos turned to look at him.
"Six of us to break into a prison." Marcos muttered.
"Um, seven, technically." Caitlin spoke up.
"I'm sorry, Caitlin, but―︎"
"So how are we gonna do this?" Clarice asked from beside Aphrodite. "If there's a window, I can portal us in, but there's gonna be guards and cameras. Harry, could you. . . ?"
"I can make the guards see this, but not the cameras." He made his hand turn invisible before turning it back to normal.
"Well, if we go in like that, we're never coming out again." John scoffed.
"Guards I can handle." Aphrodite nodded. "Might get shot in the process, but, I've been through worse." She shrugged her shoulders, meeting John's eyes.
"What if we don't go in?" They all turned to look at Caitlin with confused expressions. "Look, I know I can't shoot lasers from my hands, but I do have an idea. Daniel said the place they're taking them is far away. To put them on a plane they'd have to move them. Let's get them while they're moving."
"You telling me the human's actually useful for once?" Aphrodite scoffed, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the blonde woman.
"That's not a bad idea." Marcos agreed.
"It could work, but we don't know the route." John shook his head. "Without that―︎"
"I think I might know how to get it."
John looked at Marcos. "How? We don't have anyone with that kind of intel."
"The network doesn't, but I might."
Aphrodite looked at Marcos for a moment, a frown falling on her lips. "The Cartel?"
Marcos sighed. "They have people everywhere, man."
"The last time the cartel got their hooks in you, you barely got out." Aphrodite shook her head at this. John took a step towards Marcos. "Marcos. . . you sure you want to go back to that?"
"No." Marcos shook his head. "But I'm out of better ideas."
Once that was settled, Aphrodite walked out of the room, making her way into the kitchen in order to fix herself some coffee. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before, and the woman was exhausted. She walked out, cup in hand, stopping for a moment to see Sonya and John talking. She watched as Sonya walked away, going down the steps and the man sighed. He turned his head, meeting Aphrodite's eyes. She bit the inside of her cheek before turning on her heel and walking the opposite direction. The man sighed before quickly following after her.
"Aph." He called her name, and the woman automatically stopped. She looked down at the floor, looking up only when he moved to stand in front of her. Aphrodite met his eyes, and all she could think of was that Clarice was going to look at him in that exact same way that she did, and her heart broke all over.
"Clarice?" Aphrodite asked. John just shook his head and Aphrodite clenched her jaw as she nodded her head. "So, you're just going to let this shit drag out? Because you know that she can help us? What the hell, John?" She shook her head. "Do something about this, or I will." And then she walked away.
━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎
"Eclipse found out that a convoy of military vehicles is taking Lorna and Reed to a military airport." John showed them the route on the screen. "Now, based on the route, the best place to hit it is gonna be an old warehouse district off Peachtree." He turned towards Clarice. "Can you open a portal, get us inside the transport bus?"
"Well, if the driver can see out, I can see in, but if the bus is moving, then it can get messy real fast."
"Stop the bus―︎not gonna be easy." John looked towards Aphrodite.
"Maybe Marcos can like melt the tires." Clarice suggested.
"I can stop the bus." Aphrodite nodded. "But I'm going to be completely exposed. More casualties that way, especially if they have guns―︎which there's isn't a doubt in my mind."
"When is he getting us the time frame for the convoy?" Sonya spoke up.
"He's been gone for a while." Aphrodite noted, Sonya nodding her head in agreement.
"And he will be back." John assured her. "He's working on it now."
"Okay, regardless, melting the tires or letting Winter stand out there completely exposed is hardly subtle. What do you think happens after that? A pitched battle. People die." Caitlin spoke up. "Our goal isn't just to get Reed and Lorna. It's to get them alive."
"She's right." John sighed. "Our job is to get in and out without dropping bodies. We need another way to stop that bus."
Thirty minutes seemed to pass by, with Aphrodite and Artemis training with one another, with Artemis jokinly throwing punches at her mother who only chuckled in response. The duo stopped, looking up when Caitlin, John, Lauren, and Andy were standing there, and a sigh fell from Aphrodite's lips.
"What?" The redhead immediately asked.
"We found a way to stop the bus, but it involves Lauren and Andy." John explained to her. "Caitlin just wants to make sure they stay out of harm's way, and I wouldn't ask you of this if I thought Artemis couldn't handle herself."
"Ou, action, hell yeah." Artemis smiled, earning a stern look from her mother immediately making the teenager back off.
Aphrodite looked at John for a moment before turning to look at the Strucker kids and then at Caitlin, a begging look in the woman's eyes. Aphrodite closed her eyes, running a hand through her hair before nodding. "Alright. Fine. Artemis will make sure they get out safely. She can help them as well if need be."
"Shit, really?" Artemis smiled. She laughed before holding her hands up in triumph. "Hell yeah!"
"My god, she really does have my mouth, doesn't she?" Aphrodite mumbled. John only smiled in amusement before Artemis made her way over to Lauren, hooking her arm with the blonde's as the two walked off whilst Andy went to do his own thing.
"Thank you." Caitlin whispered.
"If I knew my daughter could be out there protecting someone, she'd do it in a heartbeat with or without my permission." Aphrodite nodded. "I just hope it's worth it." And without another word, Aphrodite walked away from them.