Specter, Chapter 6: The Heroic and the Thwarted Report
General Summary
SUBJECT: WYLDFIRE Team investigating Paragon Networks Data Center
Supplemental UpdateRelated Project Classification: Justice League Initiative
CLASSIFIED:
EYES ONLY
DO NOT DUPLICATE
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
S.A.F.E.G.U.A.R.D. Field Report, Agent EL
10.20.2009
It took two buildings in two different cities and Card Shark flexing his ‘kingpin of crime’ muscles, but we finally made contact with Wyldfire. As a bonus, nothing caught on fire and almost no one got trounced. Almost.
While that sounded simple, it wasn’t.
Agent Vi led the two person charge involving herself and MedKit into the Paragon Networks’ warehouse through its southern entrance. I had followed Feral in through the side door on the west, keeping my distance in case she mistook me as an ambush.
Feral Leaping into Action! by Jarissa Venters
Good thing, too. She got tangled up with all three of Oscorp's muscle and might have mistaken me for one of their allies. The Oscorp enforcer, Cryo-enforcer, and 'Protector' meta-clone quickly surrounded her in the middle of the warehouse. True to reports, it didn't stop her, it just made her shift tactics.
While she harassed one Oscorp attacker, then another, I used my P-3 stunner to distract and eventually stun one or two of them. Unfortunately, that earned me uncomfortable attention from the Protector, who turned out to be an 'energy blaster' meta.
Seeing an ‘Oscorp Protector’ hurl 'plasma chains' at you gets the old adrenaline going. Note! Remind R&D that a little extra help against that might be nice!
- Agent El
Any attempts to distract the Cryo-enforcer were next to useless. The man was splitting his attention between Agent Vi and Medkit coming in from the south while Amythyst charged in from the north. The Cryo made quick work of Vi and Medkit, trapping them in an ice sphere that Vi later said was hollow. She said it turned out to be more of an ‘ice bubble’.
The ice bubble wasn’t stable and kept rolling toward the Cryo. Vi explained she tried running on the inside once she realized it was moving. The idea was to use it as a battering ram.
She wasn’t sure if MedKit was assisting, though she assumed he was. They tried to hit all the Oscorp muscle but an ice bubble is apparently hard to aim. They hit storage shelves and server racks instead. Once the bubble came to a stop, Vi attacked the ice wall, slowly shattering their way free.
Amythyst, using his Kryptonian ring, tried to subdue the Cryo with a sonic beam, but that didn’t take. Cryo-enforcer powers, really the Cryo’s themselves, are 'cybered’ to ‘meta’ proportions, so he shrugged that off.
Now, an old-fashioned punch in the gut from a guy in kryptonian crystal armor, like Amythyst? That did the trick. The Cryo hit the floor with a grunt and wisely kept still. This left the enforcer and the Protector. I hit the enforcer with a p-3 bolt, which stunned him immediately. Meanwhile, Feral handled the Protector like a pro.
Moving low, she took the meta-clone off his feet then knocked the wind, and the fight, out of him with a body slam. Sometimes it pays to go back to basics in combat.
During this, according to a later interview, Dr. Adel had slipped across the warehouse and uncovered a Kryptonian Tri-comm hooked into the network. Acting quickly, she cracked the security and uploaded a tracking script into the Oscorp network to find where the data was being sent.
She also discovered one of the missing New York kidnap victims.
This one was named Ornell Parks. He had been restrained in a containment suit by either Oscorp or the Society of Rao members. The suit had been tailor-made to suppress Mr. Parks’ meta powers. Once she had him awake and moving, Dr. Adel escorted him to a safe spot in the warehouse, away from the fighting.
The entire conflict in the warehouse took only a few brutal seconds. Once over, we turned our attention back to the lobby. There, Dr. Blake, who had been left to his own devices, had stalled the Card Shark crew, even after their backup arrived.
Dr. Blake used the excuse of treating the thieves’ injuries and even identifying the STAR Labs' medical device blueprints the thieves were there to steal. During the heat of the moment, One-Eyed Jack and his crew bought the diversion. This let the rest of us have time to regroup, and for an unexpected ally to appear at the front door.
None of us realized the Card Shark thieves were being tracked by Atlantic City's lone vigilante, Smoke Panther. According to SAFEGUARD records, Smoke Panther has been active in the city since 1949. The vigilante has been a known thorn in the side of the Card Shark criminal empire for decades.
Smoke Panther ambushed the Card Shark Clubs as they tried to leave with their stolen data. They wanted to make it to a speedboat moored in the Atlantic City waterway, but they only got as far as outside the front door of Paragon Networks.
It was an interesting conclusion to the chaos that gave me the chance to speak to Feral and make a formal request for help from SAFEGUARD. I wasn’t sure she would accept. She looked tense, even irritated, and was distracted by Smoke Panther subduing the Card Shard thieves.
I have no idea why the Director overruled our team lead for this. I mean, I wouldn’t ever tell Captain America he’s over-reacting.
- Agent El
She eventually agreed. This was good news for our team lead who had been saying all along that Wyldfire should have been brought in from the start.
That just left the loose ends to tie up.
The attack by Card Shark complicated a lot of things. But the criminal kingpin makes a habit of that, so we were a little prepared for it. Adjusting security footage was simple and took only a few minutes. Smoothing over and leaving evidence to provide a cover story? That took a few hours and some finesse.
But it was taken care of before Agent Vi, myself, and the Wyldfire team left on a cloaked SAFEGUARD Pegasus Quinjet. Once we made a copy, Paragon Networks got their stolen data back. The official records now show that Card Shark’s leg breakers ambushed the Oscorp team. Titan Securities has the credit for subduing both groups and basically being the ‘hero’ that settled the mess.
Any reference to SAFEGUARD, Smoke Panther, or Wyldfire’s involvement? Only the Wyldfire and SAFEGUARD records hold that information.
At this time, Wyldfire is placing progress reports with their leader, Dr. Jean-Claude Gironde and gathering their belongings. The team’s rental car has been safely returned to the rental company. Once they are rested and cleaned up, it will be time to share what we all know.
Hopefully, Dr. Adel’s tracking software she injected into the Oscorp network will help us pin down where Oscorp, and probably the Society of Rao, are holding the last of the kidnap victims.
It concerns me what Oscorp and the Society of Rao might do if we don’t rescue those people soon.
