Katrina thought to herself for a few moments. Part of her mind went to saying that she needed a good fuck, but surely she would get scolded for that. Oh, but a real thing did cross her mind. "What can Stryker do with those spider bots? Can they carry explosives or things like that? Using them for distractions or surprises would be super helpful. Dang both of you would be so good at heists! This is a good heist, so we get to show how good you'd be. Okay, yeah, can we go back and ask? Or just call, I'm getting too used to jumping everywhere with you, hehe."
It's okay! Please take the time you need, I've sometimes taken a bit to reply too, life happens, fortunately or unfortunately
"Let's head back," Della said, and opened a portal back to Stryker's lab. She waited, as usual, for Katrina to step through before going herself.
Stryker bounded over. "What's the word? Is she on our side?"
"Not exactly. She gave us some information, but that's about the extent of what we're getting from her. But it should be enough. Katrina and I worked out a plan," she said, and quickly relayed the ideas they had. She ended with "And Katrina wanted to know if we could borrow some of your spiderbots for the heist."
"Which kinds do you need? I can modify them for all sorts of things! Tasers, fliers, fog cloud spewers... Whatever you need," she replied.
Katrina slid through, once they were safely in the lab and the portal was closed, she slipped off her mask and hood. "Yup yup, info and a lead. I think she can't like, officially help us, I bet Vincenzo has people watching her, so she had to make a big show of telling us to fuck off. But yeah! We got a target. I would wanna do some recon first, but I don't think we got time for that, so it's gonna be raw dog, hard and fast style kinda gig. I've done plenty of those, and we're in this together, so we got this!" she said, happily. When Stryker said her bots were good to go and they could modify them, her eyes got big and wide, excited grin slowly forming. "Ohhhhh cutie, I have IDEAS."
After a while of brainstorming and tinkering, Katrina had a number of bots in her pockets, ready to use. "Should we have like, um, comms or whatever? Got any cool earpieces so we can all stay in contact? Anything else....um," she said, then blushed. "I think I'll do a lot better if I can get a couple of good luck kisses"
"Comms, sure-those are easy. What size ears you got?" Stryker asked. "And I dunno about that... Is it okay with your girlfriend if I-" she started cheekily.
Della interrupted with a simple "Yes. Absolutely. Please kiss," and then proceeded to doff her mask.
Stryker waited just a moment or two for Della to be able to see, then gave Katrina a quick peck on the cheek. "That enough?" she asked, then went in for a deeper kiss. At the tail end of the kiss, she gave Katrina's ass a light smack. "There-may that be the most violence you deal with right now!" she added, then set about getting the comms ready.
"I'm still not sure how I got into this situation," Della commented, "but as unsure as I am there, I'm entirely sure I love it." She leaned down to kiss Katrina as well, a gentle one on the lips that soon blossomed into a deeper kiss with tongue.
"Uhhh, regular? Do ears got sizes?" Katrina asked, then blushed at the mention of 'girlfriend.' She glanced at Della and giggled, she was so eager to see them! Katrina smirked at the kiss on the cheek, fully expecting that not to be all. When they really kissed, she returned it, gleefully shaking her ass after it was smacked. "That would be great, I wish that was my power, make stuff all better when my ass jiggles," she said with a laugh, shaking it again at Stryker and winking at her, before stepping closer to Della. Her smile widened as she looked up at the beautiful hero.
"Hehe, I'm really glad you're here too," she said, wrapping her arms around Della and pulling herself close. She kissed back, closing her eyes and opening her mouth to Della's tongue, playing with hers, enjoying the taste of her lips, taking her in and feeling it again, that fluttering happiness that made her want to go to all this trouble. When the kiss finally broke, she had a goofy grin on her face. "So, uh, Stryker called me your girlfriend, is that like, something you would want?"
Stryker busied herself grabbing a set of comms, to fit on the inners of the two metahumans' ears. Della looked at Katrina with a smile. "I don't know what exactly we are. A lot of stuff has been happening, very fast. We are going to have to talk this out when we get time. But... I mean, if you want someone who's new to the dating pool to be your girlfriend, I'd love to have someone like you be mine." She looked away, a touch sheepish, but kept Katrina held close.
"I think you're both great for each other," Stryker said. "Della's got the heart of a hero and the brain of a dork. She'll be a great example and help to keep you doing good," she said to Katrina. "And Katrina knows how to let loose and have fun, which is something you, Miss Tightass, could use some help with!" she added to Della. "Now, stick these in your hole. Your earhole," Stryker cackled a bit at her joke as she held out two small earbuds.
Della took one of the comms and fit it into her ear. "Anything special about using these?"
"You can double tap them to shut them off, but by default they're listening to everything. There's a codeword to make it register and send your next bit of talk to everyone else-default is just 'Send', but you can adjust it with my help."
Katrina giggled, her cheeks flushed as Della spoke so nervously and glanced away. She was adorable, one of the hottest woman she'd ever met and she was so sweet and nervous. Of course, that could flip right away when she was turned on enough, and Katrina loved that too. "Yeah! It's been like, fast. Feels like I've gotten closer to you in the past couple days than I've like, ever gotten to anybody. I'm like, real bad at the talky part, usually it doesn't really get to the talky part for me, but for you? I'll do my best," she said. It made her laugh again when Della mentioned being new, true as it was, it wasn't something she cared about in the slightest, so she leaned up and kissed her cheek. "Course I do."
The thief took the comm from Stryker and pointed as she spoke about their compatibility. "See, listen to this cutie! She gets it!" she laughed at the joke and tried to fit the comm device into her ear as best she could, giving Stryker a wink and muttering "I'll put you in my hole." She tapped the tech and got it going while listening, knowing she'd never hear the end of it if she got the thing then messed up trying to actually use it. "Neat! Now, for the lil bots with smoke or sparks or sound and stuff. I'm thinkin, plan A is try to get in all stealthy like, plan B if the stealthy stuff falls apart is make sure those bots are placed all over and make this look a lot bigger than it is, get em all frazzled and distracted and shit while we get the info and get out."
A small squad of bots was assembled, one and a half dozen. "These six have smoke launchers, or close enough to that for horseshoes; these six have tasers; and these six are better designed for infiltration work. They can cut wires, hack into systems and get me access, pick locks, that sorta thing," Stryker explained. As she gestured to each set, the spiderbots gave a little wave of their manipulatory appendages.
"I don't suppose you've had any luck getting access to the security feed from his home?" Della asked.
"Nah. Entirely closed system-his security guy isn't an idiot. I've got the neighbors', so you can at least look at that," the scientist added. She grabbed a screen and moved it over, showing the outside view of Vincenzo's manor.
Della nodded. "That'll have to be enough," she said. "We'll start at the rooftop, away from... Yeah, that's a helipad. Away from that." She opened a portal, just barely tall enough for her, and the spiderbots marched through.
Katrina clapped, watching the bots march into the portal. "Perfect! Let's get the smoke boys and laser boys spread around the manor, infiltrator boys can do their thing and get you access to the network. Great! Okay, thanks again Stryker, see you on the other side," she blew another kiss to the scientist, then slipped through the portal after the spiderbots. Her hood and mask were back on in a flash, and she crouched to examine the area. A helipad on the other side of the roof, like Della said, avoid that. She could stay in the shadows up here and scope the place. Her eyes spotted the cameras around them, and she spoke, quietly, to inform the others through Stryker's comms. "Cameras, portal exit is clear, but don't move too far going through. If you get an infil bot to me, I can get it up to the camera to hack it and give us some more room to move. Entrance about thirty feet away, if we get those cameras down I can get us in. I got something to block the camera views if they aren't hackable. Blueprints said there's a duct system I can get through if we can get me into the attic, safe should be in his office. Reassess when we get close." She moved her hand to open her pockets, and pulled out a slingshot with some paintballs, white paint that would look like a bird let loose on a camera.
One of the multitool-equipped bots moved to Katrina, letting her use her expertise to get it attached to a camera line. "Alright, precision work..." Stryker muttered through the comms. Della closed the portal after stepping through, and crouched low near the entrance spot. "I'm in. I can get you the camera feed-patching it through to Della right now."
Della focused for a moment on the inside of her mask. "There's someone actively watching the security feed-you see that, Stryker?"
"Yeah. Will make any kind of disruptions hard to pull off. Katrina, gimme thirty seconds-I'll set up a loop of the past few seconds, run it long enough for you to get in. That shouldn't raise any suspicions if we keep it short," Stryker said.
"I'll see if I can find any blind spots I can port into," Della added.
Packrat nodded. "Good to know. Guess he's paying them enough to actually give a shit. Get me to that door and I can pick it in a few seconds," she said. A nod to Della, and she waited for the signal to move. Once the camera was getting looped, Packrat ran across the roof. She was finally getting to show off for Della, moving silently and quickly, and maybe adding a little bit of jiggle to her ass while she moved. At the door, she nabbed her picks out of her pockets, and set to picking it. Predictably, while the camera system was state of the art and monitored, he wasn't expecting anyone to come in from the roof. It was a decent lock, but nothing for someone that could break multi million dollar security systems.
Slipping in and shutting the door behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. "In. I'm going to find those ducts. Are there any cameras in the attic here?"
"Stick to the corners and edges-there's one, but it doesn't have full coverage," Stryker reported. "There's also someone right underneath you, on the floor down-so tread lightly."
Della, meanwhile, was flicking through the various cameras. "Hey Stryker, check the blueprints-there's a central room, right?"
"Yeah-why?" she asked.
The hero responded and said "I don't see anything matching that on any of the cameras. Think he's hiding something big?"
"Use your powers to see if you can see anything?" Stryker said.
"Already did that, but if it's lead-lined, I won't be able to do anything about it."
Lead was a common foil to ranged or insubstantial powers. This had brought some leading scientists to the conclusion that all powers were based on some kind of radiation, but the research was still entirely hypothetical, and had quite a few flaws. All the same, lead-lined safes, vaults, and similar were in vogue for the rich and connected. And it seemed to at least work against Doormaker.
"On it," Kat spoke quietly. Her feet moved with all the quiet grace she could muster. Her body was pressed against the walls as she went, following the cutie's advice to stick to the edges and corners. She held her tongue on replying until she was away from the room below, keeping her attention on her feet. Any creak could be the one to make a goon below them decide to come check it out. Eventually she got to a duct, a large main that she could just fit inside. The screws were out in an instant, and she got into it quickly. With a hand in front of her mouth to keep the echoing from going down the duct, she spoke, away now from the cameras.
"Think that's where his vault is? If the whole thing's lead-lined, what's he hidin there? Thought we was just lookin for some papers and flash drives and photos, what else does he got? Mmmm I'm gettin excited," she said, unable to keep from grinning. Packrat slipped her way down the ducts, her touch soft so she couldn't smack the metal and cause a ruckus. She was in her element, sneaking in unseen, nabbing things and getting out, it didn't always go that smooth of course, but hey! She had backup! They were invincible!
In the ducts, sounds echoed a lot more. Katrina could hear a few noises from the security-two of them were, apparently, having a discussion about something, though the echoes made it nigh-impossible to tell what it was about. Stryker said "Ducts don't go into the vault, no shock there. But if you go down two levels, past three vents, and then back up one floor, that looks like the closest vent to the vault entrance. Of course, it also looks like we've got guards in front-two meatheads."
"I see them, yeah," Della said. "I could... Hm. Katrina, think you can handle one before he can raise the alarm? I could drop them through a portal, but the issue is, they've got phones. Anywhere he goes will have signal, but I'm pretty sure I could drop him in front of me and knock him out before he can do much. But that's just one-if I bring them both in, I'll be in trouble."
Packrat followed the instructions exactly, slipping through the vents like a, well, a rat. A few bumps here and there, but nothing loud enough to catch major attention. When the exit appeared, she pulled out a small tool to undo the screws, then yanked the whole panel into her pockets. Two goons, just like Stryker said. As Della spoke, she smirked and nodded. "On it, babes. Go on my mark," she said, silently adjusting herself at the vent exit. She waited for an opening, listening to them yap about their girlfriends. Hearing the word made her tingle, knowing she and Della were together now, even if she didn't know exactly what the future held, she was excited for it.
The moment struck. One turned away, and she leapt. "Now," she let out, then landed on the right side goon, wrapping her thighs around his neck and yanking him back with her momentum. Her grip tightened, and she brought him to the floor. As Della and Stryker knew, her thighs were something to be reckoned with. Her hands went to his nose and mouth, covering them to keep air out and noise in, as the tight grip of her thighs took the breath from his lungs.
He did manage a quiet "Urk!" but his companion only had time to look over before he was forced through a portal via gravity. In the attic, Della didn't bother with any fancy maneuvers. She clocked him in the face, and as he reeled back in pain, grabbed his side. The taser built into her costume's gloves activated, and with a buzz and thud, the mook was down.
"Is Kat-" Della started.
"She's fine-probably got more experience than you do, Della. Katrina-do not start trying to crack the vault just yet. Let me make sure the alarms won't go off," Stryker reported and ordered. There was a good twenty seconds of silence, broken only by the sound of keyboard presses and mouse clicks, before she said anything more. "Alright-you've got two minutes."
The vault was well-designed, but the outer lock was familiar. Katrina had dealt with a thousand just like it-and they had a common flaw. Something you'd assume would've been addressed given how expensive they were, but never seemed to get fixed. The outermost panel swung open, and the next lock was a keypad, but Stryker was ready for that. "Code is... 549851. Hell, you can probably see which keys are worn down." And finally, within that last bit, a biometric scanner.
Della dropped in from just above and behind Katrina. "Anything you can do for this, Stryker?"
"No... But see if the panels have got enough lead out of the way for you to get in," the scientist replied.
"Smart," she commented, and focused. "Yeah-I can't make out anything, but I can feel a spot we can fit." Della grabbed ahold of Katrina and pulled the other woman in close. "Tight squeeze, so stay close." She opened a portal to the darkness of the vault, and walked the two of them through. Inside, it was pitch black for only a moment, before a single automatic LED turned on.
The vault was full of well organized and carefully labelled clear boxes. They were stuffed with syringes, pill containers, and various other medical-looking tidbits. "I... Don't know what I was expecting, but not this. How much can you fit, Katrina?"
Packrat felt him slump over as the breath left him, then rolled backwards to the vault door. She felt good. Really good. Having back up that she knew she could count on, people that cared about her and weren't just out for themselves, it was really nice. Sure, some villains she'd worked with weren't total assholes, but most of the time, she had to have eyes in the back of her head at all times. Even the ones that were alright she couldn't completely trust. But Della and Stryker, they were here to make things right, do the good guy thing. It actually felt good. She felt powerful. She caught the warning from Stryker right before pulling out her lockpicks, and nodded. Shit like that, it was awesome!
At the go, she went to work. A cocky grin grew on her face as she felt the point within the lock she could twist with her picks and force the tumblers inside to move as one. A design flaw meant to save money, but it meant anyone with a little practice could pop one of these locks in about thirty seconds. There we go. The keypad was next. Packrat could have examined the worn keys and figured out the code, but Stryker being there to just give her the code was yet another shot of dopamine filling her with excitement about doing this together. She helped open the doors, biting her lip in annoyance at the biometric lock. Fuck. Okay, she could probably find his fingerprints somewhere in the house, specially if Della could get her a portal into his room. "If we gotta break it, I can figure somethin out, probably," she said, glancing to Della as she appeared. A smile crossed her lips again as she saw her. Her girlfriend. Warm tingly feelings fluttered in her stomach as she thought that word, remembered how good it felt to wake up in her arms, the ideas she had for a gift for the hero. Kat shook her head to get herself back on track. Don't lose sight of the mission. Plenty of time to get gooey lovey dovey after.
Oh dang, Della could get through now?! Shit, she was goooood. Kat grinned and wrapped her arms around the hero when Della pulled her in. "No problem there, I love giving you a tight squeeze," she teased. Once they were through, she squinted at the light that came on, eyes used to the dark from the vent and dark hallways. As they adjusted, she got a shocked look, taking in the sight. So much medical shit, in addition to the other stuff they'd expected. "Fuck, how much has he been experimentin already? Is he sick? What is all this?" Kat stepped forward and examined them, but they didn't have much time. With an exhale, she started to move and grab things, slipping them into her pockets. She was grateful to have cleaned out some of the larger things earlier, she could nab the important things, the stuff they could use to put Vinnie down for good. The bigger boxes started to tire her out though, by the time she was done and had cleared out most of the vault, she was panting and sweating as she came back to Della. "K-kay, got it," she said, her voice a bit strained, but even so, she grinned to Della. "Let's go, babe"
Della once again hugged Katrina close. She savored the moment for just a moment, and then opened a door to just outside the vault, immediately followed by a second to outside the city. "Don't think they have any way of tracking my portals," she explained as she opened a few to random places, "but in case they can, let's leave a few false trails." She opened one to Stryker's lab and gestured for her girlfriend to go through while she laid just a few more deceptions.
Stryker looked to Katrina's entrance. "Safe?" she asked, and was about to ask about Della's absence before the hero came through. "Okay-what did you find?"
"A lot. Medical things-pills, syringes, chemicals..." Della told her. "Give Katrina a bit to recover-she used a lot of energy grabbing it all. But once you're ready," she looked to Katrina, "we really should start examining these."
"That... Sounds ominous. Remind me-the kid that started this whole thing, the one Kat was supposed to grab... What powers was he manifesting?" Stryker asked.
With a moment of thought, Della answered. "It wasn't a big thing. I remember, we thought he was being targeted because his family was rich. But he apparently had some kind of biological power-has, I should say. Nothing extraordinary, it was just something like transferring sicknesses from one person to another. I have a cold, he touches me and you at the same time, now you've got the cold and I feel better."
Kat slipped through the portal, nodding at Della as she went back through to do her thing. It was smart to try covering their tracks some, she wouldn't put it past Vinnie to have some way of tracking their powers, like with that witch he'd hired or something. She walked into the lab and smiled at Stryker. "Yup yup, we're good. Della's messing with them," she said, giving a tired thumbs up. Her smile widened when Della came back through to join them.
"Yeah, sorry, one sec, grabbing all that was a lot for me," she said, glancing away. She felt bad, holding them up with her powers taking so much out of her. "That was it, yeah. If Vincenzo was looking into meta research more than we thought, that's freaky. I dunno what he had planned for the kid, maybe this will tell us," Kat started to pull things from her pockets, the folders and syringes and everything. "I was thinkin, maybe Vincenzo's sick, and that's why he's been looking into all this stuff, why he wanted that kid. If he could just pop and drop whatever he's got onto someone else, he's the kind of asshole to do it in a heartbeat. Or keep the kid around to make sure his goons never get sick, or pay some shitty doctors to figure out what else the kid's powers can switcheroo. Bet he's got a lot in the 'figure out how to get powers' pot," she spoke as the piles of medical stuff and piles of documents and goods from the vault started to get taller.
"This science and medical stuff I don't really get, but this looks like the stuff Minnie told us about," she said, glancing over some of the documents they'd managed to nab. "What do you think, you two? This stuff enough to put him away for good?"
Stryker immediately went for the documents. She said "I'm not exactly the best at biological science-the toy I mentioned earlier is my first big foray into these fields-but lemme see what I can find."
Della nodded, and moved next to Katrina. While Stryker worked, she asked "Do you need me to get you some water? Some snacks? I don't think Stryker's even heard of fruit and vegetables, but there's junk food if you just need calories." Her voice was gentle and concerned. She wasn't worried about taking time, rather she just wanted to make sure Kat was doing as best she could.
Whatever Katrina's answer, Della got her what she needed from the... Well, it could be generously called the kitchen, but it'd be more apt to call it an expanded workspace that just happened to also have some cupboards and a fridge. A fridge that held more robotics and cooling metals than food, but a fridge all the same. Regardless, when she returned, she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and held her close. "I do want to say... You've been so brave throughout this. You've been working right on the front lines, making sure that the people who would hurt others can't. I'm proud of you."
"Hoo boy," Stryker eventually let out. "This is a doozy. And yeah-I don't think he's gonna be seeing anything besides a prison for a long-ass time. I'm still digging into the weeds of this, but let me get what I've learned out in the open."
"You're right-Vincenzo's sick. Been on care for a while. But the fucking bastard, he knew his treatments weren't working as well as they used to. So he fucking infected other people-and bare in mind, this isn't a cold. This is the kind of shit that can really fuck you up, and needs to be deliberately introduced if you don't have it genetically. But he did that so he'd have guinea pigs for trials, see what works, what doesn't, and what side effects he'd be willing to deal with. Fucking..." she took a deep breath, in an attempt to stay calm. "Right... I don't see anything about a cure that's actually working, not yet at least. Which is why he was branching out into metahumans, to see if he could find a cure through them. He worked with Caduceus, paid him a lot of money for it, but... Holy fucking shit, for the nice guy he looks like, Caduceus is anything but."
A healer hero, known for his great charity. Born in Sudan and discovered by some less than savory people, he was eventually broken out by a currently disbanded team of heroes. He travels the world, mainly hospitals, curing the sick and healing the injured.
He has never worked for a medical organization, saying that he doesn't want to be beholden to anyone but his own morals. As a result of that and a stated desire to live a mostly private life, how exactly his powers work is unknown.
"Vincenzo pays him the big bucks, but Caduceus can't make it work. Says he needs more power, not just money. And he can just... Suck powers out of people. Doesn't gain them fully, but leaves the person a wreck when he's done. Jesus fucking Christ... I'm going to stop before I throw up," she said and put the papers down. The ones on top had a photo on it, showing what was left of someone after Caduceus had done his work.
Katrina couldn't hold back a smirk when Stryker mentioned the toy, when all of this was over she was definitely looking forward to giving that some thorough testing. Della came close and she instinctively laid against her, smile warming as Della spoke in such a caring way. "Yeah, emptying the vault really took it out of me. Guess I haven't totally recovered from runnin from the goons and tossing cars and stuff a few nights ago. Heh, part of me wants something stronger, but not a good time for that. Uhh, water or a sports drink or somethin would be great. Snack would be nice too, whatever Stryker's got should be okay. You're really sweet," she said, putting an arm around her to give her a quick squeeze.
When she came back with the goods, Katrina took a long drink as she cuddled up into Della's embrace. "Aww, thanks. Guess even a no name villain can do some good, huh? Gotta admit, part of me wants to be so good to keep hearing that you're proud of me, makes me feel really good," she said, a blush crossing her face as she leaned in to snuggle against her. It did actually feel good to use the things she knew for better reasons, not just filling her pockets. Putting this asshole away, making sure he couldn't hurt others or make things worse for the city and the people in it.
Stryker spoke up finally after her analysis, and Kat perked up. She'd dozed a bit, tired from the exertion, and leaning against such a comfy girlfriend. As the scientist talked, Kat frowned and just got more and more angry. He was a worse piece of shit than she'd even known. Infecting people with something life threatening, not even with a way to cure them, just to use them as experiments for yourself? She really wanted to find everyone that helped with these inhumane things and fuck them up. "Caduceus? He's that doctor hero, right? He's working with Vincenzo too? I only heard about him, he's not the type to stop a bank robbery so I never seen his face," she leaned over to peruse the pictures and notes. She had paler skin normally, but she went white like a ghost when seeing the picture of Caduceus next to a body he had just finished draining. "Fuck fuck fuck no no fuck no fuck no, I can't, no," she stammered and backed away from the table, eyes wide with real fear. "Not him, why is he here?! No no no," Kat backed into the wall and sank, curling up with her legs against her chest, a panic attack striking rapidly.
"What? Do you know-" Stryker started, but Della reacted too. She stood and blocked Katrina's line of sight to the picture.
"Stryker, flip it over," she ordered. She waited just a beat for Stryker to have enough time to obey, and then bent down low, so she wouldn't be looming over Katrina. "Breathe... Breathe, Katrina. Deep breaths. You're in Stryker's lab. The only people here are you, her, and me. Whatever... Whatever he did, it's not happening." She tried to gauge how much Katrina was reacting to her words, and how much was just blind panic.
"Della, what's happening?" Stryker asked.
The hero looked back a moment. "We'll figure out what and why later. Right now, we need to help Katrina. Um, speakers, speakers-"
Stryker nodded. "I've got speakers. What do I play?"
"Put on something happy. Try to get her out of... Fuck it, do the chicken dance. Something silly. We just need to get her attention away from her mind right now," Della said.
So, fun fact! When I was much younger, I was awful with getting shots. Cried, screamed, panicked, you name it. And one time, when I was getting my flu shot done, I was doing the usual, panicking and crying, when my brother just started doing the chicken dance. It was silly, it was stupid, and it made me laugh. That was the easiest flu shot of my entire childhood.
It's DEIFNITELY not the same as Packrat's trauma. But the principle might apply the same.
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