Repairs

[MurderWeasel]

((Death Squad continued from Enter the Death Squad))

The ranger station was a total mess. Christina was poking around in it, trying to figure out what sort of fucking idiocy the kids who'd been camped out here for a day had been up to. It was really too bad the cameras had been down. By the state of the place, there'd been quite a show.

The computer was completely destroyed. She'd been extra careful to check with Richards and Baines on that one, but they'd assured her that the thing had been completely neutralized even before the kids were dropped onto the island. Besides, it was an ancient desktop, far too old to connect to the internet through wi fi or something.

That aside, random junk had been thrown everywhere. Someone had torn out the workings of the refrigerator, then stuffed them back inside it, where the food once was. Someone had burned a bunch of paper in the sink. Someone had thrown a bicycle into the hall.

Shamino had called in to ask HQ about it. They reported that the female body outside had belonged to one Feo Eleri Smith. She'd apparently hooked up with the guy who smashed the cameras. A whole bunch of other people had wandered into the cabin, but none had left until it became a danger zone. The working hypothesis was that Smith, distressed over the death of her lover, had taken hostage everyone who entered the station, forced them to sit with her in silent vigil. In the wake of the announcement, the collar microphones had picked up screams to run from some of the others, the first words any had spoken in some time. Presumably, they'd decided to take their chances with Smith's wrath rather than wait with her to explode.

Christina was not entirely sold on this theory. It seemed too easy. It ignored the fact that one girl had gotten out earlier, and apparently hadn't seemed too concerned. She was a cheerleader, so the theory went that she was friends with Smith, who apparently had some sort of connection with the squad or something. Maybe. Too many variables, too little data. Christina was on guard. They could have been building a bomb, just waiting for the repair crew to turn up and trigger it somehow.

There was no bomb, though. No traps. Nothing except an eerily quiet building full of random garbage strewn insanely around. Christina was definitely ready to get going soon.

Cecily was inside at the moment, swapping out the cameras. They'd gone through most of the spares they had on them and still had only made a dent in the wake of destruction Polanski had left. This was starting to look like a long fucking assignment. Really, though, they were only hitting the station now so that it could return to play. As long as Polanski lived, as long as she continued smashing cameras, repairs were secondary.

Luckily for the team, they knew pretty well where Polanski was now.

She had some allies. For whatever reason, probably a lack of resources, she hadn't tampered with their collars yet. She'd stuck with them, never even questioning why they hadn't been blown up, why Danya hadn't seen fit to eliminate her help and punish her at the same time.

It was because, through the collar microphones and locations, the squad could track Liz's movements. They knew she was at the mansion. They were receiving updates from HQ, and would know as soon as she moved out.

Then, they'd cut her off. Finish this. Get to work on the repairs in earnest.

Shamino had been inside with Cecily, just making sure things were alright. Greynolds, Baines, and Richards were rendezvousing with the helicopter, taking a new load of replacement cameras. Security could be a bit looser here, since no students were around.

Shamino walked out, saying, "We're back on the grid."

Christina smiled. Very good. With this taken care of, they could head for their next objective.

Just then, Shamino's radio crackled. He listened, then said, "She's moving out."

"Good."

The squad quickly regrouped, then took off at a good clip.

They had a date with a certain little wannabe revolutionary.

((Death Squad continued in The Gully))