Operation Blackburn [Nightlocke]

[Kinetix]

Michael unclipped his helmet strap and pulled it off. His hair was pretty good considering, but he ruffled it anyways. He rode in a V-22 Osprey as it skimmed over the water. The bird was flanked by two Comanche helicopters. This was a big operation so they pulled out the big guns. They even flew Michael across country for it. Despite being a telekinetic, he hated long flights.

Intelligence reported that the mutant codenamed "Supernova" or "Nightlocke" as she was now known, was on the west coast. Supposedly she was going to meet Dr. Philip Carraway, a renowned doctor in the field of neurocircuitry. Years ago he worked with the team that developed the brain-chips Division used to implement. He was an intern at the time but knew enough to warrant 24-hour surveillance on all his communications. That's how they found Nightlocke.

She was trying to meet him and have him examine the damaged chip inside her head. Then he would tell her about the experiment and if that got out it would be hell for Division. Michael wanted to reactivate the chip, but the techies told him that any damage severe enough to affect her memory and deactivate the chip shouldn't be remotely activated without repair.

And so they would ambush her. The place was the Golden Gate Bridge. Target was crossing it now. Most civilians were being re-routed so the few cars that were crossing were all soldiers on loan from Camp Pendleton. They were dressed as civilians and knew to evacuate once the operation started.

Michael double-checked his equipment and waited as the three birds flew, their blue skin camouflaged against the water.

[Nightlocke]

The black haired blue eyed girl stared out the window of the taxi cab as they crossed a very large bridge. She had curiously asked the driver if the bridge had a name and he said it was called 'the Golden Gate bridge'. She wondered about that, mostly because the bridge wasn't really golden or anything, but it was very large. They rode with the windows down because the air conditioning in the vehicle was busted. The cool autumn air hit her flesh and caused her hair to dance widlly around, occasionally slapping against her face.

The previously lose fitting hoodie Melissa let her borrow was now starting to fit nicely. Charlotte was going from an unnaturally low weight to normal, and she was glad. She was also grateful to Melissa. She had let Charlotte borrow money for this cross-country trip. Melissa understood how important it was for her and that made her feel really happy to have such a great friend like her. They were about halfway through and she could see the clearer city from where they were. Charlotte smiled.

She was feeling rather anxious today. There was an appointment she had with a doctor who knew about her chip and was willing to help her out. She couldn't pass up such an opportunity, mostly because she wanted her memory back and wanted to know about her past, despite her own oddly bad feelings about them. Along with the butterflies in her stomach, a kind of hope spread out in her chest, and a smile broke on her face.

As Charlotte looked out the window, she noticed there weren't as many cars driving on the bridge as she had previously seen. Before, there were so many! And now there were barely any left. She couldn't see any to her left and right, but when she looked in front she saw one or two and when she looked behind, she only saw a couple. Charlotte shrugged it off. Although it was a little curious, she probably had nothing to worry about. What did they have anything to do with her?

[Kinetix]

"Move! Move! Move!" Michael launched him and his team out of the Osprey with his power. The flew, guided by his mind between the bridges cables and landed softly on the pavement. The Osprey quickly removed itself from the scene as the Comanche hid under the bridge for the time being. High above, well out of sight in the clouds above, was a C-130, observing the situation and ready to destroy the bridge and both the team and Nightlocke if need be.

"Fire team B, put three rounds through the hood." Michael motioned for the second group of four to take cover behind a few cars that had stopped. They were normal humans, but were comfortable taking orders from a mutant.

Three loud shots rang out, the echo fading into the wind quickly. Two hundred yards away, the hood of Nightlocke's cab collapsed in on itself in three spots. Then it promptly expanded as extinguishing foam grew. The rounds, usually used to clog tank engines, effectively turned the cab's engine into a solid chunk of gel and metal.

"Team B, join team A. Teams C and D, move in and secure the perimeter from the rear. Engage only if necessary." Michael moved in, keeping his head low as he moved from car to car. Soldiers ran past him in the other direction, clearing the area as directed. The stage was set. Both he and Nightlocke were closed off in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge.

He took a deep breath and stretched his hands out. There was a lot of force being pushed down on the bridge; gravity, metal, stone, people, and such were all pressing down. Plus there was the rolling water below. Plenty of force to manipulate. He borrowed a bit and lifted his hands.

The metal and pavement wrenched upward, letting out a horrid groan as he erected a massive wall on either side of them. Now all he had to do was get that cab driver out if he didn't have the sense to run. Then he could take on the target. "Your move."

[Nightlocke]

Charlotte jumped at the sound of something landing hard on the car and then the driver screaming out loud. The tires screeched as they came to a sudden halt. Charlotte looked around, startled. She saw men in suits running in opposite directions though they weren't too close to the car. There was something previously in the air but it was gone now, whatever it was. The driver cursed and screamed and ran out of the car. He was gone fast. Charlotte cautiously opened the door. She figured whatever was happening she should get out of there too.

She didn't exactly walk out of the car, more like tripped out of the car as she found her self on her hands and knees on the pavement. Underneath her she felt the ground shaking and suddenly two walls sprung up which closed off the area which she was in. Her eyes were open wide with shock and surprise. Was she trapped? What was happening? Oh, boy, she just seemed to attract danger everywhere she went!

She looked around frantically until she saw a man who was just staring at her. Was he the cause of all of this? Charlotte bit her bottom lip and her eyebrows furrowed together. She was scared and didn't know what to do. She got up shakily and brushed herself off.

"W-who are you...? What's going on...."

[Kinetix]

Michael drew his .9 milimeter pistol, pulling back the slide and letting it go with a loud snap. Guns were never really his thing, but with his ability a single bullet had enough power as a railgun. Even Nightlocke's barriers couldn't hold up to them. But that kind of power would probably kill her.

"Charlotte Frost, I am Commander Michael Rush of Division. You are ordered to lay down and put your hands on your head. Any resistance will be met with force."

That probably wouldn't do much, but he had procedures to follow. If he ignored them it would be more trouble for him and her. He inched closer. Nightlocke's powers were troublesome. Plasma and lightning were things he had trouble deflecting with his telekinesis; too many particles moving about to properly control. His best defense was to crush them with gravity or erect barriers. The Division special ops gear was heavy on him, but it offered a bit of comfort. The vest could take a shotgun round to the torso so it would probably hold up under at least one bolt of Nightlocke's.

His unease leaked into his subconscious, affecting his powers. Rocks and bits of metal started to float around him as most of his concentration was diverted to the girl.

[Nightlocke]

Charlotte eyed the gun as he pulled it out and aimed it at her. Why did he want her to do that? She didn't do anything wrong. She was just taking a cab somewhere... what was so wrong with that? Or... Charlotte gasped as she realized that this man must be someone from the army or might work for the government. By the looks of it, a mutant. Who else could make walls like that out of a bridge? He was after her because she was a wanted criminal, after all, even though she hadn't exactly done anything wrong. Was it because she had knocked out those police officers? That was self-defense! They were beating her up. Charlotte shook her head slightly. How did she remember that? Before, she hadn't remembered doing such a thing.
Charlotte didn't put her hands in the air because he told her to, it was a reaction to him pulling out his pistol.

"Wait," she begged, "Why are you doing this? I... I did nothing wrong!"

Something told her that the man in front of her wouldn't really listen to her pleas. What could she do? The man stepped forward and Charlotte stepped back. A bead of nervous sweat streamed down her face. Should she run? She had no idea what this guy was capable of, but something told her that it was a lot. Then she saw rocks and metal float around him. He was a telekinetic! Which meant that running wouldn't really work. But she couldn't fight him... she wasn't a fighter... why was this happening... The swell of such strong emotions flowing through her caused electricity to trickle around her body.

"Please, just leave me alone!"

[Kinetix]

Michael's eyes narrowed. The girl wasn't responding well. This was a problem. He took aim and fired. Time slowed for him. First he removed the friction of the barrel. Then he magnified the rifling, spinning the bullet faster than it normally should. A half moment after it cleared the barrel, Michael magnified the force a thousand times. That small piece of metal instantly melted into a ball of molten copper, breaking the sound barrier ten times over.

The bullet tore through the air, closing the distance between Michael and Nightlocke in under a second. It missed her by a good foot. The force ripped the pavement up and blasted a clean hole through the wall. The sheer force was enough to knock the girl twenty feet, but definitely not lethal.

Michael let out a sigh. "See. There's no way to resist."

[Nightlocke]

The moment her final word escaped her mouth, he pulled the trigger. There was a sound which ripped right through the air. It almost sounded like a jet plane flying faster than the speed of light. Charlotte didn't even have time to flinch when the bullet exploded a foot away from her and onward, through the wall the man had created previously creating a large hole. The next thing she knew, she was airborne. The shockwave had knocked her right off of her feet and into the air, but in a second she was on the ground again, spinning until her body decided to skid to a stop a couple of feet from the edge of the bridge.

The air was knocked right out of her when she had landed and she was now gasping for breath. Even after she had her breath back she was still seemingly breathless from the shock of what had just happened. She abruptly sat up, her hair and clothes an absolute mess. She wasn't injured and that much she was thankful for, but he missed on purpose. She was sure he missed on purpose. Next time, she might not get so lucky. At that moment was when she decided to fight back. She hadn't done anything wrong and there was no reason why she should be treated unfairly. At least no reason which she could remember. Charlotte got up with mist in her eyes and clenched fists. Her face contorted in anger, she unleashed an electrical force field which sent the taxi cab in between herself and the man flying at him.

"I haven't even resisted yet, jerk." she said to herself.

[Kinetix]

Surface. Surface. Force. Reflect. Disperse. Surface. Direct. Redirect. A thousand calculations done every millisecond. Michael's mind raced, absorbing every last bit of information he could get. His mutant power was very unusual. He literally bent the laws of physics instinctively. It was all very advanced. He once tried to learn how it all worked but it was well beyond his abilities.

He fired again. The bullet melted in mid-air and ripped through the car like tissue paper. That small mass brought with it enough force to knock the car straight into the air. As it tore through, the bullet twisted the taxi into a hunk of useless metal. The car landed off to the side somewhere out of sight.

Michael fired off two more shots at half max velocity. They hit the ground in front of Nightlocke, spraying up a shower of asphalt. With a thrust of his arm, he pushed them forward like a shower of baseballs.

He put the pistol away and pulled out a black handle. With a flick of his wrist, a baton unfolded. Michael settled into a combat stance, ready to dodge at a moments notice.

[Nightlocke]

Charlotte broke into a sprint as soon as she hurled the car at him with the force field. The young girl might have been small, but she was quite fast. He shot at her, barely missing by a mere inch, and even though she felt the force behind her, most of that force went forward, or past her, and not sideways so she was able to continue running without being thrown around.

Her movements were purely based on instinct yet somehow she felt as if she knew what she was doing. Every time something like this happened, when she was able to do amazing things without her not actually knowing how to perform such feats, it made her wonder just where had she come from. Had she gone through some sort of special training before by someone? That didn't matter right now though. She had to concentrate on getting out of this alive, if she could.

Charlotte focused a ball of electricity in each of her hands as she ran. She could feel the tingling sensation up and down her hands and arms as tiny bolts crackled on her fingers and on the palms of her hands. The ball of electricity turned into powerful plasma and she shot her arms forward and send two raging blasts of electrical plasma at the hostile stranger.

[Kinetix]

This was gonna be close. The scatter-shot had done nothing useful. Two balls of plasma were fast, like molten fire mixed with lightning. They were almost too fast. His baton blurred as he swung it down. The metal caught the first ball dead center and barely managed to deflect it down before melting. His right hand stretched out and caught the second.

He knew about Nightlocke's powers long before this. Energy had always been his weak spot. Too many free particles. But he could block this much at this range. Focus on one spot and cut it down the center. Let everything split into a thousand pieces of a shower. With one final push he blasted the ball outward. It scattered and faded into the air.

No time to catch his breath. Michael tossed up the remains of his baton and cocked back his arm. He swung, catching it on his gloved fist. A deafening roar belted out as that broken piece broke the sound barrier. He chased after it, launching himself with a telekinetic blast while reducing all friction to nothing.

His shot headed straight towards Nightlocke's chest. It would knock her out and probably break all her ribs. But he couldn't pull his punches against her. That would be suicide. He had to close the gap and end it with a good punch. And so he raced, skating across the shattered pavement like it was the smoothest ice.

[Nightlocke]

The fight wasn't a dance, it was a struggle. Charlotte could see her opponent's movements, but she lacked confidence, and more importantly, she was afraid of him, afraid of what he could do to her, or where he would take her, afraid of the unknown. All her moves thus far had been deemed useless because she was focusing on one course of action. When the stranger moved again, her eyes shut tightly as she froze in that sudden fear. Her mind switched. Darkness took over. A pair of confident blue eyes, sparkling with amusement, opened and she smiled.

Nightlocke stood upright and placed her arms out to where her palms were facing the incoming object. She moved as he moved. The dance had begun and the flow of the fight had turned into a single entity. Out of her hands, there was a sudden burst of energy, she shot out a large stream of unstable, explosive plasma, as hot as the stars.... Once Kintetix entered the premises of the electromagnetic field, he would set it off. Just in case, she put an electromagnetic force field around herself, not only protecting herself from her own destructive attack but from anything he might dish out next.

[Kinetix]

"Oh shi-!" Michael leapt back, landing on the side of the barrier. He stood there, negating the gravity so he could stand on the vertical wall. Nightlocke was moving differently. She fluidly vaporized that last projectile with a stream of plasma. The electric fire streaked towards him. Michael ran along the barrier, skating on the rock like it was ice. The plasma was melting the rock behind him. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and then burn away.

He landed on the ground and turned away. Pulling back his fists, he grabbed the wall, his fingers digging into the pavement like melted butter. Michael felt his entire body go taut as he concentrated. Huge cracks rose up the wall, a low groan emanating as a twenty foot section was ripped free. Michael turned around and hurled it.

He reached out with one hand and stopped the boulder above the girl. With his other hand, he uppercut. A deep rumbling shook the entire bridge. The soldiers looked at each other uncertainly.

The ground beneath Nightlocke broke. Water rushed through the openings and washed over her, dousing the plasma and catching her in a ball of liquid.

Michael intertwined his fingers and raised both arms. He wasn't thinking anymore. It was just the primitive fighting instinct. He slammed his fists down. The boulder boomed, breaking the sound barrier instantly and rushing towards Nightlocke.

[Nightlocke]

For a while Nightlocke had him on the run but then he turned around and tossed one of the walls which had blocked off their path earlier at her. But then he stopped it, causing it to hover over her. She watched him suspiciously as he swung his arm up in an uppercut. The ground underneath her gave out and a huge gush of water poured up. She would have fallen through the hole but the water kept her from falling down and since she still had the force field up, the water actually smashed against it and actually forced her up towards the rock above her. After the water came, the stranger once again pressed force against the rock so that she would be trapped with the water and the boulder.

Nightlocke could not move from the center of the force field. She had to use that to her advantage. She could however consciously let things in and out of the barrier. At the moment she was concentrating on keeping the water out. As she was launched up by the water fountain created by the stranger, Nightlocke raised both arms up at the huge chunk of concrete and metal and lightning poured out through her palms, striking the rock and crumbling it to pieces flying everywhere, the additional momentum of the water helping her put more force into it. Some of the debris crashed against her force field which were then evaporated by the electrical energy.

Nightlocke made the forcefield a little bigger so that she wouldn't happen to fall through the hole now and did a cartwheel in the air to actually roll away from the hole to a more safer ground. Now there was water surrounded her which conducted electricity. Then again, didn't the wires conduct electricity as well. Nightlocke smiled a wicked grin as she thought she would test that. Bringing her left arm up to point at her left side at the wires and vise versa, she shot two lightning bolts of electricity from her hands and towards the wires while charging the air and the water on the ground with electricity. The wires were hit and crackled with the lightning on both sides and then, attracted to each other, shot back and forth across from each other. The entire thing was a lightning frenzy. And the stranger being in the middle of it would be smart to be very very careful.

"I know very well who you are Michael Rush," she said, her voice low and menacing, "even though the other me doesn't remember you, I know your face very well. I remember how you trained me. Oh, the memories. How fucking endearing," but she also remembered the torturous experiments and frowned, "But I do not have any plans whatsoever to go back to that place. I will never let anyone control me ever again!"

[Kinetix]

The mutant winced as lightning struck his uniform. The voltage was relatively low compared to lightning from a storm cloud, but it still burned shallow holes in his bulletproof vest. He jumped back out of range, but kept an eye on the wires.

Michael frowned at Nightlocke's words. This was what he was afraid of. The experiments Division performed on her were inhuman and he had protested against them profusely. They went ahead regardless and he had to act the part. And now Nightlocke had a darker side who appeared to remember him. That mean she knew about his power.

He chuckled and blinked. A telekinetic wave pressed the wires into the ground, burying them. She knew about his ability. But that was actually a good thing. Before when she was clueless he had to restrain himself because he wasn't sure of her ability to control her own power. But now he knew she was ready. He had trained her after all.

"This is Michael, requesting air support." He let the button on his radio go.

The two Comanche helicopters rose into view on either side of the bridge. Their .50 caliber chain guns spun up, releasing a high-pitch whine before burping out a stream of hot lead at Nightlocke.

But that wouldn't be enough to stop her. Michael raised his hands and focused on the bullets. The noise became deafening as all the bullets began breaking the sound barrier. The hail of bullets became a chain of railgun fire pounding the shit out of the force field. It sounded like an endless rolling thunder. Reverberating, the long wires supporting the bridge shook. Michael breathed slowly. This was barely scratching the surface of what he could do, but he didn't want to destroy the bridge.