Log:Tracking in the Wastes

2020/11/02 	 Victory Baker Grant Anthem 1

Last time, on Agents of Starguard

Hours ago, Wayne brought up that Artemis had left to answer a calling and has yet to return. Concerned, he brought it up to Starguard's finest. After tracking the last ping signal on Artemis' smartphone, the crew flew to Antartica, only to get shot down by unknown assailants. They're currently grounded a few kilometers from where they were shot down, stuck in -90 degree temperatures. Victory has packed up some emergency blankets, flint and steel, a first aid kit, and some water purification tablets. The group now decides what to do next.

It's a Snow Day!

Too bad it's less a reason to play hooky from work and sit at home with a warm blanket and hot beverage...

...and more trudging through snow and ice in the sub-freezing temperatures of a blizzard.

Baker's field keeps the wind off, and actually traps body heat to make the interior comfortable, if not quite cozy. "I hope the mountains are also the direction we were headed. Backtracking in this isn't going to be any fun."

Victory nods to Baker and looks at the compass as part of his PDA. "Pretty sure we're headed toward that missile site."

Victory mutters, "I'm just kicking myself because we didn't grab appropriate cold weather gear."

Grant looks around at the others. He recognizes most as Starguard or at least affiliated, but consdiering the people that shot them down will likely be on them soon he knows they need to curve things to their advantage. He also knows an environment like this won't allow for a lot of advantage, plus he feels bad for crashing the plane and leaving them stranded in Antartica. He certainly has no intention of letting his darn-fool ego get his allies frozen.

He trudges on before sighing audibly. "I feel down-right awful for that terrible display back there... and whoever shot us down is going ot be on us in no time. If that hadn't happened then we wouldn't have needed that gear in the first place. Maybe we should jump closer to the missile site, sir?" He suggests to Victory.

Anthem helped the crash from turning into a total wreck, but that was at the limit of his ability; in the intervening time, he's boosted himself into the air to make sure of where they're going. The cold doesn't seem to bother him a bit.

Victory looks over to Grant as they continue walking. "Jump? What do you mean, exactly?"

"Oh- I assumed you read my file... Sir." Grant says sheepishly. "I don't exactly liek leaning on my 'abilities'..." He says the word as if it were a curse. "I didn't really have a chance to do anything in the crash but now that we're on the ground and we have a few flicks of a cat's tail for me to concentrate I can get us... well a good deal closer to the base I'd bet."

"Hindsight is 20/20..." Baker notes to Victory at the self-kicking. "Wouldn't have thought we were going to get shot down, so..." He pauses at Grant's mention of jumping, quieting to listen. Baker's assuming he's not talking about one giant leap over the mountains.

Victory blinks. "Oh...right. I've been caught up with just...well, the immediate issues." He says to Grant, "You have a good point. If you can get us closer to the missile site, great. But at the same time, the goal is to not be targets, either. There's a good chance they'll be looking for us. Give me a second..."

Victory gives Grant the estimated distance remaining to where the missiles were launched from.

"Thank you, Sir." Grant says as he rubs his hands together and stares off in the distance for about where he's trying to get to.

He comes to a halt and puts his hands in front of him.

He imagines the hum of his gateway and the hum of the universe around him and how that vibration might change over distances and through obstacles. Then he tries to make his local harmonic match that.

Anthem floats along a few inches above the snow, his golden glow not fading. A pause as the gate is proposed and attempted, he listens and respectfully watches.

The way to the estimated missile sight is mostly flat, but it's also hazy and a bit windy. Still, the portal opens up to somewhere that looks much like where they currently are. Then again, Antartica hasn't got so many landmarks that stand out.

Anthem offers, "I could go through, take a look."

Grant focuses on the harmonic and keeping things in sync but peers through the gate to see how close (or far) he is from things.

Victory nods. "We're likely to want to keep the bubble in close proximity, so we'll need to head through closely."

It's misty on the other side of the gate, and there's the sound of muted ocean waves. There's no sign of people or vehicles through the gate.

"I'm not so sure I hit the mark." Grant admits. "But I can't hold these open for long... so we need to decide what to do stat. I can close this and retry or someone can take a peek through while I hold it open."

That sounded like an invitation! Anthem zooms through and then straight up, looking around to see where the gate has let out.

Victory motions to the others to also follow on Anthem's heels, and he steps through the gate.

Grant waits for the others so eh can cross the threshold last. He holds it open until Anthem returns and gives them good reason not to fear being lost.

Anthem pauses at the top of his ascent, then quickly drops back, to discover the others coming through the gate. "Good news!" he says to them. "We are now behind three of our assailants -- one of which has a rocket launcher!" Because he doesn't know the difference between a SAM and somethimg else.

Grant promptly closes the gateway.

"That's a heck of a relief." Grant says freely, sounding very grateful. He takes a moment to shake off the harmonic buzz he gets in his fingertips when he uses his powers like that, still smiling at the Bearer of Blessed News, Anthem.

"Now what, Sir? Press on to the base?" He asks Victory, concerned with the group becoming a sudden target once again.

Victory turns on his shield and looks back the other way that Anthem indicates. The other hero was a bit...louder than he would have hoped, but maybe they haven't been heard yet. He tries to keep his voice low. "Keep an eye out for shelter. I'd rather fight these folks inside if at all possible."

Grant nods and presses on. "Yes Sir." He says quietly, staying vigilant for a building around them so he can jump them inside if possible.

The direction Anthem indicated is the direction of the crash site.

Victory says to Anthem, "How far out are they from us?"

Victory thinks he spots them. "A couple hundred meters out. I think we're okay. Any sign of their shelter?"

Grant looks ahead to try and see any sign of where their pursuers came from.

Anthem had popped up a bit to eyeball the opposition, and had missed the rest; coming back down, he glances backwards once more, back the way the fellows with the rocket launcher had been heading. Hopefully they won't look back ... hopefully.

"So now we're... behind enemy lines?" Baker asks softly, uncertain whether that is good or bad. He follows the other glances back, then looks forward.

"Of sorts," Anthem replies, but he sounds a little dubious about it.

Victory nods to Baker, "Seems like it, more or less. At least with their scouting party. It's a safe bet their base is that way." He points in the opposite direction from where the gunmen are.

All of them can notice the depression on the ground that looks like maybe that's where they fired from. While the snow shoe tracks head back to the crash sight where they see the men heading, the shoe tracks from the deeper set depression (maybe someone was kneeling to stabilize?) also lead towards some mountains a little further inland.

Baker nods. "They were obviously expecting company, or were ready to receive it. Something tells me it's only going to get more interesting from here on in. But so long as its indoors..." He agrees with Victory on that part. If they have to fight, maybe they can at least do so out of the elements. " ...and that way." He points further inland, away from the scouting party heading to where they were, which is not where they currently are, nor where they wish to be.

Grant keeps moving, falling quiet due to the severity of the situation. He hasn't exactly completed his SERE training, so he's leaning heavily on Victory's leadership here.

"So- should I jump us towards the mountains to break their line of sight?" Grant asks the Senior Officer.

Victory thinks about it. "They hit us with a shoulder-launched rocket, huh? Not quite what I was expecting, but okay." He nods in agreement with Baker, "They must have been prepared to be out here with a weapon like that. A regular guard wouldn't carry a SAM normally, I would think." He nods to Grant. "Yeah, along their path, though. That's where they're likely based out of. They'll have a shelter here someplace."

"Yes Sir." Grant says before he turns & estimates as best he can, given the instructions provided.

He takes a few moments and attempts to connect the two points by resonating and alternating the local filed harmonic.

The gate opens again, this time near the foot of the mountain. While there's still snow and ice everywhere, bits of dark brown rocky earth is visible from its ascent.

Once more, Anthem zooms through, swooping this way and that to hunt down the trail of the kidnappers and attempted murderers. "Over here!!" he calls out, hoping they hear him through the gate.

Grant waits for the others and wills tep through last to make sure he can cover their backs as well as hold the portal open.

Victory blinks...and cant' help but wish Anthem was a bit...quieter. He steps through the portal again to assess the new situation.

Anthem is over by the foot of a steep-angled face of the mountain, and waves at the others coming through. Waiting until they get closer, he points to messed-up snow at its foot -- and tracks that lead straight to it before disappearing. "Some kind of entrance!"

Victory looks around just to make sure they're not about to be shot at, but then he moves toward where Anthem is.

Baker follows the other two up and sighs. "So... secret door into the mountain? What kind of people are we dealing with, here?!" Admittedly, if they're going for remote hidden secret lair... alright, they're actually doing a pretty decent job of that. Let's hope that the scout with the carried weapon means they skimped on the cannon emplacements.

Anthem is a flying skeet target, what with the slight glow of his Undying Fire Within!! So the cannons are probably (probably) a no-go. He starts hunting around for a good place to hide a secret entrance's secret entrance button ...

Grant just shrugs. He's got even less tenure than Baker. He just came to save the pretty space babe. He's been utside of his comfort zone since the missiles started flying and well outside his expertise to boot.

Anthem frowns, investigating what /appears/ to be a perfectly-ordinary-looking bump of rock, but ... he puts his thumb up against it, and then carefully presses down. Or, you know, in.

The depression goes in at the press. There's an old metal creak and groan. The wall of the mountain starts to slide in a little and upwards slowly, revealing a metal hall peppered with rust that descends down beneath the mountain. The metal door is heavy and thick, and the opening and ramp is about 4m wide by 4m high.

The sound is grating. And echoes a bit down the long ramp down. It's dark, but soon, a few ceiling lights flicker on like old...wow...old fluorescent lighting. Not even LEDs. Even the mechanism for the door feels old school.

Anthem floats into the middle of the opening, rubbing at his chin. "Hm. Old. Looks like an old forgotten VIPER or Dr. Destroyer base or something, eh?"

Victory furrows his brow. "Or an old Cold War location?" He also takes a look inside to get out of the cold.

Further within, lights are already on where the look ramp levels off. The top of the ramp is wet, and a bit of new snow and ice has fallen a couple inches into the entrance.

"Old and warm is... still warm..." Baker offers up as she steps up and looks in. He chuckles a litle. Cold War...

Anthem hmms again, but nods and floats inside, looking about for the internal door controls. If he's learned one thing from spy movies, it's that secret agents never look for the controls. Well, on-screen, anyhow.

Victory moves a little further in to keep an eye on the tunnel leading away from them, while Anthem looks for the way to close the door.

There's no panel by the door. Anthem has to check further into the interior as the others explore deeper. There proves to be no need, because once the group is clear enough within, the heavy blast doors--which prove to be four meters thick--drop back down into place rapidly with a loud sound that surrounds them as it travels down the long ramp tunnel. The flickering lights and the more steady ones below prevent our heroes from being plunged into darkness.

Victory keeps his shield up. That door was likely loud enough that those inside heard it. "Hopefully this is where Artemis is too. Otherwise, this is going to get complicated."