Who: Maya Gardener and Callie Byrd What: MISSION OPS Where: In Maya's apartment and on a plane. Simultaneously. When: DURING THIS Why: Because Maya might not be able to see, but she can SEE. Rating: PG Status: Complete!
Callie took a deep breath as she settled into the pilot’s seat of the helicopter. Her whole body was buzzing like it always did during a mission. Her features didn’t give any of this away however and she appeared as calm and collected as she always did. With her helmet fastened and her leather pilot’s gloves snuggly on both hands, she gripped the collective control with one hand and the cyclic control with the other. It had been a while since she’d been up in the air, but it was like riding a bike. Her feet rested gently on the rudder as they prepared for take-off.
“This is Cardinal for Batgirl, do you read me. Over.” She spoke clearly and calmly into the headset which was wired into her helmet. She was glad that Maya was the one on the other end of it. For one, she trusted Maya, as opposed to some of the other TAs and this was a mission where trust would be important. Rescuing a kidnapped student was outside of her realm of expertise, but she knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park and there was very little room for error. Plus, she knew that Maya was quite useful on the other end of the walkie. Aside from reading coordinates and keeping her away from commercial aircrafts, the person on the other end was usually fairly redundant. But Maya could sense things they couldn’t and it was nice knowing she was on their side.
“Preparing for take off en route to destination.”
---
“This is Batgirl. Reading you loud and clear.”
The logical place to be for something like this was the comms room in the security office, but the unfamiliar atmosphere in there would only make the job she had to do more difficult. Maya sat cross-legged on the floor in her living room, the breeze from the open window flowing across her face. She did her best to keep the connection with Callie strong. It would be a lot harder once she and the team were off the island. It was easier with someone she knew well, but not by much over such a great distance.
The wireless headset was another blessing, it allowed her to rest her hands on her knees, keeping herself grounded. “I’m with you,” she said, less formally. “Please be careful. I don’t want to have to pick up Birdy’s pieces if you get yourself killed.”
---
"Duly noted." Callie said unable to keep the smirk from her lips as she brought the helicopter up off the ground. "He's terrible to clean up after. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, let alone someone I like." Talking was good. It kept her mind from going too fast. She was still focused on the mission, but Maya being in her ear would keep the edge off.
"We are airborne and heading East." She said as they gained altitude and turned towards the proper direction. “Stay with us and report anything that seems suspicious. There’s not a whole lot of room for errors on this one.”
---
“I will,” Maya promised. She took a deep breath and concentrated on keeping up the precognition over a distance increasing rapidly. It was good that she had so much practice. She focused on Callie, the vibration of the helicopter, the relative thinness of the air around her compared to on the ground. The two parts of her mind were being gradually dragged apart, and she had a few moments where she began to get queasy, from the magic, or the flying, she couldn’t tell, but she dragged herself back into the present.
All the same she was relieved when they landed. “That’s better,” she said, low. “I was starting to get dizzy. Everything okay? Over,” she added belatedly. She was arguably one of the best precogs ever to graduate from Olympian, but military speak and procedure was not one of her strong points.
---
Callie flipped off the engine and shut the helicopter down quickly upon landing. Better to keep things as quiet and undetectable for as long as possible. They still didn’t know who might be nearby or what capabilities they had.
She paused when Maya mentioned dizziness. “Feeling okay?” She asked, frowning a little. “Looks clear from here. Going down to check the perimeter now. Can you sense anything out there?” She unbuckled her safety belt and stood up, reaching for supplies as she she maneuvered through the tight cabin. She strapped a firearm to her waist and motioned to the others in the group to head out.
---
“Not yet,” Maya said, tiny muscles twitching in her cheeks and forehead as she concentrated. “Seems quiet. Don’t let your guard down though, I could miss something.” She stretched her consciousness out as far as she could, trying to get a fix on anything moving, anything living, that wasn’t the team. She had to be on the look out for Xander as well as any potential enemies.
--
Callie hopped out of the helicopter and immediately went to work checking the perimeter. Shanti would be staying with her at the aircraft and the rest of the team was heading in to locate and rescue the student who had been taken. Her hands were out in front of her, and she could feel the tingling just under her skin as she readied herself with a defensive spell in case there was someone lurking, waiting to attack them.
“It’s very quiet here.” She said into the headset. “Even the wildlife is quiet.” She couldn’t hear any birds or insects the way one normally would. “I don’t like it. You’re sure you don’t feel anything?”
---
Maya did her best to concentrate harder, but the distance was straining. “It feels empty,” she said uncertainly. Suddenly a sharp movement on the very edge of her consciousness. “No,” she said quickly. “To your right. Something moving to the right.”
---
Callie spun to her right and her hands pulsed with the warmth of magic. There were several bushes and trees on the edge of the clearing where they had landed and any number of things that could be lurking. She moved carefully forward, her breathing calm and even. She weighed her options and considered all of the possible threats before finally blowing a short but powerful gust of wind at the bush that was moving.
A jackal cried out as it was sent flying backwards towards the mass of trees and it skittered off whinging in its wake.
"Non-human. It was a jackal." Callie breathed into the headset, her heart was pounding in her chest.
---
“Sorry,” Maya winced. She should be able to tell the difference between a human and an animal even at this distance. “Callie this is weird. It’s like something’s messing with my Sight, like everything’s all… dampened, around you.” Blurriness was not a concept she could identify with. “Be careful.”
---
“It’s fine. I’d rather a false alarm than a hostile springing on me.” Callie said, walking back to the edge of the clearing to see if she could spot anything else. “Dampened?” She asked, concern edging her voice. “Is it the distance? Or something else?” She wished she had someone trained in Enchantments with them to check and see. As it was, she was good at creating spells, not feeling for them out in the open like this. And she was useless with Psychic abilities so she wasn’t even sure what she ought to be telling Maya to feel for. “Would you be able to tell if it was a spell or something blocking you?”
---
“I… I’m not sure,” Maya grimaced. “The connection with you is good. But…” she took a deep breath and tried to focus. “You’re clear where you are, I’m sure. But I can’t feel inside. It’s like a blanket over my head or something. If I had to guess, it’s some kind of anti-scrying enchantment. I’m sorry Callie, I’m going to be pretty useless.”
--
Callie didn’t like the sound of that. She hated going in without at least a basic idea of what to expect. Not that she was the one actually going in, but her team was. Which was somehow worse for the brunette. “Not your fault.” She said after a moment, trying to think of something that would help. “You’re doing your best. If it’s an enchantment, it means whoever is running things here knows a thing or two about magic and anti-scrying means whoever is running things knows that someone might be trying to look in on them. Which isn’t good.” She definitely didn’t like this at all. The organization was supposed to be the one with access to these kinds of things. “Stay with me, just in case. The team has already gone in and I’d rather have you keeping tabs on things, even if it’s limited.”