Operation Teardown

Cauda 15 - The Data Centre's Last Stand

"This is our final update."

It was quiet in the data centre. Tess had stopped speaking with Hex and was commanding Radi and Botan. All 'patients' in the makeshift hospital (other side of the spacious room) were alive and well. Annie, Carol and Whitty had returned much earlier, 'captured' (escorted) off the premises for 'questioning' (safe passage) by IRIS soldiers. They still rested on hospital cots, Whitty and Carol hooked up to various machinery.

Both Whitty and Carol were originally brought in unconscious. Since then they had both woken up. While the blast remained destructive for Whitty, Carol had counter-acted it by casting as much healing magic as she could before the impact. Focusing more on Whitty she let herself take the brunt of the hit, hence her slow time to wake.

Fortunately, with Rosie and the fae nearby they healed Carol faster.

At first Whitty was pissed she would do that then relented upon Carol kissing him. To her the team won. Even if the gold wasn't obtained at that point she felt it worth the humiliation they inflicted on the Family.

"Did you see the look on her face when we threw her into the portal?!" Carol hollered.

Annie agreed too, the three of them recounting the battle, laughing especially hard when they heard Updike shot the resurrected Mommy.

Not all was happy however. Once Whitty woke up he and Annie got an earful from Tess and Displo, annoyed they didn't catch Pomona earlier. And when they saw JJ and Pompom they looked away, feeling the death stare Tess shot at them.

The smallest monitor had been changed to a local weather station. Rosie's request, noting that if she had to perform an escape in the rain she'd run the risk of hydroplaning. "Just wanna know how reckless I can go."

With the plan in full swing the only teams remaining in the data centre were Team Fortran and Haskell. The three COs, Solazar, Tess and Displo were anxious. The gold had been obtained, the hell gate bombed and surveillance destroyed. All that remained was to get out and cast the spell. Though on paper it looked easy, the three COs knew of 2 variables that could disrupt it.

Psychic was still out there and it was unknown if the spell would even work on him. He blindsided the crew and even after engagement nobody knew exactly how to defeat him. How he'd gone undetected all until now greatly embarrassed Solazar, Displo and Updike. He was a literal trump card the Family had.

The second was the Laughing Plan. So far nobody had a clue what it could be. With S granting the team full access to the Family's servers they searched directory through directory to find any reference to this Laughing Plan. So far nothing. Displo searched IRIS' database, Tess searched TGG's and Solazar on the Family' servers. No hits so far.

Updike believed it something to do with the stolen energy from the arch demons. He stated he wasn't sure what they were storing it for but 'improperly stored demonic energy could result in a catastrophic explosion'. With Psychic, Mommy and Retro's previous presences in the hangar, Displo deduced that was where the energy was stored.

When Kapi plainly asked if meant they had a nuke, Updike could only reply, 'possibly'. Speculation aside, Updike ordered Displo prep IRIS and TGG forces for a possible deployment. He also ordered Blackjack to go to hell and seek their council.

Solazar questioned the possibility of the Family, namely Daddy using the demonic energy to power himself up. "That is possible." He replied. "But even super powered he could still be defeated. I don't think it's that simple."

The fact that Daddy was defeated lifted most spirits. Carol woke up some time earlier, much to Whitty's happiness. Annie felt relieved, though still wished to give him a go herself. Tess too, felt a strange feeling, that her revenge had been sated.