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Merc's Metamorphs

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Chapter 27: Zunzwang

The three vehicles came through exactly as the intel had suggested and, right as they passed the convenience store at the center of town Demon phased through the cinder block wall behind it and sprinted across the road. The Pitbull went into a roll across the asphalt, going into a prone position just past where the first SUV was driving and, with the ease of someone quite familiar with their powers, caused the road to let the vehicle's tires phase through it before letting the asphalt firm up again-- the result was 'dynamic'.

The front axle was pulled back into the drive train and the SUV's front bumper rotated right down into the street, sending the back up and over until it came slamming down on its roof. The second SUV barely managed to stop in time but the third one slammed into the second. Bruiser was right there to intercept the one man with a gun as he fumbled his way out of the door; one solid punch sent him sprawling. The entire engagement lasted barely 30 seconds.

Merc wasn't used to standing back while Bruiser and Demon did all the work; he honestly didn't much care for it. At Rook's request, the Kangacobra remained by his side, keeping him safe from what he referred to as 'unaccounted for variables' as he extended his senses and monitored the engagement through security cameras. There was no other resistance, and Merc was finally able to relax a little, gratified that none of his boyfriends had been harmed.

Emerging from his hiding spot with Rook, Merc headed out to congratulate his team mates. "You guys made that look easy."

Rook followed along a step beside him; although his beak wasn't as expressive as a mouth, the Raven was definitely smiling smugly. "Definitely less than two minutes."

Bruiser glanced to him, then gestured. "We've got company."

The commotion in the middle of Palos Rojos had not gone unnoticed and many of the locals began gathering up to see what was going on; most of them had their cell phones out, most likely recording. Merc wasn't entirely opposed to a little publicity but he still didn't like the idea of too many eyes on his group while they were working as government lap dogs. He was about to speak up when Rook leaned over to speak quietly. "None of them will be recording. We're fine."

It didn't take long for a police car to arrive; Merc liked dealing with police less than he lked dealing with civilians recording him but, fortunately, Bruiser had a way about him when it came to law enforcement and the Orca wasted no time at all with greeting them, explaining their involvement in town (a coincidental foiling of drug runners for the common good), presented his Powered Heroes credentials, and gave the cops a quick wave goodbye as he turned over all of the captured criminals.

Demon trotted over to give the Orca a slap on the shoulder and the two made their way to Merc and Rook; the Dog added with a grin "Looks like we have our answer: Orcas are white with black markings, because if you were black with white markings the cops wouldn--" he got an elbow for his tasteless humor.

Rook quickly brought things back into perspective, ushering the group along as many of the crowd appeared to be transitioning from being bystanders to being fans-- the Raven was more than ready to get a move on and Merc was of the same mind when shouts from the civilians calling for them, asking for selfies, requesting autographs, and at least one request for impregnation. Merc, never one to pass up an opportunity for at a least a little showmanship when he had a chance to really confound onlookers, about faced and raised his voice. "People of Palos Rojos, thank you for your kind welcome... we'd love to stay, but it's still early and we have more bad guys to stop. Until next time!"

Bruiser spoke under his breath. "You sure do get a kick out of--" He didn't get a chance to finish the comment as Merc reached out to ensure he was connected to his entire group, and then teleported all of them right back into their motel room more than two miles away where they'd started the day. "-showboating."

As they all disengaged, Merc went back to the table where Christopher had laid out the intel paperwork provided to them by Alvarez. "Alright... take a breather, or do we move forward with part two?"

Demon glanced to the digital watch he wore under the elbow-length paw glove on his left arm. "We can't wait too long if we want to finish it up before we're forced to switch back out of our Metamorph forms."

The Rook wasn't paying any attention, rather, he was looking down at a flip phone he held in one talon. Merc realized what was going on. "You grabbed that off of one of the smugglers, didn'cha?"

The Raven nodded. "Yes. I'm reviewing the messages, call records, and GPS tracker locations every time it pinged. Looks like one of the coordinates match the safe house... they left there two hours ago."

Merc nodded, motioning to the rest of the team. "Well I already know we were going to have to do it in hops-- if I haven't been somewhere before I can only teleport to somewhere I can see. Gather up, gang."

The total trip took almost an hour, which meant that their time in their Metamorph forms was more than half over, and the engagement they were facing involved clearing a two story house. It was more than enough time, of course, but Merc had never much cared for cutting it close when it came to racing the clock. To make matters worse, the engagement was yet another one in which the Kangacobra was going to be sitting on the sidelines. Grumbling to himself, Merc scratched at his gloved talon and sulked to a nearby alley with Rook while Bruiser and Demon got into position.

Thanks to Bruiser's mind speak and Rook's ability to eavesdrop with the safe house's security system they had little trouble receiving and conveying battlefield intelligence. Everyone in the team had familiarized themselves with the basic layout of the home and, once Bruiser and Demon had phased through the concrete wall surrounding the compound-like safe house the operation had officially started.

Bruiser spoke to everyone in their mind. "I sense ten total... five downstairs, four upstairs, and one out back."

Rook followed that up. "Agreed. I can see all five upstairs, the one on patio, and three downstairs... the fourth is most likely in the bathroom."

Merc already knew what Bruiser and Demon were going to do before they did it, so he was hardly surprised when the Orca and Pitbull asked at the same time. "I/you get the one out back and you/I will get the one in the bathroom?"

Being of a same mind made things easy; it wasn't long before Bruiser reported in acknowledging he'd subdued the guy in the back and stowed him in the bushes; Demon, at the same time, had phased into the bathroom, catching the guy quite literally 'with his pants down'-- the 'shitter', as the Dog called him, was also down for the count. Rook's optimistic thoughts weighed in. "Two down. 20% complete."

Merc was happy to hear the optimism, but he still hated being sidelined. Rubbing his glove-covered palm, the Kangacobra licked one fang then the other as he mulled over the possible complications. He pushed out distractions, however, focusing on the task at hand instead. "Any others on their own?"

Rook and Bruiser both confirmed at the same time that a guy was in the kitchen alone downstairs and there were three in the living room. Rook then added that two of the guys upstairs were alone and there were two together. Demon quickly piped in mentally "Oh? In a bedroom? Together? You think they're gettin' busy?"

The Raven responded, his mental dialogue still coming across as flat despite there not actually being a 'sound' to it. "No, they are watching the street. Fortunately they cannot see us from their current vantage."

Bruiser's next comment was back on task. "Demon, you get the one in the kitchen. If we can get past the three in the living room and upstairs we can clear out most of the house before having to take on multiple guys at once."

Demon's mental comment was full of levity. "But, Bruiser, I thought you LIKED 'taking on' multip-- ow!"

Merc had to fight back a snicker, but his own thoughts were professional. "Focus, Demon. Get the guy in the kitchen and we'll go from there."

Rook reached out and gently slipped a talon around Merc's wrist near the top of his glove, speaking quietly verbally. "It'll be fine. Don't worry... I'll narrate."

The Kangacobra smiled inwardly; despite being so caught up with monitoring things with his technology site, Rook was still perceptive enough to realize that Merc was ill-at-ease. Leaning forward, he brushed the end of his muzzle through the feathers atop the Raven's head. "Thanks."

The blow-by-blow, as it turned out, took only a few seconds: Demon phased into the kitchen, came up behind the guy, who was preparing some kind of egg dish, and summarily disabled him, covering his mouth with a paw, then headbutting him... twice. Merc couldn't resist. "That's using your head."

Bruiser pushed on, sticking to the task at hand. "Demon... see if you can find a stepping stool or something... we should be able to phase through the ceiling if we can get high enough to pull ourselves up."

The Dog had a response right away. "Well, damn... this marble counter top could hold us both... how's THAT sound?"

The Orca seemed content with that answer. "Sure. Come back and get me."

Silence prevailed again for several seconds and, once again, Rook played commentator as the two of them avoided the living room, walking through two walls to get to the kitchen. From there, they climbed up onto the kitchen counter (the Raven went off on a tangent about how it was a poor choice for the kitchen because acid from some foods could etch it badly). He interrupted his own tangential comment to add "They're upstairs now."

The sweep of the upstairs went well-- rather than separate individually to each take a single occupant of a room Bruiser instead snuck into position to get ready to rush the two sharing a room while Demon handled the other two. As the Dog was disabling the second, the Orca spelled things out. "You jump them from the east wall-- take the one nearest the wall and when the second guy focuses on you I'll barge in and take him down."

Demon's response was straight to the point. "That works for me... just lemme know when you're ready."

"Go!"

It wasn't possible for Merc to watch the goings on from where he was waiting with Rook and the next several seconds resulted in more grinding his knuckle into the palm of his glove, but, once the 20 seconds that felt like a lifetime had finally ended Rook stated "The top floor is secure. Just the three downstairs to go."

Bruiser was ready to continue. "Alright... how do we want to tackle this? Drop down through the ceiling?"

Demon's mental response was full of levity; Merc could imagine the big Dog laughing darkly. "Works for me... as long as it's not like what happened in New Orleans."

Rook interrupted the stroll down memory lane with a rather forceful mental message. "We have more incoming! A black SUV is pulling up out front!"

Merc deftly twitched his tongue out of the way as he clenched his teeth, very narrowly avoiding giving himself a piercing. He fought back a growl, thumb sliding down to his wrist at the edge of his glove to wipe away an errant droplet of black. "I'm going in.

He honestly expected Rook to object but, surprisingly, the Raven simply stated aloud in a quiet tone. "Be safe."

Having been antsy since the engagement in Palos Rojos, Merc was only to happy to let off some steam. The four men in the SUV were so caught up in their own business that it took them far too long to notice the 8' tall Kangacobra barreling toward them-- his shoulder impact into the vehicle was more than enough to correct that problem and, as he'd anticipated, the men on the driver's side were all too quick to pull out their guns and make the silly mistake of sticking their arms out the windows.

The driver was disarmed by Merc's incredibly powerful talon; once his wrist was twisted at an odd angle and the gun dropped into the Kangacobra's waiting grasp. The man leaning out of backseat, however, got Merc's much less delicate tail and the resounding snapping of bone indicated that he wouldn't be picking the weapon back up. The Metamorph then hauled the driver out of the SUV and face-planted him onto the pavement. With both of the men on his side of the vehicle incapacitated he was then able to focus on the other two.

The man in the backseat had drawn his own gun and, as he stepped out on the opposite side of the SUV swung his firearm around to take a bead on Merc... only to get a pistol thrown into his face with all the strength the Kangacobra could muster, and it was more than enough to knock him out cold. With three down, Merc then turned to regard the fourth man, who had been in the passenger's seat. He was out of the SUV and was coming around the front, gun taking aim. The moment he stepped in front of the vehicle, however, it revved, and sprang forward a few feet, knocking the man to the ground. Merc wasted no time reaching down with a foot and stomping on the gunman's head, soundly rendering him unconscious.

Rook's mental sending entered Merc's mind. "That could have ended badly, but we are lucky the SUV was electric and had a computer controlled drive system."

Merc glanced toward the Raven and blinked the nictitating membrane of his right eye in a wink. "Looks like I have a guardian angel."

The two of them secured the four men in the street, using zip ties to bind them and left the four leaning against the SUV. By that point Bruiser and Demon emerged from the house, each carrying two men per arm. Demon didn't bother using their mind speech as the four met face-to-face. "Five left inside and one in the backyard."

Rook motioned to the SUV but he responded mentally "We can gather all of them up over there. We're supposed to destroy the safe house so we'll want to empty them out."

Merc offered a shrug as the words came out before he realized what he was saying. "We could always leave them inside... it'd save everyone a lot of trouble." Three sets of eyes settled on him incredulously and he offered a sheepish smile and a shrug. "Kidding!"

Bruiser and Demon returned to the house with Merc following along, glancing back to Rook. "Keep an eye out here from a safe distance. We'll be back."

He entered with the rest of his team, already knowing the layout of the house despite it being the first time he was physically there. He called ahead to Demon and Bruiser. "I'll handle the guy in the kitchen and the one out back. Let's meet up again outside."

Demon pointed out a problem. "You need me to get through the wall outside."

Rook corrected him. "I have the gate open-- it's on a central security system."

Bruiser gave the Pitbull a light smack to the shoulder. "Let's go."

Merc's muzzle scrunched up at the acrid haze in the kitchen and it took him a moment to remember that the guy there had been cooking when he was incapacitated. Grabbing him by the shirt, the Kangacobra dragged him out the back door; despite the man being unconscious, the Kangacobra couldn't help but mention "Looks like those eggs are a little overdone, my guy."

Once he was in the backyard, the Kangacobra fished the second guy out of the bushes where Bruiser had left him. and, hefting them each up onto a shoulder, he strolled toward the front of the safe house. Merc beat his teammates back to the SUV and, by that point, they'd attracted a bit of a crowd. Rook was quick to speak up "Just civilians. I don't speak Spanish so I can't tell what they're saying."

Rather than try to translate, Rook simply opened up his senses to let the rest of the team hear them through him; it was a strange experience since nobody on the team had ever managed to use their mind link that way. Merc was so surprised that Bruiser translated instead. "It sounds like they had no love for the cartel... they all seem to be happy seeing them get beat down... and they seem to know who we are."

Rook acknowledged that. "Right. 'Merc's Metamorphs' is the same in Spanish as it is in English."

Once the entire team had gathered together at the SUV Bruiser nodded to Merc and Demon then went to speak with the crowd. Merc smiled with pride as the Orca, handled the civilians, gesturing calmly and speaking in a smooth tone. It wasn't long before ardent and soulful shouts came up from the people. "¡Los Metamorfos nos salvaron!" and "¡Benditos sean los Metamorfos!" seemed to be the most popular.

Rook accepted the translations from Bruiser, but he cut it short as his feathers puffed up. "Gentlemen, I think I just got a transmission from the police-- I think they're on their way so our job here is done."

Bruiser returned to the group, thinking rather than saying "What about destroying the safe house?"

The Raven grinned, responding in kind. "I shorted some wires. That, and the fire in the kitchen should handle things."

Merc nodded, keeping the discussion in their minds. "Gather up then. I'll get us out of here. Let's take a minute to regroup at the motel."

With no objections forthcoming, the other three crowded around the Kangacobra and, with one final wave to the gathered populace, the Merc activated his power of teleportation, bringing all of them back to their motel room. There was a moment of vertigo and juxtaposition in his mind as he went from feeling uneven asphalt under his talons to 1970's style shag carpeting. letting out his held breath, Merc was pleased that they were victorious for the second time that day.

Wasting absolutely no time Rook went back over to the dossier papers that were splayed out across the table and he quickly located the ones he was seeking. "Two tasks completed and one to go... arguably the most complicated."

Bruiser stepped up beside the Raven, resting a hand on Rook's shoulder. "We're talking a full on mansion on a rolling estate... go over the plan one more time?"

Merc let out a dark chuckle. "Break in and fuck shit up, obviously."

Demon took a seat on the sofa, which strained greatly under the weight of his Metamorph form. "Somehow I think Rook has a 'softer touch' in mind."

The Raven offered a beak-y grin. "Well, in truth, Merc has the basic idea... there is just a little more depth to the plan. Since we are looking at a much larger number of combatants, Merc will be joining you this time."

The Kangacobra smirked. "Fuck yeah."

Rook continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Bruiser will be responsible for the men patrolling the grounds while Bruiser handles the men inside the house. Merc will be on clean-up duty since he'll be able to teleport to wherever he's needed."

Merc cut in to clarify. "Only if I've been there."

The Raven nodded his head. "I remember. Our first objective is to let you scout out as much of the installation as possible so you can be wherever you're needed at any point in time."

Bruiser asked "And we're REALLY doing it this afternoon?"

Rook nodded again. "This is the best way to get ahead of the government and Legendary HQ. Once they realize Merc's Metamorphs is not a tool they can use for their own ends the less likely they will be to mess with us ever again."

Something about the way he said 'us' gave Merc a warm and fuzzy feeling. The Kangacobra smacked the nearby table-leg with his tail to accentuate his response. "Yeah! Show em that we're not their lackeys!"

Rather than get caught up in the Kangacobra's verve, Rook simply slid another page of information across the table. "Our goal in sidestepping the Secretary of State's plans is to force Legendary HQ to slip up. It is not anything we have to do ourselves-- we are just setting the stage and enabling them to do it themselves. In chess, it is called 'zunzwang': making an opponent take a move that worsens our position. Once they see that we play the game our own way they won't want to involve us in the future."

Demon was all grins. "I'm all for that!" He paused when his watch went off. The Pitbull's ears drooped. "Except we have five minutes left until we're done with our Metamorph forms... probably a good idea to take a break, yeah?"

Merc nodded. "Yeah... let's take a few."

It was still strange to think that they'd be able to take their Metamorph forms more than once per day, but he'd already experienced it-- the least they could do was take a breather between changes. Closing his eyes, Merc let the change back to their Human bodies take place. He felt his scales shedding off, knowing they'd disintegrate into thin air before they'd ever touched the ground. The sensation of his body folding back in on itself was not unlike when he grew, but in reverse, feeling more compact as his limbs shrank and his body thinned out. By the time he opened his eyes he was a fleshy, skin-covered, naked Human once again-- as were his boyfriends.

Juan shaking out his arms and legs, went to take a seat at the table, which Rook had vacated before shifting back to Christopher. "I'm just going to go over the aerial view of the manor grounds again..."

Frank laughed,leaning over to kiss his studious boyfriend on the head. "Sounds good. I'm gonna take a shower while I can."

Good to his word, Frank went straight into the bathroom to do exactly that. Already naked, he wasted no time hopping into the shower and, much to his joy, the water took no time at all to heat up. He made quick work of his personal hygiene, enjoying the shower for shower's sake as much as to get clean. Turning off the water, he grabbed a towel and began drying off but, as he did so, he heard talking coming from the bedroom beyond.

He wasn't purposefully eavesdropping, but Chance had never been the quietest person when talking. Frank couldn't hear everything Christopher said, but it was easy enough to figure out based on the responses from Chance. It was all made very clear when Frank heard him say "So... kinda scared, huh?"

Again, he couldn't quite make out Christopher's answer, but he said a lot. Frank couldn't help but smile however when Chance responded "Hey... it's okay to be a little afraid, especially since you haven't been in the field as much as us."

Christopher's response that time was only a few words, but Frank had an idea what was said based on Chance's reply: he was wondering if Chance ever got scared. "Sure... any time your life's on the line it's a perfectly natural thing... just can't let it paralyze you or you'll just end up in even MORE danger."

The next comment from the new addition to their polycule was a much more lengthy one. Chance's response maintained its mellow reassurance. "Hey... that's why we're there. Don't worry, Cy... none of us'll let anything happen to ya. Rook is a member of Merc's Metamorphs, you know... we'll keep you safe."

Realizing that he'd been eavesdropping far more than he'd planned to, Frank cut out the rest of their conversation by turning on the hair dryer and quickly got to work drying off. He gave the two in the bedroom another two-ish minutes to finish their talk before he turned it off and exited; they were sitting on the bed and Chance was giving Christopher a comforting hug. Smiling warmly, Frank definitely approved, but he couldn't help but be a little disruptive. "When you two lovebirds are ready, come on out to the living room... we have a Legendary HQ plan to screw up."

As a group, the three of them went back to join Juan, who was still looking at the dossier photos. With all four of them together, Frank clenched and unclenched his gloved hand. "Everyone ready?"

With no objections, it was a simple matter to change back into their Metamorph forms. As with the prior tests, Merc's powers had reset, so he had to renew his teleportation powers. Based on the coordinates they were given, the group would be able to return to the outskirts of Palos Rojos and, from there, hop to the cartel's base in less than an hour. It ended up taking them only about 40 minutes. Demon was sure to mention that. "Alright... that leaves us about an hour and a half to kick ass."

Merc's Metamorphs resolved to make good use of the time and they sprang into action.