Jump them

"First we do.... this."

Raven brought up her hand, two index fingers held up, coating them with her power before waving them one way and then quickly the other way in a crisscross motion. Then she repeated this a few more times.

"What did you just...."

"I cut the connection with the pedals of their trucks. Floor them all they want, those things aren't moving anywhere. I do not want to do a chase with these people."

"I thought you said that you needed to see..." a finger pressed against his lips.

"I said it is easier if I can see what I'm doing. I can still 'cast blind' if you want to call it that. Besides," She hissed out before softening her tone, "Cyborg showed me a bunch of stuff if you remember. How to disable the gas was one of the lessons that stuck with me as a just in case. I could have just broken a few axles but I think that would make far too much noise."

"Okay so the military or decommissioned military equipped bad guys with anti magic rounds can't get away on their wheels; tell me you have a better plan than that."

"You fought a man that could make laser blades and another that summoned a large golem; and you're scared of spikes." she mused.

"I mean when you say it like that...," Cole muttered as Raven moved closer to him.

"Cole. I admit, this is different than last time. These seem professional, and they won't hesitate to put you down if you get in their way. Or possibly worse, drag you back with them for whatever reason they're using the kids for. You were brave, foolish though, for fighting that trio of kidnappers but this might be above your skill right now...."

"Yeah but I have this power..., I should try to help people if I can." he said, giving a weak grin, "At the very least I can take a few people off you."

"I was going to say I wasn't going to **** you." she cupped his cheek and gave him a few pats, "That is something that is impressive about you. That drive to help people, is noteworthy. Just... if you think you're doing this to impress me or something..."

"You kidding? I'm scared enough of the thought of this fight, I don't need to waste time thinking 'yeah I'll impress Raven this way'..., I do want to make up for last time though, going off on my own so..., just tell me what to do and I'll follow. Cause I don't want to walk away from some geared up thugs **** kids."

"You get shot I'm yelling at you." she grumbled before leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek, "Just. be careful. For both of us. Now, as for my actual plan..."

"Move move."

One member with a mask that had a black mark on it was barking orders to the other members, getting them to hurry up. A team had encountered..., something. They weren't sure what, as the guy used some odd power that had some resistance to their shots. But the fact someone had stumbled into them meant they needed to go, now. Last thing they needed to do was get into a brawl with some other group. Could they kill the weirdo? Probably but they were on a timetable, so better to pack up and move.

Product was loaded up anyway, all they had to do was wipe their traces. Not with an inferno, already used that, so it was just sweep and clear. Make sure nothing was left beyond and...

His thoughts were interrupted when the lights flickered once, twice, and then cut out.

"Lights."

Men around him instantly lit up whatever illumination they had on them; flashlights attached to guns, lanterns, a couple personal light. The warehouse around them now had a hazy series of different beams and spheres of light that let them see but that darkness now was... feeling weird. He'd seen a lot of darkness in the field or on tasks but this was the first time it felt..., threatening was a good way to put it.

"Ride check." he spoke, focusing into the mic he had built into his mask.

The trucks in the room stayed quiet, only idling their engine. He asked for another check but got nothing before someone came back over the comms.

"Pedal's dead, it's not responding."

"Fix it."

A few men started to gather around the front of the trucks as they tried to figure out what was happening. The leader kept an eye on them as he thought. They needed to be gone now. Not only were they behind, this felt disturbing. Was there a spy inside their ranks? No one got close enough to the truck to do anything. Unless there was....

"Zeta, Mu."

Four men stopped what they were doing and marched up to him, weapons ready.

"Sweep the offices. Do not engage. Report if contact is made. Zeta, bottom floor. Mu, Top. Move."

The men nodded and moved in a hurried practiced manner to the door leading to the offices.

Mu team moved off towards the staircase while Zeta started sweeping room, cracking open the door and scanning for threats. If the room looked clear, they entered and searched hiding spots. They got through three rooms this way before they found something worth calling in. One of their members tied up and hanging from the ceiling.

"Zeta One to Lead. We got a problem. Omega Four is down." the lead man said into his comms.

"Verify status."

"Confirm." he flicked his comms close and started to move closer, "Zeta Two cover....., Zeta Two?"

He turned when his companion didn't respond. The only sign that he was there was a still spinning flash light.

"Zeta One to Lead-Hostiles in offices, I re-"

A large shape emerged from the shadow, slamming into him and pulling tight which trapped the man. A few blows struck his head and a heavy fist slammed into his gut, knocking the air out of him. A rope was produced from somewhere and quickly wrapped around his body and some cloth tied around his mouth.

"That. Is..., four down." Cole muttered as he finished hog tying the man.

The two had split up; Raven remaining upstairs to deal with those that came her way. Cole stayed on the ground floor, watching the duo move from office to office. He figured he could jump them when they found the first goon and get them both. But this one had gotten a call out so... that was a problem. Or at least it would have been a problem. From the sound of it, Raven was already moving.

Going to the door that lead out to the warehouse, he could see lights moving about as they seemed like they were trying to track something. Something near the ceiling, that would sometimes fling waves of darkness into the grunts on the ground. While it looked like she took out a decent number, the rest were using a mix of covering fire and some weird glowing swat shields to keep her at bay. Could Raven do something better, probably, but the goons were held up right next to the trucks too.

"She probably doesn't want to take a risk." he thought as he ducked behind some of the remaining crates, trying to get closer.

Not every goon was huddled around the truck, and that's what Cole had been assigned to deal with. The plan was to cut the lights and take care of those that came looking for trouble. After that, Raven would **** the main group, trying to keep attention on her while Cole took care of those on the edges. Which he did..., kinda. He was able to get two down before the rest of them seemed to pick up that someone else was here too and sent a hail of fire his way.

"Figured it wouldn't be that easy." Cole thought as he took cover.

He had to drag the knocked out goons with him, as their buddies didn't seem to care if stray shots would hit them. Also had to throw up his shadow wall to blunt some of that incoming fire. But sounded like Raven took advantage of the laspe in attention, her magic knocking several of them around before she too had to back off.

"Annoying." She thought as she floated back up into the darkness.

It wasn't just bullets, most their gear seemed to be anti magic or at least magic resistant. She found that trying to pull their guns from their grasp was a little trickier than normal, and those energy shields blunted her more forceful attacks. Even their armor seemed to have extra protection against spells but if that was the case..., why was it so easy to disable the trucks? Either the protection had to be 'turned on' so to say, or the trucks weren't part of their standard load out. And if that was the case, someone else supplied them for the group. Possibly whoever hired them in the first place.

That was something to concern herself with later. She had to focus on dealing with them now.

She sensed something that gave her pause. Raven couldn't see in the dark unless she was channeling her demon form, though her eyes were better in the dark. No she usually sensed with her abilities and there was a shape behind some crates that was waving a larger 'shadow' arm, holding something up. It looked like a small canister...., oh.

"That should work." Raven summoned her magic in one hand and gave a HARD pull with that limb.

The result was that every goon around the trucks suddenly heard a 'ping'; the tell tell sign of a grenade pin being pulled. Before they could react, several smoke grenades and at least two flash bangs went off, catching them completely off guard and leading to just a few moments of panic. Panic their leader was quick to try and stomp down, get them focused once more.

It wasn't fast enough.

Both the heroes took this as their chance to finish this. Cole had already charged in the first moment he could, focusing his blows against anyone that was trying to get up with a shield or aim upward. Those things could stop his punches but the guys using them weren't fast enough to keep up with him at close range. Raven for her part started to drag crates over, slamming them into any goon that looked like they were trying to aim at Cole, and trapping those knocked out inside said boxes. Their protection was against raw magic but seemed like they couldn't do much against magically flung objects.

That was the end of it and after a few moments, Raven turned the lights back on. All the goons were tied or boxed up, and all their weapons tossed to the side. The only problem was that their leader seemed to be missing.

"Shame. I wanted to have someone to question." Raven said as she hung up all the goons from the rafters.

"You don't think they'll have answers?" he pointed up at the poor sods.

"Not in any way that actually matters. At best we might get where they were taking the kids but if the leader got away, the whole thing was called off I would bet. If we went, we'd probably find just another empty warehouse." Raven moved over to the trucks, "We should let the cops deal with the thugs."

"Wait wait...., about the kids. I got an idea."

It was dark inside the truck. The kids weren't sure where they were, what happened to their families, or what was going to happen to them. A few tried to comfort each other, wiping away tears with pj sleeves. Then they had heard the shooting and shouts from outside before it went quite once more.

A 'thunk' was soon heard, and the kids near the back of the truck scurried away as a large metal hook like object had carved it's way through. It then slowly started to carve through more of the truck door, going up and around. To a few of the kids, it looked like what their parent would do to a can of soup or veggies. Soon the door was peeled away with a 'clunk'.

"Huh...., honey I think we got the wrong order. I thought I asked for Sardines. There's just a bunch of kids in here." a man in a wolf mask said, "....I guess we'll have to send them back. Maybe report the delivery guys to the cops."

He tried to wave them out of the truck but even with the joke, the kids were worried. The man gave a chuckle.

"Yeah I figured you wouldn't trust me. But maybe if someone put in a good word for me?"
"SQUEEEEEEK."

The noise made a few kids jump as the man brought up a small dog doll from out behind him. One girl rushed forward, hopping out the truck and grabbed the doll from the man.

"BARKLEY! You found him!" she hugged the dog close, earning a few more squeaks from the toy.

"So that's his name. He was so worried about telling me where you'd gone, he kinda didn't have time to tell me." a hand rested firmly yet comfortingly against her head, "You're okay now. We'll get you back to your folks. All of you."

"Thank you...., Mirster...."

"Wolf works."

Soon the other kids from trucks came out, a few smart enough to realize their fears were over, others lured out by the sight of toys and dolls, or their new 'friends' who vouched for the man and woman. The man seemed like a kind and brave man, like a firefighter or cop; the woman not so much. But she was the one that was giving out the toys and a few sweets. So long as the kids didn't go near one corner, they were allowed to stretch their legs in the warehouse. Though they DID have a few laughs at the men tied up and suspended from said corner.

*WHOOOP WHOOP*

A sound came through along with a few voices that caught everyone's attention, save for the one girl that was standing near the adults. The pair gave her one final wink before darkness envloped the pair and disappeared into the shadows. The main warehouse door opened up as a pair of cops and a few workers took at look at the scene before them.

The trucks, the kids, the bullet holes, and the tied up men hung from the ceiling.

"....Err..., Dispatch? You're not gonna believe this..., and we're gonna need a couple more cars down here at that warehouse call." one of the officers spoke into his radio.

A pair of figures watched from a building away as more cars started to arrive onto the scene.

"Smart move with the toy there." Raven turned to Cole.

"I figured a kid who had lost their toy during this whole thing would be open to someone that returned it. I'm more surprised you got the right one...., wait isn't that stealing?" He hadn't actually asked where the toy came from.

"No. Not one toy was stolen. ...., you may be lacking pillows when we return home." She opened a portal for the pair.

"..., you're not serious are you?"

The smile on her lips was enticing and worrying.