10437/I've Got a Fever and the Only Prescription is Mayhem

I've Got a Fever and the Only Prescription is Mayhem
Date of Scene:	14 December 2019
Location:	Atlanta, GA
Synopsis:	The Suicide Squad manages to procure the samples they were tasked with--only to learn, mid-mission, that the samples weren't quite what they were told they were. No one leaves happy.
Cast of Characters:	Rick Flag, Killer Frost, Fantomex, Yokai (Callaghan)

---

Rick Flag has posed:
AIRSPACE SOUTHWEST OF ATLANTA, GA
1700 HRS LOCAL TIME

"Virus samples stolen from the CDC are on the move," Amanda Waller shouts sternly to the assembled Squad in the rear of a C-130 cargo plane, her voice barely carrying over the noise of the aircraft's engines. "Wherever they've been hidden, whatever tech has been used to jam or contain the signal, we've picked it up now. And they're on the move."

A real-time map is displayed on a tablet that Waller holds out in front of herself. A cluster of signals is shown in the vicinity of downtown Atlanta, but there's movement--movement toward the south of the city.

"Our best guess is that the samples will be exposed at the Hartsfield-Jackson international airport. It's perhaps the largest hub in the southeast, so the potential for uncontainable spread is severe," Waller continues. "Even more so than in the city itself."

"But they've got to know that the signal's not jammed any longer, right?" Rick Flag pipes up.

"Oh, most definitely," Waller replies. "We've got to obtain the samples without destroying them and do so with as little collateral damage as possible. Ten containers, sixty samples total. Do your job, and I'll make good on my end of the deal--to the extent that it matters for completion of a single mission."

"Get ready, people!" Flag calls out, holding up one hand, index finger up, and pointing toward the rear bay door. "We're coming up on the outskirts!"

SUICIDE SQUAD ROLL CALL!
* Angle Grinder - breaker-and-enterer
* Boll Weevil - close-quarters combatant
* Fahrenheit - intense heat generation
* Fantomex - procurement specialist
* Killer Frost - anger management
* Rick Flag - field leader
* Tumbler - lockpick/safecracker
* Yokai - tech troubleshooter

Killer Frost has posed:
Standing towards the rear of the cargo plane, Killer Frost looks exactly as she had back at Belle Reve - same clothing, same demeanor, same level of concern for preparation. She hasn't said a word to anybody. The woman observes Waller and Rick while they go about their briefing, and twists her lips here and there as an indicator of general agreement or disagreement. Sixty samples, ten containers, some nebulous deal offered by a woman as famous for her lies as her girth.

She's still frowning while Flag gestures to the door and shouts about readiness. No movement for parachutes or landing equipment here - just increasingly less-subtle glaze of frost creeping the soft curve of her cheeks, a hard casing of ice freezing hair where it falls across her face.

Frost's breath is visible as vapor *before* the cargo door opens in a hiss of hydraulics and exuberantly vacated air pressure. Suddenly, the back of the plane's a howling maelstrom of screaming and evacuation, and Frost's turning on her heel to face the wild blue behind her.

"Hey," comes Frost's voice - guttural, grating, disarming as the hand that touches to Fahrenheit's shoulder. The firebrand will find her debarkation interrupted by her chilly compatriot, but luckily, explanation is coming.

"I need your help. Save the parachute." Brusquely, she *shoves* Fahrenheit out the back entry to the plane, and leaps outwards after her 'assistant'.

Fantomex has posed:
Fantomex main objection to the mission is that they are flying in a C-130. He had expected something more stylish. Maybe that is why he kept to himself and hard to see for most of the trip.

Oh, and Waller is not telling them who stole the samples. Which he is quite sure she knows. But then again, the bulk of this group seems expandable, unreliable cannon fodder. The possibility they botch and some deadly virus is released is pretty damn high.

Of course she is up here in a plane, pretty safe from plagues. But still, he is sure they have not been told 20 percent of what they should know. "Are you coming, Colonel? Did you have all your vaccine shots?" He says, his French accent a little less blatant than usual, finally showing up to lurk at Flag's side.

Then the ice woman pushes the fire girl off the plane. "Oui... you might need those," he yells over the howl of the wind caused by the cargo door opening. Then he just walks out. Parachutes are not stylish either.

Yokai (Callaghan) has posed:
    Ever have those days where you're considering your life choices? Really, it's not that Callaghan hadn't expected...suicidal...missions when he was given the offer, it's just there's a difference between considering them and actually being about to jump out of a goddamn plane to go after some highly contagious and lethal virus samples.
    At least he's had time to get used to it. And at least the mask hides his dubious expression as he looks back towards the back of the plane. Not for the first time, he's very thankful for its presence, because it also hides his look of surprise as one of the women just...shoves the other out of the plane. A finger is held up, and it looks like he's about to say something, then-
    "Metahumans." It's a grumble, and probably not what he had originally planned to say, but you know what? It works. He reacts less to the next person who decides to say 'screw safety', firmly reminding himself that either way it's not his problem. What is his problem is actually taking a damn parachute, though considering that three are unclaimed? He takes a second one after a second, shrugging the on and joining a nervous-looking Tumbler at the door. The second is shoved in to their arms before he jumps without a backwards glance.

Rick Flag has posed:
"Yes, yes," Flag says. "I'm coming. And the army always makes sure its troops are caught up on panels." He revs up a motorcycle, checking the parachute on his own back before he drives out the bay doors after the others.

Down below, the interstate runs north-south between the city center and the airport. For anyone with smart goggles or similar tech, the tracking signals appear as an augmented reality layer that correspond with three unmarked cargo vans headed south.

As he careens toward the earth, Flag pulls a ripcord that opens a chute attached to the bike itself, and he manages a controlled descent that takes him onto the right shoulder of the road. He lets the chute free about twenty feet from the ground, and it flutters off into the trees.

Up above, Angle Grinder soars down in a wingsuit, pulling his chute before firing a harpoon line tipped with an industrial-strength suction pad, into the rear-most truck roof. The line then begins to reel in, drawing the Squad member toward his quarry.

"What the FUCK are you doing?!" Fahrenheit screams, although Frost is the only one close enough to hear her.

Tumbler flails in the air, hyperventilating as she tries to make her way toward the foremost van.

Boll Weevil doesn't bother with a parachute. He tucks his head and limbs in, resembling more an armadillo, before slamming into the hood--and engine--of the foremost cargo van. The impact launches it into a somersault that lasts several seconds. Then, the van smashes back into the asphalt, and the surrounding traffic attempts desperately to bypass it ... including the two working vans.

Tumbler attempts to fire a suction-harpoon line of her own at the rearmost van before it races out of her range. She fails, and comes to a stop on the side of the highway in everyone's rear-view mirror. Viewing the smashed van, she sheds her harness and begins running toward it.

Unfortunately, so does a small handful of first responders.

Killer Frost has posed:
20000 FEET

"You know how thermal updrafts work, right? You're not all -hot air- and a -pretty face-, I hope. That parachute's your best friend if you fuck up." Frost has caught up to Fahrenheit during their drop, and the two spear towards the L.Z. at perilous speeds. Frost keeps a hand on the back of Fahrenheit's head but is otherwise cheek-to-cheek with the firebrand - Frost is wincing against the frigid winds whipping against face and body, but the heat from her companion's helping.

5000 FEET

"Stay scared. Keep burning. I *want* that heat." Fahrenheit will note that Frost is getting *colder* as Fahrenheit burns hotter. As they near the convoy, the air around the pair begins to froth and *condense*. Moisture crystallizes into something more substantial, flickering shards of ice that broaden into a crystalline spire beneath Frost's feet. She grabs Fahrenheit and flips in mid-air, her dive inverted to a feet-first plunge, with that matrix of ice and steam behind her back. The beginnings of a icy luge form, and the pair are guided towards the L.Z. through fire-fueled cryomanipulation.

THAT FIRST VAN

The driver doesn't get a chance to scream before it happens - a chute of ice launches a pair of elementals towards him, the one aflame, the other *encased* in chill. There's no explaining how or *why* the road is suddenly an ice slick, nor is there a way to reasonably illustrate what might cause a thirty-foot wall of ice to erupt from the end of that slick some thirty feet away. The van - speeding away from attackers - better have some damn good brakes.

Frost catches herself and Fahrenheit on a second slope, which brings the two to ground. She pushes Fahrenheit away, indicating the van with her chin. Presumably, it's crashed and needs cleaning out. If it hasn't, there's work to be done either way.

"You're up, hot stuff. Don't *fuck* with that parachute. I have plans."

Fantomex has posed:
When the rest of the Squad lands, Fantomex is nowhere in sight. He doesn't shows up until he has seen what the others are doing. One van smashed, and he is happy his healing factor will keep him safe-ish from any broken container.

Second might be under control. Or not. He doubts someone called 'Angle Grinder' can do anything well. And then there is an ice wall on the way. They better not crash that one too. The right cocktail of deadly diseases might actually hurt him!

That leaves numero trois on the race... so Fantomex falls on it. From somewhere. Flag might catch a glimpse of something blurry flying over the van a fraction of a second before the white-clad thief shows up.

The faux-French mutant lands guns blazing. Although his target is not, at first, the van driver, but the vehicle engine. The hyper-hard ceramic bullets seem able to go through the armor of the vehicle, since it slows down visibly.

Then the driver tries to shot him off. Which is not a great plan, as Fantomex switches targets and puts the last few bullets through the frontal area of roof of the van.

And the windshield gets very, very bloody.

Yokai (Callaghan) has posed:
    Another time Yokai might have appreciated the display of thermodynamics. Another time and place, say, a laboratory not involving two people falling from 20,000 feet. As it is, as he falls, he's focused on those that land first; from the crashing Boll Weevil to the motorcycle to the continued display of frost and fire, he grimaces at all of it. But he's not quite suicidal enough to deal with Killer Frost's level, and Flag can handle himself- which leaves his gaze landing on the first responders.
    A quick setting of a bracer, and small canisters are fired about the van. With a hiss, they begin to emit a hazy substance, offering a literal smokescreen to at least try and deter the more faint-hearted of the responders. At that point Yokai lands straight on top of the crashed van, ditching the harness and looking about for the other squad members before sighting some of the van's passengers starting to crawl out. Not waiting for them to get their bearings, he quickly fires a few darts at what exposed skin he can see. Laced with a venom that'll hurt like hell, they may not be lethal but he's hardly about to care about their screams. Whatever it takes to get the job done - he's already jumping off the van to find cover before the actually lethal weaponry comes out.

Rick Flag has posed:
As the van he's attached to races past its demolished partner, Angle Grinder cackles loudly and finishes reeling himself to the van. The sudden ice slick that stretches out in front of the vehicle causes it to swerve, almost tipping, the van's breaks screaming while it tries to brake.

The best it manages is fishtailing its way off the ice. The centrifugal force of the slide, though, causes Angle Grinder's suction pad to detach--and the criminal is tossed forward, smashing head-first against the ice wall. He collapses on the ground, motionless. The van, meanwhile, attempts to get back on track to depart the scene.

"Nice going," Fahrenheit sneers.

--

The other still-mobile van zooms by, Flag in pursuit. He hits the throttle on his motorcycle and comes up close alongside the van, trying to line up a shot on the driver. Suddenly, he scowls and mutters, "What the hell?!"

The driver responds by swerving the van toward the colonel, who manages to get out of the way by racing around a Geo that, being outpaced by the others, falls back in a line between the van and pursuer. Unfortunately, the van's swerve knocks into the Geo, which spins off onto and up an exit ramp.

A moment later, Fantomex suddenly appears atop the van and rains hell down on it. Moments later, the van slows to a halt, the driver slumped over the steering wheel.

The passenger and side doors to the van open, and three men with automatic weapons open fire, one trying to aim up over the roof toward where Fantomex had been. The men are wearing outfits that sport the yellow-and-black insignia of the Kobra cult.

--

Back at the rearmost van, Boll Weevil slowly gets to his feet, ready for combat even as Yokai's smokescreen-and-stun combo (in addition to his own entrance) leaves him without any opponents. Instead, the Weevil begins collecting and stacking the sample containers.

"I can't believe it," Tumbler says, her eyes wide. "I thought the plan was falling apart."

"Yours is," Boll Weevil responds while Yokai's occupied, just before leaping onto Tumbler and knocking her out. A nondescript black sedan pulls up into the smoke cloud, and Boll Weevil starts throwing the containers into the back of the car.

Killer Frost has posed:
The van swerves! The camera follows Angle Grinder as he careens into Frost's icy wall, and then pans back over the recovering van, keeping the vehicle in focus as it settles behind Fahrenheit and Frost. The colder woman crosses her arms over her chest, mirroring Fahrenheit's sneer while that van's tires miraculously keep their hold on the ground.

"Wasn't that the whiny guy from the briefing?" Frost twists her lips in consideration. The van doesn't get much chance to accelerate - slow as it is, with Frost able to concentrate on what she's doing, it's a simple enough issue to manifest the *right* type of ice where she wants it. A person-sized spire of jagged ice erupts from the ground just beneath the van's engine compartment, with enough velocity and force to spear through a lesser vehicle's chassis and engine block.

-- PROVIDED THAT WORKS --

Frost will incline her head towards Fahrenheit, and then lift her chin to the van ahead. "Still haven't seen what *you* can do." Clearly, she has no idea that there's a *traitor* in their midst. Then again, her attention's been pretty focused on the van ahead!

Fantomex has posed:
As the Cobra agents jump off the van, Fantomex jumps off the roof of the van, dodging like crazy. "Alors, serpents in my van and I am out of bullets, what would I do now?" he asks to the peanut gallary as he cartwheels in a miraculous acrobatics display that somehow allows him to avoid all the shoots, and all the speeding cars still running through the road. Then he stops and begins reloading one of his guns.

The Cobra agents take aim... and an 18-wheeler truck runs the foremost two of them over. Why would they miss the speeding truck going towards them at 60 mph when the driver was frenetically honking a very loud truck horn is somewhat mysterious (hint: Misdirection illusion powers). But it leaves one single terrorist pretty much trapped between Fantomex and Rick Flag.

Yokai (Callaghan) has posed:
    When no further shots are fired, Yokai moves out to see...Boll Weevil doing something in the smoke. Useful the smokescreen may have been, it's as much a liability, now, because he can't quite what's going on- so, the obvious choice is to approach and see what he can do to help and
    he glances down as he nearly trips on Tumbler. A glance down, a glance up. 2+2, plus a car that was never part of the plan as far as he knows, equals a soft curse and a quick train of thoughts. Taking out Boll means the vehicle could still move- which means, at this point? That's the priority target.
    Crouching down low, Yokai makes no effort to halt Boll Weevil. Quite the opposite, really, he stays far out of his way, moving around the vehicle instead. And when it comes time for it to go, strangely enough? All its tires will be slit. Wonder how that happened. Certainly not the piece of shrapnel that Yokai had picked up, why would you think that?

Rick Flag has posed:
The giant icicle turns the departing van into a highway kebab, and the van's occupants spill out onto the road, lifting their weapons and firing toward the closest Squad members.

"Oh," Fahrenheit responds, taking a step toward Frost. "I'mma show you what I can do."

She gestures in front of herself, creating a wave of super-heated air that melts the incoming bullets before they reach either of the women. Then, following the air--which begins to strip paint from other cars whose movement intersects with the trajectory of the wave--Fahrenheit melts off the back door of the van with one hand, her other pointed at the nearest Kobra cultist. His skin likewise melts off, and he drops to the ground, screaming for a long moment until his voice and movement stop abruptly.

--

After the truck screams by, turning two cultists into a fine mist, Flag tackles the distracted third opponent, wrenching the cultist's weapon from his hands by way of an armbar. "Who--are--you--working--for?!" Flag hisses as he contorts.

"Gaaahhhh!" is the cultist's first response. After more pressure is applied, he screams. "Okay! Okay!" Flag relents just slightly. "We--we're CIA. A deal--was made--under table. Trade of--gahh--the vaccines for--ungh--Kobra intel on rival groups. You know how it--"

Flag snarls and kicks the man, releasing the armbar as the CIA agent falls unconscious. "No. No fucking way." He looks to Fantomex. "These aren't viruses? Waller!" he adds suddenly, activating his comms.

"No time for debate now, Colonel," Waller replies over the radio. "Finish the job--secure those samples. It /is/ of utmost importance, believe it or not."

"Goddamnit, Waller," Flag says, standing and punching the side of the van. After a moment, he sighs. "Let's get these samples, then," and moves to the rear of the vehicle.

--

The sedan bearing Boll Weevil and a third of the samples skids, flat tires shredding as the car attempts to make a getaway on rims. It ends up smashing into the rails on the left shoulder. The driver rolls out of his side of the car, but seems to have suffered a significant concussion. From the rear passenger door, Boll Weevil stumbles out, turning toward Yokai.

"You!" he shouts. "You're dead--"

Boll Weevil's neck explodes, and his head soars into the air like fireworks.

Killer Frost has posed:
"Good girl," muses Frost, apathetic to the flesh-horror Fahrenheit executes in front of her. It's horrendous, the casualty is beyond imagining, and the collateral heatwave enough to sear anybody's flesh. Paint peels off of the van while its rear entry melts into slag and bolts, a man is burned alive, and bullets melt into *nothing*. Killer Frost's response is to lose a bit of that blue tone to her flesh, cheeks pinkening in the slightest - but only just the slightest.

The Kobra cultists whose bullets had been melted realize that Fahrenheit is busy with burning both their van AND their companion - they take aim at the Suicide Squad's metahumans while the pair congregate near the entrance to the vehicle. Fahrenheit will see a pair of arm-sized icicles shriek through the superheated air between her and her current target - the ice shards instantly sublimate into superheated clouds of rapidly-propelled gas, whereupon they envelop the Kobra attackers in a miasma of conductive torture, a heat transfer to the tune of third-degree burns and damaged nerves.

Frost steps into the back of the van, one arm outstretched in a warding fashion - she'll apply more ice to whoever happens to be inside, if that's anybody. Working next to Fahrenheit makes *everything* easy - she barely feels tired.

Flag's comments crackle through her earpiece.

"So Waller lies to *you*, too?" She doesn't care that it's an open frequency.

"Doing wonders for my faith in the operation."

Fantomex has posed:
"Oh la la," interjects Fantomex, invading the coms. Who gave him a com device? "That makes perfect sense. She couldn't unleash a gang of super-powered misfits with no team training at all on a convoy carrying deadly disease -unless- she wants an outbreak."

He peers into the van, to make sure there is no another sneaky terrorist lurking there. "But you can't use military to attack a CIA operation either, oui? That makes enemies." He pauses, noticing Boll Weevil's demise. He had no idea how Waller was controlling the others, now he has some. "Now, we should leave as fast as possible, since I am sure the vans had escorts, and the police might be a problem. Your exit strategy this time, Colonel?"

Yokai (Callaghan) has posed:
    Remaining crouched in the smoke, Yokai only stands and straightens after the veicle crashes. With his red-and-white mask the only source of color among the shadows, smoke rolling off of him, it's quite an appearance, and he only tilts his head slightly as Boll Weevil makes his threat. A flex of his hands, and the start of a drop in to a stance ready to fire another set of darts-
    -only for the illusion of badassery to be harshly broken by a flinch and a yelp of, "JESUS CHRIST," at the explosion. Remember, kids; this is a former college professor. It's one thing to wear a mask. It's quite another to have seen the kind of things his new 'peers' have, and while the kabuki face stays on, behind it? Callaghan's expression is a mixture of shock and horror. He may have - briefly - forgotten about that insurance method, but that's a hell of a reminder to behave, and that those in power behind the squad? Can flex that power at any time.
    Shaking his head as he recovers with a deep breath, he mutters something under his breath - too quiet for comms - before approaching the car. A tranquilizer dart to the driver, and he picks up as many of the containers as he can carry - even making an improvised sling with a sliced seatbelt if need be.
    "Yokai here. Cargo secured." It's a far calmer voice than the shout from before, having little in common with it at all. Practically deadpan - though that may be partly from the new knowledge that this isn't what they thought it was. "Have a friend of Weevil's, too, if you want him." A nudge to the passed out driver with his foot.

Rick Flag has posed:
Frost and Fahrenheit find an empty van, luckily--although not so luckily for the CIA agents-posing-as-cultists who lie smoking on the ground nearby.

"What-ever," Fahrenheit says with a roll of her eyes. She lifts one of the three containers. "You can get those two."

--

"I tell you what I need to so that you can get the job done," Waller says over the comms. "While the truth of contagious exposure was ... colorfully described, vaccines are technically virus samples. And there is an enormous danger if the CIA tries to get in bed with Kobra. Or if anyone else finds out about it. Or if Kobra can reverse-engineer something really deadly from the vaccines."

"We are going to have a talk when this is over," Flag mutters, dragging out two sample containers from the van he's standing next to. "But for now--what's the /actual/ extraction plan, since none of us can trust you?"

"Already on the way," Waller responds.

Indeed, the sound of helicopter approach can be heard, and it attempts to find a landing place as much in the middle of the chaos as possible, where it's protected from the general flow of traffic trying to maneuver around all of this--although much has diverted to the closest off-ramp possible to detour.

"Alright, people!" Flag calls. "Let's load it up!" He begins tossing the sample containers into the chopper's cabin and then jogs to grab more.

Fahrenheit, when she nears the colonel, offers her container in a cheerful manner to Flag. "Get my bag, will you?" she chuckles before climbing into the craft.

--

Just enough time has passed for police and emergency services to respond as well, and their sirens can be heard approaching--although the sound is muffled considerably by the copter blades.

Back by the rearmost van, Tumbler remains lying on the ground, out cold.

Rick Flag has posed:
As Yokai notes the passed out driver, Flag nods. "Yes, definitely. Let's see what we can learn about ... whatever /that/ was." He moves to drag the man onto the helicopter.

Fantomex has posed:
"Happy to see you have all well in hand, Waller," comments Fantomex, walking away from the copters. "I'll pick up the sleeping beauty and bring her back to the Beautiful Dream."

It is an easy joke, as Belle Reve is French for Beautiful Dream.

"Keep your heads on, please," he adds as farewell, walking into a bank of mist that wasn't there a few seconds ago. Then he is gone from sight. And so is Tumbler.

Killer Frost has posed:
Fahrenheit and Flag co-ordinate the movement of the cargo containers, which leaves Frost to assess the wreckage. Weevil's head's blown up, which leads her to brush at the back of *hers*, thoughtfully -- they're all carrying the chip, though hers is supposed to be inactive. Per Waller. So there's that.

The two containers indicated to Frost by Fahrenheit are lifted atop sheets of ice, elevated to maybe two feet above the ground before a sine wave of rolling ice slides them towards Flag and the chopper. Frost would handle these herself, but she has more important things to attend to.
Angle Grinder's body remains near the ice wall, a casualty of physics and poor planning. The angle on the neck's all wrong, a surefire bet that there's no neurological pathway to ensure things like 'respiration' or 'heartbeat'. With some effort, Frost picks him up - he's a small man - and carries him bridal-style towards the chopper. It looks responsible, good even - trying up loose ends to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of Waller's little chain-gang.

Angle Grinder's entire body is going blue, eyes icing over, fingers extending post-mortem as microscopic crystallization forces his body to accomodate the increased space his internals require. It's not outwardsly gruesome, unless you count pretty much any of it.

"Picked up our guy," she comments to Flag before dropping his body into the chopper. The additional crates of vaccine slide to a halt near Flag's and the team's feet, seconds afterwards - Frost sets to shoving these into the chopper, atop Angle's body.

Yokai (Callaghan) has posed:
    The helicopter disperses what smoke is left, anyway. Now the chaos and destruction is fairly obvious, as are the group of figures who'll more than likely be blamed for it. Yokai shakes his head again, reaching down to sling the driver over his other shoulder with a grunt. He's not light - but Yokai's no weakling, either. Maybe not quite as much as Boll Weevil...was...but that's hardly relevant, now, is it it?
    A glance is given to Fantomex, or where he - was - before dismissing that one, Yokai dropping both of his cargos off on the helicopter cabin before joining Flag to grab the rest. Once they're secured - without a word to the squad leader or any sort of further commentary over the comms - he climbs inside, finding a place to secure himself as the rest of the squad finishes their business.
    As far as he's concerned, Weevil's body can just...stay where it is. No way in hell he's going back for that.

Rick Flag has posed:
"What about Boll Weevil?" Flag asks as Yokai enters, looking back and forth before jumping back out himself. "Never mind." He runs over to get the decapitated criminal, squatting and then lifting the body into a fireman's carry to return him to the chopper.

"Frost, you want to do the same thing with this guy so he's not bleeding all over the cabin?" he asks, heaving Weevil off his shoulders.

Then, Flag leans in to the cockpit. "Take off! Let's /go/!" He makes sure the containers are all secure and the surviving Squad members are present, Fantomex and Tumbler notwithstanding.

The first police cars pull up just outside the wreckage, having managed to maneuver their way through the backed-up traffic that's redirected itself around the scene.

The chopper, luckily, has already taken off, racing off to make as much distance between itself and the city's authorities as possible.