Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Play-by-Post => Topic started by: Aria on <11-14-16/0759:13>
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[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Staging Post Alpha7, Briefing Room, Tacoma, Seattle]
Captain Dern paced the commandeered room in the small Ares subsidiary office in Tacoma. It had been a meeting room, but the desks had been shoved to one side and the rest of the space was filled with the AR intelligence info, continually being updated from the surveillance drones monitoring the target.
He hated working with outside contractors, they tended to be ill disciplined and often insubordinate and impeded the smooth operations of his team…but in this case they were an unfortunate necessity. Management had decreed that the bug nest needed to be dealt with now…and he certainly didn’t disagree with that assessment, it was always better to exterminate these fraggers before they got too large… but Firewatch resources were stretched in Seattle at the moment with no possibility of back-up and he didn’t intend to put the nine of them into a bug nest alone with nobody to watch their flank!
So here they were…the shadowrunners filing in to the room in a haphazard fashion. He gestured for them to take the seats provided and began his pitch.
“Thank you for joining us. I am Captain Dern, Firewatch. As your respective fixers will no doubt have made you aware this is a bug hunt… I am assuming that as you are here that is not a problem. We have identified what is believed to be a small beetle nest under the Anarchy nightclub, East Third Street on the Middle Waterway in Tacoma…”
And so the briefing continued…
***
“Right, let me introduce you to the rest of my team…Grace is on comms” an attractive black orc with bright chrome jacks on her temples, “Coates is our mage” an unremarkable looking male human with pale dead looking eyes, “Parker is transportation and drone support” a younger man who looks fired up with energy and the itch to shoot stuff, “Fraser is our principal medic” an elf, greying at the temples with an aura of wisdom, “Gardner is our secondary” another young looking human, she watches the runners with intensity, “Rose is primary fire support” a burly orc with a matte black cyber arm that looks like it costs more than the runners make in a year, “Fitz is our tech specialist” a wiry human male with glasses perched on his nose “and Lowe and Brown are weapons and tactics.” Two almost carbon copy samurai, although one is an orc and the other human, both crew cut and professional…totally alert and scanning the runners for the slightest threat…
“The usual sniper support has been re-tasked elsewhere as they are likely to be of limited use here. If this escalates to a surface confrontation we’ve failed. Our mission is to contain and neutralise!”
***
“Any questions…?” he concluded
***
#01 PP/1
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Kynos had known this wasn't the brightest idea, but Ryan had insisted that this job had the right mix of high payout, gross violence and was in general only something a fearless professional like Kynos could handle.
Kynos knew all to well that "fearless professional" could also be substituted with "sucicidal idiot". But he had to admit that the first two arguments were good enough to get him to agree to the meeting.
When the captain had ended his pitch, Kynos showed him a humorless grin beneath his cold, dead eyes. Shifting slightly so that this long, thin frame found a more comfortable, if slouching position, he asked:
"Several actually:
1) Where is the target exactly? Is there any reason not to flood the underground with neo-nicotenoids and just poison those bastards and everything else that happens to live there? I mean, there are more than enough nightclubs in Seattle. Surely no-one's gonna miss that one.
2) How is this organized: Are we to tag along, scout ahead or provide back up for your boyscouts here? I'm happy either way, but it might limit my use of the grenade launcher... probably.
3) Is there drone support on site? As far as my experiences go, spirits have problems discerning liveless automatons. So if you set up surveilance beforehand that might turn this from a horror movie into a sports event.
4) Have you guys prepared an exit strategy should things go sideways? I mean beyond the usual running away faster than the others and screaming, "Oh my god, oh my god, we are going to die"."
#1 /3PP
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When Steel had ducked to walk into the room he had noted without passion that the briefer had not been informed that they had a Troll coming, something made obvious by the lack of properly sized seating. Used to such unintentional oversights by now, he sits on the floor, assuming a meditative position he uses to calm himself before a mission. Holding his palms up, he silently recites his verbal mantras and waits for any others to show up. After the briefing, he listens to the Elf make his points and waits patiently for the answers. To him, the man's questions seem to indicate a lack of calm and purity of purpose, but then not everyone has the benefit of an understanding of the zen techniques to bring calm to a troubled soul.
Edge:1/1
PP:2/3
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Vish had spent most of the morning meditating. Meditation is good for the soul. More importantly just then, mediation is also good for blocking out the absence of breakfast. Whatever the reasons for meditating, it was still annoying to have his commlink disturb his trance. He thought briefly about ignoring the intrusion of the outside world, but that ringtone was assigned to Sanith, who of all the people in the world deserved his time.
Also, of all the people in the world was most apt to offer him breakfast.
It would have been comforting to speak the language of the old country, but they both knew it was best to adopt the bastardized English of this place. And so it was that Vish was greeted with “Chummer, through the vine of grapes I’ve heard of an employment for which you may be fragging suited.”
OK, maybe Sanith was still struggling with local fluency. Ignoring that, Vish jumped at the important part “Something calling for suitableness and cunning, minimal risk of violence, high payout? In recognition of our talent, the Johnson will meet the team as a high end restaurant downtown where he will pay for our meal?”
“It is a hunting of the bug spirits, meet is at an office in an industrial part of Tacoma, corporate rates.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As Vish listened to the pitch from the Ares commander, he kept reflecting back on that call. That he’d been offered this job couldn’t be because anybody thought he was the best bug fighter available, it had to be because every other half-talented mage had run away from the job. He’d wanted to as well, but even standard corporate rates would make a difference in his life right now, and at least in fighting bugs he could assure the small part of his spirit which still cared about such things that he was earning good karma.
And so it was that he glared at the cybered-up elf who seemed to be trying to talk them out of a job. The questions were all good ones, but at the same time, Vish had come this far and he didn’t really want to walk away without getting paid. Still, best not to get in the way of getting those important answers, so he found his inner stillness and waited for the outcome.
e1 / pp3
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With each question the bulked-up elf asked, Captain Dern held up a hand and raised one finger. Index, middle, ring, pinky. Then he started lowering the fingers again, in reverse order, as he answered each one.
Pinky: “There is no modern subterranean infrastructure on the Middle Waterway. But these are beetles. Their lair may be burrowed fresh, or may leverage nineteenth century infrastructure for which records have been lost. In either case, we don’t know the layout. We took in GPR, but whatever they’ve done down there is too deep for an accurate read - all we could verify was the existence of extensive works. So we don’t have a pre-planned alternative exit. That said, Fitz will be leaving a nice little trail of Semtex breadcrumbs behind us, which will effectively screen any tactical withdrawal.”
That woke the little guy up. Easily the smallest person in the room - by weight even more diminutive than the chocolate-skinned dwarf - his chair was leaning at a dangerous angle against the rearmost wall. He’d dozed through Dern’s opening statements, cigarette wedged between the fingers of one hideously scarred hand threatening to burn down to his knuckles if it didn’t fall to the floor first. But talk of explosives always found its way into his ears, bringing a light to his eyes. If such a thing was possible with cybernetic replacements.
Ring: “Parker will be handling the drone network. And while I’m sure your own wisdom and experience is greater than all ours together, we do kill bugs for a living and are fully aware of their weaknesses. Specifics of our remote array, however, like much of our SOP, are strictly proprietary.”
Talk of high explosives over, the unshaven little man tried to go back to sleep. His appearance was not unlike that of a junkie. Sunken eyes - one of them purplish-black and grotesquely swollen. A sallow, yellowish complexion that almost matched his tobacco-stained nails and teeth. A grotesquely emaciated frame that threatened to disappear into the ancient brown leather bomber jacket that was clearly too big for him. He was tired, not fully recovered from the previous night at The Poop Deck. Thing was, the troll hadn’t known about the little guy’s internal air tank. But the other thing was, the little guy hadn’t known the lateral valve was stuck again. But by the time he found out, his face was in the tub, two weeks pay was on the table, and he had the trog’s time of six minutes thirty-seven to beat. Piece of cake a decade earlier, but it wasn’t a decade earlier, and things had started to blacken around the edges of his vision. He’d started to wonder if you could get at the oxygen in the water if you maybe sucked in just a teeny tiny bit and sort of rubbed it really hard between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. It did occur that he could get all the air he wanted just by lifting his head out of the water, but that dog wouldn’t hunt. So he'd been working on telekinetically fixing his internal air feed - he didn’t know if he actually had telekinetic powers, but he’d never definitively ruled it out, and now seemed like a good time to give it a shot - when everything had gone black.
He’d opened his eyes to a glaring constellation of LED drop lights. He’d never seen them all on before - they usually kept things pretty dark there in The Deck - but when a wet mop butted against one of his Doc Marten’s on its way past, he’d realized it must be morning. Everything had hurt like a royal son of a bitch. And still did.
“They worked you over good, Al. There’s coffee here if you can get up.”
“Make it a beer an’ might be worth the effort.”
“Whatever.”
He’d dragged himself up and over to the bar, where Gladys popped a Grolsch for him. She was forty-five going on sixty and had more make-up on than than a Ringling Brothers clown.
“They worked you over good Al.”
“Yeah, but did I win?”
“Sure, you won. Kept your head in that tub till you went limp. Then Ace, he called time. They contemplated whether to pull you out for a while, and they decided they would after Ace hollered at them some. Hell, they even paid you, shoved the scrip right in your pocket. Laughed while they did it. I guess they’d already decided what was coming next. The beat on you for a while until they got bored, then took their money back. Then yours. Then your ‘link, your knife, even your smokes. They even tried to get that mouldy jacket, but lordy lordy bless, that’s when you started sleep-fighting. Never seen anything like it. Out like a light but rolled into a ball and kicking and scratching. They gave up then and left.”
“Well, hell’s bells, ya got that big feller on the door…din’t he see fit ta do nothin’ on ol’ Al’s behalf?”
“The guy on the door? You mean the one named Evan that you always call Tusker Trog Tom?”
“Awww…din’t mean nothin’ by it….”
Middle: “The role of the local contractors is two-fold. First, secure the entry point in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. It is a busy public place. We need to know our exfil point is uncompromised by hostiles while at the same time not alarming the patrons. Alerting the populace to the presence of bugs in their midst is always contraindicated. You’ll maintain a non-descript presence in the club. This will put you in position for your second role, which is to act as a reserve force. Should opposition below exceed expectations, you’ll be called in to assist. And, as a side note, you’ll be on our secondary tac-net and all use of heavy ordnance must be pre-approved by myself or Gardner.”
Damn, the little guy thought, this is gonna be one loud party. Well, they certainly had ticked all their diversity boxes - the good guys were about half skirts and had both of the regular-sized types of point-ears. And the bad guys they’d lumped him in with, well, not a round-ear among ‘em, and they’d pulled not only the dark little halfer but the righteous-big ingentis sitting over there on the floor. Hell, he thought, damn if we don’t look jist like America.
Honestly, if he’d known it would be this sort of rainbow coalition, he might have said no. Like he’d done in the first place.
“Woman, I got a double-shift with Hun’s crew tonight. That’s real OT, honey.”
“Al, you’ll make in one night more than in six-months on that forklift.”
“Silk, baby, ol’ Al’s head is not turned by filthy lucre. Shadowrunners? Delusional wannabes an’ pedophiles all of ‘em. I’ll take an honest day’s work if I can git it. An’ I can.”
“But I haven’t told you what the job is.”
“An’ I don’t care. I got a job.”
“You like Mission: Firewatch, don’t you?”
“Same as you like all them badass-lookin’ designer duds.”
“Well, this is work for a real-life Ares Firewatch team.”
“……..They gon’ kill bugs?”
“That’s what they do.”
“Shit woman, ol’ Al’s tangled with jist ‘bout ever’ type o’ demon an’ abomination on this benighted orb, but never had me a crack at the six-legged sort. But I’m a Thespian. What they need me for?”
“They need someone that knows the Sea-Tac docks. I told them there was no one better than you.”
“Well, that’s true enough.”
Index: “Use of insecticides and catastrophic munitions has been ruled out. The reasons you might understand are political. This is Seattle, not Detroit. Sensibilities here are different. There are environmental concerns for the local government, and of course PR issues for Ares. The more important reason, one which apparently does not concern you much is that we are Ares Macrotechnology. We are not Mitsuhama. We are not Aztechnology. We are Ares and we are Firewatch, and while the rest of the world cascades down morality’s slippery slopes, we will always be there to pull it from the brink.”
As one, the other Firewatch troopers grunted a spirited boo-rah!
And for his part, the little guy nearly fainted. He’d seen this moment a hundred times on the trid, whenever some short-sighted middle manager had tried to compromise their mission with cost cuts or promotional considerations, and was always put in his place with this very same speech. it was a bit like glimpsing deity.
“Boo-rah!” he echoed, the frog-like croak earning scornful looks from the others and the attention of Captain Dern. “You, you’re the guide, right? What do you know about this Anarchy place?”
“Alouicious Harlan Guthrie, esquire, at yer service, Cap’n. Northwest corner o’ East Third an’ E F Street, as yer honor knows. Reckon yer right ta hold off on the heavy stuff - that Nu Star Energy outfit ta the west an’ north, them tanks’re filled ta the brim with black market gasoline. Place’s a front ta move the stuff fer the Vors. An’ they safety protocols ain’t exactly up ta spec. Inside ya got yer typical pack o’ hippies an’ degenerates - it ain’t a dockworker hang-out. Attracts hipsters an’ so forth, think they’s cool slummin’ it with the workin’ folks. Some mighty colorful characters in there though. Some real damned individuals. In there last month, saw this one feller whose mouth worked sideways…an’ place ain’t none too clean. Roaches ever’where, an’ one time I stepped on one an’ you’d thing I’d spat on the Pope. Damned bunch o’ vegan free-lover-tree-lovers, ya ask ol’ Al.”
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A young professor introduced david, to a classroom filled with students in Washington's university.
Alright students - David will share his experiences with binding spirits, he is a practitioner not an an academic so the terms may not be exact but it is a real opportunity to meet an establish conjurer be polite.
So you guys want to bind spirits? David said and walked the room, gathering his thoughts - That is useful - but not half as fun of letting spirits bind you. Relationships are two way streets - get it in that big head of yours.
Yesterday, I was laying in my bed, tucked in with two gorgeous elf spirits - let's call them Monica and Tiffany. So we were studying right? Darn right we were - we studied several times that night.
The laughter in the class begun to ignite the chaos and the professor already started regretting inviting David to that guest lecture.
"Please david - no explicit description is there a moral to this story?"
David replied - "You tell me after you hear the end of it."
He continued.
"So, I was studying with these two beautiful spirits, first I took off my shirt then the pants, my underwear and finally my own meat body. We were there hanging out in the astral as naked as an awakened can possibly be.
Monika and Tiffany bound me and then brushed up all arrogance out of me, explaining what control really was. You see, astral studying is and always will be the real deal - any pleasure that your human body can give can be amplified in a world of emotions.
but I am not here to teach you about astral studying. Conjure your own Tiffany and Monika for that...
(class laughs) David continues Looking at the anxious professor David continues " There is a moral I promise... let me continue."
To the class:
So there I was having the time of my life with two sweethearts pleasuring me, what could possibly go wrong right? I was living the dream.
He paused and continued.
"... but after four hours the pleasure became horror. I NEEDED to get back to my body - there is so much I could take - but the sweethearts just did not let me go. They kept using my services, they could not get enough of them."
Pausing David added "So what is the moral of my little story?"
A young girl interrupted "Stick to metahumans for sex and use spirits professionally?"
David shrugged "No, no you got it all wrong... You use a pen, you do not use spirits seriously this is offensive. " Frustrated he said
"the moral of our story is that even if you are gorgeous as Tiffany and Monika, and even if your spirit is enjoying itself like I was with them... Your spirit still needs to get home at the end of the day. If it grows restless - let it go."
(Had to go to work - I'll bring David to the meeting in my next post sorry.)
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Kynos gave a sardonic grin as the captain and his team intoned the Firewatch motto.
"Good, good, I see you have that all under control.
And I won't even mention the rumors that Ares itself now has a bug problem in its leadership structure and that as a consequence of that Firewatch had to endure some serious budget cuts. I mean that must be obviously false. Otherwise they would be forced to hire auxiliaries from the shadows to supplement their ranks.
So I'm really glad you all are still here to defend the good citizens of Seattle and do it while keeping all morals intact.
That said: Securing the club would be a lot easier if we could get it to close early for an unrelated reason. For example a defect with the toilets and a severe flooding with "black water".
And don't think for a second I missed the implication about beetles: Those fuckers are seriously armored. Anything less than APDS will bounce right off. Politics be damned, forgoing insecticides is suicide. We should at the very least have those as a back-up with the semtex. After all, it's better to be judged by one than carried by six."
The tall elf paused to take a look at his non-Firewatch companions: "What I mean to say is of course: Yes sir, we'll present ourselves exactly as specified by your regulations that are in no way compromised by anyone higher up the chain.
Or what do you say, my fellow contractors in arms?"
Despite his harsh words, Kynos thoroughly enjoyed himself. It had been a long time since he worked in a military operation structure and it felt a bit like coming home. Even if the home had been built by the cheapest contractor, lacked some essential utilities and was really inconveniently built .
#2 /3PP
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Al chuckled to himself at the insolent keeb's naive remarks. Bugs at the top in Ares? That was right up there with the old Aztechnology human sacrifice smear, or the urban legend about the good folks over at MCT being mixed up with the yaks. Still, he did notice the furtive looks some of the troopers gave each other when the Spock repeated the crazy rumour.
He was more interested, however, in all this talk about bug poison. He'd meant to get his internal air system fixed before showing up for this job, but he'd been too busy sleeping, waking only occasionally to smoke. So he was very interested in hearing Captain Dern's response. And whether he'd fire the know-it-all dandelion-muncher on the spot....
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[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Staging Post Alpha7, Briefing Room, Tacoma, Seattle]
Dern frowned at Kynos, clearly not liking the challenge to his authority
“Small scale insecticides delivered locally is quite acceptable, just don’t expect us to gas a nightclub full of Citizens just to make your life easier! You’ve all brought your own equipment but I have authorisation to provide you with a limited amount of additional gear to integrate you with my team. Needless to say you will keep the items out of sight while you are on your primary position. Liaise with Sergeant Rose and he will organise that side of things.
If the nightclub has to be closed it had better be damn convincing. They may be bugs but they have an uncanny ability to sense when something is amiss and I don’t want to be walking in to a hive on high alert. Once the shooting starts will be soon enough for the shit to hit the fan.
Right, anything else?”
***
#02 PP/1
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Vish reminded himself that these were not the same soldiers that had assaulted his monastery. Even so, he was conscious that he was not inclined to like these people. That they were valiant warriors, willing to put their lives on the line to fight evil spirits, should raise them in his esteem -- but it was hard not to see them as people who would receive orders, call out ‘booya’, then apply that same ruthless violence to whoever they were aimed at.
Which raised a good point, actually. “If I might, I would like to ask for a small clarification. I think our role would perhaps be dual? On the one hand to make sure that the exit point is open and secure for the team here.” He gave a nod to the professional killers who were wearing uniforms. “And on the other hand to be a layer of insulation between the civilians and the horrors and violence below – that is, obviously nobody wants the bugs getting out, but also nobody want the fight spilling out into a populated club and neighbourhood, where issues with civilians might reduce the team’s performance.” It seemed better to focus on the impact on the Firewatch team rather than on the massive casualties that could occur.
“That would be as opposed to our second role being to also take a secondary part in the hunt down below? Or as opposed to us being the reserves to be called in where, when, and as needed in the primary fight?”
From the expressions on some of the Firewatch team members, relying on the runners in close quarters was not an appealing prospect, but the men waited for their officer to answer.
Vish used that delay to slide in one more point. “I also wonder, is making sure that there are no bugs already in the club a third aspect of our expected role? Or will that have been taken care of already? If they are aware of the club as the gateway for intruders, it would seem reasonable that they’d have sentries and maybe sabotage units there, either lurking in hidden places or infiltrated into the staff. We are not staffed to fight a two front battle, I think.”
"Understanding our role may well save lives and help make this expedition a success, so I ask in part for the good of my soul. But of course, understanding our role may also help us to understand the full responsibilities we'll be undertaking, so I ask in part so that we can understand the appropriate rewards of the more mundane kind."
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The captain needed a moment to parse that complicated sentence before he replied:
"Scouting out the target will of course be the first thing we do - hidden sentries must be identified beforehand. That part is all our mages responsibility.
But I have to emphasize: The opening of this operation relies on stealth and subterfuge and consequently on keeping our two groups separate. Once we engage the enemy your objective is to stop any bugs going into the tunnels who could attack our rear and also to stop any bugs getting out that might cause carnage among the civilians.
Only if things go completely off the rails you will be called to go underground to help the Alpha Team to with their retreat.
We'll be in permanent contact and your orders will be updated in case the situation chances - which it invariable does.
And your pay is the standard contractor rate for military auxiliaries + the usual hazard pay in case you are requested to go underground."
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The huge Troll opens his eyes and looks around. "The reward of doing good should be enough. If your spirit is at peace, it will provide all that is necessary for you to survive. Extravagance is not a virtue. Protecting people from the spiritual menace that is the bugs will bring you karma that will turn into rewards and riches. For some of us, that may be monetary wealth, but for others. that could just as easily be a peaceful night's rest, knowing that we have done good works. I urge you to give some consideration to your soul as you may find that this is the last day your physical body is connected to it."
"As to the plan, Captain, where do you see me fitting in? I am told that I am a bit obvious and can stick out in a crowd. This may have an impact on your plan to remain unobtrusive until needed. I am unfamiliar with this club but do know that some have restrictions against my kind. Also, I will be armed with two swords, so is there a manner of hiding them until needed?"
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The conversation having once again grown tedious, Al's eyes had neared shutting again. It took him a moment to realize that the Captain had looked a question to him. Reminding himself that he was theoretically at work right now, he rewound the last few moments of conversation in his memory and answered. "Trogs is arms-wide welcome. Makes all the college kids feel good 'bout theyselves. Swords, nope, not so much. Same fer big guns, natch."
-
Kynos replied to the good deeds speech with a snort: "Ha, good one. But joke's on you. I'm pretty sure they removed my soul during the last operation to fit another striking callus in. But if you want to do some good, I'm totally open to take care of your share of the filthy lucre. Dog knows, bullets are expensive."
If the captain had rolled his eyes any harder at Kynos' bantering they might have popped from his skull. Instead he chose to ignore the mercenary and answered the troll:
"Leaving the spirituality aside: Getting your gear and weapons in will be part of your mission. This is not Fort Knox, so a backdoor access or even just a handover through a toilet window should be enough to deal with that problem.
About racism: This is a diverse Nightclub, race should be no object."
Kynos couldn't resist to add: "Yeah, that's one of the good sides of the bugs: They aren't racist, they find us all equally delicious."
#4 /3PP
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The professor said "David - that was an interesting lecture I do not think we will be calling you again. Your methods are a bit unorthodox for us."
The man answered coldly "Yes and you said you wanted to help - I said studying, gosh they understood what they wanted to help me get well. I will be alright, I forgot your name already."
With that David entered his van and drove away, it was then that he saw a message about a meetup - he must have missed it with all the pressure of preparing his lecture - a paying job. His shrink said to avoid these - that they are just going to make him worse - but David needed the money and his day job seemed over so he accepted, arriving late to the meeting.
Before David entered he donned his white emotionless mask, "It is not me - doing these things it is ICE" he justified his disobedient behavior.
"I am sorry to be late, please do not ask me why, I was late as I do not like to lie."
"I am ICE, I am good with guns and I bring two beautiful spirits - they would not say their names due to mystical limitations so we agreed that I can call them Tiffany and Monica." He said and his two elf like spirits manifested next to him. ICE called all his spirits Tiffany and Monica - it is not that they were all the same he just did not knew their names and they did not claim to know each other. Using the same name over and over again gave him an illusion of social life.
ICE looked around judging the people aound him and nodding politely - as polite as he could given the fact that his face was covered - but they did not want the sensitive PTSD David Williams - they wanted ICE the cold blooded assassin/driver/conjurer thief and whatever he needed to be.
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Al waved the newcomer a peace sign. "Well met, masked kemo sabe. Some people say never trust a feller hides his face. But ol' Al ain't never said that. Reckon maybe yer a superhero or somethin', gotta pertect yer secret identity. An' I like yer friends. Ya think ya could dial up the resolution on the tasty bits, though? I mean, ain't like they mind, am I right? An' Gardner here's got way too much Venlar on ta be much use as eye-candy."
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Steel ignores the jibes made at his expense by the Elf; after all, he is used to such from people that just do not understand. He simply shakes his head; it not being his responsibility to push his philosophy on others, and continues to listen to the others speak.. At a break in the conversation, he interjects, "I will need my swords for this and would welcome any ideas as to how to get them into the club without arousing the ire of their security personnel."
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ICE raised his mask, exposing an ageless child like face with sad eyes. He was small for an elf and not much bigger than a dwarf and without the assault rifle and his stun baton, he could pass out for a child.
He approaches Al, "The mask is for me, makes it easier to access my mojo" He then lowers it again, and then adds "They are like they are for reasons I do not control. "Tiffany looked at Al and said "I am sorry that my physical appearance is not to your liking." due to her limited knowledge about social interactions it was impossible to understand if she was cynical sincere or just polite. Her expression remained as neutral as ICE's maks.
Monica just watched the room with curiosity, shyly, and then looked back at ICE, walking behind him as if trying to hide behind him. She was so much taller than the man and it seemed a bit funny. "You can go, I do not want to make you uncomfortable." ICE said.
And monica faded out. "She is still here, she is just shy around other people." he explained.
He looked at the troll and asked "Can't wait to use this babies heh? - what is it this time?"
-
"Reckon ya misunderstood me, hon," Al replied to the spirit. "Ears or not, yer very much ta ol' Al's likin'. 'Nuff that I'd like ta see more, 's all I was sayin'."
He figured the zen giant was likely above such interests, but he turned and gave a lecherous wink to the wise-ass keeb and the South Asian halfer. "You fellers know what ol' Al's on about."
-
Kynos shrugged at suggestion:
"I see what you mean, but personally, I've grown out of the habit of getting distracted by a pair of titties - no matter how shapely.
Having been married can do that to you - or maybe it's because they never reconnected the appropriate glands during one of the OPs. Doesn't matter. I've done my share of increasing the world's population. Nowadays I'm strictly in the business of reducing it.
In any case: Don't know, don't care. As long as the twins can ventilate a fleshform bug spirit's brainpan adequately they can take whatever form they damn well please.
By the way: Impressive portfolio, ICE. Do you incidentally have a trick up your sleeve to make us inconspicious at a night club?"
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ICE said "Oldest trick in the book, my assault rifle goes into a guitar case, and the more eccentric we look the better - if anyone asks you are with the band... People will believe anything and the odder it look the more believable it is. Part of the entertainment, my spiritual friends somehow came dressed for parties and I bet that more eyes are going to be on them than on you."
-
Vish smiled at the troll and said "Oh, I LIKE you! When this is done, please let us talk about souls and earthly rewards and such things." Whether or not the troll was sincere in his professed belief, he was just the sort that could be used to put a good spiritual face on a religious institution which had more material concerns.
Turning to the ragged man, he switched topics "Certainly I know what you mean, but I would prefer to avoid such distractions of the flesh for now." Then, because he inexplicably liked the ragged man he added "Besides, between elf proportions and the floating action, it all goes over my head anyway -- I prefer short humans with their feet on the ground, lines things up so that ..." he gives himself a shake, smiles a bit, and admits "I'm not immune to the distractions of the material world, which is why I prefer to just avoid them sometimes."
As for the summoner of the spirits ... Vish gave the masked man a curt nod, and made no effort to hide that he was looking at the man's aura -- so much more personal than a face. The man's flip approach to his spirits grated, but Vish wasn't sure how much of that was jealousy that the coarse man could summon and control two spirits, and that he could coaxe the spirits to take on such pleasing forms. Vish really felt he should say something to the man, but he was at something of a loss for words.
Instead, he addressed the group more broadly. "Seems to me that we want to have the club manager either on our side or out of action, so nobody is trying to fight us for control of what is going on. Plus the manager's office probably has surveillance feeds from the club, and would be somewhere to cache gear and for me -- and possibly our late-comer -- to cache our bodies while our spirits keep watch in the immaterial world."
He is feeling better already as he puts this vague plan into words. This was something they had done many times in the old days -- replace the source of authority and you could sometimes work wonders. "If we take the office, by charm or coercion, then I think we can gain something of the home field advantage." Turning to the military commander, he asked "Do you have any official looking papwerwork we could wave around in an intimidating manner, should we need to do so? I'd rather actual paper, not AROs, since it is easier to keep people from actually getting to read what it says."
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Staging Post Alpha7, Briefing Room, Tacoma, Seattle]
Dern spoke again: "Alright, since all of you are going to participate, it's time for the actual plan:
You are Beta Team and will arrive first to scout out the location, note all potential threats and integrate in the club scene. Once you are done with that you give us a sit-rep.
Phase two: Alpha Team infiltrates the club through the delivery elevator. The access to the hive is supposedly in a cellar storage room. It will be your job to make sure that we aren't disturbed during that time by anyone of the club employees trying to fetch more alcohol up.
The cellar access is at the end of the corridor where the bathrooms are. Be subtle about it and if you can't stop them, give us at least a warning.
If you want, we can depo part of your gear in the cellar for you. Or you can use the toilet window or any other trick you know to get your gear in.
The club has no sensor based entrance guard, but there are always two bouncers on duty with three or four more on duty within the club. Most of them are of the Homo Robustus persuasion and have a criminal record for assault and battery charges.
Don't fuck this up or we'll have a panic or worse a bug break out on our hands.
Alpha Team arrives at 2130 hours, so we don't arrive while they have to constantly bring up booze for the crowd. Your scouting should be done by then.
Naturally, you arrive with your own vehicles.
Any more questions? Otherwise you are free to go and prepare. And remember the people of Seattle are counting on you!"
-
Figuring class was dismissed (he couldn't imagine any more questions - job: manage the hippies, let Firewatch kill bugs), Al looked around at the four strangers to see about bumming a ride....
"Anyone got an extra seat? If'n y'all got errands ta run, that's cool, but ol' Al's ready ta hit the club as is.," he said, hitching up his faded, oversized khaki fatigue trousers, zipping his bomber jacket up over his yellowish-white T-shirt, and shouldering his Defiance T-250 shotgun.
Before anyone could answer him, though, he launched into a near-catastrophic fit of wet coughs that ended with him shoving Gardner out of the way and emptying his throat of a huge wad of green-tinged slime into the room's wastebasket.
-
ICE said "... I have an ice cream truck, there is plenty of room if you want to join us."
-
"An ice cream truck? Well hot damn, kemo sabe, don't that jist suit ya? Okay, okay, baby, where do I git in line? Ain't nothin' like a triple soychoc swirl to fortify a feller fer a hard night o' demon slayin'!"
-
Vish sat open-mouthed for a moment, gob-smacked by the brilliance of it. Finally "An Ice-Cream truck? Not a trick to use once anyone has caught on, but brilliant until then! I've got a pick-up truck if we need something less attention catching too."
His brows crinkled at a sudden thought "It really does serve ice-cream, right? Might help draw attention away from anything else going on, like a Firewatch team pulling up to the back door."
-
Kynos shrugged: "I've only a Yamaha dirt bike, so it's a good thing that the rest of you can snuggle in the freezer truck. But I'm likewise here with my go-bag, so I'll take you up on the offer to stash my gear in the cellar. Been a while since I had fun at a club, but I think I can still manage the robot dance.
So see you there." He removed a taser from his bag, kicked it over to the captain, nodded to Alpha and Beta Team and got up to leave the room.
There was no doubt in his mind that he was heading towards an almighty cluster fuck, but the ride would surely be fantastic.
On his way to the club, Kynos stopped at a Stuffer Shack and bought some essentials: A role of duct tape, a small can bottle of industrial lubrication oil and a fancy cigarette lighter - just everything you needed for improvised nastiness and sabotage.
-
ICE looked at vish and then said "Well technically it is a dessert bar - but we mostly sell ice cream. There is a spare freezer if you need to deliver a body. I think that in a car chase we should use the pikcup - but people like ice cream - so we have a valid reason to park the car near the club, or to smuggle items in ice cream boxes. "
Looking around he asks "So I take Al, anyone else is riding with me?"
-
Steel listens to the banter between his erstwhile companions and sighs. It is clear that, although they are likely deadly and effective, they are not one with their souls. "Even the enlightened can appreciate the beauties of the female form and enjoy the sensual tension and release of a conjoined relationship. Everything we do affects our souls and I am available to show any of you how to connect more fully to yours, but only if you are interested. I do not force my way upon others. I do, however, separate souls from physical bodies on a regular basis and will accept this task as a means to improve my spiritual connection."
"I have my own transportation and will use it. Thank you for the offer, but I do not believe that I would fit into an ice cream truck, unless it is larger than normal. I am not even sure if my swords will fit into your instrument case as they are quite large, as befits my own size. I think that my role might be to ward the cellar to prevent interruptions. In that case, could I get someone to open the rear entrance for me so that I do not have to walk through the club? Or is there a better idea here?"
-
"Okay, lemme see here, so you improve your spiritual connection by disconnectin' other folks' spirits? Now that's a new one on ol' Al...but crazy religions one-oh-one later. Halfer here got the best idear: we go straight fer the proprietor, have a friendly chat, don't take no fer an answer, an' we'll have ourselves the key ta the back an' the run o' the place lickety split."
He took a moment to ogle Tiffany, the the troll's talk of conjoined relationships made it a lot less fun.
"Owner's name is Lenny Blackmun, used ta run monster truck shows down in South Tacoma till he got nailed scammin' the insurance on the drivers. Did three years, an' joined some crazy cult while he was in. Word is they backed 'im fer the club, helped him hook the hipster crowd from up Capital Hill way an' so forth. He's hands on with the management, an' also with some o' the treats they sell under the counter. There ever' night. Lives above the place. Likes his cigars thick an' his women thicker. Don't know where he's at with ice cream though."
-
Vish smiles and rubs his hands together eagerly "Very good, very good: he knows how to work around rules, he has authority over the club, the success of the club matters to him -- it isn't just a job -- and he has reason to understand how bad being on the bad side of Knight-Errant could be. We should be able to find ways to put pressure on with that. Maybe even work with his taste in women. Of course those who overly enthusiastic about their beliefs can be ... difficult. But we should be able to work around that if we can get a handle on his beliefs, so we aren't working against them."
Suddenly the dwarf frowns. "Unless his beliefs are that we should all get possessed by bugs, that would be tricky, very tricky." Then he shrugs "We will find out; if this is the case then we kill him quickly and work out a new plan."
"As for taking gear in, do you have any empty ice-cream tubs? They wouldn't be tall enough for swords or an assault rifle, but they would cover taking in smaller weapons, which might be enough to make sure we take control of the club, and from there bringing in the larger gear should be easy enough."
-
"My plan exactly" said ICE.
-
Kynos had finished his shopping and while he was riding his bike to the club shot a quick message to his chummers: <<I'm about to enter the club. I'll give you a sit-rep when I'm in, but I can tell you there is already a long line - which probably means the club is quite empty at the moment.>>
Finding a space to securely park his bike, Kynos straightened his synth leather jacket and crossed the street. He didn't actually get in line but instead made a trip around the building to take a look at the back entrance.
As promised, there was a trapdoor for a loading elevator next to a back door leading to the trashcans. Right next to that where bared windows - the toilets he presumed. Loud music came from inside and Kynos witnessed a surely looking teenager come from the building and throwing a large trash bag into the bins. The whole alley smelled of urine and refuse. Kynos fervently wished he'd had his full body armor with him or at least a gas mask.
When he came back, the line had moved a bit but also grown a couple or two. Resigned he got in line behind two girls that looked much to young for a club and had way to much make up on their faces to conceal that fact. It didn't take long before they noticed him and started giggling. The giggling stopped once they had looked at his eyes only to be replaced by a whispered conversation.
Kynos ignored them.
-
Al's boots splashed into a wide puddle outside the ice cream truck. Chocolate sauce was drying in the coarse stubble on his chin. He'd left his shotgun in the vehicle for the moment.
Scanning the line, he saw that the big elf had made his way pretty far down the queue. He didn't take the keeb for the sort of chump that did a lot of waiting in lines, but figured he didn't want to draw extra attention right away. Never hurt to have a quiet ace in the hole lurking around somewhere.
Addressing the others as they gathered, he nodded at the long string of would-be clubbers and started to speak, but broke into a violent coughing fit instead. Once he'd hacked out what sounded like a lung and looked like something toxic, he caught his breath with some difficulty and said, "I know the door guy, so I'll git us in lickety split an' then make the introductions with Blackmun. After that I'll leave the social engineerin' ta y'all yahoos. Ya ain't gon' learn nothin' if ol' Al does it all for ya. But reckon I'll be standin' by with my Master Thespian skills if'n ya git sideways somehow."
He set off across the wet pavement with the others that had nominated themselves to chat with the club owner. Gave the finger to the pissed off college punks that cursed at them for walking to the head of the line. Said to the doorman, "Buenos noches, Slick. Got biz ta talk with Lenny."
-
ICE dismantled his assault rifle and and stashed the parts in ice cream boxes. He answered Al - "Let's see if we can BS our way in there..." As if reading his mind, Monica and Tiffany materialized next to ICE and the trio followed Al carrying numerous ice cream boxes. The two magical ladies were gliding few inches above ground and only pretended to be walking, but the attention they got was more related to their revealing outfit. As they approached the line Monika said "Make way... we are part of the entertainment." and Tiffnay added "And we brought Ice cream." and smiled a devious smile. Between these two stunning magical ladies, ICE seemed plained, he said to the doorman "...we are, with the band" and signalled the two ladies.
-
Kynos watched stoically as his chummers arrived and bypassed the queue. With curiosity he noted the reply of the bouncer:
"Al? Seriously? You know that Lenny is still cross about that stunt you pulled with the custard and the shotgun shell. He still can't get the smell out of his carpet. Eh, whatever, it's your funeral. Go on in."
Finally, the two girls arrived at the bouncer who looked pretty skeptically at them but finally shrugged and let the young meat in. Kynos took the opportunity to just walk on behind them as if he belonged with them.
"Hey, not so fast buddy..."
Kynos just glared at the bouncer and rasped: "You think Don Ignatio let's his daughter go into a nightclub without protection? Think again."
Ignoring the outstreched hand Kynos shouldered his way past, before the bouncer could think to much about that statement.
It mainly worked because right than ICE with his assistants drew the guys attention away.
"What? Since when do Razorblade Abortion order catering? Ah, never mind. Say, is that peanut-banana flavor? I love that stuff."
-
Vish really liked having his truck with him, but since he didn't really have a drivers license -- or any training on traffic laws -- it had seemed best to tag along in the ice cream truck. He'd been going to take an ice cream tub, but when he looked at their size versus his size he realized that he'd look ridiculous and not be able to see over it. Fortunately he'd been able to add his Uzi to one of the tubs that others were carrying, and he'd found a tall box in which ice-cream cones had once come, but that he could hold sideways so that it wasn't as obstructive or silly looking.
Investigation revealed that there was still a couple of dozen stale cones in a bag at the bottom of the box -- some didn't make it to the cub as Vish didn't see that it was likely that they were going to get any other supper, but it felt good to have a real prop when they went to talk their way in. Which made it almost disappointing when the bouncer barely even noticed him him tagging along with Al and Ice. The pluses and minuses of being short.
For that matter, the women in line didn't seem inclined to notice him either, for all that he'd made sure to trim his beard and slick his hair back. Definitely the minuses of his height. On the other hand ... he looked at the typical level of clothing on those oblivious women, and figured that he might enjoy the view if the gig allowed time for a stroll around the dance floor.
As they got into the club and got a look around, Vish eyed the mountain of mean holding up the wall next to the door marked "Private: employees only. Yes, this means you, fragger!" He called out to his companions "Straight back to the office? Looks like the next guard woke up on the ride side of the bed this lifetime."
-
"Awww, Francis? He's a pussycat," Al reassured the dwarf. "Nothin' ta fret about."
Al strode up to the gigantic man butched out in studded black leather and said, "Heya kemo sa..." Which was all he got out before the guy's hamlike fist slammed into his already-black eye.
The smaller man swayed back, but then came upright, feet never moving. Head bowed, one hand holding his eye, the other held up in a placating gesture, he was still for a moment, then said, "Peace out, Francie baby. I'll allow as ol' Al may've had that comin' fer the thing with the conjoined..."
"No, that was for the bum tip on Hathawaye's Fortune in the fifth last Tuesday. This is for landing me in it with the pawns over them underage twins." And the same fist drove deep into Al's abdomen at the solar plexus, sending the little man into a frenzied hacking fit. But he still managed to rasp out a few words between coughs.
"S'pose...this means...we can't...see...Lenny...tonight..."
"Au contraire, Al. I never let my personal beefs interfere with my professional responsibilities." And keeping himself at arm's length from the ongoing coughing fit, he swung the door behind him open for the small group.
Once they were in the back corridor and the door was shut again, Al straightened up and smirked: "What'd I tell ya? All bark an' no bite."
-
Vish started sauntering along behind Al, but suddenly a tennis racket sized palm was blocking his way. Francis rumpled down at him “Al’s taken too many punches to the head. Food got to go to the kitchen before you go back here -- boss wouldn’t be happy about puddles of melted ice-cream in his office.”
Vish was hoping not to use the same concussion-inducing tactics that Al had gotten away with, not least because a punch from the troll would likely toss the dwarf out onto the dance floor. Going for his slickest voice that would carry over the music, he yelled up to the troll “Chummer, you got it all wrong! Ice cream is supposed to go to his office to soften up for a while. What I heard is he’s going to be having some hungry ladies back there later, wants to see how much they can suck back or something. That part might be rumour, but the instructions were to make sure these got to the office, and make sure nobody took them to the kitchen.”
Francis grumbled something about "... probably that fragging Heather again..." but he withdrew his paw, so Vish hurried past without bothering with further lies. Al's blithe reassurance that the troll was more bark than bite didn't do a lot to slow the hammering of the dwarf's heart. He was a decent talker, but a situation like this was always stressful.
-
Steel parks his bike near the club and walks up to where he can see what is going on. He notices the arrival of the ice cream truck and nods as the rest of the team seems to have no trouble getting in. ICE's two assistants provide all the distraction necessary as Steel moves into the alley. He wrinkles his nose at the odors assailing his senses from all directions and moves carefully past two old men sitting at the mouth of the alley passing a bottle of something back and forth between them. They barely look up at the moving mountain as he passes by them and he makes his way to the rear entrance to the club. He stands there for a couple of minutes, pretending to be adding to the urine puddle behind the dumpster when some surly punk kid comes out of the club to deposit another couple of bags in the dumpster. Taking advantage of the open door, Steel just walks into the building, his mere glance cutting off the kid's complaint that he can't just do that.
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Anarchy Nightclub, Tacoma, Seattle]
Dern’s text sails briefly across the AR interface of the Firewatch tacnet that Grace had supplied you with limited access to, those of you who use AR at least…
>>On station, go on your word
***
#03 PP/1
-
Kynos had sauntered over to the bar to get himself a glas of synthehol with wiskey flavor. He snatched the glas away before the barkeeper could add ice to the mixture that smelled vaguely like paint thinner.
The flashing lights and the hammering bass reminded him a bit off the short campaign during the Carpathian offensive. 'An exploding artillery shell would be exactly what this club needs...'
He kept an eye open for any bugs or other insects around, but only saw a few dead flies that had ended up in corner where the cleaning drone had missed them.
He was just at his second round around the dance floor when the message from Alpha Team came in.
<<Acknowledged, I'm taking position in the corridor at the cellar door.>>
The noise was decidedly more bearable in the corridor and the air cooler. Only the smell was due to the toilets a few notches worse than in the main rooms. Kynos waited for a second to be sure that no-one saw him, before he tried the cellar door.
<<Cellar door is closed and locked - there is probably no-one down there at the moment. You can go in - don't forget to stash my gear.>>
With that he changed the channel and called his chummers <<I could use a bit of company in the corridor - standing here alone is mightily suspicious. Also ICE, have you found any spirits or thralls with your mojo vision yet?>>
Meanwhile Al and his entourage had reached Lenny's office. The door stood open a bit and the irritating high pitched, indignant voice of Lenny could be heard: "I don't care. Just get them out of here, I don't have time for this bulldrek. And send the new girl up - she hasn't been explained the law of the land yet."
-
Al heard Lenny's voice, but there was no light coming from the cracked doorway. He knocked.
"Yeah, who's that?"
Al forced a deep, resonant belch.
"Guthrie? I'm busy, you slag. Come in and make it quick, whatever it is."
Entering the room, Al could barely see a thing - the new retro lava lamp array Lenny had recently spent a fortune on was lifeless. Lenny was a shadow behind his desk. He flipped the wall switch, but nothing happened.
"What the hell, Len? Didn't pay yer 'lectric bill?"
"Nah, Al. I just like it this way. More peaceful, right?"
There was a skittering sound in a corner somewhere. Maybe to the left. No, to the right.
"Sure Len. Your world, amigo. So listen, we got a proposition fer ya."
Heavy footsteps outside the office door. Then quiet.
"Really? Well that's a hell of a coincidence, Al," said the voice of the shadow behind the desk. "Because now that you're here, I've got a proposition for you, too. But you first."
Al paused, then kicked the leg of his nearby co-worker. "You heard the man. You first."
-
Steel stalks through the kitchen like a man.........well, more like a troll, I guess.........on a mission. The handful of cooks and cook assistants in the large room seem to mostly ignore him, moving around his bulk as he walks to the door that leads out to the hallway. Ducking through, he sees Kynos standing there and moves closer, smiling a welcome. "Hey. Great night to be sending some demon minions back to hell. Just the two of us back here so far, eh?" Steel moves his massive arms and draws his two swords, flicking them on and smiling. "I love the hum they make. So, what is the play here?"
-
Vish was not happy about being kicked in the shin, or being shoved into the figurative spotlight. What a time for the raggedy man to lose his nerve for fast talk! Still, business is business, so he did his part.
"Nice to meet you ... Len, was it? You can call me Vish." The dwarf put on his best smile, confident that the man he was talking to would be able to appreciate the effort despite the dark. "I've got to say, Al here must really like you, because he really pushed for us to make this offer, when the rest of us were not really caring so much. But Al, he said you were a good, respectable, owner. A man who knows what is what and how things are done. A man who deserves some consideration. So her persuaded us we should make this offer."
An impatient noise came from in front of Vish. Hopefully from the bundle of body heat he saw seated at the desk, but he wasn't entirely sure if that was the case. Fragging spooky office had his nerves on edge, that's all. Well, time to get on with it, action always helped him find inner peace. With an effort of will he created an illusion, first a featureless man-shape, faintly glowing to be seen in the dark. As he carried on talking he gradually added contrast and color, facial features, a uniform.
"Stay frosty -- I'll get to the details. I just thought it was important that you understand the situation a bit. One more detail that probably matters -- it is about to come out that you are cooperating with Ares -- have probably been doing so ever since you got out of prison, to make sure that you stay out -- and that you've been giving them free reign of your club to monitor people of interest." He walked the illusion of the KE officer towards the office door. "This illusion is just by way of illustration, by the way. Our proposition is that we stage manage things tonight such that no such rumor comes out, nor does any evidence to support it. We need access to your security, and will likely shut the club down early, but your reputation stays intact. And if the meet that we need to have here later goes badly, the fall-out doesn't result in a lot of dead customers."
The responding growl of anger certainly seemed to fill the office -- hopefully just a trick of acoustics.
-
Steel stalks through the kitchen like a man.........well, more like a troll, I guess.........on a mission. The handful of cooks and cook assistants in the large room seem to mostly ignore him, moving around his bulk as he walks to the door that leads out to the hallway. Ducking through, he sees Kynos standing there and moves closer, smiling a welcome. "Hey. Great night to be sending some demon minions back to hell. Just the two of us back here so far, eh?" Steel moves his massive arms and draws his two swords, flicking them on and smiling. "I love the hum they make. So, what is the play here?"
Kynos raised a single eyebrow behind his glasses: "Up to this moment it was keeping a low profile and stop anyone from going through that door into the cellar. Now, I guess, it's only the last part.
I mean, come on: Really? Swords!?"
Meanwhile upstairs:
"Ares!" Only a single word, but how he uttered it, it carried an enormous mix of fear, hate and revulsion. But as fast as the outbreak had come, Lenny had his voice back under control: "Now, why would you start spreading such silly stories, I wonder..."
In the silence of the room, the little click of a button press was remarkable audible.
-
The click was just enough warning for Al to reach out and grab a piece the edge of the trap door as the floor fell out from underneath him. Legs dangling over darkness deeper than that in the room, he scrabbled at the tiles with tobacco-stained nails to keep from dropping into the abyss sucking at his boots. He glanced around to see if he was the only one to catch himself...while wondering if he could spare a hand to reach for his commlink.
-
Steel's grin is hard to read; it could be friendly but it could mean something else entirely. He moves the swords slightly, listening to the hum as they cut through the air.. "Yes, my friend, swords. They should help cut the bugs to size, but would you rather I put them away and just looked tough?"
-
Kynos shrugged. "I'm not your boss and I don't care if you want to gulash the guests to stop them from squealing. If I'm honest I don't think we'll have to wait to long for the Alpha Team to ask for reinforcements. Those guys look tough, but they are a far cry away from the early Firewatch teams. Those neither would have taken lip from me nor would they have hesitated to flatten this whole rotten building after hours. And they are going up against bugs. Those things are beyond tough - tougher than me actually. I expect screaming any second now..."
"AAAHHHH" came the muffled voices from beyond the next wall, where according to the building plans the owners office lay.
"Damn, I'm good. Although I have to admit I expected them to come from the cellar"
-
Steel grins again. "So much for putting the swords away, my friend. I would think that the walls in this fire trap are fairly thin, right? Maybe we just go through this one into the next room?"
-
"Be my guest, but don't be surprised if you are covered in cockroaches afterwards."
Kynos had drawn his taser - a pityfull small weapon, considering what they might be facing the very next moment - and nodded towards the wall while he send a message to Alpha Team
<<There seems to be trouble in the office, we are investigating>>
But almost immediately he received an automated message back <<Recipient not responding. Target device out of reach and/or disconnected>>
-
It didn't take long for Al to realize that he could, in fact, not spare a hand for his commlink, since Lenny was now looming over him, the heel of one upmarket designer sneaker grinding into the scarred fingers of his right hand.
Len looked exactly the same. But he felt different. Really different. Tightening the tenuous grip he had with his left hand, Al pulled his right free and tried to grab the club owner's ankle, but it danced easily out of reach.
"Seriously, Len? Roaches?" Ominous skittering sounds echoed up from far below Al's dangling feet. "Ya wanna turn yerself into a bug, could've at least gone fer somethin' cool like a mantis or somethin'."
"What can I say, Al?' Lenny replied, bringing a foot down hard on Al's lonely left hand. "It was a gender thing. But roaches aren't that bad, as you'll soon..."
The villain's taunting was interrupted by a crash as the troll called Steel erupted through the far wall, plaster and plaswood framework disintegrating around him. Unfortunately, the light that spilled into the room from the hallway revealed a brown cockroach the size of a horse on the ceiling directly above Al's would-be rescuer.
"Bogey on yer twelve!" Al shouted.
But he wasn't sure if the troll heard him, since his voice was drowned out by a tremendous explosion from outside.
-
Vish was quick to step backwards when he heard the click of the button, despite the distraction of sustaining the illusory KE officer.
Unfortunately he’d only taken one stride before the trap door opened, and one stride of his short legs was not enough get him clear.
What the stride did do was send him falling in a bit of an arc, instead of straight down. With his lined coat billowing up around him on the short fall he couldn’t see what was beneath him during the brief moment of freefall, so it was a surprise to land on something soft and sticky instead of a hard concrete floor. Not the surface was that soft – the landing still drove the breath out of him of wrenched at his knees as he lurched to one side and tumbled off the whatever-it-was.
Glancing around, Vish’s IR vision found little temperature variation, which was all the more disturbing given the rustling and clicking and slithering sounds he hear bouncing around the basement room.
-
ICE finishes placing the crates and then assembles his gun. Monica confirms what he suspected all along, There were many flash form in the club, spreading their infestation, to unsuspecting innocents. The man finished assembling his assault rifle in the toilet while Monika made sex sounds to make his presence in the toilet seems legit.
ICE texted ">> The entire place is infested, half the people are are bugs and the other half will be infested once they get drunk enough. Find some place defendable and then we start feeding them bullets, I am at the toilet. Don't be subtle just don't get infested entire gig is a bust."
-
Undeterred by the appearance of the cavalry, Lenny continued to stomp on Al's fingers.
Hurt like a bitch, but Al and pain were, if not exactly on friendly terms, at least longtime acquaintances.
But a glance around revealed that the dwarf had gone down the hole, and that left nothing for it. "Soon, asshole," Al rasped, then let his bloodied hand slip while his other gave Len the finger.
The scream on the way down wasn't because he was scared. He just wanted the dwarf to get out of the way.
-
Steel shoulders his way into the room just in time to hear Al shout a warning. One of the advantages of being a Troll is that you don't really need to stretch much to reach the ceiling in a room, and this room was no different. He instinctively steps a bit to the side and runs his swords up and into the the creepy-crawly above him. The gore dripping from the corpse now on the floor is satisfying, but not as satisfying as seeing that one of the bugs was standing at the hole that Al had just dropped into, apparently watching him with some sort of glee. He hears the thing say something about seeing Al later, but the words are cut off by two of the finest vibro swords Ares makes as they slice into the creature, dropping him into the hole in two pieces. Barely sparing a look down, Steel looks about to see if there are more of the creatures. >>Kynos, Al has gone some sort of pit in the office. What is our play?<<
-
Al landed with a painful thud on some sort of sticky, semi-pliant surface.He couldn't see shit.
No sooner had he pulled his knife and activated its phosphorescent coating than the top of Lenny landed on his feet and the bottom of Lenny splatted down next to his head, a dangling entrail slapping him across his unshaven face.
Then both halves sprouted legs and scuttled off in opposite directions into the darkness, the one with the head chittering and muttering like a maniac with Tourettes on a zen-kamikaze cocktail.
Al looked over at the dwarf beside him and said, "That ain't supposed ta happen, is it?"
-
<<What is our play? ATTACK. Kill until there is no opposition left>>
Kynos stepped through the newly formed hole in the wall, splashed his synth whiskey on the vest of the club owner and fired his taser, intending to ignite the high proof alcohol.
-
Steel senses a third bug in the room and turns to meet its charge, allowing the thing to impale itself on his swords, spewing ichor from a pair of fatal wounds. Drawing his weapons clear, he watches the body shiver and drop to the floor before he severs its head from its body. The fourth and currently last monstrosity in the room is already on fire as Kynos' taser does an excellent job of igniting whatever he had tossed on it. The flames lick at the form of what used to be a man and a wild shriek permeates the room before the thing stumbles to and over the edge of the pit in the floor. >>Look out below, Al. We're sending you something to provide you with a bit of light. Are you alright down there?<<
-
Things escalated very quickly and as a rumor arrived to the dance floor that the hive was exposed. If Ares already knew about the hive there was little room to keep appearances, many of the dancers started sporting terrifying tentacles and the doors were locked tight. That party just got a whole lot louder and wider as the horror cries of the soon to be bugs raised through the roof.
ICE texted >> I am not sure that I brought enough bullets, fight or flight people?
This was all he said before a nasty bug entered the toilets, ICE dispatched that bug with a full automatic burst and then instructed his spirits to make murder voices instead. That would buy them some time... he thought. ICE had to admit that the girls got creative and warped themselves with blood and well - they looked... like sexy zombies.
ICE quickly wrote ---> "sexy zombie" as a costume to halloween.
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Anarchy Nightclub, Tacoma, Seattle]
Frag it! Dern made sure that only his own team could hear him as he spat a few invectives about shit intel and fragging amateur street runners…
“Parker, sanitise the club floor, nobody gets past the external marker, lethal response, we’ll deal with the fallout later! Tell Commander Jones we are going to need that cordon after all, code Broken Glaive”
Keying the comm channel to put him back in touch with the runners
>>We are going to Neurostun the club floor. Anything that is still standing in the next ten seconds is to be considered hostile! We are entering the hive now, Plan A is already hosed, so clean up here and then follow us in! I want a clear route back to the surface!
***
The Wolfhound drones sweeping the perimeter circled in and deployed the laser guided munitions in via blacked out windows or air vents…rather than titanic explosions there was the sound of breaking glass and then the hiss of escaping gas as the knock-out compound filled the main hall, barely heard over the pounding of the beat and the screams of the patrons that are only now beginning to realise that something is wrong…
***
#04 PP/1
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Anarchy Nightclub, manager's office Tacoma, Seattle]
<<Acknowledged.>>
"Damnit, this toy is not gonna cut it. Wait here, I'll be right back."
Kynos ignored the teeming masses of bugs and hybrids looking up from below and instead stormed of to the cellar, kicking in the cheap plastic door and half run, half fell down the stairs to his equipment stash. There was no time to don his armor, but the rifle was where it was supposed to be. Going by the position of the club owner's office, Kynos guessed where the trapdoor led to. And didn't you know, there was indeed a small locked fire door, leading to the lair. Without hesitation he sent a small burst at the lock, hopefully not hitting one of his trapped chummers. With another mighty kick he opened the door, despite the gunk that the bugs spread over the walls.
"On your feet soldiers."
-
Warned by Steel, Al rolled aside just in time to avoid the flaming form crashing to where he had just been lying. Scooting back a couple of meters on his ass, he gave a thumbs up to the troll above. He took a few seconds to enjoy the screeching, flailing spectacle of the burning man-bug, but the thing was tough, and when it became apparent that his agonized screams were going to continue for a while, Al turned to other tasks.
He spoke into his commlink, mouth close to the pick-up to be heard over the wails of the burner. <<Yeah, Cap'n, acknowledged is right. :Cept we's already done our own, uh, tactical insertation of the, um, subfloor stratums. So looks like y'all's gon' be watchin' our six. Do a good job, alrighty?>>
And then the big elf was in the room. "Reckon ya got ol' Al mixed up with someone else, kemo sabe," Al replied as he dragged himself painfully to his feet. Slipping on his brass knuckles, he took a good look around. The way their light source was writhing around made the shadows flicker and shift erratically, but it was clear the room they were in was no ordinary club cellar. The periphery of the chamber was lined with what could only be metahuman-sized coccoons. Most were open and empty, but corpses of half-emerged bad-merges with impossible anatomies were half-hanging from the walls here and there. He could see three passages - more like burrowed tunnels, really, but big enough to walk through - leading who-knew-where.
He called up to the troll: "Looks like the party's down here, giant amigo. You an' Ice Cream Man comin' down?"
-
ICE grabbed a box of ice cream and then stormed an orphan Segway, knocking the original occupant on the ground. He drove it through the dance floor, while shooting in the air above peoples head to prevent anyone from approaching the segway. His two hotties just giggled glading above the menace as if it did not disturb them. This world was nothing but a dream to them... an erotic horror movie perhaps.
ICE crushed the segway through the cellar door, and then crushed into whatever was on the other side. He stood up, dusted his leather jacket and with a serious note he asked "Ice cream anyone?" pointing to a box of ice cream that remained intact. Without looking for approval, and understanding that he may be dead in a few seconds anyhow, ICE took an ice cream cone and begun licking the chocolate flavored ice cream. He enjoyed it as if it was his last meal - and perhaps it was.
-
Steel looks over the edge of the pit and sees Al and Kynos below him. "What about the bugs in the main room? Just leave them or stay and take care of them?"
-
"If you don't mind, take out one after the other." Kynos called up, reaching out a hand towards the little man, to help him stand up.
-
The flaming corpse cast enough light to cause Vish’s eyes to shift back to normal vision while he dove out of line with the door. When the shooting stopped and his sight had stabilized , he was relieved to see that the movements he’d heard were just normal bugs feasting on the remains in the room.
But the remains of the failed transformation …. those were stomach turning. Vish’s years of discipline kept him from adding to the mess, and apparently Al’s life had rendered him immune to such horrors. One particular case held his eye – except where chitin coated its head the entire six limbed body was writing with maggots except where it was being harvested by roaches. It was a distracting enough site that at first Vish missed the truly disturbing part.
He called out, loud enough to be heard above as below, “Hard hats and overalls. Looks like they were changing construction workers of some kind. Does anyone else find bugs who know construction to be an extra-disturbing idea?”
After a moment he added “And if one of you could open up the ice cream tubs and toss me down my Uzi, I would be most appreciative. It seems safe enough down here right now, but I find a trustworthy weapon helps bring calmness to my spirit.”
Before anyone could answer the maggot infested corpse groaned and rolled up onto four limbs, staggering towards the dwarf’s voice while scything the exposed bones of its remaining two limbs back and forth in front of it.
-
"Much obliged, keebo sabe," Al said, accepting the proferred hand. He was fully upright before he'd flexed his legs, hauled to his feet weightlessly by the augmented elf.
He was in the middle of another coughing fit when his eyes followed Vish's gaze...
-
From the perspective below the three runners could vaguely see the troll begin to fight in earnest, his two monoswords flashed faster than the unaugmented eye could follow and when he fell back into his starting stance it suddenly rained the remains of one of the bodyguards that had entered the room immediately after the screams of their boss had drawn them in.
Kynos tried counting the footsteps he heard from above but gave up: A fucking army began to fill the upstairs room...
-
Steel grinned as the door opened and more of the bugs began to shoulder into the room. The pit in the floor narrowed their approach, at least until one started to climb the wall in an attempt to use the wall and ceiling as a path around the pit. Steel holds his swords in the ready position, not wasting effort or muscle as he waits for the next bug to get within range. He yells out in response to Kynos' words. "Looks like I got a few to take care of, Boss. I will let you know when I am done up here. Everyone else down there with you by now?"
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Anarchy Nightclub, Tacoma, Seattle]
The scene becomes nightmarish as the upper levels of the building are wreathed in choking white smoke that soon renders the majority of the patrons unconscious...bodies slumped against one another on the dance floor and in the corridors...it is the ones that remain standing that will stick in the mind though, hideous parodies of the host bodies they were concealed within, the chitinous beasts swarm forwards in ripped glad rags, mini skirts and crop tops revealing all too clearly the bugs within...mandibles chattering an unintelligible but strangely alluring beat that clearly communicate their desire to either add you to their number or to feed their impregnated young...
***
#05 PP/1
-
"I think I need to change into something more comfortable. I suggest you follow me and we create a chokepoint to nullify their advantage in numbers."
Falling back into his military speech pattern came back as second nature to Kynos. It was a bit funny how fast this had escalated - and it hadn't even been him throwing the first punch. 'Must be getting old'
Without haste but with the speed of years of practice, Kynos moved back into the storage cellar, leaned his rifle against the wall and slipped on his Armor Jacket and Helmet.
Picking up his rifle again he yelled: "Fall back, we have to clean house before we can start on the tunnels."
With that he pulled the trigger, shooting at a grotesque flesh form trying to storm down the stairs
-
Al stepped aside to make a landing space for the giant troll in case he decided to drop down with them as directed - apparently the soldier-Spock was giving the orders, which was fine with Al, but he wasn't sure yet who else would be following them.
His movement took him away from the dwarf and his new maggot-infested friend, but Al figured the little guy could handle one bug himself or he wouldn't have been invited to the party. So he moved over to help with this chokepoint thing they were supposed to be doing. With the keeb going at the descending bugs with some grade-A bang-bang, and with his own shotgun still in the ice cream truck, Al figured he could watch the guy's back, tangle with any bugs that got past his assault rifle's barrage.
It was, in fact, a plan calculated to leave him with a few moments to light a fresh Lucky Strike and contemplate the carnage intensifying around him. Sadly, however, he'd barely put flame to cigarette when something that might once have been the DJ skittered along the roof to right over the elf's head. Al jumped up, grabbed a leg, and yanked the thing down before it could drop on the guy, then leaped onto it and started pummelling like a madman. As his mangled fists worked up and down like pistons, he muttered some sort of glossalolic chant around the cigarette clamped between his teeth..
-
Seeing his Uzi not miraculously get tossed to him, Vish wisely decides to protect the group's most magical asset, and hurries to the other room, [ossing a chaotic world spell into the room he was vacating.
The spirit-ridden shambles of a body that had keyed in on his voice seemed initially confused by the bursts of sound all around the room, but then seemed to have heard the gunfire, and started following that.
-
Steel looks around and sees a tub of ice cream sitting on the floor near the hole and kicks it into the pit before jumping down, depriving one of the approaching bugs the chance to attack him. "Uzi and shotgun coming down as requested, along with Troll topping." He lands in a squishy sort of place and is immediately concerned that he has landed on one of his companions. Taking a look around he sees Al duking it out with one of the bugs and Kynos laying down some serious fire from an assault rifle, while part of a bug chases after Vish. He kicks the tub in the halfer's direction, hitting the bug and sending it reeling off to the side. "Vish, grab your gun. Al, you need any help with that that thing? I brought your shotgun with me in the tub."
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Anarchy Nightclub, Tacoma, Seattle]
Ice places himself between the basement entrance and the rest of the club “The ladies and I will keep your backs clean…you lot sort out the vermin below!” and slamming another clip home he sends a fusillade into the approaching flesh forms who wither and then flee under the targeted rounds and the wrath of Ice’s spirits…
***
#06 PP/1
-
[spoiler]
Alright, here we go.
I'm working with several assumptions:
1) after gilga's character turned into an NPC I assume his assigned enemies aren't active threats for us
2) That leaves 12 enemies to deal with and reinforcements only after those are dealt with
3) All attacks that were described but haven't been rolled are assumed to have done enough damage to destroy the enemy's armor and leave it at half health
4) In the previous Turn: Vish killed one Fleshform, Al wounded 1, Kynos wounded another, no one touched their True Form yet
5) With only one access to us, only four of them can come towards us per round (which was the reason Kynos suggested to fall back)
6) So now there is at least one True form in the room and three more waiting outside.
So I'm doing Kynos' attackers first:
Wounded Flesh Form: AGI 3 Wounds -1 Close Combat 6
Attack (http://orokos.com/roll/468334): 8d6t5 4
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/466718): 13d6t5 6
No hit
Flesh Form 2:
Attack (http://orokos.com/roll/468335): 9d6t5 4
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/466720): 13d6t5 0
Full hit: DV 2 + 4 successes: Kynos' Armor takes 6 damage out of 12 total
True Form
AGI 4 Skill 8
Attack (http://orokos.com/roll/468340): 12d6t5 6
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/466721): 13d6t5 3
using Edge to reroll, or this will be a quick end to this game:
Edge Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/468341): 10d6t5 4
Avoided attack
Kynos turn on his attackers:
Shoot at wounded Flesh Form:
Attack (http://orokos.com/roll/468346): 15d6t5 5
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/468347): 4d6t5 2
Dead
Shoot at other Flesh Form:
Attack (http://orokos.com/roll/468348): 15d6t5 4
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/468349): 5d6t5 0
12 DV vs. 6 Armor, leaves health at 4/10
New tally:
Inside our room:
1 dead Flesh Form (acted)
1 wounded Flesh Forms (acted)
1 True Form (acted)
1 wounded Flesh Form (hasn't acted, but probably would attack Al)
Waiting outside
3 True Forms
4 Flesh Forms
As always, cry out if one of my assumptions doesn't make sense.
[/spoiler]
Having a few bodies around him while he fired made the situation marginally less tedious, but Kynos quickly caught on that those things needed at least two salvos before going down, which made this some kind of "hole in a bucket" math problem:
The doorway limited the flow of enemies, but for everyone they took out two stood ready to enter - literally: One on the ground and one on the ceiling.
He had no time to think about the implications of this kind of math because the grotesque thing he just had filled with lead still swiped at him with his fist. The clumsy blow was no problem for him to sidestep - only to be caught in the back by the other one who had snuck up on him, while the small man was busy beating the third one up. The armor caught the brunt of the attack and Kynos found time to spread one salvo between his old and new attacker, killing the former and wounding the latter - only to be confronted with a giant cockroach trying to snap him in half with it's mandibles. Only the recoil from his gun allowed him to stumble a step backwards to avoid that gruesome fate.
"Damn those things are even uglier than I remembered. A little help would be appreciated guy."
-
The one Al was on top of flailed at him a bit, but the little man's fists never gave it a chance to recover. He was punching gray matter when another one tried to blindside him - the little clicks coming from what had once been a human mouth gave it away. Al jumped up, it swung a half-hand-half-claw thing, Al ducked and swung back, and it dropped like it'd been hit by a double dose of Raid.
-
Steel notes that one of the true form bugs is still up in the room and heading towards Al. The large Troll moves to intercept it, chanting words under his breath that are designed to keep him calm and bring an inner peace. His swords are humming with their own power as he swings them at the misshapen monster in front of him. One strike cleaves through the chitinous armor and the second strikes true into the creature's hide, making it reel in pain. It is not dead, but it has been heavily wounded. Steel waits for the return attack, poised to deliver the killing blow.
[spoiler]True Form bug is 6/12 physical damage[/spoiler]
-
The thing slashed after Steel, but didn't manage more than a scratch across the big runner's armor.
Kynos had finally a moment to regain his footing, aimed at the giant cockroach and shot another salvo into it's exposed belly, creating a fountain of foul entrails. "Mouth open, ears shut, this is going to be loud."
With that, Kynos raised his weapon above the large bug trying to claw it's way into the room and sent a grenade from his Ares Alpha flying into the next room.
As it turned out, true form bugs made excellent tamping material, as hardly anything of the shock wave reached the team in their cellar room. The high explosive grenade turned the occupants into a foul smelling slurry, coating the walls.
Through the ringing of his own ears, Kynos said with a smile: "It's all fun and games until the artillery gets around to play."
-
Steel could not do much about his ears with a sword in each hand, but he did manage to open his mouth and the shock wave from the grenade only brought a slight hum to his ears. He spoke a bit loudly to compensate. "Thanks for the save, Kynos. I doubt that will stop them but it certainly made an impact." He readies himself for the next wave of attackers.
-
Al's dampers took care of the grenade's report. The sound he was more interested in was any complaint from their employers about the unauthorized use of explosives. But there was no word. At all. Silence.
With all the immediate threats dispatched, he wiped his ichor-covered hands on his T-shirt and pointed down one particular passage. "That's where Lenny went. Leastways the half that still had a head...if that matters...."
-
Vish shouts out a quick thanks for the delivery of his SMG -- he understands that this is custom here, to ascribe such things to people's individual decisions and choices.
With the gun to hand he unloads a long burst at the blind corpse that had been stumbling after them... then curses as it goes wildly off target. He finally snaps the stock properly into place only to get his senses rung by the grenade going off. Afterward he struggles to express a thought that had been growing over the last few seconds "Ares, they thought they were hunters, but they were baited in here. Who is the hunters?"
-
Steel looks around, his ears still ringing. "WHAT? YOU HAVE TO TALK LOUDER DOWN HERE FOR SOME REASON. SAY, I WONDER IF THE MILITARY CREW IS HAVING ANY TROUBLE. AND ANYONE SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT ICE GUY AND HIS SPIRITS?"
-
"Ice Cream Amigo, right," Al said. Stairway cleared, he dashed up it. He found the guy's head at about the halfway point. And smelled something that made him wish he'd gotten his internal air fixed. Bounding back down, he reported, "Icey died with his snow boots on. Can't git our lords an' masters on the net, but they made good on they promise ta gas the upper levels. Ain't safe ta go back up."
-
Steel gives the short human a puzzled look. "WHAT? LIKE I SAID, YOU GOT TO TALK LOUDER HERE. ICE IS DEAD? THAT IS SAD AS WE COULD USE THE MOJO. DID YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT GAS? SORRY, I DID NOT THINK IT MADE THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE DOWN HERE.............MUST HAVE BEEN THE THREE PLATES OF CHILI DOGS I ATE BEFORE COMING OVER. LOVE 'EM BUT DON'T LOVE WHAT THEY DO TO MY INSIDES. I WILL TRY TO WARN YOU NEXT TIME." He turns to Kynos. "SO WHAT IS OUR PLAY FROM HERE, BOSSMAN?"
-
Kynos had to look over his shoulder, expecting to see the Ares commander standing there, before he understood that he had been addressed:
"We've been hired to be back up if the plan got fried. From my perspective it's not just fried but positively melted through the bottom straight towards drink water supplies.
I mean, we could of course go down into that cellar and shoot until our ammo runs dry and the swords get bent, but on the whole this is just a messy way to to deliver a snack to the bug queen.
So we do what we are payed for: Kill bucks. Al, you said there is a fuel line nearby and that's why we aren't allowed to use explosives, right?
I'd say it's time to fill this anthill up with premium and light a match."
-
"Yeah, adjacent lot's all tanks o' black market gasoline. Security's nothin' cuz who'd slot off the Vor, right? But you come up with a hole to the surface around, say..." and he spun around thoughtfully for a moment "...there...an' ol' Al'll figure a way ta run a line down here lickety split."
-
The ringing in Steel's ears has receded quite a bit. "Hey, bossman, won't that fry any of the lads that went below and are waiting for a rescue? It could be that they have just lost comms due to the terrain. I would vigorously oppose such an idea as flooding the tunnels with gas and lighting it off. I think we need to look around down there and bring any of them out that we can. If you are intent on blowing the place, at least give me a couple of hours to go find them."
-
"I see where you are coming from. Quite American of you to send a squad of man to almost certain death so you can rescue one man. But honestly: What you've seen up here were workers - and quite a lot of those. Hell, they had almost half of this packed club filled with fleshforms. I'm not that proficient with math, but I know that those things are much like an iceberg: What we see is only the tip and what lays below can kill the titanic. That hole operation was a frag up before it began. Bad intel, bad organisation, bad preparation. Proof no.1 being that suddenly people are looking to me for commands.
Yeah, yeah, nothing I say can move your noble heart. I get it. So let's compromise: Al and Vish, you two work on that pipeline and watch each other's back. And we two go in a bit and see if we can't get in contact with the team. Once those two are ready we get out and let the fuel run it's course. Depending on gasoline pressure and dept of this shit hole we'll have between 5 and ten minutes for the fumes to get that nice saturation that guarantees roasted cockroach."
Kynos fidgeted around the cut in his armor from the one attack he hadn't been able to avoid. There was no trace of fear in his speech, only a somewhat bored disregard for human life and an iron clad utilitarianism that didn't distinguish much between objects and people.
-
Steel nods his head. "Got it. You want me to lead off? My armor is still pretty pristine and my bulk might let you shoot around me while not getting too close to them."
-
"Huh. Last I heard, the Ares kids was all still up top. But with nothin' onna comms...well, I'll allow it'd be good ta be sure. We find a way back topside, I'll try ta confirm a headcount if'n ya don't find 'em first, save ya some tunnel rattin'."
He tapped Vish on the shoulder and pointed down one passage. "Club's flooded with gas, can't go back the way we come in. This way's the direction o' the fuel dump. Let's see if the bugs made an alternate exit. An' since you got that halfer goblin-sight, guess who gits ta go first?"
As he followed the dwarf, he ran a quick diagnostic on his commlink, confirming that the problem was either with the Firewatch team's gear, which he thought highly unlikely, or with their ability to respond, which seemed by far the more plausible scenario.
-
Steel nods and grins. "So be it. I got the lead on this one." He slips the goggles down onto his face and gets used to the thermographic images as he sends the image link to the others. Once Kynos indicates he is ready, the small mountain moves out of the cellar room and goes to where the Ares team had been supposed to access the tunnels. He and Kynos do not meet any opposition other than a few bugs that had retreated here after Kynos' grenade had wounded them and finishing them off was child's play..
-
Kynos engaged his commlink, followed by his micro transceiver, trying to reach the Firewatch team.
<<There is something funny going on. Remember that explosion earlier? If I had to bet I'd say that was that shiny satellite relay on the Firewatch troop transport.
Now there is no signal from them although we still have matrix connection which excludes a jammer.
My guess is the Firewatch team is under attack from someone inside their corp that can use the ownership access to sabotage their communications.
Whatever else we do, we should get out of here. This is just a setup - why else would a night club have a trap door installed.
My guess is that the Firewatchers are at this very moment attacked from the main force of the hive - which is why they haven't attacked us in earnest yet. Let's hope whoever set this up didn't have the same idea as us to torch this place and everyone still here.>>
Kynos indicated back towards where they had come as once again an explosion rocked the ground - coming from somewhere outside.
-
Al listened to Kynos's theories as he and Vish searched the northwest passage for another point of egress. Sadly, the elf's dark musings made a lot of sense, and he was well satisfied the whole thing was a clusterfuck, and he was ninety percent sure there were no Firewatch friendlies below them...but he'd like to be a hundred percent sure before flooding the place with gasoline.
All that was academic, though, if they didn't find another way out. It was unlikely the roaches had left themselves not alternate exit - real roaches never closed themselves in that way. They were just below the street here anyway - too bad he hadn't brought any explosives with him...
But maybe he wouldn't need any - nearly blind down here with no light but the phosphoresence on his knife, he could make out Vish's squat form just enough not to run into him. But it wasn't his eyes he needed - he was focused on air currents - he'd spent enough years as a miner to be able to sense changes in current and air quality..."Hold up, there, amigo," he said, pausing to sniff and listen at a point halfway between the club and the fuel depot...
-
Steel takes in the message and replies. >>Got it, bossman, but you gave me ten minutes to find these guys. I was in a unit like this once and the only thing that really kept us going, I mean REALLY kept us going was knowing that we could count on the team and that someone would be coming for us. I would hate to just give up if there is a chance to get any of them out alive.<<
Steel does not even look back to see if Kynos is still behind him because he feels that he does not want to find out he is not. The minutes tick down on the chronos and he is about out of time when he hears more reverberations, but this time they are from in front. >>Hey. I think I got some action to my front. Sounds like grenades and maybe gunfire. I am going on in to take a look.<<
-
Sure enough, there was some sort of opening in the ceiling here. Al congratulated himself on being right again. The wall was easy to climb - there was a crude ladder leading up. Al wouldn't have expected roaches to require such a measure, but he supposed there were plenty still struggling along in their puny human forms. Going up and clearing away some bug muck, Al found a loose section of sidewalk, which, with great effort, wheezes, and coughing, he managed to push aside enough to get his head through.
His hopes of finding the Firewatch team up here, previously quite high, had been largely dashed by the troll's report of fighting down below. Al would have sworn the corp team was behind them, but now he was glad of the troll's caution, because he wouldn't want immolating any friendlies on his already frayed conscience.
Emerging behind the club, a faint smell of NS was in the air, but not enough left to be much threat here out of doors. The area to the rear of the building was well lit by flames, but visibility was crap due to dense, whitish smoke. Stepping cautiously, Al found fire billowing out of a large, unmarked van. Sure enough, there through the smoke was the wreckage of a comm array on the burning hulk's roof, and the charred husk of what might have been Parker on the asphalt beside the open driver's door, back of his head gone, Predator still in his mouth. Someone was fighting mean - hit the Ares ride with white phosphorous.
Al moved back out of the choking smoke to meet back up with Vish, and spotted a dead elf with graying hair and a human with broken glasses, both in Ares kit - Fraser and Fitz. Dead. Shot. Al wasn't sure if the fleshies used guns, but it seemed unlikely. Bending down, he found shell casings everywhere - a few of the 7.62 that went with the Firewatch team's Alphas, but a hell of a lot more 5.56, which he was pretty sure no Ares makes were chambered for.
<<Heads up y'all. Some sadistic asshole Willie-Petered the Ares ride with Parker in it, shot the shit outta Fitz an' Fraser. Sure as hell don't look like bugs' work. Rest of team unaccounted for up here. Reckon I'll git started on Kynos's plan, but the flow ain't a go till I know they ain't no friendlies below.>>
Turning to Vish, he said, "Head on a swivel, kemo sabe - they's some bad folk lurkin' around out here somewheres...."
-
Kynos grudgingly followed the large runner. Not so much because he feared for their safety - fear in all its form didn't play a role in his damaged brain - but the tedium of bringing out what remained of the Firewatch team, followed by discussions about moral right and wrong to torch a neighborhood.
So Kynos decided to ride the adrenaline high as long as he could and worry about what came next when it came. Although he was quite sure that those Ares guys wouldn't appreciate the runner's efforts. At least they had gotten paid half up front.
Turning around a corner the gun fire became more distinct as they entered an area that had organic puss covering wall and ceiling, turning it into difficult terrain - especially with the coinciding incline. "Careful now, or this turns into a slip and slide. Let me secure my microwire first so we can get back out again."
Kynos removed a spool of wire that happened to be about a hundred times thicker than mono wire and correspondingly stronger and secured it around a piece of corrugated iron sticking out from the ground.
It was awkward walking down and trying to keep you balance, but finally they reached the battlefield: The remaining Firewatch team had build up a perimeter, fighting tooth and claw against a mass of different bugs and flesh forms. The bugs had build a kind of pit trap, lightly covered by their organic layer.
The incline made the side towards the exit roughly three meters high, while the other side only reached 2 meters. It was enough to allow them to keep their backs to the wall while fighting the horde, but it prevented them from retreating.
All in all Kynos had to acknowledge that those guys knew what they did: Two squadies kept firing short, controlled bursts to kill bugs, while two others rested their weapons and reloaded. Their leader meanwhile was fumbling with a grappling hook, but had no success with securing it above.
"Auxiliaries Kynos and Steel reports for duty, in case the FIrewatch needs any help, that is."
-
Steel takes in the scene and realizes that the Ares crew below will be running out of ammo before long. He calls out to leader as he slides his swords into their special sheaths. "Dern, I think your intel was flawed or just downright a pack of lies. You got three deaders up top, which would explain why you cannot comm anyone. Someone capped Parker, Fitz, and Frasier and it isn't bugs. Are you sure you told us everything? Or that you were told everything? Anyway, we can all figure that out later, for now, toss me that grapple and I will get it lodged someplace up here and we will help you make a withdrawal."
He looks at Kynos and hands him his slung auto rifle. "You can probably use this better than me. Just give it back when we get out of here." He turns to catch the business end of the grapple hook and makes his way back up the slope, slipping a couple of times but eventually finding a good spot to wedge the tines in. The noise of the battle picks up a bit as his companion adds to the death reaching out to the bugs. He goes back down a bit and rejoins Kynos, grabbing hold of the grapple line and calling out. "OK, Dern, start sending your crew up. I will hold the rope and give as much leverage as possible."
The Ares captain details Gardner and Rose as the first out and they sling arms after passing out some of their shrinking number of spare clips. Rose goes first, climbing the rope like a monkey. She gives Kynos and Steel a soft thanks as she clamors over the Troll holding the rope and disappears up the slope with her rather large gun. Gardner follows her lead, patting Steel on the shoulder as she squeezes past him. Dern gives the word and Lowe and Brown take their turns climbing out of the pit and moving back away. There are some shots fired from up the passage and Steel hears Rose call out. "Don't take too long back there. Got some bugs on the six. Only a few so far, but they might have another entrance to this section of tunnel."
By this time there are only Grace, Coates, and the captain remaining. The mage does something and it looks like a pack of rabid hounds goes streaking from the pit to maul the bugs, a number of which seem to fall completely for the illusion. Rapid fire from Kynos helps reduce the numbers of those remaining as Coates climbs the rope, followed by Grace.
-
Trusting Vish to watch his back, Al concentrated on getting gas underground. The lock on the chain link fence surrounding the adjacent fuel dump was child's play to pick, and as usual there were no guards around. Casual thieves did not walk by and make off with a thousand or so gallons of fuel, which it would take for anyone to notice. And serious thieves knew that the gasoline here belonged to the Vor, and gave the place a wide berth.
Fortunately, Al was not a thief at all, so those rules did not apply to him.
He looked around at the slovenly state of the yard, sighed in disgust, but soon had four valves cracked and good lengths of 150gpm hose attached to each. One by one, he dragged them to the nearby hole in the sidewalk. That was the easy part. He used his commlink to help estimate the vapor inlet and exit rates, and then calculate the proper flow velocity to prevent surge or excess static electricity.
Five minutes after cracking the first padlock, he was back at the pump controls. <<Ready ta rip, but ya gotta git clear afore I let 'er go or one weapon discharge an' yer all toast. An' ya can't set 'er off afore I seal the backflow, neither, less'n we take out ever'thin' in a five block radius along with the hive.>>
-
Vish was impressed with the raggedy man -- he seemed to know his way around storage tanks. Not that Vish was an expert, but he'd played with enough equipment to have some clue. Enough clue in this case to leave it to someone who knew better than he did.
So he focused on his job. First bring up a Spirit of Beasts, whose sharp senses could hopefully find danger before danger found them. Except that even as he did the summons, he knew his heart wasn't in it. Keeping watch was his task, asking another to do it was not right. And sure enough, the Spirit of Beasts he attempted to call declined the invitation.
This time Vish put some thought into the situation, and realized that dealing with the dangers of fumes and fires, air might be the better choice. He felt properly centered as he did the summons, and soon a raven of shadow and smoke was perched on his shoulder.
Then an illusion of a tanker truck parked by the tanks -- conveniently placed to screen Al's activities from most watchers. Of course, if anyone had seen the truck appear out of nothing they might get a bit curious, but hopefully his Uzi could treat that kind of ailment sufficiently.
But nobody came snooping before Al announced that he was ready. Vish was just beginning to feel grateful to the world, when an actual tanker truck lumbered down the road, slowed, and signaled a turn into the yard.
"If only we were robbing an honest business, they wouldn't have deliveries or pick-ups at this time of night. But such is not our fate. We need to get that truck out of here most likely; what's your preference, sweet talk or swift violence?"
-
"Heh, sounds like a Plan A an' a Plan B ta me, amigo. If they's jist drivers, they'll back off an' call 'er in, no one gits hurt, an' we's gone afore anyone comes ta stop us. If they's Russkies, well..." He shrugged and patted his Remington.
Then he slung his weapon and stepped out into the light and stood in front of the truck, making sure he was blocking it from rolling over his hoses, and waving for it to stop. It screeched to a halt inches from his nose, at which point he cracked his knuckes, lit a cigarette, and clambered up the side of the cab to tap on the driver's side window.
It went down almost immediately. "What the fuck, asshole, what are you doing smoking here?" There were two burly men inside, a human in a Horizon Beer cap and an ork wearing a denim jacket with the sleeves torn off.
"Aw, geez fellas, not ta worry. Reckon I'm bein' real careful," Al replied, the lit tip of the Lucky Strike bouncing erratically about as he spoke. "Now, whom do I have the honor of addressin'?"
-
[Wednesday March 6th, 2075; Anarchy Nightclub, Tacoma, Seattle]
Dern stayed in the rear while the rest of his team bugged out
“You got us out of this cluster fuck! It won’t be forgotten. Intel wasn’t bad on this one, it was completely fabricated…someone in OpInt set us up and if we get out of this shit storm then I intend to find out who and why! The job's yours if you want it, I’ve got the discretionary budget..."
***
#07
-
Steel looks over to Kynos as the group begins making its way out of the tunnel, then he glances at Dern. Grinning, he shakes his head. "Not sure that is for me. I am more the kind of guy that resolves problems with a monosword, not with sneaking about. I can try to resolve issues if someone points me in the right direction." He looks back down the passageway as they walk. "I can already hear them following us. Why don't I just sort of slide back a few feet and bring up the rear? They won't be getting past me in one piece and my armor is still in the best shape. Could use a bit of fire support, though. Oh, and by the way, our exit strategy includes pouring a crapload of gasoline down here and setting it off, so I would not waste any time leaving this place."
Captain Dern turns to his people and points to one. "Grace, you're with Steel. The rest of you pick up the pace. We need to be out of here ASAP."
Steel grins at Grace as he draws his swords and flicks them on. "You and me on the rear guard. Man, I really like the noise these make." Grace grins back and checks her weapons. He sends a message out to Al. >>Hey, guy. We are on the way out. Still in the tunnels but working our way to the club.<<
-
Kynos relied laconically to Captain Dern: "Be careful now, that's a slippery slope you are on", leaving open if he referred to the current ground or the aforementioned course of action.
To steel and Grace he said: "Allow me to make the job a bit easier for you. Fire in the hole"
With that Kynos fired another grenade into the depts of the tunnel. Instead of the expected explosion only shreeks of pain could be heard.
"I alternate my grenade loadout: HE and Pepperpunch. Fun fact: A lot of plants defend against insects by producing Capsaicin.
Now let's get a move on and out of this glibber."
Dern had a dark look on his face: "You brought grenades after I explicitly forbid them and explained why we can't use them?"
Kynos grinned: "And aren't we lucky that I didn't hear you when you talked out of your brass? Semper Fi is for idiots, Semper Paratus is where it's at."
Moving out of the trap proved to be harder than expected: There might have been no flesh forms left, but now the bugs started to send their natural brethren after the team: Cockroaches, mosquito swarms, earth hornets and other nuisance started to attack. At first it was merely annoying until the gunner got stung on the inside of his nose and started to gasp an retch.
-
Steel grins in the darkness at Kynos' comment to the Ares captain and wonders what the frag the officer had thought was going to happen when they hired runners as backup. He pats Kynos on the back as the man moves on ahead.
The attack of the insects is disturbing...........and apparently dangerous. Gardner, as backup medic, takes a look at Rose and hits her with a shot of something from her medkit, which seems to work for a bit, when suddenly the Ork gunner appears wobbly on her feet. The medic looks her over and swears. "We need to get her out of here, Jefe. She has had some sort of reaction to the drug I gave her and the sting of whatever bit her. Why does it always have to be the heavy ones?"
There is some confusion as Dern orders several of the others to share weapons so that the team can carry the large Ork. Steel shrugs and sheaths his swords. "No need to use up three or four people when it only takes one." He bends over and picks Rose up, slinging her weight across his shoulder. "Someone else will have to carry her weapon, though."
He settles the Ork and adds, "Hey, you're a tad on the light side, Rose. Don't they feed you enough." The comment elicits laughs among the Ares team as Rose is certainly one large Ork. Although he cannot see it in the darkness, several of the team look at him and smile in gratitude. Kynos snaps some sort of comment and the group shuffles its marching order a bit and continues its movement to the club.
-
"On the light side? What is she, a kind of Jedi? Ah never mind, I'm running low on sarcastic quips. That whole operation really depleted my reserves."
When they finally reached the cellar again, most of the team looked like they had been at the worst picnic ever.
<<Al, Vish, we are back in the cellar with the team. No idea how they got past us but luckily we can ask them later while we roast marshmallows over this hellhole. Speaking of which: We are coming out through the freight elevator, be a dear and tell us if there are any hostiles about.>>
-
As Al had guessed (and he congratulated himself heartily on the accuracy of his prognostications), the men in the truck were simply working joes. All too eager to escape the maniac with the lit cigarette, they had nonetheless been hesitant to return to their masters empty handed. Al had shrugged and directed them around his hoses to a large tank at the back of the lot, but their apprehension at getting caught in the midst of something fairly horrible was clear as they peered through the thinning white smoke at the burning van surrounded by Ares corpses. So Al had assured them that he would be leaving more than enough to fill their capacity and would certainly be gone within a quarter hour, inviting them to return at that time. The shotgun on his back and the Uzi in the hands of the lurking dwarf made it an easy sell, and he was just waving goodbye to their taillights when Kynos' message came in.
<<Well I reckon ye'd best assume they's hostiles about, keebo sabe, since we ain't yet laid eyes on whoever croaked the boys up here. But Vishie's on the lookout, an' he strikes ol' Al as a sharp one o' his kind. No good'll come o' frettin' 'bout it, nohow. No-account murderin' sons-o'-bitches'll show they backstabbin' faces when they git they gumption up, no sooner an' no later. I mean, come on baby, stop worryin' 'bout what can go wrong, an' get excited 'bout what can go right. Groovy vibes, huh? Ya know it's a proven fact that ninety-seven percent o' whatever ya worry 'bout don't never even ends up happenin'? Jist cogitate on that fer a tick or two. Worry's like a rockin' chair, see? Give ya somethin' ta do but don't git nothin' done. Speakin' o' doin', by the way, I done started the flow afore I answered yer call. Been comin' in at six hunnerd galllons a minute, kids, so git on out quick. Once yer clear gimme a three-count ta stop the backflow, then light 'er up.>>
-
Steel could smell gas fumes by the time the reinforced Ares team made it to the elevator. "There is no way this contraption is going to take all of us in one lift, Boss."
-
"Doesn't have to, just the wounded and the rear guard. Just give me hand here." With that Kynos shoved the Ork towards the back of the hydraulic platform, stepped into his hand and pushed open the steel cover that opened towards the street. Stepping further on the Ork's shoulder Kynos had no trouble to heave himself on the street and the still merrily burning mobile command center.
For the moment he couldn't see any attackers, but that wasn't to surprising given the flickering shadows created by the aforementioned fire.
"Clear for the moment. Now everyone, double time before Steel realizes he's been degraded to a stepping stone."
-
Steel laughs good naturedly as he provides the means for the rest to get to the next level. "We Trolls are used to others walking all over us. But someone is going to have to help me lift Rose up." He thinks a bit. "Say, Bossman, I guess that makes me the last one out. Better toss me that grenade gun of yours so I can use it to set the gas off after all of you are up. Put a nice explosive one in the snout, would you?"
-
Al was among the storage tanks at the master pump switch. He was taking an awful chance on these guys. Never worked with any of them before, and if they were sloppy - or just didn't give a shit - and set off the gasoline as soon as they were clear without warning him, the combustion would run back up the flow and take him, Vish, the main tanks, and half the neighborhood out in great blackish-orange ball of glory.
So he was peering through the intervening maze of pipes and chain link fence, half for the Ares boys' assassins, and half for his own co-workers. Once he spotted Kynos come up, he figured their signal couldn't be far off, so he went ahead and stopped the flow. <<Welcome back ta the land o' the livin', keebo amigo. Done shut off the flow, once Steel's up from below, then yer good ta go!>>
-
"I can do you one better." With that Kynos flicked the switch, getting the small platform to move upwards. As the thing began to move with enervating slowliness Kynos reluctantly reached down and handed his Ares Alpha to Steel: "Be careful with her, the next shot is HE and we are as of now pumping gasoline inside. It would be a shame if I'd lose that gun - I actually paid for it."
Al's message reached him just as the sounds of myriads of chitinous legs began to make themselves heard from below: <<Last two are coming up. What we need now is transport away from here before someone does something dumb and I get to say "There goes the neighborhood">>
The platform had reached the half way point when the trueforms stormed the cellar below the office. It was about three quarters when they realized where their would-be-victims had gone and a single bug charged for the wounded soldier lying on the platform.
-
Steel takes the offered gun and winks at Kynos. "Got it, Bossman. Now get everyone else back home, eh?"
He was lower in the cellar than Kynos and had already heard the noise heralding the arrival of more of the bugs and watches as a horde of the things comes into view. He calmly reaches up and hits the button to stop the lift where he can still see well enough to shoot the grenade when it was time. >>Al, my friend. Let me know when to light this thing off. I will hold these things as long as possible, but try not to delay too long. Nice knowing you guys if this goes all to drek.<<
He looks around and places the wall so he can grab it when it is time and takes his swords from their sheaths. A noise from behind him alerts him that Rose has regained consciousness. He sees her grin as she looks him dead in the eye. "Looks like it is just us. Give me that Alpha and I will give you some support." She crawls over to the wall and takes up the rifle, making sure that a round is chambered.
Captain Dern shouts down at her. "Rose, get your fragging ass up here. I already got letters to write for Parker, Fitz, and Fraser; don't make me write one for you, too."
The large Ork shakes her head, more at her boss than to clear her fogged mind. "Sorry, Jefe, no can do. The big guy needs a bit of back up. And no ideas of joining us as more here would just be in the way. We will see you guys after we set this stuff off. Now go, please."
The Ares captain swears but nods. "You better make sure you get out, you hear me?" He turns to Kynos. "Alright, let's move. I will see that Ares replaces that rifle if....................well, if necessary. And, thanks again for your help. You are the good guys."
Down on the lift, Steel looks over at Rose and grins. "You're cute when you snarl like that." He laughs at her snort and centers himself as the first bug reaches out for the lift, only to be hammered by Rose firing a burst of three rounds into its face, dropping him back into the group following him. Steel slashes at bug claws and the hands of those turned into hosts. The carnage is satisfying, but he can see that the number of bugs will soon be too great. They are using the bodies of the fallen to climb closer to the lift cage, which will not be good for the two defenders. >>Al? You will let me know, right? It is getting a bit uncomfortable down here.<<
-
Al was already looking for anything parked and big enough to carry them all when he heard from Steel. <<Open yer pointy ears, ya poetically challenged Philistine of a trog. Gave the green light seven seconds ago. Light 'er up!>>
He skidded to a stop as he looked around the next corner and found a rusty old deuce-and-a-half flatbed parked outside a warehouse.
But that wasn't all he'd found, he realized, staring down the multiple barrels of a GE Vindicator minigun in the hands of a horned brute that looked like he could give Steel a run for his money in any hot dog eating contest you'd care to name. And he wasn't alone....
-
Vish wasn't quite sure how he knew that the particlar noise coming over the com from Al meant that the raggedy man had found trouble, but he had no doubt that the particular gargling rasp was one of shock and dismay.
Well, they'd known that there were opponents about, and from what Vish had seen so far, Al seemed like the sort that would find fists with his face and knives with his back -- but somehow live to tell about it. So the dwarf was not at all surprised that Al had located them, now Vish had to play his part and help the other man live to tell about it.
A little more difficult when he didn't know just what Al had found. The sound that Al had just made did however remind Vish of the second worst surprise of his life, and it seemed to him that he could draw on that to deal with most situations, provided that the other side didn't have a mage. Or a dragon, that was always true anyway so not worth worrying about.
Over the coms he snapped out "Al, be ready to run in a three!" At nearly the same time he asked his spirit "I'm about to cast an illusion, please go inside it and then launch attacks at those facing off against Al" Vish was glad he'd had his spirit out long enough to have gotten familiar with Al's raggedy essence.
-
"The FUCK?" Kynos couldn't believe what he was hearing: "Steel, get your ass up here right now as well as your new girlfriend. I've seen last stands and I tell you there is no future in them."
He already regretted handing off his most priced possession - never mind the assurance of the Ares Captain. After all it seemed like the man would be geeked before the evening was done.
He hadn't ended the thought before he heard a noise he definitely didn't want to hear now: The distinctive whine of the electric motor (https://youtu.be/RtbejMoJcp0?t=49s) of a multi barreled heavy MG shortly before the operator releases the clutch and starts to saturate the air with around 6000 bullets per minute.
"Down, now!"
Kynos hadn't hit the ground when already hell broke lose for a second time this evening. Tracer rounds showed how a beam of destruction moved from the corner of the next building towards their position, cutting the burning transporter nearly in half and perforating two of the Ares soldiers to slow to react.
'And I idiot gave my rifle away. Well there is nothing for it.' Kynos fished for his taser and began to robb towards the minigun.
-
Steel laughs into his 'link as he beheads another fleshform, sending its head atop the increasingly growing pile of bodies. >>Sorry, Al. just a bit busy down here. Must have missed that. Team be ready.<<
Steel pointedly ignores Kynos. After all, the man had to know he knows the risks. Besides, he has the best chance of surviving what is surely about to come.
He looks down at the large Ork woman in the lift with him. She has been chopping into the horde as only a true professional can, conserving her declining ammo stock and making every shot count. They lock eyes in a rare moment of quiet and she nods, selecting the trigger for the grenade launcher. Both had known that they were not escaping the blast, not with the bugs charging at them like this. They could not afford to let any get past them. A quick smile later and Rose pulls the trigger, sending the HE grenade on a route to impact on the wall near the stream of gas. The effect is extraordinarily violent, sending a wave of fire through the underground complex, shredding fleshform and trueform bug alike. The wave of fire raced down the soaked corridors, using the actual material of the tunnel walls and floors to advantage as everything ignited in an expanding flow of fire, cleansing everything in its path. The gooey mass that coats the tunnels proves especially susceptible to fire and fuels the inferno far beyond the initial expectations of the team.
Unfortunately, the fire also worked back towards those that had created it, and in the nature of fire, it really had no concept of friend or foe. The cellar burst into flame just as easily as the lower tunnels and the conflagration found its way to the upper level of the club through the trap door in the office and the stairs. And the freight lift. Steel threw himself to the floor, wrapping his arms about the Ork and turning his back to the onrushing flame. He covers the woman's body with his in an attempt to save her life from what was about to come, hoping that his near-virgin armor would protect both of them.
It did. Sort of. He had expected the fire to be horrific, but the reality far surpassed his imagination. The wall of fire roared into the lift before shooting up through the opening above the pair on the floor. Steel's mighty armor proves effective in preventing damage to the Troll and the Ork beneath him...............almost. He feels the tremendous heat from the flames as it swirls about them then begins to eat at his armored and lined coat. Then his clothes. Then his skin. Despite the protection he is providing Rose, he feels her squirm and knows that it is not working 100%. He shift slightly to make a small correction in his coverage of the woman and knows he was successful even as the flames begin to eat at his protective outer layer of skin. A part of his mind tells him that the rifle below him is now a massive threat as the ammo could cook off. Swearing, he tells himself that he will replace the rifle if he makes it out of the lift and he tosses it out of the lift to fall into the flames below. If it explodes, the noise is lost in his own screams and then blessed unconsciousness.
-
Al's scarred hands went up - "Whoa there, mi unnaturally-sized amigo, reckon I'll jist do exactly what ya say and when ya say it," he said for the benefit of both his listeners.
And then a second, heavier minigun let loose behind him, the troll started to move, and Al forced himself to hold still until the dwarf gave the signal....
And then as the milliseconds crawled by and he waited for the troll to pull the trigger, the club behind him exploded in a massive flower of flame.
-
Kynos wasn't sure who was responsible for the explosion but it sure was a tad stronger than he had expected it to be. Now the whole club with whatever victims had still been inside had become a giant pyre and likely incinerated both Steel and his rifle. He wasn't happy about that.
But there were two upsides to this whole unfortunate business:
1) He had been crawling away from the explosion and into the direction of the MG fire so the incandescent flame had not blinded him but instead revealed the dwarf manning the gun atop an SUV.
2) From somewhere another Ares Alpha - likely Steels or one of the other Firewatch members had just dropped in front of him. It took him a moment to realize that it was connected to a sling that let to his back. Only than did he realize that it was the weapon that Steel had in fact handed to him in the cellar and secured to his back. He just had forgotten that it was there.
The thing had a trigger large enough for a troll finger, which meant he could easily wrap index and middle finger around it - which he probably needed if he wanted to use the weapon, due to the likely higher trigger pressure.
For whatever reason that gun had dropped in front of him, he knew an opportunity when he saw it.
So as the dwarf on the op-force began to take up again his assault, Kynos quickly grabbed the gun, steadied his breathing and squeezed the trigger two times.
[spoiler]
Shoot (http://orokos.com/roll/473372): 16d6t5 5
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473373): 8d6t5 4
(I'm using the Soldier from p.137 as base from the Anarchy Rulebook)
Armor 12 is reduced to 5 (Bone lacing 2)
Second Shot:
Shoot (http://orokos.com/roll/473374): 16d6t5 6
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473375): 8d6t5 3
Armor is depleted
11 DV -2 (Bonelacing) -3 Armor: 6 DV to condition Monitor 4/10 P left
Enemy soldier focuses on Kynos:
Attack Kynos (http://orokos.com/roll/473376): 8d6t5 2
Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473377): 12d6t5 4
Evaded
[/spoiler]
Both shots hit true, but that didn't stop the dwarf from refocusing his fire towards him. Training took over: Kynos virtually snapped upwards as he forced his body to do the mother of all crunches and rolled behind a singularly fortunately placed car. The motor block ate the lead intended for Kynos and he saw with morbid curiosity as the stream of constant fire began to eat through the steel block, dropping molten lead to the ground.
His position wasn't particularly great, but at least now the other Firewatch members had a chance to act - i.e. those who were still alive and conscious after that hellish explosion...
-
Captain Dern takes good advantage of the opportunity given to him by Kynos and and rises from his cover to fire at the gunner.
[spoiler]Shoot: Shoot (http://orokos.com/roll/473419): 14d6t5 4
Defense: Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473422): 8d6t5 3
DV is 9 - 2 for bone lacing =7 and the gunner goes down[/spoiler]
The Ares team boss' shot takes goes through the halfer's left eye and explodes out the back, taking anything the guy had for brains with it. The nearly headless Dwarf wavers for a second then falls from his seat on the top of the vehicle. Dern looks over to Kynos and gives a salute as Gardner races out to where Lowe and Brown had fallen when hit by the HMG fire. A quick look is all it take to tell her that Lowe is beyond help, but she calls out that Brown is still alive. She flips open the medkit and begins hooking the badly wounded man to various leads. A man runs up to where she is bent over Brown, a pistol in his hand and rage on his face. Gardner coolly picks up the pistol at her side at the same time that her remaining teammates unload on the the thug.
[spoiler]Lightning Bolt: Cast Lightning (http://orokos.com/roll/473436): 14d6t5 6
Defense: Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473437): 9d6t5 3
DV is 6 damage to the armor = 6 armor left and 3P -2 for Bone Lacing = 1 directly to the soldier
Gardner Shoot: Shoot (http://orokos.com/roll/473439): 13d6t5 4
Defense: Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473442): 8d6t5 2
DV is 8 -2 for Bone Lacing so finishes his armor
Grace Shoot: Shoot (http://orokos.com/roll/473445): 16d6t5 8
Defense: Defense (http://orokos.com/roll/473446): 8d6t5 3
DV is 13 - 2 for Bone Lacing = 11 to damage track, dropping the soldier[/spoiler]
The air sizzles near Kynos sizzles as Coates manipulates some mana and casts a lightning bolt at the thug, who arcs backwards a bit as some of the bolt penetrates his armor. His armor successfully deflects Gardner's hurried shot, but Grace puts the finishing touch on him with a carefully aimed shot to his center mass. The thug drops with a gurgle as the team takes stock of the situation.
[spoiler]I hope that I did the combat correctly.[/spoiler]
-
As Vish focuses his will on the illusion, he really hopes that he can make this half as impressive and terrifying in illusion as it was in real life. He'll show the opposition a dwarf rapidly turning into a roaring dragon, and ....
Then a maelstrom of fire exploded out of the club, blasting out windows and doors and roaring in a way that suggested that the rest of the building would not last for long. Vish was fortunate to be at a fair distance from the club, and not to present too much cross-section to the blast, so he held his feet -- but the pressure front passed through him, flipping around his stomach and assaulting his hearing for the second time that night.
Thinking quickly he changed plans, and crafted the illusion over the roof of the club -- everyone was going to be looking there anyway.
The dragon that reared up on the roof of the club was crafted in crimson and flame, its roar a slightly higher counter-point to the roar of the conflagration below, its head trailing dark smoke as the raven-like air-spirit manifested in the illusion. .
So distracted was he by the required artistry that Vish was a couple of seconds confirming over the com "Al, that is your signal."
-
The lift had not been coated with the hive material, which would have made the fire so much more effective there, as it had in the lower depths. As it is, the wide opening at the top of the life acted as a conduit for the flames but nothing provided the flames with anything to continue burning once that had shot out. On the floor of the lift, a large mass moves carefully. Steel opes one eye, half expecting to find that he is in some sort of Zen paradise. Instead he looks into the face of a pretty girl looking back at him, open eyes clearly visible against the ash covering her face. She gives him a crooked sort of grin as she says, "Wow. I felt the earth move with that one. If you are that good every time I may have to keep you around." She coughs and grimaces. "But you do weigh a fragging ton."
Steel grins back at Rose as he rolls over onto his back. "Sorry about that ma'am. Not sure if I can perform that well every time. Frag, that was close." He looks over at the woman next to him and remembers that she had cried out in pain as the fire swept over them. "The fire got part of you. Where?"
She points a hand at her side and Steel can see where her clothes had burned away and her skin was marked from the fire where it had kissed her. He moves to a sitting position and frowns. "Sorry about that. I guess we should be thinking of getting back with the others. I think my 'link got fried along with my coat. Yours?"
Rose shakes her head then groans softly and it is apparent that she is holding back tears. "Bastards! Someone up there got to the team as they came up. Lowe is dead and Brown down. At least two gunmen are dead, but they do not know how many more there are." She to rise to move but almost passes out. "I have told them that we are alive and trying to get out there."
Steel nods and stands in the ruin of his greatcoat. He ruefully picks at it. "Damn shame. I liked this one. Just got all the kinks worked out. Say, what are you laughing about?"
Rose points to Steel's head then puts a hand on her own. "I guess I got nothing to laugh at. Our hair seems to have been a casualty of the fire, too."
As steel bends over to pick Rose up he remembers something. "Hey, Kynos' rifle. It should be around here somewhere. Now where could........there."
The Alpha had been tossed onto the pile of dead bugs where it had slipped under a couple of the hard carapaces and been spared the greater effect of the fire, although the sling would need to be replaced. Steel picks it up and asks Rose to pass on the information to Kynos that he has the rifle.
>>Kynos, Steel says to tell you that he has your Alpha, but you will need a new sling for it. We're coming out by the elevator. Rather, he is pushing me out and then he is crawling out.<<
-
Even from a block away, the explosion was such athat it was all Al could do to keep his feet under him and his hands up. The troll, a little farther away and a lot sturdier, barely blinked as he drew his bead on Al. For his part, the little man knew dodging the stream of fire from that beast of a weapon would be a long shot. The voodoo gods told him to trust his co-worker and he watched in slow motion as heat caressed his back, wind blew the troll's hair, and the gun's barrels started to spin. Then even as the troll's finger applied pressure to the trigger, something behind Al pulled his attention and he swung the weapon abruptly up, the first rounds searing the air millimeters above Al's head, the bright stream of tracers pouring into the sky.
Al hadn't needed any more signal than that. The safety of cover was behind him, but sometimes he wasn't very smart. He dove forward for the flatbed truck that stood directly between him and the troll and unslung his shotgun as he rolled under it. He ended up exactly where he wanted to be, with the business end of his Remington flush against the troll's ankle. Trog was quick though, and must have felt the tickle on his boot. He jerked his foot even as Al fired. The result was a satisfying spray of blood that nonetheless apparently did not incapacitate the brute, because he put his hands under the edge of the flatbed, squatted low, then surged upwards, tossing the truck onto its side.
"Holy fuckin' frijoles, " Al exclaimed as he found nothing but hot night air between his prone self and the wounded troll. He fired up, hitting the guy dead center mass, but might as well have tossed a wet rag at the thing. Then three or four of his ribs shattered as the troll kicked him hard. Al grunted but the troll screamed - a surprising, ugly sound - as the move had left all his weight on his injured ankle. He dropped straight down. Al rolled aside and avoided being crushed, but the troll shot out a hand and grabbed his throat. ...
-
Kynos gave a thumbs up back to Dern but didn't say anything - to amazing was the dragon that had just appeared, swooping down on the building opposite the burning nightclub.
When he received the call from Steel he replied: <<How the frag are you still alive? You know what that means? If you can survive in there some bugs did as well. We'll have to come back and pump even nastier stuff down there.
But good for you that my rifle's still intact. That brick Steel calls a trigger on his gun is a pain in the ass - or rather fingers - to operate.
Time to get lost by the way: Opposition is using miniguns and white phosphor, so I'll expect a strategic bombing any second.>>
Kynos held his position for a second or two to get his breath back, then he sprinted towards the roaring flames and the still open lift. Despite his armor he felt the heat uncomfortably on his skin. He had no idea how the ork and troll could stand it, but he didn't intend to stay around:
Instead he got on the ground and reached down the shaft to give the two tuskers a lift... and to get his rifle back.
"What I do to avoid rearmament costs..."
-
Steel hands the Alpha up first as it does not have a sling and he will need both hands to get Rose up. "Hey, bossman, good to see you, too. Rose is coming next. Try not to hurt her left side, will you?" With a grunt he lifts the large Ork up for Kynos to grab then follows on his own. He stands outside the elevator and surveys the burning building before turning to Kynos. "Nah. I doubt you have much to worry about. You remember that gooey stuff the bugs had all over the place down there? Well, the cellar was covered in it and that stuff is still burning. I imagine that it is still burning all the way down to their queen." He picks at the rags of the coat and clothes he is wearing. "Got to say I feel a bit crispy on the outside."
As Al's face mottles and his vision starts to blur, he sees all three faces of the Troll split open in a horrible vision of some sort of grin. The guy's bad breath would be enough to knock out a lesser man, but Al knows for sure that he is no lesser man. Gasping for breath, he has the Troll exactly where he wants him. He flicks a wrist and the shotgun barrel slides into all three mouths simultaneously. The Troll, realizing what is coming next, tries to squeeze the life from the tattered man in his grip...............and almost succeeds. Almost. No amount of armor or dermal plating or even damage resistance could possibly make a difference as the slug from the shotgun pierces the brain from the inside, blowing a large caliber hole in the top of the Troll's head.
-
Al sucked in air convulsively, then curled up in agony as the sharp movement of his diaphragm sent shards of shattered rib in all sorts of bad directions. Easing the desperately needed oxygen into his lungs a tad more carefully, he scrambled back to his feet and kicked the troll's corpse three times. "That's one boo-rah fer Parker, one fer Fraser, an' one fer Fitz." A layer of hoarse wheeze overlaid the little man's usual sandpaper rasp as he struggled to spit out human speech past a nearly crushed larynx.
Brushing himself off he strode back towards the rest of the group by the light of the burning club. He supposed he should be on the lookout for further threats, but that'd be way too anticlimactic - definitely interfere with his cool factor. So he simply walked up to the others, waved a thumb vaguely over his shoulder, and with as much nonchalance as his bruised throat could muster, said, "There's a truck over there we can use, but Mister Crispy hère'll have ta flip 'er back over."
-
Captain Dern walks over to inspect the SUV the halfer gunner had been firing from and calls back. >>The OPFOR vehicle looks usable. Not sure we would be able to get everyone in it, though. Anyone picking any hostiles? I got nothing on my scanner. Gardner, what is the status of Brown, and check on Rose and our auxiliaries, too, please.<<
Steel looks at Al as he saunters over. "Nice to see you, too, Al. That was a good idea with the gasoline. I think we cook most of them. Say, you look a tad beat up. Why not have Gardener check you out as well? " He looks over to where Al had pointed and moves in that direction. "I will get the truck back on its wheels. Guess I gotta be good for something, right?"
Gardner stands and walks over to Rose and the others. >>Brown will live, Jefe, but he will need an new lower arm. Checking on the others, now.<<
Steel walks over to look at the vehicle laying on its side and mutters something that is pretty much unprintable in polite society before squatting down to get a grip on the side of the large truck. A lot of groaning and grunting later, the thing rights itself with a large crash.
-
Kynos was busy improvising a new sling and scratching blobs of melted and burned plastic from the finish of his gun. His whole body ached from the exertion - not that he minded. He actually liked that kind of pain. It was his reminder that he was still alive and - even more important - still somewhat human.
Looking around for more hostiles he took in the burning building, the wrecked Roadmaster, the destroyed mini-gunner with his minigun and the blood spattered remains of the Ares Firewatch team.
"Yepp, I think we are done here. Good work everyone - Objective complete, about half of us still alive and I'm one of them. From my perspective that's an A+."
He sniffed. "Hm. I don't know why but I really could go for a slightly seared but still bloody steak right now."
-
Having waved the Firewatch sawbones off, Al hobbled back over the truck. When it flipped back onto its tires Al got a good look at Steel. Troll was in worse shape than he was. They both needed a proper hospital. But they weren't exactly in the clear yet. He could already hear sirens.
When Steel gave him a 'thanks for helping' look, Al croaked, "I was cheerin' ya on mentally." Then he went to the driver's side of the cab, did something quick with his hands, and it popped open. A moment later he was on his back next to the pedals, reaching up into the steering column. Thirty seconds later the engine roared to life.
"All aboard 'at's goin' aboard. Din't have time ta disable the anti-theft tags on the PAN, so we's a damned Christmas tree inna virtual. Did cut out the wifi booster, so the signal's only local - she'll git us as far as somewhere ol' Al can boost somethin' more properly."
-
When his spirit started complaining about being bored due to nobody shooting at it anymore -- and so not being allowed to throw lightning or choking gas back -- Vish sent it on its way. A bored Raven is not a safe thing. Then he had the dragon dive down into the conflagration -- probably by now any viewers had figured out that it was an illusion, but that was no excuse to get sloppy.
It was only then that he returned to paying more than cursory attention to the rest of the world. He'd had a vague sense that his team had been chatting on the coms, which was good, but what they'd been saying had mostly escaped him. He'd have to be careful in the future not to get so wrapped up in the artistry of an illusion, that was a form of vanity which could imperil his earthly body just as much as it supposedly did his eternal spirit. He was just in time to hear that Steel and Al had arranged transportation of some kind, and after a few moments of frantic scurrying he found where they were.
Seeing the state of Al and Steel he felt a little bad that he'd not been of more help in keeping them safe -- and a lot of relief that he hadn't been in their places. (He didn't bother noting that streak of cowardice, he was long acquainted with it.) He hurried up to them, and still talking too loud after the various explosions let them know "Once we get a minute or two to sit still, I'll do what I can to heal you both up. And thanks both of you for making the explosion happen and finding us a ride away from here."
-
"No thanks required, mini-amigo. All inna day's work. Anyhoo, reckon the appreciation runs both ways tonight. Damned troll caught me onna back foot - voodoo gods was apparently nappin' onna job, so whatever y'all did, like ta saved ol' Al's bacon."
-
Captain Dern got the members of his team into the SUV then turned to the other four, seeming to war with himself for a few seconds before saying. "Listen, not supposed to do this, but you guys saved our bacon today or there would not be any of us going home. I hate writing letters to families of dead officers, but I would hate having to write more letters even more..............or being dead, for that matter. Ares has a top notch med facility off the civilian grid. I can get you in there and treated so you don't have to answer inconvenient questions or settle for street care. What do you say? Some meds on the KE?"
Steel had just placed the again unconscious form of Rose in the SUV. Gardner had lied to her when she told him that the Ork was out of danger and both of them knew it. Here was a chance......................a chance at what, really? She is a KE officer and a good one. No space in their duffle for any sort of emotional attachments, right? Sort of like the old trideo line "If the Army wanted you to have a wife they would issue you one", yeah? Well, here is his best chance to just fade away before being booted away. He shakes his head and opens his mouth to say thanks but no thanks but what comes out is, "Al, can you drive me to where they say and drop me off. I think I'll take the good Captain up on his offer. Maybe they'll even replace my clothes and coat for a job well done. What do you say? Will you do that? You ought to come along."
-
"Yeah about that: You realize that your attackers were probably from within your own mother corp? Using your facilities has a high chance of some of you receiving 20ccm of air intravenous. I know a nice doctor with a battleaxe that can take good care of you.
But do whatever you think is best. I'll convoy you with my bike just in case."
Kynos replied. "Bad practice to let your employer die after a gig - all the hard work and you won't even get good street cred from it."
-
Al shrugged at the troll - which hurt. "Sure. Once we git out the hot zone here, swap fer a better ride, ol' Al'll take ya wherever strikes yer fancy. Vishey here done offered to lay some witchcraft on us, though, so you might want ta take a run at that first. After that reckon I'll see ta my own needs, though I appreciate the offer, El-Tee," he concluded with a nod at Dern.
-
Steel nods. "I guess I will take my chances with them. Thanks for the warnings."
Captain Dern bristles a bit at the el-tee remark but lets it go with a nod. "You have the coordinates. Use my name when you get there, but don't take too long." He climbs into the SUV and it takes off down the street.
Steel climbs aboard the bed of the large truck and sits with his back to the cab. He looks through the small, broken rear window into the cab. "You heard the man. I have a feeling the window of the invitation is limited."