Fragile Things IC, Who hunts the Hunter? Options

[Vegas]

As JW approached she tensed up, a little on the defensive as she could feel a change in the mood of the room. She could feel stress levels rising a bit which started to raise her own hackles a little. She kept her eyes locked on the dark one with the large gun the entire time JW worked on her arm.

“Why did you come here, none of you look like cops”

As soon as her arm was patched up she withdrew it quickly from JW’s grasp, pulling the tapestry around her tighter and her world backlashed around her. Flashes of images, waves of emotions, all of it overwhelming. It left her clutching at her head and groaning in between sharp intakes of breath.

Her fight or flight response was kicking in, natural instinct was telling her to take the opportunity that came in the form of the open doorway and to run. Fear was beginning to blossom into anger as no matter how hard she tried to concentrate and try to remember anything all she was left with was a bloody arm, a naked body and a splitting headache.

[pragma]

"We're looking for folk who were dissappeared in these parts." JW replied as he wound gauze around the bleeding bicep wound. Noting her worried glances he added "Don't worry about Dark Horse over there. He's mean looking, but he won't hurt you."

She snatched her hand back and resumed groaning on the floor, causing JW to worry that he'd somehow made things worse with his first aid.

"The rest of these guys are going to keep working. If you'd like, I can take you outside. We've got a van you can crash in or you can go your own way."

He composed a message as he talked.

<<@Team: Flat, I assume you've done approprate astral sniffing. Is she a threat? Or just scared and hurt?>>

[Vegas]

"I can’t remember my name, where I live or how I got here and you think I’d want to go on my own? Are you glitched!?"

Her frustrations bubbled out in terse comments to those who were trying to help her. She bit down on her tongue hard to keep from biting off JW’s head. She forced herself to take deep breaths, it took a few moments before she calmed herself enough to apologize.

"I’m sorry. Getting out of here, finding something to wear and a place to take a shower and get some sleep would probably be best for me right now, assuming that thing says I’m not about to die on you." She nodded to the medkit near JW’s feet.

[pragma]

"Nope, you're not dying and none of us are all that glitched. Like I say, your welcome to our backseat for the time being. I just wanted to make sure you didn't think we were cooping you up. You're free to go when you like."

She certainly seemed friendly ennough, in a imprisoned, tortured, amnesiac kind of way, but JW was starting to have sneaking worries.

What if she's an adept or a double agent or a walking cyberbomb or ...

He curtailed the train of thought and grinned a little before saying, "As to the clothing and the shower, I can't help you much there. I'm afraid I don't own that much in the way of ladies clothing and we don't keep a shower in the van. We'll see what we can do once we get topside.

[adamu]

While JW talked to the vic, Flat responded to his query over the team network, subvocalizing without dropping his awareness of the astral. <<She's probably dangerous, but can't say yet to whom. She's not faking the pain and confusion, though, so in my book we've gotta help her. But if the targets are hoofing it outta here, you guys had better get after them. JW and I can finish up here, get the girl to the vehicle, and then do a mounted coordination with your foot pursuit.>>

Without waiting for a reply, Flat muted his earbud and concentrated more deeply on the aura of the room - something very very bad had happened here, and painful as it was, he wanted the impression while it was fresh. He'd read the girl once they were out of this hell hole...

[Vegas]

A quiet prayer spilled from her lips in perfectly accented Spanish as she nodded.

"Getting out of here makes the most sense to me right now." She stopped her sentence as if she was remembering something, however her mind was only a blank void.

"Maybe getting to a hospital would be a good idea as well, if there's something really wrong with me beyond the immediately visible. I mean I can't remember my name.. I can't remember anything." Anger crept back into her voice as her grip on the tapestry tightened.

Who am I? How did I get here? None of this is familiar or makes sense.

[Ophis]

Flat feels an overwhelming feeling of pain and betrayal, added with desperation and fear. He sees a series of images of torure and sacrifices in the room, no clear image comes through of the who is doing it to who overlayed across all of this is a shadowy figure with seven motes of baleful red light roughly where eyes should be. The shadowy figure looks at you and starts to speak it's voice is like fignernails of a chalkboard "Hello, Matthew, I'll see you soon." With that the images and feelings are gone.

[MisterDoormat]

Dark Horse takes in the scene. The woman now called Jun, is being taken care of by JW. Flat is helping her too, but he isn't looking too good all of a sudden.

The cultists are escaping and we need to get moving. To get out of this room actually.

I hope this door leads to them. I want to ask them… Dark Horse looks at his M202 and sneers …a few questions about what they did in here.


<@ Team: I found what looks to be a door. I'm going to open it.

<@ Wing: Can I get some cover in case there is a surprise waiting on the other side?>


Dark Horse waits for an OK from Wing before pressing the catch.

[adamu]

Drowning in sweat, Flat severed his connection to the Other World and dropped to his knees, shivering. And naught shall touch it...and naught shall touch it.

It had been all he could do just to bear being in this place, but that...that...what he had seen...it had been too much.

Shaking it off, he got back on his feet, feeling a lot better now that he was in the real world. Approaching the girl, he said out loud to the team, "All right, I'm done here...good and done. I'll take the lady topside. JW, can you get us pix of these insriptions before we exit?"

Turning to the woman now called Jun, the astral sensitive forced a smile. "Looks like they got you patched up pretty well. You can call me Flat. Let's get you some fresh air." And with that he led her toward the door they had entered through.

[pragma]

"On it."

JW slowly walked his eyes and a pocket flashlight around the room, carefully instructing the machinery housed therein to capture images of the depravity on the floor and walls.

"We're good to go, I'll lead and you follow." He said to Flat as he walked toward the exit and the team vehicle.

He added over the matrix <<@Flat: And keep a sharp eye on her while we're walking. Say the word and I'll get out of the way.>>

[Vegas]

All at once the young woman was led and followed out of hell. As she ascended the stairs she gulped large breaths of "fresh" air. The cold air pierced her lungs and caused them to burn and she coughed, but she was alive. For now that was all the solace she was allowed.

Eyes darted between JW and Flat as they moved her towards their vehicles. She pulled the tapestry around her tighter as now that she was out of the basement room she was all too aware of her lack of clothing and her vulnerability. She looked around at her surroundings for anywhere or anything that looked familiar. Still there was nothing. She tried to defuse the wave of panic building in her again with some wry sense of humor and bad jokes.

"So you don't have any ladies clothing, but any chance someone's got an extra pair of jeans and shirt even? Wouldn't want the cops to roll by and get the wrong impression. You fine gentlemen don't need a charge of soliciting on your spotless records now do you?"

She smiled and it was almost charming, if there wasn't a lost and almost vacant look in her eyes behind it.

[pragma]

"I'm afraid that soliciting is the least of our worries given the bloody katana and clothing Flat's got on right now..." He drawled in response. "... but we'll grab you some flats as soon as our work's done and we can hit a stuffer."

[adamu]

While JW had Jun's attention, Flat subvocalized, [COLOR=yellow]<<In the car, you take the back seat, even if she gripes - you're right, we can help her, but that doesn't mean we want her behind us.>>

"Actually," he added out loud, "I've got some clothes you can borrow in my car. And the sooner we get to it, the happier I'll be."

[amra28]

Toobit watches as Flat and JW lead the battered women out of the basement. He then moves in at Dark Horse's request and positions himself to the side of the secret door. The dwarf gives the big man a nod and then gets ready for the door to open.

[Metatron]

@Darkhorse <"Nah, Thought I'd stand around like an idiot">

Comes over your comm, you think you can hear a little hint of sacasm in it...

Wing moves over to give Darkhorse cover should it be needed.

[adamu]

Flat took a deep breath as he followed JW and Jun out of the building - he was glad to get out of that death-house. As the ork led the way toward their vehicles, he looked down at Jun's bare feet in the moonlit snow and assured her they wouldn't have to go far.

They had staged just a block away from the target, having detected no perimeter security and wanting to hit fast and hard. Turning a corner they saw a street with several parked cars - Wing's Landy was at the end of the block, but Flat's own Comet was closer. He sheathed his katana and unlocked the doors with a flick of one AR glove. Stepping forward, he opened the front passenger door of the sedan for Jun, and said "Sorry about the mess" to JW as the ork braved the fast-food-container-filled back seat.

Flat went around and got into the driver's seat. Turning to the elf woman, he pointed to a big black Hefty bag that was keeping her feet from touching the floor - "Just did laundry - you'll find clean khakis and shirts you should be able to get into - sorry, no women's underwear." Glancing in the rearview mirror as his commlink started the car, he said, "Okay, Jay-dub, where are they at?"

[Vegas]

Sliding into the passengers seat, she was grateful for the perceived warmth the car provided from the wind and the snow on her bare feet. When Flat informed her that clothes were in the plastic bag at her feet she dove into it the best she could with one hand as the other tried mostly in vain to keep the tapestry wrapped around her. She glanced over towards him and smiled.

"Thank you, and I never figured you for the wearing women's clothes type anyway."

She noticed JW sliding into the back seat and smiled softly to him as well before pulling out a pair of khakis and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt from the bag. One more reach in procured a pair of thick socks that she quickly pulled onto her damp and cold feet.

"Now if you would be so kind to turn your heads away gentlemen, I can get dressed in a flash."

When she was satisfied neither of them were going to sneak a peek she let go of the tapestry and shimmied her way into the khakis and then leaned forward, exposing the large flame tattoo at the small of her back to JW's cautious gaze as she pulled on the shirt. The pants were a little short, the shirt a little too big but at least she was clothed and starting to warm up a little bit.

As talk started to turn back to their task at hand she couldn't help but pipe up a little as conversations replayed in her head from within the basement.

"You said you came looking for people who disappeared, I guess I'm not one of the ones you came looking for?" Disappointment crept into her voice after a moment of hope. If she was one they had come for, perhaps they would know something, anything about her that could cut through the fog that filled her mind.

[Ophis]

The door swings open scrapping slightly on the floor.

Beyond lies a passageway a cold breeze and the sound of snow sizzling as i t hits flames. Darkhorse and Wing take the lead moving carefully scanning the tunnel for any threats.

As soon as Toobit passes through the door he feels a pressure begin to lift after a few paces the "static" he felt in the ritiual room has lifted completely.

The passage leads straight on towards an open trapdoor, snow and light fall through it illuminating the end of the passage. Looks like the passage is clear.

Darkhorse and Wing

[ Spoiler ]

The light also glints off a thin wire at about ankle height across the corridor, on the right hand end is a small box.

[adamu]

Easing the car into the slippery street, Flat made a mental note that her short-term memory seemed to be working just fine. He was itching to get a proper read on her, but that would have to wait, and in any case it might not tell the whole story. He would need to get at whatever was locked in her subconscious - "No, you weren't who we went in looking for, but I'm glad we found you - no one deserves to be put through what was done to you," he said, hoping to trigger a memory.

[pragma]

JW's eyes had a faraway expression fixed on them as the elf changed next to him. The streams of data pouring from cameras, comms, GPS units and his own programs flitted in front of his eyes and told him the location of his team, the progress of his agent, the load on the team network, number of firewall catches and enough other technical information to keep teams of lesser hackers busy for hours.

His modified brain basked in the stream of pure data, pure power, and came up with answers to Flat's questions.

"Goddamn agent hasn't turned anything up. Should of been a thirty second tracking job. The lovely lady we're chasing probably turned her comm. off. The rest of the team is still holed up near the ritual room, moving slowly for some reason."

He marked a spot on the team map overlay and added "We ought to drive where they were seen last and see if we can pick up a trail from there. All else fails, we can grab the rest of our team."

It was only after reciting the answer's to Flat's questions that he got around to Jun. He gingerly moved the shotgun to his lap, barrel pointing toward the window, and awkwardly shuffled his feet between some half-eating containers of cheap mongolian beef as he said:

"No, you're not quite what we expected to find. But we're philanthropic types anyway."

He unbuckled the pistol strapped across his camoulaged chest as he joked with Jun. Best to be able to get a gun pointing either direction quickly.

[MisterDoormat]

Dark Horse didn't like following darkened passageways. Specialy after what he'd seen in that room. Only real light seems to be coming from an opened trapdoor. He is about to head for the open trapdoor when a glint catches his eye. He looks down to see a wire crossing the passageway. One end connecting to a box.

A trap?

Dark Horse whispers to Wing.

"Wing, there is a...

Dark Horse turned to stop Wing from setting off the trap. Thats when he saw that she was staring at the same thing. Wing looks at Dark Horse as to say, "do you think I wouldn't see that?"

..nevermind"

Still whispering, this time to Toobit and Wing.

"Toobit, be sure to watch out for this trap here." Dark Horse points to the wire. "Wing, I don't think we have enough time to disarm it, so I say lets just step over it and get topside."

Dark Horse steps over the wire and starts for the open trapdoor.

[adamu]

Following JW's suggestion, Flat nosed the Comet around toward the south side of the building where the hacker had last sighted their quarry, and where hopefully the rest of their team would soon be emerging.

[amra28]

Toobit nods when Dark Horse points out the trap and makes sure he steps over it as he follows the other two down the hallway.

[Ophis]

Dark Horse reaches the top of the ladder, the weight of the machine gun hampering his movement when slung. Giving him a chance to reach the top, Wing follows him up. Dark Horse emerges into a street like any of the ones that surround the building decorated by a funeral pyre made from the shell of a Knight Errant patrol car. Snow swirls around clinging to clothes and hair. A corpse lies a few feet from the car charring slightly down one side. A neat hole in the officer's chest gathers snow. As Wing's head emerges from the hole a shape coalesces from the smoke a parody of a human form with darker pits for eyes. It looks at Dark Horse. It seems pleased to see him...

[Ophis]

A moment passes as the spirit and Dark Horse size each other up. Dark Horse breaks the standoff with a bark, "Spirit!". The shout energises Wing and she scrambles up the last few feet of the ladder bringing her Mossberg round and up ready to shoot in the same motion. As the spirit hestitates Dark Horse makes his move, ducking behind the nearby remains of a litter bin as he readies his massive gun.

The spirits 'eyes' merely lighter patches of shadow seem to narrow and it reaches out towards it's foes. Tendrils of shadow extend towards each of them trying to ensnare them. Wing excutes a neat drop and roll and what purchase the spirit had is lost. Dark Horse weighed down by the Machine gun isn't so lucky. Shadows wrap round his some seemingly the fleeting imprints of faces.

Dark Horse

[ Spoiler ]

Images bombard Dark Horse, along with noise, screaming and voice, a familiar voice he hasn't heard in a long time, "Joshua, why did you kill me?" the voice is sad and calm at first the grows more angry, "How could you try to kill the man I loved, how could you kill me? You made Beth leave, you made mum hate us all. You did all this and yet you live? How could you live with what you did? If you were a man you'd have died for your sins, rather then RUN! DIE! END! IT! NOW!"

All this action is however lost on Toobit as he does his best to scramble up the ladder. Somehow he gets further than he thought possible. He calls mana to himself as he hears the shout, magic course through his body accelerating him. Another run and the fight will be in sight, and sight is all he'll need.