(IC)Integrity, In the LA Shadows Options

[Curuinor]

0040 Pacific Time, 7/3/72

The humdrum stakeout almost returns to you, the spirit joining in examination of the entire site very, very, carefully.

Then, a great big explosion breaks the silence of the night. In a colossal hullabaloo, three things happen:

-The guard patrol rushes out of its patrol route and out of the complex itself to investigate the explosion, which was at the next block.

-Whisper cannot be contacted. His commlink appears to turn off in the Matrix side, and the astral and physical chaos of the explosion, some of the dust of which enters this block, all combine to hide him utterly for an instant— and in that instant, he disappears.

-A metahuman figure has been hurled next to the wall by the explosion. It is carrying the remains of a briefcase, and astral examination shows that it is a troll with a bandolier of knives.

[JoelHalpern]

0041 Pacific Time, 7/3/72

The Troll picks himself up, and looks around.
He is an average sized Troll (i.e. big). His glasses are askew, and his eyes are very large and strange. There are earbuds dislodged and hanged by their hooks from his ears. He has on a brown lines coat, and seems bluky, even for a Troll, underneath. You do not see any weapons other than the knives on the bandolier, and for those who are observant, one at his waist.

[Glyph]

0041 Pacific Time, 7/3/72

Dancer futilely attempts to contact Whisper.

<< Rose! I've lost contact with Whisper. You're the fastest, could you see what happened? I'll keep an eye on this troll. Not sure he's involved yet, but we might have some questions for him. >>

Still partially hidden behind a parked car, Dancer observes the troll, who is standing to his feet. After her earlier bout of nerves, she is trying hard not to get trigger-happy as her cold eyes scan this suspicious new arrival. With her tweaked-out cybereyes, it is like observing him from a few feet away in broad daylight. She needs to remember that his troll vision makes the darkness no hindrance for him, either. She slowly draws her gun, but keeps it at her side for the moment.

[Mickle5125]

Rose blinks at the explosion and the appearance of the Troll. “Well… you don’t see something like that every day. Does make for a nice distraction, though.� She shrugs and ponders attempting to complete the mission now for a moment before receiving Dancer’s comm call.

She immediately puts a call out towards Whisper’s commlink herself. <’Whisper! You there? Alive? Dead?’>

Getting no response she frowns and turns to where she last saw the air spirit. “Servant of the Celestial Order, are you still here? Can you please go and check the condition of your summoner?�

[JoelHalpern]

Mach straightens up, straightens the glasses and earbuds, and moves back towards the center of the explosion, a concerned look on his face.
(He does clearly look around trying to see what is going on just before he moves away from the wall.)
Those observing carefully note that there seem to be several knives in Mach's right hand as he starts moving.

[Curuinor]

Spock is a splatter on the wall, a brownish stain. He was your partner for the run. Supposed to be a milk B&E, but recent events have given you new incentive to check your Johnsons better from now on. Strange, since he was about two yards from you and you got off fine, except for your eyebrows. A weird artifact, indeed.

Your eyes do spot a metahuman silhouette hiding behind the tinted windows of a parked car.

[Mickle5125]

<'Dancer, I've sent Whisper's spirit to check for him. Figured it would have the easiest time finding him. It didn't vanish. Does that mean he's not dead? Anyway! Wanna take advantage of the mysterious distraction to complete the mission?'> |Dancer and anyone else who might feel the urge to contribute|

Rose nervously reaches into the neck of her chameleon suit and pulls out a slightly crushed origami rose, carefully straightening it out before carefully tucking it away.

[Glyph]

Dancer comms back:

<< I have to admit, I thought about that myself. We could try. I am armed and disguised, so the only thing left to worry about is whatever liquid the chip is sitting in. But they might even have protective gloves or materials lying around in the lab, so it wouldn't hurt to try it. I just need to be careful easing past this troll. He hasn't made any hostile moves yet, but that doesn't mean he hasn't noticed me. I'll stay in contact, in case I need backup. >>

[Mickle5125]

<<Well, I'm heading on in. Malloc.I, please get into the system and see if there's anything in the tank to drain off. Also, shut down any alarms if you can. Dancer, be a dear and get the door. >> |Dancer and Malloc.I |

Rose tosses herself off her ledge and spreads her wings to their fullest before gliding towards the entrance, doing everything in her power to stay silent and unnoticed.

[Curuinor]

A slight blur on the door goes entirely unnoticed as the guards begin hastily returning to base. The guard patrol enters the facility to check for intruders, while the another, new squad resumes patrol.

[Curuinor]

Welcome to TruTech Administrator Access.

Username /*Security Breached Securit

/*Security Breach Override*/

Username: null

Password: *******

A great big stone slab rings down upon the node's ground, with the message of the day upon it:

"Today is a good day to die."

You start sneaking about in the node, after hours and hours of hacking. A Babel-ish vista of mudbrick towers impossibly tall looms upon you. Golems patrol the streets, taking no notice of a blur in the air.

[Glyph]

Dancer utters a few mental expletives as the returning guards effectively block her from following Rose. At least it looks like the pixie managed to slip in.

<< Sorry, Rose. Those guys came back too fast. At least the troll headed out, too, although I'll still keep an eye out for him in case he comes back. I'll keep an eye out here... let me know if you need me to start a distraction at some point. >>

[BlackHat]

<<Online. No active alert. Searching for 'tank'.>>

Malloc.I's icon fluttered, unseen, through the sculpted landscape of the node, inspecting icons it encountered, while running a search routine trying to find a network connection to, or any data on, the contents of "water bath 18".

[Mickle5125]

Rose glides in through the door as the guards return, immediately wheeling away and finding an out-of-the-way (and out of camera sight) shelf or large piece of equipment to land on and rest for a moment while she organizes things. She studies the interior before sending a message to the others.

<<Ok, I'm in. Malloc.I, How much control do you have over their system? I mean, do you have control of the cameras? Can you ensure that alarms don't go off? Actually, can you trigger an alarm? perhaps a fire or carbon monoxide alarm or something? And Dancer, I'll let you know when I need a distraction. Got any 'splosives?>>

[Glyph]

Dancer comms back:

<< Sorry, no explosives. I'll have to shoot out one of the spotlights or something. >>

[JoelHalpern]

Not being sure what to do, Mach steps out of the immediate lights and activity.
He is keeping an eye on what is going on, particularly the car which seems to have someone in it.

Also send a test to whatever context the Johnson game Things have gone wrong, but I have the case.

[Curuinor]

"Water bath 18", depressingly enough, turns up some pornography(which some employee thought was hidden) and some controls for an array of tanks. Bath 18, 19 & 20 are controlled here, apparently.

All the golems seem to be one hydra-headed piece of IC kept running. Once in the controls for the array, you see glittering bits of the lumpy clay representation of the vats rising up: "Ignition", "Drain" and "Poison".

[BlackHat]

Malloc.I fired off a quick message to the team, whispering into the air. <<Tanks located: 18, 19, 20. Three settings: "ignition", "drain", and "poison". All possibilities. Please, advise.>>

[Mickle5125]

<<erm... what's the likelihood of those being mislabeled in an attempt to trick someone from the outside into killing herself?>>

[BlackHat]

<<Possible. Unlikely. Irrelevant. If controls are trapped, our options: limited. Status: unchanged. Alternative: proceed with assumption.>>
The text is accompanied by a few random safety images warning of danger, toxicity, and flammable substances.
<<Effect of function 'Drain': likely lead toward goal: chip extraction. However, effect on chip: unknown. Proceed?>>

[Mickle5125]

<<Ok, first, can you identify the contents of the tank? It seems silly to activate the drain procedure if there's nothing in there to drain. Second! I will send you a message when it's time to drain the tank. I want to be in the room and ready to retrieve the chip before we start the drain, in case it causes unforeseen consequences. Understand?>>

With that, Rose takes off again, doing her best to stay high, out of sight, and out of the way of anybody working in there. She slowly and quietly circles around towards the room the map says contains the tanks, praying that things don't go horribly wrong.

[Curuinor]

Inside of the tank room, you come to the realization that the map was a little wrong. In this case, every surface of the entire room(including walls and ceiling) is covered with low, squat tanks(covered with plexiglass without latches on the walls and ceiling). Inside every tank is an opaque, shiny metallic liquid.

[Mickle5125]

'well poo.' Rose thinks as she flies into the room and flutters to a stop in a corner of the room. 'What do I do with this mess>'

She quickly swings her commlink around so that the camcorder is facing into the room and begins recording as she slowly pans across the room so that all of the tanks are shown. She then attaches the recording to a message she sends to the rest of the group.

<<Erm, guys? Mr. J's information is wrong. Please see the attached for further details.

attachment: ohshit.trid

ps: which tank do you guys think is the right one?>>

[Glyph]

Dancer's eyes narrow in annoyance as her suspicions (about the skimpy logistical support from the Johnson) are confirmed.

<< Looks like we got some misleading information. No surprise. I would say have Malloc.I drain the tank the chip is supposed to be in, and go for that one. >>

[BlackHat]

Malloc.I waited for what seemed like an eternity in the Matrix (although it was only a second or two) after reading the suggestion from Dancer to see if anyone agreed or disagreed with the idea before he committed to the action. Getting no response, he decided to proceed and accessed the icon for draining tank-18.