IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Tower in Redmond

The thrill of the hunt increases, the smell of the man's fear and anger intoxicating, Jade Tiger charges the fleeing man. It may have been a mercy killing, but mercy was not the emotion filling her. With a flying leap she pounces upon her victim. Instinct takes over, and the blow is to the base of the skull. A roar leaves her lips echoing around the street. A roar of challenge.

As the man drops, shock takes over. The thought form leaves, its mission fulfilled. Jade is standing in the middle of a street with a man dead or unconscious at her feet. She pauses for a few moments leaning against a building to get control of her emotions, and deal with the adrenaline running through her system.

<<[Jade Tiger]: Sorry I was a little enthusiastic: I think he's dead. Oz you might be able to do something with him. [Embedded picture] Is this your Viper 5? I assume there is nothing on the body that you want.>>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Professor scans his memory for something he may have missed earlier. Ah. There. Getting sloppy, ...P.

<<@team: Sometimes my head is in the astral, and I don't connect words filtering into one realm with actions in the other. So, I didn't make the connection that Ferret's "There we go" meant the jammer was disabled. Just in case I am in two worlds at once next time, help me out and make team notifications a bit more explicit, OK gang? It's my fault, not yours.>>

"In any case, our intentions are as I stated. We mean you no harm, and will help your teammate if we can. A signal or code to indicate that intent would be useful."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

The woman breathed a sigh of relief in the direction of Oswald,"Thanks for some straight shootin doc. Sounds like the rest of my team had the same kinda luck I did.... or worse. The kid set up that jammer right after we hijacked the truck. He turned it on when we hit the convoy with the tailers, then we played cat and mouse with an Ares fast response team until Long Legs was clear with the cargo, uh.. that's our rigger. So you guys must be looking for the trucks right? I won't stand in your way. This job is a bust for me. I'm gonna ask my fixer to send me back to the minors for a while. The rigger's place should be just up the road. I don't know what happened to the team or the cargo, but we got hit hard, and after we thought we were in the clear. I hadn't worked with these guys before, and I'm starting to feel we were doule crossed by someone on the team."

Outside of Rusty's

Stepping back behind her own eyes as the spirit leaves her vessel, Jade ooks down at her prey. He was face down on the pavement with blood trickling from his head.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, The streets of Cross-town
Zo stopped at a crumbling remains of a jersey barrier in the parking lot. He kneels down on the ground behind it and begins to take in the sights and sounds of the Redmond barrens in all of its glory. In the AR map he places a green ARO where he is.

<@Team>I'm goin to hold here waitin on you guys to catch up. Jade--slit the fraggin V5's throat to be sure. We don't have time for dat bulldrek.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

<<@team: For all the trouble he is, the captive Viper may still come in handy. I would keep him alive if possible.>>

Professor looked in the direction the woman indicated, correlating the maps he had memorized with the view from here. So, not Ares but part of Long Leg's crew. "Not double crossed by you or the kid, obviously, and I assume not by Log Legs?" *questioning lilt at the end of that*

"Any ideas who?"

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

The watcher had been continuing to argue with Oswald. "Yes, I do have superior options, and yes, I do want to handle it personally. However, I am currently a bit busy dealing with a group of Infected and some more of their dogs underground at the moment. I am merely requesting that you do something to at least delay him until such a time that I CAN arrive on the scene and deal with his foolishness. Preferably something that won't kill him."

When the woman had begun explaining about the hacker and all the rest, though, it had fallen silent, and remained silent during Professor's and Oswald's exchange. Suddenly, it spoke up. "Pardon me. I have a question for the woman. This 'Fat Man' you mentioned, he wouldn't happen to be German, would he? Perhaps dressed in a suit and top hat?

11:53 PM, Beneath the Tower in Redmond

While all of this had been going on in the meantime, Jovan had been considering his options. Very well, elemental, he thought after a few seconds of contemplation (a rather long time in the astral). If most of them are feral, there's not much to lose by attempting some face-to-face diplomacy with the few brighter ones. Let me put up a layer of counterspelling on us before proceeding, however. We need to be prepared for those dogs this time. Wonderful, now that that's taken care of, let's proceed. The spirit and Jovan, with Jovan now providing counterspelling for both of them, floated forward until they were within sight of the group of ghouls, dogs, and the rest of the cannibalistic individuals.

"Good evening, everyone." He spoke to the group, though trying to speak more to the smarter Infected among the group. "I mean you no harm; you can see that I have HMHVV too. I have a small problem on my hands tonight, and perhaps you can assist me with this problem. Are you willing to help a fellow Infected? I could do something for you in return if you help me."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Tower in Redmond

Sighing at the conflicting advice. To kill or not to kill that is the question. Well perhaps it's all moot and void.

<<[Jade Tiger]: Just checking if he's still alive. I'm afraid I didn't hear much for the last couple of minutes, this hunt was intense. I take it the woman is awake and talking. Does she have a clue where the cargo might be?.

When I have dealt with Viper 5, where shall we meet up? >>

Summoning a thought form, substantially smaller than the one she used for hunting, Jade Tiger uses it to check if Viper 5 is still alive.

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Tower in Redmond

Ferret lingers near to Oswald and the Prof, hesitating to follow the overeager ork.

Frag, I got him into this deal in the first place. Plus, he's a buddy of Throgg's and that big fragger never left me in the lurch.

<<Hold on Zo. I'll back you up. Oz, can you provide cover from the blimp if we run into trouble?>>

Adding Zo's coordinates to his AR, he follows after the ork.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, The streets of Cross-town

<@Team>Prof, he's of marginal value right now alive and poses a gretear risk should he try that again. I'll compro mize tho. Jade---make sure Viper five has two broken kneecaps and two very broken arms.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, underground tunnel near the Tower

The starving ghouls turned to the voice floating in the tunnel and bolted forward like stampeding horses. they spread across the corridor and charged like a wave of infected light. The dogs began barking, their spiny hackles raised.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

The woman thought about the Professor's question."It could have been Big Daddy I guess. He did have the gear, and this is his home turf, but he didn't strike me as the type, not that they always do"When the watcher spirit spoke up, the woman seemed irritated at first,"No like the doctor said, the fat guy was the Spaniard on the boat that appears to have hired us both" It took a second for the rest of the details to filter through," Wait, did you say a German in a top hat? The mage in our group fits that description. He's a total nut ball. He was real unpredictable, but i didn't think he was with it enough to double cross us. How do you know about him?"

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"Well, if a twinklin ramp made outta light flipped my getaway truck, I'd certainly suspect the mage first. You don't suppose the spook keeping you pinned down coulda been his? I don't know what it looked like, but that's one avenue of confirmation. As to how we know the Kraut, I'm pretty sure that's from the vid, sorry, trid, pulled outa a dead dwarf's cybereyes. If you got a link handy, I'll pipe you the raw feed. Beats my narration any day."

<<@Ferret: Eye in the sky is go. You call out the targets and I'll drop them.>>

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Tower in Redmond

<<[Jade Tiger]: Viper 5 sorted. Heading for Zo's ARO. I'm adding my position <here>. Can you send me a feed of what you can see from there? I'll be there in two>>

There is a short but brutal moment with a combat knife, then sighing at yet more thought form wrangling, Jade Tiger summons forth a more combative one and shrouding herself in a green mist again, starts to head towards the ARO.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, The streets of Cross-town

<@Jade>Not cybered, but here's da feed from my smartlink.By the by what do you make of the the bus goin to dat warehouse?

Zo sends the mental command to send the sensor feed from his smartlink to Jade and the rest of the group.

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

A worry niggles at Professor's mind.

<<@team: A potential location for the cache of weapons we seek is being approached by a busload of potential users of those weapons. Hmmm.>>

He answers the woman's question, passing his comment on to the rest of the team electronically and via WatcherLink™. "A now-departed teammate of ours ran across him in a restaurant earlier. He was in discussion with the second-in-command of the Fat Man. A possible double-crosser... possibly talking to another."

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, The streets of Cross-town

<@Group>Oz, what firepower do ya have on yer drones again? We may need da back-up.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

The woman stared blankly for a second."Yep, internal comm online now"Her ARO blinks to life, ready to receive the trid.
"I don't know a lot about magic. any one of us could have had a mage waiting in the wings. But it would be the simplest answer. Maybe his nutty demeanor was an act. "
As the trideo played out, she began to nod her head,"That's Charles alright, and the blond chick from the boat. I never heard her say one word."

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Tower in Redmond

The world blurs around Jade Tiger as she moves towards Zo's ARO.

<<[Jade Tiger]: Its me, don't shoot>> Jade remembers doing this with less observant people. There had been that Yak raid on the cutters, and Jade had been scouting. When she returned concealed, cloaked and stealthed and had said "Boo" there had been so many bullets... happy memories. Jade suspects that this group were more observant anyway, but there was no harm in making sure.

Jade Tiger clicks her shades into "telescopic mode" and scans / assenses the ghouls. Fortunately with them being feral, it should be pretty obvious which ones were the leaders, and even simple plans should be quite effective against them.


<<[Jade Tiger]: OK Zo whats the score? You have been watching, and know the capabilities of the team, do you have a plan? >> With these numbers Jade would be thinking in terms of big bombs, and large machine guns. Still feet, fist and spells would do in a pinch.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond


<<@Zo: Got one armored blimp with a long rifle on it. 96 Rounds remaining of .416 Weatherby Magnum, exploding. Also got two bombers about 3 minutes out. One is loaded with 10 white phosphorous grenades and 10 high explosive grenades. The other is ready to be loaded with 20 fragmentation, gas, or smoke grenades, depending on what we need. If you see reason to need 'em, I can set them to circle the area. I'm sort of reluctant to do that though, since I already cluster-bombed a parking lot earlier today and the law might still be pissed over that one.>>

Oswald addressed the subject of Charles, the loony mage.
"Any light you could shed as to the subject of their conversation? I wasn't paying too close attention the first time it played."

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, The streets of Cross-town

<@Group>Ah, if it was in Redmond dey jus call it an "urban renewal" effort an not bother. Call'em-I fugure dat in dis area da KE goons in touristville won't mind.

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

<<@Oswald: I think I can do better than that Oz. Streaming my smartlink data to the blimp. If I shoot at it, consider it hostile. I'll paint additional targets if possible.>>

<<@Zo, Jade: I'll be coordinating fire control for Oz's blimp, so don't be surprised if big holes start appearing in anything I shoot at. And don't get too close to them. In 'Battlestreets 4' high velocity rounds could rip a man's arm off even on a near miss.>>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Professor links to the team, excluding any connection to the employers.

<<@team[restricted]: The first team (Big Daddy Long Legs as rigger and leader) hired by our employers to collect the Ares weapons succeeded in procuring them but did not deliver. We were hired primarily to retrieve the cargo, and secondarily to determine what happened. The injured woman is part of that first team. They had a mage, who was seen earlier by a deceased member of our team talking with our employer's second in command, the blonde woman with metallic eyes, who is our primary contact with the employer. The woman here identified the mage as a potential double crosser of their team, which raises the possibility that our contact is in on a double cross. Hence the restricted message now.

Our boss lady has also been in contact with the mercenary team with whom we had a run-in earlier, which raises our suspicions further. We have no way to directly contact our employer, the so called "Fat Man', so we are in the unenviable position of reporting to the person who may have nuked the first team and may wish to do the same to us.

Once we collect the cargo, we may wish to find a way to deliver it around our contact, rather than through her. My gut tells me our survival will be more likely if we keep her in the dark as much as possible. She has access to resources beyond our own, and should be approached carefully, at least until we know better.>>

[Seth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Tower in Redmond

<<[Jade Tiger]: I didn't realize that we were that well equipped. Since we are going to be organized: Ferret can you paint AR targets on the ones you want me to target. I have a wicked sleep spell. If you give a count down, we can all initiate together: snipers on the leaders, sleep spells and bombers on the clumps.

I would like to propose a plan to draw the ghouls into a suitable place for bombing. When I launch sleep spells, being astrally active they will see the spells coming, and see where they came from. I think it unlikely that they can sense the drones. Being feral ghouls they will probably charge that place. Given that I will cast the spells through mage goggles, that place will not be where I am. I think it could easily be a place where a few prepared charges, and combined suppressing fire, could wreck havoc.

Sadly I left my demolition kit at home: I came out here to deliver a pointed message to a single man, so I was not fully prepared for urban warfare, but I trust that one of you could set up a welcoming package.

Thanks for the summary Professor I believe that you have described a very credible scenario. I propose after the upcoming conflict we decide on an approach. Probably we blackmail the metal eyed blonde, set a trap to denounce her, or try and find the primary employer. If we get back into decent Matrix coverage I would like to see if any of my friends are familiar with this Lady>>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, The streets of Cross-town

<@Group>Sorry if I sounds a bit paranoid, but does it seem ta me that Ms Johnson isn't playin straight wit us? Ok--One person in contact with her out of the original group, her talkin to the vipers? Speakin of the vipers, did the lady mention anythin about da milspec commlinks Big daddy long legs had?


Throgg--easy 10k my fraggin ass....

Zo whispers to Jade "Da warehous where da bus went is over dere. Could ya whip up some concealment for us ta use. I figure dat these might be more fun--but dey don't move demselves. Zo opens up his jacket leting jade catch a glimpse of some fragmentation grenades.

<@Group>My plan is simple. Killl all da feral ghouls. Den kill all the non feral ghouls. Search da tower, hopefully find da gear, get it an get it to Ms. Johson. Jade we'll need some of da explosives later--I'd like to set up a deadman's switch for da drop off. The fact of da matter is we can't trust da Johnson not ta slot us.

Any one of ya magic types good with illusions...

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, underground tunnel near the Tower

Jovan almost instinctively moved backwards as quickly as he could manage in these cramped quarters, doing his best to remain out of reach of the starved ghouls; the young man understood the dangers posed by food- or life force-starved individuals stricken with the Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus better than most. I remember when I was just as starved and feral as you pitiful sods. That was only a few years ago. You weren't even blessed with the gifts that I was, poor things. He grimaced internally. "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent, how incredibly appropriate." He let lose a mental "prod" to one that looked more capable of negotiation and calming down the ferals: this thing might procure a body or two for us if we help instead of kill him.

11:56 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"A highly unpredictable nutball, you say? And one who knows his way around the borogoves and Jabberwock, and fancies trips down the rabbit hole. And himself a mage as well. What a peculiarly appropriate contrast between these two team's magicians," the translucent eye-thing said, with a knowing glance at Oswald and Professor.