IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Saint Sithney]

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

<<@Zo: I'll take your word. Fragmentation sounds like the best fit. I'll have my lad load it up.>>

Oz took a moment to contact the android back at his warehouse pad.
<<Oswald@Manservent-3: Danny! You're not charging now, are you? Just don't play with your power jack too much or you'll go blind.>>
<<Manservent@Oz: Inform the children of this.>>
<<Oz@Danny: Well, once you finish jacking, load up the second Kull with fragmentation grenades.>>
<<Danny@Oz: That was quick.>>
<<Oz@Danny: Tough streets out here Danny boy. See to it. Oswald out.>>

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:55 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond
The woman was staring into AR again,"It's in German... I think, you got a translator?"

In the Tunnel

Jovan floats backward staying out of reach of the small horde of cannibals. He reaches out to the Sentient one in the back of the crowd with some success. He can see the man stop and furrow his brow with concern. He wants to help, but he seems too afraid of his companions, and the dogs.
The dogs, meanwhile, are barking out waves of fear at Jovan. They seem to focus on him as if trained to do so.

[Seth]

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

<<[Jade Tiger]: I like your plan. It has the value of simplicity. Very well let us head to the warehouse.>>

Jades clothes morph and transform to a camouflage pattern Focusing on her thoughtform, she summoned another faint green mist to hide the group from the ghouls senses.

[Saint Sithney]

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

"Scheisse. I'll see if I can find a freeware linguasoft."

<<Oz@Ol Softy: Paging Dr. Rainbowbritches. You out there Jerry Bear? Wondering if you know a good German to English translation program what don't cost a guy any money. Actually a shitty one would be fine too. I just ain't want to open my purse strings right now, what with my finances being like they are.>>

[Warlordtheft]

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

Zo looks at Jade and Ferret and begins to infiltrate toward the tower. Zo motions for Jade and Ferret to follow. With Jades' and Zo's pace only slowed by Ferrets short legs.

[pbangarth]

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

Professor shakes his head. German. Damn, I knew I should have spent some time with that cute exchange student from Heidelberg.

"Nope. Not one of the languages I know. But if someone picks up a linguasoft, I can learn it from him in a couple of hours."

[Red-ROM]

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

<<Old Softy@ Oswald: Null sweat buddy. I don't even have to look up from coding for that one. The crap ones are freeware anyway, and they do the job for most intents and purposes {file attached} >>

A few seconds later, and the conversation was translated by the voice of a chipper tourist with a plastic smile. The woman sniffed as she digested the brief meeting,"Well, Charles has definitely killed someone for this lady. He probably has a finger in his pocket or something. The guys a lunatic. I don't have enough pieces of the puzzle for the rest of it. A mutual acquaintance could be Big Daddy. This security truck was outfitted for a whole team, but only had two guys guarding it when we snatched it. There was some pretty sweet gear in it, and B.D. said he could move it quick for some good cred. That could be the side venture, but I can't believe he lined up a buyer before we even finished the mission. "

[Red-ROM]

Saterday, Sept. 11, 2071, 12:06 PM, The streets of Cross-town

Zo, Jade, and Ferret make their way through the 60's era ghost town. It's a fairly short walk to the tower. Even after being deserted for years, the building looks like an impenetrable fortress, but their eyes on the inside have reported it to be an empty shell. The blimp has seen the bus enter a warehouse down the block. And Ferret's cross reference with the security node tells him it's the Annex where the third alarm had originated.

[Warlordtheft]

Zo motions to both Jade and Ferret to move towards the annex using the tower as cover from it.

<@Team>Prof, Oz,Jovan if you iz listening, we got to da tower--no pasties visible, nor any kinda of movement. Headin to da annaex where da bus went.

[Saint Sithney]

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

"So the Mad Hatter offed someone for Lady Silvereyes. You know anything about her by the way? I hear she met with a ghoul militant leader earlier today. Same ghouls that're swarming this place if I'd have to guess. It's sounding more and more like she's making a play for herself, but she keeps lining up talent for us as vacancies appear, which is counter to her purposes. I dunno. How strong you suppose this crazy bastard was, if you hadta judge? Think he coulda snuffed the fat man if he put what's left of his mind to it?"

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 12:06 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

<<@Team: Birds are in the air and the gun's in the clouds. Rather not have to dump three grand worth of ordinance though, so try not to piss anybody off. Or, actually, ghouls got a fifteen-hundred yen bounty on their head if I remember right. We could make more scratch from incidentals than from the straight up pay if there's enough of the fuckers.>>

[Seth]

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

Jade Tiger crouches and moves towards the annex, the combination of the green mist and the camouflaged clothes making it difficult to see her. The smell of ghoul was much stronger here. Not yet an overpowering smell, but enough to raise her hackles. It prompted the same response in her that a pack of dholes or jackels would have created in her ancestors: competitors and pests. Like her ancestors Jade was not worried about dealing with a few of them, but a pack could be a problem.

<<[Jade Tiger]: OK in position. I didn't know about the bounty...very nice. If there is an immediate fire fight, do you want me to encourage it take place out here or in there?>>

She pauses

<<[Jade Tiger]: Say can I borrow (is that the right word) one of those frag grenades?>>

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Near Annex in Redmond

Ferret follows Jade Tiger's faint outline, made somewhat easier by the ARO floating in his vision. While his short legs means he doesn't move quite as fast as the tiger or ork, he does his best to keep up, scuttling from cover to cover much like his namesake.

<<@Jade Tiger: If possible get them out here so the blimp can target anything I paint with my 'link.>>

He mentally flips the machine pistol to single shot. He doesn't need to take down anything with the light pistol, just make sure he hits it so the blimps targeting software has something to aim at.

<<I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this.>>

[Warlordtheft]

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

Zo looks at Jade as they stop to let ferret catch up, using the remains of a bull dog step for cover. He tosses her fragmentation grenade. Peering around the burned vehicle Zo examines the annex for any signs activity.

<<[@Jade]: Nah ya can have it, I prefer used grenades not to be returned to me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif) >>

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, In the Tunnel

The waves of fear magic hit Jovan dead on, directly in the ego, and he was suddenly overwhelmed by a powerful, deeply irrational feeling of pure fear. The kind of fear that comes from the most primal parts of a person's brain, the kind of fear where nothing else matters but staying alive staying alive staying alive where your entire existence is in mortal danger and you can do nothing else but run or die.

He ran. Not an entirely appropriate comparison for the fluidity of movement in the astral, certainly, but Jovan's mind was not thinking in its usual hyperlogical terms at the moment (for once). He ran, he flew, he fled that place at the speed of thought until he was back in the first tunnel leading up into the tower basement. Only then did the fear release its deathgrip on his mind. He shook his astral head (such as it was) and looked at the elemental beside him.

I need to speak with that man. We must go back, though preferably from behind this time. I don't suppose you'd like to provide any form of assistance short of a full Task for this matter?

11:56 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

"I suspect the mutual acquaintance may be one of us, however. Do not rule anything out at this point. You two, what is the status of Viper 5? Has he been sufficiently delayed?"

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond
[Conversation verbal but transmitted on the secured line]

Professor strokes his chin. "Well, Silver Eyes seems to be working at cross purposes to her, and our, employer. The fact that she is keeping us up to strength would seem to indicate she has plans for us in the future. If she had not been sending us reinforcements, I would think we were a throw-away asset in her estimation. Given what I know currently, I think it is unlikely that she is working the Vipers directly against us. That may have been just our luck... the two teams running into each other.

"It's possible she wants to make the Seattle operation her own, or replace the Fat Man completely on the global stage. To do that, she would have to remove the Fat Man from the picture, either metaphorically or physically. He doesn't strike me as the kind of man who would allow such an end run to go unchallenged.

"There is opportunity here for us to profit from this internecine conflict if we play our cards right. Both the Fat Man and Silver Eyes would likely reward active participation in their side of the conflict. Personally, I would rather take my chances with the Fat Man. I'm not all that fond of dealing with someone for whom business in body parts is acceptable.

"Jade, it would serve us well to be careful about bounties. The non-sentient ghouls are something we can't deal with, but sentient species are another thing altogether. I happen to know a number of Infected who are not the ravening beasts these are. It would be sad to see them treated as mere prey. If I recall correctly, there are some jurisdictions in which one of your kind would have a bounty. Québec for one, I think."

[Saint Sithney]

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

Sighing, Oswald took the Professor's lead and moved the conversation to audible channels. <<@team: "Ferral ghoul is stupider than a dog. You shoot a dog it knows to run away. I don't give half a rat's ass about killing one. Once Krieger's takes their mind, death is a mercy. They wander around, too stupid to hunt, mad and dying with hunger. One of them runs at me, I'll kill him without a second thought, and if the city will give me money for his head, I'll take it. Same as I'd take anything of value off any of your corpses iffn' you die. When VITAS turned this world to shit, we learned a god damn lesson about not letting anything fall to waste. Two damn years of total fucking quarantine. Every truck stopped runnin and... Wait.. Why do I... That wasn't..">>
At this incongruity, Oswald hit a memory block and slipped out of his mind.

[Seth]

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

<<[Jade Tiger]: Just for your reassurance Prof: I don't do bounty hunting, but I do share Oz's feelings on the subject...although perhaps not as strongly as he does. Personally I don't fancy the idea of a Ghoul Apocalypse, and as I understand it Krieger's is highly infectious unlike many other HMHVV strains, so I understand the point of that particular bounty.

Tell you what guys lets leave the moralizing until we aren't sneaking until Ghoul central.>>

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Near the Tower Annex in Redmond
Zo continues his stake out, a brief experession of bewilderment covering his face.
Frag me....runners discussin' morality? Umm...don't they know we're in a plasticrete jungle here and its a ghoul will eat meta world? Sentient or not.

[pbangarth]

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

Professor sighs.

It really would be easier if they all knew Jovan's state of affairs. Oh well. I can see even in our small crowd reasons for his reticence to come out of the closet.

"Oswald, you OK old man?"

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:54 PM, In the Tunnel
The spirit looks at their surroundings as he addresses Jovan"There isn't much room for maneuvering down here, lest you push through the Earth herself, and I imagine you'd have a ways to go. Nothing simple comes to mind. We could find our way up to the surface and look for a way through the shadows, to get back down behind them."

11:56 The Annex
The Building was non-descript. A huge warehouse covered in docking bays for trucks. and many more large garage doors leading inside. everything was closed up tight. Jade's ears perked up at the sound of something mechanical whirring their way. Zo saw it coming as well. A sentry drone, zipping down a rail that ran along the building over the bay doors. Mounted on this drone is a light machine gun that looks like the old Gatling cannon.

[Seth]

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

<<[Jade Tiger]: Heads up. Sentry Drone. I think its on patrol. With luck it won't see us, will go, and we can time it and move between patrols.

If we attack it, I think we alert them. If we decide to fight, let me draw its fire first.

Pretty sophisticated for a bunch of Feral Ghouls>>

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Near Annex, Redmond

<<Hold up a minute, Jade. I might be able to do something about the drone.>>

Ferret gives an uncharacteristic grin, tapping the side of his head with his free hand.

Typical. The one node, I didn't check out.

He settles himself against the burnt out Bulldog and closes his eyes. Grey concrete fades to the silver of his headware commlink. His icon splits into two, one hopping at the speed of light back through the scattered commlinks towards the garage terminal and then on towards the Annex's node; the other sitting up on its hind legs and sniffing in the direction of the sentry drone.

[Warlordtheft]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:56 PM, Near Annex, Redmond

Zo pulls back quickly behind the burnt out van.

<@team>Umm could dat be Big Daddy? Ferret can ya get in there an take it over?

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:57 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

Oswald was non-responsive and white as a sheet. The combination of the Cram and the mental hiccup had left him in temporary shock. After about 40 seconds or so of being slumped up against the side of the Ares security van, he popped back into the conversation as if no time had passed.
<<@team: Wah.. security drone? Outside the warehouse? I'm pretty good with machines; you want me to take a crack at it? The crack will come from the bullet going supersonic, but I think it'll do the trick.>>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 11:57 PM, Phoenix Mall in Redmond

The glazed expression, the distended pupils, popping in and out of a discussion. Oswald is worrisome. The old man is obviously useful and good at what he does, but what will happen if some other world or set of circumstances become projected onto his true environment? This would bear watching.

"Ferret is working on taking over the drone, Oswald. Wait a moment. If he fails, then you make an excellent plan B."

He turns to the woman. "How are you feeling? Are you able to move?"