IC: Post or Die, Lifelines, and deadlines Options

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 8:58 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

The nosferatu blinked. He just experienced a strange sense of deja vu. Perhaps it was an anomaly caused by his schizoid mentality. Maintaining a grip on one's sanity could at times be a precarious position for a nosferatu to be in.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 8:57 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

"Ha! I'm nearly 90, trapped on this fucked up world fulla freaks and monsters, and I'm looking to shoot a ghost dead - in the middle of the street - with a laser blaster. Long term's not looking too bright, amigo. Way I figure, if I'm sucking wind tomorrow, I'm gonna want more Cram. Seriously. I haven't felt this.. aware in.. well I can't remember how long its been. But I can remember your names. And I can remember that I still have to land my bird before it runs out of fuel over the Sound, and if I wanted to remember further back, I probably could. ...But that won't keep me alive. I'm going to make my way back over to the Rover. Then we can get out of here, yeah? This air is getting to me."

Oswald got up and headed down the road towards the alley where he'd sent the Rover. His normal shuffling gait was gone for the moment, and he moved like a man of some confidence and strength, despite the fact that he had no right to either.

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 8:57 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Acme groaned heavily, getting frustrated as hell. This was now the third person who was accusing him of shirking his duties... in the last fifteen minutes. "Look, all I've been asking for is a little bit of time to be able to recover," he hissed out, trying not to sound like he was having a tantrum, but he was clearly peeved. "I'll give you a bit of a secret. Using magic is taxing to the body, either for spirits or for spells, and combating spirits does just as much out of you. Just give me a little bit of time. When that spirit attacked, my head felt like one of those commlinks. If something attacks us before I can set up, then fine you guys can yell at me and I promise that I'll cast as much as I can till my eyeballs bleed out of my skull."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 8:57 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

"No problem, Acme," Professor chimes in. "I know the feeling. Do what you have to to get up and running again."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Amber makes it back to the van in time to see the old man with the laser pistol wander off down the street. The wind picked up a little and carried a crisp fall chill with it. So far there is no sign of an attack in the immediate future. Professor's surveillance of the astral turns up nothing awakened nearby. And down the block, a strange conversation continues. The man known as Viper 5 shifts his back a little. He could be looking for a door handle, but if he was, he hadn't found it,"I know the general like I know the weather. I have an Idea how it works. I've seen the gentle rains and the tsunamis. But ask me if it will snow tomorrow... see what I mean? But here's my best guess. They let you guys do the ground work, They buy the gear from your employer or fence. And if they feel extra spicy, they look to burn you down the pike a ways. A dish served cold and all that. Of course this all depends on what info they've scraped up about you guys. we've got some video footage and a few voices. Probably enough to get whiff of something right? You guys took a hard line on this one. I can't blame you. I've done it myself, but this whole thing could have been much more mutually beneficial"

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 8:57 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Acme chucked a bit, stretching in the seat. "Was talking to Ferret," he muttered with a smirk. "I expected you'd understand, you know... Being magic and all yourself. Don't need to preach to that particular choir."

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Professor takes one more look around in astral. Nothing. <<@team:I can't see anything homing in on us in the astral. But we should get out of here pretty soon, though. Ferret, why don't you take this vehicle away from the parking lot, anyway? Make it harder for a spirit or projecting mage to find us. We can connect with Oswald's vehicle out on the street.>>

He gets into the van, in the back with Acme. "Looks like it's time to check out your lead on Big Daddy." he says to Rusty.

[J. Packer]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Amber clambers in as well, taking a seat with a good field of fire - an open window or the like. "I'm ready to roll," she says.

"What is that stink? It's like burning wires and..." she glances over to the work bench wastebasket. With a dubious glance she asks Ferret "You sure this thing's road-worthy?"

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:01 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Ferret gives Amber an angry glare. Jeez, this lady sure knows how to rub a guy up the wrong way.

"She's roadworthy and a damned sight more bulletproof than that toy car you were driving." he grumbles, patting the van's dashboard almost affectionately. Shifting into gear, he takes the Prof's advice, and pulls away. He gives a short salute to the gangers hanging around the meet and then heads back towards Stilleto territory at his old lady pace.

"And no comments about my driving or you get to walk."

He turns to Rusty. "Either give me an address now or give me instructions well in advance when we get closer to where we're going. I don't want to be taking no scenic routes where we're heading."

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

"'Could have been' is not 'can be.'" Jovan was looking at Viper 5 straight in the eye now, and the mercenary's slight movements were not lost on the bloodsucker. "Whatever 'beneficial' relationship our groups could have had is now irrelevant to the current situation. The Viper's repeated lack of tactfulness has thoroughly seen to that." He briefly flexed the stark white fingers on his right hand. Jovan was itching to lay hands on this man and suck the life right out of him. Very, very slowly. The effort from sustaining the spell keeping the man bound and the headache from his previous activities weren't making the task of holding himself back any easier.

He leaned forward in his seat. "And if they will indeed look to enact their petty vengeance later on, then you have more explaining to do, Viper 5. I want you to tell me what the specialties of the remaining Vipers are and how they can be used to track, incapacitate, or gather information on our group. I want you to tell me which numbers on your contact list are those of the two Awakened Vipers. And I want you to answer my previous question regarding when the Vipers spoke with Long Legs and arranged the delivery of your comms gear."

<<@Oswald: Please lock your passenger doors for the time being, if they are not locked already.>>

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Chugging down the road in Crusher turf, Redmond

<<@Jovan: No worries there compadre. Security system's on. I can't keep him from opening the door, but he can't stop the massive jolt of electricity that'll put him down again like throwin' a switch. I'da mentioned that to you if I thought you'd be exiting the craft. Though the security will be down for a moment while I climb inside. Figure I should mention that too. I'll be getting in the driver's compartment soon, and then we're off to Big's place. You probably won't notice 'till we're moving.>>

"There's something strange... in your neighborhood... dootle-dootle dooo... Ghostbusters!"
Oz continued his jaunty pace towards the car while monitoring his own progress in AR from the blimp's gunsights.

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

There was a sudden devious smile on the mercenary's face as he twisted his back and disappeared through the now open door. Jovan heard a grunt out of the man as he hit the pavement in convulsions and fell unconscious once more. Oswald was just coming into view of his rover, and witnessed the scene he had discussed on the commlink seconds earlier.

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:01 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Rusty scratched his head again as the van started rolling,"Hit Fall City Road east. I'll have to point out the turns from there. The roads aren't exactly labeled well."

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Now it was Jovan's turn to smile. It gave him a sort of twisted pleasure to see this unmerciful result of the man's self-perceived cleverness come to pass, even if it did bring him some slight exasperation at the abrupt recess in the interrogation. And where would the mercenary have even gone once outside, he wondered. Clearly Viper 5 had not thought this move through very well. "'There's many a man hath more hair than wit,'" he said with a sigh to no one in particular as he got out of the van.

He turned his head to look at Oswald as the old man came walking sprightly and energetically up to the Rover. "The contingencies you have in place in your equipment are impressive." Jovan walked around to a position behind Viper 5's upper body, and knelt down to pick up the unconscious mercenary by the arms. He gestured towards the man's lower body. "I lack the strength to easily pick him up myself, so if you don't mind..." As he and Oswald moved the unconscious prisoner back into the Rover, a keen eye for body language might have been able to tell that the schizoid nosferatu was a bit uneasy with this degree of informal cooperation, particularly with a non-Infected and even more so with this old man who had outmaneuvered his carefully-made moves to hide his identity. He kept his amber eyes trained on the drugged-up doctor in front of him at all times, when he was not scanning the street in front of them for anyone who might have followed Oswald here - friend or foe. Trust was mostly a thing of the past for this paranoid nosferatu nowadays. But he kept such thoughts to himself.

"I do not like it," he said to Oswald once the prisoner was safely back inside the Rover. "He guesses that Viper 12 would be willing to negotiate with us for the moment, but only to let us do their groundwork for them. Then they'd have much more time to gather more intelligence on us and look for an opportunity to enact their vengeance at a later date. Supposedly the Vipers are men of honor when that honor is not a 'weakness.' And we both know that their definitions of honor and weakness are about as pure as that toxic hellhole." He pointed in the direction of Glow City, where their companions had been just a short time ago. "It might actually be less dangerous to oppose them now than to wait and give them time to prepare their traps."

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Oswald stood outside the vehicle checking the Medkit on the man's ankle again."A wise old hooker once told me, 'If you're not the one setting the pace, then it's you who's being fucked.' Me, I aim to not get fucked on this or any other deal. Key to that is getting there first. You think you and I should track down this guy who sent the little watcher spook to threaten us? I can run a Trace on his ID and pin it to an area. Though we gotta make that happen before that timer runs out in two minutes. Speaking of which, think I ought to just toss this 2nd link of his? One Ferret worked on was packed with little fail-safe doo-dads. Might could be useful still. Might could just explode the first time its turned on, and take a hand with it.."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:29 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Ferret followed Rusty's directions down Fall City road, then north up a couple of unnamed and barely passable roads."Pull up to that burnt down garage in that row of collapsed buildings," Rusty ordered from the back as he pointed,"let me out here, I gotta open that up for you."
Ferret looked ahead and saw the road they were currently on was ended by debris from the fallen structures. There were a few people scattered about. They seemed older, more removed from the street people in the glow. They shared glances with one another like concerned neighbors, but made their way into shelters fashioned into the rubble. Smoke and light peeked and seeped through plasteel girders and chunks of concrete and densiplast. There were no feral children or flashy gangers. Things seemed real quiet.
Amber's comm alerts her of a text from mrs. Johnson<<@Amber: I trust you have found the team? How are things going?>>

[pbangarth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:29 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Professor looks over at Acme. "You look a little better now. If you're up to it, I could use some help keeping an astral eye out." With that, he steps out of the vehicle, and while Rusty goes ahead, he searches the scene astrally.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Jovan stood still for a moment as he contemplated Oswald's suggestions. "I had just asked this Viper 5 for the the ID's of the two Awakened Vipers on his contact list when he decided to knock himself out. So I cannot specify which ID goes to which Viper. But the one who sent the spirit that almost killed Thirty was located a good ways to the west. It may not be the same Viper that sent the watcher; nevertheless, if you can pick out an ID off his contact list located in that direction, and do it quickly, I recommend that you do so. We could even potentially find several more of them that way with a single ID. And as for the commlink, it could serve a purpose to us later, since it's probably a good quality comm. If you can change its access ID quickly to prevent them tracing it, and verify a lack of booby traps beforehand, then I suppose you should keep it."

He tilted his head in the direction of the medkit strapped to the mercenary's ankle. "Can you use that to get rid of my headache before we travel to Long Legs' location?"

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:29 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Acme nods with a small smile. "Yeah, the ringing is gone," he muttered as he hopped out of the van, stretching with a big yawn. "Can do on the astral eye, I should be good enough with a slap patch if we get into a scrap." Cricking his neck a bit he crossed his eyes into astral space, removing the slap patch from his pocket in case he needs to administer it. With a casual slow stride, he follows after Professor, scanning the astral zone for threats.

[Saint Sithney]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

With a pull Oswald removed the medkit, the arterial snake reeling in close behind. "Sure thing. Just strap this over a major artery. Femoral is generally best, but a brachial will do." Oz handed the little device over to the young Nosferatu. "Your physiology seems closer to human normal than that of our compatriots. At least I know where all the bits and pieces are supposed to be... whoa, I think I see the problem. Your blood pressure is through the roof. Even accounting for your nature, physics is at odds with what I'm seeing here. Targeted blood thinners and acetylsalicylic acid ought to take the edge off. A little t-PA should keep any microclots that coulda formed from turning thrombo. I see how this kinda exertion could kill a guy. I feel like I ought to put you on a full Fibrinolysis regimen with stats like that."

Oswald took a moment to monitor the treatment. It seemed effective enough. Now to see if I can cash in on this new bint.
<<@Amber: We spent too much damn time and energy getting these IDs to let them fall to uselessness. Connect to [this ID], it's my car, but it's using the Viper's car's ID, so hopefully they'll recognize it. I need you to try and talk to each of [these IDs] for about 10 seconds each. We have 2 minutes to get this done.>>

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:30 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Ferret stays in the van, waiting for instructions from Rusty. He keeps a watchful eye on Acme and the Prof, while scanning the area both visually and for nodes in AR. He notes that the people here don't seem to be the usual ganger trash so commonly found in the barrens, so flags the location in his memory as a possible safe place to park his van.

[Sephiroth]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:00 PM, Oswald's Rover, Redmond

Jovan nodded in understanding at Oswald's comments. "Physics cannot accurately explain people like me on its own. But I am still just an Infected - not an undead corpse like some of the trids would have you think," he said quietly. He closed his eyes and let out a silent breath of relief as his headache quickly left him. The old man certainly knows what he's talking about. Thank God I am not trapped with a bunch of imbeciles on this job. They may not be at my level of ability, but they certainly seem skilled enough in their own right.

"Good." He opened his eyes. "Let's get those ID's traced so we can finally figure out why that accursed troll disappeared." He stepped back up into the Rover, waving a hand at the unconscious Viper at his feet. "Unless we require something else from him, my interrogation is more or less finished. If you can bring him back around and then keep him unconscious until we are rid of him, then with a bit of laés his experience here will be at a permanent end."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:30 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Rusty hops out of the van and makes his way to the garage door. He pulls a loose brick from the wall and reaches into the hole behind it. After a bit of a blind struggle, there's a metal scraping sound, and he retrieves his arm. He walks to the door and rolls it up with a grunt and a grating sound. It went up enough for him to duck inside. then he grabbed a chain and pulled it the rest of the way. The door is probably fifteen feet high and twenty wide. Beyond the modern portcullis is a dark tunnel, almost like a mine shaft, with steel beams and pipes welded to hold up the crumbling structure around it. Nothing inside larger than the rats and bugs appear on the Astral plane, and there's a lack of heat for those with thermal vision. Acme gets a sense of light somewhere at the other end, but not much. Rusty jogs slowly back to the van,"Alright, it's through here, I'd like to close up behind us, how far back is the other vehicle?"

[Notsoevildm]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:30 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Ferret examines the dark opening uneasily, flicking on the van's headlights with a mental command to better see where it leads.

"They should be right behind us. Oz was playing matrix jock trying to trace the IDs I pulled of Viper5's commlink, but that Rover can probably drive better than he does."

He eases the van forward, turning to Amber as he goes. "Keep a watch on your side and let me know if I get too close to the wall."

[Red-ROM]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:30 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

Amber was in the middle of texting the Johnson when Ferret asked for a spotter. She still felt a little less than helpful after the Id's they had gotten turned out to be no good,"Hold up, I'll hop out and play spotter for you if you can't drive."
Tossing her link on the seat she shoulders the over sized rifle and makes her way out of the van and over to the side of the garage door. She waved the van through, not noticing the figure emerging from the dark rubble behind her. The pale claws had torn Amber's throat out before she could scream. The team looked back to see Rusty pulling out his cattle prod and screaming obscenities. A dark shadow topped with a pale hairless head lunged at him only to be blown back by the electrical shock of Rusty's weapon. Oswald's rover had just arrived in time to see the sparks flying and two figures attacking their teammates

[Acme]

Friday, Sept. 11, 2071, 9:30 PM, Ferret's van, Redmond

"Shit!" was all the shaman could say before Amber's body dropped. He slid out after Rusty, picking up their most recent teammate and tried to patch up her neck, looking at her body with his astral sight to see if there was any chance to save her, but by the time he'd gotten to her, the lifeforce was snuffing out too quickly for even a spell to stop it. He shook his head. "Sorry about this... Hopefully you'll find something better next time." He closed her eyes, picking up the rifle that dropped from her hands.