Looking Glass [2075: Game World], Persistent World [SR5] IC Sub-Thread Options

[adamu]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:15PM, technowitch central, Seattle]

Now that was a damned fine idea.

Al keyed the subvocal mic on the collar of his decrepit brown leather jacket. "Now that is a damned fine idea. Course, reckon we's all gon' need badass codenames. I'll be MovieStar, fer reasons 'at should be obvious. Twenny-fifteen check-in."

[RHat]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:15PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

Titus chuckled in spite of himself at Al's response. @All <<Some of us already have codenames, chummer. Overdrive checking in; drone status is green across the board save for the silent crawler.>>

[RdMarquis]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:15PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

She couldn't call it home, but it was one of the few places she truly belonged. After leaving the company behind, LeFey had simply drifted wherever the jobs took her, occasionally lingering when she found a cause that demanded her time. The digital sea was the only constant.

As LeFey plunged into its depths once more, she traded the coveralls for a black dress and a witch's hat. Normally, the first thing she saw would be the endless expanse of the Matrix. But her entry point had deposited her in front of the facility host, a plain, massive structure as faceless and utilitarian as the building it represented. No matter. There was no time to take in the sights, anyway. The witch floated over to the host's wall. Tracing a magic circle on the surface, she inscribed the shape with a flowing script: the programing language of the Resonance. LeFey repeated the motion three times, with each circle coming to life with a soft glow when she finished.

A section of the wall melted away under her touch, allowing her to simply walk in. @All <<I've cracked the host.>> LeFey paused in the middle of her work as she caught up with the team's conversation. She frowned and closed her eyes. So...that was reason they were breaking in. Another damned lab for experimenting on her kind. It seemed whenever she had any doubts about leaving home for the shadows, LeFey would receive a reminder like this. She couldn't have stayed, even if she wanted. There was no more place for her in the company.

@All <<We need to locate the entrance to the basement. After that, we can order the surrounding area cleared out so no one sees us enter. To answer your question, Overdrive, a technomancer's abilities work much like hacking technology. There has to be a connection to the device they want to break into. In a pinch (like our current situation), you should plan your defense as if they were a hostile decker.>> She left it at that. There wasn't much of a point in revealing what she was. As far as LeFey knew, current technology simply couldn't cope with some of the stranger powers she could bring to bear. For her, that was a considerable advantage, but the same might not be said of her teammates. Why worry them?

[justkelly]

Nikki, August 22, 2075, 8:20 PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle

@All--Let's have a status from everyone please. Any luck finding the basement entrance? Is the main floor empty of patients? What's the water situation look like? Remember, silence is our enemy right now. I'm going to assume the worst if no response.

Al, Overdrive - Do you gentlemen want to meet before entering the facility, or go in separate and meet on the inside? Have one of you been recording the movements inside so we have a general map of the explored areas. Are the drones recording positioning to also create a map for us?

That vacation is looking even more appealing now...Oh, this house looks nice...5 bedrooms, 8 baths, with a media room seating 10 and dining/kitchen space for catering too...may have to tour that later...

[Always Overkill]

Lany Argyle, Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:20PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle


Lany was looking around the main floor for the patient's the crew was supposed to be extracting when she realized the time for her to check-in had passed. "Keep your head in the game, Lany." she said to herself. She found her mind could not seem to shake the images that the patients here were being turned into experiments, just like Horizon had done to her. And it filled Lany with anger towards whoever was responsible.

<<@All: Pandora checking in, so far no sign of our patients or an entrance to the basement. I have a few more hallways to check, but I will be passing through the CIC on my way to them.>>

[adamu]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:20PM, technowitch central, Seattle]

"SimStar twenny-twenny check in. Perfect world is we all three goes in together - we's already split up eight ways ta Sunday. Jist keep in mind you got a quiet entry option, but us fellers out here come in, jig gon' be up. Keep that in mind afore soundin' the charge. An' we shore don' wanna git loud afore y'all find that basement entry."

Al could barely believe the words he was saying. finding the entrance to some secret computer telepathy lab, and then going in? But there was nothing for it now - he knew Peaches would go in. Damn. He'd thought switching the plant with one of the extractees was a fairly slick idea, for which he'd congratulated himself several times, but it meant that their primary objective was slaved to their secondary, and that had gotten a helluva a lot trickier with the revelations of the last ten minutes.

[RHat]

Thursday August 22nd, 8:20PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

@All: <<Overdrive checking in. Don't know that they're going to find a basement entry in there - there was nothing on the plans that even remotely pointed to it, even in the stuff they wouldn't be likely to doctor; believe me, I've been taking a pretty close look. Might be a separate entrance to help keep things secret and staff separated. Recon's over the docks now, so I'm looking to see what the situation is there...>> He commanded the drone's pilot to do the neccesary checking, while he pulled his maps and such into greater focus.

@All: <<I've been keeping fairly close track on positions, too, to keep things coordinated. Waiting on a drone to finish mapping the super-secret basement right now; it's set to run completely EM dark while it does this so that it doesn't get somehow cracked by one of the 'patients' down there. Best hold off on making any plans until after we know where the basement is, but I'm considering the idea that we might want to pull a couple people from the inside crew before making an entrance - and I'm probably gonna need some help to keep them all out of my gear when we get in there; damn new Matrix protocols mean you need a deck just to fragging defend yourself from hackers.>>

[adamu]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:21PM, technowitch central, Seattle]

Al's voice rasped throught the transceiver net:"Reckon we had a good plan to start, folks, but with patients scarce in whut was supposed ta be the residential area, all bets is off. While we wait fer the drone to come back with a better picture o' things an' as long as no one's tipped to us yet, it is high time y'all in there had a heart ta heart with the frog, cuz if goin' in as a mole means checkin' into a secret technofreak factory farm, he may well be out the door, in which case primary objective becomes a no go. So find out what he wants ta do post haste."

[RHat]

[Overdrive: Thursday August 22nd 2075, 20:21; SMHF]

Titus cursed quitely for not really considering that point - he'd gotten very used to dealing with drones that just did whatever the hell he instructed. @All: <<Yeah, that's a fair point. Waterfront's not much help, by the way - no real docks, just some launches for watercraft for people with more money than sense. Can be sure that'll be secured, too. Gonna start scanning from the facility grounds, and spiral out from there...>> He laid in the course on the Fly-Spy, and pulled up the staff files. If they want to keep the basement facility secret, they'd have to pay the people working there somehow... Might be they're on the payroll here; hell, they could even use coming to work here as a cover, and then move to the basement however that's done... He began examining them in much closer detail than he had at any point in the past, looking for unusual redundancies, unnecessary personnel, and any other indication he could find of some record of the basement facility's staff. Hopefully, if he found something, there'd be logs of the security video they could check through to see where these people were going.

[Always Overkill]

Lany Argyle, Thursday August 22nd, 2075 8:23PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle


As Lany finished searching the North wing of the building with little results, she passed a few orderly drones on her way back to the CIC, leading one of the few patients she had scene. A young woman, not stupefied like the Technomancers held below, who Lany quickly recognized was not one of their marks. Her face held nothing but despair. She strode quickly past the trio, taking a turn down the next hallway she could.

She listened to the teams chatter, and realized Al had a point. They couldn't just leave the Mole here knowing he was going to be turned into a laboratory experiment. They needed a new plan. She picked up her pace until she reached the CIC, approaching Collot with worry in her face. "What should we do?" she said to the team, "We can't leave you here, now that we know what they are going to do to you; what they are already doing to those people down there. Do we just get them all out of here as soon as we can and worry about the consequences later?"

[RdMarquis]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:15PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

LeFey rolls her eyes at Al's comment. <<We'll get back to you with Monsieur Collot's answer.>> Frog, indeed. The witch was floating in the host, contemplating their situation. <<L...Pandora. That's not a viable option at all. A mass breakout of mental patients would lead to a manhunt. And if people learned they were technomancers...>> Even on the matrix, she felt a chill run through her body. <<...it could turn into another Hong Kong.>> LeFey shook her head. <<No, we should wait for the drones to finish searching the basement. Someone has to come out sometime.>> They couldn't have a self-contained arcology down there. The witch begins preparing for trouble, drawing another circle on the floor.

[Aria]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

"We can't leave you here, now that we know what they are going to do to you; what they are already doing to those people down there. Do we just get them all out of here as soon as we can and worry about the consequences later?"

Collot smiled down at Lany as he scratched thoughtfully at the allbut invisible scar from the voice implant"We know nothing yet, only that there are people where there should be none! We don’t even now that they are my kind, although the evidence points that way, non?"

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; Unknown matrix node, Seattle]

Silk brushed away a hovering insect that resembled a small dragonfly-winged horse and watched as it careened off to be snapped up by looming blossom.

“Look, coming up to the driveway, two cars…”

“We see them” Summer replied and then she sat abruptly down in the loam at the edge of the Resonance well “and I feel something, something that has been lurking at the edge of my visions for the last couple of months. It feels like Winter again…”

“The Disonant rather than the season I assume?”

“Yes, it feels like him/her/it, although I don’t think he will show his hand quite so obviously this time…we had thought our brush with him in ’72 ended too easily, despite the valiant efforts of the tribes involved”

“We’d better warn our runners. It would be too much of a coincidence for him to be just driving by..”

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

<<@xxx [Silk]: Incoming. We don’t know what to expect but it can’t be good! >>

Two matte black Range Rovers are approaching along Killarney Way and sure enough they pull into the entrance drive to Sound Mental Health. The lead car pulls up to the security building and despite the top-down view you clearly see the muffled flash of weapon fire between the burly human that alights and the unsuspecting and very unfortunate security guard enjoying the evening shift…

The ping from the wandering return of the spy drone is almost lost in the sudden stream of tactical data...but the three dimensional map of the underground facility never the less begins to unfurl across your feeds...

[adamu]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:24PM, technowitch central, Seattle]

With two major datafeeds coming in simultaneously, Al spit, split the tiny screen on his MetaLink between the real-time satellite pictures and the drone's schematics download, then enabled the wireless feature on his eyes and routed everything to his image link.

The sudden wave of nausea that hit him as the images overlaid his real-world view of the parking area made him throw up a little bit in his mouth. Hmm. He could still taste the soy-chicken from his supper. Those flavor-enhancers were the real deal these days.

He scanned the underground plans with an engineer's eye, and then watched the other feed as the newcomers' vehicles rapidly approached. They had perforated the poor working schmuck at the gate without so much as a how-do-you-do. No kid gloves tonight.

In an instant he came up with three basic options.

The first was his favorite, in which they realized nothing was as it was supposed to be and they were about to get sandwiched between two opposing and superior forces and therefore made an immediate exfil. But he knew these kids would never go for it, so he saved his breath - the Rovers were already headed up the drive.

He switched off the AR and all wifi functions and keyed his mic: "MovieIdol here, seein' two main options. Fast an' dirty has outside team stopping these new bad guys out here, while inside makes a beeline for the main underground entrance in the therapy building, and goes in hard. Tricky an' risky has us all lay low, let the new guys an' site security kill each other, then we do a main entrance-vent entry pincer and clean up. One we end up dead, an' the other'll git us killed, but choose yer poison quick or events gon' pass us by."

[Always Overkill]

Lany Argyle, Thursday August 22nd, 2075 8:24PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle


Lany swallowed hard as she watched the feed of the 2 Range Rovers bursting onto the scene and firing their way through the Security at the gate. "Now who the frag are they?"

As she listened to Al's rundown of their possible next moves, Lany wanted to know more.

<<@Overdrive [Pandora]: Do you have a count on our new friends? How many are we dealing with?>>

[justkelly]

Nikki, August 22, 2075, 8:25 PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle

@All - I'm ready now. This sitting and waiting is ridiculous. We have our objectives and the smash and kill seems a bit out of order and will likely make our lives more difficult. I'm heading up to the main entrance now.

Quickly ensuring the passenger seat is available, checking the straps of her alpha and other holstered weapons and clips, Nikki puts Sam into drive and makes her way to the main entrance.

Anyone wanting to hitch a ride with me, be at the gate in 30...Inside crew has 25 seconds to wave me off before I'll make the entrance turn.

Finally - something to do!...I drive up to the gate, pick up whoever wants to head into the facility with me, dispatch the rude visitors and help the inside group get this job done...

[RHat]

[Overdrive, August 22, 2075, 8:25 PM, SMHF]

@All <<Hold off a minute, I need to get into position. Windows are tinted, so their numbers are unknown; based on the vehicles, though, double digits are possible. Going in without fire support may be suicidal, but I've got the firepower - let the Lynx take point. Inside team, you guys need to decide for yourselves, but you can get at the basement level through the vents, and I'd say at least some of you need to. Might be these guys are here for our secondary, which would mean either we give up on it or beat them to it. Besides, I'm sure at least some of you would prefer not to be caught in the crossfire. As for the mole, well, you're gonna need to make a pretty fast decision about whether you want to stay topside or head into the basement.>>

[RdMarquis]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:15PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

<<Most likely, they outnumber us. Whoever this group is, they wouldn't be attempting a frontal assault unless they had enough equipment and people. We'll wait for the hospital security to engage them. Knight Errant can't be far behind, either.>> LeFey knew from experience. She once called Bellevue home. <<With all the chaos, everyone should be too distracted to stop us from completing the job. Monsieur Collot? Are you ready?>> It was as good a plan as they could have come up with, under the circumstances. But there was something deeply unsettling about letting people kill each other as a distraction.

The circle began shedding a soft light as LeFey wove the last strand of the Resonance into it. Nonetheless, she had a team to look out for and a job to complete. It was probably the best option available.

"By my will, let the circle be closed," LeFey spoke in a whisper. Not that it was necessary. No one could hear her voice, save the one she was calling out to. As if in response, the circle glowed more intensely. "And by the oath that binds us, let the gate be opened." The interior of the circle shattered, revealing a hole in space from which the Resonance flowed. A direct portal to the Realms. "Come forth, denizen of the Matrix. Come forth, Daughter of Air."

[RHat]

[Overdrive, August 22, 2075, 8:25 PM, SMHF]

@All <<She's got a point. We're not gonna be able to complete the objective fast enough to ice these guys and get out of here before the big guns show up.>>

[Always Overkill]

Lany Argyle, Thursday August 22nd, 2075 8:25PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle

<<@Outside team [Pandora]: Do you guys think you could get into the Therapy building before our new friends? Its probably the entrance they are heading for, and the facility's Security should slow them down long enough for you guys to set up a nice surprise for them when they try to get into the basement.>>

[justkelly]

Nikki, August 22, 2075, 8:25 PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle

@All, I think I'll take a call sign of Mother. While we do need to proceed cautiously, we also need to move quickly. The incoming visitors need to be isolated before than can get inside and create more havoc. An outside distraction to buy the inside crew time seems as if it would be the most effective overall. We can let onsite security and local law enforcement handle most of the problem. We then become a last line of defense for the inside to get the job done and help them get out. I'll try to drive up behind, and then around the new vehicles to get in front of them as Pandora suggested. Anyone want to ride with me?

[Vegas]

[Ali Moneaux, Thursday August 22nd, 2075; Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

Ali had navigated her way to the doctor’s lounge and with the passcards they had been issued as the HVAC crew, entered the room without incident. She made a casual quick sweep of the room to make certain she was alone before she targeted the specific doctor’s locker. LeFey had done her research, targeting the one doctor who would be the first to notice Collot’s insertion into the facility. It was Ali’s job to make sure Dr. Evan Braithwaite was no longer employed by the Sound Mental Health Facility before their mole could be detected.

Her insurance to make that happen was stashed in the toolbox that rested on the bench beside her. She located Dr. Braithwaite's locker and was grateful that there was both a row of lockers between herself and the door as well as a cold air supply return very near her target that she could use as her cover should anyone enter. She looked at the lock securing the individual locker, sizing it up and planning her approach before she got to work. She pulled specialized tools of her trade from within the belt slung at her hips and started to crack the lock.

It felt like an eternity because she was up against the pressure of multiple responsibilities on this run, but when the lock gave way with a satisfying click, her smile widened as she looked at the time.

I said I'd do it in 7, and got it done in 5.

The sly smile on her lips was quickly diminished as the scene from the front gates was broadcast across her field of vision.

"Crap."

She slid on a pair of disposable gloves she picked up from the facility and quickly placed the contraband into the Doctor's locker, concealing it within some of his personal items before shutting the locker door and making sure the lock reengaged. She was quick to pack up all her things, putting all her tools back into place before she stepped out of the lounge and back into the hall.

<<@all [Nyx]: My package has been delivered. If we're accelerating our timeline, I can make the descent into the Therapy Building with or without our precious cargo. Anyone have an estimate of Knight Errant's arrival?>>

She picked up her pace as she hit the hallway heading towards their new target as everything they had planned started to unravel.

[adamu]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:25PM, technowitch central, Seattle]

Al settled into his perch as the airwaves crackled with life in response to the new threat. The computerey one with the blue eyes and auburn hair had made a strong point in favor of his suggestion they let the opposing forces cancel one another out, but several others seemed to be in favor of interdiction, with the expensive-looking one apparently headed north with violence on her mind at this moment. Well, if she hit the bastards, then that was the play he'd have to back. And then high-tail it inside when that was cleaned up, because Peaches, true to form and bless her trouble-loving heart, was still locked onto getting the job done.

He congratulated himself for coming up with not one but two such attractive plans, but wished things were a bit more like on the trid. They always had one character - either a human male too busy to shave but with plenty of time for skin treatments and hair product, or a female elf with racially uncharacteristic bosoms - bark out the plan and everyone else just hopped to it. As it was, he felt a bit unclear on where his new compatriots' plan would be by the time the SK-Bentley hit the parking area, but reckoned if classy-girl came out shooting he and the drone guy had better be ready.

He keyed his mic without taking his eye off his scope: "Overdrive, whichever way this shakes, best git them toys on station. Mother, we's jist north of the parkin' circle, an' will have yore back whatever play y'all makes."

[Aria]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle]

Mother?!?, Silk blanched at the mention of that handle, although the matrix couldn’t render such a subtle tell. She just hoped that this runner had as much competence as her own Mother had, and that she didn’t meet the same fate. Despite the years the pain was still fresh and she could steel feel the coppery stickiness of that blood in the back of her throat.

She watched as the two Rovers thundered up the drive towards the main building, the lone gun man who had stepped out entering the security building by himself. Either he was supremely confident in his ability to take on the four or five sec personnel that should be in there or there was more going on that was immediately apparent.

Mother was pursuing them in a limo of all things whilst the tactical display showed her the approximate locations of Overdrive and Holywood as they tried to bracket the incomers…

“Aria, Summer, can you tell if an alarm has been raised?”

Aria trailed her hand through the pool of resonance and licked the dripping silvery stuff from her fingers

“Nothing yet…that seems funny doesn’t it…?”

[Always Overkill]

Lany Argyle, Thursday August 22nd, 2075 8:26PM, Sound Mental Health Facility, Kilarney Way, Bellevue, Seattle


Intently watching the events unfold before her, Lany listened as the outside team scrambled into position to deal with the unexpected threat and debated their next move. Hearing Overdrive's estimates on their numbers Lany chimed in,

<<@Outside Team[Pandora]: Do you guys need me to get into position to give you some backup? Seems like there are quite a few of them out there.>>

She noted the casual way the shooter strode by himself into the Security building, where there were supposed to be at least 4 more guards. Why didn't HE have backup? Lany thought to herself. "Where are the other guards?" she said out loud, then as she said the words a realization hit her, the alarms aren't on.

<<@All [Pandora]: We have another problem, the alarms in this place should be going off by now, and there should be 4 more guards at the Security building returning fire. There aren't any; and the shooter just strode into the place like he was going Christmas shopping. They must already have someone inside disguised as a guard, how else could they have kept the alarms from sounding? I think its a safe bet that Knight Errant doesn't even know anything is going on here.>>

[adamu]

[Thursday August 22nd, 2075; 8:25PM, technowitch central, Seattle]

Eye in the scope, Al could see the headlights coming up the drive. He glanced at a neighboring tree to get a feel for the wind. Into the mic: "That's a negatory, Pandora," he hissed. "Would leave the package…" and most importantly, Peaches, he thought… "vulnerable. Mother, these jokers got some sorta ace up they sleeve. They's a brand o' cocky I ain't none too fond of, an' I'm 'bout ready ta see how their plan survives first contact with a tungsten carbide penetrator out of a thirty-ought-six cupronickel jacket. How you gon' come at 'em?"