IC: Chasing the Prize, We always get our mark Options

[Johnson]

Tiny looks around Chrissie D's place not wondering to far.
"WOW this is a neat place" muttering to himself.

Turning to Helios

"Hey Helios apparently the Doc was using the place we come from as a walk in bodybank. The Doc was organ harvesting quit a bit as the word on the street have it. This was the first referance I got. So I checked it out.. Thats when I bumped into you lot."
pausing for a moment before continuing.
"Don't you think he has been taken to a safe house, at least until the wind blows over. Maybe relocating him to a new location outside Seattle. Thats one way of cooling the heat from the local justice system."

Thinking about this whole thing, hoping that the Sgt get back to him soon.

[Kremlin KOA]

"Nah it shouldn't come back on you, this guy got done due to being this kind of Asshole. The drek hit the fan for him already, they got us on Bail jumper hunt. That should tell you how unlikely it is that he will want his stuff back from that lab..."

"Are you sure?" The Asian Surgeon asked.

"He was in trouble for a lot less than this when he was caught, when we give this to Lone Star and recapture him, he will rot in a concrete box until the dragons go back to sleep... I will need that phone call, thanks... Call if anything unusual happens."

Gonzales sends Taggart a short message "JT, you fragging jaggy bastard. We just got the clue of a lifetime. Will be round your place for a nightcap and a recap. Keep that line of yours to the star open."

[HeySparky]

Edana shuts off her comm and smiles faintly, chuckling. Gonzales. What a guy. She shakes her head and moves through the dim of her small place, taking comfort from the pacing strides above as Herne watches over her. Taking a deep breath she rubs her face with her hands and contemplates the remainder of the night. She's exhausted, scattered and really not interested in facing what sleep will bring. But her body aches for rest.

I'm going to sleep. Thanks, Herne. You know, for...

Go to sleep. And wash your face, Sturmdottir.

Sturmdottir...? He hasn't called me that in ages. Puzzling, she flips on the trid, the images sync and as she brushes her teeth she watches a too-cheerful meteorologist describing a stormfront headed for the sprawl. She smiles, toothpaste foam leaking from the corners of her mouth. Just the thing. She rushes through her evening routine and as an afterthought dashes off a message to JT, copying the others who have addresses.

>>>>> [Message us the time and place of our meet to sync up.] <<<<<
- FirEd (04:07:33/16-DEC-2063)

She flops down on her bed, getting comfortable and goes slack as her astral form lifts out of her body. She pauses briefly with Sally, the place's tattered, old Hearth spirit and lets the ragged woman chew on her for Herne's grave misdeeds. She nods anxiously with promises to tell Herne to behave. Suspicious but satisfied for the moment, Sally moves off. Edana floats through the ceiling to find Herne waiting, pawing the ether with a shining hoof. He snorts and shakes his head, mane flying. Edana grins and wraps a twist of mane around her hand and with a strange twisting sensation she is on Herne's back. Edana barely has her seat when the spirit-horse leaps into the sky headed for the oblivion of the storm, tall and fierce on the northern horizon.

[BishopMcQ]

Edana:
Riding out to meet the storm, you are awed once again by the life and malice pushing out from the storm. Mother Earth still hasn't come to terms with these small being treading upon her and she lashes out with storms and fire in an attempt to exterminate these parasites.

Charging along side them, the tempest turns it attention to you. Storm spirits fly out on charges of lightning and rolling thunder, at their touch you feel your body spasm miles away. The soft caress of the storm spirits echoes down the long silver cord connecting your spirit to your unprotected body.

Join us, join the storm.

You feel them trying to pull you into them, friends not realizing the damage they could do.

Screaming, you stare up at the ceiling. Herne nuzzles against you, the cold nose of his canine form pressing into your lower back. Your hand moves to push him away and there you see it. Flashes of light and dark clouds move under your skin.

Jumping out of the bed, you stand in front of the full-body mirror. The squall traveling under your skin seems to extend to your entire body. Lightning crackles in your irises, a storm trapped in the soft globes of your eyes. Touching your face, the pale color of your flesh hidden under a raging tempest.

You collapse into a small heap, the shock of earlier evening compounding with this metamorphosis of the flesh.

[BishopMcQ]

::December 16, 2063 0700::

Dawn rises clear, sparkling against the cold snow and ice coating Seattle. The city begins to stir back to life, as primary thoroughfares become congested and wage slaves travel to their duldrum jobs.

Charlie:
Walking into Joe's, Debian rises from a booth in the back to gesture you over. He hands you a menu as you sit down, the hush of flatvids murmuring in the background.

A few poly-sheets slide across the table.

"Here's what I've got."

Gonzales:
Christina's voice comes clear over the cell-phone.

"You may have a problem, that vaccine you gave me is a genetically modified strain of HMHVV. I'm not sure if it will actually make a person into a ghoul, but it seems a little too risky to actually try it on someone."

JT:
Tak's phone call wakes you up three hours after went to bed.

"You rang? What do you have for me?"

Tiny:
At exactly 0700, Sergeant Cohen places the call.

"Tiny, here's what I've got. His security is run internally, you may have heard about the debacle that happened a few months ago at one of his pharmaceutical labs. Insurance auditors hired a team to test the security, the team recorded footage of their entrance. That's when everything went bad--the security chief apparently was unstable. She massacred her own security team after they proved incapable of stopping the encroaching invaders. The team defended themselves from her using deadly force and she was killed. Ballefour did not press charges against the investigators, settling out of court."

[Tanka]

Charlie sits down, taking the menu from Debian. He gives it a once over, then sets the menu down. He picks up the sheets and begins scanning them.

To the waiter/waitress, whenever he/she comes: "Charlie's Breakfast."

A Charlie's Breakfast is something he concocted by ordering so many times. It doesn't have an entry in the menu, but enough people know about it that it doesn't matter. It consists of scrambled eggs with pepper sprinkled on top, home fries and ketchup, six pieces of bacon, and a tall glass of scotch.

[Bastard]

"...huh...who the fra....Oh. Good morning, Tak. I have another count of murder you can tack onto Bellafour's warrant. We checked his place out last night and uncovered a young lady. He skinned her alive, I don't think I have ever seen anything so sick. It didn't even seem real.

"I thought you might be able to at least go over there and recover the body. If you need me to go over there for my account I am sure I can work that out. I just want this poor girl to get a proper burial, and her parents to know where she is."

"Thanks Tak. Call me if you need me."

After the call from the detective JT looks at the clock, only a little after seven. He can still catch an hour or two before getting back to work. A magicians best friend is rest, ok second best after his dog.

[BishopMcQ]

Charlie:
The waitress jots down your order and is gone before you pickup the scream sheets. Debian had done his work, it looks like Ballefour bought tickets for the suborbital flight that you found a link to, but he never boarded. Yesterday Ballefour went to the bank and withdrawn fifty large--half in certified cred, the other half in hard currency. Apparently a video feed from the bank security cameras shows Ballefour joking with the teller about going to New Vegas.

In the past few weeks, Ballefour has been somewhat of a recluse avoiding the office. He told his secretary that he was working from home due to legal troubles.

Grave:
Just after 0700, Colonel Hodge gets in touch. His stern face is showing its age this morning but he is cleanly pressed in his alphas and pushing past the maladies of time.

"Alright son, as far as I can tell, his company was stockpiling enough VITAS cellular strains, that with the proper incubation equipment and a low atmosphere burst he could blanket most of Continental Europe and Asia. Those strains would have taken months to grow and stockpile, but he had them. The good news is that he doesn't have anyone on the payroll that could pull that stunt off, the bad news is that there are enough fraggers working on a "Consultant" basis that it may be possible."

[toturi]

Grave:

"Roger that, sir. If it is not too much trouble, could you please give some people in CDC or WHO an unofficial heads up? Thanks for the intel, sir. A group of associates and I found a small cache of VITAS and a manportable delivery system."

[BishopMcQ]

Grave:
"Roger that, they informed me about the growing problem, but I will pass on your concerns about the delivery system."

[Johnson]

Tiny wakes up to the contious ringing of his phone. Putting the ear piece on, he finger fumbles over the answer button.
"It me here."

Hearing the Sgt voice, Tiny sit up quickly.
"So what have you got for me Sgt?"

The Sgt start explain what has happened to the Pharmacutical Company.

Trying to find out more Tiny asks more questions

"Hey Sgt where is this company where the security breach took place? Also whats the name of the insurance company?"

pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts before talking again.

"By the way when did this happen? Was it recent? Are there any media references that I could look up to as what happened. Please Sgt I would appreciate this"

[BishopMcQ]

Tiny:

"This happened out in a commercial park near Bellevue." You hear the sergeant clicking through computer files before answering your next question.

"Let's see, Watanabe Security Consulting hired the team in contract to Imperial Insurance, based out of New York. This all happened last summer, mid-August. I can ask around if anyone still has newsfeeds. They probably should, apparently the team broke a second floor window--two of them flew away. A troll, presumably a member of the team hired to test the security was levitated out unconscious."

[BishopMcQ]

::December 16, 2063 0745::

JT's cell phone goes off, Tak's voice clear over the line. Hanging up he calls the trid to life. While watching the newsfeed, he wakes up sleeping team members and interrupts others.

"Guys, we may have a problem that just got a lot bigger."

News feeds are flooding every local station about terrorist activity striking Seattle. Reports are varied, but everyone is sure that during the middle of the morning commute, biological agents were released at the Central Train Station in Seattle. Passengers are being recommended to limit their contact with others as it is believed that they may have been exposed to the VITAS plague, a highly contagious airborne disease.

No terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for this atrocity.

Images of officials in complete Haz-Mat suits are shuffling apparently healthy but panicked individuals into containment tents. You watch as outliers in the mob escape out into the city and can feel the cold sense of dread that they are going to spread the virus further.

[Johnson]

Tiny
"This is not going to be a good day." muttering to himslef as he recieved the messages.

Thumbing the trid tiny hope to get more infomation as what is going, and what loacations are being hit.

Collecting his gear as he does every morning Tiny is concerned about this whole thing. VITAS, Tiny has heard about it, not understanding this whole Virus-Viral thing. Just that it make you very sick.

JT

[>>>>>>> What are we going to do with this comotion then. I have to catch a train from the Barrens everytime.....Tiny]

[Bastard]

<JT's apartment: 0746 16 Dec 63>

JT is fully awake after witnessing the terror on the morning news. Drek! We need to catch this fragger! Leaping out of bed, he startles the still-sleeping Kane. The German shepherd lets out a short yelp, watching his master run to the trid. Putting on clothes and searching for his Ruger Thunderbolt pistol, JT scrambles around the apartment. Finally he locates the large sidearm in between the seat cushion on the easy chair. Still watching the live newsfeed, he alerts the rest of the team.

"Guys, we may have a problem that just got a lot bigger. Anyone have any ideas where we should start. I can see if we can get a copy of the video at the station. We still need to consolidate our information as well."

"Tiny, take a taxi, as soon as we get a meet location."

JT continues preparing while making calls. He washes his face between two, and brushes his teeth rather quickly between two more. He throws a little water in his short hair, as if it would magically styles it. One last check of all his equipment, Ruger, armor, a couple restraints, clothes; check, check, check and check. After checking the dog's food and water dish he is ready to head out.

Outside JT hops on his Harley Scorpion, en route to his next destination. The heavy bike handles the snow rather well, as long as he keeps the speed down, especially around corners. The crisp winter air bites at his cheeks, but its nothing compared to some of the nights spent in the Sierra Nevadas. The sub freezing temperatures actually have one good benefit, Taggart's hair freezes in place from the water recently provided. Just like magic.

[toturi]

Grave was unable to go back to sleep after the Colonel's intel update despite only having 2 hours of sleep. After programming his telecom to watch the newsfeeds for the following keywords "Biological warfare", "VITAS" and "Terrorism", he proceeds with his daily kata.

Before JT's call, Grave had already gotten the news having been alerted by his telecom. He could hear the troopers of Task Force Seattle being turned out.

"Yeah, I know. I am watching the trid."

Grave preps his weapons and armour as well as other miscellaneous equipment in preperation for an extended mission. After stuffing his MREs and other survival equipment into his backpack, he readies his bike and rides off to the meet.

[Johnson]

Tiny
Moves his rump, putiing his form fitting body armour on, folowed by his lower back quick cross draw concealed holster on. Checking the calibration on his custom Browning Max Power and his Smart link, after all check are ok he slam home a red based mag of explosive rounds, and securing it in his holster. Uzi is still snug and safe in his pack loaded with normal rounds. Checking Cyber responses and spur are okay, neatly folding his shock gloves into his jacket, after checking they are still fully charged.

Out comes the Bovine educator. The AZ 150 Stun Baton, which is placed nicely into seamed sheath of his fleecy trench coat. Just a once over that all is go, he put on his electronic gadgets. All is fine for go.

Thinking a head of time, he hopes they meet at that Bling Bling place again. The food was good.

Tiny walks out into the cold air, and heads for the closest taxi cab pickup point. Keeping alert on his surrounding. He hails a cab.

[HMHVV Hunter]

Helios groggily punches the button on his ringing telecom.

"Wha tha 'ell are you doin'?" he asks, only half awake. "Ya know I sleep durin' the day..."

"Guys, we may have a problem that just got a lot bigger."

Confused, Helios groggily turns on the trid...and what he sees shocks him into full wakefulness.

Son of a bitch, he thinks. It's the Aum Shinri Kyo all over again.

Now fully conscious, Helios speedily types the numbers to JT's cellphone.

"Do we have a meeting place yet?" he asks, carrying on the conversation as he grabs his loaded Manhunter and 3 extra clips and slips them into the concealed holster under his armored trenchcoat.

Frag it, I need more than this, he thinks.

Grabbing his military rucksack, he opens it and piles in his loaded Cobra SMG and 5 extra clips, along with 2 more extra clips for his Manhunter and the 3 he's already pulled out. All the clips have Regular ammo. He also puts his katana on himself, just in case.

When bio-warfare starts, you don't fuck around, he thinks to himself, as he slings the sack onto his back and waits for JT's response.

[HeySparky]

"Okay. I will tell her." Herne's voice rumbles across the comm with a vague distaste that JT cannot help but hear before the link goes dead. The spirit in man-form blinks impassively and looks at Edana, so changed, lying on the bed asleep where he put her. We should have ridden off with the storm, away from this place that will kill you for breathing.

He decides to let her sleep and goes about the business of getting their gear together and into the Brumby. Edana wakes with a start when the door doesn't quite shut and a cold gust of wind swirls in.

She reaches for the covers as wakefulness slowly seeps into her brain. She aches from head to foot. The previous night returns - the house - the body - the storm. A jolt of panic and her vision dims as she leaps out of the bed tearing the covers away and lunging for the mirror. I fell over right here. How...? She shivers. The door... Herne. The stamping of boots at the door announce her spirit ally's return. But she barely registers it as she gapes... What's happening to me?

The Storm tried to take you. Next time you should let it. Dog Brother commed. Herne's sending turns respectful at the last and then swiftly takes an edge of alarm as he continues packing a large military duffel with various camo gear and other stuff. There is a sickness in the city. VITAS. The spirit-man dressed in urban camo wrestles a contraption out of the bag and tosses it to Edana. Use this until it is safe.

Edana fumbles with the information and the air filter that Herne has tossed at her. "I don't understand." She takes a deep breath and starts again, putting on the filter... I don't understand. What is happening?

Herne finishes locking up the house and ushers Edana out of the house. He shakes his head as he pulls the door to. He blinks golden owl-like eyes slowly before putting on his shades. Get in the car, I will tell you while I drive.

[Tanka]

"Hm, nice work Debian. Breakfast is on me, an' mebbe another one er two after tha' when we catch tha guy. Sound good?"

Charlie looked around the bar, hungrily awaiting his food and drink to arrive.

[Kremlin KOA]

Gonzales heads to JT's place as soon as he gets the message, loaded for bear. he has grabbed every weapon he has, and loaded them into a briefcase along with every bullet he could scrounge. along with several changes of clothes (armored of course) into a duffel bag, along with a battery iron, and his medkit.
puffing for breath, the only things keeping him up are a combination of the endorphins from his trauma dampner and the increased circulation from his synthacardium.

"Hey JT, got here as quick as I could, packed for anything... Frag he's left already," Where would he go? probably to Bling's in which case I will need the wake up juice. Better call a cab, or maybe get a lift from Edana...

[BishopMcQ]

Charlie:
The waitress is on her way to your table with your breakfasts as your phone rings. She turns to look at the flatvid as it interrupts the current program for a newsfeed. The news breaks to you over the phone at the same time that it seems to dawn on the waitress' face. You watch the plate fall and shatter on the hard tile. Volume is turned up as patrons turn to watch the update.

[Tanka]

Charlie's eyes go wide.

"Oh, frag, oh frag, oh frag, OH FRAG! Er, Debian, looks like we gotta skip breakfast. Know anybody willin' ta hand out air filters?"

[Kremlin KOA]

Gonzales dials the number left him on a message this morning. "Herne, Gonzales here. Just got to Taggart's but he's left for the meet already. Any chance of a lift?"

"I thought those mettal feet of yours meant you usually didn't need such things?" The spirit responded.

"Yeah, but I have been running around for 15 hours now and am exhausted."

"Where are you?"

"Taggart's, sending the address."

Gonzales waited for the vehicle to arrive, barely able to keep his eyes open.

[HMHVV Hunter]

Helios eventually gives up on JT and dials up Gonzales.

"Hey Gonzo," he says, using his somewhat goofy nickname for his comrade. "I tried calling JT to see where the meet was, but he hasn't called back yet. You have any idea where it's going to be?"