Researching Albert Silverson
GM: Adam
Players: Slinger, Blindside, Haley, Annie
Synopsis: The job, itself, involves breaking into an independent research laboratory, stealing the research data, destroying the lab so the research cannot feasibly continue, and delivering the data to a dead drop point. Annie and Haley hijack and forge IDs to insert into the Lab with Slinger Masked in tow. After a series of Face work and Mind bending, they make it into the Lab and download the data. After leaving, security is tripped and they run out just in time for their timed explosive to wreck the lab. Loading up into Blindside's ride, they roar out of Amarillo and back to Denver to get paid.
Date: 02/20/2070

Consent Approvals:

<<Plot>> Blindside says, " I agree with these rules."
<<Plot>> Annie says, "Looks acceptable. I agree as well."
<<Plot>> Slinger says, "I consent to reasonable consequences to my actions. :)"
<<Plot>> Haley approves!
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The Meet

Know how most meets appear to occur in the night, in the dark darkness of some dirty ( and dark ) place? This isn't one of those meetings. From a throw-away trixbox, Slinger, Annie, and Byside were contacted directly requesting a meeting for work. The same message is forwarded on to Haley from Teeg, with an additional note saying 'Found work. This one's on me.' that hints at thier great relationship they have. The details of the message are not cryptic and provide the location of a Waffle house in the CAS sector near at 0800, a booth number, and who to look for.

Waiting for them is the young woman with long, silver-white hair. Beside her is a large militant man acting as a bodyguard. (Note: If you wish to ID these two, we can do rolls). A white Noise Generator is placed in the center of the table when they all slide into the booth and get thier soycaff or complimentary meal. The discussion goes on to explain that an associate of the J's has had some foul play involved with research data. It's not going to change history— but subjectivity breeds some interesting prioritization and he has need for disposable employment. The job pays 120k as a whole (not including the J's cut) between the team and they have base intel to provide about the job. There is a timetable, and it is 72 hours. Anything beyond that point and the window of oppertunity that spurred this employment whould be slammed shut. Due to the raw reputation of the team, they have coordinated a 20k retainer to start, with the rest being payed when the job is complete.

The job, itself, involves breaking into an independant research laboritory, stealing the research data, destroying the lab so the research can not feasibly continue, and delivering the data to a dead drop point. The J is blunt with the points of interest— such as the labority does have a very 'real' security contact, not some homebrewed small business security contract. Unless you guys are amazingly discreet during inseration and destruction, you will need a good extraction plan.

Waffle House, now that's a classic place. Haley loves waffles and she loves making nuyen, two great things that go great together. After hanging up with Teeg, having set up a time the two can do brunch she grabs her machine pistol and stuffs it and six clips into her over sized purse. Pulling on her best jacket she climbs out of the coffin tube and closes the door. Hearing it getting steralized she nods her head and she heads across town to the Waffle House in question.

She knows what booth she's supposed to be in, but one can't pass up good waffles. She waves to the waitress and she says in a cheerful tone, "I'll have a waffle and hashbrowns. I want them smothered, and covered please." She pauses and says, "Oh, and I'll have a glass of chocolate soymilk too." That settled she points over to the proper booth and says, "I'll be over there." Her sharp Brooklyn accent cuts through the diner, a stark contrast to the slow southern drawls of most of the patrons. She moves over to the booth and takes a seat across from the guard and the J.

Slinger stares at the missive, and rubs his eyes. 0800? That's, like, eight in the morning. That's a ridiculous time to be awake! Slinger is a natural night-owl, the sort who'll sleep until noon if permitted. That's the result of the fact that most of his work is done at the sort of hour when most of the sane world is happily asleep.

But nonetheless, he is there, punctual, perhaps even a minute or two early. He steps inside — but as is the case with all such anonymous meetings, he is incognito. His Physical Mask spell is active within his focus, disguising the fact he is armed, and making him appear slightly older than his usual appearance, blue-eyed instead of blond, and with his facial structure altered enough that he would be impossible to recognize from his appearance alone. He's wearing a soft-collar shirt today, along with his usual secure long coat.

Those who greet him get a friendly smile, a murmured greeting, and a handshape. The bodyguard does not get offered one; Slinger easily recognizes that the man is here only for protection. The woman, though, Slinger is curious about. She is distinctive enough that, perhaps, he has heard of her. He slips into the proffered booth with a friendly smile, takes out his pack of smokes, doesn't wait for permission as he settles into place with his own cup of soykaf. And listens.

It sounds within his realm of interest, and Slinger is all about the little guy against the corp. Sounds up his alley. "Any intel available on the layout? Security systems? Access codes? Floorplans? Location of the lab? Personnel information about those related to security?" He smiles. "Not trying to be demanding, but all those things save time if they are available."

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Bambi arrives on the scene, strutting her stuff down the isle of the waffle house. On one hip, a pistol. On the other, a cellphone. She grins and slides in next to the Slinger, and then steals a bite of his waffle. After a moment of looking around the table, she leans over to Slinger and murmurs… "WAZZZUPPPPPPPPP!!!!"

The woman waves a hand and notes, "Comletely reasonable. The intel we have relates to base PI work from within the region. Exterior photos and security are identified. Interior security , access codes, and floor plans are not. Corporate Intel is present— and as an independant research Laboratory they have more than one functiona Lab. We know which Lab number is conducting the research, but not it's physical location within the building. The personnel information we have relates to the researchers, specifically the lead researcher as a person of interest, but none on the security teams."

When her meal arrives Haley begins adding two pats of butter substitute making eyes and a bit of syrup to form the smile. She stabs a fork between the eyes and then slices a wedge out. She takes a bite of her waffle as she looks across the lady as she speaks. She takes a drink of her chocolate soymilk and then asks, "Who is handling the security? Did you get an ID on the name of the company?"

The silver-blue haired woman moves some of the errant hair from across her pristine face, "The security contact is held by Lone Star. Again the emphasis on your extraction plan is necessary for the third deliverable. They will shoot first and interrogate you later."

Soykaf and a cigarette, the breakfast of champions. Slinger sips his while he thinks, intrigued about whe has learned. The elf leans back slightly in the seat and waits for more of the picture to emerge. The lack of information is going to be a challenge, and the hard part is going to be acquiring it. However, the mission is doable in practice. Magsec is going to be the bigger challenge, that and drones. We could use a rigger — but hey, there's Bambi. Slinger gives her a grin, and then adds, "Tell your boss we need to talk. About Emocar."

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The woman smirks to Slinger, "I'll pass the information to my employer after the mission is successful."

Stabbing the fork through a buttery eye, Haley continues to assault her hapless waffle. She slices around the pat to make a hole where the 'eye' once was. She takes the bite and washes it down with a bit of soymilk before she turns to her hashbrowns. Scooping a bit with her fork she pops that into her mouth, enjoying the taste of Waffle House goodness.

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Annie listens to the meet details, nodding as more information is revealed. "Sounds reasonable. Does the job provide travel, or will we be given a travel allowance and asked to make arrangements ourselves."

The woman nods a bit to Annie and notes, "That is part of the twenty kay retainer to cover initial operating costs."

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With an exasperated oooi, Haley says, "LoneStah, now those boys are serious." She finishes another bite of her waffle before she says, "At least they won't be local." She takes another bite of her hashbrowns before she says, "So part of our pay is for travel expenses? Oi'm sure you could include travel in this. Right?"

Bambi files her nails, looking things over. She's a large microphone, essentially, while Blindside works in the rig nearby as he sets up his information network. This is a nice job. Good pay. He needs the money, what with the damage Cerberus took/isabouttotake in the fubar at the FFOS…
Annie leans back in her chair to let the face do her thang.

"Miss," the woman says as she places her hands on the table, folded, "what you do with the twenty to cover your setup costs, including travel, is up to you. The deniability of not know what you spend it on it half of the point."

Slinger nods thoughtfully. He'll have to make some calls. The hard part is not getting to Amarillo — it's getting there with all his gear, and getting back home again. He's already thinking about this. But getting on site is going to be the first headache.

Bambi comments then, in an offhanded way… "I can totally drive us there. I have a -truck-." She says, then goes back to filing her nails.

Holding up both her hands, Haley says, "Okay, sure, no problem. We'll figure something out." She gives the lady a wide smile saying, "Don't worry, we'll take care of this situation no sweat."

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Bambi pulls out a pocket secretary. "Two blocks away." Says she, standing up and placing the sec on the table. "Is a truck. You can find me there. SLinger knows what to look for." She says, then leans over and kisses Slinger full on the lips, before pulling back. "See you there, lover." She grins, then skips on down the asle for the outside world.

Slinger shudders. It's impossible for him not to imagine where those lips have been! "Right," Slinger says firmly. "If nobody has anything else, then, yeah. Since you guys don't have any info about security, we'll have to work that out on site. So we'd best get moving." He'll save any concerns or questions for later, when the J isn't around.

Dwarf; it's whats for dinner. And on your lips.

Standing up from the table, Haley collects her plates and heads up to the counter to get herself a to-go box. She smiles and pays the tab and gives the waitress a tip. Sort of makes up for the fact she stole the fork she was eating with. She wipes off her glass with an alcohol pad before that too is passed over. Totally clean, no trace of her ever being here. With that, she steps out of the diner to follow Bambi.

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Bambi slides in to the drivers seat of a sleek, agressive looking sports car. Low to the ground with LED lights around the undercarrage, the 2070 Mustang Charger looks as evil as the engine sounds. She winks at Slinger, as she throws the car in reverse and leaves smoke on the road.

Slinger will lead the way toward the truck. A couple of blocks away, indeed. He'll have to drop the SUV off somewhere convenient, but assuming that detail can be taken care of, Slinger climbs into the thing. "Knock knock!" the elf calls, before he enters the thing.

Bambi left the poc-sec with the directions. When you get to the truck, the back ramp is down, allowing direct entry. The rear trailer is sectionalized. The very rear section is a car-carrying area for two cars. Bambi is throwing a car-cover over gladius, while in the top rack, Cerberus is still covered. The next area appears to be a full service car-shop, while the forward area is a living space with a couch and all those other needful things. Blindside is there, playing with a holographic map. "Okay guys! Here's what I got!"

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"So. We got 3 days… Thats two days of legwork and recon, then we hit on the last day. I'm not gonna tell you how to do the job, but heres how were' getten away." He says then. "On the last day of the op, I've fronted the money for a big street race in Amarillo. It's bringing in at least twelve namers and an unknown number of jobbers… so theres gonna be big speed on the roads. Thats our distraction to get away."
Annie parks the Bison next the the Trailer, gives Obie his marching orders, then heads over to join the others in Blindsides pad.

With Bambi having driven off, Haley follows behind Slinger as she talks on her poc-sec, "Oh hoi Papahs, Oi'm gonna have Teeg give ya a call, he's got somethin' I need duplicated and adjusted to a perfect fit, ya know?" She smiles as she walks saying, "Oh, two days? Well that's cuttin' it a little short, but you're the professional." She scratches the tip of her nose and she says, "Oi'm goin' out of town, if you could send it to me same day shippin', I'll pick it up." She gives her contact a place she could pick up the package. "Oh, you can? That's great. You're a peach." Once Slinger enters the van, she follows right behind.

Slinger makes the call, waiting for some kind of receptionist. If nothing else, he'll have to use random numbers in the autoattendant to get to the right person. Once he gets somebody, he sounds as professional as he can, even adopts a faint Southern accent. "Hi, ma'am? This is Jim Stevens down in Order Fulfillment at Atlanta Scientific. Yeah, got an order here for" — he inserts the reseracher's name. "He said lab number three, but I need a real room or suite number for the delivery form. When our guys drop it off, they have to know where to go."

"Oh," says the receptionist, "Mister <OMGNAMEHERE>? Yeah— you're going to want to use Room number B2003 for that. Thats Floor B2, second Lab on your right."

"Floor B2… B 2 oh oh 3, got it. B… just so they don't get turned around, which way is that? They need to come in a different entrance?"

Blindside has outlined for the crew his primary escape cover, that being a big street race that will draw police attention and provide as natural a camouflage as possible for a speeding race car on city streets. He then outlines the most optimal route, and the the four subroutes and how they will utilize and switch between them. The ultimate goal of the escape is to get to one of several low rated sections of town where Scabbard will be deployed to receive.

"Oi got myself an ID to get inside the place," says Haley, "They'll have it sent to me overnight shippin'. It'll be done in two days." She opens up her purse and pulls out a pair of glasses placing them on her nose. She begins unweaving her locks and brushing out her hair. She loosens a few tangles and pulls it back into a ponytail saying, "Now all Oi need is a nice suit to wear and Oi can walk right inside the place."

Annie spends some time getting a variety of mapsofts for the area around the lab, checking with a few contacts for any rumors, and browsing the company's public matrix presence. She also pulls up the travel route, looking for anything that might throw up some 'Danger' flags.
The moment the team was aboard, the truck started moving. Peoples vehicles who coudl follow on their own, would, while others who need to stay in town could catch a Tbird jammer to amarillo pretty quick. Headed for the Pueblo Border, Blindside would use one of the backroad routes he knows to avoid the border check, then angle pretty quick to the south for the Texas border.

Legwork

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Annie heads back to the Bison to project from the relative safety of the wards therein. She leaves orders with Obie to avoid, evade and under extreme duress…atomize. But he's a smart truck, he can figure it out.

Slinger'll be there with Annie, and projects at the same time, after finishing his last cigarette and tossing it. He leans back in the seat, makes sure he's securely belted in, and then projects from his body. Would suck to die when he's not home. "Ready?" he asks Annie, then rockets toward the building in question, slowing as he gets closer to take advantage of cover from nearby other buildings.

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The Astral Zone of the building is, visibly warded. They make no attempt to hide the fact that the research facility does not want people peeking in. There is plenty of biomater in the center (see the topographical image from google maps). The building itself keeps a couple of watchers swarming around it, but you are not dealing with archology grade security here.

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Annie glides along with Slinger, sticking as much as possible to areas of high biomass to use them like shadows for stealthing about.

Slinger likewise is trying to exploit biomass for stealth, while he investigates that ward.

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While investigating the wards on Astral, the A-Team doesnt appear to pick up any unwanted attention. But the fact that the wards are polar makes thier presense here risky, even hiding within the courtyard's biomass.

Bambi returns to the rig, parking Gladius in the back. He looks to the others, passed out o the couch. He eyes Haley for a moment, then starts pouring through a series of technical manuals on holo-display. He's in the zone. He highlights several passages, chuckling to himself about stupid cops not taking the time to fix a minor problem because the cost would be high, while not considering how weak that can leave your force to a focused attack.

He eyes the smoke dispensers on Gladius, takign a few minutes to remove armored body pannels from the wicked mustang… then unhooks the modules from the car itself. He starts to work them over, playing with smoke mixtures and air-to-particle mixtures. "Yeah… within 30 meters, this should clog their air intakes… in a few seconds…"

Nothing ventured… nothing gained. Slinger glances back at Annie, then gathers his energies, then looks for the best discreet spot he can muster, to slip inside the ward and see what's there.

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At the mall, Haley heads to the ladies clothing stores. She takes a little time wandering around looking at the selections. She digs up some old memories of what exactly people wore in the hospital. That settled she wanders over and picks herself up some sensible shoes, a long skirt and a matching blouse. She heads over to the personal protection store and picks herself up a white secure longcoat. She checks it to make sure it fits and that the ample inner pockets are within easy reach. She smiles to herself and heads up to the counter to pay for her purchases in CAS dollars. It pays to have your home be the CAS section of Denver.

Slinger concentrates, then gradually, his aura begins to transform, shifting to match that of the polarized ward. For just a moment, he looks almost transparent, like glass, and then he is through the ward, into the building beyond, trying to be as stealthy as possible to avoid being spotted.

The building itself is more lively than the glowing opaque shell that it was on the outside. Each room appears to have 2 to 4 people in it, walking around or standing at particular stations. The occasional astral figure walks the hallways and some of them are obviously spirits or paras. There is an east wing and a west wing. There are 4 floor, 2 underground. Each wing has 3 Rooms. Some rooms light up on astral very brightly, but most do not more than your average workspace.

Slinger is staying up near the ceiling — or even with part of himself embedded in it — to avoid detection. Right now, what he wants is an idea of where things are. He's also looking for the general layout of the building — and he heads down toward the basement, looking for methods to access it.

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Annie continues along with Slinger, keeping a wary eye out for patrolling spirits or magicians.

Once Slinger has completed his survey of the layout, he will cautiously — /very/ cautiously — slip into the target laboratory.

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Navigating carefully patrolling astral signatures— being humaniod, spirit morph, and quadrapedal— the two astral forms make it down to to the second underground floor. It is notably much brighter than most of the labs. Several parts of the lab light on on astral quite brightly as the signatures walk around them or interact with them. This would be your Lab.

Slinger eyes the number of patrolling things. That's a /LOT/ of them, from what he can tell. The building seems to be brimming with them, in fact. That's worrisome. But even so, he won't be getting close enough to really assense much of anything. No, he's overstaying his welcome. The elf slowly backs away, then stays as close to the ceiling tiles as he can as he heads back out toward the exterior of the building — and prepares to depart, back out through the ward…

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The Run

Slinger and Annie return to the Bison at full astral speeds once clear of the building wards. Annie wakes up and stretches out the kinks, then jacks into her deck and begins creating a floor plan using some simple architectural programs. She makes notes of observed patrol routes and numbers of estimated security personnel on site at any given time.

Bambi continues to do his thang, wandering around his shop, assisted by various small droids. "So if we increase the ionic bonding properties, we can massively increase particle size once outside the ejector ports… this allows high viscosity dispersal and yet high clumping in the air intakes…"

At the mall, Haley really is in her element. She spends a little time talking to the shop clerks as she makes her selections. Then with bags in hand she heads off to get her hair and nails done. The dreadlocks are quickly relaxed and arranged into a perfectly straight blonde hair and arranged into a proper ponytail. Her nails are shined and french tipped. She looks down at them, seeing the reflections of the light. She smiles and gives the lady a tip, paying for everything in CAS dollars. She spends time studying the local accents getting an idea for how they shape their words. It helps to be a social butterfly when you're trying to learn to blend.

Its a rather normal city— nothing too special about it. It gets by. There is a Texas accent, so expect a lot of y'alls.

The time rolls by and Day 2 comes and goes. In the evening a package arrives by hand courier to Haley that has a badge with her picture and mirrored access for the Labs.

Blindside runs over to Slinger. "Okay! So right, check this out!" he says excitedly. "I figured out that the police cars here are all Ford Americar Patrol Versions, with the Interceptors being CN-1s. Thats not a bad arrangement for a cop unit, but they are all base models. They both use the same air intake assembly, which uses a Rand-Prawlin Air Filtration System. The air filtration system is vunerable to clogging. I mean, every 10,000 miles, you replace the fucking filter. It's high performance shit. It's more prone to clogging than any other system on the market because of the high demands of the engine. Well,I rigged up an Ionic Bonding system for Gladius's smoke ejectors, right? See, when the smoke comes out, I've already negitively charged the mixture. AS it comes out, some of it is routed through this area here, which I've positively charged. The charge overwrites the negitive on about… a third of the particles. They are now attracted to each other and clump, which will make the mixture thicker, but not really heavier. So it will get in to the air filters…" He grins then, like this is AMAZING MOJO!

"The result is any car in my 6 will stall in about 10 seconds."

Taking the package, Haley begins ripping open the wrapping. She says, "Its like Christmas," in her ever cheerful tones. She rubs her hands excitedly and pulls out a synthetic silk rose from it. She takes a deep breath catching the scent of the flower and she says, "Aw, Papahs is such a sweetie," the last word going up even higher in pitch. She pulls the ID out and looks it over nodding her head. She says, "Oi'll go inside when we're ready to do the job, try to keep some of the security off you guys." She begins balling up the packaging and she clips the rose to fit into her jacket.

Annie sits on a building a half mile away, observing the facility through her optical magnification. She arrives about the time for the shift change, watching the employees filing in dutifully to begin their daily wage slavery. She hangs out for a good portion of the night watching external patrol patterns, where the employees take smoke breaks, and for courier activity.

When the graveyard shift finally heads out to take their HR mandated fifty-five minute dinner break, she breaks off and follows a promising (preferably female) prospect to wherever she is going to take her soy injection.

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The female aide leaves the Research Building with her badge still hanging around her neck. The job doesnt exactly pay so well that she has her own car, so she relies on the mass transit system to bus her to the resturante down the street. It runs at night— barely— as she waits at the stop for it to arrive. Dum de dum.
Annie heads toward the bus stop, adapting her physical mask to a mostly harmless teenage human girl. She approaches the bus stop and takes a seat, offering a smile to the other woman if she happens to look at her.

The other woman looks tired. She recognizes the other person, but keeps to herself— just nodding to the other occupant.

Putting on her new clothes, jacket and ID, Haley adjusts the glasses on her nose and checks herself in the mirror. Humming to herself in the bathroom as she gets ready she steps out of the RV and heads over to a pay LTG. Dialing up the number to Johnny Cab she heads out of the LTG booth and stands waiting. It doesn't take long for the automated cab to arrive. The plastic driver rotates towards her and drawls out, "Thank yew fer choosin' Jonnah Cab," in stark contrast to the more urbane versions in Denver. She climbs into the rear of the car and pulls down the wing door, buckling her seatbelt. She gives the driver the address she wants to go to, it ends up to be three blocks away from the research lab.

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Blindside dances on the hood of some chicks car while he swings LED's on wires around him in furious pace. His hair flashes, the fiber optics swirling color in time with the lightening zigzags that cross his eyes.

Believe it or not, -this- is considered to be legwork. And believe it or not, Blindside FITS IN here, at this pre-race rave… and yes. Blindside may just get him some real world, self lubricating pussy.
The woman's name is <ForgetableNPCNameHere> and she lives at <JustasforgetableAddressHere>. She lives with two roomates in an apartment building not too far away, has a Bachelors degree, and is not happy with her job due to the hours and the stress.

Annie checks her watch, sighs and stands up to depart. "Damn bus is never on time", she mutters as she leaves.

"Nope," says the other woman, "Never is…" And she will likely be late coming back— and hear about it again from her boss.

The two dont talk much more than that and the woman takes the encounter as just another random encounter with a stranger. Those things happen every day in the city.

It doesnt become worht anything until the next morning when her apartment is 'raided'. Annie sneaks in and knocks out her two roomates— subduing the woman and thoroughly pillaging her mind for vital job specific information. She gets a lot of things out of it— access codes, file locations, protocols and proceedures. She now knows where the research data they are looking for is and how to get to it. After leaving the woman bound and the whole place under lock and key— she is ready for infiltration along with Haley.

Putting on her new clothes, jacket and ID, Haley adjusts the glasses on her nose and checks herself in the mirror. Humming to herself in the bathroom as she gets ready she steps out of the RV and heads over to a pay LTG. Dialing up the number to Johnny Cab she heads out of the LTG booth and stands waiting. It doesn't take long for the automated cab to arrive. The plastic driver rotates towards her and drawls out, "Thank yew fer choosin' Jonnah Cab," in stark contrast to the more urbane versions in Denver. She climbs into the rear of the car and pulls down the wing door, buckling her seatbelt. She gives the driver the address she wants to go to, it ends up to be three blocks away from the research lab. She heads up to a group that are smoking and she smiles asking one of the people that seem to be standing off by themselves, there's always one, for a cigarette.

Annie arrives at work a bit early for once, calling in to let her supervisor know ahead of time, if that is the correct protocol. She makes up an excuse that the original copies mind indicates would be easily acceptable by her employer. She masks her aura, foci and active spells under a rather blah and mundane astral image that matches her current physical appearance. She smiles pleasantly at the security guard, bantering with him or ignoring him entirely as is her norm. She slows right before hitting the ward, bending over as if she dropped something, and takes a second to spoof the ward before pushing her way through.

Slinger goes in with Haley and Annie. He doesn't have a badge of his own, but what he does have is his milspec armor, infiltrator, all of those sorts of things. His typical equipment, along with his backpack. And all of it surrounded by a physical mask spell to make him look innocuous to anyone looking — as long as they aren't Awakened. Of course, if they /are/ Awakened, they will just see an elf — unawakened, uninteresting. At least, that's what he hopes. His physical form is also wearing a badge, and looks, well, little like him. But does look like the photo on the badge.

His Dark Armor spell is active, as well as Increased Reflexes. As best he can, he's ready…

And so the task before them— the unfeeling, dark research building with a colorfully natural garden courtyard. It is a trap— aiming to lure investors in with its 'nature friendly' approach. At this time of the evening things are winding down. The graves shift, sans Annie who is masking as one, wont be in for a few hours and the normal workers are finishing out the remaining hours of thier shift.

The team enters the main lobby— with the blond receptionist still there— on some trix page checking her mail before glancing up to the crew. The wards don't go crazy as the two magicians spoof thier way in— and the whole thing looks like a malaligned medical episode. Who wants the cane and drug habit?

Slinger synchronizes with the ward, trying to make his passage through it look totally natural. He's talking with Annie in animated tones about a trid show that was on last night, telling one of the jokes. ".. And so the guy takes a drink of the thing, not knowing where it came from, and it turns it it's the same glass that Trollster used earlier!" He cackles gleefully. "I mean, can you imagine? Wouldn't you, you know, smell it?" He pantomimes smelling it, just like typical coworkers, joking around. As he enters the lobby, though, he falls silent, with an apologetic look. "Sorry," he mouths.

Annie greets the receptionist in the normal manner, "Damn bus last night made me late coming back from lunch and I didn't finish what I needed to.", she shrugs and adds, "So I called in to ask if I could come in for some makeup work."

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"Oh, ok," the receptionist says without thinking about it. It looks like this is the first time this has happened. They work those poor aides into the ground.

Walking through the door, Haley smiles as she looks around. She gives a cheerful wave to the receptionist as she walks past, a briefcase held in her right hand. She is casual, her step light she's supposed to be here and her body language shows it. She doesn't really pay the receptionist much attention because as a hard worker she doesn't have all that much time to be social with people.

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Slinger reaches into the Receptionist's mind, gently, but firmly slipping into her thoughts. These three? Oh, yeah. They're part of the night shift crew, and she's seen them plenty of time. They work down in lab 3 in B2, under (insert NPC name here). He's fairly relaxed about their scheduling. And on top of that, there's no reason for her to scan their badges — the doors will take care of that. She remembers these people as friendly, trustworthy people."

Sitting in his car, Blindside flexes his gloved hands on the steering wheel. He looks around the car, nodding as he reruns the numbers. One hand strays to the slide-out LED display. He touches it, bringing up the data.

Passenger Weight Position
Blindside 74.04KG Front Driver
Breeze 62.14KG Front Passenger
Slinger 94.23KG Rear Passenger
Haley 69.45kg Rear Driver

He adjusts then the tire pressure in the rear passenger tire, making it a bit stiffer, to accommodate the extra 20 kilos of Slinger's armor. He then does a final performance tuning of the engine, ensuring the mixtures are rich to provide as much possible power to the drive train… "Yeah baby…" he mutters, patting the gearshift then… "Your ready. Lets do this thing…"

The receiptionist just sort of nods her head. She doesnt scan the badges though— the card readers in front of the doors to either wing, the stairwells, or the elevators do.
Annie offers a wave to the receptionist, then heads toward the elevator and gets her card ready to swipe.

"Anyway," Slinger resumes, nice and boring and mundane. He watches the receptionist out of the corner of his eye, making sure that his back is between her and the card reader, and hopefully any cameras are blocked. Hopefully, nobody's scanning the security system religiously, to notice that only two badges get swiped for three people.

Pulling her badge down from the small zipline it is attached to, Haley gets into line behind Annie, she's ready to swipe her badge to allow her to pass as well. She drops her briefcase as soon as she gets through the door and grumbles softly under her breath. She picks it up and in the process keeps the door open a little longer than normal. Just a second really, but that should be enough time for Slinger to hustle through.

As Annie swipes the card on the magcard reader— the little red light on the reader shifts to green. The elevator itself is called— coming up to the ground level. It looks like it only takes one card to bring it up, though corporate policy probably dictates that everyone swipe. *Ding!* The elevator opens, empty.

Distractedly, Slinger steps through the open door, continuing his story. Later, if interrogated, he could just claim he forgot. That sort of thing happens all the time. "And then, I drek you not, there he is, in a /dress/. Weirdest thing you ever saw!"

Annie steps into the elevator, maintaining her cover just in case there are cameras inside. There's always cameras. She waits until everyone is aboard and then pushes the button that matches the floor the target lab is on.

Moving into the elevator, Haley looks to Annie and she says cheerfully, "Hoi. Good to see you, ahm bushed tonight. Still got to work on my project, so Ah think its going to be a hot soykafe night tonight." She holds her briefcase close to her hips as she leans against the wall away from the doors.

A point of particular interest is that once the team steps into the elevator that there are /no buttons/ that say which floor. None at all. Its a creepy realization right about… the time the elevator doors close like a metal coffin.

Slinger switches his vision into the astral, as the elevator doors close. This is not a good thing, he suddenly realizes. This building has some serious, serious security. Thirty kay a pop? No, this is probably a lot more. The badges are probably encoded with what floors you have access to. Or maybe it's a voice system, with the rigger having to provide authorization."

Annie leans against the wall, waiting for the elevator to do it's thing. "And management wonders why people prefer the stairs.", she idly comments to her co-workers.

"Ah know, ah hate these thangs," Haley drawls she's been working on the accent for two days. She looks down at her nails checking them over casually, not a care in the world. "Ah swear one of these days they'll need to give me a raise."

After a couple seconds the elevator begins to move. It shifts and descends. A refreshing *Ding* and the elevator doors open.

The room here is half the size as the lobby above— a clear seperation between wings. The walls here are boring and white— the floors gray carpet. Padding around the corner is a man and his dog. The 'man' itself is wearing light Lone Star security armor and the dog has— tail. It barks and begins to gallop towards the elevator denizens.

Crap. Crap crap crap. Slinger was sort of hoping we could avoid the puppy dogs for at least a few minutes. But he waits just a second, frozen in place, as the dog runs forward. It's not showing /direct/ aggression, and so Slinger grins, taking a step forward — but just a small one. "Hey, you! What's all that noise about, huh?" He's not afraid of the dog. And actually, he isn't. Not directly. If it chomps him, it'll get a mouthful of armor.

Annie smiles at the dog, "Heya Fred!", she greets in animated tones as she offers the palm of one hand for the critter to inspect, "Hello Kevin. Been a quiet night?", she inquires with tones that indicates she might actually care how the guard is feeling.

Actually, Haley is a little nervous at the sight of the dog. She smiles at the dog, not showing any teeth. She picks up her briefcase and says, "Hi puppies," as she steps out behind Slinger, keeping him between the dogs and her.

The dog wags it's long lizard like tail around as it looks up at Annie and barks again. Slobber slobber bark wag. "Hey Sam," says Kevin as he walks over and says, "Down boy!"
Fred whines— then turns towards Haley and Slinger— sniffing thier feet curiously.
Kevin looks over to Sam, "Hey you're here early. The Boss riding you again?"

Annie nods, "Does he do anything else?" ,she sighs in apparent exasperation, "The damn bus was late getting me back last night and I got behind on my workload. So I'm here to catch up before I miss my deadline."

Slinger offers his hand to the dog to sniff, then gives him a quick scritch behind the ears if he can get away with it. Hopefully, Kevin's friendly attitude will convince Fred that he's okay. His hand should 'feel' real, with the spell, even if the reality underneath is different.
Slinger nervously glances along the corridor, and eyes Kevin for a moment, just in case he might have to mess with his memory a bit.

Leaning over a little, Haley gives Fred a good scritch between the ears. She smiles over at Kevin and she says, "These puppies always make my heart stand still." She walks over to the handler and she says, "How do you keep them so friendly?" She gives a grin as she says, "Or are they watch dogs, not guard dogs," her tone playful.

"No, guess not," says Kevin as he looks at Fred, "C'mon." Fred is sniffs a bit more and looks up to Slinger and then Haley. He barks. That bark was not friendly— and he reacts defensively to being scritched. "Hmm?" and at this point Kevin looks over towards towards 'Sams' friends. "I'm not as familiar with your friends there, Sam," he tells her— looking towards the other two and saying, "May I see your badges a moment?"

"Oh sure," Haley offers up her badge as she steps close to the guard. She smiles saying, "Always happy to do my part to keep the place safe." She looks down at the dog and she asks, "He's not going to bite me, is he?"

As Kevin starts to show the first signs of suspicion, that is when Slinger casts the first spell. Because the instant somebody actually tries to take his badge off of him, he's going down. The elf sends his magics out into the guard's mind, carefully working to insert a version of himself, matching the name on his fake badge, into Kevin's mind.

Annie flickers her attention to the dog in case the spell triggers an attack reflex.

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Kevin, notably does believe that he is successfully scanning Slinger's badge at about the same time Fred bears his teeth and looks like he is right about to lunge at Sling's juglars.

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Annie drops to her knee and extends her hands to Fred in an empathic manner. "Hey boy? What's wrong", she inquires in obviously concerned tones.

The dog stops growling a bit and whines. Then it goes towards being a slobbering dog again— licking Annie/Sam's hand. Kevin says, "I have no idea whats gotten into him," he says as he finishes scanning the peice of air and handing it back to Slinger. He then holds out his hand for Haley's card.

Annie works to keep the Barghests attention on her and away from Slinger in case the other mage needs to use another spell to protect Haley. "You are such a good boy", she continues gushing in a pleasant manner. Her hands going to all the correct pet spots that Sams memories hopefully provided.

Haley has had her card ready, she smiles at the guard saying, "Dogs can be so temperamental. Ahm more a cat person mahself." She keeps her briefcase down at her side ready to allow the man to check out her ID.

As the dog calms, so does Slinger, and he puts his ID back, since Kevin already looked at it. Really. Honest. He'll do the same trick with Haley's ID, if he can, since he's still maintaining the spell. Whatever Annie did, if she did anything, was highly effective. Slinger is growing to respect Breeze more and more.

Blindside cruises through downtown Amarillo. The team has X amount of time until they are at the front door. The radio is cued to the right channels, the police scanner is scanning, the sensors are currently on passive, pulling in all the data from the town. Scabbards on rolling standby, Cerberus is ready to roll if she has too… Life is good.

The card is taken and it is scanned. Kevin looks over the readout and hands it back to her. "Sorry for holding you guys up," he says as he whistles, "C'mon Fred." The dog reluctantly disengages from the team. Looks like that is over with as the two wave and go about thier rounds back down the corridor.

Slinger watches the two depart, then immediately sets about Cleansing the area. It shouldn't take long at all, and might just help avoid leaving a trail of astral breadcrumbs behind us.

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Annie exhales slowly, adjusts her clothing that got rearranged during the heavy petting, then heads on out of the security room.

Letting her ID retract automatically, Haley doesn't seem to notice it slap against her chest. The beauty of armored clothing. She walks down the hallway heading towards the lab, she relaxes now that the dog is gone commenting to herself, "I'll have to talk Jay into letting me have some dogs."

With the guard gone, the remaining trek down towards the lab is short and uneventful. The hallway is steril and boring, having several cameras on the way towards the largest lab. The door itself has yet another maglock.

Annie pulls out her card once more, slotting it into the maglock and then waiting for the light to go green or all hell to break loose.

*Beep* The red light goes to green and the door unlocks.

Slinger is ready, just in case, as he slips inside. « I'll work on what's inside. You're good with Computers, right? Because I'm not. »

Annie nods to Slinger, takes a moment to scan the room for people, then heads over to the computer terminal.

The door, when opened, reveals a large lab area used for magical field trials. Within the lab itself is entirely a different story than the building. The researchers were not expecting anybody, and they know thier lab a lot better than anyone else. The Lead Researcher, who everyone has so much intel on, looks at the three and says, "Who the frag are you? Get out. We are busy." True, the two other people in here with him are busy, though one waves to 'Sam'.

Honestly? Mr. Head Researcher isn't Slinger's concern. What he /is/ concerned about is cameras here in the room. Where they are. Where they're pointed. Or if this room is top secret enough not to have them, as a security risk. It's the latter Slinger is hoping for.

The room itself does not have any visible cameras. It might very well be 'that' kind of research building, which would explain why all paths leading up to these rooms is so secure.

Annie raises a hand in a calming manner, "Sorry to bother you Albert. I got called in early because Jared reported a possible security threat and narrowed it to your lab.", she sighs as if annoyed at being called in early, "It won't take long…I just need to check your network firewalls and Rick needs to double check for possible transmitters.", she shrugs, "The people upstairs are worried about spies of all things."

This might actually work. Slinger nods once, looking apologetic in that way that technical people have when they're having to deal with somebody who has more authority than they do — but they still have a job to do.

"No," repeats the researcher like an ill-tempered child, "No. No. No. Goddamnit we head deadlines and we don't have time for this drek. You can do it when we leave in a couple hours when we leave. The last time you said 'just a few minutes' we had two trials get ruined and I'll be damned if you do it before we collect our sample data today." Albert fumes, "Now are you going to go or do I have to call the Chief /again/?" Obviously he has a bone to pick with being interupted.

"I'M ALL OUT OF LOVE! I'M SO LOST WITHOUT YOU!" Screams Blindside in time to the AirSupply XFM channel he's currently grooving on. "I KNOW YOU WERE RIGHT rELIVING FOR SO LONG!"
"Fine, I don't mind waiting.", Annie replies with a handwave, "If some implanted worm destroys all of your data because I was told to cool my heels, you will have noone to blame but yourself.", she pauses a few heartbeats and adds, "Oh sorry. It won't be you blaming yourself…it will be <alberts bosses name here>. Then you can explain why my supervisor paid overtime and exceeded his payroll budget because you couldn't take a five minute breather."

Slinger lets Annie do the talking. He wasn't around for her draining the poor girl's memory, and her knowledge of the situation is impressive. Yeah! All Slinger can do is fold his arms and nod agreement with what Annie is saying. Yeah! All that will happen. And that'll suck! Whatever it is.

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Was it Annie's convincing commentary? Was it Slinger's epic nod of support? Albert throws his hands up and walks out, muttering and grumbling. He says, "Do whatever the hell you want." Time for a smoke break.

A smoke break sounds pretty good right about now, but Slinger may have to wait on that. The elf watches the boss depart, then steps out from behind Annie, heading to one of the other terminals — ostensibly to assist, but in reality? He's looking at the lab and looking for the best way to cause massive destruction in a short time.

Annie walks over to a terminal and sits down, entering the command codes and passwords she gleaned from Sams memory. She ghosts through the system, offering a techie glare to any of the lab staff that has the guts to try to watch over her shoulder. She finds the data she needed, clucking ominously…"There it is…a nasty little bugger too.", she plugs in her techdeck and isolates the 'worm' and extracts it from the system and onto a secure drive for storage and analysis.

It takes some time to download all that data. The ETA says: 3 minutes. And we all know that means between 3 minutes and Eternity. The workers try to do what they can— quietly 'fake' working now that the boss isnt watching.

"I want you to come back and carry me home,
Away from this long lonely nights,
I'm reaching for you, are you feeling it too,
Does the feeling seem oh so right…"

Blindside belts his best, right from the heart.

"You know." Says Gladius, her sex-kitten-phone-operator voice purring from the onboard speakers. "I don't know how your species ever made it out of the 80s, with so called 'love' songs like that."

"And what? You know better?" Asks Blindside. "Let me guess, Haiku about Octane Levels?"

"I do find 98 Octane rather arrousing."

Annie leans back in the chair while the 'virus' is stripped off of the lab computer. "Albert is damned lucky he gave in.", she comments idly to the lab assistant that waved at her earlier, "This virus is a custom job. I think the brass is right…someone is looking to infiltrate and possibly even sabotage your research here.", she shakes her head, "Keep a wary eye open."

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Slinger is mostly amusing himself, poking at things, trying to look competent, and hoping eyes are on Annie or on the work, instead of on him. Mostly for show, while he glances over at what the are doing — and switches his vision into the astral, curiously. If there's something valuable in here, Slinger might just make off with it.

"Whatever," says the assistant. They care /SO/ deeply. Thats what you get for paying them poorly.

"So whatcha doin'?" Slinger asks casually. People love to talk about their work. He sits back, leaving something up on the screen that'll take time. See? Time. Progress bar and everything.

The bar is almost done! Wait, no, its hanging at 99 percent. Lies! The worker says, "Taking samples, checking them for tags, rinse, wash, repeat." Really fun application of a degree.
Annnd. *Bing* Done downloading.

Slinger thinks about it, then sends out a simple spell to Annie. Mindlink. Low-Force, but it doesn't need to be very powerful…

~All right,~ Slinger finally says. ~How do we want to do this? I don't wanna kill these guys. I might be able to mindwipe them… and send them to the bathroom convinced they have to take a dump, bad… but how're we gonna blow the lab?~

~I have a delayed blast fireball. Can set it for three minutes and we could hit a fire alarm on the way out.~, Annie replies as the mental connection is made, ~If you can make them go to the bathroom, that might keep the rigger out of the loop.~

Slinger nods thoughtfully. ~Think we need to erase memories of the project, of what it was about? That, combined with computer records being gone, combined with trashed lab, combined with something important missing… might end it.~

Slinger glances around, looking for some expensive and portable and small pieces of lab equipment to make off with. Never a bad thing to snag one of those and toss them to a contact as a present! But barring that, he's focussing on the researchers, and waiting while Annie does her thing… and while a decision gets reached.

Annie stands from her chair, cleaning up her workspace while conversing with Slinger. ~We would probably have to do in Albert if we want to erase memory of the project. The job specified destroying the lab so research can't continue…not erasing the memory of every employee who had access to the data. I'd say use the fireball and go from there. Mission accomplished. Think three to four minutes is enough for us to get out?~

~I think that's perfect,~ Slinger agrees. ~I'm gonna send these guys to the bathroom with a rather intense bout of nausea… hopefully the spell can do that.~

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Annie disconnects her cyberdeck from the mainframe and returns it to the case on her belt after checking the readouts to confirm containment. "Nice piece of work", she mutters mostly to herself after a moment. She heads over to the mainframe, checking the case for its structural integrity, using a bit of sleight of hand to palm the button. "Boom 240", she mutters under her breath while

Slinger occupies the research assistants. She peels off the sticky back and attaches the button to what she judges to be the most effective and vulnerable part of the mainframe.

Notably the two assistants are rushing out of the room, holding thier gut and moaning. Poor guys. Well better than being in here.
Annie catches the door before it closes behind the assistants, "Time to leave", she murmurs to Slinger who is busily looting, "We've got four minutes to extract."

Slinger concentrates on the two researchers, making them suddenly and spontaneously each be hit by a rather massive bout of rather foul rumblings from their large intenstine. The bathroom is far enough from here that they should be safe, and as they bolt from the room, Slinger immediately moves swiftly, grabbing up the metal radicals and anything else that looks rather valuable and portable. The elf glances back at Annie. ~I think I might be able to jimmy the lock on the way out, so that it'll be hard for Mr. Science to open again.~

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Annie nods, ~Don't take too long.~, she peers out into the hallway to verify whether it is clear or not and brings up a mental map showing the quickest and most efficient possible extraction route.

Hallway is clear. No spirits of doom out there yet.

Commlink-Breeze> Annie doubleclicks her comm, indicating to Blindside that the team is extracting.

With everybody out of the room, the things he stole stuffed into his backpack, Slinger makes his way out of the room. He actually drops something — looks like his badge, and then crouches down to pick it up — and while down there, he quickly fiddles with the lock, doing just enough damage to it to make sure it won't properly respond to a badge. By the time they get that sorted, the thing will go off.
Slinger stands back up again, then prepares to fall into step with Annie. ~I think it's time we take a smoke break,~ the elf says with a grin. ~Where would we go for that?~

Annie indicates the direction to the nearest stairwell and fire exit. "Yeah, I think I could use a smoke as well. Albert drives me nucking futs.", she leads the way carrying on the banter.

Slinger grins. "Yeah. Good work on that worm. That thing could've done some serious damage," the elf says. So far, this has gone /way/ too well, which is the scary part. Slinger is waiting for the other steel-toed armor-reinforced boot to drop.

Blindside gets the double click. He dials Xenon's number now, then kicks the car in to gear. He gooses the car in to traffic as Xenon picks up.

"Eey, esse. Whats the haps? We racen?"

"Yeah. Just got the signal. Let loose the hounds!"

"A'ight! LETS GET IT ON!"

The call disconnects and across town, on the other side of down town, roaring out of a parking garage come 13 highly tuned, impressive as hell sports cars. A Dynamite, a pair of Ferarri's, a trio of Corvettes and more esoteric models. They roar up to the line, waiting for the Light to go green…

Blindside thumbs the throw-away cellphone. "Hello, 911? Yes… I just… saw the most amazing thing! I saw a whole bunch of cars over on Post and Pillar… they were all kinds of souped up and looking like they were gonna RACE! They looked very dangerous! Oh! You'll look in to it? Great!"

The door does shut behind them in a normal, boring fashion. but it jammed to the point that it is not opening any time soon.

The team of three get halfway down the hallway when the lights cut to backup lighting. Red lights start flashing from the ceiling as an alert klaxon blargs. All of the rooms to the adjoining labs go on lockdown with a large 'Red'. Somewhere over the sirens there is the sound of a familiar barking.

Outside Blindside intercepts a FRT Request signal over an encrypted channel.

Blindside then tosses said cellphone out on to the pavement, as compression builds. He clicks the comm 6 times. The preset signal for 'Sensors Detect Your Ass On The Line.'
Elsewhere in the city, Scabbard roars to life, starting its route. The back door is ready to slam down to create the ramp. The catchwire is ready. Everything is in place for an amazing get-away… lets see if its nessessary.

~What the frag was that?~ Slinger demands over the link. What gave us away? That's the thing he's confused about. ~Do we go full offense, now?~

~Coulda been the lock. Jimmying it might have felt like sticking a pin in the riggers eye.~, Annie replies mentally as she continues moving toward the stairwell.

~Full offense, or no?~ Slinger repeats, waiting for the go signal. If so, he has a ton of stuff he needs to do, /fast/.

Annie nods, ~Yeah, I think the drek is hitting the fan kid~, she also begins to prepare herself for some defensive spells.

Once he gets the go order, Slinger switches from 'Being Deceptive and Blending In' Slinger to new Action Adventure Slinger (R), from Mattel. And the first step in that particular transformation is to make himself invislble to the cameras, and drop the physical mask as no longer needed.

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Around the corner Kevin and Fred show up. Kevin pulls out his Thunderbolt and aims it down on the runners. He yells "Freeze" as Fred sprints at full pace with a peircing 'Howl'. As if things could not get any worse— behind Kevin an Earth Elemental manifests out of the wall— and a Water Elemental manifests behind the three.

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Annie continues moving toward her exit, slowing slightly as the elemental appears in her path. Her hand flickers down and a rune covered rod seems to leap into her hand from it's leather case. She looks over her shoulder to see what Slinger is doing and spots Kevin bearing down on her with a Thunderbolt. She doesn't hesitate, merely aiming the rod toward the hapless security guard like it's a pistol, she mutters "Sleep". A barely visible wave surges down the hallway and soaks into the officers aura, dropping him like a puppet with its strings suddenly and cruelly cut.
The race is on. HELLO KITTY Ferarri leaps out front! They make it all of two blocks when the red-and-blues are on em! All at once, the race is -ON- and the racers throw caution to the wind. It's quickly apparent the Patrol Cars just can't do a damn thing to keep up with the super powered street rides. The Interceptors get called in. First one, then another, then soon, the entire departments Interceptors are in the chase, all 8 of them. Blindside eyes the video feed from Xenon, laughing the entire way. He hits the final approach to the building, then hits the radio 4 times. 45 seconds.

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The spell just plain doesn't have enough oomph behind it. Slinger growls as he sends out his spell, only to have it simply dissipate on the way to the spirit. Frag!

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As the elemental does its best to wrap around him, Slinger uses his Aikido to execute a roll out of the way, dodging the movement of the thing as it tries to wrap its water body around him. Engulfed in water? Frag that! It'll get Slinger's cigarettes wet!

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Annie catches some movement out of the corner of her eye just in time to see the earth elemental bearing down on her. She has just enough time to mutter, "Fudgesickles", and fail an attempt to block and dodge the spirit. The world goes dark as she is abruptly buried alive in her native element.

The Barghest that is still up and good to go lets loose a howl that renders Haley paralyzed— causing her to fall the floor, stiff as a board.

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Slinger has had enough of Mr. Water Elemental. Plus, he's short on spell pool. He steps forward, rushing at the spirit, diving in close to it to negate its Reach, if any, with the sheer force of his will…

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Much as she likes the sensation of a random elemental hugging on her for a bit, Annie really needs to go. The neighbors will get cranky if Bside shows up and starts honking. She focuses her will and hurls a stunbolt directly into the center of the spirit. The spirit shudders as the tiny creature kicking in it's belly manages to strike a sensitive spot.

Slinger's willpower is rather intense, and as such, the elf strikes out with his bare fist, using the force of his willpower and personality — the courage of his convictions, some would say — to blast the spirit into oblivion. And then, there were only two opponents left — the earth elemental, which Annie was doing well at fighting, and the barghest.

The Barghest clamps onto Haley's ankle and begins to drag her off while everyone is fighting. Smart dog.

Annie straightens up and forces her arms outward, envisioning her will blasting outward like an explosion. She is rewarded by the dying shriek of the elemental as it blasts apart, leaving the diminutive elf mage standing ankle deep in rapidly dissolving rocky ephemera.

The staff twirls in her hands and expands to it's full length with a soft *snikt*, the orichalcum runes along it's length beginning to fill and glow with a pastel blue light that fades and pulses in rhythm with her slightly elevated heartbeat.

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Annie steps forward and brings the end of her staff down on Freds head with an audible clunk sound. "Bad doggie!", she chastises angrily, "No dragging off the dinner guests!". As the Barghest drops to the floor unconscious, she looks over at Slinger. "Don't suppose you can haul out the face?"

Commlink-BSyde> Blindside says, "Timecheck."
Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "Encountering some issues. One moment."

Gimme a few to power up," Slinger responds. He hates doing this. Hates it hates it hates it. But he will. He pulls the magic wand from where he has it tucked, places it inside Haley's belt, then activates it with the spell. It's the last thing he really wants to do, letting one of his precious foci off of his body, but…
The elf finishes the rest of his powerup, but holds off on channelling a spirit for right now. He does call it back from the astral to hover nearby, though, just in case it's needed. And with that, he starts making his way out of the place, taking the fastest route he possibly can, ready to deal with any resistance.

Commlink-BSyde> Blindside says, "I'd really prefer a more precise estimation of when I need to be at the location. It helps me to avoid driving around."

Commlink-Slinger> Slinger says, "We're on our way out, havin' to fight a little. This batch is done."

Annie leads the way out of the building, blasting or polearming anything that gets into her path. Once outside the building she slows for a second and hits the three clicks that indicates that the team is out of the building. She checks her watch and nervously taps her foot as she waits for the ride to arrive. She doesn't wait long though and breathes a sigh of relief as she spots the dwarf riggers vehicle.

Slinger has Shielding at its maximum level, and has his spells prepared in case anything needs zotted. Drones get a nice dose of AV rounds. Annie will whack anything that needs whacking with her stick. But hopefully, anything we do is nonlethal. And Haley, Slinger floats along behind him, checking the astral frequently for anything that might try to nom on foci.

The car roars down the road, the blower kicking in to provide further compression and torque. The jet engine whine of the blower is unmistakable to any man who has ever worked with a car. A bus pulls in front of Blindside, so he swurves in to oncoming traffic. This might normally be a 'dangerous' thing to do, but Blindside is seeing things in bullet time. The other cars, he knows what they are doing even before they do, so this is really as relaxing as a sunday drive. There are no bullets involved.
Annie piles into the vehicle and immediately straps herself firmly down into her seat, waiting for the g-forces that are sure to be coming as Blindside steps into his role in the operation.

Slinger first loads up Halex, then jumps into the vehicle himself, turning even as he belts himself in to look behind him — and scan the astral and physical realms for any tracers, anybody who might be following us. If so, they will receive a very firm 'go away' message.

The car's stopped only for the bare minimum time it takes people to get in the car. The moment people are actually in seats, Gladius says over her speakers. "Buckle up and hold on to your junk!" The voice purrs it. The next moment, the car is roaring down the road, not hitting the nitro here, too small a space to use it… but the goal is to get away from the immediate area. The transponder starts changing rapidly, while the color switches every few hundred feet, as the vehicle makes corners. A few side alleys, one particularly interesting trip through a parking garage in which Blindside actually jumps from one garage to the next level down of a neighboring garage…

Yeah, Slinger lights a cigarette — might as well be smoking if he's going to go out in a fiery crash! And waits for us to get away. Once we're back to calm driving, though, Slinger smirks. "So, B-side. About that Pilot you installed in my vehicle…"

And with that BA remark, the team roars off down the streets— the security force far from being able to track them— and back to Denver to get paid for a job well done.
page revision: 9, last edited: 26 Feb 2010 15:38
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