Renegade clenches his teeth as he can hear Imagine continue talking in his head.
Fine, but be warned that should I sense you meddling about in my head beyond just conversation, you will have to answer for it!
At the request of the telepath, Renegade lands and falls in with the rest of the group walking towards the Slasher hide out.
For the record, my personal experience with Dr. Destruction does not bode well for anything going on beyond his grand schemes, whatever they may be. If this cell does anything that draws too much heat on itself or Omega, he is liable to respond even more viciously than the V'sori's Fin lapdogs. Just so you are well aware of what you may be setting yourself up for...
As he moves ahead, Carl thinks to Imagine, Sure, Imagine, I'll keep up a running diary of what I'm seeing. Let's see, I'm passing some bums. Oh, and here's a lamppost. Oops, gotta watch the curb.
The com-links Dr. Destruction provided have all the functions of a modern high-end cell phone, including pretty secure internet access. Depending on local wireless coverage of course. Luckily this is not an issue in Star City as there is full wireless broadband coverage.
Once they are somewhere secure, Renegade holds up his hand at the others and says, "Hang on, let me see what I sort of recon I can do from here."
2)
3)
4)
So a ghost, a power suit, and Rigor walk out of a bar.....
Baldy with his Carl shaped ghostly shadow lead the way through the rapidly emptying streets.
Rigor, Judd, and Renegade walk calmly onward
Renegade Spoilering the following for length. I assume all are free to read as you are displaying the info?
A main hall takes up most of the main floor with an office and utility room tucked in by the main door. There is a half floor under the roof on the west side accessible via a spiral staircase in the office. The half floor contains 2 rooms and access to the steeple.
In front of the church in what would be a parking lot in another city there is a large round decorative fountain.
Phones. No functional land lines. You can cut the local cell towers with about 5 minutes work but it might hit your own ability to communicate.
Power: No dice. Star City Power recently upgraded their security and your worms have not found a way through yet.
You see a number of burned/damaged buildings that could suit as a hidey-hole. You are between 2 and six blocks SW of the church.
Actions?
As Renegade works his magic on the networks, his suit detects and informs him of the various potential threats assembling around the group.
For the record, in case you weren't aware, we are being followed and our movements are being tracked very closely. On foot, scooters, and bikes. I don't have any doubt that they can be taken out easily enough, but it is going to draw a lot of attention, even more than we have so far given our brazen parade through Southpoint. Also, I've managed to locate a security camera functioning about two blocks away from the main building. There are several vehicles parked there, including a heavily altered bus with "Axe!" painted on the side in graffiti. The other vehicles appear to be of decent size as well. In case it isn't perfectly clear...this looks to be a bad idea. However, I am reading on the VMAP that our benefactor has several missions he DOES want his cells to undertake that are available, one of which is indeed in this area. Perhaps we should reconnoiter back at your base of operations and research one of these options?
So long as she maintains contact, i.e takes the -2 on all trait rolls, you can.
The folks leading and tailing you have nothing more than knives or maybe a pistol. These are more kids than full members. Especially going by the very bulked up Baldy and Twitchy.
Just a note on the bus in case I was unclear. It has four rows of two seats. Normal capacity is 16 adults plus the driver.
As Renegade works his magic on the networks, his suit detects and informs him of the various potential threats assembling around the group.
For the record, in case you weren't aware, we are being followed and our movements are being tracked very closely. On foot, scooters, and bikes. I don't have any doubt that they can be taken out easily enough, but it is going to draw a lot of attention, even more than we have so far given our brazen parade through Southpoint. Also, I've managed to locate a security camera functioning about two blocks away from the main building. There are several vehicles parked there, including a heavily altered bus with "Axe!" painted on the side in graffiti. The other vehicles appear to be of decent size as well. In case it isn't perfectly clear...this looks to be a bad idea. However, I am reading on the VMAP that our benefactor has several missions he DOES want his cells to undertake that are available, one of which is indeed in this area. Perhaps we should reconnoiter back at your base of operations and research one of these options?
[dice=Notice]1d12 + 2
[dice=Notice Wild]1d12 + 2
"If we back to the base can we finally have lunch? I'm sure that with some help from you all I could take care of them Slasher punks but that might be more trouble than it's worth especially if tin-can", pointing a finger at Renegade, "is right. I say we have lunch and then go to plan B...something that doc demento, I mean Doctor Doom," looking around to make sure Dr. Doom isn't lurking,"wanted us to do."
"You go on, I'll catch up." Rigor nods acknowledgement of & agreement with the group consensus before making her way down one of the side streets.
Arriving at the hide-out, Jud finds the squishiest furniture and sprawls across it. "COOK! Where's my Hasenpfeffer?" he shouts at the top of his lungs and starts laughing. "I do love me some Bugs Bunny. Wonder if he's still alive or if those space guys killed him," Jud says with a more solemn expression.
"You go on, I'll catch up." Rigor nods acknowledgement of & agreement with the group consensus before making her way down one of the side streets.
And why does Rigor sidle slyly down the side street?
Arriving at the hide-out, Jud finds the squishiest furniture and sprawls across it. "COOK! Where's my Hasenpfeffer?" he shouts at the top of his lungs and starts laughing. "I do love me some Bugs Bunny. Wonder if he's still alive or if those space guys killed him," Jud says with a more solemn expression.
So knowing you are being followed you intend to calmly walk back to your secret base? Take a benny for overconfident.
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Jud, no sooner have you bellowed an order for meat and wine than does an elderly lady who holds herself with the air of one who helped write the definition of 'HellRaiser" appears and sets a steaming tray before you.
"Well hello there! My aren't you a big boy. And big boys are always hungry so here you go. My little girl went shopping earlier and we don't have an Hasenpfeffer, but I can whip up a mean pot pie (which I call 'hogies'. Shhh.) so I hope that might suffice. Now you just tuck right in, Jud and let me know if I used too much sage.
Oh, don't mind me, my baby gave me a wave that you'd be along and would be looking for lunch, and I can do a lot with a little heads-up so just start on that and I'll try and russle up a beverage for you."
The tray contains three large steaming pies that might have an entire chicken in them apiece. The woman appears later and places an entire 2-liter of Code Red Mt. Dew before you. The lack of a glass seems purposeful.
After ripping through the food and drink, Jud wanders over to the V-Map and starts playing with it.
"BELCH!! This is cool. Moderate is better than low so shouldn't we do it first? Could Tincan crack into the police computer and see if there are any clues? There's always clues in the 4-D shows, that's why I wear a fedora...no one will ever recognize me in a fedora."
As the group separated, Renegade accessed his file with the basic information he had on the location of his new Cell, and headed in a round-a-bout path to the lair. Upon arriving, he at first was disgusted with the appearance of the place, but once he noticed the high-end security access, he smirked behind his helmet.
Well, at least they have the place on lock down. Perhaps the way it looks is just camouflage from the V'sori. I mean, if it ACTUALLY looked of value, I'm sure they'd have already raided it by now...
He moves to a hidden location to avoid any curious glances he might receive standing around in his battle armor, then flips up the access panel on his arm for his CommLink, and begins attempting to find a way to grant himself access to the building as he waits for his new found allies to arrive.
Renegade then finds himself an unclaimed office to settle in to, and then moves to the group's "common area." He was, indeed, disappointed with the interior of the place as much as he was the exterior, though the Med-Tank was indeed a very interesting acquisition. He looked it over thoroughly, certain he could improve on Alpha Squadron's original design.
As the tub of lard commented on the missions on the VMAP, Renegade sighs and moves over to him, pulling them up on his holgraphic projector. "Indeed, in normal situations we should likely target the more serious missions first, but you see how this one is labeled 'Time Sensitive?' That means there is a very narrow window of opportunity to act on this mission. As such, we should probably hit it first. The serial killer is likely not going anywhere, and if another cell manages to take him out in the mean time, all the better. Although, I do have to say the idea of finding a spy satellite of Alpha Squadron's sounds very interesting to me."
Renagade You recognize the security set up as you add yourself in. Moderate security Alpha Squadron, the Spider designs bleeding through some of the cheap over-painting confirms it. Must have been an old lair. You and Imagine arrive at the same time. Your better speed matched by her direct route.
"You go on, I'll catch up." Rigor nods acknowledgement of & agreement with the group consensus before making her way down one of the side streets.And why does Rigor sidle slyly down the side street?
Rolling her eyes & shaking her head mildly at Imagines antics, Rigor moves not so much stealthily down the streets, but as a person so obviously at home wherever she was that for her to be anywhere else was unthinkable, and if she belonged there, then obviously her presence wasn't worthy of comment or recollection.
Jud furrows his brow at the stream of words from Renegade. "Soooooo, we should do that timey one, huh? I used to rip doors off of vaults so I bet I could rip the doors off a truck, no problem, if you guys stop it. Maybe what's her face, Ima Jean, could mess with the driver and make him stop. What'cha think? Pretty good plan, huh Tinman?" Girl voice has a funny last name...Jean...like pants...her name is pretty much I'm pants. Maybe we should just call her pants. It's probably a bit disconcerting to see someone the size of Jud giggling to himself and muttering "Pants"
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Imagine glides in the door and slumps into an over-stuffed chair that shows signs of recent mending. Wordlessly, she hands her Z-belt to Red who plugs it in, and her mommy brings her a cup of some steaming liquid that she sips desultorily. She and Red keep exchanging glance as if sharing an on-going mental conversation, while Renegade muses on the Milk Run op.
At last as Jud speaks up on tactics, she throws a mental wave into a more general direction, still staring into her cup.
to all: You are correct, oh Rocket-Jumper. Some of us have scouted the intersection of Wash'n'Wash, and it looks like a good spot to stop it. I had been thinking of just stopping it with an old-fashioned jerk-with-car-across-street. And by 'jerk' I mean 'Carl' and by 'car' I mean 'stolen car'.
They would just hit reverse if they saw a flaming wreck, but a guy in a car can be talked into moving it. Then he goes astral, and we eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive. Rigor slips in behind it to make sure it can't get away, and Jud can start punching things/people.
Yes, oh One Of Larg-ness, I'll Control the driver (with or without my jeans. Haven't decided yet) if needed, but if we can immobilize the van without such need, I can use it more defensively, Controlling those that are most able in combat.
Then we kill everyone and can 'process' the verboten cargo as events allow.
What say you?
"I guess it is up to me to carjack a car about twenty minutes before this goes down. Imagine, you could help just by 'telling' the car owner to let me borrow the car, rather than me threatening them with bodily harm."
Until then Jud's hanging out, chowing down on free food and making himself laugh as he makes up more and more insulting nicknames for the others.
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Shaking her head in self-recrimination, Rigor turns & makes her way to the nearest dollar-house cinema. Once there, she buys a ticket for the next movie playing, where she makes herself 'comfortable' in the darkened recesses of the back.
There, she relaxes...
Rigor notes the young gang member take a seat in the rear of the cinema. If you wish Tracy can leave either during or after the film with out a tail.
All at the lair
As the hours pass anyone keeping an eye on the security cameras notes a near constant Slasher presence in the area. The building is quite clearly being watched.
You see no sign of increased V'sori or police activity in this area on the V-maps.
Ready when you are.
Carl will phase out, and, since we've identified who is watching, and where, will sneak up on each "watcher" and "remove" them.
If they are alone, then he will attempt to kill them with the vibroknife (since it is silent). If they are in small groups (two or three) he'll phase in and ambush them. If they are larger groups, he will avoid them.
Renegade maintains a constant vigil on the security footage, and grows more and more anxious as time passes. Eventually, he steps away and calls out, "Alright, we have a problem and we need to deal with it before it gets out of hand."
Once everyone is gathered, he continues, "Whatever you guys did, you thoroughly pissed off the Slashers. Seeing as I have no interest in getting killed or handed over to the alien bastards over something done before I arrived, and I doubt you guys want to deal with the same, I suggest we find a way to make peace with the gang so that we aren't constantly worrying about a SECOND threat, or we relocate the lair. Seeing as the latter is not going to be easily conducted under the constant watch we find ourselves in, I suggest we find a way to make peace with them, and get them off our asses."
To emphasize his point, Renegade holds out his palm and projects an image of the building they reside in as well as the locations of the various identified gang members around their location.
"If we are constantly having to defend this spot from the gang, not only do we face the risk that they JUST MIGHT eventually overwhelm us, but we also have to accept the fact that it may bring down the attention of the V'sori, Fins, and Drones. At which point, I think we are sufficiently, as the phrase goes, boned. Also, if we keep antagonizing the Slashers, it will make any attempts at making amends that much more difficult. So if we are going to make nicey-nice with the gang, we need to do it sooner than later."
"Awww, shoot! And here I was gonna take care of the peepers out there. I vote we send a message to the gang that they'll understand. And they won't understand if we come crawling up to them with our hands over our groins saying Oh, massa, we'se sorry we done messed up. The only thing they'll understand is if they keep playing with fire. They're gonna get burned."
"Or, once they get tired of losing men, they send an anonymous message to the V'sori and have THEM deal with us. And I never said we go crawling to them. I said we make peace with them. We scratch their backs, they scratch ours, kind of deal."
As the movie nears it's end, a significantly smaller, less physically impressive young woman makes her way to the women's room. There, she changes into a different set of clothes, still too big for her, and cautiously makes her way back to the Black & Henley cold storage warehouse.
Spotting the Slashers keeping the building under watch, Tracy debates her options.
Great! not what I needed to get into right now...
Or , in fact.
Ducking back into an alley, she hastily puts her Com-rig to her lips.
'Hey, you guys know they have the place surrounded, yes?'
Save the benny. You spot them easily as they are not trying to hide.
The watchers look like probationary/new gang-members. No alien supplied weapons and they look scrawny compared to Baldy. The appear to be about half a dozen scattered around the lair.
Hearing the unfamiliar voice in the communicator, Renegade says to those in the lair, "Who in the Hell is that? Did one of you lose a Comm-Link?"
Noting the absence of Rigor, he adds, "Is that Rigor? Is she a shapeshifter?"
Sighing in exasperation, the woman on the other end replies. 'Please don't use names unless absolutely necessary. 'She-who-is-to-be-taken-seriously-even-if-we-wish-otherwise' can vouch for me. In answer to your other question...
not exactly.'
'So, suggestions as to how we want to deal with these guys? From what I can see, they all look like low-level soldiers, probably only recent inductees.'
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Tracy, as you walk out in clothes that are obviously big for you, an old woman approaches you and offers you some clothing.
"Deary," she says, her voice full of a lifetime of experience and honest concern, "I'd hate to see you try to pull off high crime and misdemeonors dressed like that. My little sweetums as way more clothes that she could possibly wear. Are you sure I can't offer you something more flattering? You've got such a nice figure, you really should show it off."
She is neither condescending nor offending, simply an old woman who has done some things and seen even more.
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to all: Why, thank you Trace, comes Imagine's voice, still smiling into her cup. She drains the last of the chocolate, and you get the feeling that she'd not eat any more calories this day, unless absolutely reminded. The cup floats in the direction of the kitchen where Red grabs it and pops it in the dishwasher.
But one of the benefits of using jolly-pirate nicknames is that you can use them, even in hostile airwaves. Unless there's a birth certificate with that name on it, it should be okay.
Imagine only now hovers up and takes in the group around the room. Although in the past I'd be of a mind to concur forever with Carl, you make some sense, Renegade. If we can cool this situation down, now is the time to do it. Right now it's just a small misunderstanding. But adding a dozen bodies, I've found, tends to make any situation more tense. Go figure!
As much chagrined as I am to admit it, Tracy is better at such kinds of negotiation as this. If she wants, I'd fly out with her to provide moral support. The best step might be for us to just walk out the door and talk to the first guy we see. Go from there.
Now, while I concede superiority to tactics, I might be able to lend hand in strategics.
We've killed, and we're not rich, so we can't just pay a tax. We'll owe him a favor. No way around that and that's the best case scenario. We just bet that he'll want our debt more than our war, and see what they say.
We can always start killing if that doesn't work. ;-)
How's that sound?"
Renegade casts a stern glance at the woman continuing to tip toe inside his mind. "I would suggest sending at least SOME muscle to the negotiation. These types, as has already been pointed out, respect shows of strength. Plus, if things turn hostile, some brute force may be required."
'...
Yeah, I can try talking with them. You mind getting your mom back inside before one of these nut-job's gets itchy and something bad happens?'
'ixnay on the orcefay, comprende?' She adds at Renegade's interjection, 'pretty sure the point of all this is to deescalate hostilities and I don't know any of the rest of you well enough to be certain you won't get bored again & start 'having fun'.'
Jud listens to the flow of words and decides that things are almost certainly going to go sidewise so he gears up...he puts on his motorcycle helmet and grabs his new Vibrosword. "Hey Tinman, is it killing time yet?"
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to all: For once I am in agreement with the Pretty One. Let us make initial offering, and we shall gauge their mood. If more force is needed, I've no doubt in your ability to appear with all the Sound and Fury one could desire. Hence, let us lead with the soft for now, 'fore we can always come back with the hard, later.
Are you ready, Tracy? Shall we be about it?
"As Renegade said, you'll need some tactical support. I can ghost-stealth out there in case things go south."
"If you wish, I can come with you, Tracy" Roxana says. Nothing in her tone or attitude suggests that she actually wants to go sit and chat with a bunch of gangsters, but she is willing to risk it to help. "I doubt I will seem like a threat to these men, and if things should go badly, I may be able to neutralize the situation without anyone dying."
Sighing resignedly, Tracy replies, 'Just everyone be ready to move if matters go sufficiently sideways that 'you know who' shows up, and if that reference makes no sense to you, look to boss lady for clarification.'
With that, she cuts the connection, folds herself almost fetal while shaking violently for a ten count before straightening upright and proceeding back around the corner to the street.
Stepping fully out of the shadow of the building, she calls out to the nearest Slasher who looks like he might be more than just a footsoldier. "Hi there!"
Jud, finished with his preparations (putting on a motorcycle helmet and drawing a sword) begins to sing to himself..."I wanna be an airborne ranger; I wanna live a life of danger" as he swings his sword around.
Sighing resignedly, Tracy replies, 'Just everyone be ready to move if matters go sufficiently sideways that 'you know who' shows up, and if that reference makes no sense to you, look to boss lady for clarification.'
With that, she cuts the connection, folds herself almost fetal while shaking violently for a ten count before straightening upright and proceeding back around the corner to the street.Stepping fully out of the shadow of the building, she calls out to the nearest Slasher who looks like he might be more than just a footsoldier. "Hi there!"
"What do you want girly?"
You found a pair of watchers. One has a scooter and seems to be vaguely in charge