The woman stiffens as she hears the name. She looks at the old man on the seat reading his paper. He doesn't react to any of this but she appears to be deciding whether to say or do something and his presence is a factor in that.
In the end she stands up and leans across the desk;
I never heard of no Miguel Santos. But there is nothing here for you, nothing, ok? Just forget it, kid, you can find work somewhere else ok?
With that she ushers you out of the office.
"Wait but the card." He says still waving it around as the woman man handles him out the door.
As the door is close he takes a step back and shouts. "Miguel Santos sent me!" Looking around the lot.
A few people look at you confused but none seem to move to do anything. A couple of the mechanics look at eachother but continue working on vehicles, one eye glancing over to you every now and then.
Akio looks around one last time, feeling the time wasted and then turns to leave the compound seeking out the others.
Trystt watches from the rooftop to see if Ebon is followed.
He is not followed. But a number of men meet in the centre of the compound, some coming from the office, some from the garage area. They talk for a moment and then disappear back into the office via a side entrance.
Midnight makes a face
We are being so... amateurish at this! You are right, a bug would have been a great idea.
She sighs and looks at Akio.
Ebon, would you say that your suspicions were raised and you feel that there may be a felony, misdemeanor or "breach of peace" taking place on the premises, such that if we returned later on this evening or overnight then there would be a high likelihood of preventing a felony, misdemeanor or "breach of peace" from occurring or else interrupting a felony, misdemeanor or "breach of peace" whilst it is being committed?..
Her eyes are wide, almost imploring.
"I saw a mechanic with a gun, the whole place just seemed off to me but I didn't pick anything else up. I showed them the card and told them the guys name who disappeared." He looks about the group. "I don't think we're going to get anywhere like this, we aren't the police we work were they don't. There's something here.. The van went behind the office to that warehouse, I want to get in there."
"Ebon, you were in there. If you think think there's something wrong with what they're up to, that's good enough for me."
"I'm going in. The only way into the back is through the front, this could be a bad call but I didn't come here to stand around asking for permission to do my job." He clenches his fist punching it into his palm. "Your all with me?"==
"I say we wait until tonight. Odds are that there are plenty of legit drivers and technicians who work for them. Most should be gone by the evening hours. Plus, if you did rile anything up, we might see a response by them today. Lots of truck moving, something like that. Unfortunately, that probably means we need to stay and watch the entrance most of the day. Maybe we can work in shifts to get some sleep. If we don't see anything of note, then we go in tonight."
"I'm in, but I agree with Napalm. Let's wait until most people are gone. I can keep watch in the meantime if you all need some sleep?"
Spore takes up position through the day and, while the action at the depot can hardly be called frenetic, it does seem somewhat unusual.
Several drivers return to the depot at mid-morning. Spore recognises some from earlier that morning and as they swap vehicles back to their own, he wonders how likely it would be that their shifts last less than 4 hours.
An hour or so after that the depot is quiet. That is, until another box van arrives and half a dozen men get out. They are dressed casually but unload several crates that are taken into the office building while the heavy steel roller gate is shut.
Even before sundown, the powerful security lights that dot the yard are illuminated and instead of the pair of men slowly walking the lot, there are now three pairs who rotate between the office, the warehouse, the garage and the store building to the west.
Ebon nods happy to be moving forward, he sits with spore and watches along. "Looks like I kicked the hornists nest there." He says as he seems a much larger presents in the yard. "Is there anyway you two could turn the power off or something?" He looks to Shift and Napalm, pointing to the flood lights. "If we could catch them by surprise getting past the lights I think we would be on the front foot for awhile."
Midnight observes the activity of everyone else as they use their skills to gather intel.
She helps where she can, but has nothing much in the way of experience or training to offer in this instance.
"If we're going to wait till the night, I suppose you have that time. We could properly jump the fence on the back wall. Bring a carpet to cover the razor wire."
Shift spends much of the day at a computer screen trying to locate surface plans, technical specifications, blueprints, planning permission applications - anything that will determine the layout of the depot.
What he finds though is puzzling.
The office building seems to be of regulation manufacture, with the usual utilities plugged into the city grid and a typical layout consisting of reception, kitchen, locker rooms, restrooms and the like.
The warehouse building that seems to be attached and only accessible from within the office however, appears on no plans whatsoever that he can find.
"Good work, Shift." Lucas studies the plans. "Man, I was hoping for some entrance from the back side." He looks back at Shift.
"If we all had your powers, this would be easy. As it stands, I think we have to try to take out one of the patrol teams to buy us enough time to try and climb the wall. If you can teleport inside, that could help us get a rope over. We could try a distraction at the front gates too..."
Melania stares at Lucas.
Just putting it out there... but I can fly, if it helps bypass the sharp metal adorning the top of the see-through metal fence...
She nods
A distraction would work best, perhaps especially if they're now expecting trouble. Something showy, flashy. Can we borrow a truck and park it out front, put the radio on maximum volume, crack the windows so the tunes come out but lock the doors?
She shrugs
"Look like those computers really do come in handy, this layout helps a lot. But those rooms at the back.. That has to be it, why would it be left off the plans otherwise?" He looks around around at the group. "If we go in at night there will be less people, maybe an explosion? to distract them? but there is always Midnight flying us over." He smiles at her.
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"I cannot teleport far, yet, and I cannot take anyone with me. Also, I cannot teleport to anywhere I cannot see, so I'm afraid I won't be of much use. Midnight's flight would probably be a better bet. So, are we trying to get onto the roof and find a skylight or other access? or are we going to try a frontal assault through the reception?"
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"An explosion? What kind of monk are you?" Trystt chuckles. "We could do something similar as the training exercise with the sound illusion or the ethereal lights. But any of those options will probably put them on high alert. Are we aiming for subtlety?"
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We could debate the best plan to infiltrate this place, or we can just go with something simple. Our objective, as I understand it, is intelligence gathering. Operational parameters are to remain covert,
to neutralise any parties that threaten the mission, and to exfiltrate everyone involved safely.
She glances around, then softens slightly
I think you'd say something like 'Have a nose around, knock out anyone that discovers us and make sure we get away'...
She continues
I'd suggest two teams of two to cover more ground and ensure each team has someone who can look for data and someone who can remain aware of their environment and react appropriately. Knock heads that is.
She indicates two places on the map.
I can act as transport, but that means I shouldn't be part of either team, as otherwise there'd be no way out if one team gets trapped for instance. I'd prefer to be inside the warehouse but we don't have many options here...
"We had stones in the monastery we called thunderstones, it would make a flash and quiet the noise a fine distraction for any warrior. An explosion or loud noise would work just the same." He smiles back.
"Ok we've all had a say, I think as Midnight said we go from the north. She flys us onto the room and we find a way in from there be it in a window or working out way around to the front. I don't want to fight out in the open, we get inside fast and move from there." He look to Midnigh. "I'll get some carpet to cover the wires if we need to get out fast I dont want it to all lay on you Midnight we can climb over from the roof and jump down from the wall. Also we shouldn't split up tell we're inside I don't want more distance from each other we don't have a way to communicate yet."
"We move fast and get to the back of the warehouse, when we're in side their extra numbers will count for nothing."
"Distractions are nice, but they also raise alarm. And we don't know how long this'll take. No chance we could simply sneak in? If it goes poorly, maybe then Midnight can trigger a distraction?"
The group awaits cover of night before heading back to the depot.
Taking up position on a rooftop to the north of the compound, thanks to a handy lift from Midnight, the group take a final look over the layout.
There still appear to be roving patrols though you cannot see if they are armed or not. The floodlights illuminate the grounds pretty thoroughly and CCTV cameras can be seen on each of the corners, overlapping and covering eachother.
Ebon drops the carpet next to the frece. Crouching down he moves across the roof slowly attempting not to show himself he looks for a way in.
Lucas peers out over the roof. He tries to pick out where the floodlights are in the event they need to be disabled.
Shift scours the roof of the warehouse building, looking for a skylight, fire escape, anything that might allow them access.
The roof appears completely clear though, with seemingly no access points whatsoever which he knows contravenes a number of regulations in itself. As he moves along the building, he does see a skylight in the roof of the office building adjoining the warehouse.
Also, he sees that the box van they saw two nights ago is parked in a loading dock beside the warehouse, heavy steel doors shut over the dock opening.
Akio points at the skylight. "Shift want to go in? You can unlock a door for us and if things go wrong we just smash the glass and take whatever comes our way. The longer we take the higher our chance of being caught is."
Trystt moves as quietly she can across the rooftop, dropping down onto the office block and then continuing on to the skylight that, once she is above it, she sees sits in the roof above a kitchen area.
She fiddles with the latch on the skylight, eventually wriggling it free and slowly easing it open.
There is a counter area just to one side of the skylight that the group could climb down to.
Napalm shuffles over quietly. He peers down into the opening and nods to Trystt, then giving her the thumbs up sign. He motions the others over to the opening and opens a pouch on his vest. He pulls out his epi-pen and jabs it into his thigh. He shivers and then pockets the injector.
Then the mutant leaps to the counter and begins to climb down.
Midnight places a hand gently on Trystt's shoulder, squeezing in appreciation of the girls skill with bypassing security.
She turns to the others and begins making shapes with her hands, before remembering no-one else knew the Peacekeeper silent signals. She mimes carrying and looks around, before using her powers to fly down through the skylight.