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"Oh, n...," is all that Trystt manages to say as she pulls the door back in front of her, though the explosion launches her backward. The door lands on top of her, knocking the wind out of her. There is a long moment of silence before she answers Ebon's query. "She has been better. A little help with the door, please."
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Napalm sits for a moment, trying to figure out where that ringing is coming from before he realizes it's his own ears that have been affected. "Ok, the big boy definitely knows we're here now."
Once the smoke and dust clears, the group picks themselves up and heads through what remains of the door, their ears ringing long after.
Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be any more nasty surprises.
The short corridor ends in a wide room with several thick concrete columns supporting a ceiling of flaking plaster and tile.
In the centre of the room is a an area that contains tables, counters, a reclaimed desk upon which sits several pieces of computer equipment, police scanners, bomb making paraphenalia and a sidearm. A row of filing cabinets stand beside it.
There is also a kitchen area with a microwave, cooking utensils and two gas camp stoves.
But there are two features that completely dominate the room.
On one wall there is an incredible arsenal of weaponry. From knives and batons to handguns, rifles of several calibers, box upon box of ammunition, hand grenades, stun grenades, flash grenades, electric grenades and even a rocket launcher.
On another wall, this facing the computer equipment is a board of photographs, newspaper clippings print outs and hundreds of other pieces of paper. complex links made with pieces of string and handwritten notes in thick marker make the montage almost incomprehensible to anyone other than the person who created it.
As they walk into the room, the tension in Napalm's shoulders visibly releases. "This must be his hideout. Or one of them, anyway." He wanders around the area, coming to the bomb materials.
"What was he making? Maybe something more than just grenades." He picks up some of the wires and examines the other components.
It looks as though the materials are certainly related to a single bomb, but Napalm's thoughts are still fuzzy from the claymore explosion and he can't quite connect the dots.
Ebon moves softly and slowly into the room, he's on high alert unsure if who their looking for is here hiding or otherwise.
He looks around for a camera or anything that could be spying on them. "Let's be careful, I don't want a turret dropping in on us. Being the man he is, The Punisher has to know we're here."
"Anyone we know?" Spore says, walking up to the tangles mess of photographs and string and taking a deeper look. "Or any sign of the Devil, maybe?" He tosses Midnight a sad smile.
Napalm frowns at the work table filled with bomb materials. He couldn't quite place his finger on what the Punisher was building here. As the others examine the photos, he turns to the filing cabinet. He checks it for any traps or trip wires.
Moving into the room with the others Sterne later oks around at the lair of thePunisher and he can almost see the mans mind imprinted on the place, the way the room was laid out, the wall of weaponry it all shouted Frank Castle.
be very careful, he could have wired this place to blow Sterne says as they begin to poke around, opening up his mind he scans the room for anything of significance, trying to detect anything which may indicate what the Punisher was up to
Napalm frowns at the work table filled with bomb materials. He couldn't quite place his finger on what the Punisher was building here. As the others examine the photos, he turns to the filing cabinet. He checks it for any traps or trip wires.
[dice=Perception (trapfinding)]1d20+8
The cabinets contain hundreds of individual files. Napalm flicks through a few and finds papers, photographs and dozens of other pieces of information in each. It would take hours to go through all of them.
Trystt starts examining the board. It is a huge sprawling affair that covers around thirty square feet.
It contains photographs of people, vehicles, buildings and various other things. Each of these are in some way connected by string or pieces of tape to eachother and to newspaper clippings, print outs and other pieces of evidence. It is not easy to decipher, but it is extensive and whatever the Punisher is investigating, it is huge.
Sterne opens his mind's eye and allows the psychic resonations of the room flood in.
In his interviews with Frank Castle, Sterne remembers the waves of utter determination pouring off the man. They came in pulses, powerful and almost primal. Always tinged with an undercurrent of extreme violence, complete self-belief and somewhere deepest down, a heart-breaking sense of loss and pain.
All of those things are present now. Among the horrific arsenal on the wall and the stacks of paperwork. But there is also something else, something completely unexpected.
FEAR.
"Did you find anything?" He steps behind Trystt looking over the board with her. The scope of it all seems so vast and unorganized as first glance. "This is big..."
he’s afraid! . Sterne says suddenly as he moves toward the bomb making apparatus
whatever he is doing, whoever he is targeting...there is something he is very much afraid of! I can feel it all around. he says with complete surprise
what in God’s name scares the Punisher? he asks as he concentrates on the psychic emanations around him.
Just as the group ponders the implication of Sterne's words, there is a sudden high pitched BEEPBEEP! from one side of the room. You start at the sound and instinctively brace yourselves for another explosion.
But instead, Midnight reaches into a pocket in her costume and hurriedly retrieves the cellphone she has been carrying these past weeks.
She flips it open and reads it anxiously, the phone trembling in her hands.
It... It's him! she says.
She rushes into the group so you can gather round and read the message. It says;
Midnight. I'm with Frank. He's been telling me everything. TRUST NO ONE! Can't talk like this. Meet me tomorrow night. I'll send you the details later.
She looks around at the group.
Do I reply?
Napalm immediately looks suspicious, but then he sighs and shrugs. "Odd as it sounds, he's supposed to be the only one with that number, and if Sterne's right, then Castle has someone else to fear. If Castle has the devil hostage, then meeting is the only way to find him." He looks back at the crazy board. "That, and figuring out what Castle was looking for."
Ebons heart stops for a moment, then turns to Midnight throwing up his arms.
As the message is read he thinks for a moment. "Your right Naplam, no matter what we have to go. I hope we can talk to The Punisher without a fight, I don't see that going well."
"We should still try and look over this board, if we can work out where he's coming from maybe we can help. I trust DareDevil, this could get out of hand fast."
Spore agrees with Trystt & Ebon, nodding along as they inspect the board. He takes a quick walk around the rest of the room, his eyes open for any biological weapons or effects. From what he knew of the man, he didn't expect the Punisher to be in possession of anything too exotic, not like the alien plant lab, but there was a lot more about the Punisher that people didn't know that what they did, after all. It was good that the Devil -if it was him- was vouching for him, but still...
What do I say? Midnight asks, more nervous than you have seen her before. What if it's a trap or something?
"Can we afford to ignore it, though?" Spore asks from across the room, his mind clearly made up. They had to go.
you have all met Daredevil, is there anything in the tone of the message that suggests it is not from him? Sterne asks as he sees the indescision on their faces the words he used? The way it is written? Sterne asks, he had no first hand knowledge of the devil of Hell’s Kitchen and so had no idea if the message was genuine.
he speaks as if he knows the Punisher well “ I’m with Frank” using his first name implies a certain level of familiarity between the two. I would say we have little choice but to wait for his next message And meet with him but we must be ready for it to be a trap.
I would message him back, agree to the meeting.
The computer doesn't seem trapped and so Trystt powers it up. It begins to hum happily as it kicks into life and the monitor slowly glows.
It reveals a plain white background with a single input field on the screen - in addition to a countdown clock in the bottom-left corner that begins at 60...59...58...
Turning to look at Trysst Sterne sees the countdown timer and curses.
get out of here now! Everyone move ! he shouts and begins to run heading back the way they came.
"Uhhh, Napalm?" Spore says, inching closer to the door...
Napalm pushes Trystt aside and tries to determine the source of the countdown. He tries to work quickly to see if it's a bomb countdown or some sort of password lockout. Or both. "Everybody out."
Under Napalm's instruction the others leave the room while he works on the computer.
Working quickly, he determines that the countdown is not attached to a bomb and so they are not in immediate danger, but without a correct password, something is going to happen at the end of that countdown.
Sterne stops just outside the doorway and peers back in at Napalm
are you sure it’s not attached to a bomb? Sterne asks nervously maybe it will just wipe the hard drive?
Spore shuffles back into the room awkwardly, and casually sets the filing cabinet back down where it had been before, albeit a bit crooked.
"Whoops," he says, smiling.
"That's my guess, though I dont rule out a more destructive event too. I've seen some systems that get so hot that they melt the drives. It could also trip other alarms."
He continues working furiously at the keyboard. Instead of trying to crack the password, however, he focuses on the timer protocol, hoping it will be less hardened. He tries to add time to the countdown, minutes, hours, even days if possible.
"Spore, if this doesnt work, be ready to tear open the housing and we can try to manually pull the drives out before they're wiped. But thats our last option."
Spore hustles over towards Napalm & the computer and extends each of his fingers until they've grown into long, thin vines. Each moves with seemingly-independent, serpentine anticipation as Spore holds them barely above either side of the computer case. Nervous but ready, Spore prepares to rip it open at Napalm's command.
Ebon lets out a sigh as Naplam confirms it's not a bomb, moving back into the room. "We need a password?" He turns to Stern. "Doc you have an idea what it could be? There has to be something here or something know about him we can try." He starts to glace around the room, hoping to see something that might point to a password.
Whatever Napalm tries he cannot even open the command line. It is very clear that this system was put together with computer engineering knowledge far surpassing even his own.
Moving back into the room Sterne moves up alongside Napalm and tries to figure out a way to get into the system, he had seen several of the NYPD computer guys crack enough laptops to have picked up a few tricks .
let me take a look Napalm, See if we can get into the system
Napalm throws Sterne an enraged look. "Look! If I can't do this, what make..." He rolls his eyes and huffs. "Fine, you know him better anyway. What might his secret password be?" He steps back to allow the Doctor to get at the terminal.
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"...Loam?" Spore offers, thinking what he'd use for a password.
"...Loam?" Spore offers, thinking what he'd use for a password.
Try as she might, Trystt also can't seem to crack into this machine. The clock continues to count down.
10.... 9.... 8....
Napalm throws Sterne an enraged look. "Look! If I can't do this, what make..." He rolls his eyes and huffs. "Fine, you know him better anyway. What might his secret password be?" He steps back to allow the Doctor to get at the terminal.
he’s millitary trained, so it’s unlikely to be something obvious Sterne says trying not to ruffle Napalms feathers any further it’s useless,we just don’t have the time, I hope you are right about the bomb he says as he moves away from the terminal and back out of the doorway
guess we are about to find out