Geezer takes the janitor's uniform, as he believed that his scruffy look would complement the looks of an old janitor. No one would notice a janitor, he thought.
Billy straps himself into a full on coverall, its design didnt leave much room for his original guns so he took some spare ammo for his "piece" and discreetly hit it in his pants (underwear for the US players). Finding a workmans tool kit he opened the toolbox and fitted one of the guns and some timed thermite into the bottom, securing the upper half on top with a screw that rested snugly next to the handle ( an old trick but it should be work ). Finally filling the top with a multi head screw driver, cabelling, usb sticks, some black spray paint, some cloth and twisty ties. If someone was to get suspicious he would have to play it slowly and make a fuss about emptying it out. Hopefully the guards were more interested in getting back to business then giving a lowly tech some issues.
Chibiko heads to the drop van in Julia's stead, knowing the jittery shut-in would want little to do with two strange Germans. Knowing her, she'd probably try to incinerate them before they could get a word in edgewise. Grabbing the remaining technician's uniform, Chibiko holds it up in a cursory examination. It was big enough to fit two of herself in. She sighed quietly to herself, although she'd already known the obvious. Sometimes--rarely--she wished she could pass for normal. It would be a nice change. Instead she was wearing her corporate finest--the Auctioneer 'Little Exec' Business Suit. The style (and protection) of a bright-eyed prospective wageslave. It wouldn't help her sneak through the vents, but it might buy her a second or third glance before the alarm was triggered... and that was enough. It would be a lot harder to explain the collapsible bow secreted away in her pack.
"I'll take this for our friend," she mutters, tucking the tech's coveralls under her arm. "And I think I'll take a few of these other toys for myself. I'll get Julia in and let her do her thing. Hopefully we can take one of the security rooms out and give you guys clear passage through the building."
She takes a moment to pick through the tools James provided before stuffing a maglock skeleton key and a keypad sequencer into her pack. More things that would be hard to explain--but hopefully she'd never need to. After a brief moment, Chibiko grabs a crowbar and adds that on top. Somehow, she suspected the subtle approach was only going to go so far.
"Keep running silent and stay in touch," she says, tapping her commlink for emphasis. "Coordinate our entry and hunt down Cherry. She's got to be somewhere... and she's got a lot of questions to answer." With a nod, she heads off to join Julia and work on her own entry to the Liebenherr Group's structure.
While in the locker room, Friedrich Vanderhelm stared at his reflection in the mirror.
I am a noble warrior in a different land. Tonight, I journey with my comrades in the hopes of stopping this needless bloodshed once and for all. May my blade stay true.
After giving himself a once over, the knight abandoned his street gear and donned a workman's outfit. The cuffs and seams were rough and worn, giving Friedrich the impression he's been on the job many times. A name tag rested upon his shirt - Allen, which he later found out thanks to Billy. Without his helmet, Friedrich's cyber eyes glowed with bright red intensity between long black locks. He carefully pulled back his hair and fashioned a ponytail. What stood before the knight was a pale reflection of the man he was.
Friedrich's massive blade, Brundhilda lay disguised within a long shaft of PVC pipes and wiring.
Mein blade, we shall be reunited...
Giving a toss to some random tools, he gathered a dufflebag, secured his fake SIN, and rendezvoused with Billy Chines.
"I am ready. Shall we conquest?"
Billy saw Freddy and gave a smile, "mein friend you look positivity average as can be", giving the man mountain a playful shoulder punch. "I think I've manage to get most of my stuff tucked away, the toolbox has a gun and some explosives inside so best to try and keep anyones attention away from it where possible, but if you have to open it just the lid ok?". Billy then gave a quick beep to the decker on call Meine Dame Stanton did you manage to get our papers in order for entry? It would be awkward if we failed at the first hurdle.
Friedrich offered a small smile to Billy.
"Yes. I will try my best mein freund." he said while adjusting to his new personality. On a whole new level, Friedrich felt naked and unarmed. Without his helmet, armor, massive blade, and BTLS, Friedrich didn't appear to be the knight that he was but rather another wageslave caught in the system. The idea that he was going back to something worse that his former life gave the hulking elf shudders. He began to scratch the skin near his datajack.
"Please, we need to finish this."
I need to be strong."
Clothing on, weapons hidden and people seemingly ready to go the pair get into the truck and along with anyone else that is going through the front door, head off towards the building in the van. Billy takes shotgun next to the driver. Fingers crossed [what do we see?]
The van plods down the street as its hybrid engine whirrs to work. The moments in the van are tenser than usual, perhaps because the job isn't just cracking a few skulls or laying out a few bodies--but breaking into a real corporate structure.
You reach the parking deck's gate within a minute, slowing as you approach the checkpoint. A corporate security officer leans his head out of the booth as a series of infrared cameras check over the tags on the van. Eventually the man gives you a slight nod, waving you on but clearly ranked far enough above you to not bother uttering a word.
A sign just within the deck tells all maintenance personal to park on the lowest level--out of sight and out of mind. The van winds down the spiraling ramps a good three levels, far from the Miami sun. Fortunately it's as dead down here as you'd expect.
Now it was time to get in and do the job.
It all felt familiar to Friedrich. Entering the Lion's Den. Now that their party has gone this far, he knew that there wasn't any backing out. leaving his seat and going to the rear of the van, he grabbed spare materials to complete their look.
"Where to next?" he said in German.
Well I hope our decker can give us a idea of the quickest route to the security station. The sooner we control the cameras the better Ill feel.
Chibiko and Julia had set up camp on the top of the neighboring building. Ten stories up, and still only a fraction of the way up the corporate tower. There was a sizable gap between buildings, but Chibiko was confident--mostly--that she could make the jump. Fortunately the Leibenherr Group hadn't shelled out for a huge property for a bunch of middle managers and their family.
She double checked her comm. Julia said she'd put it into silent mode, but Chibiko didn't really know what that meant. She poked and prodded a couple of buttons, and when nothing made any noise she shrugged, satisfied.
She glanced out over the gap, then down ten stories to the street below. A ledge on the other side held an air conditioning unit and a series of ventilation ducts. Cameras were surely watching the spot, waiting for someone as foolish as herself to leap between buildings.
"Got the cameras off?"
Julia nodded. She tapped away on her cyberdeck without a word, absorbed in her work.
Taking a few steps back, the tiny woman started a running leap, launching herself over the gap...
Julia glanced up, watching a body soar past and into the air. She raised an eyebrow, amused. The little one landed on the building across the way with panache, rolling to a crouch along the wall of the Leibenherr Group's ventilation ducts.
Setting away her deck, Julia stepped over to the grappling cable she'd brought along in her pack. With one end fastened on her side and the other end being tied down by Chibiko, she'd have a much easier time crossing...
Which was handy, since she had no intention of jumping across anything with her baby strapped to her belt. Snapping the connector to her harness, she pulled herself across with ease. She sat down beside Chibiko as the little one wrenched the ventilation shaft open. With a few taps away on her keyboard, she managed to breach the basic security on the building's HVAC controls. A minor victory, but a victory nevertheless.
"Fans are off. It's clear. Clear as it's going to get."
Chibiko wormed her way into the ventilation duct. It was a tight fit, even for her. For once, her small stature was a blessing.
Crawling forward, she peeked through a number of vents until she found the right one: a floor below her, a relatively small room with several monitors, a pair of uniformed guardsmen, and an inactive drone perched by a maglocked doorway.
Slowly, she pulled out her commlink and tapped a message to her comrades below.
<Found a security room on the 9th floor. Two guards, take them out =/ ? Vents are pretty tight, not sure Julia can fit =) might need to stay on the outside. How's your entry?>
hmm 9 floors up, well better we casually make our way up there, then see what's going on in the building.
Billy looks about for a service elevator.
Friedrich follows along keeping an eye out for people who are interested in them.
You head down a hallway towards the rear of the building. A duraplast sign hangs on the dingy wall, pointing the direction of a utility elevator. A single--very bored--guard stands in front of the elevator, clearly occupied by something on his commlink. He glances up as you approach, nodding.
"Gentlemen. Looking for something?"
Billy chimes in Hi, yes sorry to be a bother we have to get to the 9th floor, its routine maintenance for the cameras today. We have to check the security rooms control station and just make sure everything in order. Billy gave the man a moment to take that in before adding, oh and if you spot any of the cameras blinking or offline, please tell us, we'll be putting them through some tests so if they start acting up just give us a call and we'll add it to the check list.
The charmer gives the gab to the security man and hits the dice for 3 hits!
The guard nods. "Got it. Should I just send the message up to maintenance or to you directly? Mr- uh...?" He pauses, realizing that he hadn't actually gotten your credentials and that's something that was probably in his job description. He coughs, then steps aside, covering up his mistake. Asking for credential now would have meant he already breached protocol--and that meant admitting a mistake, and a whole lot of paperwork. "I guess I'll just pass it up to your manager. These things have been acting kind of wonky, lately."
Billy nods and casually gets in the elevator, no problem, but better to send it to us direct so we can fix the issue on the spot, no point getting management involved, just ends up with us getting more paperwork and having to probably make a second trip in the end. With that Billy buzzes the button for the 9th floor. better warn our little hacker friend that we could get a message to head office from that guard He makes a call to Julia Hi boss! we are on our way to the security room, should be there soon, everythings going well and we should get some support from the security round here about the camera maintenance, so don't be surprised if we get calls comin into the office, okay?, right Ill send you more details on how the systems doing soon, tata for neigh
Julia rolls her virtual eyes, sighing and mentally typing out a response in half of a heartbeat. The lightning-fast life inside the Matrix was unlike anything she'd experienced in the physical world, or even during her brief stints to the Astral. It was incredible. The words ping back to Billy's comm before he even has time to put it back in his pocket.
<Got it. I'll try to route their communications through a bunch of sub-advisories and managers. Should delay any response.>
Generic, corporate elevator music plays the not-so-express service elevator plods its way to the 9th floor. It was empty, aside from the pair of German runners, but it was large enough to hold plenty of maintenance gear. You looked almost out of place with only two duffel bags of tools and concealed running gear.
Finally--none too soon--the elevator doors ping open. You find yourself in what is obviously a utility hallway. If the floor plans you looked over were correct, the utility halls ran along the north face of the building, where windows would only offer a view of the structure next door and the relatively less interesting north Miami. Residential apartments filled out the other walls, while non-intrusive building utilities, elevators, stairs, and whatever else filled out the rest of floor space. The security room would be at either end, depending on the floor you chose--randomly assigned to reduce the impacts of leaks like the one you used.
It would also likely be heavily alarmed. Julia will need to bring the room's alarms down for long enough to disable the guards, without drawing attention to the momentary security hole.