The area is filled with many buildings of different sizes and shapes, filling all the blocks in several...well...blocks.
The elevator creaks and moans, but eventually stops on the 13th floor. The GPS still says your target is "up".
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His communications bunker is located on the top floor of an old tenement in Southpoint (GPS coordinates provided).
"Ooof. Looks like we've got a little bit of a climb up 17 more floors.
Well, you do. I'm just going to gently fly up through them as I watch you climb up 17 floors.
Which will be funny.
To me."
He gives Kat a playful wink and a smile.
Kathrine rolls her eyes and lets out a hum"You know.. i could just take a leisurely stroll up the elevator shaft, really it's no rush for me. I just got this... off feeling ya know."
Kat pushes the elevator button for the 29th floor as well as the 30th, "Go invisible and check out the landing infront of the 30th floor would ya. I don't want to get gunned down before i step out."
She leans back again preparing to step out on the 29th and let the elevator travel the last bit of distance.(assuming it goes that high if not i guess she's taking the stairs XD)
The elevator lets Hellion out on the 29th floor, the doors close and you hear movement, but the 30 light above the doors doesn't go on.
Kat cocks an eye at the fact that the elevator seems to move but not proceed to the 30th with a sigh she checks her handgun to make sure it was fully loaded, holsters it, and then starts for the stairwell. (Comms)"Gonna head up the stairs since the elevator seems to be a bust. Don't stab me by accident."
Unless Thomas takes immediate action, Hellion comes out of the stairwell and walks over to him. You're both standing in front of a wooden door that's seen better days.
What do you do?
Taking a moment to look down the hall after she arrives Kathrine quirks an eye at Thomas.
"On account that you can't currently.
Sure, might get a pretty nasty splinter on this beat up old thing." She snirks and then raps her knuckles against the door.
"Hey open up."
A V'sori answers the door, heavily armored and armed. He takes one look at you, and says "So, you've come for me at last. Did Dr. Destruction order you to take me out? If so, you'll not find me easy prey. Before we begin, I'm curious to know, how did you find my hideout?"
Kat peeked into the apartment, sizing up the V'sori "Before that, no I'll only gut ya if you try it on me. Especially if the rumors of how much you hate your bosses is true. As for the how, call it human ingenuity."
She folded her arms clearly not intimidated by the imposing figure. "Also wouldn't have knocked so quietly if we meant to kill, I much prefer a flashy bangy kind of entrance."
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Thomas chuckles. "My friend can be a bit over-zealous, but she's not wrong. If we wanted to be something other than friends...well, I prefer the subtle way."
Still smiling, Tom sticks his hand through the wall to make his point.
"Please, now that we're all friends, you can take it as a given that we have a mutually-beneficial offer to discuss.
Might we talk about inside? Where it's not embarrassingly easy to overhear?"
The V'Sori eyes both of you for a few tense seconds, then lowers his weapon and says "Come in."
You see that the outer walls of his apartment are lined with metal (thickness unknown), and there's LOTS of high-tech communication and computing equipment inside.
Without offering you a seat, he says "So, what do you want?".
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"You." Thomas says before grinning and laughing.
"Haha! You are what we want. Your expertise, your ingenuity, your...hate.
Quite simply, we have our eyes set on an old acquaintance of yours, Hydra, the Mutant Mastermind. We want to make his things, our things, and then blow the base up, so all your buddies from not-Earth don't know what kind of pies we've got our thumbs in to.
Alas! We are good, but are we that good? From the -wonderful- ambiance you've created here, I'm not sure we are. But with you along? To coin a phrase my friend Tony is found of, 'badda-bing-badda-boom-fuggeitaboutit'.
So, it's a win-win we want. By helping us you'll be stinking your finger in them what hath wronged you, and in doing so you'll earn our eternal gratitude.
Which...is probably a bit more gratitude than you currently have now, so everyone can use friends, kapish?"
Kat quicker an eye knowing that Thomas was pretty suave at talking but this surprised her. "Don't think I could have said it better myself honestly. Certainly wouldn't have been as earth elegant. But yeah we're here for info and to lend a hand so long as when the time comes you return the favor in kind."
Ikaran thinks for a moment, then says "I know nothing of this 'Hydra' you speak of. But..."
He goes over to a computer console and types at it for a few minutes, then says "Ah! A base that was occupied by Hydra is now taken by us, and it is run by my hated rival, Shavak. I would do anything to get revenge on him for demoting me to this trivial non-combat position."
He taps on the keyboard some more and says "The base is very well-guarded, and no matter how sneaky you are, if a single message announcing an attack gets out, a large V'Sori Reaction Team would be there within a few minutes."
He thinks for a few minutes...
"I will not accompany you, because to be seen by a V'Sori or on the video monitors would mean certain death for me. However, I could arrange to black out the entire base upon a signal from you, which should last long enough for you to do...whatever it is you want to do, and make it impossible for a message to be sent.
For the moment, all I ask is that before you kill Shavak, you show him this" - he pulls a small silver pendant off of his armor - it is the symbol of my disgrace and demotion. Shavak instantly will know who helped to author his doom.
In return for this, you will owe me a favor that I can call in at any time, and you *WILL* do whatever I ask of you.
Deal?"
Kat looked to Thomas, "What do you think I mean it's better than nothing, figured getting rid of your former colleague would be payment but hey what do I know."
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Thomas laughs. "HA! The Marker! Oh one does love the classics! HAHAHA!
Oh course, my lord, all shall be as you say.
I will state the only caveat is that is must be a thing that -can- be done. If you ask us to rid the planet of all V'Sori, say, well that is a thing that I myself would wish could be done, but, alas, one may as well wish for the moon and the stars for all the good it would do you."
He taps his chin in ulfish thought.
"Also, I won't do anything against my mom. Oh, she might do things for you...and to you...without needing much encouragement, but I think in all the world that's that one person I just couldn't lift a hand against."
He gives Kat a playful wink.
"Not that you would ask for such a thing, but I wanted to be up front.
Well then, now that we're BFFs, is there a time that works best for you?"
He holds out his hands for the pendant.
Ikaran says "Of course I would not ask you to do anything beyond your team's abilities, which I will evaluate when you attack the base.
All I need is a signal from you when you are in place to attack the base. A rough estimate of when that might be would be helpful."
He hands you the pendant and a cell-phone-like device with one button on it. "Press that button when you want the power to the base to be turned off. Do not attempt to communicate with me by ANY means other than that device. You may go."
"Before you go, do you know about how many days from now you will attack the base?"
Kat glanced at the Vasari as she turned to depart with Thomas, "That depends a bit on how long it takes our boys to get our equipment ready but I'd roughly say a week if that. A few days at least to get all the bugs worked out."
She then looked to Thomas and had to stop herself from going to pat him on the shoulder, remembering it wouldn't work anyway, "Ready when you are."
You both make it back to base without any incidents. You relay Ikaran's instructions and requests. The rest of you can comment on them at this point if you like.
What are you all doing in order to prepare for this mission (both in-house and in the field)?
"...So... we tell the traitor we conveniently found exactly when and where we are going to attack, and heads up when we are actually there, and he will shut off the power, for realzies, pinky swear promise, and totally not spring a trap that would conveniently snap up our whole team in one go."
"Um, dont take this the wrong way guys, but if we do this plan, I will not be traveling to the location by the same means as anyone else. I think at least one of us should have a chance to escape and tell Dr. MacDaddy how terribly wrong this all went, and why."
Don't matter none to me, so long as I gets ta hit somethin'." Biohazard slams his right fist into his left hand, making a wet, splattering noise.
Kathrine avoids placing her arms on the table as the toxic goop starts to dissolve part of it near her hands. "Well I mean it's that or try to sneak in ourselves, and we aren't exactly... subtle. Besides Revenge is one hell of a motivator for mortals and immortals alike, so aliens should be just as vicious when presented the opportunity."
She shrugged, her tail flicking under the table, "That being said feel free to fly in or dig in or whatever your powers your choice of fancy entrance. So when do you think they'll have the stuff ready?"
She pointed towards the lab with a thumb.
By the end of the day you visited the V'sori, Crackerjack and Paradigm have their device built.
Dr. Destruction also gave you the GPS co-ordinates for the base, so now all you have to do is discuss your collective and/or individual strategies for getting in and doing what you have to do.
Paradigm is proud of the invention he and Crackerjack came up with. "Enkidu is right. All of us in one area is dangerous. I will fly in and provide support as I can. If our benefactor can keep the power off, I will do what I can to keep them from activating emergency power while you're in there." He points to a manual in his hands that looks like a treatise on theoretical physics and quantum displacement. "These are the instructions for the device, for when it comes time."
"Ensure you follow the instructions to the letter should any of you cretins need to activate it. Bypassing the safeguards might be a funny mishap for the survivors to chuckle about later, but it should be avoided where possible."
Paradigm nods. "Your skill at infiltration would prove valuable in such a situation. You can be our eyes on the inside."
"I can get us inside," Biohazard offers.
Kat kicked her leg under the table "Wouldn't be a bad idea to know where we're going ahead of time, though I wonder if Hydra had any anti-poltergeist defenses. Time to put the mad scientist to the test."
She motioned to Biohazard as he speaks up, "I doubt you'll be able to get us all the way in, but even if it's a few layers into the defenses that'd be something. So we should definitely keep that on the table."
So the plan is...???
"So, Thomas you'd Enkidu'll fly in ahead and scout the place out marking guard positions and locations of interest. Then when the rest of us arrive an reconvene we call in our favor and get in the place grab what we're there for. Then blow it like the popsicle stand it is, give ourselves plenty of time to evacuate the area and then watch the pretty fireworks. Then we call Dr. D and get our next job. Easy as slayin a batch of Ghamorran imps."
She looked around the table, "Any objections?"
"For killing V'sori? Always. Hopefully there will be at least a few we can include in this little mess."
So everyone climbs in the van (I assume Biohazard can stand and sit on things without destroying them), and as you approach about a mile to the base, you begin to see signs of sentries in the distance. You pull the van over to behind a large boulder, and get out.
Who does what at this point?
Paradigm looks around for a moment. "Perhaps simple flight is not best option, they will see me from the ground." He begins casting a spell..
Suddenly, in the place of Paradigm, is a large hawk that takes to the air. "So they will have to see something else."
He then soars towards the base, looking for a place to land and infiltrate the network, but he has no idea where to begin.
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"Key Kat, makes sure to call Dudeman and tell him it's go time, okay?" Thomas quips, ensuring that they're Inside Man will get his call.
As Paradig'em works his mojo, Tom shrugs and fades from both sight and reality.
**Okay, everyone stay frosty. Prof? I'll follow your lead,***" he sub-vocalizes on their internal comms.
Biohazard exits the van and stands, waiting for instructions. He is a doer, not a thinker.
Kat nodded to Thomas, "Will do, radio when you've done some scouting and we'll start this off."
She hopped out of the van and sat on the hood waiting for some kind of signal to call their Fishy friend.
There's a single-story house-sized building in the center of the guarded area. While Paradigm could circle around the outside, spotting guards and such, he could not enter the building without attracting attention. Thomas on the other hand...
Enkidu approaches the site on his own. Since the space wizard came in hawk form, Enkidu chooses something even more innocuous, and takes on the form of a bumblebee. He behaves normally for such a creature, moving from dandelion to dandelion, getting closer to the edges of the lot upon which the property sits.
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Thomas clicks his radio twice to check its transmission then leaves both Sight and Reality.
Finding the laws of nature as repulsive as the laws of man, Thomas takes flight, first circling the guarded area at good distance, getting a rough count of visible guards and visible defenses.
After the first circuit he radios back and tells what he has seen.
That work done, he goes underground, flying through the concrete and soil as would a submarine through water. At times he pops up the top of his head to get a look for his bearings, before at last approaching the oh-so-important building in the center that seems to be the source of much to-do.