Blue glances around, taking in the sights from the astral plane. After a few minutes of playing the tourist, he heads down the hallway toward their target.
Junkyard starts working on the needed chemistry. He lets Derek assist, keeping a careful eye on him and double checking everything they do.
"Not that I don't think you can do it Chummer, but I always double check the explosives. That's why I still have all my original fingers."
We're also doing this well away from Blue's immobile body.
3 hits?
Junkyard also makes a Medicine check to see if he can offer any advice or help for Derek's battle to beat his addiction?
2 hits?
Michael continues to keep the team updated as he works. "Open window around back. I'm inside." After he's made sure nobody spotted him coming in, the man makes for a more open area, one where the public is mingling. Once he's in with the crowds, it should be simple enough to just blend in.
He ends up in an offshoot hallway as he looks for anything of value, and glances up. "There's an air vent here. Could be useful. Do we have schematics of the vent system?" Even as he asks the question he lowers his gaze and keeps moving--it won't do to get caught looking too intently at a fixture like that just as it won't do to climb up inside and get stuck. "In fact, we should probably double-check all the intel, because I'm not seeing heavy security. Blue, can you check for Awakened?"
Not sure what more is to be found here, Michael begins surreptitiously working his way toward the target, moving casually and pausing to examine other exhibits along the way.
While there's a straight shot to the exhibit with the dragon's egg, Michael is forced to take a long way around by a larger group of security personnel doing a patrol. He ends up swinging past the back entrance of the building, and from there finds a good path directly to the exhibit in question. Considering this is likely the security entrance, this path will be useful once the other's grab the security ID. The door to the larger exhibit reads 'Artifacts of the Germanic 4th World', and they begin to open with a slight pneumatic hiss when Michael approaches. However, just before he steps through the door he notices a scanner built into the door frame; the red light blinks dimly, and given his knowledge of corporate security Michael is fairly certain it's an ID reader. He might be able to slip past it or have Alter crack it for him, but the fastest--and most likely successful--option is to find one on one of the guards.
Alter, mucking about in the Matrix, gives a try at cracking the last persistent node. After about another hour of searching for a backdoor access route, she finally finds access with a security account, but immediately realizes that everything on the node is administrator-locked; it takes her another hour to crack through with an admin password, and the Matrix space around her suddenly shifts; unlike the familiar blue hue she's accustomed to in cyberspace, it shifts to a dull golden color. Whatever's in here was well-protected, and for a second she's worried she might have been detected by the system until she waits a few more seconds and nothing happens. She's free to explore the node now for any information she wishes, or poke around the others she found.
"Oh chummah, I believe ya 'bout dat. Stupid corp-geeks don' know nothin' bout nothin', fer real. Kinda 'minds me 'bout dis time we scragged up a 'Star car real good like. Got us some'a dem glue sprayers, snuck up behind da' Star all sneaky like. One'a da boys started carryin' on and bein' all shady, like us orks need extra work ta draw da 'Star's eyes, ya know. Den we waited til dey got out, and sprayed dem door seams real good like just as dey closed dem. Stuff squished out, den we sprayed da rest all over da wheels and trunk and we all split. Dem 'Star bastids never knew what hit 'em, came back and you shoulda seen da stupid look on deir stupid faces."
Bronze lays his head back and laughs out loud, calling for more vodka and hurlg as he finishes his drink again.
Alter allows herself a wide grin of pleasure at finally breaking into the extra secure node. Her hands waving upwards as she gestures to call up her tools for exploring databases and servers quickly. Her hands are suddenly holding an old fashioned private eye magnifying glass ans she runs it across the lines and lines of code streaming to her feeds. Looking for whatever makes this node so special.
Michael notes the information as he spots it, and pauses when he reaches the ID scanner. "Looks like the exhibit isn't open to the public just yet," he says, stepping back and walking down another hall. "I'll say one thing, this place will open right up once we have that security card. And the good news is the suits here should make it easy to blend in."
Since it looks like it'll be tricky to get eyes on the target at the moment, Michael switches tactics and finds a good spot to watch some guards, noting the style of suits they're wearing, how they're moving. It'll be useful for impersonating one later--the more complete a disguise, the less likely anyone will question it in the first place.
Stymied on the Astral plane, Blue spends a bit longer wandering the halls of the museum, trying to find a way through to where the artifact is on display.
If that fails, though he struggles with Assensing, he will try to learn what he can from the astral signature of one of the Watchers. Perhaps he can learn of the magician that summoned them.
Shaking his head slightly at his continued failure to read astral signatures, Blue heads back to the hideout to share what he has learned and to learn what the others have found.
As he turns to leave, Blue realizes that there is a way inside the exhibit. He carefully heads into the exhibit area, slipping between warded areas, and wishing very much that he had taken the time to learn the spell that would let him see through barriers such as these.
He makes a careful note of which areas are actually warded and which are not. Then he finds a quiet corner in front of some display that might be an excuse for him to loiter, and digs through his memory, searching what he knows about mana barriers.
Unable to recall if there is a way for the magician that places such a ward to detect if someone forces their way through, Blue decides not to attempt it for now.
Michael finds an entrance to the air vents that might get him inside if he so chooses, although he'd need to be quick about it to avoid the possibility of being seen.
Having studied the guards and memorized as much as he can of their appearance, Michael considers the room, but eventually decides against it. They're still in planning; better to be cautious than overplay your hand, and the vent will be more useful as a backup route during the run than a scouting option now.
"Blue, I don't think I'll get eyes in the room. Fill us in on everything you're seeing in there. Between that and intel we should have enough. I'll be on standby in here, let me know when you're ready to leave."
Bronze takes the opening presented by Bogatir's story to swipe the guard's keycard.
Palming + Agility 6 hits
He and his fellow ork stay until the big guy gets quite plastered, then usher him into a metahuman friendly taxi before calling it a night.
On comms to the group: <"Keycard obtained. Mebbe a secondary entrance, round da back near da security doors. Leads inta da basement from what da troll says.>"
Blue doesn't find anything else of immediate interest with a cursory once-over, although he hasn't gone over the room with a fine-toothed comb; it's possible a closer look might reveal a few things he hasn't seen quite yet. Michael, opting not to enter the room, merely makes himself as scarce as possible, making for a good opportunity to memorize the guard routines. It seems they move in groups of four and make a round of their sector about once every fifteen minutes. You'd have to be inside to monitor where they are to start, but with one person on the inside of the building it wouldn't be difficult to get the team past the guards. The security cameras are another story, but assuming nothing changes before you make your way back here, Alter will be able to crack the camera system again.
Speaking of Alter, there's only so much data she can comb through in the amount of time she has. She can copy it for later use in planning and on the run, but that does run the additional risk of the security system picking up on her. There are a couple of things she doesn't get to look into too thoroughly, and it might be worth the security risk to pick them up and look them over. Of course, if she does trip the alarm, it'll mean she might not be able to get back into the system for the run.
Bronze easily nabs the key card off the troll's belt, with the burly man too busy listening to Bogatir and laughing like a fool as he downs another pint. Even for a troll the man's had a lot to drink, and it shows as he wavers and nearly crashes face-first into the bar top. Once they're certain the man is too far in his cups to even presume they might have taken the badge, the two orcs make their way out of the Naughty Nymph and presumably back to the hideout unless they've got another stop they'd like to make.
Alter's eyes snap open as all the data filters through her view, her hand reaching down to one of the star cluster AROs that constantly shifts around her avatar and pulls it out, spreading the stars open into their full constellation of Canes Venatici. A series of hunting dogs appearing out of the ARO and sniffing away for the data packets, hunting down and collecting as much as she can about the more complex issues like the AA to AAA connection and the CHIMERA project especially. While her program does about collecting that, she updates her knowledge of the security around the Museum along with thinking about how she's gonna break this to the group. But eventually, a small ARO pops up alerting her to how long she has been in the Matrix and she knows she can't stay in forever since she still needs to sleep. Her mind slipping out of the node as she zooms back towards the warehouse and her own body.
Back at the warehouse, Bronze settles onto a battered and torn armchair, which surprisingly still holds up under his mass.
He produces the swiped security badge between two fingers with a flourish, and slides it over to the tech savvy members of the crew.
"Dat trog really put 'em 'way, no joke. He musta been more sauced den I tho't, cuz he din' keep up wit me and Bogatir no how. Lease we din' hafta bust no skulls or nuffin, easy peasy ta slip dat card. He wuz talkin' 'bout a secon' door. Secur'ty entrance near da basemen'. Mebbe we use dat fer a way in, mebbe a way out? Either way, on-site sec team ain't too happy wit da Corp boys what got brought in. Some friction dere mebbe kin play our ways too."
As Blue surveys the area, he doesn't notice much out of the ordinary until he takes another look at the case holding the dragon's egg. It's a blink and you'll miss it kind of security measure, but nestled just below its pedestal is a secondary motion sensor scanning the room; had Michael come in, it's possible he would have triggered the alarm. Computers aren't your thing, but considering it's still running and Alter took a run at the place in the Matrix, it's probably on a closed-circuit that would need to be dealt with by someone onsite. It hasn't picked you up in astral space however, so there's always that.
Meanwhile, Alter meticulously copies down the files stored on the more secure node while trying to stay under the radar of the Matrix security. She has a few close calls where she's forced to cut the data transmission for a moment or two in order to avoid being detected, but her luck wins out over the surprisingly advanced security programs. Still, while she works she can't help but notice the kind of security attached to this node is way above even the city's pay grade; it had to have come from a corp attached to this exhibit. Regardless, once she's got the data copied she's free to jack out and rejoin her companions in meat space.
-----
Back at the hideout, the group reconvenes to discuss everything they've found. "You find anything interesting in the museum?" Derek asks, cracking open a can of soy soda. "We did some work measuring out explosives, and nothing blew up, so I think we did pretty well."
Blue stirs and sits up as the altered perceptions of the Astral Plane fade into the sights and sensations of the physical world. HE stretches a bit, blinks, then looks around, "Heya, everyone is back then. Good. There is very little magical security anywhere except on the target directly. There are a few wards, and a few Watchers floating about, but there is surprisingly little there. The target has a substantial ward on it, but I didn't get much out of examining it. Assensing still is not my strongest talent. The watchers and the way some of the wards were set up makes me thing that there is a talent on-site, but I did not see any awakened or dual beings. I also noticed the astral echo of a secondary motion sensor below the 'dragon's egg'. Alter, did you find that one? It seemed like it was still running..."
"Dunno if Alter found it, but I sure didn't. I wonder if it's hardwired into the system rather than being connected to the Matrix?" Derek says, fiddling with a piece of machinery. His hands, while still shaking, seem surprisingly adapt and manipulating whatever it was he was trying to build despite his condition. "What do you all think? Could you deal with that on-site if we found an access port or something?" he asks Alter.
"Wait a minnit. Da buzzer goes off if da doohickey gets grabbed? So's what? Swipe da t'ing, pop a dist'action 'cross da way, an' run like drek. Move fast and low, an' we's gone. No sense makin' diss all dat compl'cated. If ye wanna get all fancy, fine, but who sez ye gotta do dat?"
Bronze shrugs at the discussion.
As Alter slips back into meatspace consciousness and her body jolts up as she rights herself up from where she slumped into the couch. Her hair slightly disheveled by sitting in one position for so long and she shakes her hand through her hair to straighten it back out a bit. Her other hand reaches for her commlink as she flips it out onto the coffee table and starts showing the information in ARO sets as she says, "I found a whole lot more drek than just the secondary motion sensor. Someone's paying top nuyen for this. They got corp shock troopers on-site and automated turrets are being installed right now in the main room. Also, while the corp isn't attached to the Dragon, they are business partners and the Dragon has a stake in the artifacts. There's also something called the CHIMERA project on site as well but I need more time to figure that out, didn't get much on it."
Alter takes a deep breath after running her motor-mouth for that whole speech. "Derek, whatever you got told, this job is gonna be hard... but... I still think we can do it. I have admin access to the node so I can use the turrets for us and keep the corpsec confused for awhile. The motion sensor is cut off from the grid so it'll need to be disabled on site, I can't do anything about it remotely. But... all that's if... IF we still want to do this... the connections tangential... but this smells like dragons to me." Alter looks up at the group, waiting for comment.
"The whole thing reeks of the Dragon to me," Michael says, breaking the professional demeanor for a moment. "Guards on-site were well-trained, uniforms and pistols. All German. That on its own isn't too strange, Germany's had leading firearms manufacturers for a century or more, but on top of everything else?"
He absently straightens his own suit, now unbuttoned for easier movement. "There were some air vents that looked promising, but direct infiltration may be our best bet. If we've got an ID card, I can wear my Mortimer of London and try to blend in." A second later, he sniffs. "Might need to shave first, though."
"I... damn, that's nuts. I figured the guards were just German since the corp was, but with all this piled on top I can see where you're coming from." Derek drums his fingers on the rundown coffee table as he thinks, hunched over in his seat. "It is what it is, I guess. For the amount of money we're being paid, it still seems worth it to me. We're in deeper than we thought, but it's nothing we can't handle. I can help Alter with security and disabling that sensor, it shouldn't be too difficult. We just need to be more careful."
"Okay, so wese got da key, wese got da plan, and Shepherd kin get in close an' personal. Me an' Bogatir doll up in our Sunday bes', get ready ta clear a path when we run. Sound about right?"
"So, some heavy corp sec involved, automated turrets, and isolated sensors for a trinket that is rumored to be a dragon's egg. It seems like this milk run is for anything but milk." Blue looks around at the others, "Getting on a dragon's bad side is really unhealthy. Are we sure we want to do this?"
Alter takes a moment but nods in the end, "Yea... I kind of need too..."
Blue nods at Alter, "Very well, then. This should be interesting. I am disturbed that there was no awakened on site that I could find, because the Watchers all about the site argue for there being one."
Blue gets a thoughtful look on his face, "You know, I have heard of some powerful magicians that are able to hide their auras. I sincerely hope that is not what we are dealing with out there..."
"If it is, we'll take care of it." Michael is running a hand across his jaw, and for someone else it might be an absent-minded gesture, but you're sure he's gauging its thickness and whether or not he'll need to shave, what length to trim to. "The defenses are more than we expected, but we also found advantages. There are air vents that should provide easy, unguarded access. We have a security pass."
The infiltrator looks around and drops his arm. "If it comes to a vote, I say yes. We can do this."
Blue smiles grimly, "I will not back out now unless we decide, as a team, to do so. It seems like most of us are still up for it. And I agree, Shepherd, it is more dangerous, but I think we can pull it off. I just know that when dragons are involved, it is worth an extra second thought."
"Oh yah, and a coupla extra zeros on da credstick, Blue. At leas' dat much I figger."
Junkyard has been sitting and listening, the magic bothers him as always, but magic is always going to be involved these days.
He shrugs. "Lets just make sure we have a way out for when the drek hits the fan."
He looks at Bronze, "An maybe something heavy that'll hurt anything like a wyrm?"
"I don't think we can afford something that'll hurt a dragon," Derek says, shrugging. "Still, I'll agree this sounds a little more dangerous than it did when I took this job. Even then, the money they're offering... it's worth it, I think. Once we've got the item in hand we can talk about re-negotiating payment if we need to, but I think we can handle this. Maybe we couldn't have back then, but we can now. I know it." Derek stands up from the old couch and stretches, grabbing a can of soy soda from an old refrigerator. He plops back down and pops open the tab, sinking into the couch. "I'm ready for this. That... and I need the money. We could all use the money."
"Yah, D's right. We ain' gonna fin' no drag'n killin' gun er bomb er nuffin without some ser'ous cred. Cred we ain't got nohow right now. 'Sides, we don' wanna go doin' dat drek. Even we drop da scaly fragger, dat jus' means we got like a hunnerd more a dem on our hoops. Better ta jus' grab and run, sell da' thingy fer what we got offered, and lay low."
"Sounds like we're in agreement. We hit them tomorrow night, then? Or do we want to lay low and comb over more of the data Alter uncovered before we go in?"
"I say we go tomorrow, my access isn't gonna last forever, and its possible someone might catch on if we wait too long."
"I will be ready tomorrow," Blue says as he stands, "when shall we meet back here?"
"Yah, tammaro works fer me. Jus so's I got da plan straight, how's about we run it down once more? Who's what and where's when and such."
"Tomorrow it is then." Junkyard sighs, starting his checklist of what is needed.
Alter reaches behind her neck and rubs across her nape as she blushes slightly, "Derek... mind if I stay here? Kind of um... between places at the moment..."
"The plan? Yeah, sure. Well, we've got the security ID now so we should be able to make our way in through the back entrance, and from there we'll need to get into the exhibit. Hopefully the security ID can solve the problem Michael had with getting in, but if not we'll have to get through the air vents and disable the security there. Once we're inside, Alter and I will need to work to disable the closed-circuit motion sensor on the case, and then we'll grab it. From there, we've only got a few minutes before the pressure sensors go off and the building is on lockdown. Junkyard'll rig an explosion down in the sub-levels that will let out to the sewers where we can make a break for it, but we'll have probably have to fight our way down there through security." Derek sighs, and rests his hands on his knees. He looks around the room with a cocky grin--not unlike the kind he had all the time when you first met him, in fact--and nods his head. "I know security looked like it's tighter than we thought, but that's what Bronze and Bogatir are here for. We'll make it work."
When Alter asks about a place to stay, he looks a bit taken aback. "Um, yeah, you can stay here. I thought I mentioned; I didn't mess with any of your rooms since you all... you know, left. You can all stay if you need to, but don't feel obligated."
"Aight boyos, I'm'a head back ta da doss. Grab some Z's and ma kit, get geared up fer da big show tamorra. Seeya soonish, chums."
Bronze heads back to his home and gets a good night sleep, intent to be good and ready for the heist in the morning.
Blue nods to the others, "Until tomorrow." Then he withdraws and heads back to his house to rest and prepare.
Junkyard wanders off with a nod.
"I'll stay here as well. I found an apartment for rent, but..." Michael lets the thought trail off, and nods at the others as they head home. In the safehouse, he goes through his old room and finds the grooming kit he left behind when he left. That evening he spends a good while in front of the mirror, trimming and shaving and generally shaping himself back into a more professional appearance.
The next day comes and goes, with some of the group heading home while others stay with Derek for the time being. When night rolls around, though, the group meets a few blocks away from the museum. "Alright, are we ready?" Derek asks, Asimov clicking away behind him. Once the group makes its way past the guards--following Michael's lead--he opens the security door and takes a few steps inside."This might be easier if some of us split up. You know, a couple of us head down with Junkyard to set the explosives while the rest of us snag the piece, but if security gets a hold of us that could mean trouble." He look down at the basement access door that the reconnaissance group found earlier, and lifts it up. "If we want to do it at all, who wants to go where?"
"Yah, I'm ready. Figger I stay back an' make ready fer da ex-fil? Loaded fer bear an' ready ta rock an' roll fer days. We gots a ran-day-voo spot picked out?
Bronze really is loaded for bear, with a massive drum-fed shotgun, several grenades, two pistols in holsters and a sniper rifle over his back. All that strapped over his swat armor and matching helmet, with a small backpack of miscellaneous gear in easy access.
"We have to head out through the sewers," Derek says, gesturing down past the security latch. "If we're lucky we could manage to make it back out above ground, but that's a pretty risky move. If you want to go with Junkyard, Bogatir can come with us and we'll take a crack at picking up the payload. Can you two contact us when the explosives are rigged to blow our way out into the sewers?" Once the team is ready, Michael's knowledge of the security routines enable the group to get through to the exhibit with little trouble. The security ID gets the doors open, and Alter's previous access to the security systems keeps them from showing up on camera. Once they arrive at the exhibit, however, she is unable to find an access point for the closed-circuit motion sensor in the room. "We might need to get you a physical connection to the sensor, unfortunately." Derek pulls out a small device from one of his belt pouches, and hands it to Michael. "Well, Michael, looks like you're up. Those air vents you spotted earlier might be the better approach. You're gonna have to get right up on that thing and open up the access panel and slot this thing in. You'll need to be quick. Alter, once he has that thing slotted you can take a stab at it in the Matrix."