genessia | Mission 4

Entry tags:

Mission 4 - Targeted

Who: Troy Dantes, and others.
What: Bounty hunt for Red Claw assassin who attempted to kill the CEO of Aster Technologies, and related missions linked to the manhunt.
When: 1/6 (EDITED)
Where: All over Nova City

[At a meeting room inside the Aster Technologies HQ, bounty hunters have assembled for a briefing before starting their operation. Troy was the first to answer the bounty, and as former Deputy Guardian of the city he was tasked to lead the operation. As soon as every hunter who answered the call has arrived, Troy shows up in his power armor. He speaks up to begin:]

Alright, listen up. I'm sure you already know why you're here. Nova's police force have their hands full on something else right now, so we're on our own here. Our target is an assassin with cybernetic enhancements and the ability to avoid surveillance cameras with his cloaking ability, which sounds easy enough until you add in the group he is a part of. The Red Claw is a sizable faction of cyborg terrorists with a bone to pick with Aster Technologies. They will be armed and combat ready, and we are asked to apprehend rather than eliminate our target. No doubt there will be a tussle before they give up their brother and we get our paws on him, so try not to be trigger happy and keep the property damages to a minimum, that'll make things less of a headache for the new City Guardian. We'll split everyone into small groups and each of you would have a different mission. We have less than 24 hours to get this bastard, so let's get to work

[Infiltration - Nova City Underlevels - Red Claw Recruitment Center]

[Back in the dark side of the utopian city, the Red Claw takes advantage of the downtrodden and use this area to reel in more members to their cause. If your character chose to take this mission, they are tasked to disguise themselves to get intel on the assassin's whereabouts. Their access is a night club called the Iron Faeries, to get to a series of underground flood tunnels being used by the Red Claw as one of their many hideouts.]

[Escort - Nova City Sky Lanes - Industrial Zone Supply Route]

[Knowing the robot police force has their hands full with rats, and the bounty hunters busy looking for one person, the Red Claw has planned to hijack a supply train heading to Aster Technologies' manufacturing plants. Of course, knowing this has "target" written all over it, some hunters were assigned to and escort this train from attack. If your character chooses to take this job, they will be fighting on a fast moving train about a thousand feet from the ground. Hope they're not afraid of heights]

[Assault - Nova City Outskirts - Freeway Tunnel Construction Zone]

[Once the hunters are on the trail for their target, they will launch an offensive at a Red Claw hideout in an unfinished construction of a freeway tunnel, where the fully armed criminals would make a stand to hold off the hunters and protect the assassin. Time is short. Don't let him get away. But most of all, bring him back alive]

[OOC: This thread would work like a mingle log since I wouldn't be able to GM for all of us. Your characters can interact with each other, and don't necessary have to team up with Troy himself. You are very welcome to pick any of these scenarios, operate the NPCs, and determine the outcome of the missions yourselves! Also if you want to join in the hunt and haven't commented on the newspaper thread, please let me know]

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[Afraid of heights? Gale? Never! In fact, to prove this point - and to possibly show just how crazy he really is - Gale himself is actually laying on his back on top of the moving train with his arms crossed behind his head (because wouldn't you know it, laying on your back with four wires sticking out of your neck actually isn't the least bit comfortable).

It almost seems like he's asleep, and with the opaque mask over his eyes, no one would be able to tell if his eyes were really closed or not. In reality, of course, his eyes were wide open and staring at the HUD on the inside of the mask, keeping a careful eye on what hunter was positioned where, and should any bogeys come into range, he'll be one of, if not the first to know. Sure, he's certainly not the leader of the team, but the least he can do is play nice with the team and act as close to an AWACS as he could get.

Anyone on the mission with him would have a direct communication link with him, thanks to the fancy tech of his mask, so he could easily communicate with the rest of the team wherever they are on the train. After all, well, surely not everyone is crazy enough to be on top of a speeding train, right?]

[For once Aqua donned her armor for the job. The fast winds and heights weren't a challenge for her like this and while she isn't completely happy to work with Gale again, at least she has come to be able to expect his movements in a fight. She knows his strength's and she trusts him to at least be himself during combat.

She's stationed towards the end of the train, her figure standing unlike Gale's as she keeps a lookout for the enemy. There is a prickle along her spine suggesting that they might be closing in soon.]

'Gale are you ready?'

[It's a nice way to ask if he's fallen asleep because there really is no way of knowing with him.]

[His eyes trail over to the marker for Aqua's position on his HUD when he heard her voice, a smirk curling to his lips.]

Nah, I'm just layin' over here and napping instead of doin' my job of keeping an eye out for any renegade cyborgs out to give me a bad name that'll inevitably come to hijack or destroy the train. By the way, sweetheart; with the mask, it's Orlok.

[That's Gale language for 'of course I'm ready', but it wouldn't be a mission with Gale without his sense of humor, and that lounging position sure makes it seem like what he just said was true. He lets out a sigh.]

This mission'd be over so much faster if I had an alterna. I hope some of us at least get a raise for this.

[Not that he's expecting one, but hey, any payment is still payment. His eyes flick around the HUD's map, frowning a bit. He's not sure he likes the idea of the trip going so smoothly right now.]

[Aqua sighs though she doesn't know if the communications pick it up. He's always like this and at this point she expects it but it'd be nice to know if he was taking this seriously.

She walks slowly along the train's length, towards gale with her sensors alert.]

'Orlok. Is there a reason you change your name with a mask on?'

[She doesn't really understand it.]

[He continued to lounge there, starting to kick his legs in the air one at a time. It almost seemed like he was taking it less seriously now, but he might be making it seem that way just to mess with her.]

Callsign. Guess here it's force of habit.

[He used to it enough that it doesn't even feel right to hear 'Gale' when the mask is on. He frowns a little.]

Takin' their sweet ass time, aren't they...

[She will follow his wishes though she doesn't understand why. Aqua lets out another long sigh. She's pretty sure that he's doing this just to bother her.]

Their coming.

[A sliver light forms in her palm as she summons her keyblade.]

[Just as she said that, an icon on his HUD started flickering. He smirked.]

Good instincts, kid.

[He spins himself up into a crouched position, looking over his shoulder.]

Let's wrap this up quick so we can rendezvous with the assault party.

[Aqua is pretty sure she's older than Gale though in her case looks are deceiving. It isn't something she wants to get into either so she lets the comment slide and focuses on what's approaching.

She doesn't wait until the figures are close. Instead she holds out her keyblade and summons shares of ice to rain down on a few of the robots.]

[Honestly, Aqua could be 300 years older than Gale and he'd still call her a kid. He's that kind of guy.

He takes a careful look at Aqua's attack and then a look at his surroundings, quickly making a list of what shouldn't be used on a moving train. Lightning magic is certainly one of them. Wind might be passable, depends on how strong it is...

Ahh, screw it. There are a couple of enemies at the end of the train. The whole 'wind' thing seems to perfect. He rolls forward, making sure he's in front of Aqua's position rather than behind her and swings his arm forward; the lines on his neck glowing brighter as a gust of wind shot out ahead of him, knocking a few robots that were already staggered from the ice strikes right off the train.]

If this keeps up, this oughta be a breeze.

[Aaand he grins back towards Aqua. Someone is proud of his pun.]

[Aqua watches Gale though most of her focus is on the enemy in front of her. She flicks her blade back and then tosses another gale of wind just after Gale's. She smiles at his pun though he can't see it through her armor. He might be able to hear the light heartedness of her voice though.]

I think you are giving them good reason to leave.

I dunno, I think they'll be all queuing up to meet me once they catch wind of my jokes.

[Oh, if only he could just pun his way to the end of this bounty. It'd sure save them all time and energy if the Red Claw just got fed up with bad jokes and left based on that.

But alas, that would be too easy. He glanced up to see one of the new arrivals aim to fire a shot off at Gale and Aqua, but Gale's quick to bring up a layer of ice to deflect it.]

Or not. Tough crowd. They gotta chill out, clearly.

[Gale stop.]

[Aqua laughs softly before turning towards the sky. The number of their targets is at least dwindling.

She pulls up her sword using it as a shield but the blast still pushes her back a few inches. She swipes her sword to the side sending a bolt of lighting through the sky and towards the attacker.]

You need better jokes.

[She's getting into this.]

[Pft, moving trains are hardly a problem when you've dealt with the crazy shit she has. The cyborg huffs softly to herself as she stays rooted to her spot, standing on the damn train as if it's absolutely not a problem in the slightest for her. To be fair, it really isn't, but she's glancing towards Gale for a moment with a raised eyebrow.

Honestly, from a position like that, he's going to be the first one hit if he's not careful. Amateur-ish, in her opinion, especially with what she knows of the group they're keeping an eye out for.

Her arms cross over her chest as she takes a glance around the area, looking for anything that seems out of place. For once she's glad of the enhancements from ~~that bastard~~ Gero, they're being handy for a purpose that isn't absolutely horrendous.]

It's too quiet. [She speaks mainly to herself, eyes narrowed at the sky as if she's judging the dead air. Hell, she probably is.]

I have a feeling this isn't going to be as simple as it might sound like, but I could just be paranoid. [You're always paranoid, Eighteen.]

[If Gale gets hit first, then really, he's doing his job right. Especially if he takes the hits for either pretty girls he's hanging out with. He's happy to play the role of tank when it's necessary. ... or beneficial to making him look good. Either one.

His eyes trail over towards Eighteen's position and gives a light shrug.]

Things are never gonna be as easy as they seem. It'd be great if this was just gonna go straight to its destination and we can just up and leave, but that'd be way too easy.

[And almost a little disappointing. He turns his head fully towards her.]

But I'm sure I don't need to tell you that.

[Athrun makes sure to get arms from Onogoro as soon as the subarchways reopen. He's equipped with an assault rifle, three hand grenades, a flashbang, and the blade that Troy bought him for Christmas. He's also got a small first aid kit hanging from his belt in the event of injury, and is wearing his flight suit both for added protection and for the streamlined form it gives him. In addition, he has the Infinite Justice resting nearby, out of sight and ready to operate in the event of an emergency.

He's at the mouth of the tunnel, not yet having gone in. He's waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.]

[Deeper into the darkness of the tunnels, Troy advances forward with some of the bounty hunters. The darkness was filled with the echoes of gunfire and the crumbling of rock as the shots from both sides of the conflict riddle the entire place with them. Troy is one of the hunters raining down some suppressive firepower on the Red Claw cyborgs. Their numbers weren't as small as Troy thought they were, and they are actually putting up quite a fight for a pack of thugs. Whatever they are, a lot of them knew what they were doing.

Using his suit's thrusters, Troy slides across the battlefield from cover to cover while firing controlled shots in between. He winds up sliding next to [your character] and waiting for his rifle to cool down. With a calm nod of acknowledgement, his visor slides up to show his face. He has a grin etched on his lips and some laughter mixed in the tone of his voice]

Havin' fun?

When he heard about the hunt, Jerry gently declined to participate. As much as he'd like to hunt them down for what they'd done, he was too old for such danger and excitement, he said. Besides, he was an engineer, not a soldier or anything like that; he'd only be a liability out on the field. He wished them the best of luck, but he would not be joining them.

Of course, he was lying. Imagine, a spy lying about being a spy. So Jerry started to head home, only to engage his holographic disguise projector in a safe place and turn right back around as a new persona -- a generic-looking, scruffy young man with long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail, and of course, a completely different set of clothes. The only two details he left unchanged, the only two things that could be used to link this stranger to Jerry, were his height and eye color; two details so tiny that he'd be sure he forget about if he did change, and end up blowing his cover that way, so he just decided to not change them in the first place. Everything else -- the way he moved and held himself, his mannerisms, even his voice and accent -- were completely different.

At the meeting, the young man leaned back in his chair, linking his fingers behind his head.

"Well, we can't just go in and ask them where this dude is. Or dudette, let's not make assumptions here. They can read the newspaper just as well as we can, they know someone's going to be coming after them, and they'll be suspicious of newbies. We can't just beat it out of them either, I know their type. If they're willing to kill for their cause, they're zealots and we'd just be blowing our cover. It looks like our best bet is to get in, find the info recorded somewhere, and get out without anyone ever knowing we were there." Of course, if they had someone on the inside, or if the Red Claw had a traitor willing to help them out, things would be different, but he knew better than to hope for that. He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands.

"Sounds right up my alley." The other missions sounded too shooty for his taste; Jerry didn't like to get into displays of force without at least about sixty agents behind him, which was a luxury he didn't have here. "Got any blueprints for this place, or are we going to be flying blind?" Either way, he's confident that he can handle it.

Troy isn't someone to be easily fooled by disguises, but Jerry's definitely flew over his head that Troy really thought it was a young man who spoke up after the briefing was over. Calmly, he turns his attention to Jerry and responds.

"We're aware." Troy looks at Jerry a little closer to get a good guess at the not-young man's capabilities. "And of course, we do have a map for the mission area. It's being held at the underlevels of the city, so what map we have may not be entirely accurate, after all the city's criminals made nests and some sort of shantytowns there that might cramp your style. But you look capable enough to do this job"

Troy pulls out a small watch-like device from the holotable in front of him, tossing it at Jerry to catch. It's a holographic projector disguised as a regular watch, and if one looks closer it has a detachable ear piece on the side.

"But you're no cyborg, they can spot you from miles away and jeopardize the entire op. Still, I got an idea"

Jerry glances down at the projector; he's already wearing one, but with some finagling, he'll be able to layer the two without interference. He looks back up at Troy, frowning.

"Aw man, don't tell me they can see through walls or some shit."

"It's assumed that a significant of them do. Our intel of captured Red Claw members of the past all say they're packin' military-grade augs. One of them is being able to detect heat signatures through walls, but with a limited range"

Troy crosses his arms, leaning his waist against the table and crossing one leg in front of the other. He watches this young man curiously. He seemed enthusiastic, and now he's definitely curious about what they can do. But this mission is a high-risk one, so he's not going to give him a hard time. Much.

"Good thing there's a way in where that sort of aug wouldn't mean jack. I hope you're up for a good crawl, because the other way to their supposed hide-out is through the droid maintenance tunnels there. The steam there would mess with their ocular augmentations, so you'll get in with little problems."

"Now that sounds more my style." The more people that knew he was there, even if they thought he was someone or something else, the more variables he'd have to take into account. He preferred it when people didn't even suspect anything until he was long gone.

"What kind of steam are we talking here, though? Harmless, or melt-your-face-right-off?" As much as he wanted to bring these people down, he wasn't willing to melt his face off for the cause.

"Harmless, unless you count the terrible smell as harmful. I'd say just don't touch the pipes, because those would melt your skin off" Troy spoke so casually.

"Tell me when you're ready to deploy. I'll have a transport get you to your drop zone. I'll be the voice in your head throughout the whole mission" He adds. He's okay with being there if Jerry requests some assistance. But he was just there not too long ago, so Troy didn't want to jeopardize the mission if he gets recognized. He has no other mask other than his power armor, which the thugs there would recognize by now.

"Gotcha." He gives a small chuckle.

"I've got everything I need, so I'm ready when you are." He holds out his hand with a thumbs up.

Troy cracked a crooked grin and decided to accompany Jerry for this mission.

"Alright. Meet me at the garage on the east wing. There's a vehicle there that would take us to our location. But first, I'm gonna need your name. I can't just call you kid while we're in the field"

It's a good thing Jerry thought up a name earlier; he's surprised it took him this long to ask, honestly. But because he's prepared, his answer comes as easily as if he were giving his real name.

"Kai." Generic enough to avoid being memorable, but not SO generic as to be obviously fake, or so he hopes. He gets up from the table, raring to go; the less time he spends standing around socializing, the less chances he has to blow his cover.

Fast-forward to the start of the mission, Jerry (or Kai) and Troy rode an unmarked shuttle to the underlevels of Nova City. Troy was still wearing his armor, and stood silently inside the shuttle like he was in a gunship. As the vehicle slows down and stops, the side doors slide open to show them being at the side of a building. Troy jumps out first, scanning his left and right before inviting Jerry along with a nod of his head. He leads the way for Jerry while he has his hands on his rifle.

"See that fenced up hole at the end of this platform? That's your access point. I'll continue to guide you through the comms, you'll be on your own down there for a bit."

Once they reached the entrance to the maintenance tunnel, Troy casually opens it with one hand, allowing Jerry to crawl inside.

"Happy hunting"

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Mission 4 - Targeted

[Escort - Nova City Sky Lanes]

[Escort - Nova City Sky Lanes] +1

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(I am so late aaaah)

cyborgs arrive precisely when they mean to!

[Assault]

[Assault]

[Meeting/Infiltration] (Sorry for late, writer's block!)

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mild swearing here

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