IC 2071
-
IC 2071
-
“Din’t the guy say he’d git us fake ID’s fer the meet? Anyhoo, canine kemo sabe, ya go as a drug sniffer, then we gotta be cops. But that sure won’t fly, so we’s goin’ as animal rights freaks. So yer our special ambassador, dauntless doggie diplomat Popsickle Pudding Punch. Name’s negotiable, occupation ain’t.”
-
You can’t shrug but you can yawn, so you do: <>
-
[Mid-afternoon, Wednesday August 12th, 2071; Approach to SeaTac Airport]
All is set and the plans are in motion to take the team in to the airport. Torrent had stumped up the temporary SINs as promised and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Blinds and double blinds, decoys and obfuscation, hopefully this would all be enough until the team could palm Jenny off on the J and let her become his problem…
#42
-
You walk on the tiled floor of the building with the flying houses. Your nails make a very audible click, click sound, while your vest displays that you are a support animal, allowed to be here. There are smells everywhere. Nervous people, happy people, sweaty people, tired people, but most of all angry people. A few dogs are around as well, but those are working for this place looking for drugs. You try to appear as innocent as possible while staying at the girl’s side. Your tongue is hanging out because despite the ventilation there are too many people producing too much heat.
You keep looking for the strong male to appear – as well as trouble. For that you have to peek into the spirit world now and then – just short enough not to be spotted yourself. It’s rather strenuous, so you pant. -
Even though he was carrying no weapons, Al kept his right hand free out of habit. He held Khili’s lead in his left hand, but that was just for show – he was careful never to let the synthleather strap go taut. Khili may have been an affront to nature, but he was still all that was good in dogs, dialed up to eleven. He’d been a stand-up team mate, and Al wouldn’t dream of actually using the leash any sort of restraint.
Before entering the terminal, Al had watched Macey and Willis go in. Becky had done an amazing job of making Macey look like Jenny, despite the fact that the former had a more developed musculature than the latter. Willis looked slightly befuddled but protective, his natural state being perfectly suited to the role.
Becky had gone in after them, and now Al followed along with the others. Forty was at his right, and between them was Jenny. They were all posing as animal rights weirdos. For his disguise, Al had dispensed with any sort of outward change to his attire or appearance. He was one of the world’s greatest Thespians, and simply by willing himself to appear as a human-hating hippie, it became so.
As they walked along, he congratulated himself for having the best disguise in the group.
-
Becky had done what she could, Forty had to give her credit for that. Cosmetics had hidden the scars on her face; Forty hated having them hidden, but she accepted the need not to look like a tough right now. Some sort of temporary hair dye– it had fragging better be temporary — had turned her buzz cut a bubblegum pink, that was supposed to look cute and harmless or some drek like that. The floral dress that Becky had found for her was certainly sized for a human and showed pretty much all of Forty’s legs; that had been deliberate on Becky’s part, an attempt to draw attention away from Jenny. At least the short dress meant she could move her legs freely. Forty figured that she still looked like a thug, but even Becky’s tricks had their limit.
Still, she tried to play the part. Tried not not to scowl, tried not to scan people for what threat they represented, and generally tried not to cause a scene. At least Al had coached her, so when someone cut right in front of them to use the revolving door, instead of telling him to frag off Forty snapped “Do you support NATURE FOR ALL? Or do support killing our planet?” It might have been a little bit in the man’s face, given how white he’d turned, but at least he’d scuttled away in a satisfying manner.
-
Becky walked into the airport with her caged hamster, along with a silently runnin RFID tag modified with Jenny’s persona. She made sure to make a fake talk in the team’s links indicating the ‘plan’. She avoided eye contact with the rest of the team but acted alerted and a bit stressed constantly checking out on her hamster.
-
[Mid-afternoon, Wednesday August 12th, 2071; Departures, SeaTac Airport]
All three sets of runners, plus their unconventional additions, had made it through the security gates uncontested, their SINs holding up against the Knight Errant scanners without apparent hiccough. Merging with the throngs of commuters, holiday goers and assorted examples of normal metahumanity they disappeared in to the crowd. Suddenly behind them there was a commotion of some sort at the barriers and casting surreptitious looks back they could see the all to recognisable uniforms of a Renraku security detail arguing loudly with the airport KE goons.
It was only Macey’s training that gave her the merest hint of a warning that something was up as the plain clothes sec officer approached her from the far side to Willis’ looming bulk. The timing with the distracting ruckus behind them plus the oriental visage spoke volumes although the accent was decidedly UCAS…
“Come with me quietly miss…”
#43
-
Constantly checking on both of the team’s other elements, Al saw the plainclothes guy approach Macey as most eyes were on the commotion at the gate.
Pitching his voice for Forty and Jenny, he kept moving as he spoke. “Aces, ladies, they done took the bait. Jist act naturaly an’ stay on course, we git this done afore they tip ta they mistake.”
-
Becky was satisfied with the distraction and continued with the plan. She avoided texting or otherwise form a communication with Macey or Al and Forty. “If we are lucky this does not evolve into a disaster… Either they took that bait, or that man is the actual Jhonson…”
-
“Meat is murder” Had that come from animal rights, or the vegetarians? Forty had belatedly remembered that they were supposed to be about animal rights, not eco-protection, and was trying to make sure she had the right words ready for the next encounter. She was keeping the words in her mind, although her lips might have been moving as she felt out the words.
Then Al interrupted her thoughts. Bait? Were they protecting fish too now? Then she realized what Al must be talking about. She gave a little nod to indicate that she was totally on top of the situation. Then went back to thinking through how best to spit out the line “Meat is murder!” “Meat is murder” “MEAT is MURDER” Yah, that was it, there was no point in being low key if they were challenged, best to go loud and in their face.
Back in the day, hadn’t that annoying Becky something-stein used to talk chickens in their cages? She could use that too “HOW would YOU like to be kept in a CAGE and NEVER let out?” Or better yet “If I[/] kept YOU in a CAGE and NEVER let you until it was time to DIE, would you like that?” Yah, she could get some real anger into that one.
She looked up hopefully, ready for someone to get in their way so could unleash on them.
-
[Mid-afternoon, Wednesday August 12th, 2071; Departures, SeaTac Airport]
Clearly inter corporate rivalry wasn’t enough to stop the Renraku team from bypassing the security gates and entering the departures area – it would seem the runners were a hotter ticket than they might like (assuming it was them that had caused the ruckus of course). Spreading out the corp team released a host of small SIN verification drones up in to the air and they proceeded to sweep through the crowd of travellers who more or less remained oblivious to the goings on.
Beside Macey the plain clothes officer attempted to grab her arm in an attempt to propel her towards wherever it was he wanted her when he suddenly dropped senseless to the ground – that certainly did draw the attention of the sheep and they began to scatter away (as all good concerned citizens should do!)…
#44
-
You have to keep yourself calm and not run to the man attacking the Beta. You remind yourself, this part of the plan. Still you feel it would be better if you all would move faster and away from this situation. Where is the Strong Male you are supposed to meet?
-
Al knew dogs. Whether they could talk or not. And he could sense that this one wanted to go help Macey. Held himself together, though, stayed on task. Good boy.
Soon enough, though, it was academic, because the guy that had gone for Macey was down.
He didn’t need to tell Forty to keep moving away from the gates at a regular, even pace. He did try to maneuver them into the thickest flow of the crowd. There were enough mirrors and shop windows around that he could watch whether the Renraku guys made for them.
And he spared a quick look around for what or who might have put Macey’s would-be captor down….
-
Forty scowled at the micro-drones buzzing through the terminal. They didn’t look like they had weapons, but no doubt they were going to cause some sort of grief to the team anyway.
She straightened out her hands from the fists they had inadvertently formed, and starting rubbing them against her dress before she remembered she didn’t have a gun that they needed to be dry to grip. Al, Jenny, and Khillisi were all carrying on fairly normally, and that made it a bit easier — but walking away instead of turning to confront the danger was still incredibly hard.
She did her best to keep an eye and ear on the drones, to know when they were closing in.
-
Becky does as the rest and hurries for safety. Not dropping her box.
-
[Mid-afternoon, Wednesday August 12th, 2071; Departures, SeaTac Airport]
As the sheep scattered from around Macey one man was left facing her, clearly unperturbed by the twitching body at his feet. He was utterly non-descript, so much so that it was enough to trigger all sorts of alarms for Macey “why don’t you come with me instead, heh?” he queried…
Meanwhile the Renraku search drones were whizzing over the heads of the crowds obviously passing their sensors over the SINs of those beneath them. As they were moving at faster than commuter pace it would only be a matter of time before they caught up with the runners, particularly as they were suddenly faced by two commuters, a man and a woman, who looked at Al’s small group with clear recognition in their eyes. The lemon squeezer guns concealed in their palms began to move up to fire…
#45
-
Fury, adrenaline, and magic boiled up in Forty at the sight of the guns. They dared? They fragging dared!
The words came out of far faster than she could think: “Drop Your Weapons” The command was the growl of a beast defending its young, or possibly a hunter telling its prey to give up. Her fighting skills had grown rusty, because for a couple of decades she simply hadn’t needed to use them. Her contempt for her foe, confidence in her own primacy, and the magic of Thunderbird all infused each syllable.
In the instant between giving the command and seeing if it worked, she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be using magic. Too fragging bad, let the drek land where it may.
-
You notice the two men, they carry weapons and you step in front of Al and the girl, calling almost without thought for the Wendigo to lend you power. But he dares to refuse your call – he didn’t like the treatment you gave him last time, you realize just a second too late, confused and feeling just a little bit sick.
-
“ERNIE!!! BERNICE!!!” Arms spread wide in a joyful embrace, Al strode toward the two, what were they? Some sort of secret agents, probably. What a weird deal he’d gotten himself mixed up in. He brushed such musing aside, as he went to smother the two in his arms in a bid to vacuum up their attention while drawing as little notice as possible from the surrounding throng. He was glad his jacket was zipped – those little squeezey things couldn’t pack much punch anyway, could they?
Khili was front and center. Good boy. But then he seemed to lose his nerve and Al moved on past, waiting for the shots and hearing Forty order the two to drop their weapons….
Log in to reply.