Be Disappointed Later
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Date: 08/22/2017 |
Measure 2 - Assumption Grotto
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Cast: Storyteller: | |
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"We've got one minute. One and a half at most." It's firmly stated, without any apparent wiggle room. "It may turn out that we have to abort before it goes too far," Sandra continues, all this coming prior to getting to the site proper; the sky has eyes and ears, after all. "If the web is too unweildy, slows us down too much, that's it. It's over." This, too, is a no-questions-asked edict. "I want Honda as close to the church as he can be, prepped and ready to get us the hell out of here the *moment* we call it off, and I don't care if aborting means losing this opportunity. Understood?" And once they're on the ground, headed to the church, the time frame is restated. "One minute. One and a half at most, and only - *only* - if we're making the kind of progress that we need to. No questions, no arguments." And that's the end of it. She's dead serious about it. Past that, her attention is on the church itself, and a glance is cast in Kaminari's direction once they're standing right in front of it. "You ready?" It's a battle scenario, the Ahroun giving orders is only natural, even a renunciate and Kami goes along with it easily enough. Perhaps it has something to do with Sandra's recent tremendous displays of leadership but her mind seems focused on the plan and she seems happy to let the Ahroun take charge. "Understood. Ranjinrou said she would help as able." The final location for this adventure is deep in the northwestern stretch of Measure 2 land. A wide expanse of broken pavement, weeds run amok, and empty lots occasionally punctuated by decaying single family homes with caved in roofs or featuring wild growth through structural elements. There's an occasional tree as well, but this is the quintessential definition of a ruined, urban wasteland. One ruined building in particular seems to be Honda's (the driver) specific objective: it's a cruciform bit of flattened earth covered in broken stonework. Honda pulls into what was at one point the parking lot for whatever stood here back in the day. Goldenrod and milkweed riot up through cracks in the old blacktop which has crumbled to so much coarse gravel anyway. There's a warm late-afternoon breeze and though most eyes can't see it, the Wolf in most of those gathered can feel Luna's gaze upon them in her trickster's guise. Amy is a bit quiet right now. Crammed with the rest for this ride, she gathers the basics of what is to be done here. But lacking the real context o the ongoing struggle, for now she's just content to follow directions and listen. The car comes to a stop and Kaminari gets out, she has dispensed with the leather kendo case she normally keeps her sword in and instead has the elegant weapon in hand, though still sheathed. She draws the blade studying her reflection within its mirrored surface for a moment and then looks to Sandra waiting for her signal. "Keep your eyes open," Sandra says to Amy. "And keep an ear out for anything these two have to say. We'll need you to relay information to both sides, if need be, so be ready to cross at a moment's notice." She gets out of the car, herself, not long after, and gives a brief nod to Kaminari upon approaching the church. If she's at all ill at ease, she's not showing it. Past that, she takes a quick look around, takes a breath, and shifts upwards into her war form. Another breath, followed by a low, resonant growl that may as well be a means of psyching herself up for what's about to happen. She takes a step forward, all ten feet of her practically evaporating into the air. Amy puts her phone away since things seem to be getting seriuos. "Alright," she nods to Sandra. "My last attempt to peek into the Umbra here went poorly. I hope if I have to, I'm not ambushed this time. Then again last time may have just been really bad luck..." She'll lean on the car they came in, while looking around and trying toget a feel for where she is. "Hi," says Shadi to Amy. She doesn't recognize her but if she's here with Sandra and Kami, she's obviously on team awesome. Shadi's phone lighlty plays 'Everything is awesome', in fact. The radio keeps crackling. As Sandra and Kami make their transformation, Shadi only barely manage to avoid squealing. "ohmygod that's so cooooool." Amy takes a moment to notice Shadi, and smiles. "Hi. I'm Amy, just came here from California. I've had at least two people tell me I Should talk to someone who somewhat matches your description. We should talk sometime. Though right now... keeping eyes open and focused." Speaking of that, she trise to part the gauntlet with her eyes.. and doens't really get anywhere. Razor-Eater is the first across, and finds herself sidestepping into a storm of feathers and startled squawking. All around her is a flurry of familiar grey/black mottled birds. Through all the chaos, however, Razor-Eater becomes aware of a second flock, this one not in flight away, but rather, flight /towards/. If she assumes they come for her, they've missed. It's only when Eyes of the Storm crosses moments later... directly /into/ that gathering flock, and begins to scatter in exactly the same pattern (Indeed, Eyes gets basically the same welcome ceremony), that she gains an understanding of what has just happened. The megalopolis is unchanged. Ranjinrou is here, snarling at the flocks as they scatter into the sky to the west. For the moment it's just the two Garou, the stormwolf, and a few dozen thousand of the Weaver's biggest fans, the automata. The 'OMG CRINOS RUN' reaction is total ruse. Whippoorwill is feigning startlement. Actually it's off to perform its mission, presumably warning its master of their presence. The clock starts now. Second roll: The second flock is independently performing the same function. These are gafflings, unable to really adapt to the situation, carrying out their instructions to the letter - they were still in the process of gathering, but they appear to have known EXACTLY where Kaminari would cross. Yet, when Sandra observed them before, they obviously were not aware of Kaminari, or Sandra, on the other side of the Gauntlet. "I'm not surprised. We'll have a better chance to get to know each other, I'm sure," offers Shadi with a cheerful smile. On the seat besides her rests a shiny 9mm pistol. Just in case. Amy glances at the gun, and laughs "I hope you know how to use that, since I sure don't." She then takes another shot at peeking. As her claws plunge into strands of web thick as her arm in Homid she feels fluid soaking through her fur. It's cold, and thus chilling - but also warm and familiar... way too familiar. The fluid reeks of oil and solvents, rotting fish and dust. But flows quickly as anything. Sandra will require a Rite of Cleansing, as she's picking up Wyrm Taint from the fluid. Suddenly that pulse she thought she saw? She definitely sees it now, been there the whole time, and this stuff is why. The good news, on the other hand, is that this stuff is no more difficult to rend than normal weaver's stasis web. So she's mowing right through the stuff. But there's a lot of it, and this will get very messy. Both of them find that the webs rend easily, but as they slash and rip, a thin grey-clear liquid begins to pour from these strands which are thick as Sandra's homid form arm, as if the webs were not solid silk but almost veins of some kind. The fluid reeks of benzene and rotting fish, it stains Kaminari's sword slightly, bringing out the elegant lines of the hamon a little better. The big Shadow Lord nods briefly to the flocks as they scatter, once Eyes of the Storm arrives. ~It's a ruse,~ she says. ~They're sending the warning, and the others knew exactly where to look for you before you came through. We move, *now*. I'll take the first swing. If it works--~ She gives a light snort. The time for explanation is over. She moves forward towards the webbing, lashing out with her claws in a powerful arc, the swipe ejecting a gout of fluid over her arm and fur. A sharp snarl follows, her hackles bristling as she very nearly retracts her hand entirely. ~Fast,~ she barks out, for the Hakken's sake as much as her own. ~Do this *fast*~-- The penumbra is the part of the spirit world closest to the Realm and it remembers various aspects of the Realm. Or at least it's supposed to. For some reason, the penumbral reflection of this part of Detroit not only doesn't remember the decayed wasteland, it doesn't even remember a thing that ever was - instead, the penumbral landscape here is a dense forest of idyllic skyscrapers. A vast megalopolis in modern and art deco styles. It stretches for as far as the eyes can see - which isn't very far, given how close all the massive buildings are to each other. Broad streets permit some views, however, and give the sense of titanic scale at work here. Above all the buildings, the largest, thickest web Amy has ever heard of suffocates and smothers the whole of the city - propped up by the spires of the buildings and drooping wherever it isn't held. To be able to make out the individual strands from such a great distance... they must be /massive/. And indeed they are, for they pour down here, upon the site in the umbra which coresponds with the ruined building that Honda parked next to, a great column of stasis webs, thrumming with some unholy pulse just below the surface. Though Amy's probably never seen them before, and certainly has never heard of them existing in the penumbra, the city positively teems with the bustle of tens of thousands, possibly trillions over the whole expanse of the urban landscape, of Automata. Named by the Glasswalker Tribe, these are spirits of an order lower than gafflings, barely animate wisps of the Weaver's brood that usually only exist inside pockets of the deep umbra where the Great Spider holds dominion. They are tended by the Weaver's gaffling spiders in countable number, who are in turn overseen by other spirits of the Weaver's brood in a great cosmic heirarchy of perfect urban order. There is also a spirit here that is not of the Weaver, however. A large wolf whose fur crackles with the 'teetering-on-the-edge' feel of a great electric charge. It's tail is between its legs as it contemplates the scene before it. In the language of the spirits this wolf speaks to Eyes of the Storm, <<This is the waters of the river!>> It speaks of the 'blood' this web lets loose, a sickeningly grey-clear fluid that indeed runs like water does. It spills from the gashes in the column, as Eyes of the Storm and Razor-Eater hack with sword and claw, rending the awful strands and revealing that they are hollow, and this fluid runs through them. They're making quite a mess now, both letting their Rage pour out hatefully upon the Weaver's instrument. Some minor flooding has begun. Shadi peers after Amy. She peers after, holding the radio up to her own ear for the moment. Just in case. Razor-Eater is moving through the webbing and flooding about as quickly as she's able, the snarling that began earlier moving on to a fever pitch that may as well be the equivalent of an outright roar. Blind to anything but the finish line (for the immediate moment, in the here and now), she rakes her claws through the webbing, and appears dead-set on continuing to do so-- for as long as they still have time. Eyes of the Storm dances away from the water's reach as much as possible, she curses in some unintelligable combination of garou tongue and Japanese. Ranjinrou's words send a chill through her but she does not falter. <<We have come too far to stop now!>> she answers also in the language of spirits and continues cutting away with her sword. A tone suddenly shatters the otherwise eerie silence around Honda, Shadi, and Amy, a loud, attention-getting, channel-clearing klaxxon that sounds twice. Then the words start coming. Fast. "Raven seven-niner? Dispatch. Scramble. Scramble. Grid section Alpha-one-seven. Use contingency flight plan echo, dispatch to file. Course corrections en route. Raven six to embark with full alpha-gulf package. Confirm." "Dispatch, Raven Six, acknowledged. Plan Echo to be corrected in flight. Request number of Bravo-Fox?" "Current report is two, Raven Six. Dispatch will update as available." "Copy. Responding." And then silence. Honda takes particular note when the radio crackles to life. He also starts the car. "Air support," he says, breaking his silence. He looks to Shadi. "Do you know where they fly from?" "New girl! Tell them we have to go and we have to go /now/. Yeah, Honda. Right out of near the Detroit Airport. They have a facility there." Shadi is eager to get out of here now. Honda does some quick mental calculations. "Five minutes." He brings up the in-dash GPS and starts scanning around their current position. "Maybe seven if the airspace is busy." Two things happening at once. 1) The water has seeped into the road, and the Automata are being corroded by it, this is triggering a response from the pattern spiders, and there is a general state of alarm going on. Secondly, a third flock of Whippoorwills is suddenly gathering a short distance away, apparently not concerned with either Kami, nor Sandra. With the water spraying everywhere, Kaminari focuses on her next attack, she probably is going to need to get wet, but that thing needs to fall. <<Ranjinrou, please take care of yourself. I must see this through.>> to Sandra she calls in Garou tongue <<There is a chance it could call on it's own at this point, but we are almost through and a clean cut is the only way to be sure!>> that said she lunges forward grip tightening upon the hilt of her blade as she swings. Razor-Eater continues to plow through the mess of webbing and water, that roar diminishing to grim, gritted-teeth determination to see this through to the end. No acknowledgement to the Hakken save to just keep *going*, each resulting swipe taking her closer to the end. But while there's a falter with the second to last - recognition of the time, of the response this is generating, a split-second hesitation - she throws everything she's got into the final rake of her claws. The last threads of the column snap all at once as blade and claw work their terrible destruction on layer after layer. Both warriors are splashed repeatedly, hip-deep in the filthy waters of the Detroit river... and that's when it happens. Eyes of the Storm recognizes the signs and is able to get away, but there's a water column forty stories high above them and as they work their way through, the end of the thing comes astonishingly quickly, suddenly rupturing in a great gout of contaminated water and the column above begins to whip back and forth as the tremendous pressure within it expels water in all directions, spreading panic and mayhem in the perfect cityscape below. The sudden high-pressure torrent and violent whipping motion of the now freed column knocks Razor-Eater over and she is swept some distance away in a sudden flash flood of the water, positively soaked now. (Also took some damage but it'll regen in a moment so don't bother.) The gathering flock of whippoorwills is suddenly taking flight - not from the burst of river water which hasn't quite reached them yet, but from the entrance of Amy into the penumbra. Amy finds herself once more amidst a storm of feathers and squawking, but this time they don't pluck her eyes out at least. As before, the flock flies into the sky and westward. Amy waves away the storm of birds her way anyway, and lets out a shocked 'eep' of surprise and a moment's fear. She then gathers herself, looking wat what's going on, and gathers herself to call out "Air support coming. Might want to move!" There's a shout from the Shadow Lord - an unhappy one, to be sure - as she's swept away by the crashing water, her claws raking against the ground - against anything she can grab hold of - to keep from being swept away entirely. It's still too far for her liking, the disorientation that comes of being quite literally thrown a ways away making it difficult to discern *where* she is for a couple crucial seconds. Not enough time to care about it. The second she feels solid ground and can tug herself against it, she's already pushing back through the Gauntlet, ignoring any remnant dizziness the shockwave caused and shifting instantaneously to wolf form the second she's broken through to the other side. She'll run about as fast as she's able back to the car, plowing through the occasional stumble. If there's a door open, she'll throw herself at it. If not-- Well. That'll suck. "IKUZE!!" Honda is screaming as the three garou return to the Realm. The Equinox is running, and at Honda's prior instruction, Shadi is sprawling into the back to open the doors. Aside from that, the site of the old church is astonishingly quiet. Shadi does manage to get out of Razor-Eater's way before the backseat is suddenly and violently full of /stinky/ wet wolf. "Oh god," the young hijabi stammers out, wide-eyed, "/please/ don't shake."" Eyes of the Storm snaps as much of the liquid off her blade as possible with a quick flick of her wrist before using it to cross the wall between worlds, once there she instantly shrinks back into her homid form, sheathing the sword at the same time and diving into the waiting car. The moment everyone is in, Honda is gunning it, the large engine in the heavy, American SUV angrily roaring to life. Whether it's needed or not, Honda is briefing them. "Enemy air support was dispatched shortly after you went in. They /know there was two of you./ They have some estimate of position, which we are about to find out how accurate that is. Shadi-san says their air support is based out of the airport - assuming helicopters, which is the only possibility that makes sense, they can be here as quickly as five minutes from liftoff. Seven minutes if air traffic is bad or they take too long embarking. They are using barely-encoded transmissions, which means they do not realize their comms are compromised. But there is NO cover out here, so we must get as far from where they think we are as possible before they establish line of sight with us - which is an innevitability at this point. Hopefully they will not realize we are the ones they seek." Shadi's radio comes to life about here, "Dispatch. Raven seven niner is en route, advise for course correction as soon as available." "Raven seven niner, dispatch. Acknowleged. Proceed to Alpha-one-seven for now, advise when on station." Amy hums. "If we're listening in on their communications, do we need any sort of permanent listening device set up, to record everything they're saying at all times?" she'll muse. Shadi says, "I've been trying, but it's not much. This is the first really juicy bit I've ever managed to get. They use shorter-ranged equipment for most on-site stuff. The only thing I can hear tends to be shift change stuff or the occasional incident dispatch." Kaminari sits in the back of the car, she is covered in disgusting icky water and exhausted, but they did it. She seems to have every faith that Honda will see her through it. The instant she's back inside the car, Sandra reverts back to her breed form. She's breathing a bit heavier than usual, to be sure, but she doesn't look any worse for wear, the urge to lean over Shadi to stare out a window and attempt to see what may be coming abandoned in favor of not being an ass. She listens intently to what Honda has to say about the situation, letting her breathing even out, her gaze flitting to the radio. "Just do whatever you can," she says to Honda, as if it's even necessary. "We did what we came here to do." Honda drives. Shadi's radio comes to life again. "Raven six, Dispatch. Be advised: third bravo-fox now confirmed on-sce... stand by for update." There's a pause. "Raven six, now be advised: confirmed three bravo-fox and all three have crossed back." The klaxxon sounds three times now, "Rook Six, Core six. Dispatch. Escalation required, activate and deploy to Alpha-one-six and Bravo-one-seven, respectively, updates to follow. Confirm." "Rook Six, copy, will comply." "Core six, unable. I'm down to men right now and tied up at Sierra-Six-Six." "Copy Core six. Lion six, Dispatch. Escalation required, activate and deploy to Bravo-one-seven, updates to follow. Confirm." "Dispatch, Lion Six, acknowledged, we're rolling!" (He sounds entirely too enthusiastic for this.) "Dispatch, Raven six. That's a LOT of open ground, request weasel support, confirm please." "Raven six, dispatch. Weasel support granted. Weasel six? Dispatch, activate in support of Raven six in Alpha-One-Seven. Confirm." "Weasel six, acknowledged. Warming 'em up. ready-standby in alpha-one-seven in... thirty seconds." Honda absolutely loses his temper at that last bit. "THIRTY SECONDS?!" Also, incredulous. "THERE'S /NOTHING/ OUT HERE, WHAT CAN THEY POSSIBLY HAVE READY IN THIRTY SECONDS?" This will not go down in Honda's journal as a 'good day.' Amy leaves further speculation on listening for later, as Honda's concern sounds more pressing. Kaminari continues to sit in the back and have absolute faith in Honda for the time being, escaping this is his area of expertise, not hers. "It doesn't matter," Sandra says firmly. "Ignore it until you've got visual confirmation. Shadi, Amy, Kaminari, I want eyes on the sky. The *moment* you spot anything that looks like an aircraft, call it out. Honda?" A beat. "Hell with it, I don't need to tell you what to do. You've got this." It's not a gentle ride, but thirty seconds later, the radio crackles again. "Raven six, Weasel six. I have a prop failure - looks like a weed strike, and two startup failures, but four birds are in the air, where do you want them?" "Dispatch, Raven Six - I need those course updates..." "Raven seven niner, Dispatch. adjust course to sub-grid Kilo-two. Analysis says the site of an old church. Begin search pattern from there. Over." "Raven seven niner copy, will comply." "Weasel six, Raven six, you hear that?" "Kilo-two," comes the voice belonging to Weasel-Six, "copy and they're on the way. Camera feed still being established." Kaminari finally breaks her silence in the backseat, "Drones." she says, "Probably hidden all over the area, it sounds from the radio like they're outfitted with cameras." she doesn't seem thrilled by this prospect though most of her energy is spent. Amy blows a sigh through pursed lips. "Pfft. I was so distracted by the umbra here i didn't even notice. Disappointed." A look is shot in Amy's direction, though it's a steely one rather than an angry one. "Stow it," Sandra says sharply. "You'll have time to be disappointed later." "Raven six, Weasel six. Contact. Black SUV, Alpha-one-seven, subgrid Delta-eight, heading north-northeast. No markings. Not sure if that's our bigfoot, but I'll see if I can get a plate or a make for ya." "Dispatch, Raven six is taking command of the site." "Raven six, Dispatch. Affirmative, it's your show." Honda opens the glove box and pulls out an H&K MP5-K. "Can anyone use this?" He would, but he's driving. It's also a decidedly suboptimal tool for the job, but at least it's an automatic? "Weasel six, Raven six. We're probably not going to be able to intercept them before they get to Eastpointe. We're completely out of position. It's on you to get me plate number, make, model, and then track the subject. Continue searching for other vehicles, but that sounds like our target so DON'T LOSE IT." "Weasel six, roger that. Coming in behind and alongside. There's a lot of dust though." And indeed, Honda's mad dash for a populated area with buildings and other terrain to hide is kicking up a lot of road dust. "I'm on it," Sandra replies, not even blinking when the weapon is produced. She'll have to manuever over Shadi before making a grab at it, though, moving away from the center towards the window-- at which point, she'll sit her ass down, and start rolling down the window. There's a spray from the MP-5, and two quick pops from Shadi's 9mm. Both produce a satisfying shower of sparks and the drone - a good distance away but having to fly straight at the guns - loses two rotors on one side, dropping that side into the dirt. Honda's doing forty miles per hour right now. That thing - and it looked expensive - goes into a tumble of dust, rock, and black plastic parts flying up into the air around it. If they needed further confirmation of the kill, moments later, Shadi's radio, laying on the passenger console between the seats, crackles to life again. "Bird engaged! This has got to... shit. Bird down. Err. Raven six, Weasel six, I just lost the bird in pursuit. Bringing up final frames for analysis, but they're /hauling/ it for Eastpointe." "Weasel six, repeat, they engaged the bird?" "Roger, Raven. They shot it right down, one go of it. I don't even know how they spotted it in all that dust." "Understood Weasel Six, package the recording for analysis and review, try and get the rest of your birds over there." Raven-Six does not sound very hopeful, though. He knows which way the wind is blowing. A minute or two later, as Honda makes the outskirts of Eastpointe and begins an evasive driving pattern, the radio crackles again. "Raven Six, Weasel six. Bingo contacts, I they've got to be out of grid by now. Got a partial plate, not local, but can't read the state - running matches now. Papa-Eight-Charlie first three, don't have second three. It's a Chevy though. Suburban or Equinox, probably, but not confirmed." "I will have to drop you all off somewhere," Honda announces, "and destroy the vehicle so that they cannot gather evidence from it." "Understood Weasel. Raven six to all reaction units, we are de-escalating. Dispatch we need patrols of the following sections...." And the radio will basically not shut up now while they begin a general search of Eastpointe for the rented SUV. | |
