Official Tensided Cyperpunk RPG Campaign

[Hotfoot]

Mikal eyed the prisoner, then the good doctor, keeping silent until they reached the holding room. Under other circumstances, he would have berated the doctor later for his interrogation methods. However, in this case, it was forgivable. The subject was ready to crack as it was. A child could have gotten him to talk in this state. Once in the room, he took a nearby chair, spun it around and motioned for the prisoner to sit. If he took a little too long, Mikal would give him a sharp shove to land him in the chair.

"You are not in an enviable situation. It would seem that our resident telepath has taken a disliking to you, and I can promise that you are not leaving this place in one piece if you decide to be uncooperative. So let's get straight to the point. I want to know who hired you, how much they payed you, what they told you the mission was, what your objectives were, in short, everything you can remember about this mission. Bank account numbers, street signs, just how pungent the smell of urine was in the backalley where you met your employer. If you can't remember right away, that shouldn't be a problem. The good doctor should be able to help you remember," Mikal smiles, though if malice is intended with it or not is shielded quite carefully. He turns to Lennox, making a light sweeping gesture over his head with his hand, followed by a short tap on the top of his head. The doctor would probably not understand the code properly, as it was designed as a series of hand gestures for non-telepaths to give silent communications to telepath team members in the Russian Covert Operations Section. In this case, it meant 'skim the surface, and nudge lightly as needed'.

Meanwhile, Mikal's thoughts wandered briefly to what would be done with the man after the interrogation was complete. The softer elements here would likely be against killing him in cold blood...though there were a few ways to...deal with him that would solve the problem just as easily...

[Marcao]

Ernesto

His attention slid from Blaine towards Thomas as they spoke and when Blaine spoke he nodded. He noticed that Blaine was looking about for something or was it someone? He nearly smiled at the thought, aware that a woman could be a precious thing. It was a pity that his own attempts at finding such a woman had been difficult. His chosen profession did not leave a lot of room for women, and those that had managed to get close to him had met various ends from the unfortunate to the downright brutal. He was certain that it had been an American that had once stated "I am lucky in war and nothing else." He was certain that man had been his soul brother.

He watched Thomas as Blaine walked away, his eyes aware of Thomas' actions as he checked over the M5 rifles and picked one of the better ones. His words spoken softly in his obvious accent. "I hope you can use that Thomas." It would be a pity if he had to learn now, but he handled himself well and he had made a good choice. It could not all be luck. He turned then, walking over to the pile and picked up one of the machineguns (the one in best condition). He took some of the ammo and carried it back towards his van, the door unlocked and opened before he placed the precious cargo within. If someone else proved to be a better user than he was, he could negotiate its return. The door was closed behind him and locked. His steps carrying him towards the scientists. He would mingle with the crowd, give Blaine fifteen minutes to catch a quickie with Stacey before he went out looking for her. They had to talk about his future. The contract between them had to be tweaked and she was still to deliever.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Lennox eyes Mikal, he made hand signal that he thought ment skim the surface... Lennox did so. The questions Mikal had posed would bring up the details needed into the prisoners working memory... He started his scan.

[Gerard_Paloma]

Dirk exchanges greetings with Thomas, and then shuts up, having nothing else to say. He continues to look around, eyeing the Colts as they are pointed out, and scoffing gently. The m240b's were nice, but not very mobile. And Dirk would probably do more damage to himself than anyone else with an RPG launcher.

He realized he had just managed to talk himself into keeping the BAR, and let a smile creep across his face. As Lennox and Mikal led the prisoner to a private room, Dirk went back to collect his momentarily discarded weapon. He sat down at a workbench and began to disassemble and clean it, tapping his foot to a classic rock tune running through his head.

[CorSec]

Blaine found Stacey walking out of the safe-room with Joseph. He and Joseph exchanged brief pleasantries before the scientist excused himself. Blaine and Stacey exchanged looks before he asked where he and the other mercenaries would be staying.

"We're housing out of this section," she said leading further into the complex. The silence between them grew heavy. Blaine tried to put the past away at least for the time being but it didn't want to stay there.

"I understand why you did what you did." Blaine remembered how Stacey had persuaded the mercenaries. He realized now what was at stake. "It doesn't make it any easier to deal with what happened, though."

"I never meant to hurt you."

"I'm sure of that, I really believe you." He paused before continuing. "We can't change the past or how we dealt with it." Though he was using 'we' he really meant himself. "Part of me is satisfied now that I see that you're alive and relatively safe. Of course, there's the rest of me that's still pissed as hell." He looked at her to see her reaction. Her face was neutral, if she was thinking anything she was holding it close.

"An apology is good," he went on, "but really there's nothing you can do that would make everything alright. I don't want to sound egotistical in all of this. With all of the crap you've been through in the last few months, catering to my broken psyche is the last thing you need to worry about." He stopped again. She was about to speak when he realized that he wasn't quite finished.

"The question I have now is 'where do we go from here?'" He let the question hang out there for a moment. "We can't start from where we left off. I honestly don't even know if we can restart at all. Maybe we've both changed too much."

"Are you through?" She asked quietly. It wasn't rudely put, she wanted to know if she was going to be interrupted.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. I didn't bring you in on this because I wanted to rekindle anything. I saw you could fight and that's what we need right now. I would have offered you money or augments or whatever, but it seems that you weren't interested in any of that." She stopped to take a breath before going on. "That only leaves one reason why you are here. Me. I have to tell you, Blaine, that is exactly why I didn't want you here in the first place." She didn't intend to sound angry, but there were pressures being exerted on her and letting out some animosity right now felt too good to stop. "You wouldn't have cared for Joseph's revolution. Oh, sure, you might have come around on it, but it never would have been your prime motivation. So don't come here and pretend to be above this. I don't need your passive-aggressive diplomacy. I know you better than that." She had let her emotions get the better of her, but she softened her tone, "I cared about you," she corrected herself immediately "I still care about you."

"How is now any different than then?" He retorted quickly. He didn't like all these people knowing, or thinking they know what's going on inside his head.

"Honestly, would you have walked away had I asked you?"

Blaine didn't need to think about the answer. "No, but that's not the question I asked: What about now, I mean right now. Do you still want me here?"

Stacey looked away. She wasn't ready to say yes, but no wouldn't be an honest answer either. "You can do whatever you want. I just need you to know that I don't want you dying for me or because of me."

"Why not let me decide on what or who I risk my life?" He checked himself mentally. "I may or may not survive as it is. This entire existence is nothing but a giant risk all by itself. I was chancing fate when we were dating, you know that. Purposely putting myself in harm's way now, for my reasons which could include you, is somewhat of a moot point wouldn't you say?"

Dammit if he didn't have a point. She still wasn't ready to admit to herself how she felt when she saw him outside the Third Degree.

"Maybe you're right," she conceded. "I just have a bad feeling about this. Don't get me wrong, I want to succeed and we're as close now as we've ever been." She stopped. She stooped a little, looking older. "It's just that Microsoft is hitting us harder every time. If not for the new hires, we'd all be dead or worse. It's easy for me to risk myself, but not others. Especially those I..." she looked up at him, "... especially those I care about."

Her eyes told him of a tremendous weight that she was carrying. Over the last few months she had to endure the worst of what this world had become. She was young and tough but it had still taken its toll. She covered her eyes and leaned into his chest. For a few minutes, she let someone else carry her load.

After a minute, she pulled away. She wiped her eyes and pointed down the hall. "The rooms are there. There is plenty of space, you guys can figure out who's sleeping in what room. Some of them may contain the personal effects of..." her voice hitched, "... of our late security guards. Dispense or dispose of that however you see fit." Her moment of weakness had passed and now she was back to business. She brushed his arm and smiled softly before walking away. "I'll go tell the others where they can bunk."

((OOC: Just to make it 'official', have Stacey tell the others the same as that last paragraph.))

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Interrogation Room: The man was an easy nut to crack. He was downright eager to talk, hoping his cooperation would ensure his continued existence. With Benjamin's help, he could remember even the smallest detail. They hadn't told him much, but one thing became very clear. They weren't sent in to capture the technology, but rather, to destroy everything. The advantage of sentient, decisionmaking AI would be incalcuable. It made no sense to destroy it, unless they had backups.

This man also had upgraded ears, and he overheard things when his employers were too careless to take proper precautions. The businessman that put this whole deal together kept mentioning a place called "The Basement", suggesting that it made capturing the research materials unnecessary. After a couple of hours it seems that everything useful the man knows has been learned.

Sensing this, he predictably begins pleading for his life. "So, hey, I've been real cooperative, ain't I? And it was nothin' personal, just business you understand. 'Course, you're a businessman, we're all businessmen here. So you're gonna let me go, right?"

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

The engineers have been packing things up. After a while, Dr. Ham addresses the group (minus those interrogating). "We can't stay here. They underestimated us, but they won't do so again. It'll only be a matter of time before they track down the two who fled and know that the mission was a failure. They could come again in a few hours or a few minutes, but when they do, we'll all be killed if we're still here. Luckily, I know just the place to serve as a secondary hideout, but we have to make haste. Everything will be loaded on the trucks within the hour, and I expect everyone to be ready by then."

[Alyrium Denryle]

Dr. Lennox looked at Mikal

"Permission to send you a message telepathically?"

Note:If permission is granted, I send this mesage express into his mind
If it is not, I write this down, and hand it to him.

"You know, there really is no reason to kill him. I see a few options, we can kill hm. We can let him go. I can wipe his mind so he has no clue who he is, I can wipe out the period of timein whic he served with Microsoft, we can make him fight FOR us. We could always use another man at arms, and if he doesnt cooperate entirely, I can always convince him to. I hate to do it, but it isnt like he wouldnt have killed us if we had given him the chance..."

[Hotfoot]

Mikal nods and makes another hand motion, holding up two fingers, pointing back and forth between his head and the good doctor's, indicating clearance for two way communication.

"I agree. Unfortunately, he is essentially a dead man as it is. Microsoft will likely want him accounted for after this failed op. I agree that we could use a pointman, and I doubt anyone would shed a tear if this one were to take a hit for the team, as it were. For now, I'd suggest calming him down some and inducing slumber. We should check with the others (attached thought, scientists, employers) to see what they feel should be done."

"While we're here, just so you know, if you want to send me thoughts, warnings, or so on, telepathically in the future, you need not ask permission. I know the value of a telepath on the team. However, all I ask is that for reading my thoughts, you ask permission first, or wait for my signal. Anything else, I'm sure you'll understand, I will be quite...irritated if you attempt to implant any suggestions in me or the like. So long as we understand each other in that regard, we should get along fine."

[Alyrium Denryle]

All is understood, and I agree, we should probably consult the others. I respect your wishes, and would not do such a thing as implant a suggestion withut your consent... That or if you go insane

with that, Dr. Lennox looked at the young man, put his hands on his shouldrs and said "sleep' and attempted to induce slumber((can this be granted for plot points sake? ))

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

The man, afraid to defy his captors, does not resist the telepathic intrusion, and slides forward on the chair, unconscious.

EDITED for my failure to realize that he was sitting in a chair and not standing..

[Alyrium Denryle]

((Most chairs are not that unstable))

Lennox puts his hand forward, and stops the chairs backward fall.

[Symmetry]

"I hope you can use that Thomas."

"Don't you worry, I used to be quite good with rifles, better than I was with pistols at least. Of course, I haven't fired one in ages, but working out the cobwebs is what those extra clips are for."

[Marcao]

Ernesto

His eyes glanced upwards towards Thomas for a moment a thin smile on his lips before he nodded as he spoke of knowing how to use the weapon. It was his funeral if he did not, and for the moment he had no reason to believe that Thomas was lying to him. The truth was that they needed all the help they could get if he and Mikal were going to keep the civilians alive. If Thomas turned out to be a competent shot, he would be a fool to not take advantage of it. “Let us hope that your attempt to get back on top of things is successful, everyone that can use a firearm competently should be armed in our current…situation.” Of course, Thomas had more to lose than he did. He did not after all need to stay. He was a mercenary.

It was when Doctor Ham began to speak that his attention left Thomas and focused on the doctor, his words met with silence for the most part. He arched a brow, aware that the doctor spoke sense but he was not their damned babysitter. He was here because he had been promised certain things, and Stacey had not yet delivered. Nonetheless, he said nothing aware that he could always walk away in the future and that if Stacey did not deliver, he would be very disappointed. He walked to his van, unlocking it and moving within. The various weapons he had confiscated appreciated for a moment before he slid within. The door was closed, his hands reaching for his bag before he retrieved a corn muffin. He ate it slowly, his mind hoping that Mikal was having a lot of fun at the expense of their prisoner.