Awakening Apocalypse - Chapter 2: The End of the Beginning

[Mosier]

Heartbreak is seconds away from completing the reprogramming task when the two security agents Casper warned about arrive, and take positions outside the door. They certainly would have heard the gunfire followed by ominous silence, followed by Skinny's execution shot. On the surveillance monitors, the team can see the agents take position on either side of the open door, very clearly unwilling to enter.

"Is anyone alive in there? Answer fast, or we're calling corporate central security!"

"No!" comes a desperate-sounding cry from inside the room, surprising everyone. It's the manager Casper tazed earlier. "Don't call corporate. Everything's fine."

Skinny's first instinct is to blow the guy's head off, but the voice coming from the suit has a genuine feel to it. From the sound of it, the manager really doesn't want to get his bosses involved, despite the carnage the Runners have done. Jesus, corporate politics is insane!

"It's not fine!" one of the agents shouts back. "It sounded like a war zone in there!"

"Stand down!" the suit fires back. "We're in negotiations now. Do not enter. Do not call corporate, or if these men don't kill you I swear to God almighty I will!" The suit's voice is gaining confidence now. Maybe he's more important than the Runners originally thought? Saint can remember reading the man's name tag, but he can't remember what it is. Now, the name tag has been lost somewhere in the scuffle. This bothers Saint much more than it should.

As he speaks, the man glances between the three Runners. There's a pleading in his eyes. Corporate security seems to scare him as much as the Runners do. "Please," he says low enough for them to hear, but not the guards outside. "I know why you're here, and I won't stop you. But I promise you, none of us wants what's coming next if we don't cooperate."

Kevin! That's what it was.

Saint and Skinny have their pistols ready. Kevin is only a trigger squeeze away from the morgue, if the Runners choose.

While Kevin is busy pleading for his life, Heartbreak finishes the programming job. The drones can now be reactivated via the console any time Heartbreak wants to power them up. They will follow Heartbreak's new combat parameters, ignoring their previous programming.

During the standoff, Casper arrives at the door leading to the security office hallway. Through a small window, she can see the agents in their positions. They can not yet see her, but as soon as she opens the door they're bound to notice.

 

[TillForPie]

Skinny moves to Kevin's side, holsters one pistol, and hauls the manager to his feet by one of his arms, still bound behind his back with a zip-tie. Security'll listen to Kevin, huh? That makes him a good hostage to keep close until they're clear of the facility. "Brave of you to volunteer to come with us," Skinny hisses into Kevin's ear through the paper mask. When he's done suppressing a final cough he plants the end of his gun's silencer against Kevin's head, directly behind his right ear, as if aiming through the manager's skull toward the doorway. "Everything goes smooth and we'll let you go a few blocks from here. Just no sudden moves - I think I might have made the trigger too light and we wouldn't want to have an accident." Who knew middle management could be so dangerous?

 

[Rubberneck]

"Let's see those guns hit the floor! Kick them to where we can see em or Kevin here eats a bullet and then we fight our way out, and I promise you'll join him!"

 

[Shayuri]

"I'm in position to flank the security outside," Casper says over the comms. "Give me the word and I'll come in shooting."

 

[TillForPie]

"The wageslave brigade wants to play ball," replies Skinny to Casper. "We should be coming out shortly." He wouldn't mind lighting security up once they've thrown their weapons down but he doesn't risk junking their exit by saying so. Skinny squeezes on Kevin's bound wrist with his free hand while giving him a shove with his pistol to get him moving toward the doorway - though he doesn't let him actually head through it yet.

"You heard the man!" He shouts over Kevin's shoulder. "Weapons on the ground!"

 

[Mosier]

Saint orders the security team to drop their weapons. "Let's see those guns hit the floor! Kick them to where we can see em or Kevin here eats a bullet and then we fight our way out, and I promise you'll join him!"

Skinny adds, "You heard the man! Weapons on the ground!"

The reply from the guards outside the door is almost immediate. "No way, chummer! How about you put your guns on the ground instead?"

Kevin seems exasperated. "I'm not their boss," he says to the Runners. "I'm just a public relations manager. They won't surrender, but I can make them leave if I get them face to face." He makes eye contact with Skinny and sighs, knowing that this Runner in particular isn't going to like what he has to say next. "But it can't look coerced. Look, I'm not asking you to throw your guns down, but maybe just don't point them right at my head? Trust me. They're not calling corporate security, see? It's just the product division team. Let's keep it that way..."

Everyone can plainly see that Kevin is stalling. Whether it's because he's trying to deceive, or just trying to save his skin is anyone's guess. Heartbreak and Skinny both get the impression that Kevin could be valuable, but Saint has a nagging feeling that Kevin may not be able to deliver on his promise to get the security to stand down. All of the Runners in the security office can see that Kevin carries at least a small amount of clout to the security team outside the door.

 

[Rubberneck]

"Have it your way!"

Saint grabs the half naked lady off the ground and drags her to her feet,

"Going in hot."

Saint says to the team. He pushes the lady out the door, putting her between him and the guard on the left. He levels his revolver at the guard on the right and will fire. If Skinny catches on to what Saint is doing and objects then Saint will stand down.

(OOC :: There's a lot going on for this turn and it may require a lot of rolls. Burn edge where needed and let me know what I need to do. I'm not sure if initiative will need to be rerolled or what.)

 

[TillForPie]

"Light 'em up, Casp!" With his left arm tightening around Kevin's throat Skinny throws himself against the far wall on the other side of the door, so he has a diagonal bead on the guard to Saint's left. He fires at the guard with the pistol in his right hand, using Kevin as cover. He's obviously aiming at the guard but isn't too concerned about the woman between him and his target catching fire.

OOC: To hell with it - let's edge it up.

 

[GlassEye]

Heartbreak

[section]

Heartbreak continues working on the drone reprogramming trying his best to shut out everything else so he can concentrate and finish. Of course, security will know he's tampered with them so it's probably wasted work but if nothing else, it will be a distraction keeping them from looking for Casper's addition to the POW! At the rate things are going he's hardly going to have time to find the backup video.

​

[/section]

[sblock=OOC]Current Deck stats: Attack 1, Sleaze 4, Data Processing 3, & Firewall 3. Running Virtual Machine with Exploit and Sneak.[/sblock]

 

[Mosier]

OOC: Sorry if it wasn't clear before, but Heartbreak has already finished reprogramming the drones. All there is left to do is power them up.

Also, the first post for this new combat round will be up this evening. See you back here later today!