essen ♔ where not a single soul gets through

[superswank]

♬ rainbow factory - glaze

WHO || Sydney B., Andrew, Diana, Felicity, Sebastian [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a hacker friend of Andrew's who has gone off the grid
WHERE || Essen, Germany
WHEN || Jan 10th, shortly before 7pm [forwarddated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

The flight to Essen is very short, only about half an hour, and Sydney makes good time flying them there. Wynn has a car already rented and waiting for them as usual and then it's a short drive to the coordinates Lady Nell sent them.

While the neighborhood in question was once a very nice residential development, it now shows decades of neglect. There is a squat, one-story storefront across from what appears to be a riot control vehicle that appears severely battered.

Comments

[superswank]

"Did I stutter? That's all I've got. Now don't get yourselves killed, because finding a third team's bound to be a bitch and a half." [ annnnd nell out, bitches.

sydney lets out a frustrated sigh ]

Well. At least we know what they were looking for. Maybe there's something we overlooked.

[badexample]

[Andrew huffs at the now blank screen. With his search still running, he gently sets his laptop on the dashboard and pushes his hands through his hair.]

Magic. That's all we know. They've involved in the magic community. D'you think someone came for her? Wanted to make her disappear?

[He reaches for the door handle and pauses to smile at Sydney enough to give her an indication that he's getting out. As much as he wants to just track the signal, he can't make his computer go ding any sooner than it wants to.]

[superswank]

[ syd smiles back slightly and moves away to give him room when suddenly a hand slams against the driver's side window, hard. ]

"WAIT!"

[

the voice sounds panicked and strangely distant, and comes from a guy in a hawaiian shirt with bright pink hair, staring through the window at them. they could have sworn no one was there moments before... ]

"That was Lady Nell, wasn't it?" [ he licks his lips nervously ] "You're the backup team. Fat load of frakkin' good you slots turned out to be! You're as useless as my glitched-up cliphead slitch of a sister! You're too late, shit-for-brains, we've all been killed." [ the words cause his face to crumple and he turns to despondently sink against that side of the car ] "Oh gods. I've been killed! I'm dead! This is the end! There's nothing left! I'm dead! Dead!" [ he curls up in a half-fetal position, rolling over onto the road on the other side of the car where he sobs and mutters to himself. sydney just staaaares across the car, before slowly turning to look at andrew. ]

[badexample]

[Andrew jumps, passenger door still open as he watches this guy have his freak out on the other side. Once the noise just falls to his muttering, Andrew gives Sydney the same strange look.]

Uh... [helpful, gatewood. He blinks and starts to move around the car and eventually crouches in front of the guy, because towering over him while he's all fetal'd out is probably a bad choice.]

You're, uh- you're not dead. Why don't you just tell me what happened? [Why is he doing this? He's terrible at this. He just sounds confused and annoyed and maybe a little freaked out??? (diplomacy 3)]

[superswank]

[ sydney follows andrew around, but she stops a few feet away, staring down at the guy who is rocking back and forth sobbing recklessly ] Um... Andrew... [ there's a strained note in her voice and she looks back at the storefront, hoping the rest of their team hears this and comes on over. ] I think he... might be.

[badexample]

What? I mean he's right here. He can't be de- [And then he stops, because he gets what she's saying. His face pales and he all but leaps back in a display of intense fear shock (will 7).]

Shit!

[Well if they didn't hear anything else, they probably heard that...]

[opprobrium]

[ Hearing Andrew curse, that got Sebastian's attention. He moved over towards the two his long coat swishing with him.]

What the hell's got him spooked? [ He means Andrew, he's not paid mind to the new comer yet.]

[superswank]

[ nope syd can't do it, can't make herself say the words "THE GHOST". instead, she nods at the pathetic slump on the ground and sebastian can make his own spot check DC 12 to notice that the guy is SLIGHTLY SEE-THROUGH. ]

[allmydreams]

[Felicity is wandering over at the ruckus as well, trying to figure out what has got everyone so upset, when she sees the guy and his not-so-corporeal nature (spot 21). She takes a few stumbling steps back, unable to keep herself from freaking out just a smidge (will save 11).]

What the ...

[astrae]

[Diana follows Felicity back to the car, content to keep as far away from that disturbing storefront as possible, and she brightens upon noticing their new companion (spot 4).] It's just hair-dye. [Probably a lot of it, though.]

[superswank]

[ syd shakes her head. ]

It's not the hair dye. [ she cautiously steps forward, one hand raised gently. (diplomacy 14) ] I know you've... been through something terrible, but maybe we can help each other.

[ he rolls over so that he's on his back looking up at the sky. ]



"Why? There's no point to anything anymore."

[opprobrium]

[ Sebastian's eyes went a bit wide seeing, the man was kind of see through. (spot 19) He almost took a step back but instead, took a breath and took a step forward, asshole he is, coward he is not. (Will save 16) ]

Hey, seriously. The point is maybe we can't save you. We may be too late, whatever. But there is always revenge. [ He spoke with a shrug. it was the best he had.] We can get even for you, if nothing else. ( Diplomacy 12)

[superswank]

[ he swipes a sleeve across his face, wiping off the tears. ]

"Revenge... revenge, yeah." [ he gives a snort ] "Sorry about all that. I'm new at this whole being dead thing. First time for me." [ he laughs nervously ] "Name's Sobriquet - I'm the mage for Ice's Irregulars. Look, I don't have a lot of time, but I'd appreciate it if you could pick where we left off. The woman's cab - Mrs. Johnson's - had been hijacked remotely from this place. Alice - that was our hacker - had just pulled a bunch of paydata from out of their system when we got hit by... something. I didn't see it coming - I was doing astral overwatch at the time, out of body - how I got stuck this way. All of a sudden, I felt violence and fear and when I came back to look, I got to glimpse someone with a magic aura of their own just as I felt my body die. It was the most painful thing that's ever happened to me. Or I guess... ever will, now. Anyway, I hid, and the thing vanished as quickly as it had come. Almost at the exact same time, a truck pulls up and a half a dozen people come out. I manifested discreetly to see what was going on and they were cleaning! For a second, I thought I was in shock, losing it, but that's what they were doing. They took the bodies and cleaned the place up, and took off. It was strange as hell."

[badexample]

[As the story continues, Andrew visibly pales.]

Does... does that mean that Alice is..?

[Probably not the most important piece of the story, but he's sort of focusing on it right now. She's why he's here after all.]

Where'd they take them? Who were they? [Panic starts to edge into his tone.]

[superswank]

"Hell if I know. The truck they took off in was red, but otherwise unmarked. If you could find Alice's body, I'm sure you could get the information out of her chip. It's implanted in her skull. That's all I've got. I'll answer your questions, but I really need to go. I have some things that I want to take care of before I finish dying. Maybe if somebody had gotten here sooner, I wouldn't have worry about this shit. Because we'd still be alive."

[ syd casts a worried look at andrew. ]

We didn't know immediately. We got here as soon as we could.

[opprobrium]

[ Sebastian actually looked a bit sympathetic. A rare look on him. He knew he'd be as mad as hell if he died on a job like this.]

We will do what we can. [ It was an odd motivation, but he wanted to kick the shit out of someone for this. It was senseless. Odd coming from him but it was how he felt.]

[badexample]

[The way this guy keeps talking about Alice's body like it's a thing and not a person makes him sick to his stomach. He starts to pace, mumbling to himself about how she's got to be okay. He just talked to her before she left for this job. She's fine. She has to be fine.

He stops and turns towards the ghost.]

Which way. When they with the... Which way did they go?

[superswank]

Onto the highway. [ sydney murmurs, shaking her head ] A red truck was pulling onto the highway when we got here. They're too far ahead now.

[ at that moment, andrew's computer beeps, its program done running its course. ]

[badexample]

[And that very familiar sound pulls him from his panicked fog enough for him to completely abandon this side of the car so that he can run for the other side to check the results.]

[superswank]

[ he's managed to track the chip to an address in this city for a company called Discrete Disposal, translated from German. ]

[allmydreams]

[That was a lot of information to push through and it takes Felicity a minute to sort through it all. Standing in a graveyard had never really been part of her job description, but here she was all the same.

And whoever did this, did not want to be found.

All the same, she knows that she needs to focus on what she can do, not what she cold have been there to stop. She moves closer to Andrew, trying to see what he found.]

Got anything?

[opprobrium]

[ Sebastian didn't know what else to do but to stand there and wait to see what they come up with. This is all Greek to him.]

[badexample]

Got an address, but it's... [Andrew's nerves start to fray as he realizes the sort of place that it is. His hands shake as he tries to keep his emotions in check and does not do a very good job (will 10). Andrew doesn't have a ton of friends, okay... The idea that one of them is dead is extremely distressing.] It's where they dumped them.

[superswank]

[ syd keeps it together and professional, even if she has sad eyebrows for andrew's direction. ] There's a chance they could be rezzed, if we can recover the bodies.

[allmydreams]

Which means the sooner we get there, the better.

[Felicity keeps her tone calm, giving him a small smile.]

Let's go check it out.