The Dead Savant

DeletedUser37114

Giles
It looked like tonight was going to be the important night, which... Wasn't that bad, actually. Meant some changes of plans and he should probably grab his stuff before going, but that would work out. So Toby nodded, frowning a little at Giles. "I need to grab some stuff before dinner, but I didn't really have any plans for tonight, so it works out." Plus, better to get his errands done earlier than not. He expected to be able to sit back and let his mind wander until food arrived, but Giles apparently wanted to get into the nitty gritty and get him to talk about himself. Not like that wasn't due when he'd gotten Giles to open up, but not the best thing for right now. Not the whole story, at least. Plus, it would certainly kill time while they waited for food. "Alrighty then, Mr. Group Therapy Session. I'm seventeen, hail from a little town in Idaho called Hailey. Mostly went to school, did normal things, lived life. Had a little... ah... disagreement with a particular federal agency a few months back, got away, and I've been just sort of walking around and bus hopping since." Of course, he left more than a few things out, but why bring up old head wounds when they're just trying to have a decent conversation. "So... yeah, um..."
 

Deleted User - 819397

Toby agreed to drop by for dinner, which was nice...Giles hadn't foreseen a problem, though he was a little curious what the guy 'needed to grab'...sure he was visiting...someone...he knew, but shouldn't that friend/relative handle the procurement of what they needed? Regardless, he had moved on to talking about himself. Of course, the knowledge he was seventeen was a bit of a shocker...sure he was young-looking, but who went gray that early? Though the next bit was even more intriguing, implying that he was on the run from the PRSD and just wandering since a somewhat direct altercation. He looked a little uncomfortable after that, trailing off a bit...which made sense on a couple levels...he'd just admitted to have been working on consoling someone half a decade older than him through his age, and had practically admitted to being a Savant. Or...well...on a technical level he'd done neither, but Giles was certain on both. Leaning in a little so he could lower his voice, he replied, "I can sympathize with needing to work to...avoid unnecessary attention. Sounds like you didn't go to my lengths though, which I'm glad for...wasn't a heap of fun for me. The world's become a rather...unaccommodating place, hasn't it." He leaned back and sighed, a wry smile touching his face for a moment. "I didn't realize how young you were either, but...I don't look down on you for that...age isn't the most important thing in a person, it's how you live your life. From what I've seen, you're more mature than most people your age." He chuckled and shook his head. "Plus I remember another seventeen year old making it on his own in the world just fine. Not about to think less of you for being in a similar state to me not too long ago." The former aristocrat shrugged, taking a sip of water to kill time for a moment. "On my end, seeing as we've mostly talked about things I've been unwilling to mention...rich family, disowned as a teenager for daring to be a nice person, used to help at an antique shop before...well...you know." He shrugged again, looking a little uncomfortable. "Circumstances more or less stripped that all away from me for now, but when things get a little calmer...who knows?" After a moment of silence, Giles looked over at Toby, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Here...I'll trade you...ask me anything you want about me, so long as it's not about...the events...and I'll answer...but for every question you ask me, you need to answer it for yourself...sound good?"
 

DeletedUser31931

(OOC: Timeskip on Liu’s part to keep the ball rolling, agreed with Dubble)

Liu
The bartender studied Liu for a second as she spoke, his hands still resting on the shotgun. “Deal. Stand still.” There was a brief pause although Liu could hear a quiet whirring sound, inaudible to most others. The man’s eyes widened for a second. “The Resistance thought you were gone, Liu. We’ll need a blood sample but beyond that, welcome back.” The next couple of hours passed in a blur. Once Liu had been confirmed clear, she was able to go and bring Trixie in, though Trixie swapped to her Savant name, Spectral Saviour, and refused to use anything but that. Then the pair was given vaccines against the nanomachines that Raypool was using to control people, ensuring that even if they were injected now they couldn’t be controlled. It didn’t take long for them to meet Ashley and get signed on to the mission, Trixie desperate to help the Resistance and prove her worth, whilst they didn’t know who she actually was. With that done, it was down to helping clear out the bar before the raid and relocating across the town, as well as booby-trapping their former establishment as a little welcoming present for the DSRP. The day’s work done, they were given bunks and told to hang tight before the meeting tomorrow, as they’d be staying in state until the job was through. Trixie left off her advances, sleeping on the opposite side of the room to Liu though not cold shouldering her.

When morning came, the bartender woke them and cooked them breakfast before ushering them into a room which had a projector on one wall and chairs in a semi-circle. Ashley was sat at the front of the semi-circle, next to the projector and in the chair next to her was Killian who was wearing a colourful t-shirt with a kaleidoscope, almost hypnotic pattern running across it and some ripped jeans to complete the look. His hair was cut short and he glanced nervously at Liu and Trixie as they entered. Trixie took the seat opposite Ashley and motioned for Liu to sit beside her, leaving the final two, middle chairs empty. Their seats taken, the group waited.

Dante
That night, Tonya slept well. It was the blissful sleep brought on by comfort and security and when Dante extricated himself from her hug in the morning, she only smiled and half murmured something under her breath. Once she had properly awoken, she dressed quickly and casually. They weren’t going to be doing much work today, just the briefing and the divvying up of tasks. That didn’t stop her from slipping a pistol into the holster at her waist, but that was just common practice, especially in these times. When Dante was ready, she placed his hand in hers, pecked him on the cheek and then jumped into the meeting room that Ashley had given her the picture of the day before. Then, all hell broke loose.

The moment that Dante and Tonya arrived in the room, Trixie panicked. Tonya saw the girl and her mouth dropped open. Trixie, however, was faster, grabbing Liu’s hand and turning the pair invisible as she began to hyperventilate quietly and to try not to cry, flickering in and out of vision as she sat stock still on her chair, desperately trying to bring her breathing back under control. Tonya grabbed Dante’s hand, trying to stop him from doing anything stupid. As Liu and Spectral Saviour vanished and the newcomers seemed on the verge of exploding around him, Killian pushed his chair back nervously, uncertain of what to do.
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
Ooh, apparently Giles was also on the run. Good thing to know, though not all that surprising if he was really thinking about it. He was feeling good enough to joke about it, though, so not something for Toby to worry about. Not as much as the wound they'd already discussed or the one they hadn't, at least. Giles was also surprised at his age, which wasn't surprising given the hair. Or, now that he thought about it, the support. Or the general freedom. Huh, maybe he really did need to start telling people he was older than he really was, he might actually be able to get into nightclubs or buy a drink or... Getting off topic. Fortunately, he hadn't seemed to have missed much, just something about similar states, being disowned, something about an antique shot. Oh, and losing it all, probably from the whole needing to be on the run thing. Then he decided on a proposition, trading question for question as long as he didn't poke anything that would hurt. Fair enough, just start with some easy questions. Nodding, Toby considered for a moment before throwing his probes out. "Um... I'm an only child, any siblings on your end? Oh, and..." The waitress arrived at an unfortunate time, dropping their food off in front of them before whisking herself away. Out of respect for Giles' privacy and need to throw a couple fries into his mouth real quick, Toby dropped his question until she was gone. "I didn't consider it for long, but have you ever thought about being a superhero? Like out of a comic book?" Probably a pretty weird question, but for some reason, he liked it. Maybe he'd actually get something useful out of Giles with it.
 

DeletedUser28032

Passing the night in a deep and peaceful sleep that neither of them had experienced for quite some time Dante resented having to wake up the following morning and break the spell that had fallen over them. Gently kissing Tonya's cheek he would roll out of bed with a groan before staggering off to shower and shave before throwing on a clean pair of jeans, T-shirt and his perennial boots and leather jacket, beneath which lurked the .44 Revolver he'd picked up the day before. Truth be told he didn't think he'd need the weapon as it was only a meet and greet followed by a briefing but his inbuilt paranoia wouldn't allow him to even consider the idea of going anywhere unarmed with the thought further reinforced by the sight of the automatic neatly hidden beneath the hem of Tonya's blouse.

The jump was pretty standard; the world still spun a bit when he arrived at the other end but he no longer felt like he was going to throw up or fall over as a result of the crippling vertigo he'd gotten the first couple of times he'd used that particular method of travel. With a witty jibe at Ashley's expense already on his lips Dante froze as his eyes locked onto those of Trixie's with the girl panicking the moment she saw him. Were it not for Tonya seizing his wrist the heavy revolver would have been out of his jacket and firing at where the girl's flickering form but as it was he would have to make do with his own abilities, at least until he could wrest control of his gun hand from the petite and surprisingly strong Asian girl "You're dead meat Trixie! You should have run whilst you had the chance!" Dante roared across the room as he ripped the chairs out from beneath the two women hoping to shock the traitorous ghost into becoming visible long enough for him to take hold of her and pin her against a wall "You can't hide forever Trixie! I'm like going to kill you!"
 

DeletedUser

A camera? They seem fairly well prepared for a wanted terrorist group. I need to find out who their suppliers are. In response to the need for a blood sample, Liu held out her right arm reluctantly. She wasn’t fond of needles, but she needed the Resistance to be able to trust her at this point. The next few hours went by fairly quickly. When she brought her in, Trixie changed to using what Liu presumed was her Savant name. While Liu felt it was unnecessary, she played along as it was Trixie’s decision to make. They then met with Ashley, who to Liu’s mild surprise was now a Savant, although how was now easily explained by what she had learnt of the DSRP. Once they had signed up for the mission and finished clearing out the nightclub, the pair were given beds and told to wait for the next day for mission briefing. If there was anything that Liu wanted to actually thank Raypool for, it would be the ability to control her own sleep cycle. She wasn’t fully clear on the details, but it was probably some hormone that she had gained control over. Slowly, she drifted into sleep...

_________________________________

“Now, there’s no need to be afraid Subject No.5. This’ll just sting a bit. Only a needle or two! And no side effects that I know of... yet.”

Liu woke up the next morning with a start, breathing heavily as she came out of the nightmare. Trixie was still asleep at the other side of the room, blissfully unaware. It’s been a while since I’ve thought about that far back in the past, guess I’ve got the needles to thank for that one. As it was morning already, Liu lay back against the bed and waited. A few minutes later, the bartender knocked, offering them breakfast before leading them into a small conference room. Ashley was sat at the front and next to her was a man in a strange T-shirt, who seemed completely out-of-place in a terrorist group, not that Liu really could judge. Taking her seat next to Trixie, the group waited for the last few people to arrive.

As the last pair teleported into the room, Trixie started panicking, grabbing Liu’s hand and causing the two to flicker in and out of invisibility. A dead silence filled the room, the pair in the middle standing with jaws agape, before the man started shouting at Trixie, the Asian woman beside him barely managing to stop the man from shooting Trixie where she sat. Suddenly, the chairs Trixie and Liu were sat on were ripped out from beneath them. As she regained her balance, Liu wrestled her hand back from Trixie, before throwing a knife towards the man, aiming for it to barely graze past the right cheek, hopefully warning him not to do anything else silly. “I gather you three are acquainted then? Then I’ll cut to the chase before this gets any messier.” Liu said, hoping that the man had enough sense to calm down and listen. “Whatever Trixie did to you before was under mind control by a man named Damon. The same person’s ashes now lie under the burnt-down rubble of a warehouse building not too far from here. Now I’m not asking you to forgive Trixie here, but at least let her prove that she’s trustworthy now that she’s not being controlled anymore.”
 

DeletedUser28032

The plan worked, or at least partly worked as one of the women suddenly became fully visible though before he could even consider grabbing Trixie's flickering form and ripping her limb from limb the woman; Liu if memory served had drawn a knife and thrown it at him with Dante only just managing to stop the weapon so that it hung in mid air mere inches from his face. As it was the blade would have missed him; nicking his ear at most, but he hadn't wanted to take the chance especially with Tonya standing so close to him "Now that was unfriendly, Shorty" Dante drawled; letting the knife harmlessly drop to the floor as Liu began her attempt to talk him out of killing Trixie.

The crux of her argument hinged upon the fact that Trixie had been under Damon’s control and now that he was dead, good one less for me to deal with, that Dante should give her the benefit of the doubt and let her off the hook “How do I know that she was being Mind Crawled? In fact how do you know? All we’ve got is her word and I like don’t trust it” he snarled, though judging by the way that his muscles were beginning to relax he had no intention of resuming his attack unless Trixie or Liu did something really stupid with the mercenary instead turning his attention to Ashley “You sure know how to pick em’ Double S” Dante said with a smirk “…a Bottle baby, a kid, two mercenaries with mental health issues, a psychopath; yeah I know who you are darlin’…and a traitor…huh…some team you’ve assembled” shaking his head in a way that said he was already beginning to have second thoughts about the whole joining the resistance thing, Dante righted the pair of chairs he'd knocked over with a quick flick of his wrist before then taking a seat next to Tonya; his hand casually resting on his leg ready to draw and shoot if Trixie so much as looked at him sideways “ok Double S lets get this show on the road before we all kill one another”
 

Deleted User - 819397

The idea of asking and returning questions appealed to Toby it seemed, who started rattling things off pretty quick. The first was an obvious line of inquiry, though seeing as Giles had already mentioned having killed his brother he knew had at least one sibling. Still, it was a safe question. "Yeah, four siblings, two older, two younger...split the difference for their genders. I'm the awkward middle child in more ways than one, really." He shrugged, looking up with a smile at the waitress as she delivered their food. He took the pause between Toby's questions to take a few bites, then frowned a little at the second question. This one wasn't as easy as the first, and held a lot more significance to the former aristocrat. He hesitated for a bit before responding, and when he did it was with care, his words slower than normal. "I did. When I discovered what...what I was capable of, I wanted to make the world a better place. Didn't put a lot of thought into how I'd do it, I just wanted to. Put my name out there, got myself on some volunteer lists. Of course, it bit me in the ass, seeing as that's how this all happened in the first place." Giles was silent for a moment, taking a bite of his meal, looking a little downcast. After he swallowed, he added in a bitter voice, "not that they gave a damn about my intentions or my abilities...it was all about who I am. I wasn't there to be useful, I was there to be used as collateral, as a fricking bargaining chip." He bit into his food, glaring at it as though it were at fault for this injustice. "Sorry...got a little carried away...so yeah, I wanted to be a hero, though the word super never really got added into it. Now though I recognize that as an idyllic dream." A shrug later Giles was digging into his meal in earnest, his unhappiness displayed on his face for the world to see. He hadn't meant to say that much, to stray so close to the topics he didn't want to discuss, but Toby had again managed to get more out of him than he intended. Wasn't like any of that information was going to be of any real use to the guy though...
 

DeletedUser31931

Ashley
Ashley stared quietly at the chaos unfolding around her as Liu threw a knife at Dante, only for the merc to stop it a mere inch or two from his face. She wanted to intervene but knew that doing so would only escalate the danger and, worse, might well put Killian in danger. Still, Dante seemed to be relaxing, though he still questioned whether Trixie was lying about having been brainwashed. Ashley, for one, wasn’t much- “She was brainwashed.” Tonya cut across Ashley’s train of thought as she sat down on the seat next to Liu, leaving the chair further from Trixie for Dante. “And if Damon’s dead, then the world is rid of another scumbag.” The Asian girl shook slightly, the adrenaline from having grabbed Dante still coursing through her system. Now that that was dealt with, Dante was back to the witty jibes, inspecting her team line-up. Killian tensed at him being called a kid but Ashley held out her hand to stop him. No point in bickering if they could avoid it. Figuring it was worth addressing the problem, rather than brushing it over, she spoke as she stood up. “I’m inclined to give Trixie a chance. We know she’s clear of the nanomachines and they’ve both been with Resistance for just over 24 hours now, so if they’d captured Liu then mental manipulation would have worn off by now. With that done, let’s get on with the plan.” Ashley clicked a button on the projector remote control and the machine sprung to life, whirring quietly in the small room. A picture of a relatively modern facility sprung up, large glass windows, four storeys, like a big cube.

“This is the target, it’s an FBI data processing facility that was requisitioned by the DSRP in the wake of the reveal. As far as we can tell, they’ve gutted most of the facility and have instead turned it into a holding chamber for Kasumi and Ash. Thermal scans suggest that she’s probably being held in one of the central rooms.” Ashley pressed a button and a floor plan appeared. “We were able to dig these up from old FBI archives. They’re half a year out of date, but there’s been no sign of construction work so it’s likely they’re still accurate. This is where Killian comes in. I think it’s time to explain what Killian’s power is. His body is able to fuse with water molecules and move through bodies of water pretty quickly, though it does leave you rather wet. If he’s holding hands with other people, he can bring them along for the ride. The advantage of this over regular teleportation is that Killian doesn’t need to have seen somewhere before to go there, he can just go. Water for the building is filtered at an offsite plant which we don’t know whether Killian can pass through or not, so to save the risk, we’re going in there ourselves. Killian will go with Trixie and Tonya. Once they reach the plant, Killian will get the trio inside. Once you’re there, Tonya, you’ll head back, pick up myself and Dante, and drop off Killian whilst you go back for Liu.” Killian stared down at the floor at this, holding his peace. “Once we’re all inside, we’ll come out of the toilets and down this corridor. The corridor on the map had two doorways leading off it besides the rooms at either end, the first being the toilets that the group was coming out of and the second one led into a small room bordering the large, square room at the end, which had the letters ‘K/A’ written on it. “Kasumi and Ash are probably hooked in in this room and the controls for their release are either in there or in the operations control room. As far as security goes, the facility doesn’t have any protection on the inside because all of the alarms are external and trigger an offsite guard station that’s five minutes away. The design was put together to ensure that there could be a rapid response to multiple facilities with a team specialised to deal with Savants. That’s why no photos exist of the building’s interior. It was supposed to counteract any potential teleporters and be impossible to get in otherwise without setting off an alarm. The building’s designers never counted on Killian, though, because they didn’t know he existed. That's the plan, we're ready to move so if you're all good, we can get this show on the road.”
 
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DeletedUser37114

Giles
It seemed like Giles enjoyed the question about family, mentioning his four other siblings. Crowded family, then, but that shouldn't be a bad thing. That was good, they'd gotten on a line that shouldn't cause too much trouble. So Toby picked up his burger and dug in as Giles moved onto the next question, apparently a little more carefully. He'd apparently wanted to do the superhero routine, but that was apparently how he ended up in this situation and... Wait, that didn't quite add up. But before Toby could ask more, Giles started sliding down the slope back into bitterness, saying something about how "they" hadn't cared about what he could do, they'd just cared about who he was. Fair enough, something like that would be frustrating in a number of ways. The real heartbreaker was apparently that Giles' heart had gotten broken in the crossfire. Which... His situation was sad enough on its own, but then losing hope on top of all of it was even worse. Toby winced as Giles began wolfing down his food, his expression showing exactly how he felt. Well, then. No more questions then, no need to make Giles' life any harder. Toby quietly focused on his food as well, staying quiet until after there were only crumbs left. "Sorry," he said, voice quiet, giving Giles a sad smile. "Didn't mean to bring it back up, just figured that would be a fun question to ask, that's all. If you want to ask me anything right now, anything at all, I'll try to answer it, sort of an apology." Not that that was particularly safe, but Giles deserved better than what he'd gotten, what he was getting. A question was a small step toward that, but it was still a step.
 

Deleted User - 819397

Huh. Toby hadn't intended Giles to get upset. That was somewhat surprising, as it was the first time his weird perception power or whatever it was had steered him wrong. Still, the silence that stretched for the duration of their meals was laden with guilt and sorrow, enough that the former aristocrat was starting to feel guilty for having been the source of killing Toby's usual perpetual good mood. Before he had a chance to break the silence, however, the not-quite-adult across from him apologized in a heart-wrenching manner, adding that Giles could ask anything he wanted and get a response in return. Had he been in a more vindictive mood, or perhaps if he'd had cause to dislike the guy, he'd have dug hard into the whole mystery surrounding Toby. After all, it was only fair, right? Except...it wasn't. There wasn't any point to go after Toby aside from spite, and to be quite honest the former aristocrat didn't have it in him to hold a grudge like that. It took something special to earn a permanent black mark in his book, and an unintentional bad question was certainly not going to ruin Toby's standing with him. So instead of a wicked grin and a deep, personal question, Giles shrugged. "Forget it, wasn't a big deal, I could've answered it quick and easy with a yes. Don't hold it against you at all." He flagged their server for the check, using some more of the cash he'd earned as a beggar to pay for both of their meals as he'd promised. "Good choice of restaurant, by the way, enjoyed the food quite a bit. Somehow never came here before, but Boulder's a big enough city I guess that's not too surprising." The former aristocrat settled back in his chair for a moment before frowning in a critical manner at Toby. "Hey. I meant it. Stop feeling bad about it. Going to take a lot more than that to get me mad at you. Plus it's honestly a little weird seeing you off your game like that. Cheer up, ok?"
 

DeletedUser

Surprisingly enough, the man backed off, though Liu made a mental note to never leave him in a room with Trixie if possible. It seemed his companion also knew who Damon was and hopefully the man trusted her enough to not chase the matter for too much longer and instead turned to what the man probably thought was humour. I’ll have to let ‘shorty’ slip by for now… though a psychopath? I’m not a psychopath… At least I don’t think I am...

After picking the chairs back up, the pair sat back down with Trixie seated as far from Dante as possible. Ashley took this as a signal to begin voicing her own thoughts on the situation, before moving on to briefing for the mission ahead of them. The mission was breaking Kasumi, the cyberpath Liu had met previously before Raypool had captured the team, out of a facility designed to hold her. The building looked like a fairly modern office block, probably designed to try and attract as little attention as possible. Though Liu did wonder where the Resistance got the thermal scans of the building from, she focused more on the task at hand and put that thought to the side for now. The crux of the plan relied on a security flaw in the building design itself and the existence of Killian, who was capable of fusing with water molecules to effectively teleport the group into the building. Tonya, the other Asian girl would be in charge of actually teleporting the group across afterwards. The man, Dante, was also combat personnel. Lack of security meant that this should be a fairly easy job and made the numbers involved seemed slightly unnecessary, but Liu knew from past experience to expect the worst from operations like this. As there was not much for her to comment on, Liu remained silent, only nodding to show that she was fine with the plan.
 

DeletedUser28032

With practically the entire team sitting between him and Trixie, Dante glowered at the girl as he listened to the plan being outlined by Ashley. The fact that she claimed to have been under mind control was certainly food for thought; after all Damon had been a Controller so him having the girl under his thrall wasn’t that much of a stretch of the imagination especially when he considered some of the things he’d seen whilst within the group. It didn’t mean that he was going to let her off the hook, after all if he still held Tonya accountable for her betrayal then Trixie certainly was too, though it did mean that out and out murdering her would no longer be an option or at least not yet. However it was just as likely that Trixie was using the whole I was being mind controlled thing as a very convenient excuse and with no way for him to prove it either way. In short he was going to have to keep an eye on her and see how things developed.

The plan was fairly basic; Killian and Tonya would transport the team into the facility using their rather unique methods of travel and once inside they had to deal with the apparently rather minimal security within the facility and rescue Kasumi before the QRF arrived.

Normally Dante would say it was a piece of cake but with no preparation time, dodgy intel and a team that was just as liable to kill itself as the enemy Dante could already see the approaching train wreck and wanted to prepare for the worst “Tonya darling, nip back and get us a pair of assault rifles, some grenades and a flak jacket each please…the last time Double S here told me the mission would be simple I wound up in a fire fight that nearly resulted in me having my face blown off” he said offering the resistance leader a rather unfriendly smile as he did so, more than showing her how much faith he had in her planning abilities not that it would stop him from going as he wanted Angel free from Raypool’s clutches and to do that they needed Kasumi “once I have my toys I’ll be all set to go” lets get this suicide mission on the road!
 

DeletedUser37114

Giles
It looked like Giles didn't hold a grudge against him for the question, which was nice of him. Still, it wasn't like the offer was invalid, so... "Keep the question," Toby said. "Call it a standing offer." From there, his companion got the check, got it paid for, and complimented him about the restaurant. Not that that was particularly great, he'd just sort of walked here without thinking of it. He'd never been there before, never heard of it, never known about it until walking in there, really. He didn't really deserve compliments for... Giles interrupted his thoughts, telling him to stop feeling bad about the question and to cheer up. Which was pretty fair, now that he thought about it. Giles wasn't angry, they'd just accidentally strayed a little too close to an uncomfortable subject. So Toby sighed and smiled at him, nodding. "Fine, fine." Standing up, Toby took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "Dinner tonight, then? Your place? Let me know if there are any issues?" Not that he figured there would be, just, but it never hurt to ask. And from there, he'd just need to pick up his stuff, kill some time, show up and get his errands run. Easy.
 

Deleted User - 819397

The random question Giles was allowed to ask Toby was to be a standing offer, which...ok, sure. Why not. Arguing it further would be pointless, though the former aristocrat knew he'd never collect. It wouldn't be fair to spring an uncomfortable question on the guy when he himself knew just how upsetting such an inquiry could be. Still, he could accept the gesture if not the actual offer, so in the end it didn't really matter. Instead, he turned his thoughts to the impending dinner, with Toby suggesting he 'let him know if there were any issues.' A slight smile graced his face for a moment, then he replied, "I would if I had a way to contact you...you never gave me your number. I don't risk using my phone more than I have to, but I'll add you and text you her address at the very least, and will let you know if there's a problem with the plan. Sound good?" Giles pulled his phone out, looking at Toby expectantly...after all, there'd be no reason why the guy should refuse...right?
 

DeletedUser31931

The Planning Room
As Dante requested Tonya pick up supplies for the pair, the Asian girl nodded and vanished, reappearing half a minute later with a pair of flak jackets, two frag grenades and a belt consisting of flashbangs and smoke grenades. She handed Dante one of the frags and the belt along with the flak jacket, before vanishing and reappearing with the assault rifle. Ashley watched, letting the pair do their thing. She needed Tonya to get them in (otherwise the whole thing would be a lot riskier doing multiple trips with Killian and Trixie) so she was willing to put up with Dante, for now at least. For their part, Liu and Trixie seemed good with the plan, which was nice. Once the pair were ready to go, Ashley merely stepped forwards from the front of the room, grabbed her assault rifle from the desk and slid it into the holster on her back, and pulled a photo from her suit pockets. “This is the safe distance zone for the building. We can’t find any signs of communication monitoring but at the same time I’d rather not risk anything. You three will drop here and keep radio silence. Once you’re in, you can come back and that’ll be that. Oh, and we’ll have towels waiting for you once you’re back.” Taking a look at the photo, Tonya nodded and took Trixie’s hand in her left, stroking the back of it with her thumb as the invis shivered slightly at the contact. “I’m not him Trixie. And if you’re free then you can move on.” Tonya’s words seeming to calm the girl down slightly, she took Killian’s hand in her right and winked at Dante. “See you later big guy”. With that, she was gone and so began a fifteen-minute wait for Dante, Liu, and Ashley. Ashley didn’t bother trying to make conversation, instead checking an underground news site on her phone, keeping up to date on what was the latest news from other cells in the Resistance.

After a nervous fifteen minutes, Tonya and Killian reappeared in the room, with Tonya slightly damp and shivering. “You weren’t lying about it being wet.” The Asian girl didn’t sound upset, mostly just slightly cold. Ashley handed the girl a hot towel and Tonya began to dry off. Killian looked slightly awkward and Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder. “You did good Killian. We’ll be back shortly so try and stick out of trouble. Also, if you’re still up for it, I’d like to keep up with those classes this evening, so maybe you should have a think about what to do when we get back.” Ashley took Tonya’s hand before the girl then also took Dante’s, waiting for his assent before jumping. A second later the pair were standing in a girl’s bathroom, distinguishable by the lack of urinals, with Trixie who was also a bit wet. Ashley handed the girl a towel and she dried herself off quickly before handing it to Tonya who vanished again, reappearing with Liu. From there Ashley took point with Liu keeping the rear. Dante was behind Ashley (he had enough reason to not shoot her in the back for her to take it for this mission) with Tonya in between him and Trixie. They exited the bathroom and came out into a corridor, just as Ashley’s plans had said they would. The corridor was bare, a blue office carpet lining the floor and beige walls with the only break being the wooden doors at both ends as well as the door which had no sign on it. Ashley led them down the corridor, opening the door with a slight creak and the woman gave out an impressed whistle.

As the group filtered into the room, the cause for Ashley’s whistle became clear. Suspended in a tank in the middle of the room was Kasumi. Her face was hooked up to a breathing mask and it was clear that the woman’s body was alive. Needles stuck into her in various points through which nutrition was being pumped, answering the question of how she was still alive. The most striking feature, however, was the large cable that was connected to the back of her skull. Where before there had been her short-cropped hair, Kasumi’s head was shaved bald and a large data cable was connected to her skull which, flowing from her, split off into multiple cables that snaked into the ceiling. In front of Kasumi there was a control panel with a monitor and input keyboard. Ashley approached the desk and stared at it for a second. “Well, Dante, you’ve got experience with computers and hacking, so I’m going to defer to you to get Kasumi out.” Dante would find the computer had merely a terminal window, allowing him to enter shell commands to navigate the system. Once he had accessed the machine, he found he had two options, Release and Setup. Setup was password protected. “AUTHORISED RELEASE” required a verified code or (as a warning screen bluntly informed him) the machine would enter lockdown. To the side of the machine, however, sat a lever labelled “EMERGENCY LOCAL OVERRIDE”. EMERGENCY LOCAL OVERRIDE (as the sign next to it stated) would trigger offsite alarms and enter the building into lockdown. As the others combed over the room, finding little of particular relevance or use, the choice lay before Dante. All he had to do now was decide.
 

DeletedUser28032

Taking the proffered assault rifle from Tonya with a smile, the mercenary would lightly kiss the girl's cheek before going through a weapons drill so ingrained into him that he did it without even thinking "I hope you boys and girls thought to bring you're own toys because these aren't for sharing" Dante absently spoke as he sighted down the barrel of his weapon in Trixie’s direction; offering the girl an evil smile before continuing to speak in the same conversational tone of voice "...despite what she says this mission is liable to get hot so you'd all best be ready for it...oh but not you Trix...If I see you with so much as a pen knife without my say so I'm dropping you" he said; punctuating the threat with a loud clack as he re-inserted the rifles magazine.

What followed was the classic "tense waiting time" in which neither Dante nor Ashley would utter a single word to anyone else, with the Southerner checking and re-checking his equipment over and over again as pre-mission nerves kicked his paranoia into overdrive, Its fine, everything is fine...this mission is going to be a cake walk, nothing is going to go wrong! He thought to himself with the mantra going around his head for what had to be the thousandth time when a soaking wet Tonya and Killian appeared in the middle of the room.

So far everything was going to plan and now that it was his turn Dante was eager to get the show on the road despite his curiosity over the lessons that Ashley and the boy were arranging between themselves so the bottle baby has found herself a trainer has she? Dante wryly thought to himself as he gave Tonya the affirmative nod that would jump the trio into the facilities lady's toilets. After taking a moment to marvel at how unbelievably clean and graffiti free the lady’s toilets were, and was that lavender he could smell!? Dante followed Ashley out into the corridor and then proceeded to the room where Kasumi was being held in a set up ripped straight out of a William Gibson novel. It was at this point that he was informed that it was his turn to step up and free the hacker from suspended animation so they could get her the hell out of here and use her to find Raypool and more importantly… Angel.

Trying his best to ignore the eerie sight of the semi-naked, cable strewn woman being suspended in the tank beside him, Dante set to work on the console using his mediocre hacking skills as best he could to achieve the desired results with him wishing that he'd fought to bring a virus with him capable of breaking through the rather substantial I.C.E guarding the sub routines operating Kasumi's life support systems. Given enough time Dante reckoned that he could hack his way into the system and override the passwords even without a virus to aid him, though that would take him far longer to do than he was willing spend. All it took was one security sweep or a passing janitor and the whole thing would come crashing down around their heads in a hail of gunfire and powers which left him with only one real option.

Giving a sharp whistle so as to attract her attention Dante tossed his assault rifle to Liu as he came to the conclusion that he was the only one in the group anywhere big enough to carry Kasumi out of here when she was finally released "Hey Psycho-killer, shoot anything that isn't us, ok?” he called over to her, hoping that the others would understand what was about to happen “...told you this mission was going to get hot" he drawled with a lazy smile on his face seconds before slamming his fist down upon the override button "let's rock 'n' roll people!"
 

DeletedUser31931

The Kasumi Raid

As Dante pulled the lever, a large klaxon sounded throughout the facility. “Warning! Warning! Emergency Local Override has been triggered!” Ashley stared at Dante for a second, before sighing. Metal panelling had slid down over the doors through which they had entered, sealing the group in the room. The tubes that held Kasumi, at the same time, had gone into overdrive as the whole machine began to hiss and fluid began to slowly drain out of it as the woman was returned to the realm of the living. Still, they had a lot to worry about before then. Ashley sounded her way along the wall, testing it. The wall on the left, facing the room from the door, was the wall that led out into the big atrium area and it was definitely thin enough to be penetrated by a breaching charge. Their biggest issue there was that, besides the control panel in the middle, there was almost nothing of anything within the room which meant very little cover. Ashley pulled back to behind the console, shoulder her rifle. “Alright team, spread out. We should have just under five minutes until the QRT gets here, so we’ve got to be quick in getting ready for them”. Her voice was calm and measured, hiding the beginnings of the nerves inside her as her training kicked in. This wasn’t going to be pretty and she knew it. Still, they knew the risks and Killian, if no-one else, was safe. She’d pull back to a safe distance towards one of the corners of the room on the opposing wall to the main atrium and settle into a crouch. Tonya was setting up in the other corner, ready to teleport through and begin her trademark executions once the combat started. Trixie, for her part, had offered her hand to Liu, and would either go with the other girl or stealth on her own, ready to strike down their assailants from the shadows. The moment that they broke through that wall all hell would break loose and a hail of bullets would begin. Still, the others had their part to play as well. If they were going to survive the next ten minutes, they were going to need to be ready. The enemy were probably already coming. And they were going to come hard.
 

DeletedUser28032

"Well that sucks!" Dante said in a deadpan voice as a set of steel shutters sealed them into the room along with the accompanying klaxon telling the entire world that they were here and up to no good. To make matters worse the tank was draining of fluid nowhere near quick enough for Dante's liking meaning that they weren't liable to outrun the QRF that was no doubt already on its way "Tonya! Get that traitorous liability out of here!" Dante shouted; pointing a finger firmly in Trixie's direction so as to leave no doubt as to who he was talking about. The group was about to be plunged into a scrap with another team of Savants and the last thing they needed as to have someone of dubious loyalty with them, besides which the fewer people Tonya had to jump out of here the better.

Turning to face the tank Dante started ripping the various bundles of tubing and conduit from out of the machine looking to speed up the agonisingly slow process of draining the tank so that they could free its occupant and get the hell out of here. However with time not on their side Dante decided to take a more direct approach by emptying a couple of pistol rounds into the glass figuring that if didn't break under the impact then it would provide him with a weak point to push against. If they could just get her out of the tank then everything would be alright...somehow Dante didn't think that would be happening.
 

DeletedUser31931

Toby
It seemed Giles wanted his phone number. Toby was sure he had one somewhere in his pockets but he never usually needed the thing. Still, it was nice of Giles to offer to text him the details of where dinner would be tonight. Having pulled the phone, an old Nokia flip phone on a plan that probably wasn’t even offered anymore, out of his pocket, Toby pulled his number up on screen and read it off to the other man. With that pleasantry done all that remained was for the pair to exit the restaurant together and part ways, with Toby wishing Giles a pleasant remainder of his day. From there, it was a simple job to head back to where he’d stashed his supplies and the things he’d need to get across the country. Stuffing it all in a backpack, he slung one strap across his back before putting away the remainder of his stash.

Evening fell, Toby was texted for the first time in a long while and, before he knew it, he was standing on the doorstep in front of the house where Giles and he were to have dinner. He breathed deeply in as he rang the doorbell, savouring the unique noise of this particular doorbell. As he stood on the step, waiting for the door to open, he wondered about Giles and the girl with whom he would be sharing a meal tonight. It was likely to be the best meal he had all week as well, so he had a good feeling about tonight. Then, once the dinner party was over, it would be time to head south.
 
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