RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 5] - Anger Management

Robert shrugged at Vincent, "If anyone could climb those walls without being seen, I might be able to. But I doubt I could figure a way to get the rest of you up with me. Short of taking a hostage and forcing them to open a door for ya'll."

"You might be able to, but we can't," Sebastian lectured Robert, "If we split up, we'll have a much lower rate of survivability."

Luca considered Arin's advice. Rare materials and Intel. He was more interested in the Intel, since it could prove useful to the IPG once he returned.
"Arin and Vincent are right. It'd be impractical. I'm guessing that we can continue through this river and get inside."

The current began to pick up as they got closer and closer towards the facility and eventually inside it, then Sebastian raised a concern: "We're being pulled in! Swim to the sides and grab that ladder!"
Luca immediately began swimming sideways and managed to grapple onto a ladder that lead upwards and started to scramble up, but he then felt a hand grab him by the leg. It was John, and grabbing to his leg was Melissa, and to her leg, Hitori, forming a chain. Sebastian almost got hold, but slipped and went further down the river, instead trying to grab the other ladder and succeeding, he held out his arm to catch Arin, Vincent and Robert.
"Quickly!"

There was one other ladder further down on the wall that lead the river into the processing area that served as a possible last ditch - otherwise someone would be sucked into the processing - and it probably wouldn't be healthy lifestyle choice.

Robert swam as fast as he could and grabbed Luca's hand, then he pulled himself over Luca as quickly as possible and climbed up the ladder.

Vincent grunted as he swirled past Luca's ridiculously long human train, caught in an eddy. He bounced off the wall of the channel with surprising force for the small channel, immediately recognizing the fact that there was going to be a bruise on his chest the next morning. Still caught in an eddy, Vincent lashed off the wall and jetted towards Sebastian.

Along the way, he was caught by an undercurrent and thrown a bit farther downstream, and just barely managed to clap a hand around the old merc's wrist. So there he hung, caught in said undercurrent, clinging to Sebastian's arm, hoping he didn't get dragged too much farther.

"T-thanks..." Arin mumbled. Vincent's coat over her backpack managed to contain the heat being radiated from her Frabicator on standby which gave her a warm feeling. Plus the coat being so large it also covered her legs as well.

This warm feeling faded away when Luca decided to take the river way in inside of the front door. Feeling panicky, she stuck to the edges of the river initially and even as the current picked up. Missing the first ladder, she nearly missed the second ladder as well if the coat didn't snag on an edge, she dangled a little further down the second ladder.

Vincent sighed, a contented grin on his face. Damn, that really is a lucky jacket, he thought to himself as he slid his hand down Sebastian's arm, gaining just enough reach to latch on to Arin with his off hand.

"You're welcome," Vincent said with a half-grin as he hauled Arin onto the ladder, "for letting you use that jacket."

Second time in a day!

Arin exhaled in relief, and then returned the half grin. Looks like other Nepleslian men aren't as bad as I thought. The Representative's 'other' men who satisfied this criteria were two Yamataian leaders and of course her own father.

Mitch was behind everybody, and came up the ladder last, soaking wet. Sebastian did a quick headcheck. Luca, John, Melissa, Hitori, Mitch, Arin, Vincent and Robert. Everyone was present. Good. He thought to himself.
The platform that everyone had hoisted themselves onto seemed to be a storage area. Boxes provided ample cover.

"We're inside - but I'm thinking we should split up into two groups," Luca addressed the crew quietly. "That way cover more ground, and can nick more stuff. Let's sort out groups... Dad, you lead the others."

Luca decided to take Hitori, Arin, Vincent and Robert with him. Their plan was to head upwards through the facility and remain in contact with Sebastian via the headsets to disrupt operations at the keyboard level.
Sebastian got John, Mitch and Melissa to assist him. Their role would be to get to disrupt the inner workings of the area. Mitch held up a brick of plastic explosive with a grin.
"If anything goes south, notify us." Hitori assured the other group.
"Will do," John replied as he and the rest of his group disappeared into the building first, making a sharp left at a corridor which had a sign reading "MAINTENANCE PASSAGES" adorning it.

"Okay," Luca directed as he put up his shotgun, "Go time."
He lead them down the hall and past the Maintenance passages, towards a T-Junction which had "ARMOURY" heading right and "MESS" heading left. In front of them was a staircase heading up.

Hitori peeked her head around the corner, noticing a Guard coming from the mess. Somewhat overweight, had bright red hair, and had a sandwich in his off hand.
"Huff - huff." The overweight guard panted as he kept advancing forward and took a bite out of his sandwich. Some of it spilled on his uniform, "Gotta get uniform clean... or the quartermasters gonna tan me arse."
She withdrew her head and signalled everyone to stay with their backs to the wall.

He walked past harmlessly, not looking to his left where the crew was and instead heading right into the armoury. Getting the door open with a keycard and moving inside.
"Hmm." Luca commented, "Looks like we need keys..."
"It's always keys, isn't it?" Hitori shrugged as she looked at Arin, "You, you're good with technology. Know a way to get past, short of getting a keycard?"

Then Luca heard more footsteps from the mess and peeked his head out. This time, there were two guards keeping patrol, and they noticed Luca's head poking out and observing them. He ducked his head back and said: "We've got company."

"Who's there?!" One of the guards inquired as he and his friend rushed forwards with their rifles at the ready. As one of them turned a corner, Luca threw a hard right hook punch into his face, hitting squarely and following up with another punch in the head and a hard kick in the chest, sending him sprawling on the ground.

There was a moment to act before the other guard sprayed everyone down.

Robert, who's hand was never far from his knife, whipped up his knife and threw it at the guards chest, with more intent to distract than to do any real damage. He followed up with a running jump/tackle at the guard.

Vincent was already spinning up his chaingun, the smooth, quiet whirrrrr of the motor piercing the almost-silence. When Luca said "company", he leaned away from the wall and hovered his thumb over the red safety button to release the catch on the bullets when Robert sprang into action. Vincent watched in annoyance as the knife left his hand, then leaned back hard against the wall.

"Shiiiiiiit..."

Arin rushed forward to the control panel near the heavy single door next to the armory, the sooner the group gets in, the less additional trouble they'll encounter.

ZA Type-10 SecuDoor said:

>Welcome to Generic Zen Arms interface no.634912, please select an option.

>1. Open/Close Door
>2. Additional Documentation
>3. Alarm
>4. Minigames

>_

Click to expand...

Optimistically, the Nepleslian selected 1.

ZA Type-10 SecuDoor said:

>Please insert keycard.

Click to expand...

She stopped right there. "I'm not a hacker!". There was a small hatch under the panel that led to the inner machinery of the door. A few twists and turns with her multitool later the hatch was open. On her knees and consulting her datapad, she looked quickly for the devices that controlled the hydraulics of the door and the alarm system.

Arin's tinkering did find a hydraulic mechanism of some sort that made the door slide open to her left, even though the things controlling it were on the right.
To her, making the hydraulics expand outwards with a bit of a push in that spot and a shove just there would open the door.

Luca peered left and right down the corridor, then noticed that the two guards, while knocked out - their uniforms might fit. He picked up the guard who had been done out by Luca's karate and evaluated.
"Robert, see if you can wear one of the uniforms..." He said as he checked, "This one might be a bit big for me, but it should do... Arin, get that door open so we can dump these two lugs in there."
He peered down the corridors cautiously, towards the Mess and the staircase, with his pistol raised.

Hitori kept herself hidden, not moving out into the open. She was only prepared to move once she could move into the armoury.

MEANWHILE...
"Sir - he's..." A captain of the guard stuttered to his master, Cain.
"I know." Cain replied calmly. Things were going as planned, "Let the misguided fool come to us. You and your men may only be able to hinder him at best - but keep him entertained."

The captain of the guard was in disbelief, "Why did you let him come to our doorstep so? Couldn't you have invaded him with less effort?"
"I am going to destroy his body and mind personally." He hoarsely communicated, "He shall regret the day he followed in his father's footsteps and lifted a firearm against me."
"...Fine, but - just..." The captain was going to continue, but then turned away, "Sir." He began heading back to his post.

Robert raised an eyebrow. The guard was easily half a foot taller than him. "I don't think it'll fit me too very well. I am kinda short after all. Maybe Vincent could squeeze into it. I could walk in front like a captive."

Arin carefully removed the audio and digital output elements of the Alarm system with a few snipped wires, leaving alone the mechanical output which was to trigger a few gears to slam the door shut. In half a minute her Frabicator had manufactured a few flimsy but workable reverse-gears which she added to the whole mechanism, followed by counter-balances here and there to apply the appropriate pressures on the system when the trigger was activated.

Curious as to how her modifications would work, she kept her head inside the hatch while sticking her arm outside, blindly fumbling around the keyboard.

ZA Type-10 SecuDoor said:

>4_

Click to expand...

The opening theme song for Mishu Invaders started playing, it took Arin a while to realize she pressed the wrong button (As she rarely played games but recalled the music from somewhere).

ZA Type-10 SecuDoor said:

>5_

Click to expand...

Instantly the computer siezed up, but the mechanics started to work. The Nepleslian felt proud of her handiwork has the door slowly slid open , but just as it finished moving with a 'thud', a 'SNAP' resounded inside the hatch as the reverse-gears broke free, one shattering into pieces, the second one grazing Arin's cheek and embedding itself in the corridor wall behind her.

She didn't seem particularly bothered by the open wound she had suffered, but inside she was "Ahh... Hurt myself again!". Taking out a Kerchief to stem the bleeding, she reported back to Luca impassively. "Door is open, but its not going to open again once you close it."

"Robert? I still have my Red Army credentials on me, even if I wasn't in a Red uniform I could pass myself off as a re-recruited soldier." Vincent said, looking at the uniform. Indeed, it was large, and the man who had worn it was bulky, but he was much shorter than Vincent, and his arms were shorter. Nevertheless...

"But I think I could make it work. Give me a minute to get into his uniform."

A little while later...

Vincent stepped out of a small enclosure somewhere down the hallway, shoehorned into the just-barely-fitting Red fatigues. He was holding a duffel bag containing his original outfit- including the body armor and chaingun, which he handed to Luca.

"If you can hold this for me while I do some skulking around, I might be able to open a path straight through the base to Cain and his croanies," Vincent said as he straightened a Red beret onto his head.

While Vincent certainly looked sort of funny in his too-tight uniform, Robert managed to bite back a laugh by thinking of how much more rediculous he would have looked in a too-loose uniform. He took Vincent's bag with both hands. "Good luck, Vincent."

Arin tried to stifle a giggle, forgetting her recent injury. "Come back and re-claim your jacket later!"

"Take care of it if I don't come back," Vincent said as he secured the hand cannon into the thigh holster on his leg. He fished an adhesive bandage out of his emergency medpac and handed it to Arin.

"For your cheek. Be careful and don't hurt yourself, I don't want to be hanging out in Hell without a leather jacket."

And with that, he was gone- already moving down the hallway, heading in the opposite direction the guards were coming from.

Fortunately, nobody had gotten a visual on Vincent without the uniform on, so he could pass himself off as a guard - if the uniform didn't get torn to bits as he wore it.

"Take it easy," Luca told Vincent as he jumped into the Reds uniform he had picked up. It was a bit loose across the chest, and the pants were too baggy, but Luca thought that if he kept his face hidden from any other guard, he could pass himself off. He wore this over his normal clothing, which fleshed it out nicely.

He poked his head into the armoury, then smiled as he found some 12 gauge shotgun shells and 10mm, both of which he was lacking.
He also found the overweight guard, who was busy stashing a variety of somethings into a small box tucked under a gun rack.
"Ahem." Luca asked politely. The overweight guard turned around with a jelly doughnut and some other sweets in his hands. He freaked out, taking a step back.

"Wha! Shit! Don't tell me you're here to courtmarshal me!" He kept glancing nervously into his stash, unsure of whether to keep on concealing it, or just let it all out on the floor, "I swear I'll clean this shit up!"
"Hand me your keycard." Luca was putting on a convincing act, "You're off armoury duty for this mess, so clean this shit up and I'll consider giving this back!"
"Sir yes sir!" He turned around and began re-organising his stash.

Luca turned around and walked outside the armoury with the keycard in his hand and a smile on his face, closing the door, "Access all areas, guys!" He then noticed what'd happened to Arin, "You okay? Maybe we should make a trip past the infirmary?"

He then did a quick headcheck, Robert and Arin were present while Vincent had moved on ahead, but Hitori had gone missing. He peered down each corridor, but he couldn't find her.
"Any of you see where Hitori went?"

"No," Vincent said over the headset radio, "but I did find a locked door that apparently leads into the main hallway, and my Red Army creds won't open it."

Inspecting the card reader, Vincent held the barcode on his laminated ID card under the reader one more time, which buzzed in protest. Vincent scratched his head; the intricate process required to hack the door open would be too much for him, he could only hotwire cars. And bashing the door was out of the question- the thing looked like it was certified for starships, for god's sake!