RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 5] - Anger Management

[Luca]

MISSION 5 - START!!

Previously on ISC Phoenix...

So the crew got some time to themselves to rest and recuperate after stopping a threat to Nepleslia - but a hero's job is never done, and is never restful as a crimson clad figure threatens to release a deadly virus that can turn normal people into savage, bloodthirsty killers...

"Password" from Snake's Revenge (NES, Konami Ultra, 1990) Arranged by Tsu Ryu

Mel stood up and throttled the old man by his jacket, "What in the fuck do you mean 'He's alive'?!" She demanded to know.
"Hey! Hey!" Luca stood up and tried to wrestle her down.

"Some unfinished business..." He sighed regretfully, "The bastard is the man who did my entire unit in and forced me to retire." Mel released her grip, "I used to fight alongside him. He was a doctor, always interested in making amazing leaps through science and technology - but he was as mad as a cut snake and wanted to test these strange viruses and chemicals on some of my troops."
"Sounds like a swell bloke." Luca said.

"I did not appreciate it, for what he had usually killed them or disabled them. I dishonourably discharged the sap and he poisoned our food and water supplies, forcing us to disband." He then pointed to Luca, "Looks like he's out for your blood, now that you've followed in my footsteps."
"He tried to hit on me," Anna added, "And I ratted him out for his unsafe practices... He'd re-use needles, use out of date drugs, cut corners and leave our troops with more complications then they began with."

"How could you two NOT tell me about this?!" Luca was exasperated, his aura of calm shattered. He grabbed his dad by the jacket, "Now I have some drugged up whack nut wanting to destroy two fucking major cities because I happen to be the son of the greatest fucking mercenary warlord in existence!!"
"SO BE IT!!" The father struck the son in the gut with an elbow, sending him to the ground, "You have a responsibility to live up to! You have challenges to face! I was just like you when I started my own unit!"
Sebastian made a glance at crew to see if they could encourage the stressed captain into going through with this.

John's eyebrows crinkled, and he looked at Mel, shrugged for a moment, then lifted up the captain.
"This could be your big chance..." He said.
"Wh-what?" Luca replied, breathless.
"Yeah!" Mel said as she gave the gesture for others to try and follow the same suit, "To be a real hero!"

 

[TeslaTornado]

"Just as long as I get to pump lead into these idiots for trying to ruin my town, I'm in." Vincent said, picking his chaingun up off the table.

"Point me at 'em, and I'll try and find a lead to where they are."

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert nodded in agreement with Vincent. "I agree, just let me slice him up a bit before you start with the pumping of lead there."

 

[Zakalwe]

Mitch patted himself down until he found a packet of crips that he'd been storing in one of his more forgettable pockets. Ripping it open he dug into its lightly salted contents.

"I'll go along with whatever your wanting to do. Although I'm guessing that this particular nutcase is trying to bite of a little more than he can chew. Might be a good idea if we stopped him instead of the FCP - strange as it might seem there'll be less collateral."

 

[Luca]

"The Theme of Solid Snake" from Metal Gear 2 - Solid Snake (MSX, Konami, 1990) Arranged by Jay Reichard

Luca then considered. This wasn't just a burden he had stuck on him, the entire crew had this put on them. At least with the thought of the crew being able to provide backup to protect him (even though he's perfectly capable of defending himself!) through this mission. He stood up, cricked his neck and soliloquised:

"Just like in the movies," Luca said aloud, and seemingly to himself as he stood up and began walking slowly into the armoury, to his locker and flung it open with a crash, "The hero is framed, put into the spotlight. Sentenced to death on illegitimate claims and framing!"

Mel looked at Sebastian, who shrugged.
"I think he's gonna go through with it." John commented as he straightened his glasses.

"Then... The hero is out, to prove his innocence!" He picked up his combat shotgun from the rack, shook it a little, smiled, and strapped it over his back and took the spare magazine for his pistol and slid it into one of his belt pouches, next to the holster that housed his trusty 10mm pistol.

He then opened the box of shotgun shells, took a handful and stuffed them into this other belt pouch. "And when conventional methods fail to prove innocence..." He continued to soliloquise as he grabbed his 40mm grenades and put them on the front of his harness, under his jacket and put his 40mm M'Cel grenade launcher into another, bigger holster.

He walked back into the hall, fully armed and prepared for war, "Matters, are taken..." He grinned and looked out the window, "...Into one's own hands!"

Mel, looked around for a moment, and then gave Luca a congratulatory clap.
"Great, great," She said, "So when we find this guy, in 71 and a bit hours, we're going to destroy him and his 'nefarious' little plot?"
"We're gonna do more than destroy him," The captain replied, "We're gonna make him pay."
"For what?" John questioned, "Ruining your TV watching schedule?"
"No." Sebastian butted in, "For ruining my career..."

Then Luca's communicator rung. He tapped the headset he had on and it came to life with a crackle.

"Mr. Pavone!" A familiar voice sounded.
"Nostrovia." He remembered instantly, "Small world it is..."
"So it seems you are in trouble, a - ah... - predicament. This is our gift to you." She said as the rumble and whirr of IPG dropship could be heard outside, "Are you villing to take up a mission zat is, on the surface, deemed impossible?"

"Does that question even have to be asked?" Luca replied as he watched the dropship land on his property.
"Good. The dropship will escort you to the location we suspect this madman is, and brief you ... unt vone more thing."
"What?"
"Don't bring all of your own gear. You have to cut down on what you carry."
"Say WHAT?" Luca yelled, "I was soliloquising and having a lock and load sequence!"
"Zas too bad. All you shall bring to this, and tell this to your crew, is vone pistol, vone rifle, vone knife and a means of communications. Now get your ass outside." The line promptly cut out.

"Bugger." Luca muttered as he took off his M'Cel pistol and grenades and hastily stowed them back in his locker with a grunt and grumble. He rubbed his temples with his index and middle fingers, then looked out at the crew.

"We're gonna have to cut down on gear if we're all gonna take on this crazy bastard. One pistol, one rifle, one knife, and communications."
Mel looked at her own gear, a Zen Arms .45 Pistol, a 7.62 sniping rifle with a scope and a wrench that could be used as a club in a hurry.
Sebastian looked at his gear, the .44 magnum, Mel's old GP-1 and a combat knife.
"Yeah, it's annoying, but they say it's professional..." Sebastian justified, "They might be right. Gear does not make the hero."

 

[Zakalwe]

Michio simply shrugged when he was told he had to limit the weapons he brought; it didn't really bother him as long as he was getting paid. He wasn't entirely certain that he was actually getting paid for this mission, but he'd make sure to salvage enough booty to make it worth his while. There'd probably be all sorts of high tech junk he could sell on.

Michio slowly lifted himself from his seat and returned to his room, picking up the package that Luca had left for him on the way. Upon reaching his bed he lay down with a sigh and carefully opened the package and was pleased to see a nice new sniping crossbow. Good for quiet missions, and with any luck this would be stealthy. There was little more satisfying than shooting someone in the back of a head with a crossbow.

Placing the crossbow to one side he got dressed in a set of semi-military issue camo gear, the variety blessed with a dirth of pockets, slipped a pair of fingerless leather gloves (with studs) on his hands and put a balaclava in his back pocket. He was going punk ninja.

Strapping the crosbow to his back by way of its useful holster, and the bolt pouch around his waste he made his way to the armoury, opened his locker and took out a length of rope (which he wrapped around his chest a la bandolier), his machete (which he attached to his belt) and his xaser pistol (which he holstered to his left hip). He was tempted to grab a few grenades but in the end couldn't be bothered to exceed the limits placed on the crew. As such he returned to the living room and began carefully looking over his crossbow.

 

[TeslaTornado]

Vincent listened to Luca's little monologue while preparing his own gear when Nostrovia "phoned in" on them. Luca explained what had to be done- leaving Vincent confused.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me." Regardless of the order's validity, Vincent began to take off the various armaments on his person until he was left with a Lorath hand cannon, his man-portable chaingun, the aforementioned knuckle-dusters and his headset. Pulling on his oversized ballistics mesh vest and, over that, the combat suit he purchased from the gun store, he re-locked and loaded, then stowed his extra munitions in his weapons locker.

"I'm ready to go when you guys are."

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert grinned as he watched everyone else unload all of their gear. He was probably the only one who was on the other side of the cash pool. "I'mma go grab one of those bulk order guns we just bought." He ran out of the room and grabbed one, then hurried back. "So what's the wait for? Let's go!!!" he drew his knife and started to spin it around from one hand to the other in a figure eight manner.

 

[Fian]

They lose no time getting into business, Men of action! Arin was delighted. She dropped the first backpack she was hand carrying next to the door, these was her extra clothes and anemities. The second backpack which she still had on contained a small nano-assembler she requested from Engineering before she left, this she kept on. The third and fourth were empty side packs which she wore on the outside of her tights, she hoped to get them filled with items of interest from her adventures.

For weaponry she had her trusty ESG with a small container behind her waist carrying additional acessories (Supressor, telescopic scope, slide immobiliser, extended magazines, subsonic rounds and forearm stock) which satisfied the requirements of a pistol and rifle. Her knife was a small battery operated sawblade used to cut metal cleanly or flesh messily. Communications would be through her omnipresent datapad strapped to her arm.

She had not said a word to the other people in the room, but her face was beaming with excitement and anticipation.

 

[Luca]

"Stage Select" from Choujin Sentai Jetman (NES, Natsume, 1991) Arranged by Tsu Ryu

"Great, let's do this."

Luca, Mel, Sebastian, Mitch, Vincent, Robert, Arin and Hitori moved forward boldly, out onto the yard and towards their dropship escort. Armed to their unfortunately predetermined capacities. Then John came rushing out. He had an armoury of his own to assist the group!
He had his Zen-Arms .45 by his side with spare ammo and an attached suppressor, a GP-12B Phased Pulse rifle with a spare battery, and a combat knife similar to Luca's, minus the diamondising.

"John!" Luca was surprised at his pilot's appearance, and his previously unseen loadout, "Why are you coming? Where'd you get that rifle?"
"Do you think I spent all that time in the shuttle wanking or playing with that paddleball?" John grinned as he hauled to rebalance his load, "I went out and got equipped. I had to spend my money on something other than porn, y'know."
"Well..." Mel commented, looking over his gear, "Looks good on ya. Y'know how to fire it?"
"Mmmhmm, not gonna demonstrate it now, though... you'll see."

They moved onto the dropship, those who were left at base saw them all off with a wave as the Dropship flew into the air and through atmosphere.
"How come Luca's dad is going?" Jim asked Anna, "I thought he was retired."
"He was..." Anna said, "But just this once - he's going to back in the business. I just hope his age hasn't wearied him."
"I don't think so, he's still looks as sharp as he says!" Jim replied cheerfully. He believed that they'd come out all right, judging by his father's reputation and skills with weapons.

The dropship was fairly spartan in accommodations, the seats the crew of the Phoenix were sitting on were bench-style, and had little comfort for the troops who are usually immediately dropped off on ground or paradropped into action.
It seemed like the briefing would take place in a few minutes or so.

Sitting down tensely in his seat and grinning with anticipation, Luca was giddy as could be. He thought: "After this I'll have fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams!"
"So..." He said to Arin, "I barely know you, but I'm already beginning to like you." He looked at all of the gear she had on, especially the ESG, "How much stuff do you have hunked onto that gun anyway?"

 

[Fay]

Hitori stuck her tongue out slightly in disgust when John mentioned wanking off and porn, two male attributes that she did not want to hear about! Taking a seat of her own, the female Geshrin waited patiently in a somewhat depressed mood, it seemed. A low sigh escaped her lips as her violet eyes looked around.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert smiled and nodded in agreement when he overheard the conversation about Luca's dad. If old age had slowed the old man down then Robert was glad that he'd never fought the old man when he was young.

He then walked over towards Hitori and sat down next to her. "Why the long sigh?" he asked.

 

[Luca]

"Cavern" from Metal Gear Solid (PS1, Konami, 1997) Arranged by Jay Reichard

Sebastian did take an odd glance to John, now that Hitori acted on it.
John just shrugged in his direction: "Eh well, you're only human, right?"
"Maybe - but do y'self a favour," The patriarch suggested, "And keep it to yourself."
"Noted." John said as he looked around at the other reactions.

The dropship then took off with a whirr and rattle of engines and began its course towards an unknown location...

Then a familiar figure stepped out in the standing area. Clad in the IPG uniform. It was the ISC Phoenix's respondent to the IPG, known only as Nostrovia.

"Velcome, ladies and gentlemen," She addressed the crew and took a look at all of the weapons and communication gear they had bought with them, and nodded as she inspected them, then she looked at Vincent's... "Zat chaingun strains ze bounds of a rifle - but if it makes you happy..." She sighed, "Anyvey. Let us get to briefing you on the nature and purpose of this mission..."

The briefing was explained like this. The interrupting message that was played on the TV was also appearing on television screens all over Nepleslia and Yamatai.
This was obviously not a good thing - since apparently a bounty or two had been placed on Luca's head for a hefty sum.
Fortunately, the IPG had traced the television signal to a remote star system, which had been quickly labelled "N-357" by the long-distance probe. This image came up on a large screen.

It was roughly 80 lightyears to the galactic west of Yamatai.
"We will be able to make the trip there in 12 hours, on this dropship, which gives you 60 hours to complete the following mission..."

• Infiltrate the Fortress of 'Cain'
  Find and kill 'Cain' and any of his Lieutenants
  Destroy the Virus 'Anger' and its Plans

"...We think that the Reds may be involved in this. No single man could get enough funding to build a fortress, let alone engineer a planet, on a planet so remote..." Nostrovia added as she changed the screen to a map of the perimeter.

TACTICAL PERIMITER MAP - PLANET N357
DE: IPG PROBE E#2M2-1
TO: "Nostrovia" et al.

1 SQUARE = 200 SqM

===LEGEND===
 . = Open Ground/Plains
 " = Shrubland/Cover
 ~ = Water/River/Lake
 ^ = Mountain
 B = Building/Checkpoint
 T = Forest
 # = Roads/Paths/Bridges
 v = Ravine
 L = Safest Insertion Point/Landing Area (at x3,y2)
 S = Possible Sentry Patrol Areas (Beware of 'em.)
 X = Walls

============

.X 12345678911111111112222222222333333333
            01234567890123456789012345678
Y ----------------------------------------
1 |^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^TTTT.....XXXXXXXXXXXX|
2 |vvLv^^^^^^^^T^^TTTT.......X..........X|
3 |^^^vvv^^^^^^^TTTTT....."..XXBBBBB....X|
4 |TT^^^Svv^^TTTTTTT...".....X~BBBBB#...X|
5 |TTTT"".vv~".TTT..."".....S~.BBBBB.#BBX|
6 |TTT.."...~.......~~......~XXBBBBB.#BBX|
7 |........"~~.~~~~~~~~~~~.~~X....X..#..X|
8 |...""....~~~""..~~~~".~~~.BB..BBBBBBBB|
9 |##......~......~.......S##BB##BBBBBBBB|
10|S.##"..~.......~......##..BB..BBBBBBBB|
11|....##B.S.....~."#####....X....X.#...X|
12|...~~~.##########S........X.BBBB.#BB.X|
13|~~~.....".....~...........X.BBBB#.BB.X|
14|..............~"..........XTBBBB#....X|
15|TTTT..........~...."".....XTTT..#....X|
16|TTTTTTTT....".~.........^^X^TTT.#.TTTX|
17|^^^^TTTTTT...~..TT^^^^^^^^^^TTTTT..TTX|
18|^^^^^^^^^^^^.~.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^XXXXXXX|
  ----------------------------------------

"Should you fail, we shall call an orbital bombardment on the system and combat the virus when it comes to our doorsteps."
"No, you don't understand." Luca butted in, "These things have the tendency to return, even after you 'kill' them. I almost forgot to show this to you before." He sent a message over to the big screen with his communicator with his video.
"Excellent. I shall review this information later," Nostrovia said as a small thumbnail of the video played onscreen, specifically the part where he and the crew took on Vitriol, "It should help us combat ze beasts if all hell does break loose. Now, any questions?"

Sebastian then raised his hand, "How are we going to be dropped off on location?"
"High Altitude Low Opening paradrop - which is why I imposed the limit to the amount you could carry."
"Oh, makes sense..." Sebastian said.
"Question," Mel said, "Anything we find on the ground is ours, correct?"
"True. All of your other equipment, ammunition and weaponry must be acquired onsite - and you may keep it afterwards should it suit your fancy."
She was open to other questions as the dropship kept flying towards its location.

 

[Fian]

"I'm still trying to make it fire Gyrojets like the RPB, but the firing mechanisim is too fragile to take anything but 6.35mm." Arin eyed Luca. So this is a dyed-in-the-wool adventurer, THE Luca Pavone!. The camera inbuilt on her Datapad discreetly snapped a picture. "I'll try not to dissappoint!"

"P-p-paradrop?!" Arin bit her fingernails. The last time someone tossed her out of a plane at high altitude, she nearly broke her legs on landing if her training PA didnt apply emergency braking thrust. She looked out of the window to see that they were already out in space. She inhaled deeply and then exhaled. I've come this far, can't turn back now. She then looked at Vincent's chaingun and felt relieved that she wasnt carrying that.

 

[TeslaTornado]

Vincent, however, patted his chaingun's barrels.

"Agent Nostrovia, I've inserted faster and harder with weapons much larger than these. I think I can handle HALO entry with a chaingun strapped to my back, with all due respect."

Then he looked at Arin; a look of sudden panic crossing her face. He smiled comfortingly- or at least he thought he did. Of course with teeth the size of a grown man's thumbnail, he looked rather threatening.

"Don't worry about it... Whoever you are... I've only ever seen one person miss their cue on a drop and he survived. Granted he ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, but he came out of it."

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert snapped his attention towards the newcomer and listened to all the info even though about only a 1/5 of the info made sense to the poor, land-bound, ex-gangster. All he knew was that he was going to have one helluva adventure soon. "To quote the words of a great man who said them just inside."

"So what's the wait for? Let's go!!!"

 

[Zakalwe]

So it was going to be HALO. Interesting, Mich hadn't done that for many a year, still the fundamentals were still there - resting in the back of his mind. Not giving it much additional thought he sat back, shut his eyes and waited for something to happen. He couldn't wait to use his nice new shiny crossbow.

 

[Luca]

"Map" from Star Fox 64/Lylat Wars (N64, Nintendo, 1997) Arranged by Daniel Witt

The flight on this dropship was rather ... boring. Luca had managed to bring along with him in a hidden pocket, a deck of cards. A folding table was found and bought out. A few games of poker were played. There were even chips on hand to make things more interesting.

Luca guessed that the IPG really did know how to treat its soldiers while they were busy on towards their location.
About an hour or two passed with this and some idle chatter, then Luca decided to play a round of solitaire with his the deck provided with the table while he kept playing poker with the crew.

While this was entertaining, everyone eventually got bored of that, and poker, and it was beginning to show. Luca was scratching his arse, fidgeting with his unloaded weapons and clothing, waiting for when it'd all go off. He was getting impatient.
Mel was staring at her Rifle, studying it, and thinking of the first poor bugger who had to be subject to it. She noted that while the revolver mechanism was very easy to clean, it was going to be very loud.
Hitori was wondering about the insertion method, whether it was the brightest idea. Couldn't they just land on the ground and let us off? She considered. Oh well, I guess they know what they're doing...
John was also getting niggly. He knew that flying a shuttle was eventful, but being stuffed in the back of a ship was no fun at all. A sort of sympathy between him and his passengers began to appear, then fade.

Sebastian, however, was patient, like a wolf in wait for its prey.

Four hours had passed with small talk over things like "Who is Cain?" "What can we expect?" and "Will we make it out alive?"
Nobody was really sure on any of those questions (except for the former, possibly).

Then the last hour came, the planet was in range of sensors. An IPG soldier appeared and cleared his throat.
"Ladies, gentlemen, we are approaching our destination." He announced eloquently, "Before you HALO jump, it has come to our understanding that some of you do not know how to perform the procedure. I shall take the time to instruct you on this procedure to the best of my ability." He glanced to the crew as some instructions appeared on the big screen, "We would not like to have any of you attempting this mission with the dimensions of a manhole cover." The comment came off as deadpan rather than humorous.

He showed them the oxygen mask, helmet and parachute/oxygen tank combo they'd have to wear as they jumped out of the craft. The parachute would open at a pre-set altitude along with procedures to equalise pressure once they had landed on the ground.

 

[TeslaTornado]

"Standard Nepleslia. Just give me the tank and 'chute and I'll lead the drops." Vincent said, taking a chute bag and standing by the cargo doors.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert looked nervously at the seemingly meager amount of equipment. It was a long way down if something messed up. He gulped audibly as he looked over the equipment while listening to the instructions on how to use it. He leaned over towards Luca. "Ever done this before?"