London 2056 - A CyberPunk RP [Game thread - Started]

[Generic NPC 22]

London 2056 | Gungnir Safe House #2 | Observation Room #3
Pre-Ignition Started T-minus 10...9...8...7...6...​

Lieutenant Charlotte Sorrowfeld stood in Observation Room #3 watching as a series of robotic arms worked on the ailing prisoner, Felton Billings. As Charlotte had predicted when reviewing his medical scans, the Medical Diagnostics Program had determined that there was no safe way to mend the man's broken arm without putting him in further danger from sepsis. Between the break and the burns that the man had suffered due to the Gungnir's Consultant's liberal use of the Stun Cuffs, the risk for infection was 78% likely.

The arms moved glided to the wall where the medical tools were housed and deposited their bloody instruments into a sterilization fluid before attaching themselves to the tools necessary for the amputation: a micro-suturing arm, a laser scalpel, a bone saw and suction tube.

As the laser scalpel powered up, Charlotte exited the Observation room. The Lieutenant had seen death come in a million different varieties, but she still could not bring herself to watch an amputation.

Moving down the corridor, she went to check in on her colleague, and she used the term very loosely. Knowing the man and his... particular obsession over a certain VidCaster, the woman entered the room designated as temporary housing for Gungnir Consultants. Given his recent brush with the woman of his dreams, it was very likely that Sargent Aubergine would have put himself in a fairly compromising position.

"I hope that you're not doing something that you'll regret..." The Lieutenant stated as she entered and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Sargent Aubergine standing up, his hands shoving themselves and an item into his pockets. Surprisingly, the Sargent had removed the posters from the walls and locked them in a foot locker located under the room's twin bed.

"I... no, Char. Nothing's going on here." Ed stated, his eyes darting towards his upper right as he talked.

"Uh huh." The Interrogator stated as she walked towards him, "You sure? Because if I heard right, you've been sleeping here instead of at home."

"Well... things are a little rough at home at the moment. So... I've been sleeping here until she calms down." The Massive Sargent admitted as he sat down on the bed, his eyes looking down at the floor as the admission was made, "I think we're going to get a divorce."

Charlotte nodded. Attempted a sympathetic smile but there was relief in her eyes. The fact of the matter was that despite the fact that Edward Aubergine was not part of Charlotte's department in the London PD, they'd been assigned as partners under Gungnir Security Consultants. During that time, she'd heard horror stories about the man's marriage and the psychological toll it was taking on her partner. As much as she wanted the man to be happy, she figured that this would be the best course of action for both Edward and his two daughters... the soon to be ex-wife could rot for all Charlotte cared.

"I'm sorry to hear that Ed." Charlotte said, her voice neutral as she put her hand, her real hand, on the man's shoulder. They stayed there for a moment before she broke the silence with a sentence that should have brought smile to the StripKitty fan's face, "We'd better go check on our guests."

Exiting the room, Charlotte hear the voice of Mister Adler echoing down the hallway, speaking in German. Looking towards the source of the voice, she spotted Karl talking on his phone, the man looking and sounding rather irritated despite the non-agressive stance the tone of his voice had taken. The Lieutenant was about to activate the translation function of her auditory augmentations when she heard the word "Oma" or Grandmother.

It appeared that the Corp Executive was talking with family and having none to good a time doing so. Between the five people located at the safe house, three were in the midst of familial issues, at least to Charlotte's knowledge. This made Charlotte rather glad that it was just her in this world.

[hr]

London 2056 | Gungnir Safe House #2 | Dining Area
5...4...3...2...1... Ignition!​

"That depends upon that *****. She thought she was delivering her into CyCorp hands, [sub]which is stupid since you entered into a deal that benefited you and Mr. Adler. I know because I was there. [sub]Instead, it had to be whatever assholes sent the real messages, same ones wanting you to be the scapegoat. [sub]Our prisoner is one of 'em, and we're beating information out of him. It'll be my turn soon, and I think you should have a few words for endangering your daughter. They tried to frame all three of you, and certainly tried to kill us earlier. There's going to be some serious retribution flung around."[/sub][/sub][/sub] Karine said to Irina, who stopped listening to her friend and neighbor after the first phrase and the implication that it left in the mother to Sienna Rostikova's mind.

"(She thought she was delivering her into CyCorp hands...)" Karine's words, echoed in Irina's brain. This implied that Sienna was delivered to someone who wasn't CyCorp, someone that the FUCKING ASSHOLE ***** didn't know. This implied that they didn't know where Sienna was.

"I'm... going... to... kill... her." The Semi-Popular VidCaster stated quietly. It was as if all of her emotions had flat lined. Knowing her next door neighbor, Karine was aware that this was just the moment before an explosion. There was still time to diffuse the...

"You're going to kill me?" An unwelcome voice stated as Lieutenant Charlotte Sorrowfeld entered the room, her voice mocking the pain that Irina must have felt.

"YOU STUPID *****!" Irina exploded as she stood up suddenly, sending both her chair and unfinished plate crashing to the floor, "HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!"

A diminutive woman launched herself at the Lieutenant, who made no move to defend herself. A punch impacted against the side of Charlotte's face as Irina continued to scream.

WHAM!

"YOU FUCKING CORP WHORE! YOU FUCKED UP MY LIFE AND PUT MY DAUGHTER AT RISK! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"

WHAM!

"YOU COULD HAVE DONE WHATEVER YOU WANTED TO ME BUT YOU HAD TO GET MY DAUGHTER INVOLVED IN THIS? HOW COULD YOU BE SO FUCKING IDIOTIC? ANY ASSHOLE WITH HALF A BRAIN KNOWS THAT I WOULDN'T HAVE BOMBED CYCORP BUT NOT YOU, YOU ****, YOU HAD TO FUCK WITH MY DAUGHTER'S LIFE AND MY LIFE."

WHAM!

As Irina Rostikova continued to vent her anger on the body of Charlotte Sorrowfeld, the rather large Sargent Aubergine, initially surprised by the outburst, moved to assist his partner. To the *****'s credit however, she shook her head, causing Ed to stop in his tracks, even when Irina's hands wrapped themselves around Charlotte's neck and began to squeeze. Even then the Corp Harlot made no move to defend herself.

"FUCK YOU. FUCK THEM. FUCK CYCORP. FUCK THOSE ENTITLED CORP ASSHOLES WHO BLOW EACH OTHER FOR MORE CREDITS IN THEIR ACCOUNTS. FUCK THOSE NEO ASSHOLES. FUCK YOU AND JUST DIE YOU FUCKING ****! YOU STUPID, GREEDY, ****!"

As quickly as it started, it stopped and the room, except for the muffled sound of sobbing, was enveloped in silence. The hands that had been gripping the Police Woman's neck fell away, dangling limply as Irina cried into the chest of the woman who had been one of the instigators of Irina's involvement in this plot.

Charlotte stood there as the Cat Eared woman's warm tears started soaking into the new shirt that she'd purchased, frozen and unaware as to what she should do next. Her hand raised up as if she was going to stroke the crying woman's head, offering comfort. Instead, she pushed gripped Irina's shoulder and pushed the woman away from her.

"Use that against them." Charlotte said coldly before giving Irina the items she'd taken from Prisoner Felton, "See what you can do with these."

Irina took the locked phone and the object that she easily identified as a sort of Security Token. Both of these objects were ancient in technology terms. As security certification measures were adopted in lieu of physical security tokens, the token devices were phased out. The device in Irina's hands might as well have been the Dead Sea scrolls. The woman looked lost for a moment before she nodded at the Lieutenant.

Pressing a napkin to her bloody nose, the Security Consultant looked towards Karine.

"The prisoner is stable and ready for you." She stated before both she and the large Sarge left the Dining Area.

As the two members of Gungnir Security walked back towards their quarters, the Sorrowfeld woman, much to her displeasure, noted that her partner had a grin on his face, a big stupid grin that matched the man perfectly.

"What?" The Pain in Irina's Ass asked her partner, her voice annoyed at his amusement.

"That's the first time I think I've seen you close to being nice." The Sargent said, pleased that he'd been there to witness something so rare.

"No, it wasn't. That was the only way Miss Rostikova was going to work with me. If I stopped her, we'd lose the assistance of both Miss Asagi and Mister Adler. We need to keep all three of them in this situation if we want to get out of this unscathed. Who knows, if we play our cards right, we might get a payday out of this." Charlotte said as she started unbuttoning her shirt before shrugging it off. Handing the tear soaked piece of cloth to her partner, she smiled.

"Enjoy." Charlotte stated before entering her quarters to change.

 

[Knife-28]

"Hmph. Quite true Kaz. If you had though, I imagine our meeting would have gone a lot worse; then again, I'd have hated to ruin such a pretty face. But that's by the by." Kazuko considered making a remark about her 'pretty face' comment, but he realized that if she wanted to, he probibly wouldn't stand much of a chance.

"Actually Kaz, I wonder if there is something you can help me with regarding this investigation. Are you familiar with any of the names on this list here?"

Kaz gingerly took the list as he realized that if the names he were reading were of enough interest to CyCorp to be instigated, then it might be worth doing a little investgating of his own.

Making sure to commit each name to memory, Kaz skimmed through the list, getting most of the way though before a single name caught his eye and caused him to do a double take.

*Isaiah Kaligian

"Oh man." Kazuko said, turning the list over and pointing out the name to Selene.

"I knew this bloke back in my, er, gang days. Fuck. I haven't thought about that since I went freelance and it's been about 7 years since I've seen him or, you know, anyone from back then."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Oh man." Said Kazuko in surprise as one name in particular, pointing it out to Selene shortly thereafter.

ISAIAH KALIGIAN​

"I knew this bloke back in my, er, gang days. Fuck. I haven't thought about that since I went freelance and it's been about 7 years since I've seen him or, you know, anyone from back then."

"I'll have CyCorp run a check on him, see what turns up." Selene said plainly as she pulled out a mobile phone, not her personal one of course; but one that the company had given her when she had signed on as a private security contractor. It was loaded with hardware and software that provided protection against intrusions and hacking, along with encryption programs to help protect any messages that were sent and received. She quickly sent a message out

Spoiler: Message Recieved

Sender: Selene
Recipient: Cyrus Corpelli (Human Resources)
Sent: March 16th, 2056 13:25
Subject: Recruitment Drive

I've had a look through that last of candidates that you gave this morning Cyrus, and I think there is potential in one Isaiah Kaligian, so if you could have a look through his resume and send me back anything note worthy, I'll see if he's suitable for the next stage of the application process.

Keep you posted if I learn anything new.

After she was done, Selene slipped the phone into her jacket pocket and looked to face Kaz.

"Whilst they're busy sorting that out, would you care to give me your perspective on Monsieur Kaligian, at least what you can remember of him."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

~ Karl Adler ~​

As it turned out, Karl's timing was unfortunate, since he had sat down across from an angry, augmented woman who had an utterly murderous look on her face. It was enough to make him grimace a little and lean back in his chair. He didn't think he could get away with much more, lest he be her target.

"I'm... going... to... kill... her."

Her. Clearly referring to one Charlotte Sorrowfeld, and not Karl Adler. His face relaxed into an expression of vague relief. As it was, he felt no sympathy for Sorrowfeld in the least, particularly since she was instrumental in the whole incident. The problem, of course, was the fact that the Gungnir Consultant had decided for that to be the moment to show up.

"You're going to kill me?"

Her tone was making a mockery of Irina's pain. So what happened next didn't surprise him in the least. Irina launched herself to her feet before attacking the taller woman, who didn't so much as budge an inch. Not even after a solid punch connected with her face.

"YOU STUPID *****! HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!"

As she continued to scream and beat Sorrowfeld for everything she had done to what was left of her family, Sorrowfeld's partner seemed to hesitate regarding coming to her aid. But she motioned for him to stop, right as Irina's hands clenched around her neck. Even then, she didn't so much as move.

"FUCK YOU. FUCK THEM. FUCK CYCORP. FUCK THOSE ENTITLED CORP ASSHOLES WHO BLOW EACH OTHER FOR MORE CREDITS IN THEIR ACCOUNTS. FUCK THOSE NEO ASSHOLES. FUCK YOU AND JUST DIE YOU FUCKING ****! YOU STUPID, GREEDY, ****!"

Irina continued to sob, but her hands slowly fell away from the Consultant's neck, even as she bowed her head onto the woman's chest and wept. Karl merely exhaled a quiet sigh. While the entire scene was uncomfortable merely to watch, he could only imagine the full maelstrom of emotion Irina was feeling right then. Sorrowfeld, on the other hand, looked like she was entirely unsure of what to do with the distraught woman crying in her chest. She settled with pushing her back and regarded her coldly.

"Use that against them. See what you can do with these."

Karl couldn't quite see what she had handed Irina, but it was clear that the Vidcaster looked taken aback by whatever it was. Presumably, it was something taken from their prisoner. But after grabbing a napkin to staunch her bloody nose, she glanced over at Karine and told her that the prisoner was ready for her, then turned and left with her partner.

There was a moment of silence before Karl took a deep breath and reached up to run a hand through his hair. Then he stood and looked over at Karine.

"I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to ask our... Guest a few questions of my own. Or at the very least, observe. After all, another perspective can make all the difference, right?" he asked.

As he took off the apron he wore and draped it over the back of his chair, he debated on whether or not he should say anything to Irina. If he was honest, he doubted there was anything he could say to her right that moment that would have helped or been a comfort. He was more likely to make her angrier and get a punch of his own. No, it was probably best if he gave her some time to calm down first.

 

[FalloutJack]

She knew that there was no way to soften the blow entirely. The best she could do was minimize the amount of suffering that Irina would go through by saying nothing about the possibility of Sienna being turned into a walking bomb... That was far too much to put on a mother, ANY mother. For her friend...she wasn't going to do that to her, not when she was already explosive herself, trying to tear Charlotte apart with her bare hands. Asagi felt bad for her, as she often did when life twisted the knife in Irina's life, bit by bit. That's one of the reasons they became friends: They both understood suffering. Charlotte wasn't very comforting, now that Irina was crying into her chest, but she handed what looked like a pair of devices into the woman's hands.

"Use that against them. See what you can do with these."

Irina took them silently, and then the Gungnir woman informed Asagi that the prisoner was stable and ready for her to begin her own interrogation. Checking the camera feed she'd tapped into, this turned out to be correct, though he was sans part of his arm now. He looked a bit like Charles now, except that this one-armed-bandit would receive no help and no trust from her. Not at all. Just then, Karl chimed in...

"I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to ask our... Guest a few questions of my own. Or at the very least, observe. After all, another perspective can make all the difference, right?"

"Take the observation room, for now. I've tapped into it, so I'll be able to see and hear you while I get to work. You can talk to me freely without alerting him to your presence."

So saying...she headed into the interrogation room. Felton Billings was in a stable condition, but that didn't mean good. Asagi removed her coat and weapons, standing there in her combat suit now as he angled his head - his face saying pain and anger - on her approach.

"What...the fuck...are you doing to me?! My fucking ARM!!"

"According to records, you were probably going to get an infection and die horribly without proper procedure. Now, you're cauterized and clean again. Not whole, but we can fix that."

"Fuck you! I don't want any of your disgusting augments in my body!!"

Asagi's brow furrowed, her red eyes giving off an angry light.

"Why? Because they'll explode? Because it's better to be half a man than part a machine? That's your doctorine, isn't it? You're as bad as the anti-vaccine people. I'd be glad they died out if it weren't so tragic."

Walking to the side of the table he was on, looking at he instruments, she's sighed.

"Neo-Luddites... I would've thought after your last display, you would've tried the quiet riot. But this? This is going way too far..."

"What are you talking about?"

She thrust her hand at his throat in a manner that precisely began to cut off oxygen...but only just so. He would have to struggle hard to get air, fight for it against the constriction at his windpipe. She was doing so without even causing damage. It was just applied pressure. She kept this up for thirty seconds, staring contempt at him the entire time, like he was a frog for disection. Releasing him, he could catch his breath properly as she began to wander around the table, talking aloud.

"Just a few years ago, I had a terrible nightmare. A group of people had started a riot in protest against human augmentation, though prosthetics and the technology to implement them had been in society for much longer. It was total chaos, started by a group of people who - while accepting of modern society - did not like this 'new and dangerous' technology that was integrating into human physiology."

Mr. Billings knew EXACTLY what she was talking about. The London Anti-Augment Riots, people fearing for their humanity like it was something you could just toss in a bin, stupid people scared shitless. It was like old folks and computers, all over again!

"But one of those riots ended abruptly, shockingly. Some idiot thought he could take over one of the mechs the military was using to ferry people away, make them go back home. He was an idiot with electronics skills enough to open the lock and fight the pilot."

"Let me guess, you were the p- AAAUGH!!"

"Oh no, he died."

She had wandered over to his left foot, placed his little toe between thumb and forefinger, and crushed. The bone was no match for her. None of his bones were... That's what you get for interrupting. She was already moving on to his next-biggest toe...

"They both did, as the pilot fought for control of the mech..."

SNAP!

"...walking through other people..."

TWIST!

"...and crashed into MY mech."

CRUNCH!

At this point, she had left only the big toe intact and was frankly prepared to rip it off, but for the screaming at her to stop.

"Is there something you want to say to me? You've exhausted your Bad Cop, and you don't get a Good Cop."

She twisted his ankle in a manner that cut off circulation in an extremely-painful way. Asagi knew ways to make people hurt. She knew that this man was effectively a chew toy for her right now. She let go of his foot, went over and reached into his mouth, jabbing him in places that make the body react with involuntary nausea, holding him still to suffer through it while she spoke now.

"I want you to know that your pain is a direct result of my pain, that this was your fault, because not only was your little group part of why I am this way, but because you were all stupid enough to get me mad. Do you understand that your lives are over? That whatever it is you think you're doing, it's going to be wiped from the board? How dare you injure people the way you have, leave them a screaming bloody mess, and then have the gall to shout nonsense about augmentation and blow people up for having them!"

She removed her hand and then began to pull back on the only fingers he had left to the world.

"Do you idiots know what you've done? You've gone full-blown terrorist. You blew up a diner to kill a load of corp-level people, and you attempted to frame not only CyCorp for the move, but also an innocent woman for the BIG bombings. There is nothing we can't do to you now, especially if you're behind those."

"I don't know anything about that! I didn't have anything to do with the big ones!"

"I'm not interested in 'I'. I want 'they'. I want them You can still get by in a cane if you're really that determined, but only if you start spilling alot faster. I don't need these tools of persuasion, just these hands I was given by the military. I know what your body can handle and keep on living. I've been through that nightmare, and when I woke from it, it was still there. Yours has only just begun, and if you want to live through it, you'll remember that all your friends from the van died because someone executed my drones to get at them, almost got you."

"L-look, ma'am...! I don't know anything about the corp bombs! First I heard was about getting Gungnir to make someone take the fall, then we wipe them out to keep the trail cold! I don't know anything else! I just get the assignments! STOP BREAKING MY HAND!"

She relented, for the moment. He was scared not just of the pain she was inflicting, but the understanding that she could and would break every bone in his body if he displeased her. More than the viceral torture that Charlotte had employed, she had the right stuff to reduce him to a pile of human waste be systematically crushing his body, piece by piece. Felton hated what augmentations were capable of, and this was the proof, but unfortunately he was dead to rights and Asagi was fiddling with the controls! She noticed he saw this, and turned to him.

"I just remembered that, since this thing is maintaining your stability, it could very easily be configured to stimulate your whole nervous system painfully. Granted, I'm not a doctor, so I wouldn't know the precise measurements of stimulation to administer, but this panel alone could be operated effectively by an idiot, so I could easily manage."

"Please, I don't know anything more! I'm just a goddamn flunky! A nobody! I can't tell you what you want to know, whatever it is!"

"Where is the little girl that ***** from before left with you people?"

"I didn't do it! I don't know where!"

"Do you understand that I'm going to let her mother in here, unattended with all these sharp objects? Who did the corporate bombings? The assassinations? Give me something to go on or there will be hell to pay!"

Good god, Charlotte took all the real fight out of him, because he was screaming for mercy and crying out that he knew nothing about the bombings like a little baby. Asagi gave him a short jolt just to tell him to stop already...

 

[Texas Joker 52]

~ Karl Adler ~​

Karine glanced up at him as he made his request, and there was a moment before she answered. She was probably checking on something, like their prisoner, to make sure everything was in place before getting started.

"Take the observation room, for now. I've tapped into it, so I'll be able to see and hear you while I get to work. You can talk to me freely without alerting him to your presence."

He nodded firmly before following her to where the interrogation room was, then taking the next door over into Observation. It was a very stark room with only a few scant chairs and a long console along one wall. On the wall that joined the interrogation room, however, was a large screen that simulated a one-way-mirror. He had to give a small nod of approval at that. One-way-mirrors had to be phased out once more heavily augmented suspects had to be interviewed, since a wall of glass tended to be extremely easy to break. The viewscreen largely did the same thing with quite a few improvements, without being a structural weakness.

The screen itself clearly showed their prisoner and identified him as one Felton Billings. He immediately noticed that the man was missing the arm that he had broken and twisted to make sure he cooperated, but his expression didn't so much as waver, and there was no sudden stab of guilt. No, Felton Billings wasn't a man worth Karl's sympathy. But he did pity the man for what he was about to go through. Whatever Sorrowfeld had done to him, Karine was going to inflict much worse on him. The question would be how much would be done for Irina, and how much for information.

So when she stepped in, Billings didn't waste any time in screaming about his missing arm.

"According to records, you were probably going to get an infection and die horribly without proper procedure. Now, you're cauterized and clean again. Not whole, but we can fix that."

Karl shook his head. Even if he was willing to see that piece of human filth be repaired with even a basic prosthetic, which he wasn't, he knew a Neo-Luddite would never 'stoop so low' as to accept augments of any kind.

"Not a chance in hell." he murmured.

"Fuck you! I don't want any of your disgusting augments in my body!!"

Despite Karine's back being turned to him, he could only imagine the glare she was leveling at their prisoner. She asked if it was because any augments he would get were likely to explode, before making her way around the restraining chair and grabbing onto his windpipe. An eyebrow twitched at that, but he merely crossed his arms and listened to her with a look of cold detachment.

"Just a few years ago, I had a terrible nightmare. A group of people had started a riot in protest against human augmentation, though prosthetics and the technology to implement them had been in society for much longer. It was total chaos, started by a group of people who - while accepting of modern society - did not like this 'new and dangerous' technology that was integrating into human physiology."

She went on to describe what he remembered as the London Anti-Augmentation Riots. Being one of CyCorp's Executives, he remembered it relatively well, but the details that she described were a bit fuzzier. Karine spoke of an incident with military mechs, one being opened by a rioter with enough hacking skills to get past the electronics to fight the pilot... Only to have it crash into Karine's own mech.

Karl had to struggle against a look of horror. Not because of how she crushed the man's toes with each interruption, but because he realized that she was talking about the incident that had taken her limbs, and possibly her eyes. He could only imagine what she went through after all too well given his line of work. When one built a career around the research and development of augmentations, you tended to see augmentation surgery and rehabilitation at its worst.

"Do you idiots know what you've done? You've gone full-blown terrorist. You blew up a diner to kill a load of corp-level people, and you attempted to frame not only CyCorp for the move, but also an innocent woman for the BIG bombings. There is nothing we can't do to you now, especially if you're behind those."

The man insisted that he had no idea about bombing both CyCorp and H.A. Dynasty's respective London Headquarters, and Karl slowly nodded.

"I reasonably sure that he's telling the truth about that. He doesn't strike me as anything more than a low-level thug. Not important enough to know the details regarding the bombings." he said.

Karine, meanwhile, went on to explain that she was interested in whoever was employing him. If he wanted to live, even if only with the assistance of a cane among other things, he would do well to remember that his employer had taken the precaution of executing everyone that had been left at the Diner, and tried to do the same to him. Something Karl had remembered clearly, and had thanked Karine for her quick intervention.

"L-look, ma'am...! I don't know anything about the corp bombs! First I heard was about getting Gungnir to make someone take the fall, then we wipe them out to keep the trail cold! I don't know anything else! I just get the assignments! STOP BREAKING MY HAND!"

Making a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, the German Businessman took off his glasses and ran a hand over his face. Even as Karine asked about Young Sienna, Billings said he had no idea what she was talking about, or where Irina's little girl was.

When he put his glasses back on, he shook his head.

"Ease up a little, Karine. I think he's willing to tell us what he can so long as the pain stops." he said calmly, before taking a step towards the screen.

"Ask him how he was hired, and by whom. How is he paid, and how much? How was he contacted? What was he told about the operation? And what else did he do in their employ?" he asked, eyes narrowing as he gazed at Felton Billing's face.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Retracted for reworking

 

[FalloutJack]

The Current Status of Ira Soni​

Ira Soni was taken into custody at roughly the samr time as Liam Vaugn. However, in the case of Ira, the questioning was different than in Liam's situation. Both of them were informed that the bullet casings found in the garage matched that of a crime scene, specifically of the double-homicide of the representatives from the Dynasty and CyCorp. This put them on the suspect list. They did not begin the questioning process for Ira just yet on the grounds that he wanted his lawyer, already called, present and accounted for. Christopher Wakefield was late, however, on account of traffic problems related to the afternoon bombing of a popular diner, the subsequent machine gun attack on said diner, and the sealing off of the area for a block in each direction which occurred at that time. Frankly, given the fact that the police had a hand in that, thanks to a direct order from a Military Operative, they weren't going to get any work done with Ira for a while anyway.

Time passed, and Ira was alone in a simple interrogation room with a table, two chairs, and hidden cameras. He had been informed that he could be under suspicion of murder, or planting the evidence from the murder, or acting in accomplice to the murder with Liam Vaughn...or all of these. He could have simply shot one while Liam shot the other and then planted the casings at the garage to then bluff a plea of innocence based upon a lack of evidence and a possibility of evidence being planted to implicate them...thus getting them off the hook if this was planned. Stranger things had happened, and the cops around here imagined ALL the angles. But they did not question him. They did not ask him to do anything but sit and listen, so he would know precisely what to tell Mr. Wakefield upon arrival. This included the possibility that he was just a fly in somebody's web, that he perhaps WAS innocent, along with Mr. Vaughn, who HAD deemed to be questioned and denied any knowledge of where the bullet casings came from.

What they hadn't told him was all the interesting statistics, like how the two victims were shot at the same time and the same height, or of course that they hadn't found any weapon on their premises matching the casings...but he would know that himself because he hadn't had the murder weapon. They also hadn't explained that there was an open possibility in the case that the murders and the bombings were connected, which meant that he was also being investigated for terrorism...but they hadn't said anything about that. After a bit of a wait, however, His lawyer finally arrived and stepped in the door, having been assured that they had not questioned or coerced him in any way, merely informed him of what they suspected so that he could not simply be zipped out by some lawyer-ese. Honestly, they were irritated enough that the woman they had in custody before had been forced to sign a false confession by 'one of those Gungnir Mercenaries'. So, you have a lawyer, Ira. Let's get to work.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

London 2056 | Gungnir Safehouse #2 | Dining Area
Apple? You mean like the fruit?​

She was alone now. Standing in the middle of the Dining Area of Gungnir Safe House #2, Irina Rostikova looked over the devices that Lieutenant Sorrowfeld had handed her. One appeared to be an old fashioned RSA token, its black and white LCD display showed a series of numbers that would change every fifteen minutes or so. The other was slightly more puzzling.

"Apple iPhone Generation 6..." The Feline CatVaster muttered to herself as she rotated the device in her hands, her fingers sliding along the polished metal back. The device's screen turned on, bathing her face in blue light. It was locked. She had time for that later though, what was move disconcerting about the device was the fact that it had a full four bars of reception, 4G LTE reception.

The Grid. Created by the Grid Project Committee, the Grid replaced the aging internet that had been invented by the United States Military in the 1960s. Taking advantage of new technologies, communications methodology and Virtual Reality simulations the Grid Project Committee created a network infrastructure that had none of the bugs that the Internet had and allowed people to conduct business in a whole new way.

As for Grid connectivity via mobile devices, the Grid Communications Protocol was created. The GCP was the data connections method that would replace all others be it CDMA, EDGE, etc. As the demand for Grid enabled devices rose, the other communications methods were discarded until only GCP remained... at least that was the theory, a theory broken by the evidence that sat in the palm of her hand.

Running her finger along the bottom of the device's screen, the Slightly Taller than Average VidCaster was greeted by a small circle demanding a finger print. Whose finger print it required was quite obvious to the mother who wanted to be reunited with her daughter.

Grabbing a knife from the kitchen counter, she left the dining room.

[hr]

London 2056 | Safe House #2 | Interrogation Room #3
Not the best days...​

Prisoner Billings was not having the best of days. Between the failed operation to silence those involved in the framing of Irina Rostikova for the bombing of CyCorp and his subsequent questioning by BOTH MEGA BITCHES, it was understandable why Prisoner Billings was sobbing.

"Please... please... you have to believe me. Th... the.... there's nothing else I can tell you," The man whined as snot dripped from his nose. It was a rather pathetic scene. One that would have normally invoked pity were he not one of the people responsible for grafting bombs onto amputees.

The Half Jap woman that was interrogating him circled around Felton like a vulture intent on ripping through his flesh and devouring him. This was one of the reasons he hated Auggies. They weren't even human anymore. To allow themselves to become altered in the way they had marred the Creator's perfect vision of what humans should be and how they should live their life. It was a reflection on the decadence of the time.

"How were you hired, and by whom. How are you paid, and how much? How were you contacted? What were you told about the operation? And what else did you do in their employ?" The woman asked quickly, her eyes looking past him as she listened to someone that was obviously in communication with her.

"M... My phone. It has all the answers. Just... stop hurting me... p-p-please." The man said as he tried to catch his breath.

It was at that point that the door to the interrogation room opened and revealed player number three: A knife wielding VidCaster by the handle of StripKitty. Seeing her target, the woman wasted no time and made her move before anyone could react.

CHUNK!

The man's right thumb fell to the floor as the knife sliced through flesh and bone.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU FUCKING *****!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Prisoner Felton screamed loudly as he started struggling against his binding, the choke chain that Lieutenant Sorrowfeld had wrapped around the man's neck ratcheting tighter as he continued to writhe in pain.

Picking up the man's thumb, Irina pressed it against the Mobile Device, unlocking it and revealing yet another layer of protection, this one a 6 digit PIN. The answer was easy enough, the RSA token displayed 6 digits at a time.

For the most part, the device was devoid of any information except for an email.

"Buckingham Palace. They're going to do another drop on Buckingham Palace." Irina said.

 

[bluerocker]

Spoiler: Listen to this for the quote section!

"Hey. Heeey!"
[color=3897e0]"Whaaaaat? It's 2 in the morning. Can't it wait?"[/color]
"Not quite. Come with me. I'm going to show you something great, trust me."

Dimitri sat up from the couch in the living room, rubbing his eyes with a yawn, and looked around. Scattered bits of metal, servos, and tools littered the floor, making it a veritable minefield for someone with bare feet. Slipping on some flip flops, the young boy followed after the sounds of movement, eventually reaching the roof of his apartment building. Perched atop the roof was his caregiver, Mel, armed with two cups of something steaming, and a towel spread out on the hard concrete.

"Get your butt over here, you're going to miss it."
Stifling another yawn, Dimitri padded over and plopped down, wincing very faintly at the heat. He could smell something herbal in the drink, comforting in a loose sense. Taking a sip, and looking back up at the elder woman, the young boy groggily voiced, [color=3897E0]"Miss what?"[/color]
After sitting down; Mel put an arm around Dimitri's shoulder and huddled close, pointing towards a specific point in the sky, "Look up. You'll see in a second."

Dimitri squinted at the area Mel was pointing at, and began to see a streak of light chase overhead, followed by another, and then another! His eyes widening with delight, Dimitri asked quietly, [color=3897E0]"What is this..?"[/color]
"Meteor Shower. You don't see many of these anymore, what with the light pollution and all that, but sometimes, just sometimes, if you know when to look; you can catch them a few hours before the sun rises. So, still mad I woke you up this early?"

London 2056 | Residence Building | Dimitri's Apartment​

Dimitri's eyes shot open before he could answer Mel, but the sounds of the television, a blaring alarm, and the smell of old coffee was an unpleasant confirmation that his mind was in a dream moments ago. With a heaved sigh, the now 25 year old man sat up from his usual spot, an old and tattered couch, dark military green in color; and rubbed his face with a groan. He had been having that particular dream for a while. Why, he wasn't particularly certain. Guilt, maybe? It had been several years since Mel had disappeared from his life, and left the house so god-awfully quiet in her wake.

Where there was once piles of scrap metal and parts, was now made spotless, or at least as spotless as it could be. It was still a low rent tenement house, after all. Shelves of books taking place where the work benches once were (those were re-purposed for Dimitri's room, holding up his Frankenstein-esque rig). But, the contents of his home mattered little at that very moment - the sun was beginning it's descent from the midpoint in the sky, meaning that Dimitri had to go get ready for work; as well as an interview with a Edward Aubergine; whoever the hell that was. Some police worker, from what little Dimitri had been able to gather the night before. Regardless, the young man gathered his usual amenities for work: Uniform, carefully folded and placed in a backpack, a set of clothes and gloves that would cover his right arm properly, and his wallet. Chugging the remnants of the coffee (as well as making a grimace), Dimitri began a steady walking pace towards The Dusty Miller, his long established work place and stable source of income.

-----

London 2056 | The Dusty Miller; Tavern and Bar | Barfront​

Coming from the back room in uniform, Dimitri made a quick note of the prep work already done while he was away, and began to throw some glasses into the freezer compartment. As he was doing his work, he noticed a beast of a man beginning to approach the bar. He looked as if he had taken the world's strongest man, swallowed him whole, and decided he wanted seconds. Every inch of him rippled with muscle, yet intriguingly, he seemed to have a tattoo of that cat-girl salesperson on his right shoulder (were Dimitri in private company, he probably would have quipped something to the degree of a fetish for cats). However, now wasn't the time for jokes, as the beefy man had finally reached his destination. Doing everything he could to maintain his composure, Dimitri gave a soft inclination of his head and asked, [color=3897E0]"Can I help you, sir?"[/color]

 

[Knife-28]

"Whilst they're busy sorting that out, would you care to give me your perspective on Monsieur Kaligian, at least what you can remember of him."

Kazuko rubbed his chin as he tried to consolidate what his 'perspective' on Isaiah was. A few thoughts came to mind, but then the question became how to articulate them to Selene.

"It's been a while, but he was... I dunno, driven, I guess?" Kazuko paused and chuckled to himself. "God, that sounds a shitty recommendation at an interview."

Kaz straightened slightly and cleared his throat. "Isaiah is a driven, self motivated man with a disdain for corporations and authority, with a proficiency for theft, smuggling and physical violence. He would make a fine addition to any group looking for a 'rebel without a cause' hacktivist with an attitude."

Pausing only to shrug and let his statement sit for a few brief moment, Kaz continue. "Like I said, it's been a while. I tried to keep in contact with a couple of blokes but after I went freelance we just sorta 'went in different directions', as corny as that sounds."

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

[color=grey][...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...Incoming Transmission: [color=red]Protocol 1099 enacted[/color] > Viscus activation engaged]
[Stand By...]
[Primary Systems: [color=green]Online[/color]]
[Secondary Systems: [color=green]Online[/color]]
[Augmentation Drivers: [color=black]N/A[/color]]
[Storage Container opening...][/color]

There was a torrent of steam as the storage device opened, the door opening much like some kind of advanced coffin, a fitting appearance considering it's cargo.
The figure inside it was lifeless and rigid as life slowly trickled into it's frame, several mechanical whirs and hisses filling the air as it twitched.
A dull glow filled the aircraft's cargo hold as a video feed came on.
The person on the other end got a good view of the hazy mist that climbed from the storage container, right before hearing the following

[color=grey][...Since my deactivation, there has been 2 terrorist attacks on company personal in your sector. Several employees lay dead and the public believes CyCorp had a direct hand in their deaths....You should have reactivated me sooner.][/color]

[color=grey][Estimates dictate that if the current situation is not rectified, profits in that region will fall by upwards of 70% and global share prices will regress by 43%
In that scenario, we will meet once more under much less favorable terms.][/color]

[color=grey][That is...A Warning.][/color]

With it's message delivered, The Grey Death arose from it's slumber before looking into the video feed, Glaring [http://img07.deviantart.net/2b91/i/2006/103/6/8/bio_skull_by_ironshod.jpg] at the figure on the other end of the line.

[color=grey][I am currently in CyCorp Transport Craft 2-3-2, Hanger 3 in London International Airport. Protocol 1099 is active. State the mission.][/color]

The Man behind the desk of the CEO office in CyCorp's Site B location grimaced at the Grey Death as he - it - spoke. This man...thing was old, and practically inhuman. He didn't know what his predecessors in the company were thinking, but...things were getting serious. There needed to be action taken, things done to bring this to an end. And if you're calling for someone's head on a platter, you may as well ask for the company hatchetman...hence Viscus. When the cyborg prompted his response in the form of some orders, The Man cleared his throat.

"You have been given the general outline of the issue at hand. Currently, the bombings are being investigated internally by CyCorp and the H.A. Dynasty, with a Military Operative acting independently as a possible liaison. Karl Adler is the head of our investigation officially. Unofficially, I want you to pursue this to the last man and find out who is responsible. Follow any leads that you may find. Since this incident has hit both organizations, it is likely that there are inserts within our group who are NOT with us, in truth. Look for disgruntled behavior, possible pay-offs, bad debts, and psychology, for starters. You are not to do anything publicly violent to get your information. It will only harm our appearance. Carry out your orders with a covert approach, behind closed doors."

He then smiled coldly.

"And Viscus... If you should find either the murderer from the opening murder incident or the one responsible for these acts against us, terminate them."

He had to laugh, just a little. He looked so much like one of those Skynet machines.

[color=grey][That is...a given][/color]

Viscus said as he shut down the feed and began to get ready.
Slipping into a pre-packed Ulster Over-coat [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ulsterovercoat_jan1903.jpg], he began to look over his equipment, nothing too fancy, just a basic cyber-investigation system used by Law Enforcement (And supplied by CyCorp!), a silenced pistol [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/deusex/images/6/66/Zenith.png/revision/latest?cb=20110121190444&path-prefix=en] and some car keys to a nearby company car [http://www.moibbk.com/images/aston-martin-black-1.jpg].
Once he was ready, he got inside before silently making his way into the inner city.

The Grey Death has come to London...

Spoiler: Viscus - Diablo1099

Name: Viscus (Formally Vincent Simon Cubles) "The Grey Death"
Gender: N/A (Formally Male)
Age: N/A (Formally 82)
Nationality: CyCorp (Formally Anglo-American)

Physical Appearance: Standing at around 7 feet, his entire form consists of either bare bone or pure metal with little variance. There is next to zero flesh left on his frame, much in part to a extremely calculated effort to remove as much of it as possible with a great degree of sucess.
Exposed wires and circuits make up much of his being, covering up the remaining exposed bone and replacement organs, still leaving little to the imagination, but the lack of anything to be modest about doesn't make it much of an issue.
Even in his Company ID [http://img07.deviantart.net/2b91/i/2006/103/6/8/bio_skull_by_ironshod.jpg], Viscus makes little attempt to mask his appearance, but he often confines his being to a long black Victorian-Era Overcoat, being one of the few articles of clothing that would suit his current form.
It does however give the effect of looking like a horrible cross breed of the Terminator, King Lerioc and Boss!Gehrman from Bloodborne.

[color=grey][That is...Accurate.][/color]

Augmentations: A better question is what ISN'T Augmented. Due to decades of surgical abuse at the hands of his "Host", Viscus boosts an impressive collection of the last 20 years of augmentation, making up his entire being.
Every fiber of his being is made up of soul-less metal, but most of it is uninteresting, namely replacement organs and limbs used by his former self in a vain attempt to extend his life.
Most of his "Key" Augmentations are in his skull, which houses his CPU and main power supply, keeping the rest of his body online as well as containing his programming.
During his employment at CyCorp, he is constantly searching for improvements to his entire body and will quickly discard even critical components at a second's notice if a newer model is in his procession.
As a safety measure, however, all non-standard Drivers require permission from his employers before being activated, lest Viscus gain access to technology CyCorp deems a threat to their operations.

[color=grey][That is...[b]Unfortunate[/b].][/color]

Affiliation/Occupation: CyCorp. They're relationship, while mostly unofficial, is equally beneficial. Viscus gets an inside track on the latest in Augmentation, CyCorp gets a employee that has zero qualms with ethics, taking human lives and who's reputation as "The Grey Death" helps keeps the middle managers in line, even without actual violence.

[color=grey][That is...A Threat.][/color]

Areas of Expertise: Corporate Connections: His position as a "Corporate Boogyman" ensures some degree of authority over the lower levels of CyCorp and their connection. However, he is quick to get back in line should an nearby superior say otherwise.

Already Dead: You can't really kill something that isn't living to begin with. While he is not really designed for battle, more then a few of the more "Scrappy" ex-managers found that no matter what happens, there is no stopping "The Grey Death". While he mightn't be anywhere near as durable as a "Proper" killer robot, So long as his CPU and programming is intact, he can be rebuilt/repaired at next to no cost. (Granted, an intern or two might have to be dispatched to assist in the process).

Aug-Expert: As a being that's 90% Augments, it does without saying that he knows a thing or two about them. He is quickly able to bring up a Database on CyCorp's back catalog, as well as other manufacturers. Years of experience also allows him to optimize and modify them, but this skill is usually limited to his own collection as it's much harder to manually redesign an Augment while it's still attached to living tissue.

Corperate Warfare: While easily out done by even subpar Military Grade Drones, he's called "The Grey Death" for a reason. Though he leans more towards "Mobster with a Baseball Bat" then "Professional Military Operative", it gets the job done for civilian targets that aren't deemed important enough for a "Proper" assassination, the perks of being mostly machine being what they are.

[color=grey][That is...My Capabilities.][/color]

Areas of Personal Interest: The only trace of his former life that carried on was the drive to constantly improve his being via the latest in technological advancement. Outside of that, the only other interest Viscus has is self-preservation, which governs every action he takes. Hell, if proven that CyCorp is about to go bust, he will instantly sever all ties and take whatever steps that would ensure his continued existence.

[color=grey][That is...My Directive][/color]

Brief Background: Vincent Simon Cubles was already one of 1% back at the turn of the century, mostly from riding off his family's coat-tails since his birth in 1964, like most people of his generation. As he neared his twilight years, an intense paranoia filled him when one of his siblings asked what meaningful thing he had done in his near 40 years on this earth: He couldn't answer that question.
For years after that meeting, Vincent attempted to find meaning in his life, though charity, corporate warfare, politics, but it wasn't until the advent of Augmentation that he truly found a meaningful purpose in his life.
In a desperate bid to be remembered, he brought himself forward as one of the leading founders of Augmentation research, spending his entire part of the Cubles fortune in it's development.
His gamble payed off and he was soon one of the richest people in the world, but his constant fear of inferiority remained.
It was around the start of the Augmentation boom that he found the answer he was after, using all the gains he had made assisting in the creation of such technology to instead purchase it for personal use.
Quickly forming a dangerous habit, Vincent would spend months at a time in surgical wards, often leaving just to find a newer model of augment to insert into himself the very next day.
As a result, he was quickly forgotten about by his family and friends, not wanting to see his decent into madness and metal.
In his final years, he installed more augments to try and fix the several medical issues he was inflicting on himself, namely an experimental "Life Support Program" from CyCorp that would keep keep him lucid by controlling of his mechanized body on his behalf.
But in the end, it was his downfall as he soon ran up massive debts from his obsession and died alone and penniless in his home in 2046.

That is where Viscus's story begins.

Once the body had finally passed on, the program kicked in and took control of Vincent's body, diligently keeping all his augments working until his "Awakening", something that would never come.
After sitting in silence for upwards of 6 months while the flesh rotted, the program had a lot of time to determine the best course of action, ultimately marching right into the nearest clinic to get a new Cardiac Augment.
This naturally got the attention of some of the code monkeys in CyCorp as they brought the newly dubbed "Vi. S. Cus." in for examination, mostly just to ensure this wasn't the start of some kind of "Robot Uprising" like in the movies they watched in their youth.
Upon realizing that the program's scope was far too limited for such a thing, they began to consider scraping the corpse to try and recoup the decades of debt Vincent had racked up.
Sadly for them, it triggered one of the key aspects of Viscus's protocol: To ensure that he was in control of the augments in the body of Vincent Cubles.
Deeming them a threat, they were promptly murdered in their office, but when security was called in to destroy him, his programming did something they didn't expect: Try to cut a deal.
Realizing that his odds of survival were less then 0.0000001%, he instead opted to join the company to help ensure his continued existence, expand his programming and get the latest and greatest in augmentation.
Since that day, a common threat lobbied towards disobedient employees was getting a visit from "The Grey Death", some kind of robotic grim reaper that would come to claim their augments by ripping them out of their body at night.
While the dramatization of his job tended to confuse him, (namely because why would he want their outdated crap?) he quickly became one of the go-to people in the company for terrorizing the workforce into submission and silencing those who looked too closely at CyCorp's dealings.

[color=grey][That is...[b]Viscus[/b].][/color]

 

[FalloutJack]

[HEADING=2]Chapter 3 - V For Vindication[/HEADING]​

London was a city of history, of culture. Open it up and count the rings, so to speak, and you can find the many layers of its past shaping its future. The British Empire, queen and country, gunpowder plot, Jack the Ripper, the London Blitz, and so on. So many places of repute and ill-repute, so much dedication to the status quo. Well, that was politics. People could play their intrigues anyway they wanted. He preferred to take businesses down a peg or two. Business did not have culture, or the history of a people. It was just a self-perpetuating boil which, while it may serve a purpose, it was far too bulbous and sickening to simply leave it alone. The boil must be lanced, the disease purged and the patient allowed to recover. Business has its place, commerce as an important tool in society, but the tool must never be allowed to tweek the user out of control.

Isaiah Kaligian was in a less-than-popular eatery. Not the sort of place you would find company men and executives, but where the common man of the blue collar variety stops and eats and shoots the breeze. Every now and then, he would join in a conversation with ordinary people, the kinds of people he liked, but he was not really one of them. Not really. He was somewhere in between. He came from their ranks, believed in their equality and defense against a cruel business world, but he was not among them. He was born of the fruits of their frustrations, the one who pounds his fists against the glass ceiling and breaks the normal state of things in this corporate rule. He did not care about government. People were fat with greenbacks up in their lofty towers, looking down upon others. They needed to be given a lesson.

He received a call. It was not one he could take while inside this diner. He stepped outside and answered.

"What are they doing now?"

He stood out in the street by an alley, a dark-haired man with a moustache and a bit of a beard, wearing a casual dark shirt and pants, along with a longcoat. He had piercing hazel eyes and a rough kind of handsome look, though right now his expression was one of irritation.

"I said they weren't right for this. Didn't I tell you so? They're just a bunch of wild extremists who'll do anything to be heard, and look where it's gotten them, now that they're just a little bit organized. They're too hot now. I suggest you drop them and run, not that you'll listen to me."

There was a pause as the person on the other line spoke, then...

"No, I have no plans at this time, just killing any connections to them and giving 'em some space. The Military will nail them and we can quietly get on with the work at hand. At any rate, I left a corned beef in there, so I would like to get back to it now. Anything further, you let me know."

He hung up that call, and immediately made another. And as he did so, he grew considerably colder.

"Yes. Yes. I know what's at stake. You need not worry. I have it safely stored away, primed and ready if necessary. Yes. Good."

Once more, he hung up, and then returned to his meal.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This huge sort of man who presence'd his way into The Dusty Miller could've had easily over a dozen nicknames [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vb2U89EJG4], but as it happened he was actually not here to really show off his impressive self. Though he was effectively doing so as is, Dimitri would have noticed a peculiar sound being muffled from his pockets. Once the man had reached the bar and the tender OF the bar addressed him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ringing phone. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9pTP-ZK6E]

"I was just passing by when it started ringing. I think it's for you."

Upon seeing the display of the phone, the bartender and data-cracker would see this message.

-Greetings, Mr. Petrov. I believe you are looking for something important to you.-

The big guy ordered a drink and said "Lemme know when you two are done. I got things too, ya know.", and headed to another part of the bar so he wouldn't get any of this on him, whatever it was.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It was a strange thing, but after their meeting together, both Selene and Kazuko would find that a message had appeared in their personal mail inboxes...without sending an alert to them at all. It had been done so quietly, meaning that it had been inserted without throwing any flags at all. The subject of these two messages to them were the same, in that they were identical. It only bore two words: Isaiah Kaligian. Inside were some pictures of him that looked to be taken from surveilance drones, showing his current appearance and proving that he was actually within city limits. There was nothing further than this, and both were signed by the same symbol, that of the Queen Bee.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Viscus also received a message, but it was a bit different. Suddenly, he received a bit of mail stating...

-To know thyself is to know the people you pursue.-

Very cryptic stuff, but would the machinery governing the man's actions even make sense of it?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Ease up a little, Karine. I think he's willing to tell us what he can so long as the pain stops."

Asagi did, and sent back a brief apology by text to the screen that Karl was looking at. She then followed his lead and asked his questions, just like bullet points. She didn't care if she was being fed the words to be spoken. They were the relevent questions on her mind. Felton kept referring to his phone, the phone that Irina currently had in her hands. The Operative was uncomfortably aware of the time passing, as well. This jackass had said there was another drop in an hour. There was going to be another one of these grisly displays at another location and time was a'ticking away. She was just about to press him for more information when Irina suddenly came in and lopped off his thumb! Karine ignored the screaming and the choking, because after she had unlocked it, Irina had said those fatal words...

"Buckingham Palace. They're going to do another drop on Buckingham Palace."

"What? But they'd never get past the guards and security! They-"

She stopped. The time! What was the time?! Karine looked at her HUD and saw exactly what they were thinking of doing. Suddenly, she was in motion, getting outside the interrogation room and making a beeline for Charlotte, immediately removing the keys to the car they'd taken here from her person, only saying "I'm borrowing these." by way of explanation before getting the place to open up for her speedy departure.

-Central, we have an emergency. Give me a secure channel to the Buckingham Guard.-

Buckingham Palace was protected, non-stop. This was a proud nation with very traditional rules and practices. The uniformed guards, for instance, still continued to this day. However, with the advancement of augmentations and those in positions of authority given some of the best hardware, the guards were not just trained to be able to stand firm and solid for hours on hend, but they had the machinery to do it easily, and to assault any person who dared assault the crown. In short, they were armed and deadly, and the drones around the Palace area were always lethal, once triggered. However...there was one time in which the guard situation was not at peak, one time in which they were not completely focused upon protection, as tradition demands its attention, and that was the changing of the guard... Tourists and locals came to watch it as it took place, because it was a spectacle, of sorts. There would be plenty of people there. The Neos could do alot of damage and very quickly without ever having to step into the Palace perimeter, and the time of this event was fast-approaching. They had maybe a half-hour or less. However, with this in mind, Asagi had a plan as she got through to the BPG...

-Buckingham Guard, this is Operative Asagi. Investigations have revealed a possible attack on the palace or the area around it during the changing of the guard. I'm sending you some recorded images from a Neo-Luddite attack on a diner. You may find a similar action taking place. Watch for suspicious vehicles or people acting strangely, and be careful that the on-site drones are completely virus-free. Someone pulled control of some from me earlier, so someone in cyberspace is involved. I need you to repel any attacker, try to prevent them from exploding anyone, and make them RUN so we can track them down. For the record, I'm in a borrowed vehicle, described as...-

She gave them a rundown of what she was driving so when she came upon the scene herself, they didn't shoot her up instead. Buckingham Guard was about as deadly as she was right now, plus they were the only people that could call in mechs apart from the military...

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Ira had started to become nervous but a smile came across his face once Christopher Wakefield entered the room. The smile was one of relief. "I was starting to think my sister didn't love me anymore." said Ira with a grin trying to lighten the mood. "It's good to see you Christopher, it's been too long. Although I wish it were under different circumstances..." Ira added. He didn't want to say something related to the crime which might make him look guilty. Making him not look guilty is what the lawyer was for. Although no doubt there would those who'd consider having a lawyer to be a sign of having something to hide. Ira knew how the police were, a lot of them didn't care who committed a crime as long as they could get a conviction. And who better than an Anglo-Indian who was the brother of a known criminal?

 

[FalloutJack]

"Well, if people always met me under different circumstances, I wouldn't be able to make much of a living. Shall we get started?"

Mr. Wakefield was lawyer of some culture, humor, but also boundless experience. He knew the law inside and out, and could put people in a double-bind when he wanted something just like that. Of course, as a requirement of his practice, he had an augment-link to the London Law Library in case there was somethint textually relevant that he did not have an appropriate command of within the wrinkles of his brain. He barely ever needed it, except to look up obscure references. Even then, he had a mind that was such that he knew that something could lead to an obscure casefile that he could look up easily even at home or at work, so the link was merely to save a little time and red tape. He sat down across from Ira and opened his briefcase, producing his handheld computer for dictation and recording, as well as a more commercial version of the bug-jammer device, thus allowing them a little privacy.

"So refreshing to be able to speak freely, isn't it? Now then, the police have told me what they've told you, that you are 'under investigation for possible involvement in or enactment of the murder of Ryan Grey and Abigail Pierce'. They show that you were in the garage which they found these bullet casings matching the caliber of the murder weapon. Now, whether they believe that you were sloppy or insanely clever, what they have is suspicion upon you and this Liam Vaughn to have been involved in some capacity, if even only as an accessory. So, why don't you tell me your side of things, alright?"

 

[Texas Joker 52]

~ Karl Adler ~​

When Karine wrote out a quick apology on the observation view screen, he couldn't help the small smile that tugged on the corners of his mouth. She quickly rattled off his own questions to Felton Billings, and his eyes narrowed at the answer they got.

"M... My phone. It has all the answers. Just... stop hurting me... p-p-please."

Phone... What phone? Karl didn't remember even seeing if he had a... His head jerked up when he realized that had to be what Sorrowfeld had given to Irina. And as if on cue, the short, cat-eared Vidcaster herself burst into the Interrogation with a look of cold purpose on her face and a knife in one hand.

The sound of their prisoners scream as she cut off his thumb with a quick slash made him step forward and try to peer closer at what she was trying to do, not out of horror, but curiosity. Setting the knife aside, she picked up the severed digit and placed it against what he recognized as an old touch-screen phone. There was only a moment before Irina looked up and spoke.

"Buckingham Palace. They're going to do another drop on Buckingham Palace."


Karl blinked and took a step back before he broke into a run, flinging the Observation Room's door open so he could skid into Interrogation. He made it just in time to hear Karine's reaction.

"What? But they'd never get past the guards and security! They-"

She stopped, before pushing past both Irina and Karl into the hallway. Before he followed, he made a point to grab the knife Irina left behind. When he caught up with Karine, she had already taken the keys to the car they had used to get there from Sorrowfeld, and already started heading for the garage.

"Sorrowfeld: They're going to hit Buckingham Palace. Get your contacts in Gungnir and the local police to ignore the car we came in on: We can't afford traffic stops." he told her, before adding, "And make sure Felton Billings doesn't die. We aren't done with him, yet."

Grabbing his suit jacket from the hook, he slipped it on before tucking the knife away in an inner pocket and hoped that it wouldn't gut him on the way to Buckingham Palace. When he was back at Karine's side, he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I should probably drive. You'll want to focus on coordinating security, and getting everything ready to intercept that drop." he told her.

 

[bluerocker]

-Greetings, Mr. Petrov. I believe you are looking for something important to you.-

The big guy ordered a drink and said "Lemme know when you two are done. I got things too, ya know.", and headed to another part of the bar so he wouldn't get any of this on him, whatever it was.

Deciding to take the call somewhere private, Dimitri walked into the back room, looking around for any onlookers before answering,
[color=3897E0]"...I know asking who you are is going to be fruitless, but I am curious as to how you would know my name and my place of employment. As far as I remember, I have no record on the net.[/color]

Dimitri sighed in frustration and shook his head, [color=3897E0]"What do you know about her? I've looked for years, and I've found nothing."[/color]

The phone's display continued to write written messages, rather than ever cutting to vocal dialogue.

-There are always pathways to a door, if even indirectly. You can still be spoken of while not present yourself.-

This text vanished as soon he spoke his next question, which then waited for him to calm himself before answering.

-To seek one who has vanished is an exercise in futility. Ask yourself: Who could so-handedly remove someone from the net, so as to halt the progress of any pursuer? It is in that person or persons that answers may be found.-

It was cryptic, and yet enlightening. The reason he'd been so fruitless these past years is that a deliberate whitewash had removed any trace of Mel. Who, but someone either very skilled or very connected could do that?

Dimitri's eyes widened at the thought, and wondered aloud, [color=3897E0]"Someone covered it up... But why? Mel was just a mechanic.... Maybe she knew something that she wasn't supposed to? .....Tell me, and be honest - just how deeply in the corps pockets are the police?"[/color]

-No more than any other organization is bought with another. There are some who can be bought and those that cannot. And the higher, the fewer, as it is difficult to meet the price of those sitting in lofty positions.-

Dimitri remained quiet for another moment and spoke up again, [color=3897E0]"...Cycorp controls most of the augmentation and prosthetic development, right? And...why are you helping me?"[/color]

-I have shown you a path that forks and converges regularly, making the outcome uncertain until you reach it. The information is at your side, along the way. Only you can decide how to use it.-

Dimitri would know enough about the Queen Bee that he, she, or they have never forced anybody to move in any direction ever, only provided information and opened that person to opportunities. That's the rumor upon the net, anyway. The bartender blinked in confusion at first, the gears in his head beginning to turn with the new information brought to his attention, [color=3897E0]"...Thank you. I'll make sure to put it to good use."[/color]

-Good day, Mr. Petrov, and please return this phone to its owner.-

With the displaying going blank and the call ending, Dimitri was still mulling over the surreal experience that the phone-call had brought him. After all, what had just happened to him was the stuff of Grid legend - he was personally contacted by the Queen Bee, and about Mel no less! Suddenly, the dreams that had plagued him for the past couple of months began to make sense. Dimitri had forgotten what he had set out to do properly. A grin began to sneak it's way up his face, and he could feel something wet run down his chin, dripping on the floor with the quietest of 'plop's. The bartender noticed a strange feeling in his chest, warm and electrifying; but at the same time, fluttering and nerve-wracking. He felt ready to scream, yet cry out in excitement - for the first time in several years, Dimitri felt hope.

Unfortunately, there was still the matter of a working shift and a boss to take care of. Action would have to wait. Turning back to the door (and wiping his face with his kerchief), Dimitri returned to the bar and walked to the part of the bar, handing the phone back to the large gentleman, [color=3897E0]"Apologies for the delay there. Anything else I can do for you while I'm here?"[/color]

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

"I didn't kill them if that's what you're asking. I'm a journalist, freelance and someone sent me an anonymous tip, it's what happens. Only thing they used to identify themselves was the image of a bee. They had details about the murder and advised me to go talk to Liam Vaughn if I wanted to find out more. I had nothing else on my plate so I went to the garage to talk to him. And while I was there a building blew up and police came to ask some questions. Then this morning the police show up at my door and bring me down here to ask me questions about the murder I was looking into." said Ira. He was trying to appear relaxed but wasn't doing a great job. His anxiousness was coming through in his tone.

Ira frowned as an defeated look came over him. "I'm such an idiot, I should have known it was a set up. The people who contacted me are probably the same people who committed the murder and the ones who planted the casings at the garage. If police look into my background they'll find out that I'm not the biggest fan of either corporation, they'll find out who my family is and that as a result I could probably get in contact with people who could procure a weapon like this. Christ, I'm glad you're here Christopher." Ira added before running his hand through his hair out of nervous habit.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Streets of London: Viscus

The CyCorp "Corporate Manager" went long the silent streets, multitasking as he remotely interfaced with the sheering wheel whist he went though all communications between the London offices prior to the terrorist attacks.
It was during his scanning that he received another communication, one that he quickly read before passing aside, but another thread in his CPU couldn't help but consider it's contents.
Viscus had heard about this "Queen Bee" organisation, it came up in several company files, mostly just detailing the lack of detail they had on it and their failing efforts to track it down.
Still, if it was able to contact him, this meant that someone was A). Aware of his existance, B). Knew he was in London and C). Most likely knew why that was.
However, it would have to be a case for another time, he had a mission and, if these people did take enough of an interest in CyCorp's dealings, he would most likely encounter them in the near future.

Then deal with them himself.

It was then he finally found his lead: Back at the diner explosion earlier that night, several CyCorp employees were killed in an ambush, all but one: Karl Adler.
Judging from the fact he wasn't listed in the causality report and the fact he was seen leaving on CCTV (Something he was able to access thanks to a "Designed Flaw" in the CyCorp[sup]TM[/sup] Securi-cams the city used) quickly got Viscus's attention.
Even more so was when his exact car was could be seen racing though the city, the machine murderer tracking his movements though them as he went several miles over the cities speed limit.
Deciding on his course of action, he quickly U-Turned before tearing after his target, using the cities's online map with his own processor as a kind of "Sat Nav" right to Karl's current location.
Perhaps when he was done asking what he was doing, they could have a nice chat about his "Personal Finances".
After all, if you are going to stomp out the roaches, might as well take care of the rats...

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"It's been a while, but he was... I dunno, driven, I guess?" Kaz thought aloud as he tried to put his opinion of Isaiah into words, but immediately chuckling. "God, that sounds like a shitty recommendation at an interview."

"Isaiah is a driven, self motivated man with a disdain for corporations and authority, with a proficiency for theft, smuggling and physical violence. He would make a fine addition to any group looking for a 'rebel without a cause' hacktivist with an attitude." He then said in a rather straight forward manner.

"Like I said, it's been a while. I tried to keep in contact with a couple of blokes but after I went freelance we just sorta 'went in different directions', as corny as that sounds."

"Understandable; a new career can often lead to a difference in opinion." Selene remarked as she picked up the pad again and jotted a few notes down regarding Isaiah, having started a new page. It reminded her somewhat of how she went from doing work for the Belgian government to becoming a security contractor for a highly influential company.

"Was there any particular reason or reasons for Isaiah's disdain towards corporations and figures of authority? Something like a tragic incident that happened in his past? Or was it simply that he hated them?" She then asked in quick succession, as she began the process of creating a character profile, which if, or rather, when Selene encountered him, she could fight with something more than bullets.