Everything was going smoothly, well, until there were some noises that clearly didn't come from any of the persons presents. 'Thanks for not telling when if the bombs have got off or not, Sarin.' Varvara internally grumbled as she was met with stares from those on the edge of panic. However, "Felicia" was there to save the day! Pocketing her mobile and with her hands on her hips, she addressing the worrisome crowd, "No worries, must be that Heston Blumenthal-type they've brought in. Y'know, Flom-bays and interestin' ingredients. Calm down, and jus' think of the treats he has in store for you."
The man Richard brushed past seemed not to realize anything as he passed by and took the keycard. As a matter of fact, Richard managed to not only take the keycard, but also got ahold of a small object, a memory stick. The politician kept walking as a fast pace, not having even glanced at his face. He couldn't tell for sure, but it was likely that 1. this was one of their targets, he looked similar at least, and 2. that this could be an important. The best way to find out would be to find out what was on the memory stick, if nothing else it contained some information, surely information important enough for a man to carry it on himself at times like this.
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Ben
The lady smiled brightly as Ben approached, and started explaining as soon as he asked for it. It was quite clear that she liked what she saw, and, as she explained that he hadn't missed anything yet, apart from a strange sound with no importance at all. She pointed at the more important people there, those who would hold speeches and such, some of the names sounding very familiar.
"Of course, people are still on their way here, busy people have busy schedules, and some fail to keep those at times. Besides, some of them are demanding that the conference should be halted unless we know where that sound is coming from. We're currently trying to explain that the sound wasn't anything bad, simply some difficulties in another room. Now," she leaned on him, and whispered into his ear.
"If you're not too busy later tonight, I'm working a late shift. If you'd be interested in some extra room service, I'd love to hear where you're staying." With that, she stood up again, waiting for his reply.
While people seemed to calm down at first, it soon became apparent that people wasn't believing what she was saying. Some called for the conference to be halted or even ended, while others were almost panicking, believing it to have been a bomb or something. After a while, people did calm down, somewhat, though many still didn't trust her.
(+1 to difficulties (DC) that is about leadership in that room, in exchange for managing to calm the people down.)
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Simon
"I need you to watch those cameras, Simon. Can you see any security patrols on the upper levels of the hotel?"
Simon replied as soon as he got away from the crowds and into the security room where there were cameras. He was the only one assigned there, and, with a lot of the other guards going to check up on his beautifully placed bombs, he was assured that no one would see him.
"Yes, there's some on the 6th floor, I don't know why. They might not have gotten the message, though---" he leaned forward, looking at them. "They positioned so that you could take out either without the other noticing. One of them is close to the stairs, the other is in the hallway where the rooms are."
He kept an eye on the rest of the cameras, on his fellow spies, as well as the kitchen, it was kind of amazing to take a step back and not be a part of the action for once. He was nothing but another guard now, one that was supplying the invaders with information.
"If you're not too busy later tonight, I'm working a late shift. If you'd be interested in some extra room service, I'd love to hear where you're staying."
Ben smiled, he supposed he should put business before pleasure but saw no harm in mixing the two every once in a while. Besides she might be able to provide more information later. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
"That sounds lovely, though I'm not certain when I'll make it back to my room tonight if you like I can send you a message once I manage to tear myself away from the proceedings here," he said, his tone making it clear that he was interested "I look forward to spending more time in your beautiful company though."
He waited for her to enter her number, complimenting the name she had put in his contacts after she had done so, then apologized saying that he wished he could talk with her longer but had people to meet. Setting off towards the north room where people were apparently still a bit on edge from the explosion. He noticed Varvara had tried to exert her authority there with moderate success and caught himself beginning to smirk. Good, she seems to have managed her part here, with some difficulty. I should try and get some information while I can here, they'll be more loose lipped given that they're a bit on edge.
With that said he began to mingle through the crowd, asking around under the pretense of looking for those he was meeting with for who had arrived and what everyone was doing here. He moved quickly through the crowd, trying to get what bits of information he could without leaving a lasting impression.
Gathering information by talking to people, deception +4.
Purnima studied the blueprints of the 6th floor. The remaining guards were a nuisance - they probably wouldn't stop Richard hanging around up there, he was a guest after all, but they might start taking notice if he tried to go into other people's rooms. "Richard - there are two guards on floor 6. One by the stairs, one in the corridor. If you're heading for the Suite, you'll need to avoid them. I have Simon watching the security cameras, we'll let you know if anybody else is on their way."
"Ready to clean up down below, just say the word."
Purnima swtiched to Renart's channel. "Can you go to floor 6? There are a couple of guards who didn't respond to the bombs. They need dealing with."
"Felicia" cleared her throat as Ben made his appearance. She already had enough to dealt with, let alone another spy in the room. The fact that it was Ben only rubbed salt in the wound in her pride, no doubt the James Bond wannabe would make things worse. And it wasn't like she would let him know anyway, outside, the meeting manager was all smiles in spite of it all. Regardless, it was time for the actual meeting to begin. The panicking simply wouldn't do. Varvara brought out a laser presenter and tapped the table with it. Seeing as that wasn't entirely working, "Felicia" took on a surprisingly serious tone, "Seein' as those noises have stopped, ladies and gentlemen, the meetin' has begun! Please take your seats."
She paused and waited for them to do so before carrying on.
Deceive the meeting people into thinking that everything has gone back to normal, DC 3, Deception/Seduction: (+4)
The keycard and the memory stick were good finds. Richard entered the lift and swiped the keycard to get to the sixth floor. He made sure to keep his head down in the lift and pretended to be very interested in the buttons on the wall. This was in case there was a security camera in the lift and they decided to check through all the records of residents with people who used the lift. It was unlikely that anyone would be THAT thorough but it was always worth taking precautions.
The contents of the memory stick could be useless, or they could be lucrative and interesting. Regardless of what was on it, being in the spying business meant information was the most valuable commodity.
Purina warned Richard about two security guards on the sixth floor. One by the stairs and one by the corridor. The one by the stairs wouldn't be much of a problem right now but the one in the corridor would need dealing with. The doors to the lift opened and Richard stepped out and to the side, resting a hand on the tranquillizer pistol inside his jacket pocket. That was to be used only as a last resort, the best rule to follow in stealth was 'leave everything as you found it'.
"Can you go to floor 6? There are a couple of guards who didn't respond to the bombs. They need dealing with."
"Understood," Renart said to keep things brief, his accent unfaltering. Having the routine down pat, he disrobed and discarded his hat and coveralls, geared up as necessary and crawled up into the vents. However, this would be a little different as he would usually make his descent from the seventh floor, which was currently in use by Japanese nationals that were supposed to have wrapped their meeting up nearly an hour ago but had apparently paid no small sum to have the room for drinks afterward. No matter, it would just mean it would take a little more time to get where he needed to be.
Grimy, dingy, and layered in dust. Exactly how Renart expected it to be, just as it was the previous two times he went spelunking through the cramped ducts. It was only a little less so than before, having already done a fair amount of way marking of sorts with his other trips, leaving smudges and smears in the filth. He quickly reached the vertical shaft with little issue other than having stained his clothes. Thankfully he wasn't coming down from the floor above, otherwise he'd have to deal with the rather large ventilation fan that spun quite menacingly above his head.
Using the vacuum cups, with great alacrity that comes with experience, Renart navigated the vents rather impressively considering the conditions he was dealing with and found himself in the sixth floor's ceiling. The ventilation layout was basic so he knew which tunnels were set over the hallways, it was just a matter of finding the right corridor that was being guarded. With a little snaking around, Renart soon located the sentry who was conveniently located just below the grate. Using the vacuum cups to his advantage, he unfastened the connecting ropes from his hips and positioned himself right above the grate. Ready to make his move, he spoke softly in his comms device, "I've got eyes on the target in the sixth floor corridor. If you've got someone on the other target, might want to tell them to get ready. This could get a little loud."
Sneaking through duct: Difficulty: +2 (Stealth). 1+4 (Succeed with Style) (Previously discussed)
Knocking out guard: Difficulty +2 (Unarmed Combat). 1+1
"I've got eyes on the target in the sixth floor corridor. If you've got someone on the other target, might want to tell them to get ready. This could get a little loud."
"Richard? Did you get that? Where are you?" Purnima hissed over the comms. It was a hassle not being able to see through the cameras. She didn't feel entirely comfortable relying on Simon to tell her what was going on, but everything was going to plan so far, more or less.
Ben managed to get the talk going soon enough, and he learned a lot of things through idle conversation, from where they stood in the different debates, to where they were staying, and why they were there. He even managed to chat up one of their targets, who casually had mentioned his attraction to Varvara, describing her as having a "fucking beautiful ass,", as well as that he didn't trust the staff enough to leave anything of value in his room.
Whether or not these were jokes, wasn't too obvious, though by the time Varvara got everyone to sit, Ben had learned quite a lot about the politicians he'd spoken to.
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Varvara
While people had initially been sort of suspicious still, Varvara managed to make them lose their doubts and worries. It would be stretching the truth to say that it was merely an effort of her professionalism, some of the men were clearly looking at her in a different, perhaps more favourable way.
Still, she managed to regain the respect she had lost in no time, and soon people started sitting down. She could see Ben chat with some of them, though she had to deal with the masses of people paying attention to her.
(Penalty from last roll has been eradicated.)
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Simon "I've got eyes on the target in the sixth floor corridor. If you've got someone on the other target, might want to tell them to get ready. This could get a little loud."
"Richard? Did you get that? Where are you?"
Simon didn't have much to do apart from sit there and glare at some screens -which was boring- but he was keenly paying attention, to both the conversation and those screens. When Purnima spoke, Simon chuckled, and spoke.
"Don't worry! I've got it covered! You want the guy by the stairs gone, right? Give me a moment!"
He leaned closer to the screen, that'd be Mr. Kenny Parker, not a particularly outspoken fellow, but reasonable enough. Turning off his spy-communicator for a moment, he turned the one provided by the work-place on, and spoke.
"Hey, Parker, it's Damien here, Damien Collins. I'm not sure, but it looks like there's someone who's acting a bit off down on the fourth floor." The guard hesitated a bit.
"In what way? Drunk?" Damien shrugged, a habit of his, though there was no one around to see it. He then spoke again, leaning towards the screens as if it would help him see better.
"I'm not sure, but they're trying to get into a locked room. Just take a look, okay? I don't like the look of this guy." That was Damien. Kind of paranoid, rather laid-back and friendly, but still with enough skills to get hired, an odd mix, but compelling enough to make people like him.
Parker frowned for a few moments before sighing "Yeah alright I'll go check it out, thanks for the heads up," he said, putting away his communicator and strolling off towards where Simon had directed him.
That of course left his position unguarded and the way clear at least until he came back, hopefully that wouldn't be for a while as Simon had sent him a ways and he didn't seem to be in much of a hurry but it was impossible to tell. Richard would have to take advantage of the opening while it lasted.
"Yeah alright I'll go check it out, thanks for the heads up,"
"No problem!" Damien replied, and turned off the work communicator. Taking less than a second to take on his own persona again, voice, personality, habits, and so on, Simon waited for the guard to have gone down the stairs -partly so at least- before he figured it was safe to guarantee something. He then turned on the other communicator, and spoke to the others.
"There! Sorry for the wait, but now the guard in the stairs is heading somewhere else!" he said, and added; "I'll keep an eye out in case something goes wrong, but for now everything seems to be going as it should." Simon then leaned back, this job was one of the easier he'd been part of, perhaps because they actually had enough people for once. He hoped there wouldn't be any trouble when Kenny Parker realized that there was no one trying to get in anywhere, but Simon had his excuses and explanations already worked out.
"Shit, yes I'm here. My communicator was playing up for a minute there. I heard the one by the stairs has been moved off for now. What about the one in the corridor?" Said Richard, cursing the fact that the communicator was the one thing he hadn't checked before he left his room. It was always so reliable and he had never needed to worry about it before.
Richard advanced towards the corridor in question, tranquillizer pistol in hand. If he encountered the guard it would be a simple case of shooting them to out them out for long enough. "Any word on Renart? Has he cleared the corridor?".
"Any word on Renart? Has he cleared the corridor?"
"Wait a second..." Purnima was rather surprised at how Simon had managed to get rid of one of the guards. That made things easier. She'd just have to remember that there was now a guard on the 4th floor, who would probably be wandering around confused in a few minutes, looking for a break-in that wasn't happening.
"Renart, the first guard is clear. Whenever you're ready."
"Renart, the first guard is clear. Whenever you're ready."
Renart prepared himself to drop down and take the second guard out. However, as he loosened the grate, he made a wrong move, and fell, landing on top of both the metal cover and the guard with a rather loud sound. For what it was worth, it knocked the guard out, and with no other guards on the floor and most guests downstairs, no one came to investigate. Everything appeared to have gone well.
However, as much of a success as it seemed, Renart noticed that his left arm had been badly bruised, him having landed on it. While it didn't appear to be broken, it would be difficult to climb with it like this.
(+1 difficulty to any task where the left arm is needed in order to succeed.)
"God damn it," Renart hissed through gritted teeth as he felt the sudden tension in his arm. There was a sudden dull pain and the start of a bruise forming. He was briefly tempted to kick the unconscious man for having such a bony shoulder but decided against it. Work was to be done, and he didn't have all day. The first thing that needed to be addressed was finding a place for the guard, and Renart could think of no place better than one of the luxury suites on that very same floor. Using one of his harness's straps as a makeshift sling for his injured arm, he used his free hand to fish out his lock-picking kit. "This is where it gets a little tricky..."
The agent went for the nearest door and dropped down on one knee and used the other as a place to lay out his toolkit. This next step was going to be quite the feat, considering he hand one hand for a two-hand task. Time being of the essence, and not particularly eager to put further strain on his injured arm for the time being, he sighed heavily in great disinclination as he stuck the necessary pick between his teeth and set the rest of the toolkit down before readying himself with the torsion wrench in his free hand. Well, here goes nothing...
Richard rounded the corner in the corridor and trained his gun on an unexpected sight. Renart was attempting to pick a locked door while the guard that wasn't near the stairs lay beneath a roof grate, unconscious.
"Good work Renart, the foe is neutralised. This was an unorthodox manner though, want some help moving him?" Said Richard, lowering his gun and walking across to take the grate off the unconscious guard. Richard noticed Renart was not using his left arm and thought such an unorthodox manner of dispatching an opponent as dropping a grate on him might cause injury.
"You ok? I'll move the body by myself." This had been a close shave, a serious injury on the job could compromise everything and it looked like Renart had narrowly avoided an operation ending injury.
Ben smirked and nodded in agreement with the man, sensing an opportunity of sorts to make friends with the target if not put Varvara in a more advantageous situation.
"You know I've met her before, I can introduce you if you like," he whispered as he sat down with everyone else "You seem like just her type so I'm sure she'd just eat you up."
He grinned and did his best to sound genuine if a bit crude, he needed to appear honest and helpful without appearing creepy. Though given the target's obvious attraction he didn't think this would prove much of a challenge.
Deception: try to get the man to believe him. Not sure if this necessitates a roll since Ben isn't lying about knowing Varvara but if it does then roll it up.
(apologies for how long it took me to post, I've been busy lately)
Renart's ability to lockpick was not hindered by him not using his left arm. Rather, he managed to do it quickly and effiently, and the door quickly opened within less than a minute. It was a rather impressive sight, and more so, it made him appear to be nothing but slightly clumsy, rather than His speed while doing this meant that he had more time before the guard returned, and before there was any trouble.
(-1 to the first difficulty that's affected by limited time, as long as the difficulty is above +2).
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Ben
"You know I've met her before, I can introduce you if you like. You seem like just her type so I'm sure she'd just eat you up."
The politician smiled slyly.
"That sounds very good. I assume you want something for such a favour? Is there any way I can help you? I assume you know who I am," the man muttered, not taking his eyes of Varvara. He seemed to have bought everything Ben had told him, eagerly.
"So you should know what I can help you with. Assuming you really make an effort introducing us, of course." The other man patted his chest-pocket, though didn't seem aware of that he was doing that. Either he was carrying money in that pocket, or there was something else of worth in it.
Simon had seen the other guard arrive, so they hadn't taken him by surprise. Even so, he felt at his left hand, if he had to, he could attempt to do something. However, the man sat down next to him.
"I've been told to keep an eye on the cameras. You're supposed to meet the chief and get reassigned, something about needing your skills somewhere else."
Simon didn't recognize this man, but nodded and stood up.
"Yes, I think I will go see him."
Ideally, he would tell the other to leave, but something like that would be out of line now. The guard furrowed his eyebrows.
"What is happening at the sixth the floor? Why is there no guards there? And who are these two guys?"
Simon leaned over, and shrugged. "Oh, them. I asked the guy keeping an eye on that floor to check out something on the fourth floor. As for those two, that's the man responsible for washing, I believe the other guy locked himself out, and you know the washers have the keys for the floors they're responsible for. Nothing to worry about."
"What happened to that guy's arm?"
Simon would have sighed, had it not been for that he wasn't really Simon now, and that he wouldn't sight right now.
"I don't know, poor bastard probably had to show up like that. You know how the owners are, if something important is happening, it will happen, and everyone will help. Can't imagine how they expect him to do his job, but it seems he's managing."
"Yeah, you're right."
The other guard seemed to be satisfied with that explanation, and Simon could leave, though he didn't do so before taking one last look at the cameras. He went to the changing rooms rather than to the chief, however, and, intending to change into a different outfit, didn't find anything to use instead of what he had already prepared. It was a name-sign of one of the many managers of something -really, there was a manager of beds- there, as well as his normal suit. Removing the wig and contacts, he realized that he didn't have anything to change his appearance with further, forcing him to leave like this.
"Purnima," he said as he was changing. "Here's an update. I'm no longer in charge of the cameras, and will instead enter a different identity. Nothing to worry about, however, I'd get ahold of the... ehm, camera signal so that you can see where everyone are. I'll make sure it gets a bit more chaotic now."
He sounded eager, though he kept his voice down, getting caught was not worth yelling for a short moment.
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October, 201X, London
Purnima's Van, 8:31 P.M.
Purnima realized that she no longer had access to the cameras. Not only that, but another guard was keeping his eyes on everything. And, the kitchen bomb had, perhaps obviously, not been sufficient to keep the guards scattered. Instead, they had taken to examine the whole hotel. That meant that they'd be checking the sixth floor at some point. The most viable option at this point was to hack into the hotel's database. It sounded like Simon had some sort of insane idea to sort this situation out, and, to Purnima, that didn't seem like a good thing.
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The Pink Diamond Hotel, 8:39 P.M.
Meeting Room
Things were starting to calm down as the end of the introduction to the meeting had come. Varvara would soon have to step down, and, from the corner of her eyes, she could see some of the guards, seemingly returning to their intended places. Someone stepped up to her, whispering that there had been found bombs, but that no more of them had been found despite the guards searching the lower floors, and that there were guards searching the upper floors for bombs and anyone suspicious. It was her responsibility to make sure that no one left the room, as the guards would spend some time doing what they were supposed to do.
The voice of this someone was somewhat familiar, though the accent was oddly off. It wasn't until she glanced sideways that she realized who it was, Simon, in a different outfit. This was simply a plain white suite, likely what he had worn before changing at work. However, his hair and eyes were as they appeared outside a job, it was clear that this hadn't been his preferred costume.
"I'm going to provide more of a distraction. Do whatever you can,"
he whispered among all the other information. It was impossible to make it out to anyone else, and his facial expression didn't change, it was calm, almost too calm.
He then stepped away, to the back of the room, blending in while not staying close to the crowds. His face showed no sign of recognition as his eyes met Ben's, though the almost mischievous look in his eyes made it clear that he did. Pretending to be on the phone, he spoke to Purnima.
Renart and Richard heard what Simon had told Purnima and Varvara through the communicator, as they stood outside the newly opened room. Richard had managed to hide the body before this, luckily, so the scene they were surrounded by was not currently very suspicious. From the sound of it, it wouldn't take long for the guards to get there, however, and there was a man keeping an eye on the main hallway, they would have to be careful about it.
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Renart: Difficulty: +2. 1+4=5 (Succeed with Style)
http://orokos.com/roll/197116
Simon (Special Rolls; IFS, feel free to comment if something should be fixed)):
Difficulty(infiltration): +2. 0+4=4 (Success)
http://orokos.com/roll/197124
(Convincing the other guard that the Renart and Richard aren't suspicious.)
Difficulty(infiltration): +3. -1+4=3 (Tie)
http://orokos.com/roll/197120
(Change into a different identity. Due to the Tie, all he can manage is his normal appearance, which, while a good enough disguise to pass off when it comes to his guards, also puts him in a bad situation should he get caught/suspected.)
"Damn it, Renart, what happened? You're not normally this noisy. Are you hurt?" Whatever the problem had been, Purnima hoped that between the two of them, Renart and Richard could deal with it. There was a more pressing concern, anyway.
"Look, there's a new guard watching the camera's now, and he's already noticed there's something unusual going on with the sixth floor. I'll try and sort this out, but for the time being you will have to be very careful in the sixth floor corridor. Use the keycard rather than the lockpicks if you can."
She wondered how much time the pair of them would have to search the rooms before the guard in the security room got suspicious again. "Renart, you might want to grab a maintenance toolkit, or a pile of dirty linen or something, so you look like you're meant to be going in and out of people's rooms. Richard...well, I suppose you could always say you got lost trying to find your room." That would give one positive side to the hotel having no maps, at least.
Purnima turned her attention to Simon, who had at least postponed some of the damage for now.
"Nothing to worry about, however, I'd get ahold of the... ehm, camera signal so that you can see where everyone are."
Well, that would be excellent. Purnima didn't consider Simon to be particularly good with technology (aside from breaking it, of course), but if he was confident that he could relay the footage to her somehow, then that would be the first sensible idea he'd had in--
"I'll make sure it gets a bit more chaotic now."
. Wait, what? "Hang on! I didn't...we never planned..." She shut up for a bit to let him speak to Varvara, thoughts racing through her mind. He didn't have any more bombs around the place, did he? If this mission was compromised because the fire department, national security forces and/or the bomb squad had to be called in, she would be writing a particularly stern memorandum to the Boss when they got back to HQ.
"Tell me what I'm allowed and not allowed to do."
"Simon, if there are any more mysterious explosions or unexplained fires, they will have to shut the conference down. Varvara and Ben can only do so much damage control before the MP for Burrow-twixt-Soar or bloody wherever starts thinking that he's the target of some ridiculous assassination attempt and heads for the hills, taking all incriminating data with him, do you understand?"
She took a deep breath. "The infiltrators need more time to...infiltrate. We need to get some control over the guard teams. The biggest threat right now as far as I'm concerned is the guy in the security room. I don't care how you do it, but get him out or take him out."
She rubbed her forehead, trying to think of other ways to keep the guards occupied. "Is it possible to knock out guard communications? The radio system? I'd imagine the hub for that would be in the security room with the cameras. Anyway, Simon - if everything else fails, I'll need you to sabotage the camera system entirely. If we can't have it, I don't want them to have it either."
"Damn it, Renart, what happened? You're not normally this noisy. Are you hurt?"
"A little banged up, but I'll manage," Renart answered into the comms piece. With some assistance from Richard, the unconscious guard was moved into the now unlocked room and put in the closet after being bound tightly.
"Renart, you might want to grab a maintenance toolkit, or a pile of dirty linen or something, so you look like you're meant to be going in and out of people's rooms."
"Affirmative," he responded before turning to Richard. "Appreciate the help, I'll get on fine from here."
Acting quickly, Renart removed his harness and found some more appropriate attire from the room owner's wardrobe. He fitted the harness along the leather belt that held up his new navy blue dress pants to make it appear as some kind of utility belt. Confiscating the guard's gear, he put on the keycard belt clip and radio. After a quick rinse, the man's hair lost its salt-and-pepper look and went back to its original color. Seeing that he looked the part of a maintenance worker, or at least as close as he was gonna get with the limited resources. For the finishing touches he put on a distinctive Brummie accent as he gave a nod to Richard. "Alright, I'm gonna start searching the rooms--work my way down the line."
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