Chimera took a few tentative steps into the storeroom. Crown and Cloak followed, eyes still glued to the walls lined with dozens upon dozens of weapons, most thrown on top of each other haphazardly. There were several tables placed around the room, each buried with clips and ammunition.
"Rough estimate on how many are here?" Crown asked Cloak.
Cloak spent a few moments running his eyes over the room again. "Looks like around 120 AKs, and maybe about as many MP5s, with ammunition to spare for both. Let's see here..." He made his way over to the far table, which was adorned with a piece of paper.
"Anything interesting written on there?" asked Chimera, idly walking around the room for anything else to catch the eye.
"Seeing as I can't read Chinese, I'd have no way to tell you," said Cloak. "Still, Dagger might be able to figure out what it says."
Crown touched his earpiece. "Still all clear up there?"
"As clear as the conscience of an extremely delusional serial killer,." responded Antares.
".....not really helping there Antares, but fuck it. Point is, we found a fuckton of guns. I figure we'll grab a few, and then seal off or destroy the rest." He turned to Chimera. "Grab those two fucks in the other room, and drag em up to the street. Cloak, find a bag or something and grab a few guns. I'll do my best to destroy or otherwise ruin the rest." Chimera grunted in agreement, morphing into a cross between a bear and a gorilla.
"...what do you want guns for?" asked Cloak, after Chimera left down the hallway.
"
I don't want them, but they'd be a nice backup for Dagger, Antares, and Artificer now wouldn't they?"
"Fair point," muttered Cloak as he went to find a bag.
--------------------------------------
Gabriel groaned as he flopped onto the central couch in Petyr's apartment.
"What the fuck do we do now?" asked an exasperated John. "We're on a clock, and whatever move we take next is going to come up against increased resistance thanks to Gabriel being a
FUCKING MORON."
"Ren, you got any spare tampons? It's clearly John's time of the month again," Gabriel retorted. "What the fuck did you want me to do? Just leave that shit there? That was enough munitions for a decently sized militia, and we weren't about to move it all before morning. The van certainly wasn't going to have enough room."
"
You could have moved the fucking guns before you tried to turn them into slag, shithead."
"He actually did," interrupted Chimera. "When we opened the door, I was listening for the booby traps disarming; and I told him to move the pile about 30 paces beyond that point. ABB must have had the whole place rigged."
"Hey, I thought it was really cool," Leo said, cutting into the conversation. "After all, how often do you get to see bombs that explode into fucking icicles? Not to mention it gives me all sorts of ideas for my new look."
"
COULD ALL OF YOU PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP. I'M TRYING TO TRANSLATE HERE," Ren screamed from her workshop.That outburst bought her a few minutes of silence
.
About half an hour later, Ren emerged from her workshop, visor in one hand, while she rubbed her eyes with the other. She was annoyed to find that John, Chimera, Gabriel and Morty had all fallen asleep already.
Goddammit, now I have to wake these bastards up, she thought sleepily. "Petyr, put on some coffee or something. Everybody needs to be awake for this."
Petyr pulled the IV out of his arm with a yawn. "Can't it wait? It's bullshit'o'clock right now. None of us should be up at this hour."
"Not really, no." Ren said, searching for the most irritating soundbite available. She blasted it, shaking everyone awake.
"Now that I have your attention," she started not bothering to hide her smirk, "I've finished translating the recording." She pressed her visor in a few places, and the recording began to play:
---
"....sent me out for high powered flashlights of all things. What the hell are we gonna do with high powered flashlights? When's the last time you went camping, Jia?"
"I dunno, maybe we mount 'em onto the guns?"
"Each of those things weighs like 8 fucking pounds. Hang an 8 pound dumbbell off the end of an AK and see if you can hit the wide side of a fucking barn."
"Hey man, you know we don't get paid to ask questions. Oni Lee knows what he's doing. I think."
"Sure. The guy who's job title might as well be 'professional suicide bomber' knows what he's doing. If it were Lung asking us to do this shit, I'd be a little less worried. But it's not."
"Whatever; how many is that now?"
"This oughta be...total of 135 of each. That sound right to you?"
"Sounds right to me, but we better double check. This is the sixth shipment, and the next seven should be larger. If we got short sold, and some heads are gonna fu-" *sound of something wet hitting the floor in the background, followed shortly by gunshots*
---
"Well fuck," commented Morty, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Wait a second," said Petyr. "Just
how many guns did they count there? And how many
more were they talking about?"
"You heard it right the first time," Ren answered.
"That doesn't make a damn bit of sense though," John countered. "The ABB have some presence, yeah, but that's mostly Lung. They've got, what, like 500 members, tops? With the numbers they're quoting that's over 7 guns per person on the conservative side. That sounds fucking stupid to me. Something's off."
"Which brings us to the note Morty found." Ren tapped her visor again, and a projection of the note appeared on the far wall. Another tap, and the Kanji characters were replaced with English.
135 AKs ordered
12 25 37 49 55 71 82 97 103 112 received
135 MP5s ordered
13 29 33 52 67 81 88 101 118 received
Minimal rounds. North range.
"Something tells me the last two words are the important ones," Gabriel remarked.
"So to recap, we know the ABB are buying way too many fucking guns, and judging by the disaster earlier, they're also buying tinker-made explosives. Fucking
wonderful," John said with a tiny yawn, as he stood to go grab some coffee.
"Well, I'mma run some more tests. You guys figure out what you're gonna do."
John and Morty flopped on the couch to fall back asleep, Leo started disassembling his hairdo, Chimera found a corner to lie down in, and Petyr fired up a few bunsen burners.
Gabriel fired up his laptop.
-------------------
♦Topic: New Capes In The Bay
In: Boards ► News ► United States ► Brockton Bay
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy In The Know)
Posted on April 15, 2011:
Well this week has been a quiet one, right guys? /s
The villain group known as the Undersiders decided to make their big time debut on Thursday, by robbing Brockton Bay Central at noon. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, even though we have reports that the Undersiders took hostages.
Also, judging by the localized plague which starts around 0:34 into [
this video], and first hand accounts from the hostages, they've picked up a new member. No word on the name yet.
But also, we've got a second cape who chose that day to make his entrance. I have word that he was calling himself 'Crown.'
Thoughts?
(Showing Page 7 of 13)
► Scared_And_Disoriented
Replied on April 15, 2011:
0:41
Did....did that guy light himself on fucking fire?
► LawnchairGeneral
Replied on April 15, 2011:
Y'know how the old saying goes? You're never more than three feet from a spider?
I'm very very scared now.
► LandedPeasant
Replied on April 15, 2011:
I wonder if this is how the Pharoah felt all those millennia ago
► GenevaViolator
Replied on April 15, 2011:
Apparently there is a new unwritten rule of the Bay that says we must always have at least one cape who spews copious amounts of fire. Color optional
► XxVoid CowboyxX
Replied on April 15, 2011:
LOL wards were getting fucking OWNED. Demon dogs and biblical plagues ftw. And that new dude got ragdolled at 0:13 like a chump.
► CrowsFeet
Replied on April 15, 2011:
@XxVoid CowboyxX, two things.
First, way to be an asshole about it.
Second, new guy immediately put Hellhound down if you watched the rest of the video.
► ThrowAwayEleventyBillion
Replied on April 15, 2011:
[
Crown ain't all that]
► Roflcopter_pilot
Replied on April 15, 2011:
Ouch. That looks kinda painful. The melted marble is also a little unsettling. He ok?
► Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy In The Know)
Replied on April 15, 2011:
Crown was taken to a hospital. He was considered to be in stable condition.
► Guardian (Unverified Cape)
Replied on April 15, 2011:
Was the amount stolen released to the public yet?
End of Page.
1, 2, 3 ...
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Gabriel stared at the last name on the page.
User is currently active, eh? The fuck are you doing up at 3 in the morning? Hmmm. I remember Dagger saying something about Dragon herself writing the encryption algos behind the private messages; ain't nobody cracking that shit on the fly, so its an option. The cursor tentatively hovered over the username.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
♦ Private message from Guardian:
ElephantGradeTranqDart: Crown here. How you holding up?
Gabriel watched the seconds on the clock tick past, bringing up a new tab to look through some of the other news, one earphone lodged, the other dangling in case Ren or Petyr needed something.
*Ding*
Guardian: I'm missing my right foot and in complete agony. All things considered, not the worst thing in the world. How've you been? What the hell happened at the bank? You took out the dog fucker with that flashbang type thing, and then you're face down inside, with bits of marble turned into slag around you. Does not compute? Why the hell'd you blindly run inside anyway?
ElephantGradeTranqDart: TL; DR; Chained poor decisions. Couldn't see shit, opponent could and is just better at CQC than I am. Can't burninate cause can't see and was still drunk. If I could pretend that day never happened I would gladly do so.
Guardian: That's not a healthy way to think about it
And why don't you have a cape account?
ElephantGradeTranqDart: I don't trust myself with one. How'd you lose your foot?
Three minutes passed.
Guardian: ABB. They've got a new cape. Some kinda tinker I think. Bombs.
ElephantGradeTranqDart: Shit. I was honestly hoping they were merely buying the explosives but no, homegrown terrorism it is.
Guardian: ……….How did you find out about the bombs?
I'd make a shit poker player, just tipping my hand left and fucking right. He stopped that particular line of thought, feeling a twinge of pain in his neck.
Fuck that, this is the situation where it pays to be direct and forthcoming. Guardian ain't a villain, and 3500+ guns ain't something to fuck around with.
ElephantGradeTranqDart: Went snooping around possible ABB fronts. Found a metric fuckton of guns; machine pistols and AKs. Decided to try and melt 'em, managed to set off a bomb in the wall. Bomb exploded into fucking ice. Front store now has a big fuck-off icicle sticking through the kitchen.
Guardian: ….What. How many guns are we talking here?
ElephantGradeTranqDart: There? like 200-300. But that was only one cache. Found something indicating they had 5 others like it, and possibly getting up to 7 more.
Guardian: Fuck me. That is some shit. Alright.
ElephantGradeTranqDart: This is the part I don't get. Don't the ABB only have like 300 guys max?
Guardian: depends how you count 'em. Soldiers? less. Soldiers + front operators? about 400.
ElephantGradeTranqDart: so why the fuck buy so many guns then? anything else happening
Guardian: that's the problem; people are more scared than usual. Pretty much overnight from last Monday to Tuesday; no fucking clue why. Nobody saying shit.
Guardian: I'm packing it in right now. Hopefully when I wake up I'll at least have my big toe back if not the rest of them. I should be able to go sticking my nose where it don't belong again tomorrow
ElephantGradeTranqDart: million dollar question: where at?
Guardian: dunno yet, but I'll tell you where you can try
-----------------------------------------------------
Chimera tried to ignore the small hunger pang that had been steadily growing over the past half hour. He watched the kid in the red bandana let two other people into the abandoned apartment complex from his vantage point atop the adjacent one.
7 people in as many minutes now that entered that building. And they smelled scared. Smelled more scared than fucking Dinah, and we were kidnapping her. The smell did nothing abate the hunger in his gut. He turned to check the phone next to him.
6:14, running close to the wire here. He formed dextrous hands at the ends of his wings to operate the phone. "Doorman's starting to look antsy here," he said. "Northwest alley entrance is clear."
The rest of the team piled out of Artificer's van, parked a block away. Impulse used his speed to slip into the alleyway unnoticed, while Cloak veiled the rest of the team to cover their movements. He dropped it as Dagger, Crown, Artificer, and Antares took refuge behind a dumpster. Cloak took a short breather.
"Chimera, how many people did you see go in within the last few minutes?" asked Dagger.
"Seven."
Dagger's face scrunched up a tad as her visor ran a new set of calculations. She peeked around the dumpster to see another person nervously walking down the alley to enter the complex. "Cloak, veil. Chimera, hop down."
Chimera dissolved the hands at the end of his wings, before reforming his feet to have venom glands behind the claws. He took off in a lazy swoop, before turning back again, careful not to descend too quickly lest he raise suspicion. He
was currently a bird carrying a phone in it's left foot after all.
The bandana'd bouncer glanced at the approaching girl, who was trembling head to toe. He seemed to react slightly upon recognizing her, but fought to remain stern faced. He stared for a few moments longer, then opened the door to let her in. Chimera had been steadily descending, and chose that moment to land on the kid, sinking the venomous claws into his neck and shoulder muscles.
Impulse ran up to prevent the door from closing as the guard crumpled to the ground. Artificer took no chances and pelted the girl with a knockout pellet before she could scream. Chimera adapted his avian body into a large feline one, adopting the body of a jaguar, and opting for a snake's head.
"The doorway to the service… stairwell is…." Dagger trailed off as a concerning popping noise caught her attention.
Can't be the bimetal switches in the walls; this place hasn't had utilities paid in 6 months. "Do you guys hear that?"
Chimera temporarily adopted better ears. "Sounds like really, really muffled gunfire." He paused. "In...volleys. Almost."
"Fuuuuuck. Alright. Cloak, you got another 3 minutes in you for the veil?"
"If I drop one person from it, definitely" he responded with a hint of effort in his voice.
"Antares, stay back with Impulse," ordered Dagger. "Service stairwell and elevator are behind that door to the right." Artificer tested the door; to everyone's surprise, it was unlocked.
The sound of sporadic gunfire became
much louder, and Dagger saw the reason is was so quiet in the first place; almost every inch of the the walls in the stairwell had been covered in a thick layer of corrugated styrofoam.
Certainly did a good job of mimicking the effect, Cloak thought absentmindedly as they descended down to the basement level.
They advanced slowly towards the sounds of gunfire, rounding the corner at the end of the hall. It opened into a larger room that once served as the central laundromat room for the building. Now however, all the machinery had been stacked haphazardly against one wall, leaving the rest of the room bare, save for it's current occupants.
There were roughly 20 people inside, all armed with rifles or machine pistols. Eight of them appeared to be blatantly ABB; the rest appeared to be assorted asian civilians. From where Cloak was standing, it was all but certain that the thugs were giving impromptu shooting instruction to the others, and no one really had a choice in the matter. They were emptying rounds into targets spraypainted onto the washing and drying machines at the other end of the room.
Cloak's eye was drawn to one of the literal kids trying to keep an MP5 steadied as he pulled the trigger.
My dude is like 10, max, and the granny next to him is probably pushing triple my age. It's almost like this is the start of a shitty joke, except way less funny. He looked at the casings that littered the ground.
Doesn't look like they've been here too long either.
Dagger made a motion for everyone to stop as she silently made another set of computations.
Taking these fuckers down isn't going to be the hard part, she mused.
No, the trick is going to be doing it without civvies getting fucking dead. "Artificer, you have those ravioli looking shits on you?" she whispered.
"Yeah. I might need them?" he replied.
Dagger gave a quick nod before pointing at the goon in the furthest corner, and did the same to the others. Crown and Cloak crept up to the guards on the near side of the room, while Artificer lined up a shot on the far side, and Dagger pointed her machine pistol at the trigger arm of her chosen victim. She used her visor to send a text to Impulse who was waiting just around the corner with Antares and Chimera. And then she waited.
Impulse checked his phone, mortified that someone might hear the buzz.
*Tell Chimera to roar once he hears panicking. Really loudly*
Chimera glanced at the instruction, then smiled as best he could while morphing his head from that of a cobra to a lion.
Artificer and Dagger took their shots. Crown grabbed the throat of the guy in front of him, and sent gave him a solid shock into dreamland. Cloak jammed a knife straight through the arm of his chosen target, following up with a punch to the throat.
The conscripts already were mortified during the marksmanship practice. Now they were screaming in outright panic, as 4 of their guards were taken out by an unseen force. They dropped their weapons and ducked as the remaining thugs fired at random points throughout the room, trying to score a hit.
The roar of a lion just outside recaptured their attention, and Cloak took that opportunity to drop the veil. Dagger and Artificer took out the other pair of gangsters on their side of the wall with a couple more well placed shots. Cloak downed his adjacent opponent with a nice slash to the back of his leg and one more under his arm before relieving him of his weapon, while Crown dispatched his second opponent with another high voltage throat hug.
Antares, Impulse, and Chimera had walked in to see the situation had pretty much been taken care of. "Guys, what the fuck? Why didn't you save any for us?" Impulse quipped.
Artificer rolled his eyes, popping a knockout pellet in each gang member just to be completely safe. "Well, it ain't like a game. I'll take winning a fight with contemptuous ease over, y'know, actually having to
fight every single time."
Impulse turned to the shaking civilians. "Alright guys. You've no idea what happened here, none, nada, nil, zero, nothing. One minute these fuckers were standing up showing you how to actually hit the wide side of a barn, the next they were on the ground, as were you. You woke up first. I dunno where you guys wanna go, that's up to you. But
we weren't here. Capiche?"
Impulse was answered by furious nodding.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Why are you sure this is a good idea again?" asked Impulse as Artificer parked the van outside the apartment.
"We found that the ABB are bringing in a fuckload of guns," Crown began. "We know they got a new cape. We know this new cape is a tinker
who specializes in mothefucking bombs. We know the ABB is for whatever reason pressganging civvies from mom n pop stores into learning to shoot shit. We gain nothing by holding onto it, and we lose nothing by telling him about it
which we're being paid to do in the first place."
Impulse sighed. "Fine. Fuck it, call him up." Crown called the number and put his phone on speaker.
"Crown. What is it?"
"ABB is liquifying their assets to buy guns."
There was a few moments of silence on the other end. "How many?"
"They've already acquired in the neighborhood of 1500 firearms with standing orders for up to 2000 more. A mixture of MP5s and AKs," Dagger answered.
Coil was silent for a few more moments. "Hmm. That is troubling. Did you find out anything else of note?"
"They have a new cape. A tinker specializing in bomb making. Also, they're pressganging civilians in their territory into learning how to shoot these weapons," Artificer filled in.
A sigh could be heard at the other end. "Certainly not the best of scenarios. This has been very valuable information. You will be paid $25,000." Coil hung up.
---------------------------------------------------------
Coil leaned back in his chair, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.
Perhaps its time for another round of questions, Pet, he thought.
