angrydurf

That insight cut deep and in more than one direction it seemed. Kam slumped into the couch giving up on any pretense that he might keep the truth of his late night sojourns from Janus. "While the sentiment is appreciated I'm not certain your alabi's won't be worse then the truth." he teased lightly and shook his head and ran a hand over his eyes tiredly. "As you've already mentioned Ajasoro does not share my acceptance of the need for secrecy regarding our identities." he pointed out tacitly admitting that was in fact at issue, "She is so enamoured of the ideal of," he gestured loosely at the room to indicate the United States and Western culture overall. He looked to Janus and shrugged, "What is it your uncle always said? Timing is everything?" he shrugged playing it off as of little concern a sure sign he was overthinking it, trying to plot and plan matters of the heart. It would be adorable if it wasn't so sad.

"Rude." Kam retorted but his face betrayed that Janus was not wrong. He certainly did enjoy both the privilege and responsibility of his position and the second son of the reclusive royalty of the until recently hidden nation of Dakana was hardly one of constant observation. Hence his ease with slipping out of the dorm and off campus. The prince rolled his eyes at their dramatic declaration of his reasoning. Far too close to home for his taste. "I thought I lacked 'a certain amount of duplicitous' required for such?" he replied imitating his companions voice, poorly, probably intentionally poorly. He rolled his eyes and the defensive body posture and cranky rejoinder only showed they had deduced far more than he'd have liked. He huffily crossed his arms, "Are you quite finished?"

And Huang had been all se to be full of righteous indignation at Nicoles behavior but then she went and admitted his superior skill at traditional magic. He faltered for a moment as such admissions were out of character in the general sense. "Ah, yes of course." He replied and turned to look Hex over with his proverbial third eye open. With a whispered incantation he examined the flows of magic coming off the tall man and slowly nodded, "I see." He blinked a couple times to clear his sight from the after images of writhing chaos and nodded to Nicole, "As he explained his power is drawn from the realms of discord, by channeling it with care he can funnel it into breaking the laws of our reality." the dhampir looked back to Hex with some respect as such sorcery was no easy task to master its very nature fought control after all. "It is not his spellwork that brought low your contraptions." Huang assured Nicole, "He's a nexus for the energies, a weak spot in the barriers." he further explained, "It's really quite unusual, a very rare condition and even rarer for one to master the natural flux of..." He was getting side tracked, and talking about one of the guests like a thing not person. "Ahhh, anyway." he interrupted himself, "You need a ward against discordia." He drew a rune in the air leaving a streamer of glowing red behind his finger, "You should be able to integrate that into the other protections of the glasses and they'll withstand the natural flux at least." it would take a real ritual to banish the discordant energies entirely and might harm the person in question.

Jaw clenched Kam slit a sharp glance at Janus when they seized on his mistake, that being engaging when the Danger had first intercepted him of course. Gaze fixed firmly ahead he let them continue their theorizing trying his damndest not to let slip anything further for the animated teen to further use against him. When janus finally fell silent Kam turned his head ever so slightly as he considered his reply with care, "There is zero chance of you letting this go isn't there?" he sighed heavily and looked forward once more as he bought more time to come up with a lie or perhaps and artful truth. "Have you considered that I merely value what little privacy my life allows?" he finally settled upon which was not entirely false by any stretch and certainly was a reasonable reply. It was also an attempt to move the subject away from where he had been and more importantly with who and onto the safer ground of the more abstract social contracts of friends and classmates. His hope was of course that by neither confirming nor denying their claim they would have less to use against him.

Kams eyes narrowed at the suggestion Janus had entertainment. He'd been commenting on their gift for finding companionship of one sort or another, now he suspected HE was the entertainment which was much more concerning. Carefully meeting clever Dangers gaze Kam shrugged noncommittally, "Loose flagstone perhaps." he apparently had no intention of acknowledging that he'd been creeping in through the window like a thief in the night. He was guarded and on the defensive already of course, not nearly the fool to buy into his friends line of questioning as harmless as it may seem. Janus wanted something and they weren't asking directly that meant they knew it was something he'd not give freely. Of course at their suggestion of debauchery and worse still phrasing of his potential goals the careful observation of their words was abandoned and the young prince sputtered with a hint of genuine offense, "Debauch-, I nev-" he glared harshly at his colorful companion, "It is not like that, She's not like..." he clapped his mouth shut realizing the well laid trap just a moment too late and turned arms firmly crossed to face studiously forward, his mein carefully controlled and forced in its approximation of cool disinterest. He knew it would only buy but a little time but he needed what time he could earn to construct a more likely story, or time to let Janus construct one of their own, they were after all given to tales over truth more than even the average Danger.

uh yea we'll re-use thier rolls so you need a 21+ to beat the notice of the guys inside.

The young Dakanan froze in the window at Janus' words biting back a quiet curse. "Janus, I hadn't expected you up this late, without entertainment." he replied as he completed his entry. He was wearing the form fitting suit of the Red Lynx, mask clipped to his belt, weapons and tools strapped to his back. "We're allowed the freedom of the campus even after curfew" he pointed out defensively acutely avoiding answering their question or suggestion about a girl. There was no use trying to lie to Dangers, maybe distract them but never lie. Clearly he hadn't been out for a late night stroll, not the way he favored his left leg as he crossed to the couch. He sunk tapped their leg to make room and once granted would sink into the cushions with a sigh as he he eased his weight from the injured leg. "So to what do I owe the pleasure?" Kam inquiered and wryly added, "Or should I say what do you want?" he smirked to his friend. Deflect distract, don't let the Danger focus on or control the conversation. It really was like a fencing match, of course Kam was already worn down by the nights adventures and arguably was unarmed in this dual. He hadn't a chance, not that he'd admit that now or ever.

Vaulting across the street and over the fence Red Lynx landed near silently atop on of the stacked crushed cars waiting for the patrolling royal to return to the garage before creeping further into the yard. He made his way silent and hidden across the yard and scaled the garage without being noticed by the raucous gangsters inside. Lowering himself head first from the roofline he peered through the dirty window and counted the royals arrayed around a table drinking and making crude jokes at the expense of the Skulls, local ladies of the night, and the new recruits they were still waiting on. He counted the foes and caught sight of 'King' seated on a beaten lay-z-boy outside the nominal office space in the garage. The coke was probably locked in the office possibly in a safe but he couldn't see from here to be certain. Lifting himself back to the roof to reposition, an empty bottle rolled off the roof where it had been discard and he barely caught it before it hit the ground which surely would have alerted the gang to his presence. Red Lynx breathed a sigh of relief and tucked the bottle into the remains of the rain gutter clogged with at least a decade of detritus. Creeping across the roof he dropped to a window to look into the office and made out a small black duffle zip tied shut. It seemed the most likely place for the coke to be, easy at hand when the recruits returned, but out of sight enough to not attract attention in a raid. He crouched in the shadows outside the light pooling from the open door and waited for Robin to complete her task.

Kams Stealth: 1d20+14 = 18, HP is a min of 24 so will beat the notice. Robins Guard notice: 8 She auto succeeds this and flatfooted she basically can't miss and will auto KO King notice: 10 Royals Notice: 21

"Agreed", Kam replied to his sister and stood at her side as they slowly made their way to their destination while Janus and Veronica made a very convincing show of being non-threatening tourists. Once they were near enough to be overheard while still seeming to trying to hide the conversation the prince stage whispered to his sister, "I told you we should have sent word." he 'argued' laying the groundwork for tense disagreement later. When the officials approached he clammed up offering a polite greeting and apologizing for the suddenness of the visit gesturing at the foreigners, "We merely hoped to show our friends the marvelous work your people do here." By putting the onus on the royals for arriving unannounced he hoped to give the Rose Spiders an excuse to skip the formalities of a normal visit by the Princess and Prince. They'd hopefully get into the facility sooner and keep more focus on them than their entourage.

Potential distractions aside Bombshell and 'The Highwayman' arrived at the private event invitation in hand, not that with so Iconic a member of the cities shadowy elite it was entirely needed. "Ms. Natalya Browning and," the doorman looked down his nose at Jack, "Guest." The pair were shown into a well apportioned ballroom with a whos who of wealthy and morally ambiguous at best Freedom. Staff made their way through the crowd with trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres pausing to offer their delights to interested party goers. They hadn't long to mingle before an old acquaintance made his presence known with a sweeping if strained bow, "Mademoiselle Browning it has been too long." the elderly gentleman greeted with a slightly yellowed smile. The Compte du Destin had been quite the charmer in his prime, age, and rumor had it luck, had finally caught up with the old thief. He was well and truly retired, cottage in Provence living off occasional sales at auctions like this of his greater finds. His eyes slid to Jack and his smile faltered slightly before he regained his composure, "Still have excellent taste in companions I see." he praised clearly considering Jack little more than arm candy, very sweet arm candy but arm candy none the less. On the far side of the room the Items for sale were on display in varying forms. Some were attended only by guards, others under lock and key in sealed cases like the museum pieces they were, a rare few telesales present via screen if one trusted the owner to deliver it. Hard to make out all the items available but some had attracted crowds and security was tight with several well trained security officers stationed just out of the way enough to be noticed without being in the way of the goods. Of course it was mostly for show, no one here was trustworthy but robbing the place and getting caught would mean no invite next time.

Looking down curiously Kam shifted his weight from foot to foot and ran a toe along the lip of the uneven stone, "I may have something." he called out and crouched pulling one of hte small brushes from the dig site out of one of his many pockets. He slowly dusted the edge he'd found looking to identify the outline and shape of the depression. When the others joined him he pointed out what he'd found. "Could be a pressure plate for a counterweight of some kind." Running a finger along the edge he tied to determine how smooth the action might be taking care not to trigger whatever it might be prematurely. His technique was as exacting as it was slow and cautious though he had no idea what might happen if force was applied.

Ace returned the salute as she dropped out of door and hit the toggle to close the door. The plane was out of sight by the time she hit the ground. When the others had gathered to where Kam awaited them in the treeline the prince had already deposited his chute under a camo net concealed at the base of the dense shrubbery. It was unlikely patrols came out this far but minimizing the chance of early discovery was the name of the game. If Arsenal was able to seal the base before they gained entry it was a lost cause. Unfurling an exacting Dakanan satellite map and checking his GPS Kam motioned them in closer, "Main entrance is near the docks on the eastern tip of the island." he indicated the location with a finger, "They have operations running on at least three sides in two conflict zones according to the intel your family was able to get us." he nodded to Veronica and Janus. "They'll be running light guard rotations, getting to the entrance without raising an alarm should be possible." he grimaced slightly, "Then we'll have to fight our way in and through to the crystals." He then shifted to point to another area of the map nearer to the clearing they had dropped into by his calculations. "There is an access point here on the old schematics." Kam indicated, "But they may have sealed it, trapped it, set alarms or all three." There was no recent intel on the base just reports form the soviet era and a small list of materials known to have gone in. Not enough to have fully modernized or significantly altered the bases footprint, but enough that once inside they'd be relying on their wits to find their way around. "If we can get in that way we may be able to get in and out without raising an alarm." that was unlikely they all knew but the benefits, and risks of the tunnel were high. The frontal assault was at the least a known quantity. Kam met his sisters eyes, "Front gate is the safe bet, but," he shrugged uncertainty, "my gut says the tunnel." Glancing to the others for input he awaited the White Lions decision.

Kam let out a beleagured sigh though it was mostly for show. "Agreed." he nodded to Veronica, "We'll follow at a safe distance." he quickly donned a pair of darkened glasses and gestured for his sister and Janus to make thier way ashore. "That is less endearing than you think it is." he teased lightly as they took thier leave. The Prince smiled to the remaining Danger, "I'll stick tothe crowds and look for local reactions, you want to get a more, elevated, perspective?" he sugested looking to the rooftops and balconies that woudl giver her beter overwatch positioning. With a quick nod ot Veronica he moved to follow a short distance behind to pause and peruse the designer imitation handbags at a nearby market stand and give the 'distraction' time to pull ahead.

"Well getting back to my time has been less successful." Huang sighed, "Plus mo-, er, the Master Mage forbid Temporal magics timeline integrity and what not." he looked back with a frown at the scene around the deep one and other newcomers. Lowering the bowl he set it on a handy table with a shrug, "I mean technically they're more for you and yours than the living if you think about it." he pointed out with a laugh. The young Dhampir pointed out Arcana, "Ah not exactly." his tone was hesitant but this was Burt after all, "Keep it under your hat but," he lowered his voice to a bare whisper and with an arcane gesture concealed his next words, "Her father was moms predecessor so it's complicated." he let the spell lapse before it attracted further attention. He kept looking to Nicole and those she was currently berating over whatever chip had landed on her shoulder for the moment. "Classmate at school." the sorcerous dhampir explained to Dead Head with a beleaguered sigh, "I'd like to say she's not putting her best foot forward but evidence points to this being her best foot." Huang started to drift that direction through the room to defuse or more likely inflame the situation attempting to defuse it. "Technomagus." he sighed under his breath muttering in a tone usually reserved for people over forty discussing 'influencers'

Kam launched himself after her as she scaled the wall taking more advantage of acrobatic leaps than handholds. He pulled himself silently to her side on the ledge and followed her on her path over the rooftops of the fens like a shadow flitting across the skyline. He found the entire chase exhilarating and was doubtless oign to be spending more time in the troubled Fens when he could sneak away from the headmistresses watchful eye. As he came to rest at her side his breathing was quick but not labored as he dropped into a coiled and ready crouch to listen to her explanations, "Gangs are tribes marking of self and other is the surest way to build collective loyalty." he analyzed quickly as he scanned the yard with a slow pan of his head. "Gate is closed only one guard." he noted pointing from their sheltered alcove. A light bounced aimlessly through the back half of the yard with whatever poor schmuck left on patrol in the junk heaps. Light spilled out of the windows and faint music could be heard drifting through the night. The chop shop was busy for no actual automotive work getting done. "How likely are they to notice the guards going missing?" a smart quarry would have check ins on the regular to ensure the lone guards were in place. The Royals didn't seem the type but he would leave that call to the local.

Huang returned the Zombies hug with a firm clap on the back, "You're looking... Dry?" he shrugged he wasn't going to lie and tell the undead monstrosity he'd gone and gotten pretty after all. "I'll tell you all about it." he promised rolling his eyes at his mother's insistence that he hadn't traveled from a dark and troubled future with tidings of woe. He awkwardly accepted the bowl of olives and snickered a bit at Slavos magic breaking on exposure to a little chaos. The tall teen slung an arm over burts shoulder and left his mother to deal with further introductions. "There was, well will be, might be, timey wimey wibbly wobbly," he prevaricated tilting his head consideringly, "I came back to warn, well everyone." he nodded sagely quite pleased with himself at the complex spellwork required for such a feat, "There were temporal, fluctuations." he sighed gesturing at his youthful but teen physique, "But I made it and have not unmade myself yet so I have that going for me." he shrugged and held up the bowl, "Olive?"

Kam was likely caught staring. It wasn't often the Dakanan Prince encountered a combatant who's skills outstripped or even challenged his own. When Robin looked to him he was quick to pull his gaze from her lest she think him staring at the arm. He helped secure the men tucking a card in each mans pocket for a pro-bono law firm that worked across the river in the neighboring southside. "Lead on." Kam replied confidently smiling under his mask, "I can keep up." he promised clearly enjoying the prospects of the night ahead while trying to maintain a respectefully somber affect given the gravity of the tasks ahead.

The muscle took up position before and after the heroes bookending them just in case they got any ideas in their heads. The large men moved with ploding steps that crunched against the ground with unnatural weight with each step. They were silent and seemed otherwise inured to the threats sent their way. They stopped at the opening of a narrow alley and pointed in unison into its shadowed depths. "there witch blood." one rumbled. It was clearly some kind of trap but as far as Jessica knew the hell hound hadn't yet been called off yet. Then again this was clearly more planned than a random encounter, the trap was certain to be thought out, though perhaps they hadn't accounted for her companion.

it does and he can't make your toughness save so he out cold.

Tilting his head to listen to the explanation Red Lynx nodded, "Cut them off before they climb that ladder yes I see." he agreed and looked down at the pair below them appraisingly. "The one on the left favors his right leg, probably twisted the knee jumping the fence." he whispered in hushed tones, "The other has hearing damage in the left ear best side to approach from." he explained and gestured to the one with the bad leg then to himself leaving the other for Robin. The costumed hero began a silent countdown and as he closed his final finger swung himself off the ledge lowering himself silently on one arm to the ground just behind his target. The other thug's eyes grew wide as the masked avenger appeared behind his friend but any warning was too late. Red Lynx snapped a light kick to the back of the knee driving the would be gang member to his knees before finishing him with a vicious jab to the temple leaving him crumpled in a heap. The blows were tightly controlled, the knee intact just taking advantage of the joints weakness to get a knockout blow to the head. He'd be regretting his choices but nothing some aspirin and rest wouldn't take care of.

Surprise round ! Red Lynx will power attack for two: 1d20+9=26 DC 22 toughness Hood toughness save: 1d20+3=15 he gone.

Huang has a kind of echo of Phantoms dimensional magic and given what she just gave him probably the castlevania theme running in the background. His magic beyond the vampire and dimensional weirdness is mostly when cast so maybe echoes of latin chants, atlantean words of power, slavic invocations, and lemurian songs. But nothing active so just what would cling to him. She might be able to make out the smell of what he just drank or his partial undeadness but lets be honest it's probably mostly axe body spray.

Following at an easy lope Kam made an graceful leap to pull himself up next to Robin near silently. He wanted to put a stop to whatever this gang was up too and this seemed his best opportunity to find out more about the unusual defender of the downtrodden. He followed her gesture as he tried to pick out any relevant details that might give them their next step. "I have some experience in tracking." Red Lynx acknowledged, though the urban jungle was a far cry from the savannas and rainforests of his home. The masked hero pointed to the fence blocking one branch of the alley the thieves had fled down. "They leapt the fence there." he noted and swung easily to the next eav looking both ways down the street the alley opened onto. "There." he motioned as he moved west along the rooftops above the boulevard, "The waste bin is recently toppled." They had knocked it over in their haste and it easily pointed their direction of travel. Bounding silently from roof to roof and up to ledges and balconies with feline grace Red Lynx moved at speed looking for the next sign of where their quarry may next have turned. A recent skidmark in the street where a car had to brake suddenly for them, an angry hooker loudly complaining to her pimp about the punks nearly breaking her heel, and soon the hoodlums were in sight crouched against a building and looking for pursuit as they caught their breath. "... back to the scrapyard. Those guys won't care we got jumped by some random wannabe hero." drifted to the heroes ears the thieves in deep debate what to do next. "We gotta get that box or something better or we never getting in with the royals." And now Robin would know that meant the self styled royalty of Jules 'King' Kahn and his ridiculous playing card themed gang were stepping up from petty theft and low end choppers to dealing. Which meant this was going to be a turf war once he got what he needed to cut whatever coke he'd managed to get ahold of. Red Lynx looked expectantly to Robin hoping the names would have some meaning to her.

Notice check for tracking: 1d20+14=33