ic High Note IC

[Blue Rose]

At the incoming killer robots, Vals swears loudly, and bolts down the stairs, tearing the door open and slides Marianne down the hall.

 

She resists the urge to extend her staff and do some ineffectual posturing.  Some days, she'd kill to trade her powers for laser eyes or something.

 

"One at a time!  One at a time, keep it moving!" she ushers the crowd in, holding the door open and keeping an eye on the incoming drones.  No idea what those things are packing, but here's hoping the fire door can take machine gun fire... and that those things aren't packing missiles or something.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"What? One at a time! I mean, sure! But me first!" said Zyte, who was nearest. To mitigate his dubious valour, he paused dramatically. 

 

"As it is in art, so it is in life! Zyte...GUYST! At the forefront of progress!" he proclaimed, looking heroically into the distance, and then, at a well chosen picosecond after such proclamation, scuttling down the stairs as fast as he could. 

 

The door was open and maybe two thirds of the crew had gone down, with three or four guests and three or four techs, and an overweight Saudi prince (relishing the mere proximity to wayward!) left to move, and the drones started opening fire, now maybe a hundred feet away. 

 

Zap! Zap zap!!!

 

At this distance, inaccurate, but not random. Blasts of some kind of energy force, that smashed into the ground and various structures. They were not powerful, but they were certainly powerful enough, similar to a high calibre bullet. 

 

Ironically, the lift doors caught a few solid hits, crumpled, and the elevator shaft could now be seen behind the twisted metal. 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Supercape

[Blue Rose]

Lasers?  Of course it's lasers!  It always has to be lasers!

 

"Move, move, move!" Val rushes the last few people inside, then follows in and shuts the door.  Yeah, after what they did to that elevator, the door isn't gonna do a thing.

 

Val slinks her way through the crowd, grabs Marianne, and makes her way to the head of the pack.  "Zyte!  We're in, but Hacky Sack has the building.  We gotta kill the power; where can we do that from?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"What, you think I know where the goddamn power plant is?" said Ztye. "I am an ART-EESTE!" he declared, putting one forearm to his forehead, another to his heart, and turning dramatically.  "Not an engineer! My talents are in the every changing mercurial world of transie---"

 

He was interrupted by blaster fire. 

 

They group were going down the emergency stairs, all nice and chrome and so on, with a lovely view outside through thick glass wall to wall windows. 

 

Outside, it seemed, five of the military drones hovered now, and opened fire. 

 

In a flash, glass rained down, covering everybody. Enough for a few scrapes and cuts, but not serious. The fact that the windows had caved in and a few feet away from was a drop of several hundred feet, with wind swirling, and drones hovering, was considerably more dangerous. And the screaming and panic set in to add to the terror!

[Blue Rose]

Yep.  Laser beats door.

 

"You know more about this building than I do!" she shouts back over the disaster.

 

"Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll blow out some wiring!"  But they need to do something right now...

 

"We need to get to the stairs!"  She tries herding the panicked mob onward and inward, if nothing else to get some more wall between them and the drones, as she tries to find the stairs.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Through screams and glass, and the most terrifying gusts of wind, Wayward propelled the motley crew down the stairs. 

 

Zap Zap Zappedy Zap Zap! came the blistering blasts of booming beams, slicing through glass and into the crowd. It would surely not be long before someone was hit. It was a miracle nobody had been so far. 

 

Or was it?

 

"Don't you move you gaggle of goons!" came the squarking voice. "You may call me the DEVIL DRONE! I am here to ransom you all! I will NOT be silenced! Now SMILE! I'm recording this and broadcasting it around the world!!!"

 

The door to the top floor of the tower was just by the stairs, ready for escape. But was it open??? Below, some more stairs to lower levels, all of them next to glass windows. Of course, there was a third route to take...

 

Straight down to the ground. Quite a fall....

Edited January 20, 2018 by Supercape

[Blue Rose]

Val slides close to Max and hands off her guitar case.  Can't afford the weight if she has to beat off drones.  "Max," she whispers, "If you see a chance, move.  Get in.  Go down.  Don't stop.  Get safe."

 

Without time for objection, Val steps out from the crowd to approach the drone, "Nah.  I think I'll stick with Hacky Sack, 'til you give me a name that doesn't scream Team Evil," she says to the voice as she leans against a rail, sporting a practiced mix of posture and expression balanced to give the air of aloof amusement, without necessarily coming across as chipper or sunny.  Her contemplative artist look.

 

"Y'know, this whole laser light show thing?" she twirls her finger in the air absently, "Not giving you a lot of credibility in your politics.  Some might say you're just giving your enemies more ammo to shout ya down.  Maybe we could be a tad more civil about this?  You put down your flying death bots.  I put my mob of unarmed civilians safely down on ground level, and we all go grab a beer.  Maybe a nice can of oil for your droid friends.  Sound like fun?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"What? What? You dare MOCK me? DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM!" screamed the drones controller over rather tinny, poor quality speakers. 

 

The taunt had worked its magic, for the drones all pointed now directly at Wayward, ignoring the fleeing crew and Kitty Riot. 

 

"ILL SHOW YOU CIVIL YOU JUMPED UP LITTLE WEASEL! ILL BUY YOU A BEER AND SHOVE IT RIGHT UP YOUR...."

 

Alas, we shall never know where the drone intended to shove that beer, for rage got the better of speech, and the Drones opened fire!

 

ZAPPEPTY ZAP ZAP ZAPPETY ZAP!

 

Laser beams streamed through the building, scorching, searing, burning. They were actually quite pretty, even if disorganised. 

 

"KILL! KILL!" screamed the enraged droid controller. 

[Blue Rose]

A barrage of blazing death zeroes in where the rock star is standing, in a spectacular explosion.  As the smoke clears, there's nothing.  No Val.  No railing.  No catwalk.  Just smoldering wreckage and the screams of a running crowd.  And yet, that panic fades into the background, an odd calm making its way across the scene.  Until...

 

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHERE TO SHOVE IT!"

 

A shout comes from above, and Val lands on one of the drones, driving her staff down into its precious, precious circuits.

 

Which, come to think of it, may not have been the best idea as the machine starts sputtering, sparking, and drifting perilously downward.  Val gets down, and tries to steer the dying machine closer to the building so she can get off before it completely gives out.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Drone was smoking, which did not aid matters one bit. Val could hardly see. On the upside, it made it very hard for the other Drones to know exactly what was happening. Especially as the Drone Commander was clearly stunned by the boldness of action. 

 

"WHAA.....WHAAA......WHAAAAA?" came the tinny voice, shocked into bamboozlement. 

 

The Drone span once, and came close to throwing Val off. It was a long way down, that was for sure. 

 

But Val had enough grit and wit to slide the drone back into the Building, through shattered glass, and into the stairs in a puff of smoke and a boom of explosion!

 

More shattered glass, more smoked, and even a little fire...

[Blue Rose]

Val's eyes go wide as the drone careens out of control, that pane of glass is getting close way too fast as the engines give out entirely!

 

With a roll, she plows the machine through the window ahead of her and hits the ground rolling as her noble steed stumbles into a wall and explodes.

 

She takes a moment to scan the room, but doesn't get much for her trouble.  Still, any second, Hacky Sack is probably gonna send some more drones in to blast this place to bits.  And knowing guys like that?  Probably going right down the middle.

 

Still dazed from impact, Val swaggers her way off to the side of the room to hide behind the first cover she can find; maybe she can take out another of those things before she has to run.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Val staggered into one of the penthouse suites of the top floor. 

 

It really was rather magnificent. It was as if a five star suite had been made over by a master architect who, tutting, had considered the suite to be a disgusting slum, and had then proceeded to make it five star. Wherever one looked, one could see gold, silver, crystal, fine art, rugs, and so on. And spacious too!

 

The suite started playing soft music as Val entered. Bland, but relatively inoffensive. 

 

"Welcome to your state of the art apartment!" started the soft and melodic tones of the computer voice system. "We hope you enjoy your stay at SQUARK! I SEE YOU, YOU LITTLE GUTTERSNIPE! DON'T THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE ME! I HAVE TAKEN CONTROL OF THESE FLOORS AND YOU AND ALL YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS ARE MINE!!!" interrupted the voice of the Drone Commander. 

 

This might not have been strictly true. As far as Val could see there were no camera's on this floor, but of course the opening doors did register that somebody had entered...

 

 

[Blue Rose]

Val creeps her way over to the kitchenette, where she cracks open a mini bottle of whiskey and splashes it over a nasty-looking cut the shattering glass gave her arm, then ties a dish rag over it.  First aid at its finest.

 

That handled, she ducks out, trying to get a look at whatever just came in, if it was anything at all.  Can't really trust the doors with Hacky Sack in the system.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Hur...hur....help?" spluttered Prince Abdul Badawi. 

 

The fat prince was sweating and shaking, tremulous from fear. He looked like he didn't know where he was or what he was doing. He arguably looked like he didn't even know his own name. 

 

"Pu-pu-please? Hur-hur-help? Is any one there? I nu-nu-need security...." he blubbed. 

 

For a transient moment his fear exploded into regal fury. 

 

"CALL SECURITY! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!!!! I MUST HAVE SECURITY OR I CUT OFF YOUR HEAD AND FRY IT IN GARLIC! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AMMMMMM?" he wailed. 

 

He caught himself. 

 

"Calm...calm....down....I am a prince....Prince Badawi....I will not panic!" he said, more firmly, to himself. 

[Blue Rose]

Val lets out a breath.  Nothing dangerous.  Well, nothing physically dangerous.  She gets up and gets up from her hiding place.

 

"Prince Abdul!" she waves to him and heads over, "I don't think this room is safe.  Let's head in and try and find a way down, yeah?  Are you hurt?"

 

It's damned if you do, damned if you don't right now, unfortunately; Hacky Sack will expect them to go down and will watch the stairs.  But it's the best hope they've got.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Wow! Its you! I mean...its you!" spluttered the Prince, his face breaking out into a smile of rapture. 

 

He patted himself down, as if just realising that he ought to check for burns or holes or oozing blood. 

 

"No...no...I am alright, thank Allah! What a terrible business!" he sad, sadly, wringing his fingers. "It was going so well! You put an amazing show, by the way! Never seen anything like it! Oh, you must come and give me an um...private performance for my birthday!" he said, trying to claw some prize from the state of affairs. 

 

"But we can't go down! Did you see those drones? They have LASERS! on them! oooh....I feel quite faint at the thought..." he jabbered, sitting down heavily and patting his forehead. 

 

"Can I have a glass of water?" he asked, feebly. 

[Blue Rose]

This guy doesn't give up, does he?

 

"You're too kind, Prince, but let's talk about that later," Val says soothingly as she guides him around the wrecked drone, and behind the bar, and grabs him a bottle of water from the fridge.  "It's probably best if you wait here for rescue.  I have to go make some bad decisions and probably get shot again."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Shot? No don't! I mean, don't get shot! Or leave...! It's dangerous!" blubbered the Prince. "Those things are shooting at you! they might hit you! Which means you would get shot!" he explained, most helpfully. 

 

He fell to his knees, hands pressed together in a prayer to the universe. 

 

"I don't want you to die! I mean, your music! It would be a terrible loss! You are so talented...a singer...a musician...a songwriter....a perfomer....a....a....oh I LOVE YOU!" he screamed, falling to the floor in a wail. 

 

He looked up, teary. 

 

"And I can help! I'll save you! Nobody knows the top of this tower like me!"

[Blue Rose]

"You are kind," Val offers the man a sad, apologetic smile.  This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last.  She lets the moment hang, hoping he will understand, will let go.

 

"I can't just sit by and let everyone get hurt.  I'll be careful, but I have to help.  And I've faced worse," she nods over to the destroyed drone.  "This hacker seems to have control of everything in this building.  If we can start denying 'em toys, everyone's safer.  Like, cut power to cameras or something.  Or, if this place has some central control room, they may be there.  I mean, I don't know much about computers, but I don't think this is the kinda hack you could do over a cellphone.  I'd bet Hacky Sack'll be a lot less brave eye-to-eye, and it's the safest way to stop 'em."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Prince shed a tear and quickly wiped it away, trying to put on a brave face. 

 

His lip quivered. 

 

"I...yes of course. We cant have anyone dying, can we?" he said, trying to steel some calm into his voice. "The computers are at the bottom of the building. Safest place for them, in case of fires or...well...things like this. Except that means they are not easy to get too..." he mumbled, now beginning to fret. 

 

"The camera's however, perhaps we could cut them off, so at least the hacker is blind?" he agreed, more confident. "There is a central spine that runs through the centre of each floor, with power, cable feeds, and everything electronic. Perhaps we could cut it off...or something. I am afraid I am no electrician..." he said, almost ashamed.