Vanguard Charge(Crusader & King of Suits) (IC)

[Ari]

GM

 

Thankfully, the silent one in the corner seemed to quickly lose interest in Clark, going back to staring remorselessly into thin air after a sharp look at the man as he passed by.

 

The control room was just at the back, and strongly resembled a switchboard with monitors set in the walls scrolling through readouts that presumably recorded how Dr. Green's computer network was doing. The best place to install Voltage's gizmo looked to be a small keyboard and console mounted below a currently blank monitor with a small and insistently red sign beside it reading 'SysAdmin Access Only: Dr. Green Private Terminal'.

 

The only hitch in getting to it were the four guards blocking the way in. "Sorry Chad" one of them said blandly "But orders are orders. You're not with the tech crew, you don't go in there. Speaking of which" he leaned against the wall and looked over 'Chad' curiously "You gain a few pounds over the weekend?"

 

---

 

Meanwhile, in the ventilation shaft the King of Suits was encountering his own problems. Namely a small gang of very small robots marching up and down the shaft and scrubbing it industriously, sweeping the place with robotic eyes with the occasional monotonous  <<"All clear">>. That and a fork was visible up ahead, with both tunnels leading downwards.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Arichamus

[Ari]

Having scrambled for a few minutes through the narrow metal tunnels, Marceau was by now almost used to it, moving with slow and measured movements and listening carefully for the least noise. Turning a corner and very suddenly beholding the quiet scanning robots completely obliterated the plan forming in his head to distract the guards.

 

Staring in momentary disbelief at the sight, he grumbled and weighed the options: attacking them was right out, that would raise alarms. Disabling them would doubtless also cause a ruckus, though lesser than if he just shocked them with the electric prods. That left going around them.

 

'They seem to at least be somewhat independent, probably connected to the security monitors somehow. So therefore I could...move one around? Let us see'

 

Sliding carefully forward, long arms and legs working with the utmost care in the cramped and faintly steaming space, the King of Suits moved gently around the eerie lenses on the wall and floor, maneuvering until he was just a few vital feet from the squat mechanical beast. Supporting himself on one knee, he gently reached up his arms behind and around the scanner, gingerly tugged it off the wall and retreated a few agonizing feet to place it with the utmost care on the ground where he had been several seconds before.

 

That done, he slipped onward, choosing the right-hand tunnel after a brief moment of thought. He was rewarded by a gradually strengthening smell of warm dust, and a steady current of air on his face. A glimmer of light ahead promised the computer room, and the next step of their infiltration mission.

[GranspearZX]

Four guards. I could take them. But...

 

He certainly wasn't going to be able to just charm and con his way past them. He couldn't even throw his shield at this point--without the proper range and momentum, he couldn't accurately predict how four targets would move and react. Crusader was left with two options: wade in, fists swinging, or attempt to even the odds without fighting.

 

Clark decided to attempt the latter first. Besides, if the King of Suits was taking a more indirect route to the same place, providing a distraction would be the best way to ensure that Marceau arrived and could plant Voltage's device unimpeded and unseen.

 

"Actually," he said, hands up in mock surrender, "I'm supposed to be relieving one of you, that's all. And... uh, yeah, I guess so." Clark frowned a bit, rubbing at his nonexistent belly.

[Ari]

GM

 

"Relieving one of us?" the same guard asked on bafflement. Moving aside a little to let the presumed Chad in he looked dubiously at the new arrival "Uh, if you say so buddy. Dunno what good that'll do now Yllich has us hunkered down here. Hey, guys," he added to the others in the sleek uniforms "Any of ya close to ending your shift?"

 

After a few minutes of disagreements, a brief argument about what constituted a 'shift' that took the sharp voice of their apparent commander to stop, and a very poorly-done lie, it turned out that none of them had received word about anything like that, and it was generally agreed that Chad had just been duty-pranked during the first major attack the facility had seen for decades.

This did a lot to ingratiate himself to the soldiers, and they heartily welcomed him to the most boring part of the base.

 

"Nothing happens here, and it won't happen today" one of them declared authoritatively "The big guns outside are more than a match for any six supers in the world, uh, unless Dark Star or some of those guys in the Liberty League attacked...anyway! Even if the Freedom League itself showed up. the metas Dr. Green's cookin' up upstairs would take 'em down!" he smiled confidently and eased the grip on his rifle. Glancing at Clark he added "Damn, wish I could gain weight quick as you can. What in heck's your secret?" "Cuftbert?" snapped the voice of the muscular woman checking a small chest-high wall near the front door "Shut it. Stay focused gents, sensitive info's in here and we can't risk anything happening to it because two showboating supers appeared. "

 

---

 

The ventilation tunnel led to a small gap between the roof and the wall of computer banks, a complex fan network carrying warm air from the thrumming electronics and their mechanical berths out the back where it flowed elegantly upwards. The height of the space was just large enough for a grown man to crawl, but it would be almost impossible to avoid being seen.

 

From his vantage point the King of Suits could make out the scattered squads of Dr. Green's soldiers, each in knots of four or five and armed with standard-issue military hardware that could have come from almost any market. They numbered at twenty-seven, counting their busy leader.

[Ari]

Surveying the room beyond with a grimace at the steep odds, the King of Suits began slowly sketching out a plan of attack. A consistent sticking point was the problem of how to get Crusader in on the plan, and glancing over at his comrade-in-arms Marceau hastily considered various ways of alerting his friend. Suddenly, his eyes lit on a small square of light on the wall next to him. His eyes lit up and gears began turning as he followed it back to the source, an interior light from the computer banks that blazed through a crack in the casing.

 

With an excited grin he whipped out a razor card from his sleeve, held it close to the bars and began carefully angling it so it reflected the beam outwards. He could only manage it for a few seconds, but hopefully the dart of light would get Crusader's attention, and let him know who was nearby.

[GranspearZX]

That was fast.

 

The first time the flash of light caught his eye, he wasn't sure what it was. Crusader looked casually in its direction and it happened again, and he nonchalantly looked elsewhere. He knew what it meant. Taking up the rear, closest to the control room, he stood his ground and faced forward, rubbing at the back of his neck. The best he could do was make sure no one watching; if KoS could go undetected while he ran interference, it would be mission accomplished.  Providing a distraction seemed like too great a risk; if someone wasn't looking at him, they'd look past him, and things would only get that much more complicated.

 

The number of guards made him nervous. Not that he was afraid of bullets, not with his shield around, but a direct confrontation was bound to have unforeseen complications...