View source for 618/Shadowrun Investigators

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/09/18
|Location=Planetary Plains
|Synopsis=Black Arachnia and Blurr investigate the (now guarded by gangers) site of Ferham's last known whereabouts in the middle of shadowrun Detroit. Miss Clokwerk sobs somewhere drinking booze.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=304, 492, 516, 539
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The trail of the tracker placed on the humvees would lead the Autobot (and one Maximal) to a pair of deserted humvees in a desolate patch of land. While footprints might be hard to discern after wind and the elements have done away with them, the closest civilization happens to be a small Cyberpunk-esque town outside of what looks like a version of Detroit. Much of Detroit in this version had also heen ravaged by crime and flight away from the area, leaving much of the surrounding area highly deserted, patrolled only occasionally by police and with tons of places for thieves and drug dealers to hide in. This is where the two bots might find their search beginning, should they choose to accept it. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The town itself is very dirty, what people residing there do so moreso out of need to operate off the grid or in seclusion, and most are quite poor and trying to get cash in any way they can. This has led to the place becoming a haven for criminal riggers, deckers, chem salesmen, prostitution of many different races... you name it.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Black Arachnia would likely have wanted to take a thorough look at the interior of the vehicles - passenger compartment *and*, if feasible, engine compartment; the latter would mostly be to try and confirm what sort of technology base we're likely dealing with here. The interior of the passengers' cabin might have revealed clues from discarded ammo casings, emptied magazines ... or maybe something even more useful.<br /><br />Whatever she finds or doesn't find, the town is pretty clearly the next stop - and it's almost a relief to know that the 'third parties' from that incident fled to someplace so close rather than swapping vehicles. On the other hand, unless the town is so eclectic that robots and androids and more-machine-than-organic cyborgs are a common sight, actually going *into* town is ... well, she'll be sizing the place up from a distance for a while, and sharing her video feed with Blurr if he's got a compatible transceiver protocol.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blurr also examines the vehicles, inside and out, scanning them from just about every angle and filing the data away on the Autobots' intel network. The analysts back at Orbital Command will likely be taking a look at them, and should be able to give them the results of more in-depth analysis in a cycle or two.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Once everything they can possibly glean from the abandoned vehicles has been obtained and secured, he too turns his attention toward the nearby settlement, scoping it out from afar. "I think we've got about everything we can from these. We should hit up that town, see if anyone there knows anything. Never know what you might overhear."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> The burnt out wreck of vehicles prove mostly fruitless at first. It's been cleaned out of conventional items; shells, electronics, and other such useful items. But Blurr and Archania /do/ come across two things of interest. <br /><br /> First, seems to be a little stick about the size of a thumb drive in gold. It's not immediately apparent, but scanning might eventually show it to be a 'credstick', a form of electronic cash. It's empty, but a few signatures help trace it back to a bank in Detroit proper. It's a rather small one, so, it won't take more than a day to figure out just who it might have belonged to. <br /><br /> The other happens to be a scrap of paper. <br /><br /> "'Knight Errant...' <br /><br /> 'Robot....'Ferham...Capture' <br /><br /> 'Payback....Miss Clokwerk...outside Detroit..." The wards are hardly legible due to the fire, but it's enough to get some information. And most importantly, at the end, 'Meet me at...' With some minutes work, the duo can postulate the meeting place. A small warehouse within the very town that they've come to. <br /><br /> The warehouse is surrounded by chain-link fences. The front gates are locked with a simple eyebolt, easily enough shorn off. Inside the fence? There's lights, and figures carrying sub machine guns and wearing local colors of an elvish gang. The building itself seems empty enough, aside from one tall elf followed by a Doberman-style drone. A sharp eye might catch shapes on the rooftops. More drones. Heavy security for just a warehouse.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The meeting site was patrolled or apparently inhabited by what seemed like a local gang. Were they running some kind of operation out of here? A lot of them looked more or less like gangster roughs might look today: baggy pants, casual clothes with their cyberpunk gear and weapons strapped over them here and there, jewelry, high tech shades and visors like the type favored by the sorts that can be found in shadowrun or cyberpunk areas. The fact they are also elves might be an amusing point. No, these did not look like Legolas, though under all the thug jewelry and weapons the TFs would be able to notice elongated ears, tribal tattoos of runic-like ideograms, and various other traits that clashed with the rest of them, but distinguished them. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It would appear that they were either in the way or doing /something/ for whatever criminal organization was involved here, or at the very least could provide some information if... properly interrogated.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hmm, paper and some kind of currency. The currency is subspaced to be brought back to the analysts as well, from the looks of it they might be able to discern who it belonged to. The slip of paper is difficult to read, especially for someone as large as Blurr, but he manages to make out a few words and a meeting place.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Knight Errant?" he wonders aloud, glancing at Black Arachnia. "You heard of the name? Huh. Ferry. Ferham. Must've been the fembot they took off with." At any rate, he makes his way to the mentioned location. Keeping a safe distance off for the time being, he attempts to see if the walls aren't shielded, and if he can scan through the walls of the warehouse to get an idea of what's inside.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Being generally closer to human in scale than Blurr, Black Arachnia can probably read the note a little better than the carformer can - and she also knows a few video-filter and spectrum-shifting tricks that MIGHT ferret out more of the meaning ... but she works with what she can get.<br /><br />As for the warehouse itself, the Maximal spider is putting her natural stealth to the best use she can, staying out of direct line of sight of the guards and peeking around edges and corners, seemingly at random intervals to minimize the chance of an optic's glowing lens being noticed. She's very curious about the drones, though ... how much wireless traffic is there? She's not looking to hack into it yet, just 'eavesdrop' and start chiseling away at whatever encryption or encoding stands between her and understanding it ...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> For now, the drone-user seems rather unaware of anyone trying to sneak in. The matrix security is quite tight, and it may even take Arachnia a minute or two to eavesdrop. She'll have to contend with roaving Intrusion Countermeasures, IC, to even be able to listen in. The Icons for the IC seem to be marching samurai warriors with their eyes blindfolded, keeping a sharp eye on matrix intrusions. Worst of all? These things are harmful. Rather than normal White IC that simply work upon the electronics the hacker is using? These are meant to shock and debilitate those trying to break in. Damage will be quite physical in this matrix encounter if Arachnia gets noticed! <br /><br /> The few drones that can be seen seem to be an equal mix of flying and ground based. Mostly beat-up gunnery platforms, with modified versions of uzis for greater range. Deadly at medium to close, but not bad far off. They can put out one hell of a hailstorm of bullets though.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The gangmembers, unless alerted by their high tech but delicate security and drones are likely to be easily fooled by Black Arachnia's ability to transform and elude visual contact. A few chat amongst themselves, likely in rough half-elvish half-street tongues that might be a bit strange and bizarre to the average casual listener, coughing and hacking up brackly fluid from their lungs caused by smoking chemical laced cigars and the like. They do seem to have fairly good control of the drones they possess however, one of those cyberdogs looking perhaps a bit familiar to the spider bot and carformer. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The inside of the building they were guarded to Blurr seems like some kind of disused building that might not have been entirely disused just a few days ago, as there's a lot of garbage and some left over machines and furniture inside left by organics, judging by the left over detritus and food containers.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hm. Blurr takes in whatever images and schematics he can get from the scans of the building's interior, as he continues to search for spark signatures or anything similar to such within. Is Ferham in there?<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Keeping a safe distance off, and sitting on the side of the road in his hovercraft form, he opens an encrypted frequency to the Maximal. &lt;&lt;<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">How's the network security looking? Think you can get in from here?</span>&gt;&gt; He inquires. &lt;&lt;<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">I might be able to get my holomatter in there without them noticing.</span>&gt;&gt;<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&lt;&lt;The security looks VERY paranoid,&gt;&gt; Black Arachnia responds on the same frequency with the same encryption. &lt;&lt;I'd love to find whoever programmed it ...&gt;&gt;<br /><br />She trails off, eyeing the countermeasures and trying to figure out how those work. And if there's a way she could disguise herself as part of the security ... probably not, at least not without retreating and making more extensive preparations than we actually have time for.<br /><br />&lt;&lt;If I were off by even a single bit, the intrusion countermeasures would likely try to fry me. And maybe literally, at that - I haven't seen this kind of network defense protocol before. What do you need to get your 'holomatter' inside?&gt;&gt;<br /><br />It actually rankles her a bit that a world this low-tech has computer security that can make her worry ... she's from a *world of robots*, fleshlings shouldn't be THIS good with computers - not better than SHE is, especially if they're still driving internal-combustion vehicles and using weapons that shoot solid bullets propelled by combusting mild explosives.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> Archnia might be able to study them enough to get a vague idea of how to get past them. For all of how good they are, however, careful observation might notice a slight hole. There's been some amateur-ish hacking work done. From Blurr's schematics? There's been a commlink system set up for the local gangers, closed and private. /That/ much she might be able to get on. If she's stealthy and a little lucky? Arachnia can at least eavesdrop. <br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To Blurr, he'd notice a depressing lack of femmebots inside the warehouse building, in fact there didn't seem to be ANY being in there, besides what looked like a rigger's workshop with a few scavenged bits of furniture and computers and other machines left behind. The only femmebots would perhaps be the spider companion he'd brought along. One particular interesting feature of note inside the building however would be what looked like a large chair the organics had apparently scavenged from someplace else and brought there, as the edges of it seem frayed and torn. Some kind of... surgical chair? Or something to do with medical operations? Blurr might not have SEEN a dentist's chair before, exactly.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;&lt;<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Nothing, really, I can get it in right now I guess, but the more I know about what's inside the better chances I have of not getting spotted. I've got a basic layout, but if you can get in the surveillance system that--</span>&gt;&gt; But Blurr cuts himself off, having noticed something of signifi<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ ance.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;&lt;chr">Actually, there appears to be some kind of internal commlink. You might have picked up on the frequency, at least. See if you can't listen in on it.</span>&gt;&gt; As for the speedster himself, he goes ahead and activates his holomatter, projecting into the warehouse so he can attempt to get a better look at what they might possibly be guarding in there. Hmm...a chair that appears to be something used for medical purposes. It doesn't look all that different from Cybertronian ones, albeit a lot smaller, of course. Are they planning on subjecting someone to some sort of procedure?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>'If' she's stealthy? It's the luck part that would worry Black Arachnia, but the 'sight' of an undefended frequency - or less-defended, anyway - gives her something to start working with. It's strictly passive monitoring, anyway - tune in, and start studying the encryption before she begins attempting decryption algorithms. As such, she doesn't respond to Blurr's noticing that the frequency exists ... but she's not going to take her chances with echoing it to him. Once she figures out the decryption key, she can relay *that* to the Autobot and let him listen in on his own.<br /><br />She's also starting to contemplate how to get in there physically. If Blurr's got enough of the layout to forward a basic map to her, that would probably be quite helpful ...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> It takes all of two minutes to get the key. The reason it took /that/ long was dodging ICE that are as twitching as Clokwerk on her chems. <br /><br /> "...Bosses gonna come and pay us? Dun like this job, Makkie! They were Runners. I'm sure of it! Let's split. Seriously. Frag the money. We can set up south, get some good chems. Less money. But I got a wife and kids!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The building itself is far from unassailable to a cybertronian spider--there are air vents for one, what also might have been a skylight now lets in rain and the elements as well as the occasional drone... all she'd have to do really is get past those drones and those punks with high-powered weaponry guarding the place. Question is... Can BA do it?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;&lt;<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Any luck with the comms?</span>&gt;&gt; Blurr asks after a few minutes, as well as forwarding any further details he might have obtained from his scans of the interior to Black Arachnia. <br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The holoform moves over toward the workshop with the medical chair, searching for clues as to what the purpose of this setup is, and any kind of functioning computer that he might be able to attempt to hack. They're guarding -something-, and he needs to figure out what that is.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&lt;&lt;... well, it may not take much to persuade them to take up a less dangerous line of work,&gt;&gt; Black Arachnia comments to Blurr as she relays the key to him. &lt;&lt;I'm gonna see if I can sneak in there physically, though ... heads-up in case it goes haywire.&gt;&gt;<br /><br />First thing to do is bring her electro-disruptor online, enabling full stealth mode - invisible and the next best thing to undetectable, unless she makes too much noise. Which, sadly, is going to be the next part ... she has to actually get over the fence and onto the building, without being tripped over (or tripping over anything herself, for that matter).<br /><br />That part will be easier if she can START from a high enough elevation to make it a simple matter of jumping across and letting gravity deal with matters of elevation - but that, in turn, is the part which would require a very deft touch on the landing: falling objects tend to make noise, and she'll need to absorb the landing JUST right to minimize that. Ideally she'll do it when her landing spot doesn't have anyone or anything looking towards it on the roof ...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> The chair itself is about as undane as you get: a dentist's chair. There's strange machinery remains next to it, though. Blurr might be able to guess at it being some sort of industrial equipment used for some kind of welding, or perhaps electronics work. Hard to tell. <br /><br /> There's definitely a computer there. The kicker? Utterly off-grid. Horridly suspicious in this place, with not a single matrix connection. They'll have to get inside to get a look. <br /><br /> When Arachnia gets up the fence? she'll find some of the chain-link snags horridly at the ankles. Just as it does, one of the flying drones zooms upwards to go on patrol. Right towards her face. KER-KLUNK! Right in the kisser meets a drone.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As Black Arachnia tries to scale the fence to get over it and closer to the building... something unfortunate happens. Some of the old chain-link bends and her spider leg SLIPS through the rungs of it. Upon trying to pull it back and out she'd find it caught by the fence, causing it to rattle noisily. Whoops, shit. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "ROWF, ROWF," the digitized sounding barking of the robo-dog could be heard, while several of the Elven street gangers turn and motion toward the sound of the disturbance, several of the gangers and the dog now converging on BA's location! Unfortunate that the spider managed to get trapped in a web of metal, one certainly not her own. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The medical chair seemed to be made of padding and plastic the humans used called vinyl, and definitely looked like it didn't belong in some storage facility like this, as well as surrounded by some abandoned computer banks and other machines left behind. It looked as if it had manacles attached to it at one point, at that. Metal ones.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Most of Black Arachnia's best cursing can't even be verbalized comprehensibly; as it is, she internally structures a machine-code command which would utterly and irreversibly brick any processor that didn't catch the syntax error. Kind of the computer version of 'go f*** yourself,' without all the biology such a curse usually implicates.<br /><br />Then she attempts to hack into the unwittingly-captured drone - no subtlety this time, just bulldozing through and attempting to inject THAT command into the drone's program stream - and flings the drone at one of the approaching gangers before de-stealthing.<br /><br />"So tell me something before you start pulling those triggers," says the rather large and very metallic-looking spider, righting herself as well as she can and acting like the fence around one of her legs isn't slowing her down. "Is this job REALLY worth what they're paying you ... especially when I could kill every last one of you without breaking a sweat?"<br /><br />Slight exaggeration, in that Black Arachnia doesn't sweat in the first place - but it still means her threat has the advantage of being literally true.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blurr's holomatter attempts to swipe the drives from any computers he can find. Perhaps they will shed additional light on the situation. But then he hears some commotion outside. Slag it. Looks like Black Arachnia's been made. Not that these guards are a threat, but now they might be suspicious. Ideally they wouldn't have had a clue that anyone had been watching them. But maybe he and Black can get some information out of them...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> The good news? Blurr's matter gets something. A small device, likely storage. Sadly, the computer itself is all solid state. They'll have to take the thing to get anything truly meaningful. <br /><br /> But with stealth not utterly up, Arachnia bricks a drone. The others aren't so passive: they automatically move into position, ready to scythe Arachnia down should their masters order a fight.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There are the many sounds of automatic weapons clicking and cocking as the elven gangers get closer to where Black Arachnia struggled, one of them tilting their heads as Black Arachnia de-cloaked. They likely thought she was some kind of overgrown spybot or some other kind of drone that was communicating with them via radio from a person on the other end. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "That's a pretty nice toy you got there, you gotta cry if we wreck it?" one of them speaks up in English, cocking what appeared to be a AR-15-lookin' rifle with an attached grenade launcher slung under the reporting end of the barrel.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hm. Blurr could likely hack the computer if he used the holoform to haul it back to himself, but maybe it isn't worth it. He takes the small storage device and whatever else he can snag, and hurries toward a side door that is less conspicuous. &lt;&lt;<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">I managed to grab a dataslug of some sort. Didn't think the rest of it was worth it. Think you can get some information out of those thugs?</span>&gt;&gt;<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hopefully no one sees the teenaged-looking avatar exiting the warehouse. But they're all focused on the Maximal, right?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Black Arachnia's multi-optic'd gaze comes to rest on the guy with the grenade-launcher-attached assault rifle. "What toy? I'm not playing around ... and kids like you are getting in over your heads if you think I *am*."<br /><br />There's a brief acknowledgement sent Blurr's way, although Black Arachnia has her doubts that the thugs know anything. Still, you never know ...<br /><br />"So. Is the payment ready for Clokwerk?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> The drones, for their part, continue to float about. Uzis click-clack on the weapons, and the doberman's fan out defensively. They might be battered but they're decent models. Likely stolen from wherever these elves might have originally called home.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Over our heads? Sorry, we're the ones with a whole squad of guys here, and you just got caught," the grenade-launcher elf punk grins and clicks said grenade attachment on, a milimeter sized grenade firing from the apeture located just under the rifle's barrel and heading right for BA! As well, the other gangers open up with their machine guns, tearing huge chunks of the earth and chain link fence away from around her, even the dog opening up with it's own machine gun based weaponry! Buddabuddabudda.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> Cue poor BA being fired upon by the flying drones as well. The dakka is strong in this one. No orcs, though. Merely not-space elves. Those uzi bullets are definitely armor piecing, though, if shoddily made ones.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So far, so good. Blurr's holomatter reaches his actual form, and he secures the dataslug. Now...about those organics. Maybe they could at least tell him who hired them. Now he normally doesn't do this, but with meatbags it can certainly be effective sometimes.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Suddenly, the blue hovercraft that had been parked across the street starts to unfold, metal plates shifting rapidly until a 30ft tall mechanoid is standing in its place. And just because it's big doesn't mean it's slow, in fact, in a flash he's standing right behind Black Arachnia. "So," he begins, crouching to attempt to simply pluck up one of the gangsters in one hand and dangle him in the air by his shirt. "You fleshies going to tell us who you're working for? And stop shooting at my teammate?" Surely, they don't get paid enough to be dealing with -this-.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>The stand-off, short-lived as it was, gave her just enough time to free her leg ... and so also cue Black Arachnia stealthing back up again and leaping out of the crossfire, mixed with an attempt to telekinetically 'swat' the grenade at the Dobermech for good measure. &lt;&lt;I am so out of practice at intimidating people face-to-face. Got a stun mode on your guns?&gt;&gt;<br /><br />Or Blurr could do the intimidation thing himself; that might work out better for him given the size difference ...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With the swat of the grenade back at the gangers, the dog gives a choked "ARF--" before it's head explodes as does a good chunk of it's barrel-chested torso, spraying shrapnel at the armed gangsters right in their midst! The ones that had been lining up to take shots at BA are now strewn around, likely in a good deal of pain after either being sprayed with scrap metal or from being thrown down. They apparently don't seem to want none of those buns, hon. <br /> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Gyaaaah!" one of the gangsters is caught by Blurr, his automatic weapon fire plinking off of the Autobot's armored chasis, until he is flipped upside down and hung, dropping his weapon from the shock of being hung like that. Most of the gangers seem to be retreating, in fact, heading for the hills.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> The drones wobble in indecision, but finally some smart rigger amongst the fleeing gangers tells the expensive pieces of electronics to bugger off. Zooom! Off they fly, or run after their fleeing masters. This gang shall live to drone and bang another day.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"As I was saying ..." Black Arachnia de-stealths again, mandibles clicking together as she stalks over to stand below where Blurr's dangling the gangbanger. "In. Over. Your heads. Not that you knew it until, well, now ... so, are you going to answer our questions, or do I get to have a little snack ... ?"<br /><br />Her mandibles click together some more, not unlike the arachnid version of licking her chops.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blurr watches the others flee, then turns his optics back to the one he'd caught, watching him expectantly. "Well? I asked you a -question-. Answer it to our satisfaction, and we'll let you go, all right? Simple." he simrks. "What were you guarding, and who hired you?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Waaaah!" The ganger of course is not exactly so helpful at first, but considering he's being hung upside down and freaking out, this is perhaps to be expected. Once he finally seems like he might be calming down, though still quite frightened, and mutering something in elvish slang, he finally speaks up. "It was f-for them, Blindside!" he tries to catch his breath, head swimming, hair hanging straight down. The gang apparently tended to wear their hair at varying lengths, from shaved to long.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Blindside, huh?" The name means nothing to Black Arachnia, but enough research might rectify that - particularly around here. "That who you got your gear from, too?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blindside. Hm. Research would have be done, that's for certain. "And what about that warehouse? What were you guarding?" Blurr questions further.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>~~ Elsewhere ~~ <br /><br /> One Miss Clokwerk furiously taps on her cyberdeck. She looks like she hasn't slept for days, and most worryingly, is /sober/. Aside from a bit of anti-sleep chems.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "They paid us to guard the place, said they didn't want anyone snooping around the place when they weren't there!" the hanging elven guard rattles off, looking around quickly. "We get our guns from all sorts of places, the dog is from them," he clearly means the now sparking wreckage of a dog after BA TK'd that grenade into it's face. "It's some place of theirs, they brought in some kinda robot bitch to work on in there, probably selling her to some corp!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>'Some kinda robot bitch' - ?<br /><br />"Black Arachnia, *maximize!!*" spits the spider, and then the spider is a robot as well - considerably smaller than Blurr, but still tall enough to loom over the elf if he was standing on the ground. "When's the last time they were here? And when did you expect them to come calling again?" she snaps, flicking her arms so that her combat claws snap out into place.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> ~~ Elsewhere ~~ <br /><br /> Clokwerk, finding nothing but dead ends, slides into her apartment in the Confed headquarters. Grabbing her bottle of booze, she drinks herself to sleep, tears falling. <br /><br /> "...Fragging...where are you, Ferry? Damnit...got too few friends. Too few."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "A... A couple days, they just pay us to guard it lady!" Apparnetly the ganger still thinks he's talking to someone over a radio on the other end when BA suddenly transforms right in front of him. He subsequently mutters something like "OH GOD," he shuts his eyes as the claws snap nearby. "I don't know when they'll be back! They don't tell us shit like that!" he more or less pleads with her.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Blurr listens to the fearful organic, then seems satisfied with the information he's given. They were just thugs, they probably didn't know a whole lot more. So finally, he puts the guy back down as gently as possible. "Thank you for your cooperation." <br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He transforms again, folding back into a hover speeder and taking off. &lt;&lt;<span class=" bold_fg_r bg_n ++ hr">Well now that -they've- been taken care of, we'll have a team of analysts move in to do a more thorough analysis of the place. Maybe we can get a better idea of what these people's end game is.</span>&gt;&gt;<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Well. Blurr DID promise that they'd let the guy live, and he's too terrified to lie in this state. Black Arachnia walks over to check the building out for herself - she's curious what that thing was Blurr couldn't figure out ... but given what the gangster said about 'working on some kinda robot bitch,' she has her suspicions. And 'Blindside' is a name that can be researched - although on that note. &lt;&lt;If you're sticking around the area, see if you can turn anything up on 'Blindside'. Probably it's a personal code-name of some kind, or a gang's name ... I doubt it'll be in the local phone directory.&gt;&gt;<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As the ganger is let down he grabs one of the dropped guns and runs for it, not content even in fear to leave without a piece, whether it's his or not. Meanwhile, what BA might find when she enters the warehouse, though the group had seemingly vacated it for the time being, is perhaps a little distressing. She'd find that scavenged dentist's chair with the shackles, strong enough perhaps to give even her a hard time, along with several electronic screwdrivers and wrench sets for taking the parts off of machines... or large robots. It looks like a torture chamber, with the various implements strewn about, and wasn't someplace someone went willingly.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:539|Miss Clokwerk (539)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> The computer here, too, can indeed be removed. It's conveniently on wheels, though will need to be unbolted from the floor. There's plenty of rather interesting data on it at that! Seems it's tied to some of the evidence of other machines once there.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It is, in short, one of the few kinds of places that legitimately gives *Black Arachnia* the creeps. Normally, *she* scares *others* rather than being the one to *get* scared ...<br /><br />The fact that the warehouse - or rather, the chop-shop - is no longer guarded is probably going to tip Blindside off more than adequately that outsiders have been here. And Black Arachnia is seriously considering whether to wreck the place, or ...<br /><br />Oh, it's time to start indulging her creativity on the sabotage front. She kind of wishes she could see the looks on the faces of her intended victims ... well, if it works out right, maybe she will.<br /><br />She's going to have to take the computer with her, though - or at least most of it. She can cobble together something to serve as a master control hub for the OTHER surprises she's planning.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Specifically, Black Arachnia is looking to rig up the following at a minimum:<br /><br />1) Wiring the shackles to act as a set of switches; when they're closed, they'll activate the other surprises.<br />2) If the doors have electronic locks, closing the shackles will also lock them. Additionally, a signal will be transmitted to Black Arachnia that the trap has been sprung.<br />3) Kill the lights and start burning out fuses that the power tools are connected to. It's horribly unsubtle but she's going for the brown-pants approach here.<br /><br />Beyond that ... it's a matter of what she can come up with and what she has parts for on-site, but if Blindside or whoever have been treating their mechanical victims like just dumb soulless machines, Black Arachnia wants them to REALLY rattle them. And she's not going to make her rigged-up proxy traps go easy on them.<br> <br>


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