6205/Mystery On A Brimsteel Express

Mystery On A Brimsteel Express
Date of Scene:	09 December 2018
Location:	Brimsteel Frontier - Wreckage Zone
Synopsis:	How do you pull a Wild West 'Train Robbery' and still be the 'good guys'? Like this! (and a few plot twists)
Cast of Characters:	Corona Arclite, 571, Leyanne Mace, 1119, 6381, Kotone Yamakawa

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Corona Arclite has posed:
    The plan was simple enough. Because of the winding path of the tracks through the Wreckage Zone to avoid the unstable lava gysers and scrap landslides the freightliner wouldn't be able to travel at full supertrain speed yet, so this was the best time to jump it, find the whatever valuable thing Copperchoke was trying to keep a secret, and get away with it. Typical train heist operation... You know, other than who's doing it. But as the local law won't step in even though Copperchoke is a known slimey jerkface, it was up to our intrepid band to pull some role reversal and take the matter into their own hands.

    But how, might one ask, do you catch a train? Even at it's slower speed the super-freighter was still going too fast for horses or motorcycles... But not fast enough to outrun The Line and those who delt with it.

    The answer is what comes roaring out from admist the rock formations after the train had passed and speeding down the tracks behind it. A six-wheeled off-road truck that Corona rigged up with speed-boosting tech she learned from her adventures in The Line to get it revving more than fast enough to be quickly gaining on the freight train. Corona of course was behind the wheel, while Windrose sat in the passenger seat of the cab working some other greebly equipment. Everyone else was able to ride in the open back so they could easily jump onto the train once Corona gets close. There's saftey straps and such back there.... But knowing her friends Corona suspects that won't see much use until they've got to strap the goods down.

    As they're closing in on the rear of the locomotive Corona leans back a little to shout through the open rear window. "And someone be sure to get up on the caboose! There's likely a lookout in the li'l cabin on top! Ev'ryone else get on the train and make yer way to the main freight car however ya see fit."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    It'd been a long time since Maaka had robbed a train. The last one was going at super-sonic speeds, requiring her to make an effort to climb aboard while it had been at the station before making her move, and explosive charges needed to be planted ahead of time in order to stop the train for another part of the plan.

    It was a colossal failure, she was forced off by guards posted packing enough firepower to send Tokyo Tower into orbit.

    THIS was going to be much different, she thought. 'At least this isn't going at near mach 1.' The cyborg was going light, and had gone to the trouble of donning a mask as well to go with her mostly concealing outfit. The coat would've slowed her down if she wanted to make the leap, and she didn't see much reason to bring stealth gear.

    Clinging to the side of Corona's truck, Maaka nodded to the vulpine engineer. <"Copy that, I'll take care of that."> She radios, waiting for when they're close enough to make her move. Once she makes the jump, Maaka fires out a line from her grapple gun and ascends toward the caboose, climbing aboard using paramagnetic gloves. If the guard is up top, Maaka will take care of him with a little CQC.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
The mouse... isn't with Corona and Maaka. Nope. She's way, way up above, waiting for the signal.

A signal that comes in the form of Maaka making the leap across. At that, the rodent banks over hard and drops out of the sky, matching speed with the train as she levels out behind it, pulling alongside Maaka for Leyanne to give a cocky salute before rocketing forward towards the engine. Once she arrives there, she detatches her jetwing and drops the last ten or fifteen feet onto the roof.

She grabs hold of something with her organic arm and just starts try and punch her way through.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    A train robbery. An HONEST-TO-GOD train robbery, in what could qualify for 'the old west' despite all its technology. And a crapload of other differences. But who cares, it's a TRAIN ROBBERY! How often does a guy get to do something like this, and have it be completely justified -- morally, if not legally? Josuke is inordinately excited to be doing this, particularly against slimy guys like the Copperchoke people. About the only thing keeping him from bouncing in his seat excitedly is that he'd probably go flying out of the truck if he did.

    He's wearing that brown-colored outfit with the lime green turtleneck -- the one he tends to wear when he does stuff where dust and debris might be more of a problem. Though he's also got a bandana tied over his nose and mouth -- just as much to protect from road grit as to hide his identity. Though one might wonder why; that hair is pretty distinctive, and he doesn't have it covered.

    Maaka and Leyanne appear, the latter startling Josuke a little, and he takes that as his cue to get over there. He gets to his feet, quickly calling forth Crazy Diamond. His means of getting over there isn't anything particularly special; he just has his Stand throw him over the distance. Hopefully Maaka takes care of the lookout without issue, otherwise, the lookout is gonna have about 180 pounds of Amerasian flying at his head!

    Once he gets close enough, Josuke re-summons his Stand to catch him so he doesn't bounce, slide, or otherwise hurt himself. Wouldn't do to go hurtling off the top of the train, after all. That would be a nasty fall.

Nova Terra (6381) has posed:
    As the truck pulls up to the train, Nova is just finishing her preparations. She slides the clip into her rifle and pulls on the bolt to chamber a round. She's not expecting to need her rifle in this situation, but she always equips herself with the expectation of surprises.

    Nova stands as the truck reaches the rear train car, steadying herself on the fast moving vehicle before quickly and easily jumping clear of the vehicle. Landing on the rear car's balcony, Nova moves to press herself against the rear wall. She glances in through a window, before reaching up to pull her visor down over her eyes. Blue light washes over her and within moments she's vanished from view.

    The rear door opens slowly on its own, which might look a little weird to anyone inside who happens to see. But that's not a big deal as far as Nova's concerned. This isn't actually a stealth mission after all. But by starting off that way, Nova is hoping it'll be easier to move through the train cars towards the one with the mission cargo. Which is what Nova starts to do.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
As everyone else boards the train someone else was here, she's got a tip from one of the train owner's workers who had serious misgivings about this shipment. So she would go snoop about given the world was pretty much lawless she had enough room to snoop, she has old habits and they die hard. She was cloaked and could remain so for some time she's away in an equipment storage car.

She's huddled away trying to find out more when she has a chance but for now, she's been trying to keep hidden and has been on the train for some time. If she only knew who was dropping in on the train, for now, though she sits and waits unaware of anything else is about to happen.

Corona Arclite has posed:
    There is a guard in the mini-cab atop the caboose, and one has to wonder how he didn't see the approaching six-wheeler truck considering that, like a lot of utility vehicles on Brimsteel, it's partially a vivid construction green in color (yellow doesn't show through the local duststorms well enough).
    When she gets up there Maaka can see why though. The coyote is paying more attention to fiddling with a transciever, until he finally gets it tuned in and the opening theme for a local radio show, The Iron Horseman, warbles through the static. Satisfied he sets it down and turns away, only to see the woman climbing up the outside with her magnetic gloves, and scrambles to reach for his rifle and get out the cab window.
    Which turns out to be a bad idea as the sudden DYNAMIC ENTRY from Josuke slams into him, sending the canid over backwards and slamming against the other end of his lookout cab, out like a light.

    "Oh god, he's got THAT thing playing again." grumbles one of the guards down in the caboose proper, complaining about the radio above and not knowing what else it's drowned out. He and the three others are sitting around a table and, what else, playing poker. They all probably have cheat cards tucked away somewhere, too. The other plays a card, then the gopher reachs over to smack one of the others on the head. "Idjit! Ya forgot to latch the door and now it's flappin' open!" The guy he smacked mutters, and puts his cards face down on the table to get up and close the door. Hopefully Nova can squeeze by him to remain unseen.
    And of course the other three guards are trying to peak at the fourth's cards while he's up, so at least they're already distracted.
    The construction of the train car is durable, but it's no match for the bionic Martian arm and a few punchs is all it takes to put a hole in it. Once she drops through the opening Tiny would find herself in a crew cabin. And a lot of crewmen... Who all just back away from her. "Don't hurt us! We just work for the company!" They're all in overalls and such and don't have any weapons, just a bunch of grungy frontier blue collar laborers. Though her hammering blows may attract attention from elsewhere in the train, too.

    Once everyone is on the train Corona pulls away from the side a bit. "How're we doin'?"
    "Right on the mark," Windrose replies as the skunkette looks up and points ahead. "There's the ridge ahead. Turn here and angle to remeet the tracks ahead and we should come out closer to the target car as well."
    "Then away we go!" Corona cranked hard on the wheel and the off-roader turned just as sharp, disappearing around the other side of the scrappile ridge. <"We're on the side road to remeet the train ahead. Yer all on yer own fer a bit.">

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne slips a big revolver from its holster and gestures it towards the roof. "Hands where I can see them please, gents." She says, her face hidden behind her helmet's mask. "I don't have a beef with you. I just need to make sure you're not going to cause me any problems. This is, as I'm sure you've surmised, a robbery. Please don't do anything stupid."

She secures them with cable ties, opening the door to the room she finds herself in and looking for signs of trouble.

"Tiny here, I'm on board at the engine." She reports

Nova Terra (6381) has posed:
    As the guard starts to walk towards her, Nova doesn't risk even trying to squeeze by. She instead silently jumps to pull herself up to the ceiling and holding herself there, patiently waiting for the guard to pass by below. Once he does, she once again silently drops down and begins moving the rest of the way through the car.

    Passing by the guards, Nova takes the opportunity to briefly glimpse into their minds... And catches on to their cheating ways. With just a little bit of applied telekinesis, Nova tries to force the hidden cheat cards from one of the guards to fall to the ground out in the open, where the others can see. Hopefully it'll serve as a good distraction for Nova to get through the next door. And hey, if they beat each other up in the process, bonus!

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Nice timing, dude." Maaka gives a thumbs up at Josuke's minty fresh entrance, JUST in time too. Otherwise that guard would be suffering a case of .45 lobotomy. This is much, much neater. She begins to make her way across the top of the train, leaping over the gaps, making sure she doesn't trip and fall over the edge.

    Eventually she stops at a car, producing a laser cutter and melting herself a hole to drop through. Once it's done, she kicks the chunk of metal and leaps in, prepared for what awaits.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    "Oof!" Fortunately that radio program seems to be loud enough to drown out the sound of Josuke's impact with the lookout. Also fortunate -- hitting the lookout slowed him considerably, so Crazy Diamond has no trouble catching him and making certain he doesn't go careening off the train. Maaka's words get a nod. "That wasn't exactly how I expected that to happen, but it works." He offers a grin and a thumbs-up in Maaka's direction nonetheless.

    Josuke will leave the radio alone, specifically for that reason -- so it can drown out their travel, at least for a small radius. Once he's not going to fall off, he replies over his own radio to Corona, <"Gotcha. Be careful."> Then he starts over the train, staying on the roof. He's staying up there to make sure he can at least slow down any guards that come in from atop the train. Or, failing that, to warn the others they're coming. He's also monitoring the comms as best as he can, just in case someone has some trouble, so he can go there immediately to help.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
There were sounds of something going on Kotone picked it up but did not move for the moment she needs to know just what's going on here but it seems she's not the only one on the train that isn't working for its owner. She wonders who it is? Though she has a hunch about it. Oh heavens this was going to get messy, Kotone was going to attempt to keep hidden and figure out just who is here and why. Though form the sounds of it the arrivals are going to be at her car shortly and she's going to have to make up her mind.

If it's not whom she thinks it is? It could be so much worse than the current guy who has cargo right now having them. So she takes a moment to pause and brace herself for whoever is about to come crashing through her car.

Corona Arclite has posed:
    The door is yanked on to make sure it's shut and locked this time, and by the time he goes back to the table the other three have resumed their positions. He picks up his cards, looks at them, and goes to put more chips in the pot. The next guy over goes to raise his bet to match, and as he's doing so an Ace of Hearts slips out of his sleeve.
    "Hey, he has an ace up his sleeve!" Another guy slams his cards down on the table. "That's not possible, I have all four aces!" The guy next to him puts down his cards. "So do I!" ".. Idiot, those are four Ace of Spades! There's only one in a deck." "Don't lecture me, you're cheating too!"
    The gopher stands up, and grabs both of them by the heads and smacks them together three stooges style. "Iffen yer gonna cheat, at least do it RIGHT!"
    The fourth guy pauses. "... Is this were I'm suppose to flip the table so you can all grab different cards ye--" And gets interrupted by a punch as the argument devolves into a fist fight as Nova slinks away. Well at least no one was holding the Dead Man's Hand.

    The workers all comply with Tiny tying them up without issue. In fact it might actually feel a little rehersed like they were planning on it. Then again, train robberies aren't exactly uncommon in the farther reachs of Brimsteel either, they might just be experienced with the routine. Either way, Leyanne is free to move on to the next car. Though once moving on she's going to come across a few guards that heard her pounding on the roof, and these ones aren't afraid to start shooting when they spot her.
    Though one of them does peer at her, and lean closer to another to mutter something about how she doesn't look like 'the other bandits'. What other bandits? It didn't sound like anyone else in the group had been spotted.

    Maaka's method of making a hole is less attention getting as she cuts her way into one of the equipment cars. There's no guards to be seen here, yet.
    What there IS to see is, if she looks closely enough as she passes through the car, some of the drills and jackhammers are a lot more... uh... modern is the wrong term, considering Corona's own creations are pretty advanced... With less of the greebles and retropunk flare of Brimsteel's usual anachronistic style? That sounds more accurate. Leaving the question of where those came from. But not the main objective of the mission right now, either.

    As he's keeping watch on the roof Josuke would find it to have been a good idea to do so. He's got clear sight of several armed guards climbing onto the rooftops farther up the train, closer to where Leyanne pounded her way in. Which means they're not looking towards the back of the train just yet. An oppritunity to do something about them.

    Despite the opposite ends approach and some resistance here and there, the group as a whole is not far from their objective of the locked down freight car in the middle of the train. They should be able to be inside and ready to haul whatever the loot is out again by the time Corona reconvienes with the transport.

    And they still don't know Kotone is in there either. Who needs a cardboard box?!

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Hn." Maaka notes the advanced technology, snagging some of the tools for later. <"Grabbed some gear, these guys have some kit that's way too advanced looking for this world. Even for the biggest players around here, much less."> She comments, stuffing them into her MattMan's inventory as the equipment seems to dissipate into the little device one by one.

    She settles for about three of each, before she goes back to the job, going through to the next car with her pistol out and loaded. The suppressed FNX-45 is all she brought, but it'll do just fine for close-quarters combat, as Maaka checks the smart-link installed in the grip, checking corners as she goes.

Nova Terra (6381) has posed:
    Nova just invisibly shakes her head a little at the scuffle behind her as she slips into the next car.

    Maaka probably won't be surprised as Nova appears from nowhere beside her. Having caught up to her, Nova replies, "They probably either 'borrowed' the equipment from someone... Or someone not local to this area is influencing things."

    Nova begins to move through the next cars along with Maaka. She doesn't have her rifle drawn though, the large weapon attached to her back. The quarters on the train are far too close for such a weapon. Instead Nova has psi-blade out, the weapon glowing with its blue psionic energy.

    Nova probes ahead with her psychic senses, trying to get some advanced warning on any hostiles that might be in their way to the objective.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Seeing the armed guards heading for the car he saw Leyanne go into -- or well, near enough to it that he doesn't like where they are -- he mutters, "...Crap." Over the comms (hopefully everyone's on the same frequency), he warns, <"Careful, we have armed guards up of the top of the train."> He of course gives their location. <"I'll try to keep 'em busy.">

    Now, he's taken to carrying small bags of wooden pellets since his ancestor Jonathan Joestar taught him Hamon. Why wooden? Because wood is organic, and organic substances hold a Hamon charge long enough for his Stand to flick a charged pellet at a target.

    So he fishes some of those pellets out of his pocket, summoning his Stand only partway -- to those who can see it, Crzy Diamond would appear to be sticking out of his back. That he's crouching on the roof to avoid being blown off by the wind makes this a little easier. He passes the pellets to his Stand... and then pauses. Concentrate. Breathe out, push EVERY BIT of air out. Hold. Breathe in like it's his very first breath.

    When he feels the warmth begin to build, he transfers it to the pellets through his Stand... and then Crazy Diamond begins flicking the pellets at the guards. These guys wouldn't be terribly affected by a Hamon charge, but it would ensure that the pellet survived the trip, and it might make it strong enough to do some actual damage -- since if these guys are armed, they're probably armored too.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne ducks into the cover of the door between cars as shots ring out, leaning out of cover to engage in the other staple of wild western train robberies; the gunfight between carriages. Unfortunately for the Company goons, Leyanne's armour can stand up to most pistol-calibre rounds without trouble; after a few moments she just stands in the doorway and takes the fire, returning it in kind like Robocop might.

When her gun runs dry, the mouse marches forward and just choke-slams the nearest remaining goon. SHe ducks back into cover when she hears the sharp crack of a rifle and the running gunfight resumes

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
The Train Bandits are making good progress here and Kotone will be finding out very soon, she would watch as Leyanne makes her move and moves to take down the company goons while she keeps under cover. She would end up not doing the smart thing in the world as she moves to find Leyanne behind cover and a disembodied voice goes.

"So what's a nice mouse like you doing in a place like this?"

Its' clearly Kotone's voice and she decloaks.

"Seem my plan's on fire now..."

Corona Arclite has posed:
    Either of Nova's conclusions could be right... And neither of them very reassuring. Copperchoke was a scumbag of an industrialist, as anyone in the group that has dealt with the obnoxious goat can contest to. Yes, goat, as in that's what anthropomorphic animal he is, as well as general demeanor. Meanwhile as they move through the last few cars there's not much resistance, and a lone guard or two is easily put out of commission with Maaka's stun weapon. The worst they'll wake up with is a headache, and they're probably accustomed to being hungover as it is.

    Part of that is because a good portion of the guards went in the direction that the most noise came from and crossed paths with the cause of said noise. Resulting in a run and gunfight through the last few cars, but they don't really have anything that can do more than maybe plunk the Martian Mouse a little. Brimsteel firearms may be a little more advanced than their Old West counterparts, but Copperchoke is a cheap bastard so none of these security grunts have fancier than revolvers with clockwork autoloaders. It's a furious gunfight but it's not going to last too long before her superior firepower, sheer infragability in comparison to them, and a little unseen help from Kotone to convince them they're very outmatched. It quickly has the ones that aren't put out cold backing off.

    The other group had gone up onto the roof, stopped to inspect around the hole made by Leyanne. "They're early," one of them mutters.
    "... Who's earl--" A second replies, but he's cut off by something nailing him in the side. He oofs loudly and, while the shot itself isn't all that harmful, the force is enough to knock him over and falling down the hole in the roof. The others turn to look in the direction they had ignored, but as none of them can see the Stand and Josuke is crouched down low all they see is nothing. Yet anotehr guy yelps as he's nailed and his hat goes flying off. To which the others scramble to get away from the pelting, back down into the train and likely just hiding in a corner of the nearest car. They're not paid enough to deal with ghosts!

    In the end, despite coming from opposite directions the two groups would meet the same thing on the sides of the target car -- the doors heavily barred and locked.
    Well, heavily by local standards. This crew probably has multiple ways to get them open, or just break their way in.

    Inside the locked car it's not hard to find their target. Considering the only thing IN the secured freight car is a large metal crate locked up tight, and this time much like the equipment Maaka saw much more advanced. It's not so big it won't fit in the transport though, so it's probably quicker to get the main boxcar door open to dump it out into the truck, and worry about getting the crate open later.

    Though it might strike folks odd that there's no guards in here, and the doors clearly weren't unlocked for them to leave to join the other groups. Something isn't adding up here...

    It probably doesn't help that while they're getting situated Corona's voice crackles over the comms <"Pardners, we may need to up the timetable a li'l bit. Got a situation and we're comin' in hot!"> To which Windrose can be heard shouting "UNDERSTATEMENT" in the background of the comm.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Holstering her sidearm, Maaka finds the crate after she plants a charge. It makes enough of a bang to disable the lock with ease, before Maaka kicks the door in with immense force and zero-subtlety. If she sees any trouble ahead, she'll take care of it. Maaka secures the area as she finds THE CRATE. Approaching it, she examines the container and narrows her eye. "Gonna need to figure this out later." She murmurs under her breath.

    <"What's up, Corona?"> She asks with concern as the fox's voice comes over comms, already looking for some kind of door latch on the walls she can push the container out for Corona to catch using her truck. That may have to wait, as Corona's not quiiiiite there yet. YET.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne blinks and looks in the direction of the voice, shrugging. "Word got out that an unpleasant company had something that the locals don't want them seen. Figured it was about time for some turnabout - Corona's leading." She comments, getting into her cart by the simple expedient of grabbing hold of the door and ripping it free. Being an eight-foot super-cyborg has its advantages sometimes. "Besides, it's rare you get to engage in a train robbery while also remaining the good guys."

She grins and gives Josuke a thumbs-up when he joins her, moving to join Maaka by the crate. She keeps her pistols in hand, however, just in case. "...anyone get the feeling this is suspiciously ill-guarded in-" She's cut off by Corona, letting Maaka ask the million-credit queston...

Nova Terra (6381) has posed:
    Nova follows Maaka into the cargo car, the energy blade of her sword fading away as she returns it to her back. Glancing around, she confirms that the car is empty apart from the expected cargo. And their allies. Plus one, it seems.

    At the mention of the car being unguarded, Nova shrugs, "Maybe the cargo is so valuable they didn't want the guards to have access either. If this is indeed the result of an outside influence, maybe that person doesn't trust this group. And I wouldn't blame them."

    Nova moves over to help with the side door. Swinging it open, she grabs hold of the top of the frame and leans out. Her ponytail kicks up in the rushing wind as she looks around for signs of the truck. Or whatever the reported 'situation' is.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    "Ha!" Josuke scoffs, as the group of guards flees. And over the comms, he warns, <"OK, they're running now. Careful, one of you might run into them on their way back down."> A pause though, and he notes, <"They said something about someone being 'early'." I dunno if it's us or not, but they were expecting someone that was gonna damage stuff.">

    He's listening to comm chatter aside from that as he heads over to meet with the rest of the Elites here. He nods at Leyanne's words. "That too. And they seemed like they were giving up way too fast. I mean, I can understand the 'I'm not getting paid enough to deal with this' line of thought, but this is a little weird even for that."

    And he frowns when Corona mentions a 'situation'. "...<Great>... I had a feeling this was too easy." Then he asks, over the comm this time, <"What's wrong?">

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks to Leyanne for a moment who doesn't seem to skip a beat here, she does see the guards are pulling out and she was very much. "This has so gone to hades in a handbasket today." She really should do something about this but given the nature of the tip she's going to make a call even if she's ending up in hot water for it later, she had intended to observe, and now she's caught up in this mess, she was here to find out what it is and she needs to know if it's harmless she can ahem deal with things later. She's also very thankful there is no formal law on this planet, so very /thankful/.

"I see why my source was spooked about this thing..."

Corona Arclite has posed:
    The 'situation' as Corona called it becomes all too apparent when the offroader truck comes speeding around the end of the ridge it disappeared behind.... And a gang of modified dunebuggys, steamcycles and a few jacked up trucks in hot pursuit of it.

    In the cab of the offroader Windrose is still staring behind them. "Why the blue hell were the Black Hats gathering to ambush the train? Don't they work for Copperchoke under the table?" The skunk turned to glare at Corona. "And why for goodness sake did you DRIVE right THROUGH their camp!?"
    "It was in the way," Corona replied without missing a beat. "But yer right, somethin' about it stinks.... No offense. Is the rig ready?" Windrose may not engineer things like she does, but the skunkette was a fine operator of things already made, and nodded her readiness. "Then hold on!"

    Corona slammed a foot down on the brakes and spun the wheel hard. Dirt and rust was kicked into the air as the offroader lurched into a sideways skid for a few tense moments, and then skidded into facing backwards. At which Corona let up on the brake, shifted into reverse and punched the throttle all the way down. There is very little loss of momentum with the maneuver, the truck roaring back up to speed, now in reverse as it's moving to pull up alongside the train car with the loot. <"We ran across some Black Hat Gang prepping a train heist of their own,"> she starts explaining quickly over the comms once the trick driving is done. <"So it's good we beat 'em to the punch... But bad because why would they be settin' up to hijack a train owned by their boss?"> Granted, only they know the Black Hats work for Copperchoke from the time he tried to rob their train, but that doesn't make it any less suspicious.

    Corona is busy explaining and driving (in reverse!), but Windrose has the rest covered as she fiddles with her secondary controller. There is one quirk of the offroader's design, and that is the modded engine to get these speeds was too big to fit in the usual front space, so Corona had installed it in the back as part of the infrastructure under the bed. But that had left room in the front for something else.
    Like the multi-barreled minigun that extends out of the front after the decorative grille slides away, and at Windrose's command opens fire. She can't really aim accurately with all the crazy driving but it's not really needed as the sweeping volleys do make the Black Hat drivers panic and scatter, different vehicles speeding off in different directions to evade. It won't be long before they come back for another pass though, and probably ready for the opposition that time.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka blinks, <"Wait, what?"> She stares in confusion at Leyanne, Kotone, and company as she listens to Corona speak over the line. <"That doesn't make a lick of sense. Unless it's got something to do with what's in this fancy crate."> She clangs the side of the container rather firmly before she looks to Leyanne. "Think you can make us a hole to throw this through?" the cyborg asks, as she hears Corona's vehicle getting closer and closer to their car.

    Maaka herself gets to work setting thermo-wire charges, basically directed thermite. Should make a decent sized hole once it's all set up. "All I need you to do is handle the heavy lifting."

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    <"Black Hats?"> Josuke asks, through the comm. A pause. <"It was planned! The guards must have been expecting them!"> he realizes. <"That's what the guards said up top -- 'they're early'. Copperchoke must have known, to have been able to warn the guards on the train beforehand. Maybe they're trying to get this stuff into the Black Hats' hands without anybody knowing it. It's pretty unusual for typical technology from this world, right?">

    He's saying this over the comms for Corona's benefit, but since everyone's standing together (mostly), the Elites on the train can also hear his realization and the speculation it brings. He's not sure, of course, but... well. It's a possibility. <"I mean, who could accuse Copperchoke of purposely giving important technology to the Black Hats if the Black Hats robbed their train? It's a good PR move.">

Nova Terra (6381) has posed:
    Seeing the convoy of vehicles starting to rush the train, Nova hmphs in unsurprise. It seems like she called it, judging by what she's hearing from the others. Taking several specific steps back away from the open door, Nova says, "I'll help deal with the thieves." The other thieves.

    Nova dashes for the door, gripping hold of the upper frame and flipping herself out and up onto the roof. Landing in a crouch, she reaches back to retrieve her rifle and then raises it up. Through her scope she can see the Black Hat vehicles breaking away to prepare for another run.

    Not a problem.

    Nova adds a little lead on her aim before firing off a shot. In this situation trying to hit the drivers would be an impressive feat. Something Nova is capable of. But she doesn't feel the accomplishment is worth the added difficult. So she plays it safe and targets the engines of their vehicles. Ghost rifles are capable of penetrating the armour of Siege Tanks. The slapped together rides of some outlaw gang probably don't stand a chance.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne listens to Josuke, nodding softly. "Makes sense." She looks to Maaka, grinning. "No worries." She walks to the side of the train nearest Corona's rig, She punches against it until she's got a nice hole to grip onto, and then she starts leaning back and tearing, using a combination of brute strength and an impressively hig mass. "So this is something they really didn't want be looked at by the Rangers, but too big to hide." she grunts as she rips at the metal of the train.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Well things are hitting the fan now there's little she can do about this if she were to try to stop it she could not she was outnumbered by too many heavy hitters and people who knew her too well. However, someone else is after it? If it's a doomsday tech, she knows this group won't use it. She'll err on that and move to start making ready to get the hell out of here.

<<We need to get moving and if this is bad mojo I'd rather have you people have this than some unknown party.>>

With that she's going to make to cloak again and move to try and get off as Maaka or someone else makes a way off this train.

<<Black hats? Oh hell, we don't want them getting this, whatever it is. We do not want them to get it>>

She'll make use of firing several shots from her rifle to try and keep the attacker at bayt but she's not trying to pick anyone off.

Corona Arclite has posed:
    While the smaller vehicles are scrambling to regroup the driver of one of the bigger trucks decides to take matters into his own hands. Obviously these other bandits are after the same thing but can't do much without their transport, so he lines his vehicle up with Corona's and starts closing in to ram it away from the train... Only for a massive plume of smoke to erupt from under the hood as Nova's impeccable aim and armor penetrating weapon obliterates the engine. It creaks and sputters as it looses speed and finally comes to a stop well away from it's intended target... and then falls apart. To the point that the driver is left sitting in his seat on the ground, holding a steering wheel no longer attatched to anything else.
    A few of the bikers were considering similar with getting onto the offroader to stop the driver but they're quickly warded off by Kotone's additional shots.

    That is enough to make the rest of the Black Hats realize whatever is in that crate in the locked car is a lost cause. The smaller vehicles pull up along the train by way towards the back, riders jumping onto the train to get to the other cars with the 'advanced equipment'. Tech theivery is the Black Hats MO so that part of the rouse is at least in tact. There's no time for the brave raiders to come back and stop them from stealing that too.

    But Copperchoke wanting whatever in is in the security crate bad enough to have his own gang steal it so no one knew what it is though, that's a lot of questions that are going to need answering. Later.

    Thanks to the dissauding cover fire and Leyanne ripping open the side of the cargo car to make an opening, it's easy enough for Maaka's precision demolitions to blow off what's keeping the crate locked to the floor, and there is more than enough muscle present in the group to heave the crate out into the back of the truck. Once everyone else is aboard with it Corona pulls the away from the train and pulls another fancy turn to get it going in forward once more to drive away.

    MISSION COMPLETE

    ... But what's IN the crate will have to wait...

Nova Terra (6381) has posed:
    Seeing the new pirates beginning to board, Nova jumps back down into the cargo car, "Time to go!" Although it's clear that the others are already aware of that, having finished moving the cargo crate onto the truck. Nova moves to jump onto the vehicle, but pauses mid-step. She turns, looking at the now empty cargo car and hmmms.

    Nova draws her psi-blade once more, lowering it towards the floor of the car right where the cargo used to be. What was that name again? ... Ah yes. Nova starts flicking her wrist, the tip of the monomolecular blade slicing into the surface of the floor. It doesn't take Nova too long before she finishes up. She turns around and runs for the exit, proceeding to jump out of the car and onto the truck, before settling down for the ride out of here. Nova isn't sure if her actions will bear any fruit. But then there was no harm in trying.

    Etched into the floor of the cargo car are three words: 'Copperchoke says hello.'

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka leaps across to the truck once the package is secure, drawing an assault rifle from her inventory space. It's black, it's bulpup, it's...FRENCH!?

    "Huh, forgot I had you." Maaka quips, before she takes aim with the FAMAS G2, opening fire with short bursts at the raiders to get them to buzz off. It's not exaclty meant to drop anybody, just scare them off while the gang gets to the truck so they can escape.

    Her mind is racing with thoughts, like why is Copperchoke letting his own deniable assets raid his stuff, and just WHAT is in that crate? So that's a more important thing to think about.

Josuke Higashikata (1119) has posed:
    Things are turning into a tangled mess pretty quickly. Which is usually the cute to get the hell out of there. Josuke only waits long enough to make sure everyone's heading for Corona's ride before summoning his Stand to throw him back onto Corona's truck. He's careful to check for signs of pursuit as they're heading off. And once he's sure they're not being followed?

    He grins. "...Oh wow, that was <great>!" he crows, again as excited as he was on the trip to the train. Teens will be teens, one supposes...

Corona Arclite has posed:
*** Hours Later ***

    The radio transciever started to beeeeeeep beeeeeep obnoxiously loud. This in itself annoyed Copperchoke, partially because he was in middle of eating. Why were they calling in now? The job moving that crate along with the other gear should of taken long enough the check-in wasn't until after dinner. Thankfully none of his staff were present to hear the device going off until he finally fumbled it out of a pocket and hit the two-way control. "Why the he-e-ell are y'all already ca-a-allin'?" he snarled, aggrivation making his 'goat' accent bleat all the more prominantly.

    The chatter on the other end answered, clearly distraught over his annoyed tone. "So ya-a-a got the goods? A-a-a-ll of it?"

    The reply was understandably hesitant. All of the advanced gear, most of it related to mining or demoltions... Except one thing. "Exce-e-ept WHAT?" One thing that the answer with made his expression twist even more into a frustrated, dismayed sneer.

    And the radio device smashing against the wall on the opposite of the room. And a clenched fist shook overhead as high as his scrawny stature allowed as frustration quickly shifted to rage.

    "A-A-ARCLI-I-I-ITE!!!"

    It HAD to be her somehow. No one else would have the audicity to meddle in his affairs even without knowing about them!