Scene #7700: Heist at the Expo

Owner	Pose
Kukuru	After recovering the bodies of the Concord's agents from about a week ago, Kukuru's put them through their paces to make sure they understand what they did wrong and to be careful the next time they think about doing something stupid again. Today, they've done something stupid again. A silent alarm was been tripped during a tech expo featuring all sorts of big names in entertainment and consumer tech. Prototypes and newly unveiled products litter the stages, but nobody's quite ready to show them off thanks to the previously mentioned stupid things happening. As the unnamed Concord agents improvise in the back rooms and get into their own heist-related shenanigans, Kukuru is front and center, going right through the crowds of event organizers trying to get out of the way over each other. Some of the displays have already been closed up, but numerous more have not. One of the more innocuous items, a prototype energy generator, is still among the items that hasn't been moved just yet, and it seems to be the thing Kukuru is already approaching at high* speeds. In said approach, Kukuru has already thrown a few guards around (some of whom seem to be bent at unhealthy angles), and she's currently being stalled by the police and guards who have already begun firing on her with both solid rounds and plasma shots. A few cars outside the expo center have been bisected as if cleaved through by a giant knife, and there's already a fair bit of fire inside and outside the combination digital and physical premises. *She's walking briskly. Not quite a jog, but faster than a powerwalk.
MEDEA	This is an area where robots can walk free. MEDEA is definitely going to take advantage of that. Her short humanoid body is earthy greens and blues - a flat torso, robot feet, weird robot hands, and an orb-shaped head, with a digital display instead of any sort of face. Her display is currently on :3 mode. This is because she's inside the expo. And she's going to have some fun, fill out her resume, and maybe get some loot for the Watch. Wifi and digital signals are traced. Sources are located, detected, and all the cool tech is ogled. "Ooh, I want that, and that, and that." A DM goes out to each of the heist crew. How she got their phone numbers so quickly, they wouldn't know (it's because they brought their phones). "hey noobs :3. you're totally going to jail unless you work with me!!! i'll take a portion of the profits and whatever i want besides your primary objective, and you get meddy-chan's hacker surprise. sound good?" Of course it sounds good, and she's going to do it either way. The robot girl steps forward, and moves to pick up a cutting edge gaming device on display. She'll yoink it once she gets a chance to do what she's doing next. Meanwhile, she's interfacing with the security cameras in the building. They all reach a loop. In the expo, the loop is spliced to look 'real' but like everyone's evacuating. Everywhere else, it's empty halls or rooms.
Midway	Circling over the expo building for the majority of the morning has been a trio of small, white, spherical things. The average passerby has been assuming they're balloons or the like, lost by some child or perhaps tethered on a string and anchored to the building's upper terrace, given how they keep circling around it. Not very large and also not easily noticed, though, such a thing wouldn't make sense for advertising or attracting attention. Because they aren't serving that purpose. When chaos started to erupt, the lead balloon of the trio split open, revealing rows of mismatched, pointed teeth as it banked into another turn. Out in the river, scarlet eyes open, narrow glowing slits in the depths. The initial plan was to wait until the expo was winding down. When the organizers were tired; when they relaxed their guard; when they were packing up. Then, she would make her move. But it seems someone else was considerably less patient; and the Princess of Progress' hand has been forced. The calm river surface suddenly erupts in a geyser of foam. As it collapses, a ghastly pale woman stands upon the water, clad in white, accented in glistening, corroded black steel. Without a word, the Princess of Progress approaches the expo site with swift, purposeful steps.
Kukuru	MEDEA is practically in a playground right now. All sorts of tech, consumer and otherwise, prototypes, new stuff, old stuff, not to mention all the stuff that's actively in use here. Really, the only thing this expo is missing is magical artifacts, and even those are probably being carried around by some of the visitors to the expo center. 'The hell? How'd you get this number?' 'does it matter she has it' 'wat do you want' 'if ur here 4 $ then take it' 'Do what you want. we're only here for one person anyway.' 'can you take down security systems? cameras and shit' '+ unlock the doors bcus our hacker feel alseep' Unknown to the heisters, MEDEA's already taken care of the cameras. There's still a fair number of security doors keeping the good stuff locked down, but it'd be a pretty simple matter to bust them open one way or another. There's plenty of gaming devices and other crazy machines to mess with, too, and it seems that it's these very devices that might be worth more than any actual money located on the premises. At first, the balloon-ish things go ignored, largely because the guards and police are (understandably) more worried about the person already carving through their vehicles and throwing them around like rag dolls. It's not until the balloon splits into a pile of freaking teeth that they call attention to the thing, and it doesn't take long until they start opening fire on whatever it is. For better or for worse, they still haven't noticed the figure from the river. That gives Midway a pretty good chance at getting closer without being noticed until it's too late. Kukuru does stare in her direction for a moment, however, but that might just be a trick of the light. They're so far away from each other, after all. She might just be looking at the police instead, especially considering that she's just thrown part of a dug-up stage at them to demolish another car.
MEDEA	Kukuru is finally noticed by MEDEA, and she doesn't give a damn. She's fighting the police! As the heist crew responds...she fires back quick messages. "because i'm the wonderful meddy-chan, greatest hacker in the multiverse" "cameras are splicing a loop, you're home free on that doors will be one secccc" As she moves to finally pick up the console, she's also checking if there's any RAM or anything. She doubts they'll be having a search algorithm, but new RAM is easy. And then, she's bringing up a golden holographic HUD. She begins tapping with her free hand, as doors suddenly start disengaging. "done. if you find a dolly or something i can carry all this shit with, i'll help you even further!!! consider it a good trade"
Midway	When fired upon, the trio of Abyssal aircraft overhead waggle their wings, then bank away. Scout planes are often unarmed, saving weight and extending fuel reserves, after all. When Midway hits the embankment, something rises out of the water underneath her, lifting her to street level. That object, a colossal sphere, hauls itself up until it takes a position behind her. Like the aircraft overhead, this much larger orb also splits open, the white surface cracking to reveal black steel and misaligned teeth underneath, its interior glowing with a hostile crimson light. Backed by this, Midway rears up to her full seven foot height, glowering down at these objectively smaller humans with those disinterested, glowing crimson eyes. "You are in my way." It's not a voice that belongs to a human. Resonant. Slightly distorted, "Disappear." The parasite behind her yawns its maw open, disgorging mangled chunks of metal in the shape of ship hulls, cannons mounted to gun turrets already in the process of traversal, "Or die." About the only electronic signal she's putting out is analog radar. It might stand out for those looking for it; antiquated as it may be.
Kukuru	'If you say so. We're counting on you then' 'good work kid. shoping cart ok?' CALL INCOMING One of the heisters has probably stopped looking at their phone already. The other two are still communicating with Medea as they move through the expo hallways, taking advantage of the looping camera system to speed up the process of whatever it is they're doing. On the way, one of them even manages to ID a forklift, taking note of it and relaying its location to MEDEA in the event they can't get back to it later. The device MEDEA yoinks, meanwhile, is fully functional! It's got a persistent internet connection and even wireless connections to ensure the prospective buyer (or thief) has access to all of its network features. That might be worth removing at some point, but on the other hand... Not having to pay an ISP or reroute it to another one. Meanwhile, with the security cameras spoofed, the police that aren't focused on Midway and Kukuru start trying to enter from the less guarded-looking areas to get people out of there. Thanks to said spoofing, however, they wind up running into people that either aren't moving as expected whether for fear of their lives, their stuff, or otherwise. There's already a traffic jam of people at multiple points in the center, so it's probably not going to be long before they have to rely on eyesight rather than trusting their own tech. Cars screech to a stop as they swerve to avoid crashing into Midway's unidentified sphere ride. She hasn't been identified as an immediate threat just yet, but her very presence is enough to intimidate civilians into either turning the other way or parking their vehicles on the sidewalks and hoping she doesn't notice them and do... Something. Judging from the teeth, probably eat them. They would not like that. The police and guards at the expo itself, meanwhile, now face a battle on three fronts. They can't trust their high-tech gear thanks to MEDEA, and they can scarecely trust their eyes between trying to figure out what Midway and Kukuru are. The more foolhardy officers try to fire on her a little longer, but they're also facing down naval armaments that they're just unfamiliar with due to the sheer gap in time periods. "Ah? You're here to help, too?" Kukuru calls out from over the din of police sirens, crunching metal, and also gunshots and general people-chatter from further inside the expo center. She promptly staggers back from taking bullet to the forehead, bringing one of her massive claws up to peel it out. It takes a few moment for the wound to heal over, but it does in time, and then she digs her claws into the floor once more. "Or are you here for the... Um. The hot thing? 'cause if you wanna take the other stuff, that's fine." Kukuru tears some more flickering tiling out of the ground, then frisbee-tosses it at the guards. Even when it only wings the sides of their helmet (because her aim's not great), it still manages to break through rather messily. "But... Um. Are you cold coming out of the water like that?"
Midway	Soft copper-jacketed lead rounds strike Midway; it's like shooting a tank. Her ghostly pale skin gets a dark mark here or there where a round manages to get some bite. In other places, the projectiles flatten as if against steel plates. The neutral, vaguely threatening expression on her face changes just a touch in exactly the right way to convey annoyance. The cannons projecting from her hips finish their traversal and she raises a hand, fingers splayed. In comparison to the handguns going off, it's a much louder report that resonates off the distant buildings on the other side of the river. The entire space in front of her fills with gray smoke, jets of flame, and shrapnel. Not the typical high explosive or armor piercing round. Something more akin to what comes out of a shotgun. Perhaps intended for use against aircraft in some distant past. She did warn them. "It does not matter," Midway's eyes close, drawing her hand up and curling her fingers. The metallic brace creaks, "Your 'hot thing' is of no interest to me, so we are perhaps not at odds." The Princess tilts her head slightly, one eye cracking open, "Deep sea surveying. High precision SONAR. That is what I require." Her head turns towards those civilians who have stopped their cars, presumably to watch, that eye closing and the other opening. She regards these people for a long, quiet moment, surrounded by smoke and the stench of cordite. And then, inexplicably, she raises her hand with her fingers splayed. "Thank you for attending our cosplay show," The intense menace of her voice is gone. Is she trying to imitate Re-Class' casual cheer? "Please come again in two hours for the next part of the story."
MEDEA	"shopping cart fine!!!" MEDEA takes her prize and starts heading towards the little forklift, putting it on top, and then starts pushing the forklift back to the expo. She pushes the cart around, and starts grabbing computers, smaller high-tech valuable stuff, and as much RAM as she can possibly find. All of the RAM. ALL OF IT. And then, to keep eyes on her, she pulls up that HUD again. She starts furiously typing, electronic signals being sent out, as suddenly, the digital speakers become hers. She speaks to the whole expo. "Ladies, germs, please make an orderly exit! Ignore the girl with the forklift stealing everything. As the sole master planner - lovely Meddy-chan - I will in fact shoot you with beam cannons!" Strangely, she doesn't touch the generator. She realizes that's probably their goal, and she's not going to fuck with her '''allies'''.
Kukuru	The officers and guards stare in shock as Midway's cannons go off, and the destruction spread by those cannons is immediate. Some of the smaller buildings go up in flames, and the larger ones appear to be dangerously close to toppling over with one or more supports already giving out from the blasts. It also means that they're not going to stop shooting, but that also means it's all technically in (some kind of) self-defense should she return fire directly on them. Or, in this case, when Kukuru throws part of a stage through their cover vehicles. "I guess not. That means we're friends, then." Kukuru half-shouts half-murmurs, sounding oddly pleasant despite all the blood and carnage. "If you're looking for ocean stuff... Um... Oh. I think I have a map of the show floor here." Reaching into a pocket (with those oversized claws still on, no less), she actually manages to pull out and unfurl a map of the event's floor plan for the weekend. "Let's see. B21 is over there..." It's going to take her a while to figure out that floor plan. Still, the fact she still has one might be a boon if Midway doesn't want to just blast her way around haphazardly, even if the local resistance is rather ill-equipped for the trio causing yet more chaos. The civilians watching Midway from the car, meanwhile, just start clapping very slowly and awkwardly. They don't look convinced, but they're at least trying to look like they are. It probably has something to do with those explosions earlier. With the forklift in tow (and even with a palette to conveniently pile stuff onto), MEDEA finds that it's actually relatively easy to get all the stuff she could ever want from the showroom floor. She can snatch up computers, RAM that's technically not even on the market yet that doubles as video cards for some reason, video cards with their own storage units, and even long-range air conditioning units to cool entire server rooms with one stupidly powerful wall unit. The guards are busy dealing with Midway and Kukuru out front if they're not already busy evacuating attendees, and the staff trying to get any of that stuff away certainly aren't being paid enough to try and actually stop the robot girl from ramming her stuff right through. When MEDEA's voice comes through the speakers, the police start getting a little antsier. Some of them start trying to break off from engaging the two out front, apparently willing to test their luck against her beam cannons. Their guns are still largely small caliber handguns and plasma pistols, though, as the ones with the military-grade weaponry are already occupied. 'We're just about done up here, Medea.' 'meddy-chan' 'I am not calling her meddy-chan' 'meddy-chan do you got a ride out' 'stol the bosss keys ther limo in pking lot'
Midway	"The show is over," Midway intones, the menace returning to her voice. The parasite behind her yawns its mouth open once again. This time, what it spills out is a cluster of smaller spheres. Abyssal aircraft. These unfurl their wings and take flight-- and are not unarmed. Scattering into pairs, the attack planes begin harassing the police and guard units with strafing runs from multiple angles. Some drop bombs, little things that are somewhat like the payload of a small grenade. It's all so that Midway can turn her attention to Kukuru and the map she has produced. She rests one hand against the thorned collar obscuring her chin, tapping one black nail against a spine with the rhythmic chime of steel on steel. The other hand is raised, swishing about as a conductor would while guiding an orchestra. "I see. Second level, back side. Of course they would place that unit far from the water it was meant to be used in. Human intelligence never ceases to disappoint." She doesn't wait. While her aircraft continue to terrorize the men out front who have dared to fire on their master, she swivels to the entrance herself, striding for the door. The Princess does seem to dislike those who brought energy weapons; those are the ones who score the darkest marks on her skin. And those are the ones she targets with bombing runs in return. Leave it to War to turn an expo into a warzone.
MEDEA	"keys? hah, that's so last millennium!!! ill fire up the smart ignition and have the limo personally let you in! remember to set a route" MEDEA has her big forklift, and some cops on her. Showoff time. She puts away her HUD, and focuses. The miniaturization tech she uses suddenly turns off, as floating beam cannon 'bits' appear around and above her. A lot of them. "Move aside, pigs, orderly line." >:3 And then, the leader of the cops gets several beam cannons all focusing at the same place - his brain - and blowing his head off like it was a cancerous tumor. After it's disintegrated, she starts pushing her forklift forward again. The small-caliber handguns all but bounce off her. The plasma pistols leave some burn, but she'll be fine. She's had DAEDALUS harden her for battle, after all. MEANWHILE, the limousine mentioned pulls up outside the exit point for the heist group. Once they're in and decide to leave... It's playing Grecian Folk Pop Nightcore. It cannot be turned off. MEDEA will find her own exit.
Kukuru	The guards and police are ill-equipped to deal with aircraft, to say the least. Flying cars, sure, but those tend to be large targets that aren't also spitting gunfire at them. At most, it would be the passengers that would still be squishy enough to shoot directly, or they could even have their hacking teams mess with the vehicles themselves. Unfortunately for them, Midway's fighters are anything but digital creations. They're analog, and they have no clue how to actually deal with that. At most, their plasma rifles might have a shot at doing some damage, but even that only lasts for as long as Midway takes to blast them and everything around them with explosives. "Second level... Oh, there. Yeah. Good job~" Kukuru practically beams at Midway when she figures it out so quickly, even reaching over to give her a gentle pat on the back or orb thing depending on what she can reach. "Yeah, humans can be kind of... Something, but they can be really impressive sometimes, too. It's all in how they're raised." With Midway heading for the back, that leaves Kukuru to handle the guards in the front. She seems fine with that, even if it would mean taking a bit longer to get her 'hot thing'. It's still faster than expected, though, as what's left of the police and the guards are short work between Kukuru just carving through them, MEDEA blasting the absolute shit out of them and their leader, and the heisters finally coming out to join the Elites with a fair amount of bloody and burnt holes in their suits and masks. "Come on, let's keep it movin'!" "MEDDY-chan! You want a mask, too?" "I found a food printer." The heisters form up on MEDEA and dive into the limo whether or not she actually answers them, ready to get out of their with a job well done. Kukuru will wait until the limo's gone before she heads right back in to get her 'hot thing'.
MEDEA	As the heisters join them, MEDEA gives a little wave. "Nah, I'm good! Wouldn't fit anyways." :) As they dive into the limo, keeping that smile on, she simply says. "Next time you need a hacker, I'm very affordable for what I can do~." And with the cops down, she moves to start pushing her forklift back to the warpgate as the hover-limo leaves. Her destination: the nearest Watchtower, to dump this RAM, and then back to the Olympus with her haul.
Midway	Midway meanwhile has more or less abandoned her aircraft at the entrance. They continue circling, divebombing guards. When riddled with enough bullets or a solid plasma rifle shot, they either explode or go down in flames, collapsing into wreckage that is some unholy mix of mismatched metal parts, organic teeth, and flammable black sludge. Midway herself has infiltrated the building, leaving the chaos outside to its own devices, making a direct beeline for the object of her interest. She doesn't seem to be one for idle conversation. A bit intense, that one.
Kukuru	With MEDEA escaping the expo area and the heisters finding their own way out, it's up to Kukuru and Midway to fight their way through... There's not a lot of guards left, actually. Out front, the aircraft are still being fired on, but mostly by local police rather than hired personnel. Midway's the first to see that the heisters have actually shot through a fair number of guards themselves, although it doesn't look like they actually took anything from the showroom floors. All that's missing is whatever MEDEA took earlier, and Kukuru's 'hot thing' from the first floor, so Midway actually has a pretty easy time getting to all the seafaring and diving tech on display. There's a lot of it on display, too. All state of the art, most actually suited for use at the deep depths that Midway would be more accustomed to, and all of it basically free for the taking. Kukuru, meanwhile, has finally obtained her... Generator? It's a generator. It's not plugged into anything, but it's really warm without any visible batteries or storage for whatever power it might be putting out. Without further ado, she just shoves that whole thing into her pocket, and then she... Actually joins up with Midway. She still sounds eager to make small talk. "So where're you from, anyway? You look... Kind of unhappy. Are you making sure to sleep enough? And eat right?"
Midway	"...Magnificent," Midway states to herself upon encountering the deep sea exploration display. Her fingers curl, the metal bracework creaking ominously. MINUTES LATER When Kukuru comes upon the Abyssal maiden, she is surrounded by shattered glass. Several of the display cases are empty, and her parasite makes an uneasy crunching sound when she turns in place to stare over her shoulder with wide, nearly-perfect-circular crimson eyes. This expression quickly corrects itself to the half-lidded disinterest the Princess had been wearing the entire time previous. "Intrusive," she remarks, returning her attention to the prize of the collection. Unsubtly, she smashes open the front window of a case containing a torpedo-shaped bouy, bright yellow, with some bits and bobs protruding from it, "I am from the Sea. A lingering grudge. The ghost of an ancient and persistent hatred. Use whichever definition you wish. I assure you, I am quite pleased." She wrenches the device from its mounting, straightening her posture. When asked if she eats enough, she turns her head to simply stare at Kukuru. She in fact makes and maintains eye contact. The entire time, the heavy sonar bouy is lifted, upended, and shoved over her shoulder into the waiting mouth of her parasite, which crunches down on it. Within moments, the device is swallowed and out of sight.
Kukuru	Somehow, the sight of Midway's parasite doesn't put Kukuru off in the least. She just stares right back at the thing with her usual easy going smile, pausing only monetarily to pick up another part of the stage and throw it when she hears more gunshots coming their way. "Right? Ah, but they have their own jobs to do, too, even if they're a pain." Kukuru replies with a light yawn, flinching only briefly at the sound of the glass beraking again. She keeps both eyes open, however, when Midway explains herself. Where she's from, what she is, and more importantly... The fact that she's pleased. "Ah, I see... So your face is just naturally like that. That's fine, too. I know some people at home with that kind of expression, yeah... It must be hard." She murmurs in response, perking up a bit when Midway makes eye contact this time. This, too, is progress for the green-haired woman. "I've got what I needed, and you look like you got what you wanted. I can get us outta here pretty easy if you don't wanna walk all the way back to... Wherever you came from." She offers with chipper, if somewhat tired smile. Kukuru holds a claw out, as if waiting for Midway to take it and as though that explains how they'd get out at all.
Midway	"It is not," Midway states in flat response to Kukuru's supposition. She turns fully to face the woman, arms lifting and folding together. She does not reach out for that offered hand. Rather, she eventually simply steps past her, trailed by the bulbous parasite that itself seems to be somehow satisfied; "I will make my own exit. Do as you wish." She then resumes her stride, absolute confidence in her poise. When she gets back outside, she simply walks right through the warzone she helped create, places a foot on the railing, and hurls herself into the river to sink out of sight. Only then do whatever aircraft she had left disperse, flying out to sea but in seemingly random directions once they're over water.
Kukuru	"Mm.. Alright. Take care, then!" Not one to be discouraged, Kukuru maintains her friendly demeanor even as Midway rejects that offer and finds her own way through the wreckage and rubble. Any remaining responders are largely of the flying cop car variety, but there's not really much in the way of Midway getting to the river and disappearing beneath the depths. "That was a good talk.. Hehe. And I've got what I wanted~" Humming pleasantly to herself, she taps her feet on the floor once before hopping into the air, disappearing into a swirld of dark energy that doesn't leave even a trace of her behind. At least, nothing that was on her or that she was wearing. The expo center is still a mess, but that's for someone else to clean up.