station72 | DAY :048 | DO THE CREEP

Entry tags:

DAY :048 | DO THE CREEP

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: Concordia, Misc.
WHEN: Day :048 - :050
SUMMARY: Seek ~~and destroy~~; the hosts follow up on the three suspects identified at Saffit's fundraiser. One of the three eventually leads somewhere significant...
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary.

((OOC NOTES: This is the catch-all log for characters following Aytac Devin, Kusuma Ming and Kalup Aquila. Feel free to use these characters however they suit your threads - we'll jump into modjack when and where we can! At some point, we'll highjack one of your threads to direct it toward plot relevant information, but until then don't hesitate to go wild.

If you have any questions, drop them over HERE at the calendar questions post.))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Subspace is full of dark corners and places where people look the other way. The crowd of it reminds Murphy of the Ark, in some ways, the lack of space, people living on top of one another. But property is cheap, changes hands often, and it's safer to hide a hastily procured car and two bikes in the back lot of the small bodymod shop Murphy's bought than anywhere around the Bearings.

It's a safer place to make plans, too. Murphy's as mindful of hiding what they're doing from the rest of the Nest as he is hiding it from the people of Concordia. Mara had pressed that. Mara had pressed or inspired a lot of this.

But Mara isn't with him today as he comes to meet Bellamy and his weirdass broodmate who goes by a title instead of a name. What he has with him is a tray of smoothies and a bag of pastries, both of which get set on the counter as he comes in, and another bag he empties out next to them.]

Got the gloves. [As if the pairs of gloves now piled on the counter need announcing.] I'll pick up the helmets later.

[ Keeping secrets from the rest of the Hive isn't easy. But it helps that half his brood and Lexa are asleep; beyond that, Bellamy's able to keep most everyone at a distance. It's enough to preserve secrecy.

They're meeting to plan, supposedly. Bellamy's gaze skips from the smoothies to the gloves before he looks to the door again. He expects Mara. He's not particularly eager to see Mara, but he'd assumed she'd either be here when he arrived, or trailing in behind Murphy. ]

Smoothies?

[ Still too fancy for Bellamy. And it's an easier question than Where's Mara? ]

[ Bellamy had asked him to come, and so he had.

Mara Jade's absence is painfully noticeable; she's sleeping deeply, the way that so many others before them would, for time indeterminate. The Station has walls full of them, and even more walls, full of the dead. A tomb within a prison - their minds made into shackles. That's why he's here, as well. Bellamy had asked him to guard them, and his own backseat machinations demanded he not miss this opportunity. And defend the three - no, the two. Mara Jade is no longer a variable, and he is taken a silent moment to recalibrate --

And where Bellamy is more interested in the smoothies for the moment. He's interested in what Murphy has procured for this venture. ]

She'll be so upset that she missed out on this.

[ """"""""THIS"". Hey, Murphy. Long time no see. ]

[The Darkling's comment gets nothing more than a glance, sharp but ultimately dismissive in Murphy's attention turning away. He doesn't want to talk or think about Mara, and he definitely doesn't want to dwell on the surge of itching irritation that The Darkling thinks he knows what Mara would be upset over. It's easier to just respond to Bellamy.]

Yeah, smoothies. [Obviously. He works two of the cups out of the holder, pushing one at Bellamy.] Here, this one's meant to be for focus.

[And clearly he needed it. Murphy takes his own selection, moving to lean against the nearest treatment chair.]

Have you memorised the route yet?

[ Is this smoothie supposed to be a distraction? Bellamy frowns at Murphy for a long moment before he takes it. He's a little unsure of what to do with it. It's not a color found in the wild, and Bellamy's skeptical of ingesting anything labeled "Hype" so he holds off. ]

Yes.

[ Which isn't a lie. Bellamy's worked hard on committing their route to memory. ]

What about Mara?

[ Because as much as Bellamy had distrusted and resented her presence, he wants to be sure Murphy's alright and that Mara being asleep isn't going to throw a wrench into their plans. ]

Murphy will be waiting in an alley/alcove/doorway at the least populated point of Kulap's morning walking route. Bellamy and The Darkling will be waiting in the car, parked nearby. Murphy will wait until she's just passed and then shock her from behind with his taser glove. If there's anyone around, he'll make a bit of a show of her just suddenly collapsing and him helping her, carrying her to the car with the intention of bundling her into the back.

Congratulations, Kulap is shockingly easy to tase and kidnap. There are people around, but it seems like pretty much everyone buys Murphy's cover story of assisting an older woman with health problems. Good job, Murphy - you just successfully knocked out an old woman!

Step one complete! Murphy gets her and himself in the car and Bellamy drives them over to Murphy's empty bodymod shop in Subspace. Provided she hasn't woken up along the way, they'll get her into the back treatment room, tie her arms and legs to a chair, and wait for her to wake up.

They'll all be dressed in all-black motorbike gear complete with black-visor helmets, which is totally just to hide their identities and not to intimidate her at all.

Rude.

Luckily, Kalup doesn't wake up until she's been well secured. Hooray! This is going shockingly well for you, Murphy n' Co. When she does wake up, she suffers some brief immediate panic (who wouldn't?) and then rapidly gets very short-spoken. She doesn't try to struggle against the restraints after her initial moment of panic, but she still is obviously uncomfortable with the situation (again: understandably).

"What do you want?"

"Your help," Bellamy types out, stepping to the forefront. He'd wanted a chance to try to convince her rather than intimidate her. This is his big moment.

"We need you to perform a surgery for us."

Typing out each statement is unwieldy; Bellamy's impatient, but he knows it's important they don't give her anything to identify them with.

"What kind of surgery?" She's still obviously uneasy - there's a sense that she's likely turning over twenty different possibilities about who they are or what they could've done to get themselves in a position to need to hijack a surgeon, but she doesn't voice any of them.

"Brain surgery."

Because that's just what she wants to hear.

"We need you to remove something from his head." Bellamy indicates Murphy. "Please."

Prompted by Bellamy's answer, Murphy pulls out a second tablet, holding it out to show her the scan of his brain taken a week earlier. He doesn't point out the symbiote. If she's really as great brain surgeon as her reputation made out, she'd spot it quickly enough.

There's a flicker of shock mingled with actual disdain - she hasn't performed a surgery in years, and now this person wants her to slice into someone's brain? They could've picked a better person to kidnap -, but she says nothing as the tablet is turned to her. She gives the images a flat study. It takes her longer than it should to recognize what she's looking at (panic, maybe?).

"Yes, that seems - irregular. Do you have any of the equipment I'll need to do this or would you prefer I use a table knife?"

It's a little edge of sarcasm, but anyone can tell it's habitual more than she actually means it. Pretentious word vomit is a serious Concordian problem.

Sarcasm seems like a perfectly valid response, as far as Murphy's concerned.

With a mental nudge to Bellamy to get the other side, the two of them lift the chair she's on, turning it around to face the body of the treatment room. It's as well-equipped as Murphy could manage - not hospital level, but definitely better than would be expected for a bodymod shop.

( She hasn't said yes. )

Murphy points out, before Bellamy tries making any move toward untying her.

Good thing the Nest gave you a swanky credit card with a stratospheric spending limit, Murphy. Otherwise this might be really uncomfortable. Kalup sniffs softly at the equipment, then clears her throat. "All right, that makes this doable. I can help you."

( Get ready then. )

Bellamy's nervous is leaking through the bond. By get ready, he means Murphy needs to get ready and the Darkling needs to pay attention. She's agreed, but Bellamy isn't putting it past him to make a break for it.

So here goes Bellamy to untie her restraints. Everyone be cool.

Kalup must be goddamn psychic, because she's also fairly cool about the whole process - she's quiet and patient as she's released, rubbing her wrists and jostling the athletic bracelet she has on. Once free, she'll (slowly) move to review the available equipment and request for the datapad's images to be transferred to an overhead projection so she can get a better look at what's there.

"You'll need to shave his head. One of you can do that for me while I look at this, please."

Also, at some point during her study of the images-- "What exactly is this that I'm taking out?"

This is the part where it gets damn near impossible to continue hiding their faces from her. Murphy still turns his back on her before he takes his helmet off, dropping it on the floor. There are electric trimmers and a razor on the counter, the head shaving anticipated as much as the rest.

( Tell her it's alive. )

That might be important in terms of removing the thing, he thinks.

( Tell her we can't tell her anything more than that. )

Bellamy's head tips, directing the Darkling to stand by Kulap while Bellamy attends to Murphy. His hand squeezes Murphy's shoulder hard before he takes the trimmers out of Murphy's hands.

He does pause at the question to thumb out Murphy's silent answers to her through his device.

"That won't be a problem?"

How much does she have to know about it to take it out, right?

The Darkling is not there to talk!!!, only to keep an eye on their situation and surroundings. Bellamy instructs him to move closer, so he winds up taking point near Kulap while she sorts through what's presented to her. It's obvious, in the way he positions himself, that he doesn't like any of this. Let alone the way that she fidgets. Paranoia, maybe?

( Take care of him, and then trade places with me. )

It may be the only thing he says. To Bellamy, because he needs his angle back. ( Paranoia, definitely. )

"What, like a parasite?" Revolting. "I suppose it depends on how well-rooted it is. But in theory, no. How much brain function would your friend prefer to maintain?" She's scrolling through the image, using the projector to study it more closely.

( Just stay close to her for now. )

Not that Bellamy's worried about the Darkling abandoning her. His thumb slides to the bare skin at the nape of Murphy's neck as he breathes past the fear Kulap's question sparks.

"All of it."

There was a risk. They all knew it. But Bellamy couldn't pretend the goal was anything less than extracting the symbiote without causing damage.

"Of course. Give me a few minutes while I review the equipment."

Kalup takes her sweet time going over the tools on hand. Once Murphy's head is shaved (rip), she'll instruct him to get onto the table provided so she can begin to attach him to the vital monitoring equipment and administer anesthesia. "I'll put him under first, then wash up to begin the surgery. I'll need one of you to monitor his vitals and let me know if something changes."

She sets a clock up on the image projector as well. "For my reference," she explains.

Bellamy's probably picking up on Murphy's nerves. He can't really hide them, climbing the closer they get to this actually happening. He also isn't trying. He's about to have his brain cut open. It's normal to be mildly freaking out.

Which is what's starting to catch at him about Kalup. She's too calm. Too compliant. Bellamy had wanted to handle the talking to avoid Murphy's strategy of threatening her into helping them, but now everything feels off. Like she's in control, not them.

But it could just be the nerves, and he's not backing out now. He gets on the table once the last of his hair's gone (Eppy's mournful sobbing in the background), watching everything she's doing closely. But when the needle's in his arm, plunger halfway down, the feeling solidifies into something crystal clear and sharp with certainty. He grabs her wrist, wrenching it and the syringe away from his arm.

"She's done something."

He sits up, fighting the anaesthetic already dragging at the back of his consciousness, and claws the bracelet off her wrist. Something tells him if he could get it away from them somehow, slip it into someone's pocket or throw it into a passing car--

It's too late.

"We need to get out of here."

MURPHY & BELLAMY & THE DARKLING | no stalking just scheming

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KIDNAPPING | DAY :050

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https://youtu.be/3suGfhnT2Sg

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this is practically a real tag I'm sorry I got carried away