TWO MINUTES CLOSER TO MIDNIGHT

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: Everyone (except new hatches on the Station)
WHERE: The Omega Memory Bank; Erastos Loke's townhouse
WHEN: DAY :052
SUMMARY: The hosts on Concordia race against the clock to track down and deal with H+H1's bomb; meanwhile, a small team infiltrates the home of Erastos Loke, one of the leading members of H+H1, in an attempt to learn about his invovlement with the Nest's Enemy.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary.

A HOUSE DIVIDED had better be successful this time, or else there might be explosive repercussions. Acting on the intelligence Ilde and Petre gleaned from Kusuma Ming (don't ask what happened to Fahima Hanne in the process), the hosts split their numbers in the wee hours of DAY :052: Sam, Lil' Sam, Aoba and Carata make their way to Erastos Loke's townhouse to press him for information on his H+H1 associates and, hopefully, ascertain how he's connect to the Nest's Enemy; meanwhile, the bulk of the group rushes to the Omega Memory Bank where Ming has confirmed H+H1 is attempting to set off a bomb, the result of which would be to cripple Concordia's relationship with technical memory storage and have long lasting repurcussions for the integration of android and organic life. That doesn't even count the small group currently trying to rescue Bellamy and Murphy from an underground jail...

Luckily, the hosts have the resource of another another at their disposal. Loke's townhouse is close enough to the Omega Memory bank that inter-brood communication should be possible for all hosts, and some older hosts may be able to communicate to those outside their brood if absolutely pressed. There's a lot of ground to cover, but between all of you it should be possible.

...Hopefully.

CONFRONTING ERASTOS LOKE
[OOC PLOTTING POST]
     I. BREAKING AND ENTERING
Erastos Loke's townhouse is located in a quiet upscale neighborhood of Concordia's Beta block. Though armed with a fairly beefy private security system (a silent alarm that alerts Public Security should someone without authorized access exist on the premises for more than two minutes), the small group looking to infiltrate the townhouse will be networking with Pidge to override the security system. Which just leaves Loke's organic bodyguard to deal with before they get to the man himself.

Loke's bodyguard is exactly what you'd expect. They're a big beefy, gender-neutral individual with a small caliber projectile weapon and training in a few different Concordian martial arts. They have a focus on disarming and apprehending over lethal force, which should give the hosts an opening - that said, the body guard is dangerous and could potentially shoot off a message to PS if they have the opportunity to do so, so better to either avoid them entirely or make quick work of them.

Upon entry, the townhouse is quiet - it is, after all, almost three in the morning - and the old-money design sensibility is more than a little haunting in the dark. A pale bust swims out of the low light, it's carved eye sockets dark; a painting of a young woman on the second story landing seems ghoulish among the quiet. And there: a murmur of movement on the upper levels - the creak of footsteps on older wooden floors, a light eking out from under the doorway of a study door.

     II. TURNING THE SCREWS
Assuming no one hecks it up - and all of you are admirably competent, ...aren't you? - and the guard is taken down without alerting Loke to your presence, the hosts will successfully find Erastos Loke in his office. There's a news outlet feed humming away at a low volume on a holographic display against a blank panel of the office's wall, but the man himself doesn't seem to be paying it much mind as he's currently making notes on a series of pieces of paper. The faint scratch of his pen (it's very old, downright antique) is almost louder than the murmur of the news feed.

If you're lucky, he isn't armed.



OMEGA MEMORY BANK BOMB SQUAD
[OOC PLOTTING POST]
     I. HACKER VOICE: "I'M IN"
Gain access to the Omega Memory Bank by any means necessary. Remember, a low profile is ideal but this isn't exactly the time to be subtle if that means failure. The Memory Bank has extremely tight security, so it'll either need to be overridden entirely, delayed, or flat out avoided in some way. Protip: magic and supernatural abilities are extremely useful on this world; it turns out that Kellix also has some limited backdoor access to the Bank. Weird?

     II. DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Once inside the Memory Bank, the hosts have a lot of ground to cover. The bomb could be on any one of the Memory Bank's eighty levels of data storage, and there's no telling what the bomb looks like or how it operates. Maybe one of your friends over at Erastos Loke's can help you with that? To further complicate matters, you might run into a Memory Bank technician or two - and are they actually technicians, or are they the H+H1 bomb squad in disguise?

     III. DROP THE B-B-BOMB
Pidge and Bruce (and anyone working with their group) will ultimately manage to track down the bomb. Where it's located, how they find it, and what they ultimately decide to do with it is up to y'all. Call on your friends if you're so inclined, but be aware that there's definitely a small window of time. It looks like the bomb's ready to go up in, oh, fifteen minutes.

     IV. IT WASN'T ME OFFICER, I SWEAR
Sirius (and anyone working with him) will find himself facing off with H+H1's bomb squad. How he finds them and where they're located is up to you (though for the record, they're definitely moving away from the bomb and attempting to make their way out of the Memory Bank). The squad is comprised of three organics: a young woman with a considerable amount of technical equipment disguised as server maintenance gear, a square faced older man in a security officer's uniform, and an middle aged man in a technician's coat. They're all very armed and very dangerous.

---

((OOC Notes: Good luck, everyone! Results for who finds the bomb/bomb squad were randomized from the sign-ups and plotting list; if you have any questions, thoughts or ideas don't be afraid to use the event plotting post to throw them into the hat.

If you have any general questions, please hit up either the FAQ or MOD CONTACT pages!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

Breaking and Entering

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ It’s not just because Sam feels a sense of responsibility to his teenage broodmate that he’s lurking outside of the townhouse with Aoba and Sam and Carata - though that’s definitely part of it. Both of their abilities come with side effects, and he might not have a handle on exactly what Aoba’s is, if it’s the migraines or the violent split personality or passing out or some combination of all of the above, but he knows that his own ability can work to counteract it. To try to make sure that the three of them stay the ones doing the interrogating, even if it’ll probably make the yellow-eyed version of Aoba even more pissed at him.

And he wants to be there to get what they can out of Loke about this Enemy. It’s not that he doesn’t trust the older Hosts, it’s just - well, like he talked about with Steve and Lexa, this mission has felt like meddling from the start, and there’s a hell of a lot they don’t know. He wants to hear it first hand.

Sam’s got his wings and the rest of his Falcon gear on, just in case, but the gun he pulls out once they’re past the security system is loaded with tranquilizer darts. He’d rather not kill anyone, if at all possible. ]

( Worse comes to worst, I can shoot myself with one of these and transfer it to the guard. )

[ He’s joking, mostly, because it’s what he does, but it’s actually not a half bad idea if it comes down to it. ]

[vocalis]

[ There is a lot making Aoba nervous tonight. Aside from the fact that they're breaking and entering, it's the sight of Sam... er... Falcon, all geared up. He knows the firearm isn't loaded with real bullets, but guns of any kind make him sweat. He'd never seen one in his life until a few months ago, when he was dragged to Mink's hideout. And now he's about to break into a house beside someone packing.

Aoba doesn't have any weapons. Just the black clothes he'd bought with Nirad, and his secondary datapad. That way he can connect with Pidge and Angel, though Angel is brood - he can sense and talk with her much more easily than Pidge. Though Falcon, Sam, and Carata are near enough to hear his crackling nerves, both mentally and as a sigh. ]

Please don't joke about shooting yourself, Sam.

[ He's too nervous for jokes, too serious and on-edge to let it slide. Besides, he likes Sam. They should be able to do this without anyone being hurt. ]

I can always use Scrap on the guard, though... like I said earlier, I'd rather not use it until we're in with Loke. I'll be able to get more information out of him that way.

[headinjuries]

( Yeah, for one thing, just sticking yourself with the dart would be a lot quieter. )

[ That's probably not the kind of humor Aoba wants to hear right now, either, but sometimes black humor is the easiest way to pretend you're not hunkered down and getting ready to walk into the path of people who'd probably gladly kill you, because a lot of other lives are at risk if you don't. Sam's had some practice at that, after all. ]

( If we try to pull him out with a distraction, he'd probably just call it in before he comes out here anyway, right? )

[ He's pretty sure that real life doesn't work like a game of Metal Gear Solid. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sorry, Aoba, but both of the Sams are on the same page here when it comes to black humor. It's familiar, makes him feel more at east, and amusement drifts through their mental link in place of the chuckle he holds back. But all right, all right, he'll drop the jokes about taking himself out. ]

( If he's any good, he will, and I don't think we can count on Loke going cheap for a bodyguard just because his tech is so beefed up. )

[ He wishes he had Redwing 2.0 to scout ahead for them, but the little droid he and Pidge are working on isn't quite battle ready yet. Still, there's more than one reason he's got his gear on, and he taps the side of his goggles, switching on the infrared vision. ]

( Save it for Loke, man, I got the guard. I did shit like this long before I was ever an Avenger. Looks like the guard's not too far from the entrance; I think he's patrolling the front of the house. Long as we're quiet, we should be able to get the drop on him. )

[vocalis]

[ The fact that Sam has done this before is and isn't comforting. Aoba just pushes his worries back down and shakes his head, staying focused on his dimly glowing screen. He's not able to help with it from here, but he's keeping a close eye on the hacking progress, waiting for a signal from Angel when Pidge is in. ]

Alright, the guard is all yours, Sam... er Sam-... [ Another small, frustrated sigh. ] This is going to get confusing fast. Maybe we should be using nicknames...

[ He glances up to were Sam (Falcon) mentioned, but without any special gear he can't make anything out besides the shiny black windows. ]

Just wait until Pidge and Angel are done with the security system. Then you can take him by surprise. It should just be a few more minutes...

[ He suddenly winces and inhales sharply, one of his hands moving to press the side of his head. The same side Angel has her metal plates bolted in. ]

Tch... sorry. It's not me, it's... Angel. She's working hard.

[serenae]

[Carata herself stands slightly behind them, her usual loose light clothes traded in for something that looks very much like the bodysuits that Prince and Cathaway wore, that all the Hosts had received. Her expression, however, is very much the same, faint smile, easy and relaxed. Only the slight tip of her head and a certain unusual silence betrays exactly how distracted she is.

There was much to keep track of, beyond the home of Loke.]

We are lucky to have you [She doesn't turn her head to Sam Wilson, and she doesn't say his name, but the impression of him is clearer than either.]

She should be nearly done. It would not hurt to begin to move.

[headinjuries]

[ Okay. Get the drop on the guard, sounds good. Except - ]

( Uh. What's the plan for the guard? Are we just sitting back and letting you do the heavy lifting, or do you need us to back you up, or...? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Falcon. ) [ It's an absent offer, as most of Sam's focus is on keeping track of the guard. Carata's comment is - surprising, throws him off just enough that he doesn't toss out the cocky hell yeah he would have if he was back with the Avengers. Instead there's a quiet curl of appreciation before he turns back to the plan. ]

( Stay back unless something unexpected happens, yeah. You two are the ones who're gonna be doing all the real work when we get in, I'm just here to be the muscle. )

[ And to keep Sam from puking and Aoba from getting a migraine that knocks him out of commission, but that'll come later. For now, he gestures for them to follow behind him as he moves forward. Once they're inside the townhouse, it's not long before Sam slows to a stop. ] ( Hang tight, guard's coming this way. )

[ Sam hugs the wall, positioning himself on the other side of a corner, and ejects a dart from the gun before he holsters it. Faster and quieter this way, and the second the guard rounds the corner, Sam's on them. His movements are quick and decisive, one hand clamped around the guard's mouth as the other stabs them with the dart. He doesn't bother to try to hold the guard still, moves with him instead of fighting the struggling, because it's more important to keep the guard quiet until the tranquilizer kicks in. Then he lets go, lowering the guard to the ground. ]

( You guys good to go? )

[vocalis]

Y... yes. We're clear to enter Locke's apartment.

[ Aoba's reply is a strained effort to remain calm in his own mind. Even though he hangs back as instructed and doesn't watch, he's connected. He can feel Flacon's stealth and hear the guard as he struggles and then slumps to the floor. It's quick work, so startlingly quick it's a bit frightening. He briefly wonders if he'd stand a chance were his role reversed, or if Mizuki or even Kojaku could stand up to that kind of strength and speed- (perhaps Koujaku with his strong hands-)

Before his thoughts can run away, he refocuses. The datapad in his hands goes black with a tap to it's edge, and he slides it into his coat. No need to check Pidge's progress from the screen - he'd gotten the message from their hackers directly, and he trusts their work. His hood goes up, covering the bright blue of his hair. The guard, digital security, and cameras may be down, but he doesn't want something as bad as his conspicuous hair giving them away later.

He'd have to tell Locke to forget all of this, anyway.

He tries not to look at the drugged man on the ground when he moves to open the door for them, half expecting Locke to already be there. ]

DROP THE BOMB

[greentech]

Pidge's heart is pounding in her chest. Everything has gone into motion super fast and her adrenaline levels are through the roof. There's a bomb, they have to interrogate someone, there's way too much going on - and they're probably going to be leaving after this. Right? She's still not sure what they've actually accomplished, but they have to have done some good. She refuses to believe otherwise.

She hasn't had time to really whip up any sort of nifty explosives detector, but the Mk. I eyeball will have to do. At least until she has another chance to sit down and think about the problem. Of course, that assumes the bomb doesn't go off and kill them, along with leveling the entire building.

She really has to stop thinking like that.

She glances over her shoulder at Bruce as she pries open a panel and sticks her head inside, flashlight roving over a tangle of wires and microchips. At least they didn't care too much about breaking and entering this time around.

"You see anything yet?"

[batmotif]

To say the situation wasn't stressful would be a bald-faced lie; the weight of it is palpable where explosives were often concerned, and Bruce could feel the thread of anxiety weaving throughout the rest of the Hosts on the same mission, unaffected by distance. Bruce tries his best to remain a pillar in the swirling storm, telling himself — commanding himself — that he has no choice. That uncertainty led to a faltering focus, and if they were to locate this literal ticking time bomb, they'd need all the focus they could scrape together.

He'd feel more confident if he had his tech from home with him. Environmental scanners, enhanced audio/visuals, anything to help locate the bomb other than his own senses. While he was grateful for what Pidge brought along, having no direct control over how he could assist, barring his own sharp observations, bothered him.

While Pidge poked her head into a panel, an undercurrent of wires and lights greeting her, like a pulsing nervous system, Bruce looks down the way they came.

“It all looks the same here,” he responds. Which, of course, shouldn’t be true at all — if there was some tampering to be done, in the form of planting explosives, there should be a clue. It should be noticeable. But the fact that they didn’t even know what the bomb looked like, or where to start looking on the eighty levels of the Memory Bank was disconcerting.

[greentech]

Eighty levels. It was pretty mind-boggling, honestly. And here they were, stuck with very few resources to actually find the damn thing. She groans and pulls herself back out of the access panel. She doesn't bother to put it back in place. No real time and she'd rather find the bomb than waste time on screwing it back into place.

"I'm trying to think of where I'd the thing if I wanted to do maximum damage... I guess it also depends on how big of a bomb it is. Wish I knew more about explosives..."

She moves further up the corridor, flashing her light into a ventilation shaft. Nothing yet.

[batmotif]

"If the others find something out that could help us, they'll let us know," he responds evenly. It's left unsaid that Bruce plans on following-up with them via their mental link regardless; he's never quite trusted anyone enough to not do a bit of checking-in himself.

Bruce opens up the nearest panel (one of an endless many lining the memory bank "corridors"), peering in, once again to find nothing of use. The panel stays on the ground, and he moves on to the next one; no time to waste putting things back to where they belonged, when the clock was perpetually working against them.

He's about to open his mouth to say something along the lines of In your opinion, where do you think an exploding bomb would do the most damage, in a building with this layout? but his words are interrupted when he hears footsteps nearby. Frowning, he feels a flicker of annoyance at the idea of guards coming around here when they're in the middle of something, thank you very much, but immediately takes cover against one of the larger structures, keeping his footsteps quiet. He projects his thoughts to Pidge.

(Eyes peeled, to your right.)

[greentech]

Pidge picks up on the sound of footsteps a few moments after Bruce does and she immediately flattens herself in between a pair of the servers. She glances across the way at Bruce, expression flat.

( Every time, right? Why this floor? You think they know we're here? )

She waits for a long moment and then she simply fades out of view. It's as if she was never there in the first place. The footsteps come closer and a moment later a bored-looking man in a security uniform comes down the stacks, glancing this way and that. He doesn't seem very alert - this is all routine to him. The kind of routine where you see what you expect to see.

[batmotif]

Bruce doesn’t have the luxury of being able to literally disappear so readily; he does, however, have ample experience in how to remain quiet and aware of his surroundings, keeping his breathing shallow and shifting his weight so that he leans against his cover, pressed to it so to avoid any unnecessary movement.

(Considering how uninterested they look? It’s doubtful. I think this is just part of their patrol route.)

And he’s right. They linger only for as long as they need to, before moving on. When their footsteps filter away into silence, Bruce straightens, standing back on his feet.

(It’s going to reach a point where we can’t be bothered to wait for them to pass. If we waste too much time slinking around, we’re liable to get blown up sooner rather than later.)

In other words, the next set they run across may or may not have to be knocked out, for the sake of expediency.

[greentech]

(Better that then getting blown up. I mean, I'd rather not be dead, but that's just me.)

Pidge sounds a touch sardonic. Well, more than a touch. As the guards vanish around the corner, she pops back into sight without much preamble. She steps back out into the corridor, glances one way and then the other, and then heads in the opposite direction, pausing to tug another panel off. Nothing yet. Just more Christmas lights and a whole lot of circuitry. Although... There was one wire which seemed a bit out of place. It was just a little bit bigger than the others. She give it a curious tug as she continued 'talking'.

(I iwsh we knew how big it was. That'd give us an idea of where they could actually hide the stupid thing!)

[batmotif]

Bruce moves to where Pidge is tugging at a wire, eying it critically — though to be fair, he's been giving everything a critical, analyzing glance since this mission started. At her response, he sets his jaw, frowning.

(Since we don’t have any concrete details at the moment, we’re just going to have to make a few reasonable assumptions.) Something which, admittedly, Bruce hates having to do, but given their current situation it would be better than grasping at straws in the dark. (The Memory Bank is eighty floors; that’s a lot of data to store. If I was someone cooking up a bomb to do as much damage as possible, there are a few places where I’d hide an explosive. Dead center, so that when the impact expands outwards, it takes out as many of the servers as possible—)

Which is, thankfully, where they happen to be, closer to to the fortieth floor than the first.

(—or closer to ground level, their aim being to target the structural integrity of the building, and take everything out at once as it crashes down around us.)

Either option would narrow down their search radius, though not by much; and if he was wrong, they’d have done little more than wasted their time.

kellix | divide and conquer | closed to steve + his group (if any)

[onemind]

Places like this always have secondary employee entrances for access during peak hours, or so someone can leave quietly in the middle of the night without bothering to unlock and relock the massive front doors. The Omega Memory Bank is no different, though pinpointing the exact location of that entrance might be difficult if not for the fact that Kellix seems to know exactly where it is. He leads Steve along through the ornate concrete garden surrounding the tower, something ghoulish about the android's skeletal appearance in the still darkness of the night. His guts glow a low murmuring white and blue, closer to moonlight than anything else in Concordia city, and he's accompanied by a constant whirring noise that pitches lower and higher at intervals.

They aren't the most subtle pair as they rove the grounds. Maybe someone has noticed them, but Kellix has decided to be unconcerned for the moment. There are more important things to be done, the first step to which involves approaching one of the larger concrete monoliths of the garden. It's a large blunted pillar, featureless save for a combination of lines etched into its surface and clearly designed to act as nothing more than a landmark or stationary art piece for most of the gardens visitors. Kellix makes his way around the circumference of the pillar, and makes a small noise when he finds what he's looking for: a point where one of the lines forms a rectangle roughly the size to accommodate the flat of someone's hand.

"Here we are. Give me a moment, please." He plants palm, hand still fully stripped of its pseudo organic components, onto the square. It seems to do absolutely nothing.

[decommission]

Steve doesn't like this, and it's impossible for him to hide that fact from radiating off of every tense line that sketches his form as they creep through the garden, part of his attention held elsewhere. He keeps his mind open ear to the ground and ready to cast a line to the folks scouring the building.

There's still a bomb somewhere.

"What're you doing?" He stands near Kellix's side, brow pinched as his gaze scans the sculpture. Sam Anders had trusted Kellix. Steve hasn't been given a reason not to yet.

[onemind]

"There's a back door to the memory bank facility. I thought it might be a good idea to go in front a different direction."

Of course, he seems to be doing absolutely nothing at the moment. The lights running along the glittering plastic of his synthetic guts glint and twitch and race along his pseudo membranes and muscular structure and his components wheeze and sigh, but for a long minute the night remains quiet around them. And then the rectangle on his palm clicks, intending into the concrete pillar. A larger portion of the concrete follows suit afterward, two halves of a doorway collapsing back and then slotting away to reveal an entrance to a steel lined elevator of some kind.

Kellix steps inside with hesitation.

"This should take us to the administrative level."

[bracchium]

Bucky's set on his own section of the mission, checking as many of the lower floors as possible for any sign of a bomb, uneasy about the whole thing. He's got broodmates off in one corner of the building, others across a lake, and Steve--- where? Where did Steve go? Bucky thought he'd be among those investigating the building and put a sort of mental note for himself to keep an eye on him. Yet, as soon as Bucky's looked away for a handful of seconds, Steve has disappeared from his peripheral vision. What the hell?

He does his best to keep calm, but paranoia steps in first. Someone's taken him. Was it one of the Castor brood? No?

Bucky furrows his brow, considering the weight of his duty and Steve.

It doesn't take more than a heartbeat for Bucky to tear after Steve, trying to follow the bobbing thread of their link. The twists and turns of the garden slow him, hedges cutting him off more than once. He can't feel another of the nest with Steve, so he sends a pulse through the link.

( Steve. ) [Both a 'hello' and 'where the hell are you all in one.']

[decommission]

The wait feels twice as long for Steve, every second stretched out, the glow of Kellix's innards casting a ghostly light - he nearly jumps when the concrete finally pulls apart to reveal the hidden elevator.

"You think the bomb might be there?" He frowns, following after Kellix into the elevator even as he finds his thoughts tugged by someone else. "Wait - someone followed us. A friendly."

( Here. ) A flash of the concrete garden, the elevator. ( I'm with Kellix. ) The robot's faceless features flicker through the link. They're not that far away.

[onemind]

Kellix has already moved to step into the elevator, one segmented foot clacking against the metal floor. He pauses at Steve's behest though, turning slightly. His optical receptors whir and click faintly in his skull as he scans the immediate area.

"Of course. Please tell your co-worker to hurry."

jk u gettin this beefmonster

[bracchium]

( Who the hell is--- )

No, there's no time to try and play scrapbooking with his memories again. Bucky didn't used to be so terrible with names, but he also didn't use to be able to talk to people in his head, so. He exhales thickly through his nose as he steps back to mark the dead end of the concrete hedge with a scuff of his boot. He processes the images sent bobbing down the link. Okay a robot but there are hundreds of those and names really aren't his forte.

Neither are concrete gardens. This isn't like highways or open stretches of road with targets and he doesn't have any gear that would do him any good in breaking down any walls. He's gotta be smarter, faster. Coming around the last corner, he spots Steve with the robot he assumes to be Kellix.

He sprints the rest of the way, if just to make sure he makes it in time. No reason to throw anything to chance here and his nerves are already buzzing with a nervous energy he can't swallow down. Vague memories of the last mission he took part in echo against his spine as he settles beside Steve, shooting a menacing look at Kellix.

wahooOOO

[decommission]

A quick nod at Kellix, his gaze pointed forward and slightly unfocused, carefully trying to trace the line of Bucky's path as he works to calm his own buzzing adrenaline over the time constraint and the threat of danger. The fear he can push down, but the energy and the need to move continues to hum.

There's a quick, relieved huff through his nose when Bucky's silhouette approaches, entering the elevator with them.

"We're good." Spoken to the both of them - they should get moving again. A glance at Bucky and his murder-stare earns his friend a gentle nudge at his elbow.