2011-03-26 - Invasion Into Crest

A few weeks back...

Sly Heckler placed a tracker on his comrade within the Trailers known as Archangel to him and many under the name of "R". The tracker was placed in hopes they could find the location of where Crest Industries was doing their work on the special cyborg and thus free him from his cooperate shackles.

Several others had taken interest in this cause over that course of time. Many for personal reasons and others for the true reason of friendship to the man who they have come to know as "R"; One of the active founder's of the Raven's Nest and perhaps the most loyal to his own cause (or so many have heard).

Though with his return also came Crest industries building an unknown section on the Garage of the Nest, with several layers thick of heavy industrial metal that can take several missile impacts before breaking. With air-intakes to pull in air, but not let air escape out, and door with one heck of a security measure, along with what seems beyond that door, a very long hallway between that massive wall and then another security check door.

Now, what does this history lesson over past events have to do with why so many individuals have come here to step up and why does it bring them to the middle of the Nevada Desert? That is right Sly Heckler! Here we go with that same pony dance show again and your right back where you original started!

For everyone else... This be a bit of an adventure. The only difference is, Crest is aware they are coming....

Now in the Nevada Desert...

The Crest Industries complex, the one /everyone/ really wants, is slab down in the middle of the desert with nothing for mile and miles near it. There are dirt roads leading to the complex, with massive walks that block sight of anything going on behind the massive steel structure that seems to shimmer as the light hits it.

The only way in is a security gate, a rather large security gate. Guards walk the perimeter, the sounds of something moving behind the wall could be heard, most likely MTs, some ACs, and most importantly Chaos units. However they were only there if someone decided to waltz up in a big machine or they needed to move out forces quickly to deal with a sneak attack near the area.

Beyond the wall was several hangers, three to be correct with roadways leading to them. A Helipad out behind the backside of the building, and three metal domes that were heavily reinforced. Most likely for training runs by the sheer size of them.

By the information Sly would have gathered. They took R down for repairs on B2 level which was for computing. A level Sly slightly ignored as he went to B1 which had all the labs, notes, and information last time he was here, and B3 which had the generators and another computer system.

So why was B2 called 'Computing'? That would soon be answered! For now... How will everyone get in?

A couple weeks ago, Sly Heckler broke into this facility. At the time, he did it by literally knocking a derelict dropship out of orbit and landing it on Crest's front door as a distraction. He didn't find what he was after that day however, so he's been wracking his brain for how to re-break into this facility.

Yeah, he's not happy his target was in the SAME DAMNED BUILDING. Stupid B2 floor.

The problem is that Crest has beefed up security. They've redoubled their cameras, and have hired a load of new security to make the place almost impossible to sneak into.

And that's when it hit Sly. The way they would get in. It was so simple it made him laugh.

He /put in a job application./ A few fake IDs for the infiltrators, some money slipped into the right lower-management pocket to ensure they got hired, and now the team 'starts work'. Their badges are legit, because they were actually issued by Crest. Likewise their uniforms. Sly himself got a job as an engineer...Although he doesn't know much about engineering, it allowed him to drive a truck of 'supplies'. This is supposed to be spare parts and such, but those got dumped by the roadside and replaced by a truckload of supplies more useful for this mission.

After that, it's a simple matter of just driving up to the guard station, stopping, and handing the guy his badge. "Hey guys. Got a load of parts and new personnel. You should have all the paperwork already."

It had been Yu, not Xiang, who had been contacted by a man she'd never even heard of, but who'd gotten word of her dedication to trying to free R from the clutches of Crest. Of course, the woman had had not a single complaint about joining in for such a mission. She'd promised to R after all, that if an opportunity came up, she would. She is simply feeling a bit bad about not telling the captain of her ship about this whole deal.

The woman, dressed in a simple Crest standard issue Mechanic suit, is sitting in the back of that truck after having been picked up, and has a cap set forward to hide her face. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she hated this kind of garb. It was so passe, clashing colors and all that. Of course, this was all not that big of a deal. On her lap lies a big red toolbox, weighing heavily on her knees. She flips open the lock and looks inside.

Tools, a hammer, a drill, some basic other things, and something thin and black of which it was impossible to tell just what it was. After all, whilst in the truck, it was not the most 'light' of areas. When they finally halt at the guard station, her eyes come up towards the other passengers, before her gaze jumps down towards her knees again.

There is a box inconspicuously marked as 'spare parts' sitting near our heroes. Occasionally, the box makes a thumping sound as it connects with the inside of the truck. However, this box appears to be nothing more than an ordinary, every-day box. Which begs the question: Why the deus is it on a truck filled with people who really don't want anything at all to do with transporting material!?

That's a secret.

In many ways, one might think it hard to hide the fact that one of the members of this little raiding party is almost certainly not human. However, people can do wonders with a little bit of makeup and some prostetics. It would be hard for almost anyone who knew Sinya to easily identify her. Her ears are slicked back beneath a wig that would pass for real on the best of Hollywood stages, complete with a set of pretty realistic human ears to replace them. The unusual patterning of her skin is equally well covered by a layer of makeup that makes her nearly pass for human. Gloves to hide her claws and a pouch at her waist to hide her tail rounds out the disguise nicely, leaving her eyes as the only inhuman thing.

Her official title isn't far from the truth. The name badge, identifying her as one 'Lisa Maddigan - Mechanic Jr. Grade' hangs from her neck over a standard issue uniform. As she sits in the back of the truck, Sinya seems to be focusing her attention on a book, occassionally pushing a pair of wire-framed glasses up her nose.

Her eyes quickly flash over towards Yu, but then back to the book. Could she even be reading in this low light? Well, anything was possible with cats. And there is that conspicuously yellow cover on the text. Hrm.

SOME TIME AGO

"Banjo, what the hell!" Beauty Tachibana grouses as she helps her employer drag an unconscious Crest employee across the desert, to the Mach Attacker. "We haven't heard from you in /forever/, and I figured--I figured when you told me to 'get dressed up', you--we--g--" Beauty gesticulates at herself as she struggles to find words through her frustration; she's wearing a gown with a slit up one side and a plunge down the front. She's also wearing heels and a bit of carefully applied makeup, and her blonde hair - though ruined /now/ - had to have taken a good forty-five minutes to style.

Beauty Tachbiana is not a happy camper right now.

"Soon," Banjo murmurs as he casts another brief look at the employee's ID badge; Franklin Gunzel, Junior Mechanic, it reads. He's memorized its data by now, but he wants to be sure--he /has/ to be sure; it'll be important before too long. "Sorry for the, uh, confusion." His eyes leave the employee to settle on Beauty.

"If it's any consolation," he adds with the ghost of a rogueish grin, "I don't think I've got the legs to be /half/ as good of a distraction as you were."

"I want a /bonus/ next month, Banjo," is Beauty's flat response.

NOW

"Yeah, I agree," Franklin Gunzel says as he strolls through one of Crest's hangars alongside a fellow mechanic, "Eclipse is a /shoe-in/ this year--although I hear their center's goin' in for a total overhaul on its AMBAC system." He tosses the rag he was using to clean oil smears from his hands into a nearby bin before stretching both arms overhead. He's a young man - no more than 18 or 19 - and between his blonde hair and youthful features, it's harder /still/ to recognize that he does, in fact, belong here and not some high school. His hands come together above his head and his left fingers gently tap a few buttons on the watch around his right wrist.

"ETA?" transmits to the occupants of a particular supply truck via some combination of text and mechanically-voiced radio transmission.

Several guards set at the security gate. A few talking, some others /actually/ doing their /damn/ job, and a few who were /so/ not doing their job by playing a game of poker in the back room. However as the truck pulls up, those cameras start to turn to focus on the truck. Those /damn/ cameras that always seem /way/ to watchful.

The guards also actually get a bit serious as one of them walks up to the truck, motioning for the window to be rolled down, even though his hand was on the hilt of his hand-gun, just encase something happened. "Badge please.." He asks easily. The man was a rather tall guy, pretty broad-shouldered and not a young fellow either. Probably actually someone who once served in the arm forces.

Once Sly said his bit, he looked over the badge, then motioned for one of the guys to come over and run a check on it. "Just give us a few, you know the drill and all." he said with a slight chuckle. Though he did take a flash-light and roamed over the windows of the truck to examine just 'who' all may be in it and 'what' by shape they may be carrying if he could spot it. "I think you may be the last shipment in tonight." He said calmly. "At least on my shift anyhow."

Soon the other came back and gave a nod. The gates at last opened with a loud hiss from the gears releasing and the pressure at last giving. Then with a slow smooth slide, the gate started to roll to the side on its massive wheel and hydraulic system.

Once past the security point they went in. Several chicken-walker MTs crossed across the road before the truck had a chance to move. One of them has the upper body swerved around as the lights from the side of it shined in that direction, however they pulled away as they got a radio in for all clear and it continues on its way. Sure enough in here was several Crest issued Armored Cores on stand by, holding their assault rifles in both hands, and outside of the MTs that were on the move, there was the very lanky drone machines; The Chaos units. They were however on a control loop, just roaming around the area, waiting for the signal to lock on a target, or to just continue on their merry walk about around the complex. At least Crest didn't seem to concerned having their expensive AI drones out and about for free shootings if something went down.

As for Bass who is already within the Crest Complex going under a different name. The mechanic walking along side him raises a brow, "Huh really? I'll have to check that out then." The tech then looks down at his watch before he tsks softly, "Gotta run, man. Have a good evening!" The tech then takes off, complete unaware of the call being made out.

Sly gives a slight laugh at the guard's comment about being the last shipment and shrugs. "Yeah, it looks like you guys have this place locked down tighter than my girlfriend on prom night. Oh well, they told me to expect long shifts when I took this job. Anyway, see ya' around, guys." The gates open, and the truck starts to pull forward. They're supposed to pull into loading bay six, and then 'unload the cargo'. Sly sees no reason to deviate from that plan just yet.

The truck pulls forward slowly, Sly taking his time to circle around the complex and give everybody a good view of what they're getting into. Odds are their exit is going to be a lot more hasty than their retreat.

"This is your captain speaking. If you'll look to the left of the vehicle, you'll see the Crest central HQ. You folks might want to gear up now. Once we get in there, we may not have a lot of time."

Sly really doesn't know many of the people that Thermidor hired for this mission, but Sly did bring two of his own: Rex and Little. Rex, a large tattooed man who looks like he's seen far more barfights than mech fights, takes the cue to walk to one of the large crates in the back of the truck, and crack it open. Inside, the gleaming brown and black metal form of his own personal powered armor, a Phalanx Class bought from the Free Worlds League. "Hell, ya' don't have to ask me twice."

Sly says nothing, to Rex, but picks up his mission radio as he swings the truck around, and backs it slowly into the loading bay. "This is Sly. We're in position and waiting the word." There's sure to be other techs there, and he'll have to stall them until they get the signal to move.

The man who Thermidor hired is not so much as a hired thug as he is a loyal soldier. Strong, swift, and once one of the best in his league, but now, he's feeling just a bit down in the dumps and more than a little cramped. The box shifts on occasion, twitching slightly as the contents decide that now would be a good time to get a move on. There's a soft 'hiss' as the crate's top comes away from its magnetic locks. The figure that slips out is something that looks a good deal more like a special operations commando than spare AC components. He takes a moment to straighten his bandana and check his gun before slipping out of his box, fully uniformed.

The man's name? Once upon a time, he went by 'Totient.' Now, he's just another soldier of ORCA.

"We're ready to go, then?" the man asks, rubbing at his wrists. His pale skin seems a bit too tight on his muscles, but then, there's a reason he volunteered for a supposedly 'suicidal' mission.

"Whenever you're all good. I'll take care of the data when we come to that point. Just give me a way."

Watching this whole 'complex' of technology and mechanical equipment is something that just amazes Yu Zhi Wu. She wondered, somewhere deep inside her mind, just how useful she'd be. After all, unlike those present, she knew little about technology. Her hands tighten a bit around the toolbox. The captain's XO had been in missions like these before. Replace the truck by a horse and carriage, and the armor which mister Little was putting on with a set of swords. Things were different, yet very similar in this world 'outside' La Gias.

Her gaze slips up towards Sinya for a moment. She barely recognized the La Gian feline. That was to say, if she didn't know better, she'd never been able to put the link between the disguise and who was beneath all of that.

The truck continues on, and she does take that time to stare outside of the few 'windows' of the truck to get an idea of what they are dealing with. But all of what she saw were things she didn't really know how to chalk up. But she had a secret weapon too, one she believed would become useful. She opens that toolkit again to stare inside, and then closes it and locks it. "Ready." She whispers when Sly comes through and she grabs her own mission radio and tucks it into one of the breastpockets of her suit and then connects the earbud to her ear, wrapping the earpiece around to get it to stick in place.

The young woman then, when the truck docks in place, finally stands up and tips her hat a bit further down. They were still waiting, she knew, so she stands to the side in case anyone or anything needed to get through before her. She suddenly almost jumps though, when the box behind her opens. She quickly turns around, and looks immediately relieved that it's just a person. She smiles warily, then turns back towards the truck's exit.

When the flashlight comes by, Sinya seems to stiffen slightly. While she might be good at bartering and occassionally talking men in to giving her a discount due to her gender, she isn't exactly the finest actress in the world. Only once the light goes by does she let a breath out that she hadn't realized she was holding. Her eyes flash to the window, taking a single look outside as she gets to her feet. "What are you getting yourself into, Sin?" She whispers to herself, barely audible under her breath.

She sets the book down, casting a look over her shoulder at the muscle of this particular operation. Muscle - Sinya most certainly is not. As a mechanic by trade, she was here to handle the computer and machine side of things - if it came to be needed, not the front line combat. Even so, the catgirl reaches down and double checks a pistol strapped onto the inside of one of her calf-high boots, along with a thin metal cylinder strapped to her side which seems harmless enough.

Still, she had other things she needed. From inside a suitcase, the catgirl drags out a few small machines, hacking interfaces, machine overrides, mini-emps. At the very least, she came prepared, although not nearly as prepared as others. Sinya /stares/ at the power armor, resisting the urge to mutter something about overcompensating. "Ready." She murmurs, taking a place beside Yu, quite content not to be one of those with the big guns.

So far, it has been smooth sailing. Though when Sly pulls in with the trucks there was several techs in the hangers. Mostly the hanger held MT parts, Armored Core Parts, and what have you. Mostly your typical supplies and stuff even needed to help keep the vehicles running. On another side of the wall of the hanger was stacks of boxes, which were being moved by a heavy industrial crane drone, on flat-bed drones to be moved other hangers that either had more parts or go into sections that were for breaking down things and be rebuilt later.

If one spotted closely they may even see some techs maybe working on old Armored Cores, taking them apart, or attempting to pull data out of them. Maybe some of these old machines were in the shops to be replaced or they were a former corporations machines before Crest wiped them off the face of the planet.

So far the cameras here didn't seem to be paying attention, they didn't seem like the kind that could swivel around and mostly were there to make sure the dock workers and techs were doing their jobs. After all Crest pays their people good money, but that good money can't be wasted on those who are lazy and just twiddle their thumbs all day. That isn't how you made progress after all!

A few techs glance over, but not many actually move over to investigate, except for those who are typing on the keyboards to actually send over drones to pick up whatever shipment that Sly may have brought in marked for the drones to take.

Hopefully sly remembered to 're mark' some of those boxes or that is going to be a dead give away when those silly automated drones back away with nothing...

Or someone is going to be kicking a drone to work right.

From here though, it looked like they may be scott free to get inside, unless someone does something utterly stupid to bring attention. Though a guy popping out of a box may just do this, if you know, those stupid techs were actually /paying/ attention away from computer terminals or weldings.

Franklin Gunzel obviously had the wherewithal to pay attention, as he was /expecting/ a random truck with supplies and crazy people sometime today. One look at the jostling box is all it takes for him to set his tools down and non-chalantly excuse himself to put his quad-ocular face on.

The boxes have been properly marked, but that isn't Sly's first defense against this. No, that is simply locking the truck so nobody can get inside. When asked about this, Sly shrugs, and says, "Special request from the boss. He said some of these goods were part of some whatever project...Can't remember the exact words. Anyway, this load needs to be supervised by a... Gunzel. Nobody is supposed to touch it until his team has gone over whatever it is they're doing."

All part of the plan. Sly hopes that 'corporate efficiency' will be about what he remembers, and nobody will question the truck sitting there for a couple hours untouched, for fear of being fired for asking too many questions.

Most of the crates are going to remain on the truck. There's really no reason to bring them off. Anything that contained the team's equipment will stay, and Rex will certainly stay, where he's hidden inside. The crates that are taken out are legitimate cargo just to provide a smokescreen.

Meanwhile, the 'real' cargo isn't in crates, but is the people inside. Those people Sly rallies. "Alright, Rex and Little, you two stay behind and secure our exit. If slash when things go south, we're going to need a quick escape. That's down to you. The rest of you guys, stay tight and try not to act suspicious." Sly motions with two fingers to exit the truck. For Sly's part, he's bringing his standard auto-pistol, plus the Crest security pistol he stole on his last visit. Beyond that, he has some basic mechanics tools, plus two breaching charges, and three smoke grenades able to produce smoke which blocks radar and thermal as well as obscuring normal sight.

The clock is ticking now. The longer they're here, the greater the chance of their cover being blown. If Sly's lucky, the fake 'high security' codes Cathrine uploaded on their last visit won't have been detected, and they'll have an all-access pass. If not, they'll have to improvise. Either way, step one is to head to the main elevators and try getting down to the computer level.

Since people had been climbing into power armor, Yu had been rather uncertain just what the heck the plan was. She'd thought this was a sneaking mission. It's only when sly finally states that those in armor are to stay behind, that she understands that some of them are here to keep things clear for the retreat slash departure. She puts a hand to her chest and closes her eyes, and then opens them again. That same hand moves to Sinya's shoulder for a moment, and she gives her a 'certain' look. As if trying to calm down the feline, even though she herself wasn't even too sure about this.

She then turns towards the exit, and with the gate now open and the drones coming in, she steps outside and calmly walks into the hangar itself. She looks around at what is all before her, and takes note of the cameras in a single glance, before continueing on a bit inside, keeping her pace slow so that Sly could catch up easily, and then lead the way. She carries her toolbox like your average Mechanic, straight towards those elevators.

Gunzel doesn't do the checking himself, incidentally, but the rest of his crew is already on its way over to handle it; /he/ has to go get ready, after all.

Of course, they're actual Crest employees, so the next few seconds may be a bit shocking for them.

For once, the catgirl doesn't seem to mind the human contact, returning the look given to her with only a single nod, and the faintest of a quirk of her lips in thanks. Sinya doesn't need to be told twice to move out. The catgirl, in the guise of the young tech steps out of the truck, dusting off her uniform and then pushing her glasses up on her nose. The look of interest she shows towards the Armored Cores isn't just part of the act, but her usual mech-obsession, which luckily doesn't serve as a breach of character. She has every reason to enter the building - orientation and proceedures briefing, it was all standard for new recruits.

It takes quite a bit of self control for her not to have her claws out, especially in what is most obviously hostile territory. Still, with an folder that probably has the standard 'welcome to Crest' information in it clutched to her chest, she at least looks like a shy, new girl to the mechanic's devision. There is a faint twitch of her nose, taking in the smells around her. Even with her hearing muffled by her disguise, that was at least one tool still available to her. She looks around, and then seems to follow Yu's lead, walking a few steps behind. "The instructions say we're supposed to report to orientation, the elevators should be this way." Her voice is kept low as she fumbles the recruitment papers, dropping one and having to scramble to pick it up again. A hapless newcomer - something that doesn't even get a passing look from the techs.

A few techs do glance up from their work as they watch the ladies follow the other. A few them making soft comments to one another, but nothing overly audible and was quickly redirected back to work as the head mechanic wackes one of them on the back of the head with a data clipboard.

The whole motley crew does indeed get inside the massive Crest HQ without any trouble. Though once they are actually in the complex, those cameras are yet again watching. They are like tracking movements perhaps, or someone, perhaps even maybe something has taken great interest in them. Though it would seem as they pass by others, at times another camera will follow them too. That is a good sign, it just means they were looking for 'something' to lock on to. Perhaps it was body heat reading? Perhaps it was motion? It was hard to say.

Sly knows the way to the elevators, he knows the drill with the keycard as well, which /oddly/ actually still works. Well for a moment. The elevator flickers green, but then goes red. If he tries again, it does the same thing.

It /almost/ comes across as a mechanical failure really.

If another elevator is tried, some exact thing. These were the only two elevators in the main complex and the worst part was, if they kept trying, they may get the attention of security who was sitting in their comfy desks right outside the elevator shafts, just a bit down the hall.

Meanwhile...

The techs who are then sent over and actually have to do things the /hard/ way, gawd-- walk over to the truck, before they go to open the door. "Man, can you believe the nerve.."

This probably wont end well...

Totient nods in a quiet gesture of deference to his (current) superior in this particular operation. He moves to fall in step with the others moving into the complex. As far as he can tell, this is going to be a fairly standard operation. His hands are hooked loosely in his pockets, a small clipboard tucked under his arm- a fake name, a false set of numbers he can go by. Totient is ready for whatever might come out of the woodwork down in this strange, labrynthine facility.

Walking through the halls of a corporate headquarters isn't anything new or unusual for the ORCA agent- but it IS his first time in Crest's. The machines marching about have little effect on the man, but the occasional wary, if curious, glance at distant machines and their caretakers. It's disarming- showing a little bit of interest makes you seem quite a bit less suspicious. He takes a quiet glance to one of the cameras, flashes a slight smile and gives a small wave.

Everything seems to be going smoothly-

And then they get to the elevators.

Totient frowns slightly, "Well, how about the stairs?"

When the elevators seem not to... 'work'... a bad feeling creeps up on Yu Zhi Wu. A feeling like someone is watching, and enjoying this way too much. She lowers her head a bit further, looking at Sly, then at Totient... before quickly looking at the fire-escape. She knew those triggered alarms when used. "Let me." She offers, and takes off her cap. Long beautiful hair comes flowing out, previously bunched up beneath the cap, and she turns around. The scar on her face was almost invisible beneath the makeup used. And her entire form, with that hair showing, suddenly looked more... mature. Holding the toolkit with two hands, she wanders that little bit down the hall.

She soon reaches one of the security desks, and bows her head at the one sitting at the desk. "A... eh... sir?" She puts a hand to her mouth, almost biting the side of her index finger, trying to look somewhat charming. "Me and my friends are having trouble with the elevator. It just... won't work." She complains, yet sounding a bit too sultry. One leg goes forwards, and she pushes her chest a bit more forwards. "Why, could you maybe... help me out? I don't want to be late for my appointment." She was turning on the womanly charms at full force. And she knew exactly how to do it. "And if I get there in time, I might have some... time left over." A very subtle hint, that might give lonely men... or women... hope.

Sly can only laugh a bit to himself and shake his head as Yu 'goes to work'. He knows better to get involved in that, so instead moves a bit back.. Not hiding, but not anywhere to get attention, either. Still, you can't ever count on this gambit to work, so Sly plays a second one.

When the gets the guard's attention, Sly moves out of the way, but he does so strategically. He's pretty certain someone will check out the elevator, it's just a matter of 'can the girl get him to break procedure and hit the button for them?' IF she can, great. If she can't, then he needs the card that guard has. The simplest way to handle that is by pickpocketing.

So that's what Sly lines up to do. If she can get this to work, great. If she /can't/, Sly will try and lift the card they need from the guy while he's distracted.

Through the hallways, Sinya seems to just follow along. Although with each breath she seems to be noting the smells. Where others might remember the way out using their eyes she is doing so with her nose. She rifles through the pages, sometimes taking one out and looking as if she's reading it over. She even stutter-steps to avoid running into the others as they stop at the elevator. Watching the key card fail, her head does a little tilt. "No wonder they need new mechanics..." She muses to herself in that quiet voice.

However, when Yu decides to take off her cap, Sinya's eyes widen slightly, following her path down the hallway with a little leaning gawk. Her mouth lingers open a bit, but then she seems to come back to herself and turns back towards the elevator. She crouches to look closer at the controls, then with a quick movement of one hand places a tiny device to the bottom. It's almost invisible, but serves at least one purpose - if the elevator control wasn't broken before, it certainly isn't functioning properly now. If nothing else, it adds some credibility to the story that Yu is trying quite so sexily to pass off to security.

The Ark Hammer slowed as it came close to Side 6, The Captain standing close to the front viewport as the battle started. "My lady, we're in firing range." The Tactical officer spoke as Miranda overlooked the tactical display, one Divada could see as well. "Very well, Shields up, Charge weapons. Hold our position here. The Crusaders want the colony intact, so we're going to stay as support...for now. Miranda, keep an eye open for other cruisers." She says as the Ark Hammer slows to a stop, at the maximum range of all of it's weapons. it's not even launching fighters...

The security was notified of the elevator and they type in a few commands to the computer.

> Access camera elevator 1. > Accessing.... >.....

The camera image then comes up on the main screen for the security team to look at. Probably for the crew in the elevator they may actually see it rotate down and just /stare/ at them as the camera lens zooms in and zooms out slightly.

However this was quickly saved as Yu comes to the rescue with her vixen ways. She waltzes in like she does and gets a few of the teams attention in that room. Others, probably the ones married, another who is female and rolls her eyes, before she actually just walks out of the room going, "I'm going to get a cup of coffee."

Jealousy maybe?

The poor male who gets targeted is a young man, probably new to the team and just stares at her. His face gets a bit red before he quickly covers this by moving down his security cap. "..e-elevator troubles huh?" He tries to say calmly. He then stands up, before reaching for the key chain off his belt. "..wh-what," he then ahems, "What level are you guys trying to get down to anyhow? Seems like-- uhh?" He looks at the monitor, before back at her. "..nevermind, but yeah-- sure.."

The young man then goes to the elevator before he steps in, turning the key, before actually opening a small box that seemed like it came out of no where as he actually 'pulled' it out from under the button panel. He then typed in some codes, before he pushed it back in and locked it.

He then turns to look at the others before looking back to Yu. He then hands her a card. "Its a temporary card. It will expire in about two hours. So make sure you get out of the other areas before it locks that card, alright?" He then looks at the once 'broken' control panel, "As for this elevator, will send some techs to have a look at it and get it back to normal. It seems like ever since a few weeks ago, everything has been on the minor fritz around here. People are blaming some kinda project and a new install of a new security AI." He then laughs softly as he backs away. "Then again," He shrugs, "When isn't Crest working on some new cutting edge gadget for use of someone or another."

The Security guard then walks away before going back into that office and hoping no one reports that to the team leader who was out on lunch break. His luck-- Sue would or Jessie. Probably Jessie who went for that 'coffee'.

Seems it was all green for everyone to go up.. or down in this case.

Sly can only laugh again as the guard gives them pretty much everything they need to finish this trip. Poor guy is probably going to be fired after this, but on the other hand, it WAS a security risk and probably should be. "That was something," Is all Sly says about that, giving the girl a bit of a smirk before he moves into the elevator. He knows exactly where to go here: It's the place he DIDN'T go last time.

Stupid Crest.

Odds are they are recording sound on the elevator, so they do need to be a bit careful from here on out. "Alright ladies and gentleman. Now's where we really need to get to work. Odds are things are going to get real busy for us until we get home, so let's keep that in mind."

Sly has no idea what he'll find down here. From here on out, they're just winging things. The goal is pretty clear, though: Get to the research area in charge of these new top-secret programs and let Sinya copy everything for them.

Yu accepts the card graciously from the young man, and smiles at him whilst taking in the information being given to them. A security AI? Artificial Intelligence. She knew but little about them. To her, they were genies in a box. But when the 'boy' prepares to walk away, Yu suddenly stops him. "Thanks for the help." She walks towards him in two quick steps, and plants a kiss on his cheek, whilst moving a hand along his chest whilst staying in a direction she knows the camera can't see that hand. "I'll try to be back within two hours." She then whispers in addition, and turns around.

She then slides that card down the slot for the elevator and follows Sly into it. She too realized that there would possibly be microphones and other things within that thing. So she just nodded when Sly spoke, whilst wondering curiously what a Security AI truly meant. If the elevator had not opened for them 'due to' this Security AI, did that mean they were already subject? She hands the security card over to Sly.

Well, if there's anything to be said about women, it's that /holy damn/ they're effective at what they do. Totient stifles a chuckle as he watches Yu work her magic. And her hips. He's particularly watching those hips. When you've not got much left to lose in the world, you might as well take in the sights. He smirks a bit as they step into the elevator. "Sure, don't worry so much. Let's just do our best and take care of what needs to be taken care of, eh?"

He hazards a glance down at Yu's hips one last time and, deciding that he might as well, gives her a light tap on the rear, "Nice work there, by the way. How about the two of us meet up sometime after work, huh?"

If he gets slapped, well, then that's that, eh? And if he doesn't- well...

"Wonder how that security AI they've got hooked up works. Must be one of our less impressive ones, if it's already on the fritz."

For the time being Sinya leaves the tiny disruptor attached to the elevator controls. It's small enough, and inconspicuous that most repair teams would probably miss it - and they might have a need to fry the controls later.

As she steps into the elevator, the catgirl can't help but shoot a small smirk towards Yu, offering a companionable nudge to the taller woman, "Okay, you need to give me lessons on that later." Her words are kept hushed, but there is amusement in her voice. Then again, just who is it that Sinya needs to seduce? Who knows, but apparently the Chinese woman is the master of it. Of course, Sin could probably make a decent try at it, if she weren't stuck having to worry about her disguise.

Listening to Sly's words, she gives a single nod of her head, tugging the gloves up that cover her clawed fingers. Her eyes to shift over towards Totient, "I don't know that you have enough metal on you for her tastes." Yes, she's teasing about the other woman's rumored cyborg fetish. Afterall, Yu has yet to actually deny it. Sin's hand slides over her forearm, where a small datapad is hidden beneath her uniform, casually sliding her fingers over a few keys in preperation for what is to come.

While people seduce other people and maybe slap each other, Bass is busily going through Crest's office space in search of damaging files, or paper clips, or secretaries, or something.

He'll probably find his own way to the lower levels so as to meet up with the group, though.

The elevator closed and with a soft whine the elevator was on the move, though it didn't even feel like it was. It was a very smooth, quick ride to level B2 and as the doors open, it leads them into the stark white level B2. The lights here are not helping how white this place looks. It was almost like walking into a hospital really.

A /very/ clean hospital.

The walls here looked thick, and seemed to be double doored, blocking any sight of what may be beyond the walls, though double-panned, bullet proof glass could be seen letting someone look into the rooms themselves.

By how the air compressor came on above them as they stepped out was enough to say that this area was meant to keep dust, dirt, and any nasty stuff out. There seem to be more air compressors above the doors as well to do the same thing.

Each door to each room had a keypad and card slider. None of these rooms were marked. Outside of what someone could see, one room had a terminal with robotics equipment. Same for another room. Another room had /nothing/ in it, expect for a chair, hooked up to several wires trailing off to the wall and seemed to be connected to another room that had a 'mirror' glass; Most likely a fake window.

There was also four halls here, all mazes that seem to inter connect or loop around. More rooms with robotics, more rooms with testing equipment, some even with medical supplies, or so it looked.

However in the center of all these halls, all these cameras ever watching, and what seemed to not be a person in sight so far, was a massive room. One with good enough hearing could hear the sounds of what was like machines, more correctly computing and processing machines. The problem was, like so many of the rooms here. It too was locked up tight. There was that door, with the security code needed and a card to slide. However these doors were not single, instead it was a double door and the center was actually a circular lock system. One of that spun in place before it actually unlocked and then opened. The door itself also didn't look very thin.

When Totient tries to slap Yu's butt, he already finds his wrist in a vice, and a glare from the woman that would give a hawkish librarian a run for her money. "You try that again, and I'll have your hand." She whispers at him, her right eye twitching. What Sinya said wasn't entirely right either. But it was more along the lines that she didn't like guys hitting on her. Yu Zhi Wu was one of those women who wanted to initialize things, and believed that men had no right to touch her without her permission. This was an image that fit very well what she had stuck in that toolbox in her free hand.

Her gaze slips to Sinya for a moment, giving her an amused look... then looks at that datapad before turning her eyes at the elevator door opening. She steps out immediately, and looks up at the cameras present. She then turns towards Totient. Wasn't he the one who said he could handle the 'data' aspects. "Look, servant." Wow, what just happened. When did Totient suddenly get that role!? She then quickly looks up at the Cameras again. "I'll forgive you, if you do a good job."

Suddenly, Totient's hand is in a wrist-lock!? The LYNX chuckles sheepishly as he's twisted, with a surprisingly low amount of resistance, to a rather uncomfortable looking position. "Ouch. Well, mistress, I suppose I could take care of things for you. But only if you'd do me the pleasure of releasing my hand. There is only so much I can do with one hand. But if you want to hold hands while I work, I certainly wouldn't object!"

Little known fact: Thermidor is actually /not/ the biggest womanizer in ORCA.

That title belongs to this man right here.

"Now, let's see what we can do," Totient murmurs, "Well, I'll need to get to a computer of some kind. And we may want to get out of line of sight, eh? Someplace a bit more private..."

"Hey sister," Sly Heckler says to Yu, less impressed by her display than Totient was, "Let's save the aggression for those that aren't on our side." Sly isn't sure at what point he became 'that' guy on the team, but someone has to be. "Why don't you do a sweep of the area, lay out some points of interest." He looks over to Sinya, and adds, "Let's do the job fast. These cameras are making me nervous."

For Sly's part, it's about time to set up their exit. Once they start messing with stuff, he doubts the AI will let them just walk out of here. But it's an AI, and those tend to be easily exploitable. And someone said something about the stairs that Sly has been keeping in mind...

There is a quiet snicker under Sinya's breath when poor Totient gets his hand caught. Even she could have warned him from trying that sort of thing with Yu, but ... it's more amusing this way. The cat-girl files off of the elevator with the others, although for the most part she seems to be keeping quiet - a far cry from her usual talkative self. The difference? She is a cat, and when a cat knows they've done something wrong, they don't exactly try to draw attention to themselves - either that or they hide under the bed. No beds here.

Even so, she takes a deep breath of the air, taking in the scents. "A lot of people have passed through here." Strange, figuring there don't seem to be any now. "Give me a second." She raises a hand, starting to walk with her eyes closed, just taking slow deep breaths and apparently trying to follow her nose. "I should be able to find which way he went..." She trails off, giving no more explination than that before putting her very inhuman nose to the test, trying to track down which way Archangel might have gone when he was here.

If the group followed Sinya, they be led down a hall, down another hall, then well another hall that lead right to a room that had no windows. Actually the hall lead /straight/ to a door. Like all the doors, hello security code and key card. There was also a camera looking directly down from the door itself.

If Sly was bothered by the cameras, he was probably now highly bothered by the fact they were surrounded by cameras; On the corner of that very hall were two of them and one right above the door were /all/ staring right at them.

As people begin to emerge from the elevator, Bass Nahor is right there, looking faintly bizarre in his ornate black and red Aerogater mask and Crest mechanic's jumpsuit.

He is, at least, stripping the latter off to reveal a normal suit now that he has a chance.

"Thank God," he mutters as he shakes the jumpsuit from his leg and kicks it away, "I was a little worried my timin' was off." He briskly brushes himself off as he takes off walking behind Sinya.

"First time for everything, after all."

Getting though secured doors like this isn't really Sly's thing. His job was more 'get them in and get them out'. This work is better left to the others.

However, Sly does have one idea. He steps up to the door, and briskly knocks on it. "Open the door, HAL."

Hey, he's got to do /something/.

Yu of course let go of Totient's hand and nodded at him. "Show me what you are worth." She claims and then turns towards Sinya. She heard that 'sniffle', and suddenly is reminded of something in her past. There is a slight twitch at her right eye again, before she closes both and raises her head to more properly inhale air. The air here smelled so... fake to her. She was used to be on the SuiKyosha, where things smelled a bit like being near an ocean. That, or La Gias. But here, in this place that was so medically clean. It made the hair on her arms stand up.

Then the cat-girl speaks. She nods and breathes out again, having calmed herself down, and follows right behind her. Going down hall after all, until they finally arrive at the final one, where all the cameras were aiming at them. "Surely, they know we are here by now." She whispers, believing that by this point, disabling those cameras is just purely too late by now. So she believed. "Can we just... take them out? Or...?" She then looks at Sinya, then the door again. Security door and key card. She had no idea what the code could be. And Totient apparently didn't have this 'computer' thing with him that he needed. There'd been those robotics terminals, but Yu didn't know those could potentially be used.

Instead, she just walks up to that door besides Sly and puts a hand against it and begins to... feel it... and knocks with the back of her hand in places. She is... listening to it? Seeking a specific tone, trying to find out how thick it was, and if she could perhaps punch it off of its hinges. Anime physics martial arts and all that. And if anything else, find a spot where explosives would be best placed.

Totient chuckles all too cheerfully as he's finally released from that hold. He takes a moment to look to the cameras surrounding him, and frowns slightly, "They do have quite a lot of surveillance, don't they?" He humms a cheerful little tune and goes to inspect the door. "The panel he used should be somewhere around here. Let's see..."

A small port on his arm slides apart, flesh peeling away to reveal a small mess of wires. He slips a small cable into the door's data port. His sleeve is slid upward, revealing a strange network of cybernetic 'veins' that vaguely map out a data pad, "Let's see what can be done about this..." He begins tapping at his arm, small pulses of light illuminating the skin between the 'veins.' His eyes shine softly as he does his work.

Now to see about popping it open...

It takes quite a bit of concentration to follow one particular scent through a hallway filled with other smells, but Archangel is the first cyborg that Sinya had ever spent any deal of time around, so he does tend to have a place of distinction. Once in the right hallway, she blinks and then rubs a hand beneath her nose, as if trying to clear out an overabundance of smells. "Some of the people who work here really need to shower more." She comments, blowing air out of her nose. An animal's sense of smell certainly comes with its own collection of drawbacks.

Of course, being in the eyes of those cameras is enough to cause her to freeze in place for a moment. She'd been too busy playing tracker that she hadn't noticed Yu's reaction, but she does hear the other woman's words and catch that glance to the keypad. She seems about to say something when Totient steps forward. Even after starting research into cybernetics, the catgirl can't help but stare for a moment as the flesh peels back from the man's arm.

"Let me see about the cameras." She mutters, forcing herself to look away. Plucking out a few small devices from the bag at her side, similar to the disruptor she'd used earlier on the elevator, Sinya takes a half-running leap at the wall, managing to jump a bit higher than humanly possible as she tags the camera above the door with one of the devices. One that should jam the electronics in short order. She lands in a crouch, scouting for the other cameras so she can do the same to them. Even if it may be too late, at least she can stop them from seeing exactly what they are doing.

While Sinya deals with the cameras and Thermidor with the door, Bass gets ready to deal with actual people/robots by unholstering a handgun and taking aim at the door.

And then by unholstering /another/ handgun and pointing it behind them, just in case.

"Aaaaaany time, now," he urges.

Sorry Sly, there is no HAL 1000 to respond to you or even comply to your request. Though the fact security hasn't shown up may be a bit concerning or just the security A.I. hasn't reported them yet?

It was hard to say, however all their faces were probably now on the system if this was indeed being recorded and watched. Though as Yu started to tap, she will find its a rather heavy door. Not something that can just be easily taken down, as these doors don't work on the hinges, but rather by sliding tracks.

Time was ticking away as they stared at the refusing to open door. However the cyborg known as Totient comes to the rescue and starts to override the control panel. One of those cameras seems to /take/ great interest in this.

Elsewhere with the security team...

> Warning: Unauthorized access. Level B2. Room D2

However the security team seems to miss this memo, cause some poor dude is getting his butt chewed out for being an /idiot/ by one of the higher guys and being told now he could lose his job!

Look what you did Yu!

Back to our 'heroes'!

Sinya disables the cameras, perhaps in time, cause now when the team goes to look to see just what the A.I. was complaining about, all they get is distortion if not video on loop. Which was quick thinking on the felines part.

Soon the door gives a hiss, before it moves back slightly and then slides slowly to the side. The air compressors above the door quick in to keep once again any dust or whatever have you from getting in. This room was also stark white, with a work bench that was clean, a 'bed' of sorts, locked drawers for tools and things, and just one simple computer terminal.

That was it, one little computer terminal, with a black screen panel in front of the terminal. If one approached the terminal and turned it on, the black screen would light up with a touch pad keyboard and a touch pad looking mouse.

Whelp, the cameras are out, so now it's only a matter of time before security gets down here to check this out. Escape is going to be pretty tricky, considering that they're now trapped underground, but Sly does have a solution for that. It's not a clean one, but it should work.

Meanwhile, Sly has to set up for the inevitable rush of security guards. Once the team is inside, Sly closes the door, and plants one of his smoke grenades, setting up a tripwire across the door so any guards who burst in will set it off. If there are any other doors around here, he sets up a second one likewise, so they're not surprised by a flanking move.

He doesn't know computers well enough to deal with that, so he just motions to it, saying, "Grab everything, pull it to our drive and we can sort though it later. We've got maybe five minutes, so work fast."

"Grab everything, pull it to a drive, right." Totient smirks as the door slides open. His cybernetic jack slithers back into his palm, but his flesh does not mend as it usually would once he's done with it. Mostly because... He's not done with it! The cyborg sauntered up to the little black terminal with an easy smile on his face. The terminal lights up as he hits the boot button. It's a little awkward since he can't sit down, but...

He looks about the terminal, searching for another one of those ports. If he can't find one, he'll have to do things the hard way. The hard way is slow, it's messy, and he's not the biggest fan- not like Malzel is. But if he can find a port, this should be nice and quick. Hopefully. "Where do you guys need this stored?"

Yu quickly moves inside as well and believing this to be the final door, she finally sets down that toolkit she has been carrying around for this entire time now. She plants it at the side of the door, and retrieves a black... whip. It looks incredibly long, and... metalic. It's definitely black, but it's also metalic. And flat. Is this a... that's right. It's a swordwhip! She lashes it once towards the ground, scarring it immediately, before she smiles. "It's been a while since I've used this guy." She mutters, before turning towards the others... and the panel.

Of course, she can't help but look at Sinya and Sly first, before looking at Totient. She is glad she didn't have to say anything, he knew what his job was. "I will see what I can do to help, when we have to depart. But until then, I can't do anything." The woman then proceeds to wrap the flat of the swordwhip around her waist, letting the 'handle' remain up, for easy use, and is careful not to cut herself. With that complete, she again nods at the catgirl. She wanted to say 'well done', but in truth, she barely had an idea what she had done. "I assume you disabled the cameras?" She asks.

With the cameras taken care of, and possibly a display of acrobatics in order to reach them, Sinya once more lands on the ground. Seeing others unholstering weapons, she instinctivelly reaches for the cylinder at her side, and then thinks better of it. Just what good would a metal staff do against bullets? Well, she could always go crouching kitty hidden dragon on them, but... not so likely to turn out well against machine guns. So, she grabs for the pistol in her boot instead.

Moving fast, she darts into the room once the door is open, pulling the uniform up over the small dataunit strapped to her arm. "I've got that covered." She replies to Totient's question, raising her arm as she pulls free a wire from it. Sure, it isn't as cool as cybernetic implants, but it's still not bad. With only a glance towards the door, Sinya crouches down near the computer and hunts for a jack to plug her armset into. Which... comes up empty.

"Um, problem. No data port." She pops her head up next to Totient, "Let's just see what we can get into." Her claws are out, sticking through the gloves, which is a clear sign of her aggitation.

Bass hops over the wire, and rather than try to eke out a space before the computer console he gets some distance between himself and the doorway before crouching down to draw a bead on it with both guns. Just in case; smoke and tripwire only do so much to stymie entire security details, after all.

"Just don't trash the systems on the way out," he lowly requests. "I might wanna go through 'em /myself/--maybe see if Mirage wants a piece'a the data."

Sadly Totient will have to do things the old fashion way as there is no ports here. Just him, the terminal and the keyboard. The information that comes up on R is light at best. The diagrams are just light surface information for simple repairs. There isn't anything to be found by quick searching that even remotely looks like what be holding the Raven Founder to the corporation.

If he attempts to dig deeper, he is denied every turn, ever direction. Lock after another lock, followed by more locks. It would take hours to just hack into every single lock laid down. They could be hiding something or-- Attempting to hack deeper could be a waste of time and setting them up to most definitely be caught as how long it take to get the data.

The door also soon starts to close once again, locking them into the room till they are ready to leave. This may come in their favor if security does indeed come. After all, hard for people to do fire shots when you got a door blocking what may be waiting for you!

Though one could say that works two ways and with lack of windows, it was just them, the creepy white room, the strange bed, work bench, tool drawers, and that one computer terminal.

Now if Totient goes to look for that information on Strayed he finds it far easier than he actually did on R. It would seem however the blue prints themselves are.. corrupted by the looks of things. Not enough information to actually try to sell out right and have to take a few guesses as to what all the inner workings may be.

There also seems to be no information on the AMS system the NEXT could be operating on, actually-- there is not even anything called an AMS, perhaps cause that got locked away as well.

The information that could be found on the NEXT seems to be based suspiciously similar to that of what Akvavit was working on before they were destroyed. By other data information the Kojimi particle density reports to be extremely dense, so dense in fact that someone has to be a fully converted cyborg, with really very little 'meat' left on them in order to survive it. This would then imply that R has to be a fullcon Lynx now.

Next it seems to have a system similar to the GN-Type mobile suits. That being a secondary Kojima particle compressor that looks like it may function like a supercharger of sorts. If all that is correct then it runs when the main reactor is back to optimal power; Making the Strayed NEXT /extremely/ dangerous and insane for someone to duplicate.

Why the hell Crest would even want to make something like this only strikes someone who has to be insane; Or perhaps just down right foolish playing with technology they never had the right to play with, probably far as some NEXT corporations are concerned.

Bright side was, maybe if he could get his hands on the NEXT itself, maybe he could then figure it out...

If he could get that NEXT that is.

"Whelp," Totient says after a moment, "That's a bit depressing. Unless you lot feel like sitting around and watching the door for a fortnight or two while I piece this thing apart, we're pretty much screwed. Of course, I do have another solution, but uh," he inclines his head to the others, "Little bit psychotic, though. But you guys are Trailers, right? You're good with psychotic. Right?"

What is this 'idea' you might ask? Well...

"Well, we might want to find one of the medical guys in charge of this and knock him out to drag away. And then we find a ride out of here! Fortunately, I think I might be able to figure out where to get one. Of course, you guys might be sterile for a few weeks while I go get it."

Sly sighs. It seems like every time he comes here, that happens. He gets in and then hits some wall. Well, not this time. "Except that this whole floor is empty. We haven't seen another human since we got here. I've got a better idea. Let's go find the physical drive. We /take/ that, and we can decode it on our own later." It'll take longer, but like hell he's leaving empty-handed again. As for their exit, he's worked that angle a bit. First things first, though.

He also has to roll his eyes a bit at Yu and Bass. "Hey, let's try and do this without any fatalities, if possible? We /are/ breaking the law down here. If nobody gets killed, the government will probably ignore this as a simple corporate theft. If this mission gets a bodycount, they might get frowny-face at us."

After that, he looks over to Sinya. She's the other tech out here, maybe she's got a better idea. "What do you think? You find anything helpful?"

"They're for the mechanized defenses," Bass flatly states; his upper set of eyes roll behind the mask as he says this. "I usually try to keep the spontaneous killin' sprees to a minimum. Also, I'm thinkin' if one of their sweet, shiny prototypes walks off with a bunch'a mercenaries, all the better."

He glances appraisingly at Thermidor before returning his attention to Sly and adding, "A little radiation ain't gonna threaten /my/ boys; I dunno about the rest'a y'all."

When Sly comments that this is a mission where they are trying not to get any fatalities, she kind of looks saddened. Like a puppy giving someone the sad look. She'd kinda looked forward to at least /some/ action. She nods at him however, turning her eyes away. "Oh fine." She then whines, but keeps the 'belt' on. She couldn't really do much until those with the 'ideas' and the technical knowledge did their thing. But when Totient claims to have an idea that might end up with her being sterile... she gives him a hesitant look. "I don't think I like the sound of this idea of yours."

The information about Archangel is really Sinya's main concern, and she quickly transcribes what she can to her datapad, her fingers moving quickly over the keys. For someone who only learned how to use computers two years ago, she has a surprising grace with them. Her other hand does a series of quick sketches using a tiny pen, trying to duplicate the images. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as much as she had hoped to find, and not nearly enough to free her friend from the clutches of this corporation. "They've got things locked down tight." Her eyes turn towards Yu, her expression worried, and perhaps a little sympathetic.

As for the rest, Sinya records as much of it as she can, although some of it certainly goes over her head. She'd only just started researching into the cyborg side of robotics, having mostly spent her time involved in the repair of mechs until now. She's just finishing up an image when Sly questions her. "Not enough. Not for what I need anyways." She shakes her head, and then frowns at the computer screen before looking back at Sly. "As for the drive, I'd be concerned with them having defenses for that too. Boobytraps maybe."

Leaving that suggestion, she shoots a cautious look towards Totient, not exactly sure she's okay with what he has planned. Then again, they'd mostly hit a wall, so she isn't against trying much of anything. "Whatever we need to do, let's do it and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps." There is a quick motion as she pulls something from her datapad and tucks it into her boot, then rises to her feet.

So far, things have been easy street for the guys down on B2. They have hit the wall however and yet, there was no sounds of alarms going off. It was about then that suddenly all over Level B2 went /red/.

Then there was a sudden load thunk on the door. From the sounds of it-- it just locked them inside the room. They were now trapped in the room before the lights continued to flicker red. There was no sounds of sirens, just those flashing over-head red lights.

If they had a plan to get out of this room, the probably want to do so quickly before someone opens the door of the non to friendly side. Though one could imagine if this was the case, then the security team was already on the move to their location.

Crest may just have set them up or it just took the security team now to realize what was happening.

When Sinya gives Yu that look, the woman gives her a saddened one in reply. There was this little 'feeling' around her heart which squeezed. Again, her gaze turns away. "So he remains to be a captive of Crest." She whispers, somewhat pained. All of what the others were saying, though she was perhaps only understanding half of it, sounded like things were not looking good for Archangel. Then suddenly, there is a little whine in her ears, before things suddenly go red before her eyes.

Red. Why did alarms always have to be red. Why couldn't they be purple and yellow polka dot alarms? Or maybe even yellow, like she saw in tha hangars? No, it had to be red. Yu squints her eyes heavily as the room goes that darned color, and she stumbles back a little. Hesitantly, she tries to reach out towards the wall, and finds it. Is she... having trouble seeing? Almost like a blind bat, she stumbles a bit towards the door. "This can't be good." She claims the absolute obvious, trying not to show her own frustration.

Sly Heckler sighs. That's right, everything seems to have gone to hell, and Sly's response is to sigh. This wasn't entirely unexpected. "Alright, plan B." Sly pulls out the Crest security pistol he brought with him, and switches it to yellow. He's still going non-lethal, for the moment.

"Totient, rip that drive out. We'll sort it out later. Sinya said something about it maybe being trapped? I wouldn't be surprised. Keep your eyes open."

He looks at Bass and Yu, and gives them a nod, before he walks up to the door. The first thing he does is recover his smoke bomb. He'll need that in a bit. The second thing he does, is set one of his breaching charges. Sly learned a while ago that whenever you do a mission like this, you need to have your 'exit strategy' covered.

Sly plants the charge, and sets it for 20 seconds. That should be enough time for everybody to get to cover. "Alright people, this is what we're paid for. Stay fast and low once we're out. Now that they're on us, they're sure to have some other tricks."

Once the charge is set, Sly runs behind one of the large tables for cover, and whips out his radio. "Alright boys," Sly calls up to Little and Rex. "Make some noise."

Upstairs, Little and Rex are decked out in Phalanx and Tengu Battle Armor. Even if the radio was jammed, they'll know it's time to move when the whole facility goes into lockdown. Their job is to create a lot of noise. Something they've been looking forward to all day.

While her own feeling of disappointment may not be quite so accute as it is with Yu, for Sinya, it is quickly replaced by one of panic. Her eyes go wide and her body arches in an instinctive response to the sudden change in lighting. At the very least, there weren't any sirens, which is only a small blessing. The thunk of the door is enough to make her heart sink. She isn't a mercenary! The one time she goes out of her way to help someone else and look the mess they're all in.

She catches the ackward movements from Yu and moves in her direction, placing a hand on the taller woman's arm. "Come on." When Sly begins to set the breaching charge, though, she actually takes it one step further. When Sly sets the breaching charges, she knows there isn't any more time left. So, Sinya slips an arm around Yu's waist and uses what strength she has to pull the other woman down off of her feet, shielding her with her own body. At least, on the floor, the two of them would likely be free of most of the blast. "Sorry." She whispers, and then ducks her head.

Totient frowns at the sudden alarum. Things just got a lot less awesome. To be captured at this point is... Probably not a very good thing. Sly tells him to pull the thing's drive. Of course, if it's trapped, then it probably won't get very far. But if they're planning on someone taking the drive-- they miiiight not have any countermeasures about something a bit more extreme, right?

He draws a small device from one of his pockets. With a flick of a wrist, a small blade slips out of the housing. "I'll just be a second. And probably some help carrying this thing if I can't pull the drive safely." He searches for a panel, carefully popping it open, but not SO far. He's got to search for potential traps, after all...

And if that fails, he'll just have to cut the base free and pull the entire damn thing out. It would hurt, but that's why Thermidor sent the dead man.

The security team is indeed on the move. One of them says calmly, "Remember. Do not use lethal force. Keep your rounds on stun only. We don't need to go busting up.." He says that just as he reaches the door....

Suddenly the explosive charges go off and blast the door apart, along with the guy reaching for it, and some of the others too with shrapnel and with others get minor burns or just flat-out knocked back. That probably was /not/ in Sly's plan however Crest did have to lock them in a room!

Outside...

Little and Rex are allowed to go play and play they can. MTs are on alert, which be no problem for some power armors to take down, the Chaos units-- those may be a bit tricky as they move as fast without thrusters as an AC does with thrusters on. How fast is that? Around 200-300 mph give or take.

The real trouble for the two is going to be the Armored Cores themselves, however the orders were clear--

/No one/ was allowed to use lethal force, not on the property, unless fired upon first, they were to do everything in their power to trap and knock down. Not destroy. MTs did this by using net launchers, which was look good luck with Power Armors, even though those nets did have a minor electric charge to try to disrupt electronics.

The Chaos units were just ordered to pretty much knock down their targets. Thankfully they were drones. IQ was not their strong point!

It was just those damn Armored Cores and their flexible, able to grabby hands that /may/ be an issue, or the fact they could foot ball boot someone over the fence where they be free game.

Back to B2...

Totient attempted to look for the traps, but there was none to be seen, because perhaps that trap was not something visible to the eye, but perhaps something within? Thankfully the explosives that Sly let out would set back any security teams making their way down here, till you know, no one checked in at the proper time.

After cocking both pistols, Bass finds a spot of cover to wait the blast out behind; as soon as they're clear, he'll be covering the group's rear, ready to put bullets in whatever mechanized defenses come to harass them.

Also, in the legs of any human personnel who come by; leg shots are pretty non-lethal, unless infection is involved, and /really/, if someone's wound were to get infected and /that/ led to their demise, people would probably blame whatever incompetent doctor took care of them over the Trailers.

Yu blinks as she is suddenly tugged and pulled into Sinya's arms. She knows there are no 'enemies' around, and that's the main reason she doesn't lash out; along with the fact that she recognized the La Gian feline's voice. She didn't really like getting touched that much without expecting it; but still, there was something comforting about the cat-girl doing it. Like a memory, blanketing her mind.

Then that sudden pulls has her going down. She catches herself with her hands, and feels Sinya landing herself on top of herself. *BOING*... and it seems the cat-girl has found a rather comfortable place to burry her head away from danger. Her hands automatically reached up to protect the back of the cat-girl's head. Got to make sure.

Luckily, the explosion is a safe one, and they remain clear of the blast, though it does push them back slightly. When the smoke clears, Yu nudges Sinya slightly, who gets up immediately. Sinya nods lightly at her, and proceeds to get up herself, and begins to stumble her way to the opening quickly. A hand goes to her head, and she pinches the bridge of her nose between thumb and index finger. A few times more, she blinks, and then casts her eyes to the ceiling. She can finally make out the shapes, and undoes the swordwhip, ready to strike at any movement if needed to be. "Someone else lead the way. I'll keep up." She comments.

Sly was indeed not expecting security to already be on the other side of the door, but he can roll with their presence a lot better than they can roll with being exploded! After the blast clears, Sly pops up with his own Crest pistol, set to stun, and opens fire at those that weren't immediately knocked out by the blast. He rapidly moves from cover to cover, making the most out of the surprise that he can to try and blast all the Crest guards.

He'd rather this be done non-lethally, but he's not picky right now if others need to help. Either way, once they're all done, he collects a spare pistol from them, and tosses another spare pistol to Bass, quickly explaining how to set them to stun.

Things get a bit weird when he attempts to toss another pistol over to Yu, and notices her...problem? Oh man, he doesn't even know what. "Hey girls? Let's just get out of here, alright?" He does toss the pistol to Yu or Sinya...He doesn't really care which one catches it. "Non-lethal rounds. Probably best for now."

Finally, he looks over to Totient. "We're out of time, man. Let's move!"

For all her good intentions, Sinya really hadn't meant to land just where she does. She's normally not the type to even be in close contact with other people, and somehow she ends up all too personally in contact with the SuiKyosha's XO. It's quite lucky that the room is bright red, and that she's covered in makeup, because otherwise the blush would be even more noticable. The blast shakes her a bit, but luckily leaves both women unscathed.

When she lifts her head, a shy look crosses her face as she looks away, "Sorry." This time it's spoken in a quieter voice, followed by a faint whimper. Then, she all too quickly looks away and gets to her feet. Embarassing moment, let's move on now. Her hand goes to her side, pulling the cylinder free and clicking a button on the side. There is a small clang of metal as it extends into a staff. There is just enough time for her to catch the pistol being thrown by Sly, and then hand it over to Yu with only a quick 'I'm pretending you don't exist right now.' look.

With her staff in hand, Sinya seems all too willing to rush out of the room. This is /exactly/ why she stays away from physical contact with people. It only leads to trouble.

Nothing visible? Well, that's not good. If that's the case, then he should be able to pull this thing out no problem right? Wrong. He frowns all too obviously. This is cutting it really, really close. Alright, quicker solution. He flicks his knife open, the blade humming violently. He brings the blade down into the console's housing. Delicately peeling apart layer after layer of material while being very, very careful not to jostly anything. If he can't pull the drive, he'll just have to take the whole damn terminal.

Little and Rex are apparently tormenting the people on Level 1 who can't do a darn thing expect take pot shots and run. This means all the science personal were actually told to stay where they were which was mostly level 2, a few blocks back on Level 1 and mostly on Level B1.

As for the 'Heroes' they get through the empty halls with quick ease. Those damn cameras that were not bothered watching their every step, unless someone was quick enough to shoot them out. Hey! Ever played Retro Portal? Who knows you may get an achievement!

The elevator seemed clear. Why? Because thanks to Little and Rex no one really cared to deal with Level B2.

Totient however does indeed able to remove the terminal, however unknown to them something does indeed start-up within somewhere hidden deeper within. They probably wont known till a little later, like next day, just /what/ that is.

Over all-- The Heroes can quickly get the hell out of dodge!

Sly Heckler doesn't trust the elevator...Too easy to just be locked in there and stuck until the company rescued them. But he has another option: The stairway is normally locked unless there's a fire. He doesn't have time to start a fire, but he DOES has a second breaching charge, so getting into the stairway isn't much of an issue.

Getting out isn't much of one, either. He doesn't have a third charge, but on the first floor, there ARE two guys in giant robots with claws designed to tear apart mech armor. Tearing that door open shouldn't be much of an issue for them.

Getting out from here is going to be tricky, though. Sly has two options, and he opts for the cleaner one. "Alright guys. Let's get to the truck. They won't kill us if they think they can trap us instead. Yu, call your pals. Tell them it's time for them to move. We'll drive around in circles until they get here."

All Sly can do now is lead the team to the truck, get out into the base, and start doing his best to avoid being disabled by MTs and Chaos drones until Yu does her thing.

Totient is a cyborg. This is probably the only reason that he's able to carry that terminal over his shoulder. Certainly, he would never be able to pull it off if he /wasn't/. He hightails it as fast as he can alongside his current superior. They'd... probably have to fork over the data about Archangel, but that's fine- according to Thermidor, at least.

When Yu gets that look, she doesn't really see it. After all, she was having a hard time making out more than outlines and basic features. "I'll try." She calls out at sly, muttering, and putting away the swordwhip again. Mutter mutter. The weapon she is given however, the gun, gets a curious look. She finds the 'switch' that they are told to flip, but other than that... she's kind of clueless. She'd never used a gun before! Why did Sly throw the La Gians a gun? Sure, Sinya knew how to use them, probably. But not Yu.

She follows Sly along towards that stairway, and begins running up. With nobody coming out to bother them, she is kind of glad she doesn't /actually/ have to fire at anyone. Especially not in that room. Luckily, the fire escape is not lit red, and her sight comes back to her again. She runs and runs, up and up, until she hears that command. "Will do." She calls out, and taps the earbud at her ear. "Red Dragon to Blue Dragon. Hoist the sails." She transmits.

Then, in the distance of the desert, there is a shimmer. Something moves, but it's not really... visible. Making use of the Fata Morgana effect, the SuiKyosha is on approach of the Crest Headquarters. The ship doesn't appear on radar, and it's not even 'visible'. The only thing that is visible is sand, and more sand. Sure, some of that sand seemed to be in the sky. But then, when your base is in the desert, that's not really that rare, now is it?

Getting the hell out seems exactly what is on Sinya's mind. Tugging the sleeve of her jumpsuit back down over her datapad, the catgirl uses her staff to bolt over the remains of the door and the security team. There is a half-thought of trying to search the bodies for a key card, but it's pushed aside as she races down the hallway. There's no intentions of ever coming back here.

Achievement or no, she at least tries to cover their escape by taking out as many of the cameras as she can on her way, especially with the easy reach that her staff offers. While she lingers a bit behind Sly and the cyborg hacker, she seems just as willing to just get the hell out of dodge. She could never be more thankful to hear the call to the SuiKyosha, because this is one adventure she'd like to just be over.

Clouds suddenly begin to gather over the complex, and rain starts /pouring/ down, making it almost impossible to see further than a few inches in front of oneself. Those dark clouds descend further and further, until it reaches the roof of Crests' headquarters. The rain gets more and more abrupt, until it's finally turned into hail. Only that small spot on the roof, where our heroes would break out, is safe. And at that same spot is a metalic 'disk', with a ramp leading up into the safe hangar of the SuiKyosha. A few Gunmen are ready to help people get up.

The team makes it up to the top of the building. Now the fire alarm thanks to going through the fire exit was going off and officially /now/ people were indeed scrambling. This means as the Chaos units went they have to put them on stand by, cause they dumb things be going after everyone on foot.

Only thing the heroes had to do was hold out for just a bit more, not get hit by those Chicken-walkers and hopeful not those Armored Cores.

Soon however their ship arrives and they are able to get out. Though this time, the ship starts to fall under fire. Crest didn't like big massive ships on their front door!

Inside however one female scientist doesn't exactly leave, instead she is on the phone, "Sir. We have a problem." The burnet, yes the one you met Sly from C.A.S.E was on the phone. "..I believe if what I am seeing on the data pad is right-- they taken /it/. We need to get a team ready quickly." beat pause, "..yes sir.."

Cue the SuiyKyosha taking off, hidden within the clouds. Their attacks don't seem to do anything at all. Sure, some of the bullets hit. Actually, quite a few did, but they all fall harmlessly to the ground again. Something about the armor of a machine was rather odd. But, one way or the other, the heroes get away unscathed!

Sly might not always be the most noble or respectable person, but he's always true to his people. He provides backup, using his now /twin/ stolen pistols to hold off security while the rest got on board the ship, Sly leaving last, despite the fact that two of his people are in heavy battle armor.

As the ship takes off to leave, Sly can't stop himself from doing one last thing.

He hangs out the hanger door, holding on with one hand as he takes off his hat with the other, and holds in into the air as a salute to the rapidly-departing base. "See you around, Crestos!"

Yes Sly-- they will be seeing you around indeed...