Follow The Children

May 22, 2015:

Now they have found some of the brainwashed children, Oracles team needs to find out where they lead to.

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NPCs: None.

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Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

As agreed, Oracle has been monitoring the seven children that the team recovered. They're chatter and discussions haven't revealed anything useful but now it's time to follow one of them. It's not a plan that any of the team is comfortable with, but they really don't have any option at the moment.

Oracle has provided a communicator to place on the child and arranged for The Fox to be available to use arcane tracking methods. Nighteyes and Agent May are to follow at a safe distance and at the first sign of danger, the child is to be extracted.

Tracking the child from the safehouse has led the group to The Hill, in Burnley, not the most salubrious of neighbourhoods. What was once the centre of a Jazz rennaisance, is now home to drive bys and apartments. Even the residents look worn down.

"Check in, please." Even though Oracle can see her teams avatars on her screens, the verbal check reassures her. "This isn't the best of neighbourhoods" not that they needed to be told that "Keep your eyes open."


Nighteyes grins, white fangs flash. So far she's strolled past three different corners of ganged up youths and not a single one of them made a move towards her. Her glowing red eyes and the machete like blades strapped across her back are a little bit intimidating. Then there's Goliath, with the same red eyes sitting on her shoulder. The vampires dressed all in black leather and dull black metal armor. A dagger is clipped to both hips and the outsides of both ankles and she's twirling her extended bo staff about while she walks. "We will arrive without issue I think."


Melinda May doesn't have to be more intimidating than the gangers. IF they see her passing by, they won't see her a second time. Pausing as Oracle asks for check in, she touches the comm unit in her ear. "Still following." She's honestly a bit amazed that the child has managed to travel this far without garnering any other attention as well.


Kane is trying to keep track of what's going on especially after the last incident with the ghost and the mafia. Unfortunately his attention is split and Oracle's been tracking the kids they took but didn't deprogram. He's thinking this won't be a rescue (well, kind of) but rather a head in and bust everyone's head sort of operation. Which is why he's packing. All the things.

"Fox here. I think they've stopped. Looks like a fairly large apartment complex. Haven't gone in yet. Place looks pretty run down."


The children that had been taken were, for the most part, street children. The path this child has led the team on has been through back streets and alleys, through shadows and the like. Whilst risky, the denizons of those locations have kept their distance, a telling fact really … something that's been noted for later review.

Viewing her screens, Oracle identifies the apartment building the childs stopped before. "Accessing blueprints and schematics, security systems. Be ready." Even as she speaks, windows appear on her screen, security feeds of each floor from different angles - even in a place as rundown as this, things are monitored. The question is - by who?

"Hallways on the ground and 1st floors are clear, little activity there. 3rd floor appears to have some traffic, more than I would expect. That's likely the target floor." The problem with security feeds? They normally don't show inside the rooms… "Running comms scans on the building, seeing if I can narrow it down." Closing her eyes, the redhead blows out a breath before opening them again… as the blueprints are displayed "Exits are being transmitted to your communicators. There's a firedoor to the roof" pause "It's unlocked." There are also exits at the rear of and the west side of the building.


Nighteyes stands in the shadows of an alley across from the building and considers. "I could go up the side of the building and look in some of the windows. Or go in through one…" Or she can just go straight to the roof and down the fire door up there. "Three ways out you said? Perhaps we block of the other two from the outside and leave someone guarding the last. No one will escape us then."


Melinda May checks her comm and make a mental note of the ground floor exits to the building. "Don't count on that, Eyes. Every window is a potential escape route. I agree about blocking the ground level exits, though." She starts moving toward the closer of the two to her: the west side of the building.


Kane takes out a crystal and peers through it, watching from the rooftop of the building across the street. "Nothing arcane that I can see. But that doesn't tell me if anyone's waiting in there with a gun. Or a loaf of garlic bread." Teasing Nighteyes may not be well advised but… well he's still a bit uncomfortable working with a vampire. "I'll take the roof." He grabs a Tonfa and uses it as an improvised Zipline to take a convenient powercable on down.


"Rear exit, Nighteyes." Oracle sees where May is heading. The child starts to move in that direction to. "May, you get to watch the child." As the team disperses the comms scans start yielding results "We have a lot of chatter coming from Apartment 3f, it's about one third of the way along the third floor towards the front of the building, west side of the corridor." With the information relayed, the wheelchair bound redhead begins to access the building management system "I'll have access to the building systems, in a minute or two."


Melinda May would never speak of this to anyone, ever, but she is really really disliking this whole mission. Putting a child at risk like this, it's almost worse than Bahrain. In some ways, it's worse. "Shadowing." If this child so much as skins a knee…


Nighteyes snorts at the garlic bread comment. Garlic might be uncomfortable but it isn't likely to be fatal. "I wonder if he has considered that we might be just as uncomfortable working with someone so trigger happy." She comments to Goliath. The tiny dog shakes his head and then snorts as well. He must have said something to his Mistress because she laughs a moment later, very softly though. No use making their presence known. "How handy." A very old and broken voltswagon car is nearby. Nighteyes picks up the front end and drags it to the exit, moving it to prevent the door from opening outwards more than three inches. No one can leave this way but she can still get in. Goliath hops from her shoulder and wriggles through. He hasn't mastered the art of misting yet. Its a tight squeeze and the little dog is looking very annoyed by the time he gets through. THen Nighteyes is inside and hoisting him back onto her shoulder. "We are in." She keeps her voice low and senses focused on the hall ahead of them. "I see the stairs..should we go up or wait here?


The Fox drops down onto the roof and makes his way over to the acess door. "I'm inside. Proceeding down." The situation on the third floor is… armed. There are a dozen men in three rooms, all of them armed for bear with very large assault rifles and one woman in particular in the corner, watching as the child comes in. "Lovely. That's one we've recovered. Maybe he learned something useful…"


Oracle feels the same way as May. When this operation is complete, the children will be treated and they will not be doing this again. "Go up, Nighteyes, third floor." Oracle uses the video feed on the communicator for the child to relay the information to the team and begin facial recognition scans on who can be seen. "Get the child out as quickly as possible." Fortunately, the woman in the Clocktower had made provisions for the case that the location of the safehouse is leaked.

"Cutting the comms into the building, there'll be a few upset residents" Oracle is trying to isolate the group and the mobile cell tower in the area goes dead at the same time.


Melinda May waits just outside of the room where the child has moved to meet the woman presumably doing the controlling. As much as she'd love to just go in and flatten everyone there with extreme prejudice, she knows she has to take the child's safety into account first and foremost. So, with this in mind, she all but whispers into her comm for Nighteyes to hear, "Eyes. Get here and get the child out as fast as you can, then get back here." She's seen the vampire move. If anyone can get the kid and get out fastest of the three of them, it'd be her.


Nighteyes nods, which no one can hear but she's already moving up and through the hall. She stops just before turning the corner and sets Goliath down. The tiny dog gives her a long suffering look and then dashes around the corner snarling. It takes a moment for people to figure out where the noise is coming from. That really kind of pisses Goliath off. He's tiny dammit! Not invisible. So he throws himself at one of the men's ankles. Everyone is focused on the weird little glowing eyed thing attempting to attack them and Nighteyes has gotten a perfect visual on where people were. She's a brown blur of motion as she bursts around the corner and through anyone or thing in her way. The vampire scoops up the child and then cradles it protectively to her chest before kicking out the window and jumping down onto the street with a very solid thump. "Ow." She mutters and looks around for a place to stash the kid. "Okay, we are out. What do I do with…this?"


The druid moves in, short blade at the ready. Long blade's too big for this kind of work. The first sign that something's wrong is a resounding clang of metal on metal followed by gunfire. Oracle can see the Fox engaged with three men. All with guns. Who are… not handling him well. Sorry boys, you done brought a gun to a sword fight. And it's not helping you out.


It's not just the noise that Oracle hears, it's visual of The Fox fighting. "May, Nighteyes, Fox needs backup. Childs clear. Let's take these guys out." the use of children has not sat well with her and now it's time to clear the board.

"Nighteyes, aim your communicator at the child, I've simulated The Canary's Cry…. not to close the child, mind and you may wish to cover your ears… " When the communicator is positioned, a piercing sound is sent through, seemingly breaking the childs programming. "There's an Orphanage just around the corner, drop the child there and return to help May." Nighteyes is quick, Oracle knows this.


Melinda May waits for Nighteyes to blur past, then follows with her butterfly swords already in hand. Fox-druid had it right. These morons DID bring guns to a sword fight, and she's very decisively NOT being gentle. Hamstringing a person isn't going to kill them instantly, right? Her main target, though, is the woman. And she plans to SKEWER her. Goliath, dinner time. Go nuts on these idiots.


Goliath is very small, if he were an ordinary dog still, someone would have just kicked him into the wall or stomped him and no more Goliath. He isn't though and he's just as fast as Nighteyes and supernaturally strong. He's also been given leave to bite these bastards and he is, a tiny black blur tearing chunks of flesh free whereever he can find it. Not a good night to be these guys for sure. Outside, Nighteyes sets the child down and then when he tries to run for the building she aims the communicator at him and plugs on ear with her free hand, the other with her shoulder. "Ow again." But the kid is down and she's got him and dropped him inside the orphange to the great confusion and startlement of its keepers. She heads for the gunfire and screams hoping no one's been shot. Well, no one on her side at least.


The Fox puts a blade through one of his opponent's shoulders and swings him into another before yanking it out. Two more men with guns appear in a doorway but Kane has something for that too. Gentlemen, meet his shotgun. He brings the sawed off up in one had and lets fly with a pair of lightning bolts that drop them both.

May's gotten some attention now in the form of gunfire through a wall. Seems someone, or a couple of someones, decided not to poke their heads out the door. Golaith is getting shot at too. A lot. Tough for such a tiny guy.

"Oracle! Lights!" As in kill them. Please.


"On it, Fox" Oracles' been ready for that request, the Building Management System in a window on her screens. At Kanes words, the window is activated and command entered… the lights go out.


Melinda May has — thank goodness — trained for low to no-light fighting. She drops nearly to a crawl to avoid the gunfire, and then somehow makes her way toward where she saw the woman last without standing up straight again. There's just too much noise around to place the woman's location, but then maybe Goliath will help on that side.


Nighteyes can just see in the dark. Being a vampire doesn't suck completely. (>_<) So can Goliath and while he isn't fast enough to dodge a bullet, he's fast enough to use the humans like the big ugly meatshields they are. Nighteyes blinks a bit. Did that guy just shoot his companion? "Auuughhh! What hell! Ohhh oh shit! god! You shot me in the foot you stupid bas-!" Ahh Goliath. She grins. Two well thrown knives take out the moron who just shot his friend and Goliath leaps up and locks onto the other guy when he drops on his rear and grabs his foot, his howl cuts off into a strangled gurgling.


This. This is why Kane finds the vampdog creepy. It's like dealing with the rabbit in Monty Python. He kicks one of his opponents away and then hears something in the dark. It's only by flattening himself that he avoids being shot full of holes. "How many left O?"


Too many. Well, half a dozen, probably. May finds her target. ANd more than her target. There's two here. Neither seem to know May's there though. Another trio are not far from where Nighteyes is standing. She can probably hear them breathing through the thin wall just across from her. It's dark now. They can't see and they have no idea what's happening.

Melinda May doesn't bother with niceties. She has two targets, and she has two butterfly swords. The math is simple, and her decision even simpler. Ginsu Samurai, eat your heart out.


Nighteyes generally frowns upon killing humans. She does make exceptions though. These evil sacks of meat were using children to make war. Children. That is a sacred thing even for most vampires, not being able to have any of their own. Not in the normal way of things at least. And to the others, well, children are left alone because they grow up to be more food and would attract unwanted attention if they were to go missing. Also, Nighteyes loves to fight. Her laughter fills the hall along with the screams and shooting. She turns and kicks and punches her way through the wall to where the muted breathing came from. They are scrambling int he dark trying to get away and shooting blindly at whatever the hell has those glowing red eyes but it only takes a few moments to get through and grab them. She throws one through the hole she just made and then the second. Then she drags them both to the window and throws them out of it. Dropping from this floor is gonna hurt them a hell of a lot more than it did her.


Even in low light, the video feeds from the Oracle communicators work nicely… "Two more, in the next room." Checking the security feeds, the redhead nods "One of either side of the door…" Her teams are good, they're trained for this… mostly.


By the time Kane is up most of the rest are down. A sound to his right draws a punch and then a flash of blade. There's a groan of pain. Not a lethal cut. "Call the GCPD. I don't care what happens to this lot." The Fox murmurs into the comm as he makes his way toward the exit. "Clearing out?" He calls to the other two as they finish up with their respective 'dance partners'.


Melinda May waits for the sound of the last body to fall, and tries to tell which of them was the woman from the beginning of this whole mess. "Oracle, I need eyes on the female." She's still VERY much in battle mode.


Nighteyes looks around and doesn't see any more targets. She pulls Goliath off of someone's chest and deposits him on her shoulder. "Enough. You did well." She'd caught the Fox's departing words and considers. "Usually, I set fire to a site like this to cover whats been done. This time, they are all human and it looks as if they killed each other mostly, or that regular people and some small animal killed them. I think it would be safe enough to let the police clean up." She frowns a bit and heads towards May. Right, the one who looked to be in charge. They definitely want to be sure she's down.


The lights come back on, May can get eyes on but Oracle peers at the video feeds "Room behind you, May. East corner of the room… " Checking the GCPD system, Oracle looks resigned "You've got 4 minutes before the GCPD arrives and Nighteyes, you can't torch this building… this is peoples homes. You can't blame those for these pieces of trash. Ziplock tie them and depart." beat "Fox, report in. Injuries please." he can do that on a separate channel if he wants.


"I'm just a bit bruised." The Fox calls back. "Not sure about the others. We'll get clear first." He's got his own version of zip ties. Binding bolts. Crossbow ammunition that wraps people in bands of force. Let the GCPD puzzle that one out. "May, Nighteyes, are either of you hurt?"

That female… is going for a gun. A pistol sure. But she hears May… if she can just… get to it…


Melinda May promptly turns and heads for the East corner of the room behind her. Hearing the sounds of someone trying to reach for something — those rustling, shifting noises — she dispenses with niceties and throws one of her butterfly swords at the source of the sound. Please don't be Goliath.


Nighteyes comes around and into the room just in time to see the sword flying towards the woman. Goliath is safetly perched on her shoulder and he sees it too…and with a wicked little grin he suddenly yelps like his in pain and then makes some little odd choking sounds. It takes Nighteyes a couple of seconds to figure out what he's doing. "Goliath! Not nice." The dog just grins and wags his tail. If he could laugh…he'd be rolling off her shoulder and onto the floor doing it. "I apologize Agent May. " Her eyes move towards the woman the sword was actually flung at and she grins a bit to herself. If that one tries to raise that gun up and she intercepts the shot, her little companion is not going to be nearly so amused.


"GCPD are 2 minutes away. Secure them and get out… please." Oracle responds to the team "Already working on facial recognition for the woman. It will take me a few minutes, but go now… and when you're check in please."


There's a cry of pain and a sulphurous curse as May's sword impales the woman's hand. That'll leave a mark. Kane grins as he comes up and shoots her with a binding bolt. "Get your gear and lets go." He nods to May and Nighteyes. Then he's out the window and down the fire escape. Time to get the hell out of dodge. "This is the Fox. I'm clear."


Melinda May steps over and almost smugly takes the pistol away from the woman's reach before yanking her butterfly sword clear none too gently. "Stay," she orders the woman, just as Kane's binding bolt hit her. "Ready." She's not going to enjoy running back down those stairs, but she'll do it. And she SURE as hell not telling Kane about the stripe one bullet left along the top of one shoulderblade. Hell no.


Nighteyes frowns at her. She can smell the blood but isn't going to say anything. She can also hear the sirens. Hm. This is likely to end badly for her if she just does it. "Let me, it will be faster." If May doesn't try to skewer her with that sword, or shoot her or, something horrible she probably can't imagine, then the vampire will pick her up and run! down the stairs and an alley and around the corner. Otherwise she'll just follow behind her. She can knock a few police out of the way if needed. "I'm uninjured. So is Goliath."

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