The Boat
Participants
Director
Log
[RP] The mercenary group known as Giza Security has seeded some information through the networks. Apparently they are in need of some volunteers to fill in for their current lack of active field agents on a simple contract. From what you can make out in the rumors being circulated, this particular contract involves investigating some sort of boat that was seen off the coast hours ago.
[Location]: Giza Security - Corporate Offices Meeting Room
A meeting room with dark green painted walls. The room is dimly lit by a light that hands over a long conference table. Papers are scattered across the table in a sort of haphazard manner as if no one had a chance to do any real organization prior to this meeting. Some funny (de)motivational posters hang in random places on the wall, as well as some group photos depicting some of the Giza staff in various situations. A prominant poster stops an action shot of several people with the caption: GIZA SECURITY: For all of your professional needs.
After making your way to the Giza headquarters, one way or another, you are led to the second floor by the secretary and shown to the first door on the left. The door is politely shut after everyone is inside. Sitting on the opposite side of the table is a jackal in a tidy black and gold uniform. He silently watches everyone file in and then gestures for everyone to have a seat once the door is shut. "Welcome to Giza.", he says, "I am Darkwyrm, head of the Department of Operations.." He pauses for a moment and forces a smile. "I take it you didn't have too much trouble locating us here?"
Ahri saunters over and takes a seat at the conference table. Hana pads up alongside her and leans in against her. Ahri looks over to Darkwyrm and shakes her head. "No, no problems at all. Thank you for calling us in for this contract. Do you mind if I inquire about any further details you may have?"
Balina takes her seat, the wolfcow obviously more at ease than her young bovine escort. "Much easier than the last random call, sure," she says, wiggling herself into a more comfortable position, "Didn't read the posting as well as I should have, but desperate times, and all that. Mercs putting out an open call says this is either incredibly dull or incredibly dangerous, though. What did I sign up for?"
Unnatural joins the others in the room, silently slipping into her seat. the bulky feeling sitting with her forearms resting on the table, her paws pressed together and digits meshed as she looks to the jackle, studying him closly while her ears swiveled forward to face him as he spoke
A scrawny, male alley cat named Fleur fidgets in his seat. He's dressed in a slightly dirty dress shirt that looks like he threw it on at the last minute. He's wearing some sort of thin protective suit underneath that that looks like it was cobbled together in a workshop. He carries a heavily-worn courier bag around his shoulder with a faded patch of some pre-apocalyptic cartoon character on it. He doesn't speak, just keeps his ears perked at attention.
"I'll stand, but no, no trouble finding a street address," Redd glances around the room several times, noting a few faces.
Darkwyrm nods at Ahri and reaches under the table for five thin folders. He places them on top of the table before sliding one to each of the volunteers. "Well, I'm not completely sure what you'll be up against, to be honest. We got this contract wired to us from one of our clients, but we just don't have any available agents to take care of it today, so here you are. Those folders there are of a few satellite photos of what appears to be a boat of some kind driftin' towards the coast. We were unable to get any clear pictures, so we don't know if there are any pasengers. It will have reached the shore by now. Also included in your folder are the projected coordinates."
Darkwyrm clears his throat then adds, "Your objective is simple. Investigate."
Fleur bites his lip and looks at the pictures curiously. "So, uh... nobody's seen this thing from land? No information on if it has, y'know, markings or such?"
Ahri raises her eyebrow and tilts her head to the side, absently chewing on her tongue ring for a moment before speaking. "So just information gathering? What information specifically? Cargo, living crew?"
Redd blinks, and coughs, "When did satellite imagery become available again? I was told none of them could be reached..."
Balina leafs through the surprisingly light briefing, before sliding it to her daughter. "Awful vague, there," she mutters, suspiciously. Looking over to Darkwyrm, "So how afraid are you to break client confidentiality? You've got an unknown vessel and word from someone we don't know who wants us to look at it. What part of that doesn't say 'this is going to blow up in our faces'?"
Unnatural parts her hands and reaches out to take the offered folder, pulling it across the table to rest in front of herself before flipping it open. her head bows, her eyes moving over the contents, the big cat studying the contents as she listened to the others before adding hew own question asked 'You have a means of getting us to the vestle or do we make our own way?'
Darkwyrm crosses his arms and gives Redd a skeptical look. "I'm not at liberty to reveal any information regarding our client." He opens another folder in front of him and scans a page. "There will be a vehicle provded for you, if there are members here that do not have a means of flight, but we do not have any choppers, so you'll get to pack into a van. How fun." He closes the folder and grins. "Regarding the mission itself, that's all the information I have for you. If you still wish to participate, I will need you to sign these waivers indicating Giza holds no responsibility for anything that might happen as a result of undertaking.." He slides five sheets to each person, of about 3 pages each of legal text.
Unnatural takes the contract and begins leafing through it, running her eyes across the lines of text quickly, scanning for anything that looked out of the ordinary without getting too bogged down in the exact wording of the document
Fleur looks up as the papers are slided to him, then looks up at the contract giver. His gaze lingers on the Giza man, and then he looks down at the papers and begins to flip through the papers with a clueless expression on his face. He tugs at his collar and takes slow, steady breaths. ooc Oh, and it's not written in a way that a lawyer would do write. It looks like it was all typed in in an hour or two.
Finally, the scrawny alley cat pulls out a pen and scribbles his name - a woman's name? - on the signature line. With a sheepish smile, he pushes the paper back. Unnatural sighs, shaking her head as she says 'I am guessing we arent going to be covered by employee health insurance?'
Balina flips through, recognizing half the verbiage as being similar to her own mercenary contracts, and quite extremely close to what she read last time Zephyr updated their TOS on the comms. Sniggering, she signs off. "You are damned lucky that I'm in such dire straits, you know," she says, passing the form off to her daughter for the little sub-signature before sliding it back over. "Feeling lazy enough for a van ride, but I call shotgun unless people want their seat frozen over."
Unnatural finding nothing particularly worrying in the contract the big cat draws a pen from her coat pocket and begins to scribble her signature across the consenting line
Ahri lifts her eyebrow and a tiny smirk dances across her face. "Well, I see the contract, but what exactly am I getting out of it? You want your information, but we all got needs, honey." She closes the dossier and sits it down tapping it with a fingernail and quirking an eyebrow. "With a contract this shady, show me the money, so to speak."
"That would be a no. As you aren't actually active members of our organization, if we even had health insurance benefits, you wouldn't be included.", Dark says with some amusement to Unattural. He presses his fingers together and rests his hands on the table as he turns to Ahri. "Rest assured, you will be paid the full sum that any Giza employee would receive for this type of contract. You may view that amount on page 2, section C of your contract."
Unnatural slips her pen back into her pocket before sitting back in the seat, taking a moment to adjust her coat and shirt collar, popping upper the upper button to loosen it about her neck and finally taking the time to check just what her companions were Unnatural roars, "unless there is any further pressing information we need to know, shall we get under way?"
Ahri nods and sighs, before flipping it open, reading it quickly and then sighing and scribbling her signature on it. "Fine, I reserve the right to drop the contract at any point however and get the hell out of dodge without further liability to myself."
Fleur is a common-as-dirt alley cat, apparently. He's dressed in a slightly dirty dress shirt with a non-matching pair of dress pants, has hair that covers one of his eyes in erratic clumps, and big, expressive eyes. He seems to be wearing some sort of basic, amateurishly-crafted armor under his business clothes. He keeps taking discreet glances at the jackal across the table.
Darkwyrm accepts the signed contracts and folds them up neatly into then folder in front of him. "Alrighty. Now that we got that crap outta the way.." He stands and straightens his collar before giving a slight bow to each person. "If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to your vehicle." He leads you down the stairs and back into the bar before opening the back door and ushering everyone through to the parking garage behind the building. Several battered cars are still in there, but the most noticeable vehicle here is a van painted completely in black that looks like it's been cleaned recently. "There you are, please bring it back in one piece." He throws the keys to the nearest person, which happens to be Redd and stands by. "Directions are in each of your folders, the section of coast is remote, but not hard to reach by road, and a bit of hiking."
Ahri glances around at the others. "Would you like me to fly over-watch for now and descend if I see anything of note approaching as we travel?"
Unnatural rubs her chin thoughtfully as she looked over the van, then back at the gathered participants then back tot he van saying 'This is going to be a close and intimate experience' before moving toward the back doors of the parked vehicle
Balina does in fact help herself to the shotgun position, while her daughter piles in shortly thereafter, passing the folder back up so the wolfcow can navigate. "Can't drive vans to save my life, anyhow. You going to be okay, Shiny?"
Fleur flicks his tail, looking through the folder one last time... he bites his lip and casts another wayward glance in Dark's direction. Finally, he tucks the folder under an arm and makes for the van. "... who's driving?"
Unnatural polls the back doors of the van open and climbs inside, the added weight of both larger than average persons Balina and herself raising questions over how good the vans suspenshoun is
Redd glances at the keys in his hands, then tosses them to Fleur, "You are, I haven't been behind the wheel of any vehicle for more than two years."
Fleur laughs awkwardly. "Well, I... had a driver's license, I guess..." ... he takes a moment to register who his other companions are, then nods finally. "... guess I'm it then." He twirls the keys in one hand and makes for the driver's seat.
Darkwyrm gives a nod and a smile to Fleur as he notices the lingering glace and gives a short, official sort of wave. He then crosses his arms again and straightens his back with a few pops of his spine as he watches the group make preparations for departure.
Ahri closes her eyes, muttering under her breath and dark shadows flicker across her eyes. A feral smirk crosses her lips and her hackles rise. Some sort of force, whether arcane or nanite induced, causes the air to whip about herself and Hana for a brief moment before going still, and the pair slowly float into the air. "Alright, ready to go."
Unnatural makes herself comfortable in the back of the van, waiting on everyone else to get their act together and get the mission under way
You find that the tank of the van is full of gas, and there's even a gas can full of emergency fuel in the trunk.
Balina is seated, and ready to begin barking directions. That is, she is in her natural element. "Steady as she goes," she says, to nobody in particular.
Fleur reviews the road plan, nods to himself, and then pulls it out of the garage. He begins on his way to the coast, passengers in tow.
Assuming you follow the directons to the tee, without any major pit stops, the trip goes pretty smooth. Aside from the occasional feral running across the street, the drive is boring. After about an hour and a half, you reach the coast, and another half hour after that before you reach the point at which you need to hoof it. You arrive at a coastal resort parking lot and start making your way across the deserted area towards the sandy beach.
Unnatural draws a deep breath of cool, salty ocean air before bursting into a fit of coughing, pulling a handy tissue out of her pocket and cupping it over her mouth until the fit passes. Clearing her throat and straightening up the big cat looks about with a wary grin thankful for being furry enough not to show off a blush 'I guess the city air agrees with me more'
Redd sees that the van has stopped, and goes into a steep dive, landing a bit too fast, and leaving marks in the asphalt about 20 feet away.
Ahri frowns at the vague shape of the boat, about nine football fields in the distance, before descending close enough to shout down, "I'm going to approach at a distance from the air, and see if I can get us any advanced information, then report back. Does that work for you?"
Fleur stares up at Ahri. The flying skunk seems to make his brain misfire. "Uh..." He glances to the others. "If you think it's safe. I mean, your risk."
Balina shrugs, and starts trudging along towards the vague shape. "Long enough walk that you can get there and back before we're within minimum safe distance. Let us know how it goes."
Unnatural peers out toward the horison while folding her arms across her belly, leaning back slightly as her toes curl, digging into the soft sand beneath them 'Maybe we should send a swimmer out to see too. check it out at and below the water line'
Other than a large amount of debris and litter scattered around the parking lot and most of the beach, the area is pretty pristine. The soft sound of the crashing waves against the shore is almost calming. There are a number of vendor kiosks lining the edge of the sands, and plenty of leftover umbrellas, towels, and tattered bathing suits around.
Redd glances around the resort area, before speaking up, "Think we should make some fortifications or the like while we wait for her to return? After all, there has to be someone, or something here..."
Unnatural quirks a brow as she looks over a shoulder at Redd 'Fortifications? I wasn't planning on being here long. I don't see a need to dig in. If we meet resistance we fall back, reevaluate and call for aid or scrub the mission.'
Fleur looks to Unnatural. "I think he just wants to move to a more defensable position, uh..." ... it occurs to him that he doesn't know his teammates' names. "... ma'am."
Ahri approaches the parking lot again, returning from her over-flight. Her feet touch lightly on the hood of the van and she drops down into a sitting position. "Alright, it looks like what we spotted earlier is just a private motorboat with nobody there. There were a bunch of empty gas cans on its deck though, and lots of empty food and drink wrappers."
Fleur chuckles awkwardly. "Name's Fleur, by the way. Or at least, it has been since the world changed." Fleur meows, "Sounds like a dead end, then ... thanks for checking it out."
Balina and her daughter come jogging back, once it becomes clear nobody else was going. "So," she pants, "do we have any idea if there was anything more important? For that matter, was the engine warm? Could have been it."
Unnatural humms softly to herself, head bowing down 'Could be whoever was there joined the fishes... is it a big boat? is there any way someone could be on board?'
Ahri frowns slightly, "It wasn't just a couple of gas cans on the deck, it was enough of them that it looked unnatural. Something about that's bugging me."
Fleur squints and digs out the satellite photos to examine them again. Could that be a private motorboat?
Ahri softly churrs, "I did also see some foot prints in the sand too."
Balina grabs the top of her muzzle. Some gestures are hard these days. "See, that sounds more important than anything else. Footprints going which way?"
Ahri lifts an eyebrow. "We were hired to look for the boat, not people who walked away from it. But they were headed toward one of the kiosks nearby, since you were wondering."
Fleur wets his lips. "I think 'investigate' is pretty liberal, really. If there were people in it, they probably want to know."
Unnatural turns her back on the water, looking to her companions 'We should send at least one person to check out the boat at close range. For all we know it used to be a person. stranger things have happened. The rest of us should see about this person. Even if he isnt from the boat he may know something'
"Footprints in sand never last very long," Balina observes, glancing back towards the distant shape that may or may not be akin to a boat. "Mirta and I'll go take a closer look, see if I can at least pick up the smell of whoever we're apparently going to start tracking. Anyone want to skip ahead and start at the kiosk?"
Fleur looks content with, and packs the satellite photos back into his courier bag. "... you think Mr. Handsome back there was leading us into a trap?" he asks, tail flicking. Then, to Belinda, he adds, "I can skip ahead if you like."
Unnatural shakes her head, gesturing toward Redd with a thumb 'He has a kind of point. we should check otut he ship quickly, giving it the once over, then head to check for survivors'
Ahri glances around the group. "Want me to stay on watch and rapid response overhead?"
Fleur fishes about for something in his bag. He pulls out a small bundle of processed snacks and puts one in his mouth. Snap. "... do mercenary teams always work like this? This isn't quite how I imagined these things."
Unnatural takes another, long, deep, though slightly more reserved breath. Stepping back and raising her arms she begins to pop open the buttons first on her suit coat then on her shirt, turning her back on the assembled group as she begins to pull her clothing off 'Pardon me, but I think We'll be needing wings for this'
Balina is already loosening straps and buckles while doffing her backpack; tracking is easier with the right equipment, and within a few moments there is a large wolf where a Balina used to be. Her daughter pulls a large blanket of the discarded pack, draping it over Balina while she dons the backpack herself and mounts up. The Fenrir turns her head back to the group, nodding at Fleur.
"We'll be fine like this, thanks. I'll be along to the kiosk, assuming that's where the trail goes. Anything else before I get moving?"
Fleur nervously munches one of his snacks, eyes wide. "... very well. I'll just, uh..." ... he hesitates. "Watch the area."
Ahri smirks at Fleur as she stands up, before stepping off the roof of the van and beginning to rise once more. "You're guarding the van? Cool. I'll be sure to let anyone know if the others need help."
Unnatural strips down into her rather peculiar underwear (it isnt often you see someone wearing an armoured bra) folding her suit up carefully before beginning the process of adapting her form for flight, broad feathery wings surrounding from her shoulders. Making sure she is no more exposed than is necessary, she turns back to her companions, with a grin as she stretches out her new wings 'So, plan of action?'
Redd pulls a small rifle from his bag, and shakes his head, "You folks check out the boat, or kiosks or wherever, I'll stay here and guard the van." He climbs to the roof of the van, and glances around. "If I found somebody they'd not live long anyway, with my nerves."
Unnatural shrugs her shoulders again, which turns out to be a rather surprisingly difficult task with her new found appendages 'Right. I will go check out the boat, see if there are any clews on board as to what happened. Any company is welcome though I don't foresee problems'
Fleur looks up at Redd. "Ah, if you're covering the van, then..." the cat looks uncertain, flicking his tail. Everyone else can fly. He's not really prone to swimming that entire way. "... I'm on the kiosk," he says finally, looking over to Balina.
Balina finds herself missing her ability to shrug when she's like this most of all. "Fine, then. I'll see folks in a bit. Anyone who wants to help can tag along at their own pace." With that, the wolf turns around and starts charging into the distance, slightly less smooth than usual thanks to the terrain.
The cat adjusts the seating of his courier bag on his body before making his nimble way across the terrain. The processed snacks are stowed.
Unnatural breaths a long soft sigh, her shoulders falling as her body slumps forward and her head bows down with eyes half closed 'so we are splitting into three groups... OK. This could work... but I reserve the right to be the one that pulls the mask off the villain at the end before they say 'and I would have got away with it too if it hadn't bee for you needling... whatever'
Unnatural turning back toward the water suddenly and kicking up a small cloud of sand as she brakes into a run, the wing feline picks up speed before launching herself into the air with broad stokes of her wings, rising up only a short distance before heading out toward the distant vestal
The beach is devoid of life other than yourselves; there aren't even any birds flying about. Those who are running need to dodge discarded coolers, benches, toys and other leftover things from the families that are no more. After several minutes of running, those who went to investigate may reach either the boat or kiosk. The boat is firmly run aground int the sand and looks like it's been there for at least an hour, but it looks like some other force other than the waves was responsible for pushing it this far. The boat smells of moldy rations, gasoline and unwashed human, and off of these things are present except the human. The gas meter on the boat reads empty, and further investigation of the cans reveals the same.
The nearest kiosk is a bit bigger than the other ones nearby. It looks like a mini-bar/restaurant long deserted. You can barely make out footprints in the sand, and the shape of them indicates whatever made them was running. The trail of sand leads up to a back door with a hinge that was busted off.
Balina finds no reason to deviate from the plan. Presuming neither she nor Mirta find anything (investigation is easier with hands), the wolf begins following the trail, paying less attention to her eyes than to her nose. Given the circumstances, it's fairly easy.
Unnatural drops down onto the boat with with all the persision of someone that has never flown before in their life but does manage to avoid landing in the water. casting a quick glace back toward land to be sure no plumes of smoke were rising and no open warfare had broken out before setting about the task of going over the entire boat carefully, moving the empties cans about, shaking them to be sure nothing was stashed inside and even checking the wrappers to see what sort of food had been consumed and try to judge just how old it was
Fleur presses up near the door and listens for sounds on the other side of it. He makes no attempt to open it, just yet.
Fleur hesitates at the threshold, sniffing the air. After a moment's consideration, he looks out to the beach, and, assuming he can spot Balina incoming, makes his way towards her.
Unnatural carries on rooting through the objects on the boat, checking presses and shelves and any scraps of paper she could find for notes, logs or anything that would give a clue as to the origin of the ship or the nature of whoever had been on board it
Balina meets up with Fleur, barely giving a nod as she keeps going. "No surprises," she mumbles as she paces along. Reaching the door, she looks up and casts a questioning eye to the cat. "Anyone down there yet?" she asks, before quickly checking the area to make sure that, yes, the obvious
"There's somebody in there," says Fleur. "Moving stuff around. Possibly furniture. ... Or bodies. You know, that would be creepy. Thought I'd wait until you arrived to crack open the place, though."
When Balina and Fleur start talking, they can hear some sudden and excited movements from inside the kiosk. Perhaps even frightened movements.
Mirta slips off of her mother's back, stashing the blanket and standing ready at the door, ready to slam (or kick) it open and get out of the way at a moment's notice. Balina, grinning to her feline compatriot, gives a questioning tilt of her head towards the door. She seems a little too eager to hear that someone is afraid of her.
Fleur's eyes widen as he sees the look on her face. "Woah, woah," he says, "w-we want this to be a peaceful confrontoation, right, Balinda?" ... wait, how does he know her name? "... right?"
Unnatural continues a fairly exhaustive search, even taking the time to look over the edge of the boat and check the condition of the engine, though at this point she didn’t expect to learn anything more than she already knew
Balina snarls, "My penmanship is atrocious. It's Balina, by the way. But fine, we'll do it your way." Turning to the door she yells, "Anyone in there? We got a distress call, figured we'd pop by. Everyone okay? Need food, medicine, maybe some gas? I'm sure those hot dogs are pretty rank by now!"
Ahri hears Belinda's shout and flies off to alert Unnatural of the developments as quickly as she can.
Fleur meows, "... they had hot dogs?"
Some heavy breathing comes from behind the door and a little slat opens and shuts almost immiediately afterwards. "Fora com você, demônios vil! Vou vê-lo morto antes de ceder a sua corrupção!" comes an agitated voice from the other side.
Redd shifts his position on top of the van, noting his claws had punched holes in the flat paneled roof. Damn flimsy aluminum body panels... "Anything yet from the searchers?" Redd's voice came in over the comm. "No signs of motion from my position at the parking lot."
Balina turns to Fleur. Her expression doesn't say "I told you so" so much as it says, "Que porra?" Her voice, however, says, "So. Wanna call to see if anyone knows any moonspeak, or should we just go back to plan A?"
Fleur fishes into his pack and gets the snacks again. He raises the stale snack to his lips and snaps it between his teeth. "Now now. Let's not overdo it. That wasn't a -happy- voice."
Unnatural had just about covered the entire boat in her search when she heard Ahri's call and dropping the few papers she had been examining she steps up to the side of the boat and with a glance down at the shifting waves and a another look skyward she rather hesitantly behind flapping her wings, shaking unsteadily as the boat rocks beneath her before finally plucking up the courage to leap into the air, flapping furiously to prevent herself falling back toward the waves as she struggled to get height and speed without a running start.
"Fora! Ou eu vou acabar com você!", comes another shout from the same voice from the other side of the door. "Eu estou armado!"
Ahri quickly approaches the parking lot and descends next to Redd, with Hana landing lightly beside her. "Kiosk group encountered people. Unnatural is en route. Shall we?"
Balina gestures with her head to bring Mirta over, then mutters something into the cow's ear. Her daughter nods, then quite carefully works her way back, standing off to the side of the door. Balina herself carefully pads over to the other side, hunkering down and gesturing to Fleur to join her.
Unnatural is managed to make good time considering she is an extremely large cat with wings, barley keeping herself airborne over a massive body of water
Fleur nods to Balina and takes a position on the side of the door. He holds up a finger to wait and looks off in the distance.
"Found someone? Which kiosk?" Redd jumps off the top of the truck before getting airborne himself. Once airborne he glides towards the kiosks, hoping to spot at least one of the searchers.
Ahri quickly takes Hana by the hand and takes to the air once more, leading the way. When she spots Unnatural coming she grins before shouting over to Redd and pointing at Balina and Fleur's last location. "We're converging on them there. Hopefully it's time to break out the white flag, and see if they're gonna play nice."
Unnatural drops down to all fours on the soft, yet reassuringly non-liquid sand as soon as she is clear of the water. The sigh of relief from the large feline audible at some distance as she catches her breath, wings folding up against her back before she rises up on her feet. Pausing to regain her nerve and questioning herself on what she was thinking as she brushed a hand across her arms and legs sweeping some clinging sand loose before beginning to make her way in the same rough direction as Redd
Fleur nods to Unnatural. "Angry foreigners. Probably gonna shoot on sight. We're gonna knock on the door. Very hard. Questions?"
Redd lands a few feet from the kiosk with the stranger inside, "Ok, I'm told you found someone, anyidea who?" He glances at the door, before moving out of view should it suddenly open.
Unnatural moves at a slow pace, her eagerness for the job rather blunted at this point as she looked to Fleur, only giving a nod in reply to their words following by a long groaning grunt as she closed on the assembled group of her fellows. Looking about the scene and wondering just what had gone on she raised a hand to her mouth before clearing her throat loudly in an effort to get everyone’s attention before saying in a clear and deep voice 'Maybe we shouldn’t surround the cornered human with large scary monsters? We need to keep this person in one peace. They could have valuable information about other parts of the country'
Balina keeps her eyes on the door, but answers, "Smelly. Unwashed. Probably uninfected. Oh, and doesn't speak English. Just a second, let me GET HIM TO SAY SOMETHING AGAIN!" her volume rising, nearing a shout by the end.
"I not care what you speak!", that same voice yells back. "I not let demons corrupt me, will shoot!"
Unnatural looking to read unnatural answers his question with 'the boat cant have come from too far away. It had a lot of fuel canisters but it isn't of the sort that could get across a whole ocean and it is more a fishing boat than an escape vehicle so it likely didn't come from a bigger ship. In short it has to be fairly local but it looks like someone set themselves up for a long trip. They are out of food and fule'
Ahri lands on the sand a distance behind Fleur and Balina, slightly behind Redd. She puts a steadying hand out for Hana who lands beside her. She glances at Balina and her features ripple back to human.
Fleur clucks his tongue. "... he was cuter when he yelled in a foreign language. Anyway, we want to keep this one alive, right? I mean... you know. In theory."
Fleur pauses and stares blankly in Ahri's direction. This is apparently the first time he's seen someone go back to human. His jaw drops. He blinks.
Balina snorts, then pads away from the door, turning around and lying down a safe distance away. "No demon here. Just a big tracking dog. Not going back to human, and Mirta can't. We'll just be inconspicuous." Mirta, for her part, steps away from the door, but remains plastered to the wall of the kiosk.
"Doesn't speak English, eh?" Redd glances at Unnatural, then the boat in the distance, "Sounds to me like either a fisherman or somebody who took a lifeboat from a larger ship." He glances at the door, "wonder what sort of gun he's got, if it's a pistol it won't hurt too much..."
Unnatural hangs her head breathing yet another sigh 'If they speak english we can get the information we need from them and let them go on their way. We can even help them gather supplies if need be'
Ahri sighs and grabs her corset and a pair of pants from her pack, donning it to conceal her multiple breasts, and other features in an attempt to pass as normal at least for a short time. She approaches the door. "We're just here investigating the origin and nature of the ship, as it was spotted by our client. We just want our information, then we'll leave."
"Demon trickery!", the man growls from inside.
Ahri lifts her head and glares at the door before speaking, "Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. There, Lord's prayer for you. Not a demon. Can we cut the bullshit and talk business now?"
"What? You speak jibberish!" The reverberating sound of a heavy object hitting the door is heard. "I won't listen to your chants! I won't be bewitched!"
Balina remains where she is. Just an ordinary, gigantic friendly dog, tail idly thumping in the sand.
Unnatural leans against a wall arms folded across her chest. Her gaze was cast low tot he floor though her ears remained perked and attentive to the conversations ongoing as she considered the options available to her for a few moments before asking 'Is there perhaps a back door or window... or maybe we can just ask him where he's from, what he has encountered, and what conditions are like in the areas he has seen'
Redd leans on the door a bit, seeing how much give it has, "Alright, may want to move to the side, I'm going to try to force the door open," He waits a moment, for the immediate area to clear. Fleur remains pressed against the wall of the kiosk, apparently wrapped up in fantasies that he's James Bond, if James Bond were a dirty mutant cat. He just gives a nod to Redd, waiting for blood to start flying.
Balina snarls, "I don't enjoy being shot. You can have fun, though."
Ahri sighs and steps back, her attempt at negotiation foiled, moving over to stand behind Fleur, up against the wall. She motions for Hana to move even further back, and she does.
Unnatural lets out a soft growl as she steps away from the wall, arms cast back as she says 'Why? Why torment the man? We can just let him go. We fulfilled our contract, endangering the life of a human and ourselves isn't necessary. Just offer him help, if he says no, we leave him be. We aren't thugs'
"Alright, on the count of 5, I'm going to knock this door down, I'd advise you be clear from behind it, and don't try to shoot, it'll just ricochet to lord knows where," Redd shouts the best he can through the door, before waiting a minute, for the man to process this.
Balina idly starts circling the stand, looking for an amusing thing to burst through when Redd makes his move. . There is no reply from within, despite the warning Redd gave.
"At this rate, he's just going to end up as another feral in a few days anyway," says Fleur, flicking his tail. "The least we can do is knock him senseless and drag him to a safer place where someone BETTER at these personal things than us can talk some sense in to him." He frowns. "I mean, I wasn't counting on this being a rescue mission, but hey."
Ahri's lip curls in frustration and a low growl emerges from her throat. "If you don't drop your shit, and get your ass out the kiosk and on the ground, then you're gonna be dealing with a group of much larger, much more durable and deadly, demons, who by merely fighting you will likely become like. So if you don't wanna end up all fucked up and mutated, or assuming we're in a really bad mood, dead as a doornail? Drop your weapons, get your ass out here, and lay face down on the ground. Last chance."
Redd passes a small object to Unnatural, "See if you can get that inside before I knock down the door, should blind him, or at least ruin his aim."
Unnatural takes the small offered object rather curiously looking it over in her hand 'cant we just set it off here then bash the door in?'
Balina finishes circling. "You haven't gone in yet? C'mon, getting bored out here. Icewolves don't like bright sunny days."
Unnatural raises her free hand to par Reed on a flank before slipping past him toward the door. standing to one side to avoid any bullets comming through the door she raises a hand to knock lightly on the obstacle before calling out 'escuse me Sir? are you still in there?'
"Go Away! I shoot!"
Unnatural speaking as softly as she can mange the big cat leans toward the door 'You are trapped in a small room with the exit guarded. If we were here to hurt you we would have done it all ready, we just want to find out where you came from and what conditions are like there. If you can supply us with the needed information we can help you get gas and fresh rations. I also must warn you this will be the last offer before my colleague comes through the door one way or another'
Redd pulls a second out, and ignites it, letting the fuse go down, "Ok, One, Two, Three!" At three, Redd smashes a hole in the top of the door, and tosses the smokebomb in, "Lets see how long it takes for him to open it from the inside. He'll have to open it if he doesn't want to worry about smoke inhalation."
Balina sits herself down, about ten feet from the door. Easy pouncing distance, but she's more concerned with watching the chaos that's about to unfold. You can tell by the small dust cloud forming behind her.
Fits of coughing start from inside, and then wheezing. Soon afterwards, the hum of something being turned on and then smoke being blown out one of the other sides of the building as a fan starts to filter out the smoke.
Balina mutters, then calls Mirta over. The cowgirl nods, going around back and stuffing the blanket from earlier into the vent. Balina sniggers to herself.
Unnatural gives in to the less planned and more direct plan, offering the second smoke bomb up to red 'Want to double down?' Fleur watches the smoke spilling out of the building and sighs. "... and that's why we're temps," he says. "Is someone going to kick the door down already, or do I need to myself?"
Redd takes the first smoke bomb, lights it as well, and pushes it inside the building just as the burning fuse was going into the casing.
Ahri takes a step back and glances aside at Redd. "If this doesn't work I'm just gonna burn this thing down."
Balina snarls, "Wait for it. Trust me on this, it'll be great."
A wail of despair echoes from inside as the occupant realises the smoke isn't being blown out anymore. The sudden crash of something heavy is heard before the door swings open and a wiry man leaps out, coughing and wheezing for breath. He has in his hands a broken paddle and a flare gun. He has tan skin, dark brown hair and mustache, is clothed in a white collared shirt and jeans, both horribly stained with sweat and grime. He weakly holds up the flare gun, weakly trying to aim it at whoever he can see while feebly protecting his head with the paddle.
Balina snarls, "Starved, exhausted," She sniffs, "Filthy, probably has scurvy." The wolf simply walks up to the prone man, stomping at the gun with one large, frigid paw. "Would you cut that out already? Gonna hurt yourself."
It's about this time that Fleur makes a leap at the man, too! He attempts to either disarm or immobilize him before he does try to shoot something - preferrably without infecting him.
Unnatural continues to stay clear of the door, content to not be the one to clobber a malnourished human who may have managed to last this long without being infected. Remaining silent with her back against the wall, her attention of the man still standing with his back to a doorway into a room filled with black, blinding smoke with no other exit save that great big open door
Redd frowns somewhat, "And here I thought you had an actual firearm, well, least the lifeboat theory is confirmed."
The man drops his paddle immiediately after he is disarmed and drops to his knees, covering his head with his hands. "Ahhh!", he screams, "Don't kill me!"
Ahri stares down at the panicky survivor and lifts an eyebrow. "You cognizant enough to tell us where your boat is from and how you got there? We can get you to food and safety, but we need to know the story behind how you got here and what's with the boat."
Balina snarls, "More worried about the crystal dragon than the hungry-looking wolf. This is silly. Mirta!" The cowgirl returns, clutching the blanket. At a gesture, she drapes it around the half-prone lunatic, then fishes a pouch of milk out of the backpack, which is offered with a bright smile."
Fleur picks up the flare gun and pockets it, glancing left and right. He decides to serve as a watch and body-guard for the survivor.
The man looks up and eyes the milk with a paniced gaze before shrugging away with it like it was poison. "My boat.. rode from Columbia.. you can take, if do not eat me!"
Unnatural drops into a crouch, remaining against the wall though shifting her weight and turning on her toes to face toward the man and after waiting for a break if the activity of the others as the human finally started to cooperate she spoke in a soft hushed tone saying 'Calm down. It was never our intention to hurt you. We just want to talk. We're from Woodfield city. There are other survivors there. Even a few humans left'
Ahri glances at Unnatural and grimaces, "I don't think he even knows about the nanites and the infection. It's damn impressive he survived out there on that boat this long."
"Survivor.. yes. Only one I know from my town.. Columbia.. plague.. demons everywhere..", the man rambles, "Followed shore for weeks.. lost track of time.." He starts sobbing. "You follow me.. to finish."
Fleur meows, "I assure you, we didn't do that."
Fleur coughs. "That is, not me. Personally. Look, there's shelters for people like you, we... should probably get out of the open air, though."
Balina is tired of this. Stepping away from the group, she begins packing herself together, returning to a proper Balina again.
Returning, she asks, "Anyone here have any better ways to calm him down? He's surrounded by mutants, and still crazy."
Unnatural gives a nod to ahri before looking back tot he human 'The least we can do is made sure he has a good meal.' leaning a little closer and extending her arm, hand upturned toward the male 'Come on sir. We have no interest in hurting you but the infection didn't just hit one town, it hit almost everywhere. We're all survives of the disaster trying to rebuild civilisation'
Ahri blinks. "So wait, until a few weeks ago the infection hadn't reached your town?"
Redd snickers a moment, "I don't eat anything that's still alive, and you most certainly are still alive, and we intend to keep you that way." He fishes something out of a pocket, a form fixitive, "This should prevent any reactions to the plague, as you called it, at least for the next few days."
The catboy frowns. "Surprised that there's still towns out there that weren't hit years ago... anyway, look. We're not crazy. Some of us want normal lives." His eyes dart up to the form fixative, and he wets his lips and nods. "We studied the infection to find a cure. Some people just live with it. Some lose their minds, some remain themselves." ... the cat pauses for a suspicious length of time, tail twitching. "... we have ways to fight the infection now, or to live with it."
The man snatches the pill from Redd and pops it in his mouth, swallowing quickly. "You are.. not from Columbia?", he asks with a rough accent and wide eyes. "Then why do you look like demons?"
It was probably silly of her to bother getting so close. Walking back towards the van, Balina gets about twenty paces before turning around and running full-tilt towards the delirious sailor, she gives a solid punch to his temple with as much practiced care as she can manage. With any luck, this is the most convincing Taggart impression anyone's seen today. <Hero> Balina spends a Hero point!
The man lets out a surprised gasp and crumples to the sands, unconscious.
Fleur catches him before he hits the ground. He stares at Balina with a wide-eyed expression.
Redd gleams, "... Well, at least he got the fixitive down first..."
"... well, good. You know what? Wonderful! We got him. Let's grab a bunch of crap from the boat and haul his arse back to civilization." Fleur throws his hand up in apathy, then slings the man over his shoulder. He's stronger than he looks...
Ahri snickers at Balina before shrugging and glancing at Fleur. "Let's get him in the van and take him back. We can let Giza sort the rest of this out."
Balina is almost stunned that worked. Desperately trying to regain composure before anyone sees her own expression, she straightens an imaginary tie. "Boring conversation anyway. Giza'll be happy for this. We're not paid to do therapy."
Ahri soothingly hisses, "Amen"
Unnatural quirks a brow, looking to Balina then to the unconscious man and without a word the big cat pushed away from the wall, rising back up to her feed before declaring 'Well grab him and get him back to the van. We can deliver him to the hospital in Fairhaven. Perhaps humans will have better luck with him than we did'
Fleur carries the man back towards the van. He checks for any ferals that might have stowed away in the van, and, assuming he finds none, places the survivor in the back. "... welcome to hell," he mutters.
The van is exactly as you left it in the parking lot, and the rest of the beach and resort is as deserted as ever.
Unnatural scoffs shaking her head 'the survivalist camp will be a hell of a lot better than being on that boat for weeks. Speaking of, maybe we should beach it'
Ahri rolls her eyes. "God, so much hate for the gifts we're given. Kinda sad. Anyway. We'll take him to Giza and let them sort him out. He's part of the job, and probably the biggest source of information we can get."
Balina tries not to give a self-satisfied giggle as she takes her backpack from her daughter, packing things up and generally making ready to leave. "Think we'll get a bonus for taking him in alive?"
Fleur turns to Unnatural, tilting his head. "Was anything in the boat that we could bring back? I wouldn't want them to accuse us of... yanno, not doing a good enough job."
Ahri grins to Balina, "Hope so."
Unnatural shrugs before shaking her head 'maps, charts, it's a fishing boat. not a cruis liner or a military warship. nothing on it seemed all that special'
Fleur pauses, pulling out his keys and twirling them. "... it got a motor?"
Ahri glances at Unnatural. "Did you get the maps and charts?
Unnatural roars, "I left them on the deck. I was more concerned with the survivor"
Ahri soothingly hisses, "probably should pick those up so Giza can backtrack his point of origin, since it's somewhere the plague didn't touch until only a couple weeks ago. This kinda information is priceless."
Ahri heads back to the boat to get the maps and charts, and hopefully memorize any marks he may have made that could reveal his point of origin, before turning them over.
Fleur waits for anyone visiting the boat to come back with materials before he heads anywhere.
Balina and Mirta are already in the van. Where is everyone else?
Ahri comes back and nods to Fleur. "I think that's it. Ready to go?"
Unnatural leaves handling the survivor to everyone else, moving ahead tot he van and pulling the rear doors open to allow the valuable cargo to be loaded
Fleur gets in the driver's seat and revs the engine. "Desination, ladies and gentleman?"
Balina moos, "Giza paid for the guy, let's get this turned in. No *clue* how long he's going to be out."
Fleur meows, "Okay, let me put it this way. Anyone here know enough about medicine to check if this guy's got a cracked skull or something? If he's living, I think we can stop at Giza first."
Ahri nods at Balina. "Screw the freaks at the hospital. Let's just take him to Giza, and if he really needs treatment, well, we all know a few people who have excellent healing mutations."
Fleur meows, "Sounds good to me!"
Unnatural roars, "If we get him to Giza we have done our job. if we make sure he gets propper medical care we are good people"
Redd nods, "Hopefully we can get there before he comes to. Although, I'd avoid Chandler, as well. Ought to get him used to the new world, instead of isolated from it."
Fleur waits for the others to get on board, then makes his way directly to Giza - do not pass go, do not collect $200. Hopefully Dark will be happy with him...!
Ahri nods to Redd. "No need to give the paranoid flatscans another idiot to buy their bullshit."
Your trip back is, unfortunately, not much unlike your trip there. Boring, simple drive, no working radio. When you arrive back at Giza, Darkwyrm is waiting for you in the parking garage. "Alright, whatta you got for me?", he asks, tapping his foot.
Balina bounds out of the van, in a repeat of her previous performance. "Depends!" she says, excitedly, in the middle of some calf stretches. "You want to tell us anything more about the boat, now that we're back?"
Ahri slips out of the van and takes up a spot leaning against one of the garage's supports, and listens.
"A lot more information than we expected, might we enquire who the client was?" Redd looks at the van, "Also, we found a live passenger. I think he's still out cold, though."
The cat climbs out of the driver's seat and stretches. He flips the keys in his hand and hands them over to the handsome jackal, his gaze lingering on his eyes a little longer than necessary. He looks like he was about to say, but when Balina reacts with questions, he doesn't do anything to interrupt the flow. He just smiles politely and steps back.
Ahri smirks at Redd, "The term is sedated. He's still sedated... with a fist."
Unnatural waits for the other's to dismount the van before making her own exit, still trying to have as little to do witht he handling of the survivor as she could
Darkwyrm crosses his arms and sighs. "What I've told you is what I know. If my client knows more than that, then they haven't felt the need to reveal it. What I want to know is what you have found out." His ears twitch slightly as his head turns to Ahri. "Shall I take that as an affirmative that you located the passenger of that vessel?", he asks.
Unnatural looking to Dark the big lion flashes him a grin before reporting in a quick list 'the ship was a simple fishing vessel, looks like it was heavily stocked with food and fuel both of which were exhausted which forced the occupant which we believe was this man to beach the ship and go in search of supplies
Ahri smirks lightly, "Would you believe it if I told you there were places left in the world the infection still hasn't hit?"
Redd shakes his head, "The not hit part isn't surprising, but hit within the last month or two is..." Ahri reaches into her pack and pulls out the maps and charts. "We got the survivor, and we got his boat's charts. Pretty sure you can isolate his point of origin."
Balina moos, "The guy's in the back. Get some proper folks out here to handle him, and he's all yours. We, uh, sedated him before he really had time to freak out. He might have a form fixative in him already, though."
"Hmm? Of course there are places the infection hasn't hit. You thought it was a worldwide thing? Ha! Wait.." his expression grows more serious. "Where did you say this man is from?", he asks, before turning and whistling through the door behind him. A female husky appears in the doorway. "There's a man in the van, unconscious. Please see to it that he's placed in the commons on a cot, and that he can't run away."
Redd coughs, "Columbia, as in the country in South America"
Fleur nods emphatically. "Columbia. Also, his grasp of English is..." he pauses, then wiggles his fingers back and forth. "... we can get by, but he's obviously not native. We brought some documents and resources from the boat, the passenger, and all the information we could get out of him."
Unnatural sits back down in the doorway of the van resting her arms in her lap 'Seems odd. I mean why were we needed to go check out a vestle. Seems like it was an innefficiant use of credits'
Darkwyrm's expression grows dark. "Hrmm.. then this would mean that the infection has spread to South America. This is worrisome, but not entirely unexpected. Very well, if you'll please leave all information that you gathered on the conference table upstairs, including your written reports, I can count your contracts as fulfilled. He takes a step back, first letting his husky agent step through, dragging the man with some strain and then stepping through the door and holding it open for everyone else.
Fleur flicks his tail. He glances backwards at Unnatural. "Hey, it... could have been anything. Foreign military ... armed people. Crazy scientists. I've seen some weird stuff." ... with a sudden snap in his mood, he turns to Darkwyrm and smiles. "It's been a pleasure to work under y- uh, for you, sir. I... hope this information has been of use." ... "If you need anyone to drive, yanno, I can never have too many credits..."
Unnatural slips off the van, groaning softly as she stretched out with a crack of joins before allowing her arms to fall back to her sides with a clap 'true. We got some valuable information but nothing that couldn't really have been obtained using satellite imaging. I just hope the human has more detailed answers to offer'
Balina was hoping that little line in the contract was just boilerplate. Oh well. "Fine, then. Short report, but we'll take care of it. Point the way, and tell us where the pencil sharpener is," she says, heading towards the elevator, daughter in tow.
Darkwyrm nods to Fleur. "I thank you for the offer, and your enthusiasm is duely noted." His tail swishes back and forth once behind him. "We'll see to it that your friend is treated well. We'll hold him here until he's conscious and sane, then figure out where he wants to go from there.. after getting all the informtation he can out of him first, of course." He points Balina towards the staircase that they used earlier to reach the second floor. "First door on the left.", he murmurs.
Unnatural reaches back to scratch the back of her neck, running her fingers through the thick crown of hair before beginning to follow Dark's gesture making her way toward the stairs 'It was a fairly interesting mission all things considered. No rape. Few ferals. No gun fights... I honestly wonder if we were in the right place at all'
Fleur gives an awkward smile, then glances back at the door. "... it's been a pleasure," he adds again, nodding to the jackal. He makes his way for the indicated door, rounds the corner ... and presses himself against the walls, covering his eyes. His face flushes. "You tactless, stupid kitten," he murmurs to himself. Oh well... there's papers to file.
Darkwyrm gives a sly grin to the shy Fleur as he passes. "Thanks for the help.", he says, "I do hope that we see each other again.", before walking past the staircase and into the bar area to get a drink.
