Zephyr Investigation - Pt. 1 - RPLOG

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Participants

Date

26/2/2017

Log



A large meeting room has been set aside on the third floor of the Zephyr building for the express purpose of housing the meeting of volunteers that is taking place. A boardroom table dominates the center of the area, but those responsible for the arrangement of the room have fortunately had enough foresight to leave open space for those whose body structure might not be bipedal in nature. At the head of the table sits a feline woman, prim and proper in a business suit. She appears quite normal for her species - if impatient - but for the stark blue coloration of her fur. As participants begin to filter in, she utters a soft, nigh-inaudible sigh, waiting for people to get situated before continuing.

Zophah walks up to the meet point, checking her gear: lab coat filled with gagets? Check. bag filled with tools? check. Game face on? check. "Zophah of the promethians reporting for duty. Let's show those people who the real masterminds are!"

A hunt for the mental mice? That's an opportunity one couldn't pass up! Or at least that's what Angus thought as he leans back in one of the meeting chairs, propping his feet up on the table as he waits for others to filter in. He wanted a smoke, but since this was still in the building? He was pretty sure the guards would slap his wrists at the moment if he tried to do something like that, so instead he's chewing on a candybar while waiting for the meeting to start.

Firecracker flits into the room to land on the table with her tiny little weight. "Oh hey! I didn't know we got candy too!" she says, eyeing the treat in the coyote's hands. Looking around at the others already there or filtering in, the pint-sized pegasus introduces herself happily. "Oh yeah! I'm Firecracker! What're your names?"

Having recieved his briefing and given instruction on where to head, Otto had readiedmhimself for a bit of action on the side, sharpened his blades and cleaned out his guns, checked for damage and ultimately ensured that eeeeevery little detail was taken care of. Feeling ready as ever, the canine had made his way into the meeting room and sat himself down at the table. Leaning back in his chair, he kept one paw on the sheathed blade at his side, thumb idly flicking it partially in and out of its holster. He'd not expected to be working with so many people, and the more that came into view, the more nervous he felt. Once Firecracker arrives, a smile tugs at his lips. It was nice seeing a familiar face. "Hey there." he greets with a nod and a wave, then leans forward against the table, as if waiting for something to happen.

It was quite fortunate that there had been space left for her kind at the table as Astara padded in, the large half foxtaur walking over to the open area and settling herself down. Despite being in such a proper environment, she still didn't have anything in the way of clothing on, being nude even on her upper, mostly human half. "Astara, checking in." She lights up upon seeing Otto again, and gives the 'yote a big wave. "Good to see you again, Otto! How've you been faring?"

Ebreus walks into the boardroom and takes a seat in one of the spaces large enough for a 12'3 taur. He takes a look arounf the table at those he will be working with and the feline at the table head and says "I'm Ebreus, a Promethean negotiator and agent. I look forward to working with you all." he takes a breath and another look around then adds "Otto, Fire, Astara, glad to see you all again."

Arris follows in shortly after Zophah, giving the Zephyr Exec sitting at the head of the boardroom a polite nod as sie quietly takes hir seat next to Zophah. Sie runs a quick check on hir gear - Triage kit, bolt action rifle, heal pistol, all check. A quick glance around the room, and sie spots a few familliar faces, a good chunk of whom sie remembers from the previous Zephyr assault.

Fenris has no idea what is going on. He was just snooping where he had no right to be, wearing a uniform he had no right to wear, using a keycard that definitely was not his, when he had caught sight of the gathering at hand. It had been as good an excuse as any to ditch the uniform and keycard and join the group. Even better, there were some familiar faces! "Hullo, Angus," the tubby tanuki says happily, plopping down in a seat next to the coyote, "I am definitely supposed to be here."

The feline woman clears her throat rather loudly. "AHEM." she proclaims, looking around at the gathering and addressing you as a group. "Thank you for showing up on such short notice." she states, in a subtly snide tone that suggests that the opposite is true. "Ahem. As you almost certainly know, almost exactly two months ago, Zephyr was assaulted by a coordinated effort between some local mental mice and a horde of ferals. With the help of our agents - some of you here, even - we were able to repel the horde, but it's clear that they weren't acting alone. The two months since have been spent on two tasks. One, hunt down the local mental mice and ensure that they can't do something like this again. Two, figure out who coordinated this whole mess." Rising from her chair, the woman begins to pace, tail lashing in agitation. "...we had no way to know that these goals were in opposition to one another. Long story short, we're going to need information that the mice have in order to catch our real perps, but we've managed to chase them into hiding. That's where you come in." Looking out at the gathering to address you once more, she pauses to catch a breath.

Zophah quietly yips, "Hi Firecracker. And you should remember me by now." She points to her name on the front of her lab coat. She then turns to give Arris a kiss on the cheek. "And hi honey. Sorry I couldn't come in with you, I've been waiting for this." She then finally sits down, squirming a bit at the tightness within her reacting to the Testosterone in the room."

Angus crunches some more of the candybar in his hand as he sits there, his chair lowering a few seconds later as he crumples up the wrapper. "Oh, hey Fenris." He greets the Tanuki, giving him an odd look about his assurance he's supposed to be here before the briefing starts. "Pfft, are you sending us in with a platter of cheese here, or do we have to go cold turkey talking to them?" He asks, folding his arms over the table as he leans forward a bit.

"Zophy, Starry, Ebby, Gussy, Otto, Fenny, Honey, Firecracker!" Firecracker says, pointing at each of the members around the table as she names them. "Perfect! and good job to the people that did the stuff last time! So this time we gotta play 'Hide and Seek' and come in somewhere with cheese and turkey! Got it!"

As more familiar faces pooled into the room, so did Otto feel just a little more comfortable being there. His employment with Zephyr had been a recent development in his life, after all. Getting used to working with the people he'd once held in such low regard was challenging. His smile widens as he hears Astara's voice. He nods in greeting, "Astara? Hah, fancy seeing you here!" the coyote yips, then looks away and rubs the nape of his neck "Errr, sorry I didn't keep in touch as well as I should have. Things have been beyond crazy since I left the Eye, and that's saying something." His attention was drawn towards the other coyote in the room. As whimsical as his remark was, he had a point. Giggling lightly at Firecracker, he also gives Ebreus a light wave in greeting, then turns towards the fdline giving them their briefing. "Alright, find the rodents, squeeze them for info, apprehend or squash whoever's responsible for the attack, gotcha. Any idea where the mice are hiding?"

Astara's mood takes a downward turn as she's reminded of the bitter events of two months ago, her hands clenching into fists, and her whole body tensing up. At least Angus' humor helped, making her crack a smile and exclaim "Hah!" quickly, turning to the other 'yote afterwards to catch up with her old comrade. "Shit's been crazy on my end, too, Otto, it's no problem... and there's no way in hell I'd miss up on an opportunity like this! I was out of commission for days after the last mission while my bullet injuries healed." She's still simmering with righteous anger, but she catches herself to take a deep breath, and try and control it. In a much more level tone, she addresses the Zephyr bigwig briefing them. "So, what are we to expect, Miss? Are we looking at a smash-and-grab situation? Or one where it's a more stealth-and-subterfuge-y kind of Op where damages are to be minimized?"

Ebreus slowly nods as the feline woman speaks he then says "I'm certan if anyone has seen them, even if they sympathize with them, they will tell me." He grins a bit as Fenris enters the room seeing that he'll be working with a group at least half consistant of his friends. He has to stifle his laughter as Firecracker speeks. Though he would just luagh if the situation were less serious. Then in preperation for needing to put his persuasive skills to action he takes a mint from one of his pockets and slips it into his mouth as he quickly nods in recognition to Ottos wave. As the question of leads on the location of the mice is raised he turns his attention the the executive awaiting a reply.

Arris smiles, reciprocating Zophah's kiss. "You don't have to apologize. I'm just happy we can do this together." Sie rolls hir chair closer, before leaning up against Zophah affectionately. Sie then sits up straight, remembering sie had a question for the exec. "Do we know how much opposition we'll have to face there?"

"A cheese platter sounds like a great plan," Fenris says, his little smile and chubby cheeks giving him a pleasant squint, "Nothing like a little gift to streamline negotiations!" The tubby tanuki adjusts his ceremonial robes and produces a length of red string, which he uses to carefully tie a peace knot on his ornate sword. "Diplomacy mode!" he says happily, completely ignoting the spear on his back.

The woman pinches the bridge of her muzzle between two fingers as if nursing a headache. "If we knew where you could go to simply get the mice, we would have done it months ago." she explains in a slow singsong tone usually reserved for explaining simple concepts to slow children. Regaining her composure after a moment, she continues, "No, we don't know where the mice are hiding. What we DO have is a contact we think can be of use to us." Palms lay flat upon the boardroom table, and the woman looks to each of you and ruefully states, "There's no way I'd be lucky enough that some of you already have ties to our local friendly Mall Rats. ... ... ...go ahead, prove me wrong. Please." If anything, the jovial behavior in the room seems to be making her even -more- agitated.

Zophah thinks for a second before replying: "I have some familiarity with them but no actual connections, sorry." The cat lady's tone is making Zophah a bit uneasy... "Does anyone have access to their crafting alliance?"

Angus slowly raises his hand, giving it a wave. "Hi, ya. Not to piss in your cream my feline friend. Buttttttttttt, I've got ties with the Mall rats." He answers her, sitting up straight. "Remember the Feral riots a few years ago when they tried to break into the mall? Ya. I was part of the group that helped the mall rats keep them out, on top of that I know a lot of rats personally." He turns to stare at Fenris for a few moments after he turned his sword to 'diplomacy' mode, just shaking his head a bit as he smiles. "Wrong color Fenris, peace is usually blue. Not pink."

"Oh me! Me!" Firecracker says as she plops down on her rump on the table, waving a foreleg up in the air above her. "I went to that mall place today and had a strawberry Italian soda!" She licks her lips as her mouth starts to water at the memory. "Oh! Are we gunna go eat there again?!" she asks, hopeful at the prospect.

Otto's brow furrows a little as the information reaches his ears. He might have switched allegiance twice by now, but he was still RSX at heart. Rush in, get the job done, get the hell out, that's what he was trained to do. Snooping and investigating were definitely not the coyote's strong suits. Alas, he knew who the rats WERE, but he'd not done much for them besides fix an old truck that he himself needed to get to the farm... "No ties with em, no." he shrugs and leans back in his seat, letting the others do the talking instead.

Astara just nods along with what's being said. "Not too familiar with the Mall Rats, to be fair, at least at a personal level."

Ebreus thinks for a moment about wether or not the things he's done involving the Mall Rats would be significant enough that he could truthfully claim to have any ties to them. After Angus mentions how great and aid to them he has been he says "Ah, good. With that connection we should be able to get what we need." He then, yet again, must stifle laughter as Firecracker speaks. He enjoys the company of Firecracker for presicely this reason, she's always a ball of happines and fun.

Arris shakes hir head, shifting a little on hir seat. "Can't say I have ties, to the mall rats, but looking around, seems like we already have people who do." Sie starts fishing around in hir pockets before obtaining a caramel bar and breaking a piece from it, popping it into hir mouth.

"The Mall rats?" Fenris asks, "Sure! Me and Rod are tight!" The tanuki reaches within his robes and produces a pair of sunglasses. Then he does something complicated and eye-watering with his robe and it becomes a leather jacket. He turns a concerned gaze at his string bound sword. "Oh, but I don't have any blue thread!"

Staring at Angus and Fenris for several long moment as if to discern the presence of bullshit, she straightens up a bit even as the color of her fur shifts to a rich golden yellow. "Well, I'll be damned. It's like Christmas every day with you, isn't it?" she asks the pair, before fishing a folder out from under the table and slapping it onto the surface. "Looking for a guy by the name of Ricardo. Our intelligence - DON'T joke, just don't - has informed us that he might have some idea of how to find the new, new, NEW lair of the mental mice. Your job is to find this guy and get him to cooperate with you." Lifting a finger to pre-empt any question, she continues, "I don't particularly care what you have to do to get him to cooperate. Just do me a favor and don't endanger our peaceful relations with them, hmmm?" For no evident reason, she glances up at a corner of the ceiling, then back to the team. "Everyone clear on the goal?"

Zophah gets up, straitening her coat as she glances at the camera that the cat lady was looking at. "Get information, don't be stupid. Got it." She then makes her way to the door, waiting to go with everyone else when they leave.

Angus perks his ears, smiling a little. "Well if you wanna call it Christmas Kitten, but I guess I forget the presents." When she looks to the camera he turns himself, flashing a smile and waving a little frantically just for the higher ups of Zeyphr, they deserve it after all! "Find Ricardo, ask him for the info. Go knock on the mental mice's front door then go find out what's going on. Sounds like a riot." Standing up he slaps Fenris on the shoulder, offering him string in Blue. "Sorry buddy, all I got for ya."

"Find Ricardo, don't don't joke, peace the relatives, bring cheese and turkey to the mice cause it's Christmas! Got it!" Firecracker says as she snaps a salute with a foreleg. She waves happily to the camera as she hops off the table, floating up to perch atop Ebreus's head. "Away we go!" she announces.

Otto stifled a laugh and was just about to let loose a zinger when the damnable feline cut him off. Well, alright then! No time for jokes, although judging by the other coyote in the room and Firecracker's presence, someone was bound to let a chucklesome remark. "All clear, find this flamboyant fellow, wring the intel out of him, find out where the new new new place is, then inadvertently end up having to look for the new new new new place." Otto smirks. It wasn't unreasonable to think that this meeting was being monitored. He gets up from his chair and moves over towards where Zophah was, muttering under his breath something about the overabundance of cameras in the Zephyrian HQ and how someone high up there must get a raging hard-on for peeping on his employees. His eyes lock right onto the piece of surveilance equiment as he winks at whoever was watching on the other end, then returns his attention to his team. "Allright, all set... so, I guess we try diplomacy first?" he shrugs and looks between Zophah and Firecracker, then locks eyes with the other coyote. "Oh, right, the name's Otto. We didn't get a chance to talk earlier. Suffice to say, I like the cut of your jib."

"I do believe you've briefed us on everything you needed to, yes," Astara curtly responded to the Zephyr bigwig. She sighs, and then turns to Otto as she stands up. "Diplomacy, yes."

Ebreus goes to reiterate the job but decides against it after he's beaten to it. He rises to his paws and glances to the corner, not seeing anything but assuming something is there as the exec wouldn't likely have drawn attention to it otherwise. He looks back at the excec after Fire speaks and says "We'll... be more on mission than that." After Ottos remarts and Astaras agreement he adds "Right, so far it's not failed me and I intend to use what works." He takes a step toward the door ready to get in with the mission.

Arris nods, picking up hir gear and standing up. "Yeah, I'm clear. Do we head out now?" Sie starts glancing around the room, looking at everyone else's faces before glancing at what they were looking at - the camera in the corner. Sie pays it no mind, following the others out of the room.

Fenris deliberately pulls a sucker from the pocket of his new leather jacket, unwraps it and pops it in his mouth. The tubby tanuki rises from his chair and swaggers toward the door, producing a comb and sweeping his hair into a passable pompadour before turning around at the doorway and giving finger guns to the camera. "Be cool," he says, "got it."

The woman sighs darkly. "And nobody wants to know why the mice won't just control all of you the moment you get close. God help us all." Throwing up her hands, she makes for the exit and calls out, "So, any questions?" Without waiting, she continues, "No? Fantastic. I have a date, and a broken Color Chooser to try to get fixed. Have fun out there, try not to get everyone killed, I'm done." Shaking her head lightly as she leaves, she quietly mutters, "When did this become MY job..." Indeed, those who are familiar with taking Zephyr's missions might notice that this is the same woman who's been overseeing mission distribution for a while, and that she seems...ill-suited to it, at least in temperament.

As she wanders off, her fur turns a bright lime green.

Zophah leads the crew onward to the mall, hoping that everyone didn't have problems with the scent of ovulation coming from her. She keeps glancing back at Arris and Eberus, and catches herself from making any lewd remarks. "Whay did I have to get knocked up so soon?"

Angus just stares at Fenris when he slicks back his hair, just shaking his head a bit. He had no issue with the scent, in fact he didn't even seem to register it. His arms were above his head, wrapped around the chainsword that was layed across his shoulders as he walks, humming to himself happily as now that they were finally out of the building? he could smoke again!

Firecracker rides atop Ebreus's head, above all the others, while she messes with some things up there, namely making a nice large wheel of cheese and a whole, fried chicken out of Edible Salvage with Culinary Nanomagic while they travel. She whistles some nice traveling music as they go as well!

The fertile scents were not bothersome to Otto, at least not very much. He'd long since learned to control his rut, at least for the most part. If he had his way, he'd dispose of it entirely, but that was besides the point. "Why do I get the feeling that we're gonna waltz our way right into a trap at some point?" he asks quietly and shakes his head. Perhaps it was his past encounters, or perhaps he was hoping for something like that. Surely sch a large group would not serve as mere envoys, right? Who knew, he'd not done work for Zephyr before after all.

Astara was more than happy to get this show on the road. With her large size, the taur strided in front of the group with her longer steps, and she frequently was having to stop to let the rest catch up. "I hear ya, Otto, it's... well, we need to keep our guard up at all times. And NOT be suspicious to raise their guard."

As Ebreus walks the scent of ovulation draws him forwad until he is standing close by Zophahs side. Although his rut had ended just before the mission began its lingering affects still demand that he breeds and the stronger musk he makes while in rut still lingers on his fur. He tries to avoid propositioning Zophah by scanning for ferals and thinking of Debbie. He replies to Otto "First step in not getting trapped is expecting them to try. Lets keep alert."

Arris walks a bit forward, leaning up against Zophah as sie walks. Remembering something, sie turns hir head to look over at Astara. "Say, Astara, how's your relationship with Sheela been going so far? Been keeping safe, hopefully?" Sie begins holding hands with Zophah as sie walks.

Fenris swaggers along the streets among the rest of the operatives, occasionally striking ridiculous poses and preening for any operatives, mutants and ferals along the way. "Angus!" he calls, breaking from his posturing to grin back at all the others, "Am I being cool enough?"

For the time being, the group is left to their own devices. There is no indication that the feline woman intends to return, and no particular push in any specific direction was given before her departure. Whether or not the passage of a few minutes is important can only be left up to the imagination of each individual; on the one hand, it's been months since the last attack. On the other, who knows? Whatever the choice of the gathered agents, the moments draw onward, allowing them to plan, socialize, or act as they see fit.

Zophah calls to Angus and Fenris as everyone approaches the mall: "I guess this is your show once we enter Mall Rat territory. Any ideas on where we'll find Ricardo?" She holds Arris's hand, but again still glances at Ebreus every so often.

Angus takes another drag from his cigarette, blowing smoke as he looks back at Fenris. "You're so cool I swear you're freezing." He answers, turning around as he walks. Slowly he takes the chainsword off it's shoulder, clipping it back in the scabbard hanging off one of his shoulder before stretching his arms over his head, shoulders popping a bit. "Easiest way would be to ask Rod if he knows where Ricardo is, they usually hang out at the food court around lunch and dinner time if they don't have work to do." He answers Zophah, flicking the butt of his smoke at the cement as he mutters for a moment. "To be honest, something doesn't seem right about this. Zeyphr hasn't manage to pry The mental mice from their hiding spot? That doesn't make sense."

"That's probably why they called in a professional Hide-and-Seeker!" Firecracker says in regards to Angus's comment. "And I knew it! I'm definitely gunna get another onea those strawberry Italian sodas! With whipped cream on top!" Looking over to the cooly cool tanuki, Firecracker conjurs up a snowball seemingly from thin air with Cryo Nanomagic, tossing it down to Fenris as she shouts out, "Here! This'll make ya cooler!"

"Who knows." Otto shrugs and rests his hand on his primary means of self defense, the blade at the right side of his waist. "Big Z are shadier than a bleached bucktoothed creep with a hoodie at a children's party. If this is so important to them, I can't help but wonder why they'd just open this mission up to volunteers. Lack of funds to pay a proper strike team, I guess?" the coyote obviously jests, then looks towards Astara "Yeah, that'd be best. Whatever happens, I guess. I'm just gonna hang back and let the cool guy and his friend over there do the talking. I was never good with my words, if you recall."

Astara blushes at Arris' question. "I, uh... we're doing fine. We just spent some time together again the other day, as I had been busy in the week or two prior..." The vixentaur trails off, and grows quiet, nodding eventually when Angus speaks. "I mean, look at how many in Z they were able to manipulate last time. Definately, something is off, but I don't think we have much else than to ask Rod. If there's a person I think that wouldn't be swayed by the mice... it'd be him."

Ebreus continues his methods to keep his mind off of breeding Zophah. He replies to her "Angus will likely have to make the introductions but I'm certan my speaking skills will not fail me." having hard time telling when her attention isn't on him. Being aware enough of himself to recognize that he is distracted from the mission he calls back to Otto "Seems like of the bunch of us your head's on straightest, Otto. Beyond talking to Rod do you have any sort of plan?" Now outside of the boardroom Ebreus no longer surpresses chucking at Firecrackers antics he adds "Thats funny, Fire." as he laughs. As Astara and Otto air their suspicions of Zephyr he continues "Yeah, Z is almost like an old world Government. They'll tell you mostly, if not all, lies and are in it for themselves at the expense of anything and everything. Still we've got explosive armed mice to catch."

Arris nods at Astara. "That's good then. Excuse me, didn't mean to poke to far into your personal life so suddenly, heh." Sie looks over at Angus. "I mean, I suppose it's kind of suspicious, how Zephyr hasn't already gotten the mental mice already. It's taken... at least three months, for an all-powerful megacorp, that's quite a lot of time. The mindcontrol thing probably factors in, but still..."

Fenris's coolness is unflappable as he turns an improbable back handspring to avoid the thrown snowball. "Ah-ah-ah!" the tanuki says, swiping his comb through his hair, "No messing up the outfit, or the do! These are important negotiation tools!" Not that it is much of an outfit, a white t-shirt and leather jacket. . . and nothing underneath. Must be a tanuki thing. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again," he smiles, "I don't care much about the Z. But I'm always up for an adventure."

Mercifully, the mall isn't exactly a massive trek from the Zephyr offices, and it soon begins to come into view as the group discusses options, prospects, and opinions among themselves. It's bristling with its usual contingent of guards - which is to say, none at all, because it's not cool to be stuck guarding something all day - and the team is free to waltz, rhumba, or polka their way right in if they see fit. Mall's open 24 hours a day to all comers like usual, as if no one saw anything coming at all.

Zophah walks right in to the Mall, pushing her foxy vixen tail back down, as it was starting to raise in her need. "Lead the way," She says to Angus, who certainly knows more about this than her.

Angus doesn't answer, lighting up another cigarette before he rummages through his pockets, pulling out an old looking nickel he tosses it in the air, catching it to see which side it fell on. "Heads, lets go give Rod a visit." He answers, slipping the wooden nickel back into his pocket before turning to head into the mall to go find Rod to ask him where their contact could be.

"Okie dokie lokie, Gussy!" Firecracker says as she sits on top of the fried chicken on top of the cheese wheel on top of the margay taur's head. "Then we get to get those yummy drinks, right? To Rod, away!" she says, pointing a forehoof forward to guide Ebreus... not that he can see it in its current position over his head.

Otto follows along, feeling rather comfortable in the mall as he surveys the area. His eyes lock onto a familiar face in the distance, two of them actually. "Mani, Sol?" he mumbles as he recognizes the two offspring, his initial reaction to go say hi to them and hug them tightly. Alas, he was on a mission, and decided against turning his work into fun times with the kids at the mall. Following along with the others, he scans the local shops, wondering if he should pick up a few things for Michi on his way back from this escapade.

Astara hrmms. "Lets *not* split up yet, okay? Or if we do, no one goes on their own. This is a big place, and we don't know how safe we are yet."

Fenris swaggers in fine Mall Rat style through the mall's double doors, switching his sucker from one side of his mouth to the other. "Rod!" he calls out, grinning, "Buddy! Pal! Friend!" That's cool, right?

Ebreus, not loosing his internal battle, notices Zophah lower her tail and moves a little closer. He rubs his musky tauric flank against her for a moment before regaining some clarity and says "My apologies Mis Zophah." He nods in reply to Astara and adds "Right. These mice can fuck with our minds, right? Nobody alone and if anyone has any stong defenses against that they can share with others we should stick together... I don't want to know how much damaged I'd cause."

Of course, the two mall rats in question look away, utterly ignoring Otto. Being recognized by your dad at the mall? Totally uncool. It's not hard to find more of the rats milling about, often leaning against the wall and looking utterly unconcerned and/or uninterested in pretty much anything, maybe checking their baubles or chatting quietly with one another in abbreviated phrases. Fenris's outburst gets him some pretty pointed stares, absolutely loaded with silent judgment and only passing acknowledgement.

Arris looks around the mall. "Hm. I wonder if I have enough time to buy a new dress while we're here... nah. Would probably take too long." Sie glances over to Angus as he flips his coin, picking up another caramel chocolate and popping it into hir mouth, walking with Zophah still. "Hey, careful there Ebreus. Don't want to give the wrong idea to her mate, now would you?" Sie chuckles, putting away the chocolates again. "Don't worry about it. If you're in 'dire need', we can take care of that after the mission, together."

Of course, the two mall rats in question look away, utterly ignoring Otto. Being recognized by your dad at the mall? Totally uncool. It's not hard to find more of the rats milling about, often leaning against the wall and looking utterly unconcerned and/or uninterested in pretty much anything, maybe checking their baubles or chatting quietly with one another in abbreviated phrases. Fenris's outburst gets him some pretty pointed stares, absolutely loaded with silent judgment and only passing acknowledgement. Finally, the presence of the agents brings one of the rats forward. Clad in tattered jeans, a white undershirt, and a leather jacket, he adopts a relaxed posture as he addresses Fenris. "Rod's upstairs. Be cool, man. Don't start none, there won't be none." With that said, the rat wanders off to rejoin the crowd, that specific one swiftly lost among the gathering.

Zophah shakes her head to clear her thoughts and then checks her gear, making sure everything is there. She then immediately checks again, trying to keep her thoughts clear of Ebreus and Arris. "We need to hurry up. No point in finding the guy if he leaves or something."

Angus gets a whiff of the rat that meets them, nodding silently as his gaze darts along the rest of the rats. Stepping towards the stairs he stops, turning and pointing at Otto and Eberus. "Second floor, keep near the rails but stay in sight. Watch the food court, keep an eye out for anything strange." He states before hitting the stairs two at a time, his left hand in his pocket, right on the railing as he continues to speak. "Rest keep close, we want to be out of here in less then ten with the info."

Firecracker snaps a salute from atop Ebreus's head as she starts to act as lookout, slowly spinning around and around and around and around in place from the highest point available.

"None what? Trouble?" Otto mutters under his breath such so only the most perceptive could hear. There were a lot of these rats around, and while they didn't look all that menacing, he preferred not having to take a stern yelling at from his new superiors for causing trouble at the mall. Yuck, the mere thought that he had someone to answer to made Otto cringe with disgust. He'd been a freelancer for so long that the military training he'd recieved with RSX was only good for bolstering his combat prowess at this point. Gone was the subservience he had shoved down his throat, and that became all the more clear once Angus tried to mutter orders at him.

Opening his maw to protest as a first reaction, Otto then remembers what was happening. The other coyote was likely going off to deal with the rats, and seeing as he was the one to speak to the informant, perhaps this was indeed the best course of action. "Right, okay." is what he ends up saying, adding an idle shrug in between his words, then looks over at Ebreus. "Try not to get yourself killed, or worse... exiled." he remarks towards Angus, then takes the nearest turn to head towards his vantage point.

"You heard the man, lets roll. Don't do anything that's not... well, cool." Astara simply says, and follows behind Angus on the way up to Rod's location.

Ebreus shakes his head then looks to Arris and says "Oh, thank you. I really don't want to upset her, again." he takes a step away from Zophah trying harder to not incease the chances Debbie will randomly meet another person he's sired children for. At hearing Angus tell them to keep close and trying to deal with his lingering rut he decides it best to stay close to Otto. Seeing the man half his height looking around he glances about to determine if any of the Rats are close enough to hear then says "Care for a better vantage point?"

Arris looks over to the rat who approaches them and heads back into the crowd. "Well, that's pretty self-explanatory." Sie begins making hir way up the stairs as well, looking around on the second floor for Rod as sie steps up the stairs, looking over at Ebreus again. "You really don't want to upset her again? Heh, when's the first time you upset Zophah? Or, uh, are you talking about someone else?"

Fenris grins around from behind his shades, shooting finger guns left and right, because they are definitely cool as he trots along after Angus, his bulk not seeming to hinder him in the slightest. "Got it covered!" he says in response to Astara, "I've got cool down to an art!"

The head rat isn't hard to locate; he's in the food court, drinking a cold one with his seat tilted back and his feet kicked up on the table in front of him. Holding his drink in one hand, he tosses a quick wave at the group as they approach - Angus, Astara, Arris, and Fenris taking point to meet him while, Zophah, Firecracker, Ebreus, and Otto hang back and keep an eye out. "Hey, man." calls Rod, whenever the group led by Angus gets close enough for conversation without raising his voice. Another drag of his drink is taken, and Rod casually gestures behind him. "Ricky's in the back of the old Pizza Jam. Take it easy on him, ain't his fault shit's gone weird." With that, he goes back to imbibing, looking utterly unconcerned.

Zophah smells at the air, checking for any scents that may clue her into anything unusual. She then immediately blushes, having to push down her tail again and regain her composure. "That part was easy." She said, looking at the ground to avoid glances.

Angus nods to Rod, tipping his hat. "Much appreciated, I'll see you next week?" He shoots back, flashing a bit of a smile before whistling at the rest of the group near the railing, waving them back before he starts heading in the direction that Rod gave him. His ears twitch a bit as that smile fades as soon as he's out of sight of Rod, the thump of his left hand tapping against the leather holster of the gun at his hip as his shoulder tense up a bit, his nose in the air for a moment to catch scents before focusing back on the task at hand.

Firecracker takes bites of the cheese wheel beneath her as she continues to keep watch from the large cat's head, focused on the incredibly important mission of watching the rats below acting cooler than cucumbers!

"What?" Otto shoots Ebreus with a weird look. "Erh, no... thanks." he declines as politely as he can "I need to react quickly if shit hits the fan, and having an unsteady surface to stand on is the worst." Drawing his bow from his back, the canine gives its string a few tugs, ensuring that all was well with the weapon. Sure enough, so it was! An arrow then finds its way within Otto's paws, the flawless craftsmanship of the weapons masters evident in its perfectly solid and smooth shaft, tip looking pointy enough to make short work of most kinds of armor. "Especially if you use one of these. Hell, just a gust is enough to throw me off, so... uhm, polite pass." he shrugs, then lets the weapon dangle off his shoulder, semi-primed for use as he surveys the area. Sadly, the rats seemed... disinterested in him and his team.

Thankfully the wait wasn't long, and once Otto hears the whistle from the other coyote, he puts his weapon away and heads off back towards the rest of his team. "C'mon. We're needed apparently."

Astara gives Rod a nod of her head, smiling that at least that part was easy; she walks on after Angus. "What do you think, Angus? I'm not convinced we're gonna have an opportunity to go easy on this kid, even if he *is* just caught up in it all."

Ebreus looks back to Arris and says "Right, Debbie. I don't want to upset her again." as Arris heads upstares as part of the second group. He doesn't seem at all upset to have his offer declined and says "Right, that does look like it requires a lot of skill to use." As he hears the whisle and Otto heads off he follows him to the rest of the group.

Arris nods as Rod finishes. "Well, that went well I guess." Sie looks in the direction that Rod points in before following Angus after his whistle, though letting hirself trail a little further behind the group. "I'd only assume that she's your mate, then? Mmm, well, me and Zoph agreed on an open relationship. Maybe consider talking about it with her, if you haven't already."

Fenris gives a lazy little salute to Rob and follows after the others, perking up significantly at the mention of pizza. "All this coolness is really working!" He reaches into his coat and produces another sucker.

As the rest of the group moves to join Angus, the head rat holds up a hand. "Whoah, man." he interrupts, glancing over his shoulder at Angus. "You really gonna bring eight people in there to talk to one dude?" A little shrug follows, and he adds, "Suit yourself, but you're gonna spook him." No formal protest is given beyond that, no guards move to stand in the way...in the end, the group is given a sort of laissez-faire form of advice that demands nothing but instead offers a recommendation. The back of the Pizza Jam seems to be unlocked, and the scent of a male rat can be detected by those with a sensitive enough nose to do so. Possibly Ricardo, possibly someone else. Worthy of note is the fact that there are no non-rat scents in the area; the mall rats mostly don't let folks wander around in the backs of the food court shops, man. That's not cool at all.

Zophah keeps up with the group heading towards Ricardo, but stops after Rod's advice. "I can wait out here. Just don't be too long." She checks with her biodetection nanomagic to confirm the mall rat she can smell there, and then takes off the lace choker from her neck. "Whomever is taking to Ricardo should wear this. It'll help boost defenses against mental influence."

Angus turns without breaking stride, giving Rod a salute! "Chill out, grab some pizza or just hang around the store for now." He calls out, turning around to grasp the door with his hand, turning it he pokes his nose in. Taking a deep whiff before opening the door fully with his shoulder to it. When nothing jumps out at him he steps in and closes the door behind him, ears perked and nose working as he tries to follow the scent to its owner. "Hello? Ricardo? Rod sent me." He calls out, while looking around.

Firecracker dives off Ebreus's head to grab the choker in her mouth and fly in the door as Angus opens it and closes it behind him. "Hur ya go!" she says to the coyote, hovering in front of his face as she presents the article of clothing to him.

Otto disregards the rat's warning and simply follows the others in. He keeps his paws in his pockets and his head held high, eyes scanning for any signs of trouble as he simply leans against the wall, letting the others enter the room and deal with the informant. "Hey." he addresses one of the nearby rats "What's up?" What else was he to do? He wasn't the spokesperson in this mission, in fact he was acting as nothing more than a hired bodyguard at this point, silent and vigilant, but not very chatty...

"Yeah, I'll wait outside, too. Gonna be cramped in there with someone my size, anyways," Astara remarks, settling herself down on the floor next to Zophah. "Just yell if things get rough, we've got your backs." True to her word, Astara's quite vigilant; she's not letting anyone in or our of that door that she doesn't know.

Ebreus says "Yeah. We're in an open relationship but she's lived out of bubble and largely unmutated for most of the past eight years. It is upsetting to her to meet random people who happen to be pregnant by me. Heh, guess I didn't have to worry too much 'bout that." in response to Arris. After Rod offers his advice he says "You're right. Angus, Fenris and I should go and the rest of the group hang back." As Zophah offers the choker he examines it then seeing Angus just stride on in add "Or he could do that." somewhat annoyed. He sighs and says "Guess I'll stay out here too."

Arris looks around at the group after Rod speaks up. "Alright, uh, which one of us is the best at being unassuming and unthreatening? I don't think I'd be that good at it, to be honest. Maybe between... Angus and Fenris, I think. You two are the ones who have connections to the Mall Rats, right?" Sie glances around. "Well, you shouldn't worry much about the pregnancy thing. I'm pretty sure the both of us are pregnant already." Sie chuckles to hirself for a moment. "...I think I'll go pick up an iced tea or something here. Zophah, Ebreus, you two want anything?"

Fenris stops outside and leans on the pizza counter. He makes a quick transfer of creds and takes a huge slice of pizza, dripping with a reasonable fascimile of cheese and toppings before slipping after Angus. His outfit does that odd, eye-watering thing again and he is back in his monk robes. "I can do unthreating as well as I do cool!" he claims, raising his slab of pizza to take a bite.

With Angus, Firecracker, Fenris, and Otto entering the room and the rest of the team waiting outside, Rod seems satisfied that the group has - to some reasonable extent - listened to his sage advice. He finally rises to his feet, setting his now-empty drink down on the table to be retrieved later, and gestures to those who have stayed behind. "C'mon, we'll miss the show." he states, motioning for the remainder of the group to follow him toward a closed, unmarked door. The inside crew will indeed find one male rat inside the room, adopting much the same pose Rod did until recently, complete with a cold one. "Ey, /vato/." he greets the quartet, not bothering to get up. "Hear you been lookin' for my girl." Just like that, straightforward and to-the-point.