She smiled, relieved to see that he was ok. "Vadim is conscious." She explained to the group.

"How are you feeling?"

"Welcome back, mister Dragomirov. I hope you're feeling well enough to follow the conversation", Jordan responded.

He nodded to Richard:"We can safely assume your encounter with our targets was an ambush and that they were after our agents, not necesarilly to kill them. Which means we should consider the likelyhood Lauren and Sandra are hostages. We have cops watching the building and so far no one has come out. Of course we sent agent Reyes to the location because we're dealing with a teleporter slash dimensional traveler and we're not clear on whether the location is still under lockdown after we lost contact with agent Reyes".

He nodded to James:"James, Vlad, did the HITMark say anything that can help us?"

Bringing a hand up to his head to block out the bright light and help focus his mind Vadim pursed his lips slighty as he recounted in his mind the last few things he remembered from the encounter.

He shook his head slowly, a motion that only Ai could see, before answering.  His voice was still quiet and a bit hoarse but loud enough to understand, "No I don't think so.  Besides calling us fascist scumbags and sounding like he might be talking to someone in asking for a portal...or perhaps their name was Portal?"  Stopping from shaking his head cause it began to hurt as well he favored Ai with a small smile and mouthed Thank You to her for obviously making sure he didn't die.

"Nothing I heard," there was a faint twist to James' smile as he replied, by the time he had been able to catch up to the cyborg he was hearing very little. Vadim's statement of what he had caught earned a slight grunt followed by, "Any chance we can trace those communications? I'm okay with tapping ongoing ones but otherwise a bit out of my expertise. Might be able to check for records of the exchanges too if I can get access to the captive at some point."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:01, Fri 26 Aug 2016.

She gave a nod to Vadim, setting a hand carefully on his shoulder. "Take it slow at first." She reasoned then gently motioned towards the glass wall. "Al was worried about you too."

 She then carefully stepped away, moving to Jacki so as to check on her condition.
10:55, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 4 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6.  Int+Medicine Check.

Vadim nodded and looked over to the glass wall where Al was.  He moved his hand from his head to point in his direction and give a thumbs up and a faint smile.  Glancing over at Ai as she checked on Jackie he added quietly, "I'm not going anywhere doc...I still feel the buzz of electricity all over my body..."

Al looked back at Vadim and blinked his eyelids before sinking to the floor where he continued looking at what was going on in the sick bay. Somehow the glowing ball seemed a little .. repetative. Al wondered how big the world was ..

Jacki was burned over 70% of her body and Ai carefully stripped her clothes off, avoiding tearing off skin along with it. As she removed Jacki's pants she also found am unlabeled bottle of pills in there. Jacki would need extended surgery, skingrafts and reconstructive surgery, even then she'd retain some pretty nasty scars. She was a fighter though. Ai was quite amazed at her resilience, most people would be dead. She had trouble breathing and Ai had to give her an oxygen mask to make her more comfortable. Keeping Jacki comfortably numb while tending the burns was the best Ai could do short term.
It made her even more determined to figure out how to create the Omega serum without it being linked to her unique genetic signature. Ai felt she was closing in on the difficulties replicating its healing effect on others but the Eureka moment remained out of her grasp.
With it she was sure she could get Jacki maybe, and Vadim certainly, back on their feet in no time.

Jordan got up from his chair and walked to the refrigerator hidden in a wall recess. Mister Light pulled a couple of cans from the fridge, soda drinks and orange juice and opened one for himself while roughly distributing the rest. He leaned on the table but remained standing. He checked his tablet for a moment and typed something briefly.

"What about the original attack on VIGIL Gamma? Anyone have a theory what happened that night?".
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:49, Fri 26 Aug 2016.

So close... Ai had no doubts that Omega would make future treatments so much easier, no doubt it would be the best use to get Jackie back to her normal self with minimal downtime, but it still needed work, needed testing... there were still things she didn't understand about it.

 She looked back to Vadim with a slight smile. "I bet. You were hit with quite a lot. Agent Ellings said that once you fell, Al charged the cyborg and brought it down with his claws. I'm glad that he was able to help you."

 At the comm, she spoke up. " Examinations of the VIGIL Gamma team have revealed attacks from a heat-based deviant as well as an enhanced deviant. Given the reports of the elemental-based deviant and now the cyborg brought in, I believe it is a strong possibility that the two deviants were linked to the previous attack."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 12:00, Sun 28 Aug 2016.

"Damage on the car looked like focused heat-based atacks. I'd have liked to have looked in more details but I suspect it's got a lot more damage now. Anyone acquire the briefcase I retrieved from the car?" Taking the offered can he took a deep drink from it, wincing slightly as he tilted his head back. Doctor's office for him after this meeting now that they had had chance to look at those seriously injured.

"Working theory I've got so far is that either Stryker went to a meeting with or was spotted by the reality deviant group we dealt with. If the meeting was with them then it went south, if they simply spotted him as a viable target they'd have had some way to identify him. He headed for a secure location but as it turned out one not sufficiently prepared for a full blown assault." Finishing the drink he added, "Plenty of holes in it I know. Seems to make a degree of sense though."

He continued to speak quietly to Ai so as to not bother the others since it was via intercom, "So I know you had me hooked up to all sorts of machines.  Was I dreaming while out? Had some strange images or passages and I don't know if it was just the last bits of consciousness before the thing struck me or if I was enjoying extra terror for the sake of terror at the behest of my subconscious telling me not to get shot like that again..."

Light nodded to James:"That's more or less my theory as well. First priority is getting our agents back. But I also want to know what happened to set the Challengers off. What was the meeting at Las Floras about? As hard as they may have hit us, and have been a menace to Technocratic targets in the past, they wholesale slaughtered team Gamma. I'm leaning toward thinking Gamma team died defending Stryker. I want to know where Stryker is now, if he is still alive. Finally I want to know who was looking in on the massacre from another timeframe as evidenced from agent Reyes' research".

Brought out of her thoughts, Ai turned to Vadim for a moment, hesitating. "I did measure brain activity, it's possible that you were dreaming. I've seen from some cases that when unconscious, or in a coma, patients often report having odd dreams during the time they are out. If you're worried about it, I'm certain I could arrange some sessions. I'm not a great psychiatrist, but I'd be glad to do what I can to help."

 Her eyes moved towards Al for a moment. Part of her seemed a little relieved that he wasn't hooked to the television, though that was also worrying.

Richard nodded as Light gave them their objectives.  Investigate the meeting at Las Floras.  Determine Stryker's status, dead or alive.  Identify onlookers on the fight.  Simple, right?

Right.

"With Agent Wilson MIA, that leaves a vacuum in field leadership," he said, folding his hands together.  "Do you have a designate?"

"Field leadership is a rough job, coordinating people who will die if you fail them. There is little margin for error and even less for selfdoubt. I need someone who can work a crowd, get the team to follow orders without questioning, and capable of make the tough calls", mister Light got up and grabbed his tablet off the oval table, sipped his last coke and made for the door.
"I don't need to remind everyone of the stakes involved. Today is only your first day. Without us this city falls prey to evil monsters and lunatics. Without us the world is doomed".

"I hope you're feeling ambitious today, mister Jackson. Get your people organized and move out in 15 minutes. Congratulation on making Team Leader. Don't let me down". He nodded to James and tapped his own ear:"Go see the doctor before you're going out again. I'm going to check with Erin on surveillance of the Reagan Library. We have very limited time for requisitions if we want to keep the momentum, but send me a PM if you need something", he held his tablet up and then walked away.

"Erin, I'm on my way .. ".

Nodding to the instructions for a doctor's visit as Light stepped out James let the door slide shut before looking to their newly appointed leader, "Any orders before I get to the doc? And would someone mind seeing if they can requisition me something a bit bigger than my normal pistols for this while I'm in there, if there's anything on a similar scale to last time to deal with I'll want something with a bit more stopping power."

Erin's elated voice sounded over the intercomm:"Good news team! Agent Reyes is alive. Patching her through now".

++Control, Reyes. The Jump was an ambush. I need extraction A.S.A.P.++.

Erin's voice came back:"Agent Reyes, I have an asset nearby. Stay at your current position for extraction".

(sandra you can now communicate with the other through this thread while we finish the other thread)

"Just make sure you're ready to handle another scrum," Richard answered James, half a smile on his face.  "Let me handle the requisitions.  Do you have any unusual particular training or certifications for Hypertech devices that you'd like me to look into getting for you?"

"If I can point it and pull the trigger I'm comfortable with it, otherwise I'd prefer not to use it in the field without some practice first." Returning the grin James straightened from the seat and headed for medical, raising a hand as he left before pointing to his earpiece to remind people he was only a quick communication away if things went suddenly pear-shaped.

James made his way to the medical facility. The doors slid open to reveal a pristine bright white laboratory. Near the entrance was a glass cage where Alpha observed the hospital, glancing sideways to look at James as he entered. The creature clearly recognized him, letting out a soft mew that barely penetrated the glass barrier.

James found Ai in the recovery area where she was watching over Vadim while dressing Jacki's burns.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:53, Thu 08 Sept 2016.

Marcus remained silent throughout the debriefing, merely nodding in deference, when the team's supervisor mentioned his name and organization of origin, as well as the fact of his secondment to their team.

This was partly in order not to breach any persistent team protocol and partly because he was brought in at the last minute and figured out that each piece of pertinent information he could gain from the meeting would be useful in forming an understanding of the ongoing crisis.

After Mr. Light, the amalgam's supervisor left the room, Marcus - after setting his tie straight, with an almost reflexive reaction - looked around, meeting the gaze of all present, approached Mr. Jackson, the newly designated Team Leader and offered his hand in a greeting gesture, a slight smile upon his lips, his voice tone calm and polite, though not without a slight hint of excitement at his new assignment.

"My name is Marcus Drake. Information specialist and Hub operative, recently reassigned by supervisor Light. Nice to meet you and your team Mr. Jackson. You all do seem to have had quite an interesting assignment, of a somewhat different nature than the ones we're used to in the Hub. I'm at your disposal to assist in any way you see fit, sir. As for the issue of Requisitions, that you mentioned, I happen to have an understanding and a decent working relationship with the Q department, and I'd be more than happy to put it to good use for the team's benefit".

Richard shifted to face their loaned member, offering a small smile and taking the proffered hand in a firm handshake.  "Good to meet you, Mr. Drake," he said cordially.  "I'd be appreciative if you'd assist me with just that.  Agent Arc seems like he's going to have his hands full running his particular details; we could use another specialist in your field to tide us through.  Were you briefed on the composition of our current amalgam when they signed you over to us?"

After taking the steps to remain inconspicuous to the first responders on the scene, Sandra tapped her earpiece. ++Reyes to Jackson++ she said, still unable to keep her voice from shaking. She wondered why.

++As I told Erin, the library was an ambush. I can fill you guys in. There's...++ Sandra's radio clicked off for a brief moment. ++Lauren is inside. They have her. Unconscious, but alive... I think.++

Eyeing the cage as the most notable thing to catch his eye when he stepped into the room James resisted making a comment about Progenitor facilities and instead raised a hand in brief greeting to the familiar shape of Alpha inside. Heading past the cage to hunt down the team's own doctor he found the cluster and settled himself by Vadim whilst Ai finished with Jackie's injuries, wincing at the sight of them.

"Fire and electricity. Nice of it to make sure it stuck to methods to burn us I guess."

Vadim turned and looked at Jackie's injuries and shook his head, "I'll take electricity any day...good to see you were able to finish it off."