When the bright lights flashed on very little in the room was left in shadow, the lights flooding every crevice so nothing stayed hidden in the dark. Light bounces off every shiny surface in the room, the tiles on the walls and floors, the instruments on the cutting table, petridishes and beakers. This was Ai's sanctum made of chrome, glass and rubber sheets where a corpse could reveal its past through the careful dissection of its organs, neurons, marrow and bones and perhaps foreshadow things to come.

The mortuary provided room for 10 corpses in cooled vac-chambers. Adjacent to the storage room was a dissection room with two cutting tables, instruments, forensics equipment and two cleaner drones. The hallway connected the mortuary to a operating room with two operating tables and an adjacent recovery room with four beds. It was designed for emergency procedures, sparse, sterile and sparkling white.
A sizable room was reserved for Alpha allowing the pale-skinned hairless humanoid room to move and practice. It spent much of its time watching a large tv screen with its beady little black eyes calmly observing a stream of colors and lights flickering in intermittent patterns. Twice a day Alpha expected a bucket of vanilla-flavored protein porridge. And finally a refrigurated storage room was located in the back of the facility.

Ai's personal office and fileroom was closest to the airlock door that separated the medical facility from the rest of the complex. In case of an emergency the whole facility could be quarantined and isolated from the rest of the 13th floor. Safety first.

Ai had rolled out the first corpse. Sally Fork, Ai read from the woman's file.

Affiliation NWO .. Service 7 years and 3 months .. Recruited from the LA police academy in 2009 .. Listed next of kin: father, mother, two sisters .. bullet in the shoulder in 2010 .. Leg fracture in 2011 .. psychological testing in 2012 after exposure to extra-terrestial entity .. released from temporary isolation after having been cleared by doctor Trent.. severe headaches for months after exposure to telepathic attack by unknown assailant in 2015 .. the family has been told she died in a fire and are expecting her corpse in two days ...

Sally's medical record revealed a colorful career and more than one brush with death prior to the one fatal blow.

The body on the table was barely recognizable. Sally had suffered third degree burns all over her body, having been caught in the fire that burned out the top floor of "Yanowich, Dreisel & Associates". A simple visual examination also revealed several slashing wounds across the chest, neck and wrists, deep cuts as if by a set of knives, four in a row every time.

Sally silently stared at Ai with hollow sockets.

She looked from the file to the cadaver. Well, she wasn't getting any deader.

 Ai pulled on quick gloves before beginning her examination with the slashes. While it was clear that Ms. Fork had been through the fire, Ai had her suspicions that these slashes were more likely the actual cause of death. Four lines, likely done by hands or claws, so far as she could gather. Still, she examined each wound, on the off chance of finding any sort of clue left behind by the attacker. She looked to the recording device and began speaking.

"First Autopsy, Sally Fork, the body is heavily charred and has multiple slashing wounds across the wrists, chest and neck, pattern is consistent with those displayed by clawed animals, or possibly finger-mounted blades. Initial suspicion is that the cuts to the neck may have severed the jugular, with Agent Fork bleeding out from her injuries prior to being caught in the fire. Going in for a second look to confirm, and check the cuts for possible evidence of wether they were caused by an organic creature or a weapon."

(Roll Medicine+Intelligence for confirming your findings so far)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:16, Fri 11 Mar 2016.

(20:32, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((2,10,4,3,8,2,10,8,10,5)).)

Skillfully moving through layers of skin and muscles Ai laid bare Sally's secrets.

The sliced arteries on Sally's throat, chest and wrists were clean, no ragged edges, nothing to indicate an organic origin. The pattern of the cuts suggested they were made with bladed claws, about 3 centimeters long, on each of the fingers.

Ai confirmed the burned skin was due to the fire that burned down the top three floors at first but there was something .. off. Ai plucked small sedimentary fragments from some of the wounds, pebbles, shards, 3 larger fragments of about half a fist's size embedded deeper in the charred skin. The tissue around the sedimentary fragments appeared deeply charred, almost turned to coal. Ai recognized the pattern from somewhere specific ..

Ai wandered through her mind palace, hundreds of medical pictures on burn wounds passed her by, one more gruesome than the other .. she remembers the smell of barbecued pig and jasmin flowers .. it is hot outside and there are a lot of big people .. most of them are nice to her, some try to ignore her but Ai's inquisitiveness knows no bounds .. a bald headed man is argueing with .. daddy .. ?

This isn't my memory .. I am Ai, she thought to herself. The vision started to slip away. The  .. was that the doctor .. he looks so young .. so happy .. Then the  baldheaded man throws the contents of the bottle in his hand on the barbecue and it explodes in his face.

Ai finds herself staring at the baldheaded man in the grass, his skin charred, coal fragments buried into his skin, like carbon pockmarks .. the skin around it ..

Ai snapped out of her fugue state. The sedimentary fragments had been burning hot when they'd embedded themselves into Sally's skin, she concluded. Heat and flame damage and molten shards of rock ..

.. How long had she been standing over the corpse, remembering the barbeque ..

Ai turned around to look at the clock and froze.
"Is everything alright, Ai?", mister Light asked, standing under the clock, stroking his chin, staring at her with his cold blue eyes.

She tensed, turning her head sharply towards Mr. Light. "Yes, I was just... examining. Ms. Fork had multiple cut wounds, but the arteries were severe cleanly, in an attack by organic creatures, like bears, the tears have ragged edges, this was done by a weapon, probably a finer-tipped blade. Also... the burns.. molten rock hit her during the fire, once the crew gets back, I can check to see if the samples match the materials of the building, otherwise, it could be another clue.." She stated softly.

 Her words were fairly concise, sticking entirely to the project at hand. After all, she couldn't have anyone thinking that she might be wasting funding or time. Still, it was troubling. If that wasn't her memory, whose was it, and why was she seeing it now?

She glanced to the clock, it was later than she expected. "Given the arteries, I believe Ms. Fork actually bled out prior to the fire from her injuries. I'm going to double check her deep muscle tissue for traces of lactic acid to see if she was engaged in a struggle before her death. It's very possible that whatever came for her got to her before she had much of a chance to react."

Light's eyes didn't reveal how long he'd been observing Ai, he simply nodded and leafed through Sally's records:"Excellent agent. Attractive woman too .. once".

Ai took samples of the deeper muscle tissue to determine the amount of lactic acid and determined Sally had seen her death coming and had struggled in vain. Adrenaline had flooded her system as the gravity of her situation became apparent.

From all the information she gathered she deduced Sally had probably been attacked by at least one assailant, but possibly two since the molten rock fragments appeared to have impacted from the right side whereas the blade attacks indicated a frontal attack.

"She was reprimanded last year. Supposedly she'd tried to seduce her supervisor and caused a scene when he rejected her. Shortly before her death suspisions were raised about her loyalty to the NWO".

Though she listened, her attention seemed focused on the work before her. Once she had looked over the details, she looked towards Light. "Do you believe that her loyalty was worthy of suspicion?" She asked.

"There was a struggle. Agent Fork was likely targetted by possibly assailants, one likely using blades attached to fingertips from the front, and the second using an incendiary method from the right prior to the fire." She concluded. "If she was disloyal, whoever attacked Gamma were not friends of hers."

"Move on to the next, Garry Bunsen, NWO agent". Mister Light helped Ai with switching Sally's corpse with that of Garry.

"As to your question. There are several possibilties to consider. Maybe what was reported is entirely correct. Maybe supervisor Stryker had good reason to reprimand her, maybe there was good reason to suspect her. Or maybe Sally was made to look suspicious. Or maybe it was simply a lover's spat and a measure of inappropriate abuse of authority".

He looked over Garry:"I can imagine this line of work being interesting. In my line of work I dissect information. There is something to be said for a more .. hands-on approach. Bit of a mess though .. ". He stepped aside as a cleaning drone swept up Sally's bodily fluids off the sterile ceramic floor.

"Not friends of Sally. That much is clear. So whether Sally was loyal to the Technocracy or not didn't matter to whomever killed her".

He leafed through Garry Bunsen's records:" .. Fell from 7th floor trying to escape the fire .. ". He glanced over the folder at Garry's cracked skull:" .. facefirst it appears .. ".

She couldn't help but glance towards Al through the window, then a quick glance towards Mister Light. She didn't really say anything to him, just listened. He was her superior, after all, she certainly didn't want to say anything that he could take as something wrong.

Agent Bunsen definitely looked like he had fell. She found herself leaning over him, looking for traces of anything else. Otherwise, it looked pretty cut and dry.

(15:07, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((3,8,4,4,9,3,7,2,3,3)).)

Al was sitting in front of his big screen television, his attention caught by rainbows and sparkle rain. He rocked back and forth. He glanced back at Ai when he felt her eyes on him and tilted his disproportionally small head sideways but as she continued her investigation of Garry Al's  attention was caught by flashes of blue on a background of crimson red.

Garry had some pretty obvious injuries. Skull fracture, broken nose, fractured right cheek bone, 4 broken ribs, dislocated right shoulder, broken upper arm, brain damage, cuts and bruises consistent with a fall from a height through a glass window. There were some bruises though that didn't quite match up. Damaged and broken blood vessels, most likely the result of a heavy blow to the skin. Not that strange perhaps were it not that the pattern was consistent with fists, but the force of impact more akin to a blow with a sledge hammer.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:25, Fri 18 Mar 2016.

She looked over the body and frowned before she pointed to the blood vessels.'These blood vessels match the pattern of being hit, probably by fists, but the strength that would required to make these marks so deep is stronger than a normal human. Possibly a reality deviant augmenting their physical capabilities. Given this, I'm not sure that he jumped, he may have been pushed." She pointed out rather calmly.

"Physical augmentations are not uncommon among reality deviants", mister Light nodded.
"Those windows were made of 5 mm impact resistant tempered glass. Takes quite a bit of strength to punch through it. So yea, I suspect he was pushed or punched through the window".
He looked over Garry's corpse:"If there is nothing else you can get off his corpse I suggest we move on to the next victim".

She nodded.They didn't have the luxury of free-time, and by now, the fact that they had established in general what sort of reality deviant they were likely dealing with, it was probably best to move on and find out details before they fled from the others."I can double-check him later, but for now, probably best to move on." She reasoned as she looked to the files and began pulling up the next bit of documentation.

"Derreck Banner. Cause of death probably a broken neck", mister Light read from the report after helping Ai get the next body on the table.
"He was going to move on to the Association in two weeks, a promotion in their circles. They had James to trade him for. You met James at the briefing, Syndicate enforcer. Of course things went a little different for Derreck. Apparently a man with a penchant for extreme violence.

Derreck had 3rd degree burns all over his body and his head was at a 90 degree angle relative to his body. Mister Light tilted his head slightly looking at him:"Well .. seems fairly straight forward given what we found out about Garry Bunsen".

Ai's research on Derreck Banner indicated not only a broken neck, but several broken ribs, a punctured lung and broken hand. Derreck had put up a good fight but in the end getting his neck broken did him in. Derreck's body showed signs of severe wounds in the past, all healed up nicely but leaving a network of scars across his chest and left shoulder.

In the end Derreck's body didn't reveal much more than what was apparent at first glance. Death by broken neck.

"Red Brown. The nightguard who was in the lobby. No burns since he was on the ground floor when he was killed. Interesting way of dying as well", mister Light commented as he helped move the next body to the dissection table. He pointed out two large holes in Red Brown's chest. "Maybe we should talk to mister Gunn about getting you an assistant in due time ..".

She tensed for a moment before she shook her head. "There's no need. I have an assistant available for when I need him." She explained. " Capable personnel are spread thin as it is, there's no reason to put in a request."

 She looked to the two holes in his chest, trying to see just how clean the holes were. "Bullet holes? Seems odd when every other cadaver was dealing with physically given wounds." She mused as she tried to get a closer look for any further insight.

(10:04, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((6,5,4,8,2,4,5,5,2,7)).)
This message was lightly edited by the player at 14:34, Thu 31 Mar 2016.

The two holes were cauterized, there was little blood was present and there was no excess exit damage, as if something had burned clean through. The distance between the two holes was about 4-5 cm. Apparent cause of death was a punctured lung. While the wound had been cauterized almost instantly the lung had collapsed and Red had simply choked to death because one lung had not been sufficient to sustain his corpulent form's need for oxygen. Ai found out Red would likely have died a few yeas from now due to lungcancer sustained through a long addiction to tobacco. Additional damage had been done to several arteries in the path of whatever had burned a hole through the man's body.

 She looked over the wounds for a few moments, thinking over the possibilities. "These wounds are cauterized, whatever hit him was burning. I'd say it was a bullet, but they don't hit that hot and burn like this. If I had to guess, maybe some kind of incendiary rounds, but likely done by a reality deviant, likely not the same one that slashed Agent Fork."

Light looked over the body and offered:" .. maybe a laser?".

There's a bit of hesitation as Ai looks to the body. A laser would be possible of course, but such a thing was a bit beyond the scope of the more primal reality deviants. She looked towards Light for a moment, her gaze steady as she spoke low. "Are you suggesting that whatever killed agent Red was in possession of Enlightened Science?"

"We can't rule out possibilities. While on the outside our organisation may appear as a monolith there are occasional conflicts between various factions and conventions. There are traitors and defecters. Then there are the Sons of Ether who have a fondness of lasers and deathrays. There are alien creatures who occasionally invade earth despite our best efforts. There are a few other lesser known factions that use some form of enlightened science" Light replied.
"I'm suggesting we keep an open mind and let the evidence guide our conclusions"<Blue>, he gestured at the holes:" .. I would expect a larger exit wound if it was a bullet".

Ai hesitated, if only because she didn't want to openly be seen agreeing with Light about the possibility of traitors, especially given that Agent Fork had been under suspicion. While one of the more scientifically inclined reality deviants was a clear possibility, she wasn't sure how much faith she had in the theory. The wounds on the other agents so far examined suggested a more primal, brutish force, not the sort of fighters one would expect to have access to lasers.

 "It is certainly looking like that is likely. In that case, should we move on to the next?" She asked." We can send the measurements of the holes to Agent Arc, being a tech specialist, perhaps he has more insight as to where such a laser may have originated." She stated.

Of course, just below the surface, she still seemed a bit troubled. That memory was troubling her. It had to have been triggered from somewhere, someone, but who? Light? She tensed slightly. It wasn't as though she could ask him directly. She knew her father had worked with other agents, he had to at some point, but she had never really tried to look into the matter. After all, if anyone saw her even trying to look at such things, it would raise too many questions. Looking into a traitor's history would be a very disloyal thing to do, after all. Still, she felt a lingering sense of curiosity.

"Herman Short", Light named the next subject:"One of the unenlightened guards protecting the 6th and 7th floor. The obvious cause of death is fire though we also noticed what appeared to be .. bitemarks". He pointed out what appeared like bitemarks on the neck, clammed over where approximately the left major neck artery was located. It wasn't a clean bite, but savage, shredded open skin, ripped arterial walls. The fire damage would make it hard to identify what had caused the wound but perhaps not impossible.

Light watched Ai get to work on Herman Short.
"Tell me Ai, how much do you remember from before they came for doctor Fujiwara .. before the Union rescued you?".

Herman Short. Ai looked over the body, an initial guess suspecting that whatever had killed the guard may have been similar to what had clawed Agent Fork. She leaned close, trying her best to inspect the wounds.

09:45, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 6 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6.  Int+Med.

 She blinked, looking towards Light. Why was he asking her that? "I.. I was five when it happened." She said softly."I can only recall bits and pieces. Why do you ask? Doctor Fujiwara was decommissioned, I.. I don't think it is likely that he has anything to do with the Gamma Incident." Ai added before she looked to Light. She hesitated before she spoke," or were you asking for some other reason? I admit, I'm not very familiar with Doctor Fujiwara's work prior to his decommissioning."

"Lets call it professional curiosity ..", Light replied, then followed up with:"Can't know too much about the people you trust with your life and the fate of the world".

Herman Short's bite wound, if inflicted by natural weaponry and the wound suggested this was likely the case, might contain traces of saliva. Herman had suffered severe bloodloss.

The wounds inflicted on the former Vigil team began to suggest a varied group of individuals with different methods of dispatching their opponents.

"I wasn't suggesting Fujiwara has anything to do with our current subject matter", he gestured at the corpse on the table:"Let's get through this. Continue".

Alpha felt Ai's apprehension and looked away from his tv screen, tilting its head to watch the two from his glass cage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Sun 24 Apr 2016.

She nodded, grabbing hold of a cotton swab before she leaned in close to the wound, dabbing it for possible saliva evidence. "This looks like it's a natural bite, if whatever attacked him was organic, there may be traces here. I can examine it after we finish witht he cadavers. " She explained, not sure how familiar Light was with forensic work.

Feeling Al's uncertainty in the back of her mind was enough to get her a bit nervous as well, she wasn't sure why, but she felt there was something to this. "I think that's the most we'll get out of Mr. Short."

"Did you know him? Doctor Fujiwara, I mean? It just seems curios that you'd ask now. I would think if you had any concerns about my connection in regards to my job, you would have asked at the briefing." She reasoned softly.

"The focus of the briefing was to get the team familiar with the crisis and into the field", Light replied flatly. He pointed out a second bitemark on the right arm and after Ai swabbed that one as well he helped her switch one corpse for another.

"Felice Clark, communications expert. Obvious injuries sustained by fire".

He observed Ai as she laid to bear Felice's post mortem secrets.

" .. I've met him yea .. ". He observed her reaction.

16:37, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 1 success using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((1,5,1,6,2,2,2,9,4,9)). Dang 1s

 She looked over the corpse carefully, looking for anything suggesting something beyond just burns.

 As he mentioned her creator, she glanced towards him for a moment before her gaze returned to the cadaver. "Oh? I don't remember much of him." She admitted.

"He was a brilliant scientist. Very driven. Some of the techniques still used today in your convention's cloning techniques were developed by him. It was a loss for science when he had to be .. removed from his position", Light replied.

Ai had trouble finding anything suggesting a different cause of death than third degree burns and smoke inhalation, which of course kills most people dead but it was a bit .. disappointing compared to the other subjects.

"You don't remember me, do you?".

Alpha stood up in his glass cage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:30, Thu 28 Apr 2016.

Not finding anything else of note, Ai frowned slightly. It was probably nothing that could be helped, and truthfully, she was quickly finding herself far more interested in Mr. Light's words. She had never been told much about the work of the man who had created her, and Union re-programming efforts had likely forced her to block large portions of what she had known at the time, it had seemed like a large portion of those whose care she had been placed in had feared such knowledge may trigger some unforeseen side effect or mental programming. Of course, in doing so, it was clear Ai lacked a strong sense of background or identity, not an uncommon trait among clones created in enlightened facilities. Perhaps that was why, as Light spoke, Ai seemed to hang on his every word, using all of her mental prowess to try and focus on both tasks.

 She looked to Light, those eyes of a confused young teen staring at him, momentarily a deer trapped in the headlights of an unexpected question and situation."I... I don't." She said softly."I'm sorry. I don't remember much before the White Room." She admitted."I don't even remember much of that day, either. All the faces are blurs. I used to think it was because they were worried, they thought I'd do something bad if I remembered. I wouldn't have, but people get worried when they're afraid."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:34, Thu 28 Apr 2016.

Light nodded and smiled apologetically:"I'm afraid my bout of nostalgia is keeping you from focusing on your tasks. We have one last body to investigate. We can talk about Kenji Fujiwara later".

Light assisted Ai in switching the bodies. The last corpse was of Ai's predecessor, doctor Cally Trent. Cause of death probably fire. "I've received a request from your convention to extract the heart and a small bit of scar tissue on the back of the neck to be sent to a laboratory in San Francisco. I'm assuming it is biotech. I wouldn't mind if you tried to find out what they are exactly before we send them on to the laboratory .. ".

Alpha sensed Ai's restlessness and confusion and remained somewhat restless.

She blinked, seeming a bit confused."You mean Ryuunosuke?"

Still, she looked to the final cadaver, leaning in close to examine the body to confirm cause of death before she began her work with the requested samples/organs, examining each as she tried to carefully discern what exactly they were.

09:52, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6.  Med+Int.

"I knew him as Kenji, but yea Ryuunosuke", Light nodded. He pointed Ai to the corpse on the table.

The doctor had numerous small pieces of metal embedded in the chest. A dozen or so pieces had pierced the lungs, filling them with blood and choking the doctor to death in the process well before she had suffered 3rd degree burns. Her lungs had stopped working before she could have choked from smoke inhalation.

Ai carefully removed the requested samples.The heart had been bioengineered and replaced the original heart. It was designed for increased activity, linked to the concious brain to allow increased physical and emotional stress. It was well crafted but unfortunately several metal shards had shredded arteries. With some work it would be able to repair the heart.

The scar tissue turned out to hide a small mass connected to the central nervous system by way of the spine. Most interesting was its ability to store information as enzyme sequences. It would be difficult to decode the sequences to reveal the information it had recorded.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:59, Wed 11 May 2016.

She set the heart aside. "Bioengineered for increased activity to handle higher stress, not too unusual." She reasoned.

 The mass however, that was more interesting. She hesitated for a few moments with it. "This mass stores information as enzymes sequences. I can extract the enzymes and decode it, but it will take time."

"Get started on it", Light nodded while clearly listening to his ear piece simultaneously.
"I'm needed in Ops", he exited with a measure of haste.
Alpha continued looking at Ai before going back to watching colors and patterns on his big screen tv.

There are two parts to this.
First you need to successfully extract the enzyme information. You can use a Life 1 effect for this. After you have the information you can send the growth to the Progenitor laboratory that requested it returned. If you want to do it in such a way that the Progenitors don't notice you "downloaded" the enzyme coding you need to roll an Int + Medicine, difficulty 6, or use a Life 2 effect to wipe any trace of tampering.

Secondly you need to decode the information. for this usually Enigmas is used I think but you might be able to find other ways in cooperation with your other .. with the surviving team members.

Thirdly, if you want you can roll for Intelligence + Science if you want to reverse engineer the technology so you can possibly replicate it, but for that you need the growth, an unknown number of successes and you have a limited amount of time before it needs to be send away.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:22, Tue 17 May 2016.

Ai nodded and quickly got to work, doing her best to work quickly.

<Orange> Given that it is a Life 1 effect, does it require only a single success? if so, can it be assumed that because Ai's arete is one level higher than the required level that it automatically succeeds?

For the other rolls:
20:21, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 8 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((8,3,7,7,2,7,10,10,8,9)). Int+med - Totally didn't tamper with this...


20:21, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 1 success using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((3,3,10,2,5,1,1,10,2,6)).Int+Science - Let's adapt this to good use.. attempt 1<?orange>

(Yes, no real need for a roll i guess)

(nice rolls. No one's likely going to notice. I was going to roll a contested roll once the Progenitors had the Apparati back to ee if they detected your attempt to hide your tampering but yea you're clear)

(This is an extended roll so you can continue trying to gather successes. Each sucess is an hour's work).

Ai quickly understood after two hours trying to reverse engineer the biomass that the biomass stored information from the recipient's visual and auditory channels. In short it recorded everything the recipient heard and saw.

Fascinating. As Ai continued to work, she seemed almost tireless, focusing entirely upon this odd augmentation, doing her best to determine how best to use it herself.

20:53, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 2 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6.  Int+Sci, ext Roll 2.

20:54, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 1 success using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((7,3,1,2,10,7,6,1,4,1)). roll 3

20:55, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 2 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((7,4,1,2,8,10,3,4,8,1)).Roll 4


20:55, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((6,1,9,8,9,4,3,4,2,2)). Roll 5


20:56, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((9,7,4,3,3,3,6,1,2,10)). Roll 6


20:57, Today: Ai Fujiwara rolled 1 success using 10d10 with the World of Darkness 3rd ed system with a target of 6 ((1,4,9,1,5,6,7,6,5,1)).

It was an exceptional piece of wetware, immaculate in its capabilities. Ai understood the device to have similarities to work done by Leonard Adleman. She was familiar with the basics of biological computing, even though it was not her speciality. The existence of biocomputing had been slowly revealed to the masses in the past decade and would in a decade or so likely find widespread use among the sleeper populace. But this was something more complex than what was known publically. It had increased storage capacity, able to store up to 12 weeks of visual information and capable of translating nerve impulses from the eye into digital imagery through a non-invasive spinal nerve tap. If it had survived undamaged it could reveal what the doctor had seen weeks up to the event that ended her life.

Ai began to be pretty sure she could mimick the device.

(you have enough successes to understand the device. You can currently create one that works for one week, then withers once the memory is emptied, a one-time apparatus which otherwise works exactly as the Device. To actually create it you need Life 2/Forces 2 (which basically transforms specific electric nerve pulses into enzyme sequences that are stored into the apparatus). For the actual Device you'll need a higher Prime sphere rating to make it a permanent Device but you understand the technology well enough to create one once you have the appropriate level)
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:51, Fri 27 May 2016.

Fascinating. Ai scribbled her findings into her notebook, hesitating as she looked tot he sample she had found. It would need to be analyzed, then decoded. She supposed it would be best to bring that up tot he others once they returned. Decoding wasn't her forte.

 With that finished, she looked back to the morgue, looking to check if there were any other cadavers she needed to examine.

Ai had processed all the former team members' corpses. The cleaning drones were clearing the floors of tissue and blood and continued sterilizing procedures until everything was shiney and new again.

"Ai, get ready. We have possible wounded in the field. I'm patching you through ", Light's voice sounded over the intercom.

(you can use the other thread to communicate with the rest of the team but obviously you're not physically present at the moment. I know the timing between the two scenes doesn't quite synch but pff :p, better than fiddling your thumbs until they do)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:26, Wed 01 June 2016.

Wounded? During looking through a building?Ai seemed a bit skeptical, but nodded to really no one."Understood, on standby."

Mister Light returned to Ai's laboratory. He took a look at Alpha briefly then walked on to talk with Ai:"How fast can you have alpha ready for transport and get together your field kit?".

Having been listening in, Ai was already prepping her field kit.It sounded like things had gone a lot worse than expected, and the creature that had burned some of the previous team had made a comeback.

 She looked to Light. "I can be ready and have Al good to go in three." She assured him as she closed her kit and looked towards her companion. "Which vehicle should we head for?"

"The van will be out front in 10 minutes or so", Mister Light answered. "It has a reinforced cage in the back for Alpha. Given our current situation the driver will be asigned to your team as extra backup".

There was something about running an illicit enterprise to collect Primal Currency but Vadim always seemed to come back to wanting to get his own hands...he wouldn't say dirty as he was a far cry from his meager beginnings..and instead decide to think of it as limber.  Fail to use skills learned leads to rusty skills that get you dead.  That left him re-assigned to handle being the transporter for an existing team which was easy enough.  Pulling the van up he left it idling as he pulled out his great-grandfathers pocket-watch and he checked the time and verify his coordinates.

Mister Light joined Ai in her lab as she prepared Alpha.
"The van has arrived downstairs. Now, are we clear on protocols regarding subject Alpha?".

With her kit ready and Alpha prepared, Ai looked to Mr. Light. "I'm not going to be bringing him out of the van unless absolutely necessary. Given what the team has described, some of the deviants that attacked them, and possibly the previous team, are still at-large. I.. I understand, he's a last resort."She assured him.

"Good", Light replied curtly. He walked her and Alpha down to the garage downstairs. Alpha was a little tense, sensing Ai's apprehension but happy to be out of the glass cage for a while, unaware he was only exchanging one cage for another.

The van was parked with its rear against a cargo entrance so Alpha could climb in the back without being seen by anyone outside. Ai and mister Light walked outside.
"Hello Vadim, thanks for the speedy arrival. We'll have to talk more after this affair. Ai can explain what is going on as you head out to meet the others".
He opened the door for Ai to get in:"safe travels".

He headed back in.

Closing his pocket-watch Vadim subconsciously tightened his tie.  Looking up in the mirror he noted his short brown hair was slightly tousled.  His light blue eyes were covered by a pair of contacts if someone looked close enough and his face bore the appearance of a very slight stubble.  That said it seemed that it was all part of his proper appearance and when one was fortunate enough to consult Tanaka, Florian and Chen no matter what it might be it looked fantastic.  As Light and Ai approached he coughed a few times and removed a handkerchief to put to his mouth.  After a few moments he wiped his mouth and put the handkerchief away.

He turned when Light addressed him and he nodded, "It's one of my specialties and that's why I'm here." looking over to Ai for a moment before looking to Light he added, "I'm looking forward to it."  As Light walked away he held out a hand for Ai to take and help her into the van so she could get situated and he could start driving to where their destination would be.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Wed 08 June 2016.

The van shifted as Alpha stepped in, the six foot creature bending to fully step inside. Once the back was closed, Ai headed towards the front, quiet as Mr. Light spoke to the transporter. The young teen gave a nod, accepting Vadim's hand as she got inside, taking her seat. "I'm Ai, I guess you could say I'm the medic. In the back is Al, my, um.. brother." She reasoned.

"the team was looking into the massacre of the previous team, looking into the office they used as headquarters." She explained as she pulled up the address for him on her tablet.

 "So, um.. your name is.. Vadim, yeah?"

Vadim looked to be in his mid-twenties give or take now that she was closer to him but still looked like he'd had it rough on his body at some point in time in his past, "It is." He put the van into gear and after looking at the address he started to head off to where she needed him to take her and then further remarked, "Massacred huh?  At their headquarters or elsewhere?"

As the vehicle smoothly transitioned lanes he added, "Do you prefer English or Japanese Ai?"

 Though she glanced over Vadim quickly as the van started to move, Ai tried her best not to stare. Her hands pressed firmly against her lap, she looked a little tense. As he asked, she turned her head to him, a bit surprised. "E-either is fine. My fa-" She stopped herself, hesitating for a moment. "My creator spoke a lot of Japanese to me when I was little, but everyone at Control speaks English." She admitted before her gaze moved back to her hands.

"So, you speak both, I'm guessing?"

He listened to her response and grinned when she stared a bit, "It is the States so it makes sense that Central would speak English after all..."

The more he spoke the more she could detect a slight accent in his speech, subtle but there as if his name didn't give a hint, but it was his roguish appearance that also stuck out.  For a  transportation specialist his was remarkably good looking, "Both and more but I was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  If you ever have the desire I know how it feels good to speak the mother tongue."

He spun the wheel casually and the van continued on it's way after another turn effortlessly, "First time out?  Or first time out with big brother back there?"

"Both,in a way."She admitted. "Ever since we were brought in, Control thought it best to keep him contained, since he's..one of them,a deviant." She reasoned softly. " Even though he was made by a Genegineer."

 Ai hesitated a bit once more."I've.. heard some say the same thing about me too."

 "Even so, given what the team has gone through, and the fact that the deviant they're dealing with is possibly still about, having back-up is ideal."

That made Vadim quirk an eyebrow, "Well you're okay in my book if you can patch me up when I nee..." his sentence cut short by a series of coughs that made him bring out the handkerchief again to put to his lips.

Patting his lips when the coughing subsided he licked them to re-wet them and put away the handkerchief in his inner pocket. "Pardon that.  Had something when I was younger on the streets that never quite went away.  Won't affect my work here though..." and he waved his hand at the obvious question, "...and no there is nothing you can do.  Part of my base pairs worn down by that incident that'll take a lot of invasive procedures and recuperation time or a long slow process that I've been doing...or so my docs have told me."

As he coughed, she tensed, about to suggest help with it before he cut her off. Her gaze moved back to her hands. "Oh..I..sorry. I.. wish I could help." She said softly.

"Don't worry, I intend to be available to patch you or anyone else up. I know I'm probably a bit, erm.. shorter than you'd expect for a field technician, but I won't fail you." She said, though her eyes never quite moved from her hands. The way she sat, head somewhat bowed as her eyes remained downward seemed almost fearful, and yet aside from slight nervousness, Ai didn't look scared. It was almost as if this were the default sitting position she was used to.

Vadim's eyebrows scrunched down for a moment as he looked over to her with an amused smile, "How tall you are has nothing to do with how able you are in the field and in some ways it will make you superior to other more standard height agents.  You can go into areas to help that others would have to use complex Data coding to get to...all cause they are my height instead of yours..."

He nodded his head, "Perhaps you can help in the long run by looking at some of the damage and suggesting additional therapy routines, but we can always touch on that later."


---
OOC: We can get there as fast or slow as you like Storyteller, I'm just taking the time to meet Ai :)

In the back Alpha stirred. Having no tv to watch and no windows to look out of Ai felt a mix of anticipation and boredom from the creature that was bonded to her.

(i'll let you know when you're there, i want to give the others a chance to act in the aftermath of the explosion and this is a nice way to introduce your character :))
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:57, Fri 10 June 2016.

 As Vadim spoke about her height having nothing to do with her ability, she smiled softly. Ai figured he didn't quite get what she had meant when she had said that, but his kindness was appreciated all the same. Growing up among other clones among the Progenitors, she had learned how certain words were used in exchange for others in order to avoid "complications." Such as when one of her superiors had told her that she couldn't access certain parts of the lab, orwork on certain projects because she was "too short," instead of what he actually meant to say was "too young." Of course, that really wasn't entirely accurate either. There were clones technically only a few years old or even a few months old that appearance-wise looked far older than herself, and they were allowed to access such things. Her superiors only used it as a reason because none of them really wanted to say "having a child working in a lab alongside young and middle-aged adults is an insult to the others, since none of them consider themselves babysitters."

 She gave a nod, already thinking of possibilities. "One of the cadavers that I examined had an implant that gathered information. Maybe I could alter it and we could.. use it to better monitor your problem, so we can plan a faster treatment method." She offered.

 owever, just as she spoke, she tensed, fingers tapping slightly, as if suddenly she were anxious. "He's.. getting anxious. My superiors have demanded he be kept.. well, they call it pacified. It mostly is just to keep him distracted,trance-like. I..I don't really like it, makes me worried that when he's out like this, the lack of mental stimulation will be stressful." She explained. "They do it because they're afraid,I think. When the agents found us,I remember I was scared,I didn't know at the time who they were. I hid by Al's room, the glass one, and when one of the men came in, wearing a full suit and grabbed me, and... Al broke the glass, and the glass.. flew at him. Al struggled the whole time, he didn't understand, neither of us did. The agents were afraid of him. Then they brought us in, and the lab techs tried to.. Al knew what they were doing, and he made them stop. He's been pacified ever since.I think the only reason they let me take care of him is because they want to pretend he doesn't exist..like they do to me too sometimes."

She then looked up and smiled softly. "It's ok though. I'll.. I'll tell him we'll be there soon. I'm.. I'm sure he's just really excited. We're both real agents now, it's..it's scary, but exciting." She reasonedas she tried to remain calm,and relaxed, trying her best to soothe the creature's worries.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Fri 10 June 2016.

Vadim nodded his head in regards to the implant, "If I'm going to be assigned more permanently to this unit, certainly.  If everyone is going to be in the field regularly in some fashion having something like that in everyone would be advantageous not only for health reasons but also on an operational level to remotely track them should extractions or reinforcements are needed on a moments notice without breaking potential cover."

Glancing at her pad he then listened to some of the background not only on the passenger in the back, Alpha, but also her own.  So she was created by a talented scientist, a genengineer, but who they were affiliated with was now the question and how far on the edge they were.  If Control had determined that even as a deviant that Alpha could be kept he wasn't that far off the baseline and that made him wonder even further.  Regardless he added, "Perhaps some VR implants should be requisitioned.  If they want him...pacified...why not give him a means to stay stimulated in a completely controlled environment?  The world may be faux but even if he knows that it's all in his head he can be kept in top mental condition in there while physically his body can be kept in top condition out here for needs like this."

 She nodded. "I'll get to work on it after this. Even if you don't end up with this amalgam, it could be a very useful augmentation for anyone in the field."

 The talk of pacifying seemed to cause Ai to shrug. She clearly didn't like the notion of it in any capacity.

 "While great in theory, the problem is that on the field, he needs to be focused. Remote pacifying would be more risky, and I honestly don't think he needs to be pacified at all. Control only requires it because Alpha is considered a "dangerous deviant with unknown potential created by a questionable scientist," and because no one can communicate with him like I can." She explained before she hesitated, giving a shrug. "I.. I think it it's because we were made the same, at the same time."

Vadim shrugged his shoulders, "All I was suggesting was a way to pacify Control because they aren't in the field.  They have the best interests of everyone in mind but tend to frame things like Scotty used to on the old Star Trek show that was on in the 60's.  He knew  exactly how long or hard it was going to be to do or fix something and then tripled it.  So Control knows the acceptable risk and lowers the bar 66% so that when agents inevitably go over the line it's still within acceptable parameters to those with more accurate data.  Can't tell you how many times my Syndicate superiors have done that when it comes to Currency."

He brought his hand to his lips again and coughed into it as if second guessing Control had caused whatever was wrong with him to flare up again.  Swallowing a few times he shook his head, "Family...is important."

 Though she listened, Ai gave a weak nod. "I know why Control made the choice. It is for the safety of others. It's just.. difficult." She admitted.

 "Do you have a family?" She asked.

"I...did.  A long time ago." he looked over at Ai to get a rough gauge at how old she appeared to be before coming to a conclusion.

"I must have been about six or seven when...well when I no longer had them influencing me and I was on my own."

 Ai was certainly young, clearly not a very old teen, probably somewhere in the 13-15 age range. She listened to him speak, and he noticed her lips tighten slightly before she gave a nod. "I was five when the agents came." She explained. "They never quite told me what happened, to my.. father. I never saw him again. I.. I imagine he got sent in for re-evaluation, but... I don't know if he was transferred elsewhere, or.. something else."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:27, Sun 12 June 2016.

"You still have your brother though, even if Control has decided he needs to be diminished to stay alive and with you." remarked Vadim though his tone spoke of a strange aspect of hope for Ai rather than bitterness over not having one of his own.

He bridged away from family though and back to Ai as he continues, "So you've always, more or less, been under Control's purview and haven't been to the outside world much?"

 She gave a light nod at his assessment. "Yep. I.. I really want to keep it that way."

 As he moved on from the subject of families, she didn't seem particularly bothered, it seemed a bit of a sore subject for them both. "Well, before then, I mostly remember being at home. I mean, I have an apartment now, Control provides it. I haven't really had much of a need to go anywhere else, so I really haven't."

"Control provides." intoned Vadim with a little bit of an upturn of the corner of his lips in amusement.

"Though as much as I appreciate their attention to our needs once I've spent enough time here in LA I will need to acquire remote housing so that I can tend to wants as well as grow the local Currency and advance the Value."

Traffic was getting jammed as the van neared the disaster site, being rerouted away or simply getting jammed by traffic lights failing. It was starting to get difficult finding a way around.

"It's time for Control to provide..." remarked Vadim with a small chuckle.  Bringing one hand off the wheel he tapped his temple twice and narrowed his eyes to attenuate the sensors in his contacts and activate it's remote connection to the Eye in the Sky.  There may be re-routes and power fluctuations but they would feed that data to him to give him a slightly better route for them to slip on past the traffic jam and use the pathways available to themselves.

Vadim ignored the traffic lights, drove past a traffic controller who tried to wave him back and drove the leftlane, swerving to avoid oncoming cars, at one time driving over the pavement for a bit, past an ambulance that made use of the path Vadim provided to follow. traffic thinned out and fewwer people were met on the pavement. Without incident the van came upon the urban battlezone. Rubble and dust, smoke and fire. The remains of a concrete tower lay scattered across the street and a haze of dust and smoke covered the scene. The ambulance came to a halt behind the van.

Ai recognized Richard speaking with some bystanders on the edge of the disaster zone.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:23, Mon 13 June 2016.

(You may now move to the other thread as you join up with the others)