"Fuck if I know," Liam replied. "She's a witch. She could be doing anything."

"Just be thankful she's on our side and easily appeased by poutine and netflix."

"Kids today don't want much," Hasan said with a chuckle. "Just, uh, keep an eye on what she's up to, yeah? We've got the same goals for the near future, but I'm not sure she's taking our long-term health into consideration. And I don't know much about her shopping list, but whatever she's planning is... Big.

"I can do that," Liam replied.

"Last thing before I let you go. How are you doing for blood? I don't know about you but I plan on going in full to the gills tomorrow, just in case. I think I heard someone here say something about a fully stocked infirmary," he said, looking at Cal.

"Uh, yeah, we're gonna bring some along," Cal said. "Not a problem."

"I try and stay topped up at all times these days," Hasan said. "Just in case I need to fight for my life. But if I'm obfuscating a group, I not gonna say no if they wanna chip in for gas. Take care, I'll see you later."

"See you later," Liam said. He popped out the stone. "Alright then. We've got the whole team."

"Can the two of you make it into the Iron Graveyard on your own tomorrow?"

"Won't be an issue," Mickey said. "As long as we don't linger. I can't imagine Corr's men are going to be too happy to see me."

Cal wrinkled his brow, making a mental note to quiz Mickey later. But he had more pressing questions, and turned his attention to Liam.

"So your witch friend... Robyn, is it? Any idea what she wants with all the stuff she asked for? There's some pretty weird items on that list."

"If I have to rhetorically dance around a hidden persona for the next few weeks or months without referring to something I'm going to have an aneurysm. So yes, we'll call her Robyn. No, I can't give you more than that without her permission. And no, I haven't a clue. I don't do magic."

"Funny you should ask though," Liam added, stopping for a puff on his cigarette. "Hasan - the chap I was just talking to - asked me the same question."

"Can't say I blame him," Cal said. "Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't asked the same thing. Before I procure something strange and exotic for someone I barely know, I like to know that they're not gonna turn around and use that thing to kill me. What scares me more is that Mickey there don't have a fucking clue either."

"I know gemstones can focus and channel magical power, so my guess is she's trying to amplify a spell, or tap a tremendous amount of power from some kind of source," Mickey said, scratching his chin. "But ritual magic was never my strong suit."

"We don't like surprises," Cal explained. "If she's planning something big, we wanna know."

"I'll inquire," Liam replied. "If all goes to plan tomorrow I'll head back to camp after, and between the base and the sewers I should have bought myself a couple of nights reprieve. I can talk to her then."

"Hey, that's all I ask," Cal said. He glanced at his watch. "Our boys should be arriving at the rendezvous with the payment. Them supplies you asked for - how many people're you feeding, exactly?"

[Lore check: My current headcount sits at 20 if you count the Gordons and Robyn.]

"About twenty," Liam answered honestly. "Mix of ages. We have a few kids in the camp. We just grabbed everyone we could find when we hit Teasdale Hall. Mickey can fill you in on that. Some people were too far gone and didn't make it. Others chose to leave the city altogether. We helped them get away. A few decided to stay. Some had families, so we freed them too. Others we picked up by accident."

"After that first night we kept it small because we couldn't afford getting noticed."

"Kids?" Cal exclaimed. He let out a long breath. "Look, I can respect wanting to stay and defend your home, but if they want a safer place to move their families, we can provide that. We've got a hotel already set up to receive them well outside the perimeter. Won't be fancy digs, but they're safe digs, dig?"

"Now that the military's involved, the value of their overall contribution to the resistance effort has depreciated somewhat," Mickey added. "Some may be reevaluating their choice to stay."

"I trust you to extend the invitation," Cal said. "Those that wanna stay, that's their business."

"I will," Liam assured. "I promise. To be honest I'd be just as happy. Its not easy living."

"We'll hang around the area and prepare for an exfil," Cal noted, mostly to himself. "How 'bout you? You've had quite a night; is there anything you need?"

Liam rubbed his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was exhausted. Dead to the core, and quite literally one step closer to the grave. "The drink has been nice," he said, managing a weary smile. "I'll take another pack of smokes if you've got them. I promised to quit these things but somehow I seem to just be going through more and I can't exactly stop in at the corner store any longer."

"I should also see Jacob before I go."

"I don't smoke," Cal said. "But tell the guards at the gate that Cal said to give you theirs. They shouldn't be smoking so much on duty anyway. Your boy's going to be at the handoff over at the old bunker." Liam knew the spot intimately. "If you leave promptly you should be able to fly there before they all go home."

"Thanks."

Liam set his glass down and stood up. "I'll see you gentlemen tomorrow."

"Congratulations on taking back the base."

Opting for the most direct route he made his way to the window and took off.

It was a short flight from the airbase to the bunker. There was quite a crowd collected outside. Jin's agents were busy securing the barrel to the back of a quad bike. The Gangrel were busy loading crates into Robyn's pickup truck. Robyn had taken the precaution of removing her plates.

Jin, Hasan and Jacob were huddled together, watching something on a cell phone.

Ever alert, the Gangrel had eyes on Liam long before he touched down. They made no aggressive actions, but were on their guard until Liam revealed himself.

Liam touched down and regained his usual guise at once making his way towards the small huddle.

"Glad to have you back again," he said to Jacob. "Sorry for the delay. Its been a hell of a night."

"So I've heard," Jacob said, patting him on the shoulder. "But you're still here and your charge is uninjured. These days, that in itself is worth celebrating. It could have been much worse."

Liam accepted the familiar pat and pulled Jacob into a hug briefly. "What are we looking at?" he said, stepped back after a moment to peer at the cellphone.

"Here, I'll start it over," Jin said. "This happened this morning on the docks. There's no truck traffic into the city so we were dropping off crates of provisions for the town, as we'd arranged with the Camarilla envoy."

The video appeared to be body camera footage. The fisheye lens took a moment to get used to, but Liam was able to make out the sleeves of a uniform in the periphery. A marine, most likely. He was moving between two tall shipping crates, when suddenly a half-dozen people appeared, blocking his path. The man startled visibly, and held his ground. The camera swiveled around behind him briefly, revealing another half-dozen mooks blocking him in from the rear.

As they shuffled slowly towards him, he drew a pistol, but kept it lowered. "Don't come any closer!" he shouted. The mooks did not heed his words. A man in a Redwatch coat stepped into view behind them. His armband designated him a ghoul.

"The lords and masters of this city thank you for this tribute," the ghoul grandly proclaimed. "And as your keepers are no doubt planning how to take it from them, they have arranged this demonstration."

"Demonstration," the marine replied. "Look, we've delivered everyth-"

"Jericho," the ghoul said.

In an instant, the mooks all pulled small revolvers from their pockets, levelled them at the marine, and pulled the triggers. A chorus of dry clicks followed. The marine cried out in shock. His weapon whirled around, and he managed to sputter out a futile demand for them to drop their weapons, but it was scarcely heard over the increasingly discordant series of dry clicks.

Every mook fired on five empty chambers, and then raised the gun up to their own temples.

"N-no, don't-" the marine began, but the rest of his plea was drowned out by the reports of multiple gunshots. The sixth and final chamber - the one they saved for themselves - had been loaded. The mooks all crumpled in a pile around the soldier, with the plumes of their gunshot wounds hanging in the air like a cloud.

"Go report this to your superiors that interference will be met with larger reprisals," the ghoul said. The marine, his hand shaking, levelled his pistol at the ghoul. The ghoul scoffed, and turned his back, walking away with a complete lack of urgency. The marine shot him twice in the back of the head, and the video cut out shortly after.

Liam knew what was going to happen as the barrels revolved after the second click and turned away until the full rapport of the loaded chambers fell silent. There was no amount of pain he could ever hope to inflict on Noonian or his subordinates that would ever come close to paying for his crimes.

"They're not bluffing,"he said at last. "Not that we ever thought that they were."

"They'll stack up bodies like poker chips until we blink or they go bust. Its the only leverage they have."

"First thing they did was move most of the townsfolk into the Alhambra," Jin said. "I guess they figured we'd try to blow up the building. They figured right. But as it stands they've got a city full of human shields ready to kill and die for them."

"They're looking for a way out," Hasan said. "And call me cynical but I don't think they're above sacrificing them to do it."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:59, Thu 18 Nov 2021.

"You know, we wouldn't even have to hit the waterworks," Liam mused. "We'd just have to get this stuff into the mainline to the Alhambra and activate the fire sprinklers. They'd lose control of the whole damn building in moments."