"Malory sent us."  Snow feels the need to speak up.  and he hold up his card, "Gave us these cards and said you would show us the way.  So now if you don't mind..."

"COPPER? You're buying copper? Well I don't think we have any, but I can ask. Come along, both of you."

Old man Jiang walks along the wall until he comes to the door. He pulls out a ring of keys and fits them in, one after another.

One after another.

Same one again. Still doesn't work.

Another one, it fits in.

Oh! The door was unlocked the whole time.

He opens the door to let you in. One of the warehouse walls is apparently follows, so he closes the door. It's an external wall, after all.

Twitch walks in the building shaking his head in amusement at the "guard".  looking around the area he thinks about how great it would be to have a place this big for a bike shop.  He cups his hands around his mouth and calls out, "CARVER?  Where you at chummer?"

Firefox's chopper purrs around the corner and slides to an easy stop about 20 meters from her teammates.  She watches, amused, as her new team-mates accost the blind watchman.  (Or as the old man continues to grope his hands Velveteen, perhaps the old man was accosting them?)

As she released her helmet and slid off the bike, issues seemed to resolve themselves, so she fell in behind the small procession, making use of the time to post watchers with instructions to notify her if "peoples or magic things come near this building".  She new she'd have to re-dispatch them as the remaining teammates arrived, but that was better than be surprised.

She wanders in, looking around, particularly up.  Somehow she figured that looking up was going to be an important action during this run.

I walk in behind Mr. McFeely pants and put a cold beer in his hand as I walk past. "Seems you might need this more than I do old timer" I take a look around the warehouse for Carver. Not immediately seeing him I give a shout "Yo, Corver! Your security is SOTA man. I am totally jealous." I crack a beer and take a drink while I try and figure out where the other exits are, and perhaps where we might be planning to heist a singing teddy bear.

Firefox drags a crate over to the wall and half sits and half leans on it, tossing a miniature ball of flame back and forth between her index fingers, the color changing with each pass.  She concentrates on this for several minutes before pausing.

"Any of you guys know someone who'd actually watch this sort of a drek show?  I'd love a first hand account of how this particular critter manages to consistently win a singing contest without even humming a few bars.  Not to mention that she does it consistently and no-one involved bats an eye enough to claim mind control or yank her out of the contest or whatever.

If she can convince 10s of millions of trid viewers she's the greatest thing since sliced bread, whose to say she can't convince us all to stand still with our hands behind our backs while she shows us this cool trick she can do with her razor sharp claws.

Would also like a lead on one of the journalists who dissed her.  How're come they're not as rabidly in love as all the other viewers?  Should probably dig into the other contestants too.  Might give us a clue who we're working for, and that's never a bad thing to know."

She scanned the room for a visible jack point, as well as anyone who looked like they might have the skill to use it.

In reply to Firefox (msg # 17):

I set the beers and chips down someplace conspicuous, and look around for a good spot to setup a plan. I listen to the woman speak, and turn the details over in my head a bit before replying. "Well, in theory, you cant use mind control on the scale that she is. I mean, MAYBE the audience could be controlled, but that assumes they are physically there to begin with." I pull back the hood on my SWEET ROBES and try to fight down the fro before donning a tinfoil hat. "Now, I suspect, that the ratings are all made up by the man anyway. I mean, your average corp drone MIGHT watch this dreck. Maybe. And even if they do, who gives a shit about a arboreal carnivore anyway? No matter how cute. Truthfully, I suspect vote rigging." I pop open the bag of chips and shove some in my mouth. Damn, I could use a pizza.

Firefox's stomach gurgled.  The salad had been delicious, but terribly filling.  Perhaps her ancestors had subsisted that way for millennia, but there were definitely things to be said for the merits of choco-soy shake and a slice or two of pizza.  But it would appear a little odd to suggest ordering one when they'd just had dinner.  A beer, on the other hand . . .

She pushed off the crate and wandered over to the fridge.

"If we find out it's all rigging and payolla, I'd be fraggin thrilled.  Maybe we could dig up some paydata on the side.  But right now, we don't know.  And I'd rather avoid surprises."

I can't help but chuckle at that last bit. "Lady, if you aren't one for surprises, you are in the WRONG biz."

"Fair enough.  Should've qualified with 'unnecessary'.  Getting laid up because of drecky legwork is no fun."

Twitch listens closely to the banter, "I have found that not much takes burst fires of gel rounds very well but if that don't work I got these babies too." he says revealing the stun grenades he brought along for the ride.

With a quick scan of the room after he walked in, Saint Velveteen located an unoccupied area of floor and set down his luggage trunk.  Then, getting down on his knees, he opened it up and began sifting through its contents as the others chatted.  Inside were all his run supplies.  Grenades, rope, his trusty guns, spare clothes, body armor, and other assorted necessities.  He even had his hand-carved beat-stick.  "Things never go as planned," St. V said, finally joining the conversation but still not looking up.  "But if things went as planned, little Becka drop bear wouldn't have to worry about us in the first place.  We just gotta plan for more of the unplanned drek than the other guys."  Velveteen pulled out his Ingram Valiant and made sure it was still put together properly.  It was.  Next he started looking over his respirator.

"And speaking of planning.  What is the plan?  Rent the room above the target and then drop down on our drop bear?"

"Unless I miss my guess the entire hotel will be booked up by contestants and staff, plus security would be enacted to the point that if there are any vacant rooms that they wont be rented out.  This is a huge money maker as all the mindless drones tune in and drool on themselves watching bad singing."

"So that leave 3 areas to target the snatch: the hotel, the studio and in transit.  Transit is to risky, that area has a fair lone star presence and a low response time. It will also entail some pretty good timing.  The Studio is vulnerable because so many people go in and out so much.  The contestants should be there a fair amount practicing though how much practice a bear needs is beyond me.  Plus we would have to deal with studio security, crew, guests, other contestants, as well as Lone Star.  Probably not the best idea.

"That leaves the Hotel.  Plenty of people coming and going though most would be screened.  Hotel security is a joke but there will be corp security bored with their life there.  contestants would be separated into their own rooms.  Sounds like out best bet unless we want to try to become the bears transport but that may take more time and finesse than we have.

"Which leads us to vectors of attack.  There is the roof, the ground floor, anywhere in between and from under.  I don't feel like mucking around in the sewer on the off chance that there is an access under the hotel so lets scratch that off the list.  So we either bring the bear out or go in for the bear.  When does security have a problem? when there is a problem.  When every thing is normal that's when the guards may be bored but unusual things stand out.  When there is a problem they are to busy to notice things.  So I say we stage a problem, pose as the solution and while we are in there get the bear.  These are a bunch of bored kids, I am sure that there are plenty of problems with the waste disposal system.  Who wants to play plumber?"

he looks at twitch and pulls out his taser, "Gel rounds are great but personally I prefer this."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:42, Wed 05 Feb 2014.

I shrug at the woman and take a drink of my beer. "Fair enough."

I grab some more chips and listen to what the others have to say before interjecting. "I agree that the hotel would be the best vector of attack. However, I think that creating a distraction will be counter-productive. If we can get in and out with out any raised eyebrows at all, I say that is the way to go."

 I take a drink to quench my quickly drying throat. "You say security is gonna be bored, I think they are gonna be twitchy. If we are getting hired, I would go so far as to say that they might be expecting us on site. I would like to get some eyes on site if we can. Anybody a 'trix head? We could use some remote intel here, maybe check out some security cams, and maybe if we are really lucky get us on the cleaning roster or something similar."

"Before we settle on the hotel, maybe we ought to check the blueprints or something?  One might be a lot more straight-forward than the other.

Keep in mind that 'in transit' is likely just a sky-walk between the two.  Only real difference is what we're likely to be able to pull of quietly and the trade-off with risk and duration.  In transit will likely be noisy, but could be fast in and out.  In the hotel has the potential to be quietist, but if things go south, pretty easy to get sealed in before we can get away."

Carver comes in through a side door with two paper bags stacked with groceries. Among them, a case of eggs, a gallon of soy-milk and a baguette.
"Oh hey, I tried to get here first but then I realized I ran out of TP. Feel free to rummage through the fridge in the office upstairs. Also I have a few botanical sample trays in back. Peppers and tomatoes mostly. Stay away from the habañeros and the belladonna. They're labeled." He pauses "Matrix is a little spotty out here, but I got a connection through the renters. Just don't try for big downloads or we'll be here all night."

"The reason you got in was 'cause I phoned ahead and disabled the security first. I'm guessing you didn't notice the waist... Well I guess for you all it'd be knee," he looks at Velveteen "ankle... height slits between the double doors? I like to call that my murderbooth. It's like a foyer with extra gunfire."

"Personally, I'm in favor of hitting the hotel. Elvis wasn't so great, bodyguards who dress like him can't be that good either. I'm guessing I'm not the only one with a grappling hook, so ground access turns into roof access right quick. If the lady feels like helping out slick over there, then we should be able to talk our way through no problem."
"I will draw the line at cutting a hole in the pizza box, though. Sausage gives me gas."

After listening to the group talk for a bit Twitch speaks up, "I believe that the hotel would be the best idea at this point, however I think that more intel is needed before deciding on a plan.  Does anyone want to go into the matrix after the blueprints and security of the places?  I have a friend that can do it also.

In reply to Twitch (msg # 28):

I polish off some more chips and finish my beer  as people talk. "Agreed, Intel first. We need to know about this hotel first. I think that is the best shot, but I would like to have a backup plan also. Paranoia can be a good thing.."

Twitch nods, "Never can hurt to have multiple options.  Even the best plans rarely go without a hitch."

"If nobody else wants to, I can go into the matrix and see what I can scrounge up on this hotel."  Saint Velveteen put down the smoke grenade he was polishing, stood up and scanned the room for a jack point.  "It's strange.  It seems like in the teams I've been in there has always been a guy just itching to do all the matrix informationy stuff.  I don't usually fight 'em for it though, 'cause computercationing isn't typically all that exciting to me."

"I don't work with the matrix if I can avoid it.  I have people I call if I need that.  I can get us eyes on the security of the hotel, I trust those more than anything I see on the matrix anyway."

Snow stands up, "If someone would be so kind as to give me a lift I would appreciate it."

Snow passes around some business cards with a phone number written on them.  "You can reach me at this number."

"Before ya go, I have some extra keys so we can keep this place up and running." He wanders over to a small cabinet near the power box, pulls out some thick cardkeys and tosses them around. "RFID chip plus a card for the front and side doors. Don't bother using 'em after the run is over, I'll change the codes when it's done. Here's my commcode number," he scrawls it on one of his notecards and passes them out.
"I could offer ya a ride wherever, Snow, but you'd be riding bitch on a scooter." he shrugs. "Right," Carver tugs down a sleeve to show a tattoo ruined by acid burns. Two kanji characters still stand above the scar and blurred ink Yo mi, "That's why you can look down to talk at me, but you don't get to talk down to me. Comprende?"

"Necessary headwear tends to interfere with my line of business.  Go to it.  While you're at it, grab what you can about the other contestents, judges, etc.  It'd be especially good to know if the Elvis guys are also participants.  Wouldn't want to accidentally shave their dues of it's gonna cut back on the paycheque."

Seeing as no-one else had responded to her suggestion to find someone who'd actually watched the show, she returned to her crate and hopped up on it cross-legged, her head cocked sideways against her phone, hair partially obscuring her face.

"Hey Johnas.  Whatcha up to?

Ah.  Well, tell her I said hi.

When you're done, would you mind find our if any of the boys watch some trid called UCAS Idolize.  Or even any of their girls.  Need to talk to someone who's seen this season.

Yeah, well don't let her hear you say that.

Later"

Seeing the group split up again is troublesome to Twitch, if they find out information they may need to move on it fast, and traffic is bad in Seattle.  "You mind if I stick around here and do some calling around?" he asks Carver.  Assuming it is ok he will wander off into a corner and speak quietly into his phone.

"By all means. You can stay in the office if you want privacy. Jack's up there too, if you want to go virtual. Just keep an eye on the camera feeds. I paid to have a few spliced."

to Firefox:
"I stop watching after the tryouts episodes. The eliminations are the funniest part, everything else is autotune and push-up bras."