trans_9 | Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

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Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

The plan was...well, it wasn't simple, but it sort of was.

While the CLF attacked multiple Clone Processing centers to distract the government, the group with the CLF would target one particular one in the region that'd once been New Jersey. The group with the government would offer their services in putting down their own people.

In the center, they'd split up into several groups. One would fight a fake fight, create a massive diversion, and blow up the room where the samples their DNA were being kept in the process. Another group would secure a teleporter pad. That team would teleport out other teams to steal a ship, steal some med tech to teleport to said ship, and steal a medical database. Another team would go to the main command center and hack into the government mainframe to down the sensornet around the planet so they could escape. And Nightwing himself would accompany the clones to upload the harvested memories to the Mother Brains, left unguarded because of the diversionary fighting, and make sure that was all they did.

Meanwhile, there'd be a standing order for all teams to avoid killing other crewmates, and avoid killing guards unless absolutely necessary.

It was a complicated plan. If a single part fouled up, they might find themselves dead, trapped, or worse. But if it worked, it'd work pretty spectacularly and leave them with medtech, a medical database, the clones helped, and possibly a grateful Council depending on how the fight went, because of the ones seemingly aiding the government.

In some worlds, things that were a million-to-one-chance (exactly a million-to-one) by their nature had to work. Let's hope this world is one of them, eh, mission crew?

[ooc: Only comment to threads if it says they are open here. All threads: OPEN. Characters may get injuries up to and including 7 on the Injury Scale (scroll to the bottom). Any higher, and they must ask permission of the plot-runners, just to make sure everyone isn't immobilized without enough people to help move them.]

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"I'm just putting the idea out there!" he says, putting his hands up defensively. "I mean, Stacy steals people all the time! And maybe Ernesto here likes Galilee as much as we do!"

I mean, Ernesto is a clone. They do seem to get a raw deal.

Zouichi frowned, considering. "Even if he did want to come with us, we can't exactly put a sticker on him and take him along for the ride -- I'm pretty sure they're for transporting inorganic material."

He wasn't sure if they'd be able to boost him out with the rest of the team, either.

"I think what we should be worrying about is the guys waiting for us when this elevator ride ends," said Zouichi. He looked thoughtfully upwards. "...you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Howard looks up too, then at Zouichi, squinting. "When'd you get so diabolical?"

Howard looks down at Ernesto and sighs a bit. He'd have liked having someone around who actually knew what they were looking at. Also having a meat shield. He sticks some aspirin in Ernesto's hand and takes Ernesto's ID and pass. "Sorry, dude."

Zouichi shrugged, bashing in the glass panel of the control panel with the back of one fist and pulling the emergency stop lever. The lift came to a halt as the red warning lights in the ceiling began to silently flash. "Necessity is the mother of diabolical plans? I usually don't have to operate under no-kill orders."

He climbed back on the gurney and reached up to the ceiling, running gloved fingers carefully over the lines of the emergency exit hatch before tugging experimentally at the handle. Thoroughly secured, of course. He tried the security pass. When that didn't work, he simply yanked the hatch open by force, snapping the deadbolt.

They'd stopped while the top of the elevator was close to the doors of one of the higher-level hospital floors; good. Zouichi climbed the maintenance ladder, examined the doors for a moment, then pried them open in one smooth motion. No one waiting there. Yet, anyway.

"Can you prop that guy up on the gurney? We can get out here."

"I'm pretty sure everyone in this hospital is glad you're under a no-kill order. Except us."

Howard props the guy up - not especially easy, since Ernesto has at least seventy pounds on him and isn't helping with the whole Being Unconscious crap seriously could you get more lazy Ernesto - and follows Zouichi. "Security system's probably going off somewhere. Do you remember where the security cams are?"

Zouichi closed his eyes for a second. "Thirty-ninth floor, east wing. There's a security room there near some personnel lockers. It's a few floors above us."

He hopped back down to let Howard up first, choosing instead to drop a small device behind the unconscious Ernesto. Then he carefully lowered the hatch back into place and took out a small tool he'd borrowed from the ship, microwelding the edges to prevent any pursuit. Trap set.

"What'd you leave back there?" Not that he's all that concerned about what happens to Ernesto - well, unless the guards are going to shoot on sight. Then he's slightly, barely concerned. "Is there a storage closet we can stuff our pockets full of serums and pills with here? I promise I won't resell them on the ship."

And actually, you can trust him on that, Zou. He's mostly kept to his word about keeping on the straight and narrow.

On the ship, not when they're kidnapping and framing medical technicians, obviously.

Zouichi considered Howard's questions briefly. "There are supply stockrooms on the floor below us as well as two floors above. But we need to get off this floor quickly -- it's going to be the first place they look."

He advanced on the door leading to one of the back stairwells, turning the handle cautiously with one hand, then opening the door and moving onto the landing in one quick motion. He kept his sidearm at the ready, checking each point for armed opposition. Nothing yet, though he could hear footsteps and yelling, remarkably close now.

"Let's go up and try to give them the slip."

As for what they left with that medical technician...

Back in the elevator, the red emergency lights finally stopped flashing as the security team brought the lift back into service, lowering it to the next floor. There was a team of armed guards on standby, poised to incapacitate this rogue Dr. Tenma (and his supposed accomplice, Johan) instantly.

As the doors slowly opened, Ernesto the medical technician cracked open his eyes. What had happened? He'd been reading, and there had been a hospital bed rushing towards him, and...

Abruptly, the grenade behind Ernesto went off, flooding the elevator and hallway with clouds of billowing smoke. Confused, angry shouting filled the hall as some of the guards tried to escape or locate windows to open while still others stumbled forward to attempt to apprehend the criminal.

" I am all for giving them the slip." Howard follows Zouichi up, hiding in Zouichi's shadow, as usual. The footsteps get closer, closer, and in focusing on them he almost misses the person who comes from the door directly at his back, returning to the stairwell from a cigarette break. even before Zouichi's lightning fast reflexes can come into play, Howard reflexively slams the door, panicking.

THUMP. THUD.

The employee falls to the floor. Somehow, Howard hit him hard enough to knock him out.

The yelling outside stops. Howard can perfectly picture the security guards looking towards the stairwell, alerted by the noise.

He looks at Zouichi. "Wanna do something really stupid?"

Zouichi raised an eyebrow, looking at the prone guard. Poor guy. "You mean like this entire mission? Sure, I'm up for stupid."

"Help me lift this guy." Howard tries to hoist the guy up at the waist and cracks open the door to the stairwell, flopping the man's arm out to make his hand wave. "Yell 'everything's okay in here, just slammed the door too hard'."

Because Howard's voice is too high-pitched for that. Also, people don't tend to sound terrified out of their wits when they inform others of door-slamming.

Zouichi gave Howard a hand holding up the man's bulk, projecting his voice out to the other guards. "Everything's okay, just slammed the door too hard," he said, then added, "You guys seen anything?"

"Nothing on this end," answered one of the guards from the other end of the hallway. "Five-by, I'll check this corridor. Bet it's a bunch of those clone punks."

"...I can't believe that worked," Howard says, breathing a sigh of relief. "No, really. Pinch me. I think I'm stuck in the dumbest, most annoying nightmare ever. Not a bad Galilee accent, by the way."

He lets go of the man, letting him fall to the floor in a heap. "Okay, now what do we do with this goon?"

"Thank you, thank you. I'll be here till Tuesday." Zouichi scooped the man back up, hefting him over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "We'll find someplace to stow him upstairs. In the meantime, he might come in handy. Now let's find those pharmaceuticals you wanted."

He took the stairs up two at a time, careful to check the hall for any guards. So far, so good. They actually make it all the way to the storage room with all the medicines without incident. At which point Zouichi figured Howard would be more at home figuring out which bottles to shove into his pockets.

"You want to get your thievery on? I'll keep a look out for anyone coming this way."

They hadn't encountered any more guards yet, so for the moment, they seemed to have eluded their pursuers.

"God, Zou, you act like I'm some sort of criminal." Even with the time limit, Howard isn't indiscriminate about what he starts shoving into his cargo pockets. Most of he stuff in this store room is basic iodine and sleep aids - useful, but not exactly unique on Stacy. What Howard's looking for is something a bit more potent.

Oh, and also narcotics. Bad habits die hard.

Some of the immunity-boosters and vials of high-powered antibacterials disappear into Howard's hands - he's getting rather deft at legerdemain. What was once basic pickpocketing experience is turning into genuine high-level skill.

"You know, if anyone comes looking for us, that box could probably fit two of us."

"I hate to break it to you, but we are kind of criminals on this planet." Zouichi watched with mild interest as Howard put away vial after vial. Maybe he should look into becoming an amateur magician or something.

And then, from outside, the approaching sound of booted footsteps.

The guard peered inside the room. Had he heard voices in here? He looked back and forth, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just a bunch of medicine and shelves. In one corner was a tattered old cardboard box.

He must have been hearing things. The guard left, muttering something about stupid evacuation procedures.

Zouichi was in a box (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K--YiJma6xI). He was just looking at it, and he suddenly got this urge to get inside. No, not just an urge -- more than that.

It was his destiny to be here. In the box.

Yeah.

And when he put it on, he suddenly got this feeling of inner peace. He couldn't put it into words. He felt... safe. Like this was where he was meant to be. Like he'd found the key to true happiness.

Maybe that wouldn't make sense to someone else.

They should come inside the box. Then they'd know what he meant.

Howard, on the other hand, finds this entire both ridiculous and scary. How are they supposed to know the guard left if they can't see him?

Finally, he hears the door click closed again, and practically throws the box off them. "I was joking about that being a good idea! Are you crazy?"

Zou looks way too zen about this. But he supposes it did, in fact, work.

Galilee: run by the unlikely, the undesirable, and the unbelievable.

Well, obviously they just had to poke an eyehole or two in the box. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

He pulled the poor unconscious security guard out from behind the door, where he'd been propped. Then put him in the corner, used some plastic ties lying around to strap the guy's wrists and ankles, and a roll of duct tape in one drawer that, guess what, they were gonna use on this guy's mouth.

Then he put the box over the guard.

Perfect.

"Okay. We about done here?"

"Yeah. Might want to take out that security system before getting outside gets to be too much of a hassle. People can't evacuate worth shit," he says, hearing all the stampeding in the stairwells. He checks his watch.

Howard overhears one of the security guards in the stairwell yelling at someone else that if the security breach isn't neutralized in another few minutes, the real enforcements are going to come in. Another one yells that they've already got a blockade up front for the intruders so why should the government hotshots get involved, rarara not paid enough for this job, something about wanting a pension, whatever. It's hard to hear over all the footfalls.

"I'll bust up the security system and you clear a path up front. Meet you outside."

Zouichi nodded. In his experience, it wasn't like Howard to volunteer for a dangerous task he wasn't reasonably sure he could carry out. And as long as Zouichi was providing adequate distraction, well. No sweat.

"Sounds like they're stopping some of the elevators, too. I'll find a way to the entrance and meet you there. Take care of yourself."

You too. Stay safe," he tells Zouichi before he slips into another hallway, and he means it.

Finding the security room doesn't take long - it's where most of the security officers seem to be running from. Howard ducks out of sight as each successive wave passes, managing to use the commotion to his advantage and slip through unseen. The security room itself is actually fairly small, but the computer that runs most of the system is easy enough to find.

On the other hand, if Howard had been hoping to unplug it - which he had - he forgot that a lot of Galileean technology is wireless. Whoops.

First things first, he tries to enter the computer. It requires a password. It does not accept 'password', 'user', 'abcd1234', '123qwe', 'pass', 'letmein' or 'popcornball'. It does, however, accept 'guest'.

"Seriously?" he mutters to himself. "This is like, babytown frolics."

Except what do you do to disable a system you don't understand, written in computer jargon you've never seen, with a desktop format that seems designed for either the incredibly brilliant or the incredibly eccentric?

Howard clicks things for a few tense minutes before giving up. He can't afford to waste time. There's barely thirty minutes left on the clock and he's several stories up with elevators that don't work. Also, that robotic evacuation voice is going to give him a migraine if it tells him to calmly leave the building one more freaking time. And has it been long enough for more troops to get called in?

He pokes his head out the window to see if there'd be a ledge to stand on for the teleportation. Nope. But there is a security guard who chooses that exact moment to look up and point. Which gives Howard an awful idea.

He grabs the computer and dumps it out the window on the guy.

The crashing noise is actually pretty satisfying. For Howard. He gets the feeling the guy under the window finds it less amusing, but at least if you're going to get a computer dropped on you from a non-lethal height, there are worse places to do it at than a hospital.

Robotic Evacuation Voice stops.

Howard takes a deep breath and starts to leave the room.

And unfortunately, nearly bumps into the worst security guard in the world. This man could be the poster-boy for why you shouldn't listen to headphones while on the job. Somehow, he's managed to miss the entirety of the sirens and robo-voice and gone about his day, going in to log into the security computer.

However, oblivious as he is, it's hard to miss almost getting barreled over by a teenager.

Howard instantly realizes his mistakes and tries to sprint past him, but the guard grabs him by the neck of his shirt with enough force that Howard's feet slide out from under him. The guard - easily three times his size - slams him up against the wall. The impact makes Howard see floating colors all across his vision.

"Did you do all this?" the guard yells in his face, indicating wildly with his free hand at the smoke coming from the elevator. "This is a hospital! Sick people need their rest here!"

In a moment of confidence spurred by their unbelievable luck so far, Howard spits at the guy. Or maybe he's just frothing because he's struggling to free himself and screaming for help. Either way, saliva gets in the guy's face.

"That's it, you little punk-"

Howard twists and wrenches his shirt free, dropping to the floor and starting to run away. Unfortunately, he didn't realize how disoriented he was from hitting the wall, and he stumbles over his own feet right as the guard aims a kick at his stomach. He goes sprawling.

"Don't move or I shoot this at your head!" the guard warns, aiming his energy gun at Howard. But Howard's ears are ringing and he doesn't register what the man says, so he starts to crawl away.

The man's finger starts to clench the trigger.

Howard hadn't been included in the check in. It had been enough to have them split up to find the teen.

Howard might not be a good person per say, but he was their paranoid mental case and that was to be respected. Medical wasn't going to leave him behind and Rory definitely wouldn't even dream of leaving him.

Don't move, Howard.

The order was silent, his own gun coming up and tracking for a shot. "Hey! We're supposed to take the terrorists alive."

The guard looked up, startled by the sudden loud noise, still smirking, finger still on the trigger.

Conveniently that also bared his neck. Rory pulled the trigger, face cold as he quickly cleared the gun from the guard's hand and watched him gag, face turning purple from lack of oxygen and body writhing against the floor. If the stun would wear off enough for him to survive or not was an unknown, and Rory didn't really care. He'd been about to shoot Howard in cold blood, and that made his life utterly expendable. It would be very difficult to shoot little boys without the ability to breathe, after all. And if he survived, it would serve as an object lesson for his future.

Rory doubted very much he'd survive, and couldn't for the moment make himself care. He wasn't fond of bullies, and he'd seen far too many of them during his long wait.

The guard was the least important part of this situation, Rory bent, offering Howard a hand up. They were running out of time, he'd need to check on Howard later. Right now he just needed to get him clear of the building. "Let's go, Howard, stay behind me, I'll get you clear."

Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

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