Convergence

[Silver Priest]

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. MAJOR ALTERNATIONS WERE MADE TO THEM ALL, INCLUDING MULTIPLE ORGAN REMOVAL. THESE ORGANS WERE REPLACED WITH PROTOMATTER ENHANCED VERSIONS THAT WERE MORE EFFICIENT. SHOULD THE PROTOMATTER BE RENDERED INERT THESE ORGANS WILL FAIL AND THE SUBJECTS WILL CEASE. A SURGERY TO IMPLANT THE ORIGINAL ORGANS ONCE AGAIN WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE; THEY HAVE DEGRADED IN THE TIME SINCE REMOVAL, AND SUCH FORMS WOULD BE UNABLE TO SURVIVE THE SURGERY.

HoneyDog,Just want to let you know to do whatever you think Nik would in this situation. I'm not a fan of killing a character off without giving them any chance to prevent it. There may still be a way for Nik to survive even if his organs fail. Of course, I can't promise how easy it would be for him.:P

[Anatomist]

José is so confused he stand in place glaring at the scene.

[HoneyDog]

Nik rocks back as if he has been slapped. The shock of the news of his impending death fills his mind, but it's something he knew he would be facing sooner or later. But maybe there's a chance of revenge.

"Right" he stammers. "Great. Look, is it possible you can delay this cessation? I'd really like to consult with the authorities you've been dealing with - the representatives of our government. Just to make our report accurately. Do you have a name and location for them?"

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Nik can make a persuade roll at -20 as well.

[Silver Priest]

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. OUR EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN DISCOVERED AND MUST BE ABORTED BEFORE TOTAL EXPOSURE.

CONVERSATION MUST NOW CEASE. THOSE WHO WISH TO REMAIN STEP FORWARD AND WILL BE TAKEN BACK WITH US. THE REST OF YOU MUST LEAVE.



It appeared the time for talk was over. Would the agents go their separate ways or attempt to fight the aliens?

[Mr. Handy]

"If you want, maybe they would take you with them in place of Griff," Vanessa suggests to Nik, not wanting to believe that it's really the end for him. "That way at least you wouldn't die. The rest of us can continue our mission."

OOC,Can I try a Persuade roll too?

[HoneyDog]

"Screw that!" Nik says. "Try to talk Griff out of it, we still need him. He's crazy if he thinks those things have any benign intentions."

He holds out his hand.

"Thanks for everything, Vanessa. I couldn't have asked for more. Please see Debbie gets what she'd due, and tell her and my parents I love them. And don't let anything happen to Sonja and Shaeffer, they're innocent in this. Get the bastards who did it - kill them all".

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa shakes Nik's hand firmly. "Consider it done, and you're welcome," she says. "It's been an honor working with you." On her way out, she speaks to Griff. "Please, come with us. We need you to finish the job now that we won't have Nik any more."

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Vanessa and anyone but Nik can try another persuade roll at -20. But I will go ahead and say that if it fails the aliens are very likely to respond with violence. Then again, this may not be a problem for you. If you are all leaving though, I need to know if Nik and Griff are leaving as well, or if either of them plan to go with these creatures. Nik knows he'll have at least a few minutes after they wrap up their expierment before his organs fail, so there's nothing saying he needs to wait here, unless he did not want his colleagues to see him die..

[HoneyDog]

Nik takes one last look at the aliens, then quickly turns and heads back to the exit, intending to spend his last moments in the open air.

[Anatomist]

José follows Vanessa

[Mr. Handy]

"Hurry, to the car!" says Vanessa as she leaves with Nik, hastening him there. "It might not be too late. Jose, you drive, and I'll keep him alive. From his symptoms, I'd say it's his kidneys that have been replaced. If that's all, there's still a chance! If only one kidney is protomatter, the other one will pick up the slack, but I'm guessing both of them have been. If we can get to a hospital fast enough, we can get dialysis started in time. That'll do until we can find a kidney to transplant."

[HoneyDog]

Nik stops and shakes his head.

"Forget it. They took both, and my liver. I remember it now."

He shudders.

"You should call Shaeffer and warn him about Jane instead. Maybe something can be done for her. Hopefully the baby will be okay."

He looks around.

"You have whoever those alien idiots were working with to contend with now, so you'd better come up with a plan. I don't think Griff is coming so it's only two of you now. If you stake out this place, they might return - they won't know the aliens have left."

[Mr. Handy]

"It's possible to survive with only a fraction of a liver," says Vanessa. "If we're compatible, I'll give you part of mine, and a kidney. You've saved my bacon enough times, I can return the favor. There's still time, but we have to go now!"

[HoneyDog]

"No!" shouts Nik. "That will take months of recovery! You need to get after whoever did this now! They'll disappear and you'll never find them! They need to pay for what they did."

Nik sits down on the ground and folds his arms stubbornly.

[Silver Priest]

OOC:   Right now I am assuming Griff stayed behind. If so, I'll finish up his part next post.

The agents, sans Griff, make it outside. Vanessa attempts to encourage her friend and fellow agent to keep going, unwilling to accept that he is going to die. But Nik knows what's coming, and perhaps in his own way has made peace with it. He encourages her and Jose to go after the aliens human co-conspirators.

It's only at this moment that it occurs to all three agents that Sonja Dewey is nowhere to be found.

"Just like my mama used to say; one 'lil fishie always precludes a larger school of em."

Out from the left hand side of the barn steps a man. He's short, with a powerful build that his military fatigues only accentuates. He has short (but not military regulation short) black hair that is flecked with gray, and looks to be about 50. His mouth forms something approaching a cadaverous grin, and three gold teeth shine as he does so. One of his arms currently has Sonja locked in a vice like grip in front of him. She looks at the agents with some degree of horror, though she is doing her best to conceal it. His other hand has a Glock pointed directly at her head.

"'Course, mama didn't use those exact words, you understand; she wasn't the brightest. But she had real smarts. Country smarts. I like to think I inherited some of it." He inclines his head. Any agents who look notice three more men coming from around the right side of the barn. They appear younger than the man with the golden teeth and move with military precision. Each of them have a submachine gun, an HK MP5 for those more familiar with weaponry.

"Y'all look a little Green 'round the gills." Everyone can hear how he emphasizes that word.

"Now, mama, God rest her soul, would be mighty dissapointed if she knew I had to hurt a lady. So here's how this is gonna go; slide your weapons over here and get down on the ground, hands behind your heads if you would. Otherwise, this young lady here is gonna find herself with a new opening in this rather lovely head of hers."

OOC:   Something stirs in Nik and Vanessa's memories at seeing this man. If either of you remember so do your characters, but if you need a reminder feel free to make an Int*5 roll.

On a success,[url=https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/viewtopic.php?f=399&t=6510&start=180#p216868]A man with gold teeth[/url] had been mentioned a few operations back by [b]Dr. Gossel[/b], the man who had been responsible for unwittingly unleashing the murderous Laqueus Equation. Apparently he had been responsible for ordering those deaths that the equation had caused. Which almost certainly connected him to MAJESTIC-12, Delta Green's inter-governmental rival. The good news, if it can be called that, is their DG status should provide the group some amount of security. Even when they were captured by OUTLOOK they were released a few days later. So they're not as likely to be shot and dumped in a gutter as the average person that run afoul of these types. Hopefully, anyway.

[HoneyDog]

As the man continues his speech, Nik pivots around from his position on the floor and brings up the M4 he is still carrying. He points it at the man holding Sonja, aiming carefully.

[Silver Priest]

The man does not appear intimidated. If anything, his smile grows wider.

"Sure 'ya wanna do that,friend? I have full confidence you know how to use that weapon. Might even be able to hit me without hurting her. But then my boys behind you will make their displeasure known. Now, maybe you're good enough to kill all them too. But you'll have losses. Think it's worth it?"

"No, if I wanted y'all dead you'd be dead. Believe it or not I just wanna have a nice 'lil chat. Up to you if that's with words or bullets."

OOC:   If Nik does decide to fire, I'll probably end up giving him no penalty for the shot. He'd had time to aim.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa trains her M4 on the three guys with the MP5s, but she too holds her fire. "You're not as Majestic as you think you are" she says, "You've made a tactical error. You only have one hostage, and if you kill her, you'll die next. I don't think you want that to happen. We were actually going to go find you, so this saves us the trouble of tracking you down. We're not putting down our weapons any more than you're going to put down yours. If you want to talk, let's talk."

OOC,INT x 5 roll (55% stat) to remember who the man is: [dice]0[/dice]

[HoneyDog]

INT,INTx5 60: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/776486]INT[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]1[/b]

Nik thinks he now knows who's responsible for this. It doesn't surprise him.

"The last time we agreed to trust guys from your organisation, it didn't go well for us" he tells the man. "So like she says, we're not disarming. Say what you want to say. If you ask us to disarm again, I'll open fire."