Return To Sender

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Shouldn't I get to roll Dodge, seeing that I was diving for cover and hadn't attacked this round?

[Silver Priest]

ooc,Unfortunately there's no dodge against firearms usually. As for cover, Vanessa was still a fair ways away from it, considering she'd have to run into the lab and find a desk or something to hide under or break line of sight. Galt beats you both at Dex-- he delayed to act after you both attacked him last turn, and then technically acted first this turn, while she was still running towards the lab and out of the hallway. That said, I'm less concerned with a perfect adherence to the rules than making sure things seem fair, especially for a long lived character like Vanessa. She can roll dodge. She'll need to beat his success however.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa dives through the open door to the lab and slams it behind her.

OOC,Dodge roll (50% skill) diving for cover: [dice]0[/dice] Thank you. I know the 6th edition CoC rules allow a "Dodge" against the first shot fired at you in a round (you're essentially diving for cover), but maybe DG has different rules. There is cover very nearby, however. Earlier I tried to open the door to the lab next to me, and my Luck-10 roll succeeded, indicating that it did open.

[Silver Priest]

The bullet whizzes right by her as Vanessa dives at the last second. She slams the door and locks it, looking around.

It seems like a standard laboratory. Equipment is scattered around the room-- this and there being no sign of any people suggest whomever was here left in a hurry. There's no other way out of the room, though seems to be a small supply closet to the right. There's also a few tables, but all are visible-- she'd have a hard time hiding under one of them.

A large force slams into the door behind her. Galt was trying to force it open.

"Come out, Kätzchen!" He sings, his tone manic.

OOC:   Vanessa can roll STR*5 to try and keep Galt from getting in, and he has rolled his Str as well. This tends to be a round by round thing, but I'm okay ruling that if she succeeds this time she can keep him out indefinitely-- he does have other things to do, after all. Alternatively she could try to push a table or something at the door and make it harder for Galt to get in. I'll say this this would require a luck roll on her end; if she succeeds, she gets a 20 bonus to her strength to keep him out, but if she fails, he'll get in if he succeeds, with no ability for Vanessa to oppose his roll.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa knows she isn't very strong, but she doesn't dare move away from the door to drag a table over to block it, as he's highly likely to get inside before she can.

OOC,STR x 5 roll (40% stat) to hold the door shut: [dice]0[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Vanessa tries with her entire might to hold the door closed, but alas, it's not enough. Two more mighty kicks shatter the flame and sent her stumbling back. Galt enters the room, his gun pointed at her. His grin is feral.

"If you wish to get out of here alive, my sweet, you will do exactly as I say. Place the gun down on the floor and put your hands up."

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa slowly and carefully lays the rifle down on the floor, which has proven useless against him anyway, then stands up straight with her hands raised. "It wasn't my idea to shoot at you," she says. "I was going to just let you walk out of here. I only opened fire because my partner did. I knew it was a bad idea."

[Silver Priest]

Galt studies her for a moment.

OOC:   Vanessa, please roll luck.

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa is lucky.

OOC,Luck roll (45% stat) to see what [b]Galt[/b] does: [dice]0[/dice] Critical success! 8-)

[Silver Priest]

After a long moment, he nods. "You know, I actually believe you. Perhaps your cell partner's death was enough of a lesson for you, hmm?

"I would love nothing more than to take you back with me and learn more of your story. But alas, I am on a deadline, and work must come first. Perhaps we will meet again; though who knows, given how short those in your line of work live.

"Goodnight, Kätzchen." And then he hits Vanessa with the butt of his gun.

OOC:   Vanessa can try to dodge, but it happens very fast. Does she want to and do you think she would?

[Mr. Handy]

Vanessa decides not to push her luck and braces for the hit. When she takes it, she will pretend to be knocked out in the event that she isn't.

OOC,Getting bonked unconscious is a critical Luck success? How bad would a regular success have been?

[Silver Priest]

Mr.Handy,On a regular success Galt would have shot you in the leg, potentially causing permanent damage. On a fail he would have invited you to dinner: He has a 77% in cooking, so the food would have been excellent; unfortunately Vanessa would have been the main dish. So oddly enough, this is the luckiest Vanessa could be.

The last thing Vanessa sees is the gun coming towards her. It was unlikely she could have dodged it even if she wished. As it was, it hit her and she knew only blackness.

***

"Vanessa! Vanessa!"

Jose is shaking her awake, concern evident on his face. Vanessa has a terrible headache, and probably quite the bruise, but she thinks she'll be fine after a rest.

"We need to go. The other cell's here, and Drake's ordered us to retreat and leave cleanup to them. Galt went into Ruby, grabbed Dr. Crisp, and left the complex by car; I think he knew we were planning to shoot down the helicopter. The other cell arrived a few minutes after and went into Sapphire with the remaining security guards. Then Drake called me and told me the threat here was neutralized. I told him about Andre and he instructed me to pack you up and evac.

"I saw, what happened to Andre." Jose seemed a bit shaken up by it. "Then I saw Galt chase you in here, but of course there were no cameras. I thought... thought he had gotten you as well."

It is then that Vanessa sees that her rifle was gone.

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, let's get out of here," says Vanessa, coming groggily to her feet. "At least he didn't get Dr. Metreaux. I thought he was going to kill me too, but I was very lucky, and he was too pressed for time to get out of here himself."

OOC,Ah, okay. :)

[Silver Priest]

Jose helps Vanessa get to her seat, and the two leave ABC behind them. They're just driving off as the first Tribal police show up. The other cell would have its work cut out for them tying all these loose ends up.

Drake calls and after hearing Vanessa's own report, instructs them both to return home. The mission was over, for now.

***

Over the next few days the story of the ABC terrorist attack emerges. A scientist working for the company apparently blew the whistle on unethical dumping of chemicals into The Milk River, endangering both Canada and Montana's water supply. A few agents from the FBI were sent in to investigate the claims, given evidence that the facility was also producing illegal drugs and a front for much of the methamphetamine boom in the west. Leaks also were given to a local far left environmental group with a strong anti capitalist bend. The group assaulted the facility with heavy weaponry, intent on revealing their crimes to the world at large. In the chaos many of ABC's employees were killed, including head of the Gemstone facility Ray Turner and top research scientist Dr. Emil Metreux. The Sapphire production facility was also badly damaged. An FBI agent on the scene named Andre Giger bravely gave his life, and together with security they managed to eventually repel the attackers. But the damage was done, and when whistleblowers at the facility confirmed a few days later that the company was manufacturing illegal drugs and overhyping their wonder drug Reverol, the outcry was immense; within a few months ABC was bankrupt.

More esoteric programs such as Phenomen-X reported tales of German speaking assailants and questioned the official story given by the press, but given they reported this in between blocks on Elvis being alive and Bigfoot stalking the wilderness few believed them.

No sign of Galt or Crisp was ever found, though if Vanessa was diligent she would find reports of some sort of car jacking a few minutes from ABC. This was a highly unusual crime in general for rural Montana, but nothing ever came of it.

A week later the press were briefly occupied with tales of another attack on the offices of a publication: The Ecotopian in Berkeley. A few armed men went in there one day and shot everyone in the office with the exception of editor Fiona Lin-Wei, who was abducted from her home the very same day. A manhunt eventually found the shooters belonged to a far right group known as The Bear Flag Republic; led by one Howard Pringle: or as as had fashioned himself, Horst Jaegermeister. He was arrested and used his trial as an opportunity to rave about all sorts of enemies real and imagined, and call for a race war. He and his associates were sentenced to life without parole. A canvasing of his property found the half eaten remains of Lin-Wei, and she and her staff would be immortalized for their devotion to the environment; a Lifetime movie was out within the year.

Even Vanessa can't be sure how much of the story had really been told, but Drake emails her and Jose one day and offers them brief comfort.

"Believe it or not, this is a win."

Whether that was enough for Vanessa to tell herself was up to her. If she still wanted to marry Malcolm, she could. She could try to have a normal life. But she knows that one day her phone will ring again, and the mission will take precedence. And she also knows that sooner or later she likely won't be coming back from one of them.

OOC:   I'll try to have an ooc recap up today or tomorrow explaining anything you guys missed and what was going on. In short though, you guys were able to prevent the absolute worst outcome of zombies overrunning ABC, so well done.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Yes, [b]Vanessa[/b] will be marrying [b]Malcolm[/b]. I can see why this scenario was one of Welsh's inspirations for Zombie Apocalypse, and now I see where he got the idea for [b]Horst Jaegermeister[/b]. I've already spotted a few other characters from Zombie Apocalypse's original cast list, such as [b]Lynne[/b], [b]Thomas[/b] and [b]Wallace Red Crow[/b]. I wonder how many others came from here.

[Silver Priest]

ooc,Congrats to the happy couple. :) Horst's name is slightly different in the scenario, Horst Jaeger, but I feel confident he was still inspired by him. You guys could have met him had you realized Galt was planning to go after Fiona. I was going to add Flip as well but he's not named in the scenario.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,This was the scenario [i]Dead Letter[/i], wasn't it? At least I think it contained some of the plot points. I guess Galt went after [i]The Ectopian[/i] to cover his tracks. I think we were supposed to investigate them more deeply, but I didn't get the feeling that they would have had much information.

[Silver Priest]

Late November 2001

Three people sat around the table in the nondescript two story house in suburban Virginia. Coffee had been poured, but none of them drank it; the three were aware how unusual and serious this face to face meeting was, and were focused as always on business.

"Absolutely not," The first man spoke. He was in his mid 70's, with features that matched. His eyes though tired still held within them a zealotry that was obvious at first glance.

The man across from him was younger, maybe mid 40's, and dressed conservatively. His face was set in a frown. "I know it's not something any of us want to do, but we all know we have to do it. Recent events show the Karotechia are more powerful than we thought. You and I both know we don't have manpower or ability to take them out on our own."

"I refuse to ask them for help. They'll take whatever they can and try to arrange another PaperClip. There are others..."

"Who?" The younger man interjected. "PISCES is compromised, and we barely had any contact with them anyway. The Canadians don't have the ability. The Russians have been losing manpower and budget for years. That might be changing, but they haven't exactly been friendly the last few meetings we had with them."

The last guest,a young woman, spoke up. "NANCY has gotten us a full map of their base, including manpower and defenses. They don't know we have it. We need to strike soon, before they realize."

The older man scowled. "I don't trust anything that thing says."

"You know she's never steered us wrong, ALPHONSE." He had nothing to say to that, so she continued."We don't know their full plan, but they were stockpilling this substance for some reason or another, and none of them are good. Galt's men seemed to believe it was pivotal for whatever they're planning. If we don't act now, this is only going to get worse."

"But they murdered Fairfield. Gunned down several of our agents, dragged who knows how many off to their labs. They sell out this country everyday to a foreign invader. I wouldn't not put it past them making a deal with the nazis.

"It's why we insist on this being a duel operation," said the younger man. "We already know there's been some misgivings by their leadership since Groversville. We just make sure our agents are on the scene and destroy anything that they could think to weaponize.

"It won't be that easy."

"Probably not. But at this point you need to decide which of them is the bigger enemy. And you're smart enough to know that."

The younger man slid a phone across to ALPHONSE. He looked at his two younger cell mates, shaking his head at their foolishness. This was what happened when you brought in the new generation to the fight. But he knows he can't fight them. Worse, he knows they're right.

He dials a number and a man with a thick Louisianian accent answers on the second ring.

"My oh my, ALPHONSE himself. I never thought I'd see the day." He can hear the smile in his voice, see his gold teeth flash in a shark like grin. "What can we do for you rogues?"

He tells him everything.