[ Last time, on the L-word: Kat and Yue, using the fake IDs provided by Soma McLochlane, have entered the proverbial lion's den: DunnoCorp HQ. They are currently standing in the round driveway in front of the big grey block known as the DRAUPNIR Lab... facing down the meanest OL ever, Platina Fortescue. ] [ In fact, Ms. Yue Rohay currently has her by the collar... but a trained combatant, as these two ladies are, can tell when someone's not actually resisting... and the smile hasn't really been wiped off Platina's face just yet. What do they intend to do?! ] * Yue intends to make the lady know that her hand is in fact dangerous by pulling her spread palm right up to her face so she can smell the acid, and hopefully give off a little intimidation with the fact that it's a Frankenstein's Monster of a hand. "I'm sure you can guess what will happen if you make any sudden moves," she explains tersely. (FYI: Ard's got a limited time so I may be unfairly budgeting my GMing time for the moment.) (I got an entire day, so.) * Katherine relaxes out of her combat stance slightly, letting Yue play ugly-handed cop for a moment. [ Sadly for Yue, Platina's not any easier to intimidate now than she was before. BUT, you can now understand why: three men in business suits -- the typical look for corporate bureaucracy types -- walk out the very same doors right behind her, and then stare at Yue and Kat, blinking. Surprise round! ] (That is mostly joking unless you want to gun them down, I don't know.) * Yue uses her other arm to grasp the lady around her waist to keep a tighter grip on her as she declares firmly, "Disarm yourselves. Cut off your comm devices." * Katherine groans and mutters, "Oh, for fuck's sake. All we wanted to do was learn something. Is that so wrong?" (... oh. God, I kinda misread that.) (I glanced at 'men in business suits' and immediately jumped to the conclusion of 'heavily armed secret service agents!') (Yeah, they're just lame salarymen.) (That said, I think Yue is paranoid enough.) (Yes. They're clearly not armed, it's easy to tell. If they are, it's with impressively concealed weapons.) (Roll Body at a +2 penalty, Yue, if you're grabbing Platina, BTW) (Oh god I hope I haven't pre-rolled all my successes with hacking.) (Lesse... does Unarmed Attack count for grapple?) (In 2e, yeah. grappling is a specialty for unarmed.) (This isn't for your attack, it's for something else.) (Okay.) (But yeah, he said body.) (Also roll in #atc) (Make by one!) (WOO GOOD ROLL) [ Yue slips a hand around Platina's waist, clearly intending to make out with her! Unfortunately, Platina's waist also releases an electric current of... considerable strength from practically nowhere, presumably. Yue can grit her teeth and bear it for now, however. The businessmen, however, seem disturbed that someone's groping their accountant. "Ms. Fortescue," one demands, "what is going on here?" ] [ Another businessman, you notice, is reaching for his phone. ] (I'll go for a kick-disarm! That's pretty stylin'.) * Yue bites her lip as she gets zapped, trying to disable the device via technopathy if she can, since Kat's got the whole beat the crap out of the salarymen schtick down pat. * Katherine steps in and snaps her foot up to try to de-phone the guy, before replying, "Can we just stay frosty here? I'm sure she has a perfectly reasonable explanation." [ Yue's technopathy hits... well. A 'wall' is an understatement. Most computers don't resist, for example. ] [ The phone, meanwhile, gets out "Security. Mister Farrell? Mi--" before shattering on the pavement. The businessmen cower. ] * Katherine glances to the phone, then sighs and crosses her arms. "See, that's not frosty at all." She then looks to Platina. "So, plan on helping us out, or is this going to get annoying and painful?" [ A slow smile spreads across Platina's face as she regards Kat with a highly smarmy feigned innocence that doesn't seem at all consistent with her being in Yue's grasp. "Oh, I expect once the security teams arrive it probably will get annoying and painful. Please excuse me, gentlemen," she says over her shoulder to the suits. "Disgruntled contractors." ] * Yue hides her annoyance at not being able to dodge the electric wave, and announces with some grunting, "Drop to your knees. Head behind your back." She's surmising it's her 24-power by now. (Hands, I assume.) (Head behind your back is a heck of a trick!) (... yeah.) * Katherine 's ears twitch, before replying, "You forget who we are. We already have pinned down your connections to several kidnappings, Platina." [ The suits find this fascinating in a pants-wetting terror sort of way. Platina doesn't comply with Yue's increasingly erotic instructions, however. Is she stalling for time? "I'm certain I don't know what you're talking about." ] (She meant the businessmen, when she said that.) * Katherine smiles thinly. "Honey, you're a cheap knock off of a real cyborg ice queen." She glances off into the distance, and then into the building, to see from which way security's going to respond. (Well they CLEARLY didn't know who you were talking to.) (Is Yue keeping her grip?) * Yue pulls her captive closer towards Kat, unless Platina doesn't even let herself be dragged. "You three. Again. Drop to your knees. Hands behind your back," she hisses, then glancing back to Platina. She does keep her grip! (Another body roll, if you would.) (Oh god!) (Wow, doing great.) (Doesn't Kat have any rope or cuffs or something? :( ) (... in disguise?) (Telephone cables! I don't know!) [ Inside the building is a receiptionist's desk, though there's nobody at it. The suits, considering the women appear to be 1.) armed and 2.) insane, comply... although in their heads they have been upgraded from 'disgruntled former employees' to 'terrorists'. It's impossible to tell which way Security is coming from since you're on the ass-end of the Dunno campus at the moment. ] * Yue says quickly to Kat, "Get something to tie her with or just punch her out." (Is Yue behind her or in front of her?) (Because it's a lot harder to knock someone out from the front!) (Behind her.) * Katherine sighs, then says, "Right. Talk to you later, Platina." Then she reaches in her right hand to pull Platina's head forward and bring her fist down into the back of her head. Which is hopefully not also made of metal. [ Clang. ] [ Well, more of a muffled *thmp-tng!*, but. ] (Now you BOTH need to make body rolls, at a +3 this time.) (Yeah, that's a no.) (Welp, there we go.) [ Kat is forced to step back by a really nasty static discharged. Apparently, holding ON to Platina makes Yue even MORE susceptible and she's frankly blasted backward a considerable distance. Blue sparks flicker around Platina's waist as she turns and smiles at the both of you. ] * Katherine hisses in pain and rubs her hand, saying lowly, "You are an annoyance machine, woman." * Yue 's eyes widen as she gets blasted, either onto the ground or against a wall. The wall'd be more painful. "... hmn," is all that comes out of her mouth. Maybe she's frazzled. [ "You don't know the half of it," Platina says smoothly. She glances over at the (still in position) suits before looking back at Kat and Yue. "Do you feel like reacquainting yourself with Mr. Aurin? I'll take you right to him, if you'd like." ] * Katherine moves back to Yue and reaches her claw down to her to help her up, saying with a thin smirk, "You have to admit your security threat puts a damper on that little play at pleasatness." * Yue is on her way up, but the claw makes her go up even faster! Hopefully it doesn't tear her heart out. She doesn't seem interested in the banter, but does take off her other pair of gloves to leave herself fully armed. (pleasantness) [ "Really? I'd think an invitation inside to see him would be vastly preferable to staying out here and getting shot," the silver-haired woman offers. "And considering I have witnesses that you've attacked me for no reason, I feel this is perfectly reasonable, all things considered." ] * Katherine rubs her hand again. "It's more that they're going to show up anyway, so going in just pins us down. If you want to invite us in, you're going to have to call them off." * Yue says nothing. Kat's got the diplomacy thing down better than her. She does stay ready for action, though. [ "Fair enough. We'll do it inside, if it's all the same to you." She gestures toward the building in a 'you first' motion. ] * Katherine nods and steps towards the salarymen. Maybe they don't scatter like they're scared! She walks in past them anyway. * Yue glances towards the exchange between miss robot and Kat, and slowly follows her. [ Surprisingly, Platina does not push a button and explode the building while cackling maniacally or anything of that sort. Instead she follows you in, then places a call with a phone that not so much is taken out but produced out of nowhere. "It's Fortescue... no, we're fine. A little misunderstanding... yes, thank you." She then hangs up and glances at you. (More) ] (*presses A*) [ The inside of DRAUPNIR is surprisingly light, all things considered; the desk is real wood, much like Dunno's front receiption, but the lobby involves seating in a half moon shape behind it, with a central staircase leading up and down. The walls, interestingly, have no windows but are screens showing a projection of the outside, giving the impression that the ground floor HAS no walls. ] * Yue is only taking a cursory look around, her glaze directed mostly at the crazy robot that's agreed to send them down to her lair. [ Some sort of gravity manipulation is involved with some floating glass panes, three deep and at staggered angles on either side of the desk. Platina walks toward the central staircase, then looks back at you. "Well, don't just stand there. I'm certain he'll be interested in seeing you." ] * Katherine rubs her neck, then flexes her fingers before she steps afterwards. "I'm sure." * Yue steps along, yes. (This is me, actively frustrating the ATC 'blow it up, sort it out after' urge at every turn!) (Kat and Yue's tactical decisions were perfectly justified!) (When you're sneaking and you're made, you don't go in for tea. :|) (You planned to kill her in front of witnesses!) (Luckily she's an indestructible cyborg from Andromeda.) (No, we planned to knock her out in front of witnesses.) (Still criminal!) (We'd kill her if we _had_ to.) ((But hopefully not, killing's bad.)) (Anyway!) (Still! Criminal!) (Hey, the witnesses didn't come until after!) (She fell down the stairs into a vat of acid!) [ You walk down the grand staircase to a lower, steel-grey and almost entirely featureless room. There's an elevator here, and Platina walks up to a panel, pressing her palm into a reader and entering a second code on a keypad. On cue, the doors open and she gestures to them. The elevator is, surprisingly, also glass... you can see the bedrock around it. "Step inside, please." ] (We couldn't help it!) * Katherine groans quietly before stepping in. "So much deja vu, so little time." * Yue doesn't look too pleased at walking in before Platina, but it isn't like she has a choice in the matter currently! (Ugh, we're ending a little early tonight regardless, you guys, sorry. I'm really just destroyed mentally and split scenes isn't helping.) [ The elevator starts down! For a while, through the glass sides, all you see is bedrock punctuated by bands of steel... until, eventually, the rock gives way to concrete, and then to... well. ] (Just in time to be suspended over a shark pit tied together.) (Robot sharks.) (Dammit, Kat, I'm not Batman.) (Together, we can be Batwoman! She's a lesbian, you know.) (And that's okay, T.) [ The room you see is... unnerving. It's large, warehouse-y in quality, lit by large overhead lamps that have an almost purple tinge to them, more like a black light than real lighting, supplemented by small standard lamps on stands on the floor. The walls are lined with systems and monitoring equipment, while the center... ] [ Well. The VERY center is Xavier Aurin, clearly either asleep or unconscious or dead or SOMETHING, in a large metal chair with all sorts of leads and electrodes connected to him. Cables lead out from the central chair to, somewhat ironically, twenty-four smaller ones surrounding it. There's an individual in each chair, and they run the gamut of identity: age, race, gender, all varied. ] * Katherine groans and says, "Oh, now this isn't out of a horror TSM." * Yue doesn't look fazed. It isn't like she hasn't spent time in a lab like such for a period of her life. [ The elevator finally reaches the ground, and the door opens; it's clear the actual elevator is built into the back wall. Greeting you at ground level is Brokkr, who you should probably recognize. "Didn't think they'd come," he rumbles, stepping aside so you can exit. Platina merely grins at that. "The Director is rarely wrong," she replies. ] * Katherine glances to Brokkr, smiles thinly, then looks back to Xavier. "How often do you get the chance to go to a giant secret corporate laboratory?" she comments. * Yue rolls her head as she glances to Kat's comment, then at Platina again. "More than enough in a lifetime." [ "If you'll excuse me," Platina says, pointedly ignoring the sarcasm, "I've some preparing to do. Bradley, see them to the director, would you?" She then heads off. Brokkr, looming above, gestures for you to follow and walks toward the far corner of the room, carefully skirting the ring of chairs. ] * Katherine glances over the people, to see if anyone of note besides the known kidnappees are there. * Yue shoots a glare at Platina, before they leave, her eyes trailing to do just the same, yes. [ Nobody you recognize... though you, Kat, get a sense of... familiarity? Or something like that. You see, first, the girl from Red South Africa... the others must be on the other side. Everyone appears to be asleep, or something of that sort. ] * Katherine frowns a touch as she looks them over, then shakes her head and begins considering escape route. * Yue is pretty much thinking that elevator is the only way out, which might pose a problem. But she much does the same, trying to not make it too obvious she's doing so. (Well, either we steal Platina's hand and come up with her code, or you hack it, or we find another escape route. ;) (Or we hope they just let us walk away.) [ Mr. Giant leads you to the back of the room, with a long computer desk filled with monitors. Sitting at it is a tall man, surprisingly a little broad for a scientist; he has salt and pepper hair that rises up and back, Phoenix Wright-style, and is initially facing away from you before he swivels in his chair at your approach. ] (Oh god, it's Dmitri.) (And/or Slayer.) (Phoenix Slayer.) * Yue stares towards the Director, pulling her hands slightly behind her waist and butt so as to give a bit of tactical surprise to herself if needed. * Katherine doesn't bother hiding her claws as she watches the swivel action. [ The man stands up, smiling faintly at the two of you, and the sense of familiarity Kat had with the people in the chairs is, oddly, shared with this man. "Hello, ladies. I'm Director Ferrion." He sketches a bow. "Glad you could attend our little... ritual." ] [ Ritual? What is THAT supposed to mean? What's going on with the Krogstads? Just what is the secret of the DRAUPNIR lab? Soon, all answers shall be revealed, when we continue... next time!]