2020-09-04: Busting Up the Blockparty
| Busting Up the Blockparty | |
|---|---|
| A simple mission to clean up an old Technocratic operation. | |
| IC Date | September 4th, 2020 |
| IC Time | Evening |
| Players | Goldie (as NPC_Janet), Eden Huxley, Vance, and Vivian Starr (ST) |
| Location | Defunct Blockparty Videos |
| Prp/Tp | Busting Up the Blockparty |
| Spheres | Mage, Technocracy |
Mission briefing and goals:
You have been tasked with Sanitizing and removing Enlightened equipment from a former Union operation. Deviant activity has been noted in the area and there is an expectation of violent resistance to mission goals. Threat assessment: minimal. You are expected to:
- Purge any on-site Deviants
- Dismantle and remove any Enlightened equipment on site
- Sanitize and seal any inter-dimensional rifts
- Strengthen local barrier to prevent further incursions
- Leave no evidence behind as to Union activities
Operational areas are the parking lot and building of Blockparty Videos. Enlightened equipment to be dismantled and removed is located in a secret underground facility accessed by a hidden freight elevator in the Staff Only area.
Evening, the sky filled with orange and red hues as the sun begins its slow decent heralding night. A nondescript white van with a covered trailer attached pulls into a parking space in the dilapidated parking lot of the abandoned Blockparty Videos parking lot. A cartoon insect surrounded by a red circle with a strike through and black lettering stating 'Schattenwerk Exterminators - We Kill Bugs Dead' is emblazoned on the side of the van -- no doubt someone in Requisitions' idea of a mild joke.
As for the the environs surrounding the old Blockparty building, the whole place has fallen into disrepair. The pavement of the parking lot is cracked, filled with potholes, and sagging into the earth in places. As the sun begins to sink lower down the horizon, a few of the remaining streetlights struggle to illuminate -- some of them manage it, others simply give a halfhearted flicker and electronic buzz before going dead -- most are simply nonfunctional. Fortunately, the one directly above the van's parking space seems to be operational with only the occasional flicker and fills the immediate area in a pale, slightly bluish-tinted glow.
The Blockparty Videos building itself has seen better days. Several of the large front-facing windows have been smashed and hastily covered with plywood, the remainder so covered in dust and grime as to make the darkened interior completely opaque. A few advertising posters for movies long since regulated to studio archives are plastered on the dirty windows, the text and colors having been bleached into near illegibility by constant exposure to the sun. The Blockparty logo hanging near the entrance sags sadly, the mooring bolts attaching it to the concrete having loosened and bent at some point over the years. Two sets of automatic doors provide entry into the building, forming an air lock of sorts, but with the power to the building long since been cut, they'll both have to be forced open.
"Well, here we are boys and girls," Vivian states from the driver's seat as she puts the van in park and turns off the ignition, "Should a pretty simple mission. In and out, no biggie. Just watch for Deviant activity and immediately report if you detect anything. Good hunting."
Vance is dressed in dark civilian colors with an (armored) trench coat. So as best to blend in. As much as a 7' tall juggernaut can. He's got his equipment and as he looks at the building he pulls on a set of armored gloves that emit a soft hum for a moment before settling down. "Sounds like a plan. I'll lead the way as it's better for me to tack any incoming attacks."
Eden thankfully isn't smoking; instead blowing a blue bubble with her gum in near perfect symmetry before popping it with white teeth. She twirled her twin X-5's in her hands, just double checking the safeties and weight to make sure she had a full magazine in each. Holstering the weapons she looked around the van and switched to the hypertech devices. "Janet you'll be ok. Follow Vance's advice...", breathing deep and opening up the van door while slipping on her mirrorshades. "What a horrible night to have a late fee.", chuckling and hoping out of the van.
NPC_Janet hauls open the door to the van and steps out into the parking lot. She is slim, five-five, white with a fresh summer tan, brown eyed with chocolate brown hair. The woman is average looking and tonight, at least, she is playing her looks down. Her hair is pulled into a severe bun. She is dressed in heavy black workboots, blue overalls with a velcro patch and a matchy baseball cap with the fake company logo. Atop her overalls, she's wearing a heavy Army flak jacket to hide the armored shirt, dual underarm holsters and pistols she has strapped to her body. There is a knife strapped to her dingy leather workbelt. A phone is slipped into her pocket and a black glove pulled onto her wriggling fingers.
For her own part, Vivian has a kevlar vest underneath rather nondescript blue overalls, matching Janet. It does little to hide the bulky armor, though, and she can hardly be taken for an exterminator with the assault rifle she lugs from the passenger seat. Not unless the cockroaches are -that- big. As she opens the door and steps out of the car, she takes a slow scan of the area and seeing nothing immediately amiss, she waits for Vance to take point, her weapon pointed down, but ready to snap up at a moment's notice. The blonde can't help but chuckle at Eden's quip. "That'll be one hell of a late fee. This place has been closed since the mid two-thousands." She does nod and smile at Janet, motioning to Eden, "The lady's right. Everyone's on a team here and everyone's got everyone else's back."
Vance gets out taking a weight off the poor vehicle. He's heavier than he looks. Then he casually starts strolling towards the door making himself an obvious target if anything was around to take a pot shot at him. Just a big fucking guy as he aproaches the sliding doors.
Janet sweeps the parking lot with a glance, nods at what Vivian says and goes to the back of the van to grab her gear. In this case, it is a variety of 'devices' bundled in a kit bag: Rift Sealer, Anomaly detector, Anomaly disruption. The friendly neighborhood SorPsyc redshirt quickly unbundles the items, taking each device and hooking it onto her shoulders with their individual loop-straps. The woman doesn't say much, but she follows orders well enough. When Vance heads toward the sliding doors, she slaps the rear gate shut and turns to follow.
Eden looks classic N.W.O., a field operative in black with polished shoes as she closes the doors of the van and takes the rear of the company - watching for threats from the back and following in a tight formation. Checking the hypertech in her hands to see if it was operational and chewing her gum softly. "We knocking?", asking in slang how Vance might breach. "Looks clear.", checking the obvious ambush locations and staying calm. "I can peek inside if needed.", offering talents but still enjoying the tail end of operation.
Except for the chirping of crickets, the are seems deadly still and silent. Nothing with nasty big pointy teeth jumps out as Vance approaches the building; the thing is just as silent and dead as it looks. Vivian keeps a quiet vigil of the area before looking over at Janet and nodding once, "Any anomaly blips on the equipment?"
Vance grins at Eden and places a hand on the glass fingers at the edge of the frame and with a minute push and lift with the weight on just fingernails Vance pops it out of its sliding silently and just moves it to the side opening the entrance. To everyone's com units Vance announces <"Open Says Me">
Janet raises the anomaly detector and punches a couple of buttons on the console. A few moments later she responds dryly with, 'General dimensional weakness and a few hot-spots coming from the interior, but otherwise quiet.' A glance up.
Vivian looks over at Vance as the big man rather effortlessly slides open the door, unable to keep a grin off her features. <"I have a few pickle jars I might need opening later."> She turns her attention to Eden, looking at her questioningly, "See anything interesting?" When Janet answers her query, the blonde nods twice, but remains alert. "Okay. Looks like we lucked out. The lion sleeps tonight."
"I thought I saw a VHS copy of Shazam with Sinbad, but I was mistaken. Looks dead aside, it's clear.", sighing and looking back to Vance push out glass with his expert strength. Then onwards to Vivian and Janet, "Well, lets do this I guess.", still keeping an eye out. As the team began to enter, Eden blowing another bubble and popping it.
<"I am a master pickle jar openner. Making my entry."> Vance broadcasts to the team as the minigun comes out. It's a one hander for him and he ducks and twists making his way into the building. Once in he straightens so he can see over racks and scanning the room.
Janet trails in behind the mini-gun, but her focus is primarily on the slow-blipping anamoly detector she uses to scan the building as she skulks inside and she does skulk. She takes long stretching strides, sinks down into a half-squat, ready to duck down at any moment if people start firing or if they're shot at. Its kind of silly, actually.
Father time really took a bat to this place! Near the entrance is a small display of various snack foods; microwave popcorn, various types of candy, and 'Instant Nacho Cheese Spread' -- all of which are way, way past their sell-by date. Everything seems faded and dirty, as if looking at a degraded cellulose film reel. A thin layer of dust covers everything, motes floating in the air and giving the whole place a musty smell. The carpet was once white but now is more of a grey with a mildly disgusting patchwork of stains splattering the surface. The walls, once a bright, friendly blue are washed out, dingy and peeling, flakes of paint having come off to reveal the drywall beneath. Once rows of ordered shelves graced the interior, but now only a few are still standing; most have long since collapsed into heaps of aluminum and plastic. Several cardboard cutouts of the stars of various forgotten aughts cinema are strewn haphazardly about the room, most of which have collected a surprisingly diverse collection of molds and mildew. Piles of ancient VHS covers and old DVD shell cases liter the area, their covers damaged and faded -- and there isn't a BluRay to be found. A large sign above a counter area containing a cash register displays the slogan of the long defunct company: "Don't just make it a party, make it a Blockparty!"
Several yellow signs are posted above the remnants of some of the still-standing shelves: 'Comedy', 'Action', 'Sci-fi'. There are spaces for several more, but they've apparently fallen away from the wall at some point and are likely littering the floor somewhere. At the far back from the entrance, there is an archway over which a sign reads 'Adult 18+' and is separated from the main floor by a frayed, ripped black cloth partition.
The whole darkened interior is eerily quiet, the only sounds coming from the group and the occasional scuttling of insects. Back behind the counter is a single double-wide door with the words 'Staff Only' emblazoned on it in block white lettering.
"I think I'd almost prefer something with fangs," Vivian states to Eden at her Shazam comment, lips curling into a smirk. Then Vance makes his entrance, and the blonde is once more all serious, her face forming into an expressionless mask. Once entering, however, the mask doesn't last long as Vivian grimaces in disgust at the state of the interior. "Christ," she mutters, "This is worse than my last apartment. And it had been a crime scene."
Eden slips in last and attempts to cover the entrance with any easily removed cardboard store display. Just to hide the entrance and any lights or flashing that could emit from the building. "Favorite vampire movie?", she asks Vivian while looking to Janet. Pulling out her own scanner, "Alright, lets get to work.", fine tuning her equipment and looking up at the ceiling.
<"Oh yeah. Give me something with a face to be punched any day. Reality incursions are terrible. Lemme know of any readings. I'm advancing forward. The equipment is going to be in the back."> as Vance begins to carefully make his way forward. Light scanning about as he takes the lead.
Janet makes her way across the room, sweeping the Anamoly thingie. Its all very Ghostbusters. She steps over broken DVD cases and, coming around a corner, kicks an empty popcorn bucket. Its sent across the room with a tumble. The beeping picks up in one corner of the once-was store and eventually, she stops and looks back at the others. <I'm getting something, but its not clear what. Its in the Adult section, but.> Drawing a pause, the brunette mics in again to add: <Its the sections with labels still attached. The signs?> She dips a nod to one of the white-stenciled blue signs above the empty racks.
"You're going to laugh, but Dracula 2000," Vivian replies to Eden smiling wryly, "I like it for the sheer cheese of it." Again, Vivian's countenance takes on its professional mask and she nods towards the Staff Only door behind the counter. <"Mission Brief said the entrance to the Enlightened part of this place was in the Staff Only section."> Vance's light sweeping back and forth casts eerie shadows over the ruined store front, not helped by the cardboard cutouts which make those shadows seem vaguely humanoid, but in all the wrong ways.
On hearing Janet's report over the radio, the Vivian's attention immediately snaps over to her and the blonde approaches in quick time, holding her assault rifle at the ready as she... points it at the Adult section and the signs. Yeah, it might seem silly, but one can't be too careful when it comes to RDs. Her eyes take on a steely glint as she stares at the seemingly inanimate objects.
Eden taps her machine and fucks with it some more, "<My device appears to be malfunctioning. Janet is saying there appears to be something by the adult section. I don't think she means triple xxx? Rather non-kid section.">, cackling as Eden's dark humor kicked in. "I'm fucking bailing if a porn ghost tries to spew ectoplasmic essence on me. Dracula 2000 wasn't bad, they had some hot brides of Dracula and the floating to the ceiling scene was top notch. Fuck... should of brought kinetic rounds modified for this mission.", pulling out her gun just in case. Shaking her shitty device like a protein shake, "Come on bitch, work. Me might have to rely on Janet.", as her device beeped and booped.
Janet shakes her head, looks to Vivian when the assault rifle gets leveled at the sign. <"Its indistinct. Something, but can't seem to tell what."> She takes a few steps back, checks another label and gets the same reading. <"Its consistent, but maybe we should move on and come back to have it jump us later.">
Vance takes up a position of overwatch moving to examine the area Janet identified. <"Never leave an enemy at your back. That leads to pincer situations. Sometimes literally."> as he moves closer. Making sure the two ladies have plenty of cover from his bulk while not getting in the way of equipment.
The Q-Division technician wasn't going to say out loud 'these tools are garbage' but obviously not having an easy time with them. <"Switching to a disruptor. Testing it on an anomaly. I don't know what will happen, stay alert. Using it on the adult section.">, Eden said over comms. Her radio behavior extremely professional, it was her speaking dialogue she didn't filter. Switching out the device for a new piece of equipment and setting it up, before pulling the trigger and spraying a partial mist over the adult section. Taking a few steps back just in case.
For a moment, Vivian's masks breaks and she looks like someone just kicked her puppy. "Porn ghost? Please, no, I want at least one good and decent thing in this world sacrosanct from RDs." The break in her professionalism doesn't last long and she continues to cover the signs and Adult section, nodding slowly as Janet confirms the readings and again at Vance's input. <"Okay team: let's try and deal with these RDs now before moving on to the rest of the facility."> No sooner does she say that then Eden activates her disruptor, a blue field of static electricity enveloping the Adult section.
And the reaction is immediate; there's a distorted, high-pitched squeal and the door to the Staff Area bursts open, smacking against the doorframe with force. A cavalcade of black VHS tapes and DVD shell cases launch through the air like a flock of blackbirds, all racing towards the Adult section. The plastic of the tapes and cases begin to melt and flow into each other, quickly building up a disturbing caricature of a human being; one that looks like it was purposefully sculpted to mimic a human female, but in exaggerated form. Wide hips, thin waist, and an impressive bustline give the monstrosity a very hourglass figure, but the proportions are so off as to be off putting. It sports a cardboard cutout for a head -- an adult actress with bee-stung lips and perpetual bedroom eyes. Ropes of magnetic tape glide over its form like sultry snakes, the seemingly endless lengths extending to its arms and writhing independently from them. It moves with an exaggerated hip swish, corrupted sexual moans and groans continuously pouring from it as well as lines from pornographic films as if played by a malfunctioning Edison wax cylinder recorder.
"Holy shit!" Vivian exclaims.
Vivian immediately turns off the safety of her weapon and aims it at the monstrosity. "Get behind me!" she calls out to Janet before letting out a 3-round burst of fire at the creature. A few shots go wide, but several do smash into the plastic horror, causing it to let loose a loud cacophony of distorted moans and groans. "Maybe I could pay with something -else-?" the thing says, apropos of nothing.
Vance turns and his gun quickly spins up before it roars spitting high energy 10mm rounds spraying that section of the room.
Janet has her back turned, pointing her anomaly detector in the other direction when Eden fires the agitator at the adult section, so when the door flings open it gives her a start. She jumps, stumbles, and spills over onto the ground just as the swirling, gyrating porn montage comes forth with its twisted hourglass shape and confronts them. She hears Vivian tell her to get back and listens, crab-walking or dragging her ass a few feet back. Shots are fired, echoing all around the space, in a loud bright rattattat and whatever the fuck noise a minigun makes before her trembling hands reach for the agitator, her own weapon, raise it and fire a shot at the welcome party.
Eden slowly backs up and fires a glancing blow at the physical manifestation of VHS pornhub with her firearm. <"Kill it with fire?">, grimacing at the creation. <"I should of picked the comedy section...">
Most of Vance's shots go wide, tearing through a poster of some old stoner comedy that no one remembers and most of the wall behind it. Still, one seems to connect and the hideous porn parody of a person again lets out a cacophonous moaning sound. "I've never done -this- before!" it cries out cheerily in its distorted voice.
Static electricity fills the air between Janet's Disruptor and the porn monster. Unfortunately, the Disruptor didn't seem to cause any damage so much as draw its attention. It looks towards the young agent (or, rather, the cardboard cutout head turns towards her) and then lets out another screech, but this one is strangely... hypnotic.
Eden's fire also largely misses the plastic nightmare, though a single shot does smack into the horrid thing. Unfortunately, it seems to hit at just the right angle that it bounces off the plastic and does no real appreciable damage.
"Fuckin' porn ghost plastic monster ruining one of the best things in life," Vivian screams with a scowl as she unloads another burst at the creature. This time, however, her shot is way off base and she doesn't even come close to hitting it. Though an advertisement for 'Weekend at Bernie's 8' now has a few more holes in it.
Vance sighs and drops his firearm in it's sling and steps up throwing a knifehand straight into where the PornoGhosts sternum would be. Devices in the room register a gravitic anomaly suddenly Vance's attack suddenly gains incredible mass and kinetic potential. Knife hand strike embedded, he uses that to pull the creature forward into an elbow. The strikes are imbued with force far beyond anything human.
The thing appears completely unprepared for Vance's attack and barely has the chance to turn towards him before the large man is smashing into it. Broken plastic and cellulose rains down as its torso is absolutely crushed by the attack. "Fisting? What is that, Aunt Beryl?" it says in that scratchy, distorted voice as it is dragged into Vance's elbow, smashing it to pieces. The whole plastic thing collapses into a pile of detritus, though a faint orb, glowing a sickening green floats up from the remains.
When the Adult shrieked at Janet, something happened. The brunette watches as Vance obliterates the thing with a couple of blows and scampers up onto her knees, shouting to the others, 'Wait, WAIT, wait, don't kill it, don't -- don't do that. We don't want to hurt her. She's -- so amazing, we should st--study her--closely. We can capture it. We can do that, right? Right guys? We don't need to send her back yet. Its -- she just wants a friend.'
Eden switches to the sealer device and of course it has no instruction manual or how to use it. Slapping the device and trying to activate it, before slapping the plastic rubbish pile and watching nothing happen with the egg like device. <"I feel like whoever made this tech watched too much Demolition Man and thinks the three seashells are a funny joke on us...">, eyeing Janet. Shaking her head and flipping a near tiny switch on the egg and setting it off in the plastic wreckage as it screamed and sucked energy into the other side of the gauntlet taking the adult actress with it. "You'll never work in this town again.", Eden said and stood up looking to Janet. "Slap her face a few times. The anomaly might be playing with her head."
The green orb hangs there in space ominously above the trash pile that was once its manifested body, slightly bouncing up and down. It's difficult to say why, as its just a featureless green ball, but somehow it gives off the sense of being really cheesed off. When Janet speaks, the ball begins to drift towards the woman, but suddenly stops as Eden operates the Rift Sealer. The sickening glow from the orb increases, as if trying to fight back against Enlightened science... but ultimately it loses that fight. With another shriek -- this one pure high-pitched noise, rather than the static-y mess it had previously when inhabiting the Adult -- the ball fades from existence, shrinking in diameter as if it was being thrown far away.
And then it's gone.
"Well," Vivian says, peering down at the remains of the Adult, and then up where the orb manifested and finally disappeared. "That was interesting. And disturbing." She shrugs, "I guess that's mission accomplished for the purge and Sanitation. All that's left is removing the equipment and without the Porn Bitch there, that should be easy enough. Good work, everyone!" A job well done. That deserves a slap in the face! Which Vivian gives to Janet -- *smack!* "Steady ma'am, it's gone now."
The minute the Adult is gone, Janet sinks back on her heels, wondering what the fuck just happened. She shakes her head like she has water in her ear, blinks at nothing. Its still dark in the room and there are no bullets flying like fireflies to light up the dark. There are just shadows and she doesn't have night vision. So she is lost inside her head when the hand comes out of nowhere and catches her across the face. She emits a grunt and tumbles, but catches herself before she spills onto the ground. A few moments later, massaging her jaw, she gets up with her gear, nodding at the instructions she's given.
Vance looks around keeping an eye on things while turning and eying the poor red shirt that may have gotten discombobulated. "You okay kid?" before a chuckle "I'd like to say that's the weirdest thing I've fought.. But that would be a lie."
Eden collects the scattered hypertech and looks to Janet, "Damn it, Janet.", she teases while singing... "It's astounding. Time is fleeting. Madness... takes its toll. But listen closely. <Not for very much longer.> I've got to keep control.", jumping to the left, "It's just a jump to the left. And then a step to the right. With your hands on your hips. You bring your knees in tight. But it's the pelvic thrust. That really drives you insane....let's do the time warp again!", Eden perhaps a bit to playful and celebrating by singing the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Looking back at Vivian, Vance and Janet... ending her routine and killing her fun. "Mission accomplished, no one died."
