View source for 2012.07.20.I.Shot.The.Sheriff

[[Category: Logs]][[Category:MaryOld]][[Category:CashOld]][[Category:Van]]
{{Infobox Log
|name      = I Shot the Sheriff
|summary   = The team must sabotage a plane carry an important Camarilla kindred.
|icdate    = July 20, 2012
|ictime    = Night
|players   = [[MaryOld|Mary]], [[CashOld|Cash]], [[Van]]
|location  = Shady Grove
|prptp     = Crusade Series
|spheres   = [[Vampire]]: [[Sabbat]]
|themesong = Bob Marley - I Shot the Sheriff
}}



== Shady Grove - Smoke Jumpers - The Bar ==

At the witching hour on a Friday, Smoke Jumpers is a popular place. Longshoremen, their old ladies, and even a few kids crowd the bar and turn it into a den of iniquity. The decibel level hovers right around that of a White Snake concert as the combination of a hundred conversations fill the room and the juke box struggles in vain to conquer them. This seems to disturb Markus not at all, nor does it deter him from reading quietly.

Van the Man slips in as per his usual. Backpack on snug, but he isn't hauling the guitar case tonight. He makes his way to the table with a bit more confidence. He steps up and folds his hands behind his back. Standing at attention. "reporting in, sir."

With his usual clack of boots on the floor, Cash makes his way into the bar. People don't automatically get out of his way, but most tend to move away quickly when he bumps into them, seeming disturbed by something about him. He walks to the table, wearing his usual cold expression.

The book is closed and Markus motions for the three of them to join him. Once they are in the booth he slides the curtain shut for some privacy. It does not, however, help with the noise level. "Excellent, I have urgent need of assistance," he says as he replaces the book with the always reliable iPad. This time after he brings up what he wants on it, he slides it directly to Van instead of politely ignoring the ghoul. "I have a mission that requires stealth and subterfuge, are you capable of that?" The question is directed at the trio as a whole, not anyone in particular.

Van the Man takes the iPad and glances down at it before nodding. "Very." he states simply. "what is needed?"

Mary moves to sit next to Van, paying close attention to Marcus and the Ghoul. She looks to Cash, as if it's his call.

On the iPad is a series of high resolution photographs of a private airfield. There is a large building that does not look like a hangar, a half dozen that do, and several towers. All of it is protected by a large fence except one entrance that has a pair of guard shacks. Markus looks warily between his team. "I am filled with confidence," he says dryly, his arabic accent tinging every word, adding to the sarcasm. "I need you to plant a device on a private jet located in that airfield, and it needs to be done within the next three hours. The airfield is privately owned by the Prince's holding company. No one is allowed in without the prior approval of one of his underlings, so you will need to get creative."

Van the Man grins and rolls his shoulders back slowly. "No problem boss.. You got the device, sounds like we should get the show on the road."

A messenger bag is produced from underneath the table and set down in front of Van. "Wire it into the cockpit controls. That is all you must do and I will take care of the rest," Markus instructs them, "Do not allow yourselves to raise any red flags."

Van the Man nods, takes the messanger back and fits it into his own bag. "Roger that. In and out, without a trace. Anything else we should know?" he asks, standing up and bobbing his head at Mary to do the same.

Mary also bobs her head, standing with Van. "In and out without a trace. Confirmed." she says.

"Security is very tight, so be careful," Markus adds. "Also, we believe the jet to be in hangar three, but my source went dark almost forty-eight hours ago. Therefore, I no longer consider that reliable information. Use your judgement. This particular plane will be carry the Sheriff of Shady Grove, so it will most likely be the one with the tightest security."

Van the Man asks about ID numbers and if any of the intel had anything to do with that. Or logos, and the like that would be unique.

Mary nods "Right." she says. "Any identification on any of the workers? someoe who can disappear?"

"I do not have any identifying information on the plane, beyond it being a small private jet," Markus tells Van after a moments consideration. "However, the large building may have records that could be of use in it. As I said, I lost contact with my source before he could transmit more detailed information." The vampire looks over at Mary and frowns deeply. "No one may disappear. If you are forced to use violence then ensure their absence will not be discovered until after the device has been activated, and only as an absolute last resort."

Van the Man nods and has nothing else to say. Hes up and out, heading for his truck and hoping Mary is close behind...Cause he ain't waiting more than 30 seconds for her once hes got it started.

Mary follows Van closely. Once again, going where the ghoul does. Maybe she knows that sometimes ghouls can be the greatest asset a team has.


== Shady Grove - Outskirts of Town - Private Airfield ==


Van the Man hauls fucking ass towards the air field, but stops a good two miles away and pulls over in a nice quiet spot. "Ok...I'm going to in on foot. This is going to be taxing, so you're job is very important." he says, handing her the keys to his truck. "I'm going to need you to go back into town..and find a McDonalds. I wanta number 4. No mustard...Can you do that?"

Mary gives Van a distant smile. And a middle finger. "Van. If I didn't need you alive." she takes the keys though. grumbling to herself as she goes to get his order.

An hour later, Van gets spit back into reality looking like he just got assfucked by some sort of penguin spirit. holy fuck! that had never happened before! He takes a few seconds to gather himself and then hes sprinting, he knows he lost time, heading for the airfield...

Mary in the meantime, takes her sweet ass time. She stops at a Walgreens. She buys some things to add to the meal. ex lax, castor oil, ooooh look. Ghost peppers. She then goes to mc donalds orders the meal correctly and prepares it with her special sauce that she concocted from teh wal greens stuff. She even gets him a 2 liter of diet coke. Some mentos. A black string. Makes a nice mentos explosion waiting to happen. THen slowly drives back to the airfield.

When Van comes upon the airfield he is near the driveway. The entrance and exit are seperated be a large median and a guard shack rests next to both. Inside are a pair of guards. The rest is surrounded by chain link fence with 'DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE' signs on it.

Van the Man takes some time, concentrates and finally manages to pass the gauntlet and into the umbra and starts to skulk towards the location of the third hanger. Attempting to get as close as possible not wanting to have to traverse the airfield in the open.

Mary Returns after a while, setting up the radio. If Van needs help he'll call. Or die. She doesn't care either way.

The penumbra in this place is a dark and decayed wasteland. Spirits of the night stalk ruined buildings and the dead earth in packs. However, Van is able to move through them easily enough as they seem to have no interest in him. Hanger #3 is a crumbling ruin held together only by a few rusted I-beams and bolts.

Van the Man skulks through the umbra largely only protected by an enchantment woven around himself. Cloaking him and making him...quite uninteresting. He slips into the building and finds a nice dark corner to manifest himself back into the real world, keeping very still for a long moment as if he expected 40 armed guards to suddenly burst out and start patrolling.

The hangar is enormous inside and quite... empty. Van finds himself in the southwest corner, behind several large boxes marked 'FRAGILE', 'THIS SIDE UP' and 'DO NOT DISCARD'. A few small prop planes litter the interior as well as a handful of mechanics servicing them and ticking off boxes on their clipboards.

Van the Man growls softly to himself and givesa little "fuck". He takes a moment to focus on one of his enchantments, and then he is moving like a bolt..Trying to ninja his way out of the hanger and to the next one, looks like he'd just have to check until he found the one he needed.

Mary just sits by the radio pretending to pay attention.

Van the Man waits a few moments, watching the guards...Trying to see if they had a pattern to the patrols and if so, charting them. He heads for the administrative building at the first opening...Or closest thing to an opening he thought he could get. Windows?! it had to have windows..

The patrols are regular and the patrollers lazy, lucky for anyone trying to infiltrate the airport. The building is three stories tall and does indeed have windows on all three levels. The first level has solid plexiglass windows that do not open. The two upper levels have several windows one can see are standard two-piece windows that slide to open.

Van the Man cuts a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure no one is behind him, off in the distance, who might notice his little stunt and then steps up onto one of the first story window ledges and jumps, grabbing onto a drainage pipe and starts to shimmy up it...Almost there...Alllmost! But not quite! he reaches out, and can't grab the ledge and then starts to worm his way up higher.

Once he gets up there? Its fuck all a pain in the ass getting that window open.. He almost falls off at one point, but manages to get in and slides into an empty office, closing the window behind him and immediately starts to look for a computer to access.

The office is dark except for the monitor that sits displaying the windows logo on a desk in the center of it, and the light coming in through the venetian blinds covering the door's window. It is easy to hear voices from the rest of the office as, obviously, this particular airport is especially active at night.

Van the Man his fingers move like liquid lightening, caressing the keys as he makes love to..Or rather, brutally fucking rapes in a back ally, the computer and its feeble little security system. Its a matter of moments before hes in and accessing the files he needs. Even popping in a thumb drive and trying to save a few of the logs for later dates...Maybe Marcus could do something with them, who knows? Either way it is completely a secondary priority as he tries to find this blasted plane!

Once Van has accessed the appropriate resource the rest is easy. Flights arriving and departing are all logged and scheduled. The sheriff will be departing on the jet in hangar #1 in approximately... 43 minutes! Better hurry Van...

Van the Man is off like a bolt, back to the window...He'd try to shimmy down a bit and then just fucking jump for it. No time to climb!

As Van somewhat expertly cracks the keypad open, overrides it, then slides the paneling back on, he can hear voices even through the thin steel walls of the hangar. Opening the door, he can see several people milling around a lone jet. One is wearing a black suit and stands out from the rest which are wearing grease stained coveralls. They appear to be going through pre-flight prep and fueling.

Van the Man takes a moment and considers doing this Solid Snake style and just knocking on the wall and trying to flank them as someone came to check...But sadly, this wasn't a game! No sir, this was real life. He really should have known...He does his best to slip into the room and hide behind a box for now. Waiting until he might have a clear shot at getting onto the plane...That is, if he even makes it in!

Van the Man also takes a moment to text Marry.. "We may need a distraction...Be close. Be ready."

Mary moves instantly when she gets the response, rising from the truck and walking casually towards the airstrip. As she walks she melts into her liquid state, her speed increasing as she uses celerity. She looks for anything explosive and distracting.

After a few minutes opportunity comes a knocking for Van. The plane is apparently finished fueling as the two mechanics decouple it from the plane and start to pack it up. Once they are done one hops in to drive it away, the other turns to the man in the suit. "I'm gonna go get the baggage cart, I'll be back," he says, then moves away. The guard has his back to the stairs and is watching the fuel truck drive away.

Van the Man moves swiftly when he gets his chance, darting onto the plane and moving swiftly for the cockpit, getting out the device before he makes it so he can get to work right the fuck away.

Mary Doesn't seem to be trying too hard. Maybe shes not tryign to impress the guys who said she was unproven and the ghoul who keeps giving her orders. She looks about for explosive stuff quietly. Slowly. Casually.

Van the Man gets in and finds a nice subtle spot...Someplace that won't be spotted and wires it in or wtf ever. The player is dumb and doesn't know. He doesn't try to leave...No, he just tries to get off the plane and hide. In a box or somthing. He'd lay low and hide until the plane was in the air.

Mary seaps her way back to the truck and recofms herself in the driver's seat. She lives van a text. "Twenty minutes."

Van does not have long to wait as a pilot arrives a few minutes later along with a small crew and the plane begins to taxi out of the hangar. It waits, idling, on the tarmac another five minutes before a trio of limos arrive. Out of them a half-dozen men dressed the same as the first guard step out and take a look around. It only takes a few moments for one to open the door and escort a more casually dressed fellow to the plane. In no time at all, they are going down the runway and taking off.

Van the Man just stays in the box...is mary is really going to leave in 20 minutes? she'd be leaving Van behind. For he waits long enough to make sure it was in the air and them attempts to stealth out the same way he stealthed in, through the umbra.

Mary may be leaving. SHe may be giving Van a sense of urgency. WHo knows.

It takes a while, but he 'punches' through the gauntlet once more and is darting for the truck. Keeping a low profile, and hoping his enchantments hold up. He sure as shit isn't going to do anything to break them or piss off any spirits...Fast as his wittle legs can carry him, he heads for the meet-up spot.

Mary is sitting casually in the driver's seat. She looks to Van. "What took you so long? Fries are cold."

Van the Man slips into the truck and grins at her. "It was a bit of a tight squeeze." he says, picking up a fry and popping it into his mouth. "Look, sorry about the whole...Go get me a burger thing. I honestly didn't think you'd do it. But don't worry...When we report? We did this together. As a team. Oh hey! Diet coke!" and then hes reaching for the rigged bottle.

Mary smiles. "Sure. Together." she says. She seems almost too casual. "You did a good job. I really think you should take the credit. Let them embrace you."

Van the Man shakes his head slightly. "Everyone keeps saying that. I already told you that can't happen...Not because I'm stubborn. Not because of anything other than the sheer fact that i'll just /die/. There is no unlife for me...There is no immortality. It is the curse that comes with my gifts." he then pops open the coke and BOOOOM! Diet coke spews everywhere. He flails around madly, and eventually throws it out the window. just...fucking soaked. "what...the fuck.." eh states quite dryly...Ha, or not so dryly!

Mary just smiles softly to herself as she drives back to the smoke jumpers.


== Shady Grove - Smoke Jumpers - The Bar ==

Smoke Jumpers has mostly cleared out by the time the pair returns. Only the bartender and a waitress remain behind to clean and close up. Markus, of course, is there in his booth doing his thing. He looks up expectantly when he hears the door and quickly waves Van and Mary over to him.

Van the Man slips over to the booth and sits down. "Mission is a go. We got it done, easy as cake, Sir." he pauses a moemnt and then nods his head over to Mary. "Never underestimate a good fleshcrafter.."

Mary arches a brow at Van. She doesn't say a word but she gives a look of surprise. "The ghoul did a wonderful job. He is well trained. Mission accomplished."

"Very well, then it is time to activate our little gift," Markus says and pulls out his iPad. He clicks around on it for a moment, pauses, then presses it one more time. "It is done. You may go now and rest. I will have need of you more in the coming days."